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The bell above the door jingled as Marinette opened it and stepped inside the fabric store. The shopkeeper looked up upon seeing it, and a smile spread across her face when she saw who had entered. “Hello, Marinette!”
Marinette waved. “Hi, Claudine.”
“How’s the family?” Claudine asked.
“Good,” Marinette replied. “Busy, though. We got a rush order to cater some event for the arrondissement council in a couple days.”
“Well, I’m sure they wouldn’t have agreed to it if they didn’t think they could deliver in time,” Claudine remarked. “So, what can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for some yarn to make a scarf,” Marinette told her.
Claudine nodded, stepping out from behind the counter. “Decorative scarf or functional scarf?”
“Somewhere in between,” Marinette responded as they walked over toward the yarn racks. “It’s going to be a gift, so I don’t want it to be completely useless for warmth, but I also don’t think I want it to be so warm it couldn’t be worn for fashion, either.”
“A gift?” Claudine repeated. “Mind if I ask who it’s for?”
Marinette ducked her head nervously. “A…a boy in my class at school.”
Claudine chuckled. “A boy, huh?”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “Claudine! This is exactly why I didn’t ask my parents to come with me to help pick out a color!”
“Ah, to be young and in love,” Claudine said with a fond smile. “So, did you have a particular color in mind, or do you want me to just pick something for you?”
“I was thinking something toward the lighter end of the spectrum,” Marinette replied, “but nothing specific beyond that. I’m pretty sure he can’t see colors yet either.”
Claudine gave her a knowing look. “But you’re hoping he will once he gets it?”
Marinette blushed. “Yeah.”
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Marinette,” Claudine assured her. “I think there are very few people in this world who don’t want to find their soulmate. Now that being said, don’t be too disappointed if it turns out he’s not the one. You’re still only in collège. You’ve got a lot of life ahead of you to find him, or her for that matter, if this guy turns out not to be yours.”
Marinette sighed. “Yeah, I know, but…a girl can dream, right?”
“She most certainly can,” Claudine replied. “Goodness knows I did back then.”
Claudine picked up a spool of yarn off the rack and held it out to Marinette. “Here, this is a light blue. How does that sound?”
Marinette took the spool and ran her hand across the outside. “Ooh, this is nice and soft.”
“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” Claudine said.
They made their way back to the counter, where Marinette paid for the yarn and Claudine packed it into a bag for her.
“Good luck with your boy!” Claudine called as Marinette left the shop.
Marinette turned around in the doorway long enough to wave. “Thanks, Claudine!”
“Marinette! You’re going to be late for patrol!”
“Just give me two more minutes here, Tikki,” Marinette replied. “I’m almost done making Adrien’s scarf.”
Tikki sighed. “Well, I suppose as long as two more minutes is all it is…”
Marinette applied the last few touches, then folded the scarf and put it in her desk drawer. “Done! Now all I have to do is box it up and wrap it, and it’ll be ready for me to give to him for his birthday tomorrow.”
“I’m sure he’ll love it, Marinette,” Tikki said. “Now, we really do need to get going if we want to get back on time.”
Marinette nodded. “Tikki, spots on!”
Ladybug climbed up through the skylight onto her balcony and set off across the rooftops toward her and Chat’s usual meeting place. As she approached, she could see his familiar figure silhouetted against the pale grey, almost white disk of the setting sun. She paused long enough to wave to him, receiving an enthusiastic wave in return, then tossed her yo-yo once more and crossed the remaining rooftops separating them.
“Evening, milady,” Chat greeted her, bowing deeply as she landed next to him on the roof. When he straightened up again, Ladybug could see that he held a single long-stemmed rose in one hand, which he extended to her with a flourish. “For you.”
Ladybug rolled her eyes indulgently, but nevertheless reached out to accept the proffered rose. “Oh, chaton, you shouldn’t have.”
As her fingers closed around the stem, a brilliant white glow began to emanate from the point of contact, and although her fingertips warmed slightly, it was nowhere near the amount she would’ve expected for as bright as the glow seemed to be.
“Chaton?” Ladybug asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.
