Like they told their friends, they stopped for ice cream on the way back to Marinette and Alya's apartment. Marinette got a scoop of mint ice cream with oreos crumbled on top of it while Adrien got a scoop of strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce drizzled on top. Marinette took one seat of a three chaired round table and wasn't expecting Adrien to sit in the chair closer to her.

She didn't see a problem with him sitting a little closer to her, so she just kept eating her ice cream with a smile on her face. From across the room, Marinette could see a girl clad in orange eying Adrien like he was a piece of meat. Marinette tried to see the expression on Adrien's face, but he was pointedly looking down into his small bowl of ice cream, trying not to look uncomfortable. It was an expression she'd seen on Chat Noir enough to know it wasn't genuine.

Marinette considered letting Adrien figure it out on his own, but he was doing her a favor and she was Ladybug, she needed to step in and help. She scooped a small spoonful of her ice cream and brought the offering into his eye line. He let a smile develop on his face and accepted her feeding it to him.

He reacted by offering to feed her a small amount of his ice cream. There was some on the side of the spoon that ended up on the corner of Marinette's lip instead of in her mouth. He picked up one of the napkins from the table and wiped the treat off of her lip. The two of them spent a while romantically eating ice cream together until the girl left.

Adrien let out an audible sigh of relief when she did. "Does that happen a lot?" Marinette asked him, trying to be careful not to be overheard by anyone still around them. The shop was pretty empty aside from a few employees and a young family.

"Not a lot," he admitted shyly, "just sometimes. Honestly, that was an outlier. Usually when people see me, they'll just say hi, I'll sign an autograph, and they'll leave me alone. I'd never been… stared down like that before. Thank you for the help." Marinette furrowed a brow in reaction to his answer.

Adrien was finished with his ice cream and Marinette felt like talking was more important than finishing the bit that she had left in her container. "Are you ready to go?" she asked nervously, ready to learn more about her 'boyfriend.' He nodded. Marinette took their containers to the trash bin and Adrien pushed in the chairs at their table,

"Do people come up and bother you often?" Marinette asked him once they left the shop. "Or do they make you… uncomfortable in any way?"

"Not too often," he responded, "it kind of comes with the territory of being a son to a famous fashion house." He shrugged slightly with his hands in his pockets. "I've only been asked for a couple autographs or photos a week, usually. Sometimes there are more when I've just been in an ad campaign, but thankfully I'm not doing a lot of modeling nowadays."

A few things started clicking together in Marinette's head. "You're Gabriel Agreste's son," she ended up saying after a few seconds. "Of course you are. I don't know how I didn't realize that sooner. Gosh, you even have your mother's smile."

"Thank you," he responded with a hint of a question in his tone. "I pride myself on having her smile. I'm just sorry you didn't know who I was earlier. I probably should have mentioned something before we started all of this. You just started talking about fashion and I assumed that you knew who I am."

"I saw your last name and assumed there was no way someone as nice as you was related to someone who is as harsh as I've heard Gabriel is," Marinette admitted nervously which caused Adrien to laugh.

"I think I'm going to take that as a compliment," Adrien answered when his laugh calmed down. "Now that you've dealt with the first situation like that, though, are you still okay having me as your fake boyfriend?" He lowered his voice to say the word fake and Marinette could hear the nervousness in his voice when he asked the question.

"Definitely," she told him, "you're a great guy, Adrien. You should only have attention from people like that if you want attention like that. I'm always happy to help if you ever need a scapegoat from a situation like that."

He let out a sigh of relief. "You're a good friend, Marinette. If me being famous ever does bother you, though, you should let me know. I'd hate to miss out on having you in my life just because some fans start bothering you." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and Marinette could see the blush on his face.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," she assured and he felt his nervousness start to dissipate as they walked. They were walking in silence for a short while before Adrien decided to ask a question that had been floating around his mind during most of their dinner.

"Why did you choose Multimouse instead of Polymouse," he asked. "I love the dress, don't get me wrong, but I didn't think many people even remembered she exists." Marinette tripped over herself when he asked the question, but she managed to catch herself before she could fall.

He was just asking to be cheeky and he knew it. Part of him believed this girl was the original mouse heroine he'd seen when he was younger. He wanted to see if she could come up with an explanation that would successfully convince him that it wasn't her, not that he'd do anything with the information if it was her. Just something to satisfy his curiosity.

"Oh… all the heroes deserve support," Marinette said, "like I said the day we met, I just wanted to make sure each hero gets the appreciation that they deserve and fashion happens to be how I show that appreciation. I have a Polymouse outfit, but I was hit by a burst of inspiration to make this dress after that party, so I did."

He considered if Chat Noir was part of the reason that Marinette felt inspired after the party, but Adrien didn't know that Chat Noir walked her home, so he didn't ask. "I think it looks great," he said, "you did really well in making the design clearly inspired by the mouse Miraculous without making it just Polymouse."

"Thank you," she replied with a shy blush. She had been happy when he had given her compliments during their 'date,' but now, they felt more meaningful when she had the full picture of Adrien's connection to the fashion industry.