The Svetkova house & Kras' apartment

"I know the teasing is bothersome and can really hurt." Ivan sighed. "You know vot I used to do back in school ven I vos teased? I used to get teased for being so tall, especially in first year. You can probably imagine the nicknames kids came up vith. Anyvay, I vould get super duper angry and sometimes I'd hide other students stuff up really high just because I could. Not that it vorked vell since they could use magic to get their stuff back down. Got in trouble quite often for doing that." He laughed. "I know it's hard to not let them get to you...but it's never easy to just ignore bullies either. The point is to stay true to yourself. Don't let them change who you are as a person. They don't know the real you, and you're a lot better than those two goons vere combined times one hundred. Aaaaand if you vant those curls back sooner there's a potion for that. And some magical shampoo too, I think. Can't remember. Don't really have need of it." He laughed. "But I definitely know there's a potion you can make that helps contribute to faster hair growth."

Reed had a really warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach after Ivan spoke. "I know I shouldn't have let them to get to me so much, but something just sort of snapped." He wasn't going to mention that his mother was another person that was constantly commenting on his curls. He perked up a bit at the mention of a potion. "Wait really? Does it take long? Can we make it now? I'm horrid at potions so I wouldn't be much help." He had a lovely image of Kras coming back and Reed had all of his curls back as well, even though he figured it wouldn't be an instant growth.

Ivan grinned at Reed's response. "Vell, it doesn't take long to make, but it doesn't taste the best and it's about five days till it takes affect and really starts growing. Ve could easily make it now, though I'd have to go back home real quick to get the ingredients." He'd be glad to make it for Reed. It'd be at least some sort of help he could do for them. Especially since he knows Kras loves Reed's curls so much. It'd be nice making his son happy.

[AAAAND my phone stopped working again...-___-]

Reed sat up a little straighter, then frowned when he heard it would take five days. "I don't care if it tastes bad. Do you mind? Maybe I can actually learn something about potions when I don't have those neanderthals mocking me every second." He rolled his eyes a little thinking about the stupid boys and how much trouble they've caused.

[Awwww!!! Oh nuuuuu!!!]

"I don't mind at all." Ivan shook his head. "Don't vorry, vaiting five days for results is better than vaiting several veeks or months." He grinned, standing up from the table. "I'll head back to my house to get everything. It shouldn't take too long. You can finish up eating and I'll clean up ven I get back. And hopefully I'll be of some help to you in helping you learn some more potions things." He smiled. "I'll be right back!" And then poof he was gone.

Reed actually felt excited, which was a nice temporary distraction. Once Ivan left, the silence of the apartment settled in. He sighed and decided he'd do the dishes, just for something to do. He put away all the leftovers then filled the sink with hot water and soap. As he washed he started singing the song he unofficially dubbed 'their song'. It was one of the first songs Reed ever sang for Kras when he realized he was possibly falling for the tall Bulgarian. Soon Reed was lost in thoughts of how they met and started dating.

And...since my zombie-fied brain can't function properly right now...BRAINSSSSSSS...Oops, sorry, haven't had dinner yet.
<.<
>.>
Anywhos,
I'm too lazy to write out everything Ivan did to get all the stuff he needed for the potion.
So Ivan appears back again at some point and he walks into the kitchen to see Reed seemingly lost in thought. Not wanting to startle the boy too much, Ivan knocked on the door and cleared his throat. "I'm back. I got everything. You didn't have to vorry about cleaning up, but thank you." He smiled and set his bag down on the table. "I'm going to set out an old blanket over the table to protect it, just in case. All ready to learn?" He asked, as he got everything out.

Reed did jump a little when he heard the knock and he was brought back to reality. He sighed a little and dried his hands off. "I just needed something to keep me occupied." He laughed a bit nervously then walked back over to the table. "Ready! And don't judge me. I wasn't exaggerating when I said I was awful at this. Maybe it's best if I just...watch. Yeah."

Ivan grinned, starting to get the water heated they'd need. "It's alright. I almost failed potions myself back in school. I've had a lot of help since then though, so I'm pretty decent now. If you'd just like to votch then that's fine. I'll write all the instructions down in an easy-to-use format for you to keep aftervard...just in case." He nodded, before grabbing a few things he'd need to cut up.

[Okay...zombie brain is telling me it's sleepy time. Sooooo, I'm going to head on off to sleep. Off work at three tomorrow woooo!!!! I hope your phone stops giving you so much trouble. <.<
I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU!!! NIGHT!!!]

[OKAY NIGHT!!! <3 <3 Hopefully my phone is done being stupid by tomorrow!]

