Treehouse

Making Up

A lot, apparently, made clear by the fact that as soon as the sun had risen, he made his way to Adrien's room, and knocked. "Adrien?"
Adrien groaned, still sleepy, when he heard the voice and slowly rolled over. "Go back to sleep, it's 5:30," he whined, burying his face in his pillow.
"Doesn't matter, I'll be quick, please?" He had tried again, knocking even more this time.
"What do you want??" he asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
He peeked his head in, gave him a sheepish expression. "Remember when I asked you if you knew.. uh.. you know. Her favorite food?"
Adrien looked at him weirdly and yawned, getting out of bed. "Vaguely. I'm still tired, when was that?" he asked, stretching his whole body as he walked to the washroom to wash the sleepiness out of his eyes.
"I actually don't remember. I only remember asking you," he said and followed him, stopping by the door. "Can't you just tell me?"
"Why? Isn't she pissed at you anyways? You trying to make her less mad with food?" he glared at the boy with a side eye. "Won't work. She's too stubborn."
"You say that as if you hadn't been subjected to my own," he said and bit his lip. "Come on, just tell me? I'll actually get on my knees if you ask me to."
Adrien spat out the toothpaste he'd been brushing his teeth with and then looked at Felix with arched brows. "You're taking this to an entirely new level. Wanna tell me why you're so desperate to make it up to her??"
Felix stopped and he lowered his gaze. "I don't know Adrien. Did Lila not make it clear enough that I'm actually in love with her?" He met his look again and glared. "I just don't know how I'm supposed to make it up to her."
Adrien looked at him and pressed his lips together, shaking his head. He wanted to be petty, to not tell him anything, but from what he'd heard over the phone, Marinette loved him. And he supposedly loved her too. He had no right in being the one thing that would keep them from happiness. "Shrimp scampi," he answered simply, and then went to his closet to get dressed.
"Just shrimp scampi or do I have to add the pasta too?" He asked, pulling up his phone and looked for restaurants open at this hour. Then thought maybe the meal was too early on in the day. But could his apology really wait? He groaned and put his phone back in his pocket, unsure of how to do things suddenly. Not that he was ever any sure. He turned to Adrien. "How do you apologize?"
Adrien turned for a second and sighed. "You tell them you did something wrong, why it was wrong, how you're going to fix it, a little sucking up never hurts, and if they're not ready to accept it.... you wait and then try again if it means that much to you."
"You say.. that much?" He asked, after he had repeated the list Adrien made. He groaned and walked to the latter's bed, sat on it. He leaned his head on his knees. "I hate this so much."
Adrien looked at him and sighed. "You really hurt her, you know. Are you sure you love her?" he asked, sitting on the bed and looked at him. "What's your favorite memory of her? Where you first felt butterflies in your stomach?"
He shifted a little, turned to look at Adrien. His gaze fell to the floor. "Is it weird if I said maybe it's the time I saw her cry cry at the cinema? She still has my handkerchief. Probably. She held my hand too, since we kept accidentally holding each other's hands while reaching for popcorn."
Adrien looked at him and smiled bitterly. That was way back when they were still together. But it didn't matter now. He couldn't dwell on it. He had to move on. "And what was a moment you saw a new side of her you'd never seen before?"
He looked down, furrowed his brows. It was one the included her in tears. Again. "She..." he glanced at Adrien, took a moment to try and word it properly. "It had something to do with... telling me about a significant part of her life and... it was... personal? And she wasn't at all the naggy, complains about everything kind of person I thought she was? I have no idea how to explain it but she was crying too." He somehow thought to add, chuckling drily. "I may have a thing for seeing people cry."
Adrien looked at him and a little smile tugged at his lips. "I don't think it's weird. Usually, when people feel comfortable enough to cry in front of you, it's either that you are the reason, or they're comfortable enough with you that they don't feel that you'll judge them for letting their emotions out," he said, patting the boy's shoulder. "Few more questions," he said. "When was the happiest you've ever seen her?"
He bit his lip, let his mind wander down that lane again. A small smile erupted on his lips, remembering the habit. He scrunched up his nose, rubbing it a ltitle. "When she asked to see me do this again. Or I may just be being a narcissist," he replied.
Adrien looked at him and could tell there were tender memories between the two. "Can I ask one more thing? Is there... is there significance behind the um... the rock?" he asked, pointing to Peblo that sat behind his computer again. "Hey, you found it!"
