"Come on." Lea sighed.

"I don't want to." Tom scowled.

"Stop being such a baby." Lea punched Tom in the arm.

"OW!" Tom hissed.

"You're a burn victim, don't act like a slugger hurt you- now just grow a pair and go ask her!" Lea grinned.

Tom shuffled his feet, "Man, I don't know."

"You're going to regret it later if you don't and you know that." Lea chuckled.

"Yeah, Yeah..." Tom mumbled.

"This is why you get beat up." Lea groaned, "You're so indecisive and- you got put in here for a misunderstanding that if any of these guys knew, you'd be a bloody pulp in the blink of an eye in this here cafeteria if I weren't here."

"Yeah? And why haven't you done that to me?" Tom cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm a sociopathic-serial-killer, Tom- it confuses me why you're alive here right now and haven't got your bedpost shoved down your throat at this point." Lea smiled innocently while Tom gave him a curiously frightened look, "I can't feel anything for anyone else. Is that what you mean?"

"I- didn't mean to um-"

"Some things don't always add up, Thomas." Lea gave him a blank stare.

This was held for a minute before Lea looked away with a perky smile, "Alright, so if you're not going to ask her, I will."

"No, no, no, Lea, I-"

"You're afraid because you don't want people looking at you like a piece of meat when they see you can't win your own battles?" Lea suggested.

"Lea you're-"

"Yes, well, I can fight them for you if necessary, which is why you're still alive."

"- you're doing the thing again you-"

"I'm going to go ask." Lea turned away from Tom.

Tom frowned, watching Lea walk away and then suddenly feel very vulnerable, scooting over to an empty table in the back of the cafeteria, usually where Lea sat, which meant that nobody touched that table.

However, this only applied when Lea was there.

"Hey, baby rattle!" A young man sat down across from Tom.

Tom groaned, he hated that nickname; He got it from Lea calling him snakeboy all the time, rattle coming from that term, baby coming from the fact that, just below Lea, he was the youngest here, just over nineteen.

"Are you upset because your caretaker's going all numb again?" The young man smirked, "He's not giving little baby rattle the attention his wittle heart needs?"

Tom just looked down at his lunch tray, containing what he hoped was just discolored mashed potatoes with a side of some vegetable that was foreign to earth from what it looked like.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, freak face!" The young man grabbed Tom by the front of his prison jumpsuit from across the table, lifting him up by a few feet, "Look me in the eye when I talk to you- even if it makes me wanna' puke just looking at your face!"

Tom was struggling to not just swing a fist, but last time he did that was the result of his face the previous night, worse than just what Logan had done to him.

"Oh? Now you're quiet? Baby isn't going to c-cry?" He made a mocking sniffling sound.

Tom let out a small growl and balled his fist up.

"Camden. Please put him down."

Tom looked over, sighing in relief when he saw Lea.

Camden glared at Lea, letting go of Tom so his face would land in the "mashed potatoes"

Lea looked at Camden with stone-Cold features.

Camden returned the look, "Trying to rescue your princess again?" He smirked, by then a crowd was watching from their own tables and this made them erupt in whispers.

"Sweetie," Lea chuckled, "Don't underestimate my age and size, I've got a life sentence here as far as I'm concerned, hurting you isn't going to change anything for me- oh but, it might change let's say...do you mind that pretty baby-Fuzz face of yours getting jacked up?"

"You don't scare me, little man." Camden hissed.

"We'd better fix that then." Lea took a step forward, clenching a fist which made Camden tense up, Lea used this opportunity to simply slug him in the gut, it being tense causing him to fall onto the floor.

Lea put his hands together, "Please stay away from this table from now on, alright, princess?" He blinked a few times with a smile.

Camden glared at Lea, getting up and dusting himself off, "You're just a little twerp-"

"Camden!" A voice called from across the Cafeteria.

All faces turned to the owner of the voice, a small kid, kid meaning he was in his early twenties, "Know when you've lost your battles!"

Camden narrowed his eyes, turning to Lea and Tom and snarling before stalking away.

Lea then grabbed Tom by the back of his collar, standing him up.

"Wh-" Tom began as Lea headed for the exit of the cafeteria.

"Come on." Lea walked out.

Tom hesitated before quickly following after Lea, being stopped at the door to then get a guard escort back to their cell block.

Lea and Tom's cellblock was on the second floor but was just across the cafeteria, so it wasn't too far of a walk; once there, the two were escorted in before being locked in as the guards walked away.

Lea walked to the back of the room while Tom quietly shuffled over to Lea's bed, it being the bottom one, he sat down on it.

The quiet was scaring Tom more than what he was sure Lea would lecture him on later- however, nothing was happening other than Lea opening and closing some drawers before turning to Tom and throwing a rag at him, "You've got mashed potatoes all over your face, you look like a kid who just got their lunch money stolen from them, clean up." Lea ordered as he climbed onto the top bunk, flopping down, his voice having been harsh and hollow.

Tom felt guilty but didn't say anything while he used the rag, which still had some blood stains on it, to wipe the potato from his face, then balling it up and throwing it into a pile of dirty clothes.

Tom could feel his heart-rate spike from sheer guilt and fear as he leaned against the wall that the beds were bolted against.

There was silence for a few more minutes before Tom couldn't take it anymore, "Lea...?"

No response.

"Did you...ask her...?" Tom mumbled.

No response...
Then a pudding cup was tossed from the top bunk onto the bottom, spiraling into Tom's lap.

Tom nodded, "Thanks..."

"...Yeah, Okay.."

***

Sorry for like- no updates whatsoever for awhile?? But I really love these two, so I had to write about them when I stepped on an old piece of fan art I made for them when I was designing how Tom's face would look and then just thought "Ah, to hecc with it, I need to write about the boys" Lea is- officially my son now— yeah so hopefully more updates soon! Thanks for being patient!
-Jay