"Bloody hell... I look like a guy who's got a constant stick up his ass. Can't believe I have to wear this shit," Nicki grumbled, buttoning up his shirt. Elijah chuckled from where he was in the bathroom, fixing his suit up. "You have to wear clothes like this; it's a formal dinner party," he pointed out, causing Nicki to pout as he finished buttoning up his shirt, and then tucking it into his pants. "I have formal clothes!" he huffed, grabbing his tie, so that he could begin putting that on. "If you mean by what you wore when you came to my dad's party, then that's not the right kind of formal. Your formal clothes are too edgy and have too much sex appeal, so you can't wear something like that. You have to look proper when it comes to this kind of stuff," Elijah told him, stepping out of the bathroom and spotting Nicki struggling with the tie, a frustrated look on his face. "That's the best part, though, innit?" he mumbled, pouting once again. Elijah smiled and walked over to Nicki, turning him to face him so that he could help him with his tie. "Well... On the plus side, you still look handsome like this," he expressed, though that didn't seem to cheer Nicki up any. "No, I don't. I look like a guy that's got two kids and a mortgage," the Siren lamented, causing Elijah to snort, shaking his head. "Idiot... Guys like that can be handsome, too, you know?" he replied, focusing on putting Nicki's tie on. Nicki still didn't seem pleased, continuing to look rather pouty. "Name one."
Elijah hummed, looping Nicki's tie through. "Well... I can say that if you had two kids and a mortgage, I'd still think you look handsome," he told him, which actually had Nicki smiling this time. "Yeah?"
"Mhm-- I'd still like you, too," Elijah replied, finishing his work on Nicki's tie. "Really? Even with two kids?" Nicki asked, grinning at him. Elijah looked up into his eyes and tilted his head at him. "Yeah. I think you'd be a good dad, too... That's an attractive quality in itself, isn't it?" he answered, smiling at him. Nicki's eyes widened slightly, as being told something like that felt really familiar, as well as also feeling nice just to hear. Flashes of the past began appearing in his head, though quite brief, but he could make out some of it. Which life was this that he was remembering bits and pieces of? Wasn't the first, and wasn't the most recent one, the one he had memories of a little bit ago, but... It was definitely one of them-- one that he hadn't had memories of yet.
"You think so?" Nicki asked, which had Elijah nodding his head at him, then furrowing his brows, looking a bit confused. The Siren noticed his sudden change in demeanor, causing him to frown. "What is it?" he questioned, watching as Elijah's eyes darted around for a second, looking to be slightly bothered by something. "Eli?"
Elijah blinked and looked back up at Nicki, shaking his head. "Sorry, this... This just felt kind of familiar for a second, like we've talked about this before... Have we?" he asked, frowning. Nicki's eyes widened again, heart thumping loudly in his chest. Elijah was sort of remembering things slowly, though they only came to him in deja vu type of moments, not actual memories. Still, even deja vu is progress-- progress that almost made Nicki want to cry tears of joy. Could those be feelings of his first life, buried down inside? Like how Alex suggested Nicki's fear of death now could be the frustration of who he once was, terrified of losing the people they love again. Maybe the deeper part of his soul, the part that a past life used to occupy, is feeling the joy of finally connecting in that sort of way with their special person again? A deep want that is slowly being fulfilled.
"I... I don't know-- maybe we have," Nicki replied, bringing his hand up so that he could caress Elijah's cheek. "Hmm... I don't know either," Elijah mumbled, pursing his lips. Nicki smiled and leaned in, giving him a sweet kiss on the lips, which the other man happily returned. It was a short kiss, but one that was filled with a lot of emotions-- one that made Elijah's heart flutter in his chest. Nicki pulled away, stroking Elijah's cheek with his thumb. "That was sudden," Elijah stated, causing Nicki to chuckle. "I just can't help it when it comes to you; you're irresistible," he beamed, earning a smile from Elijah. "You need to get your eyes checked," he replied, which had Nicki pouting. "I know beauty when I see it... Which reminds me-- how do I seriously look in this suit?" the Siren asked, stepping away from Elijah so that the man could get a better look at him. "Is it panty-dropping material?"
Elijah snorted again, taking a good look at Nicki; he did look pretty good in his suit, despite what the Siren thought of it. "For your sake, you better hope it's not that. I don't want to see other girls drooling over you, but... You do look good," he told him, causing Nicki to grin at him. "Well, as long as yours drop because of this outfit, then that's a job well done for me. You, love," Nicki stepped back towards Elijah, looking him up and down, "look absolutely mouth-watering in a suit. Is it easy to get out of?" he flirted, slipping his pointer fingers through the belt loops of Elijah's pants, yanking him closer with a smirk on his face. "You're such a pervert," Elijah grumbled, glaring at him. "Does it make you feel better, though, that these perverted thoughts of mine only apply to you?" Nicki asked, smiling innocently at him. Elijah pursed his lips and glanced down, blushing. "Yeah," he muttered, which Nicki was very pleased to hear. Nicki leaned in and kissed Elijah's cheek, wrapping his arms around his waist. "Hehe, you're so cute," he beamed, imaginary dog tail wagging behind him. Elijah smiled at how excitable Nicki was suddenly acting, reaching up to run his fingers through Nicki's hair, prompting the Siren to step closer and hug him, burying his face into the crook of his neck. "You smell good," Nicki mumbled, nuzzling his neck. Elijah frowned and wrapped his arms around Nicki, hugging him back. "Nicki... Thank you for doing this. I know it sucks having to go to these places with my dad and have him wave our relationship around, but... I'm glad I still get to be with you," he said, which made Nicki press a kiss to his neck, and then nuzzle him once again. "I don't mind it. I'm glad I get to be with you, too, so I'll deal with having to be around snobby rich people for a little bit. I'm sure we'll make it fun somehow," he replied, pulling away from Elijah and smiling. Elijah smiled back and nodded, pushing Nicki's hair out of his face. He glanced down at his neck, making sure that the bandages Nicki put on actually covered up the hickeys you could see peeking out from the collar of his dress shirt. He wasn't able to wear a turtleneck to this kind of dinner party, so bandages were the next best thing; if anyone asked, Nicki would just say he's clumsy and gets himself injured a lot, which isn't that much of a lie. His lack of control over his abilities could count as clumsiness, and he has burned himself before, so... It works out. The only people who would know they're hickeys are Elijah and Anthony, since Anthony did spot them, yet didn't comment on them, which Nicki and Elijah were pretty glad about.
"I like it when you play with my hair," Nicki admitted, staring into Elijah's eyes as the man continued pushing his hair back, running his fingers through the strands. "It's getting longer," Elijah pointed out, laying out the end strands, seeing that they were right at shoulder length, maybe just a tiny bit past. "Do you not like it? I want to get it cut a bit shorter since I don't want really long hair; definitely don't want it getting any further past my shoulders," Nicki replied, sighing. "Well... As long as you don't get it cut super short. I like it kinda long; it suits you," Elijah told him, blushing a little. Nicki smiled, shivering a bit when Elijah pushed some of his hair back behind his ears. "I don't want it super short anyway; really short hair doesn't look right on me. I'm glad you like it kind of long, though," he said, grabbing ahold of Elijah's hand and kissing it. "You're so open about voicing all the stuff you like about me now-- I like it. You would have never said this kind of stuff a while ago."
"Well... You bring out a side of me I never knew I had, so that's probably why," Elijah replied, earning a chuckle from Nicki. "You bring out a really lovey-dovey side to me; I wasn't even this affectionate with any of my exes. I mean, I did a lot of the hand-holding bit, and cuddling every now and then, but it was never to the extent of the stuff I do with you," the Siren admitted, smiling at him. Elijah's eyes widened, cheeks turning red once again. He looked down, trying to hide it, smiling a bit to himself. "Is it bad that I'm really happy to hear that? We're not even dating, yet you act differently with me than with the people you actually dated in the past... Makes me feel special," he mumbled, causing Nicki to smile.
In a way, Elijah was special; Nicki was only meant to be with this one person, out of everyone else in each lifetime. Elijah gets a different treatment than any of Nicki's exes because none of them have the history with him that Elijah does.
"You are special," Nicki expressed, then blushed deeply after realizing what he just said. Elijah looked up at him, eyes slightly wide, his own cheeks getting even darker, if that was even possible. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" Nicki mumbled, chuckling sheepishly. Elijah smiled and cupped Nicki's face in his hands, pulling him in close. "You did," he said, giving him a sweet kiss, which had Nicki happily returning it. "Boys! You two ready??" they heard Anthony yell from downstairs, causing them to jump apart from one another. "Shit... I guess it's time to go party with some snobs," Nicki sighed, smiling small at Elijah, who nodded his head.
Nicki and Elijah headed downstairs, where Anthony and Jane were waiting by the front door, both dressed appropriately for this party. "Oh my! You two look so handsome," Jane beamed, smiling at the two men as they approached them. Anthony looked at Nicki's neck, spotting the bandages covering the hickeys, which prompted him not to comment on them since they were hidden. "The suit looks nice on you, Nicki," he said, smiling at the man. Nicki smiled back, "Thank you," he replied. "Let's get going, then," the older man told them. They all left the house and got in Anthony's really nice car, Anthony and Jane in the front, while Nicki and Elijah sat in the back. "Remember, boys," Anthony began, catching Nicki and Elijah's attention. "To everyone at this party, you two are a couple, alright?"
"We remember," Elijah told him. Nicki looked over at him, spotting that he was frowning, as if this was kind of upsetting to do. Nicki could understand that; Elijah has feelings for Nicki and wants to be with him, so to play the part of a couple when that's not really the case must hurt some. It's what Elijah wants, yet it's not something he can have yet... This must be harder on him than Nicki originally thought, but of course, it would be. It's not a nice feeling to pretend to be a couple with someone you like, knowing a relationship between you two isn't going to happen right now. It's gotta suck, definitely.
Nicki reached his hand out and grabbed ahold of Elijah's, lacing their fingers together, which prompted the man to look at their hands. Elijah smiled small, but Nicki could tell there was a hint of sadness to it, one that made him feel bad. He wished he could tell Elijah what he wanted to hear right now; those three words-- three words that would honestly probably make him cry at this point. He knew Elijah hearing those three words would make him really happy, but... He just couldn't say them. He didn't want to say them until he was ready to-- until he got more answers. Even so, Nicki felt like shit for making Elijah want him even more... He wanted to give him what he wanted-- he really did.
Nicki frowned and leaned over, resting his head on Elijah's shoulder, which shocked the man a bit. He wasn't expecting the sudden show of affection, but it made him happy and had his heart fluttering. He rested his head against Nicki's, giving his hand a slight squeeze, which had Nicki smiling. Anthony glanced up at them from the rearview mirror, brows furrowing; he definitely was keeping his eyes on Nicki, that much was certain.
They soon made it over to Ben's house, the man who was hosting this dinner party. Once there, they all got out of the car and began making their way towards the front door, where Ben was actually standing, greeting people who were coming in. As soon as he spotted Anthony, he smiled big, which had the other man returning the smile. "Anthony! Glad you could make it!" he beamed, holding his hand out for Anthony to shake, which is exactly what he did. "You know I could never miss one of these," Anthony said, chuckling lightly. "Good, good! Jane, you look lovely-- Elijah, it's great to see you again," Ben greeted, looking at each of them, then looking at Nicki. "And who's this?"
"This is Nicki, Elijah's boyfriend," Anthony informed him, causing Ben to quickly look at him again, then back at Nicki. "Boyfriend? I had no idea you liked men, Elijah," the man said, chuckling. "Hah... Neither did I," Anthony replied, both he and Ben giving each other a certain look, one that had Nicki feeling uncomfortable. He absolutely hated this energy right now. "Well, I see nothing wrong with that. As long as you two are happy, then who cares, right? It's nice to meet you, Nicki. I'm Ben, Anthony's best friend since high school; we've been together for many years, so I know literally everything about this guy," Ben said, grinning. Nicki's blood ran cold at that, spotting another look that Ben threw Anthony's way. "He sure does; all my deepest darkest secrets, Ben knows," Anthony added, chuckling lightly. Nicki tensed up, wondering if they were hinting at Ben knowing about Anthony's gift. If they've been friends for a long time, then it wouldn't surprise Nicki if Ben did know about it. "Heh... It's nice to meet you, too," Nicki said, smiling at him. "You know, my daughter actually came out to me a couple of months ago, saying that she likes girls. She's in middle school, and she's having a pretty tough time with her classmates after coming out; she's getting bullied a lot-- poor thing. She's insecure about liking who she likes, even though my wife and I have assured her numerous times that there's nothing wrong with it. I'm sure she'd be pretty happy seeing you two together-- might give her some comfort, you know? I'll have to introduce her to you once I head back in," Ben turned to look at Anthony once again, "I'll be out here a little bit longer since I've still got more people to greet. You four go ahead and head in, alright? Dinner is being held in the backyard, so make yourselves comfortable, and help yourself to any refreshments and appetizers," he told them. "You got it," Anthony replied, smiling at him.
Anthony held his arm out for Jane to link hers to, leading her in through the front door and towards the back door with Nicki and Elijah following behind. "Should we do that, too?" Nicki whispered, leaning over towards Elijah, who chuckled lightly. "Don't know if that would suit us," he replied, earning a pout from Nicki. "Why? We'd be fancy," he muttered, looking at Elijah, who raised a brow at him. "What about this?" Nicki went on, placing his hand on the lower part of Elijah's back, causing the man to blush. "Is this too sexy? Should I tone it down?"
Elijah smiled, fighting the urge to let out another chuckle. "Idiot... It's fine," he replied, which had Nicki grinning, nodding his head. "Cool, cool. Just say the word, and I'll touch your ass, too; not much traveling distance from my hand," the Siren joked, earning him a slap on the chest, the two laughing to themselves. Elijah was definitely feeling more relaxed when it came to being so open about their relationship, thanks to Nicki; the Siren always had a way of making him feel more comfortable. "Alright, Nicki and Elijah-- for now, I think you two can go ahead and walk around, maybe mingle a little. I'll start introducing you to people in a little bit, so when I need you, I'll come and get you, alright? I've also got a little speech to make later, so I'll have you two join me for that," Anthony said, looking over his shoulder at the couple. "Okay... We're going to go get drinks," Elijah told him, which had his dad nodding his head in response. Nicki and Elijah started heading in the direction of the bar, the Siren letting out a sigh. "Man, I gotta put my charm on, but to charm these snobs is going to be exhausting. I'll need a drink," Nicki grumbled, immediately earning a glare from Elijah. "Can't flirt your way towards getting one," he retorted, causing Nicki to chuckle. "I came prepared," he said with a grin, opening up his coat, and just slightly pulling out the flask from within the inner pocket. Elijah's eyes widened, which had Nicki chuckling again. "I snuck some of my dad's whiskey in here. Pretty strong shit, but it'll loosen me up a bit," he added, earning a frown from Elijah. "Please don't get drunk," he mumbled, Nicki just flashing him a smile. "I'm not going to, don't worry. Just a little sip or two whenever is all I need," the Siren reassured him, the two of them approaching the bar. They got themselves a soda, in which Nicki poured a little bit of the whiskey from the flask right into his drink. He already sprayed himself with the mixture while he was getting dressed, so the little water droplets from the cold glass shouldn't be an issue; he made a mental note to keep an eye on a sudden show of scales. He'd have to be careful when time was up, causing the scales to show since he didn't want anyone to catch a quick glimpse of that. Once time's up, he'll need to excuse himself to the bathroom to spray himself with the mixture again, which he had hidden in his other inner coat pocket. He poured some of the liquid into a smaller spray bottle-- an empty, cleaned-out cologne bottle, to be exact, just so it'd be easier to carry around.
"Do you want some?" Nicki asked, taking a sip of his drink as both he and Elijah made their way over to a small, slightly taller table, where you could stand up at, and set down your appetizers or drinks. "It'll help you relax some."
Elijah furrowed his brows, setting his drink down on the table. "No thanks... I've never drank before, so I don't want it to make me act weird or anything... That'd be embarrassing," he mumbled, causing Nicki to chuckle. "I think it'd be fun to see you drunk, but we'll definitely save that for another day," Nicki replied, taking another sip of his drink. The soda drowned out a bit of the taste of the strong whiskey, but you could definitely still tell that it wasn't just some regular soda.
Nicki and Elijah chatted with one another for about two minutes when people began approaching them, mostly people who were around their age, but didn't seem to go to their school; not that they could tell, at least. Some appeared to be younger, maybe freshmen, so that could be why they didn't really recognize them, as they didn't pay attention to too many of the underclassmen. They have enough issues with most of the seniors as it is. Elijah did, however, recognize one of the girls, though she wasn't one who went to their school. She went to a different school just a little ways outside of Phanta, not too far of a drive, and she came to these parties a lot with her mom. His dad and Ben were friends with her during high school as well, so Elijah knew their kids, though never really cared to know them too well.
"Hi, Elijah!" the girl greeted, smiling up at him; she was definitely shorter than both Nicki and Elijah, probably around 5'0. Nicki was about 5'10, while Elijah was around 5'9 and a half; not that much shorter than Nicki. "Hey, Zoey," Elijah greeted back, looking rather bored to be in her presence. "Who'd you bring along with you? He's super cute," Zoey beamed, grinning at Nicki. The Siren smiled at her, giving off his usual charmer of a vibe, which always made the girls swoon. "I'm Nicki; lovely to meet you," he said, causing her to gasp, looking to get rather excited. "Omg! Your accent is so sexy!" she squealed, causing Elijah to glare. "You're so loud," he grumbled-- Nicki really relishing in the sight of Elijah getting jealous, which he was sure that's what that expression was leaning towards. "I'm just saying, jeez!" Zoey huffed, shooting a glare at Elijah, before returning her attention back to Nicki. "Where are you from? That's a British accent, isn't it?"
"I'm originally from England, yeah," Nicki replied, taking another sip of his drink. "Wooowwww! I've never met someone around here who's from another country. You must get all the girls with a voice like that-- my goodness," Zoey beamed, placing her hands on her cheeks and twisting her body back and forth, side to side, looking to be lost in some fantasy world that involved a voice like Nicki's. Nicki chuckled awkwardly, glancing over at Elijah, who had a never-fading scowl on his face, glaring daggers at the overly excited girl. "Ahhh... A dreamy accent, and a handsome face-- what more could a girl want?"
"Personality? A soul, maybe?" Elijah grumbled in response, twirling his straw around in his drink, his comment earning a small snort from Nicki. "You're always so grumpy, Elijah! Let me admire the beauty of this man without your negative comments getting in the way!" Zoey scoffed, shooting him another glare. She then relaxed and made another dreamy face, sighing happily. "Ahh... But I mustn't talk about the beauty of another man when I've already got my eyes set on someone! That would be like cheating on my one and only, right??" she sang, swaying back and forth. Nicki and Elijah gave each other a look, one that said something along the lines of: "Is she for real?" This girl was seriously chatty, and seemed like the type to get lost in her own fantasies and daydreams; she had quite a way of speaking, too-- very dramatic. Nicki had a feeling her dramatics would get kind of annoying, as hers seemed to be the type that was meant to be taken in a serious manner, and not just used as a way of joking.
"So... How long have you known Elijah?" Nicki decided to ask, hoping to change the subject a bit. "Many years! But he acts as if we're strangers," Zoey replied, crossing her arms and pouting. "That's because you're annoying," Elijah sighed, taking a sip of his drink. "Ugh! You're always so mean to me--"
"That's because you're annoying," Elijah repeated, which had Nicki's eyes darting back and forth between the two, watching their interactions with one another. "He always treats me like this, when I'm nothing but nice to him!" Zoey huffed, then looked to be lost in her fantasies once again, sighing dreamily. "Ahhh... Even so, I think that's what I like most about him. He's not afraid to speak his mind, and he'll tell you like it is. Isn't that just so attractive?" she beamed, giggling happily.
Ah... Nicki gets it now. She's gotta be crushing on Elijah, right? That's what it's looking like.
Nicki couldn't lie, though-- that part of Elijah was rather attractive; he always did love that sweet and salty vibe Elijah had to him. Elijah's definitely the type who has a hot and cold personality towards someone, and gets kind of mean and rude, yet uses that as a cover-up to hide how soft he really is. Nicki adored that kind of personality, and he loved the moments when Elijah was nothing but soft, yet really shy and embarrassed by it. It was cute.
"Here we go again," Elijah muttered, a bored look on his face. "What do you mean, 'here we go again!?' I swear, I don't think this man wants to give falling in love a chance! Do you know how many times I've confessed to him and got turned down!?" Zoey groaned, looking at Nicki. "A thousand," Elijah sighed, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere but here right now. "Twenty-five and counting!" Zoey retorted, shooting him another glare. "Well, let's go ahead and make that twenty-six, then. Get it out the way, you know?" Elijah said, taking another sip of his drink. Nicki sipped his drink as well, starting to get a bit bored with this conversation, too. "Oh, c'mon! Elijaaahhh," Zoey whined, cozying on up to him, which had the man tensing up. "You always reject me! Can't you give me a chance?? I promise I'll be a great girlfriend! I'll bake you sweets and spoil you-- anything you want!"
