Author's Note:
I don't usually do AU stuff, but I love the concept of soul mates and I've read several on this site. Hopefully, this will be a good twist to this AU.
In this universe, a person can tell who is going to be one of their soul mates (romantic or platonic) by seeing a flash of light in the other person's eyes (very brief, like headlights from a passing car reflecting off of the other person's eyes). Other people cannot see the flash when it happens (just the two people involved) and only when both people are looking into the other's eyes at the same time. If it's pink, then it's romantic. If it's green, then it's platonic. If it's a bright white flash, then it's the one person who will be both. The stronger the light, the more of a positive impact the two people will have on each other and the longer their relationship will be.
I will be following the Origins episodes mostly, but I figured it wouldn't be exactly the same, so I'm not going to try to quote it word-for-word and I'll likely jump around perspectives some and skip parts (otherwise this'd be a 10,000 or 20,000 word one-shot).
I do not own any of these characters.
Marinette came down for breakfast on the first day of school and sat at the table for breakfast. "Ugh. I don't want to start a new year. I haven't met any of my soul mates, not even any platonic ones."
"I thought you said that one boy Nino had a flash when you looked at him once?" Sabine sat Marinette's breakfast in front of her and kissed her on the cheek.
"Maybe... If there was one, it was weak and green... and he turned his head so fast it could've just been another light reflecting off his eyes. I haven't really been able to see it again because he doesn't like to look people in the eyes."
"Maybe there will be some new kids this year."
"I hope so. I also hope Chloe's not in my class."
"I doubt it. That'd make four years in a row. Do they even allow that at school?"
"They certainly don't prevent it."
Marinette finished her breakfast, hopped off her chair, and kissed her mother on the cheek before heading upstairs to get dressed.
As she came down from getting dressed, she kissed her father on the cheek and grabbed the box of macaroons he had made for her to take to class. As had become her morning ritual, she looked her father in the eyes and saw the bright green flash, reassuring her that she wasn't somehow defective and just couldn't see the flash in other people's eyes. What a cruel joke for the universe to play on someone to not let them see those wonderful flashes, she thought as she walked out the door.
She was in such a hurry she almost crossed the street against the light. Thankfully she stopped just before a car crossed into the intersection. She looked up in horror to see an old man with a cane trying to the cross the street. She quickly looked to the left and saw a car coming. Without thinking, she ran over and grabbed the old man, pulling him out of the intersection just before he would've been hit. The box of macaroons fell onto the sidewalk, liberating a few for the pigeons.
"Are you okay sir?"
"Yes. Thank you." The old man grabbed a macaroon and popped it into his mouth. "These are good." He looked up at Marinette with a smile and Marinette could've sworn she saw a green flash. Not as strong as her father's, but definitely not weak.
That's odd, she thought before she heard the school bell ring. She ran off to the school, trying not to be late, leaving the old man standing on the sidewalk.
Sure enough, Chloe was in her class. "You're in my seat, Dupain-Cheng!"
"But, I always sit in this seat, Chloe."
"Not any more. Adrien is coming to school and he's going to sit in front of me. He is my soul mate after all."
Marinette huffed. "Where am I going to sit?"
"You can sit next to the new girl over there." Chloe pointed to the girl sitting on front row of the other side, who had overheard the conversation also.
Marinette and the girl looked at each other and a bright green flash didn't go unnoticed by either teen. Marinette didn't want Chloe to think she was happy about being bossed around, so she huffed again and replied, "Fine Chloe. Have it your way."
Marinette got up and moved her stuff over to the seat next to the new girl. The two girls smiled brightly at each other. "Hi. I'm Alya."
"I'm Marinette."
"I have a feeling we're going to be great friends. But, uh... what's the deal with the other girl?"
"That's Chloe. She thinks just because she's the mayor's daughter that she can do anything she wants. She's just a bully. Plain and simple."
"Well, we'll just have to put her in her place then."
"What do you mean?"
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people to do nothing."
Adrien ran as fast as he could, but Nathalie and the Gorilla still caught up to him right outside of the school. "Please Adrien. Think about what your father wants."
"This is what I want! I want to go to school like a normal kid."
Adrien's focus shifted as he heard someone fall to the ground. He spotted an old man on the ground with his cane just out of reach and being ignored by everyone else. Adrien ran over to the old man and helped him up. He couldn't help but notice the green flash in the old man's eyes as he was thanked. He turned back around to see that he had lost the high ground to Nathalie and the Gorilla. He wasn't getting into the school today.
