Family Ties (baby bro)

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Arkady’s thoughts were a jumbled mess by the time classes finally ended for the week. He had hardly been able to pay attention to any of his lessons, not that that bothered him much on a normal day, but the reason why he was so distracted was really starting to bother him. It stood to reason that his mind would be occupied with thoughts of her, considering tonight was the next step in his plan, but more often than not over the course of the day he had caught himself thinking about her in a different context, not as his means to an end nor subject for revenge.

Once he had even caught himself smiling as he remembered their dance lessons.

Glowering to himself, Arkady turned his key in the lock and pushed the door to his dorm room open. Stepping inside he threw his bookbag onto his bed while simultaneously kicking the door shut behind him. He had even made it half way to his closet before realising he wasn’t alone.

Freezing in place, he slowly turned to the other side of the room to what had previously been an empty bed. Somehow he had managed to go roommateless thus far, but apparently no longer. Who he saw sitting there, though, he could not have prepared for.

What. The. Hell?

Clenching his jaw, Arkady just stared at his brother for a moment before overcoming his shock and forcing a smirk to his face.

“Hello, brother.”

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Nikolay didn’t want to be here.
 
For once in his life he was wishing he could be back in that tiny flat, doing schooling with Natalya, working in the café just below them and talking with his parents. He wished he could be anywhere but here. The wonderful peace and calm that had descended upon the flat had been more than welcoming in recent weeks. Sure his parents still argued as they always did, never with any real hate, but other than that it was just fine. For him, Arkady being away made his life just that little bit easier, he didn’t need to watch out for him, he didn’t need to keep an eye on him and Natalya, he could just…relax. But he could see that his mother was worried about her eldest, she would talk and fret about what he was getting up too. She would ask him if he felt left out, didn’t he want to go to Tintagel, didn’t he want the same experience?
 
And here he was.
 
He had to admit it though, the place was impressive. Stepping through the portal was insane enough when he actually looked at the place he saw that everything about it was so strange, so…magical. He spent a good hour just wandering around the streets of Trenale with his battered brown leather bag just looking at everything in a kind of awe. His mother had given him a map so that he didn’t get lost so he had found the school easy enough, he just took his time, enjoying his surroundings and prolonging the inevitable meeting with his brother.
 
When he eventually got there he was quickly enrolled, given the academy starter pack (which he realised contained the same map his mother had given him), the survival pack, a timetable for his classes, his room number including who he would be sharing with and a gym t-shirt. The room was exactly how he expected it to be considering Arkady had been staying there, his good mood rapidly disappearing he frowned and cleared anything that was on ‘his’ side of the room. He sat on the bed, not unpacking the bag…still not sure if he was staying.
 
When the door opened and Arkady came in he didn’t bother saying hello, mainly because he was so nervous. Their parents hadn’t told them Nikolay was coming. He looked up at his brother with his almost constant serious expression and said, “Arkady…how are you?”

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Arkady had a lot on his mind lately, but even if he wasn’t so distracted by... other things, then he was still sure he wouldn’t have found it in him to miss that look. Had Nikolay always been this serious? He couldn’t quite remember, and didn’t really care to try. There were more important things to think about right now, like why his brother was even here at all.

“Never better,” the older boy replied, smirk still in place. Pulling off his jacket, he tossed it onto his bed beside the bookbag, and continued on his way to the closet. Only when his back was turned did he let the smirk fall. Their parents had sent Arkady here because he had been acting out too much, getting into too much trouble, and with the direction he was going it was either here or jail.

Now Nikolay... Arkady knew that wasn’t the case. His younger brother was the golden child. He always did as he was told, he worked hard, he treated their sister well... there was no way he was sent here on bad behaviour, so either he was curious and wanted to see what this place was all about, or he had been sent here as well, but the reason had more to do with Arkady than Nikolay himself.

“So what brings you here, Niki?” Arkady asked, flipping through the few shirts he owned before plastering his smirk back in place and glancing over his shoulder at his brother. “Miss me?”

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“Don’t call me Niki,” he said without any real anger in his voice.
 
