#(nile. who had been expecting an Actual Functional House. just has to sit there for a moment)

[youssefguedira]

V, JoeNicky & Nile

V. An abandoned or empty place.

When Joe pulls the sheet off the couch it kicks up enough dust that it makes Nile sneeze. The couch underneath is old, wooden frame rotting, fabric stained and full of holes where moths have eaten away at it. 

“Sorry,” Joe says to Nile when she finally manages to get the sneezing under control. “Didn’t realise it was that bad.” He puts his hands on his hips and looks down at the couch. Nile looks it over.

“There’s no saving that,” she says, wiping at her eyes. She can heal from falling over ten stories, but she can’t get away from allergies.

Joe frowns. “I liked that couch.”

The house is older than anywhere else they’ve brought her, and has been abandoned for long enough that it’s falling apart. But through some trick of posing as their own sons, or something, Joe and Nicky still own it, even if there’s a giant hole in the roof and all the windows are broken. Why they’d decided to come back here, Nile doesn’t know, but it’s a nice enough area, and a good distraction from, well. Everything. Growing back a leg, she’s discovered, is not fun. 

From one of the other rooms – she thinks it’s the kitchen, she’s not actually sure where Nicky had wandered to – there’s the sound of something breaking and crashing to the ground, and a muffled curse. 

Joe makes a questioning noise in the vague direction of the kitchen. A few moments later, Nicky appears in the doorway, covered in dust. “I am okay,” he says. “But I think we will need to go out to eat tonight.”

“Nothing?” 

Nicky shakes his head. “Unless you want to start a fire and go hunt some rabbits.”

Joe grins. “Just like old times, right?”

Nile shakes her head firmly, which makes Nicky smile. She loves them, but there’s no way they’re doing that. 

“We can probably clear out enough space in here,” Joe says, gesturing to the floor. “Get the sleeping bags out of the car. Probably have to start a fire anyway, but…”

Nile looks around again while Joe says something to Nicky in Arabic that makes him laugh. The house is falling apart, sure, but it’s structurally stable, and the bones are all there. It could be something. They’ve got time to make it something. 

Nicky is the one who goes for pizza in the end – he doesn’t trust Nile and Joe to order it if left to their own devices – while they try to clear out a space in the living room. Eventually, though, after Nile has another sneezing fit, Joe suggests they just take the sleeping bags outside instead, which works out a lot better. He sets about starting a fire with practiced ease while Nile sets out the sleeping bags around it. They’re far enough away from civilisation that she can’t hear cars passing by, which is kind of surreal, and the stars are brighter than she’s ever seen them. 

When Nicky gets back, two boxes balanced on one arm and a bottle of wine in the other, he looks over their makeshift camp and laughs. “Just like old times, then?” he asks.

Joe grins. “Except we have pizza.”

“And actual sleeping bags,” Nile says.

“Ah, these modern inventions could never quite match the comfort of a pile of furs,” Joe says wistfully. Nile gives him a look. She’s ninety percent sure that one’s bullshit, but she can never quite tell with him. 

Nicky sets down the pizza boxes, and jogs back to the car to grab the pack of plastic wine glasses they’d bought before they got here. 

“We should’ve bought marshmallows,” Nile says. “Could have made s’mores.”

“Well, we’ll have to go to the hardware store tomorrow anyway,” Joe points out. “And I think it’ll be a little while before we can actually sleep in there.”

“Tomorrow, then?”

“Tomorrow,” Nicky agrees.

[in-tua-deep]

SO i watched the old guard and loved it and i have a habit of combining things i love and it’s 1am and i can’t get to sleep until i purge this from my brain i think SO consider this 

Five jumps in time into the apocalypse and - he dies. Of course he dies. Maybe it’s the time jump itself, managing to rip himself apart because he tried too much too soon. Maybe it’s the apocalypse itself that kills him. Regardless, he dies.

And then he wakes up. And he’s fine. And he continues on.

Except - he has weird dreams. He dreams of - of all these people? He dreams that they’re in the apocalypse as well. It’s weird. He would brush it off but, well, he keeps dreaming of them. Again. And again. And again. 

(He likes dreaming of them, honestly. When he doesn’t dream of them he dreams of ash and fire and his siblings dead and decaying and wailing at him for failing them.)

He continues to live in the apocalypse and years pass and - he’s not getting older. He cuts his leg open on some rocks, and it heals way too quickly. All of his injuries are like that, actually. 

(He spends a whole week starving to death over and over again once. It isn’t pretty. He doesn’t even know he’s dying.)

Eventually he comes to a conclusion - his time jump fucked him up. He’s in a permanent... stasis? Sort of? He keeps continuously returning to the state he was when he jumped through time, including his body now? Rejecting injuries? Presumably because he wasn’t injured when he jumped?

It makes sense to Five, shhh.

And then he gets picked up by the commission. and then he doesn’t shoot JFK. and then he goes home.

(He keeps dreaming about His People. They aren’t in the apocalypse when he isn’t, which is nice. They’re probably some weird manifestation of his subconscious, considering his brain keeps casting them as people during the time periods he’s visiting)

Now I know what you’re thinking - Five is dreaming about these glorious weirdos in the apocalypse, obviously they would try to find him because they’re dreaming about him as well, right?

See, the thing is this: Andy doesn’t remember the exact date she first had a dream about The Boy. 

(The Boy definitely deserved the capital letters, because he’s the weirdest enigma that they never solved.)

But she remembers her and Quynh being horrified because - the next immortal was a child? They freaked out about it and tried to write everything down they could remember to help them hunt the kid down.

And they tried - they did! for a whole three days! except after those three days the dreams just - stopped. cold. nothing new.

This was, of course, super super confusing. And maybe they would have written it off as a shared hallucination if it didn’t keep happening.

