two

Seeing Dimitri again was by far the hardest part of the dinner. Nicolai unfortunately had been sat directly across from the older. It pained him the look in Dimitri’s eyes when Astris confidently introduced Nicolai to his friends. 

 

He knew the incident had hurt Dimitri too. The screams, the blood, watching his eyes turn. It must’ve been hard. Nicolai remembered Dimitri’s screams when it had happened, he remembered Kali and his mom crying out trying to pry him away from it. 

 

The second hardest part of the dinner was the stares. The oldest two- the seniors, Ryo and Jon, seemed to pay it no mind but the others weren’t as carefree about his “scary” eyes. The unknown creature who sat next to Dimitri- Idea Hanover- was the most obvious in his frightened stares and painfully sealed lips.

In Nicolai’s opinion, Iden had no right to judge when the younger had no idea what creature he even was. He quickly scolded himself for such insensitive thinking. 

 

“What’s your favorite constellation?” It was Astris, of course. Chulo had leaned over and explained that Astris had a list of everyone's favorite constellations. 

 

“Vulpecula.” Nicolai spoke carefully, biting his lip with his left fang lightly. “The fox.” 

 

“You still like foxes?” Dimitri let slip, quickly covering his mouth. “I-I mean you like foxes?” 

 

“Foxes are my favorite animal. Cunning, Invisible, and Sly.” Nicolai explained. “Vulpecula is the fox, or the little fox, depending on who you ask.” 

 

“You're the first one who didn't have to ask for my book to choose a constellation.” Astris said, eyes wide. “That’s so cool.”  

 

“My mother studies celestial beings and the celestial universe. She has been informing me of such since a young age.” 

 

“There’s only a few people who study the celeste. Who is she?” Astris asked curiously. 

 

The way his eyes widened when Minhee said the answer was almost comical. “Caera Von.” 

 

“Your Mom is Professor Caera Von?” Yenci practically cried out. 

 

“She’s not a Professor anymore.” 

It didn’t go unnoticed how tense Nicolai’s form of speech was. Strict and crisp. Many more questions were thrown at him during the dinner, his favorite color, food, musician and more. Everything except for the question Nicolai knew they all wanted to know. “What’s with your eyes?” was burning on the tip of their tongues. 

 

Except for Dimitri. Dimitri knew he didn’t need to hear it again. He didn’t want his best friends to know either. 

Nicolai laid in his bed until early in the morning- about 3. He could hear the soft snores of all his roommates. Quietly he slipped out of his blanket cocoon. With light footsteps he walked to the door, closing the door as softly as he could and standing in the hall. 

 

He decided to turn left, he felt the cold cement against his bare feet, and the eerie breeze ran through his robe every few moments. He had no real plan in where he was going yet ended up on the balcony, looking at the crescent moon. It was hard to see, clouds covering most of it but Nicolai knew it was there. 

 

He wondered how his mom was doing, if she was looking at the same moon he was. He also knew that Kali was. It was their thing. They would watch the moon together. Mom always scolded them for falling asleep outside, yet they both knew why there were hammocks and piles of blankets in the backyard. 

 

He heard footsteps near where his head lay on the concrete, “'Mitri does that too.” The voice spoke. It was Theo. “He goes to the balcony on the right of the dorm.” 

 

Nicolai hummed softly, moving his eyes so he could see where Theo stood above him. “We used to watch the moon together with my little sister, back when he lived with us.” He added, eyes going back to the moon. It brought a bit of warmth to him that Dimitri had been watching the moon too. 

 

“You were his foster family, weren’t you? The one’s he had last year, before he got moved.” Theo sat on the concrete, looking at the taller curiously. 

 

“Yeah, After Mom and Dad got divorced she wanted to foster. Dimitri was with us for three years.” Nicolai let out a real smile, fangs and all. 

 

“Why was he moved?” The fae’s wings fluttered softly, causing a shiver to go through the air. 

 

“Same reason my eyes are white.” He sighed, sitting up to look at the boy face to face. “You know the answer don’t you? You're an underworld fae. You must be able to see it.” 

 

“I didn’t know your eyes were white until Astris asked about it.” He hummed, picking at his nails. “Then I knew.” 

 

“What do you mean you didn’t know?” A sense of fear shot through his body. 

 

“Like you said, I’m an underworld fae. I can see things that have gone to the underworld. To me, your eyes are red. Not the same red as Dimitri's. Your eyes are deeper, his are far brighter.” Theo explained. 

 

“So you-you still see the old me?” Nicolai asked, rubbing his thighs anxiously. 

 

“Just because the incident happened, that doesn’t mean the ‘old you’ doesn’t exist anymore.” Before he could continue, Theo was cut off by a deep voice from the dorm teacher. 

“I had a feeling I’d find you out here, Nicolai, Mr.Mercia.” He spoke, voice filled with an unprecedented care. “I just sent Mr. RIvera back to his dorm to get some rest and I excused him from his first class. I’ll do the same for you two as well, now go to sleep.” 

 

“We aren’t in trouble?” Nicolai asked anxiously. 

 

“I know a lot more than you’d expect about my boys, Nicolai. And I know why you three are out. Now go get some rest, or else headmistress will have to be involved.” Mr. Izaz smiled. “You’re going to need much warmer pajamas with these concrete walls, Nicolai. During free time you should get new ones.” 

 

“Noted, Sir.” He bowed lightly. 

 

“There’s no need for such formalities, Nicolai. Think of me like an extra dad.”

 

Nicolai had a feeling the man knew he didn’t have a real dad anymore, but decided to simply nod and follow the teacher back to their dorm. 

 

The duo arrived back at the dorm at 4 a.m. Both crawling into their respective beds and promptly knocking out, snores filling the room.