Chapter Text
“Sorry, I’m late,” a young woman in a red coat said as she approached the table. “The traffic was insane.”
A dark-haired woman at the table looked up from her phone with a big smile. “Hey, no worries. I hear they’re filming the next new Helix movie a couple blocks down. Got you your usual, by the way.”
“Ugh, you’re a lifesaver. And you’re totally right—it was at the old library, I think. I didn’t know what they were filming but it was seriously holding up traffic. Like way more than usual.”
“People would do anything to catch a glimpse of Jake Gyllenhal,” the dark-haired woman chuckled into the wide ceramic rim of her mug. “Did you watch the first Helix?”
“Oh, god yes. Forget Jake,” the woman in red said, waving her hands emphatically, “have you seen Charlize Theron? That suit? Jesus Christ. And Karolina Dean? That new outfit is everything.”
“Is it bad that I want to get the new poster for my bedroom like a horny teenager?”
The woman in red erupted into laughter. “The one with Karolina Dean looking like she’s ready to tear your heart out and you’re going to like it? Yeah, I get it.”
“Thank you! I think I’m going to ask Charlie to get it for me for Christmas. You know, I was talking to Rachel earlier today, and she said she doesn’t see Karolina Dean’s appeal. Like, you’d have to be blind.”
“Oh my god, you’re kidding! Wait, how is Rachel? I heard she just got engaged. That’s probably why—love changes you.”
Nico turned away from the two loud women beside her as they burst into another round of laughter and took a sip of her coffee. She let the bitterness play on her tongue for a moment, then briefly wondered why anybody would distract themselves from the complexities of coffee with milk and sugar. She looked out the window and watched the other early birds mill around the Sunday market stalls on the street outside. Then again, she mused, people distract themselves from the flavour profiles of life all the time by filling it up with drivel. Like gossip and celebrity crushes—stories of people they don’t know and will never meet. It’s strange.
Well, maybe Nico wasn’t so different.
She liked simple. Appreciated the distractions sometimes. She preferred her easy, predictable peace while the world outside her own blazed on. Nothing mattered more than solemn moments with herself or meaningful interactions with her friends. She preferred the comfort and familiarity of this little neighbourhood in this increasingly less sleepy part of town, rooting her here and giving her strength. She found beauty in ignoring the complexities of life, and never wanted to lose this piece of paradise.
She soon drained the last of her coffee and replaced her empty mug on the saucer to join the meanderers floating around the market, saving her energy only for the familiar faces she’d grown accustomed to in her last three years here. The boys at the flower shop waved. She waved back.
The girl at the artisanal peanut butter tent offered samples on a cracker. Despite the girl’s insistence, she politely refused, explaining that she didn’t need any peanut butter at the moment and felt it rude to take advantage of the girl’s kindness. The girl always insisted, smiling in a way that lit up her whole face, but Nico almost always walked away empty-handed.
The girl at the soap and honey stall winked and she inwardly rolled her eyes every time. The boy at the fruit stall shared a minimum requirement of small talk while she perused the selection. Here too, she almost always walked away empty-handed, but she enjoyed the routine nevertheless.
It was easy. Predictable. Just how she liked it.
Little could Nico have suspected how much everything was about to change.
For now, she continued her leisurely stroll, a bag of Skittles open in her hand, toward the blue door of her bookstore below her apartment. She smiled as she approached—her bookstore; her apartment. Even after a year, she still loved the way those words sounded. Even if both those things may not be hers for much longer. She popped a couple skittles into her mouth and tried not to think about it.
The door clacked open and closed without the wind chimes and doorbells her neighbours were so fond of. They were unnecessary complications that would disrupt her peace—no, the squeaky hinge and the scrape of the lock’s metal against wood was enough.
“Hey, boss, welcome back!”
Nico looked up from the empty Skittles packet in her hands. “Oh, hey, Mol. What’s new?”
Molly raised her arms enthusiastically as she always did when she greeted her. Her permanently toothy grin never failed to make Nico smile. “Not much since I came in fifteen minutes ago. On time,” Molly said, flexing her arm with pride. “Oh! A new shipment came in, and—wait, are you eating candy for breakfast? Again?”
