Wild Tiger Chase - Chapter 41: Chapter 41

— Rob —
He must've passed out at some point because the last thing Rob remembered was to be pushed inside Marlo's NAV while a thick red fog advanced towards them. He thought he had heard muffled conversations and some swearing, but as the pain in his temples increased, so did the silence in his mind. Then, everything stopped.
And now, with a pounding head and exhausted muscles, Rob was waking up in a bed.
He closed and opened his eyes, grunting. Rob looked around and tried to recognize the furniture, then the decoration, but... he couldn't. Nothing made sense in there.
"Where the fuck am I?" he mumbled. Rob looked to the side and met an open window framed by white curtains dancing with the breeze. Against the light coming from outside, a gray dresser doubled as a holoframes rack.
Rob massaged his temples and narrowed his eyes, staring at the frames. He was close enough to recognize himself in one of them, wearing trunks and carrying something long and thin under his left arm. A board? What kind of board was that, all pointy and with so many fins?
When he tried to get up, he noticed the arm resting on his chest. Rob frowned and looked downward. At his side, a man shifted and breathed in a lungful of air. Something cold swirled in Rob's stomach when he met the thick golden band of a wedding ring in the man's hand.
"You woke up early." The man pressed a kiss on Rob's shoulder, full lips smiling against his skin. "Are you surfing today?"
Rob's eyes stung, but his whole body relaxed at once. He took Léon's hand and kissed the small mole on his inner wrist, the center of his palm, then the tips of his fingers. The bed creaked when he turned around and raised a hand to comb Léon's silky hair aside, pushing dark-brown strands from his face. Léon's skin was even darker than usual, sunkissed and soft with a gentle smell of aftershave and that musky-seaweed shower gel Rob adored. With his hand cradling Léon's face, he noticed that his own skin looked a lot more tanned as well.
"Something wrong, Bhalu?" Léon asked in a whisper. He caressed the fine hairs on Rob's chest and frowned. "Did you have a nightmare again?"
"No. I'm well, it's just..." Rob blinked the tears away. His breathing hitched; he couldn't understand where all these emotions were coming from, but they hit him like a truck, leaving his voice all wobbly and teary. "This... this is our room."
Léon's eyebrows shot up, and he let out a bark of laughter. "It has been for the past three years or so." After a moment, a soft crease formed on his forehead. "Oh, Bhalu." Léon kissed his cheeks one at a time. "Are you sure you're all right, my love?"
Rob looked around, and the memories came back to him. His surfing board was over there beside his trophies, and his teaching certificate was tacked to the wall right beside Léon's flight school diploma.
"Look at me, Bhalu," Léon whispered.
Rob did, but his eyes soon unfocused again.
Behind Léon, in the reading area near their closet, he saw Léon's guitar, a big vase of night-dame bush, and a pretty painting that in no way looked professional.
It was horrifying.
A shiver crossed Rob's back. The painting showed a little beach house inf front of a red ocean; the orange clouds in the sky looked toxic, and the two figures leaving the water had deep, bloody cuts covering their whole bodies.
Wait. There was fog leaving the painting?
What the bloody hell? Rob strained his eyes and managed to read the childish signature at the right-hand corner.
Pietro Dickens.
He shuddered. After a blink, the painting disappeared.
"Look at me, Roberto. Please," Léon insisted. There was a small shade of worry behind his words.
Rob locked their gazes. He caressed the scar on Léon's right eye, and his heart rate eased a bit.
Why was he feeling so... out of place?
"Yes, Tiger?"
Léon closed his eyes and leaned into Rob's touch. He clicked his tongue. "If there's anything weird, Rob... If you see or feel anything strange at all, you must tell me. Will you do that?" Léon looked at him and waited.
"Always." Rob played with the mandarin collar in Léon's pajamas. "Is...? With you, I mean. Are you...?" He trailed off, his gaze cast downside.
"Yeah, everything's fine." Léon rolled around and stopped belly up, looking at the big skylight window in their ceiling. "Just a little worried about these dreams you're having." He massaged his chin. "Maybe we should see Amma again."
When Rob followed his line of sight, something tugged at his heartstrings, all at once. The sky today was clear and the sun still sleeping, so Rob gazed in awe at every constellation on this side of the continent. The sky was clean. He could see stars! Without a word, Rob slid closer to Léon, widened eyes set on a specific constellation.
Something twisted and coiled in his chest. The words came to Rob's mind as if pouring through from another life.
