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Nathan was a little bit annoyed with the idea of Ricardo living with him and his family for the rest of the school year, don't get him wrong, Ricardo was one of his best friends and his teammate, who he trusted with his life, but Ricardo used to be... pretty much mean and annoying, specially when they were at school, so Nathan expected him to be twice as much when they lived together.
'Great! another annoying sibling to add to the list!' Nathan Thought as he walked to his house, tonight was pizza night, and if he didn't hurry there would be none left for him.
Once there he wasn't surprised when he saw the empty pizza box in the middle of the table.
'I guess it's going to be another dinnerless night' he thought sadly.
"Hey!" A familiar voice called his attention and pulled him out of his misery.
It was Ricardo he was holding a paper plate that had a slice of pizza on it.
"I saved you a slice" Ricardo said offering him the slice of pizza, Nathan looked at him astonished and loss of words.
"why... why... " Nathan tried to say something that made sense.
"Ummm you're welcome..." Ricardo said playfully before handing him the pizza slice and walking away to the kitchen.
Nathan watched at him leave until he was out of sight, then he looked at his pizza and smiled.
Later that night Nathan was psychologically preparing himself for the cold shower he will have to take because of the lack of hot water after his siblings showered.
He was waiting outside the bathroom's door, waiting for the current user of the shower to come out, for his surprise, it was Ricardo who came out wearing the clothes he usually wears for sleeping and a towel on his shoulders.
"Oh hey" Ricardo said, after almost bumping with Nathan.
"Hi... " Nathan said awkwardly only wanting to use the bathroom.
There was an awkward moment of silence before Ricardo said.
"I saved you some hot water..." he said casually.
"What?" Nathan asked not quite understanding him.
"You heard me man, I saved you some hot water for your shower." Ricardo explained again.
"How did you do that?" Nathan asked him confused.
"I showered with the cold water." Ricardo said. Nathan's eyes widened in surprise.
"You didn't have to..." he said.
"Nah man, it's okay, besides, I like cold water better" Ricardo said as if it was nothing.
"Thank you" Nathan said.
Ricardo's eyes widened for a second but then his eyes softened. "You're welcome" he said before leaving downstairs.
Once again Nathan watched him leave, wondering what was the strange feeling that kept coming up every time Ricardo was nice with him.
After a nice hot shower, he went to his room, only to find out that his brother had taken away his pillow and was now using it as his own.
Nathan sighed and decided to go downstairs for a glass of water. Of course, that downstairs Ricardo was using the couch as his bed. The moment that Nathan stepped the first floor Ricardo looked at him.
"Hey" Ricardo called his attention.
"Hey" Nathan said, suddenly that strange feeling returned.
There was an awkward silent moment, when they just started at each other, at least it was awkward for Nathan since Ricardo seemed to be really relaxed just looking at Nathan, so much that he sighed in satisfaction, thing that confused Nathan.
"What?" Nathan asked while frowning confused.
"Nothing" Ricardo quickly excused himself. "Why are you down here, I thought you were going to sleep?"
"My brother stole my pillow" Nathan explained.
"Oh..." Ricardo said, suddenly understanding him. "Here you can have mine" Ricardo said before offering his pillow.
Nathan's eyes widened and his mouth felled. "But.. but... what will you use?!" he asked shocked.
"Well, nothing, but that's alright, it doesn't matter." Ricardo assured him.
"What?! NO!" Nathan exclaimed.
"Nathan it's not big deal!" Ricardo tried to convince him
Nathan looked to the floor and blushed out of embarrassment before saying what he thought was a stupid idea. "Let's share it" he said determined but completely ashamed.
"What..?" Ricardo asked completely shocked because if the suggestion, also starting to flush.
"Forget it, it was a dumb idea!" Nathan tried to correct his mistake, but it was too late.
"No, no, wait, it's okay, we can share it" Ricardo said quickly before he changed his mind.
Nathan walked to the bed couch were Ricardo was lying already facing the wall, leaving enough space in the pillow for Nathan, Nathan lied down facing the other way around so they were back to back.
It was awkward at first, feeling each other's body heat radiating from behind and hearing each other respiration.
"Hey, Ricardo?" Nathan said calling Ricardo's attention. "Why were you so nice to me tonight?"
Ricardo thought that the situation couldn't get more awkward, he was wrong.
"Because I noticed you, and your dum daily life struggles" Ricardo said sarcastically, trying to break the tension. "Now go to sleep!"
"Ricardo?"
"What?" he asked dryly.
"Thank you..." Nathan said before closing his eyes and going to sleep.
Ricardo's expression softened. "You're welcome"
Ricardo turned around so he was facing Nathan's back. "I'll always notice you..." he whispered before closing his eyes too.
That night they both slept better than they probably should, the next morning they woke up to find out that somehow Ricardo took over the pillow so Nathan has to use Ricardo's chest as a pillow for himself. They decided to never talk about it, but Nathan decided that having Ricardo living with them wasn't such a problem after all.