Archive of Our Own ^beta

“And you're sure you're alright, Angelica? You don't need another pillow? Or a blanket? A fan? Maybe some water-”

“I told you when you slammed the front door open, and I'll tell you again now. I'm fine, Argalia.” Argalia sat on a chair beside his sister's bed. She was laying on her side, smiling in that cavalier way of hers. He didn't miss how she had one arm protectively draped over her increasingly noticeable belly. “The doctor just said my blood pressure is a little high, that's all. But we're working on getting that back down.” Angelica smiled, patting her belly with a warm expression. “Trust me, I'm being extra careful with my health these days. I'm worrying for two right now, after all.”

“Yes, I know. And you know that I trust you more than anyone, Angelica,” Argalia muttered. “But I'm your brother, it's my job to worry about you. I know you want to keep me reassured that everything is going to be alright. But with the kind of people around you right now, and everything that you have to worry about. I jusb worry aboud you, thas all. Abd...” Argalia winced, the nasally pitch of his tone reaching his ears, and feeling the pinch over the outermost jut of his airways. “Abgeliga, das by dose you're holdig,” he honked out around his sister's fingers holding his nose shut.

“And that's my husband you're badmouthing. Now we've both done something to annoy each other.” Angelica gave his nose another squeeze before she finally let go, settling back into her comfortable, side-reclined position. “You know, you two would probably get along pretty well if you took the time to get to know each other.”

“Somehow I doubt that, Angelica.”

“You always do, 'big brother',” she teased. “But if you'd at least try for my sake, or maybe just fake it a little, I think everyone could get along a lot better.

“... I can't promise anything.”

“I know you can't. But I'd appreciate you trying anyway.” Angelica yawned as she settled her head into the pillow, letting her eyes drift shut. “And now, I'd appreciate it if you would let me take my nap in peace. Baby needs its sleep.” She was smiling warmly in both expression and tone as she said this last part. Argalia sighed, and stood up from his chair.

“I'll come back again to visit soon.”

“Mm, sure. Just call ahead next time, okay?” Angelica let out a tired sigh, that smile still lingering on her face. “Love you, Uberto.”

“I love you too, Angelica.”

Argalia made certain to close the door behind himself as quietly as he could. This area of their house was a living room area that connected to the other parts of the place. The kitchen/dining room was opposite the bedroom, and he could smell something warm with a freshly-made sort of smell to it drift over from that room.

Though, that wasn't the only thing over there.

A scowl crossed Argalia's face, seeing that guy leaning against the doorway. His arms were crossed like he didn't know what else to do with them now that there was no weapon to hold aloft in them.

“She's doing fine, so I'll be leaving now,” Argalia said curtly, before turning and making for the door.

“Hold on.” Argalia stopped when he was only a few paces away, turning to look over his shoulder to where Roland had spoken to him from. “... You were here for a while, why don't you have something to eat? I just finished making something for Angelica to have when she wakes up from her nap.”

Argalia's lip curled at his so-called brother-in-law, and he parted his teeth ready to deliver a soundly biting remark.

Which was then thoroughly ruined when his stomach suddenly let out a loud gurgling sound. His teeth clicked as they shut again, glowering at Roland and his neutral expression. Somehow that lack of response was worse than if he'd smirked or snorted.

“Dunno if it'll sway you either way, but I made gukbap. Angelica likes it the way I make it, so maybe you will?”

“... I'll have one bowl, then I'm leaving,” Argalia hissed. Then he stalked past Roland and into the kitchen.

Argalia parked himself in one of the seats around the dining table, shoulders hunched, listening to the sounds of Roland fuss around where the stove was somewhere behind him. The table was of good quality, Angelica had mentioned that she and Roland had put a decent amount of money into furnishings along with the house itself. The dining set came with four chairs, but one of the sides of the table had two of them scrunched together on one side, while the other two were relegated to their own sides. The last side of the table remained barren, but if Argalia were to use his imagination, it didn't take much effort to imagine an infant's high chair pushed up to the empty side.

He pointedly looked away from it before he formed the image in his head.

“Here you go.” Argalia looked down at the table where Roland placed a bowl in front of him. The smell wafting up from it was savory and rich. “It's sogogi-gukbap. Angelica's been craving it spicier lately, so I hope you're good with that.”

“I have no preferences for my food,” Argalia said shortly. He picked up the spoon without looking at Roland, not even when he heard the scraping of a chair and the sound of another bowl being sat down on the table. Here he thought he'd be able to have a peaceful meal. He could just eat quickly and leave, at least. Argalia scooped up a spoonful of the broth and stuck it in his mouth, not even caring about how hot it might be.

The first thing he realized after he'd already committed to eating this bite was that Roland had not been lying. This was spicy.

