Relationships: Charles Rowland & Niko Sasaki
Additional Tags: POV Niko Sasaki, Post-Canon, Platonic Cuddling, Niko Sasaki Lives, or is brought back anyway!, Niko Week Day 5: Charles | Mystery, Friendship
“If you’re not here for Crystal, is there something you were looking for?”
“I’m here for you, actually,” Charles says, and he gives a small laugh like he isn’t sure how well that will go over. “We’re friends too, yeah?”
“Oh!” Niko’s eyes are wide for a moment, because she knows that she is friends with Charles, she is friends with lots of people, and she is especially friends with Crystal and Edwin which would make her friends with Charles by virtue of the transitive property. She hadn’t quite realized that they were friends who go out of their way to check in on each other, but she doesn’t mind it at all. “We definitely are.”
Principal: I read your report about that incident with the demon.
Night Nurse: It should not bother those detectives again. Not without first filing all the correct paperwork, at least.
Principal: You handled it quite well.
Night Nurse: Thank you, Your Finality.
Principal: I am pleased to see you getting along with your new team. Do you enjoy working with them?
Night Nurse: I appreciate being a productive member of the Lost and Found Department and ensuring that dead children are helped along to their afterlives.
Principal: Yes, well, that’s not what I asked, is it?
Night Nurse: No, I do not enjoy working with children who should be properly processed. They try my patience at every opportunity!
Principal: And yet, when one of them was in danger of being taken unwillingly to his afterlife, you intervened.
Night Nurse: That Payne boy is currently an employee of the Lost and Found Department and he has proven skilled at helping ghosts resolve their unfinished business so they can move on. We do not allow valuable assets to be lost. Besides, these children are under my protection, and the denizens of Hell would do well to remember that.
Principal: It couldn’t be that you’ve grown fond of them?
Night Nurse: Of course not. I simply will not permit my charges to be stolen away while under my supervision. I have standards to maintain.
Principal: I see. Did I ever tell you how I get involved in this line of work?
Night Nurse: I do not believe so.
Principal: It is quite the story. Perhaps one day I shall tell it to you. But the main reason was that I cared about people and wanted to help. Just as those detectives care about the people they help.
Night Nurse: Affection for lost children is not a necessary prerequisite for assisting them to their designated afterlives. It does not make the paperwork go any faster.
Principal: No. Perhaps love is not necessary in life or death. It does not make things go more smoothly. But it does make things better.
I made a playlist for Niko! These are songs I think she would listen to, but also songs that I think would bring us together as friends. her genuine kindness and love for her family and friends being the source of her strength is so inspiring, and I wish we got to see more of her special flavor of courage in a second season. Niko, you make me smile, and have shown me that to be kind in a cruel world is a strength rather than a weakness. You remind me to cherish and spread love wherever and however I can. Thank you for giving me courage when I need it most - every dandelion i see makes me smile all the more because of you. You never know how the good you do will come back around; Hopefully you will get the chance to continue your story in a season 2!!
[id: A watercolor picture of Niko and Crystal, from the show Dead Boy Detectives, hugging. Niko is to the right side of the picture, and Crystal is on the left. The picture cuts off above both characters' waists. Niko has a slightly open mouthed and wide eyed expression. Only the back of Crystal's head is shown, and her hair is worn mostly loosely, but with space buns. Niko is wearing all white, and her hair is worn mostly loosely, but with two braids shown. Crystal is wearing a baggy, muted green jacket, with faint red and white stripes. The background is in the colors of the lesbian flag, starting at dark pink nearest to the characters in the picture, then going to light pink, white, orange, and then red. There is some black in the upper corners also. /end id]
@niko-week Day 7: Love
Originally this was just supposed to be a little watercolor of the goodbye hug these two had in episode 8, for Day 3 and the prompt of Crystal. I, however, did not finish it in time, and just ended up dedicating my time to this one peice for Niko Week. I added the lesbian flag colored background so as to have it better fit the theme for Day 7, and thus be somewhat connected to Niko in relation to the ship of Palasaki, (and thus love.)
I haven’t gotten around to finishing this yet, because finals season has kicked me in the ass, but I still wanted to share something for @niko-week, so here we are:
Niko week day 6: Resurrection | Friends
The beginning part of my in-progress, post-resurrection Niko fic, in which Niko deals with the struggles of being back on earth after spending an indeterminate amount of time in another plane, and also reminisces on her early days in Port Townsend. This is also known as the fic where I give Niko my anxiety/panic attacks—sorry, Niko TT. (She gets comfort eventually, don’t worry)
—
Niko used to get panic attacks, after her dad died.
Or, at least, she’s pretty sure that’s what they were. They didn’t feel like the normal panic attacks, like you see in movies—the hyperventilating, thousand-yard-stare, breath into a paper bag kind of panic attack—but the counselor at Grey Wake told her anxiety could present in lots of ways.
