It had been a close shave for Marinette, but she managed to get back to Paris before sunrise, which granted her at least a little bit of time to sleep. However, it was only for an hour before she had to get up for school, still avoiding her parents who thought she was sleeping over at Alya's. With a swift exit after grabbing some breakfast, Marinette made it to school without being seen by her parents and the majority of her classmates. For once, she was early.

Using the time before class started to her advantage, Marinette started looking through 'A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore' with help of Tikki translating it. She was surprised to find out her kwami was fluent in every known and unknown language of the world, but was grateful for the help in understanding the book. Unfortunately for Marinette, she only had enough time to take notes from Tikki's translations before Alya entered the classroom. To say that Alya was surprised to find Marinette in her seat before anyone else was an understatement.

"Girl! How are you here so early?" Alya exclaimed, not believing her own eyes while she pulled Marinette away from her task.

"Oh, um... I..." Marinette stuttered as she scrambled to hide the book from Alya by covering it with her homework, surprised by her bestie as she walked up to their joint desk.

"Let me guess, that 'thing' you had me cover you for?" Alya asked as she slid into her seat beside Marinette, her 'reporter instincts' tingling.

"Uh, yeah! Yes, exactly!" Marinette managed to sputter out, glad that Alya accidently gave her an excuse to use.

"So are you going to tell me what happened to cause you to run off like that yesterday? Or are you going to keep being tight-lipped?" Alya questioned, leaning in closer to Marinette's space as she lightly interrogated her.

"I can't tell you all of the details... but I can say that it had something to do with Jim." Marinette admitted as she secretly put the book back into her backpack, making sure to keep it out of Alya's line of sight.

"Figured that part out after you listened to the voice file he sent. But what was it about?" Alya reiterated, not satisfied with the answer she had received. Not that Marinette could really blame her for trying to dig further. Alya was nothing, if not persistent in trying to find the truth.

"That's the part I can't tell you." Marinette sighed out, hating that she couldn't tell Alya yet another part of her life. Well, technically it was her brother's life, but still. "One of these days, I will. But not now." the designer assured. Thankfully, it had worked in soothing Alya's curiosity... for the moment.

"You'd better. I'll hold you to it." Alya warned, determined to get those answers someday.

"Deal." Marinette agreed, holding out her hand for Alya to shake. Seeing the gesture, Alya gripped her bestie's hand and shook it, sealing the promise Marinette made to her.

"But regardless of your reasons for yesterday's incident... Did you hear?" Alya excitedly questioned, placing both hands on the desk as she leaned in closer to Marinette.

"Hear about what?" Marinette asked, backing away a bit to retain some of her personal space.

"Adrien's new magazine has come out!" Alya announced, causing Marinette's eyes to widen in sudden elation.

"What! Seriously? And I'm just hearing about this?" Marinette squealed, leaning forward towards Alya and shrinking the space between them once more.

"Don't worry, girl," Alya assured before she reached into her bag. "I managed to get a copy for you!" the reporter sang as she pulled out the new magazine from her bag, holding it in front of Marinette.

"You're the best!" Marinette exclaimed before she hugged Alya. But their sweet moment was interrupted when the bell rang, leading to the entire class starting to pour in. "Aw man, looks like it'll have to wait." the designer pouted as she took the magazine from Alya and put it in her own bag.

"Eh, you got here early for once. Can't have everything all at the same time." Alya remarked after Marinette zipped her bag closed.

"Mmm... fair point." Marinette mused before Nino walked into the classroom with Adrien, who blushed when he saw the designer. But before either Alya or Marinette could see it, he looked down at his shoes.

"Nice to see you early for once, Marinette." Adrien greeted once he had his blush under control.

"Um... yeah! Just couldn't pick- I mean, skip- class after desteryay- uh, yesterday!" Marinette stuttered, her normal behavior around Adrien coming in full force, especially after he was a witness to her cussing incident. So obviously, she was more nervous around him than usual.

"Yeah, that was pretty surprising coming from you." Adrien admitted, scratching the back of his neck out of a nervous habit. At his words, Marinette immediately froze in place, fearful for what Adrien had to say about her less than stellar behavior.

"But if you ever need anyone to talk to... Nino and I are here for you." the model assured, calming Marinette's thoughts of ridicule or belittling. She then remembered that Adrien was more understanding of someone's emotions than most others at their age, meaning he wouldn't judge someone for having a bad day.

"Really?" Marinette wondered out loud, happy that Adrien didn't think less of her because of the previous day.

"That's what friends are for, right?" Adrien questioned with a smile, sliding into his seat in front of her.

"Totally. Thank you for the goffer." Marinette replied, her cheeks turning red as she gave him a dopey smile.

"Uh, you mean 'offer'? Nino questioned as he followed Adrien's example and sat down in his chair, finally speaking up for the first time since walking into the classroom.

"Yeah, that!" Marinette exclaimed, pointing over at Nino to confirm.

