The next day, Adrien woke up feeling the same as he figured out he was part sentimonster: alone, wrecked, sad, world shattered. He wants to get some answers from father, but if he does that, it'll reveal his identity to his father.
"I want to go out. Plagg, claws-"
"Adrien?" Marinette swings into his room "Are.. are you okay?"
"No, Mari. I'm not fine! All my life I thought I was human, but I'm actually a sentimonster."
"Adrien, you're not all sentimonster." Marinette tries to console him
"Yeah, but. The human parts of me... are just a dead corpse. Everything I need to live… that's all sentimonster. And… since I'm part sentimonster, and I don't have Emilie's wedding ring. I don't have control over myself do I?"
Marinette is at a loss for words and looks down in thought.
"I knew it. Everything I did, almost everything I said for the last eight years wasn't me. It was my mother. She controlled me, *sniff* Just like father. I… Adrien doesn't exist. He died on set."
After some thinking Marinette realizes something
"Now Adrien. Look at me. [he does] Was what you said your father, or you? Is your father telling you to be sad right now? I don't think so. That's 100% Adrien Agreste."
Adrien thinks for a few minutes before he says finally "I need to get my mind off things."
"Hmmm. Ah. How about a date?"
"You mean?"
"Yes Adrien. Our first date. That doesn't involve my parents, that is. And that time when we were hanging out as Marinette and Chat could barely count as a date. I just want a date without an Akuma interrupting us."
Adrien painfully laughs "Oh my god. I was literally trying to turn you down because I have feelings for Ladybug. I also want the same thing. Akuma attacks were fun when things started out, but they have become a nuisance "
"Don't remind me. Hey, you wanna watch that Doctor Strange movie?" Marinette asks
"You betcha! I'm a big MCU fan. Plagg, Claws out!" Adrien transforms as he and Ladybug leap out the window.
The two detransform in an alleyway near the theatre and get the tickets.
In the theatre, there were some notable experiences. One customer was having a fit that she wasn't getting her money back for the reason an employee insulted her, which wasn't the case.
"Such a Karen." Marinette says
"I know right." Adrien agrees
There were some hardcore Adrien fans. One actually was Wayhem.
"Wayhem. Hi."
"Oh, hey Adrien. How are things?"
"Doing... pretty well. I'm sure they'll get better on this date I have with my girlfriend."
Wayhem gaped
"No… way. This is HUGE! The members of the Adrien fan club will want to hear about this!"
"Actually, keep it on the downlow for now. My father doesn't know I'm dating anyone right now."
"Where is your date actually?"
"She is in… [He looks towards the girls bathroom and sees Marinette coming out] here she is. Wayhem, meet Marinette."
"Who's this?" Marinette asks
"He stood in my place during the Gorizilla incident."
"Oh!" Marinette says like realization hit her
Mari looks to Wayhem again seeing that he's paralyzed
"Uh, hello?" Mari asks
"Earth to Wayhem." Adrien says, while snapping
Wayhem gets out of the daze in awe.
"Adrien Agreste dating Marinette Dupain-Cheng. *he whisper yells* Designer of Jagged Stone's famous glasses, Album cover, The famous feather hat and niece of the winner of World's Greatest Chef. This is a match made in heaven."
"Yes, and please keep it on the downlow."
"You got it."
The movie was great, however to Adrien it reminded him of yesterday afternoon since time manipulation was a big chunk of the movie.
"Oh, man. That was a pretty good movie, what do you think, Adrien?"
"Well, it reminded me a little too much of yesterday, since you know. Time manipulation."
"Right, oh I'm so stupid. Uh… [she sees Andre Glacier] hey, you want some Ice-Cream?"
"Yeah. Andre's Ice-Cream is the best."
"Oh, and this is the first time we are having his Ice-Cream as a couple."
They walk up to Andre arm in arm. On the way they see Alya and Nino.
"Hey Alya." Marinette calls to her
The four heroes meet up together
"Hey girl. Looks like we are doing our first double date."
"Wait, you guys were planning a double date with Me and Adrien?"
"Well duh dudette. Oh [he brings out the miraculous to give back to mari] Here you go."
