Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Feet off the dash.”

Nick let out an explosive sigh and dropped his feet from the dashboard. He cut his gaze to the side and crossed his arms. “Did you get the goods?”

A bag smacked him in the face. He crowed out a cheer and dug into it, pulling out a pack of red licorice and ripping into it with abandon. His aunt snorted beside him and turned on the truck, and they pulled out of yet another gas station. “You’re welcome.”

“Mmnk oo,” he garbled through a mouthful of candy. She swatted him on the shoulder without looking over and held out her hand. 

“Tax.” He slapped a piece of licorice into her palm. She glanced down at her hand and clicked her tongue. “You want to go to candy jail? Pay up.”

He slapped three more pieces into her greedy palm.

“Better.” She bit into one of the pieces with a hum. “These things just keep getting sweeter and sweeter.”

“You’re just old.”

“Look, when I was your age-”

“When I was your age,” he mimicked, pitching his voice higher and adding in a warble, “we had to make our own candy!”

“You forgot the part where we didn’t have sugar.”

“Gross. No sugar?”

“It’s good for you.” She held out her hand again and he wrinkled his nose at it but dropped a few more pieces of licorice into her palm. She tore into them like the monster she was.

Nick leaned forward and fiddled with the radio, flipping through the stations until his aunt cried, “Oh! I love this song!”

He sighed and flopped back into his seat as the lame music squeaked through the old speakers. His aunt sang along to the music, her voice cracking and hoarse, and he hid his smile behind his licorice as she tried to get him to sing along with her. Finally, finally the song ended, and she let him change the station.

They traveled in silence for a few miles before Nick cleared his throat and asked, “So… where are we going this time?”

“Oregon.”

“What’s in Oregon?”

“Lots of things.” She spared a quick glance over at him. “This is the last stop, promise.”

Nick shrugged and muttered under his breath, “That’s what you always say.”

Her hand found his knee and squeezed gently. “I know, I’m sorry. But I mean it this time.”

He sighed and pulled out another piece of licorice, holding it up in a toast. “To Oregon.”

His aunt snorted. “I don’t have a piece.”

He gave her one. She held it up and repeated, “To Oregon.”

Chapter Text

The man was a giant.

Or, conversely, Aunt Marie was just tiny. Nick squinted at the two of them through the car window. They huddled together under the awning of a coffee shop, their heads bent close. The man handed Aunt Marie something, and she tucked it away into her pocket with a nod.

Maybe he was the reason they had come to Oregon. Maybe- Nick's eyes widened. Maybe he was Aunt Marie’s boyfriend.

"Gross," he muttered. She was too old for boyfriends.

The man looked over at him with a small smile on his face. Nick scowled at him. Just because he was her new boyfriend didn’t mean he had to play nice.

Chapter Text

“So. Boyfriend, huh?” Nick asked as nonchalantly as a derailed train. He got an elbow in his side for his efforts. 

The man - Renard, or something - froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. “What?”

“Nicholas,” Aunt Marie growled in that voice that always meant shut the fuck up. So he tucked back into his pasta and pretended not to exist.

Renard looked between them. “Am I missing something here?”

“No,” Aunt Marie said.

He put his fork down and laced his fingers. “Nicholas-”

“Don’t call me that,” Nick snapped. “My name is Nick.”

A foot kicked him under the table. Nick kicked it back.

Renard cleared his throat. “Nick. Your aunt and I are not dating.”

"Cool." All adults said that.

Chapter Text

“Can I open my eyes now?”

“Not yet. Careful, there’s a step here.” Aunt Marie guided him over the step, her hands firm on his arms. “Okay, stop. You can look now.”

He opened his eyes, and his breath caught in his throat.

A house stood before him, with a lawn and a front door and windows and a roof and maybe even a backyard and he turned to Aunt Marie and she was smiling at him with the biggest smile he’d seen on her face since before his parents had died. He swallowed hard and whispered, “Is it ours?”

She nodded, and her smile grew impossibly wider.

“But- but how? We can’t afford this.”

Her smile dropped. She looped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him close in a one-armed hug. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

He leaned into her and gazed up at the building. “So… then- does that mean no more motel rooms?”

Her voice went hoarse, “No more motel rooms.”

“We’re really staying? For real?”

“For real.”

“Do I get my own room?”

She let him go and pulled a set of keys out of her pocket, dangling them between them. “Would you like to go pick it out?”

Chapter Text

"I don't need a babysitter!"

Aunt Marie didn't spare him a glance as she packed her bag. "It's just for one night. Be nice. He's doing this as a favor."

"But he doesn't need to! I'm old enough to take care of myself-"

"Nick, stop." She sighed and zipped her bag shut. "He's coming over. Deal with it."

A knock sounded at the door. Nick groaned and followed Aunt Marie, dragging his feet along the hardwood floor. 

The door swung open. Renard stood in the threshold, not wearing a suit for once.

“Thanks for doing this,” Aunt Marie said.

“My pleasure.”

“My pleasure,” Nick muttered under his breath. Renard turned to him with that same old smile pasted to his face. He pulled something out of his pocket and held it up. Nick squinted at it. “Wassat?”

“Tickets to tonight’s baseball game.”

Nick’s brows shot up. He crossed his arms and nodded, once. “That’s cool.”

Renard’s smile widened. “Do you want to hold on to them for me?”

He shrugged. “If you need me to.”

Aunt Marie snorted. Renard passed Nick the tickets and turned to her. Nick studied the slips of paper. They were for the seats behind home plate.

Chapter Text

“Um, Mr. Renard-”

“Call me Sean.”

Nick bit his lip and rubbed his thumb over the stitches in the ball in his hands. “Uh. Mr. Sean-”

“Just Sean is fine, Nick. I’m not that old.”

“Oh.” Wasn’t he, though? “Well, thanks. For, you know.”

Sean turned on his blinker. The car hummed around them, near-silent, the leather seats smooth and luxurious compared to his aunt’s old truck. “Thank you for coming with me.”

Nick huffed. “I’m sure you had plenty of people you could have taken with you.”

“You think so?” 

“Sure. I bet your girlfriend would’ve loved this.”

“I don’t have one.”

Nick turned in his seat, frowning at the man beside him. He looked decent enough, and his car was nice. Why didn’t he have a girlfriend? “Huh. What about a friend, then?”

“They don’t like baseball.”

“That sucks.” Who didn't like baseball?

“Mmm. And I have season tickets, too.” Sean shook his head with soft sigh.

“There has to be someone you can go with.”

Sean shot him a glance. “Well, what about you? Would you like to go to another game with me?”

Nick sat back in his seat, rolling the ball between his hands. Another game with Sean? “I guess I could do that.”

Chapter Text

“What happened to you?”

Aunt Marie sighed and looked up from the bandage she was wrapping around her leg. The white cloth had already stained a deep red. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

Nick snorted and leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen, but his gaze didn’t stray from her leg. “Since when do I have a bedtime?”

“Since now.” She flicked her hand at him in a dismissive wave. “Go.”

“What? No!” He pushed off of the doorframe and straightened his shoulders, standing as tall as he could. “I’m not doing that!”

“Nicholas,” she bit out, then sighed again, heavy enough that her small stature seemed to deflate from the loss of air. “I don’t have the energy for this right now.”

She turned her focus back to her wound. Nick shrank in on himself, scuffing his socked foot lightly against the tile. “Do you… need help?”

She glanced up and graced him with a faint smile. “No. Thanks, though. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“What happened?”

“Raccoon attack.”

His brows rose. “A raccoon attack.”

“Yes.”

“Really.”

“Yup.”

“Huh.” Nick waved at her leg. “So, does that mean you have rabies now?”

“Yes,” she deadpanned. “And I’ll give it to you if you don’t go to bed.” 

“Fine! I’m going, jeez.” He huffed and turned away.

“Nick,” she called after him, and he poked his head back in through the doorway. “Love you.”

He rolled his eyes, but his reply was a soft, “Love you too.”

Chapter Text

“Why do I have to sign this?” Nick squinted at the sheet of paper. “I can’t even read it.”

“You don't need to read it to sign it." Aunt Marie tapped on the line at the bottom. "Look. I signed it too."

"So?" He crossed his arms. "I'm not joining your cult."

"It's not my cult, it's Sean’s cult."

