Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respectful owners. Summary is from a song called 'Crush' by Yuna ft. Usher.

A/N: Based on ML rare/crack ship week! Seven days of ships that are seen so rarely in the ML fandom, and I thought this was actually interesting so I went for it. I'll try updating by the dates, since I'm actually terrible at updating fics in general *glances at my other unfinished fics*

Enjoy!

He shouldn't have come.

Oh boy, he shouldn't have come.

Because what could be worse than being dragged by your asshole of a best friend who had disappeared somewhere after midnight and left you alone at the counter of a ridiculously loud club?

Unfortunately, having your old high school crush being at the same club you were currently while drowning some alcohol.

Nathanaël was so sure he had forgotten that infatuation he had on Marinette long ago. But then, seeing her with Alya in a black cocktail dress that ended just above her knees and letting her dark hair curled behind her, he was reminded that what he had on her was much more than just a simple puppy love attraction.

There he was, idly swirling his fourth glass of martini while leaning back on the counter, letting his eyes wonder around the flashing lights of the neon floor while a large amount of people danced on it, already feeling the side effects of the alcohol blurring the edge of his senses. And at that moment, where some magnetic force pulled his sight towards the door, he saw the two girls coming in with large grins on their faces.

The barista flashed him a worried look when he choked on his drink.

Nathanaël took a panic moment to scan the dance floor for Alix, who would be hard to search since she hadn't grown much in terms of height and that she absolutely love to abandon him because he 'really needed to hook up with someone soon because he looked like a mopping asshat who needed a pick me up ASAP.'

Right.

He didn't need to be with anyone just because he didn't look like her level of happiness.

And he was already dealing with Alix and Kim's very loud activities once in a while, so why bother?

Someone had to be the sane one in that crappy household of an apartment.

When he couldn't find Alix, he turned around and drowned his drink before asking for another glass, completely ignoring the same worried look the barista had.

"Are you okay there, son?" The middle aged man gruffed out, pouring the liquid into Nathanaël's glass that the red haired took a gulp of it quickly.

Nathanaël took a moment to study him, noticing the piercing he had on his left ear while opting a black T-shirt, where the short sleeves stretched with muscles despite having streaks of white hair on the sides of his head. The name 'Jasper' shone on the silver name tag on his left pec.

"If you saw your ex crush walking inside this bar at the very moment when you thought you don't like her like that anymore but apparently, you actually still have feelings for her," Nathanaël still ignored the look Jasper gave him when he said those sentences in one breath. "What would you do?"

Jasper arched an eyebrow as he started to wipe some shot glasses. "Is that what this is? A pretty girl messing with your thoughts?"

Nathanaël grimaced. "Hypothetically," he began swirling his drink again. "Say, she's now more beautiful than you last saw her five years ago after lycée graduation, and that she has a boyfriend now after she's been pinning for him for years because he's actually this perfect anatomy of a human being because everyone loves him for what he is and you're nowhere near qualified to be on his level," he finished off the last of his martini. "And that he's so fucking rich that he could probably buy ten fucking Lamborghinis and would still have some savings to buy a fucking jet too."

Jasper let out a low whistle, setting the glasses on the shelves behind him before tossing the towel on his shoulder. "She must have been something to you if you're putting extra detail on her boyfriend."

"Hypothetically," Nathanaël answered automatically as he propped his cheek on his palm, frowning on the counter. "Because I'm just an art student who's going to be seriously underpaid if I don't work hard enough for what I do, while her boyfriend is a model for his dad's company and doing an excellent job on it too."

"The dude must be pretty famous if you're so huffy about him," Jasper hummed thoughtfully. "Anyone I know?"

Nathanaël shrugged. "I'd think you would, but I don't want to tell you, because he's actually nice and I'm just a jerk for being a jealous rotten tomato."

"Rotten tomato?"

He waved it away dismissively. "So," Nathanaël looked at him in the eye. "What would you do?"

"Well," Jasper took the glass from Nathanaël and poured some more of that unhealthy drink that the red haired eyed at it warily at first -worried for his future self that he would no doubt curse his current self for it- but all that vanished when the full glass was shoved into his hands again. "Is she nice?"

