BY THE TIME RHETT HAD GOTTEN BETTER—ALL THANKS TO NICKY AND SAM, THANK YOU VERY MUCH—THE AFOREMENTIONED MEN HAD GROWN MUCH CLOSER. Of course, Nicky still held back most of the time, always remembering himself just before he truly let go, but Sam had quickly discerned that while Nicky held back, there was no reason he had to, which meant that the younger man was now subjected to the same amount of sarcasm and judgement that everyone else was.

After staying up all night talking to Hank, his fears of him telling Rhett anything squashed when the man first got sick, he had slept until the afternoon, waking to the sun peeking through his blinds and the sounds of loud voices laughing just outside.

Pushing himself up with a groan, he rubbed his eyes and padded over to the door, peering out of his room, wincing at the bright light, catching sight of three familiar men in the kitchen.

"Oh, good morning, princess," Sam called out, "I made you breakfast, you know, if you're not too good for that kinda thing."

Nicky rolled his eyes, sitting at one of the barstools on the counter, gladly taking the proferred plate from the older man who just leaned forward, giving him a sly smile. Nicky paused right before taking a bite, narrowing his eyes.

"You poison this, kiwi?" Nicky asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, definitely," Sam said, his face blank, "Yeah, no, go on and eat it, Gnomeo, I've been waiting for you to drop dead for a while now."

"Gnomeo?" Rhett whispered.

"It's a long story involving a school musical too many years ago and a movie marathon, like, two days ago," Nicky explained, never breaking eye contact as he took a bite of his food, narrowing his eyes at Sam who didn't even flinch.

Rhett motioned towards them with his hands, eyes wide, turning over to Steve, making a face and shaking his hands. Steve simply nodded, taking a sip of his coffee as he leaned against the counter, keeping his eyes off of the two men, figuring they wouldn't be too happy with an audience.

"Well..." Rhett drawled, catching their attention after schooling his features and feigning nonchalance, "If there's no greeting for us, we're just gonna be on our way."

Nicky swiveled in his stool and took in Rhett's pressed blue shirt that seemed to make his eyes even brighter, as well as his lack of glasses, and over at Steve who, while now growing out his beard and his hair, still looked as fresh as he could, also wearing a nice blue shirt, fiddling with his own glasses.

"Where are you going, what's the occasion?" he asked, unable to keep from smiling at the sight of the two of them.

"It's Valentine's Day," Rhett said, tugging at his shirt, "Should I change to red?"

"It's Valentine's Day?" Nicky parroted, looking over to Sam who shrugged, waggling his eyebrows before glancing towards the two men, smirking, and Nicky simply scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"It is," Steve said, smiling, "Rhett and I're gonna go out today, so you've got the loft to yourself. Please try going outside, though, maybe talk to some people, I don't like the idea of you being lonely today."

"I'm not lonely, I've got Sam," Nicky said, gesturing over towards the man, only to pause, realizing what he had just said. "I-I mean, if you don't already have plans, but even if you don't, don't think you have to stay, you could go out, be by yourself or to a bar or something, find someone to hook up with, you know, that's always cool..."

Sam parted his lips, glancing over to Steve who was looking at Nicky with a mix of second-hand embarrassment and sympathy, glancing over to meet Sam's eye.

"I mean...while I do like having some fun, I'm still on the run and that might not be the best plan right now..." he said slowly, finally looking back towards Nicky, "So, if you wanna go out and do something, we can. You know, party of two, but more of a solidarity kinda thing."

Nicky nodded, unsure of how he was feeling, the corners of his lips raising ever so slightly. "Cool. Cool, yeah. Though I gotta say, man, you made me breakfast..."

Sam rolled his eyes and waved his hand. "I'm gonna go into work, I'll be back in two hours, we'll go out then, okay?"

Nicky smiled, taking another bite of his food, watching as Sam walked around the counter, patting Steve on the back, winking at him before doing the same with Rhett, but not before giving him a stern look. Then he flicked the back of Nicky's head before ruffling his hair, walking out of the loft and closing the door.

Rhett took a deep breath. "Boy, what are you playing, I'm too old for this, do you want to kill me this early in the morning—"

"It's past noon," Steve pointed out.

