SAM DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE NICKY GREEN. He shouldn't have been that surprised, though, considering most of the seniors had ditched class that day; their official ditch day had been revoked, so they had all decided that to collectively leave school, though some had to stay for various reasons, but most had decided to leave, either heading off in groups to have fun or choosing to stay at home and relax.

He had decided to go to New York City for a bit, get out of Harlem—he just needed a break from his siblings, just for a bit. He decided to head to one of the parks, since it was early enough that most people would be at work, but late enough that the last early joggers and dog walkers would be gone, which mean thtat he could be alone; he didn't really like people staring at him when he played with the birds, it made him feel uneasy.

His dad used to take him there sometimes, because he liked that it looked out towards the rivers, and apparently Sam used to like it because the birds would play with him, so he figured maybe they still would.

He was extremely happy to see that it was basically deserted, save for a few people who didn't seem to pay him any mind, and he honestly couldn't believe his luck. As he made his way along the path towards the central area, he heard the faint sound of music.

Raising his eyebrows, he continued to walk, wondering where the music was coming from, finding that he was getting closer and closer to it. He paused when he heard some birds chirping, and he moved to stand under the tree, calling towards it.

The bird looked at him for a moment, as if confused by his existence, but decided that it wouldn't do any harm to trust him. So the bird flew down and sat on Sam's shoulder, and Sam continued to walk.

He was reminded of Redwing at that instance, and he sighed as he remembered the day he had finally nursed the hawk back to full health and released him. He had cried for days after that, much more than he had when his grandparents had died, and it was a close second and third to how hard he had cried when his parents had died.

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he just chatted with the bird, using English, telling it about his day and his plans and how it scared him that he was going to go into the Air Force, since his siblings couldn't afford to put him through college.

He slowed down as the music became louder, looking around and finding that he was much farther into the park, the trees blocking view of any buildings nearby and the shade and darkness above providing a cover.

"You wanna be my lookout?" he asked the bird, turning to look at it. The bird just tilted its head, not moving. He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "Freeloader."

The music was clear as day at this point and he listened closely, finding that he was enjoying the playlist the person had put together, which made him all the more determined to find this person, because if they were dancing, he wanted in.

He continued to search as he continued along the path, drawing closer and closer to the central area, when he caught sight of movement a distance away, hidden from sight by a gathering of trees and the shade they provided, out of the way and scope of nearly all who passed by.

If Sam hadn't been actively searching, he wouldn't even have caught the music coming from there.

He didn't want to just march over and scare the person, but he also did want to see what they were up to, as he couldn't get quite as good of a look as he wanted.

He looked around, trying to think, when he remembered the bird on his shoulder. Looking around, he found a climbable tree close enough to the source of the music that he would be able to see, but just far enough that he, hopefully, wouldn't be caught.

Quickly making his way over, he tried to climb as nonchalantly as possible, making sure not to look over at the person in case they were looking at him. He was just some new adult climbing a tree when he should be at school with a bird on his shoulder, nothing too strange about that.

When he finally got settled in, he nearly fell right out of the tree when he caught sight of the person.

Nicky Green.

Well, Nicholas Green, really, he never liked it when anyone called him Nicky, but their choir teacher never got the hint, so all he ever heard was Nicky Green, coupled by a soft pained sound coming from the boy.

That was what Sam always associated with him: some form of discomfort or pain. Whenever he saw him, the boy was always trying to hide or was sad or in his own little head space. He could sing great, but he never liked to do solos, and he had been incredibly upset at being casted as a lead in the school play. He was always upset, but never at anyone else, and he never took it out on anyone. He was just quietly unhappy.

But the reason why Sam nearly fell out of the tree was because Nicky Green was dancing.

As he had been settling into the tree, the song had switched to Corinne Bailey Rae's 'Put Your Records On,' and in the time that it took Sam to finally look up, Nicky had found himself a rhythm and was dancing, no real choreography, just moving.

