Part two to last week's one shot!
Will's POV
I thought I was nervous for my date, but my anxiousness paled in comparison to Nico's. The smile on his face seemed forced, his eyes darting around the street as I held open the door to the apartment building. Despite this he grabbed my hand as we walked down the street and as we continued he seemed to ease into the steps, becoming less robotic each foot we traveled and more like the person I had fallen for in a coffee shop, kind and sweet.
"You never told me where we're going," he said after a while, swinging my hand. "Can I know or is it a secret?"
"I thought we'd go to the art museum," I told him. "They have this amazing contemporary art exhibition right now. After that, who knows."
"Fancy," he grinned. "I feel so classy, going to an art museum. Did you pick it because you knew I'd like it, or so we could feel like rich people for a night?"
"I figured you'd like it," I said. "Besides, it's free from five to eight." He laughed and if I could have taken the sound as a shot I would have. It was light and happy and it filled me with more joy than I had felt in a long time.
"Are we taking the subway?"
"I have an unlimited pass," I said, waving my metro card in the air. "We could ride all night, if we wanted to." His grin widened and when he turned to me with happiness dancing in his eyes I was sure he was going to kiss me, there in the middle of the sidewalk. But then something flickered and the joy was gone, replaced with the same nervous smile he had worn when I picked him up. His grip around my hand tightened as if he was terrified of losing something important to him and I watched his eyes flutter shut and his chest rise with a deep breath. He stopped walking, his eyes remaining closed and with each passing second the feeling of worry grew greater and greater. His walls were back up, re-enforced to cover whatever secret he kept locked away in his mind.
"Nico?" I asked. "Did I do something." He let out the breath he had been holding in, his body untensing as the air flowed past his lips.
"No," he said after a minute had gone by. "Sorry. I haven't dated in a while. Everything's still a little bit new." His words were carefully chosen, each one building the wall to hide a mystery I couldn't seem to figure out. He must have sensed the feeling of worry I couldn't seem to shake because he pushed a smile onto his face, pulling me along the street. "Come on," he said. "If we wait much longer, we're going to be caught in rush hour." I followed him down the street, pulled along by his persistent hand and as much as I wanted to be carefree, to enjoy my time with Nico, there was still a nagging voice in the back of my mind that told me something wasn't quite right.
Despite our best efforts, we were still caught in rush hour. We were thrust into an overcrowded subway, packed in like sardines with our bodies pressed against ten others. Nico was so close my body had begun to absorb his, one of my arms wrapped around his waist to keep from losing him in the crowd. His hand was rubbing against mine as the train rumbled along the track and we enviously eyed the seats lining the wall. As soon as the doors slid open and someone stood from their spot I dove for it, protectively putting a hand over it before someone else could steal it. "Sit," I said, gesturing for Nico to take the seat.
"You take it," he said. "You got it, after all."
"Yeah, but I got it for you."
"How about this," he said, sitting down and patting the empty space next to him, about enough space to fit a small child.
"That seat's not going to fit both of us," I told him.
"We can try, at least," he said. "Come on, sit down. We have a few stops until ours, we might as well be comfortable. Or at least more comfortable than we would be standing." I felt a smile spreading across my face as I wedged myself in between Nico and a woman rocking a screaming baby. She shot me a glare rivaled by none when I sat down but the feeling of Nico's arm against mine canceled out any negativity, blocking the woman's glare so that all I knew was happiness.
We pushed our way through the subway station and out into the cool air, taking our first breath in what felt like forever. After standing in silence for a few seconds, appreciating the uncrowdedness of the streets Nico glanced at me, a smile dancing across his lips. "I don't care how long I live in the city, I'll never get used to rush hour on the subway," he said.
"It's the worst," I said. "You can't move your finger without having it in one person's mouth and another's ear. That one was better than most, though."
"How come?"
"You were there," I responded. He stood in silence, the breeze playing with a lock of his dark hair until he burst out laughing. "What?"
"That was the cheesiest thing I've ever heard," he said. "You artists are all the same."
"You might not want to say that where we're going," I pointed out. "We're going to an art museum, after all."
"I didn't say it as a bad thing," he said, walking. In the distance we could see the museum, the flags waving in the wind broadcasting it's location to the city. "I like your cheesiness." He smiled and I could almost hear more of the wall beginning to crumble, revealing just a small bit more of the person pulling me in the doors.
I had been to the art museum dozens of times but that night it seemed better, the art more beautiful than ever before. My mouth was moving a mile a minute but Nico didn't seem to mind, listening to me spill the useless art knowledge I had somehow accumulated over the years. "This is one of my favorites," I said, staring at one of the paintings. The bright colors were a stark contrast to the plain white of the walls, the hues somehow brighter with Nico by my side. "Do you like it?" He gave my hand a gentle squeeze.
"I love it."
The hours felt like minutes and the minutes felt like seconds and soon there was a voice booming through the museum telling us that the doors would be closed in five minutes so Nico and I slipped out of the building just as it was locked behind us. "What should we do now?" Nico asked. "I don't want to go home."
"Me, neither," I said. "You hungry?" Nico nodded. "Let's find food. We can figure out what to do later."
"Do you have a place in mind?"
"We don't have to have a destination," I said. "We have time, we can find one. We have all the time in the world. The city is ours."
I was almost disappointed when we found a tiny bakery at a street corner. Ramona's Sandwich Shop read the sign above the heavy glass door. Family owned since 1908. We were greeted with warm smiles and the scent of fresh bread when we stepped inside and the toasty air felt like a hug. "Get whatever you want," I told him, staring down into a glass case filled with sandwiches of all kind. "I'm paying."
