NicoMaki Single Parent AU requested by Anonymous
Dr. Maki Nishikino was out for an anonymous night on the town. Too many meetings, too many days being orderly and organized, too many evenings at events arranged by the staffs of charities, too many dresses, too many after midnights coming home at 2 a.m., tearing off heels and pantyhose, collapsing on her bed, then crawling out 5 hours later for a five minute shower and a ten hour shift. Too many people. So tonight, she was alone.
Rin had had told about a bar that had a Silent Disco night. You put on headphones and danced in a crowd of other, isolated people. Maki was intrigued. She'd never minded people watching...or people watching her, as long as they didn't attempt to interact. Headphones on, world off, Halestorm howling.
"There's so much left unspoken
Between the two of us
It's so much more exciting
To look when you can't touch
You could say I'm different
Maybe I'm a freak
But I know how to twist you
To bring you to your knees"
Small bar, but the basement was huge and cool, sawdust scattered across the floor, gargoyles guarding the corner. The lighting was dim, the green, blue, and purple glow from the headphones blips against the darkness. There were a few spotlights, with dancers moving through them, and Maki kept finding her attention drawn to the woman who had claimed the central one. Tiniest person in the bar, face carved of sharp angles and youthful energy, midnight hair loose, blood red eyes bright as a record button in the dark, moves flowing with supple suggestiveness.
More Halestorm in Maki's headphones
" I'll give you one last night
So make it twisted
Give you one last shot, go on and hit it
Give you one last time to make me miss it
Baby, love me apocalyptic
Come on!"
Maki watched the dainty dynamo dominate the dance floor, ebon hair whipping dangerously around her, watched her twist and swivel and swoop and clear everyone out of her spotlight, eyelids flicking closed, sweat dripping down, tongue flicking out to taste it, then a drop and a move that surely only a professional could pull off.
The beat changed, still Halestorm, and the unreal eyes opened, and Maki found out she'd been drawn close enough to be grabbed when a hand captured her wrist. Lush lips mouthed lyrics at her,
"Better be scared, better be afraid
Now that the beast is out of her cage
And I know you wanna risk it
You know you are so addicted
Boy, you better run for your life!"
Pounding, Maki's heart was pounding, her head was pounding, up and down with the harsh beat, hands were suddenly rough at her waist pulling her closer, lips curled in what could best be described as a wickedly knowing smirk that suggested Maki had already been undressed in a fantasy. And yet Maki's hands fell onto the shorter woman's shoulders, as if it were a practiced motion.
And then the music slowed and the mood didn't.
"Let's take our clothes off
I wanna show you my hidden tattoo
That nobody ever gets to see but you do
Oh baby let me taste ya, shake ya, tie you up and break ya
'Cause I've been alone, left on my own for too long
Oh damn, too long, too long, too long, I say come on"
Slow dances for Maki meant waltzing at formal parties her parents made her go to, but this, this was nothing like this. Hips against hips, eyes closed, finding rhythms, fighting to stay upright, being so aware of someone that Maki felt every breath, being so close to someone that the sweet dripping off their nose slid tantalizingly down Maki's lips and she couldn't help but flick her tongue out to taste it, and then it wasn't Maki's tongue tasting and she wasn't hearing the music anymore, although the beat was still there, captured between their hips and Maki was shivering in a corner, being shoved against a wall, hands under her shirt, lips on her neck, eyes impossibly bright watching as she jerked, a stranger's fingers probing.
Maki kept it together, long enough to drag the non conversation to her car, long enough for an exchange of names, long enough for an ask, followed by the softest, gentlest pressure of lips against hers, as she whispered yes and then, then Nico was all tongue and twist and Maki screaming.
"Cause there's a new drug, baby, that I can't resist
It's like a thousand bolts of lightning when we kiss
And can you show me now, how can I get my fix?
Is it love? Is it love? Is it love? "
Sunrise was happening and dinner was breakfast...Maki shook her head, still muddled as Nico handed her a burger and slid next to her. Maki had let Nico drive to the nearest open fast food joint, staying in the backseat, covered by a blanket dragged out of the trunk, still breathless.
