Adrien had barely dropped his transformation, when Plagg was in his face telling him "I told you so!"
"Fine, fine! You were right! I messed up everything again! Now what do I do?!" Adrien asked pacing and giving frantic glances to his silent phone. "Why do I have to be so unlucky when it comes to being with anyone I love!"
"Oh please! Boo hoo! Save me the waterworks," Plagg berated. "Did you miss the part where the girl is crazy about both sides of you?!"
Adrien froze and his mouth dropped open. "Plagg you're right!"
"I'm always right you clueless kitten!"'Plagg rolled his eyes and flew to raid his cheese stash.
"Plagg! This is amazing! She cares about all of me! She wants to be with all of me!" Adrien's voice rose louder and louder.
"Good! Now that you've got that through your head, just don't mess it up!" Plagg said with his mouth full.
"How do I not mess it up! What do I do?!" Adrien heavily sank down into his computer chair.
"Hellooo...you're talking to the kwami of destruction," Plagg grumbled. "Let me know when you need something demolished, but leave the sugary sweet stuff to Tikki!"
"Right! Tikki!" Adrien pondered. "I wonder what Ladybug would tell me?"
"Mess around with Cupid's arrows and you're bound to shoot yourself in the foot!" Plagg grumbled.
"You think Ladybug would say that?!" Adrien said confused.
"No! I'm saying that!" Plagg replied exasperatedly.
"Ladybug will know what to do! After all I spent enough years trying to win her over...she can tell me where I went wrong and what to do differently!" Adrien cheered, formulating his new plan.
"Ahh on second thought, maybe you should steer clear from getting advice on this from Tikki...and especially Ladybug," Plagg panicked.
"Nope you were right the first time! Why didn't I think of it before. She is the only one who would understand what it is like to be in a relationship while keeping up a secret identity."
"The secret identity is the whole problem!" Plagg moaned. "If you are going to talk to Ladybug, just tell her who you are already!" Plagg urged.
Adrien visibly paled. "If she knew!" Adrien said quietly, "how could I ever look her in the eye again?!"
"The same way you're able to face Marinette," Plagg challenged
Just then there was aloud 'ping' from Adrien's phone and Marinette's picture popped up.
Adrien scrambled across the desk, clambering you reach the phone, but in the process his rolling chair wheeled out from under him, leaving him unceremoniously on the floor.
"Hi! Thx for the txts! I've been thinking about you too," the message read. "Are you free to go for a walk tonight?"
"She wants to meet me!" Adrien squealed to Plagg, who rolled his eyes.
Quickly he typed a response: "I would love to! I'm free now! I will meet you at the bakery."
"See you soon then," she wrote back with a smiley face.
Adrien tried on three outfits, and kept messing with his hair, before he reverted back to his favorite jeans, black t-shirt, and white button-up. His hair wouldn't sit quite right, so he finally just put gel through it and ran his hands through. Then he rushed as quick as he could to Marinette's house.
"I'm going to do things differently this time Plagg! Marinette started to like me as Adrien when we were just friends. I'm going to play things really cool, and then casually ask her out," Adrien said determinedly.
"Good luck with that," Plagg said sarcastically, but Adrien took it as support, and didn't stop.
As soon as Marinette came to the door, Adrien found it hard to push down his 'Chat,' and keep the flirtiness from bursting out of him. It was harder than he thought to play it cool, when she turned up to the door looking like that.
He managed to greet her with a kiss on either cheek, without smothering her.
She seemed a little distracted at first, but it didn't take long before they were walking along the streets talking animatedly to each other. They found themselves walking along the Seine as the streetlights flickered on.
Marinette paused after Adrien had told her a funny story about the time he had tried to set her up with Nino at the zoo. He described how he had coached Nino on how to tell her how he felt.
Marinette remembered that day the zoo animals had been set loose, and she and Chat Noir had fought Animan (but not before she had mistakenly thought Nino was interested in her best friend Alya, and had locked them in a cage together). "That was the day Nino and Alya started dating right?" Marinette asked distractedly (knowing full well the whole story from Alya).
Adrien nodded, shooting Marinette a glance, "that was when they realized they were more than just friends...when they realized how much they had in common."
Marinette looked thoughtfully back at the Eiffel tower, then said cautiously, "if you wanted to show someone you saw them differently, and you wanted to be with them, what would you do?"
Adrien took a deep breath, and clamped his hands behind his back to resist taking her in his arms and showing her exactly how he felt. "Well..."he began. "Maybe flirt with them a little..."
"Flirt with them?" Marinette repeated.
"Yeah, you know," Adrien blushed and starched the back of his neck, "tease him, put you arms around him, maybe a compliment or...maybe even sneak a kiss or something," he nudged her shoulder.
"So...I should act like Chat Noir," Marinette said slowly, not seeming to notice how close Adrien had inched.
At the mention of his alter ego, Adrien stepped back a bit startled, "ahh...well...I guess you could...I mean he can be like that at times..."
"He's always like that!" Marinette announced as if she had just figured something out. "Of course! People usually flirt, the way they want to be flirted with right?!
"Well..ah...I guess..." Adrien stumbled.
"Hmm.." Ladybug hummed to herself, and continued walking along the river.
Adrien had to jog to catch back up with her. They continued talking, but Adrien wondered hopefully if she might try some Chat Noir inspired flirting on him. He was a little disappointed when they made it back to her front door without much changing between them.
"It was great to spend time just the two of us again," Marinette smiled up at Adrien. "Thanks for always being so wonderful!"
"You're incredible Mari!" Adrien finally burst. "I love any time together with you!"
Marinette reddened, and shifted to one leg whispering, "Thanks Adrien!"
"...and I wanted to ask you," Adrien felt the 'cool' persona he was trying to maintain slipping away on him, "...that is...would you go out with me again this Friday?"
"Like as Friends or..." Marinette started to question.
"Yeah we're Friends-oww," Adrien interrupted panicking, but midway saying the word "Friend" Plagg had leaned out and bit him hard. "...I mean not Friends," Adrien corrected. "Like a date date...For dinner...you and me?" he pieced together hopelessly.
Marinette's eyebrows shot upon, and opened and closed her mouth without a word. What poor Adrien witnessed was a blank stare of shock, but inside Marinette's head a little hamster was doing a happy dance and back flips. She shook her head, and swallowed slowly before replying.
"That sounds great Adrien. It's a date," she successfully communicated. Then she quickly kissed him lightly on the cheek, and ducked into her house. Only then did she allow herself to hyperventilate at what had just happened, with Tikki tapping her on the shoulder trying to get her to breathe.
Adrien stood at the door, and traced the spot her lips had grazed his cheek. Then with a happy smile, and feeling lighter than ever, he turned away to start planning how he would sweep Mari off her feet that Friday. She had given him a chance, and he was not going to let anything get in the way!