Day 5. Zoo

'The zoo? Really?' Marinette chuckled when Nino led her to the iron gates.

'What?' he frowned. 'They have this really cool new reptile exhibition now that Wayzz wanted to visit. You game?'

She eyed him suspiciously but soon brightened up. 'Sure,' she drawled, 'as long as I can have some cotton candy.'

'I'll buy you the biggest and pinkest one they have,' Nino vowed solemnly.

He sighed inwardly. Coward, coward, coward, the birds in the trees chanted. He'd been gathering courage to tell Marinette how he felt for so long now, he wanted to smack his head into the nearest wall. Wayzz had suggested that maybe he should take her somewhere fun, with fond memories. But now it occured to Nino, that this was the place he had chickened out the first time. Not the smartest move.

They went to see the reptiles. Their pavillion was deserted so Tikki and Wayzz used this opportunity to play with the turtles, which turned out to be quite animated animals as they chased after the flying kwami.

Then they went to see the aras, the horses, the big cats, the dromedaries, the monkeys, the yacks, and Nino was still at a loss. He stubbornly proposed destination after destination in hope of getting an opening, but to no avail. They walked an awful lot before giving up and coming back to the Rotonde.

Exhausted Marinette sank to the bench in front of the bronze hippos. Nino finally caught sight of candy cotton vendor and brought her the promised treat.

'This is it,' she nudged him in the ribs as he sat next to her. 'This is the place of our legendary first and only date.' She looked around and pointed to a bunch of trees not so far away. 'Alya was hiding there, if I remember correctly.'

Nino chuckled. 'It's a miracle she hadn't bumped into Adrien. He chose those bushes over there,' he tilted his head in general direction of the shrubs. 'He was babbling cheesy lines into my earpiece and I was so stressed I almost passed out.'

Marinette smiled fondly. 'I remember. And then you said you had a crush,' she recalled.

'Yeah,' Nino scratched his head scooting a little bit closer. 'Adrien told me to tell you I loved you.'

'But you didn't,' she hid behind the cotton candy.

'I did,' he reminded, 'I just didn't say your name.'

'Why?'

Nino shrugged. 'I was embarrassed? Scared?' he murmured, moving a little bit closer.

Marinette peeked at him from behind the sugary cloud, her eyes flickering in the afternoon sun, resembling mountain lakes - just as deep and vibrant. That was the reason he had chickened out. Those eyes had taken away every reasonable thought he had, they had stolen his breath away then and they were close to doing it again.

'So you didn't have the courage, despite Adrien's best efforts?' she asked tearing a piece of candy and stuffing it into her mouth. She put her other hand on his and patted it compassionately.

Nino gulped, suddenly feeling like that awkward teen again, enchanted with the sapphires boring into him.

'I'm not afraid now,' he whispered, enveloping her hand in his.