Chapter 24: Bridgette and Felix Special
"For the last time, I don't want you near me anymore!" He shrugged her handmade gift away and marched away from the school agitated. Without turning back, Felix walked straight home and up to his room to practice his piano.
Left behind, the let-down Bridgette walks home with her small wrapped box in hand. "Another rejection," she sighed. Walking down the streets of Paris, she looked up to the sky and whispered, "when will I stop feeling this way about you?" She looked down to kick stones while walking home.
"How was school, honey?" Her mother's voice came from behind the counter of the family bakery.
Straightening out, she scratched the back of her head and tentatively spoke, "well same as usual...I'm just a little tired is all." She couldn't make eye contact with her mother as she lied to her face. "I think I'm gonna finish my homework early so I can get to sleep faster!"
Without waiting for a response, she rushed up the stairs and slammed her door shut in a huff. Leaning against her bed, she slipped down until her butt hit the floor with a soft thud.
"Why am I like this?" She buried her head in her knees and began to softly sob. "First, I decide to make a gift for you," Bridgette grabbed the box and chucked it across the room as tears fell to the floor. "Second, I just stand there like an idiot as you insult me!" She grabbed a pillow from her bed in a fit of rage and threw it at her closet door, "and third..." She trailed off as she realized the third reason didn't need to be said out loud anymore.
She slouched back onto the floor to lay there for a while.
Seconds of staring at her ceiling turned into minutes, while minutes turned to hours and those hours turned into her once lit up room now covered in a blanket of darkness.
Sitting up, she felt something light on her leg. Looking down, she saw Tikki curled up sleeping.
I bet she was worried.
Bridgette picked her up and placed her on the bed softly, not wanting to wake the small and caring Kwami up. Walking downstairs slowing, she went down with her usual happy-go-lucky spring in her step for dinner.
"Ah~ There's my darling daughter! I haven't seen you since this morning!" Before she could even sit at the table though, she was swarmed by her father and entrapped in a big, warm bear hug.
She didn't mind. This is what she needed most in the world right now. People that weren't going to take what she gave out for granted, even if it was just her presence.
~~~
Walking into the school gates, Felix felt that something wasn't right. He looked around and waited for something to happen, but nothing came but the bell.
Had he been dreaming? Did Bridgette really not come to school today?
No, no, no! He thought, what am I saying? As long as she's out of my hair, why should I care?
But...what if she's sick? The tiny voice in the back of his brain sounded concerned.
He thought for a moment then pushed it all out of his mind as he slid the door open to his class. Upon doing so, he saw the girl he was trying to forget talking to a red-haired boy in the corner of the classroom. Her face lit up with a grandiose smile as the two talked about things he could only think off of the top of his head.
"What the--" He shut his mouth and turned he on his heel to take his seat behind the two. Unpacking his things, he unconsciously began picking up tidbits of their conversation.
Bridgette giggled and pointed to something in her notebook, "oh you think it'd look better with some green? I hadn't even thought of that!" The two laughed and carried on as Felix tried to direct his attention elsewhere until he saw out of the corner of his eye Bridgette taking a familiar little box out of her bag.
Is that--!!!
Without thinking, Felix stood up and grabbed the box out of her hands. "F-Felix? What are you doing?" He looked back at her feeling uneasy and...angry? Not knowing why he was angry, he shoved the box in his own bag and stomped off to another corner of the room.
Before she could go get it back from him, the second bell rang and the teacher began class.
As time ticked away throughout the day, Felix kept his eye on Bridgette and the quiet boy she sat next to. Even when the bell rang for everyone to go home, he kept his eyes trained on her without realizing it.
Before he could stand up, he realized Bridgette was walking up to him with a slight blush upon her cheeks. Straightening out, he began to pack up his things. "Uhm...Felix?"
He flinched at his name but kept his gaze trained on his bag.
"C-can you uhm," she twiddled her thumbs nervously and blurted out, "C-CAN I HAVE MY BOX BACK?"
Felix looked up at her sudden outburst.
She too looked shocked by her tone and shyly looked away, "S-sorry...It's just that, you took it from me while I was talking to--"
"Don't," Felix stood up and towered over her. "Don't say his name in front of me." Turning back around, he began to pack his things up again.
Bridgette stood there puzzled not knowing what to say. Does he not get along with Nathaniel? She pondered on the thought for a while until she saw Felix walk down the aisle of the class. "W-wait! I need my box back Felix!" She scurried after him as she used to days prior to his outburst yesterday.
Maybe that's why she hadn't come to talk to me this morning...
Felix walked briskly out of the room without realizing he had left Bridgette behind. Thinking of why she's been acting strange today, he didn't hear her calling after him.
"Felix! Please give it back to me, I really need to--"
He stopped and whirled around, crunching the box in his hand, he sneered at the girl that had pursued him for weeks before, "need to what? Give a gift you made for me in the first place to that red-haired basket of shyness?!" He was agitated for reasons unknown to himself.
