Monday afternoon. Five hours before showtime.

Utter chaos.

Marinette blinked as she took in the hectic backstage. Things were always a bit crazy before a performance, and more so when it was the first performance of a play- that was why they did one last run-through before going on, after all. But opening was several hours away still, and there was already a bit of a fuss and panic going around the cast. With one last look around, Marinette made a beeline for the costumes, figuring that she might as well make sure that her piece of the production was in order.

"Where is Mireille?" Miss Bella demanded, appearing from around the corner and glancing around at the assembled cast. She looked flustered. "Does anyone know?"

Marinette glanced up from where she was making sure all the costumes were in order and frowned. Mireille was always early to practice, no matter what. There were some murmurs among the group.

"She just texted me," one of the nuns called above the noise. She waved her phone at Miss Bella. "She's sick and can't come in."

A murmur ran around the cast as Miss Bella groaned, running a hand through her hair as the stressed look on her face deepened. "She was fine during last night's practice. Is she positive she can't come in? She doesn't have an understudy!"

"Can we just cut her part out?" another nun asked. "We could say Captain von Trapp has six children instead of seven."

"The audience knows there are meant to be seven kids. If we only have six, it will be confusing! Besides, Louisa is important in several of the songs, and we'd have to alter the script in other places as well." Miss Bella was all but spinning in circles, her hands clutching at her hair. "We can't just cut her out!"

There were more worried glances, which Marinette could understand. Mireille played the part of Louisa, the third of Captain von Trapp's children. It was hardly the largest part, but it would be very noticeable if she were missing. She didn't have an understudy because she was a university student playing the part of a thirteen-year-old and there weren't many university students who could look that young. She hadn't ever missed a performance before- Mireille was nothing if not reliable- so they had thought they would be fine without.

Clearly not. That would teach them to not have an understudy for all of the main parts.

"Is there anyone in the chorus who could step in?" Miss Bella implored, looking at the nuns. There were frantic head shakes. "Anyone who knows the songs and her lines?"

Danielle perked up from where she was checking on their props. "I've heard Marinette singing along a lot! She'd be a perfect Louisa!" She grinned. "She even looks young enough!"

Marinette froze as the entire cast turned to look at her almost as one and Danielle's suggestion sunk in. She knew the lines fairly well, sure (it wasn't just the songs she quoted), but she was hardly an actress. The last time she had tried acting was in collège, and it had lasted for all of maybe thirty seconds.

"Oh, Marinette, would you please?" Miss Bella begged, looking at Marinette. "You're practically the same size as Mireille. We can at least run through the scenes she's in before the show starts, and Louisa doesn't have that many lines. You can read through the script in between scenes!"

Marinette protested weakly, but it didn't make any difference. The whole cast was crowded around her, beaming at her and giving her tips. She could feel Tikki giving her an encouraging pat from inside of her pocket, and so she gave in.

It looked like she would be performing for the first time in her life in only a few hours, with only the bare minimum of practice under her belt. And naturally, it would be live.

This wasn't going to be fun.

"I thought you already tried that theater," Nino said as Adrien got ready. He was leaning against the bathroom's doorframe as Adrien carefully combed his hair. "What point is there in going again?"

"Max said that maybe my soulmate was an understudy in the other performance, so maybe she has a part in this one." Adrien wrestled with a knot for a moment before it came loose. He smoothed the lock down and kept working. "And Max said something else, too. He thought that maybe she works on the show, but she's not an actor." After a bit more thought, Adrien had decided that maybe Max's second suggestion, about his soulmate being a stagehand, made more sense. After all, his soulmate hadn't sung during the Little House of Horrors performances either.

Nino's brow furrowed for a moment. "What do you- oh! You mean, like, a stagehand? That makes sense, they would probably be around enough to learn the songs. And then they wouldn't sing during the show. But how are you going to figure out who she is if she isn't an actor?"

"I'll talk to the light guy I was with last time. He might have some suggestions about what I can do." Satisfied with his hair, Adrien pulled away the towel he had wrapped around his shoulders to protect his clothes while he styled his hair. "Some people might already have soulmate marks, so obviously it wouldn't be them."

