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“Whoo! Go Kim!” Nino yelled, arms cupped around his mouth to amplify the sound. Besides him, Adrien was clapping like a madman – and on his other side, Marinette was throwing out rose petals.
Kim stepped out into the frigid Parisian air, taking an overdramatic bow as the trio yelled their praises. “Thank you, thank you!” He called, bounding down the steps of Francoise Dupont to greet his friends, movements light. “Shush. Let me address the crowd.”
The three quietened accordingly, even slowing the rose-petals to a minimum.
“Now,” Kim begun, clearing his throat dramatically. “Tonight has been a small step in the world of normal Parisians… but in the books of Kim’s acting career, it has been one large leap!”
Nino cheered, clapping his hands together. “Can I have your autograph!” Marinette called, throwing more rose petals.
“Please, please, no paparazzi.” Kim tutted. “I would like to spend this momentous evening with my friends – out of the public eye. Catch me at tomorrow’s stage door and I will reconsider.”
“Kim! You were so good!” Adrien gushed. A grin grew on Kim’s face, and he patted Adrien on the back several times, with just enough force to send him forwards a few paces.
“Aww, thanks Agreste! It means a lot that you came to support me.”
“Hey, what about us?” Marinette asked indignantly from Nino’s other side.
“Well, you would’ve come anyway, losers. Without me, you’d have nothing to do on an ordinary Thursday night.”
“We’re only here because school starts later tomorrow,” said Nino. “Don’t kid yourself, mister hot-shot-actor.”
Kim raised a single eyebrow. “Oh, so you don’t want to go out for food on me?”
Marinette shook her head. “Actually, that is the only reason we came to see you. For the food. Just like every year.”
“Well, I think we should get going, because I don’t want to freeze to death,” Adrien said. “Where are we headed?”
“We’re walking – to the shopping centre? You can last ten minutes, surely.” Kim teased. “Or do you need to stop and grab an extra layer?”
Adrien seemed to bristle slightly. “I can handle it. Can you?”
“Of course!” Kim scoffed. “You’ll see. Let’s go!”
The foursome began walking down the street, falling easily into singing Kim’s praises for his excellent role in the school play (it was pretty hard to play Chad in high school musical when the entire cast was so obviously French – but Kim was very good at what he did) and discussions of the food they wanted to order.
It had been a little over a week since the whole Lie-la fiasco had gone down – and the dynamic in their little group had barely changed. Nino had made a staple in his routine of walking Marinette to school every morning (and he was starting to think he did it more for the pastries than for his friend.) They hung out every lunch, and most days after school, if they could – they had their communal hangouts, of which whoever could showed up – and then they had the occasional go to someone’s (Kim’s, mostly) house.
But tonight was the ‘sleepover’ they’d been planning since the beginning of the whole ordeal – after Kim’s opening night, and when they could stay up as late as they want, because school didn’t start until midday the next day. All four had been buzzing about it since the beginning of the week – even Adrien, who wasn’t allowed to stay the night, but who’s curfew was extended to 11, so he could stay as long as possible without actually sleeping over.
The restaurant was close – a cute little Italian place Nino had recommended, and Mari had backed up (both of whom had been introduced to the place by Alya.) They got seated immediately – for a Thursday night, it wasn’t unusually busy – and began pondering over their menus.
“I mean, how did I not know you acted?” Adrien asked, still gushing over Kim’s performance. “You were great! But I always thought it was all… sports, you know?”
Kim shrugged. “I love sport – I’m really good at most – but my second passion is for theatre. I didn’t want to take another essay subject for the BACs, so I signed up for drama; turns out I have a talent for it.”
“Do you want to be an actor?” He asked, seriously, placing the menu down. Marinette, besides Nino, seemingly had also decided on what she wanted to eat, and put the menu down to listen to the conversation.
Kim shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, if I decide to go to university, I’d probably study drama over sports, because you can be super involved with sports without actually studying it – plus sports is all science when you learn it, which is gross. But for careers… I don’t know what I want to do.”
“That’s fine!” Marinette piped in. “We’re seventeen. We’re not supposed to have our entire lives planned right now. Go with the flow.”
“Says you, miss I’ve-wanted-to-be-a-fashion-designer-since-I-was-six.” Kim mocked kind-heartedly. “You have everything sorted.”
Marinette shrugged. “I’m still having trouble on deciding which universities to apply to. With everything that’s been going on recently, my portfolio is… scarce.”
Nino frowned. “But you’d get in anywhere, Marinette! The stuff you make is incredible.”
Marinette’s cheeks flushed, and she looked down at the table, suddenly very interested in her menu again. “Thanks, guys. But if we’re talking about careers… what do you want to do, Nino?”
