The next few days passed without much incident or interaction between the two. Their friendship was new and awkward and both were unsure of their boundaries. Anyway, Nathanael wasn't exactly game to listen to Marinette fawn of Adrien, which was most of what she spent her days doing. They settled into the routines they had before, but now they shared a few smiles, which was a good improvement as far as Nathanael was concerned.

When Saturday finally rolled around, Nathanael was too excited to sleep in late. Instead he took a long shower, singing along to the music he blasted from his phone. He was sure that today was going to be a good day. He'd have Marinette all to himself, and she would do some modeling. He'd also get to meet her parents, which was equally exciting and terrifying.

Before he left the house he grabbed his backpack, which he filled with various notebooks, sketchbooks, pens and pencils. Then he went downstairs where his mother had left a plant sitting on the counter. She had encouraged him to bring something with him, and she had too many plants, so she offered a simple succulent. Although Nathanael awkward about the whole thing, his mother promised it would be a good idea and the plant was easy to take care of.

He looked at the plant questioningly. He could probably talk his way out of accidentally leaving it home, but maybe not. Heaving a sigh, he grabbed the pot and started his way to Marinette's house. She had texted him the directions to her house the night before, but the route wasn't unfamiliar to him. Their paths crossed on the way to school, so tracing the other direction to her home was easy.

It was a very sunny day, even though the weather promised to become more inclement later in the day. He'd packed his umbrella just in case. When he finally arrived at Marinette's home, he wasn't surprised in the least that she lived there. It really seemed like the kind of place she would live.

It was certainly very cute and he immediately was taken with it. He crossed the street, took a shaky breath and entered the store. A little bell chimed delicately above him, alerting the small Chinese woman at the counter he was there. She smiled brightly at him and he couldn't help but notice how much Marinette looked like her. This had to be her mother.

"Hello," she said warmly. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, I'm here for Marinette?" He asked awkwardly.

"Marinette? Oh yes, she told me you're coming. You must be Nathanael, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"No need to call me that. I'm Sabine, Marinette's mother. Here, let me get her for you," she said walking to the stairs. Nathanael shifted his weight as he watched Sabine go to the bottom of the stairs and call to Marinette upstairs that he was here. Her mother was incredibly warm and friendly and he was pretty sure she would get along with his own mother.

"Is that plant for Marinette?" She asked. Nathanael was a bit startled that she still wanted to talk to him.

"Ah, y-yes," he stammered.

"That's very sweet of you!" She said happily. Nathanael smiled and silently thanked his mother. Sabine seemed ready to launch into a full barrage of questions, but Marinette came down the stairs and swooped in to save him.

"Thank you, Mom," said Marinette pushing Nathanael toward the stairs. "We need to finish our project now."

"Do you want any snacks?" Asked Sabine.

"No, Mom, I think we're going to be okay," replied Marinette.

"Okay, well, just yell if you need anything, sweetheart. Have fun you too. Nice to meet you, Nathanael!"

"Oh nice to meet you too," said Nathanael just before Marinette had fully pushed him up the stairs. They stood in a cozy living space and she gave him a smile that asked for forgiveness.

"If I hadn't saved you, we'd be there for hours," she said laughing.

"Your mom seems really nice," said Nathanael.

"Oh she is. By the way, what are you holding?"

"Holding? Oh! A plant," said Nathanael holding the plant out to her.

"I can see that. Is that for me?"

"Yes?"

"Wow, thank you Nathanael. I know just where I'll put it. Follow me," she said beckoning him a ladder with a hatch in the ceiling. Nathanael was curious where she was going. She pushed the hatch up and vanished into the ceiling and Nathanael followed until he found himself in a very cute room. It had to be hers.

As he pushed himself up onto her floor he had a small flashback. It was fuzzy and difficult to see, but he was sure he had been in her room before. Oh right, when he had been the Evillustrator he'd come right into her room to ask her on a date. It seemed the more days he put between himself and that event, the hazier it became. Although he was not about to complain about that. It was a pretty embarrassing event for him. Still he was glad to see that her wall wasn't erased. There had to have been a less awkward way to have done that.

