#got cruise ships on the brain. i should return to writing cruise fic so i can finally fuckin publish it

[ceilingfan5]

I lied, here's another AU: fitness class pirates

(5 things au game)

fucking incredible. are they pirates who are taking a fitness class?? is it a modern fitness class dressing up like pirates????? is it a modern fitness class besieged by real pirates?? a fitness class on a cruise ship??????? i have had cruising on the brain...

okay krav is on a cruise with his moms, who were like come wiiiiith us you need a vacation and it would be so nice and krav is like im a full adult- and they were like we'll pay and he was like i'll pack right now

his poor goth ass on this cruise. he is Baking. he is grumpy. he's an alone adult goth man on a cruise with his moms trying not to be Hanging Out 24 sev with his moms but also it isn't like he's a social butterfly. he does Not just want to Go Up to a person and talk to them. OR be perceived being alone. you cannot win. it's like a gacha waifu game, probably. so he's like. fucking structure will maybe fix this. yeah? and he signs up for some events/classes

and shows up to a like, yoga class wearing his black workout clothes on this cruise ship in sunny middle of the ocean with no land on the horizon in any direction and he is sweating so bad his sunglasses are fogging up and he's doing this class and waiting for the sea to swallow him up cause he is not exactly making any friends here

AND then their class on the shiny deck is BESIEGED by fucking?? pirates?? waving too-shiny swords and making very silly pirate noises, and the most handsome man Kravitz has ever seen "takes out" the yoga instructor and they start doing pirate yoga. all themed for the on cruise pirate show of course. it's an ad. damn. krav is not going to get tied up by a pirate. aw.

and taako comes over and brandishes his plastic sword at krav for staring and not doing downward dog and krav laughs and taako forgets his role and they talk and krav is heart eyes and taakos like. come see me after the show. eyebrow waggle. you would not want to get frisky in the crew quarters of a cruise ship but im sure lots of people do. but maybe they can figure something else out. anyway taako's on contract for the rest of the season but they become online boyfriends and there's an emotional airport reunion when they finally get to move in together and- listen-

[honestgrins]

How about Polin with Jealous Boyfriend + Oblivious Girlfriend.

“It must be fascinating to sail so often,” Penelope said between bites of her cracker. “I’ve never even been on a cruise, let alone every summer.”

The waiter shifted his tray to the other hand, his smile bashful. “It doesn’t pay nearly as well as these catering gig, and theater crew on a ship is hardly the West End career I’m aiming to achieve.”

She rolled her eyes and reached for another cracker. “You’re young and learning, no one could blame you for enjoying the opportunity to travel while doing what you love. My boyfriend’s in Greece, actually, though no one could accuse him of youthful folly.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Her hand pressed to her chest, Penelope whirled to find him standing behind her. She lit with a smile as he lay a possessive hand on her waist. “Colin! You’re meant to arrive next week!”

With an oddly straight posture, he nonetheless ducked to kiss her cheek. “I missed you,” he murmured before his eyes tracked to the waiter still lingering. Unable to resist, he plucked a cracker from the tray, then another. “My youthful folly seems to ruin best-laid plans, I’m afraid. The article wrapped itself up nicely enough for me to return home. Who’s this, then?”

Her brow furrowed at the chill in his tone, but she was too thrilled with the grip she had on his arm to pay it much heed. “Who? Oh, Andrew! He’s an actor, if you can believe it. We were commiserating over the entertainment and got to talking. You know I’ve got that cruise ship thriller in my edit pile.”

Colin relaxed a bit, his arm curling around her with warmth. “Always writing, darling,” he sighed, only to kiss her cheek again. “Pick Andrew’s brain later, would you? I should like to go home.”

“Of course,” she realized, “you must be exhausted. Your mother is right over-”

“I will wave to her as we leave,” he promised, his lips brushing her ear. “And I don’t care how many waiters she charms with her presence tonight. I only ask for yours.”

Her eyes rolled again, though accompanied by an indulgent grin. “Don’t be ridiculous, Colin. He’s hardly charmed by-”

“The most beautiful girl in the room?” He led them toward the entrance, happy to leave the party behind them.

“Colin!”

“In town?”

“Now, really-”

“The world, then,” Colin decided, helping her into her coat. Spreading warm hands over her shoulders, he barely let go to offer his arm instead. “With that settled, shall we?”

Anyone want a mini-fic?

