Marc stood in front of the mirror and tried to tie his bow tie, but no matter how many times he tried, it wouldn't work. "It looked so easy in the Tutorials, why can't I get this right?", he asked himself before untightened the knot around his neck again. He took his phone from his desk to start the video he was watching one more time, before it knocked on the door.
"Come in", he called, before the door opened and his mother peeked her head inside. "Are you ready, sweety?", she asked him, "Nathaniel will be here any minute." Marc sighed. "I would, if I could finally tie this", he said while pointing on the loose bow tie around his neck.
His mother grinned as she finally came in. "Here, let me help you", she said as she reached for his neck. She flipped the ends of the tie a few times around, before tying them together. "Done!", she said smiling. Marc turned towards the mirror to look at it, his mother was able to tie him a perfect bow tie. Marc was surprised.
"Where did you learn this, mom?", Marc asked here, still marveled. "I was a waitress in a restaurant when I went to university, bow ties belonged to our uniform", she explained, "It was the same restaurant in which I met your father, later I tied it sometimes for him."
The mention of his father made Marc sad. It were already five years ago since he died, but thinking back about how he died still leave a sting in his heart.
He was diagnosed with depressions, which was difficult for him to handle. He went to therapies, were put on medication and Marc and his mother supported him the best way they could, in hope it would get better. But one day, he didn't come home from work.
Marc still remembered when his worried mother walked up and down the living room, calling his work, his side of the family and some of his friends, asking if they saw him. When they all denied, she called the police and report his father as missed. Through his illness, they started searching directly. But it was to late… they found his corpse three days later at the edge of the Seine. The pockets of his jacket were filled with stones, so it was clear that he drowned himself.
Marcs mother embraced him, when she saw how sad he became. "I miss him so much", he said. "I know, sweety", his mother answered, "Me too."
They stood there for another minute embracing each other, before they let go. "But don't let us think about that now, today is a happy day", his mother said, "And I'm sure your father is watching you from above and telling the other angels something like: 'Do you see this passionate graduate down there? This is my son!'" The thought of this made Marc smile again.
Then it rang on the door, Nathaniel was here. "I open the door, you get ready for your great appearance", his mother said excited. Marc laughed and grabbed his jacket, which laid on his bed. He put it on and checked his looks in the mirror again, before he took a deep breath. It was time.
Marcs mother pushed the button to open the door of the apartment building and then opened the apartment door. Footsteps echoed through the staircase and after a few minutes, she saw her sons boyfriend, dressed in a good looking, dark blue suit.
"Good evening, Nathaniel", she greeted him, "You're looking very handsome tonight, if you weren't my sons boyfriend and if I weren't to old for you, I would ask you out." "Good evening, Jeanette", Nathaniel said amused, "Is Marc ready." "Almost, come in", she said before she stepped out of the door to let Nathaniel in.
"Marc, are you ready, sweety?", Marcs mother called out. "Don't call me 'sweety' in front of Nath", Marc said through the door in embarrassment. "Ok, ok", his mother laughed, "Come out, or else you two will be late."
The door opened and Marc, dressed in a black and red suit and crimson red in his face, came out. Nathaniel got a little red himself as he looked at Marc. Slowly, he stepped up to him. "Y-you… look v-very handsome, Marc", he said while looking to the side. Marc got even more red, he didn't even thought that this would be possible. "T-Thanks…", Marc answered, "Y-You look very h-handsome, too."
It became quiet for nearly a half minute, when Nathaniel cleared his throat. "Well", he said, "Shall we go?" Marc nodded and wanted to walk towards the door.
"Stop", Marcs mother called out and waved the camera through the air, "First I want to take a picture, then you are allowed to go."
"Step a bit together", she said while looking through the camera. Marc and Nathaniel did as the women said. They smiled in the camera… at least until Nathaniel pecked Marc on the cheek, only one second before his mother pressed the flash point.
On the display, you could see the result. Marcs smile was replaced by a surprised facial expression.
"Awwww", his mother said, "I think I will frame this." "Wha-", Marc wanted to protest, but was turned around by Nathaniel. "Come on, Marc, we don't want to be late", he changed the topic and opened the door. "Have fun you two!", Marcs mother called out before the door closed.
It was a five minute ride to school and another ten minutes for Nathaniel to find a parking lot. It seems that everybody had the idea to get to the prom by car.
"Look, there is one!", Marc called out and pointed to a free place on the edge of the street. Nathaniel was relieved to finally have found one.
But as soon as Nathaniel switched on the blinker, a white Mercedes overtook them and stole the place. "What the-", Nathaniel wanted to curse, but hold back since Marc sat in the car with him and he didn't like it when Nathaniel cursed. So instead he honked a few times, until the driver got out of their car. The driver of this very expensive looking car, of course, was none other than Chloé Bourgeois, who now walked towards Nathaniels car. Nathaniel let down the window and glared at her with anger in his eyes. "Would you stop honking like an idiot? I heard you the first time", she nagged around. "Then get off of the parking lot!", Nathaniel yelled in anger, while Marc laid a hand on his shoulder to make him calm down. "Uh, no!", Chloé continued, "I got it first, so that's bad luck for you." With this said Chloé left.