"Wow." Maki breathed.
Nico laughed, a little smug, "Nico's the best."
Maki frowned but pushed her shoulder into Nico, playful, sitting up, "French fries?"
Nico pulled one out of the bag, offering it to Maki, who leaned forward to bite it in half, "Cute."
Maki shrugged, "Hungry."
Nico dropped an arm casually around Maki, as she bit into her burger, "You don't seem like the backseat of the car type."
"'M not." Maki chewed through embarrassment, not looking at her companion.
"Tell me something about you."
"I'm boring."
"That's not what Nico would say…" Nico's laugh rolled away Maki's hesitation and the redhead found herself grinning as they ate in silence, resting against each other.
But as the sun rose, practical came back into the world, and Maki sighed at the thought of her overpacked schedule. "I like not worrying about contraception. My hours are too long to have a 'surprise.'"
"Yeah." Nico finished her burger and leaned her head back, "Nico prefers full grown surprises with pretty eyes like yours."
"Do you have many?" Maki wriggled closer to Nico.
"Nope." Nico shook her head, Maki watching a grin slowly gleam into being, "Nico's usually a three date kind of girl."
"So now you owe me three dates." Maki turned in, curling up, staring at Nico.
"Doesn't this count as one." Nico winked.
Maki's lips neared Nico's ear and she enjoyed Nico's twitch of anticipation before she slowly breathing out, "Nope." Then she sat up and grabbed the bag, digging for french fries.
Nico tried to sound aggrieved, but there was too much of a hint of a giggle, "Fine, Maki, give Nico your number and I'll text you. We go on Date One this weekend. Nico will make a picnic."
Maki slid her hand in Nico's back pocket, stealing the phone, punching in numbers. Nico wondered if going back for dessert could count as a date, but then Maki's pout at being ignored pulled Nico back to other sweet thoughts and she stole another messy, slippery, salty, greasy, teasing kiss instead.
"You took me to your little crib
Guess it must have been a big deal (a big deal)
Got me starring in your wet dream
Now it's time to get real (get real)
I'm not looking for love
No not today"
Maki hated her phone. Every day, for the past 97 days, it was a reminder that Nico had never texted or called or shown up at that club at a time when Maki just happened to be hanging out there, for no reason at all. And that Maki had been too busy kissing Nico to text herself from Nico's phone. Fortunately, when she was on her hospital rounds, her phone was locked away in her office. Tonight, she was on duty in the Emergency Room, one of her favorite shifts. Problems solved and they didn't linger even if they weren't. Patients were assigned to general practitioners or specialists for follow ups and Maki moved on to the next thing. Like Nico had. No regret, barely any memory, no...calls...Maki felt her fists clenching as she headed to the nurse's station for a heads up about her first patient, a young male, 12 years old, who'd been hit by a car while riding his bike.
Maki walked into the room, noticing the slight, dark haired youth unconscious on the bed. Stabilize, send off for tests...her first thought, she didn't have a second thought when she glanced up to see if a parent was in the room and recognized blood red eyes flooded with tears. Nico hastily sat up a little straighter, her arm quickly raised to hide and scrub the evidence of upset from her face.
"Nico?" Maki had been anticipating a raging flood of anger when she saw Nico again, but instead there was a surprised squeak.
"Oh, oh I... I'm your rock n' roll joan of arc
The queen of broken hearts
I'm here to save the world, but who will save super girl?
What if I'm weak and I need you tonight?
I hate it... I hate it when you see me cry"
Cotarou had been sent off for tests, to see how bad the break in his leg was and make sure there wasn't any internal damage. Nico was sitting in the room, too still, waiting for her brother's return. Maki found herself walking by the doorway, unnoticed by Nico, too aware of the other woman's body language. Nico was curled in on herself, frightened, Maki realized, texting furiously on her phone with someone. A lover? No, who would leave someone they cared for alone in an ER like this. Maki remembered Nico demanding coffee to get through her morning, some awful concoction that was half excessive caffeine, half creamer. Maki could mix up a mess like that from what they kept stocked in the break room so she told the nearest nurse she was taking a brief break and took two cups of coffee to the room to Cotarou's room.