"I'm sorry. Please don't tell father. I was just hoping to meet some soul mates. I'm never going to meet any if I'm locked up at home all the time."
Upon returning to his room, he decided to watch some television on his computer. Apparently, he had just missed a large creature made of stones exiting the school. He watched the computer in shock before glancing down and noticing a small jewelry box that didn't belong to him. He opened the box and a bright flash of light caused him to look away. When he looked back, he saw a small, black, floating, cat-like creature.
"I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" The flying cat creature immediately flew around the room trying to eat whatever he could get his mouth around and not having any luck.
Adrien climbed his wall and pounced on the tiny creature, capturing it in his hands. He noticed a bright green flash in the creature's eyes before asking, "What are you?"
"I'm a kwami. My name's Plagg. And I can turn you into a super hero."
"Are you like a genie?"
"No, I'm much more personable. I just need camembert to keep my energy up." Plagg was hoping he could get away with this demand given Adrien's age and the apparent financial status of his family.
"Camembert? That's like the stinkiest cheese there is. Can't it be something else?"
"Not if you want to transform into a superhero." Plagg held his breath for a second until he realized Adrien had bought his story. Plagg couldn't help but get excited about the prospect of getting his favorite dish on a regular basis.
"So, what do I do?"
Plagg gave Adrien a few pointers, and true to form, Adrien excitedly turned into Cat Noir before Plagg had finished giving him instructions. Cat Noir opened his bedroom window and used his baton to pole vault from rooftop to rooftop.
Cat Noir was enjoying his new powers and trying them on for size. He extended his baton between two roofs and decided to test his balance. Halfway across the road, he heard a loud cry and looked up. A girl in a red spandex suit with black spots was falling out of the sky... directly towards him.
The impact knocked both heroes off of the baton and wrapped them together with her yoyo. Dangling from the baton and swaying side to side, the girl apologized profusely. Untangling them, he stood beside her while she tried to free her yoyo from his baton. "Well hey there. You must be my partner. I'm... Cat Noir."
"I'm M..." The yoyo freed itself before she slipped up and said her real name, hitting Cat Noir hard on the head. Cat Noir rubbed his head as she continued with a sigh, "Madly Clumsy."
"It's okay," he said, finally able to turn and look her in the eyes for the first time. Both teens stood in shock as the brilliantly white flash crossed their eyes. Before they could acknowledge it, a building collapsed in the distance. "I guess that's our queue," Cat Noir said and then leapt to the nearest roof.
"Where are you going?"
"To save Paris, right?"
Cat Noir landed on the top of the stadium with the girl in red beside him. "It's show time," he announced and jumped down to save the teen that currently had the creature's attention. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
The creature grew after being hit and easily grabbed ahold of Cat Noir. "I guess that means you!"
Cat Noir noticed another girl was filming from the side and looked up to see the girl on top of the stadium. "What are you waiting for Super Red Bug?"
Cat Noir held his breath until he saw her leap off of the roof, pulling the creature's legs out from under him. This caused Cat Noir to be thrown across the field and he rolled into the soccer goal. "Sorry it took so long," the girl offered as she helped him stand up.
"Alright! Time to reduce this guy to a pile of rubble." Cat Noir tried to run off to fight the creature some more, but suddenly found himself running in place. Something didn't feel right. Something hurt. He turned back and saw the girl was holding onto his tail. He stopped trying to run and she let go. He picked up his tail to rub on the spot where she had pulled it. It looked just like a belt, but apparently, he could feel it as if it was a part of his body. I'm going to have to talk Plagg about this tail later, he thought.
"Don't you see? Every time you hit him, he gets bigger."
"I guess we'll have to use our powers then. Cataclysm! Apparently, I can destroy anything I touch."
"I don't need a super power to destroy things I touch," the girl mumbled to herself.
Cat Noir smiled and touched the soccer goal, converting it into ashes and a few pieces of rusted metal. The girl screamed, "No wait!" But, it was too late.
Cat Noir ran back to the creature and tried to use his power. "Oops. I guess I can only use it once." The creature kicked Cat Noir back into the remains of the soccer goal.
The girl helped Cat Noir up, yet again. "Didn't your kwami explain things to you?"
"Sorry. I guess I was in a hurry."
"I guess it's up to me then. Lucky Charm!" A red and black spotted one-piece scuba outfit fell from the sky. The girl looked around, grabbed a water hose and secured it inside the suit. She lassoed Cat Noir around the ankles. "Just relax. Don't fight it."
"This girl's crazy!" Cat Noir said as he went sailing through the air and back into the creature's grasp. She's crazy and she's my one true soul mate. I'm in trouble.
