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It was the day before schools let out for winter break. The whole art room buzzed with the kind of excitement only two weeks off of school could bring to a room full of high schoolers. Marc and Nathaniel sat together, just as happy as everyone else, and working on the Christmas edition of their comic. As the two of them discussed what they wanted for Christmas, their kawmis did the same.
However, both Orikko and Ziggy wanted the same thing: For Marc and Nathaniel to finally confess their feelings to one another.
It was no secret to anyone that the two had massive crushes on one another. Although, it seemed to be a pretty big secret to the two of them. It didn’t take a magic kwami to see that they wanted to be a little more than friends, but they were entirely oblivious to each others’ dilemmas. Painfully so.
“I can’t believe they haven’t told each other yet!” Orikko complained in an exasperated but hushed voice, just out of earshot and sight of everyone in the room.
Ziggy nodded enthusiastically. “It’s so obvious that they both like each other.”
“What are we going to do?”
“
We
? What does it have to do with
us
?”
Orikko gestured at the two of them wildly. They both laughed and smiled in the way they always did with each other, but were too oblivious to realize they never did around anyone else. “Look at them! They’re hopeless!” He then received a hoof shoved over his mouth and a shush. He lowered his voice, but only slightly. “We have to help them get together this year.”
Ziggy furrowed her brow. “I don’t know…isn’t that not really our business?”
“We’re meant to be heroes! It wouldn’t be very heroic to just sit and watch the two of them suffer.”
“I guess you’re right…they could use some help,” she mumbled, watching them both blush after their hands accidentally brushed. “But what would we even do?”
Orikko struck a smile that said evil more than hero .
They plotted together until the bell rang, watching as Marc and Nathaniel walked their separate ways in the sea of cheering high schoolers, finally free from school for break. Later that night, the very same plan would be set into motion.
Marc sat in his dimly lit room, three inches away from a Google Doc open on his laptop on his desk. Unlike other kids who were spending their first day of holiday break partying, he was taking his free time to work on a few personal projects he never had time to finish. The room was dimly lit, illuminating only his face, which was scrunched in a combination of focus and mild annoyance.
Orikko flew around the room aimlessly until he got the signal from Ziggy that she was there and he could begin the plan. He meandered in the air over to Marc and sat on the top of his laptop.
Marc raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”
“Looks like you’re being very productive,” Orikko noted, looking down at the document Marc had opened for an hour with only three paragraphs on it.
Marc attempted to type a few more words but deleted them a second later. He stared at the near-blank screen for a moment, mind preoccupied, before sighing deeply.
“Shush,” he hummed, eyes attempting to focus back on the screen rather than his troublesome kwami, but ultimately wandering to the window. Ziggy ducked to avoid being seen.
Orikko flew from the top of the screen and settled himself right in front of Marc’s face. “Are you, perhaps, distracted?”
“...What?”
“Is something–someone–on your mind?”
Marc lightly swatted him out of the way, genuine confusion on his face. “No?”
Orikko sighed, giving a glance to Ziggy, who was watching quietly from the window. She waved her arms, urging him on.
“Let me rephrase,” Orikko said, planting himself on Marc’s keyboard. “Nathaniel.”
Marc gave up on trying to type, putting his hands in his lap in resignation. “Uh-huh,” he prompted.
“Your best friend.”
“He sure is,” Marc hummed.
“Do you like him?”
“He’s my best friend. Of course.”
Orikko crossed his arms. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
Marc sighed, picking up Orikko gently and moving him to a stack of notebooks on his desk. His cheeks flushed pink, but he didn’t hesitate with his answer. “Yeah, that too.”
Orikko hopped off the books and sat on Marc’s shoulder. “Why haven’t you told him?”
“I just…don’t want to,” Marc said unconvincingly.
“Why not?” Orikko prodded stubbornly, not giving up the question.
“I don’t think he likes me back,” Marc sighed.
Orikko hugged his cheek softly. “I’m sure he likes you more than you think,” he said, moving to fly to the window.
Marc turned in his chair. “Where are you going?”
“Uh. Secret kwami meeting. I’ll be back later!” Orikko said, going out the window without another word.
Once outside, he found Ziggy outside the other window. She led him through the night, taking the short trip to Nathaniel’s house as Orikko told her everything Marc said.
After a short flight, they wound up outside Nathaniel’s house. Ziggy wiggled in the open window and found herself in front of Nathaniel, ready to enact the second part of their plan.
Nathaniel looked up from his phone, which he was scrolling on aimlessly. “Where have you been?” he asked, sitting up in the mess of pillows and blankets that he called a bed.
“All the kwami had a meeting tonight,” she said, a small hint of guilt in her voice as she lied.
Nathaniel hummed in acknowledgment and flopped back down. He was scrolling through his and Marc’s texts, rereading their messages. Ziggy would have been more concerned if this wasn’t the hundredth time this week.
“Why haven’t you just asked him out yet?” Ziggy asked with a sigh. Nathaniel had told her a long time ago about his feelings for Marc, but even if he hadn’t, it wasn’t like he was hiding it.
Nathaniel sighed and turned off his phone, shifting to look up at the ceiling instead. “It’s not that easy.”
“Why not? He clearly likes you back.”
“I just…don’t want to mess up what we have. Plus, it’s just…never the right time.”
