I dont know about anybody else, but I just… love the idea of Adrien rejecting Marinette– kindly, because she’s his friend and he thinks she’s too amazing to have her heart broken– and feeling terrible about it.
The next episode, Marinette still can’t properly act like he hasn’t rejected her, and he’s still upset about it, but what can you do?
Then something happens during the fight with the Akuma of The Day, and Chat, unbeknownst to Marinette, finds out she’s Ladybug.
At first, Adrien is in shock. Plagg is amused. She’s been there all this time, sitting behind him in class. His shy, awkward class president, who always looks after others, who is clumsy and stubborn even if she isn’t confident– she’s His Lady.
Then, he’s ecstatic. Marinette likes him. The guy she turned him down for? It was him. She’s in love with him, and he’s been so, so stupid to not see it earlier. He can find her, he can tell her he was wrong, that he does so adore her, that he loves her with every fibre of his being and he’d gladly follow her anywhere because he knows it’s true: she’s the love of his life.
He runs out into the streets, beelining for her bakery because she has to know, she has to know how in love with her he is, how sorry he is for breaking her heart when his was her’s from the beginning. Marinette– his Lady, his Princess. He loves her.
He skids around the corner, comes to stand at the front door of the bakery, walks up to the door and presses a hand to the handle
And hears her voice, her broken, sad voice, that should be cute and bubbly and sound the way she writes. More importantly, he hears a guy’s voice, somebody familiar. Adrien looks into the window and finds Marinette’s hands hovering over her face to hide, and Luka, raising his hands to cup her wrists and pry them away. He can only hear “Well, I think you’re amazing.”
Marinette raises her head, and she looks confused and timid, but she’s blushing and oh no why is she blushing, and Luka holds both her hands and says “And I’m willing to prove it.” Marinette, oh, she just looks more and more confused, the wheels are turning, until Luka leans forward, tilts her chin up, and gives her one light, feather-like kiss. They both pull away afterward, looking shy and red, but not displeased.
Adrien pulls away from the door, because Marinette is just a friend, and now it’s killing him.