Behind an old, chipped silver antique cash register, Nico edged onto her favourite high chair. “No, I had coffee. Obviously,” she replied with a raise of her brow. “And now I’m going to have one of the those weird chocolate banana Kit Kats that my dad sent me, so—potassium and all that.”
Molly groaned when Nico reached into her drawer and triumphantly pulled out a large, visibly well-loved purple bag where she kept her infamous candy stash. “Oh my god, Nico! I can’t believe you used to be my hero. I mean, in a way, I still admire you because all you seem to do is eat candy and drink coffee and you never seem to gain a single pound, but—no! I’m not going to let oppressive beauty standards fool me into thinking you’re a healthy human being in any way!”
Nico shrugged as she tore open one of many individually wrapped chocolate bars from the bag. “One thing Gert never allowed you to learn”—she grinned—“sometimes ignorance is bliss.”
Molly glared. “I’m going out to get some real breakfast. For both of us. Alright?”
Nico waved her off. “I can’t afford to pay you anyway, so do whatever you want.” Once the door swung closed, Nico leaned back on her stool with a sigh and took a big bite of her chocolate wafer. Not like anyone ever comes in here anyway, she thought.
She looked around the little store, with its warm wooden shelves, matching floors, and faded brick walls. It wasn’t much to look at, but it was hers. Her own little world within a world she was tired of trying to understand. Didn’t want to understand anymore.
Her eyes caught the angry, red numbers on the spreadsheets she’d left here the night before. Her fault, she supposed, for opening an occult book store between a natural baby goods store and a flower shop. It was out of place, and passion didn’t quite pay the bills. Nor did sheer will and prayer.
A few minutes later, she was just about to start unpacking the freshly delivered box of books in her office when she heard the door open. She put her utility knife down and furrowed her brow. “Molly?” She whispered to herself. That can’t be right. Unless she forgot her wallet. Unless it’s…
She poked her head out from the office just in time to see a tall blonde woman hurriedly slip between the shelves. She craned her neck out further to examine her windows, hoping this wasn’t some action-movie chase scene culminating in the explosion of her little book store. She shook her head—it’s not weird to run into a book store in a hurry, right?
Was it weird?
A porcelain skull sporting a rabbit-eared headband grinned at her from beside the register. It had been there since last Easter, and—okay, maybe she lost touch of what normal was, so really, she shouldn’t judge. Be reasonable, she silently chastised—the woman was just a regular customer.
Nico hesitated.
Okay, maybe it had been a while since she had to talk to a customer too. It was rarely busy enough for her to intervene if Molly was here. If she wanted to talk to strangers, she wouldn’t need to hire anybody. Or beg Molly to work for her. For free.
You’re the boss, she reminded herself. This is your job.
But people were so complicated. And small talk? With her imagination still limited by the ignorance of the the many weeks to come, Nico couldn’t think of anything more unpleasant than small talk.
Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Nico took a deep breath, peeled herself away from the door frame and slowly made her way over to the shelves.
The blonde woman stood with her fingers on the shelf, so tense she may as well have been hanging off the side of a cliff. Her eyes, hidden behind a pair of large, silver-rimmed sunglasses, seemed focused only on the space above the books. Nico followed her line of sight past her shelf and through the window.
Nico’s brows furrowed. This was not weird at all. Right?
She turned back to the woman, whose profile looked vaguely familiar. Strange, she thought. Surely, she would remember a beautiful woman like her. She mentally shook off the feeling—talking to customers was hard enough without this other nonsense. Besides, this was L.A.—every gorgeous human looked vaguely familiar. The entertainment industry was insidious.
You can do this, she told herself once more. Faking her courage with a smile, Nico finally cleared her throat. “Um, hi.”
The woman jumped, then turned to Nico with an expression obscured by her sunglasses.
“Are you…okay?” Nico asked slowly. “Can I help you find something?”
The woman studied her for a long moment. Nico shifted uncomfortably, then cleared her throat one more time, just loud enough to snap the woman out of her sudden trance. “Oh!” She mumbled, “No, um, I’m okay. Thanks.”
