Nick Peterson thinks Kaia Porter is a little crazy.

"Let's see," she says, biting her lip and scrolling down her phone with her finger, her other hand resting on her hip. "First on the list. Apron hanging on the kitchen...there!"

Nick moves away, sticking close to the wall, when she walks past him with a grin on her face, heading to the kitchen. Taking out scissors from her back pocket, she grabs the little red apron hanging on the wall and looks at Nick with crazy eyes. "You wanna do it?"

Nick blinks, pointing to himself. "M-me? What—do what?" he stutters, hands wringing themselves together behind his back.

"Cut it in half," Kaia says, still grinning. She waves the scissors around.

Nick doesn't know why he's not running away yet.

Ah, no. Actually, he does. He's not running away because Kaia, in some twisted, psychopathic way of hers, she's a little fucked in a head, Nick thinks, called him earlier this evening after their disastrous first date a week ago, and said, "Hey, cute face. You wanna break into my friend's ex's apartment and slice things in half?"

So, yes. Crazy. Why couldn't she just leave him alone after he barely spoke ten words all in all during their 'date' (and one of them was to ask her to pass over the sauce), looked at her eyebrow and counted the hairs on them instead of her eyes, and made a fool out of himself when she asked him to walk her home and he said, "Y-you have legs, though."

So, instead of studying for his lab test tomorrow, Nick is spending his evening with a gorgeous girl for God-knows-what, desperately trying to redeem himself and prove to her that while he's not the most apt option for a boyfriend and while he's certainly not the cute face she keeps calling him to be, he's a perfectly-functioning human being—a little...well, a little dead on the batteries and the upgrades, but. Functioning.

He swallows the saliva gathered in his mouth and stares at the wall behind her, pulling at his fingers. "I-I'm good, thanks."

"Playing it safe, I see." Kaia's still smiling. "Fine, then."

Nick flinches when he hears the loud snips of the scissors on the cloth. Satisfied, she takes the bottom half and bunches it with her fist, and shoves it inside her tote bag. "Alright, next on the list...ah, the laptop."

Nick steps away again when she walks past him, approaching the desk. He clears his throat and asks quietly, "W-why are you doing this?"

"Because my friend asked me to," Kaia chirps, twisting her head around to look at him, smiling brightly. Her hair falls over her shoulder. "She asked me while she was crying. You know, the stars."

Ah. The nasty Disease everyone falls on their knees in terror for. Nick almost scoffs, but he remembers that he's supposed to be acting like a decent human being with no mental issues he has to go to therapy for, and humans don't laugh at another person's...plight. Predicament.

He purses his lips and watches her inspect the perfectly innocent laptop. "What did the, um. The now-ex do? The one who owns this apartment?"

"He was demanding sex," Kaia says coolly, turning the laptop around in her hands. "He thinks a valid reason is because they've been together for years. He thinks sex is going to make their relationship stronger, yada, yada. But Holly—my friend—she wanted to wait a little longer before she's ready. And then...bam. He threw a little boy tantrum, scaring Holly with threats, you know, Satan's caressing her ear with his bullshit, and then she breaks up with him, but she still loves him. Which is fucking ridiculous if you ask me."

Nick blinks. Whatever he expected, it wasn't—it wasn't that. "Oh," he mutters.

"Holly was in a toxic, manipulative relationship," Kaia tells him with a smile, turning around to sit on the desk, the laptop still in her hands. "I'm proud that she got herself out of that, but...I don't know, I think you can't unlove a person after you've loved them with everything that you had. The Disease knows that, that stupid bastard."

"Unlove isn't a word," Nick interjects uselessly in a low tone.

She laughs a little, head bowing. "I know, Nick. So that's the story—and don't worry, I asked her if it was fine to tell you. Just don't go blabbing it to anyone else—I'm fine if people think I'm crazy. Holly doesn't need anyone else's shit, she's moving countries to get rid of the stars, and she needs a clean slate."

Nick stares at her. "And if people give you shit?"

"I can handle it," Kaia says, raising her head to meet his eyes. She winks. "What about you, Nick?Can you handle this craziness of mine?"

