Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chris and Felix stood outside the airport in France, waiting for their taxi.

Their parents had let them move after Chris saved up enough money through his music production jobs for various agencies, working harder than he ever had before in order to save enough. 

Why did he beg their parents to allow them to move to France?

Because Felix was being bullied at his current high school for wearing more feminine things than guys in Australia would wear, and he couldn't handle seeing his little brother coming home in tears at the insults that would be sent his way every day. 

So one day he told his brother to learn French, because he knew that there were looser to nonexistent gender roles in France. 

Of course there were the basic ones, but Paris was a bit more relaxed. 

He and Felix studied the language together, and after about six months, they had learned enough to feel comfortable moving there. 

Convincing their parents was a tough battle, but when Chris said that he had saved approximately ten thousand dollars for it and had even found a company willing to hire him within the next month, they congratulated him and granted him permission. 

They even helped him with all the paperwork to bring Felix, and made sure that Chris had full custody of him for the sake of living there. 

It took another couple weeks, but they got everything figured out. Their house would be in a cute street corner right down the street from a Bakery, and it was close to the school Felix would be attending. 

The principle had accepted Felix right away when they saw his grades, saying that it would be an honor to have such a successful student attend their school. Chris thanked him kindly and wished him well before going to tell Felix that he was accepted. 

Two days and a lot of packing later,  here they are, getting into the cab that would take them to their new house. 

It was all furnished for them, so they didn't have to worry about that. He paid a little extra for it, but he figured that it would be better than having an empty place and having to buy everything again. 

The flight had been long and they just wanted to sleep. Felix had fell asleep before even reaching the place. 

"We're here!" The driver said happily, and Chris smiled. 

"Thank you!" He reached over and gently shook Felix's shoulder. "Lixie, come on, we're here." 

Felix woke up and blinked a few times before getting out of the car slowly. Chris chuckled and wished the driver well before getting out as well. 

They grabbed their luggage and went upstairs to their place, and they were not disappointed. 

"Some of the kitchen is even pink." Felix noted when they set their stuff in the living room. 

Chris nodded at the observation. "I wanted to make sure this was the least gender stereotyped as possible." 

He didn't have time to react before there were a slender set of arms wrapping themselves around his waist. 

"Thank you Chris." The older smiled and wrapped his arms around the smaller. 

"Anything for you, aegi ." He said before kissing the top of his head. "Now go take your stuff to your room. You don't have to unpack now, but at least put it up there." 

Felix groaned but grabbed his bag and made his way upstairs. Chris watched him go in amusement. 

He knew this was gonna be the start of a new, amazing adventure for the both of them. He could feel it, things were gonna be great. 

He went to his own room and tossed his suitcase in the closet, not bothering with drawers or hangers for the moment. He took the time to really look at his room. He had seen pictures and stuff, but it was different up close. 

His bed was in the corner of the room, a nice night stand next to it with a lamp and an alarm clock, he had a decent sized desk a few feet away from the night stand, and a spinny chair in front of it. A book shelf was in the opposite corner of the room by the door, and there were hooks on the wall behind the door that he could easily use for his coats and hoodies. 

He went to his bed and sat down on it, pulling out his phone and noticing that it was still pretty charged. It had been on airplane mode for a majority of the time after he took it off the charger, so it made sense. 

Putting the phone on the nightstand, he stretched before laying down on the bed. He was only awake for a few seconds before the tempting clutches of sleep took hold. 

Chapter Text

Chris and Felix spent the remainder of the first day sleeping, both snuggled up in Chris's bed. Felix had felt uncomfortable sleeping alone, and the older completely understood. He had simply scooted over and pulled his little brother into his arms. 

In the morning, they woke up and felt too lazy to make breakfast, so they decided that they wanted to check out the bakery they had seen on google maps.

Felix didn't have to start school until the next day, he had only wanted one day's rest so he didn't have the feeling of procrastinating, so they had the entire day to kill to do what they wanted and get Felix ready for school. 

Walking down the street was interesting, there was so much to look at. Chan loved watching his little brother’s eyes shine when he would look at something else that was colorful. They soon reached the bakery and they opened the door after making sure it was within business hours. 

“Hello there! Welcome to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery!” A woman called out to them from behind the counter. Chris smiled and wrapped an arm around Felix’s shoulders when he huddled close to him. 

“Is there anything we can get for you two boys?” A man said, and Chris looked at him with a smile. 

“We just moved in down the street and thought we would check out the source from all the delicious smells.” Chris might have studied French a bit more than Felix and had gotten a bit further along, but they were working on it. The two smiled the most warm smiles the brothers have seen. 

“Your accent is unfamiliar and your French is amazing!” The woman said. “Where did you move here from?” 

“We just got here yesterday from Australia.” 

“That’s such a long flight, I imagine you spent all of yesterday sleeping.” The man said. 

“Oh, where are our manners. My name is Sabine, and this is my husband Tom! We own the bakery.” Chris smiled at her. 

“My name is Chris, and this is my little brother Felix.” He said. Tom smiled and gave them a box of pastries, and Chris was confused for a moment. 

“On the house,” Tom put up a hand when Chris tried to protest, “think of it as a housewarming gift. You said you were down the street, and that’s a neighbor to me!” 

Chris smiled and accepted the pastries, he had almost bowed but corrected himself with a blush. 

“Thank you so much, you’re very kind! Felix and I should get going so we can unpack, but we’ll definitely be back for more. I can tell these are going to be something I can’t have just once.” 

The couple laughed. “Get home safely, and we look forward to your return!” 

They said their last goodbyes, and when they were finally outside, Felix’s shoulders slumped. 

“What’s wrong, Lix?”

“I’m just so stupid.” Chris stopped in his tracks when they rounded the corner, putting out an arm and stopping his brother as well. 

“First of all, no you aren’t. Second of all, why would you say something like that?” Felix sighed and leaned into his older brother’s touch. 

“I just thought I’d be able to talk to them too, but every time I tried to say anything it just got stuck in my brain so I just didn’t say anything like an idiot.” Chris pulled his brother into his chest and wrapped his free arm tightly around him. 

“Felix, they knew that we had just moved and learned a new language. They seemed really nice, I doubt they thought anything of your silence, much less anything negative.” Felix sniffled once before he pulled himself away from his brother. 

“Thanks hyung.” He said. Chris smiled at the term hyung. The two knew a bit of Korean from their parents, and they had spent a bit of time there with their aunt, but the two barely spoke it. They agreed that if they did, it was a special occasion. 

The rest of the walk back to their new home was silent, but not uncomfortably so. They made it home in less than five minutes, and they immediately dug into the pastries seeing as it was intended as their breakfast. 

Don’t get Chris wrong though, this will not be an everyday thing. He just needed to go to the store today to actually get some food. The rest of their meals today will be as healthy as he can humanly pull off, and breakfast tomorrow will be void of any sugar overdose. 

“Hyung, do you think you could walk me to school tomorrow?” Felix asked. Chris looked up from his phone and saw that Felix had yet to dig into his strawberry turnover. 

“Of course, Lix.” He said, and he watched as Felix nodded. Something was still off. “Is something else bothering you?” 

“I mean you don’t have to walk me into the building or anything, just to the entrance and I can deal with everything else myself but I was thinking that-”

“Woah, Lixie, take a breath, dove.” He said, putting his blueberry turnover on the napkin he had. He went over to Felix and pulled him into a hug. “Let’s go sit and you can tell me what’s going on, okay bub?” 

Felix nodded and let him be brought to the couch in the living room. He took another bite of his breakfast and chewed while he thought of how to say stuff. 

“Of course I’ll go with you, it’s no problem at all.” Chris told him. Felix nodded. 

“I’m just worried, I guess. I don’t want to be bullied like at the last school, and-”

“The principle told me that they have no problem with bullies at this school as they have zero tolerance for it.” Chris said. “I went over all of it with the principle, and he guarenteed me that if you have trouble with any student at all, they will take action to protect you.” 

Felix took another bite and chewed it anxiously. It was a really good pastry, he couldn’t say he’s tasted anything better in his life. 

“Does the principle know why I was bullied at my last school?” 

“I touched on it a bit, said it had to do with not conforming to gender stereotypes, and he immediately said that kind of behavior specifically isn’t tolerated.” He told him. It made Felix feel a little better, but something was still nagging him. 

“What if the school doesn’t work out as well as we think?” He asked in a small voice, afraid of the answer. 

Chris cooed at his brother and pulled him close. “Then we can stay living here and you can do online classes. The principle said that they have them available through that school if you wanted to do that instead. I asked him all the possible options out of his school. He doesn’t want to lose you as a student, he loved the look of your grades.” 

Felix smiled at that and took the last bite of his turnover. “So it sounds like we have everything planned out.” 

“I made sure of it, Lix.” Chris kissed the top of his brother’s head and stood up to stretch. “We have to go to the store today to get some food for the house, and get you some new school supplies. Gotta make sure you’re prepared.” 

Felix nodded and stood as well. “Let me just actually get dressed.” 

“Take your time, I’m gonna finish eating and then shower. You showered before we left Australia, right?” Felix nodded and then he disappeared upstairs. Chan went over to his pastry and continued eating it, and damn it was the best pastry of his life. 

Chapter Text

Felix and Chris had finished shopping in record time, and still managed to get coffee. 

Well, Chris got coffee. Felix got a strawberry acai. No way Chris was letting him have coffee after all that sugar from the pastry he had for breakfast. 

Their school shopping had been pretty successful overall, and they had even picked up a couple more things for the house that they realized they wanted. 

Like Felix's new pastel purple window curtains. 

They had also grabbed a new backpack, some composition notebooks, and a binder with separators and notebook paper. They had gotten him a graphing notebook as well, just in case. It hadn’t been on the list of required materials, but Felix had wanted to have it anyways. 

And then food. They got stuff that would make food in bulk but wasn't hard to carry home. They only had four hands between them, after all. 

They were on their way back home when a blur of pink and black collided with Felix. Had Chris's reflexes been any slower, they would have ended up on the ground. 

"I'm so so sorry! I'm just in a bit of a hurry and wasn't watching where I was going well!" Chan smiled at the girl as she righted herself from the incident. 

"No worries, are you two alright?" He asked, turning to personally check on Felix when the girl nodded. 

"I'm fine, Chris." The younger said. Chris turned back to the girl. 

"You sure you're fine?" The girl blushed and nodded. 

"I'm sorry again for running into you…" Chris realized her confused expression and smiled. 

"I'm Chris, and this is my little brother Felix." The younger aussie waved at the bluenette in front of them. 

"Nice to meet you, though I apologize it was under these circumstances." Her eyes lit up a bit when she saw the backpack. "Oh, are you a student?" 

Felix hesitated, but soon nodded. "Y-Yes, I'll be attending the school down the road tomorrow." 

The girl's eyes lit up more. "Dupont? I go there too!" 

"Oh, is it a good school, eh…" Felix suddenly realized he didn't know her name and felt awkward again. The girl's eyes widened in slight panic when she realized what the issue was. 

"Oh! I'm so sorry, where are my manners? My name is Marinette!" Felix smiled at her positivity. "And the school itself is pretty good, so don't worry!" 

Chris thought he saw something similar to sadness cross her expression, but he didn't know her well, so he didn't want to assume anything. He simply smiled at her and wrapped an arm around Felix's shoulders. 

"It was nice to meet you Marinette, but we should be getting home for lunch. I hope you get home well!" He said, and Marinette smiled brightly. 

"Thank you, and you too!" 

They both went their separate ways and Chris thought about the interaction. The girl herself was quite cheerful and she had been very apologetic about running into Felix. 

He hoped that she and Felix could become fast friends so that maybe his brother could have a good start to the school year. Marinette seemed like an amazing person. 

"Hey Chris, she looked familiar, didn't she?" Felix asked. The older thought for a moment before shrugging. 

"Maybe she looks like someone from Australia?" Felix shrugged in return and the conversation was dropped.

The rest of the walk home was silent, but not uncomfortably so. Chris hummed a tune for a song he was working on, and Felix followed as best he could. He liked his brother's music, and it would occasionally get stuck in his head. 

Upon arriving home, Chris went and put the food away and Felix went up to his room and put his new school supplies and curtains on the floor in his closet, so they wouldn't be in the way. 

Back downstairs, Chris started making them lunch. He decided on just turkey and cheese sandwiches and some apple juice for now. He knew Felix didn't eat well in unfamiliar places. 

"Lix! Lunch!" He yelled up the stairs. Footsteps approached as the older put the plates and cups on the coffee table for them and turned the tv on. 

"Is anything good on?" Felix asked as he flopped down on the couch. Chris shrugged. 

"Just turned it on. Wanna watch cartoons?" 

"Netflix?" 

"Fair enough."

Chapter Text

Sometime after lunch Chris had gotten called away by the company that hired him, which left Felix at the new house. 

Alone. 

He had decided that putting his room in order would be the best thing to do in his free time, and thirty minutes later he had even put up his new curtains. 

Not without obtaining a nice bruise on his chest from falling off the precarious stool-on-chair setup he had to reach the height he needed, but Chris didn't need to know that part right? Right.

So after he finished with his room, he decided to go downstairs and put some ice on his rib (he would never admit to it hurting, but maybe the ice would prevent a longterm bruise), and sit on the couch and watch some more tv. 

He turned on Supernatural and brought his phone out, because that's totally what watching tv meant. 

He saw the usual notifications on twitter and tumblr from the few pages he followed on each, including a new post from CB97. 

CB97 | @CBRacha

New company, new music! I look forward to seeing all your support! 

Felix smiled at his brother's post and hearted it before continuing his mindless scrolling, hearting random posts that caught his attention and retweeting a few others. 

His head popped up, however, when the sound of a lock turned and the door opened. 

"I'm back!" 

"That was fast." Felix called back, hiding the ice pack under the couch cushion next to him right before Chris closed the door. 

"Place I work for isn't really that far. Met some rocker guy there, Jagged Stone." Felix raised an eyebrow at the name and typed it into twitter. He found him right away and his eyes widened when he saw the profile. 

"This guy has an interesting pet." Felix said, turning his phone to his brother. Chris chuckles as he looked at the picture of the rock star and his crocodile. 

"Yeah, I met Fang. He's honestly a total sweetheart." Chris said as he plopped on the couch next to his brother, putting an arm around his shoulder. 

"Wish I had a pet like that back in Australia." Felix said with a smirk. Chris barked out a laugh at the thought of his brother going into school with it and making all of his classmates quake in fear and others just silent in awe. 

"Bet your bullies would leave you alone if you did." 

"Bet your ass they would." Felix yelped when Chris smacked him upside the head. 

"Language, ya brat." He said before ruffling his hear. The hit hadn't been hard and hadn't hurt at all, but Felix still pouted. 

The two sat in silence as Felix continued scrolling. Chris was watching the show and at some point a few hours later, Felix had leaned against the older more with his head on his shoulder. He looked down and saw that Felix had fallen asleep. 

Must have had a long day, Chris thought as he looked and saw it was only five in the evening. He turned off the TV and gently arranged Felix to be laying on the couch before standing up. 

He stretched his arms above his head and took a deep breath, releasing the breath as he brought his arms down, before going to one of the open boxes and bringing out a blanket. 

He gently lay it over his brother and walked into the kitchen to start making dinner. 

As he brought out the ingredients he needed (he figured he would make mac and cheese) he thought about Felix going to school tomorrow. He was worried about how Felix was going to adjust to the new school and he really hoped the class was accepting of him. 

Even with the promise from the principle, he still knew his brother. He would worry and worry, and he took a long time to open up. Even longer now than before because of what happened at his old school. 

He still remembered the day Felix came home with a bruise on his face and a cut on his lip. Chris's blood had ran cold when he saw his face when he walked in the door, and he doesn't think he's ever moved as fast as he did when he rushed to his brother and immediately inspected his injuries. 

"Lixie oh my god who did this to you?" 

"They didn't like my makeup." 

It was the only thing Felix had said the entire day, and it made Chris's blood boil. He had kept a concerned expression because nothing mattered more than the injured little brother in front of him. 

Their parents had been out of town for work, so it had been just the two of them. Chris had carried Felix to the bathroom, the boy unresponsive to anything and a vacant look in his eyes. 

Christopher Bang had never been more worried about his brother in his entire life. Felix hadn't let go of him the entire night, and Chris had carried him everywhere, as the younger had simply shook his head at the idea of getting up or walking on his own. 

He hadn't minded carrying his brother, not at all. But he had never seen his brother like that, so vulnerable and just… so small. 

At one point, their parents had signed a waiver saying that Chris had permission to call his brother out or go pick him up, even to go to conferences on their behalf since they were out of town so often. 

So using his big brother powers, he got Felix out of school that day and then they would have the weekend after that, and their parents would be home Monday morning. 

Felix slept in a lot that day, but when he finally woke up, he was embarrassed. Chris didn't understand why, but he figured it was to be addressed another time. 

Chris had made the decision while his little brother was sleeping that he would move them somewhere more accepting. Don't get him wrong, if Felix had rejected the idea he wouldn't have pushed anything. He didn't want to make his brother do something he didn't wanna do. 

