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It’s strange.
But Alya doesn’t consider herself to be all that judgy of a person, so she’s trying not to- you know, cast judgement. And it’s not really a judgment even, per say. More like…an observation.
It’s just that, Kagami is smiling.
(and not just a smile, a real, true smile, one that reaches all the way up to her eyes.) And it’s strange.
Alya decides that that is a little sad, when she thinks it. But it’s true. Because Kagami doesn’t (didn’t) smile. Sometimes she would turn her mouth upwards in something that was surely supposed to be a smile, but Alya never really got the impression that anything like that counted for much in the way of actual happiness.
She’s smiling now though, up at a boy that looks, for all intents and purposes, exactly like Adrien. Even though Alya knows all too well that he isn’t Adrien, that he isn’t even like Adrien.
Beside her, Nino nudges her shoulder and takes a sip from his cup all at the same time. “Look at them.” He says in a low voice, nodding over at the couple away from the group, standing just out of the glow of the fairy lights that rim the party. And Alya looks.
Looks at the pair, who seem as if they’ve forgotten that they’re at a party, that anybody else is at the party, that there’s anyone else in the whole universe other than each other. If she wasn’t so wary of Felix (and Kagami too, sadly) she’d say it was the most disgustingly sweet thing she’s seen in years.
And she lives in the city of love, where tourists propose on street corners every other hour.
But she’s aware of what Felix did, how much it hurt Marinette. So she reminds herself to keep her heart hardened.
Now Kagami is laughing, at something he (Felix) said.
“Wonder how that happened.” Nino muses at her shoulder. And Alya wonders.
All of this is just too much. Somehow, despite the strangeness of it all, Kagami dating, (in love with) Adrien’s kind of evil twin/cousin is the most normal thing that’s happened in the past month.
The month that Monarch was killed, defeated. The month that Adrien’s father died too. The month that Adrien became an orphan.
The month that the humming heat in the Paris air dissolved, leaving behind fresh air, allowing everyone to finally breathe. The month that her miraculous returned to its place around her neck, and Trix back in her pocket.
So it’s been busy, crazy, insane. And yet somehow, this thing in front of her still manages to catch her off guard.
Kagami is smiling now, probably at something he’s said, with his face that is all at once so Adrien and not Adrien's at all. Felix’s eyes are fixed on her, it’s like the party is nonexistent, like there’s no one there but them.
Felix’s eyes are fixed on her like she hung the stars, like she’s the centre of his universe. Nino laughs into his cup.
“They need to get a room.” he says cheerfully, less willing to hold grudges than she is. Alya sighs.
Adrien’s insisted that his cousin is “less bad” than he was before, and now he’s going to be living with him, Felix and his aunt, once the mansion is sold.
Alya gazes up at the fairy lights, twinkling above them. This is a celebration party, but it’s also kind of an ending. This will be the first and only party thrown in the garden of Adrien’s childhood home. Someone has bought the Agreste mansion, garden, marble staircase, and all.
The Fathoms or the graham de viliys, whatever they prefer at the moment, have bought a luxurious townhouse on the other side of Paris. Alya hears that they’re even richer than Gabriel was, that the Fathoms make the Agrestes look like paupers, if such a thing can even be imagined.
Things are changing. So she’ll accept this too. Even if it makes her suspicious.
Nino nudges her shoulder gently, silently urging her to let it go.
Kagami’s leaning against him, against Felix, (she can still remember the way he smirks, without caring, without compassion) (and it’s so completely removed from the way that he’s looking at Kagami right now) behind a muted veil of shadow.
Alya sighs and turns to talk to their friends, other people from their school and such. Twenty minutes later when they’ve finished their conversation with Juleka and Rose, Alya glances around the party, only to discover that both Felix and Kagami are nowhere to be found.
And though she has absolutely no proof, she’s absolutely positive that they left together and as Nino aptly put it, “got a room.”
Tom feels for the boy.
He’ll admit to being quite attached to Adrien at this point, even without Marinette’s obvious affection for the boy, he’d still find himself caring for the young man. He’s calm, polite, and kind.
It’s obvious to all that he loves his daughter, that he loves Marinette. And he’s never shown any sign of being what Tom has always secretly feared he would be, which is a privileged, entitled young thing, who doesn’t appreciate anything, money or Marinette.
