Work Text:
Nikko was right. He and Calvin are the team supreme. And something's wrong with Calvin.
Oh not physically, not like that virus Maggie picked up from the mummy. Physically, Calvin's... just fine. Active, fit, strong, and privately Nikko will admit that Cal's skilled as well. Maybe not as skilled as Nikko, but Nikko knows his ego wouldn't admit that even if it was true so he doesn't hold it against Cal. In any case, Cal tackled the Rocky Mountain slopes like a pro, really carving his turns, totally in control of his board. He edges, unlike most of the so-called snowboard experts on the slopes, and Nikko had this surge of pride or something just watching him go. It's that focus thing again, like the only things that existed for Calvin were himself, the snow, and a handful of mobile obstacles.
Then back in the lodge, Cal went all sneering on him. He put Nikko down at every opportunity, refused to bail him out when his credit card maxed out, stole his girlfriend... That last one really rankles. It's not like there was a shortage of unattached lovelies for Calvin to go chasing after, he had to pick the one that Nikko was chatting up. He couldn't even go after her equally attractive, equally single friend, for God's sake!
It's part of a pattern. Nikko may be young but he's had a lot of opportunity to observe people, and he prides himself on being able to spot things like this: Calvin is systematically taking the things that are Nikko's.
Item: Cal is his dad's heir apparent when it comes to the Veritas Foundation. That's about as big a non-issue as it gets; Nikko knows that even with all the digs that he went on with his parents when he was a kid, he's got nowhere near the archaeological training or experience that Cal has. Nikko's trying to remedy that, but there's no getting away from the fact that Cal's a professional while he's only a talented amateur. He would have argued that he could handle the business side of the foundation better than Cal, but after this last little financial crisis of his that would only lead to more humiliation.
Item: Cal has this weird jokingly worshipful relationship with his dad. At least Nikko thought it was weird until he figured out that this was what father-son relationships were supposed to be when the father actually talks to the son. And, he grudgingly has to admit, when the son talks to the father, and both of them listen. Life got a lot easier when Vincent beat that thought into his stubborn head, and he suspects Vincent of having had words with his father as well. Dad certainly got a lot more approachable to Nikko, just like he always is to Cal.
Item: Cal has gone after every single girl that Nikko has flirted with, including Juliet. Every last one of them, at least the ones that Cal knows about. He may not have actually gone out with all of them, but with the exception of Juliet he's prised them all away from Nikko. And Juliet's only excepted because she has to see Nikko every day, and Cal's still managed to take away the closeness of their relationship.
Item: Cal rides Nikko's case constantly about anything wrong, or even slightly dubious. Nikko gets given a beer; Cal removes it, pointing out that Nikko's under age, which is only sometimes true depending on exactly where in the world they are. Nikko finds something interesting on the computer; Cal smirks at the other "interesting" things in Nikko's browser cache. Nikko figures something out almost completely; Cal pounces on the problems with the "almost", souring any other praise Nikko might get. Nikko would think that nothing he does is good enough for Cal, except that when they have something life-or-death to do for the others it's a different story.
They bicker, Nikko wouldn't expect anything less, but it's lightweight stuff by their standards with no critical bite to it. Sure Cal moaned when Nikko negotiated the deal with their guide, but he accepted that there wasn't time to cut a proper deal and Nikko knew what would overcome the man's objections. And Nikko did some whining of his own when Cal insisted on them taking the blood to a hospital with a proper anti-viral unit rather than going back to the lab, but Cal was right about that. In the field, when it mattered, they complemented each other perfectly.
Which makes Cal's behaviour the rest of the time all the more inexplicable. It's not that Cal dislikes him; if he did, Nikko's pretty sure that he'd have still got some sense of them grating on each other down in Peru, of them having to force themselves to work together. It wasn't like that; working together was natural, like they just fitted.
It looks like a classic case of jealousy, of Calvin trying to take over Nikko's life, but Nikko just knows that's not true. He's pretty good with people, understanding how they work and, OK, manipulating them to his own ends, and he can't make the jealousy explanation fit what Cal's doing. It's almost like the Cal that he sees in the field is the real Cal, and the asshole that he puts up with the rest of the time is an act. As if Cal only has the time to remember to be an asshole when there isn't something more important to be done. An asshole to Nikko only, too; Cal may lose verbal fights with Vincent every so often, but it's nothing like the constant sniping that he puts Nikko through.
Nikko's pretty much at a loss to explain all this. He's getting worried that Cal's got some kind of ulterior motive that's going to explode in all their faces, even though he knows Cal would never do anything to harm his dad or the rest of the team. At some point Nikko's going to have to swallow his pride and talk to someone else about all this, because he's gone as far as he can on his own and he learned his lesson with Vincent about running solo with suspicions.
Vincent, ironically, is the person he'll have to talk to. Maybe Maggie, but probably Vincent. Vincent understands suspicion, and more to the point he understands subtlety. He of all people could come up with a way of finding out what's up without making Cal look bad, exactly the reason why Nikko can't talk to his dad about it. His dad is great about most things, but when he's worried he isn't even slightly subtle about it. Also usually wrong; Nikko's come to understand and even be slightly proud that his dad cares enough to try to keep him out of some things, but Nikko's not a baby, he can cope. If his dad thought something was up with Cal, his idea of subtle would be to keep Cal out of things too, and Nikko doesn't want that kind of humiliation dished out to anyone else.
So, Vincent. As in talking to, in private. Soon. Just not today, because Nikko's still hoping that it'll all just stop, that he'll wake up in the morning and find that there's nothing wrong between him and Cal. He hates it that this whatever it is has got Cal down on him, because he's got the feeling that he'd really enjoy having Cal as a friend.