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Nil let himself into his apartment, looking forward to the calm that came after a successful clean-up and disposal. He’d never seen himself in this line, but it settled the monster inside him far better than the killing he’d been doing for the Carja family under his father’s orders.
The Tenakth had taken him from them, they were very insistent that children had no business in crime, no matter the fact they were also a crime family. They’d channeled his urges into butchering and cleaning kills from hunting season, keeping him far away from any kind of human death - and soon found that his respite came not from spilling blood - but removing it and putting things back to how they should be.
His thoughts were broken apart when he noticed the thin line of light from under the bathroom door, everything in him reacting with chill anger. He walked silently through the dark corridor, knowing exactly where the minimal furniture was, only to freeze at the sight of a woman in tight black clothing that could have come straight from his own wardrobe if it was six sizes larger. She was knelt on the tiles, looking through his things and looked up as he snarled. Backed up against the cabinet.
He saw the black eyes and too-thin face of the woman, before the greater detail of what was behind her struck him. The contents of the under sink cupboard, namely a laundry basket of knives and more of his cleaning supplies were heaped on the tiles - and they’d clearly been rifled through - though he noted she wore vinyl gloves. Police? He thought, then immediately dismissed the thought. No judge would issue a warrant to this address.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” he demanded, hand on the knife still in his belt. Then blinked as she straightened up, before pulling herself up to eye level by sitting on the counter.
“I’m Aloy,” she introduced hesitantly. “Aloy Nora.” He drew the knife.
“Wait.” Her green eyes were large, despite the bruising keeping them half-shut and he sighed, nodding for her to continue.
“It’s perhaps more accurate to call me Aloy, despite the Nora. I don’t want anything to do with them - but they let my dad die in a fight with the Carja and I’ve not been allowed anywhere alone since.”
Nil waved at the room at large. “Why are you here, and why now?”
“Oh, I’m your soulmate.”
“Come again?” he choked out.
“Y’know - matching tattoos, glowy stuff, miracle healing and you can feel my emotions after we touch?” she sniped, clearly irritated at his reaction. “Bast, told the matriarchs - says he saw you in a club last week and you’ve got the same mark behind your ear as I do.” She huffed at this, her aggravation more than clear at this unknown character.
“I’m familiar with the concept. But I don’t have a mark.” he explained, more patiently than he’d expected of himself if he was honest. Aloy rolled her eyes, dropping to the floor with a gentle thud - her empty hands in the air stopping him from lashing out with the blade he still held. She gestured at the mirror with her head, the message clear-check for yourself.
He waved her back against the wall, hands still up as he opened the cabinet to his left to show the back of his head in the mirror - pulling his ear to one side to see the blank skin he expected, then spun to do the other side.
Fuck.
There was a black triangle, bisected by a thin line of brilliant blue. Flat as if it had always been there, when he knew it hadn’t.
“I’m only here because Bast decided to kiss-ass and try to set me up for more wet work and his bitch grandma Lansra was happy to go along with it because she thinks the Tenakth killed her sister.” Aloy chattered away, unconcerned by the revelation he had a fucking soulmate before he processed what she was saying.
“You were sent to kill me?!” he demanded, bringing his blade back up to keep her against the other side of the room.
She rolled her eyes, seemingly unconcerned at the brandishing of the knives.
“Now you’re listening.” she snapped, green eyes livid amongst the purple bruising. “Read the room Nil, I don’t want to be with them and I’m only not under guard because they’re waiting outside to confirm you’re dead. I hoped that as my soulmate you might be willing to help me get out.”
He snarled again, outraged that the Nora thought they had a chance even catching him unawares - but stepped forward all the same, noting Aloy’s flinch with the same frustration.
“Show me the mark?” He says, trying to stay calm despite the roaring in his veins. She tilts her head to the side, and the clear handprint on her neck has his knuckles whitening on the hilt of the knife he still held, even as the twin of his own mark appears when her hand pushes her hair out of the way.
“Were they the ones that hurt you?” he asked softly, not acknowledging the claim for now.
She grinned at that, looking so much younger that he was expecting.
“Let’s just say I wasn’t as keen on the idea of killing the person that’s meant to complete me as they were. Had to make them feel like they were winning so I could meet you on my own and not with someone peeking over my shoulder.” He couldn’t help but smile at the devious expression on her face, despite the obvious pain she’d taken in the process.
