for the holidays | rini au

ten

nini wasted no time setting up for the party. her moms always put her on baking and decorating duty, two things she liked to believe she's become good at over the years. whenever she's stressed or sad, she bakes something with whatever ingredients she has in her apartment, and in the past years when she's been stuck in new york for christmas, she went all out with the decorations.

she was home alone once again, so she figured it'd be a good time to start setting up. her moms were eating lunch with parker and jane, getting down to business on the wedding planning. as she's setting the ingredients out for the cupcakes she'd be making, the doorbell rings.

she sets down the bag of flour she was holding and goes to open the door.

"what are you doing here? you're like three hours early," she states, glaring at the boy in front of her.

"i'm bored and my dad isn't home. it was too quiet," ricky replies, walking into her house.

"sure just come on in!" she says with a sarcastic tone, "why couldn't you just play music or something? there was no need for you to impose on my day just because you were bored."

"are you done complaining?" he asks, sitting down on her couch. nini scoffs and rolls her eyes as he grabs the remote and turns the tv on.

she moves back into the kitchen and continues her work, choosing to ignore the boy sitting on her couch.

"ouhh, what are you doing?" he questions, walking into the kitchen.

"none of your business, get out," she flicks her hands, motioning for him to go away.

he doesn't comply, instead moving closer to her, peeking over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"you're such a pain the the ass," she mutters, loud enough for him to hear.

"what was that?" he asks, smile on his face.

"i said-"

"oh i heard you," he grabs her by the waist, catching her off guard and dips his hand into the flour.

"don't you fucking dare, richard!" nini yells as she tries to break free from the arm which was wrapped around her waist.

ignoring her comment, he spins her around so she's facing him, and swipes the flour across her face before she has a chance to react.

"you did not," she says

"i think i did," he teases, pointing at the flour on her face. she moves to the sink to wipe the powder off, ricky staying by the counter.

when she walks back over to him, he carefully glances at her in fear that she'd retaliate. she does nothing, so he sends her a confused look, "wow, no retaliation?"

"oh i'll get you back when you least expect it," she replies casually. ricky takes this as his sign to retreat back to her couch and continue watching whatever show was playing on the tv.

nini continues making the cupcakes, putting them in the oven when they were done and letting out a loud sigh. she leans over the counter as she scrolls through her socials, until she feels a presence behind her.

"what do you want?" she questions without looking behind her.

"need any help?" he asks, settling next to her. she puts her phone down and looks over at him, an idea popping into her mind.

"yeah, actually," she smirks, "can you put the flour away?"

he looks at her with a confused expression, however follows her request.

once he finishes the task he turns back to face her, silently asking if there's anything else she needed him to do.

she walks closer, standing right in front of him. she looks up at him with a smile, and he reciprocates with a smirk. she moves to rest a hand on his cheek, and slowly leans towards him.

he draws in a shaky breath and looks down at her lips, unable to stop himself.

she continues to lean in, and he can't help but reciprocate her actions. their lips are close enough to touch, ricky able to feel her breath fan over his face.

he takes the last step and moves to finally connect their lips.

as he leans down, however, she turns her head and leans towards his ear.

"payback," she whispers, pushing him away and moving back to the living room to sit on the couch. ricky was left standing flushed and dumbfounded in the kitchen, wondering what the hell had just happened.