"For goodness' sake I just want the two of them to start dating already!" Alix groaned and glared at Marinette and Adrien chatting rather awkwardly in the hallway.

Rose sitting on her desk behind her chuckled amused. "In that case you're a shipper" she stated and Alix turned around witch an arched eyebrow.

"I'm a what now?"

"According to my information a 'shipper'" Max drew quotation marks into the air "is someone who's hoping for specific persons to end up together in a romantic way. Actually I thought it just referred to fictional characters but apparently it seems to apply in real life too" he concluded fascinated. It was not often that he was proved wrong but he was quite sure that Rose knew best what she was talking about. Other than himself he considered her an expert on the field of feelings.

But she just shrugged it off. "Pff, no one can tell me whether I can ship something or not! I want all of my friends to find true love because everyone deserves it. And if they can't find it on their own I'll do it for them!" she said almost aggressive and frightening but after she'd finished her sentence she started to smile like a little angle again.

Interested Alix turned around completely. "So you're saying that you 'ship'" she drew quotation marks into the air too "other people as well?"

"Of course!" Rose answered immediately as if it was perfectly normal. "In fact I ship nearly everyone with someone else" she added complacent.

"Uhhh, tell me about your speculations! C'mon, spit it out!" Alix got a little too excited there and Max suspected that she would take a mischievous pleasure in some of the unusual pairings but Rose in all her naiveté told her gladly.

"Sure! These two right there" she pointed to their left "are my all-time favorites."

Confused Alix stared at them. "But Alya and Nino already are a couple" she objected uncomprehending.

"So what? I already shipped them before they became canon and why should I stop now?" Rose asked in return and Alix looked at her even more mystified.

"Before they what?" she asked and Max couldn't hold back his laughter. Rarely or never before had he witnessed such a surreal conversation.

"I guess you would refer to it as becoming an actual item" he explained to her after regaining his countenance.

"Oh, okay. But can you still ship people who in fact are in a relationship?" she asked, seemingly thinking very intently about the subject. "I don't think it makes sense."

"Sure you can" Rose resolved as Juleka who stood behind her shook her head in disbelief.

"I can't believe we're seriously discussing this" she mumbled to herself while an intense debate flared up between the other two girls.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Kim asked in a cheerful tone and joined them, unaware about the mess he just threw himself in.

"Ships" Max simply answered, being intrigued by the argument happening in front of him. To him it was absolutely fascinating how people could get all worked up about such an insignificant matter.

"I have no idea why you're talking about stuff like that but man I do love ships!" Kim said surprised but with an excited shimmer in his eyes.

"I doubt you're talking about the same ships here" Juleka noted and he gave her a puzzled look. Unfortunately before he could ask her what she was talking about he got cut short by Alix' impressed whistle.

"I didn't know you were so serious about this" she said as she thoughtfully nodded at her counterpart.

"Love is important!" Rose answered and began to recite myriads of reasons why true love would change all their lives for the better.

Resigned Max accepted that the occurrence of interest was over and turned to finally face his best friend. "I could elucidate the previous discussion to you but as a matter of fact I don't think you'd be interested in it at all" he offered but Kim just put an arm around his shoulders as usually and beamed down at him.

"Nah, I'm good. If you say it's lame I trust you completely" he refused and Max smiled back at him. The information that Kim trusted him made him unexpectedly happy and he was unable to name the trigger of his suddenly oddly beating heart. There couldn't be a connection, right? It wouldn't make any sense. Not at all. It would be one hundred percent illogical.

Oh no, he got nervous. Again.

"Can they be considered a ship?" Alix' voice interrupted their nice friendship moment as well as Max' chain of thoughts and he quickly looked to the ground to hide his furious blush. That was a ridiculous assumption!

"That's for sure. I for one am waiting for them to take the next step for weeks already." The frustration in Rose's voice was clearly noticeable.

"Huh?" Kim asked not exactly ingenious, his arm still on Max' shoulders while he looked at Alix' devilish grin in concern.

The burning embarrassment on Max' face prevented him from being proud about his earlier hypothesis regarding her intentions being proved right. All these thoughts and feelings that crushed down on him all of a sudden hit him unprepared and he just wanted to escape the situation. Forcefully he stared to the ground in front of him but Rose's giggle and an amused snort from Juleka raised the unpleasantness to an unbearable level and even made him hide his face behind his hands. What was up with him?

"Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?!" Kim demanded and protectively pulled the boy in his arm closer unconsciously.

Maybe Max' current situation wasn't that bad after all.