He didn't get any time to himself the following day.
He awakes to the automated voice alerting him of an incoming call from his Boss. Immediately on hearing the contact name, all the effects of sleep snap away. Almost like it's become a part of his instincts. He answers the call, luckily for him it wasn't a video call. "Hello?" He asks into the still air around him.
"Good morning Lykas, I'm reaching out to you regarding the most recent Mission File you've been sent." "Yes, I'm listening sir." He responds, his voice falling to that strange obedient manner that he wears with no one else. "You are to meet me in our usual location exactly at Midnight tonight. We are to discuss the details in extreme depth. I have just received more insight from The Viper, and she has requested I tell you her expectations for this mission and possible punishments in person with you."
Lykas feels his bones run cold. Goosebumps form on his skin, he secretly and quickly gathers his composure before responding. "Of course Sir, I'll be there when it's time." A small and mused chuckle beats against his ear drums, echoing inside his head, haunting him. "Good boy."
The line falls dead.
The subconscious tension in his body melts away. He sinks into his mattress as he takes the time to close his eyes and gather his thoughts. He covers his eyes with his right hand, and roughly caresses his entire face. "It's too EARLYYYYY!" He shouts, his frustration getting the better of him. A few moments later he hears the rough textured knock of Rykis on the hatch that opens up to lead to his room in the attic.
"Lykas? You okay in there?" He hears his brothers muffled voice call through the door. Lykas drags his body out of bed, feeling as if he's lugging around a 100 pound sack of coal. "Yeah, I'm alright. Can you make breakfast this morning?"
He sees the hatch immediately open before him. Rykis yanks the ladder down from its folded up position and he quickly climbs up it. Lykas is met face to face with him, he can see that look Rykis has. They all call it the Are-You-Shittin-Me-Stare, since he only wears it when he knows someone is lying to him. "Are ya shittin me?" He asks, his voice twisting into a playful accent.
Lykas laughs a little, the combination of his tilted down head and cocked eyebrow always gets him when Rykis pulls that voice. "Maybe I am." "I KNOW you are. No maybe about it. You and me and Nomi ALL know that I can't cook for the life of all THREE of us. And you're asking ME to cook for you guys."
As Rykis talks, he pulls himself fully into his room and dramatically staggers to the little couch Lykas made for himself out of scraps he picked off of the streets and he seats himself down. Rykis sits back with his natural man spread, his arms crossing over his chest. The look still spread across his face. "So what happened? Bad dream?"
Lykas shakes his head, "Woke up to a call from the Boss. He wants me to meet him tonight at Midnight, regarding the mission file." He watches his face change, "Well, I can't do anything for you. Just, don't die." Rykis says, his body shifts on the sad, thrown together couch.
Lykas nods his head, "I won't. Now go make us breakfast. I'll get the sand ready." Rykis rolls his eyes, but he can see the small smile trying to fight its way for a place on his lips. "Fuck you man." He says as he pushes himself up off of the couch. He walks over to the ladder, before he steps onto the first few railings Lykas feels his hair become aggressively messed up. "You're crazy." Rykis says as he descends down the small ladder.
Lykas hears a thud as Rykis jumps off of the ladder halfway down. "Don't forget the sand bucket!" Lykas calls down to the bottom floor.
He doesn't get a response, but he can feel the change in air. A smile spreads across his own lips as he rises to his feet and he walks over to the very small pile of clothes he keeps draped over the beams in the far back corner of his room. He changes out of the set of clothes he's been wearing for the past three months and into the second set he has.
He runs his hands through his hair as a quick way to brush it, then he ties half of it in a bun and leaves the rest to flow down to his shoulders.
Lykas leaves his room, he can already smell the ingredients in whatever Rykis is cooking going south. Lykas walks down the hallway where Nomi's room, quietly he cracks open one of the floorboards in the very back of the hallway. He finds the bucket of sand he's gathered in case he needs to put out any kitchen fires and he picks it up from underneath the floor.
He kicks the board back into place before carrying the bucket to the kitchen. He sees that Rykis is attempting to cook the two younger siblings favorites. "Oh lords." He says beneath his breath. Lykas places the bucket of sand on the kitchen table. He leans against the side of the table to watch.
"Hey, I didn't start a fire yet." Rykis says as he looks back at Lykas. As if the devil himself is in the room, Lykas sees the pan that is resting just above the stovetop ignite into flames in Rykis's hand.
"Uh huh!" He shouts as Rykis pulls the pan away from the stovetop. The fire luckily goes out as soon as it started. "You are so lucky that was just one of those small fires." Lykas says, his hand is subconsciously gripping the handle of the bucket until his gray knuckles are clouding over white. "You're gripping the bucket like that totally makes me feel like you trust my cooking skills."
He says sarcastically as his body faces the stove once more. Lykas lets go of the bucket, "I would if you could." He snaps back, his own tone is more playful.
Under the supervision of Lykas, the kitchen didn't set on fire. Lykas didn't mind eating a burnt breakfast, as long as he eats something he's always content. To their surprise, Nomi didn't wake up from the ruckus they were causing in the kitchen.
Rykis wasn't home when Nomi finally rolled out of bed. Lykas secretly sent him out to get her the birthday present she was hoping for.
