Treehouse

Buddy Date

Felix sat by a park bench, leisurely reading a book. Before all that's happened, he would probably be chasing around the city for Marinette, definitely annoying both her and his cousin to pieces, but he was out of things to do now and frankly, it's hella boring. He groaned, not noticing the blunette that walked close to him and stretched entirely on the bench, his feet tripping her.
She gasped as she realized she was falling and let out a little scream as she fell to the ground, groaning and rolling on her side, glaring at him. "Okay, maybe I deserved that, but seriously??? On pavement???" she whined, scrambling to her feet.
His mouth parted a little bit, sitting properly and bookmarking his page before reluctantly holding a hand out to her. "I didn't notice you. Unintentional. I'm sorry," he said.
She blinked but took his hand, swallowing her pride and standing up. "It's alright," she said softly, and took a deep breath. "Um..." she scratched her neck and sat on the bench beside him. "I'm sorry for earlier. I wasn't in.. in a right mind."
"When were you ever," he scoffed bitterly and sat back as well, looking down to his book, tapping the cover. "Forget it."
She was a little taken aback by the insult but only looked at her feet, nodding a bit. "You're right, Im never in a right mind anymore," she scoffed and stood up. She fidgeted with her earrings, contemplating getting rid of them then and there. Maybe it would be easier to just start over. No, she couldn't do that. Paris and her family and friends and Chat Noir especially for multiple reasons, was depending on her. She let it drop and then stopped in her tracks, turning back to him. "No."
He furrowed his brows and looked at her weirdly, trying to weird this oddball of a human in front of him but he just couldn't. This was why he never went out of the house. "No what?" He cocked his head to the side.
"No, I won't just forget it," she said, and then walked back over to him, looking down at him. "I made a mistake and I'm going to fix it. How can I make it up to you?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. It was part of her responsibility as Ladybug to make sure nobody was in the mindset of anger so they'd get akumatized.
"You, uh, I don't know, leave me alone? I'm trying to get over my heartbreak here, see, I even have a book," he huffed, waving the book in front of her face. "I'll be fine so you worry about yourself."
She shook her head, and sat down next to him again. "I'm not leaving until you're genuinely smiling," she said, crossing her arms, tapping her feet. "So what's it gonna be? Ice cream? Cloud watching? Hell, you can read to me if you want."
"Oh trust me I've been trying to genuinely smile for so long now," he mumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes. He sighed and looked at her, arms crossed. "What, are you suggesting we go on a date? What are you trying to pull?"
She shrugged. "Well, if you're heartbroken, maybe I should at least give you a chance to contend with Chat," she said, and then sighed. "No, no that's wrong. Um. Just a friendly hangout," she smiled sheepishly.
"Too little too late," he said and stood up, putting the book back in his bag and looked down at her with a bored look. "Look, if you think this is.. I am something you should fix, don't. Clearly you're only doing this because it'll help make you feel better. I'm not that selfless to do that for you." He scoffed and turned to walk away.
She watched him in shock, and bit her lip, chewing on it, but as he took a step away, she quickly stood up, some little part of her telling her to not let him go. "Wait!" she exclaimed.
He groaned and stopped, turning around to look at her. "What is it?"
She opened her mouth to speak, unsure of what to say at first. She looked at her feet, taking a deep breath. "I was wrong. I am wrong. You're... not the same guy you were last time. I said that because of... of personal reasons, that you shouldn't have to listen to, but either way, it was wrong of me. I'm sorry, Felix. Look, you... you can go if you want, I won't judge you for it, but um. I had fun talking to you yesterday. And this is stupid and cliche and all that, but... I thought we could have at least been friends if nothing else. I'm... I'm with someone else, but that doesn't mean we have to stop talking," she said, finally looking up at him about halfway through her little spiel, her voice growing quieter near the end.
The corner of his lips threatened to tug up, and he had to look away to hide his now twitching lips. He cleared his throat, he mustn't smile. "Okay." He turned back to her and pocketed his hands. "How does a movie sound?"
She was most definitely shocked by that one but then smiled a little and nodded softly. "A movie sounds great," she said, and then approached him again. "So... friends?"
"Decide that for yourself," he replied, scrunching his nose up at her before turning away and walking past her, towards the theater.
"Hmmm, okay. If it's up to me, then yes, we are in fact friends," she grinned and ran up beside him again, taking a deep breath.
