"Flight 204, to New York, from Air France will leave soon. Passengers please board the plane. Flight 204....." The voice was heard from the speakers
"Queenie, it's our flight. Let's go." Marinette called Chloe, who was busy fighting with a person, because he didn't recognise her and it's 'ridiculous, utterly ridiculous'
"Hmph, you better keep up with the celebrities. I am the Chloe Bourgeois. The only daughter of Style Queen, Audrey Bourgeois. The person who has her own amazing business. The best friend of cocci-"
"Chlo!" Mari put her hand to prevent her from speaking more than necessary. "Our flight, let's go."
"Oh"
"Je suis désolée Monsieur." (I am sorry sir)
"C'est bon." (It's okay)
"Let's go Chloe."
"I can't wait to go to New York! It's gonna be sooo much fun! I am so excited" Adrien squealed heading towards his seat
"When are you not excited?" Kagami asked rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's behavior
"Don't put your cloudy shade over my sunlight." Adrien said dramatically, in response Kagami again rolled her eyes.
"If you think I am such a rain cloud, why are you dating me?"
"Because I love you, Duh!"
Kagami's face went as red as a tomato.
"Aww, you're blushing!"
"No, I am not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I am not."
"Yes-"
"Guys as cute as you are, can we just please move." Luka said moving to his seat
"Sorry Lukes."
"Luka-bear, window seat is mine."
"I know Bee."
"Mari, you get the aisle seat. And Lu you'll have to sit in the middle." Chloe pointed to everyone's seat
"Yes Queenie!" Marinette saluted
"Perfect, now I will sleep for hours, I need my beauty sleep after all. If I will get dark circles it will be ridi-"
"RIDICULOUS, UTTERLY RIDICULOUS" All of them yelled
"Melody, your soul mark is in English, right. Maybe you'll find your soulmate here."
"Oooooh"
"Yeah, probably. My luck is not that good though."
"Don't lose hope yet Marinette, who knows maybe something good will happen."
"Maybe"
"The flight is ready to take off, passengers please wear their seatbelts. The flight is ready to…"
"I think we should get seated." Kagami took her seat "And Mars, don't worry, you will find your soulmate soon. It's destiny."
"You're right. It's destiny."
They all got seated, and Marinette was dying from lack of her coffee.
"I need my coooooffeeeee."
"No, sleep."
"Coffeeeee."
"Mel, for the last time, Sleeeeep!! Please."
"But I don't wanna. I have work-"
"That can wait. I am sure your clients will understand. And even if they won't I am sure you're ahead of your schedule." Marinette opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, it happened for a good three minutes before she gave in.
"......fine."
"Good"
"but you are working as my mannequin later."
"If it gets you to sleep."
"Why are you obsessed with making me sleep?"
"Because I care." Came his soft reply.
~After 5 hours~
"Marinette~ Where are you?~" A maniacal voice was heard
"Marinette! Answer me before I come there! Guess I will have to teach you another lesson!"
"Why don't you just die, you stupid peoce of shit?" A punch
"Why are you even alive?" A kick
"You're nothing more than a waste of space." A push and marinette fell to the ground
"Nobody ever loved you, and nobody ever will! You don't even have a soulmate!" Marinette tried to say something, deny it, tell them that she had one, but she couldn't "And your "friends" they just hang out with you for pity!"
"I can't even believe I was friends with you!"
"You're nothing more than a jealous bully!"
She tried to do something, anything! But she wasn't able to, it was almost like she was bound by an invisible force.
"I hate you! I can't believe I was besties with you! You are just a liar and a bully!" Another kick, it didn't hurt. Not more than their betrayal.
"Asshole!"
"Bitch!"
"Slut!"
"Waste of time!"
She sat there, listening to them. All of their insults, she didn't care. Not anymore.
"Guess I will have to put an end to it all, huh? I feel sad, you were a good playtoy." Her da-, no Mr.Dupain said, and the knife came down, she was screaming but no sound came out
"Marinette!" Huh? She didn't die?
"Marinette!" Adrien, she recognized the voice
"Marinette!" Marinette woke up with a shock
"What happened?"
"You were screaming and thrashing in your sleep."
"Oh, I had a nightmare." Adrien wiped her tears, she'd been crying? She didn't know.
"Wanna talk about it?" No she didn't, it will make it all real. It would bring flashbacks and she would have a panic attack.
"Not really." It was good that Adrien respected her wishes and didn't push it. "How long till we reach?"
"Uh, it's been five hours, so I am guessing three hours more. You wanna eat something?"
"N-" Adrien cut her off
"You know what? You do want to. You will obviously deny it, but I am not gonna let you starve."
"Why are you all like this?"
"Like what? So caring and such good friends? You deserve it."
"I hate you, each one of you."
"Aww, you know you love us! You looove us"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Mari rolled her eyes. She knew she loved them, they knew she loved them. They all loved each other, platonically obviously. But, there was a part of her which always wondered if they hung out with her just because they pitied her. They wouldn't do that, right?
Would they?
Finally almost eight hours passed, she had eaten and now she was working on some new designs while her friends slept peacefully.
"There has been a technical issue, the flight would land right here, in Gotham. Passengers are required to please wear their seatbelts and not panic."
WHAT!? The flight had to make an abrupt stop at Gotham at all of places, the fucking CRIME CAPITAL!! Oh no, oh no, OH HELL NO! This is a disaster, this is a disaster, a disaster. Wasn't luck supposed to be on her side? Did the miraculous mean nothing?
She quickly wore her seatbelt and checked all of her friends' too before waking them up.
