Our little secret
This is a gift for Kopy, over on the @lukadrienvault. Their fav ship I'd say is NathMarc so I decided that's what we're going to do. When coming up with the idea, I was think New Years Kiss and somehow, even though it's been a year since I was rewatching it, I thought of the Mondler New Years kiss and then this happened. It worked out that all the other ships they love was able to come into play, though warning, there is like incredibly minor Adrigami, but their engagement is arranged, they both don't want it and Kagami is the one to break it off because she knows how Adrien feels about Luka. Don't worry, both are very happy with the decision and it is mostly relegated to the back of the story. I've never focused on these two characters, so I hope I gave it everything they deserve. Happy Holidays Kopy, and enjoy!
“Cold! Cold, cold, oh, it’s cold!” Marc muttered, shoving the door to Dupain-Cheng Café open. He let it slam shut, moving around the slightly crowded floor and managed to find his normal seat at the only couch. It was just becoming free, so he dropped his bag onto it as the other customers pulled their jackets on to leave.
Marinette was behind the counter, working the espresso machine while her mother worked the register. He couldn’t see him, but Marc knew M. Dupain was in the kitchen working on refilling the pastry shelf.
“Hi Marc. Hot chocolate and biscotti?” Mme. Cheng asked.
Rubbing his arms to try and get warm, he shook his head. “Muffin actually. Whichever you recommend. But make my hot chocolate a large if you could. Everything been ok?”
“Yes, doing very well. how’s Adrien?”
“Mama.” Marinette called from where she was frothing the milk.
“Well, you won’t tell me anything. The boy just ended an engagement.”
Marc hummed, twisting his wrist so his smartwatch could register on the pay pad. “Technically, it was an arranged marriage neither he or Kagami wanted and I guess watching Adrien give up a chance to be with Luka, made her realise she’d be forced to give up her dreams to if she also went through with it. her objecting to the wedding was best for both of them, even if Adrien is dealing with a pissed off dad.”
“I don’t know what he’s getting annoyed about. He didn’t even ask Adrien.” Mme. Cheng complained.
“I think spending all the money on a destination wedding in London might have something to do with it. I mean, the church burned down, we had to rush to set up a new one within the rubble, found out Luka did end up coming cause Kagami basically demanded he did and then she objected to her own wedding. The reception was the most awkward thing ever. Marc, wasn’t it a disaster on your end? +stuck trying to keep Felix behaving and not insulting a family full of fencers and kendo experts.” Marinette complained, handing Marc a mug, with a toasted marshmallow floating on top.
“Oh. The reception. Yeah, it was…something.”
The whole trip to London was something. the wedding was crashing down around them the minute their train arrived in London. The rehearsal dinner had been Luka arriving and Adrien finding out Kagami insisted he be there, the Tsurugi family butting heads with the Agrestes, including the parents who decided on the arranged marriage and since Marc had been dealing with his parents bugging him about who was ever going to marry him, being called Kagami’s mother by a drunk cousin hadn’t been the highlight of his night. he wanted to have sex, just forget about everything for a few hours but he didn’t want a stranger. He decided to ask Nino, just because they’d kissed before and nothing blossomed out of it and the DJ was very good at understanding what his partner wanted in bed. Honestly, Alya had figured out she was gay while dating Nino, but she still swore Nino was the best man she’d been with.
Except Nino wasn’t in his hotel room, he’d been downstairs taking his turn in trying to convince Adrien to call off the wedding. But Nathaniel had been in the shared hotel room, already done from the dinner and ready to combat boredom by drawing as long as he could. They’d talked and Nath told him to ignore Kagami’s cousin, that he’d been one of the prettiest people downstairs and how he normally was the prettiest person wherever they were. It might have been the alcohol he’d been downing, but Marc kissed Nath. It didn’t feel weird, at all. They did the smart thing and took a second to figure out if they were ok moving forward but there literally felt like no reason to not keep going, so they did. And as strange as it was in the morning, it was great. Honestly, once the hangover had dissipated, Marc couldn’t stop thinking about it. Nath didn’t date really but clearly his understanding of anatomy made quite the mark.