Tom knows that’s not the case. Adrien has always shown himself to be willing to help out in any way that he can, whether it’s bringing Marinette’s homework to her when she’s sick or helping in the bakery some afternoons (even though he’s clueless about baking, Tom can’t help but be charmed by his efforts).
Adrien has always proven himself to be the exact opposite of everything Tom feared.
And so he’s caught completely off guard on the afternoon that he, Sabine and Marinette close the bakery early to help him finish moving his things from the Agreste mansion to his aunt’s home across town.
The mansion has been sold to some wealthy buyer and the money neatly deposited into Adrien’s account. Neatly seems to describe the way the Graham De Vileys do things, (they’re British after all).
The boy has become an orphan over the summer, and he’s only fifteen. He has a good heart and lord knows he’s had more than his fair share to deal with in his short life. Tom has already mentally adopted him into his family, it’s the only thing he can do that helps him get to sleep at night, when he’s just lying there, thinking of that poor boy, all alone now.
And he has his aunt too, Tom reminds himself, the British one who has just moved to Paris, who promises that Adrien won’t notice any change at all in his life.
Tom has heard that Adrien has a cousin too, a son of the aunt, one close to his age, so hopefully the boys can be friends and Adrien won’t find himself too lonely. Either way though, kind aunts aside, it’s all a huge change, and the Dupain-Changs (all three of them) have determined to help Adrien in any way they can.
So they’re here, they closed the bakery (despite Adrien’s protests) and have come over to help Adrien carry his many many boxes down to the moving van. Sabine is standing at the moving van, and helps put his stack of boxes into place.
“Should be getting close to all of it.” he tells his wife cheerfully.
Tom passes his daughter on the staircase (all imported marble he’s been told) and she smiles over her stack of boxes, narrowly avoiding stumbling on a skipped staircase step.
“Daddy, there’s only one super heavy box left in Adrien’s room, do you think you could get that one next?”
He smiles. “Sure thing.”
He’s a footstep from Adrien’s room when he hears voices floating from the cracked door of Gabriel’s abandoned upstairs office.
One of them is Adrien, though Tom would’ve sworn that he had run to the corner shop to get more packing tape. The other is a girl’s, low and soft, and Tom’s stomach clenches. He steps closer, careful not to make a sound.
“I’m so proud of you.” the girl says, and Tom recognizes the voice now. It’s that lilting voice of that rich Tsurugi girl, Kagami. The one who had stolen Adrien from Marinette before, though he thought they were friends now.
“You shouldn’t be.” Adrien’s voice, though it’s lower and harsher than Tom has ever heard it.
There’s a low laugh, then quiet. And Tom has had about enough of listening.
He stomps his way into the room, slamming the door open. And he feels vaguely nauseous at what he finds, which is Adrien, wrapped around a girl that is definitely not his daughter.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he bellows. The pair separate. There is complete rage on Adrien’s face which makes him look very unlike himself, Tom thinks. No matter though.
“Who the fuck are you!” Adrien yells right back, momentarily catching Tom off guard, because he’s never heard Adrien curse, not even once, not even when he stubs his toe or cuts his finger.
“You don’t have any right to be angry here. And don’t go pretending you don’t know who I am, young man. Lying to two girls, you little-”
“I don’t know who you are,” Adrien interrupts. “-and I don’t care if you bought this fucking house, it doesn’t give you the right to speak to me or my girlfriend that way. You will apologize.”
The girl watches the whole argument with wide eyes and a blank look that Tom remembers, and he wonders how much she knows, if she knew that Adrien was a cheater. Adrien snarls like he’s going to lunge at Tom and suddenly Tom realizes that he doesn’t know Adrien at all.
“How dare you talk to me that way! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!”
“Tom? What on earth is going on in here?” Sabine says, pushing her way into the room, followed by Marinette and Adrien.
Adrien. Wait.
Tom turns his head back and forth once, then twice. Sure enough there are now two Adriens standing in the room.
“Hey Mr. Dupain-Chang. I got the tape.” Adrien says cheerfully from the doorway.