Chris had brought it up at breakfast. 

"How would you feel about moving somewhere with me?" Chris asked. Felix shrugged. 

"I mean it sounds good, but why all of a sudden?" 

"We could move somewhere more accepting and with less gender stereotypes." Felix thought about it and eventually smiled. 

"I'd like that." He said. Chris smiled back as Felix took another bite of his french toast. 

"I'll research places and look around for possible jobs for me in the area, and the schools too. We might have to learn a different language though." Chris said. Felix nodded. 

"That's fine." 

Chris tried bringing up the other thing from that night, but Felix got flustered and asked if they could not talk about it. 

The subject got dropped with the promise that Felix would go to him if he felt himself get like that again, but it never got brought up again and Chris never saw him doing anything like it again. 

He figured that it might have been the shock or trauma of literally getting beat up, so he didn't think about it again and just decided to watch out for him a bit more. 

When their parents came home after the weekend, Chris and Felix sat them down to explain why the first thing the married couple saw coming through the door was that Felix had healing injuries on his face.

Obviously the two adults had been furious and immediately called the school and once an investigation had been done (and sneak peak of the security cameras), the two that beat the boy up were expelled. 

Felix still had to go to school though, and for the next week Chris took as many commission jobs as he could and researched as much as he could in his off time. 

In his search for jobs in other countries, his Korean knowledge was put to the test when he met Changbin and Jisung, two amazing music producers. 

He had exchanged numbers with them and continued his search for other places to work when he realized Korea was definitely not the place to move them. 

His search eventually led to Paris. He looked up schools, found a few candidates, and also jobs and sent in a few resumes. 

The school Dupont was very promising, and he even spoke to the principle. He was glad for the semester of French he took in high school, but the principle still picked up his struggle and asked if English was better because he was fluent. 

The conversation went better from there, and when Chris mentioned that Felix got straight A's the principle was more than happy to approve his transfer if the decided to move. 

The principle had asked why, though. Why they were moving, that is. 

Chris explained that Felix was getting bullied physically at his current school for being a bit more feminine than the male stereotype allowed, and the man immediate stated that his school had a zero tolerance for bullying of any kind and the penalty for discrimination bullying was expulsion and a report in their permanent school record. 

Chris thanked the man for the information and hung up. 

Chris remembered when Felix came home from school that day very well, and he swears on his life it took every fiber of his being not to go down to the school and tear into the principle.

His little brother had come home absolutely sobbing and out of breath, face completely flushed and blood gushing from his nose.

Once the younger was cleaned up and had calmed down a bit, he had explained that the bullies had cornered him in the bathroom after school and took turns kicking him, punching him, and one of them had held him against the wall by his throat. 

He had managed to get away by kicking one of them into all the others, but they had chased him halfway home. He hadn't stopped running the whole way though, he hadn't wanted them to catch up. 

That was when he told him to learn french. He couldn't stand seeing his brother like this, and he knew that Dupont would be a good school for him. 

Chris let out a sigh as the memory from that horrid day faded from his mind. He finished the mac and cheese and put some in bowls for him and his brother, sitting them on the dining table before going over to the couch again. 

He was about to shake his brother awake when something caught his eye. 

Reaching down, he moved the pillow and his eyes widened slightly in concern. 

Why was there an ice pack hidden in the couch next to Felix?

Chapter Text

Chris was overthinking things. He knows he is. But when he saw the ice pack, he didn't actually know what to think. 

Did he have an injury from Australia he didn't tell me about?

Did he get hurt while I was gone and not say anything?

…

How hurt is he?

"Lixie, wake up dove." He said, taking the ice pack in his hand before gently shaking his brother's shoulder. The younger groaned and sat up, looking squinty eyed at his brother until his gaze dropped to the ice pack. 

His eyes widened and he looked a bit guilty, trying to curl in on himself a bit. 

"Lixie baby, where are you hurt?" Chris asked. Felix sighed and looked down. 

"It isn't that bad-"

"Where?" Felix hesitated a few seconds before he uncurled himself and lifted his shirt a bit, revealing the slightly purple bruise he had acquired from falling. 

He heard his older brother gasp, and that was the only warning he got before he was being scooped up into strong arms and brought into the bathroom. 

"Lixie, how did you get this?" He asked as he sat the younger on the counter. Felix scratched his neck sheepishly. 

"I was putting my curtains up, and…" Chris's eyes widened the second he realized what the boy was implying. 

"You fell from high up because we don't have anything tall enough for you to reach so you had to improvise." Felix nodded, and Chris sighed. 

"Baby, you should have waited for me." Chris cooed before bringing him into a hug. 

"I'm sorry hyung, I was just excited." Felix said, eyes watering a bit. 

"Baby, I'm not upset at you, I'm just concerned, that's all." Chris pulled away from the hug gently and kissed his brother's head. "Let's go eat dinner, baby. Do you need pain meds after you've had food?" 

Felix nodded sheepishly, and Chris gently brought him to his side so he could be carried out to the table. 

Chris sat his brother down at the table and kissed his head before he sat at his own seat across from him. He waited for Felix to take the first bite, as he always did, before digging into his own food. 

"How do you think your first day will go?" Chris asked after they've each had a few bites. Felix shrugged. 

"Not sure. Hopefully I can make a few friends. Marinette seems really nice." He said with a smile at the memory of meeting her. She hadn't seemed bothered at all by his French or his accent, and was very nice and apologetic after quite literally running into him.

Chris nodded and took another bite, thinking before he swallowed. "She was really sweet. If you wanna bring her over sometime to hang out or study, I have nothing against it."

Felix smiled and nodded and the two were enveloped in a comfortable silence again. However, it was soon interrupted by a ping from Chris' phone. He picked it up and raised an eyebrow. 

"Huh," he said, gaining Felix's attention, "your class is going on a trip to Big Ben tomorrow." 

Felix's eyes widened excitedly, but he was a bit nervous. 

"Uh… I get it if you don't want me to go." He said. Chris shook his head with a chuckle. 

"Dove, if you wanna go tomorrow you can." He said. Felix got a big smile on his face. 

"Really?!" 

"Of course. I want you to have fun, not be known as the new kid who didn't have permission by his older brother to go on a class trip." He said, and Felix laughed. 

"Thank you hyung!" Chris raised an eyebrow a bit. 

"What's with the scattered Korean? Not that I'm complaining, but you and I both know when you usually use it." 

Felix's smile dropped and he looked down nervously. "I like the terms of endearment? They're kinda cute and they feel loving, especially since it's only you and me that use them." 

Chris smiled fondly at his little brother and ruffled his hair. 

"So you like to call me hyung." Felix nodded shyly. "Did you want me to call you aegi?"

Felix's blush literally made the older's heart melt , and he couldn't help but find his little brother absolutely adorable. The small nod of confirmation he got was accompanied by red ears and even redder cheeks. 

"Aw, Lixie, you know you can always tell me when you need something." He said, and Felix nodded and looked up at him. The look in his eyes, the amount of trust in them, made Chris' heart grow three times its size. 

He loved his brother so much. 

"Finish eating, aegi," the younger blushed again, "and then we'll get you some pain meds for that bruise." 

"Yes, hyung." 

"And if the pain gets worse, I'm taking you to the doctor." 

"... yes, hyung." 

Chapter Text

Felix woke up groggy the next morning, not remembering exactly how he got to bed. He figured that maybe he fell asleep during the movie and Chris carried him upstairs.

He got up and got dressed really fast, remembering that they were supposed to take a trip to Big Ben that day, and it would be the first time he met his class. He decided on a black pair of skinny jeans and a pink hoodie. He looked in the mirror and frowned a bit. He wanted to wear some makeup, even just a little. 

He went to his vanity that arrived last night after dinner and started applying the makeup he wanted. He didn’t completely cover his freckles, but he did make his skin tone just a bit lighter and put some eyeliner on. And a tad bit of purple tinted chapstick. It didn’t turn his lips purple, but it made his lips look a bit plumper, and he loved it. 

He finished styling his pink hair the way he liked it and finally grabbed his backpack, putting his switch and chargers in it before going downstairs. 

“Morning Lixie.” Chris said from his spot in front of the stove. Felix smiled and hugged his brother before sitting at the table, grabbing a pastry from the box they had gotten from the bakery. 

“Morning hyung.” He said, taking a bite. 

“Hey, you’re gonna spoil your breakfast.” Chris said as he put french toast on the plate. He knew it was his brother’s favorite. 

“I’m gonna be on a train and in London for most of the day, I doubt I’ll eat too much today.” Felix said as he put the pastry aside and put a bunch of syrup on his french toast. Chris sat in the other chair and put a pill next to Felix. 

“After you eat, take that. Try not to do too much today, and if it still hurts when you come back, I’m taking you to the doctor.” Felix tried not to roll his eyes and just nodded. 

“Can you still take me to the train station?” He asked, smiling a bit when Chris nodded. 

“Of course. We’ll have to leave soon so we can walk, though.”  

“Okay hyungie.” 

The rest of breakfast was silent. They both finished and Chris watched his brother take the pain pill before he took their dishes to the kitchen. 

“Ready to go?” Chris asked. Felix grabbed his backpack and nodded. They left the house, Chris locking the door, and then they were off. 

“Do we know where we’re going?” Felix asked. Chris nodded and pulled out his phone. 

“I saved the directions yesterday, don’t worry.” He said, and Felix smiled. 

“I wonder what my classmates are like.” Felix said. 

“Hopefully they’re really good people. The principle said that bullying isn't tolerated, so tell me if it happens.” Chris said. Felix nodded. 

They were thrown into silence as they kept on their way, and they eventually got to the station. They saw Marinette, and two people they didn’t recognize that must have been in her class, get out of a car with a woman. 

Chris nudged Felix gently, gesturing over to them. “Do you want to go say hi to Marinette?” 

Felix looked hesitant, and he shrugged. “I don’t want to disturb them, they seem like they're in the middle of filming something.” 

“Up to you.” Chris said before they turned and went into the building to get to the train. 

“I think it was train 8065?” Felix pulled out the boarding pass that they printed out last night and checked. “Yeah, on platform twenty three.” 

Chris looked around and he found platform twenty three. “This way.” He said, Felix following him. 

“Well, this is it, I guess.” Felix said. Chris chuckled a bit. 

“You sound like this is goodbye or something.” Felix shrugged. 

“Never know what could happen.” Chris cooed a bit and pulled his brother into a hug. 

“It’s not goodbye, I’ll see you when you get back. You can even text me while you’re gone, I’m not working today unless I get called in, and I’ll message you if that happens.” Chris told him, and Felix nodded against his brother’s chest. 

“Okay. I’ll remember to text, and I’ll let you know if something does happen.” He said. Chris ruffled his hair. 

“Alright, aegi.” Felix blushed at the name and hugged his brother one last time before getting on the train. 

“Oh, are you our new student?” A kind looking woman asked. Felix nodded. 

“I’m Felix Lee, it’s nice to meet you.” He said.

“My name is Ms. Bustier.” She said with a smile. Felix liked her, she seemed nicer than his other teachers. “You can choose any seat in that car right there, but try to keep toward the front so we can stay together as a class.” 

Felix nodded and went into the car, holding his backpack strap a bit tighter. He didn’t see Marinette yet, or the other two that she had been with. He sat in a random seat he found and brought his phone out. 

Lixie: i found a seat, and my teacher seems pretty nice

Chris: that’s good! you should sit with Marinette if you can

Lixie: she seemed like she was with friends though, i’ll be fine with whoever i end up sitting with 

Chris: alright aegi, but dont forget to try to make a friend okay? 

Lixie: i’ll try

Felix put his phone back in his pocket when he realized that Marinette and the other two she was with were entering the car. Marinette and the other girl sat in the seats in front of him, and the boy and… a floating robot? Were approaching him. Felix felt a bit of panic build up, but he reminded himself that this was probably a classmate of his, and he must have been friends with Marinette or she wouldn’t have arrived with him. 

“Hi, I’m Max, and this is Marcov.” He said, pointing to the robot. “Is it okay if we sit with you? The other seats are full.” 

“Y-Yeah, no problem.” Felix said. “Sorry if I seem awkward, I’m a bit nervous.” Max smiled at him. 

“Since I’ve never seen you before, I’m assuming this is your first day in our class?” 

Felix nodded, and couldn’t help but look at Marcov again. 

“Hello there,” Felix jumped when the robot spoke, “my name is Marcov, but Max has already said that! What is your name?” 

“My name is Felix, uh Felix Lee.” 

“Oh!” Felix looked in front of him and saw Marinette turned around. “Hey Felix! It’s cool that your first day is a field trip!” 

“Yeah, I guess it is. I was almost expecting my brother to not let me go, but he’s pretty cool about this kind of stuff.” 

Marinette smiled and turned back around, and Felix thought that she looked really tired. Max and him talked a bit more, and Felix asked a couple questions about Marcov before they were interrupted by a really loud yawn in front of them. 

The whole car turned toward Marinette, and laughed, minus Felix. 

“Oh that was so embarrassing.” Marinette said. 

“You’re too funny girl, but why are you so tired? What were you doing all night?” The girl next to Marinette asked. 

“I-oh, I tried to come up with a plan to try to tell Adrien, well, you know.” 

Felix figured at this point that Marinette had a crush on this Adrien person, who he assumed was in their class, and he tuned out the rest of the conversation by putting his headphones in, turning his brother’s music on in an attempt to sooth his anxiety. 

Soon though, Max was tapping his shoulder. He jumped slightly and took his headphone out, turning to the boy. 

“A service drone is asking if you want a beverage. Is there anything you want?” Max asked. 

“Uh… apple juice?” He asked, not really sure if they had that, but suddenly a cup appeared from the drone, and Felix was now questioning the actual science of this drone. Max passed him the cup and Felix thanked him for it, taking a drink from it. 

It was pretty good apple juice. Just the thing he needed to get his blood sugar up a bit. 

“Sorry I startled you earlier, I wasn’t sure how to get your attention.” Max said, and Felix shook his head. 

“No, it’s fine. I’m just a bit jumpy in unfamiliar places, so it isn’t your fault. That was the best way you could have gotten my attention.” He said. Max looked at him with a calculating look. 

“French isn’t your first language, is it?” Max asked. Felix blushed at it being so obvious. 

“No, English is my first language, actually. I grew up in Australia.” Max smiled. 

“Have you ever seen the giant spiders down there?” He asked, clearly interested. Felix chuckled a bit and nodded. 

“The school was on a field trip, our parents had to even sign liability waivers. We were going camping overnight, and my brother came with me as a volunteer. He didn’t like the idea of me being out there alone with all the dangerous stuff in the woods there. It was a baby spider, but it was still like two feet tall, and we had to change our camping spot because where a baby spider is, the whole nest probably isn’t too far.” 

Max’s eyes were wide at the concept of being face to face with a two foot spider. Felix caught the girl next to Marinette get out of her seat, and she walked a few chairs in front of them, and was talking to a blonde boy, and soon he was getting up and sitting next to Marinette. 

No sooner after, the same girl was getting everyone to turn toward Marinette and the blonde. 

Marinette had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he had let his head fall on hers.

Oh, that must be Adrien. 

Another girl got up and was about to wake up Marinette, a look that Felix didn’t trust on her face, when Marinette’s friend got up and stood behind her. 

“Need something, Lila?” 

“Actually, I get motion sickness, and I know Marinette always has a solution to everything.” Felix decidedly didn’t trust this girl. Something about how she talked, was… off. 

“I get it, but she’s asleep right now- as you can see, and she’s super exhausted, so,” 

“I can help you Lila,” a girl who had been sitting next to Lila said, “I have just what you need in my suitcase.” 

“Thanks a million, Sabrina, you’re so sweet.” Lila said, in a too sickly sweet voice. Felix really didn’t like her. Didn’t trust her at all. 

As soon as Sabrina had walked away and the other girls back was turned as well, Felix still didn’t know her name, he saw Lila’s shoulders go down. Like she had dropped the act now that no one was looking at her. He couldn’t see her face, but he was sure there was some kind of scowl. 

He decided to put that to the back of his mind and just put his headphones in again, restarting the song from before. 

He took his phone out and texted his brother again, feeling like he wanted to rant. 

Lixie: there’s this girl in my class that I really feel I shouldn’t trust

Chris: your feelings on that are usually correct. Did she do something to you?

Lixie: not me personally, but she was about to wake marinette up when she had yawned really loud earlier, and her voice is way too sweet to be real. 

Chris: context?

Felix explained the situation, and made sure to say that Lila’s voice was hitting octaves that only happens when you’re lying or trying too hard, and Chris got back really quick. 

Chris: you’re right not to trust her if you feel like she’s lying, and if she dropped her shoulders when someone said they had a solution, she probably hadn’t gotten her way like she wanted. It sounds like she just doesn’t like Marinette for some reason.

Felix was about to reply when a bunch of other people came into the car. He took out one headphone in time to hear Sabrina say something about an akuma being taken prisoner. 

