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It was already night when Logan got out of work. He had just said he wasn’t going to accept doing so many extra hours unpaid, but he loved his job so much he couldn’t help it, and his boss knew it and took advantage of it. But the truth is Logan felt truly useful when he was at the youth center, with his students. He felt like he could make a difference in all these teens’ lives, and that to him was more important than the payment or the exhaustion he always felt at the end of the day. But he also knew that way of tackling his job couldn’t last forever or he would eventually get sick. So he resolved to himself that this would be the last time he’d get out of work so late. From then on, he would do his 8 hours and if he was truly needed, then they would have to show him appreciation in cash and not just in nice words.
That was his train of thought while he was walking down a dark street that gave him a shorter path to the subway station. He truly didn’t have any fear of the dark or of any dangers against him. After all, one of the very first things he learned since very little was self defense and martial arts, and he was very good at them. If anyone was to put him to the test, he could turn into a very well trained death machine, but he’d never go that far, unless it was defending himself of someone he loved. However, that night, he had a strange feeling, like there was something in the air. He wasn’t sure of what it was, or if it was good or bad. Just that something was coming into his life, something that was about to change it forever. He was a science believer who only believed in logical thinking and what his eyes could see. He didn’t believe in intuition, feminine, masculine or whatever, but sometimes feelings don’t make logical sense and that doesn’t make them any less real.
He was thinking about all that, when he saw something a few steps in front of him, something that put all of his senses under alert and made the tension dissipate any and all of his thoughts, placing him right back to reality as if thrown violently right into it by invisible godly hands. His heart started racing when, from the next corner of the street, he saw an arm laying still on the ground. Someone was laying on the ground right next to him, only his arm visible from the main street where Logan was standing. At first he stood still, almost in shock, but he knew that person might need him, so he walked those few steps to approach them. As he did so, he saw him. It was an unconscious man, laying down on the ground. He was dressed with sport clothing consisting of a red hoodie and light gray pants. A few steps away, an open wallet had been dropped on the floor. Someone had clearly beaten up and robbed the poor guy and left him there unconscious.
Logan took the wallet and searched for any kind of documentation that could help him find out who that guy was or if there was any address to take him to or any phone contact he could use. He found nothing that could give him any useful information. It was clear Logan couldn’t leave that guy there, so he knelt next to him and tried to wake him up.
“Sir, sir?” Logan said while shaking the guy “Are you okay, sir? Please wake up.”
“Hmm” the guy muffled, while half opening his eyes “What… what happened? Ow, my head…”
“I don’t know, you were just laying here, unconscious. Can you stand up, sir?”
“I… I don’t know… All my body hurts and I’m feeling kinda dizzy… And my name is Roman, please don’t call me sir, mister…”
“Logan. I can stay with you for as long as you need. What happened that took you to this situation… Roman?”
“My mind is confused… I don’t remember clearly… I only remember I was cornered by something, and that something caught me… and my next memory is you shaking me to wake up. And now I’m feeling an unsettling fear… Please don’t go, don’t leave me alone, I’m scared that if you go and leave me here… they’ll get me again. Perhaps they didn’t do what they were planning to do to me because you showed up at the right moment… Please don’t leave me alone, sir…”
“Now it’s you who’s calling me sir. I told you my name is Logan. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you any time soon. But if you think this place is not safe for you, perhaps we should be leaving this place. Are you sure you can’t stand up?”
“I’ll make an effort, maybe if you help me…”
“Of course, hold on me.”
“Thank you, Logan…” Roman said with a weak smile of gratitude.
Logan helped Roman stand up, who grimaced as if in a lot of pain. As soon as he was standing on his feet, Roman showed himself unstable as if his head was spinning around, so he clung onto Logan’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry I’m causing you so much trouble, but if I let go of you, I think I’ll fall down, I’m so dizzy.”
“Don’t worry, hold on tight to me, I won’t let you fall. I was planning to go to the subway, but perhaps it will be better if I call a cab. Do you have any address I can take you to?”
