A Fresh, New Start.

Chapter 1.

Hello Neighbour!

Felix hurriedly awoke to the feeling of falling. He opened his eyes, glancing around him,
realising he was still on the fluffy dark mat, in his new bedroom, in his new home, in a new
country. He sat up, holding a hand to his right cheek, trying to find the motivation to get
up. His stomach rumbled, and he groaned. Didn't his mother say she was going to come
and wake him for dinner? He shrugged to himself, and dragged himself to his feet,
stumbling slightly. He kicked off the shiny black dress shoes, and peeled off the vest he
wore, deciding he might feel better in a fresh change of clothing.
He went to the drawers, and pulled out a pair of grey three quarter pants, and found a crisp
white shirt hanging up in the wardrobe to the right of the ebony-wood drawers. There was
a full length mirror, on the left of the drawers, and he gave himself a once-over, before
heading down to find his mother. The blonde, usually neat hair was slightly mussed, and
those green eyes that stared back into his own, made him feel like he was staring at a
mirror image of his cousin, who'd stolen his clothing choice. Only when the reflection
moved its arm in copying of his own movements, did he feel reassured it was his own
reflection.
“Ugh, damn jet lag, must be playing tricks on me,” he grumbled out loud. He gave his
reflection a disgruntled look, receiving one in return, before he turned on his heel, and
exited the room. The carpet under his feet was worn, and he wondered just how many feet
had passed over it in its time. He quickly pushed the disconcerting notion threatening to
rear up from his head, and dashed down to keep looking for Amelie.
“Mother?”
He stopped in the marble foyer, looking left and right. He then pushed open the door to the
kitchen, earning inquisitive looks from the staff.
“What could we do for you, young Master?” the cook asked, kindly. He was Italian, with jet
black hair, and a cute, curled moustache. He was built well, for one of his profession, and
he had three dishes of different, delicious looking delicacies sitting on the metal bench.
“I'm looking for my mother, have you seen her?” Felix asked, checking out the dishes.
“I think she went to the gardens out the back, and don't touch that!” the cook reprimanded
him, and handed him an apple. “If you're hungry, have that until dinner! Vamoose!”
And with that, he was promptly shooed from the room.

Apple in hand, he walked to the rear of the mansion, and pushed open the wide doors. He
found his mother standing on the cement patio, watching the now present, yet still watery
sunset.
“Mother,”
She turned around, startled.
“Oh, darling,” she said apologetically, seeing the apple. “Sorry, I got carried away,”
“It's okay,” he replied. “Dinner's not ready yet anyway,” he said, holding up the apple. He
took a bite from it, and found it was quite nice.
“We're going to have visitors tomorrow,” she said, looking back to the sunset. “Your Uncle
Gabriel, and Adrien are coming over, to welcome us back to Paris. I do hope you settle in at
the school well, because I don't intend on moving again. This mansion, well, regardless of
our financial status, did cost quite a pretty penny,” she said, fixing him with a stern look,
which quickly gave way to excitement, “and there's a very quaint little bakery the next
street over, which I have heard amazing reviews about! I want to check it out,”

Felix nodded, stifling a groan as he went to pitch the apple core over the railing.
“There's a bin for that, young man,” his mother placed her hand on his arm. “Just because
it's an apple core, doesn't mean you can just throw your scraps anywhere!” she huffed,
watching as he walked over to the bin at the corner of the patio, and dropped the apple
core inside. “Be a little more dignified,” she playfully glared at her son.
Felix sighed.
“Alright,” he said.
The ringing of a bell caught their attention.
“Ah, dinner's ready,” Amelie grinned, and traipsed off, heading into the dining room. Felix,
hungry still, eagerly followed.
They found the table being set, the cook's kitchen-hands placing the dinner down for them.
“Bon appetit,” the cook announced, “Tonight's dinner is salad and steak,” he said, a little
apologetically, “I'm sorry it's not overly fancy,”
Amelie smiled genuinely, “It's fine, the main thing is taste,” she said, and glanced over to
her son.
Felix tucked into the mashed potato that was accompanying the salad and steak. It melted
in his mouth, and had a small hint of garlic in it. It was delicious!
“It's delicious, Mother,” he commented, moving to the steak. It was easy for him to cut, and
it too, melted in his mouth. He sampled a bit of the salad, and the vinaigrette was a fresh
change from the potato and meat.
“How was the steak, young Master?” the cook asked him.
Felix was still tucking into the rest of the food on his plate.
“Delicious,” his mother answered for him, seeing the bliss on her son's face. The cook was
pleased.
“I'm glad you're satisfied,” he said, and the kitchen-hands headed back to the kitchen. The
cook followed them shortly after.

