Alright, here's a collection of Reverse Crush moments from Season 3 when the entire love square isn't the primary focus of the episode, or there aren't enough moments where it really matters (or the episode was too painful for me to watch). This also applies to Silencer because we don't have any love square moments in that episode (Bakerix is included, too).
As a warning, I am NOT writing in anything from Onii-chan OR Chameleon. I skipped those episodes because I can't stand Lila and writing about that vixen gives me stomachaches. If she's mentioned or referenced at all in this AU, Lila is a lesbian with an attraction to Marinette, so she threatened Adrien and thus made an enemy of Cat Noir, not Marinette/Ladybug. And Adrien doesn't have any attraction to Kagami here either (even though Marinette unintentionally ships them because she's blind to Adrien's feelings for her and yet she can tell Kagami's got a thing for him).
Now, let's get started!
Backwarder
"Guys, we have a MAJOR emergency!" Adrien declared as he started pacing around the room. "Jagged Stone's going to be performing at the royal wedding in London this weekend!"
He'd gathered up his group of guy friends in his bedroom very early on a Saturday morning to announce that he had an emergency and needed help... And no one other than Adrien was really having it because of the early time frame.
"That's the emergency?" Nino complained with a yawn. "You woke us up early on a Saturday morning for this?"
"The emergency part is that he decided to invite Marinette along as a guest, and he told her she could bring a friend," Adrien explained before gesturing to Nino. "And we all know that Alya would be her first choice, but I have it on the best of authority - Nino - that she's too busy babysitting the twins this weekend, so Marinette invited someone else..."
Everyone but Nathaniel woke up at that, and the boys started clamoring in delight.
"Dude, she invited you to be her plus-one for the wedding?" Nino asked.
"That's awesome, Adrien! A date with Marinette fell right in your lap!" Kim stated.
"That's just it: she didn't invite me! She's bringing Luka with her!" Adrien ranted, growling and grinding his teeth at the mention of the guitar player. "And to make matters worse, I'm already going to the wedding with my father and the Tsurugis as a family and business obligation. Thus the situation."
"Oh, now I see the problem." Max stated.
"Yes!" Adrien said as his fantasies started running wild.
"Having your father, your rival, and another girl that likes you all in the same place... Disaster waiting to happen, dude." Nino spoke.
"Bingo! Father's going to expect me to hang out with Kagami the whole time!" Adrien ranted as a manga panel page sequence started up behind him, picturing Adrien's fears and worst case scenario imaginations.
"You know your old man, Adrien," Kim stated. "If it's going to help his reputation, staying with Kagami is gonna be expected of you."
"I know! And because of that, Marinette's going to get the impression that I have a crush on Kagami, which I absolutely DO NOT!" Adrien complained, his imagination going berserk. "And that'll give that ice-eyed prick Luka ample opportunity to swoop in-"
"Hey, Luka's no prick!" Ivan interrupted, defending Luka.
Ignoring Ivan, Adrien continued with, "He'll win Marinette over with a guitar serenade or two, and when we get back, Alya and the other girls are going to go completely insane with joy that the Lukanette ship has sailed! Then I'll never be able to tell Marinette that I love her and father will force me into an arranged marriage with Kagami when we hit eighteen!"
"Dude, you're overthinking things again." Nino said, stopping Adrien right there, and the manga pages in the background were torn into pieces.
"Anyway, I need you guys to help me figure out a plan!" Adrien said, getting right to the point.
A chalkboard animation appeared behind Adrien as the boys started tiredly proposing ideas.
"You could always bring a disguise along and put it on whenever you're out of Kagami and your dad's sight, and then use it to follow Marinette and Luka. When she's alone, you take the disguise off and present her with a giant bouquet of red roses while telling her how you feel." Kim suggested as the fantasy played out.
Adrien had donned an afro and sunglasses and switched his clothes up a bit before following Marinette. Luka went to the bathroom, leaving Marinette alone, and Adrien made his move. He then took the wig and glasses off, got down on one knee and gave her a giant bunch of roses.
