Behind closed doors
Chapter 2: I'm sick of all these people, but I'm afraid to be alone
The morning came like a slap to the face for Ivan, the sunlight streamed through his window and unfortunately into his eyes. Cursing he got up and headed to the bathroom, not at all surprised when he noticed it was locked. He sighed and ran downstairs to see if that bathroom was taken. The fates must have been smiling on him since Eduard had just gotten out. With a swift movement Ivan not only pushed Eduard out of the bathroom but he managed to shut and lock the door too. He jumped into the shower and winced when he felt cold water pelting him. Maybe fate was just messing with him today or something.
"I vouldn't be surprised." Ivan said to himself as he washed the soap out of his hair and reached for conditioner, uncaring if it smelled like strawberries instead of his usual earthy smelling shampoo and conditioner. He got out and started to dry himself off and quickly put on his clothes. Once he was finished, brushing his teeth and looking for pimples (thankfully none!) he unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen. The sight that met him made him stop.
Gilbert was currently eating cereal in nothing but a robe. Ivan's eye twitched. He so badly wanted to ask what he was doing at his home wearing a skimpy robe while eating Raivis's fruit loops. Instead he opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of vodka, a bowl of left over Borsch, and an apple. He refilled his silver flask that had the sickle and hammer engraved on it (it was his fathers) and placed it into his coat pocket, after taking a swig of the vodka bottle he placed it back in the fridge and made his way outside to eat on the back porch. He ate his borsch like it was the thing that was angering him, soon he was finished and started on the apple.
"Meow?" Ivan looked down and noticed his cat, Vanya.
"Hello comrade." He said affectionately as he rubbed her chin.
"Meow."
"Take no notice of him, he is just a freeloader." Ivan spat and nodded towards the Prussian.
"I vonder vhen he's going to leave. Next zey'll be announcing zeir engagement or something." Ivan coughed.
"Ivan! It's time to go to school!" Katyusha shouted from inside the house. Ivan sighed but nonetheless got up, ran to his room, grabbed his book bag, and sprinted outside again. He and his siblings (except Raivis) arrived at the bus stop and Ivan recognized a familiar head of blonde locks.
"Arthur?" Ivan asked, said person turned around and grinned.
"Ivan old chap, nice to see you again!" Arthur said.
"It is good to see you got home safely, da?" Ivan smiled.
"Yeah, although you won't be getting that bottle back any time soon." Arthur laughed.
"It's fine, I have a flask." Ivan quickly and discreetly showed him his flask. Arthur whistled.
"You're one odd bloke, you love vodka that much you'll risk expulsion just to drink some in school, I'm impressed." Arthur said visibly impressed.
"So are they all your siblings?" Arthur asked, nodding towards Natalia, Eduard, and Toris.
"Da, I have two more also. One is in middle school zough." Arthur nodded.
"Me as well, you've seen Scotty, I'm the second youngest. My youngest brother and I don't get along that much. He's a bit annoying." Arthur said.
"Is he in Raivis's grade?" Ivan asked.
"Raivis, I presume is your youngest brother, right?" Arthur asked. Ivan nodded.
"Raivis in the eighz grade."
"Yeah, my brother Peter is in eighth grade too." The bus finally came and both Ivan and Arthur took the same backseat so they could continue their conversation. Eduard and Toris sat in front of their brother while Natalia sat across from them.
Finally they arrived at school and Arthur lead them to the office and gave Ivan a cheerful wave, after he though no one was looking he gave Ivan the drinky-drinky sign as well, stifling his laughter as he did so. Ivan smirked at his retreating back.
The girl who worked in the office smiled toothily at him and he turned around to talk to Eduard. He could sense her frowning at his back. Finally she cleared her throat and spoke up.
"Um, like here you go." She handed them their schedules, Ivan noticed that she lingered on Toris's hand much longer then he liked. Still he reasoned that one day he needed to get out of his 'Protective brother' mode, but on the other hand that trait of protectiveness must have saved his brothers lives more than he could count. He scowled at his schedule and wondered if he could translate it.
1st period: Reading/ELA - 206
2nd period: Health science/ Worth the wait - 301
3rd period: Science - 302
4th period: Math - 209
LUNCH
5th period: International studies - 219
6th period: Physical Education - Building B
7th period: Art - 221
8th period: Club activities (can choose up to three clubs)*
NOTE: 200 – 210 Core classes, 211 – 228 activity wing, 300s – Science labs, classes, ect. Classes labeled 100 – 110 are for the use of tutorials and computer labs. 100- 210 are located in the ground floor main hallway, 211 – 228 are in the right wing, 300s' are upstairs along with the library, ALL OUTDOORS ACTIVITIES ARE LOCATED NEAR THE GYM OR IN THE TRACK/RACE TRACK/FIELD!
