Nick let out a content sigh, letting himself relax against Peggy’s gentle caress. Her fingertips were gliding up and down the back of his neck, stopping every so often to play with with his hair. His consciousness was hovering in the spot just between asleep and awake, his lungs inhaling a little bit deeper with each breath. He felt a familiar muscle spasm in his leg, telling him that a restful night of dreaming was just moments away. They’d talked through most of the evening but when it came time to go to bed it seemed only appropriate for him to keep apologizing for his earlier actions with his body.

“You better not be asleep,” Peggy suddenly spoke, abruptly jarring him from his slumber.

“What?” Nick muttered rhetorically, taking a moment to get his bearings after being startled. “I was almost asleep until you woke me up.”

“I don’t want you to fall asleep,” she laughed and with his ear pressed firmly against her chest he could hear her muffled laugh echoing.

Nick groaned and turned his head, pressing his nose against her breast. He resisted the urge to just fall asleep like that and instead dropped a kiss to the spot where his head had just been, nipping at the skin with his teeth. He lazily crawled up her body, listening to her giggle at his grogginess. Once his head had reached her shoulder he collapsed against her, smiling when she wrapped her arms and legs around him like a cocoon.

“Is this better?” he asked and Peggy laughed in return.

“No,” she told him, squeezing him a little bit tighter. “You’re not as skinny as you think you are. You’ll make all of my limbs fall asleep.”

With a sudden burst of energy Nick’s head popped up off her shoulder and he gave her a goofy, toothless look, “Like you do to me every night?” he teased. “I always have an arm and a leg that are so numb I’m worried I might dislocate them in my sleep.”

Peggy couldn’t stop herself from laughing at his expression. He made some of the most ridiculous faces (especially with the missing front teeth) and she loved them more each time.

“Don’t laugh at me. You did this to me,” Nick teased, trying to stay serious but Peggy knew he was joking by the way that he was unable to keep the corners of his mouth from turning into a smile. She continued to laugh, now unable to stop herself even though the original joke had died. “You’re laughing at my face!”

“I’m sorry,” she said through her giggles, grinning as Nick moved the rest of the way up her body, planting an elbow on each side of her head. He leaned down and kissed her through her laughter and for a moment she thought she might suffocate but if she were to die that would be the best way to go.

“I don’t laugh at you,” Nick said with mock indignation as he pulled his lips off hers.

Peggy abruptly stopped laughing, letting out only a few random chuckles in disbelief as she stared at him, mouth agape.

This time it was Nick’s turn to chuckle at her expression, “You need something, baby bird? I have something I can stick in there if you’re hungry.”

She punched him firmly on the arm, both of them smiling. “You’re a jerk,” she joked. “You claim you don’t laugh at me but what about earlier this month when you laughed your ass off after I farted?”

“Oh yeah!” Nick’s giggles turned to full on hysterical laughter. “I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me so I can bring it up more often.”

“You’re welcome,” she said sarcastically, leaning up to kiss him quickly. “I really love you, you know?”

Sensing that the playful banter had ended Nick nodded and returned her kiss, “I know. I really love you too.”

They kissed again, slow and deep, this time letting themselves get lost in each other. Hands softly grabbed, squeezed and glided over flesh while their lips expressed a million unsaid words. Nick always enjoyed the nights when sex would be adventurous, fast and often rough but as he’d gotten older he’d come to appreciate the times where it was slow and gentle - romantic even.

He truly believed that he’d only recently learned that because it felt more important when it was with Peggy. He felt closer to her, like he was becoming a part of her. His lips moved from hers to her cheek then down her neck while her hands weaved into his hair, holding him in place.

“Tell me something,” she spoke, moving one hand to his broad back, feeling the toned muscles move beneath her palm.

“Anything,” he whispered before pulling her earlobe into his mouth.

“Tell me something you’ve never told me before. About us.”

She knew that Nick wasn’t much in the mood for talking given the erection that was brushing the inside of her thigh but he obliged her request regardless, shifting his weight back to his elbows once again as he thought about how to answer.

“You know how I always say that the first time I saw you I knew I wanted to be with you?” he asked and she nodded. “That’s not entirely true. I had just come out of a long relationship that ended really badly and I hadn’t been very nice to too many women after that. When I first saw you I thought you were really cute, really young and would probably be up for a really good time. It was when I talked to you the first time... you were incredibly condescending to me and put me in my place and I thought that was so sexy. You were just so quick witted, always thinking on your toes and you knew exactly how to come back from every trick I tried to pull. That’s when I knew that I didn’t just need to be with you for a night, I needed to be with you for a long time. If I believed in soul mates, I’d say you’re mine.”

His compliments often came in a backhanded way, Peggy thought to herself. It was not unlike him to tell her something disappointing then follow it up with something so sweet and charming that she forgot why the first part was nearly offensive. Smiling, she leaned up to capture his lips again but was surprised when he pulled away after a quick moment.

“No, no,” he teased. “Now you have to tell me something you’ve never told me.”

She too took a moment to think about the appropriate response. Peggy had been wondering why Nick hadn’t brought up the pregnancy test since they’d talked about it earlier in the evening and she had hoped his answer would have something to do with it. She didn’t know what he thought about the whole situation but her feelings genuinely surprised her and she wanted him to know.

“I was relieved,” she finally spoke, fighting back her emotions. Nick gave her an inquisitive glance and she continued, “When the test came back negative I was so relieved. I feel so guilty like I should have been disappointed, but I wasn’t. It’s just too soon.”

With a sympathetic sigh Nick pulled her closer into his arms, hugging her tightly. He kissed her cheek then pulled back so he could see into her eyes which were now glossy with unshed tears.