"That might work," Adrien said, feeling more confident before going to the closet. "Now for the right disguise."
"No, if you get caught, there's going to be at least a 95% chance that Marinette's going to think that you're either trying to run from crazy fans, or you're just creepy," Max interrupted as the chalkboard fantasy continued. Adrien's disguise fell off, Marinette was angry and offended, and Luka hugged her by the shoulder before leaving Adrien behind. "If she thinks the former, that'd be lucky. But if it's the latter, then you're in trouble. And given that Luka is easily considered a gentleman by today's standards, Marinette will most likely feel safer with him as a result."
Continuing the fantasy, Markov added, "In that scenario, there'll be at least a 50% chance that she'll call the City of London police to come and put you in prison in the highest tower."
"And when you get bailed out by your pops, he'll pull you out of school, and you'll never see Marinette again, dude." Nino continued, wrapping the delusion up.
Adrien face-palmed, realizing that the guys were right. The chalkboard background disappeared. He then muttered, "Okay, so that plan's out. Any other suggestions?"
Nathaniel, who was still half-asleep, kept raising his head and letting it fall. He muttered between quiet snores, "Why not just... kidnap Luka...? I mean... Nothing wrong with that..."
At that suggestion, everyone gasped and started loudly protesting, voicing displeasure at that suggestion. This woke Nathaniel up completely as he fell off the couch and hit his face.
"Hell no, dude!" Nino said, crossing his arms in an "X" motion.
"Yeah, Nate, that's out of the question!" Kim agreed, shaking his hand in a "cut it out" gesture as Nathaniel slowly got back up.
"As if we could do that! Don't get me wrong, I don't like having Luka as a rival, but kidnapping him?! No!" Adrien stated, giving a thumb's down at the idea. "What would Marinette think?"
"Not just Marinette, but what about Juleka? This is her brother we're talking about." Ivan mentioned.
Nino sighed, pushed up his glasses, and said to Adrien, "Adrien, the best thing to do is just pour your heart out to Marinette the second the two of you are alone together. Better yet, before the train leaves for London, dude."
"But I've been trying for months! And no matter what I try, no matter how much I prepare, there's always someone or some thing getting in the way! Nino would know. Remember that time at the zoo?" Adrien stated.
"How could I forget?" Nino asked, a freeze-frame flashback scene in the background. "As much as I wanted to be mad at you for putting me on the spot like that, I couldn't get upset. You helped me get my feelings out to Alya. I don't know whether or not you should count yourself lucky that Mr. Césaire got akumatized."
"And Operation: Swoon the Designer went awry, too." Kim commented, another freeze-frame flashback in the background.
He was recalling what happened when they tried to get Marinette and Adrien alone together before August got akumatized for the first time.
"Don't forget Chloé's party where you actually got a dance with Marinette. You were just about to confess your love to her before the butler showed off that teddy bear." Max added, recalling Chloé's party after that false alarm at school.
"Or when you were about to just give up on Marinette altogether when she went on a date with Luka." Ivan interjected, remembering how Adrien unintentionally pushed Marinette into a date with his rival.
"Okay, okay, enough! I have rotten luck, I know!" Adrien said, stopping the boys' rant and grimacing at how accurate that was.
There was a on the door and Nathalie said, "Adrien, it's almost time to leave for the train. Please wrap up your meeting with your friends."
Adrien sighed and said, "...You know, you guys are right. I need to work up the balls to confess to Marinette. Time for things to change."
"Sure you're going to be okay, dude?" Nino asked as he and the boys began leaving for the door.
"Yeah, I'll do it somehow. See you, guys." Adrien said as he ushered the boys out.
Once the door shut, Plagg came out of hiding and said, "You'll do it somehow? That's easier said than done. You always end up screwing up somehow around that girl."
"Don't remind me." Adrien muttered.
"It's not like you can tell her how you feel over a text you wrote. That's bad etiquette." Plagg stated.
"That's it! Thanks, Plagg, that's the solution to this whole thing!" Adrien said as he ran to get a piece of paper and pen. "I'll write a letter to Marinette for her to read on the train. This way my tongue doesn't tie itself up and nothing gets in the way."
