Lost in London [Completed]

Trente Trois

London had been keeping track of the days for Kay. Twenty-six. Each signified by a delicate scratch into the wood of the door. He'd told Kay that it would help – told him that it would make this more bearable to keep track of how long all of this had been going on for.

At first, Kay had humoured him. But it didn't make it better. At least London was sleeping now and Kay didn't have to come up with any hopeful responses to his endless optimism. By now, Kay was just being realistic. Halden had said that his rent was a month. It had been twenty-six days. Out of what? Thirty? Thirty-one?

London was too wrapped up in trying to keep Kay's spirits from sinking that it was as if he'd forgotten all of Halden's threats. Kay glanced across at London, lying on the tiled floor and using his arms as a pillow while he slept. For the first... Kay didn't know... Days? For a while, Halden had kept London cuffed to the wall, despite London's promises that he didn't need that.

And Kay had been completely unable to help him. He supposed that it had worked, though. Once Halden had taken off the cuffs for the last time, London was significantly more compliant. That, and he'd hardly left Kay's side since.

Kay couldn't help but feel as though London was coping well with all of this. He'd settled into a routine. Wake up when Halden brought a single plate of  breakfast – he'd made a point of explaining that he'd only planned on taking one person, so that was the amount of food they would get. London had put up an argument but been dismissed immediately.

London had grudgingly agreed that he would eat at breakfast. Usually oatmeal or plain toast, both cold. The decision had come after an argument – how they should split the food evenly. Kay had snapped at London, bluntly reminding him that he'd lived on less. After that, London had stopped arguing.

For the hours after breakfast, London made do with what he had and exercised while Kay got some sleep. That had been another thing Kay had insisted on. He wouldn't sleep unless he knew that London was awake and would watch his back. It had broken London's heart to agree to that, but he had. Anything to make Kay feel better.

He would always wake Kay in time for lunch. It varied a little more than breakfast. It was usually bland, but more than enough to keep Kay going. Besides, he slept again after as long as Halden didn't want him. London had protested at first, but after a lot of convincing from Kay, had finally come to accept that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Halden wanting him was always a blur. Kay would leave with him and usually come to with London just before dinner. London would deal with new wounds and answer as many of Kay's questions as he could. He'd told Kay that the blackouts were probably dissociations, and that they were normal. That was something Kay clung to. Normal. His response was normal.

Some time later, Halden usually brought dinner. It had taken some convincing, but London usually took that. He'd argued vehemently at first but slowly conceded to his own hunger pains. When asked, Kay had shrugged it off as a normal feeling. London hadn't asked anything else after that. Kay had been through all of this before and was scarily blasé about it all.

London was already awake when the lock on the outside of the bathroom door slid open and Halden was in the doorway, without a plate. London didn't know what it meant, but he didn't like it. This wasn't their routine.

"London." Halden spoke with a harsh tone. "I want you out of here, right now."

"What? I'm not leaving Kay," he protested.

"Now that's bullshit if I ever heard it. You're going to go and stand into the kitchen and count to three-hundred. Slowly. Got it?"

"I'm not leaving Kay."