"It could be worse!" Nathanael reassured, smiling as he clutched the temporary bandage wrapped around his forearm. "They could've cut my arm off."

"Yeah totally," Nino nodded encouragingly. "Stitches are cool, and you get a scar. I heard girls like scars. Is that true, babe?"

"Yeah because all girls are a hive mind!" Alya shook her head. She crossed her legs, lounging as much as she could considering the hospital chairs were as hard as frozen rock. "Although I guess scars are cool? They add an element of intrigue to a guy. But then again I wouldn't want to know how the Joker got his scars."

"I guess the guy has to be hot," Nathanael chuckled, smiling sheepishly despite the fact he still looked a little pale.

Nino beamed, throwing a cautious arm over Nathanael's shoulder.

"Then you'll have no problems, my guy! Any girl would be totally interested in you and your scars."

Marinette buried her face in her hands, not wanting to disturb any of the poor sick patients, but needing to scream nonetheless. She picked up her feet, not caring that she was wrinkling her dress (it already had a small blood stain on the collar anyway) and hid her face in her knees. Truth be told she couldn't tell whose ass she wanted to kick at that moment in time but, judging by the insurmountable amount of guilt blackening her veins, she herself was on the list.

She needed a blanket fort. Stat.

"Marinette?" Nathanael's concerned voice permeated through her self-made gloom cloud, and Marinette shied away from it. She heard him shift in his chair, make his way over to sit by her side. "Oh come on, it was an accident. How many times have I accidentally gotten paint on your work or your clothes?"

"That was DIFFERENT!" Marinette yelled, immediately throwing her arms out and shooting him an incredulous look. She missed a passing nurse giving her a disapproving scowl. "That was a mild blip, this is a MASSIVE BLIP! A CATASTROPHIC BLIP! Paint doesn't put you in the hospital Nath! I put you in the hospital!"

"Actually," Alya countered, throwing up her index finger as though it would emphasise her point, "The tweebs would prove you wrong about that. They ate a bit of my aunt's acrylic paint because they thought it was cherry sauce. That was a fun day."

"Honestly," Nathanael assured, bumping her shoulder with his good arm, "I'm fine. I mean it stung a bit at first but it's not hurting as much anymore. It was an accident. Marinette please don't feel bad about this ok? I wasn't looking where I was going and I slipped. That's all there is to it. Just because you spilled the drink, it doesn't take away the fact I wasn't looking. When you think about it like that, I guess we're both idiots."

Marinette paused. Allowing his words to sink in, she slowly unfurled her body and dared to meet his eyes. In response, Nathanael smiled warmly. There wasn't a trace of anger in sight.

"Err, guys? Can you… add me to the list of idiots?"

The pair looked up, equally startled to see Nino avoiding their gaze.

"Nino." Alya stood up from her spot opposite him, burying her fingers into his short brown hair. He glanced at her briefly, before casting his eyes downward once more, his face crumpling.

"No I'm serious. If anyone needs blaming here, it's me." He swallowed, closing his eyes briefly as he inhaled. After he'd readied himself, he sat upright and fixed both Marinette and Nathanael with a look full of remorse. "I'm sorry. I made some assumptions about you two being a couple again. I saw you two together and I was worried. I jumped to conclusions I shouldn't have, before asking you about it. It's not my business anyway, but all I wanted was for you to be happy. I was worried and stupid, and- god- I just hope you can forgive me?"

Marinette shifted uncomfortably, and not because the hard waiting room chair was making her lower half numb. Now that the shock of Nino's revelation had worn off, she had the grace to be ashamed of her earlier outburst. Sure, she was still annoyed that an already complicated situation now turned out to be one jumbled knot of misunderstandings, miscommunications and misinterpretations, but she couldn't find it in her heart to be angry with Nino.

She did, however, seriously thinking about hunting down a syringe of morphine large enough to put her in a coma, (could morphine do that?) when she'd realised that Chat probably thought she'd been talking about Nathanael at the Palace Du Luxemburg. That revelation in particular, seemed to turn her brain to undignified, screeching mulch.

"It's ok, Nino," Marinette sighed, fumbling with the skirt of her dress, trying to undo the creases she'd caused.

"It is?" he gasped, and Marinette realised that (whilst Nino thought Adrien had a puppy-scowl) his puppy-dog eyes were in full effect. Her heart could only take so much. She had no idea how Alya dealt with them on a regular basis.

