"Oh my god, oh my god this is high, this is really high oh crap!" Nino squealed, latching on tightly to the laughing spotted woman who supported his weight as she effortlessly yo-yoed her way up the side of the Eifel tower.

Ladybug rolled her eyes, taking a short break on one of the support beams but Nino refused to let his feet touch metal, feeling more comfort from being wrapped around her.

She giggled, shifting his weight slightly and raising the yo-yo in her free hand.

"We can go back down you know, just give the word and I'll take you home."

Nino gulped, looking down and instantly regretting it but still adding, "Nope! No this is fine, I can deal with this. L-let's go to the top, but if you even pretend to drop me I'm never talking to you again."

She burst out laughing again, and he could actually hear the distant giggles from Tikki still inside the earrings as they started their climb again.

It was freaking ridiculous, she was getting the both of them up without breaking a sweat, swinging willy freakin' nilly all over the damn place. You know Nino was struck once again by how impractical of a weapon a yo-yo was like that was ridiculous right? It was a yo-yo, but then again maybe he was just having a crisis realizing the only thing between him and a billion foot drop was a yo-yo string, magical or otherwise.

Watching her transform again had been surreal, now that he was actually intended to see and had been so close when it happened. He could actually feel the weird indescribable energy that suddenly flooded the alleyway, and it was bizarre to realize that it must have been magic. REAL magic. Trying to cope with the fact that his friend was actually a superhero was still a struggle, but the longer he spent with her as Ladybug the easier it was to see the lines blur. She still had Mari's giggle, Mari's sass. The hero in spots he had come to idolize really had been that friendly cute designer.

Who knew one day that smiley girl who sat behind him in class would be towing him up the side of the Eifel Tower.

GOD they were high.

"Okay Nino," her voice suddenly reached him, "there is a little landing her. Get your footing."

Nino looked down, seeing a small platform above even the highest point civilians can go and ignoring the huge drop off just beyond it, following orders and setting his weight down and away from his escort. He didn't let go of her completely, still holding on to her shoulder and focusing on where he stood.

"Nino, take a look," she said softly, drawing his gaze first to her then to the sprawling cityscape. "Isn't the view amazing?"

Nino somehow forgot about his crippling fear of plummeting to the ground, the sight of Paris from such a high vantage point taking his breath away. He could feel his jaw drop, soaking in the distant living details of the city he had grown up in.

He could sense Ladybug- well, Marinette looking at him, a smile on her face as he watched the distant flowing lines of traffic down city streets. He could see movement in a splash of green, a park surrounded by buildings, and a large white block of a moving van trundling through tiny side streets. Well to say large was ridiculous, it was no bigger than an ant, nothing was. He was so high above everything, the sounds of the city only just making it to him on a breeze. It was something completely awe inspiring.

"Wow..." he whispered, his head moving from side to side to try and see as much as he could. "This is... insane."

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Ladybug responded, gently pulling Nino down to sit and keeping a loose hold on one of his arms. "No matter how busy I get I always try and find some time to remind myself of how special our city is."

"No place like Paris," he murmured, his tightly coiled muscles from the climb unwinding. It was hard to be afraid really, he knew Ladybug wouldn't let him fall. And who knew when he'd get to see something like this again?

Almost as if she had read his mind she said quietly, "I can take you up here any time you like, or anywhere else really, so long as there isn't an attack."

"Thanks," he said simply, still so caught up in the view, but luckily she wasn't offended, she just laughed.

"I love being up here, actually I think there is still some old trash from the last time me and Cat were- yup!"

Nino looked over at her exclamation, chuckling when he saw her shaking her head at a handful of pastry wrappers.

"I told that Cat to clean these up before he came down. He must have forgotten."

"Here give em to me," Nino said, reaching out for them before she could respond. He shoved them in his pockets, saying, "Don't want them blowing away and being liter right? Can't be a good role model if you're breaking the law."

Ladybug laughed, looking back out over the city. "A role model huh? I have to admit, never really saw myself as being one of those."

