Chapter Text
When Alya took up ASMR, Nino knew the fixation had something to do with their last argument.
The Maybe we should break up? question might have hung in the air when they parted ways.
Nino didn't want their relationship to end either, but his future started looking pretty hazy. He wanted to go to the same university with Alya, but he didn't perform well somewhere along the way. At least he applied for another university, but seeing Alya so bummed made him feel guilty. It wasn't helpful how he almost lost her during a recent akuma+amok attacks with her reckless attitude.
"I already told her man.." Nino leaned on the sofa as Adrien sat opposite of his direction. "But she just doesn't.. Gah."
"How about talking to her without Marinette?" Adrien suggested, picking up his espresso. "Marinette might be enabling her."
"Mar wouldn't do that..." Nino picked up his sandwich, taking a bite. "And when is M not with Al?"
"I could distract her." Adrien took a sip of his drink.
Taking Adrien's advice might be good and bad. Good because now Alya is trying hard to patch the distance between them and be a more cautious person. Bad because leaving Adrien with Marinette caused the bluenette to talk to Alya about stuff.
Nino already asked what Adrien talked about with the girl, but the blonde refused to talk about it. Whatever it was made Marinette avoid Adrien like a plague. He only learned later from Alya that Adrien and Marinette will be attending the same university. Chloé also managed to get in, but she might be closer to Adrien than Marinette. How is that scary? Who knows? Marinette is flimsy that way.
...
Lounging in Adrien's room, Nino has his headphones on as he edits the new videos Alya modified. After the hearty breakfast, walk around the aquarium and a hearty lunch, Nino and Adrien went back to his mansion to chill. Lila miraculously managed to persuade Gabriel to give Adrien a break for just today. Said blonde is currently on his computer and playing Jagged Stone's music.
"Are you sure you're telling me everything?" Adrien asked and Nino paused at the part of Marinette is pouring the second layer of egg for the healthy egg roll omelet.
"You know I love you bro, but I can't tell you everything." Nino told his BFF before continuing to edit the audio. Having requested Nathaniel and Marc to distract Marinette, he talked with Alya about what happened during breakfast.
From their talk, Nino learns the voice in the video to be Marinette and also knows Marinette and Alya are eventually going to live together. Hence, Nino taking on the task of masking Marinette's voice even further. He agrees with Alya not to disclose Marinette's identity because Marinette and Lady Noire do in fact sound very alike. They also know the repercussions of having an identity being outed in all of Paris (Chloé) and will completely hate themselves if Marinette gets targeted by Hawkmoth.
"I won't tell anyone.." Adrien swirled his chair to face him. Ever since Nino confided to his BFF and swore him to secrecy, Adrien became very invested on the theory of Marinette being Lady Noire. "I can also help."
Nino knows Adrien is over his celebrity crush because the blonde has dated Kagami, Chloé and Lila (Adrien keeps denying his dates with Lila for some reason). However, this fixation is strangely new to the DJ. Oh wait! Also, Adrien is single and forced to be single to keep GABRIEL floating with the amount of dedicated and rabid fan girls. Same fan girls blackmailed Lila, threatened Chloé and used numerous platforms and mediums to insult Kagami. For the sake of everyone, Adrien opts to remain single.
However, an entire year without a girlfriend caused some critics to believe Adrien to being gay. This is recently disproved when Adrien is caught listening to ASMR which hyped the fan base once more. Same reason why Gabriel permitted Adrien to keep listening to these type of audio.
"I know, but Mari is BFs with Noire and Alya's BFs with both of them." Nino smiled when Marinette started a quick ramble about cheese benefits. It made sense because most of what Marinette is cooking all need cheese in them. Nino switched his screen to see Alya doing a private livestream in taking bits of Marinette's video to show in display. They agreed to minimize any identifiable trait, letting Alya buy Marinette new aprons and stuff for the videos.
"But..." Adrien got off his chair to walk towards Nino's area. "She must know."
"She'll tell me if ever." Nino reassured his friend, pondering whether to tag the video a cooking tutorial or a girlfriend cooking you a full meal video? Alya agreed to both, but Nino has the final say to control the amount of delusional guys from calling their friend a 'virtual cat waifu.' Nino swore these type of people weren't there before, but the world is changing for the... err. Yeah. The world is changing. This latest video seems like a normal video: Eggs baked in hashbrown and bacon. Simple and homey-
"You seem stressed." Marinette remarked. "Do you need a massage?"
"?!" Nino almost choked on his own saliva. Of all the things to do in the weekend, it had to be a massage. Nino hopes Marinette wouldn't-
"Don't worry. It won't take long." Marinette said this with a smile. Oh god. He can hear the plates being set down then the audible sound of Marinette coming close. Nino shivered at the request. "Now lie down for me."
"Nino?" Adrien asked and Nino almost caused his laptop to fall with how close Adrien was. For a second there, he thought that was Marinette. He even imagined Marinette placing her hands on his shoulder. Holy-?! Adrien asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?"
"N-nothing, dude. What are you talking about? Me? Pft. I'm peachy." Nino quickly typed to Alya, very concerned at how close these two girls are.
Nino: Massage?!
Alya: She gives the best massages.
Nino: ASDGHJKL
"Will that be the next audio?" Adrien asked, smiling. Nino hopes to gods above Adrien won't hurt himself for falling in love with their classmate's voice. Adrien asked, "Can I hear it?"
"Later. Gotta polish this." Nino scooted away from the eager model. He continues listening to Marinette humming, thinking to himself. It won't hurt to try right? Adrien is pretty lonely and Marinette is still single... 'Maybe it's time I step in and return the favor.'