Work Text:
Ringg… Ringggg…
"IM COMING!" Nathaniel bitterly shouted at his phone, an object that clearly wasn't verbally asking him anything. Thankfully, his parents weren't home today, so a little bit of yelling wouldn't put him out of commission.
Nathaniel stomped out of his bathroom and into his large bedroom, snatching his phone off of his bed. His throat was already starting to burn, anger bubbling in his chest. His eyes were stinging, threatening to wet, as he pressed accept and raised the phone to his ear.
"What?!" Nathaniel huffed, not even bothering to check who was on the other end.
“...Um, I'm here." Marc replied softly, suddenly treading on thin ice.
Nathaniel jumped at hearing his voice. "M-Marc! Sorry, I... Wait, you're here?!"
"It's fine. More importantly, are you okay? Did something happen?"
"I..." Nathaniel sniffed. "Ill just let you in. I...might be a little late for our date."
"That's okay, Nath. Take your time, okay? Love you."
"...Love you too." Nathaniel mumbled before setting his phone down and roughly tugging the first beanie he could find over his head. Then he took off dashing into the living room and to the door.
***
"I'm sorry..." Nathaniel quietly wailed through muffled sobs, digging himself deeper into Marc's jacket.
"There, there... It's okay, there's no rush..." Marc murmured, gently rubbing circles into Nathaniel's back. He nosed into Nathaniel's fuzzy beanie and placed a gentle kiss. "So...you wanna talk about it?
Nathaniel pulled back from his arms, roughly wiping his eyes. "It's these- STUPID-!"
Marc grabbed his wrists, holding them prison from his face. "Hey, hey! Be gentle... You'll make it worse."
Nathaniel could only sniffle in response.
Marc let his wrists go, and took off into the bathroom to grab some tissues. He was quick to note the chaotic mess on the bathroom counter, miscellaneous hair products and a few makeup products scattered along the edge of the sink. And in the sink, what seemed to be the main focus, was a hair straightener.
Ah.
Marc quickly brought a tissue to Nathaniel's eyes, gently pressing the leftover tears away, while he held his face with his other hand, making sure to softly caress his cheek with his thumb. "Breathe. It's okay.."
With Marc's cues, Nathaniel slowly regained his breath, his sobs reduced to only slight sniffles. Marc continued to comfort him in gentle silence, just rubbing circles into his back and giving soft affirmative hums to his complaints.
Soon enough he let him go, and cupped his face in his hands. "So. Want to show me the damage?" He murmured, placing a quick kiss to Nath's cheek.
Nathaniel blushed at the touch and His gaze moved to the far wall. "It's really bad." He muttered. "It makes me look ugly."
Marc pressed a soft kiss to his lips instantly, making Nathaniel jump back a little. "Nath, nothing your hair does will make you any less beautiful to me. You know that." He reached a hand around Nath's waist and pulled him closer. He was making sure to shower an insecure Nathaniel with loving affection.
Nathaniel couldn't help but smile at Marc's overly affectionate gestures, and let out a soft giggle. With a pleasantly flushed face still, he gave Marc a quick peck in response. "Thank you…”
Nathaniel slowly reached up and grasped the beanie in his hands. "Promise you won't laugh?"
"Hmm. Depends on the damage." Marc chuckled.
"It's pretty bad, so just..." Nathaniel trailed off as he slipped the beanie off his head.
Underneath the beanie was of course Nathaniel's bright red hair, but very much set out of its usual style. His hair was tucked behind his ear on one side, but his typically large bang that covered his eye was swept in multiple directions throughout the strands. Not only that, it wasn't curved, so it gave him something like a fringe. And the cherry on top was a piece of hair completely sticking up on his forehead, giving him some sort of anime character ahoge.
Marc blinked. Then, a moment later, he quickly brought a hand to his mouth to try to stop his growing laughter.
Nathaniel flushed, quickly pushing the distraught bang behind his ear, minimizing the visual damage. “I-I know, I know, it's really bad…!”
