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1.
If you ask him, Nino will tell you he doesn’t actually think seeing who would help an old man up is a good way of choosing a miraculous holder. He kinda gets the idea. Emphasis on kinda. Sure, helping someone up is a show of basic human decency and you would want a miraculous holder to have at least that, but it still doesn’t feel like the best test.
Especially in times like now, when Nino is running away from twenty-so akumatised jumping zombie-like creatures, Ladybug is god knows where recharging because the last lucky charm, a goddamn bagel , didn’t help finish the fight, and he is painfully reminded that he is not, in fact, qualified for this job.
(Not that anyone would be exactly qualified for running away from a jumping zombie mob but you get what he means)
Nino is one close call away from just giving up and cataclysming the ground to see how much of it he would destroy (you know, for science and stuff) when he hears a voice from a window to his left.
“Chat Noir, over here!”
Turning to it, Nino sees a blond boy desperately waving at him from a very big window on a very, very big house. He’s not really used to this part of the city but Nino vaguely remembers Marinette commenting about a famous designer living in a big mansion somewhere maybe around where he is. The boy seems too young to be a famous designer, though, so he assumes that’s probably the famous designer’s son or something?
Nino doesn’t have the best track record regarding famous people’s offspring - Chloe hated his guts since the first time she lay her eyes on his worn-out hat and graphic T-shirt and Lila ignores him every time he tries to talk to her (Although he’s not sure whose daughter Lila is exactly) - but is not like he can afford to be very picky right at this moment.
Nino nods to the boy and vaults himself up, swiftly passing through the window and landing on the room’s wooden floor. The blond boy closes the glass window as soon as he’s through, locking it with, Nino furrows his brows, a padlock. He steps away from it as soon as a zombie hits it with a loud bang.
They both flinch at the sound, but everything seems intact. Maybe not the zombie’s nose, but the miraculous cure will surely take care of that later. The zombie tries one more time to get through only to hit the window again. Some of its friends start to try too and also fail miserably. Nino blinks at them, vaguely amused.
“Won’t it break?” He asks mostly himself as at least three zombies hit the window at once.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, these windows don’t break that easily” The boy next to him answers. “You can trust me on this one”
It is then that Nino remembers that oh, he’s supposed to be doing something about the horde of jumping zombies over there, he’s Chat Noir. And also, he’s never seen the boy next to him in his life and he’s now locked in a room with him while Ladybug is still MIA.
“Uh, hi” Nino turns to the boy awkwardly “Thanks for that”
The boy smiles at him and Nino can swear he has seen that same smiley face somewhere.
“It’s no problem.” The boy says “It’s my pleasure to help one of the heroes of Paris”
Nino smiles back, but his mind is still struggling to match the face in front of him to wherever he knows he’s seen it before. It takes a while, and the boy seems to be growing slowly more uncomfortable by his staring even though his smile is still very much in place. The realization hits like a ton of bricks.
“Oh my god you’re the radiant, carefree, dreamy guy!” He splutters out.
Nino feels bad as soon as he says it because the boy visibly deflates, though the smile is still there, and rubs the back of his neck.
“Oh...yeah,” He laughs awkwardly “I’m Adrien. The person, not the fragrance. Though you probably figured that one out by yourself” He bites his lip and stands up a bit straighter “It’s not that hard to tell the difference between a glass bottle and a living being. I mean, unless there’s an Akuma with very specific powe-” Adrien stops himself, blinks, and deflates again. “Sorry, I’m rambling” He chuckles sheepishly and extends his hand to Nino “I’m Adrien, pleasured to meet you”
All Nino’s suspicions regarding the boy vanish in a matter of seconds (something he knows Ladybug wouldn’t find amusing) and he even feels the urge to just present himself as Nino since is clear that Adrien over there needs all the friends he can get. He decides against it quickly, no amount of good intentions would save him from Ladybug’s wrath if he exposed himself like that, but still puts on his most Nino smile when he shakes Adrien’s hand.
