By Zephyria Hugo dismissed the two members guarding the tightly closed door and stood alone in front of it. It was his space that he always went in and out of, but today it was especially difficult to step inside.
As he took a deep breath and touched the surface of the door, a blue Magic Circle recognized its owner and stood out like a relief. A pair of Magic Circles, interlocked like two gears, rotated in different directions to unlock the door.
When he opened the heavy door and went inside, it was full of the scent of sunlight even though the window was tightly closed. It’s amazing that the presence of just one person can fill this large room.
He was about to head straight to the bed, but he pulled back the long curtains hanging by the window and opened the window. The light of the afternoon, dyed with the sunset, colored his upper body. He didn’t want to disturb Leonardo’s sleep, but he hoped that he would come out of the darkness soon.
“…Ugh.”
At that moment, a sound that could be mistaken for sleep-talking broke the silence at a good time.
Hugo, who was loosening his tie while enjoying the fresh air, watched the figure covered in bedding.
“Hng….”
As if to prove that he hadn’t misheard, a small groan followed immediately. Convinced, he hurried to the bed.
It was the first time he had been so careful not to make a sound with his shoes in his personal space. He carefully held the head of the bed and looked down, and Leonardo was frowning and breathing heavily.
As if it were true that he occasionally tossed and turned, busy pupil reactions were visible above his eyelids. But aside from curling up as if he were cold, his face and clothes were wet with sweat.
“Leo?”
The beautiful eyebrows bisected by golden hair twitched incessantly. His drooping eyelashes were clumped together with moisture, whether it was sweat or tears.
‘What’s wrong?’
It was a situation that he hadn’t heard from Flynn, who had returned a little while ago. Feeling that something was wrong, Hugo carefully cupped Leonardo’s cheek with his hand.
‘……!’
But for some reason, his body was burning hot. Hugo immediately pulled back the blanket halfway and put his hand behind Leonardo’s neck to support his head.
“Leo, where does it hurt? Huh?”
“…Hngh.”
“Look this way, show me your face.”
The pillow he was lying on was already soaked with sweat, and the patient gown he was wearing was twisted and constricting his entire limbs.
Hugo continued to talk to him while unbuttoning a few buttons of the patient gown. However, Leonardo only groaned and burrowed into the blanket like a caterpillar, without answering.
Seeing his painful appearance, Hugo groped on the bedside table, wondering if he should urgently call the medical staff. It was to find the Magic Tool for communication, but before that, a rustling medicine bag was caught in his hand. It was the medicine that the counselor had come and handed over, and he had put it by his head because he didn’t know when Leonardo would wake up.
Come to think of it, the words he had conveyed belatedly came to mind.
‘Having nightmares is a common symptom, but if he seems to be suffering, it’s better to wake him up. However, wake him up gently enough not to startle him, and then have him take a Stabilizer….’
“…Ugh, no….”
At the word ‘no’ that he heard in the middle, Hugo was convinced that Leonardo was wandering in a nightmare. While coaxing and soothing him, he tore open the medicine bag with one hand and placed it on the bedside table so that he could feed it to him at any time.
In the meantime, as the situation in the dream reached its climax, Leonardo began to grope his own neck with the hand holding the blanket.
Hugo’s eyelids twitched at the familiar behavior. It was because he remembered Leonardo’s bizarre behavior of strangling himself amidst the exploding outbursts.
“Leo―!”
Hugo, who suddenly felt a chill, raised his voice without realizing it. At the same time, he grabbed both of Leonardo’s wrists and pulled them away from his neck, suppressing him strongly.
“Ughaaa―!”
At that time, Leonardo, who had been wandering in unconsciousness, reacted to the action, suddenly twisting his body and screaming.
Hugo was just as surprised by the sudden reaction. Startled, he soothed and calmed the struggling Leonardo.
“Leonardo, calm down. It’s a dream, a dream―.”
In that instant, Leonardo, who suddenly opened his eyes wide, raised his body, slipped out of Hugo’s grasp, and grabbed Hugo’s shirt collar tightly. He put strength into it as if grabbing his collar with tremendous grip, and pushed his upper body back with a terrified face.
“Get away―!!”
The scream-like shout that followed changed the space where only the two of them were into a chilling atmosphere.
Bloodshot eyes glared at him as if to kill him, and his lips exhaled heavy breaths. Hugo’s expression stiffened in an instant.
He was overwhelmed with bewilderment and tension even before he realized that he had woken up safely, due to the tremendous murderous intent that the other person was emitting. He glanced down at the hand that had reached out to him with wide eyes, and Leonardo’s fingernails scratched his collarbone as if to leave a fingerprint beyond the shirt collar.
