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Marinette—no, Marino—slid a glass of milk across the bar, clearing her throat to inflict a deep tone into her words. “So, what brings you here on this fine afternoon?”
Chat Noir regarded her strangely—probably because the end of her sentence fumbled into an alarming cough. She’d definitely need to practice her “Marino” voice if she was going to keep this job for long. Which was the goal.
It had recently been brought to her attention, by way of Chat Noir temporarily giving up his miraculous, that she hadn’t been doing the best job of supporting her superhero teammates. And she wanted—no, she needed—to do better.
Which brought her to moonlighting as a bartender at Le Grand Paris. The hotel bar was no stranger to superhero visits. Even Shadow Moth had been known to visit on occasion, and Marinette had devised a forty-seven step plan for what to do if that should happen on one of her shifts.
But she was getting ahead of herself. She had to at least get Chat Noir to trust her first.
Chat’s claws tapped lightly against his glass. “Oh, you know…”
“Ha!” Marino barked. “Of course I don’t know! I’m just a humble bartender, who’s obviously never met the great Chat Noir, so… pffft. What do I know?”
But Chat’s ears pressed flat against his head. “I’m not so sure I’d call myself great… I haven’t really been feeling that way lately.”
Marino’s heart squeezed in her chest. “Well… maybe talking about what’s on your mind could help? I mean, you know what they say about bartenders, right?”
“Not really?”
“We make great listeners! Really, you can tell me anything.” Marino channelled her best I-swear-you-can-trust-me-I’m-definitely-NOT-a-lunatic smile. “I promise I won’t tell a soul.”
Chat’s eyes fell to his milk. He chugged it in one fell swoop. “I guess it can’t hurt to try.” He pushed his glass forwards. “Can I have another one?”
Fighting back a smile, Marino readily complied. Then she leaned her elbows on the bar, doing what she did not do best—waiting patiently.
And then, not-so patiently.
And finally…
“How’s that, um… Ladybug of yours? I-I mean, not that she’s yours. People are their own people and all that. Plus, I heard you’re not actually a couple. All those articles that got printed were just grievous oversights—gossip nobody in their right mind would believe, and—” She broke off when Chat deflated further. “Sorry! Is that a sore subject?”
“It’s fine,” he mumbled. “And, you’re right. We’re not together.”
Marino bit her lip. “But you guys are okay, right? Like…” She took a deep breath. “You’re not secretly harbouring an all-consuming grudge against her for horribly messing up in a way that she couldn’t possibly ever make up for even if she’s really, really, really sorry… right? H-hypothetically.”
“Huh?” Chat said. “Of course not.”
“Oh thank God.” Marino slumped against the bar, then sprang back up when Chat regarded her suspiciously. “I-I mean, that sounds like it would be terrible! So thank God you don’t have to deal with that! Heh.”
For a long moment, Chat only stared at her, an occasional blink the only sign of life. Then he sighed. “It’s still hard, though. Because the truth is… I really do love her. I mean, everything she does is amazing—her creativity, her bravery. And she’s so smart, you have no idea.”
“That, um… that does sound hard.”
Chat nodded, taking another small sip of his milk. “Honestly, I don’t know that I’ll ever get over her. I know I’m supposed to—she doesn’t feel the same way about me, and she probably never will. But…”
Marino’s gut twisted at his words. Because she knew a thing or ten about unrequited love, and she hated having to constantly disappoint someone she cared about so much—someone she loved so much. Even if it wasn’t the way he wanted her to love him.
And that guilt was really the only thing that explained what came out of her mouth next.
“Oh-oh. Well, I don’t know about never…” Marinette?! What the heck are you saying? “I mean, you never know…” Except you DO know!
But the words—even if they weren’t quite true—were worth it to see a tiny smile flicker onto his face.
“Thank you,” he said softly. “You really are a good listener.”
Marino shot a pair of finger guns, sweating. “Anytime.”
By the time Chat had left, she’d somehow offered to wingman for him. To help him win over herself. So it was safe to say her first attempt at gathering intel hadn’t gone entirely to plan.
