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The Red String of Fate.
The string that connected people to their soulmates, whether that be platonic, romantic, or something in between.
Everyone had one.
They were always red, always tied to the pinky finger, and always led to the person (or, in some rare cases, people), though, of course, it was impossible to just follow it out to them, considering once it got out to more than fifty feet from you or your soulmate, it faded out. Regardless, in whatever way was applicable, it would lead to the person who was perfect for you.
Of course, sometimes strange things happen as a result of fate.
***
Marinette hadn’t known anything was wrong until she was six.
Before that, her string had always just been a part of her, something that was always in the corner of her view, arcing off into the distance to wherever her soulmate was.
It had happened when she was at the park. A kid next to her on the swings had started rambling about their string, about who they hoped would be on the other end.
“I really hope they’re pretty, or maybe that they’re a spy!”
Marinette had giggled, and asked a question.
“What color is your string?”
The other child had laughed, like she had told a joke.
Marinette hadn’t meant to.
“It’s red, of course! My mama says everyone’s string is red.”
Marinette had felt dread spread through her.
“Oh.”
She hadn’t felt much like playing after that, and asked her Papa to take her home.
Later, she’d stared at her reflection in the mirror, perched on her tiptoes to see her face in it. She’d brought her hand up to look at the way her string was tied around it.
To look at the way her red and black string stretched off into the distance, the two colors interwoven and twisting around each other.
She’d worried, then, if something was wrong with her soulmate.
Or with her.
Marinette still worried about it years later.
***
Adrien had realized his soulmate string was weird sometime around his eighth birthday.
He’d always accepted the two colors as something normal, and he had actually spent a lot of time wondering what colors his parents string was.
He figured the string was probably the two colors that represented the people it was for. He couldn’t really figure out how he was black or red, but it was what made sense.
He’d been pretty sure that his mother had to be gold, and his father had to be purple.
So he’d asked, a week or two after his eighth birthday, when he’d gotten a really fun book series to read instead of a party, how his parents’ string looked.
His mother had glanced at his father, before turning back to him.
“It’s red, dear. Just like yours. It’s the Red String of Fate, after all,” she said with a laugh.
Adrien, being eight, had not been able to control the way his face dropped into a frown.
“Is something wrong?” His mother asked, a small frown on her face.
Adrien shook his head. Something, something was wrong, but—
He didn’t think he should tell them about it. If there was something wrong with him, his soulmate, or their string, it’d just make his parents upset.
He didn’t want to make them upset.
“It’s nothing.”
***
Adrien worried, but he was still so excited to meet his soulmate.
Especially after his mother died.
After his father pulled away from him.
He hoped his soulmate would be someone who would stick around.
***
Marinette never told her parents why she was so worried.
But she was so worried.
If something was wrong with her soulmate, what if she didn’t get to meet them? What if the universe had decided she wasn’t worthy of a soulmate, what if her soulmate hated her?
Her parents, especially her Papa, tried so hard to reassure her, but it was hard when she refused to tell them why she was so worried.
She couldn’t tell them. She didn’t want them to worry.
She didn’t want to be a freak.
Or a case study.
Look at this poor girl, her soulmate never loved her.
Look at this poor girl, she never met her soulmate.
Look at this poor girl, her string fell apart.
Marinette just needed to find her soulmate. She would know, for sure, what it meant when she found them.
She had to know.
Right?
***
The first day of school.
Which, of course, fate had plans for.
***
Chloe’s friend never showed up.
Which, Marinette was glad for, don’t get her wrong, any friend of Chloe’s had to be insufferable—
But, well. Chloe seemed really thrown by it. She didn’t even try picking a fight with Marinette that morning.
Of course, Chloe had to ruin the morning of civility by going after Ivan.
***
Nathalie caught him on the school steps, and Adrien could’ve tried to run for it, or argue, but—
It’d be pointless.
He got in the car and went home.
And then the news started saying that there was a monster.
***
The box in her bag had absolutely not been there earlier.
Marinette was entirely sure of that.
She opened the box, and—
***
Adrien frowned.
Had Nathalie left something in his room?
He picked up the box, and—
***
“I’m sorry, what do you mean you want me to be a superhero? I can’t be a superhero!”