The other Adrien glares at him hatefully from across the room, arm pressed in front of the girl he had been kissing. “Adrien.” The other Adrien says through clenched teeth, “Do you know this crazy man.”
Adrien shrugs a little helplessly at the other him. “Um, he’s my girlfriend’s dad.”
Tom swivels around, head still reeling. “Adrien, if you’re there. Who is he!” Gesturing at the copycat offender still scowling at him from across the room. Adrien laughs nervously.
“Mr. Dupain-Chang, this is my cousin Felix. Felix, this is Mr. Dupain-Chang.”
The boy, whose name is Felix apparently, scowls. “Of course the two of you are related.” he says, casting a disparaging look towards his daughter, who merely crosses her arms. Tom doesn’t even have a chance to be angry about that, there’s far more pressing issues at hand.
“And you both-look alike?” he says. Adrien shrugs again helplessly. “Um, our moms were twins?”
Felix rolls his eyes. Sabine sighs. “That doesn’t explain all this shouting.”
Tom sighs. “I’m sorry Adrien and whoever you are.” He nods at the Felix boy who’s glaring at him with death eyes. “I saw him with that other girl and immediately jumped to the worst.”
“My girlfriend, you mean.” The Felix boy says accusingly.
Tom sighs. “Yes. I must apologize for the mixup. I had no idea that you had…an identical- cousin.” he says awkwardly.
Adrien coughs into his hand.
Felix is still glaring at him when the girl perched behind him lets out a shaking little laugh into his shoulder. The boy’s eyes soften and gentle when he looks at her, Tom notes. He also realizes that in all his haste, he missed that the other boy, this Felix , is dressed in completely different clothes than Adrien. Oh well.
“It’s not funny.” the boy says to her with an eye roll, but it’s clear that he’s no longer quite as angry. The girl (Kagami) merely continues to laugh.
She takes his hand and pulls him from the room, him following her without objection. Tom watches them go.
He turns to Adrien. “I thought you had dated Kagami.” he says to the blonde-haired boy. Adrien shrugs cheerfully.
“Yeah, I did. Felix would kill me if I went near her now though.” he says brightly and follows his cousin out of the room. Tom shakes his head to himself as Sabine pats his arm.
There’s two of them. He makes a note to himself.
“I want to buy a dinosaur.”
Felix announces, completely straight-faced, to the group in the living room consisting of herself, Adrien, Felix, and Kagami.
That’s the group they fall into nowadays, mostly because Adrien lives with Felix now, so he’s always there, and all the rest of their school friends make him uncomfortable, or so Adrien says.
She thinks Felix doesn’t want them in his house solely out of a sheer desire to be disagreeable. And Kagami’s there because well. Obvious reasons, and also she’s the only counter to Felix’s moody grumpiness.
She cheers him up so immensely and so obviously, so much so that anybody would notice it, and it’s so- well, sweet isn’t the word, is it? Neither Felix nor Kagami are sweet people.
They’re confident, harsh, determined. They’re both still that way.
But there’s an undercurrent now, a heart beating a mile a minute, a blush burning its way across cheeks.
Kagami is gentler. Felix is kinder. By degrees.
Marinette is thrilled for Kagami, as much as she wishes it wasn’t Felix. But he’s been there for Adrien, and he had motives, she knows that now.
She still hates him a little bit for tricking her. But she’s forgiven him. So it’s a start.
He sits down on the other side of Kagami on the sofa the three of them are now sitting on. Kagami puts one person between him and her. Marinette takes a breath.
She watches as Kagami’s mouth lilts into that little smile that is so completely natural it hurts.
“I hate to tell you Fe, but you’re about 65 million years too late.”
His hand pauses over his tablet screen as he glances over at her, greyish green eyes noting the mirth in his girlfriend’s eyes. His eyes crinkle in the corners as he smiles in that tilting way that is a mirror of Adrien’s.
He lets out a light laugh, eyes fixed on Kagami’s, and Marinette knows that it’s only her presence that’s holding him back from kissing her, then and there. Sometimes even her presence isn’t enough to stop him.
“I’m aware.” he says, voice dropping with that lilting, slightly british, clip. “I’m talking about the bones.” he says, tapping the screen. Sure enough, a picture on what looks like an auction site pops open on the tablet screen.