“I do… but I’m scared that they could be waiting for me there, I see they checked my wallet, and my ID card with my address is missing, so they know where I live… I’m ashamed of asking because I don’t wanna be a burden, but could you take me to your house? Just for tonight. I’d feel much safer in a place where I know no one would look for me. I can sleep in any couch, or even on a chair if need be, I won’t be much trouble for you, tomorrow I’ll go and you’ll never know from me again, I promise.”
Logan thought about it for a moment. After all, it was a stranger and he didn’t know if he could trust a stranger to sleep in his apartment just like that. But, he didn’t live alone, he shared the apartment with a couple of friends from college, the always positive Patton, a kindergarten teacher, and the always gloomy Virgil, who worked at a Burger King while he was finishing last year of criminology. Logan thought that if Roman would cause any kind of trouble, the three of them were enough to stop him while calling the police, so he made his choice.
“Okay, I’ll take you to my apartment. I must warn you I don’t live alone, I share the house with two roommates. There’s one empty bedroom you can use as, coincidentally, just a few days ago one of our roommates moved out of the house to work in another country, and we didn’t find anyone to replace him yet. We’d be happy to have you in for some time if you truly need it, Roman.”
Roman gathered all his strength to wrap Logan around his arms in a genuine hug of gratitude. Logan hugged Roman back timidly, but firmly so as Roman wouldn’t fall down. Sudden physical expressions of emotion like that shocked Logan, but he was no robot that could not appreciate it.
“Thank you, thank you so much, Logan. It’s like you were fallen from heaven to save me. I promise I will behave while I’m in your house and I won’t cause any trouble to you guys. It will be as if I wasn’t even there, you’ll see.”
“Okay, then it’s settled. Let me help you walk to the main street nearby so we can sit down somewhere while I phone for a taxi, okay?
“Okay… could you help me get the hood on, though? I don’t want to risk the chance of being recognized while we’re somewhere that open. No, don’t look at me like that, I promise I did nothing evil. My mind is getting more clear now, and I promise I will explain to you everything when we’re somewhere safe.”
Logan just shrugged and helped Roman put the hood on. Then he helped him walk to the main street to sit down on a bench. Roman laid his head on Logan, resting his face over Logan’s chest, as if he was hiding his face from people, while Logan called for the taxi.
After a couple minutes, Roman looked furtively to his left, and seemed to recognize someone. He approached Logan’s face and told him in a low voice.
“Answer quickly, do you mind if anyone thought you were not straight?”
“What a question… as a matter of fact, I’m actually gay, so…”
“Then you won’t mind that I do this. Just play along.”
Roman sat on Logan’s lap, wrapped him around his arms and, to Logan’s utter shock, started kissing him, placing the arms in a way that he covered his face from both angles. Logan just stood there in shock, receiving the kiss without moving a muscle, although after a couple of seconds he just got carried away, closed his eyes and hugged Roman back, while Roman kept his lips on Logan’s lips. After a few more seconds, Roman looked furtively to the same place he looked before, and, satisfied, released Logan. Logan stood there blushing intensely and needed a second more to open his eyes and release Roman who was still wrapped by Logan’s arms. Then Roman sat down back to where he was.
“What was that?” Logan said while trying to recover his breath.
“I’m sorry… Please don’t overthink what has just happened. I thought I saw someone dangerous, and I did that so I could hide my face completely for some time. It’s the only thing I could think of on the spot. I hope you don’t get confused feelings because of this. If you want to take it as anything, take it as an expression of gratitude for helping me, okay?”
“O… okay…” Logan said “…but warn a dude next time when you have any other idea like that.”
“Luckily I think the one I saw didn’t see us and now he’s gone, so I think we are clear for now. I’m sorry I took you by surprise and didn’t ask for your consent, I hope I didn’t make you too uncomfortable.”
“It’s okay… I… I kinda liked it… You’re not a bad kisser, I must concede.”
