Parry
The second session of fencing was far more physically exhausting and far less emotionally draining than the first one for the two novice students in the Monsieur D'Argencourt' fencing academy as the two secured their places and now faced their sparring partners.
Felix chose Kagami for his fencing practise and the fencing master did not object, he actually smiled approvingly at the duo and let them work on their own. Adrien quickly picked up Marinette to practise with her but the fencing master amended it so she took turns with the rest of the group.
Marinette either kept giving lucky strikes or there was some natural talent involved. She did score a point or two in each duel she took for practise. Most of the time, she was more surprised with her success than anybody else, afterwards she exercised some classic moves with Adrien.
It was a good distraction for the both of them, no diaries, no secrets, no superpowers, no sick kwami, no mysteries and secrets and magical rules and secret books hidden somewhere nor monks to consult in far away temple.
Felix chose Kagami for his sparing partner for the whole practice and she did not complain. The two attacked fiercely and it was hard to tell who scored a point let alone who would have won if that was a proper duel.
Kagami honestly enjoyed having a new opponent for practise. She got used to Adrien, she was able to anticipate his every move and strike back, it stopped to be a challenge. She felt good while she was kept on the edge and had to think about strategy and how to win her next point.
Felix was glad he had a chance to stay for fencing that afternoon. It was a substitute session for one they were supposed to have on Monday, but got postponed because it was a first day of school after holidays and everything else that was going on.
Kagami played well, in fact she was an extraordinary fencer, the best sparring partner he ever had and quite possibly the stronger opponent he ever faced, at lest his own age. He had to put all his effort and tricks in it and he did not always win. In fact, more often than not, she won.
He was getting tired of Chloe, yes she was annoying, but he was returning the favour, and that entertained him, at least a little bit. Perhaps it was that their mothers used to be some kind of friends that they got along so well, he would never admit it was because they were so similar.
The boy was actually glad Lila revealed what kind of a person she was that first morning. She used to be after Adrien, obviously, and he was becoming more and more certain that Lila was after him, if he judged after the incident in the library that morning.
He could have fallen for her tricks and bond with her over the fact that both were sort of outcasts and he might have believed she knew slightly more about Gabriel and Emilie, something useful for his mother, if she did not reveal herself as an attention seeker.
That girl had no self respect and no boundaries, personal or other, the interview she gave just after his uncle lost his magical pin was a farce, her attempt to get her own fifteen minutes of fame on the account of knowing someone famous.
The rest of the class remained indifferent towards Felix, and after first initial glares, the students first ignored him straight on, determinedly, but then the feeling settled into rather pleasant indifference. And Felix was rather satisfied with such treatment, he did not want to be bothered.
Felix had to focus on his opponent. He lost three consecutive attacks and the girl in the red suit started to ask questions if he got distracted. He was offended. He was definitely not distracted by Adrien and Marinette who trained in a parallel lane.
Adrien was helping Marinette to assume a certain position, fencing position, don't get your minds dirty here, it was just a particular stance they assumed just before they made a move. But the boy resolved to do it properly.
He stood next to Marinette first. His hands roamed from her hands to elbows to shoulders as he corrected her posture, but then he tried to adjust her hips and used his feet to move her own and the girl squeaked. And he knew she was embarrassed.
Their masks were up, and Felix was able to see their goofy smiles that only proved what he already thought about both of them, they were pathetic and pathetically in love, it was like he was looking at some predictable cheap romance film on a Sunday afternoon.
Marinette quickly lowered her mask to hide her blushing face (and messed up the position of the hand that did not hold the sabre). Adrien smirked and leaned on even more eagerly while he waited to get scolded by the fencing master, who was luckily too busy watching the other pair.
Felix noticed the move his cousin was doing on Marinette. There was that awkward feeling in his stomach. Was it because they were doing something slightly inappropriate? But Felix knew that he was not so pure minded to judge about that, besides, that was legitimate help.
The boy quickly dismissed the feeling as neither disgust nor jealousy, because he really did not like Marinette that way. He found her pathetic, he really did, but he also found his own cousin pathetic and somehow they suited each other perfectly in that way.
He wasn't annoyed that they were so close, he knew the feeling, Chloe reminded him almost the whole day. But somehow he longed to know why he was feeling that strange way about his cousin having a girlfriend and being so close to her.
