Chapter Text
Saturday, 17 March 2029
“Klavier, would you be so kind a get the panda?” Nahyuta asked the rock star as he put down the plate with pancakes on the table.
Klavier obliged and went into Simon's room. He found the man laying on his back under about four different kinds of blankets. He attempted to go over to him and remove them with a quick movement, as the tall man sat up himself and eyed the rock star suspiciously.
“Never try to wake me up like this again”, Simon stated coldly as he stood up and stretched his arms.
"You're no fun", Klavier pouted and followed Simon into the kitchen.
As they came to the table Simon was rather surprised to see what the monk had managed to make out of the few things that had been left in his fridge.
“The eggs yolk should still be liquid. If you want it well-done, I'll cook it some more, but now sit down and take some pancakes”, the monk ordered him to sit down.
Surprised, but definitely smiling, the man sat down and took a pancake out of the plate while amusedly shaking his head. Discreetly he watched Klavier doing the same with a lot more yawning. Nahyuta on the other hand was quite lively, as he energetically started to cut his fried eggs. He was definitely a morning person and somebody who loved to eat.
A brief laugh escaped Simon's lips and earned him a pointed look from Nahyuta. The man rose his eyebrows and then asked him: “What's funny?”
Simon shook his head and took honey from the middle of the table.
“Nothing. Only that there's somebody here, who's even less of a morning person than I am.”
Softly Simon pointed with the knife in his hand to Klavier's direction, who had almost dropped a piece of sugar into the marmalade glass. Nahyuta only raised his eyebrows at the sight of this and did not even bother to comment on Simon’s observation. Klavier’s clumsiness in the morning spoke for itself.
The conversation died down after that for a bit. The three men simply ate in silence and just enjoyed their own company. They all also had their own little sorrows and problems that occupied their minds and kept them from talking anymore.
Well, until Klavier’s sleepy switch suddenly switched into day mode and he straight out asked Simon: “How did you get us into your bed, anyway? I don’t remember how we got there at all.”
“You can’t recall that”, Simon responded flatly, “because you were asleep. Neither of you reacted when I picked you up and carried you into my room. You both slept like stones.”
“What?” he asked unbelievingly.
“Don’t act so surprised”, Simon mumbled and handed Nahyuta the soy sauce he had pointed at.
“Neither of you is really heavy and I’m by all means anything but weak. As you may recall I was able to break my shackles. And I could do it again, if I was required to do so.”
“Well”, Nahyuta interfered while holding his hand in front of his mouth and then swallowed the food he had just been chewing, “it’s still quite troublesome to lift people our height. I’m six feet tall and Klavier is probably about the same.
"And I honestly can’t believe that you could have broken your shackles. They are made out steel and are able to hold back guys that are twice as wide as you. You’re just bluffing.”
Simon laid his fork down and mildly annoyed stared at the monk, while Klavier observed both of them curiously. In a way he found it amusing to see Simon so pissed and Nahyuta being so unreasonably bold.
“I could lift you and this chair without breaking a sweat, feather weight. And I have no need of bluffing about these things. Klavier saw me breaking them and your brother can tell you the same. I did break my shackles and I do not care for your baseless assumptions.”
Nahyuta’s eyes had widen slightly by that statement and he searched for confirmation in Klavier. The blond nodded agreeing with Simon’s word and gave him a sympathising smile. As Nahyuta then violently turned back in Simon’s direction in utter disbelief Klavier almost started laughing out loud. He had even more difficulties to contain himself, as he looked at Simon’s less than under impressed expression while he was demonstratively sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“Seriously? You are not shitting me right now?” the monk said slowly realizing that Simon in fact might be telling the truth.
Now Simon actually started to chuckle. Seeing him like this was just too amusing. He straightened up in his chair and then quickly stood up. Swiftly he stepped over to Nahyuta, carefully but quickly pulled back his chair and lifted him up, just as he had done it the other night.
Nahyuta did not react at all out of shock, but only stared at him in bewilderment. The man had not been bluffing. He actually was able to pick him up easily and hold him simply in bridal style. And suddenly it dawned how how they must look like right now and felt the blood rushing into his face.
Deliberately, Nahyuta put his hand on his collar bone and turned his face away from Simon’s chest. Slightly faltering but still composed enough he raised his voice and told the samurai with the shit-eating grin on his mouth: “I see… You have proven your point and elaborated why I’m wrong. Would you now please let me down? I do not appreciate being hold like a damsel in distress.”
Carefully Simon let Nahyuta down. While he was at it, he explained: “Actually I haven’t really proven my point. You are indeed very light, and I think most people would be able to pick you up. To prove my point, I’d have to also pick up the chair and probably put a 25 pounds weight on it. And even then, it would not be that impressive.”
Huffily Nahyuta straightened the wrinkles in the foolish sweatpants and mumbled offended: “I’m not a lightweight. 149 pounds are perfectly fine for a guy my height and frame. You have no idea.”
