Written for yourhandiheld, for her stunning Strifehart kink meme illustration (check my profile for the link). It won't hold a candle to your art, Jay, but I hope this tiny thing conveys at least some of the effect it had on me. *hearts*
Title and audio inspiration: Innocence by Hootie & The Blowfish.
It's quiet outside, in the soft lull between rain showers when even the sparrows are still sheltered away in the trees, unsure if it's time yet to emerge and raise their songs to the sky.
He feels quiet inside too now, something that only ever seems to happen when he's this close to him. He feels solid, safe…at peace even, with his demons buried deep in the darker recesses of his psyche where Leon's light hides them away. He feels stripped clean, the last of his barriers washed away and the naked truth set free there in the shrinking space between them. It's comforting to know that Leon knows now, and that he would have stood beside him anyway.
Leon's eyes are soft on him, his fingers soft at the nape of his neck, the other hand soft and warm on the back of his sweater. He closes his own eyes for a moment, just to breathe it all in, and the line of his lips is softer too when he opens them up again.
He can't puzzle out what good thing he could possibly have done to deserve this kind of love, but in the face of such deep sincerity, in storm cloud eyes and scarred skin and callused, careful hands, even that insecurity can't touch him anymore.
He hears the tentative, questioning chirp-chirp-chirp of a songbird through the open window, smells the sweet yield of petrichor, tastes devotion on Leon's lips, and lets a new beginning in.