#nick and hayko

[pretty-face-breaker]

post-torture cuddles? :3

CW. creepy comfort, masochism, unhealthy relationships

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Hayko watches the smattering of cast-off bloodstains on the sheets. Glossy, an hour ago, and now dried flat and dull to the cotton. There’s a ringing in his head, hurting with each pulse. He doesn’t respond - the words didn't quite make it through.  

Nick kneels behind him and kneads his shoulders, almost gently. It’s the feeling of his nose in his hair that jerks him out of the reverie. He tenses, sucks in a breath, and blinks away the sting in his eyes.

“Are you back with me again?”

“Partially,” Hayko says, throat raw. He can’t stop the whine when Nick cuts his wrists free from the ropes with a few sharp tugs of his folding knife. Realizes, immediately after, that he didn’t hear him pull it out.

A puff of laughter against his neck, then. “Back in your skin?” 

He’d be lying if he repeated himself. He was. When the pain was a punishing, pulsing thing. Now, with it gone, he’s untethered again. The light cascading in from the window is too bright, the carpet springy and rough. It’s too much. 

“Hey, now.” Nick taps him twice on his cheek, just on the edge of too rough. “I didn’t whip the wits out of you, did I?” 

 “Hardly.” In different circumstances, he might have laughed. “If you did, wouldn’t be much left of me, at this point.”

Nick’s smile comes sharp against his head, an eyetooth pressing into his scalp. He rubs away the chaffing on Hayko’s wrists, sitting limp on the mattress. It’s a mean thing. They’re bantering. Bantering after he just consented to being beat out of orbit for-

For his-

“Is there something you’d like?”

“Just-” His voice chips and self-loathing fills it. “Just stay for a few minutes. Just-”

Nick hushes him, so gently his eyes sting again. Hayko’s throat tightens as the ministrations move to his hair and Nick smooths out the snarls. A few beats of that and he’s pulling him back against his chest. Hayko lets himself fall and hisses, when his shirt catches on the welts. 

“Have I ever left you like this?” 

Hayko swallows, a fervid when haven't you? tucked behind his teeth. But he knows what Nick is referring to, and no, technically, he’s never left him after this. Something decidedly not safe or sane but asked for, all the same. 

He must drift for a minute because when he opens his eyes again, he’s draped over Nick’s chest on the bed, half-wrapped in a towel. He foggily registers a hand smoothing gel over his skin, the other playing along his ribs. 

“You’re running out of time, you know.” 

The hands stop. Nick’s heartbeat is steady beneath his ear, unyielding in a way that seems to disagree with that. Hayko stops himself from flinching when he speaks again.

“Don’t worry about me, dear.” 

He takes the press of lips to his scalp with little more than an aborted breath before Nick gives his ribs a squeeze. Presses into the welts hard enough to startle a full gasp out of him. He’s afraid he might not stop his probing, might just sink his claws clean through his back and into his lungs- 

“Oh. Please-...” 

“Did you enjoy yourself?” Nick’s voice is gnarled with a grin. 

His next breath whistles from his teeth. It fucking hurts. It hurts like nothing. It's so good. “Yes. Yes.” 

And then, nothing. His fingers are gone, leaving him panting and arching up. Bastard, he wants to say, as Nick pulls them through his hair, smearing blood through his curls. Within a second, he’s back to rubbing aloe cream on his back. 

“Don’t worry about me,” Nick says. “After they run out of time, it’ll just be us. No distractions, hm?”

-

@doveotions @heathenville @thewhumpstuff @thatsthewhump @adamantem-rose @lonesome–hunter @whumpsorbet @whumpasaurus101 @lektricfergus @downrivergirl914 @burtlederp @redwingedwhump @nicolepascaline @ifbtnna @oh-so-skeletal @whumperfully​​ ​@brittaunfiltered09

[brittaunfiltered09]

Does anybody ever get so excited over a post about something they like they stim so much they figure out how to snap and also start crying a bit

[suspicious-whumping-egg]

Hey anon! I’m shadowbanned so I can’t reply to ur ask or any anon asks :(( but I saw you asked for whump recs I think? Off the top of my head:

