Niké had already been exhausted due to a lack of sleep when the trio had left on this little mission but now, after just a few days with Taurus and Alleya, he was completely drained of energy. Those two had gone from being seemingly okay with each other to looking as if they wanted each other dead and in the middle of it all was Niké…

Just the other day he had had to pull Alleya off Taurus when she'd attacked the man, it didn't mean that he hadn't deserved it though, and admittedly, Niké had waited a bit before stepping in, having let Alleya get in more than a couple of good hits.

Once more they were fighting, Taurus had found a place that honestly wasn't all that bad, the sewage smell wasn't great but it wasn't worse than the cellar from the first day and it was better than most of the places they’d found. It was on the smaller side though and would get crowded with the whole gang there, you wouldn't be able to be alone there and people like Alleya would probably be running up the walls. The hotel was probably still a top choice, at least in Niké’s mind.

The grey-haired man had been smoking quite a bit more the past few days, mostly because it was the only way to keep himself from snapping at the two others who were acting like a pair of brats, fighting over the most trivial of things most of the time. He got close to cursing them both out quite a few times but he bit his tongue and kept quiet.

Currently the male was standing in the doorway, smoking a cigarette while listening to the two of them starting to yell at each other yet another time. After the kissing incident, Niké had made sure to not leave them alone for extended amounts of time but after Alleya attacked Taurus, Niké decided to not leave them out of sight at all. Despite Taurus being an absolute asshole, he didn't want to see him dead.

"Whether you like it or not. I don't listen to psychopathic redheads."

Before Niké even had time to sigh at the other man’s comment, Alleya yelled back, and she was angry, really angry. They were both acting like a pair of fucking children and he was so incredibly done with them right now.

“Enough! Jesus fucking Christ just shut up already! Both of you!” Niké dropped his cigarette to the ground as he turned his head to stare down the other two, he'd kept his mouth shut for the most part these few days but now he’d had it with the two of them. “Seriously?! You're worse than I don't know what! Either one kills the other right now or you both grab your shit and we head back while you both keep your mouths shut! You're making me wish I was fully deaf, I'm done with all this now, I don't want to hear another word from either of you!”

Turning around Niké took a deep breath to calm himself a bit but just as he did, he quickly snapped his head back around and glared at Taurus with his cold blue gaze, “And don't call yourself leader because you are pathetic, these past few days have done nothing but prove that you don't have a single trait of a good leader. Also just tell Theo about both this place and the hotel, he's the actual leader and it's up to him in the end.”

Again, Niké turned his head and opened the door more than what he'd already had. It did feel good to finally give them a piece of his mind after listening to them for days but to be honest, he wasn't certain that it would help, maybe with Alleya, she didn't seem to like being yelled, not that anyone did but it seemed to shut her up in most cases while Taurus might just direct his anger towards him instead of Alleya.

Being assigned group leader had really gotten to the Taurus’s head and Niké couldn't stand people like him, he was abusing all the power that he thought himself to have. Theo was a far better leader, someone who didn't let personal thoughts and feelings get in the way and who wanted the best for everyone, not someone who thought that they were the best and that they could just do as they pleased. Also, Taurus hated cats, Theo’s opinion on cats was still unknown but Taurus made it absolutely clear he hated cats and anyone who didn't like animals, Niké didn't trust, or like, there had to be something wrong with them.

Alleya reacted the way he'd thought, eyes dropping to the ground as she fell silent and then it didn't take long before she picked her kitten up and left out the door. Niké didn't follow her though and he wasn't going to try to apologize or comfort her, at least not just yet. He knew where her anger was coming from, at least he thought so, and he didn't blame the woman for it but he really was tired of them, there was a limit to his patience after all.

Taurus however did not take well to Niké telling them off and the man absolutely blew up, punching the wall yelling, throwing every curse word and slur he seemed to know at the grey-haired man who just stood in place, eyebrows slightly raised while watching the man throw his temper tantrum. The fact that this was the same man that had pissed himself when Alleya had a knife to his throat was almost hilarious.

"Niké?"

The sound of Alleya’s much lower and softer voice made Niké turn his head and he gave a slight nod at her when she apologized before looking back at Taurus once more and clearing his throat a bit to get the man to listen, “This is exactly what I meant when I called you pathetic Taurus. I’m done listening to you. I’ll be outside with Alleya and once you’ve calmed down, we should start heading back,” he told him before leaving the shelter and letting the door shut behind him.

With a loud sigh he went and sat down next to Alleya, reaching over and petting Iris gently, scratching the kitten behind her ear, all while staring out in front of himself, trying to decide if he should say something and what.

“I’m not angry at you, I’m just really fucking tired and you two are being ridiculous at this point…” the man finally muttered, “We should just head back now before things get worse between you two and if idiot in there calms down soon then we should be able to make it back before it gets too dark, I think.”

"I-um-I think I need to do something before we leave."