Marinette goes to whisper in Nino's ear
"Actually Nino, you've more than proved that you have been a great hero. I have full confidence that the Turtle Miraculous will rest easily in your hands." Marinette says with confidence
"Thanks dudette." Nino thanks Mari with gratefulness
The couples walk up to Andre's Ice-Cream stand.
"Ah, hello Alya and Nino, my favorite couple. *gasp* And what's this? It's clear that you two have finally found your love for one another." Andre pleases
"Yes Andre, we finally have."
"Coconut and Banana as usual for you two, and Mint and Blueberry, such a wonderful mix. One mixture destined to fix."
Marinette and Adrien take the ice cream and smile. They sit down on a nearby bench with Alya and Nino.
Nino, worried about Adrien, starts asking a question "So… how are you feeling dude? About, you know."
Alya elbows him in the stomach
"Nino. Not so soon."
"I'm… feeling a bit better. Thanks to the date that Marinette asked me on."
Alya starts laughing "I'm sorry. It's just, yesterday morning, Marinette could barely speak a comprehensive sentence to you, now that whole dynamic changed."
"Alya" Marinette playfully accuses
The four chuckled
Adrien looked down a bit glumly, which did not go unnoticed for Marinette. She thought for a minute before having a great idea. She brought out her phone and texted in the class group chat
Sew-what: My little sunshine boy is having a tough time. I'm thinking of a class picnic to cheer him up. Anyone available?
Roller-girl: You know it. But hold up. My?
Aqua-Pony-fanatic: Oh my! True love has finally blossomed between the two of you. I'm available for anything
I'm-better-than-Alix: Sunshine boy finally found his feelings. Of course, Mari.
Statistics-n-stuff: I'm available
Agent Smith: YAy! Glad you two finally got together! Of course I'll make it
Soft-man: You know I'll follow Mylene anywhere
Pablo-Picasso: Of course I'll help, Marinette :) Is it okay if Marc comes?
Sew-what: Of course :)
Rocker-girl: Great job Mari. Of Course I'll come.
In the Bourgeois hotel
"I'm having such a hard time! Ugh, why does finding oneself have to be so hard."
She hears beeps coming from her phone. She pulls it out and sees Marinette propose a class picnic to cheer Adrien up.
Rich-n-Bossy: You know I'll be there to cheer Adrien up.
Helpful-friend: I will have everything you need Chloe
Rich-n-Bossy: No need, Sabrina. I'm okay. Thanks anyway.
Agent Smith: Wait, what?
I'm-better-than-Alix: Huh?
Pablo-Picasso: …
Rich-n-Bossy: Wut?
Sew-what: Wut the
At Sabrina's home, she is staring at her phone in shock. Chloe has never turned down her assistance
Helpful-friend: U-u sure?
Rich-n-Bossy: I am as sure, as the sky is blue
Roller Girl has changed Rich-n-Bossy's name to Secretly Soft
Secretly Soft has changed her name to Not-so-secretly-soft
With Chloe Bourgeois
She felt nice that she had the opportunity to help Adrien in his life right now. After a minute, she realized she doesn't know that Marinette is Ladybug and she'll most likely be waiting for Ladybug. So she went into her private messaging with Sabrina
Chloe: Ur waiting for LB to show up to give the miraculous back right?
Sabrina: Yeah ofc
Chloe: Well, u can give it back at the picnic. Mari's LB
Sabrina: Wait, really?
Chloe: Well duh.
Chloe: Think u can tell the others I need a bit of time to find myself?
Sabrina: Not so sure what that means, but yeah.
With the four main heroes
"Uh, guys. Look at the class group chat." Marinette says
Alya, Nino and Adrien look at the chat and they simply gape at Chloe's behavior. She… just thanked Sabrina.
"Okay, that was unexpected. But that's a great idea Marinette." Alya praised her bff
"Thanks for thinking of me, Marinette." Adrien thanked his GF
"No problem."
After about three hours of preparation, the picnic was done. Almost everyone was there, except Chloe for some reason.
"Everything looks great. Awesome job as usual Marinette." Rose said
"Yeah, I got a lot of practice making macaroons when I made a passionfruit one for Adrien everyday. I even got more practice when I had a lot of spare time, friends wise." Mainette describes her accomplishments
"Yeah, uh. About that. We're sorry Marinette." Max says
"For what?" Marinette asks not getting what they're talking about
"We didn't have the time to tell you yesterday because we couldn't find you, but. We are sorry for believing Lila over you." Alix says
"Well, that did hurt. But putting together this picnic helped me remind myself why I am friends with all of you."
