#nikgraves

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.

Ghost: I can't believe I'm about to do this...

Soap: Do what? Who are you calling?

Ghost: *mournfully sighs as he holds his phone up to his ear*

Ghost: ... before I say anything, is Nik in the same room as you? Good, make sure he doesn't leave because he'll try to kill me and you have no idea what all I know

Soap: *slowly looks over at Price who is slumped over the table passed out*

Ghoap x Graves is begrudgingly acceptance and slow redemption and ever slower romance.

Alerudy x Graves is starting with pure physical attraction and hatred, no redemption and no remorse, with a chuck of toxicity, then 3/4 in maybe a speck of romance if any. ‘I will fuck as much as I want and then i’m hunting you for sport then skin you alive’ mixed ‘missionary so we can continuing arguing’ personified. Literally so much tension that if it had a physical form they would choke each other out with it. With Alejandro and Rodolfo, it’s nice and sweet with each other meetings are done, there’s peace…but when Phillip enters a room?

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.

Nikpricegraves sleeping headcanons time!

Nik: despite being a very touchy and cuddly person when conscious, he tends to get night terrors if someone is holding him while he sleeps. He hates it. Back-sleeper. Occasionally snores if he doesn't have the right pillows.

John: privately devastated he can't cuddle Nik when they sleep, but he settles for holding onto his hand/arm. It works out in a way, since they both run warm and they don't want to sweat each other out of bed. Side or back sleeper. Snores, but not horribly.

Graves: Resident Ice Cube Alert! Will cuddle up to anyone warm nearby while asleep, so John has to sleep between him and Nik at first. But it works out bc now Graves can faceplant into John's chest to stay warm and John gets someone to hold. Front/side sleeper. Mumbles to himself (John finds this adorable).

I...very much enjoy this :)))

I am a firm believer that Nik runs hotter than a fuckin furnace so even if it was possible for John to cuddle with him while he sleeps, it would end up with Nik being thrown off the bed because John is sweating.

That being said, I also belive Nik is a napper and that when he naps, he doesn't go into a deep enough sleep to get dreams or nightmares of any kind. He is the kind of napper, however, that can and will fall asleep anywhere so when it's just him and one or both of his boys on a couch or chair somewhere, he will grab as much of them as he can and fall into a light sleep. This leads to about 15 minutes of good cuddles with a sleepy nik before it turns into the agonizing realization that the person in his grasp is sweating which, in turn, gets him thrown off of them

John definitely also gets nightmares and will cling to Nik's arm for dear life while he's sleeping, somehow still aware of the fact he isn't supposed to get into Nik's space too much. This often wakes Nik up when it happens but he doesn't mind.

Before Graves came along John and Nik had a very specific sleeping arrangement and were both so used to how it worked that they were a little thrown off by what to do when they realized they were going to have to fit Phil into it. They end buying another bed (like most poly triads [in my experience] do) and keep it separate from the other because three people all sleeping together isn't sustainable every single night. It goes on a kind of rotation between all three, John and Nik on one bed and Phil on the other, John and Phil on one and Nik on the other, and finally Phil and Nik on one and John in the other.

This seems to work out okay except for the nights it's just Phil and Nik in the bed. Graves like to go to sleep with Nik, sure, but lying in bed two feet away from him all night isn't tactile enough for Phil and so he ends up either crawling into the other bed with John or waking up John and dragging him to the other bed to cuddle next to Nik.

At first, Graves had a big concern about one of them having to wake up alone so Price and Nik decided that is one of them was sleeping separately then when they woke up they would join the other two so they could lay together in the morning or if they were both I'm the bed then when one of them woke up, they would wake up the other and both go get in whichever bed Graves was in.

I don't have much else to add other than I very much enjoy the idea of Graves mumbling in his sleep

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:

"I love you." Graves whispers the words.

Nikolai is putting his clothes back on. He has a meeting with someone tomorrow but there's no need to leave now. It's just custom to their routine. The man doesn't even look up as he replies, "You love me?"

Graves doesn't know how to respond. He hadn't meant to say it so loud. Graves has been in love with him for a few weeks now. The sex, the caring nature of Nikolai, and how well they get on. How could he not have felt something? He's been pushing these feelings down since they sprung up, terrified of losing Nikolai. They both agreed to casual sex. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Yes." There's no real point in denying it. Maybe Nikolai loves him back.

"I thought we agreed to not do that."

"Then I didn't say anything."

Nikolai's voice cracks, "Good. I didn't hear anything then." He finishes buttoning up his shirt, signalling the end of their routine. Nikolai leaves the room - leaves Graves cold and alone in bed.