From Pumpkins to the Ball Drop

[lastgrimmstanding]

Rating: Teen
Pairing: Nick/Monroe
Words: 1708
Tags: Slight spoilers for La Llorona

A/N: I don't own Grimm or make money from this.

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Nick saunters up the sidewalk to Monroe’s porch. He’s carrying his gym bag – cover for one of his many Grimm weapons. His eyes move over all the Halloween decorations carefully placed throughout Monroe’s yard. Whoa.

                “Did you bring it?” Monroe calls from the porch.

                “You do this every year?” Nick walks up next to Monroe.

                “Are you kidding me? Halloween for us, come on, is like bigger than Christmas. There’s a long wesen tradition of the All Hallows Eve midnight woge. Running through the woods, scaring the crap outta villagers…sometimes literally.” He chuckles.

                “And you continue this fair tradition in Portland?”

                “ No, no, no. I mean, I would…if I could find some villagers. But, ya know, no. I can only imagine the fun my relatives must’ve had, man, back in the good old days.” He pauses. “Anyway, let me see it.”

                Nick pulls the mace out of his bag and hands it to Monroe.

                “Oh baby. That’s the one. Beautiful. And just think of the history, man.”

                “All the skulls bashed in, bones broken, knees shattered.”

                “Hey, those who ignore the past, et cetera, et cetera. Now watch this.” Monroe attaches the mace to his skeleton contraption rigged up in front of the window. “Okay. Check this out.” The duo make their way into Monroe’s equally-decorated house. “Wait ‘til you see this!”

                Nick looks around. Monroe’s house reminds him of his childhood home in Rhinebeck. His parents loved to decorate for the holidays, especially Halloween. He turns his attention back to Monroe. “Whoa. Intense.”

                “Okay, come here. Come here, come here, come here. Okay, ready? Here it goes.” With the pull of a lever, the skeleton swings the mace, obliterating a defenseless pumpkin. “That’s pretty great, right?” He gives a hearty chuckle.

                “Unless you’re a pumpkin,” Nick jokes. “Promise me no one’s gonna get hurt.”

                Monroe sighs. “Fine. I promise.” He can sense something’s on Nick’s mind. “You okay, man?”

                “Huh?” Nick looks up. “Yeah. Fine.”

                “Liar,” Monroe says as he disappears into the kitchen. When he returns he hands Nick a beer. “You’re not on duty, right?”

                “Nah, it’s like…” He checks his watch. “…almost six.”

                “Oh, damn. Didn’t realize I’d been at it all day.” Monroe shrugs.

                “Fine.” Nick rolls his eyes. “At least feed me?”

                “Course. Pizza?”

                “I think you know me well enough to know that answer.”

                “Yeah, yeah. No mushrooms.”

                They poke around the house, finishing up the decorating, while they wait for their pizza. When it arrives they settle down in the living room with a few beers and a scary movie.

                “Halloween just really reminds me of my parents.” Nick pauses. “They went all out. Every year. We had the best house on the block.” He smiles. “They’d have given you a run for your money.”

                “Sorry, man.”

                Nick shrugs. “It’s no big deal.”

                “Is that why you don’t decorate?”

                “No. I’d love to decorate the house, but Juliette hates Halloween.”

                Monroe’s eyes grow wide.

                “I know, man.”

                They finish their pizza and the movie. Nick helps Monroe carry their plates and bottles to kitchen. Nick opens the fridge and scrunches up his face.

                “Uh, Monroe…what’s that?”

                “Oh, that’s dirt pie,” he answers, not skipping a beat.

                “Dirt pie?” Nick debates throwing in a dog joke, but decides against it.

                “Mhm. It’s basically chocolate cake, filled with chocolate pudding, topped with a bit of chocolate icing, with crumbled up chocolate graham crackers on top. The gummi worms give it the final little touch. It’s supposed to be a fun Halloween treat…well, so says Martha Stewart.”

                “Do I get to have a piece?”

                “Of course. Bring it here.”

                Once again, they settle down on the sofa, this time with cake and a new movie.

                “Oh man, Monroe. This is amazing!”

                “Thanks.”

                “You know, if you keep feeding me I’ll never leave.”

                “Yeah, kinda already found that out.”

                Nick just grins.

                “So, uh…how’re things at home?”

                Nick shrugs. “She still doesn’t remember me. She’s been talking about moving out.”

                “I’m sorry, man.”

                “Eh, don’t be.  I may have been the one to first mention it. We’re just not clicking like we did before. And sleeping on that sofa…dude, it fucking sucks.” He takes another bite of cake. “I told her she could stay in the house if she wanted, that I’d move out.”

                “Where would go?”

                “I don’t know, maybe a motel, maybe stay with Hank.”

                “Well, if you want, you can stay here. Door’s always open. Besides, you’re here all the time anyway.”

                Nick smiles. “Thanks, Monroe.”

XXX

                “Hey, Monroe, you believe in ghosts?”

