Stopwatch | Miraculous Ladybug | Soulmates AU

T - 0 Days

In no time at all, Stoneheart had already grabbed two students, Mylene and Chloe, and jumped through the wall of the classroom and down to the streets. 

"Come on, let's follow him!" Alya called out. Marinette peeked up from her spot behind a desk and shook her head.

"Oh no, I'm gonna get myself a safe place to hide." She knew she had to let Alya be alone in order to become Ladybug.

"But girl, you're going to miss Ladybug in action!" Alya complained.

Marinette spotted her friend's bag on the chair next to her and held it out to her. "You and Ladybug will both be better off without me."

"If you say so!" Alya shrugged before running out of the classroom. However, she didn't have her bag. Marinette tried to call out to her, but Alya either couldn't hear her or didn't think it important to retrieve her schoolbag. 

Marinette chased her friend out to the streets of Paris and froze. It all happened in an instant, she didn't even know it was happening until it was over. The world seemed to move in slow motion. Stoneheart saw Alya recording and threw a car at her, Chat Noir threw his staff perfectly to move the car, trapping Alya behind it rather than her getting hit by it. Stoneheart grabbed Chat Noir in his large fist and kept on walking towards the Eiffel Tower. When Alya cried out for help, the world sped up again.

Looking around, Marinette nodded and pulled the miraculous box from Alya's school bag. Opening it, Tikki flew out of the earings and smiled at Marinette.

"I think I need Ladybug," Marinette smiled.

"I knew you'd come around!" The kwami exclaimed.

"Well, I'm still not sure I'm up for this, but Alya's in danger. I can't just sit back and do nothing!" Without another second of hesitation, she transformed into Ladybug. Using her yoyo, she quickly freed the girl from behind the car and picked up Chat Noir's forgotten staff. "You can't stay here, it's too dangerous," She said to Alya before shooting off through the streets of Paris. Before long, she spotted Chat Noir in the grasp of Stoneheart. With expert precision that she never thought she'd have, definitely not out of the Ladybug costume at least, she threw the staff to her partner and called out for him to extend it. He followed her directions and fell to the street. Just in time for a stone being to reach for him once more, Ladybug threw her yoyo out and grabbed his leg, flipping him upside down as he hung from a lamp post.

"M'Lady, have I ever told you you turn my world upsidedown?" The blonde winked with a flirty smile.

"Oh, you're quite the jokester, aren't you?" Ladybug teased confidently. She tried not to show it, but she was sure she was blushing a little bit despite how bad the joke was. Before she had time to think about it, though, another stone being came rushing towards them. "But your comedic timing needs work!" She yelled, releasing him from her yoyo so he could run along the rooftops with her. 

The two heroes paused on a nearby rooftop to watch what was going on so they could formulate a plan. 

"Hey, so I actually wanted to talk to you about something..." Chat Noir spoke up, gently rubbing his wrist. "My mark, it uh-"

Ladybug knew this time that she really was blushing. "Kitty, can we talk about this later?" She requested, not quite ready for that conversation.

"Sure, sorry, I just-" Before he could finish his thought, Ladybug saw a civilian go flying through the air after being thrown by the monster. Immediately, she sprung to action and flew to catch her.

~Time Skip~

"They are so made for each other," Ladybug smiled, watching as Mylene and Ivan talked about their relationship. Their soulmate timers both were frozen to 𝟢 𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈 as soulmate timers do in the days after meeting your soulmate. Most soulmate timers, anyways.

"Speaking of which, M'Lady," Chat smiled. Before she could even react, his ring began to flash, indicating that he was almost out of time.

"Uh oh, you see that? Time to split," She laughed, grabbing his hand and pointing to his ring.

"Wait, are we still meeting tonight?" He called after her as she started to walk away.

Ladybug paused for only half of a second before turning around and winking back at him. "See you soon, Chat Noir," she smiled flirtatiously. She continued to walk away with a wave of her hand behind her. 

"Can't wait, M'Lady," she heard him say from behind her as she threw her yoyo out and sling-shotted through Paris. As she soured through the air, she thought about what had just happened. She had never been that flirtatious in her life, and now with Chat Noir? She didn't even know if he was still her soulmate or not. When she landed in an alleyway near her school, she shook her head to clear it before walking out. Before long, she caught up with Alya who immediately began to catch her up on the fight.

"You'll get your scoop eventually," Marinette reassured after Alya explained that she'd missed most of the fight.

"You're right. Next up: an exclusive interview with Ladybug!" 

"Ooh, sounds exciting!"

"Or even better, finding out who's really under that mask," Alya exclaimed excitedly.

"Uh-huh, good luck with that one," Marinette laughed to herself. She wasn't sure what had changed, but she now knew that she would be the savior of Paris from then on.