Note: Mentions something from previous episodes up to 1x08 other than that it's not set specifically. I have no idea what Leo's favorite monkey is, I simply chose one for this story and read as much as I could about the monkey and one of the regions I've found them associated with, if there are mistakes my apologies.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Be my little monkey
For months Grant was listening to endless examples of the advantages of a monkey. At first he found it very endearing that Leo was so obsessed with those animals, but there is just so much you can hear about it without going slightly crazy. But since the rest of the team told Leo to shut up about it awhile ago, all in their own ways but still quite bluntly, Grant was the last one Leo dared to talk to about his favorite animals, so Grant kept on smiling.
Grant had to admit the way Leo's eyes lit up every time he started mentioning the task at hand would be perfect for a monkey, was one of his favorite sights and made it more than easy to keep his smile up. He has seen the young agent smile or laugh every once in a while sure, but for some reason Grant wanted to see Leo perfectly happy. Leo's enthusiasm was what Grant imagined to be the closest to the expression Grant was eager to see on Leo's face.
Overall Leo Fitz had many different facial expressions and especially when it came to Grant there were a few additional ones. Thanks to the Berserker staff not all of them were positive ones anymore. Even though Grant apologized with an extra large sandwich for his outburst towards Leo back then, he still remembered the discomfort he put into Leo's eyes and overall body language that day in the lab. So far he wasn't sure why, but it was a memory he wanted to replace with a truly happy expression on Leo's face and Grant had already an idea how to archive his little goal.
The team was taking a break at the Hub after their last mission and for a change there wasn't an urgent one waiting around the corner. It was the perfect time for Grant to work out the details of his plan and give it a go. Additionally it was the first time after the team was founded, that they were able to spent time apart from each other, if they chose to do so. And since the team spent the past months living in cramped condition it was a welcome change.
Even though they went their own ways at the Hub and had their own accommodations in the building, Grant always knew where Leo was and what he was doing. He liked to think it was because it was essential for Grant that Leo wouldn't find out about the plan so that he could finally reach his little goal, but a small voice already whispered it wasn't the only reason.
What Grant didn't notice while setting his monkey plan into motion, was that Leo kept an eye on him from time to time as well, just like he did since they first met. Furthermore every time Leo noticed Grant was looking what he was up to a small smile passed over Leo's face.
Nonetheless not having to worry about someone bursting into his room at any moment and finding out that Grant was up to something like it would have been on the plane, let him progress well and he was able to put his plan into practice before the team could be assigned to any other mission that would thwart his plan.
Of course Grant had to pull a few strings and call in a few favors to get this one investigation mission fall into their hands. Surprisingly after being at the Hub for only two weeks everyone was relieved when Coulson told them their new destination and that they would be up in the air again. Even though they all had their own problems to overcome, they all knew they belonged together as a team and those two weeks apart from each other made them finally realize it.
Without wasting too much time on preparations the team was back on the plane and on its way to French Guiana, a region of the world that was the home of Leo's favorite monkey breed: A brown tufted capuchin.
Needless to say Leo was thrilled when he heard the destination and was even more over the moon when the first monkey jumped on his shoulder during one of the team's first exploring tours through the region at one of their first days after their arrival. Much to Grant's delight the brown tufted capuchin had exactly the effect on Leo he hoped the little animal would have.
The little monkey was extremely trustfully when it came to Leo and the both of them became quite inseparable for the time of the mission. Mainly to everyone's surprise and Jemma's dislike, who had enough of all the monkey obsession before Leo got a willing listener in Grant, but now that he actually got a furry companion there was no end to infinite chorus of praises about monkeys.
Leo was determined to show why having a monkey as a permanently part of the team would be an advantage. From the first day on he noticed how exceptionally smart his new friend was and started teaching him certain things, while working on the case. Their bond became stronger with every day and Jemma tried to avoid collaboration with Leo as much as she could from the day on the monkey didn't leave his side anymore.
