Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hisses of pain came out of Dimitrij’s mouth as he wiped at his knee. The wet paper towel doing nothing against the raw flesh tore open. It filled the scene with blood every time he stopped applying pressure.

“Owowowoww….”

He underhanded the gory paper towel into the trashcan, slapping a bandaid on his wound as fast as he could.

Dimitrij had limped to the bus stop like that. Crying and whimpering as he was taken to school. He’d locked himself in the bathroom, feeling warm blood drip down his calf. Nobody seemed to notice him, or maybe nobody cared?

He tested how well we could walk, limping less than he was. His black jeans were ripped at the spot, from hitting the pavement.

I hate my dad.

The class was even more embarrassing. He was ten seconds late, Dimitrij’s excuses waved off by his English teacher.

“You’re tardy.” He heard his professor call out, bold and dark in tone.

“I’m-I’m sorry. I was in the bathroom.”

“You should’ve hurried up. Sit down.”

“Mr. Vilson, please! I was-”

“Sit. Down. Mr Pustynnikov.”

The boy simply huffed, squeezing the black strap of his backpack as he stormed to his seat. He put his head on the desk. It was covered in pencil drawings of big, white toothed, dirty-nailed monsters. Something he saw in a nightmare, but compared to his other night terrors, it was more like a dream.

Dimitrij looked around the room, searching, trying to see if anyone was staring at him. If anyone thought his entry was embarrassing. Nothing. Nobody looked at him. He was better off that way. He was better off alone.

***

“If you walk more slow I kick ass.” A tall, pudgy boy sped up his pace at the even taller, skinnier girl's threat.

 “Shut up. I’m walking.” He sassed back, matching her pace just to shove her off the sidewalk.

“Ow! You big dumb! My hair!” She pushed him in return, only sending him so far.

“Stop being a dick, Dasha.”

“You the dick.”

The two black haired teens squabbled as they finally reached the school. Every time they went from Darya’s car to the building they fought. Over nothing.

The senior girl gave the boy, Alexei, one more hard shove before running upstairs to her first class. Alexei awkwardly shuffled to his class as well, pulling at his oversized, overworn sweater. It was hot out, early September, but he was used to the heat.

Nobody ever talked to him in his first few classes, save for a surprisingly more awkward girl. Her red hair was cut to her ears, giving her a pretty shitty bowlcut. She was nice enough, annoying though.

The only other kid that talked to him was a g— boy? He had pretty long hair, and a round face, though his body was frail and weak. He was constantly out due to surgeries and illness. He was pretty cool when he was at school. A septum and lip piercing that he did himself.

“Uhm… hi, Lexei!” The jumpy girl, Karina, tapped on Alexei’s desk in third period. He hated that nickname. He sighed and looked up, seeing her shaky hands, she started playing with her lips. A nervous habit she had.

“Howdy. How’s it going?”

“Uh, I’m Fine!! I-I was gonna ask a—about the homework, heheh!”

Oh. The homework. The only time she ever talked to him was when she needed help. She always struggled with schoolwork, leaving him to be guilted into helping. Alexei was the only reason she was still enrolled.

“Oh. I have it, yes. Here.” He bent down, rummaging through his deep red bag, looking for his packet.

She messily scribbled down on her own paper, messing up at least ten words. She mumbled a thanks before running to her seat. The pale boy sighed, looking over his paper. Why did people only like him when he was useful? Many people liked his sister, finding her looks, style, even her Aphasia-affected voice interesting.

 Her GPA never went above 2.0, but nobody cared about that. Maybe it was because she wasn’t creepy, or could wear clothing that fit her. His thoughts were scrambled when the bell rang. He had an hour until lunch, another hour and a half until school was out. Just two and a half more and he could go home. His sophomore year had already proved to be terrible. At the very least, his last class was biology, which he loved. Math was too long, history and english too biased, but science was just facts, it made sense. 

There was a boy in that class too. A messy haired, mean one. He never talked, and when he did, it was always yelling at the teacher. A hermit. He was scared of him, but the way his green eyes caught the light always made him swoon. He couldn’t tell anyone that. Not his sister, his friends, not even his diary. Never. He’s not one of them. He’s not a fag. He was already ugly, he couldn’t make himself worse, he couldn’t be seen.

