Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Felix slid by Marinette and as he did so his foot slipped slightly causing him to accidentally bump into the irritating girl. They shared glares and then both continued on to their respective predestined locations. Neither noticed the smirk on the other's face as they walked in separate directions. Once Felix had rounded the corner he pulled his hand from his jacket pocket and tossed the small black and pink rectangle into the air. He walked to the library and sat in the back at a secluded table and after a few attempts rolled his eyes when the phone before him opened on attempt six, ADRN. Really, this girl was just too predictable. 

He began to scroll through the phone till he found what he was looking for. He smirked at the picture of his brother sprawled spread eagle on the grass drooling, his hand curled around a ladybug action figure. The picture had been taken at the park when they had been on a school field trip, by Adrien’s friend Nino. All copies had been deleted immediately upon his waking up, that is except for the one Nino had sent to Marinette. Felix chuckled quietly to himself and sent the image to his phone, at that exact moment a message appeared on the screen from his own phone. Felix stared at it for a moment, then reached into his pocket. It was empty. He blinked, confused before tapping the message. It contained a picture of him and Adrien genuinely and happily hugging the other. He blinked again when he heard a startled squeak from a few bookshelves over. He leaned out from behind the bookshelf and met eyes with Marinette who had just looked up from his phone. They stared at each other around the bookshelves for a moment before both looked back down and deleted the messages they had just sent. Felix stood stiffly and crossed to Marinette. Wordlessly he held out her phone, she grabbed it while simultaneously passing him his own. As he turned to go he couldn’t help a parting jab over his shoulder.

“You really need a better password. It was ridiculous how easily I was able to access your personal files.”

Marinette smirked slightly and raised an eyebrow.

“At least I had a password Mr. ‘Everyone’s too scared of me to dare steal from me’ Agreste.”

They stared at each other for a long moment before, they both nodded slightly to the other and went their separate ways. As the day progressed Felix couldn’t help but think about how on earth she’d managed to get his phone off of him without him noticing. After going home with Adrien and realizing he still didn’t have an answer, Felix huffed. No matter, he had just been off his game. It was fine. He would steal something else from the brat tomorrow, just to prove he still could. That decided, he rolled over and went back to sleep.

*****************************
Marinette headed home after school grumbling to herself. Since when was Felix such an experienced master of the sleight of hand? Curse him. Now she’d have to find another way to get that picture of him and Adrien. She scrambled up the ladder and into her room. After completing her homework she began to brainstorm different ways to get the photo again. Yet she couldn’t seem to focus on it. She kept getting frustrated whenever she thought of Felix and how he stole her phone. How had he done that? It didn’t make any sense, her senses from her fighting as Ladybug and training with her family should have warned her what he was up to, yet there had been nothing. Nothing at all. She sighed she must have been too focused on getting his phone to notice, which was bad, she needed to up her game. After dinner as she was getting ready for patrol she set a notification for herself to practice her spatial awareness later. With that done she swung out into the night. Patrol was dull, it was Rena’s turn to be on patrol and patrol was largely uneventful. At the end of the night after a quick treat at a local shop the two parted ways and headed to their respective homes. After finally collapsing into her bed, Marinette decided something. She was going to nick something off Felix tomorrow if only for her peace of mind. With that decided she snuggled into her bed and fell into a deep restful sleep.

Chapter Text

Felix leaned against the door jam casually, one hand in his pocket the other typing on his phone. This had been planned to the perfect degree. The brat would stumble in late as she always did and as she staggered past him he would snag off one of those infuriatingly cheerful red bands out of her hair. It would serve as proof that he could get close without her realizing it, and would have the added benefit of messing with her hair for the day. Exactly ten minutes after he’d set up shop next to the door, Marinette dashed into the room, half tripping over her own feet in her haste to get into the classroom. About a foot from the door she stumbled nearly crashing into him. Felix smirked, this was practically childsplay. He shifted as though moving out of the way and snagged the hair band gently tugging it free. Quick as a wink he was backed against the wall once again, the red ring tucked safely into his vest pocket. He was just about to congratulate himself when he reached up to start typing on his phone.  Then he realized that his watch was missing. He stared at his empty wrist then up at Marinette. She was staring at him, his mouth slightly agape as she steadied herself with one hand against the desk, her hair halfway undone with hair partially covering her surprised face. They stared at each other for a moment both thinking something along the lines of, ‘What the heck?’

At the same moment they both straightened, glaring slightly at each other. Felix held out her rubber band, other hand open palm up. She narrowed her eyes but suddenly his watch appeared from somewhere on her person into her hand and they swapped the two items much like they had the phones yesterday. The class watched the entire exchange in surprise unsure what they had just witnessed. Felix and Marinette sat in their respective seats stiffly, determinedly not looking at the other. Adrien stared at his twin in confusion, and Alya leaned over to her friend whispering frantically. Nino spoke up,

“Dude, what the heck was that?”

Felix glared around his brother at Nino.

“Nothing, it was merely a misunderstanding. Nothing more.”

For the rest of the day Felix found himself glaring suspiciously in Dupain-Cheng’s direction. How had she done that? He had not felt a thing! That should not have been possible, considering all his martial art training, and his instincts honed by nights spent as Ombre. Perhaps Adrien was right and he needed to practice in the suit more. If a mere girl could get the jump on him he needed to severely reevaluate his skills. With this decided Felix put a notification on his phone to put in practice time for the next week and longer if necessary.

*****************************
The next time Felix and Marinette clashed was about two weeks later after both of them had spent significant time practicing and honing their skills to their sharpest point. Felix ran into Marinette on their way into the school building and hooked his finger under the collar of her jacket as she lurched forward, sliding it off, gentle as silk. He stood triumphant until he turned back to her, and noticed her hand on her hip, the other hand holding up his tie letting it hang from her pointer finger. They both tossed the other their respective items of clothing and proceeded to continue into the school as if nothing had happened. Purposefully ignoring the stunned looks on Adrien’s, Alya’s, Nino’s, and Alix’s faces. That evening both of them ranted to their Kwamii’s about the encounter though Felix’s was more concerned.

“I don’t understand! How is she doing this! I swear she must be an assassin in training! She’s out to get me! She’ll taunt me and when I least expect it she shall stab me in the back and dump my body in the river. Never to be found again!”

Adrien and Plagg watched his concerned pacing with eyebrows raised, before glancing at each other and each and bursting out laughing. After Felix sent them an angry but stressed glare Adrien slowly got his laughter under control. As Plagg continued to cackle maniacally, Adrien stood and crossed to Felix gently placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. He stared at Felix with a gentle smile on his face.

“Felix, buddy. She’s not an assassin. She’s not gonna kill you and even if she was, we would stop her. No one hurts my brother, you got me?”

Plagg only laughed harder, which made both Adrien and Felix send bitter glares in his direction. Plagg laughed, spinning in the air, tiny hands grasping his stomach.

“The fact that you guys th-think that SHE would do that is so-so hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-”

Plagg couldn’t even finish the sentence because he was too far gone.

*****Meanwhile at the Dupain-Chengs*******

Marinette was sitting at the desk on a face chat with her siblings from the states. 

