CHAPTER 13: The Fox and the Turtle

When the akuma attacked, Alya briefly forgot her annoyance with Marinette in favor of pursuing a great scoop for her Ladyblog. Ladybug and Chat Noir were bound to show up soon!

She ran in the same direction the others had gone off in, seeing as that was where all the action had went. After a minute, she glimpsed Max and Nino being followed by a bunch of animals. But where were her favorite superheroes?

Suddenly, a good portion of the animals turned in another direction, no longer chasing the boys. Are they being controlled by the akuma? Alya wondered, and debated whether or not to follow the herd. Only a gorilla was left following her classmates.

"Nino! Max!" she called. Both of them glanced back at the sound of her voice, but she unfortunately drew the attention of the gorilla also. It stopped, only to turn around and rush after her. Oh crap! Alya quickly about-faced and sprinted off, a wave of fear coursing through her. There was no way she was going to let that gorilla catch her! It was already a dangerous animal; who knew what it would do under the akuma's influence.

She was going around the left side of a circular fountain, when she heard a yell sound from the other side. "Alya!"

Is that Nino?! Sure enough, a few seconds later he met up with her, having gone around the shorter side of the fountain to catch up and avoid the gorilla.

"What are you doing?" She gasped out. It made no sense to her; why would he run after her when she had accidentally distracted the gorilla from chasing him and Max? Now he was in danger again!

"What?" Nino exhaled, also out of breath. He glanced over at her briefly in concern, before focusing forward again. It was then that she was reminded of his supposed crush on her, and she suddenly understood why he had followed her.

She didn't quite know how to feel about that, especially with all the adrenaline running through her at the moment. Was she annoyed he had a crush on her? Flattered? A weird feeling sunk into her gut, making it hard to run as it combined with the cramp in her side.

As distracted as she was with her thoughts and dodging the gorilla behind her, she almost missed Ladybug and Chat Noir being chased by the rest of the animals. The next thirty seconds were all a blur as she went from being chased by the gorilla, to being grabbed by someone, and then being pushed into a cage with Nino. She stared, wide-eyed as Ladybug closed the door on them and ran off.

"Uh, hey, what's up?" Nino smiled awkwardly and pointed some finger guns at her. She groaned, the situation finally catching up to her; of course she would be stuck in a cage with Nino, who had a crush on her, as she missed yet another Ladybug scoop! Her head must have been in her hand for too long, because Nino spoke up again.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Just peachy," she muttered, avoiding his gaze and deciding to sit down against the glass wall of the cage. She figured they would be here for a while, at least until the akuma was beaten. She could hear Nino shuffling after her as she buried her head into her knees. Silence reigned between them for a bit, only interrupted by the noise Nino made when he plopped down next to her.

"Alya?" Nino called softly after about a minute, needing to break the awkwardness. He wondered what was going through her mind right now.

She sighed and raised her head from her knees, only to eye Nino as he stared back at her. "Why did you run after me?" she asked, voicing her concern from earlier now that she had her breath back.

"What?" A confused expression overtook his face at her question.

"Why did you run after me?" When he didn't answer immediately, she began to get worked up. "It was stupid- that gorilla could've hurt you! Why didn't you run away when you had the chance?"

Nino raised an eyebrow at her fierce words. "Oh really, now?" he questioned, sarcastically. "I could say the same thing to you! You always put yourself in danger when akumas attack! Ladybug and Chat Noir can't always save you, Alya!"

"And you can?!" She stood up, subconsciously trying to run away from their sudden conflict, even though she knew they were locked in this dumb cage together. Nino quickly got to his feet to follow her.

"That is not what I meant, and you know it! I ran after you because I wanted to make sure you were safe! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"

"Uh-huh, friend, sure," she muttered, thinking of his crush on her. She continued to walk away from him, aiming for a different part of the wall to sit on, but he kept following her.

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" He had obviously heard her mumbled words and was mildly offended by them.

"It's nothing, Nino," she said, her tone clipped. Why am I so angry? She didn't understand where these feelings had suddenly come from. Before today, she hadn't reacted like this when her other friends had been in danger from an akuma. Worried? Of course! But angry?

Nino was slowly getting the message that she didn't want to talk right now but reached for her hand in a last-ditch effort to resolve the situation.

And that was when it happened.

