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[attr="class","star2"]Maybe the amount of times he’d messaged and called Levy could have been considered overkill. But what was he supposed to do? At first, he just wanted to hear from him. Receive any kind of sign that it hadn’t been Levy who he’d seen falling into that large, deep sinkhole. Nevermind the other parts. The part where he’d fought with Wren. Like, did damage to one another’s Pokémon. Like…rocket versus league fighting.[break][break]

He couldn’t even really begin to sort through that and begin to process it yet. He needed to know that Levy was okay. Salandit hadn’t left his side since Wren had found him alone in Littleroot in the aftermath of the battle. Even while he’d been in the hospital, Salandit had stayed right there on the end of his bed, huddled up with Juno. Sure, it could be any old salandit. But he’d know this lizard as immediately as he would Juno. And obviously the eevee knew to recognize him too.[break][break]

His hospital stay had been miserable, even with visits from annalise henderson and ollie morales . The bulk of that time was left to his own worries and guilty thoughts. The things he wished he’d done differently. Staying in his childhood home hadn't been much better. Even with more distractions available to him. And then after the millionth time checking his unacknowledged messages, there it was:[break][break]

Read.[break][break]

It confirmed the fear that was both agitating and relieving: Levy was ignoring him. Why? Or, or maybe…someone had his phone. Someone else had found it, and read the messages and then didn’t bother to say as much.[break][break]

Finally, he thought about the fact that there was maybe one more place he could try.[break][break]

The path to the small pond behind the daycare was familiar, imprinted in his memories from an immeasurable number of days spent seeking Levy out, or playing with him there once he was allowed there freely without having to track him down.[break][break]

Crutches aside, this felt a lot more like those earlier days. Wren, following after the strange, silent boy, and coaxing the trust out of him until he learned that Levy wasn’t all that strange. Just shy and scared. He no longer knew where he stood with his best friend. Not when he was so obviously avoiding him. The reminding thought left him with a sharp pain in his chest. Worse than the ankle or the concussion or the bullet graze. A rending sort of pain, worse than most might feel about an avoidant friend.[break][break]

Of course, he might not be avoiding Wren at all. He might be—[break][break]

The thought stopped in its tracks just as Wren himself did. Because there he was, sitting by the pond with Minnie. “Levy!” Wren’s heart wrenched, and he sucked in heavy breath. “Thought I might find you here,” he tried to stay upbeat and lighthearted, but his voice wobbled too much to be convincing.[break][break]

Then before he could think that maybe Levy didn’t want him there, he was stumbling forward, crutches and bag dropping to the ground as he practically tackled the other. It sent pain shooting through his shoulder and foot, and probably startled Juno and Salandit, who had been tucked away in the backpack.[break][break]

“Why didn’t you answer?” Now he was blubbering like a dissatisfied kid as he latched onto Levy. He felt like an exposed nerve ending, all physical pain and emotional turmoil. All that upset held inside for days now. “I thought- I didn’t know…Levy, I was scared!”
[break][break]
Levy Alinsky

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“Levy!” Every muscle in his body tensed as he shot up from where he was sitting. Minnie launched herself away with a frightened yip. It was stupid of him to linger there, in the place they used to play. Maybe a part of him wanted to be found. He wasn’t sure, but his heart twisted in his chest with a violent tug.
[break][break]
There was no running away now, was there? Not without breaking what little was left between them. He swung around to face the other with a nearly drunken motion. “Wren… I…” His voice felt hollow and empty. Wren’s body collided with his own and it was sheer willpower and anticipation that kept him from tumbling back into the water.
[break][break]
His body trembled with the painful aftershock of having his shoulder pushed on, but it didn’t matter. Pain was tolerable, it was warranted. Somehow, he felt smaller than ever before, far too undeserving of the warmth spreading off the other’s body. Wren clung to him and, eventually, he couldn’t help but respond as his arms moved from his sides to circle around the other boy. With shaking hands, they clung to the fabric of the other’s shirt and pulled him closer. Wren was the only one that ever made this contact okay. He was the only one.
[break][break]
Wren blubbered, breath heavy on a barely-contained sob. He hated that sound, hated the emotion that he had provoked. This was his fault.
[break][break]
“I’m sorry.” His voice sounded raw. All of the sound was lost, twisted up in his throat.
[break][break]
Emotion didn’t come easily to him. When it did, it was ugly and feral and clawing. It made him think of the days before Wren had come into his life. When raw emotion was all he had, when he’d been so fucking angry. But now, this? It was something else. He’d never had anything that he couldn’t live without. The threat of losing something that actually mattered. He tucked closer to the other, curling down until he could hide his face against Wren’s shoulder. “I lied to you, I’m sorry. I told you I'd be fine but — please don't hate me. I don't know what to do anymore. Please don't hate me.”
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[attr="class","star2"] If he really hated Wren now, he’d push him away…right? He’d fight against the hold he now had on him like a vice grip. Or yell at him, or something that made sense with the way he’d been ignoring him over the last several days. In the passing moments before Wren collided with him, when he’d twisted around to look at him, he’d looked like he’d been caught. Nowhere to hide.[break][break]