“Fine.” he liked her spirit at the very least, and like his foster-family believed in having the choice to live the life they did. He stuck out his hand and she blinked at him.
“C’mon - gotta prove you’re the real deal and it sounds like you’re on a very short leash Red.”
“It’s Aloy.” She insisted, with a wrinkle of her freckled nose that he found bizarrely endearing, then she was stripping a glove off one hand with a muted snap. Then her clammy, glove-powdered hand is in his.
Nothing, but her and golden light flooding the bathroom. Flashes of aching pain, and humour and a grim determinism that just appealed to his own pragmatic nature. Then, it settled in the back of his head like a little flicker of sunlight that tickled and scraped against the edges of his own mind.
She tilted her head as well, her gaze a little more assessing perhaps, with the flicker of shadow he’d likely gifted her - but her smile was malicious and he felt his, their blood rise. Then he was pulling the small burner phone he always kept for emergencies from his pocket, and pressing call on the first contact.
“Nil.” the rich tones of his foster father come down the phone, tinged with worry. He never uses the burner phone, and he feels Aloy’s curiosity like sunlight down his back.
“We have a situation.”
“Speak, now.” and Nil obeys without thought. “Job is done, no issues - but the Nora have sent an assassin, who also happens to be my soulmate that wants out - but has babysitters outside to confirm the outcome.”
“I’ve got people on the way, can the Nora confirm numbers?” Nil turned to Aloy, who rolled her eyes, and spoke into the phone - ears apparently sharp enough to hear the tinny voice on the end of this cheap.
“Bast is stationed on the rear building entrance, Resh and Jun are in a Red Fiat with a Z plate in the parking lot at the front - as much to keep me here as to kill Nil.” She summed up quickly.
“We have people on the way, flush the sim and get rid of the phone in case any cops think they can get nosy.” Hekarro’s tone was steady, but Nil could still hear the tension in his voice as he rang off without a goodbye. He stripped the sim in seconds and flushed, then the phone he slipped through the gap in the lazily ticking fan in the top of the window - the drop from the tenth floor would see any evidence of it gone long before anyone might think to look.
“What’s with all the knives anyway? You know that basket is gonna ruin the edges on the blades.” Aloy asked, settling on the counter again now it was apparent that they weren’t moving elsewhere and Nil mulled on the question, before asking his own.
“You know what I do, right?”
“Mhmm,” she acknowledged, using the nail scissors by the sink to scrape something out from under her nail. “Nil, or Cleansweep if you follow the bar gossip, twenty-three years old - one of the best cleaners in all the families. I’ve heard the Carja are sore over something with you, but I’ve not heard why - only that you’re fair-minded to most that run across you if it doesn’t interfere with your orders. I wouldn’t have approached you otherwise.”
He blinked. Then blurted out his next question.
“How do you hear any bar gossip, you’re what - just eighteen?”
Aloy flipped him the bird.
“I’m nearly twenty actually, and I was born into one of the biggest crime families in this state. You think I can’t get a fake ID as easily as I could grab a snack from the pantry?” Her head tilted playfully, and he could feel she wasn’t really offended - just teasing, and relaxed.
“The basket is for plants, doesn’t matter if they’re sharp or not. Estate sales, thrift shops - anywhere they’re likely to have picked up a ton of trace evidence that corresponds with absolutely nothing at the scene.” he explained quietly, still conscious of the situation outside the building. “I’m good enough that I don’t need them most of the time - but better to have them and not need them than the alternative.”
Aloy nodded thoughtfully, her eyes sharp and her curiosity lingering in the back of his mind. The dappled sunlight of her feelings became chill, and sharp at his next question.
“You said earlier this Bast had set you up for more wet work, I thought the Nora kept their kids out of the nastier stuff?”
Her knuckles were white where she gripped the counters edge, and her kicking legs had stilled as she looked at the tiles.
“They do.”
“But?” he probed gently. Trying to project a feeling of reassurance and comfort that had her looking at him with a wry smile.
