#will still keep trying for this fandom for another few months maybe HAHAHAH

[sanktnikolais]

Fool Truth

A/N: yep this is an old work to cover up the fact that i haven’t been able to write anything new ;-; so have this for now

set in the same universe as this other fic

Word count: 2176

Nikolai is tired of hearing his father's nonsense about his need to get married every time he sees him. So when the universe allowed his father to reprimand him about marriage again, Nikolai is able to say an excuse that would get him out of the situation and put him in a more complicated one.

Nikolai was ready to bolt from the battlefield.

          To hell with dessert, he thought, and yet his feet were still planted on the ground. Even after years of being away from their household, he could say he had missed their old, grumpy cook Baghra's chocolate mousse cake. 

          Maybe he should try holding on a bit longer, but one look from the man at the head of the table was only making running look like the most reasonable choice. 

          He braced himself over his father's next words, all too aware of what they would be. 

          "I've been talking to one of our partners yesterday," Alexander Lantsov started, his tone neutral as if he was delivering a monologue during one of their board meetings. He gave Nikolai an expectant look. "She's agreed to introduce you to her daughter."

          Nikolai felt his jaw tick in annoyance. He had expected this from his father; it was already old news. If there was one thing he got from him, it was stubbornness, and it was one of the rare times Nikolai hated inheriting that same trait. 

          Alexander continued to stare at him, and Nikolai could feel the gaze getting heavier with each second. 

          "Don't you ever get tired of trying to set me up with random people?" He put down his fork beside his plate as gently as possible even when slamming it down was inviting. "Because I'm exhausted, dad. Just drop it."

          The atmosphere in the room grew darker, the tension in the air crackling like electricity. Nikolai should have declined coming here, but his mother had insisted and she was sometimes the only one who could make the household a bit more bearable for him.

          He looked over to his older brother from across the table, seeing the amused smirk on Vasily's lips as he toyed with the glass of wine in his hand. Being the eldest came with a life perk; he was free to do anything he wanted and as he pleased. Whether it's scandalous or the barest minimum for their company, he would still be the favorite one. 

          Where his brother was pertained as Perfect Vasily, Nikolai was always Nikolai Nothing. Someone who would never appease his father's expectations of him. 

          So much for being the unfavorable second son. 

          Nikolai leaned back in his chair, already losing his appetite. He regarded Vasily with a nod. "Why won’t he be the one you introduce to your partner's daughter?" he said. "Besides, isn't he the one who will inherit all this? I think it's better for him to get married for a potential merging, and I see no benefit for anyone if I were to be engaged to someone of a big name."

          Alexander huffed in disbelief as if he just said the stupidest thing in the world. "You still don't get it, do you?" he said, his voice dropping to what it could sound was a threatening one. “I’m doing this for your own good.”

          “Oh, wow. Really now?” Nikolai’s voice had already risen, and it earned a look of warning from his mother but he didn’t bother acknowledging it. The rush of blood in his ears was raging. “My own good or for your own? As far as I remember, Lantsov Trading’s image wasn’t looking so good because of a certain scandal in one of the famous clubs in the city.” 

          Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Vasily shift uncomfortably in his seat and Nikolai basked in the triumph of seeing his perfect big brother squirm. He fought the urge to smirk. 

          “Now tell me,” he goaded, not knowing where his confidence of talking back to his father was coming from, “is it for mine, or for your own image?”

          “Hey,” Vasily snapped. “Watch your mouth, Nikolai.”

          But Nikolai was having none of it and gave his older brother a pointed glance. “Shut it, I’m not talking to you.”

          The look of shock on Vasily’s face was priceless and Nikolai would have etched it in his mind if it weren’t for his anger taking over. He turned back to his father, whose face was now twisted into a full scowl as if he could lunge at Nikolai anytime he wanted to. Nikolai thought he could try to poke the beast out of its cage a bit more and see where it would go. 

          He put on an easy grin, the kind that he knew ticked at his father’s patience. “Please enlighten me, dad.”

          “You are no use in this family if you’re just going to continue your hobbies and not focus on doing important matters—”

          “Like trying to live quietly without you breathing down my neck and forcing me to marriage?”

          Alexander was visibly fuming, and Nikolai had to commend him for holding back. “You will not disgrace our name with your lack of achievements,” his father growled. Nikolai felt the words sting at his pride but he didn’t dare let it show. “Comply, else I will cut you off.”

          Nikolai chuckled humorlessly. Finally, something that makes sense. He put his hands up and shrugged. “Then cut me off. I’d gladly take it, father.”

          This somehow drained the last of his father’s patience because the old man almost threw the table up when he stood, his expression darker than the stormy sky. “You will comply whether you like it or not—”

          “I’m already married.”

