Archive of Our Own ^beta

Felix stared at the ring in his hand. It looked... it looked exactly the same as the one he had stolen from his uncle months before, and just recently traded for the brooch currently adorning his chest. 

But it couldn't be the same ring. This was the one Nathalie had been wearing, on the train, when Felix had taken orders in Adrien's place, his cousin remaining safely in ignorance of its nature. 

Felix had taken it from Nathalie and replaced it with one of the fakes he'd had made, just in case. 

It was definitely the correct ring.

So why did it feel wrong?

He didn't get the same buzzing sense he had whenever he looked at his own amok. At first he'd thought it was because it was someone else's, so obviously it would feel different. But he was starting to think it was more than that.

"Fold my feathers," he said, and Duusu tumbled out of his brooch with a giggle. Felix's costume disappeared into blue light. 

He stared at the ring in his hand, and it was just as innocuous as it had felt with the magic active. 

He held it out for Duusu to examine.

"What's wrong with it?"

Duusu looped around the room for a moment, expressing some excess energy before settling in Felix's hand to look at the ring. He lifted it, turning it this way and that, hemming and hawing as he did, squinting his big eyes and pressing his ear - where Felix assumed his ear was, anyway - to the metal.

After a moment, the kwami stepped back, floating in midair with crossed arms. He nodded knowingly.

"It's empty."

"What do you mean empty ?" Felix demanded. "It's the wrong ring?"

"No, no, it's the right ring," Duusu said. "It definitely had an amok in it at some point. But it's empty now."

Felix's eyes went wide and he leapt to his feet, his hands in fists. "What?!" he demanded. "But then, Adrien-"

"Adrien is fine!" Duusu said, zipping up to Felix's face, his hands out to stop his user from running off. "You just saw him, remember? And you could sense him with the Miraculous active. He's fine!"

"Then how is his amok empty ?!"

He held the ring up accusingly. 

Duusu hummed thoughtfully, tapping his chin as he stared at the metal.

"Sentibeings don't normally exist for years at a time," he said. "You two are kind of unprecedented, being alive and awake for so long. It's possible that Adrien has changed enough from when he was created that he transferred his amok to a new object."

"You can do that?" Felix asked, looking at his own amok, safely on his finger. "How come mine hasn't, then? I'm not the same as I was when I was born."

"But your ring is still important to you, emotionally, and you keep it with you all the time!" Duusu pointed out. "Maybe Adrien has something that's more important to him than his parents' rings now."

Felix felt his heart sink. If Adrien had unknowingly moved his amok, it could fall into someone else's hands. Stuck under the control of his father and Nathalie was bad enough, but if a stranger somehow got ahold of it...

"How do we find it?"

Duusu shrugged.

Adrien sighed and fell backwards onto his bed. The pillows jumped slightly, and his Chat Noir doll tumbled to the floor. He glanced at it from the corner of his eye, facedown on the carpet, then sighed again and rolled over to pick it up.

"Yeah, me too buddy," he told it absently, straightening its mask. 

"What's got you all grumpy?" Plagg asked. He sat on Adrien's nightstand, shredding the wax off a piece of Babybel cheese and leaving the greasy remnants all over the floor. "You got your modeling break, you hung out with your pals, you got nothing to do until patrol tonight and there's probably not even gonna be another akuma attack the way things've been going. You got nothing to be sighing about!" He ate the tiny cheese wheel in one bite, apparently unbothered by the fact that it had been sitting in Adrien's duffel bag for what must be a couple weeks now.

"Nothing really, I guess," Adrien muttered, and puppeted Chat's floppy arms to gesture along. "Don't know what to do with myself. For once it's everyone else that's busy instead of me." Nino and Alya had some kind of standing appointment with Alya’s older sister, and Marinette had thrown her hands in the air and shouted something about a dentist appointment and an order of cupcakes before fleeing out of the school gates, nearly tripping over the sidewalk as she went.

"You're still upset about that handshake thing, aren't you!" Plagg accused, flying into view.

Adrien turned his head to look out the window.

"You arrrrre!" Plagg drawled, and hovered in front of his face. "I'm tellin' ya, you gotta be more assertive about it! Next time she gives you her hand instead of her face, you grab it and swing her around into a dip and give her that smackeroo right on the face!" 

Adrien laughed as Plagg whirled around, gesticulating wildly along with his narrative.

"Since when do you care about my relationships? I thought you didn't do the whole human love thing."

