*when Chloe gets a dream about a boy in the woods, she goes out of her way into the midnight rain to take a walk to a hidden park away from Paris*
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The window was open, and the sky turned dark hours ago. It's now 11:39 at night in Paris. The words of nature filled the surroundings of the capitol with thier soft noises. Nothing but the callings of birds and crickets alike with a hushed breeze of midnight wind blew across the building.
Silence. Only silence before the soft drizzles of rain had reached the balcony floors of the Grand Paris Hotel. The whispering raindrops gradually increase in speed, but did no harm as the doors were closed for the night. No noise to be disturbed on this calm Friday evening.
Only the sounds of crickets and rain poured from the sky. Every door and window were sealed except for one. This one window had been left open near the bed of the mayor's daughter. Who's currently asleep, not hearing the rain pouring or to smell the cool breeze of the enviorment around her. She was in her own little dream land as she slept.
The sounds of rain seeping into her mind and colliding with her dreams, became soothing to her ears. Her dreams are one of nature and puddles, playing in the mud, not afraid to get filthy. Rest near a river, catching frogs with her father. Watching the fish swim by as she counted a few in the bucket. Then he was imagined as a fisherman. Andre beamed to the girl as he began: "Chloe, why don't you try to catch a fish? Here I'll help you. Now, put both of your hands onto the pole..." he advised her on how to hold a fishing pole.
He showed her a trail to keep track as they walked into the woods, a river flowing by their side downstream. Chloe followed the path; stepping over sticks, autumn leaves and shrubs from the ground. She peered up to observe that the forest trees were steeper than she expected. Dried bark became wet in a color of deep mud brown. The grass she stepped around gave off glints of light and beads of rain on every end. Chloe tipped her chin up, tracing the height of the trees in utter wonder and amazement at how tall they could grow.
She looked so high that she lightly tripped to let her bottom touch the moist dried leaves. Luckily, someone supported her; though it wasn't her dad. Andre had been admiring elsewhere; to explore about the forest and to gather up twigs. Chloe examined the hands that caught her: the hue of clean pale skin, deep gray button sleeve jacket and soft red hair.
She turned around to see a young 6-year-old boy before her. Strange that she never spoke to him when she was younger, but she absolutely knows who he is. Yet she thought why is he here? In the forest? All alone with no guardian but himself with a backpack?
"Thank you..." Chloe had uttered out to him, he simply nodded before looking to the side to see her dad calling out to her. "Chloe! Look over here! There's a passage way to the lake if we cross it!" Chloe turned around to see Andre wave to her and pointed at direction with a walking stick.
"Okay papa!" She replied.
"Hey what's your-" yet as she turned around to talk to the boy, he had disappeared from her view while a quick smell of nature touched her senses. The woods felt marvelous, the crickets chirping with the croaking of toads in the stream besides her.
She didn't pay any attention until she spotted a peek of something shiny, glimmering white between the dried wet leaves. She bent down to pick up the glistining object to get a closer look: it was a white pen, and the cap was gone. She turned her head to roam for the red-haired boy, but to no avail she could find him.
She veered around to accompany her dad to the lake as it appeared to rain ever so quietly again. She listened to her boots crushing the leaves below her. Her view had darted back to the item
she held in her hand.
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Eyes jolted open. Blue ocean met with the white blankets hovering over her face as she laid sideways, meeting the bathroom doors of her room.
Chloe blinked, twisted and turned as she uncovered herself from the blanket and sat upright from her bed. The noise of the rain returned to her senses, and she switched her focus towards the half-opened window at the side of her bed. To watch the midnight rain pour down on her balcony with the echoes of crickets chirping from elsewhere she didn't know. The blonde moved her legs to the side of the bed and stood up, wearing a white nightgown as she stepped in front the window.
As she was closer to it, she could inhale the pleasant scent of earth, woods and raw beauty before her. A faint breeze heightened the grasp of a wonderful scent. She loved that smell of the outdoors, and not the one of cars and whatever was passing around Paris.
