Nikolai parked his Supra GTX outside a fast-food store. Ryan leaned back in the passenger seat while looking at the nu. His face changed several tis, with different expressions and small noises as he picked sothing to eat.
"Is it that hard?"
Nikolai just picked the biggest cheeseburger with a al combo.
"Of course, I want to eat sothing aty, but if I choose the wrong al It will irritate for hours." Nikolai couldn’t help but laugh at Ryan’s hysterical reaction.
Beep!
Before Ryan could react, Nikolai tapped the ordering screen and picked one of each of their best and special burgers.
With the flick of his wrist, he spent just over £100
"Nearly £10 for a burger... that’s so expensive." Nikolai thought about the last ti he bought a burger like this, which was in college, and it cost less than $4-5. He then worked out that it would barely cost £2.99 if he bought it in Britannia.
"Did you just buy everything, that’s like 9000 calories even if we share!?"
"Why are you being a bitch, who care’s about calories when you’re burning more than 3,000 just fighting each morning?"
"But..."
"I’ll eat whatever you don’t. Stop complaining, we’re going for a drink later."
Ryan and Nikolai’s relationship beca awkward after he slept with his sister, Clara, but they both wanted to fix that issue. Nikolai swore to look after Clara and tried his best to make her happy. Ryan just didn’t want to see her hurt and also felt betrayed by his best friend.
The pair awkwardly waited for the so-called "fast" food, which took almost twenty minutes to bring their order to the bay.
Both chose their favourite burger, with Nikolai’s a triple stack with several types of cheese and pickles, and Ryan picked a chicken burger, which made Nikolai sigh.
Wow...
So sweet and juicy!
Nikolai used to high-class food over the past year, stopped enjoying these dirty and cheap guilt foods, so the mont the juicy fat leaked into his mouth, his throat tensed, and he salivated, unable to stop his lips curling into a smile.
Delicious.
Unhealthy, cheap at and low-level ingredients... yet he loved it!
"Oi, your eyes are shining." Ryan mumbled, his expression as if looking at so kind of drug addict.
Nikolai tore into the burger with another bite, grease dripping down his fingers. He licked it clean without sha, eyes narrowing in bliss. "Don’t look at like that. This is divine."
Ryan grimaced, though his chicken burger was already half-gone. "You act like you haven’t had food in a month."
"You try sleeping with three won and completely satisfying them all every night..." Nikolai’s mouth opened wider after he snapped back, realising what he said.
"...three?" Ryan’s face beca pale when he realised... that included his sister.
"Anya, Leona and Clara," Nikolai said flatly, taking another unapologetic bite. Juice and grease spilt down his wrist, but he didn’t flinch. "She’s mine now. You already knew that."
Ryan slamd his burger back into the box. "Knowing and hearing you brag about it while chewing a damn burger are two different things!"
Nikolai wiped his hand with a napkin, grinning wolfishly. "I’m not bragging. I’m just being honest. Your sister is healthier than I’ve ever seen her. You’ve seen the glow in her face yourself."
Nikolai watched as Ryan closed his lips, biting down, but he couldn’t deny it.
Since becoming Nikolai’s lover, Clara’s laughter returned, and her awkward personality started to change; she beca more outgoing, and she’s even training to beco stronger.
Yet that didn’t erase the sting in his chest.
"You don’t get it," Ryan muttered. "It’s not that she’s with you—it’s that I trusted you."
The Supra’s engine humd beneath them, filling the silence. Nikolai leaned back in his seat, eyes on the neon lights bleeding through the rain-streaked windshield. "You know, I didn’t plan to do it at first, but... I thought taking responsibility was the right thing to do." He looked at Ryan, who watched the rain, which started falling quietly. "By you, and of course... by Clara."
Ryan’s hands clenched the chicken box until it creased, but the rage didn’t ignite fully, because beneath the words, he felt the weight of Nikolai’s sincerity.
"Tsk, damn it. This is why I can’t hate you."
"That’s because I’m right." Nikolai chuckled, polishing off the last of his triple stack with one brutal bite. He licked his fingers clean, then glanced at Ryan with those black eyes twinkling in the dark. "You don’t have to like it. But you will accept it. For her sake, if not for mine."