"She might not advertise her lack of a mark," Nino pointed out as Adrien straightened his shirt and pulled on a light jacket. "So people might assume. That's what people generally do."

"I know," Adrien said, leaving his bathroom and swinging by his desk. He scooped Plagg up from his chair and shoved him into his coat pocket in one smooth move before Nino could notice. He'd feel better having Plagg with him, even if the kwami complained for ages about having to go for a few hours without cheese.

Adrien had stuffed the little glutton earlier just so he wouldn't complain, because there was no way he was going to smell like stinky cheese. He might not meet his soulmate tonight- he had to prepare himself for that possibility- but if he did?

Stinky cheese did not a good impression make.

"I need to get going now," Adrien said as his phone beeped a warning. "Max said that I needed to go early again to get into the light booth. I'll keep you updated, Nino- unless you want to come as well? Because I certainly wouldn't mind paying for your ticket as well-"

"I'll pass," Nino said with a laugh, checking his own phone. "It sounds like a nice play and all, but I told Alya I would proofread her paper tonight and then take her to a late dinner. Good luck with the play, though."

Adrien smiled, trying to beat down the nerves that had suddenly appeared in his stomach. "Thanks."

Jason looked surprised when Adrien showed up again at the door to the light and sound booth, but he cleared off the extra chair without a fuss and waved Adrien into the room.

"Back to try to find your soulmate again or just to watch?" he asked, snapping the door closed again as soon as Adrien came in.

"Trying to find my soulmate again. She's been singing stuff from the Sound of Music since the start of the semester, so we've been pointed right back to here."

"That's just bizarre." Jason settled back at his spot. "So, did you sing yesterday evening, then? We had a dress rehearsal then."

Adrien frowned slightly as he thought back. Last night he had had dinner with his father and had gotten an update on what the detective had found (not much, mostly because Adrien had resisted cooperating- not that his father knew that). He would have noticed if he had sung.

And he hadn't. That just added more weight to Max's suggestion of a stagehand being his soulmate, then.

"Bizarre," Jason said again when Adrien told him as much. "Well, I can show you around afterwards and have you meet the cast and crew. If all else fails, we can just line everyone up and have you sing and see who responds."

"Do people typically stick around?" Adrien asked, curious. "Don't plays tend to run a little late? I would think that people would want to leave and get something to eat and go to bed."

Jason laughed. "I think the only people to immediately pack up and leave are the kids that we brought in, and that's mostly on their parents. Cast members will stick around and mingle, and they won't mind staying a few minutes more for something like this. They're all friendly."

Adrien nodded, glancing at his program. The cast was all pictured, and the crew was listed. All together- even not counting the kids- it was quite a few people. He supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised about that. It was a large production, with plenty of moving parts and scenery. It made sense that things would need a lot of manpower to run smoothly.

"Have you heard of the Sound of Music before? Do you know much about it?"

Adrien shrugged. "I know some. I watched the movie as soon as I knew my soulmate was singing songs from it."

"There's more songs in the play," Jason told him, and Adrien let out a soft oh.

He had noticed that some of the songs that his soulmate sang hadn't been in the movie, and there was nothing similar. He hadn't thought to look those songs up, though, figuring that maybe they were just random songs that his soulmate had heard and liked.

Adrien watched as the theater filled up. There were a lot of kids mixed among the adults attending the play, and the outfits were fairly dressy. In contrast, Jason was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The sound tech was dressed the same, though she had headphones hanging around her neck. It made Adrien feel a little overdressed in his button-up shirt, jacket, and slacks, but it was better than feeling underdressed when he was mingling with the rest of the audience.

Besides, if there was any chance that he would meet his soulmate tonight, it wouldn't do to leave a bad first impression.

Adrien put his phone away as a disembodied voice echoed overhead, asking for people to take their seats. The lights dimmed both in the auditorium and onstage, though they stayed brighter in the lighting and sound booth. A few final people rushed to their seats as the voice boomed again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Thank you to coming to our university's production of The Sound of Music! Please find your seats and turn off your cell phones, as the performance is about to begin. Please refrain from taking pictures or talking during the performance. Again, thank you for coming to our performance and we hope that you enjoy the show!"

