On the following Monday at school, Marinette was surprised to find that Chat wasn't texting her very much. She got a text between some of her classes throughout the day, but not nearly as many texts and pictures as she'd gotten on Friday.

She figured she was pretty lucky because that meant Alya would have less opportunity to look at their texts. Marinette knew that nothing was incriminating, but she really didn't want to come up with answers to questions Alya would inevitably ask.

When they were at lunch, Alya leaned her head on Marinette's shoulder. Looking up to meet Marinette's eyes, Alya teased, "Who you texting? Félix?" Alya batted her eyelashes in hopes of getting a story.

Marinette finished sending her message then locked her screen and put her phone face down. "Yeah. I'm texting my friend, Félix. It isn't a big deal." Marinette took a sip from her water bottle, specifically not giving Alya anything to make fun of her with.

"Isn't a big deal," Alya questioned, "you barely put your phone away on Friday and I bet you were texting him all weekend."

"I didn't text him all weekend, and Friday was a fluke. I just got his number on Thursday, so it was new to both of us. You can't tell me you don't get excited when you're texting someone new. Even if you've known them forever, there's something different about texting." Alya rolled her eyes at Marinette's reaction. She agreed with what Marinette was saying, but she wasn't going to admit that.

"All I'm saying is you're a single lady, Buttercup hasn't asked you out, and Félix is cute. Let me see his picture again." Adrien tried to not let his interest in Alya's mention of Buttercup show. It had been months since Marinette had practiced her confession to the secret boy in her life and this was the first time he'd been mentioned in front of Adrien.

After a minute of consideration, Marinette picked her phone back up and pulled up the Ladybug Cosplay picture that he'd sent her on Friday. She moved her phone in front of Alya who took it from her hand. With her eyes, Alya silently asked if she could show Nino the picture. Marinette nodded, so Alya did.

"Look at him," Alya said, holding out the phone for her boyfriend to see, "wouldn't he and Marinette look so cute together?" Nino scratched his head a little, but figured agreeing with his girlfriend was almost always the right call.

"Yeah, I think so."

"When's his birthday?" Alya directed the question to Marinette, who stopped for a moment to think. Adrien was curious about her answer. It wasn't something they discussed, so he figured he should pay attention to memorize her answer, just in case.

"August 17," she said confidently. Adrien was curious about her reasoning, but figured she probably didn't put much thought into it.

"Ooh," Alya responded, "a Leo. That'll be good for you."

"Yeah. A Leo," Marinette responded, "he really embodies the spirit of a big cat." She took another sip of her water to keep herself from chuckling at her own comment. Adrien ate a few bites of his salad to try to quell his smile from Marinette's reasoning.

"When do I get to meet him," Alya questioned.

"At the dance," Marinette told her, "you get to meet him at the dance, just like everyone else. His schedule is really hectic, so he probably wouldn't be able to meet up before that. I swear, his schedule is worse than Adrien's." Adrien choked on his bite a little at the comparison between him and Félix.

None of them noticed as they were all distracted by Alya's overdramatic sigh. "You're so cruel," she said, "I can't believe you're making me, your best friend, wait until the dance to meet your date. I can't threaten him in the middle of the dance floor."

"You don't have to threaten him," Marinette said with a faint blush, "my papa already covered that when he thought I had feelings for Félix. It was rough. You would've loved it." She giggled lightly, trying to play off the seriousness of her dad getting akumatized on her behalf. She didn't want to explain the situation more than she had to.

"I just want to make sure he's worthy of you," Alya responded. "I mean, he looks nice enough, but I'm certain that being dressed like Ladybug could make even M. Agreste look like a good guy. No offense, Sunshine." She added the last comment to Adrien, who brushed it off in slight agreement.

"None taken," Adrien said, finishing his lunch. "I'm probably going to get some studying done in the library for the rest of the hour. You're all welcome to join me if you want, but I'm going to head out." He packed up his lunch containers and put them into his bag. Nino chose to go with him, but Alya decided to stay with Marinette to keep talking about Félix.