She inspected from outside, and closed the window shut, the loud and yet soothing sound of rain had lessened and muffled. Crickets were less annoying now, and her room was quiet again. She stayed near her window for a few minutes, wondering if she wanted to open it again, or go back to bed in peace. She held her arm and let her eyes wander to the balcony door. Without a second thought, she wondered and yearned for a chance to be outside in the rain; so she walked to the door and unlocked it.
She scanned the water before her; the rain making the wood soaked and everything else out there. She closed her eyes and took a breath, hesitant as she stepped out of the room, feet touch the cool and wet floor. Her spine shriveled at the immediate contact of rain hitting the crown of her head and small exposed parts of her neck. Yet she continued on and opened her eyes. For each step, she became more focused. A little less stressed and more carefree from the world.
Chloe looked up at the boring and clouded sky. She didn't see no stars twinkling tonight, only gray and dull clouds filled with refreshing water.
She walked towards the balcony railing and watched the city lights as it poured, making the lights give off an illusion they were blinking; but weren't. She rested her soaked arms over the railing as she let the rain soak through her hair and clothes.
Crickets chirped throughout the night as the blonde sighed. Inspecting the street lamps and at the Eiffel Tower not too far ahead.
She remembered seeing the boy in the woods and questions her reasons of why she dreamt of him... Was he important to her? Did he show up there only to catch her? But she had his pen in her hand in the forest, she was likely that it had an explaination to it, and she wanted to know why.
The sounds of walking below her interrupted her gaze at the city. Chloe leaned over the railing to see who would possible be walking at this hour. And in the rain nonetheless.
She had caught the sight of an umbrella under the light of a lamp post near her hotel. She eyed the figure as he continued walking along the sidewalk, for a moment, she saw patches of red hair underneath the umbrella.
Before he was as close enough to be under her balcony, she had found her voice and reached for him. "N-...Nath! Hey! you!" She gestured to the guy.
Fortunately, the umbrella stopped moving and tilted up to reveal a set of red hair and turquoise eyes staring up at her in surprise. He wore a gray buttoned up cotton jacket, a blue green scarf, purple pants, his usual converse, and held a bag that was bright red but dimmed in color because of the rain.
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Nathaniel walked amongst the wet streets of Paris and let his eyes wander to the concrete floor as he watched the rain pour down around his black umbrella. Listening to an old song through his earphones as he lightly hummed to the music.
Sometimes when he would walk alone, he would lightly tap the ground in a dancing motion only for a little bit as he walked.
He continued walking down the street near the hotel, his destination was another park that was closely linked to a forest. The park held benches and a dirt pathway so he could sit and watch/draw birds all day.
Nathaniel whistled lightly to the tune of the song and, making sure no one was around, he started tapping his feet and dancing to the music. Letting the rain fall directly to his navy blue hat since he never really minded the rain.
He kept lightly dancing as he continued under a street lamp near the hotel. He never heard anything other than the music in his earphones and the feeling of rain hitting his clothes.
"Hey! You!"
He hadn't heard anything until now, anyway.
Nathaniel didn't think twice to look up from where the call was coming from. He looked up from his umbrella and saw that he was in front of the hotel. He looked even higher to see the dim form of the hotel balcony and a blonde haired girl in her night gown gesturing towards him.
She was looking directly at him as he had to quickly adjust from looking at the ground to see small pigments of color that weren't dull gray.
[*Balcony is closer to the ground here*]
"What are you doing out here in the rain?!" The blonde girl had to shout from a distance and also from the rain. Nathaniel quirked an eyebrow. Same thing would go to her. Being completely soaked in water and not complaining about her hair.
Though he did gave way to a small shock of embarrassment as fear went across his face thinking that she saw him dance in the rain for no reason.
He fully turned to face her and took out an earbud to hear her correctly. Though he already heard her the first time, he didn't want to be rude. "Says the person soaked from head to toe in a night gown and not complaining about wet hair" he placed his free hand in his jacket pocket.
Chloe shrugged, her hands dangling from the railing as her arms were rested there. It really looked like she didn't give a care in the world, which obviously surprised him, that she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs about her hundred dollar clothes being wet or her hair soaked to the tips.
