The Unfortunate Circumstances of Happenstances

[das_vedanya]

WHO: Russki and Jones
WHEN: Tuesday Afternoon, May 3rd
WHERE: Pekoe, Liberty University's Coffee Shop
WHAT: in which two rivals who once lived on opposite sides of the US share awkward coffee.

Comments

[waitforsuperman]

Staring at his phone as the line went dead just as the 'but Ivan I need you to help me decide-' Alfred huffed and flicked his screen off, sprawling over his bed. He had been planning on wasting the rest of the afternoon talking to the Russki and now... "Dumped." He said, shaking his head and blinking at his phone, thinking about calling again.

Then again, coffee did sound really nice.

Picking up his bag and stuffing a few key items inside, Alfred was off after telling his brother he was off and huddled in his sweater, he meandered on down to the coffee shop near LU. They had the best Americanos

[das_vedanya]

Ivan could only imagine how odd he must have looked among a dominating crowd of college students and their pumpkin spice lattes and bubble teas. A girl with curly brown hair and books on international affairs sat in the booth beside him, a man across from her with a laptop and a book cradled in his fingertips, another boy in the corner with blonde hair catching on the flames of a fireplace. The Russian quickly made it to the queue, three people back where he could have enough time to check his phone for missed calls or texts before approaching the counter

[waitforsuperman]

Usually keeping one ear open to focus on what was going on around him (and mostly in case his name was mentioned, never could miss out on an opportunity to hang out with someone!) His brain picked through the fuzz slowly and he sketched lazily, a word stood out from the babel that made him look up.

Ivan.

His eyes raked up the man quickly, starting at the way-too-shiny leather shoes he was wearing. Tailored dark pants (nice ass). Sweater and... Weird long scarf. Very long... And pale hair. Alfred's eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head. He was just hearing things.

Then he paused, reprocessing. Terri had something about the same timezones... It couldn't be? Alfred wasn't exactly going to let that curiosity sit. He stood up as soon as the man had sat down, slowly making his way over as if looking at the celebrity, stretching and doing his best to appear casual before asking, "Do you know what time it is?"

[das_vedanya]

As if out of impulse, Ivan immediately clutched his phone and held it against his ear. After brief pauses and holding his breath, he came to the conclusion that there was no voice on the other end of the line for him. Three hours on the phone with the same person could probably cause some psychological damage - and wasn't there something going around about cell phones and brain cancer?

But no, now there was one of the college boys standing before him, blatantly stretching (and yes, Ivan was looking), and eyes unfocused yet trained on the painting hanging above Ivan's space. Ivan pretended to ignore these eyes occasionally meeting his.

Thankfully he already had his phone out, so he could easily get rid of the boy occupying his personal space with a few words: "the time? It is 4:23 PM."

[waitforsuperman]

Well, Ivan was going to have a hard time ignoring eyes now currently staring at him as he was an alien. Which he basically was in Alfred's mind: something he had never had seen but believed in with all his heart that it was real.

But now the alien that had been IvantheTerrible. Terri. Russki. Commie bastard. Red bitch and a whole other slew of words that all led to this. Ivan.

Alfred smiled at him. "And here I thought you were some twelve year old with a voice modulator and a copy of Red October, Russki."

[das_vedanya]

That was impossible to ignore. To say that Ivan had heard that nickname before would not be a falsity, slurred in the lies of Americans with thick southern accents and guns who still very much believed that the Cold War was ongoing even after the Berlin wall fell and the Soviet bloc dissipated. But only one person in the world could turn it into a ruthless form of endearment. A mocking seduction. And that person was-

-"Jones?" Idiot. Malchik. Milochka. Never Alpha - Ivan could never admit it. But more importantly than the nicknames was the appearance, and he looked just as arrogant in person as he sounded. "What are you doing here?"

[waitforsuperman]

"I could ask you the same thing." Alfred met the violet eyes evenly, looking up and down the man again. Well, not man. Now man had a name and that name was Ivan. Very Russian... Didn't sound very Russian right now, which meant that either a) he was totally caught off-guard or b) wasn't actually Russian irl. "I just moved here with my brother... I'm about to go to LU and Falmouth..."

Before the Russian could protest, Alfred plopped himself down in the chair across from him. "Man... Isn't this weird?" He said, tilting his head. "You're actually real. And not... Well, you are kinda what I expected. Nice scarf."

[das_vedanya]

"I live here. Lived here, actually." He clarified, as if Liberty truly had become a piece of land Ivan could claim as his own in a childish game of 'I saw it fist.' Out of impulse, the Russian found himself moving the coffee from the center of the table toward his edge lest the American's abundant radioactivity of glee or something contaminate it. Jones had expectations of him? It wasn't to say that Ivan didn't, too, but hearing that he was 'kinda' what Jones expected was either worthy of praise or he should just upset his coffee in the boy's lap now.

"And... what exactly were you expecting?"

