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Chapter 6 — Félix has clever ideas

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Félix smirked as he closed the side door of the Agreste mansion behind his back, his gaze darting around to ensure nobody had noticed him sneaking in. Although he was again wearing Adrien's clothes, he would've had difficulties explaining why Adrien was outside when he had seen him very clearly coming back in just an hour before, messing with his plan, by the way, because he had intended to use the same excuse he'd used previously and pretend that Adrien had forgotten his keys. Luckily, he was resourceful.

Everything seemed clear, and he knew from his previous explorations of the building that this side entrance was out of the reach of the security cameras, so he knew he was safe. He started walking down the marble corridors to reach Adrien's bedroom, doing his very best to sneak by the walls and hide from view, until he found the door of his cousin's room.

He knocked, but the music of the piano from inside didn't stop, as if Adrien hadn't heard him. He knocked a bit louder, but still no answer. So Félix decided it was worth getting inside, or at least it was safer to face the surprise of his cousin than Nathalie or the Gorilla, or worse, Gabriel himself, to find him and question him.

But when he went past the antechamber and reached his cousin's bedroom, he was extremely surprised to find the room empty. Adrien's phone was placed on top of the piano and was playing the music that his cousin should have been practising. Félix's gaze narrowed. So…his dearest cousin wasn't that different from him, after all. He too sneaked out and hid things. That was an interesting detail to be aware of; Félix wondered where Adrien could be, and how he could have gone past the security cameras of the mansion.

As he thought that, he walked around the room, picked up Adrien's basketball and threw it in the basket thoughtlessly. Then, he went to one of Adrien's arcade video games and played for a while on it, to pass the time. When the sunlight started tinging in orange and pink, however, he walked to the piano and had a look at the recording that was playing. It must've been a practice that Adrien had recorded. There was still a good half an hour left on the file, so Félix sighed and moved to the sofa, sitting down and switching the TV on, and muting it immediately to avoid suspicions.

He had just turned on one of Adrien's videogames when, to his greatest surprise, he saw a shadow approaching Adrien's room from outside. A shadow that was unmistakably that of Chat Noir. Félix ducked instinctively and hid behind the couch, knowing that the heroes of Paris were still looking for him. In a way, however, he had no idea why he was doing so: after all, he was in Adrien's bedroom, dressed as Adrien and playing Adrien's video games. Only Adrien himself would have realised that it wasn't him. But he had just resolved to sit down again and resume playing the game when he saw Chat Noir tumbling inside the room from the window and land graciously crouched on the ground. The hero looked around, checked on the phone on top of the piano, and then said, "Claws in." In a flash of green light, in front of a very surprised Félix, Adrien took his place.

So Adrien was…Chat Noir? The discovery was too much even for one like Félix to bear; the boy couldn't help gasping louder than he should have, and in a literal second, his vision was filled with the electric green eyes of a black little creature like Duusu, or Barkk, the other kwami that Ladybug had given him to transform into Flairmidable.

"Adrien? We have a problem," the black kwami said.

Adrien was turning off the music recording on his phone. He sighed. "Another one?"

The black creature zipped back to Adrien's face. "You may find that this is a bigger problem."

"How can anything be a bigger problem than us not being able to contact Ladybug today, Plagg?"

The kwami Adrien had called Plagg shot a glare towards where Félix was hiding. "Your cousin."

"What about him?" Adrien had just switched off the recording and was putting his phone back into his pocket.

"He's hiding behind the couch."

At that, Adrien snapped around, his face as white as a sheet as he dashed to the sofa and crossed gazes with Félix behind it.

"Félix!" He seemed to be holding his breath.

Félix smirked. "Chat Noir."

The remaining blood drained from Adrien's face, but the boy recovered fast enough and his terrified expression turned immediately into a killer glare. Félix had never seen Adrien that angry before and for once, his smirk died on his lips.

"YOU BASTARD!" Adrien grabbed Félix by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up forcefully, slamming him against the back of the couch. "WHY ON EARTH DID YOU JOIN FORCES WITH PAPILLOMBRE? WHAT HAD LADYBUG EVEN DONE TO YOU? SHE HAD ENTRUSTED YOU WITH A MIRACULOUS AND YOU BETRAYED HER LIKE THAT!"

Félix raised an eyebrow. "I didn't join forces with Papillombre." He smirked at Adrien's further glare. "Besides, as charming as your beloved lady is, I was under no obligation to follow her lead. She didn't 'entrust' me with a Miraculous; she made the mistake of giving it to me, thinking that I was you. I owed her no loyalty, so I used the situation according to my interest." He lowered his gaze. "To get the Peacock."

At that, Adrien grabbed his collar again, his gaze hardening even more. "Yeah…to then lose it like an idiot to the worst person you could lose it to! How did Lila get her dirty hands on it?"