Sam grinned as Nicky danced, much more active in the chorus than the verses, the younger boy's eyes closed the entire time. He watched the boy in awe, the sun finally peeking through the leaves and illuminating him like a spotlight, Nicky oblivious of his stage and his audience, smiling and dancing, starting to sing.

As they neared the bridge, Nicky started to move more loosely, singing louder, actions pairing with the words, and Sam could easily see the buildup, finding himself holding his breath in anticipation. And he wasn't let down.

At the climactic, "Girl put your records on," Nicky sang louder than Sam had ever heard him, spinning once he finished and jumping around, much more forceful as the song continued, grinning madly as he continued to dance, slowing down as the music began to fade away and it all finally clicked.

The word Sam had been searching for was 'free.'

Never before had he seen someone who looked so free, so uninhibited by anything and everything, and he had never expected to use that word to describe Nicky Green. But there the boy was, grinning underneath the sun, hidden away from sight, yet finding freedom in the isolation, singing and dancing without a care in the world, and Sam wanted nothing more than to see the boy this happy every day.

He had a great smile when he meant it.

As he looked around for the source of the music—there were bluetooth speakers, sure, but he couldn't see anything large or shapely in sight—Sam caught sight of Nicky opening his eyes to change the song that had just started to play, starting to look up towards the tree where he was hiding.

Sam quickly whirled around, nearly falling out of the tree as he tried to hide, holding his breath. It just dawned on him that, while his intentions had been pure, it would be hard to convince that to a boy who had made it abundantly clear that he wasn't interested in being Sam's friend.

After a few moments of agonizing silence, the music resumed and Sam let out a breath, peering out around the side of the tree to see. Nicky was dancing again, his back towards him, but he seemed more cautious, like he had felt the eyes and was worried that someone was watching.

The last thing Sam wanted was to be the reason why Nicky couldn't have the same fun he had come to the park to have.

So, despite wanting nothing more than to stay, or to even ask to join him, Sam climbed out of the tree and, with his bird in tow, continued along his way, secretly hoping that, maybe, when he headed back, Nicky would still be there, and maybe they could actually talk.

But when he finally decided to head back home, Nicky was already gone.

○ ○ ○

Sam paused as he pulled out his keys to the loft, staring at them for a moment, just letting it sink in. He and Steve had talked about this before, but there was something strangely domestic about having a key to the place. It was different for both of them for various reasons, and by this point Steve didn't feel strange about it, but considering Sam was not in any relationship with either of the roommates, it was strange to be so trusted and welcomed.

He wasn't cooking or bringing groceries as much as Steve was, though, so at least he knew he wasn't falling too far down the rabbit hole.

Locking the door behind him, he looked around. Rhett was still at work, as it was a school day, and Steve was sleeping at his own apartment, as he had done a long shift at the bar. Sam knew Nicky was home, though, as the man had texted him that night, happy that he didn't have any patients to see.

It had been some time since that whole fiasco in Times Square, but he would be lying if he said he didn't think about it constantly. Of course, he loved laughing about how it had gone wrong, but he constantly thought about the lengths the kids had gone to try to get him to start something with Nicky. The lengths wouldn't have been taken if Nicky didn't like him that much.

Of course, he liked Nicky, he honestly did, but like he had told Jen, he didn't think the man was ready for any sort of relationship. But it had been some time since they had finally talked about his unhealthy attachment towards the complex, and Sam could easily say that Nicky had gotten a lot better. He was still clinging on to certain aspects, but he had been able to get through a lot of others.

Sam had taken to talking him through most of his feelings, and Nicky did work with him, though the psychologist felt rather uncomfortable, as he had never been on the receiving end of his own techniques, at least not to that extreme of an extent.

So Nicky was getting better, and Sam was seeing that he was getting better, and maybe he was ready to finally start dating, but he wasn't about to push anything on the man; Nicky tended to get overwhelmed incredibly easily, which was not the best for a man with two incredibly demanding jobs.

