OUR SECRET MOMENTS IN A CROWDED ROOM / NICO HISCHIER
SUMMARY According to Timo and Jonas, Luisa and Nico are just friends. But Jack and Luke have a tough time believing that.
WORD COUNT 9.3k
WARNINGS/TROPES childhood friends + roommates, bed sharing, implied nudity, making out
AUTHOR'S NOTE As with when I first posted this, italicized dialogue indicates a switch to Swiss-German. @sleepretreat, this one's for you. Also, if you find major typos, my laptop started glitching the fuck out while I was writing, so major apologies.
Luisa Birchmeier loves Nico Hischier.
That is not a surprise to anyone who knows them.
But right now, she fucking hates him.
The regular season has wrapped up, and some guys have jetted to wherever the World Championship is this year. Luisa normally joins them, watching from the sidelines and cheering with the most profound feelings of pride for her nation and best friend, regardless of the results, because she seldom gets to watch Nico in action. But the usual European tournament locations have always opened the door for her.
This year, however, as had been the case every once in a while, Luisa had been tangled up with a large commission that kept her locked in the second bedroom-slash-art studio for days on end until her joints locked and her muscles cramped.
And when this happens, she appears as a one-woman show at the airport to greet Nico when he returns.
She's not a one-woman show this time.
Well, technically, she is. She's there alone.
But she's a woman with a car!
Luisa pulls into the arrivals terminal, peeking past the sea of cars for an empty space to slot into. This is precisely why she hates Nico: the chaos of trying to find her way around in a clunky vehicle she normally doesn't need—and, frankly, hates using—seems to add a grey tinge to her dark hair.
The trains and buses work perfectly fine, in her opinion. Much better than whatever the U.S. has to offer. But Nico had told her he thinks it's easier to pile into a car with his friends, especially Jack and Luke, than to try and heckle them onto some other form of transport hassle-free.
A sight of relief flits through her full lips when she manages to find a spot by the curb. She checks the time—right on the dot of when she was instructed to get there—then her phone, swiping through notifications for anything from Nico.
There's a text from when they'd landed. Another from when they got through customs, with a follow-up that they were taking a while because they had to wait for "the Americans." One declaring that Jonas needed to shit—one that she rolls her eyes at. Finally, one that they had gotten their bags and were headed out.
"Thank God," she grumbles, shoving her phone into the pockets of her linen pants.
Luisa spots the group of five guys through the windshield and gets out of her car—technically, Nico's, that he entrusts with her when he isn't in town, but she digresses.
She calls his name, and his head whips around in the direction of her voice. His eyes light up with excitement when they find her in the sparse crowd.
A toothy grin reveals the dimples carving into his cheeks. "There she is!"
He doesn't spare Jack, Luke, Timo, or Jonas a glance before approaching her with open and expectant arms. His suitcase rolls away, but he doesn't seem to care as he wraps her in a bone-crushing embrace, leaning his weight onto her until she nearly topples over.
Luisa's laugh echoes into the brisk summer air, carried away by the alpine breeze. Her hands come around his broad and sculpted shoulders for stability, uncaring about the airplane scent that clings to him like a second skin. She misses him far too much to not be in his arms.
She tells him that as they pull away—first that she misses him, then that he smells—and her stomach flutters when amusement shakes his chest with laughter.
Nico presses a lingering kiss on her tan and freckled cheek. "I missed you, too."
Luisa smiles like she's been told the best news in the world.
The sound of nearing footsteps, familiar voices chattering away, and wheels rolling over the floor brings their attention to the rest of Nico's friends.
"I know you two, unfortunately," she jokes to Timo and Jonas, who roll their eyes, though they let her kiss each of their cheeks in greeting, as is customary. "Couldn't get enough of Nico that you had to stop by for a few days before heading home, huh?"
Timo takes a moment to respond. If he thinks Nico's native accent is thick and hard to understand at times, he remains even more lost with Luisa's, who hasn't had months of living overseas to water it down. But once his brain catches up, a smugness glints in his icy blue eyes.
"C'mon, you think it's him we're here for?" he asks, tossing a sneaky glance at his teammate.
Nico clears his throat, and Luisa stares at him naïvely, lost on what seems to be an inside joke between them. She sends Jonas a confused look in hopes that he'll help her out, only to see him trying to hide his mirth with a glance away and a loose fist covering his mouth.
Whatever, she tells herself.
Finally, she acknowledges Jack and Luke.
"It's nice to finally meet you after hearing so much from Nico," she says, kissing each brother's flustered cheeks.
"You're such a liar," Nico tells her once she comes back to his side. "I don't talk about them all the time."
Luisa snickers.
He pushes her shoulder.
"Oh, this is Luisa, by the way," Nico says to Jack and Luke, draping his muscled arm around her. He can spot the recognition on their faces as they finally put a face to a name.
"You guys can go ahead and sit in the back," she says, her English laced with an accent much less fluid than her friends', born from her infrequent use of it. She shrugs Nico's arm off and loops her fingers around the handles of Jack and Luke's suitcases, ignoring the protests that they can do it themselves. "I'll need one of you to sit in the very back, though."
"Luke can sit in the back," says Jack.
Luisa staves off her smile at Luke's disgruntled expression. She is incredibly familiar with the annoyance dripping from his face, being the younger sibling herself.
She turns to Nico. "Help him with the seat? You know how it gets."
He nods, letting her push the suitcases around the car to load the trunk. He adjusts the seat so it opens into the third row and wastes no time joining her once Luke is inside the car.
