No One Can Know || Victor Zsasz

fifteen

Novella woke up to the smell of pancakes coming from her apartment kitchen and no Victor beside her on the couch. Putting one and one together she came to the conclusion that he'd taken it upon himself to make breakfast.

"Please don't burn my apartment down," she said clasping her hands together in a begging fashion. He turned to her and sent her a soft glare.

"Very funny. I know how to cook."

"Never said you didn't." She walked over to the counter top and dipped her finger in the batter. It was a sweet mixture that had a slight sour twinge, perfect pancakes. "Maybe you can actually make something."

"I'll have you know I can make plenty. I do live by myself." He grabbed the bowl from where she'd been steadily dipping her finger into the mixture and eating it.

"Wouldn't know that from how much time you spend here. Honestly I need to get you a key." He turned rigid as the words sank in. He'd never been offered a key to someone's place. "In fact I might have an extra somewhere. You finish up in here and I'll go take a look." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and went off to search through her things, leaving behind a very confused Victor with sizzling pancakes.

•*•*•*•

A key. A bright purple key with little white stars. So perfectly Novella it was impossible for Victor to look at it and not break out into a grin. She'd handed it to him claiming that he spent more time at her place than his own, so he might as well have a key. When she noticed how childish the small piece of metal looked her cheeks blushed and she hurriedly pressed it into his hand. It was absolutely adorable.

It was only after he'd made his way out of her apartment that he realized she'd never been to his. In the nearly year long relationship they'd had she hadn't once been to his place. Then another thought hit him, they'd been together nearly a year. An entire year and throughout that time she'd never mentioned her birthday. Of course his had passed a while back, twenty three years old, and he hadn't told her, but she'd never mentioned hers either. He knew she was eighteen, but when was she going to be nineteen? It was a problem not to know, but he had a solution.

•*•*•*•

"Hey Jim!" Victor called out to the detective across the street. It had taken him a couple of hours to track the man down, but now they were face to face.

"Listen, I don't regret that I shot at you the other day but I need some information," Victor said with a forced grin. It was a weird way to start a conversation and typically people would apologize for their wrongs, but Victor wasn't 'people'.

"And why shouldn't I just arrest you?" The man glared at his niece's boyfriend with the utmost disdain.

"Because Novie, duh." He rolled his eyes at Jim before redirecting the conversation, "Actually she's why I wanted to see you. I had a question and I felt that it was better to ask you than let her know that I didn't know, you know?"

The detective just gave an unsure nod, not really following but ready for the conversation to reach it's end.

"Well, we've been together nearly a year - shocking I know - and I've come to the realization that I don't know when she was born. Like year is pretty obvious, but not a specific date." He stared straight at Jim, waiting for the answer, but the detective,as always, was dense.

"So you tracked me down to ask me when your girlfriend's birthday is?" He gave Victor an incredulous look which only caused the assassin to motion for Jim to get on with it.

"It's a week from today, I'm surprised you didn't know. Don't screw it up for her." And with that the detective walked away from Victor Zsasz.

•*•*•*•

Novella had been nervously fidgeting the entire day. After Victor had left she'd completely lost any trace of composure she had. She'd been planning to give him a key for weeks, but had only just now worked up the courage. It was ridiculously quirky and stuck out like a sore thumb on Victor's key chain, but he seemed to like it, so she brushed that off.

The other thing that had been keeping her constantly moving was the fact that she hadn't heard from Kristen in a few days. Word had spread that she'd ran off to live life with ex cop Tom Dougherty, but that wasn't very Kristen like. She wouldn't leave a stable job and a loving boyfriend to live who knows where with that pig. It had her absolutely confused.

The microwave's beeping pulled her from her reverie of thoughts and to the real world. Left over pancakes from earlier that morning we're now steaming on a plate and her coffee was just now cool enough to drink without burning her tongue.

Halfway into her meal she heard the lock clicking, signaling the arrival of her favorite person. He walked in all dark clothes and silver guns with that smirk that she'd grown oh so fond of.

"Enjoying may amazing cooking skills, Novie?" He said with an amused expression.

"Well obviously. I'm definitely not enjoying you at the moment," she huffed out with arms crossed.

"Shut up Nova you enjoy me all the time."

"Keep telling yourself that Zsaszels." She shoved an entire pancake into her mouth, finishing the plate off.

"I will." He walked over and kissed the top of her head before sitting down beside her.

"Your birthday is coming up and you're coming over to my place." It was a non negotiable statement to which Novella just nodded.

•*•*•*•

A/N : I just kind of made up ages so that things would be a bit more clear. This is a super small chapter, but I've got this part that I really want to get to and I'm super excited for it. It's a little ways down the line so there's that to look forward to.