Adrien was lamenting from the could have, should have, would have been love which slipped through his fingers effortlessly. Poetry was the window to the soul, yet his soul was currently being crushed by the simple lines:

"There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariner, Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—"

He was racking and wriggling his mind to conjure up something relating to this poem, but nothing! He was a fool, cursed to live out his days without knowing his dear Lady B.

He had been so caught up in his own dark, broad seas that he hadn't noticed someone else had joined him.

"Hey, dude! What's—Whoa, what's got you down? Your dad being a di—uh, I mean, a stick in the mud again?"

Adrien opened his eyes, finding Nino standing in the aisle with a raised brow.

"Hey," Adrien said, shaking his head and staring down at the red letter in his hand. "No, it's not him for once. It's actually…" he groaned. "It's this letter I found."

Nino adjusted his signature red cap and tilted his head, asking, "A letter, huh?"

"Yeah," Adrien drawled, handing over the red paper.

Nino glanced down, analyzing the letter with knit brows before his eyebrows shot up in recognition. "Ooooooh! This must have been what the—"

Adrien snatched the letter back and covered his ears, shaking his head vigorously. "No! No. Don't tell me. I don't want to know."

"Uh… you don't want to know?" Nino asked slowly, looking at Adrien as though he had lost his mind.

Adrien removed his hands from his ears, a sheepish look plastered on his face. "Well, it's part of the letter… I'm… I'm not supposed to know until I figure out the clues." His cheeks warmed, causing a pink tint to form. "She wouldn't want..." he trailed off as his thoughts died along with his hopes of knowing her name. This was depressing at this point.

"She wouldn't, what?" Nino asked as his face slowly formed into a sly grin, leaning in closer to Adrien.

Oh, no. Not that look. Adrien hated this part. He absolutely abhorred how four years of dating Alya had turned Nino into some kind of super sleuth. He tried to rip his eyes away, but it was impossible. Once Nino had his eyes locked in, it was game over. With one long look, Nino could read into his soul.

Adrien concluded it was some kind of witchcraft. Maybe he should start carrying salt to draw a circle around himself to keep his thoughts safe.

No, no. Not even then. Nino and Alya were level ten masterclass people readers. He didn't stand a chance.

When Nino was satisfied, he nodded once and leaned back. "You want to follow letter girl's rules because you want to impress her, don't you? How cute." Nino teased, bringing his finger to Adrien's nose and booping it.

"Stop it!" Adrien swatted away Nino's hand, rubbed his nose and frowned, pouting, "It's not funny!"

Nino chuckled, lifting his cap and brushing his hair with his hand. "Come on, bro. You know I'm only playing." He shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets. "But in all seriousness, are you interested in letter girl? Do you want this to go somewhere?"

"I, uh, maybe," Adrien unsurely said while his traitorous heart thrummed in delight at the thought that the letter writer is in fact a girl and is someone Nino knows. If he didn't already know from the letter, he knew that she had to be cool if Nino was friends with her!

"I don't really know her yet," Adrien shrugged and turned away, trying to hide his burning face. He felt like he was roasting. Maybe Fu turned up the heater by a couple degrees. "Do… Do you think I should respond?"

Nino rocked on his heels, "Uh, yeah. I definitely think you should." He removed his hand from his pocket and tapped the red letter, appraising him.

"She's going to be beside herself when she finds out that it's you who found her letter." He chuckled looking up at the ceiling, shaking his head. "Oh, man, I'd give anything to see her face when she does."

Adrien felt a bit put off. "What does that mean when she finds out it's me? Was it supposed to be for someone else?" A tightness in his chest came back along with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Was this all for naught? Had he wasted his time by following the clues?

Letter girl probably wouldn't even want to talk to him. Maybe this was Nino's nice way of telling him to forgo it and put the letter back. He started to fold the letter up, feeling as though a rock dropped through the floor, pulling him down, down, down.

Nino corrected himself, clapping a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "No! No, not at all, dude. It's all good. I just think it'll be… interesting." His eyes sparkled with delight. "You should absolutely respond! And when you figure out the rest of the clues, make sure to write back and leave your note with Mister Fu. He'll know what to do with it."

Adrien wasn't sure how to respond to that. Too many questions erupted at once and that odd glint in his friend's eyes made him feel queasy. Questions bounced around his mind. If he was nervous about responding to letter girl before, his anxious thoughts dialed up to eleven after that.

"Sooo… are you stuck on the answer of letter six, Mr. Blonde and brooding?"

Adrien groaned and hit his head on the back of the shelf, the sharp pain made him wince. Bringing his hand up, he rubbed the sore spot and sighed, looking up to the ceiling. He really needed to stop doing that.

"It's a Greek god."

Adrien snapped his attention to Nino, eyes wide. Was he cheating?

"Won't tell you which one though." Nino winked as he pivoted and walked away, placing his headphones over his ears.

Adrien spluttered, "Y-You can't just—"

Nino craned his head back, pointing to his headphones. "Sorry, bro! Can't hear you. Good luck with the letter!"

Adrien stood there, gawking. There were rules against this! The whole challenge would be null and void now. He might as well throw in the towel. Forget about the whole thing! Place the letter back for some other lucky guy. Someone who would be honest and actually have a chance with Lady B.

But…. then again.

There was a loophole here. He didn't actually ask for help. It was freely given. It was unavoidable! It's not as if he could unhear it, and he had no way of preventing Nino from just blurting out the answer.

And technically, Nino didn't tell him the answer. He just pointed him in the right direction.

So, by all accounts, Adrien remained completely innocent. Yep, nothing shady went on.

He unfolded the letter, reading the clue again.

"So… a Greek god, huh?" he asked aloud.

The only thing that came to mind that referenced a Greek god in poetry and was pre-twentieth century was Lord Tennyson.

"Here goes nothing," he said. It was a better lead than he had before.

He grabbed a collection of Tennyson's poems, sifting through the index for a Greek god's name. He found two: Tithonus and Ulysses. He read through the latter poem and snorted.

"Nino, you absolute genius," he mumbled, disbelievingly.

There it was, the titular line: "There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariner, Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—"

He scribbled in a U, looking at the unfinished word.

L A D Y B U _

The battle was hard fought, but the war wasn't over just yet. One last clue to go.

Letter 7: First he was gray then he was white, then made his final journey to the undying lands alight.

Adrien had to admit, she definitely had style, and also happened to leave the best clue for last. As Gandalf's journey had come to an end, so had his own challenge. Both adventures were grandiose in their own respect.

His heart thumped wildly as he scribbled in the final letter and looked upon the completed word: his prize.

L A D Y B U G

With a tenderness in his voice, he said, "Ladybug. Her name is Ladybug."

If you have completed the challenge and would like to reply, make sure to give your note to the bookshop owner, Mister Fu. He'll know how to contact me.

He ran upstairs and grabbed a notebook from the "extra doodling accessories dedicated to artists in need" cardboard box kept behind the dingy green couch, ripped a piece of paper out and wrote out a response to Ladybug. He needed some kind of envelope, too. He spotted a green piece of paper and found some tape, trying his best to make a last minute envelope to tuck his letter inside.

Running downstairs, he strode over to Mister Fu at the checkout counter.

"Hey Mister Fu, I heard you'd know who this goes to," Adrien proudly handed over his last-minute letter and makeshift green envelope. He would make sure to get better paper and an envelope in the future, but for now, this would have to do. "Can you please give this to Ladybug for me?"

Mister Fu smiled thinly, "Of course. I'll give it to her next time I see her."

Adrien nodded and thanked him. With a pep in his step, he headed over to The Gorilla. It was time to go grab some pastries after a job well done.