Reed nodded and stood back a little, not wanting to be in the way at all. "Well hopefully that will happen to me too. Although I'll probably have a job in the muggle world after school. It would still be nice to know how to do it though." Or maybe try and help his future children if they needed it.

"Hm," Ivan thought as he worked on cutting some ingredients up slowly and carefully, "vell, I think that even if you have a job in the muggle vorld after school, magic should still be a big part of your life since it's a big part of who you are. Kras' uncle, Pavel - who you didn't get to meet, sadly - has a job in the muggle vorld but on the side he does a lot of potion making for medicines. It's like a little side business. Though he mostly just sells to close friends and family. And it has to be kept more of a secret since he's a verevolf...Kras did tell you he had a relative that is a verevolf, right?" Ivan never knew how much and what Kras had told Reed about their family yet. "The guy's a little crazy sometimes, and if you get him talking about art he'll never stop, but he's a really nice guy too."

Reed thought for a moment, trying to remember if Kras had told him about having a werewolf for an uncle. And since I'm pretty sure he did, we'll say....maybe. "Hmm I think Kras mentioned something about having a ver- I mean werewolf for an uncle. Oh wait! Uncel Pavel! The artist! Yes, he definitely mentioned him. I remember because I wanted to meet him and that's when Kras told me he wasn't there. What does he do in the muggle world. It's probably a bit easier for him with his..condition." Reed's father had told him about how hard it is for a werewolf to get work in the Wizarding world.

Ivan had missed Reed's caught slip of the tongue, but if he hadn't he would probably have grinned a bit at how the accent was getting to Reed. "You'll have to meet him sometime. He's a great guy, really." He dropped a few ingredients into the heated water and started mixing them, making sure to check his book every few seconds or so to make sure he was doing things right. "Pavel does art designs for some muggle magazines and such. And on occasion he does some house and room designs. All under a different name of course and he never appears in public. Mostly because if our country's vizarding government vere to know he vos vorking around muggles - given the fact that he's a verevolf and is, therefore, considered a great threat - they vould most likely arrest him or vorse." It was unfair, how werewolves were treated. Some day there would be changes and werewolves would be given better chances to have a better life.

Reed kind of admired how Ivan could brew the potion yet still maintain a conversation. "Well, maybe Kras and I can hire him someday to help design our house here! I'm not a bad drawer, but I've never drawn like housing plans before." He shrugged a little then frowned. "That's too bad that he has to be treated like that. It's not like he can really help that he's a werewolf. It wasn't his fault someone bit him. But at least he is still able to get work. My dad told me that sometimes people that are werewolf's go a little crazy and end up like, living in the forest and becoming completely mad. I always thought it was really sad."

[*was watching some documentary thing on youtube and was distracted*]

"I think Pavel vould like that. You know, it vos Pavel who designed Liv's gravestone. Simple but very pretty at the same time. Kras practically begged him to design it and Elisa agreed vith Kras. So Pavel agreed." Ivan smiled sadly. "Your father is right though, some verevolves do go crazy and give in to the blood lust and the vild. It's sad. But there's alvays those few, like Pavel, who are great examples that not all verevolves are bad. Hopefully some day people vill understand that and give them the proper respect they deserve." He nodded in agreement with himself. Then he went about adding a few more ingredients in and stirring the stuff altogether.

Reed nodded. "I hope it will change someday too. I'm looking forward to meeting him actually. I love talking with other artists! A couple weeks ago, I had this accident, and this boy that helped me turned out to be an artist too! He's pretty cool. I wanna find him again so we can talk more, since Kras was with us the first time and I didn't want him to feel left out. Plus the boy had to go to class and I had to get my casts off. Oh! And he was almost the same height as Kras too. Made me feel real short. Then again most people make me feel short. Oops. Sorry, I ramble sometimes. I'll shut up now.." He blushed and looked down at his feet, hoping he wasn't bothering Ivan.

"Oh, no shutting up now. I like listening to people ramble." Ivan laughed. "Haven't gotten to listen to a lot of rambling in a vhile." He added one last thing to the mix in the cauldron and stirred it some more. "I hope you get to find that boy again so you guys can talk about art." He smiled, sitting back in his chair and letting the potion sit. "This has to sit for a half hour. You know, Kras used to ramble a lot ven he vos little. Age five or six, I'd say. Especially about bees. The boy vos crazy about them. Still is, obviously. Have you ever gotten him around a whole bunch of live bumblebees before? I'd suggest it sometime just for amusement. He's like a little kid at Christmas." Ivan laughed just remembering some of the times little Kras would run around the outdoors chasing bees.

