Five's a Crowd | Stucky / Marvel Polyamorous LGBT Romance

Chapter 7: Nicky

They all needed haircuts, desperately. The end of July arrived and they had only a few days left until Steve and Ayo's art display was to be shown at the national modern art museum. Thankfully, the exhibit was outside in the museum gardens. It seemed the COVID exhibit was self-aware enough to be outside.

Nicky was rather enjoying the way some of their hair had turned long and shaggy, specifically Bucky and Charlie's. He had never been able to run his fingers through Charlie's hair before and this was part of the reason he had gone so long without demanding haircuts for them all. Unfortunately, Nicky and Steve with their fine blonde hair were beginning to look unkempt. Nicky was constantly flicking, blowing, and shoving his hair out of his face and he was over it.

The opportunity finally came arose the Saturday before the exhibit. Bucky and Steve held a weekly zoom call with Nat and Ayo. Sometimes Sam and Rhodey would make an appearance with Lilah. Nicky liked to join for those zoom calls the most, but sometimes he just joined to see Nat and Ayo. He loved how large and in charge Nat was for someone even smaller than he was. Ayo reminded him a lot of Charlie, with her calming almost sentinel-like presence.

On this particular Saturday, she was in an effervescent mood Nicky had never seen before. She was practically leaking the anticipation and excitement for the exhibit.

Nat was like the cat that ate the canary with how proud she was of Ayo. Nicky resonated with this a lot. It was rather how he felt knowing Steve was about to enter the art world and possibly begin a successful career.

It was one of Nicky's favorite calls he'd ever joined, and right before they hung up, Nat burst out, "you can't seriously be going to the opening looking like that! You guys are looking rough. Please come over and let us cut your hair. You remember I'm certified, right?"

Nicky had of course not known this and he practically flung himself on the laptop in appreciation.

He ended up shoving everyone out the door no less than an hour later and soon they were all seated in Nat's backyard getting stylish haircuts. Most of them were similar to their normal looks, but Bucky and Nicky begged each other not to cut too much of their hair, so they both ended up with slightly longer hair than they had sported before the pandemic. Nicky found he actually really liked how he looked when his hair was purposefully cut a little longer.

"Alright you mongrels. How about we turn our fourth standing call of every other month into a haircut, hm?" Nat had let her hair grow out during the pandemic and the extra length of shocking red hair was striking on her.

Ayo had kept her hair well maintained, and when Nicky cooed at them for how cute it was they cut each other's hair, Ayo blanched and explained calmly that she would never let any white girl, even her white girl, near her hair. Nat just laughed at this.

The night before the exhibit the house was a mess of nerves. Nerves for Steve, as well as the fact that this would be the first time they were all going to an event since the pandemic started. The venue was going to be very strict about social distancing and masking protocols, but Steve, as one of the artists, was still most likely going to be approached by a lot of strangers. They had managed to procure some heavy duty n95 masks so that felt a little safer, but still not great.

Bucky had taken Steve to bed early and after much leg jostling and fidgeting at the dinner table, Charlie had done the same with Nicky.

Charlie tried to distract him with conversation and eventually sex, but Nicky was too jangled up inside to settle down.

Finally, having reached the end of his patience, Charlie grabbed some of his own ties and tied Nicky to the bed frame. At first it was mostly a joke, but as they gazed at each other, Nicky defiantly and Charlie fondly, it became more than that.