He tilts it, obviously only for Kagami’s benefit, but it allows Marinette to see it better too.
“You want to buy a dinosaur fossil?” she says before thinking better of it.
Felix’s eyes dart up to her face, but instead of anger there’s only a thin layer of amusement there. “All the billionaires are buying them.” Is all he says.
“Where in the world are you gonna put a whole dinosaur skeleton?” Adrien says, returning from the kitchen with a carefully balanced tea tray in his hands. He sets it down and sits on the other side of Marinette, brushing her arm with warm fingers and a faint grin on his face.
The other half of Felix’s forgiveness.
Because Adrien is happy now, because they have each other. She smiles softly at him, before turning back to Felix.
“The British Museum.” Felix replies. Kagami tucks her arm into the corner of his.
“Oh?” she says.
He looks at her, rather avoiding all their gazes, Marinette thinks. “It’s up for auction. They’re getting outbid, only for some tacky, tasteless hick to put it in their dining room or whatever.”
It takes a minute for Marinette’s head to catch up to his words. “You’re going to donate it?”
Felix pauses then shrugs. A small smile is on Kagami’s face. She isn’t the only one. Felix pauses, then scowls at the whole lot of them. “It’s purely out of spite. I’m only doing it so someone else can’t have it.”
Adrien laughs. “Also science.” he offers his cousin, who eyes him warily, before seemingly deciding to take it.
“Fine. Spite, and science.”
Adrien grins. “What more of a reason could anybody need?”
Felix rolls his eyes, but Marinette doesn’t miss the way he leans over towards Kagami, his arm pressed against hers, as they talk together, voices blending into a quiet murmur. And something in her chest softens, ever so slightly.
And just like that, four becomes six.
Well, some of the time, at least.
“I don’t need to hang out with your friends like some kind of pathetic loser Adrien.” Felix insists usually.
“We all just want you to feel included, Felix!” Adrien replies normally.
“I don’t want to be included.” Felix retorts testily, grumpy as always.
Then the girls chime in, and Kagami either announces that she wants to go or she doesn’t, and Felix pretty much always immediately capitulates to her wishes. Nino gets it, he really does.
He likes his girl a lot too. She’s one of his favorite people, if not his favorite person, and he likes making her happy. Felix and Kagami though, they’re… next level intense.
He knew that from when she was hanging around with Adrien a while back. Kagami takes everything seriously, from ice skating to fencing to dating.
And Felix.
Nino’s not sure what he thinks about him. The girls (beside Kagami, duh ) don’t trust him.
And so maybe he’s a little shifty, but honestly? Adrien kind of is too. Always making weird excuses to leave or run off. So maybe being kind of a freak just runs in their family.
And Nino gets it, some stuff you don’t share, not even with your best friends. So it’s all cool.
And now that Adrien has gone to live with his cousin things are way better. They have sleepovers now, and Adrien can go out whenever he wants. And he’s happier too. And he really likes Felix.
Everybody begrudgingly acknowledges the fact that Adrien can’t contain his grin when Felix is around. So Felix is included.
And Felix- well he adores his girlfriend, the ice princess herself, so she’s there too.
The six of them have fun. They go skating, swimming. Tonight they’re going to the movies. Felix is his normal grumpy, irritable self but it never seems to faze Kagami.
Secretly Felix is kinda growing on him too. He’s similar to Adrien in the ways that he’s both annoyingly perfect and kind of a total weirdo.
He has this dark sense of humor that comes out at strange times and gets him odd looks. He’s actually pretty funny though. He’s harsh, with odd morals where you wouldn’t expect them to be.
Some of them kind of make sense though, Nino thinks.
He and Adrien just sorta- bounce off each other. Nino secretly wonders if there wasn’t some super secret, mega scandalous affair between their weird hodge-podge of parents, (rich people do that kinda stuff all the time, right?) and the two of them aren’t really just twins. (He doesn’t mention it to Alya.)
(She’d never leave them alone if she suspected that something was really up.)
(Nino thinks that after everything they’ve been through, Adrien and Felix deserve their secrets.)
They get to the movie theater, buy tickets.
