Lost Souls

[Fenris]

>> Artem Fyodorov continued from The Lovers Arcana

Incredibly, the night had somehow gone even worse than Artem had feared.

Perhaps that was melodramatic. Nothing had really happened, no one had set the place on fire, no one had spilled any drinks on him, no one had yanked his pants down in front of everyone. It was mostly just... boring. Dull. Spiritless. Uninteresting. Monotonous. A thousand other synonyms he could think of given the time. And perhaps that wouldn't be that bad by itself. If Amelia was someone else, it might not have been so bad—and god, did he feel guilty thinking of her in those terms. She was a good friend, fun to be around most of the time. Her dress looked great, and the suit Dolly had helped him with didn't look too bad, either. And if the night was just spent dancing with her and trying to make her happy, as it would have been had he gone with basically any other girl (or guy, he supposed), it would have been at least tolerable. But Amelia was absolutely set on making this a group outing with Dolly and Marceline, who he very much wanted to avoid like the plague right now, and so he'd spent half of prom so far doing his utmost to hide away from all of them.

He was a terrible friend. Amelia, luckily, seemed to lack the capacity for any emotion but joy on this particular night. He was happy for that, at least. He would feel even worse about all of this if he dragged down her evening as well. As it were, she'd wanted badly to take some photos of Dolly and Marceline, and Artem had made some convenient excuse about getting them both drinks, and here he was. Sulking at the punch bowl like a bad stereotype of a wallflower. The sort of thing that felt too cliched to consider even writing.

He should've smoked beforehand. He was going to, he'd planned on it, and then he looked at Amelia again and it felt like some sort of betrayal of her trust, like he was stating ahead of time how sure he was that she wasn't going to make this night enjoyable. That had backfired, spectacularly. Maybe he would have made a more interesting date stoned off his ass. Or at least maybe this punch would taste less terrible.

Two cups, one in each hand. He ought to go back to Amelia now, but he didn't. He just leaned against the wall beside the punch.

Something had to give.

[Tonyksin]

[Lorenzo Tavares Prom Continued From Cinderella Step]


Prom was honestly the worst.

Lorenzo let out a sigh of annoyance as he let his eyes scan over the crowd of Seniors all having the time of their lives. There they were, all of em’ dancing and having a grand old time with their dates. Lorenzo wasn’t jealous per se, but it was a bit annoying that he was at prom stag when he hadn’t planned to be. Granted he couldn’t be too mad at Kayla. She was way too sick to even think about coming here, and plus she never finished putting her dress together. Lorenzo was honestly grateful she took the time to finish his tux. He looked damn good, and it was all thanks to her. Too bad she wasn’t here to experience it with him though. He’d have to take her out to a fancy dinner of something when she was feeling better to try and make up for it.

As his eyes continued to scan the throng of students all dressed to the nines, he found himself getting a bit frustrated that he couldn’t seem to find the person he’d been keeping an eye out for all night. Not that he’d have admitted to anyone else that he was keeping an eye out for that person, but even in his denial he continued his search. Sadly, the particular crop of blond hair never made it into his gaze for the entire night so far, and he was beginning to get a little agitated. It wasn’t as if he wanted to interact with him or anything, he reasoned to himself, he just wanted him to see how good he looked in this tuxedo. Make him wish he was here with him instead of whoever else he inevitably brought.

Fuck. That sounded like he was jealous or something.

Lorenzo shook his head and stood up off of the wall he was leaning against. Once Kayla hadn’t been able to go tonight he should have just stayed home. This wasn’t at all his scene, and now he was just getting himself upset for no reason. The only thing good that happened tonight was his mom’s excitement over taking pictures of him in his prom get-up. Everything after that has been lame and a waste of his time. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked off through the area, looking for the punch bowl. His mouth was getting dry, and he needed a little pick me up. And hey, maybe someone got a chance to spike the shit, and he could start having a good time instead of miserably trying to find Kayden in the crowd.

Ahh, fuck. He admitted it. That’s annoying.

