Work Text:
Nicky looked up from his book when he heard a thump followed by a familiar swearing in French coming from the hallway.
Nicky: "Book, is that you?"
Booker: "No, it is The Second Coming of Christ."
Nicky: "I don't believe that, because we both know you can't turn water into wine."
Booker: "I'm a man with many talents."
Nicky laughed as he walked out into the hallway, where he found Booker sitting on the floor.
Booker: "Are you laughing about me being a man with many talents?"
Nicky: "I would never do that. And do you mind telling me why you are sitting on the floor?"
Booker: "Only if you tell me where the clutter went."
Because of missions and other events, no one had bothered cleaning the hallway of clutter for years, but this morning, Nicky decided to do something about it with the help of Joe. And when Booker got there, he ended up on his ass because the pathway through the clutter was gone.
Nicky: "I thought since it's almost Christmas, it was about time to clean the hallway, so I motivated Joe to do it."
As usual, whenever Nicky mentioned Joe's name, he would turn up out of nowhere.
Joe: "Was someone talking about me?"
Joe winked at Nicky, who smiled in return.
Nicky: "I was just telling Booker that I motivated you into cleaning the hallway."
Joe: "I still call it blackmailing."
Nicky: "Why?"
Joe: "You said that if I didn't clean the hallway, I wouldn't get sex for the rest of the year. That is clearly blackmailing, right, Booker?"
Joe looked at Booker.
Booker: "Leave me out of your private life. And someone should call Andy before she gets here this weekend, because I doubt she will take it lightly if she also ends up on her arse."
Nicky: "Joe will do that for us while he is getting more Ajax cleaning. He has suddenly gotten the brilliant idea of cleaning the entire safe house."
Nicky looked at Joe with a smile that could convince Joe to do anything.
Joe: "When we are alone, you will be into..."
Nicky: "And I can't wait."
Nicky kissed Joe on his cheek before he looked at Booker.
Nicky: "Why don't you get up from there and come join me in the kitchen? I have baked Christmas cookies."
Booker: "That is a brilliant idea."
Booker got up in a hurry.
Nicky: "And before you ask, Joe, yes, you can also have some Christmas cookies before doing the shopping. See it as more motivation for cleaning the rest of the safe house."
Joe: "At some point, you and I are going to have a long talk about the difference between motivation and blackmailing."
Nicky: "And I can't wait."
Joe followed Nicky and Booker into the kitchen.
Joe: "Are you being sarcastic?"
Nicky smiled his mischievous smile before they sat down to eat Christmas cookies and catch up on what had happened since they last saw each other.