In that gap semester, Lila had not only gotten herself hired, but she was already firmly entrenched in the administrative team by the time Marinette had walked back in the door.
Luckily, she had only gotten in Lila's way once. In return, Lila had proven that it still wasn't beneath her to threaten people in women's bathrooms.
Marinette's brows furrowed, as she scanned her phone, hoping for a new message from Chat Noir to lighten her mood.
Alya's mood was already more jovial since she had stopped talking about Lila. "And what is your favorite Cat up to tonight?"
Marinette frowning. "No word from him yet."
Alya looks over her shoulder. "Oh, no, Marinette."
"What?"
"You can't say that."
Marinette shook her head in disbelief. "I'm just checking in with him."
"That comes off as thirsty." Alya sighed. "You want him to chase after you, don't you?"
Marinette bit her lip. Maybe. Not that Alya would hear it from her. She was bad enough already.
"Look," Marinette held up her phone. "See. He didn't mind at all."
Alya peered over at her phone. "Wow. That's actually really sweet of him."
Marinette chuckled. "I told you. There's a reason we've been friends for years now."
"You both are adorable." She didn't know when Alya snapped a picture of her, but she was staring down at herself smiling like an idiot at the messages from Chat Noir on her best friend's phone.
"You know, you really should take him up on that offer someday."
"Hm?" Marinette's head shot up. "Which offer?"
"To go meet him at a convention."
Marinette snorted. "So I could also not drink and be around thousands of people?"
"Thousands of fans. Plus the one you know you've been dying to meet."
Marinette sighed. "I would like to meet him. Someday."
Alya shrugged. "This would be as safe a place as any."
"It just can't be any time soon. I need to really focus on getting the shop to be my full time job. Gabriel is more stressful than the paycheck is worth."
Alya turned her whole body on the couch to face her directly. "You should consider that trip more as a business expense."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean your whole business is costumes. What better way to go to other events and see what kind of costumes might be the most marketable for you?"
"That's... actually a really good idea."
Alya smirked. "Thanks. I've got tons of them."
Alya snorted. "Oh, this boy is fishing..."
Marinette chuckled. "I guess I have to tease him a little, then."
Alya pouted. "Spoilsport."
"He's getting whiny... And he should be busy having fun."
"You're just saying that because you don't know who he is hanging out with."
Pouting, Marinette took a much needed sip to fortify herself. "I'll worry if he tells me about all the girls he is hanging out with."
Alya perched her chin on Marinette's shoulder, scrolling on her own phone. "Has he ever told you anything before?"
"Well...no."
Alya smirked. "I've got a good idea."
Marinette grimaced, setting her nearly empty glass down on the side table. "I'm not so sure I want to know."
"Ask him for a picture."
Marinette sighed. If he wanted to send her something, he would.
Alya clearly wasn't done. "What? Chat Noir has told you he is at a convention. He's bought several hundred dollars worth of your costumes." She shrugged. "If I was him, I'd be more surprised if you didnAlya was quiet.
Marinette glanced over at her. She was too quiet. And no longer lurking over her shoulder. "And what are you up to?"
"Looking up large conventions in America this weekend."
Marinette sighed loudly.
Alya chuckled. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about it."
Massaging her temples, Marinette groaned. "Should I even ask what you've found?"
Alya's smirk was enough of an answer "You remember how there is a cosplay section of the Ladyblog?"
Rolling her eyes, Marinette knew this was a trap. "I am familiar with the one section I've posted in, yes."
"You're missing out on the fanfic." Alya prodded. "Seriously. Anyways, there have been a few submissions of cosplayers today, including a few Chat Noir..."
Marinette couldn't breathe. "Alya. Please tell me you're not trying to find my Chat."
Alya set her phone down, tilting her head. "As sweet as you both are to each other, I don't understand how you are not."
"It's just not the right time. It's enough for me just to be able to chat with him on Discord." Marinette sighed, fussing with her hair. "Maybe after I could do more at Gabriel. If I wasn't just a Junior designer, I'd be all that much closer to going solo. The shop can only go as fast as I can in the evenings and weekends."
"And it keeps you from going out and living your life the way you should," Alya frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't think I haven't noticed."
Wearily, Marinette slumped back into the couch. "I just feel like a failure. I thought I would be doing so much better than this."
"Girl, you work harder than basically anyone I know."
"But that hasn't meant anything," Marinette yawned. "I'm just a normal girl with a normal life."
Alya's eyes narrowed. "Sure, girl. You keep telling yourself that."
"Alya!"
"What? It's true." Alya shook her head. "Marinette, you work in one of the biggest fashion houses in Paris. You run a small but surprisingly successful shop in your free time. Besides, how many other people do you know who inspired a fictional superheroine?"
Marinette pushed her hands over Alya's irritating smirk.
"Just you," she fired back. "But that is still supposed to be a secret."
"It's been eight years. I doubt anyone else would really care. Some writer just happened to hear us complaining about the lack of female superheroes and ran with it. Besides, the show never even delved into the kids behind the heroes much I swear, Alya." Marinette massaged her temples to fend off the growing headache. "If you say anything about it on the blog, they might not ever."
"Marinette... My favorite bestie in the whole wide world." Alya cuddled closer. "Is there going to be another movie?"
"Alya..." she warned. "If I had to guess, I'd bet they were worried about getting funding after they let Chat Noir be possessed and not in control of his actions in the last one."
Alya grinned, hovering at the counter as she grabbed some cheese and meat that paired with the bottle they were working on. "Did you hear from your catboy boyfriend?"