The heat that gradually pressed down on his arteries made his Adam’s apple instinctively tremble. It was a pressure that felt like it would break his neck at any moment.
Since he was someone who could actually do that, Hugo didn’t move rashly and instead met Leonardo’s eyes again.
“…Leo.”
Extreme fear was etched in his fiercely raised eyes. Whatever nightmare it was, it must have tormented him greatly.
He seemed to have reached out his hand as a defense mechanism, so Hugo gently wrapped his arms around his forearms and spoke softly.
“Calm down. It’s me.”
He conveyed that he had no intention of resisting with a serious voice, but Leonardo’s fingertips only gripped his collar more tightly.
The two continued the confrontation for about 30 seconds.
Only the sound of panting breaths lingered in the silence, and Hugo calmly waited for the other person.
“Huk, huff….”
Soon after, the Gold Eyes that had been shaking unstably slowly regained focus. The tempo of his breathing also slowed down. Leonardo, who had been quite confused, dropped the hand he was holding on his own and clenched his fist, pulling it to his chest.
Then, he looked around as if he was having a panic attack, and pushed the bedding with his feet as if trying to escape from this situation, pressing his back against the head of the bed. He looked pitiful as he rubbed his sweat-soaked face with his hands and trembled like an aspen tree.
Instead of talking to the anxious him, Hugo filled a cup with water and carefully handed it to him along with the medicine.
Leonardo, who was startled to the point of being pitiful at the sight of the hand being pushed towards him, snatched the uniquely colored medicine and roughly poured it into his mouth.
He crammed it in as if he was eating to survive, so a few pills fell to the floor and rolled into the blind spot. Hugo quickly tore open another medicine bag and picked out only the fallen pills and handed them over. Then, Gold Eyes glanced at him and put the medicine and water cup to his mouth and gulped them down.
The Adam’s apple that was exposed with the buttons undone hung a black choker and moved busily. Water dripped from both sides of his mouth and soaked his abdomen, but Hugo didn’t stop him and just watched quietly.
“Ha―.”
Leonardo, who quickly emptied a glass of water like someone suffering from dehydration, leaned his back and head against the head of the bed with a tired look.
“Hoo….”
His body, which was drooping as if he would collapse at any moment, looked as if he had been in the water. The front of his thin patient gown was all wet, and the clear curves of his flat abdomen rose and fell with his breathing.
Even the shape of the reddish protrusions on his chest was exposed in detail. The fabric barely hung over the stiff shadow, creating a precarious situation. It was a decadent and even erotic scene along with his wet hair, but Hugo quickly averted his gaze.
He was still breathing heavily and his face was pale, so he was very worried. He slowly reached out and stroked Leonardo’s cheek. His listless eyelids immediately lifted, but he did not show any signs of aggression or resistance.
“Are you okay?”
Hugo gently rubbed his wet lips and cheeks with his thumb. With his other hand, he swept back his sweat-soaked hair.
He also gently placed the fallen pillow next to him as if to lean on. Leonardo was only staring at Hugo with fierce eyes, exhaling a hissing breath.
No answer came back, but he could feel that he was finding stability.
As if to prove it, his mournful eyes closed slightly and he tilted his head towards Hugo’s palm.
“…….”
Hugo didn’t show it, but he inhaled silently. He was surprised that his small face had leaned on him on its own, but it was because a thick drop of water rolled down between his lowered eyelashes.
Hugo couldn’t say anything for a while at the sparkling jewel that wet his mournful eyes. The dew that flowed down his pale cheeks traveled along his fluttering lips and landed on Hugo’s palm.
“Leave.”
Following that, he bit on the blood vessels protruding on his wrist and soaked his thick forearm along the strongly beating pulse.
Hugo swallowed hard. Then, Leonardo coldly recited again.
“I said leave.”
He clearly told him to leave, but the true feelings that were glimpsed in his tilted face were saying something completely different from his mean lips. Don’t go, stay by my side. He pleaded with a choked-up moisture.
Hugo’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Liar.”
He tried not to provoke him, but his inner self ignored reason.
“You don’t mean it either.”
His stiff lips pointed out the contradiction.
Leonardo chuckled with an exhausted face. He’s a heartless man who always repeats my words when he’s at a disadvantage.
One drop, two drops. Tears that flowed down one after another gathered on his pretty cheeks and the tip of his chin. In the meantime, the distance between the two became closer by a finger joint, a hand span, a fraction.
Hugo caressed his reddened eyes with a lingering touch. He constantly rubbed the space above his neat eyelashes for me to approach.
It was only the contradictory duty of a gentleman who wanted to comfort a sad beauty that he impulsively pressed his lips to his flushed Gold Eyes.