Work Text:
It’s dinner time – well, midnight can’t really be considered dinner anymore – and Nine is at the work bench when the plate of food is hesitantly pushed in his field of vision. It takes a moment for him to become aware of his surroundings. When he glances beside him, the delicate hand of one Mishima Lisa is still holding the plate.
He raises an eyebrow.
“A-ah,” Lisa’s unattended hand grips the hem of her gray hoodie. “Umm…Twelve said you didn’t eat, so…”
Nine knows about the blind work focus he tends to fall into. In fact, most of the occasions that he becomes ill are a direct result of not taking care of himself. Normally, if it were Twelve who dropped off the food, there would be a light exchange of words on Nine’s progress. Things in general are usually much easier with Twelve, despite the boy’s penchant to screw with Nine often.
With Lisa, she requires a delicate touch that Nine does not have the patience for, not when they have a mission to complete. Nine nods, hoping that the motion is enough for her.
He misjudges apparently. Instead of leaving, Lisa has a faint blush across her cheeks and points at the computer screen. “So…what is all this?”
Again, if it were Twelve who had asked the question, Nine would have easily explained it – a decoy program to prevent their hackings from being detected – and then left it alone. Lisa has no such background in their work, no connection with their plans. Until now, she hasn’t involved herself any further with their work. Instead, she has simply picked up chores around the house – except cooking; she’s been banned from the kitchen indefinitely.
Nine silently breathes out of his nose and shuts the laptop. “It’s computer coding.” He reaches for the spoon on the plate and surveys the meal. It’s curry and rice, something Twelve definitely cooked. He lifts a spoonful into his mouth and swallows.
Lisa watches him in somewhat of a trance and Nine has to admit, it’s slightly unnerving to have a pair of eyes watch him eat. He swallows the curry quickly and then raises his gaze to her. “Mishima.”
She flinches and then reddens further. “I’m sorry, Nine!” She bows in apology, but the velocity of her head is too fast and she hits her head on the edge of the table and his laptop.
She falls to the ground and mewls in pain. Nine immediately bends down to her level and is already trying to pull her hands away so he can see. Damn it, he’d rather let Twelve be here for this; the girl is more relaxed around the boy and far too afraid of Nine.
She’s rolling away from Nine’s probing hands. “I’m fine, I’m fine!”
“No, you’re not. Let me see.”
She’s still squirming, but she’s relenting to Nine slowly. “Mm…it doesn’t…hurt that much.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
After eight years of taking care of Twelve, the first aid comes second nature to Nine. It’d only be a lot easier if she didn’t keep trying to hide the swelling bump with her hands though. He carefully pries her hands away, cranes her head closer to his. Damn, he kind of wishes he didn’t practically live in the dark because it’s really difficult to see how bad it looks.
“Nine?” Her warm breath fans out over his face.
“It’s swelling. Red.” He’s absolutely bullshitting because the lack of light other than the faint moon makes it difficult to fully assess the actual wound. From what his hands are telling him though, he imagines it’s pretty bad. After all, she did just slam her head onto the thick wooden edge of a table and the sharp edge of his laptop. A part of him feels slightly guilty for being more concerned about the electronic device than her.
“Uh…umm…hey, Nine?” Her face feels warm to the touch, but he’s pretty sure that it isn’t caused by the injury she inflicted on herself. It’s more centralized around her cheeks than anywhere else.
“Is there a problem?” Nine is still trying to make sure that she’s absolutely okay. He doesn’t want Twelve to be causing any more trouble than needed.
She squeaks – such a mousy girl, she is – and shrugs her shoulders slightly. “I…you’re on-“
Then there is a blinding light from above and stars burst into his vision. Despite the temporary loss of vision, Nine’s mind races to supply him with the knowledge of who exactly turned on the damn lights. There’s really one other person it could be.
“What’s going on out here?” Twelve wipes away the sleep from his eyes. However, Nine can only see the vague outline of the other boy. “I heard a loud noise and a thump and –“
The boy pauses, arm still level with his face. Nine can’t see or imagine the expression the other boy is making. Nine blinks quickly, hoping to speed up his eyes adjusting to the light.
Finally, his vision is clear enough. He sees Twelve’s still-shocked expression.
“Why are you on top of Lisa?”
And then it sinks into Nine exactly what this position looks like. Lisa has long gone still with both embarrassment and shock. Her hands are held by his, his body pinning her to the ground, and – oh god, this is a terrible oversight. Nine immediately leaps to his feet, hoping that Twelve doesn’t say anything stupid. A split second later, Nine realizes that he’s made a huge mistake in moving as quickly as he did.
