I'm going to be busy with friends on Saturday, so there will be two updates this weekend. There will be a short chapter up on Friday, then a long chapter on Sunday. Enjoy!

The next morning, Marinette woke up to a new message from Félix. She fondly shook her head at the picture, then got ready for the day ahead.

Félix didn't text her very much that day and she figured it was for the best, so she didn't have to mention the fact that Alya would be meeting him that night. Marinette was antsier that day than she had been all week, and Alya noticed.

Alya went home with Marinette after school and they were just going to hang out until dinner that night.

'Is it okay if I come by early? My shoot already finished.' Félix's text came through at 17h30 while she was helping her parents with dinner.

'Yeah. Do you need help getting inside, or will you be okay?'

'I got it. See you soon.' Marinette wasn't sure she mentioned to her parents that Félix was still planning to come by, but she kind of figured it was too late to say so if she hadn't. They were the ones that said he always had a seat at their table, after all. While she stood there, thinking about what to say, she heard a knock at the door.

"Are we expecting someone else," Sabine asked. Marinette was unsurprised to learn that she hadn't told her parents.

"I told Félix it was okay to come for dinner," Marinette said quickly before rushing off to make sure she was the one to open the door.

"Evening, Mari," he greeted when she opened the door. He was leaning on the doorway when she answered and she couldn't help but to stare. She knew his idea from meeting with him as Ladybug last night, but that didn't prepare her for just what he'd look like as Renard Rouge.

His hair was the same style as it usually was as Chat's, but the Miraculous gave it a more coppery color. His eyes were slightly hazel, which would believably be achieved by a pair of colored contacts. His ears were shorter than Rena Rouge's, but they kept the same shape.

His legs were covered in black until about halfway from the knee to his waist. From there, the outside was still black, but the inner thigh was white as was a majority of his torso. From his waist to armpit area, the outer edges of the outfit, as well as the shoulders were orange. From halfway up his bicep to the tips of his fingers, his arms were black.

His mask had a strip of black at the bottom, then the lower half was white, and the upper half was orange. Coming from his back, he had a 'tail' in the same way Rena Rouge did. His was in the shape of two triangles, though. From the base to about 7 cm up the fabric, it was white, but the rest of his back was orange. He had the flute strapped to his back.

He moved past her while she stared at his outfit. "Sabine," he greeted, "I hope that these are okay." Sabine wiped her hands off on her apron to accept the bouquet of morning glories and bluebells from Chat's hand.

"It's lovely to see you again, Félix," she said in greeting. They shared a brief hug.

"Thank you for having me again, Tom," he said. Tom wiped his own hands on his apron and Chat extended his hand for a handshake. Tom partially surprised him with a hug.

"It's good to have you, son. I just wish Marinette had told us you were coming by. Someone needs to set out another place setting," Tom chided Marinette in a joking tone. She had managed to close the door after he came into the apartment and had come back over to play peacekeeper between Alya and Félix, just in case.

When she approached them, Félix turned toward her and plucked a single flower from the spot next to his flute. He bowed slightly and offered an orange tulip to her.

"Appreciation," he said before she could ask what it meant.

"And," she eyed the bouquet in her maman's hand. Marinette took the flower from his hand and placed it behind her ear for the time being.

"Affection, loyalty, and gratitude," he said with a smile on his face. He was hopeful that his blush wasn't noticeable as he prattled off flower meanings to Marinette and her parents. "Hope that's okay."

"They're lovely, Félix," Sabine said from the kitchen. "Thank you very much."

"This is Alya, Alya Césaire. She runs the Ladyblog."

"Do you have a secret flower for me, too," Alya joked when he turned around to face her. He grabbed one, last, small bloom from near his flute. He, once again, bent into a small bow in order to offer it to Alya.

"A mayflower. Welcome." This flower barely had a stem. Alya took it with a smile. "Félix Cloche, delighted to meet you, Alya." Marinette was surprised he didn't kiss her hand. She knew that he did when he was Chat, but maybe he was trying to be less conspicuous tonight.

"It's nice to meet you too, Félix. I've heard only good things." She shook his hand, firmly, feeling the suit he was wearing.

"Only good things," he questioned, "then you haven't heard about when I first met Tom. That was a rough night."

"Leave the past in the past, son," Tom said, clapping a hand on his back. "I hope I don't have to get re-akumatized because of you, but I will if I must."

"Please don't," Félix quietly pleaded, "Papa-Garou is like the only akuma that I've ever had nightmares about." He didn't mean to say it out loud, but he did. "God, I don't even think about when my own father was akumatized as much as I think about when you were."

Marinette couldn't help but think about the fact that she and Chat had once fought his father's akumatized form. She was going to give him a hug, but before she could get close enough, Tom stepped in and paused in front of the hero for a moment before he wrapped his arms around the boy.

"Do you need a dad-talk," he offered. Chat was tall enough that he wasn't entirely engulfed by Tom's form, but he hadn't moved to hug the gentle giant back, yet. After a moment, he took a deep breath and hugged Tom to the best of his ability. They stood in their hug for another minute before both of them released.

"I'm fine, Mons- Tom," Chat said after another few seconds, "I didn't mean to bring down the mood of our dinner." He shook his head momentarily to re-compose himself. "Is there anything that I can do to help with preparations?"

"No, son. Just take a moment to rest," Sabine said with a soft smile aimed at Chat. "Maybe you and Alya can talk about the heroes while we finish here." He took a deep breath and tried to ignore how vulnerable he had been.