He went up to the elder woman at the office. She seemed nice enough, pictures of her family adorned her desk along with finger paintings that looked like a three year old puked on it.
"Um excuse me, but could you translate zis into Russian?" Ivan asked the lady. She looked, brushing her blonde hair out of her wrinkly face.
"Of course! I'll be back in a minute." Ivan handed her his schedule and like she said she came back a few minutes later with his English schedule and a new Russian schedule.
"Zank you very much." Ivan said, she smiled at him brightly. After that she wished him good luck and he set off to find room 206. He got there in no time following the directions on the paper. He swallowed the nervous feelings wreaking havoc in his head and knocked. It seemed like forever until the door opened and Ivan shuffled inside, the door shut menacingly. The teacher looked up at him from his seat at the desk. Once the teacher got up he still had to look up to see Ivan's chin, Ivan was very tall, ever since he was little, his siblings were dwarfed by him. The only people that were taller than him were his uncle and his father.
"Ah, Ivan Braginsky? Exchange student from Fredricksburg?" He asked.
"Moscow, actually." Ivan corrected.
"I see. Please sit down by Alfred, the one daydreaming in my class by the window." His teacher pointed out. Ivan nodded.
"Da." Ivan sighed and went to sit down but was stopped by a hand, he debated whether he should crush it or shove it off. Nonetheless he turned around.
"Oh and Ivan?" The teacher asked, a hidden smirk adorned his lips.
"Da?"
"No Russian in my class. This is America not the Soviet Union." The teacher smirked and added the last part with a whisper. Ivan's temper flared, he had about enough of this! First the cold shower (which didn't bother him that much), then Gilbert acting like he owned his home, and then the polish girl making passes at his little brother! Before Ivan could regain his wits his body acted like it did only a couple of days ago. He grabbed the offending hand and twisted it, he bent the man's arm and forced it behind his back and slammed him into the green chalkboard. The man hissing in pain all the while.
"Оскорбление матери России мы? Я убью тебя, когда ты меньше всего этого ожидаете." Ivan whispered harshly into the man's ear and laughed. He slammed him again into the chalkboard, he let go of the man and let him slump onto the chalk holder and walked to his seat. The boy he sat by, Alfred was it? Looked like a deer in headlights, his eyes wide with awe and fear.
"Uh, dude don't take this the wrong way but are you...?" The boy asked with uncertainty.
"Nyet, I am not from the Soviet Union. Seeing as the Soviet Union ceased to exist in the nineties. I am simply Russian." Ivan answered shortly. Alfred nodded.
"Cool bro, cuz, you know, it would totally suck if you were like Communist or something!" The boy laughed obnoxiously.
"Dude you remind of my friend from Israel! He can totally kick butt! Could you possibly show me some moves? I can punch real hard and do backflips and stuff but that was cool!" Alfred enthused.
"Ah, okay. Maybe I could show you the cossack dance as well." Ivan joked. Alfred reared back like he saw something disgusting.
"No way! I don't dance! Even when I do it's to my own beat!" Alfred said, his face scrunched up.
"The men who dance like zat can kick very hard, hard enough to break bones I imagine." Ivan reasoned.
"Just some of those wicked moves m'kay? When do you want to meet up? Tomorrow?" Alfred laughed. Ivan frowned a little.
"I apologize but I will busy tomorrow, how about on the veekend?" Ivan asked, looking out the window to reveal an overcast day.
"Okay! That sounds awesome! Where do you live?" Alfred asked.
"Somewhere called ze Russian Province or somezing. Oh yeah! Yeltsin street, our house has a sunflower garden by the fence." Ivan explained.
"Russian Province...? Oh! Now I remember where, my friend lives near there, uh, on Albion avenue I think." Alfred said. Ivan perked up.
"You mean Arthur?" Ivan asked. Alfred looked surprised.
"You know Arthur? I thought you just got here."
"Da, I know Arthur he helped me get back home and I gave him a bottle so he wouldn't get hurt." Ivan said.
"Did he break it on the sidewalk or fence and hold it like a weapon?" Ivan nodded.
"Yup, that's Artie for you. He and I met when he first moved here from London or somewhere around there, you know the place with the riots? That's the place. Anyway, he and I are pretty cool, ever since I saved him from this crazy kid named Ludwig in seventh grade." Alfred explained, suddenly the bell rang and the teacher wearily dismissed everyone.
