Nick Peterson's car, a secondhand Nissan Sentra, isn't nice. It's an ugly thing.

There are mysterious dents from its previous shitty owner, some uneven marks from when an asshole keyed it when he parked it at a Hansen party, and it slips into more moods than his girlfriend does—the engine makes a loud, screeching noise sometimes, and the air conditioning is...shit at doing its job. Nick's friends hate riding in it because they end up sweating all the way through their clothes, and Yves complains a lot.

Nick loves it, though. It's the first thing he bought for himself after working shitty part-time jobs in high school and spending an entire year in college riding a bicycle. His savings are gone now, too, but it's worth it.

Especially if he gets to pick up his girlfriend from work in it.

Nick taps his fingers against the steering wheel, humming, and makes a right to Porter Brakes, the car wash and auto repair shop Kaia's family owns.

It's the cheapest car wash in the city—mostly because it's just a side thing for the shop, but also because there are no fancy machines. It's all manual—scrubbing, washing, drying.

Not that the Porters can afford it. They can. It's just that Kaia insists on doing the job herself and on hiring a bunch of broke high school and college kids for some loose change.

When Nick pulls in, she turns around, car wiper blade in hand, and her entire face brightens.

Nick's heart races, and then he also grins when she jumps on her feet, raising her arm to wave at him in big gestures. Her skin is lined with sweat, and her tank top and shorts are wet with water, and the blue ball cap with the rim facing outward on her head is his.

He parks the Sentra into the space next to the car she's working on and rolls down the window, where she's already waiting. "Car wash, please."

Kaia bites her bottom lip, leaning forward with her elbows on the window. "Regular or premium?"

"If I choose premium, will my girlfriend perform a dance number?"

"No, but she might make out with you in your car."

Nick's eyes widen, and then he covers his face with one hand, neck heating. "Premium."

The laugh he gets is loud and pretty and bone-melting. Kaia leans forward, tiptoeing so her head can reach his, and plants a kiss on his cheek. "Premium coming up."

"Whoa, hey." Before she can turn around, Nick manages to grab her arm. With his other hand, he brings up the Frappuccino he picked up on the way and held it out to her, fingers in between the straw. "Chocolate chip."

Her eyes shined and widened, closing her lips around the straw. She's staring at Nick while she drinks, and he grins.

"I literally love you," she says, groaning, hanging her head back. "Thank you."

Nick puts it down on the cupholder, and he reaches out to brush her curls away from her face, gently adjusting the cap on her head. "And you don't actually have to wash my car, you know. I'm just here to pick you up."

Kaia's tongue darts out to lick her lips, nose scrunching, and she steps back to inspect it. "Um, I think it needs the wash, babe."

He rolls his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Do your thing."

Kaia's still grinning, face glowing, and this time, before she skips away, her hand goes to his face and she kisses him on the lips, smile pressed to his mouth.

Even after a year, Nick's toes curl, his stomach erupts in fucking butterflies, and his mind goes oh shit, oh shit, watch your teeth, holy shit this is nice, I'm gonna die now.

She pulls away, winks at him, and finishes drying the car beside him so she can get to work on his.

Here's Nick's favorite part when Kaia's washing his piece of shit vehicle: she knows he's watching.

When she cleans his windows, she reaches as far as she can across the hood to scrub the other half of Nick's windshield instead of just walking around the car, and her shirt rides up and Nick stares at her toned body with sweat all over it and the waistband of her underwear.

When she bends over to fill her sponge with water, she does it slowly, always with her back facing him, and Nick tilts his head up better to see over the dashboard.

But most of the time, it's not her body he's watching—it's an added bonus, an amazing bonus, but he didn't fall in love with her body, anyway. While Nick's leaning back, cheek propped on his fist, elbow leaning on the door, he stares at her face and her smile, and then he catches himself just...grinning like a fool.

Kaia doesn't bother changing, she just grabs her tote bag and runs toward the direction of his car, waving hurriedly to her co-workers. One of them stares at her way too long.

"Yes," she whispers, settling in the passenger seat, grabbing her drink. She moans, leaning her head back. "I was having the worst day ever and you come with my favorite drink and then everything's better and now I'm happy."

Nick doesn't know how coming in with her favorite drink to pick her up makes everything better or makes her happy. "Worst day, baby?" he asks quietly, changing lanes.

