I stared at the ceiling, the box of fettuccine laid on the pillow next to me and the smell began to make me nauseous. I put the box in the fridge and plopped myself on the couch, turning on the TV. I hadn't really paid much attention to the renovated living room but not to my surprise Charlie had taken the liberty to buy a new smart flatscreen tv, probably to watch the games in high definition I'm sure the sales person had pitched to him. I picked up the remote and began to download Netflix, Hulu and Crunchyroll, Charlie probably wouldn't even notice and if he did I'd teach him how to use Netflix and Hulu, he more than likely wouldn't have any interest in anime. While the shows were downloading I texted Bella, telling her when she got home we had to talk in my room about what had happened today, it wasn't very long until she texted me back.
Charlie came home on his lunch break to make sure I was okay and to bring me a sandwich from the diner. "I actually went out to lunch with Leon… I guess he feels bad that when he pushed me out of the way he pushed me hard enough to give me a concussion and break my phone." Charlie sat next to me on the couch, placing his own sandwich in front of him on the coffee table. "Broke your phone, too? Did you need me to take you up to Port Angeles to get you a new one?" I paused for a minute, thinking about whether or not I should tell him that Leon had bought me a phone. "Actually, Leon took me. It was kind of weird… He paid for my phone but I'm gonna pay him back in secret. He said it was nothing with the money his family has but it doesn't feel right." Charlie listened to me talk, nodding since his mouth was full of food but he spoke when he was able to. "Definitely pay him back, but I can understand how that might feel weird to you. Carslile's family is a good one but they're also a little bit odd, he's only known you for two days and he's already buying you things… Did you at least have fun?" "I didn't not enjoy it, I guess. He's actually coming back over tomorrow to help me move the rest of Bella's and my stuff in. The movers are coming tomorrow to drop my stuff off. I guess he got permission from the school or something to take these two days off." "Well, that's nice of him. I actually don't know much about Leon, the Cullens only started fostering him a few months ago." I perked up at this piece of information, I hadn't asked Leon much about him during the date we had. I'd have to ask him that tomorrow. Charlie stood up and wiped the crumbs off his jeans. "Well, I've got to get back to work. Keep taking it easy, don't want that concussion to get any worse." "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Charlie nodded and walked out the front door. For the next couple of hours I just watched random shows, eventually falling asleep on the couch as I waited for Bella to get home.
"Felix? Felix?" I woke up to being nudged on the shoulder and Bella standing in front of me. "Nice, you're awake. Let's go up and talk." I nodded and turned off the TV, following her to my room. I closed the door behind us just in case Charlie came home, I didn't want him to hear the full details about my day. "You're never going to believe what happened." I started off by telling her how he had just popped up in the doorway out of nowhere and what happened in the bathroom. "He had you put on his eyeliner and he grabbed your waist?" I had never seen Bella get this excited about anything I've told her. "Yeah… So anyways." I continued to tell her about the McClaren, she didn't know what that was so I pulled out my phone and showed her a picture. "You got a new phone too?" "That's the weirdest part, Bella. He paid for my phone, in full, it costs over a thousand dollars. He was all like ``It's the least I can do." I imitated his voice mockingly. "And then, get this. He took me to a restaurant after and called it a date and then come to find out he's never been on a date. So he asks me if I talked to mom and I said no but she left me a voicemail about the movers dropping off our stuff tomorrow, oh right they're dropping off our stuff tomorrow. And he's all like I'll come by tomorrow and help. Then in the car he asks what people usually do as dates so I told him people go, like, shopping and watch movies and shit and he goes well I guess we're going shopping tomorrow. And then he took me home." I talked so fast all Bella could do was nod, not letting her get a word in at all. "Well, it seems like he likes you." "No, but you don't understand. Whenever I ask him why he does things like that he just says I might have something he wants. It's weird Bells, what does he want from me?" "Maybe he just wants you?" I pursed my lips together and sighed. "I guess so…" "Well, your work you missed today and the work for tomorrow is on your desk, I put it there before I woke you up. If you need help let me know, I'm gonna do homework." Bella left and for the rest of the night until I slept I did homework and listened to music.
