Adrien spent the entire day following his talk with Nino thinking about what had happened between himself and Ladybug. He continued to think about how his relationship with Marinette had blossomed and what that might mean.
Adrien had been in love with Ladybug since they first met. She was brave, confident, smart, and independent. Ladybug was the opposite of most of the girls he had met. It was refreshing when she didn't just agree with him or try to constantly impress him, even though when they met he was Chat Noir. He even felt a weird sense of accomplishment whenever she laughed at his puns or hinted that she even remotely accepted his passes.
Though he'd been trying to win her affection for so long, it was becoming difficult to continue when she would so eloquently shoot him down nearly every time he tried to flirt with her. When he'd confessed to her as Aspik he hadn't expected to follow through with that timeline, he just wanted to see how it felt to finally tell her the truth.
Now everything was complicated and it didn't feel good to finally tell the truth like he thought. Since he told her he was Aspik, Adrien, and Chat Noir, she still shut him down a few times. Now that she knew how serious he was, it felt worse. At least knowing that he was Adrien didn't change her opinion of him and she didn't turn into some sort of weird groupie like Chloe. Adrien shuttered at the thought, he liked Ladybug, but that was too weird.
Adrien took this as his chance to finally move on. It just so happened that the next day was when Marinette asked him to a movie. It was convenient timing on her part. Adrien had an inkling that Marinette liked him, but he didn't consider that such an amazing girl would be interested in him. Before this, none of that mattered anyway because he was in love with Ladybug. He couldn't entertain the feelings of another person and toy with their emotions. That was something Hawk Moth would do, Adrien would never stoop to his level.
Since Ladybug was clearly uninterested in him, he reluctantly made the decision to give up on her. Really, it would benefit both of them. She didn't have to put up with his advances, and he wouldn't have to bear through her constant rejections. Adrien was going to be happy with Marinette, she was caring, smart, happy, she was… perfect.
Adrien could hardly sit through his Chinese lesson, let alone dinner afterwards. He was constantly thinking about Marinette today. He was going to her house later and they were going to talk about them for the first time in a while. He was excited, he just wanted to be able to tell everyone.
Adrien considered asking his father for permission to go to her house, but this was too important. He never told him about Marinette, so this would be no different to him than all the other times he'd asked to spend time with friends and had been coldly told no. If his father said no and put him under Nathalie's surveillance he wouldn't be able to escape. It was much more reliable to just wait until he was alone in his room, then sneak off as Chat Noir.
After what felt like an eternity, it was finally time.
"Ya know, I kind of like the new you, kid. Minus the lovey-dovey nonsense." Plagg floated circles around Adrien as he got ready to leave. "More confidence, sneaking out, doing whatever we want… This is great!" Plagg stopped to admire the small wheel of camembert Adrien had bribed him with to not complain about his relationships. "Plus you've been giving me more delicious cheese."
Adrien checked himself in the mirror and brushed his bangs to the side. "Things have changed a bit. I can't rely on my father to let me see Mari all the time, so I need Chat. I feel like I can be more myself around her now anyway." Adrien opened the window, then turned toward Plagg. "A little Chat Noir might come out when I'm around her, but so what? It's not like she'd know what Chat Noir is like."
Adrien crossed his arms when he saw Plagg nearly caressing his cheese and whispering to it. "Come on Plagg, let's go." Adrien opened the window and put his foot on the sill, and held onto the side with a hand. "Plagg, claws out!"
"No, wait! I wasn't d—" Plagg cried as he was pulled into the black cat miraculous.
Chat ran across the rooftops and toward the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Lucky for him, Marinette didn't live too far away. He dropped down a block away to detransform unnoticed.
Adrien checked his phone, it was already 7:24PM. Marinette was probably wondering where he was. Adrien opened the door to the bakery where Tom popped out from under the counter with a freshly baked tray of Macarons in his hands.
"Oh, hi Adrien. Marinette is in her room."
Adrien smiled as he walked by, "Thanks Tom!" He proceeded up the stairs to find Sabine in the living room watching TV.
"Adrien! I was wondering what time you'd get here. Marinette's in her room, do you want me to get her for you?"
Adrien shook his head, "That's okay, I'll surprise her."
At the top of the stairs he lifted the trap door that led to Marinette's room. He could hear her talking to herself of the other side. He opened the door and poked his head through, "Hi Mari!" He greeted her with a smile.
Hopefully this part clears some stuff up about what's going on inside Adrien's head since we usually only see Mari's point of view. We're getting close to the part where I had to go on a Miraculous deep-dive to figure out some special stuff ;)
