We're Both Just a Little fucked Up [Nick/Kas]

Nick Cross was many things. An avid reader, a gamer, a spy, a murderer, a kidnapper…

And really, really tired.

So, why exactly he had come out to this godforsaken fortress of never-ending colour and noise was a bit beyond him. It had had something to do with taking his mind off the pain he felt on the inside, he was sure, but why he had chosen an arcade of all places he had forgotten, if he had ever even really known. Perhaps it had had something to do with the arcade being the first building he had come across that he could go into that was not a shop he would be kicked out of for loitering.

He half-heartedly used a joystick to direct the spaceship on the screen in front of him around various debris. He was barely focusing, so it was little surprise he collided with a stray asteroid and the words 'Game Over' plastered themselves across the screen in neon red.

With a sigh, Nick withdrew from the machine. It was not exactly helping his mental state that some bright spark had placed the space shooter game directly next to the dancing machines in all their noisy glory. He shot the offending dancing machines a disdainful glare from beneath his hood as though if he glared hard enough he could make them disappear.

He did well to conceal himself whenever he went out in public, particularly to crowded places such as the arcade, though the darkness of the arcade did help. He wore a thick black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head and a tattered scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face. Even so, the way he began to stare at the wildly flailing figure on one of the dancing machines could well give him away.

Is that the bloody cleaner?

‘Cleaner’ being the term English people such as Nick used for janitor. He had seen her around Yuuei maybe once or twice during his daily routine there. He supposed he should not have been that surprised; being a cleaner did not exactly stop her from playing videogames, did it? No; what bothered him was the fact if anyone from Yuuei recognised him he was boned, to put it mildly.

Shit. Stop staring, you idiot. Let’s just go. This was a stupid idea all around.

He could not exactly argue. He hurriedly turned away and made for the exit.

Though Nick headed towards the exit, he continued to watch the cleaner from the corner of his eye. She had seen him; it was clear from the way she detached herself from the dancing machine and followed his path through the other games. Damn it all. Nick wished he could time travel back to before he had left Nari’s house and punch his past self in the face for being so utterly bloody stupid.

Then again, if he had the power to time travel he would punch his past self for a lot of different reasons.

You could at least have remembered to put one of your disguises on, you absolute blithering moron. Goro would laugh himself into oblivion if he could see the amateur mistakes you’re making. Mother would kill you.

He wondered if she would try to arrest him. It would hardly be the first time he had clashed with Yuuei staff; his fight with his former teacher still lingered fresh in his mind. He had narrowly escaped being taken down back there. While he doubted the cleaner was quite on his teacher’s level – was she even a Pro? – it was not a situation he was eager to be in again.

She must be damn good to recognise me, though. I don’t believe we ever spoke once.

What if she did not actually recognise him, he suddenly wondered? She was clearly following him, though, so if she did not recognise him then he had little clue as to why she would do so.

If there was going to be a confrontation then it was best to take it far away from any spectators. Thus, Nick left the arcade behind and headed down the street. The night was drawing on, so there were few around. It did not take him long to turn onto a completely empty street.

He stopped, hands in his pockets, body tense. He had no idea if she was still following him, but he would know if his next words received an answer.

“What do you want?” he asked.

Nick remained as rigid as a steel beam. He eyed the cleaner up and down from beneath his hood with great, wary suspicion. It seemed she did not recognise him, but could it all be a ploy? If she were Yuuei faculty then surely she would know what he had done…

Then again, being the cleaner was not exactly a high-level role within Yuuei, so perhaps not. He found himself curious, despite it all. She had still followed him for whatever reason of her own. He found it difficult to believe all she wanted was to play a couple of mindless arcade games with him. Surely she could have played games with the hundreds of other patrons there had been crowded around the arcade?

“What kind of game?” he asked. “There were quite a few in there. Racing, dancing, fighting, some old eight-bit classic or what?” He narrowed his eyes. Time to go for the jugular. “And why me specifically?” He was not in the mood to waste time dancing around the question or taking guesses. He wanted to know what the hell she wanted for him and he would find out, damn it. Sometimes it helped to be direct.

Nick’s eye twitched. His fists and teeth clenched. Poor? She believed him to be poor? Never had he felt so insulted in a long time, even by Goro. How dare she look down on him. She was just a goddamn cleaner. He was meant for much greater things.

Even though he had majorly screwed up…

And he was rather low on funds at the moment, forced to scrounge off Nari to have somewhere to sleep…

As much as his hands shook with the urge to throttle the cleaner for insulting him, they soon slowed and stopped. God, he truly was in a pathetic state. He deserved such an insult for allowing himself to fall so far.

He was quiet for a moment. He considered simply walking away to return to Nari’s and wallow in his own self-pity some more. Still, he remained curious about the cleaner’s intentions, a part of him wondering if her insult had been a deliberate attempt to goad him. Perhaps he would go along with her apparent desire to find someone to play a game with, just to see where it went.

“I haven’t played Nekket in a while.” Not since with Jasmine Noir all those months ago. It felt more like an eternity ago, in an entirely different lifetime. He supposed it was a different lifetime then. Back then he had just started at Yuuei, had yet to have even learned Rin’s name and had held so many aspirations of becoming a hero the Quirked would look up to and follow the example of. Now it barely felt as though it had happened at all.

Trying his best not to think about this, he walked back towards the arcade. “I warn you, though, I’m pretty good.”

Well, Nick supposed it certainly made a hell of a change from all the times he had been attacked upon venturing outside - provided that was not still in the cards. He still did not doubt it.

Seriously, what the hell am I doing?

This was indeed a very, very good bloody question. He did not know anymore, though he was not sure he had ever known to begin with.

Let’s just hurry up and get this nonsense over with. The sooner I get this over with the sooner I can leave.

Sighing inwardly and tiredly, he followed the cleaner back into the hustle and bustle of the arcade. They stopped before the rather aged and worn Nekket machine. The game was many decades old, so it was not surprising to Nick the cabinet was in such a state - it was more surprising the thing still worked at all, honestly.

He inserted the necessary amount of coins and then selected his ‘main’, the elderly yet surprisingly still proficient karate warrior (and verified complete bastard) Meimachi Hishima, and drummed his hands on the cabinet as he waited for the cleaner to pick her fighter already.

“I’m ready when you are.”