"I know."
Malic watched that face of his as he spoke, and saw just how unchanged his expression was. He was unfazed as if he'd expected the news, as if it were only natural that a simple human being could be so involved with the System that created the apocalypse that a mission would be handcrafted for them personally.
If Nikolai was lying, he certainly made a vast improvement from his earlier acting.
"You predicted it based on your stories," he said.
Nikolai nodded, confirming his guess. "And it's already a given. I know you never delved into it with the media, but I could hazard a guess from how you skipped talking about some main missions. Stories that have heroes like you never forget to talk about past trauma, so..."
"And you think you can deal with it."
Nikolai hummed, looking down at his unlocked phone. He'd paused from tapping out whatever it was he was typing, though Malic didn't bother to look at his screen to see what it was.
"Yes," he said finally.
He wasn't smiling. His gaze felt empty for a moment, unseeing, and Malic felt his heart go cold at how big of a difference it was from the smile he'd been wearing just a second ago.
What the hell happened to him?
Then Nikolai pasted a smile back onto his face as if that split second never happened, and said, "Don't worry too much. You always act like you're above feeling any concern, but I know you worry the most."
"It's only been a day of us meeting, yet you seem certain that you understand me."
"Don't I? Would you say I'm wrong?"
"No."
Nikolai's fake smile softened somewhat, turning just a bit more sincere. At least, that was what he thought. He watched as the other man clicked his phone screen shut to put it aside once more.
"See?" Nikolai said. "You put up a tough act, but you still care." With a wider smile, he added, "It's cute."
Malic frowned at the uncalled-for descriptor. He understood being called attractive, but cute? "You're delusional."
"I know. It doesn't change the fact that you have your cute sides."
His frown deepened into a scowl. Couldn't this man be a little more normal? Had it been Rhiannon, she would have put up a physical fight the moment he called her delusional.
And how was someone like him cute?
"You're wondering how you're cute."
He glared at Nikolai. "Do you have a mind-reading skill?"
"I don't."
[ This statement has been confirmed to be true! ]
Nikolai made a face at him this time, nose and mouth scrunching inwards, seeming uncaring for how ugly his face would look in consequence. "You still haven't turned that skill off?"
"I haven't."
He maintained his neutral expression despite the strong urge to smirk at the annoyance written all over Nikolai's face.
Yes, he was petty. Everyone he knew, knew that.
"Are you not embarrassed at your own pettiness?"
"No."
They looked at each other quietly after that, the staredown a long one as they waited for the other to look away first.
Nikolai blinked.
Malic turned to look back at the boiling stew, smirking all the while. While he knew he was petty, it wasn't something for him to be embarrassed about.
"...it's annoying, but even your pettiness is cute."
[ This statement has been confirmed to be true! ]
His smirk immediately dropped in favor of a frown. Narrow-eyed, he turned to Nikolai with an incredulous stare. "What."
"You heard me."
Malic squinted at him even harder, and promptly turned his skill off. He didn't want to confirm any more strange nonsense. "Are you some kind of pervert?"
"What—no!" Nikolai's voice wavered, rising higher in pitch as he rested a hand to his chest in shock. "Where the hell did that come from?"
"You're calling a grown man cute. How is that not strange?"
"You're discriminating on age when it comes to cuteness now? You're so small-minded—"
"What's cute?"
Nikolai wheezed in shock at Kira's sudden presence beside him.
Malic had noticed her presence long before, but didn't bother to say anything. If Nikolai was so intent on sticking around, then he'd have to get used to something like this, at least.
And yet, Nikolai complained, "Please make more noise when you move..!"
Kira slowly blinked those cat-like eyes of hers at him. She didn't look at all regretful, even as she said, "Oh, my bad."
She really was a fun kid, far better than any other brat he's had to babysit when he was younger.
"What's cute, Nikolai-san?"
On second thought.