Nino shrugged. “I wanted to be a DJ – but apparently I have a talent for law.” That got a few whoops from his friends, and then a few strange looks from around them. “I want to find a gig at a nightclub or something, and then I don’t know… wait for a talent scout? Although I love DJ-ing, I really don’t know how you go about becoming one,” he chuckled awkwardly, pulling his cap off to run his fingers through his hair, and making it stick up at all odd angles.
“Well if anyone’s got the talent for it,” Kim shrugged. “I mean, that set you did for last year’s dance was sick, man! Ondine and I had a blast.”
Both Nino and Marinette paused at the mention of Ondine, looking to Kim. Nino raised his eyebrows. They had promised to talk about relationships… about Kim’s situation with Ondine and Alix.
Kim ignored them, turning to Adrien. “And what about you, pretty boy? Gonna continue modelling?”
Adrien shrugged. “As long as I’m related to my father, I think I have to continue modelling,” he chuckled self-deprecatingly. Besides him, Marinette frowned. “But after school, hopefully I’ll ease off a bit, and go to uni – move out. I want to study Physics.”
Involuntarily, Nino scrunched up his nose. “Geek,” he said softly. Adrien laughed.
“Yeah, well it’s never been a secret I liked school. If you were locked up in your house for so long, you’d like it too.”
Locked up? Nino shared a look with Mari and Kim, but Adrien seemed to blink – and before they could press the subject further, the waitress had shown up, asking for drink and food orders. They recited their orders, and the waitress took their menus away, promising for the food to come out quickly – and when she was gone, the awkward sense had somewhat dissipated.
Kim let out a sigh, watching the waitress leave. “She was so damn cute.”
Marinette coughed, slightly, in surprise. “Then get her number!”
Kim shrugged. “You think I should? What if she’s taken?”
“There’s no harm in trying,” Adrien suggested. “But… I thought you and Alix had a thing.”
Marinette smacked her hands against the table, causing her cutlery to jump slightly. “Exactly!” She said, raising her eyebrows at Kim. “The entire class thinks the two of you have a thing!”
Kim sighed somewhat heavily, which was very uncommon for someone with as much pep as Kim possessed. All three members of the table turned to him questioningly. “We… she… it’s really complicated, guys. Can we talk about it, like, after two movies and a bottle of vodka?”
Nino blinked. “Vodka?”
Kim shrugged. “It suited the aesthetic. But if you guys actually want vodka, I know a guy.”
Adrien chuckled. “Seriously?”
Kim nodded. Marinette rolled her eyes. “No alcohol in the bakery, remember? My parents would kill us – especially after last time.”
Adrien’s eyes widened. “Wait, last time?”
Nino grinned at the memory, and so did Marinette. Opposite them, Kim had already buried his face in his hands and groaned softly. “Don’t judge me, Agreste,” he muttered. “Promise me – before they spill their guts.”
“I promise,” a small smile of intrigue was growing on Adrien’s lips as he looked back over to Nino. “What happened?”
“For Kim’s sixteenth – which was the last of the three – we celebrated at Marinette’s. For both Mari’s and my sixteenth, we were allowed a glass of wine with dinner. Kim had that, and then when we left the parents to chill in Mari’s room, revealed he’d gotten a bunch of booze from some cousin, and planned on getting shit-faced because he was able to sleep over.”
Nino watched as Kim’s cheeks heated through his hands, pausing the story telling to take a sip of his diet coke, that had just arrived. Marinette took over effortlessly. “So Nino and I weren’t drinking much – neither of us really like booze? But Kim got so drunk in, like, a half hour, and he puked – first all over his clothes, and then he got to the bathroom.” She chuckled softly. “So he stripped – into just his boxers, but then he was complaining about being warm or something? So he climbed up to my balcony, with his vomit shirt in his hand, and yelled,”
“I am Kim, I am sixteen, and I have a whiskey dick!” Marinette said in tandem with Kim and Nino, before she burst into laughter, and Kim groaned again.
Nino took another sip of his drink, but then couldn’t help but snort at the memory, almost choking on his drink. Marinette, who was in hysterics next to him, cracked up even more, and patted his back harshly. Adrien was chuckling softly, amused, but unable to erase the crease of confusion between his eyebrows.
“Whiskey dick?” He asked. “Doesn’t that mean you can’t get it up?”
“He-“ Marinette paused to gasp in air, through an almost hiccup of a laugh, “he thought it meant when you get a boner because you’re drunk. And it was like, seven, so the sun was still up – and he was circling the shirt over his head… oh my god, it was hilarious.”