"What do you think about this?" Asked Marinette. Nathanael stood up, closing the hatch and walked over to where she stood. She had placed the plant on her windowsill next to two dolls, one of Ladybug and one of Chat Noir. Tikki stood in front of the plant, admiring it.

"I think it looks really nice," he said softly. He shyly cast a side glance at her, his heart picking up a new pace.

"It'll flourish here for sure!" Said Tikki. She turned around and looked Nathanael up and down before floating over to him. He instinctively picked up his hands to hold her, and she alighted on his palms. She was much cuter upon further inspection and he smiled down at her.

"We have not been properly introduced," she said in her small voice. "I'm Tikki. I'm Marinette's kwami. I help give her her powers. She's my best friend."

"I'm Nathanael," he said. "I'm her sidekick."

"Do you promise that you're not going to expose her to the world?"

"She'd be in a lot of danger if I did that."

"Now that's the kind of answer I needed to hear," said Tikki as she floated off his hands.

"You can just put your bag anywhere, Nathanael," said Marinette rolling her eyes at Tikki. The kwami moved toward Marinette and sat on her shoulder. She leaned in close to Marinette's ear and whispered just soft enough so that only she could hear.

"He's a keeper, Marinette," said Tikki, her voice tickling Marinette's ear.

Nathanael went to set his bag down and noticed the copious magazine clippings of Adrien around the room. She had it worse for Adrien than he had assumed. He swallowed hard and decided to simply ignore the handsome blonde smiling at him from all angles. Afterall, Adrien wasn't the one getting to spend the afternoon with Marinette. He would probably never ask Marinette to do something like that that wasn't a group event or provoked by Alya. Adrien had even set Marinette up on a date with Nino once!

"So," said Nathanael feeling a little cocky. "You have a doll of yourself?"

"You don't have a doll of yourself?" She responded just as cocky.

"Fair point," he said pulling out his notebook and pencil.

"In all honesty they aren't for me. I sometimes babysit a girl named Manon and she likes to play with them."

Marinette settled on her bed and patted the seat next to her for Nathanael to take. He crossed over to her and sat across from her. They started to work on the assignment, which wasn't due for a week or two. They had put so much effort into it they had nearly finished it, and at this point they only had a short amount of work left to do. Marinette had her phone set up with a bluetooth speaker and played some gentle music as they worked.

"There, we're finished!" Said Marinette. She leaned back onto the bed, holding the book above her head. Her shirt lifted up a bit and Nathanael caught a glimpse of her toned stomach. She has abs! Nathanael yelled in his mind. Blushing deeply, he stood up and gathered his books. Of course she was super fit, being Ladybug wasn't an easy job for just anyone.

Regardless it was very attractive and Nathanael did not want to be caught staring, so he began to rummage around in his backpack, allowing his face to cool down. The warm light that had streamed in through the windows earlier had slowly been replaced with a view of grey clouds. It wasn't going to be a heavy storm but the clouds looked weighed down and bloated with water. When he felt like it was safe to turn around, he picked up his sketchbook and drawing supplies.

"Oh that's right, you're going to draw me," said Marinette happily. "How do you want me?"

"I'm sorry?" Asked Nathanael, a whole new blush blooming on his cheeks.

"Sitting, standing? Doing some kind of dramatic face? Maybe a ladybug pose?"

"Oh! Oh gosh," he said feeling his heart race. He let out a few breaths before looking around the room. He hadn't really thought of what he was going to draw. Maybe he'd start with an easy portrait.

"Okay, how about you just sit there," he said pointing at the desk. "I'm just gonna do a few warm ups and then maybe a few Ladybug poses. I could sell Ladybug comics and get incredibly rich," he joked.

"You're splitting it with me," she said taking a seat. Nathanael sat opposite of her and began to draw some basic outlines. Every now and then he would push his hair away from his face to look at her or the drawing better. After a while Marinette became frustrated and suddenly got up from her seat and started to rummage in a drawer.

"You know," he said watching her. "Normally a model sits still."

"Ha-ha, you're so funny. Found it!" She said pulling a hair tie from her drawer. She walked over to him and stood right in front of him, inches away. He could smell her perfume and felt a welcome intoxication overcome him. He'd happily die drunk on her.