“Thank you very much.” Roman said, smirking. “I hope the cab doesn’t take too long to arrive, the sooner we’re far away from this place, the better. Aw, I made a struggle to sit on your lap so fast with my aching body, and now everything hurts more than before. I gotta be more careful.”
In a matter of ten minutes, the requested cab approached the place they were sitting down. The trip by taxi was longer for Logan than it would’ve been in the subway because of the traffic, but nevertheless, in less than an hour, after going to the other edge of the city, they arrived to a private complex of apartments. With Logan’s indications, soon they were in front of Logan’s apartment. Roman looked furtively behind and around to check if anyone had been following the cab, but to his relief, the street was clear. Logan paid the cab driver, then helped Roman get into the house.
“Logan, there you are! We were starting to worry about you!” Patton said from the kitchen.
“Yep, we were almost going to start dinner without you.” Virgil said from the living room “What happened? It’s not like you to arrive so late from work.”
“I’m sorry I scared you, guys, but I had a good reason. Come here, guys, please. I want to introduce you to someone.”
Virgil and Patton came out of their places and showed a face of surprise when they saw Roman, still clinging to Logan’s shoulder.
“What’s happened, Logan?” Patton said “Who is this guy?”
“His name is Roman, and he’s gonna spend at least tonight with us, he will use the empty room, the one Homer left behind when he left for his job in Greece a few days ago. Roman, these are my friends and roommates, Virgil and Patton.”
“Hello!” said Patton with a bright smile.
“Sup.” said Virgil with a monotone voice.
“How do you do, guys.” Roman said.
“Well, the room is not ready yet,” Patton said “but don’t worry, Roman. Virgil will have it ready in no time.”
“Why me, though?” Virgil complained.
“Because I’m making dinner, doofus, you don’t want it to get all burned and that we all have to ask you to go to your job place to order some burgers, do you?”
“Okay, okay. I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.” Roman said, “I’m sorry I’m causing you trouble.”
“Nah, it’s not any trouble, I just like to complain, that’s all. Besides, it’s just making the bed, sweeping the floor quickly and opening the window for a moment so the room gets some fresh air after being closed for so many days, that’s all, it will be done in no time.”
“In the meantime”, Logan said while Virgil walked upstairs to the bedrooms, “please join us in the living room while Patton finishes dinner. Patton, I hope there’s food enough for one guest, I’m sorry I didn’t warn you with more time.”
“It’s okay, kiddo, you know I always make extra rations, just in case.”
“Kiddo?” Roman said, confused.
“I’m a kindergarten teacher, I take care of a lot of kiddos, and out of habit, I treat all of my friends as kiddos too, because after all I love taking care of them too.” Patton said giggling. “Now, please sit down on the couch while I cook, okay? Dinner will be ready in no time.”
“This way, Roman.” Logan said, helping Roman walk to the couch.
“Are you wounded, though, kiddo?” Patton said, worried.
“I’ll tell you everything later, Patton.” Logan said. “But don’t worry, it’s not serious.”
“Okay…”
Roman sat down on the couch and Logan sat down next to him.
“It’s kinda hot in here, I’m gonna take the hoodie off if you don’t mind.”
With some difficulty, Roman took the hoodie off and put it on the couch next to him. He was wearing a red sleeveless shirt underneath that revealed the muscular complexion of his arms… and also several bruises and scrapes on both of them.
“Roman, do you mind if I examine you quickly, I wanna check your real state, please raise your shirt just a little bit.
“Oh, okay…”
Roman rose his shirt and showed his bare torso. The marked six pack in his abdomen was also covered in bruises all over, and there were also some scrapes on the upper torso. Logan thought it was no wonder he had it so difficult to walk, he probably was going through a lot more pain than what he was expressing.
“Okay, that will be enough, cover yourself.”
Roman put the shirt back on.
“Now, please explain to me what happened to you. All those bruises and wounds clearly prove that someone has beaten you up very hard right before I found you. And I’m sure if I felt your head under your hair I’d also find some bumps here and there. Who did this to you, and why?”
“Okay, if I’m staying with you, you deserve to know. You see, my name is Roman Reed, and I’m… well, I was a hitman.”