“I’m motherless - and who would speak up against sending me after my father died? Not the mother’s of my age-mates, that’s for sure. The matriarch’s might say they disapprove, but if the job gets done they don’t really care who does it.” She stared at her knees for a while, picking at a loose thread while her feelings shifted like mercury in his head.
“They might have let me go if I hadn’t been so good at it, but I’m so tired of the blood. What you do, the money stuff - all of that is okay - but I want a life of my own where I choose how involved I am.” she whispered, almost to herself as the most intense pang of loneliness struck his mind like a gong - resonating fiercely within them both.
He had her in his arms before he really knew what he was even doing, feeling his own surprise resonated back at him as the feedback tangled them even closer. Letting her stay sat on the counter so she could rest her chin on his shoulder.
“Hekarro would let you have that Red,” he found himself saying softly. “The reason we’re at the top of every hustle is that everyone wants to be there and to make him happy. Before he led the family we were always at odds, always snapping and snarling over scraps. He showed the Tenakth a different way, and the majority embraces it because they see how it works.”
She moved to press her face into his shoulder instead, and he pretended not to feel the warm drops of liquid and hitching breaths she took, and the singing sense of relief until she gave a wet laugh.
“I can feel you, feeling like you can’t feel anything.” she confessed, swiping reddened eyes with the thin cotton sleeve of her top to dry them off. “Nobody ever told me it’d be like this.” Nil laughed, about to reply when he heard two gunshots fire off nearby and shattering glass.
Aloy’s feelings went chill again. “Resh and Jun.” she murmured, before fear and a jolt of adrenaline surge into his veins at the pure distress she projected. “Bast might come h-”
Her words were interrupted by the sound of the door being kicked through.
“Are you fucking done yet you motherless bitch?” He shouted from the entrance of the apartment, he sounded panicky and Aloy and Nil just stared at one another in the fluorescent light of the bathroom. Knowing he’d be drawn there first by the light, just as he had a few short minutes ago - for all it felt like a lifetime now.
“Aloy?” his voice was closer now, shaky, furious. “This isn’t fucking funny - I think Tenakth are outside. We need to go NOW.” Then the bathroom door is swinging open and a blur of black and red moves before he can even process what’s happening.
A muffled gasp, and a groan, disgust pulsing through the bond. Then she’s staggering past with the deadweight of a boy bigger than herself and rolling him into the tub, before he can even offer to help. The knife still sticking out of the precise spot his heart lies. She swipes the loose curls away from her face, and leaves a small smear of blood behind. Remarkably tidy for a stab kill, he thinks in admiration.
“I owe you a plant apparently, sorry Nil.” she said with an unrepentant grin, and he can’t help but laugh.
A series of knocks echo from the front of the apartment - and Nil taps back on the bathroom door that had swung closed again in the chaos.
“That’s our ride out.” he tells Aloy, and she looks at Bast in the tub questioningly.
“Leave him, I’ll organise a crew when we reach headquarters.” he says, reaching out a hand and staying where he was as she flinched on instinct, before slipping her hand into his larger one. He gave it a squeeze, feeling a warm glow suffuse him as her embarrassment faded away. He was pleased to see Kotallo stood in the doorway, with Fashav in tow.
“The Chief told us what to expect, we’re under orders to bring you straight there…She doesn’t look very Nora though does she?” Fashav spoke without thinking at times, and the rabbit-in-the-headlights look Kotallo gave him was perfect.
“You don’t look very Tenakth. So I guess we’re even” Aloy snarked from behind him, and Fashav looked delighted.
“Less snark, more getting to the car please. It’s only a matter of time before the cops get here.” Kotallo stressed, waving them all out before he pulled the shattered door too and taped it with police scene tape before tucking the rest away in a pocket on his belt. Aloy’s curiosity rose up in the back of his mind again, and he squeezed her hand as they headed towards the back entrance of the building via the stairs.
“Distraction, if they think it’s under investigation for a different crime they probably won’t bother to check it on this patrol.” She nodded at the explanation, her grip tightening with each step as she grew pale and sweaty.
“Are you okay to walk?”
“‘m Fine.” she insisted, before her knees collapsed from under her and he scooped her into his arms. Keeping her bundled against his chest, and not breaking his stride. Kotallo and Fashav looked askance of him, but kept going at his nod.
