Hello everyone ~

This little story is for the NathMarc November on tumblr, but was to long to post it there, so it is ;3

If you have a tumblr, please make sure you take a look on the other works from the event too, they are all really cute .

So, enough words, enjoy ~

It was December 31st, a new year will begin in a few hours and then, Paris will only be lighted by thousands of fireworks at the sky.

Marc was really excited, because this year would be the first time he was celebrating new years eve with his friends. They would all meet at Marinettes place, because she told them her small balcony was the best place to watch the firework. Marc believed this, too. He already was on this balcony when he visited Marinette and the view on the city was outstanding.

But it was not only excitement taking place in Marcs thoughts, he was also nervous. Nervous because Nathaniel was also there… and he conducted himself to confess him his feelings tonight. When he realised he had a crush on Nath, it was kind of weird for him. Sure, deep inside he always knew that he prefered boys before girls, but he never had a real crush before and developing one on one of your closest friends was… strange.

At first, he wanted it to keep a secret, he was to afraid that their friendship was going to fail if Nathaniel knew. However, and Marc didn't know how, Marinette found out about his crush and was eager to play the matchmaker. So she convinced him to give it a try and confess to him, always repeating the mantra that Nathaniel won't be angry or disgusted, even if he doesn't feel the same.

Even if he doesn't feel the same…

The thought was haunting Marc and making him shiver. Even if Nathaniel wouldn't judge him, it would be so awkward if he was rejected.

"Calm down, Marc", he talked to himself, "If you don't confess to him, you may regret it later." Marc took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He sat down at his desk, which stood right in front of the window, making it the ideal place to work. He tapped on his phone, which lay left from him, to look at the time. It was half past five p.m., Marinette told everyone to be there by eight p.m., so he still got plenty of time to write. With this thought, he opened his black notebook in front of him, grabbed a pencil from a small cup and started writing. If he was lucky, he could finish everything for the next issue of the comic today and take the notebook with him to show Nathaniel.

"Aaaand done!", he said out loud as he closed the notebook. He was really proud of himself, because he finished it today, and smiled. Now, to check the time, he tapped on his phone again. The first thing he saw was that he had many text messages and missed phone calls, three by Marinette, three by Nathaniel and also one by Alix. His eyes wandered to the time… it was 07:55 p.m.!

"Damn, I'm going to be late!", he screamed while he flung off his chair, nearly stumbling over his own feet. He quickly grabbed for his backpack with some beverages, he promised to bring with him, and packed his mobile and the notebook. He closed the backpack, flung it on his back and ran out of his room, towards the apartment door. Without untying his already tied shoelaces, he slipped into his sneakers and opened the door. "I'm going, mom, see you tomorrow!" he yelled. "Have fun!", his mother yelled back and soon Marc ran down the stairway while double checking if he had everything. Phone, the Notebook… the keys. "I forgot the keys" Marc mumbles to himself while turning back.

After he nearly broke the door by knocking and after his mother let him in to get his keys, Marc left the house and ran as fast as he could. The streets were full of people. Some of them sat in restaurants and enjoyed good food, some others were walking in many different directions and also some others were driving by in their car, volume all the way up. On a crossroad, Marc saw Sabrina's father, Officer Raincomprix, he regulated the traffic, because they wanted to close the road for the rest of the night.

Poor man, Marc thought, had to work on new years eve, but, as he said by himself, justice never sleeps.

Marc got tired from running, but he put all his left power together for one final sprint. A few seconds later, he saw the bakery of Marinette's parents. Before he would slam against the door, he braked. He rang the doorbell and laid his hand on the door, while trying to catch his breath again. Marc wasn't really athletic, so his legs hurt as hell and his lungs felt like someone would sting with thousand of little needles inside of it. Finally he could hear the buzzing sound of the door opener and the door flung open. Marc stumbled inside and nearly fell, but was able to grab the handrail of the stairs and hurried up to get upstairs.

