Chapter Text
*
“He’s in my lecture.”
“Huh?”, Alina’s head swings back to him, eyes wide. “Who?”
“Nikolai.”, Mal groans and rubs his eyes. “We don’t even share the same major! What’s he doing in a fucking geography class?”
“Learning about geography, I suppose," Zoya answers from the couch.
Mal scoffs.
“What’s so bad about him being in your lecture? It’s a lecture, you just sit there and listen. No human interaction necessary whatsoever.”, Alina walks back to her girlfriend and sits down next to her, grabbing a bag of crisps.
“The point is – I cannot have him there. He sat next to me; he talked the whole time.”
Nikolai Lantsov considers himself a charming flirt, Mal considers him a nuisance.
“Sit somewhere else then.”, Zoya continues. “Come in late, do a whole ‘Oh no, I’m so sorry I’m late I’ll sit shamefully in the back’ twirl and sit somewhere where my Ex cannot bother you.”, Alina nods, crunching on her crisps.
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t. Our seats are assigned. I must sit next to him.”, Mal remembers that he is home now and can take off his coat, so he does. While he hangs up his jacket and kicks off his boots, he just hears Zoya say “Suffer then.”, and Alina shushing her, while giggling.
He stomps back in the living room, on his way to the kitchen and only then he realizes – “Oh shit, are you two having a romantic couch thing?”
“Yes.”, Zoya says. “So go and write in your diary about how much you hate Nikolai Lantsov and his pretty hair. Alina and I will be back to hear you ramble about your crush tomorrow.”
Mal can feel his face heating up. “I- what- I don’t have a crush! He doesn’t – I don’t think he has pretty hair! And I don’t hate hate him! Stop it with the side-eye Alina!”, he almost stomps but decides to close his argument by walking into the kitchen to grab some leftovers. He ignores the laughter that follows him.
*
“Alina.”
His best friend blinks up to him with big eyes, trying to act all innocent. Which has not ever worked on Mal, so he doesn’t know why she bothers.
“What is Nikolai doing here?”, he hisses.
“You realize that he is part of our friend group, right? Which means he’ll be there when we go out together.”, Alina grabs his elbow and drags him forward to the corner booth where all their friends (and Nikolai) are waiting. “Come on, we are already late because you decided to be a nerd and look for a book in the library on a Friday evening.”
“Ugh.”
“Be nice.”
“Hey!”, Nikolai springs up, when he sees them, his eyes lightening up, his stupid blonde hair all tousled masterfully. He is wearing a tight, black turtleneck and of course it looks good. And of course he is wearing his stupid rings that makes his hands looks so –
Mal blinks and shakes his head for a second. He needs to focus.
“Nikolai, hi!”, Alina saves Mal from embarrassment and greets Nikolai first. Mal hugs him quickly after and does not look at his stupid hands at all. After everyone’s said hello they sit down and Mal allows himself to relax for a second.
“We’ve already ordered for you. Your usual of course. I hope you don’t mind.”, Genya smiles.
“Oh no that is totally fine. Sorry to have kept you waiting.”, Alina answers.
“What were you two up to anyway?”, Nikolai.
“I had to check out a book from the library and didn’t want to bring it on a night out so we had to go back.”
“That is nerd behaviour Oretsev!”, Zoya announces from her seat next to Alina. “Which means at least one penalty shot at the club.”
“I think it is very smart to go to the library on a Friday evening.”, David pipes up. “Less people so you’ve got a better chance at getting the book you want.”
“Thank you, David.”
At least someone is on his side.
*
Mal ends up having several penalty shots at the club. Apparently remembering Zoya of that one time she hit on him is worth 4 penalty shots.
At least that is what Alina said and what Alina says goes.
Most of the time anyway.
So, yeah.
He has now downed 5 penalty shots and the one that Genya just put in his hand.
It’s been a while since Mal went out and he doesn’t even remember why he didn’t go with his friends these past months.
Oh, right. Becoming fully dependent on a scholarship over the summer and thus continuously having to keep his grades up, that is why. But he can’t be bothered to care right now, not with the alcohol swimming in his veins, the music hitting just right and him having fun for once.