The girl ran towards the creature and leapt into his other hand, causing a purple wad of paper to fall out and bounce along the ground. "Alya, now!"
The girl filming the fight turned on the water and the girl in the red suit was freed, running over to the purple wad of paper and crushed it under her foot. A black butterfly flew out of the paper and into the sky. Cat Noir found him on the ground once again as the creature reverted back into a teenage boy.
"Ivan, are you okay," the girl in the red suit asked of the teen as she helped him up.
"How do you know my name?"
"Oh, would you look at that, I gotta go!" she said as her earring beeped.
"Hey!" Yelled the other girl with the phone, "What's your name?"
The girl in red thought about it and then said, "Ladybug. Call me Ladybug." She then leapt up and out of the stadium.
"She's crazy awesome," Cat Noir said to no one in particular. There goes the girl I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, and I don't even know her real name.
Adrien was riding in the back of the car the next morning and didn't even notice they had pulled up to the school. His father was on the car's video phone. "You are to continue your other activities and come home straight after school. I insist your body guard drop you off and pick you up each day."
Adrien's head shot up and he looked out the window. "Thank you father!" Adrien bolted out of the car and up the stairs. He saw Chloe and yelled out for her.
"Adrikins!" Chloe ran over and hugged him. Adrien signed autographs as Chloe escorted him to their classroom. She showed him his seat and he tried to greet the teen sitting next to him.
"You're friends with Chloe, right?" The teen didn't even look at him.
He turned his attention to Chloe who was directing Sabrina to place some gum in the seat next to them. "Chloe? What are you doing?"
"The brats who sat here yesterday need an attitude adjustment. I'm just commanding some respect." Chloe and Sabrina giggled as they took their seats behind Adrien.
Adrien got up and bent over to try and get the gum off of the seat when he heard, "What's going on here!" He turned around and saw two angry girls staring at the gum. "Oh, I get it. Good job you three."
"I was just trying to take the gum off. I swear."
"You're Chloe's soul mate, right?" The first girl huffed without even looking at him. He backed away and she placed a napkin over the gum and sat down.
Adrien just sat in his seat and frowned. "Why didn't you say it was Chloe?" The boy next to him was finally talking to him.
"It doesn't matter. Chloe's been my only friend for as long as I can remember. But, why'd that girl think she was my soul mate?"
"Because dude, that's what Chloe said to Marinette yesterday when she was trying to arrange for you to sit next to me."
"Chloe..." Adrien whispered to himself and sighed. "She's always telling people that even though it's not true. At least I never knew for sure until yesterday. I'll have to talk to her later. By the way, I'm Adrien."
"I'm Nino, and maybe it's time you got some new friends."
Adrien smiled. He had made a new friend. Nino still didn't look directly into his eyes, so he wasn't sure how good of friends they'd be, but he was just happy to have made a friend, regardless of how long or deep of the friendship it'd be. He had heard of some people who didn't want to know and would go out of their ways to not look into other people's eyes, but Nino was the first person like that he had met.
With Chloe, the problem was that she couldn't see any flashes, and thus nobody could see a flash in her eyes either... the exact opposite of Nino. That tended to make her a bit distant with people as they never thought she'd be a big part of their lives. It hurt her deeply and she had decided to start claiming Adrien as her soul mate... without any proof... simply because he was her friend even without being able to see the flash in her eyes. He'd usually not say anything to the contrary as, for all he knew, it could be true and they'd just never have proof. But after yesterday, with Ladybug, he now had proof.
After their school day had been interrupted by Stone Heart's reakumatization, Adrien was able to talk to Chloe before class. He pulled her over to a private corner so no one could hear them, not wanting to make her condition known if she hadn't already done so. "Chloe... we need to talk."
"Sure, Adrikins! About what?"
"About... you calling me your soul mate."
"But..."
"Just let me get this out okay. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want to string you along."
"Okay." Chloe hung her head. She knew this was going to end badly for her.
"First off. I am your friend. And I always will be. I've let you call me your soul mate for lack of having any evidence to the contrary. I'm sorry... but I got that evidence yesterday."
"Yesterday? But you weren't here yesterday."
"It was while I was out in public." Adrien wasn't completely lying, but still knew he couldn't tell her the whole truth.
"Your father actually let you go out?"
"I... kinda snuck out. But that's not the point. The point is, I met someone and when our eyes met, they flashed white."
"Oh... I see. I figured that was going to be the case when you pulled me away from everyone." A single tear formed in Chloe's eye and she just let it blaze a path down her cheek though her makeup.
