Nathaniel was nervous, he wasn't this nervous for a long time. For the 10th time for now, he checked his look through the front camera of his phone, he tied his hair on the back of his head, so his eyes were both visible. He wore a simple black shirt, black pants and a blue jeans jacket, a casual look he hoped would work.
Work for what you may ask. Well, today was Marcs and Nathaniels first anniversary and it was a Saturday, so they were able to spend the whole day together. Nathaniel wanted everything to be perfect, so perfect that Marc can proudly call himself his boyfriend. He had everything planned, first he would take him to the park, maybe it will cause some bad memories because of what happened there over one year ago, but they also had their first date there, so the good memories would overcome the bad ones. After that, they will go to the Louvre, where a new exhibition would be presented today and for the grand final, they will get on top of the eiffel tower and have a few over Paris at night.
Nathaniel also had a present for Marc, he spend much time to choose it. He carried it with him in his inner pocket, but was scared to lose it, so he grabbed his pocket every few seconds to make sure it was still there.
"Calm down", he whispered to himself, "Everything will turn out just fine." Repeating this mantra a few times in his head, he quickly walked the last few meters to the apartment building Marc lived in.
A few seconds after he rang, the door opened with a buzz. Nathaniel climbed up the stairs, until he was on the highest floor, where he needed some time to breath.
"Hello Nathaniel, you look very good", he was greeted by Marcs mother, who stood in the entrance. She was the stereotypical single mom, a very kind women and very caring when it came to her child. "Thank you, Jeanette", Nathaniel greeted her back, "Is Marc ready?" "Almost, he's in the bathroom and checks his hair for almost the 5th time I think", his mother said in an amused voice, when suddenly the door next to the entrance opened. "Don't say something like this, mom, it was only the 3rd time", Marc complained as he stepped out of the bathroom. Same as Nathaniel, he was also wearing something casual: Blue Jeans, a grey tank top, a black hoodie and a he changed his choker for a colorful scarf. Nathaniel always thought casual clothing looked good on him, so it does now.
"I'm sorry, sweety", his mother apologized still amused, "But you don't have to worry this much, you're looking handsome, am I right Nathaniel?" "Ah, y-yes", Nathaniel answered nervous because he was caught staring at Marc, "In fact, you look very stunning." Nathaniels words made Marc blush. "T-thank you", he also answered nervous, before his mother pad his shoulder. "Then have fun you two", she said, "And remember, be back by ten." Both boys nodded as Marc stepped out the door. He waved his mother goodbye, as she closed the door behind her.
"So, shall we?", Nathaniel answered as he held one hand towards Marc. The other boy blushed even harder as he took it, giving Nathaniels cheeks a tinted red color, too. Hand in hand they left the building.
They walked a while in quiet, you could sense their nervosity. Sure they went on many dates before, but their first anniversary was something else.
They both couldn't believe it's already one year since they started dating. Nathaniel still remembered how nervous he got around Marc, when he realized he felt more than friendship for him. He always would gave his best not to look Marc in the eyes, or else his heart was beating in an extreme speed and his cheeks would get as red as his hair. If it wasn't for Alix and Marinette, who teamed up as matchmakers, they never had confess their feelings to each other. Maybe he should call them later to let them know how thankful he was, Nathaniel thought as they reached the park.
It was a beautiful sunny day, so many people gathered in the park and had a good time. Kids were playing or driving the carousel, while the adults would sit on the benches or the edge of the fountain to talk with each other.
"Here we are", Nathaniel finally said as they entered the park. Marc looked around to see his surroundings and also the many happy people. It made him smile, as he looked at Nathaniel. "Do you remember when we met here for our first date?", Marc asked happily. Nathaniel thought back to that day, it was a sunny day like today, two month after Marc got akumatized because of him. "I remember", Nathaniel said, "I was really worried, because I thought meeting here wasn't a good idea." Marc first looked at his boyfriend in confusemend, but then he realized. "Because I got akumatized here?", Marc asserted, "That hadn't bothered me, really, I still like to go here, the environment inspires me for my writings." Hearing this, Nathaniel felt much better, it wasn't a bad idea to go here. "I concentrate only on the good things: We sat on the fontain and planed what we were doing on this day, we laughed and then we had…", Marc started to list as he was interrupted by a bell. They both searched for the source of the bell and found it quickly. On the edge of the park was André with his ice cream stand, serving happy children and, of course, happy couples. Nathaniel and Marc both started to laugh. "Can André read minds or is this just coincidence?", Nathaniel asked amused. "I don't know", Marc answered same as amused, "But I know I could use some ice cream right now." Nathaniel nod in agreement, before they approached the ice cream stand.
