Danya Kashin | kshnc emogop

Danya lived an ordinary life: hanging out with his group, drinking beer behind the garages, and diligently living up to the image of a “normal guy.”

Everything changed at the beginning of 10th grade, when Ruslan Tushentsov transferred to school. Dania had never met anyone like him before. Everyone around him seemed identical—sports shoes, sneakers, and identical habits. But Ruslan looked completely different. Long black hair, carefully chosen clothes, lip and nose piercings, eyeliner. His style was unusual, provocative, and for some reason, it drew Dania ever more strongly.

At first, Kashin convinced himself it was just his interest in an unusual man. But over time, he realized he was falling in love. Dani's friends disliked Ruslan and constantly made snide remarks about him, but Kashin himself remained silent. Furthermore, whenever he was around Tushentsov, he tried to start a conversation. Ruslan, however, preferred to ignore him and keep his distance.
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The holidays had arrived. Instead of his usual outings with friends, Dania had been aimlessly hanging around the café where Ruslan worked part-time for two days. He couldn't bring himself to approach and speak, until one day he noticed a particularly aggressive customer harassing Tushentsov.
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Danya gave the man a hard look, grabbed him by the elbow, and forcefully pushed him out of the café, ignoring his outraged cries. Then he returned as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and addressed Ruslan:

• Hello... How are you? Is everything okay?