This was the weirdest Saturday morning Nicky had ever had.

Usually, his weekend would begin with him jumping awake to tend to a crying baby, or to fighting twins, or even sometimes, to a groaning father. As the oldest in the Haddad family, Saturdays meant helping his mom take care of his bored siblings so his dad could catch up on the sleep he missed working during the week.

This Saturday, though, his morning began at the café next door to Happy's, where he sat with a warm cup of hot cocoa in his gloved hands, slowly sipping it as he waited for Jonah— his boyfriend, Jonah— to come take the place at the table across from him. He listened to the faint jazzy café music that played in the background of everyone else's conversations as he waited, nervously tapping the beat on the cup. It'd been about a week since Jonah and him had kissed, and they'd hung out since then— typically at one of their houses or when Jonah was working— but this was the first real "date" thing they'd done. Nicky was nervous, sure, but he was so ecstatic that his first ever date was with Jonah, his nerves seemed almost irrelevant.

        "Hi!" Jonah grinned as he sat down on the chair across the little round table and put his coffee cup down.

        Nicky couldn't help but smile as he felt his ears heat up. Even being in the presence of Jonah made him go all lovesick and weird, but it was okay now, because he knew they were both feeling that way. "Hey. What'd you get?" He asked, gesturing to the cup.

        "Coffee. Black. Like a true Israeli."

        "Really? That's a thing?" Nicky laughed.

        Jonah shrugged and took a sip. "Probably not. Aba just says it whenever we go to Starbucks. Anyway, how was your morning? Put any of your siblings up for adoption?"

        "Almost," Nicky said with a roll of his eyes. "But today my dad's helping my mom out so I could come hang out with you, so I kind of avoided them for a morning."

        He didn't miss the way Jonah's grin widened. "That's nice of him."

        "Yeah. I think they're just happy I'm talking to other people besides my idiot brothers and sisters."

        "Fair. Hey, did I tell you that NHL man talked to my coach again about me?"

         Nicky's eyes widened and Jonah bounced a little in his seat. He looked like he was about to explode. Nicky didn't know much about sports, but he knew this was insanely important. "Holy shit, really? What'd he say?"

        He listened intently to Jonah's excitable hockey story, even though he didn't understand it all that much. He got the gist of it— NHL man said Jonah had some impressive skills and deserved a national shot— but he didn't mind listening to the other parts, where Jonah described what parts of his abilities impressed the scout in particular. It made him happy to see Jonah talking so freely and happily about the things he loved.

        When Nicky first started getting to know him, Jonah wouldn't talk about himself at all. It was like he didn't know how, and even if he did, nobody would want to hear what he had to say. Nicky knew at that point in time, Jonah had nobody. There was no one he could trust or even talk to.

        Now, though, he spoke about his day or the things he liked without even being prompted to do so, and that made Nicky happier than he ever thought he could be when it came to his feelings about other people.

        And that was another thing— Nicky realized he had opened up a little bit. After talking with Jonah for a little while, he forgot to put such thick walls between them, and started to just be himself. He stopped calculating every move he made and every word he said and started to just live. No more barriers were needed to shield himself from a potential failure, because he was growing to be okay with those possibilities.

        He had Jonah to thank for that, because without him, he knew it would've taken a lot longer for him to realize that not everything is a prologue to a disaster.

        Soon enough, the boys were walking hand in hand next door, coffee on their breaths and empty cups in their free hands as they made their way to Happy's for Jonah and Priya's five hour shift.

        "Hey, Nicky?" Jonah asked.

        "What's up?"

        "What we just did... that was a date, right? Like that was our first date?"

        Nicky bit his lip to hold back a tiny smile. They were both severely inexperienced with dating, and it was noticeable, but they'd navigated their first week pretty well for two completely clueless yet totally infatuated teenagers. "Yeah, Jo. That was a date."

        "And those other times where we hung out at our houses... those weren't dates?"

        He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah. That was just us being us."

        Jonah smiled and squeezed their interlocked hands. "I like us."

        "Me too."

        Nicky felt like he was walking on air until the sliding doors to Happy's shot open, and he came face to face with Priya, who's arms were crossed and hip was popped. Her face held a scowl, which was never a good sign.