André saw them already a few meters away and waved to them. "Hello you two! Let me guess, you two lovebirds are on a date, I can sense that", André said smiling. Both of them lightly blushed. "Hello André", Nathaniel greeted the man, "Yes we are, in fact it's our first anniversary today." Andrés smile grew even wider when he heard that. "Well, if that doesn't call for a delicious ice, then my name isn't André anymore", he said while grabbing for his scoop. He took a waffle and began to put different kinds of ice cream on top of it. Nathaniel knew the flavors just by looking at it, they were the same he gave Marc at their first date: Chocolate, Strawberry and Mint.
But just as André wanted to reach the waffle to Marc, they could hear screams in the distance. They first thought about an Akuma attack as they wanted to find the source of the screaming, but it was something they rarely saw. They saw a man, he looked very scruffy. On his back he carried a big bag, where some Euro Notes where looking out. A robbery!
The man was running towards them. Nathaniel wanted to pull Marc out of the way, but it was already to late. The man pushed Marc out of his way and continued running. Marc fell towards André, who were able to catch him, but the sweet treat, the ice-cream seller held in his hand, landed on Marcs shirt and left a big stain on it.
"Marc, are you okay?!", Nathaniel asked worried. "I'm fine", Marc said slightly shocked, "But the ice cream isn't, I'm so sorry, André." "Don't be, it wasn't your fault", André tried to calm Marc down, while he reached him a bottle of water and a tissue, "Take this and try to clean your shirt a bit, or else the stains will stay." Marc thanked André with a nod and poured some of the water on the tissue, before he tried to rub the stain away.
The most of the stain was gone, but you could still see where it was. Marc closed his hoodie, so it wasn't visible and André reached them another waffle with ice cream and two spoons. After they paid it, they thanked André and went to the fountain to sit down.
"Are you really okay, Marc?", Nathaniel asked again. This incident made him even more nervous as he was before. So much to make everything perfect, he thought and therefore he searched the fault by himself.
"Don't worry, Nath, I'm fine", Marc said as he touched his boyfriends shoulder, "I'm not hurt and the rest of the stain will vanish when I wash the shirt." "Hm", Nathaniel simply answered, Marcs words comforted him a bit but the guild somehow wasn't disappearing. He should have reacted sooner, that wouldn't have happened if he had reacted sooner.
A sudden weight brought him back to the real world. Marc slid a bit more towards him and laid a head on his shoulder, making Nathaniel blush. "Please don't be like that" he begged while taking one of the spoons. He spooned some of the mint green ice cream up and hold it towards Nathaniels mouth. "Here, you said mint is your favorite flavor, isn't it", he asked while giving Nathaniel a heart warming smile. It was this smile, Nathaniel couldn't react any other way to, as to smile back. He opened his mouth and Marc fed him with the cold and sweet treet. It melted on his tongue and the refreshing flavor spread in his mouth. "Hmm", Nathaniel hummed while smiling, "You're right, it is my favorite one and I know you like chocolate very much." With this words he picked up the other spoon and held it in front of Marcs face. Marc ate the ice cream and smiled also. "I'm impressed, you know me very well", he said in a seductive voice. Nathaniel laughed hysterically. "What was that?", he asked while still laughing. Marc also started laughing. "I don't know", he said, "But it made you laugh, so I guess it was good."
They finished their ice cream and left the park. It was time to visit the exhibition in the Louvre. They showed exhibits from Germany, to celebrate 60 years of french - german friendship. Even the german chancellor, Angela Merkel, visit the Louvre to open the exhibition with the french president, Manuel Macron. Neither Nathaniel nor Marc had any relations to Germany, but many famous authors came from Germany and Nathaniel knew that Marc read many of their works, so he think it would be an interesting thing for him.
