Back to Back 2

Rejection

Felix's lips never reached their desired target.

This time, Marinette realized what he was doing before he managed to actually kiss her. So she moved her head back and out of the way. "F... Felix," she stammered. "What are you... why would..." Running out of questions, she just stopped and looked at him.

He felt panicked for a moment. "I uh, I didn't mean to do that! It was that space-mind thing again, I swear. I'm s..." He stopped, and all of a sudden the panic went away. In its place, a sense of calm settled over him. Then with a loving smile he continued much more softly. "I was just about to say that I'm so sorry." He shook his head. "But truthfully, I'm not. I'm not sorry. You know how much I want to kiss you."

Shocked by the latest confession, Marinette couldn't respond.

"I know we have to wait until we can officially be together," Felix said. "But how about if I get one kiss for now? Just to hold me over."

"What?" she could barely get out.

He moved closer. "Adrien will never know, and I won't tell anyone. It will be our secret. Just one little kiss, that's all I need. And it will be our real first kiss. I don't think the other one should count."

"The... other one?"

"The one in Adrien's room the other day. It was so wonderful, but it was too quick."

"That... that wasn't a k... kiss," she insisted quietly. "I d... didn't know w... what you were doing."

Felix smiled as he nodded at her. "Yeah, I agree. Like I said, it wasn't a real kiss so it shouldn't count. We need to make sure that the real first one is special."

"B... but I d... don't... understand. W... what is going on? What about the other day? I told you that I was going to continue dating Adrien, and you said that you understood."

Felix actually chuckled a little. "I know you had to say that in front of him. Don't worry beautiful, I knew that it wasn't the truth. You might have fooled Adrien and Gabriel and Amelie, but I wasn't tricked for a second. I saw the way you looked at me, and I know the way you truly feel."

Slowly shaking her head back and forth, Marinette started to feel tears welling up. "Felix, I'm not in love with you," she whispered.

His face faltered for a moment, but then his smile was right back. "It's okay, Marinette," he said, closing the distance between them. "There's no one here but us. You can say it."

"There... there's nothing else to say. Felix, I need you to listen to me. I'm not in love with you. I'm in love with Adrien."

Silence.

After a moment, he exhaled and lost his smile. "You're lying to yourself, Marinette. You're trying so hard to convince everyone around you that you didn't fall in love with me, that you've even convinced yourself too."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he plowed ahead.

"Deep down you have feelings for me. I mean, it's obvious. So you need to stop resisting it, and just accept that we're destined to be together. Stop with all of this denial." He frowned. "It's not a good look on you."

Now Marinette was getting frustrated. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but enough was enough. "Felix," she started, keeping her tone normal. "I'm very flattered by your persistence, but like I already said several times, I'm dating Adrien. There's nothing going on between you and me, so I would like for you to stop." Then she waited. Hopefully that would get the message through.

Felix didn't exactly react the way she was expecting. Shaking his head again, he gave her an amused chuckle. "There's nothing going on," he repeated. "Oh come on, Marinette. Are you seriously suggesting that all those moments between us meant nothing?"