"For the love of Marie Harel! What were you thinking?!" Plagg screeched as soon as he had finally got Adrien alone.
"Whats got your whiskers in a twist now Plagg?!" Adrien smirked at his kwami, glancing over messages on his phone.
"You're doing it again!" Plagg flashed into Adrien's face.
"Doing what?!" Adrien looked up confused.
"Complicating everything! Just when thing were going so well too!" Plagg lamented, draping himself dramatically over Adrien's phone. "You're honestly a glutton for punishment!"
"I don't know what you're on about," Adrien stalked over to his computer, "but at least I'm not a glutton for moldy old cheese!"
"Getting Marinette to take a weekend getaway with Adrien?!" Plagg reminded irritably.
"Hey, I thought you liked her! Weren't you the one trying to get us together. Now that we finally are you have a problem with me spending time with her?!" Adrien shot back.
"Chat Noir is together with Marinette…not Adrien Agreste!" Plagg screeched frustratedly.
"It's the same thing!" Adrien defended, only to end up on the receiving end of a glare from Plagg.
"Okay…it's the same for me…but soon it will be for her too! This is the perfect opportunity to prove to her how great it could be if we were together!" Adrien looked dreamily at a photo of Marinette. "Once she sees how purrfect we are not only as Chat Noir and Ladybug, but also as Adrien and Marinette…she'll actually be excited when I tell her who I really am."
"She'll already be excited…a real March 27th in Paris kind of excited…and that is an intense celebration of the formage-kind of excited!" Plagg argued, getting somewhat caught up on memories of the Parisian city-wide Cheese Day. Drifting back from camembert-related fantasies, Plagg forced himself to focus on the crisis at hand. "My point is that until you finally get to the reveal, any connection you have with her as Adrien is just going to confuse her."
"We're going as friends! She has just started to get more comfortable around the Adrien side of me. That is why I thought Nino and Alya should come. Hanging around all together will totally put her at ease!"
"Hmmm…just friends…where have I heard that before," muttered Plagg.
"Very good friends," Adrien emphasized.
"You better keep your paws to yourself this trip mister…no 'accidental' tender ooey gooey moments…no friends with benefits…until you fess up and let her know Adrien is the cat she is in love with!" Plagg threatened.
"I think its sweet how you're trying to protect her," Adrien smiled at his kwami.
"I'm protecting myself," Plagg grumped if you two don't work out, I don't think my nerves could handle your sappy 'if only Ladybug would love me' laments again."
"Awww you do care!" Adrien said sarcastically, and rubbed his kwami's head.
"Just don't mess this up!" Plagg warned.
Meanwhile back at Marinette's loft Alya finally got her triple chocolate chip cookies, along with uninterrupted time to find out exactly what had happened between Marinette and Adrien.
"Seems like your ray of sunshine has finally clued in to how amazing you are!" Alya beamed at Marinette. "Your date must have gone well if Adrien wants to take you on a romantic beach vaca!"
"Alya..." Marinette tried to interrupt.
"So how many kids are you having again...two...oh yeah it was three wasn't it!" her bff teased.
"Alya!" Marinette tried to get her attention even louder.
"A summer wedding might be too soon...how do you feel about Fall..."Alya elbowed Marinette, oblivious to the true reason for her friends flustered response.
"Alya!" Marinette practically shouted. "We didn't go on a date! We're not dating!"
"What?!" Alya said falling off the computer chair mid spin. "But Adrien told Nino he was planning on asking you...oh no! Did I ruin the surprise?! Maybe he is planning on asking you out this weekend!" Alya panicked, trying to remember exactly what intel she had interrogated out of Nino.
"No...he asked me...but ..."
"Please please don't tell me you chickened out again girl!" Alya implored.
"It's not like I chickened out...I just realized.." Marinette fumbled.
"Marinette Dupan-Chang, you have been stalking this boy for years..."Alya scolded.
"Not stalking," Marinette protested, which Alya responded to with a raised eyebrow.
"Following him to photo shoots?! Photos plastered on your wall?! Mysteriously anonymous homemade gifts?! Entering contests and changing your schedule to be where ever he is, stealing his phone..." Alya listed, taking a couple cookies off the nearby plate.
"Okay okay...I may have gotten the tinsiest obsessed over him...but now we're just friends," Marinette paced the room.
"Oh no! The "just a friend" thing is contagious! He's rubbed off on you the wrong way! Girl the boy has finally let his guard down and realized he wants you! This is your chance!" Alya threw her hands wide.
"I know I'm being crazy and I should just be grateful he has finally noticed me, but maybe Adrien and I were never really right for each other," Marinette flopped down on her chase lounge, and snagged another cookie and took a swig of milk.
"I never thought I'd quote Chloe, but that is utterly ridiculous!" Alya stood up. "You shouldn't feel 'grateful he noticed you!' If your feelings about Adrien have changed or you want something else in life I got your back no matter what! But you and Adrien...you two are something special...you two go together like peanut butter and jelly...like, like..." and Alya's eyes flickered to the little sewn Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls snuggled up together on Marinette's bed..."like Ladybug and Chat Noir!"
Marinette blew milk out of her nose, and started spasmatically coughing.
"Marinette you okay?!" Alya jumped to her side.
"Ya ya," Marinette wheezed, "really I'm fine," she tried to reassure her friend.
"I know just the thing!" Alya shot up triumphantly. "This weekend can be the test! After that if you still feel like you're just friends than fine...but at least you won't always wonder what could have been!"
"Alya...I already know. I don't want to lead him on when I already have made up my mind...we're just going as friends. Even Adrien said so," Marinette insisted firmly, "now do you want more cookies before we put in our movie for the night? I'm gonna go snag us some macaroons too!"
"Sure, sounds great," Alya replied cheerfully, but when Marinette slipped downstairs for more snacks she muttered under her breath, "just wait till this weekend and then we'll see if you're still "just friends!" Nino and I needed Ladybug to lock us in a panther cage together to finally admit our feelings, let's see what it finally takes to get you and Adrien together!"