Chapter Text
Marinette covered her ears abruptly as the screeching noise Alya emitted became less excited and a lot more piercing to her. A wide grin spread across her face, and she allowed her friend to continue her squealing for as long as she could manage to hold off breathing. She only dropped her hands from her head when she saw the signs of Alya both calming down and breathing normally again. Her hands only got about as far as her stomach before Alya grabbed both of them in hers, shaking them violently up and down.
“Mari! I can’t believe he asked you to marry him, oh my God!” Marinette winced a little at the pitch of Alya’s voice, but kept her grin steady on her face.
“I know, right? It’s not like I’ve even graduated université yet and now...”
“Now you’re going to be Mrs. Couffaine!” A banging noise sounded through the wall Marinette shared with her next door neighbor and she motioned frantically to Alya to be quieter, giggles erupting out of her lungs. Both girls continued yelling quietly to each other. “Seriously girl, you two were meant for each other, it’s so perfect.”
Marinette kept her smile as wide as she could the entire visit, but the moment Alya left her alone in her apartment, the smile fell.
“Yeah. Meant for each other.”
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She’d met Luka the way she met almost everyone, by slamming bodily into him. The difference this time was that her soulmate mark lit up at the same time his did. The thin band of black ink wrapped around her right wrist burst to life with blues and greens while his double line showed pink and white to indicate her. They had stood there for a while, stunned to have found their match at the age of fifteen and seventeen, respectively. But after the initial shock wore off, they managed to speak for a few minutes before exchanging phone numbers and promising that they would meet up soon to discuss the new development.
Marinette’s parents were ecstatic. While they’d hoped for someone who would want to take over the family business, they wanted Marinette to be happy more than anything. Sabine bustled around the room, gathering the ingredients for a special dinner while Marinette stayed seated at the island at her mother’s command. Sabine hummed old songs that she had learned when she was a little girl, prompting smiles from both Marinette and Tom.
“Oh, I can’t believe you found your soulmate so quickly, ma chérie! It took me far longer to find your father!” She gushed happily to the air as she gestured with pots, pans, utensils. Marinette was suddenly quite glad she’d been banished from the kitchen for the moment.
“My flower, you had to travel from China to France to find me, of course she’d find the boy faster if they were in the same country.” Tom pointed out logically.
“Still! It’s wonderful and amazing and rare to find them so young!” She crowed to the vegetables as she chopped them down rapidly into bite sized pieces and slid them into a wok. Tom snuck a look over at Marinette, rolling his eyes fondly and she giggled in reply.
“Have I met this boy, Cupcake? I want to make sure he’s good for you.”
“Of course he’s good for her, they’re soulmates!” Tom reeled as Sabine smacked the back of his hand with a wooden spoon and he scowled at her rapidly retreating head.
“Sweetheart, that’s not a good indicator. It’s not just good people who find soulmates, the awful ones do too.”
“True, but our sweet Mari wouldn’t deserve any less than the best kind of person. Her soul is beautiful and kind and I’m sure his is too. Oh! Invite him and his family for dinner, chérie! Then we can meet him and your father-“ a sharp look at Tom interrupted the speech, “-can see for himself what kind of person this Luka boy is.”
“Sure. No problem. I’ll bring it up when we have our coffee date.” Marinette smiled wanly, a little overwhelmed by the attention. Sabine squealed in reply, clearly ecstatic that they’d already spoken about having a date together.
“It’s in public, right, Cupcake?” Tom frowned, much more stern than he’d been a moment ago.
“Yes, Papa, the coffee date is at a coffee shop. I’ll be around other people, don’t worry.” He nodded at the assurance.
“I just know everything is going to work out for you, sweetheart! The two of you were meant to be! It’s destiny! You were made for each other.” Marinette smiled back at her mother, excusing herself to the bedroom for a moment or two.
“Just need a breather,” she muttered to her father as she passed and he nodded. Marinette moved quickly, sure her father would run interference if Sabine tried to continue the conversation with her. She sighed as she reached her room.
This day has been a little much. Her shoulders slumped and she sat down next to a wall to rest her head against. Soulmates. Meant to be. This is how things worked, right? It shouldn’t matter that she had life plans, things she wanted to do. He would support her in all of that, he would have to. They were meant to be. Of course that meant he’d be perfect for her.
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Their first coffee date was awkward. Marinette didn’t know what to say to Luka. They’d seen each other in the hallways but, given their age gap, they’d never spoken to one another. She fiddled with her fingers as she tried to think of something clever to say. Movies? School? How does one meet their soulmate and talk about anything but that?
She didn’t want him to think that was all she was interested in, though. She was never the little girl who planned out how she was going to meet and marry her soulmate. She planned her own life and trusted that her soulmate was going to fit into that somehow. But now that she’d met him, it seemed so daunting. So filled with pressure. Did they have anything in common?
“So, um. What do you want to study? For université and all that.” she ventured quietly, after a long and uncomfortable silence where they both sipped at their lattes, unsure.
“Oh, I don’t.” Her eyebrows lifted delicately and Luka smiled reassuringly before he continued. “I want to be a musician. I’m in a band and everything. I’m just getting through school so I can say I finished and then I plan to work on my career.”
“Wow. That easy?” Marinette allowed herself to be impressed despite herself. She was no stranger to planning, but everything she had already, she’d worked at. Nothing came easy to her. She had to put significant effort into all of her endeavors before they paid off properly. It was satisfying. But it was hard to imagine being so good at something that he could just do it.