Nicki couldn't help but feel kind of bad for her, but... He did not like her snuggling into Elijah like that at all. For some reason, it made him feel a bit of a burning sensation in his chest, like he wanted to just burst and snap at her, demanding she step back. This was... Jealousy, wasn't it?
"No," Elijah said bluntly, earning another whine from Zoey. "Elijaaahhh! Pleeeaaassee? Don't tell me you're still with that mean girl I met one time! She stinks, man! Total bitch, and I'm not going to apologize for saying that!" Zoey exclaimed, which actually had Nicki cracking a small smile. This girl was very loud, dramatic, and slightly annoying, but she made one excellent point-- one that Nicki found quite amusing. "No need to apologize for that-- I didn't like her anyway," Elijah stated, causing Zoey to gasp. "Really?? So you're single, yeah!? Then pleeaaassee give me a chance!" she begged, hugging Elijah's arm. "Get off me. I like someone already," Elijah scoffed, attempting to shrug her off. Zoey frowned and let go of him, fiddling with her fingers. "Whaat..? You like someone?"
Elijah glanced up at Nicki as he sipped on his drink, which had the Siren grinning at him. She'd find out later who he likes, that's for sure. "Sorry, love... I hate to tell you, but he is indeed taken," Nicki said, smiling at her, then glancing back over at Elijah. Elijah blushed and looked over at Zoey, who was staring at Nicki with a pout. "Aww... Elijah never wants me," she grumbled, crossing her arms once again. "Don't look too down. You're a beautiful girl-- I'm sure you'll find someone, alright?" Nicki reassured her, giving her his usual charming smile. Zoey blushed and smiled at him. "Aww... You think so?" she replied, earning a glare from Elijah. "Don't even think about it-- he's taken, too," he told her. Nicki wasn't really taken, but in a way he kind of was; Elijah's the only person he's destined to be with.
Zoey sighed, putting her hands behind her back. "All the good and handsome ones are always taken... It's such a shame," she mumbled, looking back over at Elijah and giving him a determined look. "I'm not giving up on you, though! Just you wait, Elijah! I'll make you mine someday!"
Nicki clicked his tongue, stabbing his straw into his drink. "Good luck with that," he muttered, Elijah being the only one to catch the quiet remark, the words causing him to blush again. Nicki was coming off rather defensive, which made Elijah's heart flutter like crazy; he honestly wanted to see Nicki get jealous-- would he?
Zoey ended up getting distracted by someone else, skipping her way over to them, and leaving the couple alone once again, which they were both pretty pleased about. "Jeez, I thought she'd never leave," Elijah grumbled, glaring at the girl's retreating form. "Twenty-five times, prior to this moment, huh?" Nicki spoke up, raising a brow at Elijah, who scowled. "Don't remind me. She's been obsessed with me since we were young; it's so annoying," he huffed, causing Nicki to tilt his head at him, smiling small. "She seems to really like you."
"Well, sucks for her, 'cause I really like you. Don't want or need anyone else," Elijah mumbled, blushing. Nicki blushed as well, looking down at his drink; he won't lie, hearing that made his heart flutter. "Is that so..? You know... I like hearing you say that," he told him, fiddling around with his straw in his drink. Elijah glanced away, looking to get a bit embarrassed, which had become quite a common look of his at this point. "Really..? I say it a lot, don't I? Figured it'd be something you'd get tired of hearing," he muttered, shifting nervously. "Hmm... If it were anyone else, I think I would, but... It's a different story with you," Nicki expressed, giving him a small smile. Elijah smiled back at him, then looked down, trying to hide how giddy those words were making him feel.
"Nicki, Elijah!" Ben called out, approaching them with a small, timid girl at his side. Nicki quickly took another sip from his drink, already feeling rather buzzed and relaxed. "This is my daughter Alyce," Ben introduced, placing his hand on his daughter's head. "Alyce, these are the two boys I was telling you about; you already know Elijah, but that's his boyfriend Nicki. Why don't you stay over here with them for a little bit, yeah?"
Alyce gave a small nod, watching as her dad nodded his head at Nicki and Elijah, then headed off in a different direction, leaving the three alone. "H-Hi," she muttered, which had Nicki giving her a reassuring smile. "No need to be shy around us, love," he told her, watching as she shifted awkwardly. Alyce was a pretty short girl, about 4'10, and she had short, brown hair, and freckles dotted all around her cheeks and nose. She was wearing a black, spaghetti-strapped dress and Converse, looking as if she was way out of her comfort zone. Nicki couldn't help but feel for the girl; she really seemed like she didn't want to be here. "Sorry... I'm not good at talking with people," she mumbled, tugging at her dress nervously. "Are we intimidating?" Nicki asked, chuckling lightly. Alyce glanced at them, then around the backyard, frowning. "Everyone is... Sorry," she replied, crumpling some of the fabric of her dress in her hands. "You don't have to apologize; it's fine," Nicki reassured her. "You can relax around us-- we're not going to bite."
Alyce shifted from foot to foot, glancing up at Elijah. "Um... I had no idea you liked guys, Elijah... I-It's really cool to know there are more people like me... I-I only have one gay friend," she said, giving him a small, shy smile. Elijah tensed up a bit, but gave her a small, closed-mouth smile as well; he still wasn't used to too many people smiling at him or showing a lot of genuine kindness. "Well... Nicki's the only guy I've ever actually liked... The only person, honestly," he told her, watching as Alyce glanced away once again, fidgeting nervously. "Do you... Are you... Um... Are people treating you d-differently..? A-Are you out?" she asked, glancing at both of them. "Eli just came out the other day, so he's still adjusting," Nicki informed her, glancing over at Elijah, who frowned, nodding his head. "Wh-What about you..? A-Are you gay, or..?" Alyce inquired, tilting her head at him. "I like girls, too, so bisexual. I came out when I was about your age, so I've had quite a few years to adjust, and get used to people not accepting my sexuality. Your dad said you're struggling in school, right?"
"Mhm... I-I think I only like girls... I-I've never felt anything towards boys before. P-People aren't being that nice to me now that they know I like girls... I-I've lost close friends because of it," Alyce muttered, the look on her face absolutely breaking Nicki's heart. He remembered how bad it was for him when he came out-- he's still not having the greatest responses from people, but at least he's gotten used to it over the years. When you first come out and have to deal with cruel people, it definitely hurts a lot more, especially if it's from the people you love, like Nicki's situation. Over time, though, you end up growing some thick skin, and it gets easier to deal with people like that, especially once you have a support system around you.
"Sounds like they weren't really close friends in the first place," Elijah pointed out, raising a brow at the small girl. Alyce tensed up and nodded her head, frowning. "Y-Yeah... I guess they weren't," she muttered, clutching at her dress once again. "It may suck now, but... Eventually, it gets better. There'll come a point where that stuff doesn't bother you as much anymore, and you'll end up finding amazing people along the way who support you. That alone starts to make things a thousand times better; you seem really sweet, too, so I know you're bound to find those people sooner than you'd think," Nicki began, then grinned at her, tilting his head. "Also, just look at it this way: those sorry fools who bully you are gonna one day grow up jobless, friendless, and living in their parent's basement, all because they do nothing but spend their time putting other people down. Typically, people like that don't get anywhere in life, unless they shape up and get their act together-- rewrite wrongs. You, love, are far better than they'll ever be... Don't forget that, you hear me? Don't let them put you down for being who you are, because there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. You'll get through this; I believe in you, kid," he reassured her, causing Alyce's eyes to widen. Suddenly, those big brown eyes filled with tears, her small frame beginning to tremble, and her bottom lip quivering. Before Nicki or Elijah could say anything, the small girl ran right up to Nicki and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tight. Nicki was a bit shocked at first, but he then smiled and patted her back, ruffling her hair a little; it seemed like she really needed to hear this. "Th-Thank you," she whispered, voice wavering. Nicki felt a sense of pride, knowing he could cheer this little girl up, especially since this was something she needed right now.
Elijah smiled at the interaction between the two, a feeling of deja vu washing over him once again, causing his smile to fade and for his brows to furrow. What was this? He's never seen the way Nicki acts around kids, but he felt like he's seen a moment similar to this before.
Nicki would be a great dad... Where was this from again? Elijah felt that... Nicki has proved this thought of his before, but when?
"No need to thank me; I'm just speaking the truth," Nicki said with a chuckle, patting the girl's head. Alyce pulled away from him and smiled, then looked over at Elijah, spotting the expression on his face. She quickly walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his torso as well, causing him to snap out of his thoughts and tense up, staring down at her. "U-Um... Why are you hugging me..? I didn't say anything," he muttered, not really knowing what to do with this kind of situation. Should he hug her back? "I-I know, but... I thought you might need a hug... Since you just came out not that long ago as well, a-and I know it's scary. Y-Your boyfriend seems like a really nice person... I-I'm sure he'll protect you," she expressed, looking up at him with a small smile. Elijah's eyes widened slightly, and he couldn't help but smile back. "You're smiling now! That's good; you looked like something was bothering you," she said, pulling away from him. Elijah reached out a hesitant hand and patted her head, causing her to smile more. "Thanks," he told her. Alyce placed her hands behind her back and tilted her head, seeming to have come out of her shell a lot more. "Y-You're so different now, Elijah... You actually used to scare me because of how cold you came across, but... Y-You're really nice."
Nicki grinned at that, looking over at Elijah, who blushed a bit at the compliment; it felt kinda good for someone to see him as kind, and not an asshole, though he still had his moments of being an asshole. "That's 'cause he met me," Nicki stated, a teasing smirk on his face as he stared at Elijah. Alyce giggled, finding it nice how that comment made Elijah blush; she'd never seen him act like this before, and it was a sweet change of pace. Elijah never looked like he was happy, and he always gave off this vibe that he was angry at the world, which were both observations that weren't exactly wrong. All it took was for someone like Nicki to walk into his life, which gave Alyce hope that she'd find someone like that someday-- one who could help her like Nicki helps Elijah... One that could make her smile like how Nicki makes Elijah smile.
To her, it was a nice thought-- one she couldn't help but look forward to.
"Nicki, Elijah! Come here for a sec," Anthony called out, motioning for the two boys to come to him. "Well, that's our cue," Elijah said, sighing, prompting Alyce to look over her shoulder at Anthony, tensing up. "It sure is... It was nice meeting you, Alyce. You seem like a great kid; I know everything is going to work out for you in the end," Nicki expressed, smiling at her and getting ready to follow after Elijah, who was already on his way toward his dad, drink in hand. Before Nicki could leave her, Alyce quickly reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him in place. "Is... Something wrong..?" Nicki asked, frowning at her. Alyce frowned as well, quickly glancing over her shoulder once again, then looking up at the Siren. "You feel uneasy around him, don't you?" she whispered, shifting nervously. "Hm? Who?" Nicki replied, tilting his head at her. "Mr. Laachlan... I can tell."
"You can, huh? You good at reading people?"
Alyce glanced away, "Why do you think I'm so bad with people, and talking with them..? R-Rarely anybody feels real in this town, s-so I get intimidated," she began, looking up at him once again. "If you don't feel uneasy around him... T-Then you should."
Nicki's eyes widened, his heart sinking in his chest and his blood running cold. This little girl looked genuinely terrified of what that man was capable of, even if she more than likely had no idea as to why that was. Her feeling was on point, though.
Nicki glanced over at Elijah, who had stopped in place, looking back at him with a confused expression on his face. Nicki cleared his throat and crouched down, looking up at her. "Why is that?" he asked quietly, watching as Alyce began to scrunch up some of the fabric of her dress once again, seeming to retreat back into her shell. "S-Sometimes I hear him and my dad talk... Th-They talk about people Elijah dates, a-as if they're suspicious of them... L-Like they have plans with them. I-It never sounds or feels like anything good... Th-They were talking about it when Elijah was dating that mean girl, a-and I never told her because she was always mean to me. Y-You're different, though... I can feel it; you have a big heart... I-I'm worried Mr. Laachlan doesn't have good intentions. P-Please be careful, Nicki," she told him, giving him a worried look.
Nicki felt sick; her dad really was in on this-- that's why it felt so scary seeing him and Anthony talk with one another as if there was something they were aware of that Nicki and Elijah weren't. This was getting too dangerous-- for all Nicki knew, everybody at this party could be in on what was going on between Anthony and Sirens. Even so, though, he was kind of glad Alyce was trying to warn him, even if she wasn't sure what was going on. She was a rather perceptive girl, already aware that people were acting odd, more than likely because of Anthony's influence. She could tell, but she couldn't tell why that was... Smart girl, nonetheless.
Nicki gave her a small, nervous smile, reaching up and patting her cheek. "Thank you, Alyce... I'll be careful; don't worry," he assured her, standing back up. Alyce nodded her head at him, giving him a small wave goodbye as he started walking off, taking a big swig out of his drink, practically almost finishing it off. He needed another drink with more alcohol in it because this was starting to get really overwhelming. "What was that about?" Elijah asked, furrowing his brows at Nicki once he approached him. Nicki just smiled and shook his head, placing his hand on Elijah's lower back. "Nothing; she just wanted to thank me one more time," he lied, the two of them walking over to Anthony.
Elijah didn't believe him, but he wasn't going to press for a better answer.
Anthony wanted to introduce Elijah and Nicki to a few people, which is why he called them over. At one point, Nicki refilled his drink and poured more whiskey into the glass, keeping in mind not to drink too much of the whiskey, since he promised Elijah he wouldn't get drunk.
Eventually, it was around time for dinner to start, so Anthony picked them out a table with a few others, the four of them sitting down. Before dinner, Anthony wanted to make a speech, which Nicki ended up tuning out a rather large portion of. He at one point borrowed a pen from one of the people at the table, doodling on a napkin, which Elijah watched him do. Elijah smiled when Nicki drew two tiny versions of them with a heart right above their heads. Nicki slid the napkin over to him, smiling at the blush that crept its way onto Elijah's cheeks, really wanting nothing more than to kiss him right now. "I'm keeping this," Elijah said quietly, taking the napkin from Nicki and slipping it into his inner coat pocket. "Hehe, you're so cute," Nicki replied, grabbing another napkin, and flashing the man next to him a grin. Elijah rested his chin in his hands, leaning over towards Nicki to get a better look at what he was drawing next. Elijah absentmindedly poked at Nicki's arm, running his finger up and down it, which had Nicki smiling. Nicki ended up drawing a tic-tac-toe board, already marking his placement, then sliding the pen and napkin over to Elijah, causing the man to chuckle a little, but play along.
"One thing I am proud to announce is that my son, Elijah, has come out to me recently about his new lover. Nicki, Elijah, will you two step over here with me, please?" Anthony spoke, catching the two's attention, both of them quickly looking up where Anthony was standing, facing all the tables. Nicki quickly put a line through his Xs as they stood up, marking his win and smirking at the man next to him. He held up three fingers, indicating that that win bumped his points up to three, causing Elijah to smile and roll his eyes. The two made their way over to Anthony, standing beside the man, earning surprised looks from some of the people at their tables. "As you can see, my son is dating another man. He didn't come out to me about this, because he worried about how I would react-- he thought I would be disgusted or mad, and he found it hard to talk to me about this," Anthony began to explain, Nicki feeling a little off about being on display like this. He tuned out most of what Anthony started rambling on about, seeing as he didn't even want to be here at all in the first place. Instead, he decided to watch everyone sitting down, taking note of their reactions to Anthony telling them all of this. At first, they all seemed a bit put off by the idea of two men being together... But then Nicki noticed something. Their expressions fell flat for a split second, a very slight, subtle dead look in their eyes, one that made Nicki's stomach drop, an instant feeling of fight or flight kicking in. That look ended as quickly as it came, their eyes suddenly brightening up, and a huge change in their demeanor appearing. They seemed absolutely ecstatic about the news they were hearing, despite it making them react in a negative manner just seconds before.
God, Nicki felt sick again
Elijah noticed Nicki tensing up next to him, so he reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it softly, which seemed to make the Siren relax some. Nicki looked over at Elijah and smiled small, lacing their fingers together, earning a small smile in return.
"That's why, I'm donating seventy-five thousand dollars to an LGBT charity organization, to help our young ones who may be struggling with their identity, their family situation due to their identity, and all the hardships they may be facing because of it," Anthony went on, causing both Nicki and Elijah's eyes to widen; suddenly, Nicki tuned back in. "Our children are our children, no matter what they identify as. We should love and support them, regardless of who they love."
Nicki tightened his grip on Elijah's hand a little, trying his best to hold back an agitated scowl. "Love and support, my ass," he thought, "You wouldn't love and support Elijah if he fell in love with me, a Siren. That's fucking bullshit."
"Nicki," Anthony spoke, turning towards the man, catching his attention. Nicki turned to him as well, feeling himself grow more nervous. "I hope you treat my son well," he went on, holding his hand out for Nicki to shake. Nicki smiled and reached out, shaking his hand, earning a smile back from Anthony in return, who repeated something he had said before. "I really do have a feeling this is going to be the start of something great... Don't you?"
Nicki tensed up at that smile, eyes widening slightly. "Y-Yes, sir. As I've said before, I'll do my best not to disappoint," he said, trying not to show how scared he actually was. "Mhm... I'm sure. I'll be keeping my eye on you, Nicki," Anthony replied, tilting his head at him, that unnerving smile never fading.
Nicki was seriously about to throw up, and he was trying so hard to hold back all the nerves and fears-- Anthony absolutely could not know he was beyond terrified right now. If he knew Nicki was scared, then he was going to be suspicious-- he was going to believe there was definitely some deeper meaning as to why he was terrified.
Nicki smiled again and nodded his head, releasing Anthony's hand. Anthony looked at Elijah, letting the two know that they could sit back down, as there were a few other things he wanted to say, stuff he didn't need them over here for. As the two began walking away, Nicki quickly grabbed onto Elijah's upper arm, stopping him. "Do you know where the loo is?" he asked quietly, which had Elijah nodding his head. "Mhm. I'll take you," he replied, leading Nicki back into the house. Elijah led Nicki down a hallway until they made it to one of the downstairs bathrooms. "Here it is. Do you want me to--"
"Cool, I'm about to throw up," Nicki quickly interrupted, rushing into the bathroom and making a beeline towards the toilet, not even closing the door behind him. "Wh-What??" Elijah exclaimed, quickly rushing into the bathroom, watching as Nicki got down on his knees and leaned over the toilet, immediately spewing up some of what he had put in his stomach earlier. Elijah grimaced at the sight but made his way over to Nicki and crouched down, holding some of his hair back, that way it wouldn't get in the way while he was throwing up. "Jeez, Nicki," Elijah began, holding his hair back with one hand while using the other to soothingly stroke the Siren's temple. "You shouldn't have drunk so much."
Once Nicki felt he was done throwing up, he flushed the toilet, then sat back and sighed, watching as Elijah stood up and approached the sink, grabbing something. "Yeah... That's my bad. At least I'm not drunk," Nicki replied, going along with the idea of Elijah believing this was because of the alcohol; it's better if he thinks it was that anyway. "Yeah, I guess that's good," Elijah mumbled, frowning as he crouched down in front of Nicki, grabbing some toilet paper to wipe off the drool around his mouth. "Thank you for holding my hair back, baby. You're so sweet; you take such good care of me," Nicki beamed, chuckling as Elijah wiped his mouth, then threw the toilet paper in the trash. "I'm sorry if today has been... A lot, I guess," Elijah mumbled, opening up a little wrapped piece of candy, which Nicki assumed was a mint. "It's fine; hanging out with you makes it worth it," Nicki expressed, looking at the mint Elijah was holding out for him. Elijah smiled, cheeks turning red. "Yeah... These parties are a lot nicer to go to when I'm with you. Here, take this; Ben always keeps mints in his bathrooms for guests," he said, prompting Nicki to open up his mouth, allowing Elijah to pop the mint in. "Thank you. I won't lie, though; I'm ready to go home," Nicki sighed, sucking on the mint. "Being around most of these people makes me want to get drunk."
Elijah frowned, nodding his head. "Yeah, I get that. All that's left to do is eat dinner and let Dad talk some more with people, and then we can head home," he told Nicki, reaching out and pushing some of his hair out of his face, causing the Siren to smile. Elijah leaned in and pressed a short, chaste kiss to Nicki's lips, making the Siren raise a brow. "Wow, you'd kiss me even after I just threw up?" he asked, chuckling. "Well, why do you think I gave you the mint?" Elijah replied, tilting his head at him. Nicki grinned and stood up with Elijah doing the same. "You just can't resist me, huh?"
"I guess not."
Nicki already felt better; Elijah was really good at taking his mind off things. Nicki pushed all those negative feelings and fears to the back of his mind, just focusing on enjoying his dinner since he was pretty hungry. He sat at a table with Ben, his wife, and his daughter, as well as their baby boy toddler, who was seated in a high chair. They were also sitting with Zoey and her mom, as well as a few other people, though Nicki didn't care to get their names. Nicki had to give props to whoever cooked the food, as it tasted really good; food was definitely the way to his heart. Nicki wasn't that much of a picky eater, so he was always down to have anything and try anything at least once. He had no idea how to even pronounce all this fancy food that was served, but it was pretty damn good, even if he had no idea what all was actually in it.
