Originally posted by plot-bunny on tumblr for mirime-kisarrastine.

"It was horrible, Ayla. I can't believe I said that in front of Adrien. I have never been so embarrassed in my life!" Marinette's muffled voice sounded as she laid face down on her daybed.

While she hid the blush growing on her cheeks, Alya stifled a grin behind her hands.

"Girl, you being embarrassed in front of Adrien is a weekly occurrence. Besides, Nino said he didn't mind being called 'Ladrien'. Apparently, he started going on about Ladybug. If anything, you should be worried about Ladybug stealing your 'soulmate'." Alya laughed as she sat on the corner of the daybed.

From the corner of her eye, Marinette glanced at Nino's initials thinly etched into Alya's right hand.

"I don't know if Adrien's my 'soulmate' or not." Marinette grumbled, pushing her face deeper into the daybed.

"Then why don't you let me help you look for his initials." Alya grinned, leaning over Marinette.

Before Marinette could respond, Alya reached forward and grabbed the ends of Marinette's shirt. Alya gave them a playful, weak tug before sneaking her fingers under to tickle Marinette's exposed stomach. Giggles erupted from Marinette's lips as she wiggled farther away from her attacker. Marinette brought her legs up to block Alya, her right hand moving to steady herself only for her to realize that she had reached the edge. With an audible thud, Marinette's back landed on the ground and her feet swung in the air. Her shoe narrowly missed knocking into Alya's chin as it sailed across the room and landed by the sewing machine on her desk.

"Ow, that really hurt." Marinette groaned as she rubbed her back.

"Oh my god, girl." Marinette looked up to see Alya staring wide-eyed and pointing at her bare foot.

Marinette climbed back onto the daybed with a confused look on her face. Trying to process the look of awe and shock on Alya's face. She pulled her right leg closer, expecting to find a cut after clumsily falling off the day bed. Instead, Alya directed Marinette's attention with the hand not covering her mouth to the small, dark markings etched along the side of her foot.

"C. N.?" Marinette read the initials aloud slowly.

Even as she read, Marinette found herself unable to register exactly what she was looking at.

"C. N. as in Chat Noir?" Came Alya's quick response, her eyes growing wider.

"That's impossible; there is no way I'm Chat Noir's soulmate." Marinette said a bit more forcibly than she had intended.

Marinette brushed her fingers hesitantly over the letters etched on her skin, doubting that they were real. She found her thoughts immediately shifting to Chat Noir, and then to her crush, Adrien. Up until now, she had been hoping to find A. A. initialed somewhere, anywhere.

"Look girl, I know you were hoping it would be Adrien's initials," Alya interrupted "but if C. N. really is Chat Noir, it's not so bad. You just have to get past those terrible cat puns. Plus, you can totally be my in so I can get the scoop on Ladybug for the Ladyblog."

Marinette found herself nodding along with Alya's teasing, but her eyes never left the markings on her foot. Just as Alya opened her mouth to add something comforting, her phone cut her off as it began to buzz. She held her hand up as if to pause Marinette's thoughts before she moved away to answer the phone.

"Sorry Marinette, I have to go. I promised my parents I would watch my siblings while they went out for the night. We'll talk about this tomorrow, I promise."

Alya grimaced at the sight of Marinette sitting alone on the daybed, her bluebell eyes staring off into space. She gave Marinette a quick hug before heading out.

Just as Alya disappeared, Tikki came flying out from her hiding spot and over to Marinette.

"Congratulations Marinette, your soulmate's initials finally appeared!" Tikki grinned with her arms raised as she flew around Marinette's head.

"I know I'm supposed to be excited Tikki, but I was really hoping it would be Adrien's initials." Marinette remarked while she watched Tikki fly around out of the corner of her eyes. "This wasn't how I expected it to happen at all."

"You said so yourself that if it weren't for Adrien you could see yourself liking Chat Noir. Now you can give him a chance. Besides, it's not uncommon for Ladybug and Chat Noir to be soulmates." Tikki landed on Marinette's open hands, unable to hide her grin.

"But why would I have Chat's initials and not his actual identity's name?" Marinette questioned, eyes glancing once again at the C. N. on her foot.

The initials were written too perfectly to be Chat Noir's. They looked too much like Adrien's handwriting and the thought left a bitter taste in Marinette's mouth.

"That just means Chat is transformed right now. By transforming into Ladybug, the same magic that changes your appearance also changes the name you are known by. So Chat would have Ladybug's initials when you are transformed into her, but right now he would have yours." Tikki explained as if she were reciting the information from memory.

The longer that Marinette thought about it, the more it made sense. As Ladybug, her foot was always covered by the costume and at the end of each akuma battle, she and Chat would transform shortly after.

"Why would Chat be transformed right now?" Marinette thought aloud to herself.

"Which means that as soon as Chat transforms back the initials on your foot will disappear and his actual initials will appear somewhere else. Finding out that Chat is your soulmate solves only half the mystery, Marinette. Oh, this is always my favorite part!"

Before Tikki could go on with dreamy eyes, Marinette suddenly jolted as realization hit her.

"Oh no, we have a patrol tonight and I completely forgot!" Marinette practically shouted in Tikki's face. "Tikki, spots on!"

In a flash of light, Marinette transformed into Ladybug. She climbed up to the trapdoor above her bed and made her way outside. With practiced ease, Ladybug threw her yoyo across the rooftops and began her way swinging through the city. When she finally came upon their usual meeting place, Ladybug almost missed his dark form crouched in the shadows. A part of her wanted to swing in the opposite direction, but his head visibly turned to signal his attention on her.

"You're late, Bugaboo." Chat Noir grinned, somewhat hesitantly.

"Actually." Ladybug started, checking the time from a nearby outdoor clock, "You got here early."