***

“Everyone quiet!” The biology teacher bellowed throughout the blue classroom, silencing the twenty-something kids in the class. Dimitrij was one of them. He was tardy to this class too. He didn’t have a good excuse for it, just felt like wasting time.

“I don’t care if it’s Friday. You all have a project to do over the three day weekend.” Groans and whines overwhelmed the class. Dimitrij didn’t care, he wasn’t paying attention. He was too busy eyeing the clock. 2:13PM. He only had seventeen minutes before he had to mope to bus #169, get off, open the door, and face him. He’d already gotten in trouble this morning, he just had to ask for forgiveness, endure another hit or two, and then it’ll all be over. He just had to wait. That’s all he could do.

“Now, I know y’all like to do projects with your friends, but I’ve already assigned partners to you,” another round of groans. “So, we’ve got Jane and Ricky, Derek and Pam, Benny and Gerald, Dimitrij and Alexei—”

Huh? What? Me? Who? Alexei?  The scabby boy scanned the room. Every face he could name, except for one. Alexei. Some nervous, pale, fat boy. He seemed to be East Asian. His raven hair curled up at the ends, and his sweater was quite worn. He made eye contact, considering how the pale boy was already staring at him. His eyes were dark and fast, darting around the room the moment he met Dimitrij’s.

“Okay! Meet up with your partners, work until the bell.”

Alexei, or whatever his name was, didn’t budge, like the other kids did. He stared at his hands on the desk. Guess Dimitrij had to be the one to do it. He stood from his chair, grabbing his rubric and trudging to the pale boy’s desk.

“Hi…” He grumbled, shoving his hands in his scrappy pants.

“Ohuh?”

“Are you Alexei?”

“Oh! Uhmm… uh-yeah. Y-yes.es.” He gave a creepy, lopsided smile, making Dimitirij lean back, cringing. The only thing keeping it human enough was the deep dimples on his face. 

He was soo awkward…

***

OH MY GOD. Alexei was talking to him. HIM. The mean, pretty boy. And he looked so much nicer up close. His hair was partially spikey from a sloppy teasing job. His jeans were ripped and scraped up. He must’ve been brave. He smelled like grass and gunpowder. Alexei’s stomach turned, in nerves and… nerves. It was just nerves.

“You’re my partner.”

“Partner?”

“The project? Were you paying attention?” Alexei’s face went red, the tint being very light due to his complexion.

“Oh, no… I was, it’s just… sorry.You’re my partner?”

“Yyyyyep…” He seemed irritated, sighing as he spoke.

“Sorry, uhm-” Alexei stammered before being interrupted by a paper hitting his desk.

“This is what we gotta do. Easy enough. It’s one of those cardboard things.”

“I see… Okay! I have stuff I can use, so we’ll– we can work together over the weekend, yes?”

“Sure…”

Dimitrij rolled his eyes, continuing to drag on the conversation until the bell rang at 2:30. The moment it did, he turned away, grabbing his bag and pushing past the crowd. Alexei somehow caught up to him.

He fumbled out the words, “Hey! Hey, would you like to come over to my house? Tomorrow?”

“Ugh, yeah, fine. I don’t know where you live, though-”

“Here! My address.” The pale boy swung his hand up, holding a folded piece of paper to Dimitrij, who slowly took it.

“Fucking fuck… Thanks, I guess…”

Alexei stopped following him, instead pushing himself against a wall, waiting for his sister to come down the stairs. She was always with her boyfriend. Some dude who always shaved his hair off, claiming he was some sort of prophet. Bullshit stuff like that. She LOVED him, for some odd reason. At least he was a good man to her, always calling her sweet things, even gifting her a pet cat for their, like, fifth day anniversary.

Alexei could tell that the hermit boy didn’t like him. It wasn’t a big surprise. He was used to that, but maybe he could befriend Dimitrij. He could have someone to talk to. For now, he just had to stand there and wait, pulling his sweater down subconsciously.

