Chapter Text
We will always be friends…
Joe doesn’t remember when and how he met Nicky, because Nicky has always been there, living down the road, coming to ring Joe’s doorbell and then shyly shift from one foot to the other until Joe comes barrelling through the door, and Nicky will give him one of his cheeky smiles—the ones he reserves just for Joe.
Most days they will take their bikes to the nearby woods to explore and have adventures. It’s their own secret kingdom. Joe is talking a mile a minute because he can never shut up, but Nicky is always eager to listen. Meanwhile Nicky finds the coolest things or little critters, and Joe is always excited when he shows him.
Sometimes they go and play footy with the other kids in the park. Joe generally gets along well with everyone, but he doesn’t like it when someone teases Nicky because of his strange eyes or big nose, even though Nicky will just shrug and ignore them.
Nicky only gets angry when someone says something to Joe. Like that he doesn’t belong here because his parents are from Tunisia. That’s the one time Nicky got into a fight, and the other boy ended up with a bloody nose. Because Nicky might not look like much, but he is fierce.
Quite frankly, Nicky is Joe’s favourite person. Just like his favourite thing to do is spending time with Nicky, and his favourite food is the lasagna Nicky’s mom makes.
He often eats lunch at Nicky’s house because his mom has a lecture at the university. Nicky on the other hand swears there is nothing better than the chakchouka Joe’s father often cooks for dinner.
Their parents used to joke that they should just swap them, but Joe insists that it would be much better to simply take turns. They sleep over almost every weekend anyway, and none of their parents bat an eye any longer when two boys instead of one come down for breakfast.
It’s perfect. It’s like having a brother, but better. And if anyone asked Joe what he wants from the future, he would simply say, “to spend every day with Nicky”.