ALEK + LEV // i think i'm bleeding inside of my chest
Aleksander
Lev
Backlogged to Oct. 11th.
A crumpled paperback half covering his face, Lev dozed lightly against the glass covering of his desk. He'd been consciously avoiding home (Chie was likely to want to tell him all about Aleksander's arrival) and his dorm (his brother or sister was likely to come looking for an explanation), so he'd taken to sleeping in his office, emerging only for food, class and the occasional shower. Sadly, he'd begun to wonder if this life of constant reading and solitude was better than the one he had been leading.
Aleksander had entered silently, the door making a tiny creak that was silenced almost immediately. He stepped in, slow and purposeful as his eyes took in the small office, the books, the scattering of papers, trash that had missed the trashcan next to his desk. Distasteful. Aleksander walked towards Lev, a small path clearing seemingly by itself as a tiny controlled wind blew the trash away and off the chair that was opposite of his dozing little brother.
He sat, one slow motion, crossed his leg and waited in continued silence.
Lev woke up about thirty minutes later to the rustling of papers. He blinked down at his desk, then the floor. That wasn't where he'd left his grant proposal, was it...? Fuzzy-headed, he gradually lifted his eyes to the room at large. That was when he noticed Aleksander, patiently waiting and thumbing through some official-looking documents.
That was when he pushed hard against the mat on the carpet, practically sending his wheely-chair into a filing cabinet.
"A-ah..." Fuck if this wasn't the worst thing he'd ever woke up to.
Aleksander raised his head up to look at his brother.
"Good afternoon, Levushka." His eye looked down, noting the rumpled outfit his youngest sibling had on. The papers stayed in his hand as he made no move from where he was sitting in the chair.
"You are awake."
"I hope to fuck I never dream about you," he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. What the fuck was this? "Do you need something?"
Alek continued to slowly turn one page, skim down and then with long fingers, turn the next page. He waited until he'd finished the papers before reshuffling the papers in order again and looking up at his brother.
"I came to see my sick bratushka."
Eyebrows inching up, Lev quirked his lips to one side before remembering. Oh fuck. The dinner with Ruby. The dinner he'd canceled. That was why he was here. Oh, fuck!
"I am feeling better now..."
"I don't know. You haven't been home much. So ill you need to stay here, Levka?" Alek sat there calmly, no change in expression as his eyes looked directly at Lev's.
Lev angled his eyes down, focusing on the chewed cap of a black pen. "I am lazy, you know that, regardless of whether I am sick..."
"Yes."
Silence he cultivated as Lev seemed to sit, unable to think of an immediate response.
"You did not come, Levushka."
"I needed rest. I told you this..." His eyes were wide as he tried to think of a better excuse.
"Oh?" Alek's eyes tracked his brother's face.
"We agreed 6:30. That was very rude of you, bratushka."
"Ah..." 'I had a better offer...' was ready on his tongue, but he just couldn't force himself to say it. He hated how cowardly he felt, how much like a liar, when he was around Alek. "I am sorry."
"Sorry." The tone that Aleksander spoke in was light. The repetition could have been taken as a question or a statement. He waited, eyes still on Lev's.
"This is what I said, yes..."
Idly, Lev rubbed at the middle knuckles of his right hand, the knuckles his brother had broken then painfully set, a light sheen of sweat gathering on his forehead.
"A poor show of manners, brother."
Alek raised his hand slowly, replacing the papers onto Lev's desk. His hand stopped there though, resting on the stack of papers. His eyes did not seem to notice his brother's hands moving.
"Poor." Was it just Lev or did his shift collar seem to move a little?
What the fuck was this? This lack of action was only making Lev more jumpy, waiting for the moment when his brother would finally lash out.
"Yes. I apologized already..." What more did he fucking want? His fucking head on a fucking platter? The rubbing of his knuckles became a deep kneading, red marks forming brighter and brighter the longer he rubbed. "And I am busy now, Shura."
Alek looked amused, if amusement could be conveyed with merely the eyes.
"Busy?" Mariya must not have guessed yet. This was turning out to be a killing.
And this fucking echo! His breathing was becoming short- he had to get Alek out of here or get out of here himself.
"Busy, yes."
"You can not make time for your brother, Levushka?" Alek watched Lev's agitation grow. His brother was never very good at staying calm in stressful situations- at least not around him. His lip shifted upwards a little.
