Hello, welcome to Windows!
I had a super fun time writing this, because I noticed I had no real Nathanette stories anywhere. And I wanted some practice before I potentially write something bigger... :-) We'll see if that still happens.
All in all, I hope you all enjoy the story!
~anipwrites
Marinette hadn't realized there was someone at her window until Tikki suddenly dove into her bag. When she saw that parts of her window were suddenly being erased out of existence, she was even quicker to figure out just who it was.
"It's you! From the library! What are you doing here?" she asked as the Evillustrator stepped into her bedroom. He turned to look at her, eyes… earnest.
"I just wanted to see you," he said softly, a hint of a smile on his face and a tinge of… nervousness at the edge of his voice?
"Okay… but why did you attack Chloe?"
If at all possible, the akuma before her turned red with anger. A hand balled into a fist as he growled "'Cause Chloe is cruel and selfish!" Ah, there was the 'akuma.'
"...Can't argue with that…" she agreed. Self-preservation kicked in and she cast him a wary glance-he'd near-wrecked the library just a bit ago, why would he just come to her house unless… "Are you going to hurt me?"
"You?" the boy blushed as a hand reached for the back of his neck, rubbing it awkwardly as he continued. "You're Marinette! You're beautiful and sweet and… y-you're perfect and I could never hurt you!"
"Wow… that's, uh…. Very, umm…" Oh my. That was the most flattering she'd ever heard from anyone except her parents, and it even surpassed them. "Flattering! Uh, thank you?" She really hoped the hand motions weren't too much for her act-he couldn't suspect she was trying to figure out how to stop him.
"So, I just came by to ask you, if, uh…" he clasped his hands near his chest a moment before continuing. "Well, it's my birthday today, and…" his hand went to his hair again. "Would you want to come to my party?"
"Oh, um…" as much as being able to beat down this akuma privately sounded nice, she still had responsibilities as Marinette. "Actually, it's not really the best night. See, I've got a presentation to work on, and… I have to call my friend so we can meet and…" although technically she did also have to call Chat Noir and tell him about this visit.
"Oh, please Marinette! It'll just be you and me!"
'Sounds more like a date than a party,' she thought to herself. The akuma before her drew something on a tablet that materialized onto a piece of paper before he went to one knee and offered it to her. Her eyes widened as she saw it. "Oh my gosh! That's… me!"
"You like it?" he smiled warmly, hopefully. That's when she noticed something-an exclamation point in a box at the bottom corner of the drawing, like an artist's signature. If she recalled correctly, Nathanael's signature on the comic page Chloe had taken was an exclamation mark as well…
"I… love it! So much that I will absolutely be at your party! On one condition." she quickly said.
"Anything for you, Marinette," he bowed his head a moment before looking up once more.
"You can't hurt Chloe anymore. I simply cannot bear violence." it took all that was in her to keep herself from laughing. She was a superhero, she kicked baddie butt practically on a daily basis! But if it would keep Nathanael-ah, the Evillustrator-from attacking anyone else for the time being, she could let out a few little lies…
"For you and only you," he said, standing. He started drawing on his tablet, and a jetpack started appearing on his back. "Meet you on the left bank, next to the Notre-Dame at sunset!" he started to fly out of the room, but showed no sign of fixing her window.
"Whoa whoa whoa wait!" she jumped into action and reached after him, managing to snag his hand. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Um… I was going to get everything ready for the da-party! For the party!" he blushed at his slip-up, but was overall curious as to what else she needed.
"Were you planning to just leave my window half-erased like this, Nathanael-"
"Evillustrator," he corrected. Then he blushed more. "I-I'm sorry, please continue!"
"Fix my window,"
"Your win-oh! Right, sorry about that! That was rude of me, here, I'll fix it." he quickly redrew the missing areas of her window as Marinette watched his handiwork materialize from thin air.
"Wow, it's like it never happened…" she murmured. "Thanks for fixing it for me…"
"No problem, Marinette, I, um…" he looked around a moment. "...so, does that window open, or… How do I leave?"