He hated the nickname, it made him feel so patronised and he knew that Arkady knew this, which was probably why he still used it. His parents would use it a lot, no matter how many times he told them not too. He was more mature than ‘Niki’, he was just as much a grown up and ‘Niki’ was the name of a young boy who hadn’t had to grow up with what he had too. The only person he would let get away with calling him that without any kind of reprimand was Natalya. But still Arkady would use that stupid name, however, his reprimands came as more of an automatic response these days rather than the anger it used to provoke.
 
And now for the difficult question; what was he doing here?
 
Surely his brother knew? But of course he was just waiting to hear it from him, waiting so that any kind of annoyance and anger he might have at that news can be unleashed on Nikolay, even if he didn’t even want to be here. He couldn’t be bothered with this, perhaps he would defuse the fire before it had even started. However to do that, he would have to lie.
 
“Why shouldn’t I be here?” he said, just a little defensively, “unlike some, I actually sat the entrance exam…which I didn’t realise wasn’t necessary and was actually some kind of…scholarship thing, but I sat it, and I got it.”
 
He looked up at his brother and tried a smile, "oh I missed you terribly. Come on, I couldn’t let you have all the fun. Mama and papa wouldn’t stop talking about it after you left, and well, I have to admit…sounded a lot more like my kind of thing than yours.”
 
He stopped smiling, he just couldn’t get it right, it always came off looking a little…sinister…or just stupid, “so is it as good as they say? What have you been up too?”

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Arkady chuckled at the quick response. Of course Nikolay was right on the money: he still used the nickname because he knew how much his brother hated it, and how belittled it made him feel. Not bothering to reply, he pulled a shirt from his closet and held it up to his chest. Looking down at it, he pursed his lips slightly before giving his head a quick shake and replacing the hangar on the rail. Considering the next one, his hand paused as he listened to his brother’s explanation for being here.

He didn’t believe it, but he didn’t necessarily disbelieve it either. It would be just like Niki to actually sit through the exam and turn up here to try to show him up. It wasn’t good enough that Arkady could do nothing right at home while his little brother could do nothing wrong, but now Nikolay was here to prove he could get better grades and everything that came along with this place as well? He could believe that, but with the continued explanation it started to get laid on a little thick.

Now Arkady could also believe that their parents constantly talked about this place, as he remembered hearing about it a lot as a child when he had still listened to what they had to say. The smile, though, and the claiming to want to have fun? That was not like Mr. Seriousface at all. Looking back at Nikolay for a long moment with a very skeptical expression on his face, Arkady eventually just accepted the explanation with a noncommittal “Hmm.”

Returning to the wardrobe, he pulled out a blue shirt next and followed the same process before deciding it was as good as any. Besides, it would bring out his eyes, and that was always a useful feature. Walking over to toss it on his bed as well, he pulled the shirt up over his head that he was wearing and tossed it back over his shoulder toward the closet.

“So you actually did the exam and got a free ride while they broke the bank punish me and send me here.” Arkady summed it up, slipping his arms into the blue button-up shirt. Another point for the golden boy and another black mark for the disappointment. Well, at least Nikolay had stopped trying to smile. “Well, it’s a hell of a lot better than being back home. This room is almost bigger than our whole flat.”

He was exaggerating a bit, but he hardly cared. He hated that flat in Paris and everything that went along with it.

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“No it’s not,” he said automatically before actually looking at the room itself.

His brother may have a point.

“You’re exaggerating, and even if you were right then this room has nothing on our flat back home,” he said knowing how childish he was sounding but unable to stop himself, “at least our flat looks lived in, it looks like a home.”

He had barely been away for a few hours and already he was wishing he was back there, he really needed to get a life. Yes he was taken in by the splendour and magic of the place when he arrived but now that he was here with Arkady he just really wanted to go back home, to what he knew, to what was comfortable. However he couldn’t. he needed to stay here, for his parents, and possibly for Arkady, even if the other boy didn’t care.

“And this isn’t a punishment,” said Nikolay, rubbing his face, already tired of the argument that was probably about to happen, “this is an opportunity, that’s why they sent you here. It helped them and…maybe it’ll be good for you…it’s better than a prison.”

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Rolling his eyes as Nikolay defended their home, Arkady turned his attention to buttoning up his shirt. He could practically feel his brother’s disapproving gaze on him; he was pretty sure it was the default look for all his family members when they looked at him. He was such a disappointment to all of them, always getting himself in trouble, always being cruel to his siblings, talking back to his parents.