What was an akuma?

Lixie: what’s an akuma?

Chris: wait what??

Lixie: they talked about an akuma or something being on the train i think?

Chris: i looked it up, and it doesn’t look good. I love you lixie and I’m sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will save everyone if there’s an akuma on the train. You have to be brave if there’s an akuma.

Felix was panicking, but it didn’t last too long before there was a purple something engulfing the train. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am Startrain! You all get to live my dream with me, shoot off the rails and fly off in a rocket and explore not just the moon, but the entire universe!”

“Mom?” Max said, in shock. Felix was trying not to hyperventilate and it was going unnoticed. 

Lixie: akuma akuma akuma

Chris: baby take deep breaths, I’m so sorry you’re in this situation, I should have kept you home, I’m so sorry

“Fasten your seatbelts, we have liftoff!” 

Lixie: not your fault i love you chris i lov ou

Chris: i love you, I’m sure Chat Noir and Ladybug will help you. Try to take deep breaths baby

Lixie: we’re going into space

Lixie : i cant stay calm the akuma is taking us into space

Chris: I love you aegi

Lixie: i love you too chris

Everyone started floating, except Felix who still had his seatbelt on, but he tuned out everyone around him. He saw Marinette and the others going to the front of the car, but he put in his earbud, but it wasn’t working. 

He heard speaking around him, but he was busy trying to calm himself down. He couldn’t text his brother, he felt like he couldn’t breath, he-

“Ladybug, Chat Noir?” Felix looked up and saw the two, but his vision was getting blurry from his hyperventilating. He figured that it wasn’t the best thing to do in literal space but he wasn’t supposed to be up here in the first place, and he couldn’t contact Chris-

“Everyone follow me to the back of the train!” He heard his teacher’s words, but he couldn’t seem to follow the order. He was stuck there, seatbelted to his seat. Everyone seemed to ignore him, probably not realizing that he belonged to that class. 

“Felix?” He looked up and saw Max looking at him in concern. 

“C-Can’t b-breathe-” 

“Max!” 

“My friend is hyperventilating!” Max said, and the two superheroes rushed over. 

“What’s your name?” Chat Noir asked.

“F-Fe-lix.” 

“Felix, everything is gonna be okay, I promise. This must be your first Akuma attack, isn’t it?” Ladybug asked. Felix nodded shakily, trying to take a deeper breath, and failing. 

“Panic attacks suck, I know,” Chat Noir said, “but you’ve gotta try to take a deeper breath. If you pass out in space, who knows what can happen. Me and Ladybug always fix everything.”

Felix nods and he closes his eyes, picturing Chris is the one calming him down. Soon he’s able to take a couple of deep breaths, and when he opens his eyes again, he’s significantly less panicked, and not hyperventilating anymore. 

“Do you think you can go with the rest of the class back there?” Ladybug asked. “We need Max to get to the front of the train.” 

Felix took a deep breath and nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt and trying not to panic when he started floating. He grabbed his backpack and went to the door, going through it and he was greeted by the sight of the rest of his class trying to stay together with some other passengers. 

“Felix, there you are!” The teacher said, floating toward him. He dodged her before she could put a hand on his shoulder. He couldn’t handle touch right now. 

“Yeah, sorry. I was panicking a little. First akuma attack. I didn’t even know what it was when it happened.” He said. Bustier got a sympathetic look. 

“Go ahead and stick with Alya and Nino for now,” She looked toward the students. “Alya, Nino, can you raise your hands?” 

The two did, and Felix recognized one as the girl who was sitting next to Marinette. He floated over to them and he saw Lila get a smirk and she made her way over too. Felix held back a groan as he finally reached Alya and Nino. 

“Hey, you’re Felix?” Alya asked. “I heard Marinette talking to you. Do you already know her?” 

“Me and my brother were walking around and we ran into her. We talked for a bit before parting ways.” He said, and Alya smiled. 

“Mari’s a really good person to be friends with.” She said, and Nino nodded. 

“I’ve been friends with her since we were kids, she’s really kind.” Felix saw Lila scowl out of the corner of his eye. 

“Oh, are you the new kid?” Lila asked, and Alya smiled at her. “I was the new kid before you, it’s so great to meet you, I’m Lila!” 

“Hey. Sorry if I’m not too talkative, this is my first akuma attack. I didn’t really know what it was before this happened, I’m not from around here.” 

“Oh, that’s totally understandable!” Lila said in her too sweet voice. “I remember my first akuma attack, it was so horrible! I was so scared, and-”

“If you don’t mind, Lila, I’ve already had a panic attack and don’t want to think about it anymore.” Felix said, tears in his eyes. He hated that he was showing weakness around this girl, but he just wanted this to be over. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Felix!” Lila said, and Felix thought her voice was too forced this time. “I thought that maybe we could just bond over it, and-”

“I’m not in the right mood to ‘bond’ right now.” He said, now sending a glare her way. 

“Sorry, dudette, but maybe leave him alone. He’s freaked out as it is, and you talking about it seems to be making it worse.” Nino said. Felix felt his panic turn into exhaustion, and his vision started swimming. Lila went away, leaving Felix with Alya and Nino. 

“Sorry about her,” Alya said, “she means well, but sometimes she can be a bit much.” Nino had been looking at Felix, and when he didn’t reply, he knew something was wrong. 

“Dude, are you okay?” He asked, putting a hand on his shoulder to try to keep him steady. 

“Might pass out.” He said weakly. Nino and Alya were freaking out a bit and tried to get Bustier’s attention, but they couldn’t even see her. 

“Dude, try to stay awake, okay? Talk to us, tell us about something.” He said. 

“You said that you were with your brother when you ran into Marinette, what’s your brother like?” Alya asked. Felix blinked a few times to get rid of some of the black spots. 

“He’s awesome. Moved us here from Australia.” He said, and he thought his French was a bit wrong, but the others didn’t seem bothered. 

“From Australia? That’s cool. Why did you guys move?” Nino asked. 

“I was being bullied. They hurt me a lot.” He said, not really sure how to phrase it when he was so tired. 

“I’m so sorry.” Alya said. Nino thought for a second. 

“What’s your brother’s name? How old is he?” 

“Chris. His name is Chris, he’s 23.” He said, and he blinked slowly a few more times, his vision getting blurrier the more he blinked. 

“Hey dude, gotta stay awake.” 

The last thing Felix saw was the train turning back to normal and felt his body drop before he passed out. 

“Felix! Wake up!” Felix jolted awake and looked around. Nino and Alya were in front of him. 

Felix sat up, with the help of the other two, and realized that the train was back on the tracks. He could see the train station out the window. 

“Dude, you passed out, are you okay?” Nino asked. Felix felt light headed still, so he laid back down. 

“I think I’m fine. Dizzy.” He said. 

“Hey Kim, can you help us out?” Alya called over to someone out of Felix’s view. A buff looking guy came over, and kneeled next to Felix. 

“What’s wrong with new kid?” He asked in concern. 

“Felix passed out during the akuma attack and it took us a while to wake him back up, he said he’s still dizzy. Can you get him in one of the chairs?” 

A ringing sounded from Felix’s pocket and Alya got his phone out, seeing as Felix was too out of it to pay attention. 

“Hello, this is Felix’s phone, Alya speaking.” Alya answered. Nino heard frantic talking on the other end, and Alya’s eyes widened. 

“Hey Chris, Felix is, well he’s conscious now.” She said. “You’re here? Okay, we’ll have our friend bring him out to you, we’ll meet you and explain what happened.” 

She hung up and put the phone back in Felix’s pocket. 

“Change of plans, Felix’s older brother is here and wants to bring him home. Kim, can you bring him outside?” 

Kim nodded, and lifted him up easily, and they walked out of the train car. 

“Oh goodness, what happened?” Ms. Bustier asked. 

“Felix passed out during the akuma attack and his brother is here to get him.” Nino said, giving her the short version. 

“Alya!” They all looked over and saw a taller blonde guy running toward them that they could only assume was Chris. 

“Chris, hey.” Alya said. Chris stopped in front of them and Kim made the careful exchange of Felix into Chris’s arms. 

“What happened, the last I was able to get from him through text was that the train was going into space.” Chris said, a bit panicked. 

“Felix was a bit late getting to the back of the train when our teacher got us all back there. He seemed to be panicking a bit still, so we tried to distract him, but not even five minutes later he said he might pass out.” Alya said. 

“We tried to keep him talking to us, but he passed out around the time Chat Noir and Ladybug took care of the akuma. We kept trying to wake him up, but it took us a few minutes. Gravity took effect and we aren’t sure if he hit his head or not.” Nino told him. 

“Wait!” 

Alya and the others turned around and saw Max running out. “What’s up, Max?”

“Here’s Felix’s backpack.” He said. 

“I can hold him while you put on the backpack, if ya want.” Kim said, and Chris sent him a grateful look before handing his brother over again. He put the backpack on before carefully taking back Felix. 

“Thanks, you guys. I never got your names.” 

“I’m Kim.”

“I’m Alya, and this is my boyfriend Nino.” 

“I’m Max.” 

“Seriously, thank you for taking care of my brother.” Chris said. “You should get back to the train so it doesn’t leave without you.” 

The others waved to him as he left, going to the cab that he had waiting for him. 

When they finally got home, Chan put Felix on the couch and went to the kitchen to make lunch. He put a glass of apple juice on the table next to the couch. 

“Chris?” 

“Felix, oh my god.” Chris sat on the couch and pulled his brother into a hug. “I love you so much, Lixie.” 

“Thought I was never gonna see you again.” Felix said, his voice small, and it made Chris’s heart break a bit. The older brought the younger into his lap and grabbed the apple juice. 

“Drink this, aegi. It’ll raise your blood sugar.” Felix took it and started drinking it. “You’re gonna stay home for the weekend, okay?” 

Felix nodded and put the apple juice down. “I just want to stay with you.” 

Chan kissed the boy’s head and sat him on the couch again. “I know baby, and you will. I’m gonna make you a sandwich okay? Which pastry do you want with it?” 

“Is there an apple tart?” 

“Yeah. I’ll put it on the plate with the sandwich.” 

Felix nodded and drank some more apple juice, bringing out his phone and going to research more about akumas. He didn’t want to pass out every time he got caught in an attack. Everyone else was so calm, it seemed like it happened a lot. This place even had superheroes. 

“Here you go, aegi.” Chris said, putting the plate in front of him, and his own in front of himself. Chris took Felix’s phone away and locked in, putting it on the table too. “You’ll have time to research later. For now, eat.” 

Felix sighed but did what he was told, glad that he had his brother to protect him. 

Chapter Text

When Felix woke up, there was a delay in realizing he had just had a nightmare. The images came back to him slowly and he whimpered when he remembered his nightmare didn’t have a happy ending like real life did. 

He held his panda stuffy closer to himself and tried to push the images from his head, so he could get on with the day. He closed his eyes, and mentally counted as he breathed in for four second, and held his breath for four seconds before letting out the breath just as slowly. He could feel his stuffy’s fur, and he could smell food downstairs. 

After a few more seconds, he realized he was smelling french toast. 

He took a couple more deep breaths before getting out of bed, still holding onto his panda as he made his way downstairs, shuffling his feet along the way. His brain felt fuzzy from his nightmare and all he knew is that he needed his panda, Bamie, to feel safe. 

He got to the main area and he sat on the couch, looking at the show that his brother had been watching. It was some kdrama. If Felix remembered correctly, it was called To Be Continued. 

“Oh!” Felix turned around and saw that Chris had just noticed him. “I didn’t know you were awake Lixie. How come you didn’t say anything?” 

Truth be told, the younger didn’t feel like speaking. He simply shrugged and held his stuffy closer and watched the show again. He could still feel his brother’s eyes on him. 

“Lix are you okay?” Chris was now sitting next to him, a concerned look in his eye. “Did you sleep okay?” 

Felix just shrugged again, and now Chris was more worried. He’s only seen his brother go nonverbal a couple of times. Once when he was being super clingy and refusing to let Chan put him down, and the other time was when he lost his best friend of five years when he revealed that he wasn’t straight. 

“Is it okay for me to touch you?” Felix nodded immediately, and Chris brought his brother into his lap and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Are you not comfortable with speaking right now, aegi?” 

He felt Felix practically melt into his touch when he called him aegi before he nodded a bit, hugging his panda closer to him. Chris knew that this might be one of the cuddly instances of him being nonverbal.

Not that Chris minded, not at all. He would give his little brother whatever he needed to be happy and healthy, and do anything to make him feel safe. If letting his brother cling to him and take care of him was one of those things, Chris would do it in a heartbeat. 

“That’s okay if you don’t want to talk. Do you just want to cuddle? Maybe I can change the show to something else if you want?” Felix nodded and Chris grabbed the remote. He continued scrolling and nothing was catching Felix’s interest, so he tried something else. He went into the kid’s zone of netflix. 

Felix was making small mumbled noises every once in a while before finally Chris reached something. H20 Just Add Water. Felix made a happy sound and bounced a bit in excitement, so Chris figured that this was what his younger brother wanted. 

Chris definitely remembered that show. It was an Australian mermaid show and both of them had watched it occasionally, and he knew that Felix liked it a bit more than he had. Felix had really liked Rikki, thinking she was a cool girl and everything. 

“You wanna watch this, aegi?” Felix nodded and kept his eyes glued on the screen, but melted back into Chris when the show started. “Alright, but you need to eat while you watch. Can’t skip breakfast.” 

Chris gently lifted Felix and put him in the spot next to him before getting up and bringing both their breakfast over. Felix flopped himself on the floor when Chris put his french toast on the table, and the older was glad he was paying attention because the next thing he knew, Felix was trying to pick up the whole piece of french toast with his hands. 

“Woah, aegi, hold on.” Chris said. He used the fork to cut the slices of french toast into small pieces, about twelve pieces per slice, leaving Lix with almost twenty four squares of french toast. “Do you need syrup?” 

Felix shook his head and he picked up a piece, popping it into his mouth. Chris hadn’t seen his brother eat this way since he was… a kid. 

Like, three years old. 

Shaking off the thought, he sat on the couch and got his phone out, looking at his twitter notifications. He had a shoutout from Jagged Stone which he liked, and a few fans commented on his own post. He appreciated all of them, and even liked a couple of the ones that he recognized as having followed him from the beginning when he was still posting to soundcloud. 

He took another look at his brother and saw that he was now sucking on a piece of the french toast. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

“Lixie, you have to eat it, not suck on it.” His little brother nodded before he ate it, still not breaking eye contact with the TV. 

Chris wondered if he should take his brother to see a therapist maybe? Just to see if they have answers for why he might be acting how he had when he was a kid? 

Not that it was an issue. Chris really didn’t mind this at all. He just wanted to see if there was an explanation and maybe a name for it, because he definitely hadn’t heard of it before. Was it something in Felix’s control, did it only occur after something traumatic and scary happened? 

It would explain why it had only happened after the bullies attacked him and after the akuma attack yesterday. 

He would have to ask Felix what he thought about everything when he was feeling a little more himself. For now, he simply looked at the news, and saw that yet again another akuma was loose. A time travel one. 

Was anything impossible anymore? 

He put it to the back of his mind, since they were safely in their house and away from the attack by a decent distance, and put his phone away in general and started eating his own breakfast. 

He had to remind Felix a few more times to actually eat his breakfast, but the boy finally finished it and was still watching as the next episode started. 

About two episodes later, Felix groaned and stood up, causing Chris to look at him curiously. 

“Aegi what’s wrong?” Felix shook his head. “Talk to me, bud, what’s wrong?” 

“I can’t believe that happened again.” He said. He was still holding onto Bamie, but that was nothing new. 

“What do you mean?” Chris asked. He knew that Felix was talking about the strange behavior, but he wanted to hear the younger’s version. 

“Me acting like a kid. Not talking, eating weird, I barely remember it, it’s all hazy.” He said, tears forming in his eyes. The older quickly pulled his brother to sit next to him and he wiped the tears away. 

“Baby, I didn’t mind. You were cute, and there must have been a reason that it happened. Did it happen without your control over it?”

“It’s like… I woke up and felt myself… slipping? I guess is the only word I can think of. And by the time I got down here, I couldn’t think of anything but staying safe.” 

“After what happened yesterday, it’s understandable.” Chris said. “Do you remember the last time this happened?” 

“When those kids beat me up back in Australia.” Felix said. 

“I think it happens in response to a trauma or being really scared.” Chris told him. “I don’t mind when it happens, but I think we should find someone who might know a bit more about what it is.” 

“Like… go to therapy so they can tell me I’m weird?” Felix asked, sounding hurt. Chris placed a kiss on Felix’s head. 

“Baby, they won’t tell you that you’re weird. They can help us understand what it is. I will never do anything you don’t want to do, so if you don’t want to go then we won’t go. Or if you do want to and then want to stop, we’ll stop. I just want to see if there’s a name for what you do and if there’s anything I can do to help you while you’re like that.” 

Felix thought for a moment before nodding. “I can stop going whenever I want?” 

“Of course, aegi.” Chris said, hugging the younger. 

