#gravesnik

Nikolai has yet to see the blonde talk to John with even a facade of respect. In fact, he's yet to see Graves talk to anyone without antagonising them.

So, he's prepared to come face-to-face with the man. And when he attempts to get under Nikolai's skin, he treats the American like you do with any mutt that misbehaves.

He flicks Graves on the nose.

It's worth it to see the man's cheeks flush, left standing in stunned silence as he tries to generate a response. It doesn't escape Nikolai's notice that Graves worries his bottom lip between his teeth, dropping his gaze to the floor like a submissive animal.

cw: nikolai x graves, very silly, anal, slapping, oral cockwarming, brat taming, crying, daddy kink, degrading, praise, bondage, edging, graves is referred to with feminine pet names

"you cannot be serious." Nikolais voice sounds through the phone. he doesnt even sound mad, just amused. Ghost grunts.

"I'm dead fuckin' serious. He stopped us at the gate and told us he's taking the Vaquero base. Come and get your fucking brat." Nikolai laughs. Ghost doesn't. nobody does.

"put him on the phone."

in the middle of the shouting, the arguing, raised guns and threats, ghost struts right past it all to Graves. Graves raises an eyebrow at him.

"what the hell do you want big guy?" he hands him the phone, everyone around looks dumbfounded, shadows, Vaqueros and soap alike.

"it's for you." Graves brings the phone up to is ear hesitantly.

"Y'ello?"

"Phillip."

uh-oh.

This is gonna be a lot like the last one just without Price so it'll be interesting to see how that changes the dynamics

Feel free to submit ships or other questions about the ship like "Who takes the hottest shower?"

Who was the one to propose? Graves. He knows when he likes something and isn't going to shy away from keeping it

Who stressed more over wedding planning? Still Nik. I can see Graves being stressed at first but then he mentions it to a few of the Shadows closest to him and boom! He's got like a professional wedding planning team.

Who decorated the house? Graves. Nik wanted to but Graves has so much gifted to him from his Shadows they had no choice. Of course, the only stuff that goes up is stuff Graves likes. He's got class, after all.

Who is more organized? Once again going off the idea that Graves is really good at keeping up appearances of being organized, but it's Nik that's keeping track of stuff. They make an incredibly well-functioning duo which scares people. Truly a power couple

Who suggested kids first? Still Nik as a genuine topic. Graves gives in pretty easily, especially when they find the cutest little girl and take her in. Now, all I'm picturing is Graves waltzing into Shadow Base with their little girl just proudly showing her off. Idk why this is a thought I had with this, but Graves calls Nik his "big bear" cause like, duh? And it kinda sticks until they adopt their daughter and then suddenly he's "Papa Bear" and she's little "Pooh Bear". So of course Graves got her a little bear onesie complete with ears on the hood. And she's running around on the base, and the Shadows are all 'screaming' "There's a bear loose!" and it takes a bold Moose to rein the terrible monster in *I am not sorry, Mike :D* Another super cute idea relating to NikGraves and their toddler: Graves, holding her up like Simba in that one scene: BEHOLD, A CHILD! *cheers and screaming from the Shadows. There are some of them crying* *Graves could not be happier*

Who's the cuddler? Nik is still the cuddlier one. Graves gets dogpiled a lot during the day, but poor Nik has no one to cuddle "except for you, lyubov ;)"

Big spoon/little spoon? They interchange a lot, but Graves does his best to be a big spoon, even if he secretly melts when Nik just wraps around him from behind.

Favorite non-sexual activity? Horse back riding. I dunno I just see them doing that for some reason. They continue going to the same place after adopting 'Pooh Bear' because there's a special program for young families (ie families with small children) and she's just giggling madly while riding the cutest pony. (This idea has possessed me. This is your fault, @mike-like-t-scream all yours! We're just trading brainworms at this point, aren't we? First it was you with Moose, then me with the fucking YouTuber AU, and then you with Graves, and now me with NikGraves and their toddler daughter)

Who cooks? Graves. He knows how to feed his man. Mostly cause his Southern ass would drop dead if the love of his life hadn't eaten properly all day

Who comes home drunk at 3am? Nik on the rare occasion, but if there was a party with the Shadows, it's Graves or one time it was both.