“I just don’t get it Damian, how is he doing this?! If I didn’t know better I’d say it's miraculous magic, but master Fu assured me that Felix is not Hawkmoth. So unless there are more that I don’t know about then I don’t know what it could be. I mean it doesn’t match the skill set of any of the ones that Master Fu said were at the monastery or in the current Miraculous Box!“

Damian stared at her for a long moment before sighing.

“Tt. It sounds like he could be a criminal like the ones here in Gotham. The imbecile reminds me distinctly of Catwoman.”

Marinette nodded thoughtfully,

“Hmmm, I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe he is just a criminal. I’ll have to do some digging. Do you have any suggestions?”

Damian thought for a moment.

“If I was there I would help, but at the moment I am off-world with Father, so I will not be able to assist you at this time. Perhaps you could ask Drake for some assistance? As much as I hate the imposter, I will admit he is perhaps... slightly more skilled at long distance assessments of criminals.”

There was a joyous squeal over the line.

“Awww Dami, did you just compliment Timmy! I knew you liked him!!!  I am so proud of you baby brother.”

Damian growled.

“Tt, I do not like the imposter, I simply was acknowledging that he has some worth until I am prepared to hone my skills in that particular category.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow,

“Mhhhm which is why you refused to let him go when he was injured last month and wouldn’t wake up.”

Damian spluttered, his dark features doing nothing to hide the slight flush to his cheeks.

“I did no such thing. I was merely ensuring the imbecile would wake up so I could ask for details on a case I was working on that he happened to also be working on.”

Dick laughed,

“So why exactly were you hugging him then? You even fell asleep cuddling with him.”

Damian let out a demonic shriek and disappeared from view as he pulled his katana out of nowhere and launched himself at Dick. There were the sounds of a scuffle and Mari pinched the bridge of her nose. After fifteen minutes of grunts and unintelligible shrieking. She spoke,

“Goodnight you guys. Talk to you tomorrow Dami. Please ask Timmy for that help for me, ok? Oh, and Dick, send me some of those pics please.”

There was a louder screech as Damian popped back up momentarily to say,

“TRAITOR!”

And then he was dragged back down into one of Dick’s octopus hugs. Marinette smiled and ended the call. Tomorrow was going to be fun.

Chapter Text

He would not be outwitted by some annoying pest and neither would she!  This was war , and neither would stop until the other was subdued.  They calculated everything, they knew the ins and outs, and went through every scenario.  They. Were.  Ready!  There they sat, Marinette right behind Felix.  The tension was thick, they knew something was going to happen, it was just a matter of who would strike first.  

“Marinette,”

Ms. Bustier called,

“could you please come and pass out the assignments?”

With a small smile she nodded and stood up.  This will be perfect, each of them thought.  As Marinette made her way down the stairs everyone watched with bated breath for something to happen between the two.  It didn’t look like anything had happened, no one saw either of them move.  Yet, when Marinette had finished handing out the papers, the book Felix had been reading during class was in her hand, and Felix seemed to be toying with something.  As she walked to her seat and saw what was in Felix’s hand and was seething.

“Give it.”

She said, holding out her hand.  Adrien’s eyes widened upon seeing the small lucky charm bracelet he had given her for her birthday in the hands of his brother.  Felix simply smirked holding it up in front of him.  The class was in a silent shock until Alya voiced everybody’s thoughts,

“HOW?!  You two didn’t even move!”

The two thieves didn’t even glance at her.

“Very sweet, I bet you wear this everywhere you go.”

“What if I do?  It was a gift from a friend.”

Felix’s smirk grew wider and his grey eyes flickered with amusement,

“ Just a friend?”

Her glare grew colder.

“If you don't want me to tear your precious book, give. It. Back.”

His smirk fell as he now glared at her, his eyes turning a cold steely grey.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

It was her turn to smirk as she simply held it in the air, fingers pinching around a page bending it downward.  They were at a standstill and the class just stared on silently and very confused, except for a few.  Alix and Kim were trying to hold in their laughs while Adrien just looked on with concern.  He was about to interject when Felix held out the charm to her.

“Fine take the stupid thing.”

Marinette smiled victoriously as she handed him his book back while taking the charm.  Marinette took her seat, and class continued on, albeit with a bit of hesitation and awkwardness.  Before class ended he saw something roll on his desk.  He looked back to see Marinette looking away.  Rolling his eyes he opened the crinkled piece of notebook paper and read what was inside.

I hope I didn’t ruin the book.  I don’t think I could live with myself if I did.  The Name of the Rose is one of my favorites.

He stared down at the book in question, and for some odd reason, it was now one of his favorites too.  He didn’t know she liked medieval murder mystery themed books.  She always struck him as the fantasy romance type.  

The class continued on with strange glances thrown at them every now and then.  The class was still wondering how on Earth they did that.  They had been watching them the whole time and not once saw them move towards each other.  At the end of class Adrien walked over to Felix and asked,

“How do you two do that?!  How did you not notice!  She took it directly from your hands!  …Maybe she is an assassin.”

He joked only earning a cold glare from his twin, and some cackles from Plagg.

“No Camembert for the rest of the day.”

Felix muttered loud enough for only Plagg to hear, which to his satisfaction shut the small God up, along with earning a glare from the being.  And if Felix’s homework was suddenly ripped to shreds before he went to bed, who’s to say what happened when no one was awake. 

Chapter Text

*four weeks later*

The thieves have been at each other’s necks for four weeks!  Each time they grab something off each other thinking they can outwit the other, but each time they are the same.  Throughout the weeks it became like a game of tag.  They shared smirks, glares, and chuckles with the things that they had somehow nicked off the other.  The class was beyond confused, and Adrien, well he was just trying to catch up on everything. For example, today.  Something very strange happened.  

The class was just coming back from lunch, Alya and Alix right by both of Marinette’s sides and Nino and Adrien right by Felix’s.  Both were in the middle of each respective group, it never looked like they got close.  Nope.  Not at all.  Yet, somehow, somehow , in some way that had everyone questioning reality, Felix had skillfully slipped off Marinette's pink satchel and Mari had stolen Felix’s shoe from right off his left foot mid step.  Each held the other's respective item, but found something strange.  

Adrien gapped at Felix as he opened the small purse and was about to berate him when he saw Felix gawking at something.  

“What’s wrong Fé?”  

Adrien asked concernedly.  He wasn’t used to seeing his brother shocked.  Felix quickly schooled his features back into a neutral expression before pulling out a dark salted caramel chocolate neatly placed in a small see through bag with a small note that said,

For the person who thought they could outwit me. ;p

Felix rolled his eyes as Adrien’s eyes widened and he laughed.  He bent over laughing, stopped for a second, his eyes widening once again, and finally started to laugh again but harder as tears came out this time.  Felix glared at him,

“What’s so funny?”

It took a few moments for Adrien to gasp out,

“Sh-she took, y-your shoe!”

Then the laughter started anew as he quickly looked down and noticed that his left shoe was indeed missing.  He looked over at the small girl and glared.  That is until she popped open the hidden compartment hidden in the heel of his shoe.

Marinette stared at the shoe in her hand looking it over for any secrets.  Alya and Alix gocked at her as she searched the shoe, not understanding what she was looking for or how she even touched his shoe, when she wasn’t even near him !  