“Chat Noir” He tells him “And I’m pleasured to meet you too”
2.
Nino throws himself to the right, barely dodging what he can only call a goddamn death laser and praying to whatever gods are willing to listen that those close calls keep missing. The akuma, who calls himself Deadly Beam and wears bright red and blue armor-like suit like this is some kind of joke , doesn’t seem to have seen him hiding and he allows himself to breathe for a second.
Ladybug shows up next to him, having a very close call of her own and giving him a heart attack in the process because if that guy gets her they’re more than just royally fucked. She’s just as tired as he is and the lucky charm, a screwdriver, is clutched tightly in her hands, its use still indecipherable. The akumatized object is still nowhere to be seen and that always makes the fight worse.
“This is bad,” She tells him.
“Yeah” He agrees.
“This is very bad,” She says again.
“Vey much agreed” He nods.
Ladybug takes in a deep breath. Nino wants to offer her some comfort but she’s making her “I’m in deep thoughts” face and he knows is best to just let her be when she’s like that. He waits, expectantly, until she sighs and turns to him.
“There’s a billboard a couple of streets that way.” She points “ I’ll take him there and you can cataclysm the supports. Luckily we can trap him for a bit and I’ll” She looks at the screwdriver in her hands “I’ll poke his eyes out of something”
Nino chuckles even though he can’t really tell if she’s joking or not.
“Okay” He finally says “Let’s go”
They leave their hiding place in unison. He can hear Ladybug calling out for the akuma, but the guy seems to be having way too much fun death-lasering everything to give her the attention she needs. Nino waits anxiously next to the billboard and it takes a second for him to process he’s next to Adrien’s giant face.
He hasn’t seen the boy since the zombie fiasco. In person, at least. After meeting him Nino’s now way more aware of how much of Adrien’s face Paris has scattered around.
“Psss, Chat Noir” Adrien calls him.
Nino’s eyes widen. Could the akuma have a sub-power too? Is he going insane? He stares at Adrien’s giant face, panic rising up.
“Yes?” He asks the billboard.
“Uh” It answers “Down here”
It takes a second but he eventually looks down to see Adrien waving shyly at him on the roof below the billboard. Adrien the person, not the billboard. Or the fragrance.
“Oh thank god” Nino breathes out a sigh of relief. Then he remembers there’s a guy shooting literal death rays at people and the panic is back. He drops down to where Adrien. “Dude! What the hell are you doing here!” He looks to where Ladybug is still trying to get the guy’s attention “It’s super dangerous!”
“Oh, I know.” Adrien answers way more calmly than he should and Nino almost screams “I was at my fencing class and the akuma kinda blew up the building? And some of the street. My ride couldn’t get to me.” He has the audacity to shrug “Anyway I saw you coming here and I-”
An explosion interrupts him and they both turn their shocked faces to where the sound just came from. Nino can, thankfully, see Ladybug still alive and running.
Running towards them.
Shit.
“Whatever it is you can tell me later” Nino half-shouts already picking Adrien up to get him somewhere, anywhere, else. “You need to get out of here right now ”
Adrien yelps and instinctively wraps his arms around Nino’s neck as the hero jumps to the other building, frantically looking for an entrance to drop Adrien in.
“Wait!” The boy screams “It’s about the akuma!”
That makes Nino stop. He looks down at Adrien.
“Yeah?” He asks.
“He looks exactly like a video game character,” Adrien says. Sensing they won’t be moving anymore, he lets go of his hold on Nino’s neck to gesture as he speaks “I mean, the name’s different and the color is a bit-Actually that’s unimportant.” He shakes his head. “My point is that he looks like the guy and in the game and in the game the helmet is what gives him the laser power and the armor is what protects his power stone, which is like, uh, his Achilles’ heel! Yeah. So I’m betting that’s where the akuma is.” Nino frowns but nods, panicked. Ladybug is getting closer, so is the akuma. Adrien seems to sense his urgency because he speeds up his talking “The armor is almost indestructible but it can be opened by this special screwdriver. It’s like a special item mission that’s like, super hard but it’s really fun to-.” Another explosion, way too close to the both of them. Adrien blinks at it. “You know what, that’s also unimportant. You should go”
“I should go” Nino agrees.
