An unexpected knock on his door had Peter Bouchard wondering who it could be. The brown haired young man had just moved into his new one-bedroom apartment but all his furniture had already been dropped off so he wasn’t expecting any more deliveries. ‘Maybe it’s a late birthday gift?’ he thought. His birthday was only a few weeks ago, so perhaps one of his relatives had mailed something and it got delayed because of his relocation? He got up from his desk and went over to the door to look out of the peephole. His eyes went wide in surprise and he immediately threw open the door.

“Hello Player,” the person on the other side of the door said, using his online screenname. Her steel grey eyes twinkled as she gave him a mischievous smile.

“Carmen!?” Peter said, almost not believing his eyes. Standing in front of him was Carmen Sandiego, the world’s most elusive and talented thief, and his best friend. Her dark red hair and light brown skin peaked out from the hoodie she almost always wore when not out on one of her capers. “W-what are you doing here?”

“Do I need a reason to visit?” she asked, maintaining her grin.

“Of course not! You know you’re always welcome any time. Please, come in!” he said, inviting her inside.

Carmen stepped inside and Peter closed the door. “Here, a housewarming present,” she said, holding out a giftwrapped box. Where she had it hidden a second ago Peter couldn’t tell, but Carmen had a knack for seemingly pulling things out of thin air.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he replied, taking the gift.

“I know, but I wanted to make up for not being able to attend your birthday party in person.”

“I already told you that none of us were bothered by that,” Peter said as he began to unwrap the present. “There was a V.I.L.E. plot that needed to be stopped in Australia, and that kind of distance just can’t be covered even with the fastest of private jets. You being with us via video call was more than enough, though Zack and Ivy are starting to wonder when they’ll get to see you face to face again. That little show you gave them when you captured Paper Star only whetted their appetite for a proper reunion.”

“Yeah, I know, and do feel a little bad for teasing them like that. I promise I’ll make it up to them soon.”

Peter finished with the wrapping paper and opened the plain cardboard box that was underneath. He had to chuckle when he saw what was inside. “What is this?” he said as he pulled out a rather large and highly detailed action figure of Carmen herself, wearing her classic red trench coat and hat. “Where did you get this?”

“Custom made, obviously,” Carmen said. “There are plenty of companies that do this sort of thing nowadays, though only a few can go to this level of accuracy. An insanely high resolution 3D scan of myself allowed them to capture even the smallest detail.”

Peter looked closely at the doll and sure enough, every aspect of Carmen’s face was recreated in exquisite detail, even the little scar on her left eyebrow. The hair wasn’t moulded plastic either, but individual strands. “Is that real hair?” he asked.

Carmen nodded. “Yeah. My own, actually. I’ve got lots so you can’t even tell that I had some cut off to make this. The clothes are real fabric too, and it comes with a bunch of different heads and outfits so you can dress her up to match what I looked like on our various capers, if you so choose.”

With how accurate the doll’s face was, the mention of changing its clothes made Peter wonder if the body was just as detailed and true to life. The thought made him blush and he mentally chastised himself for thinking such things. “Well, I love it. Thank you!” he said, and stood it next to his computer screen where it would be in clear sight whenever he was at his desk, which was most of the time. “It must have been insanely expensive, though.”

“A couple grand,” Carmen admitted. “But when you’ve got millions liberated from V.I.L.E.’s accounts, I figured it’d be okay to splurge on ourselves every now and again. This way, even when I can’t be with you, I’ll still be with you. Sort of.”

Peter hesitated a moment, then gave Carmen a hug. With them having only ever been in each other’s presence a mere handful of times, physical contact between the two of them was still something of a novelty despite them having known each other for over half a decade. Carmen returned the hug, then stepped back and surveyed the apartment.

“Nice place you’ve got,” she said, somewhat jokingly. The kitchen was pretty bare and there were boxes everywhere.

“Sorry it’s not more put together,” he replied, gesturing to one group of boxes stacked in the living room area. “I haven’t had the time to unpack everything yet.”

“But your computer is up and running, I see.”

“Of course. I need to be able to help you at a moment’s notice so I made sure that was the first thing that was set up.”

Carmen gave him an appreciative smile. “So ... eighteen, huh? Finished high school and already living on your own.” She paused for a second. “Been to any bars yet?” she teased.

