When Nathaniel had agreed to go to Kim's party he hadn't pictured it being quite as noisy as it was. Kim had clearly made friends with a fair few people in his 19 years and the vast majority were clearly loud popular types that like to trash any house that had music playing and an unlocked door.

Just looking around the living room he could count the number of faces he recognised on one hand and the number of sober people on even less than that. Meaning there was exactly no person in front of him now that was totally sober. Even Nathaniel had reached the point of tipsy and was relying heavily on leaning against the door frame to keep himself from falling over.

Honestly, the only reason Nathaniel had even agreed to coming to this party was so he could see his old classmates again. It had been nearly a year since they had all gone their separate ways, splitting off in directions that best suited their interests. Nathaniel had gone to a college specialising in art and other creative subjects with Marinette (specialising in fashion) Juleka and Rose (Both taking music) and Marc (creative writing classes of course).

All in all, Nathaniel did frequently see a lot of his old classmates, especially during his weekly meet ups with Alix and Marc that the girl insisted on having because "someone needs to drag you boys out of your cave occasionally". Nathaniel didn't see why it was necessary, he liked their "cave". If anything he was lucky he had somewhere to live at all, if it wasn't for both Marc and Nathaniel's parents chipping in to pay the rent on the one bedroom flat in the student part of the city, he doubted he'd be able to complete his course and work a job with enough hours to get food and rent. As it was he and Marc were strapped for time and money just working the part time jobs they had.

Speaking of Marc, or rather, thinking of Marc, Nathaniel hadn't seen him for at least an hour and just thinking of that scared him. Nathaniel pushed himself off the door frame, slowly turning circles in search of his raven haired boyfriend. When a full 360 turned up nothing but extremely drunk teenagers and Marinette and Adrien making out in the corner Nathaniel moved into the Kitchen. He knew instantly upon entering the tiny room that Marc would not be in there. The smell of alcohol and vomit combined with the mass of loud popular type boys currently yelling at someone to chug meant this place was as far from a Marc place as Nathaniel had ever experienced.

Honestly, Nathaniel was starting to regret making Marc come along. He'd gotten close to the class back when he transferred over after meeting Nathaniel so naturally he had been invited along but he had quickly turned down the offer the minute he read the words "bring alcohol" on the text. Nathaniel had convinced Marc that it probably wouldn't be so bad, and from the way Kim had worded it it really didn't sound like it would be, Nathaniel thought it was just a get together of his old classmates that happened to include alcohol. A blind man living three towns over could probably tell Nathaniel had thought wrong.

Marc wasn't much of a drinker, he maybe drunk a small glass of wine after a long day or on a special occasion but getting blackout drunk had never been his style. He liked to stay in control, especially if Nathaniel was drinking.

Nath slid his way back out of the kitchen, surprised to find Kim barreling towards him.

"Nath! Hey!" Kim wasted no time in grabbing Nathaniel's wrist and doing a full 180 to go back where he just came from "I found Marc hiding in the bathroom." Kim stated simply, pulling Nathaniel up the stairs.

"Oh god, is he okay?" Nath asked, feeling a stone drop in his stomach. This was the last time he let Marc say he would be fine on his own.

"He's okay I think, just overwhelmed. I moved him to my bedroom, it has a lock so you should be fine to chill in there for a bit." Kim nodded towards the door just down the landing, the band poster stuck to the outside giving it away as his.

"We might have to go home," Nathaniel sighed, rubbing the back of his neck "It's nothing against your party or anything, he just hates crowds and noise."

"It's chill dude, honestly." Kim assured him, smiling "I was half expecting him not to come anyway, I was surprised when he agreed."

"Yeah, well." Nathaniel muttured, choosing to not tell Kim that Nath was the one to insist on Marc coming "I'm not up to driving though and I'm betting Marc is too jittery and anxious to concentrate on it so..."

"No worries, you can leave your car outside the house." Kim stated, smiling "See ya round then? We'll have to do a proper class meet up next time."

Nath nodded, smiling as Kim moved back towards the stairs and towards the party still in full swing downs stairs.

Nathaniel sighed before heading to Kim's bedroom door and knocking "Hey Marc?" He called, moving his hand to sit on the handle, ready to open the door "I'm coming in okay?"

As expected Nathaniel found Marc sat at the side of the room farthest from the door, leaning against wall. Nath carefully closed the door, sliding the lock into place before carefully moving to Marc's side and sitting next to him.

"I'm okay." Marc murmured, although the silent tears running down his cheeks said otherwise.

"Why didn't you come and get me so we could leave?" Nathaniel half asked half scolded.

"You seemed to be enjoying yourself…" Marc responded, eyes locking onto his feet.

Nathaniel sighed, carefully putting his arm around Marc's shoulders and pulling the black-haired boy into a half embrace "I would have enjoyed it more if you were with me. You need to come get me when you feel like this Marc, I don't want you to be uncomfortable or upset."

"I know…" Marc whispered, leaning his head on Nathaniel's shoulder.

"When you'll ready we'll head out," Nathaniel started "We'll walk to the mcdonalds down the road and get a mcflurry or something and then head home okay?"

"It's a 40 minute walk and you've been drinking." Marc pointed out, although it was said with a disinterest that made it clear he didn't really mind.

"Well then you better feel better soon then, Mcdonald's closes at midnight." Nath teased, smiling at the small laugh that left Marc's lips as he nudged Nath with his shoulder.

This was the best part of the evening and nothing would make Nathaniel think otherwise.