"Every time I try to get a little closer
You shut down and the conversation's over
I'm right here, but you leave me in the dark
Show me your private parts"
Nico was pacing nervously. Maki stood in the door, watching, thrown by flashbacks to the dance floor, the car, as Nico mumbled to herself, arms swinging around or locked behind her head or stopping to stomp or nudge something with her foot. After realizing Nico was too absorbed in worry to notice her on this night, Maki announced herself with a nervous cough. If both hands hadn't been full, she would have been twirling her hair.
Nico stopped, arms crossed over her chest, "Is there news?"
Maki shook her head, "Not yet. Worrying won't hurry the tests, Nico, just wear you out." Maki extended the right hand cup to Nico, "I remember you drink a disgusting mess of half coffee, half fake dairy."
Nico snorted, "You only remembered so you could make fun of Nico's tastes, like you did…" Nico stopped.
"You never texted." Maki said, still surprised at her lack of anger. But this worried, collapsed into herself Nico was almost the exact opposite of the brash, charming Nico she'd met 3 months ago, and yet, Maki found herself drawn in again, without a spotlight, hyperaware of the other woman's every mood, every twitch. "It's been awhile."
"97 days." Nico muttered.
"Yeah." Maki sipped, taking a chair, "What happened?"
Nico sighed, swirling her coffee instead of drinking it. Which needed to change, Maki thought Nico was looking pale and might need a quick sugar hit...maybe she should have grabbed a chocolate bar for her as well.
"It wasn't you…" Nico grumbled, fist clenched, knee jiggling.
Still no anger, Maki thought, just a harsh roar of laughter, inappropriate for the moment, "So now that you're here you're dodging me with cheap, cheesy tropes…" okay, maybe there was some resentment breaking through. "I...I...kept thinking about you…wondering..."
Uncoiling, Nico chugged the coffee, threw the cup in the garbage can like a major league fastballer, and rushed Maki, who could hear clearly how much hurt Nico was swallowing , "How could I call you? I got home, changed clothes and my mom was on my doorstep with my three siblings. She'd been deployed and was leaving in 12 hours."
"Oh." Maki met Nico's glance, still fascinated by the rare color and these new wounds Nico was leaving open.
Nico pulled back, "Not one surprise, but three...even if Nico thought you could hack it, Nico's business needed as much attention as her siblings." Genuine sadness and a sweet smile with no trace of sugary artifice or saccharine fakery, "No time for even one date." Nico slumped again, turning away, Maki knowing that the red eyes she'd wanted to see again for the past three months were about to be flooded again.
Maybe a question would give Nico a chance to compose herself. "3 siblings?"
"Cotarou…" Nico stumbled, then inhaled, "Cocoro's at college and Cocoa was at work when this happened. She waits tables at my restaurant after school."
"You own a restaurant?"
"Nico is the best celebrity chef in the business...Yazawa's?" Nico nudged, her face recovering some of its sharpness. "Used to be my dad's."
Maki shook her head, "I don't get out on my own much. 'S my family's hospital. We're very active socially, with charity and things like that."
"'Very active socially'…" Nico sniped, a mocking tone tingeing her retort, "Is that the rich version of 'too busy and bored out of your mind?'"
Maki chuckled, but before she could answer her com buzzed and Nico's attention and attitude tensed, "It's not about your brother." Maki said after a quick glance.
Nico nodded, but the mood had changed. Maki stood, "I'll go see if I can find anything out."
"Thanks, Maki."
Maki nodded, glad to have gotten Nico speaking in a more natural voice.
"Here's to us
Here's to love
All the times
That we fucked up
Here's to you
Fill the glass
Cause the last few days
Have kicked my ass"
"It is a displaced tibia fracture but the surgery is pretty routine and tonight's on call orthopedic surgeon is the best, we went to school together." Maki was speaking to both Nico and Cotarou, who had thankfully escaped concussion symptoms or any internal damage, "Then there'll be physical therapy to get the leg back to full strength, but we have the best physical therapists in the city."
