Revive

Chapter 14

A few days later, on the next school day, Nino was understandably nervous for many reasons, the first being that he and Alya had started down the road to mending their relationship. While their relationship, like many others damaged by Lila's lies, would never be exactly what it was, it would in time become something that both were happy with. The second reason Nino was nervous was that in light of the testimonies at Lila's trial, the new principal was starting today and several teachers had been fired and replaced as well. Ms. Bustier had somehow managed to avoid the firing but had been severely reprimanded by the Governing Board and was under scrutiny. So, in this case, Nino was nervous as he had no idea what to expect from the school or the teachers going forward, he may have to stop wearing his headphones in class. The third, and most shocking reason was that he had recently learned that his two best friends had been secretly married for months. To add insult to injury, Chloé had known the entire time and had been taking a sadistic glee in being the only one outside the Agreste and Dupain-Cheng families who did. Knowing what he did now, her smug glances around the room from time to time, especially when Lila had talked about marrying Adrien, made so much more sense now.

As he walked into the school, unsure about what he'd find, he did take some comfort in the knowledge that his friends had finally decided to add him to the very exclusive circle of people who knew their biggest secret.

Needless to say, Nino was surprised when he walked into the class and Adrien and Marinette were both sitting in their normal seats in the back acting like nothing had changed from a few days ago. They both still wore the many rings they'd been using to throw off any suspicion, and neither was holding the other's hand or showing any kind of affection. To all outward observers, nothing had changed.

As he slowly walked toward his friends all his nerves disappeared as they both warmly greeted him.

Adrien gave a quiet laugh as he saw Nino's face.

"I'll bet you are wondering why we are acting like nothing has changed," he began as Nino sat in the seat Adrien indicated, right between him and Marinette. With a friend flanking either side, Nino sat in the chair and nodded.

"Well," Marinette began as she pulled him into a side hug, "nothing has changed. Are we any different than we were yesterday, or the day before that, or the one before that?" She asked as she kept her arm around his shoulder.

He shook his head in the negative, a confused 'no' escaping his lips.

"Then why would we act any different in class if we aren't any different?" she asked as she released him and sat back in her chair to smile at him. Adrien had sat back already and was just smiling as he watched his wife banter with their friend. He could see Nino slowly coming out of his shock.

"I guess that's true," he finally replied, "I was so nervous since I didn't know what to expect after everything that happened."

"We weren't sure either," Adrien admitted as he sat forward a bit so he could lower his voice a bit. "With everything that happened we didn't know if we'd need the Gorilla to come with us or not. There is a very small pocket of people out there who think Lila is innocent."

"Thankfully we didn't need him," Marinette added as she sat forward as well. "Now that she's gone we can start building our lives again, and with no more Hawk Moth everything should be peaceful from now on."

"Speaking of lives," Adrien added with a playful look in his eye, "How are things going with Ayla?"

Nino blushed for a moment before he answered.

"It's going well," he told them as he looked down at his folded hands. "we had a date last night, nothing fancy, just some coffee, but it was a start. I know it's going to be a long road to get back to where we were before if we ever can, but it's a step in the right direction."