Why did he want to hide? What had Wren done to make him want to stay away like this?[break][break]

Guilt and self-doubt whipped up a nasty storm inside of him, but Wren wasn’t letting go. Not until Levy said or did something to demand that from him. It made his shoulder and ankle ache—a deep bone ache all the way up his leg, but it didn’t matter. All that pressurized emotion crowded his throat and suddenly it became difficult to drag in a breath that wasn’t a snotty, muffled sob from where his face was plastered against the front of Levy’s coat.[break][break]

Wren, despite being a naturally emotional person, had grown accustomed to the act of putting on a brave face. Most everything and anything was met with a smile or some degree of optimistic enthusiasm. There was no room for that here, though. All those negativities and worries that had weighed him down as he’d tried to be positive for his friends and family crowded out his typical sunny demeanor.[break][break]

But it was okay to do that here, with Levy, where it was safe to. Even if he didn’t know where they stood or why, it was still safe. Something that he felt reassured in as the other’s arms finally slotted around him and hugged him back. With just as much fierce desperation as his own fingers knotted in Levy’s coat.[break][break]

I’m sorry.[break][break]

The broken edge in those words made them easier to forgive. When he pulled his face back to look up at Levy, his cheeks felt sticky and hot, and he had to blink the blurriness away as he sniffled. “Wh-” He struggled to gulp down a breath. “What do you mean you lied?” Despite the confusion, Wren shook his head vehemently. So hard it threatened to make his head ache again with the remnants of his fading concussion. But Levy was hiding his face so his hands withdrew from his hold and slipped to hold his face. “Levy, look at me.” Pulling it back to look at him, maybe holding a bit too hard. “I would never hate you. Never.”

[break][break]
Levy Alinsky

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Levy didn't know what to do anymore and that was a frightening realization. This was his own choice so he couldn't play it off like this had never been a possibility. Levy knew better than anyone that life was rarely a controllable factor. Yet he'd been stupid to play with that, knowing that he could very well lose the only person that mattered to him. He was lucky though, that Wren was there.
[break][break]
Even sobbing and clinging to him, Wren was there with him. Parts of his composure was cracking, peeling away to reveal rawness beneath. "I'm sorry." He repeated, still clinging. The other's broken sob made a part of him break a little bit.
[break][break]
Wren beckoned for him and hands slipped around his face. He'd never been able to resist Wren, really. Even when every ounce of his will told him not to look at him, not to show off the pain and hurt and fear that lived under his skin. It couldn't be helped though and before he could think to be stubborn or wrest away from those hand, he was looking up at him.
[break][break]
Emotion had never come easily to him and this time, it felt so ugly. It felt like a burden of emotion. It wasn't right. Wren didn't deserve to have to put up with this, did he? No, Levy was supposed to be the composed one. Even then, it showed all the same and he felt only shame."I told you I'd be alright... I said I'd be okay even with you gone. But I'm not, I'm not okay. I lied, I'm sorry. I'm pathetic."


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[attr="class","star2"] He needed to pull it together. Rein all that excess emotion back in so that he could be something sturdy and reliable again. It was easier to do so, at least, when he demanded Levy’s attention—immediately more concerned with reassuring the other that he wasn’t despised.[break][break]

It wasn’t until after he had Levy’s face cradled in his hands and the other was looking down at him, vulnerable with wild, dark eyes, that Wren’s heart slammed into motion. He sniffled, and his face burned hotter than it already had been from the welled up emotion and tears. He blinked, lashes heavy and face tear-sticky, then frowned as Levy spoke. “What..? You’re not pathetic. Levy, I haven’t been alright without either, don’t you get that?”[break][break]

