Chapter Text
Marinette sighed again.
And how had she managed to end up in Adrien’s room... alone with Felix?!
The three of them were supposed to work on a joint school project and she hoped that if Felix acted cold and aloof as always, she would almost have alone-time with Adrien!
Honestly speaking, Marinette no longer had any illusions about their possible relationship and even thought about the model much less often. But after all, it’s not every day that she gets an opportunity for almost a date with him! So, of course, the girl was delighted with it and practically blossomed with new hopes.
But when both Felix and Marinette had arrived at Agreste manor, Adrien was very late at the photo shoot – something to do with the weather, and when Felix said that he would wait for his cousin, Marinette had no choice but to stay waiting too.
She couldn’t let them make the project without her, could she?! Firstly, she would lose her half-date with Adrien, and secondly, Felix would’ve won in her personal competition with him. And although Marinette wasn’t sure what exactly she was competing with him in, she didn’t want to give it up.
Marinette was impatiently pacing the room back and forth as Felix walked over to the piano and hit a couple of keys with a bored look on his face.
“Do you play?” The question left her lips before she could stop it.
Though it probably sounded like small talk, Marinette asked it because she really was interested. Felix was so cold and grumpy, and she was always a little curious about how two people so similar on the outside could be so different inside.
Felix turned and looked at her with a long, intent gaze, as if deciding whether to even notice Marinette’s presence, much less respond to her question. Then he straightened up and turned away from her.
For some reason, Marinette was offended by this, although she should’ve expected such rudeness from him. It was Felix after all!
“Anyone who knows seven notes and can count to four can play piano.” Felix suddenly said, still standing, turned away from her.
Marinette stared at his back for a while, not sure what surprised her more, the gist of his statement or the fact that he answered her. But her curiosity got the better of her. Turning away from Felix slightly as well, so as not to feel abandoned (Why did she even feel like this?! Not that he ever interacted much with her anyway!..), she asked.
“Doesn’t the piano require many hours of practice and years of rehearsal?”
Felix turned half a turn towards her with a smug smirk on his lips.
“It does if you are someone like Adrien.” He said with a mockery in his voice. “But if your brain works a little, this isn’t at all necessary.”
Marinette turned to face him again, huffing in anger at his brazen statement.
“Adrien is smart!” She exclaimed. “Don’t you dare insult him!”
Felix continued to look at her with the same expression, and Marinette felt like an idiot, realizing how easily she fell for his provocation.
“Oh, did I hurt your warm feelings for my dump cousin?” He teased.
“He isn’t…” The girl started, but trailed off, not willing to continue following his script.
Marinette turned away and began to study the walls of the room and think nasty things about Felix when she heard the sound of music behind her, as if clusters of heavy raindrops were falling on a wooden platform.
She turned around and saw Felix sitting at the piano.
His eyes were closed and he seemed to casually drop his fingers on the keys with random, careless movements, but the sounds the instrument was making was so pleasing to ear – it was unlikely that Felix actually hit random keys.
Marinette didn’t notice how she took a few steps closer to him, carried away by her interest in this picture and the way Felix did it. When Adrien played, he seemed focused and attentive, not at all like this lazy casualness.
Felix opened his eyes and turned to her, continuing to drop his fingers on the keys and for some reason Marinette froze, forgetting to exhale and found herself standing almost next to the piano.
She opened her mouth to say something useless, or rude, – so as not to seem interested and intrigued by how she felt, but Felix stopped playing and rose from the bench, then resettled on one side of it.
He silently glanced at the half bench next to him, and before Marinette could react, Felix turned back to the piano and put his fingers back on the keys.
Marinette stood dumbfounded for a while, trying to figure out if this was an invitation.
In the end, she decided to sit on the free half of the bench: what the worst that could happen? Felix won’t push her to the floor, right?! At least she wouldn’t stand next to him like an idiot.
She stole a glance at Felix and saw a faint smile on his lips, which even seemed genuine.
“This is Do,” Felix said, pointing to the white key at the head of the central octave. “This is Re…”
“I know how the notes on the piano are arranged!” Marinette interrupted indignantly, getting angry at Felix for considering her so narrow-minded. “I can press the keys in order by naming the notes too!”
“But these are not full notes.” Felix continued calmly, ignoring her indignation. “To play a full note, you need to follow a certain pattern.”
Marinette looked at him with interest: maybe Felix really understands something and would teach her? And she could impress Adrien, and they could play together, and then...
“The pattern is called one-four-three.” Felix said, dragging Marinette from her thoughts.”
“One-four-three?” The girl frowned, looking at the keys in confusion.
Felix sighed and took her hand.
“If you don’t repeat after me, the lesson will have no effect.” He said and put her hand on the keys.