“I can’t wait to see this movie.” Alya says, mostly to Marinette. Marinette nods enthusiastically. “I know! The trailer looked so good and my favorite actress of all time is in it and-”
Nino glances behind him at the other couple sitting a row behind them.
It’s him, Alya, Marinette and Adrien in one row, Felix and Kagami in the row behind them. They’re talking softly to each other. Felix is saying something to Kagami, into her ear. She smiles, cheeks darkening.
Nino wonders what he said. Something great, to make her melt like that.
And Nino reminds himself not to underestimate this guy.
He turns back around quickly when Felix’s eyes glance up at him. The trailers start playing.
About halfway through the movie, when Alya’s head is pressed against his shoulder and he’s just starting to get sleepy, he glances over at his friends.
Adrien and Marinette had been doing this weird hand holding fumble for the first twenty minutes of the movie; it had consisted mostly of both of them awkwardly unsure of what to do, whether Adrien should reach over and take her hand, or Marinette take his. Nino had sighed, the sight a familiar one.
That was them. Now they had seemingly figured it out, their fingers laced softly together. Nino smiled at the sight.
Out of idle curiosity he turned in his seat to look around at the other couple behind them. Barely silhouetted in the glow of the movie screen, Felix is well bent over Kagami’s seat. Apparently the movie wasn’t all that interesting to either one of them, since they’re now full on making out.
Her head is pressed against the velvet seat, fingers clenched into his arm.
They seem happy.
Something about the whole thing is vaguely funny to Nino, though he’s not sure why. He gives the couple behind him some privacy and turns back around to watch the rest of the movie.
Summer’s fading quickly, and the next school semester is just around the corner.
Paris is humming with a soft golden note, of soft summer days, and a quiet peaceful harmony, after the past couple of years of dissonance. It’s a tune that Luka can appreciate.
Marinette and Adrien are together at last, and they’re all the more happy for it. Their cheerful, sunny natures light each other up, and that same light reflects onto everyone around them.
Luka’s chest aches to look at them, and it’s more from happiness than sadness, he thinks. There’s only a tiny bit of sadness, but then, sadness is the twin of love, they go together, hand in hand. And he loves them both so so dearly.
So it’s mostly happiness.
Luka watches, and things fade back, and he thinks that maybe things are healing.
Both his heart, and the hearts of two others.
There’s another melody floating through the air that summer, and it’s a surprise, he thinks, to everyone, but perhaps most of all, to the two of those that it concerns.
He sits on the boat that sunny morning in late July, idly fiddling with his guitar, watching Adrien introduce his pale, frowny faced cousin to all of his friends.
Luka notes the tight shoulders and the clenched fingers and thinks to himself that things are not just better for him, but for others as well. There is an air of loneliness and faint despair that clings to Adrien’s British cousin, and Luka can’t help the feeling that his life has been quite unfairly overwhelmed by tragedy.
No one has told him anything, so it’s only just a suspicion, and one that he’s going to keep to himself.
“And Luka! This is my cousin Felix.” Adrien says, finally arriving at him.
Felix blinks, and Luka realizes that this is all terribly draining for him, and that he must be quite a bit more introverted than his cousin, so he only says, “Nice to meet you.” and stays seated.
Felix nods once, looking greatly relieved not to be hugged, and Luka smiles to himself.
The pair drift away, talking about other things. It is moreso Adrien doing the talking and Felix doing the listening. For some reason it makes him happy to see them standing there together.
They pair well together, despite their differences. Felix is hard to hear, he has tamped down his voice, concealed his true intentions for so long, Luka can barely make it out. Adrien isn’t hard to read though, his happiness is bright like the sun.
There are still clouds, but there always will be, and Adrien is a strong, brave individual who will be able to weather the storms in his life.
Felix beside him is a hum, a dull murmur, that Luka can't quite make out. He does love Adrien though, that much is clear from the expression on his face as he listens silently to Adrien prattle on and on about something or another.
They’re standing together on the other side of the boat and Luka can’t make out what they’re saying, only their facial expressions. He thrums his guitar absently.
“Adrien!” A voice cries out and Adrien’s face breaks into a wider smile.
“Marinette!” he says, and goes over to his girlfriend. They hug, she kisses his cheek, the sun shines a little bit brighter. Felix watches them like he does, face mild, hands folded behind his back.
