Tandem

Chapter Three

"I don't get it-"

Alya shushed him harshly, before turning back to peek through the glass inlays off the classroom door.

"If you said they needed privacy, then why exactly are we spying on them?" Nino continued in a whisper, crouched behind her in the empty corridor. He could still hear them laughing.

Unable to quell his curiosity, Nino stretched his neck to steal a glance around Alya's shoulder. The scene was blurry, smudges on the window obscuring most of the details from inside the classroom.

Best he could tell, they had yet to stand up or even move positions at all. Adrien and Marinette remained in their spots, occasionally glancing at each other before bursting out into fresh peals of laughter. The whole scene was so bizarre.

The pair watched this go on for a few minutes, Nino's leg cramping under him as Alya's intense gaze never left the door. Just as he had worked up the gall to speak again, her hand shot out, grabbing his collar for the second time today as she plastered him against the stone wall to their right.

"What the-"

"They're coming!" Alya responded in a forceful whisper, pressing a finger to her mouth as she willed herself to disappear.

The classroom door swung open.

"I look forward to it as always, my Lady."

Alya squeaked, her eyes going wide as Nino took his turn to shush her, hands flying out to cup themselves over her lips. First she drags them out here, next she tries to blow their cover? Rude.

Footsteps echoed through the hallway, slowly dying out Adrien and Marinette made their way into the courtyard.

After waiting a few seconds to insure the coast was clear, Nino slowly released Alya's face...

What had they just witnessed?

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"So you're telling me you don't find anything suspicious about their behavior, at all??"

"No, I mean...yes, but just calm down alright?"

Alya stopped pacing suddenly, swiveling to face him with a borderline psychotic expression. Nino threw his hands up, admitting fault in an attempt to divert her frustrated fury.

She sighed, resuming her frantic march around the living room. Nino absentmindedly wondered how long it would take her to wear a hole in the carpet. A minute passed.

"You should know by now to never tell me to calm down." She muttered irritably, batting his feet off their comfy position atop her coffee table. "And get your feet down before my mother comes home and chasing you out with a switch."

"Please, your mom loves me." Nino replied cheekily. The two had been friends long enough, practically since kindergarten, that they had become accustomed to this particular brand of squabbling. Like siblings, or perhaps an old married couple.

Alya sunk to the floor, propping her chin on her hands with an expression Nino recognized as her "thinking face."

She had been at it for 2 days, ever since Adrien and Marinette's little stunt during gym class.

Nino hadn't read too much into the incident. Everyone at school knew Marinette turned savage during dodgeball week, and it was only natural that Adrien was innately gifted at the game. The dude had like, 6 different lessons he attending each week, it wasn't a stretch to assume he was uniquely athletic.