[a/n: just fluff.]
For Christmas, Nini decided to go back to Salt Lake with Ricky to spend the holiday with Red and Ash, since everyone else here has left. EJ and Gina were spending Christmas with EJ's family in Hawaii, apparently they had a tradition of going to the beach for Christmas. Gina was pretty nervous about meeting the parents, but Nini assured her she would be fine. Kourtney, on the other hand, was going home to see her mom. At first Nini was hesitant to go back home, because she had to leave Bob behind and all her friends are out of town, but Ricky called Ethan for a favor, and convinced her that they could spend Christmas together in Salt Lake like old times. It had always been Nini, Ricky and Red. And when Red started dating Ashlyn, she joined the pack. It was the closest thing she'd ever had to a family.
It was Christmas eve, Red and Ashlyn had prepared for them a beautiful dinner. Every time they were together for Christmas, the duo would be competing to make the best dinner. This time Red made ravioli and panforte for dessert, he was Italian after all. Ashlyn made some salad and roast chicken. Ricky and Nini, as always, was in charge of drinks and forced to pick a side. They both always agreed on a side so it would be a tie anyway.
"This is really good, Ash." Ricky said mumbling as he took a bite of the chicken.
"How are you enjoying the ravioli, Neens?" Red quipped immediately.
"Great. Amazing, Red." Nini said on cue.
"So.. should we do our gifts before dessert?" Ashlyn asked. They'd agreed on a small gift exchange among themselves.
"Sure.. I'll start." Nini said. "I got Ashlyn, so here you go, babe."
Ashlyn accepted the gift with a smile and opened it. It was a set of sheet masks and some bath bombs. "Omg. Thank you, Nini. I really needed these."
"Of course. The bride to be needs to relax, especially after making Christmas dinner for us all." They shared a hug and moved on to Ashlyn's gift.
"So I have Ricky." Ashlyn said giving him a paperbag.
Ricky opened it and pulled out a shirt. It had a drawing of a camera and the words : kiss the photographer. Ricky laughed and tilted his cheek towards Nini.
"Read the shirt, babe." Nini rolled her eyes but complied anyway. "Thanks, Ash!"
"You're welcome. This is also me officially asking you to be our wedding photographer." Ashlyn said with hopeful eyes.
"Are you kidding me? Of course I will. I would have been pissed if you'd asked someone else." Ricky said standing up to give Ashlyn a hug.
"Thank you."
"My Turn." Ricky said. "Redonovich, here's your present." It was a custom skate helmet with pictures of pizza all over it. Red laughed when he opened it.
"Thank you, Richard. Now everyone will know that I'm the pizza guy." Red said. "Neens, your turn."
Red handed her a small bag, and when she looked inside her heart melted immediately. It was a pizza plush for Bob. "Aww. Thank you for remembering Bob!" Nini hugged the redhead. Afterwards, they had dessert, and Red really did make the best panforte.
"So.. who won dinner?" Ashlyn asked as Nini was sipping on her glass of wine. Nini gulped and looked at Ricky who avoided eye contact with her.
"Yeah, tell us." Red looked at Nini and Ricky with hopeful eyes.
"Umm. Babe, I think it's getting late, we should probably go. Red and Ash probably want some alone time." Nini said putting her glass down.
"Yeah! You're right." Ricky said grabbing their coats and helping Nini put hers on. "Gotta leave the lovebirds to themselves."
"Wait-"
"Well, thank you for dinner you guys! Merry Christmas!" Nini yelled and ran out the door while Ricky followed right behind her. "We love you!"
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Ricky and Nini were still giggling as they walked through the front door of Ricky's duplex.
"You didn't see Red's face when you ran out the door... It was priceless!" Ricky said laughing.
"They deserve it. Honestly, they do this every year, and they shouldn't make us choose!"
"We make a great team." Ricky said wrapping his arms around her waist. The moment suddenly becoming more intimate. "Don't you think so?"
"Yeah." Nini said inching her lips closer to him. He used one hand to brush the hair from her face and leaned in to close the distance between them. Afterwards they just stood there for the longest time. Nini felt like she couldn't breathe with the way he was looking at her. Her feelings for him overwhelmed her and she had to break their eye contact.
"So.. I know we said no gifts this year.." Nini said reaching for her bag. "But I've had this for a while and I've wanted to give it to you for the longest time."
Nini handed him the gift. It was a brown and blue woven camera strap that she got for him before they broke up. She forgot all about it up until a few weeks ago when she found it while cleaning up her drawers.
Ricky opened it, a smile slowly forming on his face, "Where'd you even find stuff like this? It's so soft and the patterns are so intricate."
"The guy at the store told me that he got it in during his trip to South-East Asia, it was hand woven by the people there. I forgot where exactly, though." Nini nervously scratched the back of her neck.