“Thank you, hyung.” Felix melted into his brother’s hold and the two just sat there in each other’s embrace. The episode changed again, and Felix groaned. 

“Can we watch Lucifer?” 

“Definitely.” 

Chapter Text

The next day started with Felix waking up and remembering that Chris had managed to find him an appointment for today with a psychiatrist. Chris had described briefly what they needed out of their appointments and also what prompted him to seek him out to begin with, and the man was very understanding. 

His appointment was set for ten in the morning. Felix checked his phone and realized that he had two hours. He hugged his stuffie close to him and went downstairs to see Chris had made breakfast again, this time it was pancakes and some omelettes with spinach. He grabbed a plate and dished himself up and sat down to eat. 

“Do you want to stop by the bakery on the way to the appointment?” Chris asked. Felix shrugged. 

“Sure, I guess.” He said. “Or maybe after.” 

“Up to you,” Chris said before walking over and sitting next to him. “you can get something from there today either way.”

“Do you think that akumas happen often?” Felix asked suddenly, taking another bite of food. Chris sighed, knowing that this question was coming, and of course his little brother knew that he had done research after the Startrain incident. 

“They do, yeah. Seems like most of the week, if not everyday some weeks.” He said. “Chat Noir and Ladybug seem to take care of the akumas really fast though, and Ladybug’s powers fix all the damage that happened, and apparently will even fix broken bones. Benefit of magic I guess.” 

Felix nodded and sighed as well. “Guess so. If it can return a train from the middle of space back to the station we started from, anything is possible. What else did you learn?” 

“The ‘villain’ that sends out the akumas is called Hawkmoth, and he sends them out to people who are really upset or mad. Takes advantage of their negative emotions. I guess his main goal is to try to get Ladybug and Chat Noir’s ‘miraculous’ using the villains he akumatizes.” 

Felix thought for a second and was suddenly thankful that his brain’s first response to negativity was to just be numb. “I’m assuming the miraculous are the things that make Chat Noir and Ladybug superheroes?” 

“You got it. There’s some temporary heroes that come along too, but I guess only when Ladybug and Chat Noir need the help. They only seem to appear after Ladybug leaves and comes back with them.” 

“So Hawkmoth uses people who are emotionally vulnerable to do his bidding because he’s too much of a coward to do it himself.” 

Felix’s sentence sent Chris into a fit of laughter, doubling over on himself as he tried to catch his breath and control himself. Chris had to admit that it was a good way to put it. 

“Yeah, that’s pretty accurate.” Chris said once his laughing fit was done. “No one’s been charged with anything that happens when they’re akumatized, they’re actually considered victims since they consider Hawkmoth a terrorist.” 

Felix’s eyes widened. “If he ever tries to akumatize me, I’ll tell him to shove it where the sun don’t shine.” 

Chris snorted. “I know you will. Alright, finish up breakfast, we have to get to your appointment.” 

“I was hoping you’d forget.” He muttered as he finished the apple juice his brother had sat in front of him earlier. 

“This one appointment, and then you can tell me if you wanna stop going.” Chris said as he put all the dishes in the sink. Felix nodded and grabbed his stuffie and headed back upstairs. 

Getting in his room, he went to his closet and grabbed a pair of galaxy skinny jeans and a black hoodie with a red panda on it that said “I’m not shy, I’m just selectively social.” It had been a gift from Chris for his birthday two years ago. The older said he tried to find one with a regular panda on it with the same saying, but no luck. Felix loves it all the same. 

He went to his vanity and put on some makeup, similar to how he had it on his first day of school, and he put in some koala earrings that looked like the koala was clinging to his earlobe. He took another look at himself in the mirror before he grabbed his backpack and went downstairs. 

He saw that Chris was on the couch on his phone fully dressed, so he went and put on his shoes. They were holographic high top heelyz. He went and sat next to his brother and got his phone out too. He wanted to research more about akumatizations before-

“Okay, lets go.” Chris said. Felix groaned and put his phone away and stood up. “You can look up the villains and stuff later, we can’t be late.” 

“I know, I know.” 

--

They had decided to stop by the bakery before his appointment since they had a bit more time than they thought. Tom and Sabine were really nice, and there were a couple of Felix’s classmates there too, including Kim. 

“Hey dude, are you okay after what happened during the akuma attack?” He asked. Felix blushed and nodded. 

“Yeah, I’m better now.” He said, and the two bakery owners’ eyes widened. Felix figured it was because of how deep his voice was. 

“We were pretty worried,” said a girl standing next to him. She was kind of short and she had pink hair. “I’m Alix, by the way. Nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you, too.” he said. Chris placed a hand on Felix’s shoulder before he went over and started talking to Tom and Sabine. 

"So Max told us you were from Australia?" Alix inquired. Felix nodded. 

"Yeah, me and my brother moved here, I had a lot of bullying problems at my other school." he said shyly. Alix and Kim's eyes widened. 

"You were bullied? But you're so cute!" Kim exclaimed, and Felix blushed and caught Chris smirking in the corner of his eye. 

"Australia has more strict societal gender norms. When I wore makeup the first time, I got beat up pretty bad." he said, and the two in front of him looked murderous. 

"Consider me and Alix your personal body guards!" Kim declared, and Alix nodded. 

"No one messes with our Felix!" she agreed. Felix felt his heart swell with emotion, but before he could cry in front of his new friends, Chris wrapped an arm around his shoulder. 

"Thanks you two, for wanting to protect my little bro, it means a lot to me. I'm Chris, the older brother this one was talking about." 

"Nice to meet you, Chris! We'll make sure to take good care of your brother at school. Me and Kim are on good terms with most of the school, and bullying isn't usually an issue there in general." Alix said. Chris smiled. 

"That's good. Well, we have to get going now, but if you guys wanna exchange numbers, Felix can invite you two over anytime to hang out." he said. The three nodded and got their phones out, exchanging their numbers and made a group chat. 

"See ya later!" Alix shouted as she and Kim walked away. Felix waved with a smile on his face. 

Chris smiled at his brother and ruffled his hair when the other two were out of sight. 

"You've got yourself two more friends." he said. Felix blushed and nodded. 

"They seem really nice. But what they said about the school being good doesn't quite match Marinette's reaction when we asked." he said. Chris thought for a second. 

"Maybe she used to get bullied and those two didn't? Kim especially doesn't seem like the type someone would bully, and Alix looks like she might floor anyone who tried to bully her." Felix laughed and nodded. 

"That's true. Maybe I'm just overlooking it." he said before trying to take the pastry bag from Chris. "Now what'd you get me?" 

Chris laughed and handed over the strawberry turnover and watched with a fond smile as his little brother happily devoured it. 

Chapter Text

Felix’s knee bounced as he waited for his name to be called for the appointment. He was so nervous, and Chris could practically feel the anxiety radiating off of his little brother. 

"Lixie, it'll be okay. I'll be with you the whole time, just try to relax a bit." Chris said. Felix nodded and took a deep breath right as the door across from them and a man smiled at the two. 

"Felix Lee?" he asked. Chris nodded and took his little brother's hand and led him in the room when the psychiatrist gestured them inside. 

The two brothers sat on the couch, Felix looking at his knees and scratching at his hands before Chris took them apart and held one of them again. 

"So boys, my name is Dr. Laverne." he said, sitting at his desk. "Would you like to tell me a bit about yourself, Felix?" 

"Uh…" He hesitated a bit, Chris comfortingly squeezing his hand. "I'm a bit shy, I used to get bullied a lot? Uh… I'm bisexual? I don't really know what else to say…" 

The doctor hummed and typed some things before he turned to him again. 

"Where did you grow up?" 

"Australia."

"Do you live with your parents?" he asked, and Felix shook his head. 

"My brother worked hard to move us somewhere with less gender stereotypes." he said. Dr. Laverne raised an eyebrow at that. 

"What gender do you identify as?" he asked. "What pronouns do you prefer." 

Now, Felix thinks that the question shouldn't have made him think as much as it did, but he had never really thought of that answer before. 

He wasn't sure he was allowed to think about it, so he never allowed himself to toy with the idea that he might identify differently. 

Chris shifted in his seat to face his brother better and gave a comforting squeeze to his hand. 

"I gues… I never thought about it. I don't particularly care about gender norms, I just do and wear what makes me happy. I like wearing light makeup, I guess I wouldn't be against wearing a skirt for like a special occasion, but I've never let myself think about my gender as anything but what I was assigned and told I was." he said. Chris pulled him a bit closer and placed a kiss to his head. 

"Thank you for opening up about that Felix." Dr. Laverne said with a smile. "I'll give you a print out of different gender identities and their meanings and such before you leave if you like, but you don't have to pick anything. It would be for mostly informational purposes, so please don't feel like you have to identify with one of them. If one sticks out to you, however, I would encourage you to do further research into it." 

"Okay." Felix leaned into his brother's embrace as the questions continued. 

"I actually have a question for your brother now." he said, and Chris straightened up a bit. "You had mentioned on the phone that Felix would act younger and then barely remember when he would switch back, is that right?" 

"Yes sir. The first time it happened was after he got beat up from the bullies in Australia. He was nonverbal and wouldn't let go of me, not that I minded. The most recent was yesterday after he experienced his first akuma attack." he explained.

"Ah, yes, I can imagine that an akuma attack would be extremely frightening, especially if you hadn't known before what they were." he said. 

"Well I think I can confidently say that Felix has PTSD from the bullying, and the akuma attack might have triggered it. As for the acting younger." He typed a few things and something printed out. "There's something called Age Regression, and sometimes it can happen when PTSD is triggered. It can become an intentional and unintentional coping mechanism." 

He handed the papers to Chris, who took them from him and glanced them over. 

"It says that it's when someone's mentality reduces or regresses in age as a way to cope with anxiety, depression, and trauma?" Chris asked. Felix looked at the paper in slight interest.

"Correct. For Felix, the regression gets triggered as a self defence against trauma. If his brain can't handle it, it regresses so that it doesn't have to deal with the traumatic events that triggered it." Dr. Laverne typed a few more things. "Sometimes regressors want certain things while in 'headspace' and those things will vary by person and mental age range. Is there anything that you've noticed you prefer when you regress, Felix?" 

Felix shrugged. "I always have my panda stuffie. Their name is Bamie."

Dr. Laverne nodded and made another note before turning back to him. “Have you ever felt like you wanted anything else while in headspace? Anything at all?” He asked. Felix thought about it and blushed when he realized what it was he wanted and he shook his head quickly. 

“Felix, it’s okay.” Chris said. “You can tell us. I can get them for you if you want, too. If it’ll help you, I want to get them.”

Felix teared up slightly at his older brother’s words and he took a deep breath. “I kind of… want a pacifier? And… a sippy cup… but I shouldn’t want those things, I’m almost an adult.” He said, and the psychiatrist shook his head. 

“It’s very normal for a regressor to want those things, it validates their younger mental age and it typically makes them happier to have and they can regress for longer. Sippy cups, pacifiers, and even bottles and rattles can make the regression period a much happier experience. You don’t have to feel bad about wanting those things, especially since your older brother is willing to buy them for you.” He explained, and now Felix was openly crying. 

Chris brought his brother into his lap and started humming quietly. It was one of the songs he had worked on for Felix when he was going through a period of heavy depression, and it never failed to calm the younger down when he was worked up. 

When Felix calmed down enough and wiped his tears away, the doctor wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Chris. 

“This is a website that makes special adult sized pacifiers, it’s called JayKayBaby. She makes amazing custom ones, there’s various themes, and you can customize the colors and add text to them too. She’s located in the United States, but she does ship internationally, it’ll just take a while to do so. This is the best website that I’ve found that doesn’t sexualize it, like most websites do.” He said. Chris got very concerned. 

“Wait so is age regression-”

“It isn’t a sexual thing, no. But often times, people don’t know the difference between Age Regression and Age Play. Regression is a coping mechanism and also a way to try to remember repressed memories from trauma, and age play is,” He chuckled sarcastically, “in my honest opinion, a loophole to pedophilia. Sexualizing anything to do with a child is wrong, even if it’s just the ideology of it.” 

Chris suspects that the doctor probably wasn’t supposed to say it that bluntly, but he figured he could keep that to himself since he agreed wholeheartedly. Sexualizing even the idea of a child is disgusting. He had heard of Age Play before, but he never cared to do more research. 

“So, try going to the website with Felix when you get home and order one that he likes, and also look over the gender identities, do research on them if he seems interested, and if he identifies with one, then he can explain what it would mean for him as a person going forward.” He said. Felix had a question, and fidgeted. Chris smiled at him and urged him to speak. 

“So if I identify with something like… I’ve heard of agender before? Then I could just… call myself agender?” He asked. “I-It’s just an example, I’m not sure if I do or not.” 

“That’s correct, if you feel you identify with any of these, you can tell us, and anyone else you’re comfortable telling, what your identity and pronouns are. Some people here might ask right as they meet you to be polite.” 

Felix nodded and shifted in his spot on Chris’s lap again. “And… what if I identify as one thing at first but then it changes? Would that just be in my head?” 

“Not at all, gender is a spectrum. There’s something called genderfluid, and it means that your gender can fluctuate from one to the other, maybe even on a day to day basis. Nonbinary is when you don’t identify with either or any gender.” The doctor told him. 

“And what if I like wearing stuff that is more masculine but I don’t identify as any gender?” 

“Gender expression is completely different from gender identity. Clothes don’t have a gender, remember that, and neither do accessories, colors, toys, anything like that. You can wear and have whatever you want and still be who you identify as.” He said with a smile. 

Felix felt a bit better knowing that. Now he could wear makeup without feeling bad about it. 

“So… pacifiers and sippy cups are okay… and make up and stuff is too?” He asked. Dr. Laverne nodded happily. 

“Exactly. Now, Chris, would you be willing to take care of Felix while he’s regressed?” He asked. Felix looked up at him with slightly fearful eyes at the question. 

Maybe he would be too much for him, he should just tell Chris that it’s fine if he doesn’t-

“Of course, I would love to.” He said before kissing Felix’s head. “I’ll do anything for him, especially if it can help him cope.” 

Felix felt a weight lift off his shoulders, and he even felt a bit silly that he thought for even a second that Chris would say no to taking care of him. 

“That’s very good. Now, the person taking care of a regressor is typically called a caregiver, and the regressor may give that person a special name or title. Does Felix have anything special that he calls you?” 

Chris smiled fondly at the question. “We both speak a bit of Korean because of our parents, and he’s been calling me ‘hyung’ a lot more often, which means older brother. I’ve been calling him ‘aegi’ after he expressed a liking for the Korean terms of endearment, and it means baby.” 

“Since he likes the Korean terms of endearment, as you put it, he might call you them more in headspace, or he could speak English since I’m assuming it’s your first language?” 

“Yes sir, it is. Neither of us is fluent in Korean, and we only just learned French within half a year of moving here.” He said. 

“It depends on Felix, but there’s a chance that he could call you korean terms but only speak English.” He said. “When the brain regresses, it typically reverts to what it knew around that age, but it never fully forgets stuff that it knows from now. So if you ask him something when regressed that he wouldn’t know from regression age but would know from his current age, he would be able to get the answer, but probably not right away, and it might put a strain on his regression, or maybe even pull him out of it.”  

“Keep things simple, got it.” Chris said, and Felix blushed. 

“Is there anything else we should address this meeting?” Dr. Laverne asked them, and Felix shook his head, but Chris had other ideas. 

“When he feels emotions, his first instinct is to become numb to everything, and sometimes he disassociates from the situation or reality and just goes on autopilot.” Felix groaned as he recalled the time Chris was talking about. 

His friends had just ditched him at the beach and told him that they didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, and he just zoned out for four hours, leading to Chris going to search for him. When the older had found him, Felix had given only minimal reactions and head nods or shakes for yes and no respectively. When they were supposed to cross a street, Felix hadn’t seen that Chris had stopped or that the cross light was red, so he tried to cross anyways and almost got hit by a car. 

He would have, if Chris hadn’t yanked him back onto the sidewalk. 

“Can you give me an example?” The doctor asked. Chris explained the situation, and Felix hid his face in the older’s chest as he did so, and the older man hummed after he processed the information. 

“That is very dangerous, and could be a big risk if you were to do so when alone. Felix, do you ever feel or notice warning signs before dissociating?” Felix shrugged and thought about it. 

“Things get… quiet? Kind of muted. My senses numb a bit. Like my sense of smell and hearing, and even taste seem… farther away? Like I can still hear and smell and taste, but it’s like there’s something between me and the senses.” He said. 

“Would you compare it to tunnel vision but for the other senses?” Felix nodded at the psychiatrist's question. “Do you think you have control over what you’re doing and thinking when you first feel your senses getting away from you?”

“Kind of? Like I can think about it and be like ‘wow this is weird,’ but I’ve never been able to snap myself out of it. Never thought to try, it usually just… happens.” 

“Next time you feel something like that happening, I need you to tell Chris. Even if you have to text him, you just need to practice having enough control to actively let someone know that you’re dissociating. Is there anyone other than Chris that you would trust enough to tell? Or would you have to wait to make that decision when you’re put in the situation to decide?” 

