No Pills

Bear Pompom

*Charlie's P.O.V *

After all Harry's hard work into my hair, Leo ruffles it back home. I slap his hand away, and he cracks up.

"Chill! I'm trying to tame it."

"You're making it worse."

"Fiiine." He pouts, dropping his hand. I chuckle, after which silence ensues.

"Charlie, where were you?"

There's the question. I stifle the urge to bite my nail.

"What have you done?!"

"Just, urr... trust me. I'm making progress."

"Progress?" Worry lines across his forehead.

I huff.

"Charlie, please -"

"Please, stop it."

That does it for Leo. He takes my books in one swift move, grumbling, "Ok, fine. What progress then? Huh? You're making amazing discoveries about what, how to die?"

I huff again. He considers my face for a few seconds and then drags my chair closer to the bedside where he sits.

"Leo, please don't be mad. I know you said we should move on, but I've discovered some things. There is a cartel, and I don't know what the other people are exactly, but urr, let's call them Yelstins. Your dad was hired by the cartel to kill a lady, but then he mistakenly went after Maria's husband since he's also Joe Yelstin. Urr, to save her spouse, Maria offered to be your dad's informant. She worked in a club that belongs to a guy called Andrés who works under the Yeltsins... just like Maria's husband, and... the Yeltsins seem to know everything, but they still trust Maria's husband... or maybe they don't care since she is dead anyway."

"Do they know my dad is dead?" Horror floods Leo.

I think about it and then shrug.

"If they do, I'm fucked."

"We," I correct.

He facepalms. "This is my problem."

"Ok, don't do that." I push his hand away.

"What?"

"That thing where you push me away, yet you ask me to stay, and it's just - what do you want?"

"This is not about what I want. This is bigger than us."

"What do you want?"

There's a pause.

"I'm the son of their enemy's hitman." Leo groans. "And Daddy can't protect me now. I hate him, but he fucking knew better than to give me false hope. He told me exactly what they do to boys like me and - trust me, you won't wanna go there with me."

There's a pause.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Fuck you." He gets up. I shoot him a stern look, to which he blasts," I'll report myself. Happy now?!"

"No."

"Ok, ok." He scratches his head. "What do you want?!"

"To fix our situation."

"Charlie, have you not been listening? What part of 'we're fucked' don't you get?"

"You asked for what I want, not what you think will happen."

"Shut up." Leo paces. I calmly watch him until he sits. His knee jerks as he scrutinises my face.

I smile.