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“Of all the days to go M.I.A.” Nino paced back and forth outside of the Agreste mansion muttering to himself. “I know he’s flaky but can’t it be in my favor, just this once?” He kicked a stone against the stone wall, then quickly ran over to brush off any dust left behind. “It’s not that deep,” he reminded himself, “It’s not that bad.”
Unable to contain his emotions any longer, Nino hit the “call” button on both his phone and the mansion’s buzzer for the umpteenth time since he had arrived ten minutes ago. No answer. Again. He sighed and repeated the actions. This time, miraculously, an out of breath “hello?” came from his phone.
“Dude, I’m here,” Nino tapped at the gate as if his friend could see. “Let me in!”
The line clicked off and Nino hopped from one foot to the other until the gate buzzed open. He hurried inside and reached to let himself in the front door before it swung open. The young man caught himself from falling forward and looked up to regard the behemoth of a man who stood inside the doorway. He touched the brim of his cap in greeting, and the bodyguard rolled his eyes. Nino grinned.
“I always love our chats, dude, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
The Agreste bodyguard stepped to the side so Nino could enter. Nino took the stairs two at a time and burst through the door of Adrien’s room. Adrien stood in the doorway of his bathroom, towel slung around his neck and hair wet. Nino pinched his brow.
“How do you always pick the most inconvenient times to shower?”
Adrien shrugged. “I shower at convenient times too. You just don’t notice those ones.”
Nino opened his mouth to answer, then closed it and beelined to sit at Adren’s desk. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to rip into you, I’m just stressed. Alya will only be distracted by this akuma attack for so long.”
“There was an akuma attack?” If Nino had been paying attention, he would have noticed his best friend’s over the top inflection, but he was too busy plugging a flash drive into the computer and opening its contents.
“Yeah man, there was some lady yelling about something. I don’t know, it’ll probably be fine.” He gestured for Adrien to come over. “It’s been like a month since we talked about getting together to look over this playlist and if I wait any longer, I’m pretty sure I’ll lose it.”
Adrien put his towel away and adjusted something in the corner before hurrying to his best friend’s side. “I’m so sorry Nino! These past few weeks have been really busy and I completely dropped the ball. Remind me what we’re doing?”
Nino sighed heavily. “I’m supposed to put together music for Marc’s big Heroes Day installation.”
“Which is next week,” Adrien nodded.
“Please don’t remind me.” Nino frantically moved files around as he spoke. “I have a mix to represent most of the heroes but there are a few left that I haven’t had much luck on.”
“Which heroes do you have left?”
“Chat Noir for obvious reasons, Rena Rouge for… other reasons. And I’m having trouble separating out Vesperia and Queen Bee enough. I don’t super care but I don’t want Chloe throwing a fit at Marc over it.” He placed his had on his chin thoughtfully. “Okay wait I think I can spin it to her that Vesperia’s track is sampling Queen Bee’s. Ignore that one.”
“And you came to me because…”
“Because Alya is… busy… Marinette is like the biggest Chat Noir stan in Paris, Marc would just say anything is fine and I know it’s NOT fine but I don’t know what IS fine!” Nino threw his arms up in exasperation, then caught himself. He glanced at Adrien who seemed dazed.
“Did Marinette, uh, tell you that?”
Nino placed a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “Look, I know how it feels to have Chat Noir move in on your girl.”
“That’s not-“
“Adrien, I know that you are a rich only child. But I am gonna have to ask that this doesn’t become about you.”
Adrien, at a loss for words, nodded.
“I know neither of us are big Chat Noir fans. But together, I’m sure we can figure out respectful and appropriate songs that kind of bang.”
After a moment of staring like a deer caught in the headlights, Adrien snapped to attention. “Go into my music library, I think I have a couple options.”
Nino excitedly followed his friend’s directions until a song started playing from the speakers. He frowned. “Dude is this what I think it is?”
“Moonlight Densetsu!”
“The freaking Sailor Moon theme?” The thousandth sigh of the day escaped Nino’s mouth.
Adrien faltered. “It’s a pretty cool theme.” Nino continued looking on in disbelief. “And it’s from one of the foundational Magical Girl animes, like how Chat is one of Paris’ founding heroes. It’s meaningful.”
Nino shook his head. “I need you to understand that no one is going to get this. It’s gonna look like I’m making fun of Chat Noir!”
