Chapter Text
As the door to his bedroom swung open, Adrien let his phone fall onto his bed mid-text. He straightened his shoulders and did a quick scan of his surroundings. He had not been doing anything incriminating, yet he still felt the need to drop everything — an instinct he had had for as long as he could remember.
He readied himself for his father’s critical gaze, only to find his cousin shutting the door behind him in a panic.
“Felix? What’s going on? I didn’t know you were coming to visit.”
“We weren’t. Your bodyguard let me in.”
Felix was not easily shaken; yet in this instant his face was livid, and his eyes weighted down by dark circles.
“I need to talk to you,” he started, tugging at his sleeve.
Adrien reached down to grab his phone, locking it and tucking it into his back pocket. His cousin was usually up to something, but his demeanor was hard not to take seriously.
“Of course,” Adrien said as he approached him. “Does my father know you’re here?”
He could not tell which answer he would prefer. As much as he did not want to be caught with company his father had not prepared for, things always felt way more out of control when he entered the picture.
“He cannot know I’m here. Adrien, listen to me," Felix almost begged, anxiously rubbing his fingers together.
“I’m listening,” he took a final step, closing the distance between them. He was tempted to reach out to him, but still hesitant.
Felix ran a finger on his collar. His tie felt like it was strangling him.
"My father is going to die."
Adrien’s heart dropped to his stomach.
“Oh,” he found himself responding before he could process this information enough to provide a helpful response.
The problem was, it had only been a few months since his own mother’s death, and he knew that nothing anyone said could make it better. Not that he had much experience — his father was too wrapped up in his own grief to be there for him, and everyone else seemed to look past him.
He refused to do the same. Even if he could not lessen the pain, he was not going to make it worse by ignoring it.
“I’m sorry, Felix,” he said, remembering how those words phased right through him when he was on the other end of it.
He did reach out to him this time, offering his hand while letting Felix close whatever distance he wanted to. He knew he was not one for physical touch, but he was not sure what else he could give him.
"You don’t understand," Felix said, clutching his hand as his eyes regained their steely composure. “Adrien. Within a few hours, my father will be dead. That’s why I can’t be in London.”
Adrien’s first instinct was to wonder why he was not by his father’s side, but he reminded himself that everyone grieves differently. While he never would have left his mother, he could understand the desire to run. Some part of you hopes it will make it all go away.
“I understand,” he said with a sad smile. “Or I can try to? If you want to talk about it. I’m here for you.”
Felix tried to put it into words, he really did, but it just would not come out. He could not imagine a world where he could just tell someone.
Instead, he took off his cufflinks, unbuttoning the hem of his characteristically tight sleeves.
"I really need you not to freak out right now."
Adrien’s heart dropped once again as his cousin revealed the skin above his sleeves. His reaction, his fear, it was starting to make a lot more sense. Painted on his skin were handprints in various shades of deep blue and purple.
He clenched his fist, reminding himself of his promise. He looked back up at him, his jaw set in a hard line. He knew he should say something, but he didn’t trust it to be what Felix needed to hear.
“Your dad,” he said, narrowing his eyes. They could both tell he was ensuring that the person who did this would be dead, and not the one parent that would remain.
"This is only a symptom of a bigger problem," Felix said, rebuttoning his sleeve with trembling fingers. "We don’t have much time. After tonight, you and I will be in much more danger than that."
“If he’s dying, then how are we going to be in trouble?” Adrien asked, his voice wavering in between angry and calm. “Is it more than just him? I can get you out of this.”
His thumb grazed his ring. Felix was not his first choice to reveal his identity to, but if he needed to take him across the entire country to keep him safe, he would find a way.
"Not in the way you expect. He’s —"
Felix looked behind him, making sure no one was listening at the door.
"He’s going to find out,” he whispered.
“Who is?” Adrien asked.
Felix fell silent, struggling to find his words. He knew he was about to shatter his cousin’s worldview forever, and he knew he might not believe him.
“I’m sorry," he said, trying and failing to build up the courage.
Something in one of the many staircases suddenly creaked, the noise echoing through the empty halls. Instinctively, he jumped between his cousin and the door.
