Round and Round

Part 51

It was rather difficult to fit everything that you'd need for the rest of your life into a single backpack. A few sets of clothing, some important trinkets, money and necessary paperwork. Francis had to squeeze the bag tightly in order to get it to zip closed.

He'd decided not to bother with breaking into his parents' safe. If Arthur wasn't coming then he didn't need the money and it would only take time he didn't want to waste. He had a few hundred dollars, the only-to-be-used-in-an-emergency money that his parents had left for him long ago. It would suffice until he found something to do in Paris.

No one would notice his absence for a few days at least. And by then, he'd be long gone. Disappeared into the shadows of a foreign city. It wasn't like his parents would look particularly hard for him, too. Especially since he hadn't stolen any of their money.

It was late and the house was quiet, most of the servants had either gone back to their homes or were asleep in their beds. The ones who were still awake were easily avoidable, especially for someone who'd been sneaking out of the house since he was seven-years-old. Francis settled his bag securely on his back and then crept through the hallways in his socks, carrying his shoes. He'd wait to put them on 'til he reached the main foyer.

Antonio would be heartbroken when he found out that Francis was gone, but he knew that it was all for the best. Today had shattered any doubt that he may have held otherwise.

No one saw him as he walked silently through the many hallways of this too-big, too-empty house. He'd miss Antonio and Gill and Arthur and most other people in this town, but he definitely wouldn't miss this place. Maybe they'd sell it once he was gone. Maybe a family that actually lived together would move in. Or maybe it'd remain empty and someday they'd tear it down to make way for a store or something.

Francis noticed that his hands were trembling as he knelt down in the entryway and lacked up his shoes. This was terrifying; his stomach felt like it'd been knotted up. But there was no other way… He couldn't stand to stay here like this. And he'd hurt Antonio if he stayed… He'd proven that already.

He sighed and stood, taking a deep breath before he pushed the door open and stepped outside.

And ran right into Leon.

…Okay, scratch what he'd thought at the hospital about Leon having perfect timing. He had the worst timing ever.

For a long moment, the two of them just stood there and stared at each other in bewilderment. The only thoughts going through Francis's mind went something like 'Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. This is going to ruin everything unless I manage to think fast enough…'

Leon just looked disoriented; he'd probably been working up to knocking or ringing the doorbell or whatever and then he hadn't had to… He was the first to respond, though, by taking a quick step backwards and exclaiming "Francis!"

"Oui?" The response was testier than usual, but Leon was about to fuck up his escape. "What are you doing here, cher?"

"I was… just looking for you. Well," he quickly back-pedaled, "Well, obviously I was looking for you. I meant I was looking for you so we could talk..." He eyed Francis's backpack and frowned slightly. "You going somewhere?"

He had to talk his way out of this. Thankfully that was something he'd had a lot of practice doing… He made a quick, dismissive movement with his hand. "Just spending the night at a friend's house. Why did you want to talk?"

And Leon definitely wasn't falling for it, Francis could tell that immediately. He eyed the backpack again and raised an eyebrow as if saying 'Uh huh, of course you are'.

That was…unexpected. Francis was used to people either trusting him implicitly—like Antonio or Gill—or just not caring enough to question him—like most of his parents' servants. Leon was staring at him like he was waiting for a more believable lie.

He didn't wait for Francis to think of something, though, as he just calmly questioned, "You're running away, aren't you?"

Arthur must have told him… Fuck, Francis would go and strangle the asshole if he had the time to do it.

He wasn't sure what he should do now. He had to get out of here tonight

"Of course not, cher," he lied, slipping into his flirting tone. He knew that it sounded more strained than usual, but what else could he do? Even though he also knew that Leon would notice. "I'm just going to spend the night with a friend. Although, if you're interested, then I suppose we could always reschedule."

Leon actually rolled his eyes at that. "Don't lie to me, Francis. I'm a cop; it's part of my job to be good at telling when people are lying to me."

It was unfortunate that Leon was completely fucking up his plans, since Francis was starting to really like him. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, cher. Yes, I'm leaving. What do you wish to do? Arrest me?"

"Of course not." They were glaring at each other now and mirroring each other's crossed arms. It might have struck Francis as comical in normal circumstances, but right now... He just wanted to get the fuck out of here.

Leon was the first to break, at least. He dropped his arms and sighed, then glanced back toward his car—the one Francis had given him—as if he wanted to just leave. Which Francis hoped he would. Of course, he didn't. "Fran… Why don't we talk about this in the car? It's freezing out here."

"I'd rather not." Maybe he'd be lucky and Leon would leave if he was difficult enough. Besides, who knew where Leon would take him 'for his own good' if he got into the car with him? "Why don't you just go home, cher? It's late. You must be tired." He somehow managed to force a smile.