In the Woods Somewhere series by @knivestothroats

Professional//Victim series by @victimeyez

Moneymakers series by @coldresolve 

Guns for Hire series by @avvail-whumps

The Facility series by @avvail-whumps

LGM writing by @evermetnotforgotten

Under the Earth, I’ll Remember You Well series by @burntcoffeewrites 

Home is where the hurt is series by @whumblr

Showstopper series by @painsandconfusion

SV-240 series by @galaxywhump 

Written in blood series by @as-a-matter-of-whump

Martyr series by @whump-me

Conquest series by @whump-me

Hasan and Declan by b0amagination

Emir series by @pretty-face-breaker 

Nick and Hayko series by @pretty-face-breaker

[straight-to-the-pain]

2020

The Rules: Tag five or more people that you’re thankful for in your 2020, that you’re grateful exist in a world that’s hard to live in, whether that be through random reblogs on your posts, or people you’ve had full blown conversations with. Whether it’s just seeing them on your dash, or interacting with them. 

I know that I’m a little late to the game but my holiday tree is still up and the year has only just begun, and I would like to take the opportunity to show my gratitude for all those who made 2020 as good as it could be given the circumstances. I actually didn’t even have a diary for 2020 and I will admit that the year has passed in a haze of brain fog, but there have definitely been highlights. I want to say that I appreciate all my followers and all the people who put glorious whump content on my dash every day! You’re all great, and there’s no way I could include everyone I wanted to in a single post, so if you’re wondering if I mean you, the person reading this, I do <3

Thank you so much to @softsharpdaydreams, @whump-txt, @whatgoeswhumpinthenight, @empathetic-whumper, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @pretty-thoughts-and-a-pen, @sola-whumping, @hearse-song, @whump-it, @forthetaintedsorrow-whump, @whuh-oh-whump, @whumpfish, @whumpforthewhumpgod, @sideblogformindtrash, @goosewhumps, @bloodyfeverdreams for tagging me in your posts! I am sending that love right back at all of you! (And if I missed someone, I do apologise, because tumblr likes to hide notifications from me)

So here goes: @thewhumpstuff, @lettuceknighted, @beckstriad, @sopwithwhump, @whumpstash, @punchhimagain and all the regulars of whump writing central, hanging out with you has been the highlight of my year and I don’t know what I would have done without you. You’re all wonderful people, with amazing whump ideas and I am so glad that I got to meet you!

@pretty-face-breaker: your writing is always so evocative and gives me all the whumperflies, I love the messed up power dynamics between Nick and Hayko and even though I bully him a lot, I think Nick is a great whumper and I’m really enjoying RPing with him!

@pythagoreanwhump: I’m still not entirely convinced that you aren’t a chinese spy but it’s fine because I would willingly tell you my secrets :’) the VMD would straight up not exist without you and I love hearing about all your characters and the questionable things they get up to. Thank you for introducing me to a bunch of shows and films that I have fallen in love with, for doing linguistics puzzles and writing codes with me, and having an impeccable taste in whump.

@quirkykayleetam: where would I be without you? You are a literal ray of sunshine and you always fill me with so much joy and hope. I love brainstorming whump ideas with you and talking about anything and everything, and I’m really happy for all the wonderful things happening in your life <3

@sableflynn: my favourite lady whump lover! I love being able to share my hot takes with you and knowing that you’ll back me up ;) I promise to provide you with some mean man stronk lady content in this coming year, because you definitely deserve it. Thank you for organising a wonderful gift exchange and running such a friendly and welcoming server!

@a-whump-muffin: you write my favourite box boy story and I really enjoyed getting to talk to you over the past year! I adore the richness in your plot and your characters and how thought out the universe is, and your writing is just a joy to read.

@greatandquestionablecontent: I’m so glad that I got to start talking and RPing with you last year (even if I did forget to reply for months all while thinking it was your turn oopsies). Your characters are all really fun and interesting and I love hearing about them and interacting with them. Also, you are super talented at making playlists because the one you made me is still the main one that I listen to and was really the sound of my 2020!

@paininmyheart-imalive: you were quite possibly the first person I properly talked to on this platform, and I know that we might not interact a ton but I want you to know that you mean a lot to me and I’m really grateful that you reached out to me!

