1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

20 - AT THE END OF IT ALL

BY THE TIME NICKY RETURNED HOME, IT WAS JUST STARTING TO GET LATE, AS KIM HAD TO LEAVE EARLIER THAN EXPECTED, AS SHE HAD ONLY DROPPED BY TO VISIT, NOT TO STICK AROUND. After accompanying her back to her hotel lobby, they said their goodbyes, Kim softly reminding him that she'd drop by again some other time, since her newest project, should she get casted, would be shot in the city, so it wouldn't be hard to see him. That filled him with some sense of security, though he was more used to her being gone than being around; he'd already suffered her leaving multiple times, hers was possibly the only one he had gotten used to as, at the end of the day, she wasn't as important to him as she once had been.

So he made his way back to the loft by himself, entering to find it completely empty, Steve and Rhett still not back from their trip. He had a feeling that when they returned, Steve was going to be giving Rhett some space that night.

Sighing, he headed into his room, sitting down on his bed and starting to work on his patient files, starting to fall asleep almost instantly; sometimes, after a socially strenuous day, he just needed to relax.

He'd need all the energy he could get for what was going to happen later on.

º º º

It was almost a comfort, seeing him seated at the same computer he always was, fingers now moving with more practiced ease than they had before. It was like watching a plant grow from afar.

He had actually seen him for the past few days, having been going to the library regularly to study, to find a change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the complex, and he had only paid him mind due to his vintage clothing and ruffled blond hair. He had seen him on the day when he had just stared at the public computers, having to ask for help every few moments to try and understand how to work it, searching for anything and everything, looking more and more confused by the second. In a cruel way, it was almost funny.

But Nicky was, at the end of the day, never one to pry and decided to just continue his studying; if he was going to be successful and prove everyone wrong, he'd have to put in the work.

He had been working for a few hours, pouring over his textbook and writing his papers and generally just being a college student—albeit almost in his second year at his almost eighteen—when he heard a soft sound.

At first, he thought it was just his imagination, just the sound of books rustling or the wind he had misinterpreted. But it didn't stop and almost sounded muffled, yet it was growing louder and louder, a ragged kind of breathing, borderline crying, a panicked sound that Nicky had heard from himself a few times before.

Looking around for the source of the sound, he found that there weren't many people there. Why would there be, it was nearly closing on a Friday night, no one was going to be at the library for very long.

Glancing over towards the computers, he found the man with his head thrown back, clutching at his throat and his stomach, struggling to breathe, his face red, his entire body shaking.

Jumping to his feet, Nicky rushed over towards him, slowing as he neared. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay..." he tried, wishing he had been trained for this kind of thing, coming to stand next to him, reaching out carefully, touching his arms, the man jumping back, nearly out of his chair, "It's okay, it's okay, put your head between your knees, go on..."

Managing to pull his arms away from his stomach and throat, the man still thrashing about, trying to get calm, Nicky pushed him down, his head between his knees—a position the man had tried for a moment—keep his hand between the man's shoulder blades to keep him still.