Treehouse

Rivalry

Meanwhile, both Timberwolf and Tikki had returned to the mansion, and he entered his room through the window, detransforming and plopping down on the bed with a sigh. "Alright Tikki, you've escorted us. You may go now," Felix mumbled through his comforter, waving the kwami off.
Tikki blinked and then sat on his dresser with a little smile. "Actually, Marinette asked me to keep an eye on both of you. I won't be leaving until tomorrow morning, when you see her at school," she said timidly. "But i'll hide somewhere and let you two have your... um, bonding time," she said, and then flew off to a drawer in his desk.
He looked up in time to see the kwami phase off into one of his drawers, and he groaned, sinking back down on his mattress. "What do we even bond over? The fact that both our hairs take forever to fix?" Felix scoffed, glancing at the kwami right over him.
Howll was busy looking over his room, in awe at some of the things that littered the furniture. "Nah, I have no desire talking about hair right now. How do you know Ladybug??? Is she your girlfriend??" he snickered.
Felix gagged and he threw a small pillow towards the voice's general direction. "Hardly. She thinks we're friends, I have no idea what on earth we are."
Howll looked at him with a tilted head, a little smirk present on his lips. "Mhm, yeah right, you sure sound like you like her. Probably some type of enemies to lovers story or something," he snickered. "Besides. I see the news even when I'm in the box. You all almost kissed."
His cheeks reddened, face heating up the littlest bit. He figured he was just getting tired, fighting does that to a person. Probably. "Mhm, delude yourself to tall conclusions. For what it's worth, I despi- only see her as an acquaintance. There's a reason why I'm doing all this," he said and sighed, turning on his back.
He glared at Felix and scoffed. "In denial," he coughed to try to hide his words. "Hey, got any beef jerky? I'm starving!!"
"There's a few in one of the cabinets. Don't eat it all up," he pointed to where he hid his own stack, it was something he liked snacking on.
The kwami grinned and flew to the cabinet, finding the stash. He took a few bites, sighing. "It's been so long since I've had this," he said, and then looked up at Felix. "This place is kinda... fancy. What are you, some prince or something??"
Felix looked at the kwami, shaking his head. "Definitely wished I was. Just so happened to be the nephew of that Agreste," he explained, pointing to one of the magazines.
He stared at the magazine and then chuckled softly. "Nice. Does that mean I get luxurious living??" he smirked and took another bite of the jerky. "Man, she picked the right owner."
"Ohohoh, yeah, no. Don't get too comfortable. I have no plans of being a full-time hero. I'm more of a steal from the people kinda guy you know?" He pouted towards the kwami, fake wiping his tears.
He blinked and then scrunched up his face. "Ew. That's not honorable at all," he scoffed, stuffing a whole piece in his mouth, swallowing easily. "And to think, you wanted her to trust you," he sighed. "But whatever, it isn't my business."
"I only said those cause I'd rather have a cocky wolf than a loud dog take me home," he said and then his mouth parted, looking at the kwami. "And you're eating too much! Have you not had your fill yet???"
He glared at him and rolled his eyes. "You did that because you're just like all the other people to possess the wolf miraculous. Selfish and stupid. It's just a part of the system. Well, I should warn you, all of them died in accidents involving a crane. And not the mechanical one. Watch out."
He raised an eyebrow, before snorting. "Yeah, right. At least that's one less selfish and stupid person wandering around, no?" He sighed and tucked himself in bed, waving his hand dismissively.
Howll sighed and watched the boy with a little frown. "You have potential, kid. Don't throw it away for your own desires," he said, and then turned around, making a bed for himself inside the jerky wrapper.
As if he had any desire. He ignored the kwami and went to sleep. The next morning, he was awoken to a loud rapping at his door. He looked at his clock, and he still had thirty minutes before he had to get up. "Go awaaaayyy!!!"
Adrien stood at his door, and he didn't give a shit whether Felix was sleeping or not. He was hurt, not just by Marinette, but also by Felix, and the fact that it had happened twice only made him angrier. "No!! Open the door!!"
Howll was awoken, too, and he opened the cabinet to throw a wrapper of jerky to the latter. He groaned, kicking his blanket off before standing up and opening the door. He yawned and looked at Adrien. "The hell do you want?"
Adrien grimaced, something lit inside of him. It was pure rage, hatred even. He gritted his teeth and swung a fist at him, hitting him right in the jaw. "That was for trying to kiss Marinette!!" he said, and slugged him again, this time the other way. "And that was for putting her in danger!!"