But at least she’d gained his confidence, right? Surely she’d have better luck next time.
Rena Rouge stared incredulously at the glass of milk Marino had poured her. “Don’t you have anything stronger?”
“Stronger?” Marino repeated, wincing at the way her voice cracked.
She was lucky she’d managed to sneak her way into this job, and she couldn’t risk getting fired—not with such important intel-gathering at stake. Which meant she couldn’t serve something stronger to Alya, who she knew was underage.
But she also couldn’t ID a superhero.
Maybe magical powers superceded the legal drinking age? She’d have to check with her boss to see if the establishment had any such policy. Not that she appreciated her friend trying to drink while suited up anyways—that was just irresponsible! But then, it wasn’t like that was something Marino should care about…
Rena laughed, interrupting Marino’s spiral. “I just meant a coke or something.”
“Ha! Right, of course. I totally knew that. Just, uh… wait right here and I’ll grab some from the back!”
In her haste to escape, Marino nearly barrelled right into one of her coworkers—and his precariously balanced tray of dishes. Apologizing profusely, she snuck around him and crashed through the door to the kitchen, where she proceeded to search for a pot to scream into.
Rena wasn’t part of the plan. She wasn’t supposed to be publicly using her miraculous at all!
But worse than that, Alya knew Marinette too well. If anyone were to uncover her secret identity as Marino, it would definitely be her best friend.
Not that she had any reason to worry. Her disguise was solid.
She just needed to spend another few minutes frantically pacing around to convince herself of that.
Eventually, she composed herself enough to leave the kitchen… only to nearly turn right back around when she saw Vesperia sitting beside Rena. It shouldn’t have been surprising—Ladybug had let Vesperia keep the Bee Miraculous for the night, after hinting heavily that Le Grand Paris’ new bartender was giving out free drinks to heroes. But now Marino had to face both of them at once?!
Rena noticed Marino first. “Did you find the coke?”
Shoot.
“Heh,” Marino said. “Funny story actually—I forgot I have guns!”
Vesperia cocked her head, and one of the eyebrows on Rena’s mask shot up. Marino thought about flexing her muscles—these guns, wink wink—but just as quickly dismissed the thought.
“I mean, just one! A soda gun.” Marino picked up the object in question, accidentally pressing one of the buttons in the process. A stream of coke—no, wait. Root beer—hit her right in the face. She grinned maniacally as the sticky liquid rolled down her face. “See?”
“Very… cool?” Vesperia said diplomatically. Rena seemed like she was struggling not to laugh.
Before she could make even more of a fool of herself, Marino hurried to pour Rena’s drink. She pressed one of the buttons—one she thought was coke… only the glass she ended up setting on the counter was definitely the wrong colour.
Vesperia nodded approvingly. “Oooh, I love orange soda.”
Rena laughed. “Here, you can have it. I ordered a coke.”
Marino grinned apologetically and flipped over a few more glasses, carefully testing each of the remaining buttons. Finally she found the right one, and oh-so-casually set a full glass of coke—probably—in front of Rena. Then, carefully twisting the end of her moustache, she did her best to get this little meet-up back on track.
“So, what’s up with Team Miraculous? Any terrible drama I should be aware of?”
Vesperia giggled. “I mean, not unless you count me sneaking away from King Monkey after the last akuma. He was trying to play Smash or Pass, and he asked about Ladybug.”
“Okay, but what’s so hard about that?” Rena asked. “Smash, obviously.”
Marino let out a startled squeak, drawing the attention of both heroes. Alya was her best friend, and she was dating someone. Plus, Marino liked Adrien!
But… it wasn’t like Marino had never thought about it.
“Well, maybe,” Vesperia said. “But Chat Noir was right there. I didn’t want to admit that.”
Rena snorted. “Fair enough.”
“And also…” Vesperia glanced shyly to the side. “I don’t know if I’d want to. I mean, Ladybug’s great and all, but… there’s sort of this girl from school?”
