Twelve... Twelve fucking spitballs and the school day isn't over yet. Nathaniel was forced to pick out twelve- still wet- spitballs from his hair and you know who he blames? The demon-spawn himself, the one who makes his school life hell, the reason he would rather lick the bathroom floor than even talk to him. It was none other than-
"Damn, Marc really did a number on you with those spitballs, huh?"
Nathaniel threw away the wet napkin he was using to clean his hands of any traces of saliva and nodded. "I swear to God, one of these days I'll snap," he huffed. "What is his problem with me?"
Alix merely shrugged as she pulled her skates out of her locker. "Bud, that's a question only Marc can answer."
It's been this way since they were eight, maybe even younger. For years, Marc's been tormenting Nathaniel non-stop and the poor redhead had no clue why when he's never done anything to him. Sand poured on his head, tripping him in the hallway, pouring ice down the back of his shirt, calling him 'Tomato Head,' a name that's honestly not even THAT creative. This is barely even a quarter of what Marc's done to him; Nathaniel and Alix have actually made a list- Single spaced, three pages long.
"And relax. You'll be out of here in two years when we graduate and you'll never see him again."
Hearing that, Nathaniel smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I can wait two years, I guess, and- What are you doing?" He asked when Alix grabbed his head and pulled him down to her height. "Alix?"
"Sorry man. It's gonna be a long two years." Clearing up the confusion, she pulls a pair of scissors out of her backpack and snips something out of Nathaniel's hair, which is revealed to be none other than chewed gum.
Appalled, Nathaniel felt the back of his head and groaned when he felt a small sticky clump of hair. He could easily comb it out, but that didn't mean he should have to. "Okay, now he's just being gross!"
"Who is?"
The two of them turned to the door and saw Marinette walking in. Frowning, Nathaniel approached her. "Your cousin put gum in my hair!" He points to the aforementioned gum Alix is throwing away. "Why is he doing this to me?!"
"It's not just you Nath," she giggled. "When we were kids, he pushed Kim in the mud for taking the last pudding cup and poured juice on Nino for bringing back one of his pencils with bite marks."
Nathaniel sputtered for a few seconds before finding the words. "B-but he had a reason to! With me, it's for no reason at all, every day, every time I see him, Marinette! What is Marc's deal with me?"
He notices the look of hesitation on her face. As an artist, he picked up the skill of analyzing different facial expressions. She knows something, and it looks like she might just blurt it out if he presses the right buttons.
"Mari." The girl in pigtails glances off to the side, making her look more guilty. Nathaniel leans in a little close on her with a look of suspicion. "Do you know why Marc messes with me?"
"Wh-what?!" Marinette started rambling, "No, I have no idea why honestly, and we're super close- Cousins and all- he's just always been like that, let's his fists do the talking- Not that he's ever gotten in a fistfight! As for why he messes with you, again, no idea!" She nervously giggled on her way to her locker and clumsily gathered her things. "Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow!"
On her way to the door, Marinette bumped into the frame before straightening herself back up and heading out of the locker room, leaving the two best friends to look on in confusion.
"... She definitely knows something," Alix finally said before leaving with Nathaniel.
M is for the mouth I'd like to kiss
A is for your art, which fills me with bliss
R is for really? You can't tell?
The writer's eyes darted around, making sure no one was around to hear the last line he was about to write.
C is for clue. Your admirer is Marc Anciel.
Marc quickly shut his journal closed before anyone could see the page and caressed the red cover with his gloves hand. This journal contains not one, not ten, but forty-three poems dedicated to one single boy- The little twerp who sends his heart pounding, whose cute blue eyes made him feel so safe, and those crimson red locks he'd love for to one day comb his fingers through...
Of course, he's talking about Nathaniel Kurtzberg, but he's not telling Tomato Head that! Besides, there's no way he'd like him after everything he's done to him: Pouring paint on his lap, calling him dumb names, then the gelatin in his locker. It honestly amazes Marc that he hasn't gotten in trouble once. Makes you really think about how messed up this school is.
It's been like this for so long, ever since la maternelle... When he was shown just a single shred of decency for once.