In hindsight, Nino liked to equate the moment to the feeling you got when a bass guitar strummed a loud note and you could just feel the vibrations go through your whole body. Except, instead of the music thrumming through him, it was magic- a force that strummed his heartstrings instead. It was like a new song had been written with his very soul.

For Alya, it was as if a truck had hit her. It felt like she had died and come back to life again, but suddenly everything she knew was drastically different.

They stared at each other in shock, motionless as the magic flowed through them and confirmed a reality that they had never given a thought to.

We're soulmates.

As Alya's brain restarted, she quickly slid her hand out of Nino's, both having gone limp in their collective realization. The teens immediately felt the loss of the spark between them, though a residual feeling of the magic remained in the background of their minds. Alya turned away, bringing the same hand that touched Nino's up to her mouth.

"Oh my god," she whispered, incapable of speaking much louder. "Oh my god."

"Dude," Nino breathed out in a big whoosh, as if he had been holding his breath. "This changes, well, everything."

"No duh," Alya confirmed, feeling brave enough to look back at him. A heavy blush adorned her cheeks; she couldn't help but notice that Nino was a very pretty tomato color as well.

"Uh, no, I mean-" He looked away from her eyes, embarrassed, and took a steadying breath. "I mean, this changes a lot because this whole week I've been crushing on Marinette."

"What?!"

"Um, obviously not anymore, heh." They both smiled awkwardly before Nino continued, trying to explain. "Earlier, Adrien was being a great friend and tried to help me talk to her-"

"Oh," Alya interrupted him, a curious look in her eye. "Is that why he invited us all to the zoo?"

"Yeah, he even tried to coach me on what to say." Nino laughed as he pointed to the earpiece still in his ear.

"No way!" Alya snorted in disbelief. "I did the same thing for Mari!"

"Wait, what? Was she trying to talk to me?"

"No, she was trying to talk to-" Alya cut herself off instantly, alarmed that she had almost spilled her best friend's secret.

But Nino caught on immediately. "Woah, dude! Mari has a crush on-"

"Shhhh!" Alya threw her hand over his mouth. The electricity between them spiked again, and she briefly forgot what she was going to say, distracted. "Uh, you didn't hear that from me," she said weakly, removing her hand from his mouth. Had Nino's eyes always been that shade of golden brown?

"Alright, dude…" Nino trailed off, and kicked the ground awkwardly as another lull in the conversation hit.

"Do you, maybe, want to sit down again?" she offered, hitching a thumb at the cage wall behind her.

"Sure."

They sat down and the blogger opened up her phone to check for news on Ladybug and Chat Noir. She was able to find a broadcast detailing the animal outbreak, but so far there was no video footage of the superheroes. She sighed in frustration, and turned to Nino, who had been looking over her shoulder.

"No word on the akuma yet," she said, even though Nino had already gathered that on his own.

"Hey, would you maybe want to, uh- listen to some music?" He inquired, motioning to his own phone, which was open to his playlist.

"Uh, sure. Is it the music you made yourself?"

Nino nodded, a bit hesitant. The blush that adorned his cheeks only intensified when Alya boldly stole his headphones from around his neck to listen. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall as Nino pressed play on his most recent creation. Will she like it? He thought, as he watched her head slightly rock to the beat.

The song soon ended, and she smiled as she slid the headphones off. He paused the next song before it started, wanting to know her opinion. His music was such a large part of his life that he didn't know if he could bear it if she hated it.

"Nino, that was amazing! Marinette said that you did awesome remixes, but I didn't know just how awesome they actually are!"

"There's a little bit of my own original stuff mixed in, too," he bragged, trying to appear casual even though the sound of his heartbeat was loud to his ears.

"Nice." Alya's smile got wider, and his blush intensified. "Can I listen to more?"

"O-of course!"

She put the headphones back on as he selected another song. They sat like that for another ten minutes or so, before Alya pulled off the headphones again at the end of the fourth song. "I'm sorry, is this boring for you?"

"Oh no, not at all, dude! I'm really glad you like my sound. It's interesting to watch your face when you listen." Seeing Alya's raised eyebrows, Nino realized what he just said. "Uh-"

Alya laughed good-naturedly. "No, it's alright," she reassured him. "I don't mind if you watch me. But maybe talking would be better?"

"Yeah…" Nino nodded, his eyes flitting away from her for a few seconds. "Could I have my headphones back then?"