Felix stumbled. He was disoriented for a moment, the pain from getting hit on both jaws suddenly numbing him. Painfully numbing him. Despite it though, he looked at Adrien as if amused, his hands raised in the air as if throwing in the towel. "Hey, I only deserved one of those punches. Who I try to kiss is none of your-" He suddenly squared the other up, punched him the same way he received from Adrien. "-business. Marinette is not your girlfriend."
Adrien groaned, holding his jaw, and then gave him a dirty look. He knew he was right, and oh, how he wanted to punch him into the ground, but he couldn't, he had no way to prove his statement. "She's dating Chat Noir. Or at least, she was. And if it weren't for you and your fake-ass self, this wouldn't be a problem. The only problem here is you, Felix. You never should have come here," he spat.
"I am heavily wounded at your accusations, cousin! Me and my ass definitely real, and it's too bad that neither one of us has the patience to listen to you." He took a step towards Adrien, then another, until he was backed against the railing. "I go wherever I want to go and I do whatever I want to do. So if you're jealous, because Marinette clearly just into whatever kind of blonde-haired, green-eyed bastard you are, I suggest to stop trying so hard being someone else," he said, glancing down to the latter's ring before walking away, slamming the door to his room as he entered.
Adrien was left in shock, and then suddenly his anger only worsened. He repeatedly tugged at the handle until it opened, and walked over to Felix and grabbed him in a chokehold, tightening his grip on his neck as he leaned down to his face. "If it were up to me, the only place you'd be going is hell," he growled, and then punched him in the nose before shoving him to
the ground, and without thinking of any of the consequences, transformed and called in his cataclysm, staring down at him with anger burning in his eyes.
As much as fearful as he should be right now was the exact opposite he felt. He was in so much pain, barely unable to breathe, but to see his coolly composed cousin come undone was really so so fun to watch. Growing dizzy, Felix shook his head weakly. "Go ahead. Kill me, Adrien. Let everyone know the damn monster you are." He chuckled drily, his eyes meeting Tikki's who was right behind the leather-clad hero, who looked at them with fear and bewilder.
Chat breathed heavily, his hand shaking as he realized what he was doing. He gasped a little and quickly pulled away, destroying a pen from his desk instead. "I- I'm-" he stammered, unable to speak. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
Felix gasped for breath as soon as he was let free, and he was beginning to taste the blood that dripped down from his nose. He coughed, and wiped himself free of the liquid. "You don't look like you mean it though," he glanced at him, standing up as he headed to his washroom to clean up.
He paced around the room and clenched his jaw, shaking his head and muttering to himself as his emotions became clearer to him. He looked at the boy in the bathroom and growled from deep in his throat. "Leave Marinette alone, Felix. I don't want to hurt you, but I don't want you hurting her either."
"Oh, cousin. You worry yourself too much about this girl, really." He hissed as he touched his nose, his jaws beginning to ache constantly, too, a ringing in his ears. "I don't plan on hurting her. Quite the opposite, really." He looked at Adrien. "I just want to give her what you can't."
Adrien clenched his jaw and looked at him with furrowed brows. "Like what? Felix, you and I both know you're only doing this because you're jealous. Don't bring her into this. She doesn't deserve it."
He laughed darkly, dried up his face. "And what would I be jealous of? I clearly have way more than you do, Paris' hero and model or not." He pushed him aside as he walked back to his room to get ready for the day.
Adrien was shocked but bit his lip, shaking his head. He didn't have any control over this, but he really did have to break up with Marinette. Not only was he extremely hurt by the fact that she'd dated him and proceeded to try and kiss other people, especially Felix, but she wasn't safe. It just couldn't work, not like this.
"Now can you please leave me alone? I'm trying to go about my day here," he glared at Adrien, opening the door for him. He watched as the blonde left him in silence, and he slammed the door shut. He looked towards where Howll hid. "Tikki saw everything, right? Has she already gone?"
Howll looked at the boy in fear, shaking his head. "She... no, she's still here, hiding," he muttered. "You... I... are you... okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Felix dismissed, and he looked around the room, looking for Tikki. "Tikki, go and tell your holder what that cat tried to do. I didn't take all that beating for nothing."
Tikki looked at him shocked, poking her head out from a drawer in the desk, and nodded, quickly flying out of the room. She got to Marinette's, and already was visibly distressed. Marinette looked at the kwami. "Tik-" she paused and looked at her worriedly. "What happened?? Is everything okay??" she asked, quickly taking the kwami in her hands and looking down at her.
