Miraculous | Meant To Be

Chapter 18

We made eye contact, and then I pulled my hand back as if I'd been burned.

What the heck was that?!?

My thoughts were racing, wondering if what I thought just happened, did indeed happen.

We made eye contact again, and my brain went into "fake it til you make it" mode.

Keep it cool Mari, you got this. Keep it cool.

"Ahaha," I laughed awkwardly, looking anywhere but his face. "I uh, I see you've picked up the new trend as well! Alya and I have started fist bumping like that after seeing the heroes do it. It's pretty cool huh."

Adrien nodded, his hand reaching up to scratch behind his neck. "Ah! Yeah, Nino and I do that alllll the time, haha, the dude-bro fist bump! You know the drill...."

"Ahaha, yeah... Well, I uh.... I gotta.... go to the bathroom! To talk with Alya! I mean, I gotta talk to Alya to go to the bathroom, no wait I mean- uh gottagoseeyoulaterbye!!"

I grabbed my bag and spRINTED out of the History classroom, straight towards the bathroom.

As soon as I reached it, I swung the door shut behind me and leaned against it, for once out of breath.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and frantically texted Alya.

"Alya, you had best get your butt down here ASAP"

She replied almost immediately.

"What? Why? Where are you?"
"You literally sprinted out of the classroom, are you okay?"

Her texts came fast, and I was ready to respond, but her next text took a more serious tone.

"Do I need to beat up Adrien."

I rolled my eyes, but began typing quickly. Leave it to Alya to jump to conclusions. I chuckled good naturedly.

"What? No!! Of course not!! Don't you dare!!"
"I'm in the girls bathroom, hurry!"

"I'm on my way."

I finally stepped away from the door and walked over to the now resident chair. I sat down and Alya burst through the door. I was very glad I wasn't standing there anymore.

"Girl what happened?!? You just ran off!!"

I stood up to pace and Alya stole the chair.

I paced and paced until Alya finally burst.

"Marinette!" she cried indignantly.

I sighed.

"I'm probably just over thinking this because I'm stressed and I don't know what to do about it, but it's totally feasible!! Right?? It's not just me??"

Alya looked at me, her arms crossed.

"Girl I have no idea what you're talking about."

"But there's no way!! Not even Ladybug is that lucky, I'm just trying to compare them and that's not fair to either of them. It's a perfectly normal reaction, I've seen him do it with Nino before he wasn't lying-"

"Who's done what with Nino?!?"

"Just because that's our thing doesn't mean it's copyrighted, I mean for goodness sakes it's been around for ages, we certainly didn't come up with it-"

"Why did you bring me here if you're not even going to listen to me."

"I'm not crazy, he's not... there's no way!! .... I mean.... Even if he was this would nOT be the way to find out, this is the stupidest thing ever-"

"What on earth are you talking about."

"Alya!!"

"Yes finally! She acknowledges my existence!"

"You don't think I'm crazy right?"

"... uh-"

"I mean, I have to be! Because there is nO way on earth that Adrien is Chat Noir."

I turned to Alya who stared at me blankly.

"... uh-"

Tikki flew out of my bag and towards Alya. Normally I might smile at Tikki conversing with my best friend with no worries at all, but my brain was too frazzled.

Tikki was whispering something to Alya, but I tuned them out, letting my thoughts wander free.

Could he be? Could the two boys who had made a home in my heart be one and the same? It would certainly make things easier for me...

I shook my head. No way. That was just wishful thinking.

But then I thought a little bit harder about it.

I began composing a list of reasons and proof they could be the same person.

The first thing that came to mind was obviously, our fist bump. So I placed it at the top of my mental list.

1 - the fist bump

The next thing that came to mind was how neither of us were out of breath after doing a dead spring across the school. I had chalked that up to his fencing, but I added it to the list anyways.

2 - not out of breath

I strained my memory, searching for anything else. I saw a vivid image of Adrien, running from the class to the bathroom, the same time I did. It seemed plausible, so I added that as well.

3 - hiding in the bathrooms

I began searching my memory for anytime Chat Noir seemed similar to Adrien. This was rather hard because when I was with Chat, at any point in time, I wasn't looking for hints. I was desperately trying to avoid any.

However, I managed to think of a time that, admittedly, out of context was a bit of a stretch, but in context, it kindof fit.

When Chat and I first found out second soulmate marks and confronted eachother, he had told me about his civilian life soulmate. What was it he said?

