Please, don't see me...(Antosha)

[Henri Rosario]

With a very heavy groan, Henri flung himself onto a bench at the front of the college. Finals were upon him and his head was pounding from studying. Well, that and drinking all night. Hangover plus study hangover was not a good combination. He rubbed his hands over his stubbly face and through his tangled hair as he dropped it back over the bench to see the world upside down. Instant regret. Slowly, he set back up and straightened himself. Now his head was swimming. With another groan he pulled up a paper cup that he had been carrying and took a sip of his coffee. That seemed to wake the world up a bit.

His eyes wandered around the campus and scoffed at some of the people. The ones rushing around, the ones being overly lazy, the ones to busy making out to care about class or school. Or Life. It was a sort of bitter sweet thing to watch for Henri. It made him think, and thinking hurt. Pulling his legs up under himself he turned his head around and looked around for something to distract him from thinking. And there it was, or HE was, as the case may be. Someone from Henri's past that he wasn't sure he wanted to see again. 

Ant was close by, a friend from Hammel, a time he didn't always like to remember. This was also someone that Henri had even wanted to be more than friends with at one time. And damn if he still didn't look good. Hugging himself a little and tying to hide behind his hair as he sipped his coffee, Henri had one thought on his mind.

"Please don't see me..."

[Antosha Vikenti]

Antosha was having a little harder time with his finals than last he checked. Meaning all his coffee trips and breaks from studying had to be cut off. No more drinking, no more delicious caffeine trips that didn't involve his kitchen. It was slowly wearing down the tall Russian man. There was nothing he loved more than coffee- except maybe helping people. It was really the only reason he was still functioning. That and his sisters graciously bringing him food to make sure he didn't die from starvation.

His shadowing at Hammel had ended almost a week ago so he could focus on finals, so with nothing to get him away from school Ant found himself spending all his time either in class or at the library to study. This just happened to be one of the times he left the oppressive air of the library to have a much needed smoke break. So he left the library, heading to the coffee stand to purchase a much needed cup of coffee while he lit a cigarette. Almost subconsciously his amber eyes scanned the yard coming to rest on a figure sitting alone on a bench.

There was something familiar about the figure, something lingering on the tip of the cat's tongue that made him not sure if he wanted to approach or just watch with caution. Casually taking a drag of his cigarette he opted for just watching while his coffee was prepared, head cocked to the side ever so slightly. It wasn't until the male practically curled in on himself, and the coffee was in Ant's hand, that the Russian moved forward. His feet led him to stand directly by the familiar male, still trying to capture the name that was eluding him.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his voice deep and husky as it usually was. Laced with confusion and warmth and that ever present hint of a tone that could only be described as "sultry".

[Henri Rosario]

For a brief moment, Henri thought that maybe the Russian hadn't seen him. Just to be sure though, he pulled a book out of his bag and pressed his face in it. It was a last ditch, and desperate attempt to hide, he new; and a poor one at that. Well, it was less obviously than suddenly turning into a puff of smoke and floating away. Plus, he would have to come back for his things. By now, Henri was deep in thought and actually reading the book, when the accent broke the silence shell around him. His bright eyes glanced up at the tall man and he cursed under his breath. 

Why? Because the man's voice always sent shivers down his spine. Always in the same way to, up the spine to a red flush on his cheeks. This time was no different. Except for the fact that Henri had just become aware of the uncomfortable silence that was growing between them. "Get it together Henri!"
He scolded himself for acting like such a scared little girl and finally found his voice.

"Nah man, just uh...relaxing." Sadly, he had even tried to disguise his voice, which cracked into his normal voice instantly. His voice which had not changed since high school, nor had his look much. Henri was a bit scruffier, but he was sure Ant would remember him, the moment he heard his voice. He still held hope though. 

[Antosha Vikenti]

Antosha hadn't really expected his response to be met with silence. A quick scan with amber eyes didn't reveal anything obviously wrong with the nameless male in front of him. Unless he wanted to pretend the red flush on the man's cheeks was a fever. However there was something familiar about the reaction. Something both nostalgic, and if he was being honest, hot about the red tint. A younger face popped up in his mind and gruff words rang through his memory. Memories of ignored texts and ever ringing phone calls came soon after.

What really brought the memory home was the cracking voice. A smirk pulled at Antosha's lips and he took another drag of cigarette to disguise the fact. After a few moments of more silence, Antosha cocked his head and smiled down at Henri. He would have made comment about Henri answering his question with a "no" but Ant was going to assume that it was just the male talking as he usually did.

"If this is what you call relaxing, Rosario then I would hate to see you tense." He smirked some as the familiar name rolled off his tongue. Once said, Ant wasted no time before turning some and sitting down on the bench beside Henri. "Do I make you nervous, Rosario? After these past years too... I think I should feel flattered." First things first after all- get the curiosity out of the way.

[Henri Rosario]

There was a hint of a smile on Ant's face, and a feeling made Henri's stomach bottom out. He knew before the handsome Russian spoke again, the he had been recognized. There wasn't much point in tying to hide, so he set the book aside and scooted over as the much taller man set. "Well, you never saw me relaxed or tense, so you wouldn't really know would ya?" It come off a bit rougher than he meant for it to and he felt terrible instantly. 