They didn’t have to, but during the reception, post called off wedding, they tried sneaking away, only to get stopped by Felix, Adrien’s cousin, attempting to spark off the war between the two families. Since Adrien was busy trying to deal with his father and support Kagami deal with her mother, Marc and Marinette had been in charge of keeping the drunk English Agreste from blowing things up. on the train ride back, slight tense silence included, they decided since they were London time, they should do it. it hadn’t worked out; Nath went to wait for him in the bathroom and Ayla decided then was the time to start planning on how to lock Adrien and Luka together so they could fess up. Alya’s plans were detailed and insane and they were almost back in France when Nathaniel came out, annoyed.
They thought that was it, once they arrived back in their shared apartment building. Marinette went to go check with her parents at the café downstairs, Alya going with her girlfriend. Adrien was going to stay at Chloe’s at the hotel while Luka went back to his place and no one knew if they spoke during that time or they got good at pretending it was ok when they all reunited 2 days later. Nathaniel was going to go back to the apartment he shared with Adrien, while Nino rushed out of the apartment he and Marc shared to head to a meeting for an event he was contracted for. They’d said goodbye, talking about how, even though it happened once and it felt strange in the morning, they both liked what happened. Marc had talked himself out of following Nath across the hall and telling him he wanted to do it again and then the door opened and Nath was there.
“Still on London time?”
“Fuck yes.”
No one knew, obviously. Marc had zero clue where this was going but when they weren’t sneaking around having sex, it felt like normal. Nath being a short-tempered pessimist, who preferred focusing on his sketch book or tablet but if you upset the people he cared about, you were dead. And him, still shy and suffering from his anxiety except when it was about books or words or even a football, not to mention the family he made from his friends, he became a whole other person. The bond was growing deeper as they continued the relationship. Secret trips outside Paris, learning how to grow together in a relationship, even through stupid fights. It was more stable than any of his other relationships and none of their friends knew.
Except Nino. One of the trips led to him losing an eyelash curler at the hotel and since they both mentioned seeing Clara Nightengale and Nino had been the one to take the call about a room in Nath’s name, the DJ figured it out. he was good to keep the secret, he and Alya had broken up for weeks while she figured out her life once she came out to him and started dating Marinette and no one knew until they were ready. Which was what Nino was waiting for now from them.
But it was nice for it to be a secret, for everyone to not ask questions. They all had questions for Alya when she came out and started to date her best friend. Adrien and Luka were dealing with their own questioning with Adrien’s failed wedding and the unspoken feelings between the two of them. Nino was lucky, no serious dates at the moment but he got into some crazy things DJing at parties. With no one to hound them about their relationship, it felt calm. Marc fully believed it was why they were able to grow together so easily, without the worry of ‘what if it doesn’t work out?’ hanging over them. if it didn’t, only 3 people would know.
“Oh, Nathaniel!” Mme. Cheng called as the door opened again.
Marc bit a smile down, collecting his muffin from Marinette. It was promptly stolen by the artist.
“Hey! That was mine.”
“Suffer.” He said, mouth full of pastry.
“Ugh.” Well, not every relationship was perfect. At least he didn’t lick a left-over mug in retaliation for a stolen muffin like last time.
__________________________
Marinette might work at her parent’s café most times they saw her, but her skill in design was in no way suffering. The artist in him was in love with the lines of the pipping on the corset vest and in love with the way it clung to Marc’s body. Their androgynous body tended to avoid things that showed off his curves but Marc had pulled it out themselves and asked for help sinching in.
“Are you even pulling it?” Marc asked, pulling Nathaniel from staring at the way the strings crossed all the way down Marc’s back. Obviously having sex in a corset wasn’t the best idea, cause breathing, but he could see the appeal.
“Turn around.” He said, tugging at Marc’s waist until the writer faced him. Once they were holding onto his shoulders, he gathered the strings again and pulled, smirking down at Marc’s red face. The platform shoes he wore were completely worth it.
“I don’t think this is how you do it.”
“No?” Nathaniel asked, tugging the strings. “I think it gets the point across.”
Marc glared at him, clearly biting down a smile. “Finish up, we need to get going.”
In Chloe’s attempts in making her oldest friend smile again, she was throwing a Christmas party for everyone. Alya somehow got her way in getting the others to agree to a plan to get Luka and Adrien together, so there was also that to look forward to. Nath only said yes because New Years would be celebrated in his and Adrien’s apartment and he didn’t want to usher in the new year with the awkwardness still hanging over all of them. That and if he’d managed to have a deeper connection in a relationship they were all hiding from their friends, then Luka and Adrien who everyone knew had feelings for each other should have no issue to get together, not when Adrien’s fiancée insisted Luka be at the wedding she called off.