Felix thought about Alix and Kim for a second, and also Marinette. “Maybe three people? But I only just met them, they seem like good people though. Two of them heard that I had been bullied before and they said something about being my personal bodyguards?” He said, and it made Dr. Laverne laugh. 

“Those sound like great friends. I would suggest maybe explaining to them that it happens to you during stressful or traumatic situations. Ahead of time, but only if you’re comfortable telling them.” 

“What if it happens during an akuma attack?” He asked, and he felt Chris tighten his hold on his waist. 

“You should go around the city with Chris and find places that would make safe hiding places in case that happens. That way you’ll be more aware of where you are and you’ll easily be able to find somewhere to hide if you start feeling the disassociation happening during one.” 

Everything that the man was saying was making sense, but Felix couldn’t help but be nervous. He didn’t know the area too well, and his memory wasn’t the best, especially when it came to navigation. He would still need another few days to remember how to get to the bakery from their house even though it was just down the street. 

“I believe our time is almost up, but I recommend doing the homework I’ve given you before your next appointment, if you choose to set another one up.” Doctor Laverne told them as he wrote something down. 

“Here’s a list of the stuff I’ve recommended. See it as a bit of a summary of our visit. I would like it if you could try regressing intentionally, in a happy setting. Maybe put on a cartoon or show you watched as a kid, and have Bamie with you, and an easy finger food snack. You could probably go to the store and get a decent sized pacifier from there, there’s a market that sells sizes for 36+ months, and one of my clients actually preferred that one to the adult sized.” 

Felix was surprised, but he figured it was worth a shot. 

“Thank you so much for everything, Doctor Laverne,” Chris said before standing up and making sure Felix was steady on his feet before shaking hands with the older man. “This means so much to us, and I think that Felix feels a little better having more information on what’s been happening recently.”

“I’m happy to help, and please feel free to make another appointment if you feel you need it.” He said. Chris nodded and the two brothers left the office and went into the waiting room. 

“So?” Chris asked Felix and kissed his head. “Do you want to make another appointment or was that enough?” He asked. Felix shrugged. 

“Can… can I think about it for a day? To digest what I learned today?” He asked nervously. Chris just kissed his head again and nodded. 

“Of course, aegi, of course.” he said. “I think you deserve another treat, don’t you think?” 

Felix smiled at that, his gummy smile on full display, as the two walked out of the building and went on their walk to their favorite place in France so far.

The Dupain-Cheng Bakery.  

Chapter Text

The familiar little jingle sounded when they entered the bakery again, and they were greeted with smiles from the Dupain-Chengs, Marinette included. 

“Hey Felix, Chris! How are you two doing?” She asked. Chris smiled at her.

“We’re doing fine, just can’t seem to stay away from the baked goods.” He said with a chuckle. Marinette giggled at that and held out a tray of croissants. 

“Have a free sample, both of you! It’s strawberry filled!” She said joyfully, and Felix’s eyes sparkled. 

“I love strawberry, thank you so much!” He said before accepting one. He took one bite, and swore he melted. “This is so delicious.” 

“Thank you so much, Marinette.” Chris said, humming in satisfaction at the taste. 

“Thank you for the compliments, boys,” Sabine said as she pulled some cookies from the oven. “So, is Felix excited for his first day of school?” 

Marinette’s eyes widened at the mention. “Oh gosh, I forgot! Are you okay after the field trip akuma attack? I’m so sorry I didn’t check on you after, I heard that you fainted!” 

Tom and Sabine’s eyes widened as well. “Oh goodness, that sounds frightening!” Sabine said. 

“You are okay, right son?” Tom asked. Felix blushed at the attention and nodded. 

“Yes, I’m fine now. I had a panic attack when the akuma attack started and I think I fainted from the…” He turned to Chris and spoke in English, “ hyperventilation? ”

“Hyperventilation.” Chris said as he wrapped his arm around the younger. “He wasn’t getting enough oxygen so he passed out from it.” 

Sabine’s hands were in front of her mouth in worry and Tom was gathering pastries and putting them in a box. 

“Take some pastries, boys, on the house. At this rate, we should adopt you.” He said with a chuckle. Chris tried to refuse, but apparently there was no changing the large, teddy bear-like man’s mind. 

“Thank you sir,” Chris said once he surrendered from the losing battle, “We promise to pay for the next pastries.”

“No worries at all,” Sabine said, “Any friends of Marinette are basically children of ours.” 

“We should get back home to do some more unpacking,” Chris said, “but if Felix feels up to it, he can hang out later.” 

Felix looked up with wide eyes. “That’s okay?” He asked. 

Chris chuckled and nodded. “Of course it is, just as long as you text me where you are and leave your phone’s location on so I can track you if I get worried.” 

Tom and Sabine giggled fondly, and Sabine leaned against the counter. “Are you sure you’re his older brother, because you seem like a parent already.” 

Scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, Chris shrugged. “I’m just really protective of him. Especially with all the akuma attacks that happen around here, I have to make sure I can go get him if I have to.” 

The two parents nodded in understanding and they said their goodbyes before the Aussie’s left. 

“I can’t tell if I’m embarrassed or loved.” Felix said with red cheeks. Chris lightly smacked his arm. 

“Oh hush, you know you like me being protective of you.” Felix literally couldn’t disagree as he felt his face get rosier. 

“I do, but-”

“No buts. Remember not to worry about what others think.” The older said, as he’s said to his little brother so many times already. 

The rest of the walk home was quiet apart from Chris’s humming, and they sat on the couch with a pastry each when they finally got home. Chris turned on netflix and let Felix pick what they watched. 

He picked Victorious, because it wasn’t a tiny kids show, but it wasn’t an adult show either.

“Do you want to look at the pacifier website now?” Chris asked. Felix blushed but nodded and Chris went and got his laptop, only leaving Felix alone for a minute but somehow the younger finished his pastry already. 

Felix waited as Chris came downstairs, sat on the couch, and started up his laptop. He watched as the older typed in the website, getting more and more anxious with each letter.

“So,” Chris said as the homepage loaded fully, “what kind do you think you want?” 

Felix thought for a second, bringing his knees to his chest as he sat on the couch. “I dunno… maybe one with an animal on it? What kind do they have?” 

Chris chuckled and started scrolling down the page, past the featured products, past the most popular, and then they reached the New Products section. 

“Do you want to look at the new ones first?” Chris asked. Felix shrugged and nodded. 

“Sure, why not.” 

The first on the list of new products was a Blues Clues pacifier storage case, and then next was a Colorful Pawprints pacifier. It looked cute, but it wasn’t quite what he was looking for. Neither was the Cow Spots one after that, or the Geometrical Fox pacifier after the Cow Spots one. 

Chris moved the laptop more towards Felix with a smile. “Why don’t you look for something you like and click on it?” 

Felix nodded and shyly pressed the arrow to display more of the new product pictures. 

The next one he saw was a cute Succulent pacifier, and-

Oh, the next one was cute. 

The Plaid Pastel pacifier caught his attention. He clicked it to have a closer look at it, and he could only appreciate the colors and design of it. 

It seemed to be a white pacifier base, and had a printed design of plaid that had pink and blue as the main colors, and the cross solid color was purple. 

“You want this one?” Chris asked with a smile. “It’s really cute, I think it suits you.” 

“Uh, I was just getting a closer look, but maybe?” He said, and he pressed the back button and went back to where he left off on the list. 

After a bit of searching the new products section, he didn’t actually see what he wanted. He scrolled back to the top and saw a Made To Order drop down menu. He hovered over it and clicked on the All Made To Order. 

He saw amazing designs as he scrolled, and even saw a glow in the dark space pacifier. He would keep that one in mind for later. He finished scrolling the first page and the second page without much luck. 

On the third page though, he saw a panda pacifier that he was so tempted to get. But then he realized that he would be fine without the panda one for now, and maybe he could order it later if Chris let him. He scrolled just a bit more when another one definitely caught his eye. 

The Pastel Galaxy pacifier. 

He clicked it and he got a look of it up close, and he was in love. It wasn’t too expensive compared to some of the other ones on the site (even though he knew Chris would tell him not to worry about that), and it brought him happiness just to look at it. 

“That one?” Chris asked after Felix had been staring at it for a while. The younger blushed and nodded. “Alright. It looks like it’s asking you for different colors, do you want to fill that out?” 

Felix nodded and looked at what Chris was talking about. 

Pacifier Shield Color, Pacifier Button Color, and Pacifier Ring Color, along with the type of teat. 

He looked at the color options and decided to keep the other colors the same as the picture (pastel purple) but changed the ring color to pastel pink. He decided on the frosted silicone for the picture of the different types the site offered. 

He slid the laptop back to Chris and curled in on himself in embarrassment, making the older coo at him. 

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about Lixie. This will make you happy, right?” He asked. Felix looked up at him with doe eyes and nodded. “Then don’t feel embarrassed about doing something that makes you happy.” 

“Okay hyung.” 

Chris finished up ordering, and closed his laptop after getting an email confirmation for the order. 

“The email said it should take about seven to fourteen days to get here after it gets to the post office.” He said. Felix nodded and laid his head on his brother’s. “What do you wanna do for the rest of the day?” 

The younger thought for a moment and shrugged. “Can I invite Alix over?” 

“Yeah of course.” Chris said. “You guys can help yourselves to the pastries, too.” 

Felix nodded and got his phone out, texting Alix to see if she wanted to come over. He got a response pretty fast since she had been bored and he sent his address to her. 

“Alix said she would be here in about five minutes, we must not live that far from each other.” He said. 

“That’s cool. I’ll make some food for you guys so you don’t fill up on sugar.” 

“Grilled cheese?” Felix asked with hope, giving the older his best puppy dog eyes, to which Chris just rolled his own eyes playfully. 

“Anything for you, my dear Pixie.” He set to work in the kitchen and Felix turned on the TV, putting his Kpop playlist on. 

A mix of MonstaX, BTS, Astro, Twice, BlackPink, Cravity, and a few more groups never hurt anyone, and if Alix didn’t know kpop already, she definitely would after today. 

Chapter Text

The last thing Felix expected to see when he opened the front door for Alix was her in rollerblades. Was that why she said she would be here in that short of time?

“Sup Felix?” She greeted him with a smile. He smiled back and opened the door more for her to walk- roll - in. 

“Just relaxing after a counseling appointment.” He said, blushing. The shorter girl took off her blades and put them next to the door before turning to him. 

“Counseling appointments can be exhausting, but they can be helpful when you finally open up.” She told him. He smiled at her and gestured to the couch. 

“You wanna sit down and we can figure out something to do?” 

“Sure! Oh, our curriculum is probably different from in Australia, do you want me to show you some of the work we’re doing in class? I brought my backpack in case you wanted to.” 

He thought about it for a second and figured it couldn’t hurt to get a feel for what he would be doing when he finally went to actual classes. 

“Sure! And could you tell me a bit about the other students in class?” He asked, having one in particular in mind but didn’t want to seem biased or anything. 

“Yeah totally!” She said, and with that they were getting comfortable on the couch before Alix rummaged through her bag. “Do you wanna talk about the class first or the stuff we’re working on?” 

“The students first maybe?” 

“I heard you already know Marinette?” She asked. Felix nodded.

“Kind of, yeah. Me and Chris were walking and we kinda bumped into her and she said she went to the same school as me. I’ve seen her a couple times at the bakery and of course on the field trip, but other than that I don’t really know her.” He said, and he realized he was rambling so he closed his mouth with a faint pink tint on his cheeks. 

“You’re cute when you ramble.” She chuckled. “So Marinette is kind of our ‘everyday Ladybug’ because she helps everyone so much. Alya is her best friend but she only got here at the beginning of the year. Adrien also only got here at the beginning of the year, his dad is super strict and wouldn’t let him go to public school before this.” 

“Wait how come?” He asked before blushing. “I mean unless it isn’t any of my business, in which case you don’t have to tell me, I was just curious and-”

He was cut off by Alix laughing, but she wasn’t doing it in a mean way like he was used to hearing when laughter was directed at him. It was a good natured laugh. 

“Yup, you are too cute when you ramble.” She composed herself a bit more. “Adrien is a model for his dad’s fashion brand; Gabriel. His dad is honestly a control freak and a total recluse. Freaks me out, but he mostly just makes me angry when it comes to how he treats Adrien.” 

“He isn’t abusive, is he?” Felix asked in concern. 

“No, not that we know of anyways. Adrien barely sees his dad to begin with, so there isn’t really time for abuse to happen.” 

Chris chose that time to step out of the kitchen and give them a plate of pastries before sitting down in one of the chairs next to the couch. 

“Sorry to intrude, but just because he might not be physically abusing Adrien doesn’t mean he isn’t mentally or emotionally abusing him. If he barely sees his dad, he’s missing that fatherly role in his life. Is his mom not in the picture?” 

Alix got a sympathetic look on her face. “His mom disappeared about a year ago. No one could find her, and Adrien still gets upset about it sometimes.”

“Getting upset is understandable. But not being able to see his father after his mother disappeared is probably making it worse for him. You also said he was controlling over Adrien, can you tell me a bit more?” 

Alix shrugged. “He’s barely allowed outside the house, most of the time we hang out with him it’s because he begged his bodyguard to take him to hang out with us instead of where he was supposed to be, or his class got out early and he has exactly how long he has to spend with us timed to the second.” 

“That’s neglect.” Chris said with finality. “Not seeing his own son while also keeping him isolated from his friends is neglect, and arguably emotional and mental abuse.” 

The short girl’s eyes were wide in realization and she looked down, taking the information in. She was obviously disturbed by this, so Felix tried to change the subject. 

“S-So what about anyone else? Any other new students before me?” Alix took a few seconds to answer. 

“Yeah, Lila just got here from Italy.” She said. Felix raised an eyebrow. 

“Lila is the one who tried to wake Marinette up right after she had let out that super loud yawn on the train, right?” 

Blinking a few times, Alix nodded. “Yeah.”

“What’s her story? When I finally got to the back of the train, she tried to tell me how scared she had been during her first akuma attack. I tried to tell her that I didn’t want to talk about it, but she kept trying anyway. She seems pretty talkative.” He said. Once again, Alix blinked silently. 

“She did what?” 

“She kept trying to tell me about her akuma experience after I told her that I had just had a panic attack.” 

Alix’s eyebrows furrowed. “She… she said you guys were friends after you comforted her?” 

It was now Felix’s turn to blink. “I was in no condition to comfort anyone, and I passed out a couple minutes after she left. Alya and Nino can confirm how it went down.” 

“Just a sec.” She said, getting her phone out and typing a bit before waiting. The silence was broken when Alix growled. “That fucking liar.” 

“Language.” Chris said automatically, and Alix blushed, muttering an apology. 

“Who did you text?” Felix asked. 

“Nino. He’s a bit more chill than Alya. He wouldn’t ask why I was asking, but Alya would have. Nino told me how it went down with you guys and it doesn’t match any of what Lila told me.”

Felix snorted, and Alix looked at him in confusion. “Sorry,” he said, “I just find it funny how she would lie to you about it when there were two witnesses.” 

“Wait, how much has she lied about?” Alix suddenly asked. Felix raised his eyebrow. 

“Well what has she said that might be a lie?” Chris asked. The small girl thought for a second before she groaned loud and smacked her head. 

“All of it is so obvious now that I use a few of my brain cells to think about it.” She said. 

“Well don’t ruin those brain cells by giving yourself a concussion.” Chris told her. “Now what has she said?” 

“Most prominent one is that she saved Jagged Stone’s kitten from a plane runway and got tinnitus from it.” She said, putting her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I bought that, who in their right mind would let a kid on a runway?” 

“Not to mention she would be deaf if that happened, and Jagged doesn’t and has never had a kitten. I work for the same company as a music producer, I’ve met Jagged and Fang a few times.” 

“Wait so you’re the new mysterious CB97 I keep hearing about??” She asked excitedly. “I heard a teaser of your music, and dude you can spit major fire!” 

Chris chuckled at her excitement. “Just please don’t tell anyone who I am. I don’t want to show my face just in case they connect me to Lixie. I don’t want him in danger of being harassed or followed by fans, or worse, sasaengs.” He said.

“What’s a s-sasaeng ?” Alix asked, struggling slightly to say the word. 

“Oh, it’s a Korean word for a stalkerish or dangerous fan. They give fans a bad name sometimes.” Chris explained. 

“We aren’t fluent in Korean, but we both really like Kpop and our parents sometimes spoke Korean around the house, so we know some of the language, just not enough to have conversations.” Felix said. 

“Oh, I’ve listened to some kpop before!” Alix said. “There’s this group called Ateez that I really like, and I’ve also heard some of 2NE1’s songs!” 

“I love Ateez!” Lix exclaimed, happy to finally have someone else besides his brother to talk to about it. 

“My favorite song is Answer, I listen to it for hours!” 

“Me too!” Felix happily yelled. Chris put a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down a bit. 

