Chapter Text
She spends most of her time sleeping.
Understandable, in Nico's opinion. Space-time existence really knocks the hell out of you.
But he hadn't seen her since she was rescued. According to Reina, Libby had only come out once since she came back, to get something from the kitchen in the dead of night. Reina didn't tell Nico what she was doing in the kitchen that night and he didn't ask.
He won't say anything, but he misses the fire hazard of Libby Rhodes.
And they were allies before it all, before everything, so it's absolutely plausible he left a book in her room or she might've stolen a book or his or something. He'll figure it out later.
He knocks lightly on her door and there's a weak, "Come in." To be honest, Nico didn't expect her to be awake.
"Rhodes?" he says quietly, cracking the door.
"I'm awake."
"I think," he says, walking in and closing the door. "I left a book in here."
She doesn't question him, just smiles weakly and motions to her desk. "Find it quickly, will you?'
"That eager to get rid of me?"
"Just tired. And a bit thirsty."
He's searching through her desk as she says this, picking up the piles of paper and sifting through them. "Want me to get you a drink? Water?"
"Tea, if you can manage."
"'Course I can manage," he says, making his voice more affronted than he actually is. "I'll get it right now."
Nico has one hand on the door, his fake book forgotten, when Libby says, "You didn't ask me what type of tea I wanted."
"I know what type you want," he says, opening the door. "That, uh, Moroccan Mint shit, right?"
She sits up a little, a small smirk playing on her face. "Do you not know my favorite tea, Varona? After four years of knowing each other? I'm shocked."
"Five, technically," Nico replies.
She blinks, halting the response to come.
"Whatever, whatever," he says, brushing it off. "Tell me, Rhodes. What is it? Don't make me guess."
"Earl grey, with three teaspoons of sugar. Boiled, too, not warm."
"Yeah, yeah."
In the kitchen, Callum walks by with a sneer, saying, "I thought you only drank black coffee, straight. You know, as assholes do."
"It's for Rhodes," Nico says, ignoring the jab and dropping a tea bag into a mug. There is no comment after that.
He knocks on Libby's door again, but there's no response. He enters anyway.
Libby is passed out on her bed and Nico smiles.
He sets the mug on her nightstand and brushes her bangs out of her eyes, revealing her eyelashes, not long, but dark nonetheless.
"Sleep well, Libby," he whispers and bends to kiss her forehead. She stirs, and he takes a step back, afraid, downright terrified, that she's woken up, but all she does is flop over onto her side.
He wishes she had been up longer.
* * *
There's a routine she starts to settle into as everything else around her has seemed to have entered an odd sort of limbo.
That won't stop her from researching. The first day she comes out, everyone is surprised to see her.
Except Nico.
"Feeling better, Rhodes?"
"What's it to you, Varona?"
"A bit fiery today, aren't we?"
"Oh, fuck off."
She sits at a table, offering a wave to the rest of the room (Reina and Callum) and spreads her books and papers out in front of her.
That's how her week goes.
An insult from Nico, quiet from whoever else is in the room. They walk on eggshells around her.
Sunday is different.
"You've mixed up your numbers, Rhodes."
Nico is incredibly close; she can feel his breath tickling her ear, but it's not uncomfortable.
Shouldn't it be?
"I'm not wrong, Varona, I don't know what you're on."
"Your constant is wrong in your Coulomb's law."
"It is not."
"Shouldn't it be 22.398?"
"You're ignoring this," she says, putting her pen to a different equation on the paper.
"That shouldn't be a part of your sequence. You are trying to find the amount of force between two electrically charged particles, aren't you?"
"Stationary electrically charged particles," she corrects.
"Shut up, Rhodes, you know what I mean." His voice is heated when he speaks.
"Anyway, you're wrong," Libby says, rolling her eyes. "I know my math is right."
"And I'm telling you, you're using the wrong equation to get the constant. It should be this one," Nico says, jabbing his finger on a completely separate paper.
"God!" Libby says, shoving her chair backward. "God, Nico, I'm not wrong and you know I'm not wrong and I don't understand why you're doing this and Jesus, I hate you!"
His mouth, ready for a witty response, snaps shut and he's quiet for a minute before something dawns in his eyes, something Libby can't read.
"I don't hate you, Libby."
"What?" She crosses her arms. "What? Of course you do, Nico, it's ridiculous to assume otherwise."
"No, I don't. And I hate that. I hate that I don't hate you."
She tucks her hair behind her ear and wrestles with this, wrestles with the fact that Nico de Varona doesn't hate her and. . . he doesn't hate her?
Then it settles on her, the fog descending from the sky and resting on her shoulders, wrapping around her neck.
She doesn't hate him either.
She couldn't, not after four -- five? -- five years of knowing his smirk, the back of his head, the cadence of his voice. She couldn't, not after five years of predicting his every move.
So, Libby tells him.
"I don't hate you either," she says and crosses the two step gap between them and kisses him.
His mouth parts immediately and he gasps into her, his hands pressing in her waist like they've always belonged there.
Her hands slip into his hair and grasps it, maybe a little too tightly, as he deepens the kiss and starts to tip her over.
He walks her backwards to a table and Libby reaches a hand behind her for balance, Nico's teeth teasing at her bottom lip when--
"Finally."
Parisa.
They break away, enough for Libby to see the smug look on her face, enough to keep Nico's hands on her waist.
"Did you forget that there's other people here?" Parisa continues.
Libby sighs, not in the mood for a squabble.
"I should go put my stuff upstairs, anyway." She's not quite sure who she's speaking to, but Nico nods.
"I'll come with you," he says and as they walk up the stairs, Libby smiling at him shyly, they hear another scoff of, "Finally.", which makes Libby giggle and Nico snort, a small sound that makes her laugh harder.