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[attr="class","blboxbl"]

Thinking about things had never been Vic’s forte. He usually just followed his instincts and things turned out fine, but sometimes, with some people, that just didn’t work out. Like with Alex. The whole situation was like that: it made Vic think, since apparently everything he had done so far had been poorly received by his classmate.

[break][break]

Did Alex really not want to be friends? Was he mad at him? Did he hate him?

[break][break]

It was rare for the pink-haired boy to worry about such things, but it was also rare for him to feel like someone didn’t really like him. It pulled at something in him; at that overwhelming need to please others that ruled his life beneath all the cheer and laughter. How could he help Alex? How could he make sure the other boy was happy and enjoying his time in high school? He was always alone, Vic had noticed, and he was apparently also avoiding him…

[break][break]

After three days, he chose to wait instead of trying to approach him directly. He had stayed talking with some friends once recess began, but shortly after Alex left, he had followed, only approaching him once the boy was sitting down to have lunch.

[break][break]

”Hey!” He greeted, beaming as he would always.
[break][break]

It was a bit underhanded of him, and he didn’t really like that, but as his dad always said: ”Vic, you’ll always win if you have a good strategy!”

[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

Okay, Vic had been wrong, this was WAY worse than the sticker thing had been. One second Alex was asking him if he was sure he wanted to give him the chocolate bar, which Vic had expected, ready to nod with a joyful “of course!”. But, before he could do all that, the next for some reason Alex was suddenly covering his ears and staring at the ground, leaving the taller boy to watch him in pure, unadulterated confusion.

[break][break]

He just stood there; head tilted slightly, arm outstretched, miniature chocolate bar still in hand for Alex to take. What was going on? Was he okay? Why was he doing this? Was it okay to ask? What could he do to hel–

[break][break]

’I-I’m s-s-sorry!’

[break][break]

Alex took the chocolate bar and ran away, and all Vic could do was continue to stand there – blinking and wondering what had just happened here. He could have chased after Alex, sure, and he could have easily caught up to him too if his track record in P.E class was to be believed. But, what good would that have done? Impulsive as he may have been, Vic had enough sense to just let him leave without even saying a goodbye.

[break][break]

Oh. Was that what he was apologizing about?




[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

Vic had not expected to hear the stranger laugh, but he did, and it was a nice sound. One that made him kind of happy and also kind of glad, because things were always better when everyone was enjoying themselves, right? He liked that; hearing people laugh. Even if he was aware the other man may have been mocking him when doing as much.
[break][break]
”Mmm… Maybe, but isn’t that the whole point of a cover?” Simplistic as his words may have been, Vic did have a point. There was always more to people, sure, and there were things some would never show even to those they trusted the most, but didn’t what they showed matter just as much as what they did not? If someone did good things, it was probably because they were either a good person or they wanted to be seen as one, right? And, if they wanted to be seen as good, didn’t that mean they must have had at least some of that inside? Maybe, it was just because he was an optimist and because he expected the best from everyone.
[break][break]
”To past nightmares.”
[break][break]
He barely had time to bring his glass up for a temptative sip while the other downed his in one go, already asking the bartender for refills as if he were having a bunch of shots. Was this guy going to be okay? Not to his discredit, but with the way he looked, it didn’t seem like he could handle copious amounts of alcohol with no consequence at all...
[break][break]
At least he seemed more talkative now, so maybe it was time to find out a thing or two about this man. ”No time to waste, huh? So… Do I finally get to find out your name now that we’re having drinks?” He asked, and this time, there was the slightest of smirk as he took another sip.
[break][break]

+ claude anderson

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

The lunch box had been almost completely emptied out except for some of the curry rice, but while Vic was usually a kid with a really healthy appetite, for once his mind was preoccupied with things other than eating during lunchtime. He set the lunch box aside, and after he did, he looked at Alex with those curious lavender eyes of his.

[break][break]

Was he really not allowed to go out during the holidays or on his birthday? Why? Vic wanted to ask. But, there was something that told him that that was probably a difficult question, and the other boy already looked like he was having a hard time with all of that. Was he worried that Vic would think all that was weird? He wouldn’t have been wrong, he did think it was really really weird, but… it also didn’t make him dislike Alex or think it was his fault that his family was strict like that.
[break][break]

”What to do?...What to do?...” How could he make things better? How could he make Alex forget about all that and have a good time? 
[break][break]

In the end, all Vic did was give him a gentle and reassuring smile, then reaching into the outer pocket of his backpack to retrieve a mini chocolate bar. “Here, for you,” he offered it, resisting the urge to just give it to the other boy without a warning because that was likely to make him freak out just like the sticker had.


