“Dammit.” Nick muttered with a sigh as he handed Demi her luggage. He could see the flashes from the inside of the airport. To him, camera flashes meant only one thing - absolute and certain death.

“What?” Demi asked as she looked over at him, pulling up the handle on her Louis Vuitton suitcase. The camera’s meant nothing to her; she wasn’t as private as he was. She always smiled and waved and went about her business as if they weren’t there. But not Nick - he couldn’t stand having a forty year old man shoving a camera in his face. And it’s not like Demi didn’t get tired of it, too. She just dealt with it better than he did.

“Uh… Nothing.” Nick shook his head, taking his own backpack and throwing it over his shoulders. “You ready?” He held out his hand for her and she nodded, taking it and lacing their fingers easily. He gave her hand a light kiss and smiled, glad to see the brilliance reflected in her face. He almost wished they had stayed in Cabo, just lived there for a while. But they had to get back to reality eventually. And it’s not like their realities were bad or anything, it was just nice to get away for that one week. To just lay on the beach and not have to worry about futures or failing careers or anything. They just had each other and it was simple enough to work. And that’s just the way he liked it.

They walked out of the airport hand in hand, Nick pulling along her suitcase and leading her to where their car would be pulled around by none other than Big Rob. But in the less than two minutes that it took for him to drive around, they were in a chaotic mob of flashes and questions. 

He tried not to sigh, but something about the lateness of the hour and the dark of the night meant that to suppress such an emotion would be nothing short of impossible. Demi, hearing this, knew there was nothing she could do expect hold his hand tighter. It was reassuring to know she was right there with him, bearing the same burden (if you could even call it a burden without sounding spoiled) he was but with more grace and elegance that he could even hope to capture in a million lifetimes. 

He didn’t know how she did it, especially after treatment. All the questions being shouted in your ear, all the lights blinding your eyes. It was annoying to say the least and he sometimes felt like giving them all a good punch in the face. So he didn’t get how she could just smile and stand there.

But it just worked that way, he supposed. Because he balanced her out in this in the same way he balanced her out in dealing with stress. When she would freak out and claim she just couldn’t do it anymore, he would just pull her into his arms and talk quietly until he could get her to laugh and calm down. So they had different strong points in their relationships and he liked it that way. And as far as he could tell, so did she. It’s kind of what made them absolutely perfect for each other.

“How was Cabo?!” “Where did you go?!” “Did you drink?!” “Is it true that you’re living together?!” “Nick, have you picked out a ring?!” “Demi! Do you think you’ll ever marry him?!” “How does it feel dating your brother’s ex?!” “Is it all for publicity?!”

“Hi guys.” Demi just smiled, standing up on the curb next to Nick and leaning into him the way she did whenever she was tired.

“Give us a kiss!” “What’s your favorite thing about each other?!” “Did you guys see the trending topic the other day?!”

Nick somehow compressed another sigh, wrapping his arm around her protectively as he watched for the black SUV to be heading around the bend. He saw it after another moment and took a deep breath of relief, half thankful and half angry for the fact that Big Rob wasn’t there the second they’d walked out of the airport. He just needed to go home and go to bed at this point.

He looked down at Demi, a small curve of a smile emerging on his lips as he saw her politely grinning at the cameras. “They just want a show.” She had told him when they’d first started dating. “So I figure why not smile and let them have their pictures? It doesn’t do me any harm.” He wished he could think of them in that light, but they were just so goddamn obnoxious. 

But he figured if he wasn’t going to smile, he might as well just look up and make eye contact. Give them a show, even if it was a small one. After all, it wasn’t like it did him any harm.