Nino stared wide eyed at the desktop image for a while. Then a little while more, tracing the hearts around his best friend's face with a stunned gaze. His mouth was set in a thin line, the boy slowly turning in the desk chair to sweep his vision across the entire room.

There was another one, and uh another three or so kind of cluttered on the wall... one was framed. They were all modeling photos of his, available to the public at least. If they had been unsteady camera shots taken from a bush Nino might have needed to call somebody but uh... it didn't seem to be at that point yet.

Jesus Christ what in the hell was he looking at right now.

"Mmm..." Nino mused aloud, unable to maintain his silence even though he was alone. His body needed some sort of outlet for this very sudden VERY prominent information.

Was this a little excessive? Undoubtedly, he'd say just shy of obsessive but uh... Hm.

Well this explained some things.

The staring and the freezing up and the blushing and the stuttering and- and the everything really. Like literally everything about her demeanor around Adrien had pointed to this. How did he miss this? How did anyone miss this she was obviously very comfortable displaying her affection in her room. Yeah looking at it now this would be a pretty compelling reason behind the fact that he had never been in her bedroom before.

He sucked in a lungful of air between his teeth, hands on his head as he leaned back in the chair.

"Mm... Mhm," he continued to vocalize, taking a final look around before finally it busted through his shock. And he laughed his ass off.

His laughter could probably be heard through all of damn Paris but he couldn't help it, he was so freaking giddy this was just- this was SO FUNNY.

SHE HAD A FRAMED PICTURE. Oh my god what the hell, this was just- he kept laughing, his sides starting to hurt and his eyes watering.

This was CRAZY. Oh there was no way he wasn't getting in on this mess, oh hell no. He was going to make this happen if it was the last thing he did. Wasn't really in his Alfred duties to be a matchmaker but now that he saw Marinette's obvious uh... interest? He was NOT staying quiet about this.

They'd be perfect! He had actually considered it before, she was so bright and warm and caring. Didn't Adrien need some of that? And well it wasn't just that, Adrien was a genuine and good guy. They'd be happy, it would be good!

And there was also another motive, because to be completely honest Nino was a little peeved she had hidden this from him. He was in on a big secret already it wouldn't have been a stretch to tell him about this too. He could have helped, he was GOING to help but first he was going to have a little fun. Just a tid bit a very very small amount of fun.

A grin spread across Nino's face as he blinked tears of laughter from his eyes, giddy chuckles slipping out every so often as he navigated away from Marinette's very artsy background in favor of bringing up a browser.

The giggles continued as he brought up one of Marinette's frequented sites, and pretty much everyone's most frequented site, the Ladyblog. He saw what he was after right away, when the Ladyblog was live whatever was being streamed was always right on the main page.

Oh god this was gonna be good.

Nino clicked the moving footage off mute and took a moment to enjoy the scene.

Alya had somehow managed to get very close to where the heroes were sat in city hall, right in the middle of the reporters present. Nino looked over the heroes' expressions, seeing that they were being polite and friendly but they were obviously both a bit bored. They had been sitting and answering questions as well as meeting with visiting diplomats to put Paris in a good light for like, hours now. As some stuffy politician was talking Alya remained focused on the heroes, so he could see when Cat Noir shot Ladybug a 'kill me' look that made Alya giggle.

"Looks like our black cat is getting a little bored, hope no one important saw that!"

Nino snickered, pulling out his phone and navigating to his recent calls. "You guys bored? Well this ought to be a welcome distraction then.

Was he being mean? No, well maybe a little but oh there was no way he was letting this pass.

Nino grinned happily when he saw that number he didn't recognize and had since saved under the contact 'B'. And it went STRAIGHT to the bug phone.

Across Paris and trapped within the stuffy overcrowded main room of the city hall, Ladybug patiently answered what felt like the millionth question that day.

"Uh well we have no intentions of leaving Paris, we are your heroes and are here to protect, we'll do that for as long as you need us."