                “Yeah, of course. Why?”

                “You know anything about La Llorona?”

                “The Weeping Woman? Yeah. Old Mexican legend.  Bit similar to the celtic banshee.”

                “Those kidnappings – the ones I told you about – I think La Llorona took them.”

                “What? You mean someone dressed up as La Llorona or…”

                “I’m not sure. There’s not a lot of solid evidence. But more and more it’s starting to look like a real ghost. I don’t know, though. I feel like I’m going crazy.”

                Monroe reaches out and squeezes Nick’s shoulder. To both their surprise, Nick leans into the touch.

                “Thought I was going crazy the first time I saw a wesen…but there was an entire world I just didn’t know about.” He turns to look at Monroe and their eyes lock. For the first time, Nick realizes that Monroe’s eyes are intense even when they aren’t red.

                “C’mon, let’s have some more pie.”

XXX

                Nick starts packing two weeks before Thanksgiving. Most of his stuff gets shoved into a storage unit, with the help of Hank and Monroe. The rest of his stuff – small, personal things – go with him to Monroe’s house. He’s all settled a few days before Thanksgiving, which he was actually kind of excited for.

                Nick and Hank are sitting on the sofa, beer in hand, football on the television. Monroe and Rosalee are bouncing around the kitchen, browning and seasoning, roasting and baking. Nick wanders into the kitchen and checks out all of the food.

                “Mmm…smells good!”

                “Thanks, Nick!” Rosalee smiles.

                Monroe starts carving the turkey and no sooner does he pull the knife away does Nick try to steal a piece. Monroe smacks his hand away and Rosalee giggles.

                “Dude, it’ll be on the table in a few minutes.”

                Nick rolls his eyes.

                “Can you get the wine out and open it?” Rosalee asks, as she covers the rolls.

                “Sure.”

                “And don’t you even think about putting your grimy hands anywhere near that pumpkin pie!”

                Nick sighs, feeling defeated. He grabs the wine, opens it, and sets it on the table. He walks back into the kitchen to offer some help to Rosalee as she carries some of the dishes out. When Monroe’s not looking, she sneaks a piece of turkey to Nick and they both giggle.

XXX

                                Monroe finds he actually likes having Nick around. Nick likes being there too. He had almost forgotten what it was like to come home to someone who knows you, remembers you. He likes coming home to a nice hot dinner too. He likes that Monroe knows his favorite meals and foods without it being written on the top of some recipe card. He’s still getting used to sleeping alone, though. But now, at least, he gets to sleep in a bed. Monroe thought it might be hard to have Nick in his house, thought his routine would get ruined. But it’s be remarkably easy to fit Nick into his life. He doesn’t even mind that his house – his territory – smells like his new house mate.

                “I was thinking about going apartment hunting this weekend.”

                “Oh?” Monroe tries not to sound disappointed.

                “Yeah, there were a few decent places in the paper. Figure you wanna get me outta here.”

                “It’s no problem, really. Besides, Christmas is coming. Do you really want to move over the holidays?”

                “I guess you’ve got a point.”

                “Just wait until after the new year.”

XXX

                Christmas comes and Nick’s happy he stayed. Especially when he gets to see the way Monroe’s face lights up when he pulls the antique toy train from its wrappings. Monroe actually hugs Nick in thanks. Then Monroe slides a box over to Nick; both of them have their lips curled into eager smiles.

                “It’s not much, but I hope you like it.”

                Nick tears off the paper and pulls off the lid. There are two large, leather-bound journals in the box. Nick pulls the top one out and flips through the pages. It bears a striking resemblance to his tome on blutbaden, except it’s written in English. He takes a closer look and realizes that it’s Monroe’s handwriting.

                “Monroe…”

                “I’ve been at it for a while. I go out to the trailer here and there, while you’re at work. I started before you even moved in.”

                Nick doesn’t say anything; he’s a bit in shock.

                “Thought it might makes things easier when you’re looking for something specific, ya know, since you can actually read it. I’ve only finished the blutbaden and jägerbar tomes. I’ll do the others, if you want.”

                “Y-yeah, of course. Monroe…this is…perfect.” His fingers trace the spine of the book. “Thank you.” He sets the book back in the box and turns to Monroe. “Not just for this, but for everything. You’re always helping me out, you’ve given me a place to stay. I don’t think I’ll ever really be able to thank you.”

XXX

                They talk about having a little get-together for New Year’s Eve, but ultimately decide against it. They stay in, just the two of them, with a kitchen full of snacks and a fridge full of beer. Finally, they start counting down.

                “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…happy New Year!”

                Nick throws his arms around Monroe and pulls him into a big hug. It lasts a few seconds longer than it probably should. Nick pulls away first, but only enough to look up at Monroe. His hearts starts beating faster as he leans up on his toes, standing eye-to-eye with Monroe. They both lean until their lips meet in a long-overdue kiss.

                Nick smiles. “Happy New Year, Monroe.”