Nick eyed her. She eyed him back. "Why are we joining Sean's cult?"

"You don't want to join Sean's cult?"

He glanced down at the paper, at the handwriting scrawling across it. “What do I get if I join his cult?”

“Pizza.”

His gaze snapped up to her. “With extra pepperoni.”

She snorted. “Sure. Sign.”

“And,” he held up a finger, “those breadsticks.”

They stared at each other like an old western showdown. A tumbleweed might’ve blown past behind him, but he couldn’t turn away to look. 

Aunt Marie’s eyes narrowed. “Fine. We’ll get the breadsticks.” 

He signed the paper with a flourish.

Chapter Text

“Is that a gun?”

Sean glanced up from the potato he was peeling. Aunt Marie muttered something under her breath, her knife thundering through the remains of an onion. “Yes.”

Nick plopped down in the seat across from him and picked up a potato, rolling it between his hands. “Why do you have a gun?”

“For work.”

Nick perked up. “Are you a secret agent?!”

Aunt Marie snorted. A soft smile curled Sean’s lips, and he passed the potato to her and picked up another one. “No. I’m a police officer.”

“Oh. Lame.” He leaned back in his seat, tipping the chair back on two legs. “Can I hold it?”

“Not happening.” Aunt Marie pointed her knife at Nick. “Sit properly.”

He clicked his tongue and resettled the chair back onto four legs. Sean passed his potato to Aunt Marie and set the peeler down. “It’s not a toy.”

“I know! I’ll be careful.”

“Nicholas. No,” Aunt Marie growled.

“I’ll tell you what,” Sean said. “If your aunt is okay with it I’ll take you to the shooting range and teach you how to shoot.”

Nick whipped to face the scowl on Aunt Marie’s face with the sweetest pleading look he knew how to do. “Please, Aunt Marie?”

She gave Sean the Evil Eye, but the man did not even flinch, his smile firmly in place, serene and relaxed in his chair. Which, wow. Nick had seen a guy run into a pole once when faced with that look. 

“Fine,” she ground out, staring Sean right in the eyes as she cut a potato in half.

Chapter Text

"Excuse me, can you give me directions?"

Nick slowed his steps down the street as a man in all black approached him, his smile wide, too wide. He hiked his backpack higher on his shoulder, his grip tight on the strap. "No, sorry."

A hand clamped over his mouth, muffling his shout as an arm latched around his stomach. Nick thrashed in the hold, biting at the hand and kicking at the person’s legs as they dragged him over to a car that pulled up alongside them. The man in black opened the door and helped shove him inside, into the arms of another burly man. 

The door closed behind him, and the car began to move.

Chapter Text

Nick tugged at the ropes binding his wrists around a metal pole, wincing at the burn of the rough fibers against thin flesh. Shivers wracked his frame, the concrete underneath him stealing his warmth.

Darkness filled the room, pressed in against him, made his breath catch and his heart thump in his chest. He kept his eyes closed, because it was better than when they were open. He hummed to fill the silence, soft, halting, a melody his aunt had sung to him after waking from nightmares.

Nobody would find him. Not in this room, in this warehouse, in the middle of nowheresville.

He pressed his forehead against the pole, biting his lip hard, humming a bit louder.

Somebody had to find him.

They had to.

Chapter Text

A year passed. An eternity. He couldn’t be too sure, but he might’ve grown a beard.

A bang broke the silence. Then another and another, one right after the other in rapid succession. He huddled against the pole, squeezing his eyes shut tight.

The silence returned.

After another short eternity the door opened, flooding the small room with light. 

“There you are.” He knew that voice.

“Sean?” 

He blinked, and blinked, until the blurry vision of the man in the doorway cleared. Sean tucked his gun into the holster on his hip- Nick flinched back from him as he stepped into the room. “Did you-?! Are they dead?!”

 Sean slowly crouched next to him. “They didn’t give me any choice.”

“Aren’t you supposed to arrest them?!”

He didn’t answer, just quietly set to work untying his wrists. A splatter of red marred his shirt, dark splotches discolored his knuckles. Nick closed his eyes again, swallowing hard and choking out, “How did- how did you find me?”

“I’m a police officer, remember? This is what I do,” his voice was soft, even, steady. It eased the pitter-patter of Nick’s heart as much as it set his teeth on edge - he was not some helpless damsel. He rubbed at his freed wrists, heat building behind his eyes at the sting of torn flesh. 

That’s all it was.

“Oh. Cool.” He sniffled, biting his lip hard. His nose was just stuffed from the dust in the room.

“Hey…” Sean wrapped his hand around the back of his neck, a warm, heavy pressure guiding him into his chest. Nick shuddered and leaned against him, his breath hitching because- because he was going to sneeze. Sean wrapped his arms around him and murmured, “I’ve got you.”

And Nick let him because he was cold, not because he wanted a hug or anything.

Chapter Text

“You were supposed to protect him!”

Nick flinched at the shout from the kitchen, wrapping the blanket on his shoulders tighter around himself. A soft murmur followed, and Aunt Marie laughed, a hoarse, grating noise that wracked a shiver down his spine.

“You think that impresses me?! It never should have happened in the first place! I didn’t bring him here for this!”

Nick’s brows furrowed. What did that mean?

Another soft murmur, probably Sean trying to get her to calm down - an impossible task, once she got going the only thing to do was to get out of her way.

“Do your fucking job, you spineless bastard,” she hissed, her voice dropping lower. “You are replaceable. He is not. Do not forget that.”

She was going to kill him. Nick surged off of the couch and trotted to the kitchen, leaning against the doorway. Aunt Marie had backed Sean up against the wall, a knife in her hand, the tip pointing at his heart.

Holy fuck.

“Aunt Marie,” he mumbled as pitifully as he could, throwing in a sniffle for added effect, “My wrists hurt.”

She whipped around, looked at the knife in her hand, looked at him, and then dropped the knife onto the counter and swept up to him with open arms. She wrapped her arms around him, too tight, and muttered into his ear, “I know Nicky, let’s go put some more ointment on them.”

He let out a silent sigh and nodded. But she turned back to Sean and snarled, “This isn’t over.”

Sean nodded slightly, his gaze locked on Nick. “Of course.”

It might’ve been his imagination, but the faintest hint of a smile ghosted around the corners of Sean’s mouth.

Chapter Text

“So why is Sean supposed to protect me?”

Aunt Marie’s hands faltered over Nick’s wrists, but she quickly continued applying the ointment to the bruised skin. “Because he’s a cop.”

“So? He’s not my bodyguard.”

“It’s his job to protect people.”

“Yeah, people. Plural.”

Aunt Marie sighed. “Nick… what are you trying to say?”

“You said you didn’t bring me here for this. What does that- ow! Careful!” he hissed, but she just shushed him gently and rubbed more on.

“I didn’t bring you here to get kidnapped.” 

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why you were so mad at Sean?”

She recapped the ointment and pressed a kiss to his cheek, which he tolerated even though it was gross because she needed it. “You’ll understand if you have kids.”

He made a gagging noise. “I’m not going to have kids, Aunt Marie.”

“Okay.” She caught him around the back of his neck and dragged him in for a tight hug, whispering into his ear, “I love you so much. You know that, right?”

A lump lodged in his throat and didn’t budge when he swallowed, so he nodded the best he could in her hold and squeezed her back, heat building behind his eyes when she muttered, “I can’t lose you, too.”

Chapter Text

"What are you doing here?"

Nick blinked up at Sean. People flooded out of the school behind him, the roar of their excited chatter deafening. 

Sean just smiled. "I came to pick you up."

"Don't you have work? Like a normal adult?"

"Your aunt asked me to come get you. She’s going to be back late tonight." He opened the passenger side door. "Get in."

Nick fiddled with the strap on his bag. “I have plans with a friend.”

“You’ll have to postpone them.”

He rocked back on his heels. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home."

"I’m not-” he blew out a rough breath and scowled at Sean. “You don’t have to do this. I can walk."

Sean's smile slipped. "Nick. Get in the car."

Nick ducked his head and dropped his gaze to the concrete under their feet, scurrying forward and into the car. The door shut behind him with a click of finality.

Chapter Text

“What’s a Grimm?”

Sean briefly glanced over at him before returning his gaze to the road. “A what?”

