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Marinette first heard his voice when she was five years old. It was the first time she tried to sew something by herself, and she pricked her finger. Bad. She sucked at the wound and wailed, the sound echoing in her head.
Apparently, not just in hers.
‘It’s okay!’
Marinette abruptly stopped crying and looked around for the source of the strange voice. “Hello?” Her voice was quiet in the empty room.
‘It’s okay!’ the voice said again. ‘I don’t know who you are, but please stop crying. It’ll be okay.’
Marinette sniffed and poked her head up into her bed. “Teddy? Is that you?”
The strange voice laughed. It twinkled in her mind, and she couldn’t help but smile. ‘No, I’m not a bear, I’m a boy!’
Marinette wrinkled her nose. “A boy? Why is there a boy talking in my head?”
‘Well, why is there a girl talking in my head?’
“I’m not in your head, I’m in my room.”
‘Oh. Me too.’
Marinette threw the covers off her bead and checked each blanket. “You’re in my room?!”
‘No! I’m in my room.’
“Oh. How are we talking if we’re alone?”
‘Maybe we’re superheroes!’
Marinette laughed delightedly.
The voice never really went away after that, not even when she slept. By the time she was 9, he was a constant companion. She’d skip home from school and tell him all about her day, and hear all about his.
‘Your mom plays the piano? That’s so cool!’
His voice rang clear in her head, and she could hear every decibel of his excitement. ‘Yeah! She’s so amazing. She’s trying to teach me how to play, but I’m not very good.’
‘I’m sure you’ll get better! Especially if you keep practicing.’
She obviously couldn’t see his smile, but she felt it, somehow. Like a warmth in her chest, unfamiliar but not unpleasant. ‘Thanks, mon amie. Maybe I can play for you someday when we’re older!’
‘Oh, I’d love that!’
The two of them realized early that their names were secret, somehow. Every time her friend tried to tell her his name, she heard nothing.
‘My name is—’
Like his voice was a radio and someone had suddenly shut it off. The same thing happened with Marinette’s name. They decided to create names for each other, simply the French words for “friend.” It was fitting, really, calling each other “my friend.” Because that’s what they were to each other. Always there for each other, when no one else was, or could be.
‘Mon ami, I’m so sorry.’
Silence.
‘Ami? Are you there?’
‘Father won’t tell me anything.’
Marinette tugged at her pigtails, unsure of what to say.
‘She’s just… gone.’ Her friend’s voice was more pained than she’d ever felt it, and it was like a rock in her own stomach. ‘No note, I don’t know if she just left or if she’s de—’ His voice cracked and she heard him take a deep breath. ‘I don’t know what to do.’
‘I don’t either,’ Marinette said honestly. She paused, before continuing. ‘I don’t know what you should do, and I don’t know what to say. I’m just… I’m so sorry. I wish I could be there for you.’
A pause. Then-- ‘You are, mon amie. Thank you.’
Marinette closed her eyes and didn’t speak for a while, didn’t think. Neither of them said anything, but just sat in each other’s quiet, removed company.
They were 12.
‘Mon amie, do you think we’ll ever meet?’
‘Maybe someday.’
‘How will we know? I can’t even tell you my name. How am I supposed to tell you where I live or—’
‘Our voices.’
‘What?’
‘Your voice, mon ami. I’ll recognize it.’
‘Do you think?’
‘Definitely. You’ve been stuck in my head for as long as I can remember. I’d know your voice anywhere.’
‘…’
‘Ami? We’ll find each other.’
‘Okay.’
Sometimes, Marinette wondered if she was crazy, constantly having conversations in her head. Other times, she wondered if other people thought she was crazy. Her friend became a fence post, a narrative piece in the stories she told her family, but she could never tell them his name.
“A friend of mine told me this joke the other day, it’s so funny…”
“My friend is learning Chinese too, and he’s been helping me practice!”
“Mon ami is homeschooled, so he has a lot of time to play video games. I could probably still beat him though.”
He was even a presence in her dreams. When Marinette faced off against dragons the color of the sky, she could feel someone fighting beside her. Even though she saw no one when she turned her head, she knew he was there. And when strange, serpentine shadows chased after her, it was a just-out-of-sight hand that pulled her to safety, and a familiar voice that comforted her into a softer sleep.