"We'll see you in class," Alya told Adrien. Nino came around to their side of the table to give Alya a kiss before they went to the library.

A few minutes after the boys walked away, Marinette got a text from Félix. Alya was still holding her phone, so she was the first to see that it was a picture of a worksheet in what looked like Japanese Kanji.

'Studying is stupid. Hope your day is better than mine.' The message and an emoji rolling its eyes came through a second after the picture. Adrien tried to make the text sound less enthusiastic about the work than he actually was. Japanese was a language he had chosen to learn. He was new to it, so he hadn't told his friends about it, yet.

He was hopeful that the tone of the message wouldn't be suspicious, but he knew there wasn't a reason it would be. Plenty of people studied during lunch and there was no real reason why Alya and Marinette would even think Félix was at lunch when he sent the message. He could have just as easily been in study hall or even working on an assignment in class.

He was careful that the picture had no identifying features, just showing the worksheet sitting on a notebook. If you look closely, you could see that the notebook had a black cover, but there were so many people with black notebooks and you couldn't see any notes that he had taken in the past.

Alya zoomed into the image, but couldn't find anything interesting, so she handed Marinette her phone back. He had posed the picture while Nino was grabbing his work from his locker, but by the time Nino got back, he had gotten out a Mandarin worksheet instead.

'Are you learning Japanese just to fuel your anime addiction?'

'Shhh… you're not allowed to call me out like this. Plus, don't forget you have been watching Boku No Hero Academia. I'm not the only one who likes anime~'

'Blah, blah, blah. You know I'm just using it as something to play in the background while I work on my dress. I'm not going to become a weeb like *some people*...'

'You wound me, Mari.' He considered calling her Princess again, but he knew Alya had already been teasing her about her relationship with Félix and he didn't want to add anything flirty to that mix, even if he wasn't being serious.

The text was immediately followed by another. 'I'll talk to you later, though. I do have to focus if I want to get my work done before the end of the hour.' Marinette smiled at her phone before locking her screen again and putting her phone into her pocket. Alya was reading over her shoulder, so there was no reason for her to request to see the texts.

"I guess he gets a pass for good taste in anime," Alya said reluctantly, "I still wish I could meet him before the dance, though. Public interrogations just aren't as much fun."

"Interrogation," Marinette half-heartedly questioned. "If you want to ask him something, I'll ask him for you."

"It's not the same," Alya sighed. "You'll just accept whatever he says instead of looking at his body language and speech patterns. I know you'd do your best, but I'm better at reading people than you are." Marinette rolled her eyes.

A while after school ended, a text came through from Félix.

'Can I come by for dinner?' Adrien's heart was pounding in his chest when he sent the message, but his dad had left town without telling him and he really didn't want to be alone. He knew he probably couldn't tell Marinette why he wanted to come over for dinner, but he was hopeful that she wouldn't ask.

'Of course, we usually eat at 18h if you can be here by then. It's okay if you're late, though. There's a seat saved for you whenever you can get here.' He looked at the clock and saw that it was 17h30.

'18h sounds perfect. :3'

'I might be in the kitchen when you get here. Feel free to let yourself in and come join us. '

Marinette went downstairs at 17h45 to tell her parents about their dinner guest. Her parents had her set the table for four and they were excited that Chat would be joining them for dinner that evening. Her mother had made a soup that they were planning to have with some fresh baked sourdough that her father had brought up from the bakery.

Chat Noir showed up at 17h55 with a small bouquet of morning glories. He stood over to the side by the staircase to Marinette's room until it looked like Sabine had a moment to address him. She smiled when she noticed him standing there.

"Thank you for having me," he said nervously, extending the bouquet with a small smile on his face. "I really appreciate the hospitality."

