It was Sunday night in Paris and everything was quiet. Only a few people were walking on the street, their steps echoed through the night.
Everything was quiet… but Marc couldn't catch any sleep. He was turning around in his bed. To the left, to the right, on his back and on his stomach, but nothing helped.
The reason why he couldn't sleep was because he was nervous, nervous about what tomorrow might bring and how his partner, friend and crush Nathaniel might react to his confession.
Yes, he wanted to confess to Nathaniel tomorrow. It's been nearly half a year since he fell for the artist and nearly one month since the Reverser incident and the start of their partnership.
Before he and Nathaniel worked together, Marc only saw his drawings on the schools website and admired his talent, he also used them as an inspiration for his writings. After he found out who the artist was, he wanted to know more about him, so he asked his friend Marinette about him, since she and Nathaniel were in the same class. His curiosity about him growed from day to day and before he realized, he watched Nathaniel from the distance whenever he could.
He planned to keep his crush a secret, he didn't want Nathaniel to hate him, but then Marinette introduced him to the art class. The teacher told him that Nathaniel was searching for a scriptwriter and he became nervous, so nervous he ran out of the room.
He lost his Notebook on his way. The good thing was that Marinette found it before anyone else could, the bad thing was that she read it. Marc was very insecure about his writings this time, so it felt like the apocalypse to him. But Marinette convinced him to show his writings to Nathaniel, without telling him who wrote it. Unfortunately, Nathaniel thought it was written by Ladybug and was not amused when he found out that it was written by Marc, because he thought Marc wanted to play a prank on him. Because of that, he ripped a few pages out of Marcs notebook and left furious.
Marc was sad, he thought Nathaniel would hate him, his heart was broken and… the next thing he remembered was how he fell down the eiffel tower, were Chat Noir luckily catched him before he ended up as as a puddle on the street. After that, the misunderstanding was cleared and Marc and Nathaniel teamed up to work on a comic book. Nathaniel apologized a many times and after a while, they became very close friends.
Very close friends… that was Marcs problem. They were closer than ever before, his feelings for Nathaniel were about to overcome many times. He can't bear to keep it a secret anymore.
But he is scared. He fears Nathaniels reaction. He could bear if he doesn't feel the same, but he couldn't bear to destroy their friendship with his confession.
Marc sighed as he swung his legs out of his bed and stood up. "Maybe some warm milk will help", he said to himself while leaving his room and walking towards the kitchen.
He walked through the dark floor and searched for the lightswitch. He squinted his eyes when the light turned on. He walked to the fridge and opened it, the milk was in the shelf on the inside of the door. He took it out and grabbed for a small pot, which hung on a hook on the wall next to the fridge. He started the stove and poured some of the milk in the pot. While it was warming up, his thoughts overtook his mind again. He hoped everything would work out.
The milk only needed two minutes to warm up. Marc turned off the stove and poured the now warm milk into a cup.
Suddenly, before he could take the first sip, he could hear something from the outside.
"The Sandboy just checked in, now nightmares can begin"
After this words, Marc was surrounded by a purple dust. He had to cough and waved the dust away with his free hand. "What was that?", he asked himself.
"You are so pathetic", he suddenly heard a very familiar voice and startled. He turned his head around… and saw Nathaniel standing in the door.
"Nathaniel? What are you doing here? How did you get in?", he asked. His heart was pounding, but not out of love… it was out of fear.
"How could you think I would ever love a guy like you?", Nathaniel said while stepping up to Marc, "You're insecure, you look swishy and your writing sucks!"
Marc was shocked and his cup slipped out of his hand. It broke and the warm content spread over the ground.
"W-What are you talking about?", Marc asked in shock while he stepped back. Nathaniel didn't care about the shards on the ground, he just stepped over it.
Now he stood directly before Marc. "You know what?", he said a bit quieter now, "I don't regret that I ripped your notebook apart."
At the same time, Nathaniel also couldn't find any sleep, so he decided to draw a bit for the next issue of his and Marcs comic. While he was drawing, he had to think about everything that happened the last two month. It was funny how his life got this exiting… and all that since he knew Marc.
Marc… Nathaniel already noticed that he spend a lot time thinking about him. But what was it that attracted him so much to the writer? Does he still feel guilty for what he had done to him?
No, he apologized many times and Marc always affirms him that it was okay and that he wasn't mad anymore, so he also was okay with that. But what was it then?
"The Sandboy just checked in, now nightmares can begin"
"What was that?", he asked himself out loud and looked up from his sketchbook. Suddenly, he was surrounded by purple dust. He rapidly stood up to get out of the cloud.
First he looked down at himself, but nothing changed on him. But what happened then.
