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“Marinette, ” Alya whined, “Come on, it’s just one date!”
Marinette hopped over the scattered project materials in her bedroom. There were too many buttons, fabrics and threads strewn everywhere that she could barely see the floor. Meanwhile, Alya lounged lazily on the chaise, and Kagami was reading a magazine on the bed.
“Leave me out of this, Als, come on,” Marinette huffed for the umpteenth time. “What if he’s rude?”
“Adrien recommended him.” Alya insisted. “He’s vouching for the guy—you have nothing to lose!”
“Except my precious time,” Marinette grumbled under her breath.
“He is quite cold at first,” said Kagami, flipping a page. “But I do think you can get along if you open up to each other.”
Marinette gaped at her friend. “Wait, you know the guy?”
“Somewhat,” Kagami shrugged, “Both your zodiac signs are quite compatible and you have a lot in common even if it doesn’t seem so at first. There’s this . . . spitfire personality in you both, and you never back down in a situation where you believe you’re right.”
First of all, Marinette stared at her. When the hell did Kagami get into astrology? She faced Alya again, who was stifling her laughs. And second, what—what ‘spitfire personality’?
“Oh my god!” Alya cackled. “That’s scarily accurate. For Mari at least.”
“The stars never lie,” Kagami uttered in a near-conspiratorial tone.
“Wh—why are you basing my love life on the stars?” Marinette sputtered out, cheeks reddening. “It’s just a blind date!”
“So you’re going, then?” Alya smirked.
Marinette plucked off a denim piece from the floor. The frayed threads on its edges dangled helplessly, much like her dignity. “I—well I’d have no choice either way. You’ll keep bugging me about it until I say yes.”
“That’s the spirit!” Alya cheered, grinning. It was the damned grin she wore whenever she was excited about her master plan. “Don’t worry too much about it, girl. Adrien’s positive you’ll be perfect together!”
* * *
“I’m sure you’re perfect for each other,” Adrien smiled at him. Félix instantly wished he could wipe the cunning expression off his cousin’s face.
“I think it’s a great idea.” Amelie nodded from the dining table. Félix’s eye twitched.
“Maman, you’ve sent me out on a million blind dates and none of them worked out.” He crossed his arms. “How are you certain that this one will?”
“Five dates isn’t a million, Félix. And this is different because it’s Adrien’s set-up,” his mother replied. “Whoever is this girl he has in mind, she must be wonderful since Adrien thinks she can handle you.”
Wow, thank you for the encouragement, Félix retorted inwardly. “And I should trust Adrien’s decision, because . . .?”
Amelie snorted. “Because he has a nice girlfriend of his own and I don’t want my son to die a bachelor.”
When he looked back at Adrien, he was gazing at him like a puppy wagging his tail pleadingly. Félix didn’t want to think that his cousin knew him enough to set him up with the ‘perfect’ girl for him, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little curious.
“I suppose one night won’t hurt,” he mumbled, smoothing down his tie. “But after this, no more dates.”
“Yes! You won’t regret this, Fe, I promise.” Adrien pumped his fist out. “I got you a reservation on Saturday at Epicure.”
“You booked a reservation even if I haven’t agreed to it?”
“I booked a reservation even if you both haven’t agreed,” Adrien grinned. “Because I know you will.”
Félix clenched his jaw. Let’s hope there won’t be an akuma on that night.
* * *
Tip to self: never let Adrien decide your date spot ever again. Being in a high-end restaurant was making her palms sweat and her heartbeat race. Not to mention, her knowledge on fine dining was lacking. What if he berates me for not knowing which spoon to use? What if I can’t decide what to order and I end up not liking my food? And everything’s so expensive!
Marinette’s fists curled around the skirt of her dress. Alya and Kagami had gotten her to dress fancily as well: hair tied up, and an itchy knee-length outfit with an absurd amount of tulle. She gulped down her water as she waited. I don’t even have an escape plan if an akuma arrives!
“Okay, calm down,” she whispered to herself as she put a hand to her chest. “Calm down now—”
“Sorry if I kept you waiting, my cousin fussed over my attire too much and—”
Marinette froze when she locked eyes with familiar gray ones. Her date. “Oh, it’s you, ” she gasped out. “You’re Adrien’s cousin!”
