"When's your birthday?" I asked. Nico didn't let go of my hands. His fingers were positioning mine, trying to teach me the simplest chords on the guitar as I sat on his lap.

"May 7th." He moved one of my fingers. "Press this string."

I sighed, glancing back at him. "You're gonna be so old." I joked. "Can't you stop aging?"

Nico bit his lips amused and did as if he didn't hear. "You want me to teach you?"

"Not really. It's hard and I'm getting bored." I pursed my lips.

I watched him roll his eyes and let go of my hands, letting the guitar beside us on the bed. "You're the worst student ever." He tapped my thigh so I would get up from his lap, but I didn't.

"Hey, try to learn one of the things I do." I retorted.

"Like what?" He smirked, getting close to my face. "Putting one of those short dresses on and spinning around?"

I frowned. "That's not just what I-"

He placed a kiss on my lips, cutting me off.

"Try to do a triple-"

Another kiss.

"I know. I'm just teasing you." He smirked.

The rain began to tap the window, the wind blowing hard. "It's raining!" I announced pointing at the windows.

"I know." He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. "It's been raining all night, haven't you heard?"

I made a silly face as if saying no before I chuckled. "I don't know what it is about this bed... but I sleep like a baby in here."

"Maybe it is the company." He said, wrapping his arms around me and resting his head on my shoulder.

"Meh. I don't think so." I chuckled, poking his cheek. "You snore."

"And you talk."

"Yours is annoying."

"Yours can be annoying, too." He smiled tightly.

"But you said it's cute." I pursed my lips.

"Because I'm in love, just wait a few years when this thing goes away." He laughed.

I stared at him, studying his face, my fingers tracing the patterns all over his arms. "Do you think we'll be together for a long time?"

"Uhm- I mean," he bit the inside of his cheek. "I plan on it. Why losing our time now if not?"

"Do you wanna get married?" I asked, out of the blue.

"Shouldn't you be on your knees to ask that question?" He cocked his head.

I laughed. "You wish."

He chuckled and leaned back on the bed, opening his arms to his sides. "I don't know. I don't think so."

"You don't wanna get married," I began as I lied down beside him on my stomach, so I could look at him, my hands following the silhouettes of the tattoos on his chest. "You don't wanna have children. What do you wanna do, Mr. Dumont?"

"Travel, I don't know. See the world. Just being with the right person is enough for me." He placed a kiss on my shoulder. "Do you wanna get married?"

I shook my head. "I never put much thought into my future. I just hope I can skate for a long, long time."

"You don't have a plan b?" He cupped my cheek with his hand, lowering my head so my lips touched his.

I pulled away before he could kiss me. "You have a plan b for your passion?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I love it when you get all defensive. Come here." I let him kiss me this time, slowly. With tenderness and warmth. "Whatever we do in life, yes, I plan on doing it beside you."

Those words struck me. And yes, I blushed hard, in case you doubted it. I couldn't believe he was so sure about us. The way he looked at me in pure adoration. I had never seen anyone look at somebody the way he did to me.

Was I really that special?

Was I really worth it?

"I love you." I whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

April had come around and with that, it was the twins' birthday. Everyone got so nervous about it. They were two and they liked to make it big. We usually went to the park, hung up some decorations, buy a huge cake and maybe hire somebody to entertain the kids. But they usually ended up playing soccer or something like that. They loved to invite their whole class and my mom and I got crazy trying to make snacks for all of them.

They usually just invited boys, but this year, they were ten. As they said, they were preteens and they needed, I repeat, NEEDED, to have girls at their party. They went so far that they even invited kids from the summer school they went to. They just saw them at birthday parties and stuff during the winter but they kept in touch with technology. I loved that my mom didn't restrict them with their birthday party. She liked to see us have fun and if that meant go all out, she would. For us. I never had big parties since I didn't have much friends but I remember always doing something I loved with my family. Birthdays are special and that's what they had always taught me.

We had different activities this year, some kids were playing soccer, some of them were on the bouncy castle and others were having their faces painted. I had asked Nico to do that but he declined, claiming that he wasn't good with kids.

I didn't understand why he was so weird about the whole kids thing when he was, in fact, good with them. And I knew he had fun too.

I wasn't very hopeful that he would even come, so when he appeared by the improvised soccer field on the grass, my heart skipped a beat. He looked incredibly good, a backpack on his back, his sunglasses giving him that mysterious air that I loved. I saw him greet Brandon who was playing the role of the referee. I knew Brandon warned him about something that had to do with me since he changed his whole expression, but five minutes later, they were laughing again.