I know that it’s impossible for me to tag everyone who I want to tag, so please don’t feel left out if you don’t see your blog name here! This community on tumblr has been my main form of social interaction this past year, and I really don’t know where I would be if I didn’t have this space so I am eternally grateful for all the people who make that possible and interact with my content, all of you!!! Here’s to a brighter 2021!

[nicolepascaline]

Whumpmas in July, Day 7!

I'm not sure about underrated cause how could anyone not love everything on there, but @pretty-face-breaker brings joy into my life. I will say that if you haven't checked out Ace's AO3 go do it right now. Some of my favorite Nick/Hayko fics are on there and Mmmm are they beautiful.

Basically I read fantasy/sci-fi pretty exclusively and somehow Ace got me out of my reading comfort zone and loving it. Who would've thought I'd be such a sucker for a, crime thriller? Drama? Romance? It surpasses genre in the best possible way. Just, yes please.

@whumpmasinjuly

[pythagoreanwhump]

Made an alignment chart and put a bunch of characters in!

Ace, Hayko, and Nick belong to @pretty-face-breaker

Harrow/Alsander belong to @redwingedwhump

Elena, Maia, and Sam belong to @straight-to-the-pain , and Elvira and Leila are both ours

Martin belongs to @untilthepainstarts

Michał belongs to @whumping-newbie

Gavin belongs to @whump-tr0pes

And also Villanelle from the show Killing Eve and Q from the James Bond movies

[pretty-face-breaker]

can we have some nick and hayko fluff if you're so inclined 🙏🥺

cw. intimate whumper, manhandling, Hayko's bad flirting

before

“What were you thinking?” 

“Hm?” Hayko scrubbed his thumb over the bathroom sink, working the soap where he hadn’t been able to pick during the car ride. He kept his shoulders lax, watching the water turn pink and swirl out of sight. Playing at noncommittal. 

Nick watched him until it stopped working. “When he tried to stick you.” 

“Oh, not much.” Hayko stilled and swallowed, lingering. It had been an easy decision. 

It hadn’t been one, at all. 

He saw it now, the sneer, lunging at him from the darkness. Sweeping the crowbar in an arc until it connected with his temple and how the gleam in his eyes had gone out like ice giving away. How one hit hadn’t been enough, not until he was soaked in-

Nick fought down a smirk and tidied his own hands. “I know you’re rattled but you’re still not allowed to lie to me.” 

“I’m not.” 

Hayko spun around at the sudden clicking on the tiles just as Nick loomed over him, boxing him in with his hands on the sink. He didn’t break eye contact as he turned off the water. Hayko stared back, unflinching as Nick thumbed his cheek to scrape away a bit of dried blood. 

“I wasn’t thinking. I saw him coming, it wasn’t-” 

“-a decision?” Nick finished. “Just went for it?” 

“Unless you’d prefer someone else making me bleed.” 

Nick grinned sharply, thumb absently pressing into his cheek apple. “Did it for my benefit, hm? Keeping your own leash?”

Hayko snarled before he could stop himself.

“Fuck you.”

Nick’s reaction was inconsequential. If he made him pay, it wasn’t like his shirt could be ruined much more and he had already psyched himself up for a fight.

Fuck, he’d psyched himself up for more than that because, miles away, there was a man whose brains he’d turned into whipped ganache with a fucking crowbar today.

With his own hands.

It had barely been a decision.

Only Nick would ever hurt him like that.

But before Nick could respond, with violence or otherwise, Hayko swallowed, realising how close they were. How close their mouths were. With a shock of vertigo, something from weeks earlier replaced the images of the dead man.

A knife against his ribs, a hand in his hair. Nick’s mouth pressed to his, pressing his back to the wall, pressing. A proposition whispered against his neck, that he didn’t need to make it hurt, all the time. That he could give him something else. 

Nick’s knuckles clenching made the sink squeak. “Not enough violence today, love?” 

Hayko inhaled shakily, snapping back to the moment.

Right, the moment would probably develop into more blood, or Nick sending him down on his knees to whip him senseless or carve him up, or maybe nothing at all. Kissing probably wasn’t on the table, even if the offer was there, collecting dust. Even if he wanted it.

His next breath whistled through his teeth.

In the past day, Hayko had negotiated a weapons deal with a depraved murderer, sitting next to another one, before murdering his crony with a crowbar. 