“Don’t feel guilty,” he stressed. “You aren’t wrong to be relieved. I feel the same way. It really got me thinking though and I realized that we're gonna be okay either way. Whatever happens... happens.”

Peggy nodded and smiled, closing her eyes while he placed gentle kisses randomly around her face. Once he reached her lips again she sighed against his mouth and his lips settled heavily against hers. She understood as he unconsciously ground himself against her that was his way of letting her know they were done talking. She broke away momentarily to try and reach into his bedside table, forcing him to move off of her to get a better reach.

Playfully Nick flipped her onto her stomach while she opened his drawer for a condom, pressing himself against her behind. While she was separating one packet from the rest of them he noticed her phone light up from the charging dock where it was sitting next to his. The room was relatively dark, save for the glow of a night light shining in from the en suite bathroom so it had been impossible to miss the fact that Peggy’s phone had been illuminating non-stop for the entire evening.

“Who the fuck is blowing up your phone?” he asked, grabbing the condom out of her hand before he settled his weight against her again, not allowing her to turn back over.

Peggy shrugged. She had noticed the light too and had been thankful she thought to put both of their phones on silent before they got into bed except normally it was Nick’s phone that would ring at odd hours and disturb them.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m probably being mentioned in some thread on Twitter or Facebook. Does it really matter? Aren’t we in the middle of something?”

“Is it your boyfriend wondering why you didn’t show up to your rendezvous?” he questioned teasingly though his jealous side was wondering who would be trying to take her time away from him in the middle of the night.

Peggy chuckled and rolled her eyes, reaching back to swat at his thigh. “Yeah, that’s exactly it. I forgot to tell him that you came home so I wasn’t coming over.”

“You’ll have to reschedule,” he said in mock seriousness before reaching over to grab the phone, smirking as she squealed in protest at the sudden weight pressed against her back.

“Nick, stop!” Peggy complained, trying to get him off of her so she could roll over and grab the phone from his hand. He held it just out of her reach and she couldn’t bring her arms back with the way he was laying against her. “That’s my phone! Leave it alone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said sarcastically. “I didn’t realize there would be anything on here that I shouldn’t see. Is there?”

“No,” she replied honestly. “But how would you like it if I looked through your phone?”

He leaned down and kissed her shoulder, dragging his teeth along her skin quickly. “I’d be fine with it. It’s full of pictures of my dick that I was going to text you later anyway.”

Ignoring her protests he unlocked her phone using her password (which was her birth date) and was shocked to discover hundreds of Twitter notifications. He clicked the familiar blue, bird adorned app and waited for it to load before checking Peggy’s at-replies. Fans had found out her twitter account a few months after they’d started dating because Nick made the mistake of tweeting her when he was drunk and missing her one night. It seemed now as though they hadn’t forgotten it either because the majority of people who had tweeted her that night had him featured in their profile picture.

“Did you say we got in a fight on Twitter?” Nick asked as he read the replies. Peggy was struggling to turn around and look at him so he finally got off her back, settling back against the pillows on his side of the bed.

“No,” she sighed, happy to be able to roll over again even though their moment had been interrupted by a cell phone as per usual. “Why?”

“These fans... a bunch of them are bitching at you for not appreciating me. Some of them are saying you must be PMS’ing and calling me pussy whipped,” he kept reading, eyes widening at some of the replies. “Holy shit, some people are saying they saw pictures of you last week and you looked pregnant so it’s no wonder I moved here and now it makes sense I would buy you a bunch of chocolate. How the hell do they...oh fuck.”

“What?” Peggy asked frantically, leaning over his shoulder to see the screen. “Those bitches! I did not look pregnant. We were on our way back from having Mexican food in those pictures, I was full! How do they know you bought me something?”

“Some of them are even talking about the Ring Pop!” he gasped. “It was candy not jewelry, idiots! This one says they heard I got you a ring and it must be a shotgun wedding. This is nuts. I should probably say something on my Twitter.”

“Nick,” Peggy stopped him before he could continue reading tweets aloud. “How do they know all that?”

He sighed heavily, still scrolling through her feed, “I saw a fan at Target. She must have posted about seeing me somewhere and they got it all wrong. I didn’t tell her we got in a fight, just that it was a gift.”

“Why did you tell her it was for me?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, his eyes wide. “They ask me these questions and I forget that they’re not normal people and they’re actually crazy so I don’t think twice before replying honestly.”

“Well now they’re saying I’m pregnant because they think I look fat! They don’t even know the shit I have gone through in the last couple of days!” Peggy exclaimed loudly, frantically reaching off the side of the bed for the shirt he had discarded earlier.

Nick watched in disappointment as she slid the shirt on while still feeling compelled to defend his loyal followers, “You don’t look fat! But, babe...you did overeat that night and your dress was already pretty tight. I’ve never seen anyone pack back a burrito that big in one sitting.”

Peggy stood next to the bed with her hands on her hips, shaking her head at him sadly, “That’s only because your burrito isn’t big enough to be a problem for anyone to get through in one sitting.”

“Low blow!” he groaned at the cheap shot and watched as she stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. The face of Peggy’s phone lit up again and Nick looked down, expecting it to be another Twitter notification but instead it was a phone call. He quickly checked the clock at the top of the screen - 2:53 a.m. - and felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach before answering.

“Hello?” he asked cautiously, knowing who it was based on the caller ID but not wanting to admit that something might not be right.

“Nick?” Allen’s confused voice rang through the other end. “It’s Allen.”

“Is everything okay?” he asked though he knew from experience that phone calls from family in the middle of the night were typically bad news.

“No.”