"...I wasn't sure that she liked me very much. She always ran away or ducked behind her friend whenever I tried to talk to her. When she found out it was me, she was completely fine with it, like, absolutely fine with it, and I felt like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders knowing she didn't hate me, and was just as on board as I was..."

I had to admit, it sounds exactly like what happened with Adrien and I.

4 - Chat's civilian soulmate

Another thing, the day after Ladybug and Chat Noir.... after we kissed, Adrien was flushed red all day! I thought he was acting weird before, but this new perspective only adds depth to it.

5 - Flushed after the kiss

I read through my mental list. All of these things I could explain away. There was a way to justify every single one. It could all be a huge coincidence.

I frowned, pacing again.

I thought back to when I found out Adrien was my soulmate. At any point did he say anything...

Oh. My. Gosh.

"Oh my gosh!!"

"What?" Alya said, staring up at me, her facial expression displaying her confusion.

"The freaking note!!!"

"The what?"

"The note Adrien gave me with my necklace!!"

As I said this, I began to fiddle with the necklace which I had worn everyday since I'd received it.

"The note!! It said 'A purrrrfect necklace for the purrrfect soulmate.' He made TWO cat puns!! Granted it was the same lame pun used twice, but he made cat puns!!"

Alya stared at me, no longer confused, instead smirking slightly, which annoyed me the tiniest bit. This was no time for jokes.

"And 'I will be your Chat Noir, only if you'll be my Ladybug?' The heck is that?!? I can't believe I didn't give that a second thought!!"

"To be fair, you were pretty wrapped up in the whole 'Adrien is my soulmate' thing."

"True..."

That made 6. I was sure I could think of more if I though back further.

What about a list of reasons he couldn't be?

1 - Adrien and Chat act completely differently!

Adrien was sweet and somewhat reserved, while Chat Noir was flirty and knew no limits. They were practically polar opposites!

2 - Adrien's house is heavy on security

The Agreste Estate was built like a fortress. I highly doubted Adrien could sneak out of that house as a black Cat Boy, almost on a daily basis, without being caught.

3 - .... Adrien doesn't seem the type...?

Actually that was a lie. He was absolutely the type. I know from Nino that Adrien was big on anime and superhero comics. He would be ecstatic to be a hero. Which in turn would explain Chat's demeanor of a happy-go-lucky hero type. I groaned.

"ALYAAAAA!" I cried, "I'm having an internal crisis!"

Tikki flew up to my face.

"Marinette, whatever the outcome, I know you and Adrien will be alright, I told you this before, didn't I?"

I smiled halfheartedly at my kwamii, "Of course you did Tikki, but I-"

Alya then spoke up, "C'mon girl, you can't tell me you haven't thought about this before."

I began pacing again. "I mean-"

"Marinette, tell me honestly, would this be a bad thing?" Tikki said, flying up to my face and looking me directly in the eyes.

I froze, frowning, then sighed. "No, Tikki, the problem is it seems too good to be true! What if I'm wrong and I hurt their feelings!?"

Alya smirked, "And what if you're right?"

I looked at Alya, ready to retort when I noticed she looked awfully smug. I thought back to the last time she seemed this smug and I narrowed my eyes.

"Alya... where did you go when you left my house the other day?"

Alya and Tikki shared a look which I ignored.

"Alyaaaaa"

"If you must know, I paid a visit to your soulmate."

"Which one...?"

Alya laughed. "That is for me to know, and for you to figure out."

I groaned, sitting on the ground and resting my face in my arms.

I was going to have to confront at least one of the two boys I loved most, who were possibly the same person, and ask them just that.

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Merry Christmas Everyone!! I have been working on this chapter for aGES! I had writer's block at the beginning, and then it was just a really long chapter. 😅 I promise I'm working on the next chapter already, and it won't take nearly as long.

Good news, WERE ALMOST FINISHED WITH THIS BOOK! Wooo!! I have probably two, or three tops chapters left, and then I'll be working on a  Christmas fic! It'll be too late by then, but that's okay 😆.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Hopefully the next one will be done within a week. My end of year goal is to finish this fic by the end of it. Can't wait! 😁😁😁❤️

This chapter, and the book really, is dedicated to my dear friend Ashtyn! She's been reading this and helping come up with ideas the entire time I've been writing it, and it wouldn't be even close to done without her. So thank you so much girlie! LOVE YOU! ❤️❤️❤️