A car honks at them from behind, probably impatient from how long they've been idly parked there, and Luisa flinches at its loudness. Nico turns to the driver and tosses his hands up in complaint.
"Cars—horrible things," Luisa grumbles.
"At least you're getting one use out of it, no?" he jokes, stacking the suitcases into the trunk.
She scoffs, folding her arms over her chest as she leans against the car. Her eyes roam over the changes in his appearance that a camera can't quite capture. It'd only been a few months since she'd last seen him in person, but that is long enough.
Nico has a two-day-old prickly scruff going on now, which she'd felt scrape against her skin when he kissed her cheek. She thinks it's an absolute travesty that he decided to shave before coming home.
And his big, brown eyes seem a little duller, tired after a tumultuously long season that didn't end the way they had wanted it to.
She holds no reservations about the exhaustion hanging on his shoulders, though. If anything, she would feel infinitely more concerned if he returned to her fully rested: He's the type of person who lets the long-winding mountain paths that speak of musical birdsong and fresh air and the simplicity of meals he'd eaten growning up that he never gets to enjoy in New Jersey push him back to a state of nirvana by the time he has to fly back to the U.S.
Nico brushes his hands together like he's wiping dust off his palms when he's done filling the trunk like a Jenga tower. His ever-present smile falters when he notices her tender stare. "What?"
Luisa merely shakes her head as she pushes herself upright. "Nothing."
He shrugs in acceptance before closing the trunk.
Luisa climbs into the driver's seat, her face twisted with dread. Usually, whenever they decide to drive somewhere, she makes Nico sit behind the wheel, but she figures that's the last thing he wants to do after non-stop hockey and long-haul flights.
It is, perhaps, for the best anyway. For her sanity, at least.
She wants to leave the airport as quickly as possible, and Nico is a notoriously slow and cautious driver—almost annoyingly so.
"So, what's the living situation?" Jack asks, head protruding between the two front seats as he rests his forearms on the center console. "We were just told not to book a hotel."
Stopping at the red light, Luisa casts Nico a peeved look that has him curling into himself, though his sheepish smile seems to erode any fire burning in her dark brown eyes.
It sends Jack slinking into his seat, too, sensing he might have stirred something up without meaning to. His gaze darts between Timo and Jonas on either side of him, and he hopes they gauge her emotions a little better based on the lack of unease threading through their body language.
"You're insufferable, you know that?" she tells Nico, pressing her feet against the clutch and the accelerator.
Nico clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth with a dismissive wave. "You've been telling me that since we were kids, and yet you're still here."
"Only because your parents pay me to hang out with you," she dishes out.
"Lu." He pokes her thigh when a beat of silence drags out for a moment too long. "Luisa."
She scoffs out an incredulous laugh and holds her pointer finger and thumb together with some space floating between them. "I'm this close to making you find a way home yourself."
"Oh, come on, Lu."
They fall into a surprisingly calm back-and-forth, but maybe it's the guttural sounds of the language Jack and Luke don't quite understand or the way Luisa refuses to look in Nico's direction that makes it seem worse than it is. The smile on Nico's lips and his awe-filled gaze give away the seriousness of their conversation, though:
It's not that serious.
And that seems to ease Jack, who is ready to blurt out an apology for starting an argument between them.
Luisa sighs. There is already a pit in her stomach as her mind translates her native language into English: She's always been a little self-conscious about her accent, scared it rolls off her tongue a little too roughly for anyone to understand what she is trying to say, and she would ask Nico to do most of the speaking for her, but this is her chance to practice and make sure Jack and Luke don't think she is purposely excluding them.
Her gaze slides to the rearview mirror, scanning over everyone's face. "Two of you can sleep in one bedroom, and the other two can share the pull-out sofa."
A string of acceptance hollers through the car. It isn't like they're going to demur when they don't have anything else planned.
"Wait." Luke's eyebrows pinch together. "Are we staying with you or Neeks?"
Luisa pauses, lips parting before pressing together thinly. "Did any of you tell these two anything? Because it sounds like they know nothing."
Jonas and Timo turn to their captain. Like Luisa, they've assumed that Nico has laid out the details. But the bashful look on Nico's face tells them otherwise and sparks a firework of enjoyment within them.
Nico raises his hands in surrender. "In my defense—they never asked."
Luisa stares blankly at him for as long as she can before she has to focus on the road again. "You blow my mind sometimes. Seriously. You can tell them."
He gives her a stiff thumbs-up before he twists his body to face his teammates. "We, um, live together?"
"You don't sound so sure about that," Timo points out teasingly.
"Yeah, after, what, five years? I think you can sound a little more certain," Jonas adds. Luisa and Nico don't bother to correct him on the number of years.
Jack chokes on his saliva, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. "I'm sorry, what? Five years?"
"Buddy, how much have you been keeping from us?" Luke asks with a laugh.
"A lot, apparently," Luisa chimes in.
Nico shoots her a look that only she discerns.
Her lips peel back in a teasing grin as she readjusts her hold on the steering wheel, her grandmother's ring digging into her finger. "This was your own doing."
"I'm aware," he grumbles, slumping into his seat like a kid having a tantrum.
"Good."
Luisa doesn't notice the rosy flush seeping onto the surface of his sun-kissed skin. But the others have, and Jack turns to his teammates and brother with a deep frown between his eyebrows.
"Is anyone hungry?" she asks.
They all shake their heads, and her eyes narrow questioningly, though she keeps her words to herself. They probably had a meal on the flight.
