Boris Pavlikovsky angst oneshots (The Goldfinch)

I'm not him

Requested by @Redfoxl2

(ik most of these are in Theo's pov or no one's so Im trying something a little different lol, I'm also writing this on my computer and don't have russian keys. I'll fix it tomorrow)

Tw for abuse

Boris' POV.

My dad was yelling at me, like he always does when he comes home. It was about how the house wasn't cleaned and there was nothing in the fridge. 

"Ты не оставил мне денег." (You left me no money) I said (in russian) before trying to walk upstairs. My dad hit my knees, causing me to trip and my face met the stairs. I felt blood trickle down my nose and into my mouth, I wiped it off. Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me down. He began repeatedly kicking me in my sides, back, arms, and legs. 

"Стоп!" (Stop) I cried, he continued. He spat at me before kicking me one last time then leaving the house.  I curled into a ball on the floor and sobbed quietly to myself. This was stupid. He was stupid. I was stupid. I want to run away and stay with Potter. I doubt his dad and Xandra would care. But my dad would never let me leave for good. Not until he was dead. I slowly got up, leaning on the wall for support. I walked up the stairs and into my room, there I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep.

I woke up to the alarm on my bedside table and got dressed. I looked at all the bruises that had formed and thought it'd be best to cover it up. I grabbed a sweater and some jeans then walked down the stairs. Dad was nowhere in sight. "Must've already left... again." I said to myself before running down to meet Potter at the bus stop.

"Why didn't you come over last night?" Potter asked. "Ah," I said, "I was just tired." Potter shrugged and we got on the bus when it arrived. We joked around for a while then got off when we got to our hellhole we called school. Everything was going pretty normal until lunch.

Theo's POV.

Me and Boris were joking about the normal shit, sex, drugs, all that fun stuff. I was about to slap him on the back when he flinched back. His eyes were like saucers. He muttered something in Ukrainian or Russian before taking off. 

"Boris!" I called, when he didn't stop I took off after him. He ran into the boys bathroom and slammed a stall door shut.

"Boris?" I called. I heard ragged breathing coming from the last stall. I knocked on the door and called his name again. "Why'd you run off?" I asked. 

"Leave me alone." Boris said from the other side of the stall. I huffed and got on my hands and knees, crawling under the door then sat beside him. "Did I do something?" I asked. Boris shook him head. "No..I just..I...my dad came home last night..." I felt my heart drop. So that's why he ran off? Did he think I was gonna hurt him?

"Boris..you know I'd never hurt you." I said. He nodded, "I know but- I saw you out of the corner of my eye, you looked like him! I thought you were him. I thought-" he choked on a sob and pulled his legs closer to his chest burying his face in his thighs. I hesitated on whether or not I should touch him. I gently wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him close, feeling him flinch away. I shushed him and rubbed circles into his shoulder with my thumb. 

"I'm not gonna hurt you, it's okay." I said softly, Boris rested his head on my shoulder, continuing to cry. I didn't like seeing him like this, it was..different from the Boris I'm used to. He's always tough and smiley. Now I realize he's just another scared kid that doesn't know what to do, just like me. After a while his cries died down to just a sniffle every now and again. He was playing with a string on his sweater, quietly humming to himself. I twisted one of his black curls around my finger and watched it bounce back up. 

"Should we head to class? We already missed our second to last period." I said. He hummed a no and laid his head in my lap. Was it wrong to say he was handsome? Boris closed his eyes and continued to hum. I smiled down at him. 

Soon it was time to leave. We grabbed our backpacks and ran out the door to the busses. We got on and sat near the back, like we always do. The whole way home Boris looked out the window smiling while I looked at him. Once we got to our stop I grabbed Boris' hand and walked to my house. I opened the door and walked him to my room.

"Let me see what he did." I said, Boris whined and looked at me with pleading eyes. I continued to stare at him, waiting for him to show me. After a couple of minutes he complied. Boris took his sweater off and then his jeans. I grabbed a random pair of shorts I had lying around and threw them at him. He put them on and sat on the bed. I walked in front of him and looked at all the bruises. Some were on his ribs. I poked them, causing Boris to grunt and flinch away. "Sorry, " I said, "I wanna make sure they aren't broken." 

"They aren't. It didn't hurt until you did that!" Boris shouted. I sighed and looked at the rest of them. "Did he do anything else?" I asked. 

"He tripped me and my face on the floor and my nose started bleeding. It's fine though, it's not broken. " I hummed a response. "Put your shirt back on, lets watch some movies." I said. Boris' face lit up.

Me and Boris sat on the couch downstairs and watched a movie I didn't know the name of. Boris sat quietly beside me, resting his head on my shoulder. My arm was around his waist. He yawned and closed his eyes. I looked down at him and snickered. 

"Shut up." Boris said, his words slurring together. "Ha." I replied, purely to annoy him. He grumbled and lightly smacked my leg before drifting off. After the movie ended I turned the tv off and grabbed a blanket. I threw it over us then laid my head on top of Boris' falling asleep myself.