"Adrien," Plagg said seriously, and grabbed the sides of Adrien's face with both paws. "Do you remember when she gave you those gougères over your lunch break a few weeks ago? Because I do. I have dreamt about them. I have dreamt about them repeatedly . If you start dating Marinette, I can have those every day. EVERY . DAY ."

Adrien rolled his eyes and swatted Plagg off his face. Plagg was unbothered by this, and rolled around on the pillow next to him, delighting in his cheesy pastry fantasies. 

"I do remember," Adrien said. "They were very good."

He waggled Chat-doll's arms again, making it writhe along with Adrien's unexpressed frustration. "I don't want to push anything. Marinette gets... jumpy, sometimes, and I don't want to do anything that'll overstep her boundaries. I thought bise was a good in-between for that, something that would show how much she means to me without messing up our friendship, but..."

He sighed and sat up, holding the doll in his lap. He absently reached into his pocket, pulling out his lucky bracelet, and ran his thumb over the engraved clover before setting it over Chat's chest, like an oversized necklace.

Plagg landed on Adrien's head, pushing his hair into his face. 

"You're overthinking it again," the cat said flatly. "If this ain't working, try something else. Or ask her why she's actin' like it's weird. She's obviously yer friend, so it shouldn't be a big deal."

Adrien looked up at him. "You think so?"

"Sure, sure," Plagg said, waving dismissively. He zipped down into Adrien's lap and propped the ragdoll up, sending the bracelet falling to the bed. He waved its arms the same way Adrien had done. "After all, you do all that sappy stuff with Ladybug all the time, she just laughs it off. Don't see why Marinette'd be any different."

Adrien laughed. "It's very different," he said, and grabbed the doll from Plagg to put it on the nightstand. He took the bracelet from the bed, running his thumb over it again, before getting up to head to his bathroom. 

"Alright, I'm going to take a shower, then do some homework before patrol," he said, ignoring Plagg's theatrical groan. "Don't get cheese all over my bed."

"Don't you ever take a break?" Plagg whined.

Adrien threw his overshirt at him. "We can play a round of Mecha Strike first, if you want," he called over his shoulder. "Maybe if I practice enough I can bet on it with Marinette and figure out this handshake thing if I win."

"Now you're talkin'!" said Plagg, darting over to the TV and consoles, jumping on various remotes and controllers to turn them on. "But yer never gonna beat her if you can't beat me first."

"As if." Adrien sat on the sofa, grabbing a controller from Plagg and settling back as the game loaded. He absently fastened his bracelet around his wrist, the motion long having become second-nature before any kind of competition. "You're going down, little cat."

Adrien had a busy schedule, which made it easy to get in and out of his room most days. Even with his current hiatus from modeling, he was still at school for the majority of the day, and fencing and other extracurriculars kept him out of the way even longer. 

Felix tried on his own for a while, climbing in the unlocked window and using the Peacock's magic senses to feel for the amok as he searched, and to keep aware of everyone else in the house - often just his uncle - by reaching out to feel for nearby emotions. He could also briefly open a connection to Adrien, peeking out of his cousin's eyes in quick flashes to make sure he wasn't on his way home. 

Three days of searching his room found nothing, and Felix was getting sick of it. Even using his powers, it took two to three hours each way between London and Paris, and he had to maintain his own life at school and keep his mother from knowing he was involved.

On his fourth trip, he dropped his transformation, and sent Duusu to phase through locked drawers and cupboards while Felix searched out in the open for what felt like the millionth time.

Photographs had seemed promising, of Emilie or Adrien's friends at school, but none of their lingering emotions were tied to the Peacock's magic. None of his clothes, no accessories, souvenirs from places and events that Felix didn't have time to investigate. A surprising number of superhero toys and merchandise, buried in his bed or deep in the closet, mostly Chat Noir and Ladybug but a number of the rest of their (former) team as well, many handmade and of questionable quality but none of them right . 

Felix sat on Adrien's bed, idly playing with a Chat Noir ragdoll kind of thing. He wondered if, despite not knowing about his father's secret, Adrien sensed the distaste he had for Paris' heroes, or if it was the more mundane desire to hide his childish things to appear more mature.

Duusu darted out of another drawer, whatever he'd been holding inside it thumping against the wood as it fell. 

"There's cheese in there!" Duusu said, delightedly. 

"Wonderful," Felix said, and sighed. He returned the doll to its place under Adrien's pillow. "No amok?"

"Nothing yet!" Duusu glanced away, a frown creasing his tiny face. He flew to Felix's side, landing on his shoulder and burrowing into his neck. 