Félix frowned. “You’re his friend?”
“I never realized!” Her hand flew to her mouth. She knew them separately, and was well-aware of their family names, but she never connected the dots about it. Marinette slumped on her seat. “I’m so relieved, you have no idea.”
He took his seat and placed a cloth over his lap. “Relieved?”
“Don’t take it the wrong way,” Marinette rambled. “But I was so nervous, and this place is so—so expensive, you know, and I’m not really a classy person. And err—no offense to Adrien’s decisions, but I thought you’d be like some stuck-up family friend who only talks about himself and I’ll have to force myself to be polite because I don’t want to make a scene and—”
“Breathe, bug, breathe,” Félix told her.
And so she did. “My point is . . . I thought my night was going to be a disaster but maybe it won’t be.”
He smiled a little. “I have to admit, I only agreed to this because I was curious . . . I also had some assumptions that—well—you see, on the past dates my mother has arranged for me, the girls seemed more interested in money and fame.”
Her eyes widened. “Holy shit, you too? My friend Alya won’t stop pestering me about going on dates, and I keep telling her I don’t have time because . . . you know . . .”
She did often dream about finding true love and getting into a relationship in the past. But as her heroine responsibilities became heavier, and other commitments got in the way, that dream had dissolved into a faraway luxury that she’d have to pursue later on. Or never.
“I suppose people who have a romantic partner of their own will keep insisting that you should experience it as well,” Félix nodded, taking a sip from his glass.
“I know! And Kagami was spewing out these astrological signs about us!”
“Yes, I also received a horoscope reading from her once.”
Soon, a waiter arrived to hand them the menus. As Marinette expected, the dish names sounded foreign, and each item was too pricey. She read through the list confusedly, hoping to find something that she’d probably like.
“Do you want me to choose for you?” Félix offered.
“Yes, please!” Marinette squeaked out. “Sorry, I don’t have a lot of experience in this.”
“A stuffy restaurant is too much for a first date.” He rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t my call.”
Félix leaned forward, looking at her intently. “But do order as much as you like. Adrien’s paying after all. Just ask me about the food, and I’ll pick out what’s good.”
She laughed. “Burn through his pockets, got it.”
Her eyes swept over him, examining him closely for the first time. He wore a three-piece suit (but had shed off the jacket) with forest green accents that suited his styled hair well. Even his Miraculous looked like a fancy piece that completed the entire look.
She knew Félix as her partner, her fellow protector of Paris, but since they didn’t go to the same school and had different circles of friends, they never saw the need to be more than acquaintances as civilians. Occasionally, she’d see him in the Trocadéro Square, or near the Louvre , but she wouldn’t say ‘hi’ or go out of her way to make eye contact. Even in costume, they shared little about themselves, but they would exchange rants and complaints about their lives.
They didn’t have a distant or hostile relationship. But they didn’t have a close one, either. They were just . . . partners. That was the best way she could describe it.
Though, she wouldn’t have preferred another date that night.
“By the way,” she cleared her throat. “I was also scared there’ll be an akuma tonight.”
“Don’t get me started on that.” He sighed. “I’d be scolded by my mother if I looked like an asshole ditching his date.”
Marinette giggled. “Imagine if we didn’t know and we just excused ourselves at the same time!”
“I don’t think there will be one tonight.” Félix peered through the window beside their table. “There was already a lot for this week.”
“If there’s another, I swear I’m going to kill someone.”
His lip curled. “What we do have to worry about are those people spying on us outside.”
Marinette nearly choked on air as she forced herself not to look. “You—you noticed them, too?”
“They’re not exactly masters of stealth,” Félix deadpanned.
She had spotted them a while ago in her peripheral vision: Kagami, Adrien, Alya and Nino crouching behind the bushes right outside the window, watching them eagerly. They’re probably having commentaries. I bet Alya’s gushing, Nino’s dubbing over what he thinks the dialogue is, Adrien’s bragging about his genius, and Kagami’s holding birth charts.
“Don’t tell me Adrien still has those binoculars on,” she flushed.
Félix’s gaze flickered. “Oh, he has them on.”
“I’m so sorry about them,” Marinette groaned.
“I apologize for my cousin, too,” he said. “But on that note . . .”
“Yeah?”