[sunshinejihyun]

Come Together || Nicky Horne

Author’s note: After far too many episodes of pining for this beautiful man, I finally decided to write something. This fic starts off where Episode 8 of the Boat Party leaves off on and is, essentially, what I wish and hope would happen but never will because Fusebox likes to torture me. I feel like this is the part where I should tag @kittidot​ because she 100% knows the pain of continually pining for Nicky week after week. And she's just a wonderful friend who’s always SO supportive of my writing, she deserves a little love.

Warnings: this contains descriptive NSFW scenes, please click away if that isn’t something you’re comfortable with reading

Word Count: 4,714

Summary: When a bottle of wine gets opened, out pours the feelings with it

Masterlist

Standing outside of her open door, Nicky casually draped himself against the side, watching her for a moment before gently tapping his fingers against the door. “Knock knock!”

She pushed herself up so she could see who was at the door and her bright smile danced over her face as she met his eyes. “You know, you don’t have to say ‘knock knock’, you just actually knocked!”

“I’d never thought of it that way!” Nicky had a smile teasing at his lips as he made his way over to the unoccupied side of her bed and he flopped onto it, actually grinning as she shrieked when he bounced her with his body weight.  “You know…” tucking his arms behind his head, he turned his face to look at her, only to find her already staring back at him. He didn’t know what to say, not really. He just knew he wanted to be around her and see her smile once more before he went to bed. “I still don’t get why it's a banana boat. Why not a carrot?” She cracked a smile at that and Nicky let out a long sigh, looking up at the ceiling of her room. There was a dimly lit ceiling light that was flickering every once in a while and Nicky  couldn’t take his eyes off it. If he did, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to look in her eyes and not blurt out his whole conversation with Elladine. “I don’t know why I’m asking myself these questions. I must be tired.”

Nicky heard the girl next to him yawn and he looked towards her, his heart thumping as he watched her rub her eyes sleepily. “I can’t believe how much we did today, I’m exhausted.”

Stretching his legs, Nicky’s eyes went back to the flickering light. “Right?”

In his head, Nicky was silently cursing himself.  Why couldn’t he think of something better, something funnier to say? Instead, all he said was ‘right’? What was wrong with him? Outwardly, he changed the subject. “I wanted to check that you and Bill were OK. So, how’s it going with you?”

She let out a heavy sigh and sat up on the bed, Nicky following suit. “Bill… he doesn’t like uncertainty. But it’s hard, because he never wants to have the serious conversation to work things out.”

Nicky’s shoulder was pressed directly against hers and her leg brushed his every time she fidgeted. “Ooh, Elladine can feel that way sometimes as well. And I mean, things have been a bit up in the air with the two of you.” Nicky thought back to the trip earlier, how he sat at the beach and watched as Bill stroked her hair, his arm wrapped around her as much as he could with lifejackets on. As Nicky watched her in the arms of someone else, he wished to himself he could feel her soft skin against his own, wished it was him she was in love with. “But you seemed to be getting on really well when you went for that swim. Speaking of… Elladine and I had a chat this evening. About it being hard on us when she’s away so much.” He didn’t want to bring up Elladine, their chat had also included some conversation about how Ella noticed the way Nicky looked at the girl he called his best friend.

Elladine wasn’t wrong, he looked at her like he was in love with her. Because he was. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in Elladine, he was. But this girl snuck up on him before he could even realize it. Elladine understood though, she wanted to try to work things through with him but she also wanted to give him time to think, he needed it.

The girl next to him moved her body so it was facing him and Nicky's breath caught in his throat as her night shirt slipped off her shoulder more and exposed more of her smooth skin. “What happened in your talk with her? Are you okay?”

Nicky let the words tumble out of his mouth, and he was so relieved to tell her what had happened. No matter his feelings for the girl, she was his best friend. “I was kinda nervous. But I thought, if Yasmin can open up then so can I. I said that I know how important her work is to her, but it’s hard when it takes over during ‘us time’. We’re gonna try and save work talk for particular times.  Then we can focus on each other when we’re together. But it felt good to talk about it properly. That’s a long way of saying thank you for the chat yesterday.  It made me think about things.”

The girl sat quiet, a thoughtful look on her face as she bit her lip. “Oh no!” Nicky gasped out, trying to get her to release that damn lip so he could focus on anything other than the thought of biting that same lip and the type of sound she’d make as he did so.

As predicted, her mouth dropped open in shock. “What is it?”