Peter laughed. “Did you forget where we are, Carm? Ontario’s drinking age is nineteen. I’ve got to wait another year before I can do any of that stuff.”

“Are you honestly telling me you don’t have a fake ID?” she asked rhetorically.

Peter blushed slightly. “No, I do,” he admitted. “But who would I go drinking with? All my friends live in other countries. Or have no fixed address,” he added, referring to her.

“You didn’t want to go solo? Try and pick up some cute little thing at a club?” she teased.

Peter blushed. “Come on, Red, you know I’m not into that sort of thing.” In truth, the idea of getting laid did appeal to him, a lot, but he hadn’t even had his first kiss yet. And as much as he’d like to put a notch or two in his belt, he didn’t want to lose his virginity to some random floozy in a drunken one night stand. “Besides, I’m really not comfortable being surrounded by a bunch of strangers. I’m not like you, who can walk into any room and immediately take command.”

“So me taking you out for a night of drinking and dancing doesn’t sound all that appealing?”

Peter nearly choked at her words. Was Carmen asking him out on a date? Surely not. There’s no way he’d ever be that lucky. She was his best friend but in all the years they’d known each other she’d never given so much as a hint as to wanting something more. He tried reading her face to see if there were any hints there now, but she was cool and collected, revealing nothing. “Um, n-no,” he stammered, suddenly tongue tied. “T-that sounds like a great idea!” His eyes ran around the room, trying to think of something else to say. He then noticed the clock and an idea came to him. “But it’s a bit too early to go to a bar. Why don’t we go out and have dinner first?”

Carmen gave him a smile. “That’s a great idea. Why don’t you pick the restaurant and I’ll pick the club? My guess is that’ll fit into our areas of expertise a little better.”

“Really? A fast food joint? Why here?” Carmen asked as Peter held the door open for her.

“I know it’s not fancy, but this place is kind of special to me,” Peter said. “This is where we first shared a meal together. Plus getting a reservation at a nice place at the last minute is next to impossible.”

“You could have just hacked them and got us a spot,” Carmen pointed out.

“By replacing the people who already had the reservation? If it was V.I.L.E. sure, but we don’t do that sort of stuff to civilians.”

Carmen gave him a little smile. “I know, I’m just teasing. And you’re right, this place is special. I’m glad you brought us here.”

They ordered their meals and took a window booth, sitting across from each other. Even though they rarely were together in person, conversation flowed easily as they ate their food. They talked online all the time, even when Carmen was reconnecting with her birth mother, so there wasn’t any real catch up that needed to happen. Instead they talked about meaningless things like music or movies. They enjoyed every second of it.

Eventually the conversation about favourite movies morphed into a bit of a game. One of them had to name a movie, and the other then had to name their favourite piece of music from that movie. After a few flubbed attempts using regular movies that neither could name a song from, they moved to the obvious category: Disney musicals.

“Okay, this one should be easy,” Carmen said. “The Little Mermaid. The good one, mind you, not the live-action de-make.”

“Yeah, that’s a classic for sure,” Peter replied. “I guess I’d have to go with ‘Part of Your World’.”

“Why’s that?”

“The voice actress, Jodi Benson, did a phenomenal job with it. The live action rendition was okay-ish but it doesn’t hold a candle to the original. I can’t see anyone ever topping that performance.” He took a sip from his drink, then looked down in thought before adding, “And I understand how Ariel was feeling.”

Carmen arched an eyebrow in curiosity, waiting for him to continue.

Peter took a breath then let it out in something of a sigh. “My parents made sure I never went without, but I really felt the need to be part of something ... more. Because I was home-schooled, I had to see the world in more ... unconventional ways, which led me to hacking and eventually ... to you.”

Carmen smiled. “Makes sense. Alright, your turn.”

“Let’s go with ... Aladdin. Again, original, not live-action.”

“‘A Whole New World’,” Carmen answered almost instantly. “And do I really need to explain? Stuck in one place, longing to see what’s out there? There’s a lot of parallels.”

“Except in your case the thief and the princess are one and the same.”

“Why Player, did you just call me a princess?” Carmen asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Peter blushed slightly and coughed to clear his throat. “It’s, um, your turn to pick,” he said, ignoring the question.

