12. Nico
Nico looked himself over in the mirror for the tenth time, then checked his phone. Mal hadn’t sent him a message in a few hours. Maybe Maggie had asked him to stay late? Nico’s heart sank. What was wrong with him? Mal had gone hours without texting him in the past and Nico hadn’t thought anything of it. He was already being clingy.
Whatever Mal was doing, it was clearly important because he wouldn’t just ignore Nico or go radio silent for no reason. Except, it wasn’t radio silent. It was just two hours. Still, something was nagging at him. This weird sense of dread.
Nico tried to shake it off, looking down at his sweater and baggy jeans combo. Did he look too dressed up to go eat pasta at Mama’s? Would Mal think he was trying too hard? Would Mal even notice? Nico huffed at his own ridiculousness. Mal always thought Nico looked good. No matter what he wore. Why was he being so lame? Why couldn’t he just relax and stop freaking out?
Shiloh stuck his head into the room without knocking, dropping Nico’s book bag on his desk with a pointed look. Nico winced, then gave him his best sorry face. Shiloh rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth twitched in a smile. His roommate had spent the day making it very obvious he was getting the silent treatment for subjecting him to his sex noises, but after the group chat, Nico knew to let it blow over.
At the moment, though, Shiloh was on one of his manic marathon cleaning sprees. Nobody really knew what set him off. Anxiety, maybe? Stress? It was hard to say. But once he caught the bug, all they could do was get out of his way.
It was a little weird when it happened—Shiloh going into full mom mode, forcing them to lift their feet so he could vacuum and giving them a lecture about plates in their room. On the bright side, their apartment always looked spotless after.
“Hey,” Nico said before Shiloh could shut the door. “I know you’re still actively mad at me, but…have you heard from Mal since the group chat a few hours ago?”
Shiloh’s brows knitted together, like he was thinking about it, then he said, “No, I don’t think so. Why?”
Once more, that slippery feeling settled in his insides. Nico shook his head faintly, trying to make sense of his thoughts. “He hasn’t said a word to me in a while.”
“What’s a while?” Shiloh asked. “Since the group chat, you mean?”
“A little after that, I guess,” Nico admitted. “It’s probably nothing but I just have a weird feeling.”
Nico rubbed his stomach absently, that gnawing sensation growing.
“Weird feeling like…” Shiloh prodded.
Nico frowned. “I don’t know. It’s nothing. I’m being needy and annoying.”
Shiloh entered the room, closing the door and sitting beside Nico on the bed. “You’re neither of those things. And even if you were, you can’t possibly beat my brother for that title. He’s been glued to your side since the moment he set eyes on you.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “Yeah?”
Shiloh gave him a flat stare. “Do you remember the first three weeks he lived here? How he used to follow you everywhere, like there was a string tied to your cute little ass? He even tried following you to the bathroom once.”
Nico’s cheeks pinkened. Mal had been so adorable to Nico back then. He’d had all these weird quirky habits that Nico couldn’t fathom. It was like living with someone from another planet. He was so different now. So polished. So much better at masking than he was months ago when he couldn’t stop staring at people and took seven to ten business days to process an emotion.
Nico snickered. “He was so cute. He kept asking permission to grope me, then would get grumpy if I had the audacity to say no.”
Shiloh’s breath hitched. “He’s loved you all this time. Nothing’s gonna change that,” Shiloh promised. “The only thing that’s different is that you love him back.” He grimaced. “And the sex.”
“I’ve always loved him back,” Nico blurted, then looked away. “I just…had a lot of complicated feelings about it. Family shit.”
Shiloh put his arm around his shoulders. “Nobody knows that better than Mal and me. Don’t think too much. But maybe talk to Dr. Jones about it? He’s really helped me and Ever.”
“I’m starting to think the man’s whole practice is just us and the Mulvaneys.”
Shiloh snickered. “Imagine being the twins’ therapist?”
“Oof. I can’t picture Asa in therapy. Half the stuff he says out loud could get him institutionalized. Imagine what happens in his head?”
Nico shivered dramatically.
Shiloh smirked. “I don’t have to imagine. I’ve seen Zane shirtless. Asa’s thoughts are written all over his skin.”
Before Nico could reply, his phone vibrated in his hand, startling them both.“Oh, it’s Mal.”
“See?” Shiloh said with a smile, standing to leave.
He swiped to answer. “Hey, Bunny. Are you almost home?”
There was a long pause. “Nico, it’s Jericho.”
Nico’s heart fell into his stomach. He didn’t know what his face was doing, but Shiloh stopped dead in his tracks. “What? What’s wrong?”