Yet, he didn't apologize. Henri looked at him and scoffed a bit, he hadn't changed at all, then again, most people hadn't. There was a long pause as Henri thought about the answer to Antosha's question.

"You shouldn't flatter yourself to much, it'll go to your head.." He playfully grumbled. As much as he wanted to be alone, Ant was honestly a welcome distraction to the day. Though he would never tell a soul this, most of all the Russian. Finally, he smiled at him.


"So, how are ya?" He didn't care how lame it sounded, he was genuinely trying to make conversation. 

[Antosha Vikenti]

Antosha raised an eyebrow at Henri's words, but he chose not to comment. After all it was no longer his place to correct Henri was it? He, like many others, had been pushed aside in the last year of Hammel. Only Antosha had allowed it to happen. Hell he was even a little grateful since it let the Russian focus on his own situation rather than trying to maintain a friendship. He'd let things fade away. So really, Antosha felt the comment was rather justified. Even if it was long overdue.

He leaned against the bench as casually as he could considering the rather heavy silence settling between them. The Russian took a small drink of his burning coffee to cover his look of thought. Perhaps he had screwed up by coming to say hi to his old peer? Though usually Ant wouldn't care in the least about interrupting something, he suddenly had a vague fear that Henri might have been hiding from him instead of just being upset. The silence really wasn't helping matters.

Antosha had just been contemplating trying to break the silence when Henri spoke up. A rather sudden smirk pulled at his lips once more, only to grow wider when Henri smiled back at him. "Oh but is not flattering if I speak the truth." He teased, giving Henri a really obvious wink in case his tone hadn't gotten things across.

"I am good. Been very busy with ending school and going to be a teacher." The Russian explained easily, ending his statement with a shrug before taking another drink of his coffee. "And you? How are you?"

[Henri Rosario]

As he waited for Antosha to answer, Henri ran a hand through his always messy hair and leaned back. Only then did he take an actual good look at his old friend. There was in fact a small bit of resentment somewhere inside him towards the other. That last year in Hammel, when Glen disappeared, Henri was already dealing with a lot. Things that he never really dealt with before, then that happened and he just lost it. Henri shut everyone out, even his uncle and the twins. What made matters worse is, even the people that said they were his friends, didn't even bother to see if he was alright.

Ant though, he hurt the worst. Other than Glen, Henri had only felt any true feelings for one other person; that person was Antosha. Of course he just considered it a crush and thought nothing of it, but as he set there and looked at him now; something stirred in his mind. With a bit of a frown he shook the memory and feeling away and turned his face to the ground. After giving Ant a rather exaggerated eye roll or course. The next thing said caught Henri's attention. "A teacher?" He thought as he tilted his head to listen. "So, we kinda wanna do the same thing..." 


"Oh, you know, just getting by like everyone else." He answered with a bit of a smirk. "Just stopped by the library to study for a bit. I don't go here at Vermont, I'm in Greenview. You?" Rambling wasn't really the shaggy man's comfort zone, but he was doing it anyway and not really sure as to why.

[Antosha Vikenti]

Looking at the scruffy man beside him, Antosha was struck with the odd thought that Henri looked (at least to him) like a younger Ricio. Something he hadn't really thought of when he first let the stray into his home. Maybe it was just the hair, or the same sense of something when he looked at them, but Ant could easily see parallels between the men. Things that he was sure no one else would see. Was he just imagining it? Or were there actually similarities?

Antosha didn't have the answers to his own thoughts, and just when he tried to turn away from the train of thinking another one poked into his head. Did Ricio remind Ant of Henri or was it the other way around? He took another sip of his slowly cooling coffee, amber eyes running over the familiar but different body of his once before friend. Though, with the way Ant had allowed Henri to slip away the Russian wasn't sure they really had ever been friends. Not in the way that mattered.

"Studying for another final in the library." Antosha shrugged and took another drink as he turned to watch people walking by. "I do go to Vermont, at least for the rest of this semester. I will be done with college after this, then get my certificate thing this summer and start work in the fall as long as Hammel hires me..." His voice trailed off at the end, his concerns about being hired rather obvious. "What is your major?"

[Henri Rosario]

It took what felt like forever, for Henri to realize he was staring at Anthosha. The smaller man had sort of been lost in memories and wondering why after all these years, Ant give his stomach butterflies. He hated that feeling anyway, he was more used to a quicky or a one night stand at best. Different guy almost every night. Great example to be setting, especially since he wanted to be a counselor.

For the moment, he was still sort of figuring things out in his head. Re-hashing his life at Hammel, when he was young and happy. Then it hit him. The reason that (at least to him) Ant didn't seem to notice when he pushed everyone away. Henri was that annoying kid that followed the older ones around like puppy, yapping at their hills. It made him a little sick to think of how stupid and naive he was back then and a little frown spread across his face.

"Oh, you're uh...gonna be working at Hammel too?" The shaggy haired man finally spoke. "That's ...neat." Henri nibbled on his bottom lip and felt a little worry for the other, because of the tone in his voice. Okay, so maybe he was also worried about himself, because his past was not exactly squeaky clean. "Oh um, I'm just training to be a counselor more than anything, I'm almost done myself." This wasn't entirely true.

The younger man was failing almost everything, but he wasn't about to tell Ant that.