"My roommate," she grumbles, brushing away her hair from her face. She reaches out with one hand and takes Nick's right, and she rubs her thumb into his skin, and Nick's entire body relaxes. "She's nice and sweet, and I like it when she cooks, you know? Even if it's burnt, whatever, there's food."

Nick raises his eyebrow, quickly glancing at her when she doesn't continue. Kaia's frowning, drinking her Frappuccino. "But you secretly hate her."

"I don't hate her."

"You know, it's hard to drive with one hand," Nick says casually, beginning to pull away.

"Mean." Kaia grabs it, interlacing their fingers together. Nick grins, and she sighs, biting her straw. "I don't hate her. Promise. But this morning, while I was showering, she just...walked in and peed, not caring that I was naked—I mean, before, I wouldn't have cared either, but I have a boyfriend now and I don't like that she stared at me too long. And she also left the balcony door open and all the flies came in, and another empty box came to our door with no name and I just know it's hers and she never cleans up those empty boxes, there's, like, five of them—ugh, do you know how hard it is to sleep when she brings someone home every goddamn night? Barely got any, and I woke up with her alarm blaring for an hour. And you know I hate waking up before my alarm."

Nick figured out the girlfriend code: you don't defend the person your girlfriend dislikes. You dislike them together.

"So annoying," he says helpfully, rubbing her knee.

"Right?" Kaia almost shrieks, sitting up straight and shaking her head. "Thank you, baby."

"You're welcome," Nick says, confused, not knowing that what he said warranted a thanks.

"Whatever. I'm just going to talk to her, even though I already did, for the past year, and hope she doesn't think I'm a bitch. Ah, also at work, Troy's still shit at scrubbing, but I try to teach him and be patient but he's always knocking over buckets."

Nick's features draw together. "You know he's doing that just to—"

"Check me out, I know." Kaia rolls her eyes.

He scrunches his nose. "Well, you do have a great, um, ass. I see and touch it every day and I think, 'yep, that's the one for me'."

That earns him a giggle. "Idiot."

Nick kisses her hand. "So what are we doing about Troy?"

She clicks her tongue. "Men don't just die on the battlefield like they used to."

"I agree."

"Not you, though. Don't die, I love you. But yeah, I am going to fire him if he does that shit one more time. This is so good." She drinks again from her Frappuccino. Then she raises her head, blinks at Nick, and says, "Can we get chicken on the way to yours? The one with the Jack Daniels sauce—I loved that."

So they do, and as soon as Nick shuts off the engine and parks the car in front of his shitty one-bedroom apartment, he goes to open the door and says, "Alright, who's ready for some Spider-man and Young Justice and cuddles—"

Kaia stretches her arm out, pulls the door closed, and climbs over the console, kissing him.

"Whoa," Nick breathes, eyes wide, but kissing her back. She tastes like chocolate and it's fucking addicting already. "Kaia."

"I made a promise," she whispers, eyes twinkling, fingers on the nape of his neck. It sends shivers down his spine. "I love kissing you," she whispers, cradling his face, thumbs stroking his cheeks, knees on either side of his hips.

A year ago, Nick was afraid to put his hands on her—just gripped whatever he's sitting on—and Kaia got fed up with his consideration, snapped, grabbed his hands and put it on her breasts.

Now, he snakes them around her waist, fingers skimming along her waistband, tilting his head up to press his mouth to hers. "I've never kissed someone in this car before," he whispers back, kisses her again.

"You better fucking not," she snaps suddenly, an angry expression on her face.

Nick chuckles breathily, curling his hand in her soft curls, and pulls her back to him. "I meant I've never kissed you in this car before."

"Mm. Maybe we should do it more often, then." She grips his hair in her fingers and tilts her head to the side while Nick's lips travel to her neck, brushing over her racing pulse point.

He didn't know he can make someone feel this way.

It's intoxicating.

*

Kaia calls her parties 'small kickbacks with close friends'—which sounds like the kind of thing Nick can do without his anxiety getting much in the way—except that Kaia's the close friend of more than half the campus and it's not 'small'.

And he doesn't have a choice except to come, because he's her boyfriend, and she'll cry if he doesn't, and she also needs someone to take care of her and hold her hair back when she's temporarily out of service and no matter how shit Nick is with people, he'll endure it because...well, because it's Kaia.

"So what do you do if a girl comes up and greets you with a hug?" she asks again, raising her eyebrow and looking up at him.