"It's Orion, isn't it?" he said. "The constellation you showed me when we were kids." Rob sighed and snaked an arm under Léon's neck.
"Yeah. The easiest to see from here, and my grandma's favorite." Léon breathed out a smile and snuggled against Rob's side; his baggy sweatpants slid out of place with the movement, showing a sharp tan line on his hipbone. "I wish I could remember her better."
"Mhm." Rob narrowed his eyes; the sound he made was filled with mock disapproval.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Léon lifted his head and pinched Rob's waist just right, in the perfect spot to make him laugh. "Tell me." Léon's fingers tightened, making Rob laugh even more.
"Okay, okay! I will!" He took in a deep breath to control himself, then brushed a thumb on the lighter stripe of Léon's skin. "It's about this. I was just thinking about how improper it is to show it to me while talking about your grandmother." The smile on his lips was as teasing as his heavy-lidded gaze. "C'mon, Leo, have some decency, mate."
Léon's eyes widened; his cheeks darkened as he laughed again, but this time louder. "Sh... shut up!" His voice sounded half amused and half coated in disbelief. "Who are you to talk about decency, huh?" Léon sat up and hooked a finger on Rob's shorts. He tugged at it. "See? Nothing. No tan lines. You're not even wearing underwear!"
"I'm in our bed, inside our room, located in our house," he murmured with a silly smile, inching a little bit closer after every word. "So yeah, sun-soaked and underwear-less all the way through." Rob stole a kiss and lay down again. He intertwined his fingers behind his head and flexed his muscles for effect. "And don't tell me you don't like it, because I know for a fact you very much do."
"Well." Léon pursed his lips, but they opened in a grin after a heartbeat. "I mean, yes I like it, but that's beside the point."
Rob smirked. "The point being that I like to sunbathe every average-sized inch of me?"
"Exactly," Léon said with a nod and a laugh.
"Let's skinny dip."
"See? You have no shame, Bhalu!"
"Let's have sex on the beach, Leo! Not the drink." Rob peppered his cheeks with little kisses. "C'mon, Tiger. This place is basically ours, we have to enjoy it before the high season begins, and the neighbors start coming back for summer." Rob studied his face and brushed a gentle thumb on his cheek. "Please? I'll make you breakfast later. That carrot cake you like. Huh? What do you say?"
Léon twisted his lips and massaged his chin in thought.
It was time for Rob to use his last resort.
"With brigadeiro icing, Tiger," Rob whispered. "It'll be a whole lot of chocolate, and I'll have you positively dripping with it."
"Oh." Léo's cheeks colored again. "It's a deal."
They didn't do much at all.
Rob and Léon decided to hit the water, and they both knew how nearly impossible it was to have a nice grip in the open ocean without proper support—Rob liked being inside a boat for that—so the couple paddled their surfboards past the crashing waves and lay down to watch the sunrise together. Dressed up and underwear-full.
It was silent in Ercília shore. Birds sang in the distance, the waves crashed near the beach, and water sloshed left and right against the plastiepoxy of their boards. Rob let out a content hum; the church bells rang to announce six in the morning. Six thirteen sharp, the first rays of light broke the horizon. It was a miracle through and through to see the strong oranges pushing back the deep navy blues from the night before, and it was an even bigger miracle to think that a new day was starting before them; a day filled with opportunities and shared with the one person in his life that Rob could say, without a doubt, he loved as much as life itself.
Rob's wet hands held Léon's and raised it to his salted lips for a gentle, noisy kiss. He would never get tired of the rough texture of Léon's palms despite how much moisturizer he used, of looking at that thick golden band around Léon's finger, and he would never forget how hard they had worked to reach the place they were in. He also knew they'd have to keep working to maintain their relationship in good shape.
"Hey, Leo?"
"Hm?"
"I love you, my King."
"I love you too, Bhalu." Léon chuckled and caressed the growing beard on Rob's cheek. "But I don't think I can call you my forest, sorry." As Rob chuckled, Léon tried to balance on his surfboard and sit up but gave up with a little wince when it bobbled too far to the right. Léon bristled like a scared cat, gripping the edges of the board.
"That's Karma for you." Rob leaned towards him and gave him an ocean-flavored kiss, tongue and teeth, and everything. Another wave was coming, so he leaned back and found his center again, relishing the way the big unborn wave gently pushed him up, a renewed coldness licking his waist, then down, to the level he was before. Rob brushed a short lock of brown hair behind Léon's ear, then lay down once more.