Still, Luisa steers the car toward a kebab place and parks it. Like instinct, Nico reaches into his pocket to grab his card and passes it to her. His lips curve up slightly when she thanks him, like her voice is enough to switch on the light in his soul that's been absent for most of the year.
Luisa shifts in her seat, eyes perusing everyone's face. "Are you sure you guys are not hungry? It's courtesy of Nico if that changes anything."
He grumbles from his spot in the passenger seat but says nothing in objection.
"Did you even bring money with you?" Timo asks.
"No, of course not." Her thumb juts toward Nico. "When this guy is super rich? Why should I?"
That rouses a snort out of Nico.
"Actually, I'll get something," Luke pipes up, starting a chain of similar responses.
"I hate you," Nico mumbles to Luisa. "I actually hate you so much."
"You love me," she ameliorates.
He doesn't argue.
Breakfast the next morning goes about as smoothly as a ship sailing through a storm—which is to say, not very smoothly.
Luisa hadn't done enough grocery shopping to feed all six of them, for she didn't know there would be six people under their roof until yesterday. Nico had apologized for blindsiding her once they had a moment alone, but she'd already forgiven him the moment he'd smiled at her in the passenger seat.
She can never stay mad at him.
She tried once—first, when he left to play in Bern, then again when he left for Halifax, when he left her to chase his dreams. It was a little selfish when she thought back to it, but she was a mere teenager who hadn't quite honed down the art of emotional regulation or maturity. She thinks she's a lot better at it now, even if a part of her aches every time he has to go back to the U.S.
Nico says her name softly from where he's propped up against the headboard of the queen-sized bed they're sharing, the sheets pooling around his waist. His voice cuts through her loud thoughts, and he watches her pause in the middle of slipping her arm through her shirt. He calls her name again.
With her shirt still half-put on, Luisa turns around. Her eyes travel down, soaking up the sunlight sprayed against his bare chest, caught in the dips of his muscles. She wills herself to look away, ignoring the pleased smirk on his lips.
He's always too cocky around her nowadays.
"What?" she asks.
Nico climbs out of bed and lets his stature tower over her. "It's okay," he tells her. "We'll go to the store."
"Okay," she whispers into the space between them, finally shoving her other arm into her sleeve. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" he asks simply.
Luisa stays silent.
Nico offers a smile and curls his arm around her shoulders, bringing her to his side. Warmth flares throughout his body when she hugs his waist. She feels snug against him—a perfect fit like cheese and wine. Not quite cut from the same cloth, but complementary.
"I'm the one who should be sorry," he says. "It slipped my mind to tell you that they were staying with us, and I know you've been busy with everything while I'm away, and I haven't been able to help with packing everything up."
Luisa brushes his apology off because she already heard it yesterday and untangles herself from him. She can feel his body heat lingering on her skin. "It's okay. Agatha's been helping. Luca and Nina, when they can, too."
It isn't surprising to Nico that his siblings are lending a helping hand, but it's still endearing.
He canvases the bedroom, from the large painting of hers that hangs above the bed to the wall, now only partially covered in postcards they've collected of places they've had the privilege of exploring together. A wistful breath leaves him. "I'll miss this place."
Luisa fights off the bittersweetness lodged in her chest. She doesn't disagree with him: She'll miss this cosy apartment they had made a home when they were barely adults all those years ago—all the memories clinging to every corner of every room, all the growing up they've done under this roof, even if Nico is gone for most of the year. He never leaves the same as he arrives, just as he never arrives the same as he left the year before.
But it's time for a new place, a new chapter.
And they're both excited for it.
"You'll need a shirt before you go to the store," she says. "Fix your hair, and stop flexing your muscles. You look like an imbecile."
"Okay, Naomi Lapaglia," he huffs, going to the wardrobe to fetch himself a soft cotton shirt neatly folded in the drawer. "I'm sure some people would appreciate seeing me shirtless."
"Yeah, one of them's sleeping in the other bedroom."
Nico laughs.
They walk out of the bedroom to find Timo and Jonas sprawled across the couch while Jack and Luke have taken up the dining room, watching whatever dubbed movie is playing on TV from afar or scrolling on their phones.
Luisa feels bad for Jack and Luke and wants to tell Timo and Jonas to switch to their Netflix account so they can watch something in English.
"I'll keep the two kids fed in the meantime," she tells Nico.
He chuckles again, grabbing his keys that hang on the coat rack mounted on the wall by the front door. He gestures for Timo and Jonas to join him, and they do so without much questioning.
Luisa goes into the kitchen, which is closed behind a door, unlike the open layout in Nico's apartment in New Jersey. She grabs some items for a simple breakfast, something she usually does for herself, and goes into the dining room to lay out the bread, cheese, jams, and marmalades.
She figures she should also make some rösti for them to try, so she ventures back into the kitchen to make some.
They start eating after Luisa tells them where the others have run off.
"Do you paint?" Jack asks, letting his voice ripple over the faint rumbling of the TV.
He and Luke noticed the easel and half-finished painting shoved into the corner of the bedroom they're staying in. He assumes they're hers because he doesn't think he's ever seen Nico pick up a paintbrush in his life, so he also assumes the bedroom is hers, too. He'll have to find a card or something to express his gratitude for letting them stay and apologize for kicking her out of her bed.
It slips his mind that he doesn't recall seeing her move anything into the other room before he and Luke had infiltrated the space.
Luisa nods, her cheeks burning red hot. She's always been kind of humble about her career—almost embarrassingly so—but Nico likes to remind her that he plays hockey for a living: They're a household with unconventional jobs, and there's nothing wrong with that.
"You're really good."
