Chapter Text
Alya Cesaire was, by all accounts, a good person. She rarely littered, she had volunteered at least twice in her life, and she had spent nearly 100 hours listening to her best friend pine over her crush, without a single complaint (or at least with minimal complaints). And then of course, there was the fact that she happened to be a superhero. And not just any hero. She was Rena Rouge, the fantastic, incredible, and only superhero Paris needed. And as she had explained to Marinette countless times, it was perfectly normal for good people to have hypothetical hit lists. The key word being hypothetical. Alya would never actually kill someone. Of course not. And after all, there was only one name on her totally-not-serious hit list. The ignorant, boring, all over annoying Carapace.
Now, some people (aka Marinette) had expressed concern that Alya had murderous plans for Paris' other superhero. But Alya's best friend simply couldn't understand. Sure, Shell Boy was supposed to be her partner (preferably sidekick). But Carapace was such a pain. While Rena was impulsive, coming up with a plan in seconds and running with it, Carapace was painstakingly slow with his planning. Perhaps it came with the Turtle Miraculous. His ideas took forever, and they didn't have that kind of time when they were facing an akuma. And on the rare occasion that Rena's plan didn't work, he'd just stare at her with an infuriating raised eyebrow that never failed to make her feel like an incompetent idiot. So yeah, Alya hated the other hero.
It certainly didn't help that the city loved him as much as they loved her. Fangirls gushed about how he looked so smart, with his stupid goggles and calculating looks. What Paris didn't understand was that being a hero wasn't a job for some nerd with a shell.
"C'mon Al, don't you think you're being a little harsh? He's had some good ideas." Marinette was sitting at her desk and sketching some new design. Alya hadn't even even thought she was listening to her rant.
Alya groaned and fell back against her best friend's bed. "Having 'a few good ideas' doesn't qualify someone to be a hero. Chloe had a couple good ideas for our project last week, but that doesn't mean she's going to be fighting akumas any time soon."
Marinette swiveled around in her chair, probably to further defend the bane of Alya's existence, when she was distracted by the chiming of her phone. She checked the message before smiling softly. Alya didn’t have to guess who it was.
"What, did Sunshine Boy finally ask you out?"
Marinette shot her a look, setting the phone back down. "No, just another cat meme. Besides, I don't think he feels that way about me."
Alya fought the urge to groan again. Adrien and Marinette were her two favorite people, but they could be frustratingly stupid sometimes. They'd been so obviously in love with each other since at least last year. Even Chloe had picked up on it. But they remained stubbornly convinced that the other person wasn't interested, which left them dancing around each other and engaging in terrible flirting. Alya was pretty sure this was the fifth time Adrien had texted Marinette in the last half hour, but she chose not to mention it.
"Hey, did you hear that we're getting a new kid in our class?" Marinette asked suddenly, breaking into Alya's thoughts.
She rolled over on her stomach, moving to face her friend. "No, how'd you know?"
"The principal wants me to show him around on Monday morning," she responded, eyes never leaving the paper in front of her as her pencil moved steadily.
"Of course, the perfect class president," Alya teased, grinning when Marinette stuck out her tongue. "Let's just hope he's not stuck up."
Marinette frowned. "Well maybe it would be better if you didn't judge him before even talking to him. Kind of like you did with a certain turtle-themed superhero."
"You're not subtle, Mari."
"I wasn't trying to be."
Alya rolled her eyes and checked the time. It was 5:00pm, which meant she only had.two hours before patrol with him. She considered skipping for a moment, but the last time she tried she'd gotten a very harsh lecture. It had almost been worth it to see the irritation on Carapace's face, but then he'd threatened to ban her from the next battle. Honestly, who did he think he was? He wasn't in charge, and he had absolutely no right to ground her.
"Sorry girl, but I've got to run." Alya said apologetically, standing up.
Marinette turned and grinned. "Is the Rena Blog calling your name?"
The Rena Blog was a website Alya had started shortly after becoming a superhero. It was dedicated to the akuma battles, and was the most reliable hero site. It was sometimes hard to get footage, but she had recruited Adrien and Marinette to film for her. Marinette had suggested that they make the blog about Carapace too, but Alya was definitely not including that stick-in-the-mud in her blog.
