Chapter 20 - Sleepover

This time, it didn't take as long for them to have a winner.

Leon was very tired, so he lost on the first round.

He sighed, and went to pick up some blankets and duvets to make a makeshift bed. He stacked them up until they were nice and fluffy, and when he laid down, it didn't really had much difference to the feel of an actual bed.

And to be honest, he was used to sleeping in more uncomfortable places before when he was still a police officer.

He had slept on his car, his office sitting up, and even inside a jail cell when there's no one around and the shift has gone late.

"Well, enjoy your bed." He said to Wolfe as the lights were turned off and he rolled over to the side.

He was close to sleeping when the night lamp suddenly turned on.

He heard Wolfe called out. "Leon?"

"Hmm?"

"Is..... Is it comfy there?"

"Yep, hella comfy. I feel like sleeping like a baby here."

He heard Wolfe snort. "It's much more comfortable here, you don't have to lie to yourself."

"I'm not lying. I've slept on the cold hard floor near the dumpsters once, this was nothing." Leon said with his eyes close, more like mumbling.

"How'd you get there? You couldn't have been homeless, right?" Wolfe asked in disbelief.

"My ex had 5 guys beat me up and throw me there back in college. I was out cold. Trash feels nice to sleep in when you're out cold."

Wolfe frowned. Leon heard shuffling and a bit of a creak.

"Get in here."

The voice was too soft that he almost mistaken it as a hallucination.

"What?"

Wolfe repeated in an annoyed tone. "Just get in here, this bed was meant to be big enough for two people. It feels wrong somehow to sleep with too much space."

Leon mumbled while half-asleep. "You just want someone to cuddle with."

Wolfe grumbled. "I'm not! I'm just giving you the benefit of the doubt after that sob story about sleeping in the dumpsters. There's a lot of pillows too, we can just make a barricade and sleep in peace."

Leon sighed, turned around and sat up. "No."

Wolfe was looking at him from the edge of the bed, and his eyes widened when Leon's face got so close after he sat up.

He reeled back, his face flushed red. Leon found himself thinking he looked pretty cute with that expression.

"Wh... Why not?" Wolfe asked. "Don't be so stubborn."

"I'm too scared." Leon replied with a smirk, not looking scared at all. "You might do something to me while I'm asleep. "

Wolfe rolled his eyes. "I should be the one worrying about that, after what you did to my poor mouth at the bathroom----"

He closed his mouth after realizing that he accidentally brought out a sore topic for the both of them.

It was different from the night at the Couple's room. They were both drunk. The alcohol was to blame.

But that one...

"Wolfe Fang." Leon said cooly. "Just go to sleep. I'm too tired for games."

"I'm not playing games with you! At least, not this time!" Wolfe said. "I'm genuinely trying to be nice to you here!"

"So you do admit that you were playing games last time? And the other times before that?"

Wolfe went quiet, wearing a sort of pained expression on his face.

Sometimes Leon wished he wasn't that good at reading expressions. If it was someone else, they might have just thought Wolfe was annoyed or offended.

But with someone with the skills as Leon Mo, he can see that there's a hint of guilt in those eyes.

Wolfe then laid back down and turned to the wall to not face him.

"Fine. Keep sleeping on the floor if you want. Good night."

Leon just looked at him hugging a pillow grumpily and sinking deeper into his blankets, and could guess that he must be puffing up his cheeks as he usually does when he's annoyed.

He turned off the lamp, and went back to his makeshift bed.

But after a while, he couldn't sleep, still thinking about that guilty look. He rubbed his face.....

Wolfe felt part of the bed sink. His eyes widened and he turned.

"What are you doing?" He frowned.

"I changed my mind." Leon just said as he laid out pillows in between them as a barricade, and went to lay down on the same bed as Wolfe.

Wolfe scoffed. "Whatever. Just keep your hands to yourself."

"Touche." Leon answered, and they both went to sleep.

But not even 3 minutes in, Wolfe called out again. "Leon."

Leon grumbled. They were both facing opposite sides, with a barricade of pillows between them. "Mmmm?"

"Do you know what this reminds me of?" Wolfe asked, in that same soft and pleasant tone again that Leon was starting to get more and more addicted to listening.

Not that he would ever admit what kind of things Wolfe's voice makes him feel.

"What?" He asked in an impatient tone.

Wolfe didn't speak for a while, and only said. "Nothing. You probably don't remember it anyway."

There was only silence between them after that.

Until there was shuffling once more on this dark room. Wolfe felt the bed sank once more, and turned to see Leon's figure in the dark leaning on his elbow, facing him.

"I remember." Leon said in a sort of both nostalgic and melancholic tone. "The sleepover."

Wolfe nodded. "At the treehouse. Which we---"

"Built it in one day and also collapsed in one day." Leon chuckled. "I remember your dad almost killed me because you broke your arm."

"Mn. I had to be sent to the hospital, but I promised to build it again with you when I go back." Wolfe said.

Leon clutched his own chest, and laid back down.

"But you didn't go back. You never came back at all."

He heard Wolfe exhale heavily, and breathe in heavily again. "I tried to---"

"I waited for you despite knowing you'll never come back, you know?" Leon placed both hands behind his head, smiling sadly at the ceiling. "Everyday, for a year and a half, I think."

"Every single day?" Wolfe asked in disbelief.

"Well, sometimes I wasn't allowed to get out when the rain was too much. But yes. I went to that park even during school days."

"My father even told me that you would have been somewhere far away and out of coverage because your family was on the run around that time. But I wouldn't listen."

He sighed. "I wanted to see Wolfe Fang again.... Build the treehouse again... Share the same bed made of leaves with him again."