The snow was never pure white to him, it was crimson stained. The bloody snow and the numbing pain.
Dimitry Vladmir was a different boy, one that did things for people only to get nothing in return. The young Romanian had parents. Stubborn jackasses, as well as abusive to him. Dimitry wasn't the brightest and straightest rod in the box, so his parents disowned him, though they were poor. They would curse at him, hit him, cut him, and burn him with cigarettes. He hardly screamed and cried, long ago in his broken hopes Dmitry knew he would never be loved by his parents and decide to try to fill their place with friends, but since most, or all, of them were men Dmitry was punished for being in a supposed, gay get together. Dmitry had enough that day and had taken off at nighttime, while his parents asleep. His feet slapped on the ground as he hurried to the airport, a satchel and backpack full of clothes and a few snacks for the trip. His brother had bought him a one way ticket to America and Dmitry had taken the plane an hour later to the country over the ocean to meet his brother and friends. In the plane Dmitry conked out from a tired night. When he awoke it was from a man shaking him. "Excuse me, the plane has landed." Dmitry could make out dark brown hair, several small curls, and brown eyes. The man moved on as soon as Dmitry got up and began to pull his hand bags. Dmitry collected his bags and climbed off the plane. Walking inside the building Dmitry stopped and waited for his brother to pick him up. He waited and waited, watching his plane depart. Dmitry decided to leave then and there and find somewhere to go, this ending him out on the streets in the rain.
Right now Dmitry sat in the pouring rain of nighttime America, at a train station with flickering street lights above him. His hood stayed up and he stared at the ground as the rain pelted the wooden bench thinking of where to go next as he fiddled his thumbs. So developed in thought Dmitry didn't notice the person next to him until the rain was stopped by an umbrella. The Romanian looked up and noticed the smiling face of his big brother Ion. He smiled back and noticed someone else in the corner of his eye. He had a dark complexion that matched his hair, his eyes between blue and gray, a stubbly beard, and several piercings on his left ear.
"Your going to get sick," Ion said, earning his brothers attention. "Lets go home and get you bathed." Dmitry nodded and stood up with his brother. Together the three walked over to a car. Ion sat in the back with his brother as the stranger drove them to an apartment complex. Dmitry remained silent with his brother's arms draped around him. When the car pulled into a parking lot Ion counted to three. "One…two…three…RUN!" He yelled and pulled Dmitry out of the car, the younger boy running with the umbrella while the man from before shut the doors and marched after the brothers.
With a grumble the man opened the apartment door. "Thank you Carth." Ion place a hand on the mans shoulder and leaned over, kissing his cheek. Dmitry stopped in the doorway and stared at his brother. Ion had never been able to be this open at home, it was nice to see Ion smile so happily. Through out his life Dmitry always wanted to be like his brother, he envied him for always being able to escape and be happy when he was left to ruins.
"Are you moving?" The man asked and Dmitry glared at him. Turning, Dmitry stomped into the apartment building.
"Who is he Ion?" Dmitry asked his brother as they walked down the hall.
"This is Carthalo Gisgon, he is my boyfriend for a year now." Ion smiled as an arm wrapped itself around his waist.
"What's your story Dmitry?" Carthalo asked as they reached the elevator. Dmitry stared down and hit the up button. Dmitry didn't answer as he and the other two climbed into the elevator.
"It's none of your business." Dmitry muttered as the doors closed. In front Dmitry stood with a slouched posture and his hands pushed into his pockets. Behind him stood his brother and Carthalo, both worried. They remained quiet in the elevator as it lifted and after several seconds it dinged, spreading the doors. Dmitry hurried out, shaking from the cold air hitting his soaked body and his brother marched after him. Carthalo walked all the way down the hall and pulled out his keys as the duo came across the couples apartment. After unlocking the door Ion hurried to the bathroom. Grabbing towels he wrapped one around Dmitry. He started drying him by drying his hair, flipping it around.
"Why didn't you wait on us, I had to use the GPS tracker on my phone to find yours."
"You were taking too long." Dmitry said and grabbed the towel from his brother. "I'm going to change in the bathroom."
