I never come on here, but I wanted to discuss something since I've seen a couple of salt posts discussing Adrien's "sudden" shift of feelings towards Marinette in season 5, and I don't think some of you are understanding the whole lovesquare arc. Adrien has ALWAYS loved Marinette, ever since the umbrella scene. His feelings gradually grew more and more, but since he had already taken interest in Ladybug, he suppressed those feelings. This was the whole point of the "just a friend" phase. It was DENIAL, not genuine disinterest. If you go back and rewatch the show from the beginning, you'd notice that Adrien unconsciously behaves in a way that makes his crush on Marinette obvious. Ex:
Feeling uncomfortable kissing Chloé in season 1, but feeling perfectly comfortable with Marinette.
The constant heart eyes we got throughout the show.
He carries her lucky charm with him all the time, and he even made a gift especially for her
He called her his "everyday Ladybug", which we all know how much that means coming from him.
Effortlessly dancing romantically with her, TWICE.
Etc, etc. Keeping all that in mind, what happened in Puppeteer 2 isn't when he started DEVELOPING feelings, it's when he started REALIZING those feelings. He said it himself, the way he reacted to her going ahead and kissing him shocked him. Not to mention that in Chat Blanc, he straight up told her in his confession that he had always felt this way, he just didn't understand what he felt.
All their interactions thus far had Marinette somehow friendzone their encounters, so Adrien never had the chance to think about his own feelings, except in Weredad, but he was too preoccupied with his intense feelings for Ladybug to notice. And it's because of that, that after Marinette kissed him, he started noticing the similarities between her and Ladybug, causing his feelings to grow even further.
"You remind me of the girl I love."
Then, he started paying more attention to her, and noticed how she always cheers him up and makes him laugh, and is always there for him when he needs her.
Finally, we reach the season 4 finale, and he realizes that Marinette truly understands him for who he is, not the image he kept up, and it's THEN that he fully realizes there is something there, but he is too confused to know for sure, which is directly supported by his confession in Chat Blanc.
That is when Determination comes into play, and Adrien finally realizes what the butterflies in his stomach meant this entire time. This is also why that every time he discovers Marinette is Ladybug, he is instantly relieved and overwhelmed with joy, because that makes the two people he loves the most one person, and there is no more dilemma in his heart.
So this is it, a summary of Adrien's development of his feelings towards Marinette, which also explains why it's so sincere from his end. It's not sudden for sure. Yeah, it could have been written a lot better, but what do we expect from MLB writers anyway? If you've made it this far, thank you for reading, and let me know what you think.
