slow burn; sapnap

ten

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nick had never been so flustered in his entire life.

the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life was sitting in his passenger seat and he couldn't get a single word out in between her rambling all of the need-to-knows about her family and turning up the radio as soon as she would finish her thought.

he didn't have a split second to collect his bearings. the drive to the venue went so fast that she hadn't finished her debriefing.

"my grandma is going to be extremely nosy but don't feel like-"

"august." he finally said as he put the car in park.

august realized that he caught on to what she was doing.

"i'm sorry." she looked down at her hands in her lap.

"no, no. don't do that," he laughed as he turned in his seat to face her. "i know its weird- like, ya know, us i guess? but let's not forget that like a year ago we were best friends. things changed a bit but i'm still meeting one of the most important people to me right now. lets just enjoy that for a second, okay?"

august let out a long exasperated sigh, feeling slightly guilty for trying to avoid any talk about what was going on. before she could let the guilt eat at her too much, nick stuck out his hand for her to shake.

"hi, i'm nick. it's nice to meet you."

august felt a grin spread across her face as she gladly shook his hand.

"it's nice to meet you nick. i'm-"

it suddenly struck august that she had never told nick her real name. this was one of the last pieces of her identity that she had been able to keep to herself. but she didn't want to continue to hide anything. she wanted to release the anxiety of accidentally letting things slip up.

"i'm hadden."

nick physically felt his heart skip a beat in that moment.

for months he had wondered about this part of august. he knew august to be the one to have the funny comment just at the right second. august joined everyone's discord after MCC events to pour praises over them. august made anyone's chat go crazy when she joined their stream. everyone knew august. but there were parts that he knew he had exclusive access to.

he never knew who it was that would quietly sing abba songs when she was focusing on a task. he never knew who it was that would send a text of a picture the sky and ask if he thought it was as pretty as she did. he never knew who it was that would call when she was upset, and not to complain, but just so she didn't have to feel alone in those moments that she let her tears fall.

but now he knew. it was hadden.

"hadden." he repeated. he suddenly loved saying it and she loved hearing it.

"we should probably head on inside."

nick nodded and quickly got out to grab her door for her. as they walked toward the set of glass doors surrounded by a white and red floral arrangement, he could sense hadden's nerves. he placed his hand on the small of her back, allowing her to lead the way.

hadden was very strategic in making sure they arrived only about ten minutes before the ceremony to hopefully avoid as many awkward family interactions as possible. before they could settle in two seats in the back of the chapel, hadden's mother locked eyes with her daughter and immediately waved the two over to come sit with her in the front row.

"hi sugar." her mother said as she wrapped her daughter in her arms. nick connected the dots of where hadden's southern accent and obsession with calling other's by endearing nicknames came from.