"Now you hold still," she said before reaching out and grabbing his hair. He froze and tensed up, letting her body get closer to his face and she brushed his hair back with her fingers. She was more gentle than he was expecting and it felt nice to have her play with his hair. She pulled it back into a small ponytail, with the shorter edges on the side of his head falling down again.

She took a few steps back to admire her work. Nathanael looked up at her slowly, almost from under his dark lashes. He looked unsure and shy, but Marinette felt her heart pick up a beat. He looked… good. Maybe not Adrien good, his handsome face plastered around the room and smiling down at her, but Nathanael had a different kind of charm.

"How does it look?" He asked reaching up gingerly to touch it.

"You look great!" Said Tikki, taking the words from Marinette's mouth.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Can you see better?"

"Yeah I can. I could get used to his," he said with a quiet laugh. "Now will you please sit down and sit still? Remember, you owe me."

"Oh right," she said sitting down quickly.

After an hour or so of various portraits, with a few still left to go, the hatch in Marinette's floor opened. She dropped her pose as both of her parents popped up from the hole and smiled at them. Tikki zoomed out of site, presumably under Marinette's took in the site of Marientte's father, who was much bigger than he anticipated, but he seemed friendly. He had his arm around Sabine who held a plate with some kind of confection on it.

"Hey guys?" Asked Marinette unsure.

"We just thought you kids might like a snack. That and your father wanted to meet Nathanael," said Sabine happily. Her parents climbed up into her room and Nathanael jumped up to his feet, his pencil dropping onto the desk. Her father came over to him and stuck out his hand. Nathanael took it, although much smaller, and shook it.

"You're Nathanael, then?" He asked warmly.

"Yes, sir," he said, nervousness on the edge of his voice.

"No need to call me that. Tom will do," said Tom with a hardy laugh. Sabine put down her plate and came over to him, reaching up to touch his hair.

"You look so handsome with your hair pinned back," she announced. "Did Marinette make you do that?"

"She thought it would help me draw better," he said fighting off the blush that threatened to cover his face. Sabine stopped touching his hair long enough to pick up the portrait of Marinette off the table, his signature exclamation point in the lower corner.

"You drew this?" Asked Sabine in awe.

"Yes," said Nathanael feeling proud. "It's just a warm up."

"This is amazing," said Sabine. "Tom come look at the picture of Marinette that Nathanael drew!"

Sabine thrust the picture into Tom's large hands and he admired it with an impressed look. He clapped his hand on Nathanael's back, and the redhead fought to maintain his balance. Marinette mouthed "I'm so sorry" at Nathanael and he rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled at her. He probably wouldn't admit it to her, but he was very happy with the current situation.

"Would you mind if we hung this up in the bakery?" Asked Sabine.

"Mom!" Protested Marinette.

"No I don't mind, but like I said, it's just a warm up. I can do a better one," said Nathanael.

"Okay. Do that. In the meantime, I think we'll hang this up," said Tom with a laugh. Marinette ran over to her parents and began to push them toward the hatch. They laughed as they began to descend down the ladder, taking the portrait of Marinette with them.

"Enjoy the carrot cake," said Sabine before she vanished below the floor. Marinette closed the hatch with finality before walking back to Nathanael and plopping down in the chair. She looked at him and sighed. He just smiled and laughed. It was obvious how much the family cared for each other.

"I'm so sorry about them," she said.

"Don't be. They're great. Not to mention, I love carrot cake," he said.

When the day finally began to settle into late afternoon a gentle rain had overtaken the city. The soft pitter patter of droplets on the roof became the background noise to Marinette and Nathanael. They chatted about school and classmates as he worked on various pictures of her. She enjoyed each acrobatic move, coming up with a few herself. Nathanael enjoyed the chance to take in her form in its whole. A plate that once held two large slices of carrot cake now held only crumbs.

When the rain had come and gone Nathanael said,"I should probably get going." Marinette relaxed from her pose and sadly watched him as he began to pack his things. This was the first real time they had hung out together, and honestly she had a pretty good time. She was actually a little sad it had to end so soon. Suddenly she had an idea.

"You know," she said as he started to gather up his bag. "It is about time for my nightly patrol. You think you might like to try the fun way to travel?"