Busying her hands, Marinette turned the other way to hide the growing warmth rushing to her cheeks. "Please stop calling him that. You know he's just a friend."
"No matter how much you might hope otherwise..."
Suddenly, an image loaded onto the screen, showing Chat Noir, her Chat Noir, posing with a Ladybug cosplayer.
Marinette's heartstrings tugged a little at the sight. He was smiling so brightly, his arm around her with her holding up a peace sign. Standing right beside someone else who was exactly where she wished she could be.
She had 20 questions, but she didn't dare to ask a single one.
Finally smiling back, Marinette risked typing again.
The smirk on Alya's face when she glanced up was unnecessary. "Are you convinced now?"
Alya snorted, setting the plate down between them. "Are you going to tell him I dragged you to a convention years ago and how you spent the next year planning Ladybug and Rena costumes?
"Absolutely not." Marinette hissed. "I don't want him to get any ideas like you do. I only ever wore the outfit once before the growth spurt hit. He knows enough that he might be able to find what I look like."
"I don't know why you're so scared of him seeing what you look like, Marinette. I mean, you modeled your own attire for your Gabriel application." Alya shook her head. "If that boy knew how pretty you really are, he'd already be on a plane here."
"You're being ridiculous." Marinette sighed. "People can't just pick up and leave their lives like that."
"Girl, people do that all the time."
"I bet most of them don't have a store they run to worry about."
"You're probably right."
"Just put him out of his misery, already."
Marinette chuckled. "Nah. I'd like to keep him around for a while."
Alya snorted, glancing back down at her phone. "There are far better ways for you to kill him."
"Like?"
"That store image you keep hemming and hawing about posting for one." Alya chided. "That dress is lovely on you, even if you only want to show it from the neck down." She paused, tilting her head in consideration. "Then again, maybe you should post it anyway. He still can't find you if you don't show your face, but if he knew that was you..."
Maybe it was the wine, but that made a lot of sense.
A little too much sense, if she was being honest. And she was a little too curious about just how he would react. She nibbled her lip. Maybe she could use that to get him to model the outfits from his end?
Marinette's brows furrowed, as Alya topped off both of their glasses. "You know... If I knew it was going to be this tough, I never would have made him that costume in the first place."
"Keep telling yourself that." Alya snorted, easing herself back against the sofa.
A chime from her phone startled them both.
Alya sipped her glass before she asked, "What was that?"
Marinette navigated from her notification. "I have my shop tag in my alerts on the big socials. Not that it has come up much. But from time to time someone will send a thank you to the shop."
"So there's a post?" Alya smirked. "Let me guess who tagged you."
"Let's see." Marinette smiled, as she pressed the link. As the post loaded, she blinked. Then did so a few more times rapid-fire. "That can't be right."
Alya crowded in beside her. "No, it's definitely over 10,000 likes."
"But why is it so high?" Mindlessly, Marinette snagged a piece of cheese and crackers from the plate Alya set out. "This doesn't make sense."
Alya was already on it, wine-addled or not, her fingers flew efficiently across her screen before scrolling. In under a minute, she had her answer. "Marinette, one of the voice actors reblogged the post."
Her jaw dropped. "You're kidding me."
"Nope," Alya kept clicking and scrolling." At least one more also boosted it as well."
As Marinette watched the numbers on that post more than double, she had already gotten more than a dozen orders in her shop.
More than enough to keep her busy for months.
"You know, there are people on the fandom forums talking about how good of a cosplayer he is. That his voice was maybe even a little too uncanny."
Marinette glanced up from her anxious vigil. Alya had clearly gotten side tracked. "What are you trying to say?"
"Your post just blew up because a voice actor reblogged it... And your boy sounds like the real deal. Isn't the identity of one of the voice actors a big mystery?" Alya grinned. "We'd really both have something to celebrate if we just solved it."
She sighed heavily. "He can't be Chat Noir's mystery voice actor. I remember the nightmare at the post-office shipping the package to New York that first time. I know there is a lot of mystery about Chat Noir's actor, but he is clearly French. The pronunciation is too good otherwise."
Alya wasn't convinced. "And your Chat Noir isn't?"
Shrugging, Marinette replied. "He's been in New York for at least 5 years. I asked him about his French and he said he learned it in school, but didn't often get to practice it anymore."
Alya sighed, finally. "Well, whoever he is, he's been the best thing that ever happened to your business."
Marinette finally allowed herself to smile. "That's true. His photo brought more business to my little online boutique than I've ever been able to keep up with."
Alya simply smirked. "It didn't hurt even a little that a few of the other voice actors also happened to reblog his post."
"Not this again."
"Mark my words, Marinette." Alya grinned, arms crossed over her chest. "If he didn't do the voice, he definitely worked behind the scenes. It's no coincidence it exploded that fast."
Marinette frowned. The social media response had gotten noisy, well enough that her traffic had blown up overnight. The orders had only ticked up a little bit, but she would still be struggling to keep up with the pace.
Maybe she would be closer if she could hire someone to help make the items.
Trouble is, that would take money. Probably quite a bit more than she had in savings.
For now, she just needed to distract Alya.
"Well, I can tell you one thing for sure," Marinette exhaled slowly, trying to regain her bearings. "You're right that another movie is coming."
To her credit, Alya was suspicious about her change to be honest. "You still didn't say how you know."
"My parents found out when they amended the contract." Marinette confided. "The writers wanted more freedom with the story, but they needed to get approvals first. I don't even know what is coming, just that something is happening. Which is why you can't say anything, or else they might get in trouble."
Grinning, Alya sat down beside her. "No worries. It just gives me that much time to prepare the blog post once they do announce it."