The glow began to expand into a circular, hollow wavefront, and Ladybug sucked in a gasp as the wavefront expanded enough for her to see the area inside. In form, it was the same as before—her hand holding the rose—but the familiar medium-grey base of her suit had been replaced by vibrant, almost eye-wateringly bright color, and as the bubble of color expanded to fill her entire field of vision, the rose that had initially appeared to be one color throughout was actually two: the flower itself similar in color to her suit but slightly darker, and the stem and leaves contrasting.
Chat rushed to her side in concern, and Ladybug suddenly became aware that she had stumbled backwards to a seated position in her shock.
“Are you alright, milady?” he asked. “You didn’t prick yourself, did you?”
“It’s…it’s red,” she whispered in an almost reverent tone, her brain somehow supplying the color’s name from who-knew-where despite never having seen it before. “And your eyes, they’re…green.”
Chat looked at her with eyes wide, an open-mouthed smile spreading across his face. “You can see that? You can see the colors?”
Ladybug nodded numbly.
“Oh, Bugaboo,” Chat murmured, pulling her into a tight hug. “You know what this means, right? We’re soulmates!”
“Yeah,” Ladybug replied, her voice devoid of emotion. “I guess we are.”
Chat frowned and pulled away far enough to look her in the eye. “Something wrong, milady? You don’t sound too happy about this.”
“Yes—no, well…I—I don’t know, Chat,” Ladybug admitted. “I mean, you’re a great partner, and I’m sure you’re a great guy, too, under the mask, I mean, but…there’s—or there was—well, but—there’s a boy in my civilian life that I have a crush on, or had, I don’t really know what to think anymore in light of this, but…”
“You were hoping he’d be your soulmate,” Chat supplied.
Ladybug nodded. “I’m sorry, Chat. I know this probably isn’t the reaction you were hoping for to finding your soulmate. I just—I mean, it’s not that I can’t see myself in a relationship with you, heck, we might’ve been in one already if not for this other boy, I just—I need some time to process this first, come to terms with the fact that the boy I’d set my heart on isn’t the one for me before I can love you the way you deserve.”
Chat placed a hand on her upper back. “It’s alright, milady. I…I’d probably need some time to let go of you if I suddenly found out someone in my civilian life was my soulmate. Just…whenever you’re ready, let me know, and I’ll be here.”
Ladybug smiled wanly. “Thanks, chaton.”
“For what it’s worth, this…wasn’t my intention in giving you the rose,” Chat told her. With a chuckle, he continued, “I didn’t even think a rose would be enough of a gift to trigger you seeing in color. I thought it had to be something substantial, something that would hold up over time just like the bond itself. I didn’t think something ephemeral like a rose that would wilt and die in a week or two would be enough to trigger it.”
Ladybug shook her head. “The way Maman explained it, it doesn’t really matter what the gift is as long as it’s given out of love and with no expectation of receiving anything in return.”
Chat sighed. “I’m sorry, Bugaboo. I know a lot of people like to keep their first gift from their soulmate as a reminder of that moment, and I’ve given you something that won’t last. I—oh, I hope this isn’t an omen.”
“It’s alright, chaton,” Ladybug assured him. “There are ways to preserve flowers to make them last longer.”
“Yeah, but will it still be in good condition when we’re old and grey?” Chat asked. “Will we be able to show it to our grandkids as the gift that made us realize we were soulmates?”
“Don’t worry about it, Chat,” Ladybug said. “Look, maybe…maybe we should just get started with patrol, alright? I would like to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.”
Chat nodded. “Right.”
“Do you want to take the western half of the city, and I’ll take the east?” Ladybug suggested.
Chat nodded again. “Works for me.”
Ladybug stored the rose away in her yo-yo, then took a running start, bounded across to the next rooftop, and set off on her patrol, marveling at the rich orange of the setting sun and surrounding sky. Idly her mind drifted to Adrien and what he would look like in color…
No! Bad Marinette! she scolded herself. Forget about Adrien! He’s not your soulmate. Chat is.
But he’s so dreamy… the rebellious part of her brain whispered back.
Ladybug let out a low growl and smacked herself on the side of the head, shoving both trains of thought out of her mind so she could focus on her patrol.
Ladybug dropped down through the skylight onto her bed. “Tikki, spots off.”
A flash of light enveloped her as she detransformed, and when it dissipated, Marinette frowned in confusion at the familiar light grey walls that surrounded her.