They started after she moved to Port Townsend, not right after he died, so maybe it was more a combination of sadness and homesickness. Niko had never had panic attacks before; she didn’t know how they were supposed to feel.
The first time it happened, in her new dorm at Grey Wake, Niko thought maybe she was sick. She started to feel nauseous, so she tried to go to sleep—she usually felt better after she slept—but laying down just made it worse. It just made her notice it more. Then she started shaking, so hard her teeth were chattering, like she’d been out in the cold too long, but her dorm wasn’t that cold. She couldn’t stop it, no matter what she did. She just kept feeling nauseous, and she could hear her heart pounding, so loud it was rushing in her ears, and it was a little hard to breath—like the air didn’t want to go in her lungs, and once it was there, it just wanted to leave. Like it didn’t like it in there.
Niko thought it fit. She didn’t really like it here, either. She knew English fine—she’d gone to an international school since she was five, and her dad spoke it with her a lot—but she was a whole ocean away from home, and she’d never been to a boarding school before. She didn’t know where anything was, and she didn’t know anybody besides the counselor. She thought about asking her roommate for help, but she didn’t know her at all, either. She wanted—
She wanted to call her dad. He always knew what to do, if she was feeling sick, or scared, or sad. He’d make her a cup of tea and sit with her until she fell asleep, or he’d tell jokes to make her laugh, or he’d stop telling jokes and just let her cry into his neck.
Niko could have gotten up and made herself tea with the electric kettle she brought from home, but she didn’t want to wake her roommate. Besides, her hands were shaking too much, and she was sort of afraid that if she moved too much, she’d throw up.
She didn’t want to throw up. She’d always hated throwing up.
Niko ended up falling asleep eventually—although really, it sort of felt like her body had fallen asleep, while her mind just kept goinggoinggoing so fast she forgot she had a body at all. Then there was a tiny little stretch of time when she couldn’t remember feeling anything, then her alarm went off, and she felt so tired and scared she wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. She could hear her roommate getting ready, though, and she didn’t want to cry on her so soon after meeting her. That wasn’t how people made friends.
Niko missed her first class that day, and she missed getting breakfast in the dining hall. Her dad always said you shouldn’t start the day on an empty stomach, so she sat on her bed and ate a cereal bar and a yoghurt—which wasn’t really breakfast, but it was better than going hungry, probably. She only ate half the cereal bar before she started to feel sick again and had to put the rest in her pocket.
The attacks did get better, after that. Niko started being able to catch them earlier, and she realized that if she laid down quick enough after starting to feel weird, she could usually fall asleep without them keeping her up.
Her grades didn’t get any better, though. And she never made any friends. Niko had always been very confident in her American accent when she was in Osaka—her teacher told her she had the best in class—but whenever she spoke at Grey Wake, she didn’t feel so confident anymore.
It felt like everyone was laughing at her, or like they were just waiting for her to be done talking. It felt like she was drowning, a little bit; like she was a fish out of water (which is sort of the opposite of drowning), and they were all staring at her and waiting for her to stop flopping around. She was getting tank water all over the floor.
By the time Niko moved into the little room above Jenny’s shop, she had already dropped out, and the panic attacks—or whatever they were—had pretty much stopped. Maybe it helped, that she could get up and make herself tea whenever she started to feel shaky. Or maybe it was just that she didn’t have to think about everyone staring at her anymore.
After Crystal, Edwin, and Charles got Litty and Kingham out, Niko wondered if maybe her panic attacks had just been a weird side effect of having two super tiny mean people in her head draining her life force. But the timelines didn’t line up at all. Part of the reason she’d gone dandelion-hunting in the first place was because she’d thought maybe a walk in the forest would make her feel better, and her dad had always said that dandelions gave you courage.
It would have been sort of a cop-out, anyway, if it was just her live-in attention parasites giving her panic attacks.
This is the fifth night Niko’s had a panic attack since coming back from the Polar Bear Plane. No sprites to speak of this time. Litty and Kingham went back to being little when Niko came back from the Polar Bear Plane, and now they’re flying around London doing whatever sprites do when a ghost casts a magic spell to make them not need to harvest people for attention anymore. They visit sometimes.
The attacks are kind of worse this time, because instead of just shaking, Niko’s cold, too. Her nose and ears and fingertips hurt, and her jaw aches from how hard she’s clenching it to keep her teeth from chattering, and she can feel goosebumps popping up all over her arms. She keeps piling more blankets onto her bed, and making hot tea and spicy ramen, but none of it really helps. It’s not that kind of cold.
It feels like the snow burrowed inside her and came along when she came back, or maybe like she isn’t all the way back, after all. Maybe there’s still a part of her sitting in that igloo, huddled up in her poofy pink parka, catching flickers of the northern lights through the little arched door.
The northern lights had been pretty. Niko misses them, a little bit, sometimes. The sky in London is so empty; it makes her feel lonely, if she thinks about it for too long.
