This chapter features the beautiful and hilarious art courtesy of DNA-D2, the artist I've been paired with for the Miraculous Big Bang. To see it, you need to visit my Ao3 profile and read the chapter there, as unfortunately, FFN doesn't allow me to attach the picture to the story. Please support her by clicking on the link there on the picture and visiting her personal page. She's really talented!

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Chapter 7 — …and Ladybug makes a deal

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Félix's eyes grew huge. "I beg your pardon?"

"Give us your amok and we'll trust you. The Black Cat Miraculous is too important to be bargained against anything else." She noticed the intensity of his glare towards her and shrugged.

"You want to control me. You're no better than Monarch or Lila, then."

Ladybug scowled. She clasped her hands into fists and straightened her back, standing as tall as she could in front of him. She walked closer, her glare fixed on the boy's face. She was a sight to behold, as angry as she was, so much so that Félix paled and walked backwards until his back reached the chimney behind him.

"How dare you say that. Take it back!"

"No," Félix hissed. He glared back at her, sustaining the anger in her gaze. "I saw what you did to Strike Back. I've seen on the papers what you did to a lot of other sentimonsters. How can I trust you to not use my amok against me? By doing what you ask me I'd be giving away my free will to you."

Ladybug's fists were shaking. "You're asking us to give you one of the two most powerful Miraculous in the world. One that destroyed Atlantis and the dinosaurs and that could, potentially, trigger the end of the world. I don't think that what I asked in exchange is unfair."

She closed her eyes shut and let her fists shake for a little longer, before straightening her back again, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a sidelong look, a little sly smile popping on her lips.

"Unless…you're just faking it and all you want to do is to trick us. How can we trust you, Félix? You say that you're on our side now, but it's not the whole truth. As you kindly pointed out earlier, you're really on your side, which currently happens to coincide with ours. But it can diverge at any point." She sighed. "If you give me your amok, I promise I won't use it unless you put the Black Cat Miraculous in danger. And when all is over and you give me back Chat Noir's ring, I will give it back to you. You have my word."

"And the Peacock too?" Félix's gaze was hard, determined and fixed on Ladybug's.

The heroine sighed some more. "I can't promise you that." She deflated and slouched over herself a little. "However, if you'll make it up to me while we're working together and I will feel that I can entrust you with it, I may consider the option. How does that sound?"

Félix looked at her for a very long time. Ladybug looked back, determined to not be the first one to lower her gaze. Eventually, a proper smile stretched Félix's lips.

"You've got yourself a deal, Ladybug." His smile stretched further when she sucked her breath in.

"As in…you're caving in?"

He nodded and looked down. "Huh-huh."

Ladybug stretched her open hand at him, a serious frown furrowing her brows. Félix's lips tugged in a slight smirk as he glanced at the palm of her gloved hand and reached inside his shirt for a fancy fountain pen. He looked at it with a frown and, reluctantly, placed it in Ladybug's hand.

"That's your father's pen, right? The one he never gave to anyone?"

Félix nodded. "Yeah. Guess why?"

Chat Noir looked at the pen in his partner's hand for some time, and then exchanged glances with her. Ladybug inspected the pen for a few minutes and eventually picked up her yoyo and made to place it inside of it. But it was at that point that, from the corner of her eye, she paused again scrutinising Félix's contrite expression. She scratched her head and her gaze became even narrower. This was just too easy. Unless…

"Nice try, Fathom," she said suddenly. Félix's sudden pallor was a confirmation good enough for her. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. You're too good an actor for me to fall for this."

Félix's eyes widened dramatically. "What are you talking about, Ladybug?"

She mirrored his previous smirk. "As Chat Noir kindly pointed out, this may have been your father's pen, and your father was your creator, so it's very important to you. But it's not your amok."

"But—"

"I haven't finished." The way he immediately fell silent when she put her hand up nearly clouded her reasoning, but she kept going. "You would never give up your amok so easily, you haven't even argued about it. It's too crucial to your existence that it stays safe."