“You can, uh, drop me here. Literally.” He pats Nino’s shoulder awkwardly “ I’ll go down the fire escape”
Nino kinda wants to argue because that seems way too dangerous, but he doesn’t really have the time to do anything else so he just lets Adrien go. The boy runs to the stairs just as another explosion goes off right next to them.
Adrien barely misses a piece of debris that just flew in his direction, gives Nino a thumbs up like nothing happened, and, way more calmly than he should, goes down the fire escape.
He’ll be the death of me , Nino thinks and turns to run towards the fight again.
“What the hell were you doing?!” Ladybug screams at him as they dodge another laser. Nino chooses to ignore the scolding.
“The screwdriver is just a screwdriver,” He tells her instead “I’ll need to pine him down and cataclysm the helmet so you can unscrew the armor”
Ladybug seems super confused, and Nino senses she’ll have questions later, but nods for him to move along with his plan anyway. Nino motions for her to call the akuma’s attention as he goes behind him. They move. He aims a kick square on his back when he’s distracted by her, knocking him down.
“Cataclysm!” He screams and touches the helmet. The thing turns to ash in his hands and as Nino turns the guy around no laser comes out of his eyes anymore. Nino almost cries. “Ladybug!”
She moves promptly. Nino’s sure she’s still confused but she unscrews the armor plate and there, right underneath it, there’s a weird-looking necklace. The rest is all well-practiced moves.
The ladybugs bring everything back as always, the laser-shooting guy becomes a very confused teenager with a headset, and Nino wonders if banning whatever video game that was from Paris would make Adrien too sad.
He hopes it wouldn’t because he definitely owes him for this one. And for the other one, with the zombies.
Damn. This is becoming more regular than it should.
As they make their way to return the teen to his home (and to make him promise to not play games that get him angry enough for freaking akumatization again), Nino silently promises himself the next time he sees Adrien won’t be to get his help.
3.
Camembert stinks, no matter what Plagg says, so can anyone really blame Nino for not wanting to smell like it all the time? In hindsight, he should’ve known that being a superhero meant he couldn’t just make decisions without pondering if there’s akuma attack, will I be royally screwed up by this? Living and learning.
The situation is as follows: the cataclysm didn’t work, his ring is already on its third beep, and his backpack with the goddamn cheese is buried under rubble. A lot of rubble. Overall, not a good way to start the week.
Nino is once again in the unfortunately familiar situation of running for his life in a part of town he’s not that familiar with. He’s dodging attacks as he frantically looks around to see if there’s any store that might have cheese when he catches the sight of a familiar very big mansion with some familiar very big windows.
“Come back here!” Ladybug shouts behind him, making the akuma turn and giving him the perfect moment to make a run for it.
Nino almost doesn’t go. Like dude! He just promised himself he wouldn’t use Adrien like that again. The boy needs a friend, not a desperate superhero demanding favors! Also! He shouldn’t depend so much on outside help, he’s the one that needs to protect the city!
The ring beeps again. Nino swallows up his pride and dignity and self-respect, they taste bitter, if you were wondering, and jumps to the window. Adrien opens it almost instantly, probably having already seen his movements.
“AdrienI’mSoSorryI’mGoingToDetransformAndINeedCheeseAndToHideI’mSorryAgainHelp?” Nino spills as soon as he lands.
Adrien frowns at him, opens his mouth to ask, and then the ring beeps again, louder than ever. Nino stares down at himself, shocked and panicked, because there’s no way a minute has just passed and that would be his final beep , but he’s still transformed. Adrien seems to get the situation though.