“Why don’t you two eat something and then go over the stuff that the class is going over.” He said. “Maybe Alix can also fill you in on akuma attacks so that you’re a little more educated.” 

“Yeah, I can do that!” Alix said with a smile. “Don’t want you fainting every time.” 

“Trust me, I don’t want to either.” Felix said as he reached for a pastry. Alix’s eyes seemed to be trained on something, and he followed her gaze.

Oh.

The papers that his therapist gave him. 

“Th-Those aren’t-”

“Are those on different gender identities?” She asked him, no judgement in her voice what-so-ever. Felix blushed and nodded. 

“I told my therapist that Chris chose to move us here because of the decreased stereotypical gender roles and stuff, and then he asked me what gender I identify as and what pronouns I use. I had never really allowed myself to think about it before, so he printed that out for me.” He said, scratching the back of his head. “I still don’t know what to think about it, I haven’t had the chance to look it over yet.” 

Alix was quiet for a moment before nodding toward the paper. “May I?” 

“Yeah, sure.” He said, taking a bite out of his strawberry pastry. Alix nodded and picked it up, reading it attentively while taking a bite of her own pastry. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes while the shorter girl read the papers, Felix getting more nervous by the minute. When she finally put them down, he swore he was sweating. 

“Those are pretty good definitions, they seem accurate enough.” She said, surprising the younger Aussie. 

“Wait, how do you know?” He asked. Thankfully, Alix didn’t take this offensively. 

“One of my friends at school is non-binary, and I am too.” She said with a smirk. “My pronouns are anything non-offensive, but every non-binary person is different.” 

Felix felt a bit dumb for not thinking to ask for Alix’s pronouns before, but he supposed he never thought of it because this is the first time seeing her after his appointment. 

“Well what pronouns do you prefer? I know you said anything non-offensive, but what’s your preference?” He asked. Alix looked like Christmas had come early. 

“I prefer she pronouns or they/them pronouns. I don’t really like he/him, but I’m not gonna rip your throat out if you use them either.” She joked.  

“I’ll try to use both equally, if it makes you feel more comfortable.” He told her, and she shook her head. 

“How about I tell you when I want they/them pronouns to be used? You can just use she/her pronouns until then.” 

“That works.” He said before picking up the papers again. “I’m not sure how to tell if any of these fit how I feel, though.” 

“How about we go over the list together? Or maybe you can tell me how you feel about your gender and I can point out a few that would fit how you were feeling?” 

Felix smiled and nodded. “If you don’t mind, that would be awesome.” 

“The most important thing to remember is that your gender isn’t defined by the clothes you like to wear or colors that you like, but more about how you feel on the inside. I know plenty of guys that are pretty feminine but still consider themselves male, and that’s totally okay. I also have friends that are the epitome of tomboy and like ‘boy’ stuff but still identify as female.” Alix said. 

“So… just because I like wearing makeup and wearing more feminine stuff doesn’t mean I’m girly?” 

“Absolutely not, and if anyone told you that you were, I’m gonna beat them up.” Alix told him, a protective edge to her voice. 

“Just some bullies from my old school.” Felix shrugged. “The first time I wore makeup, I got beat up pretty bad.” 

“You won’t ever get beaten up on me and Kim’s watch. Just stick with us and we’ll protect you.” She said. 

“Thank you.” 

“So back to the gender thing,” Alix said, grabbing the paper again, “how do you feel about gender itself?” 

“As a concept?” 

“Basically.”

“Well I think that it’s just something society created based on what genitalia you have when you’re born, and then they give you a bunch of stereotypes and torment you if you cross the line. Gender stereotypes are stupid, we’re all humans trying to survive on the same giant space rock. This one just happens to have an atmosphere.” 

Alix was laughing by the time he was finished, and he blushed, thinking he had said something wrong. 

“Perfectly said. So you just do and go with what you feel is right for you regardless of what it was intended for?” 

“Half of his clothes are from the kids section because he’s so tiny.” Chris said, and Felix blushed and hid his face. 

“Chris!!” He yelled, and Alix was laughing. Felix was still glaring at Chris, who was doing nothing to hide his smirk as he ate his pastry by the time Alix spoke again.

“Don’t gotta tell me twice, I’m tiny too. My stuff is from the kid section too.” 

Felix sighed and rolled his eyes at Chris before looking back at Alix. “I shop at Hot Topic too…”

“You need a womens size extra small.” Chris said, making Alix chuckle. 

“Can we get back to the gender thing?” Felix asked with a whine, pulling his knees to his chest and hiding his face. 

“Yeah, yeah, we can.” She said. “So you seem to not care about gender overall, but what do you feel inside?” 

Felix thought for a moment before shrugging. “I never really fit in with the guys, I guess? The male stereotype was stupid to me, but so is the female stereotype.”

Alix thought for a second, taking a pencil from her bag and making little marks by a couple genders. “Okay, describe your ideal self.” 

Felix was surprised by this question. Before when he had been asked, he was told his answer was wrong because it wasn’t masculine enough, it wasn’t the image of a guy. 

“No wrong answers?” He asked. 

“As long as you don’t say ‘covered in the blood of the innocent’ then no, no wrong answers.” She said, and Felix chuckled and shook his head. 

“I guess… wearing whatever I want? I really like pastel colors and clothes, some makeup to cover my freckles-”

“You have freckles?!” Alix exclaimed. “Do not cover those up, that’s so fucking cute!” 

“Language!” Chris scolded from the kitchen. 

Felix blushed at the compliment and shrugged. “They make my face look dirty.” 

“They absolutely would not, freckles are the cutest things! They’re like galaxies on your face. Anyways, continue?” 

“Well… I guess now having the confidence to not hide my freckles? But I still wanna wear makeup? I feel like I should be able to wear whatever I want without having to worry about someone beating me up for it.” 

“You shouldn’t be beaten up for anything.” Alix said. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like you might be gender neutral, or agender. Does it feel like you are a gender but expression doesn’t matter, or like you don’t have a gender?” 

“I’m just a human, to be honest. I recognize gender is a thing and I kind of feel like… both? I don’t know, neither are very strong, but I don’t feel like I don’t have one.” 

“From the sounds of it, you might be gender neutral, but you should do your own research too! Do you know what pronouns you want to use?” She asked. Felix shrugged. 

“He is fine, but I feel uncomfortable with that if I dress for feminine?” He said, confused. Alix patted his back. 

“So he/him pronouns are okay in general, but if you’re dressed a bit more feminine or neutral, you want they/them pronouns?” She asked. Felix shrugged again. 

“I guess, if that makes sense. I don’t think I’ll ever want to use female pronouns, but he and they sound okay.” 

“I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to talk about it.” Alix told him before circling the gender neutral section. “Do you want to go over the work we’ve been doing now?” 

“That would probably be a good idea.” Felix said, taking another bite of pastry and changing the song to be Ateez’s Answer as Alix took the stuff from her bag, both of them humming along to the song while they both looked over worksheets and textbooks. 

Chapter Text

When Felix finally went back to school, he was beyond nervous. The first impression his class got of him was how he passed out during an akuma attack. It was his first one, so it was understandable that his sudden trip to space had caused him to panic, but he was still beyond embarrassed.

He had decided on galaxy skinny jeans, a spaced out glow in the dark crop hoodie, and some cute but basic pastel makeup, so he was also nervous about being judged for his appearance. 

He was in the locker room just preparing for the worst and trying to make himself invisible when he saw it. Actually, her. 

He saw Lila put something in Marinette’s bag. He was about to tell her, but the bell had rang, and everyone left the room. Except for Lila. He pulled his phone out and started recording, just in case. 

And he was correct to do so.

She hadn’t seen him yet, it was obvious from how she had no regard for getting caught as she opened Marinette’s locker and put something in it, retreating with a victorious smile on her face. 

Felix scowled at how proud she looked, so he looked around to make sure he was really alone before he covered his hand with his sleeve and opened the locker, and a necklace fell out. He raised an eyebrow and went over to Lila’s locker, opening it the same way he had with Marrinette’s and put it in there instead. 

Satisfied with his work, he stopped recording, ran out of the locker room and booked it to where he thought class was, looking around at the numbers as he went and finally found the class he needed. He tried to act natural when he walked in, but… 

“Hey Felix! Come sit with us!” Alix yelled, and her and Kim were waving at him. He blushed and put his head down before walking over to the two, allowing Kim to gently push him into tothe seat in between him and Alix. 

Alix wrapped an arm around his shoulder and reclined back in her seat, successfully ignoring the confused looks they got, and he felt his anxiety spike at the scowl that Lila sent his way. 

Was he a bit afraid of her? Yes. But would he give up trying to one-up her? Absolutely not. 

“I’ve graded your mock exam papers, most of you did quite well, some better than others,” the teacher paused and looked at the class. “but before I hand them back, Marinette, could you bring your school bag to me please? I need to check something.” 

Felix’s eyes widened as the girl did as she was told, looking confused. 

“Today, someone placed an anonymous note in my mailbox claiming that you’ve stolen the exam answers.” The teacher opened the bag and took out the same paper that Lila had put in her bag. “And it looks like the anonymous person was right.” 

Hell broke loose in the classroom. Everyone was shocked, including Kim and Alix, who were stuck looking like fish out of water. 

“But, that’s not true!” Marinette said, trying to defend herself, “someone must have planted that piece of paper in my bag!” 

Felix zoned out the rest of the class and he clenched his fists on the table, knowing exactly who the anonymous person was, and suddenly very glad that he moved the necklace from her locker. 

“Mari stealing test answers? Yeah right.” Alix said under her breath. 

“This is so terribly unlike you, Marinette,” Lila said, and Felix felt ready to punch her, “you’re usually so well behaved!” 

Marinette suddenly understood too, and she turned around, furious. “Of course,” she said, “you put the answers in my bag! You’re the anonymous informer!” 

“I’m coming to your defense and you’re accusing me?” Lila asked, and Felix honestly wondered how anyone believed anything she said with that grating voice of hers. 

He didn’t care about anything else that was said, he was so angry that he was shaking, and Alix and Kim must have noticed. They each put a hand on one of his shaking fists. Alix looked like she understood, but Kim just looked confused. 

He looked at him and muttered under his breath just loud enough for him to hear. “I saw Lila put that paper in Marinette’s bag in the locker room, she called her phone to distract her so she wouldn’t get caught doing it.” 

Kim was surprised, but didn’t say anything, just rubbed his thumb over Felix’s fist. 

“Excuse me, Ms. Bustier, but everyone here knows that it isn’t like Marinette to cheat.” A blonde boy, Adrien he thinks, said. Everyone started agreeing with him. 

“Marinette, Lila, please go to the principal's office until we get to the bottom of this.” The teacher said. 

Is this what the principle meant by “bullying unacceptable?” 

The exam papers were passed out and the students put them away in their bags, but no one spoke, too shaken and confused by what had just happened. 

“Alright class, while this gets cleared up, feel free to go to the locker room or library to study.” Ms. Bustier said. Felix wasted no time in grabbing his bag and getting up on the desk and jumping off, causing people to gasp at his sudden stunt and the teacher tried to scold him, but he didn’t care. He needed out of the classroom. 

“Lix, wait up!” Alix and Kim called. He slowed just a bit so they could catch up, and they walked together. 

“What was that about, you said that Lila put the paper in Mari’s bag?” Kim asked. 

“Yeah, I saw her hiding behind a locker and call Marinette, and then she slipped the paper into her bag.” He said. “I don’t care if you don’t believe me, I don’t trust her and you shouldn’t either.” 

“I already gave Kim a rundown of everything that she lied to us about.” Alix said. 

“I can’t believe I fell for her saving Jagged’s kitten when the guy’s allergic.” Kim said with disappointment evident in his voice. 

“I just wanna get to the locker room, I have a bad feeling.” He said, not mentioning the other thing he saw. The three sped up and made it to the locker room in record time, everyone staring at them when they walked in. 

“Felix, what was up with catapulting yourself off the table like that?” Alya asked, amusement in her voice. 

“Just wanted to get away from the drama.” He said, sitting down with Alix standing next to him and Kim sitting on the other side of him. 

“Your makeup looks really good, did you do it yourself?” Adrien asked him. Felix didn’t really know how to feel about Adrien yet, but he decided to play nice for now. 

“Yeah, I did. Just went for a basic look.” He said. 

“I think my father would kill me if I wore anything like that, but I’ve always wanted to.” Felix felt bad for the boy, but he shrugged. 

“If your dad doesn’t support who you are, he can get fucked.” He said, and before anyone had time to react to what he said, the door to the locker room opened again and Marinette was being led in by the principal, followed by her parents, and Lila was walking next to her. 

He was so glad he moved the necklace. 

Everyone watched as Marinette stood by her locker, looking afraid, and the principal looked rather miffed. 

“Open your locker, please.” The older man said, and Marinette did what she was told. 

But instead of a necklace falling out like Lila had obviously been expecting, nothing happened. 

Felix could tell that it was taking Lila every ounce of self control to not throw a huge tantrum. 

“Well, it looks like it was a misunderstanding, Miss Rossi.” The principal said, and Lila looked close to genuinely screaming. 

“But my necklace!” She yelled, and Marinette was honestly just shocked that something didn’t go Lila’s way. 

Looking at the liar closely, he noticed some bandages that were new. 

“Yes, well, it looks like Marinette doesn’t have it in her locker like you said.” Mr. Damacles said.

Felix couldn’t take it anymore. “Did she see Marinette take it and put it in her locker, or was it just hear-say?” He asked, his voice deep with anger. Lila glared at him, and the principal looked confused. 

“What are you saying, young man? What is your name?”

"Felix Lee, new transfer. So what’s the answer?” He asked, and he felt the atmosphere change around him. 

“Well, that isn’t something I can really speak about, it’s a private-” 

“I’d believe that if you hadn’t barged in here and demanded Marinette open her locker in front of everyone, including her parents. Speaking of which,” Felix looked between Lila and the bakery owners, “why are Marinette’s parents here and not Lila’s?” 

The principal was sputtering at that, and now Tom and Sabine looked angry as well.

“Yes, why aren’t her parents here?” Sabine asked. “If my daughter supposedly pushed this Lila girl down the stairs, why aren’t either of her parents here?”

"My mom works for the embassy, she’s so busy!” Lila said, and Sabine looked ready to accept that, but not Felix. 

“Yeah, well Marinette’s parents own the bakery, and they had to completely close it down to come here since they’re the only ones who work there. Find a better excuse.” Felix said. He wasn’t sure where all this fight came from, but he’s sure he’ll have a heavy adrenaline crash later.

“That’s very true!” Tom said, “We lose money every minute that we’re here, and I know for a fact that my daughter doesn’t cheat.” 

“But the test answers were in her bag, and I know she stole my necklace, it was in her locker!” Lila said, and everyone in the room seemed caught between being sympathetic and doubtful. 

“How would you know it was in her locker?” Felix asked, and Lila took a second to answer, making room for more doubt. 

“Because I saw it there!” 

“Hear-say. Also, none of these lockers have locks. Anyone can put anything in any of them, the only thing keeping theft from happening is trust and friendships.” He said, and everyone now understood the severity. 

“But Marinette still pushed me down the stairs!” She yelled, clearly mad that Felix was punching holes in her lies. 

“Pics or it didn’t happen, doesn’t this school have security cameras?" He asked. 

All fell still as the principal looked like a deer caught in headlights, and the Dupain-Cheng family glared at the man. Lila looked green. 

“B-But then where is my necklace?” She asked, trying to save herself. Felix sighed in annoyance as he brought his phone out and pulled up the video he took and handed it to the principal. 

“Back in your locker where I put it after I filmed you putting it in Marinette’s. Sorry I couldn’t catch you putting the test answers in her bag too, but I’m sure we’ll find Marinette’s number in your call history or yours in hers since you called her to distract her before you shoved it in there.” 

Everyone gasped in shock and Damacles handed back his phone after the video ended. 

“Lila Rossi, you are expelled from this school.” He said in a very stern voice. Lila screeched out and lunged at Felix, landing a very nice punch to his eye before both of them fell over the bench, Felix’s already bruised ribs almost cracking under the attack. 

He felt himself go numb as he blocked another punch from the girl and was about to shove her off when Kim quite literally lifted her off of him and pushed her toward the door and away from him. 

“Felix, are you okay?” Kim asked. He took a deep breath, wincing as his ribs pushed against his lungs, and he just nodded.

“Get her the fuck out of here.” He said, and the principal did just that, threatening to call her mom at the embassy the whole time. 

Marinette hadn't said a word the whole time, neither had anyone else, really. 

Felix looked at Marinette and saw she had tears filling her eyes, and he got worried. 

"Marinette, are you okay?" he asked, taking a step closer. She nodded and took a deep breath. 

"Thank you, Felix. I think this might be the best thing anyone has done for me." She told him, her eyes still wide. 

Everyone was dropped into a silence as they took in what happened, but- 

"Did you really say Mr. Agreste can get fucked, Felix? Really?" Alix asked teasingly, making him shrug. 