There was a pleased murmur through the press and a smile from the mayor that almost looked like gloating. He obviously had been bragging about having heroes, but that also went hand in hand with having constant supervillain attacks.

"Cat Noir!" a reporter called, snapping the cat to attention from where he had been fiddling with his bell.

"Yes?" he asked in that charming way he had, leaning forward to receive the next volley of questions.

Ladybug took a deep breath, leaning back and glad to have a short break. They HAD to be almost done, right?

She jolted slightly when she felt a vibration at her hip, startled to have it go off. She looked down with a questioning look, knowing not many people had that number. Like two actually (maybe the mayor and a news reporter just from her calling them) and one of those two people was sitting next to her, having also looked over curiously at hearing her phone go off. The look Cat gave her before turning back to answer the question said pretty much exactly that, 'Who has your number besides me?'

Ladybug reached down and grabbed her compact, holding it below the table they were sitting at and out of sight as she flipped it open to find a text message from the contact 'DJ'.

Crap was his shift over?? She really needed to get back-

But the text wasn't about the bakery, or anything like that.

It read: 'DJ- I've got to say I'm really digging the artistic vibe you've got going with this Adrien collage. Very high res bro, but I'm thinking this framed one with the little hearts on it is my favorite.'

Ladybug couldn't help the mortified scream/gasp that escaped her before she could clamp her teeth down, her entire body heating up enough to rival a kiln. Part of her logically knew that she had a LOT of people looking at her, livestreams not included, and every single one of them had just seen her freak out. Logically she understood that seeing a superhero blush so fiercely and look like she was one second away from a full blown freak out was probably pretty weird, but she also knew that there was NO WAY she could cover it now. Not that she was entirely concerned with that, even though she should be.

Because Nino was ABSOLUTELY in her room.

She didn't even know Cat was trying to talk to her until he physically shook her shoulders, forcing her to look up at him. She managed to close her compact just before he could read it, obviously pretty interested in what the hell she had just read, but the only thing she could focus on right now was running.

"What happ-" Cat was starting to say, looking very concerned at how crazed she looked. Cameras were flashing and the spotlight was on, but nonetheless.

"IHAVETOGO" she suddenly shouted, making Cat Noir jump in fright as she tore away from him, sprinting with everything she was worth away from him and out a nearby window.

"LADYBUG WAIT," he called after her, scrambling over their table and trying to dive through the mob that was sprinting to the windows to try and get a shot of her.

Cat had literally no idea what the hell could have POSSIBLY been sent to her that would make her freak out like that, out of nowhere. It had to have something to do with whoever had contacted her, but it wasn't like she was terrified or anything she just looked...

Embarrassed?

Cat Noir fought through the mob, determined to follow her and calm her down at the very least but tracking her was easier said than done. She was fast on a good day but with whatever the hell that had been motivating her? He was gonna have to pick up the pace.

"Oooh she's coming to kill me," Nino said aloud to himself, watching as Ladybug all at once vanished from the livestream. He had had a pretty intense laugh at watching her react and did feel sort of bad, but he couldn't quite contain the giddy giggle he had anyways.

It was just so funny.

"Welp," he said to himself in the empty room, slowly standing up and taking a deep breath. "Time to run."

And run he freaking did.

Nino tore out of the bakery with a hurried excuse and grabbed his bike, needing every ounce of speed he could get. The amount of distance between City Hall and the bakery was long for most people, but a very pissed superlady with a crazy strong superyo-yo?

She was gonna get him for sure, but the fun part of the game now was seeing how close he could get to home before he was lassoed off his bike.

"Where is she going!?" Cat exclaimed to himself, forced to halt and watch in exasperation as Ladybug was suddenly off again. He couldn't even get close to her she was moving so fast, and he thought he had actually gotten lucky when she had paused at the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Why of all places in the world she had run there he had no idea, but she had only stopped for a millisecond before taking off in an entirely new direction.

Cat sighed, totally confused but determined to keep trying, so he leapt from his place and continued to track her.

