'Obsession: continually preoccupied or intrudes on a person's mind.'
A few months passed, and it just wasn't enough, it was like an itch he couldn't scratch. Something that leaves him wanting more and more. Following him back from their joint classes just wasn't enough anymore.
It was a slow process, at first Henry just wanted to be close to Leo, and hang out as much as he could with Leo. Sometimes, the very air itself would feel cold and muggy when Leo wasn't there talking with him, or even just sitting by him. Henry found himself wandering to the places where he saw Leo most – even going as far as waiting down the street corner when he felt truly desperate.
Even at times he feels like he's got a constant ache when Leo doesn't adhere to the routine that Henry plans in his head, and sometimes the other disappears for a while or hangs out with groups he didn't know and a sense of indignation flares up in Henry, even when Leo seems to avoid him and not give him a proper answer of what he is doing; and Henry finds himself outside of Leo's residence or finds himself following Leo, his anger flaring up slightly more when he sees Leo with people he didn't know, laughing and talking, seeming much more at ease than he ever was with Henry.
There was always a tenseness Henry noted, whenever Leo was talking to him. A slight distance that Leo always maintains, even when Henry tries to bridge it – and sometimes with mounting frustration he feels a sense of urgency and desperation that almost overwhelms him in that moment – it pissed him off.
Late nights were the worst, his once good sleep schedule was decimated at some point, he didn't notice when. All Henry realised was that one day he started looking through the other's socials, and something hooked him in, the way the other was not an avid poster, pushing him to flick through the posts that the other did have, always well done, a small insight to the others life, pictures of walks, or gatherings with friends that screamed quiet wealth, the effortless way the suit clung to his shoulders, coupled with his casual demeanour, just felt… right.
Endearing.
Henry couldn't seem to stop himself even if he tried through the nights, and this continued for a few days, until he had to force himself to stop for a brief period of time. This period only lasted roughly about a day, where he was nursing a migraine, and slightly burning eyes from being on his phone for too long. Looking and admiring the other's photos and spending a good amount of time daydreaming about what he wanted to do to the other.
Then during class, he would listen with rapt attention, and find a seat next to Leo. Listening intently when the other spoke, though in the back of his mind he would find himself enraptured on other's lips which were a pale pink, sometimes glistening with a thin layer of lip balm – or how the other's lips would turn a bit pinker when he'd bite his lip in thought. Or Leo's hair, the thick dark brown hair, when he'd run his fingers through it, made Henry's own fingers twitch with want.
God, it was like awful how much he ached for the other, how he felt the heat travel south, how he wanted to feel the other's hands in his, fingers intertwined between his, their bodies wrapped around each other, the solid weight–
Henry huffed and leant back in his chair as he gazed at the ceiling – he needed air. He really couldn't continue like this.
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The past few months were horror.
[Name] could feel it, there was someone following him. He didn't know who they were but he could feel them, always. Constant, hovering.
It would sometimes be difficult to breathe, and when he went to sleep it was fitful and restless, the darkness of his room that he once found calming put him on edge, as if it was hiding something ominous from him. Neither could he seem to calm himself down; and he felt trapped, trapped like an animal in a cage with nowhere to go, yet he couldn't see who this person was.
Always there, like a shadow that flits away just before he could see it. Everything was a potential danger, even in the bright lights of a casino, he could feel a heaviness that fell on his shoulder– glancing over his shoulder whenever he was out, he couldn't even focus when he was hanging out with other people.
With no one to tell he becomes more reclusive, and when the seasons turn colder, darker, nights longer, darkness heavier, more oppressive, [Name] sprints home. It was his only solace and even then, there was no sense of security. He would run the way home, key ready in his hand as he struggles to unlock the door sometimes, and even gazing into the shadows over his shoulders as he unlocks the door, immediately checking the back door and the window of his room, making sure there were no signs of entry.
There was something wrong, even on campus, and in his class, there was a sense of being watched – not in the way he was used to. Something that made his breath falter slightly in his lungs and made him tense, and lean forward, ready to bolt at a moment's notice, leaving him distracted, and more work to pile onto him and forcing him to catch up when he was home.
It took its toll, on his social life in particular, and strained his relationship further with his family – Declan and his father knew something was wrong, but after that argument, [Name] felt uneasy to confide in his brother, and his father was someone he didn't want to worry either.
It really only left Henry.
How could [Name] approach the other guy with this worry and potentially get him also worried and worked up, sure he was kind and a good friend to [Name] but it wasn't like the other had anything or any other means to help [Name] either.
The helplessness became suffocating, and [Name] was losing it – something about the way the darkness would curl around him, or the flickering of the streetlights, made him wary of all movement. Even Lucian wasn't able to help him.
There was nothing [Name] could do, not when his stalker was someone so close.