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“Ugh, don’t get me started on that!” Alya exclaims from where she’s seated on the side of the cage they’re trapped in. “It’s so annoying!”
“It really is,” Nino agrees.
“If I have to hear one more rant about how wonderful Adrien’s eyes are—”
“And if I have to hear about mystery girl who I am thirty percent sure is Marinette again—”
“I’m going to explode,” they both finish together at the same time, before exploding into laughter.
Alya is a bit shocked, to be honest. When she first got locked in this cage with Nino, she didn’t imagine it would go like this. The last thing she would’ve thought they’d be doing is joking around and laughing about their best friends.
At first, she’d been annoyed. Alya was supposed to be out there filming, and being in this cage deterred from that. Who was Ladybug to shove her in a cage with Nino, just because she was worried they were going to get hurt? She would be fine! Just fine!
It’s why she has been annoyed from the start, and had spent the first several minutes of them being stuck in the cage trying to get out.
“Alya—”
“Shush,” Alya had muttered to Nino as she continued to kick the door. “We need to get out of here.”
“Alya, you’re not going to be able to kick the door down.”
She kicks the door of the cage once more.
“I can try.”
“But—”
Who is Ladybug to lock me up in here, anyway?” she snaps. “My father has been akumatized, and I need to film so people can be aware but no, instead I’m stuck in this cage and it’s stupid but—”
“Alya,” Nino says, reaching over to put a hand on her shoulder. She flinches away. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” she asks. “Calm down? How in the world am I supposed to calm down?”
Her fists are clenched, her eyes are closed, and she’s breathing heavily. This is just so, so stupid. Alya came to the zoo to have a good time, to set up Marinette with Adrien, but instead she’s stuck in a cage with Nino. Nino, who apparently has a crush on her.
But that can’t be true. Nino’s like a brother to her! How can he have a crush on her?
Thoughts continue to run through her head as she clenches and unclenches her fists. She’s said everything she wanted to say, and yet, her feelings are still the same. The annoyance, the frustration, and the sheer stupidity of the situation—
Suddenly, Alya feels something settle against her ears. Her eyes snap open.
“What—”
A wave of calm, refreshing music hits her.
Alya lets out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She finds herself wanting to take the headphones off—because dammit, she was strong and she didn’t need Nino looking after her like this—but the music is just so relaxing and gentle and she finds she can’t break out of it.
It’s slow at first, but soon enough, Alya finds most, if not all, of her negative emotions have vanished. She opens her eyes to see Nino standing sheepishly in front of her. He seems nervous for some reason.
“Feel better?”
“I—yeah,” Alya says, astonished to see that it was true. “How did you know I needed that?”
He shrugs. “Music makes everything better.”
She can’t really argue with that.
After handing the headphones back to Nino, Alya sits down in silence. Nino sits down beside her, though there’s still a decent chunk of space between them.
The silence is awkward, Alya finds. She tries her best to spend time scrolling through her phone, but the entire time she’s aware of Nino’s presence. She finds she can’t focus on anything else; he’s there next to her, he has a crush on her, and. . . .
Well. She doesn’t really know what she's anticipating to happen. Is she expecting him to confess? Or to ask her out?
Alya’s not really sure, if she’s being honest. And she really hates not knowing the answer.
Nino’s the first to break the silence.
“So,” he says, “how is, uh, Marinette?”
Alya turns to him and raises her eyebrows. Really. Of all the small talk topics he could’ve brought up—he could’ve asked how she was doing, about school, or heck, even about her blog—he instead brought up Marinette.
“She’s fine,” Alya says.
“Oh. That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah. So how’s Adrien?”
“He’s also fine, I guess. Same as usual.”
Alya’s about to respond with, “cool,” and go back to scrolling through her phone, but suddenly at the mention of both Marinette and Adrien, she realizes something: this is her chance to ask Nino about Adrien’s feelings! After all, Adrien’s best friend has to know about who he might like, right? Alya can take this opportunity to help Marinette and figure out how Adrien might feel.
She grins. Perhaps being stuck in this cage will be useful after all.
“So,” Alya says, scooting towards Nino, “how is Adrien in the love department?”
He frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Like, does he have his eyes set on any girl? Or. . . .?”
Nino raises his eyebrows. “Why are you asking?”
“Don’t tell Marinette I told you this,” Alya says, “but I need help.”
“What does Marinette have to do with anything?”
“Well. . . .”
And that’s how they’ve gotten to where they are now. It was a bit awkward at first. Nino was hesitant to say anything, but all Alya has to say is one word of Marinette having a crush on Adrien, and suddenly, he spills everything.
It’s why currently, the two of them are sitting side by side, ranting about their best friends, laughing, talking, and simply enjoying each other’s presence.
Alya couldn’t believe it. Of all the things she would’ve expected, she wouldn’t have imagined that she would connect with Nino by ranting about their friends.