"It's prefect, babe. I love it so much." He hugged her tight and kissed her cheek. "Speaking of perfect... I have something for you too... here, sit down."
Nini obliged and watched as her hurriedly made his way to his room, making a lot of noise and bumping into things. The boy was clearly nervous about his gift.
He came out with his guitar, and Nini smiled, realizing what he was about to do.
"Now, I think we can all agree you're the songwriter between the both of us. But I figured I owe you at least one song. It's not that good, but it's how I feel."
He barely strummed the first chord and Nini could already feel the lump in her throat, and the prickling of tears behind her eyes.
(Ricky sings the Perfect Gift)
"This song's the second best that I could do... when the perfect gift is you.." Ricky anxiously looked up to meet her eyes. Nini was obviously a total mess after that performance, she was full on bawling. He'd never written a song for her before, and that was such a good song. She couldn't contain the love she felt for this man, and she knew no one else could love her the way he did.
"Come here." Ricky said putting the guitar down and engulfing her in a warm, comforting hug.
"I love you, Ricky Bowen." She said into his chest.
"I love you too, Neens." Ricky whispered.
"Thank you. That was really amazing, baby." She leaned up and kissed him hard, the tears slowly making their way back to her eyes as he kissed her back. "It's perfect. You're perfect."
"Don't be stealing my lyrics now." Ricky joked. One hand coming up to wipe the tears from her cheek. "Hey. Will you stop crying please? I'm never writing another song for you if you cry like that."
"I'm sorry. I just.." Nini tried to compose herself to no avail. "I just love you so much, babe."
"Hey, you don't have to apologize, I was just kidding. I just hate seeing you cry." Ricky said pulling her into his chest. "I love you too. Come here."
"I don't know what I'd do without you." Nini sniffled into his chest, still not able to contain her emotions. She wrapped her hands around him tightly, trying to convey what she felt, she was afraid he couldn't breathe. "I want to spend every day of my life with you."
Ricky pulled back and took her face in his hands. "Look at me, babe."
Nini did as she was told, and looked at him with glassy eyes.
"You never have to worry about that. I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Ricky said. "I know I made a mistake, and we broke up before, but I came back for you. I'll always come back for you."
"Promise?"
"I promise." Ricky said kissing her forehead. "Now, let's go watch a cheesy Christmas movie. But you have to stop crying, okay?"
"Okay." Nini smiled and wiped her tears.
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They spent every minute together up till New Years' Day, and it was time for Nini to leave.
"Are you sure you have to go, Neens?" Ricky asked, pouting. "I'm gonna miss you too much."
"I have to go. Ethan's probably getting sick of Bob." Nini said. "Plus, I have work, remember?"
Ricky hated that she was leaving, that he couldn't come with her. He was still looking for a job in New York, and the last one hadn't worked out. It was a junior position and he couldn't even get it. Ricky sighed and zoned out completely.
"Hey. You can visit me next month." Nini said poking his nose with an envelope, making him look up. Ricky knew what it was, of course. They had developed a habit of buying tickets for each other each time they parted.
Ricky smiled, "Thank you, baby. Here's yours."
"What? What's this?" Nini asked. "You're not supposed to get me one till you visit. You're breaking tradition!"
"Open it."
Nini opened the envelope and took out a piece of paper. It was an invoice for a class that Ricky paid for.
"They're not tickets." Nini said, confused. "You want me to take.. jiu jitsu classes?"
"After what happened with that guy, I just get anxious when I think about you, and I hate that we have to part like this." Ricky said. "And I know you're a big girl, but will you please just take these classes? for me? It's good to have some self-defense training, and it would really just help me sleep better at night. I'll take them too, here in salt lake, so we can be a badass couple. It'll be fun, babe-"
Nini stopped his rambling with a chaste kiss, and rubbed his forehead with her thumb, "You're cute when you're worried."
"So you'll take them?" Ricky asked.
"Yeah.. and you better practice your moves, because I'm gonna kick your butt."
"You're a child." Ricky said ruffling her hair, making her frown.
Their moment was interrupted by the boarding call for Nini's flight.
"I have to go." Nini said.
"I'll miss you." Ricky said, hugging her and resting his chin on her forehead.
"I'll miss you more." Nini insisted. "But I have to go now, or I'll never be able to leave."
Ricky noticed unshed tears brimming in her eyes, and he knew she didn't want to cry in front of him. He gave her one last kiss and let her go.
"Call me when you get there!" Ricky called out as she walked away.
As he drove home, Ricky thought about her emotional confession at Christmas Eve.
I just love you so much, babe.
I don't know what I'd do without you.
I want to spend every day of my life with you.
He was gonna have to do something about that.
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