Kristian had woken up that morning with dark circles under his eyes and drool stuck on his left cheek. His normally messy hair looked as though it had just gotten electrocuted by ten thousand lightning bolts, and he looked so shitty that not even a fashion expert/dermatologist/plastic surgeon from Korea could help him fix the currently walking abomination named Kristian. He sort of wandered around his apartment for a little while and attempted to fix his hair with a wide-toothed comb. It had literally gotten stuck in his hair, and he tried to get it out. It didn't work.
So now, not only did Kristian look like a Halloween-costume-gone-wrong, he also had a stupid, plastic, bright pink comb in his stupid, silver hair that resembled an afro. The day was getting off to a great start.
In all honesty, he could probably blame all of his problems on Nikolai. He didn't like to be too close to a person. Even in preschool, he had been isolated from the other children, playing with the wood bricks by himself. (He had stacked an impressive 47 wooden bricks on top of each other without falling.) And now, he just barely tolerated sitting beside his friends during lunch, opting instead to scoot away from them while drinking his milk carton. Although he didn't exactly hate close-contact, he just preferred not... well, touching other people. It sent gross chills up his spine, and even Yong Soo, who regularly hugged him from behind, was something that Kristian only recently had gotten used to. (The first time Yong Soo hugged him, Kristian freaked the shit out. He had literally climbed up a tree and stayed there stubbornly until Kaoru coaxed him back down with promises of food after school.)
Yet now, aphephobic Kristian deemed being swept away like a princess by Nikolai perfectly acceptable compared to sitting beside people during lunchtime.
He banged his head against his counter top, and then yelped at the pain that shot through his forehead. The day was turning from bad to worse. Sighing, he decided that, if he couldn't understand what the hell was going on with his bipolar body, he wouldn't bother thinking about it. Dwelling on the past wasn't what a man should do.
Instead, a man should be preparing for another shitty day of school.
He wandered down to his bedroom again, and checked the alarm clock. When he did, he was completely- excuse the pun- alarmed at the time.
It. Was. Nine. Thirty. Five.
He groaned. This had to be a joke. Or a glitch in the clock. He could not have missed the entirety of his first block. He had a test today, dammit!
Come to think of it, he didn't even study for the test.
Kristian sighed a breath of relief. At least he didn't have to blindly circle answers and pray for one of his choices to be correct.
"Kristian!" The door banged open. Hurried footsteps slapped against the tiled floor. "Kristian! You in here?"
"Over here." He called out, and then realized it was a bad idea. He looked down at his extremely oversized grade-school graduation t-shirt covered with paint and bright purple track shorts. He had seen Nikolai look like a total mess quite a few times, but since he always woke up early, Nikolai had never seen Kristian as a slob. And he was perfectly happy with that.
"Dude, it's nine-fucking- what the hell are you wearing?" Nikolai stopped short at the door, his eyes almost bulging out from his face. "What's up with your hair? IS YOUR FOREHEAD BLEEDING?"
"What?" Kristian touched his forehead, and surveyed his hands. Yep. They were sticky and slightly warm, and also a dark, crimson red. "Yeah, I guess it is."
"Who did this to you?" Nikolai demanded, settling down on one knee. He grabbed Kristian's face tightly, making his cheeks puff out like a blowfish. "Tell me! I'll beat the shit out of him!" Nikolai's ice-blue eyes looked worried and distraught. Normally Kristian would dance with joy for Nikolai to have emotions (he was a hypocrite, since he barely showed emotions too), but all he could think about was how shitty he must look and how hard Nikolai was pressing his cheeks and how-
Nikolai was pressing his cheeks. The words finally sunk in.
Nikolai was in very close contact to him and he didn't seem to mind.
Quite abruptly, he slapped away Nikolai's hands, his heart pounding with anxiety. An awkward moment or two passed by. Nikolai stared at Kristian with an almost cold gaze. Kristian looked away.
"Um. No one hit me. I kind of. Banged my head on the counter top." Kristian broke the silence. Nikolai blinked a few times before biting his lip to hold back his laughter.
"You are an idiot." He announced. "And we're both really late to school. Why didn't you call me?"
"I overslept. Didn't your mom call you?"
"She went off to work."
"Oh really? Where?"
"Around the- hey." Nikolai kicked Kristian. "It's classified."
"Ow! Don't kick the injured!" Kristian protested.