"Thank you for the flowers, Chat. Or would you prefer we call you Félix when you're here," he looked at Marinette to get her opinion and she shrugged.

"I," he slinked in on himself a little bit, "uh, whichever you and M. Dupain would prefer. I've gotten used to Marinette calling me Félix, but I'm just as fine with you calling me Chat or Félix." He wasn't used to people taking his opinion into consideration, so he really didn't want to give the wrong answer.

"The name is Tom, Félix," Tom said, making a decision for all of them, "when you're under our roof, you're part of the family." He placed a firm hand on Chat's shoulder, in a way that made him feel comforted. His face clearly showed his shock, but he recovered with a smile.

"That sounds wonderful. Thank you, T-Tom." Chat Noir tried to not show how close he was to tearing up when Tom offered his name. Marinette could see him get a little choked up and pulled out her phone to send him a text.

'You okay?' Chat Noir didn't take his phone out, instead he followed Tom and Sabine to offer assistance with preparing dinner. Sabine handed him a basket of bread to take over to the table while she took out a vase and filled it with water to put the flowers in. She put the vase onto the windowsill while Tom filled their bowls and Marinette got a glass of water for each of them.

The four took their seats at the table. "This looks delicious, Mme. Cheng," Chat said politely.

"Sabine," she corrected with a smile on her face. "Your choices are Sabine or Maman." His breath caught on the word 'Maman' but he couldn't talk about his civilian life, so he tried to ignore it.

"Thank you, Sabine," he responded quietly with a small nod, "and Tom. I didn't mean to intrude, but I had a bit of a long day and didn't purrticularly want to eat alone tonight." He was hopeful that they wouldn't think anything of his statement, but when he looked down at his soup, the three others met concerned eyes over the table.

"You're more than welcome to join us whenever you want," Sabine told him, trying to put a smile on his face. "We like having you over. Plus, you need to eat more. You always have a seat at our table. Ladybug does, too, but we think you're more likely to take us up on the offer, Félix." Sabine placed a motherly hand on top of his while she spoke. She gave it a gentle squeeze before she took her hand back to eat her dinner.

"You're definitely our most entertaining dinner guest," Tom said. "Now, tell us about that last akuma attack. How did things go with 'Gamer'?" It was the third time that Max had been akumatized.

Chat was happy to talk about the attack. He talked with excitement, telling Tom and Sabine about the mechanics that emulated the attacks and defenses from the new Ultimate Mecha Strike IV. It made him smile, genuinely, which was a far cry from the nervous, fake smile that he had on his face when he first arrived.

From there, the four of them spoke about the new Mecha Strike game and about the fact that Marinette hadn't been able to play it very much. She wanted to, but she had been devoting all of her free time to making her dress for the ball. Chat had wanted to play, but he didn't have anyone to play with and he didn't want to play online for his first round in the game.

"You're welcome to play Mecha Strike with my papa while I work on my dress," Marinette told him. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Plus, then you're not just sitting there idly while I work. I appreciate the company, but I know that it can't be that fun to just be sitting there while I'm absorbed in making my dress."

They had all just about finished eating dinner when Marinette made the offer. Tom looked at his watch. 18h45. "In fact," Tom said, "if you want to help me with dishes, I'll happily play a few rounds with you after. Marinette, you can go ahead and work on the dress while we do. Félix can go up and spend time with you when I go to bed at 20h."

"Is that okay with you," she asked Chat. He nodded. "That would be great, Papa." She went around to kiss Tom, then Sabine on their cheeks. "Sleep well, you two. Good night." Her smile was bright on her face when she went upstairs to work on her dress.

Sabine helped Tom and Chat bring the dishes to the sink, then left the two boys to their own devices while she went to get the book she was reading from their room.

"Are you okay, son," Tom asked when he and Chat were alone, "just between the two of us. You're welcome to join us whenever you want and none of us will force you to tell us what's going on, but you can talk to me if ever you need to."