“And your parents found out?”
“Well, they must’ve had the windows open, because they heard what he said and ran upstairs – and saw all the booze. I still stayed over, but Kim was sent home immediately.” Nino smiled. “All done, Kim. Show us your face.”
Kim pouted, removing his face from his hands and picking up his cup of sprite to press it to his warm cheek. “I regret nothing,” he said weakly.
“Yeah, sure,” Marinette chuckled. “But yeah, now there’s a no alcohol rule at my house. And although we don’t do sleepovers much anymore – they always check in every hour or so. Just in case.”
The waitress came back, placing the pizzas (and spaghetti – for Kim) down in front of the teens. Adrien just sat there for a second, just processing. “Whiskey dick?” He finally uttered out, smile gracing his face.
Kim groaned again.
The walk home after food was quick, and pleasant; filled easily with jokes and complaints of full stomachs. Marinette had insisted they shouldn’t stay for desert – which everyone had protested at first, but after the large quantities of food they had, they weren’t really willing to push on it – instead heading back to the bakery (besides, Mari’s parents made damn good desserts every day – and they always saved a couple pastries at the end of the day for special guests.)
When they got it, Marinette’s parents were sitting on the sofa, watching a TV show together. They stood to greet the four kids – and Nino was wrapped up in Tom Dupain’s bear-like hug that always seemed to smell like sugar and feel like home. After he’d received the greetings, he watched as Adrien awkwardly outstretched a hand for Tom to shake – only to get it stuck by his stomach as Tom went for a hug. Adrien look shell-shocked – but the look quickly morphed into one of content.
“Kim, you were incredible!” Sabine said, placing a hand on his shoulder and offering a warm smile. Besides her, Tom nodded, smiling.
“Very convincing!” He said with a polite smile that showed he really had no clue what he was talking about – but the smile was genuine. Kim chuckled, doing a mini bow, and Marinette’s parents applauded softly.
“We’ll leave you kids the living room, then,” Sabine said with a smile. “Have fun, but not too much fun – we’ll come and check on you. And don’t get too loud.”
Marinette blushed. “Mom!” She hissed. “That’s so embarrassing!”
Sabine chuckled. “I meant don’t get too loud playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III! I know how competitive all of you can get – but Tom and I would like a good night’s sleep, and so do the neighbours; so make sure to keep it down.”
Before Marinette could turn an even deeper shade of red, her parents had headed upstairs, and Kim and Nino were fishing out the game DVD and the controllers as if it were second nature (which, it kind of was.) Kim was the first to take a seat; right at the end of the sofa. Nino took the hint, and sat right next to him.
Marinette and Adrien hesitantly sat down next to each other. “So who’s starting?” Kim asked, holding the controllers up. “Winner plays Mari? Or best out of three?”
“Oh, please,” Nino said, grabbing a controller. “No matter who plays who, she’ll end up winning.”
True to his word, almost an hour later, and Marinette was crushing her second opponent of the night – Kim. Nino had already been destroyed; and Marinette had promised Adrien (the only contestant who had a half a chance) a match as well.
“Hey,” Nino whispered to Adrien, who, through all the shuffling the night had brought on, had ended up sitting besides him on the floor. “Marinette is really ticklish.”
Adrien blinked. “What?”
Nino just smirked. “Think about it. We all want you to win. Marinette is ticklish. You have me on your side. I’ll sit on her other side – you just focus on winning.”
Adrien nodded in tandem with Marinette’s victorious shout as she beat Kim’s character, knocking its HP to 0. Kim groaned exaggeratedly. “Why are you so good at this?”
Marinette shrugged, pretending to brush a piece of lint off her shoulder. “What can I say? I’m talented.”
Kim shrugged. “You’re up, Agreste.” Adrien stood to take the controller, and sat back down on Marinette’s side. Nino stood, stretching, and made some complaint about how his legs were numb, before settling into Marinette’s other side, trying to keep his expression neutral and non-conspicuous.
He looked over to Kim, who hadn’t been informed of the plan – but his raised eyebrow, and mischievous grin let Nino know he was definitely aware of what was about to go down.
They both picked their avatars, and the game begun. At first, Adrien was holding up his own – but Marinette’s slew of combo attacks knocked his HP quickly.
Nino jabbed her side, just under her ribs, pulling a startled, “hey!” from Marinette. Nino fought back his laugh. He waited another second, waiting to see if Adrien would regain the gap in HP. When he didn’t Nino attacked again – going for the ribs.
Marinette giggled, wriggling away from Nino and into Adrien. “Cheat!” She yelled, through her giggles. Nino’s hands reached to grab her sides again, but she softly kicked him away.
