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When Adrien was fourteen, he meant his soulmate. Of course, the marks of his soulmate wouldn't appear until he was eighteen, and he still had four more years to go, but Plagg said that he and Ladybug were fated partners. What else could he mean? Besides, Ladybug was amazing. She was brave, facing Hawkmoth even though he knew that his one pep talk he gave her couldn't have erased all of her doubts. She was capable, saving the day in the end, even if she didn't know to catch the akuma at first. Ladybug was amazing, and Adrien was in love.
When Adrien was fourteen he also meant Nino Lahiffe. Nino was his best and first friend, well, besides Chloé. But Chloé had turned cruel - and while he still deeply cared for her - the two of them weren't as close as they had once been. He spent a lot of time with Alya, but that was because she was Nino’s friend. And Marinette seemed intimidated by him. But Nino had accepted him wholeheartedly, with a minor hiccup at the beginning. It didn't matter now though. Nino was wonderful. Adrien would be the first to admit that he didn't know much about social interaction, and Nino was a godsend. The social intricacies of public school would have been way to hard for him to navigate a lone. Nino was his best friend, and Adrien wouldn't trade his friendship for the world.
When Adrien was fifteen, he celebrated the first anniversary of receiving a miraculous with Ladybug. Technically, the whole of Paris was celebrating. Alya had teamed up with Chloé - whose attitude had improved vastly over the course of the year - and the two of them had convinced the mayor to host a week long celebration of Ladybug and Chat Noir. But this moment at the top of the Eiffel Tower was a private thing, between the two of them. If this had happened a year ago, Chat would have flirted like there was no tomorrow. That was before she had rejected his advances, and her friendship was highly treasured. Almost as much as Nino’s. While Ladybug was marvelous in her own right, no one could replace Nino. In fact , he was going to visit Nino right after he exchanged gifts with Ladybug.
“Happy Anniversary Ladybug.”
“Happy Anniversary Chat.”
Adrien couldn't clearly explain how these nighttime visits started. They just sort of happened. Nino spends a lot of time around akumas because of how he started helping Alya with the Ladyblog, and after the attacks finished Adrien wanted to check on his best friend. But Adrien couldn't because of how his every move was (supposed to be) scheduled. Then he had a wonderful idea. While Adrien Agreste had a schedule, Chat Noir did not. So instead of Adrien checking on his friend, Chat Noir checked on a civilian. Then that one visit turned to two, two to three, and so on and so forth.
“Hey dude, why do you keep visiting me? Don't you have more important things to do?”
“No. You're an interesting person Nino.”
Adrien was perplexed. Nino was a great friend, but that didn't explain the butterflies he got when he was around him. It wasn't until he had what was typically a ‘ladybug daydream’ - defeating Hawkmoth and kissing on the Eiffel Tower - starring Nino instead.
Marinette definitely didn't expect Tikki to wake her up at three in the morning. But we exist in a cruel, uncaring universe that enjoys defying expectations.
“Chat’s calling you! It must be an emergency!”
With that, Marinette shot out of bed and transformed as fast as she could.
“Chat! What's wr-”
“I Think I Might Have A Crush On My Best Friend” He spat out so fast that Ladybug could barely keep up with what he was saying.
“Chat, it's three in the morning.”
“I'm having a crisis LB.”
“Just confess then. If you're really best friends, then if her f-”
“His. I'm bi”
“Okay. If his feelings aren't the same, then it shouldn't stop you from still being friends.”
“Thanks Ladybug.”
When he was seventeen, Adrien still hadn't confessed. Chat Noir hadn't stopped with his late night visits. Adrien was forced to come to the conclusion that whatever his feelings toward Nino were, this was more than a fleeting crush. Even if he could get up the nerve to tell Nino about his feelings, his father would never approve. The man had banned Nino from the house, there was no way he would approve of them dating.
When Adrien was seventeen,he saw his father transform into Hawkmoth. In retrospect, it was obvious and explained a lot of things that happened when he was younger.
Nino heard a thump outside his window. He wasn't surprised to open his window to find a certain black cat. What did surprise him was the state that Chat Noir was in. He was frantic and worried.
“What's wrong?”
“I need to call Ladybug!”
“That doesn't tell me what's wrong, Chat.” Speaking softly, Nino approached the shaking boy.
“I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong.”
Chat took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself to talk.
“Family problems.”
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
“Is there anything I can do about it?”
“Not really.”
“Do you want a hug?”
“Yes.”
Immediately, Nino wrapped his arms around Chat Noir, trying to ignore how helpless he felt.
The day before his eighteenth birthday, Adrien was a bundle of nerves. He doubted that Ladybug was his soulmate, although having his best friend connected to the other end of his string wouldn't be the worse thing in the world. ( Nino was something other than a friend.)
It took Plagg yelling at him for him to go to sleep.
On his eighteenth birthday, Adrien sat up and looked down at his hand. There, attached to his pinkie finger was a red string. Some people didn't have one, so the first thing he did was check. Adrien knew he wasn't aromantic, but that did nothing to calm his nerves.
The only thing to do know was follow it, after breakfast, of course.
For some reason, he had decided to follow the string as Chat Noir. The path it took him on was familiar. It twisted and turned all the way to Nino’s house.
When Adrien was fourteen he meant his soulmate. Well, he wasn't wrong.