Déjà vu swept over Cardin as both the fair head and dark turned in tandem toward the front door. The same must have occurred to Keary, who muttered, “If that’s Nigel, today might be the day I actually murder him.” He hesitated, then turned back to Cardin. “Fuck it, let’s pretend we didn’t hear that.”
As if in protest, the doorbell rang again, twice. At the sight of the disgruntlement on Keary's face, which had worn such a smoulderingly seductive expression just a moment ago, Cardin couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t think he's going to go away,” he said softly, reaching up to brush a lock of dark hair out of the argent eyes. “The sooner you go see what he wants, the sooner he'll leave.”
Keary made to reply, but hung his head as he was once more cut off by the doorbell, followed by the sound of someone rapping on the door. Whoever it was outside was clearly not going to give up so easily. Giving a growl of exasperation, the dark-haired boy gave Cardin a quick kiss before rising to cross the room and swing the door open. “What?” Cardin heard him snap brusquely. Then his tone eased. “Finneas? What is it?”
“You weren’t answering your phone,” came Finneas’s smooth, bored drawl. “I’m guessing you must’ve been busy with…” The lavender-grey eyes looked past Keary’s shoulder into the house, and alighted upon the blonde boy on the couch, his clothes in disarray as he struggled to undo the knotted tie around his hands. “Well. As expected.”
Keary, who had followed Finneas’s gaze, turned back to the pale visitor. “He’s practising his Houdini,” he said stoically, arms folded across his chest. “Why are you here? There’s nothing for you tonight.”
“Pardon the interruption, but we have a bit of a situation. Kumiko asked me to come here and get you, because Mikka’s run into some… problems. She…”
Finneas’s voice dropped too low for Cardin to make out what he was saying. The blue-eyed boy wasn’t really paying attention anyway, preoccupied with figuring out how exactly Keary had managed to truss him up so securely and so quickly without him noticing. He could see where the last knot was, tucked between his wrists, but twist as he may, his fingers were unable to reach it. He was just about to resort to using his teeth when Keary’s voice sliced through his focus.
“Mikka’s a big girl. She’s perfectly capable of taking care of her own shit.”
Finneas said something else beyond Cardin’s hearing, but Keary just snorted carelessly. “She knew coming into this that I wasn’t going to play nanny to her and her personal problems. She’ll just have to pull herself together and figure it out.”
Hearing his dismissive replies, Cardin froze, hands stilling. Suddenly, something inside him whispered that asking Keary what he should do about the little girl didn’t seem like such a good idea after all.
“Of course they know that, but…” Finneas continued speaking in the same low murmur. Whatever he said seemed to work, because Keary paused, then came back in with a sigh, heading for the stairs.
“I’ll get my jacket.”
As Finneas wandered into the house, Cardin sat up and dropped his hands between his knees to hide the fact that he had lost the battle with the tie. He knew his clothes were half undone, but there wasn’t exactly anything he could do about that now except to act like everything was fine.
“Hey Finneas.”
“Cardin.” The tall, slender figure nodded in greeting. “You cut your hair.”
“Yeah, school.”
“Really? You could’ve made something up so they let you keep it.”
“Maybe I should’ve. Keary isn't too happy about it.”
The light grey eyes calmly took in Cardin’s rumpled condition. “Doesn’t seem to be stopping him.”
Cardin blushed, and self-consciously tugged his shirt closer to cover his exposed chest. Trying to change the subject, he tipped his chin in the direction Keary had gone. “What was that about?”
Finneas pursed his lips. “Mikka’s past is rearing a hydra head with sharpened teeth. She’s in a bit of a state. Kumiko’s been looking out for her, but she's worried. She sent me to fetch Keary because she didn’t want to leave Mikka alone.” He sighed. “She better pull herself out of her funk soon though. She’s holding up a few of our jobs.”
Cardin eyed the other boy, mind working. Finneas had more experience with Dagger work, and was never one to mince words or euphemise. Perhaps he could ask Finneas for advice, instead of risking letting Keary think that Cardin wasn’t tough enough to be part of the team again. But just as he was formulating how to broach the topic, Keary returned, dressed to speed through the cold night.
“Let’s go,” he said to Finneas, before turning to Cardin.
“I’ll wait for you outside.” Finneas headed toward the door. “See you at school, Cardin.”
“Huh?” School? Confused, the blonde boy looked to Keary, who was coming to kneel beside him.
“I’m sorry. I have to head out for a bit, to see what’s up with Mikka. It might take awhile.” He took Cardin’s face in his hands and pressed a kiss to the blonde’s forehead.
“Is she alright?”
“Not sure. Finneas seems to think it’s urgent, but she’s probably just being a drama queen, as usual. Don’t worry yourself about it.” He started to rise, then turned back. “Wait. You were going to ask me something before he came barging in.”
Caught on the spot, Cardin hesitated, then shook his head as he tried to smile. He wasn’t going to let Keary think he was being melodramatic or sentimental over what was probably supposed to be a simple job. “It's nothing. I’ll figure it out.”
Keary shot him another questioning look, but simply dropped another kiss on the bright hair and didn’t ask more. “Get some rest,” he said, then whispered naughtily into Cardin’s ear, “Or, if you’re still awake by the time I get back, we can see who turns who into porridge.”
Fair cheeks blossoming red, Cardin swatted him away, unaware of the smile on his face as he watched Keary laugh and leave. Only when the lock had clicked in the door and the sound of their footsteps had faded away, did he realise he still had no clue how to free himself from Keary’s makeshift fetters.
……
From how quickly she answered the door to Mikka’s house, Kumiko must have been waiting for them for some time. Her presence was not surprising: she had been classmates and close friends with Mikka all the way since elementary school, so she was practically family.
“Where is she?” Keary asked as he entered the house.
“Upstairs, in her room.”
“Parents?”
“I sent them off on a cruise for two and a half weeks. Told them Mikka won the tickets in a lucky draw at work, but can’t take the time off.”
Keary nodded. Mikka had always been mindful of her parents' regard for her, and worked hard to let them believe her their golden girl. Things would be even harder on her if they caught wind of some of the more sordid details of Mikka's buried past before she could sort herself out.
“She hasn’t gotten out of bed for days now, hasn’t eaten anything either," Kumiko continued, leading Keary up to the second floor. "She needs to get out of this rut soon though, or things are going to get serious.”
“So, why am I here?”
“I’ve tried luring her out of bed with her favourite things, but none of it worked, not even kittens. So I figured, if carrots aren't effective, then it’s time to try sticks,” Kumiko shrugged as she came to stop in front of a closed door. “You’re the only person she’s even remotely afraid of.”
“... I see.”
“Shall we? Be prepared: when I said she hasn't left the bed for anything, I meant ANYTHING. Not even to take a shower.”
"Noted." Keary grasped the door handle and knocked. "Mikka. You'd better be decent at least. I'm coming in."
……
