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Part Thirteen

   "Um, where are we going?"

   Leo had to stop dead in his tracks to remember what the word was called, before uttering a simple "dining room" and continuing on his way.
 
"Wait, Leo, stop!"

   When the human took notice of the fear in his voice, he went to lean against his door frame and looked down at Sam with an eyebrow raised.

   "I need a second to breath if I'm gonna be out and about in a room full of humans," Sam hissed out, because he knew the only way to get into Leo's mind while he was this tired was to aim aggression at him.

   "'K," Leo responded, closing his eyes and leaning his head further until his neck looked about ready to snap.
   Maybe it was better to be in the room with Elijah and Skip if this was how Leo was going to act. It was dangerous enough being in the nearby vicinity of a human being, but being held by one while it was too exhausted to form a sentence was another story entirely.
   Besides, his friends were respectful the last he saw of them. Eli Might have gone a bit overboard in terms of excitement, but was still gentle and aware of his fears nonetheless. Skip, on the other hand, didn't seem to care much at all about their size difference, and Sam couldn't help but appreciate that just as much. It was like there was nothing to differentiate between both of them, like he was just as human and an equal member of their friend group. Sam needed that sort of stability if he wanted to keep this going.
   So, he took a much needed deep breath, and called back up to Leo to keep going.

   Both Elijah and Skip were well aware of Leo's entrance to the dining room, but neither of them were keen on showing it. It was common knowledge amongst them both that if Leo came, Sam would be with him, and might also be scared out of his mind like he was before.
   Elijah could work with it, and Skip could find a way to bounce off Eli's energy until Sam trusted him enough.
   So when Leo walked into the room, one hand cupped to his chest and the other reaching for the chair so as not to fall over, both boys avoided staring and pretended to take interest in the plates in front of them.
   "Hey," Leo announced, putting his hand on the table palm up for Sam to crawl out. Neither Skip nor Eli even dared to look in his direction.

   "Hi," Skip grunted, picking up his fork, because it was much more interesting than the tiny person in front of them.

   "Get anymore sleep?" Eli asked them, reaching over to grab a napkin from the center of the table, even though he stopped eating ages ago.

   "He didn't," A new voice piped up from the table, only a pitch higher than Elijah's. "Leo stayed up all night."

   When Sam spoke, both Eli and Skip turned to each other with raised eyebrows, Eli's grin just barely contained. If Sam was talking this early in the morning, there was good news ahead. However, no matter how excited they were over the new and improved little guy, it was necessary to keep a calm and maintained demeanor so as not to scare him off.

   "I slept a little bit," Leo muttered, but his speech was too slurred to believe.

   "How much is a little bit?" Skip prodded, taking his eyes off the fork but still not making eye contact with Sam.

   "Like...like ten minutes..."

   There was a clunk heard as Leo's head fell into his hands, only seconds away from crushing Sam underneath him. He was nodding off, but too stubborn to fall asleep in the presence of all three guests in the house. Not only that, it would be too embarrassing to fall asleep as soon as he grumbled on about being called out for doing the opposite.
   Sam, now acquainted with too much of Leo's antics to feel safe with him at the moment, broke away from his best friend and turned to the closest member at the table; Elijah.
   Eli specifically turned his head upwards, keeping a bouncing leg under the table to avoid tapping his fingers at the sight of Sam almost directly underneath his chin.

   "Um, Eli?"

   "Mhm?" He responded like nothing was out of the ordinary.

    "A-are you okay?"

    "I'm okay, Sam. A little nervous with the elephant in the room."

    "Okay...um, me too."
  
   It seemed Sam was much more relaxed around Leo, but there was still improvement shown evident in the trust Sam gave to Elijah as he stood underneath him. Even sitting down, the human's chest took up his vision, seeming to tower over every molecule in his body that told him to run away. But they were his friends, and he wasn't going to run from something he found detrimental to the friend group.
  
   "Do you want breakfast?"
   The sudden question caught him off guard, and Sam startled in the process of twisting his neck to watch Skip, who spoke out of nowhere. He...was he wearing eyeliner again? At Ten in the morning?
  
   "N-no, I don't eat breakfast normally."

   "Why not?" Elijah broke into the conversation once more. Now that the two of them had their eyes on him, Sam had to admit it was terrifying. As if he was back to being in Leo's hands, about to be slaughtered like a rat.

   "I dont...I don't get the chance..."

   The stuttering and slight pauses in Sam's speech led Elijah to believe he was scared again, and so he backed off from the prodding question and decided to change to subject.

   "We have food if you want some. It's not good to skip breakfast," He brought his plate closer to Sam; it was still full of toast and some brand of jam he found in the cabinets, but there was no protein as far as Elijah knew in the vegan household. Still, it must've been better than anything Sam had ever had before, because his eyes lit up like fireworks at the sight of the food in front of him.
   
   "I'm sure he doesn't want your leftovers," Skip called out, also well aware of Sam's fear and doing his own work to attempt to fix it.

   Leo lay slumped against the back of his chair, out of conversation and consciousness as a whole.

   "It's not-not a problem," Sam stuttered again, coming closer to the plate and touching the brim of it. "Can I really have this?"

   "Yeah, dude, go for it. I'll just finish what you can't eat."

   "Assuming he can't finish it all for himself?" Skip raised an eyebrow, aware of what he was doing while the rest of them were clueless.

   "He's...he's like the size of a baby carrot, Skip. Why would he finish it all?"

   Sam nodded along, beyond confused as to why Skip assumed he would be able to eat that much.

   "Wooow," Skip leaned back in his chair, resting his arms in a folded pattern across his chest. "No retorts to being called a baby carrot, Sam?"

   Ah, so that's what he was after. A way to make Sam comfortable by allowing him to tease Elijah like they usually did. Sam had to admit, it was a well-thought out plan, but didn't know how he felt about falling so easily into Skip's trap. He would find a way out without anyone's help.

   "I...um, I think I'm more concerned with that fact that nobody's mentioning your eyeliner," Sam returned Skip's way, and backed up from Elijah when he heard a violent snort coming from behind.

   Eli had to rush out of his seat to throw away the napkin he snorted into without making a scene.

   Where Sam expected anger, or even fury at his insult, all he got from Skip was a firm smile to accompany the relaxed position in his chair. Sam didn't do much else except smile back, because although he was happy with the way things were turning out, there was still work that needed to be done.

   And with the help of his friends, Sam would do it right.
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A/N: Sorry for the late update! I recently got a second job, so new chapters will come a bit more slow than normal, but will still be up as soon as I can get them written!
   The boys are getting along, Leo suffers from sleep deprivation, and Sam learns what it's like to have breakfast (even though he doesn't actually eat anything in this chapter).
   Please let me know what you all think of the new update (or just simply say hello!) in the comments! Thank you for reading :)!