“HOW?!  YOU WEREN’T EVEN NEAR HIM!”

Alya shouted,

“We were like 5 feet apart, that’s close enough.”  

Marinette said nonchalantly as she found a small hatch on the heel of the shoe.  Carefully she opened the heel to see if he was hiding anything.  She was surprised to see a small bunch of bluebell flowers hidden inside.  A small smile came to her lips as she gently took them out and touched the delicate flowers.  Walking into the class and without even looking at each other they exchanged belongings while keeping the gifts.  A small glance and smile at each other was the only communication.  With a confused Alya, a concerned yet amused Adrien, and a pleased Alix with an upset Kim who had just lost 25€ to the small pink haired girl, they sat in their respective seats ready for the lesson.

🌸               👞               👛

Later that night on a call she told Damian what she had found.  He gave her his normal passive look as he listened and thought over what she had told him. 

“And Tim said that he didn’t find anything bad on him!  He isn’t part of any evil organization, so I don’t know how he still managed to do it!  It’s been going on for WEEKS Damian, WEEKS !  I don’t know if I’m just losing my mind or something else….”

“Well, I can’t say I know.  But if I were to guess, something is going on behind closed doors.  Maybe there’s something helping him.  You said that after you used one of your cures that all of the miraculouses and guardians came back all over the world.  Maybe he has a Miraculous from one of the Guardians out of the temples.”

She blinked processing this information.

“I….never thought of that.”

He sighed frustrated, but she could tell he was amused.

“Why does my sister not have a brain?”

She gasped in mock hurt.

“How could you Dami!  I demand you take it back, or else!”

His smirk grew wider,

“Or else what?”

“I’ll post the pictures Dick sent me!”

He glared at that and said through gritted teeth,

“You. Wouldn’t. Dare.”

Her smirk grew wider as she held up the phone with the “cursed images” and started waving it in front of the camera.  His glare deepened, but he let out a sigh of defeat before begrudgingly saying,

“You are not an idiot.”

The victorious smile that radiated off of her only fuelled his displeasure.  The moment was interrupted by a loud laugh coming from behind. 

“Oh my gosh!  Demon Spawn, never thought the day would come where I’d hear you compliment someone.”

Damian had turned his cold glare to Jason as he cackled in the background. 

“Hey Pixie, send me that photo, I’m running out of blackmail material!”

Jason called out quickly while running before Damian could pull out his katana.  Damian turned back to me his glare hardening,

“You better not.”

“Too late.”

She said smugly,

“Already sent.”

A loud “YES!” could be heard in the background as the photo was sent.  His glare only got worse and he growled,

“You better be glad I’m still off-world.”

“Oh I am.  Talk to you later Dami.”

She quickly ended the call before he could do anything and contemplated what other miraculous might be powerful enough for Felix to steal from her without her noticing.  The only one that came to mind was the black cat, but that couldn’t be him.  Chat was………..too flirtatious to be the stoic Agreste, and Ombre looked completely different from him and just had a different air about him.  Working with either was difficult, but in the end they still made a great team.  

Felix was meditating, well…, he was trying to.  It was kinda hard with a cackling Plagg and a quietly snickering Adrien in the background. He opened one eye and glared at the two of them, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. Then he heard a ping on his phone, deciding that meditation was officially a lost cause for today, Felix sighed and reached into his pocket pulling out the simple black rectangle. There was a notification on the screen, one that made his spine stiffen and his heart to skip a beat. The other two noticed and Adrien crossed to Felix suddenly very concerned.  Felix motioned for him to stop, and began to sign out words.

‘There are people listening. I will show you, but do not react.’

Felix turned the phone so the screen was facing Adrien and Plagg, the warning flashing at the top of the screen in bright red letters.

Warning: Security Compromised, Intrusive action detected. Please Take Preventative Measures To Protect Cyber Data

Adrien’s face went cold, and Plagg’s eyes narrowed. Adrien signed to Felix,

’Who do you think it is?’

A voice sounded over the phone,

“Dang it they’re onto us, I was not expecting this phone to have a trip sensor, honestly I’m impressed, hold up-Dang it!  They can hear us!!! I forgot to turn off my speaker!”

“Then turn it off, Gorden, you imbecile!”

“I’m working on it, Demon Brat! This is a lot harder without Tim, this was his pet project if you do recall. You're the one that wanted to rush this!”

“Only because I must ensure that the idiot who possesses this infernal device is not a threat to Mari! He could be dangerous, and I will not allow harm to come to my sister!”

“Shut up Demon Brat, they can still hear us remember!”

The third voice was much deeper than the first two, this only made the young male voice click their tongue impatiently.  The deep male voice started to say something else but the sound abruptly cut out. The three of them stared at the phone in Felix’s hand for a long moment, shocked before Adrien started snickering once more,

“Dang, even her brother knows that you two like each other, you're doomed if he gets his hands on you.  Though, it's impressive that they got through your security. They must be determined.”

Felix sent him a withering look and gestured to the phone in his hand before signing.

‘Just because we can no longer hear them does not mean they cannot hear us.’

Adrien smirked,

“I am well aware, I just don’t care. If this is a case of over protective siblings I can totally relate what with you hovering any time I so much as look at a girl.”

With a noise of disbelieving betrayal Felix chucked his phone out the open window, as it sailed through the air the speaker came back on and the deep voice said

“You got that right we’ll protect Mari til our last bre-”

The voice cut out as it passed through the window and began to plummet, but Felix got the point.

Chapter Text

Marinette was having a great lunch when Adrien followed by Felix sat down across from her. Adrien had that sunshine smile that used to melt her legs, but hadn’t been so bad recently, stretched across his face.

“So Marinette, I didn’t know you had siblings.”

She looked at him in confusion.  No one except a select few knew about them.  Heck, only her “parents” knew what her real last name was.  So, she said what she said to anyone she hadn’t told about her siblings,

“I don’t.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow.

“Really cause we got hacked by these weird kids yesterday and-”

Marinette cut him off with a groan and buried her head in her arms.  Well, guess the secrets out now.

“They didn’t.  Please tell me they didn’t?!”

She was practically begging at this point, why had she ever thought that it was a good idea to tell them about her little theft war with Felix? They were little overprotective nightmares, the lot of them! Adrien’s smirk grew,

“There was a young sort of stuck up boy I think, and an older guy with a husky voice kinda like a chain smoker, or a gang leader, and a lady’s voice. The older guy and girl kept calling the little one “Demon Brat”, and he called the lady Gordon. There was also apparently someone named Tim who was supposed to hack us, but these three got impatient.”

Marinette really wanted to find a big deep hole right now and hide in it...right after she killed Jason, Damian, and Barbara of course. WHAT HAD THEY BEEN THINKING!? Felix cleared his throat,

“I must admit to feeling rather violated by the whole affair.”

Marinetted looked up at him, her face scarlet with embarrassment.

“I am so sorry, they can be such-”

She couldn’t even think of a word strong enough to call them that wasn’t a cuss word at the moment. She sighed and collapsed once more atop her arms. After a bit Adrien and Felix were joined by Alya and Nino both of them were chuckling quietly under their breaths as they had been eavesdropping in the corner. Alya spoke first,

“Really girl, I can’t believe that you told them about Felix and Adrien. How did you not see this coming? You know how nosey they can be.”