Felix raised an eyebrow, looking in the same direction Duusu had, and seeing nothing but the wall. He stood, and called for his transformation as he went to the window.

As he left the mansion, he could feel what Duusu had been sensing. His uncle's emotions; anticipation and sadistic pleasure. Probably about time for an akuma to appear, then. 

He stopped on the rooftop of Adrien's school, leaning against a slightly shaded wall with a sigh. A quick glimpse in Adrien’s head showed Felix a notebook with perfect cursive handwriting, a few games of tic-tac-toe and someone else's messier handwriting scribbled in the margins.

Felix dropped the transformation and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm starting to think it must be something Adrien carries on his person."

Duusu nodded in agreement. "It's likely! That'd give it more exposure to the magic, too."

"And it's going to be all the harder to find it without his noticing." Felix didn't particularly want to be seen by his cousin, as he'd have to deal with the fallout from Felix's last little place-swapping plan, and he didn't want word that he was hanging around getting back to Ladybug. 

The Peacock Miraculous gave him some protection against "Felix" being seen, but transformed, they would naturally assume he was working for Monarch, which... gross. 

Felix glanced at his phone. He hoped the akuma would attack soon, or he'd have to catch a later train home. With any luck it would be close to the school and they'd evacuate, leaving the classroom empty for Felix to search at his leisure and the local remaining heroes occupied. 

"What does Adrien even keep with him?" Felix muttered aloud. He scrolled through a fanpage he'd pulled up, absently looking at his cousin's various ads and magazine covers, tabloid articles and bad candids peppering the feed. 

"His phone?" Duusu suggested, hovering upside down in front of Felix's face.

"I've never known him to be emotionally attached to it," Felix muttered, though he supposed it was possible. They'd already ruled out his clothes, various sets of identical outfits so that his "look" stayed consistent. The Brand's attachment, not Adrien's. 

Fencing equipment, maybe. Piano, except the one in Adrien's room wasn't it. Maybe something with that band he sometimes played with? Could his amok have gone to something that belonged to someone else?

He made a face as an amateur music video started playing. "Kitty Section." What a name. The song was absolutely not Felix's cup of tea, but at least it looked like Adrien was having fun in it. Must be a nice change from what his father and tutors expected him to learn.

He scrolled past, the video and music stopping automatically, then caught the feed before the next image could load.

The video had frozen on a closeup of Adrien's hands on the keyboard, blurred and askew.

He scrolled back up and let the video play. Adrien's fingers danced across the keys before the shot changed to the bass guitarist's hands instead.

He scrolled back to the previous picture. And the one before. And before.

Felix went back to the video, rewinding it to the closeup, and paused it, holding the screen up to show Duusu.

"We might have something," he said, and pointed. 

Duusu took the phone from him, squinting at the image.

Adrien wore a ring. Not one of his father's designs, not the new Alliance thing coming out. It looked like a cheap stainless steel thing, a simple design that was easy to miss. But it was in every picture where Adrien's hand was visible, going back months.

He didn't know the significance yet, but it was the only clue they had. If Adrien was wearing it every single day, it made sense that it could be the object that his soul wanted to reside in. 

Duusu handed him the phone back. He'd somehow closed the browser and opened the camera, taking about fifteen awkward photos of the sky and rooftop. 

In the distance, Felix heard shouting. The ground shook and flashes of light flew through the air. 

Felix stretched, feeling his back pop and crack from sitting on the floor too long. He'd still check Adrien's bag once he was sure the coast was clear, but he was becoming more sure he was right about the ring by the second. He'd have to come up with a plan to get to Adrien in person, preferably without an actual confrontation, and get it off his hand. 

Adrien ducked into the empty locker room as the school emptied, his disappearance unnoticed in the stampede of students. In the distance, he could hear the akuma roar, shouting something unintelligible. He ran to the back of the room, making sure it was totally empty before pulling his shirt open for Plagg.

"So much for yer double-date," the kwami sighed. "I'm taking a rain-check on that raclette Alya mentioned, you'd BETTER make sure she remembers when you do get to do it."

"It's not a date," Adrien muttered. "It's just the four of us hanging out, as usual. Alya just wants to try this new place."

"This new romantic place," Plagg pointed out, but Adrien swatted at him before calling for his transformation, cutting the jibe short. 

Chat Noir ran towards the door, then stopped as he heard something clatter to the ground behind him. He glanced around, his eyes catching on a small spot of bright colors on the floor. Marinette's bracelet.