"Thank you."
Seconds pass in silence again.
Luisa doesn't have the urge to keep the conversation going. She's okay with the silence—always has been. Besides, she knows more about Jack and Luke than they probably think: Nico likes to ramble about the team and his teammates. It'd seem ungenuine if she asked them questions she already knew the answers to.
Out of nowhere, Luke makes a choked noise.
"You're L.B.!" he says once he comes to.
Her head tilts questioningly.
Luke clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck like he's embarrassed. "I, um, noticed all the artwork in Nico's apartment have those initials."
Luisa crinkles her nose. "That would be me."
If Nico were there, he would say he's her biggest client, and proudly so. She would then remind him that he gets her paintings for free—mostly because he collects the ones she finds herself unsatisfied with and can't bear to look at any longer without nearing the edge of insanity.
He loves all of her artwork regardless of how she thinks of it, though. He's always been her biggest fan.
"Have you ever been to Jersey?" Jack asks.
"I visit when I can."
That catches him and Luke by surprise.
"How come we've never seen you around?" Jack continues to interrogate.
It's not like they don't know who she is: Nico occasionally sprinkles mentions of her into conversations, often tied to names like his siblings or parents, so they figure she's a close family friend. But it strikes them as odd that he's never brought up the times she's visited, especially when they're usually all together most days. They would've had to have noticed if their captain was running off with someone who wasn't them, right?
Everything about Luisa and Nico seems odd, but it piques their interest in the most mischievous of ways.
"Ah," she waves them off, "I try not to get involved with the team; after all, I'm there for Nico. I only know Timo and Jonas because all the Swiss guys like to hang out together over the offseason."
A fascinated 'huh' leaves Jack.
They continued eating.
Luisa finishes first and excuses herself. Her mind jumps to the clutter of boxes in the corner of the living room that now serves as a makeshift bedroom for Timo and Jonas. She moves the lighter ones into the master bedroom first—the ones full of smaller, more random trinkets like the bookends that once kept the books propped upright on the now-barren bookshelf under the TV.
By the time she begins shoving her weight against the heavier boxes, the front door swings open, and a string of familiar voices spills into the apartment.
Nico is thoroughly confused when he sees only Jack and Luke at the dining table. They point toward the living room, and that's when he hears the huffs and puffs from around the corner.
"Lu?" His voice is steeped with concern as he walks further into the apartment.
Then he laughs softly when he sees her trying to shoulder the much shorter box across the floor.
She stops and meets his gaze. A sigh of relief depresses her chest as she slumps against the box. "Oh, thank God," she says. "Jack and Luke kept offering to help, but I felt bad letting them. You, on the other hand...You, I can bother."
"Of course, you can," says Nico, but it's not laced with annoyance. He swoops in to pull her off the floor effortlessly, and without thinking, he shifts her shirt back into place after it slid down the slope of her shoulder. She thanks him as she catches her breath. "Where do you want to move this?"
"Bedroom."
Nico bends down to lift the hefty box into his grasp with a grunt. Perhaps Luisa wasn't overexaggerating.
"Timo, Jonas, help yourself to whatever you want," she tells them as she scurries ahead to keep the bedroom door open for Nico.
The door closes behind them, and Jack and Luke snap their heads toward Timo and Jonas to see the amusement hanging from the fibres of their faces. They're convinced, at this point, that there's something they're missing.
"Is there anything going on between them?" Jack asks quietly. He isn't sure how thin the walls are, how their voices might carry over into the next room.
Jonas shakes his head, sure of himself. "They've been this way since we've known them."
"He was also talking to her sister last year, no?" Timo asks Jonas offhandedly, flinging jam onto a slice of bread.
"Was that before or after he and Lu hooked up?"
Jack reels his head back. "Hold up—elaborate."
Jonas shrugs. "We all went on vacation last summer after Worlds. They were drunk. No one ever brought it up again."
Luke has his head in his hands, his brain trying to piece together all the information being dumped on them. He doesn't even want to begin to acknowledge that they've all gone on vacation together—a statement he can safely assume includes Nola and perhaps even Jesper and Nicole if he throws caution to the wind.
Hell, he can probably lump Kevin and Jessica Fiala in there, too.
It doesn't seem like an otherworldly guess. The European guys around the league are always joined at the hip, especially the Swiss ones.
"He and Agatha were before, I think," Timo says.
"That has to be weird for everyone," Luke mumbles, eyes wide in disbelief. He almost laughs when he spares his brother a cursory glance; the expression on Jack's face is nothing short of bewilderment at the very core of its meaning.
A series of laughs echo from the master bedroom, unrestrained and hearty, and it barely registers in everyone's minds how quiet the apartment has gotten, lacking the usual mumbled banter they sometimes hear through the walls.
Nico and Luisa's footsteps pad over the hardwood floor like they're stumbling drunk over one another, but they're clinging to each other for stability from laughing too hard. Their expressions are innocent, like they haven't heard anything at all, as they present themselves in front of their friends with goofy grins and eyes lined with unfallen tears.
"So," Nico leans his weight against a giggling Luisa, his forearm propped on her shoulder, "what'd we miss?"
Jack doesn't even know where to begin.
Nico decides he wants to take his friends out of Bern and back to Naters for a night out. He especially wants to show Jack and Luke his hometown, and Luisa can only smile because she knows how much they mean to him, and this only proves it.
She sees it in the way his eyes seem to brighten three shades, and his smile stretches wider any time he talks about his teammates, about his life in New Jersey. And when they manage to call each other, she can hear the way his voice cracks with excitement, the way his cadence fluctuates with pride and belief in himself and the team when they hit a rough spot in their play.