He still couldn't get close and she didn't seem to hear him calling out to her, but he could sort of track the flash of red as it flew through the air. In his pursuit he was able to start closing the distance because she seemed to be scanning the streets, her search for... something forcing her to slow down, but just when he thought he was finally in shouting distance she took off like a bullet, darting with blinding speed down the building and into the street.

Cat clawed to the edge of the roof to look down just in time to see Ladybug practically tackle some guy off his bike, moving so fast and whisking the guy away so quickly into the darkness of an alleyway that the only thing people saw was a bike crashing to the ground.

"What the hell!?" Cat gasped, leaping across the street and onto the rooftop of one of the buildings creating the alleyway.

His intention was to leap down and keep Ladybug from wrecking some civilian but all at once he halted, his cat ears swiveling as he suddenly heard, "Why did you go in there!?"

Cat Noir stopped, instinct telling him to stay out of sight as he crawled towards the edge to look but guilt twisted in his stomach. This seemed... bad. Like spying. He was spying on her but-

He looked over, catching sight of a familiar bright red baseball cap, currently being worn by a guy pinned beneath Ladybug.

Nino was struggling to balance between talking and laughing as he said, "I had to as part of the cover I didn't do it on purpose!"

Cat froze, his eyes going wide in complete and utter disbelief because- w- why the hell was Ladybug after Nino!?

Cat continued to gawk at the weirdest and most unexpected clashing of his two worlds when Ladybug suddenly stood up, dropping her face in her hands and groaning.

"Oh my god I can't believe this I can't BELIEVE this!"

Nino was still on the floor, seemingly having decided that since the chances of him getting tackled again were pretty high he should just stay where he was, and despite how much of a loose wire Ladybug was at the moment Nino was still grinning like crazy.

"Hey B you don't need to freak I think it's adorable!" Nino sat up, dusting himself off a little as 'B' continued to pace and groan wretched mortified groans into her hands. Nino watched this behavior for another moment before adding, "I'm not gonna say anything, haven't I proven already that your secrets are safe with me? I want to help!"

That snapped Ladybug to attention, the hero whirled to face him and point a finger in his face.

"NO, no helping no nothing you can't tell him any of this!"

"Okay then you tell him," Nino retorted, shaking his head at how dramatically she squealed.

"I CAN'T no one was supposed to know about this, oh my god."

Cat Noir watched as his best friend from school looked up at his superhero partner and asked a pointed question. "No one? Not even Adrien?"

Cat Noir froze, hearing his own name almost stopping his heart, only the shock of Ladybug shout enough to keep it beating.

"Especially Adrien!" she hissed, and Cat Noir's heart beat even fast, pounding in his chest. What the hell was happening here?

"B I can help you," Nino interjected, finally rising to his feet and giving her a pleased grin that seemed unaffected by her outrage. "Adrien is my best friend I can make it happen!"

Ladybug was threatening as she said, "Nino is you say even a word about this to Adrien I will never talk to you again I swear. You can't, please tell me you won't tell him, promise me you won't."

Cat Noir looked on, his claws digging into the rain gutter as he could see the tension in Nino's shoulders, and the slow eventual sigh of defeat.

"I won't," he finally said, crossing his arms. "I swear I won't but I'm serious I think it's great! I really think you should tell him, he would love it!"

Ladybug seemed shocked at that, pulling back and holding her arms close to her like she was self-conscious. Her voice was a lot softer as she said, "What would make you say something like that!?"

She didn't seem to catch how his eyes flickered upward.

"Because I'm freaking serious!" Nino exclaimed excitedly despite his hesitation, jumping in place. "Do you have any idea how much Adrien talks about Ladybug? And all the crap he says?" Nino's voice dipped into a terrible impression of him, saying with exaggerated hand gestures, "'Oh Ladybug is so perfect! Nino she's so great and beautiful and strong. She's so kind and wonderful, she really is so amazing!"

There were two gasps, one from Ladybug and one from Cat Noir, but luckily no one heard the second one. In his place on the rooftop Cat's entire body was instantly burning, the feline forced to clamp his teeth shut to keep from screaming in humiliation. What the hell was Nino doing why was he doing this!?