Quite suddenly, Marinette was struck dumb by how sweet all the boys in her life were.

"It is," she nodded. "I promise. I know you didn't mean to make Adrien sad, or cause a misunderstanding. You were only looking out for me and to be honest, we were already misunderstanding each other. We'll fix it though."

"You thought we were a couple?" Nathanael blinked slowly, his lower lip jutting outwards. "You mean me and Marinette?" He gestured between them with his thumb, looking utterly perplexed.

"They don't know about Louis. I didn't think it was my place to tell them," Marinette mumbled under her breath, hoping Alya wouldn't hear. Alas, her reporter-ears were out in full force and her eyes glistened curiously.

"Who's Lou-" she began, but was interrupted by a yell so loud it shattered the air like a bullet through glass. A blur of a human raced down the hall towards them, and Marinette had only a second to realise that it was the man in question before Louis dropped to the floor in front of his boyfriend. To say he was beside himself was an understatement.

Nathanael turned the same colour as his hair.

"God, Lou, did you run here?" he spluttered, as Louis began touching his face, dark eyes scanning every last inch of Nathanael's body, seemingly searching for life threatening injuries.

"I dropped everything as soon as I got Marinette's message," Louis huffed breathlessly and Marinette had no doubt that he actually had run all the way to the hospital. His dark curly hair was plastered to his forehead, his eyes were glassy and watering. "But I don't care about me! What about you mi amore? Are you well? Are you hurting?"

Uncaring of the onlookers, Louis reached up to rest a hand against Nathanael's cheek. He genuinely looked as though Nathanael's pain was his own.

Nathanael smiled, shyly leaning into the touch and fixing Louis with a loving gaze. Not wanting to disturb this private moment, Marinette peered over to gauge Nino and Alya's reaction, fighting an onslaught of laughter when she saw their matching expressions of shock. Both of them looked as though they'd been smacked in the face with a ten ton of bricks.

"I'm ok, they gave me some painkillers and a little bandage to stop the bleeding. But I'm going to need stitches." The idea seemed to make Nathanael nervous. From her spot beside him, Marinette could feel Nathanael shudder.

Louis wasted no time in comforting his boyfriend.

"I'll be there. Right by your side. You don't have anything to worry about, just hold my hand and look into my eyes and it'll be over before you know it."

Marinette chuckled.

"He's getting stitches, Louis, not giving birth."

Louis looked up at her as if he'd only just realised that she was there, as if he'd only just noticed a universe outside of himself and Nathanael. He recovered quickly, and raised his hand in greeting. Marinette waved awkwardly in response. Nino and Alya continued to gawk in silence but, as Louis' back was to them and Nathanael's attention was diverted, their silent mental breakdowns remained unnoticed.

Marinette thought about comforting them, but was taking too much pleasure in the fact that it wasn't her having the mental breakdown. It was a welcome change.

"You are quite right, yes, but I will still be there," Louis agreed, having calmed down now that he knew Nathanael would be all right. He stood up, stretching out his long legs.

It was then that Marinette noticed the collar of his shirt (a black t shirt with the words 'the Roman empire was cut in half by a pair of Caesars' printed in bold yellow letters) was drenched in sweat. Her eyes widened. He hadn't just run here; he must have sprinted. Literally.

"Are you sure honey? I know how you are with hospitals, you don't have to come with me!" Nathanael leaned up in his chair, looking more worried for Louis than himself.

It was as if his words were a light switch in Louis' brain. All at once, the usually tanned man turned grey and he swayed on his feet.

Nathanael stood up instantly.

"I'm fine," Louis hastened to say, despite the fact he looked anything but. "I'm fine, truly. I just need to vomit and then I'll be well again. Excuse me."

Marinette could not believe how civilised Louis sounded. He even bowed as he spun on his heel and hurried away to the nearest bathroom. He kind of reminds me of Chat sometimes- I mean Adrien- I mean both. UGH!

Now that she thought about it, Adrien had bowed to her countless times, when he was feeling at ease and his more playful side came out. She'd thought it was something Adrien had copied off Chat Noir because he was a fan. In the years she'd come to know Adrien, she'd noticed he was a bit of a sponge when it came to TV shows or comics he liked, and would occasionally take on the mannerisms of his favourite characters. So Marinette had assumed the bowing thing was a symptom of that and hadn't given it much thought beyond that.

