Adrien and Mummy day was always the best.

Four-year-old Adrien hung onto his mummy's hand as she guided him down the street towards the big surprise. One he was very excited about.

"Right here, Adrien."

She guided him into a little shop around the corner, where he was immediately greeted with a bunch of sweet, yummy smells. Looking around, he could see the cupcakes and macarons and sweet breads. And then he saw the big man at the counter.

He grabbed at Mummy's leg, finding comfort in hiding half behind it.

She reached down to affectionately scratch his head. "It's ok, sweetheart." Then she looked up to the large man behind the counter. "Hi, Tom."

"Hello, Emelie. Sabine is upstairs, but she'll be down shortly."

"That's fine. It will give Adrien enough time to pick out a pastry." With that, she affectionately swept his bangs off his forehead, only for them to fall back into place.

The big man then smiled down at him. "We have lots of good pastries to choose from," he said kindly to Adrien. "You can pick any one of them."

Adrien smiled, and with the guidance of Mummy, approached the display case. He then pointed to one of the chocolate chip cookies.

"That one?" Mummy asked.

Adrien nodded.

The big man then grabbed the largest of the cookies for him and gave it to Mummy, who handed it to him.

"Thank you," Adrien said shyly.

The big man smiled at him. "You're very welcome, young man."

Adrien's smile widened as he held the cookie carefully. Very happily, Adrien nibbled on what was easily the best cookie ever while Mummy talked with the big man.

"Emelie!"

"Sabine!"

Adrien watched his mummy hug a short, black-haired woman. The two conversed as Adrien finished the last bite of his cookie. "Adrien," his mum beckoned. "This is my friend, Sabine. Can you say hello?"

Adrien waved shyly at the smiling woman. "Hello."

"Why, hello there. It's very nice to meet you."

Bashfully, Adrien found comfort behind his mother's leg.

His mummy giggled. "He's a bit shy. Gabriel shelters him in that way."

"Understandable."

"Papa! Papa! Papa!"

Suddenly, a little girl came tearing down the stairs, waving a piece of paper as she ran towards the big man who swooped her up into his arms.

"Papa! I finished it!" She then stuck the paper out into his face.

The man chuckled before taking the paper carefully out of the girl's hands and holding it out to see. "Wow. It does look just like our bakery. Good job."

She smiled, her pink skirt fluttering as she wiggled happily in his arms.

He then set her down. "Now, I have someone for you to meet. Marinette, this is Mrs. Emilie."

"Maman's best friend?"

"Yes, sweetheart," the woman said. "And this is her son, Adrien."

"Adrien," Mummy said to him, "this is Marinette, Sabine's daughter."

"Hi, Adrien," Marinette greeted.

Adrien shyly waved back.

"Adrien," his mummy said, running a hand through his hair. "why don't you and Marinette play a game?"

He then turned up to frown at his mummy. "But I wanna stay with you."

Mummy then knelt down, turning him to face her. "Tomorrow, we can spend all day together. Today, why don't you try to make a friend?"

Adrien looked at Marinette, then at his mummy. "Promise?" he whispered.

She smiled, then scratched his head again. "Promise."

Then Adrien felt something smack his shoulder. "Tag! You're it!" With that, Marinette bounded off, leaving a very confused Adrien in her wake.

"Now you have to run after her," his mother explained. "And touch her, say tag, and then she'll be it. When you get her, make sure she doesn't get you."

Adrien looked at his mother skeptically.

She giggled. "Go on," she encouraged. "Go get her."

Still confused, Adrien ran after Marinette, who was waiting on the stairs looking a tinge put-out that she wasn't being chased.

But once he ran towards her, she squealed happily and continued up the stairs.

Adrien wasn't sure of the point of the game, but he had to make his mummy proud. He had to catch the girl. They ran around what looked like his living room, but much smaller. They dove behind the couch, and under the tables and around the lamps.

"Catch me if you can!" Marinette kept yelling.

Adrien tried, but he never seemed to catch her. She was really sneaky.

Then, after the fifth time behind the couch, he decided to go around.

She squealed loudly as she nearly slammed into him.

"Tag!" He yelled, smacking his hands against her shoulder. "You're it."

And then he ran.

And she gave chase, giggling all the while.

Until he hid behind his mummy again. "I got her."

Mummy looked down at him with a soft smile. She scratched his head affectionately. "Good job. But you have to run away and not let her catch you." She tapped his nose lovingly.

Adrien frowned, grabbing at his mummy's leg. "I don't like that game," he whispered.

By now, Marinette had stopped, frowning as she looked up at her own mummy.

The black-haired woman knelt down beside her daughter. "Why don't you two pick another game? Like hide-and-go-seek? Or maybe you two can go color?"

Marinette lit up at that. "Okay." Boldly, she walked up to Adrien again. "Do you want to play hide-and-go-seek?"

Her smile was so wide, and her eyes really bright, and the way she bounced on her toes made her impossible to ignore. Adrien looked out at her, his hold on Mummy slowly easing. "How do you play?"