“Marinette, you can. I know you’ll do great!”
***
“Wait, so this is like Sailor Moon?”
“Whatever gets you to agree, kid.”
***
“Tikki, Spots On?”
***
“Plagg, Claws Out!”
***
Marinette was still pretty sure this was some elaborate dream, it had to be some dream, why else would there be a supervillain and a— whatever Tikki was.
Anyway, it had to be a dream.
But her outfit was awesome, and swinging around was pretty neat, even if she was still getting the hang of it—
She slammed into someone else, her yoyo’s string tangling as the two of them spun around, and knew that the universe was laughing at her.
“Sorry!” She squeaked, before opening her eyes.
A boy in a black cat costume was staring back at her, which meant he had to be the partner Tikki mentioned.
The boy grinned at her “You must be my partner! Nice to see you couldn’t help but fall for me.”
Marinette groaned, pulling at the yoyo string. She finally managed to get it to loosen, and crashed to the ground.
The boy, infuriatingly, twisted in the air to land on his feet. Marinette sighed, before standing and turning to face him.
“And I see you’re just like a real cat—”
Marinette froze.
The boy across from her did the same.
Because, stretching in between them, pulled taunt and matching the colors of their costumes, was their soulmate string.
***
Adrien had thought it was weird when his soulmate string hadn’t disappeared.
Sailor Moon made a point of having the character’s strings disappear when they were in costume, the usual explanation being that the magic interfered, or that it was to protect their identity from their soulmate, on the off chance that they ran into them.
But he’d assumed that maybe magic didn’t really work like that, and the chances of him running into his soulmate were low—
Though, maybe when Plagg had said he had a partner, that should’ve tipped him off.
Because standing just a few feet away from him was his soulmate, her black hair pulled up into pigtails and her face an expression of utter shock.
“So, uh—” He started, before his soulmate (his soulmate!) cut him off with no small amount of panic on her face.
“We are supposed to have secret identities, right?” She said.
For a moment, Adrien thought she just didn’t want to even address the fact they were soulmates—
And then he realized they were in the middle of the street.
“Ah.”
He glanced around, looking for somewhere more private, when a crash in the distance reminded him of the fact that they were superheroes, and that there was a supervillain, or well, akuma according to Plagg.
His soulmate cringed, and he knew she’d just been reminded of the same thing.
“We’ll deal with this after we deal with that.”
Adrien’s grin fell for a moment, and she sighed.
“Look, kitty, we have a job to do—”
He tilted his head “Kitty?”
His partner flushed.
“It’s not like you introduced yourself!”
Adrien had to give her that.
Of course, he did have a superhero name in mind.
“Well then, Chat Noir at your service, my lady!”
His soulmate sighed, but it was fond.
“I guess I’ll be Ladybug, then, if we’re being descriptive.”
Adrien, Chat Noir he supposed, hummed, before bouncing forward to stand next to her.
“Well then, lead the way Ladybug!”
She rolled her eyes, before tossing her yoyo.
Chat Noir ran after her, a grin on his face.
His soulmate was amazing!
***
Marinette was panicking.
Her soulmate was right there, and they were both meant to be superheroes and—
And the idiot was trying to talk about this right now.
She hurriedly cut him off, making sure he didn’t tell literally everyone they were soulmates before the two of them even managed to do something about their first villain.
(There were going to be more villains, weren’t there?)
She didn’t really know where ‘kitty’ even came from, she just wanted him to stop looking at her like that.
Swinging through the city, Marinette couldn’t help but spiral.
She didn’t even know her soulmate’s name, or what he looked like, beyond blond hair and green eyes—
Something was fuzzy around the rest of his appearance, and she’d bet magic had something to do with it.
She could hear him, Chat Noir, whooping and having fun as the two of them went through the city to where the villain, the akuma, had ended up.
At least one of them was enjoying being a superhero.
Marinette was still half-hoping she could get out of it.
Though, her soulmate was her partner, and—
If she gave up the Miraculous, she’d have to see him being a superhero with someone else.
Marinette, Ladybug, shook her head as the akuma came into view. She could deal with all of that later.
They had a duty to stop the akuma, even if it wasn’t a duty she was sure she would keep after today.
