“Hold on, I don’t think-!” Nik’s voice is suddenly cut off as Balthazar wraps what Nik assumes to be a measuring tape around his neck. It’s only for a second, but once Balthazar pulls away, Nik starts coughing heavily into his elbow.

The tailor only continues on with his tasks, completely ignoring any protests Nik tries to make. He feels like he should be used to things like this by this point; he guesses this is going to a recurring feeling in all things surrounding Finn. He sighs. It fills him with a sense of dread, but he would be lying if he ignored the sense of anticipation buzzing through his nerves.

The shop had been a major surprise, but Nik can’t help but wonder how he is supposed to afford this, or god-forbid, pay Finn back. His nicest clothes are from inexpensive outlet malls and his mother, having never owned anything even half as nice as the suits in Balthazar’s shop.

It’s overwhelming, especially as Balthazar circles Nik over and over, measuring him from his head to his legs, neglecting to write down the numbers in his notebook.

“Are you.. memorizing these?” Nik can’t help his morbid curiosity, but it’s quickly quenched when he sees Balthazar smile.

“Ah, you noticed. It comes with working in the trade for so long.”

Nik could hardly believe it, but who was he to be the one to question an old man who could easily strangle him with the strength he held in that measuring tape.

“You are small,” Balthazar murmurs, going over to a table in the corner of the room. He begins writing something down on a piece of paper, though Nik can’t see what it is.

“Um... sorry?” Nik tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear. He had put it up that morning, but he had been in a rush so it wasn’t holding well. Balthazar ignores him and continues scribbling, so Nik looks at himself in the mirror that sits opposite the small podium he’s standing on.

He looks tired; the past few days had been a whirlwind of emotions and moving, so no one could blame him for not getting enough sleep. His hair was more of a mess than he had thought, he sighs and reaches his arm up.

His hair cascades over his shoulders and he runs his fingers roughly over his scalp, undoing the tension the hair tie had put there. It feels good taking out the bun, but he sees his hair still is frizzy and frayed; he needs a haircut.

Nik begins to put his hair in a low braid when he sees Balthazar move out the corner of his vision. The man disappears into a backroom and Nik easily finishes doing his hair, muscle memory evident in every twitch of his hands.

He glances around the room he’s in; it’s small, holding only a pedestal and a table. A full-length mirror covers one wall, and Nik realizes he can see out the curtain that Balthazar had brought him through.

“Must not have shut it all the way,” Nik murmurs as he glances behind him and through the crack in the curtain. His eyes connect with blue ones, but they’re fleeting.

Nik knows it’s Finn; there should be no reason his heart should be beating this fast as if he had been scared. Finn wasn’t scary.

Well...

“What?” Nik whispers to himself, biting his lip. He lets his brain wander, and now he is practically calling Finn scary. Nik flicks his braid behind his shoulder just as Balthazar opens the other curtain leading into what Nik assumes is a back room.

He comes in with something draped over his arm, what looks to be a dark blue suit. It looks expensive, and Nik can’t help but draw in a sharp breath.

“Ah, you like, my boy?” Balthazar’s tone is teasing as he holds the material up against Nik’s hair. “A wonderful match, if I may add. What a pretty hair color.”

Nik feels his cheeks flair red as Balthazar holds out the suit to him. “This one should fit almost perfectly. You got very lucky, there are only a few alterations I need to do.”

Nik feels his jaw wanting to drop, but he had resigned himself before to just go with whatever he was told. Instead, he grabs the suit gently and drapes it over his own arm. There was no point in trying to argue with a crazy old French man.

“Thank y-you, sir,” Nik says as he runs his hand over the material and loves the way it feels under his hands. It has the faintest pinstripe pattern, the suit woven through with a slightly lighter blue thread. Balthazar only smiles and exits out the curtain that leads to the front of the shop, fully shutting the curtain behind him this time.

Nik had only ever worn a suit once in his life, and that had been to his coming of age ceremony. His Samskara, specifically his Upanayana, had been one of the moments he had been looking forward to the most, and his mother had known that as well.

She had rented him a suit and he had felt powerful, arguably the most confident he had felt in his life.

Nik feels himself smile as he runs his hands over the suit once again, picturing his mother’s face. He made a mental note to call her later as he began undressing.

********

Finn can barely pay attention to the small talk that Balthazar was trying to initiate with him. He could only think of Nik, and whether or not he was going to like the suit or not.

“So, what? This your latest boy toy?”

Now that got Finn’s attention.

He looks over at Balthazar who has a small, teasing smile on his face. Finn realizes he was only joking, but the question still hurts him nonetheless.

“No- no. We’re just friends,” Finn ignores the flutter of his heart. “I’m helping him get a job at my company.”

“Is that all?” Balthazar sounds almost... disappointed? Finn can’t imagine why, he and Nik were no more than friends. Finn doesn’t do relationships, never has, with men or women. Always too much work.

Finn decides to not answer Balthazar, and he finally gets the hint. The older man makes his way over to his counter and begins typing away at the register, a sound Finn is lulled by until he hears a voice come from the other room.

“I’m ready,” Finn hears Nik say from behind the curtain. He sees a hand peek out and grasp it, pulling it aside in one quick motion.

Nik steps out and Finn’s mouth goes dry.