No, he was not good at keeping his cool because he knew his brother was a cunt who liked to fuck with him! If only he could control his reactions to keep satisfaction from Alek, but no...
"Sometimes, no. You must understand." Getting up from his desk, Lev walked to the coat-rack, pulling a smoky-smelling, beat up jacket off it. "Your schedule can be busy as hell."
"Ah. True."
Alek did not move from the chair, only his eyes drifting down to watch the papers float down, stirred by his brother's brisk movements.
"Your schedule then, bratushka."
"Up in the air."
Feeding his arms through his jacket's sleeves, Lev patted down his pocket for cigarettes, lighter. Good, he'd slit his throat if he forgot them. "I am having a smoke. Back in a second."
Alek's smile grew a little but he said nothing. He could wait. The door was already firmly shut and sealed with air pressure.
"Dirty habit, Levka."
Lev grunted in response. Yes, smoking was a dirty habit, but if you were told that at every corner, well, sometimes you were made to smoke just to spite the non-smokers... Twisting the handle, the door opened momentarily, then a vacuum sucked it shut with a dry squelch. Lev blinked, obviously annoyed, and tried to open it again, this time using some of his own magic to dissipate the pressure.
Guess what Lev did. Lev failed.
It popped shut again. Turning on his heel, unlit cigarette dripping from one corner of his frown, he stared at his brother. "Let me out."
Alek just glanced at the door and then slowly looked pointedly back at him.
"Open it if you wish to leave."
"I can't, and you can't-" He fought with the handle, shaving bits of the filter off with each jolt. Fucking dick, fucking showed up, fucking ordered him around, fucking dick! "You can't lock me in my own fucking office," Lev growled.
Alek just tilted his head to look at his brother. Another example of his lack of self-control. He turned the chair a little so he could face his brother more fully.
"Open it."
Frustrated, Lev shook the handle harder, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. "I'm a shit magician, you fucking know that! Let me out!"
A force of pressure suddenly pressed Lev against the door, focused at his neck. It was enough to cut off his frustrated yelling but not enough to cut off complete air intake. Yet.
Alek unfolded himself from the chair slowly, in no apparent hurry. He got up and stepped closer to his brother, lookig at the other Ivanov with a slight curve to his lip.
"I am tired of hearing your recycled excuses, Lev. Next time you miss a dinner, we will see how long you can stay in this office." He leaned forward close to his brother's face, tightening the pressure to hold him still. Lev had tried to bite him once.
"Levushka?" He asked for agreement.
In the moment he was free to move (though not apparently to speak- he would have been screaming), Lev flailed against the door, trying to break his brother's hold. The act set off memories of all that shit his brother had done, not just enough to make him rub his warped knuckles (he couldn't even do that), but to bring on the white-hot panic of having no control in the face of someone else. Someone who took every opportunity to flaunt his delusions of discipline, his superiority complex and his fucking cracked notion of doing all this for 'his own good'. Flushed, Lev stared up at his brother, his yellow eyes wide with fear and fury.
I can't fucking move or speak, you dickhead. He would have cringed, however, if he could've, Alek's breath hot on his cheek.
Alek let Lev glare at him, watching the dilation of the pupils, observing the gleam that came with barely controlled panic, the flush to his artificially tanned skin. Another dirty habit.
He brushed his lips against his brother's cheek, the lightest touch, a cruel parting kiss. He straightened up and grasped the door knob with one hand. Pausing as if he'd forgotten something, his brother was starting to look red, he tilted his head at Lev. The pressure disappeared all at once.
He sucked a breath in and, light-headed and infuriated, pulled himself to his feet. "[Son of a bitch!]" Against all better judgment, he hobbled after him and threw a punch at Alek's face.
His brother was bigger, stronger, a more powerful magician and more ruthless than Lev ever could be, but the only thing he could think of at the moment was how nice Alek's eye would feel against his fist.
Lev's fist came close enough to brush the side of his brother's bangs before he felt the sudden force of air like a kick from a horse to his gut knock him almost completely off his feet into his desk. Alek had not been expecting his brother's attempt to punch in his face but instincts honed from experience had given him a speedy recovery rate. The light scar running across his neck was a good example of that.
Looking down at his brother, he gave a small smile.
"Better. But more speed, bratushka." He opened the door, ignoring the mess of papers scattered around it from the wind in the room.
"My new office is in the medical buildings. Do visit."
Lev could only gurgle in response before passing out from the pain of the first, then second impact.
