#eventually tho

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Nico realizes first.

They've been living together for a while in a small apartment for two. The second bedroom has been overtaken by the Pokemon, especially after Orthworm comes home with them.

Mel had been feeling tired after a long week at work, so Nico had gone to do groceries himself. Not an uncommon occurrence and, really, one he never minds.

But it's when he’s coming through the front door that he hears Mel call, asking for some help.

So, he tells her he will and sets the couple of bags down on the counter before heading over. He finds her in the bathroom, hair clippers in hand.

Mel explains that she usually cuts her undercut herself. But since she wants to grow the rest of her hair out a bit more, she wants to be a bit more careful. So, she asks Nico for help.

Of course, he agrees.

And it's there, clippers in hand and Mel sitting on the edge of the tub, undercut freshly shaved, that Nico realizes.

He realizes that he wants this forever.

He wants to help his partner and play with her hair. He wants to be her pillow and be dragged into adventures he otherwise wouldn't have taken. He wants to make dinner with her and ride passenger on her bike and take her fishing and sit in the quiet and the loud and the good and the bad and the everything.

He wants to marry her.

But right now, this moment is enough.

Nico presses a kiss to the shaved part of the back of Mel's head. He gets a mouthful of loose hair in return.

Mel laughs at his sputtering. He kisses her mouth and she ends up sputtering from hair too.

He gets shooed out of the bathroom so she can clean up and shower off the last bits of loose hair from her head. He returns to the kitchen to finally put the groceries away, a warmth in his face and so much love in his heart.

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Mel realizes second.

It's evening and they're at a friend's family cottage on the lake. For once, schedules had lined up and they would be spending the weekend here.

Everyone is off elsewhere, in the cottage or on a trail or out in the lake. Mel is by herself, starting the fire in the pit. It's only a small flame now, but it will grow as she tends to it.

Unless her attention drifts. As it does when she hears Nico's voice from the lake.

He and one of his friends had gone out a little while ago on the pair of kayaks they had found. It hadn't surprised Mel that he wanted to try one out; she never could get him away from the lake once they were within eyeshot of it.

Mel had thought about going out, but Nico's buddy was as excited as he was. There would be time enough tomorrow for her to join him.

And she's glad that she had stayed behind now, as she gets to watch Nico paddle in while the sun sets behind him.

He's talking to his friend about the trip to Paldea he and Mel had taken a few months back. He's focusing on the fishing spots they had went to and what he had caught. Mel hadn't really caught anything, but she had liked sitting with him those early mornings, even if she had been half asleep.

There are stars in his eyes and a laugh in his voice as he recounts the Tatsugiri swarm that had played pranks on them at Casseroya Lake. It's nice to hear him ramble on the rare occasions he does it.

And it's there in the glow setting set sun, the smell of burning tinder, and the sound of her partner's voice filling the air, that she realizes.

She realizes that she wants this forever.

She wants to listen to her partner talk and steal his sweaters that always smell like the lake. She wants to have quiet nights on the couch and hold his hand on walks. She wants to hear his laugh and do chores around the house with him and hold him close in the dark and the light and the good and the bad and the everything.

She wants to marry him.

But right now, this moment is enough.

Mel calls over to Nico with a wave, who returns it easily. His friend takes the opportunity and flips Nico over.

He rights himself and flips his laughing friend over too. Mel can't stop laughing herself back at the fire pit. The small flame has long gone out.

She gets the fire going again, strong enough to maintain itself now, by the time the pair reaches shore. Nico's friend says he can put the kayaks away. Nico joins Mel by the fire.

She's dry only for a moment before Nico takes his shirt off and wrings the lake water out of it over her head.

She laughs despite her loud protests, pushing him away playfully. He only lets up when she kisses the bridge of his nose, an action that always makes him freeze and turn Tamato berry red.