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nobodyfamousposts · 5 years

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Felix July - Personality Swap (Felix Culpa)

Because why not? @felixmonth

It was a beautiful day at Franciose Dupont.

At least until Marinette found a phone being shoved in her face by an overly excited Alya as Nino and Adrien followed just behind her.

“Girl! Check it out!”

She sighed. “What now?”

Alya beamed, ignoring Marinette’s less than enthusiastic interest. “I’ve got a new interview with Lila after Ladybug rescued her from an akuma earlier!”

“And that is supposed to actually impress anyone?” Marinette asked, almost sounding bored. “Pretty much everyone has been saved by Ladybug at least once at this point.”

That put a bit of a damper on the conversation as the other three lost a bit of their enthusiasm at that. Adrien’s smile faded slightly, noting the less than supportive response from their “Everyday Ladybug”.

“But you know how much Lila has done, and she IS Ladybug’s bestie. The viewers will love it!”

“Did you even talk to Ladybug about any of this before running this information? Make sure it was true or in any way accurate?”

Adrien frowned, a bit put off by her tone. He knew Lila was still pulling her regular antics, but Marinette didn’t have to be so snippy. The tone was completely unlike her, for all that it sounded familiar.

“Girl, you know I take my journalism very seriously! I always make sure to get the story straight!” Alya replied, passing the other girl’s comment off as a joke.

Marinette raised an eyebrow at that. “Like the time you thought Chloe was Ladybug even though we all clearly saw the two of them together during the Stoneheart and Bubbler incidents?”

The boys blinked in surprise. Of course it couldn’t have been meant the way it sounded because this was Marinette saying it, but it still sounded pretty harsh.

“This is different!” Alya insisted, clearly annoyed by the jabs but trying to ignore them as unintentional slights and remain civil.

“What, you mean you’re actually going to fact check this time?” Marinette asked, incredulously.

Yeah, there was no mistaking it that time. That comment definitely held some bite to it.

Nino gaped in horror because this…this was not Marinette. The Marinette he knew was never this…mean!

Alya looked like she was two seconds away from blowing up at the other girl.

Adrien stared at Marinette in shock before his expression turned to one of hurt. “Marinette, that’s uncalled for.”

And Marinette simply gave him a flat stare in response. “My apologies, I’ve forgotten that according to you, apparently I’m supposed to stand by and stay quiet when I know someone is doing something wrong because clearly not inconveniencing them is supposed to be the bigger concern over having them not do bad things. I wish I could say I actually care, but not all of us get to ride on the High Horse Express, Agreste.”

“I never said—”

“Nevermind that if you had told Nino at the very least about Lila’s blatant and obvious lies, he wouldn’t have pressured you on her behalf and the whole mess with you being forced to take her to your house, her manipulating your father’s staff, and Kagami getting akumatized wouldn’t have happened. Not that any of that has actually gotten you to speak up about her yet, but I guess that just goes to show how you care less about protecting the people who are actually good vs the ones who you want to believe might eventually be good no matter how much they clearly show they don’t.”

Adrien’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean—"

“Just go back to your corner and ignore things like you always do. The people who are actually willing to solve problems are talking.”

Alya and Nino gaped in shock, completely uncertain how to take any of this. Lila lied—well, they knew Marinette had been saying as such but that was yet to be confirmed. But that Adrien knew and kept quiet? All of that and any other questions, however, paled in comparison to seeing Marinette of all people blatantly telling off Adrien in such a way. ADRIEN AGRESTE. She hadn’t even managed a full conversation with him before where she didn’t stumble over her words, but this?

Seeing the group’s collective expressions, Marinette rolled her eyes. “By which I mean ‘me’, because of course I’m the only one who ever actually has to do anything around here. Or rather ‘everything’.”

They couldn’t stop staring. Because…was this Marinette? Marinette Dupain-Cheng does not say such things. Or act this way.

But she was, as the girl in question remained completely unconcerned, looking to her watch and ignoring their shocked expressions. “Speaking of which, I have to get to the classroom to help plan more projects that you people won’t appreciate just so you can keep badgering me about how I never do enough for you."

She didn’t even give them a chance to respond before turning on her heel and walking away. Well, walking towards the school and away from them, leaving the three in the metaphorical dust and just gaping at her in confusion and abject horror.

“What. The hell. Was that?” Nino asked, too shocked to fully rationalize what had just happened.

“Maybe…maybe she’s just upset about something else and she’s lashing out?” Adrien suggested weakly. He glanced after her in worry. “Maybe we should talk with her?”

“Oh, I’ll talk to her all right! I am going to give that girl a piece of my mind!” Alya was practically seething as she started to storm towards the school to catch up to her ‘friend’ and have a few good words for her.

It was perhaps fortunate for everyone that someone bumped into her first, drawing her attention and distracting her from her ire.

Except the one who bumped into her was Felix, who was generally a regular source of ire and spite.

“I’m so sorry!” He blurted immediately, looking strained.

…Except this time, apparently.

Alya stared.

“What?”

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He asked, worriedly as he looked her up and down in an attempt to see if there were any injuries.

She continued to stare.

“What?”

“I am sorry,” Felix repeated. “I didn’t mean to bump into you. Are you alright?”

“…What?”