Adrien couldn’t explain it, but the level of fear Felix had surrounding his father made him feel nauseous. He put a protective hand on his shoulder.
"I can get us out of here, but..."
He paused, assessing his decision. He looked over at him, his expression uncharacteristically serious.
"I need to be able to trust you."
"… What…? No, I’m the one who is here to protect you ," Felix said, struggling to convince himself.
“Trust me,” Adrien said with confidence. “I’m…”
He took a deep breath, the creaks outside the door a little too close for comfort.
“I’ll get us out of here.”
He grabbed his cousin’s hand, dragging him along.
His heart was racing, but it had little to do with what he was about to reveal. He looked to the window, his only source of freedom, for what could be the last time.
If Felix told his father and this was the last time he got to use his escape, at least he knew he was doing it for the right reason.
“Claws out,” he announced in a hushed tone.
In a flash of green and black, his secret was out. He did not have much time to process as he readied his staff to eject them out of the window, offering Felix a hand.
"Ready?"
“Adrien," Felix gasped, his voice breaking at the discovery of the ramifications this was bound to have. "Where did you —"
The same terrifying, distant, most likely completely innocent creaking resonated through the house again. He winced, his head retreating between his shoulders without him noticing.
Right now, he had no choice but to grab his cousin’s hand.
"Let’s go."
Adrien held onto him as he ejected them from the window and into the sky. He made quick work of getting them as far away from the manor as he could.
He needed to find somewhere they would not be spotted, but he felt a newfound paranoia surrounding even the most private spots he had relied on before. Once he finally felt like they were far enough, he landed them safely on a tucked away rooftop and detransformed.
He tucked Plagg into his front pocket with a piece of camembert before turning his attention to Felix.
“Okay, now you have to tell me what is going on.”
"I —"
Felix stopped, considering how different from who he thought he was Adrien had turned out to be. This was terrifying, but there was no going back now.
"How much do you know about the Peacock Miraculous?”
“The Peacock… Miraculous?” Adrien furrowed his eyebrows. “There are more?”
"The others do not count," Felix cut him. "But this one does, more than you can imagine."
He took a few steps to the side, sitting down by the edge of the rooftop to observe the moon. Trying to gather his thoughts.
"It’s the reason you and I are even here in the first place."
Adrien’s instinct was to laugh, but he did not actually find anything about this situation funny.
“What do you mean? What does the Peacock have to do with our parents?”
Again, Felix tensed up.
“The Peacock’s powers, they’re… Similar to your friend’s, but worse," he finally let out, praying he’d figure out the rest himself.
“Felix, I want to help. I guess I’m just a little confused.” Adrien scratched the back of his neck. “Just… Tell me so we can figure it out. I’m going to help you.”
"You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
Again, Felix rubbed his fingers together.
"I promise I’m not crazy."
“I won’t think you’re crazy.”
Adrien could not explain it, but he had a horrible feeling about this. Part of him wanted Felix to just spit it out, get it over with, but something told him it would change everything.
“Just tell me.”
Felix bit his lip as he gathered the courage to look him in the eyes. He wished there was another way.
"You and I,” he started, his voice faltering in his throat, "we aren’t fully human.”
They were not human at all, but some childish part of his brain thought the adverb would soften the blow somehow.
Adrien blinked at him.
“Uh…. What?”
"See? That sounds crazy. I’m not crazy ,” Felix insisted, in what almost sounded like a sob.
“I don’t think you’re crazy!” Adrien rushed out. “I’m just trying to understand. How are we not… Fully human…? And what does that have to do with the Peacock?”
He thought back to what his cousin had said earlier, about its power being similar to one of his friends’. The only thing that could possibly match was Rena Rouge’s power, the illusions.
“We can’t be… Look, I can touch you and you’re still here,” he insisted, touching his shoulder for proof. “Felix, we were kids together. It can’t be something like that.”
He was not sure who he was trying to convince more.
"It’s worse than that,” he whimpered.
He himself was not sure if he wanted to remove his cousin’s hand from his shoulder, or grab onto him like a buoy.
“Adrien… You and I, we were supposed to be nothing more than toys…"
Adrien took a step back, his eyes widening.