He blinked, and he looked up. He had forgotten about the rock's existence, he was ashamed to admit, but the reminder only brought a bigger smile to his face. He shot Adrien a look. "I didn't find it, I stole it back from you," he said, reached and got the pebble. He looked at the face he drew in, muttered the name she gave him. "It's nothing big. I was kicking the rock down the road and she told me to apologize to it. I gave it a face, she gave it a name. We brought it to the theater and she.. hugged it when she was crying. Her perfume rubbed off on it, it's incredibly strong." He laughed, seemingly staring back at Peblo.
Adrien smiled, tears in his own eyes as he heard the events. "She's special," he whispered, wrapping an arm around Felix's shoulders. "If you love her... the only advice I can give you is to go. Don't wait for food or whatever. If she's in love with you, she won't care. Just show you're not backing down. Don't give up, Felix. It's not worth it," he said, and then stood up and pulled him up. "Now go!!"
He blinked, surprised that he was suddenly on his feet, stumbling out of his room because Adrien was pushing him. "Hey heyhey, no, wait!" He protested, stopping Adrien and he stared at him for a second, before softly saying, "Thank you."
Adrien paused, and then a smile crossed his face and he nodded. "You're welcome. Now go make her happy for me. She deserves nothing but the best, and I think you've all but proven yourself worthy of her love."
Felix bit his lip, called Adrien corny and had lightly hit his arm before he went on his way. Quickly, went on his way. Past the streets of Paris, the disgruntled early passers-by on such a nice weekend, Felix ran past them, eyes kept in the general direction of the treehouse. It was awful he'd forgotten his wallet, he could really just be riding in a taxi all the way there, but where was the realness in that? The romanticist in him thrived with just this. About a good while later, and probably a decade's worth of exercise, he'd reached the treehouse again, climbed up the ladder, forgetting the hatch was locked. He yelped as it didn't open with just a push of his head.
Marinette, who had herself wrapped in the futon staring at the ceiling as she smelled the faint scent of his cologne disappear from the fabric the longer she sat in it, heard the thud on the door and screamed, scrambling to her feet and staring at the trapdoor, grabbing the same rolled up poster she had the first time. She looked at the door, her bloodshot eyes narrowing as she did so. "Who goes there??" she asked in a cracking voice.
"No, no, it's me! I've already hit my head once-" he said, and then remained awkwardly put on the ladder. He cleared his throat. "Actually no, it's not me. Well it is me, but I'm actually Peblo. Not whoever you thought of."
She blinked, and tried to fight a smile back. "Wait... Peblo..?" she asked, slowly crawling towards the trapdoor. She took a deep breath. I can do this. I can face him. Maybe. Possibly. I'm a big girl. She slowly unlatched the trapdoor and winced, opening it to see the blonde. She bit her lip and moved back. "Peblo, you look a lot like Felix."
Felix looked up, caught sight of the blunette. It hasn't been a day since he last saw her, but he was definitely jarred to actually be seeing her. He nearly fell off the ladder, caught himself right before he fell on the ground. He grunted, reached for something in his pocket, and put the rock on the floor in front of her. "Nope. You were just imagining the boy I'm sure," he'd spoken, altering his voice. He sat on the lower part of the ladder, kept close to keep conversation as Peblo.
She picked up the rock and held it in her hands for a moment. "Thank you for visiting. I had a rough night," she said, leaning over the opening, glancing down at Felix, smiling the tiniest bit. She then remembered she was supposed to be mad, and backed away. "He really hurt my feelings, you know."
"Oh, I'm well aware. The boy threw a pity party last night and I happen to have sat through all of it. Didn't exactly have the means for escaping, you see?" He said, adding in all those little huffs he seen get added for no reason whatsoever in cartoons. "But hello, dear friend who gave me my beautiful name. How have you been?"
He kept it. That was the only thought that went through her mind. The little rock, the tiny thing that he had scoffed at so many times, he had kept it. A smile crept to her lips. "Eh, I'm surviving. How are you, little friend?" she asked.
"Definitely stoned," he replied, couldn't hold back a laugh. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'm actually here on official business. Do I get your listening ears?"
She blinked, and then laughed softly, a real laugh that rang through the room for a second. "Mhm. What is your official business?"
He had to bite back a noise that threatened to escape him when he heard her laugh. He cleared his throat again, excessively this time. "So. I have been... uhm.. hired. To relay an important message from the boy we were talking about earlier. Permission to continue?"