His voice greeted her whenever she woke up, and lulled her to sleep every night. Her strange, soundless friend, always there.
‘You should sneak out!’ Marinette thought wildly.
She could practically feel his scoff in her throat. ‘What? Sneak out? That’s crazy.’
‘Is it, though? He’s always busy all day anyway, so just leave for school after he shuts himself in his office.’
‘Amie… I can’t. He’d kill me if he found out.’
‘That’s the whole point of the sneaking bit. Come on. You’ve wanted to go to school your whole life, this is your chance!’
A pause. He was considering it. Marinette held her breath.
‘You know what? You’re right.’
Marinette couldn’t hold it: she jumped into the air and whooped. A nearby fruit-stand owner gave her an odd look, and she nervously waved at him.
‘I’ll secretly enroll and go to the first day. Then even if he finds out, he can’t do anything about it!’
‘Yes! I’m so excited for you, mon ami.’
She heard him giggle. ‘Me too. And… maybe we’ll even go to the same school.’
Marinette scoffed, but couldn’t help but feel a thrill run through her. ‘Doubtful,’ she said. ‘There are so many schools in Paris, the chances…’
Her friend sighed. ‘Yeah, you’re right. Still, how cool would that be?’
‘The coolest,’ Marinette agreed.
‘Mon amie, I’m going to try again tomorrow.’
‘What? It didn’t work?’ Marinette had been so caught up in her own first day antics, she’d barely had time to talk with her friend.
‘No, my father’s assistant caught me. But tomorrow, I’ll leave even earlier.’
Marinette giggled. ‘You could dress in a disguise.’
‘What?’
‘Dress as an old man. Or get a motorcycle helmet. So if she sees you, she won’t recognize you.’
‘That’s a terrible idea, amie.’
‘What? No, it’s a great idea. Maybe even the best idea I’ve ever had, ever.’
‘But then I’d be in cosplay for the first day. That’s too embarrassing.’
‘Only you would call it cosplay, loser.’
‘Loser? Did you make any friends today? Any friends that aren’t in your head?’
‘Actually, I think I did. We shared a macaron. She likes superheroes. But this other jerk in my class is still there, and forced me out of my spot.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Apparently there’s this new kid she’s obsessed with, though I didn’t see him.’
‘Maybe he’s in her head.’
‘Har, har.’
The morning of the second day, Marinette wished her friend luck as she got ready.
‘Good luck, mon ami! I hope the disguise works.’
‘It didn’t.’
His voice was so serious and sad that Marinette stopped hard in her tracks, almost spilling milk while she was pouring it. ‘What? What happened?’
‘My father found out. I’ll talk to you about it later, okay?’
Marinette frowned. ‘Okay,’ she said, and he was gone. Saddened for her friend, she quietly finished her breakfast and kissed her maman goodbye. But as she was on her way to school, his voice popped into her head, loud and excited.
‘Mon amie! I did it! I struck a deal with my father, I’m walking into school right now!’
His contagious happiness compounded with her own, and she thought she might burst from joy. ‘That’s wonderful! That’s so exciting!’
‘I know! I’m so excited, I can’t even believe I’m actually—hold on. Some girls are pulling a prank, I’ll be right back.’
Marinette smiled at the thought of her friend, in his very first day of school, already righting wrongs. She climbed the steps to school and sent him one last thought— ‘Mon ami, I’m actually getting to school right now, so I’ll talk to you later. Good luck with your crime fighting!’
Just outside her classroom door was Alya, her new friend. “Hey Alya!” Every time she went from talking in her head to talking out loud, it was strange. Like using a muscle she’d forgotten she had.
The two of them went into the classroom and it didn’t take Marinette long to figure out that something was wrong. Crouched right next to her seat was a blonde boy she’d never seen before, and he was poking at a piece of gum on her seat.
“Hey!” She marched up to him and he froze completely. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The boy didn’t say anything. He stood and slowly faced her, and she saw that his whole face was slack with confusion. He just stared at her. He was taller than her, and she brought herself up to full height to appear as intimidating as possible. It seemed to work, because the boy could only blink. His eyes narrowed a little, and his mouth pouted, like he was trying to remember a certain smell, or sound. He took a breath and—
Chloe and Sabrina started laughing, and suddenly Marinette understood. “Oh, I get it. You’re friends with Chloe.” She crossed her arms and glared at him with as much malice as she could muster. But when she spoke, his confusion melted into a kind of manic shock. He was still staring at her. More quietly, she asked, “What? What are you staring at?”
