#idek if i answered ur question well anon i think this became a tangent on a portion of the LS's poor handling in the show

[mariproducer]

Do you think Adrien does love Marinette, buts is in denial and realizing that she's Ladybug is the push for him to accept his feelings, or do you think that he will only love Marinette when he learns she's Ladybug?

The way the LS is handled in the show makes it hard for me to give you an answer on this anon, I'll be honest.

On one hand, you have tidbits like the lucky charm bracelets, the album autograph, Adrien's speech about Marinette in Mayura, and the multiple instances where he's visibly comfortable in her presence. On their own, these moments and details can paint a picture that Adrien is in denial for his feelings for Marinette.

Then you have episodes like Frozer, where Adrien decides to rebound with Kagami, instead of Marinette, Weredad, where Adrien doesn't think twice in rejecting Marinette's "love confession", Puppeteer 2, where he feels comfortable telling Marinette he's in love with someone else casually in conversation, and Chat Blanc, where it appears that he only dates Marinette because he knows she's Ladybug and she has a crush on him. For an entire season and a half, Adrien seems to pretty firmly see Marinette as a friend and ONLY as a friend. He never seems to entertain the idea of dating her at all.

Then you have s4, where the few scenes we get between Adrien and Marinette as civilians don't have the same emotional or memorable impact of earlier scenes. The only notable one off the top of my head is the one from Psychomedian, but it feels more like Adrien is laughing AT Marinette, rather than alongside her... way to go love interest, how romantic.

Which leaves us with s5… I'll be honest, Adrien suddenly and explicitly developing feelings for Marinette makes no sense whatsoever. Partially because Adrien and his writing is a master of mixed messages in a bad way and partially because the circumstances that lead to him changing targets is contrived. The reason Adrien reconsiders his feelings for Marinette is because she helped him talk to his father about modeling. Like, let's be real: Marinette's advice of "just talking to him" is actually shitty advice (considering the way Gabriel treats Adrien) and the only reason it works out is because Gabriel had his #win via getting most of the miraculous (when Felix did all the work ahem). And considering that Marinette has helped Adrien in the past (Gorizilla, Christmas Special, NY Special when he's Adrien, Evillustrator, Glaciator, Glaciator 2 when he's Chat Noir), why is it only now that he finally sees her in a different light?

If anything, I would rather have Adrien come to terms with having romantic feelings for Marinette prior to him finding out she's Ladybug. I get that, at the end of the day, Marinette and Ladybug are the same person, but if Adrien still can't see the same qualities that he (supposedly) likes in Ladybug when he's faced with Marinette, then it just feels sort of weird to require him to find out she's LB to push his romantic feelings for her. (and also bc I'm a sucker for the idea of someone having their heart torn btwn two ppl and the LS lends itself well to that idea)