"Seriously?" Nino blurted out, blushing slightly and looking away as well when she gave him a quizzical look. "Sorry, that just doesn't make a lot of sense."

"What do you mean?"

Far below them the pair could hear the honking of a car horn and the varied sounds of traffic as the city lived and breathed. Nino thought over his words before responding.

"Well I just mean like, of course you're a role model. As Marinette or otherwise. There are tons of people who would want to be like you."

"What?" she said again, sounding genuinely confused but he still didn't look over. "I sort of get how Ladybug could be that for people but-"

"Well you're Ladybug right?" he said with an awkward laugh, glancing to the side. "That's sorta been the point of all this hasn't it? But, no like, you too. Like, Marinette I mean. You're brave and kind and always do what you think is right. You try and help other people no matter what, even if it's hard or scary. That seems like a pretty good role model to me, I mean, you've always been an inspiration so like there isn't much difference."

He figured he would be embarrassed saying something so lame and mushy but he actually wasn't, there wasn't any reason to be embarrassed it was just true. Marinette was amazing. Something about her small gasp though was funny, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Thank you," she finally responded, her voice mixing with the dull distant sounds of the city like it was meant to be there. He laughed and said something like 'No problem,' and to his surprise his voice didn't sound out of place either.

Maybe that meant he really was in it now. As he looked out over the city, feet dangling over a massive drop, he couldn't help but think that that was pretty damn crazy.

"Woah getting' a call," Ladybug suddenly said, and Nino looked over in time to see a small green phone symbol flashing on the back of her yo-yo. He was about to speak when she flipped it open, staring into it at something he couldn't see and saying, "Hey Cat, what is it?"

'Woah Cat Noir is calling her!' Nino thought with an internal excited squeal, but his thoughts were instantly more serious when it dawned on him what the call was probably about.

"Hello my lady," Cat Noir's voice purred, and Nino fought back his snicker when Ladybug rolled her eyes, instantly at attention when Cat said, "It's about that boy you sent me after, Adrien."

"Is he alright?" Lady immediately asked, and Cat Noir was quick to reply.

"Yes! I get why you sent me after him, he's pretty handsome isn't he? You're not playing favorites are you Ladybug?"

Before she could stop herself Ladybug smiled into her hand almost like she was trying to smother it. "Ugh he is isn't he? I'm glad he's okay!"

Nino could hear Cat's distant, 'Wait what?' even if Ladybug seemed to miss it and he bit back another laugh.

"Hear that Nino? Adrien is just fine, so no need to worry," Ladybug said with a grin, and Nino gave her a thumbs up before Cat Noir cut in.

"Nino? Wait are you with somebody? Where are you?"

Ladybug pulled a very Marinette like expression when she realized her mistake, laughing awkwardly as she said, "Uh, oh uh yeah! Haha, uh, Nino was the one who told me Adrien needed finding! We- we were uh-"

Nino could see Ladybug floundering for an excuse, and decided to lean into frame, suddenly faced with Cat Noir's surprised expression.

"Ladybug came by to wait with me until we heard news about Adrien! Yeah so uh, thanks for finding him dude I appreciate it."

Nino grinned as innocently as possible into the camera, Cat Noir's face looking thoroughly puzzled as he said, "Ooooh... kay?"

There was a small space of silence where Nino and Ladybug both grinned very suspicious grins and Cat Noir just stared, before finally he said, "Uh well, your friend is fine. He appreciates your concern."

"Is he there with you?" Nino asked, and quirked an eyebrow at how quickly Cat Noir said no. Sorta weird, but whatever.

"Uh no I took him home so uh, he's home now. Yeah," he said weirdly, the entire phone call and everyone involved being super weird. If this is how smoothly Nino's secret keeping was going to go he was completely screwed.

"Welp, I'm going to take Nino home too then," Ladybug suddenly blurted, laughing awkwardly. "I'll see you for patrol tonight. Oh!" she exclaimed, narrowing her eyes, "And if you bring food again clean it up! Poor Nino's got his pockets stuffed with your wrappers cause you didn't throw them out."

