Don't you sweat, when Goongoon is your mate!

***

High on enthusiasm, Kairav enters his shabby looking apartment, a beautiful smile adoring his face. He is happy that his luck favored him today.

"Mom! I finally got a decent job!" Kairav yells in joy, switching on the light.

The smile wipes away from his face as soon as the grim reality hits him hard. His excited yell only meets with silence and darkness. There's no sign of his mother. He shakes his head, sadly chuckling at his own action. It's been a year. He should get used to it. He should engrave it in his head that he will never see her smiling face again, he can never hug her again as soon as he comes home, he can never share his joy or distribute his sadness with her again.

Dumping his backpack that he carries around on his bed, he silently sits there for a full minute, getting used to the hard reality, like he did every day since she died, leaving him all alone in this big scary world.

Bringing himself in a lying position, he fishes out his phone from his pocket and opens the smiling picture of his mother. She looks so peaceful here, smiling like there are no problems in her life. Her angelic smile could light up a room which had been covered with a century old gloom.

Tears freely fall from his eyes as he keeps staring at her picture, a sad smile tugging at his lips. He kisses her on the forehead, imagining that she is really here with him.

"I got a job today." He whispers slowly as if he were afraid he would break out of his hallucination if he spoke loudly.

"My ways weren't exactly ideal, I know. Don't be too disappointed by me." He whispers sadly, imagining a frown taking over her bright smile.

"But hey, I no longer have to choose between rent and food. So, that's something." He reasons sadly, eyes glued to his mobile screen, hands twitching as he finds himself desperate to hug her.

His contentment of imagining his mother still being with him runs out when the need to wrap his arms around her, to bathe his sorrows in her warm embrace, to find safety and solace, surfaces strongly. He no longer finds himself strong enough to be holding it in.

Why did she have to leave so soon? Why can't he hug her anymore?

He stills remembers the night he didn't hug her. The memory of that night haunts him more than any nightmare ever can. She slept beside him. He was sleeping like a log, not knowing he was sleeping beside the lifeless body of his most favorite person, not knowing that her lips were blue, her nails were blue, not knowing that she experienced a stroke in her sleep. He slept and slept. And in the next morning, he cried and cried. He has been crying continuously since that day. It's like all of his happiness died with her.

He always smiled, of course, he did. He cracked jokes. He used sarcasm as his defense and coping mechanism. Yes, he did all of it. Even from close distance, no one would see the pain hidden underneath his bright brown eyes. He was happy on the surface but the happiness never reached his heart. He wished it would. Maybe someday. Maybe.

Blinking off the tears, he kisses the photo again, gently caressing her cheeks. He gets up, putting his phone back in his pocket. No, this won't do. Crying won't help. She is still with him. He isn't alone. He was never alone. She won't like it if he cries himself to sleep before his big day. If she were here, she would make sure he would look perfect on his first day. And that's what he's gonna do.

****

Buying a bottle of Pepsi and two packs of crackers, he knocks at the door of one of his neighbors. He knocks again when his first attempt gets unnoticed by the inhabitant of the house.

"Who the fuck is this?"

"FBI! Open up." He jokes, laughing when he hears a string of curses leaving the man's throat.

"What do you want?" The man groans, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

Kairav grins, showing him what he got. " I've got you something." He exclaims, pushing past the man and entering the room as if he owned it.

The man curses again before closing the door.

"Kid, do you think I'm an infant like you?" The man snorts, eyeing the pack of crackers, " If you want to ask for a favor, bring me liquor, kid." He sits down on the couch, opposite to Kairav.

"This isn't gas, nor solid. This is liquid. See, I bought you liquid?" Kairav plays innocent, shaking the bottle of Pepsi in front of the man's face.

"Come to the point, kid. What do you want?" The man asks grumpily, placing his legs on the table as he leans on his couch.

Pulling his lips into a fake pout, Kairav mumbles, " You make it sound like I only come to you only when I need something, Goongoon."

The man closes his eyes, trying not to snap at the kid for that ridiculous nickname he has given him.

"Stop with this stupid name." He warns when he fails to keep his annoyance at bay.

"Why? It's cute and it fits your profession." Kairav tries to reason, opening a pack of crackers and starting to shove them in his mouth.

"For the last time, I'm a gangster, kid. I don't do cute." The man replies to him, looking at him with his intimidating eyes.

Kairav shrugs his shoulders, "That's why I call you Goongoon. It means you are scarier than a single goon. Sometimes, you are scarier than double goons too. So, I will stretch your name the more scarier you get, Goongoongoon."

The man refuses to engage in yet another argument with the kid. This kid is something else. His muscular physics and the tattoos covering his arms and chest always scare people away. He is a very intimidating man to say the least. After all, he is a famous gangster. Everyone in this area is afraid of him. No one even dares to look him in the eyes. But look at this kid. Entering his house and eating his damn crackers like it's his own home. It's not like Kairav wasn't scared of him at first. The kid was about to piss his pants when he saw him beating a man into a pulp.