There’s no pattern to when they dream of the kid. It just happens. Sometimes a few times in a year. Sometimes there’s decades or centuries between dreams. The first time Nicky and Joe dream of him, Andy has to sit them down and explain that no, don’t worry about it. Yes she knows that it’s a child. No, he’s not a new immortal. They’ll stop dreaming about him in a few days, a week tops, it’s fine. No, she doesn’t know What The Fuck That Is About.

By the time Nile joins the team it’s sort of a weird inside joke. There’s longstanding bets about when the boy will pop up in their dreams again. It’s fine. Okay, so it’s weird, but their lives are already so goddamn weird.

(So imagine the old guard fresh in the apocalypse, no human life on earth. they’re dreaming about the boy again, and the only weird thing now is the consistency of it. maybe they’re in europe or something, but most of the planes have been destroyed in whatever-the-fuck took out the population of the whole ass world. it might have taken years to literally find and dig each other out of the rubble. yeah it’s weird the boy is not a frequent dream thing, but it’s not like it’s urgent.)

Anyway, Five jumps into his family’s courtyard and stumbles out, and eats and peanut butter and jelly sandwich, avoids questions about his age by rambling about quantum versions of himself, and goes to Griddy’s where he ends up getting attacked by commission goons and having to walk home barefoot because he had to ditch his shoes

(The Commission couldn’t put a tracker in his arm. His body kept rejecting them somehow, thanks to his... weird temporal nonsense. The Handler kept promising him that they’d find a way to fix him or whatever, but they never did. Assholes.)

Now, the Old Guard squad go to sleep and, thank you, start dreaming of Five in all his somewhat feral glory.

They bolt awake and - “You guys owes me so much money.” Nicky crows victoriously, because he totally won the pot on the next kid dream year, thank you very much.

And any other time that would be the end of it, because they’re used to these fleeting dreams of the boy.

Except Nile exists now. And of course she’s like, we have to find this kid.

Of course the others try to explain to her - except Nile points out a very important fact: it might have taken weeks or months or years to find other immortals back in the day due to travel times and lack of information and all that. But it’s 2019 baby. They have the internet and very fast plane travel. Did you have that when Booker was a baby immortal? no. it took them like, a day to go hunt Nile down though.

“You say you dream about him for a few days or a week or whatever.” Nile points out to the group’s dawning realization, “Well we have the power to get to him in a few days. So we can find him.”

“If we find him then we can never bet on him again though.” Booker points out, and Nicky who is in the process of gloating about his latest win (Nicky has won three times in a row motherfuckers) looks a bit crestfallen. Andy, on the other hand, just looks determined.

“Get off your asses.” Nile says firmly, spinning her laptop around and showing them the one (1) result for a “Griddy’s Diner” that she found that matches whatever the fuck the dream showed her, “We’re going to America.”

“Again?” Nicky complains, “I thought we swore to not go to America again for at least a century.”

(Until Nile’s family definitely dies, they don’t say.)

So they all begrudgingly go to America, during which time Five manages to get called potentially insane by his favorite sister, not get any sleep, bribe his brother to investigate an eye that doesn’t exist, and mourn losing his one lead to who the fuck started the apocalypse.

I don’t think Five or the og squad were expecting to actually meet.

But they’re hunting Five down and looking around and Five is pondering his next move and then just - across the street, their eyes meet.

“YOU.” The OG squad bellows, because Five has been a goddamn mystery for literally thousands of years.

“Me?” Five says, very confused, like someone who has definitely had trauma induced hallucinations and flashbacks whose dream characters decided to show up on the street outside his house for some reason.

And they go over to Five, and Five is like “wow what a weird hallucination to be having, maybe if i ignore it it’ll go away because that’s a healthy mindset to have (:”

and then one of them touches him and just - 

Five lashes out. It’s instinctive. He has a knife and he just - stabs. Automatically. and his dream person winces and steps back and - 

(He stabbed his dream person. Hallucinations don’t touch him they’re not supposed to touch him and they can’t be stabbed what - )

And then the dream person heals before his eyes.

“I probably deserved that.” Booker muses, grimacing at the hole in his new shirt thank you very much.

“You’re not real.” Five says a little too loudly and a little too insistently to sound at all convincing as he takes a step backwards.

“I’m not real? You’re not real!” Nicky butts in, slightly offended, “You’re the one that keeps - keeps vanishing!”

“Oh my god why are you all disasters.” Nile mourns putting her face in her palms as though she can block out her new weird family by sheer force of will.

“Hey, remember when you died?” Andy offers with a shrug which just makes Nile groan louder. “What’s that about? I’m not even shooting him this time.”

“You can’t shoot him, he’s a baby.” Joe gasps, gesturing towards Five’s thirteen-year-old self.

“I’m not a baby!” Five snaps, bristling on autopilot because the rest of his brain function is stuck on a repeat of “what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck”

“Baby boy. Baby.” Nicky backs his husband up, leaning against Joe and smirking.

“Am not!” Five growls, “And give me my knife back!”

“Finder’s keepers.” Booker says nonchalantly, spinning said knife in his fingers, “If you didn’t want me to have it then you shouldn’t have stabbed me with it.”

“It’s my brother’s knife, you can’t have it.” Five argues.

“Booker.” Andy says firmly, making Booker shrink a little like a scolded child, “Give the kid the knife back. How would you feel if I took your gun?”

“You wouldn’t take my gun.” Booker mutters, handing an increasingly confused Five the knife back, “I would simply shoot you.”

“Ooh,” Nicky snickers, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“Don’t encourage them.” Joe says, nudging at Nicky. Which would be fine if he hadn’t added in a slightly lower tone that they could all still hear, “Fifty on Andy.”

“That’s a sucker’s bet, my love.” Nicky laughs, pressing a kiss to Joe’s cheek.

