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Marinette slammed the front door to her apartment with her foot, nearly tripping over her cat.
"Tikki!" Marinette cursed the animal for getting underfoot. The 36-year-old woman stalked forward, raising a fist. "Scat, cat!"
"Is that how you treat innocent creatures?"
Hearing the masculine voice come from behind Marinette made her jump three feet in the air. As she whirled around to face the speaker, she searched for something that she could use to defend herself.
When she laid eyes on the blond stranger, however, her breath caught in her throat. He was beautiful in an unearthly way, with a strong jawline and sharp, green eyes. He smelled overwhelmingly green, like plants and ozone.
He also glowed. Huge, ethereal wings spread out from his back, nearly touching both opposite walls of her apartment.
Marinette fell to her knees. "Don't hurt me!"
The spectral being scoffed. "I'm not going to hurt you. Quite the opposite." His voice was deep and rich, both making her quake in her boots and reaching into her belly and tugging. "Do you want me to turn off my glow?"
Marinette’s brain struggled to grasp his words. "Y-Your what?"
"Never mind. I'll just do it."
His wings popped out of existence, and his skin and robes stopped shining with that brilliant light. His clothes shifted into something resembling a waistcoat, slacks, and button-down shirt, decreasing his intimidation factor by several orders of magnitude.
Marinette began hyperventilating. She knew she was safe, but she had the bad habit of panicking after everything scary was over.
The man rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Dupain-Cheng."
"W-Who are you?" Lightheadedness swept over Marinette. "How do you know my name? What do you w-want with me?"
"I'm Félix." His lips turned up at the corners in the warmest smirk she'd ever seen. "I'm your guardian angel. And I'm here to tell you to pull your head out of your butt and get rid of that chip on your shoulder."
"Screw you!" Marinette shot back. "I don't have a chip on my shoulder!"
So what if she was a little bitter? Life hadn't been good to her. Holding a grudge wasn't a bad thing, was it?
Félix raised a brow. "Evidence points to the contrary, Mari."
Marinette whipped her gaze away, feeling a sulk coming on. "I didn't ask for a guardian angel."
"Too bad. You've got one." Félix offered his hand, palm up. "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"Screw you."
"Hard way it is, then."
***
The hard way was annoying. Félix hung around everywhere she went, invisible to everyone but her and providing a running commentary on her life. He held nothing back; Marinette was often left seething with how snarky and acerbic he was.
One day, though, something changed.
Félix was lounging on her couch as if he belonged there, eating her Jamoca Almond Fudge ice cream, and lambasting her love life. "You'd be able to get a date if you weren't so afraid of commitment."
That time, rather than sneering at him and telling him to shove it, Marinette laughed. "How can I date someone else when our relationship is so solid?"
Félix dropped his spoon in his lap, smearing coffee ice cream all over his waistcoat. "W-What?"
"Ooh," Marinette purred, advancing on him. She leaned over him, caging him against the arm of the couch with her arms. "Do I fluster you, Félix?"
Color exploded on the angel's face. His lips twisted up in a pout, and he turned his head away, stubbornly avoiding her gaze. "No."
Marinette booped his nose, drawing his attention back to her. "Lying doesn't become you."
From then on, their relationship changed. Marinette became an incessant flirt, and sometimes Félix stunned her by flirting back. He stopped bothering her at the design firm, choosing instead to wait for her at her apartment.
"Félix!" Marinette burst inside her front door one summer day months after he'd first visited. She stopped only to run her fingers along Tikki's back. "Guess what!"
Félix popped his head through the kitchen doorway. He was wearing her frilly Kiss the Cook apron and a smile. "What?"
"I got a promotion!"
Marinette's life had improved immensely since Félix had blown into her living room. Once she started listening to his advice and actually applying it to her day-to-day, she’d rekindled friendships, made new friends, and had rocketed up her career’s ladder.
All thanks to him.
"I knew you could do it." Félix crossed to her, untying the apron along the way. He slipped the top loop over her head. As she beamed up at him, he placed his hands on her shoulders and offered her a squeeze.
Then he did something that stunned her: he kissed her cheek.
Marinette sucked a breath over her teeth. When he drew back, she slammed her mouth on his, gripping his hair in her fingers and tugging him down to her level. Félix responded immediately, cupping the back of her head and the small of her back and pulling her chest flush against his. Her eyes fluttered closed.
She felt a soft, warm, tickling sensation on the bare skin of her neck and opened her eyes. Félix had cocooned them in his wings and his glow nearly blinded her.
He broke the kiss with a gasp, drawing back to look at her with a blown gaze. “Marinette, I…”
Marinette fisted her fingers in his clothes. “Kiss me again.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t want this to happen.” He bit his kiss-swollen lip. “I wanted to tell you… I have to go.”
“Go?”
He was already fading. “I can’t stay.”
Tears stung Marinette’s eyes. “How could you leave me like this?”
“I’m sorry. I wish I could...” Félix pressed his lips to her brow. “Goodbye.”
“Félix!” Marinette cried, desperate to hold on to him. “Félix!”
“I love you,” Félix whispered, his voice all that was left to her. “Goodbye.”
Marinette sobbed for years.