"Well, I'm assuming you don't want to come downstairs through the bakery, so-"
"Actually, I am kind of hungry. How much would some macarons cost?"
"About 4 euros each. But you probably shouldn't go down there, you might scare people."
"That's a good point… here, um…" he went as if to reach down into his pocket and stopped. "...I don't… have pockets."
"Well, I guess that means-"
"Wait, I have an idea." he quickly drew a wallet on his tablet and one appeared in the air before falling into his open hand. He unfolded it and looked inside. His eyes narrowed as he spotted Nathanael Kurtzberg's student ID and tossed it out of the wallet before drawing his own.
Marinette caught it. "Hey, you're going to need this when you get de-akumatized."
"You mean if I get de-akumatized."
"Yeah, I mean if." yeah right. It was definitely when. "But if you do, you're going to need this."
"Well, if I do end up needing it, then I can trust you to keep it safe for me, hm?" he raised an eyebrow as he looked back over at her.
"...yeah, sure, I'll keep it safe for you."
"Thanks. Now," he pulled out a twenty euro note and handed it over to her. "Would this be enough for a box?"
"...would this technically be counterfeit?" she asked. He hesitated, eyebrows furrowing.
"...well, my ID was in it, right? So it must be my wallet, I think… I hope. Try tearing a corner of the note."
"...oh! Because when something you draw is destroyed, it disappears!"
"Yeah! Wait… how did you know that?"
"Oh! Um, I was scared and I couldn't escape out the library in time, so I just kinda hid in a corner and watched while Ladybug and Chat Noir… yeah."
"You were still in there?! Oh my-I would have never kept attacking if I knew you were still in danger! I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine," she sighed, looking at the note in her hand. She tore at the corner a bit, expecting it to disappear into blue sparks like the blowdryer had. It didn't. "Well… maybe I didn't rip it enough?"
"Well, here's this. If I get de-akumatized and that bill disappears, tell that twerp Nathanael about it and he'll pay you back."
"Why'd you call him a twerp?"
"Because he's dumb and cowardly. He lets people step all over him and does nothing about it. It took Chloe Bourgeois of all people for him to tell you he liked you-and he couldn't even do it alone! I had to do it!"
"Well, being quiet isn't necessarily a bad thing. I mean, I was quiet. I let Chloe bully me until this year. Do you only like me because I'm not quiet anymore then?"
"No, of course not! We've liked you since Lycee!"
"Really? Huh… I'm going to get your macarons." she headed downstairs. So far, the Evillustrator seemed decent-decent enough to not trash her room at least.
"Hi, honey!" her mother smiled as she came down. "I must have missed you coming in!"
"O-Oh, yeah! I used the back door!" she grinned, hoping she was being convincing enough. "But, um, one of my friends wanted me to bring them some macarons when I meet with them later! He gave me the money already, so I'll just-"
"Oh, is it Adrien?"
"Wha-I-no, mama! Can I just get the macarons?"
Her mother laughed a bit before taking a box of macarons and trading them for the euro note in her hand. It looked as if she was going to tease her about Adrien some more, but then someone walked into the bakery and she turned to greet them. By the time she turned back around, Marinette was gone.
She peeked her head into the trap door, about to greet the Evillustrator with the macarons when she noticed the glowing purple butterfly outline around his eyes. He was talking to Hawkmoth, clearly.
"...I just want Marinette to see me. I don't want to hurt anyone." he murmured. Then he winced back, as if afraid-Hawkmoth must not have taken that very well. "A-Alright. I'll get right on it, I promise,"
"Um… Evillustrator?" she asked quietly. The communication link between them disappeared and he blinked out of the stupor before smiling.
"H-hey, Marinette! I didn't, um, didn't see you there!"
"It's cool, no worries. Now, I really should try and get some of that work done, so we'll have to part for now." she said, giving him the box of macarons. The Evillustrator nodded and took them before looking around.
"...how exactly will I be leaving?" he asked.
"Oh! Um, here!" she lead him to the staircase and up to the balcony. He smiled as he looked at the view.