Luka sees his fingers fold into the palms of his hands, digging in, and wonders.
There’s a hint of dissonance in the air, from him, from Felix, and Luka wonders if, maybe, he knows. His face is blank, but Luka can guess that he doesn’t like Marinette very much.
Maybe it’s that, or maybe the emotion is more complex than that.
Luka plays a minor chord, mirroring the air as best he can. The sun goes behind a cloud. Luka hums to himself.
Felix is a very quiet person. He eats very little at lunch. There’s half a sandwich left on his plate.
About one o clock Kagami arrives, stepping onto the boat by herself, followed by her own quiet, steady song. She is solemn, sure.
And Felix looks up, and she comes over, and sits beside him.
And Luka wonders why, he never thought of it, never noticed it. Her fingers brush his hand, leaning in. And he smiles, and he looks so much more like Adrien.
They talk in low voices, too low for anyone else but themselves to hear. And a song, the duet, uncoils itself, and Luka shuts his eyes, listening.
She is steady and firm, the beat, and his is the melody, pounding, determined, fiercely passionate. Swelling and chaotic at times, perhaps more than he can control, driven into a storm by rage.
Hers is too steady alone, its monotony is, in itself, caging in its sameness.
But together? It’s a perfect harmony.
Their heads bow together, tucked in the corner. Marinette and Adrien laugh with all of their friends, and he sees that it’s not like that for them. But it’s still equally precious. The song finds its way to his fingers, twisting onto the strings, finding its way out.
Something inside his chest lifts.
Later he sees him kiss her when he thinks no one is looking, and Luka thinks that that is healing, that maybe anything, anyone can heal. That maybe any heart can heal itself.
And the thought stays in his mind for a very long time.
It’s a rainy Friday evening in Paris a couple weeks into the school year.
Autumn is only a breath away, and there’s a vague sense of excitement and cosiness in the air. Marienette has invited them all over for a sleepover, and Alya can feel a general cheeriness in the mood.
All the girls in their class are there, Rose and Juleka and Mylene and Zoe and Alix, and Kagami is there too. She’s a little quiet amidst the group but she doesn’t seem to be unhappy, and Alya thinks that it’s nice, actually, that she’s there with them, that she’s (so recently) joined their group.
They’re all up in Marinette’s bedroom, chatting, the rain drumming gently against the roof, and Alya’s started up a conversation with Kagami about upper level classes. She discovers that Kagami’s interested in chemistry, of all things.
“Yeah, I’m still kinda struggling with the upper level stuff.” Alya confesses to the other girl, who remains expressionless, sat perched upon Marinette’s chest of sewing supplies. As always her posture is perfectly straight and her legs are neatly crossed. The same old Kagami.
But still though, Alya thinks her eyes are a little softer, there’s just a small bit less of that pressing drive, that thing that is just so close to desperation.
Instead of her school uniform she has on a long sleeve red and black striped dress, and truthfully looks both pretty, and more delicate, and much less…severe.
The stiff sort of harshness that used to hold her up is gone, or at least greatly diminished. In its place there’s a more mellow kind of calmness. Or maybe it’s happiness.
Whatever it is, Alya’s glad for her, and she’s glad that she’s here.
Kagami’s actually pretty fun to talk to, once you got used to the lack of facial expressions on her end.
Marinette’s been rummaging around the room for the past twenty minutes, apparently looking for something or another. She stands up from her dresser, close to tears. “They’re not anywhere!!” she cries.
Alya and Kagami both turn towards their tearful friend. “What’s not anywhere?” Alya asks.
Marienette pulls her head from her hands. “My good sewing scissors. The vintage ones that I got at that flea market. They’re gone and I’ve looked absolutely everywhere.” she says, looking to be on the verge of tears. Alya goes over to pat her friend on the shoulder.
“Girl, don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll turn up somewhere.”
Kagami tilts her head to one side. “Didn’t you leave them at Adrien’s when you were working on that jacket last week?”
Marinette’s head shoots up from Alya’s shoulder comically fast. Her eyes glue onto Kagami as she thinks. Alya can almost hear the gears turning inside her friend’s brain.
“Yeah, I think you’re right!” she says after a minute, but then her shoulders slouch.
“But that still means I can’t finish this project tonight. I need my scissors and Adrien’s at that Gabriel charity thing with his aunt.”
As the new head of the Gabriel brand Adrien had become heavily invested in charitable events and causes, to the surprise of no one.
Kagami shrugs once. “I’ll just have Felix get them.” she says as if it’s the simplest thing, and not as if he’ll demand someone’s first born child in return for the favor.
Maybe Felix wouldn’t. Maybe Alya’s underestimated his ruthlessness, his stinginess. Maybe.
Alya thinks it’s a coin toss, that he won’t demand something terrible in return for a tiny favor.
Marienette frowns, but Kagami’s already picked up her phone.
“I don’t know Kagami, I don’t really need him to-” Marinette begins hesitantly, but she’s already way too late. Kagami’s phone vibrates, less than three seconds later.
“He says he’ll get them and bring them on his way home.”
Alya nods quickly to cover up her friend’s vaguely horrified expression. “Sounds good.” Kagami nods once, crisp as always, and slips her phone back into her dress pocket.
Tom eyes the sky outside the bakery.
“It’s gonna start raining again any minute.” He tells his wife.
This Friday afternoon has been slower than normal, likely due to the off and on storms, and right now the bakery is empty except for him and his wife. It’s nice, having a slow moment every so often, and right now Tom feels quite grateful for the warm glow of his home, Sabine, the warmth of his family.
His daughter is having friends spend the night and every so often he can hear voices and laughter floating downstairs from the apartment above. Truly he is very blessed. As if reading his mind, Sabine pats his arm, and he smiles at her.
The bell jingles, and a familiar boy walks in. For just a second Tom feels his face widen before catching himself: it isn’t Adrien. The boy looks at him with a blank expression and gray eyes.
“Hello sir.” he says in a voice that sounds just like Adrien’s, except with a faint British clip to it. Tom nods.
“I’m not Adrien.” he tells Tom flatly.
Tom smiles gently. Beside him, Sabine is watching the other boy too. This boy has said that to him every single time he’s seen Tom, which has been upwards of ten to fifteen times now, considering that it’s rare for Adrien to come over without him.
For all intents and purposes, they seem to be inseparable.
It’s not sarcastic though, Tom thinks, he (Felix) seems to be totally serious when he tells Tom this, each and every time they encounter each other. Tom wonders how long he’ll believe that he can’t tell them apart.
Because truthfully the two of them ( Adrien and Felix, Felix and Adrien ) are genuinely quite different.
They wear different clothes, talk in different ways, hold themselves in different manners, tell different jokes. Date different girls.
Tom still thinks that they have to be twins somehow. His personal, secret theory, currently, is that Adrien is perhaps the son of Felix’s father, the billionaire uncle, and either the aunt or his own mother. The more time passes, the more he doesn’t believe that Gabriel was Adrien’s father.
No father could care so little for his child’s feelings, could be so genuinely cold and heartless, to his own child. But it’s no matter, because either way, it’s all over now.
Felix stands still in front of the counter, and takes out his phone, quickly texting someone with one hand, and then slips his phone back into his pocket. There’s footsteps down the stairs, and a trio of Marinette, Kagami, and Alya come out from the stairwell.
Felix’s eyes lock onto Kagami and the barest hint of emotion flickers over his face. She comes over to him immediately. Both of them seem to prefer the shortest route. There’s no hello, no greeting at all.
Felix only pulls out a pair of scissors from his book bag and deposits them into Kagami’s hands. Tom notices that he’s careful to turn the sharp edge against his own palm, and the handled side into hers.
“Thank you.” she says, and he nods.
“What are you going to do?” she says completely randomly, as if they’re in the middle of a conversation and not the beginning. He shrugs. “I’ll see if my grandad has it. If not then I’ll have to look in America.” he says and makes a face.
Tom glances at the girls waiting in the doorway to see if they have any more of a clue of what this conversation is about, but Alya and Marinette seem to be just as clueless as he is.
They talk in hushed tones for another minute, but Tom isn’t able to hear what they’re saying. Felix’s hand curls around Kagami’s, almost absently, like he’s not even thinking about what he’s doing.