Marientte looked up to try and defend herself when suddenly she caught sight of Felix’s lunch and just about had a heart attack. Embarrassment forgotten, she stared at his lunch and let out a sort of strangled noise. Felix looked up at her confused,

“What?”

Marinette managed to choke out,

“‘What?’ That's what I am asking!  What on earth are you eating?!”

Felix raised an eyebrow,

“A protein shake with fish oil, some high fiber bars, and some vitamin supplements for the rest of the nutrients I require.”

Marinette just stared at him as if he had spoken in one of the few languages she didn’t speak. She took a deep breath, raised her face to the heavens and let it out, before anyone could blink Felix’s lunch had vanished from in front of him and Marinette was walking away with it in hand.

“Nope!”

She said, popping the ‘P’.

“Nope. This is not food, and it needs to be burned.”

Felix started to protest, but Marinette sent him a version of the bat glare Damian and the others had taught her,

“Not food. Burning this now. I am getting you real food.”

Felix finding himself suddenly unable to reply against the look Marinette was sending his way opened and closed his mouth like a beached fish as Marinette power walked out of the lunch room. Fifteen minutes later, and about halfway through their forty five minute lunch time Marinette reappeared carrying his lunch box in one hand and the water bottle that had contained his liquid monstrosity in the other. She plopped them in front of him and accepted the homework he slid her way with circled problems without comment. The others remained unsure how he’d gotten it as he hadn’t left the room and they’d been fairly certain Marinette’s homework was in her backpack back in the locker room.  They also hadn’t even seen him work on or touch it.  

Regardless, they watched in amazement as Felix opened his lunch box and stared at the contents in surprise. In a neat professional level row sat sushi, next to it was some carefully cut fruit with some sort of dip, and finally some fresh still steaming soup sat in a carefully sealed bowl. Marinette pointed to each one with a serious expression and stern voice,

“Fish instead of fish oil, fruit and dip instead of tablet supplements, and soup for fiber and nutritional value. The thermos is filled with orange juice for vitamin C.”

Felix nodded mutely and under her powerful glare began to meekly consume his new lunch while Marinette looked at the circled problems and began to fix them before class started with a small hum.

Chapter Text

Well, everyone could agree that even if this was going on for a little over three months, that they did not expect Marinette would be this bold.  No one, and I mean no one , not even Alya or any of Marinette’s brothers saw this coming from a thousand miles away.  Yet here she was, walking around, wearing Felix Agreste’s white button down shirt over her black and green Chat Noir themed shirt like an open sweater.  Felix angrily glared down at Adrien as Adrien had failed his promise to Felix in that he would make sure that Marinette wouldn’t do anything to girastic.  All Felix wore was his black vest so that his abs were showing for all to see except for where his black vest covered.  He looked around, yet she was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is she?!  This is humiliating!”

There was laughter from the front: Chloe and Sabrina, and the back: Kim and Alix.  

“Didn’t think Dupain-Cheng could be this bold.  How did she even take your shirt, Felix?”

“If you’re implying that I let her, you're sorely mistaken Bourgeoise.”

“Well, did you nick anything off her yet?”

She said with a gleam in her eye that was filled with wicked amusement as she took her phone out and snapped a picture.  The glare that was sent at Chloe was enough to make others tremble and run away in terror, but not Chloe.  Afterall, she grew up with that glare.  Besides, she was running out of blackmail material for when she needed him to do something for her.  

“Delete it.”

He growled out. She threw her head back and laughed.

“And why on earth would I do that?”

For once Felix did not have a response, so he growled and snarled. Storming out of the room to find Dupain-Cheng. As he did so he patted the school bag at his side, the one he’d snagged from Mari. He opened up the backpack to find a thermos of coffee and a bag of pastries with a big black ‘F’ on the front.  A rare small smile graced his lips as he pulled both of them out.  He took a sip of the coffee and was very pleased with the taste and how energized it made him feel.  He opened up the bag of pastries and found a few cherry danishes.  He was satisfied with the gift, but still very much displeased with the girl herself.  

He sighed and leaned against the wall, the vest sliding up just slightly to reveal his toned torso, he growled and pulled it down. Unlike Adrien he didn’t like showing off his looks.  His father had forced him to do photo shoots with his brother when he was younger, but for his eighth birthday Adrien had convinced their father to let him take Felix's side of the work. He pointed out that he was far easier to work with and their father had conceded to it with the stipulation that Felix help with finances. Felix had never been so grateful for his brother than in that moment.  

He looked at the time on his watch and knew that the girl would be arriving at any moment.  So while he waited he ate the delicacies while drinking the coffee provided.  He hoped that she would like his gift at least.  He expected her to steal from his pocket, not his entire shirt! Still he had to admit it was seriously impressive. He’d definitely have to do some digging on her family, maybe those brothers that had hacked him had something to do with her skills? Still the thought of digging too far into her personal life made Felix feel strangely… uncomfortable ? He shook his head, why was he bothered by this? This sort of thing had never stopped him from investigating people before. After all, it was necessary to find out details about people before they got too close to the Agreste family. Felix shook his head. What on earth was he thinking, she was getting too close to Adrien , not his family.  At the thought of Adrien and Marinette’s ridiculously obvious feelings for him Felix felt something inside him twist sharply. As if summoned by the feeling, Plagg appeared snickering.

“Ohhhh is the little Felix jealous of his brother and his ability to get the girls? Or just one black-haired blue-eyed designer in particular?”

Felix snarled at Plagg, face twisted in a scowl.

“Go away you infernal furball, and no I am not jealous that Marinette likes Adrien.  That would be so utterly idiotic and infantile!”

Plagg nodded sagely, one eyebrow raised.

“Suuuuuure, whatever you say lover boy.”

Feeling strangely ruffled and irritated Felix stormed back to class, he needed to get his shirt back after all, it’s not like he wanted to see the girl who’d taken it. No not at all, and it wasn’t as if he was slightly curious to see what she looked like wearing it, that would be absolutely preposterous!

                    *****************************
Marinette felt very accomplished and happy in Felix’s shirt.  She had had to use some of her Ladybug Luck™ to accomplish this one, but oh was it worth it.  She had even taken a picture of herself wearing said shirt and sent it on the family group chat, it blew up almost instantly.  She ignored them for now and played with the small piece of notebook paper.  On the paper was written Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson, and with it was about 30€. She knew she had to give the shirt back soon if Tikki’s sigh was anything to go by, but for some reason she felt really happy wearing it.  Sure it freaked out most of the school yard, but it was worth it!  Everyone’s faces were priceless!  As she walked past Felix she reluctantly gave him back his shirt and he gave her back her backpack.  She hadn’t even noticed it was gone.  Both smiled at each other then she walked into the room while he walked towards the men’s restroom to put his shirt back on.  When both were seated the class was both amused and absolutely terrified.

Chapter Text

There was one thing that no one had ever dared to steal from Marinette.  In fact, only one person had ever done it and it was one Dick Grayson. It didn’t end well for him if the fractured wrist said anything.  It was an accident, but after that her family knew never to touch it without permission. She didn’t even let anyone at school get close enough to it without her close by to watch it.  So when Felix Emilie Agreste casually walked through the halls nonchalantly flipping through the pages of said sketchbook in hand, the school froze.  No one knew of the incident with her brother of course, but they definitely knew that no one touched that one thing without something bad happening.  And strange enough, Felix wasn’t wearing any cufflinks.

