Someday never comes [Tomo/Cecil]

Nadia looked genuinely surprised, light rushed back to her eyes, and her cheeks flushed, when Cecil grabbed her hand and whispered his kind words. And then Tomomi came up on the other side, and she took his hand too. her boys. The thought resonated in her heart and she fought back the tears. This wasn't time for those. Sucking in a breath, she nodded wordlessly, and started walking.

Had she expected the world to tear asunder? Had she expected herself to be pulled violently by some magic force into the mansion and locked up inside it? maybe. But those things didn't happen. She was just walking with two of the most important people in her life. As she walked, she looked from one side to the other, at the shrubberies and rock formations, every effort was made to create the feeling like the world had not fallen apart, that man still held sway over everything. That demons didn't haunt their streets at night.

There were birds chirping in the trees, and it was a strangely comforting sound as Nadia's black sneakers crunched up the steps. The wide door opened to permit them, a stern-looking white faced butler was holding the door open. With a squeeze for each of them, Nadia released their hands, swallowed the last of her concerns and steeled her gaze. Suddenly, outwardly, she looked every bit the businesswoman a house like this might produce. "Could you lead me to Harold please, Steven?"

There was a strange look on the man's face as he turned to lead them. The face, perhaps, a man faced with something he regretted but had no power to change. "This way, Madam." He replied in a stately voice, and led the way up passed the stair that led up to the second floor, through a doorway beneath the stairs into a long white hallway.

It was just the hallway, but Nadia had the distinct feeling she was being sucked down it into oblivion. She had to close her eyes for a moment to regain her composure.

And then they were there, and the butler was opening the door to her father's study, and she was walking in, Cecil and Tomomi in tow. As if on autopilot. She didn't look at Cecil's face, but there was probably anger, even disdain in it. Nadia was loath to admit she might have been counting on that. Growing up, Nadia had noticed that her father was never alone in the room when he was discussing business. When you wanted to win a negotiation, you wanted to come from a place of power. You didn't want to seem alone or vulnerable. Well, Nadia had not come alone, and in her face atleast, there was no vulnerability.

The man behind the desk was surprisingly thin and spare. He wasn't young, but he didn't exactly look old either. His eyes looked like Nadia's did right now; keen, dark, and narrow like shards of black ice on the freeway. His hair was neatly trimmed, slicked back and peppered grey at the temples. As the teens entered, the man, who was alone in the room at the moment, looked up from whatever paperwork he had been doing to greet them. "Punctual. I would expect no less." He spoke evenly, as he might to a college or other official he was meeting with for business. A friendliness that spoke of depthless apathy. It wasn't like she had expected him to call her on her birthdays, or to bail her out when she happened to be low on money, or when she was having trouble adjusting to the world outside and needed someone...anyone. She hadn't expected any of that. She knew better. But still, watching him sit there and treat her face to face as though she was just another old acquaintance...stole her breath from her lungs.

"You have my attention, Nadia. What is it you wanted to meet with me about?" His eyes flicked from Tomomi to Cecil, as if apraising them.

And for a sharp, tense moment, there was silence. Nadia opened her mouth to speak, but she had no words.

Cecil didn't act out. He did his very, very best to control himself.
But the disdain still radiated from him as he walked into the room with Nadia's father - Harold, as he had been called. She didn't even call him father.
Fitting. He didn't deserve to be referred to as such.

Harold's appraisal was met with a flat expression and ireful gaze, a message sent that whatever he thought of him, it couldn't be less than he currently thought of him. Still, he restrained himself.
This was not his environment. This was not an area where he was experienced. But he was here to support Nadia, and he would do that.
This was her show to run, and he wasn't going to undermine it.

He took a slow breath in as Nadia found herself unable to speak, uncertain what to do. As much as he would like to speak up, there was a flow to this that Nadia was trying to keep to, and anything he might do was liable to disrupt it. But...she was faltering, and he knew this wasn't any good, either.
For now, he just nodded to Nadia. He would trust she had this.

Like Cecil, Tomomi was silent as they walked. Unlike Cecil, his expression was mostly soft, and unreserved, more filled with curiosity and childish innocence than anything else, and even smiling when he heard the sound of birds before fading once more to neutral.

Then, as the trio entered the chilling domain of the beast known as Harold, his face settled down into a purely blank face, trying his best to soothe his own nerves, and simply offer a smile and a nod of reassurance to Nadia, before standing back where he was and how he was, posture unprofessional in classic Tomomi fashion.