“A hitman? You mean a paid murderer? Oh, my…”
“I /used/ to be a hitman, but not anymore after today, and I only took care of criminals that escaped justice for any legal trick or something but that were unmistakeably proven otherwise to be murderers of some kind. I took cases from the victims’ families who contacted me through an email I have distributed in forums in the dark web, and I only accepted those cases I was completely sure they were guilty, to help these families get the justice the system was not capable of giving them.”
“And you got money from that, I presume.”
“Well, one has to eat and pay rent too, and I didn’t charge too much compared to what others actually charge in the black market. And the families were actually eager to give me anything as a token of gratitude anyway, so everyone was happy… except the murderer I took care of, of course. I like to think that, for these families, I was some kind of… hero… giving them justice. I know it’s not the most ethical thing, but I think I was doing something good where the system had failed to do so.”
“This took me by surprise, not gonna lie. I…”
“I understand, Logan, that you don’t approve what I did, and I cannot ask you to let me stay here for too long if you don’t want me here. I’m just begging you to help me for the night. You see, all my equipment, I lost it or left it at home and I can’t go back to retrieve it, they probably took possession of it anyway and who knows what they have done to my things in my house, if I have any house left and they haven’t destroyed everything in sight, that is. I can’t go back there now, so please…”
“Don’t worry, I promised you could stay here tonight, and I never break my word, you can stay tonight… But who are ‘they’? Who is after you?”
“Okay, remember this big murder that appeared on the news lately, where one still unidentified murderer killed a whole family, wife and children included? It’s a very famous case, you know, which is currently still under investigation.”
“I’ve been working all day long lately and I never had much time to watch TV or the news, so I didn’t hear about it. That’s terrible, though.”
“I was hired by the murdered father’s brother. He told me he knew who had done it and asked me to take care of him. I told them he should call the police to tell them what he knew, so there could be a proper trial, and only if the trial failed I could get into action, but they told me it was a guy with good contacts among the police, that he knew he’d never be condemned, and he begged me to help them, and sent me the photos of the murdered kids. That convinced me to take the job immediately. He told me I could find the killer in a restaurant near the place where you found me… But it was a trap.”
“A trap?”
“The murderer was not alone, he was the leader of a group of gangsters that had heard of me before, and they all surrounded and outnumbered me at the street where you found me. Their leader was impressed with my… “abilities”, and wanted to hire me as their thug to do their dirty job. It was that, or they’d let me have it there and then. I, of course, refused, and as the gang leader left us, his goons started to beat me up. My last thought was that I was going to die then and there and I remember to shed a tear of despair before one bump on the head turned everything black. I guess they left me there, probably thinking they had killed me or that I was going to die anyway. And you know all the rest, Logan. I can’t thank you enough for saving my life and giving me shelter. I’ll never forget it.”
“Maybe I should have taken you to a hospital. You could have internal wounds that I have no way of treating here, I…”
Roman held Logan’s hand with both of his hands.
“No, please. No hospitals. I don’t wanna be seen anywhere while these people might be after me. These people are serious business, I can consider myself dead for good if they find me. I beg you.”
“I’m wondering how you survived for this long as a hitman, no offense…”
“Yes, I understand what you mean, maybe I deserve the judgment. I hadn’t been in the… business… for too long before this happened. I guess I thought I had it easy, until I found someone dangerous enough to let me have it…”
“I just hope having you here won’t put me or my friends in danger, Roman.”
“I was checking all the time while we were in the cab if there was anyone following us. Don’t worry, they don’t know where I am now, and you have nothing to worry. You guys are safe now.”
“Okay, if you say so. I was thinking that if you’re not going to hospital, those wounds are gonna need attendance. You can follow me to the bathroom, there’s a medical kit there with which I can give you some help.”
“I would appreciate it. Some of these wounds really sting.”
“Okay, follow me. Let me help you.”
“It’s okay, Logan, I don’t need to hold on you anymore, the time sitting and resting has given me some strength, I can walk now by myself.”
