Stopwatch | Miraculous Ladybug | Soulmates AU

T- 24 days (Cont.)

Marinette immediately covered her wrist and blushed. "My, ah, bracelet disappeared at some point. I've been trying not to think about it." 

Nathaniel burst into laughter and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Mari, you're a special one." He and Marinette had made their bracelets to match together in 5th grade and made a pact not to take them off. Neither of them had broken it in five years. Now that Marinette's bracelet was off, Nathaniel took his off and they both looked at his timer. 389 days. He was clearly pretty upset that it was still so far off.

"Hey, Nath, that's only a year. That means you'll meet your soulmate in sophomore year!" Marinette pointed out, cheering him up. Nathaniel smiled again, a determined look returning to his eye, as he put his bracelet back on. 

"Thanks. But my timer is the least of my concerns. You're meeting your soulmate in 24 days! What do you think they'll be like?" Nathaniel checked the list of tasks Marinette had put on the counter and set to work making macaroons. As Marinette's best friend, he had been helping out in the bakery for a while.

Marinette stiffened as she finished off the batter to the last layer of cake and poured it into the pan. "You know I don't want to think about this too much, tomato. It... It scares me."

"I know, it has since you were ten, but what's the harm in speculating what they'll be like?" He encouraged. Marinette let out a breath and smiled.

"I guess you're right."

The two spent the rest of the day talking about their dream soulmates and eventually some other topics. With Nathaniel helping, Marinette's workload was finished hours earlier than expected. Because of this, she was able to go upstairs and play video games until Nathaniel had to go home. 

As soon as they said goodbye and he closed the front door to the bakery behind him, Marinette flopped back onto her bed and sighed. She lifted up her wrist and traced the gentle numbers on her wrist. 

"24 days..." she sighed aloud. She let her arm flop back onto her mattress with a satisfying thump and stared up at her ceiling. She repeated the words a few times to herself hoping it would calm her down. However, it only seemed to make her anxieties worse. 

At first, she was worried about her soulmate. What if they're a horrible person? Like a serial killer? Or a liar? Or worse, what if they don't like hampsters?  What if  I've been picturing them so much more perfect than they are? What if they're amazing but I've been building them up so much in my mind that, when I finally meet them, they're below my impossibly set expectations so I judge them even though they're a perfectly wonderful person and I'm just a jerk?

After a while, though, Marinette started to worry about herself. What if I'm not what they want? What if they're disappointed to meet me? What if they don't even want a soulmate? What if they're in love with someone else and meeting me just complicates everything?  What if I'm not good enough? What if... What if I'm not a good person.

Marinette shot up straight in her bed and realized she was sweating. She stood up and paced around her room, trying to think happy thoughts... and failing miserably. She had a horrible habit of overthinking situations and leaping to the worst-case scenarios. Despite knowing and acknowledging that she did this, Marinette still spent more time in her own head than she'd like. 

As she paced, the dress she had been altering for years caught her eye. Designing always calmed her down, so Marinette marched herself over to her design desk and set to work. She knew the dress was almost done, she just needed to add some finishing touches to the skirt pattern and finish off all the seams. This was exactly why she had been procrastinating finishing it. She had been slowly perfecting this dress for four years. She had designed, and completed, countless designs over the years, of course. But it almost felt wrong to complete this dress. 

Tonight, though, Marinette knew what she had to do.