Work Text:
Marc and Nathaniel sat across from Rose as they conducted an interview with her about what it was like for her being akumatised. Marc fidgeted with his notepad while Nathaniel scratched away in his new sketchbook next to him. “Do you remember anything from when you were Princess Fragrance?” Marc looked up at her eyes and back down to the notepad.
“Um,” Rose’s brow knitted together and she tapped her chin with her finger. “Bits and pieces here and there come back to me. Like sometimes, when I dream, I’m pretty sure I’m seeing memories of that time.” She clenched her hands into fists on her knees and curled in on herself. “It was horrible!” Tears started to well up in the corner of her eyes. “I was so mean to people!” Marc slowly reached out and gently patted Rose on the shoulder.
“Its okay Rose,” Nathaniel leaned in and placed a steadying hand on her other shoulder, “We’ve all been there, and we’re not proud of what we did under Hawkmoth’s control.” Marc silently mouthed ‘thank you’ to Nathaniel who gave him a wink and a smile before going back to his sketchbook.
‘Did he wink at me?’ Marc thought. ‘He was probably just being friendly. He likes Ladybug, not me.’
***********************************
“Um, Alya,” Marc’s spoke timidly, his gaze shifting from the ground to the rather intimidating redhead.
“Hi Marc, hi Nath,” Alya raised her eyebrow at the boys. “Something I can do for you?”
“Were, doing research for our next comic book.” Marc actually made eye contact, causing his heart to race and his hands to shake. “And we were wondering if you would talk to us about when you were Lady WiFi.” his words spilling out in torrents.
Alya, much to her credit, said nothing about Marc’s odd behavior. “Ah, I heard something about you two doing that.” Alya cocked her head, pursed her lips, and crossed her arms over her chest as she contemplated the proposal.
“It would really help us,” Nathaniel chimed in. “You are at the top of our must interview list.” He gave her a small smile.
She beamed back at him. “Nath, Didn’t you know that flattery will get you everywhere?” she picked up her bag. “I can’t do it right now, but I will definitely set some time aside to talk with you two.”
“Thanks, Alya!” Marc smiled shyly. When Alya had left he turned to Nathaniel, “I-I actually looked her in the eye.” He held, up his still shaking hand, showing it to his friend. “Why is it so hard for me when other people talk to each other all the time?”
Nathaniel took Marc’s hand in both of his and looked him right in the eyes, “There’s no shame in having social anxiety.” Nathaniel chuckled softly, “Plus, Alya can be really intimidating.”
Marc looked at his hand in Nathaniel’s, his mouth was suddenly dry. He gulped as he looked up at Nathaniel. “Yeah, she is.” He looked away again. “Thank you.”
Nathaniel just smiled warmly at him, still holding his hand. ‘Why is he still holding my hand? is this a normal thing? I really haven’t seen him with his other friends much. He doesn’t do this with Alex though. But he liked Marinette and then Ladybug, I’m very much not his type.’
Marc’s mental rambling was cut off when Nathaniel gave his hand a squeeze and let it go. “Come on, we have people to interview.
***********************************
Marc clicked his pen as he waited with Nathaniel for Kim to show up. He had agreed to be here for an interview but was already ten minutes late. “Are you sure he’s going to show up?” Marc looked at Nathaniel, he looked away when Nathaniel look back.
“Kim is a lot of things,” Nathaniel shrugged, “but he’s never broken a promise if he could help it.” He went back to sketching in his sketchbook.
“How is the art coming for the book?” Marc tentatively looked at Nathaniel.
“Pretty good,” Nathaniel didn’t look up. “I have most of the character design done.”
“Oh!” Marc sat up, “Can I see what you have?” He leaned over toward the sketchbook.
“No!” Nathaniel quickly snatched the sketchbook away. Marc was startled, he had never seen Nathaniel react like that.
The door swung open and in walked Kim with Alix right behind him. “Hey guys, sorry I’m late, I had to settle a bet.”
“Which you lost,” Alix cut in. “Hey, Nath! Hey, Marc! You guy should have seen it, I skated circles around him.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Kim waved her off. “We have plans, and you’re not in ‘em.”
