1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

29 - NOT QUITE A DATE

THEY DIDN'T HEAD TO HARLEM JUST YET, AS IT WAS STILL A LITTLE TOO EARLY. They headed into Manhattan, figuring that they could just walk around Central Park, as it was where they had initially bumped into each other in the first place. This wasn't a date, but it held a nice sentiment to it.

"You okay?" Sam asked, glancing over at Nicky who had been rather quiet for most of their walk, looking fatigued.

Nicky nodded. "Yeah. Damn, I thought I would've shaken it off by now, I'm just in a mood, I'll get out of it in a second. Sorry, I'm usually not really talkative when this happens."

"No, it's okay," Sam said, still furrowing his eyebrows with concern, "You didn't have to come out if you weren't feeling up to it. You wanna just go back to the loft?"

Nicky shook his head earnestly, hating that he hadn't taken a break or slept or done anything at all to try to make sure that he would feel better by the time Sam dropped by. A usually hard worker who never expected things to just be given to him, he should have known better.

"You ever hear from that guy with the dog?" Sam asked, after a few minutes of just silent walking, and Nicky shuddered.

"No, thank God," Nicky groaned, raising his head towards the sky, "I don't even want to get into that guy, he was...wow. Harry felt awful when I explained what happened, he tried to give me money in apology."

Sam laughed, throwing an arm around his shoulder, like he always did, and Nicky reminded him that they were the same height, but it didn't really seem to matter to him. It didn't matter much to Nicky either, but he would never admit it out loud.

The two walked in silence for most of their time in the park, and it surprised Nicky to find that he didn't mind the silence. He had grown up with noise all around him—not always directed to him, but simply around—so he loved silence when he could get it, but it often made him uncomfortable if there was silence when he was with other people. If they both weren't preoccupied with something else, he felt like bad company, not making enough effort to speak.

But here he was, walking along a path with a man he hadn't seen in years, but had thought about for nearly all of them, too down to say a word, but not feeling like he had to. He didn't dare look over at Sam to gauge his expression, but from what he could tell, he didn't mind either.

After some time, Sam checked his watch and made a low whistling sound. "Wanna go get some dinner before we head over?"

Nicky nodded, finding no reason to say no, and the two continued to walk, Nicky passing over his phone for Sam to find a restaurant. He claimed that it was because he didn't want Sam using up his data, but it was truly because his phone was untraceable.

They decided on a small Italian place that seemed to attract tourists looking for someplace nice, but not enough to truly seem like they were tourists. Nicky was always interested in the mindset of advertisement and its ability to convince certain people to believe certain things, but he had never planned to use his PhD's in the industry, so he didn't think too far into it.

As the two walked into the restaurant, Sam dropped his arm off Nicky's shoulder, and the younger man felt a pang of loss, only to find a hand being slipped into his own. He couldn't help but turn his head to look at Sam who was still facing forward. However, just as Nicky was about to look away, the older man's lips twitched upward.

Nicky scoffed, mumbling under his breath as they followed the waitress. "You're such an ass."

Sam didn't say anything, but he did trip Nicky so he fell into the waiter, just as he was about to sit, so it was clear that it was going to be one of those days.