Nick and Lil - January 16th

[ax_diamondlil]

Lil and Nick get together for cheesecake, monopoly and pure, unmitigated fluff.

Lil had spent some extra time cleaning Nick's room today. She was going to be heading back to her own room for good soon so she wanted to make sure Nick had as easy a time of it as she could give him. He was doing much better than that first night, but there was no fast and easy way of getting over what he'd had to go through. Room clean, laundry done, a stash of snacks for when he didn't want to leave... oh yeah, and a pile of birthday stuff on the spare desk so she could surprise him with a little bit of unexpected fun today.

"Y-you didn't have to do that," Nick said, having dried himself and come out of the bathroom after his shower. He'd been taking showers more frequently; part of it was because he felt super self-conscious after his period of not doing so as often due to his depression, and part of it was just to wash away the feelings of sadness as best he could. "But I really appreciate it," he said, gratefully.

"Which is why I had to do it. Trust me, I know you're getting better and all that, but I know that getting better just means you've got a little more energy than before, not enough energy. Been there, done that, have the t-shirt." That was as far as she'd gone in admitting how messed up she'd been in the last few years to Nick. She'd hinted before, but she'd wait for any big confessions until he was on more solid ground. No need to load her crap on his plate right now. "I still plan to stop by and help you with that stuff for awhile, and anytime you need company for the night, you let me know. But for now," Lil waved a hand at the desk, "We party."

"Yeah..." He smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah. We party. 'Cause it's your birthday. Happy birthday!" he said again, probably for the fourth or fifth time today, at least. He walked over to the desk to see what was gathered. "What's on the agenda?"

"Cheescake!" It was the second time this week for Lil but she wasn't sure she'd be up for this one if she hadn't had the break the first had offered her. There was still some guilt about not inviting Nick, but Billy had been having trouble of some sort and maybe if it had turned into a bigger thing, he never would have agree to the rest. "And more junk food. Plus some presents. I like this whole having-money thing I got going on now that I'm working for Shinobi."

"Oooh, sounds yummy," Nick said, happily. "And presents are also good, I..." He looked away, feeling embarrassed. "God, I'm horrible. I didn't get you anything..." He'd have to order something.

"Yeah you did!" Lil picked up a present from the pile and read out the tag. " 'To Lil, the most awesome friend I could have ever asked for, love Nick'. See?" She laughed and set it back down again. "I had a ton of fun. I just bought some stuff I really wanted and stuck your name on it. Best way to get presents ever."

"Oh jeez," Nick laughed, feeling a bit better. "I'm glad you got to treat yourself, at least," he said. "And... yeah. That's pretty much exactly what I would've put on your gifts," he added.

Lil stuck her chin out. "I have been informed in the past that I'm a self-centered asshole, so I'm gonna make the best of it! Not that I didn't get stuff for you too!" She pulled a couple of gifts from the pile and waved them at Nick before returning them to the desk. "You gotta have some fun too, right?"

"Well, whoever told you that is wrong," Nick said, flatly. "And see? You can't be self-centered if you got me something on your birthday," he said. "And you didn't need to. Today should be about, y'know, you."

Nick's defence of her warmed Li,l and she was reminded of why he definitely deserved those gifts in the first place. "It definitely is - me and a good friend. Besides, at least one of the things I got you is something we can do together."

"That sounds like fun," Nick said, though it wasn't as enthusiastic as it could have been. It was about as much enthusiasm as he could muster, though, and he wasn't going to fake anything with Lil. Besides, she'd probably catch on. "Is it Star Wars Trivial Pursuit?" he asked, grinning just slightly. "Because I clean house at that."

Lil eyed him suspiciously as she picked up on of the gifts - a long flat rectangle. "No, but you're pretty fuckin' hot on your guess. Open that up - might as well start with presents because, well, I'm the birthday girl and I say so."

"I thought I smelled a board game," Nick joked, grinning as he took the package and started to open it. "Oh man, Star Wars Monopoly?" he asked, even as he saw the title. "So cool," he said, grinning. "I don't think I've ever actually played Monopoly before," he added.