Nick gulps. Quietly, he answers, "It's not craziness. It's being a good friend."

Kaia stands up, opens the laptop, and tears it in half with her hands and knee.

Nick's jaw drops. "Uh, a good, crazy friend," he corrects himself.

"Yeah, so they bought this together, so half of it is Holly's," she sings cheerfully, shoving the half with the screen in her bag. Looking at her phone, she says, "Ah, next on the list is the printer. It's hers, so we're going to have to take it with us."

His brows raise. "You're—you're stealing the printer?"

"Taking it back," she corrects with a wink, unplugging it from the socket. "I hope this asshole has to run to school every morning to get his shit printed instead."

Nick steps forward and holds out his hands. "Okay, give it to me."

Kaia moves aside, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, you've spoken a lot more today than you did last week. The stuttering's lessened, too."

Nick doesn't look at her. He lifts the printer, exhaling heavily. "My therapist would be proud of me," he says quietly, heart pounding.

If Kaia didn't think he was a failure of a human being before, she certainly does now.

But she only says, "They should be. Does the stutter go away when you're more comfortable with the person you're with?"

Nick holds up the printer. He looks at Kaia's feet and mutters, "I—I don't know. I guess. Comes and goes. Um, I have—I have a therapist."

There's a smile in her voice when she says, "Yeah. You said so."

"I'm just making sure you heard me correctly," Nick says, clearing his throat. "So you can, uh, reevaluate your life choices, boyfriend choices, date choices..."

Kaia laughs. Nick's pulse is pounding in his ears. "I heard you, cute face. And I'm sticking with my boyfriend choice, sorry. Also, I think it's cool. And I'm learning so much more about you and I love that."

"There's nothing cool about needing therapy," he mutters, face heating. His glasses fall down his nose, and he's about to reach up to push them back, but he remembers his hands are full, so he just scrunches his nose to move them up.

"You asked for help that you need. That's cool," Kaia says. Her shoes come closer, and instinctively, Nick steps back. In a whisper, she asks, "Why? Do you want me to back off? I will if you want me to."

He's sweating. There's sweat all over his face, under his armpits, between his toes. His eyes are moving everywhere except for Kaia's face. "I'm just—I'm just w-wondering why you aren't—why you aren't yet."

"Because I like you," Kaia says, tilting her head. Like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Nick stops breathing. "That's a really horrible decision," he chokes out, shutting his eyes.

He gets another laugh for that. "God, you're so cute. Why are your eyes closed?"

"I'm panicking," Nick says under his breath, squeezing his eyes closed. "And you make me nervous."

"Sorry," Kaia giggles. "Actually, no, I'm not sorry. That's a good sign." Her hand reaches for his face to move his glasses up his nose, and Nick shivers.

The doorknob jingles. A voice in confusion comes from the hallway.

Nick opens his eyes. Kaia grins. "Time to hide."

"Hide? What—oh!"

She drags him to the nearest closet, the printer still in his hands. Kaia opens the doors, pushes Nick inside, and scrambles in the small space next to him.

Then they're in the dark, breathing heavily. Nick looks at her with wide eyes, and Kaia puts her index finger to her lips, telling him to be quiet.

Nick hugs the printer, heart kicking in his chest.

Through the small gaps in the closet doors, he sees a tall man come in, looking around, wondering why the door is unlocked. And then he sees the half-cut laptop, and the apron and blanket on the bed, and he yells, seething, and leaves again.

Kaia's laughing. "Ah, the little boy tantrum."

Nick stares at her. His inhales are shaky. "What if he comes after you?" he whispers.

"You worried about me?" Kaia asks teasingly. In the dark, he can see only a shadow of her eyes.

"He's tall," Nick mutters, hugging the printer to his chest.

"And I break bones for fun," she tells him, laughing. "Don't worry, darling."

Then she takes the printer from his hands, opens the closet doors, and sets it down on the floor. Then she closes the doors again, and steps forward, pressing herself to Nick.

Nick sticks himself to the wall, gulping. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"I wanna know you," Kaia murmurs, "and I think you'd be too shy if you can see me. Can you see me?"

