Difficult roads [END]

''Off to your run already?'', Samael's father asked, his voice gruff from sleep, as Samael passed by him in the kitchen almost half an hour earlier than he usually would.

''Yeah'', he young man said, grabbing things from the table and fridge as he continued walking. ''I told you I was going out today'', he said before taking a bit out of a sandwich like thing he had just made.

''I forgot about that'', his father answered, rubbing his forehead. ''When will you be coming back?''

''In the evening, I guess'', Samael said, frowning at his old man. ''When did you go to sleep last night?''

''I'll be going back to bed in the moment'', the older man answered instead, making his son frown even more. Last night had been one of his none-working nights which meant that his father had probably stayed up later than it was good to him.

''You really should let me work every night'', he said with a sigh, finishing with his sort-of-early-breakfast and heading for the door.

''After you finish college'', his old man answered, as he always did.

''That's not that far away, you know'', Samael said over his shoulders as he ran down the stairs, the one leading directly outside rather than to the bar, and onto the streets, towards the forest. Once he was among the trees he shifted, running as fast as he could, giving his paws a good stretch. He loved running, whether in his human form or like this, it didn't matter much. He simply preferred his animal form because it didn't get much stretch otherwise.

He ran through the forest, up by the creek, all the way to its beginning, as he usually did, before he suddenly remembered he was supposed to come back to the apartment early and get ready before leaving.

''Of all the days to get lost in though'', he thought to himself, before hurrying back home, staying in his cat form when as he entered the city. It was too early for anyone to see him, probably, and he covered more ground on four legs than on two. Soon, he was running up to the bar

@Trahnael

Samael had run as fast as he could, stretching his paws to cover more ground, his muscles burning pleasantly as he did so, only to still realize that he was late as he burst into the bar's parking lot to see Deith sitting at the top of a nice looking black and white car, probably waiting for him.

''Damn'', he said, turning, exchanging one form for another within a space of a breath. One moment he had been a cat running down the lot, the next, it was him, red hair tied in the back, frowning at the sun. ''I'm late'', he said as he kept walking as a human where he had stopped a moment ago as a cat. ''I'm sorry'', he said, focusing on Deith as he slowly approached the car. ''I got lost in thought for a moment, forgot I needed to be back early today. And I even woke up earlier and everything'', he said, sighing, as he dragged his fingers through his hair. ''I hope you haven't been waiting long. I should be back in a minute, I just need to grab some stuff from upstairs'', he said, all one after another, not giving Deith much space to register anything or reply to him. As he said that last sentence, however, he ran up, through the kitchen that was empty but for a note on the fridge that claimed his mother would be very, very angry if he forgot to bring her sandwiches with him as he left.

''Honestly, mom'', he said as he grabbed them from the where she had left them, put them on the table so he would not forget them and then run into his room, changing his shirt as he grabbed his phone form a charger and put it into the pockets of his jacket. Re-dressed, and having given up on a shower he had been planning despite the fact that the sweat didn't really carry somehow from his cat body to his human form, he ran back through the kitchen, down he stairs, locking the door behind him as he turned to Deith.

''Hey'', he greeted him again with a small smile. The time that had passed since that evening, which Samael liked to call his moment of clarity inside his ow head had allowed the young man to revert somewhat to his earlier way of acting towards Deith. He was still very much aware of everything that the other man was and has done, of all the help he would need to get better and how long that would probably take, but as he had told Deith, he did not judge him for it, and had made damn sure to show him just how strongly he meant that.

''So, is that your car?'', he asked, looking at a car. ''Looks nice.'' And it did, though Samael knew really next to nothing about cars. He had never needed one, really, not living on the Island and mostly commuting between city and the school, rarely going anywhere else.

''Unlike you'', he said then, focusing at Deith. ''Have you slept at all last night?'', he asked, frowning. ''I am not getting into that car, with you behind the wheel if you had not slept. That is not safe.''

''Just because you do something often, does not mean you're good at it'', he said, looking at Deith meaningfully, though refraining from actually putting anything else into words, before he sighed heavily and got into the car, making himself comfortable in the other seat.

''And just because I do not posses supernatural healing abilities of just about anything else superhuman out there'', he said as he clicked his seat belt into place, ''does not make me a baby'', he said, pointedly looking at the unused seat belt freely hanging by the driver's seat.

