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If someone asked Nairobi whether there was anything in her life that she was lacking, she probably would’ve said no. She had everything she could’ve wished for: freedom, a huge pile of money and the best person she’d ever known by her side. But now, after only a few weeks of living in this astonishingly beautiful Italian monastery, surrounded by people she could proudly call her family, the answer would change to yes. That was the only part that she was missing profoundly, somewhere deep inside of her.
Please, don’t get her wrong, Nairobi loved Helsinki. She couldn’t have asked for a better companion to live with after the heist. These three years in Argentina had been definitely the best years of her life. Still, she hadn’t realized how much she missed the rest of the gang until she’d felt Tokyo’s tight embrace around her neck, Denver’s soft kiss on her cheek, or Professor’s kind smile directed at her, so full of fondness.
Just after a few days following their reunion, Nairobi was starting to feel the seriousness of the situation they found themselves in. They needed to act quickly, since their friend’s life was on the line. Hence, all the trainings and long hours of memorizing the smallest details of the plan took most of their time. But when they got an evening off, they would spend it in the old monastery’s yard, catching up and exchanging stories.
It was one of those evenings when the whole group was sitting in the beautiful garden, scattered around the yard. The warm, summer weather got them into their good moods.
“So which of you crazy bastards came up with this idea? Melting gold, Christ Almighty,” inquired Denver, sending a curious look at the Professor, who only huffed a small laugh in response and quickly adjusted his glasses. He finally looked relatively relaxed, noticed Nairobi, if that was even possible in his case.
“Don’t look at me, my whole life back then was revolving around the idea of printing money,” he replied, and put his empty glass on the table to point his finger at Berlin and Palermo, who were sitting across from him. Everyone turned their eyes at them. “Feel free to blame these two.”
The two men looked at each other and a hearty laugh escaped their lips. “It’s actually a funny story,” started Berlin, and turned to the rest of the group.
“He challenged me,” added Palermo quickly, before the other man could open his mouth to explain further. Berlin only laughed sincerely, tilting his head back. “We were really drunk,” he remarked and put his hand on the other man’s shoulder.
“Yes. You didn’t think I could figure out the vault problem,” replied Palermo and took a sip of his wine with a small shrug.
“It took him one night.” Berlin reached for his own glass and raised it to his lips. Nairobi observed as his eyes glanced fondly at the man next to him, whose cheeks were turning an interesting shade of red. Palermo cleared his throat nervously, but seemed to pull himself together rather quickly.
“Well, like you said, we were pretty wasted,” he continued with a playful voice, but Nairobi would swear that he was discreetly trying to hide a grin behind his glass of wine.
Berlin smirked loudly at that, his eyes full of pride never leaving Palermo’s face. Nairobi looked around to notice the rest of the team patiently waiting with curiosity for the events to unfold. These two truly were like a locked box full of secrets.
“You didn’t expect me to succeed.” Palermo broke the moment of silence, finally looking up. He turned his whole body in the other man’s direction folding a knee under him on the seat and waited for an answer, raising his eyebrows challengingly.
“Don’t be silly.” Berlin tiled his head slightly to the side, folding his hands neatly on his knees and holding his glass carefully between them. “I know what you’re capable of,” he declared, keeping his voice deep and sure. “With you even the impossible becomes possible.”
Nairobi saw Palermo’s expression soften as a small, surprised gasp escaped his lips. He looked like he wanted to say something but the words wouldn’t come out. On the other hand, Berlin’s gentle smile never left his face. Out of the corner of her eye, Nairobi noticed Professor sighing in resignation, like it wasn’t the first time he witnessed a similar scene to one that was unfolding right in front of them.
Similarly, she felt the awkwardness starting to grow among the rest of the gang, so she stood up abruptly drawing all the attention to her. “Who wants more booze. Let’s get more booze,” she exclaimed, grabbing Helsinki by his sleeve and dragging him along with her. Denver followed shortly after them, almost tripping on the table leg in his haste.
The talking erupted again, as Nairobi shot a glance at Berlin and Palermo before entering the building. To her surprise, both men were staring back at her with a smug look on their faces. She rolled her eyes and gave them a middle finger, getting only a wink from Palermo in return.
---
A few hours and several bottles of alcohol later, after the sun had already set behind the stone walls of the monastery, Nairobi returned to her seat to find Helsinki sprawled over it, snoring soundly. She sighed, tucked herself in the small space left beside the man and relaxed. She spend the last hour talking to Tokyo about everything and nothing, trying to take the other woman’s mind off of the dark thoughts which she was sure were tormenting her. Nairobi saw it in Tokyo’s behavior. Her usual energy and confidence were replaced by small looks full of guilt and unbearable silence. She prayed for the heist to be successful so they could get Rio back alive and well.
