Mike
The good thing about shopping trips is that they keep Nancy happy for a few days. So Mike has enough time to get everything done for his pop-up concert.
Leaving for the concert and, even more importantly, leaving Nancy at home is a totally different thing.
"Why can't I join you, Mike?" Nancy asks. "I have all these beautiful dresses, and now I can't wear them?"
"Because Enrico has his day off and one bodyguard is not enough for the two of us," Mike explains for the third time.
"Well, it's not my fault you're bad at organizing your concerts on days when your bodyguard does not have a day off!"
"I did, but he had a family emergency!"
Nancy glares at him.
He saw it coming, yes, he did. He knew it the moment Enrico asked for a day off. That's why he only told her a few hours ago before she started to get ready.
And since then she didn't miss an opportunity to tell him how badly treated she feels.
Which means she's been talking about it non-stop.
Luckily, Mike is kind of used to it, so he only listens with half an ear. If at all.
He keeps preparing for his concert while Nancy keeps complaining. He hates to do this, but he has no choice.
He wants her to be safe.
So he endures it - her glares, the accusations, the spiteful tone in her voice that turns into pitiful when she realizes it doesn't work out the way she planned it.
He just keeps breathing and gets ready, one step at at time.
When it's time to leave, he tries to give her a goodbye kiss, but Nancy just twists her mouth and turns her head away.
He should have known better, but he just had to try, because, really, sometimes he wonders how he can be near her more than a few minutes without kissing her.
So it hurts even more that she doesn't let him kiss her, but he just sighs and leaves.
He has a concert coming up after all.
The concert goes well. Every time he's up on a stage Mike remembers just how much he loves it! The singing, the lights, the crowd - it's just amazing.
With a smile Mike lets his eyes wander over the people, and his smile freezes when he sees someone familiar in the front row.
What the heck is Nancy doing here? He told her to stay at home, for her own safety!
But there she is, wearing one of the dresses he bought her just a few days ago.
He looks at her, and she looks back at him, wearing such a triumphant smile on her face, he doesn't know if he should yell at her or pull her into a kiss.
He does neither. He just stays up on that stage, doing his encores.
It doesn't go as well from then on. He keeps scanning the crowd for the three bears. Usually he doesn't have to care about that. There's still one other bodyguard with him, and it's his job to protect Mike, to watch out for the bears.
What this bodyguard doesn't know and can't even do right now is checking if one of these bears is approaching Nancy.
Heck, his bodyguard doesn't even know Nancy is there!
Mike does his best not to let it show. He keeps singing, doing encore after encore until he decides it's enough for one concert.
Before he leaves the stage he looks at Nancy once more. She just replies with that triumphant smile from before.
He hopes she gets that he wants her to come backstage.
He isn't sure, though. This is Nancy after all. And if she defies what he asks her to do to keep her safe, who knows if she'd come backstage just because he gives her a little sign?
But she understands and follows him.
His bodyguard looks a bit surprised when he sees Nancy, but he doesn't say anything. He's a good bodyguard. That's the reason Mike hired him, isn't it?
Mike keeps his back towards Nancy, knowing that the moment he sets eyes on her beautiful face, the words he has to tell her would be gone, erased from his memory once and for all, the angry tone in which he has to say them to bring them across dampened down to scolding tone which she wouldn't take seriously. Or at least not seriously enough.
"What were you thinking!?" he yells. "Do you want to get yourself killed!?"
"No, I want to live, Mike!" she replies just as loudly. "Live! You know what that means?"
This is the moment when something inside Mike snaps, and he turns around, too angry to even see her beautiful face, all he sees is his girlfriend getting herself into danger. All he sees is that he's going to lose her.
"Yes, I do, Nancy! It's the opposite from what you're trying to do!"
"Oh? Then why do I feel so very much alive!? "
"You are crazy, Nancy, crazy and dumb! You're getting yourself killed if you go out without a bodyguard!"
"I got here without getting killed, didn't I?"
There it is again, this triumphant smile.
He hates it.
"Do you want to leave me so badly!?" he yells, putting all the anger and the fear into his voice.
It leaves him gasping for breath.
Nancy looks at him, her eyes wide.
The triumphant smile is gone, but Mike couldn't care less.
"What?" she says, her voice gentle. "No, not at all!"
"Then why are you doing this, Nancy?" His voice is gentler, too, but still, there's some of the anger and more of the fear left.
"I...I…" Instead of finishing the sentence, Nancy walks up to him and wraps her arms around his neck.
He's so tense, it takes him longer than usual to react when she pulls him into a kiss, but when he finally relaxes, it feels as amazing as the first kiss they shared and all the other kisses combined. It makes the anger melt away and dampens the fear, although it stays where it is, close to his heart, heavy and cold. But he ignores it. As long as he can kiss Nancy he can ignore anything.
When they break the kiss, Nancy looks into his eyes and places a hand on his cheek.
"I never want to leave you, Mike," she says. "But I can't live locked away in an apartment. Let me live my life, and I'll never leave you, Mike, I promise."
Mike wants to believe her, he really does. It's just that there are three angry bears after them, and Nancy doesn't seem to get how dangerous they are. Didn't seeing one bear trying to eat him alive make her understand?
She's so confident, and Mike loves her for it. It's just that it could get her into serious trouble.
He wants to tell her all this, again and again and again until she finally gets it, but if the last time didn't work, then why should it work now, now that she was successful?
So he gives up. He can't lock her away, not that he ever really wanted to do that. He just thought he had to to keep her safe.
And maybe, just maybe he did it so he didn't have to fear for her safety so much.
Now it looks like he has to learn to live with that fear of losing her. And he can do that, he's sure.
"Just be careful, okay?" he says.
"Promise," Nancy replies.
When they lean in for another kiss, Mike sees a movement from the corner of his eye, but he ignores it.
It's probably just imagination that it looks like three bears. And even if not, from what he can tell, they are walking away. So everything's good, right?
Right?