“Well, um, if you’re looking for Transcendental Magic, I can get you the English translation,” Nico said, gesturing to the book that the woman had pulled out. “Unless…you can read French?”
The woman seemed to stare at the book in her hand, perhaps confused by the slight pursing of her lips. She slid the book back on the shelf. “Not sure how that got there,” she murmured to herself.
“Uh, well, is there anything else you’re interested in? I can give you a couple of recommendations or something.”
The woman glanced around the back of the shelf, then over the tops of the books. She seemed no less restless when she finally drew her attention back to Nico and sighed. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head.
Her gorgeous blue eyes sent a jolt right through Nico.
But she had no time to process—no time to form the words to explain away this feeling of…connection?—when the woman suddenly grabbed her arm half a second later, sending a second jolt down from the sky to strike her heart right out of her chest.
“Listen, um, can you just…hide me here for a bit? I’m really sorry to trouble you, I’m just—I don’t want them to find me.”
“A-Are you in trouble? Should we call the police?”
The woman released her hand, frazzled. “What? No! I’m, uh, it’s hard to explain…I mean—wait,” she tilted her head slightly, “do you—do you not know who I am?”
Nico pulled back to put some distance between herself and this strange woman. “Should I?” She asked.
The woman’s eyes widened in a moment of shock, then relief gave way to a bright, beautiful smile. “No. And I’m glad.”
Nico’s eyes narrowed. “Okay?”
“So the situation is that I’m avoiding my manager. You see, um, I…I’m…okay, I just really need a nap. Just a moment to breathe and to—to be away from all this for a little while, you know?”
“O…kay?”
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be so enigmatic—I’m just having some trouble finding my words, which is…unusual, uh, I guess. You’re really, um…okay, no.” The woman sucked in a big breath to calm herself before starting again, hands raised as if in surrender. “Look, I—”
“Uh, well, my apartment is upstairs if you want to take a nap,” Nico blurted.
The woman stared at Nico.
Nico stared back in horror. There were a lot of things she wanted to say, mostly excuses to get out of this conversation, but that was definitely not on the list.
Then, woman brightened. “Really?”
Well, fuck.
“Yeah, of course. You can sleep as long as you want.”
What? No.
Just fucking give her your kidney while you’re at it, Nico thought.
“Oh my god. Thank you. Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Follow me,” Nico said, barely managing to hide her scowl. Follow me as I leap into a river to escape the scourge of beautiful L.A. models and other celebrity types before they take everything I own, she thought bitterly.
This was why Nico did not like people. They were just so goddamn unpredictable.
Across the office, next to the island where the till sat beside her bleeding red spreadsheets, was a narrow set of stairs that led to her quaint little one-bedroom apartment. It was here, between the scratched up beige walls and creaky steps that the woman finally asked for her name.
“Nico,” she replied. “What about you?”
The woman hummed. “Kar,” she said after some thought. “Or maybe Karrie…”
Nico turned. “Carl?”
The woman laughed. “No, Kar. It’s short for Karolina.” She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth like a cartoon character. “Dammit,” she whispered.
“Relax,” Nico chuckled. “You look familiar but everyone sort of does around here, y’know? Here we are.”
The red door at the top of the steps led to a sparse but inviting living room. Sunlight streamed through the open curtains and across the coffee table, where an open book sat beside an unlit candle. There was a plush love seat, deep burgundy in colour, with soft pillows and a quilted blanket neatly folded on one side. Two austere bookshelves stood sentry to the bedroom, crammed full of books and museum-like trinkets.
Nico closed the door behind her. “You can sleep here if you want,” she said, gesturing to the love seat. “Uh, you’re a bit…tall, but it should be okay. I usually take up one couch cushion when I curl up, so…that was a weird thing to say.”
She looked up to find Karolina smiling, her gaze warm and velvety and kind of sweet and why couldn’t she look away?
“I really appreciate this, Nico,” she said, her voice equally syrupy. Nico nodded, then stiffened when Karolina unexpectedly placed both hands on her shoulders and leaned over to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks again.”
“Uh—right. W-well, um, I’ll be downstairs. You, uh, make yourself comfortable. And don’t steal anything, I guess?” Nico mumbled.
“I won’t,” Karolina chuckled.
