Nino couldn't help but feel like something was... weird. For a while he had chalked it up to nerves since it was finally Friday again... and he knew what that meant. His 'textbook' weighed heavily in his bag but he didn't risk removing it to cram as the school day went by, regardless of how much he wanted to. He was expected to meet Fu right after school pretty much, at least he'd have to leave straight from school to walk there in time... and for the most part it was all he could think about.

That and Alya.

And whatever was really weird with Marinette and Adrien.

At the thought of the trio seated around him Nino looked over his shoulder, glancing subtly towards where Alya was sitting, playing with her phone under the desk. It was the last class of the day and everyone was itching to get released for the weekend but Alya seemed especially antsy. She scowled slightly as one hand scrolled through something unseen and her other idly tapped at her desk, her hair concealing her actions for the most part from the teacher. He risked a few more seconds before looking forward again, or attempting to when his gaze was caught by Adrien's.

And there was that stupid smile again.

Adrien beamed at him, looking to all the world like Nino had just made his day and the DJ couldn't grasp what the hell was up with him. He had been doing that all week now, him and Marinette.

"Bro," Nino hissed under his breath, missing the connection between snuck glances and Adrien's behavior. He was mostly just confused and annoyed, but Adrien said nothing, chuckling to himself before stealing a glance backwards himself and settling back in his seat.

Nino sighed, Wayzz shifted, and they both went back to waiting out the clock.

The week had been weird, mostly because Adrien was being stupid and refused to explain himself. He'd just grin like a kid at Disneyland randomly,look over at Marinette then go back to business as usual. Marinette was pretty much the same, except hers came more in smirks and snickers. Nino had shrugged it off for a while but at this point he was feeling like the butt of some inside joke they had and it was rubbing him the wrong way. He didn't have the energy to figure it out, he had way too much going on. He was more focused on keeping up with his schoolwork, guardian training, meetups with Alya and sleeping at some point too to care. Except he did care, and he wished they'd just knock it off already.

His thoughts lingered for a moment on his nighttime rendezvouses with Alya, something that had become a nightly ritual for the two of them. After the first night had gone so well, something that still stunned him, she kept wanting to see him. And he kept wanting to oblige. It was mostly just the two of them on her roof, talking until they got tired but it was the best they could do. It was enough for now.

Nino found himself smiling, looking down at the desk as he thought things through. Were they dating now? Would it be wise to even say as much? He didn't know... but... he sighed. In a way it was incredibly lame, how happy he was over all this. He wanted to turn around and chat with her, wait out the end of class passing notes and laughing. And maybe he could do that, but not like he could as Jade. It would be just friends if he did it now, if it was just Nino and Alya. When it was Jade and Alya it was... better.

Ugh. Secret identities were stupid.

'Nino'.

To his credit Nino didn't visibly react to Wayzz's weird invasive brain tap thing that he did, his strange feeling flippers pressed into his hair.

'Bro what did I say about the telepathy thing?'

'I wasn't spying though I can guess who you were thinking of.'

Nino tensed, eyes narrowing a little as he felt suddenly warm with embarrassment. He was about to retort when Wayzz continued.

'She's thinking of you too, for the record. She's messaging you.'

'Wait seriously?' Nino thought, trying to keep his reaction inside as he glanced behind him again. Alya was still staring at her phone. 'What do they say?'

'You told me not to read your messages.'

'Wayzz,' Nino internally groaned, and he wasn't quite sure if the kwami was chuckling aloud until Adrien turned, looking at him in confusion before his eyes drifted up towards his cap and he smiled knowingly.

'Something along the lines of, are you sure you can't hang out tonight? I took the liberty of responding and saying that no you were busy.'

This time Nino did react, tensing and staring down at his desk.

'Dude if I don't let you read them you definitely can't answer for me man!'

'I didn't answer for you I answered for me,' Wayzz responded, sounding very entertained. 'I told her you were busy but that you'd see her tomorrow unless notified otherwise. I'm not sure she believes it's me responding instead of you.'

'Oh my god Wayzz please, what are you doing man.'

'I don't understand why I'm not allowed to talk to her.'

Nino couldn't help but drop his head in his hands, one hand reaching up to firmly settle his cap and squish Wayzz just a tad. 'Because you're a secret!'

'You keep saying how trustworthy she is, and she already knows about the existence of kwamis. You're just afraid I'll embarrass you and that's completely unfair.'

Just then, the bell rang and Nino sighed in relief. He internally muttered a 'we'll talk about this later' as he stood, stooping to grab his bag and looking one last time behind him.

Alya was staring intensely at her phone, almost smiling but mostly looking skeptical as she read through whatever was on her screen. As the class packed up Alya's eyes lit up, a nearly inaudible tone chiming from her phone as she flipped through something new.

'Wayzz are you still texting her?!'

'She's very good conversation.'

'How does that even work? Are you just magically answering her?'

'Wouldn't you like to know.'

Nino sighed aloud, drawing Adrien's attention who raised an eyebrow but Nino waved him off, standing to the side to wait for the group to head out.

Adrien stepped up to Marinette's seat, leaning over to say something quietly in her ear, the designer giggling a little and nodding about something or other. They paired off and headed towards the door, Nino instinctively waiting for Alya who was lagging a little behind as she answered some text part of him wished she wasn't receiving but... eh. Whatever, he trusted Wayzz to play it safe and he seemed to be having fun.