Felix smiled gently at one of the pages and was surprised when he saw a small script on the bottom right of the page ‘ For Felix’ .  It seemed like just a simple black suit at first, but the longer he studied it, the more things he noticed.  The suit was sharp like all his suits were, the vest pitch black and matching the pants. When he shifted the page in his hand though, the fabric sample shifted to catching the light and shimmering from black to blue and purple like a Ravens feather. The shirt was a dark steel grey with shimmering silvery threads weaving through the matching fabric sample. Tiny almost hair thin embroidery stars circled the cuffs and spiraled near invisibly up the sleeves and curled delicately up and around the collar of the shirt. A jacket of the same black material of the vest and pants was shown in a separate smaller sketch with hidden pockets behind the actual pockets on the inside of the jacket, and along the bottom lining of the jacket as well. The tie was a brilliant deep golden umber and the tie pin looked like claws grasping a delicate eight eight pointed star. Matching cufflinks looked like they were grasping the cuffs of the jacket in their sharp points. It was sharp, deadly, versatile, stunning, and looked straight out of a fairy tale. It was also exactly Felix's style.

Felix had been so lost in thought as he stared and studied the suit that he failed to notice the shift in the air as Marinette walked through the doors.  Everyone expected there to be some sort of fight, if nothing else at least lots of yelling.  People were recording once they saw Marinette enter the premises.  

Marinette tapped Felix’s shoulder and — he did not jump— turned towards her.

“Ah, Marinette.  These are rather nice designs.”

He said coolly,  turning to look back at the page.

“Thank you Felix, can I please have it back now?”

Marinette asked, fidgeting with her hands slightly and while close, not meeting his gaze.

“That depends, can I keep this?”

He asked smugly, waving the page in the air.  Marinette smiled lightly and rolled her eyes.  

“Not if you don’t want me to make it.”

She said quietly, folding her arms and raising her brow in her normal confident and fiery manner.  He thought about it for a moment before nodding and passing the book back to her.  

“Very well.  I expect you to hold up to that then.”

“Of course!”

Marinette said with a bright smile that made Felix’s heart skip a beat.  With a brief nod he held the book out to her.  Marinette carefully took it from his hands and winked as she turned away, an air of confidence with each step she took.  Felix stared after her for a few moments before turning away and walking in the opposite direction.  

*****************************

“So let me get this straight,”

Dick said as he glared at her through the screen while she pinned the fabric for Felix’s suit to her mannequin.  

“I touch your sketchbook and get a fractured wrist.”

She hummed as she held the measuring tape in her mouth, not even glancing at the screen.

“Your crush steals it from you, and he gets a new suit ?!”

Marinette rolled her eyes at her brothers as she heard Jason trying to silently laugh off screen.

“That about sums it up yea, also he is not my crush.  But in my defense, I was scared you were going to destroy it.”

“And you weren’t scared he would?!”

Dick whined incredulously.

“Not really, no.”

Marinette said as she finally walked towards the camera, moving some loose strands of hair behind her ears.  Dick leaned closer to the screen, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“Did you get more piercings?  Because those seem new.”

Marinette blushed slightly at the mention of her new earrings.  

“Well, I can’t take off my Miraculous, and I stole them fair and square, and it would be rude not to use them and gloat, and I didn’t want to not wear them!”

The earrings in question were two cartilage piercings both located on her left ear.  The earrings were both the sun and moon.  The moon was a pale sliver of shimmering stone that shifted and changed colors, a delicate chain connecting it to a small golden stone carved into the shape of a sun. The chain was a delicate bronze and led in a gentle arc between the two down her ear. She had stolen the sun and moon off of Felix’s sleeves where his cufflinks should have been.  They must have cost a fortune, so this suit was the least she could do to pay him back, because she was keeping the earrings.  They were already pierced into her ear, so he couldn’t take them back.

“Why, why did we think it was okay for you and Selina to spend time together?”

Marientte shrugged, a smirk spread across her lips.

“Not like you had a choice.  We would have met no matter what, and none of you will ever be able to stop us!”    

As if in response to her words, another voice joined the call.

“True enough, but I hope you are alright with some minor investigating.  After all, I can't in good conscience let my little sister spend extensive time with someone I haven’t thoroughly checked out, and I intend to do it the proper way, unlike our dear siblings.”

Dick and the others started protesting, only to shift uncomfortably under the voice's icy blue gaze as he raised his eyebrow at them. Marinette laughed,

“Hey Tim!  I was wondering how Felix caught you guys, it makes sense if you idiots tried to do it without Tim there.”

Damian snorted,

“The pretender would merely have hindered our efforts.”

Marinette arched an eyebrow at her twin, her rosy lips pulling into a frown.

“Damian, we have been over this, stop calling Tim that. Now what do you have to say to him?”

Damien scowled but relented, muttering an apology under his breath. Tim rolled his eyes, though a small smirk graced his lips.

“Thanks Mari, I don’t really mind though. Regardless, I don’t think they messed up too terribly, it actually gave me an idea. Since they already know we’re watching them I don’t see why I can’t just call them directly, that way I can ask my questions more… directly.”

Marinette shivered at his tone, she loved Tim, but out of all her siblings he scared her the most. Cass refused to kill or even excessively hurt people so despite being stronger than Tim or anyone in the Batfamily really she wasn’t really a concern. The others, except Jason, weren't really into killing and Damien wouldn’t really get away with excessive brutality. Tim though, Tim didn’t technically have any kills to his name, though she had her suspicions. He had high morals, but he also weighed everything logically. She was pretty sure that a few of the serial murder cases he had handled where the culprit had gone missing, weren’t really missing cases.  Or at least not in the sense that the bad guy got away . Yea, Tim was smart enough to get away with just about anything and harsh enough to actually do it.

“Just, please don’t terrify them too much?  I’d like to keep my friends please.” 

Tim sighed.

“Fine but only cause I love you Bluebell.”

Only slightly appeased Marinette blew them kisses and hung up for the night, she silently prayed that when Tim was done with the twins they’d still be willing to talk to her.

****************************
Felix was just about to go on patrol when a quiet beep sounded from his brother's computer. Though they technically had their own rooms, Felix usually slept with his twin, trying to stave off the loneliness that usually came in the night or just so he was already there when his brother's nightmares inevitably surfaced. Being a secret teenage hero came with a lot of PTSD who would have guessed? 

Anyways back to the computer. Felix could have sworn the thing had been powered off so his hackles were immediately raised. Was it the intruders from last time?   As if to confirm his fears a circular gold symbol on a red backdrop appeared on his brother’s screen. The symbol looked vaguely familiar, sort of like a bird's head.  As he stared at it the symbol on the screen burst into flames. Flames that rose and fell with a person’s voice, a way to show sound waves he supposed. But he was getting distracted, there was a person speaking to him through his brother's computer.

“Hello Felix. I do apologize for my siblings’ recent intrusion.  I usually try to keep my family’s more invasive tendencies under control or at least under wraps. Alas, they attempted to do some investigating themselves while I was busy with another matter and were quite rude. Marinette has asked that we be more respectful of you and your brother as she considers you close friends.”