He glanced down at her, an unknowing warm look passing his expression, a soft sigh escaping his lips. He caught himself mid-act and looked away, taking his phone to look at the selection of movies. "What do you wanna watch?" He stopped at the red crossing light.
She was busy thinking about how he almost smiled because of her and didn't really notice the light. "I don't know, I saw this one movie about this lady who loses her husband and then ends up falling in love with his cousin. Sounds wrong as hell but I mean, I hear it has a lot of old art references and stuff. What's it called?" she asked, still walking and pulling out her phone to look it up.
He glanced up a little, noticed that she was walking past him and towards the crossing road. He clicked his tongue and held her hand to stop her, looking back down to his phone. "The Sunflower Effect. I've heard of it," he said, pulling up the booking site on his phone. "Should I buy it then?"
She was shaken from her thoughts by the feeling of a warm hand holding hers and her cheeks heated up, following the hand up the connected arm and finally to the boy who wasn't paying attention, clearing her throat and stepping back, deciding not to say anything. It was probably just him trying not to let her die, anyways, nothing serious. "Uh- yeah, sure, I'll pay you back."
"Cook me dinner and consider it paid," he mumbled and bought the tickets, looking back up and saw that the light's turned green. He glanced at her and smiled, although the tiniest bit apologetically, letting go of her hand and crossed, not sparing her a glance anymore.
She blinked, biting back a little smile at his smile, even if it was forced or for some other reason, she could see small dimples form at his cheeks and oh, did she have a thing for dimples. She quickly followed after him. "Dinner? Okay, consider it done. What would you like me to make?" she asked.
He hummed in thought for a moment, kicking a pebble down the road as they walked. "Dunno. I didn't expect you to comply easily," he looked at her. "Surprise me?"
She shrugged. "Ask and ye shall receive, no?" she giggled and then gasped a little at the pebble. "How dare you harm the poor pebble. Apologize to it," she teased.
He blinked and stopped walking, before pressing his lips to a tight line and turned to her. With both hands on his knees, he bowed a little. "I deeply apologize."
She laughed a little and crossed her arms. "The rock says you need to make restitution. It says it would like to see the movie with us."
He blinked, scoffing a little and picked up the rock, digging through his bag for something. He took out a whiteout pen, and doodled on a face for the rock, showing it to her. "Made him a face. You name him, so we can officially sit him down in the theater," he said, a small crooked grin forming.
She giggled and thought for a moment before answering. "His name is.... Peblo," she said and then looked at Felix. "Any better ideas?" she asked, picking up the pebble and rocking it in her arms, then hugging it to her cheek.
He looked at her with a weird look. "You're so gonna have a breakout after that," he laughed softly and rolled his eyes, walking again. "And Peblo sounds... alright. Definitely fitting for such a nice and.. smooth... rock."
She gasped dramatically and put her fingers on either side of the rock's face. "Don't call him a rock, he is a pebble, there is a huge difference," she said. "And are you calling him dirty?!?"
He blinked, stifling a laugh turned snortle. "What if I am? I was kicking Peblo down the road just before we picked him up." He pointed out, walking inside the moviehouse.
She gasped and followed him inside. "And that was very very rude of you," she wagged her finger at him. "But you're lucky Peblo is so nice. He forgives you."
"Well, do relay to him that I am very much grateful for his benevolence," he says as they made their way to the entrance, where he showed them their tickets and been pointed out to a theater. He looked at Marinette. "Want snacks?"
She smiled and nodded. "Mhm, but are you sure you don't want me to buy them?" she asked, pulling out her wallet. "I feel bad taking your money. Movies are expensive."
He thought about getting out his wallet and denying her offer but why should he? Right, he had no reason to act all chivalrous so suddenly. "Okay. I'll get the... white cheddar flavor then," he said and stepped back from the counter, making way for her.
She ordered a large white cheddar popcorn as well as a package of m&ms and then they went to their movie. They went into the theater and found their seats, the ones near the top of the theater, and therefore darker. She took her seat and got settled as the commercials played.
As they settled down, Peblo sat down on the cup space between them, Felix found that there really wasn't much conversation to make with her now that he barely tried to care for her at all. He could only shift uncomfortably in his seat.
She heard the soft rustling of the seat beside her and turned to look at him. "You okay? Should we have gone to the bathroom before?" she whispered, laughing a little.
"My bladder can hold its own, thank you very much," he said with a frustrated groan, the shift only ruining his chances of finding comfort in his seat. "We so should've gotten sky seats," he huffed, looking up at the seats above them with a frown.
