Disclaimer: You know the drill.
AN: Apparently my questionable sanity is a lot less sane than I thought. Why on Earth did I think it was a good idea to take on this when I'm judging the Quidditch League. But the muse was most insistent...
Marinette's lungs were burning by the time she reached Alya's apartment. She paused briefly to catch her breath.
"You know Marinette, I'm pretty sure Alya wasn't expecting you to run the entire way," Tikki said with amusement.
"She said it was important!" Marinette protested between breaths. Tikki looked at her with amusement. "And I did kind-of set her up with Nino. Even if it was an accident!"
"I'm sure Alya will understand," Tikki said, giving Marinette an encouraging look. Marinette smiled as she straightened up.
"Yeah. It's a good thing she doesn't know that I'm Ladybug and I locked them both in a cage together," she said, before looking at the front door of her friend's apartment. "Might as well get this over with."
She knocked on the door.
Alya opened the door and yanked Marinette into a hug. Marinette allowed herself to wallow in Alya's scent and her warm embrace.
It was nice, being embraced by a friend like Alya. And it came with a nice, tingling sensation that made Marinette feel amazing.
It was nice having a best friend like Alya.
"Girl, I am so happy to see you. I need your help," she said as they finally parted. "Well, your support." She paused for a moment and Marinette waited in nervous anticipation. "I'm in love with Nino."
"Oh…"
"Yeah, Ladybug locked us up together in the same cage."
(Marinette internally winced at that. She hadn't intended for it to happen like that. Someone, somewhere, was having a hard laugh at her expense in her opinion.)
"Anyway, being locked in an animal cage together is a good way to get to know someone better. Who knew?" Alya paused and smirked. "Maybe we should have Ladybug do the same to you and Adrien?"
"Alya!"
Alya laughed as Marinette felt her face warm up.
"So…you two are dating now?" she asked and Alya's face fell.
"No…I just…froze," she said, looking away and biting her lip. Marinette gaped in disbelief. Alya, freeze? Why would she freeze? She was amazing and beautiful and funny and confident. What would stop her?
"I just…she put her hands on her face and groaned. "I've spent years, I didn't even think that I COULD be attracted to a boy. Girls were my thing. My first crush was on Majestia for God's sake! And now I'm just…argh!"
Marinette felt a twinge of annoyance at Nino. How could he not see how amazing Alya was?
How could he look at her beautiful wavy reddish-brown hair and hazel eyes and not see how gorgeous she was? And that perfect little beauty mark just above her right eyebrow…(a strictly platonic observation of course. She was a fashion designer. It gave her an eye for the aesthetics of people's appearance. And because Alya was her best friend, she noticed her the most. Obviously.)
How could he spend time with her and not be enraptured by her enthusiasm and her wit and her bravery and-
Well she could list Alya's good points all day really. She was really lucky to have such a good friend like Alya in her life.
"We're going to help you win Nino's heart!" she proudly declared and Alya raised an eyebrow. "But we're going to need help."
"Okay…"
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"Oh that's so sweet!" Rose cooed, clasping her hands together. "Alya and Nino, Adrien and Marinette! Besties dating besties! It's practically fate!"
"It is kinda sweet," Juleka said quietly, her eyes on Rose and a small smile on her face.
"Exactly!" Marinette exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "And we need to wo-" She paused and frowned as she looked at Rose. "Wait, how do you know how I feel about Adrien?"
"EVERYONE knows," Alix said, rolling her eyes and Marinette's face turned red. "Well everyone except Adrien. He's oblivious. But everyone else knows."
Marinette let out a small eep, before somehow pushing on. It had been her idea to hold this meeting and she was going to see it through.
"An-an-anyway, we need to help Nino and Adrien get together." Her eyes widened briefly as her brain processed what she had just said. "I mean Nino and Alya! Nino and Alya!"
"And you and Adrien," Alya said with amusement as the other girls laughed. Marinette smiled.
"I don't get why she can't just go up to him and ask him out. You came out of the Panther cage talking to him. What's the problem?"
