A/N: This story will contain minor spoilers for the episode Mayura/Hero's Day Part 2

From: Nathaniel

To: Marc

Sent: 14:21

Okay I'm gonna tell them I'm questioning. Maybe not that I'm bi or pan, but just that I'm not straight. I can't stand some of their comments any more, breathing down my neck about girls.

From: Marc

To: Nathaniel

Sent: 14:26

Good luck. Let me know how it goes

The little heart at the end of Marc's last message was almost enough for Nathaniel to want to throw himself in bed and just enjoy the thought of it, rather than march into the kitchen and tell his parents he was at the very least bisexual or pansexual; certainly not heterosexual.

It was still warm out, as autumn was slow to creep into Paris causing Nathaniel to discard his jacket the moment he got into his bedroom, but now that he was up and walking towards the kitchen, he wished he kept it on for something to fidget with. His mother was washing down the table with her red hair pulled back into a messy bun, as she had been sculpting pottery for most of the day, and his father was hunched over at their little desk nook under the stairs, his head resting in his hand.

Nathaniel cleared his throat. "Uh, mom, dad? Can I talk to you both about something real quick? It's important."

"Sure, what's up?" His mom asked, a bit of murky water still stuck to her cheek from her pottery. His father turned around wordlessly to glance at him. Nathaniel's heart was pounding in his chest and his breathing felt shallow, but he pushed forward. "Um. I—I just wanted to tell you both that I think—I mean, that I like men and women. You know. I'm attracted to men, women, anyone really. Not just girls. I just didn't—uh, want you thinking I was straight because I'm not."

A silence stretched after this declaration, which was finally broken by Nathaniel's mom squeaking and rushing over to him, pulling him into a hug with misty eyes. "Thank you for telling us, Nath," she said, and Nathaniel leaned into her embrace as if it could hold back all the horrors of the world itself, and all at once his heart rate plummeted back into the normal range. "You know I'll always love you, right?"

When his mother pulled away and gave Nathaniel the space to nod in return, his dad said something which made Nathaniel's nerves spike all over again. "Well…so long as you mostly like girls, if you know what I mean."

"What?"

His dad shuffled uncomfortably in his chair and stood up, raking a hand through gray speckled dark hair. "You said you're—erm—you like men and women. But that means you still could end up with a girl, right?"

Nathaniel's throat constricted. "Well, I guess. But—but, uh, I wanted to say something else. You both know Marc? I invite him over all the time of course you know Marc. Well, I—I—wanna ask him out, and I was hoping you both could give me some advice."

His father let out a heavy sigh which felt more like a kick to the stomach than a mere sound alone. He then muttered under his breath, clutching tightly at a paper from his desk and waving it around for a moment. "First I got fired at work and now I find out there's something wrong with my son-"

Nathaniel's mom whirled on him. "There's nothing wrong with our son-"

But now it seemed that the dam had burst, and Nathaniel's dad continued, causing him to back up a step until he ran into the refrigerator. "Course there is! He'll be made fun of for being weird! I want him safe, how can he be safe if he can't even like women-"

His father shoved the now crumpled paper into his pocket and his mother approached him with narrowed eyes. "Wait you said you got fired? Mathis! Without your job we won't be able to afford rent!"

"Not with your job as a sculptor, we sure can't!" His father retorted. Wordlessly, his mother slammed a dirty rag against the table with unnecessary force that made Nathaniel wince. "It doesn't matter Camille, our son's a-" Whatever Mathis was about to say, Nathaniel's mother interrupted him, but Nathaniel already deflated.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!"

"You know what? I need a break. That's what I need!"

His mother yelled after him, but Nathaniel's dad had already stormed up the stairs, and the sound of the balcony door slamming shut could be heard behind him. Nathaniel heard some faint buzzing in his ears as he fought to regain his breathing. He then flung himself up the stairs and after his dad two steps at a time. He took the hall all the way down past his and his parents' bedroom and stopped at the curtained double doors that led onto the patio, which was left cracked open. Nathaniel knelt, the events from before finally catching up to him to the point that his eyes burned and he raked a hand across them, momentarily pushing his flaming hair out of his face and keeping his cool palms pressed against his forehead in an effort to calm himself before he could start shaking.

But then he heard a panicked voice outside. "Wait—no—no!"

Nathaniel had glanced out the window just in time to see a flicker of a purple butterfly's wings, and he was positively frozen in place as the daunting amethyst glow surrounded his father's eyes before a similarly colored cloud engulfed him. Nathaniel then peeled himself away from the window and slammed his body against the wall of the hallway, his knees pulled up to his chest in an effort to make himself as small as possible. Nathaniel shakily reached for his phone and texted Marc with a trembling, numb hand.

Mathis Kurtzberg leaned heavily against the railing of their patio, a million and two thoughts swirling around in his mind, entirely overwhelming him. First he was fired at a job he enjoyed, then their last bill was late, and now this. He loved his son. This was just not his day, as far as Mathis was concerned.

He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he did not see Hawk Moth's little butterfly until it was nearly on top of him, and no amount of exclamations as he swatted at it could make it go away. Rather it sunk into his employment termination notice in his pocket, and Mathis stiffened as an unknown voice, judgement, and force took over not only his mind, but his thoughts and actions, as well.

A deep, velvet tone spoke to him. Hoverer, you'd rather have what's best for your wife and son for fear that society may see them as outsiders. Well I'll give you the chance to keep them safe, you just have to do a little something for me, first. Get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous.

"Yes, Hawk Moth. But first I'm keeping this Marc as far away from my son. The more civilians I endanger the faster Ladybug and Chat Noir will arrive."

Nathaniel's father was gone, in his place was Hoverer, a tall, barrel chested man clad in an angular jumpsuit with various belts hanging off his person and sharp shoulder pads pointed upwards unevenly. Half of him was painted a navy blue, the other half an emerald green. A baton hung from one of his belts at his side, and as soon as he leapt into the air a circular platform appeared beneath his feet. Blades akin to a helicopter sat beneath the platform, keeping it afloat, and the sound whipped in his ears as he sped off, flying from the patio and shooting through the sky. He was gone so quickly he could not hear the sound of his son screaming after him, nor did he see Nathaniel desperately throwing himself down the stairs with the intent to follow him.

A/N: Hello and thanks for reading! I should be able to update this fairly regularly since I have a few chapters written due to the chapters being rather short, so look forward to that, as I'm excited to get this story under way! I absolutely adore Nathaniel and Marc despite there not being a ton of stories with them on fanfiction. Hopefully that'll change eventually.