The next day I woke up to a knock on my door. "Come in…" Bella walked in and motioned for me to get up. "They're here." "Huh…? I thought they weren't coming until lunch." "It is lunch." "Then what're you doing here, why aren't you at school?" Edward poked his head in and politely waved from behind Bella. "We skipped, when Leon told me he was skipping to help you I decided I'd help Bella move her stuff up." He said with a smile. I sighed and swung my feet off the bed. "Alright, get out so I can get dressed." When they left I got dressed and then walked down the stairs, Leon met me at the bottom with a box. "Go back upstairs, I'll bring everything up and you can get started on setting everything up." His command was direct and without thinking I turned around and went back to my room, weird, I hadn't exactly wanted to just stay in my room. I watched as Leon brought boxes in and set them down, the next time he came back up he held my side table in one arm and my gaming chair in the other. "How are you carrying those with one arm?" "It's a secret." Something about this boy wasn't right, when I noticed Edward was doing the same with Bella's furniture. I tried to move the table by myself but it made my head hurt so I decided to just wait until Leon had brought all of my stuff up so he could help. When he was done bringing everything up he moved all of the heavy things for me, my desk was put at the end of my bed as a table for my tv and the desk brought from home I put up next to the door and my two bookshelves next to it. Leon set up my monitors, connecting them to my laptop and plugging everything in while I put all my manga, books and figurines on the shelves. Occasionally Leon would pick a figurine up and ask me about it, to which I'd answer happily as they were part of my hyperfixations. Finally I got the chance to switch the conversation to him. "Charlie told me the Cullens just started fostering you?" "Adopted, actually." "Where were you from before?"
"Tijuana."
"As in Mexico?"
"Yeah."
"Wow… Your english is like, perfect, you don't even have an accent." I didn't completely buy his story.
"I've been speaking spanish and english since I was a kid."
"Oh… Aren't people from Mexico usually… Darker?"
"There's light skinned hispanic people, as well."
I nodded in response, that was true. I unpacked the rest of my clothes, hanging them up in the closet and other things in the dresser. Leon pulled out a few clear bins full of different makeup, hair supplies and wigs. "What's all this?" My face flushed red in embarrassment and I pulled it from his hands. "None of your business." "Come on, you can tell me." I sighed and set it on the bed. "I cosplay and I just like makeup and stuff, I guess." He stared at me in discontent, not fully convinced. "There's more to it, tell me." Without thinking I began to speak, even though I didn't want to. "I'm nonbinary, in the bins there's makeup and wigs and stuff for when I'm feeling feminine… What the hell?" I squinted at him in disbelief. "How did you do that?" "Do what?" "Make me speak, you forced me to say that." "I don't know what you're talking about." "You're lying to me, Leon. You made me say that against my wishes." "Nobody will believe you, you sound crazy." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, much like Bella my emotions were directly attached to my tear ducts. "I'm not crazy…" He frowned at me, realizing he struck a nerve." "I'm sorry." I got my hair clippers out of one of the boxes for later, putting it on the bed before I closed the bin back and stacked them in my closet. I looked around my room as I stood in place, content with how it looked. "Alright, so when are we going shopping?" I blinked at him, he actually wanted to go on a date. "I guess whenever you're ready.." I mumbled to him, he nodded and headed out my bedroom door, I followed him down the stairs and when we got outside I realized Bella and Edward were already waiting for us in the back seat of a black Maserati Levante Trofeo. "They're in the back seat?" "This car is also mine… We'll be up front." I made it to the door of the car before he could open it and hopped in, I turned to Bella sitting behind me and smiled. "I told you he had nice taste in cars." She smiled and nodded at me in agreement.
The drive to Seattle was three hours, I asked Leon about his car on the way here and he talked all about it. "They don't come in red so I chose black but I might go to a shop and get it repainted anyways. I chose the 21 inch black gloss Anteo wheels because I thought it'd look good with red. That's also why I went with the red brake calipers and the red interior." I nodded and when he was done I turned the radio on. He sped the whole way there, cutting our time in half and not once did he get caught by a cop, the odd thing was every once in a while Edward would tap on Leon's shoulder and he would slow down to the speed limit about five minutes before we came across any cop. Bella didn't seem to notice this and I shuddered at her obliviousness, and in the rear view mirror I caught Edward staring at me, as if he could read my mind about me thinking something was off about the two.