“What happened?” Nico said, barely getting the words out, panic clawing at his insides as every possible worst case scenario ran through his mind.
“What’s going on?” Shiloh said, now looking just as worried as Nico.
Nico hit the speaker button so Shiloh could hear, too.
“He’s fine,” Jericho said. “But?—”
“But what?” Nico snapped. “What do you mean he’s fine? Why wouldn’t he be fine? Where is he? What happened?” There was a deep guttural groan in the distance. “Is that him? Where are you? Is he in the hospital? Say something.”
They hadn’t had a chance to put their location apps on each other’s phones yet.
“I will if you’ll calm down,” Jericho said, voice low and soothing, like he was trying to calm a wild animal. “We’re at the penthouse. He got jumped at the studio. Said it was two guys from the market. Low-level gangbangers, trying to intimidate us.”
“Us?”
“Whoever sent them thinks you’re looking for Casey’s mom on my orders.”
“What?” Nico said.
Jericho didn’t elaborate. “Freckles is patching him up now. Levi’s on his way to come get you.”
“How bad is it?” Nico asked, his insides cold. “Why didn’t he call me himself?”
“It’s not that bad. But we had to give him some medication.”
“Okay?” Nico prodded. “And?”
“He’s not handling it well,” Jericho said carefully.
“What does that mean?” Nico shouted.
Jericho chuckled. “You’ll see when you get here.”
“Do you know what he’s talking about?” Nico asked.
Shiloh nodded, biting back a smile.
“Yeah, Mal has an extremely low tolerance for any kind of pain medication.”
Nico made a noise of frustration. “But what does that mean?”
“You’ll see,” Shiloh said, now looking a tad too excited.
The front door opened and closed.
“Hey, I’m here!” Levi shouted, from the front door. “Let’s go.”
Once they were in the truck, the three of them smooshed together, Shiloh in the middle, Nico took to interrogating his best friend.
“What do you know?” he asked, reaching past Shiloh to poke Levi in the ribs.
Levi snorted. “Nothing. Just chill. Jericho says he’s fine.”
Nico made a few more attempts before giving up. The ride to Jericho’s house passed with Shiloh filling the awkward silence by rambling on about a show that had just dropped on some obscure streaming platform. Nico was only half-listening. Instead, he opened his gallery, looking at picture after picture. His whole life really was just him and Mal. There were some pics with their friends and some selfies, but mostly, it was Mal. Every significant moment of the last several months had included his boyfriend.
It took Nico three tries to get the code in for Jericho’s door. When he burst into the house, he found Atticus and Jagger in the kitchen. The boy sat on a towel on the counter, skin shiny, white squares stuck to his shirtless torso.”
“Do I even want to know?” Levi asked.
Atticus sighed. “The boys got into my kit while I was patching up his boyfriend.”
“What…is that?” Shiloh asked, sounding mildly horrified.
“Petroleum jelly and two by twos,” Atticus said, surprisingly calm as he plucked each one off the child and into the nearby trash.
“Nooo, Daddy. I’m a mummy. I want to keep them,” Jagger howled like Atticus was mortally wounding him.
“Where’s—?” Shiloh started to ask.
Before he could finish his question, there was a shout, then a muffled high-pitched squeal pierced the room. The bathroom door flung open, a naked preschooler barreling towards them, his upper body an alarming shade of orange. Almost the same shade as his hair.
They watched as Jericho tried—and failed—to catch the soapy boy.
“If he’s a mummy, what’s he supposed to be?” Levi asked, unable to contain his grin as they watched Jericho wrestle the boy into his arms.
“Oompa Loompa?” Nico guessed.
“They both got into the kit. Because someone was too caught up in a Bluey episode to pay attention,” Atticus said, glaring at Jericho.
“Oh, come on. It was the Bob Bilby episode,” Jericho grunted. “You know it was a targeted attack. They work together. They’re like…velociraptors.”
“Having kids seems wild,” Levi said, seemingly delighted by the chaos unfolding.
“The Bob Bilby episode is top tier, though,” Nico said.
“You watch Bluey ?” Atticus asked, using a rag to clean the goop off Jagger’s skin.
“Are you kidding?” Levi asked. “All they ever watch is anime, cartoons, and nature documentaries. They’re, like, childish and old at the same time.”
Atticus shook his head. “Malachi is in the spare room…sleeping.”
Oh, right. The reason they were there. Nico’s stomach churned, his heart in his throat as he stared towards the door. What was he going to see when he got in there? Was Mal’s face mangled? Was he so beat up he would have to miss work? Could they even afford that?
“How is he?” Nico asked anxiously. “Physically, I mean.”
