Gone Without You

Chapter 8

As the days pased, Leafy realised Gelatin probably wasn't the best person to tell about Firey being back.

He never was one for keeping secrets, he didn't do it because he wanted to be a jerk, he was just very excitable and couldn't keep things held in.

All of their friends came over to see Firey and after hearing Firey's "I-can't-tell-anyone-anything-about-why I-was-gone-but-please-know-I-didn't-want-to-leave-in-the-first-place" speech multiple times Leafy could almost recite the whole thing by heart herself.

It was fresh and exciting news for everyone else but for Leafy and Firey it was becoming tiring and tedious. Unlike Leafy, who loved chatting with people and thrived in social situations, Firey was not a fan of constantly talking to people because he felt that social interactions were stupid.

After two weeks of non-stop visits, sometimes multiple people in one day Firey wanted to bash his head into a wall. He couldn't explain it, he had been through pure hell while he was gone but he still couldn't deal with large numbers of social gatherings, it just didn't make sense.

Leafy's job involved her talking to lots of people everyday, talking to other people gave her energy but she could understand that it wasn't for everyone. She had no idea what Firey had been through while he was gone but she could assume he needed and wanted to rest so she gently asked if people could cut back on the visits for a while and thankfully, they did.

Firey slept, alot. On weekeds, Leafy would often come back from her errands to see Firey snoozing on the couch, in positions that looked painful on his neck and back. She began to feel bad for making him sleep on an uneven surface that didn't even let him stretch out so she decided to do something to help him.

...

"Leafy, what is this?" Firey asked in disbelief.

"It's your bed," she replied as she presented a decent quality fold out mattress with a new pillow and blanket.

"So, I've gone from the couch to the floor?" he scoffed. "I can't tell which is more demoralising,"

"Be greatful that you have a bed to sleep on now at least," she scolded

"Hm true, thanks Leafs," he shrugged, folding the bed out then laying down on it.

"It's actually pretty comfortable if I'm being honest," he said with a tone of surprise.

"Yeah I'd hope so, it wasn't exactly cheap," she said before kneeling down to squish the mattress.

"I feel tired already," Firey said as he pulled the blanket up with a contended smile.

"You've been sleeping a lot lately, are you feeling alright?" Leafy asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just making the most of being able to rest after all this time," he breathed, nestling in.

Leafy sat down beside the mattress, giving Firey a concerned look.

"What were you doing all this time that's got you acting like this? You never used to sleep early," she sighed sadly.

Firey looked up at her then looked around the room, thinking to himself before he said anything else.

"I was running from people, to say the least. There were times when I didn't sleep for days on end," he said simply.

"And even when I did sleep, I had to do it with one eye open and it was never anywhere comfortable, and then there was the-" Firey cut himself off.

"There was the what?" Leafy urged.

"Sorry, that's part of what I can't tell you yet," he frowned slightly.

Leafy's eyebrow were knitted together worriedly, she had a basic understanding of why Firey couldn't tell her anything yet but she hated the secrets all the same.