Mistake. Nino grabbed her leg, tickling the underside of her foot. Marinette writhed, roaring with laughter, tears forming in her eyes. Nino spared a glance at Marinette – and then at the screen.
How was she still playing? Even worse; how was she still winning?
“Adrien!” Nino called, and Adrien, without moving his eyes from the screen, grabbed the controller out of Marinette’s hands and threw it behind him, proceeding to continue playing innocently. Marinette gasped, reaching for his controller (which, no matter how high he held it, she could still reach, because she was practically half in his lap now) and throwing it in the same direction.
A wave passed through the three boys, and they all moved in tandem. Nino and Kim got up, rushing to get the controllers – Kim to defend Mari’s honour, Nino to win (because Kim was the worst player of them all, and a victory against Marinette was the sweetest.) Adrien, using Marinette’s prime position in his lap, lunged to continue tickling her.
Nino looked desperately for Adrien’s controller. Where the hell had she thrown it?
A thud let Nino know Marinette had rolled onto the floor – but her laughter continued, which meant she wasn’t hurt; and Adrien had followed her, and was still tickle-fighting for him to win. Nino spotted the controller at the same time Kim spotted Marinette’s – and they both made a mad dash for the sofa, to continue playing.
Adrien was almost sitting on top of Marinette, to keep her in place whilst he tickled her. Tears had fallen, and were still falling, down Marinette’s cheeks – and she was writhing like a madwoman, unable to escape. Nino focussed on combo attacks, and watched happily as Kim’s – or Marinette’s – HP bar slowly lowered, until it hit 0.
The screen displayed the fact that Adrien and Nino had one for a split second before Nino was standing, roaring with his victory, arms above his head. He went to high five Kim, and then Adrien – but he paused.
Adrien was still sitting on top of Marinette, except he had stopped tickling her, and they were now less than a metre from each other, just sort of staring into each other’s eyes – like something out of a rom-com.
Kim sighed over-exaggeratedly. “Gods, you guys, get a room. I thought Mr and Mrs Dupain-Cheng said not to get all frisky.”
The trance between the duo was broken, and Adrien rolled off of Marinette, standing on wobbly legs. “I need the bathroom,” he announced after a second.
“Third door on the left,” Marinette said, but Adrien had already started walking. The trio watched as he exited the living room.
When the door shut behind him, Kim turned back to Marinette, a wicked grin on his face. “Don’t think we’re only talking about me when we have that relationships talk later. You’ve got a lot to spill, too. About a certain blondie.”
Marinette went crimson.
“Okay, I need 4 eggs,” Nino said, looking over the recipe that the Dupain-Chengs had left out for the group. “Mari, where do you keep the eggs?”
Marinette walked over to the fridge, pulling out a tray of two-dozen eggs. “Four?” She asked. Nino nodded. Marinette got out the four, passing them to Adrien, before seating the tray back in the fridge. Adrien passed Nino the eggs, and Nino placed them off to the side.
“Okay… next we need flour. Self-raising.”
Marinette scrunched up her nose. “Can’t we just use normal flour and add in some baking powder?” She asked. “Like… self-raising?”
Kim, sat on the counter, fully out of the way of the three teens trying to bake, looked up from his phone. “Hey guys,” he said. “For the music… do you guys want to listen to Metallica?”
“No,” Nino and Mari supplied – looking to Adrien when he hadn’t answered.
Adrien shrugged. “I’ve never listened to Metallica before.”
Kim smirked. “Oh, you poor, poor child. You won’t regret this. Metallica is awesome.”
Kim moved to get up the music, playing it over the Bluetooth speaker in the room, as Marinette handed Nino the flour (self-raising) that he measured out precisely. “Butter, softened,” Nino read out next. “How do you soften butter?”
Marinette smiled. “I got it. This butter is room temperature,” she said, passing him a block. Nino intercepted it, frowning at how the butter was almost a gloopy consistency – a little like playdough, through the foil.
“Don’t play with it!” Adrien laughed. “What’s next?”
“Baking powder, and then caster sugar,” Nino said, opening the butter and beginning to cut small slices to weigh it out. “And then we can get baking!”
Marinette fished out the two remaining ingredients, handing them to Nino as the unfortunately familiar chords of a Metallica song filled the kitchen. Kim started bopping his head softly – and Marinette hopped up onto the counter, sitting next to him.
Nino looked to Adrien. “Thank god I have a helper this time,” he said, smiling. “Kim can’t bake for shit, and Mari always drops everything, or tries to start food fights – so she’s banned until the assembling and decorating portion.”