“Sure, why not? I’m good at what I do and I have a solid band. I’ve already got some good industry connections, so I’m pretty set. How about you?” He crossed his legs, relaxing back into the chair and Marinette watched him while he moved. She picked up her latte, drawing a deep breath as she sipped.
“I’m planning to go into fashion design.”
“Oh? That’s pretty cool, where at?” He lightly raised his eyebrows in curiosity and he leaned forward a tiny bit to hear the answer.
“Um, well, I haven’t been accepted to anywhere yet. I’m planning to send applications to every premiere fashion school in Paris and then see who accepts me. I’ve won some junior level contests, but nothing that would really get me much notice at this point.” Marinette returned to fidgeting with her fingers, feeling inadequate. “I’m definitely not as far into my career as you are.”
Luka reached across the table, unfolding his legs as he did so. “Hey. You’re on a different path than I am. There’s no shame in that. I’m older, more established, I had some connections to help me out. You’re starting from scratch. That’s admirable too, if not more so.”
Marinette raised her eyes to meet his, relaxing her shoulders from where they’d been inching up to her chin. “That’s...very kind of you to say, Luka.” She smiled warmly across the table.
“Absolutely. You’re my soulmate, what kind of person would I be if I was anything less than encouraging?” He retrieved his hands, reaching for his latte once more. “So, what kind of music do you like? Now, this is very important, so think carefully.”
Marinette giggled at his teasing tone, covering her mouth with one hand as she did. She tapped her fingers to her lips, pretending to think hard. She hummed and met his eyes with a coy, teasing look of her own.
“Oh definitely new electronica, XY kind of stuff, you know?” Luka reeled back momentarily, a full grimace on his face before she managed to continue through the guffaws trying to break out. “It’s just so...relentlessly mindless. Like a perfume ad.”
A completely unamused pout sliding onto his face ensured she promptly lost the battle with herself, and Marinette cackled loudly as Luka clearly tried not to laugh in return. He eventually began chuckling as Mari’s breath started coming back to her. She sighed heavily and sat back in her chair with a happy little smile on her lips. “Seriously though, I like rock and indie music. Jagged is my favorite, but I listen to a lot of stuff, honestly.”
Luka nodded at her, a grin still lighting up his face. “Then you’ll really love my band. Do you want to come to a rehearsal sometime?”
“Uh, yeah, I’d love to. But you and your family are invited to dinner with mine and that should probably happen first. My dad is a little overprotective and he wants to meet you before I go anywhere with you that isn’t in public.” Luka chuckled in response, nodding in understanding.
“No problem, I don’t live at home anymore, moved out a year back. But I can ask my mom and sister to come and meet you all.”
“You don’t live with your family?” Marinette gasped lightly, mortified that she may have hit a sensitive subject with Luka so quickly. She tried to pull back into herself, but he smiled encouragingly at her.
“Nope, I moved out when my parents split and I didn’t much like the guy Mom decided to date after that. It just wasn’t where I needed to be, you know? I moved in with a couple of friends that I share an apartment with now, one of them is a bandmate even. It’s a good situation, but I can understand your family wanting to meet mine even if I’m not living with them.” He shrugged and turned his attention back to his coffee. Marinette squirmed in her chair, still uncomfortable with the way she’d turned the topic of discussion.
“You okay?”
“Yes! Sorry. No, I didn’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject and-“
“It’s not.” He shrugged again.
“It’s...not?” He responded by shaking his head at her for a moment.
“No. I don’t mind. It sucked that Dad wasn’t being faithful to Mom. And it really sucked that they decided to separate. But it happened, and I can’t change that. I did what I could do, which is to leave the environment that I felt wasn’t doing me any good. But I don’t mind talking about it with you. You’re going to find out all of this eventually, right? Soulmates and all that.” Mari swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Yeah. Soulmates.”
“Wanna talk about that?”
“I guess we should.” She stared into the coffee that was more dregs than liquid at this point. “I just don’t really know what to say about it. We’re soulmates. Meant to be. End of story.”
“That’s kind of wrong.” Her head shot up and Mari looked at him, eyes wide and startled. “It’s not supposed to be the end of anything. It’s a new beginning.”
“I just had so many plans for my life, and that’s all so uncertain now.”
“I don’t see why you can’t still do all those things. Why can’t you figure out who you are while in a relationship?” Luka lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head a bit to the side, watching her.
“Because it’s kind of derailing? Any kind of relationship would be. You get all invested and lose sight of everything else around you. Or at least, that’s what my friends did when they got into relationships. I can’t say it was ever something I was interested in.” Mari waved her hands around uncertainly, flattening them to the table when she realized she might actually hit something if she continued to flail. She stared at where her hands met the dark wood.
“I’m willing to take it slow.”
Marinette lifted her eyes curiously.
“I mean, I’ve been in a couple relationships before, and they never really got serious because we weren’t each others’ soulmates. But I’m definitely okay with taking this as slowly as you want. We’re made for each other, right?”
Mari sighed to herself, unsure if it was relief or frustration that forced the air from her lungs. “Right. Okay. Slow then. Thank you, Luka.”
“Of course. When would your parents like to do dinner?”
“Oh, as soon as you and your family can manage. Maman is way too excited to talk about anything else until she meets you.”