Chat absently nodded his head and the two stood in awkward silence. Even now, Ladybug found herself staring down at her foot.

"I actually had something I wanted to talk about. Something purr-ty important." Chat scratched the back of his head, eyeing Ladybug from the corner of his eye.

"Oh really?" Ladybug responded out of reflex, jarred from her thoughts.

Chat began to shift his feet and eyed the rooftops around him suddenly feeling like the area wasn't private enough for the two of them. His obvious hesitation only made Ladybug more nervous as she fumbled with her yoyo. When his eyes eventually rested on Ladybug's, he found himself wishing that she would look away from her feet. Reaching forward, Chat's gloved hand covered her own and Ladybug looked up only to meet his unwavering gaze.

"The other night my soulmate's initials finally showed up." Chat started, "I was relieved at first. One of my closest friends found his a while back and I guess watching him with his girlfriend had bothered me a little more than I thought."

Chat gave a sheepish grin and slowly released Ladybug's hands. Ladybug took the moment to look away, trying to look anywhere except at her partner. Chat took a deep sigh before continuing.

"I wanted you to be the first person to know."

"I know what you're going to say, Chat. I saw your initials today before I transformed." Ladybug interjected, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

There was a momentary pause in which Ladybug waited for the inevitable and Chat found himself second-guessing his superb hearing.

"What did you say?" Chat nearly whispered, his eyes growing wider at the realization of her words.

"W-weren't you going to tell me that you found my initials?" Ladybug stammered, taking a step away from Chat.

"I actually found the initials of one of my classmates. She's a sweet girl, but I never gave her much of a thought because of my feelings for you. Since I found out that she's supposed to be my soulmate, I figured I'd get to know her and give her a chance. I just wanted to let you know as one of my closest friends," Chat ranted, "but how can you have my initials if she's supposed to be my soulmate?"

"I don't know." Ladybug responded, fidgeting once again with her yoyo. "Look, I just found the initials C. N. on my foot. Maybe they belong to someone else."

"This is too complicated for me." Chat grumbled under his breath, fingers running through his hair. "I know it's not possible to have two soulmates, but I wish it were right now. I don't want to think there is a guy out there with my initials that's meant to be your soulmate. It's too cruel. I wish I could talk to Marinette right now."

"Marinette?" Ladybug barely managed to say her own name; her heart felt like it was pounding in her chest.

"She's my soulmate." Chat replied awkwardly, "I didn't mean to tell you her name."

"How do you know she's your soulmate?" The remark came faster than either of them expected.

"Not many people have the initials M. D-C." Explained Chat as he paced the rooftop in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

This wasn't the reveal Ladybug expected to have with her partner,

"Look, Chat, you don't have two soulmates. With miraculous users, our names change when we transform." Ladybug explained, still trying to wrap her mind around everything.

"How does that explain any of this?" Chat paused, staring at Ladybug midstride.

"You saw my initials before I transformed and I saw your initials after you transformed."

Hesitantly, Ladybug raised her eyes to meet Chat Noir's gaze. She wasn't sure what to expect from the wide-eyed gaze of her partner.

"Marinette?" The name came out as a whisper.

Ladybug opened her mouth to respond, but only managed to nod her head instead. In a less than graceful motion, Chat dropped to a sitting position on the rooftop.

"Marinette is Ladybug." He kept repeating the phrase to himself.

"So much for keeping our identities a secret." Ladybug muttered under her breath, her cheeks still warm.

"Oh, you still don't know who I am." The realization caused Chat's cheeks to warm with embarrassment.

How rude of him not to share his own name with his Lady.

"How do you know if we even know each other?" Ladybug asked, arching a brow.

"Like I said before, we're classmates. Plus, you sit right behind me in class."

Chat gave her a grin, not one of his flirtatious grins, but rather an all too familiar model grin. The same grin that stared back at Marinette every day from the posters on her wall.

"Adrien?" Surprise evident in her voice.

"The one and only."

"Adrien Agreste."

"Don't sound too disappointed, Milady." Chat tried to give her a playful grin.

His grin faltered the second Ladybug broke eye contact and Chat suddenly felt doubt claw at his chest. On previous occasions, Chat had imagined how his real name would sound on her tongue. Possibly as a sigh escaping from her lips after a hard fought victory against an akuma while she leaned into his embrace or while they sat together at the top of the Eiffel tower. He had never imagined hearing the sound of his voice filled with such hesitation.

"I'm not disappointed, Chat. It's just complicated." Ladybug finally spoke, but she couldn't bring herself to meet his questioning gaze. "You're in love with Ladybug and I'm in love with Adrien, but they're only parts of us."

A sigh left Ladybug as her hand instinctively moved to her yoyo. Through her eyelashes, Ladybug peaked at Chat. She could feel her heart sink at the sight of her partner's ears flattened against his head. Her fingers tightened over her yoyo and her feet moved mechanically towards the edge of the roof. Preparing to leap, she blinked back the beginning of tears and swung her arm back.

Just as she moved to release the yoyo, Ladybug felt Chat's fingers brush her hand. His touch alone caused her to stop as his fingers slowly circled her wrist. It wasn't the strength of Chat Noir's grip that held her back, but rather the delicate way he seemed to caress her hand. A sharp tug from her arm would have released her from his grip, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, Chat was the first to move as he drew himself close to her and wrapped his arms loosely around her waist.

"I already love half of you and I've got the rest of my life to love the other half, if you'll let me." He whispered softly into the nape of her neck.

Chat tensed a bit as turned around in his arms. He was prepared for her to pull away, prepared for his soulmate to walk away from him. He wasn't prepared for Ladybug to hide her face in the crook of his neck. He didn't expect to feel the warmth of her blush against his neck as she whispered in his ear.

"Deal."