Andrew ended up falling asleep there, curled up on the floor in a ball. Luca, who again was becoming increasingly worried because of the silence and stillness coming from the other room after about five hours, went down to check. And again, not seeing Andrew immediately made him feel like someone had just thrown a brick into his stomach.
Luca frantically looked around, and finally spotted the white haired man on the floor.
"Oh." He whispered under his breath, unsure of what to do next. He just stared at Andrew for a second before deciding he should drive him home. Picking Andrew up was a struggle at first, but Luca soon realized how truly frail Andrew was. The only real muscle on his body was in his biceps, due to how much he dug.
Luca ended up carrying Andrew bridal style into his car. It had gotten dark by now, and Luca's house was closer than Andrews. He started the car and cranked the heat up to ensure that Andrew was comfortable and warm. It only took five minutes to reach Luca's home, as opposed to the ten it would've taken to reach Andrew's.
Luca left his car on as he silently got out to unlock the door to his house. He struggled with the keys for a moment, having a hard time seeing in the dark. His porch light was broken, and it often took him several minutes to even get close to unlocking his door. The jingle of metal against metal of his keys, the buzzing of the dim street lamps, and the crickets made Luca's anxiety skyrocket.
He'd always been a horror movie junkie, it was like his guilty pleasure. With the amount of movies he'd seen, every situation he was in where he was completely alone instantly reminded him of one of the scenes he had seen. Luca couldn't think of the amount of times he'd seen the scene he was in on the big screen.
Finally, after what felt like years, Luca was able to unlock and kick open his door. He had somehow forgotten about Andrew, the possibility of him being brutally murdered overtaking his mind completely. He knew there was something he needed to get from his car, but he really couldn't remember that it was an entire person. An entire person that was just as vulnerable, if not more, than Luca just had been.
He quickly went through his whole house and flipped every single light on, to ensure there wasn't anybody waiting in the dark to kill him. In all four rooms of his humble abode, there was (thankfully) not a single murderer. If there was, they probably would've taken his life by the time he got to the last room.
Luca let out a deep sigh once he checked the last place a murderer could be hiding. He went through this routine every single time he got home after dark, which was why he didn't leave his house much. It occurred to him many times that maybe he should get therapy for his intense paranoia, but he would forget by the time he saw Aesop.
Aesop dissolved all of Luca's anxieties, in a way that no drug, activity, or other person could. He was infatuated with the other, almost addicted to Aesop. In fact, this was the first time he'd been at his own home without Aesop in more than a month. Being together every second of every day wasn't all that healthy, though. Luca managed to acknowledge that.
Luca concluded that he should go ahead and get ready for bed, going into his bathroom to brush his teeth and get dressed for sleep. He slipped his jeans and belt off after taking care of his teeth, and thought that he was comfortable enough to go to sleep now.
He flopped into his bed face down, just then realizing how tired the day had made him. Between driving more than he was used to, and having to deal with grieving Andrew and upset Aesop, he was exhausted. He flipped over and pulled the blanket over himself, closing his eyes to doze off. With all of his lights still being on, it made it a little difficult, but he eventually let the sleep envelope him in comfort.
Right before he drifted off into a deep sleep, Luca realized what he had forgotten in the car. It was Andrew.
Luca jolted up, scrambling to get on a pair of basketball shorts and retrieve his poor friend. He practically unhinged his door trying to open it and get out of it. Andrew was still fast asleep, probably just as dead tired as Luca was. Luca couldn't imagine how stressful his day had been.
He gently cracked open the car door, unbuckled Andrew, and scooped him up in bridal style. Luca carried Andrew quietly all the way from the car and to his room. Andrew's weight was still a lot, causing Luca to stumble a little on his way to his bedroom.
He dumped Andrew on the bed and realized the light might disturb him. He quickly switched it off, instead plugging in a small night light. He tucked Andrew in before grabbing a loose sheet and making his way into the living room. He was fine with sleeping on the couch, Andrew probably didn't want to have to sleep with his best friend.
Finally, he plopped down onto the couch and cuddled himself half way under the cushions. He tugged the loose sheet to his chest and drifted off into a dreamland of his most wonderful fantasies.