One thing was made certain, though. He wasn't showing up to the next fucking dinner, either.
Lev
Backlogged to Oct. 11th.
A crumpled paperback half covering his face, Lev dozed lightly against the glass covering of his desk. He'd been consciously avoiding home (Chie was likely to want to tell him all about Aleksander's arrival) and his dorm (his brother or sister was likely to come looking for an explanation), so he'd taken to sleeping in his office, emerging only for food, class and the occasional shower. Sadly, he'd begun to wonder if this life of constant reading and solitude was better than the one he had been leading.
Aleksander had entered silently, the door making a tiny creak that was silenced almost immediately. He stepped in, slow and purposeful as his eyes took in the small office, the books, the scattering of papers, trash that had missed the trashcan next to his desk. Distasteful. Aleksander walked towards Lev, a small path clearing seemingly by itself as a tiny controlled wind blew the trash away and off the chair that was opposite of his dozing little brother.
He sat, one slow motion, crossed his leg and waited in continued silence.
Lev woke up about thirty minutes later to the rustling of papers. He blinked down at his desk, then the floor. That wasn't where he'd left his grant proposal, was it...? Fuzzy-headed, he gradually lifted his eyes to the room at large. That was when he noticed Aleksander, patiently waiting and thumbing through some official-looking documents.
That was when he pushed hard against the mat on the carpet, practically sending his wheely-chair into a filing cabinet.
"A-ah..." Fuck if this wasn't the worst thing he'd ever woke up to.
Aleksander raised his head up to look at his brother.
"Good afternoon, Levushka." His eye looked down, noting the rumpled outfit his youngest sibling had on. The papers stayed in his hand as he made no move from where he was sitting in the chair.
"You are awake."
"I hope to fuck I never dream about you," he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. What the fuck was this? "Do you need something?"
Alek continued to slowly turn one page, skim down and then with long fingers, turn the next page. He waited until he'd finished the papers before reshuffling the papers in order again and looking up at his brother.
"I came to see my sick bratushka."
Eyebrows inching up, Lev quirked his lips to one side before remembering. Oh fuck. The dinner with Ruby. The dinner he'd canceled. That was why he was here. Oh, fuck!
"I am feeling better now..."
"I don't know. You haven't been home much. So ill you need to stay here, Levka?" Alek sat there calmly, no change in expression as his eyes looked directly at Lev's.
Lev angled his eyes down, focusing on the chewed cap of a black pen. "I am lazy, you know that, regardless of whether I am sick..."
"Yes."
Silence he cultivated as Lev seemed to sit, unable to think of an immediate response.
"You did not come, Levushka."
"I needed rest. I told you this..." His eyes were wide as he tried to think of a better excuse.
"Oh?" Alek's eyes tracked his brother's face.
"We agreed 6:30. That was very rude of you, bratushka."
"Ah..." 'I had a better offer...' was ready on his tongue, but he just couldn't force himself to say it. He hated how cowardly he felt, how much like a liar, when he was around Alek. "I am sorry."
"Sorry." The tone that Aleksander spoke in was light. The repetition could have been taken as a question or a statement. He waited, eyes still on Lev's.
"This is what I said, yes..."
Idly, Lev rubbed at the middle knuckles of his right hand, the knuckles his brother had broken then painfully set, a light sheen of sweat gathering on his forehead.
"A poor show of manners, brother."
Alek raised his hand slowly, replacing the papers onto Lev's desk. His hand stopped there though, resting on the stack of papers. His eyes did not seem to notice his brother's hands moving.
"Poor." Was it just Lev or did his shift collar seem to move a little?
What the fuck was this? This lack of action was only making Lev more jumpy, waiting for the moment when his brother would finally lash out.
"Yes. I apologized already..." What more did he fucking want? His fucking head on a fucking platter? The rubbing of his knuckles became a deep kneading, red marks forming brighter and brighter the longer he rubbed. "And I am busy now, Shura."
Alek looked amused, if amusement could be conveyed with merely the eyes.
"Busy?" Mariya must not have guessed yet. This was turning out to be a killing.
And this fucking echo! His breathing was becoming short- he had to get Alek out of here or get out of here himself.
"Busy, yes."
"You can not make time for your brother, Levushka?" Alek watched Lev's agitation grow. His brother was never very good at staying calm in stressful situations- at least not around him. His lip shifted upwards a little.
No, he was not good at keeping his cool because he knew his brother was a cunt who liked to fuck with him! If only he could control his reactions to keep satisfaction from Alek, but no...
