Project Lovebug

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Plot Devised By: thelastpilot of Tumblr

Chapter Written By: thelastpilot of Tumblr

Chapter Drawn By: piikopoko of Tumblr

Written Version

Pairing: Marinette Dupain-Cheng x Adrien Agreste (With Hint of DiWifi)

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 2648

Also Posted On: Ao3 || FanFiction || DeviantArt || Tumblr || Google +

Nino stood on the pavement beside an average looking apartment building, and he could easily say that never before had an unassuming pair of glass double doors provided him with so much anxiety. They didn't move or sway or creak, and that was what was freaking him out. He was waiting for them to move, to shift and reveal a girl he had practically run there to meet. What was he doing? What the hell, he had NO PLAN, absolutely zero. No literally, he had nothing. There was no plan here, but he still pulled out his phone with a shaking hand, he still swallowed back the growing lump in his throat. He still texted Alya, "Hey I'm here, come outside."

He breathed out a huge shaking rush of air as soon as the message sent, and there were those few scattered moments where he was alone with his thoughts, stood outside Alya's building.

Should he have brought flowers? Should he have done anything? Because with all of his half-baked plans he had come up with absolutely nothing that would work. None of it was right, nothing fit, nothing was good enough. The funny thing about time, though, is that time doesn't give a damn if you're ready for something or not, and continues to tick along at its set and steady pace laughing at the plight of mortal beings as their dreams fade into wistful regrets and their bones decay into dust.

Okay, he was being dramatic, but he felt like he had a little right to be. This wasn't just, this wasn't just anyone. It was her, it was Alya. The worst part about it all was that she was his friend. They laughed and joked and teased each other like it was as effortless as walking; he thought about her more than he cared to admit. Or maybe he didn't mind. Maybe he didn't mind saying it, saying that she dominated his mind sometimes. Hell, he might have taken the time to make fun of himself for it if he could focus long enough to do so, but she was distracting in the lamest ways. Just the way she stood, the way she tilted her head, the way she talked. Maybe it wasn't that interesting to anyone else, but he noticed, and it took him a long time to figure out why. Why care, why notice at all? Why could he pick Alya out of a lineup of a thousand identical replicas, just because he knew the way her lips shaped when she was thinking of something funny?

He didn't know, he wasn't really a guy for words, and he wasn't really the guy for action either. He had no idea what kind he was, he just knew what kind of girl she was, and he would do everything to be enough. Man, could he even say he was brave? Getting there had taken some courage, running to her house with absolutely nothing to back him up. Maybe it was dumb, but it still took courage. Brave as he might like to think his actions were, however, he still jumped at the sound of a creaking door, his heart hammering in his chest.

Alya looked around for a second before spotting Nino standing frozen on the sidewalk, a curious look on her face as she called out, "Nino?"

She gave a smile as she started to walk towards him, her expression contorting into one of concern as she picked up on how... wacked out he looked.

This is it, his mind practically whimpered, gaining strength as the thought gained steam. Here's my chance, it's now or never!

Alya slowed a little in her approach, innocently asking with a slightly teasing tone, "Uh, is something wrong?"

"A-Alya," he tried to start, her name catching on his teeth and tripping out as he felt heat blossom on his cheeks. She just stood there, so unaffected, waiting for an answer when he blurted out, "D-Do you want to hang out!?"

What? his thoughts sighed in frustration, and her always playful smirk only made him more nervous.

"Hang out?" she asked with a chuckle, but her eyes widened as he started to ramble.

"I really don't have much more of a plan than this," he admitted, his hands flailing out in front of him as he tried to explain, getting more and more flustered as he tried to be completely honest. "I kept thinking about what you would like or expect and I was freaking myself out so I just decided that I wanted to be with you today and whatever we end up doing will be perfect anyways. S-so happy Valentine's day."

There was a heavy gap between words as he finished, feeling like he was burning alive from his own embarrassment as he noticed the sudden blush on her face. Her mouth popped open slightly and he could hear a cute girlish gasp as what was happening dawned on her completely, the date and its significance made obvious for the first time. She had been helping so many others with their Valentine's Day plans that she had never actually entertained the idea that someone might... that she might- that Nino-

This was so Nino. The fact that he thought of her in that way was, well, stunning, but there was something so incredibly him about it. Of course he would have no plan, just run in and ask her to hang out, what a dork! It was so-

It was so adorable.

"Hang out," she echoed again, fighting with her own flustered thoughts and finding it pretty easy to smile at him. How could it ever be hard to smile with him around? That was just... Nino.

"I think that sounds cool," she finally decided, grinning at how relieved and shocked and hopeful he suddenly looked and unable to contain her laughter. To her relief he laughed too, letting out all of his pent up frantic anxiety as they laughed together at the lameness of it all. But at least they were together.

-

After a few moments discussion they just picked a random direction, agreeing that they would go in to and eat at the fifth restaurant they found regardless of what was in it. They would pick what the other person had to eat and see if they could get the other one to eat something pretty ridiculous. The activity wasn't something they might have never done just hanging out randomly, but this time was significantly better. Nino decided it was probably the hand holding that did it.

He smiled happily as Alya rattled off all the interesting gossip involving their classmates, loving her inflection as she relayed the biggest scoops.

"So guess what?" she started, grinning up at him.

"Hm?" he asked back, content to mostly just hear her voice for awhile.

"Rose finally asked out Juleka!" she giggled excitedly, using her free hand in a victorious fist pump motion.

"Yes!" he cheered, "About time!"

"I can't believe it! Everyone knew it was going to happen but it took so long, I guess she must have been waiting for today huh?"

"I thought it'd be Juleka," Nino admitted, counting the third restaurant as they passed it.

"No way, I knew it'd be Rose, just didn't know when," she declared, happy to know that she was right once again. "And Ivan got Mylene some really nice, cute roses."

"Oh yeah, she was posting about it online," Nino added, looking over at Alya, surprised she wasn't gushing about the obvious news they both cared about.

"Don't forget about the big one," he laughed, excited to see her rant about the OTP, but to his surprise she cocked her head.

"The big one? Who, Max and Kim?"

He stopped dead on the sidewalk, mouth dropped open as he gaped at her in disbelief.

"No way! Don't tell me you didn't know, are you for real!?"

"Know about what!?" she demanded, eyes shining as she sensed a huge story.

"The one we've been rooting for forever?"

He laughed at her frustration and excitedly leaned down to whisper something in her ear.

There was a space of silence, then suddenly-

"EXCUSE ME!?"

He started to laugh at her absolutely shocked expression as he said, "I'm surprised! How could you not know!? It's Adrien and Marinette!"