Chapter Text
As they slowly packed up the campsite, Marinette noticed that Alya kept sneaking looks at her and Adrien. She could tell that Alya wanted to say something, but that she probably didn’t want to say it in front of Adrien and Nino. Adrien must have noticed too, because he took the tent out of Marinette’s hands and smiled at her.
“Nino and I will get a head start on packing the car up if you and Alya can finish up here,” he said.
“Thanks,” Marinette said, shooting him a grateful look. He winked at her in reply and grabbed a few more things, then headed off with an equally loaded-down Nino.
Once they were gone, and Marinette was sure that even Adrien’s accelerated hearing wouldn’t be able to hear anything, she turned to look at her best friend. Alya was bent over, muttering under her breath as she tried to force the second tent back into its container. Marinette walked over and knelt down, adding her weight to the tent so that Alya could zip the container shut.
“Are you mad at me?” Marinette asked bluntly.
“What? No!” Alya said, seemingly surprised by the question. “Well, maybe a little bit. I just feel really dumb. You kept trying to tell me that you and Adrien weren’t dating, and I didn’t want to believe it.”
“I know,” Marinette said.
“I mean, some journalist I am,” Alya said with a half-hearted smile.
Marinette frowned. “Alya, no. I mean – yeah, okay, you could do better at listening to people when they tell you things. But you were coming at this from the perspective of being our friend, not as a journalist. Frankly, I don’t really want you to be in journalist mode all the time when you’re around us. Friend-Alya is much more fun than Journalist-Alya.”
“Even if Friend-Alya is super oblivious?” Alya asked, sitting back on her heels.
“Even then,” Marinette said, reaching out to give her a hug.
Alya hugged her back. “I just have to ask – are you really okay with this? I mean really?” she asked, pulling back to look seriously at Marinette. “You were head over heels for Adrien for years. This whole acting like a couple thing doesn’t bother you?”
“It really doesn’t. Cross my heart,” Marinette said, making an X symbol over her chest. “Adrien and I are friends. Sometimes we like to cuddle or get closer to each other than most friends do. You know what his dad is like. Adrien needs that affection, and I am super okay with being the person who gives it to him.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Alya said slowly. “So… does this mean we can’t double date anymore?”
Marinette laughed. “Not at all! But it does mean that if you set up plans for the four of us, I’d like you and Nino to actually show up,” she said, nudging Alya playfully. She couldn’t even count how many times Alya and Nino had been ‘unexpectedly busy’ so that Marinette and Adrien were left alone doing their own thing.
“I guess we could do that,” Alya said, smiling. “For what it’s worth, I really am sorry that I was being so pushy. I just really want you guys to be happy.”
“We are happy. We’ve talked about it a lot, and we’re both really comfortable with where our relationship is right now. It may look a little strange from the outside, but it’s working for us. I promise you; Adrien and I are on the same page. There’s no pining going on,” Marinette said gently, touched. Alya’s behavior, annoying as it had been, was coming from the right place, at least. She was lucky to have such a good friend, and she reached out to hug Alya again.
“I’m glad,” Alya said. “And just so you know, I am totally going to tell everyone this story at your wedding.”
“Oh god,” Marinette groaned, which just made Alya laugh at her.
“Hey, my wounded pride needs to get something out of this,” Alya said.
“That’s fair. We did troll you a lot,” Marinette said.
“So much,” Alya said, making a face at her. “And… just to check… you guys didn’t really have sex, right?”
“Oh my god, Alya. Of course not!” Marinette said, throwing a water bottle at her.
Alya dodged it, laughing. “Well, I have no idea how far you would go to troll me! Besides, I saw what Adrien’s chest looked like. It’s not like you’d be suffering by taking one for the team.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “If anything, if his lower half looks anything like his upper half, then –”
“Do not finish that sentence!” Marinette cried. “You pervert!”
Alya just giggled. “So that’s a no.”
“Obviously! We just like, cuddle a lot. He likes to hold hands. That’s it,” Marinette said, blushing a bit.
“And the fact that you know each other’s drink orders?” Alya said, narrowing her eyes.
Marinette shrugged. “We do eat out a lot.”
“Okay. So… that whole thing about Adrien pretending he thought I just wanted you to be best friends on the way up here…”
“He was totally trolling you. Honestly, he’s worse than me,” Marinette said, stifling a laugh just remembering it. “He knew exactly what you were asking.”
“I knew it! That sneaky brat,” Alya said, shaking her fist in the air. “What about the sunscreen? Did he really rub sunscreen all over you?” She stared at Marinette. “Wait, have you seen his dick?”
“Alya!” Marinette practically shouted.
“What? It’s a valid question!”
Marinette facepalmed. “No, I have not seen his dick. I put sunscreen on myself and so did he. We were just messing with you. And before you ask, the whole sitting on his lap thing meant nothing either. It’s just part of the cuddling thing.”
“Okay… but what about the wedding jokes while we were tubing? What was that?”
“Private joke,” Marinette said.
Alya narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Really.”
“Yes, really. Don’t you and Nino have tons of private jokes? Even from before you were dating?”
“Well… I guess,” Alya said reluctantly. “We never joked about marriage, though.”
“Adrien and I share a weird sense of humor,” Marinette said with as much dignity as she could muster.
“I take it that this means the cuddling isn’t going to stop, then,” said Alya.
“Nope.”
“Okay, fine. But I’m going to have to insist that all clothing remains on, and all hands remain above clothing, in my car on the way home.”
“Alya!”
“Because the next time I see Adrien’s upper half with only boxers below, I wanna see his lower half too,” Alya said breezily, slinging her backpack onto her shoulder. “And hey, I call dibs on being the bridesmaid at your wedding, but only if you swear you’re not inviting Lila.”
Marinette buried her face in her hands. “We’ve created a monster.”
“You reap what you sow,” Alya sang, patting her shoulder in mock-sympathy.
Marinette just groaned louder.