Félix gulped. "What would I gain by tricking you? You said you may consider giving me the Peacock back if I cooperate, that's why I agreed so willingly."

"What would you gain? Do you think I'm stupid, Félix?" She chuckled to herself. "I may not be an enfant prodige; I may not have gotten my bac at 13. But you won't fool me like that, Monsieur. We're talking about the Black Cat Miraculous. As I said already, it's one of the two most powerful jewels in the world and the perfect bargaining material. You could steal it and give it to Lila to get the Peacock back."

His gaze hardened. "I could still do it; you know that, Ladybug. Even if you have—"

"Which we don't—"

He huffed. "Okay. Even if you did have my amok, I could still do it. You need to keep that in mind."

"You could," Ladybug muttered, her gaze crossing his and fixing into his as she continued, "but you won't. Lila doesn't play fair, Félix. If you give her a hand, she will take your whole arm—and more. And this is something that you should keep in mind."

Félix laughed. "I wouldn't be here if she played fair, so I'm already aware of that." He pursed his lips and looked into her eyes for a few seconds. Then, he fumbled with a chain on his neck and revealed a ring he was hiding inside his shirt, plugged into the chain like a pendant. He took it off the chain, looked at it fondly and offered it to Ladybug. When she picked it up from his hand, he gave her an almost shy look, but the polka-dotted superheroine's gaze narrowed.

"Is this it?"

He nodded. "It is."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "How do I know it's the real thing, this time?"

He gave her a sidelong look. "You know, Ladybug, you're a clever girl; I really like you. You can use it once to test it. This, I don't mind."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You're such a good actor…using it wouldn't fill me with confidence, to be honest." She brought her finger to her lips and looked at the rooftop they stood on for a while. "Although… I have an idea."

"Enlighten me," he said, quite amused.

"Give us a minute."

She turned around showing him her back and gestured for Chat Noir to come to her front. She pulled closer to him and whispered something in his cat ears. Chat Noir nodded a couple of times and gave her a very fond look before whispering his detransformation words and returning to being Adrien. When she turned around to face him again, Félix paled because his amok wasn't in Ladybug's hands anymore. Nor was it in Adrien's. He darted his gaze around trying to find it but it had seemingly disappeared.

"What—?" he started, but Ladybug's smug smile shushed him.

"One of us has your amok and will use it, right now, Félix, but you don't know who that is. We will give you two opposite orders, so unless you're really lucky, your reaction to what we say will tell us whether you're acting or not."

The smirk returned to Félix's lips. "Oh, you're clever indeed."

Her look became even smugger. "Thank you. Come here and kiss me senseless." She stretched her hand towards him and smiled warmly.

Félix's eyes nearly came out of their sockets. "Wha—"

"Don't you dare touch her," hissed Adrien next to her.

Félix properly panicked. His gaze darted from Ladybug's face to his cousin's, unable to feel any pull towards what she had asked or what he had asked. What was going on? Until he heard another voice come from behind Adrien, just milliseconds later, "Otherwise, you can tell us an ode to Camembert."

And that's when Félix's mouth moved on its own, relief washing through him as he started talking automatically. "C-camembert? You mean the cheese or the region?"

Plagg smirked. "Do you even need to ask? The cheese, of course!" With a swift movement, Plagg zipped into Adrien's clothes and came out with a slice of Camembert cheese which he threw into Félix's hand.

Félix gulped, looking at the piece of disgustingly smelly food and winced, wrinkling his nose, but his lips moved on their own accord:

"You are my true love, white and smelly piece of cheese.

There's no place I'd rather be,

Than with you everyday.

You open my eyes and make me see…" (1)

Plagg raised a tiny paw and Félix's mouth stopped talking. The black kwami smirked, zipped back to Félix's hand and took his piece of cheese back, eating it in just one bite. Then, he turned to Ladybug and looked at her smugly. "I think you have your answer, Pigtails."

