Just like on any normal day at College Françoise Dupont, Nathaniel Kurtzberg can be found in the school's art room making comic books. And this time, he had the room to himself.
Nathaniel sketches out Ladybug on the page he is currently working on, each stroke of his pencil bringing the drawing to life, the quiet of the room helping him to concentrate.
Just as he was about to fix part of the torso, his sketchbook is snatched out from underneath him and his pencil misses the page, making a small line on the desk instead.
"Drawing Ladybug. Again?" He hears a judging voice from behind him and he turns around to see Chloé holding his sketchbook out in front of her, flipping through the pages of it with a look of disgust displayed across her face.
"Hey! Give that back." He tries to reason and Chloé just laughs at him and moves the sketchbook away as he tries to reach for it.
"Are you in love with Ladybug or something?" She asks and laughs at him.
"I'm not in love with Ladybug." He replies and tries to reach out for the sketchbook once again, standing up this time.
"Then why do you draw her all the time?" Chloé retorts and tauntingly waves the sketchbook just out of Nathaniel's reach.
"I'm working on a comic book with Marc." He explains, giving up on trying to take his sketchbook back from Chloé.
"So, do you like Marc?" He hears another voice say and looks to his left to see Sabrina. He shouldn't be surprised that she's here too. Wherever Chloé goes, Sabrina follows.
Her words seem to echo in Nathaniel's mind as a sudden realisation comes to him.
'Do I like Marc?' He wonders as he sits down again. 'That would explain why I want to hang out with him.' He further reasons, his heart almost bursting out of his chest.
"Pathetic." He bears Chloé sneer as she slams Nathaniel's sketchbook to the ground, causing a loud thud to resonate throughout the room. The two girls then proceeded to head out of the room, laughter echoing around them.
He jumps when he hears the door slam behind them and slumps down over his desk as he thinks about what Sabrina teased.
'Do you like Marc?' She had teased and part of him was yelling 'yes!' but another part of him was saying 'maybe.'
In his confusion, he didn't hear the door open as someone else walked in and made their way over to where Nathaniel was sat.
"Are you okay?" He hears and turns his head to see none other than Marc standing behind him, Nathaniel's sketchbook offered out to him in one hand and a cute smile on his face.
Nathaniel felt heat rising to his cheeks and just knew that his blushing. That and he could hear his heartbeat loud and clear.
"I saw Chloé and Sabrina laughing and I heard them mention your name." Marc explained as he pulls over a chair and sits down next to Nathaniel, not realising what he's doing to the poor boy's heart.
"I-I'm fine." Nathaniel manages to stutter out and Marc doesn't look convinced. He places a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder in comfort and looks at him worriedly.
Nathaniel springs up from his chair, grabbing his sketchbook and letting Marc's hand fall back to his side as he looks at Nathaniel with the same worried expression as before.
"I-I need to go!" Nathaniel blurts out as he runs out of the art room and away from Marc who was confusing him so greatly. By this point he knew the truth though, there was no hiding it anymore.
He did have a crush on Marc.
He found himself in the boy's bathroom as he stopped running and sat down against the wall, catching his breath and evening out his erratic breathing.
"Nathaniel!" He hears someone shout as the door slams wide open and Marc appears in the doorway. It takes a moment for the green eyes boy to notice Nathaniel but when he does he breathes a sigh of relief and sits down next to him.
"I have done anything wrong, have I?" Marc shyly asks, bringing his knees up to partially hide his face.
"No, of course not!" Nathaniel reassures. "It's just that, well," he sighs and turns to fully face Marc who stops hiding his face.
"They asked me something which made realise something really important." He explains. "It made me realise that." He gulps.
"It made you realise that." Marc says, trying to coax the answer out of Nathaniel.
"It made me realise that I might have a crush on you." Nathaniel shyly admits, a blush spreading across his face as Marc's eyes widen and he gasps slightly before a smile forms on his face.
Nathaniel takes this reaction as his cue to hide his face in his hands so that Marc can't see how embarrassed he currently looks as his face becomes as red as his hair.
"I think I might just like you too." He hears and looks up to see Marc with a wide smile.
Nathaniel wraps his arms around Marc in a hug and Marc instantly hugs him back. So much for all that worry that the other person would find it weird and outright reject them on the spot.
The next day, when people saw Marc and Nathaniel walking into school hand in hand they received a lot of congratulations and a big hug from Marinette.
Chloé and Sabrina looked on in shock at the new couple as they gaped, looking between them and then each other and back to them again.
"Thanks Sabrina!" They hear Nathaniel say as he and Marc walk past them and towards the art room, wide smiles adorning both of their faces.
"You're welcome?" She responds with a bewildered look on her face.
Marc and Nathaniel spent the rest of their free time that day with each other, vowing to get to know each other more and going on their first date. All that mattered to them was each other now and they wouldn't change what had happened for the world.
This was for a competition entry on Miraculous Amino.
