Sleepwalker

Nate took off his reading glasses and slipped them into the front pocket of his dark shirt, and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. Long hours at the lab- productive hours at the lab, more importantly- but it was hard work.

He was only an assistant there, but he had access to the facilities after hours to carry out his own independent research. Which meant working his given hours, plus more. How long had it been since he began today? 9 hours? And a 5 minute break for lunch.

The guy had needed some fresh air.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he watched the Eiffel Tower uninterestedly in the soft glow of the Parisian lights.

Humming softly to herself, Marianne stared up at the Eiffel Tower. No matter how much time she spent in Paris and therefore around the tower, it never failed to take away her breath.

It was just amazing.

But she'd never been able to decide whether she liked looking at it best or looking down from it. A little frown appearing on her face, she continued to look up at the tower instead of in front of her, walking into a man in front of her.

Recovering her balance, she looked up at him with wide eyes, "I am so sorry. I - I should've looked where I was going."

"Oof," Nate exhaled unsteadily as a stranger collided with him, and he quickly lost balance, suddenly jerking downwards and regaining his position before he had the chance to damage himself.

His hand shot instantly to his front chest pocket, checking for his glasses, and breathed out a sigh of relief. They were safe.

He turned to the stranger to politely accept their apology, but abruptly stopped.

Oh God- another pretty one?

Looking away quickly, the man nodded at her apology in appreciation. "That's all right," he mumbled incoherently.

Tilting her head slightly at the boy, she watched him for a moment, brow creasing. Was it something she'd done? Said?

"I didn't hurt you, or anything, right?" Marianne asked softly, eyes still glued to his face. He didn't look hurt, just jumpy. Was she making him nervous?

Frowning, she rocked back and forth on her heels.

Nate's mouth crested into a tight, polite smile and he made a conscious effort to hold her gaze.

"No, I'm fine." he answered, feeling stuck to the spot. She seemed gentle, nice.

It put him at ease just a little. The man nodded and looked around again awkwardly.

"Good," she smiled back at him, continuing to absentmindedly rock back and forth on her heels as they settled into a rather awkward silence.

"So," she dragged out, glancing at him before looking back up at the Eiffel Tower, "what brings you here?"

Nate dropped his gaze immediately as he sensed the oncoming uncomfortable silence, and kicked the floor absently with his feet.

"Uh," he looked up, scratching behind his ear sheepishly. "I just work round the corner." he jerked his thumb towards the left behind him, and shrugged one shoulder. "Apparently I needed some fresh air." he mumbled with a weak laugh.

"W-what about you?"

Absentmindedly glancing in the direction that he pointed in, Mariann looked back at him, eyes sparkling, "Ooh, what do you do?" Smiling at him, she rolled her shoulders back, "I know the feeling. Sometimes I just need to get outside. Actually," she shook her head amusedly, "I like being outside more than being inside. I don't know, I just feel more alive in the outdoors." Giving him a friendly smile, she laughed, "And now you probably think I'm crazy."

Shrugging her shoulders, she said, "Whenever I'm in Paris, I come here and look at the Tower. It's my thing." she grinned.

"I'm a-" Nate paused mid sentence, briefly wandering where he could go with that sentence. This was a stranger. A pretty one, at that. He could let her believe that he was an entrepreneur, or an athlete-

The young man shook his head at himself. He could only be himself.

"-a scientist." he answered truthfully, accidentally letting a little pride slip through his tone. "Well, a lab assistant." he murmured down to his feet. Nate looked back up at the stranger, this time with his brown eyes alight with ambition and playfulness. "For now, that is." he smiled crookedly.

"A little bit crazy, yeah." he nodded, his weak smile still in place.

Nate's gaze flickered to the tower for half a second, keen to stay fixed on the stranger. She was interesting. "I walk past it every day. Sometimes I forget how beautiful it is." he admitted, frowning at her.

As he paused, she wondered for a fraction of a second if he, like her, was magical and trying to come up with the Muggle equivalent of his job. Of course, he also seemed quite shy, so maybe he was a Muggle. But until he proved otherwise, she was going to assume that he was a Muggle.

It was only fair.

"Wow," her eyes widened. A scientist? Pretty amazing. "Someone's smart," she teased, her eyes just as playful. "Just being a lab assistant has to be pretty cool. I know I'm not smart enough to pull it off." Marianne said, shaking her head slightly. "I'm a Professor. Or at least, I'm going to be when school starts."