His bottom lip began to wobble again so he bit down on it. Even though in their correspondence, he’d acted fine. Even if he’d been cheerful and upbeat and positive in the months that had followed his move to Evergrande. Even if he liked the work he was doing on a day to day basis, or if he enjoyed meeting new people who were like-minded.[break][break]

That had never meant he didn’t feel okay without his presence, or that he didn’t keenly feel Levy’s absence when they weren’t together.[break][break]

So now, standing there staring up at him and knowing what he knew about Littleroot, or what he’d pieced together anyway, Wren didn’t care. He just wanted Levy to understand what had been tumbling around inside of his heart for so many years that he’d forgotten what it was like to not feel the imprint left behind by the boy he’d taken a chance on befriending.[break][break]

Before he could think twice about doing the one thing he’d wanted and been too scared to before now, he lifted up on his toes (of one foot because the other was incapacitated obviously,) and pushed himself closer. His head was too full of tumult to sort through his worries and anxieties over toeing this particular line between them. Hands still cupping Levy’s face, he tilted his own and pressed a clumsy, frantic kiss against his lips.
[break][break]
Levy Alinsky

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Levy was certain that Wren was only saying that to make him feel better. It was hard to imagine Wren in a bad place, though he knew he could feel low. Maybe it was selfish of him to believe that he was the only one struggling. Wren had his own share of problems too — even if they were different from his own. He was sensitive and sweet and wore his heart of his sleeve, and Levy hated seeing him get hurt for it. Yet it felt like he was the one, in the end, that was always hurting him.
[break][break]
"Yeah... I guess. But..." He felt stupid, babbling on. Hopelessly emotional in a way he almost never was. It was like his brain no longer functioned under it. Maybe it was simply the fact he'd so rarely become emotional, that when it happened he felt hopelessly incapable of handling the weight of it all. It reminded him of when they were younger and still in school. Wren had been there then to help him function emotionally, just as he was then.
[break][break]
The truth of the matter was he was lonely without Wren around. The very thought of Wren making a life for himself a world away made him irrationally jealous. Wren made friends so easily and there were so many more people out there that Levy imagined were better than him. People that Wren could... he didn't know, get feelings for? It wasn't fair, of course, considering he'd put Wren's feeling aside out of fear at one point. He'd always assumed that Wren's feelings had diluted over time.
[break][break]
He figured that Wren didn't want him anymore like that. And yet...
[break][break]
He couldn't quite think straight already and when he felt lips press against his own, he shut down a little. It wouldn't be the first time that Levy felt himself shut down without intent. Sometimes, it felt like his body and his mind were on two separate paths. The will and wants of one did not align with the other. In the end, one always won out and he had very little say in the matter.
[break][break]
At one time, this had protected him. It kept him safe from a world that was far more cruel and unforgiving than the one he existed in now. It didn't matter though, he never seemed to be able to grow out of the torment of his own youth. It was strangling him. Let go, yet it clung to that fear all the same. He wanted this, didn't he? Yes. He wanted Wren, right? Yes.
[break][break]
Levy felt his own frustration at a visceral level, pure frustration and loathing. "Why am I like this? Wren, I..." He shook his head, "I want to, I do. I'm just... I don't know why I'm like this." Levy didn't cry, but he did right then. He hated it, but he just needed to calm down, it helped when he just paused and breathed. He just needed a second, that was all.



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[attr="class","star2"] It was like he could feel Levy shutter closed, and unsurprisingly, that stung. Even if rationally Wren knew that the other wasn’t as good at expression as he was, it still made him wince slightly as he pulled back when there was no physical response. The chill of dread rose like the tide under his skin and he felt the chill of the winter air more acutely. Mistake. He’d messed up, hadn’t he? He’d gotten ahead of himself and misinterpreted.[break][break]

Not the first time that had happened, so Wren wasn’t sure why he’d thought that had suddenly changed. Levy had probably expected him to have moved on, and had been relieved by that. And now, Wren had messed that all up, all over again. A nervous sound slipped free against his will, and his mouth wobbled before he forced a smile. A short huff of determined breath followed, staving off the crumbling panic that was tumbling around inside of him.[break][break]

He was just being nice, even in his panic. Levy was sparing him the harsher rejection. That had to be the case. He shook his head, and pulled his sleeves up over his hands before they returned to the other’s face. “Levy, I-” he bit down on the impulsive words that wanted to jump loose and make things way worse. “It’s okay, alright? There’s nothing wrong with you.” His sweater paws wiped at the tears on Levy’s face, frantic in his need to make up for his blunder.[break][break]