"If he doesn't support Adrien for who he is and who he wants to be, he can get fucked." He repeated, making Tom and Sabine give him scolding looks, though they looked like they were trying not to laugh.

Adrien was about to say something, but was cut off by loud screaming and a bang coming from outside the room. 

"An akuma?" Alix asked. 

"Probably Lila." Marinette said. 

"Or her mom if they got that far." Alya suggested. 

"FELIX LEE!" 

Chapter Text

"It's Lila." Adrien said. 

Everyone scattered, but Alix and Kim stayed with Felix, trying to drag him along. 

"Fuck!" he cried as he fell to the ground.

"Felix, what's wrong?" Alix asked, kneeling down next to him. 

"My rib, it's still injured." he told them. Alix and Kim spared each other a glance before Kim picked him up carefully and they ran out of the locker room. 

"Felix, call Chris and tell him what's happening while we get to your house." Alix told him.

"Okay," he told them before getting his phone out. 

"FELIX!" 

"The other way, let's go!"

"Hello?" Chris asked. 

"Chris, that Lila girl was akumatized and she's after me." 

"What?!" The older sounded concerned and scared. 

"WHERE ARE YOU FELIX? COME OUT COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!"

"Pixie I'm on my way to the school, stay safe and stay with someone."

"I'm with Alix and Kim."

"Good, and Lixie I need you to be brave, okay?" 

"Okay." Felix had tears in his eyes as he saw Lila pass right by where they were, but she hadn't seen them. 

"I have to hang up now, but stay with Kim and Alix." 

"I love you." Felix whispered. 

"I love you too, I'll see you soon." 

The call ended and his tears were flowing freely. Alix reached over and wiped them away. 

"Ladybug and Chat Noir should deal with her soon." She said. 

"Yeah, they always fix everything!" Kim said, quietly but full of enthusiasm. Felix allowed a small smile to pull his lips before he winced in pain at his ribs again. 

"Is it your ribs?" Kim asked. He nodded. 

"Yeah, but I'm o-"

"HEY ROSSI!" The three looked over and saw Ladybug and Chat Noir acrobatting their way into the school, and they saw how close they were to Lila.

"After some kid just because he outted you on your lies?" Ladybug asked. Wait, how did she know?

Oh, maybe someone got her and told her what happened. 

"How many times are you gonna be akumatized before you finally accept that lying isn't the way to go?" Chat Noir asked. 

"If it weren't for that fucking new kid, I would still have my way! My flock of sheep would still be mine! BUT NO! HE HAD TO GO AND RUIN IT! HE NEEDS TO BE PUT DOWN LIKE THE BITCH HE IS!" 

Felix felt his blood run cold, and felt Kim's arms wrap around him. 

"Just because someone exposes you, doesn't mean you need to turn into a supervillain, especially not every single time." Ladybug said. Chat nodded and they both charged Lila, who did the same. 

"Lila looks different, she doesn't have the same powers as before." Alix said. Felix raised an eyebrow. 

"What do you mean?" He asked. 

"Before, Lila's power was illusion. She could make anything she thought of happen. She once tricked everyone into thinking that Ladybug had been akumatized and destroyed Chat Noir with his own cataclysm."

Felix couldn't say anything after that, they just watched the battle from where they hid, all of them too afraid to leave their spot incase Lila sees them. 

"Lucky Charm!" 

…. a gong?

"Chat Noir, I-" 

"Go, M'Lady!" He yelled, fending off another attack from Lila. 

Ladybug disappeared and Lila laughed. 

"I've basically won, you stray! Ladybug just ran away from you!"

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be back to finish kicking your ass in no time!" The two continued fighting, Chat Noir struggling a bit but managing to hold his ground. 

Felix's phone buzzed and he unlocked it, seeing a text from Chris. 

"Chris is here." He told the other two. 

"We can't get outside or she'll see us." Kim said, and Alix was silent for a moment before she took a deep breath. 

"I'll head over there and jump out to distract her and keep her eyes off the door. Kim, you need to book it out the door when her attention is on me. Don't turn back. Get Felix to Chris and make sure he's safe." She said. 

Felix's eyes widened and was about to argue, but Kim beat him to it. 

"You be safe too, don't get in Chat Noir's way too much, just make sure we have enough time to get out and then you get out too." he said. Alix nodded and started crawling her way to the other side of the room, opposite the door. 

"No way you can be okay with this." Felix whispered. "Why would she risk herself like that?"

"We would both do this for you because we care about you. We told you before, we're your personal bodyguards now." He said. 

They kept watching the fight and Lila was about to land a hit on Chat Noir while he was down, but,

"Hey Liar Rossi!" Alix yelled, successfully bringing the attention to herself, giving Chat Noir enough time to escape and go next to Alix.

"Get to safety." He said. 

"No way in hell, she messed with my friends, she's going down." She said, and with Lila's attention fully on them, Kim quietly got them close to the exit before sprinting out. 

Chris was waiting at the sidewalk when Kim ran through the doorway, and Felix saw the relief wash over his face as soon as they made eye contact. 

"What happened?" Chris asked when they were close enough.

"Lila went crazy when Felix exposed her for framing Marinette for stuff, and she got akumatized after the principle said she was expelled and that he was gonna call her mom." Chris looked appalled at the story, but a large bang from inside made him come back to his senses. 

"Follow me to my house- wait why are you carrying Felix?" he asked, now concerned. 

"Lila punched him and she fell on top of him when he fell off the bench, he said his rib hurts." 

Chris cursed in English under his breath and took a deep breath. "Can you carry him to my place? By the looks of it, you're stronger than I am."

"Yeah no problem, but I have to come back for Alix." He said. 

"Alix is still in there?" Chris asked, mortified. 

"Chat Noir is with her, we just need to get out of here before Lila-"

"THERE YOU ARE!" 

The three looked up and saw Lila standing on the roof, looking down at them. 

"FUCKING RUN!" Alix yelled from the doorway, supporting herself on the frame.

Kim was about to do just that when Lila jumped down in front of him and shoved him backwards, sending both him and Felix to the ground. 

So she had super strength, got it. 

Felix groaned when he tried to move, his rib still hurting and probably way more fucked up than it had been that morning. 

"Now to deliver you to Hawkmoth." Lila said, before she lifted him up by the neck, making him cough, and she launched herself onto the rooftops. 

Felix could hear Kim, Alix, and Chris yelling after him, but he knew there was no way they would get to him. 

He could feel her nails digging into his throat as he was jostled from the jumping, and he accepted his fate as his vision slowly darkened and his consciousness finally slipped away. 

Chapter Text

"FELIX!" 

Chris fell to the ground, sobbing. Kim and Alix felt helpless, and scared for their friend. They crouched next to him and Kim rubbed his back. 

"Ladybug and Chat Noir always fix everything, they'll get him back." Alix said, trying to remind herself of that fact as well. They had never failed before, they just had to keep hope. 

"Guys!" They looked up and saw Chat Noir running toward them. "What happened, where did Lila go?" 

"She took Felix, said something about taking him to Hawkmoth." Alix said, pointing in the direction she went. Chat looked confused. 

"What would Hawkmoth want with him?" He asked. 

"Please," Chris sobbed out, "please get him back Chat Noir. He's all I have, I love him so much, I can't lose him. He has anxiety and PTSD, he's probably so scared." 

Chat Noir's expression turned serious at the info and he kneeled down next to the older. 

"I promise that me and Ladybug will get him back. I have to go so I don't lose her, but I promise that we will save him." 

Chat vaulted from the area toward where Alix had pointed. 

"See, Chat Noir would never promise anything he couldn't guarantee." Kim said, his voice more happy than he felt in an attempt to ease Chris' fear. 

"I can't help but worry. I'm responsible for him. If anything ever happened, I would have to tell our parents and I would be rightfully disowned." 

Alix shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Ladybug. 

"Where did Lila and Chat go? Where's Felix?" She asked. 

"Lila took him, she had him by the throat, and Chat went after her." Kim said. 

"Lila said something about bringing him to Hawkmoth, but we don't know why." Alix said. 

Ladybug thought for a second before gasping. 

"To trap me and Chat." She said before looking around. "Kim, I'm sorry." 

"What abou-" before he could finish, Ladybug held out a miraculous box to him. 

"Lê Chiến Kim, this is the miraculous of the monkey. You will use it for the greater good. When we finish the mission, you must return the miraculous to me. Can I trust you?"

Kim took the miraculous with a serious look, and he put it on, and Shuppu flew out. 

"Shuppu, showtime." He said, no joking tone. He transformed in a flash. "Just tell me what you need, Ladybug." 

"You two," Ladybug pointed at Alix and Chris. "Go to your house or in the school, wherever is safest. King Monkey, follow me." She said before both heroes jumped away. 

Alix and Chris sat in silence for another minute before the older stood, helping Alix up too, and took a deep breath to calm himself. 

"I saw you leaning against the door earlier, are you hurt?" Chris asked. Alix looked down sheepishly. 

"She tossed me against a wall with Chat Noir, but he put himself between me and the wall at the last minute. I'm mostly fine, just sore." 

Chris nodded and wrapped a protective arm around her. "We can go to my house, it isn't far from here, and I doubt Lila will know where I live or care to find out. When we get there, I can give you some pain relievers and an ice pack if you need it." 

Alix nodded, and the two made their way to the house in silence, both too worried to make small talk, or talk much at all. 

Ladybug and King Monkey ran across the roofs until they finally spotted Chat Noir, and they quickly caught up. 

"Where did she go, Chat?" Ladybug asked. Chat shook his head, angry with himself. 

"I don't know. I almost caught up with her, but she tried to make a huge bulletin board fall on a bunch of people." 

A beeping sounded from Chat, and he held his ring up. "I don't have much time left, I had to cataclysm the sign and break it apart, as soon as I was done saving the civilians, she was gone." 

Ladybug sighed. "It's okay, it wasn't your fault. We might not need your cataclysm, and even if we do, I have backup so you can recharge your kwami." 

"Here to help." King Monkey said, allowing a small smile to pull his lips before he got serious again. 

"We have to be careful, Hawkmoth is trying to trap us, that's why he had Lila take Felix." Ladybug said. 

Chat nodded and they continued on, hoping to spot Lila before it was too late. 

Chapter Text

"You idiot! He's no good to me if he's dead!" 

"You just said to bring him to you, and I didn't kill him, even though I wanted to." 

What was going on? Where was he?

Was he actually dead and he was hearing an illusion?

No, because if he was dead, he should be greeted by some kind of God, Goddess, or just… the universe, right? 

The female voice said he wasn't dead, so maybe he was still alive?

"I told you to bring him to me so I could make him get the miraculous for me!"

What a coward, he thought. 

"I did what you said, Hawkmoth, you never said anything about him being conscious." 

Howkmoth? So that's who the coward was. That makes sense. 

He was becoming more aware of his body, enough to know he wasn't tied up, but his rib would make it nearly impossible for him to move anyways. 

"Those claw marks on his neck tell me you weren't exactly careful." 

"What do you care?" 

"You're on thin ice, Rossi. You told me I would have a chance to akumatize many people today and you failed. The only reason you got an akuma is because you owe me. I can and will take your akuma if you screw this up."

Was he hearing this right? Was Lila working for Hawkmoth?

...Why does that not surprise him. 

He tried to stay as silent as possible, keeping his breathing regular despite the situation. 

"I suppose he could still be useful. If Ladybug and Chat Noir see him unconscious, they might be distracted trying to save him." Hawkmoth said thoughtfully. 

"Was that not your original plan?" 

"No, my original plan was to akumatize him and make him also attack them." Wait what?

"I can do it on my-"

"You? That's laughable, you can barely fool them, and the two of them seem to know exactly how to deakumatize you before you can get close to their miraculous!" 

"They didn't this time." Lila spat out. 

" Because I gave you different powers this time." 

Hawkmoth didn't elaborate further, instead started pacing, making Felix nervous. 

"Where are they, are you sure you led them here?" 

"I thought the plan was to not get caught! Which did you want?" 

Hawkmoth let out an angry growl and stomped his foot, much like a toddler, Felix thought. 

"You useless girl! Your akuma is renounced!"

"No!!" Lila screamed, and then there was silence. Felix didn't dare open his eyes, not wanting to give away that he was awake. 

‘’Why would you do that to me? I needed that akuma to destroy Ladybug!” Lila yelled, also stomping her foot. There was a scoff heard, assumably from Hawk Moth. 

“You? Destroy Ladybug when you can’t even get close to getting her miraculous? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in months. You may be loyal to gain the recognition you so desperately crave, but Chloe is more useful for akumatizing people even if she doesn’t get akumatized often herself. You are nothing more than a means to an end to me, you childish girl.”

This was a bit harsh in Felix’s opinion, but he hated Lila, so he really didn’t care. He was learning more about them as they talked, as they believed him to be unconscious and oblivious to everything. 

"I could always tell them who you are, Hawkmoth." 

Wait, what? Felix was so confused, how did Lila know his identity? 

"You're bluffing, you stupid-"

"Oh am I?" 

"Say my name then, if you believe you know the truth." 

Silence followed, and Felix thought they had left for a second. 

"What fun would it be to tell you?"

"I was right, you have no idea-"

"Do you think your son would be happy about his father being a supervillian?" Lila asked. 

"Lucky guess."

Lila chuckled, "what about the business you run? How fast do you think it would be ruined when word gets out that-"

"Okay, enough! You've proven enough. What do you want?" Felix was shocked to say the least, as apparently was Hawkmoth.

"I want to see Ladybug's downfall, and I want to be made famous through your company."

There was more silence. "Fine. But you don't get an akuma. You can see her downfall as a victim of mine." he told her. 

"Fine, as long as she goes down." felix made sure to be very quiet as Lila walked over and sat down next to him, only a few feet away.

"I'll go and bring them here myself, and you can see first hand how it's done." Hawkmoth said, and then Felix heard no more. 

"Wow, he's still unconscious? He's such a fucking loser, how the hell did he expose me to all of my sheep?" Lila ranted angrily. 

He knew better than to answer. He needed to seem unconscious so he could help if he needed to, he needed to keep his emotions in check so he didn't get akumatized. 

Chapter Text

Hawkmoth's reappearance was made known to Felix by a thud and an ominous laugh. 

"They're coming now." He said, making Felix's blood turn cold from the tone, but he couldn't help the tiny bit of hope that swelled in his chest. 

He's heard that Ladybug and Chat Noir always win in the end. 

"Perfect," Lila said from next to him, "a front row seat."

"Hawkmoth!" Ladybug shouted, sounding as though she came in the same way that Hawkmoth had. He couldn't risk opening his eyes to find out. 

"Wait, Lila is tied up too?" Chat Noir sounded confused. 

"It's probably a trap, so be careful." Ladybug said in a low tone, but the younger could still hear her. 

"Ah, Ladybug and Chat Noir, what a surprise!" Felix hated the tone in his voice. "And another holder? I'll consider that miraculous a bonus!" 

"Let Felix go, right now!" Ladybug yelled. 

"What do you even want with him anyways? Bait to lure us here?" Chat Noir asked, sounding annoyed. 

"Well it certainly worked, didn't it? Though the damage to his neck is not my fault." Even Hawkmoth sounded annoyed at that, and Lila growled. 

"He was mine to deal with! I did what I wanted." Lila said before shutting up quickly. Maybe the villain glared at her. 

"Hand over your miraculous, and you can have him back." Hawkmoth said, sounding as if he were simply placing a bet at a poker game. 

"We'll never hand you our miraculous!" Ladybug yelled angrily. 

Felix hated being on the sidelines unable to help. 

"M'Lady, do we need some luck?" 

Felix heard a snap beside him, from Lila, but he didn't dare open his eyes. The sound of fighting started, distracting him from the sound. 

"I'll finish you off while they finish each other." That whisper was all the warning he got before he felt hands around his throat again, tighter than before, allowing for no air in or out. 

His eyes opened against his will and he saw Lila right in his face, smiling dangerously at him. 

"Oh good. You get to see my face before you die." 

"Lila, stop!" Ladybug yelled, but when Felix glanced over, he saw her and Chat Noir, and a hero he didn't recognize, all too busy with Hawkmoth to help. 

"Lucky charm!" 

Felix was able to see her get what looked like a powerstrip before he faded into unconsciousness. 

"Felix." 

His name was being said, but he couldn't tell who was saying it. 

"Felix, wake up."  

He understood the language, but he knew it wasn't english. 

"Felix, come on, it's time to wake up."

He groaned and moved his head, hoping to move away from whoever was talking to him. 

"That's it, just gotta open your eyes."  

The voice was a boy this time, and little snippets of what happened came back to him. 

Lila kidnapping him and strangling him, Hawkmoth yelling at Lila, and Ladybug and Chat Noir showing up, and then Lila strangling him again-

He gasped and sat up, eyes opening wide as he looked around, making sure Lila wasn't anywhere near him. 

"Felix, it's okay, you're safe now." Ladybug said, a hand resting gently on his shoulder. 

"L-Lila," Chat Noir shook his head.

"She's in police custody, but Hawkmoth got away." He said. Felix looked down and took a deep breath. 

