Light from the streetlamps outside filtered through the window of Nino's room, long lines of white cast over his desk and discarded backpack until they finally fell on his slowly stirring form. Nino groaned, lifting a hand to rub at the uncomfortable mark his glasses had left on his face. Slowly he sat up, stretching and settling his glasses back in place so he could blink blearily at his way too bright cell phone.
"Aaaaw," Nino whined, grimacing at the glowing '11:38 PM' as it was displayed above a few unread text messages. He was going to be all messed up now, and he was way too hungry to go back to sleep. He had fallen asleep at maybe... 1:30 PM? Damn. Missed lunch and dinner.
Nino stretched again before teetering to his feet, waking up a little as he headed towards the kitchen. He spent the next little while making mac n' cheese while his head rested on the counter, numbly watching the water boil.
Damn that dream had been crazy...
Nino lifted his head a little to pour the noodles in, trying very hard to shake off the last dredges of what he hesitated to call a nightmare.
He didn't remember a lot, the details fading the longer he was awake, but he remembered the gist of it. It had just been him sitting in class with all his classmates, except in Marinette's seat sat Ladybug. It was kind of ridiculous, seeing Ladybug with a school bag doodling in her notes with her cheek resting on one hand. Alya was talking to her regularly, no one seemed to notice except for him. He was the only one who could see the spots, everyone still called her Marinette.
That wasn't the scary part though, actually that part had been sort of funny. He could remember being entertained that he knew it was Ladybug when no one else did. The scary part was when the scene of the dream shifted and the city was under attack. The whole class was backed up against the wall of the gym and standing in front of them all was Marinette, no spots, just a yo-yo in her hand. Cat Noir was at her side just a second later, and the two of them stood against the blurry formless akuma. But he was scared. When everyone else looked out there they saw Ladybug, indestructible Ladybug, the hero who could take on anything. And he saw Marinette. The girl who doodled in her notebook.
And it scared the crap out of him.
Nino refocused when his timer went off quietly next to his head, signaling to him that the noodles were done cooking. He took a deep breath and finished making his food, putting the pot in the sink and heading back through his dark house to eat in his room.
Yeah... that was probably how this was gonna be. He was the guy who knew, and there wasn't really anything he could do. He just knew.
He was gonna have to deal with that.
Nino sat down heavily in his desk chair, waking up his laptop and plugging his headphones in so he could listen to some music. He started some random playlist of his, not really hearing it as he went about filling his stomach. After a little while he unlocked his phone, deciding the check the few messages he had. He checked the ones from Marinette first.
'M- CN was asking me questions during our run. Guess he spotted us at the tower and was wondering what was up. I just told him I was distracting you because you were worried about your friend, so if he comes around asking just say that.'
'M- Not that he'll find you or anything. Like maybe he would but he doesn't have a reason to really.'
'M- He was playing it off as a joke but I think he was a little miffed I took someone else up to our spot. He seemed to get it when I told him I was distracting you.'
'M- He sorta gets jealous though so just a heads up. I think I defused it.'
Nino grumbled around his spoonful of macaroni, feeling a slight prick of unease at the idea of a jealous Cat Noir. They had just been sitting together he wasn't that possessive was he?
Well, then again Nino sorta had been in his spot. It probably wasn't possessive as much as territorial. Cat Noir seemed pretty easy going though, he had probably already forgotten about it and was just looking for an opportunity to tease his partner.
Nino nodded to himself, his anxiety forging a best case scenario for him and letting him ignore it for the time being. He sent a quick, 'K sounds good' and then switched over to Adrien's contact which also had a few messages in it.
'A- Haha, way to see the silver lining dude. What happened to you after the attack?'
'A- Dude?'
'A- I'm betting you passed out.'
Nino raised an eyebrow before scrolling back a little and realizing these had probably come right when he was falling asleep, his last comment being something about studying. Since he didn't really intend on answering Adrien's question he just locked his phone again, about to toss it away when a new message came in, from Marinette.
'M- You still awake?'
Nino shoveled another spoonful of pasta into his mouth, keeping the spoon there as he used both hands to respond.
'N- I took a nap and just woke up so I'm all backwards. Sorry if I woke you.'
He waited a second and saw that she was responding so he didn't lock it again.
'M- No I was up, don't worry about it. Today was sorta hectic for me so I took a nap too, same thing happened to me >.< You're not gonna try and go back to sleep?'
Nino thought about his answer for a second, setting his spoon down and leaning back in his chair. Finally he responded.
'N- Nah, I have to study for that Lit. test that got postponed. Also hectic is an understatement.'
Her response was immediate.