When we got to Seattle we parked first downtown at a shopping center that included Macy's, a multi-level Nordstrom and a Tiffany & Co. At Macy's I ended up getting a pack of Calvin Klein sports boxers, I liked the way they felt compared to cotton. I found a pair of black True Religion jeans I liked but they were too expensive so I put them back on the rack, I noticed Bella found herself doing the same thing with lots of things she saw as well. Maybe we should go to some thrift shops I thought, soon after I thought that I saw Edward whisper something to Leon and Leon quickly pulled out his phone, when I managed to catch a glimpse I realised he was looking up thrift shops in the area. This bastard could read minds, and right after I thought that I saw the slightest hint of a grin shadow Edward's face, which means I probably wasn't wrong about Leon controlling me earlier at the house. I found a few sweaters that were on sale that I could use for layering, they were also pretty expensive so I chose the dark burgundy one as I had enough black sweaters. Leon trailed behind me, sometimes he picked up clothes and showed them to me, asking if I liked them. Most of the things he showed me I liked but they weren't quite my style or just the wrong color. Eventually we made our way towards shoes and I ended up setting my sight on a pair of women's Harley Davidson boots, they were knee high and had two buckles on them, one on the top and one above the ankle. I wore a size ten in mens so I tried on a size eleven and a half, they fit perfectly. I walked up and down the aisle and then sat back down to take them off, I placed them back in the box and then put them back on the shelf. "You're not going to get them?" Leon asked, quizzically. "They're over two hundered dollars, I'll just order them online when I have the money, I just wanted to make sure they fit." He nodded at me and looked around the shoe section himself but stayed close enough to watch what I was looking at as well a few minutes later Bella and Edward said they were ready to leave so we checked out and got in the car, Leon stayed behind and joined us at the car a few minutes later, he had said something about a watch.
"So, where are we going next?" "I think I want to go to these thrift stores if you guys don't mind." Leon looked into the rear view mirror at Bella and she smiled. "That'd be great." It didn't take us long to get to the first shop, Bella and I began browsing immediately, perhaps with too much gusto. Before I knew it my cart was filled with things to try on and I told Leon I was going to the dressing room, he followed me to the door. "I'd like to see what you try on." He said before I went in. "Are you sure? I have quite a few things, you don't want to look for yourself?." "Of course, this is a date, isn't it? Shouldn't I be spending it with you?" "I guess so." I hung up all the clothes in the dressing room, shutting the door behind me and every time I put an outfit on I opened the door to show Leon. He stood there with his arms crossed, nodding and sometimes giving me a thumbs up. The next time I came out he was holding up a pair of Tripp shorts. "These are the kind you were wearing the other day, right?" I looked at him, kind of shocked and nodded. He held them out for me and smiled. "Well, then try them on." "Okay." I shut the door and put them on, they were a little too big so I held one side up with my hand when I opened the door, they rested low on my hips. "I think they'd fit with a belt and I have plenty of those so I think they'll work." He nodded at me and for a second he almost looked proud of himself. I shut the door back and changed into my normal clothes, putting the stuff back in my cart and counting how much the total would be so far, it wasn't too much so I decided to keep looking. I hit the women's section next to see if I found anything in there, I found a few black cropped tops and a few pair of jeans that I could distress myself. Leon held up a studded belt and I nodded at him, he held it for the remainder of the time. We all met outside when we were done and headed home for the day, it was dark when we got back to our house. Leon helped me carry my bags to my room, closing the door behind us. I threw all the thrifted clothes into my laundry basket. "Why are you putting them in the laundry, you just bought them?" "They're used clothes and you can't trust the store to have washed them so you have to wash them before you wear them for the first time." "But you tried them on in the store." "Yeah but I'll take a shower tonight." I ripped open the pack of boxers I bought and put them in the top drawer of my dresser, Leon came up behind me as I did. "You don't smell bad." He said as he wrapped his hands around the sides of my waist, either I was thin enough or his hands were just big enough to grab my sides from my back to all the way into the side of my stomach, it made me feel small. His nose hovered over my neck and I could feel my face getting hot. "Why do you do that?" "Do what?" "Tease me like this." "I like watching you squirm." I pressed the back of my body against him and I could hear a slight growl escape his throat, it sent shivers down my spine and he pressed his fingers harder into my stomach. "What'd you get those clippers out for?" His question shot me back into reality. "I was going to shave the sides of my head to give me a mohawk since they had to shave a patch off the side at the hospital." "Do you need help?" "Yeah." He let go of me and grabbed the clippers, we went to the bathroom and I took off my shirt so hair wouldn't get on it. I started the lines on my head for him and he got whatever I missed. "I'll go get a broom to clean this up and your clothes, get in the shower." He left the bathroom and I quickly got undressed, pulling the curtain shut so he couldn't see me.