***
At the last moment, Chat Noir remembered something his kwami had mentioned off hand.
“Wait, my lady, don’t you need to purify the—”
Ladybug’s yoyo snapped out, grabbing the butterfly.
“Thanks for the reminder, Chat Noir,” she said, with a small nod towards him.
Chat Noir grinned, but he couldn’t help but think that he’d liked it better when she called him ‘kitty’.
***
Ladybug let out a small sigh of relief as the white butterfly flew away. She would’ve, well. It would not have been great for her, or anyone really, if she’d forgotten to purify the akuma.
Chat Noir had been a lifesaver with that.
She glanced towards him, and her eyes caught on their string.
Right.
“We’ll meet, uh—” she paused, trying to figure out somewhere that would be easy enough to get to but equally easy to leave.
“At the Eiffel Tower?” Chat Noir suggested.
Ladybug nodded, that was good enough. They would need to move, considering that anyone could’ve heard their planning, and Alya, at least, definitely had.
“In half an hour?”
That would be enough time for her to reassure her parents and head back out. She was assuming her soulmate would need to make the same kind of reassurances and excuses.
Chat Noir grinned “See you then, my lady!”
He turned, before turning back to her.
She frowned, before he held out a closed fist.
“I figured we need something to celebrate a bit, right? So— pound it?”
Ladybug rolled her eyes, a smile already on her face.
She bumped her fist against her partner’s.
“Pound it!”
He grinned, before running off when his ring beeped.
Ladybug’s earrings beeped, and she did the same.
***
Adrien turned back a few minutes later, and—
“Huh.”
His soulmate string was gone. He could, it was still there, he could feel the slight pressure on his finger, but he couldn’t see it.
Plagg yawned “Yeah, figures. You and Pigtails might figure each other out, otherwise.
Adrien was, well, not quite comforted, but.
Wait.
“You can see my string, or I guess, well—”
Plagg shrugged, before darting into Adrien’s pocket.
“Gotta be pretty connected to your soul to transform ya, kid.”
He guessed that made sense.
Adrien was still about a twenty minute walk from the manor, so.
Time to get walking, he guessed.
***
Marinette let out a breath as the transformation dropped.
And then she screamed.
Her string was gone—!
“Marinette! It’s not gone, you should still be able to feel it—” Tikki said, frantic.
She could still feel it, Tikki was right.
She took a deep breath.
“Why—Why is it—?”
She didn’t even know what to say. Invisible? Not there? Gone?
Tikki sighed “It’s so you and Chat Noir don’t find out each other’s identities. You need to keep them secret, even from your soulmate. It’s—usually, it means that your soulmate strings won’t be visible while you’re transformed, but with you two—”
Tikki paused, flying over to rest a small hand on Marinette’s arm.
“With you two, you would either meet untransformed and have your strings, then lose them when you transformed, or this would happen.”
Marinette kept careful track of her breathing as she asked “So, what—what happens now, then?”
“Your strings will be invisible when you’re not transformed. When Hawkmoth is defeated, you can reveal your identities and reset them to normal.”
Marinette nodded.
“Okay, I—okay. Let’s…let’s head back.”
Tikki nodded, before perking up “And get me cookies?”
Marinette laughed “Yeah, and get you some cookies.”
***
Adrien couldn’t believe it! He’d found his soulmate, and she was a superhero, he was a superhero—!
“Where have you been?”
Adrien cringed, turning to face Nathalie. He’d really been hoping he could sneak back in and grab some food for Plagg without anyone seeing him.
“I—the akuma was kind of scary, so I—”
Nathalie raised a hand, and he fell silent. Plagg shifted in his pocket.
“Adrien. Do not try to make excuses to me. You were not in this house.”
Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. All he had to do was channel Felix, Felix was good at this type of stuff—
“I know, I was trying to get to school again, but then the akuma—well. I know Father thinks it could be dangerous, but— I just want to do something normal!” He said, his voice rising at the end. He was lying, but he was also telling the truth.
Nathalie looked at him for a moment.
“Fine. I will bring it up again.”
Adrien blinked.
“Wait, really? Thanks Nathalie!”
He almost wanted to hug her, but he knew that she would absolutely not let him.
Nathalie sighed.
“That was not a yes, Adrien.”
