Check Mate

Chapter 11

It had been about a month and a half since Marinette had appeared in his life. Since then Felix had learned several things about her. She was a skilled designer attending on a scholarship, with several celebrity connections, her parents owned an admittedly fantastic bakery, she had no problem standing up for others, she was very intelligent, apparently had an infatuation with the color pink, she brought out the best in pretty much everyone she interacted with, and she was definitely out on her balcony at night.

The sound of her balcony door opening and closing happened too much to be a coincidence.

Yet they still knew practically nothing about why she really decided to attend their school.

That thought hadn't crossed his mind since the akuma incident where she disappeared during the fight. He'd actually been keeping a keen eye on her since then, as if by watching over her, he could guarantee her safety.

Then Chloe contacted him.

He had no idea why she wanted to talk to his families lawyers, she refused to answer when asked, saying only that she needed the lawyers to help Marinette, and when he asked about that, she'd said something rather strange.

"All I can say is that Marinette did nothing wrong. Anything else you want to know will have to come from her."

He didn't doubt Marinette's innocence, even if he didn't know what exactly happened, but he was still confused.

What did Marinette need lawyers for?

He stared at his classmate, examining her for any clues.

Her hair was haphazardly raked back into some semblance of a ponytail, strands of hair sticking up awkwardly making it look sloppy (how did she manage to make sloppy hair look good?) She was wearing more concealer than usual, but instead of it just being the corner of her left eye it was now also under her eyes, not entirely hiding the dark circles underneath. She looked more pale than usual, which bothered him. She was wearing a plain black hoodie and blue jeans, when she typically looked more fashionable. Was he imagining things or was there a slight sheen of sweat on her face?

His frown deepened at that. She didn't look too good. She was still beautiful of course, but she was definitely either exhausted or sick.

Wait, what?

Felix shook the shock away. He wasn't blind, he could recognize beauty when he saw it. Thinking her beautiful wasn't a crime.

Do you think Allegra is beautiful? An intrusive thought popped into his head and he blinked at it.

He could recognize Allegra was attractive, but calling her beautiful, even in his own mind, felt weird. She was like a sister of sorts, and he couldn't imagine any brother was willing to call his sister beautiful.

Aren't all of your friends like family to you? That would make Marinette like a sister of sorts, would it not?

No. Absolutely not. Marinette? A metaphorical sister? Not a chance.

"Felix? You alright over there? You've been staring at Nettie for like, ten minutes." Claude murmured to him, keeping his voice low so he didn't draw attention from the others, pulling him out of his thoughts in the process.

He felt a stab of gratitude. Ever since he started trying to be more affectionate to his friends, they in turn tried to be more mindful of his boundaries and his own feelings, as difficult as they were for him. Claude was still eccentric and dramatic as ever, but he was also getting better at understanding him.

He supposed he had Marinette to thank for that. Ever since she came along, he found himself wanting to close the distance between him and his friends, instead of keeping them at arms length.