Yes, and Also Yes
Posted on Fri Feb 23rd, 2024 @ 3:47am by Dominique LaFramboise
Mission:
Where We Came From
Location: Ryan’s House - Bay City, MI
Timeline: February 2019
The first three months of their relationship went pretty much the same. They would have a great time and then someone would misinterpret something the other one said and they would yell at each other for awhile before somehow working it out. While it was true their arguments grew fewer and farther between, it was still beginning to get exhausting and Nicki knew something had to change.
But now was not the time to do that. Ryan had broken his ankle and so Nicki was coming over to do his laundry and clean up a bit. He was in a terrible mood from the moment she walked through the door, constantly fussing at her about one thing or another.
“I can load the dishwasher myself,” he insisted at one point.
“No, you can’t,” she replied. “You’re not even supposed to be on your feet. Go sit down.”
“I don’t need to sit down,” he said irritably.
“Yes, you do,” she said. “Now get out of my hair and let me work.”
“Oh, so now I’m annoying you,” he said.
“Frankly, yes,” she replied. “I came over because you need help and all you’re doing is getting in my way.”
“Maybe I don’t need help!” he snapped.
“You obviously do,” she snapped back. “Nothing has been done in almost a week.”
“Oh, so now I’m lazy?” he demanded.
“No, you’re injured,” she pointed out, gesturing towards his casted foot. “Why are you being like this?”
“I’m not being any sort of way,” he insisted.
“Yes, you are!” she replied. “You’ve done nothing but grouse since I got here. What is going on?”
He glared at her for a few seconds. “I don’t like this,” he said. “You looking after me. It’s unnatural. You’re doing my laundry, and my dishes, and you’re cleaning my bathrooms- it’s just- it’s- you shouldn’t have to do this!” he finished sharply.
“You’re right!” she snapped back at him. “I shouldn’t have to. In a perfectly fair world, everybody would be able to do their own chores and never need any help. But, we don’t live in that world. Besides, I don’t have to! I want to! Because I love you!”
He stared at her, dumbfounded. Then he blinked. “You… what did you say?” he said softly.
“I said I want to,” she repeated. “I want to help you.”
“No, after that,” he sad.
“I said…” she trailed off, realizing what she’d said. “Oh. I said I love you.”
He blinked again. “Did you… did you mean it?” he asked.
“Listen to me, Ryan Thompson,” she said sternly. “I will never say anything I don’t mean. Ever. That’s my promise to you. You can take everything I say at face value. Okay?”
He nodded soberly. “You… you love me?” he said, sounding and looking shocked.
She grinned slightly. “That’s what you’re focusing on?” she asked.
“It’s just that you’ve never said it before,” he said.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” she muttered, now feeling self-conscious.
“I’ve never said it, either,” he said soberly. “I… I love you, too, Nicki.”
Her stomach fluttered at that and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “I didn’t expect that to feel so good,” she said. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
She stretched up on her toes to kiss him. “I love you,” she said again.
“I love you,” he repeated, kissing her again.
“Are we just going to keep saying it for the rest of the day?” she asked with a giggle.
“Oh, god, I hope so,” he said, and pressed his lips to hers once more.
“Okay,” she said, pulling away again. “You’re supposed to stay off your feet and keep that ankle elevated. Now go sit down before I have to carry you to the sofa and make you sit down myself.”
“You couldn’t lift me,” he laughed.
“I’m a Hound,” she reminded him. “I could lift five of you without breaking a sweat.”
“Why do I always forget that?” he asked. “Okay, okay, I’m going.” And he turned to hobble out of the kitchen on his crutches. “Oh, Nicki?” he said just as he reached the doorway.
“Yes?” she said.
“I love you.”
She grinned “I love you, too,” she said.
For the rest of the day, Ryan rested while Nicki finished the house work. Every once in awhile one of them would randomly say “I love you” to the other. Had anybody else been there, they would have likely been retching by the end of the day.
Too exhausted to cook dinner, Nicki opted to order pizza, but Ryan wouldn’t let her pay for it. She didn’t actually mind, but still made a show of rolling her eye as he pressed his credit card into her hands while she ordered via the pizza place’s app on her phone.
After the pizza had been consumed, they sat together on the sofa, Nicki snuggled under Ryan’s arm while he stroked her hair.