Tikki shook her head, unable to speak at first. And then she tried saying Adrien's name, but it all came out as bubbles. "Chat Noir." She finally spoke. "Chat Noir tried to- to cataclysm someone. Felix. Well, obviously Felix provoked him but-"
Her eyes bulged and her lips parted, gasping. "He... no, he- he wouldn't do that... would he?" she muttered, putting Tikki down. "This is- this is all my fault, I never should've even looked in Felix's direction in the first place," she groaned and facepalmed. "He's- he's- okay, maybe I need to talk to him. Spots on," she said, and tried to stand, but her ankle sent throbbing pain through her leg and she collapsed, wincing, inhaling sharply.
She tried to protest as soon as she heard the transformation words, but she was sucked into her miraculous. Amidst the blunette's struggle, Chat had already made up his mind to go to Marinette and talk it out. Landing on her balcony, he rapped at her sunroof with his baton, perching himself down on the railing. "Marinette.. we have to talk."
Marinette heard the voice and gasped, quickly calling off her transformation. She looked at the sunroof and bit the inside of her cheek. "O-okay," she said softly. "Come in," she said, covering the miracle box with her sheets.
Chat shook his head as he blinked back the tears, clearing his throat. "No. No, I like the view up here. I'll stay," he said, although he was just scared that if he were to see her, he'd be unable to pull through what he had planned to do. "How are you?" He asked.
She took a deep breath. "Fine," she said, and was kind of relieved she didn't have to see him. She had to know why he'd tried killing Felix, but she wasn't supposed to know, so she remained quiet. "Look, Im- I'm sorry for the whole thing yesterday. And at the movies. I really wasn't trying to- to-" she stammered, "to cheat on you or anything."
He lowered his gaze to the ground, still a little unready now that she'd suddenly addressed the elephant in the room. He took a deep breath. "Then what were you trying to do?" His voice broke.
She winced and bit her lip, her words catching in her throat. "I don't- I don't know," she said softly, not knowing anything else to say.
"You don't know," he repeated, the shallowness of their relationship sinking in. So only he was down deep. He'd let himself sink, drown in her, but she barely had her ankles in. And now the searing pain of the water entering his lungs hurt badly, and the tears strengthened. "Marinette, if you didn't know then why.. why'd you enter a relationship with me in the first place?"
She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head, her lip quivering as she realized she'd let him down. "Chat, I-" she paused, taking a deep inhale. "I think I... I was looking for something to fill some gap. I'm sorry, I know it wasn't right, and I wouldn't forgive myself either. But... I told you I liked Adrien. For so long. And I gave up on him, because... because I wasn't willing to wait any longer. And you just so happened to show up in my time of loneliness. When I needed it. But I... I don't think that it ever was more than just... just a filler. I'm sorry."
But I'm Adrien, he mouthed, unable to convict, to actually tell her because what then? Would they go back to what they had, even after she'd nearly kissed his cousin? Twice? He let the tears fall, and he brought a knee to his chest, resting his forehead on it. "No. No, I get it. I..." he took a deep breath. "I shouldn't have brought us up with you then, too. I took advantage of you being vulnerable. I'm sorry," he barely whispered.
A light sob escaped her and she shook her head, tears dripping down her cheeks. "It's not your fault, it's all mine," she whispered. "Don't blame yourself. I just... I don't think we should... we should see each other anymore. And- and the fact that someone got akumatized over us being together... that's- that can't be safe."
He pressed his lips to a tight line and he clenched his jaw, biting back the sobs that rocked him. He nodded, more to convince himself that this really was happening. "Yeah... yeah, after I'd promised to protect you too." He chuckled drily amidst the tears. "Um... Marinette, if you- if you don't mind? When everything's settled down, can we... will we still be friends?"
Marinette looked at the sunroof and bit her lip, then took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah... maybe once everything's cooled down. We can be friends," she said, and took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry it had to turn out like this."
Chat took a deep breath, standing up as he wiped away his tears. "It's okay. It has to be, anyway, not much we can do," he said and fought the urge to look at her from the sunroof, only barely holding its knob. "Thank you for the time we had."
His words only made the pain worsen and she breathed shakily, trying to smile. "Yeah... thank you too. You were amazing," she said, wiping her tears on her sleeve. "So... um... see you later, I guess."
"Mhm. See you," he said, and it took all in him just to leave the balcony. This was the right thing to do, he convinced himself, shaking the thoughts of anything else away. He headed back home then, and got ready for school, avoiding Felix as much as he could.
Marinette took a shaky breath and looked at Tikki. "I don't... I don't know if I can do this today. But I- I have to talk to Felix, find out what happened," she said, and then sighed. "I'll go today."