Speaking of which, when Sam opened the door to Nicky's room, he found the man hunched over his desk, hard at work on Reed's newest request. Ever since the man had decided to take away the last project he had asked Nicky to do, the younger man had begged for a second chance, which Reed was easily willing to give, but only if the man promised that he wouldn't kill himself trying to get it done.

By the stained coffee mug, it was clear that Nicky was losing sleep working on the project.

It wasn't surprising, as Nicky had told him what Reed needed, which was both vague and large and needed to be precise, and by the large stack of papers in a small box by his feet, it was clear Nicky had scrapped many.

Sam had found his larger box full of ideas that he had scrapped, deciding to save for a rainy day to revise, when he had visited one day, and had gone through nearly half the box, commenting on a lot of them, Nicky replying smartly while still focused on his work.

It had been so easy, just lounging on the man's bed while he worked, and Sam hadn't thought about how nice it had been then until just now.

"How's the work, princess?" he asked, toeing off his shoes and climbing onto Nicky's bed, which clearly hadn't been slept in in the past twenty-four hours, if even that.

Nicky made a sound in the back of his throat. "It's work. How about you, how's Jen?"

Sam snorted, rubbing his face. "Something happened while I wasn't at work, everything got destroyed, so she's currently working to get everything up and running. She's working out of another office, and so I'm on paid leave until stuff gets situated."

Nicky frowned, raising his head. "Is she okay, sounds like an attack, considering she's a lawyer."

Sam shrugged. "She told me it was nothing to worry about, though I think she's hiding something from me. Whatever it is, I trust her."

Nicky smiled, going back to his work. "That's good. Sorry I can't be all that entertaining, I think I finally figured out what's gonna work."

Sam smiled, just looking at him from where he was sitting on the bed. Nicky was bent over his desk, his tongue a pink line between his lips as he concentrated, his eyebrows furrowed in such a way that one would think he looked he had a perpetual frown because of it, but whenever he would stop to lean back and take in the whole design, he would remember that he was frowning and try to relax, raising his eyebrows repeatedly until he was sure he wasn't frowning.

He was incredibly cute and Sam was having a much harder time ignoring it.

Nicky glanced over at him briefly, breathing out a laugh when he caught Sam staring, the older man not looking away. "Why're you looking at me?"

Sam shrugged. "Not much else to look at."

Nicky laughed, shaking his head, hiding his smile as his cheeks dusted pink. "Okay. Well, enjoy the view, I guess." He winced at his words, and Sam laughed, which didn't help the younger man in the slightest.

After that, the two descended into a silence, Sam just lying on the bed watching Nicky, listening to the sound of the computers humming and the shuffling of pencils, paper, and other tools on the desk. Finally, after an indescribable amount of time, Sam spoke.

"You mind if I put on some music?" He looked over towards the bedside table which held a modified looking iPod and a speaker.

Nicky shook his head. "Go ahead, I can work with music."

Grinning, Sam reached over and picked up the iPod scrolling through the music. Most of the songs were from back when they were in high school and when Nicky was most likely in college, and he grinned at the nostalgia.

He did a double take when he caught sight of a very familiar title.

Glancing over at the man, he licked his lips, weighing his options. "You gonna take a break to listen with me?"

Nicky shook his head, barely looking up from his work, his tone apologetic. "I would, seriously, I would, but I really wanna get this finished for Reed."

Sam clicked his tongue, his plan seeming all the more needed and reasonable. "When was the last time you actually went to bed? Not taking a break, but actually sleeping for eight hours?"

Nicky sighed, pausing to tilt his head back. "Last week? I mean, I can run on three hours of sleep for at least a week, so..." Trailing off, he went back to working, mumbling softly to himself.

Sam sighed. At first, he had tried to convince himself that his plan was not at all self-indulgent, but was more for Nicky's sake than his own, but with than information in mind, his excuse seemed to be a valid reason.

