"Mind if I take a shower?" Felix asked, walking towards the bathroom.
"No, go ahead! Make yourself at home." Adrien's voice rang from upstairs. Felix closed the bath's door behind him and found himself alone at his cousins luxurious bathroom. A grin curled up his lips as he turned on the the shower and stood on the other side of the room.
He grabbed Adrien's phone from his pocket and turned it on. Stealing the device was easier than he expected. But, what could he say? Empathy was the best technique to lower someone's guard.
Unblocking the cellphone was easy as well. Adrien hasn't even thought about a though password. The first thing he saw where pictures of friends. A freak-looking dark-skin kid with headphones was in most of them, then there was this brown-reddish haired girl with glasses that seamed to be nearby in many of them as well, but Felix's attention got caught in a raved haired girl with blue eyes. She seemed cute, and that annoyed him.
He pushed the thought down. There where other things to think about.
He found an interesting picture folder and opened it. Pictures of Ladybug appeared in the screen, making him click his tongue, dismissively. "Of course that idiot has a crush on a superhero!" The boy couldn't help but retain a laugh that threatened to burst out. And then the laugh faded.
Felix's brows furrowed.
His mind returned a few moments in time.
"I am really sorry I didn't come to your dad's funeral." Adrien had said. "My father thought it would be too hard in me, considering-" he lowered his head "everything that's happened this year. You have every right to be mad at me."
Naïve, he had thought to himself. It was pathetic how much Adrien ignored about the situation. How much he didn't know about his uncle's death, and even his very mother's passing. And worse. It was so lame that Adrien had thought Felix cared for him in any way. After he became-
Felix shook his head when a voice got him out of his trance.
"Felix!" His annoying cousin. "You ok?"
"Yes, I'm fine." He replied. "Give me a few more minutes, please, and I'll show you a new magic trick once I'm done."
"As much time as you need!" Adrien stated cordially, and after a few moments Felix was sure he was away from the bathroom door.
He continued his train of thought. His eyes darted back to the phone on his hand. He searched something on the internet this time.
'Chat Noir'
Because those superhero suits and masks where meant to disorient the common people. And he was not a member of those.
The only reason he had actually showed up for this, was because he was not fooled by the hero's mask enough not to see his cousin right behind it. Felix had also spotted the actual ring in Adrien's hand. He was sure it was the miraculous. He knew it too well, but, just in case…
When he finished typing he pressed to search. With that, a couple of pictures and videos showed up. He clicked one image that showed him waving.
"Show off." He scoffed with an eye roll. He zoomed in the ring. Yep. Adrien's ring.
The cellphone beeped, announcing an email had arrived. Felix clicked the notification and a video started playing.
The guy with cap and headphones —which Felix started to believe was Adrien's best friend— showed first. "Hey, ma' dude. I am not quite sure what to tell you-" he started "except that bros are always there for their guys!"
Felix's face turn tu disgust. "'Bros are always there' bla, bla, bla. Moron." Where all of Adrien's friends so corny?
After the video ended, he swiped to the next one, which showed a childish girl with a striped pink shirt, skirt and leggings, who talked about unicorn's sayings or something like it. Looser.
Then there was a nerd, with glasses and a flying robot. Freak!
Next, "Chloe," Felix said out loud. "as annoying as always."
And finally, the cute girl from before. He paused it. If the message was as corny as she looked like, he would laugh so hard.
So, he deleted the message. The whole message. All the videos.
"Pathetic." He said. Then he returned to the searching and looked at the picture of the black-leather suit superhero. He deleted the searching story and finally turned the phone off.
•
The bathroom door opened and Felix walked out, soaked and wrapped up in towels.
"I took new towels from the cupboard." He said with a smile. "I hope that's alright."
"Oh yeah, yeah. Of course!" Adrien said, cheerfully, standing up from the couch he was sitting in. "There are clean clothes on that drawer over there." He added, pointing to a black wood drawer.
"Thanks." Felix said. He took some clothes, and ran back to the washroom. In there, he took the phone one last time to record a brief video —as quiet as he could not to rise suspicion on his cousin— and then came back with fresh new clothes and a messy hair thanks to the steam of the bath. He looked exactly like Adrien, who laughed and walked to his clone's side.
"Wait here." Adrien asked and rushed upstairs again, leaving Felix just a few seconds to hide the phone on the cheese-filled wardrobe. When Adrien walked back down he asked his cousin to play a match, holding a joystick and a game DVD.
"Of course!" Heck, all this kindness was making him sick. "But, there is something we need to do first." Felix exclaimed when his eyes landed on the ring that his cousin had. "The magic trick. Grab the cards, please." He asked and sat on the couch with Adrien on his side.
"Good." He said when said person held him a card deck. "Now, pick a card, look at it and place it in one palm with your other palm on top." Felix said, stretching all the cards in a fan on his hand, skilfully, facing the card's drawings to Adrien so only he knew the one he picked. Adrien took one and did as asked. Felix left the other ones on the table nearby and placed his own hand around his cousin's. Then he let go and placed them in his pockets. He looked at Adrien and asked him to get the card back to the deck and mix up. He did.
"Is… this your card?" Felix finally asked after picking one of the bunch.
"Yes!" Adrien replayed excitedly. "Yes! That's the one!" Felix smiled back and placed the card with the other on the table. "Hey, what was the… hum… hand-holding thingy for?"
"Oh, I red the card from the energy you had." He stated with a mocking tone, earning a laugh from Adrien's part.
"Ok, I better go to check on mum." Felix said, standing up and walking to the door. "You know how she gets after travelling."
"Yes, sure." Adrien replied. With a nod, Felix made his way out.
Adrien stared a little longer before he sighed and smiled.
"See, Plagg?" He said out loud. "He is not mean."
No answer.
"Plagg?"
Nothing.
Adrien stood up and looked around, unable to see the chaotic creature anywhere. He instinctively grabbed his ring.
Except, there was no ring.