Chapter Three- You Don't Know How to Look

Nicky sighed. He'd be sleeping on the couch tonight. Heh, God, what where they, a married couple? He felt pretty shitty about the way he'd treated Rod today... The way he always was with Rod. But it really wasn't so much that Nicky got angry at Rod, it was really that Rod made him angry at himself. For being so selfish... And when he felt so disgusted with himself, he didn't know how to act or express it. Rod must have thought he was completely oblivious to his own flaws... He didn't know how much it bothered Nicky. He just felt so full of self loathing sometimes, and he didn't know how to channel it. So he ended up taking it out on Rod whenever he started nagging him. He felt so stupid! Why did Rod even let him stay with him? He had Ricky now, anyway... But why should he care? Rod was his friend, and Ricky was Rod's boyfriend. He was just annoyed he had to share his best friend. It wasn't as if he was jealous or anything. Tomorrow was Saturday, He and Rod should go out and do something together like they used to. He just had to make an effort to spend time with Rod now, that was all.

But despite the reassurance of spending the next day with Rod, Nicky did not find himself at ease enough to sleep...

--

Nicky had tried his hardest to force himself into sleep last night, and after three melatonin pills, finally managed to drift off around twelve AM. Two hours earlier than usual. As a result, he was up around ten.

Unfortunately, Rod had hardly managed a wink of sleep that night, and had finally gotten to rest at around five in the morning. Nicky came in to check on him to see if he had woken up yet. Nicky thought about waking him himself, but decided that would only accomplish pissing Rod off. Rod was sleeping soundly, drooling the tiniest bit on his pillow. Poor Rod... He works so hard. For all his airs and uptight behavior, he looked so innocent and relaxed just then, he was like a child. Rod was always playing mother, today it would be Nicky's turn. He leaned in and kissed Rod on the forehead, like his mother had for him when he was a kid. Come to think of it, that was a little weird... But it just felt... natural. Nicky didn't dwell on it. He didn't sweat the small stuff like Rod. Besides, he had an important task at hand... Making breakfast.

Rod usually did all the cooking when Nicky wasn't home alone eating Ramen Noodles or Easy Mac. He'd start with something simple. Something that required no actual cooking. Rod liked smoothies, he's make that. Nicky dug through the fridge, searching for anything resembling fruit. Rod was a bit lenient about his upkeep of the fridge, he told Nicky:

"I'll leave some stuff in there, but only to keep you from whining about having nothing to eat."

The real reason was because Rod felt insanely guilty and couldn't get a thing done at work if he feared all of Nicky's needs weren't attended to to the best of his ability.

Nicky managed to come up with four fairly sized untainted strawberries and a banana... What else goes in smoothies? He knew they had ice cream left... Milk... Oh crap! They were out of ice. Oh well. It would be a strawberry banana shake, then. It'll work out. Nicky assembled the ingredients on the counter. He started cutting the fruit, and two minutes and three band-aids later he was finished. He really had zero culinary skills. Oops. He hadn't washed the strawberries... A little water couldn't make too much difference. And now... just put it all in the blender, right? Nicky took the old blender out of the cupboard and set it on the counter... Now where was the lid? Damnit! How's anyone supposed to find anything around here when it's so clean?

--

Rod awoke from a (thankfully) dreamless sleep to the sound of the blender and a mangled cry coming from the kitchen.

"Nicky!" Rod gasped. He jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen. Nicky was wrestling with the blender, trying to turn it off as it sprayed light pink liquid everywhere. Rod stood for a minute, aghast at the mess. He was about to say something, when he stopped himself. He was so sick of fighting with Nicky, the last thing he wanted to do was start another argument. Nicky finally shut off the awol appliance, and turned his attention to Rod. Seeing his friend's severely shaken up expression as he dripped with the pale pink goo, Rod couldn't help but laugh. Nicky was just relieved he wasn't angry.

"Rod, I'm so sorry! I-was-trying-to-make-you-a-smoothie-but-we-were-out-of-ice-and-then-I-couldn't-find-the-top-to-the-blender-and-"

Rod giggled. "It's fine Nicky. I really appreciate what you tried to do. So what's the occasion?"

"I just thought I would do something nice for you..." Nicky said, a bit awkwardly. Rod smiled.

"Alright, Nicky, I think it's time I showed you how to make a proper smoothie."

"Yeah but Rod, we're out of ice," Nicky interjected.

"No we're not..." Rod shook his head. "You just don't know how to look." Rod's tone was playful. Nicky wasn't going to argue. Rod pulled a bag of ice and some frozen peaches from the freezer. The milk and ice cream were still on the counter, along with half of the banana Nicky had used before. He easily found the lid to the blender and soon was completely prepared.

