Hey, here is my second entry for Felix July 2020! Hope you all enjoy the prompt:
Bus Ride
Felix once thought that his greatest enemy was Gabriel Agreste but he was wrong.
He was so wrong.
His enemy was something colder, older, and more unfeeling towards humanity.
His greatest and truest enemy was the bus.
Felix, for his part, saw no reason why the class had to take the bus instead of the train to Calais. Ok, well, he knew why, but it was hardly their fault that an akuma had chosen to attack the station an hour before their departure time.
Of course, at the time, he had been impressed that Paris had efficient emergency measures in place to handle such events. In fact, not that he would ever admit this out loud, but he had even been a little excited – he had never ridden a bus before and couldn’t wait to tell his mother about it.
But now? With his stomach in his hands and his lunch gracing the back of his throat every time the bus hit a bump? He takes back every piece of past excitement. And judging by the expressions his surrounding classmates, riding on a bus was a torture that apparently only he felt. At least, he thought miserably, the window pane was cool against his cheek.
“Uh… dude? Are you alright?”
Felix opens one eye to look at his seat companion, who’s returned from wherever he had been previously. But he isn’t sure – a couple minutes into the bus jolting and shuddering its way through the countryside, Felix very quickly discovered that he wasn’t as over his childhood motion sickness as he thought he was, so, for all Felix knows, he’s been sitting there the whole time. Another bump has him biting back his lunch once again.
“Seriously man, you gonna horf?”
“…Am I going to what?” Felix asks, eyes still closed.
“You know – horf. Show me your lunch? Use the porcelain telephone? Blow chunks?”
“Stop. Please.” Felix groans at his seat companion and dredges up enough strength from some deep corner of his being to turn and face his companion. “I will not… vomit.”
His companion gives him a skeptical look. “Like, sure dude. But if you feel like you do – ,” his seat-mate holds up a hand to forestall anything that Felix would have said, “not saying you will but if you feel like you might – this bus had a bathroom. Otherwise, here.” His companion shoves a plastic bag onto his lap before tugging at his cap sheepishly, “I know it’s not much but it’s better than nothing, right?”
Felix stared down at the plastic bag a moment as if he expected it to bite him.
“Thank you, uh…” Felix wracks his brain for his companion’s name.
“Nino,” Nino supplies with a smile.
“Nino.” Felix repeats wondering why that was so familiar. He thinks back to his first day. Perhaps then? No, he think, scrunching his nose in concentration, that wasn’t right.
“Yeah,” Nino’s voice takes on a bit of a chill as he mistakes Felix’s expression for one of disdain, “You were the one that sent everyone that nasty video way back when?”
“Figures you wouldn’t remember.” Nino mutters low enough that the seat in front of them wouldn’t hear but not low enough for Felix to miss.
Felix doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know how to explain how angry and hurt he was that day. He’s not even sure if it would matter if he did. So as the silence stretches on, he watches in real time as Nino’s face grows stonier and the chance to speak up and smooth things over gets farther away.
Then the chance disappears altogether when Nino stands up and makes his way to the back of the bus where Adrien and a girl with glasses sit. He watches them laugh as they all try to cram themselves into a bench meant for two.
The bag beneath his hand crinkles as he curls his fingers into a fist.
Bet you don’t have a lot of friends, acting the way that you do. Am I wrong?
His lets his forehead thump against the windowpane once more as an entirely new, unpleasant feeling fills his stomach.
Bet you don’t have a lot of friends…
Felix huffs a breath and watches it fog the glass.
He really hates the bus.
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Hello, this will just be part 1 of the Felix Month 2020 prompts about Camp Week. In this AU, Amelie pulls some strings so that Felix can accompany Adrien’s class for a week of camping. Obviously- Felix will encounter some mixed feelings. And, as a side note, these are quick prompts where I am not letting myself spend too much time on them to see if that prevents me from creatively “locking up”.
