Karma Is Baby

5: Slow Morning

Karma blinked a few times, suppressing a yawn. He could feel pressure against both sides of his body and it took him a second to remember where he was.
He calmed his heart, trying to wake up his mind. He wriggled his arms free and wiped at his sleepy peepers.
A few rays of light trickled through the curtains of the window, making the room just bright enough to see.
To Karma's right lay Nikolai, still holding the people he loved most. And to the boy's left lay Fyodor, who just seemed to be asleep, holding nothing but a pillow.
Karma frowned slightly. Nikolai was breathing through his mouth and drooling and it was quite irritating. Thankfully, his face wasn't all that close to Karma.
Karma wondered when they would wake up. He steepled his fingers, wondering what he was supposed to do now...
Then, unexpectedly, Fyodor moved. He carefully removed Nikolai's arm from himself and sat up. He heaved a sigh as he got out of bed.
Karma whispered, "how long have you been awake?"
Fyodor shrugged, "it doesn't really matter..." He quietly pulled his nightstand drawer open and squinted as he searched it.
Karma blinked a couple times, his eyes still sort of wet.
Nikolai mumbled something as he pulled Karma closer. The boy pursed his lips, pleading to Fyodor with his eyes.
Fyodor chuckled with a smile, "you're on your own."
Karma frowned, but didn't dare say anything. Fyodor shook his head while smiling as he finally pulled something out of the drawer. Well, two somethings.
Fyodor opened the small bottles and poured some of their contents into his hand before closing them again. They bottles jingled sort of.
Fyodor silently retreated into the adjoining bathroom. Karma heard the water turn on for a short moment, then off again.
Karma narrowed his eyes at the arm around him. He had the strange urge to just bite Nikolai... but he had the feeling Nikolai would bite him back...
Karma sighed in defeat. There seemed no way out of this...
After only a minute or so Fyodor came back in. He crawled back into bed.
Karma raised his brows, "I thought-"
"It's too early..." Fyodor whispered back. Then he seemed to take pity on Karma. He hesitated before slowly lifting Nikolai's hand off of Karma, inch by inch.
He didn't get very far before Nikolai's hand grabbed onto Fyodor's.
In an instant, Fyodor and Karma's eyes met, both their lips were pursed. They knew they were both doomed.
Nikolai's grip on Fyodor was awkward, some of their fingers were intertwined and the others were squished together uncomfortably.
Fyodor drew his arm back and Nikolai's arm ended up resting right back where it was. The only difference was that it was holding onto Fyodor now.
The demon sighed tiredly, "it's no use trying to wake him, either... even if we did, he wouldn't let go..."
Karma nodded dejectedly, "that's what I thought, too..."
They both sighed in unison.
"At least he's not strangling us," Karma tried to find something positive about the situation.
Fyodor nodded, "yeah, and I'm thankful he isn't bony."
Karma agreed, poking Nikolai's arm, "he is rather squishy."
Fyodor made his almost-laughing noise again as he looked over at the clown, "it's like he's made of marshmallows."
Karma smiled wider, "there it is again."
"There what is?" Fyodor look at him, obviously very tired, but very interested.
Karma continued, "you acting like you're married."
Fyodor tilted his head with a confused expression.
"The face you just made when you were looking at him," Karma explained, "your eyes were all squinty and you were smiling."
Fyodor's brows came closer together, "Karma..."
"You can't say you didn't. I saw it. And you did your little 'I'm not going to actually laugh but I'll make noise to show I think it's funny or cute or something' thing."
Fyodor blinked, apparently having a hard time figuring out what Karma was saying. Then his eyes drifted away, his mouth becoming hidden behind the pillow in his arms.
Karma smiled, "I think both of you need to think about your feelings and stop pretending you don't have them."
Fyodor's eyes flicked back up, "... you know, sometimes you don't sound your age..."
Karma giggled, "I guess that's just what happens when you grow up in the mafia."
Fyodor smiled, "that sounds about right."
"Did..." Nikolai's voice suddenly made the room go quiet. "Did he really look at me like that?..." His grip on Fyodor's hand got tighter.
Both Karma and Fyodor stared at each other, having a silent conversation.
"Don't." Communicated the purple eyes.
"I'm gonna do it." Replied the others.
"Please?"
"Nope."
"I'll give you food?" Or maybe that look meant, "I'll kill you." ... it was hard to tell when he couldn't see the rest of Fyodor's face...
Karma whispered, "he did."
Fyodor closed his eyes tightly in disappointment and with a bit of embarrassment.
Karma was relieved, assuming he would live to see another day.
"You aren't just... joking?..." Nikolai asked, sounding very insecure.
Karma shook his head, "no joking here. He was probably too tired to think about me noticing."
No one could see it, but Nikolai's face was so incredibly red and he couldn't stop smiling. He felt so stupid about all this... He drew his hands back, readjusting himself.
Karma loosed a silent sigh of relief. Then he noticed that both of the people beside him were silent and hiding themselves.
Karma rolled his eyes with a giggle, "you guys..." He laid down on his back, looking up at the ceiling, "Sigma told me that you two have always acted like you were married, how long have you known each other?"
Nikolai was picking lint off of the blanket nervously, "a while..."
Fyodor almost laughed, "he doesn't like taking about it. He's such a cry baby."
"I am not," Nikolai mumbled.
Karma shook his head, "see? Married couple fight."
They both stopped talking again.
"Neither of you are denying it!"
Fyodor sighed, "because you won't listen anyways..."
"Yeah, exactly," Nikolai agreed.
"Only because your excuses are dumb," Karma folded his arms.
Fyodor sighed again, but didn't say anything more. Nikolai was ignoring him.
"Come on! You literally had a dream about marrying him!" Karma exclaimed.
Nikolai hesitated before mumbling, "I don't choose what I dream about..."
"But you certainly liked it!"
Nikolai was about to argue back when there was a knock at the door.
Everyone went silent.
"Dostoyevsky?" Sigma called, "is everything alright?"
Fyodor sighed, "you can come in."
Sigma pushed the door open. Then he smiled as he turned the light on, "it seems you all are getting along well."
Nikolai buried himself under the covers, "speak for yourself... this kid is a handful..."
"You're just mad because I'm right," Karma sat up.
Sigma shook his head with a chuckle, "I think you're more of a handful than he is." He walked in and seated himself at the edge of the bed, "well? Have they been behaving?"
Karma folded his arms, "no. This one," he gestured to Nikolai, "is in denial. And this one," he pointed at Fyodor, "well, actually, he hasn't really done anything..."
Sigma nodded, "so just normal things, then."
Karma sighed, "I guess..."
Sigma sighed with him, "I know... they should just kiss already, shouldn't they?"
Fyodor's eyes shot open and stared at Sigma with an unreadable expression.
Karma and Sigma giggled. Nikolai said something but his words were drowned out by all the covers.
"Hm? What's that? Are you agreeing?" Sigma sang.
Nikolai dug his way out, peeking the top half of his face out of the blankets, "no!"
"Then what did you say?" Sigma raised his brows.
"That's none of your business..." Nikolai narrowed his eyes.
Sigma nodded, "mhm..."
Fyodor pulled the blankets over his shoulders, "it's too early to get up..."
"Then how about you two stay in here for a while and Karma and I will make breakfast?"
Karma perked up, "Yeah! Then you guys can-"
"Nope," Fyodor sat up, "you're not leaving me in here with him."
"You don't have to be so harsh," Sigma smiled. "I'm sure Gogol's not going to kill you until it's the proper time."
"And when do you think that is?"
"Certainly not anytime soon," Sigma stood, taking Karma's hand and pulling him up.
Nikolai watched them, not saying a word.
"Besides," Sigma shrugged, "I think it's more likely that he would kiss you than kill you."
Fyodor sighed quietly, "neither of those options sound nice..."
Nikolai mumbled something under his breath as he drummed his fingers over the edge of the blanket by his eyes.
Fyodor looked over at him. Nikolai retreated farther under the blanket, squeaking.
Now that the light was on, Karma noticed that Nikolai's eyes were completely different. It added to his creepy look... but it seemed oddly out of place anyways...
Sigma rolled his eyes dramatically, "Gogol certainly doesn't seem to be protesting."
"It's comfortable in here..." was his excuse.
Fyodor was weighing his options. He honestly just wanted to go back to sleep...
Sigma led Karma out the door, "you two need to talk. Don't just sit there awkwardly like I know you're going to."
They both looked at Sigma like an upset child at their mother who said they couldn't have a cookie until they ate all their dinner.
Karma smiled, "then maybe you can actually get married."
The door shut.
Fyodor sighed deeply and tiredly, "I didn't sign up for this..."
"... do we have to do what he says? I mean, you're in charge..."
He shook his head, "Sigma will know. Then he will never leave us alone..."
Nikolai pursed his lips, "then..." he couldn't seem to think of any way out.
Fyodor sighed heavily as he laid back down, watching the ceiling.