Felix’s mind short circuited for a second.  So Marinette A. was in on this, and B. considered him a friend?

“So once again my sincerest apologies. Since you are already aware of our existence I figured I would contact you officially instead of doing quiet reconnaissance on my own without the meddling of my less…skilled associates. So if you would not mind, are you and your brother available for a quick Q&A session? Your brother has said he doesn’t mind as long as you are alright with it.”

Felix resisted the urge to roll his eyes of course Adrien had already agreed to talk to this strange faceless entity. Unlike the previous intruders this person’s voice was modulated and cool. Calculating.  This was no foolish idiot attempting to spy on them, no this was someone with the skill to do so without them knowing who was simply making his power known. Still he supposed that was better than the person just going through their information without their awareness. He hummed then nodded.

“I suppose that would be acceptable, so long as you agree to answer some questions for us as well. A bit of Quid pro Quo you could say.”

There was a quiet moment then,

“I suppose that’s fair.  I will wait for your brother to join you before we begin.” 

There was a tense few minutes, then Adrien quickly stumbled through the door shutting and locking it behind him. The twins sat in the two chairs before the monitor, Adrien leaning eagerly forward and Felix leaning back, hands neatly folded in his lap, his head up, eyes boring straight into the camera. The monitor crackled momentarily then the voice began to speak again.

“My name is Rook, formerly known as Red Robin, and the third Robin and you are heroes Chat Noir and Ombré correct?”

Felix and Adrien tensed, Adrien sitting up straight and reaching for his bo staff under the desk, the one he’d gotten after being in an akuma attack while Felix was in the suit. You were either prepared or learned the hard way that you weren’t ready. Luckily they’d lived through that particular lesson.  Rook continued,

“There is no need to panic, Marinette and my associates are not aware of this, after all that information is for you to tell them. I happen to have been involved in more time traveling and dimension hopping incidents than anyone else in my family and you guys trusted me enough to tell me this in a separate timeline. You both told me to tell you, this code phrase ‘Plagg no more Camembert’ in the event that I was able to return to my original timeline.”

Felix and Adrien untensed slightly, that was the code they used with Viperon in one of the previous messed up timeline loops, so it would make sense that different versions of themselves would give it to another time traveling hero.

“Now let's get down to business shall we. My only experience with you is that you both fight by my sister’s side, while I respect all of Marinette's associates. You are getting closer as friends to her, and as such are getting closer to being a danger to her and my family. So while in the previous timeline I was willing to let you get away with the bare minimum background check, this time around I would like…details.”

The pause between the rest of his words and his last ones sent something roiling in Felix’s stomach. What exactly had Rook intended to say instead? 

“Now as you put it, this is a Quid pro Quo situation. So how bout we trade off, I will ask a question then you will. Do these terms sound sufficient to you?” 

Felix and Adrien glanced at each other then nodded.

“Excellent. First question, what are your thoughts on my sister as a person?”

Adrien lit up,

“Marinette’s amazing! She’s super smart, really talented, pretty, kind, and overall just an amazing person!”

Felix coughed quietly,

“Indeed as my brother said she is an extremely talented individual, very clever, and has great talent with sleight of hand.”

There was a quiet moment then.

“Hmmm I see, thank you. Now I believe it is your turn, one question for each of you.”

Adrien didn’t hesitate, jumping slightly in his seat like an excited puppy,

“How are you related to Marinette? You keep saying sister, are you older? Younger? Biological? Step? Foster? Adopted?”

There was a hum of static then Rook replied sounding slightly amused.

“Older, and adopted, though Sabine and Tom are not my parents in any capacity.”

Felix had initially thought Adrien’s question was dumb, but his ears perked up at that last part. What exactly did that mean? His thoughts were interrupted by Rook.

“Alright then, Felix, I believe it is your turn.”

Felix hummed, thinking,

“Why would us getting close to Marinette be dangerous for her and for her family?”

A long pause. Rook seemed to like silence which was frankly quite annoying.

“Well, that's a hard question. The simple answer is, our family is very powerful and a lot of people would like to hurt us, or take advantage of us.  Which as members of an affluent family yourselves I’m sure you understand. The more complex answer, well… Marinette had training before she was Multi Mouse, and as have many members of our family. We aren’t…exactly the most normal family. Marinette has had training from multiple groups, our families specific training included. Some of those groups want her back hence the personal danger for her if you get close. Then for our family, well we’d do anything to protect Marinette and several separate groups know that.  Which multiplies the danger a significant amount, they know she’s a soft spot for us, so she’s in danger from that sort of thing as well. I can’t really tell you much more than that.”

Felix felt his heart rate speed up and ache at the same time. Who could possibly be after Marinette? He felt his face harden.

“Do we need to watch out for any of these people?  Does she need protection?”

There was a moment of static, then Rook burst out laughing.

“Oh boy, don’t let her hear you say that!  She’ll hurt you so bad! Hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

There was a sound that sounded sort of like wheezing, then slowly Rook composed himself,

“Thank you but no.  Marinette is well trained and if she needs back up my family can get to her extraordinarily easily. Anyways I think I have what I need for now. After all, you have a patrol to get to Ombré. I would say see you later, but considering my MO is to not be seen, I sincerely doubt it.”

The computer screen went dark leaving Felix and Adrien staring at a dark screen and leaving a strange feeling in Felix’s stomach. It wasn’t fear exactly but something about Rook’s parting jab rubbed him the wrong way. It was like he wasn’t talking about a hypothetical but a sort of inevitable future meeting, and Felix sincerely didn’t want to meet this guy. 

The others had sounded sort of stupid if not skilled.  Rook, though, he sounded as if he was a far more dangerous opponent. Deciding that he’d spent enough time on this tonight, Ombré suited up and headed out into the dark night.

Chapter Text

After the conversation with Rook, Felix began to watch Marinette more closely.  Sure he was still never able to stop her from stealing his things, just as she was never able to stop him, but he began to notice things about her.  Like how her nose scrunched up when she was frustrated or disgusted.  The way her tongue stuck out slightly when she was focussed.  The way her eyes twinkled when she genuinely laughed, and the way she kept glancing at him.  It was strange, yet funny as she thought he didn’t notice.  He even saw that she had been wearing the earrings that he had gotten her she’d stolen everyday, and no he did not blush at that!  Her movements were smooth, and the way she tripped and fell was more on purpose.  She was graceful in a practiced way that showed ease and confidence, so why would she reduce herself to being known as clumsy?  

Weeks passed by and there wasn’t another disturbance from her brothers, but their game of thief tag went on.  He found himself more excited to see what he’d nick off of her everyday.  But then sometimes his thoughts would drift back to the thoughts that she didn’t like him, she liked his oblivious, idiot of a brother that couldn’t even see what was in front of him!

“Hey Fé, you doing ok?”

Adrien asked, concern lacing his voice as he glanced at his brother who seemed moodier than normal. Felix rolled his eyes at his brother and flatly said,

“I’m fine.  Don’t worry about it.”

