|| Nine and Three || A Stranger Things AU Story ||

Chapter 4

The railway wasn't far from their home and it wasn't too hard to board since, well, Antone had his ways of smuggling himself and Hazel onto buses and trains without being seen. As soon as they arrived at the train station, they found themselves in a dining booth. The train started. They were off towards Chicago.

Antone ordered their meal since he had always been better at talking to others outside the circle he shared with Hazel.

"And what would he like?" Hazel squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears as if the noise would stop. Her thoughts were so loud! He heard the muffled voice of Antone who tried to make sense of what Hazel was doing, because the waitress was confused. The woman nodded and strolled away, coming back later with their meal. Antone placed a hand on Hazel's shoulder and examined him, trying to figure out what was going on.

"What is it?" He asked.

"So...loud..." Hazel groaned as his hands fell to his lap and his face relaxed. He shut his eyes. The feeling fell away as soon as the waitress left their compartment.

"Here. You won't be able to handle it unless you eat something." Antone pushed Hazel's plate closer to him and watched as he hesitantly picked up a soft, warm mini pancake and began to eat the sweet smelling pile he had on his plate.

After he was finished eating, he closed his eyes and leaned against Antone's body to see if he could get any more rest, but also to try and seek out Kali. He pictured her. His mind swam with colors, dark and hazy, wispy, soft. She was thinking about Papa. Why?

"Hazel?" Antone asked softly. Hazel opened his eyes and blinked a few times.

"Yes?" He hated to think about Papa. He had run away from him and wanted nothing to do with him. He brought out his towel and wiped his nose on it, looking up at him.

"Nothing. Just let me know if we have any specifics on where Kali is. Oh- And if you need some rest that's okay too." Hazel nodded and smiled weakly, laying his head back on his shoulder, He was going to occupy his time in his own realm, swimming through thoughts, dreams and memories. The best thing was that he could be completely quiet about it. Dreams were always the easiest to get to: they were always in the shallow end of the mind.

He let out a small sigh and smiled to himself, moving his head a little to touch Antone's. It was... It was really nice to not have to listen to instructions as to what to be searching for. It was nice to have time to cherish his gifts without having experiments and tests forced upon him. The mind is a delicate thing.