Chapter 4: The Weight of Trust

The night air was cooler now, carrying with it the faint smell of damp concrete and the distant sound of traffic. Levi walked beside Jake, his mind still spinning from the flood of emotions that had overwhelmed him just moments ago. His heart had settled into a steady rhythm again, but his thoughts were anything but calm.

Jake walked in silence next to him, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, his eyes focused on the ground ahead. He hadn’t said much since Levi’s outburst, but there was no tension between them—just an unspoken understanding that Levi needed time to process what had happened.

Levi appreciated that about Jake. For all his recklessness and bravado, Jake knew when to back off, when to let things simmer without pushing for answers. It was one of the reasons Levi trusted him so much. Jake never asked for more than Levi was ready to give.

They had walked for a few blocks now, the city around them quiet and still. The streetlights flickered intermittently, casting long shadows over the cracked pavement. Levi could hear the soft rustle of leaves in the wind and the distant hum of a car engine, but it all felt muted, like the world had faded into the background.

He wasn’t sure how to explain what had just happened. Jake knew about his powers—knew that Levi could feel what others felt—but even Jake didn’t know how overwhelming it could be. How suffocating. And tonight had been worse than usual. The emotions had hit him like a tidal wave, crashing over him before he had time to brace himself.

Levi took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. He could still feel the echoes of fear and panic from whoever had been nearby, lingering at the edges of his mind like a bad dream.

“You good?” Jake asked finally, breaking the silence. His voice was soft, but there was a note of concern in it that Levi couldn’t ignore.

Levi nodded, though his throat felt tight. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

Jake didn’t push, but he kept his eyes on Levi, his expression unreadable in the dim light. “You sure? You seemed pretty out of it back there.”

Levi let out a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair. “It was just… intense. More than usual.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “How often does that happen?”

Levi hesitated, glancing down at the ground. “Not often. But when it does, it’s… hard to control.”

Jake was quiet for a moment, his eyes flicking up to the night sky before he spoke again. “You’ve always had this power, right? Ever since we were kids?”

Levi nodded, his chest tightening at the memory. He had always known he was different, even before he had the words to explain it. He could remember being a kid, sitting in a room full of people and feeling entirely overwhelmed by emotions that weren’t his own. It had scared him back then—scared him because he didn’t understand why he felt things so deeply when no one else seemed to notice.

“I didn’t understand it at first,” Levi admitted, his voice quiet. “I didn’t know what was happening. I just… felt everything. All the time.”

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Jake frowned, his brow furrowing as he listened. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”

Levi shook his head. “How could I? No one else felt it. I thought there was something wrong with me.”

Jake was silent for a long moment, his gaze thoughtful. “That must’ve been rough.”

Levi shrugged, though the weight of those memories still pressed down on him. “It wasn’t easy. But I got used to it.”

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, the city stretching out before them in a patchwork of light and shadow. Levi could feel Jake processing what he had said, trying to understand what it must have been like. But he also knew that no matter how much Jake cared, he could never truly get it. Not in the way Levi wished he could.

Jake stopped suddenly, turning to face Levi with a determined look in his eyes. “You don’t have to deal with this alone, you know. I’m not just saying that. I mean it.”

Levi met his gaze, the sincerity in Jake’s voice catching him off guard. He had always known Jake had his back, but hearing it like that—so plainly, without the usual sarcasm or teasing—made it feel real in a way that words rarely did.

“I know,” Levi said softly. “But sometimes it feels like I do.”

Jake’s expression softened, and for a moment, they just stood there, the silence between them heavy but not uncomfortable. Jake’s hand twitched slightly at his side, like he was about to reach out but wasn’t sure if he should.

Levi shifted on his feet, glancing down the empty street. “It’s just… hard to explain. When I feel things, it’s not like when you get mad or excited or whatever. It’s more than that. It’s like I’m drowning in someone else’s emotions, and I can’t tell where mine end and theirs begin.”

Jake didn’t say anything, but his eyes never left Levi’s face, listening intently.

“And sometimes,” Levi continued, his voice barely more than a whisper, “it’s too much. Like tonight. I felt someone nearby—someone scared, panicking. And it hit me all at once. I couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t block it out.”

Jake ran a hand through his hair, his brow furrowed in concentration. “That’s… intense, man. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.”

Levi chuckled softly, though there was no humor in it. “Yeah. It is.”

Jake was quiet for a moment, his eyes thoughtful. “So what do you do when that happens? How do you make it stop?”

Levi shook his head, the familiar weight settling in his chest. “I don’t. I just wait for it to pass. There’s nothing else I can do.”

Jake frowned, his expression darkening. “That doesn’t seem right. There’s gotta be a way to control it, right?”

Levi hesitated. He had asked himself that same question a thousand times. Was there a way to control it? To make it stop? He didn’t know. He had tried, of course—tried to push the emotions away, tried to distance himself from them. But no matter what he did, they always came back, stronger and more insistent than before.

“I don’t know,” Levi admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

Jake let out a long breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, you’re not gonna figure it out by shutting it down every time it happens. You’ve gotta push it. See what it can do.”

Levi’s stomach twisted at the thought. The idea of pushing his powers, of letting them grow stronger, made him uneasy. He had seen what happened when Jake pushed his abilities, the destruction he was capable of. Levi didn’t want that for himself. His power wasn’t something he could control with a flick of his wrist. It was something deeper, something that lived inside him, waiting to consume him if he let it.

“I don’t want to push it,” Levi said quietly. “It’s too dangerous.”

Jake looked at him for a long moment, his brow furrowed in frustration. “But if you don’t, how are you gonna learn? How are you gonna control it?”

Levi didn’t have an answer for that. He had spent so long trying to avoid his powers, trying to keep them at bay, that the very idea of embracing them felt foreign. Dangerous even.

“I just don’t want to hurt anyone,” Levi said finally, his voice tight.

Jake’s expression softened, and he clapped a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “You won’t. You’re not like me, Levi. You think things through. You care. You’ll figure it out.”

Levi met Jake’s eyes, the weight of his words settling in. Jake was right. Levi wasn’t like him. Jake’s power was explosive, raw, unpredictable. Levi’s power was… different. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t something to be feared...

They stood there for a moment longer, the silence stretching between them, before Jake grinned and nudged Levi with his elbow. “Come on, man. Let’s get out of here before you start reading my mind or something.”

Levi chuckled softly, the tension in his chest easing just a little. “I’m not a mind reader.”

“Good,” Jake said, grinning. “Because you don’t want to know what I’m thinking right now.”

Levi shook his head, but there was a smile on his face. For all of Jake’s recklessness, his ability to lighten the mood always brought Levi back from the edge. He wasn’t sure how Jake did it, but it was one of the reasons Levi trusted him so much. Jake didn’t always have the answers, but he had a way of making the world feel a little less overwhelming.

As they walked down the street, the city slowly coming back to life around them, Levi felt a sense of calm settle over him. Maybe Jake was right. Maybe he needed to stop running from his powers and start figuring out how to live with them. But that didn’t make the thought any less terrifying.

For now, though, he would take the quiet moments. The moments where it was just him and Jake, walking through

the city like nothing had changed.