Nico Valentine | Miami Sirens

A thud reverberates in Nico's chest, he could see how it affected his sister, seeing Nyx try everything to focus on the game, but his recent arrival back into her life and moving in together was anything but smooth. Gloria and Nyx were on tense terms while he was struggling to connect with his flesh and blood. Nyx had changed, seeming to be battle-hardened like he was, and she had stopped being that shy, curious little girl he knew before Celine died. She is still skeptical about whether she can trust her brother. ' I don't blame her, though.' Nico thought, watching the hockey captain practice with her teammates.

as he walks with Phoebe on his shoulders. He sees Gloria fall into stride with him, the two looking around for their seats in the vast Sirens' Hockey stadium. "Over there." Gloria nods. She leads them to the VIPs-only section and settles into one of the teal seats. Nico grunts, putting Phoebe down on Gloria's lap. The two had been asked to watch over the little girl after Phoebe begged and pleaded with her mother to go to this game. Today was a deciding match-up between the Miami Sirens and the San Diego Harpies, eternal rivals. The Sirens had always been the underdogs, chasing after victory against them. But it always fell just out of reach.

When Nyx spots him, Nico puts on a wry smile, gesturing to Phoebe. The mother approaches, waving at her daughter. "Hey, before the game…can we talk?"

The request makes Nico look at Nyx in surprise, thinking it's finally a chance for them to resolve the tension since that fight at the daycare. He clears his throat as he plays with the many rings on his knuckles "Yeah, locker room?" He earns a nod.

Nyx leaves the ice and kisses Phoebe's forehead, soon nudging Nico to follow. The twins' feet thud heavily as they walked back, and a sea of staff walked past them when they disappeared into the empty locker room. Nyx lets out a sigh and sits on the bench. "We are at risk of being disbanded."

The male Valentine raises a brow. "What? Why?"

The Siren fiddles with her locket, rubbing it to soothe her nerves. "Coach is bailing and citing me as 'uncommitted' to the team." Nico wanted to go call bullshit on that claim. Nyx always tried to be there for the team and raise her daughter. So what if she missed some practices? Phoebe came first, always. Sensing his growing frustration, she puts a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. Yvonne's been under a lot of pressure to leave, and the tension between her and Halo makes things…complicated." The woman tries to reassure Nico with a smile.

"Damn…that sucks," Nico whispers. A lame response to his sister's life falling apart, but he couldn't figure out what else to comfort her with. He starts to pull out a cigarette but puts it away to pop some Jolly Ranchers instead. Kicking this habit's gonna be a bitch and a half. He groans internally. Nico offers a small handful to Nyx, making her laugh dryly. A nice and simple quiet lulled over them both and it felt almost normal for once. No arguing, no tension, just two siblings enjoying each other's presence. The biker slides his hand into hers to offer support. "It'll work out. You'll see."

"You are terrible at this."

"Shut up, I'm tryin'."

"Dumbass."

"Bitch."

They both start to laugh so hard that their violet eyes grow teary. "Why is everything going to shit?" Nyx wheezes.

"I don't know, Valentine luck?" Nico chuckles. "Blame Dad."

"Oh right, that fucker." She nods. "Damn it, Dad!" The siblings take a long time to settle down, and they finally part ways when they enter the hallway. "If I lose this game, I want the TV."

"Nyx, you know crying your eyes out to cheesy horror flicks isn't normal, right?" Nico points out with a grin. Nyx playfully punches his shoulder, walking off to the ice with a pep in her step.

Just then, someone rushes into him. Nico quickly catches their shoulders to stabilize them. "Forgive me, cher," He says, checking over the stranger for damages. When he sees their face, he does a double take, instantly putting on a flirty smile. 'This may be my sis's stadium, but she can't stop me from having a little fun.' He lets his hands linger only to let them go and give their large duffle back to them. "Didn't expect to bump into an angel, and here I thought I'd never make it to heaven." He pulls out a pen to write his number on their arm. "I don't know if a prayer will reach ya, so just in case you ever wanna bless me with your presence."