Chapter Text

Dimitrij winced while stepping up the small house’s stairs. Despite them being so short in height, lifting his legs really hurt. His apology didn’t go too well, he didn’t even exactly know what it was for, but at least he passed out this time.

The hermit boy swore under his breath, clenching his fists. Why was he even here? He didn’t really like the pale boy. He was kind of cute with his hair and clothes and whatever, but creepy to talk to. His eyes were so hard to follow, and he was always mumbling. Still, Dimitrij wasn’t a terrible person. He wasn’t going to deny such an invitation. That’s why he’s here.

Alexei’s neighborhood wasn’t huge. A few ranch-style houses here and there, yet it was still bigger than Dimitrij’s. He only had around five houses around him. Not that he was complaining. He wasn’t big on company.

 He reluctantly pounded on the white door a couple times. A snippy, high-pitched, incomprehensible yell came from the other side, along with an “I’ll get it!” from a familiar voice.

The door creaked open to reveal Alexei, wearing a different outfit. This time a white turtleneck, still very baggy, but it complemented his complexion. His jeans were pretty normal, black and almost flared.

“Howdy, Dimitirij! I was– I was hoping it was you,” The pale boy waved his hand, beckoning the scowling boy to come in. “You have the rubric?”

“Uhhh, yeah, yeah I do.”

The house was warmer than his, comfortable and petite. Little color filled the rooms. A fat, orange cat, dubbed the name ‘Kitty,’ was curled up in a chair, making Dimitrij smile. He loved cats. His cat was a black sphinx. A little bit of comfort in his own house.

A tall, skinny girl was in the small living room, at a point in ballet flats. She turned to see the visitor beside Alexei.

“Oh! Lex have new friend?! Dimitrij!” She pronounced the ‘J’ at the end of his name like the word ‘bridge.’ “Fun to meet!”

“Hi…” He grinned awkwardly and waved.

”You are small boy. So cute!”

The scrawny boy went red, confused by the older girl’s voice and description. He’d seen her in the hallway, since she's really tall, but never heard her speak before.

“That’s Dasha. My big sister. Just, ignore her, she-she’s just like that.” Alexei blurted in, spinning Dimitrij around towards a door. His room.

The room was cramped and low-ceilinged, too familiar for his taste. Not a lot of style at all, save for some musical posters, his red bedsheets, and a black piano. Piano?

“So, where do you want to start? I–I have cardboard in the closet, we can use it, if you want, D…Dimitrij?”

The green-eyed boy wasn’t where he was a couple seconds ago. He was now by the piano, hitting the same note a few times.

“You play piano?” He questioned Alexei over his obnoxious playing.

“Yeah, I used to take lessons, but after a while, we could only really afford Dasha’s ballet instructor,” Alexei explained, walking up to the boy playing.

“Oh. You still play, though?”

Alexei lit up at the question. He loved piano. “Yes, in my freetime, y’know-”

“Play something, then.”

The pale boy suddenly went pink. “...Wha-What?? Now?”

Dimitrij moved behind Alexei, pushing him into the seat in front of the piano. “Uh-huh. I wanna see you play, hmm… Piano Man.”

“I-I-I don’t know that one, sorry. May–Maybe some other time? Besides, we have to do the project.”

“Ughh…fine. Later though!”

***

The project was probably the most boring thing Alexei had ever done. He loved biology, but it was all on the math and people part. Genes, punnett squares, etcetera. He only really liked the animals, cells, and plants.

The boys laid on their stomachs, kicking their legs as they “worked.” Most of their time was actually spent talking about things they like. Turns out that they both really like the wilderness. Alexei loved the animals and plants. Dimitrij liked to hunt and garden. They both agreed that math sucked as a subject, along with loving science. Their grades definitely didn’t match up, though.

 Some of their conversation was also poking light jokes at each other. The pale boy giggled over Dimitrij’s floppy-spiked hair. Dimitrij taunted the weird curls at the nape of Alexei’s neck. The teasing stopped being funny when Dimitrij brought up the taller one’s baggy turtleneck.

***

“I think we can stop here. I’m tired.” Alexei held his head up with his right hand, writing with his left.

