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The rain was pouring on his head…well, more on his hat than his head. Fyodor was sopping wet as he stepped onto the shared front porch of the Decay of Angels’ house (obviously put under someone else’s name).
He grabs a key out of his pocket and lazily opens the door, when he walks in he immediately puts his wet ushanka on a nearby rack along with his coat. Before he can even make it up the stairs he’s already hearing a questioning, “Dos-kun?” from none other than the jester himself upstairs.
He sighs and responds, “Yes Nikolai, it’s me.” while taking his boots off and neatly placing them together with everyone else’s by the front door. Yes they were terrorists, but that doesn’t mean they cannot follow house manners. He slowly pulls himself up the stairs, using the railing as leverage to uphold himself. The entire way Nikolai is peeking over, down the stairs, just watching Fyodor exhaustedly drag himself all the way up those steps.
Not even a second after the black haired boy reaches the top the other has already jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly, “Oh I missed you so much my dear friend, I feared you might not come back you were gone so long!”
Fyodor peeks over to the clock hung politely on the otherwise empty stairwell wall, “Nikolai, it’s already 2:30, why aren’t you asleep?”
Nikolai giggles and taps the other’s chest lightly, “I could ask you the same, what kept you out so late?”
Fyodor sighed slightly exasperatedly, “I was out on business.”
The white haired boy nodded his head and understood that he probably would rather not discuss it right now. Nikolai gave a small frown before lifting up Fyodor’s collar, “I’d say we should get you dry again, what do you think?” He said with a smile.
He returned the smile, but only shortly and softly, “That’d be preferable.”
Nikolai took Fyodor’s hand and guided him to the bathroom before instructing him to take off his clothes and throw them in the bathtub to dry, “I’ll go get you something to sleep in whilst you do that!” He said before running off to Fyodor’s room.
He sighed and did as the jester said, he took off his socks, his shirt, and his pants, and placed them neatly in the tub. Right as he finished he saw a gloved hand stick out of thin air to hand him clothes; Fyodor took them and thanked Nikolai for the spared awkwardness due to his ability. They had seen each other changing before but Fyodor was never one for vulnerability.
He puts on a loose fitted sweater and some pajama pants before calling out for his partner.
“Nikolai?”
“Yes, Fedya?” Nikolai responds.
Fyodor sighs, “Can you please get me some socks? Those were soaked as well.”
Knowing how Fyodor is with being cold he hurried over to Fyodor’s dresser in his room and grabbed a pair of knee high socks before running out to the bathroom and knocking.
“Come in, what happened to bringing me things with your coat?” Fyodor questioned the taller.
Nikolai shrugged, “It’s two am after all, figured I should get comfy.”
Fyodor replied, “Ah, makes sense.” While putting his socks on. After finishing adjusting the lining to match up with his feet properly he headed off to his room.
While walking down the hallway he hears Nikolai sigh, so he turns around, “What’s wrong, Kolya?” He asks.
Nikolai giggles at the name before reaching into his own room and grabbing a book off of his nightstand, “I thought maybe you could read it to me?”
Fyodor scoffs, “Still need to be read to, just like a child.” He whispers before walking over to grab the book.
Nikolai comments, “I only like to be read to when it’s you doing the reading, friend.” And guides the shorter boy into his room. Nikolai jumps onto his bed and Fyodor sits down in a chair placed beside the white haired boy’s bed.
“Oh! Give me a second.” Nikolai hurries, jumping up from his bed to grab a blanket for the raven haired boy. He smiles as he places it on his lap and slips back into his bed.
Fyodor adjusts his blanket slightly and gets comfortable before opening up the book, “A romance novel?”
Nikolai excitedly nods, “They’re interesting!”
Fyodor rolls his eyes and laughs lovingly, “Whatever makes you happy. Chapter On-“
Gogol cuts him off, “No, no, no, I already read up to the last chapter.”