Feeling out of place, Bridgette fidgetted with her fingernails and looked to the side, "I uhm...wasn't giving it to him." She looked up into her crush's deep green eyes and shuttered at how fiercely they were towards her. She mumbled out, "I was asking him what I should add to it..." She trailed off realizing that her creation was being crushed between the fingers of the boy that she had longed for, "but if you really want it that much you can keep it..."
Why does she look a little happy all of a sudden? Felix, puzzled where he stood, had nothing to say as Bridgette briskly walked out of the school.
Looking down at the crumpled box in his hand, he began to walk home to start on his homework before fencing, each time he was doing something of importance though, the curiosity of what was in the small red and black box killed him just a tiny bit more.
~~~
Hours passed as Bridgette was at her sewing machine all night making up a new design that would fit her partner in crime. "How does this one look Tikki, does it remind you of him?"
The small Kwami laughed and softly said with a yawn, "of course! The black, gold and green clash together nicely! Too bad he'll never be able to wear it..."
They both frowned at the thought until Bridgette heard a knock at her window. Shoving everything into her desk drawer, she walked up to her window and opened it to see a flirtatious Chat Noir waiting. "Why hello there~"
Feeling a little confused, Bridgette just stared at him not knowing what to ask first. "Uhm, aren't you Chat Noir...the uh, partner of Ladybug?" She awkwardly tried to make it sound like she was excited to see him but she was more nervous than excited.
"Why yes," the cheeky cat stepped inside her room with his green eyes glowing in the dim lighting. "I've come to rest here and to talk to a citizen of Paris. We've met before, no?" He lifted her chin with his index finger then flicked it up.
Bridgette stood there shocked by his actions thinking that he found out who she was.
"Uhm...Bridge—?"
"Y-YES WE HAVE!" She snapped out of her trance and cut the cat off.
PART 2:
"YES! OF COURSE, I REMEMBER!" Bridgette tripped over her words trying to remember but just ended up agreeing with the conniving cat. She welcomed him in then sat him down on the chair from her desk, "so..." She twiddled her thumbs awkwardly trying not to see so friendly with him, "why did you come? Especially to a high school girl's room this late at night?"
Chat Noir looked towards the alarm clock beside her bed and jumped when he noticed it was already past 10 pm. Putting his hands out in front of himself he fretted, "i-it's not what you think, really! I just wanted to get your perspective on a problem I've been having!"
He stood up to leave feeling regret and shame in the manner of his entering her room. But he was stopped by a tug on his tail, "it's alright, kitty. What can I help you with?"
He turned to see her smiling as his cheeks burned slightly. Shaking off the feeling of comfort he sat down on the floor and scratched his claws lightly against the wood, "well there's this really annoying girl that always used to follow me around..." He looked up to see the 'really annoying girl' staring right back at him, "and I kind of yelled at her to leave me alone."
"Chat! That's awful, what did she do to be annoying?!" She looked at him incredulously with a childlike frown playing between the creases in her forehead.
He felt his body rising towards her but pulled away thinking about how annoying she's been to him all year, "she keeps following me around and tries to talk to me when I'm busy!" Looking away, he felt guilty for a reason he couldn't understand.
"That's all?"
"Yes! I mean no!" He whipped back to face her and stated firmly, "now she's ignoring me and talking to this weird quiet kid in our class that obviously likes her! How could she do this to me?!" Chat stood up and began pacing the room while mumbling, "she can't just hint to me that she likes me then chase after another kid after I told her to stop bothering me! That's ridiculous and totally uncalled for!"
He kept talking to himself until he heard muffled giggles from behind him. Turning on his heels, he pounced on Bridgette and demanded, "why the hell do you think this is so funny? Tell me!" He held her shoulders as she burst out laughing while his gaze never wavered for a moment.
As she wiped her tears away, she sighed and looked up at him with a smile, "you're so odd Chat Noir! How can you not see through your own jealousy?" She shoved him the lounged back giggling to herself then peeked with one eye to see Chat annoyed, "what?"
He pulled her up to him and shook her while accentuating, "why would I be jealous of a crazy stalker girl talking to an introverted anime artist?!"
Bridgette stared at him wide-eyed waiting for him to start laughing at the joke she thought he was making, he didn't. She pushed away slowly and realized, "oh... You seriously don't know what I'm talking about." She tried to hold back her laughter as she stumbled out, "you clearly have feelings for whoever the lucky girl is!"
In an instant, Chat Noir stood up and was headed towards the balcony door, "I don't need to hear this rubbish from the likes of you." He waved off the ludicrous statement from his stalker girl.
"W-Wait!" She jumped up after him and asked hastily, "where are you going?!" She pulled on his arm and felt him flinch, "Hey, hey, hey! You can't just leave like this, if you really don't see it then it's fine." She laughed and tugged on his arm for him to follow.