Atticus shrugged. “Honestly, it could have been much worse. His ribs are bruised up. He’s got a black eye, a swollen lip, a few abrasions, four stitches in his hairline, and a minor concussion.”
“How could it have been worse?” Nico cried.
“He could be dead?” Atticus supplied. “Or, you know, kidnapped.”
“Oh, my God. I didn’t even think of that,” Nico said, falling against the counter.
What if they’d taken him?
“Listen, he’s probably going to feel like he got trampled by a horse for a few days. But he’ll live.”
“Will they ?” Nico asked.
Those fuckers didn’t deserve to live after what they’d done to Mal.
“He’s gonna have to miss work,” Nico said, looking at Levi and Shiloh.
They knew what that meant.
“I can pick up more shifts at the restaurant for a week or so,” Levi offered.
Nico crossed his arms over his chest, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “I can call my mom. Well, I can try, anyway,” he amended. “She’s ghosted me.”
“We’ll cover whatever you’re short,” Atticus said, not even missing a beat.
He said it like it was no big deal. To Atticus, it wasn’t. He was rich. This wasn’t the first time he’d offered to help make their lives easier. They’d all spent time living rent-free at Atticus’s hostel next door to the garage. The one Silas currently managed. But they all felt weird taking money from them. They were adults. They should be able to pay their own way.
Jericho gave a triumphant cry as he encased a wiggling Jett inside a blanket he’d yanked off the sofa, tucking him under one arm like a rolled-up carpet while the boy giggled, staring at them upside down.
“We’re going to get even with these guys, right?” Nico asked Atticus.
Atticus nodded towards his husband. “Ask your father.”
Jericho stopped dead in his tracks.
They all did.
“What’d you say, Freckles?” Jericho asked.
Atticus didn’t stop what he was doing, but he sounded defensive as he asked, “What? Is that not the case? Aren’t all of them your— our —children? Isn’t that what you told me before we got married?”
Nico’s chest tightened as Jericho looked at them all fondly. The mechanic had raised them, but he wasn’t the type to gush about his feelings except when it came to Freckles and, now, the little ones.
Nico looked at Levi. What were they supposed to do? Or…say? Did this require a response?
A grin broke out across Jericho’s face. “Yeah, Freckles. That’s what I said.”
“You did?” Levi asked, stricken.
“Yeah, kid. We’re always gonna be a package deal,” Jericho said, like it was a fact.
Levi blinked rapidly.
Nico’s head was spinning. “So, will they? Live?”
Jericho gave Nico a look he’d seen a thousand times before. The one that said Jericho needed time to think. “Go take care of Malachi. We’ll talk when you’re done.”
Nico expected Levi and Shiloh to follow but they stayed behind. He carefully opened the door, wincing as it made a slight creak. Mal flinched but didn’t open his eyes. Nico carefully and quietly shut the door before turning back to the bed.
He sucked in a breath. Mal was shirtless, his hair wild like he’d fallen asleep with it wet. The sheets tangled low around his hips, giving Nico an unfettered view of his injuries, including the two symmetric circle-shaped burns on his chest. Nico seethed. That was how they’d gotten the jump on him. Fucking losers. Two to one and they still had to cheat.
Nico floated closer, stepping over the wheat-colored blanket Mal had kicked off at some point. He bit his lip as he inventoried Mal’s injuries. The ones on his torso were still an angry red, but Nico knew they’d darken to purple by morning. His left cheek was puffy, his left eye already starting to turn black in a ring, like a panda’s. His nose and mouth were both swollen, a cut bisecting his lower lip. There was also a small gash on his forehead.
Nico couldn’t stop the low whine that escaped. Mal’s eyes popped open. Nico’s heart stopped. He rushed forward, but Mal just stared at him. Just when Nico started to fear he was more injured than Atticus realized, Mal beamed at him, eyes bright and smiling, alarmingly happy considering his injuries.
“Hi,” the older boy said. “Come ‘ere.”
He made grabby hands at Nico.
Nico stumbled forward, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed. “Hi, Bunny.”
“I’m a bunny?” he said, sounding genuinely surprised. He looked down at himself. “Am I hallucinating?”
“I don’t know,” Nico said, confused. “Do you have fur and paws right now?”
Mal giggled. “Nope. Just skin.” Suddenly, his face dropped, his expression so deadly serious, Nico’s heart skidded to a stop, only for Mal to say, “Did you know that rabbits can see almost 360 degrees?”
Nico bit his lip to keep from laughing when Mal attempted to demonstrate how that might look, eyeballs rolling in his head.
