When Marinette Dupain Cheng had first met Felix Graham de Vanily, she had no idea what she would find in a friendship. They had been seven, and the girl was in the park like she always was, drawing shapes in the sandbox. She looked up and saw a curious looking blonde on the other side, as if afraid to step in the sand. She blinked at him and tilted her head. "Aren't you gonna get in? It's fun," she giggled.
The boy blinked, as if snapped out of a trance, and he looked up at her. "But it's such a trouble getting dirty," he said, voice laced with disappointment as he palmed the sand, a few grains sticking on him. He vigorously shook them away.
She stood up, a pail full of sand in her hand, and walked over to him. "No, it's not. Just take a shower when you go home," she said, setting the bucket down by his feet. "It's just sand."
He hummed, seemingly thinking about it for a second before nodding. "Okay, stay here," he said and ran off somewhere, to a woman that sat by a bench. He came back with a bottle of water and he poured it in the bucket with the sand. He looked back to her as he let the water settle. "Do you know how to make sand castles?"
She looked at the now wet sand in horror, her face scrunching up in disgust. "Ew, it's all wet now! It's mud!!" she pretended to gag, and then poked the wet sand, until she heard a phrase that intrigued her. "What's a sand castle?" she asked, blinking at him.
He was bewildered by her reaction for a second, giggling as he stepped into the sand box, turning the pail over. "I watched this cool thing where you can make castles made out of sand using water. Like this!" He said as he patted the underside, before slowly lifting the bucket, revealing the molded sand. He grinned widely. "It worked!!"
The pigtailed girl gasped and slapped a hand to her mouth, looking at it bewildered. She looked up at him and then began to fill the bucket up again with sand. "I wanna try!!" she said, taking the water and pouring it again, doing as he did and a matching tower was next to the original. "Where did you learn how to do that?"
He grinned proudly as she made hers too, working on another one as he answered, "I watched it on the tv. There were big guys making biiiiiig castles too. Like, bigger than the both of us, and you can go inside." Then he frowned. "The tv was going to show me how to make it but my father turned it off. And when I opened it, the big guys were gone."
She frowned too and leaned her cheek on a fist. "That's so sad," she said, and then looked down at their little bucket shaped sand castles. "It's okay, these are really cool too," she giggled and sat down in front of the shapes, beginning to pour water in more sand, forming little outside decorations and windows with her fingers. "What's your name?" she asked, looking up at him with a smile.
He stopped for a second - because he wasn't supposed to tell just anyone his name, but maybe if he didn't get caught, it was fine. He looked behind him and to his mother, before turning back to her and whispering really lowly in her ear, "My name's Felix." He pulled away and smiled at her. "What's yours?"
Her face lit up and she blinked a few times. "Like the firey bird??" she asked curiously, and then cleared her throat. "I'm Marinette. But you can call me Mari if you want," she said, and then, being a seven year old, thought Phoenix started with an F, and drew an F on the castle he made, and an M on her own.
He's never heard of the term phoenix before, let alone about the existence of a firey bird, but it seemed awesome so he just nodded along to it. "Okay, Mari. It's nice to meet you!" He exclaimed and turned back to their sandcastles, now finding them grooved with their initials. "Do you want to try stacking more together?"
Marinette giggled. "Nice to meet you too, Phoenix," she said, and then hummed in thought. "Will it break the bottom ones though?" she asked, hesitantly filling the bucket with sand again.
He hummed and then shook his head. "No, no, no buckets this time," he said and snatched it from her, dumping the sand back on the ground. He poured the rest of the water on the sand and held her hand, having her help shape up a tower because he had far too tiny hands to complete the job.
She helped him, humming as she did so, and then they had a really pretty castle after about twenty minutes. It wasn't long though, before another little girl, wearing a bright yellow skirt and a white shirt, hair pulled up in a perfect ponytail with a black ribbon stood
over them, hands on hips. "What's that?" she asked, scrunching up her nose in disgust.
Felix looked up from what they were doing, smiling a little. "It's a sandcastle. My friend and I made it. Do you want to help?" He asked, making space for her between him and Mari.
Marinette looked up at the girl and then at Felix and then the girl again, not wanting to say much. Chloe just scoffed. "No, it's ugly," she said, crossing her arms, and then kicking it down, sand flying everywhere.
Felix gasped, turning away to avoid the sand hitting his face. When Chloe was done, he glared at her. "We worked hard for that! Say sorry right now," he said, holding onto Mari's bucket that was partially filled with sand.
Marinette just sank, looking at Chloe with a frown but saying nothing. Chloe rolled her eyes and then laughed. "No way," she said, and then finally the bluenette stood up. "That wasn't nice, Chloe. You shouldn't treat my friend Phoenix like that. It was his castle, not all mine!" she said, glaring at her.
Felix was about to pour some of the sand on the blonde, really, but his friend suddenly standing up for them and calling her by the name surprised him. "Chloe? Mari, do you know her?" He asked, and Chloe only scoffed. "Duh? She's my not-sister, that's why everything she makes is ugly. Unlike me," she said and stuck her tongue out to Marinette, completely ignoring her argument earlier.
Mari just looked at the ground, crossing her arms. "It's fine, don't listen to her," she said to Felix, walking the other way towards the playground. "You can have the sandbox, Chloe."
He blinked, but even more upset she bullied Mari, he went on ahead and poured on Chloe whatever sand the bucket had. He ran after Mari, in case Chloe would chase after them. "Don't look back or listen to her, okay?" He said as he grabbed her hand, giggling as they ran their way over to the playground.
Marinette looked over her shoulder despite his warning and saw Chloe glaring at them, and her eyes widened and she looked at Felix. "But- you-" she stammered, and then a smile grew on her own face as he pulled her off and she ran with him, tightening her grip on his hand, laughing harder. And so they talked, and played, and went down the slide together, and took turns pushing each other on the swing, until Amelie called Felix's name, informing him it was time to go home. "Felix!!" she called, and just as he was about to leave, Marinette grabbed his hand. "Wait, before you go," she said, looking at him. "Promise you'll see me again?" she asked, giving him a little smile.
Felix blinked, turning back to her, and he grinned widely. It'd be dumb not to go see her again, not when he hasn't had this much fun in days. He let go of her hand, only to intertwine their pinkies. "Pinky promise. I'll see you again tomorrow."
The girl smiled and nodded, squeezing his pinky with her own. "Okay. I'll be in the sandbox again," she giggled and waved him off, watching as he got to his mother and left the park.