He's holding his breath. "No," he chokes out. It's too dark.

"Good. Now you can tell me about you. Just three things. And then we can leave and I'll drop you off. I'll tell you three things, too."

Nick can hear his pulse racing. "U-um, I don't know, I have four older brothers."

"And I bet you're the cutest," she mutters. "I have one older sister."

"Uh." He's hot to the face and neck. "I like comic books?"

"Me too," Kaia says, smiling. "I love spicy food."

"I can't eat spicy food," he murmurs. "Um, I...I have a mood octopus?"

"A what?" she asks, sounding curious.

Stupid. "Um." He scratches the back of his ear. "It's a plush toy. A reversible one. One mood is happy, it's pink and smiling, and the other one is angry, it's blue and it's frowning. My therapist gave it to me so I can be more...I don't know, I can talk more and use it to figure out my emotions."

Kaia lets out a soft chuckle. "I thought you couldn't get any cuter," she sighs.

"That's not cute, that's...embarrassing and weird."

"I'll be the one dating you, so when I say it's cute, it's cute."

Nick coughs. "D-dating?"

She laughs again. "I told you I like you, Nick. But, uh, I'm told I really have to work on not making people more uncomfortable than they already are, so just tell me if I need to back off, okay?"

Nick coughs again. "Mm."

"Okay. Let's see." She exhales heavily. "Ah, I know a lot of shit about cars, I work at my family's auto repair shop."

"Oh," Nick says. "That's cool."

"Thank you." Kaia opens the door, and when the lights hits his eyes, he squints. "C'mon, I'll take you home."

Kaia dumps the printer at the backseat. When she pulls over to his apartment, she looks at him with a smile and says, "I'm sitting with you at lunch on Monday, is that okay?"

Nick presses himself to the window. Doesn't look at her. He nods once. "Mm."

"Okay." Without a second of hesitation, she leans over and kisses him on the cheek. "See you on Monday, cute face."

Nick opens the door with shaking hands. Almost falls on his face getting out of the car, and he hears Kaia laugh endearingly.

As soon as he gets to his room, he paces around back and forth, shaking his hands, panting.

Then he takes his mood octopus and turns it around. It's pink and happy now.

*

Yves looks at him across the table with one raised eyebrow.

Nick looks away and clears his throat, hands balling themselves into fists beside his plate. He swallows thickly, trying very hard not to concentrate on the fact that his and Kaia's thighs are touching.

"So," Kaia says, leaning forward on the table with a sweet grin, folding her arms together, "It's Yves and Orion, right?"

"Right, hello." Orion smiles. "We've met."

Kaia nods, snapping and giving him finger guns. "The text message composers. I figured."

"Yeah, unfortunately, that's all we can do," Yves adds, leaning back against his chair. "He kinda cried after your first date. Said he screwed it up."

"Shut up," Nick snaps, kicking him under the table.

Kaia isn't fazed. She looks at Nick, propping her chin on her fist, but Nick only gives Yves the deadliest glare he can muster, heart pounding. "I'm not a fan of friends embarrassing friends, but I need you to know you didn't screw anything up. If you want me to leave, though, just tell me and I will."

"No," Nick mutters, bowing his head. Face burning, he whispers, "Stay."

She straightens, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "So the rumors about the infamous Yves Grimaldi are true."

"What?" Yves scoffs. "That I'm charming?"

"That I met you five seconds ago and I already regret it," she says, unwrapping her burrito.

Orion purses his lips, scooping a forkful of his pasta.

The brunet rolls his eyes. "I don't really care what you think, doll. Besides, where's your flock of minions?"

"They're my friends," Kaia corrects coolly. "And I didn't invite them because it's your table."

Yves juts his chin and points behind Kaia's head. "You can invite them if they're hot. That one, for example."

Kaia doesn't look. She stares at Yves, smiles, and in one second, has his finger bent before the burrito drops on her plate.

"Ow, ow!" Yves hisses, eyes wide, holding on to his wrist, back arching off his chair. "Fucking hell, get off me—"

Nick stares at Kaia. She's still smiling. "Yeah, see, I'm kind of a nutjob, Yves, but we'll get along just fine if you behave, mm? How's that sound?"