The other thing, which was somehow more shocking and far less pleasant, was that it actually had a very good flavor. Angelica had always praised him as a good cook, and once again she was proven correct about that fact. This was delicious, just like any other meal Angelica had talked him into eating with the two of them. Though he'd never praise the man for it.

The kitchen was filled with only the sounds of spoons clinking against bowls and the quiet sounds of eating for a good while. It was always like this when Angelica left the two of them alone together, though, so this in itself wasn't a surprising outcome to the two of them willingly sitting in close proximity while having a meal.

“So...” Argalia finally looked up at Roland across the table, still chewing on a mouthful of beef and rice. “Angelica probably already told you, but we weren't able to get our hands on a Nest migration permit like we were hoping... Sucks, but not much we can do about it for now. We'll probably try again after the baby's born, we don't want her to stress out too much while she's still pregnant... It's not so bad for now, at least. The Streets of Music are some of the safer Backstreets, and the house is plenty comfortable for us. So it'll be a good place for us to stay for now until we can figure something else out.”

“I see.” Argalia quickly returned to his soup, now sipping at some of the broth.

“We're almost done setting up the nursery. Just need to get some other odds and ends for the house, do a little more baby-proofing here and there. So we haven't really had any time to set up the guest room or anything.” Was he still going on about this? Angelica kept him up to date on these things, it wasn't anything that concerned him or that he was interested in knowing from him. “Still. If you ever need a place to crash or anything, we've got the couch open, and Angelica gave you that key.” Argalia blinked into his soup, processing what Roland had just said, before lifting his head to look right at him. Only to find Roland looking pointedly down into his own bowl.

“... I'll keep that in mind,” Argalia finally replied. He scraped his spoon along the bottom of the bowl, the sound slightly grating against the backdrop of what was otherwise a pretty solid silence. “... Angelica said that you two were waiting until the baby is born to learn the gender, is that correct?” He even surprised himself with his willingness to ask the question, so Roland's stunned expression when he lifted his head in response to it was expected.

“Oh, uh, yeah. The appointments have been saying the baby's healthy. We just wanted to wait, leave it a surprise and everything... We've got some names in mind, though.” Roland smiled to himself, a look that crinkled the corners of his mouth and eyes. “Celestine if it's a girl, Benoit if it's a boy.”

“Yes, she told me that, too.” Argalia spooned the last of the broth from his bowl, before setting the utensil down for good into the curved container. “I'll be busy, since I'm still working as a Fixer. But I'll be stopping by to make sure you're taking good care of my sister, and the baby once it's born.”

“You have that key,” Roland repeated. “I won't stop you. As long as Angelica wants you around, then the door's open, brother-in-law.”

Argalia didn't have anything to say to that. He didn't think he'd say it aloud even if he did. So he kept silent and rose to his feet, leaving the spoon and bowl on the table.

“I ought to be going now,” he said curtly.

“Fine. Just leave the bowl and I'll get it,” Roland replied just as shortly. He still had a few more spoonfuls to go, he'd get it when he was done.

Argalia pushed his chair into its proper place under the table, then turned on his heel and made for the front door.

He hesitated, though. Lingering just inside the doorway between the kitchen and the entry room.

“... Thanks for the food,” he said aloud. Then he strode out of the room fully before Roland could properly respond. And Roland listened to the sounds of his retreating footsteps until he could hear the more distant sounds of the front door being opened and then shut again.

Roland couldn't help but feel the corner of his mouth twitch, looking at that empty bowl left sitting on the table.

This was the first time Argalia had completely emptied the plate when eating his food.

–

These sorts of places weren't Argalia's favorite, but after that spicy meal, he was craving a drink and some organic ambient noise. So, his feet had led him here, to this little Backstreets bar. Where he was currently indulging in both a beer to chase down the taste of spice against his tongue, and a few salty snacks to accompany those. There was a steady flow of background chatter in this bar, so he was even able to switch off the white noise emitters and tune out his mind to the sound of so many voices all murmuring in the tides of their conversations.

“And then I said 'Fixer? I hardly know 'er!' “

“You really need to cut back. Remember what happened last time? I am not cleaning puke out of my bathroom grout again.”

“I'm telling you! This information is solid! If we can pull this off, then we'll be known as the people who finally took down The Masked Fixer!”
Argalia's eyes flickered up towards the mirror that hung over the bar. Behind him, slightly to the right and... Ah, that must be them. Two men and a woman. Looked a little stronger than your average rat, but nowhere near a level he himself would consider threatening or dangerous.

“Come on. No one's seen that Masked Fixer in forever. Hasn't everyone been saying he's probably dead by now?”