"I'm sorry. I know it's not fair for you to be the way you are. I know it's hard."
"Thank you for your honesty."
Adrien pulled her gaze into his. "I'll always be your friend, flash or no flash."
Chloe smiled and then excused herself. Adrien left for the locker room to gather his materials for the next class.
Adrien entered the classroom and noticed that Chloe, Sabrina, and the two girls from earlier had switched seats. He tried to say hello to the girl that accused him of putting the gum on her seat, but she just turned her head and refused to acknowledge him. So, he just sat down next to Nino. "Nino, how do I convince her I was trying to remove the gum?"
"Dude, just be yourself."
The two boys continued talking as class had not started, meanwhile Marinette and Alya were talking between themselves also. "So, how do you like the new school?"
"It's great. I've already noticed a few more friends I'm going to have, at least for a little while."
"Any pink flashes? Or even a white one?"
"No. But, I'm still looking. Most of the boys just flash a little green if anything. I haven't had a chance to talk to the boys in the front row though."
"Nino's nice. But, I wouldn't waste my time with Adrien. If he's Chloe's soul mate, then it's highly unlikely he'd flash at all."
"You're still mad about the gum, huh? I mean, what if Chloe's lying about him being her soul mate and he's really... the one? What if you miss each other all because you don't at least look once?"
"I've already met my one..." Marinette's eyes glazed over thinking of Cat Noir. What were the chances that her new partner would be the one?
"Really? Who is he?"
"He's... well... I don't know his name... yet." Marinette frowned, realizing they had seen each other twice now and had to leave before getting any personal details. That, and Tikki had told her to protect her identity.
"Ah... One of those, we saw each other from afar and couldn't get to each other scenarios."
"Not exactly. We've only ever met while we were wearing customs."
"Oh, like at a Halloween Party or a Masquerade Ball?"
"Something like that..." Marinette trailed off, but couldn't think of a better, more accurate cover story. So, she left it at that.
Just then, Adrien looked over his shoulder, hoping to make peace with the girls. His eyes locked with Alya's and they flashed green.
He mouthed an I'm sorry before turning back around when the teacher walked in.
Alya looked over to Marinette and nudged her with her elbow. "I got a look at Adrien's eyes."
"And? Nothing?"
"No. A green. A decent green. More than most of the other students I've encountered."
"How odd."
"Maybe that means he's not as bad as Chloe?"
"Or maybe your vision is broke," Marinette retorted and winked to let Alya know she was teasing.
After classes, Alya finally cornered Nino. She was determined to look in everyone's eyes and she wasn't going to let him escape. Nino tried to shuffle out of his desk as Adrien and Marinette watched him try his best to avoid eye contact.
"Look at me!" Alya demanded.
"No. Thank you."
"Why not?"
"Because, I don't like knowing until after I've decided if I want to get to know someone better. I don't like feeling like I don't have a choice. I've had good relationships with several people without ever looking them in the eyes."
"That's noble, but I'm not letting you leave without at least looking me in the eyes."
"You're pushy. You know that?"
"I've been told. But, I do like to know about how my relationship will be with people so I know whether to get emotionally invested with them or not."
"Come on Nino. It's amazing. It really helps to break the ice." Adrien placed a hand on Nino's shoulder. "And the first time you see that bright white flash, it takes your breath away."
"It's... It's just that I met a really strong friend once. Really bright green flash. We got really close, really fast. Then he was killed in a car accident a few years later. I... I swore I never wanted to know ever again."
"That's tough man."
Alya's stance softened. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"No one did. It's not something I talk about."
Marinette decided to excuse herself quietly. When she was a few steps away from her seat, she heard books falling on the floor. She looked over to see Alya and Nino staring at each other. Alya's hand was over her mouth. Alya whispered under her hand as she looked at Marinette, "It was white."
Marinette smiled and watched Nino stand up and escort Alya out of the classroom without them saying another word. She quickly walked past Adrien and out of the classroom before he could stop her.
Marinette was waiting for the rain to let up because she had not brought her umbrella. It wasn't a long walk, but it was still raining hard enough that she'd get wetter than she wanted while trying to get home. Adrien walked up beside her and she looked away.
He took a few steps, turned around, and said, "I just wanted you to know, I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat. I swear. I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of... new to me."
Marinette saw him extend his hand with his umbrella to give it to her. For the first time, she looked Adrien in the eyes. Both of them saw the same brilliantly white flash in the other's eyes they had seen the first time the day before. "Cat Noir?"
"Ladybug?"
Marinette nodded slowly... in shock, and then smiled brightly.