Chapter Text
Upon me and Boris stepping into the taxi, it hit us that New York City was far too pricey for two fourteen-year-olds trying to get by. That realization prompted us to move to a small town called Derry.
Theo gripped the front door handle so tightly his knuckles turned white, his voice echoing up the stairs as he shouted, "Boris, if you aren't down here in five seconds, I am leaving without you!" "I come!" Boris yelled back, his voice cracking. He grabbed his dirty, scuffed backpack, before racing down the steps.
"Potter tis ok will be there" Boris said, trying to sound as calm as possible while racing around the kitchen, desperately hiding his own panic from Theo.
"You know if you woke up at the time I set for you and not 30 minutes later we'd already be there!" Theo snapped.
"I know I know next time I make sure to kay? Boris grabbed his and Theo's house key, plus who will see you are size of Jellybean!" "Boris!" Theo yelled, throwing his hands up before storming out the front door. Boris zipped out right behind him seconds later, slamming the door shut.
Theo marched down the sidewalk with fast, anxious steps, constantly checking his reflection in the windows of parked cars while Boris jogged right beside him, completely unbothered by his own heavy breathing. Boris reached over and aggressively ruffled Theo's perfectly combed hair, laughing deeply when Theo shrieked and swatted his hand away.
"Hah be calm jellybean, wind will do it anyway!"
"Ah Boris you know just because you think looks don't matter doesn't mean they aren't !" Theo says making his hair appear perfect again. Boris puffed out his chest and slapped his own stomach with a loud laugh.
"What you mean? Look at me! I am beautiful man! Like movie star!"
Theo opened his mouth to argue, but Boris leaned down, catching Theo's chin gently between his fingers. He closed the distance and pressed a warm,deliberate kiss right to Theo's lips. When Boris pulled back, his eyes were crinkling with mischief. He didn't let go of Theo's chin, using his thumb to lightly brush Theo's burning cheek.
"Aha! Look at your red face," Boris teased, his broken English dropping to a soft, playful murmur. "You pretend to be mad, but you secret liking it. Your heart goes boom-boom, Potter."
Theo wanted to tell him to stop before they ended up late, but the words caught in his throat. Instead, he pushed up onto his tiptoes and placed an equally warm kiss on Boris's rough lips. Boris leaned down into the embrace, completely melting under Theo's touch. Boris blinked, suddenly looking down at his watch. His eyes went wide, and his romantic expression instantly vanished.
"Oh, chort—we have two minutes!" Boris gasped, grabbing Theo’s hand tightly. "Run, Potter, run! If teacher yells at me on day one, I tell them tis your fault for kissing me!"
The heavy wooden door of Classroom 204 flew open with a loud thud, rattling against the wall.The teacher froze mid-sentence, a piece of chalk hovering an inch from the blackboard. Instantly, thirty pairs of eyes snapped toward the doorway.
Theo wanted the linoleum floor to open up and swallow him whole. His chest was heaving from the sprint, his hair was completely windswept from Boris's hands, and his face was burning bright red under the intense glare of the fluorescent lights. He tried to shrink behind his backpack straps, terrified that his worst nightmare—being the weird, late new kid—was happening right now.
Boris, however, just took a deep breath, adjusted his jacket, and stepped into the room like he owned it. He didn't care about the staring or the judging whispers already starting in the back row. He looked right at the stunned teacher, flashed a polite but completely unbothered grin, and said in his thick accent,
"Good morning. Sorry we are late. Sidewalk was very long today."A few students giggled. Theo hid his face in his hands, dying of embarrassment.
The teacher lowered their chalk, staring at them over the rim of their glasses. "This is a terrible way to start the semester. Names, please?" "Boris, and scared JellyBean over there 'tis' Theo.
"Right. The new students," the teacher muttered, pointing a piece of chalk toward the far side of the room.
"There are two empty desks next to each other in the third row. Go sit down so I can finish the lesson."
Theo felt a massive wave of relief wash over him. He didn't wait for the teacher to change her mind, he practically bolted down the aisle, keeping his eyes glued to the floor to avoid the staring classmates.
Boris walked right behind him, his heavy boots thudding loudly on the floor.
As they reached the desks, Boris pulled out Theo’s chair for him first, flashing a secret, reassuring wink that only Theo could see. Underneath the desk, hidden from the rest of the classroom, Boris reached over and briefly squeezed Theo's hand.
"See?" Boris whispered softly, his eyes crinkling. "I tell you. Everything is fine, Potter. Theo slid into his seat and let out a long breath, finally feeling his heart rate start to slow down. He set his backpack on the floor and reached for his notebook, hoping they could just disappear into the background for the rest of the hour.
"Actually, before we begin," the teacher said, tapping her chalk against the blackboard to get everyone's attention. He looked directly at their row.
"Since you two just moved here from across the world, why don't you stand up and introduce yourselves to the class?"Theo froze. His fingers clenched around his pen so tightly the plastic creaked. A cold sweat broke out across his neck as thirty heads turned toward him yet again. He couldn't do it. His English was good, but under this much pressure, he knew his voice would shake, his accent would slip, and everyone would laugh.
Boris noticed him trembling. Before Theo could even force his legs to move, Boris stood up completely on his own, drawing every single eye in the room away from Theo and onto himself.