That wasn't so bad.

"Bonjour, bébé." He smiled as he approached me, looking around for a second before placing a chaste kiss on my lips.

"I thought you wouldn't come." I smiled. I couldn't help it, it was a really pleasant surprise. Just being in his presence made me feel all sappy and happy.

"I.... I thought better of it." He looked around. I was arranging the snacks in a big table. "I'm hungry. Can I-" he brought his hand forward but I smacked it.

"That's for the kids. If there are any leftovers I'll let you eat."

He groaned and sat down in one of the chairs. "It's so hot in here."

"I know. I'm worried about the kids playing over there." I pointed to a group of girls who were playing under the sun. "Could you go and tell them to go in the shade?"

"Why don't you go?" He asked.

"Whoa. Okay." I shrugged. "I was just asking a favor."

He didn't say anything as he ran a hand through his hair, sighing and shaking his T-shirt so a little breeze would come up his stomach.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine." He mumbled. I stared at him biting my lips. He wasn't. I didn't know what had happened but he wasn't fine.

A brunette girl with a soccer uniform came running towards me. "Hi, Cara. Oli told me to ask you for help, I... my knee is bleeding." She said.

"Oh, sweetie. Sit there, we're gonna clean that up."

I gestured for the girl to sit beside Nico and she glanced up at him. "Hey, you were at my house. Some guys had hit you."

Nico glanced down at her as I cleaned the girl's knee. I was attentive to where this conversation was gonna go.

"Oh, yeah. You're Ace's sister, right?"

"I'm Claudia." She said, extending her hand. Nico shook it and continued hating life.

"Oh, so you're the one who plays soccer?" I asked her.

"He told you?"

"Yeah. You have a twin, right?" I asked. I had seen a girl that looked exactly the same.

"Yes, Cara. She doesn't play. She's always trying to like the boys." She scrunched up her nose, the wound probably hurt.

"And you don't like boys?" I asked.

"I'm like him." She said, pointing at Nico.

"Oh." These two knew each other more than I thought. I put on a bandaid and attempted a smile. I was still bothered about Nico's attitude. "That's it."

"Thank you, Cara." She said. I thought it was funny how she said my name every time.

"Be careful this time."

She nodded, got up from the chair and stared at Nico. "Why are you always sad?" She asked.

"I'm not sad." Nico frowned.

"Well, then you're making her sad." That's the last thing she said before she ran away towards the grass again.

"I'm making you sad?" He asked.

I hid my face from him and closed my bag where I had all the things I might need. "I don't really know what's going on, to be honest."

Nico sighed and grabbed my hand, pulling me down to sit beside him. He took off his sunglasses, his eyes were red. "I'm high as fuck, Cara. That's what's going on."

I frowned, pursing my lips. "Why?"

"Why what?" He put his sunglasses back on.

"Why are you high? You used to get high because of the pain, you're not in pain anymore." I questioned.

"I like the feeling." He mumbled.

"You like being moody?" I retorted.

"I just didn't want to be here." Nico looked away, his eyes following the kids playing.

"And you need to get high to bear with it?" I scoffed and got up from my chair, shaking off his hand when he tried to grab my arm. "Then leave, I didn't force you to come."

Nico stood up, staring at me.

"I said leave. If you're gonna act all rude, I don't want you here."

He bit his lips and reached for his backpack, taking a plastic bag from it and handed it to me. "That's for the twins. Tell them I wish them a happy birthday."

And with that, he walked away.

Ash gave me a questioning look from afar. With a heavy heart, I shook my head dismissing it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico called me a few times during the day, but I was with my family and it was a special day for everyone, not just the twins, so I completely ignored him. I rather talked to him when the effects of whatever he had smoked went away.

When we arrived home, it was already dark outside. We had to clean up and put everything away and it took us longer than expected. My stomach clenched when I was parking and I saw Nico's car on my street. I glanced around and I saw him sitting down on the porch's steps.

Brandon and Ben had already walked out of the other car, so they talked for a bit as my mom passed him by with Sandro in her arms and squeezed his cheek. For some reason, I was scared to get out. I didn't like the feeling that he might not be feeling in the right state of mind. I was afraid to know what was really going on. What if he had those thoughts again? What if I didn't know how to manage it?

"Are we getting out?" Oscar asked. "Open."

"That's Nico." Oli pointed out.

I drove with the twins and Justin, who was sleeping in the back.

"Hey, open!" Oscar exclaimed again.

I opened the door for them and they ran towards Nico, crashing their bodies against his legs.