Who kills the spiders? Nik, but he's under watch. I genuinely feel like Graves is the type of mf-er to have been like "Oh, yeah, guys I got this" during his recruit days, only for him to have been bitten and break out into a horrendous allergic reaction. Nik and Graves both don't to risk him having another allergic reaction like that

Who falls asleep first? Even though Nik is a pretty chilled out, sleepy looking kind of guy, he's genuinely so bad about sleeping. Look at that man and tells me he gets the recommended amount of sleep at night, I fucking dare you. SO therefore, Graves always passes out the second he hits the mattress. He's either 100 or 0, no in between.

A head-canon? Graves actually has a few siblings, and he's still relatively close to his family. Close as in he enjoys visiting on the holidays and for special occasions but other than that, they don't really talk much. Not for bad reasons, just more like he and his siblings all grew up and have lives of their own now. His family members were not fans of Nik, at first. Especially Graves's parents. Hell, this guy's probably a good ten years older than Graves if I had to guess, and which means Graves's parents are about the same age distance apart, assuming they were in their twenty's when they had Phil. It took a while for them to all warm up to Nik, which he probably expected, but they were never outright mean to either Nik or Phil. His mom definitely voiced her concerns, and his dad definitely threatened Nik (to which Nik treated it with such seriousness and he like shook Graves Sr.'s hand with a grim "With my life, I will protect him" to which Graves Sr. is like "oh yeah, this dude's chill!"). ALSO Graves is definitely a middle child. He gives off such strong feral middle child vibes to me, I just... He's the middle child, I promise.

Do they have any rituals? Graves's rituals for safety, fun, and winning during the Shadow Olympics and Nik's stretches for safe flying.

Who has the most patience? Nik, obviously. This actually concerns his parents-in-law cause let's be honest, the Graves family is probably a bit messy and they all have pretty short tempers with each other. Meanwhile Nik's just chilling, he's vibing with the old family dog while his husband and brother-in-law are wrestling over the last burger, as if they both aren't in their forties.

Gif that sums up the relationship:

He makes repeated jabs at Johnny and his accent. He refers to Simon as a muzzled mutt and asks if he's neutered. He answers Kyle's queries with phrases like, "You can put your boots in the oven, but that don't make 'em biscuits." and refuses to elaborate because he enjoys watching the man's frustration build with every response.

John hates him; he's half tempted to stick his cock in the man's mouth just to give him a reason to be quiet, but he isn't certain that Graves doesn't know ASL. Nikolai finds him amusing, but he's always had an appreciation for a brat. There is a serious conversation about binding him to a chair and gagging him, but unfortunately, it doesn't come to fruition.

The only time he hears an actual complaint, it's muttered under Graves' breath, paired with an eyeroll and a juvenile huff. Like a toddler pouting at the lack of attention they're receiving. "I'm tellin' 6ft jokes, and everbody here's about 5'11."

John is furious at himself, riddled with self-loathing when his composure slips and for a split second, he smirks. He rights his face almost immediately, but it's too late because there's a blonde peering his way who looks utterly gleeful at the knowledge that he managed to break John.

And that's when his suffering truly begins. If Graves had been infuriating when trying to piss him off, he's intolerable when he doubles down on trying to amuse him.

That's why it confuses him, the blonde's uncharacteristically polite demeanour. Especially after a confrontation with John that nearly ended in the Captain socking him in the face.

So, when the man appears while he's mid-smoke, he asks.

"You, I can't figure out. You intend to help take down Makarov. Useful, bordering on respectful one minute, only to fall back on antagonistic the next. Why?"

Nikolai is both entertained and irritated as the American steals the cigarette from his hand mid drag, planting his lips where the pilot's had been just a mere second ago.

With an arrogant shrug of his shoulders, blowing smoke directly into Nikolai's face as he speaks, the man answers in a frustratingly Southern metaphor.