Even if Nick’s offer wasn’t on the table, even if this was going to devolve into their particular brand of conflict-resolution, he was officially out of shits to give.

With an audacity that shocked him, Hayko glanced up at him through his eyelashes and tilted his head back to reveal his throat. Blood dotted his jaw and collarbones. “No. I think I’ve had enough.” He wet his lips. “Of that, anyway.” 

Briefly stunned, Nick blinked. The bathroom fluorescents hummed steadily.

As Hayko inwardly cursed himself for trying to seduce this lunatic, of all the lunatics he knew, a peal of laughter startled him. Nick pulled away and rubbed his grin with the back of his hand, the shadows suddenly gone from his eyes. 

“I’m not-” Nick gave an aborted chuckle. “I’m not quite sure what your aim is. You tell me to fuck off then try to charm me with those pretty eyes of yours?” 

Hayko, hoping he wasn’t too red, reddened further and began to flounder. “I-”

“You’ve thought about it, then?” Nick gave him a fond pat on the cheek, turning his hand to feel the heat radiating from it. “I didn’t think you’d take it seriously.” 

What Hayko heard was I didn’t think you’d ask for it.

“You obviously weren’t joking, unless kissing me with a knife against my ribs counts. Not very funny, by the way,” Hayko said, going redder now for a different reason. “Or are you just entitled to fuck with me, however you want and whenever you feel like it?”

Nick’s smirk grew at the sudden flare of anger. “What do you feel, right now?”

“Like maybe I should’ve bashed your head in, instead.” 

“Thought you’d had enough? Of that, anyway.”

Hayko shoved Nick out of the way, making a beeline for the door but ready to get yanked back by his hair. To his shock, all Nick did was stifle his laughter and follow behind.

“Oh, don’t do that, sweetheart. Do you want a kiss, or not?”

As Hayko threw back a glare, Nick’s amusement had gone nowhere fast. He could storm off, let Nick follow him until they settled the tension with violence, or start it up now. He could.

But Hayko stopped to turn, waited until they were toe-to-toe again. Swallowing hard, he watched the tamped-down delight in his eyes as Nick’s hand snaked around his waist.

Tried to control his breathing as he pulled him in to press a slow kiss to the corner of his mouth.

Failed on that count, feeling his sigh shake as Nick’s lips lingered. 

“What were you thinking?” Nick whispered against his mouth.

Hayko’s breaths came in rapid puffs. “Th-that he wasn’t allowed to. To get close to me, like that. That only you-” 

He gasped as Nick nipped his mouth and pressed him against the hallway closet. Palm holding a steady pressure to his spine, he was both the storm and the port. Hayko squeezed his eyes shut and kissed back with a small noise, getting shoved roughly up the closet for his efforts.

They needed to wash the blood off. He needed to get his head on right and plan to get away, needed to consult Vladimir.

Nick drove those thoughts further by the minute.

Hayko decided, breathless and with lips chafed raw, that he could have this. Just for a moment.

@doveotions @heathenville @thewhumpstuff @thatsthewhump @adamantem-rose @lonesome–hunter @whumpsorbet @whumpasaurus101 @lektricfergus @downrivergirl914 @burtlederp @redwingedwhump @nicolepascaline @ifbtnna @oh-so-skeletal @whumperfully​​ ​@brittaunfiltered09

[pretty-face-breaker]

in nick's opinion, what's the worst thing he's done to hayko?

and in hayko's opinion, what's the worst thing nick's done to him?

I think Nick thinks, broadly, that saving Hayko's life and involuntarily putting him in his debt was the worst thing he could have done. As he comes to know Hayko, he realizes that he's principally bound to reciprocation and feels a good deal of guilt over getting into this situation to begin with. In a way, everything that happens to him afterwards is somehow "deserved" because he's "responsible" for getting kidnapped.

Hayko doesn't see it that way! To him, the worst thing that Nick has ever done is drug him, nonconsensually. It combined his fears of psychological dependency (oh, the irony) and a lack of control with the underlying terror of being unconscious and vulnerable around Nick's crazy ass.

[pretty-face-breaker]

can i give hayko a hug :(

c.w. whumpees on the run, touch aversion, implied recent torture, sudden (temporary) mutism

They drove for two hours from Chicago. No rest stops or stops to stretch their legs, Vladimir kept a pace that just bordered on breaking traffic laws but kept them inconspicuous enough. 

