it's the fifth day of august when nick decides they've been cooped up in the house too long. new flavours of coffee, specially made for the fall season, are swooping into coffee shops, and he makes a mental note to ask dave to come with him to the café later, check it out with him, taste the new flavours. he rolls over in his bed, stretches, body trembling, and he relaxes with a sigh, clicking his tongue. his mouth is irrationally dry – how the fuck is it so dry? – and it tastes disgusting.
with a sigh, he rolls out of bed, almost falling on his face, though he quickly straightens up, rubs the crust from his eyes and shuffles out of his room. god, he feels so faint- is faint the right word? nauseous? nauseous sounds better, more accurate. he sighs, pressing a hand to his forehead, scowling when his palm comes back wet with sweat.
nick must've gotten sick again.
which absolutely fucking sucks, because today is the day he planned on asking dave out, finally. after months of chickening out, of telling himself he'd do it tomorrow, he's finally going to do it. and now he can't, because he's sick and doesn't want to go out in public sick. he opens their medicine cabinet, gropes around for the tylenol as he yawns, eventually locating the pill bottle and popping it open. it might not help his sickness, but it'll help the disgusting, icky feeling pressing against his head and stomach, threatening to overflow.
he washes his face after he takes the tylenol, splashing cold water on his face so he doesn't sweat more, and cups some water in his hands, tipping his head back and drinking it. god, it hurts to swallow, but the cool water sliding down his esophagus helps soothe the burn, if only momentarily. nick hates being sick. he's always gotten sick easy, no clue why, he just does, and it's not fun. most times, it's simply just a common cold, but it's still annoying.
he licks his lips and shuffles back to his room on wobbly legs, collapsing on his bed with a shaky exhale and curling up under his blanket. he hopes he's better by tomorrow – the coffee date he'd planned can still happen soon.
he doesn't know how long he lays in his bed, drifting in and out of consciousness, but by the time he actually wakes up for good, the sun is peeking through the blinds, its harsh glare burning his eyes, and he hisses, pressing the heel of his palm against his eye and sitting up to face away. he sits there for a moment before realising the icky feeling in his chest has gone away, he feels refreshed and – surprisingly – not sick anymore. he still has a minor headache, but he can push through it. it must've just been late night sniffles or something.
he stands, stretches, tugs on sweatpants and leaves his room, letting the door close behind him. dave is already sitting on the couch, curled up underneath a blanket, a bowl of cereal in hand as he watches avatar: the last airbender. "aw, you started without me?" he says jokingly, and dave jumps, looking over to him with a smile and a shrug.
"well, yeah. you were asleep." nick huffs, moves into the kitchen to make himself a bowl of cereal (he spends fifteen minutes debating whether he should get captain crunch or cinnamon toast crunch, and eventually decides to just get frosted flakes), then shuffles back into the living room, sitting down on the couch. with practised motions, dave is already shifting, accommodating the space nick now takes up beside him.
as they eat and watch, nick momentarily debates asking him the question that's been searing his throat, that he's practically been dying to ask.
he doesn't. he's pretty sure nothing but pure anxiety is radiating off of him in waves – asking him shouldn't be this hard, but it is and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it except
they're well into the first season – aang is at the northern water temple now, with sokka and katara, learning how to bend from a professional – when he finally gets enough courage to ask.
"hey, dave?" the californian hums, turning his head to look at nick questioningly, "d'you wanna- go to that café we went to when i first came here? they've got new flavours of coffee or whatever and i- i dunno, guess i wanna try them."
"sure." wow. nick didn't expect a positive response that quickly. dave didn't even hesitate. "what time d'you wanna leave?"
"uh.. noon?"
"it's past noon." nick takes a look at the clock and sees that, yeah, it's two in the afternoon. jesus christ, he must've slept longer than he realised. "we could go at two thirty. that leaves us at least fifteen minutes to get ready." dave grabs the empty cereal bowl from nick's hand and gives him a lopsided smile, dumping them in the sink and leaving them there. he has time to wash dishes when they get back. nick stands and stretches once more, then heads to his room.
what should he wear?
i mean, he didn't specify it was a date, but that's what he wants it to be, so should he dress nicely or casual? without meaning to, he stands in front of his open closet for ten minutes. a knock on his door snaps him out of his thoughts, and he jolts, turning as dave opens the door. "you ready?"
"no," nick sighs, running a hand through his hair, and he tries (and fails) to ignore the smug grin that plasters itself on dave's face. "i'll be ready in a minute, don't worry." dave nods, leaves the room, and nick settles on casual. they are going to a café, so he doesn't need to worry about looking too nice. he wriggles his way into a pair of black jeans, an orange hoodie is tugged over his t-shirt, and his rainbow checkered vans are slid onto his feet. he supposes he looks fine, at least, so he leaves his room, but not before grabbing his wallet.
the walk to the café doesn't take that long. autumn cold seeps in through his hoodie, slaps him in the face, makes his cheeks red, and even if he shivers, it doesn't bother him that much. dave doesn't seem to feel it – he's wearing a short-sleeved, dark blue button-up with avocados printed on it, ripped black jeans, and his worn yellow converse. he looks nice, nick thinks. more than nice, but he'd never mention it aloud. he's sure to hold open the door for dave once they arrive, smiling softly with a cheesy bow. "after you, m'lady," he jokes, and dave stifles a laugh.
"thank you, kind sir." nick snorts, lets the door swing closed behind him, peering at the menu behind the counter. as he thought, they've got tonnes of fall flavours, like pumpkin spice and peppermint mocha and creamy vanilla chai.
"what d'you want?" he asks dave, who shrugs, still eyeing the menu.