"That is not the point," Rhett shouted, clapping his hand over the man's mouth, "Nicholas Jason Green, as your best friend and roommate, you need to let me know exactly what you're playing so I can be prepared."

Nicky turned to face him, holding his plate in front of him, continuing to eat. "I'm not trying anything. What are you trying?"

Rhett reached out, splaying his hand across Steve's chest, the younger blond just rolling his eyes while Rhett simply shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"We're gonna head over to Coney Island, go around our old haunts, get some dinner, it'll be a time," Steve explained, reaching up and pulling Rhett's hand away from his chest, lacing their fingers together.

Nicky smiled. "Sounds like it. Have fun, you guys, hope the lines aren't too long. You planning on coming home tonight?" He directed the last question over to Rhett who bit his lip, glancing over towards Steve.

"If I'm not, I'll text you," he said, and Nicky smiled; their relationship was based around the need for the other to stay safe, caring for them the way most people had neglected to when they were growing up. It was nice to know some things never really changed.

With that, the two were saying goodbye and headed out the door, and Nicky was alone. He sat for a moment, just eating his food, unsure if the emptiness in the room bothered him or not. He liked to think not, since he was alone most of the time when growing up—Kim liked to say that she was around in his life in high school, but if she actually stopped to think, theirs was more of a casual friendship than anything else, she just favored his company more when it was all said and done—but that didn't mean that he hadn't gotten used to having at least one person care about him.

But those people left, and that was okay. He tried to convince himself that it was okay.

Sighing, he placed his plate in the sink and headed towards the shower, hoping that the warm water would get rid of the bad mood he had accidentally thrown himself in. After all this time, one would think he would have gotten over his irrational dislike for Valentine's Day, but old habits died hard, it seemed.

○ ○ ○

"Happy Valentine's Day."

Seventeen-year-old Nicky rolled his eyes as he raised his head from where it was buried in a textbook, his eyes drooping and his eyebrow raised. There was a bitter taste in his mouth and he couldn't help but scowl at the hot pink shirt Terran was sporting, along with the large bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"Valentine's Day is a consumerist—" he began, only for Terran to shush him loudly, throwing a flower in his direction.

"Quit being such a pessimist," the older man said, "This is the first Valentine's Day you're spending at the complex, so I'm gonna give you some advice, okay?"

Nicky sighed, turning back down to his work, too bitter to even want to see Terran, as surprising as that was. "Do I have to listen?"

"Since I'm boss of you? Yeah," Terran said, moving to flop onto the bed, jostling Nicky's things, causing the younger man to scowl over at him, to which the blond simply smiled.

"You need to stop hating everything," the man said, "Seriously. What good does it do to just glare and grumble about something that makes people happy? It does nothing to you and, worse, it might actually hurt those people."

"That's their problem," Nicky argued, and Terran frowned, all mirth gone.

He pointed towards the textbook. "You wanna be a psychologist? You wanna help people?"

Nicky nodded. "Of course."

The scoff that followed was enough to hurt. "How is being a psychologist supposed to help people? All you do is make up something on the spot and hope they believe it, it's not a real science, it's a waste of time."

That hurt more than he was ever willing to admit.

He bit his lip and turned away, trying to ignore his words and focus on his textbook, but it hurt too much. He didn't know what Terran was doing, but it came completely out of left field, and it struck a nerve that he had promised never to strike.

"How'd you think Lily felt when you told her Valentine's Day was a meaningless holiday?" Terran asked, after minutes of silence.

Nicky sighed, dropping his head forward. "Is that seriously why you did that?" he demanded, voice quiet for fear of it breaking, wiping at his eyes.

Terran wasn't looking at him, instead just shrugging. "She was so excited to go on that date, Nicky, and you ruined it for her. You know she's not going anymore, right?"

The younger man's chest twisted with guilt. Lily was one of the girls who lived in the complex and had her own good deal of baggage, Terran often needing to coax her into doing basic routine things like showering and eating. It had been a surprise for everyone when she started going out more, though that was a term to be used rather loosely. So, needless to say, hearing that he was the reason why she was going to be staying inside was enough to make him angry.

"Now," Terran said lightly, "Is that her problem? Or was it yours?"

