some experimenting (One on One) (Open)

Vaughn tilted his head down a tad, his lips brushing gently and purposely against Ilya’s forehead. He settled his head back down, shutting his eyes as he let out a quiet sigh. “Goodnight,” he hummed gently in reply. Hopefully he would be able to sleep alright that night. It would be embarrassing to him if he had a little freak out with Ilya sleeping by him. He hoped that the warmth and presence of an actually real person would help to center him in some sort of way.

Vaughn had fallen asleep slowly, it taking him around twenty minutes to be fully out. Figure and other things kept making random little sounds that were keeping him from entering those healing sleep cycles. When he did fall asleep, he had minor anxiety causing dreams that would leave him waking up in a cold sweat. But it was not as bad as it always had been in the past, and he was grateful for that.

He had woken up early, as Ilya was still asleep. He had gotten up very slowly and stealthily, not wanting to wake up the sleeping male who had been next to him in bed. After changing into a pair of sweatpants and a crew neck sweatshirt, he headed out into the main area of the gas station. It was decided that a protein shake would be his breakfast for the morning. Once he grabbed that, he sat back in the desk chair that sat behind the counter. He switched on the radio that was sat on said counter, flicking through the stations.

Vaughn had switched the music to a news station. At the sound of movement, he looked over to where Ilya's figure was at the entrance to the main area of the gas station. "Hey, sorry. I just woke up early and came out here so I wouldn't bother you. I didn't wake you up, did I?" he asked before taking a sip of his protein shake. He heard a woman's voice come on the radio, and he held up his hand for silence as she began to speak.

"In other news, the Grinning Butcher struck again last night in our small town. Police found the body of Damian (insert last name here), a local police officer, murdered in his residence. Police are not releasing much information yet on this case, but they have said that Ilya Lukovitch, the deceased officer's housemate, is currently missing. Investigators are still looking into whether Mr. Lukovitch is still alive or not-" the sound of the woman talking was cut off by Vaughn turning off the radio. He exhaled heavily, running a hand over his face slowly.

Vaughn looked over at Ilya, quickly growing concerned. “Ilya?” he spoke, straightening and setting down his protein shake. He stood up and walked over to where Ilya was. He would have normally crouched down, but wasn’t sure if he could do that with his hurt ankle. So, he sat on the concrete floor in a criss-cross position. He made sure to stay a foot or two away. That was to give Ilya his breathing room. If Ilya wanted to be by Vaughn, he could come over, but he did not want to risk freaking Ilya out more. “Ilya, Ilya it’s ok,” he tried to reassure the panicking male.

"They won't find you… How could they? That would mean they would also have to find me, and there's no way they are going to be able to do that," Vaughn started. "Even if they do, they can't force you to do anything. You're an adult- your own person. You don't have to go back into that situation." He leaned back a bit as his side began to ache once again. He would have to dig through the piles of medications he had in his bedroom to find some sort of pain medication.

When he would eventually look for pain medication, should he also get his schizophrenia medication to take? His therapist friend supplied him with them often, but he rarely ever took them. Figure vanished if he did. As much as he hated seeing that hallucination and hearing those murmuring voices, they were the only sort of company he had for the longest time. He did not feel as alone in that gas station if they were there with them. But Ily was with him now. Could he get rid of his most trusted- even if it was not real- companion?

Vaughn slowly eased his way a tad bit closer to Ilya. He seemed visibly concerned with the way Ilya seemed to break down. "What did I say, hm?" he hummed gently as he reached a hand out towards Ilya, looking at him with a softness in his steely irises. "I said I would protect you, didn't I? I said I would keep you safe. If anyone wanted to get to you, they would have to get past me first- and that is not going to happen."

He disliked seeing Ilya so upset, and wondered how he could calm the male down. "How about we get off the floor and go sit somewhere more comfortable, yeah? Get you something for breakfast. That might help you feel a bit better," he suggested.

Vaughn frowned softly when he noticed how Ilya seemed to grow more anxious when he scooted closer, and made a mental note to not do that again. He held Ilya's hand gently, giving it a little squeeze. When Ilya scooted against him, he took the chance to slowly wrap his arms around Ilya in a protective sort of way. He held Ilya close, resting his chin on top of Ilya's head as he stared out past the shelves and to the window, looking at the deserted outside of the gas station.

"They won't find us. I know it's scary- I get scared sometimes too. But I made a promise to you and I'm going to keep that promise," he said in a sure sounding way. He wondered what there was to do to make everything better again. Would more reassurance help? Or maybe just ignoring the subject for now? He would do what he could to make Ilya feel comfortable and safe with him at the gas station.

Vaughn kept his arms wrapped around Ilya's torso, palms resting lightly against his sides. He breathed out softly as he listened to Ilya. "They won't find either of us. I'm always careful, and they would not think to check here. They don't know anything about me- no DNA or anything. Hell, I don't even know if they know if I'm a guy or a girl," he said. That could have been true, but it might have also been because of how secretive investigators were being with the case. They were barely releasing any information besides the basics to the press, so no one knew how much progress on a killer profile they had made at that point in time.

