Chapter Text
As Marinette handed out pieces from the cake the size of the birthday girl’s father to the guests, joined by several faces Felix had seen in the office this morning, – including his mother, aunt, Adrien and Chloe, – he pondered what to do next.
Chloe waved a red elegantly packaged box at him, nodding at Marinette, which he deciphered as ‘Come to me to pick up the gift when your wife isn’t looking’. But he decided that underwear could wait, because now he was interested in his other present.
After waiting until everyone was handed plates of cake and people dispersed into groups, chatting cheerfully about something – it seems that most of them knew each other well and wanted to talk, so the form of organizing the party in the form of another buffet table didn’t surprise him at all, – Felix approached Marinette and took her hand gently.
The woman instantly snuggled up to him and smiled softly, as if he was exactly what she needed right now. “I missed you, love.” She spoke quietly, without flirting, but with such sincere reverence, dropping her head on his shoulder, that Felix immediately wanted to wrap her in his arms and hide her from all this noise.
“I… missed you too.” He confessed, surprised by how truthful this sentiment felt, despite the fact that A) he hardly knew her and B) they hardly parted today.
Marinette pulled back a little and looked into his face. “Do you want to run away from everyone?” She offered, as if this desire was written on his face.
Felix looked around the room, surprised that for him Marinette was ready to run away from all her guests, whose company she obviously enjoyed. His eyes stumbled on Alya, who lowered the phone after the photo of their hug was probably just taken, and gave him a thumbs up, then poked her forefinger in the air, showing up.
Balcony. – Felix remembered and turned to Marinette. “That would be a great idea.” He finally answered her. “How about going up to the balcony together?” He offered in the hope that he understood correctly and this very balcony was somewhere in the bakery.
“Anywhere as long as you’re with me.” She smiled and led him through the crowd of guests by the hand to the same stairs that they had already climbed today.
It turned out that the room with pink walls had access to the balcony, where Felix followed his wife up, and when Marinette looked around, she gasped. “You remembered!” She exclaimed, and hugged him almost as tightly as her father did today.
Felix hugged her back. “What exactly?” He asked carefully, unable to restrain his curiosity – the balcony was decorated with typical birthday decorations and garlands in which he couldn’t see anything special, so what the journalist was so proud of and what Marinette was so happy about wasn’t clear to him.
“Don’t play silly, love.” The girl giggled as she led him to the railing and snuggled back to him. “You already managed to surprise me anyway…” She said without explaining a thing, but only settled herself in his arms half-side comfortably, looking thoughtfully into the distance.
“I can’t believe it’s been a full ten years since then.” She spoke at last without taking her eyes off the darkening horizon. “But I remember that day like it was yesterday. How you brazenly invited yourself to my birthday, how you looked at me all evening so attentively that I was afraid that you figured out my identity.” She sighed. “And then when we were alone on the balcony, you told me that in ten years we would be standing here again together and that I will be your wife.”
Marinette looked around the balcony again. “But I didn’t expect you to remember it was tonight, all the more so – to be able to restore the same decorations that were on my balcony that evening.” She pulled back a little and tilted her head back to find his eyes with hers. “But then again, you have proved so many times since then that you are true to your word and that there’s no unattainable goal for you if you really want it.”
She buried her nose in his chest and muttered a little quieter, more to herself. “You even convinced me to give up Tikki to take the pressure off me and let me try to get pregnant…” She sighed. “But you’re right, of course, – Guardian’s duties are more than enough for me and I definitely can’t leave them.”
Felix felt his skin burning from her warmth, his chest bursting with equally strong emotions fighting each other: the joy that he seemed to be able to make her so happy and the pain that it wasn’t at all he who made her happy, and that he could lose her at any moment.
He carefully exhaled the air that forced his way through the lump in his throat and resolutely opened his mouth to confess everything to her, but was interrupted without starting his speech with a low female voice, coming from behind.
“Oh, there you are, honey,” Sabine said, peering out the hatch onto the balcony. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, dears, but Jagget stopped by for a little while to congratulate Marinette and is leaving for the concert soon, so…”
Marinette pulled away from Felix and carefully looked into his face. “You don’t mind, do you?” She asked, as if sensing his precarious state.
“Go.” Felix said softly against his will, not feeling entitled to take her away from her friends when he was practically nobody to her. “I’ll stay here for a moment.”
Marinette looked at him with concern a little longer, then gave him a peck on the lips and went downstairs after her mother.