Cat Noir blinked once, looking to Nino and then back to Ladybug before saying, "Yeah sure thing. I'll see you tonight then."

"See you tonight," Ladybug agreed, ending the call before anything else could go wrong.

As soon as the call was terminated both Nino and Ladybug sighed heavily, smiling sheepishly at each other.

"We should head down," Ladybug said without any more ado, standing up and supporting Nino. "Let's not make this any more complicated than it already is."

Cat Noir stared at his baton as the call ended, stood on a rooftop and scratching his head. Okay it was safe to say that both of them were being weird. Nino was always sort of weird around superheroes but he was being extra weird, and Ladybug was flubbing her words and all over the place and also she had absolutely called him handsome but he would deal with that in a second.

The thing that stuck out in his mind was the last thing she had said. 'Poor Nino's got his pockets stuffed with your wrappers cause you didn't throw them out."

Cat Noir stood for another moment before he turned, looking towards the Eifel Tower standing tall in the distance. Were they... up there?

He held up his baton, taking the camera and zooming in on the top of the tower just on a hunch, and jumped slightly in surprise when he saw exactly that, Ladybug swinging down the side of the tower holding Nino in one arm.

He gaped at the bizarre image for a moment more before lowering the camera, staring in confusion out into space.

Why had they been waiting up there?

Nino was trying to get over how emasculating it felt to be carried bridal style over the rooftops of Paris, mostly because Ladybug refused to let him walk and seemed to think it was funny how he gradually got more comfortable.

"Hey you make a pretty good chauffer," Nino joked as they landed on the roof of his apartment building. Ladybug set him down and he smoothed out his shirt, shaking a cramp out of his leg while she smiled at him.

"Well don't get used to it, I'm not carting you all over all the time," she retorted playfully, the two of them standing there a little awkwardly not quite making eye contact. "Man this is gonna take getting used to..." Ladybug said after a small pause, fidgeting with her Yo-yo while Nino scuffed his shoe on the loose gravel.

"We can do it though," Nino said simply, forcing himself to look at her and smile genuinely. "Me and you are in this thing together now, so that means if you ever need to talk about all this super crap I've got you. And if you need someone to cover for you at school I got that too. I might not have any superpowers so I'd make a pretty poor Robin to your Batman, but I can at least do that much."

Ladybug blinked, staring at him with a slightly open mouth before she started to giggle, the giggle growing into a laugh that had her head thrown back. Nino smiled at the sound, and eventually he found himself laughing too, the awkwardness he felt between them burning up in the laughter. When she looked back down her eyes were shining as she said, "That sounds good, though I'd peg you more for Alfred than Robin any day."

Nino was grinning when he suddenly bowed, putting on his best British accent when he said, "Master Wayne."

They laughed a little while more before Nino snapped his finger, pointing at her triumphantly as he said, "Hey B can mean Batman now too!"

She giggled, shaking her head at him with a smirk. "I think I prefer Bug, DJ."

Nino laughed, giving a thumbs up, "So that's us then! DJ and B! This could be the start of something beautiful."

He would remember how she looked just then for a long time, smiling at him with a kind of brightness in her eyes that was so entirely her, hands on her hips while still transformed as Ladybug on the roof of his apartment building. It really did feel like the start of something great, the friendship between a super hero and civilian #14. Now though, he didn't really feel like just another scared citizen of Paris running for cover, because every time there was an attack now he would always be looking over his shoulder for her. Now there was everyone in Paris, Ladybug and Cat Noir, and Nino.

What a weird feeling.

"I'll see you at school DJ," Ladybug said at last, stepping backwards towards the edge of the building, "and remember. It's our secret okay?"

Nino crossed his arms, still smiling happily at her as she prepared to zip away. "Yeah, our secret. You can count on me B, see you tomorrow."

With that she nodded once, and then dove off the edge, flying effortlessly through Paris as her friend watched from the rooftop, adjusting his cap with a grin.

Man, what a weird feeling.

Nino took a deep breath, calming himself a little before heading towards the door, wordlessly making his way home with a million things running through his head.