He laughed and fist-bumped them, Brandon and Ben getting inside. I closed my car and approached them.

"Why didn't you come?" Oli asked.

"Your gift was the coolest!" He bought them a mini robot thing, that could do lots of things if you connected it to a phone. I hadn't heard of it but they said it was super trendy now. "Did you know you can name it and it changes color?"

"Yeah, and it can recognize your voice!"

"That's what the lady in the store said." Nico chuckled. "You can add my number and ask it to call me."

"Really?!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"I wouldn't do that." I chuckled, readjusting Justin in my arms.

Nico glanced up at me hiding his bottom lip inside his mouth, his expression cautious.

"He said it!" Oli said staring at me. "If he said it, we can have it."

I rolled my eyes and looked at Nico. "Come inside, I'm gonna put him to sleep."

"It's okay, I can stay-"

I gave him a pointed look.

He cleared his throat. "Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico was downstairs talking with grandpa when I walked inside the living room.

"Wanna go to my room?"

"Door open." Brandon said amused.

"Oh my god. I'm 22, Brandon. Leave me alone." I grabbed Nico's hand and guided him upstairs. The twins were taking their showers and I was very sure they would be storming into the bedroom in no time, so I stepped outside of the window, Nico following me to the roof.

I saw Nico's dejected expression and I quickly ran my fingers through his hair, brushing his curls away from his face. My other hand cupped his cheek, my thumb brushing his lower lip. "What's wrong, Nico?"

"I... It's just... I'm sorry I took it out on you. I'm so messed up." He leaned his head on my hand, finding comfort in the simple touch. "I didn't want to be around so many children... I- I'm afraid I'm not a good person, Cara." He mumbled.

"What are you talking about?"

"When I told you I don't want to have kids... I'm scared I won't be good to them. My parents had always made me feel like I wasn't enough, I was always afraid to talk to them, to be who I was. I didn't receive their affection, I never even got a goodnight kiss. I- I feel like I won't be able to be... a good parent." Nico frowned, licking his lips. "I feel like I'm not a good person. I did so many bad things in the past, Cara. You'd be surprised." I shook my head but he kept going. "And just because I craved my parents attention. I didn't have anyone to tell me what was right or wrong. I get-" he let out a big breath, "I get overwhelmed around kids, I don't know how to act because I'm afraid I'll fuck up."

"Stop." I frowned. "That's ridiculous, Nico. You are not your parents. What you did in the past doesn't matter now. That's not you. You changed. You're a good person, Nico. I know it. I know you.  You can see that from afar. I don't know what it is that you have, but- but they feel like they can talk to you. You don't treat them like kids, you treat them like they're adults, they feel listened. And they love that."

Nico frowned, shaking his head.

"You know me, Nico. I don't lie." I sighed, I hated that he doubted himself. "If you don't want to be around so many children is fine by me, but don't say it is because you're not a good person. Please don't ever say that." I grabbed his hands. "And I  don't want you to get high to deal with things. Talk to me, I'm here for you, okay?"

"That was stupid. That was what I would normally do before, I would do so many drugs to forget, to show up to important events, to deal with things I didn't like. And since the only thing I'm allowed to take now is weed, that's what I did. But it just made me feel worse."

I kept on staring at him.

"Don't look at me like that, please. I'm so sorry, bébé."

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his face all over. "I'm gonna shower you with all the affection you deserve." I whispered.

He chuckled. "I hope that's a lot."

"It is, silly." I stared at him, my fingers playing with the curls at the back of his head. "You feel better?"

He nodded.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" I asked, cocking my head playfully. "You owe it to Oli and Oscar."

"And what about all that affection?" He asked, hiding his face in the crook of my neck, placing a kiss on it.

"I could stay at your place." I whispered, nervous.

"Mhm." He placed another kiss behind my ear. "That sounds promising."

Just then we heard the twins in my bedroom. They were probably getting dressed since they liked to play around naked while they jumped on their beds.

"Come on, I want to see their embarrassed faces when they see you." I laughed.

Nico smiled and went over the window, knocking on the wood hard, what made the twins yell in fright.

While he bent down in front of the window, he glanced back at me with a smirk.

That's the Nico I liked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First chapter of the week! Next one will be on thurday. I've already established how the story's gonna go, so I think I can say they're about 10/15 chapters left.

I was surprised by your answers the other day. I thought more people would say Ace. I think it's because is the type of man that suits me better hehe

Another question I wanted to ask you guys... if you'd have to choose any character from the three books to have their own story, who would it be? It could be literally anyone.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote and let me know what you think in the comments ✨