“This is a dorm room, brother. Nobody really lives here, they just survive here for a while,” Arkady said, finishing up with the last button. Smoothing out the shirt, he looked up at Nikolay with one brow raised inquisitively. “Tucked in or out?”

Already moving over to the cheval against the wall, Arkady looked at his reflection for a moment before his blue eyes moved to the side slightly to view Nikolay sitting behind him. “You’d be surprised how similar the two places can be some days.”

He’d heard the story before, how his parents had come to this school and found friends, and fell in love and blah, blah, blah. Is that what they wanted to inflict on him? It sure sounded like punishment to him.

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“Tucked in,” said Nikolay managing to sigh at the same time.

It didn’t matter what he said, Arkady would most likely do the opposite, that’s how it usually went. Why his brother even asked his opinion on these things was beyond him, and why did he always insist on doing so during what he deemed ‘serious’ conversations. But that was Arkady, it just summed him up completely. He would be laughing and joking all the way to hell a policeman once remarked to him. He remembered the days when they used to watch him, expecting him to be just the same and the relief on their faces when he wasn’t. Arakady probably hadn’t thought of that, what had his brother been doing here to tar the Pavlovich name? What teachers were going to be on his case from the minute they read his surname?

It was an uphill battle, but he was used to it.

“Anything is better than prison Akrady,” said Nikolay looking up at his brother, “…are you going somewhere?”

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Making a face like he was considering the option, Arkady tucked his shirttail into his trousers and scrutinized his reflection. Man, could his brother be anymore uptight? Screwing up his face, he pulled the shirt back out again.

“How do you know? Have you been to prison?” he replied petulantly. “Ha! Now there’s a thought. Mama and papa would have a collective heart attack!” Turning around, he grinned at Nikolay. “Of course you know they would blame it all on me. Say I was a bad influence. That I ruined their little baby.”

Scoffing, Arkady rolled his eyes and gave his hair a final mussing before moving back over to his bed. Checking his wallet, he replaced it in his back pocket and finally stopped all his moving around. “I... have a date,” he announced, waggling his eyebrows at his brother. “You know, the girls here just swoon over accents like ours. You might even have a chance to find yourself a little girlfriend.”

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Nikolay was sure that someone had placed some kind of spell on his brother, because apparently that could happen in this school. This wasn’t the same Akrady, he was tucking his shirt into his trousers, he was actually doing what Nikolay suggested, he was…taking it back out again. Nikolay sighed and looked down at the ground. Trust his brother to get his hopes up and crush them again in the space of a few seconds. He had probably done it on purpose as well, let him have a little titbit of influence before cruelly snatching it away again. No fear; he was still the same old Arkady.

And now he was playing the ‘poor little me, aren’t the parental unit so hard on me’ card. He had heard it so many times a person would think he would be use to it by now, but it still made him roll his eyes. Arkady still got all the attention, Nikolay may be the baby but it was Arkady that had the attention of their parents almost every hour of every day because of the way he was. Nikolay was just that useful middle child they had that wouldn’t mind the extra work. He wasn’t going to answer him back, it would only lead to the same old argument that would go round in circles until they probably started fighting. Instead he just shook his head, but then…that might have been enough,

“I’m not here to find a girlfriend,” he said looking back up at his brother, and then smirked a little, that was a lot easier to do that the smile, “and what self respecting and intelligent girl would go out with the likes of you? Is she going to be blindfolded?”

It had none of the bite it should have done, none of the panache that his brother could pull off. It was sad quietly as if he didn’t even expect Arkady to hear what he was saying.

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Arkady was a bit disappointed when Nikolay didn’t take the bait. Arguing with his brother was a very familiar distraction, very familiar feeling, and lately the things he had been feeling were not familiar at all, nor were they welcome. Instead of the usual, though, the younger Pavlovich tried for a joke, or maybe a flat out insult; it was impossible to tell from his tone of voice. It was poorly executed, of course, but Arkady had to give him credit for trying.

“I’m not sure what her intelligence has to do with my looks, unless you are worried she’ll be struck dumb by how absolutely handsome I am,” he replied with that devilish grin of his. Checking the clock on his nightshand, he took a seat on his own bed, across from his brother.

