1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

5 - JUST TO CLARIFY

IF SOMEONE WERE TO ASK, NICKY WOULD EASILY SAY THAT HE LOVED BEING BUSY. He loved working, no matter if it was for either of his jobs or just doing something for fun, he loved being active non-stop. Of course, there was some discrepancy on what he thought was being active; even just paying attention while watching mindless videos was active, because he was at least staying awake and being functional.

It was half of the reason why he didn't have a secretary; he was fine doing all the work himself, as strange as it was to say, considering how much work he had to do and how little time he had to actually do it, and focus on all the side projects he had.

That was why him lying down in his bed, staring at the ceiling and eating ice cream, was not sitting well with him.

"Honey, I'm home!"

He groaned when he heard Rhett's tell tale greeting, letting him know that he had been lying in bed for close to five hours, being completely unproductive. He sat up and peeled himself out of bed, carrying the only slightly melted ice cream—he kept their loft nearly freezing at all times—out into the main room.

"You okay?" Rhett asked, tilting his head, catching sight of the tub of ice cream, "That's more of my schtick."

Nicky nodded silently, making his way to the kitchen. "Yeah, I'm good. Just tired."

It was the day after his interaction with Sam in Central Park and Nicky still had yet to tell Rhett about it, a feat he would have prided himself upon if he didn't feel so guilty for keeping something from him. He wasn't sure how to tell the man just yet, and the interaction had practically consumed him, which wasn't something he wanted Rhett to know.

"You should rest, you work too much," Rhett said, still frowning at his roommate who was just staring at his reflection in the refrigerator door.

"I didn't get any work done today," he whispered, and Rhett raised his eyebrows in surprise, unsure whether to be delighted that he was taking some kind of a break, or worried about the man's sudden shift in demeanor.

He decided not to ask at all, instead choosing to just set his things down onto the couch and get to work, hoping that Nicky would tell him eventually.

Unbeknownst to him, Nicky was planning on never telling him, deciding that he just wouldn't care about the interaction. If something were to come out of it, then Rhett would find out when it became relevant to him, but until it did, he just wouldn't care; if he talked about it, it would become a big deal, and he didn't want to get his hopes up for nothing; he wouldn't be able to take it.

"Steve is coming over for dinner," Rhett said, "Are you okay with that?"

Nicky turned from where he was staring at the fridge to look at him, confused and almost hurt. "Steve's the best, why-why wouldn't you be okay with that?"

Rhett shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, this is our place and I thought maybe you were upset that he's been around so much. He doesn't want you upset at him, either, said he'd stay away if you wanted to just keep this our space."

There had been seldom few times when Nicky felt as though he had ruined his entire life. This was one of them. He could do nothing but stare in shock and disbelief as he desperately hoped for Rhett to burst out laughing and tell him that he was joking, that he knew that Nicky loved having Steve around, that he knew he would never want to get between him and the person who made him so happy.

Yet Rhett didn't so much as breathe.

"I love having Steve here and so do you, I don't want him to leave," Nicky finally said, wishing he would have to; since when did Rhett need to hear Nicky say how he was feeling?