Marcnath One-Shots

Stars

The bus ride was agonizingly long and uncomfortable. Chloe ditched the bus within ten minutes and called up a private ride instead when Mme Mendeleiev told her she couldn't skip out on the field trip, and Marc was starting to wish he had the money for a private ride, because this was starting to really get on his nerves. The bus was noisy and crowded, and even though he and Nath had both chosen seats at the very back where they didn't have to share with someone else, the smooth, paved roads were far behind them, and every bump on the road hit them with maximum force.

And yet Nathaniel still somehow managed to sleep through the whole thing. Marc had never found himself so capable of falling asleep anywhere, and the chances of him successfully achieving even a minute of shut-eye with all this noise were very near impossible. He could only hope that tonight made up for the ride. Marc dared to let his imagination race with the possibilities, reminding himself not to set his hopes too high and expect anything, but dreaming far ahead of himself all the same.

Wishing for the millionth time that he'd thought to bring headphones, he put in the one earbud out of the pair that still worked, covered the other ear and turned the volume all the way to the top. He turned away from the window, the cloudy skies and dark trees on his side becoming unbearable to watch, and shifted his body so he was sitting lengthwise on the bus seat, facing Nathaniel's seat on the other side. Marc leaned back against the window and kicked his legs up so his shoe soles were almost against Nathaniel's, then closed his eyes and relaxed, letting his imagination run free.

He'd almost forgotten about the rowdy mob of people occupying the rest of the bus, almost drifted away to the point he'd forgotten they were going somewhere at all, until his head painfully bounced against the window on one final bump, bus jerking to a stop. Marc winced, rubbing his head and pulling the earbud out, and sitting up so he could see what was going on up there as Mme Mendeleiev stood up to give them directions. He only glanced away to see Nathaniel getting up himself, looking around confusedly until his attention snapped to the front.

"Everyone listen up!" Mme Mendeleiev commanded. "You all know who your partners are, stay with your partner throughout the entire afternoon, you'll have time to break apart and mingle later, but don't dare go exploring unless at least one person is with you! Am I understood?"

Chants of "Yes, Mme Mendeleiev" echoed through the bus and Marc mumbled it himself quietly in accord.

"Good," she said. "You know what to do, I should be able to trust you enough to exercise common sense and complete the tasks you have been assigned to do. You are all aware of what's off-limits so please be smart and we can all have a safe and fun trip!" She smiled encouragingly, much to the caution and terror of the students, and descended as the bus doors opened.

Nathaniel sat up, stretching. "Here already, huh?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. Marc tried to ignore the sleepy flush in Nath's cheeks and the adorable way he spoke when he still wasn't fully in the moment.

"Er, yeah," Marc answered. "You'll be with Alix, then," he said uselessly, wondering why he was trying to make conversation like this. Maybe because he liked hearing Nathaniel talk- no. There was no point of getting himself all worked up when the school trip had barely begun.

Nathaniel nodded, leaning back in his seat. Alix shouted for him from wherever she was at the front, and they both looked up to see. Marinette was waving at Marc to come join her, so he bade one last glance at the redhead before gathering his things and joining his partner.

Although Marc would theoretically ideally have partnered with Nathaniel, and Marinette with Adrien, he had to retrospectively appreciate he'd picked Marinette. Although it meant less time with the person he'd have liked to spend the most time with, there were things that had to be done before the day ended, and Marc was sure they wouldn't have been able to get them done this efficiently and relaxedly if he'd been with Nathaniel instead. Plus, he and Mari didn't often get a chance to interact like this, and he wasn't going to complain about working with his good friend. Though that didn't stop Mari from looking wistfully over at Adrien and Kagami.