"And the surgery has to happen now?" Nico was holding Cotorou's hand and brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"We need to stabilize his leg so more damage doesn't occur."
Nico glared, "If it happened to you, is this the surgeon you would use?"
Maki was taken aback by the fierceness that had taken over the smaller woman. Two orderlies came in, ready to take Cotorou off, but Nico wasn't going to let go of her brother or the bed until she got the answer she wanted from Maki.
"Yes." Maki's head nod was firm, body language as confident as she could make it.
"Fine, then Nico approves." She released the clutch of her hands, kissed her brother on his forehead, "You'll be okay, Cotorou, Maki's friend is going to take care of you."
Cotarou nodded, but he was mostly loopy from pain and medication.
"Nico Nico Ni" Nico did a quick dance and raised her hands to her temple as her brother giggled, "Nico will be there when you're done, okay."
The orderlies rolled Cotarou out of the room.
Maki decided to be tall and let herself get as close to Nico as she had all night, hands in her lab coat pocket, surprised by the flush of nervous warmth as she neared Nico and the smaller woman glanced up. Maki stopped when she felt Nico's arm against hers. Shoulder to shoulder. A totally different dynamic than their last encounter but somehow, standing next to this subdued Nico still felt right. Maki pushed the door open, "I'll walk you to the waiting room." Nico stopped on her way out, and started to say something but Maki just leaned down to kiss her cheek, "He's going to be fine, Nico."
Nico nodded, her hand brushing Maki's for a moment, both women wondering if the other had felt the shock too.
"I don't know how to stop
I'll give it all I've got
It's like my brakes are shot
I gotta have too much
I don't know how to stop
It's crazy, but so what?"
Maki's shift was over. She made a quick fast food run and returned to the hospital, quietly heading for the waiting room where she'd left Nico. Nico was lying on a couch, looking tiny and cold. Maki took off her jacket, laying it over Nico, who startled, waking. Maki offered the bag, "I brought dinner for breakfast."
Maki sat next to Nico, legs stretched out, bag between them, pulling out the burgers, "So does Yazawa's have better burgers than this?"
Nico shook her head, clucking. "Gorgeous, rich redhead keeps her figure through french fry addiction."
Maki bit into a fry, then offered the rest to Nico, "Hey, if it works, it works."
Nico, side eye only, glanced over her dining companion, "It works."
"I don't mind the surprises." Maki said slowly, through a mouthful of burger. There was no immediate response, but after a moment Nico grabbed the bag, shoving it out of the way as she slid closer.
"Hey!" Maki complained, reaching out, "Those are my fries."
Nico caught her hand, and pulled in the doctor for a quick embrace, "Nico missed your finding me irresistable."
Maki nabbed a fry, "It was the post coital haze."
Nico's face wrangled an expression out of disgust and disbelief, "It was good you didn't try to charm Nico with conversation."
Maki yawned and stretched, her arm dropping over Nico's shoulders, "I can be charming,"
"Nope." Nico leaned back, relaxing, "Not your strong suit."
"Really?" Maki raised an eyebrow.
"Really." Nico curled into Maki, "Stick with cute and warm and really into Nico. Nico likes that."
"You owe me three dates." Maki announced.
Nico reached into the bag, pulling out a fry, offering it to Maki with, who leaned forward to bite it in half, "Doesn't this count as one?"
Maki scooted even closer, her lips once again nearing Nico's ear, to breathe out a response, but this time she would make Nico shiver as it turned into a kiss, "Maybe two."
A/N: I wouldn't have thought Halestorm would fuel a Single Parent AU, but here were are. There is a playlist. I can't post it here.
For those waiting for a Casual Lunacy update, I'm reading through the whole thing to make sure I wrap up all the plot threads and closing out Merry Wives of Windsor this weekend. After that, I'm planning to post the first of the 4-6 chapter final arc at the end of next week.
Drop a comment and take care!