It makes her heart expand in her chest and melt into a puddle of mush all at once.
Timo nudges Luisa's arm, eyebrows raised questioningly when he catches her eyes lingering on Nico, who is in the middle of conversing with Jack and Luke as they near the car. This isn't the first time he's caught Luisa staring at Nico over the past few days or their stolen glances when they think no one's looking, and something shifts in his brain.
Maybe Jack was right. Maybe he had picked up on something new.
Luisa forces herself to look away. She tilts her chin up to meet Timo's stare, her expression innocent, almost naïve. "What?"
He doesn't say anything. He thinks if he stares at her long enough, she'll understand what he's trying to get at.
She doesn't.
Timo sighs. "You clueless idiot."
"Hey!" Luisa frowns, smacking his arm.
Jonas snickers from beside her. "Hit him any harder, and he'll be out before the season even starts."
That catches Nico's attention. His head whips around to look at the other half of their group trailing behind him. They all give him a reassuring thumbs-up in synchrony, and his eyebrows furrow, but he returns to talking to Jack and Luke.
Timo rubs his sore bicep. "So, do you have something you want to tell us?"
Luisa begins running her thumb over the gold band of her grandmother's ring, easing herself under their scrutiny. She juts her bottom lip out and shakes her head. "No."
"Okay," Timo says, suspiciously easily, that it even piques Jonas' curiosity.
When they reach the car, Luisa relinquishes her usual spot in the passenger seat beside Nico and gives it to Luke. She's too lazy to bring the second-row seat down and forward, so she simply launches herself over it and into the third row.
"All good?" Nico asks from the driver's seat, peering into the rearview mirror with mirth tangled on his face.
"Yeah!"
Nico takes off then, beginning the two-hour drive to their hometown.
Luisa leans forward for most of the drive, her folded arms resting on the leather seats in front of her to stay somewhat involved in the conversation. She isn't used to the constant exchange, but she supposes it's because of her natural disposition of curt and only meaningful chatter that contrasts with the Americans, who thrive on small talk and mindless jabbering.
A part of her finds it annoying at first, but as time goes by, she finds herself intrigued, endeared.
During the drive, Luisa notices how Jack drifts in and out of the conversation. She doesn't know him very well, but she knows he's usually the talkative one out of him and his brother. Her gaze slides over to him, and she has to swallow her laugh when she notices his Instagram opened up, his fingers violently tapping his screen as he types her name into Nico's following list. Disappointment curves down the corners of his lips when he notices that her account is private.
Luisa bites her lip before grabbing her phone to follow him. His head snaps up, something close to mortification paling his face, but he still returns a follow request. She merely winks at him when their eyes connect.
By the time they get to Naters, the sun is still shining bright. It's not that late into the night anyway, but they're still a few weeks away from when summer reaches its peak and dusk finds its way to the mountains around ten p.m.
They drive past the Birchmeier townhouse that's just a few buildings from the Hischiers', and Luisa makes a note to herself to pop in before they leave to say hello to her grandparents, who'd raised her and her sister for most of their youth.
Nico walks into his childhood home, and Luisa can see his body fill with felicity: His chest puffs out a little bit like the air finally reaches the depths of his lungs, and the muscles across his back loosens like he's hit a safety net—a familiar comfort of old memories flashing through his mind.
Luisa loves how it makes him look younger, more relaxed, like he hasn't been shouldering the weight of his profession and its demands for years.
That is the version of Nico that she gets the privilege of having over the summer. It is also the version of him she grew up with, the one she holds dearly because no one else outside this small alpine town knows of its existence.
Timo doesn't have to nudge her from her fond staring this time. She tears her attention away to greet Nico's parents, oblivious to the glances exchanged between him, Jonas, Jack, and Luke.
Luisa hugs Katja and Rino—a scene that looks incredibly homey and cozy, as if it's been played over and over again and brings immense joy each time. It's a familiar thing that makes her chest warm.
Jack and Luke can't help but feel the same way when they look at the paintings scattered throughout the apartment, both in Bern and Jersey City. They note that Luisa is good at capturing the comforting feeling in her art, and they wonder if each paint stroke is a derivative of this very moment.
"You can pick the music this time, Zwergli," says Katja. She's always called Luisa that—little dwarf—because she's always been the shortest in their family.
"What have I done to earn the privilege?" Luisa jests with a gasp, stepping toward the original Wurlitzer jukebox against the yellow living room wall.
"Not leave my son in the middle of the road on your way home from the airport," Rino answers. He gives Nico a very pointed look that draws an almost cackle from Luisa.
Nico tries not to laugh at it: It's one of the most horrible sounds she makes, but it's a tell-tale sign that she truly finds something humorous, so he never tells her.
Rino and Katja go on to greet the rest of the group as ballads of soft rock echo into the apartment.
Luisa brings Jack and Luke onto the long deck that overlooks their town and the nearby Brig. She leans against the railing, silently observing the brothers entertain themselves with loud jokes and comments that don't make sense to her. They have their phones out, taking photos of the rocky mountains clothed in evergreen and capped in white.
It reminds her of how lucky she is to call this place home.
Dinner is ready not long after, and the smell of his mother's home-cooked meals brings Nico a nostalgic warmth that forces ripples of goosebumps across his flesh. He misses it when he's in New Jersey.
Luisa notices, and her gaze softens.
She remembers how much she loved coming over to the Hischiers' place with Agatha when they were younger, how Katja always made the best meals, how Rino always lit the place up with his jokes and occasional wise words, how Luca and Nina would let her push them around when she was bored.