Once they'd finished their meals, they walked back up to their rooms together, and bade
each other farewell for the night. It was probably a strange custom to other people, Felix
said to himself, but it was something that he and his mother and father would always do.
He opened the door, and walked into his bedroom, unbuttoning his shirt as he did so. He
lazily threw it towards the foot of his bed, and decided on putting a pair of looser shorts on.
He climbed into bed, and laid there, staring at the ceiling. He figured that he should get
some rest, seeing as his cousin was coming over tomorrow.

~
“Felix,” a voice broke into his unconsciousness.
He groaned, and curled in deeper on himself. Maybe the annoying voice would go away.
“Felix, get up!” it snapped, and he groggily sat up, blankets around his waist. “Come on,
your cousin will be here soon!” she huffed.
He looked up, to see his mother standing there, hands on hips, watching him with a frown.
“Alri—ght,” he yawned. “I'm awake!”
“Good, you'd better get dressed, like I said, they'll be here soon!” she hurriedly scampered
from the room, her footsteps getting lighter and lighter until he couldn't hear them. He
sighed, and primly extracted himself from his bed, deciding with a shrug that he'd wear the
three quarter pants again today. He pulled them on, and reached for a button up shirt, just
a normal one, it was too hot to wear long sleeves. He padded over to his mirror, smoothing
down his bed hair (that also looked like his cousin from a glance) quickly with his hands,
and then ran down to join his mother.

“Ah, Felix there...you are,” she raised an eyebrow. “What are you wearing?” she asked, in a
thoughtful tone.
“It's too hot for long pants,” he replied, a little embarrassed. Amelie nodded, and looked
him up and down once more.
“Well it's definitely a look,” she commented, “Thank goodness you take after your mother's
stunning looks, or you'd be giving your Uncle heart palpitations,”
'Good,' he thought, as she said that.
“Monsieur Agreste, and his son have arrived, ma'am,” the bodyguard, Philip, announced.
Felix wondered when he'd gotten here, he couldn't remember seeing him yesterday.
Must've arrived with the rest of the gear when he was asleep, he figured.
“Thank you, Philip,” Amelie said, as he went to open the door.
Gabriel Agreste stalked across the threshold, arms behind his back, casting everything an
almost scathing look. His face was set in an almost chronic look of disdain. His grey eyes
held nothing but coldness. Behind him, stood his son Adrien Agreste, blonde, almost spit
image of Felix (all from his mother's side, no doubt, Felix thought), emerald green eyes, the
picture perfect image of a picture perfect model. He wore that white over-shirt and black
striped tee again, and those orange converse. Those blue jeans, well, Felix gave up on how
many times he'd seen them.
“Good day, Amelie,” the taller Agreste greeted. “Felix,” the tone was a little more
disdainful, but only because Felix was sure he knew that he'd frisked the ring from him
that day.
“Good day, Uncle,” Felix replied, likewise.
“Hello, Gabriel, it's lovely to see you again,” she smiled, “Shall we head out to the gardens?
It's a beautiful morning,”
“Of course,” he agreed. “Lead the way,”
Adrien smiled awkwardly, he wasn't really a social butterfly.
“H-Hey Felix,” he greeted, a little on the sheepish side.
“Adrien,” Felix replied, neutrally. “Would you like to grab something to eat, or go play
some games? I think Mother got the wi-fi set up,”
“Sure,” Adrien nodded, maybe a bit of gaming would break the ice better. “What games
have you got?”
“My mother bought that Ultimate Mecha Strike 3 game, she tried to hide it from me, but I
saw it anyway,” he chuckled. “I think she was going to give it to me today,”
“Ohhh Ultimate Mecha Strike is amazing, Fe, you're gonna love it!” the excited teen was
almost bouncing on the balls of his feet. “My good friend Marinette is absolutely
tremendous at the controls, and she beat everyone in the tournament we held at school,
and even the other big tournament they held, where she teamed up with Max, another of
my friends, and it was so awesome!”
Marinette. Such a Flower Princess name for a girl that apparently kicked Adrien's butt at
this supposed game. He rose an eyebrow.
“Charming,” he replied, drily. “Well, let's go and play,”
~
Adrien helped set up the game, and handed Felix a control. The way he held it, told Adrien
he was more than likely going to be a huge noob at this.
“Here, hold it like this,” he held out his own controller, showing how his thumbs rested on
the analog sticks, and his index fingers were ready on the top triggers. “You'll find it easier
this way,”
“Okay,” Felix adjusted his grip. “I'm ready,”
“Alright,” Adrien said, getting excited again. “I'll let you attack me as much as you want, so
you get a feel of the controls,” he said, choosing a black robot, that had green details. Noir-
Bot, or something it was called. Felix looked at the available characters. There was a red
robot with black spots, the L4dy-Bot, and a few others. He randomly selected the red one,
because red was a cool colour.
“Ready? Come at me!” Adrien yelled. Felix winced, and Adrien grinned, sheepishly.
“Sorry, Fe, it's just this is my favourite game!”
“Alright,” he moved his red robot across the screen towards Adrien's character. He pressed
a button, and the robot jumped, in a lunge attack, that Adrien barely reacted to in time.
“Whoa, great lunge attack!” he laughed, “But can you take it back?” he grinned devilishly,
making his own robot fly towards the opposing one, in a mirror image attack. Felix's robot
couldn't parry in time, more than likely because he didn't know how to, and it blew up in a
fiery inferno, words flying across the screen declaring Adrien the winner.

