1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

14 - GNOME AND CHICKEN

AT THE END OF THE DAY, NICKY WAS STILL A PSYCHOLOGIST AND NO AMOUNT OF TECH DESIGN WAS GOING TO CHANGE THAT. At the end of the day, he still prided himself on the fact that he could be called Dr. Green, not Mr. Green, and that people found him trustworthy enough to talk to and listen to. He liked that he was able to help people.

He had wanted to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. originally, Terran having had pull and could have easily gotten him a job, but after all that had happened, he decided that he didn't want to work with agents. Sure, he thought it was best that someone should be there to make sure that the people keeping everyone safe were taken care of and checked on, but there were regular people who needed help, and those were the people he thought needed it the most, at least with the kind of care he could give.

He had started out taking adults, as those were the first to require his aid, though they weren't very frequent. They still weren't, but there were enough that he was paid well and they were all alright enough that he didn't think he had to worry much about them coming in weekly or multiple times a week.

But then he took in his first kid: Harry Osborn. Harry was a mess when he first came in, Nicky wasn't going to sugarcoat it, and it was even worse to see that he was so young, still in middle school. A child that young shouldn't have to go through pain that tremendous and submit himself to abuse that detrimental.

After Harry, after all they had been through and all they had learned, Nicky had never fully been the same. He learned so much about what he needed to do, how he needed to treat things, how he needed to protect himself, because he internalized so much, he needed to make sure he would be okay so he could make sure everyone else was.

Then Diana came into his life. Diana Smith, he had experienced a lot of stress when she showed up. Being sent to him not for sessions but for his more secretive job, he had kept a close eye on her, intrigued by this young girl who seemed to be doing exactly what Terran had wanted everyone in the complex to do, Nicky included. She was so young with so much pain and room for hatred, but more often than not, he just found an almost irrational amount of forgiveness. Theirs was an interesting and long journey, but he was glad to see it find even footing, not the ups and downs of the mountains she had to climb. Of course, there were uphills, but for the most part she was doing fine.

He could still name every single one of his patients, many of which had long since left him, but he remembered them. He remembered everyone.

"I'm sorry about what happened at the park," Harry said, as if he hadn't texted Nicky multiple times since that encounter to apologize, and the older man simply sighed and reaching out to ruffle his hair.

"It's okay, Harry," he repeated, "Seriously. I'm okay."

The three of them were sitting in the loft, eating snacks and cuddled up in blankets. It was after school and Diana and Harry decided to drop by, Nicky not having any patients that day, so they didn't have to wait for him to show up.

"How are you kids doing?" he asked, because he was the adult and also their psychologist, so it was kind of warranted that he did; not to mention that he worried about them near every day.

Diana shrugged, taking another chip from the bag. He looked at her closely. Recently, she had been rather chipper, almost too chipper, but now she had stopped smiling altogether, barely even managing a small one in greeting to him earlier.

She sighed, noticing that he was staring. "I'm just having a hard time, it's not that big of a deal, we're fine."

Harry reached out and pulled her closer, and she just let him hold her, barely even able to relax into his hold, sighing heavily. Nicky gave her a sympathetic look and she tried to give him a smile in return.