"Pretty nice view up here, huh?" he murmured. Then he turned and bowed dramatically. "Well! I guess I should be on my way. Um, so I was thinking-"
"Left bank, near the Notre-Dame, at sunset? Sounds amazing, Evillustrator."
"Right, um, y-yeah! I can't wait!" he grinned before his jetpack activated, his feet raising above ground until he was just a bit taller than her. "See you then!" then he flew away, letting out a few whoops of excitement.
It was kind of adorable.
She didn't realize she'd forgotten until she'd dropped back into her room from the balcony.
To be fair, there was little plausible excuse for Ladybug having Nathanael's school ID if she didn't know it was Nathanael, and he'd tossed it at Marinette as the Evillustrator in her bedroom. Technically, there were a few tales she could have spun, but she'd been low on time and Nathanael had looked exhausted from the endeavor. To be fair, he'd been akumatized since second bell that morning-a good 12 or so hours. Must've sucked-now that she thought about it, she should've had someone take him home. Part of her hoped Chloe had enough kindness in her heart to have her driver to do it-the rest of her was well aware Chloe and kindness did not go together. At all.
Nathanael's National ID sat on her bed, near the window. It was the first thing she saw when she came in. He was really going to need that, it was too late to go out as Ladybug and hunt him down, and she didn't know where he lived anyways. She'd just have to give it to him at school tomorrow.
She woke up on-time for once and got ready and packed her things. Hopefully she could sort things out with Sabrina, find Nathanael, and give him his ID. She grabbed it from her desk, taking a peek over at it and-oh, right. He'd been akumatized for most of the day yesterday… and it was his birthday. He didn't get a chance to truly celebrate with friends and family or even have any time to himself because of Hawkmoth's control.
Looks like she had some cheering up to do.
Using her allowance from that week, she bought a box of macarons, a square of carrot cake, and cookies. After packing it in a box and leaving the necessary money in the cash register, she grabbed her things and walked to school… and past it, to a nearby art store. He'd probably appreciate a few extra supplies… hopefully, at least…
She stepped inside and was immediately greeted with a cozy atmosphere, rows and rows of all kinds of art materials. Sketchbooks, brushes, markers, pencils, paints… Marinette suddenly realized he wasn't sure what exactly Nathanael would appreciate the most. Her parents usually got her needles and thimbles and sketchbooks for her birthdays, but his art was a different kind entirely! Did he need an easel, fancy drawing pencils, canvasses-
"Hi there! Can I help you?" an employee asked as she walked over. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yes, please," she said. "I'm buying gifts for my friend, but I'm not sure what to get him…"
"Here, I have a few ideas…"
By the time she got to school, Alya was just finishing an interview with Chloe about what happened with the Evillustrator. She seemed a bit irritated at the aloof way the blonde was answering the questions, but was pressing on for the sake of journalism.
She watched the exchange for a moment before going to her locker, setting her gifts down. As she reached up to get her books, someone cleared her throat behind her. She turned to find herself face-to-face with Sabrina Raincomprix, looking pissed but wearing a beautiful beret from Gabriels.
"I hope you had a good time last night taking care of that 'very important thing' you had to do?" she said, arms crossed as she leaned forward accusingly.
"I'm really sorry, Sabrina, but I promise I can go to the library and help you today!" Marinette apologized.
"Too late! Chloe and I are doing the project together,"
"You mean… you're doing the project?"
"Of course! After all she's been through…" Marinette barely bit back a groan. Chloe was perfectly capable of doing the project if she really wanted to.
"...Nice new beret, by the way," she said. Sabrina brightened up.
"I know, right?! Chloe lent it to me! She really is my BFF-maybe I'll let you help me with the project if you give me one of those presents!" she grinned, reaching for the stack of wrapped presents by Marinette's feet.
"Hang on, hang on, those are for Nathanael!" Marinette said, stepping in front of the boxes to block the hand. Chloe clearly overheard, because she felt the need to interject.
"Nathanael? Why him? He tried to kill me yesterday!" Chloe pouted.