"You're the one that injured yourself, you idiot." Nikolai sighed, and offered his hand to Kristian. "Come on. Let's work on your monster hair, and then wrap up that wound."
Kristian stared at his hand. It was very long and slender, the fingernails clipped short but clean, and there was a thick, silver ring wrapped around his index finger. He wondered who gave him that ring. It was a very manly looking ring, one that balanced out the delicate hand, making it look strong and reliable. Tentatively, Kristian touched his hand, and out of nowhere Nikolai tightened his grip and pulled him up, the ring digging rather comfortably into the palm of his hand.
"Go get dressed. If you feel dizzy, whistle." Nikolai commanded. "I'll fix something up for you." Nikolai walked away, and suddenly, Kristian felt like a small, young child, watching Nikolai's tall shadow slowly disappear around the corner.
Almost magically, Nikolai had managed to make Kristian's ex-afro hair into its regular, shiny fluffy-ball self. Kristian stared in the mirror for an impressive time of ten minutes without even moving. He yelped and ran away once Nikolai whipped out a ruler and threatened to hit him with it.
Nikolai scrounged around in the closet and found some decent outfit combinations deep inside the closet, thrusting the clothes into Kristian's lap to wear. He had also managed to make Kristian's face look presentable and almost human, so that was nice.
"So, are you driving me to school?" Kristian asked, settling down on the table. Nikolai wordlessly handed him his cup of hot green tea and continued on checking the toast. After a few minutes of deep, intense thinking, Nikolai said,
"I'm hungry."
Kristian blinked a few times in surprise. "Did you just brush off my question?"
"And I'm not in the mood for toast."
"Hey! Are you ignoring me?"
"Go out with me." Nikolai grabbed Kristian's hand, and Kristian blinked, his mind temporarily shut down.
"Excuse me?" His voice sounded faint, and what the hell did Nikolai just say and- oh my god my hand let go of my hand Nikolai
"Will you be my partner in crime?" Nikolai's pretty face had on a smile that resembled a smirk and- wait it's not what I think it is right it's too soon and LET GO OF MY HAND DAMMIT
"What?" Kristian tried to wriggle out of his grip, but it was impossible. Nikolai's grip was like iron.
"Jesus! You know what I mean!"
"No, no I don't."
"Fine, fine. I'll just show it to you." Without a warning, Nikolai sprinted out of the door, a flailing, helpless Kristian trailing behind him like a rag doll. They reached a brand-new black Lamborghini and Nikolai opened the door to push Kristian in. Before Kristian could react, the door was slammed shut and Nikolai had climbed to the driver's seat.
"You get it now?" Nikolai said, revving up the engine.
"No. Not really." Kristian replied, struggling to put his seatbelt on.
Nikolai sighed, and leaned forward. Kristian leaned back. Unfairly gorgeous blue eyes stared at his own lavender ones, and Kristian gripped the seat so tightly the leather would contain deep nail indents that no one could fix.
"Seat belt on, Captain." Nikolai said, buckling the seat belt in for Kristian. Kristian blinked in response, and Nikolai pressed the speed pedal. They veered out of the parking lot smoothly, the car humming with suppressed energy. Nikolai swerved in and out of lanes, and the car brought some awed looks from bystanders.
"Wait- where are we going?" Kristian asked after his heart calmed down a bit.
"I said I'm hungry." Nikolai turned his wheel towards the left, nearly hitting a bystander and a few squirrels along the way.
"So...? I fail to see how your empty stomach relates to kidnapping a minor." Kristian huffed, looking out the window in lieu of Nikolai's face.
"First of all, you're 18. You're technically an adult. Secondly, we're going somewhere to eat, idiot. What did you think I was talking about?" Nikolai said, sounding amused.
Partner in crime. Ditching school together.
Go out with him... meant literally, going out with him.
Kristian felt like throwing himself out the window and getting a brand new bruise to accompany his forehead.
"Hey, wait. We're skipping school? Isn't that a bit irresponsible of you, Nikkie?" Kristian said mockingly, finally turning his head over to look at Nikolai. Unfortunately for him, Nikolai picked that moment to look at Kristian as well. An almost awkward tension hung between them as they gazed into each other's eyes, and Kristian wondered why he felt his heartbeat quicken. Nikolai coughed and focused his attention in front of the car, his cheeks unnaturally pink.