“You know, you shouldn’t count the girlfriend possibility out yet. There’s some interesting girls here, maybe even one strange enough to like you,” Arkady teased, although he was at least half serious. If Nikolay could get himself distracted by a girl, then he would have less time to spend watching his older brother. Sounded like a win-win situation if there ever was one.

“Me? Well, I done roped myself a little cowgirl. Yee haw!” It was a pretty terrible imitation of a cowboy, but that was hardly the point. The mischievous look returning to Arkady’s face, he leaned forward a little and lowered his voice as if he was sharing a secret. “She keeps a knife in her boot. Pretty hot.” This last bit was said in a sing-song tone, complete with eyebrow movements.

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“HA! Yeah, sure, she would have to be strange to date me,” he said shaking his head and almost smiling, “in which case a girl would have to be completely out of this world to want to date you.”

However not so far out of the world as it turned out. A cowgirl? Was he referring to those films he had seen in the cinema, about the cowboys? The ones who fought the men with the feathers, who wore big boots and big hats and carried guns? There were girls like that as well? Well of course there was, if there were men there had to be women, and he supposed there were many types of people here it would make sense that a ‘cowgirl’ could be here.

“ A knife in her boot?” he said and snorted, “yeah she sounds right up your alley. With any luck she’ll come to her senses and use it to ward you off.”

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Arkady couldn’t help but grin knowingly at his brother. There certainly were people from out of this world, or at least out of this time, themselves included. Now Arkady certainly wasn’t a history buff, especially when it came to American history, but he had never heard of a place called Los Avalos before, so it was entirely possible that Dusty was indeed from another world. He decided to keep that little tidbit to himself for now.

Of course Nikolay wasn’t done with the insults yet, and the mention of Dusty warding Arkady off with any weapon was not a pleasant reminder. He scowled at his younger brother.

“Is it so hard to believe that a girl could actually like me? If I recall, I was hardly in want of ‘female attention’ back home either,” he sniffed, acting completely put out, which wasn’t much of an act at all. Nikokay always had the ability to just annoy him just by opening his mouth. “You better watch yourself, brother. You’re sounding a little jealous.”

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“No it’s not hard to believe,” said Nikolay, the seriousness creeping back into his tone and his expression turning sad again, “you always did have all the girls on our block wrapped around each of your little fingers, I don’t know how you did it, but you did.”

He couldn’t deny it, he was jealous, but that was a state of being for Nikolay when he was around his older, better looking, more charismatic brother. There was no use admitting it just as much as denying it because they both knew it, thus agreeing out loud would only provoke Arkady to wind him up some more, and he couldn’t be bothered with it right now. There had been a brief second there where they were almost getting along, almost, maybe, and he wanted to see if he could make it come back. Unlikely since Arkady seemed to love arguing with him. There was something wrong there.

“Just…be careful alright?” he said looking up at his brother with concern, “don’t go annoying anyone who has a big brother, father or uncle that will come chasing you down the street with a butchers knife…again.”

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Okay, now Nikolay was really sounding jealous. Arkady almost felt a pang of regret, or even sympathy for him. It wasn’t like his brother was a bad looking guy, he was just so serious all the time. He had no problems getting girls to notice him, but when it came to actually talking to them and keeping their interest that was where he failed, especially if Arkady was there too. No competition at all.

“What can I say? I’m irresistible,” Arkady said with a shrug and a wink in his brother’s direction. “It’s the eyes.”

Having inherited their mother’s mesmerizing blue eyes certainly didn’t hurt, whereas Nikolay had gotten stuck with their father’s boring brown ones. Girls seemed to be suckers for blue eyes in general, and the older Pavlovich certainly knew how to use them to his advantage.

Nikolay wasn’t playing around now, though; he was getting all serious and concerned. Arkady wasn’t sure whether to roll his eyes or feel touched by the caring display. Luckily he didn’t have to choose because he ended up laughing instead at the memory that was brought up.

“Oh man, let me tell you, brother, I was sure glad he couldn’t run fast enough to catch a cold. It’s not easy to run and dress at the same time. Dignity pretty much goes out the window too.”