"Hey guys," Nino spoke, breaking the silence that had fallen over the class and fiddling with his cap as they all turned to him, "Do you ever think about how exhausted Ladybug and Chat Noir have to be?"
With the silence only broken by the occasional screams of Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting off the newest akuma down the street, and the class huddled inside to avoid the danger, they all stopped for a moment to think on Nino's question.
"What do you mean?" Mylene asked from where she was curled against Ivan's side, his arm flung protectively around her shoulders.
"Well, Hawkmoth's been sending more and more akumas, so they've been fighting pretty much everyday. On top of that, they're probably around our age, which means they're fighting akumas on top of any schoolwork they have, and they probably have the worst sleep schedules on the face of the planet with how many akumas recently have been in the middle of the night. I mean, I know they're the heroes of Paris and they told us that they're here to protect us all and keep us safe, but who's out there watching their backs and taking care of them?"
The class seemed to pause, thinking on what Nino had said as the sounds of fighting continued outside, interrupted by a shout of 'Cataclysm' from a certain leather wearing, cat boy superhero before continuing.
"I guess I never thought of that," Nathaniel muttered with a frown, getting several nods and whispers of agreements, "I just always thought that they're superheroes, so it's fine, but they're people just like us under those suits."
"We could be the ones taking care of them," Juleka spoke next, voice a low murmur that may have been missed completely if it weren't so silent.
"What do you suppose we do though? Suit up and go fight crime with them? We don't have super powers like they do," Alix groaned, brim of her hat covering her eyes as she leaned back against the wall behind her.
"I don't we have to go that far. I think if we could just show them that we're there for them when they need it, that'd probably mean a lot to them." Nino responded, arms crossed over his chest.
"It sounds like the battle is pretty much over, so we can head home, but we should have an actual meeting about what we can do if we're serious about this." Alya spoke up, tucking her phone back into her pocket from where it had been propped up on the windowsill recording the fight outside, "My place tomorrow?"
Most of the class nodded and agreed, gathering their school supplies and heading out, a few of them, like Rose and Juleka muttering between themselves ideas of what they could do to help.
Nino and Alya stayed behind a moment, watching their classmates leave as they looked out the window at everyone getting back to what they had been doing before the akuma had attacked.
"Do you think Marinette and Adrien actually think that we don't know they're superheroes?" Alya asked, turning to raise an eyebrow at the DJ standing next to her.
"Those two are rather dense. I don't doubt they think their 'secret identities' are completely secret." Nino replied, smiling when Alya chuckled next to him.
"They're so lucky we love them. We should get going though. If we want to have the meeting at my house, I'm going to have to do some chores first to convince my parents."
Nodding, Nino grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder before following her out, smiling to himself as she talked about her plans for the upcoming meeting.
"Alright, so I guess this is the first of the 'Hero Helpers' meetings! Marinette couldn't make it due to some last minute designs she needed to finish, and Adrien said he has a photoshoot he can't get out of, but otherwise, everyone's here," Alya spoke, looking out at her classmates scattered around her living room, "My dad let me borrow this giant whiteboard for planning, and I added you all to the discord group, so we can talk and plan even when we're not all together. Our first order of business is figuring out exactly how we're going to help Ladybug and Chat Noir."
A few ideas got passed around, ranging from Rose's baking them cookies to Mylene's making them sweaters, before Nino finally chipped in.
"What if we made Hero Kits?"
The class paused in their musings, turning to where Nino was laying, legs up against the wall while his torso was stretched across the carpet.
When no one responded, Nino shifted and stood, saddling up to Alya's side as he held out his hand for her marker.
"Hear me out here," He started, turning so his back faced everyone as he scribbled and drew out his plan, "Rose, you're part of the sewing club, so you could help make little bags, that we could then fill with supplies to give Ladybug and Chat Noir. It could just be stuff like granola bars, water bottles, maybe some ibuprofen and muscle rub? We could hold a bake sale to raise money for the supplies, and if we get enough, we could throw some nicer things in there too."
"Ooh, we could also put our phone numbers or a way to contact us really quickly in each bag so that next time they need one, they can just tell one of us and we can drop it off in a secure location for them, so they don't have to worry about their identities!" Alya chimed in, grabbing a spare marker off the counter so she could scribble along with Nino.
When they both stepped aside, the board was a mess of green and orange marker, but a plan was clearly outlined, and within a few moments, everyone was excitedly talking about what they could do to help.
Chloe went with Sabrina, Rose, and Juleka to a nearby fabric store, telling them all that her daddy could foot the bill for them helping out Paris' heroes, while Alya and Nino quickly wrote up a list of supplies that should be in each pack. Alix ran errands with Kim and Max, running between several stores and the house with supplies like bandages, muscle rub, and small snacks as Mylene and Ivan set to work dividing up the supplies so they could easily be packed away into the 'Hero Kits'.