He had known that. They’d watched that documentary together. “Wow,” he said encouragingly.
“Also, they eat their own poop,” Mal grumbled, face scrunching into a look of…not disgust, but…disappointment, maybe, like he’d expected better from them. Which was fair.
“Gross,” was all Nico could think to say.
Mal leaned in closer, expression menacing, “And their teeth… Never. Stop. Growing.”
Nico swallowed audibly. He must have missed that part of the documentary. “That’s…highly disturbing.”
Mal nodded rapidly, then tilted his head and blurted, “You’re so hot.”
Nico blinked at him. He was getting whiplash, trying to keep up with Mal’s thoughts. Thoughts he seemed incapable of keeping to himself. “Thanks.”
Nico gasped as Mal grabbed his shirt and hauled him in until they were nose to nose. “I’m gonna marry you so hard some day.”
A blush crept up Nico’s neck to his cheeks. “You’re high.”
“You’re pretty,” Mal said wistfully.
“Yes, we’ve established this,” Nico said, amused, leaning back.
“Can I touch your butt?”
Nico snorted. “What?”
Mal sighed, squeezing Nico’s imaginary butt with his hands. “I think it has, like, healing properties.”
Well, it was nice to see some things hadn’t changed. “No.”
“Come on,” he pleaded, sounding a little like Jagger had a few minutes ago. “Just for a minute.” He pooched his bottom lip out, “Please? I’m hurt.”
Nico was glad Mal didn’t normally act like this or he’d be cooked. He folded almost immediately. It wasn’t his fault, though. Mal usually had this way about him that people found off-putting. Like he was trying to mask but the mask didn’t fit. It left people feeling uneasy.
But this Mal had none of the angst. He wasn’t worried about fitting in. He was almost childlike in his thoughts and demands.
“Fine.” Nico sighed.
Mal grunted as he wiggled to recline himself on his pillows. Without any preamble, he grabbed Nico’s ass with both hands then dragged him on top of him. “Baby, stop. Your ribs are bruised.”
“They are?” he asked. “I don’t feel anything.” He gave Nico the dopiest grin he’d ever seen. “Except this.” He squeezed Nico’s ass again. “I feel this. It’s nice. Your butt is the best.”
Nico preened, resigned to having his already slightly tender ass caressed and squeezed by his boyfriend. “It’s just a butt like any other.”
“Uh-uh,” Mal said stubbornly, his bunny teeth in full view. “It’s really round…and jiggly like Jell-O.” He stopped mid-squeeze. “I hate Jell-O.”
Nico blinked at him. “Alright.”
“But I love your ass,” he said with a sigh.
“Okay, I get the?—”
“It’s like two firm pillows. I could sleep all night with my face right here.” Mal sighed dreamily, jiggling Nico’s cheeks.
Nico didn’t know if he was exasperated, confused, or mildly turned on. “That sounds uncomfortable…for me.”
Mal’s eyes met Nico’s. “I love you.”
Nico’s whole body jolted at his words, like he’d been tased. “I love you, too,” he said hesitantly.
Mal blinked heavy lids at Nico. “Out of everyone in the whole world, I found you,” he confided, his voice getting quieter. “Some people never find them. But I found you. Just you.” Mal buried his face in Nico’s neck. “Just you,” he said again faintly.
“Find who? Who’s them?”
“You’re my sun,” Mal muttered.
“I most definitely am not,” Nico said indignantly.
Where was this conversation going? What was happening? Was Mal actually okay, or was this some kind of allergic reaction? Or maybe his brain was bleeding.
Mal snorted, releasing Nico’s already bruised ass. “Sun,” he said, pointing up at the ceiling. “We’re children of the sun.”
Children of the sun? That sounded like some kind of cult run by an aging rock star or has-been child actor. This was definitely a brain bleed. Fuck.
“Baby, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Maybe you should sleep.” Mal scoffed, then tried to sit up. “No, no, no, no, no,” Nico said, trying to keep him in a reclined position.
Mal wiggled from Nico’s grip then held his hands up, his face once more serious. “It’s Aris-phoites.” He frowned. “No, Arisph-Aristo—” he cut himself off with a huff. “Plato.”
“Play-Doh?” Nico said, feeling like he was also high and trapped in the world’s worst game of Telephone.
“No, Plato. The phliophiser.”
“Philosopher?” Nico corrected.
Mal snapped and pointed at him with a definitive nod and a lazy cat-like smile. “Yes.”
Nico decided to humor him. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly intrigued. “What about him?”
