The Other You

Stranger

Chapter by Maerynn

Marinette groaned loudly as a ray of light caught her eye, disturbing her sleep. She stirred lazily, slowly regaining awareness of her surroundings. Her neck was stiff from the odd position she had fallen asleep in, and she couldn't feel her left arm after having laid her head on it all night. Eyes bleary, she groggily looked around her and barely muffled a defeated sigh upon realizing her current whereabouts.

She had fallen asleep in her office.

Again.

The night before, when she had left Chat Noir on the Eiffel Tower, she had fully intended to follow his sound advice. Heading home was definitely the sensible thing to do, considering Alya was more than likely already pissed at her for having ignored her calls all day. No use adding fuel to the fire.

But as she was swinging her yoyo from building to building, images of her cluttered office flashed before her eyes. Her desk, buried under bolts of fabric and spools of thread, the unfinished dress hanging from the mannequin, and the pile of designs waiting to be sorted and put into production.

She had worked herself to the bone for months for that first women's line, had suffered through so many sleepless nights, had stood up to her boss so many times... This project truly was her baby, her greatest achievement yet, and she wanted everything to be as she and Gabriel had envisioned it.

So, convinced she could squeeze in a few more hours of stitching before Alya would notice her absence, she had changed directions mid-jump and headed straight back to her office. Detransforming in an alley across the street, she had let herself into the building, bid goodnight to the security guard, and snuck back into her office like she had done countless times before. She turned on all the lights in her office, took out the designs Gabriel had approved just before passing away, and got to work.

She had cut, pinned, and sewn for the better part of the night, losing herself in the passion that had become all work and no play. Exhaustion quickly caught up with her, and after pricking her fingers a few times with the needle, her head steadily began to drop, and she lost track of time.

Soon enough, the weight of reality crashed back on her, and the next thing Marinette knew, she was waking up amongst her mess, groggy and disoriented.

Her cellphone chimed on her desk, and she reached for it to check the time. Maybe, just maybe, if Tikki's luck was still on her side, she would be able to sneak back into the apartment without waking Nino or Alya up.

As soon as the little digital screen lit up, however, Marinette instantly knew that she was utterly and perfectly screwed. Any hopes of a stealthy return home were crushed by the heavy amount of missed calls and text messages overflowing her phone.

Just her luck.

Scrolling through the messages thread, she cringed, her heart jumping into her throat. Of course there were the usual inquiries about her current whereabouts, the expected question about whether or not to save dinner for her. But where the usual follow-through was "Are you coming home at all tonight?" she instead received, "Guess I'll have to buy my wedding dress off-the-rack."

Her heart broke reading those words.

Panic rose in Marinette's chest, and she blindly reached for her planner, refusing to believe the implications of said message. She almost tore the book open, finding the right page with shaky fingers. It just couldn't have happened. Alya had to be mistaken, there had to be a huge and horrible misunderstanding.

That was the only explanation she could see. There was no way she could have forgotten that.

And yet, hastily scribbled in her own handwriting on the previous day's page, was definite proof that she had committed an unforgivable crime against her relationship with her best friend.