Adrien nodded, a slightly fearful look in his eye that made Nino chuckle. “Don’t be frightened, dude!” He said, patting Adrien on the back. “We’ll be fine. Now go wash your hands before we start touching the stuff.
A half hour later, whilst Marinette and Kim had taken a thousand selfies, and they’d gone through most of Kim’s Metallica collection (with a few honourable mentions of Guns and Roses), the cakes were in the oven. Marinette grinned, jumping off the counter and moving into the living room. “Pillow fort time!” She declared.
“What’s a pillow fort?” Adrien asked from behind Nino. The trio turned to look at him.
“You’ve never made a pillow fort before?” Kim asked, horrified.
“Oh my god,” Marinette mumbled.
“We’re fixing that, dude,” said Nino. “Come here.”
Marinette ran upstairs to grab all the pillows from her room, throwing them down, and the three boys took turns catching the blankets and the pillows, transferring them to the living room. Once everything was down, the original trio set about placing blankets and pillows to maximise comfort, using books to hold down the edges, and the back of the sofa to hold up the blanket. Somewhere in the middle, Kim passed Adrien a pile of blankets, instructing him to ‘put them wherever looks comfortable.’
And then the timer for the sponges went off, and Marinette disappeared to get them out of the oven, and let them cool – and the fort was finished before everybody filed into the kitchen again.
“Okay, who’s making the cream?” Marinette asked, fanning the sponges lightly with the recipe book. “Kim made it last time – so I vote against him.”
Nino frowned. “I think Adrien should do it,” he said, making eye contact with Kim, who was nodding enthusiastically. “I did most of the sponge-making. He needs to pull his weight.”
Heat crept up Marinette’s neck, but she nodded good-heartedly. “Okay,” she said. “Well, we can make buttercream, or we can just use whipped double-cream; but I don’t think we have any of that. So, the way to make buttercream…”
Nino joined Kim, sitting on the edge of the countertop and watching Marinette and Adrien blush around each other, Marinette softly instructing the completely clueless Adrien on how to do everything, whilst cutting the top off of the cake, and placing the first of the three layers on the plate, and adding the jam.
“We’re trying to hook them up, right?” Kim whispered to Nino, scrolling on his phone for the next song to play over the speakers.
“Definitely,” responded Nino, lips curling upwards slightly. “But with the way things are going, they’ll probably hook themselves up – we should just leave.”
Kim laughed. “Let’s get a slice of cake first.”
They looked back – to see Adrien had finished the buttercream, and was watching in awe as Marinette placed it onto the layer of cake, before adding jam, and then carefully putting the next layer on. She finished the cake, dusting the top softly with caster sugar, before turning back to the three guys with a grin. “Done!”
Kim jumped from the counter first. “Can I lick the spoon?”
Marinette nodded, picking up the cake – and the four teens filtered into the fort; Nino hanging back to turn off the lights once they were all situated. When he got in, Marinette was cutting slices of the cake, offering one to Adrien rather than Kim, who seemed focussed on getting all the batter out of the bowl and into his stomach. Marinette cut another slice, passing it to Nino, who took a bite and just about melted.
“Holy shit,” he said. “I am so talented. Your parents should hire me as an apprentice. This cake is damn good.”
Marinette chuckled. “Ask them about it. But I swear, if you get jam or anything on these blankets, you’re never being invited here again. That goes for all of you.” She held a jam-covered finger out at the three threateningly. Kim nodded, before placing the empty bowl at the entrance of the fort, and holding out his hands for his own slice.
Nino looked at his friends – barely illuminated by the fairy lights Marinette had hooked up, covered somehow in icing sugar, joking with each other and eating cake that they’d made, with the sound of Metallica in the background. “I missed this,” he found himself saying, somewhat mindlessly; a contented smile on his face. Marinette was the first to meet his eyes, smile growing, and nodding softly.
“Me, too,” she said. “We should make it a tradition again.”
“Well, we do have a lot of catching up to do,” said Kim, mouth still full. “Three years? Two?”
“You slept over on your sixteenth. That was, like, a year and a half ago.” Said Marinette.
“Yeah,” Kim said, “but I barely remember that night. We just, like… watched movies. We have to have deep chats, you know? You can’t have deep chats at school.”
“Okay,” said Marinette. “Then who’s starting?”
They all looked around the group, questioning eyes. Kim slowly took another bite of his cake, not breaking eye contact.
Nino sighed. “Okay, I’ll go. Umm… my dad has been trying to get into contact with me again.”
Marinette frowned. “What? Why?”