He found his way over to the beverage area eventually, but his hopes of there being a little extra something in the drink were dashed when he saw the teachers guarding the area. Coach Oppenheimer caught his eye and narrowed his eyes at him. Lorenzo understood the message, ‘don’t try and pull any stunts’. He smiled and winked back at the man while pouring himself a cup, and turned himself away. How annoying. As he turned he was met by an interesting sight. Long silver hair, and an all black ensemble. That could only be one person, and Lorenzo smiled mischievously. Hey, maybe this could offer an ample distraction? He sauntered over to the other boy and leaned himself against the wall beside him.

“Hey there, Artem.” He greeted with a smirk. “How’s it going?”

[Fenris]

"Oh. Hey, Lorenzo."

Artem probably sounded about as unenthusiastic as he felt, and he immediately frowned at his own impoliteness. It was hardly Lorenzo's fault he was in a bad mood. Artem wasn't any good with names, and Lorenzo wasn't exactly a friend, but he was... the phrasing he wanted to go with here was a distinctive acquaintance. They'd had classes together, and smoked together a few times with other people, and that was about the extent of their interaction, but still, he was memorable. Hard to mistake, easy to spot. Cute, too, not that he'd ever have the courage to say that out loud. He wasn't his type in the more usual sense, but there was something compellingly intimidating about him. Regardless of how compelling that intimidation was, in normal circumstances it would be enough to make him nervous talking one on one. But this was hardly a normal circumstance, which was to say he was currently more bitter than anything else, and that seemed to be cancelling out his usual urge to panic.

"Not..." He began with honesty, and then realized that sort of question demanded a socially graceful response, not a genuine one. "It's fine, I suppose." Of course, then he felt bad about lying, and more bad about how cold his voice sounded. This wasn't anyone's fault but his own, he reminded himself. He'd agreed to this. He had no recourse, legal or otherwise. He tugged lightly on a bit of his hair, his nerves catching up to him.

"S... sorry. It's been a long night. You know?" He tried to smile. The night had hardly begun, which made it really just a more polite means of saying "I'm having a bad time," but the politeness did help. "What, ah, what're you up to? I like your tuxedo."

That qualified as bold, from him, he thought, but it was true. It was so bright that it would probably look silly on someone with less confidence, but confidence was not something that Lorenzo lacked.

[Tonyksin]

Lorenzo grinned at the boy despite his lackluster response. After all, Lorenzo had found exactly what he needed to distract himself from how miserable this night was turning out to be; a cute boy he hadn’t had the pleasure of having a good time with. They weren’t friends or anything, but the two of them had crossed paths here and there. And he knew for a fact that Artem was a pothead, which meant he had a perfect bait to lure in this catch. Artem continued, first seeming to start to say something and stopping himself. Lorenzo was quick to tuck that away for future use. Obviously there was something wrong, but the kid didn’t feel up to talking about it, that’s fine. He followed up his obvious lie with an apology and a statement on how long of a night it’s been. Shit, if he thought it was a long night already then it must be something really bad, because prom had really only just begun.

Lorenzo continued to leer at the shorter boy, looking him up and down in appraisal. He had to admit, the kid cleaned up really nice. The Gothic style tuxedo he was wearing was really aesthetically pleasing on him, and it was nice and tight to his thin body, really accentuating all the right places. His long silver hair was of course as sexy as it always was, but for some reason it made Lorenzo’s groin ache in combination with the wardrobe. Clothes really did make the man. Lorenzo was broken from his gawking when Artem asked what he was up to, in combination with approval of his attire. Lorenzo grinned and did a little spin to show it off before looking back into the other boy’s eyes.

“You like? Thanks man, I’m glad it’s paying off.” He smirked and winked at the boy.

“You’re not looking too bad yourself. Very dracula-chic. I’m a fan.” He leaned in toward the boy, and pulled open the right side of his jacket, reaching his left hand into the pocket to produce a pre-rolled joint so that only Artem could see.

