Work Text:
Felix went out of the bathroom and froze: at his open window sat Ladybug – one leg dangling down – looking very sad.
She looked up at the sound of the bathroom door closing behind Felix and their eyes met.
For a while they just stared at each other without saying anything, then Ladybug finally lowered her eyes. “I couldn’t sleep.” She said with a sigh.
Felix took a few steps in her direction and stopped in the middle of the room, not sure what to say.
On the one hand, he could invite her to enter the room, like a polite host – or something like that. On the other hand, the time was towards midnight, – Felix himself was late tonight with preparation for bed and now he was dressed only in pajama pants, – and he definitely wasn’t used to meeting guests bare-chested.
Sure, ever since he moved to Paris and met her again, his relationship with Ladybug was… difficult to succumb to any definitions and standards. But even with the odd dynamic between them, was inviting a girl half-naked in his room at night too much even for them?
It all started when he convinced Adrien to move out from his father.
To be honest, Felix did it mostly to piss off Gabriel, but among Adrien’s university friends, – as it turned out later, – he gained a reputation as model’s savior. They began to send greetings to Felix and invite him to their gatherings through Adrien, and even forgave him for his last visit, when he forged a message from his cousin and made some of them get akumatized.
Of course, Felix didn’t agree to attend their meetings, but Adrien often came to him and talked a lot about how much time he now spends with his friends and all thanks to his cousin. Felix was getting rather tired of this and almost regretted his intervention in the model’s life, as the first weird event occurred.
Ladybug caught him on the way from his mother’s office, where Felix spent several hours a day delving into the affairs of the company’s Paris branch, and dragged him to a nearby rooftop. “I want to talk to you.” She said, putting him on his feet.
“You have rather wild ideas about how to make appointments with people to negotiate.” He replied coldly, adjusting his jacket.
The heroine was taken aback slightly, but quickly recovered and spoke again. “I don’t have time to make appointments with you and it won’t take long.” She said. “I don’t know what your plans are and why you chose to play the role of Adrien’s protector this time, but I want to warn you that whatever you do it for…”
“If you kidnapped me to threaten me,” Felix interrupted her, rolling his eyes. “You found the wrong person for this. Have a nice day.” With these words, he turned around and went to look for the fire escape without waiting for her answer.
Felix was about to descend the stairs back to the street when the heroine landed in front of him, blocking his path again. He stopped, ready to defend his freedom to go about his business with his fists, when instead of another aggressive tirade, the girl apologized.
“I shouldn’t have grabbed you in the middle of the street like that…” She said, lowering her gaze in embarrassment. “It’s just that I... didn’t know how to talk to you. I’m uhh… actually quite impressed with what you’ve done for Adrien, and I just wanted to make sure he didn’t fall from under the influence of one tyrant into the influence of another one.” She spoke quickly, without looking up at him.
Felix regarded her with interest.
Of course, Adrien was famous in Paris, but the fact that the heroine felt it necessary to take care of what influence he was under slightly surprised Felix. And how quickly she turned from a strict and formidable protector to a modest and worried, even embarrassed girl right before his eyes amused him.
Her behavior interested him enough to allow himself to waste a few minutes of his time.
“Are you hungry?” He asked.
“W-what?” The girl stammered, looking up at him in surprise.
“My cook should have prepared dinner by this time, and since my mother decided to stay in the office, I was left without company.” Felix spoke casually in a slightly bored tone, glancing at his watch as if inviting the heroine to dinner was a daily routine for him. “And you also interrupted my walk and delayed me, so it’s only fair if you take me home before my dinner is cold.” He declared. “You could also keep me company, of course. But that’s optional.”
Ladybug looked at him silently for a while, blinking in confusion, then nodded slowly.
That meeting became one of many.
Usually Ladybug appeared at his window on weekends – in the morning or afternoon, and they talked for a long time over tea or just sitting on the sofa. They discussed everything – from the strategy of combat and the specifics of certain Akumas, to the philosophical theories of the structure of the universe and the issue of freedom of choice.
Felix himself couldn’t formulate what prompted him to this communication.
She was, of course, a surprisingly good conversationalist. Perhaps because she mostly argued with him. But it wasn’t a denial for the sake of denial, but reasoned arguments and entire discussions.
Their communication could hardly be called friendship or defined by any other concept, but Felix began to find himself waiting for her appearance with impatience during the working week and, until she showed up, could be even slightly on edge.
Therefore, her appearance in the middle of the week, and late at night with that, – when Felix usually would’ve been already asleep if he hadn’t sat up with an interesting book and hadn’t gone to the shower so late, – slightly startled him.
“I know you’ll probably have to get up early tomorrow…” She began without looking up.
“Come in.” Felix spoke before the girl convinced herself that she shouldn’t have come.
