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Contrary to popular belief, he was not happy when Fyodor informed them during the latest meeting that Nikolai was to go undercover as Tonan's secretary.
He knew that it was important to have the clown get close to the guy, but still... his visits to Sky Casino would become rarer and rarer the closer things got to what they had planned... he was yet to be informed of what would happen on the day marked on the calendar Kamui and Fyodor had pointed out, but Nikolai had grinned eagerly, as if he knew exactly what was going to happen. His smile had faltered, briefly, upon glancing to him, a strange look on his face- and yet, it was gone as quickly as usual.
He still didn't know what was going on- he wanted to know, truly, but Nikolai had stared at him after the meeting. Had even taken of his eye patch with a glare so fierce that it reminded Sigma that the man could easily kill, had done so before. "Don't try to find out about X-day, you hear me? Don't. We'll tell you eventually" he had said, and Sigma had wanted to argue. To tell him that it wasn't fair- was he not trustworthy enough? Did he knew too much? Did they think him a liability? They wouldn't tell him, and he didn't dare ask after Nikolai's words.
That had been two weeks ago and ever since Nikolai bid him good night that same night, Sigma had been gradually going back to how he was before Nikolai's intervention, which felt like it had been ages ago. It hadn't been that long, but it felt like it.
Sigma rubbed a hand over his face tiredly as he passed through the hallway. He was tired, but it was only his second night awake and he'd slept three hours beforehand. He'd had worse. The only issue was that nobody would stop him from overworking himself. His employees had all retired for the night, leaving the manager to do his 'patrols' on his own. They weren't truly necessary, if he was honest with himself. He just... he needed to do something. He needed to have a purpose. Everything had to be perfect- what if Fyodor decided to take away the casino otherwise? To take away his safe place?
He couldn't risk it.
So he walked down the dark halls, his heels clicking against marble floors- until he stopped dead in his track, pressing himself against the hallway's wall not too far from the doorway into the bar. There was light at the bar. There shouldn't be light at the bar at two in the morning. He slowly inched closer to the doorway and sneaked a glance towards the counter, finding a white haired man in a red uniform. He paled drastically at the sight, stepping backwards. Suddenly, the clicking of his heels felt louder than before.
"Sigma-kun, why don't you come and join me?"
He let out a deep, measured breath. This was his boss. This was Kamui. No one refused Kamui. So he slowly walked over and took a seat on the stool next to the imposing man. He nervously placed his hands on his lap, glancing at the open bottle of sake on the counter... and the one laying toppled over. He would need to send one of the employees to restock in the morning. He didn't know how he was supposed to explain how to bottles went missing over night, but he'd find a way. Probably.
"Can I help you, Kamui-dono?" he asked, glancing towards the man. He noted a slight flush to the man's face, no doubt from the alcohol he'd consumed. A smack, which probably had been supposed to be a light slap, left him almost falling face first onto the counter, the air knocked from his lungs. Kamui didn't seem to notice. "Why, I've had the pleasure of drinkin' with Dostoyevsky-kun and Gogol-kun, even that odd fellow that follows Dostoyevsky 'round! But I've yet to share a drink with you, don't I?" the man lifted his glass, and Sigma's eyes were drawn to the amber liquid.
Nikolai, at this point, would usually tell him that he was too young to drink- even if that wasn't technically true. Nobody knew his true age. Legally, he'd manage to get himself put down as sixteen which meant that he was technically still a minor- but to cut him some slack, he was created two years ago looking like... he wasn't sure whether or not he looked more like a tall teenager or a young-looking adult, if he was honest with himself. Nikolai, for his part, had for some reason decided to see Sigma as a toddler.
But Nikolai wasn't here, was he?
He offered a small, hesitant smile. He'd never had a drink before. But he was curious, and what was the harm? "Of course, boss" he agreed and went to pick up a glass from behind the counter.
~
»Get back to the casino as soon as possible. I'm not getting involved in this. Good night«
Nikolai grimaced as he stared at the cracked mobile-phone's screen mid-jump. He didn't know why, exactly, Fyodor had written him in the middle of the night. He had been on his way anyway, but that message had been quite ominous. It was quite typical of Fyodor not to care about what was going on, but the fact that he told him to hurry? It was odd.
Was the plan at risk? No, Fyodor would've dealt with that easily. Or would've asked Fukuchi to handle it. Wait... Fukuchi was at the Sky Casino. The clown paled, but the casino was getting closer. His worries could be proved right or wrong in just a few minutes. Soon enough his feet touched down upon the ground of the floating casino and he easily entered the building, gaze wandering around warily.