Right about then, while Hayko drifted, staring dead-eyed at the passing road, Vladimir’s only fear was being pulled over. 

They stopped in South Haven for nothing more than a utilitarian trip in and out of a truck stop. It let Hayko grab two waters, paying in cash while they affected boredom with the cashier, covering up the frantic energy threatening to spill from their seams. 

The blood under Vladimir’s fingernails had long since dried and he hid the flaking by shoving them in his windbreaker. Hayko couldn’t hide his condition as clearly, hunching from where some nameless weapon had wrecked him the night before.

He hadn’t mentioned it, hadn’t said a word since they high-tailed it out of Nick’s cabin.

Nick would be monitoring their transactions. Vladimir didn’t know if he had woken up, whether he would ever wake up - the blow had been solid enough for a seizure. Hemorrhaging. Anything, really, to slow him down. 

Another three hours to Waterford.

Nobody followed them. 

Hayko still said nothing but Vladimir could read the tension in his brow, shoulders, knuckles - everywhere, really. Every few minutes, he would exhale sharply as if just then coming back to himself and Vlad’s gaze would snap to the passenger seat and breathe in tandem, asking “Khorosho? Hayko, khorosho?” 

And Hayko would jerk his chin down and drift. Again and again. Vladimir didn’t want to think about what punishment Nick had chosen for the attempt to flee. What was worse was that Hayko gave no indication of the pain, sitting rigidly curled in on himself, gray-faced, holding his shaking arms across his stomach as if keeping in his viscera. As if a single breath would bring the sky down onto them. 

He had tried to pull him to his chest, put his arms around him and ground him, but Hayko had flinched back so violently to him reaching out that Vladimir had smothered the impulse. 

He felt his stomach roil but said nothing.

-

By the time they reached Port Huron, it had been roughly eight hours. Eight hours away was safe, Vladimir thought, or maybe the press of exhaustion made it seem safer than it was. The motel left nothing to be desired because it was small enough to be a pin in the otherwise massive continent and maybe Nick’s reptile fucking eyes might miss it.

If he were still alive. 

Vladimir prayed for his death like he might for supplication. 

They stayed overnight, taking turns in the shower and eating what meager supplies Vladimir had found in the truck they had stolen, a few miles from the cabin - a miracle it had worked at all. It would have been impulsive, hotwiring Nick’s car as there was no doubt that it had a tracker. 

As Vladimir had gotten out of the shower in the morning, he had found Hayko, white in the face and trembling, holding his Blackberry to his ear as a low, droning voice finished speaking on the other end. He looked as if he might be sick, letting his hand drop to the sheets. Vladimir thought he might have been, too.

It had taken them less than five minutes to grab everything and check out, pulling out of the inn before it could strike seven in the morning. 

He had wanted to hold him then, calm his hyperventilation, as unwelcome as it might have been. Hayko must have recognized the desire to reach out and had retreated further in as a response. 

Not dead, then, Vladimir thought grimly. Of course, he wouldn’t be. That wouldn’t be nearly a glorious enough end for the pitiless shadow that was Nick Sinclair. 

He held a conviction that even if Nick had died, parts of him would have followed them. Maybe, he would have found them faster.

-

They were supposed to stop in High Park, some three hours after their hasty retreat from the Huron motel, but Hayko’s hand had shot out when Vladimir went to unbuckle, grabbed his wrist like a vice, and shook his head once. 

“Chto?” What is it? What are you stopping me for? What has he done to you to make you retreat into yourself? 

What are the chances we get out of this alive? 

Hayko had shook his head again, firmly. They had continued to Kingston, Ontario. 

At least he had touched him first. The urge to hold Hayko still gripped him.

-

Montreal was the final stop. Hayko had taken over driving since Kingston, expression inscrutable and silent as they crawled through the city. Vladimir thought it might have breathed, inspiring them to breathe with it, but everything was submerged in such unnatural stillness that he felt watched by the city. 

Two prowlers, fleeing destruction, leaving shards of their past across states and now across provinces. They were practically inviting chaos, dooming centuries of history and the Notre-Dame Basilica and the shores of the St. Lawrence River. 