Just the thought of it makes her heart grow fond, and she's merely a friend to the family.
She can't imagine how it feels for Nico to come back to it every year after being so far from what made him...him.
Luisa squeezes his shoulders as she passes him from behind, as if her touch will smooth out the rough bumps on his skin. It only manages to bring out more.
Nico finds her gaze as she sits down beside him at the dining table, and she sends a smile that is tender and sweet like the apricot crostatas from neighboring Italy. He knocks his knee into hers and doesn't move it away, lets it stay against hers as they get through dinner.
Katja and Rino don't join them as they head out to explore the town.
After Nico shows his teammates some landmarks, Luisa texts a couple of their childhood friends to meet up at one of their favorite pubs across the Rhône and in the town of Brig.
The inside isn't too spacious, but the seats around the bar are crowded with people, and music bounces off the dark red walls. It's the outside seating that they find themselves at, though: The atmosphere is a little quieter, which lets them hear one another without scratching their throats raw to speak over the music, though they can still enjoy the rhythm that escapes into the crisp alpenglow of the evening air.
Nico knows he has to drive everyone back to Bern later tonight, so he sticks to one drink. Luisa takes pity on him and decides to nurse whatever domestic beer she has in her hand so she won't doze off on their car ride back—at least if she's awake and coherent, she can keep him good company.
She's talking to Jack, but her chair is turned to Nico. Her legs are stretched across his lap, and his hand is clasped over her crossed ankles to keep them from sliding down. None of their childhood friends bat an eye.
Jack takes this as his opportunity to bring his chair closer, metal legs scraping against the stone slabs. He leans his body toward her with a grin, trying to coax her out of her inclination to keep to herself. He doesn't think he's being subtle, but he's not trying to be, as he sprinkles in a compliment every once in a while, casting swift glances at Nico every time he does.
Luisa furrows her eyebrows as she pulls back, putting some distance between them—not uncomfortable, but observatory, like she wants to gather the whole picture. "What are you doing?"
Jack's eyes flame with mischief. "I have a feeling Nico likes you," he admits readily. "Just trying to get him to do something about it."
She's a little taken aback by his temerity.
Her eyes drift to Nico like a remedy for her incredulity. He's locked in a conversation with Yves, but the squeeze he gives her ankle tells her he knows her attention is on him. His thumb swipes back and forth against her skin, soothing the tension in her bones.
Luisa hums then, blasé. "And have you considered if I like him? Because that would be unfair to both of us if it were unrequited, wouldn't it?"
The smile on Jack's face falters. He did not consider that. Maybe he should've taken more heed to Jonas saying that Nico and Luisa have been this way for as long as he's known them; after all, Jonas has known them longer than he has.
Luisa sucks in a breath and fixes her posture, ridding herself of the slouch curving her spine. Nico's grip tightens when he feels her moving.
"But," she says, downing the last of her beer, and there's an uptick in Jack's morale that makes him sit up straighter, "if that is the case, then I think you would be the last person to get a reaction out of him."
Jack gapes at her—a baffled expression forcing his jaw to drop and his eyes to shoot open.
"No offense, Jack," she adds.
"No, say that with full offense," Luke pipes in from beside his brother, having watched the entire conversation unfold before his very eyes.
Luisa shakes her head, amused. Her gaze slips to Nico again, and she can see that he's biting his lip to avoid laughing—of course, he'd overheard the entire thing. She nudges his thigh with her foot, silently and subtly telling him to cut it out because she knows that once he starts, so will she.
"If you'll excuse me," she mutters to Jack, but she's not looking at him.
She pulls her legs from Nico's lap, and it attracts his focus, his thick eyebrows tugging together at the center. Her lips brush against the curve of his ear as she whispers something. Quickly, the confusion on his face is replaced with a gentle smile.
Nico reaches for his wallet, ready to take his card out, but she pushes his hand down. Instead, she notches her head to the side, and not a moment later, he follows her into the building.
Luke holds his laugh in until he's certain Nico and Luisa can't hear them. He claps his brother's back. "Oh, that was funny."
"Shut up." Jack shrugs his hand off.
"My theory—"
"No one asked."
"They're totally messing with everyone," Luke continues anyway. "With us, anyway. They know what we're thinking."
Jack doesn't say anything, but he and Luke let their gaze follow Nico and Luisa as they stand by the bar.
Nico's arm is casually slung around her shoulders. He has that same awe-filled smile that always seems present around her: His bottom lip is trapped between his teeth, but it does nothing to contain the way his dimples chisel into his cheeks or the way his eyes have softened around the edges as they milk her appearance. It's as though he has a hard time looking away, as though he can't bear to.
They've never seen their captain look at someone like that, but a quick perusal of the photos Katja and Rino have scattered around their home shows that this isn't anything new between them: Nico's been looking at Luisa like that since they were kids, and Jack really thinks he should've accepted Jonas's words for what they were.
The bartender puts a Coca-Cola in front of Luisa, and they move aside to get out of people's way. They're leaning against a wall, and Nico's back is to them, so Jack and Luke can't see the love-laced look on his face as he talks to Luisa, but they can spot hers from a mile away.
It's nothing new, they realize; it has always been there. But being in their own company, just the two of them, seems to amplify it.
Her lips are pinned up permanently—not a wide grin that makes her cheeks hurt, but a soft curve like she's trying to restrain the affection her eyes inevitably show. Even the poor lighting that hangs over their heads cannot disguise how much brighter the dark shade of brown in her eyes has gotten.
