the flaw in being perfect - rini au

thirty two

It's now Sunday afternoon and Nini is dressed in her Belle costume for a Beauty and the Beast themed party. Seb is still getting ready as Prince Adam, which is Beast after his transformation. Nini doesn't always have parties with Seb, but she loves it when she does. Seb is her favorite of her coworkers. His singing voice is so incredible, she could listen to his voice for hours on loop. Nini enjoys working with her other coworkers as well, such as Carlos and Rico, but Belle is her primary character, so she's either with Seb or alone a lot of the time.

"So how's Ricky doing?" Seb asks as he comes out of his changing room.

"Oh, he's alright. He didn't really want to talk about what was going on, but we hung out for a while, which was nice." Nini responds as she is grabbing her car keys out of her bag.

"Are you two a thing?" Seb asks nonchalantly.

"What? No," Nini chuckles nervously. "Why would you ask that?"

"Oop, sorry. Y'all just seem to get along really well is all." Seb shrugs off. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah. You have the address, right?"

"It's just at a park not too far from here. I have the GPS set to it already."

With that, the two walk to Nini's car.

Upon arriving at the park, Nini realizes how familiar it is.

This is the same park Ricky brought her to not long ago.

Nini blinks a few times, comprehending the coincidence.

"Are you okay, Nini?" Seb asks after they've sat there for a minute.

"Oh! Yes. Yes I am. I've just been here before."

"Alright, well as soon as we step out of this car we have to be in character. Are you ready for that?" Seb genuinely seems concerned for her.

"Yep! All good. Let's go."

Nini plasters her best smile onto her face and exits the vehicle, making her way over to the children at a picnic table.

The party goes really well overall. Sometimes the younger kids will pull at their costumes, but these seem well behaved.

Just as the party is about to end and Nini and Seb have to leave, the expected request arrives from the birthday girl.

"Please sing before you go, Princess Belle!"

Nini looks to Seb, then back at the kids, clasping her hands together and holding them to her chest. "I would love to!"

The kids then gather together around Nini and Seb, preparing to watch her sing. She begins to sing the song Belle and the kids squeal in excitement.

As Nini is singing, Ricky is arriving to the park, starting off towards where he brought Nini before he takes notice of the kids' party in occurrence.

He's just thinking to himself what a beautiful singing voice the character has when he recognizes the face of the girl dressed as Belle.

Ricky smiles to himself softly, deciding to wait for her to be finished with her song before he leaves.

"Thank you so much for having us today!" Seb announces when Nini finishes singing.

"We've loved spending time with you all," Nini says in her princess voice with a smile.

"We've got to get back to the castle now, unfortunately. Cogsworth gets nervous when we're running late."

Nini leans down, hugging the birthday girl. "I hope you've had a magical birthday, little princess."

"This is the best birthday ever!" The girl exclaims with a huge grin painted on her face.

Nini and Seb then start towards Nini's car, but Nini stops when she hears a familiar voice yelling after her.

"Hey, Princess!"

Nini turns around and laughs when she sees who it is.

"What are you doing here?" Nini asks when Ricky gets closer, also making sure no kids are watching or listening. She turns to Seb, handing him the car keys. "You can go ahead and start the car, Seb."

Seb walks off.

"I was just headed to that graffiti spot when I heard the most beautiful singing voice. I couldn't help but to stop and listen."

Nini laughs. "You must have low standards."

"No, this princess has a voice so charming I felt hypnotized."

Nini blushes. "You're too kind, Ricky Bowen."

"And you're too humble, Princess Belle."

"Hey, um," Nini trails off. "I have to drive Seb back to our office, but after I get out of costume, would you maybe want to hang out?"

Ricky smiles. "I'd love that. The cafe?"

Nini nods. "Give me thirty minutes?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you then." Ricky turns away with a huge smile on his face.

When did he start to feel so comfortable around her? He has no idea how things changes between them so rapidly, but he feels so safe when he's talking to her that he doesn't even care.

Nini is still smiling when she meets back up with Seb at the car.

"'Not a thing' my butt. Y'all are definitely flirting," Seb teases once she gets her dress into the car.

Nini blushes once more. "We're just friends."

"Yeah, so were Carlos and I."

"That's different!" Nini lamely defends.

"Just drive, Nini. You'll get to hang out with your boyfriend sooner."

Nini huffs, pulling away from the park.

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ahhhhh i'm loving these relationships <33

-jenna