Nikolai gave him a look, and he glared back. He couldn't be so stupid as to tell a child his own odd thoughts, surely.
"Malic. We were talking about how cute he was."
This damn bastard.
"Oh. I guess that's true."
"You can't be serious," he said, frowning at Kira. She only smiled back, entirely too unabashed after agreeing to such useless nonsense. "Don't agree with this fool just because he helped us once."
"But it's true? Malic-nii is cute."
"Right? He's a tough-looking guy, but the contrast is..."
"And Malic-nii's way of talking too..."
"Not to mention the fact that he's so good at dancing..."
Malic covered his face with a hand, and sighed heavily as the child adopted into their odd bunch began happily discussing his unrealistic, irrelevant, cuteness with their newest companion.
Only a day in, and Nikolai was already being a bad influence.
"If you're going to talk about unnecessary things, then help me cook."
"I can peel a potato," Kira eagerly offered, her large eyes sparkling as she held her hands out for the potato and peeler he passed on to her.
"And me?" Nikolai asked. His own hands were held out in imitation of Kira, as if he were making an attempt to look cute.
He was failing.
"Chop the carrots."
"Aye!"
This was the same man who'd shown a brief glimpse of emptiness in his eyes just a moment before. This man who was now chopping carrots while Kira peeled her potato, smiling and chatting with her as if the apocalypse weren't ongoing, was now acting as if the revelations from earlier were nothing to him.
He hadn't said anything about his own trauma in warning, not even as a hint for their next mission. It made Malic wonder if any clues were that unnecessary, or perhaps even detrimental to their goals.
Did he believe it was something they could handle as they were, or was he just a brave fool?
They'd find out eventually.
When the others returned, it was to their food already prepared and being split with their temporary hosts.
"We're thankful," the grandfather said, smiling with a tinge of wistfulness as Malic provided him a bowl of beef stew to share with his wife, and two plates of rice. "Really. It's been so long since any young ones came along to visit us, and to think you'd even cook..."
Malic didn't bother to look too hard into those words. He said plainly, "It's nothing. You let us stay, we can at least give this much."
"Nonsense, young man. You already do so much to help end these strange times, letting you stay was the least we could do."
He didn't bother to argue with that. This conversation would only drag on for too long, given how stubborn the old man seemed to be. He felt like the kind of hard-headed geezer his own grandfather had been before he passed, and even with that old man, he'd never won an argument unless he was humored by him.
"Let me know if you need another serving, grandpa."
"Oh, this is plenty already! Isn't that right?"
The grandmother sitting at the old man's side smiled at him. "Right. It even smells heavenly, so thank you, son."
He gave a little bow with his head. "It's no problem."
Then the grandmother asked, "Do you have a girlfriend? Is it one of your companions? You look so close..."
Again, people were such gossipy bastards regardless of the time and place. It never failed to be irritating.
"I'm going back," he said bluntly, right before walking away from the dining table they were sitting at. He didn't bother to entertain her with her question; doing so would be a surefire way to get dragged into long and meaningless chatter.
"Back so soon?"
He ignored Rhiannon's question as he sat in the circle they'd made around the pot of beef stew. She was used to his attitude enough that she just clicked her tongue at him, not saying anything else as he began serving himself food.
"The next mission will take us to a corporate tower," he said, piling up the rice in his plate. "So, be prepared."
"Ah, yes, office life," Ji-yeong nodded, a thoughtful expression on that young face of hers. "I have no experience with that one, unfortunately, Malic-ssi."
"I don't think any of us do," he said dryly. "Except for one."
"That would be me."
They all looked to Nikolai then, who smiled awkwardly at suddenly receiving all of the attention. "Erm."
"Are they going to torture us with paperwork, do you think?" Rhiannon asked, an amused smile on her lips.
Nikolai laughed. A breathless, quiet sound, pulled out of him as if in surprise.
For a brief second, one blink-and-you-miss-it moment, he looked like he might cry.
"Well..."