"Are you sure about this?" Plagg asked.
"Yes!" Adrien said as he ran out the door. Plagg flew into hiding.
As Adrien sat in the car with his father, he started writing his letter out.
"Alright, how to start... Okay: To my sweet Marinette. They say you only get one chance at things in life. And if there's only one chance, you need to go for it and grab it, lest you regret it for the rest of your life, and you'll never be able to turn back time and get that chance again. So now without hesitation, I want to let you know these feelings I have for you. When we get back here to Paris, I hope you'll give me the chance to show you how much I care... Je'taime, Marinette!"
"Adrien, what are you doing?" Gabriel asked.
"Oh, um... Nothing." Adrien muttered as he put the letter into his shirt pocket.
Unfortunately, traffic got too heavy, forcing Adrien to walk to the station. And on the way, Wayzz approached him and pleaded for him to go to Master Fu's place to retrieve not only a prescription for constipation medicine, but a letter for his friend Marianne Lenoir.
Once everything was said and done (including Adrien mixing up the letters, leading to Marianne Lenoir, an old friend of Fu's getting akumatized into Backwarder), the rest of the weekend came and went without an akumatization. Funny how the one time he leaves Paris is the time Hawk Moth goes quiet for a while.
When school was back in session, Adrien came out of the limo like usual, thinking, 'I'll tell Marinette someday...'
As he walked up to the steps of the school, he rendezvoused with the guys, and they all asked how it went.
"I... I don't know. I wasn't able to see her at all over the weekend." Adrien admitted.
"Oh, Adrien! Perfect, I was looking for you." Marinette said as she approached.
"Oh, hey Marinette... That was a fun weekend, wasn't it?" Adrien asked, blushing heavily.
"It was. You and Kagami are so cute together," Marinette said, earning a collective sigh and groan from the boys. "Oh, that reminds me. I got you something."
The boys lit up, and Adrien's blush went even deeper. Marinette pulled out a prescription bag and handed it to Adrien, saying, "The medicine you needed. It took a few pharmacies, but I got it filled for you."
Adrien's stomach flipped unpleasantly as Marinette walked away from them with a smile.
"...Constipation pills?" Nathaniel asked as the boys looked over the package.
"Don't ask..." Adrien muttered, completely embarrassed as he face-palmed.
"Well, it's not like she would've gone around London looking for medicine for just anyone." Nino commented, causing the boys to laugh while Adrien wanted to crawl into a crater in the pavement that he created with his Cataclysm.
Animaestro
Once Adrien walked into the premier gala, the familiar bright lights coming from the cameras flashing, clamoring of fans, swooning sounds of girls hit him. He was wearing one of the nicer suits that he had.
Being Cat Noir's voice actor was a lot of fun. He could really get into the role because not only was he basically playing himself, but he could truly be himself and his father was actually happy about it. How ironic.
As he was looking around the venue, his eyes deliberately looked around for the dessert table. Or more specifically, who was at the dessert stand: the Dupain-Cheng family, but more importantly, Marinette was there. She was passing macarons out to everyone in the room, including Jagged Stone and (unfortunately for her, and he agreed) Chloé. Adrien's eyes were glued to the Chinese-French girl. She looked so goddamned cute with her hair in a bun, carrying the platter of the cookies, and wearing what was obviously a handmade maid uniform. He'd only ever seen her in her usual clothes (and in her pajamas that one time he had to hide from fans).
He smiled, feeling satisfied. He'd hoped to see Marinette at the premier. He already knew the Dupain-Chengs were going to be there, so he assumed Marinette would be along to help out.
He had a special something for Marinette in his pocket: a strawberry macaron with chocolate ganache filling. Ever since that party at Chloé's during the whole "Despair Bear" incident, he'd taken up learning how to bake macarons in what little spare time he had. He begged the kitchen staff to keep it on the DL. The pink cookie (which had pink dye and freeze-dried strawberry powder it) was wrapped in a cute little bag and it had a small stenciled message that said, "Je'taime, Marinette." Hopefully that would get his point across without making a scene.