Maybe making a comic with Marc of Kagami leaving her wedding and becoming the best fencer that everyone forgot who she was related to, might have been a bit much just after the failed wedding, but Nathaniel didn’t regret the decision.
“Did you get the others anything?” Marc asked, picking up their satchel before pulling their jacket off the hook by the door.
“Sort of. I was finally able to afford that house warming gift for Alya and Marinette and I decided to do updates to Nino and Luka’s logos.”
“And nothing for me right?”
“Not until later, like we promised.”
They knew each other. They’d get the other a very sentimental gift, something that could be obvious and their friends could easily figure it out. they still weren’t ready for others to know. Nathaniel had been working hard on finishing commissions to pay for Marc’s gift and he really hoped the writer liked it.
Marc’s gifts for everyone were handbound copies of their favourite fairytales. His job as a bookbinder had given him the time to letterpress everyone’s books. Now Nath knew why he kept hiding his work when anyone would come close, since they were all so used to him bring home orders to work on sewing.
“You really didn’t have to do this. how am I gonna top this?” Nath joked while they had a chance alone, looking through the pages of his copy of The 12 Dancing Princesses. Probably an odd choice for him, but it was the one he remembered the most growing up and he went feral whenever he found a book inspired by the story.
“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Marc said, leaning to see Luka and Adrien talking. “Do you think they’re finally talking about things?”
“Hopefully. Would be nice if the year ended with everyone dating the people they wanted by the end of the year.”
Nathaniel tilted his head. “Even us?”
Marc glanced down. Marc's platforms didn't fully make their heights even. “I don’t know if I’m ready for everyone to know. I’m not stupid, I know we’ll get sloppy eventually. But I like that it’s just us.”
Nathaniel gently brushed his hand against Marc’s, smiling softly at him. “Me too.”
________________________
“Nino?”
The DJ turned away from the TV inside his apartment that he shared with Marc to see his roommate and secret boyfriend pouting at him. The sound of the last minute before the new year came from the TV, which had everyone’s attention.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, feeling nervous.
“We want to kiss at midnight but other than Mylene and Ivan, no one else is planning to.”
“Oh,” he said, feeling relieved. He was worried they were going to have another secret for him to hold. “I got you.” he immediately went to Alya, who was live streaming the New Years party. “So, you’re kissing Marinette right?”
“Huh?” she looked away from her phone to raise an eyebrow at him. He could see comments teasing Alya about planting one on her girlfriend.
“Kissing someone at midnight? For good luck? Come on, it’ll be fun. Isn’t her grandpère always going on about tradition?”
Alya still looked lost at his questioning but she shrugged and started making her way to her girlfriend, wrapping her arm around her. His next set of victims were Luka and Adrien. Things were finally making headway – which was helped with Adrien finally leaving his father’s side of the family and helping Kagami to get set up a professional athlete – and Nino wasn’t at all upset with pulling this to get them even closer.
“Hey, so we’re doing kisses at midnight.” He announced, leaning on the back of the couch they were sitting on.
“What?” Adrien asked.
“Alya is kissing Marinette, Ivan is planting one on Mylene, I’m gonna offer myself to Chloe, so you two take care of each other.”
“What?” Luka asked this time.
“Well, I can’t have Marc or Nath kiss her. Nath and Chloe always find a way to push buttons and Marc is terrified of her half the time, so honestly, I’m doing them a favour by offering myself to Chloe while you guys take care of each other and Nath and Marc can fill in each other’s places. Ok?” he said, patting his best friend on the shoulder and walked off, ignoring Adrien calling for him and instead, went looking for the last person.
Chloe was glued to her phone, but she did glance up at him when he got closer.
“New year’s kiss?”
She frowned at him. Time was ticking and it was gonna look strange if he wasn’t kissing anyone come midnight.
“I’m gay.” She reminded.
“I know. I helped you dump XY when you realised that about yourself. You know, you did say you owe me.”
She looked even more confused. “This is how you wanna use it?”
“Not really, but let’s be honest. I’m way less likely to cop a feel and Alya says she didn’t realise she was gay for so long because she liked kissing me, so obviously I’m good at it.” that last part wasn’t a lie, it was actual fact Alya had admitted when they made the decision to break up.
She rolled her eyes as the countdown started. “Insta it?”
“Deal.” He agreed, glancing over his shoulder and catching Marc’s eye with a smile. if anyone owed him, it was those two.