“Alright…”

Adrien said hesitantly.  Marinette glanced at Felix.  She was worried about him, and it didn’t help that her heart seemed to flutter everytime she so much as glanced in his direction.  Marinette bit her lip, it had been a while since Tim had talked to them, and they seemed fine, if not more wary and on guard.  She fidgeted with her sleeve slightly and thought about what she could do to maybe help cheer him up.  

That night she stared at the suit that she had made for him, going over any last minute details that may need to be added before she gave it to him, when an idea hit her!  Hopefully he would like it.  Thankfully it was Ombré, Rena’s, and Carapace’s turn for patrol tonight so she would be able to work on it for however long she needed to.

***************************
Plagg laughed as he flew around the room on his back.

“Why don’t you just ask her?!  The two of you have been flirting in your weird way for months !”

“We haven’t been flirting, Plagg.  Besides, she has a crush on Adrien.”

“You sure kid?  Sometimes people change their minds after so long of being ignored.”

Felix bit his lip before huffing in annoyance.  Hesitantly he set out his clothes for tomorrow, adding an extra piece to it, his blazer.  He grabbed one of the blank note cards he used for studying off his desk and quickly scrolled down a short note and stuck it in the inner pocket of the jacket.  Plagg was right, and if he didn’t find out soon he would either go mad from Plagg and Adrien bugging him about it or his own thoughts.

***************************
The next day they passed each other the act of stealing was an instantaneous habit that happened in the blink of an eye.  Marinette’s shoe and Felix’s jacket disappearing off the other before they turned in different directions.  

Felix looked at the ribbon of the shoe, it wasn’t any ordinary ribbon, and upon closer inspection he noticed it wasn’t a ribbon at all but a bracelet. It was a thinly woven strand of miniature glass beads six across in patterns of gold green and black that swirled in a shimmering glass spiral around the delicate heart shaped piece of silver grey crystal in the center.  Felix felt hope well up in his chest at the beautiful gift, and imagined the time she spent making this just for him.

Marinette loved the feeling of Felix’s blazer.  It was warm, and was over sized so her fingers barely peeked out of the cuffs.  After admiring the details and craftsmanship of the jacket, she began to look for any secrets.  She felt around in the blazer until she came to one of the internal pockets and felt something rough and flat, a piece of paper.  When she pulled it out she thought it would be another book rec, but felt her eyes widened when she read,

‘You stole my heart, can I take yours in return?’

Marinette giggled lightly at the note, putting it back in the pocket and pulling it tighter around her as she happily skipped to class.  She found Felix waiting by the door holding her shoe to her with one finger.  He was glancing to the side, his body language stiff showing his nerves. 

“Felix.”

Marinette said brightly as she stopped in front of him and took her shoe.  Felix lightly cleared his throat before finally looking her in the eye.

“Yes Marinette.”

“I’m afraid that you’ve taken something else from me as well.”

Leaning forward and gesturing for him to lean closer so she could whisper, she smiled as his smooth sharp cheek brushed hers as she stood on tiptoes to whisper into the curve of his ear.

“You stole my heart too, you gorgeous son of a biscuit!”

Then before he could react to the frankly ridiculous statement she grabbed the sides of his head and gently pressed his lips to hers, her hands cradling his face gently as if he were something precious and delicate. Something to be cherished, because he was . She didn’t know when it had started, but now she couldn’t imagine a world without this sharp tongued, quick fingered, and beautiful soul. This boy that meant the world to her, this boy she would die for.  This boy she would once again kill for.  This boy who she loved with all her heart.  And when he returned the kiss, well her heart seemed to explode with joy.  Marinette gently pulled away, a red flush to her cheeks as she smiled up at him.  He smiled back at her lovingly, his stare soft and gentle.  He brought one hand up to hold one her hands that were still cupping his cheek and slowly moved it so he could kiss her knuckles.  With a small dramatic bow he asked,

“Shall we, Madam?”

Marinette smirked and gave a small curtsy,

“We shall.”

They walked into the classroom holding each other’s hand, and Marinette was still wearing the blazer.  And while the class was happy they were happy, they were scared for what was going to happen next, because Rose couldn’t find her perfume and there seemed to be something pink and shiny in Marinette’s bag.

Chapter Text

Now considering the fact that the two had finally acknowledged their love for each other it shouldn’t have surprised the rest of the class that the amount of ‘thievery’ would increase. Still with the swapping of various clothing items, and various everyday objects it seemed that no one including Felix and Marinette had anticipated what would happen when their most important objects had gone missing. More specifically when Marinette had snagged Plagg’s Miraculous. Felix felt like an idiot. He had forgotten to take the miraculous off last night and give it back to Adrien for the day shift, and now he was paying for that mistake. Usually when they stole things from each other at the end of the day they just returned them to each other the next day or inevitably kept the things they liked. But while he trusted Marinette to be responsible with his miraculous, she was Multi Mouse after all. Still he wasn’t thrilled about A. the idea of giving up his and his brothers secret identity, and B. the inevitable things that Plagg was bound to tell her about him. The very thought of B. sent shivers down his spine and he shuddered violently.

So here he was pounding down the street toward the bakery where Marinette lived in a desperate attempt to stop the inevitable disaster that Plaggs words would cause. He slowed just before the bakery brushing a hand across his blazer and through his hair and plastering a smile on his face before entering the bakery. He waved politely at Marinette's parents and asked if it was ok for him to go up and see Mari. He’d only done this a few times since they started dating in the last month, but they already loved him and waved him right on upstairs. 

Now Felix had expected many things when he burst through Marinette's bedroom door, but a red faced Marinette with her face buried in her hands, while a small red and black kwamii beat the heck out of Plagg both verbally and physically, was absolutely nowhere one his list. He stood there in shock for a good minute before slowly clearing his throat. 

Marinette’s head shot up and the two kwamiis turned toward him all of them adopting fighting stances. Felix pinched the bridge of his nose.

“So your Ladybug?’

Marinette nodded mutely, and Felix sighed again staring disbelievingly at the ceiling.

“How on earth were we both so dense as to miss this?”

A smile began to play on her lips, Marinette shrugged.

“I mean you stalked my brother for years and me by extension, how on earth did you not see the pattern, and how on earth did I not notice that the two kindest, and bravest people in my life were the same person?!”

Small smile transforming into a grin Marinette lunged at him and he caught her wrapping his arms gently but firmly around her waist and back as he tucked her head beneath his chin.

“I don’t know we really must be hopeless.”

Felix laughed and kissed her nose.

“Truly impossible.”

There was a blissful moment of silence then a gagging noise filled the room, and Marinette turned bright red turning to the laptop on her desk. A face similar to Marinette’s own, eerily similar in fact but with darker skin peered through the screen on vid call a single judging eyebrow raised over two radioactive green eyes. 

“Really أخت ('ukht) truly I had anticipated this sort of behavior from Grayson. The amount of physical affection occurring right now is frankly appalling.”

Marinette inhaled deeply and buried her face in Felix’s chest letting out a low gutteral groan that sounded frankly inhuman.

“Damiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!  I just wanted a nice moment with my boyfriend!”

The boy, Damian apparently sent her a look that said how clearly unimpressed he was with her.

“From the only warrior I respected besides Cass, Mother, Father, and Alfred, you have managed to fall to a level of disgrace lower than Grayson. Congratulations sister you have made the achievement known as ‘PDA orineated overzealous girlfriend’ I am truly disappointed.”

