In this fic, Adrien doesn't have a cousin named Félix because I needed the name. Aside from that - Canon Compliant through the end of Season 3, but none of Season 4 happened except for Glaciator 2 because I needed Chat to know about Buttercup. I also aged them up because I thought it would be cute if they had a height difference, but the amount of difference felt unlikely for 14ish year olds.

The name was chosen because that was the original civilian name for Chat Noir back in the days of the PV.

For their last year of lycée, the students of Lycée Francois Dupont decided that they wanted to host a dance. Really, Chloé decided she wanted to host a dance and no one had a reason to object. It was a school event, so Marinette and Alya were part of the group that was in charge of organizing it. They spoke with M. Bourgeois to get the ballroom at le Grand Paris [at a discount for his daughter's school].

The group of organizers came up with a list of four themes for the dance and they were going to send each class representative to tally the votes for their specific class. The finalists for the theme were 'Under The Sea,' 'Big City Lights,' 'Masquerade Ball,' or 'Monte Carlo.' Of the 40 students in their year at Francois Dupont, 25 of them voted for Masquerade Ball. The last 15 votes were split between the other three choices.

After the weekly class rep meeting, Marinette made the announcement of the theme to Mme. Bustier's class. Everyone in the class seemed excited. Even Kim, despite the fact that he was hoping for the Under the Sea theme. The ball is scheduled to take place a month and a half away, on April 15, so everyone in the class should have time to find a date and an outfit.

Marinette knew one of those things was going to be easy. She already had a dress in mind that she could have adjusted for the other themes, but she thought it would work best with masquerade. Unfortunately, she was stuck on the 'date' front. She knew who she wanted to ask, but she also overheard Adrien tell Nino that his dad wouldn't let him go to the dance.

Alya, Mylène, Alix, Rose, and Juleka were able to convince Marinette that she should take a date anyway. It wasn't unheard of, but Marinette really didn't want to go with anyone else, especially with anyone who would want to go romantically. She hated the idea of accidentally leading someone on. Rose and Juleka were going together, Alya was obviously going with Nino, and Mylène and Ivan already had a matching set of masks for the dance.

Alix and Marinette were the only two that still needed to come up with dates. 5 weeks before the dance, Marinette was sitting on her balcony, sketching the final details onto the dress she had designed when she heard a quiet 'thump' behind her.

"Hey there, Princess," she heard behind her, "what are you working on?"

She closed her sketchbook around her pencil and twisted around to look at the hero that landed on her balcony. He was leaning on his baton when she met his eyes.

"Just a dress design. My school is having a masquerade ball next month and I'm planning to make my own dress for it." She brushed some of her hair behind her ear as she spoke.

"A masquerade," he asked, intrigued, "that sounds fun. Who are you going to go with?"

"No one," she responded, "that's probably not true. I'm sure I'll find someone to go with, but…" Her voice trailed off and she got quiet and shy in a way that he had never seen when he was Chat Noir.

"Is Prince Buttercup not able to escort you," he asked playfully. She blushed brightly in reaction to his question.

"Unfortunately, the prince is locked in his tower for that night. I wanted to ask him, but apparently, he can't go in the first place, let alone go with me." She bit her lip, trying to keep from letting her disappointment show.

"Well, if he can't go with you, is there any way I can purrsuade you to take this lowly knight as his princess' date for that evening?" She giggled, hiding her smile behind her hand.

"I don't think I can take a superhero," she informed him. "Especially with Hawk Moth around."

"So, don't take Chat Noir," he said, "you can just take," he took a moment of pause to think of a fake name, "Félix." He extended a hand to her to introduce himself. "Félix Cloche, lovely to make your acquaintance." She extended a hand back to shake his and he swept her hand up to give it a gentle kiss.

She was surprised, but she knew she shouldn't have been. It was just his typical flirting. She could count on one hand the number of times he had met a girl and not kissed the back of her hand at his earliest possible chance.

She couldn't help the smile on her face at his fake name. Of course that's what he'd choose, Félix like felis and paying homage to his bell. It was goofy, but she wouldn't expect anything else from her partner.

"That isn't your real name, right?" She needed to make sure. She was certain he wouldn't give his identity away, but she also didn't want to use that name if there was any chance of it even being similar to his real name. She removed her hand from his but kept looking at him.

