Chapter Text
"Okay, wait here a moment. I'll go get the drinks."
"Sure man."
As Adrien shut the door of his bedroom behind him, Nino flopped on the couch and switched on the TV.
Ding!
Nino's eyes flickered to Adrien's phone. He had received a new message.
Now normally, Nino would never intrude in Adrien's privacy. But this one wasn't normal. Because, while Nino knew that his best friend was ever the gentleman on using everyone's proper name in the contact list, this one was different.
Princess
Nino frowned. He picked up the phone. The image under the alias of Princess was just a typical crown. No image hinting at the person whatsoever.
Unless, of course, if the person's name was Princess. Which was highly unlikely because if anyone's real name was Princess, they'd be extremely embarrassed.
"Hey, Nino, so you wanna go through page 25 first or-" Adrien stopped, the tray of drinks in hand, as he saw Nino hold his phone. He raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"
"Hey, Adrien," Nino's smile widened into something sinister. What he said next made Adrien's heart stop for a beat.
"Who's Princess?"
Marinette frowned. Adrien hadn't replied to her text for the past hour. She had sent him a message, asking if he would bring the materials for their science project tomorrow.
"Maybe he didn't see your message," Tikki said as she munched on a cookie. "Try to call him."
Marinette picked up her phone and dialed Adrien's number. There was a ringing for a moment, and then Adrien answered the call.
"H-Hello?" Adrien said from the other side, slightly out of breath.
Marinette twirled her hair nervously and said, "A-Adrien! Um, I was wondering if, y'know, you saw my text message."
"I'm so sorry!" Adrien apologized. There were several thuds and a voice aside from Adrien. "I was occupied with - Nino! SShhh! – something else and – dude, be quiet! No, of course not! – so I didn't see it!"
"Nino's with you?" Marinette asked.
"No! Yes! I mean – what was the message you sent?" Adrien said with a rush.
Marinette blinked. "I was going to ask if you were going to bring the materials for tomorrow's science project."
"O-Oh, yes I will," Adrien said hurriedly. "SorryfornotseeingyourmessageIhavetogoGoodbye."
Click.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She stared at her phone in confusion and exchanged glances with Tikki. "Maybe I called at a bad time?"
"At least you got the answer to your message," Tikki said.
"You think there was something strange with Adrien?"
Tikki shrugged and Marinette deemed the matter closed. She'd ask him tomorrow.
"Dude, your face is all red," Nino said with a snicker.
"No, it's not." Adrien glared at him from the other side of the room. Nino rolled his eyes.
"And here I thought you were utterly in love with Ladybug," Nino said. He took a sip from his drink.
Adrien walked to him and grabbed his glass. "I am."
"Really? 'Cause looks to me, you're crushing hard on your Princess."
Adrien turned an even darker shade of red. Nino cackled at the sight. "Seriously, dude, just tell me already. Who's this princess of yours?"
"No one!" Adrien blurted out.
Nino raised an eyebrow at this. "You're going to play this game with me? Fine, challenge accepted. I'm gonna find out who your princess is."
Adrien smirked. If he could keep his Chat Noir identity a secret, he could keep Princess a secret.
"With Alya's help."
Crap.
"No! Nino, that's unfair!" Adrien protested. "Why're you so obsessed with knowing who she is?"
"Nothing's fair in love and war." Nino shot back. He poked Adrien in the chest. "And I'm obsessed because you're finally crushing on a real girl instead of Paris's greatest superhero. And here I thought you were asexual or something."
"Dude, don't bring Alya into this," Adrien said. Who knows what that girl reporter would do if she got a hold of this information. Just thinking about her finding out that he secretly refers to Marinette as Princess…he shuddered. That woman was scary.
"She's my girlfriend. I wouldn't keep secrets from her." Nino stirred his straw, a wolfish smirk on his face. "Unless…"
They had a staring contest. Nino was looking at him with a smug look.
"Fine. I'll give you a clue." Adrien finally said. "But, you're not going to get help from Alya!"
"Got it!" Nino grinned. This was going to be fun. "So what's the clue?"
Adrien smirked. "She's from our school."
"That's not a clue!"
"It is! I narrowed it down to one place so basically, it just got easier for you."
"Adrien, dude, that's not fair!"
"Nothing's fair in love and war."
Nino grumbled to himself as he started to think. Adrien sipped his drink nervously. This was going to be fun, but it would be terrifying.
"Aurora?"
"No."
"Monsieur Democlas?"
"Nino, be serious here!"
"Dude, I'm serious! Uh…Rose? Juleka? Chloe?"
"No, no, and No. Freaking. Way."
Nino laughed as Adrien rolled his eyes. But seriously, Nino was getting warmer. It was only a matter of time before he finds out that his Princess was,
"Marinette, good morning!" Alya's voice rang out in the school courtyard.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
Adrien and Nino looked behind them and saw the small French-Chinese girl carry a box containing the solar system. Adrien rushed out to her and took the box from her hands. Marinette blushed.
"A-Adrien! It's okay, I can carry it!"
"No, it's okay." Adrien smiled at her. She blushed.
Marinette said, "S-So, um, did you bring the materials I asked you yesterday?"
"Materials?" Adrien said nervously.
Do not mention the phone call! Do not mention the phone call! Do not mention the phone call!
Marinette frowned. "I called you yesterday, remember? When you were with Nino?"
"MARINETTE?!"
Marinette looked at Nino in confusion. "Yes, that's me?"
But Nino wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Adrien. Adrien, on the other hand, was looking away.
Nino wrapped his arm around Adrien's neck and said to her, "Excuse us for a second, your highness."
Alya and Marinette watched in confusion as Nino dragged Adrien into an abandoned classroom.
"What was that about?" Alya asked. Marinette shrugged.
"Dude."
"Yes, Nino."
"Dude."
"I know."
"Dude."
"Just say it!"
"Princess is Marinette?!"
Adrien winced and looked around to make sure that there was no one there. He sighed. "Yes, it's Marinette. But that doesn't mean anything!"
"So was her name Princess before, during, or after the time I told you about my one-time crush on her?" Nino crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And you know you can't lie to me. You're horrible at lying."
Adrien scratched the back of his head. "Before."
"And you decided to help me even though you liked her too?" Nino said. "Dude, if you just told me, I would've backed off."
"I don't like her in that way. She's just a friend." Adrien protested. He paused. "I mean, I love Ladybug but…maybe Marinette caught my interest so I was confused. So when you mentioned that you liked her, I thought, maybe that would be my chance to back off. But then you went and dated Alya instead, leaving Marinette open, and now I – I just don't know man!"
Nino looked at his best friend's state of distraught in pity. He was torn up about this. "Maybe you should give up on Ladybug."
"NO!" Adrien said. "Never."
"But then what about Mari-" Adrien covered his mouth.
"Don't say her name!" Adrien hissed. Nino rolled his eyes.
"Fine," Nino removed his hands from his face, "What about your princess?"
Adrien shrugged. "I don't know."
Nino punched Adrien playfully on the arm. "Hey, you can count on me, man. I'll be your wingman this time. Ask your princess to go on dates a few times. Maybe you'll finally see if you really liked her or not."
"You'll help me?" Adrien said.
Nino grinned. "What wouldn't we do for our best friend?"
A smile brightened up on Adrien's face and they bumped their fists.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite a great idea for Nino to find out who Princess was. Because after that…
"Oops, sorry 'bout that your highness."
"What?"
"Ni-No!"