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Félix held up the pink box with confidence. “This is how you’ll get a kiss from the person you like.”
Marinette looked at it skeptically. Could a pack of store-bought cookies really solve her problem?
“No harm in trying,” she finally sighed. “But how do we get him to play?”
Félix shrugged. “That’s your problem. But knowing my little brother… It shouldn’t be too difficult.”
Marinette tried to get the box from him but he raised it out of her reach.
“You have a habit of breaking things and we need these intact. So I’ll keep it. Friday, your place.”
“Fine,” she huffed before storming off without even so much as a thank you, oblivious to the lingering gaze on her back.
Félix smiled to himself, his expression somewhere between bitter and sweet. He only ever gazed at her like this when he was sure no one was looking; it was a momentary lapse in his judgment, a reckless drop of his carefully-built facade, a risk he couldn’t take with her friends around. Not when she so clearly harbored feelings for his younger brother.
The way she had fallen for the younger blonde, hard and fast, was almost hilarious. It had happened on a school day. She had tripped and Adrien had caught her, face inches from hers. Even Félix would have cracked a smile at how cliché the whole incident was, had he not been already in love with her.
Knowing she loved his brother hurt a lot less than he had imagined. It was less like a raging fire and more like a cold blunt blade pressed against his navel, on the verge of cutting in. It hitched his breath and for a moment, made his brain go what a blunder as he watched her make a fool of herself before promptly going to her rescue.
He was sure she would come to her senses. She would realize that he complemented her better than Adrien did, even if he was, in the eyes of a great number of people, the less likeable one of the two.
That didn’t mean he would sit idly by and let her clumsily woo Adrien who, by some miracle, had remained oblivious to her affections. Oh no . Félix would help her see reason in the least painful ways possible: he would place himself by her side just in time to catch her when she was about to fall, offer support and counsel to winning his brother’s heart, and sabotage those attempts in ways that didn’t even need his direct involvement.
Two oblivious fools would not add up to a single genius.
💋💋💋
Marinette was a nervous wreck. The mere idea of her lips being less than five inches from Adrien’s made her jittery. Félix watched with amusement as her cheeks flushed and her knees gave way when her mind got ahead of itself. Standing by her, hands clasped behind his back, he had a front seat to all the changes on her face.
“You can do it,” he muttered to himself. Marinette overheard it and smiled thankfully, thinking he was encouraging her.
“Thanks for telling me about the Pocky game.” The gratitude in her eyes made him wince.
“It was all Kagami.” It was the truth. The Japanese girl had unknowingly played a part in concocting his plan. “She’s the one who told me about it.”
Marinette frowned a little. “I didn’t know you two were so close.”
“We talk now and then,” he brushed it off. “She’s okay.”
Marinette filled the room with her peals of laughter. It made him feel closer to her, somehow, as though it were a magnet pulling him in.
“If anyone else said it, I’d feel insulted on her behalf. But since it’s you… ” Marinette gave him an approving look. “You must think very highly of her.”
The mirthful glint in Marinette’s eyes would have taken his breath away, had it not been accompanied by the utter nonsense. Félix didn’t really think of Kagami at all, and when he did, it was always because she wanted something from him.
"If I'd known you like her so much, I would have invited her," she teased.
"I don't like her," he scoffed.
“If you say so,” she smiled a little. “But if you like anyone, you know you can tell me, Félix! I’ll help you win them over!”
Félix chuckled. With his right hand, he reached for a stray strand of hair and tucked it neatly behind her ear. He lowered himself just as the door opened. His eyes landed on Adrien, as he walked into the bakery, and a mischievous smirk crossed his face only for a moment.
Félix leaned forward. His lips brushed against Marinette’s ear, sending a shiver down her spine, when he whispered, “No offense, Marinette, but your plans don’t exactly have a very high success rate. Mine, on the other hand...”
Adrien coughed and Félix straightened himself. Marinette jumped, eyes widening, as the pink on her cheeks turned scarlet.
“Hey, guys!” called Alya’s loud voice as she entered, Nino hot on her heels. “Oh. Damn! Both Agrestes beat us here. So, is anyone else coming?”
“I invited Rose and Juleka… and Luka,” Marinette spoke enthusiastically, happy to have a distraction. “But they said they couldn’t come.” This was greeted with a collective sigh and she offered an apologetic smile. She turned her head to face Félix again. “What about your folk?”