Luisa can feel their gaze on them—it's hard not to when they're tracking their every move—but she finds it hard to peel her attention away when Nico is in front of her.
His hair flops out of place as he leans down, silently urging her to repeat what she'd said. Her heartbeat crawls up her throat until she's dizzy from the way his cologne curls around her. She grabs onto his arm and says something about Jack and Luke watching them like hawks.
Nico's shoulders shake with amusement.
"Are they always this involved in your love life?" she asks, receiving a shake of his head in response.
"I like to keep it to myself," he tells her with a coy glint in his eyes, one of his hands finding the curve of her hip.
Luisa huffs out a chuckle. "I figured," she says, her gaze dropping to his lips. "You always kept it to yourself, even with me."
Nico's smirk turns into a playful grin. She's not wrong—at least when they were growing up. He thinks he's a lot more open about it now.
"In my defence," he chuckles when she rolls her eyes, "they never ask. You didn't either."
"Of course," she scoffs. "That was my bad."
Nico stands up straight, and he thinks he sees her inhale like she's finally able to breathe. He takes her empty glass bottle back to the bar and returns empty-handed.
Luisa lets her back hit the wall as his palm comfortably returns to her hip. Her stomach flutters when her eyes meet his—a dark abyss of dilated pupils that she's certain she can see herself in. The weight of his ardent gaze constricts her chest, but she forces a suave arch to her eyebrow when his other hand plants itself on the wall beside her head.
"This doesn't seem like keeping it to yourself," she whispers into the space between them, still acutely aware of Jack and Luke's gazes on them.
"Do you want me to keep it to myself?" he asks earnestly.
It's an out, Luisa realizes, and she doesn't say anything at first, but then a smile creeps onto her lips. She drags her hand over his chest and fists his shirt by the collar. "I say, fuck it."
Fuck the little bubble of private happiness they've been living in.
Nico's lips crash onto hers, and she melts into him. He swallows the sound of her moan as she arches into him like she can't bear the distance between their bodies. Her mind is hazy, overwhelmed by the loud music, the press of Nico against her, the feeling of his tongue against hers, the taste of the beers and sodas they've had throughout the night.
She's never been high, but she's certain this is what it would feel like, and she wants more.
They pull away, and Luisa's lungs are gasping for air.
Her eyes drop to his swollen lips. "I wonder how weird this will be for everyone," she quips, an ode to the conversation they'd eavesdropped on from their bedroom.
Nico scrunches his nose. "I really don't want to think about your sister right now. No offense to Agatha."
Luisa does that slight cackle, but the sound dies in her throat when Nico connects their lips again. Her eyes flutter shut, and she sighs into their kiss.
Jack and Luke turn to one another with their jaws dropped.
"Well, they're certainly not drunk now," says Luke.
Luisa and Nico are the first ones to wake up.
The sunlight pours into the bedroom because Nico forgot to close the blinds before they went to bed. He was simply too exhausted from the long drive that Luisa had dozed off halfway through anyway—so much for being good company—and hauling their sluggish friends into their designated sleeping areas.
Nico groans and throws his forearm over his eyes to keep the light from seeping past his eyelids. He wants to go back to sleep, but he knows that now that he's awake, he won't be able to.
He lies there for a few moments before he decides to peek under his arm.
Luisa is curled into his side, her face nestled into his neck. Her steady breaths tickle his skin, and his muscles twitch at the sensation. Her body radiates so much heat that he wants to kick the sheets off, and he can't really feel his arm anymore, but he does nothing to move her.
Rarely does he get to have her in his arms like this, so he'll soak up the moment for as long as he can before he leaves for Zürich to meet with some trainers, before he has to go back to New Jersey and they're an ocean apart.
That's the part he hates most about his job—leaving his family, his friends, his home. Leaving Luisa.
As if she can hear his thoughts, she shifts and pulls herself closer to him, draping one of her legs over his waist. She finds comfort in the feeling of her skin pressed against his.
A sigh leaves her lips as she mumbles into his chest, "Stop staring."
Nico tightens his hold around her, cradling her gently like she's a holy relic meant to be worshipped. His hand rubs up and down the side of her thigh as his lips find her temple. "Can't help it."
Luisa lifts her head, and she swears she can feel his heartbeat skip against her chest when her misty eyes find his.
There's a dopey smile on her chapped lips, and Nico catches a whiff of her morning breath, but he's sure his isn't any better, so the acknowledgment is fleeting. His fingers thread through her disheveled hair, pushing it out of the way until he can fully appreciate the small details on her face.
From the speckling of freckles across her face that look like a cosmic explosion starting from her nose outward, to the scar that cuts through her eyebrow from playing too roughly as kids, which he still apologizes for over a decade later. It's one of his favorite places to kiss because he thinks it'll make it better, and Luisa lets him because she doesn't have the heart to tell him that it's done its healing.
And he doesn't tell her that he knows, that he doesn't wish the scar would fade. He just wants an excuse to kiss her.
His thumb swipes over the scar, smooths down the hairs on her browbone, and Luisa crinkles her nose.
"Do you have to go to Zürich tomorrow?" she asks with a frown.
Nico's eyes soften. "I'm sorry, but it's only for a few days. You know you're always welcome to join us."
Luisa buries her face into his neck again, inhaling the familiar musky scent she wishes she could wake up to every day. "I know," she mumbles, voice still raspy with sleep, "but I have to finish that painting and ship it out by the end of the week."
"You'll get it done," he assures, squeezing her waist. "And when I'm back, we'll have all the time in the world together."