"Oh come on, they're not that bad," she said, taking a bite of the popcorn. "You're just being picky," she said, poking his side. "Or if they're that hard I'll be a gentlewoman and let you sit on my lap," she teased.
He paused, looking at her with his brows knit in mostly bewilderment, before sitting prim and proper on his seat. "Oh, would you look at that, I've found my groove. Soooo comfortable," he said and sat back down, crossing a leg over the other, arms behind his head.
She laughed and shook her head, turning back to the movie screen as it started, the lights dimming even more. It started off with a funeral, and suddenly Marinette was regretting this one. She almost always cried at movies, and crap, if he saw that, she was sure he wouldn't let her live it down. So she bit her lip and tried to watch.
He snacked on the popcorn, eyes trained on the screen, although it would occasionally wander over to her. Each glance, he'd note down something new he noticed; like how her bottom lip was plumper due to the overbiting; how her eyes glimmered with tears because she was definitely trying to hold back right now; how she didn't even look whenever she'd grab a handful of the snack.
The scene finally ended and moved to the next one, of the male lead playing the violin and talking to his mother, and she took a deep breath, thinking she was finally out of the woods. That was, until it began talking about his late father. She let out a whimper finally and quickly covered it with a fake cough, stuffing her mouth with popcorn. 'Why so many dead people?!?' she thought.
He heard the whimper and he had to bite back a laugh, pressing his lips together as he watched the movie. It was awful, so many dead people that reminded him of so many people, that it failed to bring him to tears easily, unlike the blunette. He was enjoying the movie though, as it moved on to the two leads meeting and going on a walk, finally enjoying their days. A small smile grew on his face, how nice it would be, he thought, reaching for the popcorn.
She watched them, and for some reason, they reminded her of herself and the boy next to her, the men's personalities were dangerously similar, and it only caused her to pay full attention to the screen. Her hand also reached for the popcorn at the same time he did, and their hands met in the middle.
He had accidentally grabbed a handful of.. her hand, and he blinked, extremely taken aback at how soft her hand was. Not that he didn't notice earlier, he was just too fixated on it now. Since the leads were somehow having their first hand holding scene too. He looked at her, then their hands, and pulled away. "Sorry," he mumbled, looking away and keeping his hands to himself.
She gulped and shook her head. "It's alright," she whispered and then turned back to the screen, and about five minutes of the movie passed before she forgot to pay attention to her hand and somehow met his again. There was no. Way. Didn't this only happen in movies?? Not movie theaters??? She couldn't deny it though, his hand was warm and though he had a few calluses, something about it felt comforting, and she pulled away this time. "Sorry, I don't know why... why it keeps happening," she laughed nervously.
"If you want to hold my hand just say so, geez," he rolled his eyes with a soft chuckle, taking a handful (- and by that I mean a handful, he doesn't want such a misfortunate encounter to happen again. But alas, it did happen again, the third time around definitely his fault. Almost like he wanted to hold her hand again.
By this point, it was like she wasn't even paying attention to the movie, just the fact that it was bound to happen again. She sighed and this time just kept holding his hand. "There. It won't happen again," she said. using her other hand to grab popcorn.
He blinked and looked at their hands, and he wanted to pull away. He really did. But his hands only held hers tighter. Definitely out of uneasiness. "Is this the best idea you have?" He whispered, gaze kept there.
"Do you have a better one that doesn't involve walking out of the theater? I'm not missing this scene, I heard theres a kiss here," she whispered, ignoring the sight and just looking at the screen.
"I don't.." he whispered and knit his brows tight as he kept convincing himself that he wasn't at all enjoying this. He wasn't. He tried to take into mind what was happening in the screen, girl staring at guy, guy staring on painting, inner monologue, girl realizing that holy crap she loves him. Felix reached for more popcorn, feeding on it like he was so hungry.
She did the same, her eyes trained on the screen, watering because she refused to blink in case she missed something important. She reached for popcorn again and took the last few pieces, but they were only mostly kernels, and she whined and figured she'd only look over for a second, so she did, to see if there was any more.
He felt the same, hands feeling for nothing but the box and he leaned closer to look, not noticing the blunette fast enough. In a heartbeat, his lips were against hers, and he couldn't even pull away. Not with the shock. He looked at her wide-eyed, and could only wish repeatedly she would pull away, please pull away.
