Tagging: Nikita, Owen, Alex, Sean, Jaden, Thom, Michael.
Ships: Nowen/Salex. (for now)
Rating: K. (Might change sometime during the story.)
To those that know me: yep, two multi-chapter stories at the same time. I couldn't help myself, honestly, and writing a Mikita story is way long overdue. They're my favorite ship in the history of fabulous ships, and it's been a matter of if not when I'll be writing something about them.
To those that don't know me (yet): 'ello!
I'm sorry if this story is extra cringe-worthy over how stereotypical and cliche it honestly is. I hope it'll get better and more depth-y as I go on.
Anyways. I'd like to dedicate the first chapter to Jae, who gave me fabulous advice: "Follow your heart." (My heart said Mikita.)
Her life had been average until it wasn't, and there was something to be said about that; mostly it raised a question of "why" rather than "when"—there is something to be written about that.
"When?" isn't an easy question to answer, mind you.
Was it when she'd been five years old with dreams bigger than the town she was born in, dreams of being a princess that leads an army into battle against creatures that solely exist in nightmares or of being a world traveler that hungers after beautiful objects that tell of eras long forgotten?
But it was normal for a five-year-old to want big futures and end up experiencing nothing like they could've imagined; after all, which five-year-old would imagine a future wherein their parents no longer lived?
She hadn't expected at five years old, but she'd known it a fact four years later.
So was it when she'd been nine years old then? When she'd been forced to talk about "Ma and Pop" in a past tense that hurt more than any child should have to endure? When there'd been nightmares worse than ever before and a hollow in her chest that never budged, never filled again but, at least, never grew either?
Losing parents at a young age has always been something tragically common, something that happens more often than it should.
That didn't make her extraordinary-just unlucky.
As tragedy-struck as her childhood had been, it hadn't been anything the world hadn't seen yet; tossed around like a rag doll by the system, she had eventually found a new home and there had ended the pitiful eyes and hushed conversations whenever she'd been in the room.
Maybe it was when she'd been sixteen, choosing against her teachers' advice to become a nurse?
Even that wasn't anything rare. While still a criminally limited amount, she'd been together with two dozen other students in her class at one of Vancouver's community colleges.
So then when was it—when she decided to let Owen into her life, or when she had simultaneously the worst and best summer of her life?
Pondering about the when is still easier than the why though. The why's an impossible question to answer.
The Elliot estate bathed in the afternoon sun of a beautiful July day. The buildings casted long shadows on the lawn; blades rustled in the breeze. Wild flowers ran like veins through the garden with a wonderfully elaborate palette of vibrant colors and through the gaps between the stems looked a group of teenagers lying flat on their stomachs, head resting on top of their arms, waiting for the last guests to arrive.
Soon enough a black SUV drove onto the big strip of road between two tall hedges of trees, the windows open to reveal a blonde man that wore a bright grin beneath his Ray Ban sunglasses and next to him, though mostly invisible to anyone looking in from the other side, a woman that had hair almost as raven as the shades that wrapped around her.
While the teenagers scurried to their feet to run up to the house Meat Loaf's Paradise by the Dashboard Light thundered through the car, the sheer volume made their seats vibrate and Nikita was drumming her fingers against her thighs nervously.
The entire ride she'd been trying to get a lid on the anxious tension that tightened her muscles until she was uncomfortable despite how the leather of the seat had formed around her body like God's hand.
The last two Christmases had been spent with Owen's parents coming over, but she'd never had the pleasure of meeting anyone else from the family—yet. As she watched a handful of teenagers hurry up the marble front steps that lead up to high double doors she wondered who all were related to the man by her side.
"Stop right there, I gotta know right now," Owen sang loudly, voice screeching and eyes squeezing together, head bobbing to the drums.
It was the distraction she needed in that moment, and as she scrunched up her nose and laughed the impending family meeting vanished from her mind momentarily. Instead of thinking about it she reached for the water bottle in the glove compartment and used it as her microphone.
"Before we go any further, do you love me? Will you love me forever?"
By the time they rounded up in front of the entrance the song had run its length and made place for an equally brilliant 80s chart topper, Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds.
With a sigh she pushed up, leaning into Owen to peck the corner of his mouth before she slipped her legs from underneath her and stretched them to the ground. Her muscles whined with an unpleasant ache, having been tucked under her weight for the entire drive between Vancouver and Quebec.
She moved her gaze up to the waiting crowd in time to catch a flash of brown cascading around a tiny frame and then the weight of the girl and momentum of the sprint knocked her back. Nikita released a shrieked "oomph" as she caught Alex mid-jump.
"I'm so glad to finally meet you!" the girl babbled into her ear as she wound her arms tightly around her, unsteadily swaying on the balls of her feet.
Nikita smiled when they broke apart, catching eager baby blues and a name she'd heard before, Alex, and suddenly so many stories made so much more sense as she finally matched "Owen's sister" with this person.
"I'm glad to finally meet you too!"
Alex tangled their hands together to pull her into the house. Nikita was introduced to the entire gang—Sean, Alex' boyfriend, and their two best friends, Jaden and Thom. She greeted Owen's parents warmly, spending a full minute being held by Jane who couldn't stop complaining about how thin she'd gotten.
"Let's go inside and ask if Kitchen can make you something. Alex, be a dear and go get Michael."
Nikita couldn't be precise about how long she'd known Owen, but they'd been best friends since her junior year in high school and had dated him for half of that time—however, she had only once heard of Michael, which was bleak in comparison to the plenty stories she'd been told about Alex, his parents, even his weird cousin Seymour.
She craned her neck to follow with her eyes as Alex ran up the stairs. Then she inched closer to Owen, curling in his side to be closer to his ear and whisper: "Michael's here?"
"I didn't know either," he muttered in response, eyebrow rising slightly.
All she knew was that he was an older half-brother and that he hadn't bothered visiting his family since he'd moved away. It had seemed like too much of a sore subject to ever bring up again, so Nikita hadn't.
She had no idea what to expect.
They filed into the spacious living room. Leather couches surrounded a Persian rug that seemed fuzzy enough to sleep on, a wall was entirely made out of glass so that everything was doused in bright rays of sunlight. Art hung from the elegant sand brick walls and as Nikita flopped down on one of the couches, she felt some of her fear melt away.
"Are you usually a quiet person?" Alex' friend Jaden asked, a seemingly genuine smile curving up those luscious lips, and Nikita was about to answer when the doors creaked.
In walked the personification of Tall, Dark and Handsome. Hands stuffed in the pockets of an emerald green vest and pursed lips surrounded by a scruffy beard, warmth furled in the pit of her stomach as Nikita looked up and caught muddy green eyes.
Michael.
Wow.