Chat went back, picking the string of beads with a frown. "Must've fallen out of my pocket," he muttered to himself. He considered putting it around his wrist, but it would stand out too much against the black of his costume, and he'd hate for it to fall off again in the middle of battle anyway.

There was another loud boom from outside, so Chat pulled at his collar, jamming the lucky charm into his uniform and hoping it would stay put as he zipped it back up.

"If you break it I'm gonna be pissed," Chat muttered in the direction of the akuma, unhooking his baton as he ran towards the battle. Ladybug would fix everything, sure, but he'd still prefer it stay in one piece. 

He caught up with Ladybug in the front of the school, and they ran together as the akuma charged them, demanding their Miraculouses as it powered its attack.

Adrien's school stuff had been a dead end, as expected. Felix had disappeared during the akuma attack, and called home to let his mother know he wouldn't be back until tomorrow. His mother was concerned, of course, but Felix cited a classmate he knew he could pay to get a reasonable alibi. He hated lying to his mother, but that seemed to be part and parcel with being the holder of a Miraculous, at least as long as his uncle continued his reign of terror.

He treated himself (and, by extension, Duusu) to a nice dinner near the Louvre, watching the news reports on his phone discuss the day's akuma attack. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir were ruthlessly efficient in their takedown, even with the added Miraculous powers Monarch had somehow managed to transfer remotely to his creations. It seemed like both sides of the ongoing war had taken levels in efficiency and power since Felix's jaunt as Flairmidible, which was exactly why he wanted to get in and out without attracting attention from either of them.

His uncle would certainly either try to regain control of Felix and Duusu or do something to keep them out of the way permanently. Ladybug and Chat Noir... well, heroes or not, they couldn't be happy with him, and he wasn't excited to face them again as their enemy. 

Adrien was stuck somewhere in the middle, under the thumb of his megalomaniacal father, yet somehow also a figure that Ladybug had (at one point, at least) trusted enough to go to for help and loan a Miraculous. 

Which meant Felix couldn't be seen by his cousin either, and had no choice but to get his amok off him under the cover of night. 

Transformed, he waited in the Agreste's back yard, hidden by a tree's foliage and the household's overconfidence in their security system. Gabriel's emotions flared every so often with irritation, probably due to his defeat earlier that day, but it didn't seem like he would transform again and sense Felix's own emotions through the Butterfly. 

Adrien seemed more tired and resigned than anything else, but showed no signs of going to sleep until long after all the lights were out, the staff gone home for the night, even Gabriel's presence eventually fading into unconsciousness. His restlessness was rubbing off on Felix. He risked glimpsing through Adrien's eyes every so often, catching flashes of homework, texts to a friend, sheet music, a picture of a girl, a different picture of the girl, another-

Felix rubbed his temples. Adrien's continued existence and freedom was at stake, his father plotting god knows what with his newfound control over the Miraculouses, and the idiot was pining over some girl at school. 

It took hours for Adrien's emotions to settle into something tolerable, eventually fading away into the vague jumble that was sleep. Another glimpse showed him only the inside of Adrien's eyelids, and Felix silently stood from his perch in the tree and alighted on the windowsill.

He opened the window easily; Adrien didn't bother to keep it locked. Felix slipped inside, the Miraculous' magic keeping his movements silent as he approached his cousin's bed. Even without the amok in hand, with the connection between them closed, he willed Adrien to stay asleep.

It was hard to see, in the dark, but Adrien was curled loosely to one side, his hands limp on his pillow. The ring on his finger caught the light, and Felix steeled himself, taking a deep breath before reaching forwards.

He pulled the ring off in one fluid motion. For a fraction of a second, he thought he heard a voice of protest, a surprisingly loud "Hey!" slicing through the silence, but it cut off as the ring fell safely into Felix's closed fist, and he willed what he hoped would be his first and only command to his cousin, to sleep and forget , and he sprinted out the open window as fast as his powers enabled him, out into the cold night air.

Felix ran, desperate to get distance between himself and his cousin, guilt crushing his chest that he'd used the amok already, forced Adrien to obey him even if it was only the one time, even if it was for Adrien's own safety and even though Felix would never do it again. He could still feel the sickening feeling of being forced to obey in every fiber of his own being, and now he'd forced that onto another, who now would hopefully never have to find out what he was, would never have to endure it again.

He stopped in the dark street, leaning against a fence, his own breathing the only sound in the dark night. He could feel the amok digging into his palm, even through his gloves.

"Duusu," he whispered, "Fold my feathers."