"Adrien, you're supposed to greet the Tsurugis." Nathalie pointed out. Adrien turned to the door, and sure enough, Kagami and her mom were there.
'Oh crap...' Adrien thought, his spine chilling.
He didn't really have anything against Kagami, it was just that whenever she was around while Marinette was there, he always felt his chances of getting with the pigtailed cutie were slimmer. And with Chloé there too, it only made things harder.
Out of his peripheral vision, he noticed Marinette and Chloé were actually talking to each other, and Chloé was glaring at Kagami, meanwhile Marinette was giving the fencer girl a smile and a wave.
"Hi, Adrien!" Marinette said with a wave as she came over with the platter.
"Hey, Marinette... Did you make that uniform yourself? It looks great!" Adrien stated.
"Yep! Great to see you again, too, Kagami." Marinette said, smiling at her.
"Hey Marinette," Kagami said cooly as she wrapped her arms around Adrien's. "Those macarons look good."
"Thanks," Marinette said with a smile. "My parents made them. Here."
Kagami took one of the red ones and took a bite. She said, "Delicious."
"Thanks, my parents will love to hear that. That kimono looks beautiful on you, too," Marinette commented, loving the traditional Japanese formalwear that Kagami was in. "I should probably get a picture so I can learn how to make my own for design purposes."
"That sounds like a plan," Kagami commented. "I can come by your place later to model it if you'd like."
"Thank you, I'd love that! I hope you enjoy the show. I wish I could've gotten in to see it." Marinette commented before leaving to distribute the macarons around.
Adrien was swooning on the inside, but he got curious when Chloé yanked on Marinette's arm and dragged her away somewhere.
"Still trying to tell Marinette how you feel?" Kagami stated.
Adrien gave a nod and sighed. He took the macaron he made for Marinette out of his pocket and looked at it. However, as his eyes wandered to the girl of his dreams, he fumbled and dropped the macaron.
"Uh oh!" Adrien spluttered as he broke away from Kagami and started running around the room to try and catch the bouncing cookie.
He knew he wasn't looking very professional, being all frantic over a macaron, but he had to get it back before someone else found and ate it. He lost sight of it as he kept getting pulled aside by other guests and was prompted by Nathalie to fulfill certain tasks.
His eyes were darting everywhere to try and track down the pink cookie...
"Hey! This has almonds in it! I'm allergic!" Someone shouted. Adrien face-palmed. Too late...
He saw the director, Thomas Astruc, getting pissed off at the Dupain-Chengs over the macaron. He was covered in hives.
Adrien dashed over to clarify that the macaron was his work, but Astruc had already stormed to the bathroom in a frustrated huff. He looked over and saw Chloé getting up in Marinette's business, as if the blonde was blaming the girl for something.
"What was with that macaron anyway?!" Chloé accused as Adrien quietly dashed over to them.
"Don't look at me! All the macarons we made were with coconut flour and they're all red and black. That one was pink. And I told you that I wasn't going to go along with that scheme of yours anyway." Marinette stated, defending herself.
"Um, Chloé?" Adrien whispered, grabbing her by the elbow. "A minute, please?"
"Oh, why sure, Adrikins!" Chloé said, a little too sweetly.
Adrien dragged Chloé a safe distance away from Marinette and said in a hushed whisper, "Listen, that macaron... That was my fault."
"What? You?" Chloé asked. "Well, what was the deal?"
"It was a strawberry and chocolate ganache macaron, Chloé." Adrien admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as she gave him a questioning look.
"Hang on, that's the favorite of... Oh, are you kidding me?!" Chloé spat, realizing what was going on. "You?! In love with Dupain-Cheng?!"
Adrien stood firm and said, "Yes."
Chloé started to laugh, thinking it was all some big joke, but Adrien wasn't laughing at all, trying to get Chloé to understand how serious his feelings for Marinette were.