Roman followed Logan into the bathroom. There, Logan carefully washed the blood off Roman’s skin with some soap, scrubbing gently to clean the wounds the best he could. After that, he applied some antiseptic as gently as he could with some gauze and covered the biggest wounds with some bandages. Roman watched Logan do this work with a gentle look of gratitude only interrupted by the occasional grimace of pain when some bad movement of Logan’s gauze made him feel burn. It only took around ten minutes until he saw all the open wounds tended or bandaged.
“That will be it, I think. It’s lucky, I don’t think there was any infection, so I think you’ll be good in that sense. I can’t say anything about your state inside, I don’t know if any organs have been affected or if you have any ribs broken or any other bone. I don’t think so, though, you could barely walk out of pain if you had something broken.”
“Thank you, Logan…” Roman said grabbing both of Logan’s hands “I cannot express enough how much I’m grateful to you. Without you, I’d probably be dead in that street. Thank you for being so kind to me, even though you barely even know me. I’ll never forget this, I promise to repay you somehow.”
Logan blushed a little bit.
“It was… it was nothing.” He said a little nervously “What kind of person would I have been if I had just left you there. I had to help you, and I’m glad I did.”
Roman looked at Logan in the eye and showed a little smile, probably finding funny how Logan had blushed so much. Truth is he also felt himself blushing a little bit. Logan looked back at Roman and suddenly felt his heart racing. Up until that point, he truly had behaved like a doctor, even if he wasn’t, applying the care his patient needed without thinking of anything else. Not even earlier, when he had planted a literal kiss on his mouth, he had allowed himself to react completely, convincing himself it was all a theatrical charade on Roman’s part. But now, after the wounds were tended, that was the first time he was looking at Roman, neither as a thespian, nor as a patient, but plainly as a man… and he felt how that vision attracted him like a magnet. Suddenly he felt like all his doubts and fears disappeared, like the rest of the world outside that bathroom got frozen in time and the only thing that mattered to him was Roman and his well-being. Even in this state of semi-dizziness, he realized the stupidity of something like that happening to him so fast… but he just couldn’t help it. He was feeling attracted to Roman and somehow knew Roman felt the same for him. But he forced himself out of this mesmerization and went on speaking.
“Uh… ahem… Okay… I… I think we should go back to the living room. Patton probably has finished making dinner and we shouldn’t make them wait, they’re probably hungry and you must be hungry too.”
“Oh… very… hungry…” Roman said, making a pause to say the word “very” with a voice so flirty, Logan almost felt like falling back in the previous state. He struggled a bit to hold himself from doing so and, dropping Roman’s hands stood up.
“Okay, then I’ll leave you to finish tidying yourself a bit and put your shirt back on. I’ll be waiting at the bed… at the table! Don’t take too long, okay?”
“Okay, just give me a minute.” Roman said with a fun smirk.
Logan almost tripped out of nervousness before he got out of the bathroom and left Roman inside. Then he went to the living room, where Virgil and Patton were already waiting.
“Okay, I suppose you two want some kind of explanation.”
“It won’t be needed, Logan. I heard your conversation in the living room from the kitchen.”
“Wow, I forgot you’ve always had such a good ear, Patton. So you told everything to Virgil, right?”
“Of course, if he’s gonna live with us we both have the right to know about him, kiddo, I hope you understand.”
“Of course I do, I was gonna tell you everything anyway.”
“Do you really think we’ll be safe with him around, though, Logan? There’s dangerous people after him and if they find out we’re giving him shelter, they might go after us too.”
“Don’t worry, guys.” Roman said, behind Logan who got a little startled at suddenly hearing him. “They don’t know where I am now and they don’t have any way to locate me. There’s nothing that connects me to this place so they don’t know where to look for me. I promise you guys are safe.”
“For now.” Virgil said.
“Please, Virgil, try not to overthink it.” Patton said “We need to help him, he needs us.”
“You’ve always been like this, Patton, always helping those in need without expecting anything in return…” Virgil sighed “Okay, fine, I wont’ complain anymore.”