Marc's always been in his older brother's shadow, and that's to be expected when Marquele is perfect at every. Single. Thing! Straight A's, takes first in every academic competition, met with foreign dignitaries, a piano prodigy, has his former teachers making shrines dedicated to him, and he's so hot that he has girls and guys fighting over him! No one, not even his own parents noticed him in favor of fawning over Marquele.
In fact, they were so enthralled by his brother's piano playing, that they'd forgotten that Marc needed to go to daycare. Fortunately, he remembered the way, but unfortunately, it was raining.
What should've been a three-minute drive lasted ten minutes. Marc was soaking wet, freezing, felt a cold coming on... And then the rain just stopped, no, scratch that. This cute little redheaded boy put his umbrella over him and out of nowhere, he said,
'I like your shirt.'
And all Marc could say back then was, 'Huh?' Because who just says that out of the blue? Ah, they were kids.
'I like your shirt because it's rainbow-colored like my markers.' And he kept him dry all the way into the daycare center. Marc just... He had a crush on him, his first crush... That soon got ugly.
There was Kim. Loud, blowhard Kim who just had to tease Marc about his crush on Nathaniel when he caught him lovingly staring at him during snack time, and everyone laughed because at that age, 'like liking someone is gross. So embarrassed and just needing to take the attention off of his crush, Marc pushed Kim to the floor and threatened him to shut up unless he wants to meet his fists.
Ever since that day, everyone knew him as the toughest kid in class and not 'Ooohh! Marc likes Nathaniel!'
Throughout the years, he's just kept up appearances out of fear that people would remember his crush... Well, one person did, but Marinette can keep a secret, so no problem. The only way he could truly express his actual feelings for Nathaniel without suffering from embarrassment was by writing them down, and they've gotten very poetic over the years going from writing about how he thinks Nathaniel is so cute to writing a paragraph about how his eyes can outshine any diamond-
"Whatcha writing this time?"
Marc nearly jumped out of his skin when Marinette somehow sneaked up behind him with this shit-eating grin. "Don't do that," he groaned, and in response, she snickered like the evil cousin she is. "Anyway," he continued nervously. "I sorta... Isignedmynane!"
Marinette, who somehow understood his fast-talking squealed. "I'm so proud of you!"
"This doesn't mean anything," he said in a hushed voice. "These are not meant to be seen until I'm dead, buried, and maggots have consumed my flesh."
"Jeez, and Alya calls me dramatic." The two make their way down the stairs of the front entrance and go their separate ways home. "See ya, Marc!"
"Bye, Mari- Aah!" The books in his hands and the other students he bumped into fall to the ground upon collision. He was about to utter an apology until he saw the familiar mop of red hair and hissed as he picked up his books and shoved them into his messenger bag, "Watch where you're going next time, Tomato Head!"
Nathaniel rolled his eyes as he and Alix picked up his books. "I could tell you the same thing, Anciel."
Before Marc could retort, Alix came between them. "Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty! Move along." She picked up the last of Nathaniel's things and pulled him away before things could get uglier.
Once they were out of earshot, Marc let out a quiet squeal. "He knows my last name." He resisted the urge to practically skip home.
Nathaniel continued to try and comb through the clump of hair with his fingers against Alix's advice.
"You're just gonna mess it up more," she told him. "Trust me, I learned that that hard way."
Nathaniel remembered that day. When they were twelve, Kim bet Alix that he could blow a bigger bubble gum bubble than her, but like always, she won... At the cost of her elbow-length hair, though.
He carefully pulled his fingers away from the tangled mess. "So, should I use a comb or a brush to get it out?"
"Comb," she answered. "Brushes just make it way worse, plus it hurts a lot. Oh, and I'd suggest adding some heat if it's still sticky from the gum."
As they neared the small boarding house built over the diner- both owned by Nathaniel's grandmother- Alix took the rest of Nathaniel's book so he could fish out his keys. That was when she noticed something in the small stack of textbooks and sketchbooks- A small red book. At first, she believed it was another one of Nathaniel's sketchbooks, but all of his had designs of his own and stickers on the cover while this was just solid red.
"This yours'?" Asked Alix as she held up the red book. Nathaniel looked up from his bag to glance at the book in Alix's hand and shook his head at its unfamiliarity.
"It's not yours'?"