There’s a beat of silence.

“No offense, but what the fuck is going on.” Five states rather than asks, clutching his slightly stolen knife (Diego didn’t even notice when he’s snagged it which honestly means he didn’t deserve to keep the weapon) tight to his chest. “Are you guys... with the Commission?”

“What the fuck is the Commission?” Joe does not whisper to Booker, who is supposed to be the research guy but he just shrugs because he’s useless.

Anyway that’s how the whole Old Guard squad winds up in Reginald Hargreeves creepy ass mansion trying to explain to an increasingly erratic immortal child that, yeah, he’s a little bit immortal. No it doesn’t have anything to do with his powers (powers?? powers??????? what the fuck i mean yes their lives are already so goddamn weird but there is a line and Booker draws it at teleportation what the fuck). 

What’s this about an apocalypse?

(When they asked Five for his age, they were not expecting a curt ‘fifty-eight, probably’. Yes they are now aware there is funky time travel involved - which honestly explains so much about the frequently vanishing immortal - but still. 

He looks baby but also he is baby. He’s younger than Booker!! Not even a century! They have two whole babies on the immortal squad !!)

“The world is going to end on April 1st.” Five explains, looking deeply uncomfortable. And afraid. 

(And young. So very terribly young. He’s been thirteen-years-old for a long time. If these people are right - he’s going to remain thirteen until his immortality, what, wears off? Which could be literally thousands of years in the future?

He has family god damnit. He doesn’t want to outlive them. He just - he just wanted to see them again. To save them.)

And honestly why not. Five has already demonstrated teleportation. Time travel does explain his random popping into their lives via dreams. Why not? And let’s be real, they have way much more to lose by not believing him than believing him.

“Alright let’s stop an apocalypse.” Andy says, clapping her hands together.

“You’re going to help?” Five asks in a small voice, because he had sort of resigned himself to going at it alone.

“Give me the number for the eye.” Nile says kindly, “We have someone we could contact about that sort of thing, or at the very least who can keep an eye out for when it is manufactured and let us know.”

(RIP Copley when he realizes he has to deal with anything involving the Umbrella Academy. I am sure they were a very deep thorn in the governments side for a long time tbh)

“Who The Fuck Are All These People In Our Living Room.” Luther asks, Very Loudly, with Allison close behind.

And yeah. No one really knows how the fuck to answer that, let’s be real. What are they supposed to say? Hey, sorry for crashing, we’re here to lowkey kidnap your newly re-found brother because surprise! he’s immortal! Because that would go over so well.

Anyway, so the Old Guard squad are just there like,, trying to teach Five about his newfound immortality (at least he’s got good at the whole “fuck cameras” thing during his stint in the commission, though admittedly there were plenty of mission from pre-camera times. ah, the age before technology.) and also adopt him? because being immortal means family and family means no one gets left behind (or forgotten, hello Quynh)

(okay yeah they tried to put Booker in time out that one time but after a few years they were just sad and everyone was texting him anyway so now it’s just something they bring up at every opportunity. Joe wants the first turn in the bathroom? Booker, you betrayed him. He was a lab rat, Booker. And on and on until Booker throws up his hands and gives in. Yes, fine, you can have the bathroom first.)

And the Umbrella Academy usually would leave Five to his own devices but... look. Five might have vanished for seventeen years or whatever but he’s still their brother and they can be surprisingly territorial.

At least some people are getting along like a house on fire.

(“You were a crusader?” Klaus asks with wide eyes, “How does that even work?”

“What, being gay?” Nicky asks, tilting his head, “It’s fine. I have a permit.”

“A permit.”

“Mmhmm. From the Pope and everything.”

“I kind of want to be you when I grow up.”)

I can’t tell if things would go more smoothly or if the fuck ups would be even more epic in proportion. On the bright side, the apocalypse probably wouldn’t happen because Andy and Nile immediately clock Leonard-Harold’s serial killer vibes.

(Leonard realizes they’re onto him and tries to kill them which is a big mistake lmao, bye bye Leonard)

It probably ends up in an all out war against the Commission honestly, and the OG squad and the Umbrella Academy teaming up to destroy it.

(“How is this even going to work?” Allison asks at one point, gesturing at Five and the old guard.

“Shared custody?” Joe suggests brightly before doubling over because Five has pointy elbows and is not afraid to use them.)

Andy and Five probably go feral together at one point and it sure is something to behold. 

“Now that is a kid who understand what a signal is.” Booker admires after a particularly large explosion happens. Nile just nods along because yeah. 

(“How come you guys get to call Five a kid without being stabbed?” Klaus complains.

“He isn’t even a century old. I’m 250 and I was the youngest until Nile popped up.” Booker shrugs.

“We’re in our 950s.” Nicky says, “If little Cinque does not want to be called a kid he should have been born earlier.”

“How old is hot axe woman?” Klaus asks, absolutely enraptured.

They OG squad all exchange a look and just collectively shrug, “Old as balls.”

“Besides,” Booker says dismissively, “What’s he going to do about it? Kill us?”

and that ends that conversation)

(They also don’t discuss how young Five is. How young he was when he died. How that’s going to effect him all his life. How he’s going to be old in years, but he’s always going to be thirteen in the same way that Nile is stuck in her 20s. Sometimes it seems like the immortals are getting younger and younger in age and... it sucks.)

anyway just. Old Guard and Umbrella Academy shenanigans as they stop the apocalypse and try to look after the semi-feral teenager they have been saddled with and figure out what comes next

[lovelikedestiny]

May trust be my blanket

With a startled blink Nile accepts the car keys Andy is holding out to her without a word and with a clearly encouraging look that does not allow any contradiction. Of course, it is not uncommon for Nile to drive their getaway car, although it took Andy a while to voluntarily give up her place behind the wheel. But when the others are busy giving them cover or when Nile is the only one with functioning limbs or the fastest, she's behind the wheel and steers them out of the danger zone.