"It's my mom's birthday," Chat admitted quietly. "She's not with us anymore and my father wasn't here to spend time with me today. I just wanted to spend time with people who are nice. Please don't tell anyone. I'm afraid that someone might accidentally figure out my identity. I'm probably overreacting, but I really don't want to put any of you at risk."

"Do you want a hug, Félix," Tom offered. He kept his voice down, but tried to fill the offer with as much parental love as he possibly could. Chat nodded without saying anything and stepped toward Tom a little bit. Tom wrapped Chat in his arms and Chat hugged him back, holding back his tears.

"You never need to tell us anything, but if you ever need a hug, Sabine and I have an unlimited supply for you." He gave Chat Noir a gentle squeeze.

"Thank you, Tom." Chat Noir held the hug a little while longer before he let go. "Can I tell you a secret that won't reveal my identity?" That piqued Tom's curiosity.

"Of course, Félix."

"I've never had to wash dishes before. Will you teach me?" Tom let out a deep belly laugh and patted Chat's back. He turned both of them toward the sink and taught him how to properly wash dishes. Sabine smiled at the arm that Tom kept around Chat's shoulder while he explained. She took a picture of the two of them. By 19h15, they had finished doing the dishes and were sitting on the couch to play Mecha Strike IV.

Tom won a few rounds because he was more used to the new game, but after that Chat was able to catch up and come up with a strategy for his game play. While the two played, Sabine sat on a chair to the side, reading her book. It was a pleasant level of family domesticity for Chat. They didn't get to play too long before Tom and Sabine had to go to sleep in order to wake up early to open the bakery the next day.

"It was a pleasure having you to dinner, Félix," Sabine said when she stepped over to him, offering him a hug. Chat accepted, hugging her back.

"Come back whenever you want," Tom added when Chat stepped back from his hug with Sabine. Chat hugged him also.

"Thank you for having me. I really, really appreciate your hospitality." Chat went upstairs to see Marinette's progress while Tom and Sabine went to bed.

"Your parents are the best," he said in greeting.

"You think so?" She was smiling when he came in and she turned from her dress to look at him. "You can borrow them whenever you want. For now, though, you should come over here and look at my dress."

Chat walked over to look at the dress on the form and smiled. It had more details than it did when he looked at it on her on Saturday. He saw that the spots she had put on the dress when she wore it were covered in small gems.

"I love it," he admitted. "I knew the details were going to be the focus of the dress and they look amazing so far." He moved his eyes from the dress, to her. "You're a great designer."

She blushed from the compliment. "Thank you. Did you have fun playing games with my papa?"

"Yeah," he responded, "it was just what I needed. Thanks for letting me abandon you so I could spend some time with him." He chuckled, trying to brush off just how much spending time with Tom meant to him, but she could see the smile on his face was so much brighter than it was when he first arrived.

He went over to his bag that was leaning against the wall and pulled out his Japanese worksheet that he sent her the picture of. She went back to working on her dress and he focused his attention on the work he was doing.

"You didn't finish that earlier," she questioned when she saw what he was doing. "You texted me about it while I was at lunch."

"Yeah," he said, "I texted you about this work then did something else because I didn't want to send you anything that I'm doing for school. It could give away too much about my identity. This learning is mostly for fun."

"Oh. That makes sense." The two spoke occasionally while they independently worked, but eventually Chat had to leave.

"Thanks for coming for dinner, Fé," Marinette said before he left for the night. "We love having you here. You're welcome to drop by without warning, next time. Maman and papa will set up a seat for you whenever you want." She placed a hand on his forearm in a show of affection. She had to rise on her tiptoes and pull him down slightly to kiss his cheek.

"This meant a lot to me, Princess. Thank you for agreeing to let me come over." He kissed her forehead gently and held out his arms, silently requesting a hug. She put her arms around him and they hugged for a few minutes before he left for the night.