Marinette whirled around and pointed a finger at the computer screen and opened her mouth to argue but then paused as she thought about it.

“I concede your point.”

Damien smiled smugly for a brief annoyingly long moment before Marinette smiled sharply.

“However A. You should know I have the skills to regain that respect, and B. you're one to talk ‘Mr.-snuggles-with-his-girlfriend-every-time-she-so-much-as-breathes-in-your-presence’.”

Damien flushed scarlet,

“I DO NOT!”

Marinette nodded and hummed, tapping a thoughtful finger to her chin.

“Hmmmm then perhaps I should call her and tell her just how much you truly despise physical affection, just to make you more comfortable of course.”

With an incomprehensible demonic sounding squawk of outrage Damian lunged toward the screen screaming protests and profanities while Marinette laughed in amusement. Damian hit the screen and there was a brief moment of spinning and crashing sounds as he disappeared from view, and then…

“DAMIAN I SWEAR IF YOU BROKE DICK’S COMPUTER THAT I JUST FIXED I WILL KILL YOU AND NO WILL EVER FIND YOUR BODY AND YOUR PETS WILL ALL BE DONATED TO THE NEAREST MEAT SHOP!!!!!”

A sound of unholy rage screeched from the other side as the small demonic child known as Damian launched himself at whoever had spoken there was the sound of a cut off scream and then the screen went dark as a sword appeared on screen. No doubt the blade was the reason for the sudden cut off connection. Felix stared at it for a moment before turning toward Marinette.

“I take it that's the “Demon Spawn” your brothers mentioned in our…visit over the phone last time.”

Marinette blinked innocently at him.

“Why, whatever do you mean? Damian a Demon? Never. He’s practically a little angel. Whatever gave you the impression as to otherwise?”

Felix raised a single eyebrow in imitation of the green eyed little monster.

“I don’t know, perhaps it was the slightly to spiky hair. I never did like people with spiky hair.”

Marinette nodded pensively.

“True, that is a very valid point.”

Then the two promptly burst into laughter, and sat down. Somehow despite the massive reveal that had just occurred nothing felt different and everything felt right with the world. That should have been Felix’s first warning sign of the doom to come…                                               

******************
Tikki and Felix stood on Marinette's balcony during his free period. Usually he used this time to complete more paperwork or read up on new business information, but he felt that for today this would be far more profitable.  He felt now that he was dating Marinette, it was alright and gave him the perfect opportunity to get back at her brothers for hacking his phone.  Tikki, who was in the room with him, agreed with his plan and even encouraged it.  He had also brought the idea up to Marinette, she laughed and said that it was a horrible idea, but said that she didn’t care and he would (hopefully) be fine if he did.

He and Tikki shared a grin and he slipped into Marinette's room. He set her bag on her bed and snagged a small earpiece Tikki told him connected to the boys who had hacked his phone. She warned him that they hadn’t had Tim with them at the time and that he may want to hide from electronics for a few days after this as Tim was a force to be reckoned with, but otherwise this plan was relatively harmless.  Pocketing the earpiece, Felix slid down the drain pipe connected to Marinette's balcony and headed to the park. He sat on a bench and pulled out the earpiece. Then with a smirk, he turned it on. Second’s later a voice came over the line.

“Yo, Pixie Pop what's up?”

Felix chuckled, then he cleared his throat and began to speak in thickly accented english.

“Hello this is the boy you hacked a few months ago, I returned the favor and have managed to find a way to contact you as well. I know who you really are and if you don’t leave me alone, I will send a very nasty surprise to your location, and prank Marinette for the foreseeable future.”

There were a few choice curses and then another voice could be heard in the background.

“Tracking the device now.”

The voice was cool and calm, and for some reason sent shivers down Felix’s spine. That must be Tim, and from what Tikki had said he did NOT want to mess with this man. Quickly setting down the headpiece Felix booked it back to school and hid in the library. Hopefully nothing would go tooooooo wrong. Oh how wrong he was.

Felix needed help while the video call that had appeared on the library computer screen had shown him Jason, Damien, and Dick armed with various weapons and in full Bat regalia, which what the heck? The Bats? Really? Of all the people for Mari to be related to! He’d thought he knew who they were, he had been oh so very wrong, and perhaps may have put himself in more danger then he had originally anticipated. He’d thought they were a minor mafia family or something, not some of  the literal most dangerous humans on the entire planet!

Regardless, while those three had shown up on screen, Tim had not, and he was easily the biggest threat to him at the moment. While the others had somehow teleported to Paris and begun to pursue him, he’d largely been able to evade them. Tim, yea not so much. Anything with any form of wireless connection was tracking him and either attacking or pursuing him, the city had come to life and it was highly intelligent. Strangely enough and thankfully for him Tim seemed to want to mess with him personally and hadn’t led the other bats to him just yet. He honestly just seemed to be toying with Felix which while highly irritating also made him nervous. He was currently cornered and a news screen in the shop near him lit-up the Rook symbol blazing to life. There was a quiet moment as he stared the screen down, heart in his throat before a voice cleared its throat. It was heavily modulated and cold. The voice was inhumanly even. Oh dang it all.

Felix wanted to just go hide underground for a few centuries of course Tim would be Rook!  It made sense honestly after his conversation with the man and then later with the Wayne family he should have made the connection.  But oh no, the thought had never crossed his mind and now he was currently face to face, or at least electronic to face with someone that everyone who knew of him agreed was easily one of the most dangerous people in the world. He’d heard about him from Plagg and that was about it the guy had gone seriously far underground after his period as Red Robin everyone thought he’d retired, or died, but after asking Plagg about Rook after their last conversation the Kwamii had revealed that Rook was actually a remarkably suitable candidate for multiple miraculi and that he was in fact a highly skilled and dangerous individual, and it seemed Felix had managed to tick him off. Finally the tense silence was broken by Tim-no Rook’s voice.

“Based on the expression on your face I’m guessing that when you said ‘I know who you are’ this was not in fact what you were referring to, and that now because of my siblings rushing into action you actually do know our identities and are suitably panicked.”

Felix nodded mutely, and Rook sighed tiredly,

“I have not had nearly enough coffee for this.”

He groaned loudly, thumping his head against what sounded like a hard desk.

“I am currently running on two hours of sleep in the past four days and would really like to not deal with this right now.  But since the rest of my family with a few exceptions is both incompetent and wildly dangerous to anyone they are unreasonably mad at it seems I am going to have to.”

There was an inhuman groaning sound that reminded Felix of Marinette's reaction to her brother a few days ago, and then Rook spoke again and despite the voice modulator he sounded so thoroughly done and dead that Felix felt a little bit guilty and sorry for the man. He hadn’t meant to cause this much trouble for him. 

“Alright follow the drone I’m sending your way I’ll keep you safe from the rest of my family while I talk them down from their frankly annoying and completely unfounded murderous frenzy.”

There was a bunch of grumbling on the other end and as Felix followed the drone around he couldn’t help but feel like he was glad that Rook was on his side. Explosions sounded on the other side of the city as well as what sounded like several high pitched screams. Felix shuddered. Oh he was so VERY glad.