Nick blinks. "No one's going to do that to me, have you seen you? You'd break their bones."

Kaia pouts, brushing her thumbs on his neck. "I know, but it's happened before, and you just...you hugged her back," she mutters sullenly.

He sighs, stroking her waist. "Babe, that was a year ago. You know, when I didn't know shit about dating you. Or dating in general."

Kaia grins. "Just wanna make sure. And I might be temporarily out of service, so tell me."

Nick shrugs and answers, "Uh, quick one-arm hug then go."

"You're right, but I also said you dunk that bitch's head—hey, hey, careful with the plant!" she yells, ripping herself off of Nick's body, heels stomping across the tiles. "And the dispenser—oh, hi! I've never seen you before, what's your name? I'm Kaia!"

Nick sighs, hanging back, lifting the cold beer bottle to his lips. They've made their 'rounds', as his girlfriend calls it, and it's not even two hours to her party and he's exhausted. Last year, Nick didn't even know a tenth of these people.

When they left his apartment, Nick remembers the yearning look he shot at the couch and the quilt and promised to come back soon.

To Kaia, it's not even close to 'soon'.

"Don't look so glum, chum," Cassia chirps, clinking her bottle with his and flopping down on the couch next to him. "The night's still young."

Nick's mouth curves, shaking his head. "Oh, trust me, I know. I haven't been dragged to play some ridiculous game and dance, the vomit count is zero so far, and she hasn't tried to take off my clothes yet."

"You're getting better at this," Cassia praises him, grinning. She knocks her drink back, and Nick does, too. Then, quietly, she asks, "Is he coming?"

"Yves isn't. Orion said he'd catch up, but he's working tonight."

The brunette sighs. "I hate him."

"He knows." Nick snorts. "But, uh, don't let it get to you, Cass, okay? He's kind of a douche."

"I'm not getting the Disease over a douche," she answers, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry about it, Nick."

Cassia leaves to find her friends, and Nick gets roped into conversations with drunk and stoned people he barely knows and doesn't want to converse with, but they're close with his girlfriend and they're making the effort, so he does, too. Painstakingly. Her teammates from the lacrosse team are the wildest, the drunkest, and they pull Nick for a story time thrice—each story the same as the first.

There's a point in the annoying story that Nick just hums, pretends he's interested, but he's actually watching Kaia talk and laugh with some of the other girls who were sitting alone earlier. Then, as if knowing he's staring, she raises her head, catches his eye, and her smile grows wider.

Nick doesn't know how happy his heart can feel just by having someone smile at him like that.

Somewhere into the night, his bottle becomes his third, and Kaia's knocking back as many shots as she can, and then someone's doing a keg stand, someone's passed out on the floor, the lacrosse team are trying to get themselves killed by sliding down the stairs railing, and Nick is just—he's just exhausted, and he slumps down on the couch. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of the empty boxes Kaia was complaining about, pushed down the hallway, near the balcony. Nick smiles.

And then a familiar voice yells, "Nick!", and he sits up straight, glancing around. Kaia comes swaying out of the kitchen, grinning.

"Oh, boy." Nick rubs his forehead, face already heating, and he spreads his legs.

Kaia's already clingy enough as it is, but it's heightened when she's wasted. It kind of scared Nick off at first, in the beginning of their relationship, but he grew to love it, to love her, to love how his heart and body feels when her actions and words say that she needs him, his touch, his smile, his body, just—him, in general.

Like he said. Intoxicating.

"Dude," Kaia whines, plopping down on his lap, circling her arms around his neck. "Baby, come dance with me," she whispers in his neck, lips brushing his skin, fingers in his hair.

"Yeah, don't call me 'dude' and 'baby' in the same breath, that's the worst thing I've ever heard in my life."

She giggles. "You're like, mm, you're like my best friend and my boyfriend. Which you are, I'm so lucky. So dance with me."

Nick takes a deep breath, smiling and gently pulling her wrists away. "Okay, come on."

Nick doesn't know what he's doing when he's 'dancing', but Kaia knows how to lead, and God, it's hard to blame all the other men and women watching her.

But Nick doesn't care. Her eyes and hands are on him.

They're slow dancing, just swaying left to right. Her head is on his chest, eyes closed. Nick hugs her around the waist, lips pressed to her forehead.

