bonne nuit /leo+howl

Leo frowned, his eyes on Howl's casual atire. His shirt was barely there at all and Leo was there in a suit and tie. He may as well have dressed like a monk. "Look, you said to wear something nice," he said, "How was I supposed to know?" Maybe he should have been mad that Howl was laughing at him but the sound of it only made him smile. When had he last heard laughter?

He ignored the question of course. There were parties in the Capitol, of course, endless ones and short ones and Leo had never been to any of them. He hadn't left his family's manor in years. For all the training he'd done, his father had never considered the fact that he'd be lacking socially.

Leo tensed as Howl moved closer, already thinking of the knife strapped to his ankle. If the other boy meant him harm, Leo would be ready, but that didn't happen. Instead, there was a hand brushing down his chest, then to the suit buttons where he started working at them quickly.

"I'm unmuggable," he deadpanned as he pushed at Howl lightly, "What are you doing, undressing me on the street?" He started to work at his tie to help speed up the process.

Maybe he was just touch-starved, but Howl's hands on him, his proximity, made Leo's face heat up. He was thankful for the darkness, it was pretty unprofessional of him to be so affected by it. He worked through the feeling, uncertain how to place the way that his skin seemed to spark every time Howl touched him. It must have just been static from the fabric, that was the only appropriate explanation. Whatever it was, Leo was finding it difficult to concentrate.

His fingers got caught in the knot of his tie for a moment before he got it loose. He couldn't remember where it had come from, it was just another thing that had wound up in his closet one day. He'd taken the tie for granted but it seemed that here, it was something precious. That concept didn't add up with the information he'd been raised on, he filed it away for later. Since his arrival in Twelve, he'd noticed a lot of discrepancies on how people in the districts actually lived than what he'd been led to believe.

Leo had never let anyone get so close to his throat before and perhaps, if this were anyone else, he'd have them on their back and his knee on their chest before they could blink. Somehow, despite his big mouth and height, Howl raised none of Leo's usual alarms. His fingers could dance across his skin many times over and it'd be alright. Perhaps he was letting himself get too close.

"The Whitecoats?" Leo said, nose wrinkling in disgust at the very idea, "Those rats, they took my brother." In training, they'd told him that half-truths worked better than lies and so Leo had crafted one. It didn't matter that he'd never met his older brother, nor that he was a Captain serving in Nine. He just had to be a convincing liar.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked, allowing a bit of a whine into his voice, "I'm going to freeze to death like this already, I can't lose much more clothing, Howl."

Being assessed was nothing new for Leo. He was used to being scrutinized, to having to be perfect in every way in order to gain approval. He remembers the fear of being incorrect, of getting something wrong and how much it always hurt after. "One foot out of line in the field and you're dead, Leonidus."

Howl's eyes on him like that was scary but in a different way. His skin felt as if it were burning in response. He couldn't tell what it was yet, the feeling was too new. If he had to compare it to anything, he might liken it to the way that the dove cages looked in the mornings before he opened the doors to let them out for the day at home. All those birds puffed up and shuffling, waiting to be released, aching for the skies. He felt as if his skin were the bars of the cage, his blood the birds, jumping, bruising.

Stop.

He'd have to think about it later, Howl was mad at him. Leo worked quickly, taking in the way his new friend's shoulders hunched slightly as he told him off. The statement was confusing, if Howl was in the gang, he should know that they were already actively being watched. They were the ones who had started the trouble, hadn't they?

"I'm not starting anything, we came here for a fresh start," he responds, the lie supplied to him by his superiors.

Something twisted in the pit of his stomach. Leo knew this feeling, the entrenching slickness of guilt. He bit his lip slightly, brow furrowing. There was no reason for him to feel guilt here. When Leo eventually turned them all in, it'd be because it was well-deserved. Districters were born criminals, even Howl.

Not Howl.

He needed more time to think but Howl was already tugging him along by the wrist, all smiles again. Trying to keep up with him was going to prove difficult. Leo hadn't realized that people from the Districts flipped trough emotions so quickly. He wondered if that was a them thing or if everyone was just like that.

"I'm not as picky as you think," he said, "There's just a lot I haven't tried." Leo had been told that he might need to consume alcohol on this assignment and he'd nodded when asked if he could handle himself. He'd had a glass of wine with dinner before at Christmas. It hadn't been so bad.

The wind picked up as they walked through back streets and Leo found himself wishing for the warmth of the promised bonfire. "How are you not freezing right now," he asked genuinely curious. Leo touched his arm gently without thinking, hands searching for warmth.