Nadia didn't look at Cecil or Tomomi. She knew they were there though, she could feel them tense up as she lost her voice in the face of her father. Even when she had left home she hadn't faced him in this light. Back then she had merely suggested that she stay somewhere closer to school, and that she could work to support herself if they weren't willing to part with the money to make that happen - which of course they hadn't been, so there she was working two jobs to support her life alone.

It didn't make her angry like it would Cecil if she told him that. It was simple fact of the way things were. But after seeing how Cecil's family was, there was a pit of resentment forming in Nadia's stomach that she didn't like to admit was there.

She called on that resentment now to add some fire to the icy tone of her voice. "I know that when I turn 18, twenty shares of the company would be mine to claim...well, I want to claim them now." She spoke finally. In her own ears it sounded like an animal shaking off the cold, but she hoped it sounded a bit more forceful than that to the others in the room.

Harold stayed seated for a moment, watching her, watching the boys. An eyebrow raised. "Why do you have such a serious face to claim what's yours? Did you think I wouldn't give them to you? You should know I'm true to my word."

Nadia did her best to hide the pained look on her face, and simply nodded. He didn't ask why she wanted them, or even bring up the fact that she wasn't eighteen years old yet. That could be a legal issue down the line if not handled properly, she thought. But she could handle taking care of that.

The man rummaged around in his bottom drawer for a minute, pulling out a file folder, from which he pulled a sheaf of papers, setting them on the desk in front of Nadia. Taking a single step forward, Nadia picked up the contract and looked it over. It was already made how, had her name in all the places her name should be, She took a few moments, reading it. It didn't mention her age anywhere, thankfully. A chilling thought occurred to her then. Perhaps 18 was just the legal limit to how long they had to take care of her. At 18, they would sign over an acceptable loss to her, so she could support herself and be out of their hair. When she had left early of her own accord, asking for nothing...how happy they must have been not to lose the loss they had already accepted. Nadia's blood chilled. Well, she was getting what she wanted, with minimal strings. And then she truly would be out of their hair.

there were two copies of the contract here, she realized, and she set them side by side after reading them both to make sure there were no inconsistencies. Then she signed them, and passed them to her father, who signed them, and handed one of them to her. "I trust you know what to do from here." He said conversationally, as if this was still just a casual business meeting.

Her voice caught, in spite of herself, as she took the contract and held it to her chest. "I do."

As if the word was a benediction, the man pushed his seat back from his desk, and stood up. "Then, we're done here. I have a meeting in twenty minutes I must prepare for. I believe you know the way out. Be safe on your way home, Nadia." He said as he proffered a hand for her to shake.

Hesitantly, she took her fathers hand, which he held long enough for a single shake, and then let go. Swallowing any more words she might have said, and clutching the papers to her chest, Nadia turned and moved to leave the room.

It was...a surprisingly simple affair. No bargain, no negotiation...a simple request was made, he put papers on the table to sign, and that was it. It would all be done. For them, an important moment. For him...there was no sign he even cared about the whole affair.
And from what it seemed, his greatest investment in this meeting was ending it so he could reach his next, and be done with his daughter.

It infuriated him. He almost wanted there to be some sort of bad blood between these two, instead of...this. Something to fill the apathetic void that the man projected from him.
Something to show they cared at all in some way, instead of this harrowing nothing.

He made no fuss about leaving, eager to be out of this cold, forsaken hell.
And once they were finally outside the premises, he took Nadia firmly into his arms.
"Fuck that bastard. You deserved far better than him."

The atmosphere in that brief meeting was deathly to Tomomi, who knew nothing of the world of business, and had only recently had Cecil's father for familial comparison to this. The more he understood of what was happening, the more Tomomi felt sick, almost feeling purely unwell at the mere distaste that Harold put in his mouth.

So, when the trio finally finished and left the area, Tomomi let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, before turning and watching Cecil embrace Nadia, face softening to a smile. Waiting for them to have their moment, Tomomi remained entirely silent and kept out of their way. Whenever it finished, he spoke up, voice soft and gentle. "You were very brave Nadia. Let's go get Ice Cream. My treat."

Nadia didn't really remember coming outside. That whole walk out there had only been her mind, locked behind her body as it mimed it's way through familiar corridors to the outside, down the path, through the gates, and then...

