Leopold found him in the living room, sitting on the couch with a book in his lap, a cup of coffee in his hand. The coffee wasn't even steaming anymore. Valek was already dressed, in slacks and a turtle neck (turtle neck?) sweater. Valek looked up as Leopold entered, and Leopold stopped in his tracts. Valek looked terrible! He was pale, with dark circles under his eyes. Despite this, when Valek saw Leopold his face visibly brightened, as if just the sight of the blonde boy made him feel better.
"Good morning, sleep well?"
"Yeah, but looks like you had a hellova night." Valeks expression faultered in confusion, and Leopold sat down beside him. "You look like you didn't sleep well, are you coming down with something?" Leopold put his hand to Valek's face. Valek chuckled softly, as though that were somehow funny, and shook his head.
"I don't think so, I don't get sick easily. Bur your right, I didn't sleep well last night." Valek set his coffee down and closed the book he was reading. It look old, and was leather-bound, but books were never a thing that interested Leopold much. "You should have woke me. I could have kept you company in restlessness." Leopold smiled just a bit, his eyes twinkled like an imp.
Valek sat back, rested his elbow on the arm of the couch, and rested his cheek against his knuckles. "Doctor said you should rest. I didn't want to disturb your healing process."
Leopold scoffed. "Fuck what the doctor said, I feel fine! No, wait, I take that back, I'm not fine. Bored is what I am! Incredibly bored! I'm tired of resting." Leopold pouted.
Valek smiled at Leopolds pout. "Alright, then we'll do something today. We'll go outside for a while, maybe we can stop by your place and pick up a few of your things, so you can stop wearing mine." Valek tugged at the sleeve of the robe Leopold wore.
Leopold brightened. "Really? You mean it?"
Valek chuckled. "How could I resist a pout like that?" Valek leaned in kissed Leopolds previously pouting lower lip. "Now get dressed, so we can catch the 10 o'clock bus."
Valek and Leopold rode on the bus toward Leo's house. Leopold had to admit, he was more than nervous. Would his father be there? His mother? What would they do in front of Valek? Leopold glanced to Valek, who seemed perfectly calm, perfectly at ease. No, not calm, sleepy. Valek still looked sick even after breakfast and a short nap against the window of the bus. Valek looked back to Leopold.
"I think this is our stop."
Leopold hadn't even noticed the bus had stopped. He stood and made his way toward the door. He and Valek exitied the bus and walked the short distance to Leopolds house. They stopped in front of it, looking up at it. Leopold tried to swallow a lump that had suddenly jumped into his throat, but the knot was persistant, and wouldn't be forced down so easy. Leopold had never been so nervous in his life. He startled when he felt a hand slip into his own, and looked to Valek. Valek gave him a smile of reassurance with his tired eyes, and Leopold took a deep breath. They headed up the steps.
Leopold went in first, looking around for any signs of life. Heading a little farther in, he saw the parlour empty, much to his reliefe. If his father was home, he'd most likely be there, with his secret stashes of whiskey and alcohol. But Leopolds mother was probably somewhere in the large house. Leopold wanted to make this trip as quick as possible. He nodded to the steps that lead up to his room. "Race ya," he said to Valek, and took off up the steps. Valek chuckled, but seemed to lack the energy to race the slightly younger man, and followed at his own pace.
Leopold packed everything he needed into one huge duffle bag, and they left his house. Every second had seemed like an eternity to Leopold, and he could only breath easier once they had shut the doors behind them. Leopold had tried not to look at Valek as Valek had examined the bent and crooked nails that had been hammered into and pull out of Leopolds door so many times. Leopold wished Valek had not seen them, but there was no way Leopold could have went back into that house alone. Leopold had made it up in his mind never to return to that house again. Valek seemed to know and understand this, though Leopold had said nothing about his plans. Leopold and Valek had fallen into a comfortable silence; words did not seem necessary between them at this moment. As they walked back toward the bus stop, Leopold slipped his hand into Valeks, and the knot in his stomach evaporated as Valek squeezed his hand reassuringly.
