Dangerously Quiet

21.

No one said a word.

From Boston and New York to California and Florida, the silence was on each end of the video call shared by the cousins. They all were staring in disbelief at the youngest male member of their family. Standing in the middle of his new room with his head held high, Nico Monetti showed his cousins his new look. Mikaela, Michael's daughter, sat in the corner silent as everybody else. 

"Ummm..." Dominique uttered.

"Exactly," Ares returned in the same skeptical tone. 

"Please tell me you guys see this," Roman voiced, getting closer to his screen.

"He has normal hair," Samuel exclaimed.

"Normal short hair," Lucifer added. 

Nico tugged at the red striped tie around his neck and shifted uncomfortably in his shirt and monogrammed jacket. "I feel so..." he started.

"Weird."

"Different."

"Unbelievably  normal."

"I KNOW!" Nico exclaimed. Mikaela snickered, trying her best not to make the sound get any longer. Nico heard and spun to her direction, fixing her with a glare. Sullenly he walked to a nearby mirror and run his fingers through his now short chestnut brown hair, his grey eyes so much like his mother's shone brighter. The entire family knew him and his father to be the ones to be eccentric from off the wall plans and a keen sense of fashion to colorful hairstyles and pranks. Nico was the one who did the wild hairstyles and equally colorful language. He had a slim build, and the school uniform seemed more prominent than him somehow. They all can see how uncomfortable and nervous he was present. For the past twelve years, his only schooling has been from his mother in the early years then by tutors. His parents were protective of their only child and kept him away from the media as best as possible. The Monetti's were Italian old money, stemming from the long familial lines of Dons, which gained them to be of much importance in Italy. Just like the Delacourdes, Poscovs, Mendez' and Valdez, the Monettis protection for their son was very high. 
Agreeing with the plan, Lucifer hatched was hard. Placing him in an American school was a risk they were taking but a test of their trust in their allies. 

"I see no way to show one's personality. Are they teaching you all to be drones?" Nico fussed.  The cousins smothered their laughs at Mikaela's pout. "Do you have to say it like that?" she grumbled. 

"Lucy, are you sure about this? I can do online classes," Nico asked, still fussing with his uniform. He was the only one who calls the oldest Delacourde that name. Everyone adapted Luke from Rejeanne and stuck with it but Nico always stood out.

"I am sure about this. Though uncle Michael is head of our stronghold there we need someone inside. It's best to have eyes and ears both inside and outside of the territory. We have the upper hand with your face being unknown to the American circuit. I'm sorry, cousin but this is the only way. Unless Mikaela takes your job," Lucifer replied sending a smirk his younger cousin way. 

Mikaela got to her feet and began to pace. It was wrong of him to tease her but it was the truth. Yes, she told her father she wishes not to have anything to do with the family business but they all took note of how she subtly asked questions about their missions and defense technique, she was willing to learn.

But.

She held back.

No one wanted to voice their deduction and decided to let everything work out for itself. "Nico has everything handled. I'll see you guys..."