It was bad enough that he was struggling to confess to Marinette, but it was even harder with other girls like Chloé and Kagami swarming around him like flies and gunning for his attention. And it wasn't just his fans he had to deal with - he had his own rivals for Marinette's heart, specifically Lila and Luka (though he felt the guitarist was the bigger threat. He knew Marinette hated liars like Lila and that the pigtailed designer was attracted to boys).
"I can't believe this! You're too good for her!" Chloé said, wiping a tear away from her eyes as she calmed her laughter down. "And you're too good for Kagami, either!"
"Listen, I decide who's good enough for me, okay?" Adrien calmly requested as he crossed his arms.
There was a bang at the door and he saw a shadow with a ladybug mask on his face. So the director was akumatized? Should've seen that one coming. Adrien ducked away to try and find cover to transform. He'd deal with his screwed-up plan to confess to Marinette later.
Once Animaestro was dealt with, the movie went back on without a hitch. Adrien begged Chloé to keep his feelings for Marinette to herself. Needless to say, Chloé conceded out of respect for Adrien, but still made it a point to say that Marinette was a loser, even though he felt otherwise. The blonde boy was sitting in the seat next to the director, but to his surprise (and he was praising the kwamis on the inside), Marinette sat down next to him instead of Thomas Astruc.
"Marinette!" Adrien spoke, surprised. "What are you doing in here?"
"Hi, Adrien," Marinette said. "The director gave up his pass for me, so here I am. Sorry I couldn't taste your macaron from earlier. I'm sure it would've been great."
"Oh, it's... It's fine." Adrien muttered, blushing as he got to sit next to his sweetheart... And resisting the temptation to hold her hand in his.
Christmaster
Poor Marinette was backed into a corner with Chris (Nino's brother's) and his questions about what she was hiding in the chest. She was blushing and trying to come up with something to get him to get bored with it.
"Oh, well these are just some random projects that I made," Marinette said. "Nothing too special."
"Then why were you hiding them?" Chris teased.
"Well..." Marinette began, while thinking and letting her imagination go berserk, 'I can't tell him that these are random presents that I made for Cat Noir for his next twenty-five birthdays, even though I don't know when his birthday actually IS! He'll tell Nino, then he'll tell Alya, who'll then interrogate me about my feelings for Cat Noir! Bad enough all my pictures of Cat Noir were broadcasted live that one time, but for Alya to find out would be even worse! She'll post it on the Ladyblog, Cat Noir will no doubt read it, and then he'll think that I'm completely insane! ...But I probably am!'
She looked down to the snow globe in her hands to try and think of a way to get Chris to leave the subject alone. Lord only knows how much trouble her mouth would end up causing...
After the fact, Chris was once again left in Marinette's care for babysitting.
"I know you're not one of Santa's undercover elves." Chris stated.
"I know, I never should've told you that story, but you were acting..." Marinette began.
"Like a baby, I know. Mommy says lying is bad, so let's promise to tell each other the truth," Chris said as he held out his pinky. "Pinky promise!"
Marinette smiled and said, "It's a deal."
She and Chris locked pinkies, but then Chris said, "But I know your real secret!"
"Um, what secret?" Marinette squeaked. "Like a secret identity?!"
"No, the secret of what's in the chest!" Chris said, pointing to the chest again.
Marinette saw Tikki from her hiding spot and Marinette knew she had to own up.
"Okay... The truth... There's this boy that I'm totally smitten with..." Marinette began, but...
"EWW! Stop! No! I hate romance!" Chris cried, covering his ears and running around the room.
Marinette started to tease him and chase him around the room, saying, "Oh, I am swooning! I dream about his arms holding me like a princess, his lips on my cheeks!"
This went on for a while before Marinette decided that poor Chris endured enough.
Oblivio
After dealing with Oblivio, everyone had gotten back on the bus and Alya and Nino explained what happened before they were akumatized: apparently they hid in a supply closet during the school field trip to play Super Penguino together, only to get caught by Mlle. Bustier and for some of the others to tease them.
"I haven't played it yet, but I'll bet it's a lot of fun!" Marinette commented as Alya sat down next to her. Adrien was mooning over Marinette from his sit across the aisle next to Nino.