But, as she finds, perhaps the guy next to her isn’t so bad after all.
“He didn’t even look jealous when I asked him to be my wingman!” Nino exclaims, throwing his arms up in the air to emphasize his point.
Alya rolls her eyes. “He’s just oblivious, that’s all. Marinette, on the other hand, knows perfectly well about her feelings. I swear, if I have to hear her rant about Adrien’s ‘delicate soul’ one more time without doing anything to confess, I will scream.”
“They’re so stupid sometimes.”
“Sometimes? More like all the time.”
Once again, the two of them burst into laughter at the wods.
It’s surprisingly easy to talk to Nino, she discovers. It’s different from the way she connected with Marinette that very first day at school. It’s different from the way she converses with her siblings at home.
Nino. . . . makes her feel different. Different in a way she’s never really felt before.
Alya isn’t sure what to make of it.
“You know what we should do?” Nino asks once they’ve finished laughing. “We should make it our mission to try and get them together.”
“Oh yes, the girls and I have tried that a lot with Marinette! But it never works out.”
“Well,” Nino says, “this time you have me on the guys side. Maybe that will help.”
Alya grins. “Maybe,” she says.
He’s probably right, though. Perhaps this will help, and they can set the two of them up together.
But what about you and him? A voice in the back of her head asks.
Alya frowns at the thought. On the one hand, Nino is great, and she’s talked with him more in this one afternoon than she has in the few months she’s known him, and yet. . . .
Well, his presence makes her feel different in a way she’s never really felt before.
They continue to talk, reveling in each other’s company. They start by talking about their best friends, but soon the conversation shifts to other topics. Alya finds the two of them click surprisingly well. Nino talks about music. Alya talks about her blog. They both talk, listening to the other, but also throwing in their own interests.
Normally, this type of conversation would seem hectic, and would feel like neither party is actually listening to each other.
But it doesn’t feel that way.
Instead, this feels. . . . right with Nino. As if it’s always supposed to be this way.
Soon enough, the Miraculous Cure is being thrown through the air, and suddenly, she and Nino are no longer in the cage. It’s only after they’re staring at each other, and Nino looks like he’s about to leave, that Alya feels a pang go through her heart, and she realizes something.
She actually enjoyed the time she spent there with him. She liked it, and, as she finds, she doesn’t want it to end.
Which is why there’s still one thing she wants to ask him.
“Wait,” Alya says before he has a chance to leave. “How exactly do you feel about me?”
“W-What?” Nino splutters as he turns to look at her. He seems shocked that she’s being so forward about this.
(She’s shocked, too. The only thing that’s keeping her rooted to the spot is the desire to finally have an answer.)
“You mentioned earlier you had a crush on me. Is that true?”
Alya isn’t exactly sure what she wants the answer to be, really. If he says yes, it’ll be unexpected. She’d never have expected Nino to have feelings for her before today. And if he says no. . . . well. Alya would be lying if she said she wouldn’t be at least a bit disappointed.
“I—I’ll be honest,” Nino says sheepishly, “I came here today to confess that I had feelings with Marinette. I didn’t mean to say your name.”
Oh.
“I don’t mean it like that!” Nino adds as soon as he sees the expression on her face—which is showing disappointment, she’s sure. “After uh, spending time here with you in this cage, I realized. . . . I do have feelings for you, Alya,” he says, and there’s a blush on his cheeks. “I don’t know why I thought I had a crush on Marinette in the first place. Because now that I think about it. . . . it’s always been you.”
“Oh,” Alya says, finding herself blushing.
In an instant, silent falls between them. Alya wants to tell herself she doesn’t know the way she feels. She really does want to say that.
But she can’t, because she does know how she feels. This one afternoon with Nino changed so many things she felt about him. She’d be lying if she said this didn’t impact her.
“Tell you what,” Alya says, “what if I told you I kind-of sort-of had feelings for you too?”
Nino splutters in shock. “I—what?”
She finds herself blushing. “Well, I, uh, I mean, if you were willing to try, I would totally—”
“I would love to!” Nino blurts out in excitement, then slaps a hand over his mouth sheepishly when he realizes how loud he was. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be that loud but uh, you know what I mean?”
“I do.”
For what seems like the hundredth time that day, they both make eye contact before bursting into laughter, and Alya smiles. This is going to be great.
“Well, I suppose it’s time to go tell Marinette and Adrien?”
“Yes,” Nino says, reaching over to entwine his hand with hers.
“We still need to figure out a way to set those two up.”
“And we will.”
“But they’re both idiots.”
Nino laughs. “They are, but—”
“We’ll figure it out,” Alya finishes with a grin. Nino grins back at her, and together, they both walk out of the zoo with their hearts fuller than when they walked in.
It seems like this is going to work out just fine.