#1 Evening in Paris

“This place is so fucking tiny.”

He chuckled, putting the box down.

“It’s not tiny Pete, it’s… cozy.”

His older brother sighed, looking around with a disgusted look. He couldn't be blamed. The studio was small indeed, just enough for one person. It was a bit old but Chrys hadn't chosen it only because it was cheap. It would be a short walk to his University, and was located in a safe and convenient area.

“I still think you should have stayed home with Mom. How are you going to afford it, anyway?”

“Well, the good part of having a tiny place is that it’s cheap… And I plan on finding a job, too.”

“You need help with that?”

Peter knew a lot of people, and unlike his shy younger brother he had friends and connections pretty much everywhere. Which was a bit of a surprise considering his usual short temper. Chrys nodded.

“If you know anyone who’s looking for a part-timer… Night shifts would be good.”

“Okay, I’ll ask around… So, this is it?”

“Yep.”

He didn’t want to bring a lot with him, and those few boxes were pretty much everything he owned and needed. The kitchenette was furnished with a little fridge, so he only brought in his brother’s old microwave and a rundown couch they had bought online. Chrys thought this would suffice until he could buy a proper bed. Aside from that, the previous tenant had left a little table, just enough for two people to dine on, and a dresser. Chrys smiled. It was his first time leaving the nest, and despite all his initial worries, he was rather proud of himself. He was even looking forward to adding a bit of decoration and some personal items.

Peter let himself fall on the couch while Chrys opened the brand new curtains. He had picked a sunny flat, with a large window, the biggest criteria in his eyes. Moreover, it was under the roofs, and from that window, if he leaned over a little, he could catch a glimpse of the Seine river, and the Ile de la Cité.

“Do you want to stay for lunch?”

“No thanks, I need to go get my girl.”

“A new girlfriend?”

Hadn't he broken up with the last one only last week?

“A nice chick, the cousin of Nick’s sister’s friend. Met her at the party last Saturday.”

Chrys rolled his eyes. He loved his older brother, but Peter was still a real dickhead with girls. He changed girlfriends faster than he changed his socks and most of the time, he wouldn't even try hard. It was frankly surprising he could still find girlfriends with the reputation that preceded him.

"You really should watch your attitude with girls," said the younger brother. "One day it will end badly, and not just for them..."

"Hey, don't lecture me about chicks, Chrys. I don't need a lesson from you."

"Hey, I'm good with girls."

"As friends. Bring a dude home and then you'll get to give me relationship advice."

Chrys grimaced. Once again, the two of them had this little argument about relationships. Despite being only a few years apart, they really had nothing in common. Chrys was as thin as his older brother was bulky. While Peter would spend hours muscle training, Chrys would rather do something artistic. Although, their relationship had gotten a lot better these last few years. Hence, Peter had naturally been the one to help him for his move.

"I still can't believe Mom let you leave the nest," chuckled Peter.

"Maybe because you left first, it helped? I'm definitely more responsible than you when you left!"

"Hey, easy man. First, I didn't leave, I ran away from home."

Chrys rolled his eyes once again behind his glasses. Peter was rebellious only for show. With their father being a cop, he would have most likely been dragged home within the hour if they had really wanted to stop him. Their parents had probably complied with his whims, thinking it was a rebellious phase... Plus, despite acting like a rebel most of the time, Peter had actually joined the army, and was doing pretty well by himself.

"What are you going to do?", asked Peter, grabbing his bag and ready to go.

"...Actually, I think I'll leave too. I want to check the way to the campus before my first classes and maybe I'll find some notice boards for part-time jobs or something?"

"Look at you, going to school one day early in case you get lost," chuckled Peter, playfully messing with his younger brother's hair.

"Stop doing that!" said Chrys, pushing his hand away.

The two brothers separated outside, Peter jumping in his car, while Chrys took the opposite way to get to campus. It was unlikely he would get lost though. He only had to follow the Seine up to his school. He felt incredibly refreshed, a bit excited to start his classes even. It hadn't been easy to get enrolled in the Arts program but the news of his acceptance had been the best news of the year. Now, he was a bit impatient to meet his classmates, get a glance at the year's program and projects, and have some good times in Paris. It had taken so long to convince his parents, he felt like he had to enjoy his three years here to the fullest.

