Breakdown

Chapter 17: Nagi

Nagi was surprised to hear loud thumping when he arrived home from school. It sounded like someone was throwing a basketball continuously against the wall. Of course he knew that no one in the house owned a basketball, or something of the like, so it had to be something else. When Nagi heard loud cursing in an undeniable Irish accent, he knew exactly what that something was.

The teen dropped his book bag on the floor by his discarded shoes and hurried off to Farfarello's room. He tried to tell the Irishman to back away from the door so he could open it, but that just elicited more shouts and, surprisingly, cries for help. In the end, Nagi had to force his way into the room, knocking Farfarello over and onto his mattress by the door. He watched the albino quickly roll over, still clad in his straightjacket, and awkwardly stand before making a break for the door.

"Out of me fuckin' way!" he yelled and breezed past the stunned youth. It was when he heard another familiar voice close by that he realized he wasn't alone in the room.

"Schuldig?" Nagi asked in surprise, wondering why the German hadn't helped Farfarello leave the room if he was shouting and hurling his body at the closed door.

"Oh Nagi! I'm so glad you're here!" Schuldig said, throwing himself at the boy, squeezing the life out of him in what was an attempted hug.

Instantly uncomfortable with the embrace, Nagi blasted him off with his energy. "Don't touch me Schuldig," he said in a monotone. "Now what are you doing in here? And why did Farf want to get out so badly?" He also wanted to know why the Irishman was still in his straightjacket when he should have been let out hours and hours ago.

Schuldig picked himself up and sat cross-legged on his bed, pouting. "You sound like Crawford."

Nagi frowned. "I don't care who I sound like. Why were you holding Farf hostage?"

The German wrinkled his nose at the implication. "I wasn't," he rectified, "I was just telling him how miserable it is to be me."

Nagi sighed and rolled his eyes, in no mood to hear about the misery of Schuldig's life for himself, so he avoided the question. "How long has he been in the jacket?"

"Um…" The German looked thoughtful and then shrugged. "I dunno. What time is it?"

Nagi didn't bother glancing at his watch. "I just got home from school. It's late afternoon."

"Oh…all day then, I guess."

Nagi's jaw dropped unconsciously. "What!? He was locked up all day?"

Schuldig grinned innocently. "Well I got talking and lost track of time."

"Well did you at least give him anything to eat?" Nagi asked, hoping the answer was yes.

Schuldig shook his head. "No, but I haven't eaten anything either if it makes you feel any better."

"I don't care that you failed to feed yourself, Schuldig. You're supposed to take care of Farf. This isn't always about you, idiot."

"But if you knew what I went through—" Schuldig began to whine, but Nagi cut him off.

"I really don't care." And with those words, he left the German and went off to find Farfarello, who happened to be in the kitchen, clumsily trying to slice through the straight jacket with a knife he'd taken out of the butcher block with his teeth. All he'd managed to do was to make a few nicks in the fabric with a strange, and very dangerous bobbing action. Nagi was afraid that he would end up impaling himself so he quickly grabbed the knife from him and set it down on the counter.

"Turn around and I'll let you out," he said.

Farfarello complied without hesitation. "He was drivin' me fuckin' insane. And that's sayin' a lot, isn't it?" He muttered seriously.

Nagi nodded and freed him from the jacket. "You should have told him to let you out."

"Don't you think I tried? He's becomin' more sadistic than I am. I thought he wanted my ears to bleed or something."

The youth frowned. "Where's Crawford? Why didn't he do something?"

Farfarello shrugged and stretched out his limbs. "Couldn't rightly tell you. Schu said something about him barricading himself in his office. I don't frankly blame him, but it's also the reason why I was tortured all day," he smirked suddenly, an amused gleam in his eye, "It almost happened, you know."

Nagi didn't know. "What did?" he asked, staring into the Irishman's one good eye.

"What I said should happen," Farfarello grinned, "Schu and Crawford almost hurt God last night, but Crawford ended up being too much of a man for Schuldig to handle."

"What?" Nagi's brow furrowed, "They were going to…"

"Fuck," Farfarello finished his sentence and nodded. "But Schu fainted after one kiss and now Crawford's ignorin' him. I found it hilarious at first, but after listening to him whine all day…" he paused and glanced at the knife on the counter, "It's a good thing he didn't let me out."