"Hello, everyone," Boris said loudly, leaning casually against the edge of his desk. He gave a relaxed wave, completely unbothered by his broken English.
"I am Boris. I like football—the real football, with the feet, not your American one—and I am very happy to be here."
A few kids in the front row smiled at the joke. The teacher nodded, looking amused. "Thank you, Boris. And your friend?" Boris glanced down at Theo, his expression softening just enough to give him a reassuring look. He placed a heavy, grounding hand on Theo's shoulder, physically shielding him from the crowd."This is Theo," Boris announced to the room, taking the pressure completely off of Theo.
"He is very smart, but today he has no voice because he ran too fast down long sidewalk. He says hello too."The classroom burst into actual laughter this time, a warm and friendly sound. Theo buried his burning face in his hands, but behind his fingers, a massive grin broke across his face.
Theo let out a quiet sigh of relief when the chemistry teacher announced they could pick their own lab partners. He immediately pulled out the stool next to him, and Boris dropped into it with a pleased smirk, his heavy leather jacket brushing against Theo’s arm.The teacher turned to the blackboard, writing out a long list of chemical elements.
"Copy these definitions down, everyone. There will be a quiz on Friday."
Under the heavy black lab table, Boris slid his knee against Theo’s, leaning his head close so his messy hair tickled Theo's ear. "Hey," Boris whispered, his low voice a vibrating rumble. "What is this word? El-e-ment? Sounds like elephant."
Theo bit his lower lip to keep from laughing out loud, his eyes darting toward the front of the room to make sure the teacher wasn't looking. "Element," Theo whispered back, leaning his shoulder into Boris's chest. "It means a basic part of something. Like... how you are the most annoying element in this room."Boris let out a silent, breathless chuckle that warmed the side of Theo's neck. He reached under the desk, his rough fingers wrapping tightly around Theo's thigh for a quick, hidden squeeze. "No, no. I am premium element. Very rare. Russian gold."
"Shh, Boris, stop!" Theo hissed, a dark blush creeping up his neck. He frantically scribbled a definition into his notebook, his heart hammering against his ribs as the teacher suddenly turned around to look at the class.
"If we get caught talking, he's going to separate us."Boris went perfectly still, staring blankly at the blackboard with a hilariously serious face, pretending to be the most studious person in the room. But beneath the edge of the desk, his hand slid down to find Theo’s fingers, intertwining them tightly out of the teacher's sight. "He will not catch us," Boris murmured out of the side of his mouth. "I am master of disguise, Potter."
Theo pretended to focus intensely on the chemical structure on the page, but his heart was beating so loudly he was certain Boris could hear it. With Boris this close—their shoulders glued together and their legs tangled under the narrow desk—concentrating on science was going to be completely impossible.
BANG!
The classroom door flew open so hard it violently bounced off the rubber wall stop.
"Out of the way, losers! The talent has arrived!" a loud, screeching voice shouted. Richie Tozier stumbled into the room, nearly tripping over his own oversized sneakers. He adjusted his thick, thick glasses on his nose, holding a crumpled piece of paper like a trophy. "Sorry we're late, teach! Eds here had a literal asthma attack because he thought he saw a bee in the hallway. It was a fly. A very fat fly."
"Shut up, Richie! I did not!" Eddie shoved past Richie, his face bright red as he clutched a brand-new hall pass to his chest. He was hyperventilating slightly, his eyes wide with anxiety.
"It looked like a wasp, okay? And wasps carry deadly pathogens! I don't want to get anaphylactic shock on the first day of high school!"
The entire class stared in stunned silence. Beside Theo, Boris raised an eyebrow, watching the two chaotic newcomers with pure amusement."Who are these crazy Americans?" Boris whispered right into Theo’s ear, his low voice rumbling against Theo's shoulder.Theo bit his lip, suddenly feeling a lot better about his own late arrival. Compared to Richie and Eddie, he and Boris had been completely invisible.
"Tozier! Kaspbrak! Quiet down and find the last two seats at the back," the teacher snapped, rubbing his temples like he already had a headache.Richie gave a dramatic, two-finger military salute.
"Aye, aye, captain!" He marched down the aisle, intentionally scraping his sneakers against the floor to make a loud squeaking sound. Eddie scurried right behind him, furiously shaking his plastic inhaler just in case. As Richie passed station nine, he eyed the shared textbook between Boris and Theo, then glanced at Boris's heavy leather jacket.
"Nice coat, comrade," Richie muttered with a terrible, exaggerated Russian accent.
"Did you steal it from a bear?"Boris didn't get offended. He just flashed a wide, flashing grin and winked. "No. I fight bear for it. I win."
Eddie shoved Richie's shoulder from behind. "Richie, stop talking to strangers, you're going to get us detention!"
The two of them scrambled into the empty desks in the very last row, still whispering aggressively at each other.The teacher cleared his throat loudly and tapped his chalk against the blackboard.
"Now that everyone is finally present... turn to page fourteen." Theo let out a soft breath, the tension completely melting out of his shoulders. Underneath the edge of the dark lab table, Boris’s fingers slid back into his, squeezing tightly. Boris didn't look at him—he kept his eyes fixed forward, pretending to be a perfectly serious student—but the steady warmth of his hand told Theo everything he needed to know.They were in a completely new country, surrounded by loud, strange kids, but as long as Boris was holding his hand under the desk, Theo knew they were going to be just fine.