The Heart Will Return

Félix was apparently a very sensitive subject.

Adrien mentioned him only once during a nightly patrol, and the way he froze beneath his persona of Chat Noir and how he almost instantly changed the subject had Marinette worried. He'd never reacted that way to anything, so it left Marinette's head swimming the night it came up, and even a few nights after that.

When she asked Nino, he replied in a hushed tone, "I heard that Félix was Adrien's older brother."

Was. As in, he wasn't anymore. Something must have happened and Félix was no longer in the picture. Marinette knew better than to pry.

A few weeks later, Adrien had sent her a short text saying that he wasn't going to make it to patrol one night due to family matters.

The following day he was practically beaming. At first, the heroine thought that something good had happened with his father, but her realization came after school, when the Gorilla came to pick up her blond boyfriend and he almost sprinted down to the limo. Marinette remained stationary by the door, eyes locked with the tall, slim blond waiting for Adrien.

Up until that point she didn't know who he was by name.

But she recognized those icy green eyes like her life depended on it.

"Chat, do you mind if we change things up a little?" she asked that night, just as Chat Noir landed next to her.

"Sure, my lady. What do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking we split up the patrol. You take one half of Paris and I the other." She crossed her fingers. God she hoped this worked.

"That sounds like a great idea!" he grinned. "And it'll cut our time in half, giving me more time to show my utmost affection towards you."

Ladybug giggled. "I'll take the north and you the south?"

"Deal."

They split up, and instead of going about her patrol like she normally would, Ladybug detoured right to the Agreste mansion. Right to the window she was always used to seeing dark.

It was open and the light was shining through.

She let herself in, gently landing as the blond glanced over at her, his cold eyes ever the same. "Ladybug," he greeted.

"Félix," she growled. "Félix Agreste. Who would have thought that it was you all this time?"

"Mari—"

"It's not fair," she grumbled as her transformation dropped and Tikki gently nudged her cheek. "You knew who I was before you left, and yet I had to find out like this? By means of you getting your brother from school?"

"Marinette," he said carefully, his eyes never straying from hers. "I know that an apology is in order. But there aren't any words to express how sorry I am."

"Where were you?" Marinette asked. "All these years. Do you know how worried we were?"

"'We'?"

"Tikki and I. Plagg too, probably. I don't know if he's ever had a Chat Noir suddenly drop his ring and vanish. What if Papillon had gotten to it?"

Félix didn't respond.

"Answer me."

"I can't." He looked up at her. "I don't have any other excuse than wanting to keep Adrien safe."

Marinette rolled her eyes. If only Félix knew what his brother was doing right about now...he wouldn't really be happy about it. Marinette sighed. "Why'd you come back?"

"Because I heard from Nathalie that our father was getting more strict with Adrien," Félix replied. "That and he was finally allowed to public school. I thought maybe I could help him by being the brother he needs."

Marinette opened her mouth to say something more when Tikki buzzed by her ear. "Marinette, Chat's calling you."

She glanced at Félix, who nodded his head as she quickly transformed, holding the compact to her ear. "Chat? Just go home, okay?"

"What? But my lady—"

"Please." And she hung up, Tikki popping back out and landing on Marinette's upturned palm. With her free hand the superhero reached into her purse and pulled out a cookie. She looked back at Félix, noticing that his normally slicked back hair was coming free from its gelled restraint, a few strands popping out to hang over his forehead in rebellion. He'd grown a bit from the scrawny Chat Noir Marinette knew before Adrien. He was a fine young man now.

"You and the new Chat seem to be really close based on how worried he sounded on the call," he said, moving to sit on his bed while gesturing for Marinette to take a place as his desk chair.

"We are." She sat down. "Why?"

"I didn't think you'd try to grow attached to a filthy cat like you did with me," he said sadly, and Marinette inhaled sharply. Oh, she had to tread carefully if he didn't know Adrien was Chat Noir. She wasn't about to allow him to make fun of his own brother unknowingly.

"He doesn't seem like the type to run off when least expected," she replied. Leaning back in the chair, she supported Tikki as the kwami nibbled on the treat. "He told me on numerous occasions that he likes being Chat. And I trust him to not leave my side."

Just as the older blond was about the reply, the door flew open and an angered kwami almost fell to the ground, his green eyes staring bullets at his previous charge. "You," he all but growled, flying right up to Félix's face. "Where do you think you went?"

Félix blinked. "Hello, Plagg."

The black cat kwami let out a frustrated sound. "You're a jerk! You had me worried sick! I had no idea where you went. You're lucky it wasn't that hard to find a new Chat Noir."