Like a puppy being pulled along on its leash, Chat Noir didn't resist Bridgette's soft kinetic and literal pull on his being. He was patient and obedient as he waited for her to tell him what else she needed to keep him for.
She sat him down on her pink desk chair making him swing around as she flipped through her design book. "Ah!" She excitedly pointed to a sketch of a tie, black and green striped. Then another next to it that was just dark green with thin black lines. He grabbed the book and flipped the page to find more designs with the same colors yet different patterns and layouts. She stood over his shoulder and whispered ecstatically, "I've been trying to figure out which design would suit one of my classmates better!" She pointed to a black-based tie with a green and silver cross-hatch pattern and sighed, "I made a prototype of this one, but I felt like it was lacking."
Chat Noir cleared his throat and tentatively asked, "uh...Where's the prototype now?"
She scoffed and snaked her arms over his shoulders, "does it matter by now? It's gone and scraped, that's all you need to know." Chat looked at her from the corner of his eyes to see her pouting with the pink blush disappearing from her cheeks. "Anyways, can you help me out this time?"
He turned back to the book and gave a devilish smile, "of course, purrincess!" Chat kept the picture of Nathaniel in his mind as he threw ideas out with Bridgette. He wanted her to be happy with him, whether it be to prove he wasn't jealous or to just support her decision as a whole.
By the end of the night, Bridgette had finished her homework and her tie. Without time to get some shut-eye, she headed downstairs after wrapping the gift she made and swung open the door to her parent's bakery.
When she came into school, she greeted her friends then hurried into her class upon hearing the bell go off for class to begin. Patiently, Bridgette waited like the model student she always tried to be throughout the whole class while talking with Nathaniel about her sketches from last night. Felix watched them from a distance while having a bitter taste grow in his mouth just thinking about Bridgette pursuing him from now on.
When Mrs. Bustier ended the class, Bridgette said her goodbyes to the shy boy she was assigned to sit next to, then looked towards the back of the class to see Felix still packing up.
Last chance Bridgette! For closure, and that's it! She pumped herself up then quickly walked up to his bench, "u-uhm, Felix?" She crossed her arms behind her back with a soft smile dancing on her baby pink lips.
He looked up and was speechless to see her with her hair up in a bun while she wore a white dress. His cheeks blushed at the way she smiled up towards him. She was saying something, but he was so captivated by her beauty that he ha to ask blatantly, "I'm sorry but what did you just say?"
She laughed and swung from side to side making her dress flow and twist in elegant ways, "I said that I wanted to apologize for the past week, I'm sure I've been annoyingly rude to you." She curled a lock of hair behind her ear and shyly continued, "I wanted to make it up to you."
Felix snapped out of his daydreaming and flatly spit out, "by dressing up as a saint to try and prove your innocence to me?" He flipped his notebook closed and jammed it in his bag in a huff.
Bridgette's eyes widened as she stammered out, "o-of course not! I have a r-recital after school today!" She held her arm in defeat then remembered why she came to talk to him in the first place. Taking a deep breath, she reached into her bag and pulled out a small black box and smiled, "I made this for you. I know you don't accept my gifts, but I hope this is better than the one from yesterday, I really wanted to refine it to suit you." She placed the box on his table and waited for Felix to pick it up. She knew there was no way in hell that he'd take it and embrace the gift, but she wanted to have hope for her last gift to him.
Felix stared down at the box confused as to when she had time last night to make him anything; Seeing as Chat Noir was there until 1 A.M. helping her figure out a gift for the baboon she sits next to. He sighed and picked up the small box knowing that she had to have stayed up all night to finish both. "Just this once, but don't think I'm taking this out of gratitude." He scoffed as he took the lid off and continued, "I'm only taking this to tell you that this is the last--!" He froze in his tracks at the sight of a silk silver-based tie with thin lines of green and black cross-hatching each other. "This is..."
Bridgette entangled her legs together nervously and mumbled, "I made a prototype before but you took it so I had to make a whole new one. I hope you like it, I won't bother you anymore from here on out." She gave a melancholy smile but before turning to leave, she met Felix's eyes and felt a burst of passion.
"No- I mean...You don't h-have to..." He stumbled over his words as his face went a blax=ze with embarrassment. "I HAVE TO GO TO MY VIOLIN LESSONS, SO IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME!" Before he finished packing his things, he shoved the tie into his bag and ran off covering his face with one hand and carrying some loose papers in the other.
Bridgette grabbed her stuff and ran after him, "Felix!" She ran out onto the steps to see him, not getting into his car, but hauling down the street with papers falling behind him. The wind brushed past both of them: knocking papers from Felix's grip and swaying Bridgette's dress to dance with the notes of the boy she continues to love.
"Till next time, my sweet Felix Agreste."
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This has nothing to do with the plot just wanted to give everyone a nice short story while I'm in the midst of finals season :)
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