Marinette continued to stare at him with her mouth open, about to resent, but had already forgotten about what exactly, as if wrapped in a cloud of his calmness and confidence.
Felix turned to her and looked into her eyes, and their faces were so close that Marinette gasped slightly with her still open mouth in surprise. Felix also seemed to forget himself for a moment, looking into her eyes, then he recovered and smiled smugly.
“If you just stare at my obviously attractive face, the lesson won’t work either.” He said, and before Marinette could get indignant, feeling the blush spread across her face, he turned to the piano and started talking again. “Now we’ll play Do.”
Felix put his thumb on C two octaves down from her hand.
“One.” He said and, turning slightly, looked expectantly at her palm laying on the keys.
Marinette obediently put her right thumb on her C, but Felix was still staring at her hand.
“One.” Marinette guessed and out of the corner of her eye noticed a slight smile on his lips again.
“Four.” Felix said and put his middle finger on his E.
“Why is it four?” Marinette asked in surprise. “Mi is the third note.”
“I’m not counting notes.” Felix said sternly. “If you’re not attentive, I’ll finish the lesson right now.”
“No!” Marinette exclaimed, not expecting such a reaction from herself.
Felix chuckled and Marinette realized how involved she got into this ‘lesson’...
“So, once again.” He spoke in a calm tone. “1, 4, 3 – is the pattern. Now for playing a full Do, C - is One. And Four – is the fourth key after C.”
“But if you count the keys after Do, then Mi is the second, not fourth…” Marinette said timidly, not wanting to annoy her ‘teacher’, although she felt that Felix only threatened her for fun. “The first is Re, and Mi is the second.”
“It’s fourth if you count the black keys as well.” Felix explained, and pressed four keys in turn after C: black, white, black, white. “Four.” He repeated, pressing the last one.
Marinette placed her middle finger on the E of her octave.
“Why are we skipping a finger?” She asked with interest.
“Skip a key – skip a finger.” Felix explained and put his little finger on his Sol.
“Three.” He said, then raised his palm and hit all three notes at the same time. “Do.”
Marinette repeated after him, and also played a full Do. The sound turned out to be deep, not at all like a separate note, and it filled her with joy.
“So, I can count and play any note like that?!” She asked enthusiastically.
“There are other patterns for more complex notes, but if you go for basics – yes.” Felix confirmed. “Most of the popular songs are based on those anyway.”
“Like what?” The girl asked curiously, eager to try and play something.
Felix took out his phone and looked for something, then put it on a music stand and Marinette saw the chords for Let it be.
C G
When I find myself in times of trouble,
Am F
Mother Mary comes to me
C G F
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
“Isn’t it a difficult composition?” Marinette asked, her enthusiasm fading a little with the understanding that probably not everything is as simple as Felix says.
“You’ll tell me that when you play it in five minutes.” Felix said confidently with a smirk. “It can be played even without using the black keys. Let’s play all the chords separately first. ‘One’ in the pattern – is the root note of each chord.” He reminded her. “We need C, G, Am and F. And for the Am the pattern is One-Three-Four.”
Marinette exhaled decisively and put her fingers down on the full C she just played.
“Do.” She said, then found G and calculated the full chord using Felix’s formula. “Sol.” She said, pressing the keys.
It turned out that for full G she just had to shift all her fingers a few keys to the right. Realizing this, Marinette immediately moved all three fingers to A and the keys she thought were corresponding to its full note – Felix said that this song doesn’t need black keys!
The sound was full and clear and she recalculated the pattern for Am to make sure she guessed right. After making sure that Am was played correctly, she found the Fa and again moved all her fingers in parallel, only to the left, without even checking the correctness of the formula.
Marinette almost squealed, pleased with herself, and only now noticed that Felix has been silent all this time. She turned to him and froze for a moment, meeting his warm gaze and genuine smile that was now clearly visible on his face.
The boy immediately hid his smile and turned back to the piano, putting on a stern expression.
“Now you play them again, but every note rhythmically and twice in a row.” He said. “Like this.” He put his hand on the keys and played a melody that Marinette already could recognize as Let it be.
She repeated the melody, almost as quickly and almost without slipping, pressing each chord twice. While listening to her own play, Marinette couldn’t believe that she herself was playing it…
She was still smiling happily when Felix unexpectedly took her hand again.
Marinette turned to him, this time more surprised than outraged, but he was looking at the piano and started talking as if nothing had happened.
“With your left hand you will accompany each first hit on the keys, duplicating only the rute note on the lower octave.” He explained and placed her hand an octave below the one she was playing.
Marinette nodded slowly, listening carefully to his instructions.
“Here’s how you do it.” Felix continued, releasing her hand, and played the same melody again, but now pressing and holding the first notes of the chord with his left hand on his lower octave.
