CHAPTER 13 – ESCALATION

That night Félix ate a light dinner alone in his room. He visited his motionless mother, watched some TV and the lay on his bed, thinking about the day's events.

His uncle's malice knew no bounds. Any normal uncle would have been grief-stricken at his relatives' misfortune. Not Gabriel. When Fortune's fickle hand dealt him and his mother terrible misfortune, his uncle had used the situation to his own advantage, manipulating Félix to bring the ring back to within Gabriel's grasp. The betrayal and violation of his privacy infuriated him. "You'll pay," he promised himself. His hatred of the Agrestes deepened.

Yet how to seek revenge on his uncle? His mother and his financial well-being lay entirely in Gabriel's hands. A frontal assault would merely invite retribution. Given his mother's fragile state the cutting off of funds could be fatal.

He had hurt Gabriel already by reclaiming his rightful inheritance from his uncle, but Gabriel was already striking back.

The problem was that his uncle was all-powerful. What could a teenager do against a fashion mogul lauded across the world, with millions of Euros in financial resources, strict security and no obvious weaknesses that he could exploit?

If his aunt had still been around he was sure that he could have used his love for her to get back at his uncle, but other than the ring there was nothing else left of his aunt to manipulate Gabriel with. Gabriel's life seemed to be dedicated to his work, yet try as he might Félix could think of no way to destroy his uncle's brand.

His uncle was a distant, cold man, not given to attachments. As a result he was not given to weaknesses. Could his uncle not see how much his cousin longed to be with him, to have a normal relationship with him? Instead his uncle filled Adrien's life with material things and set out with a mission to make Adrien perfect, not realising that in doing so he was hurting Adrien. Félix thought back to Adrien's schedule. Back-breaking work that could break a grown man, let alone a young teenager. Gabriel treated Adrien like a project that could be brought out and displayed to the world so that everyone could see how perfect his son was … and by implication, how perfect Gabriel was.

Félix smiled as he realised his uncle's Achilles' heel. His cousin. Hurt Adrien or, even better, turn Adrien against Gabriel, and he would have his revenge. It looked like Mr Perfection was going to come up against a string of bad luck in the not-too-distant future. How fortunate that he looked just like his cousin. An imposter could cause all sorts of mischief.

Imitating Adrien would be difficult. He had been caught out doing it before so his friends would be wary. He would also be doing a lot more than sending a simple video. He needed to know Adrien in and out in order to mimic him perfectly. It would be hard work, but the rewards were … potentially endless.

Félix fell asleep with a smile on his face for the first time in days.

-000-

Félix woke up refreshed the next day. As his plan required him to get as close to Adrien as possible he would have attended school even if he wasn't feeling 100%, but as it was he was more that well enough to attend lessons. His stomach even growled as he thought of the breakfast waiting for him downstairs. It was going to be a good day.

Adrien was overjoyed to see that his cousin had miraculously recovered and he admired the ring that now adorned Félix's finger. The boys held their fingers next to one another. The rings were identical. Adrien gave him a big hug and fist-bumped him, saying something about how they were now brothers forever. Félix smiled back at Adrien. "Brothers forever!" he said.

From across the room Nathalie silently watched Félix and Adrien interacting. She smiled as Félix drained his glass of orange juice. She had increased his dose of potion marginally and his symptoms would be more pronounced today. Everything was going according to plan.

-000-

Félix almost wished he hadn't come up with the plan to copy Adrien's ring and make-up with Adrien. Félix was not a tactile person by nature, normally limiting his physical interactions with anyone except his mother to formal handshakes unless he wanted something. But now his normally reserved cousin was joking with him all of the time, clasping his shoulder with his hand or hanging an arm around his neck.

Even more frustratingly Félix found himself enjoying the contact. The warmth of his cousin's arm flowed into his shoulder, making him feel wanted, accepted even.

He glanced at his cousin who was chatting to Nino while his arm draped loosely around Félix's shoulders. He was so … nice. It was infuriating. He hated himself for his moment of weakness, and his heart filled with new resolve. Much as he enjoyed Adrien's touch and his company even, he was looking forward to destroying his perfect cousin. "Mr Perfection, you will learn to suffer as I have suffered," he promised himself.

-000-

Félix threw himself into his task with gusto. He watched Adrien's every move, building up in his mind a plan of Adrien's social network, working out what made him "tick" and trying to predict what Adrien would do in any given situation. As the day progressed so his predictions became more and more accurate.

Félix also began to ingratiate himself with Adrien's friends, hoping to learn through them more about Adrien and his friends' relationship with him.