She took a deep breath, preparing herself for this. She was talking to a rock. That sounded like Felix. That was Felix. But somehow, the fact that it wasn't actually direct contact made it a little less threatening. She gulped, pausing before nodding. "Yeah, go ahead."
"Very well." And again, the rock cleared his throat. He hummed for a second, unsure how to start it all. He sighed, settled on three words that he hoped could mean at least a fifth - hell, even a tenth - of what it meant to him. "He's really sorry."
She took a deep breath and put her hands down on her lap, looking up at the ceiling before replying. "I know."
Felix pressed his lips together, still a little hesitant to bare his feelings out because last night he did and it didn't go that well. He probably was just being pushy too. Like you always had been, so now was no time to double guess yourself, jackass, he convinced himself, and it worked. "He's... never really had a feel for what it was like to love love someone before, and even though he had an idea about how precious it could be to someone, he really should've known better than to toy with it. Than to... to keep shouting it in the streets, keep repeating it emptily, when it was so much more than that."
She looked at the trapdoor instead of the rock this time, and it all felt stupid what she was doing suddenly. She leaned over the trapdoor and looked down at the boy on the floor. "Come here," she said, nodding towards the ladder.
He looked up, and his heart raced. He shook his head. "The rock's not done speaking. You're being really rude, cutting him off-" he said, though more of it was that he couldn't possibly say what it was he needed to say if he were to actually be in front of her.
She sighed and after realizing he wasn't going to come up, she began to climb down. "I'm sorry, Peblo, I'd like to hear things from his perspective instead. If that's okay with you. I think we have to talk this out one to one, instead of one to one and a rock."
His eyes widened, and he immediately stood up, held a hand out to her for support. He still couldn't meet her eyes, but there really was no way out of here for him. He looked away. "I'm still kind of the rock, though," he mumbled.
Yeah, her ankle hurt like hell, but she braced through it, and eventually got to the bottom, and sat down on the floor. "That's fine," she said, looking up at him. "Come on. You can talk to me. I'm feeling a little better today," she said, patting the floor in front of her. A smile crossed her lips. "Would it help if I told you the magic words again?"
He looked at her, and he'd been about to take his seat until he felt a little intrigued. They haven't talked about magic words before, have they? Hesitantly, he echoed, "Magic words?"
She hesitated herself, before taking a deep breath. "Sorry, guess it was only clear in my mind. Um... I've... I've always believed in you. It sounds so... so cliche. I'm sorry. But... it makes sense to me. Somehow, it just... after you helped me with Paparazzia that day, I've... I've never doubted you. Hell, even before that. Since you found me here, I think. Since lunch that once. You showed me that- that people can understand. And I'm sorry for going off last night, it really was partially my fault too. I wouldn't listen to you. I was stubborn." she said, chewing on her lip and looking at the ground.
His mouth parted, as he tried go cut her off from apologizing. It was like another kilo sack of something had been dropped on him, and he couldn't help but chuckle dryly, shaking his head. "There's nothing for you to apologize for. You deserved all that time to yourself, let out all the hurt. Lila..." his voice trailed down, and he rubbed his arm. "She was right. You were right. I just... I just played with your emotions. And I was so convinced up until yesterday that I still was, that I hadn't fallen for you. Like.. Like Peblo said, I haven't really  fallen in love before, but that doesn't excuse my stupidity and ignorance. Bottomline is, I hurt you. When you deserved none of it, and I need- no, want, to make it up to you."
She looked up at him, her face filled with shock as she tilted her head, biting her lip. She'd already known he started it as a game. It was pretty obvious. But somehow, him admitting it made it okay. Because he was willing to admit that he was wrong. "Alright," she whispered, nodding. She needed time to compose herself. "Alright, I... guess I have a confession to make too. I thought.... I thought you were just this stuck up, snooty rich boy. And that... that you were nothing like Adrien could ever be. And I admit, I was wrong in judging. You didn't know better. I mean, your mom sent you here, for what? To get you out of the house? Maybe she had good intentions, I don't know. But I know I'd be bitter about that too. And I'm sorry I was blindsided to that too. Just... you've really helped me. Through a lot of struggles. And I really appreciate you for that. Thank you," she said, "thank you for coming back," she said, her voice breaking as she suddenly pulled him in for a hug, tears falling again. She pulled away a bit and then her smile turned to bittersweet. "But... I think... I don't think I can just jump into something after this. We should get to know each other for real before we decide that love is a possibility. And... and I think we should just stay friends for awhile. I'm sorry," she muttered, "but at the moment, I have my doubts on if my feelings for you are real or if I'm just rebounding, or looking for something just for the sake of it. I don't want to do that to you."