Adrien seemed confused, but Kim, even through the cake, was seething on his behalf. “Uhm, I haven’t seen my dad in almost six years,” he supplied. “My mom got a divorce, but then he wasn’t leaving – so she filed for harassment, and then got a restraining order. But something about the law says restraining orders expire, or something? So, yeah. I don’t even know how he got my phone number.”
“What about Chris?” Adrien asked. Nino shrugged.
“Chris was a baby when he left. I don’t think he even remembers my dad. But… I have like twenty voicemails, and I’m wondering if I should open them. Like, what if he’s changed?”
Marinette frowned. “Nino, you don’t owe that dickwad anything. Yes, you could listen to those voicemails – but it’s up to you. You don’t have to forgive him – you’re not obliged to do anything.”
Nino sighed heavily. “Yeah, I know – but… I don’t know. I feel kind of dickish.”
Kim shook his head. “You’ve done nothing wrong, man.” He said. “Want some more cake?”
Nino laughed softly, nodding – and Marinette passed Kim the knife so he could cut Nino another slice. After a second, Adrien asked for one as well. Marinette was only nibbling on her slice, so didn’t need another just yet.
“Alright, who’s next?” Nino asked, taking the slice from Kim.
“I’ll go,” said Marinette. “Uhm, the school called my parents, after the whole Lila thing… so we talked. I explained a little bit – and they were really supportive. We’ve decided I’m going to start seeing a therapist. We looked for a couple days, and my first appointment is next Tuesday.”
“Yeah?” Nino asked, a smile growing. “That’s great, Nette!”
Marinette smiled shyly. “You really think so?”
“Of course!” Kim butted in. “Why wouldn’t we?”
Marinette shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just… sometimes people are weird about therapy, and all that stuff.”
Nino shook his head. “You deserve to be happy, Mari.”
Marinette smiled. “Aww, you big goof. I love you guys, you know?” She was laughing, now, happy tears filling her eyes. Nino was smiling, too.
Marinette took a large bite out of her cake. “Okay,” she said, covering her mouth with one hand to spare the boys the disgusting view. “Who’s next?”
Their eyes immediately darted to Kim, who shrugged. “What can I say?” He chuckled. “My life’s great.”
Nino’s eyes narrowed in on Adrien, who was probably trying to swallow a bite of cake, but choked slightly at the sudden attention. “I…” he faltered, after a second of coughing. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t have much either.”
“Really?” Asked Nino. “I thought… your dad.”
Adrien’s cheeks flushed slightly. “Well, I don’t really see him much – so it isn’t that big of a deal.”
“What do you mean you don’t see him?” Marinette asked from next to him.
“Well… he’s barely ever around. I’m usually alone in the house – at mealtimes, and stuff. I see him at the occasional fashion event, but… we don’t talk. So, there’s nothing wrong. What can he do wrong if I never see him, right?” Adrien let out a deprecating laugh.
The group sat in silence for a second, eating their cake and considering what to say. “Want another slice?” Marinette asked, finishing off her cake slice and going to cut herself another. Kim nodded, and Nino shook his head – making some gesture to show he was full. Her eyes turned to Adrien questioningly.
“Oh, I shouldn’t. My father would kill me,” he said casually. Marinette blinked.
“He wouldn’t know,” she said. “Right?”
“Well, my nutritionist weighs me right before bed, to measure how much food I’ve had or something, and to see how it affects my body. Two slices is pushing it, but three… my father would literally send Nathalie to murder me,” he said.
Nino wanted to say something. He didn’t know what – all he knew was that his mouth had opened, and he was ready to speak-
Adrien’s ringtone interrupted the moment, and he let out a relieved breath at the interruption, climbing half out of the fort to grab his phone. “Hello?” He asked, looking at the trio and offering comforting smiles. “Yeah, hey Nathalie. You’re outside? Is it eleven already?” He nodded, waiting for a second. “Okay. Okay. I’m coming down now. Yeah. See you in a minute.”
He hung up, turning back to the group sheepishly. “It was Nathalie. I have to go.”
Before the three teens could prompt a response, Adrien had fully stood up, and begun gathering his things at the stairs. Nino looked over Marinette – who looked borderline heartbroken. He was sure the expression was sorely reflected in his own face, too.
Adrien slung the bag onto his shoulder, putting on the smile that showed up in all the magazines for his friends. “Thank you for tonight,” he said earnestly, moving to hug the three friends.
Kim was first – he patted Adrien’s back softly, and made the effort to smile when Adrien pulled back. Then Nino.
Adrien’s hugs had always been sort of delicate; like he hadn’t been taught how to hug properly, and was sort of doing what he saw in movies. But in that moment, Nino wanted to squeeze all the life out of Adrien, with how much his heart was hurting for the dude. If Adrien felt the squeeze as a strain on his ribs, he didn’t say anything.
