Fallen Soldiers

Chapter 2

Toris woke up Ravis, "hey, wake up! We have to be at the airport in two hours. Get up."
     Ravis sat up, rubbing his eyes, "what? Why? What's going on?" He looked up at Toris with a blank expression on his face.
     "We're picking up one of my friends. He just got back from overseas. He'll be staying with us for a bit."
     "Who?"
     "His name's Alfred."
     "Oh... I guess I should get ready to go then. Do I have time to take a shower?"
     "Yeah. Breakfast'll be ready when you're done, ok?"
     "Ok." Ravis got out of his bed and stretched for a bit before waddling off to his bathroom. He took out a towel and propped it up on the towel hook. He turned the water on and waited for it to heat up. He combed through his hair a bit as he checked the water's temperature.
     He loved showers. He could get all of his thinking done, and he loved feeling clean. He didn't mind the water getting in his eyes as he saw it as just a natural part of showers. It's when the soap got in his eyes that he found aggravating. He hated how quick they were, and he had to make this one fast. He didn't want to leave Toris waiting on him.
     He was still struggling with the fact that Toris was in fact alive. But Toris had been acting like his old self recently, so Ravis was adjusting easier than he thought he would. He had caught a glimpse of Toris's scars though, and that was just a smack in the face, reminding him how he could have lost Toris. He saw Toris as a brother, and the past few months he had spent living with his two best friends seemed to strengthen the three's bond. He had learned a lot about the other two that he didn't know before, for example, he had never helped Toris out with one of his night terrors until he recently. It was startling and at first he wasn't sure what to do, but after a few others he learned. He also learned that Eduard's insomnia was worse than he pretended it was. There'd be weeks where Ravis wasn't sure if Eduard had slept at all. But the other two learned that his anxiety was a lot worse too.
     He got out and wrapped the towel around his hips. He combed through his hair again and waddled back to his room to get dressed. Once he was dressed, he brought the towel downstairs and met up with Toris again.
     Toris was freaking out over a spider on the table, but he had made food, "how about we eat in the living room today?"
     Ravis got out a cup and a plate, "you can fight a war, but the second a bug gets in the kitchen you start panicking?" He captured the spider and let it outside.
     "The fact that you're not frightened by spiders but scared of everything else is concerning!" Toris examined the table before putting their breakfast on it.
     Ravis put the plate and cup in the sink before sitting down next to Toris. Toris ate quickly, a trait he got from the military. Ravis was concerned by this and tried to eat quickly too.
     After he was done, he helped Toris clean up a bit. There wasn't much to clean, so they finished quickly.
     "You ready to go?" Toris asked.
     "Just need shoes."
     Toris waited patiently, "you good now?"
     "Yep!"
     "Then let's go!"
     Ravis had never been in Toris's car. It was a dark brown jeep of sorts, he didn't know the details. It was a lot smaller than Eduard's truck, but surprisingly a lot cleaner.
     He noticed that Toris was wearing his dog tags, something Ravis didn't expect to see ever.
     The airport was far away, but they managed to get there in time. Toris held Ravis's hand as they made their way through to find Alfred.
     "Alfred! It's so great to see you! How've you been?" Toris hugged his friend.
     "Toris! Your jaw's all better!" Alfred glanced over to Ravis, "aw! Is this your son or your brother? He's so cute! How old is he?"
     "That's Ravis, we're not related and he's 15." Toris giggled.
     "Oh... sorry. Wait, you're 15? You're as tall as a 9 year old!"
     Ravis smiled awkwardly, he was unsure what to think about Alfred, but there was something about him that he really liked.
     They walked back to the car. Ravis sat in the back seat, and was generally very entertained by Alfred. He was a weird person, very energetic, but very stupid.
     "Hey Ravis, you wouldn't mind if we stopped by a few other places before getting home, right?" Toris asked.
     "No, not at all. Where're we going?"
     Alfred smirked and looked back to see Ravis, "we're gonna have some fun! I wanna get to know my new roommates, but since I already know Eduard, that just leaves you! We're gonna get ice cream!"
     Alfred was practically radiating with idiotic joy. Ravis got the feeling that living with him was going to be either fun, or really frustrating due to how stupid he was.
     They stopped at an ice cream shop, Alfred offered to pay, and within minutes they were seated in a booth. Toris sat by Alfred and rested his head on Alfred's shoulder lovingly. Ravis got the idea that they possibly shared romantic feelings- especially Toris who seemed almost completely enamored by all of Alfred's actions. Ravis found it cute.
     "So, Ravis, what grade will you be in next year?" Alfred asked.
     "10th."
     "Cool. Got any friends?"
     "Yeah, Eduard, Toris, Peter, and Ivan."
     Toris's eyes flashed with concern, "Ravis, what's Ivan's last name?"
     "Braginsky, why?"
     "Stay as far away from him as possible. He's a very bad person, ok?"
     Alfred faced Toris, "why? Who's Ivan? What'd he do?"
     "I don't wanna go into the details, just know that he's dangerous, ok? He doesn't know when he's being cruel, and that's what's awful about him. He can do some fucked up shit and not even realize that what he's doing is wrong. How'd you even meet him?"
     "He's neighbors with my parents. He's also one of my teachers."
    "What? He got a job with kids? Don't they know he's a registered sex offender?"
     Alfred gave Ravis a concerned glance, but said nothing.
     Toris sighed, "sorry, this conversation's gotten off track. So Ravis, who's Peter? His name sounds familiar. Isn't he Tino's kid?"
     "Yeah. He was adopted."
     "Mhm, Alfred, wasn't your step brother's son adopted by a man named Tino?"
     "And his husband Berwald. Peter was taken away by social services because Arthur can't cook and they thought he was torturing the poor kid."
     "How old's Arthur again? 24?"
     "25. Peter's been adopted twice."
     "Poor kid."
     "So what was that thing you said about Ivan?"
     "Doesn't matter. You should eat your ice cream before it melts."
     "Oh please, it can wait. Maybe I wanna talk to you."
     "How flattering, now eat up chubby."
     "You call me that, but we both know you like that."
     "Only on you."
     "'Cause I make it look good."
     Ravis played with his food for a bit while the adults flirted. He began wondering if they were dating, or if they had at some point. Perhaps since it was considered wrong to be openly gay in the military they kept it as this unspoken thing.
     When Ravis was done eating, he focused on Toris and Alfred who were heavily flirting at that point.
     "Toris, perhaps you're just so hot that you're making the ice cream melt."
     "Or perhaps the hottie is you, but who knows. We should really start eating this already."
     "Honey, the only thing I'll be eating is you."
     "I hope you know I'd only bottom for you."
     Ravis pulled his phone out of his pocket. He opened his messaging app and decided to text Eduard about how gay they were being. Eduard responded with a simple, "yeah they get that way sometimes. It's cute ain't it?"
     <So are they dating?>
     <Not entirely sure. I gotta get back to work, talk to you when I get home.>
     <Bye.> he looked up to see that they had finally eaten their ice cream and were getting ready to go. He got up and Smiled, "are we going home?"
     Alfred smiled back, "yeah! I need to get a tour of my new home."
     Ravis nodded, "makes sense, it's a bit of a big house, took me about a week to remember where my room was."
     Toris picked up the trash, "alrighty then, let's go."