Nicky sighed heavily. "I'm sorry."

Terran stood, picking up his bouquet and opening the door. "Don't apologize to me."

○ ○ ○

Nicky turned off the water and hopped out of the bathroom, his heart aching at the memory. He had gone to shower in the hopes of remembering the happier Valentine's Day moments, as there had been many, but instead he had to remember the worst of them. Conventionally, there were moments far worse, but that had been one of the few instances when Terran was truly upset with him, and that was as bad as it could get, in his book.

Sighing, he went to his room, falling onto the bed. He didn't want to go anywhere anymore. He just wanted to stay inside and try not to think about anything.

So that's what he did. He had showered for about forty minutes, so he had about an hour and twenty minutes before Sam was to return back to the loft. An hour and twenty minutes to come up with a valid excuse as to why he didn't want to get up and go anywhere when, in reality, he just didn't want to. No reason for it, he just felt bad.

And to think, he tried to help people who felt like this all the time.

Pushing all those thoughts out of his mind, he just closed his eyes, not quite falling asleep, but not quite awake either, just trying to rest and find a way to cope with the heavy weight on his entire body.

He just didn't want to move.

So he didn't. He didn't no how long he spent just lying there, but he did, and he wondered if he was going to lie there the entire day. Maybe if he just didn't move, Sam would just leave, figuring he had gone out without him, or would just give up and go have fun by himself. He didn't care.

It was sometime later that he realized, yeah, he did care. He cared that for most of his life he had ruined so much for himself, just as much as people ruined things for him. He had promised himself he wouldn't do that anymore, yet there he was; of course, he couldn't help it, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to pull himself out.

He sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position, going slowly at first before deciding to just jump to his feet. Sometimes, he just needed to throw himself in if he wanted to get anywhere.

Fiddling with his bluetooth speaker, he pulled out his phone. He never really let it on, but music was rather important to him. It wasn't as if a certain band or song got him through a tough time, like the case with some people he had heard of, but that was never for him. Music was something fun he could lose himself in, nothing important, nothing major. It was just something he enjoyed.

He didn't know why he had to validate that for himself every time he thought he enjoyed music; it was as if he had to remind himself of something. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, he put on one of the playlists he had made for himself, songs that only he had found, no one else.

There was reason for that all to its own, but nothing that needed to be thought about right then and there.

He smiled the moment the familiar sound filled his room and he slowly began to sway, just moving his body and grinning, spinning around and moving to the beat, jumping around the room. He never was the best dancer, never learned and never cared to, but it didn't take a genius to know how to move. Luckily for him since he was one.

By the time he had gotten through half of the playlist, he was in somewhat of a better mood. That was the thing about him. He was still numb, just wanted to lie down, but he had gotten himself smiling and moving, and that was just enough to get by.

He was just getting into a new song when he nearly jumped out of his skin.

There, leaning in the doorway, was Sam, smirking at him with just enough malice to let Nicky know he was never going to live this down.

"Ready to go?" the older man asked, watching as Nicky rushed to turn off the music, his face red-hot from embarrassment.

"Uh, yeah, you know, let me-let me get changed, I..." he sighed, rolling his head, "I wasn't really planning on going out."

Sam raised his eyebrows, pushing off the doorframe. "We don't have to go out if you don't want—"

"No, I want to," Nicky said firmly, and Sam simply raised his eyebrows, nodded, and stepped out, closing the door behind him.

Taking a steadying breath, Nicky turned to his closet, trying to rid himself of the complete mortification of being caught to any degree. He rummaged through his clothes, sighing when he realized Sam had yet to return the clothes he had lent him over a month before.

So, instead, he pulled out the maroon shirt he had worn the night Sam came over and grabbed one of his favorite jeans, throwing on one of his thicker coats, quickly grabbing his keys and his phone, stumbling out of his room and nearly falling onto the floor.

Sam looked over from where he was fiddling with a stick of lip balm, smirking. "You alright, over there?"

Nicky coughed, smoothing down his button-up. "Peachy. Where do you wanna go?"

Sam shrugged. "It's still early out. You wanna just walk around, do you have some place in mind?"

