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Falling.
That was the first thing Gus felt when he woke up.
He felt like his body was falling away from his mind for an instant, quick but intense. His heart skipped a beat and he automatically sat down on the couch he was sleeping on. His breath felt caught up in his suddenly dry throat as sweat made its way on his forehead. He let out escape a light scared squeak as he finally managed to breathe after a little while and wiped the sweat with the back of his hand.
He just had a nightmare. A surprisingly realistic nightmare, about... Well, what could it be about except that day. He sighed as he reached for the sheet that fell to the ground when he sat, careful not to wake up the person loudly sleeping next to him, on the floor. He silently groaned and laid down again, trying to get comfortable on the way too thin for him couch.
He took a deep breath and closed his sleepy eyes, letting his clouded mind get empty. Or at least tried.
At first, it got well, he drove through his tired brain, thinking about everything and anything. Memories, thoughts, that one day when Matt clearly didn't invite him on a date, his dad.
He wondered how was his dad doing. If he knew where Gus was right now he would probably freak out.
I wonder where he could be. Probably o ut here, in the Boiling Island, like everyone else. Helping people like he always did. Being kind. Strong. Trying to survive. If he was even alive-
Oh.
He opened his eyes again, letting out a tired sight. This won't do. He needed to think of something else. Again, he closed his eyes and tried to drift away from the thought.
Memories, thoughts, Matt,
home, dad-
For Titan's sake.
He opened his eyes, this time the sight was more like a groan. Just think of something else, it's easy. Again. Eyes closed. Clouded mind.
Memories, thoughts, Matt, home, hexside, father-
Okay wow.
Eyes open, he let out an angry groan and quickly sat on the couch, his sheet flying away on the floor. For a moment, he just let his head rest in his hands, deep breathing. After a while he heard a soft whimper on the ground, he lifted his head off his hands to look at the body lying here. After a moment, a grunt came out of the body and the person, who previously had his back to him, turned around to look at him.
" 'Sup with you ?" Hunter said with a tired voice, still half-asleep.
"Sorry, Hunter. Did I wake you up ?"
Instead of answering, Hunter continued his question.
"You've been tossing around for minutes now, something's wrong ?"
"I can't sleep."
"Mh. Want to talk about it ?"
"No, no thanks," Gus have him a half-tired half-fake smile, "i'm going to take a quick walk, you can go back to sleep."
He then got up from the couch and took the stairs out of the basement. He slowly closed the door, not wanting to wake up more people. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now, maybe he could just walk in the house and wait to feel the tiredness again. Maybe he could just go back on the couch and let his thoughts gain the rest of his sanity. Maybe he could just follow that little and soft light that emanated of the kitchen. He decided to do just that.
He walked as straight as he could while being sleepy and with a blurry vision to the door frame. He adjusted his vision when he got to the kitchen. At first it was still slightly blurry, or maybe he was just confused of the scene in front of him.
As he stepped in, he saw Mrs. Camila, leaned against the counter, holding her phone in a hand, a cup of something in the other. She looked like she was scrolling mindlessly on the phone, and still hadn't noticed the little boy's presence.
Gus stood a little moment, not knowing if he had to introduce himself or if he should wait for her to notice by herself. After a little while thought, she lifted her head off her phone and let out a little jump when she noticed Gus.
"Hello Mrs. Camila." Gus said a little akwardly.
"Dios mío, mijo, what are you doing up so late ?" She said with a little worry in her voice.
"Heh, I could ask you the same," trying to get comfortable in the conversation, he continued, "I had a hard time falling asleep." With a little more serious tone, "I was wondering if maybe you could make me one of those chocolate-milk you did last time ?" He didn't mean to let it out as a question, but he was too tense to say it casually.
To that, Camila just smiled and put her phone away on the counter. "Of course mijo, sit down."
Gus obeyed and sat on one of the many chairs around the table, getting comfortable in, he noticed the little box nearby him, next to it, a small pile of photos of familiar faces.
Gus took the photo on top of the pile ; it has been taken in front of something called "Amusement Land". Gus could recognise Luz, even thought she was still a little child, she was on someone's shoulders, a big man who was looking at her, he looked quite like her, same eyes, same big smile. In front of the camera, there was Mrs. Camila's half-face, but he could also see a smile on her face. The picture itself made him smile, they looked happy.
He got snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of the cup on the table next to him. He stopped looking at the photo to look at Camila, her eyes were focused on the photo, a hint of sadness in them. When she noticed that Gus was looking at her, she blinked and started talking about something else.
"So, mijo, rough night ?" She sat next to him.
Gus simply nodded before completely changing the subject. "Is this your husband ?" He asked quietly.
Camila slowly nodded, her face becoming a mix of sadness and nostalgia. "Yes, he was."
