It begins with a soft hum.
A gentle tune drifting in the quiet morning air, mingling with the splashes of the shower.
As Nick floats his way into wakefulness, he only catches faint hints of the sound and furrows his brow as he tries to place it.
Sitting up, he scrubs the last of sleep from his eyes and glances around the room.
There's no sign of Andy, but the door to the bathroom is open and from it, Nick watches a trickle of grey steam curl around the doorframe along with the humming.
Curious, Nick slides from the bed and moves to the doorway, leaning against the frame and crossing his arms. The mixture of warm and cool air tickles the bare flesh of his chest and he's grateful for his sweats.
As he studies the fog obscured glass, the humming gradually morphs into snippets of lyrics, words growing clearer as the steam grows thicker.
"I will not ask you were you came from, I will not ask and neither should you," Andy's voice carries easily into the morning air and a prickle of something runs down Nick's spine. Through the glass stained by steam, Nick can make out the faint shape of her as she moves around the small space, silhouette a gentle shape of smudged shadows.
He's never heard her sing before.
The melody continues, slow and gentle, some of the words lost in the easy humming, and Nick's heart does a slow roll in his chest.
"We should just kiss like real people do," swirls out and Nick finds himself entranced. He doesn't recognize the song, not really, it's familiar enough but he's never heard it like this before.
Her next words drift like the steam that creeps around the room, "I will not ask you why you were creeping, in some sad way I already knew," before trailing off once again into a hum of melody. For the next few moments, he watches in silence, listening carefully as the song flickers between hums and Andy's voice, a singing voice he never thought existed.
"We could just kiss like real people do," she finishes, voice trailing off into the silence as she turns off the shower. As the room falls into the silence, Nick moves further into the room, feeling the hovering steam curl over his feet.
"Wow," is all he says as Andy steps out of the shower, soft and reverent, and he jolts when and jumps and lets out a strangled squawk.
"Goddamnit Nick, you nearly gave me a heart attack," she cries, grabbing a towel from the rack and holding it up to her chest as she glares at him. Lifting his hands in apology, Nick mumbles a faint, "sorry."
Grumbling, Andy wraps the towel tight around herself and crosses her arms across her chest. "What are you even doing in here?" she asks.
"I heard you singing," Nick answers and almost laughs at the reaction he gets.
A curious noise comes from Andy's throat, a small chirp of vowels, and she flushes bright red, eyes dropping to stare at her feet. "What?" she cheeps, quiet and embarrassed. "I thought you were asleep, don't tell me you heard all that," she begs, shifting her weight uncomfortably.
"It was beautiful," is all Nick says, crossing the space between them to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. "You should sing more often," he adds, before leaving the room, knowing full well that a flustered Andy can be hilarious and adorable, or frustrating and complicated. The warm feeling his chest continues to burn, the memory of her song a fond bubble in his thoughts. And the sound of conflicted garbled noise that follows him out of the bathroom brings a smile to his chest.
A/N: McCollins fluff is my current crack. This started as another entry for Cruiser Shots and kinda... exploded?
This is set at an indeterminate point; take your pick of where you want it :)
Song lyrics from the beautiful Like Real People Do by Hozier; give it a listen.
Hearts always, A.