“Hehe! No, no, it’s fine! You still look cute!” Marc giggled, still trying to hold back his laughter.
Nathaniel frantically covered his forehead with his hands. “You’re laughing!”
“I mean it, I mean it, really…!” Marc slowly caught his breath again.
“You— you’re just saying that. It’s horrible.” Nathaniel muttered, whipping around so his back faced Marc instead.
Marc let out one more chuckle before wrapping his arms around Nathaniel from behind, resting his face against his shoulder. “No, I mean it.” He placed a quick kiss against the back of his neck, which made him shiver. “You’re always cute.”
“Y-You say too much.” Nathaniel sputtered, getting shy at the attention Marc was giving him.
“Actually, I don’t think I say enough…” Marc murmured, pressing his face against Nathaniel’s neck. He drew back, still holding tightly onto him. “I need to remind you more, I think.”
Nathaniel found himself smiling again. It was hard to stay frustrated or anxious with an amazing and loving person like Marc around. “No… Any more and I might not be able to take it…” Nath mumbled, holding onto where Marc’s arms were latched around him.
“And that’s exactly why I should call you cute more often.” Marc chuckled, letting go and spinning Nathaniel around back to face him again. “Now, how about I fix this bang issue of yours, and we can…”
“…have our date another day?” Nathaniel suggested.
“Yup, that’s perfectly fine. We’ll go another day, when you’re feeling up for it.” Marc smiled, slipping his hand over Nathaniel’s and starting to pull him over to his bathroom. “We don’t need to go on a date to spend time with each other.”
“You’re right. But still, I’m sorry, I know you had everything planned out, and—”
“Nath. It’s okay. I don’t care about the plans, the whole point is so that I can be with you.” Marc stated, laughing a little. He brought the straighter out of the sink and turned it on. “Date or not, I love you all the same.”
Nathaniel brought his hands to cover his burning face. Marc really knew how to use his words sometimes. Makes sense, since he writes all the romantic plots in their comic—the charismatic one-liners have to come from somewhere, don’t they?
Marc giggled, obviously aware of his effect on Nathaniel. “Come on, anime protagonist, I need to fix your ahoge.” Marc called, waiting for Nathaniel to recover himself.
Nathaniel laughed at that, untucking his bangs and then laughing even more at seeing the ridiculous state of his hair. “It really is like an ahoge, isn’t it?”
“Yup. You could be the main character of a danganronpa game with that.” Marc commented, starting to iron the hair in sections.
“Gosh, no. I would be the first to die.” Nathaniel responded, face flat.
“Well, wouldn’t you get immunity because you’re the protag? You would think that some of the other protagonists would get killed super easily but they didn’t because they were the main character… And the crazy thing…”
***
“There! All done. You like it?” Marc chirped, setting the straightener down.
Nathaniel looked back at himself through the mirror, smiling at his usual look. But somehow, Marc had made it look better than usual? It looked slightly more messy, but messy in an organized, practiced way. Probably from how Marc does his own hair every day. “I…love it. It looks really good actually.”
“Yay! I’m glad.” Marc smiled, doing a little spin.
Nathaniel reached up and gave Marc’s cheek a quick kiss. “Thank you, Marc...” he murmured, smiling while awkwardly rubbing his elbow.
A giddy giggle shot out of Marc as his face started to tint, just getting shot in the heart by his boyfriend’s adorable mannerisms. It took some actual willpower to keep himself from picking Nath right up and squeezing him with all his might.
Nathaniel took his hand and pulled them out of the bathroom, rushing over to his desk. “To make it up to you, I’ll—”
“I already told you you didn’t have to-“
Nathaniel silenced him with a finger to his lips. “Shh. It’s okay, I want to.” He smiled. He plopped down into his desk chair, pulling out one of his many sketchbooks. “I’ll draw you…whatever you want.”
Marc’s eyes widened. “Really??”
“Really.” Nathaniel huffed triumphantly. “I’m opening free commissions just for you. Well, at least until I get tired.”
Marc excitedly did a little shimmy on the stool he was sitting on. “Well, in that case…”