Felix had no time even to exhale before a red spotted ball burst from under the hem of his jacket and darted through the air in front of him.
“Uhh… Tikki?” He asked quietly, taking the kwami in his palms. “You know I’m not your real chosen, don’t you?”
Kwami looked at him, nodding quickly. “I didn’t immediately understand what was going on.” She spoke worriedly. “But when Sabine appeared, I remembered! We have little time.”
Felix’s heart sank. “Little time? Why? Do I already… have to go back to my life?..” He asked reluctantly.
“This is your life, but…” Tikki glanced around as if expecting an attack. “Now I can remember this day like it has already happened! When they left and you were alone on the balcony, an Akuma hit you before you could transform!” She reported in one breath. “We need to get out of here right now!”
Felix looked up, searching for danger just in time to see a glowing ball flying in his direction, and made a sharp leap to the side. Then, wasting no time and still not seeing the source of the attack, he jumped onto the flower stand, then over the chimney pipes and quickly climbed the fire escape, hiding behind the structures on the roof.
“How do I transform?” He asked quickly, peering under the hem of his jacket where Tikki dug into the inside pocket.
“Say ‘Tikki, spots on’.” The kwami replied with the same haste, and he immediately repeated the command.
A magical glow flickered around him for only a moment, – tingling on his skin and replacing his clothes with a red suit, – and Felix peered out of his hiding place to check if his appearance wouldn’t reveal the secret of his identity.
But the Akuma seemed to be busy at the moment, because a few rooftops away there was an active fight between Chat Noir and a figure in luminous clothing and with an equally luminous scepter in their hand.
Felix quickly searched through his memories for the video in which he saw how the heroine of Paris summoned her special abilities, called ‘Lucky charm!’, and caught a coil of rope that fell into his hands. He frowned at the object, because in order to bind the enemy he had to first catch them, and looked again at the fighting figures that had shifted down the street as the obvious decision flashed through his mind.
After tying a loop at the end of the rope, Felix swung the yoyo to hook onto a nearby rooftop and zipped down towards the fight while throwing a loop of rope towards Akuma. By the time his feet touched the asphalt, the figure in a glowing suit had already fallen to the ground, wrapped in a ring of rope as Chat Noir grabbed their scepter.
“My perrrrfect parrrrtner!” He smiled at Felix with a playful bow. “Always miraculously showing up at the right moment with the right decision. Cataclysm!”
Felix reminded himself that it was his cousin, Adrien Agreste, – the supermodel who, if his hunch was correct, had to imprison his own father, – and he suddenly understood why, with all his feline humor, this man had so much wise depth in his eyes.
The scepter in Chat Noir’s hand instantly turned black, as if incinerated, and crumbled, – a dark butterfly flying out of it, – and the figure on the ground was covered with a dark mass for a moment, leaving the confused girl looking around.
“I should’ve stayed outside and guarded you.” Chat spoke quietly in a more serious voice as Felix swung his yoyo to catch the dark insect. “Whoever owns it now, we should’ve expected them not to miss her birthday.”
Felix thought that Adrien must have been talking about the new owner of the Butterfly Miraculous, who, according to Marinette, had a particular dislike for her civilian personality, – as he threw a spotted rope into the air, calling for his restoring powers, remembering the heroine doing it on the numerous videos he saw.
Then, along with a shimmering stream of red grains that filled the space for a moment, his consciousness dissolved into the darkness of non-existence.
*
Felix woke up and stretched sweetly in his bed, looking around his room with a sleepy gaze, and immediately realized that something was wrong, but he couldn’t understand what it was. It was just that some feeling at the bottom of his stomach prevented him from feeling rested and relaxed.
He got up and walked over to his desk to look at his desktop planner – maybe he had something planned that he forgot to prepare for? But the marks on the paper showed nothing special, except, perhaps, the date, which seemed to him incorrect.
Memories of a day lived in someone else’s life fell on him suddenly, like an avalanche that had already gained strength and speed and hit him with such force, as if he were standing at the very foot of a mountain...
He was in his room in London. Alone. The same as always. And he didn’t need to look in the mirror to make sure he was in his former body.
But his whole being buzzed in a sign that his memories couldn’t be an ordinary dream.
Or…
No!
He needed to run! Find her! Make sure it’s her. Find signs that he visited his future, and if not, – make sure that his future could become just that.