The show started and Adrien resigned himself to another fun performance without any further clues to the identity of his soulmate. After the show, he was planning on asking the light tech to introduce him to the other backstage staff so he could ask them if they had any idea who his soulmate might be.

She had to be one of the staff members on the show, he was positive of it. How else could he explain the fact that her most-sung songs lined up with the university productions perfectly?

She was here, she had to be. It was just a matter of finding her.

They were several songs in when Adrien felt the tell-tale tickling at the back of his throat. At first he was positive that it must be a cough, so he took a quick sip of water from the bottle he had brought. It didn't go away.

"You okay?" Jason whispered as Adrien clutched at his throat. Why was his soulmate was singing now? They'd tracked the pattern for the last two plays and she had never once sang during those times. Had she been a stagehand that managed to get in the actual play this time around?

"She's about to sing, I can tell." Adrien rubbed his throat. His eyes strayed down to the stage, where Maria and the children were getting ready to sing. He knew neither Maria nor Liesl were his soulmate, since both of them had already sung. That left four children, one university-aged boy, and... one girl, who looked about fourteen at most.

Um. She wasn't actually as young as she looked, right?

Before Adrien could ask about the girl, a song was being pulled out of his throat. There was no holding it back, not keeping it down. Clearly at this close a range, the effects of the bond were stronger. Warmth flared in his chest and Adrien beamed.

"Duuuuude..." Jason whispered, staring for a long moment before realizing he had a job to do. He flicked a few switches before returning his stare to Adrien. "Okay, so I knew you were telling the truth, but seeing it in person... Dude."

The song was quite a long one. This time, though, Adrien didn't try to resist it. After all, he had no idea if him resisting had any effect on his soulmate's ability to sing. He sang the best he could, keeping his eyes focused on stage.

"I thought you said you didn't sing yesterday during the show!" Jason hissed as the scene ended and the lights changed. "But you just did now!"

"I didn't. I was waiting the whole time for something to happen and it didn't." Adrien couldn't keep the giant smile off his face. She was here.

Jason frowned for a moment more and then lit up, pointing at Adrien. "Oh, I've got it! I don't know how I forgot-we had an exciting afternoon here earlier, even more than normal for opening show. Our Mother Abbess had to be replaced by an understudy due to a family emergency, and Louisa von Trapp got sick. She didn't have an understudy."

Adrien blinked. He didn't know that much about theater, but... "Is that normal?"

"Not at all, but she's one of the uni students playing a kid. There aren't many students that can look that young. Thankfully our costume manager knew the songs and could step in. Or, well, she was bullied in a little bit, but details. She wouldn't have been singing yesterday during rehearsal at all, which fits!"

"Oh!" Adrien looked down at the stage again, where the kids were running around. Louisa von Trapp was among them, dark hair pulled back out of her face. He couldn't make out facial details, not at this distance, but she was there. "Is she a uni student, or, uh...?" He trailed off, not sure what to say. She had to be a university student, right? They wouldn't just recruit a lycee student to deal with costumes, right?

Jason grinned. "Of course! She's not as young as she looks, I promise. It's all makeup. She's never acted before today, but she couldn't let the rest of the production down."

"She's doing very well," Adrien commented. He hadn't even noticed that Louisa was perhaps not quite as experienced as the others. She sang beautifully (or at least Adrien assumed so, since the songs sounded great) and never seemed confused about where she was going. Now that he was looking closer, though, he noticed that she did tend to stay in the middle of the group instead of on the outside, and occasionally one of the other "children" would tug on her hand to steer her in a certain direction.

The intermission was utter agony, though for much different reasons than the previous time. Adrien wanted nothing more than to rush down and find his soulmate, but Jason thought it would be a bad idea.

"She's already nervous and inexperienced on stage," Jason pointed out, adjusting one of his switches. "Something like meeting her soulmate would just distract her and throw her off, especially since she thinks that she doesn't have a soulmate."

Adrien blinked. "She's said that?"

"Implied it once, but I don't think she realized it. Unless you've been singing at all, what clue would she have?" Jason sat back in his chair, content that all of the lights were where they were supposed to be. "I'd say wait until the show is over, then I can show you backstage. She'll take longer than the others to go home, since she'll be putting costumes away. In the meantime, I suggest thinking up how you're going to introduce yourself. I doubt strolling up and announcing yourself as her soulmate would go over well."