Nicky racked his brain, searching for anything he could say to change the subject. “Bill never got crowned the Banana Boat King!”

Her face dropped in disappointment and Nicky regretted bringing up Bill. “I think he’ll be okay. We didn’t have a crown to give anyways.”

Nicky needed to get out of the room for a moment, he needed to collect his thoughts. “I’ll go and ask Bill if he wants to donate his bottle of wine to us. Then we can share it.”

Her mouth slowly formed a smirk, causing Nicky’s stomach to fill with butterflies. That damn smirk, that damn lip, her shirt falling off her shoulder, all the accidental brushes of leg against leg and hand against hand - it was official: she was trying to kill him. “As long as you don’t hog it all!”

Nicky feigned offense, a hand pressed to his chest. “Would I do that to you?” Before she answered, he pushed himself off the bed, the need to take a breath of fresh air overwhelming. If he didn’t, he may act on impulse and ruin the friendship they’ve grown over their time in the villa and the year after. “I’ll go and ask Bill. Don’t go anywhere!”

As he shut the door, Nicky leaned against the locked door, breath coming out in fast pants. The effect this girl had on him was insane, like nothing he’d ever felt before. It drove him absolutely crazy.

Gathering his composure, Nicky made his way to the main deck of the ship and found Bill leaning over the railing, eyes traveling over the sea and to the moon before returning back to the water again. “Wishing you could be up there right now?” Nicky leaned next to Bill and smiled silently to himself as the other man jumped, pulled out of thought.

“Wishing the stars could send me the answer, to be honest.” Bill replied before shaking his head and laughing. “I sound like something from Lottie’s quiz now, which was the catalyst for us getting into a fight.” Bill’s light gaze settled on Nicky. “You’ve talked to her, yeah? How is she?”

Nicky sighed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Honestly, not great. But it’s not my place to say much else. I think you both should have a chat, one about everything. Put everything on the table, that sort of thing.” It was quiet between the two men for a moment, both of them awkwardly staring at the other. “I actually came to find you. Are you going to drink your bottle of wine?”

Bill thought for a moment before breaking eye contact. “No, you’re welcome to take it. I wasn’t going to drink it alone anyway.” Bill turned back towards the dark waters, staring at the moon’s reflection rippling, their conversation was over. So Nicky went and swiped a bottle of some sweet wine - which he knew was her favorite - and made his way back to her room, taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.

“Knock knock!” Much like earlier that night, she smiled at him, shaking her head after she opened the door to let him in.

“We talked about this!”

As Nicky plopped back on the bed, he held out the bottle to her. “Wanna open it?”

“Erm,” her face twisted in confusion and Nicky laughed. “I don’t have a bottle opener!”

Nicky silently held out his hand and she passed the bottle back, the neck warm where she had her hand wrapped around. “Neither do I!” Rubbing a hand over his forehead, he sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t even think about it.” “No biggie, I’ll go find one. Now it’s your turn to stay right here!” She held up her hands like Nicky did earlier and he laughed, settling onto her bed and closing his eyes, his legs crossed at his ankles. “Make yourself at home!”

“Don’t worry babe, I already did.” Nicky joked out and he heard a small chuckle from her before the door to her room closed.

Once she had left, Nicky sat up and took a look around her room. It looked like everyone else’s, it was a cruise ship room after all, but it was littered with things that made it so her. Her fruity smelling lip gloss lay on its side next to the eyeliner she continually wore, a book on the nightstand that she had told Nicky about was dogeared, and - oh man, some lacy red lingerie was laying on the back of a chair.

Nicky wasn’t sure, but he almost surely would have remembered seeing those when he came in for the first time. They were certainly unforgettable and he was glad he had seen them for the first time on his own; picturing her wearing those had his mouth drying out and his boxers tightening and right as the door reopened, he adjusted himself and hoped she wouldn’t question what he was looking at.  

The only thing running through his mind was curiosity. Did she pull those out while he was away and contemplate putting them on? Is it possible that she could feel the same way he did?

“Here,” she handed him a clear plastic cup filled to the top with some wine and Nicky laughed as he slurped at the top to keep it from falling out.

“We have all night! If I didn’t know any better, you’re trying to get me drunk quickly.” Mischief crossed over her features. “I’m trying to get both of us drunk! We deserve it!” She sipped out of her own cup and a drop of wine slipped over her bottom lip and Nicky physically had to restrain himself from leaning it over and sucking the droplet into his own mouth.

