Ivan Braginsky was a boy with no friends. He was alone, achingly so. And because he had no courage to speak, he would stare and stare, and frighten away anyone he tried to get close to. He was a lonely bear in a tundra of his own thoughts and fears. This Monday's lunchbreak would be no different to any other. He sat against a tree, and stared at Wang Yao.
Wang Yao knew that Ivan always had his eyes on him. And it creeped him out, honestly. That strange Russian boy would just look at him like he was prey waiting to be snatched up and eaten. He didn't think himself as prey, not really. He was a proud tiger, stripes allowing him to blend in to everything around him. He was the hunter. As usual, he ignored Ivan Braginsky.
"Excuse me," a high-pitched voice made Ivan turn, and the voice's owner didn't even jump. This was new. "Which way is the Mathematics block?.." As he couldn't utter a word, he just stared, and observed. This girl, she seemed too young to be in high school. But, she wore the uniform anyway. Perhaps she was just baby-faced and short. Blonde hair licked at her shoulders, and a purple ribbon decorated it. As she fiddled with her hands and waited for an answer, Ivan deemed her a rabbit; she was small and apprehensive.
He continued to look at her, just pathetically opening his mouth and trying to force out a syllable. When that failed him, he pointed in the vague direction of the Mathematics block. "Do you think you could help me find my room?" the rabbit asked, adjusting the strap of her bag and giving a little smile. "I want to get to class early."
Ivan was taken aback. Why did this little girl want his help? There were so many others that she could've gone to, and yet she picked the most lonesome, frightening, and pathetic. He slowly got to his feet. After looking at her for another moment, the bear started to lead the rabbit through the outside area, and to the Mathematics block. He paused when he reached the block itself, and looked down to her.
"Oh, it's.. Room seven?" she mused softly, looking at a crumpled bit of paper in her hands, presumably a timetable. Nodding, Ivan stumbled about the block, rabbit in tow, until he found the correct room. "Oh, thank you very much, mister. I don't really know my way around yet, because I only just transferred," the rabbit laughed softly, shrugging and playing with her skirting. "My name's Lili."
Ivan realised that he should probably supply the rabbit, Lili, with his name. He parted his lips, but still, nothing came. He was a silent bear, one with no roar. He could talk to his sisters, but he had known them ever since he was a baby. That was the limit of his speech, it seemed. After no words came, he reached into his bag, and fished about until he found one of his schoolbooks. He pulled it out and presented it to the rabbit.
"Oh, Ivan Braginsky? Did I say that right?" she asked, looking up at him with large green eyes. He nodded. "You have nice handwriting." Did he? Ivan had never really paid attention. Then again, he only had teachers to compare to, as was never close enough to anyone else to see theirs.
"Is there something wrong with your voice?" the rabbit questioned, volume dropping a little. "I would like to hear it, if we're to be friends." Friends?.. Ivan shook his head, staring down at the ground. Such a long conversation was making him nervous. But.. this girl, she was implying that they would become friends? It was a little hard to believe.
"Just shy?" Ivan nodded to this one, before tugging up his scarf a little and hiding his mouth.
"Aw, that's okay. Have you considered writing what you want to say, if you can't say it out loud?" Ivan's eyes widened. No, he had not. The thought had never even crossed his mind. "That's something my big bruder taught me." Hurriedly, Ivan opened the workbook he had pulled out earlier, and sat down. Lili sat beside him, watching his movements curiously.
Extracting a pen from his pencilcase, Ivan began to write.
'I am Ivan Braginsky. I am from Russia. Please be my friend?' he wrote, before lifting up the paper and showing it to the rabbit.
"I am Lili Zwingli." She replied with a smile. "I used to live in an orphanage in Liechtenstein, but a kind man, big bruder, adopted me and now I'm here." The rabbit cooed softly. "And yes, I'll be your friend."
Ivan's heart soared. A friend.. A friend! The bear had never had such a thing before. He actually smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever, and turned to face his workbook again. 'You are my first ever friend. Thank you.' Lili glanced down, and adorned a little pout. "Your first ever friend?" she mumbled, the rabbit feeling sorry for the bear. "Then I will be a good friend to you, Ivan."
The bell sounded, and Lili's classmates began to gather outside. She said goodbye to Ivan and went to join them. Feeling something strange in his heart – happiness, perhaps – Ivan made his way off to his own class, and sat through it. He, of course, stared at Wang Yao. After the class ended, Ivan scurried to Mathematics room seven, and waited for Lili to come out of the room.
"Oh, hello," she greeted, dipping her head and putting her books back into her bag. "What's this?" Ivan held in his hands some paper, and hastily handed it over. They were things he had written during class, either about himself, or questions to the rabbit. "Oh, I see. We have break now, right? Let's go and sit down, and maybe I can answer these questions," she chuckled.
