Lev sat on the edge of the bed in the guest room --- Dimitri's guest room.
Matev was asleep in the next room, curled up like kitten, hugging his stuffed Wolf. Safe. Warm. But Lev?
Lev felt like a stranger in a house full of ghosts.
The room was too clean. The sheets smelled like line luxury--cold, unfamiliar. Not like home. He missed his little apartment. The soft clutter. The quiet street view. The chaos that made it his.
And yet ....part of him felt safer here.
And that terrified him.
Next morning. Lev padded into the kitchen wearing an oversized sweatshirt. The one with sleeves that covered half his hands.
Dimitri was already there. Tall. Calm. Silent. He was making pancakes.
Lev blinked. ''You cook?''
Dimitri looked up, unfazed. ''For Matev. He asked for them.''
Lev hesitated. ''Oh...''' He stood awkwardly by the counter, arms folded, unsure what to say.
Dimitri glanced at him, flipping the pancake with one hand, cool as ever.
''You sleep, okay?''
Lev shrugged. ''It's weird being here.''
''I get that.''
The silence stretched. Not angry. Just .... thick.
Matev come bouncing in next, dragging his wolf, hair a mess. ''Papaaaaaaaaa,''
Later that day. Lev helped clear the table. Dimitri was by the window, scrolling something on his phone, Half -- distracted.
Out of nowhere, Lev shrugged. ''You're used to control. Power. People don't say no to you, do they?''
Dimitri set the phone down. ''I don't like games, Lev if you're asking something. Ask it.''
Lev bite lips. His voice dropped. ''Are you just being sweet because you want to keep him.....or because you want to keep me?
Dimitri's jaw tightened. But his eyes softened.
Lev looked away.
''Don't do that,'' Dimitri said. ''Don't shut down.''
''You scare me sometimes.''
Dimitri walked closer. Just enough. ''I know,'' he said quietly. ''I scare myself too sometimes.''
Their eyes met. A long pause.
Then footsteps-------tiny ones. ''Done drawing!'' Matev shouted from the hallway.
Lev exhaled and stepped back. Moment broken. But the feeling? still right there. Hanging between them like heat.
That night. Lev in bed, starting at the ceiling. Dimitri hadn't said goodnight.
Good. He wasn't ready to talk more. But his mind wouldn't shut up.
That night. That one night. The way Dimitri had looked at him, touched him, whispered into his skin like a promise...
Lev squeezed his eyes shut. ''Stop it,'' he whispered to himself.
But his body remembered.
And that was the real betrayal.