Marinette’s hug lingered a little longer; either because Marinette had buried her head into Adrien’s shoulder and was rubbing his back and refusing to let go, or because Adrien liked the physical contact from her. It was probably a mixture of both.
But when he pulled back, the cracks in his ‘model-smile’ smoothed over effortlessly. Marinette led the way back down to the bakery, and – just like Adrien had said – Nathalie was standing besides a car, waiting for Adrien. He walked out the door, waving at the trio one last time, before disappearing from their view as Nathalie shut the car door, walking around to the passenger’s seat and getting in herself. The teens, however, didn’t stop waving until the car had pulled around the corner, and out of their sight.
“Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Marinette asked once the car had left.
“Oh, definitely.” Kim cracked his knuckles. “Let’s pull a secret night heist and murder Gabriel Agreste in his sleep, and then adopt Adrien.”
Marinette laughed. “No, not exactly. But I think we’ve found our next target to take down.”
An hour later and the pillow fort was dismembered, the cake was put in the fridge, the sleeping bags for Nino and Kim were set up in Marinette’s bedroom, and the entirety of Paris had gone to sleep. After the intense forty minutes they’d just spent planning how to take Gabriel Agreste down (which consisted mostly of bitching and noting down (thanks to Nino) things they’d noticed about Adrien’s treatment that weren’t quite right, and of the promise to properly research the laws sometime soon) they were all sitting, doing their own thing on their phones.
“Kim,” Nino asked, looking up from his phone and watching as Kim unplugged one of his earphones. “When are you going to tell us about Alix?”
Kim’s ears went red, and he looked back at his phone. “I’m… texting her now, actually.”
From Nino’s other side, Marinette must’ve fixed Kim a look, because the colour in his ears deepened, and begun to creep up his neck. “I’ll talk,” he said. “Just… let me finish. Actually, I could use some advice.”
Marinette shuffled from behind him, and Nino also moved to get comfortable, turning off his phone – ready to listen. Kim cleared his throat, fidgeting with his hands.
“Uhm, I like Alix.” He began. “I’ve liked her… maybe a year, now? But it took me a while to figure it out, and then I was dating Ondine when I did figure it out. That’s why we broke up – we were both kind of using each other as a rebound, except for me, it was for emotions I didn’t know I had.”
Nino made a sound of understanding – some hum, or other, prompting Kim to continue.
“So, yeah – for that year, I guess I sort of subconsciously pushed her away? I was trying really hard to get over her. This was when Max joined our friendship group, of sorts – like, he became a permanent member. I thought it was easier to hang out with the three of us, because I could deflect whenever I felt awkward when she talked to me. But after a while, she confronted me about it – this was maybe two months ago?”
Nino blinked. All of this stuff had been happening, and Nino didn’t know a single bit of it. He felt a lot like a shitty friend.
“Well, anyway, she was all like ‘do you not like me or something?’ and I basically just ended up admitting that I liked her – and then she was like ‘I like you too.’”
“What?” Nino asked.
“Then why aren’t you dating?” Marinette screeched from behind him.
“This is where it gets complicated,” Kim let out a soft, humourless laugh. “We kissed – that day. But then she was being all weird? So I was like ‘do you want to go on a date?’ and she was like ‘no.’ So, for like two weeks, I was moping and stuff, and then I decided that she should at least tell me why. So I asked – this was like three weeks ago – and she said it’s because she’s ace.”
“Ace?” Nino asked.
“Asexual,” Kim filled in. “I didn’t know what it was, either – but I did a bunch of research on it, and she explained a little. It’s basically where you don’t really feel any attraction towards sex.”
Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed. “So she doesn’t want to date you because she’s asexual?”
“Yeah!” Kim raised his voice slightly. “Which s stupid, right? I really like her; I don’t care if she doesn’t want to have sex with me! But she was all like ‘no, you’ll cheat on me because we’re not having sex’ and that kind of hurt, but I don’t know how to prove her wrong! So now we just play sports together, and tease each other, but when the time comes to have a one-on-one serious conversation, we both freeze up.”
“Ouch,” Marinette said. “That is way more complicated than I was expecting.”
Kim nodded, sighing heavily. “But… yeah. I have no clue what to do to tell her that – I’ve tried just saying it.”
“Maybe some grand gesture? Alya always seems to like those,” said Nino.
Kim shook his head. “Alix isn’t a hardcore romantic – she doesn’t believe in flowers, and necklaces, and all that stuff.”
“Give her a basketball, then,” said Marinette. “Like – ‘I don’t care that you’re ace, I still like you; go out with me?’ or something. Or make her a cake.”
