Chapter Text
Felix suppressed a sigh when he heard the yawn from the girl next to him only slightly muffled by her hand. Well, at least he had accurately calculated that Marinette would not be awake by the time he arrived at the bakery. But that wasn’t exactly a surprise. Still, because of that he felt vindicated in arriving earlier than strictly necessary.
“I still don’t get why you need me to come as well,” she finally lamented. He had heard her quietly mutter to herself similar sentiments since she had sat down for a small breakfast. Nothing big, just a croissant with some strawberry jam and a coffee with so much sugar, that he had felt the need to go straight to the next dentist. And he didn’t even drink it!
“For the nerves,” was the only explanation she gave, when she saw his bewildered grimace.
“I could give you three very convincing reasons right now and if you give me some time, I could probably write a whole essay on this. Which one do you prefer?”
He raised one eyebrow and gave her his most innocent Adrien-smileTM when she just glared at him, still waiting for her answer.
“Okay, give me the reasons, but stop looking like a smug jerk!”
“I am a smug jerk, but very well: Firstly, this is all on you. I fully blame you for all this nonsense. So, why should I be the only one to suffer?” he started off. It was true, he hadn’t been exactly happy about this, but he made a bet and he lost, so he was honour-bound to keep his promise to his cousin. He would never hear the end of it, if he didn’t. Nevertheless, in the end the girl next to him was to blame for his current predicament.
“Hey, your acting was sloppy and I honestly still can’t believe that I was the only one to notice. Anyway, you agreed to the terms, I didn’t force you to make that bet. Although, now I actually feel better. Adrien forces you to do something nice for all his friends. It’s just that our friends still think too much with their hearts and occasionally their stomachs and not enough with their heads. Okay, that was one. Next!”
Felix's eyebrow twitched. Had she actually just said that? Oh, she was on ! Nobody , least of all a seamstress , criticised his acting abilities! He conveniently ignored that he could have done a better job, but thought it wasn’t necessary to lead his cousin’s classmates on. He drew a deep breath and leveled her with a haughty glare.
“Just a second: Sloppy? I had been acting the whole day and you weren’t supposed to be there! Your class is exhausting, no wonder I was at the end of my patience when we met you! And, just on a side note: You don’t have room to talk. You think with your heart all the time. If you would use yo-”
“Yeah, yeah, I know! The next reason.”
Felix huffed a bit offended, since she had just interrupted him. But she was right, he had allowed himself to get off track. Although, to be perfectly honest, he rather enjoyed this bickering. He knew that he wouldn’t have to mince his words. He could be as brutally honest and rude as he felt and he knew that Marinette wouldn’t hold a grudge. Sure, she would put him in his place and he had realised that he sort of liked her taking charge of a situation and she would tell him off for it, but she didn’t think less of him.
“Very well,” he finally conceded, “the next reason … ah, yes. The second reason was that you accepted me as your manager until the charity event and as your manager I decided that an early morning walk to the swimming pool and some swimming with your friend Kim are just what you need to stay healthy and productive.”
“I feel like that last word ruined it. You were off to a good start though. But at least, this explains why we didn’t take the metro. You know, like a normal person.”
“Being productive isn’t a bad thing.”
“I know. It just sounds suspicious coming from you .”
Felix huffed again and almost retorted something when he caught sight of the little smirk playing on Marinette’s lips. She was amused and he was the reason. Maybe, just this once, he could let it be. He preferred their lighthearted bickering over winning some pointless argument. At least right now.
“We are not normal people,” he commented instead.
“Speak for yourself, Graham de Vanily, but we Dupain-Chengs at least try not to show off all the time. We know who we are, we don’t need massive mansions in the middle of the city to compensate for something and we always value and respect our employees and, of course, remember their names. Still doesn’t explain why we wouldn’t take a car. Sure, we would need forever, but at least I could sleep a bit longer.”
“Don’t throw my honourable name in with the likes of Garbiel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeois, sugar princess,” he objected,, but there was no heat behind it. And Marinette only rolled her eyes at her socialite nickname.
“This is also exactly why I didn’t arrange for a car. A walk will get you awake more than any coffee with a frankly disgusting amount of sugar will ever do. And since you will swim with us-”
“That was not what I meant, when I told you, that Ondine was not in the city and Kim was looking for a swimming buddy for his training routine this weekend!” Marinette interrupted him once more. This time she waved her arms around wildly in her agitation, forcing him to put some space between them.
“I meant that it would be a nice thing to do for Kim, if you offered to be his one time only swimming buddy. I sure as hell did not invite you to wake me at 6 o’clock on a sunday morning to walk to the swimming pool just so I might not fall asleep and drown in the pool - which wouldn’t happen, if I was still in bed, where any sensible person should be at this time!”
Huh. Tired Marinette , Felix realised, has no filter . He felt a grin spread on his lips. Good to know .
“Again, on the topic of sensible people and bed times: You really don’t have room to talk. You probably still would have been awake, if I hadn’t stayed yesterday until I was sure, you’re asleep.”
Marinette gave him a glare, but he still noticed some resigned humor twinkle in her eyes.
“So, it’s your fault that I’m tired and annoyed instead of wide awake and jittery?”
“Geez, guys, you’re bickering like an old married couple!” called a cheerful and, considering how early in the day it was, far too chipper voice. They both turned around to see Kim jogging up to them. He gave them a happy grin and threw his arms over their shoulders, so he was walking between them.
“Thanks, Felix, it’s really nice that you volunteered to join me. I’m just so much more motivated, if I can swim and spend time with my friends! And it’s awesome that you convinced Marinette to come as well! It’s been some time since we did something together without the entire class. We’re gonna have so much fun today!” Kim cheered.
Felix felt a bit out of his depth with this overly excited boy. This was so different from an excited Adrien. But then he noticed the fond expression on Marinette’s face. Her earlier annoyance had melted away completely and when their eyes met, he almost heard her: You did well. I’m proud of you .
They never returned to the subject of his reasons for her being there as well, which was fine for Felix. Even if his third reason was his main one. Marinette really didn’t need to know, at least not yet, that he really just wanted her to be there with him.