"I just…can't . It's like, I can talk to him and laugh and everything, but I try to ask him out and it just…doesn't happen." Alya said and Alix rolled her eyes.
"You and Marinette are practically made for one another. No wonder you're best friends." Alix smirked at them. "If Marinette wasn't so into Adrien, I'd think you two were dating."
Alya and Marinette both choked on nothing and Rose turned to look at Alix.
"Two people can be really close without being in a romantic relationship," she chided. "Take Juleka and me."
"But you are dating Juleka," Alix pointed out and Rose spluttered for a moment.
"Well yes, Juleka and I are dating," she said as a smile crossed her face. "She's amazing and cute and sweet and-"
"Anyway, back to Alya and me, I mean Nino! Nino and Alya. We're going to bring the two lovebirds together!" Marinette said quickly, cutting Rose off before she completely disappeared into Juleka land and the two girls went outside to kiss for a bit. Well a lot really. (She loved Rose and Juleka, but she knew how distracted they could be on one another.)
"Maybe we could kidnap Nino," Juleka suggested quietly. "We could lock him in a room with Alya and let it work out."
"Juleka!" Marinette exclaimed. "That's a terrible idea!" She paused and stopped to think for a few seconds. "We'll put it under consideration."
"Maybe Alya could write Nino an anonymous love letter," Rose said with a thoughtful expression on her face. "She could tell him that she loves him and he should come to a specific place to meet her."
"That's a great idea Rose!" Marinette said, scribbling some notes and Rose smiled.
"It's how the protagonist of my favourite book solved the problem," she said cheerfully. "It's so sweet and cute."
"Or she could play him a song," Juleka suggested. "That's how I confessed to Rose."
"It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It was beautiful and romantic and cute, just like Juleka."
Juleka blushed as the other girls awwwed and cooed for a moment. Then Alya frowned slightly.
"Guys, I don't really know how to write a song…" she said, biting her lip.
"It's just an idea," Marinette said with a wave of her hand.
"We could help you write it," Juleka said quietly. "You know…if you want to…"
"See! With our help, you'll be dating me in no time!" Marinette proudly exclaimed.
There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone slowly realised what she had just said. Her face slowly turned red as the other girls laughed.
"You're cute and totally my type Marinette, but I'm into Nino and you're into Adrien right now. So, not today?" Alya said as she put a hand on Marinette's shoulder. Marinette blushed harder as she tried to ignore the tingling sensation on her shoulder. It was just because she was embarrassed about her mistake after all, right? Nothing more than that really.
"Exactly. What could go wrong?"
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"So what went wrong this time?" Alix asked in a bored voice.
"Loving your confidence in me Alix," Alya said and Alix rolled her eyes. "Maybe I succeeded."
"And maybe pigs will fly.." Alix paused and smirked. "I wonder if I could convince Kim that pigs can actually fly.." She looked at Alya once more. "It couldn't be any worse than watching you and Marinette trying to ask out the boys of your dreams."
"The path to true love is full of obstacles and surprises," Rose said brightly.
"And it's not our fault that Nino thinks that we're dating," Marinette added vigorously and Alix snorted.
"You walked up to him holding hands. Even I know what that means. And I don't do romance!"
"Two people holding hands as they walk doesn't mean they're dating," Juleka said quietly, before looking at Rose. "Rose and I do it all the time."
"You and Rose are dating though."
"That's not the point Alix!" Rose said and Alix rolled her eyes. Before they could say anything, Mylene spoke up.
"Maybe you just need to practice?" she said and the others looked questioningly at her. "Well sometimes I practice what I'm going to say to people with Ivan. It really helps me when I'm nervous. Maybe you should do the same?"
"Great idea!" Marinette practically shouted. "I volunteer!"
There were some looks exchanged between the other girls. She was sure that it didn't mean anything. She was just helping her best friend out, nothing more. She grabbed Alya and pulled her friend in front of her. "Pretend that I'm Nino. Make your confession."
