Chapter Text
“Carrot for your thoughts?” She asks, voice soft with an undercurrent of something he can't place.
“Hmm...make it a blueberry and you've got a deal.”
She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, thumping her foot three times in quick succession. It's one of her many tells—this one in particular signifying annoyance.
He lets her stew for another couple seconds, waiting until...ah, there it is. The tell tale nose twitching. Of all her mannerisms, it's one of his favorites. So much so that sometimes he can't help but tease her a little to provoke it.
If he's honest with himself (and there are two people he is always honest with nowadays, both of them currently in this very room), he's partly just stalling for time. His thoughts and feelings are all over the place in the wake of this little surprise, and he needs a moment to pin them down.
For the first twelve years of his life, his mother's house had been his house. Once she'd...gone...his house had gone with her, but he hadn't missed it. There was a large difference between being houseless, and being homeless. The loss of a house was of little consequence—it was a place to sleep, a container to keep possessions. The loss of a home, on the other hand...that was tragic. Because, to Nick, home is the people he loves. Home was his mother, and that's what he's been missing for the last twenty years.
The apartment she's found for him is nice, with the added bonus of being only three minutes away from her own (he has a sneaking suspicion she chose this place in particular with that in mind). But whether he's in a nice apartment or a box under a bridge...it doesn't really matter.
He already has what does.
“Well?” She huffs. Despite her irritated countenance, her eyes are hopeful.
He smiles because, in the end, it's actually very simple. “Feels like home.”
His eyes never leave her.