She could go see Crystal.
Crystal pulled something with her landlord, after Niko came back, so they could add her to the contract on Crystal’s new two-bedroom apartment. The last four times Niko has had a panic attack, she’s gone to Crystal, or Crystal’s come to her, and they’ve talked and cuddled until Niko calmed down enough to fall asleep. A couple times, Crystal tried something with her powers that really helped—but Niko is pretty sure it was just Crystal being there that helped the most.
She really wants to go see Crystal. But it’s one in the morning, and Crystal has already done way too much for her. She has plenty of her own issues without also having to deal with Niko’s—trying to fix everything she messed up when she was Old Crystal, figuring out her weird new powers, trying to handle her parents and also go to school. Niko can take care of herself for a night.
Except she really, really doesn’t want to be alone.
Maybe she could go out into the hall and call her mom. It’s 1 AM in London, which means it’s 9 AM in Japan. Maybe they could talk about dad.
Niko shivers. She doesn’t want to talk about dad right now. Talking about him without being able to hug her mom when they both probably cry will just make her sadder. And her mom is probably at work right now.
Maybe—
The apartment Crystal bought for herself when she moved back to London is in the building next to the Dead Boy Detectives’ office. Crystals need sleep, but Charleses and Edwins don’t. And Edwin did say their doors would always be open for Niko.
Late to @niko-week but sneaking in at (almost) the last minute!
For Day 4 "AUs" and/or Day 6 "Friends"
I firmly believe Niko and the Cat King are destined to be fashionably chaotic best friends in every universe 💖🐈
Didn't have time to write the fic I wanted to do, about Niko and TCK becoming besties when Niko volunteers at TCK's cat rescue. But I did manage to create this cute little moodboard/graphic for my existing story Is this some kind of candy-coloured shovel talk?, a fun little interlude when Niko meets the Cat King and plays the world's best wing-woman in my modern Catwin AU Dress me up and take me down.
The full TCK & Niko bestfriendism fic will happen someday! 💗💗💗
Meanwhile, a little teaser from "candy-coloured":
He’s trying to signal the bartender when something pink and white fills the edge of his vision. He blinks and the burst of colour resolves itself into Ghostie’s fairy princess friend from earlier. She is smiling brightly and bouncing a little on her toes. “Hi hi hiii, mister cat!”
Thomas tries to give her his usual charming grin, but it feels forced and he can tell he’s not quite hitting the mark. Her extreme perkiness is also slightly unnerving. “Uh, hi. And I’m a Cat King, actually.” He stutters the words out and wants to roll his eyes at himself. He’s floundering so bad. Since when does getting rejected by a guy completely knock him off his game. Ugh, embarrassing.
She only tilts her head curiously. “What’s a Cat King?”
And he’s not going to give her the same line he gave his handsome ghost, but without the flirtatious option the direct question has him stumbling. “It’s…a king of cats. Like their ruler or whatever.”
“That is super cool,” she says very intensely. Like, way too serious for the answer he gave, what the hell.
He really wants that drink now. “Thanks? Anyway. If you’re looking for your friend, he took off.”
“No, I know where he is,” she says, shaking her head. “I wanted to talk to you.” She looks very determined, staring up at him with wide brown eyes shining with something Thomas can’t identify.
Oh god, is this some kind of aggressively candy-coloured shovel talk?
[id: a collage featuring the Cat King and Niko as well as images of conversation hearts, a glass of whiskey, and a flurry of neon hearts with the words "Is this some kind of candy-coloured shovel talk?" /end id]
[id: a traditional drawing of Niko in opalescent shades of pink and white, eyes closed as she holds the bear totem in her hands. A flare of light comes off the bear and it is haloed by light, casting shadows across Niko and her flowing outfit /end id]
Niko didn’t want to die. She had a very rational fear of death. But she risked her life to try to rescue the boys, and when Esther threw the spell at Crystal, Niko didn’t hesitate to put herself between them. Friends were worth risking everything for. Worth dying for.
But they were also worth coming back for.
Niko knew she could follow the blue light to Death and her afterlife, if she chose to. She might even see her dad again. But instead, she marched across the frozen tundra with the two sprites arguing as they trailed in her wake. She was going to find her way back home. Back to her friends. No matter how long it took.
Niko hadn’t spent much one-on-one time with Charles. He was almost always hanging around Edwin or Crystal. Niko was a huge fan of the Sunshine One/ Grumpy One dynamic in romance, and Charles was clearly the Sunshine One with both of them. He seemed to get along with everybody he met, and he was always cracking jokes and trying to set people at ease. Charles was the one who made being a detective seem fun.
Yes, what they were doing was dangerous and scary, and yes, it was really sad how a lot of the ghosts they helped had died. But they were solving mysteries and helping people, and that was something to smile about. Plus, there was something fun about a mystery to solve, although Niko liked it better when they didn’t involve ax-murderers or stalker girlfriends with knives.
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