Orion looks at Nick. He mouths, "I think I'm in love."

Nick mouths back, "Back off."

"Sounds spectacular," Yves snaps through gritted teeth, veins popping.

Kaia lets go of his hand and sits down, picking up her burrito. Turning to Nick, she grins and says, "Where were we?"

*

Kaia is a dog person. She has a small scar in the middle of her forehead from hitting her head on a corner when she was a kid playing hide and seek, and she also has a three-inch fracture line at the back of her skull when she collapsed on cement in high school. Her mother is a makeup artist, and her father works at a bank, and Karson, her older sister, is a flight attendant. Kaia learned how to surf and skateboard and ASL over the summer, and she likes the cookie dough flavored ice cream. She has also watched Young Justice and loves it (Thank God), and she can play the Baa Baa Black Sheep song on the recorder.

These are what Nick knows from what Kaia's told him. The rest, he learned from spending time with her.

Her lips are chapped because she has a habit of pulling the skin. She does that while she's talking, or while she's focused on her laptop, and then she only realizes she's doing it when it hurts, and her lip starts to bleed. Nick has had to pull her hand away from her mouth when she starts to reach up, and the first time he did that, he ran away afterwards.

She doesn't like drinking coffee. Nick found some courage deep inside his needle-thin bones, decided to get the drinks and pay for them this time, and decided on coffee. Everyone likes coffee.

But not Kaia. She took a sip and her face scrunched for half a second. Then she smiled at Nick and took another sip.

Nick scrambled to get her another drink even though she insisted it was fine.

And Kaia is...she's bold, and she's fun, and somehow, even with Nick's inability to form coherent thoughts and/or sentences around her, even with his sweating palms and insane heartbeat whenever she approaches him or asks him if they can hang out, and even with his sorry face and terrible body and horrid personality, she likes him.

As many times as she tells him this, she's always made sure that she needs him to tell her if he's uncomfortable in any way or manner with her confessions or her flirty words, and they can just remain friends.

But Nick's not uncomfortable. He's just awkward and scrawny and lacking in the romance department.

This is how lacking he is, as seen on a daily basis:

Brain: Just tell her you think she's beautiful! She'll smile at you and she'll love it. Go ahead, you can do it.

Nick: Okay.

So he'll stare at Kaia looking constipated, and she'll furrow her eyebrows, tilting her head. "Nick, are you okay?"

"Y-your face," he'll mutter, gulping. He'll hold her confused look for three seconds and then focus on her shoulder. "It's small."

"Thanks?" Kaia will say, mouth curving.

Nailed it.

"And, um," he'll continue, as if he hasn't done enough already, "you have a voice. That's cool."

Brain: Fucking hell.

He's the type of person who will make Kaia sit on the bleachers while playing basketball, will say, "This shot's for you," and then misses.

So he's baffled.

Why is she, Kaia Porter, ace lacrosse player, star student, easygoing, gorgeous, and insanely sweet, wasting her time on him—making an effort to know him and be his friend and/or his potential love interest? Him, who just learned how to use chopsticks three months ago because he was afraid of failure. Him, who can't hold eye contact for longer than five seconds or else he'll die.

Why would anyone do that to themselves, really.

Ah. And apparently, Kaia is a very jealous person.

"Hey." Cassia Finch puts down her books and sits on Nick's left. "What do you say about spending the afternoon with me?"

"Mm?" Nick's eyebrows raise, sipping on his morning coffee.

"Hi," Orion says, waving.

"Mornin'." Yves grins, eyeing her up and down.

The brunette only raises one hand in greeting with a disinterested face and focuses back on Nick with a smile. "So I heard from Kaia you're first of the batch in your course."

"Second, actually," Yves cuts in, clearing his throat. "I'm first."

Cassia ignores him. "And you're kind of a genius. So I need your help."

