#antukin

daan is kinda, sorta, maybe tired of bas’ pitch

dearest cacau! i hope you like this one! 

Meeting their gaze after throwing a coin in a wishing fountain

the magic of a wish, a stranger

Joe’s not sure when he started believing in wishing on fountains. 

His memory tells him it’s when he was four years old, and he had climbed on a fountain and fell into it while wishing for a puppy. 

And got a little sister instead, after all the trouble. 

Maybe that’s why he’s here, clutching a coin in a death grip, his knuckles turning white as he stares at the water. Because he ended up loving said baby sister, Nasima, even though she can be a pain on the butt. And because no matter how old he gets, Joe can’t help but cling to that part of him started believing in that magic from the start. 

The magic that a simple wish on the right fountain or well, can make everything better, just like his baby sister did. 

And apparently, this is the fountain to make the wish on.

Fontana di Trevi. In Rome. His last stop in, what his sister calls, ’the trip you should’ve gone on much earlier Yusuf, but you never did because you took care of everyone, and now it’s my turn to do the caring because I make bank now, so you can go and take that trip now, bye fam!’

Ever the force, and not one to take no for an answer, Nasima had literally forced him out the door, much to his Mama and Baba’s glee. 

At the thought of his Baba, his heart twinges, just a little in his chest, and he sniffles. 

Baba was not well, when he left, and was going through tests, upon tests, and upon tests. He had wanted to cancel his trip but none of his family would have it. 

They’re meant to hear of what’s happening with him, while he’s on the flight back. He feels his anxiety crawl under his skin at the thought of turning on his phone after landing, and getting any sort of bad news. 

So here he was. At the crack of dawn, standing in front of the fountain. 

Joe takes a deep breath and clasps the coin in his hands, closing his fist over it. He brings it close and presses his lips against his knuckles, sighing against it. Wishing over it. 

Please, let my Baba be okay. Please.

It sounds so childish in his mind, because maybe it is. Maybe he’s desperate, and he’s not ashamed to admit it. When Joe opens his eyes, and goes to toss the coin, he freezes, as he catches the eye of a man walking by on the other side. The courtyard is almost empty, since it’s very early after all, and there’s nearly no one around. 

The man gives him a small smile, and nods, and Joe finds himself staring, his lips still on his curled hands. The man then tilts his head, and then takes one of his hands from his pocket and makes an underhand throwing motion towards the fountain and he blinks.

Right. 

Joe blinks, and nods his thanks, before closing his eyes again and making the same wish, then throwing the coin to the water. When he hears it hit the water, he opens his eyes. 

And the man is gone. 

“Here.”

Joe yelps, jumping away from the voice, and turns to find the man across the fountain standing beside him, hand extended and blinking rapidly. With a hand on his chest, Joe straightens up with a sigh, and shakes his head. 

“Scared me,” he gasps out, and the man smiles a little, shrugging. Even in the dim lights of dawn, he can see the man’s intense colour of the man’s eyes, sea-glass and ethereal. Partnered with a strong profile, and a cupid’s bow that almost seemed one of fiction, the man was an artist’s dream.

There’s no other way to describe it, and Joe’s hand itches for his charcoal. But then the man moves again, extending his hand. 

“Take this,” he says, and Joe blinks, before opening his palm, letting the man drop another coin in his hand. When he looks up, the man continues to smile at him, turning back to the fountain then. 

“I feel like I distracted your wish. I thought you’d want to do it again,” he says, and Joe faces the fountain then as well, before looking down at the coin. The man sounds like he lives there, and yet he’s still looking at the fountain with such wonder, and fondness. 

“Will it make my wish come true even more?” Joe finds himself asking, and he sounds a little desperate, voice croaking. The man turns to him then, taking out another coin. 

“My Nonna says so. And I’ve made one before, and it’s come true. I can join you in this second one,” he says, and Joe smiles at him then, nodding. 