"Well, seeing as somebody woke up late, causing us both to suffer dire consequences, I prefer not to enter my lecture halfway through as I have more important problems to tackle." Nikolai drove into the parking lot of a homely looking restaurant.
"But you're just hungry."
"So? Hunger is a world problem. We should take care of ourselves before taking care of others." He unbuckled his seat belt, and looked pointedly at Kristian.
"Well?" Nikolai said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well what?" Kristian replied, clutching his seatbelt as though for protection.
"Are you getting out or what?"
"What?"
"Your seat belt. Still buckled." He pointed at the locked seatbelt, causing Kristian to blush from embarrassment.
"I was about to until you started talking." Kristian muttered. Nikolai stifled a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah."
Sometimes the Norwegian was much too cryptic for Kristian's liking.
The cute, brown-haired waitress kept fluttering around their table, always asking to refill their coffee, or if they wanted some fresh flowers, and lots of do-you-want-more-muffins-or-anything-at-all, sir?
Nikolai always responded with a tense, polite smile (since he wasn't used to smiling) and Kristian just shook his head.
"So..." Kristian said, cutting his muffin in half. "When did you get a new car?"
"It's not mine."
"Oh."
Nikolai peeled his croissant, separating the flaky layers. "Well, it's kind of mine. I borrowed it for a while, that's all."
Kristian decided not to ask any more about the car.
"So what's the real reason we're ditching class, Mr. University Guy? You're turning me into a rebel, and that's not gonna look good on my report card." Kristian asked, taking a sip from his orange juice.
"One day off of five whole days isn't too bad." Nikolai replied. "More importantly, you look as though you saw shit last night. Care to tell me why?"
Before Kristian could scramble through his brain for an answer, the waitress came over. This time, Kristian was pretty thankful for the interruption. She giggled slightly, her shiny brown hair bouncing up and down as though she was in a shampoo commercial. "So, are you guys brothers?"
"What?" This time, Nikolai was the one that spoke. "No."
"Cousins?" The waitress leaned in a bit, her eyes sparkling more and more.
"No..." Nikolai said slowly, placing his croissant back onto his plate.
"Oh! I see now." She snapped her fingers in the air, her face a picture of pure delight. "I see how it is."
"What?" Kristian couldn't help but ask. "What are you talking about…" he snuck a glance at her name tag that flashed under the rays of the sun, " ...Elizabeta."
"Well, two males, eating together, without another person or a girl in sight..." She sighed dreamily, hugging the menu in her arms. "So. You know."
"Um, no I don't know." Why was everyone so goddamn unclear? Kristian felt like a grade-schooler at a high school party- awkward and noticeable for all the wrong reasons.
"Elizabeta! Table 12!" A girl yelled. Elizabeta looked depressed.
"Aww... and I was just getting to the good part." She said under her breath.
"Excuse me?" Kristian blinked, his eyelashes casting shadows on his cheekbones.
"Oh, you're so cute!" Elizabeta squealed, pinching Kristian's cheeks. "Have fun with your boyfriend!" She skipped away happily, her long brown hair fluttering. After a few minutes, Kristian finally realized what she had said, and he slowly sunk down in his chair, his face bright red.
"Something wrong?" Nikolai asked, eyeing Kristian's currently-red face with interest.
"Nothing." He mumbled. "Not. Well. Nothing's wrong." He slid back up, and took another sip from his juice. "Wait. Doesn't it bother you that she just called us a couple?"
"What? She did?" Nikolai took a bite from his croissant thoughtfully. "You sure she didn't mean boyfriend, as in friends that are guys?"
"What? No one ever says that!" Kristian said nervously, almost dropping his cup onto the floor.
"It's just a thought." Nikolai kicked Kristian's shin playfully under the table. "Chill out, man."
"Yeah. Yeah, I should chill out." Kristian sighed, his hand on his heart. Today was rather tiring for some reason, and it was only about eleven in the morning.
"Let's hit the next place." Nikolai got up and put down a ten dollar bill and a few coins. "Come on, your highness. Your carriage is a-waiting."
"Why are you talking like that?" Kristian asked, bemused.
"Because I felt like it. Do we always need a reason for what we do?" He opened the door for Kristian. "Ladies first."
"In that case, you should go outside first then." Kristian pushed Nikolai out in front of him, and the door swung shut.