"Nope," Alix shook her head and opened the book to discover that it was actually a journal judging by the lines. She looked on the first page for a name or address, but there was nothing. So, she flipped to the next page to look for any clues as to who this journal may belong to... Her blue eyes widened and looked as if they might just pop out of their sockets as she read a few sentences. "Holy-"
Nathaniel looked at her with concern. "Alix? What's wrong?"
A high-pitched sound came from the back of her throat before becoming louder, and louder until Alix was laughing so hard that she dropped the books in her hands onto the ground, and she might just pop a blood vessel, too. "Oh my God! This is too good!"
"Alix!" The redhead exclaimed, wondering what was so funny. "What's going on?!"
The pinkette could barely form sentences as she was laughing and wheezing so much. "O-oh my God, Na-" She wheezed. "Nath! Yo-you gotta read t-this! Hol-holy crap!"
Getting frustrated, he tried to grab at the journal to see what she had read, but Alix refused to take her eyes off of the pages and kept it out of reach. "Alix! What's going on?!"
"Listen, listen!" Slightly calmer, she read what was written aloud in a theatrical tone of voice. " 'To Nathaniel with the red-hot lips.' "
Now it was Nathaniel's eyes bulging. "What?!" He choked.
" 'You cute redhead. Your awesome face. Your emo chic. Your cat-like grace.' "
As she continued reading, a crowd began to gather around them to get a better listen. Many included DuPont students and teachers, the people who lived in the boarding house, and just random Parisians who happened to be walking by.
" 'Whose red-hot lips do I want to taste?'" She snickered. "'Three guesses stupid: Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel!' "
At the last line, everyone, even M. Ramier's pigeons broke out into simultaneous laughter and started poking fun at a red-as-his-hair Nathaniel who snatched the journal out of Alix's hand before she could read another poem and subject him to further embarrassment. A few of Nathaniel's classmates even congratulated him.
Ivan gave him a hearty pat on the back. "Way to go, man!"
"Aw!" Alya cooed. "Someone has an admirer!"
"Rock and roll, red!" Jagged Stone cheered.
"I-it must've been some different Nathaniel!"
"I don't know," Willow smirked at her grandson. "It fits your description pretty well, hot lips!"
Nathaniel covered his face as the laughter became louder from that comment. "Grandma!" She just cackled. Not able to take any more of this, Nathaniel stormed over to the door that lead up to his home with Alix right behind him and still laughing until her sides hurt. He couldn't have gotten in there quick enough when more comments started rolling in.
"Hey, read us another one!"
"So long, Romeo!"
On his way up the stairs, Nathaniel stared holes into the journal wondering who it could've belonged to, and why they had a crush on him of all people.
"Where is it, where is it, where is it?!" Marc shouted as he rifled through his messenger bag before eventually dumping out the contents on the stairs leading to his front door. Nothing but textbooks, his pencil cases, his non-super-private-journal, but no private red journal!
He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, knowing freaking out wouldn't help him. Marc carefully thought back to earlier. He had his journal with him in his bag when classes let out, took it out when he was outside, had it in his hands after school when he walked down the stairs, and... Oh no.
He bumped into Nathaniel. They dropped their books on the ground, and...
Nathaniel. Kurtzberg. Picked. Up. His. Journal.
"Oh no," Marc squeaked before doing the only thing he could possibly think of. Marc screamed. He screamed and ran all the way from his house to Tom and Sabine's bakery.
"Marc, sweetie. What's wrong?" Asked his aunt in concern. She quickly excused herself to the customer in line to see what was wrong with Marc and calm him down.
"Is Marinette here?! I need to talk to her right now!" He exclaimed quick and panicky.
"She just got home, but why-"
"Thank you!" And he ran to the door that lead to the Dupain-Cheng's home, leaving Sabine to wonder why her nephew is in such a panic before tending back to the just-as-confused customers.
Marinette nearly messed up on the dress she was sewing when Marc burst into her room looking slightly disheveled and panting as if he had just run a marathon. She could hardly even understand what he was rambling on about since he talked so fast for her to comprehend like she usually can.
"Marc! Slow down." She pulled her frantic cousin over to her chaise lounge and sat him down before handing him the bottle of water she had been drinking while sewing. "Now take a few sips, and tell me what's wrong."
