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It isn’t an easy thing to transform and slip away. Adrien has to jump through about fifteen hoops between finding a reason to leave Kagami and Marinette and escaping his father.
Adrien will have to come up with a better excuse for his father later. It doesn’t matter right now.
He’s on a time limit. Félix is hard enough to catch as it is but now that he has the Peacock Miraculous, his chances of finding him are even lower. Time is of the essence.
Truthfully, he wasn’t sure if he would actually be able to find him. He just knew that he had to try.
So it’s a surprise to both of them when Chat Noir finds him sobbing on a rooftop.
Chat Noir can’t actually remember the last time he saw Félix cry. Argos is quick to react, even if his movements are sloppier than usual. His hair is a mess, though it’s hard to tell how puffy his eyes are when his skin is— purple? Blue? Purplish-blue? Bluish-purple?
He was never great at details, or plans. That was always Félix.
“Chat Noir.” Félix— Argos?— spits out. He’s on his feet, fan already in his hand. His shuddering exhales fill the cool, night air between them. “I am not in the mood.”
Chat Noir had about a dozen questions he planned to ask if he actually caught up to Argos. The one he didn’t expect to ask is the one to slip out of his mouth, “Are you okay?”
Argos’ eyes narrow. His lack of a mask makes it marginally easier to read the confounded look in his eyes.
There’s a fissure that’s formed between them ever since the anniversary of his maman’s death. Maybe before then. Despite it however— despite the dark blue coat and vibrant eyes— there’s no mistaking it’s Félix under the transformation. His same mannerisms, his same expressions.
And Chat Noir hasn’t completely forgotten how to read his cousin, even if it has gotten harder.
“What a strange question to ask your enemy.” Argos replies at last.
“Are you?” Chat Noir raises an eyebrow. “My enemy?”
“I was under the impression that we were. I would imagine your impression of me has only worsened after tonight.” Argos studies him like he’s a particularly difficult cipher. That at the very least tells him that Argos won’t be leaving so soon— he never did like to leave something unsolved if he could help it. He used to spend hours working on puzzles before just because he needed to see it through to the end.
Argos would leave if he attacked, but Chat Noir has no plans to do that.
“We don’t have to be enemies.” Chat Noir offers. Argos’ face sours a little.
“Do you have any idea about the events that transpired here tonight?”
“A few, yeah. I missed it but I was told what happened. You snapped people away with the Red Moon, right? Something about crashing a dance and fighting Ladybug.” After a brief moment, he decides to add, “Your cousin is worried about you.”
There’s a brief look of open surprise on his face for a moment. Then it hardens. “What business do you have with my cousin?”
Argos just keeps surprising him. Was that a protective tone?
Chat Noir shrugs, nonchalant. “Civilians flag us down sometimes when they need help. Adrien told me everything and asked me to try and find you. He said you seemed upset.”
“My feelings are not your concern. You can tell Adrien I’m fine.”
“I don’t try to make a habit of lying to civilians, and you definitely were just crying not that long ago.”
Argos’ face twists into a scowl. “Leave it.”
“I’m just saying. As long as you’re in my city, anyone in danger of being Akumatized is my concern.”
“Then I’ll leave.”
“Was it the sentimonster?”
Chat Noir blurts it out quickly in an effort to stop him from leaving. He didn’t expect Argos to go as still as he does.
He didn’t expect to be right.
“What the hell do you want?” Argos takes a step forward, fan gripped tightly in his hand. “Are you tormenting me? Is that it? Some sort of— psychological warfare for fighting with your lady?” The last part is said mockingly, in an exaggerated impression of his own words.
There are cracks. Not just in the fissure that lays between them, but in Argos’ facade. Félix is usually so good at being careful— remaining impassive or calculating or perfectly polite— but something has broken through his usual masks. Something is making him shatter.
“What makes you think I’m tormenting you?” Chat Noir asks carefully. He wants to understand. He wishes he could be Adrien, he wishes he could make Félix realize that he’s not trying to hurt him in any way, but he’s never gotten anywhere as Adrien.