Each person made plans to bring five packs home with them, as well as the supplies to create an extra five packs, so if Ladybug or Chat Noir asked for one, whoever was closest would be able to take it to them without any problems.
Alya set up a group phone number that when texted, would send a message to each person individually, and they could then message each other in the group chat to decide who would be taking a kit to the superheroes. It was also decided that each person would try to have one kit near them at all times, whether that be in their backpack, their locker at school, or their bedroom.
Alya watched as everyone worked together to create the kits, smiling when Nino threw an arm over her shoulder, giving her cheek a quick peck before turning to look at the others as well.
"Chloe put a fifty euro Lush gift card in each kit," Nino spoke up, causing Alya to turn to him with a choked laugh.
"You're kidding."
"Not even a little," He grinned, holding up one of the aforementioned gift cards, smile widening as Alya laughed.
"Why?"
"She said something about how the heroes of paris deserve to relax like the heroes they are after the battles."
"Hmm, do you think once we tell Marinette and Adrien we know, they'll share them with us?"
Snickering, Nino set the gift card down and pulled Alya in for a full hug.
"Guess there's only one way to find out."
When Adrien shows up nearly an hour late for date night, hair ruffled and clothes a wild mess, Nino and Alya give each other the look and decide that maybe they should let their superhero partners know that they know. The idea is only cemented when Adrien starts rattling off apologies, hands fluttering in front of his face, eyebrows furrowed in worry. Marinette ducks in three minutes and fifty-seven seconds later, apologies leaving her lips before she even sees her partners.
Sighing, Nino nudges the two to sit in the middle of the couch, Alya in the kitchen making hot cocoa as he wraps the two of them in the thick quilt that was usually thrown over the back of the couch. The apologies only stop once Alya is back in the room, pressing hot cups of warm chocolate into their hands and Nino takes his seat between Adrien and the edge of the couch, and Alya does the same on the other side of Marinette.
They sit in silence, Alya and Nino's hands linked on the back of the couch behind Marinette and Adrien's heads as the two drink, relaxing and melting into the couch a little further with every sip. Once the cups are empty, Alya and Nino gently push them onto the coffee table and adjust themselves so they're all able to cuddle properly. Silence reigns for a few moments as it seems that it may just be a regular cuddle date, with Adrien and Marinette drifting off to sleep when Nino breaks it.
"We know. About you two being Ladybug and Chat Noir."
Alya was lucky enough to have been stretching when Marinette bolted up, but Nino wasn't and instead took a headbutt to the jaw.
"What? Me Ladybug?"
"That's just ridiculous!"
"I mean, really-"
"Out of everyone in Paris-"
"Her hair is so much bluer than mine-"
"And we have completely different hair styles!"
The two stammered, only stopping once their mouths were covered by Alya and Nino's hands.
"Guys, when we say we know, we mean we know," Alya spoke, removing her hand from Marinette's mouth as the girl fully stilled, "We weren't planning on telling you, but you guys get so stressed every time you're late or miss something because of an akuma, so we wanted to let you know that we understand, and it's okay."
"Yeah, you're still Adrien and Marinette, so we're not breaking up with you, and we don't blame you for trying to keep it secret."
Adrien and Marinette seemed to calm at the news, slumping against their partners as the quick jolt of adrenaline faded.
"We also wanted to tell you because the class started discussing ways to help you guys while you're fighting, so we've made kits with supplies for if you detransform mid-battle, or just after you detransform and head home. They've got granola bars, water bottles, pain relievers, and Chloe may or may not have snuck Lush gift cards into every pack. Which we are expecting you to share."
"How did you figure it out?" Marinette whispered a few minutes later, half asleep and incredibly relaxed from the feeling of Alya's hands running through her hair.
"We can tell you when you guys are more awake, but to be honest, it wasn't that hard. You transformed behind a park bench once Marinette. A park bench." Alya responded, smiling as Marinette giggled into her chest.
"You guys are so wonderful," Adrien muttered from where he was laying across Nino's chest, pressing a quick kiss to his collarbone before adjusting to get more comfortable, "I'm so glad to have you all."
"We're glad to have you too Sunshine," Nino replied, gently scratching at the nape of Adrien's neck and smiling when the stuttered purr burst forth, "We wanted you two to know that we're here to help you, in any way we can, whether that be giving you the notes from class to covering your tardies and absences."
By the time he was done speaking, their two superheroes had passed out, soft snoring escaping them both as Alya and Nino simply relaxed into their positions as cuddle buddy pillows. Today they had been lucky to get away with only needing to supply cuddles and reassurances to the heroes, but there would be days they would need the Hero Kits, and there would be days they would need to supply more help than they're kits could provide, but they had each other, and for now, that was more than enough.