          Everything went silent. Even breathing wasn’t even audible, as if everyone just decided to hold their breaths or some invisible force had forced them to stop breathing. 

          And for Nikolai, he might as well have stopped breathing. Panic overwhelmed the anger in his mind.

          Shitshitshitshitshit—

          The only thing keeping him from going insane and bolting off from their old home was the look of utter shock on their faces. It was one of the rare times they gave him their full attention, and Nikolai felt bitter when he realized it was a blatant lie that would make it happen again.

          But it didn’t change the fact the words he had just blurted out of control.

          You’re an idiot, Nikolai, an all too familiar voice echoed in his head, and for once, he found that he agreed with it.

          Another long moment passed. Nikolai’s legs were already shaking violently from under the table but he refused to break eye contact with his father. Doing so would only make his lie more uncertain than it already was.

          “What did you just say?” Alexander asked him when he finally found his voice. His grip on the table became impossibly tighter. 

          The calmness in Nikolai’s voice surprised even himself when he replied, “I said I’m already married.”

          “Since when?” his father asked in disbelief. “And to whom?”

          Nikolai was already expecting that question, and yet he still didn’t have anything to cover up for it. Who would he say? It wasn’t as if he had anyone that was convincing enough to be his girlfriend, let alone his wife. He had just dug his own grave with his recklessness and his family would see him lay rest in it. 

          You should’ve run when you had the chance, Lantsov, he silently berated himself as he continued to rack his mind for an answer. 

          Apparently, his distress didn’t go unnoticed by Vasily, as Nikolai could feel his gaze on him, and when he turned, he saw the first signs of a smirk on his older brother’s lips. If there was another thing Nikolai hated from his brother, it was Vasily always seeming to see right through everything. 

          Maybe he should just say something snarky enough to make them drop the subject—he didn’t owe them an explanation, not after treating him like he didn’t belong to their lives. He could just tell them to give up and leave it at that. He wouldn't mind another argument that would follow if it means straying from the current subject. 

          But of course, knowing his family, they wouldn’t stop until they got what they wanted.

          Vasily huffed, catching everyone’s attention. He almost looked like he was about to say something more when Nikolai’s ringtone blared. 

          With a startled glance down his pants pocket, he slowly got his phone. The caller ID at the top of the screen glared at him in big letters.

          Attorney Grumpy. 

          A thought suddenly formed in his head. He hesitated for a second when he realized he was going to get himself killed with the idea. But he figured that if he was going to die either way, he would prefer it to be by her hand.

          Nikolai put on his usual grin. “Look,” he said, waving his phone up for emphasis, “she’s actually calling me.” He slid the answer icon to the right and put the phone to his ear, trying to keep his hand from shaking. He mustered up his most cheery tone. “Yes, dear?”

          A beat, and then, “Are you still in that family dinner and somehow gotten drunk?” Zoya asked incredulously, and Nikolai had to fight off a wince from hearing her tone. He opened his mouth to reply, but it seemed like she already knew his answer. “Because I’m not fixing your shit if you ever do something beyond compare. But I would make an exception if it involves punching your brother.”

          Her statement made him laugh genuinely, and the looks his family was giving him only became more curious. “What’s up?”

          “I’m crashing over tonight.” 

          He waited for another moment before answering something that would surely be the reason for his death later. But he had to keep up the pretense going. “I know that all too well, dear. Don’t worry, I’ll be home soon. No need to miss me that much.”

          Zoya didn’t answer him right away, and he could already imagine the scowl on her face as she processed his words, and she was most likely thinking of the ways to murder him too. “Lantsov, what the fuck are you blabbering about?”

          One of his legs was already down the grave, and Nikolai sent a silent prayer to any deity who could hear him. Please protect me from her wrath later. He tried to smile, but he was sure it looked more of a grimace. “Yes, dear. I’ll be home in a bit.” He risked a furtive glance to his older brother, who was still looking at him quite suspiciously. And to sound more convincing, he went along with his instincts and blurted, “Love you.” 

          Then he ended the call before he could be given an earful of curses that would send his mother to a dead faint if she would ever hear it. As he put his phone back in his pocket, he could feel his heart beating erratically in his chest. Whether it was over his nervousness over the mess he’d thrown himself into or the last words he told Zoya, he didn’t know. 

          When he turned his attention back to his brother, he found that Vasily had his eyebrows raised as if he still didn’t want to believe about Nikolai’s married status. Nikolai challenged his brother’s look with his own, and a moment later, Vasily huffed and shook his head.