So with that in mind, he turned on the speaker, plugged in the iPod, and let the sweet guitar intro of 'Put Your Records On' fill the small room.

He stood and started to sway, closing his eyes at first, not wanting to immediately scare Nicky off, though he had noticed the man freeze at the sound of the music, just before he closed his eyes. He tried to fight back a smug smile, just singing along with the music.

He heard Nicky scoff as they reached the first pre-chorus, leaning back in his chair, and he opened his eyes, sparing a glance over to the man who was just shaking his head, fighting back a smile.

Sam reached out towards him, Nicky immediately trying to push himself back, but finding nowhere to go, and Sam just laughed, singing along with the chorus as he struggled to grab Nicky's hands before finally successfully pulling him up and towards him, trying to get him to loosen up, as the man just stood there while Sam continued to move.

"Just relax, just relax," he sang, in perfect time to the second verse, and Nicky groaned, the two of them starting to sway with the music as they reached the pre-chorus.

Sam pulled away, starting to dance with the chorus and Nicky rolled his eyes, reluctantly starting to move, and Sam grinned when he saw that he was using the same movements he had all those years ago, quickly falling back into the comfort zone he had been at the park.

Reaching out, Sam grabbed his arm and pulled him closer, Nicky laughing as Sam picked him up and spun him before letting him go back to dancing, now completely loose and moving. Sam barely paid attention to what he was doing, too focused on Nicky grinning, trying to close his eyes before opening them to look over at Sam, which made him laugh even more, falling into him by the end of the chorus.

Then they hit the bridge, and Sam was hit with a terribly wonderful urge, and a terribly wonderful idea.

His heart picked up speed, separate from his body which was still dancing and laughing, focused on Nicky who was singing along and moving to the words, not just the beat, sliding around and rising and falling with certain words, now just slightly moving along as they drew closer to the climax, the words becoming more even, smiling up at Sam.

Sam reached out and cupped his cheek, waiting for Nicky to pull back, but the man didn't, just continuing to stand there, singing along with the last line right before the climax.

"Do what you want to..."

"Girl put your records on."

Then Sam was kissing Nicky.

Sam was kissing Nicky and everything had fallen into a thundering silence, the only sound filling Sam's ears being his heart beating out of his chest as he held onto the younger man who was clinging onto his shirt, like he was afraid Sam was going to let go and run out.

As if Sam was going to let go now that he'd come this far.

Nicky started laughing as he pulled away, Sam chasing after him, his beard scratching Nicky's face as he kept trying to kiss him, and Nicky couldn't stop laughing and he definitely couldn't stop smiling, but it wasn't like he wanted Sam to stop, because his heart was singing so much he was sure it was going to stop, and the butterflies in his stomach were threatening to burst out, and in this moment, he was just so happy.

He laughed as Sam stopped, just so he could wrap his arms around Nicky and pull him into a hug, lifting him off the floor before dropping him back down, tugging him back into another kiss, and Nicky couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't even be bothered to wonder if he was even doing this right, because he was kissing Sam Wilson.

The two were finally startled apart by the song switching to 'Shake It' by Metro Station, which was probably the most ill-timed song to be played at the moment, but they were both smiling too much to care.

Nicky took a deep breath and sighed, like he hadn't been able to breathe properly in the longest time, and looked up at Sam, starting to laugh again.

"Oh my God..." he groaned, leaning forward and dropping his head against the man's chest, "I don't even...what?"

Sam laughed, wrapping his arms around him and holding him close, and Nicky hugged him back. Sam's hugs were always, for lack of a better word, strong, it was like he was trying to protect everyone from everything, and Nicky felt inexplicably safe in his hugs.

"I don't even wanna talk about how long I've wanted to do that," Nicky mumbled against his shirt, laughing before pulling away and raising an eyebrow up at him, "So you were the guy who was watching me from that tree back in senior year."

Sam groaned, pulling away turning towards the wall by the computer, running his hand over his hair. "Are you kidding me? You knew? This whole time, you know?"