They sat beneath the tree, with Ivan intently listening to Lili's answers, and smiling. He smiled to the point where his face got sore and he didn't know what to do, because he kept trying to smile and his face twitched in something of a cramp. He wasn't used to smiling this much.
"Now, I have a question for you," Lili said suddenly, bringing Ivan back to his senses. He tilted his head. "What do you keep looking at? Over there, I mean." the rabbit asked softly, pointing over to a bench where a group of students sat. He had been looking at Wang Yao.
Cheeks red, he glanced down to his scribbled-on workbook – he had already used a whole page for talking with Lili – and wrote his response. 'There is a pretty boy there. His name is Wang Yao.'
"Does Ivan have a crush?" the girl teased, poking at the bear's shoulder with one finger. 'I think so.'
"Have you ever had a crush before?" Lili looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.
'No.' Ivan tapped his pen.
"Is Wang Yao a nice boy?"
'Yes. I think he is very sweet.'
She pet his shoulder, and followed his stare up to the tiger laughing to his friends about something. "Do you want to tell him?"
'Tell him what? I can not talk to Yao.' Ivan looked down now, frowning.
"Tell him that you like him." the rabbit puffed, fiddling with her ribbon. Ivan elicited a little squeak, the first verbal sound he had made all day.
'I don't think I can.'
The rabbit gave the bear a smile and a vow of confidence. "Then I will help you."
Together, they spent the week trying to build Ivan's confidence. Lili looked up exercises to release stress and loosen anxieties, but they didn't work that well for Ivan. This week passed, and Ivan swore to Lili that he would confess to Yao on Friday.
Ivan tried not to stare, which was a first. He was still sitting at the base of his tree, fiddling with the crumpled bit of paper in his hands. He glanced up, watching the tiger for only a second before looking back down. He was very nervous. Lili was sitting beside him, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before she scolded him for hesitating. But he couldn't help but hesitate! "You can do it, Ivan." She encouraged softly, rubbing his shoulder. "Just give him what you wrote, okay?"
Frowning, Ivan got to his feet, and took a single staggered step forward. He could do this, couldn't he? Lili believed in him. That thought helped him take another three steps, before he paused again. What if Yao was afraid of him? What if Yao hated him? He faltered. But his friend, his friend believed in him. He took the last few steps needed. He stood in front of Yao at the bench, and the boy's attention was drawn immediately.
"Uh," Yao started, looking up at Ivan with a puzzled expression. "Do you need something?" Slowly, shakily, Ivan held out the piece of paper. "What do you want?" Why wasn't Yao taking the paper? Ivan fretted, and stared down at him, as if mentally willing him to take it and read what he had written.
"What?" the tiger muttered, bravely staring back. Ivan moved the paper a little, to draw attention to it. Nothing. He began to tremble where he stood, but continued to stare and hope that Yao would take it and read it already! Nothing. "Just go away," Yao murmured. "Stop being weird."
He felt his heart begin to sink. He prayed for something to come out of his mouth, for at least a syllable to tell his intentions. Nothing did. The bear looked down, shifting his eyes from the tiger's of glowing amber. Ivan felt as if he was going to cry if he had to stand here any longer, being a nuisance to the boy he adored. Yao kept staring, perhaps trying to serve Ivan a taste of his own medicine. And finally, the pressure got to him.
"I-.. l-..like..!" Ivan practically gargled, the words mangled by his rustiness of speech. Now, he forced the paper forward, fearful tears escaping his eyes as he stood there, shaking. Yao narrowed his eyes and finally took the paper.
'To Yao. Hello, my name is Ivan Braginsky. I am from Russia. I have one friend. I think you are very sweet, and I like your hair. I cannot talk to you with my voice. I like you very much, and I think you are cute. Your eyes are pretty too. Will you please go out with me? From Ivan.'
Yao looked up from the paper with cherry cheeks, and his eyes found their way to Ivan. The bear was quivering and looking everywhere but at him, and he was wiping his eyes. A pitiful sight, really.
"You like me?" Yao murmured, raising an eyebrow. Ivan nodded furiously, sniffling. "I haven't dated anyone in a while." He mused, glancing to his friends, who were staring up at Ivan with fear in their eyes. The bear did not scare the tiger, however. "Yes, I suppose so."
Ivan felt his stomach doing flips, and he just kind of smiled and sat down. He looked over to the tree, where Lili was giving him a thumbs-up and a smile. He just grinned a little wider. Letting out a little sigh, Yao reached over and pet Ivan's fluffy hair.
"You're odd." Said the tiger. "We should get to know each other."
ok basically the reason behind this is 1) cute rusliech friends and 2) rochu and i really love rochu hehe
also, mute!ivan was interesting to write! he wasn't mute in the original plan for this, but that's how he ended up huehu