"You're welcome, Marinette." Adrien replied before he turned to face the front, letting Marinette drift off to La La Land as she stared at him while class started. Alya could only fondly shake her head at her best friend's antics.

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Classes had finally ended, but that didn't mean that the students were eager to leave just yet. With it being Friday and the start of the weekend, many of the students were hanging around the courtyard in their friend groups. One such pair was Alya and Marinette, sitting on one of the four staircases leading to the upper level classrooms while looking through the magazine Alya had brought earlier.

" 'Leo: Your heart's gonna roar.' " Marinette read from the magazine's zodiac segment, before turning the page and landing on a double page spread featuring Adrien. "Wow, roar!" the designer exclaimed at the sight of the spread, sending both her and Alya into a fit of giggles. But unbeknownst to the two girls, they were being watched from the other end of the courtyard by lovesick Nino.

"Why are you staring at Alya and Marinette, Nino?" a voice behind Nino questioned, bringing the bespeckled boy out of his spying and turning to face the source of the voice in surprise. Thankfully for Nino, it was only Adrien.

"Dude, don't sneak up on people like that! You gave me a heart attack!" Nino exclaimed, placing a hand on his chest to calm his rapidly beating heart.

"Sorry about that." Adrien apologized. It seemed like his time as Chat Noir has enabled him some of his stealth skills in his civilian life. 'Might want to be a bit more careful with that skill." the blonde model thought to himself.

"But seriously though, why are you watching the girls?" Adrien asked, a little worried that his best friend was starting to develop some less than ideal habits. He was a gentleman after all.

"Can you keep a secret?" Nino queried as he leaned against some of the equipment hiding them from the view of those in the courtyard.

"Uh, yeah, of course... why?" Adrien assured, his curiosity growing a bit at Nino's question.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I've... uh... recently had a change of heart towards... one of our classmates." Nino stammered out, his nerves a little on edge at his confession. But considering the amount of time Adrien had spent around Marinette, he'd quickly learned how to understand the meaning behind Nino's words.

"Wait... are you saying you have a crush on someone in our class?" Adrien questioned, a smile gracing his lips at the thought.

"Yep." Nino confirmed, sending Adrien's happiness to the roof.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Adrien exclaimed, wrapping Nino up in a bear hug. As soon as he did, Nino returned the hug in full. "So who's the lucky girl?" the model asked as he pulled out of the hug and wrapped an arm around Nino's neck, causing a blush to form on the DJ's cheeks.

"It's... Marinette." Nino admitted, looking down at the ground to avoid Adrien finding his red cheeks. But at his words, Adrien immediately lowered his arm from Nino's neck.

"Marinette? Really?" Adrien questioned, remembering what he accidentally walked in on a week ago.

"Yeah. Is something wrong with that?" Nino wondered, raising an eyebrow at Adrien's sudden change of mood.

"No! You having a crush on Marinette is great! But..." Adrien began, trying to explain what he knew in the best way possible to avoid hurting his best bro.

"But what?" Nino asked, now worried about what Adrien had to say.

"Doesn't she have a boyfriend?" Adrien voiced, finally telling Nino what he knew. Or at least what he thought he knew if Nino's confused face was anything to go by.

"Um, dude... Mari doesn't have a boyfriend." Nino replied, a little concerned about Adrien's thought process.

"Really?" Adrien questioned, a little shocked at Nino's ease at his words.

"Yeah, never had. Where did you get that idea from?" Nino questioned.

"I accidentally overheard her talking to someone on the phone a week back. It must have been towards the end of the conversation, because when she said 'I love you' to the person on the other end, she stopped the call." Adrien explained, a hand reaching for the back of his neck out of habit.

"When exactly did you hear the conversation?" Nino digged, hoping to find the root of Adrien's discovery.

"As I was coming back into the school after having lunch at my house." Adrien admitted.

"So at the end of lunch?" Nino questioned to confirm.

"Yep." Adrien replied, confirming Nino's query. At his best friend's confirmation, Nino could only sigh in relief.

"Oh, dude. Even if Marinette did have a boyfriend, that wasn't him." Nino clarified, much to Adrien's continued confusion.

"Then who else could it have been." Adrien asked, now even more curious.

"Those were her brothers she was talking to. Marinette almost always calls them during lunch." Nino explained, surprising Adrien at his admission.

"Marinette has brothers?" Adrien wondered out loud, looking at Nino as if he grew a second head.

"Well, one brother who's off abroad and his best friend who is her honorary brother too. But yeah, she has siblings." Nino replied, clarifying the finer details on the newly revealed siblings.

"Then why hasn't she mentioned them before?" Adrien questioned, now even more curious at the new information.

"That's a long story. Very few people outside of Marinette's family know about this. She's got brothers, but I shouldn't talk about her personal life. So if you want to know more, you should ask her yourself." Nino advised, not wanting to both: break Marinette's trust in him before he asked her out, and to get Adrien in hot water with her.