"Hey, I was trying to reproduce your move for the last five minutes and I can't really get it. Can you help me?" Kagami asked politely, but it sounded more like a request if not even an order in the way she pronounced the words.
Kagami overcame her annoyance and irritation at her opponent being distracted by the couple that pretended to fence in the parallel lane. She set aside any remaining jealousy, Marinette deserved to win Adrien and she was exactly what he needed at that moment, so it was a fair win.
Then she realized that the boy who was her current opponent might be the same expert fencer and at the same time lonely boy she learned to meet. It was strange how much he looked like Adrien and how much he was able to behave like him from time to time. It was time to change targets.
Yet, they were different and Kagami wanted to know more about this boy. In fact, she wouldn't mind to learn more about him. Now that she made friends with Adrien and Marinette and at least an acquaintance if not yet friendship with Luka, she might try with this new boy.
"Did you mean this?" Felix inquired and tried to repeat one of his standard moves. He danced back and forth with his sabre high in the shoulder lever when he suddenly he lunged froward and put it slightly lower and to the side.
"No, I was thinking about this one." She replayed something he did quite a few times the day before and only once that day. He tried not to repeat himself too much to be able to surprise the opponent so he tried different moves all the time.
"Okay, so something like this?" He repeated it exactly the way he always practised when there was no opponent.
"Yes, so you do this." She nudged herself slightly to one side. "Then this." She lunged forward and instantly pulled back only to move to the other side and lunge forward again.
"No, no, no, you got the last part wrong." Felix shook his head. She was not supposed to go straight forwards but just slightly to the side to fool the opponent and actually produce a hit instead of getting only the empty air.
Without further ado, Felix decided to do exactly what Adrien did with Marinette and adjust Kagami's move using his own hands. But he stood in front of her and grabbed her wrists to lead her move on himself.
Perhaps she was lighter than he expected (oh yeah), or maybe he expected more resistance for his pull from her side (could be), or he pulled slightly stronger than necessary (keyword slightly), but they both tumbled down and Kagami fell on top of him.
"This was not what I was aiming to score." Kagami muttered while she was looking for a place where to put her limbs (not on Felix's body) to find leverage to get up one her feet, while the boy was not helpful at all. Then finally he jumped on his feet so quickly that it was him pulling her up.
"Sorry about that." He did not sound sorry at all. "We can try again, if you please. What do I get for showing you the secrets of my fencing skill?" The boy was ready to pull up his mask and show the grin he had on his face but then decided to keep it on and play cool.
"Adrien and me often went for an ice cream after fencing." She replied calmly. Well, they also escaped the practise or left early to spend some time together. And now he was just there with another girlfriend, the girl he obviously loved, as oblivious as he was of his feelings.
"Okay, so you are getting me some ice cream if I teach you how to do this." This time Felix just pulled her intentionally and even placed his foot so that he trips her to land on him and then he laughed softly once they were on the floor.
"This is not a fencing move." Kagami protested in her calm and composed way not giving away how she felt about it at all and it frustrated her partner, no annoyance, anger, frustration, attraction or even a hint of shame. Felix felt urged to try harder to get any sort of reaction from her.
"Why not? It could be our move." Felix teased. He had no idea why he was doing it that way, he was not a flirty type, at least he did not see himself as one, except when he was totally acting to prank someone. But with this girl it just surfaced out from him.
"Why don't we try some real fencing moves and go for an ice cream later and see about those other moves." Kagami spoke calmly as if she did not just suggest something, and she did not, not really, comprehend how the words she spoke could be interpreted.
"I see you do not hesitate." Felix smirked. Somehow he did not mind how forward this girl was, there was an idea in the back of his mind that perhaps she did not mean in that way and just blurted it out in her usual flat tone, he decided he loved being challenged by her like that.
"Never" Kagami replied and this time attacked exactly the way she was supposed to. Except Felix knew how she was going to move and knew how to counter-attack. He lunged forward instead to evade, let her sabre and the hand holding it pass between his arm and body and slammed into her.
They could not see each other's faces, which was just as well because both of them remained expressionless, Kagami rather naturally while Felix did an effort. They heard a whistle. The fencing practise was finished and the fencers roamed around the locker room.