Once again she found herself wondering how she'd denied what she'd known deep down for so long.

Nathanael sighed, staring after Louis with a worried frown, and the silence which followed Louis' exit was painfully long. It was as if he were a hurricane instead of a person, leaving chaos and confusion in his wake.

Eventually, however, it was Nino of all people who found the courage to speak.

"So…err…that was your boyfriend?"

Nathanael looked back at him with an awkward blush and a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah."

Nino slumped backwards in his seat, placing his fingers on his temples. He looked so downbeat that Marinette made a mental memo to bring him an extra batch of pastries from the bakery. He clearly needed it.

"I. am. an. IDIOT," he whispered, aghast.

Alya gripped his arm, having sat down in order to be closer to him. She was showing remarkable restraint, Marinette thought, considering she was normally the first to ask for every little detail about her friends' relationships. It looked as though she was too busy trying to comfort Nino to be too intrusive. He was good for her that way.

"You didn't know, it's ok, none of us did," she shot Marinette a patient look of understanding, and Marinette breathed a silent sigh of relief. She'd been worried that Alya would be angry with her for telling white lies about Nathanael's sexuality and relationship status. She should have had more faith in her best friend.

"Yes, and if I'd been a bit more open about it- Adrien and Marinette might not have had this misunderstanding," Nathanael groaned, gripping his injured arm tightly. "I'm going to ask Louis to help me change my Facebook status or whatever it's called, as soon as I get home."

Marinette whirled around, shooting Nathanael an incredulous stare.

"You can-NOT blame yourself for this!" she cried. "Absolutely not. You shouldn't have to out yourself in order to fix my love life. No this is something I messed up, and I'm going to fix it."

Alya had had enough.

"I swear to god if one more person tries to martyr and blame themselves for this clusterfuck, I'm going to scream," Alya cried, throwing her arms up in the air with exasperation. "Look. NOBODY went into this situation hoping they'd hurt anyone did they?"

Everyone shook their heads, lips fused shut against Alya's wrath.

"Exactly! For God's sake it's a misunderstanding, it's not like anyone is dying- despite Nathanael's earlier attempt." She offered Nathanael a wry smile, and Nathanael gave her a kind look in response, looking more relaxed. "It's a bit of a shit situation, sure, but we can fix it. It's easily fixed. So everyone needs to calm the fuck down ok? God, you all exhaust me. I am EXHAUSTED."

Marinette couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Yeah, but you love us," she replied as Nino kissed Alya's cheek. In response, Alya rolled her eyes fondly, "But what I'm most worried about is Louis. Is he going to be ok?"

The frown was back on Nathanael's face, and he threw himself back into his own chair with a forlorn sigh.

"He'll be ok. He throws up every time he goes to hospital. He- he had a bad experience here when he was kid," Nathanael explained, his impossibly bright eyes darkened in sadness. "His father was a police officer, and he died after getting shot on a routine patrol. Armed robber. Ever since then, Louis can't go to any hospital without being sick."

Nobody had time to react, all silent in horror, before a nurse came towards them. He ushered Nathanael away, to the well wishes of the three he left behind, and Louis came out of the bathroom just in time to meet Nathanael at the end of the hallway. They rounded a corner and disappeared from sight.

The remaining three sat still in the waiting room, wrapped up in their own worlds. Marinette didn't know if it was the bright, luminescent lights, the cheap plastic floors or the odd hospital smell which flooded the air, but her life didn't seem real. She honestly considered, for a moment, whether or not she was living life as a character in The Sims or if she was a figment of someone's hallucination after they'd drunk too much cactus juice.

"Dude, if anyone has any other secrets speak now or hold your peace," Nino warbled out one of his favourite sayings, looking as shaken as Marinette felt. "I can't take much more of this. I mean, like, how many secrets, tragic backstories and weird coincidences can one group have? It's like we're in a comic book or something!"

Marinette, brushing her fingers against her miraculous, chose not to respond.

"Poor Louis," Alya said, playing with the strands of hair which had escaped from her bun amidst the chaos of getting Nathanael to the hospital. "That sucks about his dad. I mean don't get me wrong, my dad's an asshole and everything, but he's still alive. There's still a chance for him to not be an asshole sometime in the next million years. I can't imagine what that must have been like, and as a kid too."