Ziggy nodded, though an idea sparked in her head. Despite originally being against Orikko’s plans, she found herself wanting to help the two more than anything in the world. She made up a quick excuse about needing to go do something, and flew back out the window as fast as she had entered, leaving a very confused Nathaniel in her wake.
“Orikko! I know just what to do!” she said in a hushed exclamation.
Orikko tilted his head. “What did Nathaniel say?”
“He said there was never a good time to confess, so we’ll give him a good time to do it! Then Marc will know he likes him and say yes!”
Orikko grinned, and they began to plot once again.
They set their plan into motion on Christmas Eve. Marc and Nathaniel had agreed to hang out that day before relinquishing their actual holiday to family time.
They sat in Nathaniel’s basement, their usual hangout spot. It had an old couch from who-knows-where, a small TV that could only play DVDs, and the solitude all teenagers sought to hang out with their friends turned crushes in. It was practically Nathaniel’s art room and second bedroom.
That was when Orikko and Ziggy set their plan into motion. Marc had said he was going to head home as the sun began to go down to avoid the incoming snowstorm. Since there were no windows in the basement, hiding the two’s phones and changing the time on all the clocks would mean that neither of them would realize how late it was getting. If the weather cooperated, they would have successfully snowed the two in and forced them to have a whole night to finally get around to confessing.
Marc glanced up at the false clock on the wall, noticing it was about the time the sun went down. “I should get going soon,” he said, though he didn’t sound particularly happy about it. He felt his pockets for a second before furrowing his brow. “Have you seen my phone?”
Nathaniel shook his head, glancing around the blankets on the couch in a fruitless search. “Maybe you left it upstairs?”
The two untangled themselves from the blankets and walked up the stairs to the living room. A quick glance out the window was enough for them to realize three things. One: The sun had gone down a long time ago. Two: The storm was one of the worst the two had ever seen. Three: They would be forced to hang out and keep their raging crushes under control until the storm calmed down.
They glanced at each other uncertainly. “There’s no way I’m sending you home in that,” Nathaniel said, trying to hide the cheer in his voice and finding their phones on the coffee table, which was odd since neither of them had even sat on the living room couch. “You’d freeze to death out there.” He attempted to at least act like unexpectedly spending Christmas Eve with Marc was not the new highlight of his life.
Marc looked out the window. “Well, this is…unfortunate,” he lied as if he wasn’t just as excited.
“Just wait here for the storm to calm down a little. It’s not like I mind hanging out a little more,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant and not giddy.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely! We’ll make hot chocolate or something and just wait it out. It’ll be fun.”
It didn’t take much to convince Marc. He was a weak man when it came to Nathaniel.
They spent the rest of the evening chatting and laughing, waiting for the storm to blow over. However, as it got later and later, it seemed it wasn’t going to. After a quick phone call to his mom, Marc was told to just stay the night and come home first thing in the morning. It wasn’t like either of them were complaining.
They sat in the basement together, watching holiday movies. Nathaniel couldn’t stop himself from noticing how pretty Marc looked in the comfortable, low lights of his basement. It was an observation he made rather often, but one he would continue to make again and again.
It was especially hard to not make that observation as Marc leaned his head on Nathaniel’s shoulder. It was a secret to no one that Marc was affectionate with people he considered friends. Nathaniel was no exception. He could not notice how Marc’s cheeks were considerably redder when he was touching him than when it was anyone else.
A part of Nathaniel always knew Marc liked him back. However, he always operated under the assumption that Marc wasn’t acting on his feelings because wasn’t ready for a relationship, or just flat out didn’t want one. As far as Nathaniel knew, he had made his own feelings abundantly clear. So, he fully intended on waiting for him to make the first move.
As time went by, it became clear that he was not going to make any kind of move.
Ziggy popped up from behind the couch and whispered right in his ear. “Tell him how you feel!” Nathaniel jumped in surprise but managed to play it off as nothing when Marc looked up at him, concerned. He swatted Ziggy away and looked back at the screen as the two main characters kissed.
Nathaniel briefly let his mind wander elsewhere before looking down at Marc, leaning on his shoulder and staring at the screen thoughtfully. It seemed their minds had wandered in the same direction.
“Uh, Marc?” Nathaniel asked, fiddling with his hands in his lap. “I feel like we should talk about something.”
Marc sat up. “Yeah?” he prodded concern and something akin to fear flashed across his face.
Nathaniel searched for a way to say what he wanted to, but couldn’t quite find it. “You…like me,” he said slowly.
Marc’s face went red. “I…yeah,” he stammered, “I know that's weird and awkward and I’m sorry-”
“You’re sorry?” Nathaniel asked, confusion melting into realization on his face. “Oh! No, no, that’s not what I was saying. I like you…also.”
Marc looked at him, confused for a second. His cheeks were red, and his mind was racing.
“Really?” he whispered.
Nathaniel also lowered his voice a little, moving an inch closer to him. “Yeah? I thought you knew?”
Marc shook his head. Their faces were now inches apart. The credits rolled on the screen beside them, but they weren’t paying any attention now.
Nathaniel took a deep breath. “Look, I get it if you’re not prepared for a relationship, or if you don’t want that kind of thing with me, but-” He was cut off by Marc tugging him into a kiss.
It was a surprise neither of them heard Orikko and Ziggy cheering from the cracked doorway.