“She took a beating earlier, we need to get the Headquarters, Dekka can look at her there, stopping here would only put her and us in danger.” he said quietly, trying to avoid the echo of the stairwell carrying his voice further than he wanted.
Aloy’s hand pats weakly at his chest, and he glances down at her.
“Was gonna drop my phone down the stairwell, can you get it - my left pocket. Don’t want them to follow me.” He obeys, grateful she found the strength to warn him. The sense of her he has weakens as she rests in his arms - he hopes she’s sleeping but his fear scorches through him at losing her before he’s even known her.
She opens her eyes at the feeling, turning hazy green eyes on him when his arms strained and the last staircase was in sight. “‘m not going anywhere - I’ll be better in no time.” she said, stubborn hitting him like an anvil - and he believed her - just like that.
They hit the last steps running, Kotallo taking a scant few moments to check the entrance was clear before waving them across to the car that stood unlocked with the engine running. It held the familiar blue and white insignia if you knew where to look, and everybody in this part of the City did.
He went to place her in the back seat when Fashav touched his shoulder, and shook his head.
“Two seconds.” he cautioned, pulling a sweeper from the back seat. He swept it across Aloy’s body with nothing until he hit the practical black leather boots she wore and it pinged loudly. His fellow former Carja ran careful fingers over the sole, then took the knife at his belt, and sliced into the heel - pulling a small circuit board wired to a battery from the compartment there as Aloy hissed and spit about control freaks before falling silent again. Her anger was like a brief flame, that guttered and died as her energy left her.
Fashav’s next sweep was clear, and he stepped aside to get in the front passenger seat next to Kotallo who was already waiting to leave. Nil quickly got into the back seat, securing Aloy, then himself as Kotallo started driving - his hand steady on the adapted steering wheel of the car.
He’d been an excellent driver before, and his “accident” hadn’t changed that - although the larger man took great pleasure in throwing off nosy cops and officials with his injury. Whether it be implying discrimination or the wrap he hid the scarring with coming loose out of nowhere. They pulled out of the parking lot and into the westbound traffic just as blue and red lights flashed up on the horizon and Kotallo heaved a sigh of relief. The interior of the car was dark, aside from Fashav’s phone in the front seat, his thumbs moving busily before a text was sent “Got them. She’s clean. ETA 15 mins.” Then it went dark, and the only sounds were the rumble of the engine and Aloy’s faltering breaths.
*****
It seemed like moments before they were pulling into their usual space in the brightly lit underground parking, and they were ushered into the lift for Hekarro’s floor. Aloy in Nil’s arms again as she carried on fighting to stay awake.
“Dekka’s already up there with the basics,” Fashav said steadily, a moment after his phone pinged, “but the Chief wants to speak with her before she goes to the infirmary if needed.” Nil nodded, busy checking she was still with them as the lift smoothly ascended, then came to a slow stop - the doors sliding open near silently.
He nodded to Natikka & Arrokeh - the former gasping quietly when she saw the scarlet-haired woman in his arms before the older man frowned her back into passive watchfulness. Aloy was struggling to lift her head, and he felt her frustration like a wildfire as Hekarro approached and she wasn’t in any state to stand.
“Aloy Nora, welcome to the Forbidden West.” Hekarro said with the hint of a smile as Aloy somehow managed to narrow her barely open eyes at him.
“To be clear, I believe that respect and loyalty are earned, not given and that goes both ways. Are you willing to disavow the Nora and discuss - when you’ve received medical treatment, of course - how we might work to help each other?” Her apprehension and fear were like storm clouds, but hope shone through like a beam of light as he gave her the tiniest squeeze and her small hand squeezed his bicep in return.
Then she nodded, jerkily and Hekarro placed a large hand on his shoulder, leading him to where Dekka stood in black scrubs with a trolley waiting for them. He lay her gently on the plastic covered foam, feeling it sink around her even as it clung to his forearms when he slid them out from under her. She grabbed onto his hand before he could withdraw completely though, the impression of her like ice down his spine for a second when she thought he was abandoning her.
He tightened his grip.
“I’ve got you Red.” he said softly, even as Dekka immediately pulled a wheeled screen around the bed to block out the others.
“It’s Aloy.” she sniffed, but he could feel her warming to it and grinned - only for her to flick the tender skin on his wrist. “-and stop being smug, it doesn’t suit you.”