“Then it settled unanimously, you can stay here Roman for the night as I promised.”
“For the night, or for as long as you need, kiddo. As long as we have that room available, you can stay all the time you want. It wouldn’t be nice to kick you out tomorrow when you’re still so wounded.”
“Agreed.” Virgil said.
“Thank you, guys,” Logan said proudly “I didn’t expect any less from you.”
“Thank you guys, all of you, for your hospitality.” Roman said while sitting down at the table “I promise I will repay you as soon as I can. And as soon as I have access back to my stuff, I will pay the rent of your room just like anybody else, I don’t wanna be a burden for any of you.
“Take it easy.” Logan said “Remember you said your house might be under vigilance, so it’s not safe to go there to get anything yet. It’s better that we wait some prudential time, until they’re convinced you won’t be a problem anymore and stop looking for you.”
“Yes, I think you’re right… problem is, that all my clothes are there. What am I going to wear for the night?”
“I think that will be easy to solve.” Patton said “You see, Homer, our previous roommate, left behind a good bunch of clothes in a box he forgot to take with him to Greece. Clothes of all kinds: casual, sleep clothes, sports ones, anything… and looking at you, I think by miraculous luck your complexion is very similar to his, so I think his clothes will fit you well, at least for tonight.”
“But won’t that… Homer… reclaim his clothes back? Didn’t he ask you to send them to Greece?”
“Nah,” Virgil said “we told him by email, and he said it was okay, he got two other boxes of clothes, and that it would be cheaper just to buy new clothes in Greece if he needed them than the shipping costs. So he said we could keep them as a memento of him or give them to some people in need if we didn’t want them. I guess that means you can keep them, because you technically are ‘people in need’, am I right?”
“Yes, you could say so” Roman said, smirking. “Okay, thank you then guys, I’ll check those clothes and see if they fit me well. Now, I won’t bother you anymore, let’s have dinner, okay? It’s getting late. What’s for dinner, by the way?”
“Cream of broccoli” Patton said, happily “like the one my mom used to make!”
“Oh… I see… you see, I’m not really a fan of broccoli, but…” Roman took a spoonful of cream taking care not to burn his tongue, his gesture changed immediately after tasting the soup “…forget what I was saying, this is delicious, Patton.”
“Thank you, kiddo. I’m glad I haven’t lost my touch with comforting food.”
“Don’t know about that, but I do really feel comforted with this delicacy fit for a prince, Patton, thanks again.”
The four roommates finished eating the soup Patton had made until there was nothing left on it. Then they all sat down on the couch to watch TV for a while. Virgil was the first to go to bed as he had to get up early for college. Patton followed soon after as he also had to wake up early for his job. That left Logan and Roman alone watching the late news.
“How are you feeling now, Roman?” Logan asked.
“Much better than before, Logan, thanks for asking, I even feel my wounds less stingy. The bruises are a different thing, though, but that’s normal, I guess.”
“Yeah, they always say bruises hurt much more the second day than the first. But don’t worry, we got pain killers too in case you need them. And ice bags can also make miracles in that regard.”
“Thanks again, Logan, I…” Roman looked at the TV and showed a face of horror.
“What? What’s the matter, Roman?”
“Look at the TV, Logan!”
The TV was showing the image of a guy that apparently had been found dead an hour ago or so. The reporter said no signs of the murderer had been found and the investigation was still open.
“What about it, Roman? Do you know that guy?”
“Know him? That’s the guy who lured me into the trap, the guy who hired me! These people don’t want any witnesses, I guess. And they’re probably now after me. By this moment, they probably have checked that street and realized there was no corpse, so they must know I’m still alive somewhere… I’m scared… for me and for you. Maybe staying here is a bad idea, I…”
“Roman, don’t panic. Like you said, they have no way of finding you because nothing ties you to this house. You’re safe for the time being, as long as you stay inside hiding. We’ll bring you everything you need for the next few days, and everything will be fine, you’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right, Logan. I hope…”