“A Grimm. The guys that-” he cut off, swallowing hard. “…Um, grabbed me, called me that.”

Sean was quiet for a moment. “Maybe your aunt will know.”

“Why would she know?” Nick scoffed and tugged at the seat belt. It had locked up on him, and he fiddled with it to get it to release. Stupid thing. “It’s a slur, isn’t it?”

Sean cast him another glance, this one fierce, and Nick stopped tugging on the seat belt as he said, his voice firm, “No.”

“Then you’ve heard it before? What does it mean?”

“Your aunt can explain it better.”

“My aunt won’t know anything about this.” He clicked his tongue when he didn’t get a response and yanked at the seat belt again. “I don’t understand why you can’t just tell me-”

“Nick. Stop.”

His mouth clamped shut, and he turned away with a scowl. Fine, then. They were almost back home, anyway.

Chapter Text

“This isn’t my house.”

Sean huffed out a quiet laugh as he turned into a parking garage under an apartment building. “No, it’s mine.”

“What?” Nick turned to him with a frown. Did he just get kidnapped again? “Because that’s not creepy at all.”

Sean parked the car and leveled him with a flat look. “Do you really expect me to leave you home alone after you were just kidnapped? Your aunt will come get you when she gets off from work.”

“You’re weird,” Nick chirped. “Don’t you have people your own age to hang out with?”

A muscle in Sean’s jaw twitched. “Yes.”

He got out of the car, leaving Nick as he strode across the parking garage. Nick frowned at the empty ignition slot - Sean had taken the key with him, but he didn’t know how to drive, anyway. He sighed and dragged himself out of the car after Sean, jogging to catch up with his long strides. 

He clutched at his backpack as they stood in the elevator, staring down at his grimy sneakers on the polished marble floor. A small hole had opened up on the side of the right one. Several people got in with them when they reached the lobby, and he pressed into the back corner, hugging his backpack to his chest. All of their shoes were spotless.

The elevator slowly emptied, floor by floor, until only Nick and Sean remained. The doors pinged quietly when they opened, and Nick scrambled after Sean as he strode out and down the hall, all the way to the door at the end.

Nick stopped at the threshold, his mouth opening slightly for a silent intake of air. The inside was way too nice - posh furniture, so clean he could probably eat off of the floor, carpets and rugs and wooden flooring without a single stain. Artwork adorned the walls, but none of the frames contained photographs of Sean or his friends and family. “Do you actually live here?”

Sean tilted his head, his gaze roaming about the room. “Yes?”

“How? It looks like a cut out from a magazine.”

“...I’ll take that as a compliment.” He waved Nick further into his home, leading him into the kitchen where he pointed at the table. “You can set up over there.” 

“Set up to do what?”

“Your homework.” 

Nick huffed but trudged over to the table. The varnished wood shone in the light, and he hesitated for a moment before setting his backpack down in one of the chairs and pulling his books out. Sean shuffled about the kitchen nearby, opening and closing a cabinet, clinking glass, sighing softly. Nick buried himself in his homework - the sooner it was over, the better.

“What are you working on?” 

The soft murmur had him jerking upright in his seat. He snapped the journal closed and scowled up at Sean. “Homework. Like you told me to.”

“Is it for an art class?”

He tilted his chin up, met that gaze head-on. “Yes.”

“Can I see?”

“No.”

Sean took a sip of his drink, an amber liquid in a short crystal glass. “It looked good. Was it someone you’ve seen before?”

Nick fiddled with the corner of the journal, popping one of his shoulders up in a quick shrug. “Yeah. The guy that grabbed me.”

Sean sat in the chair beside him, setting his glass down and reaching his hand out toward the journal. “May I? Please?”

“Why? You already killed him.”

“He might not have been there.” He leaned in and tapped on the worn cover. “If he wasn’t, this might help catch him.”

Nick flipped open the journal.

Sean pulled it closer to himself with a soft hum. Nick plucked at the hem of his shirt, wrapping it around his thumb, his lower lip caught between his teeth.

“This is really good,” Sean said quietly, and began flipping through the pages. Nick sucked in a sharp breath through his nose, a strangled high note ripping out of his throat, but his jaw had clamped shut and he couldn’t unlock it to tell him to stop. “These are all really good. Is this what you want to do after you finish school?”

His shoulders hunched inward, and he managed to break the seam of his lips enough to mumble out, “Not anymore.”

“Oh? What do you want to be now?”

His gaze darted to Sean, and then back to his hands in his lap, his face warm all the way to his ears. “A cop.”

Sean went still beside him, and Nick blurted out, “Because, you know, I get to carry a gun and fight bad guys and, you know, yeah.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” his voice was low and steady, soothing the high peaks of Nick’s shoulders. “We could use someone like you.”

Nick shrugged again, his voice caught in his throat.

Chapter Text

“Sean said to ask you what a Grimm is.”

“Oh?” Aunt Marie said quietly and turned to Sean, shutting the door to the apartment behind her. “Now, why would he do that?”

Sean met her gaze head-on. “He should know, Marie.”

“That’s not for you to decide,” she hissed.

“Isn’t it?”

“What?” Nick’s gaze darted between them. “What should I know?”

Sean titled his head toward Nick. “Go on. Tell him.”

“He’s not ready-”

“He’s more than ready.”

“What is happening?!” Nick exclaimed.

Aunt Marie turned to him, her face pinched. “Nothing sweetie, Sean is delusional-”

“Excuse me?” Sean scoffed. “You’re delusional if you think this is keeping him safe. He needs to know.”

She whirled on him. “Stay out of this!”

“Aunt Marie?!”

“He’s going to learn one way or the other,” Sean said. “Wouldn’t you prefer to be the one to tell him?”

“Don’t you dare!” Aunt Marie shoved her finger into Sean’s chest. “Don’t even think about it!”

Sean’s lips thinned. “Remove your finger.”

“Make me,” she spat.

Sean’s face twisted- distorted- decayed-

Nick recoiled with a cry, stumbling back, eyes squeezed shut against the monster that had appeared before him.

Chapter Text

“You!” Aunt Marie’s voice was like a clap of thunder, followed by the resounding smack of skin on skin.

Nick cracked one eye open.

Sean looked normal again. He was rubbing his cheek, a fierce scowl on his face. Aunt Marie’s chest was heaving with every harsh breath out of her mouth.

Nick swallowed, and whispered, “What was that?”

They both looked at him. Aunt Marie spoke first, her voice soft, broken, “You saw?” 

“Uh, yeah?” Nick couldn’t drag his gaze away from Sean’s completely human visage, his heart slamming against his rib cage as if it could escape. His voice cracked over the words, “What’s wrong with your face?!”

“Your aunt slapped me-”

“No, I mean- are you a zombie?!”

Sean’s lips twitched up even as his brows furrowed. “What? I’m not dead.”

“Uh huh…” Nick took a step back, just in case. Aunt Marie didn’t seem to have been bitten, but he couldn’t be too sure. He wasn’t going to be next.

Aunt Marie sighed, dragging her hand over her face, looking entirely too blasé for someone standing next to a zombie. “He’s not a zombie.”

“Then what is he?”

Her shoulders sagged, and she muttered, “A Zauberbiest.”

“A zombiebeast?” his face screwed up, his voice rising with each word, “What is that, a zombie on steroids?!”

“Nick…” Sean took a step toward him, and he tripped over himself as he backstepped several paces, shaking his head and holding his hands out in front of him.

“Don’t! I’m not going to let you bite me!” Movies did not compare to the real deal. He didn’t think he could kill Sean if he tried to eat him.

Oh God. 

He was going to have to kill Sean.

Chapter Text

In the movies they always aimed for the head.

He looked at Sean’s head. It was a decently sized target - bigger than a baseball. He could hit that. It was really high up, though. Maybe he’d go for the knees, first, to bring him down to normal people’s height.

He needed a weapon.

Sean held his hands out, his voice soft as if talking to a cornered animal, “If I was going to bite you, I would’ve already done it.”

“You could’ve been waiting for the right moment!” the words sounded lame the second they left his mouth because he was right, zombies couldn’t plan their attacks.

Which meant that Sean was worse than a zombie.