“Let’s just…let’s just go back to my house, okay?” His parents' house, just down the street. Which had been the reason he’d first discovered Levy when they were little in the first place. “It’s cold out here, and…and, it’ll help, okay?” Without waiting for an answer, he let one hand slip down to Levy’s to drag him back. That way he could look away, and Levy would have to see how fake his smile was then. How he’d retreated back into that cheerfulness just to keep it together.[break][break]

Awkwardly, he hobbled back to the crutches and bag that had fallen to the ground. As a result, Juno and Salandit had tumbled out, and it reminded Wren of the whole thing. “I…found Salandit, by the way. He’s been missing you,” he said as he stooped down, not looking back toward him. His voice was thin, quiet. Why was it so hard to breathe suddenly? He didn’t say anything further than that, but it would just confirm what Wren had already put together.[break][break]

But he’d still kissed him, even then. Would that matter? "Let's just go home. You don't look so good, and you know my mom always keeps a full supply kit."
[break][break]
Levy Alinsky

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Heartbroken.
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Levy could see it on Wren's face, in his eyes, in the tense edges of the smile he forced to the surface. He hated when Wren did that. When he hid all of his pain behind a smile like nothing was wrong. Joked around like he was okay. It was all Levy's fault too. Guilt and regret coiled up around him, constricting until he too found it hard to breathe right.
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He felt like a child again, out of breath as Wren wiped the tears from his eyes. "Yes, there is." He snapped back, a little fiercer than he meant, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't help the way revulsion seemed to shudder through him. "There's something wrong with me." His voice sounded ragged, head heavy as he looked down at the ground. He'd been so consumed that he hadn't even realized that Wren was in a cast. "Wren… your leg.”
[break][break]
Exhaustion didn’t help, of course, he hadn’t slept more than a few spare hours since the events in Littleroot. Not that that was unusual for him, he almost never slept right. Still, he followed the guidance of the other’s hand. “Minnie,” The eevee had come out somewhat reluctantly as he returned her to her pokeball to relax after the fright. This wasn’t right. Once again, Wren was picking him up and swallowing his feelings in order to support him. That’s how it’s always been though.
[break][break]
Salandit tumbled free of Wren’s bag, looking momentarily confused (as he was prone to) before looking up at Levy with puppy-dog admiration. “Sal,” A part of him felt lighter with that relief as he dropped to pick the lizard up. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to leave you.” Another failure on his part, he should have gone back for him. “How’d you find him?”
[break][break]
Awkwardly, he followed Wren back to the other’s childhood home. The feeling of deja vu was so strong that it was nearly disorientating, as the door opened and they walked inside. “Is… she here?” Admittedly, he hoped she wasn’t. He didn’t want to have to explain to her… well, he didn’t know.
[break][break]
"Wren...?" He paused at that, not really sure what to say at this point. How could he possibly fix this?

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[attr="class","star2"] He couldn’t help the way he shrunk back further at the snap that bit through Levy’s voice. Eyes wide and hurt, though after a moment he had at least enough audacity to meet it with a clipped, “No,” before he turned away to collect his things. Almost as fierce, but it was all he had the capacity for, really. Just that one word.[break][break]

“Huh? Yeah. I healed someone, and he broke my ankle. But it was better than killing me, which he was trying to do before that.” For a moment, a bitter edge began to slink into his voice, frustration at the situation, at the unknown Felix Gallagher , at his own naivety. But then he recalled the way elijah gardner had helped him, regardless of who he was, and the negativity faded. Empathy still existed in dark places, and not just from him. It had been the right choice. “I don’t regret it.”[break][break]

Wren continued to avoid looking at Levy for too long. Instead, he fixated on Salandit as he darted toward his rightful trainer. Frowned at the question posed, and then he was looking at the other, brows pinched together. “Well, at Littleroot, obviously. At the sinkhole.” Where you fell. “I’d know Sal anywhere.” I’d know you anywhere. He let his unspoken words remain unsaid, heavy in the pauses between his explanations. Let them be the secondary context.[break][break]

It was difficult to move quickly on crutches, but he did as best as he could. If only to avoid the potential for more, awkward and stilted conversation as he mulled over how badly he’d bungled everything. Could he take it back? Say it was just a moment of panic that caused him to kiss his best friend? That wouldn’t work…in Wren’s mine he was too obvious, he’d always been too obvious.[break][break]

