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Amelie was extremely pleased with the new addition to her team.
Marinette absolutely cut the mustard as a designer, and besides that she was a wonderful, interesting conversationalist, fit perfectly with Paris fashion nights, where Amelie originally found her, and promised to build an excellent career in the fashion world, which the older woman was going to contribute in every possible way by taking the young designer under her wing. And now she had to check only one last criterion to understand whether the girl meets ALL her expectations.
That is why she brought Marinette with her to London, initially for a month, but she did not give up hope that the girl would decide to stay. And she was about to introduce her to Felix, who remained in charge of the company during his mother’s departure.
They entered the room where Felix was waiting for the meeting and Amelie saw some emotion flash across Marinette’s face at the sight of him.
Maybe she had heard about him from Adrien or even encountered him one of those times when Felix was in Paris? Recently he went there at least once a month, saying that he was improving relations with his cousin. Though Marinette didn’t say anything about him, so it was unlikely that the two actually knew each other.
“What attracted you to our sad rainy city, Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Felix asked after Amelie introduced the two to each other. His voice was harsh and arrogant and he showed no intention of shaking the designer’s hand or even sounding friendly. Meet her son in all his defensive glory, ladies and gentlemen, Amelie thought, holding back a sigh.
She wanted to intervene, she didn’t want Felix to scare the girl away on the first day they met, but she suppressed the desire to step in. There was a reason she didn’t warn Marinette about her son’s character, and now she could see how long the designer would be able to hold out before Felix broke her calm. Amelie was sure that Felix wouldn’t act particularly harshly, seeing that his mother was the one to bring the girl to him, and besides, she would be able to reassure Marinette after checking how much the girl can handle on her own.
“Sometimes it’s nice to change the usual scenario outside the window.” The girl responded, not reacting at all to his provocative tone.
“Didn’t you have some urgent matters that kept you in Paris?” He dared her, or so it sounded. And Amelie shouldn’t have been surprised that Felix guessed that she had brought Marinette with her from Paris, even if she didn’t warn him about it, having just said that she would introduce him to a new designer. “Those important matters that didn’t let you go a single step out of town?”
Marinette looked straight into his face, without looking away or even blinking, and although Felix stood half-turned, pretending that the conversation didn’t particularly interest him, the tension between their gazes was palpable, and Amelie thought that perhaps something more was happening than just her son testing the new employee’s resistance. “There were,” the girl confirmed softly. “But all my most urgent matters were unexpectedly resolved a couple of weeks ago.”
Amelie watched her son sharply turn towards Marinette to fully face her, his eyes sparkling with something fierce, as if this dialogue of theirs about nothing was actually about something, and somehow had an urgent importance for him. The woman frowned, a rare occurrence, because usually Amelie easily read all the social implications and subtexts, but now she couldn’t catch anything substantial. She could only say that these two talked as if there was some meaning between them that was understandable only to them.
Maybe they really met before?
“So,” Felix said slowly, almost as if he was nervous to continue, his eyes fixed on the young woman in front of him. “This time you’re in London to stay?” He asked and took a step closer to her.
Amelie wanted to answer for Marinette that the designer had only arrived for a month, and that she hadn’t yet decided whether she would like to work with Amelie on a permanent basis or not, but the words got stuck in her throat when her gaze fell on the girl herself.
The designer who usually couldn’t be unsettled by anything seemed to almost tremble all over from tension while looking at Felix. And although Amelie had seen many times how her son brought people to various levels of emotional distress, now it seemed to her that it was about something completely different than pissing off a new acquaintance with his impudence.
Besides... ‘this time?’ Amelie didn’t know that Marinette had already visited London before.
“Nothing forces me back to Paris this time.” Marinette confirmed with a slightly trembling voice.
“So no more traveling there and back?” Felix insisted, moving closer. “No more visits for just a few minutes until your duties take you back at any moment?”
‘For just a few minutes?’ Who comes to another city only for a few minutes? Amelie thought in confusion as she watched the strange conversation between the two.
“None of those.” Marinette confirmed confidently, although her voice was still quiet, as if she had no strength left to speak.
“Was it who I suspected it was?” Her son asked and Amelie’s eyebrows flew up in surprise. The question sounded completely out of context and she doubted that her son wasn’t playing some sophisticated prank with her new designer, trying to confuse the girl, as if he was testing how far she would go by playing along with him in the absurd conversation.
“Yes, you were right,” Marinette answered with a sigh, and it didn’t look as if the conversation seemed absurd to her. Now these two were definitely having a dialogue that they both understood and which was meaningless only to an outside observer. “We should have listened to you right away, but, well...” She dropped her gaze to the floor. And although it didn’t look like defeat, Amelie wasn’t ready to even try to guess what it really was, feeling completely devoid of the context.
Felix took both designer’s hands in his and Amelie ceased to understand what was happening at all, because Marinette squeezed his hands in response, looking into the man’s face again, her face full of longing.
“Is he alright?” Felix asked, and for some reason Amelie had the feeling that he was asking about his cousin, maybe because he was the only person the two could both know? Well, Adrien and his father, perhaps, but she doubted that Felix would be interested in Gabriel’s condition too much.
While she was in Paris and working with Marinette, Gabriel Agreste had a nervous breakdown — at least that’s what the newspapers wrote, and on the phone Natalie refused to answer her questions when Amelie called. In any case, she managed to secure a meeting with her nephew, and although Adrien looked slightly depressed, he said that nothing had happened to his father that he wouldn’t deserve, and that he would probably come to his senses soon.