The closest Adrien ever got to getting answers out of Félix was tonight, and most of that Félix had said himself. Things like ‘Everything I did, I did for you’ had told him more than he previously knew, but not enough. Adrien never got better answers.
Félix was always careful. Somewhere along the line, Félix started to keep his feelings closer to the chest around Adrien. Stopped being vulnerable. Started only showing the parts he wanted Adrien to see.
But he had no reason to keep up an act around Chat Noir. There was a chance that he was better off keeping his mask on to get answers rather than taking it off.
Argos is glaring at him but is still searching for something, like he’s still trying to understand. That much they have in common.
“You want something out of me.” Argos says at last. “If it’s the Peacock Miraculous, you’ll have one hell of a fight on your hands.”
“Not that.” Chat Noir promises.
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
Argos makes a frustrated noise. “I’m not in the mood for this— whatever this is. What do you want, Chat Noir?”
“Honestly, I’d like to understand whatever this is.” He gestures to all of him. “You clearly got the Peacock from Monarch but— why? Why all this? Why the Red Moon thing?”
Argos says nothing. His eyebrows furrow.
“What?”
“You aren’t as angry as I expected you to be.” Argos says at last. “Ladybug was furious. How come you’re not?”
“Kinda unfair to ask a question without answering any.” Chat Noir points out, tail flicking. “Trade?”
Argos’ mouth presses into a thin line. “I wanted to stop Monarch from creating more sentibeings just to dispose of them once they’re no longer useful to him.” He answers at last.
“Why does that—”
“Ah-ah.” Argos stops him. “I answered a question— very generously, might I add— now you. Why aren’t you angry with me?”
“I am. That’s just not going to get me anywhere right now.” Chat Noir shrugs. “If I want answers from you, trying to force them out of you isn’t going to do anything. And clearly I’m right because this is the most information we’ve ever been able to get out of you.”
“Hm. Not so fur-brained after all, Chat Noir?”
“I have my moments.” The sounds of the city fills the silence between them. The night sky above them is back to being a rich, deep blue rather than red like earlier. “I meant what I said earlier. We don’t have to be enemies.”
Argos scans the horizon idly. “I doubt your lady would agree.”
“I bet she would change her mind if you told us who Monarch was.” Argos sets his jaw, looking away. “Why are you protecting him?”
“I’m not. He can rot in hell for all I care.”
“Then why—”
“Because Monarch has… Control. And I don’t trust him not to abuse it the second I try to make a move against him.” He huffs. “He’s going to be on high alert after tonight. My usual tricks won’t work, not to mention I don’t think Adrien is going to want to have anything to do with me after tonight.”
“Did he say that?”
“He didn’t have to.”
“Seems like you’re assuming.” Chat Noir shrugs. His chest aches but he doesn't let it show. “Maybe you should actually talk to your cousin. Especially about whatever’s going on.”
“I doubt it would be a good idea.”
“Oh?” He raises an eyebrow. “Why not?”
Argos just shakes his head. “I should get going. My mum will worry if I’m not out of Paris in the next hour. I’d rather not stick around and risk the wrath of Monarch.”
“Before you go,” he quickly steps forward, watching magenta eyes dart back to him, “Think about what I said. All of it. Adrien, Monarch, Ladybug and I— I mean it. Whatever it is, whatever’s going on with you, I might not understand it but I do try to be a hero. I’d like to help.”
Argos studies him carefully. “You’re… Very confusing, Chat Noir. I can’t make sense of your emotions.”
“You’re an enigma yourself.” He cracks a smile. “I’m not sure if you can or not but your fan can be used to call other Miraculous Holders. Give it a try if you ever change your mind.”
Argos nods slowly. When he does finally leave, Chat Noir wills himself to let him. It pains him to see him go, still left with so many questions unanswered, but he knows he can’t make him stay. Not now, anyways.
He should be heading home soon. Father won’t like it if he returns home late, even if he has the excuse of ending up with a dead phone in the middle of Paris and having no choice but to walk.
But the night is tranquil and the moon above him is silver and bright.
Chat Noir sits down and basks in its rays a little longer, left to hope that he said all the right things.