Ladybug looked up in surprise. “Are you sure?” She asked uncertainly, and her gaze slid down his bare chest as if she had just noticed the way he was dressed.
Surely Felix could invite her in and go get dressed, but the blush on Ladybug’s cheeks at the sight of the exposed parts of his body, noticeable even in the weak light of his bedside lamp which now was the only light source in the room, – adorned her face too well for Felix to turn down the chance to see more of it.
“Of course.” He confirmed. “If nothing bothers you.”
Ladybug’s eyes widened slightly, as if she had been caught in the act, and she quickly looked up at his eyes.
“Nothing at all!” She stated with a stubborn expression, as if acknowledging her embarrassment meant losing some small war, and jumped into the room. Although her voice sounded a little higher than usual.
Felix was amused by her reaction, and wanted to test the limits of her resilience.
“If you say so.” He smirked and walked towards his bed.
“But if you’re already going to sleep, I better…” She began.
“I’m not.” Felix interrupted, depriving her of the opportunity to draw conclusions. “But at this time of day the bed is definitely more comfortable than the sofa.” He admitted, even though the purpose of his actions wasn’t to rest, but rather to embarrass her even more.
Felix sat on the edge of the bed by the bedhead and leaned his back against the soft headboard. The girl looked at him slightly confused, apparently not sure what to do.
“It’s not that I’m used to receiving guests in the bed, but it’s huge, and if you sit on the other side, we can talk, and still sit or even lie down – comfortably and at a reasonable distance.” He suggested.
Ladybug hesitated for a while longer, shifting her gaze to the sofa, which was obviously too far from the bed for a quiet conversation, to the chairs that were even further away, then sighed decisively and walked around the bed on the other side. She sat on the edge of the bed, mimicking Felix’s posture, except for her legs that were left on the floor.
“When I said comfortably, I meant it.” Felix said, – a challenging smirk playing on his face.
The girl opened her mouth, probably to object, then closed it and her face expressed stubbornness again.
She got up, threw back the blanket, straightened the pillows and again climbed onto the bed with her legs, comfortably settled down on the pillows and wrapped herself in a blanket. Then she slightly lifted her face in his direction and smugly grinned at Felix, who looked at her with his mouth open in surprise.
OK.
So, emmm… Tonight he sat up a little too long with a book and now the superheroine of Paris laid in his bed, wrapped in his blanket.
Naughty thoughts crawled into his head on their own and Felix decided that getting under the covers – so as not to show her the effect her actions had on him – would be a very good idea.
Felix lay on his side, pulling the blanket up to his waist, turning to face her and leaning his head on his hand. “So…” He began and cleared his throat at the sudden hoarseness in his voice. “Are you often unable to sleep?” He asked, rather to distract himself from the images still churning in his mind.
After all, he was 20, and the costume of the heroine described her figure quite... picturesquely.
“Only when the fight was especially dangerous and I know that I will have nightmares again.” She answered quietly, looking thoughtfully somewhere past him, probably plunging into her memories.
Felix frowned. “You never said you had nightmares.”
The girl gave him an expressive, almost skeptical look. “Ladybug is the protector of Paris, she should only show her strengths.” She spoke as if reading a slogan from a poster.
“I didn’t think it would apply to me.” Felix said, surprised to find the hurt in his own voice as well as a lump of resentment in his throat for which he probably had no right. Although sitting under the covers with her in the middle of the night and talking heart to heart, Felix seemed to have completely ceased to understand the nature of their relationship and who had the right to what.
But Ladybug didn’t seem at all confused, as if in her mind Felix actually had the right to feel offended. “I know.” She said and sighed. “I’m usually me when I’m with you. I guess that’s because I don’t have to lie to you.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when I’m with my friends as a civilian, I have to play the role of this person, you know – a simple girl with a simple life. And when I’m with Chat on patrol or with the rest of the team during the Akuma fight – I have to play this other role, a heroine who doesn’t have a fear and all that…” She leaned back against the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. “And with you, I... I don’t know. Just me. I don’t need to lie that I’m only what you see in front of you, – because it’s obvious that I have a life without a mask. And I don’t need to pretend that I’m not afraid of anything and I know exactly what to do – to inspire you to follow me into battle... I simply exist. I think. I breathe.”
She paused and thought for a while, then continued. “Actually, I’m surprisingly comfortable with you. You never ask dangerous questions, never try to figure out my identity. If you hadn’t tried to make a deal with Hawk Moth in front of me that one time, and I didn’t know that you could be dangerous, I could probably even trust you.”
“That’s…” Felix was staring at her, still digesting everything he had just heard. “A fair remark.”
In fact, in many ways, he agreed with what she said. Only in the opposite direction, – in relation to her.