''I would very much like to survive this road trip'', he added, looking around himself for a place to put his mother's box of sandwiches. ''I have work tonight, and my old man is already dead tired from last night'', he said, throwing the box behind him somewhere. It was a box, it will be safe there and it is not like sandwiches could go bad. Well, not his mother's, she would never put anything into them that could actually make them-well, him-sick.

''That reminds, we need to be back by evening so I can get ready. Also, you're not allowed to drink Demons for at least six months'', it was his rule, that last one. His father wasn't really thrilled about it, as he was never the one to stop people from getting drunk, even when it was for their own good, but in this situation, he allowed Samael's word to be the last. Well, mostly last, as the young man had wanted to stop Deith from drinking completely, on to be gently reminded by his father that if he did that, the man would just go drink somewhere else, where he would not be as safe. Thus, for now, Samael held his tongue on that mater.

''And me trusting you and you driving half asleep have nothing to do with each other'', he said, looking at Deith from the corner of his eyes. ''You cannot out trust the facts. Reality doesn't work that way'', he stopped for a moment. ''Well, mostly, there was this one guy in my junior class...''

''Please do look where you are going, Deith'', Samael said, cringing at the fact that Deith was not only speeding up, but also casually looking towards him, as there was not a whole road in front of him to which he should pay attention to. He knew that Deith knew how to drive, and had obviously not crashed himself yet (that he knew of, demon healing abilities were usually quite impressive) but that did not change yet another fact: he was not used to the cars, having been born on the Island where you could get pretty much everywhere by bus, on foot, or in his case, paws once he was old enough. Thus the casual speed at which Deith drove unnerved him some, though he could certainly see the appeal of it, in he looked at it from a certain point. There was a reason after all why he loved running in his feline form.

''And everything he believed would become real'', he said, talking about that guy he used to know in his junior class. He was not really close to him, and they had been in the same class for a year only, so he could not remember his name, or anything about him, really, except that somebody once convinced him that some spilled ketchup was actually blood... only to realize a moment that he was actually bleeding. Needless to say nobody lied to him again.

''I don't know how that worked, but I saw it with my own eyes'', he said, looking at the scenery quickly passing by them. ''How do you expect to see anything, going at this speed?'', he asked, turning towards Deith once again. He knew mos of the Island, even those parts that he did not visit often, having taken a bus around it a few times, so there was nothing he could miss seeing. Deith on the other hand...was probably only in it for the drive, now that he thought about it.

''My mother packed us sandwiches for when we get hungry'', he simply said a moment later without actually waiting for a reply.

''Most people do'', Samael said lightly, as Deith replied to his comment about Demons with a bit of a delay, not wanting to make something out of the outing that it was not meant to be, especially not now that Deith was actually slowing down, thank you very much.

''I hear these help with them though'', he said, examining the coffee Deith had placed for him in the holder. ''Nice'', he said as he took his first sip slowly. ''Though hot'', he added a few seconds later as he felt the burn spread everywhere from his lips, over his tongue and down his throat. ''Very hot'', he amended a few seconds later wishing for some water or something as he placed the coffee back in its place. He'll have to wait for it to cool down a bit, even if that meant risking losing the whole cup by letting it get too cold by mistake. It was better than not feeling his tongue for the next several minutes.

''My mom's not just awesome'', he said, correcting what Deith had said. ''She's a tigress'', he explained with a bright smile on his face. ''Which means she's pretty scary too'', he laughed then, thinking of her and everything she was. ''So you better not make me take those sandwiches back, she will eat me alive for it. And would then find you and eat you alive for it. Or make you a really big breakfast, it depends, really'', he joked, a fond smile on his face never fading. He loved his family, after all.

''Where are we going, anyway?'', he asked, looking at the passing scenery now that it was a little less blurry due to their speed being lower. ''I mean, how far did you mean to take us, it's not like we can actually go anywhere off the island'', he corrected himself before Deith would have a chance to do so for him.

He liked this, the way things were now, warm and easy, despite the bunch of other things that still hanged between them, like the fact that he didn't really know what Deith decided about all that stuff he had listed that night, about getting help, and medication, and many other facts. They were heavy, and serious, and adult, and this road trip was just not, so he let it not be adult. He could be adult again when he got back home.