Valek and Leopold boarded the bus again, with no real destination in mind. Leopold looked to Valek to find him nodded off again. He nudged his companion. "Are you alright?"
Valek opened his eyes and nodded. "I'll be fine. I just didn't sleep well." Valek yawned.
"Obviously. What kept you up?"
"Nightmares." Valek replied before he could stop himself. Leopold didn't notice the awkwardness Valek felt.
"That's strange," Leopold replied, leaning over to look out the window by Valek, "I had some pretty odd dreams too."
Valek raised an eyebrow. "Do tell?" Leopold shrugged. "It was wierd, you were there, and so was I, and we were in this really weird, old house. We were kids, the both of us, like 8 or something, and we were playing hide and seek with this strange, really old man. But the old man found you before I could find him, and the last thing I saw was this strange old man had his hands on your shoulders, and you were waving to me. I chased after you and the old man, but the faster I ran, the farther you got away. And then I woke up." Leopold looked to Valek. "Weird dream, huh?"
Valek scratched the back of his head, awkwardly. "Yeah. Strange dream. Let's get off here." Valek stood and moved out into the aile before Leopold could comment on his strange behavior. Leopolds dream had disturbed Valek somehow, and Leopold wanted to know why, but no matter how much he questioned Valek during the day, Valek would just shrug and reply, "It's just a dream, nothing really significant," and try to change the subject. But the dream had been significant on the bus, it had been significant enough to disturb Valek. He's hiding something, I can just see it in his eyes. I wish he'd tell me what.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Valek took up carrying Leopolds duffle bag, because Leopold soon found out he wasn't completely healed from his trip to the hospital. He got tired really quickly, and it sort of embarrassed him when he found himself falling behind Valek. Valek noticed, but thankfully made no comment, he'd just perk up saying he had a wicked craving for ice cream and they'de both sit on a bench for a time, licking thier cones. Valek almost dropped his when he looked to Leopold, and Leopold licked at his strawberry cone suggestively. That made Leopold laugh, as Valek only caught the icecream and not his cone, then sat there staring at the icecream scoop sitting in his palm. Valek had to lick the icecream from his palm and fingers, and it was his turn to tease Leopold. Leopold and Valek spent the rest of the day walking around the city, and just talking, until finally, it was time to go home again.
Leopold opened his eyes and was met with darkness. He sat up and looked around, but all was dark around him. He looked down to himself, looked at his hands thick with baby fat, his short legs the same. Oh, I must be dreaming again. I'm dreaming I'm a kid again. Leopold stood up and called for Valek, he had to be somewhere around here. There, Leopold spotted him, over in a corner of the darkness. Valek must have been glowing with some sort of inner light, because Leopold could see his childlike body perfectly. Leopold smiled and reached out to him, but then a withered, old hand reached out of the darkness behind Valek and set a hand on his shoulder. Leopold frowned, he didn't like this old man at all. Leopold walked to them, but the old man wrapped a cloak of blackness around Valek, and he was hidden from sight. Leopold suddenly felt very alone, again. The old man laughed, laughed as the child Leopold fell to his knees and weeped for his lost friend.
Leopold sat straight up in bed, his heart pounding. He felt cold, cold to his very bones. Just a dream, calm down, it was just a dream. Leopold took a deep breath and turned to Valek. He needed to see the man, just to know he was still there. But Leopolds eyes met with disappointment. Valek was not where he had been when Leopold had gone to sleep. "Valek?" Maybe he had went to the bathroom? Leopold stood and walked there, but there was no sign of Valek. Midnight snack, maybe? Leopold walked to the kitchen, but Valek wasn't there either. Valek wasn't in the house at all. Leopold trembled as a chill ran up his spine and he dashed back to Valek's bed. He dived under the covers and wrapped himself into a ball, trembling with the cold of loneliness.