The Title Will Go Here - 13. Chapter 13

So, the name of the cafe from the previous chapter ('Blue Oyster') sounded vaguely familiar & it kept bugging me. Then I remembered Police Academy & realized why. So I changed it to 'Black Lotus.'

- XIII -

“So, how was your date with Katherine?” Leon asked almost two hours later, when they were sitting at their table at ‘Black Lotus,’ after finally leaving the coffee shop.

Stratos shot him a quick glance above the menu he’s been studying for the last ten minutes.

“Good,” he nodded. “It was really good...”

He returned his attention to the menu, and Leon slightly frowned without looking away from his face.

“Good...?” Leon asked in a low voice, and received another quick glance. “That’s all...? Not going to share any details?”

“There is nothing to share,” Stratos shrugged without looking away from the menu this time. “No details, really... She came in, we had dinner, chatted for a while, and then she left... No details,” he shrugged again.

Leon frowned deeper.

“Wait,” he said, and Stratos sighed and put the menu on the edge of the table. “She left...? You didn’t even...”

“No,” Stratos said calmly, his expression undisturbed.

“You haven’t seen each other for two years,” Leon started saying slowly. “At the reception, she looked like she was about to rip your clothes off, especially right before you left... Yes, I’ve noticed,” he nodded somewhat poisonously when he saw the look on Stratos’ face. “And with your history...” He paused. “I mean, you lived together for almost a year...! I figured...”

“It is history now,” Stratos interrupted him. “It’s in the past. We are friends, nothing else... Things change, people change...”

“Tell me about it,” Leon muttered darkly, and Stratos’ expression slightly shifted. Now it was somewhat darker. “By the way,” Leon sighed and decided to change the topic, feeling strangely relieved and irritated at the same time.

On one hand, he was glad that the old spark between Stratos and Katherine hasn’t come back. On the other hand, however, he was frustratingly aware of the fact that he would much rather have Katherine as his rival than that damn kelari.

“ ‘By the way’ what?” Stratos looked at him when Leon stopped talking.

“Right...” Leon blinked several times. “The concert next month...?”

“What about it?” Stratos absent-mindedly twirled a small silver spoon in his fingers.

“It’s in twelve days,” Leon nodded, and Stratos just stared at him without blinking. “It moved,” Leon nodded again. “Has something to do with their governor, elections, and something else... Stratos...?” he called a minute later when the unblinking stare of the blue eyes never changed. “Stratos, you alive...?”

He sighed when he received no answer.

“I could cancel it if you want...” he started saying, and Stratos finally blinked.

“So you are telling me about it now?” he asked in a low voice. “Why...? I mean, you are giving me way too much time...! Should’ve told me the night before the actual concert, why bother now...?”

Leon let out a small smile, immediately noting a quick flash of very restrained fury reflect in the blue eyes.

“They called me on Friday morning,” he said calmly. “Figured there was no need for you to stress about that right before the performance, so...” he shrugged. “I would’ve told you at the reception, but you were too busy blowing off Katherine and trying to drown in your kelari’s mouth... Bold move, by the way,” he smiled again when he saw the tightly locked jaw. “People wouldn’t shut up about it after you left... I wouldn’t be surprised if the photos of it ended up in yellow press... Any publicity is good publicity, right?”

Stratos looked like he was about to start growling, and Leon gave him another smile, feeling strangely satisfied.

“It’s not the end of the world,” he said patiently and drank some water from the glass that was in front of him. “As I said...” he leaned on the back of his chair. “I could go ahead and cancel. There won’t be any problems with that, since you are not the one who...”

“No,” Stratos interrupted him gloomily. “Don’t cancel, I’ll be fine... Let’s eat already...” he muttered when he saw a waiter heading their way.

Leon watched him for a couple of seconds, his expression thoughtful. Suddenly, he leaned forward.

“I changed my mind,” he said, and Stratos frowned at that. “I changed my mind,” Leon nodded. “I don’t want anything in here. I want to go to that little place by the lake; there is no better place than that one...”

“It’s more than an hour drive...” Stratos said slowly, and Leon straightened up.

“I’ll drive, no worries,” he said in a carefree manner, and Stratos slightly shook his head.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said as slowly as before. “I don’t mind driving... It’s just...” he paused. “It’s seven-thirty, it’s dark...” he quickly glanced at the window. “When we get there it’ll be probably after nine, and I am pretty sure it’ll start snowing again... We can go tomorrow...”