Lil raised an eyebrow at Nick. "You've never played it before? Geez, we gotta remedy that very soon. I think it's sort of mandatory or something." She picked up a gift bag, reached in, and pulled out a large box of chocolates. "Ooh! Nick, you shoudn't have!" She laughed before passing him one more present.

"Oooh," Nick said, unfolding the t-shirt. "Obi-Wan!" And young Obi-Wan, which was his favorite. "I love it! Thank you," he said, smiling.

"No problem!" Lil grabbed one for her and unwrapped it. It was another shirt this time with a smiling Lando Calrissian on the front. "I had to have these made at the print shop in town, but it wasn't expensive or anything." She picked up the last gift bag and plucked out a blue Nintendo DS. "And that's my last present to me. I figure I need an upgrade and this one was a good price on Ebay."

"Lando you classy bastard," Nick said, grinning just a little. "And the DS is an awesome system," he added. "You'll love it, I think."

"I already do! I was playing with it before I wrapped it up." She grinned and waved a hand at the cheesecake taking pride-of-place on the desk. "Okay, I figure that between the two of us, we can finish that. What we do while we're eating is the question. Movies or Monopoly?"

"It'd be a shame to not break in the board game, I think," Nick said, grinning as he set the box down on a clear spot on the floor where they could play. Board games were for coffee tables or floors, and they didn't have a coffee table in here. "You know," Nick said, sighing a little. "I've been... really wrapped up in my... in my grief," he said, deciding that's what he should call it (because it was) and that was what his counselor said he should do; he should own it. "I'm sorry if I haven't been a good friend to you. But you've been the absolute best. Far and well and above everything I could have ever asked for," he said. "So thank you. For that."

Well damn, he was getting a hug for that. Lil stepped over the box and wrapped her arms around him, something that had become pretty familiar over the last few weeks. "You're welcome, and look, you've been as good a friend as you could manage. This shit you've had to deal with is way too much for anyone, so don't go thinking you haven't done right by me or something while it's been going on. I was just watching your back for a bit while you got through that, eh?"

He put his arms around her, nuzzling against her slightly. She was the absolute best. "And you've done such a great job. I can't thank you enough," he said.

"Okay, you're gonna get me crying or something so we gotta cut this out." She waited a minute more to indulge in the hug, then nudged him off and smiled. "I do wish I'd been there for you when it all went down though."

"Yeah, no crying," Nick said, nodding. "And... it was horrible. I'm glad you didn't see it," he said, his thoughts taking him back to that night, and he shook his head. "I'm glad only one of us had to suffer through it actually happening."

Except that Lil was bullet and fire proof, so maybe she would have been able to save his parents somehow. She shrugged it off for now because no way would that kind of talk helped Nick. "Then I'm glad I've been with you since. Maybe I'll start leaning on you a little too when you're feeling up to it."

"Yeah," Nick said, thinking that would be nice. To be stable enough that someone could trust you with their feelings. "Anyway. Let's see what our options are for pieces, eh?" he asked, grinning at the board game in front of them. "Dibs on an X-Wing if there is one"

"I'm pretty sure there is!" Lil ripped open the plastic and opened the box. It was easy enough to set up - Lil had the rules memorized from years of playing with her mom - and she snagged R2-D2 for herself. "Now, it's pretty simple. You put your figure on 'go' and then roll. What happens next depends on what square you land on. I figure I'll explain it as we go, but basically you just have to get money and property."

Nick put his X-wing next to Lil's R2-D2, and grinned up at her. "And in this case, Republic Credits will be fine?" he joked.

Lil rolled her eyes and grabbed the dice. The she remembered the cheescake. "Okay, wait a sec." She grabbed it and a few utensils, opened the case and cut it in half before handing Nick a fork. "That's your side, this is mine. I think we can get through this before the game's over."

"Definitely," Nick said, looking at it eagerly. "Alright, so who goes first?" he asked, already digging his fork into the cheesecake. He couldn't help it! It just looked so tasty!

