CWs: talk of toxic relationship
Younger!reader who just broke up with their boyfriend, just the constant fights, the controlling behavior, the constantly trying to keep them in a cage he deemed their home. One wrong phrase and he'd be mad for two weeks, dinner wasn't ready the moment his foot came through the doorway was a one way street to silent treatment. They weren't in the mood for sex or a blow job and suddenly they'd fine him looking at porn or some hook up sight.
Now reader sat in a bar in the least amount of clothes they could get away with, sipping on a cocktail trying to keep themselves from crying about the breakup and to distract from the many dangerous thoughts filling their head.
"What is a thing like you doing by yourself? Too young and pretty to be all sad, no?" A thick accented voice broke their thoughts.
"Sorry I just went through a break up. I'm not interested." Reader said hoping the mystery man would go away.
Nikolai only hummed at their rejection, low and amused, like it hadn’t even registered as a no.
“Mm. Is always ‘not interested’ when heart still bleeding,” he said, leaning a hip against the bar instead of crowding them. Close enough that they could smell him, smoke, expensive alcohol, something darker underneath. “I am not here to marry you. Just to remind you that you are wanted.”
Reader scoffed weakly, fingers tightening around the glass. “You don’t even know me.”
He smiled at that, slow and sharp. “I know enough. You are drinking something sweet instead of something strong. You are dressed like you want to be seen, but your eyes keep looking for the exit.” His gaze dipped, then rose again, deliberate. “And you flinch like someone who was told ‘behave’ too many times.”
Reader looked away, jaw tight. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Da. I do,” he replied softly. “Men like that...” a careless shrug, “...they mistake control for love. Think affection is something you must earn.”
The silence stretched. The bar noise felt suddenly far away.
“…He always said I embarrassed him,” Reader muttered before they could stop themselves. “That I was too much. Too loud. Too needy. Too...” They laughed under their breath, bitter. “But somehow also never enough.”
Nikolai’s expression didn’t change much, but something colder settled behind his eyes.
“And now you are free,” he said. “But you don’t know what to do with it yet.”
Reader finally looked at him. “And you’re offering… what? A distraction?”
“I am offering a night where no one tells you to be quiet,” he said easily. “Where no one keeps score. Where you leave when you want, or stay because you want.” A pause, then, gentler: “No cages.”
“…What’s your name?” they asked.
His smile widened, just a touch. “Nikolai.”
They hesitated only a second before nodding toward the door. “Fine. One drink somewhere quieter.”
Nikolai paid without looking at the receipt.
His place was warm, dim, expensive in a way that didn’t try too hard. He took their coat without comment, handed them water before anything else, noticed the way their shoulders loosened at the small courtesy.
They ended up sitting close on the couch, knees brushing. Not rushing. Not pushing.
It was when his thumb traced idle circles against their wrist, slow, grounding, that Reader exhaled shakily and said, “This is stupid.”
“Mmm,” he murmured. “Most honest things are.”
“My ex...” They laughed again, embarrassed. “God, this is going to sound insane.”
Nikolai froze, just for half a second.
Then he leaned back, lips parting in a grin so sharp it was almost wicked. A low, pleased sound slipped from his throat before he could stop it.
“John Price?” he asked, far too calmly.
Reader frowned. “You know him?”
Nikolai’s hand tightened ever so slightly on theirs, his smile turning downright smug.
“Oh, solnyshko,” he said, eyes glittering as his nose brushed theirs as he leaned in. “You have no idea how much this improves my evening. Mind if I take a picture? Rub it in his face?”