“Oooh, tell me more!” Rena said, and Marino was about to protest—what about secret identities?!—until she added, “As much as you can say without giving too much away, I mean.”
Vesperia bit her lip, smiling shyly. “Well… she’s actually the first person I met when I came to the city.”
Marino frowned. She’d always thought she was the first person Zoé had met. Strange.
“And, I don’t know,” Vesperia continued. “She’s just so sweet. Like, the first time we met—which I’ve been told had total meet-cute vibes—she… Okay, wait. For backstory, her parents own this… let’s say restaurant. And she was holding a box of… tomatoes? So…”
Listening to Vesperia’s story, Marino started to realize it sounded… a little too familiar. If only she replaced restaurant with bakery, and tomatoes with apples… oh.
Oh, wow.
Marino was flattered—truly. But accidental love confessions were best delivered when the target hadn’t forgotten she was still holding a soda gun.
And after unintentionally drenching both of her friends in root beer, Marino decided that superhero recon would best be left for another day.
Upon starting her third shift, Marino nearly had a heart attack when she saw who sat at the bar, his perfect posture even more out of place than his magical suit.
Oh no, oh no, oh no. “Catwalker?!”
The hero in question startled so hard he nearly fell out of his seat, which under other circumstances might have made Marino laugh—or give a stupidly high-pitched giggle that totally would have blown her cover, because wow. She’d forgotten the way his eyes sparkled.
But Catwalker wasn’t supposed to be here. His presence meant something was terribly wrong—that things were still messed up with Chat Noir. That he hadn’t forgiven her. That—
“Hello, Marino.”
“GAH!” This time Marino was the one who jumped, nearly spilling a pitcher of sangria all over herself. “How did you know my name?”
“It’s on your name tag,” Catwalker pointed out. “And… let’s just say a mutual friend mentioned you were good to talk to.”
Marino’s heart thumped heavily. “A mutual friend? You don’t mean…”
“Chat Noir. He lent me his Miraculous for the afternoon.”
“Oh. So, he just let you borrow it. He’s coming back?” I didn’t screw everything up?
Catwalker nodded, eyes falling down to his interlaced fingers. “Yes. He simply… well, apparently he thought I had some things to get off my chest. I can’t say I was exactly expecting to show up like this today.”
A thousand warring thoughts flew through Marino’s mind. Did Chat Noir know who Catwalker was? Were they friends? And what if Chat Noir decided he didn’t want to come back, after all?
But as she watched Catwalker’s ears flatten nervously against his head, she pushed all that aside. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Sure. That would be nice.”
“What would you like?”
He smiled pleasantly. “Whatever you think would be appropriate.”
Marino made a face. “Last time I tried suggesting a drink for someone it didn’t turn out so well. It would really be better if you picked something by yourself.”
“Oh.” Was she imagining things, or did Catwalker seem disappointed? “I suppose I’ll just have a water, then.”
“You sure that’s all you want? It’s on the house.”
He nodded. “Hydration is very important.”
“Oh-kaaay.”
Marino turned to fill his glass with ice, biting her lip in thought. She really couldn’t decide what to make of Catwalker’s visit. True, he’d worked with Ladybug too—and it had been a mess. So maybe he could share some insight about her shortcomings as a leader.
But he was probably too proper to gossip like that. Just like he was apparently too proper to order something with flavour. And although she’d found his demeanour incredibly charming during their first meeting, now she couldn’t help but feel a little sad for him.
She placed his glass in front of him—with a maraschino cherry hanging from the rim, because he deserved something fun. “So, you said you had something to get off your chest?”
He sighed. “I really shouldn’t trouble you with it.”
“Trouble me? Pfft. I’m a magnet for trouble—you won’t be able to keep it from me.”
His lips twitched. “Well, if you’re sure…”
“Positively!”
He was silent for long enough that she thought he’d changed his mind about sharing. But eventually he gave another sigh. “I guess I just feel like I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. All my friends… they seem like they have everything figured out. They’re all so talented and driven. But I can’t seem to do anything except what I’m told.”