She was just as taken aback by the feeling of soft lips on hers and as she made eye contact with Felix, her heart dropped in her chest, cheeks and ears burning up. She was in shock too, unable to pull away, and she wished he would do the same, this was wrong, so wrong, she was dating Chat Noir, this was cheating, it's wrong, it's not right, it's so so bad, I need to pull away.
It was a torturous second, although it definitely felt longer than that, and he pulled away with a slight push against her. He opened his mouth to say something, to apologize, but it barely worked. Until he find some stupid excuse to get him out of there. "Pop.. popcorn's out. I'll go buy some more," he said, pointing out the theater and actually leaving her to do just as he said.
She watched him leave, still in shock, her lips parting in shock as she turned back to the screen to see that she had just missed the kiss scene, and she groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Stupid me, stupid him, stupid us," she muttered, shaking her head.
"Yeah, one white cheddar popcorn, kiss. I mean please. Please," he said, groaning as the worker turned to work on his order. A hand wandered up to his lips, mind definitely working against him as he remembered the feeling of her lips against his when they... they kissed. He shook his head. It was nothing. Paying for the popcorn, he walked back to their seats and swore that he wouldn't ever talk about it. He took his seat and placed the popcorn between them again. "What.. what'd I miss?"
She was watching the movie, although only half paying attention. While he was gone all she could think about was how soft his lips were, and she hated herself for it. "Um.... they kissed," she muttered, refusing to look at him. "Now they're meeting two locals for a trip to the lake."
"Right, okay," he muttered, nodding lightly and sitting as far from her, as much as his seat would allow him anyway. He also didn't bother eating more of the popcorn, because he wasn't holding her hand (so soft and warm hands), and he didn't wanna risk any form of touch with her. Again. Ever.
She also avoided the popcorn, just watching the movie, and nestling both legs on the seat closest to him so her body was far from his. She still couldn't process the fact that they had kissed, and held hands, albeit mostly on accident, but she didn't want it to go any farther, trying to think of the lead as Chat, but she just couldn't, they weren't similar at all.
It wasn't long before the movie reached its climax, with both the leads fighting over who goes where, and who loves who and what and it was all getting so intense. Overdramatically intense of course, since Felix decided now would be a good time to invest all his emotion into the movie, and it wasn't long before he was tearing up because the fight kind of stung. He tried blinking them back, but the action only made the tears fall down his cheek. He tried discreetly wiping them away.
She glanced over after hearing him sniffle and then it wasn't long before she was doing the same, (she starts crying when others do too, it's a curse) and her lip quivered as she blinked rapidly so the tears just fell down silently. "It's so sad," she whispered under her breath.
He nodded, wiping away tears, seemingly only making way for new ones. A whimper scratched his throat, and he chased it down with the popcorn, coughing a little. "It is," he whispered agreeingly, a bittersweet smile on his lips. At least that helped him forget about their kiss.
The scene finally got to the part where her late husband visited her, telling her that it was time to move on, and she began crying harder, unable to hold back the tears anymore, still watching intently.
He pressed his lips together, her stifled sobs only urging him further to cry and it was getting so annoying, so so annoying because he's never cried this much before. Not in a movie. He fished his handkerchief out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "You're making me cry too, shut up," he chuckled dryly, looking up as if it'll help him stop his tears.
She blinked and wiped her tears with the handkerchief, then picked up Peblo and hugged him to her cheek and then handed the rock to him. "Here he'll make you feel better," she laughed softly.
He looked at her, hesitantly reaching for the pebble and awkwardly did what she did, the slight scent her perfume left on the rock wafting to his senses. It nearly threw him off, and he nearly threw the rock away, managing to catch it after three failed times. He only fiddled with the rock. "Thanks," he whispered.
"You're welcome," she sniffled and then handed him back the handkerchief. "Did... did you want this back?" she asked, and then realized the leads went silent and she turned back to the screen to see them kissing again. "Oh come on, I missed it again!" she whined.
A couple watchers near them shushed her, and Felix couldn't hold back laugh this time, trying to at least muffle it with his hand and doubled down to his knees. "Sorry, sorry, it's-" he said amidst his laughter, although an attempt to calm down has been made. "It's alright. You can keep it, it's probably filled with your snot anyway." He giggled.
She blinked and smiled sheepishly, blowing her nose and then folding it up and putting it in her purse. "Thanks," she laughed softly. The movie finally ended, and the credits rolled, and Marinette took a deep breath. "That was good, thanks for seeing it with me," she smiled and took a handful of popcorn.