Nino looked at Marinette. “Write on a basketball?”
“What! I’m saying whatever pops into my head. My bedroom is a judgement-free zone.”
“Okay…” said Nino. “How about you challenge her to a sports competition? And your prize is that she has to go on a date with you.”
“There’s no guarantee I’ll win,” said Kim. “But… maybe.”
“I think Alix is a romantic,” said Marinette. “Not outwardly – but if you get her, like, a couple of pins for her bag, a couple of patches for her jacket, and a single rose… Who wouldn’t be wooed?”
“Do the sports thing, but like a treasure map – and have dinner waiting for you at the end. We’ll help!”
Kim blinked. “But… how do I tell her the part where I like her for her?”
“Exactly how you just told us… except maybe a little slower, and without the yelling.” Marinette suggested. “She’ll love it. And she already likes you – no matter how stubborn Alix has been in the past, we are knocking this out of the park!”
Kim smiled. “Thanks, guys. But I’m not the only one who needs to explain their relationship status…” he looked to Nino. “What’s up with Alya?”
Nino shrugged. “We’re going out for food next week, to talk things through, see if we’re still a good match. I don’t know what’ll happen, to be honest.”
“Do you want to stay with her?” Marinette asked.
“I think so; I mean, I still love her, right? But all that stuff she did, and she said…”
“You just don’t know how big of a second chance you’re willing to give,” Kim said. “That’s fair.”
“Kim! That sounded totally philosophical!” Marinette gushed. Kim chuckled.
“Nu-uh, Nette. Flattery will get you nowhere. What’s your relationship status – and what the hell is that story about Chat Noir on your balcony?”
Marinette groaned. “I really thought you’d forget about that. Okay, firstly, as you know, I have a crush on Adrien. But that’s it. I’ll never confess to him – right now I’m just kind of working on being his friend.”
Kim nodded. “Now the Chat Noir thing?”
“Right…” Marinette said, her cheeks heating. Nino adjusted his position so he was facing her. “I… Chat Noir visits my balcony, sometimes – usually I give him whatever the bakery didn’t sell, and sometimes hot chocolate. But for a week or something, I sort of… thought I had a crush on him. So when I saw him land on my balcony, I blurted that I loved him – which was super awkward, because now I know I didn’t really have a crush on him, I just thought he looked like Adrien – and my parents saw. So then Chat rejected me, and my dad got akumatised, bla bla bla… that’s it.”
“That’s it?” Nino said. “You’re frieds with a superhero? And you didn’t think to share the information?”
Marinette shrugged. “You never asked! Besides, I haven’t even told Alya. If I did, she’d camp out at my house until he next showed up and demand an interview.”
Kim chuckled. “Can’t argue with that. But about the Adrien thing… you’re really never going to confess to him?”
“Kim, I’ve only just learnt how to speak in proper sentences towards him,” Marinette begun, looking down at her hands. “How the hell am I supposed to stutter out a love confession? Besides… he likes somebody else.”
“Ladybug?” Nino asked. “Please. He hasn’t got a shot with her. And even though you – and him – don’t see it, the rest of us do. I’m pretty sure if you asked, he’d say yes.”
Marinette plummeted her face into her pillow, groaning. “Why does this have to be so complicated!”
The two guys chuckled, and Mari came up for air, rolling onto her back. “I’m tired,” she announces to the open air in front of her.
That prompts a lengthy yawn from Kim. “Want to sleep?”
“No,” said Marinette. “But I guess we kind of have to. It’s like half one, right?”
Nino opened his phone. “Quarter past two, actually.”
Marinette groaned. “My parents will be up and making noise in like two hours. They’ll come and check in on us. We should go to bed. Unless anyone wants to talk about anything else?”
Nobody responded, so Marinette stood, stretching her hands up above her head as she walked to the light switch. “Night, you guys,” she said, flicking it off and hurrying back to her sleeping bag.
“Night,” they responded. Nino heard the scuffles as Marinette got into her sleeping bag, zipping it up. He heard Kim’s slightly heavy breathing – almost a snore, but not quite – calm and even.
And then he drifted off.
At somewhere near three in the morning, Nino was awoken.
He was supposed to be asleep (like Kim, the deadweight, was beside him) – but Marinette had left her skylight window open, again; and she was nowhere to be seen.
He was about to get up to close it and protect himself from the unrelenting cold air, when none other than Ladybug jumped through in a flash of red, landing on Marinette’s bed. A moment (and a flash) later, Marinette closed the skylight, climbed down from the ladder and got back into her sleeping bag on Kim’s other side. Marinette was Ladybug?
Well… that made a lot of sense.