The air was still pleasantly warm, as Nairobi scanned the scene in front of her. Most of her friends were talking to each other in the dim lights, swinging to the soft Italian music coming from the record player. Some of them already passed out in their seats like Helsinki. Her eyes wandered across to where Palermo sat when she heard him giggling. He was swinging his drink back and forth, as his body trembled with laughter, eyes sparkling, illuminating the yellow lights, which were hanging above them.
Nairobi frowned, thinking that he definitely had had too much to drink, as she watched him leaning back in his seat, pointing his finger at the night sky spotted with countless stars. He was mumbling something constantly, a chatterbox as always, squinting his eyes every now and then, pointing at different parts of the dark sky. The drink in his hand was dangerously close to spilling out, when another hand took it from him to hold it safely on the side.
Berlin, who was still sitting beside the other man, propped his head on his free hand, elbow resting on the back of their sofa. In contrast to Palermo, he seemed rather sober. Nairobi couldn’t remember a single time she ever saw the man drunk. He probably either never drank too much, or had a high tolerance for alcohol, since he would nurse a glass of wine most of the time.
Either way, when Palermo was throwing his fingers around, most probably babbling about constellations or some other equally interesting science talk directed at Berlin, the taller man’s eyes were constantly fixated on Palermo’s face with an expression reserved only for a person admiring an exceptionally magnificent piece of art. His tender smile never really disappeared through the whole evening.
Nairobi huffed out a small laugh, eyeing Berlin curiously once more. Since the day she’d met him, he’d never given her the impression of being a romantic. He definitely possessed some kind of admiration for art especially, but never for people. Not until it had turned out that the Professor and him were related and there was no need to hide their relationship anymore. And now she saw it for the second time, with Palermo.
Nairobi had caught him numerous times staring at the other man, as he was explaining the technical part of the plan, piece by piece, to the rest of the group. The expression filled with pride and something else, slightly different, aimed at the engineer had made Nairobi question their relationship. And with their every interaction, she would get more and more convinced that it was something more than just friendship. Something even more profound than the connection between her and Helsinki. She never caught herself looking at her best friend in such awe, like the whole world stopped existing out of sudden.
Nevertheless, she enjoyed observing them, it was almost like watching two oblivious puppies dancing around each other. Besides, they had probably already noticed that she had been putting the puzzles together, judging by the challenging look they would gave her whenever they caught her staring.
---
She must have dozed off, because the next think she remembered was Helsinki yawning and stretching his arms next to her.
“I’m going to bed. You’re joining me?” he asked, noticing that she was awake and reached for her hand.
Nairobi gave him a small smile. “I’ll be right there, Helsi.”
She rubbed her eyes with her fingers trying to get rid of that light-headed feeling after drinking several glasses of wine. Most of her friends had already retired to their rooms, the only voice that could be heard was Marseille and Berlin exchanging goodnights. The music was still playing in the background and the air became slightly colder. It must be really late, Nairobi thought, rubbing her shoulders.
“Marítn.”
She was startled as she heard a gentle whisper, and then looked over to witness Palermo slumped against Berlin shoulder, sleeping peacefully. The other man was absently caressing his thigh up and down, trying to wake him up.”Come on, stand up. I’m not carrying you to bed.”
Berlin sighed as the only response that he received in return was a quiet mumble against his shoulder. Palermo leaned even closer, throwing his arm across Berlin’s lap to keep him in place. The taller man simply huffed an amused laugh. “We’re not staying here. Aren’t you cold? You’re always cold,” he stated, touching Palermo’s forehead with the back of his hand.
Nairobi stood up and frowned at the two of them. “Do you want me to get you a wheelbarrow for him?” she asked, putting her hand on her hips, smirking.
Berlin raised his head up to look at her. “Won’t be necessary. I’ll give him another minute.”
Nairobi gave him a quick nod and turned to leave but stopped in her track right before the door. She turned around, catching Berlin’s attention once more. “So, you two are-“ she asked, pointing her finger between the two men. He gave her his signature smug smile.
“Great observation skills,” he replied. Well, points for her.
“Rule number one be damned, then,” she remarked, sending him a wink.
They exchanged looks in a silent goodnight and the last think she saw before turning around and entering the building was Berlin pressing his cheek against Palermo’s messy hair, smiling fondly.