"Faceless Future" Book 2 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy |COMPLETED|

Chpt 18: Date Planning, Reassurance, and Another Smushed Name.

Marinette was lost in her thoughts while waiting for Ms. Bustier's class to start. She was trying to decide what kind of fun dates she could have with Adrien when Alya snuck into the seat beside her.

"Hey, girl! What are you dreaming about? The last time I saw that far away look was when you used to daydream about Adrien!" said Alya, with a smirk.

Marinette blushed. "Alya!" she exclaimed, looking down at Adrien and Nino to see whether they had heard Alya. She couldn't help but still be embarrassed when she thought of her behavior before she and Adrien got together.

"Hey, I thought that subject was fair to talk about these days since you and Adrien are together. So, what were you thinking about then?" she asked more quietly after picking up on Marinette's embarrassment.

"Adrien," Marinette mumbled.

Alya laughed. "Knew it! Was there something specific you were dreaming about?"

"Actually, " said Marinette pointedly, "I wasn't exactly dreaming about him, more trying to figure out some fun dates for us. We haven't really had any fun dates, or really any dates at all, since he moved out of his house. It's just been stressful, you know? Do you have any ideas?"

"Hmm," said Alya, "let me think about it. We could ask the other girls for advice, too. I'm sure they'd like to help, since it wouldn't be the same old 'coming up with a plan to get you and Adrien together' that they were so used to."

"Funny, Alya," she said sarcastically, "but, fair, I guess. You all had a lot of patience with me."

Ms. Bustier called the class to attention, halting their conversation for the morning.

- - -

While Marinette and Alya had been discussing Adrien, Adrien had been asking Nino for date advice.

"I realized yesterday that Marinette and I kind of put our relationship on hold the last month as I tried to adjust to moving in with her family and figuring things out. I don't think it's been a lot of fun for her. I'd like to take her on some fun dates, but I'm having trouble deciding what to do. Do you have any advice?"

Nino gave a surreptitious glance back at the girls to make sure they weren't listening, but noticed they were in some kind of deep discussion, so felt it was safe to talk.

"Well, are you looking for, like, a fun activity or, like, a romantic date?" Nino asked him, feeling surprised that he was actually somebody that another person would come to for dating advice! And even more surprising was that he felt qualified to answer!

"Both, since we've missed out on all kinds."

"You can't go wrong with flowers, dinner, and a movie for the traditional romantic date.  Alya always loves those," said Nino, smiling at the memory of his last date with Alya. "For the activities, I just usually think about the places I've gone to or seen to plan those."

"But, my father let me do so few things- that's my problem," Adrien complained.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. Totally forgot about that. Okay, let's see . . . Escape room, carriage ride, Paris Unmasked where you solve a mystery, hot air balloon ride, Le Manoir de Paris. Well, maybe not that last one since Marinette doesn't like horror." Nino tried to think of some other ideas, but was interrupted by their teacher.

"Settle down everyone," said Ms. Bustier, trying to get everyone's attention and start class.

- - -

Marinette and Adrien were heading to lunch when Marinette had an idea. Well, two ideas.  One for Adrien and one for her.

"Why don't you sit with Max at lunch and see if you can talk to him about the supervillain? See if he'll mention anything about the portals or anything else useful that we could use to figure this guy out." Marinette tried to think whether there were any specific questions she wanted him to ask.