"Not quite. I promised I'd babysit the twins. But if I get some editing done while the girls are watching TV, who's going to know?"
Marinette laughed and offered to walk her to the door, but Alya waved her off. She knew the Dupain-Cheng's house almost as well as her own. It made sense, considering her and Marinette had been besties since they were five.
Alya grabbed her stuff, waved, and headed out the door, pushing all thoughts of turtle superheros out of her mind.
***
"You're late."
Alya didn’t even bother hiding her exasperation with the boy she'd just landed beside. "Or maybe you're just early," she said cheekily.
Carapace raised an eyebrow before glancing down at his watch. "We agreed to meet at seven. It's currently 7:03."
Alya hated him. She hated his monotone voice, she hated how he was always so composed, and she hated how he made her feel like a child.
"Sorry, didn't realize three minutes was going to jeopardize the safety of Paris."
She watched his jaw clench with satisfaction. She may hate him, but riling him up had quickly become one of her favorite past times.
Carapace didn’t acknowledge her taunt. "We'll stick to the same patrol routes. You take the left side, I'll do the right."
Alya should have probably just nodded and set off, but she could never resist a chance to annoy him. "That's boring, don't you think Shelly?" She hid a grin as he bristled at the nickname. "Why don't we switch it up? You take the left."
He stared at her for a moment, eyes narrowed. Eventually, he seemed to decide it wasn’t worth fighting over. "Fine. Meet back here in an hour." With that, he leapt off the roof.
Alya grinned as he left. It was a tiny victory. It didn't mean anything, and it was probably extremely petty. She wasn't normally super petty, but Carapace had a way of bringing out the worst in her.
The patrol went smoothly, and she was on her way back when she heard a muted yell. Alarmed, she landed on the street and peeked around the corner. To her disgust, a man had cornered a young woman against the alley wall and was demanding that she hand over her wallet. Gritting her teeth, Rena unhooked her flute.
“What do we have here?” she said as she approached. The man turned around in surprise, and he scowled when he saw her.
“That’s none of your business. Move along girl,” he replied.
“Oh, I don’t think so. Why don’t you get out of here before I see how my superpowers hold out against a mere civilian?”
The man faltered, and glanced back at the woman before sneering at Rena. “Whatever, pathetic teenager,” he muttered, running off into the shadows. Rena watched him go before smiling kindly at the woman.
“Thank you!” the lady gushed.
“Of course. Do you need help getting home?”
“No, it’s not too far. Thanks again!”
“No problem,” Rena said, still smiling. “Before you go, would you happen to know the time?”
The woman checked her phone. “8:10.”
Rena winced. Carapace was definitely going to get onto her. Oh well. She waved to the lady before heading back to their meeting spot. Carapace was already there, and he glared at her as she landed beside him.
“Yeah, yeah, I know I’m late.”
“What, was the right side too much for you to finish in an hour?”
Rena frowned. “No, I had to stop a mugging on the way back.”
The other hero eyed her for a moment before speaking. “Why?”
Rena blinked in surprise. “Uh, because a lady was being robbed?”
He scoffed. “I do know what a mugging is, thanks. My question was why were you dealing with it? We’re superheroes, not police officers.”
She gaped at him. “Are you kidding? You must be joking. I saw a citizen in need, and I helped her out. That is our job.”
“Well, are you sure she actually needed help?”
Rena didn’t like the sound of that. “What are you implying?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, you do have a habit of being...dramatic.”
She was getting properly angry now. “How dare you? Are you saying I lied about saving someone?”
He stared at her, still infuriatingly relaxed. “Not that you lied per say, but it’s perfectly feasible that you exaggerated a bit.”
“I can’t believe you! Ugh, I was so right, you're nothing but a jerk. Patrol is over!” Still fuming, she stomped to the edge of the roof to leave.
“Wait, Rena!” Carapace called. She ignored him, jumping off the roof. Marinette, and all of Paris, were wrong. Carapace was the judgy one, and she would be much happier on her own.
***
“Hey Alya, over here!”