Nicky hummed, glancing over towards his room, practically seeing his computer through the wood. "I have an idea..."

º º º

"Why're we following a find my iPhone to SoHo?" Sam asked, the two climbing out of the subway and looking around.

"'Cause I'm feeling pretty down right now and I thought this'd be funny," Nicky said, grinning as he looked down at his phone, making sure they were on the right track

The two walked in silence for a few minutes, some space between them as they did, looking over at couples before glancing away quickly, feeling very intrusive peering in on rather intimate moments, if hand holding could even be considered intimate, which it could be if the love in their eyes was as real as the two men saw it to be.

"You still in touch with that one girl?" Nicky asked, scuffing the ground with his toe, and Sam laughed.

"Stopped talking after I joined the military. Which was right outta high school." He shoved his hands into his pockets and hummed. "You never dated anyone in high school, huh?"

"I was sixteen when we graduated, Sam," he said, "I was the youngest of my age group as it was, then throw me up a few grade levels. I don't even know why you talk to me, you're practically four years older."

Sam hummed. "Yeah, you told me Kimmy said that. I don't really think about age now. I mean, I'm older than Captain America, if you're thinking about it, you know, biologically. It is biologically, right?"

Nicky shrugged. "I'm pretty sure, yeah."

"Well, you're the genius, I figured you would know," Sam said, bumping their shoulders together, and Nicky ducked his head, trying to pretend he hadn't leaned into the touch.

"I'm not all that smart on things that matter," he said, and before Sam could try to ask exactly what he meant, Nicky was rushing towards the window of a small casual restaurant, peering inside before grinning, moving towards the door.

"Come on," he hissed excitedly, "They're in here."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You're scaring me."

Rolling his eyes, Nicky rushed over and grabbed him by the arm, tugging him along. Sam wasn't all that far behind him, he could have waited, but truth be told, he wanted to have an excuse to touch the man, even if it was over a few layers of clothing.

Inside, he made a beeline towards a booth where a light-haired blonde was happily chatting with a boy whose voice was familiar to Sam in a way he just couldn't quite place.

"Hey, kids," Nicky called out, letting go of Sam's arm and shoving his hands into his back pockets, sauntering over towards them, "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Nicky, what're you doing out here?" the blonde asked, tearing her eyes away from the boy across from her, raising her hand up towards one of the bracelets she wore around her wrists, frowning slightly.

"I was in the neighborhood..." he began, but after a moment, he simply shrugged. "I tracked your phone."

The girl groaned, looking over towards the boy who didn't seem to know whether to laugh or also be rather offended. "Nicky, we're on a date. I haven't seen Peter in three days because he's been off probably cheating on me."

"I wasn't cheating on you, the two of them are dating now anyways, so—" the boy tried to argue, but she just held up a hand, giving him a look that clearly meant she was joking.

"So what's going on, is someone in trouble?" she asked, and the boy immediately perked up, the two on edge.

"No," Nicky admitted, "I just wanted to surprise you." He glanced over to Sam, motioning for him to walk forward and stop standing in the middle of the room.

The two followed his gaze, the boy turning around in his seat, and twin gasps filled the room, drawing a bit more attention than anyone wanted and Sam immediately walked forward, glad to be wearing his cap and shades.

"What's going on, kids?" he asked, much more an actual question than a greeting, "What's going on, Nicky?"

The blonde practically beamed at him, watching as he slid into the booth next to her boyfriend who had pushed himself up against the window, staring at Sam with wide, terrified eyes, much to the man's confusion.

"I'm Diana. My boyfriend kicked your ass."

º º º

"You drink a lot for a doctor."

Nicky rolled his eyes as he took another sip of his beer, sitting across from Sam at the small table in the corner of the bar, leaned back and stretched out, legs propped up on the stands on the other man's stool.

"Actually, I think I drink a fair amount for a doctor who has to remind himself not to get too invested in the terrible things his patients have gone through, which they tell him in explicit detail," the younger man replied, glancing over towards the empty bottles next to him.

Sam just laughed, stretched out as well and much too buzzed to try and be responsible; not that he ever really was to begin with.

