The New Guardian

Disguise

"I guess if you're blind." Alya snorted at me.

"Thankfully paparazzi tend to be, especially when a famous person is hanging out with normal people. We basically blend in. Just watch, I bet no one will recognize me."

"You're on!" The couple say unexpectedly in unison.

~~~~~this chapter is in Adriens POV~~~~~

We excitedly jump out of the car and run into the party store and begin looking around at all the different colours of things. We all head towards the pink section when we're greeted by a store attendant. She asks about our occasion and says she'll check in the back for something more suited to us.

Alya picks out a balloon type in a book; a large, clear, circle balloon with pink confetti inside. She sucks in a breath quickly and shuts the book.

"What's wrong, Alya?" Nino asks, taking the book from her hand and opening to the page she was on, reacting the same to it. They exchange concerned looks and Alya checks through her purse and Nino digs through his wallet.

"Uh, guys?" I step towards them and grab the book. I flip through to the page they were on and see nothing out of the ordinary. Perplexed, I ask what's wrong.

"A-Adrien," Nino starts, looking up awkwardly from his wallet, "those balloons are 228 euros. Even if we split it between the 3 of us that's 76 euros a piece."

"We just don't have that kind of money." Alya says timidly, obviously uncomfortable. Perking up a bit, she suggests going to a cheaper party store as the attendant helping us rounds the corner. The woman kindly hands us a book of options for our occasion. I smile warmly at them and thank the attendant who leaves us to decide.

"I'm so sorry for making you feel like this but why would you think you'd be paying?" I ask, confused.

"Why would we not pay?" Alya questions, clearly taken aback by a seemingly stupid question in her eyes.

"You handed me a list and asked me to get the decorations? Does that not imply that I'd be purchasing the stuff on the list?"

"I mean I guess it could be taken that way but we both intended on chipping in. I mean how could we not?"

"There's no need." I say nonchalantly, fingering through the pages of the book to find the pink balloons again. "Pick anything else out that you think Marinette would like, I'm paying."

"Adrien-"

"Alya," I put my hand on her shoulder gently to reassure her. "We wouldn't even need to have this party if I didn't cause such a disaster yesterday. And honestly," I open the book again and look at the prices. "I can afford to. I have no reason not to pay for this. I insist, really guys."

"Are you sure, dude?"

"Definitely. I got this. There's no reason to put you guys in a bad finical situation of I know I can afford to do this. I promise it's no problem." I hand the book back to Alya. "Pick whatever you guys want."

"Adrien, you're a great friend. Thank you." Alya says quietly, thumbing through the pages of decor. She picks out some more balloons; this time giant, clear circles with white confetti and pink customizable writing. Nino picks out a white custom banner with pink and black writing that says "Welcome back!" And I pick out some pink and white hanging streamers.

Finally, we head up to to register to check out and order everything. The woman helping us writes down the order perfectly and writes down the date and time to be delivered to the school. 

"Okay, sir. You're total today will be 441 euros. How will you be paying?"

"Credit card."

"Okay, can I please see a form of ID since the purchase is over $100? I will also need you to remove your sunglasses to verify the picture."

"Uh, yes." I reluctantly agreed, take my ID out of my wallet and take off my sunglasses. I sheepishly slide my ID towards her and she visibility straightens up then looks up at me slowly as her cheeks flush.

Quietly, she gives back my ID and I return my ID to it's proper place and flip my sunglasses back down. "My apologies, Monsieur Agreste."

"Please don't apologize, it's your policy and I purposely avoiding getting recognized." I offer her a reassuring smile and she smiles back.

"Alright, Monsieur Agreste. You're delivery is all set. Have a great rest of your day." She says cheerfully.

"Thank you!" I call back to her, walking out the door with my friends waving goodbye.

Making our way towards my car, Alya pipes up a singular "Wow."

"What, babe? Never seen someone drop so much on party supplies?" Nino chuckles.

"No, not that." She says, leaning past Nino to get a better look at me as we enter my car. "I just can't believe it."

"What?" Nino asks, staring at me too.

"No one noticed him. There were like 10 people in that store! And no one noticed that he is thee Adrien Agreste! Because of a hat and sunglasses!"

"Don't forget the man bun under the hat too. That really seals the deal." I laugh, taking my disguise off. "I told you it would work."

"Tsch." Alya says in a huff. "I guess you were right. Now I gotta remember that when I become a reporter." She concludes, leaning back in the seat and smirking.

"Good luck using that tip, most other famous people actually want to be seen even though they don't look like it." I explain. "If you really want privacy, you can usually just get it by dropping the luxury act. Most just don't want to. The attention pays their bills."

"I suppose that's a fair point." She says deep in thought, scrolling on her phone. "Oh! It's almost 5 o'clock. We should head over to Marinettes house, right?"

"No problem, let's head over right now." I switch the car into gear and head straight to M'ladys house. I hope she's doing okay today.