Lock Me Up (Miraculous 1930's AU)

We're In The Money

"And when we see the landlord we can look that guy right in the eye

We're in the money, come on, my honey,

 Let's lend it, spend it, send it rolling along!"

October 29, 1930. Chicago, Illinois.

Marinette found herself being rather surprised. The reason for this is because she wasn't finding herself guilty. It was true that the banks weren't nearly as full as they used to be, but Marinette was certain that the money that was left in the banks were from those who could afford to keep it in. But it was still stealing. 
Still, it's awfully hard to feel guilty when everyone around you is overjoyed.
The only thing that did bother Marinette shouldn't even necessarily be considered anything bad.

After the heist, Marinette had decided to wait until past midnight when everyone would be asleep to place the money outside their front door, disguised as a delivered package. When she went to place the package, however, she was surprised to find a package already there. 

And inside? A bag holding the same contents as the bag in her own package. At first, she thought there must be some sort of mistake. No-one, especially in times like these, would just leave a bag filled with such a large amount of money. But evidence led her to believe otherwise, for not only on the box was her last name printed, but on a note attached to the string tying the bag together as well.

For a while, the usually quick gears churning in Marinette's head stopped, the unexpected gift shocking her to the core and leaving her body temporarily inanimate. When she was finally able to close her parted lips, heavily blinking a few times and taking back control of her mind and body, she decided to replace the mysterious box with her own, taking the replaced box with her to her room and hiding it in the back of her closet, disguising it as much as possible until she figured out what to do with it before returning to bed. But considering her parents were early risers, Marinette did not sleep long. 

At 6:00 AM, Marinette's peacefully closed eyelids shot open at a very shrill "OH, GOODNESS!" projected from her mother's voice downstairs. The sudden disturbance caused a panicked Marinette to flail around in her bed, her mind not yet functioning as she flew out of her bed and landed on the ground with a large thump. Marinette groaned as she stood up, rubbing her complaining backside. "I guess she found the box." 

Marinette had expected her parents to be happily surprised upon receiving the money that could pay for a good few terms of rent. What Marinette hadn't expected was for her parents to absolutely lose it and not be able to get over for the rest of the day. Marinette could never recall a time when her parents were anything more than relatively calm, but here they were. Thoughts of the money were running through their minds non-stop, and to be completely honest, Marinette couldn't tell if tell if they were happy or not. Marinette would be lying if she said she wasn't partially grateful for the distraction though, as their minds were occupied with other thoughts than the unusual "boy and girl duo" robbery they had read about in the paper. 

 Even as her parents started work, their shock was still overwhelmingly evident. Words such as "oh my, oh Lord, mercy" would fall out of their mouths as they kneaded dough, and as they mixed batter their hands were definitely not the relaxed, firm hands Marinette had always seen. She watched as they continuously shook their heads side to side lightly, slightly biting their bottom lip. Marinette had begun to worry that other people might start to notice and become worried as she snuck glances over her shoulder at them from the front counter. And who else but Adrien would notice and ask about them during his routine stop at the bakery?