House of Cards Series # 3 One Shots (QoS, KoH)

First Love (1)

* Leo Howard playing the young Nathaniel Vega :D pic to the side

Nathaniel Spade Vega was standing in front of the bathroom full length mirror, staring at the pimple on his forehead as if he could use the Force to make it die. Since the fourteen year old had neither secret Jedi mind tricks nor any magical powers, the zit remained victorious and on display.

"I thought boys only spent this much time in the bathroom doing... you know." his little sister Adri asked through the door, knocking for the umpteenth time in the last five seconds.

"You're too young to even know what 'you know' is!" Nate yelled back, opening the door to point at the red blemish on his face. "Do whatever it is you girls do with these things to make them disappear. I've got a date." Nate proclaimed with pride swelling out his thin chest.

"I think it's called bathing." Adri retorted, not in the least bit impressed by her older brother's posturing. Nate shoved his sister's shoulder and she slapped his chest back.

"I bathe." Nathaniel retorted with another gentle push.

"Yeah, whenever mom and dad remind you to." Adri rolled her eyes.

"You're such a brat." Nate insulted with all the venom of a fourteen year old boy sick of his twelve year old sister. "That's why no one will ask you to go out."

Adri put her hands to her little girl hips. "Then why is it you're asked out on a date?" she asked snidely.

"When you grow up you'll understand." Nate replied with arrogance he'd only learned from watching his uncle West.

"You're such a jerk!" Adri screamed at him, stomping her foot just for added benefit.

"And you're an annoying tagalong!" Nate yelled back, pushing his little sister back out into the hallway and closing the door in her face. He made very sure not to slam it though, because slammed doors only ever got them in trouble with the 'rents, and although Nate knew he'd lucked out with some pretty cool parents, even if one of them was a teacher, both Nate and Adri were entering the ages where they didn't want mom and dad coming in to settle their fights for them anymore.

Nathaniel turned back to the mirror and started to try every cream and wipe he could find under the sink and in the medicine cabinet to see if anything would kill it. He ended up just popping it after one cream took the hair off his arm and smelled like death. He tried to stop rubbing at it, knowing that touching would only make it worst but his finger kept straying up there to poke at it and check if a miracle had happened and the blemish would disappear.

He walked into the kitchen to see his mom and dad talking, and shamelessly eavesdropped while grabbing a handful of grapes. "So this is normal? This is how the real world does dating?" Nathaniel's mom, Alice, asked, sounding amused.

Nate frowned, wondering why his mom wouldn't know what normal dating was. Hadn't she done this with his dad? Nate knew his father, Malcolm, was prone to the odd romantic flair, like a candle lit piano concerto for his family. Less effective because it had been on Adri's kids play piano but still sweet. Nate had tried something similar using the school piano and it had landed him this 'date' with Amanda Miracar. She was taller than he was right now, which made her socially awkward but she was cute.

"Why is Grace allowed to go on this date and I'm not? I'm older than she is!" Adri asked, her young but pretty face serious and Nate realized that his sister was hurt that she hadn't gotten asked out on a date herself.

Nathaniel was a fourteen year old but he was also a big brother. He hated his little sister and would willingly trade her for a BMX bike, but the fact that she was hurt made him want to punch somebody. She was a brat and tried to act older than she was, which was really annoying, but Nate would admit to himself that she wasn't all THAT bad. Sometimes she could even be downright tolerable.

"Adri, Grace's parents are only allowing her to go out on this date because it's part of a group. You're allowed those same restrictions. Nate's gonig to be there and West and Mad trust Nate enough to keep an eye out on Gracie. Now why do you give your brother a hug before your father takes him over to the theatre?" Alice explained to her youngest child.

Over the years the young, scarred woman Alice had been was nutured and given a chance to flourish into the strong, professional vet she was now. At 32 Alice still had the bulk of her life in front of her, and with her two children growing up so quickly she knew that all too soon she'd be faced with the dreaded empty nest syndrome. Since she and her husband Malcolm had literally never spent a married moment without children, she was excited and nervous for the experience. It was still five or so years away, but creeping ever closer. Her son having his first date was just another reminder that they were growing up.

Adri gave her older brother a look that cleary showed him and the two adults in the room exactly what she thought about having to hug him. The feelings of sympathy and friendliness Nate had felt when she looked hurt vanished in a flash and he scoffed. "Please, I already bathed. If I hug her, she'll get that crap all over me and I'll have to change." Nate waved his fingers to point at the lip gloss Adri had on. It was the only makeup she was allowed to wear yet, and she carried a little jar of the fruity, girly lip balm around to reapply it the moment she felt it started to fade.

"Abrazar a su." Malcolm told his son, tone serious and low. (Hug her). Nate knew better than to argue with that tone of voice. Since Nate had been fluent in English and Spanish his entire life, he did as he was told and hugged his sister.

"Puta." Nate whispered in his sister's ear, using the curse word filled insult in a low voice. (B****).

"I'm so telling mom." Adri hissed back.

"I'll tell her you kissed Tommy." Nate warned back and both siblings parted and kept their mouths shut. Nathaniel followed his father out to the car and climbed in, keeping his thoughts to himself while they drove to his best friend's house and picked Grace up too. ____________________________________________________________________

a/n: there will be more later, this was just a good place to stop to transition over to the date itself.