She smiled as she took the ring Plagg was holding behind his back and opened her yoyo, placing it inside of it. "I think I do. Thank you, Plagg."

"Anytime." The kwami's electric green gaze looked quite amused, but all smugness was lost when he saw Adrien taking his ring off. "Are you sure it's a good idea, though?"

Ladybug sighed. "We've no choice. He's right. It really is the only way to ensure that Lila or Gabriel don't find out Chat Noir's identity."

Plagg's ears were flat on his head when Adrien put his ring in Félix's hands.

"Look after my ring, Félix. It's one of a kind."

As soon as Adrien had placed the ring in his palm, the metal of the Miraculous changed its shape and colour, to become a little smaller, still made of silver but with a black rim around the wider front, making it look like a little crown. He took off the ring he wore on his right ring finger, put it in his pocket, and finally, he placed the Miraculous on the same finger, amazed at how it took exactly the right size to fit comfortably. He was still lost briefly in looking at it when Plagg huffed and flew in front of his face.

"What are you waiting for? Say, 'Plagg, claws out!' so we can test how good you are at replicating Chat Noir."

But when Félix nodded and said the magic words, neither Adrien nor Ladybug looked impressed.

"What's that?" asked Ladybug.

"Why are you wearing high boots?" Adrien asked. "And why is your bell bigger than mine?"

"You also have a different buckle on your belt…you'll have to lose all that, Félix, you need to become exactly like Chat Noir. Your hair is also too long." She turned towards Adrien and her gaze softened. "Will you work with him to help him get it right?" she asked him.

Adrien nodded. "I will." But then, he looked at his watch. "It's nearly midnight; better if we head home." He bowed theatrically and grabbed Ladybug's hand to place a soft kiss on her knuckles that made the superheroine blush to the roots of her hair. Then, he explained to Félix how to use the baton. It only took seconds before the new cat-themed superhero was jumping around the rooftops carrying his cousin bridal-style.

§§§

When they arrived at Adrien's room, Adrien instructed Félix to enter the mansion through the window of his bathroom. It was the safest option and Adrien wouldn't take any more chances. He'd already made that mistake once, after all.

However, the moment that they were finally back in the privacy of his four walls, Adrien insisted on Félix making a few more attempts at transforming. He logged on to the Ladyblog and printed a few pictures of Chat Noir, instructing Félix to look at them while transforming and trying to replicate the costume in his head.

It didn't go very well; Félix's personality being very different from Adrien's, it triggered a costume that was different from the one our hero was used to. Eventually, after many, many attempts, they managed to get rid of the high boots and the larger bell, but there was no way that Félix could change his looks any more than he already had. Also, he was mentally exhausted so they both decided it was time to go to sleep. It had been a rollercoaster of a day for both.

As they both lay in Adrien's bed, both facing opposite sides and showing each other their back, Félix pushed on his pillow in an attempt to make himself more comfortable.

"I can't believe I recited an ode to a smelly slice of cheese," he hissed under his breath. And he scowled when he heard Adrien behind him snigger. "It's not funny, Adrien."

Behind his back, Adrien stiffened and stilled. "Sorry, you're right." He lay one of his arms underneath his pillow and held it more strongly. "It could've been me." His heart filled with dread as he sighed and looked down. He remembered how much his blood had boiled in his veins at the mere thought of his electronic image being used for the Alliance ring, and he considered briefly how ironic that was. "Probably it has been me, who knows how many times. Father only needed to move that ring after all."

Félix huffed. "It was clever of Ladybug to give the ring to Plagg. Not only because I hadn't expected it—and it takes a lot to surprise me. But because this way she didn't use it. Even if I had given her permission to."

Adrien considered his next words carefully. "She would never use your amok against you. She's not that kind of person."

"I'm starting to realise that."

"Félix?" Adrien called after a few seconds.

"Hm?"