They stopped tightly against the final motel, run-down enough to satisfy them both, checked in, and all but collapsed into unconsciousness. Hayko had abandoned his phone hours ago so no need to worry about late-night warnings from monsters, states away, preparing to find them both.

They would ruminate on that when they had to.

-

Sometime, in the early hours of the morning, Hayko had jerked awake and thrashed, swinging blindly and flexing his throat in an attempt to scream. Whether it had been for help or mercy, Vladimir didn’t know. 

He had held him then, tentatively, but he had held him. He had shushed him, tense though he remained for some time. He had felt him relax in increments as he repeated their time and location and intentions in Russian, telling him that they were safe, that the cracks were sealed. 

It had taken far too long for Hayko to drift off again, throat tight and eyes burning but Vladimir had held him throughout the night. 

He hadn’t slept but felt a mutated sense of safety - the first in years.

-

@doveotions @heathenville @thewhumpstuff @thatsthewhump @adamantem-rose @lonesome–hunter @whumpsorbet @whumpasaurus101 @lektricfergus @downrivergirl914 @burtlederp @redwingedwhump @nicolepascaline @ifbtnna @oh-so-skeletal @whumperfully​​

[pretty-face-breaker]

i think nick and hayko should fuck freaky style it would fix a lot of problems

Agreed! You are so correct for that, anon.

[pretty-face-breaker]

piggybacking off of whoever asked this- https://at.tumblr.com/pretty-face-breaker/nick-would-u-stop-hurting-hayko-if-it-meant-he/0ay7k6o4c660

would hayko go back with nick if nick promised not to hurt him (or the people he cares about) anymore ?

"You'll live a life of glamour."

"I did, once." Hayko's voice is hushed, barely audible. His heart has stopped racing and now rests at a steady thrum. "It was terrible."

There's a pause on the other end of the line.

"How about if I stop hurting you?"

"...You and I both know you would never do that."

Even with Vladimir out shopping, he can't bring himself to laugh. Not even scoff, out of an unplaceable anxiety that he might not be alone. He knows he's alone. It's only him in the bathroom, the other man being, hopefully, miles away on the other end of the burner.

Still, he can't bring himself to make a sound.

"I love you," Nick drawls in a uniquely coercive tone. "Come back."

Hayko swallows, fidgeting with his destroyed cuticles. He sweeps the pads of his fingers over the white, raised skin around his nails and tries to pretend that he wasn't the one that called. Every day spent running is another one wondering just how close Nick has gotten.

Impatience drips from the line.

"I'm giving you a non-violent option here, my love."

At that, he can't help but scoff a little. "Why do you even bother promising to stop hurting me? It's a fucking complex for you." His voice breaks a little at the end but he hopes the phone disguises it.

A beat.

"Why exactly did you call me, Hayko? To get me riled up? To piss me off so thoroughly that when I find you-"

"...You won't find me."

Nick's laugh is distorted by interference, giving it an inhuman quality that sinks his stomach when he hears it.

"Since when have you been able to keep me away?"

Click.

—

@doveotions @heathenville @thewhumpstuff @thatsthewhump @adamantem-rose @lonesome–hunter @whumpsorbet @whumpasaurus101 @lektricfergus @downrivergirl914 @burtlederp @redwingedwhump @nicolepascaline @ifbtnna @oh-so-skeletal @whumperfully​​ 

[pretty-face-breaker]

Poor boy tried to run away :(

[pretty-face-breaker]

with this new knowledge that nick doesnt know a damn thing about cars comes the hilarity of a situation where he'd have some kind of HORRIBLY timed emergency with his car and need hayko's help with it. like "hey shawty i know youre in a corner shaking and sobbing rn but what the fuck is an 'engine'"

Hayko felt his blood-matted hair drying, the draft from the thin slit in the window doing the job. His splattered shirt was slower to cool off. His fingers felt numb.

If Nick had turned to ask him how long they had been driving, he probably wouldn't have heard him, let alone cobbled together a guess.

But from the looks of it, Nick, too, looked uncharacteristically pissed about their situation. Hayko turned his eyes from his firmly set jaw to how he white-knuckled the steering wheel.

"Did you know?"