"Except you, Mr. Braginsky." He hissed. Ivan shrugged at him.
"Don't kill him." Alfred whispered to him.
"If he makes anymore insults about my country then I might kill him, if I'm feeling kind zat is." Ivan glowered. Alfred laughed but stepped out hesitantly
Alfred P.O.V.
I was staring out of the window, Mr. Freeman wasn't interesting enough to hold my attention so I simply gazed outside, making shapes out of the clouds that lazily passed by. I sighed, although going to an international school was interesting but after a while you learn that it's just like a regular school. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to spy on my brother Matty, he was currently talking to a Cuban kid that hates my guts. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Mathew making friends and such but couldn't he make friends with someone who doesn't hate me? I went back to the window, ignoring my secretly racist teacher and his spew of subtle racism. Nobody ever believed me when I said that he was a racist, and I wasn't even one of the people he directed his hate speeches to! Worst of all everyone thinks that I only accused of him being racist was because I wanted attention, mainly my own parents who forced me to apologize to him. Instead I cussed him out and stormed off, that was last year.
Suddenly the door opened and that caught my attention. I turned to see who it was and I thought my eyes were gonna pop out of my head. There stood a magnificent beauty, he had ash colored hair and sharp amethyst eyes. One feature that stood out physically was a long scar stemming from his ear to the left side of his neck. Other little scars dotted his alabaster skin, without the scars that marred his skin it would be perfectly smooth. My fingers itched to run across the skin to see if it was smooth or bumpy because of those scars.
I took note how he tried to hide those scars, I saw hints of concealer and the long scarf he had loosely wrapped around his neck. Maybe it loosened because he was in a hurry or something. I tried to place his nationality, Ukrainian? Belarusian? Slavic or Russian? He seemed to be descended from the slavics by just the way he looked. Still I wasn't sure, I think I freaked him out since I had yet to look away from his exotic beauty, nor did I care to.
I faintly noticed that Mr. Freeman was talking to him, although I gathered that his name was Ivan Braginsky, he was from Moscow not Fredricksburg, and he liked to integrate his mother tongue with English. So he is Russian after all. I thought. My heart beat started to quicken and I changed my attention to the window so he couldn't see my blush, he was going to sit by me! Again my attention was ripped away from the window and clouds to the front of the room where Ivan had grabbed Mr. Freeman's hand, twisted it, shoved it behind his back, and slammed him into the chalkboard all in one fluent and beautifully dangerous move. My face began to heat up once again as I saw him whisper something harshly into his ear in I presumed his mother tongue, the look on his face, enraged hate, made me shiver. Do they all look like that? I asked myself. I looked down to regain my wits and peered out the window once again. I barely noticed that he sat beside me, I tried my hardest not to stare at him but my body disobeyed me and I ended up meeting his jewel like eyes, cold and seductive. Again I shivered but suppressed it. After all I didn't want him to think I was a weirdo, I heard that it's okay to be gay in Russia but you can't be gay about it, so I didn't know how he would react. If I just upped and kissed the wits out of him. Hm, freaking Arthur is rubbing off in my vocabulary, damn redcoat.
I hesitantly began to talk to him. My first set of words probably weren't the best but I had to know, I guess I should explain now to save time and confusion but my parents are very...American, and not in a good way. Sure, they're patriotic and we throw awesome fourth of July parties and stuff but it's all the time, we have several American flags outside and don't even get me started on inside. My parents have a grudge on Arthur so I can't really invite him over or anything, and they can be a little...Er...Racist sometimes but don't worry coz' I'm not like that in the slightest. I guess you could say they have Xenophobia or something. Mathew and I aren't like that thankfully, being around people from other countries really helped us overcome our xenophobia. Oh, and did I mention that my parents are homophobics too? Although Mathew knows I'm gay since he is too, well I guess you could say he's bi. I was glad to hear that he wasn't communist because if my parents found out I was crushing on a communist then my ass would be grass. Slowly our conversation turned to Arthur, and I told him about my friendship with him and how we met.
I walked around the corner in the empty hallway, I had just gotten back from the office because of my bad behavior, though I couldn't care less. My eyes laid upon a small blonde kid struggling to break free from Ludwig's grasp. Ludwig was a classic bully and slightly psychotic too, he scared everyone. He pulled back his fist but I tackled him to the ground and grabbed the blonde kid's hand and practically dragged him a safe distance before I let go. He was heaving by the time I stopped.
"Why...did...you...do that...you...git! You could've...gotten...hurt!" He hissed at me. I grinned at him.
"Because I'm the hero!" I declared happily.
"Git." The blonde panted.
