Cinnamon and Vanilla

Chapter 27

Nino shovelled another fork full of pasta into his mouth, humming happy noises to himself. "Tell the truth dude, Marientte made this didn't she?" Adrien chuckled and shook his head as Marinette gave him a proud grin.

"Nope, he did it all by himself."

"I had a great teacher." Adrien said, lifting her hand to plant a kiss on the inside of her wrist.

"Dude, please, some of us are trying to eat." Nino teased, shaking his head. "You guys make me feel so single." Marinette gave Nino a worried look.

"What do you mean? What about Alya?"

Nino shrugged as he chewed through the last mouthful of creaminess. "I don't know. Ever since I moved into my own apartment, I just feel so much more lonely without her around. Heck I even miss her arguing with me and saying that Chat Noir's abs are better than Mr Bug's, how sad is that?" Adrien had to bite back an embarrassed blush as he placed a supportive hand on his best friend's shoulder, giving him an encouraging smile. A small reminder alarm beeped in Marinette's phone.

"Then why don't you tell her that when she calls?" She said cheerfully. "I'm going to set the computer up now."

"Wait, What? Hold on, she might not want to talk to me. I mean, I don't even know what to say." He fiddled with his fingers as Adrien shook his head.

"Of course she will want to see you. Besides, Marinette and I have something important we want to tell you and Alya that I'm sure will bring her back sooner rather than later anyway." Nino looked between the two with suspicion.

"Okay?" He said in a drawn out questioning tone. "You're already married, and you have a kid on the way. Oh man, it's not twins is it?" Marinette and Adrien both cracked up laughing.

"Not this time." Adrien replied, sending Marinette a cheeky wink to which she rolled her eyes. Nino picked up his glass of wine, sculling the last of it before following the others into the study.

"I still don't think this is a good idea dudes." Nino said, scratching his head as he sat down. "You know I get all weird and awkward on video calls, that's why I don't make them."

"Then that's exactly why you need to today, and we will be here to support you." Marinette insisted. She spun around in her desk chair and grabbed both of Nino's hands. "Just be yourself Nino. Alya needs to remember what an amazing boyfriend she has." The screen on the video chat came to life, and Alya came into view.

"Yo there girl, how's things in...Nino?" She readjusted her glasses as though she must have been seeing things. Nino waved with an awkward cheesy grin.

"Hey babe." He said, the love and longing in his voice not lost on his absentee girlfriend.

"H...hey Nino." She replied, her voice soft. Nino thought she looked wonderful, still dressed in her work wear, her hair an auburn crest cascading down her shoulders.

"I...I've missed you Alya." He said, trying not to let his voice crack under his emotions. Alya took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. She placed them back on looking determined down the camera.

"You know I came to America with this stupid idea of needing to find myself, and all I found was loneliness, crappy weather and that I had left the biggest part of myself behind in Paris with my dorky, adorable boyfriend that I have been missing like crazy." Nino felt his heart leap in his chest.

"I'm so sorry babe. I promise I'll do better. I'll do anything to make it up to you. Just tell me and I'll do it." Alya smiled even as tears continued to trickle down her cheeks.

"You have nothing to apologise for Nino. You didn't do anything wrong except love a stubborn, overly ambitious, crazy fool like me. It was my fault. I was the one that  lost sight of the important things." She shook her head at herself. "I'm the one that pulled a Marinette and ran away from my feelings."