“No, she’s at a farmer’s expo with my dad,” he explained as he shuffled around him once the door was shut, so that he could hobble down to the hall to the closet that held all of his mom’s extra stuff. “They wanted to come back early, but I told them not to. It was an expensive trip. Robin picked me up from the hospital, but they won’t be home until way later.” School, then work. Their younger sibling had tried to take time off, but Wren wasn’t about to let them do that either.[break][break]

He knew he was doing his typical, nervous babbling. Over Explaining and over-clarifying simple things. But even then, his tone had dulled some. Try as he might to keep the dejected edge out, and replace it with his typical chipper cadence.[break][break]

Inexplicably, he sort of just wanted to retreat to his room alone, so that he could cry some more. It didn’t make sense—not when he’d been so anxious over Levy’s absence until now. And Levy didn’t need his distancing. Not when he was so clearly out of sorts. Lost in his head, Wren answered the call of his name belatedly.[break][break]

He played it off like he’d been too focused on pulling first aid materials out of the closet. “Mhmm?” he hummed back, without turning away from his task, tone high and thin. All too quickly, he didn’t trust himself to be able to speak without feeding to the lump that had formed in his throat, watery and heavy. Stop being a crybaby.
[break][break]
Levy Alinsky

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Wren’s tone could cut through anything and Levy felt it bone deep. It cut through the dramatics and made him fall silent. What was he doing? He didn’t know anymore, only that he was putting distance between them. [break][break] The art of creating emotional distance, he was a master of that. Wren had never let that happen, but Levy could feel that maybe… he was at the end of the rope. Eventually, everyone gets there, right? At some point even Wren had to get tired of it all. Now, he’d gone and put himself out there and what did Levy do? Nothing.
[break][break]
A bitter spike of anger formed at that. Of course Wren had tried to help someone who didn’t deserve to be helped.
[break][break]
“You shouldn’t have been there,” He didn’t really think when he said it, pausing in that moment before picking Salandit up. It wasn’t exactly his right to tell Wren where he should’ve been, but it didn’t make sense to him. Wren was a ranger and he only just started. The hell was he doing at Littleroot? Once again, he was reminded that maybe it didn’t matter whose side it was anymore. At least Rocket was honest about being rotten.
[break][break]
This house brought back a lot of memories. Levy wasn’t expecting the hurt that followed. The memories of a nervous kid without a family or any friends, welcomed into a house by strangers.
[break][break]
Maybe, in hindsight, that had been a bad idea. Levy was tired of feeling sorry for himself, but he still couldn’t get the nagging feeling out of his head that this wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t here. Mhm? That little hum hung in the air and he could feel himself deflate with the simplicity of it. “Maybe I should go… I’m alright. I’m fine.” His voice sounded too small, despite himself. "I just... I don't wanna hurt you anymore."

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[attr="class","star2"] “But it was okay for you to be?” he shot back immediately. How was that supposed to be fair? Wren knew that he hadn’t signed up for ranger work to be a part of some great rift between parties. He’d signed up to serve and he’d done that. It was why he’d stood by his decision to heal that stranger despite the consequence that followed.[break][break]

He huffed. He hadn’t wanted to be there, but risk had always been on the table. Since when had Levy become a part of it all? How did he get to decide where Wren was meant to be, when he’d never even told Wren what he’d chosen to do in the first place?[break][break]

It didn’t matter, though. Wren had already decided that. Not that it made his agitation bubble up any less.[break][break]

Before he could really stop himself, Wren had lifted an arm to scrub his face and eyes against his sleeve. He felt stupid and small, standing there, leaned into the closet and faced away from Levy like a crybaby coward. When the other spoke up, he felt his lip wobble again, “Is that what you want..?” he asked, hushed and watery.[break][break]

It was the follow up that made his head lift again, and whirl around to face him, finally outletting some of that hurt in a way that wasn’t just tears. His cast banged on the doorframe and the ache was bone deep bad, but he ignored it save for a short wince. The pain was crowded up by the shout that volleyed up out of the pit of his chest where it had been sitting, frustrated and unchecked, for days.[break][break]

“What, you wanna go so you can go back to ignoring me again? That’s not fair, Levy! If you think that won’t hurt me, you don’t know what does. So you’re gonna go sit on the stupid Psyduck beanbag in my room that my mom didn’t get rid of when I moved out,” He finger jabbed in the direction of his room further down the hall even though they both knew he knew where it was, “and you’re not gonna go anywhere, dammit!”[break][break]

Eyes watery, cheeks puffed out and red as he turned back toward the closet to begin grabbing at things with more furious energy than before. He was beset with guilt immediately for shouting at Levy, even more so because cursing was something he did with even less frequency. But he didn’t feel like taking it back just yet. Not until Levy listened.