Dekka went to roll her top up, and Aloy flinched - then arched as the action caused great pain to her.
“Sorry sweetheart, I need the top layer off to check you over. Do you want Nil to turn round?” she chides gently, and Aloy nods reluctantly to the first part and shrugs at the second - apprehension clear even without the bond as she lifts her hips for Dekka to help remove her trousers and then peels the hem of her top up revealing a sight that had them both sucking in a breath.
Nil felt fire in his veins, along with a terrible helplessness.
“Let them think they were winning? Red, you could have died. They might have done less damage if they’d just thrown you into traffic. By all that’s good in this world.”
She shrugged on the bed, flushing red in the few patches of skin that weren’t a mottled pattern of purple, blue, green and yellow.
“It worked, and now I’m receiving medical care.” She said patiently enough. “If I didn’t even try I might as well be dead anyway - they wanted me to carve my own heart out.”
Dekka placed a consoling hand on a bare patch of skin on her forearm.
“Sounds like you’ve got the right of it there Sweetheart, and if you’ve got the appetite we can serve it back to them later.” Dekka commented, her teeth showing as she considered the situation. “Do you mind if I wire you up for some baseline stats?”
Aloy smiled, again shedding the years despite her black eyes and the obvious pain she was in.
“Go ahead.”
He found himself stepping aside briefly to let Dekka attach a blood pressure cuff to Aloy’s arm and oxygen monitor to her forefinger. What followed next was either a highly efficient medical exam, an adoption interview or some hybrid of the two that ended in Aloy being given a diagnosis of cracked ribs, a stress fracture in her lower leg and internal bruising.
“You’ll heal a lot faster if you stay with Nil, but it depends on your comfort with that idea, you can stay in the infirmary instead but you might feel more vulnerable there given your origins.” Dekka said softly. Her weathered hands were gently stroking Aloy’s curls now they lay loose across the pillow as his soulmate leaned into it with a feeling of awed comfort, and a bitterness that only served to heighten the first two.
“I’ll stay with Nil.” Aloy whispered, shy now as she looked up at him. “If you don’t mind?” before she smiled, feeling the warm glow he’d felt when she said she’d stay with him before he even said anything.
“What’s mine is yours, even if it’s just half the bed in the room I keep here.” he muttered, failing to hide how charmed he was by the tinkling laugh that filled the room. A few minutes later Aloy was dosed up on painkillers, strapped into a thick plastic support that supported her leg and wrapped in a blanket for the journey downstairs. Nil was handed the biggest tub of bruise salve he’d ever seen and a bag with more bandages for her ribs and instructions to call Dekka if he had any concerns.
Given the choice between being carried, or pushed in a chair Aloy had shrugged and held out her arms to him, smiling into his neck at the burst of surprise and contentment he’d felt. He supported her by her hips, avoiding compressing her ribs as the screens were pulled back and Fashav and Kotallo stood to walk back to the residential part of the building with them.
Hekarro looked up from his desk with a soft smile.
“Until later, Nil, Aloy.” Nil can’t help but smile fondly at the man who’d saved him all those years ago, before turning to walk to the lift. Mixing residential floors amongst the office floors that the family rented out had done wonders for concealing their location. The thick privacy film on every window easily justified by the confidentiality requirements of the mixture of law, medical and business professionals, and the money to fund it absolutely pristine, not a spot of blood left in the trail.
Kotallo and Fashav bade them farewell at the end of the short lift ride, entering their shared apartment across the corridor from his.
“Definitely done for the night Nil? I’m not getting dressed a second time.” Fashav teased as he kept walking.
“Did you get dressed Fashav? I thought Kotallo had to help you with that.” Aloy asked sweetly over his shoulder and he stepped inside his own door quickly to the sound of Fashav’s indignant sputtering and Kotallo’s deep laughter.
“That’s enough out of you Red, let's try and keep you alive and out of trouble for at least one night, please?” Aloy pouted, but her smile was soft as she eventually nodded.
“Trouble has a nasty habit of finding me if I’m completely honest.” she confessed, “but I’m willing to try?” Nil walked through the small living room to the bedroom. Flipping the covers back before placing Aloy down on the mattress as gently as he could, then fished into his bedside drawer to her surprise and apprehension.