"Alright, when you get out we will need to talk." Ion said and with a smile Dmitry took his bag into the bathroom. Once the door clicked to signal that Dmitry was out of earshot and Carthalo began talking to his boyfriend.
"Are we really going to take care of him. You said it yourself that you left him behind without considering his feelings." Ion looked down at the ground and gripped his fist, knowing it was true. Ion had left his brother behind when he escaped to America.
"I'm doing the right thing now, if I have to send him from town to town then I'll follow." Ion said and reached up with a towel to wipe down Carthalo's hair. The older man just stared down at the blonde Moldovian who kept smiling at him, even though he was getting rained on. "Would you move too?"
"Hell yes." Carthalo responded and grabbed Ion by the waist, pulling him closer to him.
"Move where?" Dmitry asked as he walked out of the bathroom. His clothes being a long, baggy, and boring gray shirt with long sleeves, and a v-neck. His pants were plaid red and long enough for the Romanian to walk on., which he did as he walked over to his brother. "Why would you move?" Dmitry stopped and stood in front of the lovers.
"If we have to move, to hide you better."
"Oh, I see." Dmitry smiled.
"So the plan for now is that I enrolled you in a school so some friends. It's a wonderful school, Carthalo and I attended it."
"It's a multicultural school who adopts new students from all around the world. They only enroll students at the beginning of school so I just twisted some arms." Carthalo said, sitting on the couch. "The principle owes me a huge favor, but even that guy had some set rules. Our rules are as important."
"From now on you are Vasilica Lupei, my brother from Romania. You have black hair and blue eyes, we have the contacts and dye ready. The rules are, no talking about your past life, no taking out the contacts, try not to be a big deal, and lastly…be safe alone." Ion said.
"Alone?" Dmitry asked.
"You start school Friday, we couldn't push it off to Monday." Ion tried to comfort his brother, but Dmitry's mouth fell and he glared at his big brother.
"That's tomorrow!" Dmitry objected.
"I know so you have to have your hair dyed and contacts put in by tomorrow morning." Ion took the arms off of his waist and walked over to his shorter sibling. "How about you get a bath ready and we can bath together like we did years ago?" Ion smiled and brought both his hands up to mess with Dmitry's hair. "I'll dye your hair while we are in the tub." Ion's happy smile was broken when Dmitry pushed him away.
"I'm too old for you to bath Ion. I've been bathing alone for six years." Dmitry set a silence in the room as Ion rubbed his shoulder. With a sigh Ion turned around and opened the closet door behind him. Grabbing a towel he sighed again and turned back around, tossing the towel to Dmitry. Said teen looked down at the towel for only a moment and changed his view to the floor.
"I'll get the dye set up while you get the filth off of you." Dmitry nodded an walked away without another glance at the two older men. The door shut once more and clicked to signal the lock was in place. Ion just sighed a third time and turned around once more and grabbed a bowl and a couple bottles as well as utensils. Carthalo just stood and watched his Moldovian boyfriend shake his head and mix the dye. After a while he sighed himself and walked up behind Ion and wrapped his arms around the golden haired boy. Ion stopped moving around and slowly brought his hands up, and laid them on Carthalo's. "What?"
"Your upset, don't be." Carthalo muttered and stared at the bathroom door. "You face will get wrinkles if you worry."
"Can't be helped. He doesn't talk, but to live in harmony he needs to tell me at the least what happened."
"He will, just let him relax into his new home." Carthalo muttered, rocking back and forth with Ion. "Lets get his hair done and get him to bed, early day tomorrow and late night."
"Hold on." Ion unwrapped himself again and walked over to the bathroom door. Knocking lightly on the wood, Ion called out to his brother. "Dmitry! What do you want to eat?!" There was small silence before Dmitry spoke up.
"I'm not hungry!" He called back, the water from the shower head hitting the floor of the bathtub. Dmitry sat inside the tub and stared at the wall, he thought about what he was going to do. He wanted friends, but didn't want to leave them if his mother found his location. He knew only few people here and knew that they wouldn't move with him. Ion said he'd move, but he'd have to if their mother found them. Both brother were unhappily engaged to the King of Romania's nieces, neither wanting anything to do with woman.