Leon didn't respond for a few moments; he just stared at him with an inscrutable expression and then glanced back at the car. Francis was slightly surprised when he asked, "You're taking a plane to wherever you're going, right?"

Francis frowned, but then reluctantly answered, "Yes…"

"How about we make a deal, then?" Leon slid a hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "I can guess that whatever you're planning on doing is incredibly unsafe and illegal, right?"

He wasn't entirely sure if he was meant to respond to that or not.

Leon didn't wait long to continue, so probably not. "So here's what I'm willing to do. If you really want to leave, then I'm not going to stop you. However, I won't let you go unless I know that you're going to be safe. So we can go talk to my grandmother; I'm sure she knows someone that you can stay with for however long you need to stay and she can figure out how to do this legally."

…Francis hesitated, searching Leon's expression for any sign that he was trying to trick him. This was…surprising. He'd expected that Leon would just march him inside and tell one of the servants what he'd been planning. They'd probably lock him up for good in this prison-house. Instead… "You'll tell Antonio and Gill where I am," he finally remarked.

Leon shrugged. "Not if you don't want me too. Although, I think it'd be nice if you let me tell them that you're safe. I don't think you really want them to worry about you."

He sure didn't deserve help from anybody, though, or any people at home caring and worrying about him. He'd almost tainted his best friend… But the offer was tempting, because he'd honestly been terrified by the idea of setting out completely on his own with very little money.

"Of course, Grandmother will want you to keep in contact with her so she knows you're okay, but other than that, you won't need to talk to anybody from here."

"Not even you?"

And Francis felt a little twinge of amusement when Leon seemed honestly startled by the question. He dropped the casual expression he'd been holding during his speech and stared at Francis with confused eyes for a moment. Then he blushed faintly and glanced away for a second or two before seeming to regain control over himself. "Well, if you wanted to…"

"You're adorable, cher." He shifted the weight of the backpack, which was incredibly heavy by the way, and walked past Leon toward the car. "Fine, I will go and talk with Big Mike with you, but I'm not promising anything."

Leon hesitated for a few seconds and then hurried to catch up with him. "Good. I mean, you know Grandmother. She won't force you to do anything you don't want to do."

Which was the only reason Francis was agreeing to this. He waited as Leon unlocked the car and then slid inside, setting the backpack down by his feet. Watching as Leon not-so-gracefully flopped into the driver's seat and began fiddling with his phone.

This could possibly work. He knew that Big Mike wasn't the type of person who would go against his wishes. And having a home, at least for a while, wouldn't be entirely unwelcome. And if he really hated it, then he could always disappear once he was on the other side of the ocean.

"Hello, Grandmother? No, I'm not… No!" Leon was adorable when he looked confused. "No, what are you… Grandmother, I—what? Yes. Yes, she told me about the ninjas. Thanks for that. Now I'm apparently a ninja fighter…" Francis had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded amusing. It was strange, but he actually felt slightly more relaxed in here. Relaxed enough that he slid his hand over to settle on Leon's upper thigh.

He got it swatted away, but Leon seemed to remember what he was supposed to be talking about. "Anyway, Grandmother, I'm bringing Francis over. Is anybody else there? …Okay. Okay, good. We'll be right over. Good—no, I'm not. Goodbye."

He hung up the phone and dropped it down into the cup holder with a sigh.

"I'm a hundred percent certain that someone mixed something up when I was born, because I don't know how else we could be related."

"But there are so many similarities, cher. You both are stubborn about trying to save the lost causes."

And that earned him a genuine smile before Leon turned his attention to starting the car and turning it around. "Can't just write 'em off too early. Plenty of lost causes end up not so lost."


A/N: I am madly in love with the song "Marry the Man" from Guys and Dolls. It's so absolutely ridiculous that I just listen to it and giggle to myself because I'm weird like that.

Hmm, I can't think of anything to say about this chapter. Besides the fact that the silly charries changed it last minute on me. So there's anywhere from 1-3 chapters left in this story… I gotta think to figure out how many. SO CLOSE TO THE END, YAY!

In other news, I am actually caught up on my formspring questions. So if anyone wants to ask more, they'll be going to the top of the queue. And I'm actually in a question answering mood, so they'll probably be gotten to pretty quickly.

And then… not much going on in my personal life. Oh, I'm actually starting a Supernatural fanfic pretty soon. It won't be posted til I have 5 buffer chapters, though, so it'll be a bit before it's up. But yep, that's fun. I'm also being published in our school newspaper soon, which is exciting. I wrote about the mental illness stigma and my own experiences with that.