1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

19 - PUSH AND SHOVE

NICKY DIDN'T EXPECT TO GET A CALL FROM KIMBERLY TRAINOR. He had been hiding out in his room for the past few days, talking to Hank and writing new codes, all while avoiding Rhett at all costs, barely even coming out to eat, much to the older man's distress.

So the call from Kim had come as quite as a surprise, his old high school friend demanding that he meet her out in the city and catch her up about all she had missed in his life. 

That was how he ended up in a coffee shop sitting across from the woman who, even after all this time, hadn't changed much. 

Of course, she was now a household name, already having made it big before her thirtieth birthday, starring in the TV sitcom 'All or Nothing' and playing the lead in three different franchises. But her personality stayed the same, just as well-spoken, just as extroverted and slightly demanding as always. Very upfront, always forward, and it was nice to see that some things never changed, even if her personality had pushed him against a wall many times during their friendship.

"How are you?" was the first thing she asked as she pulled him into a fierce hug, still towering over him like she had when they were younger, "Aw, you're not wearing that purple shirt you wore last time, I wore what I wore last time."

He rubbed the back of his neck, laughing, taking his seat at the table. "I'm sorry, I had lent them to Sam and I keep forgetting to ask for them back, I think he forgot."

Kim immediately fell into her own seat, slamming her hands down onto the table. "I'm sorry, you're seeing someone and you didn't tell me? What kind of friend are you, I thought we were closer than that, I called you after all of my dates, I can't believe that you—"

"We're not dating!" he cried, face red as he noticed all the people staring at them, "Lower your voice, people'll are gonna think we're dating."

Kim scoffed, crossing her arms. "Relax, I got it covered. But more about this Sam, how'd you meet, what're their pronouns, why do they have your clothes?"

Nicky laughed lightly, shaking his head. "You're not gonna believe this, but...I'm talking about Sam Wilson."

Kim shrieked for a near minute, almost pausing multiple times before continuing to shriek as she realized more and more about the implications of what he had just said, Nicky just hitting his head repeatedly on the table, regretting all his decisions leading up to that very moment; he shouldn't have missed her as much as he did, she had the bad habit of getting him into trouble.

"But wait, I thought he was a war criminal," was the first thing Kim said, because she was nothing if not rational, "But that might be a lie because people saw him in D.C., but you know what that doesn't matter, you'd never do anything illegal, you're too pure for that."

He snorted, but said nothing, figuring it was smarter to just let her believe what she wanted; she was like Harry, the less she knew about his moonlighting, the better.

"But he's back in your life?" she continued with renewed vigor, "Are you gonna make it work now? We're all adults now, age isn't that big of a factor, three years isn't that bad."

"It's only three years," he mumbled, but she held up a hand, shaking her head.

"It's practically four, he had to be held back since he was born just after when he could have gone to kindergarten as the youngest in his grade, you're the youngest in your age group as it already is, I did the math a long time ago," she explained with a wave of her hand, and his ears burned as he realized just how young he was in comparison to everyone else; it had always been a point of tension, but realizing that he was practically four years younger than Sam had him fidgeting.