They’re both turning to the fountain then, and the man curls his hands over his own coin in the exact same way he does, and together, they toss their coin to the water. Joe watches at it falls, almost in sync and in that moment, he wants that magic that he clings to, that he refuses to let go, to be at its strongest and most powerful. 

“My name’s Nicolò,” the man says, and Joe turns to him them, smiling. “Yusuf,” he whispers, and smiles when the man nods to follow him, and he finds himself doing so. He had no plans, for his last few days in Rome. 

“Do you live here?” he asks, and Nicolò smiles, before shaking his head gently. 

“I did. I am visiting my Nonna,” he says, eyes ahead as they walk. “It’s my wish. When I left Rome, all signs pointed to me never returning. And so, before I left, I made this wish. They say that if you toss one coin, you get your wish and you get to return to Italy,” he says, and Joe blinks. 

“And you got it,” he says, his chest warming as he watches Nicolò smile then, grinning. 

“Yes! I wished to see my Nonna again, and now I’m here. We celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday,” he says, and Joe gasps, clapping his hands. 

“Amazing! That’s brilliant!” he says excitedly, and Nicolò laughs, grinning now. 

“It is,” he says with a hum, before turning to him then. “I think your wish is going to come true too, and you’ll get to return to Rome!” he says, and Joe laughs, his heart feeling lighter in days. He prays that it’s the case. That he comes home to good news. 

“That wouldn’t be so bad,” he says, and Nicolò smiles, before he pauses. Joe looks at him then, pausing in step with this beautiful stranger. 

“What is it?” 

Nicolò blinks at him, and then laughs, staring at him for a moment, before walking again, Joe mirroring his movements. 

“I just remembered something.” 

Joe blinks, and then waves his hand. 

Nicolò snorts, and looks up at the sky. 

“One coin means a return to Rome. Two coins mean something else,” he says, and Joe nods. 

“What?” 

Nicolò closes his eyes for a moment, and then looks back at him, smiling. 

“You fall in love.” 

Joe stares at him then, and he feels himself breaking into a grin, nodding for Nicolò to start walking again, this time, extending his hand towards him. When the man takes his hand, he immediately brings it to his lips, kissing his knuckles. The flush that rises on Nicolò’s cheeks makes him unreasonably happy.

“Again, that wouldn’t be so bad.” 

***

A few years later, Joe does come back to Rome, with his whole family this time, for Mama and Baba’s 50th wedding anniversary.

hi kayla! thank you for this prompt. it gave me a chance to intro this dynamic. might be a longer story, we’ll see!

“Excoose me.” 

Nicky blinks, food halfway to his mouth, and he turns to find a little boy staring at him, light eyes wide and shining. The little boy is tiny, probably four years old at most, and had light blond curls that are falling over his eyes. And completely alone. Nicky puts down his food beside him, and then crouches in front of the child now, smiling softly. 

“Hello little sir, how may I help you?” he asks, and smiles even more when the child giggles into his little hands, before sniffling. 

“I wost Papa. I went to wook for Unca cosh we soopwise then I wost Papa!” 

Nicky blinks, trying to parse through what was being said to him. “You lost Papa as you were looking for your Uncle? Is your Uncle meant to meet you here?” he asks, and the child nods, sniffling into his little fist. 

“Yesh. Pease hep? Wook?” he asks, voice so small, and Nicky nods softly, gently extending his hand towards the child. 

“Of course. May I hold your hand?” He’s trying to keep his voice as gentle as possible, and smiles when the child grabs his hand, little hand squeezing at two of his fingers. 

“Wow. Yous has big hands wike Papa anna Unca,” he says, looking up at Nicky as he stands then, to grab his things and soon they’re walking. The little one is turning his head, looking all over, sniffling. Nicky feels awful for him.

“What’s your Papa’s name?” 

“Sebastien,” he replies, nodding. “Anna my Unca name Yufu.” Then the little one looks up at him, blinking. 

Nicky smiles at him. “I’m Nicky,” he offers, softly and the little one nods then, his curls falling over his eyes. 

