1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

33 - CHASING HAPPY

NEEDLESS TO SAY, NICKY WAS STILL NOT DOING SO GREAT A WEEK AFTER VISITING HIS PARENTS. His work ethic had basically plummeted and it took every fiber of his being to push himself out of bed to help others do the same, and he had dragged on for so long on his designs for Reed that the man tried to take it away to force him to rest, and Nicky couldn't even find it within himself to argue at that point.

He had gone to visit his parents a few days before, but it was purely to tell them that he wouldn't be making an effort unless they actually went out to get jobs. He was met with resistance, but his mother, for once, didn't yell at him during part of her explanation. She yelled for most of it, but for three beautiful sentences, she spoke in a regular voice.

So there was some progress being made, but that didn't really help him in the slightest.

He groaned as he heard a knock on his door, and the person on the other end must have taken that as permission to come in, as it was being opened seconds later, revealing the concerned face of Sam Wilson.

"Did Rhett call you?" Nicky sighed, his head pressed against his pillow.

Sam nodded. "You shut him out again, so he figured that he'd get some outside help."

Nicky snorted softly; that was what Rhett used to do when Terran was still around, believing that the other man would get through to Nicky better. It was true, but Rhett didn't give himself enough credit; Nicky would open up to him as easily as he opened up to Terran, but only if he wanted to; he didn't want to.

But with Sam, Rhett knew what he was doing. He knew that Nicky wasn't as comfortable enough with Sam to act the way he usually did, moping and being difficult, because unless he was in enough emotional distress to not care, he cared a fair bit.

With a sigh, Sam sat down, the bed sagging against his weight. Bracing his hands against the edge, he turned to look at Nicky, raising an eyebrow. "What's going on, princess?"

Nicky sighed heavily, and shrugged, his head turned towards the wall and his cheek pressed against his pillow. He figured he looked rather terrible, but he couldn't find it within himself to care much.

It's gotten to the point where he couldn't care less of what Sam thought of him.

That shocked him into reality, for just a brief moment, and he immediately moved into a sitting position, his eyes wide and unfocused. He had been thinking about Sam for the better part of the ten years since high school, so to say that he no didn't care any more was a wake up call as to just how awful he felt.

Sam must have noticed the realization, because he spoke, "We need to get you out of here. I haven't seen you smile in so long."

Nicky made a whining sound in the back of his throat, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Sam's arm, the older man rolling his eyes, reaching over and patting his head. Nicky mumbled against his arm, his eyes closed, "You didn't see me smile all of high school, it's not that big of a change."

Sam scoffed. "High school was years ago, I barely remember half of my training at the facility." After a moment, he added, "With the updated wings Tony made for me."

"Oh my God, I told him about the wings, and he flipped his shit," Nicky started, raising his head, "He was so shocked, and then it started to make more sense to him when he remembered that the wings I had made for Diana weren't updated the way yours are now."

"Yeah, again, why did you give her my wings?" Sam demanded, crossing his arms.

"Because I made her some stuff and went overboard, because I was really missing you since you were on the run, so I made the wings to feel better, and I use her dimensions for fill-ins nowadays and just move everything to scale later on," he babbled, waving his hands to dismiss the topic as soon as he was finished, "It's so much easier to actually be able to make stuff that people can use on their person because I was always limited to just handheld devices and whatever because I was a child and also had to hide stuff from my parents."