"…" Nagi didn't know what to say now. He was stunned. He believed what Farfarello told him, but at the same time, he couldn't fathom why Crawford would actually go for Schuldig. They just didn't work together in his opinion.

Farfarello snorted as he watched the confused youth. "Don't think too hard. Crawford won't want yer head to explode before you can plan our next mission."

Nagi frowned. "Do you want something to eat?"

The Irishman shrugged and pushed away from the counter. "Not now," he said, moving to leave the kitchen.

Nagi watched him go. "Where are you going?"

Farfarello laughed and pulled a knife out of his vest, taking a gouge out of the doorframe as he walked through and slashed at it. "Gotta piss," he chuckled darkly. "Then I'm going to tell Schu a story…"

Nagi shook his head. "Don't hurt him, Farf. And here, put that back in your room," he said, tossing the crazed albino his straight jacket. "And don't use that on Schuldig either," he thought he add in warning.

Farfarello looked back at him and grinned, slinging the jacket over his shoulder. "Just like a little Crawford," he said, "Are you sure you don't have a secret crush on Schu too?"

"No of course not," Nagi grumbled. "Don't be stupid. But don't hurt Schuldig anyway. Crawford won't be happy."

"Fine," Farfarello said simply. It always amazed Nagi how easily the Irishman complied. He never put up a fight when anyone told him to do, or not to do something. If only Schuldig could do the same.

Nagi watched his teammate leave the kitchen and then set about making himself a snack and something for Farfarello to stab at later. He then walked his plate into the living room and sat in front of the television to watch a few shows before starting in on his homework.

He'd only been sitting for five minutes when Schuldig slumped into the room and flopped heavily onto the couch, propping his feet up on the cushions and nearly in Nagi's lap, sighing dramatically, woefully, trying to get the youth's attention. Nagi ignored him as he usually did and pointedly turned up the volume on the television to tune him out.

Schuldig pouted. "What are you watching?" he moaned, "This is boring. What's going on?"

Nagi shoved his legs off the couch. "Shut up. I'm trying to watch this."

The German sat up on the couch and folded his arms, scowling at the screen. "Can't you find something more interesting? Flip to one of my channels."

"I was here first," Nagi said, wrinkling his nose at the idea of switching to one of Schuldig's preferred shows. "And I am not watching porn."

"Why not?" Schuldig complained, "It's good for any boy your age."

"No," Nagi said flatly.

"I can give you a live demonstration if you want…"

Nagi felt Schuldig shift closer and by that time he'd had enough. He got up and angrily walked off to Crawford's office. As he walked past Farfarello's room, he felt the Irishman's gaze on him and heard him laughing and calling him a tattletale, but he didn't care. When he got to his leader's door, he knocked a few times loudly and waited for the cue to enter, but there was no answer. He knocked again and this time announced his presence, hearing shuffling from inside and what he figured was a chair being pushed back. A minute or so later the door opened and Crawford was staring down at him.

"Yes Nagi?" the American said, glancing quickly up and down the hallway, probably looking out for an annoying redhead.

Nagi sighed. "You have to tell Schuldig to get out of the house or something. He won't leave me and Farf alone. And did you know that Farf was locked in his room all day?"

Crawford immediately frowned deeply and it was a few minutes before he answered the teen. "Tell Schuldig I want to see him," he said finally as he walked back into his office, leaving the door open.

Nagi nodded and went off to tell Schuldig the news, more than happy to get the German off his back. He was a little annoyed, however, when Schuldig almost trampled him as he rushed off to Crawford's office, running like he was afraid the American would suddenly change his mind and close the door on him again.

Only when Schuldig was safely inside the office did Nagi feel comfortable enough to go back to watching his show. He hoped that Crawford would keep the German occupied for a while, but when 'occupied' took on other meanings in the teen's mind, thanks to the mention of Schuldig's favourite form of entertainment, and what almost happened between Schwartz's leader and the redhead the night before, Nagi became uncomfortable and stopped paying attention to his show.

Annoyed, he hastily turned it off the television and went to his room, deciding to try and occupy his mind with something productive, like his homework. He blasted his music as he worked, making certain that if anything unusual was to happen in Crawford's office, he wouldn't overhear. And considering how things were transpiring lately, Nagi figured it was a worthy precaution.