There was an umbrella by the door he could use - but Aunt Marie and Sean were both blocking it. The kitchen was through the hallway behind him, and he could grab a knife - but Sean had longer legs than he did so he’d probably catch him before he got there, and either way knives were harder to use on zombies.

He needed something blunt, heavy.

Heavy, like the school books weighing down the backpack on his back. They would finally be useful.

Sean released a long, slow breath. “Nick… I’m not going to hurt you. I was the one that found you when you were kidnapped, remember?”

Nick’s grip tightened on the strap of his bag, biting his lip hard.

He did do that.

“Aunt Marie said… that you’re supposed to protect me,” he mumbled.

Sean stepped toward him but stopped when Nick shied away. “Yes. Did she tell you why?”

“‘Cause you’re a cop.” But how could a zombie be a cop?

“That’s… a small part of it. It’s because-”

“Stop,” Aunt Marie hissed, then sighed and swept up to Nick, pulling him into her arms. “You weren’t supposed to find out like this.”

Nick kept his gaze locked on Sean, but he didn’t move. “Find out what?”

“About us. About him.” Her arms tightened around him. “I’m so sorry. I just wanted you to have a normal life.”

Nick squeezed her back. “I don’t think we have what most people consider a normal life.”

She pulled away, suddenly looking very small. “I know. I’m sorry I couldn’t give that to you.”

Aunt Marie had always filled the room with her presence despite her small stature, commanding the attention of those around her and wielding her assumed authority with an iron fist. Defeat was not a good look on her.

He didn’t know how to fix that. The only words he knew to say were, “It’s not your fault.”

“It is.” Aunt Marie took in a deep breath, her face pinched. “There are people who want to hurt us- hurt me, for what we are. For what I’ve done. You haven’t come into your own yet, but they’ve seen you with me and it’s made you a target.”

Nick shook his head, his gaze darting between her and Sean, but Sean looked just as serious as she did. “I don’t- what?”

“You and I are Grimms, Nick. We can see people for what they really are. Like Sean.”

“Wait- there are more- what did you call him?”

“A Zauberbiest. There are more like him, and other kinds of… creatures… too. But they all look like normal humans to everyone else.”

He’d never seen any other creatures before. Maybe there weren’t any. But, no, he knew what he saw, and Aunt Marie and Sean were both acting as though they knew what he saw too.

Nick stared at her for a long moment before blowing out a rough breath. “Well, that’s a lame superpower.”

“It’s not a-” She rubbed her forehead where worry lines gouged deep. “This isn’t a game, or one of your comics. This is real. These people are dangerous.”

“But they’re like Sean, right? They go to baseball games and have jobs and stuff?”

Aunt Marie pursed her lips. “What are you trying to say?”

“Well, I just mean that guns are dangerous too, and normal people can have those, so…” Nick shrugged.

“Nick… I’m trying to tell you that our lives are in danger!” she hissed. “These people won’t hesitate to kill you! That’s why-”

“That’s enough.” Sean dropped his hand on her shoulder and she roughly shrugged him off with a scowl.

“You wanted him to know!”

“Yes. But not all Wesen are mindless killers, and you aren’t going to preach that to him.” He turned to Nick with a slight quirk to his lips that softened his features. “You have the right idea, Nick. They’re just people that look a bit different. There is a group that doesn’t like Grimms, though, and your aunt brought you here to keep you safe from them.”

“Oh…” Nick scuffed the toe of his sneaker on the hardwood floor. “But how would you be able to do anything about that?”

Aunt Marie muttered something under her breath, and Sean’s smile became thin. “Let’s just say I know some people.”

“But why would they want to hurt us? We haven’t done anything.”

Aunt Marie sighed. “It’s complicated. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

He rolled his eyes so hard they almost fell out of his head. “Really?!”

“Yes, really. Now let’s go home, I’m old and tired and it’s past both of our bedtimes.”

“Wait-” He turned to Sean, who raised a brow at him. “Can you do the thing again?”

“The thing?”

“You know, with your face?”

Sean’s head tilted to the side. “You want me to woge?”

“You can’t just- Nick,” Aunt Marie had never sounded so disappointed, but Nick blustered through the churning in his gut, tilting his chin up and waving at Sean to do the thing.

Sean looked at Aunt Marie. Aunt Marie scowled at him. Sean asked, “Are you going to slap me again?”

“I might.”

He hummed, and then his face rippled, twisted, shifted-

Nick flinched back, but Sean didn’t move from his spot, didn’t lunge at him and try to bite him or Aunt Marie or do anything except stare at him, so he straightened his back, clenched his jaw, and approached him. Sean kneeled in front of him as he did so, and his face wasn’t actually that bad up close. Nick studied the decay over his eye, over the corner of his mouth, and after a moment whispered, “That’s sick. Can I touch it?”

“Nick!” Aunt Marie cried.

Sean’s one good eye widened. His voice was gruff when he said, “What?”

He popped one shoulder up in a shrug. “Can I? It’s kinda cool.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Aunt Marie grabbed him by the arm, dragging him to the door, her grip unbreakable. “We’re leaving.”

Nick looked back at Sean before they slipped out of the apartment. His face was human again, and he was staring at Nick with a look he couldn’t decipher.

In the car Nick turned to her and asked, “So, can we do that?”

“Do what?”

“You know, with our face-”

“Good lord-” She groaned. “Why would you even want to?!”

“Why wouldn’t you?!” He clicked his tongue at her. “I would make the best zombie.”

She shook her head and muttered, “I love you, but you are a terrible Grimm.”

Chapter Text

“More homework?!”

Aunt Marie rapped her knuckles on the thick leather book she’d just plopped onto the table beside him. “You wanted to know what a Grimm was. You brought this on yourself.”

Nick groaned and dropped his head back. “Aunt Marie… I just finished…”

“Good. Then we can start on this.” She sat down next to him and flipped the book open, and his eyes went wide at the monster on the page.

It looked like Sean, except its entire face was decayed.

Aunt Marie tapped on the picture. “Hexenbiest. The female version of a Zauberbiest. That’s what Sean is, remember? They have magic - think of them like witches.”

Nick squinted at her. “Magic?”

“Yes.”

“For real?”

“For real.”

“Like, turn you into a toad, pointy hats and brooms, magic?”

She snorted. “Sort of.”

“Huh,” he said faintly, pressing back into his seat as the world tilted around him. So Sean wasn’t a zombie, after all. 

That meant that Sean was actually a wizard.

Nick leaned closer to her, his voice hushed, urgent, “Wait, can Sean do that?”

“...I’m not sure.”

“Have you asked?”

“No? That’s not something you can just ask, Nick.”

He sighed and leaned back. “It’d be so cool if he could just zap bad guys with his magic.”

“...Okay, and we’re moving on.” She flipped through the book to another monster. “This one is a Blutbad - they’re sort of like werewolves-”

“Werewolves?!” Nick perked up. “You mean I could be a werewolf?! That’s so much better than a zombie!”

She stared at him, and then set her elbow on the table and rubbed at her forehead, muttering, “What am I going to do with you…”

Chapter Text

“So what kind of magic can you do?”

Sean looked up at Nick from where he was chopping an onion, his brows furrowed. “...What?”

Nick hopped up on the stool in front of the counter and propped his elbow up on the granite surface, setting his chin on his palm. “You know. Since you’re a wizard. Can you teleport? Make things levitate? Set stuff on fire?”

Sean’s lips twitched up, and then spread into a smile wider than Nick had ever seen on him. He tilted his head slightly, pressed a finger to his lips, and winked at Nick before resuming his work.

Nick surged forward, slamming his hands down on the counter and leaning in as close as he could. “You can?!”

Sean just huffed out a quiet laugh, his smile somehow growing bigger.

“Holy-” Nick dropped back into his seat and spread his arms wide. “Do you even understand what that means?!”

“What does it mean?” there was laughter in his voice, too, as if he really didn’t understand.

“You’re a cop. You fight crime. You have magic.” Nick was nearly vibrating in place. He dropped his voice low, “You’re basically a superhero.”

Sean stared at him, his eyes wide. Apparently he’d never thought of using his powers for the greater good.

That was okay. Nick had thought about it enough for the both of them. “So what are your powers?”

Sean’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he slowly turned back to the onion in front of him. His voice was soft and slightly hoarse when he finally replied, “It’s a surprise.”

