slow burn; sapnap

eight

"repeat after me: i nick,"

"come on augy. 'you really making me do this?"

"i said, i nick. and go ahead and raise your right hand too."

august watched as the boy on her screen let out an exasperated sigh and reluctantly raised his right hand.

"i nick,"

"swear to be the best wedding date, which includes but is not limited to,"

"swear to be the best wedding date, which includes but is not limited to,"

"okay now read the list i sent in discord."

nick lowered his hand and focused his attention on his screen as he scrolled. a smile crept its way onto august's face as she watched him squint and begin reading.

"i will dance to at least two songs with august. i will not mention august's online career. i will wear a suit and not ask to wear a hat. i will be a gentleman. you know, you've really got the bar low for me. i will not answer family questions related to having any relationship status with august. i will not get mad when august wears heals and is inevitably taller- hey! i draw the line at slander. you won't be taller than me."

"oh, i most definitely will be," august laughed, getting the reaction she wanted. "thanks for your oath."

"whatever helps you sleep at night. i do have a question though."

"mhm?"

nick stared at august's discord profile picture, just a blank sage green picture, and it made his heart hurt. all of a sudden he had memories of the times he tried to convince august to consider showing what she looked like, and she instantly shut down the topic. he remembered the one time that she opened up about her insecurity of not having that safe guard of being invisible anymore once she finally did show what she looked like.

"are you gonna be okay with me seeing you?"

when things began taking a shift in their friendship, nick had offered to drive to dallas so the two could finally meet, but it seemed that a perfect escape route fell into august's lap every single time.

"honestly? i think its gonna be weird for me. i don't know, we always talked about it when things were different. but things are different now, which is okay. so i think i will be okay."

nick could hear hurt in her voice that she quickly covered up, which gave him the need to swallow the knot in his throat because he knew the hurt was because of him.

the last eight months were spent trying to get rid of the heavy guilt that sat over him. their last conversation had ended with him making a stupid comment that resulted in losing months of progress he was making towards wanting to make august his.

nick was never quick to catch feelings for anyone. he knew he was still young and had his best years ahead of him and decided it was better to guard himself from being hurt. but august showed up and the second he got to know her he took a sledgehammer to the walls he worked so hard to put up. his friends took notice of his interest but he brushed them off anytime they brought it up.

he was never able to exactly identify what drew him to her. maybe it was the little nicknames she used. in one of their first conversations she called him honey, which stuck pretty quick. or when he told her that she didn't need to call him sapnap, that she could call him nick, and she instantly politely asked if she could call him nicky. it could have been that she was one of the first girls that he had met that matched his humor and challenged it. or when they would get to laughing that she would wheeze and occasionally fall out of her chair. other time he thought it was because of her sweet sounding voice. her country accent reminded him of home and could be so calming when things were stressful. and despite how much it drove him crazy, part of him thought it could be the mystery of not knowing who she was. although he used his face cam pretty few and far between, he normally preferred watching streamers who did use theirs, but august was different. her personality shone so easily without needing to be seen physically. the idea that he had limited knowledge of who she was made him strive for her even more.

later that night, dream came in while he was packing for his trip home. his tall friend came in holding his cat, patches, and sat on the end of his bed.

"why are you packing a suit?" he said as he was being nosy and peeked into his bag.

"i'm gonna see august finally. she has a wedding and asked if i would go with her." nick said as he let out a long exhale and let his shoulders fall back.

dream sat quiet for a moment, trying to see if he could read his roommates emotions.

"how do you feel about that?"

"i think good. i've wanted this for a really long time, so i should be really happy. its just hard that this is how the circumstances lined up."

dream just nodded, knowing that nick preferred not always getting a response. patches hopped out of lap and into nick's suitcase where she curled into a ball and laid down. dream held some hesitancies with the trip, but it also satisfied this old desire for nick to finally take another step towards the girl that so obviously used to consume his thoughts.

"it'll be good." dream simply said.