"i dunno. the salted caramel mocha latte sounds interesting, i guess i'll have that." nick nods, repeats the order in his head, and waves dave off.
"go sit down, i got it." before dave can protest, nick is walking to the counter, waiting for the worker to come back to the counter and take his order. he looks back behind him to see dave sigh, a small smile on his face, before he walks away, taking a seat at the booth. it's not long before the worker comes back, and he rattles off the order, – salted caramel mocha latte for dave and a caramel chocolate hazelnut latte for himself – takes out his wallet and digs around for the ten dollar bill he knows he's got shoved in there. he pays, waits at the counter for the drinks, and once they're set in front of him, he picks them up, surprised at how hot they feel, taking them to the table dave is settled down at.
"there you are." dave says with a wry smile, taking the cup nick holds out to him, fingers brushing against his own, and nick tries not to grin like a dork as he sits down beside him. "i was beginning to get worried, i thought you just up and ditched me."
"i would never!" nick says, and dave laughs, nodding.
"i know, it was a joke. rather poor one, but that's on me." he sips on his overly-sweetened coffee and hums appreciatively, obviously liking the taste, and nick tentatively sips on his own, hissing as it burns his tongue. "too hot?"
"mhm," nick mumbles, though he proceeds to take another sip anyways. the coffee is heavenly, and he knows he made the right choice taking dave out here. the taller leans against him, head dropping to rest on top of nick's, and even though they're kind of in an uncomfortable position, – nick is shorter than he is, almost leaning forward, and they're both crammed in a booth, legs sprawled awkwardly underneath the table – nick still smiles, looking up at the taller through his lashes. "you ok?"
"yeah," dave mumbles after a moment, turning his head to press a kiss to nick's forehead, "just happy, being here with you." nick's face flushes; shit like this is why he's in this predicament, torn on actually asking dave out or waiting to see if dave will ask him out first. instead of blurting something embarrassing out first, he busies himself by sipping on the coffee, the drink finally cool enough to enjoy drinking.
"i'm happy being here with you too." he says, instead of some random, embarrassing thought, and it's worth it, seeing dave smile that same stupid lopsided smile nick's fallen in love with.
they don't talk much after that, simply basking in each other's company, enjoying the seconds they share with each other, and once they're done drinking their coffees, they don't move for a while. nick doesn't want to disturb dave, and dave doesn't want to bother nick. it's a good twenty minutes after four when dave finally groans, stands up and looks down at nick.
"you ready to go?" nick nods, stands up as well and laces their fingers together. he throws away their trash and they venture back outside. the leaves have started turning orange and red and brown, pretty colours that blend together as the leaves fall, slowly, like snowflakes, though they're more colourful, and by default, more enjoyable. "nick, what's your favourite season?" dave asks him, and he thinks for a moment, shrugging.
"fall. the leaves and the colours and the coffee and how cozy it all seems." dave's got a leaf stuck in his hair, the orange leaf contrasting beautifully against his chocolate locks, and nick cannot help but to reach up, carding his fingers through dave's hair to pluck out the offending item, holding it up with a smile. "definitely fall."
on the seventeenth, a cold tuesday, there's a knock on the door. nick gets there before dave – the power of wearing socks around the house to slide on – and opens it. he isn't greeted with a face, rather with the weary brown of two cardboard boxes. "dave?" he calls, and his roommate hums from the other room. "were you expecting some packages?"
dave steps into the room a moment later, looks down at the boxes in nick's hands with a smile. "i bought you something. i hope you don't mind." at this, nick is curious. he lets dave take the boxes from him and sits down on the floor in front of the couch where dave perches, places the boxes side by side, using his flat's key to tear open the tape.
"are those rollerblades?" nick asks, to which an excited nod is received.
"i grew out of my last pair and meant to get a new one a few months ago. i figured you might like to try it, if you haven't already, which is why there're two." he opens the second box and pulls out the blades' box, hands it to nick with a nervous smile. "they're dark blue, i hope you don't mind."
"to be honest, i've always wanted to rollerblade. will you- y'know, teach me how or whatever?" dave nods, lets nick rip open the box and pull out the lace-up skates.
"try them on first, you want to see if they fit. i got the same size as your shoes, so they might, but you wanna be sure." nick does exactly what dave instructs him to, wiggles his toes with a smile and a nod. dave tears open his own box, pulling out a pair similar to his, except instead of blue highlights, it's yellow. he watches dave try his own pair on, a happy smile breaking out on the californian's face when he realises they fit. "d'you wanna skate outside with me?"
nick nods, takes the rollerblades off and stands. "of course! we can ride down the street, maybe to the store or whatever and back," dave nods in agreement, slides his own skates off his feet, holds them in his hands, "it'll be nice."
and of course nick would suggest it, he'd do anything to see dave happy. the way his face lit up when nick brought the boxes in, the expression in his eyes when nick said yes to the skates, trying them on, dave is just.. so, utterly dave and it's what nick loves about him. he's passionate about what he loves, and nick's always been a sucker for passionate people.
and this is how nick finds himself gripping onto dave's shoulder for dear life as they skate down the sidewalk, almost stumbling and falling more than once.
dave giggles, kicks his right foot up and waits until his wheels to slow down before he takes nick's hand in his, leisurely coasting. nick's legs wobble, he's unstable on the rollerblades, but he takes a deep breath and tries to steady himself, looking down to copy what dave is doing.
and it works, for a quick moment, but then he stumbles again and almost brings dave down with him. dave laughs, loud and happy, and nick's heart stutters in his chest. he's so pretty, nick thinks, so pretty and seraphic.
it's worth it, though, almost falling, if it means he gets to see the delightful grin spread across dave's face as he tries (and fails) to teach nick how to glide gracefully.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
final word count; 2.3k