Kill Me.

Lee’s hands were shaking; his whole body was trembling. He couldn’t focus on anything and every slight noise made him jump. He was nervous and anxious, on edge and unable to concentrate on the mountain of work set out for him today. It helped that Callum had let him work in his office today, but only a little.

He just couldn’t get that image out of his head, the wide, vacant eyes, fear forever frozen in their depths from whoever this mysterious killer was – and blood, all that blood. It was too much. Lee just couldn’t handle it. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen people dead before, because he had; it was just that he’d never seen the body of someone who’d been so grotesquely murdered in this fashion.

More than once today, Lee had spontaneously burst into a fit of tears, to which Callum had responded with a few soft, reassuring words and a gentle hand resting on Lee’s knee. Something in Callum’s eyes told Lee that he was beginning to get annoyed with the fact that Lee kept breaking down into hysterics, but for some reason Lee couldn’t figure out, Callum never told him to leave. Callum didn’t tell him off even once and didn’t make a single snide remark, just sat there and let Lee fidget his way through the day.

By the time five o’clock rolled around, Lee had barely gotten any work done and he was still shaken terribly. Callum must’ve noticed this, for he sighed softly and cast an almost worried glance over at the younger boy.

“Lee, it’s five,” Callum said.

Lee blinked and looked up at Callum with wide eyes. “W-what?” he stammered. He looked at the huge pile of work that hadn’t seemed to have shrunk at all over the course of the day. “I’m s-s-so sorry. I-I should’ve finished all of this by now, I just c-can’t focus. I promise I’ll finish soon—”

Lee was cut short by the feeling of Callum’s hand patting his arm. “It’s okay,” Callum assured him. “You’ve had a long day. You can go home now if you want and finish this tomorrow.”

“B-but—” Lee tried to protest, but Callum held his hand up.

“Lee,” he said perfectly calmly. “You’re not going to get any work done in this state, okay? You need time to calm down.”

“But I—” Lee knew that if he let this work sit, it would just mean that he’d have twice as much work tomorrow.

Callum shook his head once, sharply, and said, as if reading Lee’s mind again, “I’ll try to make sure everyone does their work for once, so you won’t have too much extra work tomorrow, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Lee pressed his lips together and nodded, still not wanting to go home. The work excuse had really only just been a cover anyways. More work he could deal with, but what he couldn’t deal with was the fear trickling down his spine. He didn’t want to go home; he didn’t want to be alone, because then his paranoia would get the better of him. He was already scared out of his wits here with Callum. Who knew how bad it would be if he were to be alone.

Lee bit his lip and looked down at his hands, which were folded in his lap, fidgeting restlessly. He didn’t stand, didn’t move. He didn’t want to go. He heard Callum sigh again and before he knew it, Callum was pulling him up to his feet.

“Come on,” he insisted. “I’m taking you home.”

Lee reluctantly let himself be pulled along. They walked out to the parking lot and Callum held his hand out to Lee. Lee furrowed his eyebrows at the older boy, not exactly understanding what Callum was trying to do.

“Keys,” Callum clarified. “You’re in no condition to be driving.”

“Oh,” Lee nodded and handed his keys over to Callum, sliding into the passenger seat of his car.

The entire ride back to Lee’s apartment building was silent, save for when Lee spoke to tell Callum which way to turn at an intersection. Callum walked Lee up to his apartment quietly but didn’t follow him in. Lee turned apprehensively to Callum, not wanting Callum to leave at all. His fears were running out of control and he couldn’t help worrying that something terrible would happen.

Callum offered up his best reassuring smile and put his hands on Lee’s shoulders. “It’s going to be okay,” Callum told him. “You’re in your own home. You’re not going to get hurt. Stop worrying so much, okay? I have to get back to the office to finish up some things, and I want you to just take some deep breaths and calm down. Nothing is going to happen.”

Lee nodded, feeling completely at ease though he knew there was no way Callum could know for sure that nothing bad would happen. Callum just sounded so sure of himself, so confident. Something about the way he spoke just made Lee feel so incredibly safe as he’d never felt before.

“Okay,” Lee said quietly.

The corner of Callum’s mouth quirked up into a half-smile and he patted Lee’s shoulder softly. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if giving something deep thought, before leaning in to give Lee a quick hug. And then, for some reason even Lee didn’t know, Lee impulsively leaned up and pressed a light kiss to Callum’s cheek. His cheeks flushed and he bit his lip to hide the smile that was fighting to his face. Callum just looked shell-shocked.

“Thanks for bringing me home,” Lee said in a voice that was almost a whisper. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Callum nodded, that surprised expression frozen on his face. Lee looked down shyly and stepped back to push the door shut. He leaned back against the door and let the smile he’d been struggling to keep back bloom onto his face. Fear pushed back to the corners of his mind, part of him was giddy as a schoolgirl whose crush had finally noticed her existence, and the other part of him was just surprised that Callum hadn’t punched him in the face.