“Well, that escalated quickly,” Felix had flinched, curling in on himself, almost in shock.
“Hahaha, you get used to it,” Adrien chuckled, bursting into deeper laughter when his
cousin fixed him with an aggrieved look. “I end up like that all the time, when I'm versing
Marinette, and sometimes when Nino gets the jump on me,” he said, “Do you want to go
again?”
“Yes,”
Twenty minutes later, Adrien had won twenty seven more times, and Felix, once.
“Maybe when you get good enough to beat me, you should challenge Marinette,” he
chuckled, “But for now, just settle for playing through the single-player mode until you get
better,”
The faint ringing of the bell from downstairs told Felix that it was lunch time.
“Time for lunch, Adrien,” he said, placing the controller down, and standing up. “We
shouldn't keep them waiting,”
Adrien put his down, and turned off the console. The two teenagers walked down to the
dining room, where they saw the other family members already seated and being served.
“Felix and Adrien!” Amelie greeted them with a bright smile. “Have you been behaving
yourselves? Having fun?”
“Yes, Auntie, I've been teaching Felix how to play a game,” Adrien replied, bubbly. “He's
got a lot to learn, but when he does, I think he'll be so good he could beat my friend
Marinette. She's amazing at it!” he said, his tone taking a little of a longing sound about it.
Unknown to Adrien, both Amelie and Gabriel exchanged a 'someone's in love' look.
Gabriel, a little more cold about it than she.
“Bon Appetit,” the cook bowed, and the two kitchen-hands and he, left the room. Felix
looked down at his lunch, it was a nice garden salad, with two croissants, and some cheese.
“Adrien, we'll have to leave soon after lunch, please make sure you've thanked Felix for
having us,” Gabriel spoke, having finished his lunch already. What did he have, and where
on Earth did he shove it so quickly? Felix was confused.
“It was a pleasure to see you again, dear cousin,” Felix smiled, it wasn't a genuine smile,
but was fine enough to pass as a friendly one. Gabriel and his son got up, and walked to the
door. Philip
“See you at school on Monday, Felix,” Adrien waved, from the door, smiling genuinely. It
appeared that he'd actually enjoyed himself today, and Felix, despite his cousin's awkward
start, and inherent lack of gaming skills, found that he too, enjoyed himself. School was in
two days time, he realised, and also, that Saturdays went too quick.