"Not even close," he confirmed. "Just something for you to call me, if you decide that I deserve the honor of going to your ball with you. I don't need an answer tonight." He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I haven't been to a school dance before, but I thought it would be fun to go with a friend."

"I'll have an answer for you in a few days," she said with a blush. "I don't know how comfortable I am with you putting your identity on the line like this." He nodded with understanding.

"Well, in the meantime, can I see your dress?" He eyed the sketchbook in her hand before meeting her eyes with the biggest kitten eyes he could muster. She shifted to offer him a seat on the bench next to her.

She opened her sketchbook to the spot she marked with her pencil. He was shocked to see the word 'Midnight Blue' at the top of the design. He knew the color would look lovely with her complexion, but he always thought she would choose warmer colors given how often she wore pink. The dress' shape was ultimately simple.

It had a square cut neckline, a natural waist, and an ankle-length a-line skirt. The notes on the side also had the words 'sequins?,' 'grey tulle?,' 'silver accents?,' 'alt tulle?' He didn't understand where she planned to incorporate them into the design, but the design was lovely as far as he could tell. It seemed like a relatively simple design, but he knew Marinette would focus on details that would make the dress stand out.

"I think it looks great, Marinette," he told her sincerely. "The color will be stunning, a nice contrast against your skin and your eyes. I think that the silhouette would work really well." She was a little surprised by the fact that it sounded like he knew what he was talking about, but she tried to not let her surprise show on her face.

"Thank you, Félix," she said in practically a whisper. He could hear that she paused before saying his name, even though it was fake, she was hesitant to refer to him by anything that even sounded like a real name. "I can't wait to get started on it. I'll probably start getting the materials tomorrow if I have time after school."

"Can I still see the finished dress, even if I can't go to the dance with you," he asked. He was worried he was overstepping, but he loved seeing her designs and didn't want to miss seeing it since Adrien wasn't going to the dance. She nodded.

"Yeah, of course. I'll probably be working in my room more often than I'll be working up here for a while, so if you want to come look at it, you're welcome to just knock on my trapdoor to come in next time you're out and about, as long as you're not on an official patrol with Ladybug."

"Sounds good to me, princess. I'll stop by in a few days and I'd appreciate an answer as soon as possible. I have to make sure I can come up with an outfit that will look half as good as yours." He winked at her. "Until next time." He bounded off into the night and Marinette was left smiling silently to herself for the remainder of the night working on her design.

The next day, Marinette asked Alya to go to the fabric store with her. Alya agreed, but that turned into Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Adrien going to the fabric store. Marinette ended up getting 6 meters of a midnight blue satin fabric, 3 meters of grey tulle, and a box of small plastic gems. As they were headed to the cashier, she saw an endcap of plain white plastic masks. She picked one up and held it to her face.

It was simple, the shape was similar to Chat Noir's, with a longer piece over her nose, but it rested comfortably on her face. She saw one that was slightly bigger.

"Adrien," she called out, "can you come over here for a second?" Adrien went from Nino's side to her's.

"What do you need, Marinette?" She held a mask up to him.

"Your face is about the same size as my date's. Do you think you could try this on so I can see if it would fit him before I get it?" The mask was more similar to Ladybugs, with a shorter nose piece, unlike the one she'd chosen for herself. He placed it on his face and struck a professional model pose.

"How does it look?"

"It'll be perfect," she told him. "Thank you." Adrien couldn't stop the feeling of his heart dropping in his chest. Marinette had a date. She didn't give Chat an answer yet, but she was getting a mask for someone. He took the mask off and handed it to her.

"Good, I'm glad it'll work for you and your date."

"So am I. Apparently, this is going to be his first dance, so I want to make sure he has as much fun as I do. He's actually doing me a big favor by agreeing to go with me." She placed all of her materials on the runner for the cashier and paid for her purchases.

By the time they finished shopping for Marinette's materials, Adrien had to leave for his Mandarin lesson. He exchanged les bisous with Marinette and Alya and gave Nino a hug before he left. When he turned away from his friends, he let his smile drop, disappointed that he wasn't going to the dance with Marinette after all.

After he drove off, Alya turned excitedly to Marinette and grabbed her forearm. "You have a date and you didn't tell me." Alya was practically bouncing. "What's his name? How did you meet? Is it a date-date or just a friend-date? I need answers." Marinette giggled nervously.