“This is nice,” he said. “I could stay like this forever.”
“Me, too,” she agreed, snuggling deeper into the sofa and turning her head towards him. “You smell like pine needles.”
He chuckled. “You smell like rosemary and mint,” he told her.
“There’s rosemary and mint in my shampoo,” she replied. “I still smell like it even after working all day and getting all sweaty and dirty?”
“It makes the smell stronger,” he laughed. “I thought Hounds could smell everything, though. What else do I smell like?”
“Pine needles is just the most prominent,” she told him. “At least of the smells you would recognize. There’s also a smell of men that’s different from women. I think it’s pheromones. And everybody, even if they have just showered, has BO. It’s ever present among all animals, not just humans. That sweat and bacteria mixture that we all have. But to a hound, it’s not unpleasant.”
“My brother smells that, too,” he replied. “Apparently wolves don’t mind it, either.”
“I imagine most Lycans wouldn’t,” she commented. “If not all. Well, the birds don’t have a good sense of smell, so hawks, eagles, falcons, and vultures probably don’t notice.”
”We have the weirdest conversations,” laughed Ryan.
She found herself giggling in response and twisted around to kiss him. “I love having any conversations with you,” she said.
”Any where you’re not yelling, anyway,” he replied, but his tone was teasing.
”Hey!” she laughed, sitting up straighter to be able to look at him better. “I don’t yell that much!”
”You’re sexy when you yell,” he countered.
”So you want me to yell?” she asked, still laughing.
He shrugged, then kissed her. “Sometimes,” he said, kissing her again.
Nicki felt no need to stop him. Kissing him was intoxicating. Today, though, was different. Somehow, knowing that they loved each other was awakening something in Nicki that she didn’t want to quash this time. Finally, she pulled away slightly. “How about if… if I stay tonight?” she asked him softly.
He blinked at her. “Are.. are you sure?” he asked. “Don’t feel like you have to.”
She grinned. “Why would I feel like I have to?” she asked. “Especially after today, when I literally cleaned your whole house and did your laundry. If anything, you owe me.”
”I owe you sex?” he laughed.
She laughed, too. She couldn’t help it. The whole concept was ridiculous. “Seriously, though,” she said. “I want to. I love you and I want to stay tonight.” She hesitated a moment. “Unless… unless you don’t want me to.”
”Nicki, I’ve wanted you to since that day I brought pizza to your apartment,” he said. “You’re amazing. You get on my nerves and I love you. You can stay over any time you like.”
”And you weren’t going to ask me to stay?” she pointed out.
”I said I was going to let you be in charge, didn’t I?” he replied.
She chuckled lightly. “You can ask, Ryan,” she told him. “Are you going to make me propose, too?”
He shrugged with a mischievous grin.
”You can propose, Ryan,” she told him.
”Oh, good,” he said. “Will you marry me?”
”Ryan!”
”You said I could propose!”
”I didn’t mean right now!”
And then they were laughing. It took them awhile to recover because when they would start to calm down, they would look at each other and laugh again.
Eventually, though, they did manage to calm down. “So you’re staying then?” he asked.
”Yes,” she answered, snuggling down next to him again.
”I, uh…” he started, sounding nervous. “I’m not sure if I can… I mean, my ankle is broken. I don’t know if I can… support myself.”
”That’s easy,” she said cheekily. “I’m in charge, remember?”
He looked at her questioningly, then with dawning realization, and his eyes darkened. “Mmmm,” he groaned. “I think I like that option.’
She chuckled and kissed him again. “Do you need help getting upstairs?” she asked.
”I can manage,” he said, pulling himself off the sofa. “Shall we?”
And they headed upstairs to enjoy one another’s company some more.
Sun pouring in the window lit on Nicki’s eyes and woke her up at once. For half a second, she was disoriented, but Ryan’s arms around her reminded her of the previous night and she smiled contentedly. It had not been as awkward as she had been afraid it would be. In fact, it hadn’t been awkward at all. There had been a lot of giggling and shifting positions to keep from hurting Ryan’s ankle, but they had managed.
And, contrary to the last time Nicki had done this, she had no regrets. She supposed that was the difference between actually loving someone and doing it because she was bored. What a dumb reason that had been.
