I Made A Deal With The Devil .Chapter 51: out .Nikolai feels more free than ever, and for a moment all he wants it to be in Akio’s arms, until he remembers... remembers how he left his house with Akio’s sobs filling the empty space and dripping from the walls.And suddenly he doesn't feel so warm.He turns to look at Ren and feels his body tense for what he knew was about to come."Brother," Ren looks over to him, dark face rippling beneath long shadows and amber light flickering from the flames.Nikolai takes a deep breath of icy air."What I'm about to do..." he trails off, god he didn't even know how to say how crazy the plan was they were about to do... he was practically asking Ren to commit suicide with him.Ren must have read his thought for he says softly, "I would go to the ends of the world with you Nikolai. Always," his eyes dark and alive with flames, almost as black as Nikolai’s , "So tell me the plan."He smiles despite the seriousness of the situation."How did you

I Made A Deal With The Devil .Chapter 53: awaiting warm summers .Nikolai rests his gun heavy on the table between them not menacingly, but a message of his own all the same."And yet here I am taking it" he challenges, he didn't come here to ask.There's a moment where it looks like the two will fight, eyes flashing and pulses rising, until Amir jumps up from where he had been watching the whole scene, and drapes himself over Nikolai kissing his jaw and neck messily like a puppy."Oh Nikolai my Nikolai I will miss you so much!" He wails sobbing into his chest dramatically and flinging his body weight all around until even Nikolai almost dropped him at one point.Smiling at him softly Nikolai sighs for the first time since entering the room, "You're not getting rid of me," he teases, "I'll be around."Amir grumbles into his top complaining about everything through his pout.Over his shoulder Nikolai surveys Alexander who stares at him hard watching the whole time."You'll be back,

I Made A Deal With The Devil .Chapter 55: at the boss's orders .Once Akio’s in the attic, it doesn’t take him very long to locate the specific boxes he wants. He’s labeled every Christmas-related container in the space, which shortens the amount of time he has to spend sifting through storage. He grabs the end of the first container, which houses an artificial tree, and starts dragging it toward the attic opening. Then he starts to descend the ladder, while pulling the container along with him.He’s not a third of the way down when he realizes this setup isn’t going to work. It would be easier if he simply had someone at the bottom of the ladder to carefully pass the container to, but since he’s alone, he has to bear all the weight himself, and the moment the bin completely slides off the edge of the attic opening above, all of its heaviness will shift against his chest and throw his center of gravity off. He’s not entirely sure how he’ll be able to stay upright when that happens.

I Made A Deal With The Devil .Chapter 57: love, oh so sweet .Akio’s throat dries as he continues admiring Nikolai. With every step Nikolai takes, his muscles shift or flex, and it’s making Akio forget his name. He wants to lick Nikolai’s entire upper body up like it’s a scoop of ice cream, and heat blooms in his cheeks at the wild thought. He tries to look away, but Nikolai’s movements make the tattoos covering his torso come to life, especially the large dragon tattoo that takes up his entire right pec and upper arm. The design almost seems to ripple, like a reflection in a pond.Akio’s eyes shift to the opposite pec, where the name ‘Akio’ is emblazoned on Nikolai’s skin, right over his heart. Akio feels a surge of pride and love at the sight, the way he always does. Subconsciously, he runs his fingertips over his right wrist bone, where he’s recently gotten the letter N tattooed. He likes to think of the tattoos as mirror images of each other, each a sign of Akio’s and Nikolai