“Bathroom!” The blonde boy screams, already pushing Nino towards his bathroom door.
He closes the door and the transformation falls. A second after an exhausted Plagg falls too, right into Nino’s awaiting hands.
“Did you beep at me just now?” Nino asks the kwami.
“Yes” Plagg grumbles “You were taking too long. Cheese?”
Oh right.
“Adrien?” Nino calls.
“Yeah?” The boy calls back “Are you Chat Noir again?”
“No, not yet. I’m very sorry for asking but I need a favor before transforming back.” Nino ignores Plaggs whisper shouts of see if rich boy has some of the fancy ones! “Do you have any cheese?”
Adrien doesn’t answer right away, which Nino kind of expected. He doesn’t need to see the boy to tell he’s probably very confused at the moment.
“...so I did hear that right. Huh.” Nino hears Adrien mumble. “I’ll be right back, Chat Noir!” Adrien finally answers and Nino can hear him sprinting out of the room.
Nino lets out the breath he has been holding since he arrived and leans against the wall. He raises his hand so Plagg can rest on his shoulder.
“I’m being such a dick to him” Nino whines. “I only talk to him to ask for things! What hell?”
“Kid you’re only utilizing your resources” Plagg offers “Besides, rich boy is always glad to help. You can probably ask him more and he wouldn’t mind.” Nino rolls his eyes, already knowing where the kwami is going “Like the fancy cheese you said was too expensive to buy, for example. As if pieces of paper have any real value”
“I’m not abusing Adrien to buy you expensive cheese, Plagg”
“That is hardly abuse!” The kwami argues “Consider it as like, payment for your services. You protect Paris, he lives in Paris, you get very good cheese, he gets to live another day. It’s the best deal he could ask for!”
“I’m not doing it!” Nino says, crossing his arms, clearly exasperated “God, you sound like a supervillain”
“I’d trade my values for cheese anytime” Plagg shrugs.
“And don’t you think that is very concerning?”
Plagg just shrugs again and gets comfortable on the crook of Nino’s neck. The boy rolls his eyes, but there’s a fondness in them.
They wait in silence for a tad too long and Nino can feel himself getting anxious because oh god what if Adrien doesn’t have any cheese?! What if Nino is stuck there for who knows how long risking his identity and oh no Ladybug is all alone out there with the akuma what if she gets hit?! Or worse!
“Calm down kid, I can hear him coming back” Plagg mumbles.
Sure enough, a few seconds later Adrien’s fast footsteps can be heard again. He stops just by the bathroom door.
“Okay, so “ Adrien says, catching his breath. “I wasn’t sure what cheese you wanted and I was going to ask Angelina to just give me a bit of everything” Plagg perks up at that “But it wasn’t Angelina in the kitchen today, it was Francis ” The boy stops dramatically as if Nino should know why this Francis guy was a problem.
“Oh no” Nino offers.
“Exactly! So Francis is in the kitchen and he hates when I’m off my diet so I can’t just ask him for the cheese and I’m not about to explain to Francis of all people that Chat Noir is hiding in my bathroom because he totally would want to come here check and try to take a photo to sell your identity or some equally evil thing, you know?”
“Classic Francis” Nino nods along.
“Classic Francis!” Adrien agrees “So I asked him if we had cheese and he said we did and I asked where so he asked why I wanted to know and I told him it was to prepare for a photoshoot and he said-”
“Adrien” Nino cuts him off, trying his best not to sound rude. “I’m very sorry to interrupt, but this situation is kinda time-sensitive, .”
“Shit, of course it is! I’m so sorry! I keep rambling so much around you this is so embarrassing. I’m so-”
“Did you get the cheese or not, kid?” Plagg suddenly asks before Nino can grab him to shut him up.
Adrien gets quiet for a second.