Marc took about three sips before saying what needed to be said. "... NATHANIEL HAS MY JOURNAL!"
Marinette's blue eyes widen in alarm. "What?! Marc, are you absolutely sure?"
"I bumped into him, we dropped our books, I can't find my journal- I'm pretty sure, Marinette!"
Seeing tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes, Marinette sat down next to him. "Hey, hey, it'll be alright. Come here," she whispered. Instead of falling into her open arms, Marc fell into her lap and sobbed loudly while Marinette combed her fingers through his hair. "At least he won't know it's your..." She trailed off when she realized, "You signed your name." A muffled scream was the only answer she needed. "Okay, so this is pretty bad. But, maybe you can still get it back before he reads anything."
When Marc didn't answer, she took it as a sign to continue.
"He's probably home by now, and I doubt he'll let you into his room, or me without a valid reason but- And hear me out," she quickly added. "I've been to Nathaniel's house to work on a project. There's a fire escape on the side of the boarding house that leads up to his room. You have every right to say no, Marc, but what if we snuck in?"
Slowly, Marc lifted his head up, revealing his slightly smeared mascara and eyeliner. "Would-wouldn't we g-get caught?"
"Not if we're careful," she replied.
Marc thought this over in his head. It seemed risky and there's a chance they'll get caught, but anything was worth getting that journal back from Nathaniel before he could read the last page, the page he was stupid and bold enough to sign!
"... I'm in."
" 'Let me count the ways your crystal blue eyes send my heart-' "
"Cut that out." Nathaniel once again had to snatch the book out of Alix's hand. "Look, how about this? If you help me figure out who wrote these poems, then I'll paint flames on your skates, deal?"
Alix hummed in thought before holding out her hand for Nathaniel to shake. "It's a deal, bud. Now, it's definitely gotta be someone from school."
"A student, I hope," he muttered before pulling his dry-erase board off the wall and setting it down on his desk littered with colored pencils and sketchbooks. "I guess we can cross out the straight guys, gay girls, and anyone already in a relationship."
"So Rose, Juleka, Ivan, Myléne, Alya, Nino, Aurore," Alix listed before making her way to the converted storage shelves that now acted as a bookshelf built into the wall where Nathaniel's bed was placed. Nothing but comic books, manga, drawing reference books, art history books, and unused sketchbooks filled the shelves. She looked through it for a moment before finally coming across the school yearbook among his DC comic books. "This should help us keep better track."
Before they could get back to their investigation, a brown Labrador retriever scampers into the room and nudges his head against Nathaniel's leg. "Picasso, I'll play with you later," he chuckled as the dog gave him literal puppy eyes.
Seeing the dog suddenly gave Alix an idea. "Nath, let Picasso sniff the journal. Maybe he can track down who wrote it."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea. Come here, boy." Picasso perks up now that his owner is interested in him. Nathaniel holds up the journal for Picasso to sniff. "Get the scent, come on." After smelling the journal for a good five seconds, Picasso speeds off once he picks up the scent.
"Look at him go!"
Nathaniel sets the journal down on his desk and runs after Alix and Picasso... Which gives Marinette and Marc the perfect chance to sneak in.
"What kind of person doesn't lock their window?" Marinette asked herself as she easily opened the window leading to Nathaniel's room while Marc acted as a lookout. "Seriously, we got up here way too easy; What if we were criminals?"
"It feels like we are. Let's just get in there, grab my journal, and get out. I hate sneaking into someone else's home like this," Marc said as he anxiously looked around to see if anyone noticed the two teenagers standing on the fire escape.
Marinette smirked as she was about to step in. "You're not even gonna take the time to sniff his pillow?"
"... Out of my way!" He pushed past the bluenette and hastily into the bedroom of his crush since they were four. So enamored by his surroundings, Marc almost forgets what he came in here for. It's all just as he often imagined- Anime posters taped to the walls; a clear love for the color purple which was evident by his bedsheets, rug, and the small couch by the door; a skylight angled so perfectly over his bed that when the sun rose, its golden rays would shine on him; and bookshelves filled with manga, Marvel, and DC comics, some of which he enjoyed reading.
In some sort of daze, Marc's feet take him to Nathaniel's bed, where he goes to pick up the redhead's pillow and inhaled its scent. "God, what is that shampoo?" He said, muffled by the fabric.