The boy’s eyes widened dramatically and he opened his mouth to speak, but Marinette held up a hand to cut him off. “Actually, you know what? I don’t want to hear a word.”
She crouched down and tried to remove the gum, but ended up just placing a tissue over it instead. She threw the new boy one last dirty look. He was still gaping at her, mouth hanging open and eyes wide. Finally Nino pulled at his shoulder and they sat down.
Marinette spent the rest of the day pointedly avoiding the boy’s gaze. He kept trying to steal glances at her, and she stared straight ahead every time. He didn’t say a word all day, except a few furtive whispers to Nino that she couldn’t hear. As the day progressed, he slumped further and further into his seat, until he looked ready to curl up completely.
A few times, she reached out to her friend, but he never responded. More than that, the silence in her head felt more absolute, somehow. Like she was trying to speak into a vacuum instead of a springboard. Marinette tried not to pay too much attention to her worry. Her friend was probably just busy with his very first day of school, ever.
The second school got out, she hastily collected her things. As she passed by the boy, he leaned forward in his seat and opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but Marinette kept her face pointed away and hurried out of the classroom. She rushed into the locker room and tried once again to talk to her friend. A few hours of silence was normal, but she hadn’t heard anything from him since that morning, and she was starting to get worried.
‘Hello? Mon ami? Are you okay? Why aren’t you answering?’
Still nothing. Marinette frowned and headed out of the school, only to realize it was raining. She held her hand out under the downpour and sighed.
“You know, I really was trying to get the gum off your chair.”
That voice! Finally.
‘Mon ami, where have you been? And what are you talking about?’
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all day, but I guess you can’t hear me either.”
Slowly, Marinette realized her friend’s voice wasn’t in her head. She straightened her back and achingly turned to her side. The new boy was standing next to her, and he sheepishly opened a black umbrella.
That voice. His voice. She knew that voice.
Out loud, she said, “Mon ami?”
He smiled and raised the umbrella over the two of them. “You were right. I did recognize your voice, right away.”
Hearing his voice was unlike anything Marinette had ever heard before. Sure, it was his voice, the same voice she’d heard in her head since she was little. But all of a sudden, she could hear it. It had sound, it was real, and he was standing right here in front of her.
Then all at once, the events of the day caught up to her. “Wait a minute, you put gum on my chair,” she blurted. “And you didn’t speak all day! You knew all day it was me and you didn’t say anything?”
He raised his free hand defensively. “I was trying to remove the gum, Chloe is the one who put it there. I had no idea that was your seat.” He suddenly pointed a finger at her, half accusing, and half laughing. “And you are terrifying in real life, mon amie.”
Her friend trailed off and rubbed the back of his neck. “That reminds me… I want to try something.” He squared his shoulders and put his hand out. Marinette stared at it, realizing what was coming. “My name is Adrien.”
A surge of adrenaline went through her at the sound of his name, unheard for so many years. Adrien. She smiled and reached out to shake his hand. “Marinette.”
Adrien grinned. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Marinette.”
The first time Marinette heard his voice, she’d been a young girl in need of a friend. She’d grown accustomed to his company, and in fact there’s no reason that should change. Although the voice in her head was gone, the voice by her side was here, and they had so much to talk about.
“Why do you think it doesn’t work anymore?”
Adrien tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe because we met?”
“You think so?”
“Sure! What use do we have for thoughts, now that we have words?”
Marinette giggled. “Wow, I didn’t realize you were so poetic.”
“Not just a pretty voice, am I?” He paused. “You know, maybe I should, but… I don’t think I’ll miss it.”
Marinette listened, and understood completely. She leaned into his side and twined her fingers with his. “Yeah. I don’t think I will either.”
She’d loved the impossible voice in her head. But now that she’d heard the real thing, she never wanted to go back. Hearing him and standing next to him was like having a song stuck in your head and then finally, miraculously, listening to it in real life and singing along with your whole heart.