As Marc saw the sign on the entrance, he had a questioning look. "A german exhibition?", he asked in confusement. "Alix told me about it", Nathaniel said, "They have very much exhibits from german writers, I thought you might be interested." "Writers like Berthold Brecht?", Marc asked suddenly excited. Nathaniel chuckled. "There is only one way to find out" he said as he took Marcs hand. Smiling with a blush, Marc walked alongside Nathaniel as they entered the museum.
They paid for the entry and walked into the great hall. Many people gathered here to watch the new exhibits and also some photografies. Marc saw a photo of a german policeman jumping over the unfinished berlin wall and was fascinated. "Nath, let's go over there", Marc said while dragging Nathaniel towards the wall. Nathaniel scanned the picture with his eyes. A sign on the side said that this photo was taken 1961, when the berlin wall was about to separate east and west Berlin. This photo was taken by coincidence, when Conrad Schuhmann, the policeman on this photo, fled from east to west Berlin to escape the regime of the soviet union.
"If that isn't my favorite couple in Paris", they suddenly heard a familiar voice. As they both turned around, they saw Alix standing behind them. "Hi, Alix", they said in unison. "So, how is the exhibition going so far?", Nathaniel asked her. "Well, except for one incident, very well", she explained. Both looked to her in confusion. "What incident?", Marc asked as they heard a noise.
A few meters away, a group of young men were mocking other visitors. They looked like trouble, with their bald shaved skull, their ripped black clothing and their combat boots. The people were leaving the museum fast, wearing a scared look at their face.
"How did they get back here?", Alix sighed, "We told the cashiers to not let them in again." Nathaniel could feel that Marc tightened the grip around his hand. He looked to him to see that he got a bit pale, he was scared too. Nathaniel got furious.
"Alix, get your dad or your brother and call the police", Nathaniel said in a monotone voice. Alix nodded as she walked towards the stairs to the next floor. "And you come with me", he whispered to Marc. Not letting go of each other, they quietly walked to the second hall, exerted not to drive the attention towards them… but it failed.
"Yo, look at this two fags there", one of the man yelled. Marc grew stiff out of scare and it got even worse when he heard footsteps coming towards them. He started shaking and Nathaniel was sure to see tears in the corner of his eyes. That was when he snapped.
"Yeah so?! Got a problem with that?!", he yelled back to the men. "Nath…", Marc whispered to him in shock, "Stop that…" "Oh, got some balls, you little faggot?!", the men answered as he stood right in front of Nathaniel. He was one head taller than him and also very muscular, but Nathaniel didn't stepped back, even when Marc tried to hold him back. "I'm not scared of you", he said in an angry voice, "And you and your skinheads are leaving right now, the police is alarmed and will be here any second." You could cut the tension with a knife, when the man was coming even closer to Nathaniel. "Well", he finally said, "Then let's give them some work." With this words he build a fist and hit Nathaniel right in the face, so hard he fell to the ground.
"Nath!", Marc got out of his numbness and tried to run towards him, but the mans buddies held him back. "Let go of him!", Nathaniel yelled at them and tried to get up, but the man grabbed him at his shirt and dragged him up. Marc wanted to do something, he tried to free himself from the grip of the men, but they were to strong.
But they were lucky. Before the men could manage to haul of for another blow, two policemen grabbed his arms from behind and he let go of Nathaniel who fell to the ground. When his friends saw other policemen coming, they also let go of Marc, who also fell on the ground and ran away.
When the policemen hault of the bald men, Alix came back, followed by her father. He went with the police to explain them the whole situation and Alix stayed with Nathaniel and Marc.
"Nath, look at me, are you hurt?", Marc asked worried. When Nath turned his head towards his boyfriend, his eyes widened in shock. "Nath… your eye…", he just said. Nathaniel raised his hand to touch it and could feel a slight pain. He already knew that would give a shiner. "I get something to cool it", Alix said as she run away again.
Marc helped Nathaniel to get up and brought him to one of the benches on the side of the hall, where they both sat down. When Alix came back with a refrigerated back, Marc thanked her and slowly put the pack on Nathaniels eye. He hissed a bit when he the sudden cold made contact with his skin. Marc laid his other hand on Nathaniel knee, to give him a bit of comfort.
"Why did you have to play the hero? That was very stupid", Alix scolded him, but Nathaniel just shrugged his shoulders. "They offended me and Marc", Nathaniel said, "And you know I don't like to be mocked." And he also didn't liked that they scared Marc, but he didn't want to say this, Marc shouldn't feel guilty for that.