"Oh, I wasn't being serious," said Marinette as she entered the room. "Alright, let's hurry before they get back."
Marc smelled the pillow one last time. "In a sec."
Marinette rolled her eyes, amused until she caught sight of her cousin's journal on Nathaniel's desk. "Found it!" Marc sets the pillow back on the bed as he found it and goes to retrieve his journal, only to come to a pause when he hears voices.
"So that was a dead end." It was Alix. They're back already?!
The two had a quiet freak out where they let out silent screams and hastily moved around the room, wondering where to hide. Noticing that there was plenty of room under Nathaniel's bed, Marinette whispered, "Drop and roll!" She and Marc dropped to the ground and rolled under the bed... But then they remembered the still-open window.
Marc quickly got out from under the bed, closed the window, and made his way back, and just in time, too.
Nathaniel pats Picasso on the head, which his dog is grateful for. "Good try, boy. Whoever wrote that journal most go to the library a lot."
"Right... So it's not Kim," Alix smirked.
"Or Chloé," Nathaniel added. "Alright, let's keep crossing people off." Alix groaned as she flopped down on his bed. "Come on, it won't take that long." He grabbed the yearbook, dry erase board, and sat down next to his friend. "Let's keep crossing off names... What if it's Sabrina?"
Nathaniel shook his head. "Nah, Chloé watches her like a hawk. If Sabrina did write in the journal, Chloé would know and probably announce it."
Alix adds Sabrina's name to 'No.'
"You think Adrien wrote it?"
Alix furrowed her brow in thought. "No," she shook her head and added his name under Sabrina's. "Adrien's not that eloquent. He thought 'Wherefore art thou?' meant 'Where are you?' Maybe it's Marinette."
Neither of them heard a choking sound coming from under the bed.
"Marinette?" Nathaniel smiled at the thought. "... I guess we could add her to the 'Maybe' list."
Alix smacked her forehead. "Dude, I was kidding. She's crazy about Adrien, remember?"
"Let's still consider her an option." Nathaniel took the marker and wrote Marinette's name down with a heart in place of the dot over the i. "I mean, you never know, right? That whole crush could be a cover-up."
Meanwhile, under the bed, Marinette was red in the face while Marc was biting down on his hand to prevent a scream, horrified and angry that his crush had his own crush on his cousin!
For two, long hours, Marc and Marinette lay under the bed and waited for Alix and Nathaniel to leave, but they just kept endlessly listing suspects. At least they put Marc under the 'No' category, so he was safe for now until...
"God, we're stupid!" They listened closely when they heard the sound of pages flipping. "We'll just compare signatures in the yearbook!"
Marinette covered Marc's mouth to prevent a scream, but it came out as a high-pitched noise.
Nathaniel looked around. "Did you hear something?"
The cousins held their breaths.
"Must've been a cat," Alix deduced, much to their relief. She flipped to the signature pages in the back. "Alright, you got a ton of signatures here. The author is bound to be one of them." Seeing that dopey look on her friend's face, Alix rolled her eyes. "We'll start with Marinette."
He immediately hugged her as he held up one of the pages to Marinette's pink cursive. "You know me so well." After a few seconds of comparing... And comparing... And comparing some more... And then one more time for good measure, Nathaniel shook his head in disappointment. "No." Alix gave him a pat on the book.
"Let's try Jean Duparc," she suggested. "He's pretty into romance novels."
Five. More. Hours.
Marc felt like his legs were about to fall asleep and Marinette could not stay in this position under the bed any longer.
With a quiet groan, Marinette pulled out her phone while Nathaniel and Alix tiredly compared hand-writing.
"Lacey, no. Mireille, no. Ethan, no..." Not able to take any more of this, Nathaniel fell back on his bed and shut his eyes for a few seconds. "Your turn," he murmured.
Alix rubbed her eyes, just as tired as he was right now, and sat back up to take a look through the signatures. "... Nath. Let's call it a night."
"Alix..."
"Bud, the last name written down is Marc Anciel's..."
"..."
Hearing that woke the two right up and made them burst out into uncontrollable laughter, and made a snarl escape from the back of Marc's throat that Marinette quickly silenced by slapping her hand over his mouth.
