Felix found himself curled up in front of the television the next morning, marveling the black ring as the news anchor chattered on in the background. It struck him as odd for his father to consider giving him jewelry. The gloves were strange enough considering their outdatedness. He rolled the ring between his fingers, examining the single ruby embedded in the centre. It glinted in the faint light of the living room.

"In recent news, Ladybug and Chat Noir have saved Paris again from a recent attack—"

"What?" Felix scrunched his brow and glanced up at the television screen. "What sort of names are those?"

In the background of the news footage Felix saw the spotted superhero leaping from building to building, her jet back pigtails swinging in the wind. Pigtails, huh? He thought. He remembered the girl he ran into at the airport. Marinette, or whatever. She had pigtails, didn't she? Must be some new trend going on in Paris.

"Waaaaait, superheroes?" Felix shot up.

In New York, Felix had been oblivious to what was happening in France. Anytime the news switched to anything to do with his home country he would turn a blind eye. So suddenly hearing about strange attacks plaguing his country and two masked superheroes saving the day came as a surprise to him. He laughed awkwardly, raising an eyebrow. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Felix," Nathalie spoke. Her voice startled him, as he quickly turned the television off and turned to face her. "Can you go to Adrien's school and give him this textbook? He left it on the counter this morning."

Felix tilted his head back. "Why, can't you just drive over and drop it off yourself?" he scoffed.

"I'm afraid something important has come up for Mr. Agreste and we need to personally escort him somewhere. So, if you aren't busy—"

Felix groaned internally, but tried his best to flash a fake smile at Nathalie as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Sure, tell me the address of his school."

He didn't particularly mind the walk, although it was a bit far from the mansion. Ever since he had entered high school, Felix had lived abroad. The Agreste family had only moved to the area in the past year, the majority of which Felix had spent in New York. He wondered what his old friends were up to. He wasn't particularly resourceful with social media or texting. Besides, his number was always winding up in the hands of troublesome girls.

It was lunch break at the school when Felix arrived. Alya and Marinette were eating together in the cafeteria.

"So, your cousin is staying with your family for the holidays?" Alya was asking Marinette, as she took a bite into today's gruel.

"Yeah! She moved to America when she was a little girl and my aunt and uncle wanted her to experience Paris now that she's old enough to travel on her own. What's all the commotion in the hallway?" Marinette had noticed a gaggle of students crowding the door to the cafeteria.

"Never mind that. I have even bigger news to share with you, girl! Hey, did you know Adrien had a secret brother?"

"A brother?" Marinette's eyes flashed wide. This was the first time she'd heard of this. She started brainstorming in her head what he would look like. If he's related to Adrien, he must be super handsome, she thought.

Adrien was trying to make his way to the cafeteria when he heard Chloe's annoyingly pitched voice cooing at somebody. He wondered who she was making her latest victim.

The guy she was accosting wasn't appreciating her advances. "Can you leave me alone? As if I'd be interested in talking to the likes of you." he said, appearing prickled by the attention. Adrien immediately recognized the tall, blond haired boy and called out to him to save him from Chloe's grasp.

"Felix, what are you doing here?" Adrien asked him, causing Felix to swing around. He grimaced at Chloe, then huffed his nose up in the air. Yet she didn't seem to totally take a hint and scram.

Felix retrieved the textbook from his messenger bag and passed it to Adrien. "Nathalie found your textbook laying on the counter."

"You came all the way here just to deliver this?" Adrien was surprised. It was rare for Felix to be thoughtful, let alone to do something out of kindness.

"Whatever, she gave me a hard time over it so I didn't really have much of a choice." grumbled Felix.

Adrien smiled, appreciating what his brother had done. "Hey, why don't you stick around for lunch?"

"Uh, no, that's—"

Felix grimaced as he loaded his tray, feeling the eyes of Adrien's classmates on his back. Alya nudged at Marinette. "Look! I think I've spotted Adrien's brother!"

Adrien's brother. That was a new one. Felix felt a shiver go up his back just at the mere mention of them being siblings, but here he was nameless. He could barely bring himself to lift his head as Adrien led him along to one of the tables. He decided to take a seat close to where Alya and Marinette were sitting, the two girls eyeing the boys inquisitively.

Felix glanced at the girls who smiled back in earnest, but it was when he saw Marinette's face that he froze. She was the blue eyed girl from the airport, he thought. From her reaction, she didn't appear to recognize him. Felix remained frozen until he managed a stiff nod. She was wearing pigtails again.

"Oh hey, Alya, Marinette!" Adrien said to the girls. "This is my older brother, Felix."

So her name was Marinette. "Uh, yeah, hi."

The two girls glanced Felix up and down. He was quite tall with fair skin and pale blue eyes. He had the same blond hair like his brother, neatly in place and tied in a small ponytail in the back. He wore a dark grey blazer over a white V-neck t-shirt, with tailored faded jeans and black sneakers. Yet he gave off a completely different vibe from his brother. While Adrien came off as warm and polite, Felix came across as aloof and uncomfortable. He sat back with his shoulders straightened but there was an air of discomfort in his expression. Still, he struck them as the cool and intelligent type.

Adrien chattered a bit with Alya, as Felix absentmindedly took a bite of his lunch. He wasn't sure what it was he had just put in his mouth but now he was gagging. She doesn't recognize me?

When lunch was over and Felix was preparing to leave, he noted how the two girls remained at the side as Adrien waved him goodbye. Marinette was sighing. A soft, lovely sigh. No, no no no, no, Felix. He was shaking his head. Don't even think about thinking of her. Yet his curiosity got the better of him. She was staring at Adrien, her eyes clouded and her cheeks rosy. Her best friend was teasing her, but he couldn't hear a word she was saying because he was too busy noticing something important.

Oh no, he thought.

Oh shit.

She liked Adrien.

Suddenly it all made sense to him, why they ran into each other at that particular spot in the airport. She was just like all those other girls, fawning over the poster of Adrien. She had that same love struck expression, that same giddy air to her that those girls did. Oh no, he grumbled. He covered his mouth as if to stop himself from puking. Any time he encountered a girl like that he felt a sickness in his stomach. Or maybe this time it was just the awful cafeteria food. Either way, if he didn't hurry out of there he was going to blow chunks everywhere.

Maybe she even loved Adrien.

Gross, gross, gross.

Felix hurried out of the courtyard, unable to breathe until he was well onto the sidewalk walking home. He furrowed his brow and frowned. What was so special about Adrien that made girls look at him that way? And why did that pigtails girl have to sigh like that? Felix closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, rubbing his forehead furiously.

"Girl problems?"

"What? No, no. Nothing of the sort. Just a slight headache."

"Wow, you look really pissed off."

"Well, thanks for noticing—" Wait. Felix stopped. Who was talking to him?

He spun around on his heel but no one was around. Weird, he thought. There was barely a soul in sight.

"Down here, bud."

Felix looked down at his feet, where the mysterious voice was coming from. A small Siamese cat sat there, its bright baby blue eyes staring up at him. They wore a magenta coloured collar with a golden name tag in the shape of a heart. Did the cat just...

"What? Cat got your tongue?" the cat laughed. Felix almost fell on his back.