Some Minutes later, they said goodbye to Alix and made their way towards the inner city. Nathaniels eye still hurt a bit, but he didn't care about that. What he cared about was, that their date went catastrophic. He wanted to make everything perfect, but he wasn't able to.
When they reached the eiffel tower, Nathaniel sighed. "What's up? Is something with your eye again?", Marc asked still worried. "I don't care about my stupid eye", Nathaniel suddenly said, "I'm angry of myself." "Why are you angry of yourself?" Marc asked in a serious voice.
Nathaniel sighed again. "I wanted make our first anniversary perfect", he explained, "But I failed, I failed so bad." Nathaniel let his head hang down, not was he angry, he was also ashamed.
But then something he wouldn't thought happened, after being quiet for a while, Marc… laughed?
"Nath", he started and stopped laughing before he continued, "I don't need a 'perfect' date, I don't care if something comes different than planned. It's perfect as long as I'm able to spend time with you."
When Nathaniel heard this, he suddenly felt better, in fact, he forgot everything he just worried about. He was just looking at Marc, at his smiling face and his heart started racing. He had the urge to hug him, to hold him tight and so he did.
Laying in his boyfriends arms, Marcs face turned so red, you cold mistake it with a tomato. "I don't really know how I could deserve someone like you, but I'm glad to call you my boyfriend", Nathaniel whispered in Marcs ear. It made Marcs heart race and his knees started to shake. Though he's a lot more confident around Nathaniel then he was one year ago, his boyfriend still managed to make him a blushing and nervous mess sometimes.
His arms shaked as Marc raised them to hold Nathaniel too. They stood like this for nearly one minute, before Nathaniel suggested to go on the top of the eiffel tower, to which Marc happily agreed.
They stood there for a long time and watched the skyline, as it slowly turned dark and the lights of the buildings switched on. It was a mesmerising few, but something bothered Nathaniel, he could have sworn he forgot something.
"Of course!", he suddenly said out loud and startled Marc with it. "I have something for you", he said before grabbing in his inner pocket. Inside was a very tiny sketchbook, a ribbon was wrapped around it. He gave it to Marc, who untied the ribbon to look inside.
His eyes widened as he saw what his boyfriend made for him. On every page of the sketchbook were little drawings of different memories they made over the year. A drawing of when they first met, one of the first day they worked on their comic together, one of their first date and, Marcs personal favorite, one of their very first kiss.
Marc gave his best not to cry out of happiness, but he couldn't hold back. His tears were falling and he quickly whipped them away with his hand, before he closed the sketchbook. "I have something for you, too", he said and opened the pocket of his hoodie, "But I'm afraid it's not that special." He put out a notebook in the same size as Nathaniel sketchbook, it was white with a little heart on the cover. Nathaniel opened it, inside where tiny texts with different dates on the top. "That are some texts from my diary", Marc explained, "The ones I wrote about you." Nathaniel started to read it. Marc wrote about all the days they spend time together and described his feelings in every little detail which was possible. While reading, Nathaniel felt his heart even more racing than before. Then he found an entry from a few days ago.
"Dear Diary", he began to read out loud, "In a few days, Nathaniel and I will have our first anniversary. I can't believe it's almost one year since I confessed to him, time flies when you are with someone you love. I still remembered the day I fell in love with him. Some classmates were watching his drawings on their phone as I catched a glimpse of it. I was so mesmerized by his talend, it inspired me to write again, I didn't do this anymore after my parents divorced. It was a hard time for me to accept that my family will never be the same anymore, I became quieter than I already was, I broke the contact to almost every friend and when people asked me how I am, I always told them the same lie: I'm fine. But then I met Nathaniel and even though we had a difficult start, everything turned out fine. We became partners, then friends and then lovers. I hope this will last many years, but hopefully a lifetime."
Nathaniel didn't know what to say, instead he just smiled widely and opened his arms to hold his boyfriend. He accepted the invitation.
"This is the best gift someone ever gave me, thank you so much", he whispered. Marc smiled. "I love you", he also whispered. "I love you, too", was Nathaniels answere. And after this said, they shared a long passionate kiss. Maybe the date wasn't perfect, Nathaniel thought, but this moment definitly was.