Even Skye who was quite excited in the beginning and played a lot with the new team member, got slightly annoyed with him the longer the mission lasted. Especially when the monkey found it more than amusing to flip her laptop shut or hit various buttons on it while she was trying to work. After two weeks Grant was the only one left that kept Leo and his brown tufted capuchin company whenever he had a free minute.
Grant even volunteered to look after the monkey when Leo's full attention was needed. Leo thought Grant did it because everyone else ditched him by now and Grant thought he did it because he liked the monkey as well. But Coulson had this knowing smirk on his lips every time the monkey jumped from Leo's shoulder to Grant's and the two agents exchanged glances while smiling at each other in a way they didn't smile at anybody else, that there was more behind it.
Overall it was endearing to see Leo teaching the monkey useful attributes and proving to Grant and the others how smart and brave his little friend was. If only the monkey wouldn't have started to imitate Grant one day during lunch, much to the team's amusement who unanimous decided to name the monkey "Ward" after a little joke from Coulson, Grant wouldn't have one objection for keeping furry Ward.
But since the name of the monkey left Leo with no other choice, but finally use Grant's first name, Grant wasn't too teed off about it and could actually laugh about it most of the time. Furthermore Grant was a little self-ironic and the monkey wasn't the first one on the team imitating him.
The days past and the mission came slowly to an end. Leo's attempt to get the team to agree keeping the brown tufted capuchin, that spent all his time at his side, got more and more desperate. Whenever he saw the chance to prove one of his points of "A monkey would be perfect for this!" he gave furry Ward the command and the little monkey would show how good he was at everything Leo had already taught him.
It wasn't that the others didn't like furry Ward or didn't appreciate when the little monkey took the work out of their hands. Aside from the team agreeing on the fact that a plane wasn't a place for a monkey, they simply couldn't understand why it was so important to Leo to keep his new friend, when all they did was flying from one mission to the next for work.
However due to the fact that not even May wanted to break the news to Leo, Skye came up with the brilliant idea that Coulson should tell Leo about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new "no monkeys" rule that made it sheer impossible to keep furry Ward. Not that such a rule existed, at least not to the team's knowledge, but Skye was always saying her ideas and thoughts out loud no matter how silly they sounded to others. And because Coulson didn't want to be the bad guy, he actually agreed on that ridiculous plan of her's and blamed some random S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol for having to leave the brown tufted capuchin behind.
After the mission was completed and Coulson had to bite the bullet to give Leo the bad news in terms of keeping the brown tufted capuchin or not, everyone had agreed to spent a few additional days for a quick vacation together to recharge their batteries and get to know each other outside of work, but mainly to give Leo more time with his furry friend before he had to say goodbye to him. But even those days flew past and the team's last night in French Guiana came sooner than Leo feared it would.
The last evening was a beautiful one and everyone except for Leo, furry Ward and the human Ward, was spending their last hours exploring more of the region till the very last sunlight of the day. Leo was sitting in the lab, feeding furry Ward nuts, which the little money cracked open with one of Leo's hammers. They were both so absorbed in their activity, that neither of them noticed Grant sitting at the middle of the stairs with a contented smile, watching them with a special attention to Leo's smile that reached his eyes whenever the brown tufted capuchin succeeded in cracking the shell to get to the delicious treat inside.
It took Grant twenty minutes to avert his gaze from the scene in front of him and go down the last few steps. He hesitate a little before he entered the lab. Grant didn't want to take time from Leo's last hours with the brown tufted capuchin, but he figured the only way to make the farewell in the morning bearable for Leo was for Grant to finally confess that it wasn't all a coincidence that their mission was here of all places and that one monkey happened to be around like he was waiting for Leo to appear.
When he came up with his idea of getting Leo his long-awaited monkey, Grant never thought Leo would get him only for the time of the mission. In his head Leo would have kept the little brown tufted capuchin forever.
When they arrived in French Guiana late afternoon after a long flight May and Grant took a look around, to make sure their landing spot was safe. But while May returned to the others, Grant wandered off to secretly meet an old friend of his that lived nearby and that he had called a few weeks earlier and held daily contact with since then.