“Claude’s going to be late but Allan can’t make it. Allegra couldn’t make any promises but she said she’ll try,” Félix recounted the conversation he’d had with his friends. “We can get started if you’d like though.”
“Right! Nino said something about you having a new game?” Adrien grinned excitedly. Marinette squeaked.
“Yeah, she’s got a new game alright,” Alya smiled slyly, giving her friend a knowing look. Félix had no doubt Marinette had filled the journalist in on the details. “Shall we take this up to your room then?”
She grabbed the drink tray and headed for the stairs, winking at Marinette as she passed. Nino and Adrien, best friends forever, followed, leaving Félix and Marinette to go last.
Her room was as clean as they had left it, with textbooks open on her table and her sewing machine buried under a pile of fabric. Félix had helped her take Adrien's photos off the walls. They had neatly folded and hidden them, and she had hugged him briefly, thanking him for being such a good friend.
It would be the last time she called him that, he knew.
"So… this new game," Nino spoke when his girlfriend sat down next to him on the chaise. "What is it?"
Félix produced the small box from his bag. "The Pocky Game."
Adrien's eyes widened in recognition and his mouth shaped a small o.
"The Pocky Game?" Nino was certain he had heard the name before but couldn't recall the finer details.
"It's a party game," Félix explained, sitting down on a pillow Marinette had prepared for him. “Pocky is a chocolate-covered stick biscuit. My friend Claude brought some as souvenirs from his trip to Japan and since I don’t like sweets, I gave them to Marinette.”
“So… how do we play it?” Nino wasn’t interested in the finer details and Félix scowled.
“I was just getting to that.” He let out a soft, almost inaudible sigh. “Two people start eating the stick from different ends. The one, who gets to the center before the stick breaks, wins. And if both players reach the center at the same time, it’s a tie.”
“At the same time… Like a kiss?” Nino wagged his eyebrows at Alya, who laughed, making a kissy-face at him.
“Yeah, like a kiss,” Marinette confirmed, glancing nervously at Adrien. “So, um, everyone in?”
“Hell yeah!” Alya declared with a laugh. “How do we decide who goes with whom?”
Marinette looked at Félix. They hadn’t discussed it, though the boy had thought about it.
“We can do rock-scissors-paper or just, you know, decide. Which would you like?” He looked at Alya, who he knew to be on the same page as him about the matter.
“Let’s just decide on our own,” Alya spoke before anyone else could. “Nino and I’ll go first.”
Félix nodded. He opened the box and pulled out one of the two packets. He opened it carefully and held it out so Alya could take one. She inspected it for a moment and then brought the chocolate-covered end to her lips.
She removed it immediately. One hand holding the Pocky stick, she pulled out her phone and handed it to Marinette with the other. “Record it in case we need video evidence to determine the winner!”
She winked at her and Marinette, catching on, grinned. She opened the app and steadied the phone in her hands, nearly dropping it. She smiled meekly, catching the warning in Alya’s eyes. “Okay. Ready, go!”
Marinette pressed the red button on the screen.
Before Nino and Alya could tie, the stick broke. Nino groaned and Alya threw her hands up, celebrating her victory.
“It broke so easily!” Nino complained.
“Sorry, babe,” Alya kissed him on the cheek. Then she turned to the others and grinned. “So, who’s next? Marinette and Adrien?”
Marinette took a stick from the box with shaky hands. Félix thought she was going to break it. The girl offered the chocolate tip to Adrien, whose sweet smile, as he took it between his teeth, made her forget to breathe.
So close to Adrien, she couldn’t help but smile. She could almost taste her daydream kiss when she bit too hard, breaking the stick before reaching the center. Félix smirked inwardly. He’d expected that result.
“Too bad!” Alya shook her head. “Enjoying the cookie, Adrien?”
“Tastes like strawberry,” he grinned.
“It’s a bit like Mikado, isn’t it?” Nino commented, turning towards Alya. “We could play it with that later.” She nodded.
“That’s the name they use in Europe,” Félix dropped the piece of information as if it was nothing. “But they have fewer flavors on the market.”
“I like the strawberry,” Marinette smiled, licking her lips clean of the chocolate. Félix’s gaze lingered on her mouth longer than it should have, though no one noticed. “Félix, you want a go?”
“Nah, I’m good.” He shook his head, knowing it was too early to execute his plan. “You enjoy it.”
