Angelo took a sip from his glass of wine, relaxing minutely. It really would just be them in the new house, it would be like when they were back at Nikolai’s penthouse apartment.
He looked across the table at the familiar Alpha staring at him with indecipherable eyes, thinking that this was a good time as any to bring it up. Maybe the casual air would make it easier to convince Nikolai.
"You have assassins working for you, don’t you?" He started lightly.
Nikolai’s eyes regained some color, he sat up, his glass of wine remaining untouched. "I do. Does that bother you?" He asked a little too eagerly.
Angelo completely missed the Alpha’s point, "Yes, it does." He replied, calmly. "I’m an assassin, I’d like to work for you too."
Nikolai deflated at that, back to being grumpy. "You already do."
Angelo lifted his wine glass and peered at Nikolai over the rim. "Alone."
"Not a chance." The Alpha immediately shut down.
Angelo remained unbothered by this denial, expecting the response he got. It was a strange sentiment, but he rather missed working. He had been doing it to get revenge on his mom’s killers, but it hadn’t all been a terrible experience.
The high stakes and deadly risks involved pulled him in like white powder in a line. It would have been far easier if Nikolai stopped being stubborn about tagging along and instead given him jobs.
He pushed the matter to the back of his mind, he would figure out a solution or a workaround at another time.
The one thing he didn’t know was that if he had demanded that Nikolai get rid of all his assassins and made him the only one, the Mafia King would have folded like a wet napkin.
Nikolai reached across the table to take the assassin’s hand, his fingers running over the rings he wore. He really wasn’t that hung up on Angelo working alone, and he knew how capable he was, it was just...
He was on a date with the Omega, and they would return to their shared home, yet he was worried that Angelo would start to view their arrangement as just another job.
He stared into pale green eyes that showed nothing. He had claimed he couldn’t feel love, yet here he was losing his mind because Angelo was perfectly keeping to the agreement they made.
The waitress returned with their food then, pulling them apart, the restaurant getting quieter as the dinner rush eased and guests left their tables.
"What do you plan to do with your month off?" Angelo asked curiously, finding it hard to believe that the Mafia King truly planned to let his Mafia House run by itself for the rest of the month.
Nikolai parted his lips and then pursed them, he planned to spend every day with Angelo, it didn’t matter if it was a day off or not. That was a given, but the question was phrased like Angelo already had plans.
"What do you plan to do?" He asked instead, narrow-eyed.
Angelo didn’t notice this, his eyes lowered to his food. "I’d like to visit Silvia, and host dinner at the house."
Nikolai’s probing gaze lowered, he needed to get a grip. Angelo hadn’t changed all the time he had known him, and he had seen the Omega at his low points - so what was his deal?
"If there’s no interference with the casino’s rebuilding, it should be safe to visit Silvia..."
Dinner was mostly aimless conversation, the waitress returning a couple more times to make sure everything was in order.
By the time dinner was over, Nikolai had barely eaten, but Angelo was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice.
He had been resigned to death, but even if he had chosen to keep living on, he would have stayed working for Silvia. Things like choosing a home, quiet dinner dates, and mating marks couldn’t be more distant from him...
He shrugged his coat on and lightly touched the necklace around his neck... yet here he was with all three. It was a strange mix of wonder and happiness he felt right then, getting something he didn’t think to want.
It was still snowing when they left the warmly lit restaurant, a car driving in as they walked to where the car was parked.
"We should do this more often," Nikolai quietly broke the cold silence, stopping just in front of the car.
"We should," Angelo easily agreed, thinking about how busy they would be when the casino was rebuilt. "Do you want me to drive us home?" He offered, stopping because Nikolai did.
Snow fell on their hair and clothes, melting away from their body heat when it clung to their faces.
Nikolai handed the car keys over, he really wasn’t in any state to drive. A car’s headlight flashed over them as their fingers brushed, the split moment shattering into snowflakes swirling in LED lights as Angelo turned away to start the car.
Nikolai remained behind for a few seconds, his back to the bright light as he turned to watch Angelo. He was close to figuring out why he was tangled up in knots, and he was terrified of the answer.
Angelo paused with a hand on the doorknob when he noticed that Nikolai hadn’t moved a muscle. "Don’t want to leave yet?"
That got Nikolai moving, he walked around to the passenger side. "I do."
Right then, if they weren’t in the parking lot of a restaurant, he would have marked the assassin doing up his seatbelt next to him. So that he would remain his.
The stately house was waiting for them just as they left it, warm light spilling from the windows, the driveway well-lit.
Angelo pulled Nikolai’s coat closer, it smelled clean. He would have preferred if it had some of the Alpha’s scent on it.
He hurried inside the house, not a fan of the cold. The cool of fall was pleasant, but the biting cold of winter was too much, it numbed his fingers.