Marinette had already finished setting the table, so she came up to join the conversation with him and Alya. She scratched gentle circles over his back.

"So, are you a Rena Rouge fan," Alya asked, smiling like she was the only one in on a joke.

"I think she's cool," he said with a smile of his own, "I wasn't the one who had the brilliant idea to do a gender-bent Renard Rouge cosplay, unfortunately. One of my friends suggested it and thought I would be able to pull it off. What do you think, resident hero expert?" He pulled the flute off of his back and posed as though he were to play and summon his mirage. When he posed, Marinette stepped away, in case Alya planned to take a picture of him. She did.

It was a lie, he was the only person who brought up the idea of cosplay, starting with the Ladybug picture from the previous week. Félix wanted his cover to be believable, so he ended up hiring someone to do a 45 minute photoshoot of Félix Cloche in a Renard Rouge cosplay across the city before he came over to the apartment.

"I think it looks great," she said, "what is it made out of?" She reached out to touch it and he stepped back in reaction.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't deal well with unexpected touching. If you want to know, though. It's actually made of 100% authentic boyfriend material." He looked over to Marinette, expecting her to laugh, but she just had a momentary look of confusion. After a moment, she dropped her face into her hands.

"Oh, my god. Why are you like this?" She spoke into her hands, but he was still able to clearly hear what she said. "Were you born a dork, or raised to be one?"

"Things just happen sometimes, Marinette. You should know this." He polished his non-existent nails against his outfit then looked at them. "I didn't choose the dork life, the dork life chose me." She couldn't help the flutter in her heart when he seemed to be acting more like himself.

"I know, Fé," she said with a smile, "I am pretty sure that you did choose the weeb life, though."

"Oof, ouch," he said, "you really just came out here tonight just to hurt me, didn't you. I can't believe this. A betrayal from my own date to the dance. However will I survive this grievous misjustice?"

"You're fine, you drama king," she joked in response. "I can't be blamed for the fact that you take Japanese and tried to insist that I watch BNHA subbed instead of dubbed. It isn't my fault that I need to listen to things while I work. Sewing doesn't lend itself to multitasking."

"Listen, Mari," he said, turning to place a hand on her shoulder, "we've talked about you calling me out like this. Frankly, it's rude. What would my doubtless dozen cosplay fans think of me liking anime. They would never take me seriously again."

"I don't know that anyone has ever taken you seriously, Félix." Marinette winked, trying to keep the tone of the conversation light. She didn't want to accidentally say anything that would have him upset again. "I guess I do, but I already know your flaws anyway."

"Flaws? I don't have flaws. I just have… facets. Yes, I have facets to my personality and you, princess, don't appreciate them. Just like you don't appreciate me." She wanted to flick his bell, but it wasn't there. She couldn't playfully tug on his ear because he would probably feel it and she didn't want to explain to Alya why Félix could sincerely feel his cosplay.

She took the tulip from behind her ear and held it out in offering to him. "I think I appreciate you plenty," she concluded before her parents called the three of them to sit for dinner. He took a sniff of the tulip and smiled at it before he walked over to the vase and put it among the morning glories and bluebells.

Alya wanted to interrogate the boy, but she had learned so much more by just watching him interact with the Dupain-Chengs. He was family. She didn't know how else to describe it. It was like he belonged with these people and now that she'd seen it, she didn't think it would feel right to think of the 'Dupain-Chengs' as just Tom, Sabine, and Marinette anymore.

She did her best to interact normally throughout the dinner, but she was enraptured by how obliviously in love Félix and Marinette were. They seemed equally insistent on just being friends, but there was something deeper, something more that she couldn't stop seeing. Adrinette was old news, Félinette was her new OTP.

Dinner wrapped up at 19h45 and Alya hadn't even registered time moving with how caught up she was in watching Félix and Marinette just exist in their own bubble. He mentioned that he didn't like to be touched unexpectedly, but there were several instances of Marinette entering his personal space with absolutely no preamble or warning.

"-you home?" The entire room looked at Alya following whatever Félix had said. Alya mentally shook herself off.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I spaced. What did you say?"

"I asked if you'd like me to walk you home," he offered, "Marinette suggested it. She said you might want to give me some warnings and said they'd be better without Tom around. If you're not comfortable with that, it's fine. I just want to make sure you'll get home safely, if that's okay. I'm a bit of a worrier."

"That sounds great, Félix," Alya responded when she was able to focus her attention long enough to respond. "Thank you for the offer."

Alya gave Tom and Sabine each a hug, then turned to get an extra-long hug from Marinette, trying to fill her with support for her choice in dates to the dance and support in her love-life, and just support in general. The two girls tottered from one foot to another while they hugged and Félix chuckled at the interaction.

He made his round of hugs after Alya did. Alya noticed that his hug with Marinette was less playful than hers was and it was filled with sincerity. She didn't even know if Marinette recognized the love he put into the hug, but Alya could see the lingering in their contact.

He kissed her forehead, just like he had done before he left each night before. It was just as soft, and gentle as it always was between the two of them, but it lasted just that much longer than anyone expected. Marinette's kiss to his cheek was just as filled with love as his was. Alya had never seen love as pure as theirs.

"Text me when you get home safe," Marinette said to both of them.

"You don't have to worry about me, princess," he said in response, "I promise."

"Hasn't stopped me before. Not going to stop me now." They went to the door and Alya led Félix out of the building.

The Renard Rouge 'cosplay' is directly based on a design by Zoe-Oneesama on Tumblr.