“Okay.”
Nico quickly ducked back through the door and down the stairs before she could think about how warm her cheeks felt and how much she wanted to set herself on fire after that interaction.
Thankfully, Molly was already back in the book store with breakfast on the counter and her hands on her hips.
“Nico!” She sighed, by way of greeting, “Are you slacking off?”
Nico quickly shook her head, her eyes flicking toward the staircase beside her and Molly’s face.
Molly raised a brow. “Are you okay?”
“Um, yes? No? I don’t know?”
“Did something happen while I was gone?”
Nico bit her lip. Should she tell Molly she was harbouring some hot fugitive actor or model? She had no idea what she was doing, and she could probably use a level head. Plus, she trusted Molly more than anyone.
So why didn’t she want to tell her about Karolina?
“Nico?” Molly asked, visibly concerned now.
“I…uh…it’s—it’s nothing.”
“Okay, now I’m suspicious.” Molly frowned. “Did you do something?”
“What? No!”
“Oh my god, were you just hiding in your room eating chocolate again?”
Nico blinked, unsure how to feel about her shameful habits paying off this way. “Maybe?” She said, cringing.
“Dude, stop doing that, you weirdo!” Molly cried, shoving her lightly in the shoulder.
Nico laughed nervously. “I’ll try.”
“Alright, c’mon let’s eat some real food. I got breakfast burritos.”
When Molly turned to roll open the brown paper bag on the counter, Nico released a breath and felt the pressure run off in waves. That was miraculously close.
Two hours later—one customer and two window shoppers later—Nico handed Molly a ten and sent her out on a coffee run. Molly had narrowed her eyes and made her promise not touch the candy stash while she was gone, but didn’t seem to suspect anything else. As Nico ascended the stairs again, she pressed a hand to her heart and, unsurprisingly, found little relief there despite the victory.
There was still the much bigger problem that had been plaguing her all morning: the beautiful stranger that she, Nico Minoru, willingly allowed into her home, her sanctuary, because what the hell was wrong with her?
She turned the brass doorknob on the door, palm damp against the cool metal, and cautiously cracked it open.
Her quilt laid crumpled on her couch. The pillow sagged in the middle—definitely slept on. The stranger just took a nap. It wasn’t a big deal. Except...it was deathly quiet, and there wasn’t a body in sight.
Nico’s heart dropped as she bolted into her living room. When did she vanish? Did she somehow slip past her downstairs? Oh god, what did she take? Everything seemed to be in place. She didn’t have many valuables. Surely the cash register would be easier to rob. Unless this was a diversion? What if—
“Oh! Hello.”
Nico whipped around and nearly knocked over the ceramic vase on the shelf she was in the middle of frantically inspecting. Here in her home—her slice of heaven, her haven from the outside world—now suddenly stood a beautiful stranger in her bedroom. Skin flushed and fully naked under a fluffy pink towel—her fluffy pink towel—with her damp, dark blonde hair slicked back and water dripping all over her floor.
Are you fucking kidding me? Nico’s frazzled brain cried in exasperation.
“Uh—?”
“Oh! Sorry, um, hope you don’t mind me borrowing your shower. I thought it would wake me up before I get back out there,” the woman—Karolina, Nico reminded herself distractedly—said with a sheepish smile. “I love your shampoo.”
“Thanks?” Why did she have to punctuate every sentence with a question mark when it came to this woman?
“Do you…um, is it okay if I borrow a shirt from you? Mine is…crumpled,” Karolina continued. This time, her cheeks grew several shades rosier.
No, get out of my house, Nico’s brain said.
It was her heart, however—or perhaps something else she couldn’t suppress in time—that bravely (or foolishly) stride past the naked woman into her bedroom and threw open her closet.
“I don’t know if anything will fit,” Nico mumbled.
“Crop tops are fashionable,” Karolina replied.
Nico turned to her, thoroughly unimpressed.
“Sorry,” Karolina said with a breezy, melodic laugh, “you’re cute, so I’m sure anything is fine.”
“Oh.” Nico blushed. “Thanks?”
Karolina’s eyes widened. “I-I mean you’re clothes are cute. So I trust your judgment. Not that you’re not cute. You are. But your clothes. You get it.”
