The metal box creaked against Andrei's mental head. His mind hurt from how much it ran. He could barely see his wrist twisting, he could only feel his hand cramping. His lashes were straight and long, a shadow under his eyes as he shut them too hard. His throat dried quickly. The old wires had stained his tattooed palms, painting them with dark, musty rust. The knife pressed red marks into his hands.
A small click echoed. Thump.
His chest heaved slightly from being bent over for thirty minutes in silence so shape it could cut his head clean off. The lollipop made his lips crispy, the taste faded.
One rough hand slapped the control panel and he turned. Every bite of his weight chewed the struggling box. "It'll be good, I just have to open the door-"
"Wait...uhm..I don't want you to get h-hurt... maybe you should just uhm...wait."
Andrei nodded. Then, he sucked his teeth. "No, kid, it's okay. I've got it-"
"But...I...it's scary to me."
"You're not doing it."
Yoonjae frowned. He dropped his fingers to his thighs. Andrei followed the movement with the windows to the soul. And bit his lip. Hard. Rough. The tiny boy had thighs that could fit in Andrei's hands and bulge out of his fingers. Muscle embedded deep as though he squatted for a job. Andrei looked the other way.
"Please? You're my only friend here.." his throat bobbed. He reached out with a shaky finger but failed to grasp anything. "I don't want you to get your fingers snatched in the door or die of like electricity!"
"Do you just want to stay here together?"
".....hmmp! Yes..."
Andrei bit the middle of his lower lip as he smiled. It was already covered in scars but looked plump. "You sound like a-mhm, no. You actually say onomatopoeias. It's adorable, kid."
"You-you didn't se-seem to like it...before."
"I'm sorry."
"Hihi...d-don't a-apologize...a lot of people;" he brushed his bang to the side. It was iridescent and sparkled like glitter had been strung through each strand. Andrei's eyes auto tuned to it. "I do like it. I think it's cute. Unique. Like your hair."
Yoonjae stepped closer. "I like the way you say that. Hair. It's cute too."
"How do I say it?" Andrei smirked. A dimple popped through tan skin, gloomy eyes lighting just to say thank you when he couldn't.
The smaller boy smiled. "Yeah....like uhm...'khehr'. It's cute."
"You're cute."
Yoonjae flushed. His cheeks burned pink, his eyes turning into tiny crescents. His lashes curled up on those dark orbs. Andrei wanted to maneuver them; to recreate that familiar shimmer in clay. The older man only moved closer. A foot away, they stand, their breathes on one another. Yoonjae's lips pink and plump.
Andrei swallowed.
"Tha..thank you! Th-that's so...sw-sweet...d-do you have a twin sister?"
What.
Hold on.
A woman.
"Not that I know of." The Russian's brows net tightly on his forehead. The five-something boy with glowing pink hair, plump lips, a waist so small, it could slip through Andrei's fingers, and he was all legs? Straight? The walking doll was straight? Andrei gripped his belt. He moved a single foot back and looked at him up and down.
Yoonjae giggled. "Oh...but you have a brother, hihi....hm...uhm.....did I..did I make it awkward? I-I j-just want..wanted to-to know."
Andrei stared. "Why?"
"B-because...i-it doesn't matter! I..I was just wondering."
"I don't know, sweetheart. Are you...." Andrei didn't know why he said that. The words fell flat on his tongue. He rolled his arms up, crossing them over his chest. His head cocked to the side. "My brother lives next door to me. And the rest of my siblings live in Florida or Russia." He grunted. Each word came out of his mouth feeling like missile. Even though he spoke with a calm, saturated tone, that glided instead of swam, he felt choked up.
His heart clenched, he'd never released much about himself. Not to the world. Not to his journal. Not to his fuck buddy in Valor Boy's Disciplinary. Andrei didn't tell people about his family or about his past. It's not that he didn't like to, he'd love to go on and on about the pregnancy scare at fourteen that got planted on him. He'd love to tell the stories of military school and how long he'd been.
Maybe, it just never came up.
And maybe, Yoonjae was the type of person to cherish a secret.
Andrei sucked in a breath. His heart clambered against his ribcage. He turned his head just slightly. "I have a teenage sister. She's not my twin, looks like my mom. She's Italian." He shouldn't have said it. But he wanted to when he usually doesn't feel the need to give that much information. He wiped the tip of his nose, lollipop smacking against his teeth. His arms bound to his chest as he stared. "She.." he clicked his tongue. "She's a nice girl. I don't talk to her much but she has a YouTube channel or something. Not sure."
"Oh! Th-that's...r-really cool. I don't have that many siblings!" Yoonjae emphasized the 'that'. "My sister is I think three years older than me. She's still in Compton. I'm from Compton, I don't know if I said that already."
"Yeah, with Dr. Dre and shit." Yoonjae chuckled, peaking from under his lashes. He bit into his cheek and it was obvious. Andrei sniffled. "You're so beautiful, Yunya. How was Califonia?"
Whatever was in Andrei's laid back and lazy tone made Yoonjae step back. An entire three feet it felt. Andrei could just barely see him suddenly. The man straightened out while the tinier one smiled shakily, slipping on his own toes. "....You're handsome! Too, o-obviously! U-uhm...yo-you know I don't really like being called beautiful...it's kind of gay, hehe."
"You're..ah, nevermind." Andrei couldn't control his voice. Shutting down. Homophobic? Hilarious. He should've expected it, honestly. There's not as many gays here as there was downtown. Andrei should know that. This is little Odessa, after all. His brother still manages to say he's sucking dick every time they talk. It's expected.
Instead, he cleared his throat, glancing at the diminutive boy.
His pink hair was in his eyes. His fingers clenched his messenger bag strap crossed over his chest. That stupid, tiny smile still on his gorgeous lips.
"You'll fit right in." His throat itched. "You look handsome, too. You just look prettier." He snatched the lollipop from his mouth. "It's pathetic you think being beautiful is 'gay.' You could be a gay porn star with those thighs."