#nataliaholzman

"Ah, miss are you okay? That looks painful. I’m so sorry," Thomas rushed out. 

But frankly, right in this moment... he couldn't have possibly cared any less.

Caught just slightly off guard by the brunette's request, Niko wordlessly quirked a questioning eyebrow, and peeked up at her from her shoulder, where his head was resting. He chuckled softly, and lazily pressed a small kiss to the soft spot where her neck and shoulder met.

"I...." he drifted off, biting down on his bottom lip, deep in thought. "I-I don't know. I think... I think telling someone that you don't... feel the same was--- I-I mean, would be harder. To me, at least. They... they made an effort, right? T-they decided to put themselves out there, and... and bared a part of themselves that they've never shown anyone." the redhead let out a tiny, nervous laugh. "Saying 'no' after something like that, especially if you do care about... about that person is beyond heartbreaking, and I wouldn't wish it onto my worst enemy."

At the familiar voice, the redhead turned slightly to the left- to reveal a pant leg tied in a neat knot just above where his knee was supposed to be- at least when she had last seen him, it was somewhere around there. Now, he was leaning all of his weight on the crutches tucked under his arm, hanging there like a sack of potatoes. "Nat?" he asked, hardly believing his eyes, and a wide grin cracked the freckled face in half as he attempted to wobble over to her as quickly as he could. "Nat, I haven't seen you in so long! How've you been?"

"Am not." he grumbled, and ducked his head slightly, to hide the faint pinkness spreading under his freckles. All this was doing was making him even more flustered. He intentionally lowered his voice. There is no way she was going to make him slip into that pathetic squeaking pitch. "I'm a man. I'm not cute."

"Hey!" Niko complained, and forced a frown onto his face, putting the pen down onto the ink-stained desk- her head was covering just as much of his field of vision that it effectively rendered work impossible. "Nat, come on, I can't work like this." he smiled "How can I complete the mind-blowingly exciting task of filing all these bricks with you in my lap, huh?"

With a rather unattractive, kind of snorting laugh, Niko set down the untouched glass of champagne he was balancing in his hand, and flashed a mischievous grin. "You asked for it!" he warned, and immediately pulled her into a tight bear hug, lifting her off the ground and planting an exaggerated, slightly wet kiss on her forehead. "Happy New Year!"