"Adrien, Marinette, I owe Felix some ice cream after today's practise, would you like to join us?" Kagami invited politely. She was not the one to sulk because she lost (a boy, or a fencing duel, she accepted defeat with grace, and this time there were no lingering feeling of unfairness or injustice hidden beneath the surface).
"Are you going to visit Andre?" Adrien blurted out rather surprised by such a quick turn of events, he beamed towards Kagami, then Felix, then back.
"We can help you find it, but Adrien and me … we … well we have a project of our own .. sort of." Marinette was looking for and excuse to escape early, but one look at Adrien changed her mind. "Actually, I'm sure we can spare some time to have an ice cream with friends." She beamed.
The four teens left the school together, Marinette in her usual clothes, Adrien in jeans and a black hoodie with two green stripes (a gift Marinette made for him for any future occasion, rather useful now when the boy did not want to war anything made by his father's company).
Kagami was in her usual red skirt and shoes, white jacket and black tights while Felix stood beside her in his white shirt and grey vest, black trousers and fine shoes and a tie. He observed her choice of clothes with interest, respect, amusement and even a hint of admiration.
"I'm glad you dress this way, I'm so used to the school dress code that I still dress this way. I tried to dress up as Adrien in the first few days to better fit in." The boy explained at length to justify the fact that he was actually staring at Kagami and observed her from her feet to her head.
"That's fine." She shrugged. "Adrien and you are so much alike that I have mistaken you for him yesterday. Sorry." She felt she needed to apologize for not distinguishing the two boys, and she felt slightly guilty if she was fooled and did not recognize he was not her former crush.
The ice cream cart run by Andre got located on Adrien's phone swiftly and the two teens were surprised by a treat 'on the house' from the ice cream man once he recognized the pair before him.
"Peach, strawberry and blueberry for our young heroes. I wish you all the luck in the world and you will need it after that father, my dear Adrien." He offered the cone to the kids and continued to thank them and praise them while they smiled and blushed in return.
Felix observed rather puzzled by the fact that the two shared a single ice cream, but decided it was just because they were a couple, or maybe because the ice cream wanted to save and give them only one cone or … he could not dwell on it, it was his turn.
"Oh, another couple, I see." Andre smiled widely. "How about lemon for your hair and then orange for her eyes and a hint of black chocolate on the top?" Felix was confused, but Kagami did not hesitate, she accepted the offer and took the ice cream.
"We share the ice cream. That is the norm." She explained and offered a spoon to Felix. The boy did not expect such a close and intimate exchange of food on their first meeting … socializing event … walk … time together … he refused to accept the word 'date' in his head.
"This is delicious." He noted after a few spoonfuls of ice cream. His slight nervousness (only slight he would not admit to more even to himself and he stifled it inside rather efficiently) melted as fast as the ice cream in his mouth.
"Yes, I like this too." Kagami admitted and put more ice cream in her mouth. She lead the way towards the Seine and a bridge over it and Felix followed dutifully, the girl and the ice cream, while they navigated they way through the crowd that gathered for Andre.
They found a place by the fence on a bridge where they stood, watched the Seine and ate the ice cream slowly. At first, Kagami led the conversation and asked him about the fencing schools he went to and who were his fencing masters.
"So … you went for ice cream with Adrien after fencing like this … often?" Felix was testing the territory, according to him this was a date, something shared between a boyfriend and a girlfriend.
"Well, sometimes, Adrien and his friends do this often." She replied calmly. "We also went to that ship over there, that is where Juleka, one of Adrien's classmates lives, and her brother Luka, they have a band, called Kitty Section, and Adrien played keyboards for them when we got there."
"Keyboards? In a band?" Felix was surprised at first. "Of course, he practised piano a lot, because of his mother." He added more quietly.
"Do you play any instrument?" Kagami inquired.
"I used to, but I stopped more than a year ago." He shrugged.
Later, Felix started to talk about other things, they talked about their mothers, how they moved to Paris, how they found their lives once they moved into a new city and a new country. It was amazing how many things they found they have in common.
They did not even notice how anxious the other couple was to leave and deal with something else on their own nor how early Adrien pulled Marinette away from them and they disappeared in the direction of the Dupain Cheng bakery even before the couple reached the bridge.