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A few weeks into their dating life, Nino realized a disturbing fact about Adrien.
He did not eat enough, not even nearly.
When he asked Adrien about it, he simply brushed it off and stated that he “wasn’t on a diet or anything”, but rather he just preferred not eating too much. While it was a reasonable explanation for any other person, it definitely wasn’t for Adrien. If eating more than baby carrots and ranch was “eating too much” for him, there definitely was a problem.
Nino therefore concluded that this needed an intervention. Of course, he couldn’t do it all by himself, so he asked for Marinette and Alya’s assistance in this endeavor. Both of them would be particularly helpful in providing sweet delicacies and other variations of food to expand Adrien’s palate. He also asked his mom for help, who, bless her heart, kindly offered her recipes for them to cook and prepared lunches for two instead of one.
They made an arrangement: Nino would bring lunches for Adrien, Marinette would bring snacks, while Alya took notes of Adrien’s improvements.
“Hey, Dri!” Nino waved at Adrien, who waved in return. While both shared a quick peck on the lips, NIno immediately took notice of Adrien’s tray of food… which only consisted of a block of cheese.
“Where are all of your trays? Aren’t you guys eating?” Adrien asked as he settled on a chair beside Nino. Nino couldn’t handle the emptiness of the lack of physical contact from Adrien and immediately held his hands. He pretended not to see Alya rolling her eyes with a smirk on her face.
He signaled Marinette and Alya with a tap on the table, symbolizing the initiation of their plan. “We brought our own lunch today! Look!” He then presented his lunchbox with four tupperwares inside, each consisting of a dish prepared by him and his mother that he knew Adrien would like (prior to executing this plan, he made sure to check off all possible allergies Adrien might have, much to Adrien’s confusion). Each dish was a mix of modern and traditional recipes passed down from generation to generation; food had always been a form of expressing love for one another in his family. He wanted Adrien to feel that love too.
“Those look delicious!” Adrien marveled at the dishes. Nino immediately eyed Marinette and Alya while he was too focused on the food.
“We also brought pastries from the bakery! Me and Alya are sharing,” Marinette said, displaying a beautiful spread of all kinds of pastries from a paper bag. Nino noticed how Adrien’s eyes landed on some of the macarons and the chouquettes.
“Oh no!” Nino gasped, maybe in a way that was too over dramatic to be realistic. “I accidentally brought an extra lunch! Whatever shall I do!?”
“Save it for later?” Adrien offered. That will not do!
“Hm… or I know! We can all share it, rightt ?” Nino eyed the girls, Alya and Marinette nodded with a couple of “yeah”s, looking at Adrien’s reaction. While Adrien was too busy staring at Nino and contemplating whether he’ll take him up on his offer or not, Marinette took it upon herself to clumsily hide his tray of a singular block of cheese on the floor, and kicked it to let it slide under the tables, very far from them. Smart move, Mari!
“Oh, I think I’ll pass… besides, I already have my - hey, where did it go?” Adrien searched the table in confusion.
“Where did what go?” Nino asked. If gaslighting was the only way he could get Adrien to eat, then so be it.
“My tray. I already got food from the lunch lady, it was just right here…”
“Whattt?? We didn’t see you coming here with a tray! Haha!” Marinette chuckled, playfully (and awkwardly) patting Adrien’s shoulder across the table.
Alya decided to join in. “Oh boy, haha! Nice prank, Adrien!”
“It’s not a prank, I went here with a tray…” Adrien sighed. “I’ll just get a new one.”
“No!” Nino was panicking, so he did what he does best: flirt. “Why tire yourself when we can just share my extra lunch? C’mon, Dri, I wouldn’t want my sweet boyfriend to starve,” He wrapped his right arm around Adrien’s body, looked at him straight in the eyes, and did the best poor puppy expression he could muster. He knew Adrien couldn’t resist such an adorable face.
Adrien’s face crumpled, and after a few seconds of consideration, agreed.
Their plan worked!
“Yay!” Nino turned his one arm hug into a full on embrace, and a few kisses on Adrien’s cheeks. “You’re gonna love them. Mama cooked this one for us - me,” he showed Adrien one of the tupperwares. “It’s called Chicken Tagine with rice. I’m sure you’ll like it,” next, he displayed the other tupperware. “And this one is made by me! They’re basically meatballs. They’re kind of the only recipe I could cook without messing it up badly, but I’m learning!”
NIno offered him a spoonful of each of the dishes, and that was all it took for Adrien to conclude that he wanted to marry Nino.
After several weeks of Nino bringing more “extra’ lunches of varying kinds of food, Alya joining in with Nino and bringing her own share of “extra’ lunches, and Marinette offering Adrien copious amounts of pastries, Adrien finally pieced together everything and asked them about it. They explained their reasoning, and he almost wept, touched by their efforts to take care of him.
Nonetheless, their plan worked! Adrien adored the different kinds of foods they gave him so much that he started to visit their parents to learn more about the recipes and how each dish was cooked or baked. Every Friday, Adrien would free his schedule to visit their homes so they could all learn to cook (Adrien told his father he took extra classes).
Nino was ecstatic to learn how much his mother loved Adrien.
