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The night air was thick with the scent of smoke and the cold sting of winter. Jaiden stood outside the club, leaning against the rough brick wall, eyes half-closed, letting the world blur around him. His cigarette burned between his fingers, but it didn’t feel like it was doing much to keep him grounded. It was one of those nights where everything felt just a little too much—like the air itself was heavy with thoughts that didn’t belong to him.
Inside, the music pulsed and echoed, the drums of black metal crashing through the speakers like an endless wave. It wasn’t just noise. It was something more. A rhythm that spoke to parts of Jaiden he wasn’t sure he wanted to understand. But he wasn’t in the mood for any of it tonight. Not the music, not the people who claimed to understand it, not even the rebellion they wore like armor.
He dragged on his cigarette, exhaling slowly, watching the smoke curl up into the darkness. For a moment, it felt like everything had gone quiet. As if he was the only one left in the world, standing there between the shadows.
That’s when he saw him. Varg Vikernes.
He looked just as he always did—standing alone in the corner of the lot, staring off into the distance, as if he could see something no one else could. His posture was stiff, his eyes unreadable, and there was a coldness to him that made the night feel even colder. Varg never seemed like he was truly part of the world around him. He was an outsider in every sense of the word, and Jaiden hated him for it. Or, at least, he liked to tell himself that.
Jaiden took one more drag from his cigarette and flicked it to the ground, grinding it out under his boot. There was a pull, a curiosity he couldn’t shake, something that kept him locked in place. Even though Varg had this aura of superiority, something about the way he stood there, alone, felt almost… human. It didn’t make sense, and Jaiden hated that it didn’t make sense.
He pushed off the wall, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets, and started toward Varg. He didn’t know why he was walking over. Maybe he wanted to finally tell him how much he despised the way he acted. Or maybe he just wanted to know why someone who could have everything was so intent on staying apart from it all.
Varg didn’t even look up as Jaiden approached, but Jaiden could feel his presence sharpen. A heavy, silent tension hung between them. When Jaiden stopped just a few feet away, Varg still didn’t acknowledge him, his gaze fixed somewhere in the distance, somewhere beyond the parking lot, beyond everything.
For a long moment, Jaiden just watched him, unsure what to say. His thoughts were tangled up, restless.
“What are you looking at?” Jaiden asked, breaking the silence, his voice a little more cutting than he intended.
Varg finally turned his head, slow, deliberate, and met Jaiden’s eyes with a look that could have frozen the air around them. There was no hint of recognition, just that cold, almost dismissive stare. “Nothing,” he said quietly, almost like an afterthought. “I don’t need to look at anything.”
Jaiden’s lips pressed into a thin line. “You always do that. Act like you’re too good for this.”
Varg’s eyes didn’t leave him. His expression didn’t change, but something in his eyes shifted—a flicker of something hard to pin down. “You think I’m too good for it? You don’t even understand what ‘it’ is.”
Jaiden felt his chest tighten. It wasn’t just the words that bothered him, it was the way Varg spoke—so certain, so sure of himself, like everything was a game he was always one step ahead of. Jaiden had never been good at the game. Hell, he wasn’t sure he even wanted to play.
“I don’t get it?” Jaiden scoffed, looking away for a second, trying to steady himself. “Maybe I don’t. But you don’t even make an effort to let anyone else in. You just stand there, all high and mighty, like you’re the only one who sees the world for what it is.”
There was a pause, the kind that stretched out too long, too thick with words unspoken. Jaiden felt a rush of frustration he couldn’t quite shake, like it was bubbling beneath the surface. Varg’s indifference, his coldness—it made Jaiden feel like he was missing something, something important, something that everyone else in this scene seemed to get.
Varg’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he let the silence stretch, until Jaiden felt like he might explode from the weight of it.
“Why do you do this?” Jaiden asked suddenly, surprising himself. “Why do you act like the world owes you something? Like it’s all just… one big joke?”
Varg didn’t flinch. He just stood there, staring at Jaiden for a long time, the weight of his gaze heavy on Jaiden’s shoulders. “Because it is a joke,” Varg replied, his voice quiet but firm. “People pretend they know how to fix things, but they don’t. And they never will.”
Jaiden opened his mouth to say something, but the words caught in his throat. There was something in Varg’s voice, something that wasn’t just defiance or bitterness. It was exhaustion. Something raw, something real.
He didn’t know why, but he took a step closer. The tension between them was thick, heavy. Jaiden didn’t even know why he was doing this, standing in front of someone who had made it so clear he didn’t care, someone who had built walls so high around himself that no one could touch him.
“Doesn’t it ever get tiring?” Jaiden asked, his voice softer now. “Pretending like you don’t care? Like it doesn’t bother you?”
Varg’s eyes flickered. For a brief moment, there was something behind them. A shadow of something vulnerable, something that wasn’t supposed to be there. He didn’t say anything at first. He just let the silence stretch out, pulling them both into it.
“It’s easier that way,” Varg finally muttered, almost under his breath, like the words were a confession he wasn’t quite ready to make.
Jaiden didn’t know what to do with that. The certainty in Varg’s voice was still there, but there was a crack in it now. And Jaiden… Jaiden didn’t know what to say. He had expected to feel anger, frustration, but now all he felt was… something different. Something he didn’t understand.
Before he could say anything else, a loud voice broke the moment, cutting through the air like a knife.
“HEY, you two!” Ticci Toby called from a distance, his voice carrying over the sound of the music inside. “Don’t get all sentimental out here. We’ve got a gig to get to.”
Jaiden pulled his eyes away from Varg, blinking like he was coming out of a trance. For a moment, it felt like everything had been suspended in time, like the world had stopped turning just for them.
Varg didn’t look at Ticci Toby. He didn’t look at anyone. He just turned and started to walk away, his back to Jaiden.
“Whatever,” he said, his voice barely audible over the noise. “It doesn’t matter.”
Jaiden stood there for a moment longer, watching him. His heart was racing, but he didn’t know why. He didn’t know what it was he was supposed to feel.
But something changed. The atmosphere felt different and there was romantic tension between the two. And right when Jaiden turned around to go after Toby, he heard Varg‘s voice say something in a quiet tone only he could hear.
„I love you, Jaiden.“