"Alright, hurry and I'll have the bed made up for you!" Ion backed away and left to make the couch up for Dmitry, thanking Carthalo for getting a pullout mattress. When Dmitry concluded his shower and dried off, he put his clothes on and stepped out of the bathroom. He was surprised to see Ion and Carthalo out cold on the pull out mattress, curled against one another. With a chuckled Dmitry walked over and covered them up before he grabbed the hair dye. He escaped into the bathroom and for the rest of the night slept in his brothers room.
The next morning Dmitry was awoken by the blanket, he'd been wrapped in, being pulled out from under his body, and this sent Dmitry to the ground. "Up and at 'em!" Carthalo called, but Dmitry just curled up on the floor and laid on the ground. "Dmitry!" Carthalo growled and Dmitry sprung up with a tired glare. Come on, Ion's cooking breakfast for us and I have to get the black out of our pillows.
"Fuck you." Dmitry muttered as he got to his feet and stumbled toward the bedroom door.
"Yah, whatever. Get dressed, we need to go in and help you set up contacts and some other things." Carthalo explained as he folded the blanket and laid it on the bed. Dmitry grunted and walked out into the kitchen area. Ion turned around and smiled at his little brother.
"Good morning Vasilica." Dmitry grunted and looked over his brothers shoulders to see what he was cooking. "It's eggs. Sit down and I'll get you your food." Ion said and Dmitry waited for him to turn away. "You look adorable with black hair." Ion said and smiled at Dmitry, who backed away to the table. He sat down and was joined by Carthalo soon after. Ion walked over, balancing plates on his arm. Placing two down in front of his boyfriend and brother, Ion sat down with the last one and they quietly ate breakfast.
"So the important thing to remember Dm, make some friends and have a life."
"I don't want to make friends being fake."
"I'm sorry, but your still 16 years old, so you will have to hide till your 18." Ion smiled sadly at his brother.
"While your out, get a nice boyfriend." Carthalo said earning a blush from Dmitry.
"Shut up!" Dmitry got up and grabbed his school uniform before running into the bathroom.
"Aw, he's such a virgin." Carthalo snickered along with Ion. All the while Dmitry listened from the locked door and growled at the snickering. Slowly Dmitry began to strip down. He listened to his brother and Carthalo laugh. With a sigh he finished in dressing, dressing, and doing his normal morning routine when he realized an important detail. Taking his toothbrush out of his mouth and spitting the paste out of his mouth Dmitry opened the door swiftly and stomped over to his brother, who was messing with something on the end-table, in a panic.
"What's wrong?" Ion asked, spooked.
"I've never been in school before!" Dmitry's eyes were wide. "What do I do in school?!" Ion chuckled and grabbed his brother by his cheeks.
"Carthalo and I are going in with you and help you get situated. All you have to do his make it to class, make friends, and starting a relationship with a nice young man."
"I am extremely fucked." Dmitry muttered and looked at what was in Ion's hand. Ion noticed Dmitry's attention on his hand and held out his hand. Opening it up Dmitry studied the contact case.
"Let me put them on you." Ion said and opened the case. Carefully taking out one of the contacts Ion used his other hand to spread Dmitry's eye, and placed it on his eye. Ion smiled and released the eye before doing the same thing to the other eye. When he finished Dmitry blinked over and over, trying to get use to the feeling of contacts, that's when Carthalo walked into the apartment. He was shivering from the cold air cause by the rain the night before. As to make matters worse than the one momentarily, Carthalo began laughing. With a glare Dmitry grabbed his backpack and hurried out the door, followed by Ion who pouted at his boyfriend.
"What did I say?" Carthalo asked as he grabbed his jacket, Ion's jacket, and his wallet. He hurried out the door and into the elevator down the hall, reaching it just in time. Stopping the door with his hand and slide in only to be greeted by his apologetic lover. The African smiled an dismissed the problem, bring up Ion's jacket. Carthalo decided to put the fuzzy sand colored jacket on Ion and button it up. With a thank you kiss on the cheek, Ion helped Carthalo put his jacket on, all the while Dmitry watching them with a bored, yet envies look in his eyes. The two quietly flirted, almost forgetting the teenager beside them, but then the elevator stopped, making Ion fall against Carthalo, and dinged. The doors opened and Dmitry hurried out. He didn't stop, but ran right out the door and took off without a second thought. By the time Ion and Carthalo had reacted and gotten out the door Dmitry was gone.