For a moment, Alya stood there looking slightly numb plussed. Then she smiled and started talking.
"Hey Marinette, I-" She paused and shook her head. "Hey Mar-Nino. I think that you're really cool and I really like you, really like, like you. And I would really love to be your girlfriend."
"I'd love to be your girlfriend!" Marinette blurted out, before abruptly turning red with embarrassment. "I meant boyfriend! Boyfriend! Because I'm Nino, who's a boy and not Marinette, who's a girl!"
Alix snickered and Marinette put her face in her hands. Alya however put a hand on Marinette's shoulder.
"Hey, you did awesome girl," she said looking at her friend. "And if I wasn't so into Nino and you into Adrien, I'd probably be happy to be your girlfriend. Like, who wouldn't? You're amazing Marinette."
Marinette blushed and she crushed a sudden urge to kiss her best friend in a very non platonic way. Thoughts were such random things.
MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML.
The internet was buzzing about the pictures of Adrien and Nino that had been taken earlier that day.
Pictures of Nino and Adrien running away from fans hand in hand.
Pictures of them coming out of the cinema together holding hands.
Pictures of Nino trying to stop Gorizilla.
Pictures of Nino and Adrien hugging.
Pictures of Adrien kissing Nino gently on the cheek.
As far as the world was concerned, Adrien Agreste and Nino Lahiffe were dating and there was no space for anyone else.
Unfortunately for Marinette and Alya, the two boys had sheepishly admitted that they had been dating for months before this day.
Months. Marinette and Alya had never stood a chance. All their planning and schemes amounted to nothing after all.
It was kind of depressing really.
"I wish that I'd known sooner," Alya grumbled as the two girls huddled together in Marinette's room watching bad movies. (The best breakup entertainment in both girls opinions, if only for them to laugh at how bad they were.) "We spent months trying to get those two, only for them to be into one another."
"Hmmm," Marinette said as she revelled in Alya's touch. It was a nice touch. A warm, tingling sensation that she didn't want to end. And it gave her a nice view of Alya's gorgeous face.
She frowned as an urge to kiss her friend crossed her mind. She had been having a lot of those urges lately. And random thoughts about how nice it would be to kiss her best friend. And random thoughts about how nice it would to go out on dates with her best friend. And then there were the dreams that made her blush just thinking about them. It was ridiculous.
"I should be really bummed about it, but…" Alya shrugged. "It's almost a relief. Like I've been going through the motions of being in love with him instead of actually being in love with him."
"Really?" Marinette asked, bringing her thoughts back to what her best friend was saying. Her very cute best friend that she wanted to kiss-NOPE!
"I sound terrible, don't I?" Alya said with a sigh of exasperation. "But…it's like seeing those pictures and hearing them admit made a light go off inside my head and suddenly I could see the truth."
She threw herself onto Marinette's lap and looked up into Marinette's face. Marinette felt a sudden sense of joy at the change.
She gave herself a mental shake. She was being silly. She was attracted to boys, not girls. (Well except for that small crush she'd had on Socqueline when she was eleven. But that was just hormones.)
She loved Alya, not Adrien.
No, that was wrong. She loved Adrien, not Alya. Alya was just her friend. Her best friend. Her very awesome best friend who she wanted to kiss and kiss and kiss and-
Marinette let out a loud eeeep and Alya sat up sharply.
"Marinette?" she asked with a look of concern. "Are you-"
"Alyawillyougooutwithme?" Marinette suddenly blurted out, before turning red. Fortunately Alya was fluent in Marinette. She smiled and leaned forward, gently kissing Marinette on the lips.
"I'd love to," she said with a smile. Marinette smiled back and kissed Alya in return.
AN: Kwami this fic did not want to end. Also, make sure to check out FruitDragon's stories. Not only are they a fantastic writer, their Alyanette fics helped me to stay motivated. (To my readers on FFN, I'm sorry but I'm not sure if FruitDragon is on FFN.)