"D-Do you like these..?" Nicki heard Alyce speak up, causing him to look over at her. She was poking at some smaller pieces of food, which neither of them had any idea what they were, but Alyce for sure didn't like them. "I don't know what it is, but they're pretty good. Do you not like them?" Nicki asked, spotting Alyce make a face and then shake her head, which made him smile a little. "They taste funny... Do you want them..?" she questioned, poking at them again. Nicki chuckled and scooted his plate over towards her, causing her to brighten up some. "Sure, I'll take 'em," he told her, prompting Alyce to immediately scoot the food over onto his plate, which had him giving her some of his food in return. "Here-- you like this stuff, don't you?"
"Th-Thank you," Alyce said, smiling at him. "My daughter seems to like you," Ben spoke up, causing Nicki to look over at him. "She was really happy when she came back after talking with you two," his wife added, smiling at Nicki. "Well, Nicki gave her some pretty encouraging words. He's been out longer than I have, so he's had more experience in dealing with hate from other people," Elijah told them, taking a sip of his drink. "Thank you for encouraging her; she's really needed someone who's been through what she has to help reassure her that things will be okay," her mom, Renee, said. "No need to thank me. I'm just glad I could cheer her up," Nicki replied, smiling at Alyce's parents. "We appreciate it-- we really do," Ben said, smiling back at him. "Moving on from that, though-- you're in your senior year along with Elijah, right?"
"That's right," Nicki answered, taking a bite out of his food. "Do you have any plans after you graduate?" Ben inquired, taking a sip of his drink. "Uh, well... I know I wanna go to art school, but I'm still not sure what career I wanna pursue, regarding art. I've thought about either being a tattoo artist or a multimedia artist; can't really decide. I think drawing stuff for movies, video games, and TV shows would be fun, especially character concepts for video games," the Siren informed him. "Ohhh, you're an artist?" Renee asked, smiling at him. "Nicki does art commissions. He's really good," Elijah said, causing Nicki to smile. "Art commissions? What's that?" Anthony questioned, sipping on his drink. "Ah, basically people ask me to draw them stuff, and I draw them what they want for a price; depending on the drawing, the price could be quite a bit or not much at all. It all depends on the detail, the size, and how complicated the work may be in general. It's how I make money right now," the Siren explained to him, taking another bite of his food. "Do you have any pictures you can show us?" Renee asked, to which Nicki nodded his head. "Yeah, I've got a whole folder on my phone, dedicated to pictures of all my art," he replied, pulling his phone out from his pocket. He went to his art folder, then handed his phone over to them, prompting all of them to lean over towards Ben, who had grabbed the phone. Zoey and Alyce even got up out of their seats, walking over so that they could look at his art as well. "Holy shit!" Ben gasped, earning a slap on the chest from his wife, who glared at him. "Language," she warned, causing him to chuckle. "Sorry, sorry! Pardon my French-- but these are really good, Nicki! You are seriously talented," Ben beamed, which had Anthony nodding his head in agreement. "The detail on all of them is insanely good. Did you paint that picture in Elijah's room? I briefly noticed it the other day," Anthony questioned, looking up at Nicki, who nodded his head. "Yeah, I did," he replied. "It's fantastic work, really," Anthony praised, smiling at him.
Nicki wasn't going to lie, it felt good getting praised like this by other parents; his own parents never praised him. They didn't care much for his taste in art.
"Thanks," Nicki replied, smiling. "You know, our little Alyce likes to draw, too," Renee stated, giggling. "Yeah, but my stuff isn't nearly as good as his," Alyce mumbled, walking back over to her seat. "Ah, never compare your work to others, love. Everyone has their own style when it comes to art, and each piece you make is unique to you. Practice makes perfect, too, so even if you don't think your art is at the level you want it to be, it's nothing to fret over, because the more you practice, the more you'll see your work improve. Even today, I know there are still some things I can improve on," Nicki told her, giving her a reassuring smile, which had her smiling in return. Ben handed Nicki his phone back, prompting the Siren to take it and slide it back into his pocket. "You should show him pictures of your art, Alyce!" Renee beamed, grabbing Alyce's phone out from her purse, and then handing it over to her. Alyce blushed and nodded her head, pulling up pictures of her art to show Nicki. Nicki grabbed her phone once she handed it to him, which had Elijah even looking over to take a peek at her drawings as well. "Hey, these are good! I'm not just saying that either-- I think these are amazing. I couldn't even draw hands this good when I was your age; that's one thing I've struggled with the most," he said to her, causing her to smile and fidget nervously. Nicki scrolled through more of her drawings, pausing a bit when he spotted a bunch of mermaid drawings. "Wow... You really like to draw mermaids, huh? Fairies, too-- I've seen a bunch of those," he pointed out, looking over at her, which had her nodding excitedly. "She's really into all that fantasy stuff," Ben stated, which had Nicki nodding his head as he looked at all the mermaid drawings. "I can see that. I think fantasy stuff is cool, too-- I especially think elves are pretty neat. I draw those quite a bit," he said, smiling at some of the mermaid pictures... That was until he saw a drawing of Terremouth Island with a female mermaid on some rocks. "Th-That one's my favorite. It was one of my first times drawing scenery and backgrounds, and I got inspiration from the island in the distance. I just felt something fantasy, like a mermaid would look nice in front of the island-- fairies would be cool, too! I plan on drawing that next, with that island as inspiration," Alyce informed him.
Nicki started getting random flashes of the island burning in his head, for whatever reason, but he tried to push those thoughts back as best he could. If he shuts down all of a sudden and starts looking like he's bothered right after seeing a picture of a mermaid at Terremouth Island, then Anthony will get suspicious for sure.
"I think fairies would look cool there as well. For your first time drawing sceneries, I'd say you absolutely nailed it," Nicki told her, smiling through the pain that he felt in his head, due to all the flashes of the island he was getting. "Th-Thank you," Alyce replied, taking her phone back when Nicki handed it to her. They all went about dinner, talking and chatting with one another, Zoey's mom even going on about how they couldn't really ask Elijah what career choices he wanted, since he was going to be taking over for his father. Elijah frowned at that and looked down, Nicki knowing that taking over for his father wasn't what he wanted. If anything, Elijah probably wanted to take a similar career path as his mom.
Dinner was over before they knew it, and Anthony did just as Elijah said he would, walking off to go and talk with some people, while Jane went to go talk with some of the other women around. Alyce was giggling as Nicki drew in her sketchbook, which she had quickly run to her room to get, wanting Nicki to draw a mermaid for her. "I've never drawn one before, so forgive me if it's horrendous," Nicki said, laughing; both Elijah and Alyce were leaned over, watching him sketch. "It looks good so far," Elijah told him, causing the Siren to smile. "You're making your mermaid look so cool! I like the gills on the neck, and the way you draw the scales all over," Alyce beamed, watching the Siren draw, eyes sparkling with fascination. "You gonna charge her for this?" Elijah joked, poking at Nicki's arm like he was doing earlier when Nicki was drawing on a napkin. "Nah, this one's for free, because I'm feeling generous today," Nicki joked back, causing Alyce to giggle. "Thank you," she said, smiling at him. Nicki finished up the drawing and set the pencil down, sitting back in his chair. "Behold my masterpiece," he sighed, looking rather pleased with himself. "Wow! I love it! She's so pretty!" Alyce beamed, staring at the drawing in awe. "Well, it's yours to keep. I gotta go piss, so I'll be back, gang," Nicki said, pushing his chair back, Alyce just giggling at his words. "Do you remember where the bathroom is?" Elijah asked, looking at the man as he stood up. "Mhm, I remember. I'll be back," Nicki replied, leaning down and kissing Elijah's head, causing Zoey to sigh very dramatically, and loudly at that, with a dejected expression on her face. Nicki and Elijah looked over at her, spotting her staring at them with her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands. "Oh, don't mind me!" she quickly said, waving them off before returning her hand back to its position under her chin. "You guys do you-- I'll just be over here, crying on the inside," she added dramatically, sighing once again. Nicki and Elijah couldn't help but smile at that; she didn't seem mad or extremely upset, but you could tell she was a little salty about it. When Anthony announced that Elijah was dating the guy he came here with, Zoey wasn't shocked that her crush was dating another man, but more so defeated because he was taken once again. She wasn't the type to break a couple up or interfere with them, so she was going to let this slide, but she wasn't giving up, that's for sure.
"Sorry, sweetheart. No hard feelings, yeah?" Nicki said, grinning at her, earning another loud, dramatic sigh from the girl. "Yeah, yeah-- I'm still not going to give up," she stated, giving him a determined glare. "Mhm. You do that," Nicki replied, still grinning as he waved her off and walked away, leaving Elijah chuckling at what just went down.
Nicki made his way back inside and to the bathroom, doing what he needed to do. Earlier, he had noticed that the mixture wore off, though he was thankfully able to hide the scales showing for a split second. He hadn't reapplied it since then, so he felt now was a good time to, even if they were going to be leaving soon. You just never know, right?
Nicki applied the mixture to any parts of skin that were showing, allowing it to sink in the rest of the way, then washed his hands. Once done, Nicki left the bathroom and began making his way down the hall, fixing the cuffs of his suit around his wrists. As he walked down the hallway and almost turned the corner, he immediately stopped and backed up, pressing himself against the wall. Around the corner were Anthony and Ben, and they were talking about something; Nicki kinda wanted to know what they were talking about, as he could have sworn he heard his name be said. Nicki remained there, listening in to the two men around the corner.
"Do you really think it's him..?" Ben asked, frowning at his best friend in front of him. "I'm not sure yet... I want to be absolutely sure before jumping to conclusions. I mean, Elijah has never shown an interest in men before, so I'm sure you can understand my suspicions," Anthony replied, scratching at his head, his brows furrowed in thought. "Yeah, but I mean... Sometimes you just never know when it comes to that sorta stuff, right? I mean, Alyce never showed that she may have liked girls before in the past, even though it was something she probably wasn't even aware of herself. They're young-- they discover something new about themselves every day, you know? In your case, though, I understand why you're more iffy about it," Ben stated, crossing his arms. "Which is exactly why I wanna keep an eye on Nicki because there is a chance I could be wrong, you know? I have no issue with Elijah liking men, but... I wanna make sure the man he likes is someone normal-- someone who isn't controlling him into liking them," Anthony told him.
Nicki felt his heart begin to beat faster, anxiety starting to settle in.
"I get that. I mean, it's not like you could do anything until the full moon comes, right?" Ben pointed out, which had Anthony nodding his head in response. "Mhm-- exactly. So there's no harm in keeping a close eye out on Nicki; I gotta see for myself that he is one before doing anything about it," he replied.
Nicki was feeling an overwhelming sense of dread-- this wasn't good at all. Ben was definitely in on what was happening, which made Nicki even more nervous.
"Anthony... You're my best friend, and you know I'm here to support you and help you in any way you may need, but... I seriously hope you know what you're doing. Don't forget to think about Elijah and his feelings in all of this--"
"That's exactly why I'm doing what I'm doing! Everything I do right now is for him. Besides, if my suspicions turn out to be correct, and Nicki is one of them, then getting rid of him won't mean anything to Elijah," Anthony began, causing Nicki's eyes to widen, brimming with tears. "It'll break the spell, and Elijah won't even care why Nicki is suddenly no longer in his life, right? After all, everything I was told growing up was that those creatures control someone in the family, so if Nicki is one of them, it's safe to assume that Elijah doesn't really love him-- he's just being controlled into thinking so. To Elijah, Nicki's death would just be some freak accident."
Tears fell down Nicki's face, and he quickly brought his hand up to cover up his mouth, his body beginning to tremble with fear.
"Well... I'll assist in any way I can-- you just say the word. I'm really hoping Nicki doesn't turn out to be one, though... He seems like a good kid," Ben mumbled, frowning once again. "He does... If he turns out to be one, though, then I have no choice. I have to do this; I'm so close to my goal-- I can feel it," Anthony replied, glancing down and frowning.
Nicki felt himself begin to breathe heavily, sliding his body down the wall, and seating himself on the floor, still covering his mouth. Tears were falling down his face at a rapid pace, and all Nicki could think in that moment was: "I don't wanna die."
"I know, I know. How is Jane doing, by the way?" Ben inquired, causing Anthony to sigh and rub his eyes, looking tired. "She's getting there, little by little," he answered, though he and Ben started to walk away as they continued to talk about Jane, leaving Nicki unable to hear them anymore. When Nicki heard their voices fade out, a broken sob escaped past his lips; all he felt was nothing but fear-- a fear he'd never felt before in this life. The words kept repeating in his head:
"I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die."
The more they repeated, the more voices began to overlap them, each voice belonging to the body of who he was in a past life. He didn't wanna die; not in this life, and not in any of the previous ones. It was a fear that was lingering on-- one that was starting to show itself in this life. Nicki was terrified of the end coming, which felt as if it was coming soon; he didn't want to die-- not again.
Nicki wiped at his eyes, sniffling, trying desperately to get his sobs under control. All he could think about was how Elijah would react to him being gone-- would he not care like Anthony said? Would he scream and cry? When Nicki thought about Elijah crying over his death, it just made him sob even more. Then he thought about seeing the girls dead, which was just the icing on top of the absolute shitstorm of a cake, absolutely breaking the man. Everything was so overwhelming right now-- all he wanted to do was run away.
No... He wanted Elijah right now.
Nicki sniffled, trying to get his breathing under control as he wiped at his eyes, slowly standing up. Once he felt the sobs had settled down some, he took a deep breath and wiped the last few stray tears that escaped, composing himself enough to make his way back to Elijah. Nicki sniffled, heading back into the backyard, catching Alyce's attention as soon as she spotted him. "Oh, Nicki's back!" she beamed, though she frowned when she saw the state he was in. Nicki approached them, prompting Elijah to look over his shoulder at him. "Did you get lost or some--"
Nicki placed his hand on Elijah's shoulder and leaned down towards him, Elijah now noticing how off the man looked. "Can you step away with me for a sec?" the Siren whispered, causing Elijah to frown and nod his head. "Are you okay..?" Alyce asked, watching as Elijah stood up out of his seat. Nicki didn't answer her but instead ruffled her hair-- his way of letting her know not to worry. Zoey even gave him a concerned look, waving goodbye when Elijah said they would be back in a little bit. Nicki held Elijah's hand, the two of them finding a place outside where they would have privacy, which was at the side of the house, away from everyone. "Nicki, are you--"
Before Elijah could finish his sentence, Nicki was immediately wrapping his arms around his waist and torso, hugging him tightly, which shocked the man a bit. Elijah stumbled back a bit, his back nearly touching the wall, though Nicki was able to hold him in place. "Nicki?" Elijah said softly, frowning when Nicki buried his face into the crook of his neck, sniffling. Elijah reached out and began stroking the back of Nicki's head, holding him close. "What happened?"
Nicki nuzzled into Elijah's shoulder, clinging to him almost desperately. "Just getting a little overwhelmed, is all," he muttered, trying to hold back his sobs. "I know that's not all, but... I won't ask because you're not going to tell me what's going on anyway," Elijah sighed, running his fingers through the Siren's hair. "I-I'm sorry," Nicki stammered quietly, voice wavering as tears began to fall down his face once again. Elijah's heart broke at that; something must have really hurt Nicki, and he wanted to know what, but he knew he wouldn't get answers. He hated seeing Nicki like this. "Heyyy," Elijah tried to pull Nicki away, but the man wasn't budging, "Look at me, please?" he said quietly. Nicki sniffled and shook his head, gripping onto Elijah's clothes. "Mm-mm," he grumbled, causing Elijah to sigh. "I don't like seeing you upset like this," he told him, trying to turn his head some so that he could look at Nicki. "D-Don't ever let go of me... Okay?" he muttered, sniffling again. Elijah smiled sadly; he knew that wasn't meant to be taken in a literal sense. "Never," he assured him. That word caused Nicki to cry, more tears falling from his eyes, right onto Elijah's suit coat. "W-Will you stay with me tonight?" he stammered, sniffling and trying to stop himself from crying more; he absolutely hated crying, especially around people. Right now, though, Nicki couldn't help but cry, as he was actually really scared of the situation he was in with Anthony. He was scared of being watched like a hawk because he knew Anthony would find out somehow.
He didn't want to die-- he didn't want to lose Elijah or the girls.
"I will. Can't exactly leave you when you're like this, right? My presence should cheer you up, shouldn't it?" Elijah replied, smiling. Nicki chuckled lightly, nuzzling his face into Elijah's neck, then pressing a small kiss to the skin. "Yes... I wanna cuddle you to sleep," he mumbled, already feeling a bit more calmed down now that Elijah was holding him and stroking his hair. "Well, you'll get your chance to tonight," Elijah stated, trying to pull Nicki off of him. "Can I kiss you?" he asked, causing Nicki to blush and smile small. "Or do you still not want to show your crying face..?"
Nicki sniffled one last time and hesitantly pulled away, wiping any stray tears that were still left. Elijah held Nicki's face in his hands and leaned in, kissing around Nicki's eyes and cheeks, which was really comforting to the Siren. Elijah then kissed down Nicki's face and towards his lips, pressing a kiss at the corner of his mouth before moving straight to his lips, connecting theirs. Nicki felt himself relax, placing his hands on Elijah's hips and happily returning the kiss. Elijah raked his fingers through Nicki's hair, causing the man to shiver, practically melting in Elijah's hold. All he wanted right now was for Elijah to hold him.
Elijah pulled away, lightly rubbing his thumbs just a little under Nicki's eyes, the Siren leaning into his touch. "You okay now..?" he asked softly as Nicki reached his hands up to place it over Elijah's, nuzzling his cheek into one of his palms. "I'll be okay, so long as you're here," the Siren expressed, though he sounded a bit numb still, which had Elijah frowning. He knew Nicki was still bothered by whatever happened to him, but he wasn't going to press him for answers; Nicki would tell him when he was ready. Still, it upset him that Nicki couldn't tell him what was going on. He knows it's not because Nicki doesn't trust him, or doesn't think he's important enough to know things about him, but sometimes he still can't help but have those thoughts. He just can't help but think Nicki would maybe feel a lot better if he told him whatever it is he's hiding-- that it could be a weight lifted off of his shoulders.
Elijah would wait as long as needed, though... To him, Nicki was worth it.
Elijah leaned up and pecked Nicki's lips, causing the Siren to give him a small smile. "You ready to go back now?" he asked, which had Nicki letting out a deep sigh and nodding his head. "I guess... I'm ready to go home," he grumbled, earning a kiss on the cheek from Elijah. "I know; me too," he replied, kissing Nicki on the cheek once again.
Nicki and Elijah returned to the party, Alyce seeming happy to see them once again, though she could tell that Nicki was still off somehow. Nicki felt off, too; he was even clinging to Elijah the rest of the time they were there, hugging his arm, or resting his head on his shoulder and holding his hand. Elijah didn't mind it, though he didn't quite understand why Nicki was suddenly being all needy now; almost as if he felt he was going to lose him forever. Elijah was okay with pampering Nicki right now, especially if it would comfort the man, and cheer him up some.
It was around 6:30 p.m. when Anthony decided it was time for them to head out, which Nicki and Elijah were both pretty happy about. Ben said he would see them out, which had Alyce wanting to tag along and do the same. Anthony said his final goodbyes to a few people, then followed Ben back into the house; Nicki and Elijah followed behind with Alyce at their side. "I'm really glad you all could come today," Ben spoke, stopping at the front door with the others doing the same. "I'm glad we could come as well; it's been really fun," Anthony replied, smiling at him. Ben agreed, then looked over at Nicki, smiling. Nicki unconsciously squeezed Elijah's hand, which he had been holding as soon as they stood up out of their chairs to leave; Elijah could tell Nicki was getting bothered by something again. "Nicki, it was a pleasure meeting you. You seem like a wonderful kid, so I'm glad Elijah has found someone like you," Ben said to him, earning a small smile from the Siren. "It was nice meeting you, too. Thank you for having me," Nicki responded, unconsciously stepping closer to Elijah, their shoulders now touching. "Of course! I'm happy my daughter got to meet you, too-- you've really lifted her spirits quite a bit," Ben beamed, patting his daughter's shoulder. "I'm happy I got to meet you; thank you for everything you've said to me today," Alyce expressed, causing Nicki to smile again, this time a more real, genuine one. "Don't mention it. You're a cool kid, Alyce, and I hope things get better for you," Nicki replied, which had Alyce smiling back. "Will you come to one of these things again?" she asked, tilting her head up at him. "Anytime I need Elijah to come with me to certain places, Nicki will be there, too, so I'm sure you'll see him again, sweetie," Anthony reassured her, which had Alyce's eyes brightening up. "She's definitely looking forward to it," Ben said with a chuckle.
They bid their farewells and left the house, heading back towards Anthony's car. As soon as Nicki and Elijah were in the backseat, the Siren immediately cozied on up to the other man, linking their arms together, and holding his hand. Elijah smiled, heart fluttering in his chest whenever Nicki leaned his head on his shoulder, snuggling into him. Elijah laced their fingers together, then leaned his head against his, causing Nicki to smile.
Yeah, he was feeling a bit better for sure. So long as Elijah stuck close to him like this, Nicki would be fine.