Marino wanted to give him a hug. But that probably wasn’t in character—or very workplace appropriate.
“You were a hero though,” she said. “That’s amazing!”
Catwalker stared at his hands. “I don’t think I did such a great job…”
“I’m sure Ladybug would disagree.”
“I’m not. I mean, speaking of talented people…” He sighed again, but this time it had a dreamy quality to it. “I guess I only worked with her once. But I swear… once is all it takes to fall a little bit in love with her.”
Marino was really glad she wasn’t holding the soda gun this time—although at least that would have been a good excuse to run to the back and squeal excitedly. Gosh, he was so dreamy. And he liked her?!
With great difficulty, she took a deep breath and refocused her efforts on the task at hand: Operation Cheer Up Catwalker.
“Look,” she said. “Ladybug came in here one time too. And I can assure you she doesn’t have it all figured out either. Talk about a mess!”
Catwalker didn’t look like he believed her. But he did pick up the cherry, biting it in half with an adorable smile.
And when he eventually left, Marino swore he winked in her direction.
“Soooooo…” Marino pushed a tall glass of orange juice across the bar. “Anything troubling you these days?”
Ryuuko aimed an incredulous stare back at her. “So it’s true then? People actually come to bartenders for advice?”
“Ooooh, yeah. All kinds of things! Like… for example, if you had any conflicts going on in your life. Like, hypothetically, if you had any issues with any of your superhero teammates, or even with Ladybug herself…”
Marino knew she was laying it on a little thick. But she was running out of options. King Monkey had come in the day after Catwalker, but all he’d wanted to talk about was his moves in the fight that day. And then she’d made the mistake of leaving Pigella and Purple Tigress their miraculous on the same day—and from that she only learned that the coupled up heroes were not respecting the secret identity rule.
But Ryuuko was a professional. Surely she’d have some helpful information to share.
“Actually,” Ryuuko said, “I’d heard you were giving out love advice.”
Marino was tempted to steal back her friend’s drink—so she could take a long sip and have something to spit out. Advice?!
“Heh. I’m really more of a listener.”
Ryuuko seemed unphased. “I suppose that will work. Although I could really use an impartial opinion on the matter. Especially seeing as the person I’d normally ask for advice is the subject of my affections, and the only other person I might ask is my ex-boyfriend.” She frowned. “And I’m fairly certain he also has feelings for her. Not that he’s aware.”
“Sounds… complicated?”
“Not really. All I need to do is get to her first. Before Adrien has a chance to confess his feelings.” Ryuuko paused. “And before she has chance to successfully confess her feelings to him, but… there’s even less of a chance of that happening.”
Adrien likes someone?! Marinette was trying to figure out how to dig for more information on that front when Ryuuko continued.
“You know what, I think I’m done here. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Oh. I didn’t really say any—”
“If all goes well, I’ll let Marinette know we have you to thank.”
“Okay…”
Marino didn’t fully process what Ryuuko had said until her friend had left the room.
“Wait,” Marino shrieked—to no one in particular. “Marinette?!”
Marino showed up to her next shift cautiously optimistic. Sure, she hadn’t really gotten anywhere with Ryuuko. Or Catwalker. Or Vesperia. Or—well, she’d be standing around all day if she had to list all her failures. But that just meant things could only get better from here.
Her optimism lasted as long as it took for her recognize the person sitting at the bar. A face that almost made her want to swoon—were it not for his sweater vest and slicked-back hair style.
Not Adrien. Félix.
And, look. In theory, Marino hadn’t given up hope on gathering intel from her teammates—a goal that was more than worth a few awkward conversations. But in practice…
“Nope!” Marino ripped off her apron—and her moustache—and stormed out of the room. “Absolutely not! I’m not risking another confession—not today! I quit!”
Had Marino stayed a little longer, she might have seen the boy seated at the bar mess up his hair into a more familiar style. She might have heard him explain how he’d switched clothes with his cousin—how he’d had to do that so his father wouldn’t catch him sneaking out to meet his favourite bartender.
She might have even heard another confession.
But who can say for sure?