"Fair enough." Adrien lamented, knowing that he shouldn't dig for more information from Nino. Though with the misunderstanding out of the way, Adrien could now be at ease for his best bro. "But still, I'm happy for you, dude." the blonde model admitted, rewrapping his arm around Nino's neck out of happiness.

"Thanks, bro. Now I just need to ask her out." Nino thanked before he glanced back at the girls at the other end of the courtyard, looking like he was in a love-sick trance.

"Well just for the record, Marinette's never going to fall in love with a statue." Adrien teased as he saw Nino looking back over at the girl in question. But that was apparently enough to pull Nino back into reality.

"You know I'm no good with the ladies, especially this one all of a sudden." Nino reminded Adrien, feeling his anxiety rising at the thought. "I mean, dude, do I go up to her and crack her a joke? Shoot her a compliment? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious?" the DJ rambled, listing off options he could take to best ask Marinette out on a date.

"Nino, you're way over-thinking this. 'Invite her to the zoo', are you serious?" Adrien remarked, feeling like Nino was being a little too critical at the moment. But the zoo suggestion was a little out of left field.

"Well, they have this really cool new exhibit there." Nino explained sheepishly, looking down as he fiddled with his hands.

"Listen, just be yourself, man." Adrien replied, knowing that was the best way to go about this.

"That's easy for you to say, Mr. Front-of-the-cover-Teen-Model-weekly. I'm not that cool." Nino exclaimed as he pulled away from Adrien's hold around his neck, pointing out that Adrien had it easier than most men in the ladies department.

"You're cool too, dude, trust me - or you wouldn't be my best bud. Invite her to the zoo. She'll say "yes", I promise." Adrien encouraged, making Nino's confidence soar to new heights. After the words of encouragement, Nino puffed out his chest, adjusted his cap and walked over to the occupied Marinette and Alya. But before he was even three feet away from them, he panicked at the last minute and ran back to Adrien.

"What if I act like a moronosaurus, or she disses me or thinks I'm lame or - ?" Nino rambled as he crouched to the ground at Adrien's feet, his mind automatically thinking of the worst case scenarios. Seeing how concerned his best friend was, Adrien knew he needed to give him a hand.

"Okay, I got your back." Adrien assured as he pulled Nino back to his feet. With his best bud's encouragement behind him, Nino couldn't help but fist-bump him, grateful to have him as his friend.

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A little while later, the students finally filed out of the school, having had enough time to hang out with their friends. One such pair was Marinette and Alya, who were walking out of the Collège while Adrien and Nino hid at the bottom of the front steps banister. When they were sure the girls were on their way down, Adrien signaled to Nino so they could come out of hiding to meet up with them.

"Oh, he's such a—" the boys could hear Marinette begin, seeing her hold a magazine in front of her as she walked beside Alya.

"Smartie, hottie, suavísimo, yummy-tastic spellbinder!" Alya supplied, interrupting Marinette's love-sick spiel.

"All of the above." Marinette replied before looking back at the magazine in her hands. But in doing so, she failed to notice a statue-like Nino in front of her, making her bump into him and drop her magazine. "Huh?" the designer exclaimed when she saw Nino frozen in front of her, a nervous look on his face.

"Oh, so sorry." Adrien piped up as he appeared from behind Nino, seeing that the DJ was not budging. "Right, Nino?" the blonde model asked as he nudged Nino to get the poor boy to say something.

"Sorry." Nino finally said, still not moving from his spot. At the sight of her crush, Marinette giggled, only to look down and see the open magazine pages with pictures of Adrien.

"Ahh!" Marinette squealed before she reached down to grab it before Adrien saw it. But like the gentleman he was, Adrien walked out from behind Nino and bent down to pick it up for her, ending with both of them bumping into each other by their foreheads.

"Sorry.'' Both teens apologize before standing back up, Marinette using the opportunity to grab the magazine away.

"Sorry about that." Adrien reiterated, before realizing the situation presented to him and Nino. "How could we make it up to you? Any ideas...Nino?" the model slyly questioned, using the opportunity to help Nino out. Unfortunately for him, the Dj failed to answer and remained in his statue-like state.

"How about we all check out the...zoo today?" Adrien suggested, sending Marinette into a spiral of joy. Her crush wanted to hang out with her!!!! "Word is they've got a new..." the blonde trailed off, realizing he didn't know why Nino even suggested going to the zoo in the first place. So to play it cool, he snapped his fingers in front of Nino's face to enact an answer from him.

"Uh, they-they got a new panther." Nino stammered out, finally speaking for the first time in the conversation.

"Oh yeah, my dad told me about it! He's the one who's in charge of her care." said Alya. "Hey Marinette, you love animals, you definitely should go." she smirked as her friend snapped out of her dazed state.

"Uh, yeah. I, uh, I'm really into zoonimals. I mean, uh, anizools. I mean zoonimoos. I..." Marinette stuttered. Fortunately, it was enough.

"Cool. Say, after school, three o'clock?" Adrien suggested before looking over at suddenly smiling Nino. "Nino, sound good?" the blonde model asked, causing Nino to nod nervously in agreement.

