Adrien smiled as he looked at the calendar. Tomorrow was the day that soulmates would be revealed to everyone who was between sixteen and eighteen. It had been three years since last time and he was excited for when it was his turn. If anything, he was hoping that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was his soulmate. Marinette was his friend, but she was also kind, creative, smart, and she made tasty pasties. He also thought she was a bit cute. All he wanted to do was protect her from guys that could hurt her.
Adrien turned at the sound of his door opening and saw Natalie.
"Hey, Natalie." he spoke, "Is there a change in my schedule?"
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow." she answered, "How are you feeling?"
"Excited." Adrien declared, "I sort of have my eye on one of my friends. I hope it's her."
"Even if she isn't, don't be disappointed. The person with you mark is waiting for you." Natalie stated.
Adrien glanced down at her hand. It was bare or covered with makeup.
"What about your soulmate?" he questioned.
"I had my eye on someone, too." Natalie replied, "We weren't a match. They matched with one of my friends and they had a family. I'm very happy for them."
"How did you-" Adrien began.
"Handle it?" Nat asked, "I was sad and upset, but I saw how they interacted. They were right to be paired up. I know my soulmate is out there and I haven't stopped looking."
Adrien nodded his head as she left the room.
Adrien got out of his car, excitedly. He immediatley spotted Marinette and made his way towards her, ignoring the people calling out his name.
"Hey, Mari!" He shouted, "Excited about today?"
"Yes!" Marinette smiled, "My soulmate is gonna be here next week!"
"Huh?" Adrien spoke outloud.
"Oh, right." she giggled, "My soulmate is my best friend, but he's in the United States. They actually set an alarm for the time I woke up so they could talk to me about my mark. We found out we matched!"
Adrien grasped the strap of his bag. He felt like the ground was going to fall out from under him.
"Oh." he whispered.
"Yeah." Marinette smiled, showing off her soulmate mark on her hand.
Adrien saw a sword and a needle with a piece of string that formed an X .
"He said he immediately thought of me when he saw the needle." Mari continued, "But he wasn't sure."
"Th-That's great." Adrien managed to say.
"Of course, we have to see if it's romantic, but-" She concluded.
Adrien looked at her confused, "What do you men?"
"Can I see your hand?" Marinette asked.
"Huh?" the model spoke, confused, "Uh, sure."
Marinette pressed their palms with soulmate marks together. He watched as his mark glowed a light blue.
"Blue?" he spoke.
"Mine was blue too." Marinette declared, So we could be considered platonic soulmates. We're friends. Blue is for friends. Red is for enemies and Gold is for lover. Even if Damian is only a platonic soulmate; he's still my best friend."
Adrien lowered his hand and nodded his head.
'At least it's not red.'
"Hey." Luka called, walking over, "How are you? How's the search?"
"My best friend is my soulmate." she excitedly told him.
"Damian?" Luka asked.
Adrien looked at the musician in shock.
'Luka knew about him and I didn't? Why?'
Marinette nodded, happily.
"He set a timer for when I wake up and asked." Mari recanted, "He didn't think he would match mine. He was just gonna give me a pep talk before I came here and freaked out."
Luka laughed, "Well, he has helped you out, a lot more than I ever did."
Mari lightly smacked his chest, "Damian just has a lot of older siblings to ask for advice."
Luka noticed the model's confused look and nodded his head towards him.
"May I?" he asked.
Marinette simply nodded.
"I can see you're confused, Adrien." Luka declared, "Marinette went through a difficult patch the last couple of years. Damian has many older siblings while he.....is not so great at socializing. When it came to Mari, he's reach out for help from his family or his friend to get an idea of what was going on, what he could do, or say to help her."
Mari smiled, "He's sweet."
"To you and only you." Luka smiled.
The conversation ended abruptly as the bell rang for school to start.
"We should get going to class." Adrien spoke.
"Yeah." Luka agreed, "Pretty sure teachers are just gonna let us go half way through. Don't know if anyone would pay attention today."
Marinette laughed as they entered the school.
The school couldn't handle the chaos. There were too many students on their phones, people yelling, fights breaking out because couples were breaking up or accused of cheating. Adrien walked out of the school and entered the car. He could feel Natalie eyeing him in the mirror. He just shook his head and sniffled. He was grateful that she didn't say anything on the way home. Adrien got home and collapsed in his bed. Natalie must have said something to his father because his meals were brought to his room and he wasn't bothered for anything scheduled.
Adrien watched a week later as Marinette ran up to some guy and hugged him.
'Must be her soulmate.'
He watched on as they placed their palms together and their marks glowed gold. He turned away as her soulmate lifted her chin up and kissed her.
'It hurts so much.'
As he walked towards the school, he heard whispers:
'Is that Marinette?'
'That must be her soulmate.'
'Man, I thought she was going to get with Agreste.'
'Yeah.'
'Didn't she like him or something?'
'Pretty sure they had a falling out.'
'They don't really talk anymore.'
'Someone said they say him crying when he didn't match with her.'
'Yeah right. He could have anyone. Why her?'
'They were friends years ago.'
'Well, something must have happened. Haven't seen them together for awhile now.'
'She probably got tired of him saying she was a great friend.'
'True. If I had to hear how much of a friend I was to my crush, I would have moved on, too.'
'That new guy looks like he's already in love with so that works in her favor.'
Adrien pulled out his phone and texted Natalie to bring the car back to the school and meet him toward the back. When the car pulled up, he quickly got in. Before she could say anything, he broke down sobbing. Natalie was shocked but nodded for the driver to take them home.
'She's not my soulmate and it's my fault. I stopped paying attention to her. Luka knew about him. When did she get a new best friend and why from the US? He listened to her. He helped her. I called her a friend and the universe punished me for it.'