"I hardly think three months a year is all the time in the world."
"It's all the time in the world we have," he amends.
Luisa laughs. "It sounds so depressing when you say it like that."
Nico can't help but laugh, too.
There's a sorrow that wedges into their hearts at the weight of that reality, but neither of them is troubled by it. Truly. Nico's words are the truth, but they'll be damned if they let themselves become imprisoned by it: They'll make the most out of those annual three months of unabated love that's been brewing since they've known each other, flourishing since they've said 'Fuck it!' and jumped into a relationship right after he sighed with the Devils.
"I love you," she says, her eyes swirling with an affectionate gleam that outshines the sun. "You know that, right?"
Nico's thumb brushes over the sapphire of her ring, and a smile rounds his cheeks, softens the edges of his face as he whispers that he does. She doesn't always tell him—that's not how they roll—but he knows: Her eyes do all the speaking that her lips don't, and that's more than enough for him.
"Say it back."
His chest shakes with a peal of laughter.
"Nico."
"Sorry, what's that?"
He calms when she sends him a blank look, but his smile is still cheeky as ever. He tucks her hair behind her ear, stares lovingly at her like she's the glistering star at the center of the solar system that he orbits.
"I love you," he says.
"Thank you."
"I love you so much," he continues, slowly pushing her onto her back and slotting himself between her legs. His lips connect with hers and take all the breath from her lungs, sending her heart running circles in her ribcage as their fingers interlock beside her head that's dizzy with him, him, him.
They pull away when Luisa's stomach grumbles. She throws her head back against the pillow in frustration.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Nico asks, pushing himself off her.
The question is lost to Luisa as her eyes dip down, taking in the way his body looks in the morning light—a view she misses out on for most of the year. She's knocked out of her appreciation when he shoves her knee. Her skin flares with warmth, and a sheepish smile overtakes her lips as she makes him repeat the question.
"I don't know," comes her response.
They climb out of bed and put some clothes on before venturing outside.
Timo and Jonas are still knocked out on the couch, and there's not a peep of noise coming from the bedroom that once belonged to Luisa when they first started living in the apartment. It's very much the guest bedroom now.
Luisa and Nico's footsteps are light as they sneak into the kitchen and skim through the fridge before settling on making some omelettes. As they work through the steps, Nico lets music softly ricochet from his phone—their favorite Swiss rapper's voice filling the air, not loud enough to disrupt the others, but enough that they can enjoy the lyrics and melody.
Nico, truthfully, isn't much help while cooking. He keeps getting distracted by Luisa as she dances around the kitchen, bopping her head to the rhythm, quietly following the lyrics that pour from his phone.
He could stand there and watch her all day if he could. It wouldn't be the first time.
Luisa feels his arms snake around her body from behind, and she leans into his touch. "You're awfully clingy today."
Nico doesn't point out that she doesn't usually tell him she loves him out of the blue like she did in bed earlier. He knows it's because he leaves tomorrow, so they're both being more affectionate than they normally are, even if he's only gone for a few days.
Having to leave her for any amount of time is hard.
"Guess you'll have to thank Jack," Nico jokes instead, hooking his chin over her shoulder.
Amusement knits through Luisa's face as she turns the stove off. "Oh, so he did something after all, huh? Were you jealous?"
He hugs her tighter. "Incredibly," he says dramatically. "How can I handle the thought of my teammate flirting with my fiancée?"
Luisa lets her jaw drop, a sarcastic gasp slicing through her vocal cords. "Fiancée? But I thought you were talking to my sister last year."
Nico rolls his eyes—a genuine one that shows how absurd he thinks the whole story is. He still can't believe that's what his teammates concluded after Jonas accidentally snuck a peek at his phone screen last year. "You wouldn't have that ring if I hadn't talked to your sister, which, by the way, I still don't know why she had it and not your grandmother."
"I think Oma thought Agatha would get married first."
"Poor Agatha," Nico laughs as he spins Luisa around.
Her arms wind around his torso, and she feels secure in his grasp that loops around her shoulders, keeping her flush against him. She wishes she could keep this moment immortalized because she misses him when he's away, misses how divine it feels to have him under her fingertips.
Maybe one day, she won't have to know what it feels like to miss him.
But for now, she'll settle until her career is more established.
Nico kisses the tip of her nose once, then like two magnets, his lips find hers again, and Luisa can feel the him-shaped hole in her heart replenish some more—a shot of espresso that wakes her up, keeps her coming back for more.
"What the fuck—"
Luisa's attention snaps to the kitchen door at the sound of Jonas' voice ripping through the room. Everyone is crowded by the narrow doorway, staring at them with varying levels of shock.
Her fingers are flat against her lips to keep her laughs from scintillating into the air, but Nico does nothing to suppress the groan that ripples from his throat.
She turns to Nico and pats his chest. "Well, it was fun while it lasted," she says, unwinding herself from him. "It's not like we were keeping it a secret anyway."
"Keeping what a secret?" Jonas asks in English, raising his eyebrows to urge them to continue.
Nico sucks in a breath like he's about to say something, but then his chest deflates. "How do I—" explain that I've been in a relationship since I was eighteen and engaged for almost a year now? he wants to blurt.
Instead, he grabs Luisa's hand and holds it up so everyone can see the piece of jewelry that's been on her finger the entire time, a symbol beyond honoring her grandmother. "Ta-da!"
Everyone's eyes shoot to the gemstone glinting under the light, then to Nico and Luisa, back to the ring, and finally back to the couple.
"WHAT?"
