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Nino and Alya were happy--no, they were head-over-heels happy. They were practically ecstatic. Their plans were actually working. Slowly, yes. But efficiently.
Adrien and Marinette, being their usual egotistical selves, still bickered over the pettiest matters, but nowadays it started to seem just a tiny-bit more like playful banter instead of heated rows. That was a very small bit of improvement.
But that very small bit of improvement was enough for their friends. Now they just needed a little push, something to add a bit of spark.
They just had to figure out what it could be...
***
Adrien walked out of his fencing lesson, feeling exhausted. Mr.D'Argencourt had him fight with the most talented fencer in the entire school--no, in all of Paris maybe. Namely, Kagami Tsurugi.
Now, said girl was, to say the least, a perfectionist. She was beautiful, a class topper, athletic and extremely skilled at whatever she put her mind to.
Kagami was one of the most desirable--and most hard-to-get females in the school. Her prideful attitude and competitive spirit, whilst intimidating to most, was viewed as extremely attractive by the males in the school.
Adrien agreed that she was indeed very pretty, but at the moment, he didn't care. He had just lost to her. He, the famous Adrien Agreste, had just lost to her.
It was humiliating to say the least. Adrien was livid, and he was failing miserably on not letting it show. Nino could sense his friend's anger.
"You okay?" he asked, although he could already predict the rant that would follow.
"Look at me, Nino! Do I look okay to you?" Adrien snapped. Nino scanned his appearance in mock psychoanalysis.
"Don't worry, you look as handsome as ever" said Nino "Except that scowl on your face though. You really should stop frowning so much unless you want premature wrinkles, you know"
Adrien groaned in response. He was in no mood for jokes.
"I fucking lost to a girl! What else am I supposed to do now? Dance!?" growled Adrien.
"Which girl?"
"Kagami Tsurugi"
"Come on. Literally everybody loses when put against her. Cheer up!" Nino said, trying his best to comfort his friend. But then he had an idea...
"Hey, Adrien? Don't you think you should get yourself a girlfriend?" he asked. His friend let out a sigh in reply.
"And why is that?" asked Adrien suspiciously.
"Oh, you know. Just to save yourself from your demented fangirls and stuff"
"And exactly why did you decide to bring this up now?"
"No reason, really. It just...came into my mind now, that's all" Nino tried and failed to hide his smirk. Fortunately, that little change of his facial expression went unnoticed by Adrien, who was considering the thought.
Nino was right. Adrien definitely needed something to stop his fangirls from stalking him around, all the way to his house to post pictures of him sleeping or to steal his underwear. If his father ever noticed those girls...well, he'd never allow Adrien to do anything without leaving tracking devices all over his body.
"I might consider it. Who do you think will be the best choice?" he finally asked.
"Kagami" came Nino's quick reply.
"Seriously? First you blackmail me into befriending the psychotic shrew and now you're asking me to date the dragon-lady? What kind of a friend does that?" Adrien asked incredulously.
"If you don't listen to me then the fangirls won't hesitate to kidnap you and leaving a tag on you that says: 'My Adrikins, Keep Away' or something" pressed Nino. Adrien sneered.
"That's it. You're officially denoted. Max and Kim are my best friends now" he said irritably. Nino just laughed.
"Then that video of you and the 'psychotic shrew' officially goes to YouTube" he pressed. Adrien glared at him and then slumped his shoulders in defeat.
"Whatever. I'll do it."
***
Nino had just texted Alya and explained his plan to her and needless to say, she was already extremely excited. Operation; Jealousy--as she liked to call it-- was bound to be a success. And extremely entertaining to acknowledge too!
After Marinette and Adrien would get together, she'd just find some way to set Kagami up with the guy she'd choose to be Mari's temporary boyfriend. That way nobody gets hurt.
Alya had already chosen the boy who'd go out with Mari. The boy was named Luka Couffaine and he was very well-known throughout the school.
He was something of a loner, but that didn't stop him from being a gentle, mature and chivalrous person who was always considerate and respectful towards other people. He was, in several ways, Adrien's exact opposite.
And undoubtedly he was the perfect guy for this job.
***
"Hey Mari, have you ever considered getting a boyfriend?" asked Alya the next day. As expected of her, Marinette shot her a glare.
"No!" she snapped petulantly "A million times no!"
"Oh come on, why not? What if the guy actually turns out to be nice?" Alya pressed on. She was already aware of the fact that her friend would be extremely hard to convince but she didn't care. 'Giving up' was not a word in her vocabulary.
In fact, she and Nino had already talked about their plan with Luka Couffaine and the boy being the good-natured person he was, accepted the request in a heartbeat.
Marinette rolled her eyes.
"Good luck trying to find a nice guy in this hellhole of a school" she scoffed. Alya sighed exasperatedly. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Nino is a nice guy" the latter pointed out indignantly.
"He's your boyfriend"
"Yeah, yeah. But there are loads of good guys in our school. You just haven't gotten to know any of them yet!"
"Who said I wanted to?" asked Marinette. The two friends were both terribly stubborn, but only one of them could win this stubbornness contest.
Before Alya could make any reply, they were interrupted by someone.
"Hey, girls. How's it going?" asked a mellow voice from behind them. The two of them turned around to come face to face with none other than Luka Couffaine.