But today is the first time that Andy gives her the keys without a protest, or a laughable discussion and Nile doesn't know why. Neither Andy, nor Joe or Booker are injured, so they have to heal and therefore cannot drive, and the mission actually went off without a lot of blood and guts. Nile finally has no blood in her hair, which is really hard to get out and her shirt only has two holes in it and luckily is not one of her favorite tops. However, Nile has learned to listen to her superiors and to trust their decisions and it is natural that she sees Andy as her boss. The others do that too and with Andy's badass charisma and her iron will, it's no wonder. So, Nile slides behind the steering wheel and starts the car while Andy takes the passenger seat and Joe and Booker climb into the back seats. As soon as Nile drives off, she sees in the rearview mirror how Joe's knee jerks restlessly up and down and his dark gaze constantly scans the area outside the window. It is very likely that he will not relax until they have picked up Nicky. And Nile, who has often observed the centuries-old couple interacting with each other, cannot blame him. Nicky and Joe kind of come in twos and just like everything else they do, they're disgustingly cute even on missions. The alley in which they are supposed to pick up Nicky is a few minutes away from their place of work and is inconspicuous. The Italian acted as their sniper during this mission and was positioned in a skyscraper near the office complex, from where he had a perfect field of vision and the greatest possible range of fire. Nicky had been lying in wait there for three days because Copley had been unable to narrow down the time window for their target's arrival. Nile would have been too impatient for this job and is still wondering how Nicky manages to lie motionless for hours in front of a telescopic sight waiting for the one ideal shot, but the former crusader has more patience than anyone else Nile knows. Because of this, she was glad that she, Andy, Booker and Joe had to make sure that no one was around to make things as easy as possible. Nile would rather have something to do than to be condemned to wait somewhere and she would have gone mad in the sniper's nest that Nicky had set up in a small apartment. They haven't seen Nicky for three days, couldn't give up their covers to be ready at all times, and the separation from his husband pretty obviously gnaws at Joe. But even Nile cannot deny having missed Nicky, who is a calm and grounding constant in their small group. There is no way she can tell whether Nicky was bothered by being alone, the Italian is not a man of many words and mostly quiet, but she hates not having anyone to talk to and would probably have started talking with a bag of chips or a granola bar. Even though Nicky had been physically separated from them, his radio announcements had continued to be gentle and reassuring, and he had even joked with them - this man's humor is dry as a desert and comes out when Nile least expects it. As soon as she steers the car into the alley, Nicky steps out of the shadows of a building, equipment casually slung over his shoulder, but Nile can see that his steps are slow and exaggeratedly clear, as if struggling to walk properly. There is nothing she can do about the emerging worry in her stomach, but the worried flame is dimmed a little when she cannot see any blood on his clothes and finds no further signs of a fight on him. So, he's just exhausted. And Nile can handle that, she wouldn't feel differently after spending three days in one position either. Exhaustion is far better than any of the unexpected complications guns and death bring with them. The getaway car hasn't even come to a complete halt when Joe opens the back door and Booker gets up from his seat and makes himself comfortable on the floor, which Nile registers with furrowed eyebrows. Why does Booker sit on the floor when there's enough room in the back for him, Joe and Nicky? Especially since the sniper rifle and Nicky's backpack are just being stowed away in the trunk? "Ciao,” Nicky finally says quietly, the small smile that is so typical for him plays around the corners of his mouth and he steps in with a barely audible groan. "Hello, my heart," Joe replies warmly, his hands clasping Nicky's face and for a few seconds he and Nicky stay like this, their foreheads pressed together, breathing the same air and this gesture is more intimate than any couple action Nile has ever seen on the street or at her school. On closer inspection, Nile sees the dark circles under Nicky's light eyes, which make them appear even larger, and the lines of exhaustion that mark his face. Without thinking, she reaches back with one hand and gently squeezes his upper arm and Nicky grips her hand with his and gives her a soft look. "Were there any problems?" Andy asks when Joe closes the door and after Nicky carefully shakes his head, Andy turns around, puts a hand on his neck and kisses Nicky's forehead. It's over as fast as it started and Nile wonders if she just imagined it. “Well done, team. Then let's go, I want to take a fucking shower.” Nile obediently starts the car again but is still more than aware that Booker is sitting on the floor. The French pats Nicky, who sits heavily on the back seat, on his knee and nods at him with an encouraging smile and Nile's eyes almost fall out of her head when Nicky lifts his legs and lies down completely on the back seat. His head rests in Joe's lap, who softly whispers something to him in their personal language and caresses his head at regular intervals. He's too big to stretch out in the back seat, but Nicky doesn't seem to mind. With his knees slightly drawn up he lies on his side, his arms crossed over his chest and then he closes his eyes. When you live with people under the same roof, it is inevitable that at some point you will learn their sleeping habits and that is exactly why Nile stares at Nicky through the rearview mirror with an open mouth. The Italian is always the first to start the day and no matter what time Nile gets up, Nicky is always up before her in the kitchen and is already preparing coffee. Joe is as far from being a morning person as the earth is from Neptune and can sleep anywhere, in the most impossible positions. A bomb could go off next to him and Joe wouldn't even flinch. Booker has an irregular sleep rhythm, and this is also reflected in the times he gets up: sometimes he is at the breakfast table in the morning, then you don't see him until noon and occasionally he crawls out of his room for dinner. And Andy is scratchy like a fury if she doesn't get at least six hours of sleep and woe to those who deny her her precious sleep. Nile herself has fixed times to go to bed and get up, unless missions require otherwise. But of all of them Nicky is the lightest sleeper, immediately on alert when a suspicious noise sounds, a gun in hand, while Nile is still blinkingly trying to figure out her name. She has never seen him sleep so open outside of a safe house and that is a clear sign of how exhausting the three days must have been for him. Joe's muttered words are a pleasant background noise for Nile even if she doesn't understand the meaning, Joe's tender tone and loving gaze speak for themselves. Her attention is divided between the street and the back seat because somehow Nile can't get rid of the feeling that something important is going on there. Booker's hand is on Nicky's leg, and is the French drawing circles with his thumb on the skin hidden under the fabric? He has moved a little closer to the bench, as close as possible in the space between the back and the front seats and stares at the floor lost in thought as if he were touching Nicky unconsciously. Nonetheless, the naturalness of this gesture and the fact that Booker gave up the seat way earlier seem to come from some kind of