“I was thinking about making my way outside to chill out for a second. Wanna join me? ” He grinned, knowing he had his hooks in all the right places.

[Fenris]

Dracula-chic. That was... a word. Or two, technically. It was a compliment, though, at least Artem was pretty sure, and he wasn't exactly drowning in those. The suit had been the best him and Dolly had been able to come up with on such short notice, and it was still probably the nicest set of clothing that he'd ever owned. Amelia had of course complimented him profusely when he'd picked her up, but Amelia was probably the nicest person he'd ever met, so he wasn't sure how much that really meant, though he'd appreciated it regardless. ... Wait, was he hitting on him? No, that was a silly assumption. He thought he was checking him out for a second, but that was probably self-centered of him to assume. Why would anyone be checking him out?

Still, a spontaneous compliment was nice. Being spontaneously talked to at all was surprisingly nice, actually. In most situations he'd rather be left alone, but in most situations he wouldn't let himself wind up somewhere with this many people. There was something quite depressing about standing around surrounded by the majority of the senior class, people he'd spent the last four years with, and not being acknowledged. Lorenzo was acknowledging him, and in their limited interactions he'd seemed like a nice enough guy. They didn't have a huge amount in common, but a shared distaste for this event was enough of an excuse for a conversation in this case, he figured. Not that Lorenzo had confirmed as much out loud, but he seemed a bit irritated, at least to Artem's untrained eye.

Also, he wanted to leave, which was a pretty obvious tell-tale. Well, for a second, at least. Artem was not quite sure how to answer—frankly being alone with someone he hardly knew sounded like nearly as much of a hell as being ignored by all the people he did—until he glanced downward and spotted what Lorenzo was holding.

"I—uh."

How shitty would it be for him to step out on Amelia and come back stoned? Pretty shitty. Would she notice? At the very least she'd notice the smell when he came back. Would she care? Probably not. Amelia wasn't upset by much. He'd already been gone for significantly longer than she should have expected, considering he'd only gone to get drinks, and she hadn't gone running to come find him. Probably distracted by how much fun she was having. He felt a pang of guilt for a moment. But hey, on the bright side, maybe he'd be a less shitty date when he came back? All he was doing in his current state was killing his friends' metaphorical buzz. They'd be happier without him, and they'd certainly be happier with a happier him.

"... Yeah. Yeah, sure, okay." His voice was hushed, not that there was anyone near enough who would hear him. Still, he hadn't lived this long with his parents by not being extra cautious. "Where were you thinking? There's teachers outside too, I think."

[Tonyksin]

And the bait is taken.

Perfect.

Lorenzo couldn’t help but grin to himself as Artem agreed to come with him. He really had to pat himself on the back, he was good a what he did. This was going to be the perfect distraction from his current metal hangups. He could dive in to a brand new boy, and hopefully it would wash the memories and feeling associated with Kayden out of his mind completely. Now that he thought about it, he really didn’t even know if Artem liked guys or not. Not that it really mattered. Once they got nice and high Lorenzo was more than confident in his ability to be persuasive. It was all in the finesse. He looked back out into the crowd for a moment, for a second hoping to see the blonde he’d been searching for all night. But, alas, it was to no avail. Whatever. Oh! Maybe if he made their exit nice and public somehow the rumor mill would find its way to good ol’ Kayden’s ears.

Lorenzo wondered briefly if he’d be jealous.

He shook the thought from his mind and concentrated instead on the silver-haired beauty in front of him. He leaned forward so that his lips were brushing just against Artem’s ear, and spoke the game plan firmly, not leaving room for discussion. It was easier if Artem just agreed with what he said and followed dutifully. But from what little he did know of the boy, he doubted he was going to get any resistance.

“It’s all good, we can head over to my car and drive around the corner. There’s a mostly empty lot at an old music venue around here. We can pull up behind the building where no one can see us. Then we’ll just come back like nothing even happened. Sound good?”