[break][break]
Levy Alinsky

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"Well, I..." He paused then, sighing and shaking his head. It wasn't worth objecting to because he knew the other spoke the truth. Neither of them should have been in littleroot. The question had never been asked and he had never truly affirmed the other's apparent suspicions. Levy hadn't though he'd been obvious in his disguise, but it was probably Juno's recognition of him.
[break][break]
Admittedly, he was too afraid to see if the eevee hated him after everything. That sounded like too much heartbreak in one day. He'd done this to himself, of course, so there was no point in feeling sorry for himself. Either way, he felt like a coward when he spoke again. There was a whole lot of maybe but no real idea what he should've done right then, but he knew it was a mistake regardless. He could sense the pain there. "No, but it doesn't matter what I want."
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He choked on the knot in his throat as Wren spun around, the pain evident there as the movement hurt his foot. Levy didn't realize that he was wringing the hem of his shirt between his hands, tightening under the tension until his knuckles turned white as bone.
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Wren didn't shout, not often, if at all. Levy couldn't remember a time he'd provoked that kind of emotion. So, when the other yelled, he couldn't do anything but listen. It cut straight through him too like a serrated blade. He felt something sharp and acidic in his throat, the overwhelming feeling of being somehow smaller than the other, even though that wasn't possible.
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He flinched a little under the curse word and the added volume of pain in there. For a moment, he stood there, not really thinking about it. There was no option anymore, but maybe it was better than Wren telling him to leave. If Wren had told him that leaving might be best, he wasn't sure what he'd do after that point except fall apart.
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With a fumbling, curt nod — he walked to the other's childhood room and found the beanbag. It was a lot smaller than he remembered it being, but he sat nonetheless in silence.

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[attr="class","star2"] Wren didn’t mention the fact that he saw Levy’s mask slip when he fell. It felt like it would only add further insult to injury, though he’d had that gut feeling when they’d first fought. Juno’s own reaction hadn’t helped his suspicions either, of course. Even now, she kept a short distance from Levy. Not fully hostile, but still wary in a way she hadn’t been with Salandit. As if evaluating him to discern whether or not to forgive him just yet.[break][break]

“What? Of course what you want matters,” he answered simply as a small frown slipped over his face. “Stop talking nonsense.” Why wouldn’t it matter? Particularly when Wren had always cared about whether or not the other was happy or having his needs and wants met. Now, he felt he’d done an awful job of that, having discovered that Levy hadn’t been doing well without him there in Slateport.[break][break]

He felt selfish and raw in the center of his chest. He felt like a let down. How could he not tell that it had hurt his best friend? He had hurt his best friend.[break][break]

It only compounded the guilty feeling that arose when he shouted at Levy. Surely he could’ve made his point without doing so. But the threat of Levy turning around and walking out the door had felt pressing and imminent. And in the heat of the moment, Wren had reacted as immediately as he could muster to make Levy stop. It seemed to be effective, too. Because he silently pushed by and went to Wren’s room, leaving him alone in the hall.[break][break]

For a moment, Wren simply stared into the closet, trying to figure out what to do next. They couldn’t just act normal. Not with what was lingering between them now, and after what Wren had just done back in the woods. Unbidden, he felt his face heat aggressively, despite the hurt and the upset still bubbling in his system.[break][break]

Nothing to do but keep moving forward. It was all he could think to do. So he hopped down the hall on his crutches, awkwardly bundling the stuff he’d pulled into an old towel to keep it all from falling. For some reason, even though he’d made the demand, Wren didn’t think Levy would actually sit himself in the too-small beanbag. So when he pushed the door open, in spite of everything, a soft scoff of laughter slipped loose.[break][break]

Shaking his head, he dumped everything on his bedspread, and then leaned his crutches against the bed frame before lowering himself awkwardly to the floor in front of Levy. “Are you done acting like I somehow hate your guts, yet?” he asked, blunt but still soft. Tentative.

[break][break]
Levy Alinsky

[attr="class","star3"][attr="class","rouxcredit"]♠