“Who the hell is that?!” He shouts the next.
Nino facepalms. They really don’t have time for this.
“I’m-” Plagg doesn’t even get to begin before Nino grabs hi.
“That’s Plagg, he’s a kwami, he’s what gives me the Chat Noir powers, he’s the one who needs the cheese.” He explains as fast as he can.
“Oh” Adrien answers, trying to make it sound like he just completely understood all that “Okay. That’s, uh.” He pauses “You know what, I’m just going to give you the cheese.”
Adrien opens the bathroom door just enough to give Nino the plate. Plagg eats the whole thing in two bites, then grimaces.
“Gorgonzola” He grumbles.
“No time for complaints. Claws out!” Nino shouts.
He opens the door and Adrien greets him with a smile.
“I hope your Plagg liked the cheese?” He tries.
The ring gives out an angry beep.
“Oh” Adrien mutters sadly.
“Don’t care about him” Nino puts a hand on the boy’s shoulder, offering a comforting smile “He’s just difficult”
Another angry beep.
“And if he doesn’t stop he won’t be getting cheese for a week”
Silence.
Adrien chuckles. Nino pats him on the shoulder.
“I have to go now, but thanks for the cheese!” He says, moving to the window, Before jumping out, he adds “And good luck with Francis!”
Adrien’s smile widens.
4.
Nightly patrols are more or less a new thing. They had them sometimes, but it wasn’t so frequently and was more of an excuse to hang out than a way to keep Paris safe or something. But then Hawkmoth got the brilliant idea of akumatizing someone in the middle of the night, on a freaking Tuesday nonetheless, and Nino’s heavy sleep became a problem. It was not the first time that happened, his mom could probably make an entire slideshow of her misadventures in her never-ending fight to wake Nino up for school in time, but it was the first time that problem had “half of Paris got blown up” levels of consequences.
So here Nino is, at 1:16 AM on a Wednesday, jumping around buildings and waving at people at the bars. They already had the akuma of the day, but it isn’t too uncommon for Hawk Moth to make more than one these days. He seems to be getting more and more impatient and honestly, if Nino was the one constantly getting stopped by teenagers in costumes, he would too. Understandable or not though, it still sucked.
Nino stops on a roof, catching his breath. Solo patrols are always kind of boring if he’s being honest. Ladybug usually bails on him on Wednesdays and Sundays and lets him bail on Fridays and Saturdays (He’s trying to become a DJ, he has to have the party nights free) so they’re not together at the moment.
Not that her absence is particularly a problem on that particular Wednesday, though, because Paris is still as calm as Paris can be, and when Hawk Moth hits at night he usually does it before the 1 AM mark. That means Nino probably won’t have much trouble until his patrol ends but also means he’ll be bored pretty quickly now that he’s finished his round around the city.
He briefly considers just calling it a day earlier when he realizes which part of town he’s in. Nino’s eyes find the mansion quickly and he weighs his options. It is pretty late but on the off chance Adrien’s still awake, they would provide good company for each other.
It’s not like he had anything better to do, Nino ponders, and it would be nice to talk to Adrien without a threat looming in the background.
He quickly vaults himself to the windows he knows are Adrien’s and looks inside. The room is mostly dark but there’s the unmistakable glow of a bedside lamp near the sofa in the middle of the room. Nino smiles and gently taps the glass.
Adrien’s head shoots up immediately and he panics a bit before realizing the knocking is coming from his window and not his door. He smiles when he sees Nino and promptly gets up to let him in. Nino waits patiently as he unlocks the, still weird, padlock and opens the window.
Adrien frowns at the outside as Nino comes in. “Is there something wrong? I didn’t get any akuma alerts.”
“Does something have to be wrong for me to visit?” Nino smiles. Adrien gives him a look. “Fair enough” He chuckles. “But nothing is wrong this time. I just thought I could drop by”
“Oh” Adrien seems surprised.