He leaned back and looked the other boy in the eye, smiling deviously. Without waiting for an answer, Lorenzo grabbed the drinks out of the boy’s hand and placed them on a nearby table. He then took Artem’s hand in his and began to lead the other boy out of the ballroom, making sure to walk directly through as big a crowd as he could, so as many people as possible could see him and Artem together. Once they came towards the exit, he picked up the pace a bit, but not enough to where Artem couldn’t comfortably follow. On the way out the passed directly by the photo booth, meaning another group of students got to see the odd coupling leaving the event together. Sometimes he was even better at this game than even he thought. As they approached the doors to the parking lot, he locked eyes with Principal Cromwell, who was guarding the door to the parking lot.

Of fucking course.

Lorenzo smiled at the bald man and greeted him pleasantly.

“Principal Cromwell! Don’t you look dashing tonight, Sir?” Lorenzo did a slight bow. He and the principal weren’t exactly the best of buddies. Honestly, Lorenzo was sure the fat man was counting down the days till he could be rid of the teen.

“Tavares. Where are you off to? Don’t cause me any grief tonight.” The man said with a sigh.

“Grief? Me? Never!” He said with a smile of facetiousness. “Just stepping out for a quick cigarette. Nothing crazy. Right Artem?” He turned to Artem to back up his claim nodding and winking at the shorter boy.

“Well fine, but just try to behave yourself?”

“I wouldn’t think of doing anything else. See you later Principal!” Lorenzo waved as he continued to drag Artem out the doors to the parking lot.

“Well, that was easy enough, right?” He smirked at his companion and pointed towards the back of the lot.

“I’m parked over there. Let’s go.”


[Lorenzo Tavares Prom Continued In Sweetest Lie]

[Fenris]

Artem wondered if Lorenzo noticed the way he shivered when he breathed into his ear. He hoped not. It was an automatic reaction, didn't really mean anything, right? Right. The plan was the important bit, anyway, and it seemed reasonable enough. Get far away enough not to get caught but not so far that it'd be a pain to get back. Despite Lorenzo dropping a question in at the end he didn't seem particularly interested in the answer, so if Artem wanted weed (and oh boy, did he) this was how he'd have to get it. Which was fine, he supposed. Though it did feel, like... a tiny bit sketchy? Well, he'd done a couple of vaguely sketchy things in the past where pot was involved. He was clean as a whistle otherwise, and interacting with the shadier bits of high school society made him kind of itchy, and he personally didn't deal with anyone shadier than, like, Parker, who he thought was a pretty good guy. But he did what he had to do. Lorenzo seemed kind of sketchy in general, anyway.

... Wait, wait, no, that sounded awful. Artem barely knew him! He had a bit of a reputation for fighting and such but he'd been nothing but nice to Artem himself. Being this judgmental wasn't like him. He was in a bad mood, he chided himself, and that was coloring his thoughts. Anyone offering to share a joint was basically an angel as far as he was concerned.

Naturally, despite Artem himself wanting nothing more than to disappear from the building unseen, Lorenzo insisted on dragging him through and past as many people as possible. He didn't imagine protesting would get him anywhere so he held his tongue, glancing nervously around as they walked in search of Amelia, or Dolly, or Marceline who would absolutely rat him out to the other two. Luckily it seemed they had sequestered themselves elsewhere for the moment, as he didn't spot them in the crowd, though if Amelia went looking for him anyone she'd ask would have an answer for where he'd gone off to.

Oh well. He'd committed.

For a moment he regretted that commitment when they ran straight into Principal Cromwell on their way out, and Artem froze solid in his Gorgon stare. Lorenzo talked his way around it pretty easily, he seemed to be good at that, and Artem nodded along awkwardly as he was gestured to, which was apparently good enough to get them both out of the building. He nodded again, still partially petrified, at Lorenzo's commentary, before following him along to his car.

"Froze solid in his Gorgon stare". That was a good one. He'd write it down, if he remembered after all of this was done.

>> Artem Fyodorov continued in Sweetest Lie