"I was taking a shower." Félix detangled Adrien's hands from his shirt and stood up, patting his collar to give it a shape again after having been in Adrien's hold. "She tricked Mother, got in my room and found the brooch."

"Why are you here, Félix? You're not welcome." Adrien had balled his hands into fists, which were currently shaking at the sides of his body.

"Nice." Félix hmphed and popped a smirk on his face, sinking onto Adrien's sofa without looking at him again.

"If you think my words are harsh, just wait for Ladybug to put her hands on you. You won't like it, Félix."

Félix lowered his gaze at Adrien's words, but he bounced back quickly and crossed gazes with him again. "I want the Peacock back. You two want the Miraculous back. I wanted to ask you if you knew how to contact Ladybug and Chat Noir, but I know that I don't need to, after what I just saw."

The glare never lost Adrien's eyes. "Ladybug won't trust you. You hurt her too much for that. You hurt me too much for trusting you. Why should we even listen to you? You will never be on anybody's side except your own."

The smirk returned to Félix's lips. "Well, right now my side is even your side. Until things change, that is. You will just have to trust me because, in your situation, you need all the allies you can get. Now that the Italian witch has the Peacock, our lives are in danger."

"I'm aware." For the first time, Adrien's gaze dropped. "She threatened me today."

Now it was Félix's turn to open his eyes wide. "So you finally found out? Did she tell you?"

"No. Fath—Gabriel did, last night." Adrien couldn't avoid a couple of tears from worming their way out of the corner of his eyes and down his cheeks.

"Did you see…the cave?"

Adrien noticed that Félix had been very vague on the details and somehow, that surprised him a little. "I saw my mother's coffin, yes. I know how she and your father got sick now. And Nathalie, too." He dropped himself on the sofa next to Félix, his fists clenching the material of his jeans on his thighs. "When did you find out?"

Félix slouched his shoulders a little and sighed. "My father told me before he died. I've been trying to join together the pieces of the puzzle since."

"I see." Adrien sniffled. "So when you came for the anniversary of maman's disappearance you already knew?"

Félix nodded. "Yes. That's why I tried to contact Papillon that day."

"Stealing my phone and deleting the message from my friends."

Félix shrugged. "Yes. The end justifies the means."

"IT BLOODY DOESN'T." Adrien slammed his fist on his thighs. "You had no right to steal my phone and upset my friends. Just like you had no right to take the yoyo away from Ladybug. You should've spoken to us."

Félix glared at him. "Of course, Ladybug would have agreed to give me the Peacock if I'd have helped her. Say that to someone else."

Adrien glared back. "What makes you think that she would do it now, Félix? She hates you."

"But she needs me now." Félix cocked an eyebrow at him. "You need me too, now more than ever. You need my silence, too, Adrien. You don't want your daddy to find out that you jump around town dressed in a black leather-like spandex suit, right?" He noticed how all the blood drained from Adrien's face. Despite the boy's best efforts not to show it, Félix could tell that he was terrified. "You don't want him to know that he's had half of the solution to his problem right under his roof all this time, right?"

"You wouldn't do that."

Félix smirk widened. "Try me."

"YOU SON OF A B—" Adrien jolted around and grabbed Félix's collar again to pull him close and glare at him, their faces mere millimetres from each other. But before Félix could say anything back, Adrien's phone began buzzing and the sound stopped the boy in his tracks. With difficulty, he let down his cousin's collar and grabbed his phone to see Marinette's caller ID flash on it. Without thinking about it twice, he accepted the call, turning his camera on.

"Were you trying to call m—" Marinette started to say, but before she could say anything compromising, Adrien moved the camera to show both himself and Félix next to each other. Marinette's gaze hardened in literal milliseconds. "What is he doing here?"

"Yes, I do need to talk to you, Marinette," Adrien said, his gaze darting towards Félix briefly, "but in private. He's…visiting. Have you got some time?"

Marinette's glare never lost sight of Félix. "The boulangerie has just closed. Today it was manic, I've never seen such a long queue of customers, ever. I'm shattered, but…sure, I have some time to talk. What's up?" She finally stopped glaring at Félix and moved a much warmer and softer gaze towards Adrien, who looked up, trying to find the right words to pass on the message without sounding suspicious to his cousin. He didn't want him to learn any further details he could threaten them with.

"This afternoon I found your cat looking for you. I tried to return him to you but you looked busy, so I left him at the usual spot, would you be able to go look for him, as soon as possible? I think he needs some looking after."

Marinette raised an eyebrow and scratched her head. Then, she glanced at Félix and pursed her lips. "Alright, I'll go fetch him when I end the call. Thanks for letting me know, Adrien, I've been worried about my cat all day."

When they ended the call, Adrien excused himself and went to look for Nathalie, to tell her that he wasn't feeling very well with his stomach and ask her if it was okay for him to not be disturbed that evening, so he could catch up with some sleep and get better.