He grinned “Wasn’t a no either! See you later, Nathalie!”
He turned on his heel, running over to the kitchen.
Plagg had wanted some Camembert, which was going to stink so bad if he started having to keep it in his room, or worse, on his person, but the kwami would have to settle for some chedder for now.
Adrien would order some better cheese for him later, but for now—
He had a soulmate to go meet!
***
Ladybug paced back and forth on the observation deck, absurdly glad that this specific deck had been closed for maintenance for the past week, according to the sign. It meant that no one was there to see her increasing amounts of anxiety over what was about to happen.
She’d gotten away from her parents with a minimal amount of reassurance and a larger amount of excuses and stretching the truth, but—
She was meeting her soulmate, properly, for the first time. And she hadn’t even told them.
And her string was back now, which was more reassuring than she’d really thought it would be. She’d felt off balance without it.
She glanced over at it, seeing it stretching off towards the direction that Chat Noir’s house had to be in. It was still the strange red and black color, she’d half been hoping it would change once she met her soulmate—
Ladybug froze.
Oh this had to be a joke—
The string pulled taunt, and a moment later Chat Noir jumped up onto the deck.
“Hey, my lady—”
“This has got to be a joke,” she blurted out, before covering her mouth.
Chat Noir blinked.
And then his easy smile dropped into an expression of hurt for a moment, before he forcefully smoothed it out.
“Ladybug—”
She held up her hands “I didn’t mean it like that! I just—” she sighed.
She glanced around “We need to go somewhere more private.”
Chat Noir nodded, and Ladybug bit her lip at the blank expression on his face.
She walked forward, grabbing one of his hands. He startled, and Ladybug waited a moment before squeezing his hand.
“It’s nothing bad, kitty. I promise.”
He smiled at her, before it widened into an over the top grin.
“Okay! Lead the way then, my lady,” he said, waving a hand in front of the two of them.
The city below stretched out in front of her, and Ladybug scanned it for a moment.
“There,” she said, pointing to a shadowed roof. If she had to guess, it was an old shop that hadn’t gained a new owner yet, and didn’t seem like it would gain one anytime soon.
Chat Noir nodded, before letting go of her hand.
Ladybug tried to avoid thinking about how she wished he had kept touching her.
He stepped forward, spinning to face her as he kept walking backwards.
“Race ya, my lady!”
The stupid cat grinned at her as he flung himself over the railing.
“Oh, it is on,” she said.
Ladybug took a breath, before getting a running start to chase down her soulmate.
She was not losing the race, even if it was just a dumb competition.
***
Chat Noir grinned as he touched down on the roof his partner had pointed out.
He was here before her, yes—!
“Took you long enough, kitty.”
He twisted around, seeing Ladybug leaning against a door that led out onto the roof, a smug grin on her face.
Chat Noir pouted, slinking over to stand next to her.
“No fair, you have your yoyo—”
“And you have your baton, though I think you might’ve forgotten it existed.”
Chat Noir blinked. Right, he did have his baton, it could extend out beyond what was reasonable, he knew that it worked for helping him run around the city—
“Guess I just wanted to try to beat you without it, my lady,” he said with a shrug.
Ladybug laughed, and Chat Noir reveled in it.
His partner, his soulmate, was amazing, he was so happy he’d found her—
“Okay, so. We need to talk.”
Chat Noir tried to avoid thinking about how, in any other context, those words would be the precursor to something awful.
(He tried to avoid thinking about how those had been the words his father had used to start the conversation where Adrien had found out his mother was sick.)
“Okay, my lady! Or should I say my soulmate—?”
“You absolutely should not,” Ladybug said with a sigh. “We can’t get into the habit of saying that, we have to keep it a secret.”
Chat Noir’s tail lashed behind him for a moment, though he tried not to let any of his emotions show on his face.
Wait, his tail moved like a real cat’s tail—?
Ladybug was still looking at him, and he realized that he’d gotten way too distracted.
“I know. I know we have to keep it a secret.”
Something of his sadness must’ve shown on his face, because Ladybug gave him a gentle smile.
“We’ll tell everyone once we can, okay? You can shout it from the rooftops if you want to, kitty.”
Chat Noir nodded, before remembering something.