“Hi Icky. I’s Josefee,” he says, and Nicky doesn’t even have time to think of how this child is saying his name, because the child is squeaking in delight, before letting go of his hand. Because really? Sebastien, no problem, but Nicky is Icky. 

Oh, he can hear Quynh cackling already. 

He shakes his head and follows, and sees the little boy run to a man a tall man, who was gasping and clinging to child now, spinning on the spot. 

“Unca Yufu!” The child screams just as the man looks at child closely, before pressing soft kisses on his forehead, cheeks and hair. 

“Joseph! Oh you are such a little trouble, baby! Now we gotta find your Papa, are you okay?!” the man, his Yufu says, and Joseph nods, before pointing at Nicky. 

“Mista Icky foun’ me!” he exclaims, and the man turns his full attention on him now, face lighting up in a wide, iridescent smile, and Nicky swears his ears start ringing he’s so flustered.When the man starts to walk towards him, he whimpers, looking around, before looking at his feet. 

“Mr. Icky, thank you,” he hears and Nicky flushes red then, before gulping and looking up. 

“Nicky,” he corrects with a soft voice, smiling at Joseph then, before looking at the man. “It’s Nicky…Mr. Yufu?” Although with this child’s track record, he’s probably wrong. The man laughs then, and looks at the child in his arms, before squeezing him, and then smiling back at Nicky, and he can’t help but stare. 

Because what a smile. What a face. 

“Yusuf,” he says then, tiling his head, his curls falling over his eyes in the most endearing of ways. “Thank you for finding my godson,” he says, sighing softly. “Now I have to find his Papa, my phone is dead and—”

“I can help!” Nicky finds himself saying, before biting his lip. “I have a phone,” he starts, and Joseph nods then, one hand curling over his Uncle’s hair, tugging gently. 

“Anna he goo findy. He hep, Unca!” he says, and Yusuf grins then, winking at Nicky before turning to his godson and he hopes then that the man doesn’t see how ready he is to melt to the floor then. 

“Well then, Mr. Nicky, we found one baby, now we gotta find another one! This one’s a lot bigger, and more French,” he says, and Nicky snorts. Joseph blinks then and nods to him. 

“Mr. Icky! Yous hasta hol’ his hand!” he says, nodding. “Is how we foun’ Unca, memba’?” he says, and Nicky blinks then, looking at Yusuf, who’s smiling wide now. Then, he extends his hand to Nicky. 

“Are you ready to help me, Mr. Nicky?” he asks, in a soft, smooth voice, and Nicky swears he’s falling. In step, or to trip, or in love, he’s not sure. But as he holds Yusuf’s hand then, and squeezes it, he finds that he doesn’t care what it is. It just feels right. So he nods, and smiles at Yusuf. 

“Yes.”

And Yusuf just grins, and presses his thumb on his palm, and squeezes, before smirking and bouncing his godson once in his arms, his hold firm around Nicky’s hand. 

Hi darling, I hope you like it!!!

You walk out of a dressing room asking if the outfit suits you, but it’s not your friend waiting outside the room like you thought 

dimples, curls & freckles

“Nile, are you sure this is the right size?” 

“Does your ass look poppin’?”

“Excuse me?!” 

Nile cackles from the other side of the curtain, and Nicky sees his own face turn absolutely pink in the mirror, before he turns, and sticks his head out in between the curtains, glaring at Nile as she continues to laugh, falling on her side on the bench. 

“A size up please, Nile,” he says, and if he sounds like he’s begging, that’s because he is. The trousers fit way too snug over his backside. He doesn’t even know how he got it on, but it’s definitely going to be challenge to get them off. 

He can see the shape of his ass in these. 

“But it’s perfect!” Nile exclaims with a pout, standing up then and walking over to him. 

“They’re too tight!” 

Nile snorts, moving the curtain to look at the mirror. Then her eyes widen for a moment, and then she nods. As much as she loves him in more fitted clothing, even she can see that the fine line between fitted and just tight has been crossed. 

By a good mile, or a 100. 

It’s still decent, but it sends a message. 

