"You're all so boring, fufu~" Gogol giggled as he fought the mafia agents.
Suddenly someone grabbed his coat and slid it off him, folding it neatly before placing it in a bag.
He whipped around to find a girl standing there, the bag in her hand.
"Hey, give that back, naughty girl~" He scolded, approaching her.
"You want it?" She asked, raising a brow.
He nodded.
"Then catch me first!" She grinned and progressively vanished into thin air until only her smile was visible.
"Oh?" Gogol chuckled, "Great ability, I must say~"
"Thanks." The smile said.
"Now give that back~" He tried to punch where her head would be but the smile vanished and she was completely gone before his fist reached her face.
"This just got so much more interesting~" Gogol giggled madly before turning around to finish fighting the agents.
As the last man standing fell down, dead, someone hit the clown's temple from behind, sending him unconscious.
"Well, that was easy." The girl grinned, becoming visible once more. She took out her phone and made a call.
"Hey." She said as soon as the person on the other end picked up.
"Good news?" Mori's voice was heard.
"Yep, I finished. I have Nikolai here with me, do you want me to bring him over?"
"You got him?" Excitement made its way into the mafioso's tone.
"You doubted me? You thought I'll just get his cloak as you asked and not bring him in? " The girl asked with a roll of her eyes, "Anyway, yeah. He's lying unconscious after killing all the men you sent to fight him."
"He fainted?" Mori sounded confused.
"No, I hit him in the temple." The girl grinned, "I'll be over in a bit."
"Understood. I'll prepare an interrogation room." He was about to hang up when she interrupted.
"No need."
"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.
"I'll question him in my office."
"Isn't that unsafe? Who knows what tricks he's got up his sleeve."
"I'll be fine." She shook her head even though he couldn't see it, "Bye." And with that, she hung up.
She cast a look at the unconscious man at her feet, "Well, let's get you to the headquarters."
--
Gogol woke up a few hours later in an unfamiliar to him room. He looked around to realize he's lying on a large bed in the corner of a medium sized room. Suddenly the door opened, revealing the girl from earlier with a tray on which sat a first aid kid, a glass of water, and a cup of tea with a saucer and a sugar bowl.
"Good evening." She smiled, setting the tray down on the bedside table and grabbing the kit.
As much as he didn't want to ask any ordinary questions and instead say something completely off topic, the words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them, "Where am I?"
"Oh, right. Welcome to my little bedroom-office complex at the Port Mafia." She said while opening the kit, the smile never leaving her face.
"Your...?" He blinked a couple of times before the realization hit him, "Why didn't you bring me to an interrogation room?"
"Now, that's not the right way to treat someone wounded, now is it?" Her smile widened. She took out a disinfectant and poured a bit on an antiseptic wipe, "Your arm." She requested, extending her hand.
Deciding that he had no choice but to trust her, he obediently laid his arm in her hand.
"This may hurt a little, but I'm sure you're already used to pain, aren't you?" She asked, directing her gaze from his face to his cuts.
"I am..." He said, still a bit shocked at the situation.
"Great then." And with that, she started disinfecting and applying bandages to his injuries. When she was finished with one arm, he was already ready to present her with the other one. Then the legs and the neck. When she did all that, the last thing to tend to was his torso.
"Could you please take your shirt off?" She asked, getting more material ready.
"Sure." He replied nonchalantly, as if walking around half naked was a normal thing for him.
Though when his shirt was off, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed as the girl's eyes inspected the cuts on his stomach and shoulders.
"Do you want to do it yourself?" She asked, probably noticing his slight uneasiness.
"No, it's fine." He shook his head lightly.
She simply nodded and stated disinfecting.
The clown felt his face heat up at the feeling of her warm fingers touching his pale skin.
After a few minutes, she put the wipes away and grabbed the bandages, wrapping him up. When she finished, she put everything back in the kit and gave him the glass of water.
"Here, drink and change." She indicated a pile of clothes on the bed next to him that he noticed previously, "Then we'll talk, okay?" She asked with a gentle smile, "I'll be in my office next door if you need anything."
He nodded and she left with the tray, closing the door behind her. She didn't even lock it... Either it's because she trusted him that much or because she knew that she had everything under control.
He sighed and gulped down the much needed water before grabbing the clothes and proceeding to change into a plain while shirt and matching white trousers.
When he was finished he made his way to the door and opened it, revealing a spacious room with a carpet in the center and a desk with the girl sitting behind it towards the back, as well as numerous cabinets along the walls.
On the table lay the tray with the tea, saucer, and sugar. He then noticed his now clean hat lying down on one of the armchairs facing the desk and beamed.
"You washed it~!" He said in his usual singsong voice, making his way to it and grabbing it, sitting down in the chair while adjusting it on his head.
She nodded, standing up from behind the desk and sitting in the armchair opposite him.
