Kill Me.

Lee didn’t really like spending much time in his apartment. He often got lonely if he spent too long there. He lived alone and his apartment just felt so vacant and empty; he liked to get away from there as much as he could.

On this particular night, as it was with many nights, he had no destination in mind as he set out, his coat pulled snugly around him. It was a rather chilly night tonight, so he made a quick stop at the nearby Starbucks to get himself a cup of hot cocoa – he wasn’t really one for coffee. Smiling as he sipped at his warm drink, he strolled out of the shop and down the street, looking around him at everything.

He wasn’t quite sure how late he was going to be out. In fact, he didn’t know how late he wanted to be out, with that killer still running loose and all that, but he did know that the cold air felt good against his skin and the hot cocoa warmed him pleasantly, keeping him from freezing in the brisk nighttime air. He made note of where he turned so he could make his way safely back to his apartment later, but other than that, he wasn’t paying attention to much. This is what he liked about walks. It gave him an opportunity to clear his mind.

“Lee?” a low voice murmured from somewhere near him.

He jumped in surprise and looked around with wide eyes, trying to find the source of that voice. He let out a breath of relief when he saw that it was only Callum, and suddenly, he felt very silly for getting so startled. After all, who had he expected it to be? The killer? Lee laughed inwardly at himself. All this work he’d been putting into that article about the killer was really starting to make him paranoid.

Lee put his customary smile on his face and chirped, “Hi, Callum. Do you live around here too?”

Callum stared at Lee for a moment before answering slowly, simply, “Not really.”

“Oh,” Lee said, not knowing what to say in response to that. His smile faded as he sipped awkwardly at his cocoa, trying to think up something else to say. “W-well, what brings you here, then? It’s kind of late.”

The slightest hint of a smile pulled at Callum’s mouth, making his lips curve up into not a smile, no, but more like a slight smirk that didn’t even reach his eyes. “I could ask you the same thing,” he said.

Lee’s smile reappeared. “I live not too far from here,” he explained. “I was just walking around to sort of clear my head a little.”

Callum nodded and looked down at his shoes, whatever small hint of a smirk now completely gone from his face again. Lee wondered if Callum ever really smiled. He’d only seen the remotest attempts at a smile from the older boy, but that hardly counted for anything. Lee wanted a smile, a real smile, not just some cheap imitation.

“What are you doing here?” Lee prodded.

Callum shrugged. “Same as you, I guess,” he muttered. He looked up at Lee again and this time the smirk on his face was more sarcastic than anything. That one didn’t count as a smile either. “I just managed to get away from my sister and her lovely friends. Needed some time to myself.”

“Oh,” Lee said softly. He frowned. He’d hoped that maybe the two of them could spend some time together.

He met Callum’s eyes and found Callum gazing at him with an indiscernible expression. Lee furrowed his eyebrows at him and then out of nowhere, Callum suddenly asked, “What?”

Lee’s eyebrows lowered further. “What?” he asked, confused.

Callum sighed as if exasperated. “You wanted to ask me something?” he clarified.

Lee’s eyes widened. It was true; he had wanted to ask Callum if he wanted to hang out, but Lee was confused. How had Callum known? Was he psychic or something?

“No, I’m not psychic,” Callum said, as if reading Lee’s mind. “I’m just good at reading people.”

Lee nodded, still not convinced. Callum was probably some space alien with super powers or something. Yup, Lee nodded to himself, that was definitely it.

Lee smiled at Callum. “Well, I was thinking, since you’re not really doing anything and I’m not really doing anything, maybe we could walk around together for a bit? Hang out?” Lee asked hopefully.

Callum was quiet for a moment. He seemed to be giving the matter deep thought. Lee was prepared for him to answer with a blunt and cold “no” so when Callum nodded in agreement, Lee was pleasantly surprised.

“Sure,” Callum mumbled. “But can we go inside or something? It’s really fucking cold.”

Lee didn’t really think it was that cold, but then again, he was wearing a jacket and Callum wasn’t.

“We can go back to my place,” Lee offered. “It’s only a couple blocks away from here.”

Callum shrugged indifferently and Lee took that as a yes, leading the way back the way he’d just come from. Lee tried a few times to start up a conversation with Callum but soon felt silent, getting the feeling that Callum didn’t really want to talk. So they made their way back to Lee’s apartment in silence, and neither of them spoke until they were just outside of Lee’s apartment building. It was Callum who first broke the silence.

“I hate Starbucks,” he commented as Lee went to go throw away his now empty cup.

Lee looked over at Callum and smiled, unfazed. “I don’t really like it that much either,” he said. “Coffee’s not really my thing. But their hot cocoa is really good.”

Callum chose not to comment and Lee led the way up to his apartment, pushing the front door open with a flourish.

“Ta-da!” he exclaimed as he stepped in and turned on the lights. “It’s not much, but it suits my needs. I don’t really need anything big or glamorous since it’s just me, y’know?”

Callum raised his eyebrows at Lee’s excited behavior and looked around, nodding in approval. Lee flopped down on the couch in the living room, Callum following suit, only in not such an energetic manner. Lee noticed Callum chose to sit a good distance away from him but didn’t say anything. Callum didn’t seem like much of a people person anyways.

“So,” Lee said, trying to fill the silence that had settled in with them. “What do you want to do?”

Callum looked at Lee thoughtfully for a moment before saying, “You’re quite young, Lee, to be working for a major publishing company already.”

Lee shrugged. “It was always my dream, y’know? To be a journalist, I mean,” he told Callum. “I don’t think my parents were all that thrilled about it; they kept going on about how unreliable of a profession it is, but then I got an opportunity to be an intern at City Sun and I thought ‘why not?’ And anyways, you shouldn’t be calling me young. Aren’t we, like, the same age?”

“Close,” Callum said. “But I’m older.”

“Oh, and you think that gives you the right to act all high and mighty like you’re so much more mature than me?” Lee feigned an offended look.

Callum smirked. “Pretty much.”

Lee scoffed. “You’re really weird,” he remarked.

Callum sighed and leaned his head back against the couch. “I know,” he said softly.

Lee couldn’t quite tell what emotion was playing at the edges of Callum’s voice, though he could’ve sworn Callum sounded almost… sad. But Lee shook that off, because really, it didn’t fit. Callum didn’t seem the type to dislike anything about himself. In fact, he almost seemed the type to be a little arrogant, and besides, as their conversation carried on, Lee didn’t hear any trace of that indefinable emotion he’d heard.

Yeah, Lee concluded, he must’ve been hearing things or something. Must’ve been his mind playing tricks on him again. It had a tendency to do that often.