Finding Myself

Draco was leaving the motorway service station towards the driveway when he saw someone standing on the edge. If this someone hadn't held up a light-colored cardboard sign that said “Southward”, they wouldn't have seen him because the night was dark and rainy.

'Well, a little company wouldn't be bad' he thought and stopped next to the person.

"Come on, get in, I'm going right in your direction," Draco said.

With a mumbled "thank you" the person picked up their backpack from the floor and got in.

"Um, are you doing me a favor?" Draco asked. “Would you please take off your wet jacket? I don't want my expensive leather seats to be messed up. "

"Okay." Came out of the darkness of the cap pulled deep over the face.

Draco's passenger pulled the hood off his head and came out - another hood pulled down over his face, this time part of a sweatshirt, which was also black, like the rest of the clothes.

The jacket was hung over the back of the passenger seat and he buckled up.

"Well, you want to escape the bad weather here?" Draco asked with a grin.

"Something like that." Came the short answer.

'My company doesn't seem to be very talkative,' Draco thought, amused.

"Since we've been out together for a while, we should at least be able to address each other by name," Draco said gently. "Well, my name is Draco."

"Leo." Was the brief introduction.

'That too, I've found a male companion' thought Draco. 'Fortunately, I didn't say how far south I would go so that I can get rid of him anytime.'

"I have to warn you." Leo said into his thoughts. "I have a black belt in karate, so better not to touch it."

"That's not my intention either," replied Draco. 'And even if you did, your black belt wouldn't help you much either,' he added with a grin in his mind.

“That's what the last one said too. And now he's sitting in his truck with broken arms, waiting for help. "

"What do your parents say about you hitchhiking so easily?" Draco changed the subject.

"Nothing, they are dead," Leo answered without a trace of sadness.

"Oh, sorry, I'm sorry," said Draco.

"Why? You weren't to blame for her death, it was them, ”Leo replied.

"Why is that?" Draco wanted to know.

“Well, they killed themselves four weeks ago. And in their suicide note they talked about a guilt that they had loaded on themselves, and that they could no longer live with it. ”Leo said this without any emotion.

“And your relatives? What do you think? After all, you're still pretty young, ”Draco asked.

"First: I'm nineteen and second: I have no relatives." Leo clarified. “The only thing I have is an asset manager to manage my inheritance until I graduate. But he can wait a long time for that. "

As if to end the conversation, Leo leaned over to his backpack, rummaged around in it, and pulled out a chocolate bar. He ate it and looked out the side window.

Draco took the hint and was silent. When he looked over at Leo after a while, he was asleep. His head was leaning against the side window and his hood had slipped out of place, revealing his hair. They were the color of red sand, a color Draco had never seen before. They were half-length and curled into little curls at the nape of the neck.

With his petite figure and hair, Leo could have passed for a girl, Draco thought.

The highway was pretty empty, so they made good progress. At dawn they reached the Franco-German border and thanks to the EU, Draco was not controlled.

As the sun rose, Leo woke up.

"Where are we?" He asked looking out the window.

"In France," replied Draco. "And since you are awake now, we will stop immediately so that we can at least have a coffee."

Draco stopped at the next rest stop. When Leo got out, he first stretched and straightened. Draco, on the other hand, looked like he'd just been out for an hour.

"I think I'll throw a handful of water in my face first." Leo said and went to the washroom.

"Do that, I'll get breakfast," Draco replied.

Later, when they sat across from each other at the table, Leo said, who, by the way, hadn't pulled his hood over his face: "Thanks for breakfast, but you don't have to pay anything for me, I have money with me."

"Good, then you buy lunch." Draco laughed and added, more seriously, "I guess your budget isn't that huge, so you'll save your money. Such a little thing doesn't hurt me. "

"At least I have 2,000 euros with me." Leo trumped. “I poured it out of my asset manager's pocket because I supposedly wanted to go to Hamburg to go to university, to enroll. I'd love to see his stupid face now. ”Leo giggled.

"You don't like him very much?" Draco stated questioningly.

"Not any longer longer. I used to call him uncle, but then he made me an offer after my parents died. ”Leo answered.

"An immoral one?" Draco wanted to know.

Leo only answered with a nod, that ended the conversation for him.

After about an hour they drove on.

"How far south do you want to go?" Draco asked after they had driven in silence for a while.

"As far as it goes," answered Leo. "The further the better."

"So South Africa," laughed Draco.

"Hm, wouldn't be bad, but you won't go that far." Leo responded to the joke.

"Not exactly," Draco replied seriously.

"It's a shame, actually." Leo replied with a shrug.

Here in France the sun was shining and it got pretty warm in Draco's car, despite the air conditioning. Part of that was because it was a black car, or more precisely, a black Ferrari, and everything on it was really black, even the windows were dark. With foresight, Draco had already removed his black leather jacket and shirt before he got in. Now he only wore a white T-shirt with black jeans. He glanced at Leo, who must be pretty warm in his thick black sweatshirt.

"Take off your thick sweater," he asked Leo.

"No, it doesn't work, nothing under it." Leo waved him off.

"Don't you have a t-shirt in your backpack?" Draco asked.

"No, except for a few chocolate bars and my passport there is nothing in it." Leo answered.

"I don't mind if you sit shirtless next to me," Draco explained.

"Not you, but me." Leo replied angrily.

"Okay, then don't." Draco shrugged.

The autobahn was pretty full and there were always traffic jams, so that they could only progress very slowly. You could tell that it was vacation time.