Cardinal Gray • CEO of shapes and teeth

(Both Nico and Niners use he/him pronouns and are cis gay men! I'm gonna keep the phrasing of the questions as they are listed in the OG post but yee, had to get that out of the way just in case)

1. Are they talkative?

Niners is more of a listener than a talker, honestly! He's pretty quiet and reserved, which tends to add to the air of seriousness and intimidation he has about him.

It's not like he doesn't have things to say, mind you - on the contrary, he's delightful to have conversations with, be it just small talk or deep, thought-provoking stuff.

He does get more talkative with Nico though, which his partner very much enjoys. To him, it feels like he gets to peer into that side of Niners that only a choice few - Nico himself included - get to witness. Plus, it just proves that the love of his life is comfortable around him, and that's always a good thing! <3

10. Do they need their hands occupied a lot? If so, what do they do?

(I also want to add that Niners being more of a listener goes hand in hand with Nico being more of a talker! So they complete each other in a way ;v;)

Niners doesn't need to keep his hands busy, per se, buuut I guess you could say that he does have certain gestures/hand poses that he finds the most comfortable.

He usually interlocks his fingers and rests both hands either around one knee when sitting with one leg placed over the other, or has both hands, palms down, resting on his legs close to the knees.

When standing somewhere - waiting for something or simply being idle - Niners tends to either have arms resting at his sides, fingers curled towards the palm (kinda forming a fist but not really? I hope this makes sense 😭), or with both arms being behind his back ooor sometimes in front of him. The latter - just like his more quiet nature - also add to the whole strict vibe Niners has going on.

A little more rarely buuuut he sometimes stands with his hands on his hips (specifically with the thumb, pointer and middle fingers sorta forming this "tripod" shape, being the main "points" through which the weight is distributed, while the rest of the fingers kinda hang freely).

When thinking or laughing, Niners tends to draw one hand closer to his face. In both cases fingers are curled with only the pointer finger (or, rather, its middle knuckle) slightly brushing against or touching his lower lip.

While sleeping, Niners usually has his hands resting around the ribs/waist area, elbows touching the mattress/the surface he's sleeping on, with either both hands clasped together at the fingers or with one hand lightly holding the other one at the wrist (this is if sleeping on his back). If he's sleeping on his side, the arm of the side he's sleeping on is stretched more forward in front of him, while the hand of the other one is positioned in such a way that it's kinda pushing lightly against the surface/mattress.

Nico has fun gestures too! But unlike Niners, he does need to occupy his hands from time to time, or at least it just feels more comfortable putting them somewhere.

A lot of the time Nico has a cigarette resting between the pointer and middle finger, hanging there between each drag he takes. Despite being right-handed, he tends to hold cigarettes in his left hand.

When waiting for something or starting to feel impatient/annoyed, he tends to drum with his fingers against a surface - usually a desk/counter/steerinh wheel of car (if we're talking about the main universe) - while trying to find something to occupy his mind with. This drumming is more of a mindless - and maybe even a restless - thing, something to just keep his hands moving, motor skills working, which in turn keeps his brain going, if that makes sense.

When standing, Nico either has his arms crossed over his chest (with most of the fingers sitting under his arm, only thumbs sticking out and facing upwards) or they're resting in his pockets/around belt-loops (if it's the latter then thumbs are sticking through said belt-loops, with the rest of the hand just chilling there). Both of these poses solidify the confident and no-nonsense vibe the mans has.

When sleeping - and this is also kinda connected to question 22 in a way -, Nico has his arms crossed over his chest (similar to what was mentioned in the paragraph above), if he's sleeping on his side and back. Though, in this case, this gesture is more of a self-soothing mechanism rather than something that showcases confidence. Here the crossed arm pose is kinda like a self-hug, maybe even a defensive thing, helping Nico feel safe, even if he's not doing that consciously or for this reason specifically. If you'd ask him why he sleeps like that, he'd just reply with "I dunno, just feels nice and cozy. What of it?".

Back to explaining, though! He usually sleeps like that when lying on his stomach, either fully or in a 3/4 kind of way - on his stomach but also a little bit on his side, if this makes sense. One arm is drawn close to the body, curled at the wrist and positioned snuggly near the chest, hand resting close to the chin (or more like underneath it), left shoulder, neck and chest all at the same time, while the other arm is away from the body on the other side, twisted sligtly and bent at the elbow.

