When Toris walked into school on Monday, he felt his blood run cold. As we walked through the hallways, people seemed to stop and take cautious glances in his direction. The normal chatter in the hallways quieted as he walked past.
Surely Francis hadn't spilled the picture yet? His video was way more popular than Toris's, but there was no way it had already hit 1,000,000 views.
Then Toris realized it. People weren't talking about him and Feliks, they were talking about him and Natalia.
It made perfect sense. Toris's girlfriend had posted nearly a dozen pictures over the weekend of the two of them, each one captioned with a similar message.
"Walking with the bae"
"Eating with the bae"
"Smiling with the bae"
"Breathing with the bae"
etc.
People were probably wondering how a loser like Toris wound up with a pretty girl like Natalia. Whatever. He should probably enjoy the publicity while it lasted, Toris decided. It was only a matter of time until the "Bad Touch Trio's" video became popular enough.
As Toris walked into homeroom, he stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting in the desk next to his own was Feliks. That would've been normal enough if it weren't for the clothes he was wearing.
There were already whispers of gossip behind the Pole's back about the pink clothes he had been wearing the first day of school, but now those unkind words must've tripled by what he was wearing now. Feliks was nonchalantly sitting in his desk... in drag.
He wore a tight yellow cardigan and a short skirt. (Toris couldn't help but admit to himself that Feliks pulled it off well. Better than most of the girls could, actually.) His nails were painted a sparkly pink. Between his choice of wardrobe and semi-long hair, Feliks looked remarkably feminine.
"Hey, Liet!" Feliks beckoned Toris over to his desk. The Lithuanian bowed his head, a tad embarrassed, and made his way over to Feliks.
"So I was like, thinking last night, and I figured we totally needed to film another video. We need a cat. I was asking around and I heard this boy Heracles has like 30 of them. I was thinking we can rent one or something and then like, train it."
Toris felt his cheeks grow hot. Somehow the fact that Feliks hadn't given up yet was rather... charming to Toris. Not in an attractive way--of course--since Toris was into Natalia, but it warmed his heart to see Feliks so passionate about something that benefited the Lithuanian. Toris himself was ready to throw in the towel and accept the fate of falling even lower on the social status and losing the girl of his dreams.
"Hey, Feliks," Toris said, a delicate tone in his voice. "I was just wondering, but uh, do you care if the photo is released? Will you be upset if everyone knows about your..." Toris lowered his voice. "Preferences?"
Feliks looked uncertain. "Uhm. Well, I don't like, want everyone to know. I'm totally cool with people as close as you knowing, but I wouldn't want, like, the entire school to know." Feliks bit his lip. "I just feel like if people know about it before they've actually met me they'll just assume they totally know who I am already."
Toris nodded, although he didn't think he could possibly understand entirely. He was straight after all; he didn't know what it was like to be afraid of people judging you for who you loved.
Feliks smiled, seeming to forgot their serious conversation from a few seconds before. "So anyway," he chirped, a big smile returning to his face. "I thought we could like, ask Heracles for one of his cats." Toris frowned, trying to forget about the earlier conversation. "Do you really think someone will just give you their cat? Plus, I'm allergic to cats."
Felik's head sagged. "Oh," he said.
Toris sighed. "I'm ready to give up. How can anything we do beat Toni twerking? Natalia is going to flip..." The corner of Feliks's lips twitched. Was that intentional, or just an involuntary motion?
**time skips are brought to you by Vargas' curls. Touch them in case of emergencies**
After school, Toris walked home with Feliks; they lived in the same neighborhood and Feliks had practically invited himself over to Toris's house. The brunet's parents were still working right after school, so he figured it'd be alright for the Pole to be over for an hour or so.
Feliks sat down on Toris's couch. He wasted no time getting to point. "Do you like Natalia?"
"Yes." There was no hesitance behind Toris's voice.
"Do you like her a lot?"
"Yes."
"Love her?"
"...yes."
Feliks nodded, looking as if he were evaluating his friend's answers. Toris raised an eyebrow. "Are you jealous of her?" He asked slowly.
"A little," Feliks admitted. "But this conversation isn't about me. It's about you." Toris instantly noticed that the words 'like' and 'totally' seemed to disappear from Felik's vocabulary. He had never seen the short blond be so serious.
Feliks continued, "I just want you to know that Natalia is using you." Toris felt his throat tighten. "I know," he said. "But I don't care. I love her anyway."
Feliks knit his eyebrows together. "I don't think you understand. You read her note; she's only dating you because she wants Ivan."
"I don't think you understand either," Toris's voice grew bitter. "Being with her makes me happy and I'm sure that if I'm a good enough boyfriend she'll eventually feel the same way."
Feliks shook his head. "She's not into you. Have you looked at her Instagram? She tagged Ivan in every single picture of the two of you."
Toris gulped. He hadn't noticed that.
Feliks kept going, "Natalia is beautiful, sure, but honestly, she's a bitch."
Toris clenched his fist. He didn't like this new, accusing Feliks. "And how would you know? Have you ever talked to her? You've only been at this school for two days. You're just jealous." Toris's voice shook.
Feliks shrunk down a bit, but he refused to back down. "Liet," his voice didn't quiver. "She is going to break up with you sooner or later. I just want you to be prepared for that."
Toris scowled. "Okay? What's the point of this conversation? Do you want me to break up with her?"
"Wha-? No!"
"Well it really seems that way."
Feliks shook his head. "I just don't want to see you get hurt, Liet."
That line seemed rather familiar, but it didn't mess with Toris's head this time. "Oh really? It seems to me you're just trying to be all 'noble' to get me to like you."
"I'm not!" Feliks threw his hands up. "Can't you see I'm trying to do something nice for you? I'm don't act like this often. I don't like to act like this; it's not me. But I'm trying to be serious for you."
"For me? Are you kidding me? You are totally trying to flirt with me!" Toris stopped himself from cringing at his own words. He felt affection for Feliks, but that wasn't because he was attracted to him, was it? Of course not; it was only because Feliks was trying to convince him that he felt that way. And that make Toris angry as hell.
"Yes for you!" The blond yelled.
"I'm straight, Feliks! Sorry to disappoint you!"
Feliks sniffed, growing angry. "I'm not trying to flirt with you! God, I already told you I wasn't two days ago. You can date any girl you want! Hell, you can even date Natalia as long you realize that she is going to shatter your heart into a million peices."
Toris flared his nostrils, jabbing Feliks in the chest with a pointed index finger. "You don't even know her! You don't know shit about her and you don't know shit about me!"
Feliks knit his eyebrows together. "Really? It seems to me that I know a lot more about you than most of the kids at your damn school do. We talk between classes, between video shoots. Does anyone else know that you're afraid of spiders? That you've peed in a fountain? That you're terrified of your own 'best friend'?"
Feliks had a point, but Toris only grew more enraged. "Yeah? And did you know that I'm just now starting to recover from depression? That my two real best friends haven't even talked to me since they skipped a grade and moved away? Natalia is probably the only good thing that's ever happened to me and now you're trying to make it sound like a bad thing! Do you know how damn hard it is to look at something positively? To say 'wow, this is a good thing.' Because you sure as hell aren't making it any easier! You think you know me..."
Toris scoffed and turned away. He'd said too much. Toris was disgusted with himself. He was so weak.
Plus, he didn't want Feliks to see the tears in his eyes.
A/N: Please like if you enjoyed! Wooh, this chapter was intense. I'm sorry if I was a little touchy with the whole depression thing; I've never had it and I don't know what it's like so... Sorry I guess?