"Marc, finally!", Marinette said in her typical cheerful voice, while stepping aside to let Marc enter the apartment. "I...I'm sorry, Marinette", he apologized, still trying to catch his breath, "I was...writing...and forgot….the time." Marinette chuckled. "It's okay", she said, "Now, take a deep breath and come upstairs, everyone else is already here." Marc, now able to breath normal again, nodded while he took of his shoes and followed Marinette. "Oh, before I forget it", Marinette suddenly said and turned back to Marc, "You didn't get cold feet? You still want to confess to Nathaniel?" Marc felt a sudden heat spreading over his cheeks. "Y-yeah, I think so", he said, suddenly in a very quiet voice. Marinette smiled while laying a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I think everything will work out", Marinette tried to encourage him. Marc took another deep breath, before nodding. "Okay", he replied, "If you say so." With this words, Marinette turned around and climbed up the stairs to her room. Marc followed her again.

She opened the small entrance to her room in the attic floor and got in. When Marc peeked his head through it, everyone was greeting him in unison. He looked around and saw many people from his school. Alya and Nino, sitting on the carpet while Alya showed him something on her phone, Juleka and Rose sat on the divan and talked to each other, Alix sat on Marinette's bed and held her phone up. On the display was Adrien, maybe his father didn't let him go out again. And then, there was Nathaniel, he sat in front of Marinettes desk, his sketchbook was laying on it, so maybe he was drawing a few minutes ago. When he saw Marc he smiled and stood up to walk towards him. "Now don't stand there like a missed parcel, come in", he said while reaching out his hand for Marc to grab. "Ah, y-yes" he said while a crimson red blush spread over his face. He looked down, so Nathaniel couldn't see it and grabbed his hand.

When he was up, he could see Alix handing over the phone to Marinette, who started talking to Adrien, and came over to them. "Finally you here, I thought I was going to dehydrate, did you bring the soda?", she approached to Marc. "Of course", he answered while getting his backpack off. He opened it and reached Alix one of the bottles. She thanked him with a nod and walked towards Alya and Nino, to also offer them something to drink. "You can put the others on the table", Nathaniel told him while pointing to a small table, covered with glasses, a bowl of chips and a plate with cookies. Marc nod and went over to it to place the other bottles on the table.

"So, why are you late anyways?, Nathaniel asked. "Well", Marc answered a bit embarrassed, "I finished the script for our next issue and forgot the time." Nath laughed. "Why am I not surprised?", he said between the laughs. Marc looked to the ground, the embarrassment caused him to get red again. "Don't be embarrassed", Nath suddenly said, as if he could read his mood, "The same thing sometimes happens to me while I'm drawing." He pat Marcs back, took a cookie from the plate and ate it. "Try some of the cookies", he said while he was still chewing, "Marinettes Dad made them, they are delicious." Marc did as he was told, took a cookie from the plate and took a bite from it. The chocolate inside melt on his tongue and left an absolute mesmerising taste back. "You're right", he told him smiling. "See?", he said while laying his arm around Marcs shoulders, "And now let's go to the others." When Marc felt Nathaniel's arm, he could also feel how his heartbeat started racing in an instant. He tried to think of something else to calm down, he was too scared Nathaniel could notice something. "S-Sure" he stuttered while walking to their friends.

They were all talking and having fun, so they didn't recognize how the time flew. Now it was 11:50 p.m., only 15 minutes left until midnight. Marc looked over to Nathaniel, who was picking on the collar of his shirt. "I will go on the balcony, it's a bit hot in here", he said to the group before standing up and climbing the ladder.

When he was outside, Marc could feel someone lightly hitting their elbow in his side. He turned around to see Marinette smiling at him. "Follow him", she just said. Marc was confused. "Just trust me", she told him while pushing him in his back to make him get up. He got up and walked toward the ladder, but he felt like all his friends were watching him and it made him uncomfortable.

When he reached the ladder, he climbed up. On the other side he saw Nathaniel, leaning on the railing and watching over Paris skyline. Marc got nervous by just seeing him, like always when they were alone. He took a deep breath and climbed the last stairs up, but when he wanted to go to him, he stumbled and fell on the wooden ground.

He was able to catch himself with his hands, but a strong pain drove through his knees. Nathaniel got startled by the sound of the impact and turned around to see where it came from. When he saw Marc on the ground, he came up to him directly. "Marc, are you hurt?", he asked worried and grabbed Marcs upper arms to help him get up. "Thank you", Marc said, "I'm fine, I'm not hurt." He really wasn't, but it was, again, very embarrassing to him. 'What is going on with me today?', he asked himself in his head. "Are you sure?", Nathaniel asked, still worried and Marc only nodded as a response.

