CHAPTER 3

Ivan and the others sat around in the living room, eating the pie Katyusha had made and getting to know each other. Of course, Ivan's older sister and Francis were (or at least seemed to be) very talkative. Natalya on the other hand, mostly shot looks at Francis and then excused herself to go to her room. Ivan was almost worried, but he knew that Natalya didn't really talk to anyone but her siblings. He decided he would talk to her later on, when Francis left.

"So, Ivan.. What does your room look like? Now that we've all finished eating, if you don't mind I'd like to see it." Hearing his name, Ivan looked up.

"Eh?"

"Your room. Can I see it?" said Francis, tilting his head slightly.

"Oh.. Um.." He thought back to how clean his room was last time he had been in it. There were some clothes on the floor, and his desk was a little messy, but it should be okay. "Yeah.. Sure. Follow me."

Ivan set his empty plate on the coffee table and led Francis down a small hallway to his room. The doorknob squeaked as he opened the door and welcomed his new friend in. Francis slowly looked around as Ivan shut the door.

"It's sort of small.." He said, eyeing some of the clothes on the floor. "But it feels nice in here."

Before Katyusha, Natalya, and Ivan had moved into the apartment, Ivan's room had belonged to a girl. One of the walls was painted a lighter shade of yellow, and the rest were lavender. Ivan decided that he had liked the warm feel of the room, and they never repainted it. Natalya's room was actually painted navy blue, since she got the boy's room.

"Yes.. I like it that way. I'm sorry its messy, though." Ivan went and set on his bed, staring at Francis. He sat down next to him.

"My room isn't clean sometimes. It's okay."

The two of them went silent for a while. Francis continued eyeing his room, and Ivan just twiddled his thumbs. He was nervous of the impression he was making and thought,

"I bet Francis lives in a nice, fancy house. Mine probably looks stupid compared to his.." He sighed and looked over. He was going to say something, he didn't know what exactly, but Francis cut him off.

"Hey, Ivan.. Do you think I could spend the night with you? I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind."

"Huh?" He tilted his head. Did he just ask to stay here? With him?

"Well.. I'm just wondering if I could stay the night. It would be fun." Francis smiled.

"Oh.. Um.. ..I guess I can ask Katyusha about it.." He didn't know how she would react, since he had never had a friend over before. He never got close enough to someone to ask. "I guess he's just trying to be nice to me."

He got up and walked to the kitchen, where his older sister was most likely tidying up. He peeked his head around the corner and saw her.

"Hey, Katyusha..?" He walked looked up at him and smiled while cleaning some crumbs off the counter.

"Yes, brat*?"

"Francis was wondering if he could stay here for the night. He said his mom wouldn't mind."

"Hmm.. Well, have you done your homework, Ivan? It is a school day."

"I can do it right now!" He said, getting a little excited. Would she say yes?

"Alright, then.. Just don't roughhouse, okay? We don't need one of you getting hurt."

"Thanks, Katyusha~" He quickly gave his sister a hug, then went back to his room. Francis looked at him.

"Well?"

"She said yes, but I have to do my homework." Ivan grabbed his bag, which was resting by his door, then brought it over to his desk. He pulled out some books and papers and laid them out.

"Are you having trouble in your classes? That looks like a lot of extra work." said Francis, who came up behind him and peered down at the papers.

"Um.. Well, some of it is late classwork. Sometimes I can't catch up with the rest of class.."

"I can help you. Just let me call my mother and tell her where I am." Francis winked and pulled out a touch screen phone. He dialed some numbers, then went out into the hallway, shutting Ivan's door behind him.

As Francis chatted on the phone with his mom, telling her where he had been and that he was spending the night here, Natalya crept out of her room quietly. She walked up to him whilst he was turned around, waiting. When he finally shut off his phone and stuffed it back into his pocket, she suddenly pushed him against the wall before he could open Ivan's door.

"N-Natalya?" He said, looking down at her. "You scared me, haha-"

"Shut up." She growled, pressing her forearm against his throat. He made a muffled sound and gulped.

"What are you doi-" He began to say, only to be cut off again.

"You'd better not be messing around with my brother, got it? I do not fall for your pretty-boy outside. He is fragile. If you hurt him, even only a little, I will take care of you myself." Her icy eyes glared into Francis's, and he slowly nodded.

"..I understand.."

"Good." She stepped back a ways and looked at him again before going back into her room. Francis composed himself and opened Ivan's door.

"What was that noise outside?" Asked Ivan, who had started on his work.

"Oh, well.. That was nothing. I just tripped is all. Clumsy, right?" He softly chuckled to himself and went to Ivan's side. "Lets just start on your work, hmm? My mom didn't care."

About an hour and a half later, Ivan was done with his homework after Francis had helped him out. He had been through pretty much all the courses previously, so he knew the material already.

"Wow.. I got it done quick with you helping me.." said Ivan, who was stuffing his papers into his books. Francis waved his hand in dismissal.

"No problem. Now we can have fun. What do you usually do here?" He flopped onto the bed, and Ivan laid next to him.

"Well.. I mostly just do homework, shower, nap, and sometimes talk to my sisters."

"That would get boring, no?"

"Yeah, I guess so. But I don't really have anything else to do." A thought popped into Ivan's mind, just as he said those words.

"Except get sad."

"Don't you have any other friends you can talk to? Besides me, of course~" Francis did a small hair flip.

"Not really.. I do talk to Toris at school but not outside of that. I don't have a phone or anything."

"Why not? Your parents must make enough money to at least afford a cheap one."

'..That's the thing.. My parents aren't around anymore, so my big sister makes just enough money to get by."