He kept walking, glancing at all the people strolling around on that beautiful Sunday afternoon. He was fascinated by this new world, the full terraces of all the cafés, the trees starting to lose their leaves, the lovers walking hand in hand, the runners finishing their workouts. He felt like the hero of one of those old romantic movies his mother loved. Chrys found himself dreaming, imagining his new life here, walking hand in hand with a boyfriend, carrying a canvas and chatting about their dream life in Montmartre...

"Oh my gosh, I love your hair!"

He turned around, just in time to see a girl almost jumping on him, standing way too close.

"T-thanks..." he replied, taking a step back by reflex.

She was smaller than him, wearing some orange overalls and her purple hair in high ponytails. However, she was flying, her dragonfly-like wings keeping her a few centimetres off the ground. A young guy arrived behind her looking exhausted as if he had run after her.

"Babe, I told you to stop jumping on people like that! Sorry man, she's American, a fairy and way too high on sugar," he said glaring at her.

Chrys chuckled.

"It's okay, my mom's a fairy too, I know the drill."

"Oh, really!" The girl exclaimed. "Is your hair color natural, then?"

"Yeah..."

"It's so pretty!"

Chrys smiled, and let the girl ask him a million questions about his family, or more like the capillary side of it. He quite liked his cyan-colored hair now and after a few years of struggling with his biracial appearance, he had come to terms with it. He embraced it fully and happily answered her questions for a little while, more amused than annoyed by her endless questioning. It didn't feel like anything could make him unhappy today. Plus, Dixie and Paul, the young couple, turned out to be students in the same school as him and accompanied him there, showing him the grounds.

It was an Art School, one of the best ones located right next to the Seine. To Chrys it felt like a dream to go there, after he had only put it as his first choice without thinking too much about it. According to his parents he had always been one to underestimate himself and until now, Chrys had always received those words as parental pride. However, now that he was attending his dream school he had to acknowledge it might have held a bit of truth...

For a long while, Paul and Dixie showed him around the area. Chrys was shocked to have been able to befriend two students already, but Dixie reminded him a lot of his mom's bubbly personality and Paul was rather easy-going too. They visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral, amongst the long lines of tourists, ate crepes on the go, and chatted about their favorite French artists. Paul was one year older than them, and met Dixie on her first day in Paris when he had heard her crying because she got lost taking the Parisian metro completely the wrong way. The two of them had only been dating since that summer.

"What about you Chrys, what's the big story? You said your family is in London?"

"My parents moved there when I was a baby, but my dad is Korean and my mom a Fairy. They moved to be closer to her best friend and because she wanted to see Europe too... I grew up between London and Seoul, but my dream was always to go study in Paris."

"Of course! Paris is the City of romance, right!"

"Ah... I was more attracted to the... Arts side," chuckled Chrys, a bit embarrassed.

The truth was, his experience in love was nonexistent. He wasn't usually so shy about it, but knowing how fairies normally were he'd rather not get on that side of the conversation.

More tactful, Paul seemed to notice his awkward reaction and put an arm around Dixie's shoulders.

"Hey, Babe, it's getting late. How about we get going to that party?"

"Oh, of course! Chrys, do you want to come? It's a friend of ours hosting, it's no big deal but it's just a bit far from here... You're more than welcome, though!"

"Ah, no thanks guys, I'll just keep walking around, and I need to get my Metro card done too. But have fun!"

"Alright, see you tomorrow at school then!"

As the couple left to head to a different station, Chrys turned around going back to his new apartment. He had a clear checklist in mind: get his Metro card and a decent map of the city, buy some decoration for his apartment, and find a nice little restaurant to watch the Eiffel Tower lit up tonight. Dixie and Paul had given him a couple of promising addresses he could check out. He would have to be on a daily budget from the next day on, but tonight, he had every intention to celebrate his arrival in Paris with a nice little dinner with the money his godmother had sent him for his birthday.

