Honestly, he hadn't expected Slav to know Miguel. It was the barb afterward that made him want to just smack the middlest. Only he kind of deserved the jab so he didn't do anything besides breath very deeply and do his best to keep calm. He really, really was trying and it was obvious.
"No. He's a guy in housekeeping. I was helping him clean then we went to the meeting and I translated for him," because Slav really needed a full explanation of Nik actually making a friend. Not. This was just trying to make conversation... Idiot.
"You didn't... Fuck up my life okay? I was just really screwed up yesterday. I keep thinking about what it means for Bianca and Louis to be gone. As the oldest two, me and Ios are Gor's legal guardians now. We own two businesses that we have no fucking clue what to do with. We own a house, have to make mortgage payments, bills, call family members, deal with any debt, keep everybody fed..." Most of that stuff, Louis and Bianca had done. Nikolai had never really been fully the parent. He just did some of the stuff that their parents forgot like caring for their kids.
Just listing that much of it was giving him a headache and he pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. Such a mega fucking headache and he knew this time he couldn't blame it on the concussion. He'd never had much of a childhood and he wasn't ready to be the complete and true adult yet. He didn't want to be one.