"Vasilica!" Ion yelled and looked around.
"Ion, come on." Carthalo said and grabbed Ion by his shoulders.
"Vasilica!" Ion yelled louder earning attention from a group of students walking down to a coffee shop before heading to school.
"Ion come on." Carthalo pulled Ion away from his spot and towards the car. Meanwhile the students walking were already down the street when Ion drove by. Some of the students waved as they seemed to know who the two were. Ion smiled and waved back before shrinking back into his worried state. The teenagers continued their walk down the street and took a sudden turn into a shop.
The smell of the fresh brew of French Vanilla, iced coffees, etcetera. The limited brews were the autumn and Halloween flavors for the season. This coffee shop was great for student all year around. The shop was owned by students and food an beverages were made by students. The coffee itself was delicious and warm, such were named things like French Delight, and Spanish Armada for an ice cream Sunday.
The students decided to grab coffees before heading to the private school. When they walked in the group, consisting of all males, walked to the counter where a girl with long, flowing brown hair stood in an apron and a school uniform.
"Hello Elizaveta." A boy with light blonde hair said. He had brown eyes and smiled at the girl. Next to him was a rather scary individual, with blonde hair and blue eyes, as well as glasses over them. Behind he stood three others. One had spiked hair and blue eyes, smiling wide at the two annoyed boys next to him. They both had purplish eyes, though one had white hair and the other seemed to have a light blond, and a curl on the back.
"Hello Tino, Berwald, Erik, Lukas…Mathias." At the last person she glared. "So anything new?"
"Not really, Mathias is low in grades and I got an A on my paper."
"That's great Tino." Elizaveta said and looked over at the boy sitting behind at a tabled, behind a wall. "Can you do me a favor Berwald?" With a nod Elizaveta leaned in. "Can you ask that kid in our uniform and hood if he's got a ride to school, he's going to be late?"
"Sure." With that Berwald walked over to the black haired stranger. "He', d' y'u n'd a drive t' cl'ss?" He asked as Dmitry looked up the sudden voice. After a while staring at the scary man Dmitry spoke.
"No, I'm not going." Dmitry muttered.
"How can you skip out on school, it's fun." Tino said as he walked over.
"I don't do school." Dmitry muttered.
"Your new right, what is bad about school if you haven't gone yet?" Tino asked as the others of the group walked over with Elizaveta, who brushed herself off and had bags on her shoulder.
"I don't need school."
"Come on, you can't ditch. Tell you what, we know this guy who knows how to have fun, he's especially good at having fun on Halloween." The spiked hair one said, but Dmitry was just confused.
"What's Halloween?"
"What? You are joking, you have to be? Everyone knows Halloween liar." The man said again, getting pulled down by the tie and his head smacked on the table.
"Sorry about him, Mathias doesn't care about anyone else's feelings." The blonde hair with the curl said as he held Mathias down. "I'm Lukas Bondvik, you are?"
"V-Vasilica Lupei, I'm from Romania."
"Norway." Lukas said. "Let me introduce you." He turned and pointed to the scary man. "Berwald Oxenstierna." He then pointed to Tino. "Tino Vainamoinen, and next to him is my little brother Erik." With a look down Lukas introduced the final boy. "This jerk is Mathias Khøler, man whore of the century."
"I resent that." Mathias said, but his head was pushed against the table.
"Lastly we have Elizaveta Hédeváry."
"I am from Hungary and vork her anytime you need to chat."
"I don't need any fucking help from a woman." Dmitry said, not meaning it in such away, but it was taken as such.
"You mother fucker, rude son of a bitch!" Elizaveta growled, almost yelling, but feared loosing her job.
"Th't w's n't c'll'd f'r." Berwald said, confusing Dmitry.
"How so?"
"Geez, first you don't know what Halloween is and then your rude to a lady. Don't looked so stumped if no one thinks your nice."
"Shouldn't your mother have raised you with manners and not in a box."
"She can go to hell along with my dad."
"Geez, no ones going to like you." Mathias said and his face met the table once more.