"Promise one thing, Nikolai."
"What?"
"Please don’t break her heart." Ryan’s sincere glance made Nikolai take a deep breath; he couldn’t joke about this.
"I promise."
"Tsk..."
Ryan exhaled slowly, tension bleeding from his shoulders. He grabbed the second chicken burger, scowling for a mont before biting into it.
"One of these days, you’re going to push too far."
Nikolai smirked, starting the engine again.
"That’s what makes life fun."
The Supra roared back to life, tires splashing through the wet streets as if punctuating the uneasy truce between them.
The Supra slid into a narrow side street, neon giving way to the warm glow of a pub’s hanging lantern. A battered sign read The King’s Arms, the letters faded but proud. Rain pattered on the bonnet as Nikolai killed the engine.
Inside, the air was thick with the sll of ale, fried chips, and damp coats. Wooden beams crossed the ceiling, sticky floors creaked under boots, and laughter rolled from the bar like waves.
The TV in the corner blared comntary over a Premier League replay. Cheers erupted as the striker scored the equaliser, glasses clinking in celebration.
Ryan slumped into a booth, shoulders sagging. "Haven’t been in a pub for years," he muttered, glancing at the condensation-streaked window.
"Feels... different in another country, doesn’t it?"
Nikolai raised a brow, sliding in opposite him, holding two pints of black. "Normal’s never been my thing." Still, the warm buzz of the place, the faceless people and the atmosphere had a strange comfort. No need to fight, no Silver Clan watching him, with just the hum of locals arguing about football and a dog barking near the bar.
Nikolai lifted his glass, foam sliding down his fingers as he tilted it back. The bitter punch of lager hit his throat, washing away the grease of the burgers.
Ryan stared at his pint, then finally took a long gulp. "Alright," he sighed, setting it down with a thud. "Maybe this makes up for you ruining my appetite earlier."
Nikolai chuckled, swirling the dark liquid. "That’s the spirit."6
For a few minutes, neither spoke. They just listened to the football chants swelling near the bar, to the rain rattling against the windows, to the simple tempo of a world that didn’t care who they were.
Finally, Ryan broke the silence.
"Nikolai... you ever think about stopping? About just... living like this?"
"Stopping?" Nikolai’s eyes snapped to Ryan, his smile fading slightly. He thought about the current mont of peace, but then about Nosferatu, his wives, future children... and the deeper issue of what existence is corrupting the towers and the planet. "That’s not an option for , you know that Ryan, don’t let this mont of peace fool you. But..."
He gulped a large mouthful before letting out a low burp.
"Maybe, it would be nice one day... to just live like a normal man."
Ryan leaned back, his glass half-empty already. The pub’s chatter rolled on, a low tide of laughter and curses at the football on screen. A chant erupted from the bar, n pounding the tables, sloshing their drinks with careless joy.
"Well, since you’ve dragged this far, I’ll stick with you." Ryan’s eyes looked a little glassy while tracing the rim of his pint with one finger. "You’d be all alone if I didn’t."
Nikolai smirked. "Maybe."
He didn’t ntion Alexei or his other friends like Brian, because Ryan seed to be drunk after two pints, and it was quite amusing.
The two sat in silence, rain streaking down the window beside them. The dim light painted the pair in different colours. Ryan looked tired but resolute, while Nikolai’s sharp eyes glead like a predator hiding in human skin.
Ryan snagged one, chewing slowly before glancing up. "If you ever reach that day, where you get to put it all down... You better not forget who helped keep you alive long enough to enjoy it."
Nikolai raised his glass in salute. "I won’t."
They clinked pints, a muted gesture, but solid.
The ga on the telly shifted, another goal scored, the pub roaring like a beast. Neither of them cared about the score. For Nikolai, the warmth of the ale, the sll of chips, the scratch of wood beneath his fingers.
However, everything was an illusion. Soon enough, the arena would call for him. He would fight and fight... all to return to his holand, to fight against an even bigger threat—the never-ending struggle.
But...
At least for now, maybe it was okay to hope and enjoy this montary peace.
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