"Cool, three o'clock then." Adrien announced.

"Three! Three o'clock." Marinette agreed as she and Alya watched Adrien nod before he pulled Nino by the collar and walked away. "Yeah..." the designer sighed out in a lovesick daze. However at the sight of her daydreaming BFF, Alya realized that Marinette had absolutely no idea what had just happened.

"Uh, Earth to Marinette? You do realize the guy you're completely crazy about has just asked you out, right?" Alya called out, hoping to snap Marinette out of her daze, even going as far as walking from her side to stand in front of her to get her attention.

"Yeah." Marinette replied, still in a lovesick trance before realizing the implications. "Huh, wait, what?! No, not like this! Not here, not today! I haven't washed my hair! I'm not wearing my lucky socks!" the designer panicked, catastrophizing every little thought running through her head at that moment.

"Help me, Alya! I can't do this alone!" Marinette begged as she gripped onto Alya, leading the reporter to affectionately pat her head.

"Don't worry, girl. I gotcha covered." Alya reassured as she gave Marinette the comfort she needed in her latest freak-out.

Unbeknownst to the girls, both Nino and Adrien were by the Seine riverbank in front of the school, sitting on a bench.

"How did you do that, dude? How are you so smooth when talking to girls?" Nino questioned Adrien, the latter leaning back against the bench while holding a soda can.

" Like I said: 'Just be yourself'." Adrien replied while Nino hunched over to lean on his knees. Usually, Adrien had no troubles when it comes to this sort of thing. Well... save for Ladybug, but Nino couldn't nor needed to know that.

"Right, sure. If I could be yourself. Myself don't work that way." Nino remarked, bringing up the fact that Adrien had it too easy. The boy had hordes of girls throwing themselves at his feet, of course he wouldn't know the struggles the average teen boy goes through when courting the fairer sex.

"You're being ridiculous. Of course you can." Adrien encouraged after he took a sip from his soda. "And when you're alone with Marinette at the zoo later on—" the model continued as he tossed his can into the trash a few feet away from the bench.

"Whoa, what do you mean 'Alone with Marinette'?" Nino interrupted just as the soda can made it into the bin, not liking where Adrien was heading. He expected the DJ to hold an intelligent conversation with the girl he was crushing on... by himself? When he just saw how well asking her out went?

"Oh no, dude. You're coming with me. You can't leave me alone by myself. Uh-uh." the bespeckled boy argued, knowing that he needed all the help he could get. Fortunately for Nino, Adrien decided to help him, even if he didn't think it was a good idea.

"No prob, Nino. What are friends for?" Adrien assured, giving Nino another fist-bump to cement their promise. But they only had a limited amount of time before 3pm... and they had a lot to do before then. "Now let's get you ready for your date." the model proclaimed before he pulled Nino up from the bench and led him away, an idea already forming in his mind.

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(Time skip)

To say the least, both Alya and Adrien had their work cut out for them in preparing their best friends for the upcoming date. Though considering both parties had their own assumptions of what was going to happen, their preparation was both similar and different. Which led to Marinette placing an earpiece, connected to the one Alya had, into her ear as she sat on a bench near the zoo's front entrance.

"One, two, one, two, testing. D'you read me, girl?" Alya called from the earpiece a little too loudly, making Marinette lower the volume down a bit.

"I can hear you." Marinette confirmed, happy with the new volume of the earpiece. "But I still don't think I can go through with this." the designer admitted as she looked over at Alya, who was hiding behind a pair of trees to her left.

"Of course you can. Just be yourself!" Alya encouraged, unaware that she had quoted Adrien when he advised Nino earlier.

"You do remember the last time I did that, right?" Marinette questioned, thinking back to an incident before the Mime akuma. Long story short, it had been an embarrassing moment when she realized she had stepped into the occupied boys bathroom.

"Okay, fair point. Just be yourself and look where you're going." Alya relented, knowing that Marinette had a point. But regardless of that, Marinette began to anxiously look around for the boys, hoping to see her crush before he reached her.

"By the way, if you see my dad, Otis the zookeeper, don't antagonize the animals in front of him. He gets pretty riled up when that happens." the reporter warned, pulling Marinette away from her surveillance and back onto her best friend's words.

"Your dad is the zookeeper?" Marinette questioned in astonishment, not expecting Alya to say that.

"Did I not mention that before? I know I mentioned it when Nino brought up the new panther. " Alya wondered, considering Marinette's reaction sounded genuine.

"No, I don't think you did. I would have remembered if you told me beforehand. Plus, I wasn't focused during that conversation, remember?" Marinette admitted, confirming Alya's suspicions.

"Huh, I guess I didn't." Alya realized, thinking back to any and all past conversations she had with Marinette.