Anthony peeked at the two from the rearview mirror, spotting the way they were cuddled up close to one another; he wasn't going to comment on it, though. It wasn't long before they arrived at Nicki's place where Anthony parked the car on the side of the road, right in front of the house. "Nicki," Anthony spoke up, prompting Nicki to look at him, remaining in his seat. "Are your parents home?"
Nicki looked at the driveway and nodded his head, then looked back at Anthony. "Yeah, their cars are here," he answered, which had Anthony nodding his head. "Good, good. I'd like to come in and talk with them for a bit-- would that be alright? Do you think they'd mind?" he asked, causing Nicki to tense up a little. "Um... I think it should be fine. I'm sure they'd be happy to talk with you," he replied, giving him a small smile. Anthony seemed pleased with this, so they all got out of the car and made their way towards the front door, with Nicki opening it up. "Nicholas?" he heard his mother call out from the living room. "Yeah, it's me! Anthony is here," Nicki announced, immediately hearing rustling around, and footsteps coming right over to them. Within just a few seconds, Nicki's mom and dad were in the entryway; Annaleigh and Maddie even came in to see what was going on, though they stood just a little bit behind their parents, off to the side. "Anthony, hello," Nicki's dad greeted, smiling at the man. "Eileen, Lance, it's good to see you again. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed Nicki for the evening," Anthony spoke, smiling back at them. "Oh, no, not at all. He didn't give you any trouble, did he..?" Nicki's mom asked, glancing at her son, who couldn't help but glare. "No, of course not! He's a great kid. I just wanted to talk with you two about what I found out the other day," Anthony replied, causing both Nicki and Elijah to tense up. "O-Oh? What's that?" Nicki's mother inquired, looking at her husband, who looked at her as well, then returned their gazes back to Anthony. "Well, Nicki told me that you all already know that he's... What'd you say-- bisexual, was it?"
"Yeah," Nicki muttered, shifting nervously. Was he seriously going to talk with his parents about this now? Nicki figured he'd do this alone with them; talking about this with them now just made him uncomfortable.
Nicki's parents glanced over at him, then back at Anthony. "Yes," his father drawled, brows furrowing slightly. "We know. Did he... Do something?"
Nicki could already feel himself begin to grow angry. "No, no. You see... The other day, it had come to my attention that Elijah and Nicki are romantically involved with one another," Anthony informed them, causing their eyes to widen; Annaleigh's eyes widened as well, though Maddie didn't seem to be as shocked as the rest of her family. Nicki's parents looked at him, their gazes making him even more tense than he already was. He even unconsciously reached out and held Elijah's hand, who gave his a reassuring squeeze. "Is that right..?" Nicki's mother asked, looking at Anthony again. "Yes. I have absolutely no problem with it," Anthony began, his words causing Annaleigh to clench her fists, beyond pissed off that Anthony was actually alright with this.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
"In fact, I'm rather glad my son wants to be with yours. You're a respectable family, and so long as Elijah dates people apart of families that I respect and can work with, then something as small as what gender the person he likes is doesn't matter to me. I've asked Nicki to attend certain events and gatherings with me, along with Elijah, that way I can reach out to more people like them, and give out all the support I can. There are some in this town who lack an open mind, which I'm hoping I can change, with the help of Nicki and Elijah," Anthony went on, placing his hand on Nicki's shoulder.
Oh yeah, Annaleigh was absolutely pissed off right now. There was no way this was actually happening-- Anthony was supposed to be disgusted! That's what Reagan was hoping for-- that Elijah's dad would talk some sense into him! Instead, he's supportive and sees a use in her good-for-nothing brother.
"O-Oh! Well... I don't see anything wrong with that," Nicki's mom mumbled, brows furrowing. "That's good to hear. Nicki was worried about you all not accepting him-- that you only tolerate him liking men," Anthony pointed out, frowning. Nicki squeezed Elijah's hand a bit, which had Elijah frowning, knowing this was a sensitive topic to just bring up. "We don't see anything wrong with him liking men," Nicki's father said, though he didn't sound very sure of himself at all. "Y-Yeah, so long as Nicholas is happy, then that's all that matters," his mother added, causing Nicki to squeeze Elijah's hand even harder, gritting his teeth together. Elijah winced at how hard Nicki was holding onto him, but made no move to pull his hand away; he'd bear with it right now. "Well, I'm glad. I think we parents should support our children no matter what gender they love, you know? I see nothing wrong with their relationship, so long as they're happy," Anthony stated, tilting his head at Nicki's parents. Nicki saw a very subtle change in his mom and dad's expression, similar to what happened at the party, when everyone looked dead for just a second.
Anthony was using his gift; Nicki could feel it.
"We agree one hundred percent," Nicki's dad said, smiling. "Yeah! Nicholas, honey, as long as you're happy, then we're happy, too," his mom added, smiling at him. Nicki didn't look pleased at all with their words, because he knew it wasn't how they really felt. They weren't actually happy with him liking men, and they didn't care about his happiness-- because these feelings he felt didn't benefit them any. It didn't live up to the image that they were trying to portray.
Annaleigh seemed just about as unhappy as Nicki right now, though for different reasons, of course.
"I'm so glad we had this talk, then. That's really good to hear! I hope we can work together in the future, yeah? I seriously believe this is the start of something great," Anthony beamed, wrapping an arm around Jane's waist, who smiled as well. Elijah's hand was starting to hurt, so he wanted to wrap this conversation up as quickly as he could since he really felt Nicki was about to snap. "Um... I-Is it alright if I spend the night?" he asked, looking at Nicki's parents, then at his dad. Nicki's parents looked at each other, then back at Elijah, giving him a small smile. "We're fine with it," Nicki's mother said, looking over at Anthony. "Well, I've got no problem with it either. You don't have a change of clothes, though, Elijah," Anthony pointed out. "I'll just wear something of Nicki's. We're going to be hanging out with our friends tomorrow, so I'll need to stop by the house before then anyway," he told him, doing all the talking for Nicki, since he knew the Siren didn't want to speak right now. "Alright, then. I guess with that, I'll be taking my leave. Nicki, thank you again for coming with me today-- I really appreciate it. I'll see you sometime soon, yeah?" Anthony thanked, smiling at the Siren. Nicki gave a small smile and nodded his head, though he still looked extremely tense. "Goodnight, you all," the older man added, saying his goodbyes, and then leaving the house with Jane.
Nicki didn't bother saying anything to his parents, and made his way towards the stairs, pulling Elijah along with him. Elijah looked over at Annaleigh, who still seemed extremely bothered by what just transpired, but she held back on saying anything. Nicki led Elijah up the stairs and to his room, walking inside, prompting Elijah to close the door behind them and flip on the light. "N-Nicki, you're hurting my hand," Elijah finally told him, prompting Nicki to quickly let go of his hand. "Sorry," he muttered, grabbing Elijah's hand and kissing it. "It's fine... Are you okay?" Elijah asked, causing Nicki to sigh and walk towards his dresser. "They fucking piss me off! They're not happy about this at all! They're just fucking kissing his ass-- it's so irritating!" Nicki exclaimed, opening up his dresser and pulling out a pajama shirt, then turning around and tossing it to Elijah, who caught it. "They did seem very fake about it," he mumbled, frowning as he walked over to Nicki's bed, setting the shirt down on it. Nicki huffed and began undressing, scowling as he thought back to the way they acted. "I-If they meant it... I would have been happy... But it's also almost a little too late to be happy about it, you know? I've waited so long to get their approval, regarding anything I do... But they've put me through so much shit, that it would take more than their genuine approval now for me to forgive them. They'd really have to work for that shit... I seriously hate my family, b-but I also can't help but love them. I don't want to, because I know by now that nothing is going to change with them, but I think that small fraction of love is always going to be buried deep down inside me," he admitted sliding his dress shirt off, leaving him shirtless. Elijah stripped down into his boxers, then put the shirt on, the shirt hanging down just slightly to cover part of his briefs.
He couldn't help but relate a little to what Nicki said; he felt a similar way about his dad... It really was a frustrating feeling.
"It's whatever, though... I'm just glad to be home and in my room," Nicki grumbled, taking off his pants. "You get to cuddle me to sleep, too," Elijah reminded him, causing the Siren to smile small. "Very much looking forward to that, yes. Did you want sweatpants, too?" he asked, not wanting to look over his shoulder in case Elijah was still getting undressed. "No, it's fine. I've slept in a shirt and boxers around you before, so it's not an issue," Elijah replied, gathering up his clothes, then walking over to one of Nicki's bean bag chairs in front of his TV, setting them down on it. "You in your boxers is sexy, so I will not argue with that," the Siren said, throwing his clothes in a hamper, then pulling on some sweatpants, going for his usual bedtime look. Once changed, Nicki walked over to his bed and face-planted on it, scooching over to his side, leaving room for Elijah on the other. "Bed comfy," he sighed contently, nuzzling his pillow. Elijah smiled and walked over to the bed, climbing in as well, though not getting under the covers just yet. Elijah brought his knees up to his chest and looked down at Nicki, reaching a hand out to play with his hair. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this today... You had a bad experience, didn't you?"
"Mmm... It wasn't all bad. I got to be with you, so that made it better. Drawing with that Alyce kid was fun, too. If I ignore what happened at certain points, then it would have been a pretty good day, honestly."
Elijah frowned and moved his hand away from Nicki's head, hugging his knees close to him. "Will you... Tell me what happened that freaked you out?" he asked quietly. "No... You don't need to worry about it. I'm fine now that I get to snuggle with you-- so c'mere and lay down. You're about to get cuddled so hard-- just you wait. I know it's a little too early to be trying to go to bed, but I don't care," Nicki replied, moving so that he was on his side. Elijah couldn't help but smile at that, laying down in the bed next to Nicki and getting under the covers with Nicki doing the same.
Elijah wasn't going to push him for answers, even though it was starting to hurt more and more to see Nicki act differently, and not be able to do anything to help him. If he kept trying to get Nicki to give him answers, it would only upset him, which was something Elijah didn't want. As frustrating as it was to wait, Elijah trusted that Nicki would tell him soon; Nicki was worth the wait, he believed. Still, he really wanted to know just what happened at that party that made Nicki freak out like he did. Did he overhear something? Did he see something? Did someone say something weird to him? Nicki didn't seem like the type to get easily freaked out, if his love for horror and stuff like that was anything to go by... So just what was so horrifying, that it made Nicki break down the way that he did? It had to have been something pretty bad, right?
"Turn so your back is facing me; you're gonna be the little spoon," Nicki said, causing Elijah to roll his eyes playfully and do as told. "Don't forget to turn the light off," Elijah told him, making Nicki curse under his breath and quickly get out of bed. He made his way over to the door and flipped off the light switch, then headed back over to his bed, grabbing the small remote on his bedside table. He switched the LED lights around his room on, putting them on a dark blue color like he usually always did, then set the remote down, climbing back into bed. "There, now it's cuddle time," Nicki said, crawling back under the covers, then wrapping his arms around Elijah's waist, pressing their bodies close together. Nicki seemed very content, nuzzling his face into Elijah's shoulder, which had Elijah smiling. "Are you feeling a little better..?" Elijah asked, placing his hand over Nicki's, which was resting against his stomach. "Mhm... A little. You're so warm," the Siren mumbled, kissing Elijah's shoulder. Elijah smiled at that, really relaxing in Nicki's hold; he always felt so comfortable around the Siren. Nicki remained silent for a moment, his brows furrowing, and a frown making its way onto his lips. "Eli," he said softly, catching the other man's attention. "Hm?"
Nicki's hold on Elijah got a little tighter, which had Elijah frowning, knowing something was bothering him again. "If... If anything were to happen to me, how would you react..?" Nicki asked, causing Elijah's eyes to widen. He quickly turned a little and looked at Nicki, a worried expression on his face. "Why would you ask me that..?" he replied, turning some more so that he was lying on his other side, facing Nicki. Nicki stayed quiet, refusing to look Elijah in the eye as he fiddled with his shirt. "How the hell do you think I'd react, dumbass? I don't even want to think about anything happening to you," Elijah finally answered, pinching Nicki's arm, which had him wincing, grumbling a quiet "ow." Nicki looked into Elijah's eyes, still frowning, knowing he was probably scaring him by asking such a question. "Sorry... Just felt the need to ask," the Siren mumbled, causing Elijah to glare at him. "Don't ask me stuff like that... I wouldn't be okay at all if something happened to you, idiot. That thought terrifies me," Elijah told him, frowning. Nicki gave him a sad smile and brought his hand up, caressing Elijah's cheek. "I'm sorry," he whispered, stroking Elijah's cheekbone with his thumb. "You're making me think something's going to happen to you," Elijah mumbled, a worried expression returning to his face. Nicki shook his head and leaned in, pressing a kiss to Elijah's nose. "Nothing's going to happen to me... It was a dumb question; I'm sorry," he replied, kissing his forehead next. "Nothing better not," Elijah grumbled, almost looking as if he was pouting, which Nicki couldn't help but smile at.
Nicki should have known what Elijah would reply with-- he knows deep down he's not seducing Elijah, regardless of what Anthony may think. If anything were to happen to him, Elijah would no doubt be heartbroken, because those are his true feelings towards him. Still, Nicki couldn't help but ask, as Anthony and Ben's words were still weighing on his mind.
Anthony said... He was doing what he was doing for Elijah..? Something about that felt different... To Nicki, it didn't feel like this was something that was said before in the past by Anthony's relatives. Did any of them do anything for their sons at all? If that were the case, none of them would have died just because they fell in love with a Siren. To Nicki, it seems like Anthony may be avoiding that becoming a possible outcome... This didn't feel familiar-- something was up, for sure.
Nicki leaned in and kissed Elijah's pouty lips, though it was a brief one-- one that made Elijah frown as soon as the Siren pulled away. "Why so short..?" he mumbled, earning a grin from the Brit. "You want more?" Nicki asked, pulling Elijah in closer to him. Elijah just gave Nicki a look-- one that gave him confirmation as to what he wanted. Nicki chuckled and leaned back in, reconnecting their lips for another kiss-- one that would be longer than the first. Elijah gladly kissed back, shivering when he felt Nicki slide his hand down towards his hip, holding it. Elijah brought his hand up to caress Nicki's face, sliding his hand towards his hair, and raking his fingers through it. Nicki shivered at the touch, slipping his tongue past Elijah's lips, making the man gasp slightly. Nicki pressed his tongue against Elijah's, swirling it around, exploring every inch of his mouth, which earned him a small moan from the man. Nicki shuddered at the sound, squeezing Elijah's hip, then pushing him back some, situating himself so that he was leaning a bit over him. The Siren pulled away a bit, looking down into Elijah's eyes, a hazy trace of lust in them. "Can I leave hickeys on you, too?" Nicki asked, causing Elijah's eyes to widen some. "Um... As long as they're not visible anywhere. I-I mean, I wouldn't mind it, but it'd be awkward being around my dad, knowing he'd be looking at them," Elijah mumbled, blushing. "Hmm, well I can put some along your collarbones and shoulders; maybe your stomach. I could also do your thighs, but I don't think it's a good idea to go down that far," Nicki told him, chuckling. "I agree; thighs would probably be too much right now... B-But anywhere else is fine. Should I take my shirt off..?"
"That might make it easier, but it's completely up to you. I could always just lift your shirt up."
Elijah pursed his lips in thought and sat up, prompting Nicki to move out of his way. Elijah blushed and nervously pulled his shirt over his head, causing Nicki's eyes to widen, watching intently. Elijah set the shirt down on the bed and laid back down, blushing even more. "D-Don't stare too much," he mumbled, feeling very exposed. It's not that being shirtless was an issue for him, as he's been that way many times around people, specifically in the gym locker room. With Nicki, though, it was different; Nicki looked at him differently, and their intimate relationship made being barely clothed a little embarrassing and awkward. It would be something he'd get used to in the long run, but right now he's pretty shy about it.
"Sorry, but... God, do you look absolutely breathtaking right now. You didn't have to take your shirt off, though-- I don't want you to feel uncomfortable," Nicki said, moving so that he was hovering over Elijah once again. "I'm not uncomfortable; it's fine. Me shirtless is something you're gonna see a lot anyway, right? I'll get used to it," he reassured him, giving him a small smile. Nicki smiled back and leaned in, giving him a short, but sweet kiss. "Is it okay if I touch you a little? Not below the belt or anything, but your torso and stomach," he asked, earning a small nod from the man under him. Now that he had permission, Nicki leaned in towards Elijah's neck and began kissing it, placing a hand on his stomach, which caused the man to jump slightly. "Your hands are so cold," he grumbled, making Nicki chuckle a little, mumbling a quiet apology. The Siren kissed down his neck and towards his shoulder, running his tongue along the skin, causing Elijah to shiver. Nicki slid his hand up Elijah's stomach and placed it on his chest, feeling around as he began sucking a hickey onto his skin. Elijah squirmed a bit underneath him, bringing his hands up to place them on the upper parts of his back, gasping quietly when Nick began to nibble on his skin. Once Nicki had sucked a hickey onto that part of Elijah's skin, he moved on to another part, leaving a trail in places no one would see. As Nicki continued feeling around the chest of the man under him, Elijah couldn't help but chuckle, sliding a hand up towards the Siren's head. "I'm not a chick, you know? Don't got anything to fondle there," he pointed out, causing Nicki to grin. "Your chest is just as sexy as a girl's, if not more. I think your whole body is absolutely mouth-watering in general," the Siren purred, sliding his thumb over Elijah's right nipple, causing the man to shudder.
Nicki was seriously enjoying these little reactions he was getting out of Elijah.
Elijah jumped a bit when Nicki lightly pinched his nipple, eliciting a slightly embarrassing noise from him that had his cheeks turning red. "D-Don't do that!" he exclaimed, causing Nicki to smirk, finishing up leaving another hickey around Elijah's collarbone. "Your body is kind of sensitive, innit? Did you not like that?" he asked, rubbing his thumb against Elijah's nipple. "It... I-It feels weird," Elijah mumbled, watching as Nicki sat up some, looking him in the eyes. "Can I kiss around your chest?" he questioned softly. Elijah was a bit hesitant, but nodded his head at him, the blush around his cheeks getting even darker. Nicki already had left quite a few hickeys around Elijah's shoulder and collarbone, so now it was time for him to move a little lower, he thought.
Nicki kissed his way down towards Elijah's chest, kissing until he was at the man's right nipple. Nicki licked the bud, causing Elijah to gasp slightly, putting a hand over his mouth. "N-Nicki," he stammered, prompting the Siren to look up at him. "Is it too much?" Nicki asked, tilting his head at the man. "N-No... Just surprised me," Elijah mumbled, earning a small smile from Nicki. "If it becomes too much, just tell me, okay?" he replied, which had Elijah nodding in reply. Nicki returned his attention back to the man's chest, licking the bud of his nipple once again, then swirling his tongue around it, which had Elijah gripping onto the covers with one hand, still keeping his other over his mouth. Nicki wrapped his lips around the bud, lightly sucking on it, earning a quiet moan from the man under him-- a sound that sent heat straight to the Siren's crotch. Nicki bit down, causing Elijah to arch up a bit, squirming underneath him. Nicki was definitely starting to get a little too into this, if his aching hard-on was anything to go by.
Elijah was in the same boat, though.
"N-Nicki," Elijah called out, putting his hand on the man's head and pulling him up. Nicki looked at him, eyes hazy with lust, which the other man spotted. "You doing that makes me feel weird," Elijah muttered, squirming a bit underneath him. Nicki glanced down, spotting that Elijah was hard, which immediately had the man pushing his face away, averting his gaze. "Don't look!" he huffed, glaring at him, causing the Siren to chuckle. "Sorry, sorry. You too, huh?" he replied, moving so that he was hovering over Elijah once again, leaning in towards his face. Elijah sunk a bit in his spot, looking rather embarrassed, which Nicki found absolutely adorable. "That's probably a good place to stop it, then, yeah? I was going to leave hickeys on your stomach and sides, but moving my head down that far might be dangerous, so I will save that for some other time. I left quite a few around here, though," Nicki added, tracing his finger along all the hickeys he left on Elijah's shoulder and collarbone.
Elijah wasn't going to lie; he was a little disappointed that Nicki wanted to stop here, but the idea of continuing on made him nervous, so he was kind of in the middle at the moment. He couldn't help but desire just a little bit more, but if this was where Nicki wanted to stop, then he wasn't going to argue with it. The arousal would go away eventually if he just ignored it, so long as he and Nicki didn't do anything else to spark it back up.
Elijah pulled Nicki down and gave him a quick peck on the lips, causing the Siren to smile. He then pulled back and sat down on the bed, which had Elijah sitting up as well, grabbing his shirt. "Even though no one will see them, I still feel a sense of pride that I marked you up," Nicki admitted with a grin, watching Elijah slip his shirt back on. Elijah looked at him and smiled, leaning in close to him. "Well, you should... You're the only person I'd let do this to me," he told him, which had Nicki sighing contently, laying back down and pulling Elijah with him. "Ah, that makes me pretty happy to hear. Thinking about someone else witnessing this side of you makes me feel uneasy... Would that be the word?" Nicki stated, humming in thought as he wrapped his arms around Elijah, both of them snuggling up under the covers. "Does it make you... Feel jealous?" Elijah asked, bringing his hand up to start playing with some of Nicki's hair. He noticed that Nicki may have been getting jealous at the party earlier, whenever Zoey was bothering them since he was getting kind of defensive. He wasn't sure if Nicki really was jealous, though, but that's how it was coming across.
