It’s the boy’s birthday today. I’m pretty sure Inez also got him a gift and she also told the staff to serve his favourite steak to him today. I got a plushie for Nico and about where I got it from…I might have had sneaked out a few days ago to get him one. It’s a cute little red fox. Don’t ask me why the fuck I chose a damn fox. I just liked it…and it looks pretty cute. Making my way to Nico’s room I find Inez already in there, Nico sitting right beside her about to try on the headphones she got him. “Hey champ, happy birthday. Nineteen, aren’t you? Got a gf yet?” I tease while ruffling his hair. Inez shoots me a playful glare at my comment, and I just chuckle back. Nico looks…happy, much happier than he has ever been. He didn’t flinch at my touch, and his lips are slightly upturned in what seems to be his version of a smile. He takes out his phone connecting it to the headphones. Out of curiosity I ask, “are these noise-cancelling?” to which she replies back with a nod. Damn her and her thoughtfulness.
The asylum’s noise always bothered Nico. When it all got too loud he would sit on the edge of his bed, knees hugged to his chest and would just…cry. I would always walk up to him and sit beside him. No words, no conversation just silent support. Because, the truth is, I don’t know how to console a person. I don’t know what to say or how to say it and with Nico…I’m actually afraid that what if I say the wrong thing to hurt him even more so yeah the better option for me is to just shut the fuck up.
He plays something on the headphones and then puts them on. He stays still for a while—no movement no tears, he just freezes and then the dam breaks.
He leans against Inez’s shoulder, hugs her arm and cries, in the same way he always has, quietly—no sobs, no hiccups, just quiet tears.
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She looks at me and a moment of understanding passes through our gazes. I scoot closer to the boy keeping the plushie at his lap. Instantly, he hugs it tight as if it’s the most treasured thing in the entire world.
We stay like that for a while, Nico’s head on her shoulder, my arm resting on his as he hugs the plushie and instead of the usual awkwardness I feel when someone cries, right now, instead of that it feels something like…home. I feel a sense of belonging mixed with nostalgia mixed with sympathy for the poor kid. Something I haven’t felt in a long time. I don’t know what you call this feeling. Maybe a sense of belonging…
Then, Nico speaks in a voice barely above a whisper. I wouldn’t have even heard it if I wasn’t paying enough attention “Thank you.”
Those two words have my heart swelling up with love for this kid and I know for a fact that its having the same effect on Inez too because I see her eyes softening as she hugs Nico from the side. Next, he turns to me. I offer him a bright smile “come here champ.”
He hugs me tight, so tight that I can feel the fur of his sweater tickling my skin. “happy birthday, Nico.”
And for the first time, he smiles—actually smiles, not just a small upturn of his lips, an actual fucking smile. And god if that doesn’t make me love this kid ten times more. Even Inez looks shocked at his smile. Honestly, he looks much cuter when he smiles. I wish he smiled more often, it smooths down all the lines of worry and hurt on his face to an almost boyish look.
I hear Inez say “Nico now, I want to see that smile much more often on your face ok?”
to which he just nods back that smile still on his face.
He stopped crying long ago his tears have dried up and what’s left behind is a happy, cute Nico who can’t stop smiling after receiving his birthday gifts.
Does your heart also soften looking at Nico? Or are you more heartless than both Inez and Riven combined?