Duusu spiraled out of the brooch, and Felix shivered as he was struck by the cold air, unprotected by his magic. 

The cold was bracing, enough to ground Felix back in the present. He laughed, watching the steam rise from his mouth as he panted. He opened his hand, and the sight of the ring, almost black in the night's darkness, made him giddy with relief. 

"Um, Felix," Duusu said, wringing his hands and glancing back the way they'd come, "Felix, I don't think-"

"We got it, Duusu," Felix said, and closed his hand again, holding the ring to his chest. "Let me just... catch my breath, and we'll head home."

"Felix-"

Felix slipped the ring onto his finger for safekeeping.

"-I don't think that's the amok," Duusu finished. 

There was a flash of green light from Felix's hand, and a tiny black figure materialized in the air, glowing green eyes narrowed in anger before it dove forwards, headbutting Felix hard enough he saw stars.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" the kwami of the Black Cat demanded, glowering over him as Felix sank to the ground.

"Hi, Plagg!" said Duusu.

"Oh no," Felix groaned.

Plagg’s eyes narrowed to slits. “ You,” he snarled, and the air around him seemed to flicker and blur. His tiny paws raised in the air, black lightning crackling before the words could leave his mouth. “ Cata-!”

“Nooooo!” Duusu dove at Plagg, tackling him and sending them both spinning through the air. “Plagg, wait! It’s not what you think!”

“Don’t you dare stand up for him! After he betrayed all the rest of us!”

“It’s complicated!” Duusu whined. 

“I will not stand by and let myself be stolen by this bastard lookalike-”

“I’m not!” Felix said, finally snapping out of it. His head was spinning, both from Plagg’s headbutt and from the new information he’d somehow majorly overlooked all this time. “I’m not stealing you. I don’t even want you.”

“Yeah, gonna turn me in to your boss instead, enslaved like all the others?” Plagg’s power had settled as he struggled to detach Duusu’s arms from his waist, pushing ineffectively at the other kwami’s head. 

“He is not my boss,” Felix said, getting to his feet. “That was a one time deal, because I had to. I got the only Miraculous I wanted. I don’t need yours.” 

“Then give it back!”

The words were punctuated by rapid footsteps and an out of breath growl, Adrien stumbling as he sprinted around the corner, barefoot and in his pajamas, green eyes locked in Felix’s direction.

“Duusu, spread my feathers!” Felix gasped, and the transformation washed over him, bracing him against the cold and hopefully hiding his identity in time. 

Adrien stopped, breathing hard. His eyes were hard steel, a determination and rage that Felix had never seen in his cousin before - hadn’t seen in many people, except, he realized, in the way Chat Noir had looked at Flairmidible. 

“Give it back,” Adrien repeated. His fists were clenched, his mouth half open in a snarl, revealing gritted teeth Felix could swear seemed to have fangs. 

Plagg flew to his side, landing on his shoulder and glaring with him, tiny paws digging protectively into his shirt, even though he must know he couldn’t do anything as long as Felix held the ring. Neither of them could. 

Felix held his hand out, the ring resting in his palm. 

It wasn’t Adrien who took it, but Plagg, a sudden burst of lightless black and glowing green, and the kwami fazed through Felix’s hand and slipped the Miraculous onto Adrien’s finger in one speedy motion. 

“Claws out,” Adrien spat. Green light and spots of utter darkness consumed him in a flash, and Chat Noir crouched into a fighting stance, claws ready and staff extended. 

They both stood for a moment, waiting for the other to make a move. Felix kept his eyes locked on Chat Noir’s, despite how much his instincts longed to survey the area for an escape route. There were too many unknown variables - how much Adrien had heard and seen, how he would react. Two minutes ago, Felix would have sworn he could predict his cousin’s every move, that he would win in both any battles of wits and most fair physical fights. He could direct and manipulate Ladybug and Chat Noir and the rest of the heroes, so long as he wasn’t the focus of their full attention, if their priorities were on Monarch and his akumas as they usually would be. 

He knew he couldn’t beat Chat Noir in a direct one-on-one fight. Chat Noir had far more experience, lightning speed and massive power, and waves of focused, intense anger and suspicion piercing Felix’s brain through Duusu’s power. 

Felix shifted his foot slightly backwards and Chat Noir responded in kind, leaning forward, ready to spring, fingers clenching tighter around his staff. 

“I don’t want to fight you,” said Felix.

“Then you shouldn’t have picked a fight,” said Chat. His eyes narrowed. “Who are you? Monarch’s gone and replaced Mayura already?”