repetition and Nile bites her tongue so as not to blurt out questions and thereby wake Nicky, whose slow breathing and relaxed limbs indicate that he really has fallen asleep . The intention to be as quiet as possible vanishes when Andy loosens her seat belt and makes as if to climb back over the center console. "What the...? Are you kidding me? Sit the fuck down again, Andy!” Nile protests and tries to prevent Andy with one hand from continuing her way and pushing her back onto her seat. The older warrior slaps her hand aside as if it were a fly and pays no attention to Nile's angry voice. "Keep your eyes on the road, kid," she instructs Nile and has already completely disappeared into the back. "Eyes on the road my ass!" Nile replies with a violent snort but puts her free hand back on the steering wheel. “Seat belts don't exist in cars for nothing, if you've noticed! And...” She falls silent, only now noticing how loud she has been talking and looks worriedly in the rearview mirror to check if Nicky has woken up. To her own astonishment, his eyes are still closed, one of his hands is now holding Joe's left hand tightly against his chest, fingers interlaced. "Don't worry, Nile," Joe says with a reassuring smile. “You don't have to be overly quiet. Just behave normally.” Nile is not convinced. She knows that a drop of water could wake Nicky. "Isn't Nicky going to wake up then?" She asks, her voice carefully lowered. "No," Booker replies, rearranging his position to make room for Andy without letting go of Nicky's leg. “At least not now. Nicky is a light sleeper, but after such missions he sleeps like a stone.” He laughs with a snort. “I once laid behind a sniper rifle for three hours and was exhausted. Nicky has just stared through a telescopic sight for three days in a row, if you don't count the short breaks." Nile dutifully looks at the street in front of them and turns on a blinker. “But why is he sleeping now? And doesn't wait until the safe house?” Nicky always checks double and triple whether all doors are locked, how best to sleep in order to better ward off possible attackers and he always lies between Joe and the door. Joe once told her that Nicky was a protector and that even if they were just shopping, Nicky would keep an eye on everything around them. So the fact that he is asleep in the backseat of a getaway car is more than unusual - even when he is exhausted. "Because he trusts us." Andy squeezes herself into the space next to Booker and supports herself with one hand on Joe's knee, the other curls around the curve of Nicky's shoulder. "He has faith that we will protect him and ourselves and that you will bring us safely to the safe house." Nile did not expect the emotional impact of this statement and drives for several seconds in silence to choke down the lump in her throat. That Nicky trusts her touches her more than she would admit and every time something like that happens – small gestures of affection from the others to her – she feels a little more at home. The immortals cannot replace her real family, but they are there for Nile and love her and Nile is amazed to find that she loves Andy, Booker, Nicky and Joe too. Their strange ability, the dreams, everything connects them, and Nile believes, not for the first time, that they really are not meant to be alone. "Then I'll try not to disappoint him, huh?" She asks jokingly, hoping to cover up her short, emotional dropout and is grateful when Joe deliberately takes the bait. He chuckles softly and pulls Nicky closer to him. "Nicolo would certainly be anything but thrilled if he woke up in a car that was about to hit a tree." "You're one to talk." Booker's laugh is interrupted by a grunt as Joe kicks him in the side. "When cars were invented, you and Andy made fun of driving them against obstacles." "It was fun,” Andy says with a grin as if it justified deliberately driving a car into walls or the like. “And who could have thought that cars would last? We thought it was a short-term invention and wanted to use it as long as it existed.” Nile shakes her head in disbelief, still not wanting to believe that these four people in the back seat have been on earth for centuries and have seen so many famous personalities, buildings or inventions. "If Nicky didn't sleep, I would now brake check you so that you could get what's coming," she informs the others dryly. "Hey, I didn't do anything," Booker protests. "At least wait until I have buckled up. Then I'll take Nicky and you can give Joe and Andy a concussion and bruises." "Nicky stays with me," Joe shrugs off Booker's suggestion amused and presses a very gentle kiss on Nicky's temple. Nile only sees the smile ghosting over Nicky's lips because she wants to make sure that Andy, who utters a kind of short bark, doesn't start a fight with Booker. Even in his sleep, Nicky's entire being is focused on Joe and Nile can't help but smile too. "Okay, when you children have calmed down again, you can tell me what the meaning of the touches is," she interrupts Andy's questionable explanation of the fact that she does not need a seat belt because there were no seat belts for horse backs back then either. "Touches?" Andy asks, peering over her shoulder through strands of dark hair at Nile. "What do you mean by that?" "What do I mean with...?" Nile starts in disbelief and then gestures at the immortals, as good as possible without taking her eyes off the traffic. “I can still understand that with Joe, after all, he and Nicky are basically married. But Booker hasn't let go of Nicky's leg since the beginning of the ride and you, Andy, climbed back to touch Nicky's shoulder.” Booker fixes his gaze on the said hand of his. "Oh," he says as if he is only now fully aware of what he is doing, but he doesn't pull his hand back. "That." “Yes, that,” Nile repeats. Hopefully in a few decades she will not be as slow on the uptake as the others can sometimes be. "Does it have a purpose? Do I have to know anything? Because if this is a polygamy thing, as a new member of this family I have a right to know." While Booker chokes in the back and Joe gives a surprised and open laugh, Andy doesn't flinch. "Don't shit yourself, kid, only Nicky and Joe fuck like rabbits in this family." Joe snorts. "Objection! Booker and you don't live like monks and nuns either. And besides, Nicky and I look a lot better than rabbits during sex.” "Oh god..." Nile mumbles, rolling her eyes and cursing herself for the mention of polygamy. "Can you just answer my question without talking about your sex life?" "You're the one who accused us of polygamy," Andy notes, but her focus is already back on Nicky, who hasn't moved a muscle in the whole time. "I didn't accuse you of polygamy," Nile defends indignantly, but feels embarrassed as her cheeks get hot. It's good that it's not as noticeable for her as it is when Nicky blushes. "Yes...uh, to get back to your question," Booker luckily intervenes and saves Nile from further embarrassing stuttering, even though he doesn't do a better job. “Nicky...uh...doesn't particularly like it when he's apart from us. He then has the feeling that he is not...uhm..." He looks for help at Andy, who ignores him and caresses Nicky's shoulder, so that Booker turns to Joe to find a suitable phrase. "Nicky then has the feeling that he couldn't protect us so well,” Joe finishes the sentence and looks down at Nicky with a gentle smile, he seems to be addressing his next words directly to the Italian instead of Nile or the others. “That is of course not true, after all he watches over us with eagle eyes, ready to eliminate any danger from his sniper's nest. But Nicky has always tended to worry too much.” Nile can feel the warmth of the immense devotion in his dark eyes in the front and has the feeling of observing something very intimate between him and Nicky, whereby the Italian continues to be deep and sound asleep.