"Ha! How the tables have turned!" Nicky cried, laughing as Sam buried his face in his hands, so reminiscent of how Nicky had when he first found out Sam knew the whole time that he liked him.

With a smug grin, he reached out and pulled Sam's hands away, catching his eye. "Hey."

Sam scoffed, shoving him away before immediately grabbing his hands and tugging him into another hug, as if he physically couldn't help himself by that point. "You're the worst, you know that?"

Nicky laughed and leaned up, pressing a kiss against Sam's lips, quick and shy, like he wasn't sure if he had done it right, and Sam fought back a smile, looking down at him with the utmost affection.

After a moment, unable to stop himself, he asked, "Was that your first kiss?"

Nicky's face fell and he immediately looked down at his feet, face bright red, stammering, "Yeah, I mean, I never really—Did I not get it right—"

Sam shushed him, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look up. "Hey," he whispered, "It's okay. It's wasn't bad, you did it right. And look, I'm not judging, okay?"

Nicky nodded, though he still looked extremely embarrassed. After a moment, he said, "I tend to psychoanalyze people all the time, even if they don't want it."

Sam nodded slightly, raising an eyebrow. "That's okay, I do too."

Nicky shook his head, raising his hands up to Sam's arms, and the older man tried not to snort. "I always like the room to be freezing cold, but then I pile on way too many blankets."

Sam smiled, shrugging. "I like blankets."

Nicky sighed in frustration, shaking his head harder. "I need everyone to like me at all times, and I get way too attached to people and every time someone leaves I cry for days because everyone always leaves, and I hate it, and I'm pretty hypocritical for a psychologist 'cause I tell my patients to do all these things and to remember all these things, but I don't listen to any of them for myself."

Sam tilted his face up to Nicky was looking at him. "I can help you with that. I can't fix you, but I can help."

Nicky shook his head, and buried his face in his shirt, mumbling something unintelligible. Sam just ran his hand through his hair, ever patient.

"I get real crazy whenever people come over for dinner," he said, causing Nicky to pull back and look up at him.

"I do too," the younger man replied.

Sam smiled. "I get up really early in the morning to go jogging and always have speakers in every room to play loud music."

Nicky smiled as well, shrugging. "I mean, I barely go to sleep, so I think I can live with that, and I like your music taste."

Sam's smile faltered as he said his next piece, "I get nightmares a lot. And if I see someone who looks like Riley or sounds like Riley or just anything I hide out for days, and I don't want to talk about it when that happens, I just want to punch it out or do nothing, and I don't know how long they go for or if I'll stop."

Nicky pulled him into a hug, emotion dripping off every word. "I'll help with that, you know I'll try."

Sam sniffed and laughed, hugging him back. "Is that all?"

Nicky froze for a moment. Then, "Sex isn't on the forefront of my mind. Ever. There've only ever been two people in my entire life that I ever felt like I could be interested in having sex with, and that was 'cause I was emotionally attached to them, so I don't know if that's gonna bother you or not, but that's who I am, so I want you to respect that."

Sam pulled back to look at him, feeling a swell of pride at how forceful Nicky was; it didn't matter who Sam was to him, he demanded the respect.

He smiled and placed a kiss to his forehead. "I didn't go around an entire neighborhood looking for garden gnomes just so I could sleep with you."

Nicky laughed. And he laughed and he laughed and he laughed, because, in this moment, he had never felt more free.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

It happened, ya'll, and I know I drew out the chapter for a pretty long time after the kiss, but I felt like this was necessary and I mean this all needed to be said, for the most part, so I hope ya'll were okay with that.

I'm never really one to directly reference songs and song lyrics, but I liked the way I incorporated it much better than how I had back when I wrote Dexter (that chapter was...no) so I hope it wasn't too bad for all of you, I tried to do the best I could.

Fun fact! Sam Wilson, growing up, actually had an affinity to connect with birds and had a hawk called Redwing, so you bet that I referenced that.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!