"You know, Rod, I can't really feel selfless about getting up early to make you a smoothie if you do it yourself." Nicky noticed a bit of the previous smoothie splattered on Rod's 

cheek. Remembering Rod's constant nit-picking of Nicky's own appearance, he jokingly wiped the goo from Rod's face with his index finger and licked it off. Rod turned bright red.

'Keep your mind out of the gutter, Rod... Platonic male friendship, remember?' He thought to himself.

Nicky thought maybe Rod didn't get the joke.

"You had smoothie on your face..." He said, sheepishly.

"Ehm... Well... Just put the ice in the blender. You always crush the ice first." Rod looked away, trying to draw attention from the awkward moment.

"I didn't know the whole smoothie-making-process had an art to it."

"It's not that complicated," Rod laughed. "Just put on the lid and press the 'crush' button."

"Where's that?"

"Oh honestly, Nicky, must I do everything?" Rod walked over and took Nicky's hand, placing his finger on the button. Watching the ice break up, Rod forgot himself, and didn't notice until he finished that he hadn't taken his hand off Nicky's. He gasped and stepped backward. What was he thinking?!

"I've got it under control, Rod. You can wait in the living room... If you think you can trust me."

"Eh- right." Rod sat down on the couch. That was way to close. Rod's mind drifted to Nicky tongue licking the pale goo off his finger... AUGH! Don't think about that! What if Nicky came in right now and you had a hard on or something?! Just calm down. Everything will be fine, just don't slip up again, and don't freak out on Nicky. Just be nice without being... Too nice. Think about something else... The kitchen. He needed to clean up the mess in the kitchen... Did they have all purpose cleaner? Yes... It was under the sink...

"Alright Rod, I think I got it!" Nicky called, sounding very pleased with himself. Rod got up, took a deep breath, and went to back to the kitchen. He was shocked to see the room perfectly clean, Nicky was standing in the middle, triumphantly holding out a perfectly normal looking smoothie to Rod.

"Nicky! You didn't have to clean up the-"

"Oh, but I did. You're not doing any cooking or cleaning today, buddy. You and I are going out. And... since you usually fuss with me, today I get to dress you, and do your hair." Nicky grinned. Rod was elated at the mere thought, but then shook himself out of his reverie when he realized how likely it was he would slip up. He had already had two close calls today.

"Nicky, you know, I probably should-"

"No way. You are not working today, Rod. Forget it. C'mon, let's get you fixed up." He grabbed Rod by the arm and pulled him to the bedroom.

--

Nicky had to drag Rod kicking and screaming out of the closet in their room.

"I'm not going out in public like this! It's way too flamboyant, people will suspect!"

"Okay, first of all, you're completely exaggerating, and second, it's New York! No one gives a fuck!" Nicky wrestled him out. Rod was wearing a flaming (in more than one way) orange and red dress shirt Nicky had bought him last Christmas (before he came out) that Rod had refused to wear in fear that people would give him 'that look', and a pair of blue jeans. Rod was so concerned about what everyone else thought. Nicky shook his head.

"Now quit being a baby and let me do your hair." Nicky ushered Rod into the bathroom. He pulled out a comb from the drawer and used some of Rod's gel to start spiking his hair up in the front.

"Nicky, I look ridiculous!" Rod whined .

"Don't be stupid, you look great! Lighten up, will ya? I let you do stupid things to my hair..."

"You mean like actually combing it?"

"Yeah!" Nicky responded, not picking up on Rod's sarcasm. "So just deal with it for today." Nicky finished up.

"There, perfect!"

"You really think it looks alright?"

"Trust me. I'll have to beat the guys off you with a stick all day."

"I'm perfectly capable-"

"No you're not!" Nicky laughed.

"Well you're not exactly stacked yourself," Rod jibed.

"You're one to talk! You're just a twiggy pretty boy! Somebody could take advantage of you, wandering alone on the streets of New York." Nicky shot back. Rod blushed. Nicky had called him pretty...

"Yes, well, I'm sure you got plenty of unwanted attention when you were homeless..."

"Who says it was unwanted?"

"NICKY! Gross!" Rod shoved him.

"Ha. Sorry, that was in bad taste."

"Oh, like you know anything about taste," He said, tugging at the shirt collar. Nicky's face drooped. Rod sighed. "Oh, Whatever. Let's just get going." Nicky grinned widely. They made their way to the door. Nicky opened it for Rod.

"After you." He bowed with a goofy smile.

"Oh, Nicky, you're such a-..."

"What?"

"Pff... Gentlemen, of course. What were you thinking?"

"I thought you were going to say-"

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Oh... Ha!... What's rhetorical mean?"

Rod smirked and shook his head.

--