“Plato wrote that humans were once double beings.” He smacked his hands together. “Each with two faces, four arms, four legs, blah, blah, blah. The myth said there were three types of beings. Man and woman”—he wrinkled his nose cutely—“were the children of the moon. Woman and woman were the children of the Earth. Male and male were the children of the sun.”
“Oh,” Nico said, heart tripping in his chest. “That’s so?—”
Mal pinched Nico’s lips together. “Not done.”
Nico gave him a patient stare but batted his hand away from his mouth. “Go ahead.”
“Zeus was a dick.” Nico snorted at Mal’s blunt statement, earning a withering glare from his boyfriend. Nico pressed his lips shut and tried to look contrite. “He was hella pressed ‘cause these beings were super powerful and ambitious. They were gonna climb the heavens”—Mal’s hand flew upwards—“and overthrow the gods.” Mal slapped his palms together once more, dropping his voice dramatically. “To stop their rebellion, Zeus ripped them in half.” Mal whipped his hands apart. “That’s how he created humans.”
“That’s—”
Mal huffed, giving him the most adorable, heart-melting pout Nico had ever seen. “Not done?” Nico asked gently.
He shook his head.
“Go on, then,” Nico said, crawling into bed to lie beside him, carefully tucking himself under his arm to rest his head on his chest, suddenly needing to feel as close to Mal as possible.
“After they split, each half felt a deep…longing for their other half. They—We—wander the earth looking for our other half. They say when you find them, you’ll feel a sense of…wholeness.”
Nico waited a beat. “That’s a really good?—”
“You’re my other half,” Mal blurted. “I knew it the second I touched you.”
Nico’s chest constricted, tears threatening. “You can’t just…say things like that. I…wasn’t ready.”
“We were connected through our belly buttons,” Mal said, looking down to poke his own.
“Okay,” Nico said, now staring down at Mal’s belly button. It was a lovely story, but silly. That didn’t stop Nico’s insides from turning into a puddle of goo. Mal truly believed Nico—flaws and all—was his other half. Nico supposed he believed that, too. He didn’t ever say as much, but meeting Mal had felt like finding the last piece of a puzzle he’d been trying to complete his whole life.
Mal fell quiet, his breaths leveling out. Had he finally fallen asleep? Nico was afraid to look to find out.
When he couldn’t take it anymore, he carefully tipped his head up only to find Mal looking at him with heavy lids. “Mine.”
Nico’s stomach swooped. Nico had never seen Mal this faded before.
“Yours,” Nico confirmed.
“You won’t leave me, right?” Mal asked, voice small.
Nico startled, looking up at him once more. “What? No.”
“I know what I’m like,” he said sadly.
Nico felt like someone ripped his heart in half at the sorrow in his voice. “What you’re like?”
He nodded. “I know I’m weird. I know people find me…strange.”
Nico clung a little tighter to his side. “I like strange. I need strange.”
“Good,” Mal whispered.
There was a quiet knock on the door, then Shiloh and Levi were creeping in. Before they could say a word, Mal said, “Applesauce.”
The two blinked at him. Levi finally mumbled, “What?”
“I want applesauce,” Mal said.
“I—You hate applesauce,” Shiloh said, amused.
Mal seemed genuinely shook by this information. “I do?”
Shiloh nodded. “Yeah, it’s a texture thing.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, expression dubious.
Shiloh nodded once more. “Yeah. Positive.”
“Pudding?” he asked.
“You don’t like that either. Or Jell-O,” Shiloh said, exasperated.
Mal pouted once more. “Boo.”
Levi stared at his best friend, expression hovering somewhere between horrified and astounded. “This is so weird.”
Mal’s head jerked up at Levi’s voice, like he’d only just noticed he was there. Mal gave him a Forest Gump wave and a silly smile. “Hi.”
“Hey, man,” Levi said hesitantly.
Nico shook his head against Mal’s bare chest, then turned to press a kiss to whatever skin was closest. He wanted to go home. He wanted to take Mal home and hide under the covers like last night. He wanted to go back to being lost in their own little world. The real world sucked.
“Jericho is ordering dinner for everyone. He’s hoping to get enough food in Mal to bring him back around,” Levi said. “We need to figure out our next move.”
Mal immediately started singing some pop song with the word “move” in it, dancing in tiny movements.
Nico snuggled closer to Mal. “I’m gonna stay here and try to get him to nap until the food gets here. Just order me my usual. You guys know what I eat.”
Shiloh watched his brother for another few moments, then nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll get his, too.”
“Bye bye,” Mal said, giving another goofy wave.
Nico buried his face in Mal’s chest to hide his laughter as Levi said, “What the fuck did they give him?” He shook his head. “And does Freckles have extra?”