The Princess Behind the Mask

Adrien's POV

On our ride to the hotel, Chloe was constantly clinging to me, and quite frankly, it's starting to get onto my nerves. Sometimes I really wish I could shove her off of me and give her a piece of my mind. Too bad she'd probably make a scene and complain to her dad, which would eventually circle back to my dad, which is something I can't risk. I guess I'll just have to deal with it for now...

"Ugh, what is taking so long?" Chloe complained next to me. "I better have a good room for all this..." I mentally rolled my eyes at her, exasperated. I wonder what Mari, Alya, and Nino are up to... I'm still kinda upset they didn't bring me with them, but what can you do, right?

Alya's POV

Marinette's taking a short nap on her chaise. She told me I could help myself to anything in her room as long as it isn't obviously hidden away. BUT! We're not gonna do that, hehe. This is the perfect opportunity to talk to Nino about this situation and find out what the deal with Adrien is. Speaking of Adrien, I wonder why we didn't bring him with us...? "Nino!" I opened the door to see Nino standing just outside Mari's room, his hand brought up in a position to knock.

"Oh," He let his hand fall to his side. "Hey, Alya. What's up?" I brought my finger to my lips, signaling him to be quiet.

"Mari's taking a nap right now, let's move somewhere else." He shrugged and turned in the direction of the sitting room.

"Ok, follow me then." We walked to the sitting room and chose a big, comfy-looking couch to sit on. "So, what did you want to talk to me about dudette?" He asked as a devious grin spread over my face.

"It's about Marinette-"

"And Adrien, right?" He cut me off. I raised an eyebrow, not having expected him to know what I wanted to say. 

"Exactly." I pointed a finger gun at him. "Something's going on. She didn't invite Adriend to come with us, and it's not like he doesn't know. What do you think it is?" 

"Hmm..." Nino had a thoughtful look on his face. He snapped his fingers as a look of realization flitted across his features. "I bet it's about her coronation! When she's being crowned princess, she's expected to have a crown prince with her too! It's not mandatory, but everyone thinks she has one!"

Everything clicked in my mind. "So what you're saying is that she wants to ask Adrien to be her crown prince but she doesn't know how? Is that it?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." He nodded in confirmation. My grin grew even wider if that's possible, and apparently, Nino noticed. "Oh no. Don't even think about it, Alya. We're going to let this play out all on its own, and we're NOT interfering. Got it?" My grin turned pleading.

"Oh come on, Nino. It's not like it's gonna be anything major. We'd just set up a romantic spot and send them both there. We won't even tip him off to anything! It's just a tiny nudge." This has to work. If he doesn't help me, then I don't know if I'll be able to pull it off. Plus, even if I did, he'd get mad at me for going behind his back.

"No." He crossed his arms.

"Please Nino? Just this once?" I gave him my best puppy eyes to try and convince him 'Please let this work'

"Just this once? I've heard that before, and it's never ended well." He seemed unrelenting, but I could see his defenses cracking.

"I promise I'll help you organize your next soundtrack!" He side-eyed me. The icing on the cake. He sighed as his figure seemed to literally deflate.

"Fine. But this is the last time, ok?" I squealed with excitement.

"Yes! I promise this will turn out great!" I glomped him, and ran off to the room I was staying in to unpack.

Third Person POV

As Alya ran to her room practically vibrating with excitement, Nino was left sitting on the couch, red-faced and questioning his life choices.