Chapter 1

It was an another sunny day in Ergastulum. No gunshots were heard, no sound of dying screams, it was just an another rare peaceful day that you couldn't possibly less hope for.

Worick woke up feeling hungry that day. It was his turn sleeping on the bed while Alex sleeps on the couch. It was really comfortable and he felt well-rested. He slowly descended from his bed, his feet touching the cold floor. Alex was the first person he could think of with his current belly's state.

The gigolo opened the door and saw his lifetime partner was staring outside of the window.

Nicolas realized a presence was standing behind him, thus his dark eyes shifted toward the familiar.

"Mornin', Nic." Worick greeted as soon as he saw those small black eyes were on him.

"It's nine already, idiot."Nicolas signed with his peevish face.

"You're just an early bird. That's pretty early for me and you know that." Worick said carefreely as he scratched the back of his neck. When his half-lidded eye scanned around the room, he didn't find the dark skinned woman he was thinking of. "Hey, where's Al-chan?"

"Downstairs. She went there just now."

"Downstairs? What is she up to?"

"She said she's going to cook for breakfast."

"Seriously!? Niiice~ I'm going to check what she's cooking for us!" Worick said eagerly. His stomach was growling louder when he imagined the last meal that was cooked by Alex for the three of them. It was delicious. Worick's standard wasn't high at all. If a Gourmet says a meal was rotten, Worick would say it's good. If a Gourmet says it's average, Worick would say it's heavenly.

When the eyepatched man went downstairs, he didn't smell anything different. Nothing was tingling his nose. Wondering why, he finally saw the woman he was looking for was busy searching for something in the fridge.

"Al-chan?"

The said woman looked back. Her face looked surprised to see the topless man was standing on the stairway looking at her confusedly. She didn't expect him to wake up early.

"W-Worick! Good morning!"

"Good mornin', Al-chan. Nic said you're cooking somethin' for us?" Worick greeted back as he walked closer to the kitchen.

"Um... yeah. I want to cook something simple yet fulfilling like pasta. But it seems like..." Alex looked back inside towards the cold storage beside her, "we're out of any necessary ingredients." She said disappointedly.

"Oh man... Seriously? I never really pay that much attention on the fridge." Worick said as he sighed. There goes his long awaited breakfast.

"But we still have some milk though. You can drink that if you want."

"As if that would fill in my storage of energy..." But suddenly, an idea popped out from his genius brain. A little bit mischievous it seemed. "Oh, I know!"

Alex tilted her head, "What?"

"Go buy the ingredients in the market with Nic. He's idling, and today is our off day!" Said Worick happily.

Alex widened her eyes. Going to the market together with Nicolas? She was afraid it'd be awkward. Yet at the same time, Alex wanted to know more about the deaf Twilight. And this time... she might be able to know what's Nicolas' favorite meal.

"O-okay. The money?"

"Ask Nic for it. He has plenty." Worick grinned widely, "While you both away, I'm gonna take the shower then buy some cigars at Joel's. So take your time."

Alex nodded. Following what Worick told her to do, she went back upstairs to see Nicolas who would be her partner for shopping today.

Nicolas was looking at the birds who were flying on top of the Ergastulum's city. When those birds were finally gone, Nic stayed silent as he had always done and just stared off to nothing. He yawned and decided to just go back to the comfy couch, sleeping until the food was ready. He remembered the dark skinned woman's cooking was so-so in his tongue, but he wondered what about this time.

Unconsciously Nicolas was looking forward to it.

When the Twilight turned his body around, he saw the ex-prostitute was standing timidly in front of him. Looks like she had been waiting for him to see her.

"Hm?" Nicolas grunted.

"U-um... Worick told us to go shopping," Said Alex with her eyes tried their hardest to make eye contact, "he said we should go together. He's going to take a shower first then buy some cigars in Joel-san's shop."

Nicolas grunted again. Alex really couldn't tell wether or not the Twilight man was unhappy or care about it. Happy wouldn't suit his usual peevish face she guessed. Nevertheless, the deaf man answered her with his hand sign language.

"The money?"

Alex had to think for awhile. She was trying to remember anything she had learned inside the book. When the memory hit her, Alex signed 'you' back to Nicolas. It was really simple like 'thank you'.

Nicolas grunted louder this time. He didn't like the idea of using his own share for buying some groceries, but he really couldn't disobey Worick for that. On top of that, going alone with a woman outside of work made him feel uncomfortable. The only one he could stand was Nina. But that's because Nina was still a little girl, different than Alex who was fully a grown-up. Ten years gap of difference with her couldn't put his light uneasiness at ease.

Without saying any words, Nicolas walked away from the window. Seeing that made Alex hung down her head. Maybe the idea of wanting to know about him better by shopping together was wrong. She should've known Nic didn't like to be alone with her.

However, the dark-skinned woman saw a shadow was looming over her. She suddenly felt a poke on her shoulder. Alex looked up and saw Nicolas was staring down at her with his small eyes. But Alex didn't see any annoyance or irritated expression in there.

"What Are yOu waitIng foR?" Nicolas spoke out loud with his broken speech, "Let's gO."

Alex got dumbfounded. She jerked her head up, and she couldn't suppress her smile which successfully looked awkward.

"Y-yes!"

The two Benriya walked outside as Worick secretly stood over the wall and smiling behind them.

A/N:

You don't have any idea how happy I am when fanfiction agreed on my request to put up GANGSTA in the list.

And there there's 18 fanfics here already and lots of them are my otp's stories which is NicoLex.

THANK GOD.