marinette x felix // APPREHENSION

burden

Light poured into Felix's bedroom from the tall, floor to ceiling windows. The digital alarm clock sitting on his bedside table screeched, and he resisted the urge to throw it across the room. His eyes went to the school uniform neatly folded on his nightstand, still adjusting to the bright room.

The day he'd anticipated for what felt like an eternity had finally arrived—the first day of school. Actual, face-to-face school. The kind of school Felix had only seen in movies. The kind he had been deprived of since childhood.

It had only taken several years of begging his father in order to get to this point. He didn't plan on wasting his youth away in his father's mansion. Gabriel Agreste expected him to be the perfect child--the composed, intelligent, perfect Felix entirely devoted to his father. He was starting to crack under the pressure, and he knew that if he didn't leave this house he'd soon go mad.

After buttoning up his collared shirt and fixing his dress pants, he slid his blazer on and tightened his tie. He messed with his hair in the mirror before heading down to meet his driver. Muttering a 'good morning', he got in the backseat of his car. There he sat through what felt like the longest car ride of his life. He knew he shouldn't have his hopes so high, it was very unlikely that his father would let him finish this year in person.

He deserved at least a taste of the life of a normal teenage boy, the kind who wasn't forced to stay in his house at all hours of the day. The kind whose only chance to socialize wasn't business parties.

He was finally here, at the stairs leading up to the private highschool Natalie selected: Collège Françoise Dupont. He made his way up the stairs and into the main building. The layout of the building was simple enough, it was no trouble finding his classroom. As soon as he stepped foot into the room, the last person he wanted to see jumped on him and hugged him so tight he stopped breathing.

"Fee-fee!" the blonde girl squealed, then turned around so fast that she slapped him in the face with her ponytail. She gestured to one of the chairs at a long desk fit for two, "You're a couple hours late, I had to eat lunch without you! Well, don't worry, I saved you a seat right in front of me!"

"It's Felix, Chloé. How can you not get that after seven years of knowing me?" he said, and reluctantly took a seat, lacking the energy to argue with her. Of the dozens of schools in Paris, Natalie just had to choose the one Chloé Bourgeois attended.

His eyes turned to the boy sitting beside him, who had headphones resting around his neck. "Aren't you that model guy?" the boy asked, fixing his red cap, "I've think seen you on billboards and perfume commercials--" he stopped in the middle of his sentence, his eyes fixed on Chloé.

Felix turned to see what she was up to and wrinkled his nose. There she was, sticking a wad of gum to their classmate's seat as if they were petty grade-school children.

"That's disgusting, Chloé--" He was interrupted by a dark-haired girl with twin-tails sliding the door open, "Hey!" she pointed a finger at Chloé, "What do you think you're doing?" She was livid, her face red and her hands balled up into fists.

The twin-tail girl was going to say something else, but a classmate ran in and announced, "'Teacher's coming!"

The classroom quieted down and the twin-tail girl had no other choice but to sit down on the side of a bench that didn't have gum. She was sitting by herself, her seatmate presumably absent today.

Chloé giggled and went back to her seat. Felix rolled his eyes and drew his attention back to the front of the classroom. A woman, presumably his homeroom teacher, set her things down on her desk before scribbling her name down on the chalkboard. Ms. Bustier.

She clasped her hands together and smiled, "Happy first day of school! I'm gonna start by handing everyone their syllabus,"

________________

The final bell rang and the classroom erupted in chatter. As soon as Ms. Bustier left, Chloé and her ginger friend came up to the twin-tail girl they'd been previously tormenting.

Felix started to gather his belongings, as his driver was waiting for him out front. He watched the three girls in the corner of his eye as he shoved a book in his bag.

"Marinette," Chloé looked her up and down and laughed, "Where'd you get that outfit? The garbage?" The classroom was empty except for the four of them at this point.

Chloé's ginger friend giggled at the unoriginal insult, and Marinette's face went red. Felix half-expected her to cry, but she didn't.

Marinette took her book bag and tried to leave, but Chloé blocked the door so she couldn't. He huffed, as he had to step in at this point.

"Get out of the way, my driver's waiting for me." he told her, but Chloé took his hand, "You're not going to give me a ride home?" she asked with a pout.

He would have shoved Chloé out of the way and left five minutes ago if it weren't for Marinette sneaking out behind Chloé. "What would I get out of that?" he asked, giving the girl a couple of seconds to run out of the classroom and down the stairs.

"You would get to give a ride to the most gorgeous girl in France."

"Where is she? I don't see her." he replied, "Now get out of the way." he repeated, and the girl blocking the door moved aside. He left at a pace too quick for Chloé to follow in her heels and made his way to the school entrance. When he was sure Chloe had lost sight of him, he slowed down, catching his breath.

Most students had gone home or to their after-school clubs, though some still lingered in the cafeteria. The hallways were deserted, the only sound being his quiet footsteps. That is, before small, light footsteps started to approach him from behind.

Before he could turn to see who was following him, Marinette seemingly appeared to his right. "Thanks for distracting Chloé back there so I could get away,"

"That's not what I was doing." he assured her, but it sounded like an obvious lie even to his ears.

Why did he do that? Why didn't he walk away?

She smiled, clearly not believing him. "I don't think I properly introduced myself. I'm Marinette, and you are..?"

He frowned. What, was she going to pretend she didn't know who he was? That he wasn't the son of one of the most influential people in Paris? "Felix. Ah, my driver is calling me. I'm sorry, I must go."