The light in your nightmares

- And there's also... I call him the Grumpy One... but not because he complains hey!

It's because he has the head for it! Anyway, it seems like he's always sulking... You'll understand when you see him! But don't say it in front of him hey! I call him that to annoy him...

Dust stops in front of the stairs, his only salvation. Chatterbox almost pushes him by mistake. She talks and talks so focused on all the words that come out of her mouth at the second that she doesn't look straight ahead.

With the girl's voice in the background, he wonders if it's a good idea to go down. Red will be all alone upstairs if he goes...

He hesitates then he ends up going down, he'll come back soon.

-And the last one... The last one is rather nice. But very impressive! Hehehe He's very handsome too!

At the tone of her exclamation Dust glances at her. The young woman has a big smile. He would bet that she has a slight crush on the man she mentions. If her skin wasn't so dark, he could probably see her blush.

She continues even more excited:

- He has dyed hair! White! And tattoos... He's well built too.

She giggles again, while touching her cheeks as if to stop her smile from getting any bigger.

The boy who examines her discreetly is torn between finding her cute and being shocked that she has the energy to think about love in a situation like theirs.

She laughs like that all alone for a minute or two.

Dust blinks, looks away and thinks that there is only one more flight of stairs before the ground floor.

At the bottom of the stairs they meet Two who is surprisingly alone.

He doesn't see them right away despite Chatterbox's monologue.

With his head down, only the black edge of his glasses is visible as he visibly prepares to go upstairs.

Not knowing how to call him, Dust settles for a rather abrupt "Hey".

Two raises his head mechanically, his face still pale. His eyes move from Dust to the young woman. He pauses but does not seem to be taken aback.

He arrives at their height. The silence is awkward, the boy clears his throat. How to introduce them? Should he even introduce them?

"She ... arrived with three other people, should you explain the details to her..?"

Two raises an eyebrow as he listens to him. It's is his only reaction. After a second he seems to nod.

Chatterbox watches the interaction without intervening right away. Dust takes advantage of the moment to slip away.

A turnaround later he goes back up two steps at a time.

The girl turns around too as if to hold him back but Two's calm voice sound again and succeed in keeping the woman still to answer some questions.

The boy doesn't hear them clearly and he hurries back to his room as best as he can without having to run.

He quickly returns to his floor. Without hesitation he enters his apartments. He forgets the trinket which also hit by the door rolls on the wooden floor.

There is no one in the living room.

Dust crosses it to infiltrate the room.

Red is still among the green sheets.

His head is in the middle the cushions.His blue eyes slightly half-open stare at him as soon as he reaches the threshold.

Dust notices that the man although still and half-awake has a hand under the covers. With more attention the boy guesses the shape of the knife left by him for Red.

- Did you sleep well?

The red-haired man discreetly drops his weapon. As if nothing had happened, his now free hand pass under his skull in a more relaxed position.

As usual, Red choose to answer with another question:

-You left?

Dust is a bit suprised:

-Yes, I told you I was leaving...

His companion made a sort of pout, scratching his skull as he stretch. Then he get up quite suddenly from the bed. Before dragging his feet to go into the bathroom. The boy follow him and hear the man mumble:

-We need toothbrushes... (The man then speak louder to ask:) where did you go? You know very well that with the secret passages we are not alone. We have to be careful.

At the sink he turn on the tap to splash cold water on his face. A few droplets fall from his eyelashes like tears before highlighting his cheekbones and following the straight line of his jaw.

he looks up and their eyes meet in the mirror above the sink.

The boy tenses up. As always, the contrast is striking. The tone used seems full of worry for him but his blue irises remain perpetually cold.

-It's just a theory. Maybe no one uses them anymore...

He doesn't know why but his companion seems to stifle a mocking chuckle.

A "Ah!" that ends like a breath.

Red repeats:

-Maybe...

His two hands come to hold the two edges of the sink. His neck bending to have his head passes under the jet of water.

With Chatterbox Dust only wanted one thing: to shorten the conversation, with Red he wants to continue it:

-You... could you come with me to examine the portrait room?

The man does not ask him why.

His long fingers ruffle his red hair so that the water can infiltrate the ginger roots.

The locks go from blood red to a darker burgundy under the tap.

-If you want.

Once he has accepted he remains another five minutes under the jet of water, while Dust stares at him.

When the tap is finally closed and once the man has fully straightened up, the boy informs him of the arrival of the new woman and the three other strangers.

The news does not seem to interest him more than that. He slicks his hair back to clear his forehead without using towels to dry it.

-Oh yeah?

He says in a flat tone. His voice trails behind him as he moves again. The boy moves aside to let him pass.

The man changes clothes in silence.

Today he doesn't want to chat it seems.

Red changes in the middle of the room, throwing his clothes on the floor without any modesty.

He must have felt the stares of Dust on his naked skin. Yet he undresses without hesitation.

Between the two, it is Dust who is the most embarrassed. He leaves from there before the other's boxers are removed.

Red chooses to dress like the younger one. One could say that it is almost a uniform. Both dressed in a white shirt and jeans, they find themselves in the living room.

Dust wonders how the man found something that fit him. Red has much broader and more muscular shoulders than him...

With hesitation Dust asks again:

-Shall we see the portraits?

Red stretches, opens the door and with a wave of his hand says to him:

-After you~