He only nodded, walking beside her and actually meeting her pace. "It was amazing. I genuinely can't believe that was barely budgeted," he laughed softly and picked at the sling of his bag, somewhat still caught up in the emotions of the movie. He sniffled, seeing a washroom. "I'll go wash up," he said, turning to leave for the room.
She smiled and nodded, gesturing to the womens. "I'll do the same," she laughed softly and they parted ways for a moment, and she looked in the mirror, biting back a smile, but it quickly faded. She couldn't be catching feelings for Felix, not in a million years.
He had done as he said, washed his face and looked at his reflection. "No feelings," he whispered to himself, as if it was a mantra. "Right. All of this is a big, big mistake I started because of Adrien." He sighed and dried off, before going on and waited for her near the exit.
She walked out of the bathroom and turned a corner only to bump right into him, causing the both of them to hit a trash can behind him, her bracing herself on the trash can on either side of him. Her eyes widened as she realized the position and she quickly backed away. "Sorry. sorry," she muttered.
He had had an arm wound around her waist, so her quickly backing away pulled him with her. He easily lost footing, and suddenly it was his body over her body on the carpeted floor in the theaters, groaning. Good god, things just can't go swimmingly for them, huh? He propped himself up on both hands, wincing a little as he looked at her. "Sorry. I promise none of these are intentional," he said, getting off.
She blinked and her face turned a bright red, unable to speak. "I- um, it's fine, it was my fault too," she muttered, standing up and brushing off her outfit with a clear of her throat. She looked and saw a little girl staring, jaw dropped. "Mommy, isn't that Chat Noir's girlfriend?" she asked a woman next to her.
The mother looked, and she furrowed her brows, the look of recognition dawning on her expression. "Yeah, yeah. She is, I wonder what she's doing here with... him," she said and looked down at her daughter. "If you're curious, why don't you go and ask?" She pat her daughter's hair.
The little girl nodded and went up to them, pouting. "What about Chat Noir??" she asked Marinette, who blinked a few times. "Oh- um- this is just a friend of mine, we're not a thing or anything," she laughed softly and punched Felix's arm lightly.
"Yeah right," Felix mumbled, stepping away from her a little, gaze low. The kid took it somewhat wrongly. "Really? Is he your second boyfriend then?" The kid asked, head tilted to the side.
She coughed and shook her head rapidly. "No, no, he's just a fri-" she paused and closed her eyes, punching herself mentally for what she was about to say. "He's just someone I'm seeing a movie with. That was all an accident. Didn't watch where we were going," she laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck.
"Mm, okay, okay!! Um.. have a great day then!" The kid smiled widely and went back to her mother, and despite all the explanations Marinette's given, of course it had been futile to a child's listening ear. "He's her second boy friend and they watched a movie together!"
The woman gasped and looked at the two with disgust before pulling her child away. "Honey, don't look at them, you know it's not right to have second boyfriends," she said. Marinette heard the whole thing and blinked, jaw dropping. "I-...." she stammered, looking at Felix. "This is a disaster, we should.... should just stay..." she paused and took four big steps back, "this far apart and nothing will happen!"
"No problems with that," he agreed, noddingly. They walked out of the theater, as if the people in there weren't at all taking photos of them, and oh god this is why he never went out of the house. It wasn't long before they reached the park again and Felix stopped in his tracks, turning to her. "I'll call my driver now. Forget dinner, I don't want to cause you anymore trouble."
She blinked and frowned a little, but nodded. "Yeah, alright, that's probably a good idea. I'll make you something for lunch tomorrow then," she winked and then waved. "See you later?"
"You don't have to do that, too," he said, not looking up from his phone, sending Gorilla a message. He waved his hand to her general direction. "And see you at school I guess."
Her smile immediately faded as his walls went right back up. "Oh. Okay," she said softly, and turned away, walking back towards her house as the sun set. She didn't know why she felt like this, like he had betrayed her. It wasn't like she liked him. No, that was stupid.
He had to wait a good five minutes, until he was sure she was away away from him, before looking up to see her turn the curb. Suddenly there was a feeling of emptiness, a cold breeze blowing and he figured, it must've been because she wasn't there to shield the cold from him. Yeah, that was only it. Soon enough Gorilla pulled up, and he climbed back in to go back to the mansion.