"Just a matter of finding the right partner." Nino said before nudging Adrien.
When Adrien and Marinette got back to their respective homes and saw what was on the Ladyblog...
"What the hell?!" Adrien spat in shock and horror. "I kissed Ladybug?! HOW?!"
"Maybe there's more to her than you think, Adrien." Plagg teased before swallowing a wedge of camembert.
"This is a disaster!" Adrien groaned as he slammed his head against his computer desk. "Ugh, the citizens and fans on the Ladyblog - not to mention Alya - will NEVER let me live this down!"
At Marinette's place...
"Oh Tikki! I can't believe this!" Marinette swooned as she looked at the picture on the screen. "Finally... He finally fell in love with me in return! We even kissed... And I forgot about the whole thing!"
"Don't worry, Marinette," Tikki said. "At least he reciprocated your feelings, even if it was because of an akuma."
"You're right, Tikki," Marinette agreed. "And now I know that my dream isn't unrealistic. What happens before can happen once more, right?"
"Yep!" Tikki stated.
Marinette swooned at the photo, meanwhile Adrien felt like he was about to be sick and throw up.
Timetagger
After Bunnix - or rather, adult Alix Kubdel from the future - was ready to fight again, they were confronted with the reality that many people were being thrown back in time, rewriting history. Bunnix assured Ladybug that she would be an amazing team leader as an adult.
"So, Bunnix, in the future, are Cat Noir and I... Say..." Ladybug began before shyly forming her hands into a heart and blushing.
"Hey, Ladybug!" Cat Noir said in indignation.
"No, the two of you are more like..." Bunnix started as she started moving her pointed fingers in many different directions.
After wrapping up yet another encounter (the 24th, actually) with Xavier Ramier - Mr. Pigeon - and giving him some advice on how to keep himself from getting akumatized over and over again, the two superheroes were walking away.
"So, since the future isn't set in stone, and we're still partners in the future, maybe there'll come a day where you do fall in love with me." Ladybug commented as she sidled up closer to Cat Noir.
"Yeah, unlikely to happen." Cat Noir said as he slowly pulled away.
"You never know. Maybe in the close future, you'll actually go on a date with me to the movies." Ladybug said as she tried to get closer to her partner again.
"Again, unlikely." Cat Noir protested.
Stormy Weather 2
School let out for the day one day, and Adrien was heading to his car, standing beside Alya and Nino.
"Hey Alya, ready to go to your place to do the homework?" Nino asked his girlfriend.
"Sorry Nino, but I gotta rewrite a copy of the notes from classes today for Marinette and get her the homework that's due tomorrow. Poor girl, she's got a bad cold." Alya replied.
"Well, I know that I'd be there for my bro if he needed help," Nino said. "But what about our plans?"
"How about I take care of the class notes for Marinette so the two of you can do the homework?" Adrien suggested.
"Great idea, dude!" Nino said. "Thanks, man."
"No problem." Adrien said before noticing that Chloé and Sabrina were giving Aurore Beauréal a hard time over lowered grades. Adrien decided to step in.
When he got back into his room, he was rewriting the notes from class that day so he could give them to Marinette. But he was feeling a little dejected.
"What's up, Adrien?" Plagg asked.
"...You know, Chloé isn't totally wrong. I mean... Look at me, all this time and I still can't tell Marinette how I feel," Adrien complained. "Ever since I first met her, I've gotten even worse in the suaveness department. Every time I try to confess, wrenches get thrown into the engine."
He remembered almost every attempt to confess to Marinette or any moment they had together. The zoo mishap, the near-kiss from the movie, the training from the video game tournament, amongst other embarrassing incidents.
"Come on, you've made progress," Plagg insisted. "She's become a great friend."
"Yeah... But I want more from her," Adrien muttered, remembering all the little things about Marinette that made her the girl of his dreams. "I... I just love her so much."
"But don't forget, your feelings for her have caused quite a bit of trouble," Plagg pointed out. "Like what happened with that Lila girl?"