He was surprised, to say the least, tensed up in her embrace. But it didn't change the fact that he was in her embrace, something he literally thought he wasn't about to get in at least a week. Or so. Not that he would've survived that long if she were to ignore him. He hugged her back. As much as her asking for them to just be friends left a bittersweet taste in his mouth, he really didn't expect anymore. He nodded, buried his head in the crook of her neck. "It's okay. I don't want to rush things anymore. I want to prove myself to you," he replied.
She smiled a little and nodded, closing her eyes as she stayed in his arms. Part of her was upset for deciding this, but she knew it would all be worth it if she was just patient. "Thank you. That means a lot to me," she said softly, cupping his cheek. She wondered if friends did things like this.
He smiled a little, held her hand that cupped over his cheek. He cleared his throat, and as if he heard her little wonder, he said, "You know, friends don't really do stuff like this." He chuckled, waited for her reaction.
Her eyes widened, wondering if he could read her mind. She figured it was obvious enough to have the same though, and shrugged it off. "I don't think friends run barefoot to the other's secret hideout at 6 in the morning either," she poked his chest with her other finger with a smile. "And also... I think every friendship is different."
He was barefoot?! His look shot down to his feet, noticed its battered up bloody state. That seemed to make him hyperly aware, and it burned, it really did. He looked up to her, and his hyper awareness finally made him notice the same predicament she had on her forehead, something she seemed as oblivious to as he was. "Okay, um. Friendship talk aside. You have this..." he pointed to her forehead, worried expression on his face. "This thing. It looks bad."
She blinked and reached a hand up to her forehead, wincing as she touched the wound. "Oh. Right. I got that last night. And is your foot okay??" she asked.
"No forget about my foot, that can get- it can get infected-" he said, inched in nearer to check the gravity of the wound, but noticed the splinter too. Not too big, but it was noticeable enough to prompt worry. He clicked his tongue, looked at her absolutely worried. "You didn't try hurting yourself, did you?"
She smiled sheepishly. "Um... I mean, I banged my head on the wall. It's not that bad, I'm sure," she shrugged it off. "We should just go to a pharmacy. No big deal."
"And how do we do that?" He asked, gesturing to both their feet. "We're not exactly equipped for walking, nor going anywhere."
She blinked, looking at their feet and then inhaling sharply. "Oh. Oops. Um..." she muttered, thinking to herself. Let's see, my right foot is down and your left is down. I have a pair of crutches," she shrugged. "Each of us can take one and then we can three legged race-er- two legged race all the way there."
He blinked, and looked at her like she had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world. Except she really had. "We are not prancing the streets like that." He deadpanned.
She looked at him weirdly, and then smirked for a second before sighing. "Oh, alright then. I guess I'll just let my forehead get all infected, and filled with pus, and then you won't see me at school for longer because I'll have to go to the hospital, and maybe-"
He clasped a hand over her mouth. "Okay, okay, I get it! No hospitals," he said and looked around, then turned back to her. "There's really no other choice, is there?"
She shrugged. "Nope. Not unless you want me to text Alya and ask her to come pick us up. And get chewed out for getting each other injured. And sleeping in a cold treehouse. I love Alya. Really, I do. But sometimes I think she thinks of me as her baby. It's endearing, but a little bit unnerving, ya know?"
He sighed, casting his gaze low at the mention of Alya. Honestly, the girl kind of scared him. Just a little bit. "Yeah, okay. That's a point," he said and stood up with a heave, held his hand out to her. "Let's go?"
She nodded, taking his hand and standing up. "Oh. Um. One minor problem, the crutches are upstairs." she said, biting her lip and wincing as she looked up to the trapdoor.
He blinked, tried really hard to bite back a snarky remark, and nodded. "I'll go get it," he said, and let go of her hand to climb the way up. It was a chore, but he was able to climb enough to reach it. He handed it to her. "There."
She smiled and took them, stabilizing herself on one while offering the other as a hand railing for him as he came down. The two finally got ready, and after somewhat figured out a comfortable position- one arm around each other's waists and the other holding the crutch, they began to slowly make their way towards the pharmacy, both limping in opposite directions.