Shit.

Those words took a place on Marinette Dupain-Cheng's wrist.

And technically also on her heart.

At the same time, she was head-over-heels ashamed of them.

After all, they were the first words her soulmate would ever say to her.

Marinette sneered to herself.

What kind of ass would cuss to a girl?

Terrible first impressions, after all.

But then she met him.

When she got the chance (and the motive,) she would take that sponge and rub the word off of her wrist.

Because that boy just had to be Chat Noir.

And it certainly wasn't the first time they had met.

Since Marinette had met him a more than once as Ladybug.

But this time was different.

Because this time:

It was the first time she met him as Marinette.

He literally fell out of the sky.

And, no, there were no choirs of angels.

"Shit, watch out!" He stumbled straight into her balcony.

Marinette felt the ink on her left wrist just become darker, bolder, harder to hide.

"What the hell?!" The young girl exclaimed.

Though it had gone unnoticed to Marinette, Chat Noir's gaze landed, at least for just a second, to his right bicep, now covered with black leather.

Of course, if the suit wasn't there, or even his jacket when he wasn't transformed, then his love letters would be there.

Written in plaintive cursive.

What the hell.

"Can't an innocent civilian stand anywhere without anything disturbing them?" Marinette deadpanned.

His first instinct was to leave. Mutter a sorry, maybe, but avoid landing on a balcony ever again.

Preferably a balcony situated right in front of the Notre Dame.

But then again.

This was the first time he would actually talk to Marinette.

She was in his class at school, but it was obvious that she was avoiding conversations with him. She avoided him with a passion.

As far as he could tell, Marinette didn't like him. She was intimidated by his very presence.

But right now, as Chat Noir - his true self, Marinette also shined through.

Which would explain why he would've pegged her as his soulmate already.

He wouldn't want anyone to be entwined with a false image of him.

There were enough fangirls - and fanboys - for that.

So he decided to seize the moment.

Chat smirked, "Nice to meet you too, Princess."

"Don't call me Princess," she butt in. Marinette kept clasping her hand, rubbing her thumb against her wrist.

Just because they were soulmates did not entitle Marinette to act lovey-dovey.

Or even nice.

Same went for Chat.

He could still play his games, couldn't he?

"Well, what can I call you?" He tilted his head like a confused kitten, "I don't know your name."

She rolled her eyes, "Do you have to know?"

He felt his smirk wide.

"Of course I do, Princess," he winked. "But Princess makes a good name for you, too."

Marinette folded her arms over her chest and harrumphed, "It's Marinette."

"Well," Chat bowed and held Marinette's hand.

Thankfully, it wasn't the hand with those four letters haphazardly spread on it.

To Marinette's surprised, he brought her right hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"Nice to meet you, Princess."

She retracted her hand immediately, "I said Marinette."

"Your face is so much cuter when you mix freckles with flush," Chat Noir chuckled.

Marinette groaned in annoyance.

He smiled and pointed at her furious expression, "And feisty! Stumbling onto your balcony was no mistake, I see."

"I will kick you off of my balcony, you mangy stray."

The fact that she said all that with a straight face made the cat hero laugh.

"You're adorable," he mewled, "Like a mouse."

"Mice don't like cats," she stated.

Chat winked, "Are you telling me you're not like most mice?"

"No," she replied, "I'm telling you I don't like you."

He pouted.

"Now that just hurts," said Chat. "I'm your knight in shining armor. You don't diss your hero so quickly."

Marinette walked closer to the trap door, "I don't need saving, thank you."

"Good night then," he purred. "And I'll be back, Princess. Trust me. You never know when you might need to be saved."

She opened the hatch. "I don't think I'll call you up on that. I'd honestly prefer Ladybug if I ever accidentally fall off the railing."

Ending with Chat Noir's signature two-finger salute, she descended into her bedroom.

Even Adrien wouldn't stoop that low even if it meant that he was going to keep talking with the girl who was probably his soulmate.

As he jumped back to his house, he imagined several ways where he would catch Marinette if she ever fell.

And she would fall.

Adrien was sure of it.

Just hopefully not off the railing.

A week later, an akuma swooped to disturb the lovely calm that hovered over Paris.

Bougainvillain was her name. A fired florist, falsely accused of screwing up a photo shoot for a certain famous designer's spring line.

Challenging, maybe.

But no task undone for Ladybug and Chat Noir.

They even had a lovely amount of time to talk after the battle.

Breathlessly, they raced to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, the closest and highest place within their reach at the moment.

"I have some news," Ladybug said in unison with her partner.

They paused.

"You go first," they said again.

Once more, at the same time.

Chat cleared his throat.

Ladybug chewed the inside of her cheek.

"I think I just met my soulmate."

Green eyes stared upon blue.

Blue eyes stared upon green.

Since Chat was the most oblivious of the pair, he was the one who reacted strangely.

He'd heard of instances where love letters led to love triangles.

Chat secretly hoped he was part of one, where Ladybug's soulmate was secretly him.

But then he realized what kind of ass he would probably be to just ditch Marinette - his soulmate - like that for the girl he first fell in love with.

And another thought crossed his mind.

What if Marinette had a different soulmate?

He shuddered.

That's when he finally drank the fact that his Lady was still there.

And he visibly showed disgust, and she might have thought it was because he felt jealous.

Because that's exactly what she said.

"Are you jealous, mon chaton?" She giggled.

He tried to clear the awkwardness with a cough, "No."

Chat Noir couldn't explain it, but his tail - ahem, belt - liked to move on its own.

Right now, it was pointed down at an angle.

The belt knew his feelings before he ever did.

"You met your soulmate?" He smiled, "Great for you, my Lady!"

Ladybug smiled in reply, "Congratulations to you, too."

She pressed her lips into a fine line.

Hopefully, it could pass for a smile.

Deep inside, Marinette was having mixed feelings that it could be her.

She might be Chat Noir's soulmate.

Which would mean they were mutual.

And as much of a good guy Chat Noir was, he was an immense flirt who liked to joke around.

That was exactly why Marinette would've preferred it if her soulmate was Adrien.

But a swear word on the skin usually meant one did not get the nice guys.

She whimpered at her unluckiness.

Ladybugs were supposed to be lucky, dammit!

Chat Noir caught her reaction with his heightened senses.

"My Lady," a grin spread on his lips, "are you jealous?"

Marinette's eyes widened as she quickly blurt out: "Why would I be jealous when you're my soulmate?"

For seconds, their conversation was carried by blinks of the eyes, twitches of the muscle and strange silence.

Then she facepalmed.

And Chat...

Well, he was somewhere else.