Luke POV
I yawned as I stretched, my eyes fluttering open. Michael was awake already. He looked like he was practicing some sort of... fighting technique. All of his moments were smooth and already well practiced as he kicked and jabbed into the empty air.
"Hey, morning."
"Morning," came his curt reply, never stopping his movements at all.
"What type of fighting is that?"
"My kind."
I rolled my eyes at his cryptic answers. Honestly, how could Nicki even like him? He was so mysterious and he didn't even need to be.
"Speaking of fighting, you should get the others up. Training starts today."
I stared at him as he made one last perfect kick to the air before he stopped, taking a steadying breath. He wiped the beads of sweat off his brow, turning to me and returning my gaze.
"You look like an idiot."
"Gee, thanks," I grumbled. "And what do you mean by training?"
Michael rolled his eyes dramatically, planting his hands on his hips. I bit my tongue to stop myself from making a snarky comment about how he looked like a snobby female of some kind. Of course, he was kind of female... or he wasn't...
"Training. T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G," He emphasized as if I was a kindergartner. "I'll be teaching you guys how to fight as well as use your powers in the appropriate ways and in a strategic position. Besides, I have a feeling that none of you have really practiced your powers very much, am I right?"
"How could we have?" I asked sharply. "Were we just supposed to expose ourselves and use them daily?"
"I didn't say that," He snapped angrily. "That would've been incredibly idiotic. There are other ways to practice in secrecy."
"Well, I didn't know who Nicki was! He was in Japan at the time." Michael's face darkened considerably when I mentioned the Asian country. "Rachel and I were mere acquaintances and sometimes, teammates."
"You should be able to defend yourself without your friends," Was all he coldly replied.
He walked over to Nicki and nudged the turquoisette with his foot with surprising gentleness. Nicki groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes.
"Kaa-san," He whined. "Five more minutes."
"Kinky much?" Michael said, sounding amused.
Nicki shot up, face a bright scarlet. Michael just smirked at him, a bit of playfulness peaking through the normally cold exterior he owned.
"Sorry, I'm a bottom."
"Wait, I-" Nicki spluttered.
"Just get up, daddy," Michael said before walking away.
You know, I could've sworn that he was giggling as he moved outside. Nicki looked at me, eyes wide with embarrassment. I couldn't help but snicker at his expression.
"He got you good. What does kaa-san mean again?"
Nicki blushed yet even harder.
"Mom."
I roared in laughter.
"You called Michael mom?" I managed between gasps of amusement.
"BY ACCIDENT!" He protested.
Rachel stirred, before popping up and yawning. She looked at us sleepily, hair falling in front of her face. It was sort of cute.
"Why are you guys yelling again?"
"Because-" I began.
"Hey! Tanea, Rachel, go get food," Michael ordered.
"Uh, from where?"
"Nearest town. Go to the nearest pharmacy which should be a CVS. Ask for a Grant. Then, when he asks you what you want, tell him specifically, Joō wa kishi o okurimasu," he said calmly.
"Wait, what," Rachel and I chorused in unison.
Nicki frowned at what Michael said but didn't comment on it for once. Michael crossed his arms, sighing and shaking his head.
"Do what I said or you won't get food today. We have to get on the road because I-"
"We," Rachel corrected.
Michael raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything.
"We, have to head out. I know some people who could help us find your brother," He said pointedly to Nicki. "So go get food."
Rachel and I traded shrugs and got up. She pulled on her jacket before we walked away from our safe haven for now. We walked in silence for a while as we saw a nearby town. It wasn't a big town of course. Something kind of quaint, which made me REALLY wonder. Like, how did Michael know someone here? Hm...
"Soooo, Luke. How are you doing?" Rachel asked casually.
"Alright, I guess," I said sullenly. "Michael's on my nerves."
"Why?"
I huffed frustratedly, running a hand through my blonde hair.