“Yeah, we should. I can come over tomorrow. M- my dad’s probably wondering when I’ll be back.”

“Okay. Goodbye, Dimitrij.” He handed the messy boy his rubric, fixing his clothes as he stood. He furrowed his eyebrows when he realized Dimitrij was still waiting there.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I thought you were gonna play piano for me.”

“Oh, how about tomorrow, okay? I’ll play something for you tomorrow?”

“Okay…” He jokingly sulked as he left the house, gently closing the door behind him.

On the walk back, we couldn't stop thinking about the warmth that he felt. Not just the house itself, but it was so… safe? For the first time in a while. He could breathe for a minute. Darya wasn’t that bad, the cat was cute, and Alexei…

He groaned, quickly shaking his head, erasing the thought of the boy from his head. Dimitrij was still freaked out by Alexei. He was so strange, standing around like he’s waiting for someone to finish him off. At the very least he made a new friend. He made a single friend. He had someone to talk to, and that was it. Although, he couldn't help but smile at the thought of hearing Alexei play tomorrow, imagining the music coming from the keys, an intense, focused look on his typically nervous face. He let these thoughts linger, just a little longer.

***

The front door was unlocked this time. Dimitrij cautiously opened it and stepped in, watching the floorboards. If his dad was blacked out, waking him up meant he was fucked. He was already past his curfew. He almost reached his bedroom door, a small room at the right end of the first hallway, when a grating, goosebump inducing voice caught him.

“Where were you?”

Oh no. The boy spun around, staring like a deer in headlights. At the end of the hallway was his father. Old and drunk. He could smell at least four cans on him. His hair was greying and thin. His beer belly protruding from his sleepshirt. Dimitrij shook in response, no words came out, stuck in his throat.

“Where the hell were you, ya WUSS?! ANSWER ME!” His father slurred, taking two large steps forward. Dimitrij took two steps back. He pouted, tears already threatening to fall.

“I’m-I’m sorry, dad, I’m sorry! I told you, this morning, I-I was going to my puh-partner’s house, and we worked on schoolwork. We got distracted, I’m sor-”

SLAP

The poor boy fell downwards painfully, gripping his left cheek as it stung and reddened. The right side of his hip aching. He began to cry, whiny and loud. His father loomed over him.

“You’re such a pussy. Get up and look at your father.”

Dimitrij just cried, covering his head.

“GET UP!”

“Daddy! Stop! I’m sorryyy!!” He wailed out, pleading and terrified. He cowered, holding his hands over his head.

“You always apologize. Like some babe, and for what?! When will you ever apologize for being NOTHING? HUH?!”

The man kicked Dimitrij in the shin multiple times, like he did earlier. One last lesson before he reached up and wiped at the drool falling from his sagging face.

“Go to your room. I’m tired of you acting like you’re five years old.”

“Imsorry…”

The boy weakly crawled up to a stand. Only after hearing the man’s footsteps retreat to the office, hearing the old TV turn on. Some hockey game. He limped back to his door, creaking it open and closing it. Locking it for good measure. He couldn't produce anymore tears or whines, nothing could come out. He was finally alone once more. Dimitrij laid on the ground, hugging himself and rubbing his own shoulder. A fantasy crossed his mind where it was someone else holding him. He didn’t care who. Maybe it was his mother. If she was here, she would sing him a lullaby, call Dimitrij her malysh, despite him being 15. She'd sew his ripped jeans back together. He smiled at the feeling of his own hand. If only she’d stayed with him. I wish that mom had been a little stronger. He thought to himself. After a few hours, he finally fell asleep, rose perfume and melodic hums replacing the beer and sports blaring a couple rooms away.

***

Alexei fiddled with his fingers, twindling his thumbs. He was excited for this visit. He’d missed the jokes, well, some of the jokes they had made. He also had learned the song. Piano Man. It’s not perfect, but he could memorize the notes enough to perform it. He’d always been extremely good at pitch, a sharp ear.

The clock read 11:56AM, around the same time Dimitrij had arrived yesterday. He could hardly wait! He’d convinced Dasha to help him make something nice with him for his new friend. They decided that spiced cookies seemed fitting for such a rowdy kid. Darya was never a great cook, but an outstanding talker. She gave the pale boy some background noise as he did all the work.