"Hahahaha", he could hear a silent laugh. He turned around abruptly and could see something. It was a shadow, standing in the corner of his room.
"Who are you?!", Nathaniel yelled towards the shadow while raising his fist to protect himself.
The shadow slowly stepped out of the corner, into the light. Nathaniels eyes widened in shock when he saw who it was.
"Marc?", he asked shocked while his eyes pierced the black haired boy. Marc was laughing louder and louder and his hand raised to point at Nathaniel.
"You cheap copy of an artist", he insulted him, "Did you really think I'm working with you because I admire your talend? Ha!"
Nathaniel was shocked, but he realized that something was different with Marc. He realized it when he heard his voice: It sounded like the one of Reverser.
"You're not real!", he yelled towards Marc, "The real Marc would never say something like this! His heart is to kind for something like that! And he is also too smart to insult anyone!"
Nathaniel stared at the fake Marc with an angry glare, but he just kept laughing. Then suddenly, other shadows were forming around him. They don't had a human shape, but they laughed, they laughed about him.
Insecurity spread across Nathaniels body and he only had one thing in mind: escape.
Marc didn't care that he was still in his pyjamas, he had to get away from Nathaniel. As fast as he could, he ran around Nathaniel, jumped over the shards and headed toward the apartment door.
He nearly jumped down the stairs and run onto the street, were he could see a catastrophe.
People ran around screaming, followed by monsters, giant spiders, dinosaures and even more.
"The Sandboy just checked in, now nightmares can begin"
Marc heard the same voice like before, it came from the sky. He looked up and saw a boy with dark blue skin and hair which looked like a starry sky, he was floating on a pillow which throws down the purple dust he already knew.
"An Akuma victim?", he asked out loud.
"Marc!", he suddenly heard Nathaniels aggressive voice again and realized he was also running down the stairs. Marc snapped out of his thoughts and started running again. He didn't know where he was heading, he just wanted to get away from here.
Also Nathaniel ran, but he could still hear the laughs in his ears. He covered them with his hands, but it didn't help. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!", he yelled while he was running, but it just made the laughs louder.
He ran further and further away from his home. His lung was burning but he didn't care, he just wanted to get away from this terrible nightmare.
Nightmare? Didn't he heard something like that before?
"Is this another Akuma attack?", he asked himself, but couldn't think any further, because he bumped into someone.
He landed on the ground. "Ouch!", he called out and rubbed his head, before he opened his eyes again… just to see Marc in front of him.
He screamed when he saw him and backed away while still sitting on the ground… the strange thing was that Marc was doing the same thing.
When they both realized that, they stopped screaming and stared on each other.
"Wait", Nathaniel said, "Marc? Is that you?"
Marc blinked a few times when he heard Nathaniels soft and kind voice. "Of course I am", he said, "And… this is you, Nathaniel, right?"
A stone fell from Marcs heart when Nathaniel nodded. He wanted to stand up and go towards him, but was distracted by someone calling Nathaniels name.
He looked up and saw… himself?
"You're such a joke, Nathaniel", the wrong Marc said in his deep voice, "And not only I think so."
Nathaniel covered his ears again. Marc looked him into his face, it was full of fear. He never saw Nathaniel like that, it broke his heart.
He had to do something about it… and he already knew exactly what to do!
He stood up and ran between Nathaniel and his 'evil twin', and glared at the second with an angry face.
"Don't you dare talking about Nathaniel like that!", he screamed, as loud as Nathaniel never heard from him before. Nathaniel removed his hands from his ears and turned around to Marc. "Nathaniel is one of the most wonderful persons I ever met!", he yelled at the fake Marc, "He is kind, he is talented and he accepts me the way I am! So don't you dare talking like that about the boy I love!"
Marc stand still and his blood started to freeze. Did he… did he really just said it out loud?... in front of Nathaniel?
Also Nathaniel stand still, but not out of shock. He suddenly could feel that his heart was racing and that his cheeks were heating up.
And then realization hit him. Suddenly he knew why he had to think about Marc that much, why he felt so good while thinking about him. Could it be that he was in love?
"Marc!", Nathaniel could hear… his own voice? He turned around to see himself coming towards them.
"You coward", he insulted Marc, "I could never love a weakling like you!"
Nathaniel didn't need to think one second longer, he stood up and walked towards the faker with furie in his eyes.
"Back off, you cheep copy!", he yelled, "Marc isn't a weakling and you think I could never love him, huh? Guess what: You're wrong!"
When Nathaniel said that, you could hear a soft sound from the distance and suddenly, thousands of ladybugs flew around them and let the nightmares vanish.
"Is that true?", Nathaniel could hear Marcs quiet voice behind him. He turned around to look at the artist. He was crimson red and he looked down to not look him in the eyes.