“Are you good?!”, Alina appears at his side, grabbing his arm. Her eyes are bright, and she is laughing. She’s put her hair up, which is understandable since it is so very warm and crowded in this club – there was long line but Genya and (of course) Nikolai got them in. Somehow. Nikolai is rich (and known for being rich) and Genya is friends with everyone, so it was probably easy.
“I am so good!”, he answers, grinning.
She claps her hands: “Mission accomplished!” and hugs him. He laughs, hugs her back.
“I’m glad you came out with us again.”, she murmurs into his skin. He nods. “Yeah, yeah me too.”
When he looks up, still swaying with Alina from side to side, he locks eyes with Nikolai who looks at him with a weird expression. The other man is at the bar, holding a glass with some blue liquid (Mal doesn’t even want to know what kind of drink that is) and standing next to David, who is gesticulating wildly with his arms. His dumb hair looks even more tousled, and his jaw is doing a weird thing and Mal really needs to stop staring at him like an idiot.
He lets go of Alina and takes a step back. When he looks at the bar Nikolai and David are gone. His mouth is dry.
“Should we get to the bar and get some more drinks?”, he shouts. She nods, grabs his arm and drags him across the dancefloor. They stumble against the bar and Alina waves at the barkeeper.
“We’d like – “, she looks at Mal. “What would we like?”
He opens his mouth but suddenly Zoya appears behind them (she is like a cat sometimes) and squeezes Alina from behind, who giggles, turns around and – yeah. They’re making out. Mal decides to just order some more shots and a cocktail named ‘King of Ravka’.
“Be careful with that one.”, the barkeeper points at the cocktail, when she hands it over. “You’ll only get one of those per night from me. There is a lot of stuff in there, that could fuck you up quite a bit, okay?”
Mal nods and takes the tray with his order. He turns around to Zoya and Alina who stopped making out but are now whispering with their foreheads pressed against each other.
Kind of cute.
“Oi!”, he shouts in Zoya’s ear and laughs when she jumps.
She flips him off. “What do you want?”
“I got our stuff. Where are the others?”
“They got a table. In the VIP-Lounge.”, Zoya smirks and drags Alina with her. “Follow me!”
VIP-Lounge.
Of course.
This is Nikolai’s doing.
*
Having a table in the VIP-Lounge is kind of nice, Mal cannot deny that. It’s less crowded, the music is still loud enough that it doesn’t feel like they suddenly stepped away from the party and they’ve got a nice overview of the crowd.
“You could’ve just ordered from the waiter up here, you know?”, whispers a voice right next to his ear. Mal’s head whips around and he stares in Nikolai’s eyes.
“How was I supposed to know that you’d get us in the VIP-Lounge?”, Mal takes his cocktail so his hands have something to do. He takes a sip and – woah.
Nikolai leans forward and smirks.
“What do you have there?”
Why does he care?
“King of Ravka.”
And why is Mal responding?
“Oh.”, Nikolai laughs, throwing his head back and Mal cannot help it but follow the line of his throat with his eyes. “That one is dangerous.”
“I can handle dangerous.”
Nikolai looks at him, a glint in his eyes.
“Oh, I bet you can.”
Mal swallows.
*
(03:36 am)
alina: where are yoooou I miss u ilyyy
alina: mal my dude my bro my lov im beign serious
alina: zoya is tryibg to get me to leave but not without u!!
alina: tho she’s promised me falafel sooo… I might
alina: text me bithc!! Also have u seen nikolai lol
alina: …
alina: WAIT
(04:16 am)
zoya: did u rly leave with nikolai lmfaoo
zoya: prepare to be made fun of SO HARD if you did
zoya: since im the most sober I gotta be responsible so text alina xx she’s worried idiot
zoya: genya and david as well bc alina called them asking if u left with them!!
zoya: answerrrr
*
a group of besties <3
(04:30 am)
zoya: can someone confirm that mal is in fact NOT DEAD so my gf can eat her falafel sandwich in peace
tolya: he seemed pretty alive when he arrived here
tamar: hahahaha
nikolai: he is fine. Very much not dead.
david: I am glad 😊
zoya: oh yeah. I am very glad about these news as well.