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

”I already said you could!” The words came with a smile, giving Alex a pat on the back before going right back to focusing on his lunch.
[break][break]
Honestly, he couldn’t help but find the other boy to be kind of funny. Since the moment Vic had introduced himself, Alex had questioned just about everything he had said, and when Vic insisted on it, he apparently kept on questioning him. Was that just the way he was? Did he doubt and hesitate with every move he made? It was impossible for Vic to imagine what being like that must have been like, since he himself was as assertive as he was spontaneous and impulsive
[break][break]
”I’m not allowed any candy…”
[break][break]
Wait… What!?
[break][break]
The pink-haired boy turned to look at his new friend, being in the middle of chewing yet another forkful and having already devoured most of his lunch by then. ”WHAAA….?! No way!” How come Alex’s sister got to have candy, but he didn’t?! That didn’t sound right at all! He must have been joking, right? There was no way anyone’s parents were mean enough not to let their kid have candy sometimes…
[break][break]
”Not even for Halloween? Or… on your birthday?” He couldn’t help but ask, still shocked by this new revelation. It was just crazy!


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

By that point, Vic was already too busy enjoying his food; a forkful of omelette being taken to his mouth just as he acknowledged Alex’s distress with a mere ”Hmmm?” He turned to him then, wondering what was going on, and it was confusion that quickly replaced the joy in his expression when seeing the other desperately trying to remove the sticker from his lunch box.
[break][break]
”Noooooo... What are you doing?! You’re gonna rip it!” Barely even taking the time to swallow his food, he reached for Alex’s hand so he would stop – gently placing his on that of the other boy and looking at him as he did so. “Stop. You can keep it!” Vic beamed, letting go, although he had a feeling that Alex would probably insist that he shouldn’t do so.
[break][break]
Why? It made no sense! It was just a sticker.
[break][break]
”Oh! I have some candy in my backpack, if you want. It gets boring to each veggies and stuff all the time, right?” He offered, already beginning to move on from the sticker issue and back to thinking about food, because as much as he loved his mum’s cooking, it was true: eating healthy things all the time was boring. After all, he loved candy as much as the next boy.


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

”Hah, I guess that’s a good point.” Vic couldn’t bring himself to disagree, watching the other as he talked to the bartender and told him to bring them something stronger to drink. He had never been the type to rely on that sort of thing. With how much he had always cared about playing sports and staying in shape, he had always been cautious about not drinking too much, and even if he hadn’t been, he didn’t even enjoy it much other than socially.
[break][break]
The person in front of him was different, and honestly, Vic wasn’t judging him for it. Everyone had their thing. Although… he did hope the stranger would know when to stop, because it wouldn’t be good if he ended up drunk while they were drinking together, no?
[break][break]
Had he just winked? Vic couldn’t help but let out a short laugh at that, raising his glass as he looked at the other man. ”Thanks… You seem like a good guy, you know?” He meant it. He really believed it, even if he had barely learned anything about this nameless stranger. Actions speak louder than words, after all.
[break][break]
”What’s the occasion?”

[break][break]

+ claude anderson

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

The question took him by surprise, and for no more than a mere moment, there was a glimpse of something sad and hurt in his eyes.
[break][break]
How was he supposed to answer something like that?
[break][break]
With family and friends it was easy to just smile. To laugh about it and tell them that there were other things he wanted to do with his life. But here, at a bar with a stranger who hadn’t even told him his name, it was difficult to bring himself to tell those half-truths he usually only told for the benefit of those he cared about. The half-truths he told because he didn’t want to disappoint them more than what he already had. The ones he told because they had all believed in him and told him he would get far, but in the end, no matter how much faith they had had in him, it had not been good enough. He had not been good enough.
[break][break]
“Hmm…” Vic looked down, slowly taking a sip from his glass as he attempted to figure out exactly what he wanted to reply. He didn’t want to lie. So, when he looked up, he met the stranger’s gaze, and faintly, he smiled one more time. “I guess those are just the kind of things you can’t do for the rest of your life.”
[break][break]
He had had to move on. He had chosen to. He had given up. But… the truth was that even now he wasn’t sure if all this was what he really wanted to do with his life.
[break][break]
”That’s not why I’m here, anyway.” Did he mean Hoenn, Lilycove, or the bar? Not even Vic himself could have given a proper answer to that.
[break][break]

