Marinette stared at the picture on her knee. A tiny cat face was drawn—in glittery pen for the green eyes, no less—but she was certain that she'd washed if off last night. Besides, she didn't have her glitter pens out, so what was with the eyes? She licked her finger and tried to smudge it off, but it just wouldn't budge. Marinette frowned at it and glanced at the clock, quelling her panic when she remembered that it was Saturday and her only commitment was to Alya that afternoon.

Tikki sat beside her, humming an old song.

"Tikki?"

"Yes, Marinette?"

"I took a shower last night, right? Like, I know I'm forgetful, but surely I would've remembered forgetting something like that..."

"You've answered your own question, Marinette."

"Then what's this still doing here?" She motioned to the drawing that Tikki and Alya had teased her about, which is why she'd washed it off...or so she thought.

Tikki looked at it, pretending to inspect it when she knew full well what was going on. "Look, Marinette; it's fading."

Mari glanced down and watched all but a little of the doodle fade away. Realization struck her, turning her to stone. "It's a soulmate mark, Tikki."

"Do you want to find out who it is?"

"But how do I do that, Tikki? What if he lives in China? Wait, no, China's not a problem. What if he lives in, like, Mexico or something?"

"You could always ask him."

"How?!"

"The same way you discovered his! Just write on yourself, and maybe he'll respond."

Marinette picked Tikki up and kissed her. "Tikki, you're a genius!" She scrambled for a pen and her phone to take pictures. Alya was going to be thrilled!

Mari uncapped the pen and hesitated. She didn't want her first words to her soulmate—her soulmate!—to be cheesy. Or dorky. Or stupid. What if they've already been stupid?

"You can do this, Marinette. You've waited a long time for it to happen." Tikki smiled at her and urged her to write something.

She nodded and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."

"Hey soulmate "

So much for the not stupid plan.

Mari waited. What if they didn't like her handwriting? She decided that that was a stupid way to think; she'd been trying for years to get over most of her insecurities, however hard that was.

"Marinette! You're getting a response!"

She looked down and blushed. In fine cursive—and another glittery pen—was a simple reply:

"hey there "

Marinette chided herself for not using a prettier pen than plain black, but she couldn't just change now.

"Can I ask who you are?"

"only if you tell me first"

"Tikki, what do I tell them?"

"That you're Marinette! You don't have to jump into him knowing that you're Ladybug if you don't want to."

"You're right." She carefully wrote her name out, making sure it was legible.

"i'm so glad i already know you"

"Tikki, we know each other! Well, unless there's another Marinette running around. Let's face it, if there are seven people who look exactly like you, then there's probably another twenty or so who share your name. The odds are that maybe one of those seven and one of those twenty are the same person, so maybe we'll both end up with the wrong one of us, and I'll have wasted my time. Ugh!" She flopped into a pillow.

"He wrote more, Marinette!"

She glanced at her leg again, finding more writing.

"you know me best as chat noir

"your drawing of me was cute

"let me draw you to confirm?"

Her heart stopped.

"Ok"

Soon enough—still in those obnoxious glitter pens—he'd drawn a girl with sparkling blue eyes and black pigtails.

"That's me"

"hope you think i'm PAW-fection

"see you tonight?"

Marinette blushed. Sure, Nathanaël had drawn her before, and Alya had done doodles of the two of them, but this was far more intimate. Here was her own face, drawn on her by none other than Chat Noir, pun extraordinaire, who apparently also had a thing for those darn glittery pens—each line was written in a different color. Maybe she would see him tonight...

"princess?"

"Where?"

"just wait for me :3

"see you later"

"Chat's coming to see me later! Tikki, what do I do?"

"Take a picture, Marinette!"

"Oh, right!" She snapped pictures of both of her legs, thrilled at the possibilities. "I have to call Alya!" Marinette picked up her phone and waited for the line to connect.

"Girl, we're seeing each other in an hour. What couldn't wait that long?"

"My soulmate wrote on me!"

"I'm coming over now, and you'd better give me all the deets!"

"Of course! See you soon." Alya hung up first, leaving Marinette to sit and ponder. "Tikki, what if Chat doesn't really like me for Marinette?"

"Of course he does. You're starting to like him for Chat Noir."

"That's true, but...you know, I always thought it was going to be Adrien. At least Chat has his Ladybug. Ladybug. He has Ladybug. I have Chat Noir. I can't tell Alya! She'll ask me to run around and follow her, but I can't do that if I'm being Ladybug! That'll put Alya in danger, and Chat would get distracted, and Hawk Moth will continue his reign of terror over Paris, and it's all my fault for drawing a stupid green-eyed cat on my leg!" She let out a sound of distress. Being seventeen was definitely not easy.

A/N: First fic. I didn't really edit that much. I also don't know if I'll continue writing it, but I may if inspiration hits. Thanks for reading!