Carmen gave him a knowing smile. “How about this, then? ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’.”

Peter opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again, thinking. It felt like a long time before he finally answered. “‘Hellfire’,” he said, shyly looking down at the table.

Carmen’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Oh? A villain song?”

“It’s relatable, okay?” Peter said, raising his voice defensively as he looked at her, trying to explain his choice. “Not the whole ‘destroy what I can’t have’ thing, but I can kind of sympathize with how Frollo felt.” His eyes dropped back down to the table and the next part came out in barely a whisper, as if he was just talking to himself. “Wanting something so badly it hurts but not being able to do anything about it.”

It was only after he had finished speaking that Peter realised what he had said. His face flushed as he worried he may have said too much. Shyly, he looked up at Carmen and their eyes met. Like before, her face was difficult to read and her dark complexion made it difficult to tell, but was there a slight blush in her cheeks? And, maybe it was just wishful thinking, but was that the barest hint of a smile? The two stared at each other for several seconds before they both looked down at what was left of their food. Neither said anything, though the protracted silence was surprisingly not that uncomfortable.

This time it was Carmen who cleared her throat. “It’s, uh, your turn,” she said, breaking the silence.

“Oh, right,” Peter said, needing Carmen’s prompt to remember what they were talking about. “Um... ‘Mulan’.”

Carmen thought about it for a long moment. “Hmm,” she said. “At first I was leaning towards ‘A Girl Worth Fighting For’, but upon further consideration I think I’ll go with...” She gave a dramatic pause, and her face suddenly shifted into the most sultry expression Peter had ever seen on her. Staring seductively at him, she finished by saying, “I’ll make a man out of you.”

Peter’s face instantly went beet red and his heart began to race. He swallowed and gasped at the same time, causing him to choke on his own spit. After a brief but highly embarrassing coughing fit he managed to get himself back under control. However, unable to look Carmen in the face, he instead looked off to the side. “Oh would you look at the time!” he said nervously. “The clubs should be opening soon. Maybe we ought to finish up here and head over to wherever it was you wanted to go?”

Carmen grinned at his reaction but glanced at the wall clock. “The club I want to go to doesn’t open for a while yet,” she said. “However, you’re right in that we should get moving since we have to do a bit of shopping first.”

“Shopping?” Peter asked, the surge of arousal from Carmen’s words slowly fading as confusion rose.

Carmen nodded. “There’s no way we can go dressed like this,” she said, gesturing to the two of them. “Hoodies and shorts? We’d be laughed out of there, and that’s assuming they’d even let us in, in the first place. I doubt you have anything fancier back at your apartment?”

The blush came back, though this time it was out of embarrassment rather than arousal. “If you’re asking if I own a suit and tie, then ... no, I don’t,” he admitted.

Carmen shook her head. “One of these days we’re going to have a serious wardrobe upgrade for you. You’re an adult now. Gotta look the part if you ever want someone to take you seriously.” She stood and Peter joined her. “But for now I’ll settle with just the one outfit you’ll need for tonight.”

They had a short taxi ride to the closest high-end clothing store, and within seconds Carmen was flipping through racks of suit jackets, picking one seemingly at random and holding it up against Peter before returning it to the rack and picking another.

“Is this really necessary?” he asked after a few minutes of this, feeling the stares of the other customers as they watched her pick out clothes for him.

“If you want to get past the bouncer, then yes. Here, go try all this on,” she said, handing him the handful of clothes she hadn’t returned to the racks. There was a dark grey jacket with matching pants, a lighter grey dress shirt, and a back tie. She even had shoes and socks to match as well. “If something doesn’t fit, just ask one of the staff for a different size.”

“And where will you be?”

“Getting something for myself, of course,” she said with a grin.

Not one to question her fashion advice, as anything she ever wore looked absolutely fabulous, Peter did as instructed and headed to the nearest change room to try on the outfit. Fifteen minutes later, he was admiring himself in the mirror, very pleased with Carmen’s choice. He had to admit, he looked pretty good. He did have to exchange the shoes as the ones Carmen grabbed were a size too small, but she had somehow picked the right size for everything else. “Carmen, you here somewhere?” he asked out loud.