You're born, you grow up, you have kids, and you die. That's the way Nicky was taught life should work, so what compelled him to be with someone who could never have kids with?
2. Childhood
Nicky chuckled under his breath before tossing another water balloon at Rod. Who ever said you couldn't be a 28 year old child?
3. Happy
There was nothing more beautiful then a smile from someone you love. So surprising Rod with a bouquet of flowers when he got home was rewarding in more ways than one.
4. Rejection
Nicky almost never cries, but when he finally told his parents that he was gay, he was told to never ever come back. Rod knew what he was going threw and held him all night. Rejection from anyone you truly love hurts the most.
5. Dreams Rod woke up to Nicky trying to contain a laughing fit. He flushed as he realized he now has to wash the sheets again.
6. Hold My Hand "Oh please, say to me, you'll let me hold your hand." Nicky sang, encasing Rod's hand in his own. So he wasn't the best singer, it was the thought that counted.
7. Drown
Sometimes Nicky laid awake at night, just watching rod sleep. That man showed him in enough love and kindness he could drown in it. It often made Nicky wonder what he did to deserve someone so wonderful.
8. Light Once when Rod was in a bad mood Nicky told him that he should smile to cuz his smile could light up the room. Rod who was very pissed at Nicky, turned out the lights to prove that this wasn't true. So the very next day Nicky bought him some glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth.
9. Doom
Only after being a couple for four months, Nicky and Rod admitted they had an addiction, and that they were just doomed to be addicted forever. Weather it lead to their death or not.
10. Garden
"Shhh." giggled Rod, pulling Nicky into the dimly lit garden. They had gone to see his sister for the weekend, and she had separated them so they weren't sleeping together during the visit. So they snuck out to go make out in the garden.
11. Sadness
Three months after Nicky had told his parents he received a letter in the mail from his father. It was messy and smelled like someone had spilled whisky on it. It explained in detail just what he thought about homosexuals, it made Nicky sad to read it and burned it afterwards so Rod wouldn't have to read it.
12. Confusion
"So uh...hows this supposed to work? You know...in bed?" asked Nicky's cousin, he had stopped by for a beer because he was passing threw town. He was completely oblivious to the whole gay sex thing, and Rod sure as hell wasn't up for explaining it to him.
13. Freedom
Rod finally had the one person who he loved the most to love him back. Having Nicky with him made Rod feel so free, like he finally had someone who finally understood and loved him. Well...besides the whole messy thing Nicky understood him.
14. In the Storm
Nicky loved the rain, it was one of the most beautiful things he could think of. So when Rod asked Nicky shyly if he would come outside and kiss him in the rain he didn't think anything of it. That is until a few days later he had a cold.
15. I Can't
Nicky couldn't cook, it was just something he couldn't do. He's pretty sure that he could even burn water if he tried to boil something. But he was quite enthusiastic about trying it when Rod said He'd help him. Hey anything that could get Rod standing behind him for an hour or more sounded good to Nicky.
16. Innocence
Rod smiled when he woke up in the morning and got to see Nicky's innocent smile, it was a wonder that such a childishly innocent man existed. Nicky could find good in pretty much anybody, that's a rare thing to those who are aware of the harsh reality of the world.
17. Smile
"Go away." snapped Rod, Nicky had left his dirty laundry on the floor again, after Nicky promised he would pick it up. Rod gasped when his shirt was pulled up and moving pressure was applied to his sides. Rod squirmed and couldn't contain his laughter. It wasn't his fault he was helplessly ticklish.
18. Cat
"Please, please, please?" begged Nicky, holding the kitten up to Rod. "A cat is too big of a responsibility Nicky." argued Rod, even though the little guy was REALLY cute "I knew you'd say yes." said Nicky, breaking into a wide smile. He pecked Rod on the cheek and dashed inside with his new friend.
19. Tears Rod put on Brokeback Mountain for Nicky and promised him that he would cry by the end. Nicky laughed and said that there wasn't anything about gay cowboys that was going to make him cry. It wasn't the first time Rod had proved him wrong.
20. Stars
Nicky finally talked Gary into giving him the keys to the roof. He took Rod up there while Rod lectured about safety issues but when they finally did get up there even Rod couldn't spoil the mood with some sort of negative comment. It was rare to see even a few stars from the brightly lit city.
21. Joy
Rod wasn't much for kids, but when their cat had kittens, Nicky suspected that Rod was even more excited to see the babies than he was.
22. Gone
Rod was bummed out for like a week after they got rid of the kittens. He knew it had to be done, that didn't mean he had to like it.
24. Dark
"Nicky I don't see the point of it being so dark." Rod really liked seeing Nicky when they were in bed. When Nicky showed him why it was so dark Rod was grateful, if only for the fact that Nicky couldn't see him blush.
25. Insomnia
Not that Nicky would ever complain about it but watching Rod sleep was giving him insomnia.
26. Solitude
Nicky did not like to be alone, so the 10-12 hours of solitude a day he got was not exactly good with him. But it did make him twice as happy to see Rod when he got home after the day without him.
27. Rain
Although Nicky wasn't too fond of venturing outside in the rain with Rod anymore, it was still peaceful to watch the rain with him.
28. Heaven
The Bible promises something like twenty virgins or something. As far as Nicky's concerned Rod is the only virgin he wants. Which made Rod point out that he isn't a virgin...anymore
29. Evil
After being called evil by some asshole in the street Nicky turned around and suggested that said asshole dress as him for Halloween, seeing that he was the devils minion and all. Sure it was a lame comeback but it's kinda hard to piss off Nicky.
30. Sacrifice
Rod was kinda upset that Nicky made the sacrifice of his family life to be with him while Rod had not made a sacrifice like that. Nicky suggested Rod give up nagging him about cleaning, so Rod dropped the subject.
31. Soft
Nicky always figured a man's body would be alot harder than a woman's. Rod on the other hand had softer skin than pretty much any women Nicky's been with. Not that that's a high number of women.
32. All that I have
If Rod's life was some sort of cheesy chick flick he could easily say that Nicky was all that he had. But it wasn't, he had caring friends that supported him too. He could, however say that Nicky was the most important thing he had...not that he'd say that in front of any of his friends.
33. Night
Nicky did not believe in this whole consort before you go to sleep at night thing. No it was much more interesting to see exactly how many places their small apartment had where they could have sex. It was a surprisingly high number.
34. Snow
Rod's favorite thing about snow was warming up after being in it. Nicky was very good at the warming up thing.
35. Flight
Nicky had never flown on a plane before, ever. It scared him, so he squeezed Rod's hand tight when they took off and landed.
36. Eyes
If Nicky was a poet or someone who was good with words he was sure he could come up with something better than "You have nice eyes" to tell his boyfriend.
37. What if...
"What if I was a girl?" asked Nicky. Rod didn't really want to think about that but of course he had an answer. "Well I'd still love you, I'm not sure I'd be physically attracted to you though." Nicky laughed and Rod asked him is opinion on the same question. Nicky smirked and said he would definitely miss the sex.
38. Mirror
For their one year anniversary Rod took Nicky to a hotel that had a mirror on the roof. Nicky said the experience was awkward but pleasurable.
39. Dance
Nicky got an invitation to his cousin Mary's wedding and brought Rod along. When it came time for the couples dance they were the first two besides the bride and groom on the dance floor. Nicky didn't ever take Rod to dances in high school and he was planning on making up for that tonight.
40. No way out
Rod has never had a thing for vampires, he isn't even into horror movies all that much. But for Halloween Nicky dressed up as a vampire and cornered him, telling Rod there was no way out. Long story short, Rod could get used to vampires.
41. Play
Kids were supposed to play, not adults, but how was Rod to refuse a Nicky with a pleading face who wanted to make cat toys for Molly.
42. Creation
Nicky's attempt at a birthday cake for Rod could be called nothing more or less than a creation. Fortunately Nicky didn't want to risk eating it either so they went out and got ice cream instead.
43. Duel
Nicky was delighted when he found his old trading cards in a box, apparently his mother was cleaning out all of his old stuff. He promptly challenged Rod to a duel, but got frustrated after Rod beat him three times in a row.
44. Precious
Rod teased Nicky about being precious to him, mostly because Nicky said it sounded like a dogs name. So for Nicky's birthday he got Nicky a studded dog collar as a joke.
45. Flower
Rod liked flowers, he did, not because he was girlish. But because they just made the apartment seem brighter. Nicky took every opportunity to make sure that Rod had some sort of flowers in a vase on the table when he got home. Weather they were store bought-roses or a make shift bouquet of wildflowers he picked from the local park.
46. Pry
Nicky didn't like to pry but on the one day he did laundry he found some interesting things at the bottom of Rod's underwear drawer that Rod hadn't been sharing.
47. Nature
Rod wasn't the kind of guy that went out for nature hikes. The time he tried it they only made it halfway before Rod got scared by a snake and turned back.
48. Family
Rod asked Nicky if he would ever want a family with him. Unlike every time a girl has ever asked him that he didn't back out and break it off, instead the spent a few long hours discussing what it would be like.
49. Silence
Nicky decided to call his mom, she hadn't freaked out as much as his father had. He dialed the number and held his breath. After she said hello and he said hello, there was the longest silence Nicky has ever heard on a phone line before the dial tone started.
50. Abandoned
Two weeks after Molly was hit by a car Nicky found a litter of kittens abandoned in the alleyway. Rod didn't even argue when he brought the last one left alive home.
51. Mother
Rod had never seen Nicky go paler than when Nicky's sister called and told him she was going to be a mother.
52. Can You Hear Me?
Rod had to take the phone from Nicky after several audible shouts from the other end wondering if Nicky was still there. It turns out that she wasn't going to be able to support the baby by herself and wanted to know if Nicky was interested. Rod said they would have to think about it.
53. Stress
They discussed it for two weeks, even dwelling on budgets and how Nicky was going to be able to take care of a baby during the day and the whole stress of the entire situation. finally Nicky called her back, they would adopt the baby.
54. Food
Rod spent a month looking up baby food and how to properly make it and what was the best to buy. Nicky practically had to drag him away from his laptop. He figured it was Rod's way of dealing with panic.
55. Annoyance
When Nicky's father found out what was happening he started leaving rather nasty messages on Nicky's answering machine. Nicky changed the number and dismissed it as a miner annoyance, there was no point in dwelling on it.
56. Obsession
Christmas time again, Nicky got Rod a joke gift to fit with his obsession. A little plastic cleaning set with a background that said "I'm OCD". Rod took it in good humour and put it up on the shelf. Nicky's gift was a "I'm a daddy" sweater. Of course they got other gifts but it's the joke gifts that you always remember.
57. Last Hope
Nicky had grown up wanting a complete whole family. So even though he wasn't getting married to some nice girl to spawn a bunch of kids. He still proposed to Rod, even though they couldn't legally get married.
58. Lies
When Nicky's grandma called to ask him if his father was loosing it or if he was a really a faggot Nicky responded that he didn't know what his father was talking about. Later he explained to Rod it was because she was really old and didn't need to hear something that would only upset her in the few years she had left.
59. Ninja
Nicky's sister had finally hit the five month mark, the doctors said the baby was going to be a boy. Nicky went out and bought a little newborn ninja suite for him, saying that he always wished his parents had something like that to dress him in for pictures. Rod decided to just go along with it, besides it was kinda cute...just a little bit though.
60. Message
Rod thought the best way to tell all of their friends about the baby was to email them, to avoid the whole everyone talking at once and saying the same thing a thousand times. Of course it resulted in Kate spamming his mailbox with all sorts of baby related stuff.
61. Heal
This is how Nicky finally decided that Rod was the worst video game player he knew: Rod was so concerned with making sure Nicky's wound were healed he ended up getting shot and killed by the bad guys. The gesture was sweet but it was horrible battle tactic.
62. Revenge
To extract revenge on Kate for the baby mail rod constantly got, Nicky paid Trekkie to send Kate a few things she didn't want in her mail box.
63. Clouds
Gary helped them move into the apartment on the floor above them that had two rooms, and the first thing Rod did was paint the nursery a cheery blue. Nicky thought it was too plain and helped him add clouds.
64. Water
Nicky was all up for changing the whole house to look like a kids playroom. Rod was not up for this at all, but he left the nursery for Nicky to design. He picked out this blue hardwood flooring to make the ground look like water to go with the cloudy sky.
65. Imaginary
At the very least Rod knew Nicky was going to make a great father because of his imagination, there was no way that a child could ever get board when his father could whip up every time of unreal situation in a blink of the eye.
66. Fly Me to the Moon...
Rod knew that if Nicky could he would fly him to the moon, but he couldn't. But learning all the words to Major Tom and singing it to him for their 2 year anniversary was just as good.
67. Discovery
The discovery that rod signed them up for a parenting class was not Nicky's idea of a good surprise. The discovery that a parenting class was the last thing Nicky actually needed to take was a great discovery to Rod. Especially when the teacher told him that they passed with flying colors.
68. Break Away
Nicky came to the conclusion that he was actually going to have to break away from his solitary habits in two months, which was going to be kinda hard. He was going to be so busy with the baby that he wouldn't have time to do what he usually does. Looking around Nicky decided that he really wouldn't be missing out on much.
69. Lurking
"Nicky?" called rod, he got home and all the lights were out. He nearly had a heart attack when Nicky pounced on him. Nicky was about to get a stick talking to about lurking in the dark but he shut Rod up with a deep kiss.
70. Underworld
The due date was approaching and Nicky's sister gave him a little beeper so that she could quickly get ahold of him when she went into labour. She was due any day now and they were too on edge to go to sleep so Nicky rented the Underworld series and they stayed up watching it. Only to wake up a couple hours later to a quite beeping.
71. Birth
They got to the hospital as fast as a taxi would take them. They were actually there for the birth, which Rod kind of regretted.
72. Blood
Rod was squeamish, he left before the baby was even all the way out. He was pretty sure watching that could turn even the straightest man off of women because that was truly disgusting.
73. Random
Is it supposed to be that color? Nicky's first thought when the baby came out all grayish and covered in blood, of course it was normal but his and Rod's research didn't cover the actually birth thing. They named Him Alex, he was a beautiful baby boy. Even if he did start out grayish.
74. Through the Fire
Through the fire and flames, the song Brian thought it would be funny to play at Alex's baby shower. It was funny, but only because Brian was so horrible at playing it.
75. Illusion
Christmas Eve gave Nicky a book on illusions to teach Alex when he was older. Something about seeing through the illusions of the capitalist government.
76. Do Not Disturb
What Nicky wouldn't give for a do not disturb sign the first few months with Alex. If sleep deprivation was so bad why didn't the baby just sleep through the night!
77. Popularity
Apparently a guy with a baby was popular, Nicky got some attention around the park. Of course when he walked off with his arm around Rod all the baby mamas were a bit miffed.
79. Memory
Rod bought some stuff for Nicky to play for Alex to help improve his memory, of course he almost never did. Now if only Rod could buy something to help Nicky's memory.
80. Pain
Sure it was pain to take care of a newborn baby but neither of them would give it up for the world.
81. Clone
As Alex got older it delighted rod to see he looked alot like Nicky, when Rod pointed it out Rod just laughed and showed him some pictures of his sister as a kid, Alex was a perfect clone of her.
82. Magic
For Alex's first birthday Nicky put alot of work into a magic act, by alot of work I mean he could fool a one year old into thinking he could make things disappear. The amazed looks on Alex's face made everyone laugh.
83. Relaxation
When Alex slept through the night Nicky thought he'd just drop off into a relaxed sleep because of all the lack of it. That was not the case, in fact he had more energy than usual...
84. Hope
After reviewing statistics about how a child is a product of their environment Rod began to hope that their son would not be gay, because he didn't want Alex growing up the way he had always getting picked on and put down. Nicky reassured him that if Alex was going to be a product of their environment that he would be caring and sweet and mostly likely a good cook, and if he was gay too he would have lots of family that supported him.
85. Song
Having a thing for music anyway it didn't take Nicky that long to start teaching Alex songs beyond row row row your boat. It made Rod laugh really hard to hear his two year old son singing Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution.
86. Surprise
Alex surpirised both his parents by being able to speak extreamly well, and being able to repeat anything he's heard. Nicky decided to stop watching adult TV programs when he though Alex was napping.
87. Cursed
Nicky decided he was truly cursed when his father showed up on his doorstop, drunk, to tell him how much of a bad shameful parent nicky was for raising his nephew into a fag house.
88. Are You Challenging Me?
Nicky knew his father was challenging him, so he invited the man in to sober up.
89. Wrath
His fathers response to that was to throw the empty whisky bottle he carrying at him.
90. Teamwork
Now just cuz Nicky was home all day didn't mean that raising Alex wasn't a team effort. Nicky's sure Alex still wouldn't knew how to walk if it wern't for Rod's patient teachings.
91. Fairy Tale
Rod also was great at telling stories, sure Nicky could envent them but the whole overall storytelling was really Rod's thing. After a while Nicky would just write down the stories he had invented and let rod read them to Alex.
92. Love
They've been together for five years now, and it still made Nicky all happy inside to hear Rod say that he loved him.
93. Hero
Nicky decided that Alex would be a superman person, and let him watch the cartoons all the time. It disgruntled him when Alex took a likeing to Batman instead.
94. Misunderstanding
Misunderstanding was so easy with a two year old, especially when they only speak half english. Alex wasn't a goodsport with it eaither when nicky didn't give him the kind of ceral he asked for.
95. Sorrow
When their cat Eli died Alex just didn't understand it and cried for a week when the cat didn't show up.
96. Puppy
Princeton suggested they get the little one a puppy, and Gary nearly smacked him for the sugestion, he would tolerate cats but not dogs in this building. So they got another cat, this is when rod finally realised that he was a cat person, it wasn't just Nicky anmore, somehow nicky had spread the cat person disease to him.
97. Lost
When They got rid of alex's pacifiers he thought hey were lost and nearly turned the whole apartment upside down looking for them.
98. Pie
For halloween Kate brought over a pumpkin pie, which Alex decided was more fun to throw everywhere than eat. That was the last time she was allowed to do that.
99. Fate
Looking back over the fifteen years or so they had been friends whas it just fate that they were going to end up together as lovers? as a family?
100. Death
It hit Nicky hard when he heard his father had died of alchol poisining. Sure he had always been a drinker but Nicky never thought he would go like this. Even through everything he was still Nicky's father and he wasn't happy that he had died. Of course he didn't get the chance to express this, he wasn't invited to the funeral.