Teenage Troubles (Prequel for Teenage Baby)

Bonus Chapter | Crossover (Part 2)

"Leo?" Adelaide said. "Poor boy is so scared he's trying not to look at the blood."

Aaron shook his head. "Not even close. He's just bored. He hates staying still."

"Same, Leo. Same," Nathan said, sitting down cross-legged next to Leo. He broke a piece of the chocolate bar in his hand and offered it to Leo.

Leo stared at Nathan for a moment, then he opened his mouth and blinked expectantly.

It took Nathan a second to understand. When Aaron noticed this, he fought against an amused smile and shook his head. All this time and Leo still accidentally assumed people would feed him like that when they offered him food.

"Leo," Aaron said. "Close your mouth. He's not trying to feed you. You have a free hand." He tapped it. "Use it."

But Nathan had already put the food in Leo's mouth, and Leo turned to Aaron with guilty eyes. When he noticed the stern look on Aaron's face, slowly he leaned towards his free hand, intending to spit it out again.

Aaron's eyes widened. "No! Don't spit it out! Just swallow it now, it's fine."

Nathan couldn't stop laughing to himself. "You should've seen his expression when I offered him the chocolate. He was looking at me like feed me, peasant."

"Nathan," Aaron said. "Please don't encourage him. I could barely break this habit and now he'll think it's okay and he'll expect people to feed him all the time."

Leo looked at Nathan. "Peasant."

"Okay," Aaron sighed. He gave Nathan a tight-lipped smile. "Thanks for teaching Leo a new word. Enjoy him calling you a peasant for the rest of the day."

Nathan looked as relaxed as ever. "Aaron, my guy," he said, holding back his laughter, "I really don't mind."

"Uh, hello?" Adelaide said. "Leo is still stuck, if you forgot about that... It probably hurts a lot so let us just help him out."

"It doesn't hurt," Leo said.

Adelaide gave Leo her best empathetic smile, although Aaron could see the pity in it. He could also tell she completely misunderstood the situation. "Leo," she said, "it's okay to tell us if it hurts. And it's okay to complain. No one will judge you here, you know that, right?"

Leo stared at her emptily, then turned his face away, uninterested.

"Oh, gosh. He's reminding of Nate," Adelaide mumbled, looking at Aaron. "Nate had this entire I-think-I'm-not allowed-to-complain complex too. Does Leo's therapist know about this? I just... It's so sad, seeing him try to act like--"

"Adelaide," Aaron sighed. "It's not that deep. He means it literally. It literally doesn't hurt. He's got a blunted sense of pain."

"A blunted sense of what?"

"Pain," Leo said. "The doctors said it's how my body adapted to thirteen years of torture."

Aaron was so used to this idea, that for a split second, he couldn't tell why everyone fell silent.

"Oh, uh..." Adelaide looked pretty traumatized. "I... I-I'm sorry? You, uh, didn't deserve that. But on the bright side, no one can torture you for information or something, 'cause you're basically immune..."

Aaron gave Adelaide a look. "Well, isn't this a delightful thought?"

"But they can torture me with words," Leo said. "Words hurt a lot. They just have to say one word and I'll start sobbing."

"...So, need help getting his arm out, Aaron?"

"No."

Aaron grabbed Leo's arm a little tighter and pulled it out, finally freeing Leo. He winced when he heard the scratch of Leo's skin against the wood, then winced again when he noticed thin lines of blood trickling along his arm.