The Bug Bites

4- One Single day

Felix Agreste had spent his whole life being compared to his cousin. The oh-so-perfect Adrien, the model, the perfect fencer, the boy that was always so smart and perfect . It had always sickened Felix to be compared in such a way. Wasn't he enough? Could Felix never be enough for anyone?

Here he sat, across the dining room table from that perfect brat. His hands clenched slightly when he heard his uncle's assistant come in, telling Adrien that he had a visitor. Of course, Mister Sunshine would have a visitor, probably a girl from the perfect Adrien's Fanclub.

When Adrien left the room, Felix soon followed after, wanting to see what one of his cousin's little groupies looked like. She was not what he had expected. He had been expecting a blonde dressed in a provocative way to get Adrien to look at her, to notice her. He hadn't expected the cute raven-haired girl standing in the main hall with Adrien, stuttering over her words as she handed him a binder.

"Thank you for letting me note your borrows, Adrien..." She stammered out before going crimson, tugging on one of her pigtails. The action was almost endearing. "I mean borrow your notes! Sorry.."

"I just hope they were helpful, Marinette. But hey, helping each other is what friends are for, right?" His idiotic cousin grinned, and from his vantage point, Felix could see the girl deflate a bit.

"Yeah, what are friends for." Disappointment lingered at the edge of Marinette's voice, but she still kept her cheery smile. Felix smirked, watching as the two friends exchanged a smile, and Marinette was shown to the door.

Adrien was an idiot; that much was clear to Felix. Such a cute girl, one who seemed actually decent, and he didn't try to get anything out of her? Just restricted her to the friend-zone? That just pissed him off, girls seemed to avoid Felix, yet Adrien hadn't taken full advantage of his own popularity.

Well, if Adrien didn't want her, Felix would take her for himself. It could be fun, having a little fling with a cute Parisian girl while he was here, then he could go and feel smug about one-upping his pathetic cousin.

But first, to get the girl.

His cousin and uncle were idiots. Everyone in the damned mansion was an idiot. No one had looked his way when he had left the mansion, looking like a perfect replica of Adrien. His cousin had been too preoccupied watching some news footage of the Ladybug hero he'd seemed to be obsessed with, and Nathalie was off someplace, probably sleeping with his uncle, if Felix had to guess.

So he strolled along the streets of Paris and basked in the glory of being his cousin, seeing groups of girls look his way and giggle, trying to urge one of the members to go over and get his autograph, random people on the street snapped pictures of him, or stopped him to say they were such big fans of his work. And Felix soaked in all the love and adoration.

And when he rounded a corner, there was Marinette. She seemed to be looking at something on her phone, not quite paying attention. Felix smiled and stood still, letting her walk right into him so that he could take her into his arms as if to steady her.

"A- Adrien?! Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, I was so caught up in this conversation, I wasn't watching where I was going!" Felix had to bite back a smirk as he watched Marinette go crimson, stammering like a fool. His cousin really was an idiot for not trying to get a date out of this one. He wondered what her reaction would be if he kissed her to stop that stammering. He thought against it, not wanting to give the girl a heart attack.

"It's alright; I was looking for you anyways." Felix gave a perfect replica of his cousin's signature smile, then forced himself to blush. "Listen, Marinette, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch with me?