In sleep every person has a vulnerability that shows how fragile life is and seeing Nicky sleeping so openly without a gun in his reach, because he feels safe with them, makes Nile's heart beat with joy. "So, you touch him afterwards to show him that he is no longer separated from you?" She asks and is amazed at the gentle tone of her voice, which has adapted to the atmosphere in the car, which suddenly goes deeper than fun foolery. Although she can only see Andy's profile from the side, she recognizes the thoughtful nod anyway. "Yes," Andy says, her steely gray eyes rest on Nicky with a tenderness that the older one does not show so often. “We got into the habit of touching him after such missions, so Nicky knows that his family is there. And he doesn't have to worry.”

Read more on AO3 ;)

[fangirlshrewt97]

The Old Guard Fanfic - Good Books, Good Friends, and A Sleepy Vacation

Author(s): Fangirlshrewt97

Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)

Pairing: Booker & Nile

Characters: Nile Freeman, Booker | Sebastien Le Livre

Rating: General

Warnings: None

Additional Tags:  Family Bonding, Brother-Sister Relationships, Fluff, Family Feels, Vacation, Soft, Library, Books, Booksworms bonding over books basically, Mild Language, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Booker deserves a break, Nile deserves a chance to spend time with him

Summary:

“There are so many places I’ve never been, I don’t know where to start. Or even what I’d do.” she confesses. Booker hums, and Nile can feel him staring holes into her. She is still spinning the globe, gently tracing the borders on it when she hears the chair scrape behind her, and Booker’s footsteps approaching her. She turns when she feels the heat of a body at her back. Booker looks at her face before looking at the globe in her hands, gently taking it from her hands. He spins it once before stopping it mid-rotation. His fingers are on Canada. “Have you ever been to Quebec?”

Basically, Booker and Nile have a small vacation away from the others, and bond. Also they explore Booker's library.

Link to A03: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25571494

                                                           ///

They take a break. Four months. Quynh’s return, Andy regaining her immortality, the fight that nearly costs them everything, Booker coming back too soon, Joe and Nicky nearly losing each other again. By the time the dust settles, even Nile is ready to sleep for a hundred years.

They decide to reconvene in London, at Copley’s house, specifically instructing him to leave them alone for the entirety of the break for anything short of an apocalypse occurring. Andy and Quynh are out the second Copley agrees, they don’t tell anyone where they are going, and everyone finds it best to leave the two oldest warriors alone. They have already died too many times that year. Joe and Nicky are next, saying they are going to Malta and leaving without a second look.

That leaves Booker and Nile staring at each other across from Copley’s dining table while the host himself looks torn between resignation and questioning his life choices. When Booker still looks like he is spooked to speak, Nile takes the initiative. “What are you going to do Booker?”

The Frenchman chews on his lip, a nervous habit Nile would not guess he had, before looking at her. He is sitting hunched in the chair, still trying to make himself look as small as possible, but only looking uncomfortable. “I’m not sure. You?”

Nile looks away from him, eyes moving across the room before finally settling on a small globe sitting atop a short cabinet. Crossing the room, she grabs the globe and gently spins it. “There are so many places I’ve never been, I don’t know where to start. Or even what I’d do.” she confesses.

Booker hums, and Nile can feel him staring holes into her. She is still spinning the globe, gently tracing the borders on it when she hears the chair scrape behind her, and Booker’s footsteps approaching her. She turns when she feels the heat of a body at her back.

Booker looks at her face before looking at the globe in her hands, gently taking it from her hands. He spins it once before stopping it mid-rotation. His fingers are on Canada. “Have you ever been to Quebec?”

Quebec is not quiet how she pictured it, although based on her limited American education, she may as well have been expecting a rural French city in the middle of modern Canada. Autumn has settled over the place, painting the leaves a familiar golden yellow and red, the scent of maple nearly overwhelming. Booker drives confidently, and in this city that still feels like France, but not haunted by the ghosts of his family, Nile seems his lose a few lines of tension she had not noticed he carried. It is not the first revelation she has during her trip there.