'M- Seriously'
Nino gave a short breathy laugh before getting up to put his bowl away in the kitchen sink. As he moved quietly so as not to wake anyone he set his phone down on the counter, not really having anything to say in reply. So far this had been one of the longer text conversations he and Marinette had ever had. They did talk, but mostly at school and any texts they traded were pretty short. Either they hung out in a group with Alya and Adrien, or just her him and Alya. He couldn't remember the last time they had ever done anything just with them, it was always more fun in a group.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone vibrated loudly on the counter, his eyes darting to his parent's bedroom as he quickly picked it up. He waited a second to make sure they hadn't woken up before sighing and checking the message.
It started with, 'Okay I know this is weird.'
Nino raised an eyebrow again, heading back to his room and sitting on the edge of his bed as Marinette finished typing.
'M- But I sorta need to study too. I kind of got lucky not having to take it yesterday. Well, I mean today. And I also kind of want to get out of the house since its so nice out.'
'M- So if you've ever wanted to study on top of city hall we could do that.'
Nino blinked at the message, trying to comprehend what she meant when it really clicked.
Nino gaped at his phone and suddenly he was biting his tongue to keep from laughing excitedly. He typed out an all caps 'DUDE YES' before he was pacing his room in sudden energy. Was he literally just going to sneak out to go study on top of a really high building for no good reason?
Hell yeah he was. That's the kind of perks Alfred gets from Batman apparently.
She sent back a 'Lol,' before asking for his address, which he sent back gladly. This was so stupid and unnecessary he loved it. Even the idea of sneaking out didn't bother him much. He never liked the idea of being dishonest with his parents but now he was in on some pretty big secrets. He was able to write off anything attached to 'superhero stuff' from his conscious pretty easily.
Marinette asked him to meet her outside in an alley since his bedroom window faced a fairly large street despite the fact that it was deserted. She was just being cautious, which he understood.
Nino grabbed his headphones from the computer and stuffed a few pillows under his comforter before grabbing his backpack and a flashlight he had stashed under his bed. Probably wasn't a lot of lighting up on the roof of city hall, and after a moments deliberation he headed towards his kitchen to grab a second one for Mari.
Nino looked once more towards his parent's bedroom to double check that they were still asleep. He kept looking over as he rooted through the pantry, putting a pack of Oreos in his backpack as well as some other snacks and some soda cans. He included the Oreos because in his short conversation with Tikki she had asked him what his favorite kind of cookie was while telling him how much she loved cookies herself. They probably didn't compare to the ones Marinette could give her in the bakery but hopefully she would still like them.
Nino grabbed his house key from the counter and silently left the house, locking the door behind him and half running in excitement towards the stairs, too jazzed to wait for an elevator.
Now he was wide awake, exhilarated from sneaking out and feeling like a secret agent as he dutifully waited in the alley. It was just studying, but for some reason studying in a place he wasn't supposed to seemed way more fun.
Nino wasn't waiting too long when he heard something land on the roof a good distance up. He couldn't help grinning like a fool when he saw the end of the yo-yo as it swung down a few inches from his face, and even if it kind of scared the crap out of him he still grabbed on and held tight as he rapidly shot upwards.
He didn't land completely gracefully but he didn't fall over either, stumbling a little onto the roof of his apartment building to see a giggling spotted superhero.
"Ready to get carried again?" she asked playfully, seeming to be enjoying herself.
"Man, again?" he whined, but she had already swept him up into her arms, bounding away through Paris.
Nino had eventually stopped looking down every time she jumped between buildings, just watching the sky until they suddenly stopped moving and she set him down on his feet.
"Welcome to City Hall," she said simply, laughing a little as Nino looked around the small flat ledge they had settled on.
"I am seriously going to have to get over my fear of heights hanging with you huh?" Nino joked, still finding it surreal to even be in this situation.
Their spot was tucked out of sight from the street and inaccessible by anyone else, just a little flat ledge that was pretty high up. Even though for sure no one could see Nino still jumped in surprise and looked all over when she detransformed. And then suddenly there was Mari, clutching her school bag and laughing a little awkwardly.
"I know this is weird," she echoed her text, sitting down beside her friend and hanging her feet over the edge. "It's almost midnight and I asked you to come study on top of a random building. That's weird right?" She asked it like she wasn't completely sure what qualified as weird anymore, and he had to agree.
"I said yes didn't I? This is awesome," he said with a grin, settling in and grabbing his book just to prove it. She watched him for a second before laughing and copying him.
"I guess I'm just still adjusting to the fact I even could do this," she said after a short silence, and he nodded in understanding, watching her face in the light the sliver of a moon provided. "Just like, doing something random and Ladybug related just because I can, just cause someone is in on it. It's neat."