Nick clicked his tongue, scrunching up his nose. “Don’t be lame. I won’t tell.”

“Mhmm.”

He huffed, but then perked up as a thought occurred to him.

“You know…” he drawled, “a superhero needs a sidekick.”

“Oh?” the single syllable was faint.

Nick slapped his hand to his chest, grin cracking his face in two. “I. Could be, your sidekick!”

Sean just stared at him some more.

“Come on! We’d be like Batman and Robin! Don’t tell me you already have someone else!”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t.”

“So? Whaddya say? Partners?”

The corner of Sean’s mouth curved up, and he said, very quietly, “I’d love that.”

Nick wiggled in his seat, his cheeks hurting from the force of his grin.

He was going to be a superhero.

“But,” Sean continued, “When you’re older. School comes first.”

“What?!” Nick dropped his head back with a loud groan. “You’re just as bad as Aunt Marie!”

“That’s because she’s right.” Sean continued prepping the vegetables before him, his movements quick and efficient. “Who told you that I’m a wizard?”

“Aunt Marie.” He leaned in and snagged a piece of carrot, waving it at the man on the other side of the counter. “So where’s your broom? Or are you like Superman and you don’t need one?”

“For what?”

“To fly. Duh.” He popped the piece of carrot into his mouth.

Sean glanced up at him. “What exactly did she teach you?”

“She said that you can do magic, like a witch. Oh, and also that there are werewolves and stuff.” 

Sean dumped the cut vegetables into the pot on the stove. “I see. She’s been teaching you about Wesen?”

“That’s what the monsters are called, right?”

Sean shot him a sharp frown. “They’re not monsters.”

“A werewolf is a monster.”

“So you think I’m a monster?”

Nick shrank into himself, biting his lip as he shook his head.

“Then don’t call them that.”

“Sorry…” he mumbled, tugging at his sleeve. “I didn’t… mean it like that.”

Sean hummed and stirred the contents of the pot. “There are no werewolves, though. She did tell you that, didn’t she?”

“She, um, called them something else, yeah. I don’t really know how to say it, though.”

“Blutbad.” He eyed Nick. “We can go over it together, if you’d like.” 

More homework? “I guess…”

“Don’t sound too excited.”

Nick shrugged. “It’s just. Kind of a lot. She has a lot of books and she wants me to read all of them, and a lot of it isn’t even in English.”

Sean’s hand faltered as he set the spoon down. “Oh? You could always bring them here. I know a few languages and could help you translate them.”

“I’m not supposed to show them to anyone, sorry.”

“I’m sure your aunt wouldn’t mind.”

Nick shook his head. “I can’t.”

Sean nodded, once, and picked up the glass of whiskey he’d poured for himself before he started cooking. “Well, if you find anything you can’t read, you can always write it down and bring it to me.”

“Thanks.” He grinned, and chirped, “Partner.”

Sean paused mid-sip. A smile bloomed across his face, and he raised his glass in a toast. “Partner.”

Chapter Text

“Is he a Wesen?”

“No.”

Nick pointed at another man walking through the store. “What about him?”

Aunt Marie did not even look up from the shirts she was rifling through. “No. Stop pointing at people. It’s rude.”

Nick blew out an explosive breath and crossed his arms. “Being a Grimm is lame.”

“Mhmm.” She pulled one of the shirts off of the rack and held it up to him, her head tilted. “This is nice.”

He pushed it away from himself with a scowl. “I can pick out my own clothes, you know.”

“You asked me to help you.”

Nick clicked his tongue. “Yeah, help me, not do it for me. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“No, I suppose you aren’t.” A faint smile ghosted about the corners of her mouth. “But you’ll always be my little kid.”

“Aunt Marie!” He groaned, turning away from her stupid face and trotting over to the next rack of shirts to roughly flick through them. A flash of green on black made him pause, and he pulled the shirt off of the rack and held it up. Zombies dragged themselves across the front in varying states of decay, their exaggerated cartoon expressions making him grin. 

“Absolutely not.”

His grin dropped at Aunt Marie’s stern tone. “I like it.”

“How? Look at it- it’s all…” she tugged at the side of the shirt, her face scrunching up. “It’s irreverent.”

“This is what I want to get.”

They stared each other down. Aunt Marie cracked first with a sigh. “Is it because of Sean?”

“What?!” Nick recoiled, cheeks heating up. “No! I just- think it looks cool! The other guys at school wear stuff like this too!”

She just nodded with a quiet hum, and Nick scowled at her and shoved the shirt back onto the rack.

He didn't really want it, anyway.

But Aunt Marie picked it back up and draped it over her arm, waving at him to follow her as she headed deeper into the shop. “Come on. You need pants, too.”

Chapter Text

“Can I… draw you?”

Sean froze mid-bite, his fork still in his mouth, his brows shooting high on his forehead. It lasted only a second, but heat still seared across Nick’s cheeks and he buried himself in his dinner and stuttered out, “Nevermind. That was- stupid. Sorry.”

Sean cleared his throat and set his fork down. “No, don’t be sorry. I’d like that.”

“You… you’re not just saying that, are you?”

“No. When would you like to do it?”

“Um.” He pushed a piece of broccoli around. “Tonight? If that’s okay?”

“Sure. Finish your food and we can get started.” 

His plate was cleaned in record time, but his hands shook as he flipped through his sketchbook to a blank page, the food sitting heavily in his stomach. Sean settled on the couch next to him with his glass of whiskey, a small smile on his face. “Is this alright?”

He fiddled with the corner of the book, his lip caught between his teeth. “Can you…?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you do the thing?”

Sean’s smile dropped. “What thing?”

He couldn’t unlock his jaw, so he tapped his finger on the corner of his mouth.

Silence.

Then, “You want me to woge.”

Nick nodded.

“You want to draw me, while woged.”

Nick nodded again.

Sean blew out a rough breath. “Nick…”

“Please?” Nick scooted closer on the couch, hugging his sketchbook to his chest. “I won’t show anyone! You could even have it if you want it!”

“Why would you even want to do that?”

“Because it’s cool,” he mumbled.

Sean looked away and drained his glass.

A moment passed. And then his face shifted, and he turned and faced Nick, but he did not meet his gaze. “There. Hurry up.”

“Thank you,” he breathed, and lost himself to the scritch of pencil on paper. Shades of gray filled the empty white canvas, and a form took shape under his careful attention. His eyes flicked back and forth between paper and model, his brows furrowed deep.

After a while Sean sighed, and his face shifted back to its human guise. “Sorry. That’s all I can do.”

Nick shook his head. “No, thank you, that was enough.”

“...Can I see?”

“Uh, yeah, just- gimmie a sec…” The nose was still wrong. He squinted at Sean’s nose, and erased the tip of it before redrawing it. It was- still not quite right, actually, but he’d figure it out later. He took a deep breath and handed the sketchbook to Sean. “It’s not great. It’s not even good, it’s just, you know, a sketch, so, yeah. It’d be better if I had more time…”

Sean looked up from the portrait and asked, so soft, “This is how you see me?”

“Well- I mean. Yeah?” He quickly added, “Unless you don’t like it.”

“...Can I keep this?”

“Sure…?” Nick drew the word out. “Does that mean… you do like it? Or…”

“It’s…” Sean kept staring at him, and it was starting to get weird. “Nice.”

“If you say so,” Nick muttered, accepting the book back one page lighter.

Chapter Text

"Did your bag just squeak?"

Nick hunched over his bag, clutching it to his chest. "No."

Sean shot him a glance and lowered the volume on the radio station blasting a commercial about car insurance. "I definitely heard-"

A soft squeak rang out. Nick coughed into his fist.

"Nick."

"Sean."

"Did you bring an animal into my car?"

He scoffed. "No-"

Another squeak. His bag wiggled in his arms. 

"Nicholas."

Nick turned to face Sean fully, gazing up at him with his best pleading look, but the man didn't spare him another glance. "Lily was in the parking lot and I couldn't just let her get run over! She would've died, Sean!"

"Lily?!" Sean’s voice went sharp, "Do not tell me you named it!"

"She’s not an it!" Nick gusted out a sigh and unzipped his bag. A tiny furry head popped out, and he smiled down at Lily and scratched between her twitching ears.