Felix felt relief rush through him, instantly followed up with renewed tension and paranoia. If it were him, Felix would never reveal how much information he did or did not have until he was sure it would give him an advantage. And while he never would think that Adrien would play dumb to manipulate someone, he also never would have thought that he was the superhero avatar of destruction until it was thrown directly in his face and headbutted him to the ground. 

“I am not an ally of Monarch. I don’t work for him.”

“And yet you have one of his Miraculous.”

Felix laughed dryly. “You think he gave it to me willingly? Even with sixteen of them on hand, he’s not exactly the type to share.”

Chat tilted his head slightly, appraising Felix from a slightly different angle.

“Fifteen,” he corrected. 

“Oh, you got one back already? I’m impressed.”

“Who are you?”

Felix bit his tongue. Chat Noir wasn’t yielding an inch, not letting his guard down in spite of Felix’s friendly (he hoped) demeanor. And he hadn’t come up with a name yet. 

“I’m… an unaffiliated third party.”

Chat blinked, confused, and his stance relaxed very slightly. Progress.

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t come here in search of the Miraculous.” Felix spoke very slowly, mind racing to find some way to explain without actually explaining . “I also didn’t come here to find out who you are.”

Chat’s fists clenched again. “But you do know.”

“I know now ,” said Felix. “But I didn’t until about two minutes ago. It was definitely… a surprise.” 

“Then why did you come?” Chat’s eyes narrowed and he shifted his weight again. “Why sneak into my house, into my room , and steal a ring you supposedly had no idea was a Miraculous?”

“I’m looking for something else,” said Felix. 

“For what?”

“I-” Felix stopped short. He could not explain the amoks, not to Chat Noir, who would logically want to destroy any sentimonsters, and not to Adrien, for whom Felix was doing all of this, so that he wouldn’t be burdened with the same knowledge that had ruined Felix’s entire life. 

Felix dropped his hands and shut his eyes, rolling his head up to face the sky with a bitter laugh. 

“I don’t know,” he said. He straightened back up and ran a hand through his bangs. “It could be almost anything. Any shape, any size - I assumed it was your ring because I noticed you always had it with you, but clearly I’ve miscalculated everything.”

“Something I always have with me?” Chat Noir repeated. “What are you talking about? What is it you’re trying to find?”

Felix took a deep breath and pressed his palms into his eyes. He opened them and peered through his fingers at Chat Noir, still on guard, radiating frustration and confusion. 

“Powerful emotions can be a source of magic,” Felix said. “I’m sure you already know this.”

Chat nodded. His tail twitched behind him. 

“The Peacock Miraculous is the Miraculous of Emotion,” he continued. “That’s why I had to use it, to find these specific objects that have naturally taken in those emotions, and subsequently, magic. I can sense them using Duusu’s power.”

“And you think I have one of those objects.”

“I know you do,” said Felix. “Even if I don’t know exactly what it is, I know it’s tied to you. And it can be dangerous, left in the hands of the wrong person. Not just a person who would deliberately misuse its power, but people who don’t even know it has power could, in their ignorance, use it without their knowledge, give it away, or even destroy it.”

Felix flinched at his own words. He realized he was rubbing at his own amok, under his glove, and quickly crossed his arms to make himself stop. 

“It can’t be destroyed,” he added quietly, not looking Chat Noir in the eye. “That would be… terrible. For all of us.”

There was a long silence. Felix continued to stare at the ground, at the pavement in front of the fence where he had fallen. His fingers clenched against his elbows and he grit his teeth. His story was vague, incomplete, but not entirely untrue. He’d said as much as he could safely give away. The rest was just up to Chat- to Adrien - to take him at his word or not. 

“Why should I trust you?” Chat Noir’s voice was quiet, the harshness and suspicion faded, but Felix could still feel the tang of mistrust, the remnants of paranoia and betrayal that Felix knew he himself had caused. 

“You shouldn’t,” he said. “I’ve told you what I can, but it’s not enough. I know I wouldn’t trust me. You have no idea who I am, and I can promise you, Ladybug doesn’t either.”

Felix finally forced himself to look up, meeting Adrien’s glowing green eyes with his own, pink and blue.

“All I can promise is that when she and you finally bring Monarch down, I intend to be standing on your side, doing whatever I can to make sure that bastard is done controlling your life, for good.”

Chat Noir watched him for a moment longer - silent, considering - and Felix could feel when he made up his mind, the decision to accept his word a soothing balm of trust over Felix’s frayed nerves.

