*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter ten: sun-kissed skin and your reflection in the moonlight
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THEY'RE VACATIONING IN GREECE WHEN NICO ROSBERG DECIDES TO TAKE HIS FATHER'S YACHT OUT ON THE WATER. The summer sun emits just the right amount of heat to make the blond boy feel at ease, like it's just any normal day. Sunglasses perched on his nose, sunscreen already lathered on his skin and rubbed in until you couldn't see it, Nico leads the yacht away from the dock.
Be back before sunset. Those were the instructions Nico was given from Keke.
Was he going to listen? Maybe. Nico, Poe, and Lewis didn't have anything else to do anyway. But he knew they had to be back in time for dinner later.
Poe's eyeing him from where Nico's standing at the wheel. Nico's wearing swim shorts and an all-white short sleeve shirt, the top buttons undone, and it's wrinkled. His hair's a bit messy and his neck is marred with crimson and violet marks still, courtesy of Poe, who had done a bit more than just simply kissing him earlier, long before Lewis had made his way onto the boat.
The ghost of a smirk forms on Nico's lips as he glances toward his boyfriend for just a moment, locking eyes with him. Poe, realizing he's been caught staring, turns away in embarrassment, his cheeks tinged a light shade of pink.
Lewis is lying on a lounge chair out on the deck. A pair of sunglasses are on his face, one arm is resting behind his head, the other holds a book, the pages open as he reads, not paying any attention to the not-so-subtle glances the other two boys are giving each other.
"How long is he going to be out there?" Poe questions, peering out the window before sitting back down.
"Give him another fifteen minutes and he'll join us over here," Nico says, taking a seat beside the brunet. He nudges him gently in the side with his elbow. Furrowing his brows, Poe stares at him in confusion as he watches the blond reach into a compartment beneath the seat and pull out a bottle of whiskey. "I smuggled this out of the house. My dad doesn't know."
Poe eyes the bottle warily. "Are you sure?"
"What?" Nico frowns as he sets the bottle down between them. "You don't wanna try it?"
Poe shrugs. "I've never had any liquor before."
Nico stares at him with an incredulous expression. "Ever?"
Poe shakes his head in response and sighs. "Never ever."
"Not even trying to sneak a taste when— Oh. " A look of realization crosses Nico's face. "That's right, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
"It's... okay." Poe says quietly, averting his gaze as he stares down at his lap and starts picking at his hands. "It's been four years and there's not a day that goes by where I don't think about what could've been, if he hadn't... If he was still here. I've never drank or even tried any of that because I'm scared of becoming an alcoholic. I don't wanna be dependent on that if it ever were to happen. I don't want to go down that path."
Nico just nods, not exactly knowing what to say, if he should even say anything at all. He reaches over and places his hands on Poe's. Poe glances up at him and he can see a look of understanding in his eyes.
Nico lets go only a moment later and sighs, picking the bottle back up and deciding to put it back where he got it from, when Poe interrupts him.
"Nico, wait," Poe gently tugs on the sleeve of his shirt. Nico sits back and faces him, the bottle still in his hands. "I wanna try it."
"But you just said—"
"I want to try it. I might not ever have an opportunity for this again."
Nico nods and grabs two glasses from out of the compartment below the seat. Popping the cork off of the bottle, he pours some of the whiskey into one glass and hands it off to Poe before pouring himself his own glass.
"On three, we down it together, okay?" Nico says.
"Okay," Poe replies.
"One... Two... Three..."
Nico downs it in one quick gulp, seemingly unbothered by the way it burns his throat. However, Poe sets the glass down after drinking it and sticks out his tongue in disgust.
"Why does it taste like that?" he asks, coughing a bit as he stares into his glass. He only got halfway through the drink.
Nico chuckles as he shoves the cork back onto the bottle and stores it beneath the seat. "You want water?" he offers, handing him a water bottle.
"Thanks." Poe chugs it, trying to get the taste out of his mouth.
"What are you two doing?"
They both glance up upon hearing Lewis and see him standing at the entrance to the bridge.
"Drinking," Nico answers, grinning. "Someone didn't finish their glass. You want the rest of it? I don't need this going to waste." He picks up the glass that Poe had and offers it to Lewis.
"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Lewis says as he takes a seat and takes the glass from him, taking a whiff of the drink before downing the rest of whatever was in it.
"Some type of Swedish whiskey, I think, I don't know," Nico answers with a shrug. "I can't read the label."
"Should we start heading back?" Poe questions, pointing out the window. "It's getting late. Your dad might get mad if we're not back soon."
"Yeah, yeah, hold on," Nico buttons up his shirt as he gets up from his seat. He runs his hands through his hair, in an attempt to smooth it down and make it look neater and more presentable—it would have been nice if he had a comb and some hair gel.
He makes his way back over to the wheel, glancing up in the rearview mirror to see Poe and Lewis smiling at him.
This is going to be a great summer.
author's note testing smth by doing a nico pov. good news is it's helping get through this writer's block, so expect some of the later chapters to be in nico's pov 😁