Felix took a quick shower and put himself in order, threw the most necessary things into the bag – documents, wallet, phone, notebook, – and went downstairs to tell his mother that he urgently needed to go to Paris, wish her a nice day, and left for the airport.
The flight felt almost instantaneous to him, because all the time Felix was quickly writing down in his notebook all the details of the previous day that he still remembered, worried that the events of the new day would crowd them out and he would miss something important.
In Paris, he forced himself to go to the Agreste manor – as much as he would like to rush into the bakery, he didn’t want to seem like a psycho to his future family, and Adrien was the perfect entry ticket into Marinette’s life.
Judging by the date on the calendar, today was again her birthday, which he lived for the third time: the first time in London – while knowing nothing about it, the second time in Paris – ten years in the future, and now – again in Paris, but in his own ordinary life.
And he wasn’t going to miss this party…
“Today isn’t the best day for this, Fe…” Adrien said uncertainly after Felix once again apologized for his last visit and promised to make up for it, and that he was going to spend a lot of time with Adrien and his friends to fulfill this promise. “The thing is, today is my friend’s birthday and I’m invited, so…”
“Wonderful!” Felix exclaimed, not letting his cousin finish the sentence, and mentally borrowing his mother’s assertiveness. “I’ll go with you and apologize to all your friends who will probably be there too!”
“It’s… uh… I guess…” His cousin agreed hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. “But I have fencing before that…”
“It’s not a problem, Adrien!” Felix assured him, “You’ll tell me where to go and I’ll meet you there.” He put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder for more persuasiveness. “So, which of your friends has a birthday today?”
*
By the time Adrien finished his fencing and entered the bakery with another girl with oriental features, Felix was already standing with a huge bouquet of roses in front of a confused birthday girl and an equally confused journalist, who, however, had already taken a picture of the bouquet.
Felix imperceptibly smirked at this to himself – he had absolutely no complaints about this girl’s obsessive desire to capture everything on camera...
“My cousin said it was your birthday today and since I had just arrived in Paris to personally apologize for my last visit to his friends, I took the liberty of congratulating you at the same time.” Felix finished his opening speech and watched Marinette’s face show disbelief and suspicion. “Adrien told me a lot of good things about you.”
Even though Adrien’s sweet and kind friend had her own reason not to accept his congratulations, the fact that she was Ladybug and Felix tried to kiss her the last time they met probably strengthened her obvious reluctance to accept the bouquet, which she nevertheless tried to hide.
“Well, take it, sweetie,” The woman Felix identified as Sabine prompted – the more Felix saw the details of her life that he couldn’t know before or just guess in his dream, – the brighter it became in his heart. “See how much effort this young man put in it!”
Marinette accepted the flowers hesitantly and Felix saw Adrien’s face tighten, but when his cousin turned to him, the model immediately smiled, feigning support and approval.
‘Marinette was always just a friend to you,’ – Felix remembered, realizing that Adrien doesn’t know Ladybug’s identity yet, otherwise he would‘ve already dated his ‘good friend’, but he probably had stronger feelings for Marinette than he himself acknowledged.
Remembering the huge bouquet of roses in future Adrien’s hands, Felix suddenly realized why his future self tolerated Chat Noir’s antics and his cousin’s endless flirtation with his wife: the future Adrien was no longer his rival. All this will remain in the past and in the future Felix will be 100 percent confident in his wife, and in himself, too. So the idea that Felix wanted to marry Marinette as soon as possible in fear that Adrien would ‘win her back’ seemed absurd now.
Felix felt a pair of giant, strong hands grab him as Tom pulled him into his arms. “That’s what I call a gentleman!” The man spoke in a low cheerful voice, and Felix felt the eyes of Marinette and Adrien fixed on him, as if they were expecting him to start fighting the huge men off. But to their surprise, which didn’t escape his attention, Felix relaxed his muscles, allowing his attacker to squeeze him.
This was his future father-in-law, after all.
As the man released him and stepped aside, Felix sighed. “Well then,” He began, turning fully to Marinette – regret and sadness written all over his face. “If my presence is too unpleasant for you…” He broke off, hoping he had already impressed her parents enough to convince Marinette to let him stay for the party.
Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw the expressive looks on Tom and Sabine’s faces and Alya’s still suspicious look while Marinette’s face remained scowling. She then glanced at Adrien, who was looking back at her with begging puppy eyes.
Good, - Felix thought, – her weakness for Adrien at the moment would only benefit his plan.
