The next morning, Félix woke up at 4h15. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, got dressed, messed his hair up, then put on his mask. He was in the bakery kitchen, ready to take on the day with a smile on his face by 4h40.

Sabine came downstairs at 4h45. "Good morning, Félix," she said with a smile. "Tom will be down in just a few minutes." While they waited for Tom, Sabine gave him a tour of the industrial kitchen. They grabbed aprons and a few baking sheets that they would use for croissants, pains au chocolat, and pains aux amandes.

By 7h, he managed to practice all three recipes. Tom and Sabine had complimented his pastries, but he figured they would have good things to say no matter what. They offered samples of his pastries to patrons and were very excited about the fact that they were made by a novice apprentice. Even though he couldn't see anyone's facial reactions, he was delighted to hear the compliments that many of the patrons had.

Around 9h, he heard the first voice that he recognized. "Is Marinette awake," Alya asked, her expectations unsurprisingly high for Marinette's level of awake.

"I don't believe so," Sabine responded, "but we did get a new apprentice. He made some pastries, if you're interested." Alya picked up a piece of the croissant. It looked slightly overdone, but Sabine said he was new, so Alya tempered her expectations from Dupain-Cheng perfection.

She savored it with the palette of someone who grew up with a famous chef for a mother. "Ooh," she said, "the apprentice added an ingredient. What is that? Nutmeg? No, Cinnamon. It's wonderful. It was a calculated risk and your apprentice is good at math." She looked around the bakery to make sure she wouldn't disturb any of the patrons. She called out a little louder, "great baking, Félix. It's delicious."

"Thank you, Alya. Any criticism?"

"They're a touch overcooked, but you should see a picture of the first croissants Marinette made. I'm surprised Nino's teeth survived that."

"Don't be mean," Marinette said, walking in through the stairwell just in time to hear Alya's comment. She exaggeratedly scowled at Alya. "How's it going, Fé," Marinette asked, practically ignoring Alya in the shop. She turned Félix so that Alya, despite her attempts, couldn't see that he was wearing a mask because they didn't want to have to explain.

"I think it's going well," he said, nervously, "it sounds like people are accepting the samples of my food. Alya likes my croissants, at least."

"Would you mind if I try one?"

"Are you sure," he asked, "you wouldn't rather try one I make after I'm finished learning. These ones aren't even close to perfect."

"Perfection is overrated," she informed him, confidently. "I would like to hold your hand if you're okay taking a short break. If you aren't, I'll steal a croissant, get Alya out of here, then bother you later."

"You're allowed to take a break if you want one, but we're not going to make you," Sabine said over the quiet hum of the bakery. Félix put his dough into the fridge, then washed his hands and removed his apron before following Marinette upstairs. He didn't notice that while he was cleaning up, Marinette picked up two of the whole croissants that he made.

"Have you eaten anything today," she asked once they got upstairs to the couch. He shrugged. She sat down next to him. "Wrong answer," she said, "my papa put me in charge of making sure you're eating. Now, close your eyes and open your mouth."

He couldn't help but to chuckle at her attempt at a commanding voice. He did as she instructed. He smiled at her and she tore off a small piece of the croissant. She put it in his mouth. "What does it taste like," she asked after he chewed and swallowed.

"Croissant and cinnamon," he said with a smile. He knew what it tasted like. He made the croissant.

"How does it make you feel," she whispered.

"Happy," he told her, sincerely. "I feel happy. I know where I can improve and I have a plan for how to make them better next time, but I'm proud."

"You should be proud, Félix. These are things that you made with your own hands. Something that people like. They make you happy, but everyone who has them has a little bit better of a day because of you. It shouldn't matter as much as you being proud of yourself, but I want you to know I'm proud of you, too."

"Thank you," he responded, blindly reaching to take her hand. He placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.

"I want to kiss you," she said, honestly, "but I'm scared."

"Then we don't have to. Our comfort is more important than trying to expand our relationship."

"You're so good," she said quietly to him.

"Can I open my eyes now, Princess," he asked quietly. "As much as I love the idea of you feeding me, I like the idea of looking at you even more." She laughed lightly.

"Of course, my knight. I appreciate you trusting me with that." He kissed her cheek.

"Was that okay?" She nodded in response and looked into his eyes. They were familiar and she couldn't help but to try to place where she'd seen them before. Obviously, she had seen them when he was Mister Bug and to a lesser extent when he was Renard Rouge and Sourix, but there was something about them that felt familiar to her as a civilian. She couldn't place the familiarity, but it was there.

"You're so pretty," he said to her quietly. "I don't like you because you're pretty, but you really, really are. I like you because you're smart, and funny, and brave, and creative. I'm just really thankful that you're the whole package, in addition to having the biggest heart that I've ever seen."

"Remember that thing about me wanting to kiss you? You telling me the reasons you like me aren't helping me to stop wanting to kiss you." He smiled at her.

"Well, that's a shame," he said, standing up. "I have to get back down to the bakery and get back to making pastries for the good citizens of Paris. Are you coming with me?" He extended an Aladdin 'do you trust me' hand to her and she took his hand in hers. They bounded down the stairs to the kitchen of the bakery. Félix put his apron back on, then washed his hands. He got back to work and Marinette went out front to meet with Alya.

The day was relatively uneventful from there, Alya tried to spend time with Nino and Adrien, but Adrien has been even more busy than usual, so they haven't had opportunities to meet up with him.

Nino had been texting on and off with Adrien, but it seemed like his schedule allowed for even fewer breaks which felt illegal, but Nino didn't know very much about the law, so he didn't spend a lot of his time trying to figure out if Adrien's schedule was legal or not.

Sunday night, Marinette and her parents taught Chat how to make pizza. He was able to stay up until 21h, instead of 20h like Marinette's parents, but as soon as he was on the couch in his pajamas, he fell asleep. She was sincerely impressed by how quickly he fell asleep. She tucked him in and made sure his mask was on properly. She stayed up a short while longer to play with his hair while he slept.