The Hollow felt colder in the mornings, like even the air had given up.
Leo moved fast, slipping through alleys slick with last night's rain. His hands were jammed deep into his coat pockets, head down. Instinct more than anything pulled him toward the old fountain the place where everything used to happen, back when they were too young to know better.
She was already there, of course.
Akie sat on the broken rim, boots swinging, picking at the cracked stone like she was bored. She didn't look up when he came near, just flicked a pebble at his foot.
"Took you long enough," she said, voice light but tired around the edges.
Leo gave a half-smile. The real kind, the one that hurt a little because it was too rare now.
"Wasn't looking for you."
Akie snorted. "Sure. And I'm the Queen of Sunspire."
Leo dropped down beside her, the cold seeping through his coat. They sat there a while, no words, the city breathing heavy around them rusted roofs, tired walls, the low hum of survival.
She glanced sideways at him, sharp eyes catching too much, as usual.
"You look like hell," she said.
"Feel worse," he muttered.
"You eating?" Her voice went tight.
He shrugged, staring at the cracked ground. The Hollow taught you early show weakness, lose everything.
Akie didn't say anything. She just dug around in her coat and pulled out a battered cloth bundle. She unwrapped it slow a half-loaf of rough bread, still warm somehow.
She shoved it into his hands without ceremony.
"Eat, idiot," she said. "You look like you're about to fall over."
Leo hesitated stupid pride coiling up but the smell hit him hard, and his stomach made the decision for him.
He tore off a piece and ate, fast and messy.
Akie leaned back on her hands, watching him like she wasn't watching him.
"You always show up when you're about to break," she said after a minute. "One of these days, you should show up just 'cause."
Leo didn't answer.
The lenses buzzed faintly behind his eyes he didn't even have to activate them fully. Just instinct now.
Akie Vale Trust Level: Absolute Risk: None.
Safe. Always had been.
He stared down at the bread in his hands. His fingers, rough and cold, didn't feel like they belonged to him anymore.
Akie shifted, bumping her shoulder lightly against his.
"You're still you, right?" she said, half-joking but not really.
Leo swallowed hard.
The city buzzed around them, ugly and loud, but here next to her it all felt quieter somehow. Smaller.
"Yeah," he said. His voice cracked a little, and he hated that. "Still me."
She smiled — small, real — and leaned her head briefly against his shoulder.
"Good," she said. "Cause I don't have the energy to break in a new best friend."
Leo laughed, soft and hoarse.
For a little while, they just sat there, two kids carved out of a city that had forgotten how to love anything.
And Leo didn't tell her about the lenses.
Didn't tell her how the world was ripping itself open in front of him.
Some secrets, he thought, you kept.
Even from the ones you loved.
Especially from them.