“I don’t think he’d mind,” Adrien shrugged.
Nino stared at Adrien for another moment before bursting into laughter. Adrien smiled confusedly as Nino wiped tears from his eyes. “Okay that was good, I forget how good you are at that innocent look. And while I agree that calling Chat Noir an anime girl is fun, I don’t think the girls would talk to me for a while after that.” He stopped laughing and cocked his head. “It’ll work for Pigella though, I’m gonna add that to her mix later.”
“We need something that resonates with him as a person.” Nino copied the file over to his flash drive while he explained. “Well what we know about him at least, and creates a feeling of empowerment for the people listening to it.”
Adrien nodded again. “Right, which shouldn’t be too hard to do since he’s a well-known superhero and you’re a talented DJ.”
“Yeah but he SUCKS,” Nino moaned. “Like look, these are the songs I have picked out so far.”
Nino navigated to another file on the drive title Slut Noir which consisted of the songs Womanizer and Nyan Cat (Remix).
“Dude,” Adrien sighed, “You have to calm down about that.”
“I know,” Nino’s face was buried in his hands. “But I just. Can’t get my mind off of it. Why does he have to be like that all the time?”
Adrien dragged his piano bench next to the computer desk and sat down. “Maybe that’s the only way he knows to communicate with them. Maybe it’s just, like, a persona.” He ignored his friend’s curious glance. “If I were Chat Noir, I would use it to try out things I never could as Adrien.”
“But you wouldn’t be like that! You wouldn’t play with people’s feelings or run around all reckless!”
There room was suddenly quiet. The boys sat in thought, trying to figure out what the other was really saying. After a moment, Adrien broke the silence.
“Do you trust Alya?”
Nino looked up, surprised. “Of course! I know she wouldn’t lie to me.”
Adrien scratched the back of his neck pensively. “Then why can’t you trust her that Chat Noir isn’t all that bad?”
“What if she’s wrong?” Nino fiddled with his headphones in thought, then spoke again. “What if he’s just playing the part of a hero, but really he’s just some jerk looking to use his position? Alya wouldn’t have gone for it because we’re together, but if she were someone else who knows what could have happened?”
“Do you think he’d do something bad?”
Nino shrugged. “Everyone could tell he was into Ladybug, but they never got together. Maybe she knows something we don’t.”
“It’s not about him, there’s just another guy!” Adrien faltered, then added, “is one possibility of why they aren’t together.”
“Uhhh, okay.” Nino looked back in confusion, then shook his head. “I mean that could be it, but he could also be a crummy dude. I don’t know.” His expression hardened again. “But I do know he’s been spending time with Marinette, and I don’t want that whole thing to get messy for her. Or you.”
“I’m not trying to-“
“Dude,” Nino raised an eyebrow at his friend. “I’m not stupid. There’s something going on.”
Adrien opened his mouth, closed it, and took a breath. “How I feel about it doesn’t matter. Marinette is smart, just like Alya. You have to trust them.” He put a hand on Nino’s back. “Chat Noir isn’t your battle.”
Nino let out a sigh. “You’re right, dude. Thanks. I think I should be able to figure something out from here.” As he moved to search for new songs, his phone buzzed. He looked down at Alya’s face on the screen and hit answer. “Hey, what’s – Already?” He picked up his bag and waved to Adrien apologetically. “Okay hang on I’ll be right there.”
“Everything okay,” Adrien asked as Nino hung up the phone.
“I think so, she just wound up across town and needs a ride home. My bike is out front, I’m gonna try to meet her.” The two bid goodbye with their special handshake, and Nino ran out the door.
As he walked down the ornate stairs, Nino started looking up the address Alya had texted him. He couldn’t wait to see her and show her the ideas he had come up with for this final mix. “Oh shoot, my drive!” Nino whirled around on the step and ran back up to Adrien’s room.
“Sorry dude, I just forgot my –” Nino froze as soon as he opened the door.
In the middle of the room stood Adrien, frozen like a deer in headlights, holding out a piece of cheese to a small floating creature. A black cat looking thing that reminded him of Wayzz. Huh.
Nino beelined to the desk. “I don’t have time to think about this.” He grabbed the drive and ran back out of the room. He could process this later. For now, he had a playlist to mix.