He had started with Marinette, who had been the least hostile to him on his first day. It had been easy: he had asked if he could talk to her alone and he apologised for his previous actions and the hurt they had caused her. He then confessed to her the pangs of guilt that he had been suffering as a result of the hurt that he had caused Adrien. "I know you love him Marinette, you know him better than anyone. Tell me what I can do to make it better please?"

Marinette blushed brightly when he mentioned her love for Adrien, but didn't deny her feelings. She was a wealth of information on Adrien though and, even better, helped smooth his path with Adrien's other friends when he mentioned that he would like to apologise to them too. It had been too easy.

When Félix mentioned how helpful Marinette had been Adrien nodded. "She's amazing, isn't she?" he gushed. "Whenever life goes wrong Marinette is there to make it all right. She's my very own "Everyday Ladybug". I'ld be lost without her."

Félix smiled as he made another mental note. Though he didn't have romantic feelings towards her, it was clear just how fond Adrien was of Marinette.

-000-

By the end of the day Félix was fairly confident that he could imitate Adrien well-enough to fool even his closest friends. He would need to test his skills before he could move onto the next phase of his plan though. If anyone even suspected his real identity the entire plan would fail.

The opportunity for a test run presented itself much sooner than he imagined.

The last class of the day was PE. The teacher announced that they would be doing swimming and the class trooped into the changing rooms. There was only one problem – Félix didn't have a swimming costume with him.

Most of the class had already changed when Adrien noticed his cousin sitting glumly in the corner. "What's wrong?" asked Adrien. Félix told him his problem.

"Don't worry coz," said Adrien. "I have a spare in my bag." Adrien dove into his bag and pulled out two identical black speedos with yellow, mustard, lemon green, dark green and purple stripes in the corner, much like his shirt. He handed one to Félix. The boys quickly stripped off and put on the costumes. Félix's fitted him like a glove. He suddenly realised the opportunity that fate had placed before him.

Félix looked around. They were alone in the changing room.

"Hey Adrien! Fancy some fun?" he asked.

"Fun? What did you have in mind?"

Félix laughed, walked up to Adrien and put his fingers in his think blonde hair, using them as a comb to push back Adrien's hair.

"Oh, I get it!" laughed Adrien. He put his own fingers in Félix's hair and ruffled it, turning the sleek formal hairstyle into a much more casual look.

"How do I look?" asked Félix.

"Like me," laughed Adrien.

"My thoughts exactly!" laughed Félix.

The boys walked out of the changing room.

"Adrikins! You look stunning!" Chloé Bourgeois strode up to the boys, a skimpy white and yellow bikini accentuating every curve of her figure. Félix suddenly found himself enveloped in her arms, her lips seeking his. He turned his head at the last minute, collecting the kiss on his cheek. Her breasts pressed into his chest. Félix suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He pushed Chloé away to arms' length. He was about to snap at her when he remembered his role. What would Adrien do? "Chloé, you know I don't like that, please don't."

"And my, my, what have we here" said Chloé, ignoring the rebuff as she stepped towards Adrien. She ran her finger down Adrien's chest and onto the undulating muscles of his belly.

"Chloé, leave Ad… Félix alone," said Félix. "It's not nice." Félix grabbed Adrien by the arm and started walking quickly to the pool. "Is she always like that?" he asked his cousin.

"You have no idea," said Adrien, rolling his eyes.

"Hey Marinette, you look great!" said Félix, winking at her as the boys raced past. Marinette turned bright red and had to be caught by Alya and she slowly collapsed in a heap on the ground. Marinette would never have done that if Félix had complimented her. She had thought he was Adrien. Félix's face wore a bright smile as the duo approached the pool.

Nino and Alya were sitting on the edge of the pool, their legs dangling in the water.

"Hi guys, do you mind if we sit next to you?" asked Félix.

"Not at all Adrien" said Alya.

The two boys burst out laughing.

"What's so funny dude?" Nino asked Félix.

"Alya thought I was Adrien," said Félix. "And judging by the expression on your face, so did you!"

All four youngsters burst out laughing.

"You had me going there," admitted Alya. "Hold on a tick."

Alya whipped out her phone. "This needs to be recorded for posterity." Adrien whipped his arm around Félix, pulling him in close, a big grin on his face. Félix smiled broadly as the cellphone clicked. SUCCESS!

-000-

Suddenly Félix felt a wave of nausea hitting him. His hand covered his mouth as he raced for the bathroom.

He got there just in time. Streams of vomit shot into the toilet. He clutched the seat as his body continued to heave.

Félix felt a warm hand on his back.

"Are you ok?" his cousin asked.

While Félix shook his head Adrien called the Gorilla to arrange for an early pickup for his cousin. For the second time in as many days Félix was going to miss the afternoon's activities.