Chapter Text
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“I refuse to believe it.”
“Refuse all you want. Nino says Adrien told him.”
Marinette dropped to her bed and covered her face with a pillow, groaning. Alya walked around the room, poking and prodding at things she’d already poked and prodded at a thousand times. It was late afternoon on a Friday, and Alya was staying over at Mari’s that night.
“Alya, he’s a nightmare,” Marinette said, completely unaware that she was the third person in this same story using exactly the same description. “Plus, he hates us! Why would he move to Paris?”
Alya tossed and caught what she thought was a small, squishy doll, but was in reality Kaalki, staying very, perfectly still (but actually getting quite dizzy, if you were to ask him). Marinette didn’t take notice, however, so Kaalki remained in his very awkward bobbing situation until Alya gently tossed him to the chaise. Pollen grimaced in sympathy, while the other Kwamis shook their heads, all of them hidden.
Kaalki needed to learn to hide when Alya came around.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Alya said, flopping on the chaise. “I mean, I don’t think he even likes Adrien too much, which honestly baffles me cause no one dislikes Adrien.”
“Alya, Félix is a jerk. Don’t even try to understand him. I can’t understand how Adrien can be related to him.”
“Well, apparently their mothers were twins. That’s why they look so much alike.”
Marinette scoffed, sitting up. “They’re not that alike.”
“Marinette, they could be clones.” Alya shook her head. “Need I remind you that you couldn’t tell them apart?”
“That’s not true!” Marinette cried out. And it wasn’t!
Marinette would’ve never punched Félix if she hadn’t known for sure he wasn’t Adrien.
The tought left a bittersweet taste in her mouth. She remembered very clearly what Adrien’s face had looked like when he told her he loved her, and then when he had tried to kiss her—
She grit her teeth. She hated Félix. Once again, she let herself fall into the bed—
—Félix hit the bed with a floomp, marking a very smooth transition between scenes.
The roof to the apartment his mother had rented was low, and it felt almost stifling. How did people even live like this? The place was tiny! And he was expected to live here for a semester? Ugh, no thanks.
A little, awkward patter made him sit up. Arsène was studying his surroundings carefully, smelling all the new furniture. Félix drew a deep breath, which happened to coincide with a knock on the door. He didn’t bother answering— he never really did.
“Master Félix,” Nathan called from the other side of the door. “You have a visitor.”
“Tell Adrien I don’t feel like seeing his dumb face.”
There was a moment of quiet, and then an awkward response. “We… look a lot alike, you know.”
Félix almost groaned, but instead stood up, smoothing his hair and finally opening the door. Adrien stood on the other side, looking as awkward and uncomfortable as Félix hoped he felt. There was a moment of horrible silence in which Adrien clearly expected to be invited in, and Félix was very well aware of it—he just decided not to do anything about it. They stared at each other, Adrien being the first to look away and rub his arm uncomfortably.
“I just— I’m going out with a few friends tonight. I wanted to know if you wanted to come.”
Félix raised an eyebrow. “And why would I wan—“
“He will be happy to accept your generous offer,” Nathan cut him off. Félix glared at him.
“No, I’m—“
Adrien brightened. “Great! I’m sure once they get to know you, my friends will like you. You can even do your magic tricks for them!”
Félix deadpanned. “Like a circus monkey, you mean.”
Adrien flushed. “That’s not what I—“ he spluttered, but something caught his eye behind Félix. Félix looked over his shoulder and watched Arsène walked awkwardly towards them. “Is that a cat?”
“What? You’ve never seen one?”
“No, I just— I didn’t know you liked cats. He’s cute.”
“His name is Arsène,” Félix heard himself say. There was no recognition in Adrien’s face, and Félix sighed. “Fine, I’ll go out.” Adrien brightened. “What’s the plan?”
“Nothing too big, we’re just going for ice cream by the river.”
The idea was idiotic. The look on Nathan’s face told Félix that he would regret expressing that opinion. Instead, he nodded.
“Alright, fine. Let’s get this over with.”
The silence that fell upon the teenagers as they watch Adrien and Félix arrive was pretty much palpable. Marinette was sure that, if she extended her hand, she would find a very real, very concrete thing that would be the awkward silence that was currently encompassing all of them. Their expressions were a degradation of polite shock watered down to complete disbelief the further you went down the line.
“Uh, Adrien?” Nino was the first to call out. Adrien coughed awkwardly while Félix crossed his arms.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Marinette could’ve sworn she heard someone mutter. It took her a moment to place Félix as the owner of the voice, and his tone was… well, it was uncomfortable.
Good, she thought to herself. He deserved to feel uncomfortable. He was a jerk to all of them! That prank he played—
Félix was looking away in derision—or at least that’s what she had first thought, but then she noticed the mild tint of blush in his cheeks. Was he… embarrassed?
Marinette sighed. She wove her way through her friends and stopped in front of Félix, holding her hand open with a small, guarded smile.
“Hi,” she said, very much against her better judgment. “We never formally met. I’m Marinette.”
From the corner of her eye, she could see Adrien gaze at her with unbound gratefulness, and she had to fight the urge to blush. After a moment, Félix sighed and shook her hand reluctantly.
“Félix,” he muttered.
As if a spell had been broken, one by one, the kids began introducing themselves, with Juleka being the last one to make an attempt. When she finally shook his hand, she mumbled her greeting unintelligibly.
“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” Félix said, clearly annoyed. “You need to speak up.”
Marinette opened her mouth to retort, but Rose was quicker.
“Sorry, that’s Juleka. She’s a little shy,” Rose said gently, glancing from Juleka to Félix. His expression was grim, but he nodded.
“Noted.”
There was even more awkward silence. The monster, which Marinette had somehow managed to reduce with her greeting, was growing again. This time, however, they had Nino to thank for the break.
“So!” Nino clapped his hands once. “Who’s up for ice cream with André?” He looked at Félix. “He’s the best in Paris.”
Marinette could read the nasty remark in Félix’s face, but watched him swallow it and nod. Her shoulders relaxed a little. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
And just like in the movies, whenever someone says something like this, the first giant snowball hit the Seine, splashing all of them. Startled, Marinette looked up to find André’s Akumatized persona, and bit back a sigh.
Why couldn’t she have one day off?
Despite every movie saying they shouldn’t, the group split. Part of it did, at least.
Well, it was mostly Adrien and Marinette disappearing god-knows-where, but that was the usual. What wasn’t usual was the new addition to the clan. That’s why it took them a moment to realize that they weren’t all together.
Alya gasped.
“Where’s Félix?”
Félix ran into an alley, doing his best to hide himself. He pressed his back against the wall, leaning over to peek, just a little, at the giant ice cream figure in the distance.
Contrary to any sane person, Félix wasn’t running from danger. He was running to it. The reason?
“Hey André! Eat this!”
Félix caught his breath. There she was.
He watched Ladybug from his hiding place in awe. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the day he tried to kiss her and she punched him in the face. Was that weird? Probably.
Still, he watched her fight, more and more inspired with every leap she made. He watched her jump from side to side, saving civilians and redirecting the monster over and over again. He watched her cry out for her Lucky Charm, and he watched her do unspeakable things with a banjo.
And then, he watched her release a feather and a butterfly to the air, and he couldn’t help thinking how lovely she looked, and—holy crap she was coming this way.
Much against his better nature, Félix hid behind a trashcan.
It was from this vantage point that he watched Ladybug transform into Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and his jaw dropped.