Nick yawned as he forced himself into sitting position. He was exhausted, despite that being the best sleep he'd gotten in a long while. He looked around and realized that he was up in one of his sniper nests. It seemed however that he was alone, which he hadn't been when he went to sleep. He figured that Xylo, Nicoline, and Marshie must have left sometime in the night. At least that's what he thought until he looked out the opening behind him and saw Marshie standing there. He raised an eyebrow as he stood, walking behind her.
"Kid? What are you doing here?" He asked laying a hand on her shoulder, he was glad he did as she jumped body rocking towards the edge. "Calm down, it's just me."
"Oh, hi Nick!" She grinned up at him and Nick couldn't hold back a smile. She was too sweet. A part of him wanted to yell at her, tell her that would get her killed but he held it back and raised an eyebrow smile still present as he motioned for her to continue. "Well Xylo and Nicoline left so I figured I'd stay until you woke up, cause it didn't seem like you wanted to sleep without a person on watch, so... I was on watch!"
Nick chuckled. "Not that I'm not thankful, I haven't slept that long in a long time, but why didn't you wake me?"
"You need to sleep too!" She said like it was obvious. But, he supposed, maybe it was obvious to her.
He shook his head. "Well thanks I suppose." He glanced over over at the sun and sighed. "I slept in, I need to get back to checking in on the hoard. You should get back to your tower."
She frowned. "Can't I come with you?"
His eyes widened and he shook his head. "NO! No way! The colonel would kill me if I took one of the Misfits with me!"
She scrunched up her nose in distaste. "I don't like that guy." She admitted.
"Yeah I don't trust him very much myself. Don't tell him I said that."
She made a zipper motion over her mouth. Then she paused. "He... wouldn't actually kill you, right?"
Nick paused. "Probably not." She looked at him scared and he reassured her. "I'm joking!" He wasn't. "Don't worry about me."
"Why not?"
"...What?"
"Way shouldn't I worry?" She tilted her head innocently. "Don't you worry about people you care about?"
"Well yeah.."
"Well I care about you. You're really nice so I care about you. So I'll worry." She paused. "Do you... worry about me too?"
He paused and thought the question over for a moment, startled to realize that he did in fact worry about the teen. "I suppose I do. Fine then I'll rephrase myself. Don't worry too much."
She thought it over for a moment before smiling cheekily at him. "No promises."
Nick couldn't help himself and leaned his head back and laughed, her carefree giggles joined in with his own deeper laugh. He reached over and ruffled her hair. "C'mon kid. I'll take back to your tower before I head out. Once you get there you should take a nap."
She groaned but let him usher her along towards the ladder. He smiled and shook his head. How had he become so attached to this teen so quickly? "Oh well." He whispered. "I guess it's not quite a bad thing."
"What'd you say?"
"Nothing. Get moving kid."
A/N: Note this is not a ship. Just putting that out there. Anyway I've recently been obsessed with OriginZ and I may already have like three other OriginZ chapters started. I just had to sit and type because for the first time in like a week, my migraine actually went away so I could actually bare to look at a screen.
Also can I say just how much I love Nick in this series? I don't know why but his perspective is one of my favorites for this. I also love his friendship with Marshie. It's just so cute and pure. Well anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Peace!