“I don’t want to go tomorrow,” Leon said quietly but firmly, never looking away. “I want to go now... Of course, if you don’t want to...”

He shrugged and leaned onto the back of his chair again, his expression indifferent, and Stratos rolled his eyes – he knew that expression too well.

“Fine,” he said with restrained defeat. “Fine... Let’s go...” He looked up. “Turns out we are not staying,” he said to the waiter who was about to start announcing the specials. “Something came up,” he nodded when he saw the man’s puzzled expression. “We will come back another time.”

“Certainly,” the waiter nodded stiffly. “Enjoy the rest of your evening...”

He walked away, and Stratos sighed and stood up.

“You are going to milk it, aren’t you?” he asked in a low voice, and Leon looked at him without a smile.

“To the last drop,” he nodded seriously, and Stratos let out another sigh.

“I am going to wash my hands,” Leon said suddenly when he noticed something on the inside of his wrist. “It looks like I have coffee all over me...”

“I’ll wait for you outside,” Stratos nodded melancholically and headed towards the front door.

He went outside and winced at the sudden attack of the cold wind that immediately reminded him of last night. “Don’t open that door...” He shivered from cold and a sudden image of emotionless, gold-filled eyes that flashed in his mind. “Don’t open that door...”

He shook his head and pulled his phone out of his pocket. While he was punching in the number, he started humming something under his breath without even noticing it. He stopped humming right before he hit the ‘Call’ button. It was that melody again, he realized, and frowned when he almost started humming again. It was that damn melody...

“What the hell...” he whispered, and then he narrowed his eyes and pushed the ‘Call’ button, pressing the phone against his ear.

“Hey,” he said a minute later. “It’s me... I’ll be back later than I thought... Oh...” he sighed at the inevitable question. “Leon is being himself... He knows that I can’t say ‘no’ to him right now, so he is making sure he gets everything he possibly can out of this... I don’t know,” he said a few seconds later. “I will try to get back before midnight... Oh, believe me...” he suddenly smiled. “I will not be too tired...! Uh huh...” he nodded to the cold darkness around him. “Nice and slow, just the way you like it...” He let out a short, soft laughter. “I know you do...! You like it slow, and you like it to last a while...”

A sudden, loud cough right behind his shoulder made him jerk and turn around.

“Uh... I gotta go,” he said when he met a dark stare of brown eyes. “Yeah, I will see you in a few hours... Bye,” he sighed again and snapped the phone shut. “Good to go?” he asked with tired cheerfulness, and Leon narrowed his eyes.

“Please, tell me that you were talking to Katherine,” he said in a low voice.

“I was talking to Katherine...” Stratos nodded immediately. “...not,” he finished with another sigh, and Leon rolled his eyes.

“Let’s go,” he said shortly and started walking towards the car without looking back to make sure that Stratos followed him – he knew he would.

****

They were driving for almost forty minutes, and Stratos kept glancing at the car clock every couple of minutes.

“When are we leaving?” he asked, and Leon stared at him.

“Seriously...?” he asked very slowly, and Stratos sighed.

“I mean,” he said patiently. “When are we leaving for Brookland? The performance is in twelve days, and usually, we leave a few days earlier... By the way,” he shot a quick glance to his right, noticing Leon’s relaxing posture. “What about the reservations...?”

“All taken care of,” Leon nodded. “Everything is booked and secured. We are leaving next Monday morning... Next Monday,” he said patiently when he saw Stratos’ expression. “Not the upcoming one.”

“Ah,” Stratos nodded and glanced at the clock again. “Still want to drive?”

“Sure...” Leon nodded without looking away from Stratos’ face.

“All right,” Stratos nodded again, and shot another glance at the clock.

Leon kept watching him for the next five minutes, and finally, he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.

“Go back,” he said sharply after he opened them.

“What...?” Stratos frowned at that.

“Go back,” Leon repeated a little louder. “Take me to my car and go home...”

“Leon, what is...”

“You, looking at the goddamn clock every three seconds, that’s what!” Leon interrupted him in the same sharp manner.

“Leon, we are more than halfway there...” Stratos said without slowing down. “I said I would go...”