"You-" Sean cut off with a curse. "What was your plan here? Was the kitten supposed to stay in your bag until your aunt picks you up?"

Nick shrank back into his seat, gently corralling the ball of black fluff back into his bag as she tried to pull herself out. "No, I just… didn't want her to get hurt… Please don't tell Aunt Marie. She doesn't like strays."

Sean scrubbed his hand over his face with a groan. "How do you plan to keep her a secret?"

"Um…" Lily let out another soft squeak. Nick bent down and bumped his nose against hers, murmuring, "Maybe… you could just-"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"Just for one night?"

The car stopped at a red light and Sean sat back in his seat, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. A long, silent moment passed.

Then, “You owe me.”

Chapter Text

“Where’s Lily?” Nick asked the moment the door to Sean’s apartment closed behind his aunt.

Sean’s face scrunched up into a grimace. Nick sucked in a sharp breath and took a step back. “You didn’t! You said you wouldn’t get rid of her!”

“No, I said she could stay for one night-”

“You’re heartless!” Nick spat. “How could you-”

“Nick!”

Nick’s jaw clamped shut, and Sean sighed, the lines of his face drawn taut as he slowly opened his jacket to reveal Lily tucked into the inside pocket, only her tiny head visible.

“Oh,” Nick said softly.

“It’s the only way to get her to calm down. She was destroying everything.”

Lily squeaked and squirmed in the pocket, and Nick’s hand rose in response to gently scratch between her ears. They twitched with the attention, but she resettled, and Nick smiled.

“That’s cute,” he said before he could stop himself.

Sean’s face went stony. Nick stuttered out, “I- I meant she’s cute! Lily is!”

Sean did not reply. Nick coughed into his fist and scuffed his shoe against the floor. “So… does this mean you’re gonna keep her?”

“...We will see.”

Nick nodded. “Cool, cool. Can I play with her?”

Sean sighed as if that was the most demanding request Nick had ever presented him with, but he gently worked Lily out of his pocket and handed her to him. The moment she was out of Sean’s big hand she was a thrashing ball of violent energy, and Nick quickly put her down before he dropped her. She bolted around the corner, disappearing out of sight before he could blink.

There was a crash of something dropping to the ground in one of the other rooms, and Sean closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath.

“You’re cleaning that up,” he said. There was another crash. “And that.”

Nick nodded with a wince, and went to stop her.

Chapter Text

“Sean! Hurry up!”

Nick huffed at Sean, who was talking on his phone after promising that he wasn’t even going to pull it out of his pocket. Well, he didn’t say the words ‘I promise’ exactly, but it was close enough.

Sean just shot him a glance and held up his finger. Nick stuck his tongue out at him, which was such a little kid thing to do and he was not a little kid but Sean wasn’t even looking at him anymore so it didn’t even matter.

“Here, Nick,” Aunt Marie said, hauling the huge umbrella they’d brought out of the trunk of Sean’s car. “You can go pick us a spot.”

Nick huffed again but took it from her and trudged away. The umbrella was bulky in his arms, and it was actually kind of difficult to navigate the sand with its added weight. He stopped halfway to the water, looking around at the empty stretch of beach. Somehow Sean had found them a secret place without any other people - or maybe he’d just cleared them all out with his magic or something, because there was a volleyball net set up nearby. Either way, the only sounds on the beach were the crash of the waves, the whistle of the wind, and the calls of the birds flying around.

It was kind of lonely.

But it was also kind of cool, because he’d never seen a beach without people-

Oh, wait, no, there was one person. There was a lifeguard hut just down the beach, and there was movement inside of it.

“Nick!”

Nick looked over his shoulder at the sound of his aunt’s voice to find her trudging up the beach behind him with Sean. She waved her purse at him and called, “Go closer to the water!”

So he did. He found a spot and shoved the umbrella into the sand, and by the time Aunt Marie and Sean had finally made it to him he had created a spot of shade. Aunt Marie immediately unfolded the chair she was carrying down underneath it and plopped onto it with a long, drawn-out sigh. She was thankfully not wearing a bathing suit - Nick didn’t think he would be able to scour that image from his mind - but neither was Sean. Nick was the only one who was, which wasn’t really fair given they were at a beach.

Maybe Sean didn’t own a bathing suit. He should’ve bought one, then. He’d had enough time.

He was wearing sports clothes instead - a light short-sleeved shirt and shorts that clung to his frame - which could probably get wet. Aunt Marie definitely wasn’t going in the water with Nick, but Sean might.

Nick opened his mouth to ask him just that when Aunt Marie tossed a tube of sunscreen at him. He scowled at her. She scowled back and said, “Use it.”

“I don’t-”

“Yes, you do.”

Yes, he did. He grumbled but started putting it on as Sean set the cooler and bag he was carrying down into the sand and started unfolding the other two chairs he’d also been hauling like a pack mule. But then Sean started sitting down in one, and Aunt Marie pulled out two - two - books from her purse and handed one to him and pulled out a thermos and Sean pulled out cups from the cooler and she poured some dark red liquid into them - blood, probably - and they both sat back and both took a sip and Aunt Marie sighed again and Sean hummed and nodded his head slightly and Nick cried, “Are you two just going to sit there and read?!”

They looked up at him. Well, at least, they turned their heads up to face him. They were wearing large sunglasses that were pitch black - like FBI sunglasses - so he couldn’t see their eyes. Aunt Marie was the one who answered him, “Yes.”

Nick clicked his tongue and swung his arm around him to show off the whole empty beach they had to themselves. “We just came all this way and now you want to read?! You can do that at home! You do do that all the time at home! That’s all you ever do! We haven’t been to a beach since-”

He cut off, swallowing hard around the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat as Aunt Marie’s lips turned down. The last time they had gone to a beach was with his parents. He hadn’t even seen the ocean since then. Before she could say anything he forced out the words, “We have the beach to ourselves - let’s go play volleyball or something.”

He hadn’t played volleyball since the last time they’d gone to the beach, either, but surely it was like riding a bike.

Which he also hadn’t done since his parents had died. So maybe it was going to be really hard.

Aunt Marie sighed, again. “Just give us a minute. We’re old. We need to sit and drink our old people's juice before we can go play.”

“You mean your blood.”

She snorted. “Yes.”

Sean frowned at him. “Blood?”

“Cause you’re vampires,” Nick declared. “Only vampires would sit in the shade on the beach. The whole point is to be in the sun.”

Aunt Marie raised her blood at him as if in a toast. “You’re going to be sitting here with us soon enough.”

“You can go in the water if you want,” Sean said. “There’s a lifeguard on duty.”

Nick crossed his arms. “Yeah, how? Don’t they only come out if there’s like, people’s lives to guard?”

“We’re people, aren’t we?”

He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. How did you even find this place? I’ve never seen a beach with less than, I don’t know, a million people on it.”

“A whole million?”

“Yep.”

Sean’s quirked lips disappeared behind his cup. When he lowered it he said, “It’s one of the perks of being with me. Enjoy.”

Nick frowned at him. “What does that mean?”

“It means he’s good at timing the crowds.” Aunt Marie waved her book at him. “Go see if you can find me any nice shells. I want to start a collection now that I have somewhere to put it. I’ll play volleyball with you once I’ve finished my drink, okay? I don’t want to put it down and get sand in it.”

Nick sighed and turned away from them, kicking his feet through the sand as he made his way to the water. The moment the water touched his toes he squeaked and hopped away, whirling around with his ears burning when one of his two companions laughed behind him.

It was Aunt Marie. She called, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s cold!” he called back. “Why is it cold?”

Sean said something to her. They spoke for a moment before she replied to Nick, “The Pacific’s cold!”

Oh. Lame.

The beach his parents had taken him to had warm water. That thought made the lump in his throat come back, and he shoved the thought away hard and forced himself to step into the water.

It was freezing. He shuddered, but powered through, because Sean and Aunt Marie were watching and he had shells to find.

There weren’t actually that many shells to find. He poked around in the wet sand and found crabs, though, which he grinned at and played with for a while. They were kind of cute, in a way, and also kind of gross, and he picked one up and brought it back with him to show Aunt Marie. He presented his finding to her, and she lifted her sunglasses and peered at it closely with a hum.

“Looks like dinner,” she said.

Nick clutched his crab to his chest with a gasped, “No?! You can’t eat George!”