“What?” His voice barely came out amongst his shock. “What are you saying?”
As much as he wanted to deny it, some part of him already knew it was true.
“What does the Peacock do?” He asked with finality.
Again, Felix looked away, wrapping his arms around himself out of habit.
"The Peacock allows whoever holds the brooch to create beings, control them, and…"
He shivered.
“Destroy them, just like that…”
He tried to snap his fingers, but too much trembling meant he could not even make a sound.
“Disposable dolls created from a person’s strongest emotion… Usually not a great one… I’m ambition," he let out in a sigh.
Something twisted in Adrien’s stomach at the word ‘control.’ He wanted to resort to disbelief, but how could he when this was the first thing that made sense about his life. He felt like this tapestry of pain and anger he had welling inside of him was starting to make sense; it had always felt just out of reach, like it would be violating his nature to delve into it.
A moment went by in heavy silence as everything he thought he knew about his life broke down in front of him.
“Why would they do that?” He asked, his voice low and steady before he could not take it anymore and the calm facade he had been wearing broke too. “Why would they do this?!”
Felix flinched, instinctively turning away from him.
"For the same reason they all do… To feel power over something," he whispered.
Upon seeing Felix’s reaction he pressed his hands to his eyes, reminding himself of his promise. He had a million unkind things to say, but he bit his tongue.
“Who has the Peacock now?” He finally asked, landing on something he could say without too much intensity.
Felix brought his knees against his chest.
“I can’t prove it, but… There’s only one option that would make sense to me.”
“Who…”
He knew what he was going to say, but he was not going to be the one to say it.
Felix buried his face into his arms.
“I’m sorry…”
Adrien steadied himself.
“We have to get it back,” he said, his voice cracking. “So he can’t do this to anyone else.”
His lack of hesitation took Felix by surprise. When he finally looked back at him, there was something new in his eyes - something that vaguely resembled hope.
“Will you help me…?”
Adrien looked off into the distance, trying to muster the same confidence and strength he had as Chat Noir despite feeling like a lost kid.
“Of course I will. We’re doing this together.”
There was unusual softness in the way his cousin looked back at him.
“Ok, listen,” Felix tried to collect himself, dabbing his eyes with his sleeves. “The brooch is not our priority right now. It’s broken. He can’t use it as it is. That’s… What happened with your mum. That’s what was going to happen to my father too.”
They would still need to get it, sooner or later — they would not ever be truly safe until then. But they only had so much time to strike, and for now, his only concern was standing right in front of him.
“What we need is to make sure he can’t control you.”
He got up, straightening his tie in an effort to regain composure.
"Do you know where your mum’s ring is?"
The idea of his father controlling him was not new to Adrien, but this method was nauseating. Any moment, he could take over — or worse.
“He wears his all the time. Is… Is that how he is…” He didn’t want to say it.
Felix nodded, rubbing his own fingers together.
“We can’t be sure if your amok is in his wedding band or hers. We’ll have to steal both,” he said, like it was nothing.
“Right,” he said with a panicked expression aimed at the sky.
He would not let Felix see it, but he felt way over his head.
“How are we going to do that?”
“Your father’s won't be a problem,” Felix declared, his usual confidence returning. “But we’ll need to find where he keeps the other one. Which means going through the Mansion top to bottom. And he never leaves, so…”
“We may actually be in luck,” Adrien said as he tugged his phone out of his back pocket, pulling up his perfectly mapped out schedule. “My fa — … Gabriel has a meeting with the Alliance,” he said with a shiver. “Except… of course,” he said with a groan. “He would never leave me home alone, so he signed me up for fencing during that time.”
He looked to his cousin, hoping he had a solution to their roadblock.
“You know the Mansion better than I do,” Felix reasoned. “Not to mention, you’ll know how to deal with the staff if you get caught. You should do the searching.”
He paused for a moment, then grinned.
“How would you like to use an old trick of ours?”
Adrien met his grin. Despite the gravity of the situation, he was glad they could find moments like this to connect. He probably should have felt like his family was falling apart, but instead he felt like he was just gaining a new one.
His feelings for his father remained conflicted, but as he looked to his cousin he knew that needed to take a backseat.
“Let's do it.”