The Engineered Baby Boom

Out of All the Fish in the Sea... You Are My Sol-Mate

The folder lay open in Adrien's lap overflowing with information about Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The number of items filling the folder made it difficult to hold in his lap without something slipping to the floor. Adrien too interested in learning about the girl he was now matched with, carefully turned to lay the folder on his bed. He couldn't fathom taking the time to move to his sofa, when there was so much to learn about her.

The first page in the folder contained the basic information from Population Services, plus a few extras.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng Match 99.9% (rare - soulmate status)

18-year-old, French/Italian/Chinese female. Blue/black hair, blue eyes. Family History of: Obesity, high-blood pressureFuture endeavor: Fashion DesignerFavorite Past Time: Video GamesFavorite Food: Macarons and CroissantsHobbies: Designing/sewing

Contact: (01 77 87 65 79)

Flipping the page over and filtering his way through the rest, Adrien read more about Marinette, her family and friends. She had just turned eighteen, her birthday exactly one week ago. Her parents own a bakery, apparently one of the most popular Boulangeries in Paris. The address noting that the business sat directly across from the park he was constantly scheduled for modeling shoots. She seemingly lived above the bakery too. I may need to take Plagg tonight on a little trip to scope it out, he thought, continuing to read through the plethora of material.

Her mother is Chinese with family living in Shanghai. The French and Italian genes coming from her father. His parents no longer married. Her grandmother a world traveler and her grandfather a baker like her father but a recluse still living in France. Since she has family in Shanghai, maybe she speaks Mandrin, father may have been on to something, having me learn the language for so many years. The thought running through his mind as he continued perusing the material about the girl he was matched with.

Marinette had graduated shortly ago from Francois Dupont Lycée with honors, was the class president, and Salutatorian. So, she's intelligent. Hopefully we will be intellectually matched. It does look like she has a problem with being on time though, look at all those tardies. Adrien chuckled, interested in finding out why she seemed to be late so often as he moved to the next page, placing the one he just finished to the side.

Not only was she smart, apparently her favorite past times, matched his well. She was a Mecha Strike Tourney Champion back when she was fourteen. She was creative, making her own clothes and hoped to work in fashion one day. Well, that is a strange coincidence. I'm sure father verified she wasn't trying to get a one up before allowing this match. The thought left his head as his eyes moved to the next item of the folder, a web address for an Etsy site, MDC Cherry Blossom Designs. Multiple images of design concepts and creations from the site lay behind the store's information, held together by a single paper clip. Flipping through and examining each, Adrien had to admit she was definitely talented.

The designs that caught his eye the most were inspired by the heroes of Paris, but Adrien's favorite was a Chat Noir themed Letterman jacket. The body of the jacket was black. A large, lime green, cat paw lay on the left chest, embossed with a silver stitch. The black leather arms held miniature green paws lined from the shoulder down to wrist. The sleeves, collar, and jacket banded at the ends in lime green, silver, and black parallel lines.

The back of the jacket however, made his breath catch. He had to have it now! Once he was done here, he'd have Natalie order it from her. The back of the jacket was stamped with an even larger green paw print with Chat Noir embroidered in black cursive writing. The same silver stitching highlighting the curled words. It was a serious work of art and made him feel proud that someone would take the time to create an item based on one of the villains of Paris, even more so since it was him.

A smile made its way to his lips. So far, this girl sounded great. He hadn't felt this good about the lottery ever. Even my date with Louise, I wasn't this excited, and I haven't even met the girl yet! He was pulled from his thought by an image of himself standing beside a girl with dark blueish-black hair in pigtails. She was wearing pink capris jeans, a white t-shirt with pink cherry blossoms under a dark gray, three-quarter length jacket with a pink polka dotted collar.

He remembered that day. It was the bowler hat competition when he was fifteen. His father's competition. The girl in the picture had won the competition after his life-long friend Chloe had attempted to steal her design, but she had signed... he stopped looking back at the girl, he had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, both of them smiling at the camera. "Marinette," he whispered to no one. Now he understood Natalie's comment. He did remember her. She was cute, talented, brave, and a spitfire. He remembered being impressed at how she stood up to Chloe that day, instead of backing down, and he knew how difficult that could be when his friend was involved.

"Wow, this is the girl I'm matched with. What are the odds, Plagg? I honestly didn't think I would ever meet her again," Adrien sighed. The thought that he had a meet-cute with her making his heart beat a bit more rapidly in his chest. "I remember her, she's the one that switched out the feather with a fake, to make sure you could wear the hat," Plagg mentioned, flying closer to the image of his chosen and the pigtailed girl, eventually questioning out loud, "I wonder if she still wears the pigtails?"

"You're right Plagg, she's incredibly considerate. That was super nice of her to make sure I was comfortable. And... for the pigtail comment, let's see," Adrien laid the image to the side, away from the others. He was going to keep that one separate. It would make for a good conversation starter when they meet again. Working his way through the other images the folder contained, Adrien separated them to fully appreciate the photographs.

His fingertips lightly brushed a most likely current picture of Marinette wearing a light pink dress with white polka dots. She obviously likes polka dots. They do look cute on her. His thoughts focused on every detail as his eyes dragged across the picture before him. Her blueish hair, still in those adorable pigtails, pulled his view to her facial features, where her large bluebell eyes shined with a joy you could feel. Her bright, white smile solidifying that she was loving whatever was happening when the photograph was taken. Just looking at her, seemingly so jubilant, made his heart flutter. He could feel her happiness radiate through him. His thoughts making him grin as excitement grew within him. She is incredibly beautiful and seems to enjoy life. I hope she can bring that kind of happiness to me.

Placing all of the pages and images into the folder, sans the bowler hat and pink dress photos. Adrien placed the folder on his desk then headed toward this door. "Where you headed kid?" The kwami asked from the bed, where he lay waiting for his charge to finish his perusal. "Going to find Natalie. Need to order that jacket before someone else gets it!" Adrien responded, throwing a hand up to wave good-bye, Plagg humming as he accepted the answer before closing his eyes and falling back to sleep.