Work Text:
Nathaniel was riding home with Alix on the bus. They had just helped Ladybug and Chat Noir with an akuma.
An akuma that he caused.
He placed his head in his arms and sighs, somehow not catching his best friend's attention.
There was a question on his mind that he so desperately wanted the answer to.
Am I a bad person?
Nathaniel berated him internally. Honestly, it's like he's learnt nothing. He's still trying to make it all about himself even after...
"You two would make great partners," Ladybug smiled down at the pair, gesturing with her hands that she wanted the two to shake on it.
Marc looked back and forth between her and Nathaniel nervously. His hand reached out shakily.
Nathaniel gulped, taking a moment to prepare himself, "No."
Ladybug blinked, "Huh?"
The artist ignored her (and his rising panic, oh my god, he just backtalked a superhero) for a moment, staring at Marc, "You... You don't have to forgive me. I'd understand if you don't want to see me for a while, or at all."
Marc looked Nathaniel up and down, face blank, before promptly turning around and leaving.
Nathaniel can't help his disappointed sigh.
God, Marc was right to walk away. Nathaniel wished he could escape himself too.
---
Marc sighed as he entered the locker room. It had been a week after he had been akumatized. He wanted to reconcile with Nathaniel, but every time he approached the artist, the other ran away.
It must be awkward facing someone you got akumatized. He understood that, he really did, but it’s been a week. Couldn’t they at least try making up? It’s nerve wracking having everyone turn to you in the hallway when a kid turns on their heel and runs away from you.
Although, Marc knew that Nathaniel hadn’t exactly gotten away scot free with that act. Just walking through the courtyard let him hear rumors about the ‘evil redhead’ who got the ‘precious shy baby’ akumatized. Which, actually, was really infantilizing and very uncomfortable.
He stepped further into the room, being drawn out of his thoughts by a figure crouched over something on the ground. One he easily recognized with the red hair. His breath got caught in his throat as Marc watched Nathaniel turn around, giving him a direct view of a torn up sketchbook laying in front of the artist.
"...You."
Marc took a scared step back, "I-I didn't-"
The redhead turned back around and stood up, holding the jagged pieces of paper. "Was I really wrong back then?"
Marc blinked, confused, "Eh?"
"If you were just someone making fun of my art, you would just leave me alone after that incident," Nathaniel muttered. He shook his head, "But I guess you're worse than that."
"I didn't- I'd never tear up your work! You did it to me before but-"
"I guess you wanted to show me, right?" Nath said quietly, spinning around with a clenched jaw.
“No! I’m better than that.”
Nathaniel flinched, scowling. Even now, he is still being insulted over that mistake he made in a fit of emotions. ‘Better than that’, what a lie. He was literally holding the evidence that Marc would stoop to those levels.
Regardless, he looked down at the sketchbook, still cradled in his hands, "...I only tore up 5 of your pages. And I did so in a way that you'd still be able to staple them back in."
Marc's head shook as he nodded in agreement. What else is he supposed to do? And Nathaniel was correct in assuming he stapled them back in.
The artist let go of the sketchbook, the cover dropping with a bang. Small pieces of paper floated down to the ground like snowflakes. "...There's no fixing this."
Marc was petrified, unable to move, shock still coursing through his body. He only started to react once Nathaniel pushed past him to leave the room. Without thinking, Marc reached out to grab his shoulder, “Wait-”
Nathaniel jerked back like he’s been burnt, turning around with a venomous glare, "Don't think you can just fix this with an apology! I...I hate you!"
He could do nothing but stare in shock as Nath stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Marc thought he could hear a small sob before it happened.
---
Nathaniel marched away from the locker room, trying desperately not to let more tears fall. He's not going to let some bully make him cry.
God, half the stuff he said in that room wasn't even true. (Like saying he purposefully made it so Marc could recover his journal. Complete bullshit.) He just... wanted to make himself look better than Marc. He has to be the 'better' person in this situation.
But still, tearing up someone's work? You did the same thing, idiot.
I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him.
He barely noticed it when an akuma flew into the pen tightly clutched into his hand.
---
Erasing the door as to not make a sound, Evillustrator snuck up behind Marc, about to draw something to attack the other, when he noticed what he was doing on his phone.
The writer was on a shopping website with ‘high quality sketchbook’ typed into the search bar.
He faltered. Why would Marc be trying to make it up to him if he did it in the first place? Evillustrator shook his head. It’s probably just a trick to gain his trust before breaking it again, just like others had done to him in the past.
Marc paused right before purchasing the item.
Evillustrator tensed. Had he finally been noticed?
But instead of turning around, Marc quickly went into his contacts and called someone. He vaguely recognized the contact name as that one kid that he fought with before Bustier broke them up.
“Hey, Marc, what’s up?” The voice on the other side finally answered.
“...Did you do it?”
“What, the sketchbook?”
“Yes, the sketchbook!” Marc yelled before calming down.
“Oh, yeah then.”
