"It's just so great!" exclaimed Thiago to Arianne as both friends walked towards the courtyard. They were talking about a PS4 game called Until Dawn that, apparently, was amazing, even though Arianne had never played it. Thiago had, though, and he loved it "You should definitely play it with me someday"

"I'd rather not get jump scared, thank you very much" replied Arianne with a bit of sarcasm "What are they doing?" Thiago followed her gaze, and saw her looking at Alya and Marinette, the latter was reading a magazine. Thiago lifted a finger to his lips to signal Arianne to stay quiet, before approaching the girls with quiet steps.

When he arrived, he discovered that Marinette was going over a magazine full of pictures of Adrien.

"That looks interesting" he spoke up with a tad of sarcasm, startling Marinette, who let the magazine fall the floor because of the surprise. Thiago couldn't help but chuckle as he picked the magazine up, and went over the pages "You are into really weird stuff"

"Says the guy who watches cartoons about people eating human flesh" replied Alya sharply.

"Hey, anime is amazing!" Arianne argued "Fight me on this"

"Yeah, and besides, it's very deep" Thiago added, still holding the magazine in his hands "These are just superficial pictures"

"Give it back, Thiag" said Marinette, sticking her hand out towards him, but he just smirked.

"Take it from me" he replied, and lifted the magazine up over his head, making it impossible for Marinette to reach as much as she jumped. She resolved to jump on his back and try to take it like that, while Thiago couldn't stop laughing, and Arianne and Alya exchanged knowing glances and smiles.

In the meanwhile, Nino was watching the entire scene from afar.

Well, he was actually watching Arianne.

"What are you doing?" questioned Adrien, startling him. Nino lifted him up and put him behind him, so the quartet wouldn't notice anything.

"Dude, you know I'm not good with ladies" replied Nino "What am I supposed to do? Go up to her and crack a joke? Should I compliment her? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious?"

"You know, you are way overthinking this" said Adrien, shaking his head "Invite her to the zoo? You serious?"

"Well....they have this really cool new exhibit there" replied Nino, rubbing his neck nervously.

"Listen" Adrien placed an arm around Nino's shoulder "Just be yourself, man. I'm sure that's all Marinette wants"

"It's easy for you to say!" replied Nino "And FYI, the girl I'm interested in is Arianne, not Marinette" Adrien froze upon hearing that.

"What? Really?" he questioned surprised, and a sudden bitter taste set in his mouth. 

"You understand my struggle now?" questioned Nino, giving Arianne one more glance, before an idea occurred to him "Hey, what if you help me?"

"Me?" questioned Adrien, pointing at himself, and Nino nodded "I-I would, but I..." he didn't know why he was stalling so much. He should have said yes without thinking twice about it "I gotta talk to Thiago!" he took advantage of the fact that the boy was walking towards his locker once he finally gave the magazine back to Marinette, to use him as an excuse "We'll talk later, dude!" he greeted and walked towards the white-haired, leaving a very confused Nino behind.

"Oh, hey, Adrien. What's up?" greeted Thiago when he saw his friend approaching him.

"NinowantedmyhelpaskingoutAriannebutIranaway" he said, quickly, earning him a very confused glance.

"Okay, I didn't get any of that" he stated "Can you repeat it please? Slower"

"Yeah" replied Adrien with a nod, and took a deep breath before speaking again "Nino wants me to help him ask Arianne out, but, instead of agreeing, I ran away" Thiago blinked, trying to process that.

"What?" that was all he could say upon hearing this new information.

"Nino likes Arianne" explained Adrien patiently.

"Yeah, I got that" nodded the boy "What I didn't get was the part about you running away"

"Dude, one of my best friend wants my help asking the girl he likes out, but I ran away. It's not that complicated!" replied Adrien, a bit annoyed because of having to repeat himself again.

"Why did you run away?" he questioned "That's what I don't get"

"I don't know" replied Adrien, and Thiago sighed.

"Okay" he said, putting an arm around Adrien's shoulder "We need to talk" that being said, he dragged him away, towards one of the empty classrooms.

 "We need to figure out what you felt when Nino asked you that, and then we can focus on why you ran away" said Thiago. Adrien was lying on the desk as if he was at the therapist, and Thiago had a marker which he would use to write everything in the board "Did Nino ever tell you that he was in love with Arianne before?" 

"No"

"Okay, so you might have run away because of the surprise" said Thiago, as he wrote that on the board, before turning to look back at him "Did you ever imagine that Nino and Arianne could date?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Well, first, he never mentioned anything to me about it, and second, they are just...too different" Thiago looked at him curiously upon hearing him say that "Aria likes listening to classical music, reading books and watching anime. Nino like electro music, filming things and watching The Walking Dead" Thiago chuckled silently upon hearing that, as he wrote it on the board, too.

"What type of person do you think that Aria should be with then?"

"Someone who makes her laugh" replied Adrien, thinking about Arianne. He could see her smile and laugh in his mind "Someone who supports her, and is always there for her. Someone who takes care of her, and protects her. Someone who knows everything about her, from her favourite colour, to her dreams"

"But Nino could learn all that if he asked her out" shot Thiago logically.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't be the same" replied Adrien, making Thiago look at him curiously "Nino would never really know what's deep inside" Thiago sat on the chair in front of the desk interested upon hearing that.

"What's deep inside Aria, Adrien?" he questioned, leaning forward. His answer could lead to know what was going on with him.

"Well, she's smart, and kind, and selfless, and funny, and compassionate..." replied Adrien with a smile, and Arianne's face flashed through his mind "She's the kind of girl who's always there for you no matter what, and she's just so...talented!" he said with admiration "She does have her flaws, of course, like everyone does"

"For example?" 

"Well, she's too perfectionist" said the blonde boy "She doesn't think she's good enough, and she is always demanding too much of herself. She's very hard on herself when she can't play a certain song, or a specific melody, but she doesn't realise that she is so much more than what she thinks she is! She is amazing for me" Thiago was starting to realise what was going on, but he needed to ask one more thing.

"Adrien, have you ever thought about dating Arianne?"

"Well..." he frowned, thinking carefully the answer "No. At least, not since a couple of weeks ago when..." he stopped in his tracks, when he realised something.

"When what?" pushed Thiago.

"When we were filming Nino's movie" he replied, sitting straight "When Chloe was going to replace Myléne, and we had to do the kiss scene...I didn't want to kiss her, and I was very grateful when Marinette interrupted the filming..."

"But?" questioned Thiago. They were getting to the answer, he just needed one more push.

"But when Aria and I were going to film It ...I wanted to kiss her" Thiago nodded as he leaned against the chair. There was the answer Adrien had been looking for.

"Adrien, I think I know what's going on" 

"So do I" nodded Adrien "I'm in love with Arianne"