ﾟ･stars were made for falling ﾟ･ (original)

9- the bull's bracer

Again, the days stretched on without any word from Aldrich; they did send him a message saying they'd secured the hammer, though they left out the detail with Reggie and how he'd been taken care of. In fact, none of them had spoken about it with each other since it happened, maybe hoping that it would fade away into the back of their memories. Halley seemed unaffected, and so did Liz, but for some reason, Leo couldn't get the image of Reggie's body out of his mind. It wasn't like he knew the guy, so he wasn't sure why he was so affected- something about seeing someone laying on the floor like that, knowing they were lifeless... it haunted him.

He started having nightmares about it, waking up in a cold sweat every night for a week, hyperventilating, and nearly crying. There was nothing supernatural about these dreams, they had a different aura about them than the regular ones he had on occasion. Leo had never really had pleasant dreams, they usually skewed absurd or disturbing, but these ones were worse than before. He couldn't even remember the details of the dreams, just the permanent image of Reggie's lifeless eyes staring back at him.

He tried to keep it down, but he wasn't exactly in control of how much noise he made when he slept- he hoped he wasn't screaming or anything, but it must have been enough to wake Casper up. He only figured this out, however, after four days of dealing with the nightmares, and finally getting the poor guy fed up with his shit.

Leo had no idea how loud he was, truthfully, all he knew for a while was he was waking up stifling sobs. But one night, when he sat up, coughing into his blanket, he could see Casper sit up as well, turning to him across the room with what he assumed was malice. He cringed, burying his face in his blanket a little more as the other boy slid out of his bed, going to stand next to Leo's. In the dim light from the window, he could see Casper crossing his arms, a deep frown on his face.

"I originally didn't feel like prying, but at this fucking point, I'm tired of getting woken up. Even if it's only been four days, I don't exactly have the patience of a saint." His voice was a tired grumble, only making Leo cringe even more. Of course he'd been waking up his short-tempered roommate all week, his luck had never been any better than that.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry-" Leo tried to say, but Casper just shook his head, cutting him off.

"No, I don't care about your apologies. I can tell you're sorry just by looking at you- all balled up and for what?" He could hear a slight smirk in Casper's voice. "Do you think I'm gonna stab you again, or something?"

"...Well, you did it once. That's more times than anyone else really has, to be fair," Leo replied, shakily trying for a small laugh.

Casper sank down to the floor, sitting down with his back against the side of Leo's bed, sighing. "Trust me, I didn't exactly enjoy it either. And you being so nice to me since then has only made me feel like even more of a piece of shit for it."

"I mean, I get why you did it. I told you to, after all. It proved I had powers and stuff..." Leo's eyes were glued to the back of Casper's head, his fluffy, almost white looking hair reminding him faintly of a dandelion; it was kinda funny. Definitely took away from the intimidation his personality brought, but not much. For someone that looks like a flower, he sure does strike me as the kind of person to rip someone's head off. He and Halley would probably get along if they talked, now that I think about it...

Casper nodded distractedly, still seeming slightly guilty as he spoke. "...Why are you so nice to me? I'm so snappy with you and everyone else, and you act like a regular ray of sunshine."

Leo shifted a little, the question making him slightly uncomfortable; it was a good one, to be sure. Why was he so nice to everyone? He was even polite to the Keykeepers that were keeping them prisoner in the Citadel and the head nurse at Virgo- people that were actively trying to hurt him. But something about the idea of being outright rude to someone never sat well with him; maybe his mom had raised him too well. She always wanted him to be thoughtful of other people, and that wasn't exactly a virtue that helped you survive out here. Even now, he was having nightmares about someone that, by all accounts, could have killed him. But no one deserves to die like that, not really. I guess I should be thankful that it was quick, and not drawn out, but still.