Everyone went to hug Marinette. Sabrina took the chance to sneakily give Marinette back the Miraculous. She put it in her pocket for later. As they separate, they see Chloe walking up to them with a notepad and pencil. What was surprising was what she was wearing. She didn't wear her usual fancy clothes. She wore yellow shorts, a tie dye shirt and black jacket along with bee themed sneakers. She sat down on the picnic blanket
"What do you have there, Chloe?" Adrien asks
"A list of qualities of my actual self." Chloe responds
"Your actual self?" Alya asks in confusion
"Long story short, I had a long heart to heart conversation with my step-sister yesterday with world changing revelations, and Zoe… opened up what was buried deep inside. The problem is, I don't know what it was she opened up. I can't think of who I am." Chloe monologues
"Well let's see what you already got." Marinette looks over the list for a bit and sees two big things.
Am I not straight? Am I Pan? Bisexual? I DON'T KNOW!
Potential passion?
"Oh. I see. So uh. I like that you're trying to figure out your passion in life. There is a helpful venn diagram that can help you with that. One circle is what you are good at, one is what you like to do, and helpful to the community." Marinette explains
"Okay, let's start with what Chloe is good at." Alya starts
"She's good at manipulating people." Alix says
"No no, that was what mini Audrey was good at. I'm trying to figure out what I'm good at." Chloe protests
"Ooh. Chloe is great at taking selfies." Sabrina says
"How is that relevant?" Ivan asks
Adrien buts in "Actually, not a bad start. Chloe, maybe you could be a photographer."
After a bit of soul searching Chloe finds that photography sounds perfect. "Yeah. Yeah that feels right."
The picnic became helping Chloe out about herself which took a bit.
"Thanks for helping." Chloe thanks her classmates
"No problem Chloe." Alix says
"Before today, I couldn't imagine myself other than straight. Thanks to you guys, I know I'm Bisexual"
"Miss Bustier is in for a surprise on Monday." Alya says
"All of our teachers are." Rose points out
Everyone is now enjoying the picnic put together.
"I'm sorry a good bit of picnic changed to helping Chloe instead of you, as that was the reason why we put this together anyway." Marinette apologizes
Adrien shakes his head "It's totally okay Marinette. Any day when I can help one of my friends is a good day for me. You're amazing, bugaboo."
"Kitty, don't use the nicknames out in public like that
"You know you love them."
Mari laughs "I do, just not out while as civilians."
"Hey Adrien!" Kim calls out "Bet you can't put 5 apples in your mouth at once!" He called
"Hahaha. I'll be right back."
Chloe took the chance of Mari alone to speak to her about last night
"Hey." Chloe says
"Hey." Mari answers back
"Zoe has the miraculous right now, she'll give it back when you come into action."
"Good idea to give it in her hands." Mari says
"Thank you by the way. The conversation between Me and Zoe was… much needed."
"Is Zoe okay? Her world must be completely destroyed from that."
"Yeah. She was completely devastated, almost to the point that she was akumatized, but I protected her."
"Oh no. Please don't tell me your cover was blown." Mari worriedly asks
"No, my cover wasn't blown."
"Good. Now, we have an advantage over him."
"I… I think I might like Sabrina. Like, like like."
Mari smiles, "I have a feeling that Sabrina feels the same way."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, yeah I do."
The class friends hung out for a few more hours until it was starting to turn to dinner time for them. They all went home except for Marinette, who transformed into Ladybug to get the Bee Miraculous back. Ladybug and Vesperia found each other and Zoe gave back the bee. However something seemed to be on Zoe's mind.
"Zoe, you okay?" Ladybug asked her
"Well, have you ever had someone tell you something that destroyed everything you know?"
"Kind of, when I learned that miraculouses exist. I can't tell you how to live your life, but Zoe. You have a sister to talk to about it. From what I heard from Chloe today, you helped her by unlocking what she was burying inside her for so long. Don't forget, you're not the only one who is experiencing a crisis."
"Thanks Ladybug."
"Anytime Zoe."