"We only destroyed Strike Back and the other sentimonsters because we had no choice." Adrien gulped. "Once, Mayura created a sentibeing copy of Ladybug, and we really tried to keep her alive and give her back her freedom. But—" He sighed. "It didn't work out. Mayura snapped her out of reality. And it…hurt. Even if I still didn't know that I was a sentibeing, it still hurt. She was a perfect replica of her, not at all evil, and so full of life. She didn't deserve to end that way."

His mind bled at the memory of Papillon teasing them that day. 'Getting sentimental over a sentimonster?' he had said. Adrien's eyes filled with tears. That's how much the man he had always considered his father cared about the likes of him.

Tools.

Means to an end.

That's what he thought they were. He knew that Marinette wasn't like that.

Even if by now he'd had some time to process the entire situation, it was still a lot to digest. Maybe too much. Now he understood a little how Félix must've felt when he had found out the truth. And, at least, Adrien had Marinette. Félix had nobody. It didn't justify his actions, but it did give a different slant to them.

Silence fell between the two boys for such a long time that Adrien thought Félix had fallen asleep. However, eventually, his cousin sighed. "I set the alarm for 5.30 am."

"Thanks," Adrien said. "We can do more practice then."

Félix hugged his pillow tight as he nodded in reply.

§§§

They spent a good part of the hour and a half they had before the real alarm would ring trying to clean up Félix's act on how to behave while being Chat Noir. Félix was a great actor, but he didn't know Chat Noir's antics well enough to reproduce them perfectly, so Adrien spent quite some time showing him videos from the Ladyblog.

"Did you really need to act so much like a clown?" Félix mused after having cringed at yet another badly timed pun he'd heard in the latest video Adrien had shown to him. "No wonder she threw you in the rubbish."

Adrien scowled, his arms folded over his chest. "I'm not showing you these videos for you to insult me, Félix."

"I'm telling the truth and you know it."

"Shut u—" But Adrien's blood froze in his veins when he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat coming from the space on his left, in the direction of the door. With his heart in his ears, he exchanged a terrified look with Félix who, currently, was transformed into his version of Chat Noir, and both boys turned towards the origin of the sound to only see a stiff and shocked-looking Nathalie staring back at them.

The alarm clock rang at 7.00 am. Blood drained from Adrien's face.

"How interesting." Nathalie adjusted her glasses unnecessarily.

Shit. They were royally screwed!

To Be Continued…

Notes:

The poem is adapted from this website: Poem Hunter "Ode to my love n8"

Author's Note

Hello everyone!

Sorry about not updating last week; it was my mum's birthday, and if some of you have followed me since last year, you may know that my mum passed away on the 27th of March 2022, so last weekend was her first birthday in heaven. I spent the two days thinking of her and didn't feel like updating the story. Thank you for the feedback on chapter 7, though, that kept me going, and I'm very grateful! Now that the plot is starting to thicken, I'm thrilled to see that more people are sending me a comment. I'm so happy you like the story! I hope you liked this new chapter. Please, let me know what you think in a comment; I really treasure your feedback!

Ladybug had a great idea, didn't she? Félix was also surprised, and I'm sure it takes quite a lot to surprise him. I hope you liked Plagg getting his back at Félix as much as I loved writing it! And yes, Félix's Chat Noir's costume is a wink to the PV version of Miraculous, where his costume is precisely like that. I couldn't resist :D

Unfortunately, in the next chapter, Lila's plan starts unfolding, so get ready for it, but before that… can I say I love Nathalie in the next chapter? Because I do :)

I need to inform you that I may not be able to update for a couple of weeks: I have a busy few weekends ahead; next weekend, it's my niece's birthday, and then I'm off to Italy to see my family and attend to my father who's going to have an operation just before Easter. I may be able to update or not; it depends on what happens with my dad.

I'll see you very soon with chapter 8, "Pavona's plan unfolds". See you then!

As usual, if you read this and enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join my favourite Discord servers, Miraculous Fanworks (discord dot gg slash mlfanworks) and Miraculous Discordance (discord dot gg slash QwgKdUhJNJ). I'll wait for you there!