"Well to add some context, part of the reason I switched schools was because my parents had better job opportunities here in Paris. My mom was the breadwinner in the family, being a chef in a five star restaurant, while my dad was learning how to be an animal caretaker. He had just finished his courses when Mom was offered the head chief position on the Grand Paris Hotel staff, and found out a zookeeper job opened at the zoo here in Paris. And the rest is history." the reporter regaled, leaving Marinette in awe of her best friend's parents.

"That's amazing Alya. Your family is so inspiring!" Marinette gushed.

"Yeah, they are." Alya agreed, a prideful smile gracing her lips at the memory. However, it didn't last long when she remembered that Adrien and Nino would be showing up any minute. "But let's focus on the task at hand and keep an eye out for the boys. They should be here soon." the reporter reminded, drawing their focus back to the task at hand. Though with nothing to distract Marinette, she started to anxiously look around for any sign of the boy's arrival.

"Oh, where are you, love of my life?" Marinette wondered out loud, prompting Tikki to poke her head out of her purse.

"How's Adrien supposed to be the love of your life if you can't even talk to him?" Tikki brought up, much to Marinette's slight exasperation.

"Tikki, stay out of sight." Marinette quietly reminded the kwami as she closed up her purse to keep anyone from seeing the kwami. "I'm gonna talk to him, you'll see. I will speak to him!" the designer proclaimed, feeling her confidence soar at her determined-sounding voice.

"That's right, girl! Way to be motivated!" Alya cheered from her hiding spot, reminding Marinette that she wasn't alone in this.

"Yeah!" Marinette agreed with a giggle, turning to the right to try and find Adrien and Nino. To her surprise, she saw a pair of boys in her line of sight. "Ah, there they are!" the designer squealed in fright, not prepared for the ensuing outing. But when she got up from the bench to get a closer look, she soon saw that it was Kim and Max.

"Hey, Marinette!" Kim greeted with a wave, Max following his example.

"False alarm." Marinette sighed out in relief before she began waving at the two boys walking towards her. "Hey, Kim, Max. What are you doing here?" the bluenette greeted them when they reached her.

"We heard about the new panther here. I wanna see who's got the bigger guns!" Kim quipped, showing off his muscles in a series of poses.

"Do you want to come with us?" Max asked her, Kim still doing his poses as he became unaware of the continuing conversation.

"No thanks. I'm waiting for someone. Thank you for the offer though." Marinette replied, gently refusing the offer.

"Marinette, target at ten o'clock!" Alya warned, forcing Marinette to glance to her left to see Nino approaching.

"Speak of the devil, here they come. You guys go on ahead." Marinette remarked, hoping to get the two boys to leave before Adrien and Nino came.

"Okay, maybe we'll see you later, then." Kim replied before him and Max walked away.

"Yeah, later!" Marinette farewelled before she turned to fully face the approaching Nino. But when she did, she noticed one very important thing...

"Where's Adrien?" the designer asked Alya, wondering why her crush wasn't with the visibly nervous Nino.

"I don't know. Maybe he's running late?" Alya suggested from the earpiece. But before Marinette could respond, Nino finally reached her.

"Hey, Nino! Is, uh... wasn't Adrien coming with you?" Marinette questioned when she greeted the DJ, causing him to nervously shrug in response. Unknown to Marinette and Alya, Adrien was hiding behind the bushes in front of a zoo sign, mimicking the girl's strategy to a tee. As soon as Nino reached Marinette, he poked his head out of the bushes and began his work in assisting Nino.

"Tell her you'll both be better off without me." Adrien supplied through his own earpiece.

"We'll be better off without him." Nino replied to Marinette, thankfully being able to have the common sense to realize what Adrien had meant.

"Huh? Why would you say that?" Marinette questioned, a little skeptical of Nino's sudden response.

"Ah, this trip is turning out to be a lot more interesting than I thought. Turn up the volume!" Plagg encouraged, laying himself on top of the blonde's head to listen in on the juicy conversation. At the sound of his kwami, Adrien immediately shushed him so he wouldn't miss any more of Nino and Marinette's interaction.

"What I meant is that he's running a little late!! But we don't need Adrien to hang out at the zoo." Nino exclaimed, hoping to salvage any change he had after his slip-up.

"Of course we do, you dumbo!" Alya gripped from the other end of Marinette's earpiece. Thankfully for the designer, she had the foresight to not repeat Alya's words.

"Wasn't he supposed to come, though? Don't you wanna wait for him?" Marinette asked, hoping that her crush would show up if they gave him the time to do so.

"Tell her you want to be alone with her." Adrien encouraged from his end of Nino's ear piece, hoping that Nino decided to take the chance.

"Not yet!" Nino replied in a mumble, turning away to reply to Adrien. Unfortunately for him, Marinette could hear his words.

"What was that?" Marinette asked, sending Nino into a panic.

"You're right; we'll wait." Nino rapidly decided, hoping to cover up his secret little helper from Marinette.

"No! What are you talking about? Don't wait for me, I'm not coming!" Adrien scolded the nervous Nino, not believing that he was messing up his chance to be close with Marinette.

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Meanwhile inside the zoo, Otis the zookeeper was attending to the newest addition to the zoo.

