Ivan approaches me, a whole foot above me, it always seems like. I was six foot two, and Ivan was six foot seven. He was tall, and sometimes I mistook him for a pillar. I look up to him and raise an eyebrow.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask, voice threatening and guarding the door as if I was preventing him from leaving.
“I’m going into town.” He replied, voice cool and nonchalant, as if he wasn’t afraid or concerned.
“Like hell, you better not follow me.” I pushed his chest a bit, like I was asking for a fight.
“Oh yeah? Or what?” He got up in my face and pushed my shoulder back.
I grabbed his shirt collar just as Valerya walked into the room and sighed in an annoyed way. Valerya shook her head and took a book out to read. I stared at my sister before letting go of Ivan and glaring intensely at him. He followed me out the door and around the city, smiling like a dumbass and carrying stuff for me as I briskly walked around. Holding a milk jug, while Ivan was holding a couple of grocery bags full of produce and other fridge foods, I read over the last few items and had to take a double check.
“... peanut butter?” I mutter, “ Eggs? I thought we already had eggs…”
Ivan scratches his chin, looking over my shoulder, “Hm… seems like she want’s to make something sweet.”
“You’re the one making this stuff, why don’t you know?” I question and turn to face him a bit.
Ivan shrugged, “Val usually picks what to eat since I don’t care and… you don’t eat.”
I turned away and adjusted my hoodie over my head. Ivan slapped my back and laughed. I was about to turn around and hit him back, but I noticed a police officer patrolling down the road in her white car with the red and blue lights on top. I noticed her equipment in the car, making sure she didn’t have anything other than a gun and tazer. We were just walking by a public seating area in front of an ice cream shop, and I had to quickly think of something as we looked suspicious and she was eyeing us especially. I grabbed his arm as Ivan passed me and smiled, “Why don’t we sit and get something to eat?” I don’t normally smile so Ivan gets the jist that something wrong happened. He nods a bit and sits down. I continued talking about things like the weather and the forecast for tomorrow and boring shit like that to look normal. Ivan kept glancing around to see if he could spot the person invading us. But he froze when my hand touched his thigh. This is extremely embarrassing, but this was the only way to get rid of her. Ivan looked back over to me, looking a tad shocked. I grabbed his pants on his thigh and tilted my head, “Won’t you give me a kiss?” I ask, but I couldn’t manage a sort of innocent voice so it sounded sort of awkwardly mechanical and monotone. Still, Ivan appeared calm and composed, maybe he thought I couldn’t hear his rapidly beating heart practically pounding inside his chest.
He took my chin in his fingers, like he always does and he kissed me. All nonchalant, I bet he felt cool. It was short, the kiss, and chaste, but she still wouldn’t stop stalking us. I grabbed his hair and kissed Ivan with all of my strength, passionately exchanging saliva. He placed his hand on my hip, swirling his tongue around my mouth, running along my teeth, and sneaking his hand up my shirt, leaning forward. We were making quite some noise in our display, as Ivan counted the bumps of my spine. The cop eventually drove away. I pulled away from him immediately. Ivan had to sit there for a moment, eyes spinning and head blazingly dizzy. I wiped my mouth and adjusted my shirt. I was unaffected, but Ivan was clearly trying to take a hold on the previous situation. He sat there, eyes wide, lips parted and hair tousled, messy because of me. I nudged his knee, “You good?”
He looks over to me, slowly, reassured, “Why did we have to do that?”
“Public affection is uncomfortable for other people to watch, it’s awkward and weird.” I replied, “Usually people won't stare at you if you’re madly making out with another person, much less someone of the same sex.”
“O… oh…” Ivan muttered and pushed his hair back and out of his face as some strands fall down, “Yeah I guess you’re right.” His hair is a bit long on the top of his head, so it was inevitable that some strands of hair fall back down anyway. He glanced at me, I could tell out the corner of my eye, and sighed, looking around the area, “As expected of you, Ethan. Quick, I didn't even see the car.”
“Yeah, what the fuck were you doing?” I ask and pick at something stuck to the table.
“Thinking about how Valerya would like her potatoes cooked…” he mutters, scratching his chin and resting it in the palm of his hand. I turn to look at him completely and squint my eyes in confusion.
“That's what you are worried about?” I wave my hand a bit.
He nods and tilts his nose a bit to the sky, “It's something you wouldn't understand, Ethan. Potatoes are an exquisite resource that can be made into many different beautiful forms, that all taste like celestial beings caressing your tongue.” he tried to explain to me how a simple food item was so great, but I got bored soon and stood up to leave.
Ivan stood up and grabbed my arm, I didn't look at him, but I stopped, he looks down at the ground as it started to rain, “Thanks for, uh, saving my ass back there.”
I was silent as I felt his hand slide down my forearm and touch my hand. I moved my hand up, when Ivan hooked a finger around my own, and scratched the back of my head, “Whatever.” I muttered.
I heard Ivan sigh behind me and it began to rain a lot harder. We stood there as everyone else retreated back into stores and markets. We were silent, and I was soaked and uncomfortable. The artificial skin covering my metal body was waterproof so I won't glitch or malfunction from rain or any other things like that. I look up, then back at Ivan who's staring at the concrete below him. He kicks a soda can into the street, we're both soaking wet. His clothes cling to his body and his raven hair is slicked to his forehead. I call out to him in the heavy rain, he looks up and smiles, one of those smiles that reassures you that they're fine, and I couldn't help but feel a little relieved. His smile drops, a shot rang, and then it's silent. I see Ivan in complete shock in front of me, he looks pale, paler than usual, and in utter shock. I feel an emptiness in my shoulder, then a clunk of something dropping. My eyes were wider than they've ever been, and I dare not look over to see my arm, but I do. Slowly, eyes horrifically wide, mouth slightly open, I look down to find my arm lying in a puddle beside me. Oils leak out my shoulder and some wires string out, but I oddly don't feel pain. It's just the feeling of loosing a limb is numbing and weird. Ivan makes a move like he'll grab me, but I turn around, holding my shoulder. My expression rises into a smile and I dropped my arm from holding the left side of of my body. I twitched from the rain, holding my arm out in an openly gesture. I laugh at the figure and twitch spastically.
“Jonah!” I yell, “Brother, nice to see you again after this long.”
ns 15.158.61.16da2