"So what are you doing late at night? In the rain like this?" Chloe asked again. "Same to you. You don't catch me as the going-outside-and-experience-nature-without-complaining-about-a-broken-nail type of person" Nathaniel didn't hesitate to say that stuff to her face either. He was relaxing in the rain and had loosened his thoughts about everyone around him to not care if he hit a nerve.
"Well I don't catch you as the walking-out-in-the-rain-wearing-a-scarf-and-a-beanie-hat-while-dancing-around-for-a-un-talkative type of guy" Chloe crossed her arms, not taking her gaze off of him.
Nathaniel widened his eyes for a split second before visibly sighing, of course she saw him dance around like an idiot, but why would he care now? It's not like she didn't care if she could ruin his life a little more then wanted.
"Then that's exactly what I'm doing" he lowered his shoulders and relaxed. "Right. And that's exactly what you described what I was doing" she unfolded her arms to let them hang on the railing.
"Fair enough" he shrugged and shifted his weight back to facing forward.
Chloe watched from her balcony to see the red head suddenly shifted back to walk away from the hotel. "W-wait! Where are you going?!"
She saw him stop and look back up to her. "Oh....to the park"
"But the park's that way" Chloe pointed to the opposite direction with her thumb. "There's another park hidden in the forest. I'm going there to relax, bye" he waved at her and started to move again before she called out again.
"Can I join you?" Nathaniel stopped in his tracks and swiftly turned his gaze back up to the blonde in question.
"What?"
Chloe rolled her eyes "oh I know you heard me!" Well, she wasn't wrong about that. Nathaniel turned his attention back to her and lightly twirled his umbrella with small smile. "Well, of course you may join me on this fine evening, Ms. bourgeois" he mockingly bowed, letting his hat fall to the wet cold floor.
Chloe unconsciously smiled to the side and rolled her eyes again at the funny little act. "Haha, cute. Just hold on! I'll be down in a tick!" And she suddenly fled back into the room.
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Nathaniel didn't have to wait long near the lamp post as he saw the doors opened to reveal Chloe with her hair in her usual ponytail and shoulder bag, wearing a white shirt with a light cream yellow buttoned jacket, a pair of white jeans and unusual pastel red knee boots. She waved to the boy who had rolled his eyes not a second ago at her usual fashion choices. Even for rain like this, she was still wearing something fashionable.
"Still wearing something fashionable for a walk in the rain I see" Nathaniel grumbled as she walked towards him. Luckily she didn't hear anything he said when she walked over here.
"Well...lets go then!" Nathaniel saw the girl point to the direction they were headed and blindly gripped his arm and took the lead of their walk. "Wait. Does your father know where you're going?" "Why would he need to know? I can go where ever I please, he wouldn't worry about me taking a walk to the park anyway" she didn't seem to notice her grip on his shoulder.
Nathaniel glanced down at her contact and looked back up in front of him "alright then".
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10 minutes later- 12:29 AM
"So why did you want to join me?" The red head turned his gaze to the blonde on his right, who kept her eyes to the streets. She shrugged her shoulders lightly "don't know, guess I just wanted to that's all. I guess being fully soaked in the rain got me thinking of taking a little walk..."
A quiet silence filled the area around them. Figured they both could use a little fun. "So...do you mind the rain at all?"
"No, I guess-AH!" Chloe felt the emptiness of her figure suddenly soaked in rain water as Nathaniel tipped the umbrella away from her and closed it in between them.
Her eyes darted to the boy who held a smug look on his face as he closed the umbrella shut. "Grrr! What was that for?!" "Don't know, you said you don't mind the rain at all. So I'm giving you what you want: the feeling of rain pouring down on you from above" he chuckled as he felt himself get equally soaked, yet he didn't mind anyway.
"Hmph. Whatever. I can deal with rain" she flipped parts of her already soaked hair and crossed her arms, noticing that she held a grip on him for a while. "Of course you can haha" his smile grew a little.