“I could’ve sworn Maman told me the wallpaper was pink…” she muttered.
Her frown deepened when she looked down at her hands and found that, instead of one of the varying shades of brown and tan she had come to associate with human skin over the course of her just-completed patrol, her own skin was still the same pale grey it had always been.
“Tikki!” Marinette said, the barest note of panic creeping into her voice. “Tikki, why can’t I see colors anymore?”
Tikki floated up next to her. “Well, I don’t know this for certain, but it’s possible that because Chat Noir gave you the rose while you were Ladybug without knowing who you are under the mask, the magic of the soul bond might consider that only Ladybug you has received a gift from her soulmate and not Marinette you.”
“So I’m stuck seeing in greyscale as Marinette until it’s safe for us to reveal our identities to each other and Chat’s civilian self can give Marinette me a gift?” she asked.
Tikki nodded. “Probably. I could be wrong, but that’s my best guess.”
Marinette groaned. “Well, that sucks.”
“Hey, at least you know your soulmate is close by, right?” Tikki pointed out. “Some pairs of soulmates spend most of their lives halfway across the world from each other.”
Marinette sighed. “Yeah, I just…some part of me, a large part of me, if I’m being honest with myself, still wishes Adrien was my soulmate.”
On hearing herself say that, Marinette sat bolt upright. “Omigosh! The scarf I was making for Adrien! Tikki, what do I do with it? Should I give it to Chat? I mean, I need to give him a gift in order for him to be able to see color, right? It’d probably still be only while he’s transformed just like with me, but it’d be better than nothing, wouldn’t it?”
“Marinette, don’t you think it would mean more to Chat to get a gift that was meant for him all along rather than one you repurposed at the last minute after having planned to give it to someone else?” Tikki replied.
“Well, yeah, but this scarf took me two weeks to make,” Marinette responded. “I don’t want to make Chat wait that long, and I don’t want to just get him some cheap trinket for his first gift. I want it to be something meaningful.”
“You know, you can get him something store-bought without it being a ‘cheap trinket,’” Tikki told her.
“Yes, but it won’t be the same,” Marinette said. “If I was willing to put the effort into a handmade gift for Adrien when I was hoping he was my soulmate, my actual soulmate shouldn’t have to settle for anything less than that just because I’m disappointed he’s not Adrien. I mean, not that I’m disappointed Chat is my soulmate. If it couldn’t be Adrien, Chat’s probably the next person I would’ve picked, but…am I making sense here, Tikki?”
“To an extent, yes,” Tikki answered, “but I’m sure if you tell Chat you’re working on a handmade gift for him, he’ll be willing to wait for it to be finished even if that means waiting to be able to see colors. And besides, you still want to be friends with Adrien, don’t you?”
“Yes…” Marinette replied hesitantly, not sure what Tikki’s point was.
“And isn’t it normal for friends to get each other birthday gifts even if they’re not romantically interested in each other?” Tikki continued.
Marinette nodded in understanding. “And if I give the scarf to Chat, I won’t have anything to give Adrien tomorrow.”
“Right,” Tikki said. “And if you don’t want to be rushing around in the morning, you probably ought to wrap it tonight.”
“Let’s be real, Tikki: I’m going to be rushed in the morning whether I wrap it tonight or not,” Marinette replied with a laugh, climbing down from the loft. “But point taken.”
“I’ll get the ribbon for you!” Tikki told her, flying off toward Marinette’s supply cabinet.
Marinette let out a disconcerted groan as Adrien’s limo pulled away from the school.
“Girl—” Alya began.
Marinette held up a hand to stop her. “I know, I know, I’m pathetic.”
Alya jerked her head in the direction the limo had departed. “Come on, girl. If you can’t work up the nerve to give it to him directly, you should at least be able to drop it off in his mailbox.”
Marinette nodded. “I need to use the bathroom first. I’ll catch up with you.”
“Alright, but I’ll hold you to that,” Alya warned, pointing at her with one finger. “Seriously, girl. Do not make me send out a search party for you.”
Marinette laughed and rolled her eyes. “I won’t, Alya.”