Nino met her eyes when she looked over, giving a comforting smile. "Yeah I get you. I was so pumped just sneaking out to go study in a stupid high place for no good reason. Sometimes just doing something for fun is enough of a reason."
Marinette laughed, swinging her feet as she rooted around in her bag. "I appreciate you humoring me. At least we'll get our studying done."
"Hey maybe the threat of plummeting to my death will make this Literature textbook more interesting. Soda?" Nino asked simply, reaching into his bag and pulling out some of his snacks. Seeing them made her laugh, the girl genuinely delighted to do this with someone. A random study session was probably nothing new, but just the idea of doing something with someone who knew everything that was going on... heh... the novelty hadn't worn off to say the least.
Nino passed over a flashlight, leaning back against the wall of the building and idly swinging his feet over the ledge. The only sound in the next few seconds was the two of them popping open their drinks, positioning themselves so they could read. Nino took a few minutes to greet the kwami of the group, giving a hearty, "Hello Ms. Tikki!" She was delighted to discover that he had thought of her as well, and Marinette thanked him a few times with a huge smile as Tikki rooted through the Oreos package.
He wasn't going to forget little Ms. Tikki, she was a part of their group too. The three of them talked happily about anything and everything for a long while, sometimes studying and sometimes seeing who could throw cheezits the farthest, sometimes talking about hero stuff or sometimes talking about school. Nino took the opportunity to tease her about her comment on Adrien's attractiveness from earlier that day, snickering at the way she blushed and threatened to push him off the building. For a little he figured she was just embarrassed, but she quickly became so evasive that he started to suspect something a little greater. For the time being though she refused to comment and he let it slide. Couldn't expect everything from her in one day.
Nino could honestly say he had never had so much fun studying before, enjoying the night air with the company of a tiny magical god and his cheerful classmate. The whole thing was so bizarre and weird that at any given time one of them would just burst out laughing and the others would join in.
If this is what it was going to be like then Nino was just fine with that. Midnight homework on top of random monuments, why the hell not?
It was almost 4:00 AM when Tikki insisted that they head home and at least try and sleep before school and Nino whined before he saw the kwami frown, and he got too frightened to protest anymore. She might be small but she was still a god, and he wasn't going to mess with that if he could avoid it.
Ladybug had just landed and set him down in the alleyway when she laughed again out of nowhere, drawing his attention.
"Something funny about carrying me?" he sassed, folding his arms. "Not everyone can leap tall building in a single bound."
Ladybug giggled, shaking her head and looking at him with shining eyes. "No, no it's not that. I had fun, I know it was nothing, just like studying but it was cool. We probably can't do that a lot, it was kind of stupid of me really. If anyone had seen us together it would have been suspicious but... well we stayed out of sight so it's okay." She looked at him for another second before something in her expression softened and she took a deep breathe, quietly saying, "I guess I just needed to get a little more used to this. But I think I'm good now."
Nino stood holding his bag facing a hero of Paris that he knew to be his friend, and he smiled. It was a wide genuine kind of smile that reached the eyes and made people smile in return, the one that told you the person really was happy.
"Yeah, it was awesome. I kind of needed that too, but I think we can be cool with this now. You need to talk just text me and we can go to City Hall again and just throw cheezits at statues until you feel better. Sound good?"
He could see something shimmer in her eyes when she smiled back, that same genuine kind of smile. "Yeah," she replied with a giggle, "sounds good. Goodnight Nino, see you at school."
"See ya B," he said happily, stepping back to watch her rocket away on a yo-yo string. He watched her go for a little while more before turning on his heel, walking back towards his house to get a few hours shut eye before class. He was totally prepared for that test now, but out of everything that had happened it was probably the most underwhelming thing he could think of. Funny how it had been so important to him the last time he was heading to bed at a ridiculous hour.
He sneaked in without incident, setting his keys down softly in the same place and heading towards his bed room. He was starting to feel just a little tired again as he set his backpack besides his bed, collapsing still dressed and staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow was a new day, well technically it already was a new day, but he marveled at how different things were while still being the same. It was all the same but it was all so... different. Not bad different, just different, in a kind of overwhelming way. However if their little hangout was any indication he was feeling a lot better about the whole thing. Marinette was Ladybug and Ladybug was Marinette, and he knew and they were both okay with that. He was going to have her back as much as he could, be the Alfred to her Batman. If his contributions mostly resided in sassy quips and support he could live with that, he didn't need a miracle stone to make a difference. As long as he was making a difference in her life he figured that was pretty heroic, she was just that important ya know?
Nino fell asleep with his headphones playing softly on the pillow next to him nestled up against his glasses, the DJ they belonged to quietly wondering if he should bring cookies for Tikki again as he drifted off.
She'd probably like that.