Cecil's arms around her cleared her vision. There was a swelling in her chest like fire that rose from that pit in her stomach, up past her heart, into her head. And she wept into Cecil's chest. Soft sobbing, the kind you tried to hide from the world. But despite her relative quiet, her body shook with the force of her tears. The arm that wasn't gripping the papers tightly to her, reached beyond Cecil's embrace to Tomomi. It was selfish of her, she knew somewhere, vaguely. But right now her only thought was being embraced by people to whom her life had meaning.

She wanted to tell them, in a solid stream of words, every way in which this simple exchange had hurt her, but there were only bits of words between her sobs. "I-...He didn't...I just-..." there was a breathy sigh. "I don't understand." She said finally. She couldn't say what she didn't understand, really, not in so many words. But right now it was the core truth of everything she was feeling.

When she had absorbed as much comfort as she could from the two boys, she finally pulled away and looked down at the paper. "Thank you both...for coming with me. I know...that nothing much happened, but-" There were words there to say but she didn't have them. "...Thank you. Let's...Let's get ice cream." She said, wiping her eyes furiously.

Ice cream really did sound wonderful.

A great many things flashed through Cecil's mind as Nadia broke into tears. Mostly curses and a variety of scenarios where he stormed in to go on an angry tirade against her - against HAROLD, and ruin any important meetings they had in as terrible a fashion as possible.
Doing any of that, however, would mean leaving his sobbing girlfriend alone - and if he was being honest, legal repercussions and retaliation from the security staff he was fairly certain the mansion would have in some form.
The latter was less important than the former.

He held on tight until she pulled away, trying to focus on her and not absolutely furious Harold made him. His hand latched onto his head with a tight grip, fingers exerting a harsh pressure on his temples. He needed to calm down. He knew that. This wasn't helping anyone, and like this he wasn't helping anyone else.
He took the boiling sensation and bundled it tight, compressing it even as it writhed and fought him, and crammed it way into the farthest, darkest recess of his mind he could reach to put it.
He still wasn't calm after that, not close, but he could at least pretend he was coming down for now.

The blond lets out a long sigh that somehow fails to relieve any of the tension he felt. "Yeah. Ice cream. Sounds good."

To his surprise, Tomomi was not standing at a distance - instead, Nadia wanted him to be there as well. So, Tomomi shuffled around to make sure he could properly give Nadia a hug, one arm around Cecil due to being at the angle he was at, but focusing especially on making sure Nadia was reaffirmed that Tomomi was there. When the trio hug stopped, Tomomi stepped back away, and continued to give Nadia a reassuring smile, trying to keep his own emotions at bay - his disgust at Harold, his fear of Cecil's anger, his worry for Nadia.

Then, at the duo agreeing to ice cream, Tomomi decided to try lighten the mood, spinning around on his heel and pointing dramatically in a random direction that was very likely incorrect. "Right! To ice cream! Which is in that direction!... Probably. Or um... Not? I uh... N-nadia, Cecil, which way is it to ice cream?!"

Still wiping her eyes a little bit, Nadia giggled at Tomomi's response to their icecream enthusiasm. He was trying to lighten the mood, and she appreciated it. Even so, she felt Cecil's anger seething, even though he was trying to hid it. She could see it in clench of his jaw and the straightness of his shoulders. She wanted to push him down and kiss away his worries, but she wouldn't do that with Tomomi around. Or with anyone around, really. That sort of thing was meant to be private.

Instead, Nadia twined her fingers with Cecil, tugging him along with a hopeful expression, before bumping her shoulder into Tomomi affectionately. If she could hold his hand too, she would have, but sadly, her hand was occupied with her paperwork. "I think there is one this way. We'll need to get back to the main road. But that's okay, we've got all the time in the world." She giggled, swinging Cecil's hand to try to loosen his tension.

Cecil manages a small smile as Tomomi delves into an elaborate pantomime, and feels another hand in his. "Someone didn't seriously set up an ice cream place out in East Eden, did they?" His arm is stiff to start as Nadia tries to swing it along, but slowly it loosens up as the blond gets into the motion. "I figured we'd have to head back to the Backlight or something to get something."

Hearing Nadia giggle again made all of Tomomi's exaggerations worth the mild embarrassment he felt making them. At Nadia's free hand holding Cecil's and Cecil making a minor smile, Tomomi continued with a soft smile and moved to be at their side. At any points that the path narrowed, the boy dropped behind, letting the hand holding duo take lead and proceeding to stay behind them for the rest of the walk, simply glad he was able to help in even the most minor way.