***

An hour and a half later with the crumbs of the cheesecake littering the floor beside the game board, Lil was trying to figure out where she'd gone wrong. She'd probably taken a wrong turn right at the start when she'd decided to go easy on Nick for a time as he learned how to play. Then, by the time she realized he'd caught on, she was left to struggle along in a position that was just a bit too far behind him. Damn. She took a look at the line of mortgaged properties in front of her and the two properties in front of R2 and sent up a prayer. Then she rolled. Four. And that put her right on Coruscant Senate which Nick owned and currently had two houses on.

"Well fuck. Nick, I don't have enough. You finished me."

Nick grinned just a little. "You were takin' it easy on me, weren't you?" He was a fast learner, he had to admit. And he was thinking about how she was playing earlier, and how it had felt kinda sloppy to him. But it was okay if she was; he didn't mind. It wasn't like he wouldn't do the same for someone who was learning a game.

"Yeah, but just for a bit! Then I was supposed to kick into high gear and leave you in the dust." She shook her head as she gathered up the money. "Next time you're goin' down."

"I can't wait," Nick said, smiling. "It'll be fun. This was fun. Thank you," he said, glad she got this for them. Because really, honestly, Nick felt it was for them, which was nice.

"Pfft, thank you. I coulda been sitting alone in my room tonight doing nothing, but instead I got to get my ass kicked by you." Lil grinned and packed up the game. "It means a lot to have a friend I can do this stuff with."

"Well, I'm sure you have other friends," Nick said, smiling at her. "I mean, there's at least Teddy. And that means Billy," he said, because who didn't know, by this point, that those two were an item. "Which, I mean, hey, means four players. Maybe next time we can get them involved, too."

Lil nodded. "Oh hell yeah. I don't know how soon 'cause I think there's something going on with Billy, but when that's sorted, yes. I will destroy you all."

Nick couldn't help but grin. "It'll be fun."

"Fun to get destroyed by me?" Lil smiled and picked up the game. "But yeah - a big game, a bunch of food raided from the kitchen and some good friends, sounds like a plan."

"Sure does," Nick agreed, smiling. "This was great. I hope it was the best birthday ever," he said, grinning wider.

"You know? It pretty much was. I never really did the party thing when I was a kid, never really had friends, real friends at least, to do stuff with so this was really nice." She picked up the rest of their mess as she talked, too much like her mom who couldn't let things rest for a few minutes. "I hung out a bit with Teddy and Billy on the weekend too... That's three real friends. That's like, a record of something."

"It's the most I've had in a long time, too," Nick said, smiling and nodding. "So I know how that feels. I'm glad this place is working out for you so nicely. It's... it's really great."

Well, there were ways it wasn't working out so great, but Lil decided that information could wait a little longer, at least until she could figure out a way to frame it that didn't sound too critical of the place. After all, this was Nick's home now. There was no other place for him to go. "I'm glad you have it too. I have complaints sometimes, but the school really stepped up for you."

"Yeah," Nick said, looking down at his feet for a moment, and sighing a bit. "It's... it's been really nice. It's really reminded me that, y'know, there's plenty of good people in the world. It's just the bad ones are the loudest." He shrugged. "Anyway, birthday girl, what else is on the agenda?" he asked, stretching his legs out and curling his toes. Man, he didn't realize how stiff he'd gotten sitting on the floor this long...

"I dunno. Movie maybe? Unless you're getting tired." Always a good question to ask. Lil liked to give Nick some room to kick her out if he needed to.

"Yeah. We can watch... I dunno. Something nice and easy to watch and something I can fall asleep to while watching," he said, smiling at her. He liked being able to fall asleep next to her while watching movies. It was nice, to have that level of comfort with someone.

"What about a kid's movie?" Lil grabbed the remote and settled down on Nick's bed, holding out an arm so he could settle in beside her and she could wrap it around him. She wasn't exactly sure what their friendship had become, but being close to Nick felt good and of all her friends (god, she had a few now, didn't she?) he was the one she felt most comfortable just being with. "Lilo and Stitch? That was pretty much my absolute fav as a kid."

"Yeah, that's a great idea," he said, smiling at her as he got up and settled down next to her. He'd leave it to her to get the movie started, since she already had the remote. He just let himself cuddle up next to her, It was nice to have her here; she was reliable, she was, well, a certainty in his life, and he needed that. And he was so, so grateful for it.