Nathaniel slammed his head on the steering wheel and groaned, still in anger. "Nath, please calm down", Marc said a little frightened, "If nothing helps, we park the car a little farther away and walk a bit."
Nathaniel wanted to groan a second time, but then they heard a knock against the window on Marcs side. They turned around to see Adrien standing in front of it. Marc let the window down, so they could hear him. "If you search for a parking lot, my driver is driving away right now", he explained, "You can park there."
Marc thanked him, while Nathaniel looked relieved again. He pulled back and changed places with Adriens driver.
The gym looked absolutely stunning. Everything was decorated in red, black and silver, the colors the students chose, and a long table at the end of the hall held a variousity of snacks and drinks.
Electronic music were played, the DJ was none other than Nino and he did his job with passion, his girlfriend Alya stood next to him and nodded her head to the rhythm. All the other, except for some exceptions, gathered in the middle of the hall, danced and just had fun.
Marc was messmerized, he spend a lot time to imagine how the prom would turn out, but it was even more beautiful than in his dreams.
"Marc, Nathaniel, you're finally here!", they heard a familiar voice. "Hi Ali-", they wanted to greet Nathaniels best friend, until they saw her. She was wearing a black dress which reached to her knees and her usual messy hair was crombed, she was also wearing a little make up and a medallion around her neck.
"Who are you and what have you done to Alix?", Nathaniel asked in confusement, while Alix rolled her eyes. "Believe me, normally I would never ever take one step in the outside world while wearing a dress", she said while taking of the medallion, "But today it is, indeed, very important to me." She opened the medallion and showed them the photo inside. It showed a picture of a girl, which looks really similar to Alix, she was wearing the same dress as her right now. "Is this your mother?", Nathaniel asked her. Marc remembered that Nathaniel told him once that Alix mother died because of cancer and that Alix and her were really close. "Yeah", Alix said, "It was her prom dress and wearing it makes me feel so close to her." Nathaniel and Marc both nodded understanding. "I think she would be very happy to see you wearing it", Marc said. Alix nodded thankfully.
"Well, I could use something to eat, would you guys like to come with me?" Alix asked. They boys both nodded and followed her to the buffet.
They reached the buffet after fighting their way through the crowd. Alix took a cupcake, while Marc poured in two glasses of punch and reached one to Nathaniel. "Let us drink on our Graduation", Nathaniel said smiling. Both of them raised their glass. "Cheers!", they called out before taking a sip of the sweet drink.
Suddenly, when Marc looked down for a moment, he saw some red fabric, looking out under the table. Nathaniel seemed to have noticed too, because when Marc looked back to him, he shrugged his shoulders.
Out of curiosity, Marc lifted the tablecloth to see what's behind it.
"Marinette?", Marc wondered as he saw his friend in her red ball gown sitting underneath the table, "What are you doing underneath the table?"
Nathaniel also bend down to see her. Her face was red, tears build up in her eyes and she was shaking.
"Marinette!", Marc tries again to drive her attention towards, "What's wrong?"
"I messed up", Marinette finally said, "I messed up big time." Nathaniel and Marc looked at each other confused. "Messed up with what?", Nathaniel asked her. The first tears rolled down her eyes. When Marc saw this he stood up, took a napkin from the desk and reached it to Marinette.
"Don't cry", Marc tried to cheer her up, "Tell us what happened." Marinette first hesitated, but then she took a deep breath, wiped away her tears and finally spoke.
"I wanted to confess to Adrien today", she started, surprising both of the boys. They knew for a long time what Marinette felt for the blond boy, everyone knew to be honest. Well, everyone but Adrien, since this boy was so oblivious.
"I finally had the guts to ask him out and he said yes and even picked me up from home. When we got here, we had so much fun and talked as much as we never did before. I was so sure I could finally tell him how I feel, so I told him to meet me outside, but… but then somebody pushed me and I fell… while holding a glass of punch", she continued and started sobbing. Marc slowly reached out his hand to pad Marinette on the back in hope it would calm her down.
"Everything landed on his shirt", she said, now crying, "I was so embarrassed, that I ran away and hided under the table." It stung Marc in the heart to see his friend cry like this. It wasn't fair, Marinette was such a nice girl, she doesn't deserve to be that unlucky.
"Marinette?!", they heard someone call out for her. Marinette, not wanting to see this person, ripped the tablecloth out of Marcs hand and hided behind it again, pulling the hem of her dress to her this time.
"Hey you two", Marc and Nathaniel suddenly heard a voice behind them. They turned around to see that it was Adrien, a big red stain stood out of his normally white shirt. 'Crap', Marc thought, 'Marinette didn't overdo it when she said that EVERYTHING landed on his shirt.'
"Have you seen Marinette somewhere?", he asked. To his surprise, Marc couldn't see any anger in his face. He looked more like he was… worried?