"I see.. I thought that it was odd, that no one was home except for her. Sorry for mentioning it, Ivan."

"Its okay.. It was because she got off of work for a little while, but she should be going back soon. She works a few different jobs."

"What a poor thing. She must come home so tired."

"Yes. She almost always goes to sleep immediately." Francis shook his head and grabbed a pillow, resting on it.

"So.. Aren't you hot? You still have your jacket and scarf on."

"Oh.. Well, I guess I'm a little warm.." Ivan didn't move to take the garments off, however; they were both hiding something. His scarf, the embarrassingly large scars on his neck. His jacket, the cuts he had made yesterday. Ivan came to a realization.

"I forgot about those! How am I supposed to keep them hidden, with Francis here? He'll surely see them at some point.. How could I have been so forgetful?"

"Why don't you take some of it off , then?"

"Um.. It's not too hot, so I don't have to just yet." Another lie. He was actually beginning to sweat underneath all his clothes. Francis raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, whatever you say." They both went silent. Ivan looked down.

"Francis probably thinks I'm weird.. I wonder if he will stop liking me after he stays here. Does he even likes me at all? I mean, maybe he just pities me and wants to be friendly.. That sounds pretty likely. Considering other people don't like me much.."

"Hey, Ivan?" Francis's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Would I be able to take a shower here?"

"Sure.. But, er.. What are you going to change into?"

"Oh, I forgot about that.. I guess I'll text Matt and tell him to bring me some clothes." He pulled out his phone again and tapped on the screen for a minute or two, then shut it off and slid it back into his pocket. "He said he'll be here soon. What do you want to do in the mean time?"

"Hm.." Ivan rolled onto his side and thought. There wasn't much to do here, like Ivan said. "We could just talk. I don't know you all that well."

"Oh.. Alright. Lets start off with something basic.. What's your favorite color?"

"I'm not sure.. But I like pastel colors. They're soft and warm."

"I like red, because I see it as the color of passion and love. How about your favorite activity?"

"I just like being with my friends."

"That's nice of you. I like gardening, cooking, a lot of things.."

Francis and Ivan began to talk about simple things, learning about each other until Matthew arrived outside and gave Francis his clothes. He took his shower and changed in the bathroom. It was Ivan's turn now. He entered the bathroom, taking off his scarf, jacket, and shirt and piling them on the glanced at himself in the mirror, and once again noticed the red lines covering his wrists. They stood out so much from his pale skin.. And after his shower he would have to go back into his room and get clothes, right? That's where Francis was... Ivan sighed and slid off the rest of his clothes, stepping into the shower and turning on the water.

"Maybe I shouldn't have done that.. These cuts seem to be coming more of a problem.. They're also sore." He washed his hair and body and turned the water back off, stepping out and grabbing a towel. He wrapped it around his waist and sighed. Unless he wanted to spend the night naked in the bathroom, he would have to just try and cover them up as best as he could. Ivan wrapped the towel around his waist and grabbed his clothes off the floor, dropping everything but his scarf and jacket into the laundry basket as he walked back to his room.

Ivan cautiously opened his door, trying to awkwardly keep his arms plastered to his sides. Francis looked back at him.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I found a photo album under your bed and started looking through it. You were cute when you were younger." Francis gave him a cheeky smile.

"Oh, uh.. Thanks." His cheeks flushed a light shade of pink as he went over to his dresser to get his clothes for the night. He didn't get a lot of compliments. He opened his drawer and started shifting around some clothes.

Little did he know, Francis wasn't looking at the photo album anymore. It was open in front of him, but his eyes were on Ivan, staring at him. He had numerous scars along his back; most of which looked like he had gotten whipped at some point. Then his eyes drifted to more of Ivan's body, and he noticed something clashing against his skin. Was it blood? No.. Little red lines, on his wrist. Ivan moved his arm out of sight just as Francis noticed them.

"Ivan..?"

"Yes? Do you need something?" He turned around, holding a shirt, his pants, and some boxers.

"Do you have something on your arm?" Ivan froze, obviously caught. He turned his wrist towards himself and looked at it.

"No, I don't think s-"

Francis immediately grabbed his hand and pulled Ivan's arm towards him, knowing that he was lying. His face was instantly covered with a look of shock.

"Did you do this to yourself?.." Ivan just went silent in response, biting his lip. He looked at the floor. Francis knew it meant 'yes'. "Why?"

"..I don't know.. I just feel that there is something wrong with me, and that no one cares.. That is why I am bullied, yes? Because I'm disliked and ugly and.. ..me?" The words seemed to spill out of his mouth; in all honesty, he just wanted to know if it was true or not. Francis gave him a sympathetic look and stood up.

"No, that isn't right. There is nothing wrong with you, Ivan. You are fine, just as you are." Ivan looked Francis in the eyes, tears forming in his own.

"Then why does it keep happening to me..?" He whispered, starting to cry.

"I don't know.. Its probably just because a lot of people are sick, and get pleasure from hurting others like you. But please, don't think that you don't matter, that you aren't beautiful, or that no one cares for you." Francis wrapped his arms around Ivan as he began to shake.

"Is he telling the truth?"

Ivan returned the hug with one arm, holding onto his towel with the other. He buried his head into Francis's shoulder. After a couple minutes, his tears stopped, and he calmed down. He slowly pulled away.

"Don't do it ever again, Ivan." said Francis, "Now, why don't you get dressed?" The other man looked down at himself, realizing that he was naked. ..Well, except for the towel.

"Okay.. Thank you, Francis."

"..I needed that."

*Brat: Russian for 'brother'