Short Stories

Hideout

Summary: Whenever Nikei feels lonely, he has a hideout he can retreat to.

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Nikei was lonely.

Mikado was off on a shopping trip, and he was certain that he wouldn't be back for a little while longer. Nikei had turned down the offer to go with him in favor of working on his article, which he had finished a lot faster than he anticipated.

In all honesty, he was pretty proud of it. This was the fastest he'd ever finished a high-quality article. If Mikado was here, he'd praise it immensely and probably try to cuddle now that he was finished.

But Mikado wasn't here. And Nikei was lonely.

He'd never told Mikado or anyone about this side of him, but Nikei easily got lonely. He really hated that part of himself.

After the first few times of this happening, Nikei had finally taken a hint and made something for himself, so that whenever he was left alone, he would be fine.

It's where he was heading right now, actually.

Nikei headed across the room to his closet and opened it. It was actually a pretty lengthy closet, but Nikei wasn't sure if Mikado was aware of that. Opening the door, at first it looked like it was just filled with clothes.

That was just the front, though. Nikei squeezed past the clothes, shut the closet door, and headed to the far side of the closet.

Waiting there for him were blankets, a few plushies, and some storybooks. Nikei smiled and sat down, wrapping himself up in the blankets.

He'd made this when Mikado was out shopping with Setsuka and Hibiki, and every time he felt lonely or had nothing to do when Mikado was out, he'd come here. It was like his own little heaven.

Nikei picked up his plushies and set them out in front of him. There were five of them, and they were a tiger, bear, coyote, rabbit, and caribou plush. Nikei had secretly bought them when he was out at the mall with the rest of VOID, during a point where they all split up.

He smiled. "Hello, Ember, Honey, Spire, Ruby, and Camila." He said, each name going to each respective plush. "How have you all been doing? Just hanging out here?"

Of course, there was no response from any of them, but Nikei nodded, pretending that they responded. "I see. Do you guys want to play? I have an idea for an adventure you can all go on!"

Again, he imagined the response, with different voices and attitudes for each plush, and he picked them up again, setting them in different areas around the closet.

Nikei could never imagine anyone seeing this side of him, where he talked to stuffed animals and read simple stories to himself or them. He'd be made fun of, he knew that. So, he made sure to never let anyone see him like this.

He began playing with the plushies, having them go on an adventure to find a mystical scroll, which was actually just one of his storybooks. Ember was the main hero, Honey and Camila were her helpers, Spire was the villain trying to stop them and get the scroll for himself, and Ruby was the guardian of the scroll.

It was fun, letting himself be a child and just play. As long as nobody saw him, he was okay.

He got so caught up in his childish play, that he didn't notice Mikado coming home.

Mikado used his magic to put the groceries away, a bit tired. "Doll? Where are you?" He called out, going up to their room.

He nodded in approval that he wasn't overworking himself on his laptop, but that only raised the question of where exactly Nikei was. He didn't leave, his shoes were by the door and his coat was hung up, so he had to be here.