He had planned this trip since they had to clean up Thor's mess and Grant called Leo their little monkey. Leaving nothing to chance, from the location, to the monkey right up to Leo's first encounter with the little furry animal. Grant had planned every little detail and knew exactly how everything should take place. If only he would have thought about the possibility Leo might not be allowed to keep the monkey in the end. Then he wouldn't be standing on the lab's door sill, feeling extremely guilty and desperately searching for a way to make it all better for Leo to bring back that happy facial expression he saw when furry Ward jumped on Leo's shoulder the first time.
"Hey." Fitz said, cracking a smile in Grant's direction who was immersed in his thoughts until he heard Leo's voice and was now fully entering the lab. Leo proceeded giving furry Ward the next nut, which the little monkey already tried to pull out of Leo's hand. "Thought you guys are out for a last walk?" He continued talking without looking to Grant this time.
Grant came to a stand next to Leo, who was sitting at the desk in front of the large screen with the brown tufted capuchin sitting on the corner of the desk, before he answered. "The others are." He contemplated a few seconds how to continue, but Leo didn't pay attention to Grant anymore. After he nodded as a quick response to Grant's answer he returned his detailed attention back to the brown tufted capuchin in front of him, who was equally uninterested in the unexpected visitor.
After pulling up another stool Grant sat down at the corner to Leo's left. Unsure how to start his confession, he started playing around with the nut's shells that were spread all over the place. If Leo wouldn't have put his right hand on top of Grant's after another ten minutes, he wouldn't have noticed that Leo had finished feeding the brown tufted capuchin and had spent the past few minutes watching Grant scoring imaginary field goals with the shells, while furry Ward cocked his head with curiosity and emulated Leo's deeds.
In the moment Leo's hand rested on Grant's right, Grant stopped scoring field goals and stared at their hands. Grant couldn't help it, but he longed to stroke Leo's finger with his thumb and he would have, if he didn't feel Leo's right hand was about to leave his again. He blinked and tore his eyes away from their hands to look at Leo's face while putting his own free hand quickly on top of Leo's to hinder him from taking his away.
Leo's eyes widened surprised at the sight of Ward's left hand on top of his own. "I'm so sorry Leo." When Leo heard those whispered words in his ears he looked up at Grant's face, who was having the sincerest look Leo has ever seen.
Furrowing his brows Leo mouthed a silent "What?". He didn't understand what Grant was apologizing for. Sure there were a couple of things, but the enormous prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich with the exact right hint of pesto aioli Grant made him before they went on the current mission and spent two weeks at the Hub took already care of those in his book, especially since it was the best sandwich he had ever eaten.
"I thought you can keep him forever Leo. I never thought you have to leave him behind. If I would have known it would end like this I would have never contacted my old friend and persuaded S.H.I.E.L.D. to sent us here." Grant's flood of words caught Leo off guard and it wasn't really helping him to understand what was going on either. His gaze got more and more confused with every word Grant used to apologize for something Leo still didn't get.
Quite frankly Leo's facial expression didn't lead to a more explicit explanation rather than Grant getting more and more desperate to admit what he did wrong instead of actually telling Leo what it was that he did. Even furry Ward was pausing his current activity to blankly look at Grant, who didn't stop babbling and started more and more gasping for air in-between words than breathing.
Leo couldn't think of another option but to grab Grant's right biceps with his free left hand and talk to the man next to him at the corner of the desk with a powerful voice. "Grant! What and who are you talking about?!"
Grant abruptly stopped in the middle of his next word. His eyes widened and he finally stopped talking overall and noticed Leo's confused look which he misinterpreted during his flood of words that led to Grant getting railed up to the point where Leo had to use his strength and louder voice to get him back to his senses.