She then went back into the school, ducked into the nearest bathroom, and opened her purse. “Tikki, why is this so hard? I mean, I know in my head that Adrien’s not my soulmate, but I still…he still makes my heart do flips when I see him, or even just think about him. What’s wrong with me?”
“You’re overthinking this, Marinette,” Tikki told her. “If you’d just held his present in front of you instead of trying to surprise him with it, I’m sure he would’ve understood it was for him even if you hadn’t been able to get the words out.”
“Well, yeah, but I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea,” Marinette protested. “I mean, yeah, friends get each other birthday gifts, but a handmade scarf is more of a ‘hey, I really like you’ gift than a ‘you’re a great friend’ gift, and I didn’t want to just give it to him with no explanation and have him get the wrong idea…especially since I don’t think I could say no to that face if he did get the wrong idea.”
“Just tell him the truth,” Tikki replied. “I’m sure you’re not the first person to find your soulmate unexpectedly while pursuing someone else, I’m sure you won’t be the last, and I’m sure Adrien will understand if you explain to him that you still wanted him to have the scarf after you put so much effort into making it even if it seems like too forward of a gift from someone who no longer has a romantic interest in him.”
“But that’s just the thing, Tikki,” Marinette pointed out. “I know I shouldn’t have a romantic interest in him anymore, but I do. My heart just can’t let Adrien go, even though my head knows Chat is my soulmate and I should be focusing my affections on him now. I know it’s horribly unfair to Chat, I just…maybe I should just leave the scarf in Adrien’s mailbox with no note. That way he still gets it without having to know it was from me. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.”
Tikki smiled. “Well, you’d better get going before Alya comes looking for you!”
“A birthday present from your father,” Nathalie informed Adrien, holding out the box.
Adrien set down his glass and pushed his salver to one side, clearing the area of the table directly in front of him so he could set down the gift box. After carefully untying the ribbon and setting it to the other side, he lifted off the lid, and a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth when he saw the scarf that lay within. As he lifted it out of the box, a glowing white dot appeared over the spot where his thumb first touched the fabric, and as the dot expanded into a ring, Adrien’s eyes widened at the myriad hues inside the rapidly expanding halo.
Recovering from the surprise, his eyes narrowed, and his head snapped up to glare at Nathalie. “Alright, cut the crap. Who is it really from?”
A momentary expression of panic crossed Nathalie’s face before she schooled her features back into neutrality. “Your father, like I said when I gave it to you.”
“It’s blue, Nathalie,” Adrien snapped, holding up the scarf and giving it a shake for emphasis, “so unless by some sick cosmic joke my father is somehow also my soulmate, you have some explaining to do.”
Nathalie bit her lip. “Adrien—”
“And Father has most certainly given me gifts before,” Adrien pointed out, standing up from the table and advancing toward her with cold fury in his eyes, “so even if that were the case, I’d already have known it years ago.”
“Look, someone came by and left it in the mailbox around lunchtime,” Nathalie blurted, backpedaling away from him with her hands raised above her shoulders. “A little bit before that friend of yours came by to talk to your father.”
“Who?” Adrien demanded.
“Some girl, I wasn’t paying that close attention at the time,” Nathalie replied, running a hand across her brow. “Dark hair, I think? I can check the security camera footage if you’d like.”
Adrien just raised a challenging eyebrow at her, not wanting to risk saying something he might regret later.
“Okay, okay! I’ll go check!” Nathalie yelped, scurrying down the hall toward her office with Adrien hot on her heels.
As she logged into her computer, Nathalie said, “Look, in my defense, I had no way of knowing this girl would turn out to be your soulmate.”
Adrien gaped at her. “That doesn’t matter! Soulmate or not, you can’t just steal someone else’s gift and pass it off as my father’s! What was I supposed to do if she asked me about it tomorrow at school and I had no idea what she was talking about because you told me it was from Father?”
“Well, there was no label on it, so I assumed she meant to give it to you anonymously—” Nathalie protested.
“And what if there’d been a label inside the box?” Adrien pointed out. “Or a card? Did you somehow think it was okay to pull this little stunt because you thought you could get away with it?”
“Uh…w—well…” Nathalie stammered.
“You know what, just find the damn footage,” Adrien snarled. “I don’t even want to know how you think you can justify this.”
