But being the best in the area didn’t mean he wasthebest. He couldn’t talk to his professors about it—they’d snitch to his mom—and Sila wouldn’t understand. Hell, if he were being honest, Rabbit didn’t fully understand why it mattered so much to him when he was convinced he’d give up the beiska in a second if given the choice.
Choice.
He ran a hand down his face. There’d never been a choice for him where this was concerned, not once. He’d known the proper way to hold the beiska before he’d even learned to walk. His first word had been “color” and up until he’d been eight when the novelty had worn off and he’d grown up enough to realize there were no other options available to him, he’d beamed at his mom and told anyone who would listen how he “wanted to be just like her one day”.
Just like her, huh.
Absent.
Self-centered.
A criminal.
He shook his head, not wanting to go there, trying to forget all about the video he’d seen at the Seaside Cinema, along with everything else he’d experienced there. Absently, his hand wandered up to the side of his neck, pressing lightly against the bruise. The hickey had faded some, but it was still glaringly obvious whenever anyone was standing within a ten-foot radius of him. Fortunately, he’d been done with most of his classes by the time Baikal had found him on the quad, with only one left to endure before he’d been able to slip home to the privacy of his studio.
Typically when he was already on campus he stayed and used theirs, but there was no way he was going to do that with that mark on his neck for the whole world to see. Not to mention, so long as he remained on school grounds there was no telling when or if Baikal would get the jump on him again, and seeing him the once had already maxed out his quota of intense meetings for the month.
Rabbit was used to silently coasting through life on campus, noticed but never really bothered. It wasn’t so much that he liked it that way—maybe once he’d been outgoing and interested in making friends—but he’d definitely gotten used to it. All the whispers and odd glances he’d gotten after word had spread he’d been seen with Baikal, with a hickey no less, had made him uncomfortable.
It was similar to the feeling he got on his way to whatever auditorium he was about to perform at. His skin prickled and his mouth seemed to dry, his throat feeling thick and tight. That was the beginning, the easy part as far as he was concerned. The second he’d recognized those signs his panic had only gotten worse and he’d booked it off campus as fast as he could, before the heart palpitations and the sweating could kick in.
He never used to be like this, had always been cool and composed—for real though, not just on the outside because he had to fake it.
His multi-slate lit up again, alerting him to yet another message and he sighed and headed toward it to finally check the device. Since he only ever heard from his mom, and occasionally from Sila, he wasn’t anticipating much. Aside from that, there were usually multiple Inspire posts that he was tagged in, but he ignored all of those.
He froze when he saw a chain of missed messages, all from the same person.
Neither of them his mom or his only friend.
Void:You awake, little bunny?
Baikal’s contact info was preset to his full name, but Rabbit had changed it as soon as he’d gotten the chance. Void seemed more fitting no matter which way he spun it.
As soon as he managed to get his hands on those glasses, he’d be able to hack in and delete the video footage of his mother on his own. Without that, there’d be nothing left for the Brumal Prince to hold over his head, and their agreement would be null.
Baikal’s presence was stifling because whenever he was around it was like he was sucking all the oxygen out of the room. Like there was a massive cavern within him where a soul was meant to be, and in an attempt to fill it, he siphoned other people’s energy.
It wasn’t just Rabbit who thought that either; that’d long since been the rumor around campus and on the streets. Baikal Void wasn’t to be trifled with because of his daddy and his title, sure, but there was also the dark aura that hung over him, casting a murky shadow wherever he stepped. If he’d been ugly, the reaction he got from other students would be the opposite of what it was today. As it were, people were inexplicably drawn to danger and intrigue.
Rabbit wanted to hold himself to a higher standard and yet…
He gulped, fingers scrolling down through the messages, all sent roughly two to five minutes apart. According to the time stamp, the first had been sent just after he’d gone for his shower. The longest pause had been between it and the second before clearly he’d lost patience with waiting and had fired them off.
Void:Did you fall asleep? It seems too early for that.
Void:Are you practicing?
Void:Or are you ignoring me?
Void:You better not be ignoring me, little bunny. You won’t like the consequences.
Void:Reply.
Void:All right, Rabbit. Have it your way.
He must have reread that final message several times, something tight gripping his chest before he tore his gaze off of it and over to the digital clock on the opposite side of his bed. That last message had been sent roughly fifteen minutes ago.
Should he respond now?