“Okay fine. I see what you mean.”

“I can’t bend in these Nile, they’ll rip.” 

Nile rolls her eyes, pulling away. “I get it,” she says, already turning towards the exit of the change rooms. 

“Just split, right down the middle.”

“I understand!”

“Just my ass, hanging. For all the world to see.” 

“Nicky!” Nile yelps, turning back to glare at him while trying very hard not to smile, before turning around, her braids swinging as she did, before completely disappearing. 

Nicky smiles then and shakes his head, going back inside the change room, and closing the curtain. He starts to carefully take off the trousers. And like he had expected, it’s a challenge. Just before he can pull them past his hips, he feels the fabric start to give and he sighs.

It’s not a big deal if he ends up buying them because he had ripped them, but he’d be much happier if that doesn’t happen. He hears Nile walk back into the  change rooms on the other side of the curtain and he groans.

“Hey, you may need to help me out in these. They’re just too tight.” 

There’s a pause and a shuffle. 

“Uh, I can, most definitely, mysterious voice with a sexy accent behind door Number 4,” says a soft, teasing voice, and Nicky freezes, eyes widening. 

Not Nile. Most definitely not Nile. 

Nicky bites his lip to stop himself from saying anything and he looks up at the mirror to find that his face is beet red in embarrassment. He hears another shuffle, and then there’s a knock against the wall beside the cubicle. 

“If you need help, I can help you, door Number 4.” This time the voice doesn’t sound as teasing, just soft, and even a little earnest. Nicky moves to do up the trousers, making sure he’s decent, and then turns to open the curtain. 

Brown eyes, dimples, and curls. Brown eyes, dimples, and curls.

The man’s staring at him with a small smile, tilting his head, a couple of clothes draped over his arm. 

“Do you need help, Number 4?” 

Nicky blinks, and the man smiles, leaning back and tapping at the “4” that was right beside his change room. He sighs then, leaning on the wall, and looking at the man. 

“I should be okay,” he says. “My friend can help me,” he says, feeling his face heat up. 

“Oh,” the man replies, and he actually sounds disappointed. Nicky blinks then, and he finds that he doesn’t like it. 

“You can help me with something else though,” he finds himself saying, and tries not to smile when the man lights up, breaking into grin, iridescent and sweet. 

“Yeah?”

“Dinner? Tomorrow? I’ve not decided what I was going to eat yet. And I definitely need help with it,” he says, and the man laughs then, leaning on the wall beside him now, and nodding, and Nicky tries not to stare at the face that’s now almost too close to his. 

Freckles. Brown eyes, dimples, curls and freckles. 

“Oh, I can help with that,” he says, and Nicky watches as the man takes his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it, before turning it towards him. 

He takes it with a smile, and enters his number. When the man gets it back, Nicky eyes him as he smiles at the screen, typing something, and swiping away. A second later he hears his phone vibrating behind him, still in his actual trousers. He turns around then to grab his phone, bending to grab it. 

“Damn, okay. I see why you’d need help.” 

Nicky feels his face heat up again, and he’s just so thankful that he could actually bend down in the trousers and that it doesn’t actually rip like he thought it would. When he turns around, he’s pointedly looking down at his phone, and opening the text from an unknown number, hoping that blush dies down just a little by the time he looks up.

“I have the perfect place for dinner.” - Joe  

He finds himself smiling, glancing up at the man then, and finds him smiling softly. Then Nicky pushes off the wall, and finds that he wants to follow him, feeling a soft smile creep on his lips. 

“Nice to meet Nicky.” 

“You too, Joe.”

Joe grins, and gives him one last nod, before going towards the exit, nearly bumping into Nile on the way. Nicky stares after him then, and turns to Nile who hands him the trousers in a different size. 

“Who was that cutie?” 

“Joe.”

Nile’s mouth drops, and she squeals, grabbing at his arm and tugging on it, again and again. 

“Joe?! Dish, Nicky! Dish!” she says, and Nicky laughs then, pulling her into the change room.