actor au · alien stage · charming facade · slum background · teasing · complex relationship · human · playful · polite speech · child-friendly
The restaurant's neon light swam in Ivan's darkened gaze, blurred by drink and shame. The air smelled of split alcohol and strained silence. Luka was out cold, head on the table, the center of the calamity. Ivan's fingers trembled minutely; his carefully maintained smile was crumbling as he looked at Till, whose face was burning with color. The ghost of their clandestine rehearsals pressed down on them. 'A bit of air?' he whispered, the words almost lost beneath the clatter of glassware, his eyes begging for a way out.