"Because he's bossy. Not to mention that he tries to hide everything from us. It's just kind of frustrating because we're supposed to be working together," I grumbled angrily.
"Michael's been on the streets for a long time. I'd imagine that he is not one to easily trust anyone, Luke," Rachel reassured.
"He trusts Nicki," I shot back.
"That's a different matter," She said with a sigh. "Nicki has somehow been able to connect with Michael and get to him. He's a very sympathetic to Michael and is kind of Michael's complete opposite. Opposites attract," She said with a smirk.
"Yeah, well, he's a jerk," I muttered.
We walked to the town and once we had gotten the food, we headed back. When we arrived, Michael was red faced and screaming at Nicki who looked sheepish and guilty. I dropped the food.
"So, what's up guys."
"This idiot dropped my dagger into a d*** stream!" Michael screeched. "Now it's gone forever and we'll never be able to get it back!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down Michael," Rachel said calmly. "Restart and re-explain."
"There's absolutely NOTHING to explain!" Michael screamed, face furiously flushing red from undiluted rage. "We went outside to get some water because I didn't even trust the idiot to not get lost and he asked to hold my dagger. I stupidly assumed that he would be careful and gave him it and he DROPPED IT IN THE STREAM AND NOW IT'S GONE!"
Rachel stepped forward and put an arm around his shoulders. Michael's shoulders instantly tensed up when Rachel made contact physically with them.
"I'm sure Nicki didn't mean any harm, Michael."
"Yeah well, now I can't get my dagger back and it's his fault!" He groused.
"But can't you just get another one? Surely you know some weapons dealer of some kind if you know someone who can give us food," I reasoned.
That struck a nerve. Michael gave me a vehement glare of anger and that's when I noticed that there were tears in his eyes.
"That dagger is SPECIAL. It was..." Michael clenched his fists. "It was the only piece of him left that I had."
His usually brave voice sounded so small and broken that I felt bad for him. Michael hadn't showed this much... true emotion (other than irritation and anger) ever before. Now that I was seeing this, I knew that Nicki had really screwed up somehow.
"Here Michael, come with me. Let's go see if we can find it, okay?" Rachel said kindly, leading him away.
"B-But it's gone," he said, voices dying away as they traveled away.
Nicki looked frustrated with himself.
"I didn't mean to upset him Luke. My hands just were cold and a little bit clumsy so when I was giving it back to him, I fumbled and dropped it. Michael tried to catch it but missed and... well, you know what happened," He mumbled somberly.
"Well, Rachel has that water power of hers. Maybe she can do some sort of awesome thing where she can sense stuff in the water or something," I placated.
"Wait, her water power- of course! I'm such an idiot!" Nicki groaned, slapping his forehead. "I could've just used the water power to fill the bottles!"
I slapped him on the back, grinning.
"Hey, don't get all fussy Nicki! We don't know if that water is even drinkable. So don't beat yourself up on it. Michael's bound to calm down sometime soon, alright?"
Nicki looked up at me, eyes somehow... a deep green. Like a forest green. Huh.
"Well, what if he doesn't."
"Everyone calms down, even if it takes them a couple years. Now, stop worrying about that and start worrying about your brother."
That didn't seem to help his mood. He just frowned, looking so agitated and discouraged despite his usual cheeriness. I hadn't known Nicki for a long time, but I knew that his natural self was just a natural extroverted nerd who couldn't stop talking once you got him going. It was a little bit sad to see him so... well, sad.
"Yeah. I've upset the one person who can help us and who I like. Then I failed to save my nii-chan. I'm a great guy, aren't I," he grunted.
"Don't say that. I've got a feeling that Michael secretly really likes you. And besides, even if he goes away and doesn't want to help us, I'm sure we would still find him."
He shot me a grateful smile for my statement of encouragement directed towards him.
"Thanks Luke. You know, Michael might be my crush but you'll still be my best bro friend," He said with a happy smile.
I laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Thanks Nicki. You'll always be my best bro friend too," I said earnestly.