Alya walked through the door, blindly following the recently established couple out into the hallway and towards the stairs leading down. Nino couldn't help it, glancing over her shoulder. It was rude to read people's phones but like... he felt like he had a little extra credence.

He felt a prickle of something almost like static shoot down the back of his neck as he caught a brief view of the conversation, the thing he noticed most being the small turtle emoji acting in place of a name on the contact. He only saw a few messages, but it was enough to make him a little anxious.

A: 'So, saying I believe you. Tell me a little about yourself.'

The response was perfectly punctuated, admittedly very different from his own messages.

"Perhaps it would be safest if I didn't, though I'm sure you're curious. –W"

A: "Obviously!"

"Obviously. I must remain firm, I'm sure Jade will look back at these as soon as he's able. -W"

A: "That could be awhile, if he's as busy as you've implied."

Then, as he was watching in that exact moment Wayzz responded.

"Sooner than you might think actually, he's very keen to know what we're discussing. –W"

Nino blinked before looking quickly away, rolling his eyes when he heard Wayzz snicker again.

'You've been hanging out with Plagg too much.'

'Oh come now I'm doing no harm.'

'You're very giddy today.'

'It's your first proper guardian training. I'm not allowed to be excited for you?'

With the reminder fresh in his head Nino's pace slowed a bit, Alya walking out ahead of him as the spark of unease he had been fighting for most of the day flared up again.

He had studied as much as he was capable, reading the book was incredibly difficult but he had made progress. Still though... he couldn't help but feel like he was wildly out of his depth. In the end though... he had signed up. Once he shook Master Fu's hand there was no going back, Fu had made that very clear. And knowing even what little he did now because of his acceptance he could understand that. He had barely started but he could understand how dangerous it would be for information like that to fall into the wrong hands.

Nino followed his friends down into the court yard, Wayzz's presence leaving his mind for a moment as the kwami apparently got wrapped up in his little chat with a girl who was only a few feet away. Nino was running through a small bullet pointed list of what he had read from his book last night when he realized Adrien had drawn up short just inside the main doors, speaking conversationally.

"Glad it's the weekend," he said simply, glancing outside for his car but content to wait in the shade of the doorway.

Marinette hummed in agreement, turning to Alya who looked up from her phone with a smile. "I've finally got a little time to relax, how about you Alya?" The question seemed pointed and Adrien was smirking. "Are you busy?"

"Not today," she said, Nino smiling a little himself when he caught the edge of disappointment in her voice. "Hopefully the rest of it though." Weirdly the couple of the group looked surprised.

"You Nino?" Adrien immediately turned on him, Nino raising an eyebrow at how expectant it sounded.

"Yeah I said earlier I was really busy today," Nino said with a slight pause, kind of wondering why Adrien was asking for him to reiterate it, growing more confused when Adrien and Marinette traded a look.

"Whatcha up to?" Alya asked, keeping the conversation going as they collectively waited for Adrien to get picked up before going home.

"Eh, you know," Nino shrugged, looking away.

"Geology?" Alya chuckled, looking over her glasses at him and he laughed nervously.

"Yeah," he answered lamely. "Geology."

"Geology?" Marinette echoed.

"Yeaah..." Nino said again, stepping away from the group. "Actually I should probably head out, I'd wait for you bro but uh..." He trailed off.

Alya had lost interest, looking back at her phone but Marinette and Adrien were watching him.

Nino couldn't help his slight huff, pretty much done with the duo being freaking weird. He was mostly just agitated about possibly running late, he wasn't really that annoyed with them but he definitely didn't give them his patience as he left. The both of them were thrown off for sure but if they were going to be lame and keep stuff unsaid then he didn't need to feel bad for not explaining himself. He gave a quick 'see you later' before he jogged down the steps, turning away from the direction of his home and looking both ways before crossing the street.

Marinette and Adrien watched him leave, noting the odd direction before looking back at each other. Adrien was just acknowledging that they had probably been annoying him when Alya chuckled to herself.

"I wonder what he's so embarrassed about," she said through a laugh, glancing away from her phone in the direction Nino had headed. She looked to Marinette with a smile. "He said 'geology' before too a little while ago. Pretty sure it's his go to 'I'm busy and don't wanna say what' answer. Like, what do you think it is, is he taking yoga or something and doesn't wanna talk about it?"

Alya snickered at the thought, commenting in a mostly idle way without paying full mind to it but the others seemed intrigued by it, shooting each other another look.

"I don't know," Adrien answered, trying to act causal. "I actually thought he meant he was going to hang out with you or something when he said he was busy earlier, then you said you were free."

"Me? No I haven't seen Nino outside of school in like, awhile," Alya said without looking up from her text conversation. "He's probably just shy about something, doesn't really matter anyways. I wouldn't bug him about it."

Adrien blinked, seeming to consider it before he just shrugged, laughing as he readjusted his bag. "Yeah you're right, maybe he's doing ballet or something. Be a good way for him to unwind."

The group laughed together, Marinette snickering at the thought of Nino killing it in a tutu before she caught a flash of chrome from the corner of her eye. She tapped Adrien on the shoulder and gestured towards his waiting car, it was cute how he pouted a little.

"Alright see you ladies later," Adrien said charmingly, suppressing a sigh. He leaned down quickly to kiss Marinette goodbye before he zipped down the steps, sliding into his seat in the back and missing Alya's playful comment to Marinette.

"Ya'll are cute together," she said with an elated grin. "He's a great boyfriend for you, seriously."

"You ought to get one," Mari said playfully, swelling with happiness at Alya's retort.

"Working on it."