The forms sat on the kitchen table for four days.
Leo shifted them twice. First to set the table for dinner. Then again, because Lila kept glancing at them with that careful, blank expression she used when she was working hard not to say something.
Both times, he'd put them back exactly where they started next to his mother's letter, and that sticky note he'd read so much the corners had started to wear down.
He wasn't avoiding the forms.
He was reading them. Again.
Alex found him like that on the fifth day, Tuesday evening, his laptop open next to the forms. The application was still stuck on page one. He hadn't moved past it in two days.
Alex set two cups of tea on the table and didn't say a word. He'd started keeping tea at Leo's place. No big announcement it just happened. Alex sat across from him.
Leo kept his eyes on the laptop.
Alex wrapped his hands around his cup. He looked at the forms for a moment, then asked, quietly, "What do you want?"
Leo looked up, startled.