Just as he walked back, his hands full with two bags of impulsive buying on some decoration, colored pillows and a dog statue, he suddenly stopped in front of a restaurant. The name felt familiar, it was probably on Dixie's list but something else had caught his attention.

One of the waiters was very... handsome. He tried to look for a couple more seconds but the garçon went back inside with his tray. Chrys realized he had stopped in the middle of the street just to stare at a stranger so he tried to resume walking, a bit embarrassed. He didn't really have any plans to get a boyfriend so soon, but... well, a new city meant new encounters, right? He went home and tried to focus on his decoration, ignoring that fleeting moment he had felt just earlier. Would it be bad to pick that restaurant to go back to that evening? It did meet his criteria after all, so what if his choice was motivated by something more than the menu or the view?

Although he tried not to think too much about it, Chrys decided to take a shower, and change into some nice clothes he had bought recently. Something that said Arts Student, without being too edgy or too much. His bowl-cut blue hair was already quite a statement in itself... He quickly called his parents, as he had promised, telling them all about his arrival in Paris, his new friends, his first impressions and future plans.

Then, finally, it was time to go back to that restaurant. Chrys felt it was a bit silly, but after all, what did he have to lose? He was planning to have a meal out anyway and if nothing happened, it wouldn't be such a big deal either! Light-hearted, he left his little apartment, walking down the stairs of the building with a smile on his lips. He had even taken his little camera for some night pictures. According to his mom's friends, Paris was even more magical by night and he was keen to believe it. The night wouldn’t fall until a couple more hours though, so Chrys took some daylight pictures instead, already thinking about how he'd want to edit them and make a collage with it.

His steps slowly took him back to that street with the restaurant but his heart was beating fast with anticipation. Chrys had always been one to follow his fads a bit blindly but he was still an incurable introvert inside. For him to do something like this was enough to give him a bundle of new emotions.

As a result, he took a longer detour than he had planned, giving himself excuses to push back the time to dine. He just thought it would be embarrassing if there were too many people. Plus, what would people think about a guy dining alone? His hair was eye-catching enough as it was. With these kinds of thoughts circling in his head, he just kept hanging around, his eyes glancing that way from time to time, or going back to admire the Seine, or the Cathedral's sight.

After a little while though, he mentally pushed himself. Enough was enough, nothing would be sorted just because he was acting like a coward. He wasn't a coward anymore, right? He had tried to graduate from the dark days of his puberty, when he was that young Chrys, the adolescent not too sure about himself, half a toe out of the closet, looking for his answers. He took a big breath and stopped walking. No, he was fine now. He was happy with what he was doing, the few precious friends he had, his life was great. His days as a victim were long gone and he was proud of his journey until now.

Chrys turned on his heels, and walked right in the restaurant's direction. He waited behind a cheesy young couple to be seated, a bit impatient. He couldn't see the young waiter from earlier, but there weren't many customers yet. It wasn't really a busy night either.

The man who ought to be the manager came back, very polite and offered him one of the little tables on the terrace, with a nice view too. Chrys sat down, and grabbed the menu, but as soon as the manager had gone to greet other clients, his eyes glanced up again. For a second, he recognized a face, but not the one he wanted to see. The tall figure disappeared behind a wall and he wasn't sure. It couldn't be. This was Paris, a completely different city. Maybe he was dreaming because he had been thinking about his bullies just seconds ago.

He sighed, unable to catch hold of the handsome young waiter and got absorbed in the menu. As Dixie had promised, the choice was quite nice, and he wanted to try something typically French.

"Good evening, sir. Any aperitif? We have..."

As the waiter paused, Chrys froze also. He still had his eyes on the menu, but from the way the waiter had suddenly gone silent he just knew. He slowly raised his eyes on the waiter.

It was a tall guy with a hunky figure, dark hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a rolled bandana around his head, but Chrys knew there were two little horns hidden under that. The two of them stared at each other, both a bit lost on how to react for a second. The waiter's fingers had frozen on his pen, and he was staring at Chrys blankly, as if lightning had struck him.

"...Hi, Bael," said Chrys.

He surprised himself. How could he say hi so nonchalantly? When he was facing his former bully.