Nathaniels heart pounded even faster when he saw him. Since when was his friend this… cute?
He could feel his blood pumping through his veins again, but this time he know the reason.
"I… I…", he stuttered. He took a deep breath before he finally answered. "Yes… it's true", he said and suddenly, his heart felt a lot lighter.
Tears formed in Marcs eyes while he stared at the blushing Nathaniel. It were tears of happiness, because everyone of his worries seemed to vanish in this moment.
Marc didn't know what to say, so he just stepped up to Nathaniel and laid his arms around the artist. Nathaniel stood still for a while, but then he slowly raised his arms and also laid them around Marcs back.
"I'm so happy", Marc said in a quiet voice, "I love you, Nathaniel, I love you so much."
Nathaniel hold the writer even closer. He wasn't confused by his feelings anymore, so he dared to say it. "I love you, too."
Bonus:
After they parted from each other, Nathaniel decided to escort Marc to his home. Well, that was before the writer realized that he forgot his keys in all the hectic rush.
Nathaniel searched in his pockets, but realized it was the same case with him.
Their only chance was that one of their parents also woke up because of all that chaos, so they decided to give it a try.
They walked down the streets, hand in hand. It was a bit embarrassing for both of them, but at the same time, it felt so good.
When they walked a bit, Marc suddenly stopped. Nathaniel was confused.
"What is it?", he asked him. "This boy there", Marc said in a slight shocked voice. Nathaniel looked at the same direction as Marc and saw… Ladybug and Chat Noir… and with them a little kid in his pyjamas.
"Louis?!", Marc suddenly called out. The boy turned around and one second later, he ran towards Marc and hugged him as soon as he reached him. Ladybug and Chat Noir followed him.
"Hello", Chat Noir greeted Marc, "Do you know this kid?" "Yes", Marc answered to Ladybugs question, "That's my nephew Louis, my older sisters son."
After explaining this, Marc kneeled down to be in one high with his nephew. "Louis, what happened?", Marc asked the little boy which looked down a bit ashamed.
"I saw a scary movie in TV", he said in a shy voice, "I wanted to watch it, but Mama said this movie isn't for children and brought me to bed… but I snuck out of my room again and hid behind the door of the living room while Mama and Papa watched it… but it was to scary, so I ran back into my room again, but when I finally fell asleep, I had a terrible nightmare… and when I woke up… there was this black butterfly."
"We think that Hawk Moth used the bad energy from the nightmare to akumatize him", Ladybug explained before Marc talked to Louis.
"Louis, you're mother doesn't say this as a joke", Marc explained, remembering the many times his sister objurgated him when they were younger and she babysat him, "She just wants to protect you."
"I'm sorry!", the little boy now cried, but Marc hugged him to calm him down. "It's okay", he said, "Just promise me to listen to your parents from now on, deal?"
Marc held up his little finger. The crying boy then wiped away his tears with his sleeve and smiled again. "Deal", he answered and crossed his little finger with the one of his uncle.
All people around them were smiling satisfied, when they heard two beeping sounds. "That's our sign to go", Chat Noir said in his typical nonchalant voice.
"Can you two bring your nephew home?", Ladybug asked Marc. Both of the boys nodded. "Of course", Marc said, "Thank you, Ladybug and Chat Noir."
"No big deal", Chat Noir answered before he extend his staff and Ladybug flung her Jojo and both heroes disappeared in the night.
"Come on, Louis, let's get you back home", Marc said before turning his back toward the little boy. Louis climbed on Marcs back and he got up, carrying his nephew piggyback.
"And we can ask my sister if we can stay at her place", Marc said towards Nathaniel. Nathaniel nodded and two started walking.
"Uncle Marc?", Louis suddenly spoke up, after they already walked a few meters. "Yes, what is it?", Marc asked the little boy. "Is the boy who walks with us your boyfriend?"
Both boys twitched a bit when they heard this. "W-Why are you asking?", Marc asked a second question to his nephew. "Mama once told me that there are couples which are men and women, like her and Papa, but also couples which are women and women or man and man", he started explaining, "And I saw you two holding hands, so are you?"
"Well", Nathaniel answered in Marcs place, "For me this would be the case, it depends what your uncle is thinking."
Marc stared at Nathaniel, while his heart started racing and his cheeks flashing red. The artist only looked at him, also with red cheeks and a coy smile.
Marc didn't has to think about it twice, so he nodded.
"Cool!", Louis cheered, "That means I have two uncles now." Marc and Nathaniel laughed, while they continued walking.
It was strange, Marc thought. A few hours before he couldn't find no sleep out of fear of his feelings, but now it seemed all like a nightmare: Once your awake, everything will turn out good.