"Before we talk about anything else; are you all good? No pain, no dizziness?" She asked, crossing her legs and laying back.
"I'm fine." He shrugged, "Well, at least I feel fine."
"So you're not fine?" She concluded.
"I'm...confused." He admitted, "Why did you help me? Why did you clean me up? Why are you so friendly to me?" Questions kept pouring out of his mouth before he could do anything to stop them.
"Because you are a human being."
"But I'm your captive!" He exclaimed.
"That doesn't change the fact that you are human." She hummed a bit, "Don't worry, your coat is safely hidden from you and you have no chance at escaping, if that's what you want to know."
"I thought as much." He sighed, "Does your boss have it?"
"No, I do."
"Why didn't you give it to him? Wasn't that the mission?" He raised a brow.
"Seems like someone's well informed~" The girl said with a chuckle.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Persistent, are we~?" She grinned, "Let's do a quiz: can I take over the Mafia if I wanted?"
"I suppose you could..." He trailed off.
"Correct!"
"Then why don't you?"
"It's too stressful and too much paperwork." She shrugged, "Anyway, I wanted to keep the coat, so I did. Any more questions?"
"Isn't it you who is supposed to interrogate me?" He asked in confusion.
"You so different when you don't act bonkers." She smiled, "Much more... genuine. And kinder."
"You'll still have to see if I'm kinder or not. Don't forget I killed many people." He shook his head.
"Still, I'd like to keep my opinion." She replied, pushing the tray in his direction, "Have some tea."
He looked at it a bit skeptically.
"Hm, you drank the water without hesitating but now you're unsure?" She raised a brow, still smiling.
As he was about to tell her that he thinks she was kind to him to lure him in a trap, she spoke up again.
"No, I am not nice to you just to trick you at the end. If I wanted to kill you, wouldn't I have used the water?" She asked as if she read his mind.
He stayed silent, contemplating it.
"If you don't want to, then don't drink." She shrugged, "I just thought maybe you'd like some."
He sighed, feeling guilty all of a sudden. He grabbed the cup and made it just like he liked it, before taking a sip.
A minute passed, two passed, three—
"I'm not dead." He said in surprise.
"Of course you aren't." She grinned, "Now, back to the topic. Do you have any questions?"
"How long was I out for?"
"A couple of hours. It's around nine in the evening right now." She replied.
"You haven't even asked me one question about me or the organization I'm part off." Gogol said, only now realizing it.
"I know everything I want to know already." She said bluntly.
He stared at her in shock, "What!?"
"Don't you think that, with my ability, I can infiltrate any building, even the most secured ones, and find out all I need to know?" She asked, grinning.
"That's true..." He nodded, "Then why did you bring me here?"
"To clean you up and have a proper discussion with you, of course."
"Oh." He then extended his hand, "We haven't introduced ourselves yet. Nikolai Gogol at your service." He bowed his head politely.
"Y/n L/n." She took his hand in hers and gave it a firm shake, her smile never leaving her face.
He felt like this name belonged to someone else he knew but he just waved it off as resembling another one he heard before.
"Reminds you of someone but you can't quite figure out who?" The girl grinned, "And I thought you'd be smarter now, Niko."
His eyes widened slightly. Only a few people called him that: Fyodor and... Ches. His and Fyodor's childhood friend, the Cheshire Cat, who's ability, 'Alice in Wonderland', permitted her to partially or entirely disappear then reappear again, just like the Cheshire Cat from the book; that's why they gave her said nickname.
Like Dazai's, it was one of those abilities that can't be turned on and off, so she could just pop up out of nowhere anytime she wanted. But him and Fyodor never got her name, and then she moved away.
He never even got to tell her about the little crush he had on her since their first meeting; each time he wanted to, he just got scared of ruining their friendship.
"Ches?" He asked hesitantly, looking deep into her eyes.
"Nice to see you too, Niko." She grinned.
His emotions got the better of him and he engulfed her in a tight hug, inhaling her familiar scent and not caring if his hat fell off because of the impact.
"How didn't I realize sooner..." He wondered aloud, now feeling a lot more relaxed and laid back. After all, talking to a childhood friend is not the same as talking to an enemy; even if the latter is kind, you could never be sure if they're trustworthy or not.
"You got a lot dumber since the last time I saw you, that's why." Y/n chuckled.
"Hey!" He pretended to be offended.
Her bubbly laugh made its way to her lips and out for everyone near to hear, "You're still the same old Niko."
"And you are still my dearly cherished Ches." He replied, his voice muffled as he tucked his face into the crook of her neck.
"How's Dos doing?" She asked, "Still wearing that ushanka hat?"
"You bet." He chuckled, "He's good. Although he still never sleeps and bites his nails until they bleed."