His feet carried him towards the bar almost on autopilot when a barely discernible noise carried to his ears and he started sprinting when he heard what sounded like a sob. He quickly found himself staring at the bar and grimaced. The scene, at least for his worried mind - not that he'd ever admit to being worried, someone must've made a mistake - did not look very good. Not with Sigma curled up on the ground, back pressed against the counter and sobbing. Not with Fukuchi leaning over the shorter man. He couldn't see Fukuchi's face, the man's back was facing him, but Nikolai saw red when he noticed the bottles of sake littering the countertop.
"Why are you- why the hell is he crying?" he shouted, crossing the room in few, long strides and all but shoved his boss away from the casino-owner, glaring up at the Hunting Dog. "Did you touch him? Did he touch you?" Nikolai glared at the older man, glancing between him and Sigma as he knelt down next to the two-toned man. The shorter man's clothes were slightly rumpled, but in the way that fancy clothes did when you sat down on the ground. Something that brought him at least a little relief- but he was still angry at Fukuchi. Especially when he noticed that Sigma definitely had a cloud of alcohol surrounding him.
Fukuchi kneeled down on Sigma's other side, one hand going to Sigma's shoulder, and he narrowed his eyes in disdain. "Gogol-kun-" the older man started, but the clown didn't hesitate to send him a glare so dark it made even the other sober up quickly. Nikolai knew he was no match in a fight- but that didn't mean he wouldn't risk one. Not when Sigma shrunk up even more and scrambled to avoid any form of touch right now. He'd rarely seen the casino-owner panic so openly. He had a theory on what was happening- and while it technically wasn't as bad as his first fear, it didn't mean that Sigma was okay. "Get your damn hands off of him!" he ordered, barely restraining himself from shouting to yelling.
"I don't think your yelling is helping" the old man commented dryly, and Nikolai scowled. "Get lost, at least I know how to deal with him when's like this" he countered coldly, and Fukuchi offered him a silent stare, before getting up with a slight sway. "Well, he's your problem, then" his boss shrugged, and walked away. Much to Nikolai's relief- although it sadly did nothing to calm Sigma down.
The clown watched his boss leave, before turning back to Sigma, careful not to touch and aggravate his panic. "Hey... what's wrong?" he murmured, kneeling down before the shorter man. Eye wandering over the other's face, until he took off his eye patch. Trying to calm the panicking casino-owner down. "I- I..." Sigma stuttered, before falling silent again, body shaking with sobs and tears rolling down his face. Nikolai grit his teeth, unsure how to proceed. "Siggy, c'mon. Stop crying- please" he murmured, stressing the please in hopes to get through to him. "'m sorry... it's... it's stupid..." the two-toned male murmured, to Nikolai's dismay scooting away from him with his shoulders hunched.
He winced, but stayed where he was. "It's not stupid. Probably" he muttered the last part under his breath, but noticed how the other winced, staring at the ground. He sighed, deciding to just get it other with, and tugged his gloves further down to make sure to avoid skin contact, before sitting down next to him and dragging him into a one-sided, one-armed hug. "Sigma, talk to me" it wasn't a request anymore, it was an order. He didn't really want to order the other around... but he also couldn't help him if he didn't know what was going on. And he knew, all too well, that Sigma sometimes just... didn't know what to do without an order. He knew the basics, of what his life had been before the Decay. He didn't know as much as Fyodor or Fukuchi, but he knew enough.
Sigma stared at him, silver-grey eyes rimmed with red, and took a shuddering breath. "I'm... Niko, I'm not... I'm not real..." he finally whispered, and Nikolai stared at him, utterly silent. Slowly, he turned Sigma until the younger man was facing him. He grabbed the other's hands, careful to make sure no inch of skin was exposed, but his gloves reached down far enough to avoid another incident. "I'm literally holding your hands right now, маленька пташка. I wouldn't be able to hold your hands otherwise" he told him evenly, raising a brow as if to challenge the other to counter that.
In seconds, panic turned into despair. "And I was literally written into existence!" Sigma shouted, louder than Nikolai had anticipated, but he didn't react beyond narrowing his eyes. Sigma ducked his head upon realizing his own outburst, looking conflicted now. Finally, he hummed. "Which means you're real now, even if you weren't before" he finally pointed out. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, because Sigma let out a strangled sob that sounded like a small "Exactly". Nikolai sighed, a hint frustrated. Whatever Fukuchi had said or done, perhaps even simply thought, must've set him off like this. It was worse than the time Sigma had been forced to extract information from a dead body...
