The Perfect Love Story, or Not

Payson jogged up to the Russo's doorstep. It was 5:15 A.M., and she was stopping to get Nicky so they could go running. She had called him after her first attempt at getting up on the bars, and, to her surprise, the next Monday he was back at the Rock. He said that he couldn't let her do this alone.

"Good morning, Payson," the Russo's maid, Marcy, said. She was more of a mother to Nicky than his real mother was. Nicky told Payson that Marcy was the only person that really understood him. Until he met her, at least.

"Good morning," Payson replied. She looked past Marcy toward the ornate staircase. She saw Nicky coming down dressed in a black tank top and grey sweatpants. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought about how toned his muscles looked.

"Ready?" Nicky asked. Payson nodded. They both walked down the steps and then down the walkway.

"So, are you ready to try the bars again?" Nicky asked her. They reached the end of the front yard and walked out of gate. Following their usual routine, they immediately started running once they hit the sidewalk.

"I don't know," Payson said. She struggled to keep up with his long legs like she did everyday. She never asked him to slow down, though, because she knew he would just speed up. They were just that competitive with each other.

"You cando it. You know that, right?" Nicky said. They stopped and started stretching like always in the park five miles from the Rock. They ran their warm up mile from Nicky's house to the park, then they ran to the Rock, and then they ran around the Rock a few times for a cool down. Every morning. No exceptions.

"You have more confidence in me than I do," Payson told him. She leaned over and touched her fingers to her toes. Nicky looked in the other direction to avoid the thoughts that would come from looking at her.

"You've already done everything else, Pay. You have to do bars if you want to compete," Nicky told her. He sat down on the ground and started to reach for his toes. Payson followed suit.

"I know. I'm just not ready yet," Payson said. She jumped up.

"What are you doing?" Nicky asked. Payson didn't reply. She simply ran forward across the grass and did a simple tumbling run. Nicky smiled.

"You don't know how much I missed that," Payson said after she landed. She had not stuck the landing, but she was still smiling ear-to-ear.

"I can imagine. But you could at least get it right," Nicky said. He started running and performed the same tumbling run Payson did, only he landed perfectly. He looked up at Payson with a cocky smirk on his face. Payson walked over to where he landed.

"But you didn't have cement poured into your spine two months ago," Payson reminded him. Nicky smiled a little and looked right into her eyes. Payson felt the familiar urge to kiss him, but she attempted to resist it. The pair hadn't spoken about their kiss in LA, and Payson didn't want to ruin their friendship by making him uncomfortable around her. Nicky, though, had a little more trouble resisting the urge.

Before he knew what he was doing, his lips were pressed against hers. Payson took a step backward in shock. Nicky, taking her reaction as a sign of rejection, pulled back.

"I, umm, I'm sorry, Payson," he said. He rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. Payson, however, didn't reply. She reached up and put head hands on the side of his face. Nicky felt her pulling him back toward her, and he didn't resist. He wrapped his arms around her waist once he felt her lips against his again.

Time seemed to fly by to them, or maybe it stood still. Neither knew how long they stayed in their romantic embrace. Payson was the first to pull away.

"We should probably get going. We'll be late," Payson said. Nicky didn't reply. He simply pulled her back to him. He gave her a quick kiss.

"Yeah, we should. I mean, we only have two hours until practice starts," he said sarcastically. Payson laughed. The two started to lean in for another kiss, but they were interrupted.

"You know, you two would make the perfect romance story," they heard from the sidewalk. "Maybe Angelina and Brad could reunite on the big screen to play in the story of two elite gymnasts that fall in love. And get kicked out of the gym!"

Both cringed before they even turned around. They both recognized Sasha's voice immediately. Nicky removed his hand from Payson's sides, and Payson took a step back from him.

"Hi, Sasha," Payson said awkwardly. Nicky remained stood in silence looking at the ground. Payson could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes. All the heartache of her accident and recovery flooding back to her. She couldn't believe she worked so hard to come back just to have her dreams ripped out from under her again.

"You know the rules," Sasha told them. Both gymnasts nodded. "But do the two of you know the reason for the rules?"

Payson and Nicky both shook their heads. Payson tried to blink back her tears, but a few of them slipped out. Nicky looked at her and started to wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. Payson shook her head, though, to tell him not to piss Sasha off any more than they already had.

"It's to prevent gymnast from being distracted. For most of my gymnasts, a romance would be a bad distraction. For you two though, I'm not so sure," Sasha explained.

Payson and Nicky looked at him in confusion. "Your my best gymnasts. Or you will be once Payson gets past her fear of the bars," Sasha said. He held his hand up to prevent Payson's argument. "The one thing I learned from Payson's injury is that gymnastics isn't everything. If a person has nothing in their life but gymnastics, they will push themselves too hard. So, as long as I never see even the slightest hint of romance between you two, I will forget about today."

"You're kidding, right?" Nicky asked. Sasha shook his head and started walking away. Payson looked at Nicky with her eyes the size of saucers. Nicky shrugged his shoulders.

Sasha turned back around, though, when he was halfway across the sidewalk. "Just don't tell anyone about this," he said. Then he continued on his way.

"That was weird," Payson said.

This just came to me after I watched The Great Wall. When Payson was running, I just kinda came up with the idea of her and Nicky. I turn pretty much every Payson scene into a Payson/Nicky story, but this one I thought was actually good.

I know Sasha might seem a little out of character, but I think he really did learn something for Payson's injury. She pushed herself too hard because she really had nothing in her life but gymnastics, so he thinks Nicky can prevent it from happening again.

I don't know if this should be a oneshot or a chapter-fic. For now, it's a oneshot, but if I get enough requests to continue, I will.

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