Thirty minutes later, Adrien was grinning while he slid under the couch as Marinette counted to ten. This was a fun game. And he was good at it. All he had to do was stomp around and listen for Marinette to giggle. But he was quiet. Quiet as a cat. She could stomp around all she wanted but he wouldn't make a sound.

"Ten! Ready or not, here I come!"

Adrien curled up into a tiny ball as he watched Marinette's shoes scamper across the floor checking every spot for him. But she couldn't find him.

Adrien smiled to himself. He was really good at this game.

It took a while for her to find him, but when she did, she got the biggest smile and squealed, "Found you!" Just like she did every time.

And then it was Adrien's turn. He shut his eyes, counted to ten, then began searching the house for her. He stomped around a bit, hoping she would giggle. Then whipped around when he heard her. Behind the chair, he thought, so sneaking quietly around, he pounced behind the chair, roaring like a lion for effect, and she squealed and laughed and then roared back and tackled him. Roughhousing, she called it. She said she and her papa did it all the time. Adrien thought it really fun. He never did something like that with Father.

"Raor, Raor!" he'd say, patting at her shoulders and rolling around on the ground.

"Raor, Raor!" she'd return, shoving him back and tumbling on top of him.

They stopped, Marinette laying across Adrien on the ground. "Got you."

"Your turn," Adrien said.

"I'm tired of this game," Marinette said, getting off Adrien. "Do you want to color?"

"Ok."

That's how the two four-year-olds ended up at the little desk in Marinette's room. She opened up a huge coloring book and put a box with more crayons than Adrien had ever seen on the table.

"Do you want to color this picture?"

Adrien looked at the picture with the giraffe, then shook his head. "Is there a cat?"

Marinette looked at the book hard, then removed the book from the table and came back with a different coloring book, one with dogs…and cats.

"This one?" she pointed to the picture of a cat laying in flowers with ladybugs around it.

Adrien nodded. "Yeah."

He was a bit confused when she started coloring the ladybugs. He pulled a black crayon out of the box and carefully pulled the book closer to him.

"I can't reach," Marinette said.

"But this is my picture," Adrien replied. That's what coloring was, right?

"But the best part of coloring is sharing a picture," she whined.

Adrien frowned. It was? "I never shared a picture before."

At this, Marinette brightened. "Then we'll share this one, okay?"

"Okay."

It wasn't long before both of them were wearing smiles. Two sets of little hands flew over the picture and dug around in the crayon box.

"The cat's collar should be green."

"This green?"

"No, a bright green."

"Okay. This one?"

"Yeah!"

Pretty soon, the picture was done, crayons were all over the place and two little kids were smiling down at their work.

Marinette grabbed a red crayon and put her name at the top. "Maman says you always have to sign the pictures you color."

Adrien would follow anything Marinette said at this point. So he grabbed the bright green of the cat's collar and put his name next to Marinette's.

"Do you want to color another?" Marinette asked eagerly.

"Yeah!"

They flipped to another picture. This one of a dog chasing butterflies, but Adrien didn't care. He liked coloring with Marinette.

They were half-way finished when the door opened, calling the duo's attention. "Kids. It's time for Adrien to go home."

"Nooooo," Adrien whined, earning a surprised look from his mummy.

She then gave him a kind smile. "We can come back again."

"But Marinette and I aren't done coloring our picture," he explained.

"Please, Maman," Marinette whined. "We have to finish."

The two women looked at each other, then Mummy pulled out her phone and looked at it. "Ten more minutes, okay?"

Adrien looked super happy. "Okay."

Marinette dug into the crayon box. "We have to hurry."

Adrien nodded in agreement, pulling out a purple crayon and finishing the butterflies. It wasn't perfectly inside the lines, but they had to get it done.

Mummy watched as Adrien and Marinette finished the picture, then he signed his name on top. Proudly, he turned back to his mummy. "Marinette says everything I color has to be signed."

His mother affectionately ruffled his hair. "She's right. You should always sign your work. It looks very nice."

"We did another one, too." Adrien excitedly turned the page and showed her the one of the cat and ladybugs. "This is my favorite."

"Marinette," her maman said gently. "Maybe you should let Adrien keep that picture and you can keep the other one."

Marinette looked like it was the best idea in the world before asking her maman to take out the page for her. One that Adrien took and held very carefully.

"Thank you."

"Now, say good-bye."

Adrien looked up at Mummy, a little sad. "Can I come back?"

His mummy smiled at him. "Of course. We'll come back, and maybe we can have Marinette over. How about that?"

Adrien nodded. "Yes, please."

Mummy giggled. "But for now, say good-bye."

He waved. "Bye-bye, Marinette."

She needed no prompting from her maman. Instead, she tackled him in a hug. "Bye-bye, Adrien."

Adrien hugged her back. Then, holding his picture carefully in one hand and Mummy's hand in the other, walked back home.

"Did you have fun today, Adrien?" she asked.

Adrien nodded. Behind Adrien and Mummy day, this was the best day ever.