He twirled his staff once before retracting it, locking it in place behind his back. He sighed as he approached, his arms crossed in a distorted mirror of Felix’s pose, exasperated and thoughtful where Felix was ashamed. 

“How will you know this object when you see it?”

“I’ll be able to sense it.”

“And you’re sure you weren’t just sensing the Miraculous when you thought I was carrying around something magic?”

“No, it’s not just the magic, it’s the emotions that the object has absorbed.” And the amok feather itself, he added silently. “That’s why I have to use the Peacock, to make it stand out-”

He stopped as Chat Noir stopped walking, right up in front of Felix. A flash of color against the void-black of Chat’s costume, pink and green, wrapped around his wrist. Standing out, right in the open.

“How long have you had that?” Felix asked quietly. 

Chat Noir blinked confusedly again, then looked around at his feet and his costume and finally his hands, mild annoyance and realization and wonder flickering into Felix’s mind through Duusu, almost as loud as the emotions of the amok itself. 

“It keeps sticking around when I transform,” Chat said, and held it with his other hand, still in place on his wrist. “It never used to do that.” 

“It must have started when the magic- …developed,” said Felix, just stopping himself from saying ‘transferred.’ “Since the magic inside it conflicts, it doesn’t transform along with you.”

“You said it got filled with strong emotions,” said Chat, still holding the bracelet protectively. “Did you mean… mine? Or someone else’s?”

Felix looked up at Chat’s face, and the hero immediately looked away, his cheeks dusted pink. He stifled a laugh and the desire to roll his eyes, feeling that same sappy emotional cocktail he’d gotten from Adrien earlier that night. 

“Hard to say,” he said, straightening up. And it was true - at this point, the bracelet just felt like concentrated Adrien more than a specific emotion or source. “Could be a combination of both. Could be a whole crowd of people’s emotions,” but I have a feeling it’s only two, maximum.

“And you said it’s dangerous in the wrong hands.”

“Yeah,” said Felix. He looked back down at the colorful beads, bright against the dark black. “If you didn’t know you had it, and went into battle, it could be damaged or destroyed.”

“I nearly lost it once,” said Chat Noir. “It fell off when I transformed.”

Felix clenched his fist. “If somebody else had picked it up…”

Chat Noir made no move to take off the bracelet. Protectiveness. Indecision. Duty. Reluctance. “What could have happened?”

Felix shut his eyes.

“Disaster,” he said, and imagined words and desires said accidentally, irresistible commands, constant manipulation by a stranger or, worse, a friend. Or family.

He breathed. Chat Noir said nothing.

Felix opened his eyes. 

“So you’d better figure out a way to make sure it’s safe when you transform. It stands out far too much the way it is.”

The beads clacked softly as Chat Noir lowered his arm. “What happened to ‘it’s dangerous in the wrong hands’?”

“It was in the wrong hands when I thought those hands belonged to an ignorant teenager with no knowledge or experience with magic,” said Felix. “I’m much more comfortable leaving it in the hands of an established superhero. And now that you know its importance-”

“You haven’t told me what this magic does,” Chat pointed out. “You’re not worried I’ll somehow activate it by accident?”

“As long as it’s kept safe,” said Felix, and dimly wondered if you could give yourself a command through your own amok, something you wouldn’t do otherwise, “And you don’t let anyone else touch it… I think it should be alright.”

“...I have to tell Ladybug,” Chat pointed out, and Felix flinched. “She at least needs to know there’s some ‘unaffiliated third party’ running around with a Miraculous.”

“I would prefer you didn’t,” said Felix. “But I understand. If you could just… not mention the bracelet to her…”

“I don’t see why I shouldn’t,” said Chat, and the beads clacked as he crossed his arms again. “She’s my partner. And I don’t even know your name.”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I come up with one,” said Felix, shrugging. “And whatever else I can. I just need some time to figure out my next steps, first.”

“You think I’m going to just let you leave with the Peacock Miraculous? With my identity? ”

“Yeah, actually,” Felix said. He smirked and gestured towards his head. “I can hear your emotions like they’re shouting in my ear. You’re curious to see what I’m going to do.”

“Ladybug’s always telling me curiosity killed the cat.”

“Satisfaction brought it back,” Felix countered.