Lykas is seated with his legs crossed over one another on the couch, his nose is stuck in the binder of morbid drawings as he hears the room door to Nomis room creak open. Her small footsteps follow. He closes the binder as he hears her walking down the hallway. He looks up from the binder and sees that she looks to be still half asleep. The blanket is still wrapped around her small figure. "Good morning Lykas!" She says, her sleepy eyes illuminating when she sees him.
"Hey! Good morning Nom Nom. You slept in late today. Tired?" Nomi nods her head, she walks over to the couch and pulls herself up into the spot beside him. "I didn't have a very good night." She admits, her voice reeks with sadness. Lykas places the binder on the floor before he turns in his own seat to face her.
"What's wrong?" She looks up at him, she smiles warmly. "Rykis was snoring realllllly loud! And it kept me up." It takes his mind a second to register what she said, but once it clicked he breaks into laughter. "Ah, I thought you were talking about bad dreams." "That is enough to give you bad dreams! I punched his leg in one of them." She breaks into giggles.
Lykas laughs with her, "Well, Rykis made breakfast today. Your half is being conserved in the microwave." Nomi's eyes go wide with fear at the mention of their older brother's cooking. "Uh oh, am I gonna die today?"
He can't help but break into laughter, "I'm pretty sure you won't die. I ate my share and I'm PERFECTLY fine!" "Okay. . . I'm trusting you!" She giggles before poking the tip of his nose. "I go make it. You relax, you had a mean night." He goes to protest, but before he can even make a sound Nomi presses her hands over his mouth. "Shhh!" She says, he can see her trying to appear intimidating but it's failing miserably.
He sighs against her palms and nods his head in agreement. A smile of satisfaction overtakes her lips seeing that she's won. Lykas leans his back against the couch as she removes her hands from his mouth and she slides off of the couch. His eyes drop to his binder filled with morbid works of art. He instinctively picks it up from its place on the floor and brings it back to his room.
He just climbs to the top of the ladder and hurdles it onto his bed, he still doesn't trust leaving Nomi full unattended when she's doing anything in the kitchen. He walks back to his place on the couch, he sees Nomi is eating at the kitchen table. He holds back a laugh when her face changes from a disgusted expression to an expression that makes her seem like she's enjoying it. Even though he can see the pain she's holding back in her eyes.
"You don't have to make ME feel good about the meal Nomi. We both know Rykis isn't the best cook, so I'll keep your reaction a secret between us." He stops in the doorway of the kitchen to reassure her.
Nomi immediately drops the mask, he can see she feels bad about letting him see that she doesn't like it. "I don't like making you or Rykis sad." She says as she places her fork beside the plate and reaches for the glass of water she filled up for herself. Lykas softens his voice, "It's okay, we don't like making you sad either Nom Nom."
He walks into the kitchen to get a glass of water as well. "Soooo, where did Rykis go?" A smile tries to make its way onto his lips. "He went out to run a few errands. I asked him to get us some groceries." He makes up a little white lie on the spot, he knows that the groceries Rykis is coming back with is just to cover up the present.
"Ooh okay! I understand, he also is probably going to see a friend." Friend. Lykas shivers slightly, he hopes not. Only due to the fact that when Nomi refers to their brother meeting a "Friend" it's really him going out to find a girl to get laid with. Stupid party boy. "He probably is? Maybe that's why he took on the job this time."
Rykis luckily didn't go out to see a "Friend" while he was away getting the present. Instead Lykas and Nomi see him walk into the house with a pile of different kinds of goods they've been needing. "I'm back! You guys- oh, there you are." Rykis drops some of the bags at his feet. "Can you help me carry this stuff to the kitchen you two?" He asks as he straightens his shoulders and back.
A loud crack can be heard echoing throughout the room. Lykas gets up and takes some of the bags from his hands, Nomi follows closely behind but she picks the bags from the floor up and happily skips into the kitchen. Rykis lowers his voice to a whisper and he says, "The thing is hidden outside. I'll distract her when we're putting this away and you go grab it."
Lykas nudges his side gently as a way to respond. He takes more bags from his brothers hands and piles them onto the kitchen table. Rykis places the bags he's holding on the counter beside the sink. Nomi has placed hers on the kitchen chairs. "Can I help put them away?" She asks Rykis, her eyes are filled with innocent sparkles and her tone is ecstatic.
"Of course you cannn! Grab some stuff and start stuffing it in the fridge." Rykis says, Lykas sneaks off when he can. He searches in the different hiding places Rykis has used outside. He soon uncovers the present wrapped in a bag and stuffed in between the leaves of a bush. He picks the present up and slyly sneaks back inside.
He makes his way to his room and hides the present in there. He stares at where he's placed it for a few, long moments. He decides he's going to wrap it once he gets back home from the meeting with his Boss. He subconsciously lets out a sigh. His Boss. He can only imagine the terrible fate that is to be unraveled before him tonight.
He shakes his head as a way to make the thoughts go away. He turns away from the present and climbs back down the ladder. He can hear Rykis and Nomi talking as they put the groceries away.
Taking a deep breath, he goes to join them officially.