Her laughter quickly dissolved into nervous giggles, and Nico would laugh too if her heart wasn’t hanging out in her throat after Karolina’s bumbling compliment. “Yeah, okay” she said instead, sporting matching pink cheeks. “Do you have a coat? I’ll lend you a sweater if you don’t.”
Karolina shook her head. “I guess you can say I was pretty distracted when I stormed off set.”
“You’re not one of those famous divas, are you?” Nico asked, returning her eyes to the mission at hand as she rifled around her closet. It suddenly felt very important to give away the perfect piece of clothing to this naked stranger. And it had nothing to do with avoiding Karolina’s amazing blue eyes.
“Not usually,” Karolina chuckled. “But there’s only so many times they can make you kiss a sexist pig before you absolutely lose it.”
“He wasn’t messing up on purpose, was he?” Nico pulled out a large navy sweater from her closet, and held it to her chest, her brows knitting thoughtfully. “Aren’t you famous? I might live under a rock but you seemed so shocked that I didn’t know you that I figured you must be pretty famous. Or just really full of yourself, I guess.”
“I guess I’m sort of famous? Which…saying that out loud makes me seem like I’m full of myself, doesn’t it?” Karolina said, rubbing her arm with a small smile. “You’ve back me into a bit of a corner here, Nico.”
Nico shrugged. “I just mean, like, if you’re famous, why would they let him do that to you? Obviously he shouldn’t be pulling that kind of shit on anybody, but people care about their actors, don’t they? Especially if they’re, y’know, well-loved and stuff.”
Karolina shook her head. “It’s…complicated sometimes. This business. Even if I were to make those accusations, the director is, like, his best friend. Nobody would do anything. It’s just a job, we all think. It’s harmless, and really, it is. We’re all professionals, and I…wouldn’t want that kind of publicity anyway, so I just…got out of there.”
“Are you going to be in trouble?”
“No, I don’t think so. Maybe just with my manager,” Karolina said. “We wrapped early after the drama. We’ve been at it since four, so early is relative, but—either way…you hiding me here—I can’t tell you how much this means.”
Nico nodded. “You’re welcome, I guess. And here—my dad’s sweater.”
“Your dad’s?”
“Yeah, I stole it last year when my family went back to Japan for New Years. It’d been so long since we’d gone back that I forgot how cold it gets over there. We were pretty far out in the countryside, so…I stole my dad’s sweater.”
Karolina took the sweater and relaxed into a grin. “It’s so soft! I’ll be sure to return it in one piece.”
“You better,” Nico said, flashing a small half-smile. “He’s gonna cry if he finds out I gave away his sweater, and I don’t need that kind of stress right now.”
“Gotcha.”
“Yep.”
For a long while, they simply stood there, unsure what to say as they threw glances at and around each other, an unexpectedly charged current running through them—it had been there since the beginning, but the silence revealed it like sunshine behind self-made clouds.
Later, Nico would spend hours upon hours replaying this moment until she could convince herself she didn’t really have the kind of courage that incited this moment. It must’ve been the work of the universe. The gods piloting her will. Or something in Karolina’s eyes.
But they would both remember the way Karolina had leaned in with the intention to press a kiss on Nico’s cheek, just like she had earlier that morning. They would both remember Nico turning slightly at the very last moment, and the shared surprise when their lips brushed instead.
Later, in their private moments, they would both recall the exact sensation of Nico’s fingertips burning suddenly against Karolina’s cheek, and soft lips colliding a second time, firm and deliberate, slipping into place as if they were made for each other. The gentle push and pull. Nico’s back hitting the closet door. Karolina’s damp hair in Nico’s hands. It was only a moment. Only a handful of seconds, barely enough to carve half a minute between them. But it left them both breathless.
“I should change,” Karolina whispered as she pulled away.
“Uh, yeah.”
Nico stayed rooted moments after Karolina disappeared, simply unable to escape the moment. The vision of those darkened blue eyes and the low timbre of her voice. The pounding in her chest. And worst of all, the acute ache of longing she knew so well.
Slowly, she touched her lips. What the hell just happened?