Alya turned at the voice to find her best friend waving from the top of the stairs. Smiling for what felt like the first time all weekend, she headed towards Marinette. Carapace had managed to ruin her whole weekend, and she was still sour about their conversation on Friday.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she found a boy she didn’t recognize standing next to Marinette, grinning slightly. She assumed he was the new kid. Her initial thought was wow, he’s cute. The boy had dark, tanned skin, warm brown eyes, and a sharp jaw. He was clearly pretty fit, and he stood with an easy confidence. He was wearing thick, black glasses, which made him look nerdy, in an endearing way. She was reminded of another nerd with glasses, but they way the boy smiled when he saw her made Alya sure that they new kid would be nothing like Carapace.
“Hey girl!” Marinette greeted cheerfully. “This is Nino.”
The boy, Nino, stuck out a hand. “Hey, it’s nice to meet you dudette.”
Alya practically melted at his smooth, relaxed voice. Cut it out she told herself. You’re acting as bad as Marinette. Well, almost.
She smiled and shook his hand, pleased at his firm grip. “I’m Alya.”
He released her hand and turned to Marinette. “Was there anything else you wanted to show me?”
Marinette considered it for a moment. “Um, I think we covered it, but maybe -”
“Princess!” Adrien cried happily, coming to stand with them. “You didn’t respond to my texts this morning!”
Marinette blushed. “Oh, sorry Kitty, I was busy this morning.”
Nino raised an eyebrow and met Alya’s gaze. “Kitty?” he mouthed.
Alya rolled her eyes before subtly pointing at Adrien. “Obsessed with cat puns,” she mouthed back.
Nino seemed amused, and Alya noted how nice it was to have someone to talk to instead of always being the third wheel. Adrien and Marinette were still talking (read: blatantly flirting), completely oblivious to the other two teenagers standing beside them. After a few moments of awkward staring, Nino cleared his throat.
“So, uh, who’s this?”
Marinette blushed again, this time in embarrassment. She quickly apologized, then introduced the two guys.
“Nice to meet you man,” Nino said. He glanced between Adrien and Marinette thoughtfully. “So you two are dating then?”
The two teens in question flushed, and Alya hid a laugh behind an unconvincing cough. Marinette and Adrien rushed to protest.
“Oh no, we’re not-”
“It’s not like that-”
“-we’re actually-”
“-really we’re nothing more than-”
“-just friends!” they finished together, impressively in sync.
Nino’s eyes widened, and he nodded slowly. “Right. Friends.”
The disbelief in his voice was clear, and Alya decided that she definitely liked him. There was a moment of silence, in which Adrien and Marinette stared at each other with wide eyes.
Alya sighed. “Well then, should we get to class?”
Marinette blinked. “Oh, right! Yes, class we should get. I mean to class we get. I mean, we should get to class!”
Nino seemed to be one step away from gaping, but Adrien was just watching Marinette fondly as she led the way to their home room. Alya met Nino’s gaze and pretended to gag. He chuckled and leaned over to whisper in her ear.
“Wow, they’ve got it bad.”
Alya shivered at the feeling of his warm breath, but she managed to shake her head in mock annoyance. “Tell me about it.”
They filed into the classroom, and Adrien invited Nino to sit in the empty seat next to him. Nino accepted the offer and slid into the seat in front of Alya with a quick thanks.
“Alright class, we’re going to start today off with some group work!” the teacher declared from the front. “Everyone get into groups of two.”
Alya didn’t even hesitate before turning to her best friend, but Marinette was already beaming at Adrien. Alya shoved down her disappointment. She wanted her BFF to be happy, and she knew for a fact that partnering with the model would accomplish that.
Sighing, she turned to scan the room. Everyone already seemed to have found their pair. Her eyes finally landed on Nino, who had already been looking at her.
“Hey Nino, do you want to-”
“-be your partner?” he finished smoothly. “I’d love to.” Alya could feel her heartbeat pick up at his words, and for the first time, she understood why Marinette was always going on about her crush. Alya took in the twinkle in Nino’s amber eyes, his small grin, and the way his glasses perched precariously on his nose. Yeah, she could get used to this.