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"Will that be all?" Fu asked, handing over a brown paper bag to Adrien. The blonde took the bag into his grasp and smiled kindly.
"Yes, and thank you for the assistance," Adrien replied, putting five dollars in the tip jar. Fu nodded as he watched the boy walk out of the shop and was soon rejoined with the frantic bluenette, who was much calmer now.
"Did you find what you were looking for, miss?" The old man asked. Marinette sheepishly smiled and placed a red mask onto the countertop.
"Yeah, and I'm sorry for my crazy entrance from earlier. I should've been more thoughtful," Marinette apologized to the shopkeeper. Fu chuckled as he placed the mask with a brown bag.
"That will be a dollar," Fu said. The teen opened her purse and began to dig through a mess of things inside. She raised an eyebrow searching her small purse again but only found a penny she found on the floor one day.
Alya dubbed it "Marinette's lucky charm." Since the coin was heads up, Alya told her friend she needed all the luck she could get with her clumsiness. So, Marinette kept the penny in her purse as a joke. Yet, there was so much luck Marinette could get as she realized she didn't have no more money than the worthless "lucky" penny.
Just as the bluenette was about to break the bad news, a bell jingled as someone entered the costume shop. Fu and Marinette looked over at the door. Adrien had re-entered the shop and shut the door behind him.
"Do you mind if I stay in here for a bit until my driver gets here? It's starting to get a little chilly out," Adrien asked. The old man nodded his head in approval before facing the bluenette.
"I—um, I don't have enough money to buy the mask. I forgot it at home," Marinette admitted, shamefully and looked down at her shoes. She slumped, feeling like an idiot for not going home to get some money before running around Paris to get a mask. Then once she finally found a shop with a nice red mask, it was all for nothing.
"I'm so lame!" Marinette thought, picturing the shop owner's face wrinkled in annoyance and anger. Yet, Fu wasn't angry or annoyed at all. He wasn't even looking at the ashamed bluenette but glancing over to see Adrien pause in his tracks.
The blonde teen didn't mean too but overheard their conversation. He turned around to look at the distressed girl, not noticing the sly gleam within Fu's eyes. Fu held back a grin when Adrien walked over.
"How much?" Adrien asked, generously offering to pay for whatever the girl bought. Marinette shot her head up, bluebell eyes wide in astonishment. She frantically waved her hands around and shook her head, saying, "N-No, you don't n-need to do that! It's my f-fault for forgetting t-to bring money!"
"One dollar," Fu answered, the two men ignoring Marinette. Adrien dug into his pocket and pulled out a dollar.
"Y-You seriously don't need t-to buy anything for m-me," Marinette protested, feeling guilty that this kind boy was paying for her mask.
"It's alright. I want too," The blonde replied, handing the dollar to the shop owner. Fu retrieved the money and handed the bag over to a stunned Marinette. The bluenette took the bag before facing the kind boy that paid for her. After getting a better look, she found the blonde to be quite handsome and felt her face heat up.
"T-Thank y-you," Marinette stuttered, shyly looking away and scuffling her foot on the ground.
"It was no problem at all," Adrien replied before his phone vibrated within his jean's pocket. He pulled the device out and quickly scanned the message from his bodyguard, who was waiting outside.
"I got to go. I hope you two have a good rest of your day!" The blonde teen chirped.
Adrien walked out the door, the bell tinkling at his exit. Marinette continued to stare in awe at the door. She took a minute to shake off her shock and return her attention to the shop owner, who was smirking.
"A very nice gentleman. You don't see them very often in this world anymore," Fu said, after observing the two teens interaction. Marinette merely nodded and bit the bottom of her lip awkwardly.
"Well, I got to go now. Have a nice day, sir," The bluenette said before leaving the store. She didn't know why but instinctively, she looked around the area for the generous blonde boy that helped her. Yet, he was nowhere to be seen considering there were hordes of people walking around.
Marinette looked down at the penny in her hand. Her mind wrapped around the idea that this coin could actually be lucky. She shook the idea away and placed the penny back in her small purse, clipping it shut.
Maybe, the penny still had a little bit of luck to it after all.
As Marinette walked away from the shop, she couldn't help but feel like she's seen that boy somewhere before. The bluenette was too deep in thought the whole walk home, wondering where she's seen the blonde. She never noticed the many pictures of the boy's face plastered pretty much everywhere in the city.
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Nathalie felt her eyelids growing heavy as she continued to lean her head into the palm of her hand and sip on some coffee. The assistant picked up another piece of paper just as the office door opened.
Nathalie looked up and saw a frowning Adrien walk in. The woman blinked a couple of times to rid herself of a sleep-deprived mind and yawned.
"How was shopping?" She asked, taking her glasses off for a moment to clean them. Her whole world became a blurry mess.
"It was good," Adrien replied just as a mouth-watering smell hit Nathalie's nose. The woman put her glasses back on to see Adrien sitting right across from her and saw a take-out bag sitting on his lap. She felt her stomach growl in hunger at the sight and felt a blush of embarrassment paint her cheeks.
The blonde smiled a little and dug into the bag and taking out a hamburger.
"Gorilla and I brought some supper home. Gorilla already eating his food. I hope you don't mind a burger and fries," Adrien said, sheepishly handing over the sandwich. Nathalie stared bewildered at the paper-wrapped hamburger for a second before a soft smile settled on her lips.
She took the hamburger before Adrien had taken out a large french fries. The assistant gratefully took it too and began to eat. Adrien brought out his food and the two ate silently in the office together.
"Thank you, Adrien. I'll have to thank your bodyguard later too," Nathalie spoke, taking a sip from her coffee.
"You don't need to thank us. This was us thanking you for everything you've done since..." he trailed off, a grimace pulled tightly in his lips, "...well...you know..."
Nathalie nodded in understanding, a smile still adorning her features. Adrien returned the gesture, relaxing his stiff muscles and realizing something.
This was his first time eating supper with someone since his mother disappeared.
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"Gabriel Agreste," Officer Raincomprix called, gaining the criminal's attention. Gabriel adjusted his glasses as Mr. Raincomprix unlocked the cell door.
"Someone is calling you, claims to be your brother," the officer explained, gesturing for Gabriel to follow. The criminal stood from his cot and followed the police officer to the phone room.
His face didn't show it, but the ex-fashion designer was confused. He didn't have a brother, only a brother-in-law and he was dead.
So, who was calling him?
Mr. Raincomprix opened the door and allowed Gabriel inside. There were a few phones lined on the wall, each on in its own cubby. There was another officer inside the room sitting at a desk, rummaging through papers.
"The call is coming from phone 3," The officer at the desk stated, bored and tired. Officer Raincomprix left the room while Gabriel walked over to phone 3. The man sat on a stool within the cubby and picked up the old landline phone with a wire connected to the receiver.
"Hello," Gabriel dully said, wondering who was on the other side of the call.
"Well, hello, old friend," a male voice responded, "It's nice to hear you haven't changed one bit since I last saw you."
Gabriel immediately recognized the voice and felt a hint of an evil grin spread across his lips.
"Hello," Gabriel began, darkly, "It's been a while..."
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