He barely had the presence of mind to continue listening, but her words cut through his humiliation and left him stunned.

"W-what? Does... Adrien really say that?"

Cat Noir was tensed so tightly he thought he would break apart, his mind reeling in disbelief and confusion as Nino smiled happily, saying "He does, every time heroes come up Adrien gets all starry eyed, you've been his celebrity crush for AGES."

Cat Noir was screaming in his mind, half a second away from tackling Nino himself before his eyes trailed over to Ladybugs face and saw that she was...

Blushing.

And then, in the gentlest voice she stopped his heart.

"Adrien likes me back?"

For Cat Noir that moment on the rooftop stretched for an eternity, her words and the soft tone of her voice sinking into him and rendering him breathless. It was as clear and penetrating as the ring of a bell in an empty room.

Nino remained unaffected by this life altering moment for the two heroes, smiling happily. "Yup. He's pretty wrapped up in it to be honest, if I told him Lady Luck was crushing on him he'd lose his freaking mind."

'Nino is the greatest friend' Cat Noir's thoughts all at once rebooted, rushing together in a senseless blur. "Nino is the greatest friend in the history of the fucking world what the hell is happening right now."

But in the middle of Cat Noir's glowing appreciation for his music loving friend, he saw something... wounded pass over Ladybug's face.

"It wasn't supposed to be like that..." she said quietly. Cat Noir felt something that was a mix of hot and cold writhing in his chest as she said, "I didn't want him to just... love Ladybug. I want him to love me. Just... plain old me."

Nino's face set in a sudden seriousness that had always impressed Adrien, his friend's ability to lock things down and take control sometimes overwhelming. It happened almost exclusively for his friends.

"Hey, don't you dare call yourself plain old anything. You don't need to be Spots to be absolutely amazing, you've never needed those damn earrings to blow people away. You are something else B, not just Ladybug, you. And Adrien will see that too if you let him."

The silence that followed was all encompassing, Cat Noir feeling as if that one dingy alleyway was the only place in the world. As if that moment was the only moment of time that had ever come to pass, or ever would. Ladybug was quiet, looking down at her hands.

"I don't know how to tell him Nino... I don't know how to do it."

The doubt and uncertainty saturating that sentence was the most jarring thing for Cat, hearing such wounded words come from his lady cutting him more deeply than he could have anticipated.

It had been a long time since he had seen Ladybug doubt herself like that. And it was because of him.

Cat didn't look away from his lady even when Nino chuckled quiet, his voice suddenly conveying his understanding.

"Hey," he said softly, "You don't need to know how to do nothing right now. Just cause I found out today doesn't mean he has to. If you aren't ready to talk to him then don't yet, you've got time B. I'm not rushing you."

"What if the only thing Adrien thinks is worth loving is the hero he sees on TV?" Ladybug suddenly cut in, Cat Noir flinching at how her voice sounded like she wanted to cry. Nino took a step back as she said, "What if me being me isn't enough for him? What if the only thing people ever care about is THIS!?"

Nino gaped, his hands curling into fists as he was all at once faced with the face of a friend, overwhelmed by fears she had had for a long time. Doubts that had creeped every day.

Her eyes watered as she stepped towards him, saying, "What if-"

"Stop it!" Nino shouted, surprising even himself as he reached out and grabbed her shoulders, his entire being instantly intense. Because she was wrong.

"Stop," he said again, powering through her gasp of surprise and the way she swallowed her words. "Listen to me okay, because you are being unbelievably stupid right now and I'm not going to deal with it."

"N-Nino," she tried to cut in but he shushed her, still holding her shoulders.

"No, look you've worked yourself into a panic about this so it's making you freaking blind. Everybody's freaking blind but we're not talking about that, we're talking about you being an idiot."

Both heroes were open mouthed in shock, looking at Nino as he sighed heavily, freeing one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose just below his glasses.