His conclusions were confirmed as Marinette lowered her eyes, uttering a quiet “You can stay,” and turned around to carry the bouquet away.
Soon the rest of the guests began to arrive, and Felix apologized to everyone, – which was surprisingly easy, because polite manners were natural to him, and even his pride hardly suffered when he reminded himself of his wife’s words: “You have proved that there is no unattainable goal for you if you really want it.”
Someone looked at him doubtfully, someone accepted his words more readily. When he apologized to Alya, Felix also complimented her blog for information and professionalism. Then he thought a little and added: “Don’t forget to take a couple of pictures on the balcony, I heard it’s very nicely decorated.”
The girl looked at him in confusion, – probably none of the guests had seen the scenery yet and she was the one to place them. “How did you…” She began, but a guy with glasses had just joined them and they started talking about music.
Throughout the evening, Felix kept making eye contact with Marinette. She was probably just watching him to make sure he wouldn’t make any pranks at her party, and Felix himself honestly simply had difficulty taking his eyes off her.
He remembered that now she must be worried about whether he figured out her identity, which she would tell him ten years later on the balcony.
At this thought, his feet carried him to the stairs and Felix vaguely thought that he probably should have stayed with everyone downstairs where the party was, because officially he hadn’t even been in that pink room yet. But his doubts were dispelled when he opened the hatch and saw all the same scenery that he had already seen on this balcony, so he got up and walked to the railing, looking at the darkening sky and remembering his wife’s warm embrace.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice demanded from behind him and Felix turned to Marinette, who was also standing on the balcony, – either following him or simply seeking privacy.
“I was a little stuffy and tired of the crowd.” He half lied. “So I was looking for somewhere I could hide for a moment.”
Marinette looked at him with a slight triumphant gleam in her eyes. “You didn’t have to endure all of us.” She said, clearly alluding to how he had invaded her party and glad that he wasn’t too comfortable here. “It was enough just to apologize.”
Felix smiled, sincerely, because he couldn’t help but see through her sternness that softness and warmth that his wife didn’t hide from him. “I don’t mind your friends, Marinette.” He promised, and looked around at the scenery and garlands. “Besides, they really care about you.”
Marinette followed his gaze, and although the suspicion didn’t leave her face, her features softened and she walked to the railing and stood not far from Felix. “Alya decorated everything very beautifully this year.” She confirmed.
For a while they were both silent. She – looking at the lights of the garland, he – looking at her.
Then Felix cleared his throat softly. “You know, in ten years we’ll be standing on this balcony again, but you will be my wife, and you’ll be happy.” The words came out of his mouth so easily and naturally that Felix didn’t even think about how ridiculous they probably sounded to Marinette.
The girl turned to him and for a moment there was only surprise and slight confusion on her face, and before she began to resent his impudence and contradict him, Felix heard the camera click and they both turned to the hatch, where only the top of the fleeing journalist’s head flashed.
Marinette sniffed indignantly, either at him or at her friend, and went to the hatch, clearly displeased. “I’m gonna make sure she deletes it so it won’t give her wrong ideas!” She muttered under her breath.
“Or the right ones.” Felix offered with a smug grin.
Marinette turned to him while already descending and their eyes met. For a moment, the smug mask disappeared from his face and the suspicion that reigned there all evening disappeared from hers, – and they just looked at each other.
And he saw her.
That woman with whom he spent the day, – strong and fatal, beautiful and soft, exciting and unique. And he knew that tonight or ten years from now – but this was the same woman, the woman with whom he was now hopelessly in love.
As if remembering to frown at him, Marinette blinked, and her open gaze searching for an explanation of his behavior in Felix’s eyes, began to fade, giving way to the previous grimace of mistrust.
“Happy birthday, Marinette.” Felix spoke with a soft, sincere smile while she was still half-hidden in her cocoon.
Her eyes widened a little, as if she hadn’t expected to see this expression on his face, and as if for a moment she felt his sincerity and didn’t doubt it. “T-thank you…” She stammered and lowered her eyes – a slight blush on her cheeks – and disappeared into the room.
Felix sighed and turned to the city, looking into the distance at the Eiffel Tower.
He was impatient to wait for the moment when he could hug her, to find out when their first kiss happened, choose an apartment with her and propose to her. Now he understood that he had married not because he was afraid of losing her, but simply because he couldn’t wait for it to happen.
He was eager to share his life with her, because even though they officially met for the first time just today, Felix was absolutely convinced that he was already taken.
Taken by Marinette.