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Happy New Years!”
While Alya, Marinette, Nino and Chloe immortalized their good luck kiss on social media – and Adrien and Luka decided ‘fuck it, enough hiding’ - no one blinked an eye when Marc and Nathaniel kissed in a room full of their friends.
“That was nice.” Nath was tempted to say those words against Marc’s lips, but anyone could be watching.
“One day.” Marc promised. “We should find the others. It’ll be a while before we can get Nino to distract the others long enough so we can exchange gifts.”
Nino did do his job and led the whole apartment in a very loud – Adrien was gonna have to pay so much for apology pastries from the Dupain-Chengs for their neighbours – karaoke ballad while they went to Nathaniel’s apartment across the hall.
“Do you wanna go first?” Nathaniel asked, after unearthing his present from his room. It always made Marc giggle that the amazing artist was so bad at wrapping presents. Like, he’d tape-every-edge-with-tape-bad.
“I might need a minute to figure out how to get in.” he joked, letting out a tiny yelp as Nath tugged him backwards and they both tumbled into Nathaniel’s favourite armchair. “I think I’m sitting on your tablet!” Marc complained, shuffling himself onto Nath’s lap.
“Eh, wouldn’t be the first time it’s been sat on. I think I remember a certain time, in my room while Adrien was out, where you shoved me on the bed?”
Marc knew exactly what he was talking about. Wasn’t until it was all over Nath had squirmed and unearthed his very sweaty tablet from underneath him. The poor thing had complained about being too hot in its notifications.
Instead, he focused on opening the present, pulling at the paper like a chip bag. The box inside opened easily and sitting on cream tissue paper was a book. A book of fairytales.
“Where did you get this?” Marc breathed, pulling the book out and opening it, listening to the old boo creak. It smelt amazing, looking near identical to the one he’d lost as a child.
“Took a while since I couldn’t ask Adrien for help. Do you like it?”
Marc gave him a look that told him how stupid that question was. “I hope you like mine.”
“I think I’ll love it.”
A gift bag was surprisingly easy to sneak around with, since most of their friends had been passing late gifts to others, so Nathaniel only had to remove tissue paper to get to his present. It was a leather wrapped book, but the part that acted as the cover was a bit bulky. Nathaniel undid the string holding it closed and realised the front flap was a holder for pencils. The paper in the book felt like the same type he used in his sketchbooks.
“Did you make this?” he also noticed the embossed logo at the bottom and a hidden embossed chicken – his favourite animal. “Didn’t you make like a bunch of personal fairy tale books?”
Marc shrugged. “Those were easy to do. This took a bit cause I had to deconstruct a copy of your favourite sketch book so I could sew it in. it’s not nearly as amazing as what you got for me.”
“Are you kidding? Marc, this is amazing. You are amazing. I love you.” Nathaniel immediately went red and stiff while Marc’s smile dropped, but out of surprise.
“That’s the first time you said that.” Marc pointed out.
“Yeah.”
“Do you wanna ignore it?” Marc offered.
Nathaniel bit his lips before taking Marc’s book and his sketchbook, dropping them in the box Marc’s present had been in and onto the floor before taking Marc’s hands in his own.
“No. I don’t want to ignore it. I’ve never had a stable relationship, some much so that when we went out of town that first time and had that massive fight, I thought this was all over. Except, of course you’d be the one to teach me how a relationship is supposed to go, how we grow and build and fix things as time goes on. it was just supposed to be a simple thing, sleeping together, but it felt so right taking the next step. And when it kept growing from there, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. So, Marc Anciel, I love you and I really hope we last forever, because I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”
Marc leaned down and softly kissed Nathaniel, pulling one hand away to rest on the other’s cheek. He pressed their foreheads together when they finally pulled apart. “I love you too Nathaniel.”
The artist kissed his boyfriend again, using his free hand to tug him closer. “Stay?”
“What about Adrien?”
“If you actually think he and Luka aren’t going to finally talk and work things out, you must not have been paying attention.”
Marc let out a hum, pulling Nath in, by gripping his neck. “What should we do if we have the whole place to ourselves?” he asked between kisses.
“Well, this armchair is pretty sturdy. Wanna figure out how much?”
Marc laughed. “God, when the others find out, I think Adrien is gonna burn everything in your apartment.”
“Oh, trust me, Nino will do the same to your place when he finds out all the things we did there.”