“What do you think gave you the right to do that?!”
"He's an ass that didn't even listen to you explain why you were meeting him in the first place! Fuck him! He doesn't get to lash out at you-"
" You don't get to lash out at him for that either! I told you that cause I wanted your help and comfort, not you going on a revenge spree!"
“Evillustrator, what are you doing?”
The akuma flinched, not expecting Hawkmoth to intervene so quickly.
“It seems you’ve forgotten what happened last time you got side-tracked. Let me remind you.”
He let out a quiet cry as a sharp sensation shot through his skull.
Marc turned around, startled, staring wide-eyed at the artist holding his head in pain.
A yo-yo quickly wrapped itself around Evillustrator’s pen and ripped it out of his hand. Ladybug caught it in her hand, throwing it down on the ground and smashing it with her foot.
Marc blinked. She arrived super fast. How convenient.
Nathaniel groaned, sitting on the ground as the heroine cast the cure, pulling back once he noticed Marc in front of him. The writer gave a shy wave, “On the bright side, you weren’t akumatized for very long.”
He stood up, shoulders tensing up. Nathaniel was about to start yelling again when someone else rushed into the room.
“Marc! I heard he was akumatized! Are you okay-”
“Oh, oh, and whose fault do you think that is?!” Marc huffed, facing him. His classmate scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“You’re too nice sometimes, honestly. He deserved what I did to him.”
Nathaniel recoiled, although his eyes went back and forth between the two classmates. Does that mean that Marc wasn’t the one who tore up his sketchbook?
“No matter what anyone does, it is not your job to retaliate and do the same thing back to them!”
“I just... wanted to protect you-”
“Protect?!” Marc shouted back, before stepping away and taking a deep breath. It didn’t seem to do much to calm the writer, because he immediately started yelling again, “What is up with you people and thinking that I’m so helpless that I need to be constantly protected from a big bad?!” He let out a silent scream before stomping out of the room, shoving his classmate as he passed.
Ladybug bit her lip, “Um. I’m gonna follow him and capture the akuma that is definitely headed for him right now.” As she ran out and used her yo-yo to swing away, Nathaniel followed on his feet.
---
Without thinking, Marc had traveled here again. The fountain where all this trouble started. He sighed, sitting down on the edge of it.
Marc looked up upon hearing heavy breathing.
“I...I’m sorry,” Nathaniel said first. “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. Both times.” He gave a subtle look towards the space next to Marc, “Can I…?”
The writer remained silent, sliding over to leave space for Nathaniel. “I’m sorry too,” He murmured as the other accepted the offer.
“Don’t apologize,” Nathaniel said, “You literally did nothing wrong throughout this entire scenario. I tore up your journal because I thought you were making fun of me, I started yelling at you without letting you explain, I went after you as an akuma, it was all me, so don't you dare apologize." Marc stared in shock as he took a deep breath, “I think the reason I hated you so much was because you reminded me that I was a horrible person.”
“Don’t say that,” Marc immediately cut in, “You-”
“No, we are not making this about me,” Nathaniel interjected, “You were the only one hurt by my actions.”
“Haven’t you heard the rumors in the hallways?!” Marc exclaimed.
“Yeah,” Nathaniel shrugged, “But you can’t really say they’re wrong, can you?” Marc flinched, looking away.
“I...I understand why you did it,” The writer murmured after a second, “Your friend, uh, Alix, right? She came up to me and said people have done some… bad things to you in the past relating to a work of art.”
Nathaniel bit his lip, thinking about the time Chloe had mocked him in class, on his birthday no less. “Yeah, but that doesn’t excuse anything I did.”
“...Thank you.”
They looked at each other, making eye contact, before quickly looking away.
“I’d like to start over,” Nathaniel said finally after a beat of silence, glancing up through his bangs at the writer.
Marc smiled, “I’d like that too.”
The artist cleared his throat, “I’m Nathaniel Kurtzberg, nice to meet you.”
“I’m Marc Anciel, nice to meet you too.”
They stared at each other before Nathaniel started laughing, bending over on himself and covering his mouth with his hand, “God, that’s so stiff.”
Marc giggled along with him, “We sound like characters of a visual novel meeting each other for the first time.”
“Right, right!” Nathaniel agreed, snapping his fingers, “Like, uhh, Your Turn to Die or Danganronpa! People never introduce themselves with their last names unironically.”
Marc stifled another laugh. He glanced up, seeing Marinette on her balcony, worry clear in her facial expression, waving him over. She must’ve been worried after Evillustrator came back, specifically after him. He stood up, “I have to go.” Marc gave a short wave goodbye before moving to walk out of the park.
“Hey, wait,” Nathaniel stood up, “Um, will I see you at the art club tomorrow?”
Marc turned around, blinking once before giving a smile, “Sure. See you there.”
As he walked out of the park, Marc idly thought to himself that things turned out alright after all, despite all the turmoil that occurred when Marinette first erased his name from the front page.