Mission Start

The confusion was palpable in the room, and even the most enthusiastic members faltered, staring as Ty stopped next to the Boss with Nico by his side. The moment extended for a long time before a brave soul asked what no one else dared.

"How are you going to choose the person for this task, Sir?" she asked, eyes jumping from the child to the Boss.

"Not me," the Boss said. "Him." All eyes clung to the child, his little hands balled by his sides. "As long as you can get him to choose you, anything goes.”

“And what exactly is the task?” she dared ask again.

“You will hide and care for the child.” The Boss leaned back, giving the go-ahead with a hand gesture, and after a moment of hesitation, the men and women began trying to coerce the child. Other than Mason, there were a couple of others who didn’t try to gain the child’s favour and simply stood to the side.

Amid all the confusion around him, Nico didn’t cry. He stared at them, taking a few steps back when someone got too close, clenching his clothes, eyes big as saucers, looking at everyone around.

Mason took a couple of steps back and leaned against the window out of sight, reminiscing about his childhood days coming and going from this mansion. A smile popped up on his lips at the nostalgia, and that was when he noticed the energy in the room changing. The child was staring right at him, his eyes brighter as he took a few steps towards him.

"Daah," mumbled Nico.

"No." The word came to Mason's lips faster than he could think about it. He took two steps back, increasing the distance from the child and scowled.

Nico didn’t move, his eyes pinned on Mason until someone got in front of him, bribing him with candy. But it didn’t last long. Soon after, Nico began walking towards Mason, who continued to step back while glaring at the child.

Nico leaned his head to the side for a moment, looking at Ty, who hid a grin behind his fingers, before turning to Mason again. He took the pacifier from his mouth, a big line of drool following it. "Dah?"

"No." Mason's voice was stern as he watched the drool line slowly break. "No, thank you," he said, dashing away, stopping a few steps away from Ty. The scowl should’ve been enough to make a child cry, but not Nico, who persistently stared at Mason, and in small but steady steps kept following him.

"It's settled then," said the Boss. "The rest of you may go."

"No," begged Mason, still inching away when Nico got closer to him. "Choose one of them, not me." Nico stared at him before looking to the rest of the room as if pondering, but a second later, he sat down next to him with the pacifier back on his mouth.

"But I'm not even–" Mason fumbled with his words, still shaking his head. "I don't know how–" The fact that this was his second time being speechless in the last two days showed how chaotic his life was. He ignored the glares he received from the others as they left the room and stared at the Boss.

“We will contact you once it is safe to come back. Meanwhile, don’t contact us, don’t come here, don’t do anything that will attract attention to you or the child," said the Boss once the only people in the large room were him, Mason, Ty and Nico. 

Mason replied more in a whine than anything, “Why can’t Ty take care of it? He has experience.”

The old man stood up and turned to him, patting him on the shoulder, "I'm confident you will be able to do it, Mason." Before he left, he looked at the child holding onto Mason's pants for a moment. "This will be a good experience for both of you." Without another word, the Boss left the room.

"The bright side is that the reward should be enough money, you won't have to work for a while," Ty said while laughing and poking Nico's cheek.

"Why don't you take it?" asked Mason, trying to get away from the child who had an iron grip on his clothes while looking displeased at Ty.

"Him, not it," lectured Ty. "I know it's different from your line of work, but a job is a job, so make sure to do it properly. Anyway, let's go, I'll take you halfway, and then you are on your own."

The entire drive, Mason was out of it, unable to adjust to reality, while Nico slept soundly in the booster seat, and Ty snickered every few minutes. In an underground parking lot, Ty pushed a sleeping Nico onto Mason's arms along with a bag. "It's better if you take a break from other jobs, we don't want the kid traumatised." The grin Ty had was the biggest Mason had ever seen. "Try not to kill him, okay?"

A minute passed with Mason staring at the exit, after Ty had left, frozen in place, when he felt Nico move in his arms. Their eyes met, and his heart raced, dreading the crying that would come. Instead, Nico leaned his head against his shoulder and resumed sleeping.

The walk home was unlike any other. Normally, Mason blended well with his surroundings, so people didn't pay attention to him, and if they did, he easily adapted his reaction to the person so they wouldn't think much about it. But with a child in his arms, that was harder to do.

Once at home, Mason put Nico on his bed and slumped on the sofa. He had pondered putting Nico either on the sofa, on the floor or on his bed, but then he remembered sleeping on the floor growing up, in that old and mouldy orphanage, and how cold it got in the winter, so he decided against it. His bed was big enough for both of them, and the only thing he did was put it against the wall.

By the time Nico woke up, Mason was fully focused on the mission ahead of him, ready to take it in stride. That was until Nico woke up wailing, and he jumped from the sofa, scared that Nico had fallen from the bed, but mostly surprised by how such a small being could cry so loudly.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Mason said to the child whose eyes were scrunched shut on the bed, but his cheeks were soaked in tears. "Wake up, hey," Mason stuttered, holding his hand, but the crying didn't stop. Most awkwardly, just like how awkward it had been to put Nico in his bed without waking him up, Mason held him up at an arm's length. In a half-asleep state, Nico opened his eyes as his sobbing began to ease and he extended his arms. Instinctively, Mason put more distance between them for a moment.

"Okay, you win," said Mason, defeated when he saw Nico's eyes filled with brand new tears and those big green puppy eyes staring at him. The fast little heartbeat next to his made his own heart speed up, and without noticing, he patted Nico's back softly.

"Now what?" he asked to no one, once they were both calmer. Nico pushed him away, trying to get down, and Mason was more than happy to comply with that. He followed Nico around the house until he found the stove and pointed at it. "You're hungry?"

"Dah."

"Fine, I could eat something too," Mason worked in practised movements around the kitchen as he gathered what he needed until a thought came to mind. "Anything you can't eat?" Nico leaned his head to the side.

"Right. How old are you anyway?" They stared at each other for a long moment until Mason turned around and started making eggs and rice. You could never go wrong with eggs and rice.