"Look at what Daddy's brought you. Only the finest for my baby." Otis cooed to the panther as he placed its meal in front of it. But while the panther was enjoying its meal, Otis failed to see the approaching Kim and Max.

"Whoa! Look at the size of that piece of meat it's eating!" Kim exclaimed, in awe of the panther in front of him and his less interested friend.

"Typical diet for a feline species requiring the strength to run at speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour." Max recited, deciding to take the opportunity to educate Kim on the animal in question. Unfortunately for Max, his little tidbit failed to impress the jock.

"60 miles per hour? Is that all? I thought panthers were much faster than that. I bet that I could beat it in a race." Kim challenged, feeling cocky about his chances against the panther, especially with it behind a glass cage.

"Impossible. No human being could compete with my panther." Otis argued, deciding to set Kim straight before he said something he would regret.

"Is that so? What place did your cat come in at the County Athletics Tournament? I came in first place." Kim bragged.

"You can't possibly compare yourself to my panther, kiddo!" Otis reiterated, standing up from the ground to further put Kim in his place.

"No need to. I'm obviously the better looking one." Kim taunted as he pushed his hair back as he spoke, causing the panther to growl at him. "Hey, kitty, kitty. How about a little race with me, huh? Last one's a rotten egg!" the jock challenged the panther, still being too cocky for his own good. It was at this time that Max decided to use that moment to calculate Kim's chances of winning.

" Let's see. With a 6 feet-per-second win behind you and 45 degrees to the north-east..." Max muttered as he ran the numbers through a calculator he had on him. Considering he was his class's resident genius, it made sense that he had it on him at all times. "I don't think you'd be a rotten egg. You'd be lunch." the bespeckled boy announced, making Kim's confident smile drop like a weight in water.

"Your friend's right, kiddo." Otis agreed, pulling the boy's attention back to him. "Now please leave. She needs peace and quiet while she eats. You're stressing her out." the zookeeper practically ordered while the panther kept growling at Kim.

"Awww, stressed out, are we, Miss Panthie?" Kim taunted the animal before looking back at Otis. "You're talking about a wild animal, dude." the jock remarked, causing the panther to roar at him and anger Otis even further.

"Leave now! Or I'll have you kicked out of the zoo immediately!" Otis threatened, having enough of Kim's disrespect and cockiness.

"Come on, Max. Let's leave that poor widdle kitty alone with its angry babysitter!" Kim mocked with a laugh before he and Max left. Once they had left, the panther had calmed down, but Otis was still seething with rage.

'How dare that kid insult my panther!!' Otis growled in his thoughts, feeling that Kim deserved to be taught a lesson in humility.

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Unbeknownst to Otis, Hawkmoth could sense his anger. And how could the villain in purple resist such a tempting opportunity?

"Unleashing the animal in each of us. I like that idea!" Hawkmoth mussed as his lair window opened up, disturbing the resting butterflies to start fluttering around the observatory space. From there, he transformed one of the white butterflies into an Akuma and allowed it to flutter free.

"Go ahead, my little evil akuma, fly off and take control of that zookeeper!" the delusional 'genius' exclaimed as the akuma flew out of the lair, heading out to akumatized the offended zookeeper.

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Back over at the zoo entrance, both Nino and Marinette were sitting on opposite sides of a bench as they waited for Adrien to 'arrive'.

"He's sure taking his time, huh?" Marinette remarked from her side of the bench, her hopes shrinking by each passing second. "Adrien's not coming... is he?" the designer realized, looking over at Nino with a melancholy look. At the sound of Marinette's disappointment, Adrien knew he had to help Nino to rectify his blunder if this date was going to be salvaged.

"Okay Nino, repeat after me. Yes he is, but first I wanted to take this opportunity to..." Adrien began, hoping Nino would listen to him this time.

"Yes he is, but first I wanted to take this opportunity to..." Nino repeated, turning to face Marinette as he spoke, surprising her with how close he had gotten to her.

"Tell you that I'm in love with you, Marinette." Adrien finished from his end of the earpiece, deciding that it would have been a little too weird to have Nino say he loved Marinette before the first date had ended.

"Tell you that I– Gahhh..." Nino mimicked before he realized what Adrien was telling him to say, stopping midway out of nervousness. "I'm... in love with a girl but I don't know how to tell her!" the DJ blurted out, going completely off script from what Adrien had supplied.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Adrien exclaimed from his hiding spot, Plagg still watching from the top of his head and finding the whole conversation hilarious.

"You do? Well, I can help you with that." Marinette offered, happy to help one of her oldest friends.

"You could?" Nino asked, in awe of Marinette's kindness.

"Sure! I've given Jim some advice about his crush recently, and it went pretty well. I'm sure I can help you do the same." Marinette admitted, leaving Alya a little shocked that Marinette was openly talking about her brothers with Nino.

"How are your brothers, by the way?" Nino asked, glad to have a new talking point for the conversation to not talk about his love life.

