Nik had almost forgotten how much he misses India until he ends up talking to Sumi for hours on end, catching up from the months they haven’t talked to each other. She even taught him how to make a video call. 

Nik enjoys hearing his sister talk about the family, her school life, her friends. Sumi seems popular, being almost at the top of her class and being friendly with almost all of her grade. Nik can’t help but roll his eyes lovingly every time Sumi brings up a new name, unable to keep track of everyone she’s talking about. 

“...and she stole my pencil and then I got in trouble for talking,” Sumi flops down on her bed and the camera shakes, showing glimpses of blurry, pink bed sheets. “I was so pissed.”

“Sounds like a wonderful experience,” Nik drawls as he leans back on the couch. He grabs one of the throw pillows and brings it up to his chest, almost curling around it. “Sumi, can I ask you something weird?”

“Is that even a question?” Leave is to his little sister to never be serious. He smiles and leans his chin on the pillow. 

“Do you think I made the right decision coming to America?” he asks the question that’s been weighing on his mind for years. A question he’s never asked aloud. “I have no idea if what I’m doing is right.”

“Oh my gosh,” Sumi rolls her eyes and turns her body so she’s laying on her stomach. Nik can see the posters that line the walls behind her. “You’re always such a worry wart.”

She sighs. “If you want my honest opinion, yeah. I know that mom would’ve been weird about the whole gay thing-“

Nik blanches, jaw dropping. “I-“

“Yes, I know,” Sumi smiles and her teeth flash bright white. “Mom may be oblivious but I’m not. It’s a better environment for you. You were always meant to do so much more. Yeah, you could’ve found it here, but I don’t blame you for moving.”

Nik stares, mind flipping over itself as his stomach sinks down to his feet. “I didn’t- I don’t-“

“Hey, listen, I don’t care about it,” she reaches out of shot and when she pulls her hand back, she starts to crunch on a chip. “To be honest, I’m not even sure what I am myself. For all we know, mom might be disappointed in both of us.”

It’s a grim joke, but Nik still can’t help but laugh. He pretends to ignore the potential news of his sister being not straight, deciding to let her come to terms with it on her own. 

“Things finally seem to be getting better, though,” Sumi comments, her voice filled with careful inflection. “Rooming with a rich white boy, fancy.”

She draws out her last words, and at that, Nik’s full laugh is finally knocked loose. He just hadn’t realized how many worries were stuck deep in his heart, unable to be realized or talked about. Talking with Sumi was almost like talking with a therapist; if a therapist called you names and ate loudly during the entire session. 

“The weather is shit, though,” Nik mutters. “Snow.” 

“You can build a snowman!” a squeal accompanies Sumi getting up from the bed and crossing the room. She can never sit still. “I’ve never gotten to make a snowman.”

Nik smiles at Sumi’s pout and promises to make a snowman to honor her. He’s never… made a snowman before, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t learn how. 

Nik’s about to complain more about the weather when the doorknob on the front jiggles, and light filters in as Finn steps into the room. Nik doesn’t even get a chance to say goodbye before he’s pressing the end call button and chucking his phone across the couch. 

Finn enters the living room and gives a warm smile to Nik, carrying a briefcase and a coat thrown over his arm. He’s wearing a suit; a nice tweed one that hugs his curves in all the right places and makes him seem as if he’s popped straight out of a business magazine. Nik’s brain buffers. 

“I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?” Finn looks amused with a stupid smile spread across his stupid face that makes Nik want to punch him. But not really. Because he is wearing glasses. “Someone important, I assume?”

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Nik blurts out, immediately snuffing the urge to slap his hands over his mouth for ever making such an intrusive comment. “N-n-not that that’s a bad thing.”

“Oh,” Finn grabs the glasses off his nose, “these?”

He sets his briefcase down and hangs his coat up, holding the glasses daintily in his hands, as if he’s afraid they’ll break. “They’re mainly for reading so I don’t strain my eyes on long shifts. But I don’t necessarily need them.”

Funny. 

Nik’s the same way.