"Hey. Don't think I forgot about that carrot cake."
Rob laughed. "I'd never."
Lips still pulled in a grin, Léon looked at the sky again. The sun rose, casting precise rays of light on Rob's face. He shut his eyes and turned his face to the side.
When he opened them, cold dread stirred inside his stomach. Rob sat up on the surfboard and tugged Léon's board closer.
There on the shore, meters away from them, a thick red fog rolled over the shoreline and onto the crashing waves. He tried to look away, but couldn't. He tried to warn Léon, but his voice didn't work.
"What happened, Bhalu?" Léon asked in a soft tone. He managed to sit up this time and reached for Rob's face; inches away from touching him, the device on Léon's wrist beeped. The fog moved fast, swallowing the distance between them like a famished shark. Léon furrowed his eyebrows. "It's Rafa. At six in the morning? I should answer this."
His sister's name seemed to break whatever influence had set on him. Rob looked at Léon, at the message on his wrist gadget, and then at the shore again. The fog had disappeared.
Rob blinked a few times and took in a deep breath.
"Yeah," Rob said in a hoarse voice. He cleared his throat, willing his heart rate to go back to normal. "We should call her."
Léon placed two fingers on the gadget and separated them to share the call. Rafa's voice came into Rob's ear.
"Leo? Hi. Thanks for calling back. I didn't want to wake you, and... you know. I tried Rob's number, but you know how he is. Uh." Bloody hell, she sounded exhausted. And... scared, perhaps? "Is Rob there with you?"
Rob tapped his ear. "I'm here, sis."
"Good. Uh. I need to talk to both of you, I suppose. I-I'm at the hospital—"
"What?" Rob's surfboard swayed, and he used every inch of his body to keep it with the right side up. "What happened?"
"It's Phillip. His squad was putting out a natural fire near section thirteen when the wind changed direction. He helped them escape and called us at the central, but..." She trailed off and steeled her cracking voice.
"Shit," Léon mumbled.
"I barely arrived there in time, Beto, and... Goddess. Please, can you two come?" Rafa sniffed. "We're... a-at the Public Emergency Unit in Cidade Santa, I... he's so hurt. He's saying so much gibberish, I just... they had to sedate him. I don't know—" A rustling of fabric came from the other side. Rafa adjusting Phillip's duvet, perhaps. "I don't know what I can do."
"Rafa, calm down," Rob said.
"Is my mom there?" Léon asked. "I can call her. She'll be there with you in no time."
"Yeah. Yeah, Kali and Rio are here, but they don't seem to understand what's wrong with Phillip, so I thought... I thought maybe you could come and... I don't know, Leo. Maybe you can ask Bonee and Lampee for help?"
The ocean water felt colder against his legs.
Ercília shore was one of the furthest habited isles in Southwest Old Continent, so it would take a while until they managed to get there. It would be at least three hours until the ferry started working, four to cross to the mainland, and another two to drive from Ceros to Cidade Santa.
But more than that, something in Rafa's words didn't sit well with Rob's ears.
Léon placed a hand over Rob's and nodded, breaking his distraction. Leo mouthed, "We can use the airNAV."
"Right." Rob blinked a few times. Phillip. The Hospital. The distance they'd have to cover to get there. Rob cleared his throat. "Deep breaths, Rafa. Leo and I are on our way."
"Give us two hours," Léon added.
"Shite, thank you." Rafa sounded so relieved it hurt. "Thank you, Beto. And you too, Leo." She hung up.
The sun had finished rising in the meantime. It was funny to think how everything could change so much in so little time.
"I'll call a friend in Cidade Santa and make sure we'll have where to land." Léon lay down on his board and prepared himself to go back.
"Sure, Tiger." Rob copied Léon's stance and stopped at his side. "I'll pack a few clothes for us and make a coffee while you do that. You'll need one if you're going to fly us all the way to Cidade Santa."
"Good thinking." Léon looked back at the approaching wave. It'd be quicker to let nature take them back to land. "You know, Bhalu"—Léon waited, preparing himself to stand when the time was right—"when I asked you to tell me if you saw anything strange at all, it was because I had a feeling you would. Just like me." He peered at Rob over his shoulder, the light catching his eyes just right to paint them gold. "Cause, believe me, Bhalu. There's something really wrong happening around here. And I'll need you if we're going to figure out what."