"I'm so sorry," the blond whispered, lifting his arms to cradle the small spirit close. "It had to be done."

"No, it didn't! At least not in the way that it was done! You could've at least told me!"

"Félix?" a tentative voice asked, and all parties turned their heads to look at Adrien standing by the door, his green eyes wide. "Bah—Plagg! What are you doing?"

"Yelling at this idiot," Plagg responded. "This idiot that just left the ring on his nightstand one day and ran off to god knows where!"

"What ring?" Adrien asked, his green eyes drifting over to Marinette. "What are you doing here?"

"That ring, moron." Plagg said, turning around and pointing to the silver piece of jewelry sitting on Adrien's ring finger.

"…What?"

Félix looked at his younger brother, his green eyes coated in fear. "Before you, I was Chat Noir. I was Marinette's partner."

"He knew your identity?" Adrien turned to Marinette, who was refusing to look at either Agreste sibling. "He knew your identity before I did?"

Marinette bit her lip. She was suddenly all to afraid that this would change everything; that this would be the moment that Adrien would leave her for good, just as Félix had. "To be fair, he found out by accident. I thought he left because of that. I thought he believed that I wasn't cut out for Ladybug, even if he didn't know who I was."

"I never thought that, coccinelle. I never once doubted you, even when I was gone." Félix looked down at Plagg. "I just wanted to keep Adrien safe. And now I find out that you just went and chose him to be Chat Noir anyway."

"He had the best heart, mimi. I chose him because he was best fit, just as you were." Plagg flew up to place a small hand on Félix's face. "I was just so worried about you. I know I may not have acted like it, but I truly cared about you, mimi."

Félix smiled, lifting a hand to hug Plagg to his cheek. "I know, Plagg. I never thought otherwise. And Adrien." The younger sibling stood up straight, his green eyes glazed over. "I'm sorry for never telling you. It doesn't change that I love you."

Marinette smiled as Adrien practically barreled over to his brother, wrapping the taller blond in a bear hug and crying into his shoulder. Félix responded by letting Plagg go and coiling his arms around the sobbing teen, burying his face in the mess of blond hair. She stood, stretching her arms. "Well," she began, catching their attention. "It was nice to see the both of you reconcile like this. It's time for me to go—"

"Did you love him?" Adrien suddenly asked, causing Marinette to freeze in her tracks.

"What?"

"Did you love Félix when he was Chat?"

The dark-haired girl took in a deep breath. "I told you that I rejected your advances because I was in love with Adrien and not Chat Noir." She turned around, blue eyes meeting jade. "I never told you that I was scared of loving a Chat again."

"You're not leaving," Adrien forced out, slipping out of Félix's hold to grab Marinette's hand. "Not until we settle this."

"But I'm tired," the girl whined.

"Then we'll talk in the morning," Félix offered. "Tikki needs to rest anyway, so it's beneficial. Please, coccinelle."

Marinette looked from Adrien to Félix, recognizing the worry in both their eyes, before finally sighing. "Fine, chéri. But only because you're both using kitty eyes on me and you know that's my weakness."

The three of them laughed before Adrien commented that he and Marinette should return to his room. With Tikki and Plagg on her shoulders, she was ready to leave with her boyfriend when she heard a gentle, "Stay here."

Both superheroes turned around. Félix spread his arms out to gesture to his oversized bed. "There's plenty of room. And Adrien, before you refuse, mon petit, you slept next to me last night."

Adrien's face flushed as he looked away. Marinette giggled, pulling Adrien back to his brother and jumping on the bed, the kwamis flying over to wherever it was kwamis went when they wanted to give their charges space. The pair of younger teens crawled under the covers (suddenly Marinette was very thankful she chose to wear loose sweatpants instead of her normal capris) and Adrien's arms instinctively went around Marinette's waist, holding her close.

Félix leaned over and gently pressed his lips against Adrien's forehead, whispering, "I love you, mon ange."

"I love you, too, Félix."

The older blond slid in next to Marinette, and she felt the gentle press of his lips against the back of her head, followed by a soft tugging—he was removing her hair ties. "And you, coccinelle. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, chaton."

author's notes:
translations:
coccinelle-ladybug
mimi-pussycat
mon petit-my little one
mon ange-my angel
chaton-kitten

i really feel like félix would be the one to dote for adrien, especially after their mother leaves, and while a lot of people make him like the cold character, i wanted to give him a secret loving side to adrien and marinette because those two were the people closest to him
this was also really hard to write. i don't know, probably because i had two essays to write for school (one i still didn't do and won't do so i'm skipping class again tomorrow) and félix just eventually decided to stop talking to me. jerk. i made you so loved félix, how dare you