Adrien’s words should have sounded cruel to her ears, but the young man looked so tired and if the neglect from his father’s side that Amelie suspected really existed, she couldn’t judge her nephew for his attitude towards the man. So she supported him as best she could and invited him to come to her in London soon, and maybe even try himself in her company.
Surprisingly, Adrien agreed, smiling at her with a tired, mysterious smile, completely different from his usual expression. “I heard you’re taking Mari away, too,” he said, “It’s a very good decision, Aunt Amelie, she’s a wonderful designer and she needed to unwind a little a long time ago.” A mischievous sparkle appeared in his eyes that Amelie had not seen for many years. “Besides, I’m sure that she and Felix will find a common language.”
Amelie didn’t attach much importance to his words then, because knowing her son’s strict nature and Marinette’s stubbornness, the best she could hope for was that these two wouldn’t kill each other immediately after meeting. But now, watching their strange communication, she rethought her nephew’s words in a new way.
Did Adrien know something about these two? If so, then they probably met in Paris, maybe at his home? Although it didn’t explain how they understood each other in half-meanings, and... her son never held a girl’s hand with such tenderness before, at least in front of her...
“He will be,” Marinette’s answer brought Amelie back to the here and now.
“And you?” Felix asked, his voice soft and concerned like she had never heard him before.
“I am, now,” the girl responded, and Felix sucked in a deep breath.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked, peering into Marinette’s eyes, and Amelie no longer had any doubts that these two knew each other. The only incomprehensible thing was how they could learn to understand each other so well while living in different cities? Surely they couldn’t have only met once or twice before? Or maybe she didn’t take into account some important but elusive factor? Marinette couldn’t really spend hours on a train or plane to arrive in London for just a few minutes, as Felix had hinted at a little earlier, could she?
“About him or about me?” The designer’s trembling voice asked.
“Is there any difference?” The man clarified to his mother’s surprise, because she again ceased to understand whatever was going on. “One follows from the other, doesn’t it?”
“It really does,” Marinette agreed with a sigh. “Once the issue with him was resolved, there was no question whether I would move. You know there wasn’t.”
“But you didn’t warn me,” Felix chided, but the softness of his gaze showed that he wasn’t really angry with her.
“Would it really be easier for you to wait knowing the date?” Marinette asked barely audibly, tears trembling in her eyes.
Despite the warmth that was undeniable between the two, Amelie expected some kind of indignation on her son’s part. Felix liked to keep everything under his control, and no matter what happened between these two, Marinette clearly made some decisions that he didn’t completely agree with, or something like that. But to her surprise, the man only pulled her towards him and wrapped the young designer in his arms.
“I just missed you so much...” He whispered, burying his face in her hair.
“I know, love,” Marinette muttered against his chest, and Amelie began to take careful backward steps out of the room, to make sure she didn’t spook the couple, but also feeling that she didn’t need to be present for the more private part of this... reunion?
Well, these two will owe her a story later…
“But I had to close all… issues…” Marinette muttered as the older woman opened the door behind her back. “And I didn’t want to make you wait for a specific date that I wasn’t sure of.”
“Just promise me that you’ll never leave me again...” Felix whispered, Amelie barely heard his words, already going out into the corridor. Her son had never been so emotionally involved with someone before that he even forgot there was anyone else in the room. But she couldn’t say that she objected.
“I promise, Felix. I’m here, and I’m yours, for as long as you want me.” Was the last thing Amelie heard before silently closing the door behind her.
Well, that was a little unexpected, she had to admit. But while she walked along the corridor, immersed in thought, the smile didn’t leave her face. Something told her that her son would want to keep this girl for himself forever.
And now she could say with confidence that Marinette Dupain-Cheng not only met the required standards for her company as a designer, she greatly exceeded all her expectations as a person. And, apparently, not only hers.
A/N: Ok, If you’re not sure of the implications in the story, here are a few clarifications.
In this AU Felix comes to Paris and meets Marinette/Ladybug, quickly realizing that she is the same person. Attraction flares up between them and in a few weeks Felix comes again, and on this visit the two understand that they want to be together, but also that business keeps Felix in London and Shadow Moth keeps Marinette in Paris.
Ladybug begins to visit him with short but frequent visits to London using a Teleportation Miraculous and otherwise they maintain a long-distance relationship, until, while discussing one of the Akumas with her, Felix realizes Shadow Moth’s identity (by this time they already know that Adrien is Chat Noir).
He tells Marinette about his discovery, but she initially discounts him because she and Chat already suspected Gabriel and couldn’t confirm it. They fight a little, because felix insists he’s right, and Ladybug returns to Paris upset and doesn’t appear for several weeks (because Felix turned out to be right and she was preparing an attack on Shadow Moth and then dealing with the aftereffect—she and Adrien decided not to hand over his father to the authorities, but simply to take the Miraculous from him—then Marinette was occupied with fashion week, where she met Amelie, who immediately involved her in projects and almost didn’t leave her alone in recent weeks, persuading her to go to London with her — Felix doesn’t know about all of it cause none of the woman tell him).
Marinette didn’t say anything to Felix, believing that when they met again, she would be able to explain everything to him live and that their feelings would overcome the distance and time, until Amelie brings her to London and she meets him again.
I hope this makes sense - it was the backstory I sketched for this one-shot.