"And what do you mean by that? Kurtzberg?" She shifted her eyes to him with a suspicion by his sudden laugh.
Just then, as they walked into a giant puddle, Nathaniel forcefully stepped into the puddle, making a huge splash around him. Some of the water touched her boots and her jeans, wetting them even more.
"Nathaniel!" The boy only laughed louder as he continued kicking in the water, making the girl's lower half already more wet then it was. Chloe growled in annoyance as he kept splashing in the water like a child. Fortunately, she couldn't help but smile when he looked like he was having a good time. With that childish and bright smile of his in the dark of night and how he laughs when he was getting payback from the girl.
"Im gonna make you're life miserable! Come back here you coward!" Chloe kept that smile on her face as she splashed around and carried water in her hand and poured it over his head, which causes his hair to completely flatten over his face, his eyes not visible, yet he kept going to run away from the girl for fun.
"Ahahahaha! Try to catch me now bourgeois!"
"Idiot you can't see with your hair all over your stupid eyes! Come back here!" Chloe ran after the slightly blind boy as he ran away from the blonde, but the blonde managed to catch up and, in utter shock, jump on his back to take his hair away from his eyes.
Nathaniel felt her whole body weight on top his back and quickly tried to get her off or he would fall to the ground. For a few seconds on his back, Chloe helped the boy by brushing off his hair and immediately stepped back down on the puddle.
"There, you idiot. Now let's go before anyone sees us here" Chloe grabbed the end sleeve of his jacket and dragged him to the park.
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At the park–12:46 AM
"You know you didn't have to jump on my back to fix my hair" Nathaniel finally turned his attention to the blonde, who had been eyeing the trees as they walked aimlessly through a made dirt path.
"Geez that took you awhile to bring that up" Chloe crossed her arms and placed her attention to the path in front of her.
"Well sorry, I was lost in thought while listening to music" Chloe turned her head to see Nathaniel place his earphones back into his ears, though one had been slipping out and hanging around his jacket.
Chloe could hear the music blasting from the one earbud hanging loosely from wherever and facing her.
"Your music is loud"
"It's better like that"
"Why? You're going to go deaf if you keep doing that..."
Nathaniel took a glance her way and then back to the woods. "I didn't know you cared about me being deaf"
Chloe closed her eyes and humphed, ignoring him as they kept walking in the woodsy park.
It was quiet in the woods except for the notion of his music blasting from his earbuds and the light noises of nature.
"So how far are we going? We're already here so what's the purpose of going any further?"
Nathaniel didn't bother of looking at the wet and impatient blonde. In fact, he probably didn't bother of asking if she was going to follow him even more than he originally thought. "There's a nice spot in the woods that's pretty cool, there's a bench and couple of bird feeders stuck on the trees and a nice stream flowing by....hope you don't mind the crickets" he then took a glance to see her just looking out into the darkness of the woods. He looked at the haircomb placed in her hair and then back to the trees.
"What music are you listening too?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because I'm curious? You've been listening to music for the past whatever blasting in your ears and I've been strangely quiet for the past...whatever and I want to know what you're listening to!"
Chloe grumbled and complained like a child, her arms not loosening across her chest, furrowed eyebrows and a angered gaze to the red head.
Nathaniel rolled his eyes "fine...why don't I share my tastes with you since you're so curious about my life for some reason" he took the loose earbud and handed it to the girl, who took it and placed it in her ear.
"Not your life, just your music" Chloe placed the piece carefully in her ear. "Technically music is life"
Nathaniel placed his hand in his coat pockets as he moved slightly closer to the blonde's side so it wouldn't feel uncomfortable to them both.
Chloe was oddly quiet again as she closed her eyes and listened to the song as they both walked to wherever Nathaniel said they were going.
The sudden sounds of rain hitting the ground and the distant birds chirping had gave them a sense of peace as they continued walking.
"Peaceful song...what band is this?"
"Iron and Wine"
Chloe nodded lightly and then shivered from the coldness surrounding her body and the wet clothes she wore, which also surprised the red head for a few seconds.
"You okay?"