It was well past dark and many hours after he had met Diana and Peter, the latter of whom he had had a very long, intense conversation with, demanding to know everything leading up to how he was able to beat him, then demanding to know if he was alright since he had seen what had happened with Adrian Toomes on the news, and that was a situation he had honestly wished he had been there to help with.

He didn't even really start on Diana and how she had gotten ahold of a version of his wings that seemed perfectly tailored to her small size.

He had also wondered why she had started to explain, only for Nicky to cut her off and finish, the girl giving him a confused look before carefully agreeing; he didn't actually ask the question on that, still reeling from the fact that a teenager had beaten him in a fight.

So there he was, pretending to drink away his sorrows in a bar full of other lonesomes, most of which were loudly complaining about the consumerist culture of Valentine's Day or the people who had left them or weren't good enough for them.

Nicky wrinkled his nose at a particular man who had gone on a very long rant about how Valentine's Day is just an excuse for people to waste money on things that mean nothing in the end, and all the people who do are clearly not even worth the time of day.

"I can't believe I was like that," he sighed, shaking his head.

"Can you blame 'em, they're upset?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nicky shook his head. "I get that they're upset. But after a while, just wallowing in all of that gets old. I mean—it's so tiring to hate things. It's fine to not like something, but to go out of your way to prove that you hate it and force yourself into a bad mood just to really stick it. It's a waste of energy."

"Sounds like you speak from experience," Sam said, leaning forward and bracing his elbows onto the table.

"I do," Nicky said, "I just...I just don't want someone getting discouraged because another person hates the idea of people being happy doing something they don't like. Just because I don't like the color blue doesn't mean it's a bad color. I actually like blue, so it's not like that even really matters, but you get my point."

Sam slowly grinned, and Nicky couldn't help but stare at the little tooth gap he had as the man started to laugh. "You're pretty smart, you know that?"

Nicky shrugged. "I mean, I have three PhD's, though that just shows I work hard, doesn't really mean I'm smart."

Sam pointed the lip of his bottle towards him. "Only a smart person would say that." With a wink, he raised his bottle and drained it, as if in a toast.

Nicky laughed, shaking his head, raising his hands. After a moment, he let out a breath. "Hey, I'm sorry you're not out dancing or hooking up with someone or something, you didn't have to come with me."

"No way, man, you're paying," Sam said, and Nicky laughed, but the man continued, "No, I'm serious. I mean, about the paying thing too, but I'm glad I'm here. Seriously, today was fun. Besides, I gotta stand in solidarity with my fellow single man who doesn't wanna see the world burn just 'cause he's not getting a little action, you know what I'm saying?"

Nicky rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I get it."

"You know," Sam said, motioning for two more bottles before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the stick of lip balm, "I went into work to check in with my boss, but she told me to take the day off. Shoved this and a few other things I won't bring out because I understand public decency. Said to have fun. Well, you know what? I did have fun. And I didn't need condoms or lip balm to do it. I mean, my lips are already soft, what is she saying?"

Nicky laughed, throwing his head back, his entire body shaking by the sheer weight of how hard he was laughing. Sam laughed as well, breathlessly thanking the person who dropped two bottles in front of them, waving off the men who were glaring at just how happy they were, because they were happy, and that was all that mattered.

"Hey," Nicky said, opening the new bottle and raising it towards him, wishing his next words weren't as truthful as they were, "If I was gonna be single today, I'm glad I was single with you."

Sam laughed, opening his as well, clinking it against the other. "Amen."

The two drank to the loneliness in their hearts and the pain in their minds, dulled by the alcohol and the knowledge that they weren't completely alone.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This was supposed to be more happy than it actually was, but that's partly because I'm going through a rough time, but you know what, I turned it into a really important piece, because Nicky got himself up and out of it, not because of Sam, but because he wanted to. Sam didn't cure his illness or anything, that was just all Nicky.

Also, I actually really loved how I ended that little scene so that you don't actually see how Diana and Sam really met, because it went down as you could basically expect it, and the real double date/triple date is gonna be a deleted scene, because I wanna really flesh it out into its own thing.

Also! That little bit about Peter cheating on Diana (which he didn't) was a reference to my story Sleeping Beauty, so check that out if you want some good platonic boy/girl friendships because that's always rad and important!

That's all I have to say, so...thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!