He receives a confused smile, “Alright then, Chapter Sixteen: Utopia. The young couple frolicked in the flower field. Vera smiling at Ivan, “I never want this moment to end. I wish to love you until the flowers rot and until my bones decay, until this field is gone and all that’s left is our feelings that were once left here.” She falls beside Ivan, the younger of the two, and lies beside him.” Fyodor stops reading to glance at Nikolai, who is blushing and smiling to himself with his eyes closed, listening intently.
Dostoyevsky continues, “Ivan responds, cupping the girl’s face, “No one makes sense to me the way you do. I give a promise to you, Vera; That even when death takes a hand of mine, leading me down one road or another; I will wait for you to walk down that same road. Whether it be a minute or a century, I vow to keep my other free so you may one day hold it the way you once did in another lifetime. This one.” The boy said, kissing her before she could cry or say anything more.
Vera replies, “You promise?” While holding out her smallest finger, “Do you pinky promise that you’ll never leave me?”
Ivan laughs and interlocks fingers, “I promise to love you forever, as long as God will let me. I’ll stay with you as long as I am allowed to.”
She sighs and pulls him into a warm, loving hug, “Alright, I promise to be as good to you as I can be.”
“I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll be the best wife of all.” Ivan says, laughing.” Fyodor stops reading for a moment to think.
Nikolai sits up, “What are you thinking Dos-kun?”
“Ah, I get it now, Ivan is implying that he will marry Vera someday.”
“Yeah! That’s quite sweet, huh?” Nikolai says, lying back down.
“I suppose it is.” Fyodor says, “Only a few more paragraphs left? This is a short chapter.”
He returns back to reading to Nikolai, “The two get up and walk over to the cliff together, hand in hand.
Still standing, Vera stares into the sunset while her lover Ivan stares at her. He imagines her older, in her mid ages, then in her later years…he imagines loving her all the same no matter what. He squeezes her hand a bit tighter.
“What are you thinking about?” Vera says with a warm smile.
Ivan returns it, “I’m thinking about how pretty you’ll look when you’re old with me, and our beautiful children to carry on our love generationally. We live in a lovely cottage on this same hill we stand on and we spend our dying days together, staring at this sunset just as we do now; loving each other all the same.”
“I love you, Ivan.”
“I love you more, Vera.”
Fyodor closes the book gently and places it on the nightstand beside his chair.
Nikolai speaks before he can get up, “Beautiful isn’t it?”
“What’s beautiful?” Fyodor asks.
“Love. The way two beings are able to care so deeply for one another until they’re parted. It’s so bittersweet.” Nikolai says, some silence follows, “You remind me of Vera.”
“How so?”
Nikolai sighs, “Throughout the book she warms up to Ivan, then opens herself up to him and allows herself love and vulnerability. Ivan loves her the way she is and wouldn’t change her for anything. It’s unconditional love.”
Fyodor gets up, “Are you implying that you would be Ivan in this story? Loving me, flaws and all?”
“Maybe, is that so bad?”
Fyodor sits on the edge of his lover’s bed, “It’s only bad if you view it as such.”
He gets up to leave but Nikolai springs up to grab his wrist, “Stay?”
Fyodor sighs and can only comply, getting in bed with the white haired boy and flipping the lamp switch off.
He shuts his eyes for a moment until Nikolai breaks the silence, “Could we be like them?”
“In what way?”
“Can you promise that you’ll never leave me alone?” Nikolai says, sticking out his pinky.
Fyodor sighs and connects them, “I promise, Kolya.”
Nikolai softly smiles and mutters a, “Thanks.” before pulling Fyodor in for a soft kiss. The taller breaks it off and whispers to Fyodor, “I love you. Thank you for reading for me, tonight.“
“It’s nothing to thank me for, I…” Fyodor goes quiet.
“I won’t push you. Goodnight, Fedya.” Nikolai says.
Fyodor returns the goodnight, then after a moment, almost inaudibly whispers, “I love you too, Kolya.”