Fake It ('Til you make it)

Soulmate Markers (Adrien)

Adrien could still pinpoint the exact chain of events which made him fall in love with Marinette. Though he thought his love for Ladybug was true and real, it was nothing compared to the gut-churning feeling when his heart flipped from the risk of holding her hand. Risk being the keyword. His world had just crumbled around him, thanks to his father's need to destroy everything (hindsight was such a nagging neighbour with a mocking smirk), yet Marinette was there beside him, wanting to fight not just for him, but with him. Even under the influence of an akuma, she stood up for him with such heartfelt sincerity he couldn't help but take his chance.

That was the day he realised what real love was. That's when he knew she was the one for him.

...then the reveal happened.

After he'd stopped chasing Ladybug, he suddenly began to feel more comfortable in his relationship with Marinette. They grew closer - impossibly closer - in both forms. He found himself flitting from one girl to the next, the line between them blurring as he darted from cold rooftops to warm bakeries. There should have been an undeniable difference between the two, yet the feeling of both was practically the same.

In his head, the jigsaws were forming for both girls, piece after piece, slotting together with all this wonderful information. But after building the pictures, he noticed one strange thing...both had a huge gaping hole in the middle, one which was soon filled with the reveal of a face.

Then it all went to shits creek (and not the tv show!)

After years of dancing around each other, Adrien shouldn't have been surprised when they both ran off in opposite directions. He should have followed her. He usually did – until that day. His mind was focused on what was happening. Instead, he'd been lost in his own thoughts and joyous feelings.

A week later, they had one of the worst akumas they'd ever faced, because it didn't last a couple of hours, or even a couple of days - it lasted a week, the akuma hiding away in the shadows yet giving everyone the superpower to write on their arm to their soulmate.

They'd been awkward as hell in battle and even worse in day-to-day life. Luckily, they'd both moved on to new (and different) lycées because neither could have predicted such a change in their relationship – nobody would have. They were diabolical. What was once a power-house of a team turned into nothing more than the two grumpy old men from The Muppets – or if possible worse!

The akuma, however, eventually revived Ladynoir and gave something to Adrinette which they hadn't had before – true insight.

Soul Marker had given 'couples' the ability to write on their arms and talk to their other half – something they believed Lila was trying to use to lure them out. But they weren't idiots (in all parts) and kept the contact until late at night – at least for the first day. It seemed being able to contact each other in this 'Snapchat' kind of way saved their partnership. They vented frustrations, they talked late into the night, and they planned. They came together again, and from that day on he never missed a chance to say good morning, or good night – neither had she.

So, when Adrien's school tutor mentioned auditioning for acting roles, Marinette was the first there backing him, being the cheerleader he'd never had before. Yes, he knew he could act, but it wasn't something he was actively looking to do. But the look of pride on her face when he won his first role inspired him to keep going, to keep making her proud, even when it took him further away from her.

Lana became his agent early on in his career, moving him from the buttom of the acting jobs up to the leading male roles in international rom coms. She'd begged him to move to LA, telling him that was the next step forward in his career, but LA was too far from Paris – even with superpowers. Marinette had cheered him on at the airport, stood by his side at his first film premiere, and been there to hold him as the news broke around the world about his father's dark past. Each and every event just made him love her more and more, and now he knew he wouldn't stop – he couldn't even if he tried.