Meanwhile... (we switch to Adrien and Plagg packing his night bad in his room)
Adrien paces going back and forth from his bathroom, his closet, and his bed where his bag sits open on top.
He seems to keep thinking he forgot something causing him to frantically search for it only to realize he already packed it. Plagg finishes his cheese with a big gulp and finally decides he's had enough.
Plagg: "Ugh kid why are you so nervous"
Adrien rambles in a squeaky pitch "what?! I'm not nervous! Why would you say I'm nervous?! Do I look nervous?! Oh god she's gonna be able to tell that I'm nervous and I'll start to sweat and she'll see my sweat stains and she'll think I'm gross!" He paces back and forth biting his lip nervously.
Plagg: "woahhh kid. Calm down. No one will be able to tell and they wouldn't even care. Plus you don't have any sweat stains. And what girl is it this time? Ladybug isn't gonna be going to this thing right?"
Adrien: "oh shoot ladybug! I forgot about her."
The boy collapses on his bed with his arms spread out like a bird. He feels guilty for forgetting about his self-proclaimed soulmate Ladybug.
"Soooo who's the girl making you forget all about Ladybug?" Plagg asks in a teasingly suggestive tone while he flies over to the cabinet to get another piece of cheese)
Adrien's face turns red, "uhhhh no one. She's just a friend, forget about it."
Plagg rolls his eyes as he realizes who had caused his owner to pace around his room for the past half hour. "Ah yes, Marinette, the 'just a friend' girl whom you have a totally normal friendship with," Plagg says in a sarcastic tone.
He turns his head away from Adrien to hide his look of frustration knowing that his owner is unable to acknowledge his love for his classmate because of his love for ladybug which that very same classmate secretly is. And of course, Plagg can't tell any of what he knows to Adrien which means he had to listen to his love-struck owner drone on for hours about the girl who keeps rejecting him FOR HIM!
Adrien: "don't say it like that Plagg, she really is just a friend" Adrien blushes as he adds "a really really good friend" he smiles to himself.
Only Plagg could see the little sparkle in his eyes that showed up every time he talked about either Marinette or Ladybug. All Plagg could do was hope to lead the kid to his own revelations by encouraging his relationship with Marinette.
Plagg: "yeah that makes sense. All friends occasionally slow dance while floating in the night sky under the moonlight, and kiss their friends randomly on the cheek, and run to protect them whenever there's an akuma attack even though there are tons of other people also in danger in the room, and-"
"Exactly!" Adrien smiles triumphantly while marching over to the bathroom.
Plagg stares at the back of the boy's head. His gaze shoots bullets into the blonde's seemingly empty skull. Is this boy serious? How did he not hear the sarcasm? This boy is why blonde jokes exist! -- he couldn't help but think to himself. Plagg follows him into the bathroom where Adrien has begun to brush his hair in an unusually meticulous way.
Plagg: "you realize I was being sarcastic right? Normal friends do not do that stuff Adrien!"
Adrien frowns then looks at his kwami with a grumpy squished expression on his face. He turns back to the mirror, "BEST friends do" the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile then drop as he raises one of his eyebrows. "At least I think... This year is my first year having any friends really."
"Exactly kid! You don't know! And I'm telling you the two of you like each other!" Plagg flies in front of his face with his arms crossed blocking the boy's view of the mirror.
Adrien glares at him and steps to the side looking at the new spot in the mirror in front of him to continue to brush his hair. "No, we don't Plagg. We're just friends! Besides, Marinette likes Luka." He ends his last sentence quietly with a sad and hurt expression on his face, he looks down putting the hairbrush on the counter. While dragging his feet he makes his way over to the bed and lets himself fall face-first into the pillows.
Plagg trails along behind him with a frown on his face, he didn't mean to make his owner sad. Even though Plagg acts like he doesn't care about anything besides cheese deep down he truly does love his owner and hates seeing the boy miserable.
"Yeah maybe a little, but she likes you way more!" Plagg reassures the boy as he sits down leaning against the pillow on his side of the bed (yes Plagg has his own side of the bed).
Adrien turns his head towards his tiny friend.
"How would you know Plagg? You're just a kwami." Adrien turns his head again stuffing his face back into his pillow.
Plagg thinks to himself: uhh I know because it's pretty freaking obvious to anyone but you! Plus she has photos of you all over her room and there are other fashion models besides you idiot! Oh, and me and Tikki talk about the two of you all the time and in case you didn't know Tikki is ladybug's kwami who knows Marinette because Marinette is Ladybug which takes care of your other concern about being in love with two people at the same time because you're actually only in love with one person you absolute moron! Plagg sighs, of course, he couldn't say all that so all he said was "look kid I'm a prehistoric being, don't you think I've learned a thing or two about love?"
Adrien groans into his pillow. "Yeah but you've missed the last like 200 years, a lot can change in that time."
Plagg was getting frustrated. Ever since his owner met both Marinette and ladybug his love for the both of them had continued to grow (although Adrien would only admit to his love for ladybug) which meant Plagg had to listen to all the gushy cheesy (but not the good kind of cheese like Camembert) romantic love talk more and more at twice the growth rate!