Grinning, she laughed softly, "Sorry about that."

"And it is beautiful," Marianne mused, looking up at the Eiffel Tower. "When you see something all the time, I guess you don't ever really appreciate its beauty." she shrugged, glancing back at him.

"I'm Marianne by the way."

"Yeah, well." he shrugged sheepishly with a smile. "You work hard, you get places." Nate frowned and took a step back from her. "Professors are smart, aren't they?" he questioned, both eyebrows raised expectantly.

He returned her grin with a soft one and nodded, "That's alright." He took a moment to consider whether he should carry on talking. "Crazy sort of suits you." he teased.

Nate hummed in agreement, studying the Eiffel Tower for what seemed to be since a long time. He turned back to her, and extended his hand for her to shake. "Nate."

"True, true," she nodded. Marianne knew that from experience. After all, she'd put hours and hours into watching dragons. That'd probably been why she'd been offered the job. "Well, yeah," she shrugged. "I just - I don't know. I just think I'll mess up."

Laughing, she grinned, inclining her head, "Why thank you."

Giving him a smile, she glanced back at the Eiffel Tower as well, just enjoying its majestic beauty. Looking back at him, she took his hand, shaking it. "It's good to meet you, Nate."

"Do you enjoy it?" he asked, then paused. "I, I mean do you enjoy teaching?" Nate rephrased, scratching the back of his ear nervously.

The boy returned her grin with a small one of his own. "You're welcome, Miss Delancy." he responded politely.

He frowned, unsure of what to say next. The conversation had all been going so well- everything he had said made sense, and he hadn't been accidentally been rude.

"Uh," he stuttered, barely controlling the words coming out of his mouth, "I have sandwiches."

"Never done it before," she admitted, fiddling with the sleeves of her shirt. But she'd been taught for years. It didn't seem that hard, did it? "This is actually the first teaching job I've ever gotten. Explains why I'm so nervous, doesn't it?" She let out a little embarrassed laugh, shaking her head.

"Aww, just call me Marianne. Or Mari or Anne. Miss Delancy makes me feel old."

Humming softly, she glanced back up at the tower for a moment, jerked back to reality and to earth by his voice. "Sandwiches?" she repeated, her expression slowly breaking out into a smile. She was a little hungry after all, why not spend lunch with a new friend? "What kind?"

"It's, uh," Nate paused as he took a moment to concentrate. "It's natural to feel nervous?" he frowned down at her, his voice so uncertain that it sounded more like a question than a comforting statement that he had intended it to be.

"Well," he recovered quickly. "In any case, I would have loved to have you as a teacher." the boy smiled shyly, peering at her.

"Mari or Anne?" Nate repeated, shuffling his feet absently. "Can I call you..." he studied her for a second. "RiRi?"

The young man blinked at the new friend before him, completely bewildered with himself. He had thought he had stopped with the "sandwich" thing. It was how he had made a few friends in primary school- announcing he had spare sandwiches.

"They're at home." he blurted out. What was he doing? Talking about sandwiches he had at his house?!

"But I have crisps." he offered lamely, still feeling exceptionally idiotic.

"Yeah," she answered even though she didn't think he'd meant to phrase it as a question. "I guess it is. But still," she trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck absentmindedly. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Her face breaking out into a large grin, she waved an arm dismissively, "You're just saying that, but thank you. It means a lot."

Nodding, she smiled. "Riri." she repeated, "No one else has ever called me that. I like it." She beamed, "I really do."

Watching Nate curiously, she tilted her head at him, her expression beginning to shift towards one of confusion. If he didn't have sandwiches, then why bring them up? He was interesting, she decided, and also rather adorable. "Crisps or sandwiches, it doesn't matter to me, either way, I'm spending time with a friend, right?"

Nate's lips turned upwards into a little satisfied smile at her reaction- what he had said was useful, after all. It was good to know that he was improving, at least. "Yeah." he confirmed quietly, nodding his head. "It's natural to feel nervous." he nodded again, voice a little more confident.

"You'll be great, Riri." Nate insisted, looking up at the Eiffel Tower. He liked her. She hadn't left yet, so that was a good sign. And she smiled a lot, too. Deciding that he would make an effort with her, the man threw her a quick smile before shrugging off his backpack. After a few moments of searching, he pulled out a bag of crisps and tossed it to her. "Here."

He regarded Mari silently, his warm, brown eyes studying her. "Yeah." he agreed quietly, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips.

A friend.