“What’re you doing?” he says briskly. Kagami nods over at Marinette and Alya. “Marinette is having a party with some girls tonight.”
Felix nods, expression serious. He doesn’t smile much, Tom notes. Not like Adrien.
“And they invited you?” he says, and there’s a hidden layer there, Tom realizes, more that isn’t being said. Kagami nods once.
Felix’s eyes search over her face, looking for something. After a moment he seemingly finds it, and smiles, a tiny serious, but surprisingly tender, smile.
“How dreadful.” he says dryly, and Kagami laughs, shoving him lightly on the arm.
It’s a break in their previous seriousness, and Tom is struck by just how- similar they both are, in the way that they think and talk and act.
“I’ll text you tomorrow.” Kagami says. Felix smirks. “All right.”
He gives her hand an almost imperceptible squeeze, (again, so strangely, so oddly , tender) And then Kagami steps back, turning and going back upstairs, done. Felix steps back as well, as if noticing for the first time, the other people standing there, staring at the whole exchange.
He gives them a rather sour look. “What.”
Marinette shakes her head. “Uh. Thanks. Felix.” she says, politely, and he nods once, his mouth a straight narrow line.
The two girls turn around and head back up the stairs, the door falling shut behind them. Felix glances out the window, hands folded behind his back. Outside it’s begun raining so hard that the outside world is nothing but a blurry wet haze.
Felix sighs out through his nose.
Tom coughs. Sabine nudges his arm.
“Ah, son, we’d prefer you’d wait out the storm here. At least until it slows down a bit.”
Something indecipherable passes over Felix’s face. He nods once, and turns back around to the window.
“Adrien’s told us that you’ve started attending classes at the university.” Sabine says, breaking the silence. Felix turns around, his face blank.
“Did he.” he says, as if he’s unsurprised by anything Adrien’s done. Sabine nods once, forcing a cheerful smile. Felix nods, hands still fixed behind his back, posture perfect.
Tom can hear the wall clock ticking, somehow, over the roar of the rain. Adrien isn’t like this. Adrien is easy to talk to, pleasant.
Felix is hard.
All the effort is on the other person, he offers up nothing in return.
Felix bites on his lip slightly. And then Tom feels a little bit bad for him.
“Would you like something to eat?” he asks, and another bemused expression passes over the boy’s face. “No thank you.” he says, a little more mildly. Something seems to occur to him.
“Sorry.” he says. Tom lets out a half chuckle. “Not a sweets person?”
Felix shrugs. “Adrien is.” he says by way of answer.
“What about your mum?” Sabine asks him. Felix shrugs again. “She likes chocolate.” he says vaguely.
Sabine smiles. “Would you like something for her then?”
Felix pauses, considering. “She says it’s only for holidays and birthdays.” he decides after a pause.
Tom nods. Vaguely Tom has formed the opinion that Felix’s parents somehow took it upon themselves to be even stricter than Adrien’s parents. Adrien’s parents weren’t even strict, more like, negligent, or something of the sort.
“Are you enjoying your classes?” Sabine asks kindly. Something brightens on his face.
“Yes. I’m taking mathematics, a french literature class, a classical history class, and a scientific writing course. There’s a book that I need for a paper in my french literature class, but the book was checked out from the college library and wasn’t returned, for whatever reason. Kagami thought that her mother might’ve had it, but we checked and she did not.” He pauses, brow furrowing.
“My granddad might have it, but if not then I’ll have to see if there’s a copy somewhere in America.”
All of a sudden he’s talking. Tom supposes that it just has to be the right thing.
He glances out the bakery window. “Oh.” The rain has slowed to a slow drizzle. “I will be going now.” he says briskly.
“Would you like to borrow an umbrella?” Sabine offers. Felix shakes his head. “No thank you. I have one.” he says, pulling an umbrella from his book bag.
With one more polite crisp nod he steps out onto the drizzling Paris streets, the little bell jingling behind him, and then the serious prim, blonde-haired young man is gone.
Tom shakes his head, mostly to himself, baffled at the whole exchange. Sabine sighs, a small smile on her face.
“They’re two little peas in a pod.” Tom says softly to his wife.
She smiles gently at him, before they get back to working on the enormous order of cupcakes they have to get finished by the next day.