Then he held up three plastic wrapped toothbrushes with a grin, and she was laughing.
“I’m not that kind of guy - pink, blue or yellow?” he asked, enjoying the way their humour bounced through the bond.
“Ooooh, I don’t know,” Aloy said slowly, tapping her finger on her chin in mock-thought. “I don’t normally have to make TWO big choices in a day. First whether to murder my soulmate in cold blood or betray my shitstain family to flee with him to the West of the city, now toothbrush colours. It’s a lot to process.”
“Yellow it is then.” Nil decided, and Aloy smacked it out of his hands onto the covers. “Oseram colours? Please - blue is fine.”
He handed the blue toothbrush over with a wink.
“Need any help?” he asked, accepting the no with a smile before it was even voiced out loud.
Aloy slowly limped her way into the attached bathroom, and Nil took advantage of the closed door to change into a pair of shorts and an old shirt he kept for the occasions he ended up back here instead of his - well, probably former apartment. After a few minutes the door opened again and Aloy emerged still in the blanket.
He skirted past into the bathroom next, finally feeling the weight of sleep pressing down on him.
“There’s some clothes in the drawers if you want a top or anything, it’ll be big on you though - sorry.” he called as he shut the door, and heard movement before the door clicked shut. He went through his normal routines blindly, before finding himself staring wide-eyed at himself in the mirror.
He pulled his ear forward again, looking again fresh at the mark in the low light of the little bathroom and trying to let his perception of Nil, alone, independent match with Nil, soulmate to a woman stubborn enough to be beaten half to death for the chance to meet him. Would he ever be worthy of that bravery?
His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp rap on the door.
“I can feel you thinking in there, stop being stupid and come to bed.” Aloy’s voice cut through both the interior door, and his sleep-deprived angst and he sighed, then opened the door - desperately trying to suppress the rush of possessiveness that rose up at the sight of Aloy wearing one of his tops the collar slipping down to expose a freckled shoulder that was still covered in bruises - though Nil thought they might have started shifting colours already.
She obviously knew, and the smirk she sent him through her eyelashes had his cheeks burning as she patted the mattress next to her.
“Come on, I’m no blushing virgin and at this point I can’t imagine you are either.” she said consolingly, and embarrassment faded with her acknowledgement as he slid under the covers with a huff.
“I might have been saving myself for you.” he said, fluttering his eyelashes at her before she punched him in the shoulder.
“Go to sleep, you can pretend to be the blushing bride in the morning.” she said, before a jaw-cracking yawn racked her frame, sending a wave of lazy contentment through to him. With that, Aloy lay back, her small frame swimming in the faded black of his shirt as her eyes fluttered shut and the sense he had of her went still. Not gone, just warm and relaxed as she lightly snored and he laughed to himself. Of course she would snore.
That was his last thought before his mind went blank, and he was finally dragged into a deep sleep.
*****
He woke slowly, in degrees. Registering first warmth, then the rise and fall of regular breathing before the discomfort of a bony elbow in his gut has him slowly scooting back only for Aloy to roll closer, throwing her unbroken leg over his with a contented sigh that turned into a snore as she settled again.
The dark bruising and swelling around her eyes was already a pale greenish yellow, and her breaths were more regular. His phone was still on the bedside table where he left it, and he recalled that Aloy would need both a phone and fresh clothes for at least today before he could ask if she’d managed to stash any of her things away to collect later.
He ran his thumb over the scanner, angling the screen away from Aloy until he could reduce the brightness. Three new messages.
One from Dekka saying to let her know when he was awake, and she’d bring clothes and breakfast to the apartment. The next from Hekarro asking to meet him and Aloy this evening for dinner, then another from Kotallo with a link to the City Newspaper Just like old times! he’d captioned it with a smily face. Nil rolled his eyes and clicked the link - still trying to get his bearings and wake up enough to reply.
Two killed in Apartment Shootout - police refuse to comment on possible gang links.
He sighed, scrolling down to see blood-spattered windshield behind a thick round of police tape - his apartment building in the background. They hadn’t found the dead boy in his bathtub, good. He skimmed the rest of the text lazily, lamenting the move he’d need to make now - although Aloy might not have liked it anyway he supposed - but he’d miss the basement pool dearly.