At 12:32PM, a weaker knock than yesterday startled the two.

“Coming!!!” Alexei ran towards the door, opening it swiftly. “Dimitrij! Hello, again! Are- are you okay?”

The punk boy on the porch looked terrible. His hair wasn’t styled today. Long and neglected. His eyes were sunken and red. He looked like he was thrown into a tornado and managed to survive.

“I’m fine. Just tired… Yeah, tired.” He rubbed at his eyes, and quickly flashed a gap-toothed smile to lighten the mood.

“Huh. Well, come in! Me and Dasha made you something.” He sang, holding out his hand for Dimitrij to take. To help him around the house, of course! It was only his second stay.

Dimitrij followed the pale boy in, relaxing at the same warmth of yesterday. His hand was uncomfortable against Alexei’s. Why was he so cold and clammy? Still, he couldn’t bear to move it.

“Hi, small boy! We have food for you!”

The “small boy” sniffed the air, getting a waft of the cookies in front of him. “You made me food? Thanks!” He leaned over with his free hand, ruffling Alexei’s dark hair, making him yelp, and Dimitrij jumped in response.

“Hey! Don’t mess up my hair!” Alexei smoothed out his sidepart.

“Heh, heh!! Sorry!”

***

Their project didn't get much farther Sunday, either. The whole time was spent sharing the cookies, complaining about classes, or church that morning, and piano.

Hearing Alexei play was even lovelier than he thought. He was so fluent, keeping a steady beat. His hands were so quick to move. He seemed too shy to sing, only humming the lower notes he could hit. He had a lower voice than a lot of people in his school. His face was so focused, not as creepy anymore. Dimitrij could tell Alexei truly loved to play. 15 years of dedication to something so peaceful.

After the song ended, Dimitrij just stared at the pianist. Half shocked, half enamored.

“That was…” He began.

“Bad, that was so bad, I know, I went to that one part too fast, I’m sorry-”

“THAT WAS SICK! You can just, what-, like, do that?! You’re so talented! I can’t believe it, I thought you meant like, you could play Three Blind Mice, but oh my God!”

The pale boy smiled widely, keeping his mouth closed awkwardly. He looked bashful.

“Thank you… it wasn’t that hard, Dima.”

Dimitrij flushed at the nickname. His mother barely called him that, his father never even referred to him by his name. He fiddled shyly with his mother’s cross on his neck.

“It’s really easy if you've ever tried.”

The messy haired boy’s eyes brightened, staring at his friend.

“Will you show me how?”

***

Alexei struggled really hard to explain the basics. Partially because he never did the explaining, also because he was VERY close to the pretty-eyed boy, practically breathing down his neck.

He had Dimitrij sit at the piano, while he set his hands on top of Dimitrij’s, moving them to practice the beat and rhythm. He wasn’t bad, just occasionally went too fast or slow. Eventually, after about an hour of hard work, he’d taught Dimitrij how to play a simple melody. It was only really a scale.

When Dimitrij had to leave, much to both of their dissatisfaction, Alexei put the remaining treats inside a bag, a little souvenir.

“Thanks, for everything.”

The pale boy giggled in return, “It’s just cookies, I can make more for you.”

“No, I mean, thanks for the song, and the teaching. Seems that you didn’t ever even need those lessons, anyway.” He turned around, partially limping out onto the porch. Alexei took notice but kept quiet. He called out to the messy boy when he reached the end of the lot.

“See you tomorrow, Dima?”

“See you tomorrow, Alex!”

Chapter Text

The weekend passed, the Monday they had off was spent the same way the boys did on Saturday and Sunday. This time, they finished their project. The cardboard that Alexei had made his big sister collect for him was now painted teal, pieces of paper were stuck onto it, one with a giant punnet square. Another with some paragraphs that Alexei wrote in his best handwriting. Despite his shaky hands, it was legible.

Many of Dimitrij’s works were scribbly, everything was done like he had ten seconds to live. His drawings weren't terrible, many kids in his class likely would come to school with a good apology instead of some over-the-weekend project.