"His name is Félix," she told Alya. "We're just friends. He comes by the bakery sometimes and we've known each other for a while. I mentioned yesterday that the boy I wanted to go with couldn't go to the dance, and he offered to go with me." Alya's face lit up with excitement. "We're just friends," Marinette repeated, "I like Adrien and Félix likes someone else."

She kind of hated saying his 'name,' but it was much easier than trying to explain that she was going to their masquerade ball with Chat Noir. She knew she had to get used to saying Félix and she knew it was fake, but it felt like something bad was going to happen every time she said it.

"Do you have a picture of him," Alya asked, not limiting her excitement at all. Marinette shook her head.

"No," Marinette responded with a laugh, "I don't just have pictures of bakery customers on my phone unless I have a reason to. You'll meet him soon enough. Just relax, he's a good guy, I promise. Even my parents like him.'

"Your parents literally like everyone," Alya said with an eye roll, "I swear, they could see the good in Hawk Moth if they met him. Then they'd fill him with pastries and love until he decides to not be evil anymore."

"Well, you're not wrong," Marinette laughed, "but you'll meet him soon. Please don't be weird in the meantime." Alya crossed her arms and resignedly accepted what Marinette had said.

"Only because I love you. But if he steps out of line or hurts you, I have first dibs on destroying him."

"Deal," Marinette relented. "Now, come on. I need you guys to help me carry my fabric home." Marinette's purchases took up 3 bags. They each held a bag and walked to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery.

That night, Marinette had an unexpected visitor. Chat Noir knocked on her trapdoor and she called out to grant permission for him to come in. He jumped over her bed and landed on the floor by her sewing desk.

"Word on the street is someone has a date to their dance," he said as his greeting. He didn't plan to be that blunt with her, but he didn't want to beat around the bush. He wanted to get the rejection out of the way so that they could go back to joking around and hanging out as soon as possible.

"That I do," she said in reply. "I even got him a mask and put his name on it." She held out the mask to him. It was still plain white like it was when he tried it on in the store, but he could see the faint ghosting of letters through the plastic. He turned it over in his hand and saw in her delicate, cursive writing 'Félix Cloche.'

"Me," he questioned as though the mask wasn't all the answer he needed, "you really want to go to your ball with me?" She smiled and nodded.

"I'd love to, my knight. I think it would be really fun to spend time with you and if we can do that, I don't think it would cause any problems. Plus, I can't let you miss your first chance to go to a school dance. It's basically a right of passage."

"Thank you, Marinette. I'll be a purrfect gentleman. What should I wear to draw attention to your design?" She considered for a moment, eyeing her date. She felt a blush crawl up her cheeks when she thought about him being her date. She pulled out the fabric she had been working with.

She handed him a corner of the fabric she'd gotten and he wished he wasn't wearing the gloves so he could feel the texture beneath his fingers. He admired the color. It was almost black and he was already excited to see the final product. "Blues and greys would be ideal. If you come back after I cut the panels, I can probably send you home with a scrap to match."

He let out a breath, knowing how much easier that would make the process of matching her dress. "That would be great," he told her, "I really don't want to mess anything up for you. I know how hard you work to make your designs look as good as you can. Anything I can do to help in the meantime?"

"If you want to sit on my chaise, we should probably talk about how we met, Félix." He did as she instructed and she turned back to the pattern she was making. "I told my friend Alya that we met in the bakery a while back and that we've been friends for a while." He nodded in agreement.

"Do I have a background? Like, did you tell her anything about me that I have to keep in mind when I talk to her?"

"Not really. You like the bakery. You like someone else. It was your idea to go with me to my school's dance." He smiled at her description of him.

They spent the rest of the night talking about Félix's backstory and joking around with each other. Every time Marinette said the name Félix, it felt a little bit more normal to her. She tried not to get into the habit in case she accidentally slipped one day and referred to him as Félix on patrol or during a battle.

This became a regular occurrence for them. Marinette would work on her dress and Chat would sit on her chaise keeping her company and coming up with Félix's background information. They developed inside jokes and Marinette even started to refer to him as Fé once in a while. Adrien thought it was a cute nickname, but he didn't plan to tell her that.