"Adrien, wanna hang out?" asked Nino as the sound of the bell released them from school. Class had dragged on all day, and all Adrien thought he wanted was to get out, be alone, and just think. Or actually talk to Mari and figure out what was going on with her and why she was so upset. Either of the two. Speaking of Marinette, Adrien had tried to conceal the fact that he was stealing glances at her every few minuted. It was still weird to him that he hadn't really noticed her at all before visiting her as Cat Noir.

But Nino's question had come as a welcome surprise to Adrien. He realized that it would be great to hang out with his best friend, and just talk, about anything. He hadn't really been spending enough time with Nino, given his two beautiful crushes.

"Sure!" he replied enthusiastically. Nino grinned. "My house, bro?"

Adrien nodded and followed Nino down the sidewalk. He couldn't help but notice Marinette and Alya. Marinette still had that expression of sadness on her face. He hurt for her, and wished he could figure out what it was that was wrong.

Nino caught him looking and smiled to himself. He knew that Marinette liked Adrien, and he was wondering if Adrien had started to feel the same.

When they had arrived at Nino's house, they sat down and started playing video games, like normal.

After a while, they both stopped playing and Nino decided to ask Adrien something he had been very curious about the past few weeks.

"So, uh, dude, last time I mentioned this you said you didn't want to talk about it, and I respect your space," said Nino. "But I am curious, do you know who your soulmate is?" Nino asked.

"Well, I don't know who it is, but I can show the mark to you," Adrien said. Nino's question had been met with dread on his part, and he decided he had to lie. He did want to tell Nino something, though, at least.

Nino nodded, excited to see what his friend had gotten.

Adrien lifted up the sleeve of his shirt and showed him the mark: a pink cursive M. Nino almost instantly realized it was Marinette, given that, well, her name was Marinette and her and Adrien clearly had feelings to some degree for each other, but decided not to say anything. After all, everything happened for a reason when it came to soulmates.

So instead he just chose to nod.

"And you have no idea who your soulmate is?" Nino asked.

"No," Adrien lied.

Nino inwardly sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. How oblivious could a person be?

Later that day, when Adrien had left, he got out his phone and called Alya. Maybe she could help with this situation.

"Hi Nino!" she said.

"Hey, Alya," he said, smiling at the sound of her voice.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Well, I have got some news. I know who Adrien's soulmate is," Nino said.

"Really? Who?" Alya asked.

"Marinette," Nino said, stunning Alya.

She was having three different reactions in her head. The first one was absolute joy. Her OTP was coming true! Adriennette forever! The second one was absolute rage. How dare he?! He was breaking her best friend's heart in two!! The third was confusion. Who did Adrien in fact like? Why was Marinette so upset to get Adrien as her soulmate when she had the biggest crush on him? It didn't make any sense. Alya had so many unanswered questions.

There was only was one thing she knew for certain. Those two needed some help. She could easily beat Adrien senseless for hurting her best friend, but instead, she decided to channel it into something good for Marinette's sake.

"Nino, we need to come up with a plan," Alya said.

"I was hoping you would say that," Nino said. Once Alya had a goal in sight, there was nothing stopping her. Adrien and Marinette wouldn't know what hit them.

A couple days later, Alya had arranged for all four of them to hang out in the park.

Alya noticed that Adrien kept looking at Marinette with guilt in his eyes, meanwhile, Marinette seemed to be avoiding looking at Adrien altogether. Alya sighed. Those two would forever be the death of her.

They were all sitting on a bench where they were chatting happily (well, Alya and Nino at least) and eating ice cream.

Okay, it was time to put her plan into action. She pretended she got a text message and looked at her phone quickly, faking a look of distress.

"Oh No! I completely forgot I had to babysit my sisters tonight! Nino, can you come with me? You know they are fond of you," Alya said quickly, trying to keep completely serious.

"Sure Alya, I'll see you guys tomorrow okay?" Nino said, and then ran off with Alya, leaving the two of them alone and floundering. However, instead of running to Alya's house like she'd said, they sneaked behind a bush and started eavesdropping on their friends.

There was an awkward silence between Marinette and Adrien. Adrien didn't know what to say to Marinette and Marinette didn't want to look at Adrien, afraid her feelings for him might come back to haunt her with the recent events with Cat Noir. The result was an awkward silence for the first few moments.

"So, have you found your soulmate mark?" Adrien asked, even though he already knew the answer to that. Marinette's answer did surprise him though.

"Yes," she said, still determinedly not looking at him. She had already told Alya, so why not Adrien?

"Really? Who is it?" Adrien asked, still feigning ignorance.

"I haven't told anyone, not even Alya," Marinette said quietly.

"Oh," Adrien said slowly. He should have guessed that she wouldn't tell Alya her soulmate was Cat Noir.

"So, h-how are things going with your soulmate?" Marinette asked. Damn it. Her stutter was coming back around him.

"Not as great as I had hoped. She still doesn't quite know I'm her soulmate," he said. It was true, technically. Marinette didn't know Adrien was her soulmate.

"Oh, well, I hope things get better," Marinette said, offering him a smile, at last.

"Thanks, Marinette," Adrien said. It was nice to see her smile again.

"So, um, how are things going with your soulmate?" he asked, scared to hear the answer.

Marinette was quiet for a moment before she sighed. It would be good to talk about it with someone, wouldn't it?

"My soulmate loves someone else," she said.

Adrien's eyes widened. Okay, he was not expecting to hear that.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying not to reveal anything about how he actually felt.

"I overheard him confessing to a girl. He had hoped for this girl to be his soulmate, and he does care for me, but I'll always be second to that girl," she said.

Adrien was silent. She had overheard that conversation with Ladybug, after all. That was the reason for her frosty silence. He realized how deeply it hurt her when she overheard that conversation. It made her feel as though she was not good enough.

"Well, I have to get home, see you tomorrow Adrien," Marinette said and stood up, walking away. He was left there alone (or so he thought).

"Bye Marinette," he said and then proceeded to walk home himself. He had hurt Marinette badly, that much was true. The question was, how was he going to fix this?

Alya was staring at where Marinette and Adrien had been sitting, trying to put the pieces together in her head. This didn't make sense. Marinette was acting as if she didn't know that Adrien was her soulmate, but it seemed as if Adrien knew, yet he told Nino he didn't? What was going on?

Alya went home and sat on her bed, deep in thought. She was missing something. There was a crucial piece of the puzzle that she desperately needed to find.

Adrien and Marinette. Marinette and Adrien. Adrien knew Marinette was his soulmate but claimed he didn't know who his soulmate was. Marinette had a soulmate mark who she refuses to show and yet seemed like she didn't know Adrien was her soulmate. What was going on? What was she missing? She picked up a picture of all four of them, Adrien, Nino, Marinette and herself. She then put it beside her and opened up her computer screen, where she was greeted by her background picture of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Her eyes widened. She just had a revelation.

She had found it. The missing puzzle piece. It all became clear to her, and she was confused as to how she hadn't realized before.

Adrien was Cat Noir.