Her narrowed eyes disappeared behind her glasses. “Stop naming them. You can’t keep it.”

“Is this a thing he does?” Sean asked, sitting up in his chair and dropping his book onto his lap. “Does he just pick up any animal he finds?”

“Why…?” she dragged out the word, but didn’t give Sean a chance to respond before she continued, “Do not tell me he roped you into taking care of a stray.”

Sean tilted his head back slightly, as if staring her down. “He didn’t do anything.”

Aunt Marie clicked her tongue and ripped her glasses from her face, spitting, “You can’t let him get away with shit like that. He’ll bring home the entire city of Portland if you let him.”

Sean sighed and rubbed at his temple with his free hand. “It was one kitten-”

“Sean!” Nick cried because that asshole wasn’t supposed to tell her.

“And I bet you’re the one taking care of it now, hmm? Not him?” Aunt Marie asked.

Sean went silent. Nick answered for him, “I help out! I play with her and help feed her and stuff.”

She turned her icy gaze on him. “There’s more to taking care of an animal than playing and feeding them.”

Nick dropped his gaze down to his crab. It pinched him with its claw, and he winced and tried to work it free.

Aunt Marie sighed heavily and said to Sean, “It’s your problem now. Just don’t say yes too many times, or he’ll start expecting it.”

“I will not,” Nick muttered, crouching down and burying the crab in the sand.

“Of course you won’t. Did you find me any shells?”

He’d forgotten about the shells. “I found you a crab.”

“I already brought snacks.”

“Gross.” He wrinkled his nose at her and turned away, trotting back to the water to continue his search for shells. He found a grand total of two acceptable ones, and they were both rather small. But Aunt Marie would probably think they were pretty, so he brought them back to her and dropped them into her outstretched hand. She studied them with a small smile, nodded her head, handed them to Sean who frowned at her, and then heaved herself out of her chair.

“Okay, let’s go play,” she said, grabbing the ball they’d brought from the bag of toys Nick had packed. Nick cheered and bounced the entire way over to the net, urging her to move faster when she walked over to it at a slow crawl.

The first round was a painful loss. Nick scrambled after the ball and could not get to it in time.

The second round was much the same.

So was the third.

“Aunt Marie!” he did not whine, “This isn’t a competition!”

She raised a brow at him. “Isn’t it?”

He deflated, and served again.

She won three more rounds before Sean wandered over and stood nearby watching them. Nick waved him closer, gasping out, “You’re on my team!”

Sean shook his head. “I’m not playing against Marie Kessler.”

She snorted. Nick scowled and waved at her. “Look at her! We can take her!”

“No, we can’t.”

Aunt Marie threw the ball at Sean, who caught it with a raised brow. She smiled at him and sauntered out of the playing field, not even slightly out of breath as she said, “You two can play. I’ll watch.”

Sean’s face pinched. “I… have never played before.”

Nick perked up. He could beat Sean. “It’s easy! Just hit the ball over the net to me, and don’t let it touch the ground!”

He shook his head, but Aunt Marie shoved him forward toward the net with a firm, “You’re playing with him.”

Sean looked like he was about to protest, so Nick said softly, “Please?”

The man caved like ice cream under a hot sun.

Nick beamed at him as he got into position. He walked him through how to serve the ball and how to score points and how to not lose - though they weren’t playing to win the first round - and Sean picked it up quickly, and soon Nick was running around again, swatting the ball back to him with a huge grin on his face.

And then they were playing to win.

It was like a switch had been flipped. Suddenly the game was intense in a way it hadn’t been with his aunt - that had been an annihilation. This was an actual competition, one Nick was going to win. He couldn’t lose to an old man who had never even played the game before.

And he didn’t.

He won the first round, and the second.

And then he lost the third, and the fourth.

They were both gasping for breath as they stared each other down through the net while Aunt Marie declared the next round the final one.

The Tie Breaker Round.

Nick could not lose. He could not. It was not an option. He did not just teach Sean how to play just to be beaten by him. Sean was probably using his wizard powers to cheat or something. But that didn’t matter, because Nick was still better than him.

He served, and the game started.

It ended just as quickly, because Nick was better than him.

Or maybe Sean had let him win- no, Sean wouldn’t do that. Or maybe he would. No, he wouldn’t. Either way, Nick had won, and Sean was grinning at him in a way he never did, the lines of his body loose in a way it never was, and all Nick could really do was grin back and sit under the umbrella with him and Aunt Marie and eat the snacks they’d brought. The watermelon tasted different with the salt in the air and the burn in his muscles and his aunt and Sean chatting quietly next to him. It tasted sweeter.

It tasted like home.

Chapter Text

“This is your Batcave?”

Nick scrunched up his nose at the trailer in front of him. Aunt Marie had obviously never read a single comic book in her life - the trailer looked more like a beached submarine than a superhero hideout.

Aunt Marie snorted and opened the door. “No. I’m not Batman, and you’re not Robin. Get in.”

Of course she wasn’t Batman. That was Sean.

He climbed into the trailer after her. The inside was musty, like an old library, which suited his aunt because she was a librarian. She walked straight to a cabinet against the wall, and as he approached she opened it to reveal that it was stocked full of weapons he didn’t know the names of.

Maybe this was her superhero hideout, afterall.

“If you’re going to be a Grimm, you’re going to learn how to fight like one,” she said. “This is who we are. This is who you are. One day I will be gone and you will have to know how to use these weapons to do what must be done.”

He nodded, unable to find his voice to reply.

She sighed. “I didn’t want this for you. But it is in your blood, and it will come for you whether I want it to or not. Sean was right. You need to be prepared for when that happens, like my grandfather prepared me and your mother.”

“My mother?” he managed to choke out past the lump that had formed in his throat.

“Yes. She was like us.” She closed the cabinet doors and gestured to the inside of the trailer. “We collected this together. Guarded it. Now you must guard it too. Do not tell anyone this trailer exists.”

Aunt Marie’s face became severe, and she held her finger up to his face as she said, her voice low, “Especially Sean.”

Nick stared at her, his eyes wide. Why couldn’t Sean know about the trailer?

“Swear it,” she said.

“I… I swear.”

“Good.” Her face softened into a slight smile, and she cupped his cheek and leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead. She pulled back and ushered him toward the door, saying, “We won’t practice with weapons yet. You’re not ready for that. We’ll start with the basics, and go from there.”

They left the trailer, and Aunt Marie locked the door behind them before heading back to her car parked nearby. Nick got in with her, and after a few minutes of driving managed to ask, “Was… was Dad like… us?”

Aunt Marie glanced over at him, and then reached out and caught his hand, her voice hushed and gentle in the way it always was when she spoke about his parents, “No, just your mother. But they loved each other very much, and they loved you even more.”

A heavy breath shuddered out of him, and he scrubbed at his eyes with his free hand, chasing away the heat building there.

His mom was a Grimm, too. She was probably the greatest Grimm that ever lived - other than Aunt Marie, of course.

He was going to do everything he could to make her proud.

Chapter Text

If there was one thing Nick knew how to do, it was how to hit things with a bat.

“This isn’t so hard,” he panted out, dragging his hand over his forehead to wipe away the sweat. “It’s basically baseball.”

Aunt Marie snorted and threw another melon at him, and he yelped and stumbled out of the way. It smashed into the tree behind him and shattered into a goopy mess, which would’ve been him if he’d been hit by it because apparently she’d thrown to kill. Aunt Marie held up her next melon and said, “You’re supposed to hit it.”

“I am! I was-” he cut off with a cry as she threw that melon at him too, ducking out of the way as it flew at his head. “Aunt Marie! Stop trying to kill me!”

“A Wesen won’t wait for you to catch your breath.” She grabbed another melon from the bag they had brought and took aim. “Now concentrate.”

Nick huffed and raised the wooden bat on steroids he’d been given to practice with. At least when he played baseball he didn’t get sticky.

Chapter Text

“We’re partners, aren’t we?”

Nick turned his wide eyes on Sean, his hands going still where he was shaking one of Lily’s toys for her to chase. “Uh, yeah! Why?”

Sean crouched down next to him and attempted to scratch Lily’s stomach, but pulled his hand out of reach when she swatted at him. She flipped back onto her feet and scampered away, and he turned his attention to Nick and said, “I need your help with something.”