        "Hi, Priya," Jonah said with a little wave, obviously not interpreting Priya's classic "bitch" face the same way Nicky did.

        Priya ignored him and instead narrowed her eyes at the coffee cup in his hands. "Looks like you two had a fun morning while I got ready for work."

        Nicky and Jonah exchanged a glance, then looked back at Priya with furrowed brows. "What?" They said in unison.

        She flipped her long black hair over her shoulder and shrugged. "It's fine. I thought we were cool now, but I guess not."

        Jonah scratched his head. "I'm still lost."

        "Don't worry about it, boys," she sighed dramatically, placing a hand over her heart like she was reciting a soliloquy. "I know that the age difference can be overwhelming, what, with you being mere children and me being a fully grown, eighteen year old woman. Plus, my popularity must overwhelm you at times, I'm sure, and-"

        "Priya," Nicky snapped, "cool it with the dramatics. We don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

        She took her hand away from her heart and crossed her arms tightly over her chest, frowning. "Why didn't you guys invite me to hang out this morning? I thought we were like... a little friend group and stuff. "

        It was then when it dawned on Nicky that despite him seeing Priya three or four times since Jonah and him had made up the Sunday before, neither one of them had told her they were in a sort-of-kind-of relationship. They hadn't really shown any PDA besides the hand holding and general touchiness, but that could've easily been passed off as normal with Jonah. She probably thought they were still strictly friends.

        Nicky glanced over at Jonah and watched the wheels turn in his mind as he let out a soft, "ohhhhh..."

        "Normally we would invite you, Priya, I promise, but this was kind of... different," he tried, awkwardly dancing around the subject.

        She knitted her brows together and looked between the two, her vision bouncing back and forth for a minute before her eyes slowly widened when they landed on the boys' intertwined fingers. "Wait... was this a date?"

        The boys nodded slowly, and Priya promptly screamed at the top of her lungs. Jonah's hands flew to his ears as her screech echoed around the store.

        "Holy shit! Finally!" She cheered, pumping her fists in the air as the other two watched half with delight, half with fear. After her little self-celebration, she ran over and squished them into a suffocating (but surprisingly comfortable) hug. Nicky put on his best scowl and pretended to hate it, but really, he kind of liked that she cared so much. She truly was a best friend to him.

        "So have you guys kissed?" She questioned, talking into their shoulders as she was smaller than both of them.

        Nicky looked over her back at Jonah, who was grinning from ear to ear. "Yep," he said, causing another shriek to ring out across the (hopefully empty— none of them had really checked) store. She jumped away from them as Jonah's hands went to his ears again, but he was still smiling, and Nicky couldn't help but smile too.

        As Priya continued to throw a little party for herself, Nicky found himself leaning against Jonah's side with a smile. Jonah pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek, making his heart swell up and his ears burn red, but he didn't care. All that he cared about was that he had Jonah by his side and Priya close by.

        And suddenly, Nicky was beyond thankful he forgot to buy his little sister a birthday card three months before.

        end.

———————

FUCKING FINALLY HOLY SHIT.

I cannot begin to describe the stress that went in to finishing this story holy shit. I wanted to make it perfect for you guys. To give you a little background, I had it all finished, then the day I was meant to publish the chapter Suffocation, I decided I hated the ending and I scrapped it all and wrote a new one.

It was hard and my brain hurt.

But we did it!! We're at the end!!

As I said in the first chapter, this was never supposed to be published. It was a side thing I was writing when I got writers block on a (now completely abandoned :/ rip) story, but I liked it enough to publish it, and I hope you guys liked it too.

It means a lot to me seeing all you guys comment and vote and add Morning Shift to your reading list, so thank you sooo much. All the love and support I've gotten is UNREAL and I think it's so crazy cool that you guys actually enjoy the stuff I put out, so THANK YOU!!

I love you all, thank you again. It means the world.

love,
Teddy

PS. Priya is my favorite character I've ever written and I don't wanna let go of her and the two idiots just yet so maybe... if you guys think it'd be a good idea... Priya spinoff in the future?? 👀👀👀