Reed went and sat, keeping a safe distance away from the cauldron. It would totally be just his luck to knock the thing over and ruin all of Ivan's hard work. He giggled a little at the mention of Kras and bees. "No I haven't actually. It's something I really wanna see. The closest I've come was on his birthday. I enchanted all these fake bumblebees to buzz around the room. They glowed a little too. I think he really like that. Charms are one of the things that I'm actually okay at. Especially enlargement charms. My wardrobe at school is basically another room." He giggled a little.

"That sounds like a lovely birthday present." Ivan smiled, liking how thoughtful Reed was. "I can imagine he loved it. And Kras has mentioned to me before about your extensive vardrobe. Not surprised an enlargment charm vould be something you're good at." He grinned. "You'll have to get Kras to teach you how to use that ironing spell he's good at; if you don't already know it." Ivan was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "You know, maybe it's a bit late to do this whole fatherly act, but...I should varn you ahead of time that - even though I'm not really vorried about this happening, since you're a great kid and all - if you hurt Kras ever it's not going to sit vell vith me, obviously. I may not have said or expressed it in the past, but Kras is special to me. He's my only son, and I vant him to be happy. His happiness means everything to me now, especially after everything that happened vith Liv in the past and now vith his mother's actions. The importance of him being happy is von of the reasons also vy I didn't mind the fact that he chose to be vith another guy. If that vos vot he vanted and made him happy then I vould be fine vith it to. Seeing you two together brightens up the room and just makes me feel good. So please, don't ever hurt him." He thought for a moment then added, "And if he ever does anything to hurt you...vell, you just write up and tell me, because I'll have to knock some sense into the boy since you're too good and nice of a person to let go of."

Reed smiled a bit when the fatherly speech began. He laughed once when Ivan was finished then nodded seriously. "I know sir. Don't worry, it's my main mission in life to make sure he's happy too. He really is a truly amazing person and he deserves all the happiness in the world. I'm here as long as he wants me. I'm wake up everyday and wonder what weird twist of luck let me have someone so amazing, and I'm not going to take advantage of that. From what I can tell, he feels similar about me too. Honestly, you should have seen the fights we've had. Bit pathetic really, because they lasted like literally five minutes before we were both apologizing." He giggled a little then continued. "But I understand you wanting the best for your son, hopefully I can live up to that standard.:

Ivan doesn't like hearing that they've had fights...but then again, all relationships have them, so he can live with that. As long as they don't do it a lot. Haha. "I don't think you'll have any problem vith living up to these standards." He grinned, definitely approving of Reed's response. "I can see how much my son loves you. He's stood up to his own mother, for himself and for you. It vould have taken a lot longer for him to do something like that if he vos only defending himself, believe me." Because for Kras, it's more important protecting others. And standing up to one of his parents, especially his more outspoken mother, would be difficult if he was alone and conflict could just be avoided by him remaining silent. "You give him strength and, at the same time, I can see that he helps give you confidence and the strength to be yourself. You two are perfect together and I'm rooting for you both." Ivan grinned. "I know the next two years are going to be difficult but I'm sure you two vill be able to make it."

Reed was bright red now and looking like a combination of embarrassed and flattered. "Well..thank you. I think I got the better end of the deal." He blushed even more and was now grinning like a crazy person. He frowned a little, thinking about the next two years. "I think we'll be okay. Next year is when I start apparation lessons, so that will make it easier once I'm seventeen. And we're gonna write each other like..a million times a year. And I have a new friend coming to school and Kras will have Andrei so we won't like, hide out in our rooms all the time. We'll be okay." He wasn't sure if he was now trying to convince himself or Ivan.

Ivan nodded, giving Reed a comforting smile. "You'll make it. It'll definitely be tough, but if you two both vork hard to keep things together then I know you'll make it. And Kras vill most likely try and visit you every chance he can get. I don't know vot he's planning on doing after school, but I'm sure it von't take up all his time. It's been vorrisome, vondering vot his plans are, but knowing him he'll figure something out."

Reed smiled. "Well, I've been trying to help Kras figure that out. He'd pretty confused too. I told him he should work somewhere where he gets to work wit lots of people, since he likes being around people. Or kids. Something with kids since he's so good with them. I'm sure he'll be great at whatever he decides to do. " Then Reed laughed a little. "I told him he didn't have to work and he could stay at home and be a house daddy." Then Reed started laughing more thinking about the apron he had custom made. He wiped his eyes and tried to control his laughter. "Sorry. Sorry it's just a funny thought." It sure did feel good to laugh after all the stress of yesterday and today. He really hoped he would get to see Kras again soon.