With her, unexpectedly, Felix felt just himself. He didn’t feel like she needed him for his connections, or money, or anything material at all. He didn’t have to play any social roles in front of her. And now that Ladybug had said all this, Felix realized that it was with her, – talking for hours about everything and nothing, arguing and agreeing, – he felt himself like he had never felt anywhere else.
Felix shuddered at the sudden feeling of openness and directness that seemed to arise between them, as if they were, say, a couple in love, casually confessing to each other and only then realizing it, – even if his own confession sounded only in his head.
“Mmm…” Ladybug hummed and Felix found himself lost in his thoughts and almost forgot about her presence, despite the fact that she was right in front of him, – so comfortable her presence had become for him during the long hours spent alone together in unpretentious conversations.
Felix looked carefully at her pensive face with eyes fixed on the ceiling, which also seemed to be lost in deep thought. The muffled light of the bedside lamp, coming from behind his back and vaguely illuminating her silhouette, gave her a touch of mysterious charm, and for the ultimate romantic, which Felix was in secret from the world and often – even from himself, – this was a blow below the belt.
And, worst of all, – not in a sexual sense at all.
It seemed like he was beginning to lose in the game of “trouble the other” that he himself started, so Felix decided to regain his winning positions. Either he would embarrass her enough to make her run away and not disturb his mind, – or maybe even his heart, – with her presence tonight, or… Felix wasn’t ready to continue that line of reasoning…
He cleared his throat quietly again, and when she turned to him at the sound, he put a smirk on his face to hide how sincerely he was touched by the whole situation, and especially by her last monologue. “Do you mind talking in the dark? I must admit, my eyes are a little tired from reading and I would rather turn the light off.”
The first thing that flashed across her face was suspicion, then interest, – as if she was trying to figure out if he was serious or making another challenge to her, – then her lips tightened in a new fit of stubbornness – it seemed this girl wasn’t gonna give up even if there was at least one hint for the competition.
“I absolutely don’t mind.” The girl spoke expressively. “Actually, my eyes could use a little rest too.” She added slyly.
Then, as if to confirm her words, or to guarantee her victory in this unspoken game, Ladybug turned and crawled across the bed on all fours in his direction, reached for the lamp, hovering over him, and turned it off. Whereupon she burrowed under the covers in the middle of the bed – not far from him.
When she spoke again, although Felix’s eyes hadn’t yet had time to get used to the darkness and he couldn’t see it – he could’ve sworn there was a triumphant smirk on her face. “It’s much more comfortable to lie here than on the edge of the bed, don’t you mind?”
Felix carefully released the air he reflexively held as her flawless body, wrapped in the thin fabric of a stretchy suit, hung over him. This new blow was also below the belt – and now not so much in a romantic, but in a very insidiously-feminine, and exciting for his body sense.
It turns out Ladybug, who paraded around the rooftops of the city showing the residents the details of her figure, was quite aware of the effect it could have on them, and even decided to use it against him in their little challenge...
“In fact, I don’t.” Felix grinned in the darkness as he moved to the middle of the bed closer to her. After all, Felix Fathom couldn’t allow himself to be defeated in his own territory. “As long as you feel comfortable and nothing bothers you.” He added, now feeling her closeness with his whole body, since there was not a single fold of a huge blanket between them – only the fabric of her suit and his pajamas, and a very tiny space.
Ladybug froze for a moment, as if she hadn’t expected his counter move. Or perhaps she realized that in such closeness, especially in the dark, Felix could easily rip her miraculous off her if he wanted to.
But something told Felix that neither of them were now occupied with matters of magic jewels…
“Do you think there is something that would make you start trusting me?” Felix asked to distract her from what strained her next to him – for some reason, maintaining the ease of communication between them now seemed more important to him than winning in their game of counter provocations.
It was the first thing that came to his mind and Felix almost immediately regretted the question, – she might think that he wanted to ingratiate with her trust. But instead of the reaction he’d expected, Felix felt Ladybug finally relax and even exhale, as if she had been holding air all this time, not knowing how to proceed.
“I honestly don’t know.” She replied thoughtfully, as if she really was looking for an answer and didn’t suspect some trick behind his question, and this was a continuation of their usual long conversations, deepening into something philosophical and completely incomprehensible.
And Felix felt his own body relax too, as if nothing came more natural to him than lying under the covers in the middle of the night next to the Parisian superheroine in his bed and talking heart to heart.
And at that moment it felt like the answer to his question was no longer required.
*
Marinette woke up in Felix’s arms, maskless, – the first rays of dawn making their way through the gaps between the curtains.
She didn’t remember how she’d detransformed, or how she fell asleep, or when their bodies had gotten so close. And despite the fact that she probably didn’t sleep much, – considering their midnight conversation, – Marinette found herself feeling well rested.