Marinette looked at Felix’s actions spellbound, as if seeing a piano play for the first time, simply because now she felt the movement of his hands from the inside, understanding the logic of the music. It seemed that her own fingertips tingle from the sensation of touching the keys, as if she were playing herself.
The girl was so mesmerized by this feeling that she opened her mouth and held her breath while watching the movements of Felix’s fingers on the keys.
He stopped playing and turned to her, and Marinette unconsciously turned to him as well.
Felix raised his hand and brought it to her face, and only when he lifted her jaw with a soft touch of his fingers, closing her mouth, did Marinette realize that her mind drifted away from her for a moment…
“What did I say about staring at my face, Marinette?” Felix asked, though there was no mockery in his voice. “If you like it so much, I’ll let you stare at it after our lesson.” He promised.
Marinette felt that she was supposed to argue, but Felix’s face was really handsome, it was the same with Adrien’s after all, and she only disliked him for his attitude. And now she wasn’t so sure about that part anymore...
“Ok, you win.” Felix said with a sigh. “I can’t really be against a beautiful girl like you staring at me.
Marinette blushed and finally turned away from him, confused at her own reactions.
“As if I would want to look at your stupid face!” She exclaimed defensively to cover her vulnerability.
She realized that her words sound really rude, especially since Felix volunteered to give her a piano lesson… And did he just call her beautiful?..
It was probably what pissed her off – that he seemed so normal, approachable, even warm with his goofy soft smile after always being rude to everyone. And to her in particular…
“Right.” Felix said and turned to the piano.
Marinette wasn’t sure if their lesson was still going on, but decided that if Felix wanted to be offended, then that was his own business, just as well as people who were usually offended by his pranks.
She turned to the piano, straightened up, brought the fingers of her right hand over the keys of the full C of her upper octave and the little finger on her left hand over the C of the lower one, and hit the keys.
Marinette had already memorized the simple sequence of four chords, and performing different actions with two hands was not a problem for her due to sewing, so the melody seemed to play under her hands on its own, almost as casually and beautifully as Felix played today at the beginning of their conversation.
She continued to repeat the melody for a second, or maybe already for the third time, when Felix’s hands lay on the keys of the other two octaves and he started playing the same melody at the same time with her.
The girl completely forgot who was supposed to be offended by whom and why, since the feeling of their synchronized movements, pouring out into a full volumetric melody, seemed completely unreal, given that she was sitting at the piano for the first time in her life...
She didn’t take her eyes off the keys, afraid to get lost, but it seemed that her hands had already learned the pattern and were moving on their own, because Felix and her together were already completing the third round of the melody.
“When I find myself in times of trouble,” Felix sang in a low, beautiful voice in English. “Mother Mari comes to me…”
Marinette chuckled and stopped playing.
“It’s Mary, not Mari!” She corrected, giggling.
“You are no fun!” Felix said with feigned resentment – Marinette could see that he was enjoying himself. “I won’t sing for you anymore.” He added. “Plus we have to play F twice at the end of the second cycle.”
“Ok, ‘teacher’.” Marinette teased. “Just play with me until I learn it.”
Felix sighed in mock displeasure.
“Fine.” He said. “But only if you take your words about my face back.” He demanded, but Marinette noticed a slight smirk in the corner of his lips, showing that Felix was playing a role to relax both of them, and perhaps even to give her a way for indirect apology.
“You know your face isn’t stupid.” Marinette sighed, taking the opportunity.
“Remember about it next time you stare at me.” Felix said, glancing briefly at her, but before Marinette could answer, he placed his palms on the piano again. “So what, are we playing or not?” He asked.
Marinette smiled at how fast and cunning Felix was playing with words, – today for the first time she was not annoyed by it, but almost liked it. Maybe because it kind of wasn’t directed against her, or because she could see his emotions behind it, even a certain playfulness, a kind of… flirting?
Marinette put her hands on the keys and they started playing at the same time without a command, as if some internal bell rang in their heads.
Now the melody came to her quite easily and Marinette didn’t even forget the change of chords at the end of the second round, coming to her senses in time and not slowing down the rhythm.
With four hands and with a change of ending, the music sounded so beautiful and professional that Marinette involuntarily exclaimed with delight.
“It’s easier than solving Lucky Charm!” Came out of her mouth.
Then her eyes widened and the girl slowly turned to Felix, who had also turned to her and was looking at her with round eyes in surprise.
As Marinette frantically contemplated how to fix her gaffe and convince him it was an expression or something, Felix’s eyes skimmed up and down her, then scanned her face once more.
“That makes sense.” He said. “I should’ve guessed it myself. Perhaps I’m getting old.” Then he turned back to the piano and continued as if nothing had happened. “Let’s try it again.”