As he stepped in the elevator he thought to check his phone, seeing a few messages from Adrien confirming what Cat Noir had said and letting him know he was alright. Now though it was Adrien asking where he was.

'Nino- Im home now. Good to know you're okay, what had you been thinking dude? Why did you run off like that?"

Nino pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the front door, walking in on an empty apartment and flicking on the lights. He set his key down with a clatter on the counter, picking up a sticky note left from his Mom. Looks like they went out for some shopping, so he was alone for now. Why sticky notes? He had a phone, why waste the paper.

He walked in to his room and collapsed into his desk chair, swiveling in wide circles as he attempted to process everything. He tossed his headphones to the safety of his bed, taking off his cap and putting it down on his desk once he started to get nauseous and stopped spinning. His phone went off and he frowned down at the message.

'Adrien- Sorry Nino, I didn't mean to freak you out. I wanted to make sure people were okay, but I'm totally fine so don't sweat it. You're okay too?'

Nino huffed out a lung full of air as he typed a quick response.

'Nino- Yeah I'm cool. At least I get more study time.'

He tossed his phone away, sagging into his chair and staring at the ceiling.

He did not have the presence of mind to study, screw that. He was still coping with the fact that things like kwami were even real, he wasn't going to do literature homework. Know what he could do though? Nap. Nap like crazy.

Nino switched off the lights and rolled face first onto his bed, glad that no matter how crazy everything got he would always have his bed.

"You're not a superhero right bed?" Nino said aloud, patting the comforter with one hand while he continued to talk with a muffled voice. "Nah, you're just a bed. Plain old bed, no magical crap."

There was a length space of silence where he actually tried to fall asleep, but then all at once he was groaning clutching a pillow over his head.

"Ugh," he groaned, the events of the past hour and a half flashing through his head. "Ugh, aaaaaah MARINETTE AHH," he shouted into his mattress, thumping it with his fists. It was just too freaking crazy. It was CRAZY. Marinette was Ladybug, and he KNEW that now, he was in on it. He was Alfred, she was Batman, and he was pretty cool with that cause Alfred is super awesome but like- MAGIC. Magic dude, just, freaking magic. Tiny adorable giggling red creatures with cute names and unimaginable power, and cute giggling tiny designer girl with also unimaginable power. But she was still Marinette, she still tripped over her own feet sometimes and still hated history and still loved hamsters. She just also wore spots sometimes and manhandled more terrifying bad guys than he could ever imagine. No big deal, whatevs bro don't mind me, just juggling my bakery shift, Lit. homework and world saving like it's nothing.

How did Marinette deal!? He wasn't even prepped for his test when he had literally nothing else going on, how does she keep her grades up while running off for press events all the time?

Nino settled down a bit, still face down on his bed with his glasses askew.

Hell that must be so stressful, doing all that without having anyone to talk about it with. That sort of explained the way she had been talking before, so genuinely relieved to share something with someone. Like, did she ever get scared?

If you had asked him before he would have said Ladybug didn't get scared of anything, no way no how, she was unstoppable. Now though, well she was a person. She had always been a person, but she had also always been sort of an idea, not quite real you know? But she was Marinette, kind nice Marinette.

And he wondered if she got scared.

If you asked him now he would say that Ladybug was amazing, able to save the day even if she got scared, which in his eyes made her even more unstoppable.

Nino rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling through his smudged glasses wondering if he was going to be of any help. Would just having a shoulder to lean on help her out at all? He hoped so...

He didn't want her dealing with it on her own anymore, not when he had a chance to help. Even if it was picking up a shift at the bakery or doing his homework twice so she could get some sleep at night he would do it. She had saved his life a million times, saved everyone's life, and had always been a good friend. He was going to help, he wanted to help. He wanted to be there for Mari, from here on out.

The day had been exhausting, stressful, and pretty insane, and he had been tired even before everything went down. He started to drift off, his pounding headache from exhaustion finally starting to fade as he fell into a dreamless sleep, pastry wrappers spilling out of his pockets.

The last thing he said came out in a murmur, saying into the emptiness of his room, "I've got your back B."