"Oh. Right." Adrien had been planning on doing just that, but now that he actually thought about it... yeah, not the greatest plan ever, especially if she thought that she didn't have a soulmate. He briefly wondered how she was still under that impression after two hours of Christmas carols, but he supposed that he could ask that later. "Do you know if she knows about musical soulmate bonds?"

"I mentioned it once. I think she was listening." Jason grinned at the memory. "Or she might have been trying to drown me out with her sewing machine. She seemed to be sewing quite aggressively at that particular time, I remember. I was wondering if I should maybe move away from the sewing machine before the needle snapped and went flying or something."

Adrien nodded, mind already racing. If there was something he could sing that would get her attention, preferably something that would have some meaning...

He came up empty. Everything just seemed so cheesy.

Adrien's fingers twitched towards his phone. Would Nino or Max have any suggestions? He wrote out and deleted a few messages, running a hand through his hair almost automatically before remembering that he had spent forever trying to get it looking good. Finally, he typed out a simple message and sent it to both of them.

I sang.

"So, I happened to notice that your soulmate has black hair," Plagg sing-songed in Adrien's ear, just out of Jason's sight. "Do you think she has blue eyes, too?"

Adrien's cheeks flared pink. "Oh, shush."

"And a costume designer! Your type seems to be black-haired, blue-eyed, and creative."

Adrien grinned at the reminder. Oh, that was right. His soulmate would doubtless get along fabulously with Marinette. He wondered if she was maybe in the fashion program as well, and what her design aesthetic was. Was she into more into streetwear, or red carpet, or the more abstract designs that his father always scoffed at?

He couldn't wait to find out.

Adrien jiggled anxiously in his seat as he waited for the audience to finish filing out. Jason had said that he would escort Adrien backstage- "Otherwise, they'll just kick you out, only cast and crew are allowed, technically"- but trying to get out of the light and sound box before the last of the audience left would be too much of a hassle. Besides, they had to wait for Nathalie to show up with the flowers Adrien had ordered.

A knock on the door made both boys jump. Nathalie's face appeared behind a giant bouquet of flowers. Jason rushed to let her in.

"I have the flowers you requested, Adrien," Nathalie announced, handing the flowers over. "Was a friend of yours in the play, or...?"

Adrien knew full well what Nathalie was asking. She wanted to know if Adrien had found his soulmate so she could report to his father, who would no doubt insist on meeting her himself and intimidating her. Adrien was going to push that particular meeting off for as long as possible. "A friend, yeah. Jason here is going to get me backstage."

Nathalie didn't look completely convinced, but she let it drop. "Very well. Will you be coming home soon?"

"I'll probably be hanging around for a bit first. I haven't seen my friend in a while." Adrien hoped that he looked innocent enough to pass. "I drove myself here, though, so I'll be fine."

Jason thankfully waited until Nathalie was gone and the door was closed before turning to Adrien. "What was that all about, dude? And how else would you get here besides driving yourself?" He paused, eying the bouquet. "Also, that's the kind of flowers you get for a lover, not for a friend."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll plead the socially stunted homeschooled kid card if anyone at home asks." Adrien fingered the flowers nervously. He hadn't expected it to be quite so big. "And I don't want my father to know that I've found my soulmate yet. He can be really intimidating, and he was furious when he found out about the singing during photoshoots. I don't want him to scare her off."

"And the driving?"

Adrien winced. "I, uh, have a driver. He's my father's, technically, but he usually drives me around. I've been trying to let him let me drive myself now that I'm older."

Jason laughed. "Rich kid problems." He scanned over the auditorium below them. Only university kids remained, walking between the rows and picking up trash and discarded programs. "We're probably good to go. I'll have to come back to turn all the lights off, but the cleanup crew will still be out for a while."

Adrien followed eagerly as Jason led the way down the stairs. He got more than a couple weird looks from the clean-up crew for the bouquet of flowers but he ignored it, far too excited to care what a bunch of strangers thought of him.

