Snowflakes

(This is for the babe ClintLaufeyson , who wrote me some stuff, and I promised this rochu fanfic to her a longggg time ago. I actually got off my butt and wrote it! Hope you like it babe!!)

The stage lights flickered on, all too bright at first, but quickly dulling. A tall man stepped out onto the wooden stage, boards squealing in protest under his heavy feet. His violet eyes scanned the crowd carefully, although he was careful not to rest on any one being for too long. Fingers began to fly across a piano on the side of the stage, filling the room with echoing music. Several others stepped out onto the stage as well, dressed in their appropriate costumes.

Ivan was an actor. And apparently, by what the townsfolk said, he was the best around. Not that he particularly believed that. The small city in Russia where he lived wasn’t much to talk about, unless you wanted to discuss the thick layer of snow that seemed almost permanent. As the show began, Ivan recited his lines flawlessly, emotion filling his voice, actions speaking volumes. Of course, all of this was fake – he was nothing like that in real life.

Everyone in the crowd were the same attendees as always, it seemed, except for one singular man. His longer brown hair and strange dress suggested he was from China, although the Russian man couldn’t for the life of him figure what brought him here. The show flew right by, and before Ivan knew it, he was departing from the building, heading into the cold and blistering night. As he turned a street corner, heading for his apartment, he saw the same strange man from earlier. If, by circumstance, you looked at the stranger briefly or at a certain angle, he seemed almost to be a woman, or at least had very woman-like features.

Either way, he stood beside the other man, but didn’t look at him directly. Instead, he decided to speak. “So, you saw my show. How’d you like it?”

He spoke in English, figuring that this guy would be able to speak English, since not everyone spoke Russian. The smaller man looked over and up at him, examining him, almost scrutinizing him. It took quite a few seconds that felt like minutes before Ivan was graced with a response. “It was nice.”

The paler man chuckled, his laughter sounding pleasant but also with an almost brutal underlying tone. The snow flurried all around them, each unique snowflake dancing this way and that with their freedom. But just like everything else, they weren’t going to remain free. They truly weren’t ever meant to fly. They were meant to hit the ground, to end just as quickly as they began. Join their siblings on the hard dirt, molding and melting into each other to form one big entity. Ivan was busy staring at the snowflakes, lost in this train of thought, when the brunette spoke again in his heavily accented voice. “Well, since you don’t seem to be leaving, I may as well introduce myself. I’m Yao, and I just came over here from China.” He looked up expectantly at Ivan, fully anticipating a response.

“My name’s Ivan, and I’ve lived right here in Russia all my life.” Nothing more was said after that, it was simply the two of them standing in that winter storm. He didn’t understand why either or both of them had parted ways, but then again, people always did things without reason. In a way, that might be what keeps them human. Live freely, expect the unexpected, take risks. All such trivial and short-lived things, but yet, that’s what humans live for. The silence shrouded them like a cloak would its owner, heavily, but not unpleasantly.

He could tell that the shorter man was becoming chilled, as he hadn’t really prepared for the sub-zero temperatures very well. The violet-eyed man smiled, bringing a huge arm around the brunette and pulling him closer. He could feel the other stiffen, but he made no attempt to pull away. Ivan grinned again, watching as the snowflakes came drifting down. Maybe humans and snowflakes weren’t so different after all. Both start slow, stuck in one spot. Then comes the thrill of life and liberty and hope. And even if he would come crashing down to the ground in the end, Ivan was prepared. The two stood in that small Russian town, perhaps just beginning of their free-fall.