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Inside of an old, creaky house they were sent to investigate because of a possible sealed artifact, Leonard walked forward, examining every corner.
Following closely behind him was Klein, jumping anxiously at every creak that came from the dusty wooden flooring.
Klein whispered quietly, “Did Captain give us any more details?”
Leonard walked forward, talking confidently, he gestured across the room nonchalantly. “It’ll be fine. It’s just a pocket watch that decays its surroundings. As long as neither I—” Leonard turned his head and smirked at Klein —” or you touch it, it’ll all turn out fine.”
Klein looked around worriedly, “I’m not so sure though.”
Internally, Klein was lampooning.
Leonard and your main character syndrome, couldn’t you have any sense of self preservation for once?!
Leonard seemed to be surveying the room casually before suddenly reaching his hand towards the wall and flipping over a random portrait. Shockingly, there was a hidden compartment behind it.
To Klein's shock—and annoyance—the artifact that they were looking for was within it.
Leonard smirked, “See Klein, this is why you can never be special like me.”
He reached in—and before Klein could stop him—grabbed the artifact.
Didn’t you just say to not touch it?!
Klein internally screamed as he shouted out of shock.
“Leonard! What are you doing?!”
Leonard laughed as he waved the artifact around.
“See, Klein, it’s all fine!”
Annoyed by Leonard’s antics, he took a glance at the pocket watch just to notice that the minute hand had slowly started to tick backwards.
Klein’s eyes widened.
“Leonard let go of that!”
Leonard closed his eyes and laughed.
“Klein, why are you being so serious? It’s not doing anything.”
The clocks hands began rapidly speeding up and before either of them knew it, it had begun frantically ticking and had started expelling streams of smoke and light.
Leonard looked down at the watch with a hint of panic in his eyes and just before the ticking reached it’s climax, Klein jumped forward, arm outstretched, attempting to knock Leonard away from whatever the watch was about to do.
Unfortunately, Klein was too late and he ended up stumbling, his hand just touching Leonard’s chest—pushing him backwards—as the two of them were engulfed in smoke and light.
---
Klein regained consciousness and found himself in a precarious situation.
He was laying on top of Leonard, his face lying face down just besides Leonard’s—which was facing up. Klein’s left arm was on the right side of Leonard’s body. And Klein’s right arm was on the left side of Leonard’s body.
From an outsider’s perspective it was as if the two of them were sprawled on top of each other in an embrace.
Klein’s face flushed.
He quickly jumped up to separate himself—only to fall down again upon taking the sights around him.
No… no this can’t be.
Around him he saw cars, skyscrapers, and people looking at the two of them weirdly—probably for many reasons including their manner of appearance, dress, and so on.
Leonard didn’t seem to have woken up yet.
Klein quickly came to a conclusion.
The surroundings have perfectly mimicked modern day China.
First things first, however, he had to wake Leonard up, somehow.
Klein said firmly in Leonese.
“Leonard, wake up.”
That didn’t work—obviously why would it ever be that easy?
He bent down and attempted to shake him. But that didn’t work either. It appeared the transportation knocked Leonard into a deep unconscious. Why Klein wasn’t affected? It was probably due to his special constitution.
Klein sighed in frustration. He was lucky that he seemed to have appeared on the side and out of the main foot traffic, but people were starting to give him attention and soon enough, the police would show up—which would cause problems for all sorts of reasons. The guns in their possession, apparent homelessness, no identification, the list went on.
Klein discreetly pulled out a coin and made a quick divination.
The coin landed tails, and cogitation told him that police would arrive within less than three minutes if things didn’t work out.
That was a problem. Leonard didn’t seem like he would be awake in time.
Klein panicked.
He reached down and began furiously shaking and shouting at Leonard but nothing happened.
Out of panic, and desperation—two minutes had passed already and he could already hear the sound of police chatter heading his way—he decided to go with whatever first came up to his mind.
He leaned over placed his lips against Leonard’s… kissing him.
Klein’s face flushed with embarrassment but he continued on, Leonard would either wake up or they would both be screwed.
Seeing that this kiss wasn’t enough, he pushed out his tongue a little, letting some of his own saliva enter Leonard's mouth. He felt his tongue brush against Leonard’s lips and then go through, feeling the softness and smoothness travel across his tongue. Klein’s face turned a deep red upon doing this.
He let his tongue enter and exit a few times, until—to Klein’s delight—he saw Leonard’s eyes flicker and then abruptly opening up.
Leonard’s eyes widened as he realized that both of Klein's hands were besides his head and that Klein’s face was within inches of his own.
Leonard’s face flushed red.
Both Klein and Leonard jumped up, distancing themselves from each other. Their clothes were disheveled, faces were bright red, and there were traces of saliva on both of each other’s lips.
Klein glanced back towards the mass of people around them—thankfully it was morning commute so not many people paid attention but he was sure that people noticed.
Klein grabbed Leonard’s hand, pulling him into a nearby alleyway.
“Quick Leonard, we need to find somewhere private!”
Leonard let out a small whine before he was dragged into the alleyway by Klein, and just in time.
Just walking outside was a pair of two police officers, walking down the sidewalk.
Klein breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Leonard and staring at him, annoyed.
“Leonard! What happened to not touching the sealed artifact, now you have both of us in this mess!”
Leonard’s eyes were still wide in shock from being kissed earlier.
He barely managed to stutter out.
“Klein..? What was that earlier?”
Klein, finally calm after saving the two of them from the potential danger—realized what exactly he had just done.
He looked towards Leonard and awkwardly laughed. Discretely trying to wipe his lips with the sleeve of his coat.
“Isn’t it more important to analyze the situation?”
Leonard eyed Klein, looking at him for a moment too long.
He looked up towards the tall buildings around him.
“Yes, we should be figuring out the situation around us.”
---
The two of them had managed to secure themselves a place to stay for the night. It may have been because of Leonard’s excellent detective skills or it may have been because of Klein’s awkward conversations in Chinese—that somehow went unnoticed by Leonard— to the countless people around them.
Due to their lack of money, they had only managed to secure themselves a small one roomed hotel room with only one bed and a bathroom.
Klein sighed, exhausted from all of the embarrassment and explaining he had to do all day, it had been 11 whole hours of talking and persuading and pleading—that would mentally exhaust anyone, even the greatest showman would be exhausted after putting up a facade for so long.
Leonard on the other hand, was not—most likely because he had been dragged around like a child all day, coaxed into following Chinese social norms under the guise of a “stealth mission.”
Klein almost immediately collapsed on the bed, falling asleep instantly—he was unable to change his clothes and had to sleep in his daytime ones.
Leonard however, was still awake—probably because he only needed three hours of sleep to function. He sat on a chair and observed the silver moon outside with interest, contemplating his situation. He enjoyed the peaceful silence of the night
At some point, he looked towards the sleeping Klein, there was a faint smile on his face.
He stood up, and walked towards the bed, close to the side where Klein was sleeping.
He watched as Klein laid on the bed, sprawled, clothes all ruffled, and with a faint hint of drool trickling out of his mouth.
Leonard let out a soft laugh as he watched Klein a little more before carefully reaching his hand and stroking the hair on Klein’s head.
Klein remained fast asleep during all of this.
Leonard’s face kept the slight smile as he removed his hand and whispered softly.
Goodnight Klein.
The clock struck ten o’clock and the pocket watch in Leonard’s pocket flashed with white and smoke, engulfing the two of them and returning them to the old house they were originally in.
Time had not changed while they were gone.
Klein was still unconscious, sleeping peacefully on the wooden floor.
Leonard looked at Klein, and let out a sigh, shaking his head.
Then he sat down and kissed him.