All too soon the bell rang and I scored an unofficial date with him! I wanted to explode with happiness! A cutting voice broke through my euphoria and I noticed Mr. Freeman glaring at Ivan.
"Don't kill him." I whispered to Ivan.
"If he makes anymore insults about my country then I might kill him, if I'm feeling kind zat is." He glowered and I genuinely laughed. Still I hesitantly went outside and closed the door as quietly as I could, leaving a fraction of it open.
REGULAR P.O.V.
Ivan glared as his teacher simply stared at him. They stayed like that, having an eye contest with each other until his teacher finally spoke up.
"Ivan, your behavior is unacceptable, I know you've been abused and all but you must forget that past." Alfred's eyes bulged out as he kept listening, so that's where those scars came from. Suddenly Ivan's cold and harsh voice cut through the air like razor blades.
"Forget? Forget? And what give zem an excuse to hurt someone else? Nyet! I'd razer go to hell than let zem come out of this unscathed! I don't zink so. Unlike you, we humans can't forgive as easily!" Ivan exploded.
"My, my I should tell the counselor I should." Mr. Freeman mocked.
"I can't forgive, I won't forget." Ivan yelled vehemently.
"You are selfish." Their teacher spat at Ivan. Ivan laughed insanely and lifted up his shirt, revealing a long, deep, scar that started at his right shoulder blade and ended on his left hip. Alfred couldn't see but he knew it had to be a scar of some sort.
"I acquired zis when I was fifteen trying to protect my younger brother Toris while our uncle slashed at him wiz a machete from the shed. If Toris had taken the slash he would have died. Now tell me who is selfish?" Ivan demanded. Both Alfred and Mr. Freeman were speechless as they heard Ivan recall that memory.
"I was outside, forced along wiz my siblings to cut firewood for my harsh uncle. Toris accidently cut a log sideways instead of vertical and my uncle became enraged. He grabbed the machete from my younger brother, Raivis and slashed at Toris. Before he could make a fatal slash I jumped in front of him and saved his life. Of course I nearly bleed to death, but knowing my brother Toris could see another morning and have a bright future made me want to die with a smile upon my lips!" With that Ivan pulled his shirt down and stomped out of the classroom. Alfred had hidden himself when Ivan came out. He knew what he was going to do, he wanted Ivan to know happiness again, whether he wanted to or not.
"IVAN!" Alfred yelled at the startled teenager and leaped at him, he was thankful that he had skipped going to class, since the hallway was now empty. Alfred succeeded in knocking Ivan to the ground. Ivan growled and tried to push Alfred off but Alfred was stronger than he seemed. Cautiously, Alfred lowered his lips onto Ivan's. He stared emotionlessly into those shocked amethyst eyes as he kissed him, slowly moving his lips against Ivan's. Reluctantly, Ivan started to kiss back, completely clueless as to why his only friend was kissing him. His friend, who was a GUY! Ivan's eyes widened even more as he just realized this. Maybe Alfred hit his head after the fall or something. Yeah that was it! He hit his head and suddenly thought he was girl. Nyet! Such stupid thoughts. Hm, this feels kind of nice. I like this. Ivan thought. Finally Alfred pulled away to breathe, his face impassive, but his cheeks rosy red.
"So uh, look, I like you and quite frankly I think you're hot, er, really attractive. I kinda heard what happened to you so I uh want to make you happy. Okay?" Alfred asked unsurely. Ivan stared at him, many emotions ran through his face and mind. Shock, suspicion, sadness, and finally anger. He shoved Alfred off and got up, brushing invisible dust from his clothes.
"I don't need your pity!" He spat. "I'm not some lost cause for you save!" Suddenly his face fell and his expression became grim.
"Nobody would even look at me if they knew. You heard only a fraction of my hardships, you will probably zink I'm insane or somezing, not zat I'm denying it." With that Ivan left Alfred there, shocked and hurt while Ivan's heart seemed to thaw only a little.
The rest of the day flew past Ivan as his heart ached with guilt and something else he couldn't comprehend. In what seemed like minutes it was lunch. Ivan had heard lots of rumors about American lunch rooms and how everyone divided into groups and how some of the groups were ugly and rude. Sighing he opened the door to what seemed like a very grim adventure.
A/N: I would have written more but this is now 6 pages long and I'm quite tired. Thank you for reading my story and I hope you review ^.^ Please have a nice night and I will be working on the next chapter diligently.
Оскорбление матери России мы? Я убью тебя, когда ты меньше всего этого ожидаете - Insulting mother Russia are we? I'll kill you when you least expect it.
Da – yes
Nyet - No