Felix frowned at her before turning to the other two boys, eyes wide in worry. “She’s not responding! I think she may have a concussion.” He gripped his head and started growing more frantic. “Now she’s going to have to be hospitalized and may get amnesia and never be able to update the Ladyblog and all of her fans will be furious and try to hunt me down so I’ll have to live in a bunker and survive off canned food for the rest of my life!” The…unusual-behaving Felix groaned, finishing his…rather unusual rant by covering his eyes with his hands.

Alya…continued to stare.

The boys, unfortunately, were just as shocked as she was and thus were no help to explaining Felix’s strange yet somehow familiar behavior.

The taller blond forced himself to stop and take a breath. “I can’t do this. I don’t understand how she lives like this! If it’s not worrying about hurting someone’s feelings, it’s freaking over how even the slightest mistake can snowball into an unspeakable tragedy.”

Adrien blinked. “Wait—what?”

Felix sighed before turning to face the three. “Where is Marinette?”

Nino finally regained enough composure to speak. “She uh…went inside. She said some…things, and then just had enough and walked off.” Not even stormed off—that would have required some sort of feeling. No, she just coolly glided away with all the confidence and elegance of a figure skater.

Felix groaned at that, realizing exactly what Nino meant. “I am so sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault.” Adrien said, trying to reassure him albeit uncertain in doing so since this WAS Felix he was talking to. A very out of character-acting Felix, but Felix nonetheless. He was half expecting a snarky remark of some sort at any point. Not that it would have phased him given the verbal thrashing Marinette of all people had just given moments before.

“It kind of is.” The other blond replied. “She can’t help it. She doesn’t have my restraint.”

The three blinked at him.

“What?”

“Look,” Felix said with a sigh. “There’s an akuma running around that apparently switches characteristics between its victims and it did…THIS to us.” He explained, gesturing to himself and his current unravelling state like that actually explained anything. “Next thing I knew, Marinette left and I was distracted by…everything.”

“Like…?” Alya prodded.

“I’ve lost count.” He deadpanned. Because honestly, if it wasn’t a crying child, it would be a cat caught in a tree. If there wasn’t some elderly man crossing the street, there would be someone carrying a package that’s too heavy for them. The fact that he made it back to the school at all was a miracle.

And if this was what it was like for him, he couldn’t stop the growing fear of what Marinette had become. Because it wasn’t as easy as simply saying Felix’s negative attitude and Marinette’s positive personality were switched. No, that would be inaccurate.

Felix was a dour person, full of bitterness and spite for those who earned his ire—which was admittedly all too easy to accomplish. But he had at least some ability—or rather had learned long before now how to and what to hold back. At least in this way, he was simply seen as having a somewhat cynical personality, and would be avoided rather than targeted. He had his opinions and enough confidence to let people know what he thought regardless of whose feelings he may hurt in the process.

Marinette, on the other hand, was a generally kind person. She was always one to try to help others. But something common overlooked was her anxiety, which often led to her making mistakes just as much as it pushed her to correct them—even when they weren’t hers. She contrasted with Felix in that she cared too much about other people’s feelings. She was often putting others before herself. It was one of the reasons she was so well liked.

But with this situation…it was switched. And even worse, neither of them were equipped to handle the other’s personality.

She didn’t have Felix’s restraint, and he lacked her resilience.

And knowing Marinette and everything she’s done and been through, she would likely have a lot to say to people that she would no doubt regret later. Even if these are her feelings, and however much truth there may be, he had little doubt that she would never have wanted to reveal them this way. All those dark, negative, bitter thoughts that she’d always felt but never even acknowledged. Just how much were there?

He winced at the thought. Even if he wasn’t holding Marinette’s anxiety and desire to help, he knew he wouldn’t want this for her.

It would devastate her if she ended up really hurting anyone.

“Just…please don’t hold this against Marinette. She doesn’t mean what she says, she just…” He winced because she kind of did but they didn’t need to know that. “She has a bit too much of ‘me’ in her at the moment.”

“Wait—” Nino cut in. “Are you saying Mari is YOU right now?”

Felix hesitated, but soon nodded. “In a sense, yes.”

The three stared. Because that would explain Marinette’s behavior, but that would also mean that while she had HIS personality, HE also had HERS.

And Felix…poor Felix just looked about ready to drop.

“I cannot live like this! The day hasn’t even started and I’m already exhausted from the anxiety and niceties! I keep getting distracted by wanting to fix things for people or my own thoughts jumping to completely illogical conclusions!”

“That…sounds like Marinette all right.” Nino admitted.

“Don’t worry.” Adrien consoled him. “Ladybug and Chat Noir will fix this in no time!”

Alya just continued to stare.

Then her eye started twitching.

“Nope!”

And she promptly spun on her heel and walked away.

“Wait—Alya! Where are you going?” Adrien yelled.

“A salty Marinette was bad enough but a NICE Felix?” She exclaimed, only pausing for a moment to respond. “Nope! I’m done. I have reached my limit—AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW I HAD ONE!” She shook her head and kept going. “This is officially too weird for me. I’m going home. Somebody call me when things start making sense again.”

The three boys watched her leave with various levels of bewilderment.

Adrien was the one to step back and turn to the school.

“Okay, we need to find Marinette and get this akuma.”

#ml fic #ml au #felix culpa #felix july #felix month #ml felix #felix agreste #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe

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