The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Countdown

Nearly at 10K read, y'all (don't mind me, internally screaming and externally hyperventilating because a) ONE OF MY NEW OTPs IS CANON IN SEASON 2 and b) HOLY CRAP 10K READS WHAT DO I DO AS A THANK YOU)

Those words on her wrist were infuriating. 365 days. One year. One freaking year until Marinette would meet her soulmate.

With a sigh, she flopped dramatically on her bed. She didn't know if she could wait that long! One full year, 365 days, 8760 hours, 525600 minutes, 31536000 seconds. And counting. It was soooo long! Well, it was longer when she was 14, and 13, and 12, and 10... 

Back then, she hated the idea of a soulmate. She didn't like the way society immediately expected you to just click with your soulmate, and she didn't like being pressured into anything. But now... she had watched her friends find their soulmates, be incredibly happy, and instantly fit together and... it made her reevaluate everything.

What if the reason they were soulmates was because they fit together?

She wanted to find her other half. She wanted to feel complete.

Days, and then weeks went by, and she soon forgot about her countdown. After all, her designs weren't going to get her anywhere if she didn't hone her skills. Her idols trended before falling back into the background, but she still admired them. She drew inspiration from the different eras, Regency, Romantic, Victorian, but the Nineties was her favourite era, especially for the Edwardian. The hats, the elegant and classy dresses given a more casual flair, and the accessories like hats, feathers, gloves, parasols, and bags were so simple yet so delicately beautiful.

However, she never thought about leaving her home town in China for her favourite city of Paris.

Sure, she wanted to visit Paris since she was 5, but leaving all her friends behind? Now, of all times? She understood that her father was originally from Paris and her mother wanted to go back there with him, but... what if she'd be leaving her soulmate behind her, in China? 

... What if her soulmate was in Paris?

Emotionally agreeing, she let excitement, fear, anxiety and sadness swirl in her stomach. She said a tearful goodbye to all her friends, not noticing the countdown on her wrist was now one month...

She packed up all her things, say one last goodbye to her hometown in China, and flew to Paris.

It took her three weeks to set up everything in her home and find her way around Paris, memorizing certain routes to certain places. Like the park, the Eiffel Tower, the school she'd be attending, to cafes and to fabric shops. One week until she'd be starting school. One week until she'd find her soulmate. Still, she didn't notice the countdown was reaching zero quicker than she'd imagined.

Until it said '27 minutes.' 

She was rushing through everything to get to her first day of real school on time. She was in the middle of tugging on a lemonade pink top with short sleeves when she saw the magical writing on her wrist change to '26 minutes.' She took a deep, calming breath, letting out a tiny squeal before pulling on white jeans and a watermelon pink vest. Tying a strip of fabric at the collar of her vest into a bow, she finally let out a real squeal of excitement.

After doing her make-up, which was simple lip gloss, mascara and concealer, she raced downstairs to meet with a breakfast of French toast. She ate it as quick as she could before realising that speeding her actions up won't make her soulmate come quicker. Letting out a quiet sigh, she finished her breakfast at a more leisurely pace.

Meanwhile, in a big mansion, a blond boy named Adrien Agreste was staring at his wrist, daring the countdown to change. It did, to '17 minutes.' He exhaled slowly. 17 minutes until he'd meet his soulmate. Wheewwwww.... HOWDOPEOPLEDEALWITHTHIS?!

Marinette walked out the door, her eyes glued to her wrist as she strolled towards her new school. It was slowly counting down... 5 minutes holy hell... 4 minutes... 3... 2... 50 SECONDS?!

Adrien too was staring at his wrist, too busy watching the numbers slowly tick down. 50, 49, 48... He vaguely registered the 'watch it!'s and the 'sorry man's, always waving them off and mumbling an apology. He didn't even notice the girl his age with the most unusual blue-black hair and the most intriguing shade of bluebell eyes. 

3...

2...

1...

Crash!

The two of them collided, walking straight into each other, and the situation was made worse when their difference of weight made him fall on top of her

Shaking her head, she spoke rapidly and pushed herself up on her arms, supporting herself after he leaned back on his knees.. "Oh god, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going and I'm really clumsy and I just- ugh, I'm really sorry-" She cut off her rambling when she finally made eye contact with the boy in front of her.

Her heart beat faster as she met eyes of the most sparkling shade of iridescent green she'd ever seen. His golden skin and blond hair were barely noticed as she let those green eyes pull her in. He was in much the same situation as her. Her eyes were the clearest, brightest blue that were drowning him in their swirling depths.

Her breath was taken away, and she let out a breath. "Hi." Her voice was slightly breathy and it made her giggle. And that was when his breath was taken away, but like the gentleman he was, he helped her up and picked up her bag for her.

"I'm sorry too, I wasn't watching were I was going either-" He cut himself off and glanced down at his wrist. Confused, he tilted it to see a name in swirling cursive. "Marinette?" He mumbled, but just loud enough for her to catch.

"What?" She asked, confused before glancing at her own wrist, which in a similar font, spelled his name. "Adrien? Who's..."

They once again stared at each other. Marinette's mouth dropped.

"Oh my god..." She burst into a fit of giggles, holding her stomach and laughing so much her sides hurt. Adrien failed to see the funny side of this, and just stood there with an adorable confused look on his face. "This is so not how I imagined I'd meet my soulmate."

Adrien smiled, then chuckled, then he too burst out laughing. The two of them stood, laughing their heads off, in front of their school, while onlookers stared and chuckled at them. Alya and Nino, Adrien's friends, stood off to the side, gazing at them affectionately.

"Who knew that Adrien's soulmate would be the new girl from China?" Alya nudged Nino as they started talking animatedly, the Asian girl with practically radiating warmth and happiness, and their blond friend with a very visible, very apparent love-sick smile on his face as he listened to her trilling voice. 

Nino shrugged. "Whatever, dudette. I'm just happy my bro's happy." Alya rolled her eyes playfully and sighed.

She tugged at his arm. "C'mon, let's go introduce ourselves!"

They ran over to the pair, and instantly got along.

For that day, all four of their lives' changed for the better. Alya and Nino got a valuable friend, Marinette and Adrien found their soulmates. There couldn't be a better blast-off than that.

Countdown? Blast-off? Eh? Eh? Oh whatever, you get it, and it's cheesy, so I'm happy.