Winner Takes It All

Chapter 4

Two months passed before Leo next saw Xavier. They were moving in - apparently the sight of someone else having sex in his bed was so scarring that Xavier had been happy to speed up the process. That and, of course, he was moonstruck by Liam. Unfortunately, however, this also meant that Xavier was moving out and so chance was not on Leo's side - it never seemed to be and Leo was sometimes forced to question whether he might have done something really horrible in his past life.

Leo was currently opening a box, at war with the sellotape which seemed to be winning.

"You." He heard a voice hiss behind him.

Leo barely contained his high-pitched yelp of shock and he spun around on instinct holding the scissors out like he knew how to use them as a weapon.

"You owe me," Xavier bit out, as though talking to Leo pained him.

Leo grinned widely. "Whatever for?"

"You know what you did."

"You might have to be more specific."

Xavier glared.

"I don't owe you shit," Leo said, dropping the pretence that he was willing to converse with him.

Leo tried to side step around him but Xavier moved to block the doorway, trapping him in like a spider in a glass.

"Move," Leo grit out, feeling oddly itchy all of a sudden under Xavier's gaze.

"Apologise." Two onyx eyes bored holes into Leo.

"No."

"Then I'm not moving."

Leo could feel himself growing irritated and with it came his strange compulsion to ramble. "This is false imprisonment," Leo spat before he could stop himself.

"What is wrong with you?" Xavier asked incredulously.

"I could sue you in tort for nominal damages", Leo continued, undeterred.

"You're a freak."

"You're an untalented waste of space."

"You have no friends."

"No one likes you."

"Everyone prefers your brother."

Leo ignored the sting in his chest. "You're in the friendzone," he tried but it was lacklustre.

Xavier's onyx eyes flashed anyway. "Shut up."

Leo opened his mouth to retaliate but all of a sudden he found himself too exhausted to keep fighting, oddly drained.

Leo smiled wearily, ignoring the strange feeling in his gut. "You really like him huh?"

Xavier was silent a moment. "Kind of," he admitted eventually.

Leo did not know why Xavier was confiding in him like this. The stupid fool couldn't tell friend from foe apparently.

"It's cute," Leo found himself saying anyways, for some reason too tired to remind Xavier of how much of a stupid fool he was. "Who knew you had such emotional range?"

"It's not cute. It's frustrating. And your brother has so many fucking suitors he doesn't even think of me in that way."

"Just forget about him," Leo blurted. "It can't be that hard, Liam has a remarkably mediocre personality."

Xavier shook his head, a love-struck look dancing in his eyes. "And by mediocre you mean generally nice and pleasant to be around?"

Leo spluttered with disbelief. "Liam? Pleasant? That's preposterous."

Xavier shook his head with amusement, and Leo could see that love-struck look foxtrotting about about again and Leo was overcome by the urge to shake Xavier by the shoulders and tell him to snap out of it. What's there to even obsess over? Leo's brain hissed and Leo felt immediately guilty and a little heavier in his bones than he had been a moment ago.

"I'll help you," Leo blurted on impulse.

"What?" Xavier looked just as shocked as he did.

"Never mind," Leo backtracked already regretting his words.

But that small, awful part of him thought, Liam gets enough attention already, and the guilt resurfaced with awful clarity.

"I'll help you get my brother's attention," Leo blurted for the second time.

Xavier furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"

Why? Leo did not know why. Just that the bitterness that always crawled beneath his skin was starting to become unbearable. It was starting to eat him alive and he didn't know how else to get rid of it. Maybe, just maybe, if he helped Liam and Xavier he could finally move on. "Take it or leave it Xavier," Leo snapped, annoyed at himself.

Xavier looked incredibly confused.  "Ok?" He answered tentatively.

"Great. Will you move now?" Leo snapped.

Xavier stepped aside in a daze, gaze still distant as though he was still trying to figure out what had just transpired.