Nico walks off, leaving the stranger to head back to the seats again. He's taken aback by the sheer number of people now filling every single one. Phoebe jumps up, tackling his legs. "Tonton Nico!" She squeals when he lifts her up with a tickle.

"Hey there, June bug." He greets her, settling her on his knee. "What's this?" He looks over the two figures in the little girl's hands. One is of a mermaid, and the other is of a winged woman. "New toys?"

Phoebe nods, her tight curls bouncing slightly under her headphones. She holds up the teal mermaid wearing a purple jersey. "This is Maman's team's toy." She then shows off the gold and pink woman. "This is the meanie's team's toy, the San Diego Harpies."

The man snorts; Meanie's team? Why keep it?" sending Gloria an entertained look, and she shrugs when Phoebe continues.

"It's pretty." She answers. Leave it to Phoebe to keep such an intense rivalry up to who had the nicer toy.

Nico adored his niece, giving him something to focus on. He would babysit her and make her snacks and meals of whatever she wanted within reason. Even with the kid's disgust for certain foods, he learned how to compromise thanks to Nyx's advice. The lights start to darken, and cheers fill his ears. "Phoebe." He nudges, helping her power on the headphones. Once the child calmed, he and Gloria tense, watching the San Diego Harpies make their entrance. A parade of gold, black, and pink adorned their jerseys. Nico can't help but flinch at how much louder their fans cheered. Being an established champion from San Diego made the Harpies worthy of it, making him more concerned for the Sirens' hemorrhaging failure. The lights make it hard to see the players' faces beyond their helmets, but then his attention turns to the Sirens' entrance. Halo, Yvonne, Britney, and then Nyx. "Come on…" He whispers. ' Please, let her have this win.' The Valentine prays. *' She needs this.'

Gloria's hand is on his shoulder. "Your sister has this, " she encourages. "She'll be fine. They all will."

Nico takes his biker mate's words to heart and keeps his eyes glued to the match. And a game it was. Nyx was battling it out with the Harpy captain, Aurora. He could see them fight over the puck like it was the only thing that mattered. Phoebe shouted cheers with all her lungs, leaving her only to frown when it was passed over to the enemy team. "OH COME ON!" He yells, lifting Phoebe to his shoulder so he can near the glass. The green-haired Latina joins him, shouting in Spanish at the Sirens to keep going.

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

The black rubber is shot around hard between teams, but it's clear that the Harpies are winning by a landslide. The coach of the Sirens slams down his hat along with the black headset, and he starts to leave. "Where are you going?" Nico asks with a heated glare. The coach ignores him, just rubbing his jaw when he escapes to the backend of the stadium. The former Bayou Bandit fumes as he sees his sister lose support in real time. "Un-Fucking-Believeable. Take her." Nico hands over Phoebe, jumping the barrier to get into the coach's section. Security tears away his chance to be a substitute, dragging him back. "Get off me!" Nico's fighting them off, but Gloria yanks him back hard to whisper in his ear with gritted teeth." Quit it! Do you wanna get all of us kicked out?" She gestures to a confused and worried Phoebe on the brink of tears.

'Oh shit, shit, shit, shit! Don't cry!' Nico returns to his seat, hands going through his hair as he watches the game. ' That was stupid, I don't know shit about hockey!' He thinks, an embarrassed blush building in his cheeks. *' You? Be a coach to a professional hockey team? Yeah, that's a bright idea, Nico. This isn't a movie.'

BZZZT!

The dreaded buzzer sounded off, and it was chaos, with the dueling crowds seeing the Sirens defeated once again. "Fuck!" Halo shouted, throwing their helmet down in a rage. Yvonne chases after them, leaving Nyx and Britney to hold the line and thank their opponents for a 'good game.' ' Good game, my ass.' The man thinks bitterly, his blood pumping in his ears from the frustration.