“You made the ‘O’ in ‘Pheno’ too big.” The pale boy kept nitpicking every last thing. Their cardboard presentation could’ve been done on Sunday if he hadn't pointed out everything wrong with it.

Dimitrij just shrugged him off, “It’s probably fine. Nobody cares.” It made Alexei feel worried. He couldn’t show off an embarrassing project! Especially with such a cool boy beside him, he looked like a loser. A big, fat, awkward one.

“We’re done, finally!” Dimitrij threw his arms up in triumph, stretching as he did. Both had been hunched over on the floor, proofreading their piece, checking to make sure it fit the rubric. The taller one smiled, standing up and watching his friend. His hair was badly spiked again, weirdly parted and uneven. It was cute.

No. No it wasn't. It- It was stupid, Alexei thought to himself as the messy boy stood up. Maybe I can fix it for him?

“Do you do your hair, uhm, yourself?” He reached a hand over, hovering it over one of his spikes.

“Yeah, I do them sometimes, but they’re too hard.”

“My sister has gel. For ballet, y’know? I can, uhh, help you.”

***

Dimitrij blushed. His hair couldn’t have been that bad, right? Right???

“What? Do you not like my hair or somethin’?” He stepped back, feeling insecure of himself all of a sudden.

“No! It’s nice! It’s just a bit…” Alexei panicked, quickly walking up to the messy boy, putting both hands on his shoulders. “...floppy. Come on, I’ll fix it in the bathroom, okay?” 

Dimitrij shyly nodded, taking his friend’s cold hand, following him out towards the hallway.

The bathroom was claustrophobic as hell. After washing his cheap gel out of his hair over the sink, Dimitrij sat on the toilet seat, flustered and hunched over. It gave the pale boy room to work. He kept moving Dimitrij’s head carefully, turning his head to work on the sides. His hair wasn’t too long, almost a shaggy bob cut.

“You have nice hair. It’s soft.” Alexei commented, scooping a good amount of Dasha’s expensive hair gel into his hands.

Dimitrij only hunched over more in embarrassment. He wasn’t used to being touched for so long. Well, he was, but not as gently as this.

“I’m done! See? You look just like one of those punk guys.”

 Alexei pulled him over to the mirror, standing behind him to show off his work. Dimitrij’s hair was a lot better. More even. His tiny liberty spikes were actually sharp, and they looked straighter.

“Woah… I-I do!” The spikey-haired boy leaned over the sink again, a feminine cross dangling from his neck. The pale boy smiled, looking down at the floor. He watched the ground become farther as he was lifted off the ground in a hug, letting out a loud squeal as he was spun around.

“Thank you! Hahah!!! Look at me!” 

“AHHK!!! PUT ME DOWN!!!” He cackled as the room circled around him. He didn’t know he could be picked up. Dimitrij was strong, too? Along with being handsome and brave? God, he’d be the girl of Alexei’s dreams. The moment was ruined when Dasha came around with the cat in her arms, screaming in terror upon seeing her pricey hair gel emptied halfway.

***

They agreed that Alexei would bring their project to school tomorrow. Dimitrij gave him one last tight hug before running down the steps. Alexei couldn't stop smiling during dinner. He’d changed into a sleep shirt. It was pretty tight, but Dasha never said anything about it. He could trust her. He picked at his food. Darya was intrigued. He was unusually quiet. Too quiet.

“Why no talk? Kitty got tongue?”

The pale boy looked up from his food, smile fading. “What? No, no. I’m just tired from the weekend. That’s all.”

His sister squinted at him, humming softly to herself. Trying to read his expression.

“You like new boy? He friend, yes?”

“Yeah, Dima’s really nice. And really cool, too!”

“Hmm… you think boy cute.” She smugly giggled.

Alexei went a light shade of pink, shaking his head quickly. “NO! I don’t. I- he’s not. I’m not… like that.”

The girl’s sly smile disappeared. Watching her baby brother sulk in his seat hurt to watch, “Lex. What worry you?”