Nathaniel looked around his room. "I swear I heard something."
Alix yawned. "We're just tired, plus we haven't eaten. Not a good combo. Let's head to the kitchen, make sandwiches, and I'll head out."
"Yes!" Marc silently cheered. "Go downstairs! Good idea!"
"Ran out of bread yesterday," said Nathaniel.
"Damn it!"
Alix groaned. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, then." She fist-bumped the redhead before walking out.
Now alone- or so he thinks- Nathaniel starts to get ready for bed while Marc tries so hard to not steal glances while he's changing out of his clothes. Sneaking into his room was one thing, but watching him get undressed was a whole different level. Instead, he looked at Marinette who was on her phone.
"Who are you texting?" He asked.
"Alya. I told her to tell our parents we were sleeping over at her place; no questions asked," she explained before sighing. "The things I do to save your gay ass, Marc."
"You love me."
"I do," she relented. "Also, you can look now. Nath's in his pajamas."
Marc felt like he could finally breathe again when he heard that. But when he looked again, he felt himself heating up when he saw Nathaniel dressed in a purple tank top and black pajama shorts. "Dear God, when will this be over?"
It's finally over the next morning, but not immediately as they had hoped. Marc and Marinette were so tired, that they fell asleep during Nathaniel's morning routine- their opportunity to finally get the journal back and they woke up to find him putting it in his bag before leaving for school, where he'll no doubt read the final page... In front of every student present...
Enough was enough.
When Nathaniel left his room, the cousins rolled out from under his bed, both looking like death. Their hair was messed up, dark bags hung under their eyes, and their clothes were wrinkled from tossing and turning due to their inability to find comfortable sleeping positions without trying to make too much noise.
"Marc," Marinette rasped. "I'm sorry, but it's over."
"... No," he said ominously. "No, it's not.
"But we-"
"I'm ending this, and you're helping me."
Seeing that there was no room for argument, Marinette gave a determined nod. "Alright, what do you have in mind?"
Willow turned away from the toaster when she heard Nathaniel make his way into the kitchen. "You find your little admirer yet, sweetie?"
"No," he replied as the golden-brown toast popped out. "But I'm still looking."
She cooed. "Oh, I remember when your grandfather would send all sorts of love notes to me. Remember that, Oscar?"
The elderly man set down his newspaper and chuckled. "Yeah, I remember once, I got so nervous to give to you that I tore it up and had my brother eat it!"
Nathaniel rolled his eyes as they laughed, or in his grandmother's case, cackled. He loves his grandparents, but sometimes they're just a little too crazy for him.
"Nathan, listen to me," Oscar instructed. "And I'm going to be blunt. I want you to know that this," he points to the journal in his hand. "Is probably the greatest thing that is ever going to happen in your life."
Nathaniel furrowed his brow as he tried to figure out how he's supposed to feel about that statement.
Oscar continued. "When you find out who this admirer of yours' is, you'll feel all sorts of joy and euphoria you never even knew you could feel."
Willow handed her husband his toast before kissing him on the cheek. "Just knowing that you have someone looking out for you, having these emotions for you? It's an amazing feeling, Nathan."
Nathaniel thinks about it for a moment and realizes that his grandparents are right. He never really believed anyone could ever like him this way. Him. Nathaniel Quinlan Kurtzberg. The boy who hides behind his sketchbook when he's called on to answer a question in class and can barely form a sentence without stammering. It felt nice knowing there was someone out there who liked him, quirks and all.
He musters up a smile. "I guess it is kind of cool. Obsessive," he added. "But cool." Nathaniel hugs both of his grandparents before heading out. "I'll see you guys later."
Willow yelled, "Bring home someone cute, or don't come back at all!" At the loud groan, she and Oscar laughed. "It's so easy to get on the kid's nerves."
"Gets it from your sister," Oscar remarked.
"'How is it humanly possible to be so enamored with someone?'" Marc heard being read aloud on his way to DuPont. He screamed internally. 'He's almost at the last page!'
"Marc, are you absolutely sure you want me doing this?" Asked Marinette for the twentieth time since Marc explained the plan to her.
He looked from the open bottle of water in her hand to the front entrance of the school where a small crowd of students have formed around Nathaniel as he reads a few of his poems out of the journal... And they're all laughing! "... I'm more sure of this than anything. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I need you to do to this!"