“Don't be daft. If that guy had been killed, the one who did it would have been crowing about it all over the place. That guy has a lot of enemies out there. Lots of people who want his head on a platter for all the shit he's pulled over the years.”

“I guess so. But are we sure this info is good? Why would someone like that be living here in the Streets of Music of all places? Someone with that kind of track record seems more fitting for the Streets of Flavor. Especially if he was kicked out of Charles' Office.”

“I thought the word was that he left.”

“Left, kicked out, who cares! The point is, if we can find him and get the drop on him, then we'd be really making a name for ourselves!! I'm telling you, I have this all on good authority. Need to do a little more snooping around to find out where exactly he is, but I've got a good descriptor. One of my contacts said a Fixer from another District saw his face without a mask a while ago. Described him to me to a T. Once I see him, I'll know him. Are we really gonna pass up a chance for this kind of money?”

“Who exactly did you hear this from, again?”

“A buddy of mine heard it from another chap who got the information from a reliable source. Think it was from... Yo... Eo... Io... Look! My point is, when are we going to get another chance like this?! I say we go for it!”

Argalia munched down the last of his snack, and drained the final few sips of his drink. Well, that had washed the last of the spice off of his tongue. Though he wasn't a big fan of the taste of salt that this place had about it.

He paid the bartender, generously, and reaffixed his white noise generators to his ears. Those people would probably be chattering at their table for a while yet, he wasn't going to bother sticking around in here. Thus, he stepped out through the door and into the cooling evening air.

–

“Well, since it looks like your two friends are dead now, I hope that you'll be much more willing to talk. Especially since I wasn't able to get anything out of them.” Argalia didn't even glance down at the two bodies splayed out on the ground in this dingy alley. He was far more focused on the street tuff he was gripping by the throat, pressing their back into the grimy brick wall. “So I'll ask you again. Where did you hear about the location of that Masked Fixer? I'd love to get to know the source of your information personally.”

“I-I swear... All I've really got is the intel I have. I don't know the person directly...” They were sniveling, like all of them did. Clutching at Argalia's hand even while dangling from his fingers. Which he gripped just a bit tighter. “I don't! I swear I don't!! I don't know where the info came from! But if you've got that much of a grudge against that Fixer, we could help each other out, yeah? I could take you to him!”

“Hm... As tempting as that is, since I do have my own grudges I need to resolve with that Masked Fixer...” Argalia leaned in, the blue of his eyes icier than ever. “That's something I'd much rather take care of myself. And not something I'd let some nosy little nobody take into their own hands. Now, I'll ask a little more clearly this time. Even if you can't tell me the source of this information, what is your source?”

“A friend of mine! Up in the North! She lives in District 15! Swallowtail Office!!!”

“I see...” The thug dropped to the ground, gasping and clutching at their throat now that Argalia had released them. “Thanks for being so cooperative, it's really made things so much easier for me. I really do appreciate it.”

He smiled down at them, so brightly despite all that had just been happening. The one on the ground found their own face breaking out into a shaky smile, a sense of hesitant relief filling their bones now that it seemed they'd managed to survive such a perilous encounter-

Blood spattered across the grimy wall when head parted from shoulders, then dropped and rolled to a rest on the ground. Argalia let out a sigh, relieved to finally have this over with. This all could have been so much easier right from the start. He really didn't understand why some people had to be so difficult about things. He flicked his scythe back the other way, clearing off any blood that clung to it after its use.

“Hm, O Corp's district,” he mused to himself.It really was so out of the way for him, wasn't normally much reason for him to travel so far north... Ah, hadn't the Hana Association recently been bugging him to take care of some business for them up that way? The pains of being a Color Fixer truly were numerous. He really had been trying to put it off. Maybe it was time to finally get it done, though? At least so they'd stop bugging him. And while he was there, he could eliminate some potential nuisances. It really wouldn't do for her to be so stressed to deal with this while having to mind the baby at the same time if anyone else like that came snooping around.

He'd have to call Angelica when he arrived at the WARP train station, he thought as he took to the street again. She wanted to know where he was lately, so she'd probably appreciate knowing that he would be away on business for a short amount of time. He'd try to take care of both counts of business at the same time, then get right back to her. That unreliable brother-in-law of his should at least be able to hold down the fort until then.

A breeze blew across the Backstreets. Argalia reflexively ran his tongue across the lips, as if to catch a taste of the cooler air. But instead caught a lingering hint of spice at the tip of it instead.

Hm. Maybe one of these days he'd hold this favor he'd be doing him over that guy's head sometime to make another pot of that gukbap. Angelica clearly liked it for a reason, and he wasn't inclined to disagree with her on this particular matter.

He supposed he could look forward to another bowl of it at that table when he returned.