Darian had come back to find Jaxie curled up on the bed with a book.
"Hey." He had greeted Darian when he came in without even bothering to look up from his book. "How was your tour?" He asked, patting his cheek for a kiss.
Darian obliged him, shrugging to his question, he genuinely didn't know how to describe the tour if it could even be called that.
"Fine?"
Jaxon looked up this time. "You don't sound sure, where's Leon?"
"Catching up with Ethan." He said vaguely, he knew that he might get answers if he told Jaxon about his suspicions but it was merely speculation.
Leon wouldn't appreciate it if he did that either, he wasn't about to drive a wedge between them, he wasn't an asshole.
"Tell me about Ethan, I barely know him." He started a conversation that he was incredibly curious about.
Jaxon's eyes went round at this, realisation hitting. "That's true, he was really lively for an only child, he spent most of his time around us and was Leon's mischief partner..."
"So was he particularly close to Leon?" Darian couldn't help but ask, propping his head on Jaxon's lap.
Jaxon placed his book down on the bed beside him, thinking deeply. "Close to Leon? Not anymore than I was, I think." He glanced down at Darian. "Leon has changed quite a bit, it was much harder to get his attention before and he kept us at arms length even though we were his friends…" He trailed off like he was reminiscing an old memory.
"I'm pretty sure he had a crush on him but then who didn't." He continued honestly. "Leon was really cool and unattainable, that added to his charm but he didn't even realize it."
He looked at Darian again, realising how long he had been talking. "See me rambling so why did you ask?" He threaded his fingers through Darian's dark hair.
Darian buried his face in Jaxon's stomach, his arms going around him. "Just curious." He said, his voice coming out muffled.
"He should be back by now, let me text him." Jaxon suggested, reaching over to grab his phone.
If Darian should guess, he would say that Jaxon was right but he doubted that Leon would want to see either of them.
He didn't know how to act in a situation like this, he understood what Jaxon meant when he said Leon was cool and unattainable.
Leon always handled everything with ease, it was rare to see him in fixes, much less emotional fixes or maybe it was just another part of him that he kept away from everyone else.
"He's not texting back, maybe he's still with Ethan?" Jaxon frowned a bit.
Darian doubted that, knowing Leon, he would pause a spar to text Jaxon back. There was no need getting Jaxon all worried though, he was worrying enough for both of them.
"Maybe." He muttered vaguely. "Hungry?" He perked up afterwards, he needed something to get his mind off of things.
"Yeah..." Jaxon agreed, distracted with staring at his phone to see if Leon had texted back.
Darian got off the bed first and offered a hand to Jaxon, he didn't want to be the one to admit it, you know rival and all but it was pretty bland without Leon around.
Maybe he had fallen into a polygamous relationship without even realising it but of course that wasn't the case, he was just worried over Leon the way any good friend would be.
"Piggyback ride?" Jaxon asked, a slight pout on his face.
Darian glanced down at his neck where the mating marks on his neck were fresh again, he hadn't offered to reciprocate them and Darian could guess why.
Things were complicated enough between them, completing the bonding process without sorting all of that out was probably not the best option.
He thought two mating marks looked pretty cool though…
"Sure." He accepted without hesitation, helping Jaxie up his back.
Wasn't this always what he wanted? Why was he being all gloomy now?
He did a little spin when Jaxon was safely on his back but it was so unexpected that it made him squeal and hold on tighter to him, scolding Darian as soon as he caught his breath.
Darian laughed at this response but there was a hollow ring to it, it was too quiet... where the hell was Leo?
~*~
In his room where Leon had sought shelter, he had somehow ended up curled up on his bed and even though he had been lying there for quite a while, he still hadn't gotten any thinking done.
He didn't know when he dozed off, his sleep was anything but sound though, waking up from his nap even more disoriented than when he had slept off.
Rolling off his bed, he groggily searched for his phone, Jaxon would be worried about him...
He sighed deeply when he confirmed that he wasn't wrong, he had quite a number of texts and a couple missed calls from him.
He tossed the phone on the bed, watching it bounce lightly with an emptiness in his eyes.
He would have to find a way to come up with a suitable excuse that wouldn't arouse any suspicions, if he wanted to keep his perfect facade up, he had to act like everything was just fine.
He had learnt to do that pretty early, thankfully, Ian wasn't here to see right through him.
He stepped into the bathroom to freshen up, he was just waking up from a nap but he could see faint eyebags starting to form beneath his eyes.
It reminded him of Jaxie and that made him smile, briefly though, the expression fading away just as randomly as it came.
The marks around his neck were already comfortably faded, at least he could appreciate how quickly he healed.
The ones on his wrists were still quite visible though, a dull, dark bruise against his tan skin.
He rinsed his face and dried off, pushing back his long hair from his face, the edges wet and slightly darker than their original shade of blond.
Maybe he should chop the whole length off, anything to keep him from going insane.
It wasn't just Ethan returning to his life but the ghouls of the past screaming in his head, making such a racket that he could barely think.