"Your the same way, hypocrite. Come on Lupei." Lukas said and held out a hand to Dmitry. Hesitantly Dmitry took it and Lukas dragged him out of the coffee shop, leaving his brother and friends in the dust. Lukas pulled him all the way down the road, passing stoplight a and stop signs, heading to school.
"Are your friends mad at you?"
"No, probably shocked. I don't speak up and defend people a lot, but you earned my attention so don't spoil your chances." Lukas explains as the duo hikes up a hill, Lukas' hand was still latched and pulling Dmitry by the arm. From behind the duo heard feet slapping the ground and getting closer up to them. Turning around Dmitry saw the small group pass them by and stop in front of Lukas, well Mathias at least. From observation Dmitry realized that there was some unresolved tension between the two, but they seemed close.
"God your fast. Anyway we just want to explain things to you." Mathias said directly to Dmitry. "Apparently you've managed to miss out on Halloween so we will explain it." Lukas looked impressed, not that his normal bored face changed. Mathias turned and led the group up the hill as he talked. "Halloween is where you go house to house saying trick or treat. You also go to party's in costumes and go through haunted houses."
"You also carve out pumpkins and things like that." Tino said happily.
"It actually was named that after All Hallows' Eve. It would be on the last day of October that people would wear scary masks to ward off evil spirits, today there is already some around us." Lukas explained as he looked around their surroundings.
"My guy will explain everything, he loves Halloween and his boyfriend can tell you boring facts like Lukas here." Before the Norwegian could hit the arrogant man Dmitry responded.
"I find it all fascinating, the dark arts have always been a thing I found interesting. Tell me Lukas, does the school have books about it." Dmitry's eyes shinned brightly.
"No, but my acquaintance and I have a profound collection of those books and books of spells and rituals."
"May I read them!?" Dmitry was close to Lukas, too close for the mans comfort.
"If you take the best care of them."
"I will, I promise!" Dmitry said with begging eyes.
"Alright, I'll lend some to you as we'll let you meet my friend Arthur." Lukas said reaching the top of the hill. Dmitry froze once he saw the school, it was humongous. It was separated into ten different halls, each had at least three floors. Dmitry had never seen anything this big, not even castles in his homeland.
"Close your mouth, flys will get in." Lukas said and continued walking while Dmitry stood still with his mouth gapped open.
"This place is huge." Dmitry muttered and hurried after Lukas.
"Come on man, you need to see the principal. I didn't even know how you could have gotten in this late in the year."
"My brother had connections, him and his boyfriend."
"Must be good pals with the principal." As the seven people made it to the school gate a bell screeched and people began to hurry while the group remained at pace. The only reason for that was because the principal himself was walking over, getting passed by a certain man. Running into the group he grabbed Dmitry by the arm and pulled him into a hug.
"Vasilica, where have you been?" Ion asked as he choked the air out of the young Romanian.
"Mr. Vladmir?" Tino said with shock.
"Oh, thank you boys for finding him, I was worried."
"I just didn't want to come here."
"Excuse us, but we have to show this newbie around." Mathias said and nudged Lukas, who unfortunately couldn't do anything with the principal in front of them.
"Oh really, but I wanted to do that." Ion pouted.
"That's nice of you boys, just don't break the brat or I'll get in trouble." Carthalo said as he petted Dmitry on the head.
"I hate you." Dmitry said in a monotone.
"Alright, go show him around boys. Bring him to first hour when your done." Ion said as he hugged his brother tighter. "I know, Lukas how about you and Arthur show him around."
"Yes sir."
"You seem close, are you friends?" Tino asked Ion.
"Oh no, nothing of the sort. This is my little brother, he just transferred from Romania. He hasn't been in school before so please teach him what you can." Ion said before he was pulled away by Carthalo. "Have fun Vasilica!" Ion called as Carthalo pulled him in a hurry. The principal stayed however, staring at the boys. He had long blonde hair and thin blue eyes, he could have easily been thought of as a woman if he didn't have the biceps he did. Without a word he nodded and left to go inside.