“Why so guilty, Nine?” Twelve’s voice has taken on a sly inflection and he has that familiar devious look in his eyes.
“T-Twelve…this isn’t…” Lisa has finally regained some of her voice, though her face is now dusted pink. It doesn’t help that now Nine can see everything, the first thing his eyes dart to is the large red bump on her forehead. “I was just…being clumsy.”
Twelve has the strongest shit-eating grin right now and it’s getting increasingly difficult to just punch him and get it over with. However, Twelve is his brother. Nine would rather not hurt the boy (no matter how much he wants to knock off that stupid smile). Instead, Twelve strays closer to the pair.
“What are you two doing when I’m not around?” He playfully pouts with a twinkle in his eyes. “I knew you guys would eventually get along, but aren’t you moving a little fast?”
“I-it’s not like that!” Lisa waves her hands in a defensive manner, which only widens Twelve’s smile. “I-I was just being clumsy! Nine…he was just taking care of me!”
“I bet.”
The little shit is enjoying this a lot more than he really should. Twelve still has a mischievous glint in his eyes, but he has a small frown adorning his face as he leans in closer to her face.
“You know, I think love bites are supposed to be small and on the neck.” Twelve points to the red bump on her forehead. “I think you were being a little too aggressive, Nine!”
“Twelve.” Nine’s voice could freeze over water at this point. He’s also fully aware of the growing flush across his face and he’s not sure if it’s from frustration or embarrassment. “Shut up.”
The other boy laughs, boisterous and full of amusement at their expense. “Sorry, sorry! It’s just too much to pass up!” And then he sits down next to Lisa and cradles her head in the same manner that Nine did a few moments ago.
The girl’s face could probably burn down a forest at this rate. “Umm...Twelve?”
He squishes her cheeks, tilts her head further down so that her vision is lined up with his chest. “She’s pretty banged up.”
Nine sits back on his work stool, frowning at nothing in particular. “She hurt herself. I actually don’t know how she managed to do that.” He takes another spoonful of his now-cold curry.”
“I’m really sorry,” is the gist of what Lisa says, but since Twelve’s hands are still on her face, it comes out more as “’m re’ly so’wy.”
Twelve drops the grin for a straight-laced grimace, though the twinkle still shimmers in his eyes. “It’s okay. If Nine isn’t freaking out about it, then you should be fine. He’s kind of fussy when one of us gets injured.”
With good reason, considering the lack of resources to take care of any extensive injuries. Before, if either of them were injured, the other had to take care of them. If asked, Nine would reluctantly admit that he would take advantage of asking Twelve to do anything he’d asked. Though, it usually regarded work-related favors and the simple tasks of getting him food and water.
The last Twelve was hurt, Nine remembers having to list out the reasons of why eating sweets was not considered healthy.
“Ish th’t so?” Lisa glances back to Nine, black orbs considering him with a strange look. “Do’s ‘e us’ally do th’t?”
“Only because we have to.” Nine says before Twelve has a chance to comment. The boy has a way with words that Nine can only marvel at, but he may say something…strange. “No one else was there to take care of us, so we had to learn ourselves.”
Nine chews on the beef, keeping his mouth busy before he can say anymore. Twelve stares at Nine with a peculiar expression, but says nothing. Instead, he shifts his focus on Lisa’s now puffy red cheeks. “Your cheeks are very squishy! I’m kind of jealous that Nine got to touch them first!”
Nine almost chokes on his food.
“Still,” Twelve lets go of her face, “I think you just need a bag of ice and a nice warm nap.”
Nine doesn’t have a chance to finish the plate before Twelve drags him off the chair. “What are you doing?”
The boy practically throws Nine onto the floor – right besides Lisa – and then lays down himself. Twelve pulls the afghan blanket off the couch and throws it over the three of them. Nine lays on Lisa’s left side and Twelve on her right. Twelve cuddles into Lisa’s side and whispers in her ear.
“Warm enough?”
“Y-yes…” she stutters into the blanket, hiding the lower half of her face. “I think I’m…okay.”
Nine sighs before settling in for the night. There’s no reason for him to get up and move anymore and he’s pretty sure that Twelve would only pull him back down if he tries to go back to his laptop.
"Good night, Lisa! Good night, Nine!" Twelve chirps happily.
"Good...night, Twelve...Nine."Lisa mutters sleepily.
Both of them are strange in their own right. Still, Nine can't help the small smile that pulls at his lips as he makes himself comfortable. "Good night."