Nathalie tapped at the keyboard for about a minute before turning the monitor around for Adrien to see. “Here. This is the girl who dropped it off.”
Adrien peered in at the screen, and a fond smile crossed his face as he recognized the figure looking back at him. “Marinette…”
His features hardened as he turned back to Nathalie. “Tell Gorilla to be ready an hour early tomorrow. I need to pick up a thank-you gift for her on the way to school.”
Nathalie nodded. “Of course.”
As Adrien turned on his heel and was about to exit the office, Nathalie called after him, “Adrien…for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Adrien turned around in the doorway, his expression impassive. “You should be.”
Alya tiptoed across the locker room and tapped Marinette on the shoulder. “Girl, he’s wearing it!”
Marinette looked at her in confusion. “What?”
“The scarf you made for Adrien!” Alya whispered excitedly. “He’s wearing it!”
Marinette smiled. “I’m glad he likes it.”
Alya frowned. “That’s it? You’re not going to—”
“Hey, girls!” Adrien interrupted, waving to them from the doorway before stepping further inside.
“Hey, Adrien!” Alya replied. With a surreptitious wink at Marinette, she continued, “I love that scarf you’re wearing. It looks so soft!”
“It is,” Adrien told her, lifting one end and rubbing it against his cheek. “Hey, Marinette, do you have a couple minutes?”
Marinette’s eyes grew comically wide, and it was all she could do to nod silently in response.
Alya suppressed a laugh. “I’ll see you in class, girl.”
Marinette nodded. “Yeah, see you there.”
Alya departed with a jaunty wave, and once she was gone, Adrien walked over from his locker to stand next to Marinette’s.
“Thank you so much for the scarf, Marinette,” Adrien said. “It’s wonderful, truly.”
Marinette blushed. “Uh, think you—thank you! I mean, you’re welcome!”
Adrien reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a jewelry box. Taking off the lid and tilting it so Marinette could see inside, he told her, “Here, I got you this charm bracelet this morning.”
Marinette hummed nervously. “You don’t—you didn’t have to do that, Adrien.”
“I know, but I wanted to,” Adrien responded. “This scarf…might be the best gift I’ve ever gotten. It’s certainly the best since Maman passed. Consider this a…a token of my appreciation.”
He lifted the bracelet out of the box, and Marinette could see that it bore a single charm consisting of a pair of knitting needles crossed through a ball of yarn.
“May I put it on you?” Adrien asked.
Marinette let out a high-pitched squeak.
Adrien smiled, biting his lip to keep from laughing. “Is that a yes?”
No! You already have a soulmate, and it’s not him! Marinette’s inner voice screamed at her, but she felt her head nodding in spite of it.
Still smiling, Adrien took Marinette’s right hand in his and lifted it from her side so her wrist was held straight out in front of her, then set the jewelry box on the middle shelf of Marinette’s locker so he had both hands free to guide the charm bracelet over her hand and onto her wrist.
As the cool metal of the bracelet touched her skin, Marinette saw a familiar white glow appear over the point of contact, and she gasped as the world burst into color once more, the bracelet gleaming gold under the fluorescent lighting of the locker room.
“Chaton…?” she breathed, her vision beginning to blur as happy tears welled up at the corners of her eyes.
“Bugaboo,” Adrien murmured, gathering her into an embrace. “Oh, Bugaboo.”
“It’s you,” Marinette whispered, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in the crook of his neck. “It’s you, it’s you, it’s you.”
Adrien pressed a kiss to the side of her head, just behind her ear, then closed his eyes and leaned his head against hers with a contented sigh. They stayed like that for several minutes, gently swaying from side to side, basking in each other’s presence.
Eventually Adrien pulled away just far enough to look Marinette in the eye and said, “I can’t believe we’ve been right under each other’s noses this whole time.”
Marinette chuckled. “I can’t believe I’ve been turning you down this whole time because I had a crush on your own alter ego.”
“Well, it’s in the past now,” Adrien said reassuringly, “and I, for one, can’t wait to see what our future together holds.”
“Together,” Marinette repeated, grinning broadly. “I like the sound of that.”
Adrien leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Ready to get started?”
Marinette nodded. “With you? Always.”
Adrien smiled, and they each put an arm around the other’s shoulders and walked out of the locker room together.