Nick's only met Cassia and Kaia's other friends a few weeks ago—and the thing is, Kaia has a lot of friends. There are those from her class, her lacrosse team, those she met at a party, those she met at a random study group, those she met at some place at some time. Whenever she and Nick walk together, it's like walking with the mayor—she has too many people to wave at, to smile at, to talk to in the middle of the road, and Nick will stand there awkwardly, but Kaia will take his arm and say, "This is Nick, he's my new best friend," and then include him in the conversation so he doesn't stand there like an idiot.

Cassia, he met while he and Kaia were studying at Mo's. She's one of the few people Nick instantly liked, and she's kind and funny and he can see why she and Kaia get along so well.

Which is why he answers, "Help with what?"

Cassia gives him a determined look and scoots closer, gripping his arm. "Spend the afternoon with me and help me with my test tomorrow. I'll pay you generously."

"I'm a shit teacher," Nick tells her honestly, blinking.

"I'm a great teacher," Yves says.

Cassia ignores him again and pouts at Nick, now holding onto his arm with two hands. "Nick, please. I'm going to fail this if you don't help me, please, please. I'll pay you extra and I'll pay for our dinner."

"What dinner?" Kaia's voice asks cheerfully, and Nick turns his head.

She has her hot chocolate in one hand and her books in the other, and she's already smiling.

Nick's day just got better even as he hears his heart rate pick up. "Hey," he mutters, looking away.

"Morning!" Kaia makes a big step in front of the bench in between Cassia and Nick, squeezes her way between them, and sits down. "What are we talking about?"

"I'm asking him to help me study for tomorrow's calculus test," Cassia grumbles, not fazed about Kaia's behavior. "Please, Nick."

"Ah." Kaia turns to him with a bright smile. Nick feels his face burn, and he looks at her ear instead of her eyes. "I need your help for the test, too. May I join?"

Nick blinks. He already helped her study for this test last Monday. She kept staring at him, and he kept stuttering over his words, but Kaia's already got the material down. She doesn't need any more studying. "I, uh, but we—"

"Join all you want." The brunette puts her arm around Kaia's shoulder with a grin. "But no need to be jealous, sweetie."

"I just don't like the idea of you two alone together, I'll be irritated," Kaia admits easily, sipping her drink. Nick coughs on his saliva. "And I want to spend time with him after school, too. I'll be quiet, don't worry."

Kaia keeps her word, but she's incredibly distracting. She's there, beside Nick, while he struggles to teach Cassia across the table, and she's just...staring at the side of his face.

Cassia throws a potato wedge in her face. "Stop staring."

"I can't help it," Kaia says, sighing.

Nick's whole face is red. He can't look at her. "Cassia, please focus."

"Are you sure I'm the one who's having difficulty focusing?" she snorts, but at Nick's glare, she returns her attention to her book.

So she's a very...jealous person.

"So you made out with her?" Orion asks, settling on the bench, rubbing his hands together. They're watching the first lacrosse game of the season, invite from Kaia, and it's the first time Nick sees what's so fun about breaking bones. "Cassia?"

"Yup." Yves grins smugly, leaning back against the bleachers. "That whole hate thing was an act."

Nick hugs himself. His breath comes out in a smoke. It's freezing and Kaia's supposed to play lacrosse in the cold? What the fuck?

"She's sweet, Yves." Orion sighs, biting his hotdog. "And she's Kaia's friend. Don't play with her."

"Since when do you care about the people I hook up with?" Yves asks, raising his eyebrows.

Nick puts his palms out, panting. His lips are fucking blue. "Shut up. Everyone shut up. Fucking hell, it's freezing."

"So why did you give your jacket to some girl in your class?" Yves snorts.

"She was seated beside me and she was cold," Nick reasons weakly. "Whatever. Just shut up."

North Aiken's team go into the field, loud cheers rising from the crowd. With the dark and their helmets and pads, it's impossible to see who's who, but Kaia told him earlier this evening she's number 14.

Her head is turned towards the bleachers when Nick spots her. Then she jumps in place, raises her hand in a big wave, hits her chest with her fist, and then points at him.

"What the hell was that," Yves mutters.

"Maybe it was some kind of mating call," Orion supplies helpfully, chewing.