At this Niké furrowed his eyebrows a bit before turning his head and looking at the woman, scoffing at the mention of him and Taurus going back alone. Did she really believe he’d just happily agree to that?

“No way, Taurus can go back then but I'm not leaving you here alone,” he told her, “What do you think Theo would say if I did?” He added, hoping that the mention of the leader would change her mind.

“You can do whatever it is you need but I'm not doing back without you, I’m staying close,” he said sternly.

The grey-haired man was in no mood to argue, he was too tired to do so and therefore he hoped that for once the stubborn redhead wouldn't be so, well, stubborn.

He glanced down at the kitten in his lap, she was much calmer than her owner, easier to deal with. You could scoop her up, pet her, hug her, do whatever almost, she wouldn't put up a fuzz, she would simply go along with what was happening, the same could not be said for Alleya though.

What Niké wanted wasn't answers to what the woman was intending to do, if she didn't want to say then he wouldn't push her to say anything either, besides, it could be that it was better for him to not know.

Still, he cared for the woman and he refused to leave her alone, he wanted to make sure that she stayed safe. However he would never admit that which was part of the reason why he'd mentioned Theo, it was easier for him to have Theo be the reason as to why he wouldn't leave her on her own, rather than admit that he himself cared about her safety. Had it been Taurus needing to do something then Niké would’ve already been on his way.

“I know you can fend for yourself, it's not that, it's just safer if we’re two,” the man said, fully intent on sending Taurus on his way back and staying with Alleya on his own, he had had enough of their fighting and the only way to get them to stop was to keep them apart it seemed.

The man lifted his blue gaze to look over at the door, Taurus was still in there meaning that, hopefully, he had listened to at least some of what Niké had told him. The young man had really shown his true colors during these past few days and Niké wouldn't be able to stand him for much longer, he'd met far too many people like Taurus who thought they were some type of hotshot the moment they got even the slightest amount of power, and most often they would abuse that small amount of power.

((Sorry it's short, threw it together quickly, gotta leave for work heh))

"We should leave soon."

Niké felt relieved that she simply agreed to him going with, he didn't have the energy to argue after all. With a nod he stood up, scooping the kitten up as he did.

The sound of the door to the hideaway opening made him turn his head to look at Taurus coming out from the hideaway with a sour expression on his face.

"Come on idiots, let's go tell Theo that the hotel sucks and the hideaway rules."

Niké rolled his eyes at the man. Alleya could be annoying in her stubborn and overly-talkative way but Taurus was an absolute brat, it wasn't often he got the urge to hit someone just for being who they were but Taurus made him want to do so.

Biting the inside of his cheek a bit to keep from saying something to piss the man off more again, Niké let his gaze follow the man as he started walking off in the direction that they had come from. He glanced at Alleya before calling out after Taurus.

“You go ahead, we’ll be right behind you!” Niké then turned to the redhead next to him and asked, “Where to then? We should probably try to be at least a bit quick about this.”

Maybe it was because he was tired or because he was annoyed with Taurus that he didn't care to give an explanation as to why they wouldn't be coming with him immediately, possibly a mix of both. In fact with the way Taurus had been acting, he wouldn't feel bad to ditch the man without a word and let him sweat for a bit, thinking that something could have happened to them while he was in charge. But that wouldn't be happening, instead Alleya added on what Niké assumed to be a lie, saying that they'd gather some food. It was a good lie, a believable one but it would also mean that they now had to actually find food too.

"This way."

The grey-haired man glanced down slightly at the hand Alleya grabbed but he stayed quiet and allowed her to hold onto it. His gaze then moved to the kitten in his other hand and he realized that he had a problem. With both hands occupied he wouldn't be able to smoke until either Alleya let go or he could find some other way to transport Iris. It hadn't been all too long since he’d last smoked though so he would last for a while at least.

He turned his pale blue gaze towards the woman dragging him along, usually she was one to talk non-stop when you walked somewhere with her, or just in general, but these past few days she'd mostly just either been quiet or fighting with Taurus, the annoyingly cheerful girl he'd met the first day seemed to have disappeared. He never thought that he would miss that side of Alleya but he did, not that he'd seen all too much of that side of her and while it had been really annoying it was also nice in a way. Nice to see that despite all the shit and cruel people in their way of life, you could still stay positive and happy.

As he walked he held Iris close to his chest, wanting to keep the kitten warm as the weather had started getting even colder these past few days and the kitten was still young and small, meaning she'd have trouble keeping warm on her own, that and she had short legs, it would take more than until dark for them to reach the place Alleya was heading for and to start heading back again. Since Iris seemed calm and at home being carried by him, he didn't find that it was necessary to even consider that though.

“So are you gonna tell me what we're doing or not?” Niké asked as he continued following the redhead towards the city, he was curious about what he was about to put himself through but he also didn't care if she didn't want to say, it was her decision and he would never force her to say unless the information was of actual importance to him.