"Umm, guys, there has been a technical issue, the flight's gonna land now, so you may wanna wake up." It didn't work, the formal and polite option didn't work "GUYS WAKE UP! THE FLIGHT'S GONNA LAND RIGHT NOW IN GOTHAM!" That worked! It jolted awake all of them.
"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!!"
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"In the fucking crime capital?!"
"Maybe it is destiny." Marinette gave Luka a weird look that said 'are you crazy or something?'
"Maybe you will find your soulmate here."
"Of fucking course. In the crime capital. Maybe my soulmate is a criminal too, huh?"
"Don't be such a pessimist Mari, there are good people too in Gotham."
"So any idea what we wanna do?" Marinette asked once they were out of the plane.
"Let's order a cab to New York?"
"Yeah, let's do that. Let me check the cabs… There's no cab available for where you wanna go….. " Blood drained from Adrien's face as he read that.
"So, we are forced to stay in Gotham?"
"Kinda"
"Well what should we do now?" Luka gained their attention
"Let's go shopping!!" Chloe, obviously, cheered "Before either of you deny, Kags, you need new clothes, no offense, but you really have a bad fashion sense. Luka-bae, I need you to carry my bags. Adri-kins, Kags need you. And Mari-bear, you have a good fashion choice." Luka and Adrien sighed, guess they have to carry their bags forever.
"I don't know Chlo, I really need some coffee and have to do some work. I guess I will go to a café instead." Marinette said sheepishly
"Hmm, if you say so." Marinette was genuinely surprised that she let her off the hook. Usually she would be dragged with them. "You can send us your location and we'll meet you there in two hours?"
"Sounds like a plan."
"Okay, bye, don't have a overdose~"
"Bye queenie!"
"Now let's find a café with an internet connection and quiet environment." She quickly searched all the café near her, fortunately the nearest café was within walking distance.
She walked for ten minutes before she reached the café "coffee and joy" apparently this café has amazing coffee and the batfam, mostly Red Robin, always comes here. The atmosphere was good, not too crowded but enough for it to be good.
She walked inside, it was good. As soon as she walked in she was greeted by the fragrance of coffee. The circular tables had plants on the side, couples were talking and chattering. There were families enjoying themselves, and a person who was typing away on his computer, huh, he almost looks dead. Well, who was she to judge, she was sure she looked the same while she was working.
She went to order. The workers there were happy and cheery. Weird, this is Gotham. Aren't people supposed to be gloomy and annoyed here? Well, Paris, the supposedly city of love, the people there are--the ones she knows the rest she is sure are good--are evil. She is not even exaggerating.
"Hi! How can I help you today?" The worker, she learnt the name was Sam, asked her.
"Hey can I get a black coffee with…..eight espresso shots? thank you!" The worker looked shocked, obviously anyone would be shocked if someone ordered this much caffeine. She muttered something that she couldn't quite make out but it sounded like 'there's three of them' . What did she mean by three of them? Eh, whatever.
"What name should I write on the cup?"
"Marinette." Marinette, the only reminder of her fam- the people she lived with. The name that was given to her by her grandma that she loves dearly. At Least her grandparents are good people.
"Okay, why don't you wait and I will call you?"
"Sure" She went to the table in the corner. So she would not grab any attention but will be able to go to the counter easily when called.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim was having a sucky day. Firstly, he was almost late to the meeting because Bruce thought it was good to let him sleep in. Fuck you Bruce! I don't need to sleep. Then Alfred banned coffee. Why? Because apparently he had a little too much coffee. Thirdly, his brothers were still obsessed with making him sleep, he already slept last night!
"Ughhh" Tim groaned, luckily his favourite café was just around the corner. He would go and grab some coffee there and work in peace.
Upon entering the café he was greeted by the sweet fragrance of coffee. Oh, how much he loved it. If he didn't find his soulmate he would marry coffee. Bruce wouldn't have a problem, right?
"Hey Sam!" Tim greeted the always cheerful barista
"Hey Mr. Drake. Your usual?"
"Yep."
"It will be ready soon!"
Thanking her Tim made his way to his usual table and took out his laptop to go over the meeting details. After a minute or so grabbing his coffee and feeling alive again Tim started working on the documents. He was so lost in his world that he didn't realise someone coming in. Only when her name was called did he realise that.
Out of curiosity, Tim looked at her, and what he saw was something he would remember forever. That woman was beautiful. He knew that it was wrong, he knew that he had a soulmate, he knew he should wait for them wherever they are, but he also knew that he felt a connection with her, he also knew that he had to take his chance. So that's what he'll do.
Waiting for a while to gather some courage and thinking about what to say. He started to make his way to her. Only to be stopped by her sad expression, she was angry, mostly sad looking at her laptop. Huh, looks like she's not having a great day. He decided that he will go to her with coffee, after all what was something that coffee couldn't solve. He ordered two coffees for them, he knew that her order was the same as his.
He took a deep breath and made his way across the café to her and offered her the beverage in his hand. "Having a rough day?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marinette was relieved that she got her coffee. She hasn't had any since morning. Why does the world have to be sooo unfair to her!? Opening her laptop she found some new commissions…..and some emails from her old class. Can they just suck it and move on? How childish can anyone be.
She knows that she shouldn't be but she was sad looking at it. She was just about to delete them when a voice startled her.
"Having a rough day? Have a coffee, It will make it better." Marinette being Marinette jumped at the voice.
"Ahh! You scared me! Wait a second….. You are my soulmate! Thanks for the coffee by the way." As soon as their hands touched there was a golden glow around them, a welcoming glow.
"Hey, soulmate. I am Timothy Drake-Wayne please call me Tim."
"Hey Tim, I am Marinette. Nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine, Marinette." Tim kissed her knuckles to which she responded by blushing.