"So, train with me later?" she asked him. The Brit had been depressed the whole day, and Leo Kliesen, being his best friend and all, decided to help him out of the rut he'd been stuck in. That was the main reason she found herself training a shirtless Steve Fox in the little gym he'd started his boxing career in. Steve had sent his regular coach home, saying that though Leo was a girl, she could take a hit. Halfway through, she had exchanged her regular buckled shirt for a black tank top, since that summer night was still burning hot even though the air conditioning was cranked all the way up. Steve was only landing one out of every three punches he threw at her, an obvious sign that something was wrong. It wasn't often that he missed his mark when punching. Unless he meant to miss, which Leo doubted.

After he landed an unusually weak and tired punch to her shoulder, the German spelunker decided to call it a day. Steve didn't sit down on the bench, he fell onto it, his blue eyes staring fixedly on the ceiling. Leo handed him the bottle. He took it but didn't drink any of the contents.

"Do you plan on telling me what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Leo, really." She leaned her chin on her fist, still looking at him. He raised his eyebrows at her in question. "Seriously, Steve."

"It's nothing, I swear."

"Look, don't bother lying to me. It's obvious that there's something wrong with you, Steven Fox." He stared at her wearily, then sighed.

"Fine. Want to know what's wrong?" Leo nodded. "I. Am..." Steve looked at the ground. "...lonely..."

"Is it about Christie?" Leo asked. Steve and Christie had split around two months ago after almost a year of dating, something Leo secretly celebrated even as she patted Steve's back at the bar during several nights of being dragged with him there only to drive him home before he had one drink too many. She didn't like Christie, not because she was jealous or anything, nein, nothing like that. She just thought Christie was a bit too, well, high maintenance, to put it nicely.

"No, that's not it." Steve said quickly. "I'm just seriously lonely."

"Want to know what I do when I'm lonely?" she asked.

"What?"

"Sleep." That made Steve crack a smile, the first smile he'd made that day, and Leo caught herself smiling as well. It's better when he smiles, she thought absently as he gulped down some of the water. "I didn't know you ever felt lonely, Leo." he said.

"Well I do, I just don't show it. Leo replied as she leaned back against the bench. Steve took another drink and stole a glance at the blonde sitting next to him. Christie had always called Leo, "He, oh sorry, SHE...", somewhat sarcastically before; he had always been correcting her. True, Leo had just as many curves as a ruler, her hair was shorter than almost half of male population's hair, and she may have tackled Miguel Rojo a little while back, but Steve could confidently say that Leo was, is, and always will be, a girl.

Especially right now, seeing her in that tank top.

"What?" She'd caught him staring. "Lonely." said Steve. "I'm lonely, you're lonely. That must be why you and I get along so well, Kliesen."

"Loneliness?"

"Not just loneliness, MUTUAL loneliness. We're lonely together; that's why."

"Steve, that doesn't make any sense."

"There's another reason. You can stand my senseless-ness." he shot back, beaming.

"God, you're a crazy Brit."

"God, you're a crazy German." Their laughter filled the gym. Steve Fox was feeling better by the minute. "Wait," he asked. "Are you lonely right now?"

"Between you and your senseless-ness, there isn't any reason for me to be lonely." Leo laughed. A faint beeping echoed from one of the bags and Leo went to check on it. "Damn, I have to go." she groaned, staring at the little screen. She reached for her shirt when Steve stopped her. "You're in a hurry right? Buckling that shirt will take forever; just wear your jacket what you have right now." He had a point, so she stuffed the shirt in the bag and pulled on the jacket.

"I'll drive you home." said Steve while pulling on a shirt.

"I live a third of the city away from you, Steve." she said incredulously.

"It's late and it'll be hard to grab a taxi. Besides, I owe you." She cocked her head to one side and looked him over. "For what?"

"For being lonely with me." Leo flashed her smile again. Whenever he saw that smile, Steve was absolutely positive that Leo was a girl, screw what everyone else thought.

"Fine. Take me home, you crazy Brit."

"Sure, you crazy German."
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Hi. *waves* So to celebrate the end of the week and signing up for , I made this little, um... Well, I just made this to celebrate. Yes, I've always thought of Leo as girl ever since I first saw her in an issue of K-Zone. I hadn't even read the character description and I just knew. No male character could have rocked her pose in that pic, at least, no male character I know. XD

Who is Steve? Steve is niiiice. That British accent.

*phone alarm starts blaring* Uh oh, I'm running late and low on sleep, and I've got a lot to do later today. Read if you like, review if you want to. Flames will be ignored. Ja ne~