"What do you think is gonna happen?" Karma asked.
Sigma shrugged as he buttered a pan, "I have no idea. They'll work it out somehow. Dostoyevsky's a genius, I know he'll think of something."
"Yeah, but... he doesn't seem to like Gogol..." Karma ran his nail along the counter.
Sigma sighed, "he doesn't seem to like anyone... but I know he enjoys the company, wether he will admit it or not."
Karma nodded, "yeah... he smiles a lot more than I expected..."
"Well, Gogol is rather entertaining," Sigma chuckled. "And it's been a while since we've had a full house."
"But there are so many rooms?"
"I mean it in the sense that you're filling in the hole we had," Sigma explained.
"Oh... what happened to the other person?..." Karma felt bad about reminding them of this person if they had died or something...
"He, uh..." Sigma tilted his head from side to side, trying to think. He tied his hair back, "well... he's just not here... he's getting everything ready for the next stage of the plan... uhm, I can't say I liked him very much... He was always sort of... creepy..."
"Like Gogol?"
"Uhm, in a different way... He also liked Dostoyevsky, but... it was just different..." Sigma wasn't sure how to explain this, "in a way, he was obsessed with Dostoyevsky. He spent the majority of his time around him, just watching and waiting..."
Karma was very glad he didn't have to meet them.
"He'd do whatever Dostoyevsky asked, and he was always... smiling..." Sigma shivered, "I didn't know him for long, but it was long enough to know something was wrong with him."
"What did Dostoyevsky do?"
"About him? Uh, nothing, really. He didn't seem to care... much like everything else." Sigma shrugged, "I don't know if they had known each other for long or not, so I can't say if he was always like that."
"... do you think Dostoyevsky did something to him to make him like that?..." Karma asked quietly.
"What do you mean?..." Sigma hesitated as he started cracking eggs into the pan.
"Well... Gogol's super weird and he's known Dostoyevsky for a long time..."
Sigma paused, "I don't know... but he had such blind devotion to Dostoyevsky... He seemed more like a zombie than a person..."
Karma stared down at the counter. This place was certainly better than where he was before, but it was also more confusing... and creepier...
"Anyways," Sigma smiled, "enough of that. What else do you think we should make for breakfast?"