"I can pay, if you want," he said. "It's not that expensive."
"I'm paying," I said. "I asked you out, so I'm paying. You can pay next date, if you want." He said nothing at the mention of a second date but the smile that spread across his lips told me all I needed to know.
I slid into a booth holding a plate taken up by the biggest egg sandwich I had ever seen and Nico plopped down next to me, setting his italian on the table in front of him. "This is massive," he said, staring at the sandwich with wide eyes. "I'm not sure I can finish this."
"Anything is possible if you believe in yourself," I said, giving him a playful nudge. "Besides, this place closes at midnight. We can stay here for hours, if you want."
It didn't take hours for him to finish the sandwich. Within the span of ten minutes all that was left were crumbs, sparse on the plate. Nico's head was resting on my shoulder, his fingers intertwined with mine. He yawned, closing his eyes before opening them and staring up at me blearily. "Are you tired?" I asked.
"It's fine," he said, straightening up. "I want to stay out later. This is nice." Another yawn took over his face and I watched as his eyelids dropped a fraction of an inch.
"I can take you home if you want," I said. "After all, it's almost nine thirty. It's getting late, don't you think?" He rolled his eyes.
"I was up early, you can't make fun of me for being tired."
"I'll take you home," I decided, standing up and scooping up our dishes. "We can do this again tomorrow, if you want." He nodded, smiling. The wall was halfway gone at this point, revealing a sweet, kind person underneath the sober exterior. My heart skipped a beat once I realized I was finally beginning to understand him.
We waved goodbye to the woman at the counter and stepped back outside. As night had taken the city the temperature had dropped ten degrees in the absence of the sun and now we shivered in thin jackets, huddled together until we were enveloped in the warmth of the subway station. It was nearly empty when we boarded, the passengers of the rush hour long gone. Nico leaned his head on my shoulder as the train began to move and I wrapped my arm around his waist, tugging his body closer to mine. "This was fun," he said. "More fun than I've had in a while. We're going to see each other again, right?"
"I can't imagine not," I said, looking down at him. I was staring into his eyes and he was staring into mine and in the absence of our words there was electricity crackling, drawing me in closer and closer until my lips were centimeters away from his. I was sure they would connect but then he was pulling away and my head snapped up, my heart pounding in my chest. There was pain in his eyes, the wall that had been up before too far gone to hide it anymore. "I'm sorry," I gasped. "I just thought, with the moment and everything- I know I should have asked, it's our first date. I'm sorry." He shook his head, glancing away from me. His fingers were tapping out a beat on his knee and with the others he was playing with the sleeve of his jacket, biting his lip.
"It wasn't your fault," he said. "I just- I don't think I'm ready for this yet. For a relationship. I'm sorry, Will. You're amazing, and at a different time I think we would be amazing together. I'm just not ready." He stood up, rubbing his hand nervously on the long pole stretching from the floor to the ceiling, doing everything he could to avoid my gaze. I felt my heart shatter.
"Nico, if it's something I did, tell me," I begged. "I'm so, so sorry if I did anything to hurt you." He shook his head again, rubbing his face with his hand.
"It's just my last relationship," he sighed. "It didn't end well and it was a long time ago and I thought I was ready, but I guess I wasn't and I'm sorry about that. You didn't do anything, this is my fault."
"Don't apologize," I said. "You can talk to me. You don't have to, but I'm a good listener. What ended your last relationship?" He sat back down, grabbing my hand. His fingernails were digging into my skin and it could have been the glint of the harsh lighting of the subway but I thought I could see a tear nestled in the corner of his eye.
"He cheated on me." His voice was low, so quiet I could barely hear him. "I walked in on it, too. With another guy right in our living room, when I got home from work early. I've been living with my friend ever since. I didn't even go back for most of my stuff, just grabbed what I needed and left. We were together for two years, and he cheated on me and the worst part was, I really thought I loved him. I thought he loved me, too. He told me he did, but I guess he was lying." The tear slid from the corner of his eye, rolling down his cheek. I glanced around the train to see if anyone was watching but they were reading books or scrolling through their phones. It was as if we were completely alone. "I haven't really gotten out there since then. I tried once, a month after, but it's gotten hard to trust anyone. And whenever I start to get even a little bit closer to someone, someone like you, there's this nagging voice in the back of my head that's telling me that you're going to go behind my back and cheat on me."
He looked up at me with watery eyes and I gave his hand a squeeze. "How about this," I said. "We take it slower. We don't have to do anything for a while. We don't have to kiss, have sex- we can just get to know each other better. You can get to trust me more. You can't be alone forever, Nico. You can't let one bad relationship ruin your life. I really, really like you, Nico. I promise I won't cheat on you, or break your heart. I'd never do that to you." He nodded slowly. "It's fine if you're not ready to go further. Did you have a good time tonight?"
"It's the best time I've had in months."
"We can do this all the time," I said. "Every night, if you want. We can do this until you trust me completely. Does that sound alright?" He smiled and I sighed in relief.
"Yeah. That sounds good." He slipped his hands out of mine and I didn't think he was going to do anything until he flung his arms around me, burying his head in my neck. I grinned as I hugged him back and the remainder of the wall around his mind was shattered, the pieces falling until nothing remained, leaving behind someone who was ready to trust again and someone who was ready to love again.
Hi guys, I hope you liked that one!
Nina