Besides, if Jason's stories were accurate, the students working in the theater tended to be pretty close and gossip spread around fast. They would know why he had the bouquet by the end of tomorrow.

Their first obstacle came in the form of an imposing doorman. He eyed up Adrien and his giant bouquet a bit dubiously before addressing Jason. "Only student workers backstage, you know that. Guests have to meet their actor or actress in the hallway."

"But this is special, Stephan," Jason begged. He gestured to Adrien. "This is Adrien. He's got a musical soulmate bond- when his soulmate sings songs from musicals, he has to too- and her songs led him here. It's Marinette, we're positive."

Adrien froze at the name. Marinette? Like as in his friend Marinette? He had known that she went to this university, and he knew that she had some sort of job, but he was pretty certain that he hadn't ever heard her say anything about her job being on campus or that it was with a theater. Still, how many Marinettes could there possibly be in fashion?

Max would probably know the probability, but Adrien wasn't going to text him right now, not when he was about to meet his soulmate anyway.

In front of them, Stephan didn't look convinced. "Uh-huh. That's what the hallway is for."

"But Marinette will be forever! She has all the costumes to deal with. We can help her put them away. Just this once, Steph?"

The doorman sent a dubious look at Adrien. "I've never heard of a musical soulmate bond. I don't believe it."

Adrien shifted anxiously, glancing at Jason. The other boy looked frustrated. "Can I speak with Miss Bella, please? I'm sure she would understand."

"She's busy." Stephan crossed his arms. It didn't look like they were going to get in any time soon.

Jason looked like he was going to argue, but then a voice floated over to them. Jason's face lit up and he waved to someone over Stephan's shoulder. "Miss Bella! Hey!"

"Hey, Jason! Here to help clean up?" An older woman- a professor, maybe- stuck her head out. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the flowers Adrien was holding. "And who is your friend?"

"I can help, sure. This is Adrien." Jason pushed the blond boy forward. "You know the guy with the musical soulmate bond? It's this guy. He's here to see Marinette."

"Really? Do you mean...?" Miss Bella looked thrilled. "Oh, can you show me? Are you going to sing?"

"But Miss Bella, the rules," Stephan protested. "No non-cast or crew members allowed backstage."

Miss Bella shushed him. "Just this once. Are you going to sing to get her attention?"

Adrien gulped. He hadn't really fully decided. He wasn't the best singer ever, even if he wasn't awful, and since he already knew Marinette- well, as long as it was the same Marinette, maybe the name Marinette was just more common than he thought and it was someone completely different and wouldn't that be confusing- he could always just say hi and explain from there rather than embarrassing himself. "I...maybe?"

"Perfect! Come along, I'll show you where Mari is right now." Miss Bella pulled Adrien along behind her, passing the grumpy Stephan without another glance. Adrien couldn't decide where to look as he was pulled backstage, since scenery and outfits were everywhere. A couple actors were still packing up and they waved to Miss Bella as they passed.

"Uh," Adrien started, then winced when Jason and Miss Bella's attention turned to him. "This is going to sound really bad if I'm right, but, uh... you said that my soulmate is named Marinette? You weren't referring to Marinette Dupain-Cheng by any chance, were you?"

Judging by the startled looks he got, the Marinette in question was, in fact, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Adrien was really starting to feel like a bit of an idiot.

Jason barked out a laugh. "You know her? Dude." He paused and pointed at Adrien. "Wait, you like her, right? It's impossible not to like Marinette."

"It really is," Adrien agreed. "She's been one of my best friends for years. I can't believe we somehow missed that."

Jason was laughing properly now, nearly doubled over against the wall. "Oh, that's hilarious. Have you never mentioned your whole search to her? You would think she might piece things together!"

Adrien shrugged helplessly. "Apparently it never came up. She's been so busy pretty much ever since the whole soulmate connection thing started, so we've had less time to talk than normal- we only really hang out when our mutual friends are there," he explained. "So she probably knows that I have a soulmate mark, but not what it is."

Adrien could have slapped himself, he really could have. How on Earth had he and Marinette never figured out that they were each other's soulmates? They had seen each other multiple times since his soulmate connection developed, even if she couldn't meet up with them as often because of her busy schedule. Somehow the topic of his soulmate hadn't come up when she was there, apparently.