This was going to be a long night.

An hour later, they were taking sips from the bottle of wine, passing it back and forth instead of fussing with the plastic cups and potentially spilling anywhere.

“Can I ask you something?” Her head was resting against the headboard, next to Nicky’s feet.

“Girl, you can ask me anything!” Nicky was feeling the effects of the wine and he had lost his gray tee about twenty minutes ago, it was getting hot in the room.

“What do you think would have happened if I came down before Elladine and I had picked you? Or picked you at one of the earlier recouplings?” Her cheeks were rosy and she refused to lock eyes with him, opting to pick at the deep maroon color painted on her nails.

“I mean, we’re mates right?” Nicky laughed, glancing towards the red lace that was always in the corner of his eye. “We would have gotten along no matter what.” He didn’t want to say what was actually going through his mind: that he would have been overjoyed, that at each girl's choice he hoped she would choose him, but her eyes never even glanced over him. It was probably his fault, early on he had made a promise to himself, that he would stay loyal to Ella. So he compared her to his sister, and it killed him a little inside everytime. She was nowhere near being a sister to him, she was everything he wanted and more.

“No, I mean like if I picked you because I liked you romantically.”

Her name fell from his lips and Nicky found himself pushing himself up and moving closer to her, his hand resting on the bed near her upper thigh. “What are you trying to say?”

She buried her face in her hands after setting aside the bottle of wine. “I don’t know!” Nicky stayed silent, studying her face and as she opened one of her hands a peeked an eye out, he sent her a soft smile and gently pulled her hands away from her face. Absentmindedly, her hand clutched his and Nicky looked down at their connected hands. Her soft skin against his guitar calluses felt right. “There was a time I thought maybe we could have become something, but you never saw me as anything more than a sister.”

Nicky wasn’t sure if it was the wine or the fact that he had the chance to get his feelings off his chest, but he found himself blurting out everything he was thinking at that moment. “Out of everyone in the villa, I would have been proud to say that you were my partner. When you walked out that first day, you spared me no glance. You could have chosen me but you didn’t! So I figured you’d never see me that way.” Nicky let out a breath he was holding. “I told myself that I’d stay loyal to the person who chose me first and that was Elladine, but if you chose me at a recoupling… that would have changed so many things.”

“Nicky,” the way she whispered his name felt like being called home, like a soft blanket wrapping around his shoulders by his mum when he was sick. It felt exactly the way love should: soft and warm, fiery and comforting.

Reaching up to cup her cheek, Nicky pushed back some out of place strands of hair, much like he saw Bill do to her in the ocean earlier in the day. The sudden realization of what was happening caught up with him and he jerked his hand away, moving across the room to sit on the chair by the vanity.

And then his arm brushed something lacy and he blushed before pushing it to the floor, trying his best to ignore the pictures in his head. “We can’t do this.” He looked up and saw her face twisted in confusion and hurt. “We can’t do this to Bill and Elladine. We just can’t.”

Rubbing his hand up and down on his face, Nicky took a few deep breaths and looked at the girl. Tears were silently streaming down her cheeks and he wanted to cross the room and pull her into his arms, kissing all the tears away. But that mental image got pushed to the side by the thought of her tasting the sea salt off Bill’s skin earlier while Nicky watched from the sand and he pushed that thought to the side. “Nicky,” she sobbed out his name this time and his heart broke. “Please, Nicky.”

He wasn’t sure what she was pleading for; he wasn’t even sure she knew, but either way it ripped his heart in half. “When I talked with Ella, she also brought up you. She’s not blind, she saw the way I’d look at you. And I promised to try to work past those feelings so that she and I could try to work out even long distance. But you’re sitting there, and all I can think about is pulling you into my arms and kissing away your sadness and I’m so drunk and this isn’t fair to you.”

Without even realizing it, Nicky found himself kneeling next to her, his hand wrapped securely around hers. “You were always my first choice.” Her voice came out soft between hiccups. “No question.”

It was now or never, and since he’d told her everything else, he might put the rest of it out there. “You’re still my first choice.” Wordlessly she tugged on his arm, pulling his face close to hers. He knew what she wanted, he wanted it probably as much if not more. “If you don’t want this, I need you to stop me now.”

