Sucker • {Nick Jonas}

10. not how that works

Over the next couple of months, Sparrow's song with the Jonas Brothers came out, charted at number one, and the tour was announced.

It was all such a ridiculous whirlwind, more than Sparrow had ever expected for herself or her career, and she was over the moon about it. Overnight, she went from a moderately-known pretty much nobody to someone who seemed to matter suddenly. She didn't care about fame or any of that, but the sudden listens and positive feedback on her own music sure were nice and felt like finally being validated after working her ass off for years.

Over that time she just got closer and closer to the brothers themselves, too. They were genuinely some of the nicest and most caring people she'd ever met and she had an absolute blast with them. All three of them could make her laugh in a way she wasn't sure she ever had with anyone other than Daisy, who was also absolutely loving the situation.

Above everything else, she was also getting very close with Nick. Joe and Kevin had fallen right into their promise of brotherhood, but Nick... Nick was something else. She was falling for him harder and faster than she'd ever fallen for anyone.

At twenty-five, she'd never actually been in a real relationship, she'd just never really cared about anyone enough to let them behind the curtain of her life. Her career had always been more important. But now... now, Nick was slowly getting behind that curtain, whether she immediately wanted him to or not.

They'd had dinner multiple times and they'd even graduated to movie nights at each others' houses with snacks and intermittent cuddling. The fans and the press seemed convinced that they were together, and sometimes Sparrow absently wondered if maybe they kind of were. They hadn't talked about it outright; he knew she hadn't really dated and didn't really want to date, and the both of them seemed very careful to keep some sort of boundaries between them.

"What should we order for food tonight? It's your turn to decide, little bird," he said one night as they sat a safe distance from each other on his couch. At first she'd thought the fond nickname he'd adopted for her was absolutely goofy and had told him so. He'd continued using it because for a while it had made her laugh, but eventually she'd kind of settled into it. After all, she did still call him her fairy godmother with relative frequency.

She looked at him, taking him in from his soft-looking gray sweatpants and worn-in t-shirt to his disheveled hair and the stubble on his chin. He looked so warm and soft, so inviting. She really was falling for him. Everything about him was so... right.

His deep brown eyes turned on her and broke her gaze. She shrugged.

"Oh come on. Don't give me the 'I don't know, you decide' act. We both know there's probably something you want but just aren't saying," he joked, reaching across to her and twirling a strand of her long ginger hair around his finger. She laughed.

"Actually, I just wasn't thinking about it because I was too busy admiring you," she said before giving herself a chance to really think about it. Nick smirked.

"Oh yeah? Like what you see?" he asked, his tone still light and joking. She nodded. He seemed to take in the seriousness of her expression because all of the amusement fell out of his own at once.

"I like you," she told him, shrugging. "I don't know what that means or what to do about it, but I like you so much," she told him, feeling silly and juvenile. She was waiting for him to tell her he didn't feel the same way or thought she was stupid or something, but he didn't. Instead, he smiled widely at her, shrugging back.

"I like you too. Confession: the only reason we discovered your music back in the beginning is because I was stalking your page because I thought you were beautiful," he told her, making her heart flip right over in her chest. "It doesn't have to mean anything right now. I know we're about to leave on this tour and I'm sure you're nervous and it's the first tour with my brothers and I reunited, so it's going to be hectic. It's going to be stressful. We don't have to do anything about anything that you don't want to. The pace is completely up to you, but fucking christ do I like you too, Sparrow," he said, making her smile widely.

"I want to kiss you," she told him, making him smile back at her. "Would that make you upset?" she questioned, a cheeky grin on her face. He shook his head.

"No, it wouldn't make me upset at all."

So, she did. Their lips met and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. He held her back, kissing her slowly and tenderly. Her whole body tingled and she wanted to live in that moment, that kiss, forever.

When they pulled apart a few moments later, she laughed as he playfully pulled her into a cuddle against his chest. She let him hold her, settling against him and sighing happily.

"So... now I've done something so that means it's your turn to pick the food," she told him, laughing. He laughed with her, and a glance up at him told her he was shaking his head vigorously.

"That is definitely not how that works!" he yelled as he started to gently tickle her, making her laugh harder.