Miraculous One Shot Compilation

Red String

Since Adrien had been a sheltered homeschooled boy for most of his young life, there was an awful lot of things no one had ever bothered to teach him. His solution was to fill in those holes in his understanding by watching anime.

After the same concept was presented to him from multiple sources, he was convinced he knew why he felt they way he did about Ladybug. He couldn't control it, nor could she - they were bound by a red string of fate.

He examined one pinkie finger, and then the other. Everything looked normal. What should he have expected? It was the invisible red string. But it was the invisible red string. If it had a color, then he must be able to see it if he willed it hard enough to be so.

He ran his thumb and forefinger down the length of his pinkie, figuring that if the string was there, that movement would catch it up. He closed his fist and gave a sharp tug, but he didn't feel anything.

He tried again on the other hand - still nothing.

Adrien felt a little dejected. Did he not have a red string after all? Hopefully he just had a misunderstanding of how they worked, and he simply was going about it all wrong trying to detect it.

What if he tried lighting it on fire? He decided against that. If the string really was as indestructible as the legends state, in wouldn't take in a fire, but if it was flammable, he didn't want to risk losing it. Risk losing her.

Soon, he had to postpone his search and go to his Chinese lessons. Today, they were reading old legends, and in one of them, he was surprised to recognise the red string of fate. He didn't know that was a Chinese concept too. One thing, though, was notably different from the Japanese legends. The subjects were bound by their ankles, not their pinkie fingers.

This set him to thinking. He was studying Chinese, and Plagg had mentioned once that the miraculouses were from ancient China, and the miraculouses were definitely a large factor of what connected him to his lady. Could they have a different kind of red string instead?

Once back in his room, he took off his shoes and socks to inspect his ankles. There he saw something he wondered how he had never noticed before: around one ankle his skin was being pulled in a little as though there was a string wrapped around it, and the foot below was slightly numb and blue tinged.

His red string was there, and so tight it was starting to cut off his circulation! As relieved as he was to find it, the tingling in his foot was becoming uncomfortable now that he was awear of it. He bent down and tried to loosen it just enough to get his blood flow going again.

Elsewhere, Marinette felt a curious tug on her foot as Adrien messed with their red string. She didn't know what the sensation was, but for some reason it made her think of him. That wasn't surprising, everything made her think of him. The half-Chinese girl shrugged and headed home, her mother's side of her heritage possibly playing a part in how Marinette's and Adrien's red string had found itself attached not to their pinkies, but to their ankles.

A/n - That one was actually something of a rant. I've seen too many pieces of fan art depicting a red string binding Adrien and Marinette by their pinkie fingers. That is the Japanese way - neither of them have links to Japan. The red string of fate also exists in Chinese legend, except it binds by the ankle. It makes more sense for this particular couple to follow the Chinese version.