“Nothing! It’s fine. I’m tired, I told you. I’m gonna…gonna go to bed.” He stood up, swiftly throwing the bowl in the sink, pulling his shirt down. He caught a glimpse of Dasha frowning as he closed the door to his room.

***

Tuesday, the two boys sat by each other, looking over their work, assigning who’ll say what and when. Dimitrij’s observation was correct. Jane and Ricky only had half of their project finished, one had nothing to present, another group wasn’t even there.

 He had his hair spiked again, he’d smuggled better gel from Darya’s bathroom, with Alexei’s help. It looked cleaner, easier to look at. The sharpness fit well with his deep green eyes. 

“So, you read all the punnet squares on the left, m’kay?”

  “Okay!”

“And I’ll do, uhm, the writing?”

“Okay, but Dima? What about the pictures?”

“Oh, uhm, I dunno. We’ll figure it out while presenting.”

Most of the groups didn’t have anything to show. A lot of the ones who did were messy, but not any worse than Alexei and Dimitrij’s. When it was finally their turn, Dimitrij proudly displayed the teal cardboard. Alexei was pink, tugging at a red and black striped turtleneck.

“Uhh, ’who invented punnet squares?’ Yeah so this was Reginald C. Punnet. And, yeah.” He didn’t care much for presentation etiquette.

“Ohuh...This is…the-the punnett squares...There’s…” Alexei stammered out, barely saying anything. Some facts eventually came out of his fumbling. Dimitrij felt a twinge of guilt in his gut. He could hear quiet whispers of classmates, even someone yelling “Talk louder!” He thought for a moment, deciding to cut the “pale” boy off, explaining the paper a lot louder and quicker than it was being explained. It saved Alexei from dying of mortification.

When they sat down, they looked over the grade the teacher had written on a sticky note. A 94. Messy, but very creative! Remember to stay on topic, too. Both boys repeated the grade number. Two different tones.

“We got an ‘A!’ Let’s go! I told you we’d do fine.”

“Yeah…” The pale boy hunched over in his seat, frowning.

“What? Hey,” Dimitrij elbowed him in the arm. “you okay? We passed!”

“Yeah, I just don’t know. I just really wanted a hundred.”

“We missed, like, six points, don’t worry about it. I’m sure your GPA won’t suffer because you didn’t get a perfect score.” The spikey-haired boy didn’t seem to understand. Alexei simply sighed.

***

The walk to the hallway was slower the rest of the week. They weren’t rushing to go anywhere.

“No, dogs are my favorite. They’re fun! Don’t get me wrong, I love cats, though.” Alexei was yapping about animals on the following Monday, glad to have someone listening to him rant.

“I have a pet cat. His name is Oliver.”

“You have a cat, too?!”

Dimitrij beamed, a huge tooth-gap showing, “Yeah! He’s really dumb, and I bathe him daily, cause he’s got no hair.”

“Aww! I should come over sometime. I wonder if Kitty would be nice to-”

“NO.”

The two stopped suddenly, the pale boy turning to see Dimitrij. His face was creased with concern and dejection. “Oh– sorry. I just thought…”

“No, no. It’s not you, I pinky-promise. My house is just boring. Nothing to do, y’know? And my dad…”

“Yeah?”

“Uh… he just doesn't like visitors, really.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Yeah.”

The two stopped at the stairs to the Senior hallway, Alexei waited for Dasha here. He was never late, she was too busy smooching her boyfriend.

“Okay, I gotta get to my bus. See you, Alexei.” Dimitrij gave Alexei a playful shove, making both of them laugh.

“Bye, Dima! OH WAIT!” Dimitrij spun on his heels, looking at Alexei with urgency.

“What?!”

“Uh… on Friday, you should come over, we can– we can hang out, or maybe you can stay the night?”  

“Yeah, sure, whatever! Bye!”

“Bye, Dima.”

The wait for Darya wasn’t as boring as it used to be. All weekend, he had something to look forward to. He could finally spend more than three hours with Dimitrij! I wonder what pajamas he’d wear, if he’d spike his hair. If he liked the same late-night shows. If he’ll be warm when he goes to bed. Maybe I can let him borrow my comforter.

Curious thoughts filled his head as his face twitched into a smile.