MariChat: Soul Link (SoulMates AU)

The Soul Link?

Not to mention, she was damn cute on top of all that.

She was, in a sense, everything Adrien wanted to be himself. Everything he failed at, she was, so easily, and effortlessly. He had become totally infatuated with her in no time. He had begun to look forward to seeing her every day, and it quickly became the highlight of his day in no time at all. He loved becoming Chat Noir, not only for the freedom it gave him from his home, but for the chance it gave him to see Ladybug, his lady, the girl he had completely devoted himself to. He had dropped as many hints towards his feelings for her every time he saw her roughly equivalent to how many rain drops fell in a thunderstorm.

And she seemed to shoot down Chat every time, never outright rejecting him, but always seeming to make it rather clear she wasn't interested in him. Time and time again he had tried to make his feelings for her as clear as day. He had tried to bluntly confess to her once, but an Akuma attack had prevented him from being able to say what he had wanted to say. Despite that setback, he had made no secret about his feelings for the girl who ran around Paris with him in a red and black polka-dotted jumpsuit, helping to fight Akuma and defend their city, but not once had they seemed to stick with her.

The one downside to loving Ladybug.

She didn't seem to like him back.

Adrien loved Ladybug.

Of that he was absolutely certain. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he loved her. How he longed to know who she was behind that mask. It didn't matter who she was, what she looked like, or what the relationship between them was in the real world. He loved that girl underneath that mask. He was willing to let her know who he was. He trusted her without question or condition. He had once offered to show her, simply to prove this fact to her. But she wanted their identities to remain a secret, even from one another. She said it would keep them more secure, and while Adrien hated that, he respected her wishes, and to this day, had kept his identity a secret, even from her, and did not pry as to hers. She would tell him when she was ready.

If she was ever ready.

"I'll get you something to eat when we get back home, Plagg. You'll just have to hold on until then." Adrien informed his partner, following the empty streets towards his home. He lived very close to the Eiffel Tower, so it wasn't exactly difficult to remember his way home, despite having never gone this way back to his family mansion before, at least not at the street level. He'd probably made his way home via this route a few times across the rooftops as Chat Noir, but he didn't recognize this specific neighborhood. He was thankful that he lived so close to the biggest landmark in all of Paris. It meant he always knew which way home was.

"But that could take hours!" The magical creature dramatically cried.

"It'll take us twenty minutes."

"This is your fault." Plagg muttered. "You spend way too much of your time flirting with Ladybug, and not enough time focused on how much time you have left as Chat Noir."

"I'm in love. What do you want from me?"

"I want Camembert!"

"Oh shut it, Plagg. You're like a broken record sometimes." Adrien joked, flicking his magical partner lightly in the forehead. The two of them bickered, but it was never outright hostile. It was just the way the two of them worked. They did care for one another in reality.

"'Oh, Ladybug, my beautiful lady!'" Plagg mimicked, overly dramatically reenacting Chat Noir's previous movements, even down to the finest detail, including his rapidly blinking three times. He added on with a snicker, "'Oh how purr-fect you look tonight, m'lady'. Sound familiar, kid?"