“Because you have to,” Leon snapped at him. “Not because you want to... The only thing you want right now is to get back home, and I am not going to force you into spending an evening with me...!”

“Leon...”

“Go back,” Leon said again, darker this time. “Goddammit, Stratos, just go back!” he yelled when the car wouldn’t slow down.

Stratos jerked at that and stepped on the brake, making the car whine and skid sideways. He let go of the brake pedal, straightened out the car, and tried again. This time, he was more successful, and a minute later, the car came to a smooth stop on the side of the dark road.

“Leon...” Stratos said after several minutes of heavy silence.

“Go back,” Leon interrupted him quietly without looking at him. “Just go back...”

They sat in silence a little while longer.

“Are we okay?” Stratos asked finally.

“No,” Leon answered shortly without looking at him. “But we will be,” he said quietly a minute later.

Stratos nodded at that very slowly and threw the car in gear.

...“Wanna hear something weird?” he asked half an hour later, and Leon sighed and looked at him.

“What?” he asked tiredly.

“Do you remember one time, a few days ago, when you asked me about what I was playing...? I was improvising, it was morning, and you were...”

“...getting coffee,” Leon nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Do you remember the melody I was playing?”

Leon thought about it for a few seconds.

“As a matter of fact, I do...” he said slowly, his expression thoughtful. “I have never heard anything like that before... I thought it was...”

“...disturbingly-beautiful,” Stratos nodded with a small smile.

“Yeah...” Leon muttered. “Disturbingly-beautiful... What about it?” he sighed again, and Stratos shot him a quick glance.

“Okay,” he said in a low voice. “Last night, the weirdest thing happened...”

...“Don’t open that door...?” Leon muttered when Stratos finished telling him about what happened last night. “What door...?”

“Have no clue,” Stratos shook his head without looking away from the road in front of them. “When I woke up in the morning, I thought it was a dream... But then I found my shirt at the bottom of the stairs, and the window in that room was broken... Wasn’t a dream,” he finished with a slight nod.

“Did you ask him about what the hell it meant?” Leon frowned. “In the morning, did you ask him...?”

“No,” Stratos shook his head again. “I am sure that he doesn’t even remember anything from last night... He was sleepwalking...” He glanced at Leon, managing to keep himself from looking at the clock this time. “I’ve never sleepwalked, but I am pretty sure that you don’t remember anything when you wake up...”

“Leave it to Loreya to find you a damaged kelari...” Leon muttered, and Stratos’ mouth twitched with dark irritation. He managed to stay silent, however. “Wait...” Leon frowned again. “What exactly happened to the window...? You said it broke, but how? I am pretty sure that the wind last night wasn’t that bad...”

“Oh, yeah...” Stratos said slowly. “About that...”

“What?” Leon asked impatiently when Stratos stopped talking.

“This morning...” Stratos started saying slowly. “This morning, we figured out... Well, I figured out...” he shrugged.

“What?” Leon asked once more when Stratos fell silent again. “You figured out what...?”

“He is telekinetic,” Stratos said quietly, and Leon looked at him without blinking for several stunned seconds.

“Bullshit...!” he finally laughed. “Stratos, that’s bullshit...! Whatever he told you...”

“He didn’t tell me anything,” Stratos interrupted him. “In fact, he didn’t even know...! Long story,” he grimaced when he caught another incredulous look. “He didn’t tell me,” he said again. “Pictures on my bedroom walls...?”

“What about them?” Leon sighed, clearly not convinced.

“Do you remember how heavy the frames are?” Stratos shot him a quick glance.

“I remember,” Leon said quietly. “I remember lots of things about your bedroom...”

“Right...” Stratos nodded without feeling any guilt this time. “Anyway, one of them flew across the room and smashed into the opposite wall...”

“What did...?” Leon asked dumbfoundedly.

“A picture,” Stratos nodded. “All by itself; and since I know it wasn’t me who did that...” He shrugged without finishing the sentence.

“Wait...” Leon frowned deeper than before. “So he just went into your bedroom and threw a picture at you?”

Stratos blinked at that and rolled his eyes.

“No,” he said with less patience. “He didn’t throw it at me...! See...” he sighed. “I realized that things move on their own whenever he is experiencing strong emotions...”