"Why?", Nathaniel asked, playing unaware, "Did something happen?" Adrien sighed. "Chloé bumped into her and she accidently poured her punch over my shirt", he explained, "Than she just apologized real quick and ran away so fast, I couldn't even tell her that she didn't need to."
"She didn't need to?", Marc asked. "Of course not", Adrien made sure, "It was an accident, so there's no reason to feel guilty about it."
"So… you're not angry?", Nathaniel asked. "I'm not", Adrien made clear, "But I'm worried that she thinks I am, that's why I wanted to talk to her, but I can't find her anywhere."
"Well…", Marc started, "We… just… saw her run outside." "Yeah", Nathaniel stated, "Maybe she's still somewhere in front of the school."
Adrien nodded. "Thanks guys, I will try to find her there", he said before running towards the entry. When Marc and Nathaniel made sure that Adrien was gone, they lifted up the tablecloth again.
"Did you hear that?", Marc said, "He isn't mad and he even want to talk to you to make this clear." Marinette stopped crying and looked to them. Her mascara ran down her cheeks, her face could get easily confused for a pandas ones.
"Ok, she can't talk to him while looking this messed up", Nathaniel said a little shocked. "Do you have some make up with you?", Marc asked, but Marinette shook her head.
Nathaniel thought for a moment.
"I have an Idea", he suddenly said and ran off towards the DJ desk. Marc looked after him and saw that he was talking to Nino and Alya. Alya then looked a little surprised, then turned around and searched for something. When she found it, she turned around again and handed Nathaniel a small, silver back, before he ran back to Marinette and him.
"Alya had something with her", Nathaniel said, "She said she can use anything she wants." Marc smiled at Nathaniel before taking the back. Nathaniel then bend down to give Marinette a hand, which she grabbed and finally came out of her hiding place. "So, now you will go to the bathroom and fix your make up", Marc said to her while handing her the back, "Nath and I will wait in front of it to make sure no one interrupts you."
A few minutes later, the three stood outside and watched Adrien from behind a wall, as he still searched for Marinette. "Ok", Marc started to explain to her, "Now you just go up there and talk to him. I know it sounds easier than it is, but otherwise you will never confess to him." Marinette still looked a bit unsure. "Look", Nathaniel started and laid a hand on Marinettes shoulder, "You have so much to give to a guy: You're smart, you're cute, you're friendly and so on. If he doesn't see this, he is totally not worth it."
Marc felt a bit jealous hearing his boyfriend saying this to Marinette, but then he continued. "But I'm sure that Adrien isn't such a guy, you can see how much he thinks of you when he's spending this much time searching for you, so just go to him and say what you want to say."
Marinette thought a little about his words, but then she made a serious face, nodded and turned around to walk towards Adrien.
Marc and Nathaniel stayed hidden behind the wall and watched everything in excitement. They saw how relieved Adrien looked when he finally saw Marinette, watched their body language while they talked… and held their breath when Marinette kissed Adrien right out of the blue.
A while they stood still. Nathaniel was a bit scared that it was wrong to encourage her, Marc could sense this somehow, so he laid an arm around his boyfriends back. Nathaniel looked to Marc, who gave him a heartwarming smile, making him feel much better in an instant.
The next thing they saw were Marinette and Adrien, sharing a long and passionate kiss. They were relieved everything went well.
"I think we have seen enough", Nathaniel said, "Let's go back inside." Marc nodded and took Nathaniels hand. With a red shimmer on both of their faces they stepped back into the hall.
When they were back into the hall, Nathaniel suddenly gave a thumbs up towards the DJs desk. Nino saw this and returned the sign, before making an announcement through the microphone. "Ok everyone, we will take it a little slower from here, so get a partner and come on the dance floor", after this he tapped a few times on his Laptop until a slow song started playing and then took Alyas hand to lead her to the dancefloor too.
Marc knew this song, it was 'I have nothing' by Whitney Housten, he practised slow dancing with this song. He looked to Nathaniel, who starred at him with a wide smile.
"Did you-?", Marc wanted to ask, but was interrupted when Nathaniel gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Well", he whispered, "Besides all the matchmaking, we're also here to have a good time, or am I wrong?"
A blush found it's way over Marcs face as he watched into his boyfriends seductive eyes. His heart started racing as he answered. "No", he said, "You're not wrong."
Nathaniel smiled before reaching out one hand towards Marc. "Well then", he said, "May I have this dance?"
"Sure", Marc answered and took his hand. They both headed towards the dance floor, where many couples were already dancing. "Wait", Marc suddenly said, "I have to warn you that I have two left feet, when it comes to dancing."
Nathaniel laughed a bit when he heard this. "Don't worry, I can take the lead", Nathaniel said, "I was forced to dance on so many family reunions by now, I'm used to it." With this said, he laid one hand on Marcs hip and took his opposite hand with his other hand, while Marc placed his free hand on Nathaniels shoulder.
They slowly started to move to the rhythm. Marc were a bit stiff at the beginning, but as the dance continued, he became more and more loose. Soon, they turned around more and more, while only having eyes for each other.