After however long of a walk it was, Tomomi not taking note of anything, the trio arrived to the ice cream shop. And as they got there, Tomomi skipped up to the side of the others, then in front of them, grinning. "Right! I, uh, promised, so, treat's on me! So, if you want a sundae, or, a bowl, or, like, a fridae, go for it!"

The only Ice cream shop in east Eden was a small brick building with a patio with lawn chairs. They also sold things like hot dogs and warm chili when it was cold out. It was near the station back into Endymion, and Nadia had been there quite a few times for lunch when she worked at the Ranch more often.

The walk had been a pleasant one, and if it weren't for the folder of papers clutched to her chest, Nadia might have forgotten the feeling she felt when her father had sat there and treated the same way he always had. Handed over what she had asked for because it was easy and honoring an agreement was good business. Somehow, even with that memory still fresh in her mind, as she strode forward through the trees with Tomomi and Cecil by her side, she felt an uncanny swell of peace in her heart. She didn't belong in that place, she belonged here, with these two people who were just as broken as she was. Together, they made some kind of whole, she liked to think, and that thought made her feel like her heart would burst. Tears, laughter, she couldn't say. And it didn't really matter, besides.

When they neared the small shop, she let go of Cecil's hand and dashed forward, filled with an inexplicable rush of energy, looking over the menu board. When she turned around to face the boys, her eyes were bright. "I can help, Tomomi. I've got some money, and it doesn't look like I'll be lacking for funds for a while." She told him with a smile. "Actually, I don't think I've ever asked, Tomomi. You live in an apartment, don't you? Do you afford it okay with just your garbage job?" The question was...uncommonly direct for Nadia, who often liked to skate from one superficial topic to another. Even though her tone was loose, cheerful even, the question was a serious one.

She looked back at the board, scanning it before reaching up and pointing. "Hold that thought. We should get this." She said, pointing at a picture of a large "Sundae Challenge" which involved a large shake with multiple straws. If you were able to finish it as a group everyone in the group got a coupon. It looked like fun. There didn't seem to be any other days on the menu, though, and... "...why do they spell it like that? is it a typo? I never noticed it before..."

The walk helped Cecil wind down a little for real, arm swinging gently back and forth alongside Nadia's. Being left to his thoughts usually wouldn't have been great for him, but with his friend and girlfriend both there, he had something to take his mind off things. He gave Nadia's hand a little squeeze as it swung his, trying to do nothing more than focus on the motion and the presences around him.
It helped...just a little.

As they arrived, the blond chuckled a little at the way everyone skipped and sprung to life around him, a sudden little burst of life coming to everyone that he would have struggled not to reflect in some little way. That little bit of cheer fizzles out for a moment, however, as Nadia suddenly starts questioning Tomomi on how he's getting by. He'd assumed himself that while obviously his scenario wouldn't be the best and he needed the work that he was able to get by so long as he had it. He'd managed before they met, after all.
The thought that he might have been seriously struggling and he'd dismissed the idea...bothered him. And unfortunately, that wasn't a basely concern.
His face dipped for a moment as he briefly glanced to Tomomi. Another thing to worry about.

The blond's gaze darted to Nadia again as she started to point at the menu, and he stepped forward to get a bit of a better look. A thin smile came to his lips as he noted Nadia's confusion. "I don't know. It's just what they call that type of icecream. I'm not quite sure how it got that name in the first place."

The sudden shift in tone and questioning caught Tomomi off guard. He wasn't going to argue with Nadia over splitting the cost of the ice cream, owing to the fact he was only just getting by, but, to flat out be asked how he was doing financially... The boy liked to be honest, but, this was a scenario where he just couldn't. Especially not after having just offered to treat the others; if he was honest here, they'd never let him buy them stuff again, maybe even think of him in a pitying way.

Thankfully, Nadia quickly changed her attention, asking him to "hold that thought" - and hold it he did, offering a smile and completely unaware of Cecil's concern filled glance. At the question on the name, Tomomi just tilted his head, adding in. "Uh... Maybe they um... Just, really, really liked the weekend? Is that, like, a regional variation of the word? A-ah, also, um, before I forget, you don't need to worry about my finan... Fin... Money position. While I don't have enough for like, a big proper house or anything, I'm fine. Why would I offer to buy ice cream if I couldn't get by?" The boy asked with a laugh, hoping that it was enough to dissuade them from inquiring further. He was fine. He was fine. He just had to convince them of that so that everyone could continue having fun. He may have been a part of the group, but, he knew his place in it, and didn't wish to ruin the dynamic by having them worry.