He gave her a bashful smile and she beamed at him, gratitude making her eyes sparkle. His heart softened.
Nino and Alya ended up kissing during their third attempt. Adrien and Marinette had no such luck; she either tensed up or he smiled, making her forget what she was supposed to be doing. When Alya had insisted Nino and Adrien try, Nino lost, saying his lips were reserved for only his girlfriend. It earned a couple of laughs and no one held it against him.
Claude’s arrival halfway through the first pack of Pocky created chaos. He insisted on trying with everyone, and no one but Félix managed to shoot him down. Claude reigned, claiming cookies and kisses like no other. He made Marinette laugh and made her relax, and for that, Félix was grateful.
They were halfway through the second pack when Félix finally made his move. He removed a single stick from the pack and placed the box on the floor to where they had moved for easier angles.
Then he waited. It didn't take long for an opportune moment to arise and when Claude crushed the box with its contents, it looked like an accident. Only Félix knew that only a moment before, while everyone else was distracted by Marinette's fourth loss to Adrien, that he'd pushed the box slightly towards the already swaying boy.
Claude cursed, realizing what he had done.
"There's one more," Félix held up the stick he had saved. "I was going to eat it but… "
"You were going to just eat it?!" Claude sounded scandalized. He narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "Wait, you've been sitting out this whole game, haven't you?"
"He has!" Adrien and Alya confirmed at the same time.
"You shouldn't get to just eat it, Fé," Adrien wagged a finger at him. "It's unfair. You should suffer the embarrassment like the rest of us."
“Yeah,” Nino agreed. “I nearly had to kiss your brother twice . And I’m not even going to get started on Claude. He likes Pocky too much.”
“It’s checkmate,” teased Marinette. “You have no way out now. You have to play.”
Félix gazed at the stick thoughtfully before huffing “ Fine .”
Marinette clapped joyfully, not noticing the questioning gaze in Adrien’s eyes.
Félix held the sweeter bit towards Marinette. “Will you do me the honor?”
💋💋💋
Less than five inches from Félix’s face, Marinette felt like she was in the eye of a storm. Around them, everything buzzed. Adrien, Claude and Nino were making bets while Alya was setting up her phone to record what she called a once-in-a-lifetime event.
And Marinette supposed she was right. Félix rarely played, and when he did, it was usually because Claude's insistency was hard to challenge.
Pocky Game with its physical closeness and chance of kissing was definitely not up Félix's alley either. Though, Marinette was sure of that, that's why he chose Marinette as his partner.
She breathed in and made eye contact with the boy in front of her.
She had looked him in the eye numerous times, and yet she felt like she was seeing the blueish gray, seeing him for the first time.
Thump, thump, thump.
Marinette tuned out her heart and focused on studying his eyes. They reminded her of the sky on a rainy day right after a downpour, when the sky had yet to clear. Heavy clouds, no rain, with a speck of blue peeking through.
Adrien's soft gaze made her nervous; the same look in Félix's eyes filled her with calm.
"Okay, guys, whenever you're ready," Alya told them, already recording.
It's just a game, she thought, biting down. Félix doesn't even like sweets. He'll probably break the stick when he gets to the chocolate. There's nothing to worry about…
And besides, if he doesn’t, I can break it. I can…
Marinette’s eyes widened in surprise when she came in contact with something warm and gentle. Her lips parted, but before the last piece of Pocky could fall, Félix’s tongue traced over her mouth, catching all the crumbs.
She felt her cheeks heat up. In his eyes, she saw a glimpse of the fire burning in him. It terrified and excited her at once, and she found herself tilting forward.
Félix was the one to pull away first.
“I win,” he declared, ignoring the hammering of his heart in his chest. He admired the blush on Marinette’s cheeks, feeling breathless but proud.
“No, you didn’t,” Claude rolled his eyes. “It’s a tie.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
He only had eyes for Marinette. She stared right back at him, dazed, as her brain tried to process what had happened. When she finally squeaked, Alya was ready to be pulled away, the video saved and backed up.
“I think you broke her,” Adrien laughed as soon as the door had closed behind the girls. “Kinda funny that she ran off though. It was just an innocent kiss.”
“Maybe she likes him,” Claude suggested with an eyebrow wiggle.
Only Nino said nothing, preferring to wait until hearing the truth that Alya was sure to get out of Marinette.
Félix sighed, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “I sure hope so.”