"You're giving me the urge to march up to him and scold him until he never dares to hold a finger near his lips again."
He smiles, reminiscing about the old times, "You used to do that each time you caught him red handed, yet he never stopped."
"And one must think he would fear my wrath..." She sighed in pretend annoyance.
"I think he does. He's just too into it to stop." Gogol chuckled.
"Maybe. Anyway, how you've been?"
"Fine." He shrugged lightly, still holding onto her as if for dear life.
He felt her slide her hands on his waist and lift him up, settling him down on her lap.
He tried to fight the blush that appeared upon the intimate contact, but couldn't; the fact that he just found out he loved, and still loves, her didn't help either.
"Better?"
"Yeah." He breathed out, feeling safe in her embrace, "Thanks."
"Welcome. Now, tell me how you've been without the usual 'fine'."
"We both missed you terribly, you know." He said, changing the topic as he himself didn't know how he was feeling at the moment; happy, guilty, thankful, and many more.
"Aw, Niko, you're so sweet~" She chuckled, "I missed you too."
"I know, Ches, I know." He said softly, letting his hands settle on his lap.
"We should go surprise Dos." Y/n suggested, draping one hand over his shoulder and placing the other one on his knee.
"Maybe a bit later? This is nice." Gogol mumbled, snuggling deeper into the crook of her neck.
They stayed in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's presence and each thinking about their own thing.
"Hey, Niko?" Y/n asked after about five minutes or so.
"Hmm?"
"I never got to tell you... I like you."
This was so unexpected that he froze for a few moments, processing the information. When it finally sunk it, his eyes widened as he looked up at his childhood friend.
"Really?" He asked hopefully.
She nodded with a smile.
He thought of many responses but none seemed right.
"...Me too." He ended up saying, a grin making its way to his face.
"Well, that's nice." Her smile widened as she lifted a hand and ruffled his hair.
Under the span of emotions he once more engulfed her in a tight hug, a lone tear of happiness escaping his eye.
"Woah, woah, easy there." Y/n laughed.
He just loosened his grip a little, and refused to let go.
--
"Hey, Dos, I'm back~!" Gogol grinned, entering the room where Fyodor was sitting in front of a bunch of monitors.
"Welcome back, Niko. Where's your cape?" The latter asked, turning around.
"Oh, I totally forgot!" The clown facepalmed, "The Mafia has it."
"The Mafia?" Fyodor raised a brow.
"Yeah, one of their executives managed to steal it from me." He shrugged.
"You need it for your ability. I'll organize a break in to retrieve it."
"Oh, that's very kind of—"
He was interrupted by a muffled "Ouch!" at the far end of the room.
"Well, well, well. Not doing a very good job at hiding, are we?" Fyodor chuckled before his tone became serious, "Show yourself."
A girl walked up from the shadows, Gogol's cape on her shoulders.
"My overcoat~!" The clown grinned, making his way to her.
Though before he could grab his dear coat, the girl entirely disappeared.
"Teleportation?" He asked, turning to the man in the ushanka hat.
"Most likely." He nodded briefly.
"Wrong!" A grinning head appeared right next to Fyodor, making him freeze in his tracks. You could see he was thinking, or maybe having a flashback.
"This ability..." He mumbled, "No, it couldn't be..." He turned to the floating head, "Ches?"
"Great to see you still remember me, Dos." The rest of Y/n became visible and she threw the cape to Gogol.
Before she had the time to say or do anything else, she was pulled into a tight hug.
"I missed you, Ches." Fyodor mumbled to her.
"Me too, Dos, me too." She smiled, patting him on the back gently.
"How have you been? We must discuss over a good cup of tea, mustn't we?" He asked, pulling back and inspecting her face.
"We must, mustn't we, Niko?" She turned to look at him.
He nodded with a gentle smile, glad that the three childhood friends—him, Dos, and Ches—have finally reunited.
"By the way, we're dating." Y/n said, indicating herself and Gogol.
"So you finally found out about the little crush he had on you since your first meeting?" Fyodor chuckled, "Congratulations."
"Thanks." She grinned, "Hey, Niko, come join the group hug."
Gogol made his way to the pair and was immediately pulled in.
--
About half an hour later, the three friends were siting in a spacious room, a respective cup of tea for each of them settled on the coffee table.
Y/n was telling Fyodor about how Gogol found out she was Ches.
"...and that's how he finally recognized me." She finished, a grin on her face.
"A fascinating story indeed." Fyodor nodded with a smile.
"Oh, right, you never got my name. Y/n L/n." She extended her hand to him.
"Fyodor Dostoevsky at your service." He replied, taking her hand and shaking it lightly.
Upon retrieving her hand, she grabbed her cup and lifted it.
"To the reunion?"
"To the reunion!" They nodded, taking their own cups and bringing to gently hit them against hers.
