crush

He's shivering. Whether it's because of the giant splatter on the windshield leaking cool air into the rapidly cooling down heat of the honda accord or because of the jitters running up and down his spine from hitting something after years of driving with absolutely no history of a wreck, he isn't sure.

But even in the moment of processing what's just happened, he's reaching over to the passenger seat to grab at Eli, searching for a pulse, for movement, for anything. He gives up and chooses, instead, to croak:

"Are you okay? Oh goddess, please be okay."

He can hear his own breathing in the silence of the crash. The loud electronic music has petered out along with the boyish laughter that had just occupied the air. Leo is grasping at the plaid shirt Eli liked to wear whenever they had a date. He probably though Leo didn't notice but, well, he did.

"Please don't leave me, no, not now, not now!"

If it had been any earlier in the day, Leo would have been much more concerned about calling the police, even if he still didn't fully trust them. Add in the crushed cans slowly piling up in the floor of the backseat and you didn't have a great combination for "police report".

"You gotta get up, baby, I can't do this without you..."

His voice is pleading, warning the unconscious Eli that he didn't have a choice in the matter: he simply needed to get up. There was no question.

"Goddess damnit, I just got you, please don't let me lose you now..."