As it turned out, apparently Adrien didn't have a soulmate. Marinette wasn't sure why she was so shocked, after all, if she didn't have a string after it broke, then why would he? What possessed her to think that he had a soulmate for all these years? Looking back on it, was her self-esteem really so low?

... yes.

She mentally cringed at herself as she absentmindedly listened to Adrien talk. They were sitting in her room, a plate of pastries between them. Long gone were the posters and magazine clippings on her walls. Long gone were the framed photographs that had decorated the shelves. The walls were covered with a fresh coat of paint and new furniture had been brought in.

She still winced everytime she remembered her old room.

Adrien, noticing her gazing into space, waved a hand in front of her face and raised an eyebrow. "Earth to Marinette," he said. "You there?"

Blinking, she turned to face him and shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Yeah, sorry. Got lost in thought for a moment there. What were you saying?"

"Never mind that," he said, moving the plate onto the side table and shifting so that he was laying down. He gave her a mischievous grin before grabbing her arm and yanking her down with him. "I wanna know what's on your mind."

"Let me up," she whined, trying to pull herself up. He just gave her a smile and wrapped his arms around her waist. She continued to struggle for a couple more minutes before she gave up and went limp against his chest.

"I hate you," she said.

"No you don't!" Adrien's smile was even wider than it was before. Looking up at him, she scowled and flipped him the finger. Unfortunately for her, his only response was to laugh. The nerve of that man really annoyed her sometimes.

"Come on," Adrien said, "talk to me."

Marinette sighed in defeat. She wasn't getting out of this one. "I was just thinking about how you don't have a soulmate."

"Why?"

"I just thought me and Chat were the only ones." Marinette shrugged before realizing what she said.

Adrien pauses and raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you know Chat doesn't have a soulmate?"

"Oh, um, well you know I know Ladybug, right? Well I was talking with her about not having a soulmate one time and she kinda let it slip that he didn't have one either." Marinette mentally winced and hoped that she had said enough to divert his attention off the fact that there was no way she would've been able to know that fact any other way.

"Oh... that makes sense," Adrien said. "So you don't have a soulmate either?"

"Nope." Marinette felt her chest tighten as the memory she had tried so hard to forget resurfaced to the front of her mind.

Adrien just hummed in response, turning his head to look out the window. There was silence between them for the next few moments, only broken by the sound of the street that floated in. It was calming and Marinette found herself slowly slipping into dreamscape before Adrien spoke again.

"Hey, Marinette?" Glancing up, she saw that he was still looking out the window and there was a rosy tint on his cheeks.

"Yeah?"

"... Be my girlfriend?"

The question caught her off guard, but as she laid there looking up at him, she felt her lips forming a small smile. She huffed out a laugh and lowered her head back onto his chest.

"Okay."