Title: The Aftermath
Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Fandom
Rating: Teen
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Open Ending
Main Characters: Adrien Agreste, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alya Césaire
Relationships: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Warning: Spoilers, Open Ended
Word Count: 836 words
Summary: This is the aftermath of Strike Back from Marinette’s point of view, and her conflicting feelings.
Author Note: Spoilers for both season 4 & 5. Wrote after Strike Back. Written for Shadowplay’s Chosen One Fanfiction Challenge, and originally posted on SP on June 13, 2022/05:22pm est which was 47 minutes before posted here. The word count for the SP challenge’s max was 750 and that one was this one trimmed.

Part of the Beyond Strike Back Series

Marinette Dupain-Cheng leaving her home today felt completely different from the day before. Her best friend Alya Césaire had spent the night with her after everything since neither she nor Alya wanted to be alone. Still, neither one of them had been able to sleep. Her friend knew how much her friend needed her right now. Especially with how much both of them cried most of the night, which led to puffy red eyes that could be seen from miles away.

That was the reason the two wanted to stay there and not go to school. Facing the day seemed way too hard. However, neither Marinette nor Alya could explain to their parents why they didn’t want to go. Which was why they were currently walking there in a daze.

All she could think about was how the day before, and how Monarch stole all the miraculouses from her and how she was tricked by Félix Graham de Vanily, who was Adrien Agreste, her crush’s look-alike cousin. Yesterday she thought it was the end of the world because Adrien was leaving for months with Lila Rossi and was influenced by Risk to confess her feelings for him. That ultimate didn’t work out, as he apparently switched places with his cousin, and she was never able to tell Adrien how she felt.

The two friends started up the steps to Françoise Dupont in silence, as they really couldn’t talk with so many people around. So, they were just left inside their own heads, which was no better. Marinette wasn’t sure if telling Adrien her feelings was a good option anymore since all she could think of was how much Félix looked like he could be Adrien’s twin and how badly she was fooled.

The other issue was she had now fallen for Cat Noir. He was there for her when she screwed up so badly. When she did everything to push him away, how much she lied to him, and more. She messed up so badly, and she wasn’t sure why he didn’t give up on her. Yet, it was Cat Noir was the one who picked her off the ground when she was at her lowest and put her back together.

They made it into the hallway, but everyone was still around. The problem was Marinette never thought that she would feel this way. Still, she always knew it was a possibility considering Cat Blanc. She knew the best thing she could was to fight these feelings as they would be the end of the world, but they were too strong, and she knew she couldn’t. The best she could do right now was not fall apart, not let him know her identity outside of being Ladybug or of how she was feeling.

That leads to the second problem: how she currently felt about Cat Noir was precisely how she felt about Adrien Agreste. It made her feel like a bad person. This led her to tell herself that she would no longer pursue Adrien, as it wouldn’t be fair to him to try to be in a relationship when she also had feelings for someone else. So, her love life was currently on pause.

She and Alya made it to the locker room doorway and stood there, tears falling again from her eyes since no one seemed to be around. It gave them both a break from putting up a front. It was odd how she stood here yesterday thinking about confessing, and now it felt like a different place, and everything felt out of wack. Alya’s hand made it to her shoulder.

“It will be okay,” Alya voiced.

“How can you know that? I don’t even know that,” she choked.

“Just trust me,” Alya said as they hugged quickly, and Alya made her way out of the locker room.

Marinette continued to her locker as he watched. After pulling her door open, she grabbed onto the shelving inside the locker and started to cry even harder.

“Marinette?” Adrien stepped out.

“Adrien?” She questioned, looking at him. He seemed different too.

Adrien pulled her into him, with his arms wrapped around her shoulders, neck, and upper back. She reached up with her armed reached up around his upper back like she did the night before with Cat Noir. He was as tall as Cat Noir. She could tell because her chin reached the same place on Adrien’s body as Cat Noir’s. She felt the same being in his arms as in Cat Noir’s, and she knew that made her crazy because she knew they couldn’t be the same since she had seen them in the same place at the same time. She just wasn’t sure what this all meant. It wasn’t like they could be the same person, no matter much she wanted that.

They eventually let go, and they made their way to class, before they got there Adrien held her hand like he did the day before. She didn’t want to let go.