Someone Like You (Cat Noir)

Chapter 66 Whenever You're Ready

Alya had never been overly fond of lying. Keeping a secret was one thing, by lying was another. So, one could imagine how she might feel uneasy while she currently sat in front of her boyfriend Nino with the intent to lie to his face.

A few days ago, an unfortunate turn of events took place. ShadowMoth had been keeping tabs on her it seemed. In all reality, Alya wouldn't be surprised if he had been keeping tabs on all the people, he knew to be miraculous holders. Nonetheless, he had taken a particular interest in her, and attempted to use her as a way of getting to Ladybug. With quick thinking, Alya was able to use her miraculous unnoticed to get out of the rather sticky situation she found herself in, but in doing so, she had to make a sacrifice.

Creating an illusion of Ladybug, Alya declared that she would no longer be given a miraculous, being that her identity had been exposed at it was no longer safe for her to use it. Alya had the intention to follow through with what her illusion had said, and give Marinette back the miraculous she had been given permanently. However, her friend had another idea, and thus Rena Furtive was born. Alya would continue to hold onto the Fox miraculous, but she would no longer be called upon to assist in dealing with Akumas. Instead, she would use her gift in the shadows, looking for signs of ShadowMoth and of Myura.

The unfortunate part of this plan, was that for it to work properly, everyone had to believe that she would never be Rena Rouge again. That, much to her dismay, included Nino. When their identities were exposed to one another by Ladybug all those months ago, the pair had been closer than ever. Sharing their secret had bonded them in a way that stood out against most other people they knew. After all, how many people did they know that were as secret superhero couple?

Alas, Marinette had expressed how vital it was that Nino was put under the impression that Alya was no longer Rena, which is why Alya currently found her stomach turning currently. Of course, in her nervousness, Nino quickly jumped to the conclusion that Alya was breaking up with him, a far worse assumption than the truth in her opinion. With that in mind, she quickly told the lie she had been holding on to. He had been relieved by her words, unsure as to why she would be so worried about telling him such a thing to begin with. Though happy Nino didn't bomb her with questions, Alya still couldn't help but have a bitter taste in her mouth due to her dishonesty. It was for the best. That was what she had to keep repeating in her head as Nino hugged her. It was for the best.

The part of this plan that made the lie even harder, was now she could no longer use helping Ladybug as an excuse as to why she couldn't hang out with Nino. It wasn't necessarily like she didn't spend any time with him, but a lot of that time was cut short, and now she had to give lame excuses as to why. She couldn't show him the cool new version of her suit that she had conjured up now due to her new role, nor could he explain why she sometimes had to cut date night short with anything other than needing to catch up on some homework. Alya hoped that Nino wouldn't take much note of it. However, he in fact did.

At first, he had brushed it off. The weird feeling he got when Alya told him she would no longer be Rena Rouge. He had been so afraid that she was breaking up with him that when she told him otherwise, he ignored how odd it was for her to seem nervous to tell him so. He thought, maybe, she thought finding out she could no longer take part in the superhero team would disappoint him somehow. Like he would perhaps blame her for ending up in a position that would get her miraculous taken away.

Soon, however, it seemed to be more than that. It felt like Alya was distancing herself from him. Very shortly after they started dating, and even more so once their identities were revealed to one another, he and Alya spent most of their free time together. Sure, they did their own separate things from time to time, but in general, where you found Nino, you found Alya, and vice versa. Nowadays, it felt like she kept finding ways to flake on him. If he was honest, it was really starting to mess with his mood.