Without responding, she wrapped her arms around his neck and connected their lips. Nicky’s hands found her hips and as a thumb slipped under her loose shirt, he rubbed circles on her bare skin. Without breaking the kiss, she pulled him up and he followed her lead, laying his body on top of hers before his mouth left hers and trailed down to her neck, nipping and licking a trail to her collarbone before she tugged on his hair and brought his mouth back to hers. Their tongues met and Nicky felt her wrap her legs around his hips, drawing him as physically close as they could be with their clothes on. She tasted like tears and sunshine and Nicky found himself licking into her mouth more, eager to taste as much as he could. She was intoxicating; he was probably more drunk on the taste of her than he was from the wine.

Pulling back with a nip to her bottom lip, Nicky pushed some of her mussed hair away from her eyes and rejoiced in the whine that escaped her. “Did you pull those out earlier when I left you alone?” Nicky pointed to the pile of lace that was laying discarded on her otherwise clean floor and the deep flush on her neck and cheeks told him all he needed to know. “While you were gone all I could do was picture you in them.”

Her hand reached up to cup his neck and she stroked the sensitive skin there, causing Nicky to shudder and close his eyes. When he opened them, he saw her watching him intently and he leaned down to brush a kiss across her lips again. “Do you want me to put them on?” Nicky rolled off her and lightly tapped her bum when she got up from the bed and she giggled, picking them off the floor and glancing back at Nicky who was laying on his back, his hands resting just above the waistband of his pants and watching her appreciatively. “Don’t look while I change! Cover your eyes!”  

“Yes ma’am,” Nicky drawled out, one of his hands dropping on his eyes and shielding his view from the girl.

As he felt a body straddle him, his hands immediately went to cup her ass and as he felt the rough lace he groaned. “You can open your eyes now.”

His eyes landed on her face but quickly traveled down her curves, stopping to appreciate the red lace on her chest before moving his gaze lower, eyeing the underwear as well. “Red suits you.”

Smacking her hand gently against his bare chest, she laughed. “That’s all you have to say?” He gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her upper body down so her clothed breasts were pushed against his chest.

Kissing her deeply, he pulled away only to growl in her ear. “What I could say is that it makes you look sexy as hell and makes me want to do everything to you that you’ll let me. It’s so much better than anything my imagination could have come up with.”

She moaned as his teeth grazed her earlobe and Nicky’s hardon pressed insistently against her. There was no way she couldn’t tell how much he wanted her.

“Please,” she whimpered out as he pressed kisses up and down the valley of her breasts.

“Use your words,” he teased, delivering a harder nip to the part of her breasts that were uncovered and she let out a loud moan, causing Nicky to do the same thing a few more times.

“Please touch me.” She whispered and that was all the confirmation he needed to reach around and unhook the bra, throwing it onto the floor before cupping her breasts in both hands and thumbing her nipples softly.

“If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to. We can stop and go to sleep and then go back like everything is normal tomorrow.” Nicky took his hands off of her, despite it being the last thing he wanted to do. What they were doing now was bad, but if they went all the way, there’d be no point of return. He wanted to make sure this is exactly what she wanted.

“Nicky, I can say this with complete certainty: you’re what I want. I’ve sobered up, and this is still what I want so, please,” there she was with the pleading again and Nicky hooked his arms around her legs and flipped them over so he was laying on top of her. “You’re in a lot more clothes than me.” She pouted, her bottom lip sticking out obscenely and Nicky pulled at it with his teeth before raising himself off of her and peeling his sweatpants and boxers off.

“Better?” He teased, settling himself back on top of her, his boner pressing right against her clothed center.

“Much,” she replied, tracing her nails lightly across Nicky’s chest and wiggling her hips against his own, his moan drew out a giggle from her lips and he quickly went to cover her mouth with his own. “Nicky, I need you.” She was panting against his mouth and her hips were moving against him on their own accord.

Raising himself off her body, Nicky knelt down by the lower half of her body and dipped his calloused fingers into each side of her panties before pulling them down, making sure to kiss up and down her calf as he did so. “Do you have a condom?” He asked, his fingers finding his way to her wet folds and rubbing a few light circles on her clit.

“Nightstand drawer,” she moaned out, her hips moving to meet his fingers. Pulling away, Nicky rubbed her wetness from his fingers onto his cock before slowly reaching over to grab a condom and roll it on his hard length.

As he sunk into her, Nicky groaned out her name in time with her calling his and as he thrust into her, his eyes never left hers, wanting to savor this moment while he could. When he felt her come around him, he buried his head in her neck and kissed and bit more hickeys onto her previously unblemished skin before his thrusts sped up, chasing his own release.