He takes her to a beautiful and quaint two story house, parking the car in the driveway. He goes to the trunk and takes out their bags before giving Nile her’s, and goes to open the door. The neighborhood is quiet, even at 2 in the afternoon, and it is so idyllic, Nile has to pinch herself to make sure this isn’t a dream. The home, and it is a home, full of touches of Booker in the way that house in Turkey had belonged to Joe and Nicky. A home where he lived, not a safe house he used to recuperate. Wooden floors, a living room with stairs leading upstairs and a kitchen behind the stairwell. Nile paused at the doorway, admiring how with every step, Booker seemed to shed a little more of the burden and grief he perpetually carried. She was taking off her shoes when Booker found her, a tray with two glasses and a jug of water. “Make yourself comfortable Nile.”

She followed him to the couches, two white sofas which could have been made from clouds with how much she sank into them. She must have made a noise before Booker snorted a laugh and handed her a glass. “The house is yours. Give me a few minutes, I will dig up an extra set of bed sheets and blankets for the guest room, you can use that for as long as you want. My bedroom will be at the end of the hallway, and the bathroom is between the two rooms, if you want to freshen up.”

A shower after the 15 hour flight seemed divine. “I’ll shower Booker.”

Booker nodded once. “Come, I’ll show you where you can keep your stuff.”

///

For the first two weeks Booker leaves her to her own devices, giving her a couple thousand Canadian dollars and telling her to have fun but stay safe. Nile develops a routine, waking up around 8, lazing about in bed and having a late breakfast around 10 before she was out of the house. Booker did not leave as much, but he always had something prepared for dinner, or take out ordered by the time Nile returned at night, and indulged her in her telling of the sights of the city.

As far as she could tell, Booker did not leave the house, he was always awake before she was, and went to bed after her. She also noticed that he did not seem to touch alcohol in the house. Or at least not when she could see. As the days passed, and more and more leaves fell, so did Booker’s grief. When Nile returned home, and hadn’t that made her pause, when had she started seeing this as home? When she returned one night, maybe a month into their vacation, she heard a record player singing an old track she had heard before but could not place.

As she neared the kitchen from where the sound was coming, she even heard singing, and when she peered into the open kitchen, found the man crooning softly to the song, hips barely swaying.

And his face, Booker almost looked happy. She must have gasped, because he turned to her. “You are getting more silent everyday Nile. Good. It is an important skill.” Booker said as he smiled at her. And damn, what a smile. It made her grin in response. She went and sat at the bar stool he had pointed to, placing her own offering on the table.

He laughed when he saw the box.

“Tim Horton’s?”

“I had a friend in college from Toronto. She used to drag us into every donut shop and then complain none of them were as good as these. Figured I should verify her claim.” she explained.

Booker had a happy glint in his eyes.

“You have a pretty smile.” And there she went putting her foot in her mouth. She could see the glint fading the smile shrinking. “No, I just meant I don’t think I have ever seen you smile.”

God, strike her down already, what was wrong with her. “Shit.”

Booker to his credit looked sad but recovered quickly, clapping a hand on her shoulder. “No, don’t be angry Nile. You are right. I am a miserable fucker to be around.”

“Book…”

“I just, I guess being here makes things a little easier. You’re the first I’ve brought here.” he admitted, looking straight at her.

Nile felt speechless at the admission. The implications, the trust of his actions, they were almost too large to comprehend. What did you say to a man who had put up walls all around his heart to protect himself from even more pain than the pain he carried already telling you he was opening a door into his heart for her?

“Tha-”

Booker shook his head, stopping her. “I don’t need you to thank me Nile. I told you on that balcony, and I stand by my words. You are exactly what we all needed. Without Quynh, Andy was functioning just enough to keep going, not living. Nicky and Joe were wrapped up in their own grief, their fear of suffering the same fate and it maifested by holding each other even tighter. When I joined…” he sighed as he rounded the table, sitting in the stool next to her. Nile was scared to breath too hard, afraid of ruining the moment. “When I joined, I had deserted my army, I ran back to my family even though they told me it wouldn’t be a good idea, I threw myself at everything that caused me pain, and my greatest mistake was failing to realize how much they cared for me Nile. I was so busy mourning the family I had lost, I couldn’t see how much the family I gained could give me. And that is something I will regret for the rest of my days, even after these 100 years pass.”

“To be fair, I don’t think they are going to actually keep you away for the remaining 97 years anyways.” Nile said, finally finding her words.

“They should, the betrayal, some days, I can barely look at myself in the mirror. Regardless. You are smart, and brave, and kind, and you taught them the joy of living again, showed them the purpose we have. You’ve shown it to me too.”

“I didn’t even see you for most of these three years.”

“Even those two days were enough to show me why it was you. Andy was ready to quit, ready to give up on the world, and then you showed up and reminded her again.”

“I just did what needed to be done.”

Booker laughed, but it was harsh and sharp. “Oh soeur, no, you could have walked away. You did not need to go back to Copley, you did not have to come to London. You could have just left us all to Merrick. That’s what I would have done.”

And Nile couldn’t exactly say anything contrary could she.

“Look, just take my word, for what it worth, that you are special, and I am grateful to have you in our lives.” Booker said, conviction so strong in his voice Nile nodded automatically.

“I am glad I met you all too.”

Booker shot her a wry grin and patted the hand she had on the countertop once before going to the record player which had stopped. He removed the record and placed it inside it’s pouch.

“Okay, enough of this feelings talk. I have prepared Canadian Poutine and must know what you think of it.”

Nile laughed.

“Hey, do you have plans for tomorrow?” he asked as he went to the stove. Nile shook her head.

“Not really. Why?”

Booker smiled. “Let me show you my library.”

“Your library?”

“My library.” Booker said, wicked smile in place.