She raised herself cautiously, looking around to find Tikki sleeping on the pillow next to her, and thought that she needed to quietly transform – before Felix could see her face. But it was more of a thought out of habit, – for some reason she didn’t feel any sense of danger or rush, and only continued to stare at his sleeping face, which seemed so relaxed and serene as she had never seen it before.
Marinette gently reached out to him and ran the back of her hand along the curve of his jaw.
The muscles in his face twitched and Felix stirred, – his hands sliding over the sheet where she had previously lain, as if searching for the warmth she had stolen from him. Then he winced slightly and opened his eyes.
Their gazes met.
Marinette was aware that she was sitting without a mask, and that he must have recognized her, because in one way or another they had already crossed paths several times since he moved to Paris, and she was sure that he knew her name from Adrien.
But for some reason, she wasn’t afraid.
Probably the reason was that the answer to Felix’s question yesterday about what would make her trust him was that she only needed to fall asleep in his arms, relaxing next to him in the dark, and wake up pressed tightly to his warm chest, with her miraculous that wasn’t stolen.
Perhaps this answered not only the question of her trust in him, but also the question of how she felt towards him, which Marinette asked herself repeatedly. Because, in addition to what she’d told Felix yesterday, she not only felt comfortable talking to him, but repeatedly caught herself in secret romantic fantasies about him.
About how their evening together could have continued, and end, – much like it ended yesterday. Fantasies about how his lips taste and how she could shut his mouth with a kiss when she ran out of arguments in one of their disputes – at the same time depriving him of victory in discussion and satisfying her curiosity about his taste…
Felix seemed to finally come to his senses and realized that this girl, whom he was now looking at, was the same superheroine who had fallen asleep in his bed yesterday. But she couldn’t find on his still sleepy face much interest in the revealed secret, or a sly expression indicating that her decision to trust him was hasty.
His face expressed… concern? Doubt? Uncertainty?
“You’re not here because I look just like him, are you?” Felix asked cautiously, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear an answer to his question.
Marinette didn’t even immediately understand who and what he was talking about, looking at him with a confused look. Then she realized that the first time Felix must have seen her was in that video, and… was he worried that she was coming to him all this time because he looked like Adrien?
Marinette could answer a lot of things: that the two men seemed completely different to her, and that she could already meet Adrien in her circle of friends, and that her crush was probably over even before she recorded that video, – and that it was just an attempt to put an end to that long story...
But she didn’t want to talk about it at all, so she just shook her head. “I’m here because of you. Just you.”
For some time Felix silently looked at her, as if studying her features or trying to discern danger hidden in her, – just as she was looking for danger for herself in his face before. Then he reached out for her and pulled her to his chest, laying Marinette back to where she had spent the whole night so comfortably – in his arms.
The girl eagerly leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his waist and Felix put his arm around her shoulders and took a deep breath. “You know I’m not letting you go, right?” He spoke softly, his voice still hoarse from sleep.
“I have classes at the university in a few hours.” Marinette retorted, though the tips of her lips lifted involuntarily into a smile. “And before that, I need to get home to change and…”
Felix squeezed her shoulder with his fingers gently. “That’s not what I’m talking about.” His voice sounded right over her head and, as if to prove his point, Felix buried his nose in her hair and inhaled.
And despite the fact that she was already lying in his bed in only pajamas and hugging his naked torso, this gesture seemed much more intimate, and a pleasant wave of trembling went down Marinette’s back, then continued its way through her body under the covers.
“I have dignity, you know.” Felix continued almost in a whisper, moving his lips in her hair and burning her scalp with his breath. “I don’t just let any random superheroines in my bed.” He spoke, causing her to chuckle nervously, – either because of how absurd his words sounded or as a defensive reaction to how utterly unequivocally her body became interested in his touch.
Marinette closed her eyes and turned her head slightly, forcing his lips to move to her temple and listening to his murmuring voice, – although the closeness of his lips suddenly felt much sharper, and her breath hitched, echoing the accelerated heartbeat, as her lips began to greedily draw in air, trying to put out the fire that flared up in her, – or only fanning it more.
“So now that you’ve spent the night with me,” Felix continued, leaning down and moving his lips across her cheek, dangerously close to hers – until his breath mixed with hers and the fire inside her flared up stronger, burning everything in its path. “As an honest woman, you simply have to marry me.”
Marinette no longer knew if he was joking or not. She only knew that his body twisted, causing her to slide onto the pillow, and now Felix was hovering over her – and his lips continued to breathe into hers, and her head was spinning as if she was drunk. And that she couldn’t wait any longer, couldn’t think or delay, because staying even a centimeter away from him she was already beginning to suffocate without his air.
Felix seemed to whisper something else to her, but the sound was crumpled by their meeting lips, in which their breath finally merged into one, – and Marinette found that the darkness in front of her closed eyes had never sparkled with so much light.