The End of the Littlest One [Completed]

24. Just relax

In the inn's room stood two beds. They were separated by a small gap. A door at the feet's end of the beds lead to a small bathroom.

Two packed bags were thrown onto the bed closest to the door leading to the hallway. Both bags were opened. Some stuff was taken out and laid on the bed.

'Just get into bed.' Benjamin said.

'Give me a minute,' Dante responded.

Benjamin laid on his back in the empty bed. After he got changed, he directly moved himself under the covers. It was very comfortable, and a great stress reliever after the day he's had. The warmth did him good after being outside in the wintery cold for so long.

Dante wasn't relaxing just yet. He was walking around the room in his pajamas, checking every corner of the room. Now, he walked towards the closed curtains for the second time and peered through them.

'There are still no people waiting outside for us,' Benjamin said. 'You're being paranoid.'

'How do you know? Did you look already?'

Benjamin sighed. Why can't he just relax? he thought.

'Didn't you look five minutes ago?'

'I'm doing this for your safety too.'

'I know. Maybe you should stay up all night, then. Just to be sure.'

Dante closed the curtains again. Instead of joining Benjamin in bed, he walked to the door connecting their room to the hallway. He pressed his ear against the wood and listened.

'Is everything safe?' Benjamin asked.

'I know you're teasing me. I'd like you to stop.'

After some more listening, Dante straightened his back, and turned to the man laying in bed. He walked towards him. He lifted the cover for himself and laid down.

Benjamin turned on the mattress and faced Dante.

'Hey,' he said.

'Hey.'

They looked at each other in silence. Benjamin smiled.

'What?' Dante asked.

'What what?'

'What are you thinking about?'

'About how romantic this is,' Benjamin said. 'Running away together.'

'We're both in a life-threatening situation. Someone out there wants you dead.'

'You don't need to make it sound even better,' Benjamin joked.

'I'm serious, I can't believe- '

'I know you're serious,' Benjamin interrupted. 'I'm just trying to lighten the mood.'

Benjamin searched for Dante's hands under the blanket. When he found them, he took them in his own.

His hands were cold. Benjamin folded his hands over Dante's to warm them up.

'Isn't this what we've wanted? Running away together, traveling, us two against the rest of world?' Benjamin asked.

Dante smiled at the thought of it.

'That part is nice,' Dante admitted. 'Not like this, though. The threat kind of ruins it.'

'At least there's one thing to be happy about then.'

A silence fell between them.

'Are you okay?' Benjamin asked.

'I'm fine.'

'You look tired.'

Benjamin took one of his hands off Dante's. The other held on. The hand that left travelled to Dante's forehead.

'Your forehead isn't particularly warm.'

'I think I'm just tired.'

'Let's go to sleep then. I think we both need it.'

While still holding Dante's hands under the blanket, Benjamin turned around and extinguished the light on his nightstand. The dull yellow light disappeared and left them in pitch black darkness.

'What about tomorrow? Shouldn't we discuss what to do?' Dante asked.

Benjamin turned back around. He faced Dante again, presumably. It was dark, so he wasn't sure.

'We can talk about it during breakfast.'

'People could overhear us.'

'I don't think they'd be interested about a talk between two random guys. They don't know who we are after all.'

Dante hummed in response. The two laid in complete darkness, without knowing what they were looking at.

'Alright,' Dante said. 'Good night.'

'Good night.'

They kept quiet and got comfortable around each other. This was the longest they'd ever bene this close to each other. For both it felt like it wasn't.

'This isn't part of your plan to kill me anyway, right?' Benjamin eventually whispered into the darkness.

'That would be quite the plot twist, wouldn't it?'