"Very nice," Nathanaël forced himself to put the glass down even if he was tempted to drink again. "Stubborn at times from what I remembered, has some excellent leadership skills," Disappeared at the most weirdest times, he was about to say but kept his mouth about it. "And she's as talented as the rest of us, if not more."

Jasper hummed thoughtfully again. "From what I gathered, she's sounds pretty stunning, her boyfriend too. But then, you have a crush on her, no, you're in love with this girl," Nathanael felt the way his stomach drop at the declaration. "But she doesn't love you back, which caused you to be heartbroken because you're good friends with the both of them and you don't want to break them apart for your selfish needs," he paused. "Hypothetically, of course."

Nathanaël sighed, letting a finger traced the rim of the glass. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Hypothetically."

"Why don't you just talk to her?" Jasper suggested. "Maybe you'll be a bit better."

Nathanaël almost snorted, but merely settled for shaking his head. "It won't work, I'll feel worse about it and thinks would get awkward. But, Marinette is a nice girl and she would try not to make things as awkward as it would originally be. Maybe Alix was right," he let his fingers wrap around the glass again. "I am a sad person."

"You know what I think? I think you just need more time," Jasper shrugged when Nathanaël took a peek at him. "Some people needed more time in recovering in these type of things than others, so you're probably one of those late assholes who takes their time in finishing the line, yknow? Love's not meant for racing, buddy."

Nathanaël blinked at him, before looking down into his drink again. "Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks anyway."

Jasper reached over and patted him on the back. "Anytime."

Nathanaël sighed, raising his glass towards him. "To broken hearted assholes who rather crawl their way to recover than scrambling their way there."

Jasper knocked a finger against the glass. "Hear hear," Nathanaël took a sip. "Say kid, hypothetically, when she walks through those doors of this club I'm currently serving, what would she look like?"

Nathanaël squinted at him through his already hazy mind in suspicion, before shrugging. "A black dress, with her dark hair in curls while wearing this bright red lipstick, has the bluest eyes you'd ever see you could probably drown in them."

Jasper grinned, and nodded towards someone behind Nathanaël. "She's here."

That was the only warning Nathanaël got before someone sat on the stool beside him.

"Two tequilas, please."

He stiffen, staring into his glass as he heard Jasper chirped a greeting towards the achingly familiar voice, and then hearing the tinkle of glasses being settled on the counter as Jasper passed them towards her.

"Nath?"

Bracing himself, he looked up, and it took all his will power to not suck in his breath when blue eyes met his.

Marinette grinned at him. "Hey Nath, it's good to see you."

He chuckled nervously, running his hand over his hair. "Hey Mari, it's good seeing you too. It's been a while since I last saw you."

He didn't realise his mistake until he saw the way she widen her eyes. He was about to apologise when she cleared her throat slightly. "Yeah, the last time we saw each other-"

"Didn't exactly end in good terms," he added quickly, wincing when she looked down with a slight frown.

"Yeah," she said slowly, and he could feel the way Jasper was watching them inconspicuously from behind the counter as he made himself busy with the glasses. "If you call it that way."

Nathanaël blinked. "Are you admitting that you actually liked it?"

She flushed when she snapped her head up to look at him. "Well," she stammered slightly. "Yeah, in a way, even if I don't remember most of it," she bit her lip, he vaguely remembered the taste of strawberries. "But it was a mistake, I was an idiot, I shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry."

He wanted to laugh, he was the one who should be sorry. He was the idiot here, not her. "No, you shouldn't apologise. I didn't know that you were with Adrien and I'm sorry-"

"Nath, look," she interrupted. "We weren't together yet then. You, me, and the rest of us were wasted that we couldn't even walk properly without falling on each other's feet. And I'm still sorry I slept with you on that night because I felt like I was leading you on, but I wasn't, I didn't know what came over me, and I'm really sorry about that. And," she pursed her lips, determination flashing in her eyes. "I really want to be friends with you."

He only stared at her, feeling the pain coming back at him in full force that he wanted to storm out of the club and risk leaving Alix behind because she could handle herself (Kim was judo flipped when he tried surprising her from the back. On that day, Nathanaël made a vow to himself to always announce his presence whenever she was in the room.).

He was quiet for too long, because she looked down again while pursing her lips and the only thing that cut through the tense air was Jasper's voice.

"You didn't tell me that."