'It's almost a shame he didn't,' she briefly thought. "Well, it was his birthday yesterday! He deserves a present or three!"
"No he doesn't! He nearly killed me!"
"Hey, the kid's human too!" Alya countered. Chloe flipped her hair with a pout.
"Well, whatever you got him is probably horrible anyways! Let's go, Sabrina!" the blonde ordered, walking out of the room. Sabrina rushed after her, ready to give her friend whatever homework she'd done for her.
"So, you got Nathanael a gift? Who's that, the redhead in the back of the class?" Alya asked, stepping over.
"Oh, y-yeah!"
"That was nice of you, I'm sure he'll love it! But, he did get akumatized yesterday, so, u.. Tread lightly." Alya suggested. I'm gonna go look over this footage. See you in class," she smiled before walking off, already buried into her video. Marinette relaxed a bit, beginning to pick up her presents when suddenly-
"Hey!"
"Waahh!" Marinette jumped back, dropping the boxes, and turning to find Adrien leaned up against her locker.
"I heard about your adventures with Chat Noir yesterday! Were you scared?"
"Well-I-Me, scared? Pfft, it was a dream. I mean, you're a dream. I mean, in your dreams! Ugh, this is a nightmare…"
Adrien's eyebrows furrowed at the garbled-up mess she had managed to say. "Okay… so, what do you think about Chat Noir? Was he awesome?"
"I mean, sure! But not as awesome as you, of course, because, who could be? You're the most awesome of awesome!"
"So, that's a yes? Hm… well," he put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her, nearly making her melt into a puddle of blushing goo. "I heard you got a present for Nathanael? That was super nice of you, Marinette!" he gave her shoulder a pat before heading out. Marinette swooned behind his back before remembering-the gifts! She had to get them to Nathanael still! She quickly grabbed the wrapped boxes and ran to the classroom, to try and catch the shy artist before class began.
Nathanael was already there, frowning down at a few pages of his sketchbook. He looked up when she approached, eyes widening.
"Marinette! I-h-hi! I-I, um-"
"I heard it was your birthday yesterday?" she smiled at him. He blushed madly.
"Y-Yeah, about that… I'm really sorry about what I did the other day, it was out of line…"
"You remember what happened when you were akumatized?"
"W-Well, not all of it, everything's still kinda fuzzy, but… I remember enough,"
"Oh… Well, it's okay. None of us got hurt and you're back. That's what matters in the long run." Nathanael smiled a bit at that, relaxing. "Anyways, you kind of threw your National ID across my bedroom, and I figured you might want it."
"I did?! I-" he looked at his wallet and saw it was missing. "Wow I actually did. Thanks for bringing it," he said as he took the ID back.
"I also brought you some gifts! Happy birthday!" she grinned as she put the various boxes on the table. Nathan's eyes widened.
"You remembered?"
"You kind of told me and took me on a date, but yeah! I wanted to bring you something. Is that okay?"
"Okay?! It's fine, I'm sure everything you got me is as amazing as you are!"
"O-Oh! Well, thanks!" Nathanael blushed a bit but went about opening the boxes.
"Thanks so much for all of this," he smiled softly at all of the gifts laid out before him.
"Of course! But… I still feel bad about what happened. You had to spend your birthday akumatized…"
"It's fine, Marinette. I didn't have high hopes for the day anyways, that's why I didn't tell anyone." Nathanael looked down briefly.
"Well, hey. We'll get you a real birthday celebration this weekend, my honor. You deserve good memories for your birthday." Marinette said, puffing out her chest determinedly.
"Wow, really? You don't-you don't have to, I wouldn't want to bother the rest of the class-"
"Oh, no, Nathanael. It'll just be you and me." Marinette winked his way before turning. "See you Saturday," she called out over her shoulder before heading back to her seat to start the day.
Nathanael wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. If he was, he hoped he'd never wake up.
I hope you all enjoyed this story! Feel free to favorite or leave a review, if you want!
I dunno if I'm still going to write that bigger fic, but I have plans to update my other stories soon, and publish some others. In the meantime... I hope you all have a wonderful day!