"Hey, I know we haven't seen much of him, but he seems ok. And he has Nath. They both look like they're totally into each other. 'Sides Nath is cool so Louis' life can't be all bad," Nino replied, lacing his fingers with Alya's so that he could pull her hand up to kiss it comfortingly. "Anyway, I'm going to try and find some snacks, I'll grab some chocolate for you guys. You look like you could use it."

"You're a blessing, babe," Alya grinned, hearts in her eyes as Nino traipsed away with a prideful salute, happy to provide for the pair of them.

Once Nino had gone, Alya whipped out her phone, no doubt to check how the party was going without them.

"Unbelievable," she chuckled, shaking her head, "Alix has already uploaded to photos of Nath's cut to her Instagram. That girl…"

"Well at least she isn't mad, and at least we didn't ruin the party," Marinette said, recalling the look of glee on Alix's face when she realised one of her party guest had to be taken to hospital. She'd considered it a badge of honour.

"Wonder how Adrien's doing right now?" Alya thought aloud, grinning wolfishly at Marinette as she answered her own question. "I bet he's not as good now as he will be when he realises you aren't dating Nath hmm?"

"Alya," Marinette warned.

"Hey I'm just saying!" Alya's grin grew wider as she folded her arms, oozing confidence. "The only reason he could've been so downtrodden about the whole Nath situation was because he's likes you! I've been trying to tell you for months now, but would you listen to me? No-pe!" She popped the last syllable, her grin turning to an outright told-you-so smirk and, if Marinette hadn't had a trump card, she would've been infuriated.

Leaning back in her chair, Marinette stretched her legs and tried her best to look casual.

"Oh yeah, I know he likes me," she said, pretending to check her nails, "he- he told me yesterday."

Alya scrambled upwards in her seat, limbs flaying, eyes flashing.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Young lady, this is a hospital," a nearby doctor hissed, glaring at Alya like a teacher towards a disruptive student. Alya sat back down, hanging her head until the doctor passed by, mumbling something about today's youth under her breath. When the doctor disappeared, Alya snapped her head towards Marinette (who was finding it very hard not to bust a gut laughing) and glowered.

"How could you keep something like that from me?" she accused, looking more hurt than angry, and Marinette felt a twinge of guilt, inwardly wincing.

"Sorry, it was just a lot to take in you know? I needed time to process it on my own. It wasn't as if it was like a happy confession. He basically told me he liked me, even though he felt like he shouldn't 'cause we're friends," Marinette rambled, playing with her dress again. "Then he disappeared before I could reply. It all happened so fast I'm still kind of wondering if it actually DID happen or if I've finally lost it."

It was just as she finished her rant that a loud buzzing filled the air. The pair looked at each other, confused, before Alya glanced down at the chair next to her. The devilish look on her face caused a shiver to run up Marinette's spine and she knew she was in trouble. She didn't know how, but she was. Everything about Alya, from the tip of her raised eyebrow, to her heels tapping curiously against the hospital floor, screamed that Marinette was totally, and utterly, screwed.

"First of all," Alya crooned, picking up what appeared to be Nino's phone, "You never had it to begin with. Second of all-" she held the phone up to Marinette, "-you wanna find out if it was real or not?"

Before Marinette could respond, Alya hit the answer button and threw Nino's (thankfully protected) phone straight at her. Marinette made a sound like a chicken on helium, and lunged forward to catch the projectile.

The blood drained from her face when she saw who was on the other side of the phone.

Adrien.

Chat Noir.

Oh god she was about to talk to Chat Noir's civilian self (knowingly) for the first time. On the phone. In a hospital waiting room. Huh. Looks like I'm going to have a mental breakdown here after all.

It wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind when she pictured this moment finally occurring.

She froze, phone clutched tightly in her hand, her eyes bugging out in horror.

"Hello? Nino?" Adrien's voice called out from the speaker, and Marinette clapped a hand to her mouth. From the corners of her eyes, she could see Alya making silent encouraging gestures. They didn't help at all. Alya had no idea. No idea.

Calm down.

No, no, no, no, no.

CALM DOWN. You were going to talk to him tonight anyway.

"Nino? Please answer!" Adrien cried, his voice sounding strangled and panicky. "Dude I've only just got home from the dinner thing and my dad was dragging me around getting me to talk to all of the investors for his new London headquarters and I was a mess, I could barely remember my own name but all I could think about was that picture you sent. Was that really a hospital? Come on man, you have to be ok. Or is it someone else? Is it Alya? Is she hurt? Is it MARINETTE?!"