After discarding the condom in the trash, Nicky flopped back on the bed, pulling the sheet up and around their naked bodies before turning over and spooning her, an arm resting lazily around her waist. “You weren’t kidding earlier when you said we did a lot today, I’m way more than exhausted now.”

Nicky heard her stifle a yawn before laughing sleepily, sinking back farther into his chest. “Night, Nicky.”

“Night babe,” he replied before leaning over and pressing the button to finally turn off the flickering ceiling light.

She was awake before him and the feel of her nails tracing pointless patterns on his naked skin roused Nicky from the deep slumber he was in, goosebumps forming in the wake of her path. “Morning,” She didn’t reply, opting to continue the swirling on his chest. “Are you okay?”

Shaking her head, she buried her head in his chest and Nicky’s heart dropped into his stomach at the thought of her being upset. Gently smoothing down her hair, he held the woman close to him and whispered calming words, hoping that they would help soothe her into telling him what was the matter.

Minutes passed and her breathing evened out again and seconds later, he heard her soft snores fill the room. Laughing to himself, Nicky pulled her closer to him and closed his eyes again as well.

It could have been minutes or hours, Nicky wasn’t sure, but all he knew was that Seb was pounding on her door, asking her if she’d seen Nicky anywhere, he was late for their podcast recording. She called back saying they accidentally fell asleep in there and Nicky was going to be out in a moment before rolling over and grabbing her discarded sleep shirt off the floor.

“Hey, are you gonna tell me what was the matter earlier?” Nicky caught hold of her wrist and gently traced his fingertips along the inside of her arm. “I was worried.”

She began to speak and then stopped herself before letting out a big sigh and trying again. “It’s going to be hard to see you with Elladine today.” Sitting down next to him, she didn’t close the distance between them so Nicky did, their hands just barely brushing each other. “I don’t know what I should have expected… We can still be friends right?”

“Hey, I wouldn’t have done what we did last night if you weren’t the one I wanted to be with.” Nicky’s eyes tried to seek out her own but she wouldn’t look away from their connected hands. “I’m going to tell Elladine that I’ve thought about what I want and that what I want is you, even if you’re not ready to give up what you and Bill have going on.”

“I told you last night, you were always my first choice. You still are.” Once her eyes met his own, Nicky immediately felt at peace. “Whatever Bill and I had in the villa is gone, we’ve not been good for a long time. We’ve only stayed together because that’s what everyone expected of us.” Silence for a moment, and then, “I will always care for him, but only as a friend.” “Same with me for Ella,” Nicky admitted. “I’m nervous as to how this is gonna go.” “Me too,” she replied, biting her swollen lips.

“We’ll figure it out together?” Nicky questioned, moving to stand up and holding a hand out to pull her up with him.

“Yes, together.” She agreed, leaning up to press a sweet kiss to his lips. All their shared kisses from the night before were full of passion and lust, but this one, the one filled with pure love and admiration had to be Nicky’s favorite. “I’ve better let you go, Seb’s probably already planning my demise.”

“Yeah, and you’ve gotta spend some time with some makeup today.” Nicky teased, gesturing at all the hickeys covering her neck.

“I’ll see you in a little bit?” She asked, reluctant to let go of his hand and Nicky felt himself feeling the same. He knew that as soon as he left her he’d be counting down the seconds until he got to be in her presence again.

“You know it babe!” He replied before leaning down and kissing her softly once more. With one more glance back at her, Nicky shut the door behind him and came face to face with Seb. “Hey,”

“Finally tell her how you feel?” Seb clapped him on the back and Nicky grinned at his friend.

“Yeah, is it that obvious?”

“I’ve never seen you look happier,” Seb’s honest answer was shocking to Nicky but Seb quickly covered it up with a smirk. “That, and the billions of hickeys covering your neck.”

Nicky’s hands flew up to cover his bruised neck and he blushed as Seb laughed. “Don’t we have a show to record?”

“Sure, but after you’re gonna have to tell me this: where do the hickeys end?”

“Mate, you don’t even want to know!” Nicky laughed.

As he and Seb joked around for half an hour on their podcast, Nicky’s mind swarmed with all the possible outcomes telling Elladine could bring. He knew he could handle it though, because no matter what, he had someone special waiting for him afterwards.