They stare at each other for a bit. Nino waits to see if Adrien is going to say anything else, but the other boy keeps quiet, a polite smile on his face. Nino shifts his weight on his feet.
“...Is this a bad time?” He asks.
“Oh no, not at all!” Adrien shakes his head vigorously. He then looks down, a bit awkwardly. “I’m just...not really used to having people over? Especially cool superheroes like you. I’m not…” He sighs, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck “I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do” He admits.
Nino’s gaze softens. He steps closer to Adrien and motions for them to go sit on the couch Adrien follows, although a bit hesitantly. They sit and Nino turns to the other boy.
“I was thinking we could just chat a bit” He says “You’ve helped three times now and I barely know anything about you”
“Oh, there’s not much to know” Adrien blushes. He lets out an awkward chuckle. “I’m just Adrien. I, uh, model for my father’s company and, hm.” He looks around the room and then stops when his eyes fall on the instrument in the middle of it “I play the piano?” He offers.
“Dude that’s so cool” Nino says, genuinely excited “I kinda know my way around a keyboard, but mixing is more of my thing.”
“It’s that why you have the-” Adrien points to his ears.
“Well, kinda?” Nino touches his headphones. “Plagg says the suit is made to match my needs and personality.”
“Plagg’s the guy who likes cheese, right?” Adrien tries.
“He’s not really a guy” Nino explains “He’s like this tiny floating cat-like creature” He tries to show Plagg’s size with his hands. Adrien nods along, interested. “He’s a kwami, like I said before. I can’t really go into much detail about these things” Nino smiles apologetically “Safety precautions and stuff.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I get it” Adrien deflates a bit, but he sounds sincere. “So this Plagg kwami thing gave you magical headphones because you like music?”
Nino nods.
“They also help muffle the sound coming to my real ears so the cat ones work better” He adds.
Adrien gapes at him.
“You can hear through these?!” He points at the ears “I thought they were only accessories!”
“I can hear better through them than with my normal ears” Nino admits. “I have no idea how that works, though”
“Magic is insane” Adrien mutters. Nino agrees.
The boy stares at his ears for a while before he turns to the fanny pack.
“What about that?” He asks.
“I like having pockets” Nino answers with a shrug “But the suit doesn’t offer any so this is the next best thing”
Adrien nods, he seems to be having fun.
“And the tail?”
“It almost has a life of its own” Nino admits quietly. Adrien chuckles.
“That’s so cool, dude” He says “But I’d have a bell if I were you”
“A bell?” Nino laughs.
“Yeah! Around your neck and stuff ” Adrien moves his hands “It gives off his homey vibe, you know? It brings comfort.”
“If you say so dude” Nino teases.
Adrien throws a pillow at his head. He easily catches it, because you know, superhero and stuff, but Adrien seems satisfied that he at least showed his indignation. He then looks around the room again until his eyes find whatever he was looking for.
“Do you, hm, do you want to play some games with me?” Adrien asks shyly.
Nino perks up immediately.
“Of course dude!”
They ended up playing for a lot longer than Nino had planned but Adrien had been so excited to have finally found a player two! that Nino couldn’t bring himself to leave so soon.
When he gets home, he lands on the bed with an exhausted groan.
“You’ll end up sleeping during class” Plagg says as he settles next to Nino’s hair.
Worth it , Nino thinks as he falls asleep.
5.
Nino always tries really hard to be careful in fights, but he knows how to take a hit. He doesn’t like to and if he can avoid he absolutely fucking will, but he knows that between him and Ladybug he’s the one who has to take the heavy blows.
The logic behind it is very simple: she can purify akumas and restore the damage made, he can’t. He doesn’t like it and neither does she but sometimes it is a necessary part of the fight.
So, when he sees Ladybug a second away from getting hit by the akuma, of course he throws his baton, also known as his only mean to defend himself. It travels with magnificent speed and makes sure Ladybug is still standing to fight, but it also turns the akuma’s attention to him which is less than ideal.