"Don't start," Adrien muttered, gritting his teeth as he remembered when Lila first arrived and tried to get in good with Marinette, and then when she came back to class and won everyone over (minus Marinette and himself) with her lies. "Every time I hear that name I wanna puke! Marinette and I are the only ones who can see through that bitch's crap..."
"Well, if you hadn't been so harsh calling her out the first time, or better yet, you hadn't called her out at all, she wouldn't be a recurring pest now." Plagg stated.
Adrien recalled how condescending, harsh, and mean he was to Lila when he outed her the first time. And then the horror and fear he felt when he was confronted with the sight of Volpina dangling Marinette from the Eiffel Tower and threatening to let her fall if he didn't hand over his ring. Illusion or not, it was scary.
"I know, I know." Adrien said, covering his ears.
"And don't forget Christmas. I mean, really, an average Santa Claus being a kidnapper?" Plagg questioned. "No wonder that guy got akumatized."
"Okay, I get it!" Adrien spat as he gathered up the notes before making to leave the bedroom.
*BANG! CRASH! HOWL!*
Adrien whirled around and looked out the window to see the weather had changed into something really bad, a volcano included.
"It wasn't me!" Plagg claimed.
"I know!" Adrien shouted as he ran to the window. He held up his phone and saw that Stormy Weather had been akumatized again and she was even stronger than last time.
"Better take care of this! Plagg, Claws Out!"
After transforming, he burst out of his window.
Once Stormy Weather was taken down again, everything calmed down.
Adrien went over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
"Hello, Mme. Dupain-Cheng?" Adrien asked as he came in the front door.
"Oh, Adrien, what can I do for you?" Sabine asked.
"I wrote up the class notes by hand for Marinette and brought her tomorrow's homework," Adrien said, holding up the folder. "I wanted to do this for her as her friend."
"That's great. The poor girl's sicker than a dog," Sabine said as she took the binder from him. "I'll go give it to her."
"Thanks." Adrien said before leaving.
"See, progress." Plagg whispered as they got back into the car.
The note on the binder said, "Get well soon. See you tomorrow. Love your friend, Adrien."
After Stormy Weather, Ladybug slipped back into her bedroom, quickly changed back, and got back under the covers.
"Damn, he's amazing..." Marinette muttered, congested. "Funny, charming, encouraging... He's just so Cat Noir!"
"You mean like the time you tried to set up a date with him and then he stood you up before admitting to you that he was in love with another girl?" Tikki asked before bringing up other cards that Marinette got from other boys in the past. "The heart wants what it wants, but... Think you should keep your options open?"
"My feelings can't change just like that, Tikki." Marinette said.
There was a knock on the door and Sabine said, "Marinette?"
Tikki ducked as Sabine came up the stairs to Marinette's bed.
"Your classmate Adrien came by today with your class notes and homework," Sabine said as she put the folder down. "He wanted to do it for you as your friend."
"Thanks, mom." Marinette said as she picked up the binder as her mom left the room.
She looked at the note and said, "Hey Tikki...? I never noticed that Adrien's handwriting... Doesn't it look like the one from that unsigned card from Valentine's Day?"
Tikki flew and got the card and brought it back and compared the handwriting as she recalled when she found it in a pile of cards from that past Valentine's.
"I... It couldn't have been Cat Noir. I knew it was someone from school, but Adrien... Is that even possible?" Marinette began.
She remembered the times she and Adrien interacted with each other, and how he seemed so friendly with her in a platonic sense. She shook her head.
"That's insane. There's no way Adrien's in love with me. Don't forget, there's Kagami," Marinette said as she remembered Kagami and Adrien skating together at the ice rink that one time. "It's only someone who's got similar handwriting is all."
Tikki had to hold back a face-palm.
I hope you enjoyed this! I was really tempted to rework Animaestro so that was the following was occurring: Chloé is a boy named Colin who's got the hots for Marinette and admires both Ladybug and Cat Noir (mostly Cat Noir though), and is childhood rivals with Adrien instead of friends. Luka was the one attending the premier because he was one of Adrien's costars, and getting Marinette's attention instead of Kagami being there and getting Adrien's.