Miraculous One Shot Compilation

Out of Your League

Nino wanted to bash his head against the wall, maybe he even would have if it weren't for for fear of damaging his high-quality headphones that he had saved up quite a while to buy. All of that work he'd gone to, and for what? He'd only wanted to help out his best bud.

"Girls are so confusing." Nino had said "You're lucky, no girl is out of your league."

"I wish," Adrien had sighed. "Try telling that to her."

His best friend's response had been quite the surprise to Nino. He'd assumed that his rich, well-known friend - who most girls would admit to finding attractive - could get pretty much any girl he wanted. "You're having girl trouble?!"

"Not exactly, I - yes." It had been obvious how much that admission stung Adrien's pride.

"Who is the girl?"

"I don't really want to sa- It's Ladybug." The camaraderie between best friends had trumped the instinct to hide weakness.

"No way!" Nino wouldn't have even considered that someone might think to get a crush on one of their city's superheroes. "I hate to say it, dude, but maybe she really is out of your league."

Adrien hadn't been willing to listen. "But she's just so - I'm not interested in any other girl."

Nino had felt bad for Adrien. His best friend's life really sucked, and Nino would like to see something that made his friend a little happier. Throwing in a bit of romance had seemed like a good candidate for how to liven things up, but Ladybug?! Nino hadn't ever even thought of her as a girl before; she was an invincible protector who lived in a different world than their own. He had truly believed that his friend would encounter nothing but pain as a result of harboring romantic affection for such a supreme being, so he had made it his mission to talk his friend out of it.

It had quickly become evident that Adrien was not at all looking to be talked out of his crush. The more Nino had told him why it wasn't a good idea, the more stubbornly Adrien would cling to his affection for the superheroine. Eventually, Nino had determined he would have to try a different approach: he would find someone to replace Ladybug in Adrien's heart.

Nino hadn't considered himself much of a matchmaker, but he really wanted things to look up for Adrien - so he had figured he could put in that extra effort especially for his best friend. He had even already known that a friend of theirs had a crush on Adrien, yet was too shy to tell him. Marinette was such a kind girl, if he got her and Adrien together, it would be to the benefit of both of them. He had realized that he didn't even have to work alone on it, either. Marinette's best friend, Alya, had been more than happy to team up with Nino on prompting a couple whose connection she had already believed to be overdue.

He and Alya had accumulated several thousand text messages back and forth, carefully planning how to trap their best friends in a romantic setting; yet every time, it failed. Any time they'd tried to cue Marinette into doing anything romantic, she'd chickened out. Any time they'd tried to cue Adrien, he'd seemed oblivious to the fact that romantic interaction was possible between himself and anyone other than Paris' spotted heroine. For all their efforts, Adrien and Marinette had at least grown closer with each other - any time they spent together had become cute, sweet, and squarely in the friend-zone.

Now, Nino watched Adrien walking along slowly with his newly-announced girlfriend, their interlaced fingers swinging gently between them. Both looked utterly blissful in the moment, as though they'd found just what they'd been looking for for a long time. Yes, it was Marinette there with Adrien, and Nino was undeniably happy for his friends, but he couldn't shake the annoyance that for everything he'd done, their getting together was nothing to do with him.

Nino and Alya had experienced another failed plan just two days before, and were still in the middle of planning their next attempt. The group of four had been hanging out, just as friends, when Marinette made a careless, yet ultimately happy, slipup. Adrien had pointed out to her that there wasn't any reason she should know about what she'd just said. Marinette then realized that he shouldn't know that she shouldn't know. Everything had unraveled right then and there, in front of Nino and Alya. Once the secret heroes had realized they were no longer quite as secret as they'd once been, they extracted promises from their friends that no such information would leave their little group of six - the count being reached once the kwamies had been introduced.

Nino had learned that day that even the most high and mighty people were still people. He absolutely respected everything they did, but Ladybug was just a girl, Chat Noir was just a boy. They weren't invincible. They had fears and insecurities, and went into each fight just hoping they could win it, but most importantly, they were a couple of his best friends. Everyone, in the same league.