But as days went by, his fear subsided. And one day it totally disappeared when Kairav saw him eating candy by the candy shop and buying 100s of them for some kids. He still remembers how Kairav clinged on to him, praising him for feeding those kids.

"Everyone says you are cruel and yet I see you caring for people, buying homeless people food and all. If you are mean then aren't they the meanest? They don't even care for others but themselves. You are a good man, Goongoon." He said.

When something else hit his mind, he didn't shy away from adding more into his assessment, "And you eat candy, you like sweets. You can't be scary. Not anymore."

The day went by Kairav inviting himself over to his house and cooking something for them. It was the first time in forever that he ate something homemade. Ever since then, the kid started acting like they were best friends even though there must be a 15 plus age gap between them and they barely know each other.

"Get to the point."

"I told you-"

"You come with your little bribery tools only when you need something." The man gives him a knowing look, making him huff.

Kairav gets up and sits beside the man, giving him the bottle of pepsi.

"Wait, let me open it for you." He says, twisting the cap, forgetting that he shook the bottle like an earthquake a minute ago.

As a result, the drink spills all over his and the man's, who's name is Karan, pants and the couch.

"Shit! I'm so sorry, Goongoon."

He is about to snap when he sees the dried tear stains near his cheeks and his puffy eyes. His angry words die down in his throat. He can be a very cruel man but he doesn't make miserable kids even more miserable, especially when the kid in question is Kairav. That kid can be quite annoying. But he knows the kid is growing on him. He wonders what he was crying about but he doesn't have the heart to bring it up.

"It's ok." Kairav looks temporarily shocked at Karen's calmness. He was scared shitless. But Karan doesn't seem to mind so he relaxes.

After cleaning the mess, Karan asks him again.

"Ah, not a huge favor. You see, I just need one of your suits." Kairav says, showing his bright teeth, giving the man the biggest smile he could muster.

The man snorts. Smirking down at him, he asks, "Why? Going on a date?"

"Oh please, I don't want to deprive other ladies of my awesomeness by settling down with one. For the sake of humanity, I've sworn to stay single forever." Kairav exaggerates, growing his own smirk.

When he realizes that the gangster is ready to snap any moment, he tells him the truth, "I kinda got a job and I want to leave a great impression on my boss." He looks genuinely happy as he asks.

Karan doesn't have the heart to turn the kid down but the kid is like half of his size. He will almost disappear in his suits. But he doesn't have any other suits and it's almost 1 am. Seeing the excitement dancing in Kairav's eyes, he gives the kid one of his best suits without saying anything. He realizes his retorts can crush the excitement of the kid and he would feel like an absolute failure if he were the reason behind it.

"I look like a skeleton in this suit." Kairav mumbles under his breath, checking himself out in the mirror.

"But hey, I'm the most handsome skeleton ever." He winks at his reflection before taking the suit off and changing into his clothes.

"Remember, one little wrinkle on the suit-"

"And I will lose one limb, I know, I know, Goongoongoongoon. Don't be scary and wish me luck."

"All the best! Hope you earn enough to repay me for the huge favor. One bottle of Pepsi, which you spilled by the way, doesn't cover the cost." Karan smirks, watching the kid roll his eyes.

"Bye, Goongoon. I will let you know if someone bullies me there so that you can break their limbs!" And with that Kairav disappears through the door, leaving Karan to chuckle at his tactics.

*****

Kairav fixes his tie hundreds of times. He just hopes he isn't looking too absurd in this huge suit. Well, it doesn't matter. He just needs to work hard and impress his boss. Smiling ear to ear, Kairav makes his way towards the secretary of his boss. He was asked to go to her directly. However, his happiness is now replaced with shock as he walks towards his boss's office. The secretary's words are still ringing in his head.

Without knocking on the door, he enters his boss's office, still in a daze.

"Did you wear your father's suit who weighs twice your weight?" His boss says as soon as he comes into his view.

Kairav is pulled back from his reverie when he hears his boss. He blinks his eyes and nods his head without knowing what the man even said.

"I hope you got the welcome speech from Naina over there?" His boss says, pointing at his glass door. His secretary is right outside his office, happily weaving at Kairav when he looks back.

Kairav gulps down and nods his head, his feet and hands feel like jelly and his tongue has just disappeared, it seems. He is just shocked beyond words.

The man throws a file on his desk, making Kairav flinch slightly.

"Sign it."

Kairav's eyes widened in shock. No, he didn't sign up for this. It can't be happening. This is just a dream.

The man raises his eyebrow at him, wordlessly asking him why he is so stiff and quiet.

"Already thinking of chickening out?" He smirks, looking at the kid's out of focus gaze on the file.

It's like Kairav is going through all the stages of grief. He just experienced denial and now it's anger's turn.

"You want me to do what?" Kairav yells when realization finally hits him, looking at the man as if he grew a second head which he should, by the way, because this one is always angry.

"Sign it. Do you have hearing problems now?" The man looks annoyed as he speaks, eyes dull with disinterest.

"No but you seem to have problems with numbers. Aren't you a bit too young to be my.....father?"

A/N: What do you guys think about the new character?

Sad Kai is weird, ik but no one can be happy all the time :)