The tub was so small they barely had room to move, and thanks to Ellis upturning a giant bottle that had been sitting on the sidelines, there was more bubbles then anything. Sighing Nick leaned back and drew his left knee up, leaning his head back so it hit the tile and stayed there hoping he could just close his eyes for a second.
"What's wrong Nicky?."
Growling softly Nick opened one eye and tried to glare at the hick in front of him, but when he saw the way the boy's head was twisted around a worried smile on his face as he looked at him, Nick couldn't do anything but look back. It wasn't really Ellis' fault, he usually enjoyed his bath time with the kid, but lately it felt like every time he turned around something was going wrong and he was just so tired he had wanted to lay down instead of getting in here tonight.
"Nothing Ellie go back to playing with your bubbles."
He couldn't remember when they had started using the nicknames, or why they had ending up being girl's names, but one of them had come up with it and it had just stuck. Taking another look at the mechanic, he saw that look on his face that said Ellis didn't believe him, but the boy knew better then to push it. Closing his eyes again he felt Ellis shift and then his back against Nick's hairy chest as he leaned back against him giving Nick just a little more room to stretch out his legs if he wanted to.
There was a few moments of silence and Nick could almost guess Ellis had decided to busy himself with some sort of bubble tower or something like that. It was just another one of those stupid and childish acts that had drawn the grumpy conman to the happy mechanic in the first place. He'd even went so far as to ask him one day why he acted so much like a two year old when there was so much to be unhappy about. Ellis had simply said that being grown up didn't mean that you didn't have to be miserable, and that no matter what happened there was always something you could do to turn it around and make it all worth it.
"Hey Ellie"
"Yeah Nicky"
"What's the up side of being exhausted and stuck in a tub?"
He asked questions like this a lot, it gave the kid a reason to grin and give a very child like answer that usually either made him laugh or roll his eyes and swat the back of his head playfully.
"You get to climb to the top of bubble mountain, then slide down the giant water slide."
Yep, there was the snort, which was followed by the younger man's giggles, followed by the serious answer.
"Go to sleep, the up side is that you have a husband that will happily pick you up and carry you to bed."
That was good enough for him, smiling at little himself, Nick sighed again and relaxed. It didn't matter that there was a bit of a soapy taste in his mouth, or that Ellis had started making little popping noises every time he popped a bubble. He didn't have to worry about anything anymore, he had someone who would take care of him, watch his back.. HAD watched his back when he was too exhausted to do it himself.
Nick never knew it, but that night Ellis had almost lost him in a sea of bubbles.