"That's good", Nathaniel said relieved, "Then come with me, the view over the skyline is amazing." He took Marcs hand, making the shy boy blush once more and pulled him towards the railing.

The view was outstanding, just like Marc remembered it. He looked to the left and saw the Seine, reflecting the lights from the ships driving on it. When he turned his head to the right again, he could see Nathaniel standing next to him, the lights of the other buildings threw a light shimmer on his face, while he watched the skyline, too. His turquoise eyes reflected his sights and a small smile was drawn on his face. Marcs heart started racing again, even faster this time, it felt like it would burst out of his chest any moment.

Was this the moment?

Should he confess his feeling now? Was he even able to?

His heart said 'You can do it', while his head screamed to keep his mouth shut. It confused him, what was he supposed to do.

"Only one minute till midnight, I'm so excited for…", Nathaniel started saying but hold in when he turned his head to Marc. His friend had pulled over his hood, so his face was hidden inside of it and his fingers were crawled inside the fabric. "Is everything alright with you?", he asked in confusion.

Marc in the meantime had really hard problems to keep his cool. His body temperature rose really high, his heart hurt from beating so fast and he breathed very shortly. He felt like he could pass out any moment.

Meanwhile, a crowd formed itself on the streets. They all prepared for the countdown, which was going to start now.

10…

"Marc, talk to me, what's up with you?", Nathaniel insisted, but Marc wasn't listening to him.

9…

Marcs thoughts were spinning. Should he or should he not? He didn't know.

8…

Nathaniel was worried, what was going on with him? Did he get hurt when he fell before and didn't want to tell him?

7…

Tears build themself in Marcs eyes. He was so nervous.

6…

Nathaniel shook one of Marcs shoulders, maybe he would react to his touch.

5…

What if he was going to reject him? What if he was going to laugh at him?... What if he was disgusted of his confession?

4…

He didn't react. Now Nathaniel was really worried. He grabbed for Marcs other shoulder and turned him around to face him.

3…

And then… the voice in his head was only a whisper, while his head was screaming 'DO IT!'

2…

"Damn it, Marc, talk to me, what is going on with you?!", Nathaniel screamed.

1…

"I like you, Nath!"

0…

Loud cheers echoed from the streets, while everything was quiet on the small balcony. Nathaniel let go of Marcs shoulders and Marc untightened his grip from his hood and let it down. His breath calmed a bit, but his heart didn't, not before he had an answer from Nathaniel. But the other boy was quiet.

Marc wanted to cry. Could it be that his fears became true? Does Nathaniel hate him now? Was this friendship over?

His sorrows were causeless, because when the first fire flower exploded in the sky, he could feel the other boys lips on his own.

Marc ripped his eyes open and saw Nathaniels eyes right before him. They were almost closed and had a very seductive look on them.

Marc could feel all his sorrows vanishing, as the kiss continued. At one point, he was calm enough to respond to the kiss.

A few seconds after, they parted, both heavy breathing. "If this wasn't already obvious I'm gonna say it too", Nathaniel whispered, "I like you, too."

Suddenly, there was a cheering choir, bringing both of them back to reality. They turned around to see their friends standing in the back of the balcony. "It was about time one of you confesses", Alix said and pointed to Nathaniel, "This boy is head over heels for you, it already got annoying." The crowd laughed, while Alix earned an angry view from Nath.

After everyone told out their graduations, it was about time to watch the colorful firework. Everyone gathered at the railing, while Marc and Nathaniel stood a bit in the back, arm in arm. "This is so beautiful", Marc said. As a response, Nathaniel took Marcs chin and turned his face toward his own. "Yes, it really is", he said quietly, only for Marc to hear. Both of them blushed when they look each other in the eyes. Nathaniel only broke the eye contact to lean over and give Marc a kiss on his forehead.

"Happy new year, Marc", Nathaniel said. "Happy new year to you too, Nathaniel", Marc answered. And they sealed their wishes with another kiss.