Inbetween

24 - A Beacon of Light

Leo's P.O.V.:
I was still trying to figure out what had just happened, when I found a fancy bottle of scotch in front of the room where not even 20 minutes ago Nicky kissed me pressing my body against a piano.
My mind was a blur and the only thing keeping me company was the burning alcohol. I tried to sort  my thoughts out but eventually gave up and concentrated myself on the half empty bottle.
The cold bottleneck kept finding its way to my lips on its own. It was getting hot so I took my suit's jacket off leaving me in a white shirt. I buttoned it down two buttons since it was hard to breathe. Maybe it was the alcohol in my system. Who could've known. The door opened slightly when I was massaging my temples due to pain and a tall guy with a hair tie between his teeth and his hands holding his shoulder long black hair back. I could recognise his face everywhere. Alexei Nicolaos Romaneskov, first son of the Romaneskov family. His family was well known in the Clave due to its political influence. They were the most respected and strict family in all Idris. And there he stood.

Alexei's P.O.V.:
After a whole night of greeting familiar faces and smiling as in "happily ever after", I needed break.
Since I was the first son of 4 it was my duty to carry the family name after all, but if you asked me I'd switch my life for anyone else's. I grew up in the outskirts of Rostov, a smaller city near Moscow.
At the age of 8 we moved to Idris since my father got elected into the Clave. Over the next 8 years he had gotten more and more power and was one of the most remarkable politicians of Idris.  That night was when I met Leo Lightwood.

I let my hair down to put it into a low man bun like I always wore it, when I saw him with the glimpse of an eye. Even though he was completely wasted and his eyes kept wandering off around the room, his beauty unbelievable. There was an empty scotch bottle next to him. His cheeks and nose were red and the top buttons of his shirt were open. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't somehow. He was panting and stared at me almost scanning me.
"My apologies for intruding", I said and I bet I flushed too.
He replied with some sort of a sigh and a moan at the same time.
"I know it's none of my business, but I can't seem to ignore your state. You seem unwell", I continued.
" 'S fine. I'm fine", Leo spat with a heavy hiccup.
" 'could use sum company though", he leaned onto on arm putting it behind him, cleared his throat and smirked sheepishly his eyes keeping to unfocuse.
It would've been inhumane to take advantage of him at this state, so I just stared at him annoyed and his smirk vanished. His disappointed eyes directed themselves at me without constantly looking around the room. It made my every single hair stand up sending shivers down my spine. Leo went all serious, but when he saw the confusion in my eyes he laughed and blood flooded my cheeks making me blush. When he noticed he laughed even more.

"C'mon 'm just messing with you", Leo then moved a bit patting the spot next to him telling me to sit down. And I did.
His smile had vanished long before and he looked empty. After a couple of minutes of just sitting there in awkward silence Leo passes his thumb along my lips. I was squinting at his hand when he leaned towards me sitting down on my lap. His warm breath smelled like alcohol and our noses were almost touching. Leo kept staring at my lips which were less than an inch away from mine. When I didn't pull back his lips parted to a smile. He backed off in triumph.
"We were supposed to be the Lovers", Leo said that night and since it was nothing I could begin with I dropped it. I probably should've asked him about it because he was obviously hurt.

Over the next two months we kept meeting on charity events or Clave meetings making bets on who could greet more people in one night. We always ended up in some room and talked for hours. He told me once about that Nicky and how he hadn't heard from him since the both of us had met. It might sound selfish, but I didn't care about Nicky and was kind of glad he wasn't around since being the centre of Leo's attention every once and then was everything I could've wished for.