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Marinette normally does not walk through the music department after school hours. If she was choosing to stay after school, it was likely to work on a project in the art room, or to help with a club activity. Technically she was helping with a club activity…
One of the clubs had gotten permission to borrow some uniforms used by the show choir for an event they were hosting the next day and had asked Marinette, since she had a little bit of spare time before she needed to leave, if she would run down to the closet that these were kept and bring them back. Due to her lack of familiarity though, she had accidently taken the long way there past all the practice rooms.
As she walked through the hallway, she heard a melody coming through the air. Was that a guitar? Who would be here an hour after school ended just to play? Task forgotten, she listened closely to figure out the room in use.
“I’d go the whole wide world / Go the whole wide world just to find her,” Marinette crept closer, approaching the furthest practice room from the main hallway.
“Or maybe she’s in the Bahamas / Where the Caribbean Sea is blue” Why is he singing in English? I don’t even recognize this song.
“Weeping in the tropical moonlit night / Because nobody’s talking about you.”
Marinette reached the door and tried to peek through the door’s window. She could barely see the back of someone’s head, but it wasn’t enough to sate her curiosity. Slowly turning the handle and pushing gently on the door, hoping the hinges would stay silent. Luckily he intensified his playing in the same moment, covering any sound they may have made.
“I’d go the whole wide world / Go the whole wide world just to find her.” She covered her mouth as she recognized the back she was looking at. “I’d go the whole wide world / Go the whole wide world to find out where they hide her”
She couldn’t pull her eyes away, even though she felt like this was invading his privacy. Felix had never mentioned playing guitar and seemed rather guarded when asked questions, even about hobbies. “I’d go the whole wide world / Go the whole wide world just to find her.”
Her breath hitched as he suddenly switched back to the original tone, startling Felix. He stopped as he leapt to his feet and whipped around to face her.
“What’re you doing here?” Felix demanded, face flushed slightly with some combination between embarrassment and anger. “Nobody comes back here at this point.”
“I was going to the storage closet for the show choir outfits and overheard you…” Marinette replied sheepishly, running her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. You were just very good and I didn’t realize you played guitar.”
He had set the guitar down and looked towards it, turning a little pinker at the compliment. “I only started playing a few months ago to drive Gabriel crazy…”
“And this song? I noticed your English seemed very natural singing it.” Marinette pushed slightly, hoping that getting this much information was a sign that he was willing to share.
“Just an older song that I learned in London from a friend… It seemed to be a good one to practice with, just so the callus doesn’t disappear completely. It’s only two chords,” Felix seemed to be slightly more comfortable sharing, yet stood as though he had been put on the spot in front of a crowd. After a moment’s hesitation, he looked straight into her eyes and stated, “This is staying between us. Nobody else will know.”
“Oh… um okay…” Marinette had to blink. Didn’t he want to share this with me? Why can’t I mention it to anyone else?
“Weren’t you doing something when you intruded?” Felix sharply asked, picking back up the guitar and sitting down as he had been before.
“Oh yeah… I’ll see you around,” Marinette exited to the sounds of Felix starting the song over.
“When I was a young boy
My mama said to me
There’s only one girl in the world for you
And she probably lives in Tahiti”