Chat stared at him for a long moment, considering. Finally, he sighed, eyes shut, and turned away, the bracelet clacking once more as he lifted his hand to carelessly wave. Felix could still feel the tension in his mind, the readiness to dodge any attack and counter by slamming him into the ground. “Fine, fine. I have a busy day tomorrow anyway, and you’ve made me lose enough sleep. But don’t let me catch you sneaking into anyone’s bedroom again.”

“Of course,” said Felix, and he hopped up the fence onto a nearby roof. He turned back to face Chat as he left. “Oh, and Adrien?”

Chat Noir froze, his back already almost invisible in the darkness.

“Speaking of loud emotions, do me a favor and just tell the girl you like her. Your little crush has been deafening me all evening.”

Chat whirled around, his face red, sputtering, but Felix was already out of sight.

---

“Claws in.”

Adrien collapsed onto his bed, bouncing as he landed, flinging his arms off to the side and immediately shutting his eyes as the one pillow that remained in place puffed out the displaced air and fluffed around his ears.

The Chat ragdoll was digging into his shoulderblade. Marinette’s bracelet was cool and smooth around his bare wrist. His feet stung from climbing down the roof and sprinting barefoot on the pavement. 

Plagg emerged from his cheese drawer, angrily gnawing on a piece as big as his head. 

“What do you think?” Adrien asked, glancing at him from the corner of his eye. “Can we trust him?”

Plagg grumbled something unintelligible around his mouthful of cheese. 

Adrien lifted his hand in the air, squinting in the darkness to make out the bracelet as it slipped down his wrist with the movement. “Do you know anything about this emotion magic business?”

“No,” said Plagg. He scarfed down his last bit of cheese and sat in midair, cross-legged and floating a few centimeters from Adrien’s chest. “I don’t care about that sappy stuff, that’s all Duusu and Nooroo and Daizzi and stuff.” 

Adrien dropped his arm. “And?”

“And,” said Plagg, and he shut his eyes in thought. His tail lashed angrily. “And I guess we can trust him. I don’t like him, but Duusu sure seemed happy with him, and really didn’t want me to cataclysm him.”

“I also really don’t want you to cataclysm people.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Plagg waved his paw in the air dismissively. “My point is, Duusu’s vouching for him, and he did give your Miraculous back, even though it was a dangerous and stupid thing to do.”

“Yeah.” Adrien fiddled idly with the beads of his bracelet. 

“Just like it was stupid and dangerous for you not to find out who he is!” said Plagg. He pulled his ears down over his face in exasperation. “Gaaaaaaah, I wish I could just tell you, that stupid idiot, I hate him so much and it would be so easy if not for these stupid rules -”

“I know, Plagg,” Adrien said. He cupped his hand around the back of Plagg’s head and pulled him down to his chest, gently rubbing behind his ear with his thumb. Plagg reluctantly leaned into it, a grumpy purr escaping his throat. “We’ll just have to hope he keeps his word.”

“If he doesn’t, I’m tracking him down and knocking the information outta him.”

“Good plan.”

“Hmph.”

Plagg curled into a ball, still on Adrien’s chest, and wrapped his tail over his face. For a while they lay in silence, Adrien still absently petting his ear, eyes locked on the high ceiling, thinking. 

After a while, he pulled his hand away, making the bracelet clack and Plagg grumble, and reached onto his nightstand to grab his phone. 

 

Do you still want to try out that restaurant? 

The light of the screen made Plagg’s tail lash angrily again, but he squinted with one eye to see what was happening. 

I hear it has good raclette.

“I want my own order of raclette!”

“Not happening. You can share mine.”

“The moment she goes to the restroom, I’m eating her entire plate.”

“I will revoke you.”

“Liar.”

why are you texting me at 3 am ?!?

Adrien’s heart stuttered, and he wondered if the strange Peacock boy could hear it from somewhere across the city. 

A bird woke me up. Friday after school? Raclette?

The typing icon appeared and disappeared, appeared again, stopped. The phone’s screen dimmed and Adrien tapped it absently to keep it awake.

After a long silence, in which Plagg nestled back into his tail and Adrien wrestled with the conflicting feelings of almost drifting off to sleep and his heart trying to beat out of his chest, the icon appeared one last time and Marinette’s reply slipped into view.

ok

Adrien let the phone thump down onto the mattress. He shut his eyes, heart full to bursting, his head swimming with anticipation, his hands over his burning face. 

“And when you see her tomorrow, spin her ‘round and dip her backwards and give her a smackeroo right on the lips!”

“Go to sleep, Plagg.”

Adrien fell asleep on top of the covers, his hand over his chest, absently rubbing the engraved clover on the bracelet around his wrist.