Work Text:
It wasn’t supposed to be too complex: As part of Marc and Nathaniel’s individual projects for their different college classes, they chose a trip to Italy to study the art there. They went together, being best friends since high school after all, and partners in work. Unbeknownst to the other, both had massive crushes on one another. They did not share the knowledge of Italian though, and this led to many the problem: Getting onto the wrong connecting flight and being redirected twice, Nathaniel grabbing the wrong luggage and having Marc comfort him in the bathroom for twenty minutes after the angry mother stopped yelling at him, losing track of one another and holding hands with bright red faces until their taxi arrived, and the icing on the cake: Booking the wrong size room.
Marc was sure he had booked for two beds. Alas, there before them was one bed in their tacky beige hotel room, the smell of salt and bread wafting in through the drapery blowing in from the windows. Next to the bed was a night stand with a written note including the wifi password, some sweet words that Marc couldn’t make out, a complimentary sampler perfume, and a quickly hidden plastic package that left their cheeks bright red while Nathaniel used the bathroom and brushed his teeth.
“It’s fine, we both fit on your bed usually,” Marc gaped, looking at the curtains and then back to the bathroom door. Marc’s bed was wide, had lots of pillows and blankets to separate them, and there was always the impeding eyes of their parents making sure they wouldn’t so much as brush against Nathaniel’s arm. Now they were alone, utterly alone, and Nathaniel finally popped his head out of the bathroom, startling the black haired person, “Right?”
“Y-Yeah,” They nodded, swallowing hard. They flashed him a painfully fake grin, “It’s pretty early, do we have anything planned?” The dumb question left an incredulous look on the boy’s face. Marc had been the planner of their first day, after all. Their cheeks darkened further, “Ah, it’s um,” They looked at the clock, “Eight AM, and the bu-bus comes at one, right? Yeah,” They nodded to themself, and Nathan’s eyes softened, approaching the nervous and flustered one.
He placed a hand gingerly upon their shoulder, “We’re here, we made it. We’ve got a whole week in Italy for crying out loud, let’s relax for a bit,” He then covered his mouth and looked away, a long yawn escaping from his body. This spurred Marc into yawning, and they both ended up chuckling. Nathaniel, now in a sleeping shirt and his boxers, flopped onto the bed. Marc went to the bathroom and freshened up, getting into a sleeping shirt and shorts. When they popped out of the bathroom, Nathaniel was already fast asleep.
Knowing the boy was usually diligent unless tired, Marc set the alarm on the bedside table to 12:30, and their own phone alarm just in case. However, when their eyes flickered to the bed, their heart skipped a beat. Nathaniel was fast asleep on the right side, his legs splayed out a bit. Marc was much taller than the boy, and had grown like a beansprout during high school. They had to carefully maneuver their body into a comfortable position, hoping not to disturb the redhead. Their entire body had to be red by now, and their noodle legs stuck their feet right at the edge of the queen sized bed.
Queen sized, what were those clerks thinking? They hadn’t the nerve or guts to ask for a rain check on the room size, and Nathaniel’s previous question of availability had been shot down with a scathing “We are booked weeks out!” At least that is what it sounded like to the shy person and bolder boy. They had been told they only needed to know how to count and say please and thank you, and they had already been yelled at in Italian twice now, and those two flight attendants individually spoke their own languages, so they could include those as well.
Marc could almost taste the body heat rolling off of Nathaniel. A slender being, Marc was always chilly, while his forever warm friend was a natural furnace. Sometimes they would lean on the boy in the dead of winter, too cold to worry about their dignity. However, it was a chilly summer morning in Italy, and the thin double cover the bed had provided minimal warmth.
Marc would rather die than scoot an inch closer to their lava-skinned crush, but they wouldn’t have to: the boy sighed, shifting his body around to where he was splayed on his back. Marc lay still as frightened prey. Then their tempter shifted again, their leg draping over Marc’s abdomen and arm resting on their chest. Marc’s heart jumped into their throat: The boy was already transferring heat to him like a conducting cord, and he seemed attracted to the other’s chilly nature.
Just as Marc was starting to drift off, the long flights and layovers finally catching up to them, Nathaniel scooted closer, a small grunt exasperating his unconscious effort. Marc felt their eyes snap open, and the smaller boy was suddenly cradled against the front of him, practically spooning him. Marc definitely wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon they thought: not with their crush’s body pressed to the front of them.
Time passed by slowly, and Marc tried to memorize the way Nathaniel slotted against their body like it was the last book they would ever read. However, they couldn’t keep their mind running for too long, and even they succumbed to the previous day’s escapade sleeplessness.
-
Marc was also the one to wake up first. They noticed that there was something soft and flesh in their hands, and when they looked down, strands of red hair assaulted their mouth and eyes. They shook their head free of the assailants, but only awoke their owner: their very sleepy friend. Nathaniel slowly looked up, and it dawned on both of them that they were intertwined, Nathan’s arms and legs around Marc while the other gently encompassed his torso with his larger legs. Nathan was even technically sideways straddling the other.
“I-” Nathan cut Marc off with a quick shake of his head, starting to pull back from the other.
“Oh Gods, I’m sorry,” Before he could, a smile graced Marc’s lips that caught his off guard, halting his detanglement of limbs.
“It’s okay,” Marc’s voice shook with embarrassment, and their bright red cheeks gave everything else away. Nathaniel swallowed hard, blue eyes boring holes into Marc’s.
“I could wake up like this again,” He whispered, catching the author off guard. They gasped, looking to the boy’s shoulder to break eye contact.
“H-How many times?” Gosh they sounded so awkward, their lizard brain was a menace wrecking havoc on their social abilities.
“I-uh,” Nathan blinked in shock, “Every day?” Then he gaped, his face draining of colour, “If you want to, that is.”
“That-That’s mine line, Nathaniel,” Marc’s flustered expression shifted when they giggled, and Nathan also laughed, remembering that day they had met. The day he mistook Marc’s writing for Ladybug’s journal, and upsetting and indirectly akumatizing the other.
“Then take it,” Nathaniel’s eyes flickered down to Marc’s lips, and Marc was about to ask what he meant when it dawned on him. He was entangled in bed with his crush shamelessly flirting with him, and now he was asking them to kiss him. Marc couldn’t possibly deny this.
So they leaned forward, eyes beginning to close. Nathan’s rough lips met Marc’s lipsticked tinted own for a second, the exchange of minty breaths momentary before two blaring sounds had elbows and feet scrambling for purchase.
The alarms had gone off. Marc fell off the bed, and Nathaniel’s shirt was stuck around his head now, the sheets trapping his legs together. They body laughed like maniacs immediately at their awkwardness, and they quickly got ready for their bus to the Vatican City. They could hardly admit that such a scuffle had led to bruises littering both their bodies for the rest of the trip, but their figured it out eventually.
Maybe it just took a week outside of the city of love for them to recognize it in each other, and a very, very stereotypical trope.