The other gesture/hand pose he does in his sleep is curling one hand towards his face and chest. I kinda dubbed it the kitty paw curl since it seemed to be the most fitting and helps visualize the pose itself a bit better. And, let's be real, a true cat dad would sleep in a kitty paw curl pose! It just makes sense.

I'd like to mention that some of the hand positions in their sleep change a bit when they're snoozing next to each other!

Here are a few examples:

When sleeping face to face, Niners usually has one arm stretched out beneath the pillows (mostly under Nico's pillow, with the hand peeking out from underneath it), while the other one rests positioned palm down on Nico's side (sometimes on top of the blanket and sometimes under it). One of Nico's arms tends to rest either under or over Niners' (specifically, Niners' arm that rests palm down on Nico's side), stretching all the way past his back, either dangling off the bed if they're sleeping too close to the edge or "noodled" close to Niners' back, while the other arm is either bent at the elbow and tucked close to Nico's chest ooor straightened out and sandwiched close to Niners.

When Nico is sleeping with his back facing Niners, he usually has his arms crossed over his chest, his partner hugging him from behind, with one arm stretched out underneath the pillows while the other has been slid under Nico's crossed arms.

If Niners is the one sleeping with his back facing Nico, Nico has one arm around his partner - either close to his chest and kinda hugging him by the torso or stretched outwards, reaching over diagonally, just resting both on Niners' waist and on the bed, while the other one rests further away from Nico back/other side, slightly bent at the elbow. In this pose both are sleeping more on their stomach and side, with Nico's face always resting on Niners' shoulder or shoulder blade.

13. Any food they avoid for reasons other than taste?

Had to think long and hard about this, felt like I was - and still am - blanking out on some details buuut here's the ones that I managed to fish out from my ocean of OC lore and fun little details.

I feel like the list of foods that Nico avoids isn't that big but the few things that are in there are the biggest offenders – extra mushy, watery tomatoes, reheated noodles/macaroni, and those toffee candies that get stuck in your teeth.

Let's get the least offensive thing out of the way - the candies. Sweet stuff is a big yes in Nico's book and these specific candies are usually very delicious, yes, but. BUT. Dealing with the sticky feeling and trying to pry out - first with your tongue and then with your nails/fingera - the bits and pieces that are basically fused to your teeth now is not worth it. Or, at least, not on a frequent basis.

Now the other two, the tomatoes and the noodles/macaroni, fall into the same category - texture. Nico's more than okay with tomatoes in general, both as a stand-alone thing and as an ingredient, but something about an extra (and by "extra" I mean TOO MUCH, like genuinely overly too much) watery and mushy tomato is just not it 😔

Reheated noodles/macaroni just feel plain wrong texture-wise. Especially-..! Especially, if you have a container of them and you had it chilling in a fridge, as one does, and then everything got mish-mashed together, almost uniting into some kind of unholy amalgam of pasta. Also, something about cold pasta almost makes him wanna gag sooo yeah <:'D

Hope that paints a vivid enough picture.

22. Are they used to sleeping around others or alone?

Both are very much used to sleeping around each other at this point, feeling safe and relaxed enough to either drift off to dreamland together or while the other one is awake.

When around strangers (and being completely alone, without the other partner or friends/acquaintances nearby), either of the men finds it hard to feel sufficiently at ease to nap, let alone sleep.

I guess, in a sense, Nico is used to sleeping around others even before he meets Niners - he does have cats after all. It was a bit tough to sleep around them at first when they were kittens because he felt too alert to every move and noise, but once they grew up a little it got way easier! Now kitties sleep next to Nico - and on top of him too - and he doesn't bat an eye.

And even before that, he did live with Olivia - his older sister - so sleeping around someone was a skill he did possess.

(Technically, Nico does lose this skill for quite a bit between his sister dying [main universe, Don't Cry Mercy project] / disappearing [ffxiv AU] and Niners showing up [as well as Olivia reappearing in the ffxiv AU] but he does get it back.)