The next day, Nile got ready as she usually did, but after breakfast, Booker guided her back upstairs and into a room opposite his bedroom she hadn’t really thought about.

She nearly swallowed her tongue when she saw the room, made fully of wood panelling, with bookshelves that ran the height and width of the wall, filled to the brim with books. Half the shelves were covered with glass panels, and the volumes behind it looked old. Booker leaned against the doorway as she explored the room.

She ducked to inspect a particular shelf filled with old looking tomes, checking with Booker before she opened the panel and slid the panel to remove one of the books. She nearly dropped it when she opened the front cover. “This- Book-”

In her hands, a faded but still legible note on the first page read

Dearest Sebastien,

I hope to see you again soon, and hear more of your adventures.

Yours sincerely,

Tolkien

“You knew Tolkien?” Nile exclaimed.

Booker chuckled. “He was a smart guy.”

He just laughed harder at Nile’s impression of a goldfish, with her wide eyes and open mouth.

“I like collecting first editions Nile.” he said in lieu of an explanation, gesturing to the shelves next to her. All of these are first editions, or as close as I could find. Several are gifts from the others too.”

“I- who, which other famous authors did you know?”

Booker grinned at her. “A few. But that is for another day. There are more books. Look around.” he said as he removed the tome from Nile’s hands, replacing it back in his collection.

Dumbfounded, Nile went back to looking at the collection. She noticed the books getting newer as she went around the room, until a familiar paperback caught her eye. Pulling it from the shelf, she couldn’t suppress her laugh.

“What?” Book asked, coming to see what she had chosen.

“Harry Potter?” Nile asked, mirth clear in her eyes.

Booker frowned before shrugging. “It was a good series. I got that book on it’s first day of sales”

For some reason, this just made her laugh harder, covering her face with the book. “Oh my god.”

“What is wrong with Harry Potter?” Booker asked, now looking slightly annoyed, arms crossed across her chest.

“Nothing is wrong with Harry Potter. I just. I remember going to our neighborhood bookstore and waiting in line when the last book went on sale, wanting to get it as soon as possible. And just. The idea that a 200-plus year old soldier from Napoleon’s army doing that same is just insane.”

Booker shot her a wide grin that just made her giggle.

“Yeah alright, that is funny.”

“Yeah it is. Let me guess, Ravenclaw?” Nile teased.

Booker raised an eyebrow at her. “Let me guess, Hufflepuff?”

Nile made a noise of protest. “Hufflepuff is a good house! It is not my fault no one ever talks about it!”

“Figures you would be a badger.”

“Hey, so long as we agree that the others are all Gryffindor and overrated, I have nothing to say against Ravenclaw.”

“Fair.” Booker said. They stared at each other for a beat. Then bent over laughing, Nile going so far as to sit on the carpet at the stupidity of the conversation. Booker was leaning against the shelves, and his own face was cracked wide open in a smile, making him look so much younger than Nile had ever seen him.

“One last question. What do you think of Snape?”

“Fuck that asshole.”

Nile laughed bright and loud as she allowed Booker to pull her up and take the book from her hand. “Good boy Book.”

Booker tutted and pulled one of her braids for it.

“Impertinent child. You need to learn to respect your elders.”

“Ow, not allowed Book.” Nile complained at the faint tug she honestly hadn’t felt at all.

“Choose a book to read Nile.”

Nile spun around the room slowly, chewing her cheek. “There are so many. I don’t know where to start.”

Booker hummed. “Do you want old or new?”

“New. I am scared if I touch those old books I’ll end up tearing them.”

“Good point.”

She ran her hand along the spines of the books in front of her before letting it drop. “You choose.”

Booker raised an eyebrow but nodded. He stepped closer to the shelves while Nile took a step back.

“Hmm.” He said as he pulled a thin book out. “Have you read this one?”

Nile took it. “Oedipus Rex?” She opened the book, and realized it wasn’t a story. “It’s a play.”

“Yes. By Sophocles himself. Are you familiar with Oedipus?”

“I’ve heard the name but don’t know the story.”

“It is a good start then.”

“What’s it about?”

At that, Booker paused in his browsing, making Nile look up. Softly, so softly she had to strain to hear he said “A story of a man who tried so hard to outrun destiny and ended up fulfilling it anyways.”

Nile stayed quiet, unsure what to reply to that.

Booker pulled out another book. “What about this one?”

“The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I saw the movie. It was good.” Nile said.

Booker glared at her. Nile smiled cheekily back at him. “The movie was good.”

“Book is even better.”

Nile conceded. “Probably. Why this one?”

Booker’s smile dimmed. “It is a story of a boy who traded his family for something  he thought he wanted, and only ended up putting them all in danger because of his actions.”

Nile’s gaze softened as she laid a hand on Booker’s arm. “If I remember correctly, the boy realizes his mistake and returns to his family. And never strays from them again.”

Booker gave her an old and tired look for that. He turned back to the shelves, pulling out one more book.

And then Booker smirked. “And of course, you have to read this one.” he said as he placed a third paperback in her hand.

The title was enough to make her hit him with it, making his shake with amusement.

“Death on the Nile, hahahaha, world class comedian Booker.”

“It is a good story.” Booker said as he pulled the book away from her, grinning joyfully.

“Another time. I’ll read these first.”

Nile went and curled up on one end of the love seat Booker had at the end of the room, right below the windows. Booker moved around the room for a bit, making sure everything was in its place before coming to join her on the couch.

He pulled a book from the table beside him that Nile hadn’t noticed.

“What are you reading?”

He tilted the book so she could catch the title. “Far from the Madding Crowd?”

“I’m… fond of it.” Booker said.

“I’ll add it to my list then.” Nile said.

The pair of immortals shared another smile before settling in to read, a new found peace and understanding enveloping them.