Maybe that was because they only brought it up when he started singing during their get-togethers, and if Marinette was there then of course he wouldn't be singing. And at Christmas- well, it was no wonder that Marinette hadn't noticed anything, since they were both singing the same songs together anyway. Neither of them were being forced to sing, since they were doing it already.

And- oh, they could have figured this all out so much sooner if he had just sung back at some random time ages ago. Marinette would have gone to Alya, completely puzzled, and then Alya would have gone straight to him. He could have been with her for ages already.

Of course his soulmate was the single person in the world where his strategy of trying to be courteous by not singing would backfire on him. Of course. That was just how his luck was.

(But at least he knew that he and Marinette got along and that it would be so, so easy to fall in love with her.)

Miss Bella was giggling. "Oh, that is funny," she said. "The look on your face! Are you going to sing, then, or...?"

"I think I've forgotten all of the songs I know," Adrien admitted. It was embarrassing, really. The one time in his life when it was important that he think up a song, and all he could come up with were cat-themed songs (and they did not need a superhero reveal tonight, not on top of the whole soulmate thing) and Plagg's cheese-themed covers of songs, which- well, there was never really a good time to sing those."I don't even know what I would sing."

Jason's grin widened. "Oh, can I introduce you?" he asked eagerly. "I have an idea!"

Adrien was all too happy to have someone else take the work out of his hands, especially as they came up to the costumes area. The butterflies in his stomach had multiplied, even though he knew Marinette, there was no reason to be this nervous. "Sure, go ahead."

Jason flashed Adrien a grin. "Sweet! Knock-knock, Marinette," he called, raising his voice so he could be heard. He stepped around the corner. From where he stood, Adrien could just see Marinette turn around, a friendly but clearly exhausted look on her face. She had changed into street clothes but still had her pigtails in and her stage makeup on, making her look even younger than usual. "Do you have a moment? I need your help with something."

"Sure, what is it?"

Jason's grin widened, and he took another step into the room. "So, you know how I mentioned the guy with the musical soulmate bond, right?"

Adrien could see Marinette's expression drop marginally at the mention of soulmates, just as it always did. Clearly she didn't have a clue that she was the mysterious match. "Yeah, I remember."

"So he came again tonight," Jason continued. "And, uh, funny story- he didn't sing last time, with Mary Poppins, or last night during the dress rehearsal. But he did sing tonight. And, uh, even funnier story..."

Jason gestured for Adrien to step forward. The shock from the realization of oh, I was the only one different to perform tonight- I'm the soulmate had yet to fade away when Marinette spotted Adrien and the giant bouquet of flowers. Marinette's eyes were huge, and her jaw dropped when she spotted Adrien standing there.

"Surprise?" Adrien offered up weakly. "So apparently I'm a huge idiot who can't put together clues, like, at all."

"Are you serious?" Marinette asked. She sounded a bit breathless as she took a step towards him, her eyes wide. "We're soulmates?"

"The most serious I've ever been." Stepping forward, Adrien wracked his brain one more time and finally, finally came up with a song. "Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Let me lead you from your solitude. Say you need me with you, here beside you. Anywhere you go, let me go too. That's all I ask of you."

Adrien saw Marinette's eyes widen as she was forced to sing along with him and her gaze met his, her cheeks turning pink. He stopped singing- partly because his point was made, but mostly because he had forgotten the rest of the lyrics with her looking at him like that- and smiled at her, hopelessly soft. "Hey, soulmate."

Marinette's returning smile was just as soft and utterly enchanting as she stepped into his arms. "Hey to you, too."

A/N: Yaaaaay finally

also yay finally I finished editing this at LAST (sorry it took so long!). I thought this was done and I was happy with it when I was originally scheduled to post it, but then I discovered some things that just weren't flowing right (and I wanted to add in actual singing at the end- Phantom of the Opera, anyone?) and I've been busy enough this past week that I just didn't have the energy for editing and doing it justice.

There's a short epilogue after this, and I'll try to get it up in a timely manner (i.e. in a couple of days, instead of an entire four days late).

As always, I love reviews! :)