Finally, he let out a sigh. "Please stop crying I'm horrible at this" he didn't voice it as an order, but a request. Ordering someone to stop crying probably wouldn't work anyway. Instead, he attempted to joke slightly, although he really did feel like he was doing a horrible job. "At least you're trying?" Sigma offered, wiping stray tears from his eyes. The clown merely scrunched up his nose at the other's attempt to console him. This was supposed to be his job right now, not Sigma's! "You look like you're about to throw up or something. I don't think I'm trying hard enough" he muttered, letting out a deep sigh, but cracked a smile when Sigma let out a strangled mix between a laugh and a sob and repeated: "At least you're trying"
For a moment they just sat silently. Nikolai refused to let go of the young manager's hands, which led to Sigma kneeling on the ground and Nikolai crouching in front of him. The tears were finally, finally, slowing. Much to Nikolai's relief. Still, he felt his blood boil at the thought that not only had Fukuchi given alcohol to the poor guy - and who even gave alcohol to toddlers? - but also set him off this badly. Had Sigma been sober, he probably would've been able to keep himself from having a break down until he got to his room. Speaking of his room... perhaps he should bring him there, before the first employees came around.
Teleporting with someone drunk, though, was a death sentence for one's stomach. So he decided to wait just a bit longer before making the poor manager walk the whole way. "What did that ішак do anyway to set you off so bad?" he finally asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. Sigma frowned slightly, probably aware that he'd insulted their boss, but didn't comment on it. Instead he lowered his head, hair falling in front of his eyes. "He didn't do anything" the younger man finally murmured, and Nikolai didn't even try to hide his snort. "Sigma, you and I both know I'll find out either way"
The shorter male paused, gaze lowering. Then, finally, he let out a sigh. "He really didn't do anything. I... I read what Fukuchi thinks about me. Didn't... didn't meant to, but... but it felt like a smart idea at that time..." Nikolai winced. A single 'Oh dear' shooting through his mind. Fukuchi's opinion on Sigma? He didn't think that man had a good opinion on any of them... while they were recruited by Fyodor and their fates were going to be chosen by him, he didn't think Fukuchi thought highly of them. Nikolai joked often enough that the man preferred the Hunting Dogs and was failing at hiding it- or not even hiding it, in his eyes.
Cautiously he nodded. "Go on?" Sigma lowered his gaze. Clearly uncomfortable with sharing the knowledge he'd acquired, even in his still at least slightly intoxicated state. For a moment, Nikolai almost thought the younger man wouldn't answer after all and refuse to tell him. The clown wasn't sure if he'd manage to force the answer out of him, and he quite honestly didn't want to find out. For a moment, he was filled with relief when Sigma finally opened his mouth. His relief died in seconds. "He... he thought they were thorough. When... when they wrote me into the book... that I mimicked a human so well..." Nikolai's thoughts froze and he stared at Sigma in utter silence. It took him a moment to even properly understand what the younger man had said.
That bastard!
"That... um... that's his opinion of me" Sigma muttered, when the white haired man failed to react beyond staring. Finally, the jester let out a noise that could've either been a grunt or growl. He swiftly got to his feet, dragging Sigma up with him. "Yes, well, he's wrong" he commented, before offering the shorter man a wide grin. His smile widened when he saw Sigma's wide, startled eyes. "How 'bout I swap aaaall his drinks with poison from now on?" he suggested cheerfully, slowly pulling the casino-owner along and towards his room.
"Nikolai, you can't do that!" he protested, but there was just the tiniest hint of a pause, leaving said man to grin. "You sure? I could totally pull it off! It'd be funny!" he claimed happily, and smiled broader when Sigma huffed quietly, insecurities forgotten for at least the moment in favor of frowning at him. "That'd be murder" the two-toned male pointed out flatly, and Nikolai threw his head back with a laugh. "Of course, that's why it'd be fuuun!" he chirped, quickly leading the shorter man towards the elevator and up to the floor where their rooms where. Sigma didn't argue any further with him, probably aware that it'd be a lost cause.
Nikolai truly did want to pull it off. In Nikolai's opinion, toddlers shouldn't drink. Sigma was chronologically two- clearly a toddler. He did not wish to know how bad Sigma had been before he'd arrived, but he's pretty sure that the exchange had sobered him up. In his opinion, Sigma shouldn't be let near any bottle of alcohol again. He doesn't care about Fukuchi's opinion, not when this is the result. Not when that bastard thought of Sigma as something mimicking a human. His blood boiled at the thought.
However, in the ensuing silence the jester noticed his downtrodden look and offered him a smile. He knew what his opinion on the casino owner was... but he was striving to rid himself of human connections. He wanted to get rid of Fyodor, his best friend, at some point... but Sigma was a child, in his eyes. So, with a lighter chuckle, he threw one arm around the other's shoulder and offered a gleeful cackle when the shorter man stumbled under his weight. When he calmed down, he offered a crooked grin.
"You're human, promise"