“Up yours Kim,” she made a rude gesture. “Anyway guys, I do have to get out of here. See you Nath! Marc, if he gets fresh with you,” she pointed at Nathaniel “you come tell me.” and she backed out of the room.
‘Why would she warn me about Nathaniel?’ Marc’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘He’s never shown any sign of wanting to come on to me. She must have been messing with me.’
Marc was startled out of his thoughts by a large hand coming down on his shoulder. “So guys, where do you want me to start?”
***********************************
Marc went over his notes on the interviews with the other students piecing together a plot for the next comic book. Nathaniel sat across the library table, once again sketching in his sketchbook.
“Who do we want the main characters of this one to be, Nath?” Marc looked up to see a small smile on Nathaniel’s face as he put some finishing touches on a picture. Once he noticed he was being watched a blush crept up his cheeks and he quickly closed his sketchbook trapping his pencil inside. “Are you okay?” Marc reached across the table.
“Uh…” Nathaniel closed his eyes and inhaled slowly held, his breath for a moment, and exhaled slowly. He opened his eyes again and his normal small smile was back. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m gonna run to the restroom. I’ll be back in a minute.”
As he got up, his sleeve caught his sketchbook and flung it to the ground. He was moving quickly and didn’t seem to notice, and was out the door before Marc could say anything. Marc went around the table to pick up the sketchbook. It had fallen open to the page where the pencil was stuck. Picking it up, Marc couldn’t help but see the last picture Nathaniel had drawn.
At a glance, all he saw was The Illustrator, the hero version of Nathaniel, Kissing someone. His breath caught and he looked away quickly. A weight settled in his chest, Nathaniel used his art to express his feelings. He was pining after someone again, and Marc knew it would tear his heart to pieces if he looked at the picture. He threw the book onto the table and went back to his seat.
“Oh no!” He noticed the book had landed open to that same picture. He did his best not to look at the image, but as he began to close the sketchbook he realized, he didn’t recognize the other character. He, yes he, was a new character for this book. Marc moved the sketchbook over in front of himself and studied the image. Something about the new hero struck him as familiar.
He wore a hood that was pushed back off of black hair. He wore the typical domino mask most of the heroes wore. On the ground next to him was a giant paper airplane. ‘No, is that…’
His thoughts were cut short when he heard the door open followed by a gasp.
“Why are you looking at that!” Marc expected to see anger or disappointment when he turned around. What he did not expect was fear. Nathaniel was afraid of him seeing this picture. Did that mean that maybe Nathaniel did feel the same way he did?
“Who is this?” Marc held up the picture.
Nathaniel looked at the ground, “That’s the new hero for this comic, he was based on Reverser,” Nathaniel looked up, Marc couldn’t bear to think that that was hope in his eyes when he said, “Based on you, okay. You can make fun of me, or yell at me. I get it.”
“Why is he kissing Illustrator?” Marc needed to hear the actual words from his mouth, he couldn’t bear it if he acted and was wrong about this.
“They like each other, they’re together.” Nathaniel took a steadying breath.
Mark felt his heart start to race. ‘What does that mean for him and me?’
“Look, I know you probably don’t like me that way.”
‘Wait, not like him?’
“and if it bothers you I can take it out, but there it is. I like you.”
Marc’s hands were shaking so bad he had to clasp them together, which didn’t do much good. ‘He likes me? Nathaniel likes me? I have to do something, he thinks I don’t like him. I have to do something,’ but his anxiety kept him rooted to the spot.
“if you want to never see me again I won’t--”
Fear of losing this chance with his crush finally beat out his anxiety, and Marc jumped out of his seat, grabbed Nataniel’s face, and pressed their lips together. Nathaniel tensed, but didn’t attempt to stop Marc, when Marc was about to move away, thinking he had overstepped, Nathaniel relaxed and returned the kiss emphatically.
All too soon they broke apart, breathing heavily. “So,” Nathaniel smirked at Marc, “I take it you like me too.” He chuckled softly.
“Shut up and kiss me.” Marc pulled him in for another passionate kiss.