"Pretty good lately. Though Toby is trying to convince his nana to move to Paris so he can experience an akuma attack up close." Marinette joked, even though she knew it was something Toby would actually try to do.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Nino remarked, making the two of them laugh, much to both Alya and Adrien's shock to see them so relaxed.

"But in all seriousness, I think I can help you." Marinette admitted after they calmed down from their laughter, feeling confident in her abilities in advising Nino.

"You, giving expert advice on how to tell someone you love them? Can't wait to hear this one!" Alya exclaimed from her end of the earpiece in Marinette's ear, pulled out of her earlier shock. But her words did deter Marinette from immediately helping Nino.

" 'Can't wait to hear this one...' " Marinette repeated mockingly, annoyed that Alya had no faith in her when it came to helping others with romance.

"What?" Nino asked, making Marinette realize that he heard her.

"Uhh... I can't wait to hear... about this lucky girl!" Marinette exclaimed, trying to cover up her little slip up.

"Oh, yeah..." Nino trailed off, feeling the pressure of telling her the truth begin to crush him.

"Tell her 'it's you'!" Adrien exclaimed, hoping to push Nino to take the next step. And thankfully, it seemed to have worked.

"It's youuu..." Nino began, looking Marinette straight in the eye. But in doing so, Nino's nerves betrayed him and caused him to chicken out. "...uur best friend Alya!" The DJ finished in a rush.

"WHAT!!!" Marinette, Adrien and Alya exclaimed at the same time, Marinette more excited than the others.

"Alya? Awesome!" Marientte cheered, oh so happy that Nino supposedly had a crush on her best friend.

"No! No! It's not awesome!" Alya seethed from her hiding spot, even going as far as jumping up high enough for someone to be able to see her.

"I can fix up a date for you guys!" the reporter heard from Marinette's end of the earpiece.

"Say what?! Seriously?! You didn't even ask me first! Uh-uh!" Alya exclaimed, denying the possibility before anyone; Marinette especially, could entertain the idea of her dating Nino. "Nino's like... a brother to me! Bleugh! No! End of discussion!" the reporter declared in Marinette's earpiece, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

"He's gonna be so sad if you don't." Marinette whispered to Alya, turning away from a nervously smiling Nino in hopes of changing her mind for Nino's sake. Marinette was quite fond of Nino, so she wanted him to be happy... even if Alya seemed to not be too jazzed about the idea.

"Did you say something?" Nino asked, hearing Marinette replying to Alya. At his words, Marinette scrambled to keep him from finding out her little secret.

"I said... It'd be so sad if you didn't tell her!" Marinette replied, covering up her remake to Alya as she turned back around to answer Nino. But her words did little to calm Alya down, who groaned and angrily growled at Marinette's words.

'What part of 'It's never going to happen' does she not understand!!' Alya seethed in her thoughts.

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Unbeknownst to the four teenagers, the akuma finally arrived at the zoo and zeroed in on its target. Once it was close enough to Otis, the akuma fluttered to his bracelet and landed on it, infecting it with Hawkmoth's dark power.

"Animan, I am Hawkmoth. I offer you the power to seek revenge, for a small price of course." Hawkmoth purred through the newly created psychic link. As simple as his offer was, it did well in convincing the angry Otis to agree.

"Yes, Hawk Moth." Otis replied, happy for the opportunity that the man dressed in plum offered him. Wasting no time at all, Otis was transformed into Animan and took the form of a panther. From there, the newly made akuma went off to find Kim, freeing the majority of the zoo animals to aid him. Eventually he found both Max and Kim, the former listening to the latter as Kim harassed another animal.

"Hey, kiddo. Still up for a little race? Go ahead, I'll give you a head start." Animan growled, bringing the boy's attention onto him before he roared at them. At the sight of the akuma and his animal army, Kim and Max start running away.

"He's mine." the akuma purred to the true panther in the group of animals, leaping off to chase after Kim.

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Back over with Nino and Marinette... things could have been going better. Thanks to Nino's fudged confession, tensions between Alya and Marinette were pretty high.

"This whole date thing with Nino is not happening! Ugh!" Alya growled from her end of the ear piece, confirming her say in the matter.

"HE'S COMING!" an approaching voice screamed, causing both Marinette and Nino to turn and see Kim and Max running towards them.

"Get outta here!" Max frantically added as he and Kim ran past the two teens on the bench. In response, both Nino and Marinette looked in the direction the two boys came from and saw Animan with the animals coming straight for them.

"We better ditch this place!" Nino exclaimed before he ran away from the incoming threat. Following his example, Marinette ran off to hide, unaware of Adrien also seeing Animan and the zoo animals before he hid further behind the bushes. Once the animals had cleared off, Marinette poked her head from her hiding spot in a separate bush to make sure no one would stumble on her transformation into Ladybug.

"Why didn't you listen to Alya, Marinette?" Tikki questioned her holder, flying out of the girl's purse.