“Mmmk...” Leon said slowly. “So what did you do...? What did you do to make him...” He paused, his expression disbelievingly-sarcastic. “...to make him move that picture?” he asked finally. “Made him cry about his ruined childhood...?”

Stratos’ expression immediately darkened.

“No,” he said quietly. “He was...” Here he stopped talking and coughed rather loudly.

“He was what...?” Leon asked with the same sarcastic look on his face. “He was what...?” he asked again when Stratos kept coughing. “Are you choking on something?” he asked a minute later with less patience. “If so, then pull over. I don’t want to get into a wreck because you’ve got a sudden hairball...”

Stratos finally stopped coughing and threw a very quick look at Leon who was getting more impatient.

“He was what...?” Leon asked one more time, and now he sounded tired.

“Let’s just say, it was intense, all right?” Stratos asked quickly, and Leon narrowed his eyes. “It was intense, and right when it was happening, that picture...”

“Ha...” Leon said suddenly, his voice low and not sarcastic at all this time. “He was coming, wasn’t he?”

“Well...” Stratos said, and Leon snorted at that.

“So, every time he comes, pictures start flying around?” he asked poisonously, and Stratos blinked.

“Errr...” he said. “No...”

“Ha...” Leon said again. “Must’ve been one hell of an orgasm...” he muttered and looked outside.

“Errr...” Stratos said once more, and Leon sighed and looked at him.

“Take the next exit,” he said calmly, and Stratos gave him a questioning look. “It’ll be faster,” Leon nodded. “I want to get to my car,” he said and looked outside again.

“...because if I hear any more about how intensely that fucking kelari comes, I will murder both of you,” he thought without looking away from the window.

“I think that he is Locked,” Stratos said a few silent minutes later, and Leon blinked and finally looked at him.

“Huh?” he asked.

Stratos sighed and quickly explained his theory.

“Well,” Leon shrugged after he finished talking. “Problem solved then... Slap the remaining Locks on him and call it a day!”

“What?” Stratos asked quietly, and Leon shrugged again.

“Finish the job,” he said. “Lock him completely; who needs a toy that can explode your goddamn windows?”

“He is not a toy...” Stratos said slowly, restraining himself from saying the words that were dancing on the tip of his tongue. “And no, I am not going to...” He slightly stuttered. “...finish the job,” he said finally. “In fact...” He slowed down before turning into the right exit when he saw that the traffic light at the end of the exit turned red. “If he wants to take the Locks off, I am going to find someone who can do that...”

“Huh?” Leon straightened up in his seat. “You mean, you are going to Unlock him?”

“If that’s what he wants, then yes,” Stratos nodded calmly and took his foot off the brake pedal when the light suddenly blinked green.

“Are you insane?” Leon asked incredulously. “If he can make that bloody picture fly across your entire bedroom while he is Locked, can you imagine what kind of damage he will be able to do if you take the damn things off? Stratos, do you want him to explode your house every time you make him come?”

“He’ll learn to control it,” Stratos said evenly.

“Stratos...”

“If he wants to take off the Locks, I will help him,” Stratos interrupted him. “Plus, I am pretty sure he only has one Lock on him... There is no way he would be able to do all that with two of them...”

“But you don’t know for sure...!” Leon said heatedly. “Stratos, he has been Locked for a reason! And probably, a good one for that matter! If you...”

“Drop it,” Stratos said quietly and jerked the steering wheel to the right, switching lanes, and without bothering to look in the mirror first. “If he wants it off, then it will come off, end of discussion.”

Leon gritted his teeth and was relieved when he finally saw his car parked in the middle of the empty parking lot.

“Are we okay?” Stratos asked when he stopped the car without throwing the gear into ‘Park.’

Leon paused for a few seconds, and then shrugged and opened the door.

“We will be,” he said and got out of the car. “See you tomorrow,” he said without a smile. “You need to start rehearsing again.”

“I know,” Stratos nodded. “Leon...”

“Go home,” Leon interrupted him. “Go home and fuck him nice and slow, just the way he likes it...” He straightened up. “Just take down all your pictures first,” he nodded and slammed the door of the car shut.

Stratos let out a deep sigh and tightly pressed his lips while watching his friend walk towards the lonely car in the empty parking lot. He watched him for a few more seconds, and then shrugged and let go of the brake. He really did want to get home finally.