"God it's so cold, when is it going to stop raining?" Nathaniel saw Chloe shiver again and held her arms to rub them. Feeling the rain water hitting the girl's head and shoulders, maybe even her bare neck.
"Maybe you shouldn't of gone out into the rain with just your pajamas before"
"Yeah yeah, just how far are we?"
Nathaniel didn't answer and suddenly took out the umbrella again, opening it and let it hover over both of their heads. Chloe moved a little closer so she would be completely out of the water's grasp on her. Another song played that had changed to a some other turn instead of peaceful.
She would probably think he was playing on shuffle and not just some random station.
Chloe listened to the song for a few seconds and let a mocking smile come through as she heard the words. "Romance?"
Nathaniel shrugged "who doesn't like romance?..." "hmm true..." Chloe looked back to the front, wondering if they were close yet.
"~I loose me voice when I look at you~"
"What?" Chloe turned her head to see the red head singing lightly, not looking anywhere else but the forest.
"~Can't make a noice when I'm trying to~ ~tell you all the right words, waiting on the right words~"
Chloe raised her eyebrow in question as he sang the words in the song. But shrugged as she listened to the song and his light humming.
"~just another lovesick afternoon~ ~black butterflies and déjà vu~ ~hoping for the right words, waiting for the right words~"
Chloe looked down at the dirt path in front of her, seeing her red boots scraping across the dirt as it poured. Remembering her time as a super hero as she fought the akuma victims along side Ladybug and Chat Noir...she honestly didn't like how every akuma went after her and she didn't know the reason why. Though she was grateful of working with her idol and saving her city, she also needed to at least be kinder to everyone else to improve herself...
Maybe she could start with Nathaniel since he's already with her.
Chloe turned her attention to the red head, who stopped singing and looked away at something else, maybe lost in thought. "Hey...tomato head"
He turned his gaze to her "yes chlo?"
"Uh...uhm...I...mmm" she left his gaze and looked somewhere else...at lease she was trying. "What band is that?"
Nathaniel took out his phone and looked at his blinded screen to see the name while Chloe looked to the side, not being able to say what she wanted. "The Maine. Pretty cool band, you should listen to their songs sometimes...if you have Pandora I could tell you some stations to put in your playlist....if you really listen to music that is"
"What? Well of course I listen to music! I have a stereo in my room you know, and who doesn't like music?!" She scoffed and waved her hand in front of her face.
Nathaniel shrugged "animals or non humans? Maybe rocks...or the rain" he placed his hand out into the rain to feel the water clash with his palm.
"Maybe bees too..."
Chloe felt her heart stop for a second, then laughed her worries off. "Yeah, haha. Bees, sure"
The red head raised his eyebrows in question "Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine...just, are we there yet?"
Nathaniel stayed quiet and then looked up to see a lightly molded bar gate and a fence before them.
"Yep, we're here"
Chloe looked at the gate in front of her and followed the red head as he walked to the gate and opened it.
It wasn't really anything different since the gate was so small, but the place did look a lot more fancy and more earthy then the path they went on to get here.
As they walked past the gate, they could see more of the ground and the space in between the trees, hearing the rain droplets make contact to the leaves of the tall trees as they headed to a nearby bench.
Chloe walked out from under the umbrella to see that this area wasn't so dark like the path they walked on, she could still see the forest trees clearly and saw some bird houses and feeders stuck in the trees. She could see a nest in one of the bird houses and in between the benches as she got closer to a dim street light that looked molded from being there for too long.
Chloe saw a bench that looked well old and warn, but had a sense of fanciness and an inscription carved into the bench. Not minding the rain, Nathaniel closed the umbrella and walked over to her as she approached the old, yet lightly crooked bench.
"So you go here all the time?" Chloe turned her head to face the red head who shrugged again, placing the umbrella against the bench. "Not all the time, just times when I need to let go of life and not worry about school work or villains going around the city..." Nathaniel then sat down on the already wet bench, but didn't really care how soaked his jeans were.