[waitforsuperman]

The American's eyes followed the path of the coffee as it moved away from him. Why wasn't Ivan picking it up? Was he scared he was going to knock it over? Weird... The confusion was obvious in the American's frown as he stared a little harder at the Russian, as if trying to figure out some complex formula.

"I imagined you... Like this. Younger, a little less well-dressed. And the scarf's a bit of a surprise, but hey, clothes really shouldn't count, dontcha think~?" Standing up as he said this, Alfred walked over to his own table, gathering up his things before returning to Ivan's and places them in the chair next to him.

A sign that he wasn't going anyway for a very long time. Ivan would have to talk to him!

[das_vedanya]

Perhaps the American had taken the coffee-moving gesture as some sort of welcoming - and Ivan had sighed in relief the moment he had stood and looked ready to walk away - but then he came back, and now fully equipped with a chair full of papers and books. "I thought I told you that I was twenty-seven," Ivan broke the silence between them, violet eyes fixated curiously, albiet in annoyance, at the blonde mirage sitting before him. "And the scarf? I won't even begin to ask about that leather jacket of yours! It is going to rain later, are you not worried about it getting damaged?" His feet shifted beneath the table, toes curling in his shoes made of the same exact material, but Ivan had not checked the weather that morning and the clouds had only just started to move in.

And as if mother nature was out to spite him, rain started beating against the wide, wide windows. Ivan, unwilling to ruin his Italian shoes and Alfred who he guessed prized that leather jacket were unfortunately trapped until it ceased. Alfred did not seem to want to

[waitforsuperman]

Despite his normally bubbling and exuberant personality, Alfred could actually feel himself sinking into his chair the more Ivan barked at him across the table. Guy really needed a chill pill.

He drew his sketchbook into his lap, sandwiching it against his chest as he reached out, a finger dragging along the leather bomber in the chair next to him while Ivan rambled on and on about Liberty and voices and blahblahblah... He tuned out, instead listening to the rain outside, scribbling idly, maybe of the man across from him.

When there was at least a minute of Ivan not talking, he looked up, head quirked before he snorted. "I didn't tell you I was moving to Liberty because it didn't matter. It was just the same timezone, I didn't think we'd end up in the same city." He scoffed under his breath, looking away and doodling again. "Sorry I ruined your life or whatever."

[das_vedanya]

Ivan felt his ears and cheeks go pink in that minute spent in silence. Alfred's response might as well have been 'I'm sorry, did you say something?' and Ivan could not have been more upset. Seeing that his responses left Alfred unfazed, he dug his fingernails into his knees to calm himself, and then forced a smile.

"You didn't... ruin my life 'or whatever'," Ivan managed through a grin full of too many teeth. "Don't flatter yourself, malchik. I find it rather... interesting, I suppose."

[waitforsuperman]

Alfred was sinking is his seat again, but this time from Ivan's smile. It wasn't deadly or crooked or just barely there like he expected a smile from the Russian to be like, it was something wide and forced and he didn't return if, his own mouth remaining a line of annoyance.

"I wasn't flattering myself," Alfred said quickly, gnawing on the inside of his cheek as he watched Ivan closely. He realised the smile reminded him too much of a shark and imagined gills hidden under the scarf. "And how is it interesting? Ten seconds ago you were complaining."

Ivan' he thought vaguely, eyes locking onto his after trailling the curve of his cheek, does not look good in pink, makes him look like he's five.

[das_vedanya]

The Russian's smile twitched, eyes focusing on something just above Alfred's head (namely that odd cowlick sprouting from his forehead) the instant those impossibly blue orbs trailed up and locked with Ivan's. "And ten minutes ago I was unaware that you had wandered into this coffee shop, let alone that you are living here now. How did you find me-?"

But he straightened in his seat, even finding his own question to be a little too straightforward and almost paranoid. "Nevermind, ah..." he looked aside, voice dropping to a whisper. "This is so surreal."

[waitforsuperman]

Alfred blinked at him. Then, unable to help himself, started to laugh, head shaking in disbelief at the Russian. Paranoid as the question was, the fact that Ivan thought he moved to Liberty to find him was ridiculously stupid and weirdly flattering?

He decided not to bring up the fact he'd already been to the Russian's house on a fluke.

"Life is supposed to be surreal," he said once he'd stopped laughing, running a hand through his hair. "Just because we live in the same city isn't the end of the world. We're friends, we'll still play CoD and stuff, maybe now we'll just have a coffee once in a while." And for the first time, he offered a smile that wasn't overly friendly, a smirk or even forced, he just kinda smiled.

You've already been to my house what.

[das_vedanya]

"We won't be having coffee if each visit will be exactly like this one." Ivan assured him from behind a frown. "Unless you want to turn it around now and change my mind?" Admittedly he felt a little guilty after saying that, seeing as Alfred was actually... smiling. And it was-

-(Cute?)

"Alfred, does it bother you that we've met?" He half muttered against the mouth of his coffee. "I mean... you are almost exactly what I pictured when you told me what you looked like all those weeks ago, but... it's almost like the magician has revealed his secrets and suddenly the magic trick isn't... magical anymore."