“For real?!” 

Sean nodded, which didn’t make sense because he never needed Nick’s help with anything. Not even with chores, and definitely not with bad guys. “You’re the only one I can trust to do this with.”

Oh.

Wow.

His stomach felt weird and his face had become hot and he got the sudden urge to hide in- in a closet or something, or under the covers in his bed until the heat in his cheeks and the twist in his stomach went away. He couldn’t even look at Sean anymore, much less help him do anything.

But this was his chance to prove to Sean that he was the best wizard sidekick in the whole world, so he unclamped his jaw and mumbled, “What do you need me to do?”

“Not much. I’m going to meet with some important people to…” he paused, and then continued carefully, “form a wizard contract. I need you to be there with me when it happens.”

Nick’s brows furrowed. “You just want me to be there?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t really sound like helping.”

“It will help me a lot to have my partner at my side.”

His chest puffed slightly, the heat in his cheeks burning hotter. He would be the best partner Sean could ever ask for. “When are you going?”

“When are we going,” Sean corrected, a small smile on his face, and Nick returned it with a face-breaking grin of his own. “The meeting isn’t until next week.”

“Do I bring anything?”

“Just yourself. It shouldn’t take too long to do.” With that Sean pushed himself to his feet. He turned back on his way out of the room, though, and called back to Nick, “Oh, and Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t tell your aunt about this. This is a secret mission. Superheroes only.”

That strange twist in his stomach intensified. Nick nodded slowly. “Okay.”

Sean’s smile widened. “I’m glad I can count on you, partner.”

Chapter Text

“Are you ready?”

Nick frowned at Sean. His stomach was in knots, but he nodded at him anyway. “Yeah.”

“Remember, all you have to do during the meeting today is sit still and be quiet. Don’t ask questions, don’t answer questions, don’t even look at anyone. Understood?” Sean asked.

Nick’s frown turned into a scowl. “What is this, a drug deal?”

“That doesn’t sound like ‘understood’.”

He sighed. He was already here - he could be quiet while Sean did his mob boss business. “Okay.”

They stepped out of Sean’s car into the underground parking lot they’d pulled into, and quickly made their way to the elevator. They went up, and up, and up. And up, and all the way up to the tip top of the entire building. The doors opened to a vast hotel suite that was nicer than Sean’s apartment - it was like one of those rich people’s houses, like a tiny mansion full of rich people’s stuff. Nick froze at the threshold, shrinking in on himself and stepping closer to Sean as lightly as he could to not scuff the floor with his dirty sneakers.

Sean rested his hand on the back of his neck and gently pushed him inside, guiding him into that immaculate opulence as if he lived there. And maybe he did. Maybe it was his second house. Maybe Sean actually was a mob boss, a wizard mob boss who used his magic to control all the other gangs.

But, no, there were people waiting for them - or, they were waiting for Sean, because no one would be waiting for Nick. A man and a woman were sitting in the living room sipping fancy looking drinks with olives in them, and they stood as Nick and Sean approached.

“Sean!” The woman got to them first and kissed Sean on both of his cheeks, which, gross, was this his girlfriend? She wore all designer clothes with jewelry that tinkled as she moved, and bright red lipstick that covered her lips like a freshly painted fire hydrant. She had a nice face, though, and a nice frame. But she was altogether too gaudy for Sean. So not a girlfriend, then. The woman glanced down at Nick, who quickly looked away like he’d been told to do as she cooed with a lilting accent, “This is your Grimm? He is so young! And so cute! I did not know they came like this. He simply must sit by me.”

“No,” Sean said. “Let’s get started. I have other appointments to keep.”

“Come now, Sean.” The man raised his drink at Sean. He was wearing a well-fitting suit over which a long, well-groomed beard draped. Everything about him was polished - even his accent sounded rich and fancy. But the way he looked at Sean made Nick’s skin crawl, and the feeling only intensified when that gaze swept over himself. “Let’s get you two something to drink first.”

“We’re fine. The contract?”

The two strangers sat back down and Sean led Nick to the couch opposing them. A suitcase sat on the coffee table between them, and the woman popped it open and pulled a length of rope out of it as if that wasn’t out of the ordinary at all. The back of Nick’s neck was prickling and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the rope as it was tied around Sean’s and the other man’s wrists. He opened his mouth to speak, and quickly snapped it shut. He was not supposed to say a word, but something bad was about to happen.

The woman produced a dagger - an actual dagger - from the suitcase next, and that prickle turned into an itch under his skin, like fire ants biting every inch of him. Nick caught Sean’s elbow and leaned into him, whispering, “Sean, you can’t.”

Sean went rigid.

The woman smiled at Nick, a horrible, pretty smile that made the fire ant dance party turn into a rave. “What’s wrong sweetheart?”

Nick tugged on Sean’s sleeve and muttered, “Let’s just go.”

“Honey,” the woman crooned, her voice all saccharine sugar, “Your prince is busy right now. Be a good little Grimm and sit quietly.”

His prince? He scowled at her as she raised that dagger to her hand.

“Stop,” Sean said as he untied the rope from his wrist. “Deal’s off.”

“Pardon?” The man’s pleasant demeanor dropped. There was something off about his face, something not quite human, as if he were wearing a mask made of flesh and it was no longer fitting correctly. It made Nick’s stomach churn as he turned his gaze on him - and his eyes. There was something wrong with his eyes, but now cymbals were clashing in Nick’s head and he had to look away as the man said, his voice gruffer than before, almost animalistic, “I suggest you reconsider.”

“I suggest you leave my city.”

The two men stared each other down. Nick huddled against Sean’s side, his hand still tangled in his sleeve. He hadn’t meant to mess up Sean’s meeting so badly, but they really needed to leave. Now. Sitting there was physically painful, his entire body a wound spring ready to release.

“You would listen to a child?” The man scoffed. “This is foolish. You will not find another willing to deal with your kind in all of America.”

“Unlikely.” Sean stood, guiding Nick up with him and leading him toward the elevator, calling back to the strangers, “You have until midnight to leave Portland. Don’t come back.” 

The elevator doors closed behind them. Sean did not let go of the back of Nick’s neck, and the warm weight of his palm soothed the cymbals and fire ants enough for him to unlock his jaw and mutter, “I’m sorry.”

Sean squeezed his neck gently. “What did you see?”

“I…” But he didn’t see anything. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“Did you see them woge?”

“No. I just…” He shouldn’t have spoken up. “It’s stupid. I’m really sorry, Sean.”

Sean stepped closer, lowering his voice down to a murmur that smoothed the high peaks of Nick’s shoulders, “It’s not stupid to me. Tell me what you saw.”

“I…” But how was he supposed to tell him that he had just ruined his very important meeting because of an itch and a headache?

The elevator doors opened. Sean sighed and led him out into the parking garage and back to the car. Once inside though he turned to Nick with an expectant look, saying, “Partners have to tell each other these things, Nick. You do want to be my partner, don’t you?”

Nick winced, ducking his head and biting the downward curl of his lip. “Yes.”

“Then tell me what you saw.”

“I just… I didn’t see anything. I, um, I got a really bad feeling about it. Like something bad was going to happen,” he said. When Sean failed to respond Nick peeked up at him to find a small frown on his face and a furrow between his brows, his gaze distant as if he was deep in thought. Nick tugged on his seatbelt and muttered another, “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Sean immediately replied. “It’s good you spoke up. You have to trust your instincts. It’s the only thing in life you can trust.”

“But… I trust you.”

Sean’s eyes went wide. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and then he said, “And… I trust you. I know you’ll always have my back, won’t you?”

Nick nodded so hard he almost snapped his neck. “Always!”

A small smile slowly curled Sean’s lips up. “Good, because I might need your help again.”

“Even after I…”

“The only way to learn how to be a superhero is by doing it,” Sean said, and the way he was looking at Nick now made that strange twist in his stomach return ten-fold. “And the world needs more superheroes like you.”

The words made his heart stutter in his chest. Like him? He hadn’t even done anything.

Or maybe he had. Maybe he’d just saved Sean from something bad. Maybe Sean would’ve been trapped in an evil witch curse if Nick hadn’t been there to stop it. Maybe Sean did need him as his partner.

Nick wasn’t going to let him down.