Lukas quickly pulled Dmitry towards the door, earning a glare from Mathias. "Lets find Arthur and go to the club room. I'm positive he's in the foods room, god help us all." Dmitry found this funny and chuckled. Lukas peeked back a bit before turning into room 213, the smell of burning food filled the room. A group of students staring at the pan on fire, another trying to extinguish it with baking soda. "I thought I smelled smoke, too bad your cooking isn't magic." Lukas said to the blonde guy in front.
"Damn your eyebrows are big." Dmitry muttered, collecting laughter and a scowl from the man with the large eyebrows.
"This kids funny, say buddy what's your name?" The guy with the extinguisher said, stepping in between the two.
"I'm Vasilica Lupei, from Romania. It's my first day in the school." Dmitry said, starting to warm up a little.
"What, really? You can come hang with me and my friends or even talk to me if you have questions." The teenager said and held out his hand.
"A name then."
"Alfred F. Jones." Alfred said.
"And I'm Arthur Kirkland." The eyebrows guy said to Dmitry.
"Your the other person, the one with those amazing book of black magic." Dmitry said, his eyes lit up.
"You like black magic?" Arthur asked, taken back a little.
"It's the only thing that make since in this world." Dmitry was excited for the books, he loved the spells and rituals.
"I have a few I can lend you as well as Lukas." Arthur said, completely forgetting about the name calling.
"Shouldn't we show him around." Alfred said, a bit jealous that the new kid liked Arthur already.
"Mr. Vladmir told me to get Arthur and I to show him around, but I have a class to attend."
"So your dumping him on me?" Arthur said and with a nod and a bland stare Lukas left.
"So~," Dmitry muttered. "when do I go to this class thing?" Dmitry received stares from the people around him.
"You go now, where is it?" Arthur said and grabbed the schedule out of Dmitry's hand.
"It says you have study hall with Mr. Gisgon." Dmitry's face turned to pure disgust.
"Are you serious, I can't stand that guy."
"You seem to know the teachers vell." A man said with white hair and red eyes said. "Of course all the teachers know awesome me."
"Well I only know them because Ion's my brother and the asshole is hi-." Dmitry was abruptly interrupted by Alfred.
"Bro, no way. Is it true that your his brother?"
"Yes? Why?"
"Is it true he and Mr. Gisgon are engaged. I mean everyone knows that they're together, but are they engaged." Arthur asked, interested.
"They better not be or I'll kill Gisgon." Dmitry said, eyes wide in rage.
"But they're so good together." A girl with blonde hair and green eyes said.
"I don't care, where's his classroom?" Dmitry said.
"Like across the hall." A new blonde joined in. Dmitry growled and took off across the hall to room 214, sure enough Carthalo's name hung above it on the door. There was a class, but no Carthalo. With another growl Dmitry took off down the hall, not feeling like returning to people. As he traveled down the hallways, turning in different corners, before he realize he was extremely lost. He looked around a bit before he realized he was in the middle of a hallway, and no idea where he was. Sitting down in the hallway the bell rang and students cleared out.
The young Romanian felt eyes on him as students passed, not one stopped to ask if he was alright…well not until the bell rang again. Dmitry notice the presence and looked up. They say I someone was extremely beautiful, or handsome, than they must be an angel. They also say that seeing an angel means your death, so maybe it was Dmitry's turn to die.
"You blocking the hallway, move." The mans mouth shot down any hopes Dmitry had. Immediately Dmitry felt depleted of energy to make a come back and tucked his head into his knees. "Hey, move or I'll get the principal." The boy said, but Dmitry just grunted. "Hurry up before you get caught skipping." The man kneeled down and tried to look at Dmitry's face.
"Your that new kid, right?" Dmitry nodded slowly. "Well you should find your guides before they leave."
"I don't even know who my guides are, they throw me from person to person. I just need to get my head straight, but I guess sitting here's good too." There was a small pause a sounds shifted, but something bumped Dmitry's arm. This made the Romanian look over a bit, next to him sat the boy.
"Alright, then I'll sit too. By the way I'm Nikola, Nikola Balavok." Nikola introduced himself, sticking out his hand.
"I'm V-Vasilica Lupei." Dmitry lied and shook Nikola's hand.
"So…do you want to explain why you're here and not in class, besides the fact your lost?" Nikola asked with a smile.