"What are you talking about Grant?" Leo repeated empathetic when Grant's breath was relaxed again, while still grabbing the other man's biceps. Grant's gaze fell to the table, where their hands were still on top of each other. Leo was about to speak again, if it wasn't for Grant's upper hand slightly squeezing Leo's in the middle and his eyes returning to Leo's.
"The monkey..." he started carefully and considerate of every word he would choose from now on. "...he belonged to an old friend of mine who lives nearby of our current landing spot. I've heard about a few outstanding missions at the Hub. One of those missions was in French Guiana and..."
Leo's gaze slowly reflected understanding at what Grant was getting at. Grant didn't want Leo to think he was up to some kind of dirty trick. With all that happened in the past weeks between them, Grant wanted Leo to know his good intentions so he continued before Leo's brain would come up with any false conclusions. "I... I remembered you told me about brown tufted capuchins that lived there and because I know they're your favorites I..." A shy smile appeared on his face for the end of his sentence. "...I wanted to get you one."
Grant's eyes never left Leo's while he was talking to him. He needed to see Leo's reaction to every confession he would make now. "So I called my friend and asked him if it would be possible to get you one and when he was certain one of his monkeys was the perfect one... I've made sure we got assigned to the mission."
"But the capuchin jumped on my shoulder..." Like he was waiting for his sign furry Ward jumped on Leo's shoulder when Leo rose to speak. "...you couldn't have planned that too." Leo didn't know if he was trying to convince himself or Grant that it couldn't be possible that Grant was an all-rounder and capable of getting this one monkey, or any for that matter, to jump on Leo's shoulder out of all the people from the team on the day they all met furry Ward for the first time.
Biting his lower lip Grant tried to figure out how to explain the shoulder jumping bit to Leo. "My friend showed him pictures of you that I've sent him and when he brought him to me that day, the monkey remembered it was you and felt instantly familiar. And what happened then you already know."
Leo couldn't believe what he just heard. It all sounded too unreal and like a dream, yet he was believing him. Every word that came out of Grant's mouth was truthful, Leo had no doubt about it. He could see the sincerity and something more in Grant's eyes. And yet the hand that rested on Grant's biceps for the past few minutes fell back to Leo's side, letting furry Ward jump off his shoulder again and back to the desk to look through the shells for missed nuts and score some field goals of his own when he didn't find any leftovers.
All that Leo could say was "Why?". He kept staring into Grant's brown eyes, searching for the answer himself, but he needed to hear it from the man in front of him. He didn't want to make something up in his head. He misread a situation like this before in his life and it didn't end well for him. Therefore Leo waited for Grant to answer the one question that really mattered. "Why would you do all this just so I can get my favorite monkey?"
Why? It was a simple question and yet it was the one Grant wasn't expecting when he decided to confess nor was it the one he wanted to answer. He just came up with the answer to it for himself a few days ago when he watched Leo walking around outside with the brown tufted capuchin on his shoulder and this truly joyful and happy facial expression on his face that Grant longed to see on Leo for so long.
For a moment Grant debated for himself if he should simply change the conversation or declare his reason as unimportant, but then he thought about his emotions when he came to the answer himself that day outside. Grant realized he wanted to see Leo happy not just because it was a rare expression on him, but because when he saw Leo happy, Grant felt this incredible warm feeling inside his stomach. It was the first time in a long time, that Grant had to admit he had feelings for any one and they were more than camaraderie or friendship at most.
Grant looked deep into Leo's eyes, considering how much he should confess, but when Leo gave him an encouraging smile Grant decided to stake everything on one card. If it backfired like his monkey plan they could still agree on a what happened in French Guiana stays in French Guiana agreement, but for now he had to be up-front with Leo. Something deep inside of him told him Leo might feel the same and neither of them would gain anything if he wouldn't try.
"Because I want..." Grant shock his head slightly, looked to their hands on the table again and licked his lower lip, before he returned his gaze to Leo. "I need you to be happy Leo. I need to see that smile on your face that reaches your eyes and makes them sparkle."
Leo looked deep into Grant's eyes as the man bore his heart to Leo. "Because of everything that happened since Russia I was making up for my bad behavior, but no matter what I did it didn't feel as it was enough. Something between us seemed different and I didn't know what it was. All I knew was I needed to see you perfectly happy. At first the monkey seemed perfect to reach my goal, but during the past couple of days I've noticed that the brown tufted capuchin stood for more than making you happy. He was my way to show you that I..." Grant squeezed Leo's hand again and turned his whole body towards Leo instead of only his head and upper body.
With their knees touching, their hands still on top of each other and their eyes lost in the counterpart's ones, Leo didn't need Grant to finish his sentence. He knew what Grant was trying to tell him. He had those feelings since the first day, but was too afraid to admit them to anyone, but himself till now.
Grant didn't get to finish his sentence. Leo interrupted him before he picked up where he left off when he took a deep breath to finish his confession. "I know." was all Leo said to him with a beatific smile and they both knew it was all that needed to be said out loud to know they felt the same. Their bodies said more to each other than a thousand words could.
The comfortable silence filled with understanding and confessed feelings didn't last for long. Before either of them could say or do anything further, furry Ward demanded their attention by tugging at Leo's right sleeve and speaking quite angry words, only another brown tufted capuchin would have understood. Yet the little monkey didn't fail to have the desired effect.
Leo and Grant separated their hands and massaged furry Ward behind his ears for a moment, as an apology for not paying attention to him for the past minutes, while loudly deliberating what they could do to keep the brown tufted capuchin occupied.
"We've never finished our poker game." Grant said when Leo let his eyes wander through the room hoping he would find something to do for the three of them. When Leo heard those words he remembered that night like it was yesterday and a slight shade of red appeared on his cheeks as well as a shy smile.
"Is this so? What a pity, but poker isn't a game for a brown tufted capuchin. Maybe another time then."Leo tried to buff it out when he remembered why they never finished the game, well knowing that he tried to teach furry Ward a card game a few days earlier and succeeded.
Furry Ward jumped on Grant's shoulder, as Grant put his head close to Leo's with a knowing grin on his lips. "As far as I recall he seemed quite talented a few days ago." Grant leaned back again with a successful expression on his face and furry Ward was loudly agreeing with his words.
Before Leo could voice his first word of objection, Grant got up to get the deck of cards with his new partner in crime still on his shoulder. "Don't even try to deny it Leo. I saw you two, when you taught him a card game. He's smart enough to learn poker." he said while he left the lab to go upstairs to get what they needed.
Grant tried not to grin broadly when he sat back down with the deck of cards and a bowl filled with Leo's favorite snack, but he failed miserably. Leo's surprised and still slightly shocked facial expression was too hilarious. Especially when furry Ward jumped back on the desk with the cards in his hands, Grant couldn't hold a laugh inside any longer.
It was decided. They would try to teach the brown tufted capuchin the game of their choice. Or maybe more Grant's and furry Ward's choice, but Leo couldn't refuse furry Ward's request or Grant's puppy dog eyes when they both looked at him, waiting for his approval.
They spent the whole night together in the lab playing poker, eating snacks, but mostly using every second to make as many memories with furry Ward as possible, both knowing that the little monkey was a symbol for the two of them together from now on and would remain it forever no matter where in the world he or the two of them would be.
The brown tufted capuchin picked up the game pretty quick and even won a few rounds, but unsurprisingly he lost interest after a while. After he enjoyed a few more minutes getting pet first by Leo and then by Grant, he had a good yawn and left the two men alone with the game. Furry Ward walked over to his place in one of the corners of the lab that Leo made more than comfortable for him.
With the brown tufted capuchin falling asleep, Grant and Leo started playing the game more serious and because Grant hadn't forgotten Leo's blushing cheeks when he mentioned their last poker encounter he started teasing him a little. "Try not to storm out of the room this time when you notice you have no chance of winning."
Leo's jaw dropped open indignantly for a second. "I did not leave because you were winning!" His eyes looked back into his cards. He tried to ignore Grant's grin and to keep his cool, but his cheeks betrayed him once again and became bright red.
Grant put his cards aside and took a handful of the snacks he brought with him earlier when he and furry Ward got the deck of cards. "Oh you didn't? Then why did you leave suddenly?" He imitated Leo from that evening. Looking into his opponents eyes and putting slowly and with relish the snack in his mouth to chew noisily.
The scene was very similar to the one back the night Grant was referring to, just that they weren't upstairs sitting across from each other, but in the lab and on the same corner of a desk, upper bodies turned towards each other and knees touching. As well as Grant being the one feeling like he has the upper hand and Leo being the one focusing on the game.
But there was just so much Leo could focus with Grant's knee leaning against his own and spreading a warmth through his whole body, seeing this smirk and now Grant was drawing Leo's attention to his mouth. Playing foul was fine by Leo, he guessed he had it coming anyway. "So much for karma" he thought silently to himself and before Grant would find out from Skye what he was up to during their last game Leo decided to use it to his advantage and wipe the smirk off Grant's face.
"You remember the glasses you needed for that mission when you pretended to be Amador?" Leo waited for Grant to show understanding and continued when he saw Grant slowly nod. "Well we didn't give them to S.H.I.E.L.D. when they came and picked her up." He licked his lip, put his cards aside and leaned smirking closer to Grant to get a really good look when he finished his confession. "We actually kept them." Leo started smiling quite satisfied when he saw Grant's smirk slowly falling. "And that night when we played poker? I had Skye in the room behind you, so that she would tell me which cards you have."
Grant's eyes widened in understanding when he remembered how he saw everything while wearing those glasses. "You... but you would have..." Once again Grant didn't get to finish his sentence. Leo put a finger on Grant's lips, shook his head while smirking and began to speak again.
"I wouldn't." Leo grinned like a Cheshire cat by now. "I left because she reminded me, she would see me as well, before she put the glasses on. Actually now that I think about it. I've never asked her if she..." He playfully let the finger on Grant's lip wander down over the man's chest.
Watching his finger stroking over Grant's chest and remembering the body underneath the shirt that he saw already too many times, Leo almost forgot that they were in the middle of a game of teasing. One that as of now he was about to win, just like the game of poker since his hand contained a royal flush.
Grant noticed Leo's absence of mind and decided to use it to his advantage by slowly bending forward until their noses where touching and his hand was able to grab Leo's stool. With a smooth jolt he pulled Leo's stool in front of him, so that Leo's legs where between his and there was no part of the table between them anymore. Grant let both of his hands slide to the sides of Leo's thighs. He felt Leo heavy breathing on his face and saw a mix of fear and arousal in his eyes, when he put a sickly sweet smile on his own face.
"You're lucky I like you so much. Let's see your cards. I call!" Without averting his eyes from Leo, Grant put his poker chips and cards on the table. Leo turned his head just enough to see Grant's straight flush and left Grant looking at a bright grin that slowly formed on Leo's face.
"A straight flush hm? Not bad. Not bad at all." From the corner of his eyes, Leo saw Grant's complacently and certain of victory grin. "Just..." Leo paused for a moment to sigh. Then he turned his head back to Grant and showed his cards while he finished his sentence. "...not good enough to beat me tonight."
Now it was Leo's turn to burst into laughter, when he saw Grant's jaw drop open. Grant was so shocked that he took Leo's cards and looked for any sign of them being marked cards while mumbling indefinable words that probably were curses.
No matter how often Grant turned Leo's cards in his hands, he couldn't find any marks and through the cards back on the table. With a heavy sigh he turned his upper body towards the table again, put his arms folded on the table surface and let his head fall onto them.
Furry Ward, who got woken up by all the noise, jumped back on the table and pulled at one of Grant's hairs, eager to see if the tall man was alright. But all the brown tufted capuchin got in return was Grant's hand waving at him to get him to step a little back and drop the hair.
"Don't worry Ward he's just upset that he lost the game to a genius. He'll be fine once he accepts he can't be the best at everything." Leo cheerfully spoke to his furry friend and leaned onto Grant's shoulder with his left arm around the other man and the right resting on the table next to Grant's right arm.
The brown tufted capuchin and Leo only heard Grant grumble in response. Furry Ward forced his way into the spot between Grant's head and his left arm on the table. Nestled in the monkey received a short petting from Leo's left hand, that only just reached the monkey's head, and yawned at the same time Leo did.
Leo snuggled closer into Grant's upper body. Grant's body warmth let Leo forget the rather uncomfortable sitting posture and he fell asleep quickly. And even Grant couldn't fight his fatigue with furry Ward spreading a comfortable warmth on his head and arm and Leo on his torso any longer.
The next morning arrived and Coulson was the first one coming downstairs, not surprised at all to find Leo and Grant sitting around the desk sleeping, while furry Ward was searching for something. He hated to be the one to wake them up. The two agents looked so peaceful that he almost regretted not to have a camera with him, especially because he had the same thought last night when he came back from his walk and saw them both sitting in the lab playing cards with the monkey and being perfectly happy with each other.
To Coulson the two sleeping agents looked like they fell asleep at some point and there bodies were slightly giving in to their own weight. He saw Leo's head was resting on Grant's shoulder, whose head was on his arms that rested on the table, where the cards were scattered. To be fair it wasn't the most comfortable position and when May came downstairs with the girls and looked a little surprised by the strange sight that met her eyes, Coulson stopped with his rapt smile and brought himself to wake them up nevertheless.
It didn't take long for Leo to be wide-awake. One look at furry Ward, who found what he was looking for and was sucking water out of a sponge by now, and he knew exactly it was time to say goodbye to his new friend. He took away the sponge after furry Ward finished drinking and picked up the brown tufted capuchin to carry him outside, while the team was silently following him.
Grant cracked a sad smile when he saw furry Ward looking rather confused at Leo. The little monkey looked at everyone hoping for an explanation for the weird mood when Leo passed them on his way outside, but he didn't get one.
It was a lovely day on this very early morning. The sun was rising to shine bright and a cool breeze was blowing. Leo tried his best not to tear up as the others one by one stepped in front of him to say their goodbyes to furry Ward and walked back to their place behind him after briefly putting their hands on Leo's shoulder or quickly giving him a hug. When they were done, Leo walked a few steps further away, whispered a few words into his friend's ear unheard from the others, and then put him on the ground.
The monkey's instincts awakened too quick for Leo. As fast as furry Ward became loyal and trustfully for the time of the mission as quickly he was heading off searching for his breakfast, not fully understanding the significance of the moment yet.
Leo gazed after the brown tufted capuchin for a few more minutes. He knew a plane was no place for a monkey and that he belonged into the wild and back to Grant's friend, who he made out the outlines of in the distance, which was the reason Leo was certain that Grant called his friend again before he came down to the lab last night.
Even though knowing furry Ward wouldn't be alone just like being certain that he and Grant were much more than just friends now forced a smile on Leo's face, it still pained him to lose his friend. Not because it was his favorite animal, probably not even because he was exceptional smart and spent all his time with Leo, but because he was his first significant gift from Grant that led to Grant confession so much more than Leo even dared to hope for in his dreams.
"Guess that means I'll keep being the team's only little monkey." Leo said downhearted while turning around to the others, who were for the most part looking pitiful at him. But Leo wasn't bothered by it and immediately locked eyes with Grant, who couldn't take it any longer and walked towards him.
In the moment Grant stopped in front of Leo he was forgetting everything and everyone around them. The only one he acknowledged was Leo. He put his hands on Leo's cheeks and put their foreheads together.
Almost losing himself in Leo's eyes he said loving "You'll always be my little monkey." before he remembered that actions spoke loader than words and closed the gap between their lips. Causing a smile on Leo's face that no monkey in the world could have done.