A poke in the ribs, had him looking round to see twin slits of green looking up at him.
“What’s got you all in your feelings?” she asked, her voice rough with sleep as she levered herself further up the bed with his body - apparently unbothered by his proximity.
He tilted the dim phone screen her way, and her mouth made a small ‘o’ of realisation, and he smiled despite himself.
“Was just thinking how much I’ll miss the basement pool facilities now I’ve got to move again.” he halfheartedly mumbled. Then he feels a mixture of compassion and guilt, that has him rolling to face his soulmate.
“I’m s-” then his lips cover hers and her aborted apology turns into a surprised squeak.
“No apologies,” he whispers fiercely, “You’re worth more than some chlorinated water and underfloor heating.” She pressed his forehead against hers and he floods his admiration for her through the bond between them as she gasps, and pulls him back down for another kiss.
Nil felt drunk on her lips, and they might have stayed there all day if Aloy’s stomach hadn’t loudly rumbled - making them both break off, bubbly laughter fizzing at the back of his head as she grins up at him where he was leant over her.
“That was nice.” she says, a small smile playing upon her lips as Nil flops backwards - fishing around under the pillows. An itch of curiosity.
“Dekka told me to text when we were awake and she’d drop round food and clothes for you.” Nil explained, tapping away on his phone before hitting send and reluctantly sliding out from beneath the covers to grab his own clean clothes and duck into the bathroom. He runs through his morning routine, unable to resist humming lightly as he washes at the sink - then throws on clothes so he’s decent to answer the door to Dekka.
He steps out with a smile to Aloy, just as the door is lightly rapped in a business-like way. Dekka is there, dressed in a clean set of black scrubs and bearing a large covered tray balanced on a bundle of clothes.
“Good morning.” she says with a smile, pushing right past his outstretched hands to the bedroom to place the tray down on the bed and bustle round to Aloy. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” she clucked, pressing a hand against Aloy’s forehead and Nil laughed at the perplexed feelings that swirled in the back of his head.
“Do you mind if I examine you again in the bathroom?” Dekka asked, already taking Aloy’s hand and helping his soulmate to her feet and supporting her as she dragged the thick support on her leg behind her. Time passed slowly, and he sat on the bed - half-dozing until the door opens again and Aloy is flopping down next to him on the bed. Her hair in a messy bun, and a pair of jeans paired with a charcoal grey sweater.
“Three cheers for weird soul-stuff - my leg has healed enough to removed the hobble Dekka placed on me last night.” she said into his bicep, eyes already half closed. He grunted as he forced himself to sit up, then gently slid her into a seated position as she whined.
“Food first, then sleep.” he said firmly, “I know you can feel how tired I am as well.” and he laughed at the small defeated raspberry she blew at him. Dekka stepped out of the bathroom a second later, her eyes oddly shiny as she beamed at them both.
“It looks like you’re in capable hands Aloy, Nil - make sure to eat plenty of food and text if you need anything. You’ve nothing on the schedule until tonight.”
“Thank you Dekka.” they spoke together, and laughed.
She smiled again, then closed the door softly behind her.
Nil leaned forward to pull the covered tray closer to them, pulling the lid off to reveal a spread of croissant French toast, seasonal fruit and Chantilly cream in small chilled pots to the side.
Aloy snatches up a spoon, quickly sectioning a piece of the rich breakfast, then adding a lashing of cream and a slice of peach before she stuffs it into her mouth, and the feelings of unbridled joy and bliss have him reaching for his own silverware.
“Oh my god Nil.” Aloy thickly declared with glee before she swallowed her food. “Whoever said crime doesn’t pay has clearly never eaten breakfast at Tenakth Headquarters.”
Nil felt himself grinning back at her.
“Think you’ll stay then Red?” he needled lightly, and she made a dismissive noise.
“After this you’ll have to chase me with that laundry basket full of knives to get me to leave.” she said frankly, and his soul sang.
“You still owe me for those by the way” he finds himself teasing, enjoying the ripples of good humour and contentment glowing in the back of his skull.
Her lips taste sweeter than anything, and he decides not to think about the knives anymore.
He’s found something that settles the monster far better, after all.