A glimmer appeared on his eye—a sparkle Marinette knew as the one he’d have whenever he executed a brilliant plan against an akuma. “I have a proposal.”
She sat up straight, completely on board with whatever his idea was. “Let’s hear it.”
Félix smirked. “What if we mess with them a little bit?”
* * *
Adrien felt multiple frantic slaps on his arm. Alya was freaking out.
“They’re going out! They’re going out of the restaurant!” Alya whisper-yelled. “Did you have something else planned out?”
He blinked rapidly, setting down his binoculars. “No, I don’t think so . . .?”
“Let’s follow them!”
Slowly, the quartet untangled themselves from the prickly shrubbery and kept a close eye on the couple. It was weird. Félix and Marinette were strangely acting so close. “I know they’d hit it off,” he commented, “But not so quickly . . .”
“Maybe it’s a rare occurrence.” Kagami studied her charts again.
The pair had caught a ride in the night and they followed in their own taxi. After a few minutes, they were at Pont des Arts , watching as Félix and Marinette strolled along the bridge. The former had an uncharacteristic fond smile on, while the latter giggled at their soft conversations—they looked about as lovesick as any couple who had just gotten together.
“We totally should’ve gotten disguises,” Nino rubbed over his cap. “We’d look less like creeps.”
“It’s dark out—we don’t need disguises,” Alya whispered back.
“Ssshh, look,” Adrien pointed, his breath caught in his throat. Félix had said something into Marinette’s ear and she blushed a deep red.
“What the heck is happening here?!” Alya exclaimed.
“Félix would never act like that,” Adrien croaked out, gaping. Had someone replaced his cousin for the night?
“I don’t know if I should be happy or scared,” Alya mumbled.
It wasn’t the last of it. Félix shrugged off his jacket and draped it over Marinette’s shoulders, before kissing her forehead. She snuggled into him while they stood by the railings on the bridge.
Four jaws dropped in unison.
“Am I—am I seeing this right?” Alya stammered.
“Maybe this is all just some weird dream.” Adrien expected awkwardness between them. He even considered an argument, or a full blown fight (which he could conveniently lead into a love-hate dynamic with his matchmaking abilities).
But this wasn’t in his conjured list of possibilities.
In the midst of their stunned reactions and mini-freakouts, they hadn’t realized that Marinette and Félix had gone down the bridge and stumbled upon them—until Marinette called out, “Hey, you guys, what are you doing here?”
They stepped guiltily out of the shadows. “Hey—er—quick question.” Nino adjusted his glasses. “What the actual fu—”
Alya elbowed him. “Mari!” she smiled over-enthusiastically. “What a coincidence! We were just—just out for fresh air. How’s your date?”
“Oh,” Marinette chuckled. “We got along just fine, like you said.”
“Yes, Miss Dupain-Cheng has proved to be quite a nice friend,” Félix agreed.
“Friend? ” Adrien echoed.
Marinette locked their fingers together, intertwining them tightly. “Yup! Friends!”
That’s not ‘friend’ behavior! Adrien screamed in his head. Even Alya looked aghast.
“That’s not ‘friends’,” Kagami pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?” Marinette asked. “We hit it off platonically and that’s it. We found out that we’re not ready for a romantic relationship, so there’s no need to force one.”
“Bu—but you,” Nino frowned. “Hand-holding, forehead ki—kissing . .”
“As friends,” Félix nodded.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Alya screeched. She looked prepared to tear her hair off.
“I don’t know what you mean, Als, You’re acting weird,” Marinette said. “Oh, right! It’s getting pretty late.”
“Shall I escort you home?” Félix gave her a soft look, one that appeared so strange sitting on Félix’s face.
“It's okay, I can go home with the girls. Thanks for offering,” Marinette’s cheeks were tinted pink under the streetlights. She reached up to press her lips on his cheek.
An unintelligible sound escaped from Adrien.
“But text me once you get home, alright?” said Félix, squeezing her hand.
While Marinette left with Nino and the girls (who began interrogating her wildly), Adrien turned to Félix. “Who are you and what have you done with Félix?”
His cousin’s trademark smirk stretched out. “What are you talking about? It’s still me.”
Adrien narrowed his eyes. “I smell something fishy.”
“You’re imagining things.” Félix rolled his eyes. “Come now, I have to thank you for that date.”