"So what are we doing here?" Kristian finally said, eyeing the place with distrust.
"To make up for that disastrous first date, Kristy."
"Yeah, but this looks like a trash dump."
"Hey!" Nikolai protested. "It's a playground!"
"An abandoned playground." Kristian said, warily looking at the broken teeter-totter and the sleek ice that coated everything. "You know, I don't think you can get a girlfriend any time soon."
"You ass." Nikolai said, a bit stung. "I think this is a perfectly wonderful place."
"Yeah, a perfectly wonderful place to break a leg and get raped at the same time."
"You'll understand the charm of it soon, I guarantee it." Nikolai pushed Kristian forward. "Come on! I'll push you on the swing!"
"No, it's fine- waah!" Kristian was literally shoved onto the swing, and Nikolai grabbed both sides of the chain to push him. Kristian had to grip on tightly to refrain from falling. All of a sudden, Nikolai let out a burst of energy and Kristian flew high, high up in the air, so close to the grey, cloud-covered sky that he felt like he could reach for it and touch it. He swung back, the cold wind whistling in his ears, his hair being pushed back from his face, feeling the full force of everything. Kristian stared wide-eyed in front of him. They lapsed into a comfortable silence; Kristian closed his eyes and pretended that he was just swimming through air, that nothing could stop him. It felt perfect and relaxing, and he had forgotten that he was in an abandoned playground.
After a few minutes, Nikolai settled down onto the slide, watching with a half-smile as Kristian swung himself, his eyes closed and his purple scarf dancing in the wind.
When he realized no one was pushing him, Kristian spun around, looking around the playground worriedly until he found Nikolai. Slowing down the swing, he got off and half-ran, half-walked to Nikolai, climbing up the slide. He occasionally slipped down, and tried again, finally sitting beside the blond.
"Did you have fun?" Nikolai asked, poking Kristian's cheek playfully.
"No." Kristian lied, batting his finger away.
"You liar."
"Yeah, yeah." Kristian waved him off, and Nikolai let out a small laugh- it was a quiet laugh, but completely real and charming. Kristian found himself laughing along softly, something that he hadn't done in a long time.
"So why couldn't you sleep last night?" Oh great. Kristian had hoped that he would have ignored it, but Nikolai obviously had to bring it up.
"No reason." Kristian said quietly, drawing circles on the slide.
"There is a reason."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"Yes- I mean no!" Kristian quickly corrected himself, but Nikolai pounced on it.
"See? Even your mind is unconscionably saying the truth. Follow its example a bit more." Nikolai coaxed, his fingers drumming on Kristian's thighs like a pianist.
Kristian sighed, leaning against the pole. There was no escaping from Nikolai's prying questions, or his resolute stares. "No... well... um..." Kristian racked his brain to figure out a good reason that would satisfy Nikolai and wouldn't make him feel too stupid. "I'm... a... clean freak."
"You." Nikolai said, unimpressed.
"Yeah." Even to Kristian that excuse was incredibly weak.
"...So... how does this relate to you not sleeping?" Nikolai said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well... you know." Kristian replied feebly.
"No, I don't know."
"Yes you do."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"No- I mean yes!" Kristian groaned. "You know, this is like the reverse of our conversation before, except I lost to both of those conversations... am I making any sense?"
"Yes."
"No- I mean... oh, screw it." Kristian put his head into his hands, and his fingers felt incredibly stiff and cold. He blew on them, hoping to warm them up, but they were still pink and about to become ice.
"Whatever. Tell me when you feel like it, then. I didn't mean to make you feel all self-conscious." Nikolai sighed, his breath like trailing tendrils of smoke. He pretended to smoke with his two fingers, and then watched as the slivers disappeared. "You want to go somewhere else?" Nikolai asked.
"Sure." They both slid down the slide, and Kristian winced at the cold plastic rubbing against his jeans. He decided to take a gamble, and said, rather subtly, "You know, my hands are really, really cold."
"Oh yeah?" Nikolai said, understanding the undertone of the message. "Then here." He offered his hand to Kristian.
This time, there was no hesitation or worries when Kristian gripped Nikolai's hand, and they laced their fingers together tightly.
Hey guys! Welcome back to another chapter. This has also been edited for typos and grammatical errors.
Review if you want to! Thanks for being with me for all these years!