+ claude anderson

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

”Oh, I think so! Niiice.” Some kids out there would have probably been embarrassed by the fact that their mum shaped their food items into cute things like pokémon and stars, specially being that they were at the age when they all started to want to act like they were all grown up. But, Vic had always thought it was nice, and he would have probably been a little sad if his mum stopped doing stuff like that. Back in elementary school, his lunches had even been the envy of his whole class!
[break][break]
Yet, usually, he didn’t care much about things like what other people brought to school for lunch. This time, though, he watched Alex, tilting his head slightly at the sight of the plain metal box. He was right; it was very different from Vic’s own, and so was the food that awaited him inside.
[break][break]
”Hmm…”
[break][break]
Without saying anything, Vic reached for the sticker-covered lid that he had set aside, inspecting it in search for one of the ones that had been most recently added by either his sister or his mum. Soon enough, he settled for one of an Audino, removing it as carefully as he could before unceremoniously sticking it on the metallic lid of Alex’ own lunch box. ”Here! Now it’s not so plain.” He said with a short laugh, and aside from some small wrinkles and creases in the corner where the sticker had been pulled out, it did look perfectly fine.
[break][break]
Should he have considered that maybe Alex’ family didn’t let him put things like stickers on his stuff for whatever reason? Maybe, but that didn’t even cross Vic’s mind, and as if nothing had just happened, he began eating without even waiting for the other to react or even reply.


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

”Outside!”
[break][break]
Yes, that was the only reply Alex was going to get. For, see, Vic just didn’t think having lunch indoors was much fun, but that may have been because he had never been the kind of kid who liked staying inside. Being outdoors, running around, playing sports; that was his sort of thing. And honestly, he would have probably ran right to the nearest exit had it not been for the fact that Alex was with him.
[break][break]
Instead of doing as much, he simply shrugged at the question as they walked, skillfully navigating through the crowd without a problem at all. ”Uhmmm… Dunno! My mum usually makes it and I grab it on the way out. I forgot to ask her what she had made… Guess we’ll see!” This was not unusual for Vic. His mum had always talked about how unhealthy the stuff they sold at school was, so she made a point to make lunch for her kids every morning before they left for school. Some people would have thought that was kind of lame, but Vic… he always said his mum’s cooking was so much better than anything he could have bought. It was the best! That’s what he firmly believed. And, how could it not be, when she got up so early to make lunch for him and his sister?
[break][break]
Once outside, it was at a nice spot in the shade that they sat to eat, Vic stretching his arms up with a ”Aaah, I’m starving!” before reaching into his backpack to grab a nice lunch box that was almost completely covered in cute stickers, inside awaiting him a carefully arranged meal with rice shaped into smiling Pikachu, of all things. ”Oh. There’s omelette, awesome!” He exclaimed, so used to his mum’s artistic and adorable lunch arrangements that he didn’t even comment on it.


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov (Lunch pic!)

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

Okay, that one was on him. He should have probably phrased things a bit better, huh? He would have, if he hadn’t been so prone to being impulsive and saying the first thing that came to mind – never bothering to take the time to consider how his words could confuse someone.
[break][break]
’Whoops!’
[break][break]
“Oh! That’s okay, I do too, but we could still eat together, right? Come on.” Once again, he grinned, not even waiting for the other boy to give him a proper reply before he began walking. And, honestly, he just assumed Alex would follow him, because why wouldn’t he? It was the way things had always been with Vic: he came up with ideas and got his friends to tag along, even if those ideas were something as simple as having lunch together.
[break][break]
See, for all Vic knew, Alex may have felt lonely because all of his friends had gone to different schools and that was why he was all on his own. It was what he had assumed, at least, and it was also part of why he had decided to go say hello. After all, it probably wasn’t nice to be alone around so many people he didn’t know, right? So, now he didn’t have to be! Now he had a new friend to hangout with!

[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","blboxbl"]

In a way, Vic could understand it. After all, his own little brother was really shy and quiet, but he was also hardly more than a toddler at the time, and in his case, all Vic needed to do was take his hand and tell him everything would be alright.
[break][break]
For some reason, he really didn’t think something like that would do much good with the boy in front of him…
[break][break]
Alexei! His name was Alexei!
[break][break]
”Ah-le-xei...” The taller youth repeated slowly, his brow just barely furrowing. ”Hmm… Alex it is! Nice to meet you too, Alex." He then beamed, chuckling.
[break][break]
Vic didn’t think of asking why he had such a “weird” name or where it was from, because really, to him that wasn’t that mattered. What did matter was the boy in front of him for just who he was – as a person, one could say. And, so far, he seemed really nice! Shy and a bit nervous, sure, but nice.
[break][break]
”But, yeah, I do think so! Wanna grab lunch together?” It was an spontaneous decision, an offer made easily and without a second of hesitation. Because, really, why wouldn’t Vic want to spend time with Alex? It was that simple!
[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov