Leo had a habit of entering other peoples' tents without any sound or invitation. Like the other discomforts of life on the streets, Ronald was never truly used to it. His first time, Ronald had reacted with outrage, and Leo stared him down with unblinking eyes and strange, bestial movements of his tongue. No raised voice, no raised hand. Just a dead gaze and a tongue that licked up Leo's constant drooling.
Leo, the self-proclaimed King of the Jungle, was the main man around the camp. The way it worked in the rough, there was always one man who stood above the rest. Ronald had learned that people lived there at his discretion. Women either had a boyfriend, or were his. And boyfriends weren't Leo's friends, so the women were Leo's.
"Ronnie." Leo said. Well, shouted. The cars were rushing by.
"King!" Ronald shouted back. Nobody called Leo by his name unless they were looking to get their ass kicked.
"Feet still funny?"
"Funny as ever, your Highness."
Leo laughed. He didn't laugh much, but Ronald -- pathetic, weak, drug-addicted -- was no threat to his kingdom.
"Got any tribute today?"
People didn't last long in the Jungle unless they had gifts for the King. Ronald riffled through his pockets, searching for something to give him. After digging deep, he found a bus ticket. With outstretched hands, arms as far as they could go, so far out they were trembling from extension, Ronald handed Leo the bus ticket he needed to get to the food bank. Forcing an unconvincing grimace of a smile on his face all the while.
Leo smirked and slapped Ronald's hand away. The bus ticket fluttered to the ground like an autumn leaf. "How are you gonna get your ass around without one of those?"
Ronald's smile widened into a straight line, cheeks bulging. "I, uh, um... They'll probably just let me ride. Bus drivers around here let you on as long as you're not causing trouble."
"So what you're saying then, Ronnie, is that this thing's worth nothing."
Ronald's smile stretched further. "Of course not, it says here it's worth '1/20th of a dollar'! Just collect nineteen more and you'll be a buck richer. Get, uh, one-hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-nine more, and you'll have ten thousand bucks!"
Leo's head doubled back, and he laughed loud enough to drown out the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of the cars going by. Leo's laughter was derisive and cruel, like a playground bully's. The sun, previously blocked by Leo's towering stature, blinded Ronald.
Leo finished laughing. "Good with numbers, ain'tcha. What was you before you entered my kingdom?"
Ronald knew better than to reveal who he was. "Honest to the Lord, I've no idea. You know how it is in the rough, you gotta let that all go or else it weighs ya down." If Leo or anyone knew he had family in the city, in his weakened state, there were all kinds of awful things that could happen. Shaming his family, or ransoming him for blackmail... Ronald wasn't sure if his crazy fantasies could happen or not, but it was better not to risk it by just accepting the law of the jungle.
Leo leaned down, and three golden crucifixes hanging around his neck clinked against each other. "God's dead, Ronnie. No Lords here. Just the King."
Ronald winced when he heard Leo's blasphemy, and it took all his Freeweeber gentlemanly restraint not to slap Leo's face, leaning over him, fanged canine teeth sticking out and front teeth long gone. Leo's tongue wiggled out of the gap between his pointed canines, dripping drool on Ronald and on the sacred objects on Leo's neck.
"Long live the King," Ronald said, while begging God's forgiveness. Ronald's words of submission were not enough to make Leo leave. Leo always ended these meetings with a stare-down. Ronald knew that once he closed his eyes, Leo would steal something and exit his tent. Just once, he wished he could sock the guy and tell him off.