"But why can't you-"
"I'm sorry to say this, but you're notoriously clumsy. Again, sorry. No one will suspect anything," he explained before clasping his hands together. "Please," he begged, lengthening the vowels.
Seeing that it was important she did this, Marinette relented. "Alright. Just give me the go."
"As soon as he flips to the last page."
A sudden voice startled the two. "Damn!" Seeing that it was Kim, they were about to explain themselves until he said, "It looks like you two slept under a bed!"
Angered by the comment, Marc shoved him into one of the bushes, which earned him a blank expression from his cousin. "What? He had it coming." He's still met with a blank look. "... Just please wait until I give the go."
"Dude!" They heard Nino wheeze. "That had to be the corniest one yet!"
"I kind of liked that one," said Ivan. "Are there any more?"
"I think the one after is the last page."
Last page.
Last page.
Last page.
It's go time.
When given the signal, Marinette made her way towards the stairs while Marc silently prayed that she'd make it in time. Why did his name only have four letters? Damnit, Marquele! Being given a name with eight letters!
Rose squealed as she hugged Juleka. "I bet the last one is going to be so cute!" The goth girl merely giggled at her girlfriend's excitement.
"Let's hear it, Casanova," Adrien goaded.
Alya rolled her eyes. "Like you even know who that is."
"Alright, alright. "'M is for the mouth I'd like to kiss.'"
"Alright!" Aurore whooped. "This is getting steamy!"
"'A is for your art, which-'"
"Oh my gosh!" Marinette quickly stood back up. "Nath, I am sorry! I-I was in a rush, and I didn't know the cap wasn't on all the way, and-"
Nathaniel wrings out his slightly soaked blazer. "Hey, it's fine," he assured her. "It's just water."
"Bad luck about the page, though," Alix pointed out. The words written on the final page of the journal were unreadable as the ink smeared from the water. "Your admirer isn't gonna like that, bud."
"Maybe the other pages are salvageable."
While the students talked amongst themselves, Adrien approached Marinette and lead her to the opposite end of the steps out of earshot from everyone else. "That was on purpose, wasn't it?"
Her eyes bulged in shock. "Ah-w-what?! No! O-of course not! Why would I- You! Even think that?"
The blonde smirked. "You and Marc aren't exactly quiet, Mari."
~Flashback~
Adrien was so glad his father was out of town for a business meeting and Nathalie was visiting family, leaving him and Gorilla alone together! Those days were always fun, they'd watch a ton of Anime, go get ice cream without Nathalie warning him about how unhealthy it was, and Adrien could wear all of the hoodies and ripped jeans he wanted.
To start off day one of no rules, Adrien would be indulging in some triple chocolate chip cookies from the Dupain-Cheng's bakery.
As he stepped out of his limo parked outside the bakery, a flash of red sped past him, nearly knocking the blonde to the ground. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was Marc, Marinette's cousin. Why was he in such a rush? And why's he screaming? With a shrug, he entered the famous bakery and took in the pleasant aroma of fresh-baked pastries. He could almost smell those cookies right now.
"Marc! Slow down!" The muffled yells of Marinette sounded from upstairs in the Dupain-Cheng's home, startling the customers and bakers.
'So Marc's here to see Marinette,' Adrien thought to himself. 'Is he okay?'
It had gone quiet for a few seconds so Adrien shrugged it off and continued to wait patiently in line.
"NATHANIEL HAS MY JOURNAL!"
And if Adrien could, he'd jump out of his skin. Also, what journal?
After placing his order and exchanging pleasantries with Tom and Sabine, Adrien made his way back to the car with a bag full of chocolate in his hands. Once he got in, the blonde felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. With one look, he saw that Nino had texted him a video.
'Must be a new music video he made,' thought the blonde as he hit play... But it was not a music video.
He played the video over and over, trying to grasp what he's seeing and hearing right now. Marc wrote the journal. The journal filled with love poems dedicated to Nathaniel. The journal that Nathaniel has right now and Marc is freaking out over. The same Nathaniel Marc supposedly hates but after what Adrien saw in the video and heard in the bakery, that is clearly not true!
... Love is weird.