Nice and Jacuzzi

A/N: I gotta tell ya... These two are so freaking adorable. Like really. Might do a Gretto & Sylvie chapter if I ever figure out exactly how I think they met... Anyway, Jacuzzi bits in regular text, Nice bits in italics.

Being alone was scary. Everything was scary. Scary...

And it was so hard to be such a small guy, a small kid... All alone. And that's what Jacuzzi Splot was. Alone.

He shook, tiny hands trembling fiercely. He was so shaken, he almost dropped the small half-loaf of bread he'd stolen. Jacuzzi didn't like stealing from the store owners. He didn't like it at all. He left a sorry note, and half of whatever he stole, the food. Left half the loaf of bread behind, because, though he didn't feel like it, he was a very kind soul.

Nice Hollystone was always a curious young girl. Obsessed with adventure, and other things like that... But she was, above all, a very kind girl. A very kind girl.

And when she saw the boy shivering in the alley, her heart jerked in her chest. So she grabbed his hand, holding tight, no matter his feeble struggles, and pulled him into the house. Held on to his hand, so he wouldn't leave while she made him a sandwich.

She was... Giving him food? Him? And he took it hesitantly, and when he saw the spark of happiness in her eyes as he did so, he proceeded to scarf down the sandwich. Jacuzzi liked to see people happy. He liked to see this pretty blond girl happy. She seemed like such a nice person. Oh... He needed to be polite, huh...

"I'm Jacuzzi... Jacuzzi Splot."

And he didn't stammer once in that sentence, though his voice was still timid and weak; so he knew she must be special.

"I'm Nice. N-I-C-E, ok?" she demanded, though not unkindly. "Not niece. Nice."

The boy nodded seriously, and then in a sudden burst, his face broke out in a smile.

He remembered later, how he laughed when he learned how her name was spelled. 'Nice', because she was such a nice girl. She'd asked him what was so funny, but he just couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell her. And she began to laugh too.

And somehow this felt so right, having this boy as a friend. It really did. When he came knocking in her window, having climbed up the drainpipe... Bringing her flowers and shiny rocks that he'd found, and other things.

He'd told her she was beautiful, once. And Nice was so proud; she liked that he thought she was pretty. She wanted to stay pretty in his eyes forever.

But that didn't stop her from experimenting.

Nice had a passion for explosions. Ever since she was very very young... Seeing those fireworks up in the sky, squirming in her father's strong arms as her eyes glowed in amazement.

And then... The accident.

The accident...

He knew Nice had been hurt very badly. She had a scar on her face, all across one side, he knew. He'd gotten a brief flash of the damage before she'd rushed away from him.

She'd refused to see him since.

Jacuzzi felt so terrible...

Poor Nice... Poor Nice... And what if people stared at her? Stared and thought she was ugly? Because she wasn't. Not ever! Not even if... If... If she lost her whole face or something! Or if she couldn't walk anymore, or something really terrible.

But he wanted to make her feel better.

So he would...

He wouldn't... He wouldn't think she was pretty anymore... And Nice died inside. Because Jacuzzi was... He was her only friend, and she... What if he thought she was ugly now, and he would never... And she could never see him, because he would... He'd just stare, wouldn't he...

And then the knock on her window.

"Nice...? Nice, I'm coming up..."

No no no...

But when she peeked out the window, and she saw that tattoo... Right across the side of his face, of his beautifully unmarred face... And it meant something. So she began to cry; and it wasn't happy. But not sad either.

She was glad that he wanted to make her feel better, but it must have hurt him terribly, and not only physically. Because Jacuzzi was shy, and people staring would hurt him emotionally.

"Nice, I'm sorry... I'm sorry!"

She was crying, and it was all his fault! He didn't mean to! He didn't mean to make Nice sad! He just wanted to make her feel better! And then the tears were slipping down his cheeks too.

Everything had gone all wrong! He wanted to make her feel better, and here they were both crying. No, no, no...

He was apologizing, but what for? And she realized that her crying must have...

Jacuzzi was so sensitive, so he must have thought she was upset with him, and he...

But it wasn't true! She was...

And Nice realized for the first time in days that she was feeling something.

She was happy. She loved this clumsy, awkward, stuttering boy.

And later she explained to him; at least partially. She was happy, she was crying because he'd touched her heart. And Jacuzzi felt choked up and embarrassed and happy all at once. And then he was crying happy tears, like she had.

Everything would be ok... Because this was the girl he loved. No matter her scars, no matter anything else. He never would want for anything if she was there with him, by his side.