At the sound of her name, Marinette squealed and placed the phone up to her ear, nearly dropping it twice.

"Erm, h-hi Adrien."

The phone went so quiet that Marinette briefly checked that she hadn't accidentally ended the call. She bit her lip, curling up into a ball once again.

When it had gotten past twenty seconds, and Adrien still hadn't replied, Marinette steeled herself. Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes, reminding herself there was nothing to fear. Sure she was nervous, but this was her Chat Noir she was speaking to- even though he didn't know she knew.

As the image of Adrien with Chat's cat ears filled her mind, Marinette smiled, finding her inner strength.

"Adrien?"

"Yes!" He squeaked, a noise which Marinette found highly endearing, and she snuggled deeper into the chair, silently promising herself to try and get that squeak out of him again. "Yes- Adrien. That is my name. That's me. H-hi. Um. This is Marinette right?"

Marinette couldn't help the giggle which escaped from her lips.

How the hell was I ever so nervous around this dork that I could barely speak?

"Yeah, it's me," she replied fondly. "And don't worry. None of us are hurt. Well, not badly. Nathanael and I fell over a broken champagne glass at Alix's party so now we're at the hospital because he needs stitches."

"Oh," he replied sharply, but not angrily. It seemed as though he didn't know what to say. Marinette blanched when she realised he probably thought that she'd gone because she was with Nathanael romantically. He surprised her with what he said next though, "But Nathanael is going to be ok isn't he?"

Marinette felt like melting. This sweet cat of hers cared so much about other people- even though Nathanael was someone he probably considered a love rival or something ridiculous like that.

"He'll be fine," she said casually.

"Good, that's um, that's-" Adrien coughed self-consciously "-that's good."

Marinette wasn't sure how many more of these awkward silences she could take. But what was she to do? As much as she desperately desired to talk to him, to tell him everything, she couldn't exactly come clean in the middle of a hospital waiting room. Not with Alya there. Especially not with Alya there.

But, maybe there was something she could do? She hated the idea of Adrien thinking he had to let her go, or that she didn't like him back.

Well, to be fair, she didn't like him. She loved him, and it was that thought alone which gave her the courage to say what she felt she needed to.

"Adrien?" Oh how she wanted to call him Chat too, to finally confirm the truth out loud, to make good on that promise they'd made in a moonlit church what seemed like a lifetime ago. But she couldn't. Not just yet. Not quite. "I think we should talk."

Marinette could practically feel the panic radiating from the other end of the phone call. She was pretty sure Adrien had made a weird sort of strangled noise, and so she rushed to reassure him.

"It's nothing bad! But, you ran out so quickly yesterday," her voice softened as she spoke, trying to make a point of letting him know she wasn't angry with him, "and I don't blame you for that at all. But I do think we need to talk about it."

"Y-yeah, yeah we do," Adrien's voice was wobbling, strained as if he were forcing it to remain steady and failing miserably. "I guess a phone call isn't the best time to talk things over. Especially if you're still in the hospital right?"

"Right," Marinette agreed, gulping. Here goes nothing, "But Adrien?"

"Yes…Marinette?"

Oh god her lungs were going to either burst or melt. He said her name like he didn't think he was allowed to. Chat Noir had just called her name that way, her true name. She slunk so far into her chair that she almost disappeared in her skirt.

"I wanted you to know," she whispered, "even if we can't say everything we need to right now- just know that I'm not with Nathanael ok? We're not a thing. Nino said you were with him when Nathanael took me to the coffee shop the other day. That- that wasn't anything romantic ok? We're just friends. He was happy because he got accepted into his first choice university."

Adrien was quiet, but she could hear him breathing deeply. She was only just aware that she was trembling. Still, she fought her fears. She had to. For him.

"And," she let out a shaky breath of her own, "a-about what you said yesterday? Umm- well- no matter how much you're worried about that," she paused to swallow the sudden lump in her throat, "you won't ever lose me. As a friend or anything. You'd never lose me because of your feelings. I promise ok? I'd never, ever, ever, turn my back on you because of them. So don't worry ok? It'll make sense tomorrow, when we can talk in person."

She held back on revealing too much in regards to her feelings. However temporary, she didn't want him to feel like he had to choose between Ladybug and herself. Even though Ladybug WAS herself.