“How much do you weight?! I’m barely 2 inches taller than you and am almost 60 pounds heavier! Are you eating enough?” Simon asked Nahyuta with big eyes.
Surprised Nahyuta met Simon’s gaze and found real concern in the samurai’s eyes. Oh my, the man somehow reminded him of his always troubled mother. That was a bit unsettling.
“Cool down Simon. His weight’s fine and not your problem. And you should not take yourself as a standard for weight. You are a huge guy with a lot of muscles and are like three times as broad as he is.
"And anyway, it’s a bad idea to compare weight. It’s really unhealthy”, Klavier interfered coolly.
The other two gave him a suspicious look. That tone definitely intended something more than Klavier had just said. Silently both men decided to let it drop. It might be a better idea not compare weight in front of Klavier again. It seemed to make him uncomfortable.
So Nahyuta went back at his place on the table and waited with speaking until Simon had sat down as well. When the tall man finally had settled down again, Nahyuta offhandedly told him: “I eat regularly an enough. I’m just constantly on the move and I rarely got the time to eat long dinners. And if it wasn’t for that I probably would be rather chubby. I put on weight pretty fast.”
As Nahyuta said that last sentence, he made a sour face.
Simon barked a laugh and Klavier knitted his eyebrows together in doubt. A chubby Nahyuta did not sound very likely. Both of them could hardly believe that he could be something else than a thin leech but how were they supposed to talk back? Neither of them knew if Nahyuta had indeed once been a bit fatter than today.
“Well, I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ll have to take your word for it”, Simon said amused and took the soy sauce.
“Anyway, it would probably look nice on you. I mean, you manage to look kinda cute in my old clothes, so a few pounds more can’t possibly hurt you that much.”
Flabbergast Nahyuta stared at the samurai. This was the very last thing he had expected to hear from him. No, this kind of compliment, form a man who had despised him only a day earlier, this was not something Nahyuta had expected in his day.
He was so taken aback that he did not even manage to say something as Simon stood up and went into his room to let his hawk inside, who had been crying vehemently.
With Simon gone Klavier pulled on the monks t-shirt and told him quietly: “He’s saying such things often. It comes very unexpected at first, but you’ll get used to it.
It’s actually really nice to get compliments from him. He always means what he says there.”
“Life’s too short to not say what you mean. It’s worse to regret saying nothing than saying the wrong thing. It’s what my sister preached all day long and by now I have to admit she’s not completely wrong with that statement”, Simon said as he came back to the table.
Finally, Nahyuta had got his composure back and observed how the tall man sat back down. His tone was different than before. It was just a small difference in his voice, but he could definitely spot the change, even though he could not say what it was about. Curiously he watched the samurai continuing eating calmly.
His left hand was shaking a little and he did not look up to them, even though he clearly knew that Nahyuta and Klavier were watching him.
“It slipped my mind that you had an older sister. What was her name again? Something with A wasn’t it?” Nahyuta inquired while waving around with his fork and watching the ceiling.
“Aura” Simon’s answer was quick. The grip around the fork became tighter.
“She’s-“
“I’m aware. You do not need to inform me. I had the chance to look at the records of the retrial of UR-1, when I came to the States.”
Nahyuta had saved Simon from talking about his sister’s crime. He did not want to torture the him with the story. There was no need for more cruelty.
Meanwhile Simon had turned away from the other men. He felt the stinging pain in his lungs and had no intention to show them this. Slowly he then closed his eyes and counted to ten. It was not the most efficient way to deal with this but the subtlest, and around these four keen eyes he needed to be as subtle as possible.
As soon as he could, he turned back to the others and continued eating, pretending nothing had happened at all. Playing it down had always worked best for him. In a way. Somehow.
When Nahyuta cleared his throat Simon simply glanced at him. The he took it as a permission to speak and said: “I did not want to touch a nerve, Simon. Excuse my intrusiveness.”
Simon smirked at him. Neither Klavier nor Nahyuta could determine if it was an honest one or one that was there to make them feel better. Anyway, he licked his lips and told him nonchalantly: “Look, actually I don’t mind talking about her. I just hate it that she sacrificed so much for me. I did not ask for it and she endangered herself and others with her actions.
"… Why did you even read my case file? It shouldn’t be too interesting for you.”
“For one I was interested in the case and the international spy, and other than that I wanted to learn about the circumstances in which Clay died. I did not know the man but he was close to Apollo and I wanted to understand his pain as good as I could.
"I talked with him about it, but he was never really ready to talk about the incident itself. And… I had the urge to learn more without bothering Apollo any longer. Then I remembered the case file and read it after asking him if he was fine with it.
"That’s why I know about your sister. I did not stalk you or look up your past more than that. Same goes for Klavier, if you were worried about it”, Nahyuta explained and shot Simon a cautious look.
