Chapter Text
“You did what?”
Alya faces Nino, one hip cocked, arms folded. Her expression does not look pleased.
“I invited Adrien and Marinette,” repeats Nino. “To join us on Friday.”
Alya sighs and massages her temple with one hand. “Nino, I thought you understood what I meant when I suggested a sleepover! It wasn’t exactly the kind of thing I wanted other people to be there for.”
Nino’s face shows dawning comprehension.
“...Oh.”
Shit, he finishes in his head.
“Well, pretty lady-”
“Don’t call me that,” Alya interjects, looking like she might be trying not to smile.
“-as much as I would love to do those other activities you had planned, Marinette already said she was coming.”
“Well, that’ll be fun,” Alya reasons. “Marinette’s the best gamer in the class aside from Max. Unlike someone else I could name.”
“Do I detect an insult in your tone?” Nino scoffs, mock-offended.
Alya levels a finger at him. “Says the guy with a high score of exactly 400 points.”
“Touche,” he mutters. “Anyway, I thought it would be cool to have the whole squad over for the night. And if you want to know what else?”
Nino checks to both sides, very briefly, as though scanning for imaginary eavesdroppers in the hallway. There’s no one, as class has already let out for the day. He turns back and leans in closer.
“I’m getting kinda worried about Adrien.”
Alya nods slowly. “I see where you’re coming from. Honestly, I’m getting a bit suspicious of those two.”
“Well, there’s that, but I really just want to get Adrien out of that house,” Nino admits. “The last time I saw him having fun at a non-school event was, like, his birthday party. And I don’t know if he really enjoyed that, because apparently I had to become a bubble-shooting supervillain to get that shit done.”
“And that was months ago,” Alya reminds him.
“Exactly! So, you know what, even if Dadzilla says no, I might just scale the walls with a grappling hook and rescue him like a damsel in distress.”
“What are you gonna do, spirit him away on your noble steed-bike?” Alya teases.
“Don’t give me any ideas, woman!” Nino jokes back.
“All right,” Alya hums, “as heartbroken and wanting as you’ve left me, I’m definitely on board with Team Free Adrien. And I want to find out what he and Marinette are up to as well.”
She adjusts her glasses with one finger, staring into the distance as she enters what Nino likes to call Reporter Mode.
“They’ve been super suspicious, ever since, like, two months ago. Marinette avoided everyone for a week, including me, and then about a month ago she and Adrien were suddenly freaking Romeo and Juliet. Call me paranoid, but I just know there’s something weird going on. Marinette usually tells me everything. And on top of all that, akuma attacks have been increasing in frequency. That doesn’t have anything to do with Marinette’s love life, but isn't it suspicious that all of this is happening at the same time?”
“Well, it’s only Tuesday,” Nino reminds her. “You have three more days until Friday, and Adrien and Marinette are already home for the day. Might be a good time to, you know, hang at the park with me?”
Alya blinks, coming out of her Reporter Mode trance, and glances over at Nino, who has a hopeful expression on his face.
She smiles, wider than she did before. “Sounds like fun. I have a few hours to spare before dinner.”
Nino lights up, and the two hold hands as they head across the hall and out into the sunlight with everyone else.
~
“Marinette, are you still awake up here?”
Marinette looks up from her desk to see her mother, leaning through the trapdoor. Sabine is wearing a nightshirt; a glance out the window confirms that it’s pitch black outside.
How did it get so late? Marinette wonders. It seems like only an hour or two ago that she finished an early dinner and sat down to work on a new design for a sweatshirt commissioned by Rose for Juleka’s upcoming birthday. Black was Juleka’s color, so a Chat Noir-themed sweatshirt had been the best design so far, not to mention Juleka would probably think it was funny. But she already wore so much black, so maybe something with pink, to match Rose’s color palette? Or purple, to match the dyed streak in Juleka’s hair?
Marinette shakes her head as she realizes she’s getting caught up in her thoughts again and forces herself to focus on her mother.
“What was that, Mom?”
“I said, please make sure you go to sleep soon. It’s important that you get a good night’s sleep.”
“I will, I promise, Mom,” Marinette lies, feeling the familiar twinge of guilt but swallowing it.
Sabine smiles. “Thank you. I’ll see you in the morning!”
“Love you, Mom,” Marinette calls as her mother shuts the trapdoor. She looks at the clock; ten-thirty.
She changes into her pajamas quickly and then shuts off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness. After a moment’s consideration, she unlatches the window and opens it gently, letting a breeze of late spring air into the room.
The bed is easy to find in the darkness, and for once Marinette doesn’t stub her toe horribly on the bedpost as she flops down onto her blanket.
Tikki is sleeping on one of the pillows, placed just out of sight of the trapdoor, and Marinette doesn’t bother to wake her up, so for a while it’s just her in the silent room.
She passes the time with her phone, checking emails and the Ladyblog and playing a little game involving leaving food in a virtual yard for the neighborhood cats. Eventually, her eyelids are getting heavy, and just as she switches back to check her yard again-
“Evening, Princess,” comes a voice from the window, and Marinette yelps embarrassingly, despite the fact that she’d been expecting this all evening.
Chat Noir peers at her from the windowsill, and despite the fact that she can only see his eyes glowing in the dark, Marinette just knows he’s wearing his usual cocky smirk.
“Did I scare you?” he purrs teasingly, with an innocent tilt of his head.
“Hardly,” Marinette tells him with a roll of her eyes. “Hold on, give me a second.”
“Tikki,” she murmurs, and scoops the kwami into her hands. “Tikki, wake up, I need to transform!”
A minute or so (and a hastily made promise of cookies to be delivered upon return) later, Chat helps Ladybug through the bedroom window and onto the balcony.
"Any signs of akuma activity?" she asks, just as a precaution.
"Not one bit," he replies. "We have the whole evening to ourselves."
"That's a relief after that akuma at the Jardins des Plantes,” Ladybug sighs, then looks over at Chat with a smile. "I'm glad we could do this tonight. We hardly ever have time anymore."
Chat slips one arm around her waist and pulls her closer, bumping their hips together. "I've missed it too," he sighs.
Ladybug hums, looking up at the sky.
After a moment of silence, she turns to look at Chat. "What do you think about the top of the Eiffel Tower? I'd like to sit up there tonight, I think."
Chat grins. “Sounds purrfect, my Lady.”
Ladybug groans and pushes him away