Her head hurt- and Adrien had yet to reply.

"Adrien?" she called his name, suddenly a lot shier. Had she said something wrong?

"I'm here."

His voice was deeper. It reminded her of nights spent dancing around each other, reminded her of the years wasted because they'd both been so blind to what was in front of them, reminded her of the way he looked at her just before he kissed her. There was no mistaking that voice. It was the voice of her other half. The yin to her yang. Just as Master Fu had told her years ago, as Tikki constantly told her. She finally got it. She finally understood.

Her heart fluttered and a love-sick smile almost split her face in two. Hope bloomed in her chest when she remembered how they'd kissed without masks, eyes closed, as Adrien had vowed to find her and be with her.

Tomorrow was an eternity away.

"Sorry, I was letting what you said sink in," he explained. "It meant a lot… thank you."

Nathanael and Louis appeared from the corner, both looking rather peaky but relieved nonetheless. Nathanael was still cradling his arm, but looked distinctly less agitated. She supposed it was due to the worst being over.

"Any time!" Marinette replied, trying to sound cheerful and alleviate the tension of the situation somewhat. "I have to go now; Nathanael's finished getting his stitches so I guess we're all heading home."

"Okay," Adrien sighed, and was it her imagination or did he sound disappointed?! God he was going to be the death of her.

"G-goodnight Adrien," she stammered. Damn it. She'd done well to not splutter like an idiot so far.

"Goodnight Princess."

There was a brief moment of silence where all the breath in Marinette's body seemed to hide away, her muscles clenched, her mind shut down business. The world turned black. She didn't think she could move if she tried.

Had she really just heard that? Had he really-

"I MEAN GOODNIGHT MARINETTE!" The yell which came from the other end of the line was so loud that Nathanael and Louis turned to stare, Louis raising a honeyed eyebrow at her amusedly, "I didn't mean- I- umm- jeez I'm sorry that just slipped out- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"It's- it's fine!" How Marinette was able to speak when her brain had fled to Venezuela, she had no idea, "I don't mind."

"I'm going to hang up now- if- if that's ok." Adrien whined, his voice muffled so much that she was pretty sure he'd buried his face in a pillow or something similar, "If I keep talking to you I'm going to make things worse."

"It's ok," she soothed, trying not to laugh and call him a term of endearment she'd usually reserve for his superhero alter-ego. "Like I said I have to go too. Should we try again?"

"Yes please," Adrien begged and Marinette couldn't help it. She had to laugh at how desperately dorky he sounded.

"All right, goodnight, Adrien. I'll tell Nino you called."

"Thank you. goodnight… Marinette."

She hung up the phone, silently staring out into space as she hugged it to her chin. Her body simultaneously felt as though it was floating and had collapsed at the same time. Princess, she thought hazily, he called me Princess…again.

If Marinette hadn't been certain she'd get some sort of fine for disorderly and disruptive behaviour, she would have screamed and cartwheeled down the hospital hallway. Her heartstrings were being played like a ukulele on steroids and she loved it.

"So that was the almost-lover Nathanael told me you were having some communication problems with yes?" Louis asked, breaking through her little world. She came crashing down to Earth with a flustered start, blushing from head to toe. Alya was grinning triumphantly.

Marinette nodded.

"Well you know, Louis and I were thinking," Nathanael said, playfully rolling his shoulders, "that we ought to help you sort this mess out. It is partly my fault for not being more open about my bisexuality and before you start," he quickly added when he saw Marinette's open her mouth as if to argue, "I don't care who knows I'm bi. I don't care if the whole world knows, and it's about time I let the world know how much I love this guy right next to me anyway."

Louis beamed at him.

"So what did you have in mind?" Alya asked, crossing her legs again. Marinette could see she was fighting the urge to rub her hands together in glee.

Nathanael and Louis looked at each other once, in a silent conversation, before Louis turned back around to face Alya.

"Nathanael tells me you are all going to your cousin's spa tomorrow, yes?" Louis asked and, when Alya confirmed this with a nod of her head and a glint in her eyes, Louis continued, "Well, we were wondering if you might be able to help us secure passes for the spa, and perhaps our passes might coincide with your own?"

Catching on to their plan, Marinette smiled. She really did have the best friends in the entire world.

"That," Alya replied, "can most definitely be arranged."