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

11- the lion's crown

Of course, later that night Leo woke Casper up with a night terror, and of course, he felt bad about it. Casper didn't say anything at first, just quietly sighing and coming over to sit on the floor where he had last time; he hadn't spoken to him much when he'd gotten out of the shower earlier, either. Leo felt even worse watching him settle down on the hardwood, knowing how cold the floor had to be and how much Casper complained about the cold. Though Leo watched him drag a blanket with him from his bed, one of what looked like tens, so maybe he wouldn't be that cold after all.

He didn't even ask what was wrong; what was the point? He already knew what was making Leo upset, and what had caused the latest nightmare, though Leo couldn't even remember what the dream had been about. All he could remember was just this horrible, unearthly dread making him feel sick- so sick, he woke up from it.

Finally, in a quiet voice, Casper said, "Its fucking frigid in here."

Leo said nothing, just continuing to quietly sit up with the blanket drapped heavily over his shoulders; the room was near freezing, and he knew it would only get worse as the year went on. Apparently, according to Liz, they had a woodburning furnace in the basement that heated the whole house during the worst months, but she also said not to expect anything comfortable. If there was one thing he could agree with Casper on, it was his hatred of the cold, and how it seemed to bleed into every facet of his life. What he wouldn't give at this point just to feel warm...

"And there's no use telling Liz to use the furnace yet, because its not cold enough. She's a fucking cryomancer, of course it's not cold to her. And Miles is unbothered by everything, as usual. No, I'm the only one who ever complains about the chill, so I have to suffer."

"Do you..." Leo let his voice trail off, hating how shaky he sounded. He didn't want to continue, but it was clear he had Casper's attention, so he might as well. "Do you wanna sit at like, the edge of the bed or something? So you're off the floor?"

"I'm okay down here, don't worry about it. All you need to worry about is trying to go back to sleep." His voice had grown slightly curt, but for no reason Leo could really see. Honestly, he was probably just being moody, as always; after all, he'd just woken up, so Leo could understand why he was being snippy.

"It just looks not very comfy at all. Like, really, you can sit up here if you want to." Leo wasn't sure why he was pushing the matter, but something in his sleepy brain was really bothered by the fact that Casper would rather sit on the floor than a few feet from him. It wasn't like he was asking him to come lay down next to him, or anything, he'd just offered him a place to sit. Really, it was the friendly thing to do.

"I wanna let you know something, okay? Next time there's a nightlight trip, you're not going again. You're gonna take another break, because I swear to Light, the rate you're at, you'll be in therapy for the rest of your life." Way to change the subject, Cas.

"You're not my dad, Cas. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm older than you." Leo tried to sound intimidating, but the fear in him had started to give way to sleepiness again, so he really just sounded like an angry toddler.

"Yeah, by a year, if that. Wow, the wise and intelligent seventeen-year-old that can barely take care of himself refuses to take advice from the lowly, stupid sixteen-year-old. I feel really impressed, Lee."

"I hope you know, one of these days, I'm gonna hit you. And I'm not gonna take it easy on you, either."

Casper just chuckled at that. "Oh, I'm so scared. Consider my timbers fucking shivered, you braindead moron. Keep in mind that I scared the piss out of you earlier by pretending to grab you. You screamed so loud, I'm surprised no one came up to check on us."