They had not been likely friends. She was quiet, shy, and careful. She rarely had her nose out of a book unless Venera Delcheva was dragging her around campus on a tirade. Even so, they had become friends, slowly and surely, over the period of a few months since that big Melioration test he had wanted her help with. She was the year below him, but she was gifted—a future healer—while he considered himself a future Artistic Flyer, first and foremost, and future alchemist and potioneer as a secondary career. She was better at healing than he was, and he needed her help. It was really just for the one topic, for the one test, but they had continued to meet up after, comparing notes and fussing over their respective diet and exercise routines. He often invited her to run with him in the mornings, they would talk through breakfast regularly, and sometimes skip dinner in the library to get in a few hours of study when no-one was looking. Nikon didn’t look like someone who studied a lot, but in a lot of ways he was like his brother. He was a perfectionist, just like Aleksei, and liked to do well for himself.
He leaned back in the chair, his hands heavy and stretching out his back. “So, tell me more?†He asked, looking at her. She was on a short rant, and he loved seeing her be passionate about something after-all. Despite being a Koldo student, he had always liked her. He didn’t care about blood, about school rivalry. He liked the culture of Koldo better, really. They were more open, more progressive, and as a mostly-gay student, he liked that. He wished they were as progressive in Russia as they were in some other countries, though there was a long way to go before he would have felt comfortable being himself in any way, shape, or form. As it was, he hid a lot of his private, out of school, life the same way he hid his tongue piercing and cartilage piercing and tattoos.
After it seemed she was finished going on, he smiled and sighed. “She sounds a little infuriating to me, too, but I don’t think you realize how much you like her.†He laughed, noticing easily that her feelings for her roommate, Venera, seemed to be a little more than what Polina tried to make it seem. He knew Polina cared for the girl, they were best friends and the whole school knew that, but Nikon was especially good at reading subtext. This was only true, likely, because of the tension between himself and his own roommate, Rodion. He was, himself, getting frustrated. He knew Rodion felt something too. He could taste the sexual tension between them, noticed the way the other looked at him when he was less than fully dressed. He noticed the way he looked at him even when he was fully dressed. It wasn’t the look of a simple rival, nor a fond smile of a friend. It was hungry. So, he had teased and taunted. He had made himself available. Nothing. He was getting annoyed. He could, of course, make the first move but Nikon wasn’t that kind of boy. He liked to be chased, and felt he deserved that much attention, at least.
“Have you ever thought that maybe, you two…?†He offered, trying to take the pressure off of her, and give her an easy in.
@Polina Konstantinova (
@Michaela >> )
