#yly

As long as we're together the stars will always be in our favor-

A commission from @toothpastecanyon of Mauvana and Yly, their OCs from the @transcendence-au.

I had a ton of fun drawing this (this is the second go at it, the first file got corrupted) and the space theme was a nice break from what I normally draw.

Tooth also gave me a bit of wiggle room to design Yly and boy, that was fun, right up my alley. I'll be doing portraits of Yly and Mauvana soon so they both will have something nice and formal to represent them on the TAU wiki.

Felix comes back with him to the apartment after they leave the bar. They stop for greasy noodle boxes from an Imbiss on the corner, eating them on the way home as they navigate the empty streets. Niko feels pleasantly drunk, happy even, a bit like he’s floating home. 

The first district of Vienna is made up predominantly of buildings from the 19th and early 20th century, a mixture of Baroque and Art Nouveau architecture and open winding streets. In Niko’s opinion it is prettiest at night when the streets are nearly empty and the buildings are lit up in soft yellow light. It's a dismally posh area to live in and not what he would have probably chosen himself, but it does have its charms and conveniences.

Once they arrive at his building Niko gets the large iron door open for the older man and shushes him when he starts to sing, drunken voice echoing off the stone and marble.

“People are trying to sleep you idiot.” Niko smacks his shoulder, biting back a laugh as Felix trips and grabs onto the wrought iron railing. They ascend the spiraling stairs Felix groaning all the while that they should have taken the elevator to the top floor.

Ignoring him, Niko unlocks the double doors, holding them as the blonde comes inside.

“Just put your shoes here.” He gestures to the line of his sneakers there on the floor. Felix lets out a loud yawn before doing as he's told.

“I need a huge glass of water.” The older man heads toward the kitchen, “Want some?”

“Sure, I'm just gonna change.” Niko calls back as he toes off his shoes and slips into the open door of his bedroom, closing it behind him. There’s a soft shirt and pair of sweatpants in the drawer which he pulls out before stripping off his evening clothes, carefully avoiding his reflection in the heavy ornate mirror he hates. He hadn’t even owned a mirror in his tower room back at the estate.

After all, he doesn't like looking at it in the mirror. 

This apartment belongs to the head of the Augustin family and while Nikolas has been granted permission to live here throughout his time at university, he had neglected to ask if he could change any of the interiors. He isn’t sure if Silvia would be amiable to the idea, but it feels too formal and too old for his liking here. 

Rejoining his cousin who has already made himself comfortable on the couch, a bag of crisps on the coffee table.

Where did he even get those?

“Come join me.” Felix beckons him over and after a moment he does, settling into the corner of the rolled arm sofa and watching as Felix pops several crisps into his mouth. 

There’s a glass of water sitting on the table in front of him and he reaches for it, chugging it down suddenly realizing exactly how thirsty he is. Stretching a bit he closes his eyes and leans against the back of the sofa.

“Had fun?” Felix’s voice reaches him and he nods, lips twitching slightly upwards. 

“You seem like you’re in a good mood.”

Turning toward the blonde, Nikolas opens his eyes, glancing at him with a questioning look, “Do I?” 

Usually he would deny it, just to be contrary, but the thing is that Felix isn’t that far off. Nikolas is in an oddly good mood tonight, feeling lighter than he has in a while.

“You do.” The man scoots closer to him, “I think I know why.”

“Do you now?” He snorts, closing his eyes again and turning away.

“I think you were happy to see that guy. Arnesto was it? Ness?”

Slowly his eyes open, lips bending into a slight frown. Why the hell is Felix bringing him up now? “Yeah no. He’s annoying.”

Felix hums, “Yeah? Well I saw you smiling a lot at the bar, not to mention on the way home. Doesn’t seem to annoy you that much.”

Is that how it is? He wonders, searching himself for an answer. It’s not very easy since his own feelings are things he tends to avoid, but once it’s in his head, he realizes slowly that this feeling that had clung with him from the bar and stayed the whole walk through the city home—well he’s not sure that he can say it doesn’t have anything to do with Ness.

“He’s loud and annoying.” That’s not a lie either, but maybe he is exaggerating how much it actually bothers him.

“You’re kind of annoying too.” Felix quips and the words have Niko snapping his eyes open toward his cousin, narrowing them.

“The street certainly seems like a comfortable place to sleep tonight doesn’t it? I’ll even let you borrow a pillow.”

Laughing, his cousin raises his hands in surrender and grabs another handful of crisps. “I’m joking.”

A beat of silence passes between them, comfortable and easygoing.

“I wish you had a gaming console or something. You don’t even have any kind of streaming service for the TV? They didn’t set you up with that?”

“They offered but I turned it down.”

“You’re weird.”

“You’re addicted to a screen.”

Felix lets out an exaggerated sigh, as though he’s a petulant child and not a twenty four year old man, “Maybe you’re right about that. It’s just so boring here.”

“Then go to bed.”

Felix snorts. “I can’t believe I'm going to bed before one am on a Friday night.”

Nikolas rolls his eyes, peeling himself off the sofa and yawning, before nudging his cousin with his knee, “Well I'm going to bed at least. It’s past my bedtime.”

“Boring. You’re boring.”

“Boohoo.” He’s already halfway to his room when he hears Felix call out a murmured, “Good night Nikolas!”

He stops by the bathroom to brush his teeth before dragging himself to bed. Once he’s settled under the sheet and staring up at the ceiling, Niko finds his thoughts running in strange directions, like rabbits, slippery and frustrating to catch.

Ness is leaving Vienna after the semester ends. He had already known this, but he hadn’t really thought about the implications until now. Nikolas has been so wary of getting close to people, especially now in his last year, but Ness—- well once he finishes what he’s here to do he’s gone, back to his home and his life thousands of kilometers from Nikolas and the Augustin family.

He thinks about the emphasis underlying Felix’s words, the sly grins he had been sending them both at the bar. Thinks about the light, bubbly feeling he’d carried with him home.

Isolation has taught me many things.

How to make the best of my alone time.

To find peace in being to ones self and make clear distinctions between loneliness and being alone.

To take time to heal the wounds and mental cracks that work and social obligations often distract me from.

Isolation has given me the chance to really understand me, to BE with me. And as I stepped out of my one bedroom apartment with scars from a toxic 5 year relationship, a dead end job, and an ongoing battle with depression, ASPD and S.A.D, I felt one thing that many people take for granted in the midst of this pandemic.

I felt Human.

To whoever is reading, I hope you breathe easy today

-anasazi