Chloe looked at the bench and then at the surrounding woods, faintly seeing a bird sitting in its nest and hearing some other birds chirps and acorns falling to the ground. It really seemed...peaceful... like she would want to go here to just let her mind wander.
"Hold on" Chloe turned her attention to the red head who took his earphones out of the phone and let the music blast into the air, not loud thankfully to disturb any creature.
"Where's the stream? You were talking about?"
Nathaniel didn't hesitate to smile lightly and stood up from his spot, he began to walk away from her towards the trees and a light hillside.
"Where are you going?"
"To the stream...come on"
Chloe caught up to him and followed him through a small part of the park and up a small hill to suddenly stop.
Before her was a small but average sized stream flowing its water to the right of the woods. She saw the boy point to his right "the stream is a pathway to a lake a little bit farther than we are now, but we can follow it and see some deer and wildflowers around the area"
Chloe looked at the direction he was pointing and then back to the red head. "How do you know so much about this place?" "I've been here maybe 4-5 times and wandered around...this park is kind of isolated from the rest of the city, so I wouldn't worry too much about villains or heroes here"
"Do you only come here?"
"So far it's been me for a while, I've seen a woman walk around here or there to take care of the feeders and animals"
Chloe nodded in understanding as she turned around and walked back to the bench, feeling oddly tired and wanting to sleep for a while.
Nathaniel walked back with her and watched her sit down and looking up at the darkened yet starry sky. Seeing her yawn and rubbing her eyes as she placed her strap bag on the bench, Nathaniel let a another smile loose as he sat down next her and letting calming music play around them in the forest.
Watching the blond girl as she let her eyes flutter from being sleep deprived and her arms lagging at her sides, the red head scooted closer and placed her head on his shoulder, regardless of the lightness in his cheeks.
"So tired..."
"...Then just sleep on my shoulder...you can sleep here, nothing would bother you...besides me of course"
He could feel the blonde's body shake lightly from exhausted laughter and she suddenly went quiet, only the sounds of the rain, animals and light music playing in the background.
....It was so peaceful....
"Nath?"
"Hmm?"
"Can you turn the music up? This song sounds nice"
He took his phone and turned up the volume for a little bit, resting his own head on hers and slowly falling asleep.
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At the park–4:36 AM
The sudden movement of the white purse falling to the dirt floor of the park rudely woke the small bee kwami as she had been fully dosed in a sleep for a couple of hours while her holder was out and about in the rain. Of course Pollen had no idea of what Chloe was doing out so late but being woken up by weight hitting her in the head from a nice dream got her attention of what she was doing.
Of course Pollen had thought she would throw her out like this or maybe not be ready to be nicer to people or she was just angry at something or someone without her consent. So the little kwami flew out of her bag, annoyed of Chloe was doing with her possessions so carelessly, ready to argue with her but had abruptly stopped herself.
She flew out to feel the pouting rain and then the mucky ground, seeing a bench and arms hanging loosely over the bench. She saw not one but two bodies on the bench.
"Hey! Chloe what do you think your–" her eyes widened in question and shock to see her holder lying on a bench with a red haired boy also laying down either to the side or on top of her own body. Apparently it looked like she was sleeping, both of them were sleeping soundly and not minding the sudden coldness of rain water and earth all around them.
"Of course...sleeping with your boyfriend in the rain while you clearly said that you didn't want your hair wet....sure don't listen to me then" Pollen crossed her nubs and humphed "I told you that you had to keep your emotions in check and at least confess but noo, you decide to shun your own feelings and stubbornly refuse to talk nicely with anyone! Honestly you humans are so complicated..." Pollen hovered over the couple as she watched them sleep peacefully for a while in soaked clothing. Chuckling lightly as to remind that both of their clothes could be unusable for a long time.
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*songs used:
Black butterflies and deja vu— The Maine
Also a mention of Iron and Wine
I had a headcannon of Nathaniel listening to calm and soothing songs, also some rock and roll and a spectrum of genres just because.
Had this idea when it was raining outside and I hear crickets, also I live close to the woods and it's loud sometimes....peaceful here but loud out there*