When the Cat Met the Wolf

35. Of Magazines & Realizations

"It's just so great!" exclaimed Thiago to Arianne as both friends walked towards the courtyard. They were talking about a PS4 game called Until Dawn that, apparently, was amazing, even though Arianne had never played it. Thiago had, though, and he loved it "You should definitely play it with me someday"

"I'd rather not get jump scared, thank you very much" replied Arianne with a bit of sarcasm "What are they doing?" Thiago followed her gaze, and saw her looking at Alya and Marinette, the latter was reading a magazine. Thiago lifted a finger to his lips to signal Arianne to stay quiet, before approaching the girls with quiet steps.

When he arrived, he discovered that Marinette was going over a magazine full of pictures of Adrien.

"That looks interesting" he spoke up with a tad of sarcasm, startling Marinette, who let the magazine fall the floor because of the surprise. Thiago couldn't help but chuckle as he picked the magazine up, and went over the pages "You are into really weird stuff"

"Says the guy who watches cartoons about people eating human flesh" replied Alya sharply.

"Hey, anime is amazing!" Arianne argued "Fight me on this"

"Yeah, and besides, it's very deep" Thiago added, still holding the magazine in his hands "These are just superficial pictures"

"Give it back, Thiag" said Marinette, sticking her hand out towards him, but he just smirked.

"Take it from me" he replied, and lifted the magazine up over his head, making it impossible for Marinette to reach as much as she jumped. She resolved to jump on his back and try to take it like that, while Thiago couldn't stop laughing, and Arianne and Alya exchanged knowing glances and smiles.

In the meanwhile, Nino was watching the entire scene from afar.

Well, he was actually watching Arianne.

"What are you doing?" questioned Adrien, startling him. Nino lifted him up and put him behind him, so the quartet wouldn't notice anything.

"Dude, you know I'm not good with ladies" replied Nino "What am I supposed to do? Go up to her and crack a joke? Should I compliment her? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious?"

"You know, you are way overthinking this" said Adrien, shaking his head "Invite her to the zoo? You serious?"

"Well....they have this really cool new exhibit there" replied Nino, rubbing his neck nervously.

"Listen" Adrien placed an arm around Nino's shoulder "Just be yourself, man. I'm sure that's all Marinette wants"

"It's easy for you to say!" replied Nino "And FYI, the girl I'm interested in is Arianne, not Marinette" Adrien froze upon hearing that.

"What? Really?" he questioned surprised, and a sudden bitter taste set in his mouth. 

"You understand my struggle now?" questioned Nino, giving Arianne one more glance, before an idea occurred to him "Hey, what if you help me?"

"Me?" questioned Adrien, pointing at himself, and Nino nodded "I-I would, but I..." he didn't know why he was stalling so much. He should have said yes without thinking twice about it "I gotta talk to Thiago!" he took advantage of the fact that the boy was walking towards his locker once he finally gave the magazine back to Marinette, to use him as an excuse "We'll talk later, dude!" he greeted and walked towards the white-haired, leaving a very confused Nino behind.

"Oh, hey, Adrien. What's up?" greeted Thiago when he saw his friend approaching him.

"NinowantedmyhelpaskingoutAriannebutIranaway" he said, quickly, earning him a very confused glance.