"Yeah but not when it comes to love. Look kid why can't you just accept that you like Marinette or at least that she likes you?!"
Adrien's face turns red hot, he had been arguing with Plagg more and more about this these past few weeks and he had reached his breaking point. His head shoots up from the pillow and he practically growls "because if I even consider that either of those things are true then I'll have to look at her in that kind of light and I'm scared that if I start to think about her in a romantic way I'll fall hopelessly in love with her because who wouldn't fall in love with a girl like Marinette? She's creative, kind, compassionate, honest, intelligent, brave, and so insanely cute especially when she's all flustered. If I start to fall in love with her I won't be able to stop and then I'll be torn between the two most amazing girls in the entire world!"
Adrien looks down, he hadn't even realized that he had gotten up and started getting ready to head out the door. His face turns red and he stumbles back as the realization of all that he just said hits him and how much he knows all of it is true.
Plagg is speechless. Tikki had always found this mushy gushy stuff to be so sweet and romantic while Plagg found it to be gross and stupid. But Plagg hated seeing his owner (and honestly his best friend) in pain. And even he had started to root for the two of them to finally get together. This is when Plagg said something he regretted the second it came out of his mouth.
"Yeah, but you don't even know who ladybug is. Maybe Ladybug and Marinette are the same person."
Plagg eyes widen at the same time as his jaw drops, he couldn't believe those words had just come out of his mouth.
Adrien turns around furiously and starts marching towards the Plagg. "How dare you say that Plagg?! Why would you put that idea in my head?!"
Plagg: "but-"
Adrien continues without letting Plagg finish his sentence. "You know who ladybug is! Why would you put that false hope in my head?!"
Plagg stops dead in his tracks staring at the back of the blonde's head. How had Adrien not realized that his kwami wouldn't put false hopes in his head? Plagg mumbled under his breath so Adrien wouldn't hear him, "You're real lucky you're pretty blondie cause you got nothing but empty space in that big ole skull of yours."
Plagg shakes off the negativity and catches up to his owner who is making his way to the exit of the mansion. "Well, all I'm saying is you just don't know who ladybug is so why not give these girls a chance? I mean for all you know they could actually be Ladybug. Like how are you so sure Marinette isn't?"
Adrien can hear the tiny hint of hurt in his kwami's voice and he sighs. Adrien hadn't meant to yell at Plagg, honestly, he loves the little guy. Plagg is the only one he can truly be every version of himself with. He is the only one he can talk to about everything. Plagg really is his best friend and he had grown to find all of the little black cat's quirks to be charming.
Adrien stops and looks around to make sure no one is around before he gives Plagg a little loving scratch under his chin, "I'm sorry Plagg I shouldn't have yelled at you. I know you're just trying to help convince me to move on from ladybug since you think she'll never love me back but I just can't give up hope Plagg. I got mad because I've wondered if Marinette is Ladybug before and it didn't end well. Remember when my teacher found out about you and Tikki and went on that tv show?"
Plagg nods his head.
"Well, because of that I thought ladybug had to go to my high-school too. Marinette seemed to be just as nervous as me when we were watching our teacher on TV and it made me wonder if maybe she was Ladybug. I never got to tell you this but when that idea popped into my head I became so happy. I was over the moon excited. I mean can you imagine if Marinette and Ladybug were the same person?! It would be like the best of both worlds! I can't imagine anyone more stunningly beautiful, smart, resourceful, creative, intelligent, and kind."
Plagg groans as he listens to his owner drone on about how amazing Marinette is yet again.
Adrien finally stops listing adjectives and continues what he was saying. "In that moment my love for both of them grew so much, more than I thought was even possible. I was planning on setting up a romantic scene for her after we captured the akuma and asking her if she was actually Marinette. But then I saw that Marinette was multi-mouse and I saw her standing right next to Ladybug and I realized it couldn't possibly be her. That realization broke my heart. I avoided Marinette for a week after that just to clear my head and my heart of my feelings for her but obviously it didn't fully work. That's why I can't do it Plagg. I had only entertained that idea for less than a day and it broke me. I just can't let myself hope it's her, I'm sorry."
Plagg nodded and hid the tear that had started to fall down his cheek. In all of Plagg's existence, he had never witnessed any human love another as much as Adrien did and as much as Plagg hated to admit it, it was inspiring. "Ok, we've kept the gorilla waiting long enough let's go!"
(Author here) ok, so I'm honestly a bit surprised if you've got to this point I know it's super long but I need the characters' headspaces to be understood because it makes the romance and smut better.
Updated note from the author:
I think Adrien's brain is just dead... kinda like his mom lol (ok fine! not dead, just a rotting corpse in his basement if you wanna get all technical about it!).
Anyways if the whole modeling thing doesn't work out I think he would make a great scarecrow in the wizard of oz (get it? cuz the scarecrow didn't have a brain? ...Yeah I know that was a pretty weak joke I'm disappointed in myself too but whatever).
Quick poll: which is more dead, Adrien's mom or his chances of getting a real brain?