My Crush's Evil Cousin (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

Plagg, Claws Out

Felix shoved his textbooks into his backpack, zipping it up in one swift motion. "So . . . do you maybe want to hang out later today?" His cheeks heated, and he cursed his face's reaction to the question.

Mari looked at him, bent over her own backpack, her upside down face beaming at him. "Sure. It will have to be in a couple hours though, my parents need me to help out in the bakery." She straightened and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

Felix rose from his seat to follow her. "Oh, that's cool. Do you help them a lot? What sort of stuff do you do?"

"Yeah, I work there a couple days a week. Mostly I help with the baking. They wanted me to help with delivery, but I kept tripping and ruining the food." She blushed, scratching the back of her head. "I'm so clumsy."

Felix shrugged, glancing around as their classmates all left the room and fanned out to socialize. His gaze focused on his cousin, who stood near Nino and Alya a few feet away. He was surprised Mari hadn't made a beeline for him already. "Not really."

"What?" Mari stopped and turned to face him, one hand clutching the strap of her backpack. "Of course I'm clumsy." She laughed. "I literally fell into you on your first day."

Felix bit his lip, wondering how he could explain this to her without revealing what he knew about her. "I think you get into your own head," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes in thought.

She tilted her head, one of her pigtails falling off her shoulder, and he got the insane urge to pull the hair-tie out of her hair, but that wouldn't be a good thing to do here. She would get embarrassed and flustered, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

It was strange. He had never considered someone else's feelings before. It had never seemed important to him, and besides, people were so inconsistent and confusing. But Mari . . . she deserved to be happy no matter what, and he wanted to be the one to do that for her, no matter what.

"Well?" Marinette asked. Felix blinked out of his thoughts to see Mari staring at him, an eyebrow raised. She had probably asked him a question, but he hadn't heard it. His face began to heat, and he clasped his hands in front of him, his mind scrambling for what she had asked him.

"I . . . uh." He stopped, blinking rapidly before releasing a sigh. He couldn't remember."Sorry, what did you ask?"

Mari giggled, covering her grin with her hand. "I asked what you meant by that."

Oh right, they had been talking about her clumsiness. "I mean . . . I think you make yourself nervous." He stopped, narrowing his eyes. That wasn't quite what he wanted to say. "I mean, you underestimate yourself. You expect yourself to be clumsy, and in doing so you make it a reality. But really, you have the ability to be . . ." In his mind's eye he saw Ladybug flying across the city, her face distorted in a deadly concentration, "Graceful," he finished lamely, words failing him.

He wanted to say that she had the ability to save all of Paris all by herself, but he couldn't, for obvious reasons. He frowned, picking at a thread on his jeans. It was frustrating, having to pretend like he didn't know, but he still wasn't sure what to do with the information yet, and he didn't want to freak her out or cause her any sort of trouble.

Mari stared at him, her blue eyes wide and sparkling. Felix did a double take when he realized the sparkle came from tears, and he stepped closer to her, his hands extended. "What is it? Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry." The words all came out in a rush, and his stomach twisted into knots.

Mari grabbed his hands and held them tight. "No, you didn't say anything wrong. It's just . . . nice," she explained, her voice so soft Felix had to lean toward her in order to hear it. "I don't think anyone's . . ." She stopped, frowning softly. "I guess I just . . . don't look at myself that way."