It would have gone almost unnoticed in most circumstances, but the two sat in their silent apartment at god knows what hour in the early morning. They had just returned after their big assignment to hunt down someone abusing their powers, and have Milo erase the memories of the victims. It took a lot out of both of them and they were ready to fall asleep where they were seated on the couch, but Nikolai had said he hadn’t got hurt in the fight, even in the spoken report to the boss of that night's events, yet he was caught by Milo when Nikolai went to turn the knob of the apartment door, but immediately let go like he had been electrocuted. A sharp hiss pulled through his teeth.

Now here they were, Nikolai being obedient like a kid who just got let out of time out, and Milo assessing the damage to the bruising wrist, bag of half eaten dino nuggets being used as an impromptu ice pack.

So when Nikolai cleared his throat and the sound seemed to cut off with a slight jump in his chest, Milo didn’t think much of it, but then it happened much more aggressively.

Where the two sat nearly knee to knee, Niko’s arm resting on Milo’s lap as he gingerly moved the wrist to make sure it didn’t seem broken before he wrapped it for the night, Nikolai very clearly jerked with the sudden spasm. A clear yet quiet ‘hmk!’ In the back of his throat.

Milo couldn’t help but look over at his work partner, who’s neck sucked in enough to see clavicle, a deep and hard hiccup that almost seemed to pull in the chest while stomach popped and made the man appear to jerk back slightly. As rough as they looked, they were silent or made a very soft sound.