"Sometimes, no. You must understand." Getting up from his desk, Lev walked to the coat-rack, pulling a smoky-smelling, beat up jacket off it. "Your schedule can be busy as hell."
"Ah. True."
Alek did not move from the chair, only his eyes drifting down to watch the papers float down, stirred by his brother's brisk movements.
"Your schedule then, bratushka."
"Up in the air."
Feeding his arms through his jacket's sleeves, Lev patted down his pocket for cigarettes, lighter. Good, he'd slit his throat if he forgot them. "I am having a smoke. Back in a second."
Alek's smile grew a little but he said nothing. He could wait. The door was already firmly shut and sealed with air pressure.
"Dirty habit, Levka."
Lev grunted in response. Yes, smoking was a dirty habit, but if you were told that at every corner, well, sometimes you were made to smoke just to spite the non-smokers... Twisting the handle, the door opened momentarily, then a vacuum sucked it shut with a dry squelch. Lev blinked, obviously annoyed, and tried to open it again, this time using some of his own magic to dissipate the pressure.
Guess what Lev did. Lev failed.
It popped shut again. Turning on his heel, unlit cigarette dripping from one corner of his frown, he stared at his brother. "Let me out."
Alek just glanced at the door and then slowly looked pointedly back at him.
"Open it if you wish to leave."
"I can't, and you can't-" He fought with the handle, shaving bits of the filter off with each jolt. Fucking dick, fucking showed up, fucking ordered him around, fucking dick! "You can't lock me in my own fucking office," Lev growled.
Alek just tilted his head to look at his brother. Another example of his lack of self-control. He turned the chair a little so he could face his brother more fully.
"Open it."
Frustrated, Lev shook the handle harder, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. "I'm a shit magician, you fucking know that! Let me out!"
A force of pressure suddenly pressed Lev against the door, focused at his neck. It was enough to cut off his frustrated yelling but not enough to cut off complete air intake. Yet.
Alek unfolded himself from the chair slowly, in no apparent hurry. He got up and stepped closer to his brother, lookig at the other Ivanov with a slight curve to his lip.
"I am tired of hearing your recycled excuses, Lev. Next time you miss a dinner, we will see how long you can stay in this office." He leaned forward close to his brother's face, tightening the pressure to hold him still. Lev had tried to bite him once.
"Levushka?" He asked for agreement.
In the moment he was free to move (though not apparently to speak- he would have been screaming), Lev flailed against the door, trying to break his brother's hold. The act set off memories of all that shit his brother had done, not just enough to make him rub his warped knuckles (he couldn't even do that), but to bring on the white-hot panic of having no control in the face of someone else. Someone who took every opportunity to flaunt his delusions of discipline, his superiority complex and his fucking cracked notion of doing all this for 'his own good'. Flushed, Lev stared up at his brother, his yellow eyes wide with fear and fury.
I can't fucking move or speak, you dickhead. He would have cringed, however, if he could've, Alek's breath hot on his cheek.
Alek let Lev glare at him, watching the dilation of the pupils, observing the gleam that came with barely controlled panic, the flush to his artificially tanned skin. Another dirty habit.
He brushed his lips against his brother's cheek, the lightest touch, a cruel parting kiss. He straightened up and grasped the door knob with one hand. Pausing as if he'd forgotten something, his brother was starting to look red, he tilted his head at Lev. The pressure disappeared all at once.
He sucked a breath in and, light-headed and infuriated, pulled himself to his feet. "[Son of a bitch!]" Against all better judgment, he hobbled after him and threw a punch at Alek's face.
His brother was bigger, stronger, a more powerful magician and more ruthless than Lev ever could be, but the only thing he could think of at the moment was how nice Alek's eye would feel against his fist.
Lev's fist came close enough to brush the side of his brother's bangs before he felt the sudden force of air like a kick from a horse to his gut knock him almost completely off his feet into his desk. Alek had not been expecting his brother's attempt to punch in his face but instincts honed from experience had given him a speedy recovery rate. The light scar running across his neck was a good example of that.
Looking down at his brother, he gave a small smile.
"Better. But more speed, bratushka." He opened the door, ignoring the mess of papers scattered around it from the wind in the room.
"My new office is in the medical buildings. Do visit."
Lev could only gurgle in response before passing out from the pain of the first, then second impact.
One thing was made certain, though. He wasn't showing up to the next fucking dinner, either.