"Do you want something to eat, Adrien? You look pale," Nathalie said, furrowing her brows.

"No, thank you. I'll just take some doliprane before going to sleep. I feel a little nauseous."

Luckily, Nathalie had nothing against his request for resting time and just wished him an early good night.

Sighing in relief, Adrien walked back to his room, locked the door, and turned to his cousin. "You're coming with me now. Claws out!" Before Félix could object, Chat Noir grabbed him by the side and jumped out of the window carrying him away.

When they reached the rooftop where Chat Noir had been waiting for Ladybug all afternoon, the moon was high in the sky and bathed the surroundings with its spectral light. Chat Noir looked around, but Ladybug hadn't arrived yet. He was nearly going to sit down and tell Félix to do the same when he heard the zip of Ladybug's yoyo approaching and, seconds later, the polka-dotted heroine landed on the rooftop next to him.

"Were you looking for me, Chaton? I saw your missed calls. Is everything alright?" she asked. Good, she was playing along and pretending she didn't know about Félix's presence.

Chat Noir turned towards her and tried to smile reassuringly (although he had no idea whether it looked more like a cringe grimace than a smile). "We have a little problem, yes." He moved to the side of the rooftop and exposed the presence of Félix.

As soon as Ladybug's eyes caught a glimpse of the boy, she pounced forward, glared at him and went for his throat. Félix didn't let her get to him this time, though. With an acrobatic move, he ducked her attack and tumbled away, landing a few steps behind where he previously sat.

"So nice to see you again, Ladybug," he muttered, a fresh smirk popping on his lips as his gaze never lost hers. "Do you greet all civilians with such charming behaviour or is it something reserved for me only? I'm flattered…"

"Félix," she hissed back.

"Amazing. How do you know it's Félix and not Adrien? You didn't have a clue last time. I wonder…"

Shoot. Chat Noir's heart skipped a beat as he crossed gazes with Ladybug. Félix wasn't stupid. He was the opposite of stupid. This could create more problems than it should. But before he could say anything, Ladybug lunged unexpectedly and managed to grab Félix by the collar, glaring straight into his eyes.

"Adrien Agreste doesn't scowl as you do. He's a ray of sunshine, unlike you."

A smirk popped at the corners of Félix's mouth at the words. "He's not as perfect as you think he is," he said, clearly wanting to object some more, but Ladybug didn't leave him a chance to do it. She dropped his collar and, before Félix could even move, she balled one of her hands into a fist and punched him square on the jaw, causing him to drop bum-first to the floor.

"You should wash your mouth before talking about him." Ladybug patted her hands clean of invisible dust.

Chat Noir couldn't deny that it gave him a massive sense of pride and satisfaction to see Félix beaten up by his Lady. After all, his cousin deserved it. But he couldn't help but worry about whether Félix would take it personally.

Félix put a hand to the bit of his face that Ladybug had hit, which now was starting to look redder and probably, later on, would leave a red mark. "If you listen to what I've got to say you may find out that this time, I'm on your side."

"What are you doing here?" Ladybug asked, folding her arms over her chest. Her whole body's posture showed how much she didn't like being in his presence, her glare only highlighting her distaste even further.

"I had a little mishap."

"Ha. Call it a mishap." Chat Noir points an accusing finger at him. "He lost the Peacock, M'Lady."

Ladybug sucked her breath in. "What?"

"When he stole your yoyo, he made a deal with Monarch, bargaining all the other Miraculous for the one of the Peacock. But—" He lowered his gaze. "An old acquaintance managed to trick him and she stole the Peacock brooch. And…there's something more." He clenched his hands into fists so strongly that both his arms started shaking. "She threatened me to harm someone I care for."

Ladybug sucked her breath in. "She threatened…you?"

He shot her a watery gaze. "Félix knows, M'lady, he was hiding in my room when I came back after patrol and saw me detransforming." All blood drained from Ladybug's face. "I'm sorry, I should've been more careful, but my room looked empty and I thought it was safe."

She looked at him for a very long time, sometimes moving her gaze to look at Félix and wincing each time. "Who's…she?" she eventually asked.

"Lila."

Ladybug's face somehow became even paler as the polka-dotted superheroine sucked her breath in.

"Yeah. She wants me to follow her plan to humiliate and harm Marinette Dupain-Cheng or—" He gulped, noticing the terror filling Ladybug's frown. "Or she would snap me from reality."

Chat Noir saw Ladybug's eyes getting wider, and then even wider. He saw her putting both hands over her mouth and taking a couple of steps backwards. He saw her darting her gaze around the rooftop as if looking for an escape route. However, after the first moment of panic, Ladybug's gaze hardened, she took on a stiff, but more confident, posture and lowered her hands to her sides, balling them into fists.

"It's imperative that she never finds out that you're Chat Noir," she muttered to herself.

Félix thought it was a good moment to pop a fresh smirk on his lips. "That's why you need me, Ladybug. I can take Adrien's place—" But Ladybug's glare stopped him as he spoke.

"How can we trust you? We're in this horrible situation mostly because of you."

Félix stood up from the ground and patted his—Adrien's—clothes clean. "I want the Peacock back. To get it, I'm ready to help you." He crossed gazes with her. "So long as it suits me, of course."

Ladybug's gaze dropped, her eye small slits on her face, her arms folded over her chest. "And this should fill me with confidence, obviously," she deadpanned.

"I don't understand what you mean," Félix said smugly. "After all, you're getting your wish come true." He smirked at Ladybug's baffled expression. "Remember? The cat and the dog work together. That's what you were rambling about when you gave me Barkk." His smirk widened when Ladybug's doubtful expression gave place to anger.

She facepalmed. "That wasn't meant for you!"

"It amuses me to no end, actually," he teased, "that you wanted Adrien to work together with himself. Pretty ironic, indeed."

Adrien observed his cousin tease Ladybug and his Lady getting more and more annoyed. He was sure Félix would end up with a punch in the face on the opposite side if he carried on this way, but that wasn't the part that annoyed him. After all, Félix deserved it. He deserved even more than just a punch in the face. However…what Félix had just said, although making sense in a way, still didn't add up.

"How is this supposed to work?" he eventually asked. Both Ladybug and Félix turned to look at him interrupting their snarky exchange. "Lila will try to communicate with me when she wants me to act up on her plan, and she will reach out to the wrong person. Seeing a nice little sentimonster mask appear on Chat Noir's face when she thinks she's talking to Adrien would give my identity away even faster."

"That's tr—" Ladybug started to say, but the smirk on Félix's lips widened, giving him a ghastly expression that Adrien hated seeing on a face so similar to his own.

"I never said I was going to take Adrien's place as Adrien."

Both Ladybug and Chat Noir crossed gazes at that, a confused frown furrowing their brows until the penny dropped for both at the same time and their faces snapped to look at Félix instantly.

"I won't allow you to get the Black Cat Miraculous!" shouted Ladybug.

"You're not getting my ring, Félix. Next thing we know, you'll give it to Lila!" Chat Noir pointed out, his lips pursed in a deadly frown.

"Okay," Félix said. "Let's do it your way, then. Adrien stays Adrien and Chat Noir. I go home and…when Lila or Monarch hit, they will make an interesting discovery or two."

Ladybug's gaze dropped. She put both hands to the sides of her head and started rocking back and forth. Chat Noir was immediately at her side and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulders trying to grab her chin to force eye contact.

"It's alright, Bug. It'll be okay, we'll manage. We don't need his help." He glared at Félix as he said so, but all he managed to obtain was for Félix to cross his arms to his chest and raise an amused eyebrow at them.

"I…I don't trust him, Chat. How can I trust him? He can do whatever he wants. And he's also a sentibeing like you, Lila could threaten him too. He has no loyalty to anyone but himself, unlike you. We can't trust him." She pouted at him, her gaze turning sad, tears starting to prick out of the corner of her eyes.

"You don't have to trust him, Buginette. I told you, we don't need him. We can manage as we've always done, me and you against the world!" He stretched a fist to pound it with her, and she did reach out for their familiar exchange, but the sadness didn't leave her eyes.

With evident difficulty, she tore her gaze from Chat Noir's electric green one and glared at Félix again. "I can't afford for Lila or Monarch to find Chat Noir's identity. But I can't afford to lose the Black Cat, either. This isn't a fair deal, Félix. You're right, we need you. But you can't take it all, without giving something back. That's not how it works."

Félix lost his smirk, his frown getting very serious as if he meant business. "What do you want in exchange?"

Ladybug looked at him. Then at Chat Noir. Then back at him. She knew that she had to do something, and she must admit it, if she could trust Félix, his idea would be worthy of the enfant prodige that he was. Total genius. The best way to protect Chat Noir's identity was really to have someone take his place, someone who looks so much like him that nobody would see the difference. But…how could she trust him after all he's done when they faced Strikeback? After he just said that he couldn't guarantee his loyalty to their faces.

Unless…

She straightened her back and narrowed her eyes, trying to mimic the expression she had so many times seen on Su-Han's face. She stretched a hand out.

"I want your amok."

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

Hello everyone!

Thank you for the feedback on chapter 5! Not as many comments as I would have liked, but the ones I got were good, so thank you so much for following me! I hope that this chapter will get more of a reaction from you all.

Ladybug had some guts to make a request such as this, but it does make sense from her point of view. But what do you think? Will Félix cave in?

I'll see you next week with chapter 7, "...and Ladybug makes a deal". 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!