“Chat!” Ladybug screams and moves to help.
She doesn’t go very far. In a second, she’s swarmed with the akuma’s minions, falling back as the akuma keeps getting closer. Nino sees his baton getting kicked even further away, towards an alley, Ladybug struggling to free herself and the Akuma charging at him at full speed, the big sword in his hands ready to strike.
To call the situation less than ideal is the understatement of the year.
Nino scrambles to get up, narrowly dodging the sword that came down with enough force to break the asphalt. His movements are less than graceful, mostly because he’s kinda panicking (Ok, no. He’s panicking a lot ) so he misplaces his foot and goes down again.
The akuma turns to him and Nino feels the blood draining from his face. Blood that’s going to be drained from his whole body after the thing strikes. God, he doesn’t want to be chopped up.
The akuma brings down the sword, Nino closes his eyes and prepares for the pain.
It doesn’t come.
Instead, Nino hears a loud clunk, as if the sword just hit some other metal, followed by a very panicked string of holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.
When Nino opens his eyes, Adrien is standing in front of him, the previously lost baton in his hands, holding the sword from literally cutting Nino in half. His whole body is trembling like crazy, probably a mix of fear and the force he’s using to hold the thing in place.
“Holy shit” Nino comments as well.
In a less than classy move, Adrien moves his hands letting the sword scrape the baton to fall to the side and away from either of their heads. He then moves the baton quickly and, using it like a sword too, smacks the akuma in the head.
“Holy shiiiit” Adrien whines again.
Nino barely has time to fully process the situation before Adrien is turning to him, grabbing his hand, pulling him up with so much force he stumbles, and sprinting away so fast they don’t even know where they’re going.
They stop a few streets over, Adrien having finally worn his adrenaline out. He stops, breathes coming out fast panicked. He gives Nino his baton back and puts his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Nino stops too, grabbing his weapon and holding it tight. It takes a few seconds, but his brain seems to finally catch up.
“Adrien!” He shouts, surprising them both “Holy shit!”
“Holy shit indeed” Adrien agrees. He straightens up, leaning against the wall and still breathing heavily “I can’t believe that just happened, oh my god”
“ You can’t believe that just happened?! I can’t believe that just happened!” Adrien offers him a sheepish smile. The audacity. “What the fuck were you thinking?!”
“Well, I don’t know!” Adrien shouts back, throwing his hands in the air. “I was close to the fight to see if I could think of something to help you with the akuma because I wanted you to visit me again and then your baton just rolled to my feet and I saw the akuma trying to chop your head off and my body just- I just moved! I don’t know!”
Nino’s anger vanishes. He was ready for a round of scolding, he has a lot of practice with it with how much he interacts with his little brother and Alya’s little sister, but the words die on his mouth as soon as Adrien finishes speaking.
“Adrien” Nino says as gently as he can “You don’t have to put yourself in danger for me to go visit you”
The other boy blinks. Then frowns.
“Wasn’t it like payback, though?” Adrien asks “I help you with akumas and you come hang out with me for a bit?”
He sounds so genuinely confused. Nino’s heart breaks.
“Dude no ” He says firmly “I went by the other night because the patrol was slow and I wanted to hang out with you. ”
“You did?” Adrien’s frown deepens.
Why is that boy so surprised?!
“Yes!” Nino shouts “You’re my friend dude, of course I want to hang out with you!”
If Adrien looked seemed kinda surprised before, now he looks completely astounded.
“We’re friends?!” He asks. Nino almost hugs him right then and there.
“Of course we’re friends!” He says.
“But- but you’re all” He strikes some superhero poses, punches the air, puts his hands up like cat-ears. “And I’m just...me.”
“ Dude ” Nino deadpans. Adrien seems unaffected. Nino almost screams “ Adrien, my man, my dude, my not-fragrance, you literally just stopped an akuma from chopping my head off.