Hayko didn't need to ask to be told when Nick did or did not expect a simple route negotiation to turn into a bloodbath, courtesy of men who had hid in the shadows, watching the deal go down. Apparently, their boss's acquiescing smiles at Nick's intimidation had meant something very different to them.

"Suspected."

"And...the crow bar?" Hayko asked, tentatively. The one, sitting practically repainted red in the trunk.

"Brought as a precaution, like I do for most of our meetings. Nothing speci-..." Nick trailed off, his brows knitting as he glanced down where the clutch should have given under his foot.

Hayko followed his eyes. Watched him twitch his foot up one, twice and swear under his breath. It was rare, nowadays, to catch a glimpse of Nick's strangely human brand of frustrated, now that he was sober, but this one seemed to go right on to exasperation.

"The clutch," he filled in for Hayko.

Hayko returned his frown. "It's stuck?" He glanced down to see the piece of metal sitting on top of the toe of Nick's black oxford.

"No resistance at all."

He hummed low in his throat, clearing it before considering just telling Nick to pull over, seeing as how the man didn't do well with orders from someone he occasionally considered pliant stress relief. Hayko tried anyway.

"Shit... pull over? It probably snapped. The cable, I mean"

Nick didn't seem to do anything with the diagnosis besides tilt his head slightly and pull off the road. He unbuckled and after a moment of consideration that Hayko couldn't quite understand, he turned to look at him.

"Well?" Nick asked, expectantly.

Hayko blinked, eyes flicking from the pedal and back to Nick, hoping the man would elaborate before getting out. When he didn't do either, he chanced it. "Well, what?"

Nick's lip quirked up slightly. "Do I look like a mechanic?"

Silent, Hayko furrowed his brows and when the realization dawned on him that Nick didn't have a fucking clue what to do about the situation, he couldn't suppress a bubble of laughter. It practically tumbled out of his throat.

"You look like an owner of a prehistoric stick shift. Do you seriously not-... I mean, you've had this car for years, Nick, Jesus Christ."

No fear left in him, Hayko decided, having lost it an hour earlier when he beat a man to death with the blunt end of a crowbar before he had had a chance to slip metal between his ribs. Fuck if Nick could do worse to him in the time it took to fix the clutch.

"A stick shift that I pay other people to manage, on my behalf. Since you're the only other person around right now, I suggest you fix it before an unsuspecting local tries their luck."

Hayko should have been more horrified at the implication that Nick would murder the first person who pulled over but he was still giddy with the recognition of Nick's car-related incompetence. Refreshed, even. He gave a watery chuckle and pulled himself out of the vehicle, making for the trunk and rounding back to the hood one he'd retrieved the blood-washed crowbar.

Nick got out once he popped the hood and began digging for the other end of the clutch cable. He watched him disconnect it with a raised brow.

"We'll have to go without it, until you can get it fixed." Hayko slipped into the driver's seat, Nick following wordlessly. Still nothing when he changed to first gear and the car suddenly lurched forward.

"That was bold of you."

"What, laughing at you?" Hayko snorted but not especially derisively. "Can't help it. It's like peeling an onion with you and your upbringing."

If he had enough courage to look, he would have relaxed at Nick's faintly amused expression. He wasn't going to chance that, though. It already wasn't smart to laugh in a murderer's face and imply he was rich-person incompetent, let alone checking to see whether he had started planning his murder.

But when Hayko heard a scoff, he did relax.

@doveotions @heathenville @thewhumpstuff @thatsthewhump @adamantem-rose @lonesome–hunter @whumpsorbet @whumpasaurus101 @lektricfergus @downrivergirl914 @burtlederp @redwingedwhump @nicolepascaline @ifbtnna @oh-so-skeletal @whumperfully​​ 

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nick and hayko flirting gives me joy. i love those horny bastards

They really are BOTH! Except their flirting mostly consists of, uh, murder. Nowadays.

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OMG HIGH SCHOOL AU

You know it. The OC brain rot really does consume...

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i just binged your whole nick and hayko series and scrolled all the nick and hayko tags- your writing is amazing and i think i'm a little obsessed with nick and hayko now

A lot of these asks are months old and I truly apologize for dying for a year but I want y'all to know that I appreciate every one of these. I am so glad that my stories have kept attention over the years and that people still go through my masterlists. <33 I'm very glad you enjoyed these two, anon.