Nino looked at his beautiful, exotic goddess of a girlfriend, and feared for his freaking life.
"You what?!" Alya bellowed at her idiotic, sorry excuse of a boyfriend, earning a few looks from the other customers at the LadyNoir Cafe. He raised his hands in miserable surrender, while Marinette stared in awkward shock at the table the three of them occupied. "Nino, you know how hard she worked to get over him, and you go and tell him to call her?"
"I know, I know!" He moaned. "It just slipped out! I'm sorry, Marinette. Adrien has been going through a lot lately and I was just trying to help my bro out. I didn't think first, I swear!"
"Don't you start, you sorry piece of-"
"It's ok, Nino, really." Marinette interjected softly, with a hand on Alya's shoulder, and the couple turned toward her in befuddlement. "I'm fine. And I would be happy to give Adrien a good reference if it would help him." She offered a soft, sincere smile, expecting Alya to explode into a list of questions and a few choice expletives. Instead, pride shone in her eyes.
"Uh." Nino eloquently drawled out as his brain reset. "I... you... What?"
"I've moved on." Marinette calmly explained, sneaking a peek across the cafe at her favorite poster of Chat Noir as she slowly swirled the spoon in her coffee. She bit back a fond smile at his cocky smirk and exaggerated salute to the camera. She had watched as he posed for the photo after an akuma attack, shaking her head at his antics. Always the showman.
Posters of the famed heroes covered the walls of their favorite caffeine supplier. Most were candid shots of them in action, or talking to reporters or fans before ducking away to transform. Alya had stumbled upon the hero-themed hole-in-the-wall cafe right after it had opened a few months earlier, and immediately fell in love with the place. She even gave permission for them to use a few of her own photos as posters. The owner, Danica, was almost as obsessed with the super duo as Alya, and went into a full-on fangirl freak out when Alya mentioned she ran the Ladyblog. It quickly became their go-to spot to hang out, partly because Alya left them little choice in the matter, and partly because it was actually really cool.
At first, Marinette felt weird sitting at a table where the walls were plastered with her own face, masked of course, but she had eventually learned how to ignore them. Lately though, she had paid special attention to them. Specifically, to a pair of mischievous emerald eyes that she had somehow never noticed looked at her like she was the moon itself.
"Ok, I know I'm opening another can of stupid here, but why exactly did you shut him out in the first place?" Nino reclaimed her attention, and received an elbow in the ribs. "Ow, babe! I'm serious! Did he do something, or-"
Marinette's eyes shot wide in surprise.
"No! He never did anything!" She exclaimed. "I guess that was a big part of it though. In all that time we spent together he never gave so much as a hint of being interested in me." She sighed. "Then I overhead him talking about this girl. He went on and on about how amazing and beautiful she was, and it was obvious he was in love with her." She gave a half-hearted shrug. "The way he talked about her... I knew I could never compete. And I knew it would kill me to stand by and watch him pine over someone else, so... I had to move on." She finished with downcast eyes.
Nino sighed in understanding.
"I'm officially a huge jerk. I'm sorry I brought it up, Marinette." Nino offered sincerely and she shook her head softly.
"Its really ok. You deserved to know."
"You sure?" Alya piped up. "One word and he spends the next week in his own private hell." A devious grin spread across her lips, making Nino squirm. Marinette chuckled.
"I'll grant him mercy this time." She said with a smile, and Alya almost looked disappointed. "But only if he tells us what's going on with Adrien." She said with exaggerated conviction. "You said he's having a rough time? What's going on?"
"Oh, you know, just his dad being his usual pompous, super-controlling self." Nino sagged in his chair. "They really got into it the other day over Adrien going to college instead of modeling. Adrien finally put his foot down and
his dad actually cut him off, to make a point I guess." Alya spat a biting curse under her breath and Nino hummed in agreement. "Guess he doesn't know his own son well enough to know my man doesn't care about the cash, so jokes on him. That's why Adrien needs a job reference though. Which reminds me of my big announcement."
Both girls perked up.
"Announcement?"
"We signed a lease on an apartment yesterday." Nino proclaimed with a wide grin, and the girls erupted with excited congratulations.
"When do you move in?" Alya bubbled.
"We get the keys later this week." He beamed. "I'm gonna see if I can use pizza to bribe Ivan and Kim into helping us carry boxes and furniture."
"Could you use a couple lovely young ladies to help unpack?" Marinette asked and Alya shot her a cautious look.
"You sure, girl? I get that you're ok with talking about him, but seeing him in person is a whole different ball game." She reached her hand over the table to cover Marinette's.
"I'm sure." She gave Alya's hand a squeeze. "I wouldn't miss it. Besides, Nino is right. It wasn't fair of me to shut Adrien out like that with no explanation. He needs friends right now, and I owe it to him to at least try and make it work."
"Oh, Marinette." Alya crooned, shifting to wrap her friend in a tight hug. "You really are too pure for this world."
Marinette's phone rang, cutting their embrace short. Her eyes shot wide when she saw the caller ID.
"It's the call." Her head shot up, her eyes locking with Alya's as anxiety and excitement warred within her. "The call. About the internship." She stammered.
"Well answer it, girl!" Alya practically bounced in her seat.
"Hello, this is Marinette." She began in the best professional voice she could manage.
"Hello, Miss Dupain-Cheng. This is Nathalie Sancoeur with Agreste Fashion." The voice came through the phone. "Congratulations, you are the final candidate for the internship."
Marinette barely held back a squeal at the words.
"Your final interview will be with Mr. Agreste himself. He will decide if you are right for the position."
"Thank you!" She said breathlessly. "I'm honored."
After setting up the time for the interview, Marinette hung up the phone and stared in disbelief at her friends.
"I think this calls for a celebration!" Alya proclaimed and flagged down their server. "One extra large Choco Noir shake with three straws please."