Video | un: czerny

[foreversmudgy]

[When the video started, the camera was facing the wrong way.]

Oh! Oops.

[Noah was quick to realize it, at least, poking the screen until the camera changed to display his face. He was alive again but he was still pale, like he hadn't spent a day in the sun. Actually, he probably hadn't since arriving and finding himself in a living body. At least, not long enough to develop any sort of tan.]

Hey! Um.

[It was a little late to realize he wasn't entirely sure he knew what he wanted to say. He knew, but he didn't know. There was an important difference.]

Okay, so like- I think I'm starting to get the hang of things around here. The whole 'we take what we need and we don't have to pay for it' thing.

[It still felt a little like shoplifting...]

But- so, the apartment I picked doesn't have a bed. Is it a faux pas or whatever to just...take a bed from one of the others that no one's using? All the ones I looked at with a bed felt creepy...

[Don't ask him where he'd been sleeping. Actually, don't ask him if he'd been sleeping at all.]

I'd need some help, too, if kidnapping a bed isn't like- dishonor on your family, you know?

Also, this is probably a long shot, but does this place have a gelato parlor?

Comments

[foreversmudgy]

[Noah blushed, faint but there. How did he begin to explain things? If he said he had, actually, kissed Blue, he would likely have to also talk about how he'd been a ghost and so had been in no danger of keeling over. He knew he hadn't been her true love, anyway, despite being pretty sure he'd been Blue's first kiss.]

I...would, yeah. I would have asked her out, if I could have.

[And she would have said yes; she'd told him as much.

Honestly, he was probably at least a little attracted to all of his friends, and though Blue had been a recent addition to the friend group, he felt like they'd hit it off right from the start.

After that, though, he waited. Quiet, patient. He had absolutely no desire to rush Nikolai into an answer, especially since Noah was pretty sure, even before it was confirmed, that the scars weren't from something nice. Though, were scars ever from something nice?

Noah smiled sadly when Nikolai looked at him. He didn't blame him whatsoever for not wanting to talk about it.]

I'm sorry. Someone hurt me once, too.

[He couldn't help but reach up and touch his own cheek, fingers pressing against the spot where the damage had been obvious when he'd been unable to keep his living appearance, as a ghost. He didn't have to worry about that here, but that didn't mean the trauma had gone anywhere. It was still etched into every single fiber of his being.]

No one deserves to experience something like that.

[korol_rezni_nikolai]

[ Nikolai can hear, he thinks, a note of melancholy in Noah's voice. Interesting, that he says he couldn't have asked her out. That makes it sound as if there had been some tangible impediment. Nikolai doesn't press for details; there are dozens of different reasons why such a thing would have been impossible. He can see the touch of pink in Noah's cheeks and really, when it's all said and done, he doesn't want to make Noah uncomfortable.

He isn't sure what response he was expecting to his extremely brief explanation about the scars. Maybe for Noah to try to coax more information from him - that had happened plenty of times, with people both well-meaning and just plain nosy. Or maybe for Noah to go all fawning and sympathetic, in that cloying way that always made Nikolai's skin crawl. Or maybe he'd expected for Noah to tell him to pull himself together, that he couldn't afford to linger on the past.

But instead, Noah is just... quiet, with that little sad smile on his face. Like he actually gets it. Nikolai swallows, hating how much even that small offer of understanding makes his chest ache. He wants to say something back, but his throat is suddenly tight. He can tell that if he speaks now, his voice will crack or something embarrassing like that.

So he just nods, pulling his glove back on and tugging it into place, flexing his hand so that the fabric sits snugly against his skin. When he's tamped down that swell of emotion enough, he says: ]

Thank you. I'm sorry that you-

[ Nikolai makes a small gesture with his hand between the two of them. He isn't going to ask what had happened to Noah, as much as he might wonder. Not today, anyway. ]

That we have this in common.

[ He clears his throat, getting briskly to his feet and focusing all of his attention on the final steps to disassemble the bed. Or at least, pretending to. Nikolai is able to detach the final piece now that the nail is out, and he breaks down the last part of the frame quickly, setting aside the parts neatly.

Before he's even decided to say it, the words slip out. ]

If you ever want to talk to someone about it, I'll listen. Just keep it in mind.

[ Then he claps his hands together, forcibly closing the matter, and says: ]

Now, let's start carrying the pieces back to your apartment so we can put them together again, shall we?