Nicki glanced down, pursing his lips as he thought about it. Jealousy was a feeling he felt he had been experiencing a bit of but just didn't really want to admit. He felt it in the past with Elijah, especially at that time when he cut Elijah off, and the guy went straight back to Reagan-- that kind of felt like jealousy he was experiencing. Admitting he was jealous meant he was admitting another thing, which was that he liked Elijah...
It was sure feeling like that, but it was something he kept pushing back, not wanting to acknowledge it. He couldn't acknowledge it now; it still didn't feel like the right time for him to come to accept just what all he was really feeling.
"I... I think so," Nicki muttered, brows furrowing. Elijah smiled small, not wanting to push Nicki to admit things he wasn't ready to yet, so he decided to just leave it at that. "Okay," he replied, kissing Nicki's forehead. Nicki smiled and pulled Elijah closer to him, snuggling into him. They got nice and cozy in bed together, eventually falling asleep, wrapped up in each other's arms.
Nicki slept pretty well that night, and he loved that he woke up in the morning to Elijah cuddled up next to him. Waking up to Elijah every morning was something he could definitely get used to, especially since the man was so angelic and beautiful-looking when asleep. He was beautiful and angelic when awake, too, but there was a certain etherealness to him right now.
So pretty and peaceful.
"Hey, Eli... Wakey, wakey," Nicki said, pushing some of Elijah's hair back behind his ear. Elijah shifted a bit and slowly opened up his eyes, looking right into Nicki's. "What time is it..?" he muttered, prompting Nicki to look over at his phone on his bedside table. "10:30. You wanna go get breakfast somewhere before we hang out with the gang? I'll pay," he told him, looking back over at him once again. Elijah yawned and sat up, stretching his arms up over his head. "Okay," he replied, causing Nicki to smile and lean over, kissing all over his face. "You're so cute," he beamed, earning a roll of the eyes from Elijah. "If you say so... We've gotta stop by my house first, so I can get changed," he pointed out, rubbing his eyes. "Alrighty. I'ma get dressed," Nicki responded, pressing another kiss to Elijah's cheek before standing up, and heading over to his dresser. Elijah got up as well and went ahead and put his suit pants from yesterday on, just so he would have some bottoms to wear, other than his underwear. Nicki got out a black muscle shirt, with a zombie design on it, as well as some black, ripped skinny jeans-- his usual style of clothing. Elijah couldn't help but occasionally glance over at Nicki getting dressed, since the Siren's body was something he just couldn't help but admire.
He never used to have an attraction towards a nicely toned, somewhat muscular body, but he ended up finding everything about the way Nicki looked attractive. Nicki was the only person he ever thought looked attractive, honestly, but that's to be expected when he's the first person he's ever actually liked before.
Nicki slipped on some socks, then began putting his belt on, quickly glancing over his shoulder to see if Elijah was looking, which he no longer was, too focused on buttoning up his pants. With Elijah not looking, Nicki grabbed the mixture in the spray bottle and began making his way over to his bathroom. It's not like it would have really mattered if Elijah saw him grab it, since he could have just made up an excuse as to what it was, but he felt it was still better to be a little sneaky about it.
"I'm gonna brush my teeth," Nicki announced, closing the bathroom door once he was inside. He began spraying himself with the mixture, setting the bottle down on the sink counter once done. After that, he started brushing his teeth, loving that he no longer had to sit on the bathtub just to do so; this mixture really did come in handy. When Nicki was done brushing his teeth, he grabbed his hairbrush and started brushing his hair, deciding that he would pull it up into a half ponytail. Once he was through with that, Nicki put on some deodorant and a little bit of cologne before leaving the bathroom, making his way over to his bedside table, and grabbing his pack of cigarettes, lighter, phone, and wallet. He slipped the pack of cigarettes and his wallet into his back pockets, placing the lighter and his phone into his front ones, then turned to look at Elijah. "You got your stuff?" he asked, which had Elijah nodding his head in response. "Do you need to change your bandages?" He inquired, tilting his head at the Siren. "Oh yeah, I guess I can go ahead and take them off now. I mean, they're healing nicely, and have already scabbed over. The blisters on my wrists have all popped, too, and they're healing up nicely as well. I think I'll be fine without the bandages now," Nicki answered, which had Elijah stepping over to him. "Let me see," he said, setting his stuff down for a moment so that he could remove the bandages on Nicki's neck, one being the bite wound bandage, and the other being the bandage he had used to cover the hickeys for the party. "Yeah, your bite looks a lot better," Elijah began, then unwrapped Nicki's wrists, as well as pulled up Nicki's shirt, peeling the bandages off around his torso and stomach. "Yeah, wrists look good, and the cuts look better, too; I'd say you could go without the bandages," he added, walking over to Nicki's trashcan and throwing the bandages away. Nicki looked at his wrists and hummed, pleased with how they were looking now, though he was sure he might have some scars from some of these wounds.
With that all said and out of the way, the two put on their shoes and left the room after Elijah grabbed his stuff, making their way downstairs. "Hang on, I'm thirsty," Nicki stated, heading for the kitchen with Elijah following right after him. In the kitchen were the women of the family; Nicki's mom was getting herself some coffee, Annaleigh was fixing her some breakfast, and Maddie was at the counter, eating a bowl of cereal. Nicki stopped when he saw Annaleigh, making a face at what she was wearing before heading over to the cabinets and opening one up. "Wow... Dressing like that this early in the morning? I'd say something snarky like: 'heading off to meet a client?' But... Well, you would do such a job for free, wouldn't you? You're good at throwing yourself at every man you come into contact with," he mocked, causing his mom to gasp and for Annaleigh to shoot him a glare. "You fucking asshole," Annaleigh retorted, giving him a pretty good punch on the arm, which had him laughing, rubbing the now sore spot. "Cunt... Did I hit a nerve?" he replied, grinning at her. "Hey! You two stop! Don't act and talk like that around Maddie," their mom huffed, glaring at both of them. Elijah had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from laughing since Nicki's comment did get to him a bit.
Nicki looked over his shoulder at Maddie, who grinned at him, giving him a subtle thumbs up, which he couldn't help but smile at. "There's nothing wrong with what Annaleigh is wearing," their mom added, causing Nicki to scoff and roll his eyes, opening up the fridge. "Yeah, there's nothing wrong with dressing that way, but it's the reason as to why she's dressing that way that's the problem. It'd be different if her clothes were just her sense of style, but she's dressing like that solely for the purpose of pleasing someone, and getting their attention. For someone like her, though, with no personality, there really is no other way for her to get a man, huh?" he retorted, which had Maddie giggling a bit, finding this all very amusing to watch. "Nicholas," his mother said in a warning tone. Nicki sighed and grabbed out a jug of juice, turning around towards the counter, then placing the glass he got out from the cabinet, as well as the juice right onto the granite countertop. "Just being honest. Love how she can dress like that, but the minute I put on a crop top, it's like the most disturbing thing you all have ever seen in your lives," he grumbled, shaking the juice before opening it up and pouring just a little bit into the glass. "That's because guys shouldn't wear crop tops!" Annaleigh scoffed, glaring at him. Elijah couldn't help but glare at her for that, which she noticed, causing her to tense up some. "Guys shouldn't wear crop tops," Nicki mimicked in a mocking tone, earning another glare from his sister as he put the juice back in the fridge. "Ugh! You are absolutely revolting to be around! You putrid twat!" she snapped, clenching her fists. "Oh hey, I got you something," Nicki began, reaching into his pocket, Annaleigh's glare never faltering. Nicki brought his hand up from his pocket and gave her the middle finger, smiling innocently. "I put a lot of thought into it; I hope you like it."
Elijah couldn't help but snort at that, attempting to hide his smile. If Annaleigh wasn't so horrible to be around, she and Nicki would actually be a fun pair of siblings. They definitely sometimes bickered like typical siblings, but a lot of the bickering was actual hate coming from Annaleigh.
"God, I seriously hate you," Annaleigh hissed, shaking her head and taking a bite out of her toast. Nicki hummed and sipped on his juice, walking over to Elijah; he wasn't going to reply to that. "That's enough, you two! Your arguing gives me a headache," their mom grumbled, sipping on her coffee. Nicki ignored the comment and looked over at Elijah, offering him the glass. "Want a drink?" he asked, watching as Elijah took the glass, furrowing his brows. "What is it?" he questioned, bringing it up to his lips. "Strawberry-kiwi juice," Nicki answered. Elijah took a sip, then handed it back to the Siren, who took the glass and sipped on it as well, spotting Annaleigh eyeing them down. She then smiled and looked down at the toast in her hand, twisting it around a bit. "You know... I guess I can say you were kinda right about me trying to please someone. I've got a special friend I'm meeting up with today," she informed him, taking a bite out of her toast. Nicki finished off his drink and walked over to the sink, setting the glass down in it. "Mhm; good luck with that. A special friend-- you hear that, mum? Better hope she's using protection--"
"Nicholas!" his mother quickly interrupted, shooting him a glare. "Oh, don't try and get her on my ass for that-- you're one to talk! Your neck gives a lot away, you know!" Annaleigh scoffed, earning a beaming smile from her brother. "I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, walking back over to Elijah, the man blushing when he looked at the hickeys he put on him the other day. "Anywayyy, I'm going out," he added, waving them off and turning Elijah around, the two getting ready to leave the kitchen. "Hey, Nick?" Maddie called out, turning in her seat. Nicki paused and looked over his shoulder. "Hm?"
"Are you going to be around the store or something?"
Nicki raised a brow at her, looked at Elijah, then returned his gaze back to his little sister. "We might go and hang around the plaza, but I dunno. Why?" he replied to her. "Hmm... I was gonna ask if you could pick me up a new puzzle book; I finished all the ones in mine. I'll pay you back with some of my allowance," Maddie said, tilting her head at him. Nicki smiled small and shrugged his shoulders. "You like those really hard puzzles, right?" he questioned, to which she nodded her head in response. "Alright, if I find one, I'll get it for you. Don't worry about paying me back with money-- I don't want it. The next time you make biscuits, though, give me some, alright? Then we'll call it even," he added, making her perk up a bit. "Okay, thank you," she replied, smiling at him.
Maddie was actually a pretty smart kid and was the type that liked to challenge her mind. She had a bunch of puzzle books that she worked on quite frequently, and always got a new one as soon as she was done with them. She kept wanting to get more and more difficult ones since certain puzzles and riddles were starting to get a bit too easy for her to solve, but it was something she occupied most of her time with. Maddie was definitely someone you couldn't hide anything from-- she was able to read people rather well, and she was too smart for you to even try and lie to. As odd as she could be sometimes, though, Nicki still felt she was the only somewhat normal one in their family, aside from him. He definitely liked her more than his other two siblings, or anyone else in their whole family, for that matter.
Nicki and Elijah left the house and started walking down the street, which had the Siren immediately reaching into his back pocket to pull out his pack of cigarettes. After grabbing out one of the sticks, he placed it between his lips, then slipped the pack back into his back pocket, fishing out the lighter from his front pocket. "I tried so hard not to bust out laughing when you were saying all that shit to your sister," Elijah admitted, chuckling lightly. Nicki lit up his cigarette, then placed the lighter back into his front pocket, smiling. He inhaled, then pulled the cigarette out from between his lips, doing a French inhale. "I was pretty funny, huh?" he replied, grinning at him. "Yeah. I feel like you two have somewhat of a nice setup for being good siblings, but she acts more hateful towards you when it comes to your guys' bickering," Elijah pointed out, frowning at him. Nicki hummed, taking another drag off his cigarette, brows furrowing. "Yeah... Our bickering would feel like us just being typical siblings if she didn't actually despise me, you know?"
"But you don't despise her..?"
Nicki smiled sadly and shook his head. "No, I don't... As I said last night, and once before as well: I love and hate my family. I wish I could despise Anna, but... I don't, despite her probably deserving extreme animosity from me. She'll always be my sister, even if she wishes I wasn't her brother... If we were in a horrible situation together, and it came down to it, I would more than likely protect her from whatever was happening to us at that moment. I wish I didn't feel like that sometimes, but I think really deep down, I always will, no matter how much my hate towards them grows. It's sad, isn't it?" he explained, placing the cigarette back between his lips and taking a puff. "Yeah... It is. I'm sorry, Nicki," Elijah mumbled, hugging his clothes close to him. "Don't be-- I'll live. I've got amazing friends in my life, and I've got you... Don't really need anything else, you know? You guys make it all better," the Siren expressed, causing Elijah to smile small.
The two made it to Elijah's house, prompting Nicki to immediately drop his cigarette onto the sidewalk and step on it, then make his way towards the front door with Elijah. Elijah opened the door and walked inside with Nicki, which had the Siren closing the door behind him, then following the man up the stairs, towards his room. Nicki took his cigarette pack out of his back pocket, that way he wouldn't sit on it, then sat on the bed, pulling out his phone. Elijah went ahead and began picking out some clothes, Nicki making sure he didn't look at the man while he was changing-- instead, he went onto Instagram to check the group chat.
Mermaids and Men
_sparklingsun_
u guys wanna hang out around the mall ? (≧∇≦)ﾉ
momma.milkers.gimme
we can go get some lunch afterwards too 👍
itz.colin.duhhh
ooo, i wanna go clothes shopping!
_sparklingsun_
that would be fun! (p≧w≦q)
i.eat.ass_ is typing...
i.eat.ass_
eli's getting dressed right now, and we're going to go get some breakfast-- maybe coffee. lemme know when u guys are ready to hang out
therealdeal.alex - seen
_sparklingsun_ - seen
therealdeal.alex is typing...
momma.milkers.gimme - seen
itz.colin.duhhh - seen
therealdeal.alex
do you guys want me to pick you up, too? I don't mind 😁
will_rage_quit - seen
nat.girlnextdoor - seen
Nicki looked up from his phone and at Elijah, who was buttoning up his pants. "Alex wants to know if we want him to pick us up," he told him, causing Elijah to look at him. "Um... I don't mind, but... We'll be in my car anyway, since we're going to get some breakfast, right? Will we just come back here after we're done eating?" he asked, tilting his head at him. "More than likely, since we don't know when they'll all be ready to hang out."
"Okay... He can pick us up, then."
Nicki looked back down at his phone, typing out his reply.
Mermaids and Men
i.eat.ass_
yeah sure 😎
therealdeal.alex - seen
momma.milkers.gimme - seen
_sparklingsun_ - seen
momma.milkers.gimme is typing...
nat.girlnextdoor - seen
itz.colin.duhhh - seen
momma.milkers.gimme
did you guys spend the night with each other? 😏
i.eat.ass_ - seen
_sparklingsun_ is typing...
i.eat.ass_ is typing...
nat.girlnextdoor - seen
therealdeal.alex - seen
i.eat.ass_
we did 😉
_sparklingsun_
how did the party go?? ⚆_⚆
i.eat.ass_ - seen
momma.milkers.gimme - seen
itz.colin.duhhh - seen
momma.milkers.gimme is typing...
itz.colin.duhhh is typing...
momma.milkers.gimmee
i wanna comment something perverted, but i wanna hear more about what happened at that party, so... i'll keep my comments to myself 😏
itz.colin.duhhh
yeah, how was the party???? also! we should all have a sleepover with each other!!! wouldn't that be fun? 😱😱🥰❣️
i.eat.ass_ is typing...
i.eat.ass_
i threw up at the party 👍😁 and a sleepover would be fun 😤
therealdeal.alex - seen
momma.milkers.gimme - seen
therealdeal.alex is typing...
itz.colin.duhhh - seen
will_rage_quit - seen
_sparklingsun_ - seen
will_rage_quit is typing...
therealdeal.alex
Fun! 😃😃
will_rage_quit
did u get so turnt up u started vomiting? 😯😏
i.eat.ass_ - seen
therealdeal.alex - seen
nat.girlnextdoor - seen
i.eat.ass_ is typing...
_sparklingsun_ - seen
momma.milkers.gimme - seen
i.eat.ass_
i threw my ass in a circle on the dance floor, u know how it is 😎😏
itz.colin.duhhh - seen
nat.girlnextdoor - seen
therealdeal.alex - seen
nat.girlnextdoor is typing...
will_rage_quit - seen
_sparklingsun_ - seen
nat.girlnextdoor
How did the party really go, Nicki? 😥
i.eat.ass_ - seen
"You ready?" Elijah asked after walking out of the bathroom, having finished brushing his teeth and hair. Nicki looked up at him and smiled, then looked back down at his phone. "Yeah, lemme send them one last message," he replied, typing out his reply.
Mermaids and Men
i.eat.ass_
eli just got done getting ready, so now we're going to get food. i'll tell u guys later 👍 see u soon 😁👋🏻
With that message now sent, Nicki stood up and slipped his cigarette pack back into his back pocket, returning his phone to his front one. "Alright, ready," he said, approaching Elijah and looking him up and down. "You're so handsome," he beamed, placing his hands on Elijah's hips. "I'm just wearing my usual clothes," Elijah replied, raising a brow at him. Nicki smiled and straightened out his shirt; any excuse to just touch the man, in all honesty. "I know, but I can never help but admire your beauty," he purred, pecking Elijah's lips. Elijah smiled and leaned up, reconnecting their lips for another short kiss, then pulled away. "You're so cheesy. C'mon, let's go; I want some coffee," he said, walking towards his door. "Anything for you," Nicki replied, smiling lovingly at him.
The two left the house and got into Elijah's car, heading to a nearby coffee shop, where they were going to get something quick to eat for breakfast, as well as some coffee to get them a bit more energized. They spent about thirty or so minutes at the coffee shop, eating their food and drinking their coffee, making casual conversations with each other. When they were done, they headed back to Elijah's place, since the rest of the group wasn't ready to hang out yet. Colin was helping one of his sisters with something, and Natalie said she still needed to take a shower real quick, but neither of those things would take too long, so they'd see each other soon.
"You know... Colin suggested we should all have a sleepover sometime," Nicki told Elijah, sketching in a little notebook Elijah had given him since he said he felt like drawing. "A sleepover..? Like all of us in one room?" Elijah replied, watching the Siren draw. "Mhm. I think it'd be fun; I'd actually have a cuddle buddy this time, since the last sleepover I had with them, everyone was cuddling without me. Well... Nat and Rose weren't exactly cuddling, but Rose was definitely making herself comfortable in their bed," Nicki said, erasing guidelines from his sketch. Elijah chuckled lightly, tilting his head at Nicki. "What did you guys even do on that sleepover?"
Nicki paused, humming quietly; the only reason they had that sleepover was because of the full moon... Technically they had another sleepover, too, if you wanna count the time he and Aveline went into heat.
"We just hung out," Nicki lied, though it was only a partial lie since they did hang out and chill with each other before Nicki went under the trance of the full moon that night. "I think it'd be fun if we all drank with each other, and had a sleepover," he added, which had Elijah nodding his head in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like it'd be fun."
Within about twenty more minutes, the rest of the group was ready to hang out, and it only took a couple of minutes for Alex to pick up Rose and Aveline, and then make his way to Nicki, Elijah, and Natalie's neighborhood. Once there, he picked them all up, and they set off to the mall and plaza, where Logan and Colin were going to meet them.
"So," Rose began, looking over Natalie so that she could look at Elijah, who was sitting close to Nicki. "Nicki said you two spent the night with each other--"
"Rose," Natalie warned, glaring at her, causing her to gasp and hold her hands up in mock surrender. "Whaaat? I just wanna ask if they had a good time-- is that so wrong?" she replied, grinning at her. "It is because you're going to ask something perverted!" Natalie scoffed, crossing her arms. "It's none of our business what they do with each other."
"W-We... We didn't do anything like you're probably thinking of," Elijah mumbled, cheeks turning a dark shade of red, which Rose couldn't help but smirk at. She was definitely going to have a lot of fun teasing Elijah; they're friends now, and teasing is just her way of showing friendly affection. It was refreshing to see Elijah get so shy and embarrassed about certain things involving Nicki-- he was really opening up to the group and was so much more different than how he was when she first met him.
Rose actually liked the real Elijah-- she was hesitant at first, but she's gotten enough proof by now, showing her that Elijah no longer is the man she once knew. He's dropped the facade, and without it, he's actually kind of fun to be around.
"I left hickeys on him, but that's about it," Nicki stated nonchalantly, causing the group's eyes to widen. Aveline quickly turned in her seat, looking at the couple in the backseat and gasping. "What?? Where?? I wanna see! I need proof that it's real!" she squealed, causing Elijah to tense up. "U-Um--," he paused and looked over at Nicki, who grinned. "Don't look at me. If you wanna show 'em, show 'em," he told him. Elijah hesitated, but pulled his shirt collar down, showing off the hickeys hidden under it, around his shoulder and collarbone. It's not that he was bothered by them seeing-- it was just his dad he felt awkward with, regarding him seeing them. If he wasn't so concerned about his dad looking at them, he would have been fine with Nicki leaving them all over his neck, but that didn't mean he wasn't still shy about others noticing. He'd get used to it eventually; this stuff was still new to him, so it's only natural that he'd get embarrassed and shy about it still.
"Omg! Nicki, you animal!" Aveline squealed, shooting a smirk the male Siren's way. Nicki chuckled and wrapped his arm around Elijah's shoulder, pulling him close. "Can't help it. He's just so cute; I can't keep my hands off of him," he confessed, grinning at her. "Oh, I'm sure," Rose teased, getting a good look at Elijah's hickeys, then looking at the Brit, smirking. Elijah covered himself back up and sunk down in his seat, embarrassed by Rose's implications. "Did you ever do stuff like this with Reagan?" Aveline asked, tilting her head at the man, seeing his brows furrow. "No... I couldn't even actually make out with her without getting disgusted," Elijah answered, causing Alex's eyes to widen, the man looking up at him from the rearview mirror. "Wait, so... Did you ever... You know, do it with her?" he asked, spotting how Elijah grimaced at just the thought of it. "I never had sex with her, no," he answered, his words making Rose click her tongue and shake her head. "Dude, that bitch always made it seem like you guys were fucking on a daily basis. I remember overhearing her one time, bragging about it. I also overheard a lot of people claiming they had been with you in that way, too," she told him, Elijah just unconsciously leaning into Nicki, a scowl on his face. "Yeah, no... I've never done that kind of stuff with anyone-- not even Reagan. I thought about it, just for the sake of adding more layers onto my facade, but... I dunno, that was something I just didn't feel right doing. I guess I'm just someone who doesn't want to do something like that with another person unless I really like them. Stuff like that, to me, just feels like it's something meaningful, and that I shouldn't just do it with anybody," he replied, fiddling with his fingers nervously. Natalie smiled at that since she also believed something like that should be done with the person you really like; she thought she liked Cody, and nearly gave herself to him, but she's really glad she didn't.
Cody didn't deserve every part of her, she realized that.
"I like that way of thinking! Does that mean you'll wanna do that kind of stuff with Nicki?" Aveline asked, grinning at him. Elijah's eyes widened, cheeks turning a bright red once again, not really knowing how to respond to that. "You guys ask such personal questions!" Natalie scolded, shooting her friend a glare, then looking at Elijah next to her. "You don't have to answer that-- just ignore them."
"We're taking our time-- there's no rush in getting into that kind of stuff," Nicki told her, speaking up for Elijah. Aveline hummed in thought, not sure if she agreed with that sentence one hundred percent, but she had a reason for it. She understood Nicki not wanting to rush it, because she understood where he was at with things, but... She also knew that Nicki liked Elijah, whether he wanted to admit that yet or not-- everyone could see it. She couldn't help but worry about the fact that they actually didn't have as much time as they thought, so her belief was that it may be best for Nicki to confess and do certain things with Elijah before it's too late to get that chance to.
With Anthony now knowing about Elijah and Nicki's relationship, prompting him to keep a close eye out on Nicki, it's possible he's going to end up finding out soon. Aveline's hoping that isn't going to happen anytime soon, and the couple can take their time with things, but... She didn't want Nicki to go on with any regrets.
"I guess so," Aveline replied, giving Nicki a small smile.
They left the conversation at that, moving on to other random topics until they arrived at the plaza. Alex found a good parking spot, and then they all headed in, making their way towards the center of the large plaza, where there was a huge water fountain. At the water fountain were Logan and Colin, the two sitting down and talking with one another, only stopping when they spotted the rest of the group. Colin's imaginary dog ears perked up and his tail wagged excitedly, happy that his friends were all here now. "Hey!" he called out, jumping up from his spot and rushing over to them, which had Logan getting up as well and following. "Hey, hey. We've made it," Alex greeted, smiling at the excited man, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Let's go check out some stores! I wanna go to Lolly Dreams and get a shit ton of candy!" Aveline beamed, already heading off in that direction, which the group had no choice but to follow since she looked pretty determined to get some candy.
Lolly Dreams was a pretty popular candy shop in the plaza, which had an array of all sorts of candies; chocolates, gummies, hard candies, sour candies-- any sort of candy you could think of, Lolly Dreams had it. The place had a very nice, cutesy aesthetic inside of it, and it felt like you were seriously walking through Candyland. Customers could get little plastic bags, and begin filling them up with all sorts of candies; prices varied depending on the weight of your bag.
"Dude, these things... Are fucking delicious," Alex stated, dumping a ton of these balls of candy into his bag, which looked to be some sort of chocolate. "Jesus, Nicki! You love sour stuff just as much as you love spicy stuff, don't you? Your bag is full of that shit," Rose pointed out, staring at Nicki's full bag of sour candy. "Heyy... Eli said he'd share some of his chocolates with me, so I've got a bit of a variety," the male Siren replied, grinning at her. "Your tongue is gonna fall off one day with all the shit you put in your mouth," Rose jested, smirking at him. Nicki smirked, raising a brow at her. "Candy's not all I can put in my mouth," he joked, glancing over at Elijah, whose face lit up a bright red color, immediately thinking back to last night when Nicki was kissing all over his chest. Rose snorted, trying to hold back her laughter as she glanced at Elijah, then back at Nicki. "Oh, I'm sure," she replied, grinning at him. Nicki gave her an innocent smile, then grabbed another little plastic bag. "I'ma get Maddie some candy since I'm feeling nice," he said, gathering her up some gummies, since those were some of her favorite types of candies to eat. "Not gonna get Annaleigh anything?" Logan asked, grinning and raising a brow at the man. "Fuck no," Nicki immediately replied, chuckling as he began filling up Maddie's bag. "If she was a little nicer to me, then sure, but with her attitude, she's not getting shit from me. Maddie's not so bad, though... Which reminds me, gang-- when we head inside the mall, let's stop at Barnes and Noble or something. Maddie wants me to get her a new puzzle book."
"Ooo! That's fine, I wanna look at some manga anyway! The stuffed animals, too," Aveline beamed, causing Alex to chuckle. "Av, you're running out of room in your bedroom to put more stuffed animals--"
"You can never have too many!" Aveline interjected, puffing out her cheeks as she glared at him. Alex smiled and shook his head, putting one last scoop of candy into his bag. "Mhm; sure-- I think the space in your room would say otherwise," he replied, which had her giggling.
The group got all the candy they wanted, then headed to the checkout counter, paying for their bags, which were all placed in their own cutely decorated, small paper bag. With that now done, the group began walking towards the mall, deciding that they would check out some stores in there first, and look around the plaza some more on their way out.
Their first stop was Barnes and Noble.
Nicki got Maddie a pretty difficult puzzle book, then made his way towards his friends, who were in the manga section with Aveline currently showing Elijah all kinds of romance mangas. "This one's my favorite! I've read it like fifteen times," she told him, causing him to smile small and take it, skimming through some of the pages. "It's super wholesome and fluffy," she added, giving him a beaming smile. Nicki couldn't help but smile at their interaction with one another, really liking how their relationship has changed so much from the day he first met Aveline when she got thrown into Elijah's broken boat. He was glad they were all getting along now.
"Do you like to read, Eli?" Aveline asked, watching him skim through the romance manga. "Hmm... I guess so, yeah. I don't really mind it; I help my grandma out at the library sometimes, so I'd read a bit there whenever I got bored... And by a bit, I mean I've read almost every book in that library out of boredom," Elijah told her, chuckling and flipping to a page where the two main characters finally kissed, which had him smiling a little. "What would you say is your favorite genre, then?" Aveline inquired, tilting her head at him. "I guess fantasy stuff is cool-- that's basically the majority of what I'd seek out at the library," he informed her. "Oh, I got a manga for you, Elijah," Rose spoke up, holding out a manga for the man, a smirk on her face. Elijah handed the one Aveline gave him back to her, then took the one from Rose, brows furrowing at the cover.
Curiosity got the better of him.
Elijah opened up the manga and began skimming through some of the pages, Aveline even leaning over closer to him, so that she could look as well. Nicki approached them, as well as the others, all curious as to why everyone was suddenly huddling up. Elijah flipped to a certain page, only for it to cause his eyes to widen, his cheeks flushing red at the image; Aveline's eyes even widened. Alex couldn't help but burst out laughing while Rose looked pretty pleased with herself. "Rose!" Natalie scolded, refusing to look at the page after already having caught a glimpse of what was on it. "Whaat? Eli, I think this could be a good thing for you! You can use this as research for future reference, you know?" Rose stated, giving him an innocent smile. Elijah couldn't help but look, tilting his head to the side and even flipping to another page, brows furrowed. Nicki stood behind Elijah and put his chin on his shoulder, examining the page as well, then raising a brow, smirking a little. "Wow... Hot," he noted-- everyone looking at the page, aside from Natalie, who was too embarrassed to. "So, that's what it's like when two guys do it, huh? I had an idea of what went down, but I've never actually seen it before... Which position would you prefer, Eli?" Alex asked, causing Elijah's eyes to widen once again. "U-Um... That's... I..." Elijah paused, not knowing how to really respond to that question. "Oh, you guys with your super nosey, personal questions!" Natalie exclaimed, grabbing the book from Elijah and closing it, immediately shoving it into Rose's chest, glaring at her. "Put it back."
"Jeeeez, I'm just trying to help him out a little," Rose stated, rolling her eyes as she moved toward the shelf where she found the book. "Well, he hasn't asked you for your help," Natalie scoffed, crossing her arms. Nicki chuckled and stepped back from Elijah, placing his hand on his head. "You're going to make him malfunction," he joked, causing Rose to snort.
Elijah seriously had no idea how to respond to questions like that, as this was stuff that was still extremely new to him. He got the gist of sex, and understood what happened during it, to an extent, but it was still something he'd never done with anyone before, so it made him kind of nervous. He wasn't sure which position he felt more comfortable with doing, but... He also wanted to do what pleased Nicki most, even if that meant him being the one receiving-- as scary as that honestly was. It was definitely something he still needed to think about and figure out for himself.
The group left it at that, though they couldn't help but laugh at how flustered Elijah got. They explored around Barnes and Noble some more, Aveline picking out two cute stuffed animals, which Alex offered to buy for her. So much for his comment on how she had way too many, but he liked the way she smiled when she saw the two plushies, so he couldn't help but buy them for her.
Once they were done with that store, they moved on further into the mall, heading straight for a rather large clothing store, one that had many different types of styles to choose from. Aveline and Natalie had gathered up clothes that they wanted to try on; Colin got some different outfits as well since he felt he definitely needed some new clothes, which Logan did not agree with. Colin and his sisters are addicted to clothes shopping, and his sisters love to dress him up all the time, so he's just gotten used to always having really cool, stylish clothes. He couldn't get enough of them, and Logan had seen just how stuffed his closet was with clothes... The guy really didn't need anymore, but there was no talking him out of buying new stuff. The one thing Logan has noticed after being friends with Colin for so many years is that the guy is seriously bad with money. He's always gotta be the voice in the back of Colin's head, telling him to be careful spending so much, since he definitely wouldn't be paying any attention to how much he's spent already.
"Nicki," Aveline drawled, staring at the outfit she had on her arm. "Can I dress you up?"
Nicki stopped looking at some of the clothes on the rack and looked over at Aveline, raising a brow. "Huh?" he replied, causing her to smile innocently. "You've tried girl clothes on before, haven't you? I wanna seeeee," she said, giving him a pouty look. Nicki chuckled and turned to her, eyeing the outfit she was wanting him to try on. "You know... I don't look as amazing in a skirt as you might think, and that's saying something, 'cause I'm sexy as fuck," he stated, causing her to giggle. "I'm sure you look sexy in a skirt," she assured him, tilting her head to the side. "Will you try this outfit on? I think you'd look good in it!"
"Ah... The pink isn't really my style, so I'm not sure I'd look that great," Nicki sighed, which just had Aveline giving him her puppy dog eyes. "Please?" she begged softly. Nicki hummed and shrugged his shoulders, smiling at her. "Fine. I can't say no to your cute face," he gave in, causing her to squeal with excitement. "Yay! Okay, you try it on first! C'mon, let's go!"
Aveline grabbed Nicki's hand and began dragging him towards the dressing rooms, where the rest of the group already was. Near the dressing rooms was a decent-sized sitting area with small couches and chairs, giving people their little runway moment to show off what outfits they were trying on to their friends. There were large mirrors on the walls outside of the dressing rooms, instead of mirrors inside them, just so that people would have more space to check themselves out and see if they really did like what they were wearing. Right now, Alex and Rose were the only ones sitting down on the comfy chairs, while Logan and Colin were at the mirrors, Colin talking to Logan about the outfit he was trying on. Natalie and Elijah weren't far from them, the female Siren having just come out of one of the dressing rooms, needing some assistance in zipping the back of her dress up, which Elijah offered to do. Natalie moved her hair out of the way, allowing Elijah to zip up the short, spaghetti-strapped dress, which was frilly and flowy, and a light pink color, with a light orange ombre effect at the bottom, trailing up some. Once Elijah zipped it up, Natalie turned around and fixed her hair, giving him a nervous look. "Does it look okay..?" she asked, straightening the dress out some. Elijah looked her up and down and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling kind of awkward, since giving his opinion on a friend's fashion choice wasn't exactly something he was used to. "Um... You look... R-Really pretty. Pink's a good color on you," he told her, glad he could actually say it since it was his honest thoughts; compliments were just something he still had to get used to giving. Natalie blushed and smiled at him, shifting nervously. "R-Really? You think so?" she replied, stepping over to the mirror to get a look at herself in the dress. "Yeah, it looks really good on you."
"Aw, Nat! You look gorgeous!" Aveline beamed as soon as she and Nicki approached them. "Yeah, you're stunning, love," Nicki added, smiling at her. Natalie turned to them and smiled back, looking down at her dress. "I-I think I'm going to get it," she said; she did like how it looked on her when she checked herself out in the mirror. "You should," Rose spoke up, sitting criss-cross on the chair, tilting her head at the girl. "You look cute."
Natalie looked at her and blushed, which had Rose smiling at her. "T-Thanks, Rose. I'm gonna get it," she concluded, looking pretty confident with her answer, then walking back into her dressing room. Aveline began pushing Nicki towards an empty one, shoving the clothes she wanted him to try on into his arms, then flashing him a grin. "I wanna see you try that on first before I try on any of my clothes," she told him. Nicki rolled his eyes and walked into the dressing room, closing the curtain behind him. Aveline giggled and walked over to one of the chairs, taking a seat beside Rose, which had the girl raising a brow at her, knowing that her friend had something planned. Elijah took a seat beside Aveline, waiting to see just what Nicki was going to come out wearing, since he was kind of curious, especially 'cause Aveline was deadset on him getting into that dressing room.
It didn't take long for Nicki to finish getting dressed, pulling open the curtain of the dressing room and stepping out. "Wh-- BWAHA! Bro! You look... Yum," Rose guffawed, covering her mouth as she tried to get her laughter under control. "Daaamnn... Now who is this sexy ass woman, and where has she been all my life?" Alex joked, causing Nicki to snort as he walked over towards the mirror, checking himself out. "Shut up," he replied, shaking his head. Aveline quickly jumped out of her seat and squealed, rushing over to him. "You look so cute!" she squeed, bouncing about excitedly. Nicki raised his arms up and flexed, showing off his muscles as he looked at himself in the mirror. "Is this manly, or what? I think this is the shit men should be fighting crime in," he joked, which had Logan snorting and covering his mouth, trying to prevent himself from laughing. "Mhm... Yeah, your muscles really make the frills pop, you know? It's giving magical girl," he chuckled, only causing Rose to bust out laughing, throwing her head back. "BWAHAHA! Stop! I can't-- I'm gonna pee!" she laughed, clutching her stomach. "No, in all honesty, Nicki... You don't look too bad in a skirt. I mean, we've already seen you in a crop top, so we all know you look good in those, but... The pink doesn't really suit you, man-- I gotta say," Alex told him, which had Nicki nodding his head in agreement, turning a bit to get a better look at his body in the outfit. "Yeah, pink is so not my color," he stated, tilting his head as he stared at himself in the mirror. "I think it looks great!" Colin beamed, then looked over at Elijah, smiling. "What do you think, Eli?"
Elijah was blushing like crazy, fidgeting with his hands as he stared at Nicki while the group all turned to look at him, waiting for his answer. "U-Uh... I think it looks... Nice," he stammered, causing Logan to chuckle. "Nice? Is that it?" he replied as Elijah stared at Nicki's subtle abs peeking out from the crop top, and the way his skirt hugged his waist, part of his v-line noticeable. Nicki did look pretty good, but to him, Nicki looked good all the time, no matter what he was wearing. He could wear the silliest outfit, and Elijah would still think he'd look good-- a little ridiculous, too, but good nonetheless.
"I-I think Nicki looks good in anything," Elijah stated, causing Nicki to grin. Alex rolled his eyes and gestured over towards Elijah with his thumb, raising a brow at Logan. "This guy's head over heels; he's always going to think Nicki looks good in everything. Dude could be wearing a hotdog costume, and Elijah would still give him googly eyes," he pointed out, smirking. Rose barked out a laugh, throwing her head back once again; this friend group really cracked her up. Natalie walked out of the dressing room and paused, staring wide-eyed at Nicki, though she couldn't help but crack a small smile, the urge to giggle bubbling up inside her. "You look great," she told him, earning a smile from the man. "Does the skirt make my butt look big?" he asked her, causing her to giggle and lean over a bit, looking at his butt. "No, you're good," she assured him, walking over to one of the chairs and taking a seat. "Thank God," Nicki sighed with relief, causing Aveline to giggle as well, straightening out his outfit. "It's not your style, but you still look super cute in it. Now I wanna repaint your nails and do your hair!" she beamed, prompting Nicki to look down at his chipped, black nail polish. "I do need to repaint my nails," he noted, then looked back up at her, smiling. "You're lucky I love you, otherwise I wouldn't be letting you dress me up like a Barbie doll."
Aveline giggled and cupped Nicki's face in her hands, smiling at him. "You're my favorite Barbie doll," she expressed, which had Colin quickly rushing over to them, bouncing excitedly. "Oh! Oh! Dress me up, too! It's always so fun when my sisters dress me up," he chirped, imaginary dog tail wagging happily.
Colin's sisters were all wanting to do careers that were makeup or fashion-related. His oldest sister was working to become a hair stylist, and she always did her family's hair for them, since she was really good, and it saved them the money. The second oldest wanted to be a makeup artist, and makeup was something she was extremely good at, having been into it since she was fairly young. She could do pretty and fantasy-like makeup, or she could make you totally scary-looking; she was rather good at SFX makeup. The youngest sister wanted to be a fashion designer; she always made her own clothes, and tailored stuff for the rest of her family. Despite making her own clothes, she was still obsessed with clothes shopping, especially shopping at thrift stores, since she used a lot of that clothing to add onto and transform into something beautiful.
It's safe to say that with all of them wanting to pursue a career in those favorite hobbies of theirs, they needed people to practice on, so they either practiced on each other or their little brother, who didn't mind it at all. To them, he was the perfect practice dummy to test out their craft; they also just liked dressing him up, because he was their cute baby brother, who they absolutely adored and loved to spoil. Colin was the type of guy who radiated "just happy to be here" energy-- always down to try new things with a beaming smile on his face, and his imaginary dog tail wagging excitedly behind him.
"Hehe, okay! I honestly wanna dress all you guys up! Would you let me?" Aveline asked, looking at the other guys. Logan and Alex immediately shook their heads, refusing. "Love you, Av, but I would look absolutely terrible in girly clothes and makeup. There's no point in doing it if I'm going to just look like a clown; it'd be different if I thought I could pull it off," Alex pointed out, causing her to pout. "Agreed. I, personally, would look rather ridiculous and silly," Logan added, which had Alex nodding his head, agreeing. "It would be hilarious, though!" Rose yelled, laughing as she looked at the two guys. "Yup, just another reason to refuse it, because you would never let me hear the end of it! My pride would be crushed," Alex scoffed, crossing his arms. "Oh, you big baby! Nicki and Colin don't mind being dressed up! It's just clothes-- it's not like it's a big deal," Rose retorted, Alex just shaking his head, deadset on not being dressed up. "Look, some guys are made to rock a look like that, but I, however, am one of those who could not. I won't do it just for the sake of you getting your chance to make fun of me-- you pick on me enough as it is, and I know seeing me dressed up like that is something you're never going to let go," he told her, causing her to groan and roll her eyes. "Boo, you're no fun. I won't lie, though, you really would look absolutely ridiculous dressed like that, which is why it would be so funny. Although, Nicki looks kind of ridiculous in that pink; it's definitely not his color," she stated, making Nicki sigh and look down at what he was wearing. "Yeahhh, I know. The cutesy style isn't for me-- I can only rock the dark look."
Rose grinned and glanced over at Elijah, leaning over her seat to get a better look at him. "You know who would look good in pink?" she asked, looking at the others. Everyone looked at her, then followed her gaze when she looked back at Elijah. Suddenly, all eyes were now on the man, causing him to tense up and look at each one of them, frowning. "What..?" he muttered, which had Aveline smiling big and stepping over to him, tilting her head at him. "Elliii," she began, catching his attention. "Can I dress you up?"
Elijah's eyes widened, staring at the girl in shock. "Wh-What? No, I--"
"Oh, please?? You really would look good in pink-- it'd fit you so well! Please put this on!" Aveline begged, giving him a pouty look. "I'm not putting that on," Elijah replied, looking rather sure of his answer. "Please?? I promise I won't ever ask you for anything else ever again! Pleaassee just this once??" she continued to beg, causing the man to glance away and frown. "I-I... I don't mind you asking me for things, as long as it's within reason. I just don't wanna put that on."
"Didn't you want to try new things? You don't know what all you really like yet, right? Who knows, you might end up liking dressing like that," Rose pointed out, grinning at him. Elijah shot her a glare, knowing she just wanted to see him put that outfit on. "I don't think that's something I'm going to end up liking--"
"You won't know if you don't try. Besides," Rose leaned in towards him, close enough so that he could hear her whisper, "Nicki might like seeing you wear a skirt."
Elijah blushed deeply, eyes widening slightly. That would just make things even more embarrassing because Nicki would be looking. He knew Nicki would probably like seeing him dress like that, and would no doubt probably get a bit perverted about it, since it was him, after all. Still, if it was something Nicki would like to see, Elijah felt like he kind of had to do it, since he was a bit curious about the reaction he'd get out of him.
Elijah frowned and looked up at Aveline, who had her hands clasped together, looking at the man with puppy dog eyes and a pouty lip. He sighed and glanced away, rubbing the back of his neck. "F-Fine... But I'm not putting on the full outfit... Just the skirt," he gave in, causing Aveline to gasp and squeal, clapping her hands. "Really?? Yay! B-But you have to wear some sort of shirt!" she began, turning to Nicki and quickly pushing him back towards the dressing room. "You change, and I'll be right back! You're a medium in shirts, aren't you, Eli??"
"Um... Yeah, but a large is fine, too... Depends on the shirt," he told her. Aveline said a quick okay and took off back towards the clothes, while Nicki went back into the dressing room, ready to change back into his regular clothes. Elijah sighed and rubbed his face, a little nervous about dressing up the way Aveline wanted him to.
Aveline quickly came back with a shirt in hand, though it wasn't one that was super girly or anything, but it was a cute t-shirt found in the women's section, which was white with pastel designs and characters on it. It was a simple shirt, but the characters on it were super cute, and it would pair nicely with that skirt Nicki was wearing. Nicki came out of the dressing room in his regular clothes, prompting Aveline to look over at Elijah, who hesitantly stood up, looking extremely nervous. "Your turn, babe," Nicki stated, walking over to him and patting him on the shoulder, grinning at him. Elijah sighed and walked past him, making his way toward the dressing room with Aveline bouncing excitedly. "Okay, here! I found this cute shirt that will pair nicely with that skirt," she told him, handing him the shirt. Elijah mumbled a quiet okay and walked into the dressing room, shirt in hand; Nicki went ahead and sat where Elijah was sitting. "Oh, I wanna see this! I hope I don't miss it-- lemme change back into my clothes," Colin said, quickly rushing back into his dressing room. Colin had changed back into his regular clothes pretty fast, then popped out of his dressing room with the clothes he was going to buy in his hands. He walked over to Logan, who was already sitting down next to Alex, and sat right in his lap, causing the man to smile. Everyone was now sitting down on the chairs and small couches, aside from Aveline, who was waiting in front of Elijah's dressing room, oozing with excitement.
Elijah stripped his clothes and shoes off in the dressing room, deciding to put the skirt on first, but not before examining it some, blushing at the sight of it. It was a light, pastel pink skirt, with frills and ruffles, and white lace layered underneath the three main sections, one near the top, one in the middle, and then lacing at the edges of the skirt. There were also two small, pink bows at the top, one on each side, just right at where his hips were; the skirt itself was kind of short, which made him even more embarrassed to wear it. You would definitely see his trunks if he bent over, so wearing this almost felt like he was kind of exposing himself; it wasn't like he was going to be doing any bending over, though.
Elijah took a deep breath and stepped into the skirt, pulling it up until he was completely in it, the stretchy band hugging his waist. It felt kind of weird to be in it, but he did his best to ignore it and put on the shirt, which actually fit him pretty well. It was a large in women's, and it wasn't too tight or extremely loose, so he kind of liked that about it; it was comfortable, too.
After putting the outfit on, Elijah stood there in the dressing room for a minute, fidgeting nervously-- not even bothering to put his shoes back on, since he was hoping to quickly get out of this outfit. "Eli..? You need assistance?" Aveline called out, walking closer to the curtain. Elijah tensed up and grabbed the curtain, opening it just slightly, enough to where he could poke his head out and look at her without her seeing anything. "I hate this-- I feel so exposed," he grumbled, causing her to giggle and smile at him. "You can take it off in a little bit, I promise! I'm sure you look great," she beamed, tilting her head at him. Elijah blushed and pursed his lips, glancing away; he seriously did not want to leave this dressing room. "Are you dressed and ready? C'mon, you can hold my hand if you need to," she reassured him, giggling. Elijah shot her a glare and shifted uncomfortably, but he didn't refuse her offer when she held her hand out for him. He hesitantly grabbed it, prompting Aveline to smile big and pull him out, the guy stumbling a bit upon leaving the dressing room. "Omg!" Aveline squealed as soon as Elijah was out of the dressing room, standing awkwardly. "You look so cute!" she squeed, stepping away so that the others could look as well. Nicki's eyes widened at the sight before him, observing the man intently as he felt his heart start to race in his chest; Elijah looked mouth-watering right now. "Holy shit... I can't even laugh, because it actually does look kinda good on you. The color just fits you, oddly enough-- and I never took you for the soft boy type, but it looks good," Rose admitted, grinning at him. "Damn, you actually look great!" Alex beamed, then looked over at Nicki. "What do you think, Nicki?"
Nicki stayed silent, placing his hand over his mouth in an almost thinking gesture, just staring Elijah down intently, which had the man shifting under his gaze, blushing even more. Nicki blushed as well when he watched Elijah's legs move, his exposed thighs rubbing against each other as he fidgeted nervously. Alex grinned at Nicki, then looked over at Logan and Colin, who were both grinning as well. "Uh-oh... I think we're losing him," Logan pointed out, causing Alex to chuckle and look over at Elijah. "I think Nicki is malfunctioning-- but you know what? I don't think he's seen enough just yet, so why don't you give us a little twirl?" he told him, earning a sharp glare from Elijah. Rose snorted and covered her mouth as well, nodding her head in agreement. "Yeah, turn around. We wanna see the full outfit in all its glory," she chimed in. Aveline giggled and helped Elijah turn around, since he didn't seem like he was going to budge; she needed to give him a little push. Once Elijah's back was facing them, Alex hummed and nodded his head slowly. "Mhm, that's great... Now bend over," he told him, causing Elijah to look over his shoulder and shoot him a glare, Rose just barking out a laugh. "Alex!" Natalie scolded, glaring at him as well. Nicki sat up in his seat and shook his head, continuing to stare Elijah down. "Mm-mm, nope. He will be doing no bending over around anyone else," he asserted, earning a chuckle from Alex. "Right, my bad. That's gotta be saved for when you're in the bedroom, right?" he teased, which had Rose laughing. "Ughhh," Elijah groaned, throwing his head back. "I seriously hate you guys," he grumbled, causing the others to laugh.
They knew he didn't mean it, but if he was going to be in this friend group, he was going to have to get used to the occasional teasing, since they love to do that to each other.
Elijah turned back around and looked almost as if he was pouting, which drove Nicki wild. "Can I get out of this now?" he asked, fidgeting. "But you look so good! I think you should get it!" Colin beamed, smiling at him. "No," Elijah immediately replied, causing Colin to pout. "What do you think, Nicki? He looks good, right?" Rose asked, smirking at the man next to her. Nicki cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably, crossing his legs, his eyes completely fixated on the way Elijah's legs and thighs rubbed together each time he fidgeted. "You look unbelievably good in a skirt-- much better than me. We should definitely get it for... For a, uh... For a rainy day, you know?" he stated, which had Alex nodding his head, chuckling lightly. "Ah yes; in case of emergencies-- you never know when you might need to put on a skirt, Elijah."
"Yeah, the end of the world could call for it-- you just never know. We're talking about survival here, man," Logan added, their comments causing Rose to laugh to herself, covering her mouth in an attempt to get it under control. Elijah groaned again and covered his face, his cheeks a bright red; this was embarrassing. "You haven't even seen how you look yet-- hang on!" Aveline stated, pushing Elijah towards the mirrors and turning him around so that he could see himself. "See, look! It's a good color on you," she told him, keeping her hands on his shoulders. Elijah furrowed his brows at himself in the mirror, tilting his head as he looked at the outfit. He straightened it out some, then tilted his head to the other side, not really knowing how he felt about the outfit now that he'd looked at himself in it. Nicki couldn't help but smile at the way Elijah seriously examined himself; he figured he'd immediately say no as soon as he saw himself dressed like that, but it seemed as if he was actually giving it some thought.
Nicki stood up and approached him, standing behind him in the mirror and tilting his head as well. "Whatcha thinkin'?" he asked, smiling at him. "Um... Nothing," Elijah mumbled, Nicki just sighing and resting his chin on his shoulder. "Liar. You're thinking of something, so what is it?" he replied, causing Elijah to frown, staring at the outfit he was wearing. "Uh... Well, the skirt's not for me-- I wouldn't wear it on a day-to-day basis, but..." Elijah paused, tracing his finger along the pattern of the cutesy designs on the shirt. "You like the shirt..?" Nick asked, glancing over at Aveline, whose eyes widened slightly. Elijah stayed silent for a moment and glanced down, fidgeting nervously. "Is that... Weird..?" he finally muttered, causing Aveline to jump and gasp, quickly waving her hands at him. "N-No! No, it's not weird!" she quickly reassured him. Nicki smiled and stood up straight, placing his hands on Elijah's upper arms. "It's not weird at all, angel. You like what you like-- there's nothing weird about it, and don't let someone shit on you for something as simple as what your taste in fashion is. If you like the shirt, I'll get it for you," he chimed in, causing Elijah to purse his lips and furrow his brows. "Isn't it... Girly, though?" he mumbled, fidgeting with the edges of his skirt. "Babe, they're just clothes. I believe clothes shouldn't define gender-- at the end of the day, no matter what clothing you're wearing, you're still the gender you identify as, right? Clothes don't change that," Nicki assured him, rubbing in arms comfortingly. The others all stood up and approached them, looking at Elijah in the mirror. "Do you like cutesy stuff, Eli?" Colin asked, smiling at him. "Um... I don't know... Nicki got me a pink stuffed dolphin on our date, and... I keep that on my bed, 'cause I like it," Elijah answered, shifting a bit. Nicki grinned at that; he did notice the stuffed animal on his bed when he first visited him after their date, but he never said anything about it.
Alex tilted his head to the side, chuckling lightly. "That could just be because you like him, but... We should stop by Av's house after we're through hanging out around town. If you wanna figure out whether you like cutesy stuff or not, her house is the one to go to. Walking into her room is like entering some fluffy, pastel dreamland," he suggested, which had Aveline nodding her head with excitement. "Yeah! If you need help figuring out whether you like the really cute style of stuff, then I'm your girl!" she told him. "What are your actual thoughts on the shirt, though..? Do you really like it? I think it looks good on you," Natalie said, smiling at him. "Um... I... I think I like it," Elijah answered, causing the others to smile. "There's nothing wrong with that, man. Though I gotta say, I never took you for the soft boy type," Rose stated, chuckling a bit. "Oh, hang on! I saw this really cute and cozy pastel pink, cardigan sweater that would seriously match that shirt! If we're trying to figure out your kind of style, then let's see if you like the way those two pair together as well-- I'll be right back," Aveline quickly rambled, rushing back towards the clothing sections to find that sweater. "You've never had a particular style you were interested in, right, Elijah? Since you never could figure out who you were and what you liked with that facade," Logan wondered, looking at Elijah. "Yeah... When I was 'friends' with Reagan and them, fashion was something the girls in the group were always interested in, so to me, it wasn't normal for guys to care a lot about it. I just wore what the other guys in the group usually wore, because that's what seemed acceptable," Elijah told him, frowning. "Ah yeah; basic bitch clothing, in short," Rose stated, snorting. "Heyyy... Some of Eli's clothes are cute," Nicki mumbled, giving Rose a pouty look, which had her grinning.
It didn't take long for Aveline to come rushing back to them, the sweater in hand, which caught all of their attention. "Ooo, that is cute," Natalie observed, smiling at her. Aveline giggled and took the sweater off the hanger, hanging it up on the rack in Elijah's dressing room. She then got behind Elijah and held the sweater up, letting the man slip his arms through the arm holes. He put it on and looked in the mirror, noticing that it was kind of baggy, but it was probably meant to look like it was a little bit baggy and big on someone. It was fairly comfortable, though. "Awww! Look at that! That's so cute!" Aveline squealed, jumping a bit as she stood beside Elijah in the mirror. Elijah fidgeted a bit, tilting his head to the side as he looked at the pink, baggy sweater, which had a stitched-in heart at the top, on the left side near his chest, and cutesy designs along the arm sleeves. It did match the shirt nicely, and Elijah couldn't deny that he actually liked the way it looked on him.
"That actually really suits you," Rose stated, which had the others nodding their heads in agreement. "It's so cute seeing you dressed like that! I never would have thought!" Colin beamed, imaginary dog tail wagging excitedly. "What do you think, babe?" Nicki asked, looking at Elijah, whose brows furrowed. "Um... Still not a fan of the skirt. It's not something I'd wear as my usual clothing, you know? But... I don't mind the shirt and sweater. I-I feel like I might be too embarrassed to wear it, though," Elijah mumbled, frowning. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, man. If you like it, you like it; there's a lot of guys that like to dress in pastel stuff like that, and there's nothing wrong with it," Logan reassured him, flashing him a smile. "Isn't the wonderful thing about fashion that you get to express yourself?" Alex pointed out, which had the others nodding their heads. "Yeah, exactly-- and if anyone tries to give you shit for dressing in something cute like that, then we'll just have to beat 'em up, won't we?" Rose added, flashing him a grin. Elijah's face turned bright red-- honestly really happy to know they'd stick up for him like that, despite him being very well capable of doing it himself. He wasn't some baby pushover; he could stand up for himself just fine, but since he was a little nervous about wearing stuff like this, it did help to know that they had his back.
"If you like it, Eli, I'll get it for you, and you can just wear it whenever you feel comfortable enough to do so," Nicki told him, reaching his hand out to stroke Elijah's hair, prompting the man to turn to him and look into his eyes, still frowning. He fidgeted nervously, pulling at the sleeves, which had Nicki smiling, finding him absolutely adorable right now. "Do you... Like it..?" Elijah mumbled, causing Nicki to chuckle. "It shouldn't matter if I like it or not, babe. If you like it and are happy wearing it, then I like it, too. I think you look really cute in light-colored clothes like that-- but I honestly think you look cute all the time, so my opinion doesn't really matter," the Siren replied, tilting his head at him. "Awww-- you know, right now you two look like a cute opposite aesthetics couple!" Colin beamed, smiling at them. "Ah, yes... The edge lord and his pink princess," Logan joked, causing Elijah to shoot him a glare, and for Rose to bark out a laugh. Nicki couldn't help but snort at that, trying to keep from actually full-on laughing at what was just said; it was kind of accurate, though. "All jokes aside, I think you should get it," Natalie said, smiling at Elijah after shooting Logan a glare for making the joke. Nicki took a step back from Elijah and looked him up and down, grinning. "I say get the whole outfit."
"I'm not getting the skirt," Elijah quickly stated, glaring at him. "Why not? You look great in it--"
"I'm not getting it," Elijah cut Nicki off, glare never faltering. Aveline glanced at Nicki from where she was behind Elijah, then smiled. "If you're not getting the skirt, then I'ma get it for myself, 'cause I think it's cute," she said, winking at Nicki, which had the man grinning once again. "Knock yourself out... Can I change out of this now?" Elijah questioned, making his way back towards the dressing room. "Wait, are you wanting the shirt and sweater?" Nicki quickly asked him, which had him stopping in front of the dressing room. Elijah blushed and gave a small nod, not wanting to say anything more, and just walked into the dressing room, closing the curtain. Aveline smirked at Nicki, who just gave her a thumbs up, walking back over to his seat, and prompting the others to do the same. "Well, I'ma try on my clothes now, and then we can get outta here," she said, grabbing her clothes off of Rose's chair, where she had set them down earlier, and walking into a dressing room. Elijah soon came out of the dressing room, the girly clothes in hand, and made his way over to the others. Nicki smiled and held his arms out for Elijah, who furrowed his brows at him. "Come sit," he said, causing Elijah to purse his lips, blushing. "On your lap?" he responded, glancing away. "Where else?" Nicki replied, his smile turning into a teasing grin. Alex cleared his throat and gestured towards the empty chairs, smiling innocently at him. "Yeah, my imaginary friends are taking up all the other seats-- sorry about that," he joked, which Elijah couldn't help but snort at. He walked over to Nicki and tilted his head at him, not really sure if this was what he wanted to do. "What? You've sat on my lap before," Nicki pointed out. "Yeah, but it wasn't just me casually sitting on your lap like I would be doing right now."
"What's the difference?" Nicki replied to him, tilting his head to the side. Elijah glared at him, then looked down, blushing slightly. "It's embarrassing... Plus, I'm going to be too heavy to just be casually sitting on your lap like that."
"I've picked you up before, babe; you're not that heavy."
"Flex your muscles, so he knows you mean business," Alex told the Siren, pretending to look serious, even though he wanted to laugh at his own stupid comment. Nicki did just that, raising his arms up and flexing, flashing Elijah an innocent smile. "I'm strong, see?" he stated, causing Elijah to roll his eyes. "I've seen bigger muscles; don't get too full of yourself now--"
"Heyyy, mean. My muscles are a pretty good size-- and they're sexy, right? I've got just the right amount of muscle without looking overly beefy," Nicki grumbled, pouting. Elijah smiled and gave in, sitting down on Nicki's lap, which had the man now smiling again, pulling him in close. "Yay," he said while Elijah situated himself so that he was sitting kind of sideways on his lap, body pressed against him. "Don't worry, I like your muscles," he reassured him, causing Nicki to smile, wrapping his arms around his waist. "I like yours, too... Though, mine are bigger," the Siren replied, flashing him a teasing grin. "Do you work out more, Nicki?" Colin asked, tilting his head at him. "Yeah, flex your guns, Eli-- how big are they? I wanna see a comparison," Alex chimed in. Elijah raised his sleeve up and flexed his bicep, showing them his muscles, which were almost as big as Nicki's, though just a bit smaller. "I work out on occasion," Nicki stated, answering Colin's question. Elijah nodded his head, agreeing. "I do as well, though not as much as when I was on the football team. Nicki probably works out more than I do now," he said, setting his arm down, and then pulling his shirt sleeve back into its place. "Ah, coach used to work us like dogs. I'm really glad I quit the team, man," Logan stated, which had Elijah immediately agreeing, happy to not be a part of the team anymore either. "You've still got some okay muscles, though. More than I have," Alex said, chuckling lightly. Rose rolled her eyes, scoffing. "That's because you don't work out at all."
"Um... I'm a nerd, and that's against everything I stand for," Alex replied matter-of-factly, though you could still hear a joking tone in his voice. "You're still pretty nicely built for a nerd," Logan observed, tilting his head at him. "Probs 'cause I help my dad out at the docks sometimes-- against my will, I should say. Like I said, it's against everything I stand for," Alex replied dramatically, sighing, causing the others to laugh. "You probably whine like a little girl when he asks you for your help," Rose teased, giggling. "Uh, you're damn right I do," Alex stated, giving some sass, which just had her laughing some more.
Aveline came out of the dressing room in a cute outfit, which consisted of cute blue jeans with adorable patches on them, and a cute, pastel crop top tank, with sun designs on them. She did a little spin and posed, giggling. "How does this look? I picked out two pairs of jeans that were too big on me, but this pair fits!" she told them, walking over towards the mirror to get a look at herself. "You look cute, Avi," Alex told her, smiling; he looked absolutely lovestruck right now, staring at her. She was the cutest thing there was, in his eyes. "Thank you, thank you. I think I'm going to get this-- I really love all the different patches on the jeans, and it fits so well with the top," she replied, posing in the mirror. "You look beautiful as always, love," Nicki complimented, hugging Elijah, who had curled up against him, seeming pretty comfy. Aveline giggled and thanked him, deciding she would go try on the rest of her outfits now.
After Aveline was finished trying on her clothes, she decided she was going to buy all the ones she thought looked nice on her, then left the dressing room area with the others. They all went to the checkout counter, Elijah holding the pink skirt out for her, which she took with a smile. "You didn't try it on," he pointed out, causing her to shrug her shoulders. "I know it'll fit-- it's fine," she replied, looking up at Nicki next to Elijah, who grinned. Elijah decided he would check out his stuff first, which had Nicki immediately fishing out his wallet from his back pocket, and pulling out his card. "Thank you," Elijah mumbled, blushing. "No need to thank me, babe," Nicki responded, paying for Elijah's stuff. He knew Elijah would be a little embarrassed to buy it for himself, despite it being something that he wanted, so Nicki didn't mind buying it for him at all.
Once they all got done buying their stuff, they left the store and went back into the mall, ready to check out a few more stores. As they were walking, and while Elijah was preoccupied with talking to Natalie, Aveline grabbed the pink skirt out of her bag and slipped it into one of Nicki's, catching the man's attention. He looked at her and grinned, leaning in close. "I'll pay you back," he whispered, which had her shaking her head and grinning back. "No need; think of it as a gift for later," she whispered back, causing him to chuckle and thank her. "You know," Rose began as they walked through the mall. "I was thinking, Eli, that if you liked the way the pastel looked on you, you should try on some of Nicki's edgy jeans and stuff. If full-on cutesy colors aren't your thing, then maybe you'd like a little bit of edginess added to it? Sort of like a subtle pastel goth vibe, yeah?"
"Oh yeah, that would suit you so well! Like a light, casual mixture of both," Aveline added, bouncing a bit with excitement. "Seeing Eli try on my clothes would be like a present," Nicki sighed happily, causing Elijah to roll his eyes. "I'll try his stuff on and see if it's something I like on myself," he told them, completely ignoring Nicki's comment. Nicki grinned and wrapped his arm around his shoulders, leaning in close to him as they walked. "You do look sexy in my clothes," he whispered, causing Elijah to blush, thinking back to those pictures he sent Nicki before, wearing one of his shirts. Elijah decided not to respond to that, but he did lean into Nicki's touch some, which seemed to make the Siren happy.
The group visited a couple more stores and then decided they were ready to get some food since it was definitely time for lunch. They were currently walking through the plaza, discussing where they wanted to go eat, and what they all felt in the mood for. "I'm really craving some Chinese food-- or anything Asian, honestly. We could go to that sushi bar and hibachi place," Alex said, looking at the others. "Ooo, that does sound really good," Aveline replied, which had the others nodding their heads as well, agreeing. "Yeah, I'm down with that," Nicki chimed in, prompting Rose to immediately raise a brow at him. "You're not going to put chopsticks in your nose again, are you?" she asked, causing Nicki to gasp and stare at her. "Oh, bite me! You do it, too!" he huffed, which had her grinning. Natalie sighed and rolled her eyes, spotting the two now play-fighting as they walked. "Yes, you're both immature; congratulations," she grumbled sarcastically, making them laugh. "Yeahhh... I've noticed that Nicki has pretty shit table manners," Elijah stated, causing Nicki to gasp once again and turn to him. "But I'm still charming, right??"
Elijah smiled and glanced away. "Luckily for you, your immaturity is charming in an annoying type of way," he assured him, which had Nicki furrowing his brows at him. "I'm gonna ignore the insult hidden in that compliment," he replied, causing Logan to snort and raise a brow at the Siren. "Buddy, that wasn't hidden," he pointed out, which had the others all laughing.
"Do my eyes deceive me? Nicki, is that you?"
The group stopped walking and laughing, all of them bringing their attention to who was approaching them. Nicki's eyes widened, his whole body tensing up, and his face going pale, not expecting at all to see this person his sister was clinging onto. Annaleigh was smiling innocently at the group, her arm linked with the man's arm next to her, acting as if nothing was wrong. "Wow, it is you... It's been a while, hasn't it?" the man stated, tilting his head at Nicki. Nicki just stared, all words escaping him, leaving him with nothing to say at all; to him, it was better not to speak right now. "Well, I figured you'd be a lot happier to see me, if I'm being honest."
Elijah looked at Nicki, frowning when he noticed how tense and quiet he was; he knew something was wrong, and the others were noticing it as well. "Uh... And you are?" Rose decided to ask, not liking how this guy was making her friend shut down; he was just happy and laughing a few seconds ago. "Hm? Oh, I'm sorry-- how rude of me. My name's Austin; Nicki and I used to date a while back," the man informed them, smiling. The group's eyes widened, Elijah knowing exactly who this was, and the others getting a pretty good idea.
This was the guy that caused Nicki so much pain in the past-- one of the reasons he's been so iffy about commitment... People always wanted something from him, which consisted of trying to get closer to his family; Austin was a good example of that.
"I've never seen Nicki surrounded by so many people before-- are you all his friends?" Austin questioned, tilting his head at the group. "What is this..?" Nicki finally spoke up, eyes immediately darting over to his sister, who continued to smile innocently at him. "What? You haven't seen him in a long time-- I thought you'd be happy to--"
"Fuck you, Anna! I know damn well that's not the reason you brought him here!" Nicki snapped, glaring at her. "Wow... Why is it that you're not happy to see me, Nicki? I came all this way to see you," Austin stated, frowning at him. "Cool, you saw him, and now we're leaving," Logan said, putting his hand on Nicki's back, urging him to start walking. Nicki quickly reached out and grabbed Elijah's hand as the group began to try and make their way around Austin and Annaleigh, only for them both to follow and stand back in front of them, blocking the way. "Oh, c'mon; don't be like that. I wanted to see you, Nicki-- it's been so long, and I've missed you," Austin told him, which had Elijah glaring right at him. Nicki squeezed Elijah's hand, subconsciously stepping closer to him, which Austin noticed. Austin glanced down at their hands, raised a brow, and smirked, then returned his gaze back to Nicki. "Ahh... Are you guys a thing? Well, that's surprising... Honestly, all of this is surprising. I didn't think Nicki would surround himself with this many people unless he was fucking all of them," he pointed out, chuckling. The group's eyes all widened, every single one of them feeling the rage bubbling up inside them; they didn't like this guy talking like that about their friend. "Hey, fuck you! Why the hell are you even here, huh? Your fucking presence is not welcomed," Alex snapped, glaring daggers at the man, ready to stand up for the Siren; if he had to throw punches, he would, though he was a lover and not a fighter mostly.
Nicki didn't even want to say anything-- it was so hard to get any sentences out. He didn't know whether he wanted to scream at this guy, break down and sob, or beat the living hell out of him. What he did know, was that he wanted to leave right now, and put as much distance between him and these assholes as possible.
"Ouch. I just wanted to see Nicki again, is that so wrong?" Austin asked, tilting his head at him. "It is! Nicki wants nothing to do with you-- and you probably only came here anyway because of that dumb bitch, huh??" Rose retorted, pointing to Annaleigh clinging onto him. "I don't know what you're talking about... Nicholas really loved him; I was only being a good sister by reuniting him with the man he loved," she defended, that innocent smile never fading. "Bullshit... Emphasis on the past tense of the word, sweetheart," Colin scoffed, glaring at her; the happy pup was gone and the aggression was here. It was rare that Colin ever got angry, but it was definitely a bit of a scary sight to see whenever it happened. "I can see that Nicki has moved on, but... I just wanted to properly apologize for what happened in the past. I came here in hopes we could start over, you know?" Austin began, then smirked and leaned forward a bit. "Ah... Or maybe my reasoning was that I wanted to come here and fuck you for old time's sake? After all, that's the only thing you were ever good for," he looked over at Elijah, whose blood was boiling, "How is he in bed? I'm sure you've witnessed how enticing he can be, crying your name and moaning like a bitch," he went on, causing Nicki's eyes to well up with tears, his body beginning to tremble; this angered Elijah even more, and he was very well on the verge of snapping. "He's definitely a good little slut, isn't he? That's the only thing I miss about him, but at some point, you find someone better, right? And when it comes to Nicki... There is definitely someone better out there. He's the type that'll make you wanna leave after a while, you know? There's nothing really special about him, other than the sex. I'm sure you'll see that sooner or later, but maybe it's better to rid yourself of him now, just to save yourself the time. I mean... I'd be happy to take him off your hands for a little while, just until I get bored--"
Elijah refused to listen to this any longer, immediately dropping his bags and yanking his hand out of Nicki's grasp. In an instant, he was lunging forward to sock Austin right in the face-- the punch actually so hard that it knocked him to the ground. Annaleigh let out a small scream, quickly jumping back and putting her hands over her mouth, eyes wide in shock. The others let out a little gasp of surprise, their eyes widening as well, all watching as Elijah got on top of Austin and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, delivering a couple more hard blows. "Oh my god! Stop!" Annaleigh exclaimed, the others not knowing whether to intervene or let this happen. Austin kind of deserved a good beating or two, and Elijah decided he'd be the one to give it to him; the others honestly kind of wanted to beat the guy up, too.
Still, it probably wasn't the best idea to fight like this-- the last thing they needed was mall security on their asses.
"Hey, Elijah, come on... Fucker's not worth it," Alex said, approaching him. Before he could even grab the man, Austin was already bringing his fist back, and thrusting it forward, punching Elijah right in the face, which had him tumbling off him. "Fuck!" Alex exclaimed, jumping back in shock. Aveline let out a little scream of surprise, covering her mouth while everyone else jumped at the sight of Elijah getting hit. Nicki even jumped, but as soon as he saw Austin's fist collide with Elijah's face, his expression went dark-- any depressing emotion he was feeling getting thrown right out the window, being replaced with nothing but rage. Nicki couldn't hold it back, dropping his bags and immediately rushing forward, straight towards Austin with a murderous intent in his eyes, which the others noticed. Logan cursed under his breath and dropped his bags as well, quickly running forward and getting in front of Nicki, grabbing him, preventing him from getting any closer to Austin, who was scooting back on the ground. "Uh-uh! You gotta calm down, Nicki!" he ordered, the Siren just struggling against him, desperately wanting to attack Austin right here, right now. Austin shot him a glare before standing up, stumbling a bit, then rushing over towards Elijah, who was being helped up by Alex. "Whoa, whoa!" Colin yelled, quickly getting in front of Austin and blocking him from getting to Elijah. "Don't even fucking think about it! Everyone just chill out!"
Elijah struggled against Alex, who was doing his best to hold him back, the girls even coming over to assist in any way they could. Austin was determined, roughly shoving Colin right out of the way, nearly knocking him to the ground, and rushing over toward Elijah. Elijah, not wanting Alex to get caught in the fight, quickly shoved him off of him and out of the way, getting a punch in before Austin even could, knocking him right back onto the ground. Annaleigh screamed again, rushing to Austin's aid, who had trouble getting up this time. Alex made damn sure Elijah didn't go back in for more punches, quickly grabbing him from behind, and holding him back. "Fuck both of you!" Elijah screamed, struggling in Alex's hold. Nicki really wanted to let all of his pent-up rage out on Austin, but Logan kept repeating for him to calm down-- that if he got any angrier, he was going to lose control of his abilities. "The last thing you want is to expose what you are, all because of some fucking asshole," he had whispered to the Siren. "Do you really want Elijah to find out that way? Think about him, Nicki-- you can't lose it."
That had him calming down some because he knew Logan was right. Still, he was unbelievably pissed off right now that someone laid a hand on Elijah, but at least the guy got a few punches in, which was what Austin deserved.
"You didn't have to do that!" Annaleigh screamed, looking up at Elijah, who was fuming with anger. "What's your fucking problem, huh!?" Elijah snapped, stopping his struggle against Alex. "I know damn well why you brought that fucker here! If you're trying to ruin things between me and Nicki, it's not going to work!"
"He's changed you! I know this isn't who you really are, Elijah!" Annaleigh retorted, causing the man to scoff and shrug Alex off of him when he felt his grip loosen; Alex got a feeling he wasn't going to try and fight anymore. "Don't talk as if you know me! You don't know a goddamn thing about me! Did you really think for a second that I liked any of you?? You were all nothing but tools to me, and I was nothing but a tool to you-- I know you all felt the exact same way! Stop pretending as if I'm actually genuinely important to you because I know for a fact that it was never me you cared about-- just the shit I could provide for you! I'm done providing for worthless fuckers like you!" Elijah seethed, earning a glare from Annaleigh. "That's not true at all-- we care about you! I-I care about you," she replied, frowning. Elijah laughed bitterly and tilted his head at her, grinning. "You care about me? None of you know anything about me-- I could ask you a fucking question about myself right now, and you wouldn't have an answer! If you really cared about me, then you would be happy that I'm happy-- because I am! Nicki makes me happy; why can't you fuckers see that?? You don't care about me-- you're just another desperate, whiny bitch that wants me as arm candy, just like Reagan! I've seen the way you look at me, and I gotta say-- what a great friend you are to Reagan, completely lusting after the guy she was dating," he scoffed, causing her eyes to widen. "It's pathetic, you know that? You think I haven't noticed you throwing yourself at me? Listen to me-- I don't want you, and I'll never want you. Why would I want a whiny, desperate bitch like you? Nicki is better than you in every way-- you're fucking nothing to me!" he went on, which had her eyes welling up with tears. "You can try all you want to ruin things between me and Nicki, but it's not going to work! Even if you succeeded, and that's a big fucking if-- I wouldn't ever come running straight to you! You're everything I despise in a person; you and that fucking asshole right there are the scum of the earth! Do you know that Nicki still fucking loves you, despite everything you've put him through?? Even now, after pulling a shit stunt like this, he probably still loves you-- but you don't deserve to be loved by him, and you don't fucking deserve him as a brother!"
Annaleigh's eyes widened, her gaze quickly shifting up to Nicki, who frowned and looked down, not wanting to look at her. A tear fell down her face as she quickly looked back up at Elijah, who continued his rant. "Nicki is the most amazing person I've ever met, and he deserves better than a shit sister like you! I don't ever wanna see another fucking stunt like this again, got it??"
"Is there a problem here?" someone asked, approaching them with another person. A crowd had gathered around to watch the fight, but it did end up catching the attention of mall security, which wasn't good. "U-Uh, no-- sorry. We're leaving now," Alex quickly replied, putting his hand on Elijah's shoulder. "C'mon, man... That's enough."
Elijah took a deep breath and looked over at Nicki, who was looking down, seeming very tense. He didn't want to keep Nicki around these people any longer, since this was practically torture for him, so he decided he'd let it go now. "Alright," he mumbled, shooting Austin another glare, who just glared right back at him, hand on his nose, which was bleeding. Elijah's nose was bleeding, too, but at least he got more punches in than that asshole did. Aveline apologized to the two men, who had come to intervene, then walked away with the others once those who dropped their bags picked them up off the ground, all of them making their way towards the exit of the plaza. As soon they were at the entryway, they walked over to a little seating area, which had everyone immediately turning to Nicki, who was quiet. "Hey... You okay..?" Natalie asked, frowning at him. "That was really shitty of her to do! God, I wish I could have socked her in the face, but... I didn't wanna lay hands on your sister, even if she is a fucking bitch," Rose grumbled, crossing her arms. Nicki sniffled and wiped at his eyes, causing the others to frown, knowing that this must have really gotten to him. "Ohh, Nicki," Aveline said, placing her hand on the back of his head and stroking his hair. "Don't listen to a single word he said; he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. He missed out on how seriously amazing you are, Nicki."
Nicki sniffled again, trying his hardest not to cry, though he couldn't stop the few tears that were falling down his face. "Yeah, and you've got all of us, man. We obviously see so much more in you, otherwise we wouldn't be here. We love you, dude," Alex told him, smiling at him. "Elijah certainly wouldn't have punched the ex of the guy he's 'just using for sex,' I can tell you that," Logan pointed out, chuckling. "Mhm, you're good for more than something like that, Nicki. There are many amazing qualities about you!" Colin chimed in, giving him a peppy smile. Nicki laughed lightly and wiped his eyes again, thanking them. He then looked at Elijah, who frowned and glanced down, shifting a bit. "I'm... Sorry I was so harsh on your sister... I lost it a little, I'll admit. But... I'm not going to apologize for what I did to that dickhead. He had no right saying those things about you... I like you, Nicki, a-and I don't think there'd ever be someone better out there for me than you. I don't want anyone else," the man expressed, causing Nicki's eyes to widen slightly. The others all smiled at hearing that, especially since it made Nicki blush and his eyes well up with tears once again; they knew they were happy tears, though. Nicki let out a shaky breath and stepped forward, resting his forehead on Elijah's shoulder. "Thank you," he whispered, which had Elijah reaching his hand up to stroke his hair. "I'm happy with you... You know that?"
Elijah's eyes widened a bit, his cheeks turning a light red; his heart honestly fluttered at hearing that. Nicki pulled away after a few seconds and pouted, reaching his hands up to cup Elijah's face. "I'm upset that he punched your cute face, though. I wanted to rip him to shreds for doing that," he grumbled, looking at Elijah's bloody nose. Logan snorted and crossed his arms, looking away. "You would have done more than that if I didn't hold you back," he stated, causing the others to laugh a little. "I've got tissues in my purse, hang on," Natalie told them, opening up her purse and digging inside. "Here, sit down," Nicki said, moving Elijah to a bench by a bed of flowers and bushes, where he made him take a seat after putting his bags down. Nicki set his bags of stuff down as well, then took a seat next to him, looking up at Natalie. Natalie pulled out a tissue from her little pack and handed it to Nicki, who took it and thanked her, turning to look at Elijah. Elijah turned to him as well, allowing him to hold his chin and begin wiping the blood away. "Props to you, Elijah, for punching the shit out of that douchebag. I know we were all wanting to do it," Rose stated, chuckling lightly. "Yeah, but I didn't want mall security on our asses, so I'm glad we got out of there when we did, otherwise we could have seen some jail time or some shit," Alex pointed out, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm still shocked that your sister brought your ex here... She must have plotted this shit with Reagan," Colin grumbled, brows furrowing. "Well... Reagan did aid in getting my dad informed about me and Nicki, though I don't even know how she found out, so I'd say her goal is to put tension between us. She's probably not going to stop at this," Elijah stated, sighing. "It's all backfiring on her, though... I mean, her attempt to get your dad to be against you being with Nicki failed, because he's actually okay with it... And bringing Nicki's ex-boyfriend back to him failed to cause tension, too. I mean, if anything, it made you guys even closer, so that's gonna blow up in her face. She's just making herself look stupid-- more than she already is. I mean... Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's anything she could do at this point that would pull you two away from each other," Rose replied, tilting her head at Elijah. "There's nothing she could do," he immediately said, causing Nicki to smile, wiping off the last bit of blood near Elijah's nose. "I wasn't happy in life until Nicki wormed his way into it, and I'm not about to just let that go over stupid shit like this. She can try all she wants, but nothing's going to turn me away from Nicki."
Nicki blushed and glanced over at the others, who looked at each other, then at him, probably all thinking the same thing. Those words were nice to hear from Elijah, but... When it came down to it, would he choose Nicki over family? Elijah's dad will harm Nicki once he finds out what he is, but will Elijah really be able to stand up for Nicki, even if that means having to harm his dad? Their relationship may be rocky, yes, but Anthony is still family... And Nicki knows that deep down, Elijah still hopes his dad will one day understand him, and actually be a good parent to him. Nicki didn't want Elijah to feel like he had to choose, but that feeling was more than likely inevitable... They're not supposed to be together-- it's what's gotten them killed many times before. If Nicki could just figure out how to stop things from repeating... Then Elijah might not have to choose.
But just what could change things? Anthony would probably fight this change, for the sake of gaining more power... Will things really work out in their favor this time? Nicki doesn't know how things are going to play out, but he's going to try and change things-- he has to.
"Well... Try she might, but I'm glad nothing is going to break you. Still... I'm kinda worried about what she's going to do next, now that this plan's failed," Aveline mumbled, frowning. "I dunno, but... I don't really care, 'cause nothing's going to work. She's gotta give up at some point," Elijah replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I hope she does, otherwise that's going to be annoying to constantly deal with," Rose stated, scowling. "Well... All that aside, how are you feeling now, Nicki? You okay?" Logan asked, looking at the male Siren, who smiled small. "I'll live... I just wasn't expecting to ever see him again. I'm okay now, though-- just glad to be away from him. Thank you guys for being here... Things always feel better with you all around," he answered, which had the others all giving him a smile. "You don't need to thank us, Nicki-- we love you. We're always going to be here for you," Natalie assured him. "Mhm-- we've always got your back. Now how about we finally go get some food? I dunno about you, but I'm fucking starving," Alex stated, which had Nicki sighing and nodding in agreement, standing up. "Honestly, I am, too. Let's get food," he replied, grabbing his bags and then looking over at Elijah, who stood up as well and grabbed his own bags. Elijah brought his hand up and pulled Nicki in, giving him a short but sweet kiss on the lips, which had the Siren smiling. "That's adorable, but it's not giving me sustenance. You can kiss on the way to the restaurant, alright? I'm hungry," Alex sighed, causing Nicki to chuckle. "Right, apologies. Let's go," he responded.
Today certainly took an awful turn, but things would have definitely been a lot worse if Annaleigh brought Austin to Nicki while he wasn't with Elijah and his friends. With the others there with him, situations like that aren't as scary to go through, because he knows they'll have his back through it. Austin may not think he's good for anything, but all of Nicki's friends do, and he'll believe their words over his any day.
Still... It was right to worry about what was going to happen next, regarding whatever else Reagan may be plotting... But it wasn't necessarily Reagan that they had to worry about right now.