"You still good, baby?" he whispers, rubbing his thumbs on her waist. "Dizzy?"

She kisses the base of his throat, and Nick grips her hips tight, and Kaia presses herself to him. "Room, please."

Nick knows what that means.

"Nick," she breathes into his mouth, on her bed, swinging her leg over his thighs, hands clawing at his clothes. "Nick."

It's ridiculous how he feels his belly dip with his name on her lips, and it's ridiculous how desperate their kisses are—dizzying, endless, one melting into the next. Their hands are everywhere, and Nick's skin feels hypersensitive, scraping his fingernails down Kaia's spine.

She pushes him down, arches her back, and rolls her hips, and Nick's breathing heavily, nerve endings glowing like fucking fireflies, heartbeat in his ears, hips twitching.

Kaia snakes her hand down his stomach, fingers tracing the inside of his waistband, and Nick shivers.

She leans down, kisses him again, whispers into his mouth, "I love you. Love you so much."

"I love you," Nick whispers back, and then he flips them over and takes off his shirt.

*

They wake up to the sound of the doorbell.

Kaia groans, kicking her feet, snuggling deeper into his Nick's neck, and all her hair gets into his face. "Please get it," she whispers hoarsely.

Nick knows what's at the door. He blinks his eyes open, squinting, and pushing away all the hair in his face, mutters, "Nope."

Kaia whines some more. She puts her fingers under his shorts and Nick hisses at the coldness. "Please," she says again, biting his neck.

"No." Nick turns around, back to her. "It's your apartment, you get it."

Angrily, she stands up, huffs loudly, and gets out of bed, stomping her feet. "Where the fuck is my fucking roommate," she snaps, putting on Nick's shirt and slamming the door.

Nick laughs. She's so grumpy in the morning. It's adorable.

He sits up and runs a hand through his hair, blankets on his waist. Outside, he hears her arguing with the delivery man: "Another box? This isn't mine." "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but this is the address we have. Please sign here." "Please, you have the wrong address—" And then the delivery man states her address, and Kaia just...fucking signs the thing.

Her stomps get louder as she nears her room. Eyes wide and delirious with fury, she hurls the empty box on the floor. Nick purses his lips to keep from laughing—her hair is wild, her makeup is all over her face, and Nick's shirt isn't doing shit to cover her breasts and underwear. "Another fucking box. I am going to kill her and you're going to help me."

Nick bites his lip and tips his chin once. "Open it."

"What?" she snaps, kicking it. "It's not mine, it's empty, and it woke me up. That's the sixth one, and she keeps telling me they aren't hers either, and why the fuck—"

She's so goddamn grumpy. Nick can't contain his laughter, and he demands, "Just open it, Kaia."

"There's nothing here," she hisses, forcefully tearing off the tape. "It's empty, I don't understand what you're—"

She shuts up. Nick raises an eyebrow, pulse racing. "Is it? Empty?"

Kaia doesn't look at him. She bends down, slowly, and it looks like she's not breathing, and her fingers pick up the single key inside. Her eyes finally meet his, wide and unblinking, and she holds it up. "What is this," she whispers.

Nick thinks he's crazy. He's crazy for falling in love with the first and only person who's ever shown him love, he's crazy for doing this, they've only been together a year, and he might regret this, but he also might not, and with Kaia, he just...he just thinks it's worth giving it a shot anyway.

Nick stares at her. He swallows thickly, then murmurs, "That's the key to my apartment. And the empty boxes are for your things."

Kaia stares at him, too. She's not breathing.

Nick inhales shakily. "You, uh, you hate your roommate, and I think I'm a better one. Except we, um, we share the room, it's one-bedroom, and you'll get more sleep, and it's far more shittier than this place, I mean, Kaia, this place is fucking nice, but, uh, you can move in if you want to—"

"Nicholas Peterson," she breathes, and then she's walking toward the bed, grasping the key in her hand, and when she reaches him, her eyes are welled with tears. "I think I'm going to marry the shit out of you."

It makes him laugh so loud, and Kaia kisses him, and they're both laughing into each other, and she presses the key to her lips and hugs him.

He brushes the tears away from her face. Wet, solid tears—water.

Kisses her eyes. "Then I'll have to make sure you never cry stars," he whispers.

Kaia nods, kisses him again, and then stares at the key and holds it to her heart. 

*

thank u to the ppl reading & for commenting! :c