Gus stayed silent a little while. He looked back at the picture. "He looks nice." A smile in his voice, "He really is Luz's dad, if not her twin." Camila escaped a little chuckle.
"Yes, Luz really reminds me of Manny sometimes, they're very similar !" Camila chuckled again, this time a more joyful one, and Gus joined her.
"She's a mix of you both for sure."
Another little slience, more comfortable this time. Before Camila spoke.
"She really loved him." Almost a whisper this time. He could hear the sadness in her voice, even if she was slightly smiling, tired eyes looking at the face of her husband. "It was hard for her when he wasn't here anymore, it was hard for everyone, too hard to handle..."
Gus made his thumb slide on the picture, making it stop next to Manny's face. After a moment, he put the photo down and took his now a little less hot cup to his mouth.
"I understand." He simply said before taking a sip.
Camila now looked at him, not smiling anymore, waiting fore him to continue to talk.
"I mean, I don't know if I do, but I can." He took another sip before putting his cup down again. "When..." He stayed silent a bit. He felt Camila's hand on his shoulder, patiently waiting.
"When my mom passed away, it got hard for my dad, to raise me alone, and deal with her lose," He took the picture in his hand again, "he had to raise me alone. And the Titans know it wasn't easy." He chuckled. "I was... Different. A different child. Smart, but, different. I had different views of things, different interests, different boundaries. I didn't have a lot of friends and it was hard socializing after my mom's funeral," he putted his thumb on Manny's upper body, "but my dad always treated me as his son, he said I reminded him of my mom, in a good way." Despite the sadness of the telling, je let himself smile of nostalgia. "You remind me of my mom too, Mrs. Camila. She was a likeable person, she was kind and good hearted, she was a good mom."
Without controlling it, he felt tears starting to appear in his eyes, and quickly wiped them away with his other hand. His thumb then made his way next to luz's tiny face.
"You must be proud of yourself, Mrs. Camila !" He smiled at her, "you made a good job raising Luz."
Camila stayed silent. She looked at the photo. Lost in her thoughts. She opened her mouth and slowly spoke.
"You reminds me of him too." Was all she could say before starting sobbing a little.
Gus looked horrified by that, he has just made Luz's mom cry, oh no. That wasn't his plan. Oh Titan.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Camila I didn't mean to-"
Before he could finish his sentence, he was caught in a sudden hug. Camila was hugging him thigh. They stayed like that for a bit. In silence. Then Camila pulled away and wiped her tears off her face.
"You're a brave boy, mijo, un pequeño guerrero. Now finish your chocolate milk and go to bed."
"Yes, Mrs. Camila !"
Gus drank as fast as he could and then put his cup down on the table, his mouth had chocolate milk on top, making a little mustache to him.
Camila laughed audibly before getting up toward the counter, she came back holding papier towel. she went down on one knee and wiped Gus' mustache, still laughing with him. "Here, mijo."
After Gus thanked her, they stayed like that a little bit. Gus looked away a second, thinking of what he could say, before speaking slowly.
"You know, when I was younger, I used to be agitated. Well, more than I am now." He made a little pause. "I always used my tricks, everywhere I went, I was so happy to know how to use them." He smiled. Then he didn't. "But later, my mom passed away. Sometimes, it got... Too much, too... Hard to handle. So I used lock myself in my room to calm myself when I panicked. When she was still here, and I was having a crisis, she used to put her hands on each side of my face and kiss my forehead with a biiiig smoothie," He chuckled a bit, "Then she would told me with a proud voice 'Here, now you're protected from any bad thoughts because of my shield.' And I always believed her, so much that I never got a bad thoughts for the whole day."
He didn't really know why he said that, but he felt like he wanted to, it felt good to talk about his mom like that. Camila smiled at him, the happiest smile she could put, then she patted his head and gave him a light smooch on the forehead.
"Now, mi pequeño guerrero, go to sleep before you fall asleep on the chair."
"Yes Mrs. Camila ! Goodnight Mrs !"
Gus jumped off his chair and walked to the basement door. He walked past the first floor staircase, and saw a silhouette waiting on the last step, she looked tired, he wonders how long she has been here. He stopped a bit and gave a tired smile to her.
"Hi, Luz." He said with a smile in his voice.
"Hey Gus."
As he walked away, he heard Luz clearing her voice. He stopped and turned to her.
"Thanks. For that, really." She smiled at him.
He responded by making pistol fingers toward her. "You got it, bud !"
He then went done the basement, carefully closing the door behind him and took the sheet that he previously threw somewhere on the ground. Hunter was loudly sleeping again. He laid down on the couch and closed his eyes, getting comfortable. He drove through his mind again.
Memories, thoughts, Matt, home, hexside.
Dad and Mom.
He felt himself fall asleep that night.