I couldn't think of any better title for this... But if I do, or if someone can offer a good suggestion, I'll probably change it. Because this pairing is much to cute for it's own good... Been a while since I wrote anything this fluffy... It's like a giant cloud of fluff came down and invaded my brain! (The good kind, though! :D )

Nina and Rich

***

"Hi Rich! Going home for the night?"

"Yep. Just stayed behind to set up my new drum-set."

"Finally came, huh?"

"Yep! It sounds great, too! I'll have to play for you sometime, Nina!"

"That sounds good!" Nina laughed at the little joke she had just inadvertently made.

"What's so funny?" Rich questioned.

"Ah, it's just... when you said that your new drum-set sounded good and then I said that it would 'sound good' to hear you play on your new drum-set." Nina explained.

"Oh." Rich whispered, then he chuckled. "I get it. Good one, Nina. You should write a joke book!"

"Oh! Speaking of which..." Nina started, walking backwards to look at Rich as they talked. "Uncle Knit Knocks is trying to write a boring joke book."

"Eh, why am I not surprised?" Rich sighed, thinking of the Movers' boring, beige neighbor. Nina sighed as well.

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" Nina started, clearly quoting from Knit Knocks' newest boring creation.

"To escape a world where people question the motives of why chickens cross the road?" Rich asked almost innocently. Nina started laughing.

"That's awesome, Rich, but that's not the correct answer."

"Oh. Okay. What is the answer?"

"To get to the other side, of course!" Nina answered cheerfully. A lone cricket filled in the awkward silence.

"Yeah, well, it'll just go in the drawer of all of the boring stuff that your uncle has done. Like the soggy crackers, beige orange juice and boring cereal..."

"...That's soggy before you put milk on it!" Nina sighed, remembering that as well. They walked in a comfortable silence for a while until they reached Nina's pink and red cottage. "Well, thanks for walking me back to my house, Rich."

"Um... yeah. No problem, Nina! It's not safe for a beautiful woman like yourself to be walking alone this late at night!"

"Yeah..." Nina agreed sheepishly, looking down at her red shoes. Her face was suddenly very hot. "Well... Goodnight!" Nina started towards her front door, pulling her keys out of her pink purse as she went.

"Hey, Nina?"

"Uh... Yeah?" Nina paused and looked back at Rich, still standing at her front gate.

"Um... I'll see you tomorrow!" His face looked red... but maybe it was the light? Nina shrugged it off.

"Yeah! I'll see you tomorrow when Uncle Knit Knocks' work gets much to boring for me to handle!" Nina agreed and went inside her house.

"Damn..." Rich whispered, turning his back on Nina's house and starting towards his own home. "Why can't I just ask her out? It's seriously not that hard! But every time I'm alone with her... I just completely freak out!"

***

"Hi, Rich! Late night again?"

"Yep." Rich shrugged, hands in the pockets of his coveralls. "Knit Knocks sure is working you hard, Nina. This is the second night in a row."

"Actually, it's the fifth. You guys are just usually gone by the time that I leave." Nina admitted.

"Still working on that boring joke book?"

"Knock knock!" Nina exclaimed.

"Who's there?" Rich asked, grinning.

"Beige."

"Beige who?"

"Beige. What more is there to say?" Rich's smile faded. A lone cricket chirped once in the background and then fell silent. Rich coughed.

"At least it's... er... original. Better than the cliche chicken crossing the road joke." Nina laughed.

"I think that you and the other Movers should write your own joke book, Rich."

"Okay, but you'd have to help and submit some of your own!"

"Okay!" Nina agreed, giving Rich a big smile. They walked along in a comfortable silence for a few beats before Rich coughed again.

"Say, Nina..."

"Yeah?"

"Um... would... er... would you like to maybe... go out to a movie with me sometime?" Rich felt his face growing hot.

"Of course I would, Rich!" Nina chirped, all happy smiles.

"Really?"

"Don't be silly, Rich! We're friends and friends go see movies together- not just solve problems!"

"Oh. Right. Of course." Rich coughed again. "What movie do you want to see?"

"Well, there's this new romantic comedy that just came out... and the ads have really caught my eye. The guy who reviews the movies in the paper gave it four stars, too! But... I don't really think that the other Movers would really like me dragging them to a romantic comedy, no matter how good it is." She sighed in a dramatic manor.

"I didn't really mean like us and the other Movers... I more meant... just us." Rich admitted rather sheepishly.

"Oh..." Nina whispered, feeling her face heating up. She looked at her pink slip-on shoes for a while, watching the cracks in the sidewalk pass by as they walked. "Oh." She looked up at Rich and offered him a shy smile. "Okay."

"Great." Rich returned her shy smile.

"We can walk to the theater after work on Friday."

"Yea. Sounds good. Oh, and Nina..."

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell the other Movers about this."

"I wasn't planing on it, Rich." Nina winked at him before they came to a stop before Nina's cottage-house. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then... Good night!" Nina gave Rich a quick hug before she dashed inside.

"Yes!" Rich exclaimed once Nina was inside her house. He put his hands in his pockets and started towards his house, whistling a happy tune.