"I won't get hurt. They can't find me, and if they did that still doesn't mean they wouldn't be able to catch me," he paused for a moment to think before speaking up again. "If you really feel unsafe here, I have other secure places we can go." The place he had in mind was a small cabin around three hours away. It was up in the mountains, surrounded by forests. Despite that, it was well kept- as it was owned by his previous foster family, and they kept it up to date year round.

Vaughn listened closely as Ilya voiced his concerns. He completely understood why Ilya was worried. Anyone in their right mind would be. It had been a messy murder scene, one driven mostly by passion and emotion rather than his usual ‘get in, and get out’ process. But that could be a good thing for them. It could cause the investigators to second guess themselves on who killed Damian.

“Everything will be ok. I checked around quickly after it all happened, nothing was left behind. I’m used to doing these things quickly, so I know how to look for things in a short amount of time. No one is going to find anything there,” he tried to reassure Ilya. He pressed himself closer against Ilya. “How about we grab something for breakfast, ok? Whatever you want, we can have it.”

Vaughn held still as Ilya got up. He reached over, grabbing on to the shelf and using that to slowly pull himself up. At the mention of a kitchen, he felt his face grow a tad hot with embarrassment as he glanced around the small store. "Well… There really isn't one here. There's plenty of basic food and a microwave in the back, but not an actual kitchen…" he admitted. It was barely a suitable place for him to live. He did not eat much filling foods anyways. He would have healthy little snacks mainly, and would occasionally stop at a diner. The only time he actually ever got real food was when he would visit his foster sister around once every month at her apartment, and they would make some proper meals.

Vaughn smiled faintly when Ilya pressed up against him, and he draped one arm around Ilya loosely. At the mention of a table, he pursed his lips a tad bit. He did not have that either. He was usually the only one there, so he always sat in his chair at the counter for the poor excuses that he called meals. He never expected to ever have company, so he felt very unprepared for all of this. He was raised with manners and to be polite, so he felt he was was doing a horrible job at being a host towards Ilya.

"We'll have to eat out here. It's always just me here, so I don't have anything like that," he mumbled, licking his lips subconsciously and reaching up to tug a hand through his hair. He found that pulling on his own hair was a nervous tic of sorts that he had developed over time. "Sorry this is so complicated, I was not expecting to have guests any time soon." He had tried his hardest to make some sort of joke to lighten the mood a bit and push down the embarrassment that he was feeling at the moment.

Vaughn leaned a bit into Ilya, feeling a little relieved that Ilya was not disappointed that he did not have any sort of proper set up for a meal. The part about Ilya only needing to be around him warmed his heart in the slightest. "I understand," he started, before reaching to take Ilya's hand in his own, giving it a little squeeze as he turned his head to look elsewhere. "I appreciate the reassurance, so thank you." He sounded quite timid when saying that, which was most likely why he had tried to avoid eye contact while saying so. It was strange to see Vaughn act all small after knowing that he had violently killed a man the night before. He seemed violent because of his actions, but he was a very timid and soft spoken person most of the time. He obviously put up the 'tough guy' attitude to keep himself safe.

Vaughn noticed how Ilya was trying to step forward to take some sort of charge of the situation. While it was only something small, he greatly appreciated it. He seemed a tad bit surprised by the affectionate action of kissing the back of his hand. He pressed his lips together, feeling a tad flustered by the movement. He decided to return the action, lifting Ilya’s hand to his lips and gently pressing them against the male’s knuckles. He thought it was only fair for him to return the favor. “Yeah, you can take the chair. I’ll stand or grab a box to sit on next to you,” he started. He seemed to be feeling a tad bit better, judging by his posture. “What do you feel like having to eat?”

Vaughn seemed to lighten up further when Ilya pecked his cheek. He have Ilya’s hand a little squeeze as they began to walk. He walked with a noticeable limp in his step. That was because his ankle was aching with each step. That reminded him that he needed to go and grab some of his pain medicine soon. “Of course we can have something sweet. I think here we have doughnuts, pop tarts, sugary cereal… That’s just the breakfast foods. There’s other sweets, too though,” he explained, tugging Ilya to the correct isle with a lot of the sweets.

Vaughn leaned a tiny bit of his weight against Ilya. He would not put too much of it against the male because he was a decent amount larger than him. He looked over at the pop tarts, picking up a box of the strawberry flavored ones from the shelf. He thought that was a go-to flavor. “Yeah, we can heat it up in the microwave,” he hummed with a little smile.

The microwave was on the other side of the counter. He led Ilya back over there, opening up the box and taking out two packages. He unwrapped them, popping them into the microwave. After setting the timer for thirty seconds, he allowed them to heat up. He led Ilya over to the desk chair by the counter. “Go on ahead and sit down, I’ll grab a seat for myself and the pop tarts.”