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Nathaniel yawned, leaning back against the wall near the entrance of the school, waiting for his boyfriend, the love of his life, the absolute best thing that had ever happened to him.
"I brought coffee," Marc said, spotting Nathaniel immediately and walking over.
"I love you," The artist stated as seriously as possible, grabbing the cup from his hands and taking a huge gulp.
Marc smiled fondly, "You're welcome, my prince." He held Nathaniel's unoccupied hand, bending down to plant a gentle kiss on the back of his knuckles.
Nathaniel giggled, blushing and ducking his head, very obviously pleased with the nickname. Once Marc straightened up again, the redhead hid his face in the sleeve of Marc's hoodie, hoping to obscure the dumb smile that had appeared on his face.
Chloe rolled her eyes from the other side of the building. She didn't understand why Nathaniel had become so flustered. His standards must be low if he's that thrilled from so simple of an act.
---
Nathaniel was still tired so he ended up leaving before Marc at the end of the day, managing to sneak a cheek kiss from Marc before going.
As the artist walked away, Marc stayed behind with a fond look in his eyes as he watched his boyfriend's back. When he turned around to go to the art club, Chloe was there, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.
"What does he see in you? 'My prince'? That's the dumbest nickname I've heard."
Marc huffed, moving to step around her but she simply walked in front of him.
"What does it matter to you?" He muttered, "Leave me alone."
Chloe scoffed, laughing in Marc's face. "Please! How can I when I see how pathetic you are? Look at yourself! You're the exact opposite of a prince. They're dignified and regal. You walk into poles on a weekly basis."
Marc took a step back, biting his lips as his face burned.
"Save yourself the trouble and stop acting like you know how to act like one," Chloe snickered, turning around with a flip of her ponytail and leaving.
He glared at her back, fists clenching the strap of his book bag. An akuma fluttered by, phasing into a pride pin attached to the strap.
"Royal Romantic, I am Hawkmoth. Allow me to help you in your romantic endeavours. You can finally live with your prince in your fairy tale dream. All you need to do is get me the miraculous."
Marc was still staring at Chloe as he murmured, "And the wicked witch gets her comeuppance."
A black mist surrounded the boy, leaving behind Marc, but his outfit had changed to a princely outfit, mostly white with gold embellishments and accents along the edges of the sleeves. His hair had also been adjusted to become a short ponytail. He adjusted the ruby pin on his sash before cracking his knuckles.
With a flourish, Royal Romantic pulled out a sword from the sheath on his back, spinning it around with a smirk.
"I will start the journey to our happy ending. Starting with getting rid of the villain of the story!"
---
He didn't kill Chloe, of course. He wasn't that mean.
Royal simply grabbed her, dragging her by her ponytail despite her howling protests, stabbing his sword into the door of the boiler room. He willed it to change before everyone's eyes. Below the school, the dark room was being transformed into long, winding corridors
"Hey, let her go!" Kim shouted, stepping up in front of the akuma.
"Aww, how brave," Royal cooed, "Why don't you help me?"
"Never!" The athlete shouted, shifting into a fighting stance.
"Oh, please," Royal yanked his sword out of the jail wall, pointing it at Kim, "You don't have a choice."
A laser shot out of the tip, surrounding itself around the teen before Kim was being levitated up into the air, body glowing until it dimmed, revealing a newly placed knight suit on the boy.
"Keep her there, please," He said politely as the transformation finished, leaving Kim as a guard to protect the jails. "And if anyone tries to free her, toss them in there too!" He snapped his fingers with a little happy grin, "Oh, almost forgot! If Ladybug and Chat Noir show up, capture them too!" The akuma shoved Chloe over, the jailer catching her wordlessly even as she struggled. "Put her in one of the cells, thank you very much!" Kim nodded, bringing the blond along with him into the doorway and down the stairs, the door slamming shut behind him.
The students around him were slightly offput by how cheerfully he had commanded the guard, but it should be expected by now, considering he was an akuma. Surprisingly, there had been a lot of girls squealing when he appeared, some of them even offering to be his princess.
God, the things being pretty in this world does. Honestly, they should be more concerned with the fact that he was an akuma than the fact he was a prince.
Unwilling to stay there any longer, Royal Romantic jumped up, landing on the roof of the school. He stared off into the distance where Nathaniel's house was. The akuma gave a fond smile.
"I'm coming, my prince."
---
Royal Romantic slid Nathaniel's balcony door open, quietly stepping in and closing it behind him. He turned towards his boyfriend's bed, wandering over to the dozing redhead, faced away from him.
Wow, he really didn't get a lot of sleep last night.
He couldn't wake him up after seeing that, instead leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on the side of his prince's head.
Nathaniel grumbled, shifting in his sleep before eventually turning around and blinking his eyes open, staring directly at the akuma's face. Royal Romantic froze, not sure how Nathaniel would react.
The redhead simply gazed at him for a couple seconds, before reaching out and pulling him into bed. The akuma stumbled over his feet as Nathaniel scooted over, embracing the akuma with a happy coo of "Marc, you look like an angel. Cause you are." followed by an adorable giggle. Looks like Nathaniel thought he was still Marc.
"It's Royal Romantic," He gently corrected, hugging the artist back with another kiss to his forehand, "You're so cute, my prince."
Even while half-asleep, Nathaniel giggled, flattered, at the nickname, simply cuddling closer to Royal Romantic, tangling their legs together. He stayed still until he felt Nathaniel go back to sleep against his side, softly snoring, although his grip didn't let up at all.
"Hey. The miraculous," Hawkmoth growled in his mind.
"Right, right," Royal Romantic squirmed a bit to get out of Nathaniel's grasp. "Um."
"What's the matter?"
"I don't actually think I can get out. He's hugging me too tight."
"What?!"
There was a small snicker from the balcony and Royal Romantic glanced over to see Chat covering his mouth to hide his laughter as Ladybug stood besides him.
"Do you want to make this hard or do you want to hand over your object?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"You can fight me for it," The akuma growled.
"Do you really want to get up and risk waking him up?" Ladybug asked with a raised eyebrow.
Royal Romantic went silent, before just grabbing the pin and tossing it over to the heroes, Chat catching it with a whisper of his power, activating just as the object landed in his hand.
Ladybug purified the akuma, tossing up her charm, which looked like a tomato toy, to cast the cure.
Nathaniel shivered as he woke up just from the sensation of Royal Romantic turning back into Marc, "Huh?" Marc blinked, also confused, looking around and spotting the heroes.
"You got akumatized," Ladybug explained with a smile, waving goodbye before she and Chat Noir left.
Marc didn't have anytime to process it before the artist hummed, simply tugging his boyfriend closer and nuzzling into his side, "I hope you feel better now."
Marc relaxed into Nathaniel's hold, letting his eyes flutter shut as he murmured, "I'm with you. Of course I do." Whatever Chloe said didn't matter. He knew Nathaniel loved him and that's all he needed.