This is just charming and funny and all the things. “I was demonstrating how to use a sword in a real fight!” Nicky protests, “We weren't showing off.”

“I think you were, actually.” Joe grumbles, brushing sand off his ass. Nicky reaches up to touch the bruises already fading from Joe's neck in gentle apology. Joe captures his hand and kisses it. “He's right though, you should have seen how short our first fight was.”

Ah, you nailed their dynamic so well. It would almost be worth killing each other eighty or ninety times, if one could end up in a marriage as good as theirs!