“Hey, wait, why’d you ask if this was a joke?”
Ladybug sighed.
“Look at our string.”
He listened to her, of course, but Chat Noir really couldn’t tell what she was wanting him to realize. Their string was just like it always was, red and black—
“Oh.”
Ladybug smiled at him fondly.
“Yeah, it— really seems like it has to be a joke, doesn’t it? I stressed over this for years, and it’s just—” her voice rose, and she broke off into a laugh.
He…was a bit concerned about it, actually.
“I worried about it too, but. Not as much as it seems like you did.”
Ladybug sighed “I thought it meant one of us was going to die, or at least that’s what I thought was most likely.”
A moment passed.
“Or, well, I also thought it might mean you would hate me,” she admitted in a quiet voice.
Chat Noir grabbed his partner’s arms, pulling her close to him.
“Never, my lady. I will never hate you. And neither of us are going to die if I have anything to say about it. We are going to live, and we are going to live together.”
Ladybug looked at him with a smile, tears at the corners of her eyes.
“Okay, kitty. Okay.”
Chat Noir smiled back at her, all of the love and affection he felt packed into it.
Ladybug pulled back after a second, wiping her eyes.
Chat Noir let her calm down a bit, before bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet and putting a wide grin on his face.
“I guess it was just the universe trying to give us a hint about how we were going to meet, huh?”
Ladybug laughed “Pretty bad hint, considering neither of us had any clue.”
“Yeah, but I like how it makes our string look,” Chat Noir said, glancing down at the spot where it was tied around his pinky.
Ladybug glanced down as well.
“Yeah, it is nice.”
***
They stayed on the rooftop for another thirty minutes, talking out some of the logistics of hiding they were soulmates, plans for what to do in certain situations.
Ladybug could tell that her partner was partly indulging her, but it was nice having plans for what to do if people found out they were soulmates, what to do if there were any situations where one of them couldn’t get to a fight quickly.
Chat Noir stretched, his back arching in a way that she wasn’t sure was how human skeletons work, and then turned to her with a grin.
“Well, see you later then, my lady?”
Ladybug smiled at him, before hesitating.
They…hadn’t actually managed to get around to discussing what they wanted out of being soulmates.
She wanted to kiss him. But if he wanted a platonic relationship, that would be fine, it would be more than fine, it—
They were both healthy, and they had each other. She had him. That was all she really needed.
Chat Noir tilted his head “Ladybug?”
She cleared her throat “I—What type of soulmates are we?”
Chat Noir blinked.
A blush appeared on his cheeks.
“Um. I was hoping romantic? But obviously it’s fine if you don’t want that—”
Ladybug took a step forward.
If she tried to do this as a civilian, tried to do it with anyone she knew, it wouldn’t have worked. She’d have freaked out, she’d have gone into a spiral.
But it was him, it was Chat Noir, and she was Ladybug.
“Can I kiss you?”
Chat Noir looked at her with wide eyes, his ears flattening against his head for a moment, before he nodded.
Ladybug pressed her lips to his gently, soft and chaste.
Chat Noir leaned into it, his arm going around her waist.
She smiled into the kiss, before pulling back.
“See you later, kitty.”
Chat Noir grinned.
“See you later, my lady.”
***
Years later, the two of them would stand on a very similar rooftop, transformations long since worn off, and kiss again.
Of course, this was followed by a realization on Adrien’s part.
“Wait, my lady, this means we have to explain this to our friends.”
Marinette blinked, before groaning.
“That—yeah, that’s going to suck.”
After all, the two of them had been friends as civilians for years.
And, well.
All of their friends knew the two of them were still waiting to meet their soulmates. It wasn’t like either of them could’ve said they had met their soulmate, but no one could meet them.
Which meant, of course, that they were now going to have to explain the fact that they were soulmates and hadn’t told anyone.
“We could pretend we didn’t know?” Adrien suggested.
Marinette shook her head “Nope, Alya would kill us. And besides, there’s no way we wouldn’t have known, even though we didn’t know. It’s not like we can explain—”
She paused.
“Kitty, how do you feel about a few more identity reveals?”
Adrien grinned.
“Sounds like it’ll be a lot easier than trying to come up with an excuse, my lady.”