“Oh” Adrien blinks again “I guess I did”
“And you’ve helped me before, you’ve said it yourself!” Nino continues “ Also, you’re fun to hand out with dude.”
“I am?”
“ Yes! ”
Nino would probably have stayed longer in that discussion if the noises from the akuma didn’t reverberate through the street to remind them both that oh there’s that.
“I think I’m gonna let you deal with that then,” Adrien says, looking at where the noise came from. “Facing that guy once was more than enough”
“And don’t you ever do that shit again” Nino finally scolds, giving Adrien a playful shove.
The other boy laughs. The akuma growls. Nino looks at him.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going” Adrien tells him. Before he walks away, though, he turns to Nino again, fidgeting with his hands. “But I see you later? Maybe?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for anything” Nino answers, already thinking of what to say to Ladybug to let him miss patrol.
In the end, he does kind of miss it. They were in the middle of the game when Adrien’s phone goes off with an akuma alert and Nino is forced to go out with the promise to come back to at least say good night. The fight is easy enough that it ends in less than an hour and when he jumps back to Adrien’s place the boy is waiting for him with a variety of cheese.
“To make up for last time” He says with a smile. “No gorgonzola”
Nino detransforms in the bathroom again and Plagg almost screams in excitement.
“Keep this one!” He says to Nino as he shoves an entire piece of brie in his mouth.
Yeah, Nino thinks as he looks to where Adrien is waiting for him to come out, I think I will.
+1
Nino knows who he’s going to give the bracelet to as soon as Ladybug gives it to him.
“We’ll need more help,” She tells him, all serious and responsible “I already picked Rena Rouge, so it’s only fair you pick the next one”
Nino has never gone to Adrien’s place so fast. He knocks on the window faster than usual and as soon as Adrien opens the door he’s in, a mixture of worry and excitement on his face.
“Is everything all okay?” Adrien asks, hands hovering over Nino as if he’s unsure of what to do.
“Adrien” Nino says and the seriousness in his voice makes the other boy straighten up. He takes the box out of his fanny pack and offers it to him. “This is the miraculous of the turtle, which grants the power of protection. You’ll use it for the greater good and then give it back to me once we’re finished. Do you accept it?”
Adrien’s eyes widen. He stares at the box, bites his lip, and then turns back to Nino.
“You really think I can do it?” He asks, voice small, eyes unsure.
“Without a doubt” Nino answers with no hesitation at all. Adrien’s eyes widen a bit more, but a smile soon graces his features.
“Then I accept it,” He says finally.
Nino smiles back and gives him the box.
“Hello there! I’m Wayzz!” The little green creature smiles at him as he leaves the bracelet.
“Oh!” Adrien exclaims excitedly “He’s a kwami like Plagg, isn’t him? He’ll give me the powers and stuff?”
“That I am!” Wayzz flies around. “All you need to do is say Wayzz, shell on!”
“Wayzz, shell on!” Adrien repeats.
The transformation washes over him and Nino smiles at the sight. It suits Adrien a lot, almost as if he was born to do it.
“This is so cool” Adrien is smiling at himself, admiring the suit, when suddenly his face grows panicked and he turns to Nino with wide, worried eyes “ Oh no! Do I need more cheese for this one too?! I don’t think I can get it again! Oh no, oh no, will he die?” He flails his arms, all the coolness of his previous superhero pose giving way to visible distress “ Chat, will I kill your kwami?!”
So maybe not exactly born for it. That’s ok. Nobody is perfect. Nino smiles at him anyway.
“I’ll brief you on the way there dude” He tells the boy, putting a calming hand on his shoulder. “Now let’s go be super together, yeah?”
Adrien still seems kind of unsure, but he smiles back. They leave the room together.
Later, when Adrien is standing in front of him again with his shield in his hand and a determined expression on his face, Nino thinks that maybe he was born for it after all.