Simon just shrugged and said to him: “Glad to know that you’re not a stalker. And if that’s the only thing you read about Aura, then you probably have a horrible impression of her.”
“I can’t say that she appeared very friendly in the files. Would that be different normally?”
Simon chuckled and shook his head. Nahyuta recognized a small glint of amusement in the other’s eyes and understood that this time his cheer was sincere.
“Nah, she’s horrible all the time. Snarky and standoffish. And an annoyingly smart robotic nerd. And arguing with her is real pain in the ass. She’s way too stubborn, that’s why she never stopped trying to talk me out of it.
"And as I did not give in, she took a different route. An extreme one but that had to be expected. She never was one to half ass things.”
He sighed and shot both men a short look before taking another bite of his pancake. Neither of them felt entitled to say something. Nahyuta remained silent, because he believed that he had no right to say something, since he did not know Simon well enough and Klavier held back because he did not know what to say to Simon’s situation. It had never crossed the rock star’s mind that Simon was thinking about his sister’s choices. He had never realized that it might bother him, even if it actually was a rather obvious thought.
Eventually Nahyuta cleared his throat and slowly laid his fork and knife down. He still was unsure if it was appropriate for him to voice his thoughts, but he felt the need to say them, nevertheless. Patiently, he waited for Simon to look at him and as he finally met his gaze, Nahyuta graced him with a smile and said: “You don’t flatter her a lot with your words, reverse panda. But your tone tells a different story.
"You are missing the woman, aren’t you? There is no shame in longing for your family. I can understand that very well myself.”
Simon only hinted a smile and brushed it off right away.
“She’s the only blood family I have left. And I – I owe her a lot. I was able to become a prosecutor because of her. And she did a lot of other things she never had to do…
"It was way more than you can ask of a sibling. Way more than you could ask of a parent even. And still… She just did it.
"What doesn’t mean that she’s a good person. Because she’s not. But she gave up a lot for me and taught me plenty things. She cared about me, even when I had stopped to care. And I appreciate it. And yes, I miss her. Often. But I know that she’ll come back, so there is no need for me to brood about it anymore. I’ll get to see her again, and that is more than I ever could have hoped for”, Simon explained his eyes filled with determination and his back being straight and strong.
For a moment Nahyuta forgot that he was in the states, sitting on a wooden chair in the living room of an apartment from a man he barely knew. He only saw this human being sitting in front of him with so many emotion’s hiding behind his eyes and a strange, gentle passion buzzing in his words. He reminded him of something. A flash of green eyes and the tone of unruliness resonated in his ears.
A nostalgic smile stole its way on Nahyuta’s lips and the man muttered still lost in his memories: “How could she not try and save this potential? I would - I have done the same… I would always do it again.”
Surprised both Simon and Klavier looked at the monk and quickly exchanged a look. Where had that been coming from?
“Pardon?”, Simon asked gently and nudged Nahyuta to the side.
Nahuyta flinched a little but quickly composed himself. He realized that his thoughts must have drifted off and that he might have actually said what had been going on in his mind. Well, it had happened, but it was not too bad. He had not said a thing he’d be ashamed of.
“Oh, I just thought loudly. I can understand your sister’s choice quite well. You must be truly important to her, judging your words. And because of that she would have wanted to keep you as safe as possible. Protect you as well as she could. And so, she took the only way she could think of.
"You might think of it as extreme and maybe even foolish, but I’d go just as far to protect my family. Because I know how horrible it is to lose a brother. And I do anything to stop that from happening again. I won’t let him get hurt anymore.”
With the last phrase Nahyuta had shot Klavier a meaningful look. Nobody was allowed to hurt Apollo, no matter how kind or good they normally were. If Klavier just dared to make his brother cry, he would suffer the consequences.
The blond gulped quite stressed, and Simon had a flash back to the trial he had seen Nahyuta fighting in. He truly was intimidating, despite his regal behaviour and innocent face. He admittedly like that spunk.
He grinned and told Nahyuta while shaking his head: “Rayfa and Justice must be glad to call you their brother, then. You went far to keep your sister safe and do a lot now to give Justice the recognition he deserves. You should be a really proud brother.”
With that Simon stood up and put his empty play to the sink. He went back and started to take the empty plates of the table and quietly noted that Nahyuta had eaten half of the pancakes himself. This guy truly loved it to eat.
At once Nahyuta stood right next behind him with his empty glass and the raspberry jam, which he put back in the fridge.
“Just put it down here, I’ll wash it-“
“You won’t do the dishes on your own this time”, Nahyuta stated with tone that did not accept any further arguments.
Defeated Simon gave in and told Nahyuta to grab a towel to dry the cutlery he had washed. Klavier ended up helping as well, as he put away the stuff Nahyuta had dried and it was rather crowded in Simon’s small kitchen.
Simon got the feeling that he would not get rid of this foolish monk and loud rock star anytime soon. And somehow, he was not as annoyed by it as he wanted to be.