"Sure," she replied, undoing them around her neck and putting them around his. In doing so, she had briefly touched his skin, jolting them both a bit. Curious, Alya laid her hand on top of his. The spark was less surprising this time, and both of them reveled in the feeling of touching one another, no longer quite as embarrassed by it.

"Have you ever thought of what you might turn into?" Alya asked after a moment.

"Hmm, what about a panther?" Nino gestured to the rest of the cage with his free hand and Alya chuckled.

"No, I can't see you as a panther; you're too chill for that."

"I meant, you could be a panther," he corrected. Alya gave him a look, and he realized the accidental sort-of innuendo. "Oh, no! I didn't mean it like that, dude!" He tried to explain his line of thinking, waving his free hand around. "I just thought a panther fit you well, because you can get pretty fierce about reporting for the Ladyblog and you always go after what you want. And, uh-"

"Thanks, Nino," she interrupted, once again beaming at him. He suddenly felt out of breath; how had he not seen before how beautiful her smile was?

The warmth between them increased as they stared at each other, but then abruptly became too much. Alya snatched her hand away from his, bewildered.

"Did you feel- ahh!" Alya's words were cut off as the sensation turned to fire in her bones. Green and orange light cast across the walls of the cage.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that her perception of the world was slightly different. The second thing she noticed, upon turning her head, was a turtle next to her. Nino?

Alya?

For the second time that afternoon, they stared at each other in shock. After a moment, Alya hesitantly reached out a hand towards him. Something inside her was telling her to touch him again, but she did a double take when she saw her own limb. I have paws! And fur! And- and… what am I?

Alya glanced up from her body to see the turtle- er, Nino- still staring at her, motionless. Nino? She tried to communicate with him, even waving a limb in front of his face, but received no response. Hello? She prodded him with her paw in order to snap him out of it.

But as they touched once more, the magic flared inside them again. Luckily, it wasn't painful this time. When they became aware of their surroundings, her and Nino had both transformed back into their human selves and were kneeling on the ground, her hand on his shoulder.

"Wow," was all that Nino could say, his tone full of awe.

"Yeah." Alya's tone was just as distant.

"Um, you looked really nice as a fox, Alya," Nino blurted, before covering his own mouth in embarrassment.

Alya was astonished, both from the unexpected compliment and from the new info Nino provided her. "Wait! I'm a fox?"

"Um, yes?"

"You're a turtle!"

"A turtle?"

Nino's expression had turned into a look of utter befuddlement, and Alya simply lost it, overwhelmed from their situation. At first, he gave her a weird look in return, but couldn't help but join in with her laughter. A solid two minutes went by as they giggled and tried to get a hold of themselves. Alya gave a few more chuckles, trying to not look at Nino's face again- otherwise she would undoubtedly burst into giggles once more. She rested her head on his shoulder as she tried to calm down and he put a tentative arm around her, unsure of their new level of intimacy with one another- not that he wasn't enjoying it, though.

They stayed like that for a bit, only startled out of their comfortable moment when a rush of magical ladybugs enveloped them. They were whisked away to a bench outside of the cage, the panther having been returned to its exhibit by the magic.

"They must have beaten the akuma," Nino remarked. Alya looked around, still semi-wrapped in his one arm. "Sorry you didn't get much for your blog."

She glanced at him in surprise, having forgotten her earlier goal. "Oh, that's okay," she said, dismissing his concern. "There'll be more akumas. I just have to make sure I'm there next time!" Nino smiled at her determination, but briefly worried for her future safety. She continued, in a slightly teasing voice, "Plus, I think it was worth being locked in a cage with you for an hour."

His cheeks glowed as he grinned. "Uh, yeah, dude." Another awkward silence reigned between them.

"Come on!" Alya cried, standing up and taking his hand in an effort to move past the awkwardness. "Let's go find Marinette! I bet she's already home by now!"

Nino acquiesced, distracted by the tingling sensation between them. Looking at Alya with new eyes, he realized right then and there that he really wouldn't mind if this woman dragged him around for the rest of his life. His earlier words echoed in his ears. This changes everything, indeed…

A/N: I sense the first grumbles of deviating from canon...

Alya and Nino don't touch in Lady Wifi. What are you talking about? I never saw anything.

FIGHT ME

*Edited 11/25/19*