"I couldn't help it! Nino has been my oldest friend since we were kids, I didn't want him to be sad." Marinette admitted, even when she knew that she shouldn't have been so pushy.

"We'll deal with that later. Now it's time to transform!" Tikki encouraged, prompting Marinette to call out...

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette exclaimed, triggering her transformation into Ladybug. When she was finished turning into her alter ego, she went off to deal with the escaped zoo animals. Unbeknownst to Ladybug, Adrien came to the same conclusion while he remained in hiding for the time being.

"We've gotta do something." Adrien decided, causing Plagg to sigh in exasperation from his spot on the boy's head.

'So much for a free day." Plagg mussed in his thoughts, right before his holder proclaimed...

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien shouted out before he transformed into Chat Noir. Now in his alter ego, Chat Noir went off to join his lady in the upcoming battle against Animan.

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Back with the escaping Kim, he was still running away from Animan. But unfortunately for the boy, the akuma caught up to him and cut him off.

"You lost, kiddo. What do you think of panthers now?" Animan taunted, stalking closer towards Kim and causing him to back away from the panther.

"That... panthers are the best?" Kim supplied, still backing away in fear. Lucky for him, Ladybug swung in and blocked Animan from getting closer to Kim.

"And what do you think about ladybugs?" Ladybug greeted, ready to defend Kim's safety.

"And another black cat?" Chat Noir added, swinging in to stand next to Ladybug. But even being greeted with the sight of Paris's resident superheroes, Animan was unfazed by their arrival.

"I think I'm higher on the food chain." Animan growled in confidence. But before he could go any further, Hawkmoth had decided to butt in again, the glowing neon butterfly mask appearing on Animan's face.

"Animan, take their jewels! Their Miraculouses! Bring them to me!" Hawkmoth demanded from his end of the psychic link, reminding the akuma of his end of the deal before leaving Animan to his own devices. At the sight of the familiar mask, Ladybug knew that Kim needed to get out of the vicinity as soon as possible.

"If you value your life, get out of here! Now!" Ladybug ordered Kim, prompting the jock to run away as fast as he could. At the sight of his prey escaping, Animan began to chase after him. But Ladybug stopped him from going any further by throwing her yo-yo and trapping the akuma in its coils.

"Chat Noir, his bracelet. The akuma must be inside the charm!" the spotted heroine exclaimed, holding Animan in place.

"Got it. You keep holding him, I grab the bracelet." Chat Noir replied, ready to walk over and defeat the latest akuma. But before he could, both him and Ladybug looked up and saw the large group of animals blocking the exit to the area, ready to protect their leader.

"Attack!" Animan cried out to the animals, signaling them to advance on the two heroes. Seeing that they were outnumbered; and forgetting that they were powered up at the moment, Ladybug and Chat Noir ran away from the charging animals.

"We need to put them all back in their cages!" Chat Noir exclaimed as they ran from the animals, using the numerous pathways the zoo had to offer to try and throw their pursuers off their trail.

"Oh, really? I'm sure they'll do it without putting up a fight!" Ladybug sarcastically remarked as she ran alongside her partner. But as they ran towards an intersection in the path, they saw Alya and Nino running from the gorilla just as they jumped over them before they kept running. Seeing her friends in danger, Ladybug knew she couldn't leave well enough alone.

"I think we'd better split up!" the spotted heroine exclaimed before she ran off in the direction Alya and Nino went in. Once she caught up with them, she grabbed both Nino and Alya by the back of their clothing and led them to safety, much to their surprise.

"What the...?" Nino stammered out just as Ladybug gently tossed him and Alya into the empty panther habitat.

"Stay here and you'll be safe." Ladybug explained before she locked the cage before she left, leaving Alya and Nino all alone together.

"Uhh... Hey, what's up?" Nino nervously greeted after he glanced over at Alya. But taking earlier events into account, Alya could only groan at him in exasperation.

'Great... just great." Alya groaned to herself, not happy with her current situation.

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Meanwhile, Chat Noir had managed to get cornered in a tree thanks to the escaped animals. In his defense, he had hoped to get away from them. But in the heat of the moment, he forgot that some of them could reach him no matter how high he went. Which led to the eagles and giraffes being the closest to get at him, while Ladybug swung in and landed on the roof near the tree Chat Noir was hiding in.

"There are too many of them! We can't capture them all." Ladybug yelled to Chat Noir over the screeching and growls of the attacking animals.

"Well, what are we gonna do then?" Chat Noir replied before he jumped away from the tree, having enough of the animals attacking him. Following in suit, Ladybug joined him as they made their way to the top of the building, finally getting a moment of peace to think of a game plan.

"Back to Plan A. If we can destroy his bracelet, I can capture the akuma. Then everything will go back to normal!" Ladybug exclaimed, now knowing what they needed to do to end the day's battle.

"Sounds like a good idea!" Chat Noir agreed, right before he and Ladybug went off to find Animan before he escaped from her yo-yo. But unknown to them, the animals had had enough of the zoo and escaped into the city... Animan among them.