"She's gone? Arrested?" He asked. Ladybug nodded. 

"She won't hurt you again." She said. 

"I'm just glad she won't hurt Marinette again." Felix said. Ladybug smiled at him before looking at the door where a police officer was standing along with a paramedic. 

"You should get checked out to make sure she didn't injure you too badly. I already had the miraculous ladybugs fix everything, but you can never be too careful." Ladybug explained. Felix looked over and nodded. 

"I feel fine, but it can't hurt." He said. He went to stand up, but didn't make it too far before the superhero Felix didn't recognize lifted him princess style and carried him over, introducing himself as King Monkey on the way over. 

The paramedics cleared him after a moment on oxygen just to be safe, and the two heros excused themselves to feed their kwamis, and returned shortly after without King Monkey. When Felix asked, Ladybug explained that he had to leave to get back to his civilian life. 

"Okay, so Chat is gonna carry you this time, and we're going to take you back to Chris. We told him, Kim, and Alix to wait where they felt safe, so either the school or at your house." Ladybug said. 

"Knowing Chris, he would take them back to our place to hide out." Felix said.

"Alright, Felix, tell us the way." Chat said as he crouched down in front of him and Felix got on his back. 

"Go toward the Dupan bakery, and then take the alley on the left of it." He explained. Ladybug smiled and nodded, and they were off. 

Getting there was fairly simple with superpowers, and the door to their house swung open as soon as Ladybug knocked on it. 

" Oh my god, Felix!" Chris exclaimed in English as soon as he saw his brother. "Wait, oh my gosh is he okay, is anything broken, is he hurt, did-" 

"Chris, he's okay, we just tend to get a little overprotective of victims of akuma attacks, so Chat definitely wasn't going to let him walk." Ladybug explained with a small giggle at Chat Noir's expense. 

"We made sure he got checked out by paramedics even after the miraculous ladybugs fixed everything. He just ended up needing a bit of oxygen before they released him to us to bring back home." Chat explained before passing Felix to Chris. 

"Oxygen?" Chris asked worriedly. Ladybug nodded. 

"Lila tried to strangle him again while we were fighting Hawkmoth himself. He doesn't show up often, but we only managed to get Lila off of him after Hawkmoth had fled when the police sirens showed up." Ladybug explained. 

Chris held Felix close, despite the younger's weak attempts to get down. 

"Lila is in police custody now though, and she won't be bothering anyone here again." Chat said. "Me and Ladybug will be at her trial to make sure she gets put in jail outside of Paris since she helped Hawkmoth willingly." 

“Thank you two so much for rescuing my brother and making sure that she stays far away.” Chris said, bowing a bit to them. Ladybug giggled. 

“No need to thank us, it’s our job as superheros! Just take care, and if you ever need us, we usually patrol every night between nine and eleven!” She explained. “We’ll let you guys get settled, and we’re gonna go check on the Lila situation.” 

They said their goodbyes and Chris brought Felix in the house and shut the door with his foot. 

"Hyung, I can walk, you know?" Felix whined. 

"True, but let me do this, aegi." Chris said, and Felix melted. 

"Felix!" He turned his head and saw Alix and Kim coming from the hallway, their eyes wide. 

"We were so worried, Felix, are you okay?" Alix asked, making room for Chris to walk to the couch and gently put Felix on it. 

"I'm okay now, yeah. It was… scary, for sure, but I just pretended like I wasn't awake for most of it." He said. "The memories are still a little hazy from what happened." 

"That's probably from Lila trying to strangle you." Chris said with an edge to his voice. Felix nodded and looked down with a slight frown.

"I just feel like… like I know something." He said, and the others looked at him in confusion. 

"What do you mean, Felix?" Alix asked. He shrugged at her question. 

"I don't know, it's like I know it, but I can't remember what it is, but I know what it is that I know is important in some way." 

They were silent for a moment as Felix tried to think of it, but he eventually let out a frustrated sigh and put his head in his hands. 

"I just can't remember!" He groaned. 

"Don't force it, Lix, just let it come back to you naturally if it's going to at all." Chris told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Alix said. "Even if it's something like the identity of Hawkmoth, it'll come back to you eventually." 

"Yeah," Kim chuckled, "sometimes when I forget something, it's the weirdest thing that will remind me of what I forgot." 

Felix smiled at his brother and friends, feeling a bit better. 

"Thank you, I'm sure I'll remember it somehow." He said. 

"Now," Chris said, standing up and stretching, "what do you guys want for dinner?" 

There was discussion of what they wanted before they finally agreed on something, and Chris went to make it while Felix and the other two hung out in the living room playing video games. 

Despite everything that happened today, things almost seemed to go back to normal, and Chris supposed that this was normal for the city. 

An akuma attack, superheros deal with the villian, they fix everything with magic, and all goes back to normal until the next attack. 

He isn't quite sure how to feel about it yet, but he does know that he can trust Ladybug and Chat Noir to keep Felix safe if he's ever in the crossfire.

Chapter Text

Gabriel Agreste stood in front of his wife, staring down at her sadly. But even so, there was a determined spark in his eyes that only seemed to grow every time he was defeated. 

"Emily…" he said, trailing off for a moment, "I almost won this time, I was sure it would have worked. Lila Rossi had become a very powerful asset, but now she is my most powerful enemy. She knows my identity, she could use that against me to get a deal, and I would fail you." 

"No, Gabriel." He turned around quickly, panicked, relaxing when he saw Nathalie. He was so lost in his own mind, his guilt, that he didn't hear someone else entering the area.

"Nathalie, I didn't-" 

"You don't fail her if Lila Rossi decides to tell the police of your identity." Nathalie said, ignoring her boss, her words confusing him. 

"What do-" 

"You fail your wife if you get arrested because of your blind obsession with getting the miraculous." She said, steeling her voice in hopes of getting it through his thick head. 

Gabriel's shocked expression turned into one of anger, his eyes narrowing. 

"And who are you to tell me what would fail my wife and what wouldn't? My goal is to bring back Emily, for Adrien and myself-"

"Are you sure your motive is even for your son anymore? How can you say this is for your son when you don't know anything about him?" 

They were both silent for a moment before Nathalie spoke again. 

"Who I am , is someone who spends more time with Adrien than you, coming in second to only his bodyguard. Adrien spends more time with his friends than he does you, and he only ever spends time with them while he's at school. You spend so little time with your son that you can't see how sad he is when you aren't there, how happy he is when you give him even a second of your time after not seeing you for a whole week, and how depressed he's getting the longer he's kept in solitude." 

Gabriel was shocked into silence at her rant, and she was so angry that he dared not interrupt her, as she clearly wasn't done.

"You tell your son that it's too dangerous to go out into the world without a bodyguard, that it's too dangerous for him to go to school, and wouldn't listen to what he wanted until he started sneaking out and going on his own. You keep him in line with the threat of never leaving the house again, that he's only going to school as long as he keeps modeling for you, keeps you happy; a threat that comes from a man who can't take the time to see him outside of a tablet screen."

"You've excuse the isolation by telling him  that the world is too dangerous, but you're the one creating most of the danger you speak of." Her words were said with pure venom, and he could almost see smoke coming out of her ears. 

"How dare you-" 

"No!" She shouted, her face red and anger overflowing her senses. "How dare YOU, Gabriel. How dare you fail Emily by neglecting your son. How dare you use your wife and son as an excuse for becoming a supervillain- no, becoming a terrorist ." She spat the last word out as if it were the foulest, most offensive thing she's ever said, because it was. 

"Nathalie-" 

"I've helped you out so far because I thought you had your heart in the right place, and that having Emily back would be good for Adrien. But I was wrong. Seeing Adrien become more and more depressed, seeing him go from hopeful at the idea of seeing you, to indifferent because he knows that you wont show up anyways is the worst feeling since losing Emily." She said this softer, though her anger was still clear as day. 

"Adrien doesn't need his mother anymore, he needs his father . He needs you, Gabriel. Not a supervillain hellbent on using emotionally vulnerable people to achieve a goal that he has failed at accomplishing every . Single. Time . He needs a father who will be there for him, not one that will shield him from the dangers that you yourself are creating." 

She turned around, back facing the man she once respected. "I will no longer help you with this. My main objective will be to keep Adrien safe from any danger, physical or emotional, and that includes from you ." 

Gabriel watched in shock as she walked away and got on the elevator, leaving an overwhelming silence to fill the room. 

Chapter Text

hey everyone

i know most people dont like to read these so ill keep it short for those of you who are reading.

i had to euthanize my emotional support kitty today (4/19/23). He had a severe intestinal block that he had not shown symptoms of until about 7 days prior, but it was already too late as the entirety of his intestines and stomach were filled with tangled yarn and hair ties.

the only option was a surgery that was $5,000 baseline becayse of how risky it was, and it didnt include the cost of medication, and it wasnt even a guarantee that he would make it off the table. 

im not sure if im going to completely stop updating for a while, or if im going to start updating everything in bulk to distract myself, but i figured i would post this on my top 5 recently updated fics anyways. 

thank you for reading this and understanding, and thank you as well for all your support on my works, it really means the world to me. 

i'll update when i can, but things are hard right now. 

thank you 💜

-Jazzy

Chapter Text

The young Aussie stood in front of his mirror, looking at his reflection as he zoned out. Well, it was more accurate to say disassociating than anything else. That's what his psychologist said a few days ago, anyways.

Chris had gotten him an emergency appointment the day after the akuma attack, and they talked about everything that happened, everything he had felt and heard at the time, and also about the fact that he couldn't remember something.

He still felt like it was important somehow, like this thing he forgot was life changing.

Did he really figure out Hawkmoth's identity and forget immediately after?

Chris had called him out of school the day of his therapy session, and then called him out for the next two days as well at the recommendation of his psychologist.

The principal was very understanding, especially after hearing that Lila had attempted to murder him while he was still Hawkmoth's hostage.

His two other days off consisted of sleeping, accidentally regressing, disassociating, and cuddling with Chris and his panda Bami.

Alix and Kim had been over each day as well, bringing him notes and assignments for class and just chilling out with each other for the rest of the afternoon.

Today was the day he was supposed to go back to school and face the rest of the student body, or more specifically the classmates that saw Lila going after him, and either saw him get kidnapped or just heard that it had happened. The same classmates that haven't seen him since it happened.

"Felix?"

The younger jumped and spun around to see Chris in the doorway, his face showing his concern.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "what was that?"

"I called your name twice before this and you didn't answer, are you okay?"

Felix looked down and shuffled his feet. "I guess I'm just afraid that I'll have a spotlight on me or something. Alix said that almost everyone has been asking about me, and that I'm basically the talk of the school ever since it got out that I was being held hostage by not just Lila, but Hawkmoth too."

"People are definitely going to talk, Lix, but you have Alix, Kim, and Marinette to make sure you have support through it all."

Felix nodded but turned back to the mirror to stare at himself again, his brain still being too loud. Chris suddenly appeared behind him in the mirror and wrapped his arms around him in comfort.

"You'll be okay, Lixie, I promise." Chris said with a kiss to Felix's head. "It might be a bit hard to ignore everyone at first, but you have friends who will probably actually fight to protect you. Alix quite literally put herself between you and Lila when you were in danger."

"I know I'll be okay with the others with me, but I feel anxious about how the other students are gonna act or react now that I'm coming back."

Felix felt another kiss to his head as Chris tightened his arms around him slightly.

"It's easier said than done, but just ignore it. If anyone tries to talk to you about it and you get uncomfortable, just tell them you don't want to talk about it. Stick close to Alix, Kim, and Marinette."

Felix took in the words before taking a deep breath. "Okay, I'm as ready to go as I'll ever be."

Chris squeezed his little brother a little tighter for a moment before letting go.

"You got everything you need?" The older Aussie asked. Felix picked up his backpack and nodded.

"Yup, and I double checked. I have the finished homework that me and Alix worked on last night in there too."

"Alrighty, let's get going." Chris walked to the door and the younger followed behind him after another quick look at himself in his mirror.

It didn't take long for them to get out the front door, and they were soon down the street near the bakery that they've grown to love.

"You wanna get a moral support pastry?" Chris asked, causing the younger to chuckle and nod his head.

"Yeah, might as well."

The two walked into the bakery and were immediately greeted by delicious smells and the friendly smiles of the owners.

"Hello again!" Sabine said. "It's been a while since we've seen you two in here."

Chris was about to respond, but was interrupted by Marinette coming in through the doors behind the counter at the back of the shop.

"Hi mama, papa, I'm off to-" she stopped and gasped when she saw the two standing there. "Oh my god, Felix! I'm so glad to see you again! I hope you're doing better?"

"Goodness, it seems like every time we see you boys, Felix is being asked if he's alright." Tom said in concern.

"Dad, remember the trial that Lila had? Felix is the one she kidnapped." Marinette explained, and seemingly not for the first time.

"Oh gosh, you're right, I forgot." He said. "I hope you're taking it easy."

"Yes sir," Felix said, "Chris kept me at home for a few days after I got home so I could recover."

"That's good, I'm glad." Sabine said "Most people nowadays just move on afterwards because it's become our new normal."

"That's... unsettling." Chris said.

"Well hopefully Hawkmoth can be taken down soon." Felix said. "He's nothing but a narcissistic terrorist, and a pathetic coward that uses other people's vulnerability to manipulate them into trying to steal the miraculous for him."

Felix said the last bit with an eye roll that had a temporarily stunned Marinette chuckling.

The two bakery owners broke out of their own shock from what Felix said and how he said it.

"Oh, did you boys like a sweet treat for the rest of your journey?" Tom asked.

"Can I get a strawberry scone, please?" Felix asked.

"Absolutely! And for you, Chris?" Sabine asked as Tom got the scone.

"Can I get a blueberry muffin?"

"Of course!" Tom said as he handed the packaged pastries to the older.

Chris brought out his wallet to pay, but Tom put up a hand.

"Nope! On the house, boys."

"You're gonna have to let me pay eventually." Chris said with a pout as he accepted the pastries.

"If you say that you'll never pay for any pastry ever again." Marinette said with a laugh as her mom handed her a chocolate croissant.

"She's right! Any friends of Marinette will never pay for their pastries!" Tom had a big smile on his face as he said this, and Chris bowed when he felt his cheeks heat up.

"Thank you, that's very kind of you." Both Marinette and Felix giggled at his reaction as the adults smiled at Chris.

"Oh!" Marinette gasped, looking at her phone. "Felix, we need to get going or we'll be late!"

Felix's eyes widened and Chris nodded before turning to her parents.

"I'm sorry for leaving abruptly, but-"

"No need to apologize," Sabine said with a reassuring smile. "You three hurry along now."

With a final thank you from Chris and Felix, the three of them left the bakery and headed in the direction of the school. There was a comfortable silence between them as they ate their treats, and Felix found himself losing himself to his thoughts and becoming less aware of his surroundings.

He knew he would be safe though, Chris was right there with him. He trusted him to not let him accidentally walk into traffic.

But even with that, he still felt the anxiety about how his classmates were going to react to him coming back, how they would act around him.

His first day was basically a disaster seeing as his entire class saw him faint during the akuma attack, his second day consisted of him calling out Lila on her shit and getting her expelled, which resulted in her attacking her- not just once, but twice, and then she kidnapped him and got held hostage by Hawkmoth.

And most of them didn't even know that she had tried to strangle him to death.

He was sure that Alix and Kim were updating the class on how he's been doing and that he isn't seriously hurt, but he still didn't even know his classmates yet.

"Felix!" He was startled out of his trance at the sound of Kim's voice and he looked over to see Alix and Kim walking over to him.

"Oh, hey guys." He said as he tried to hide his shock at suddenly finding himself outside the school already.

"You okay?" Kim asked. "You looked super lost in your head."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just nervous." He rubbed his neck in embarrassment as he replied.

"Don't worry about how everyone is going to react to you being back, if that's what you're worried about." Alix assured him.

"Yeah, everyone in class is just really concerned, but they know better than to pester you with questions." Marinette told him with a smile that seemed to calm his nerves a bit.

"Thanks," he said with a small smile of his own. "that makes me feel a bit better."

Chris hummed and gave his brother a side hug. "You better get going, Lix, so you aren't late. If you need me for anything, just call me or text me."

"I will." Felix said as he leaned into the hug.

"And go ahead and give Marinette my phone number just in case something happens and she needs to contact me."

Felix nodded and thought back to when Chris had given Alix and Kim his phone number before allowing Felix to go with them to the park to hang out with them and Max.

"We'll take care of him like always, Chris, don't worry!" Alix said with a smile and a salute.

Chris chuckled and nodded. "I know, and thank you. Now head inside before you're actually late."

With that, they said their goodbyes and Chris walked away and Felix watched him until he got the crosswalk before he turned toward the school with a sigh.

"We'll be with you the whole time." Kim said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Felix nodded and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."

Inside the building, he could immediately feel eyes on him, but he reminded himself that he was safe, that he was with his friends, that they would protect him. With that in mind, he managed to keep his head up and eyes forward, faking the confidence he wished he had.