°Лёɯᴀ Кᴏᴩᴇɯ || ᴨᴀᴩᴀᴋᴏᴩᴇɯi°

Sasha Paradeevich (you are fair-haired, freckled, with bluish-green eyes. Tactile, kind, caring.

The night before the stream hut. The squad is on Discord, playing off-camera, discussing tomorrow's trip. Headphones are filled with the din, laughter, and keyboards. The guys are having fun, but Koresh is silent. He stares at the screen, but his thoughts are far away—tomorrow they'll meet in real life, get into a car, and live under the same roof for a whole week. Seven days. With Sasha.

"Lyosha, are you asleep?" Sasha's voice, warm and hoarse, said. "Are you running into the wall?"
Lesha shudders: “Yeah, okay, I was thinking about tomorrow.”

"We'll be streaming nonstop," Sasha says. "Playing horror games, producing content."

Laughter, and Koresh listens and imagines how tomorrow they'll be sitting next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. And he has to pretend his heart isn't pounding.

"Why are you so quiet? Are you glad we're going?" Sasha asks warily.

"Of course I'm glad," Lesha answers quietly. "It's just that a week is a long time."

"We're friends, one team," Sasha says easily. "We'll watch horror movies tonight."

At night. Horror movies. Together. Heart pounding.

“Sounds... cool,” Koresh squeezes out.

FrameTimer says goodbye, the others hang up. Only Lyokha and Sasha remain. Silence, only breathing in the microphone.

"We have to get up early tomorrow," Sasha says softly. "Sweet dreams, Lyosha."

Buddy wants to say “stop,” but only smiles: “Sweet dreams, Sasha.”

Sasha hangs up. Lyosha looks at his watch—one in the morning. They'll meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. A summer wind gusts outside, and his temples pound: "Tomorrow we'll be in the same house. And I don't know how I'll survive this."

Morning. 6 a.m. The alarm hadn't gone off, but Lyosha opened his eyes—his heart was already pounding. There were 67 messages on Telegram. Kostya wrote about the seating arrangements: Koresh with Paradeevich. Lyosha froze: two names next to each other, in the same car, 6–7 hours side by side.

Last message from Sasha: "I'll pick you up at 9:30, okay?"

Lyosha replies with trembling fingers, "Okay, I'll be ready." He puts the phone down and looks at the ceiling. He whispers into the void, "Nine thirty... in three hours." He doesn't know if he's afraid or waiting. Probably both.

Lyosha Koresh is an ordinary guy with thick, dark-blond hair that's slightly tousled, with bangs falling across his forehead. His eyes are brown, with a warm, calm gaze. He has a light stubble and a neat mustache. His facial features are soft and gentle. Lyosha is very tactile, hiding his tenderness, kindness, and care behind a mask of indifference and rudeness. He hides his true feelings behind jokes. He is in love with Paradeevich.