          Alexander glared down at Nikolai, a mixture of rage and confusion in his eyes, but it was the former that overwhelmed his gaze. “Who is she?” he asked, his tone demanding and angry. Nikolai suddenly felt nervous for no reason. His gut told him that there was something bad about to happen. An angry Alexander Lantsov wasn’t a man to be messed with, and Nikolai had just taunted the beast out of its cage. “And why didn’t you tell us?”

          A wave of protectiveness washed over Nikolai, and he glared back at his father as he said, “So you can break the marriage before it even happened? I don’t think so.”

          He grabbed the napkin at the side and used it to wipe at his hands before standing up. He was as tall as his father, but the old man always had the power to make someone shrink under his gaze, but Nikolai didn’t let it faze him.

          The scowl on Alexander’s face deepened. “Where are you going?” 

          “Why, home to my wife, of course. She’s waiting,” replied Nikolai with a sneer, and he could already sense the last remains of his father’s patience dwindling with the way he gripped the table again. But Nikolai was disappointed when Alexander didn’t decide to act out on it. Politely, he said, “Thank you for dinner.”

          With a final smile in his mother’s direction, he walked out of the dining room without as much as a glance back. When he felt that he was finally out of their sight, he let out a relieved breath. But there was still no denying that his hands were trembling as he got out of the mansion, and it wasn’t from the cold.

          What had he just gotten himself into?

          Nikolai shook himself out of his daze. At least he was out of their tight hold around his neck.

          For now. 

[dee--eer]

I've reached chapter 1018 of Detective Conan!

Okay so, I've only been back to the fandom since a few weeks ago. I haven't read the manga since 2018 at least, but I usually have a KID relapse(?)ーalong with brief kaishin obsession, usuallyーevery few months or so. When that happen I usually just binged old fanfic/dj or only look for his chapter, so that's what I did. Well apparently this time my DC obsession decided to come back full force so I finally started to pick up the manga again lol. My country released official translation tho and that's how I usually keep up with the manga. Anyway, I purchased vol. 96 yesterday and I reached this chapter!! Since I like it a lot I'm gonna make a post about it because I need to ramble somewhere ahahah

Right away, the main reason why I like it; it's a KID chapter!! Hahahah apparently I somehow skipped this one during my KID binge and jumped straight into the one with Vermouth posing as KID, so this is a nice surprise. I'll never turn down any KID chapter 💙

Also, uh.... Conan, you really didn't try at all noawadays, huh. Well, after 20 years going unnoticed I suppose it's a given lol. That's why Sera keeps breathing down your neck lmao X'D

Next; this one panel! First time reading it I nearly choked on my drink, because that's a M3 reference, right??? Well, unless I somehow missed another manga chapter with him prancing on another tower lol. Kazuha did say rumours tho, but my country's version didn't translate the rumour part so I was a bit taken aback while searching for ENG chapter to put on this post. I crosschecked with the RAW tho and she did say 「噂」 (rumour) so I guess the ENG one is more accurate, but this kind of easter eggs still make me happy bcs I'm one of the "movie is canon" group hahah

And then this one!!!! I immediately checked with the RAW and he really said 「高校生探偵２人に」 so no doubt here!!! It's nice to have little confirmation of things like this in canon. I mean, with how Kaito operate as KID he'll obviously do reserach on everyone who stand on his way and with his intelligence, it's a given that he's gonna figure out about Conan's identity but an actual confirmation is always welcomed ;) and couple this with the fact that Conan already partly figured out KID's MO!! Ahhhh this make me so happy ❤

Still hoping that if one day Gosho continued MK he'll have Conan showing up as cameo and maybe we can see his deduction process lol it'll be fun

And then, my absolute favorite part; the Conan-KID interaction! His unimpressed stare to KID's disguise is just so hilarious ahzjjsjakak I love it so much

And we end the heist with Kaito being his usual cocky-but-a-sweetheart self 💙

And now... to the plot stuff! This is my official first meeting with this police gang. Since my return to this fandom I've seen a lot of people talk about this group and I honestly have no idea who the hell they are ajzjkakak. I obviously know Zero, since I already caught up to the fact that he's Bourbon and so I already skimmed his wiki when I first got back, and I remember Matsuda because that case was one of my favorite. I have no idea who the hell the others are tho, but now that I've finally meet them and caught up with the whole Rye-Bourbon-Scotch conflict I finally have context for all the hype ahahah XD

Also this is quite a big reveal, huh. Gosho really love make everyone related in some way or another and tbh I still don't know how to feel about that ajzjzkak but this one is more plot related so this one's good. Also since I finally started to understand the appeal of this police group, guess I'm gonna be kinda hyped for M25 after all!