Nick only ducks his head in embarrassment. Jesus Christ, this girl doesn't give a shit.

He finds himself awed watching her play. She's fast, agile, quick on her feet, good with catches and passes, too. She's scored a good number of goals, and each time, she does a little victory dance that make Nick smile.

It's just worrying—the players' bodies crash into each other trying to steal that little ball thing, and Kaia's been tackled and pushed to the ground more than once. It makes him wince, and his head turns away from the field.

As soon as it's over, and North Aiken's celebration of victory is deafeningly loud, Nick heaves a sigh of relief and slumps down on the bench. He's exhausted. "God," he breathes. "What the hell did I just watch? Why am I so tired?"

"Dude." The brunet snorts, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're the shyest nerd I know, but when it comes to your girlfriend's games, you're the loudest motherfucker in the stands."

"Drink this." Orion gives him a water bottle. Nick looks at it, confused. "Your throat must be sore."

Oh, God. Was he cheering loudly this whole time?

"Ah!" Nick stomps his feet repeatedly, covering his face with both hands. "And she's not my girlfriend!"

Kaia finds him like that. Embarrassed as shit.

She drops on the space next to him and says, "You have a really loud voice, Peterson."

"Stop," he pleads.

Kaia laughs. "Thank you for cheering me on. It gave me strength. We won because of you."

He keeps his face covered, but he raises his head, and peeks in between his fingers. She's smiling at him, and her face doesn't look like it's bruised. "You had some nasty falls. Are you okay?"

"All part of the game." She shrugs, grinning. "You worried?"

"No," Nick mutters, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kaia rubs her palms together. "Where are your friends?"

"Gone." Nick clears his throat. "Aren't you supposed to be, uh, celebrating with your teammates?"

She lets out a noncommittal hum. "Yes, but I'm not."

Nick waits for her to say something else, but she doesn't. It's quiet.

Ah. She's waiting for him to say it.

God. Why does dating require so much communication and staring and touching? Why can't they just...be like penguins and eat and swim and give each other a pebble?

Hands shaking, he blows into his palms and whispers, "You wanna eat?"

"Are you asking me out?"

"No," Nick answers quickly, refusing to look at her.

"Well, if it's not a date, then why are you so nervous?"

"I don't have a nervous system," Nick says stupidly. "I am the nervous system."

Kaia laughs again. Nick's gotten so used to her laugh by now, but it doesn't do anything to calm his stomach or his mind or his heart. He feels like he's running. Out of breath. "Let's go eat, then."

As they're walking to her car, Kaia turns to him and asks, "Where's your jacket? Why aren't you bundled up, it's freezing!"

"Oh." His breaths come out in smoke again. He blows into his palms and rubs them together. "My seatmate was cold. I gave her my jacket and forgot to ask for it back."

Kaia stops suddenly, making him bump into her back. Nick jumps away as soon as they make contact. "What?"

She looks at him with narrowed eyes and points a finger in his chest. "You. You better stop being boyfriend material if you're not going to be my fucking boyfriend. Mine. Okay?"

And then she takes off her outermost layer and puts it on Nick, and she grumbles about the jacket all the way to the pizza place.

And one last thing, out of many more things, about Kaia:

"I'll be good to you, Nick," she murmurs, and Nick believes her.

She only says the truth.

Young Justice is playing on the television, but it's just background noise now, and they're alone in Kaia's apartment, and her hair's tied up in a bun, she's wearing sweatpants and a tank top, and one strand of her hair is falling out of place and Nick just wants to reach out and tuck it behind her ear.

He'd just told her his three things about him (it's getting hard to think of things he hasn't told her before, but he always prepares them before bed the night before he sees Kaia), and she just told him her three things, and then he said, "I don't know how to do this, Kaia."

And she murmured, "I'll be good to you, Nick. I will, I promise. So just..."

He stops moving. Breathing. Kaia's come close enough that he feels her breath on his skin. Lips to his ear, Nick shivers, and she whispers, "I know you enough now. And I think, after everything I know about you...I need to know your lips. May I?"

So when she kisses him, Nick just...well, he knows she's telling the truth.

He feels it.