Nico watched as Nyx shook hands with every member. "Good game, Valentine," Aurora said with a perfect smile, her strawberry blonde hair hanging in an even more perfect blowout. Albright lived up to her name, looking like a young Cindy Crawford. You too, Torres."

"Not bad out there," Sol shrugged, looking as if they were trying to force out the words. Their eyes didn't match their brief smile. Disappointed or unimpressed, no one could be sure. "Guess it could've been worse." The player lifts a bit of their golden jersey to wipe their sweat from their brow and skates off. "See ya in the locker room."

Brair rocked back on her skates, rubbing the back of her neck as she tried to summon something remotely encouraging. "Uh… hey, at least you didn’t get a game over screen?" She offered with an awkward chuckle, then quickly added, "I mean, you put up a hell of a fight. Next round’s gonna be interesting." She gave a lazy salute, her hand having a small shark tattoo.

Stelle flashed a sharp grin, her gold fang implants catching the light as she extended a hand. "We should do this again sometime—maybe next time, you'll even keep up." Her voice was syrupy sweet, the kind of backhanded encouragement that could’ve been genuine… if it weren’t for the glint of mischief in her eyes.

Kai'Lea, oblivious of the tension or simply choosing not to acknowledge it, twisted a finger in her platinum blond curls. “We’ll have to see if you can level the playing field in San Diego. Maybe if you win, we can eat after?” She winked before skating off, humming a familiar 8-bit victory fanfare.

Keke nodded in agreement at the idea of food. “There are some really nice spots Kai and I know,” She shifts with her padding, the nervous defenseman fiddling with her helmet. “See you.”

"Yeah, good game," Britney whispers. She can feel Nyx's moody stare dig into her back. "We'll beat you guys next time!" The goalie answers a bit too loudly.

The goth giantess doesn't bother with fanfare and grunts a "Good game." Nyx exits with a caged-off expression. ' Yup. Tonight's a horror movie cry fest. Yay…’

Nico gets up with a huff. His eyes scan the Harpies as they talk, only to land on one singular player in the lineup. " Angel?" He mumbles in confusion. His heart drops, realizing the person he had written his number on was a fucking Harpy. ‘DAMN IT, STUPID VALENTINE LUCK!’ He wants to scream at himself for it. Why can't I just have something work out?! He storms off with Gloria and Phoebe trailing behind him.

"Tonton Nico?" Phoebe tilts her head curiously. "Tatie Gloria, why is Tonton angry?"

Gloria rolls her eyes at the biker's back. "No one ever knows why." She quips, grabbing his arm. "What's going on with you?" When he stiffens, she raises a stern brow. "What did you do?" A mumbled answer.

"Flirted…"

"With?"

"A harpy…?"

“¿Entonces no estabas pensando? ¿O realmente eres pendejo?” Gloria groans. "You said you want to reconnect with Nyx, but you're pulling stupid shit like this? A HARPY? They just LOST to them-" She shakes her head with a scrunched face. "Puta madre, Nico."

"I didn't know!" The Cajun holds his hands up defensively. "We bumped into each other, and I couldn't help it." Phoebe laughs at their expressions, pointing at Nico's flustered state. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, kid." The trio manages to get to the locker room, with Gloria blocking the brother from entering. "Let me head in with the little one, and you can think about your choices out here."

That earns him a scoff, but he leaves it to be, unwrapping what felt like the fiftieth Jolly Rancher. He leans against the cold concrete, fighting the urge to smoke, reliving every minute of the crazy ride he just had. "God damn it…" His eyes rake over the crowds walking past, and he stares owlishly at another unreadable set of eyes watching him. The same harpy he had scribbled his number on and finally knew their name thanks to the big pink letters scrolled across their jersey. {{user}}. Nico's breath catches in his throat, and he nearly chokes on his candy; he can't figure out their expression. Did they hear the conversation? Oh fuck, did they see me at the coach's booth?! He could only keep eye contact, hoping they would either walk away or come by.