She could hear Ryan’s slow, rhythmic breathing and vaguely wondered if she could get out of bed without him knowing so she could surprise him with breakfast. Slowly so as to not disturb him, she attempted to slip from between his arms, but almost at once, his breathing hitched slightly and his arms tightened around her.
That appeared to be a no.
Oh, well. New plan. She would wait for him to wake up and then they could cook breakfast together.
She didn’t know how long she laid there just listening to him breathe and feeling the expansion and contraction of his rib cage against her back. She lost track of time as she simply reveled in the contact.
Finally, though, he began to show signs of stirring. When his breathing grew quieter, she turned her head slightly. “Are you awake?” she whispered.
“No,” he answered, nuzzling into her neck.
She giggled. “Ryan,” she said.
“Ryan’s asleep,” he replied. “Why is Nicki awake?”
“Because it’s morning and Nicki is hungry,” she replied. “We should get up and make pancakes.”
“But if we get up, I can’t hold you anymore,” he protested.
“You can’t hold me forever,” she informed him.
“Don’t remind me,” he said darkly. “I shudder when I think about the day I can no longer hold you.”
Nicki smiled sadly to herself. There was a slight pause and then, “I was thinking.”
“Dangerous pastime,” he muttered.
“Indeed,” she said.
“What were you thinking about?” he asked.
“How do you feel about living together?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “Do you want to move in today? I’m afraid I won’t be much help, but Aiden will gather as many wolves as he can and I’m sure at least half of the hounds would show up if you called them.”
“That was quick,” she said nervously.
“Nicki, I’ve known I wanted you since the first day we met,” he said. “In the hospital. You were so easy to talk to and you even joked around a little. And I said to myself, I need this woman in my life. That’s why I showed up with the pizza a few weeks later. And when we argued, you didn’t just let it go; you saw it through. Nicki, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and laying here with you in my arms after a night of making love has me absolutely giddy. Yes I want you to move in with me. As soon as possible.”
She found herself a bit choked up. She turned to face him. “I guess I expected you to think about it first,” she said. “But it sounds like you already have.” She kissed him. “I… don’t know when I knew I needed you. Definitely not at first. Maybe it was just a slow realization that happened over time. But I do. I love you so much and I want to move in with you.”
“So let’s do it,” he said. “Today.”
“It’s absolutely mad, but yes, let’s do it today,” she agreed.
He attempted to push her onto her back and roll on top of her, but he moved too quickly and jarred his broken ankle. “Ow!” he exclaimed. “Okay, let’s not try that again.”
She giggled and kissed him again. “Yes please don’t forget that you’re injured or you’ll never get better,” she said, kissing him again. “We could do the same way we did last night, if that’s what you had in mind.”
“What, more sex with you?” he said, mock incredulously. “Why would I ever want to do that?”
“Personally, I don’t know,” she said. “Like I said before, you’re incredibly hot and I’m average.”
“Nicki, you are anything but average,” he told her, carefully rolling onto his back and pulling her on top of him. “And when you take charge in bed, you’re the hottest girl I’ve ever been with.”
“Out of how many girls?”
“That is not the point,” he replied.
Which made her even more curious. “How many, Ryan?” she insisted, fingers tracing his lips gently.
His eyes darted a couple of times. “Two,” he finally admitted.
“Two before me?” she repeated. “Well, that’s not bad.”
“Not two before you,” he corrected. “Two including you.”
“Oh come on!”
“Seriously!” he insisted. “I’ve only been with one other girl.”
“How about guys?”
“I’m straight, Nicki.”
“Just asking.”
“I know.”
She kissed him then. “I feel privileged,” she said.
“I’m torn between replying ‘you should’ and ‘so do I’” he said, running his hands gently down her back.
She laughed. “Both are equally valid,” she said, nuzzling his neck.
“Now you have to tell me how many guys you’ve been with,” he told her, his fingers brushing her hips lightly. “Or girls, I’m not judging.”
“There’s only been one other,” she told him, allowing her lips to graze his neck as she spoke. “He was a mistake.”
“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime,” he replied.
“But not now,” she said, somehow making it sound sensual.
“No,” he said. “Now we have something far more important to do.”
In response, she wiggled her hips and he groaned. “I love it when you do that,” he said.
“Oh just wait a couple minutes,” she said. “You’ll like me even better!”
