1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

22 - LONELY TOGETHER

BY THE TIME RHETT HAD GOTTEN BETTER—ALL THANKS TO NICKY AND SAM, THANK YOU VERY MUCH—THE AFOREMENTIONED MEN HAD GROWN MUCH CLOSER. Of course, Nicky still held back most of the time, always remembering himself just before he truly let go, but Sam had quickly discerned that while Nicky held back, there was no reason he had to, which meant that the younger man was now subjected to the same amount of sarcasm and judgement that everyone else was.

After staying up all night talking to Hank, his fears of him telling Rhett anything squashed when the man first got sick, he had slept until the afternoon, waking to the sun peeking through his blinds and the sounds of loud voices laughing just outside.

Pushing himself up with a groan, he rubbed his eyes and padded over to the door, peering out of his room, wincing at the bright light, catching sight of three familiar men in the kitchen.

"Oh, good morning, princess," Sam called out, "I made you breakfast, you know, if you're not too good for that kinda thing."

Nicky rolled his eyes, sitting at one of the barstools on the counter, gladly taking the proferred plate from the older man who just leaned forward, giving him a sly smile. Nicky paused right before taking a bite, narrowing his eyes.

"You poison this, kiwi?" Nicky asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, definitely," Sam said, his face blank, "Yeah, no, go on and eat it, Gnomeo, I've been waiting for you to drop dead for a while now."

"Gnomeo?" Rhett whispered.

"It's a long story involving a school musical too many years ago and a movie marathon, like, two days ago," Nicky explained, never breaking eye contact as he took a bite of his food, narrowing his eyes at Sam who didn't even flinch.

Rhett motioned towards them with his hands, eyes wide, turning over to Steve, making a face and shaking his hands. Steve simply nodded, taking a sip of his coffee as he leaned against the counter, keeping his eyes off of the two men, figuring they wouldn't be too happy with an audience.

"Well..." Rhett drawled, catching their attention after schooling his features and feigning nonchalance, "If there's no greeting for us, we're just gonna be on our way."

Nicky swiveled in his stool and took in Rhett's pressed blue shirt that seemed to make his eyes even brighter, as well as his lack of glasses, and over at Steve who, while now growing out his beard and his hair, still looked as fresh as he could, also wearing a nice blue shirt, fiddling with his own glasses.

"Where are you going, what's the occasion?" he asked, unable to keep from smiling at the sight of the two of them.

"It's Valentine's Day," Rhett said, tugging at his shirt, "Should I change to red?"

"It's Valentine's Day?" Nicky parroted, looking over to Sam who shrugged, waggling his eyebrows before glancing towards the two men, smirking, and Nicky simply scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"It is," Steve said, smiling, "Rhett and I're gonna go out today, so you've got the loft to yourself. Please try going outside, though, maybe talk to some people, I don't like the idea of you being lonely today."

"I'm not lonely, I've got Sam," Nicky said, gesturing over towards the man, only to pause, realizing what he had just said. "I-I mean, if you don't already have plans, but even if you don't, don't think you have to stay, you could go out, be by yourself or to a bar or something, find someone to hook up with, you know, that's always cool..."

Sam parted his lips, glancing over to Steve who was looking at Nicky with a mix of second-hand embarrassment and sympathy, glancing over to meet Sam's eye.