Leon's POV
My hands almost shook as I pressed the clippers against Felix's head. I had never cut someone's hair before and I didn't want to cut him, especially after I had overestimated my strength and hurt him when I pushed him too hard away from Tyler's SUV. "You can press harder. It'll make the hair shorter." I nodded and pressed a little against his head and he was right, the area I shaved over was almost bald. When I was done I kept the clippers on to distract him from the fact I was done and was just staring at his chest I bit the inside of my cheek and then turned the clippers off. "Alright, I'm gonna go grab a broom to clean this up and your clothes. Get in the shower." I commanded him and left the closet so he could undress in peace. I found a broom and walked into his room.
Edward was waiting there for me, he'd gotten in through the window. "You have disgusting thoughts." I rolled my eyes and looked at him. "Not everyone has 1918 morals, Edward. I was only turned into a demon a few years ago, after all. I'm not waiting for marriage." "You need to control yourself, you can put us in danger." "You put us in danger when you saved Bella from that truck." Edward growled and got into my face, looking up at me. "You followed suit and saved him as well, don't act like I'm the only one who put us at risk. At least I'm trying to control myself, Bella and I haven't even held hands and you're here grabbing at his waist like you're an Incubus. I don't even want to be her friend, I'm too dangerous, I only came to make sure you stay under control." "I'm not a sex demon, calm down, you good time killer." "I'll be at home, if Bella catches you here just tell her Alice came to pick me up, I can't listen to your and his thoughts anymore." He grunted when I didn't respond and jumped out the window. I grabbed a pair of boxers he had bought and found some pajama pants and a sweater that seemed nice enough to rest in. "Slippers… What a twink." I mused to myself as I picked up the black fuzzy slippers that sat beside his bed.
I went back into the bathroom and set the clothes down on the sink, sweeping the hair up off the floor and throwing it away in the bathroom trash. When I was done I watched the shower curtain, making his features out from the shadow. He scrubbed his body multiple times over and over as if muck was stuck to his body and he couldn't quite scrub it off. "I'm going to go now, your clothes are on the sink." "Oh, okay. Will I see you at school tomorrow?" "Yeah, text me if you need any help with the work on your desk." "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." I left the bathroom, closing the door behind me and quietly walking down the stairs to leave through the front door. "Leon? You're still here? How'd Edward leave?" "Oh, Alice came and picked him up. I was helping Felix with their hair." "Oh, okay. Well thank you for taking us to Seattle today, I haven't seen Felix smile like that in a long time. He really enjoys your company, I think." I nodded and smiled at her. "That's nice to know, thank you. Don't forget to lock the door behind me." Bella nodded and I left through the front door, getting in my car and parking down the street. I grabbed the bag with the Harley Davidson boots, sweater and jeans and walked up to the back of of the house, jumped into his window and left the bag on his bed. I looked around before jumping back out and walking back down the street and driving home.
When I walked inside the house Carslile was waiting for me, he cocked and eyebrow and spoke. "I think we should talk in my office." I followed him to his study, he sat at his desk and I sat across from him. "Did you have fun today?" "I did." "That's good. Felix, you know you are apart of this family, right? Even though you're not a vampire?" I nodded at him, the conversation was starting to make me nervous. "How serious are you about this boy, Felix?" I took a deep breath and thought for a minute. "Carslile. When he walked through the door it felt like my world stopped. I didn't know if I was attracted to him… Or if I wanted to kill him and in a sense I think he knew that because I don't think I've ever seen someone lose color from their face that fast and his heart was beating so fast it sounded like it was going to burst. I really honestly thought he was going to have a heart attack right then and there. He's very… Perceptive. I think even if I didn't want anything to do with him at this point I don't think we'd be able to get rid of him. He has already figured out I can control people through commands and he's already figured out Edward can read minds. He knows something's off. In fact the morning of the crash Edward told me he had told Bella to keep us at an arm's length, he told her to be friendly but not to get close. At first he was scared of the danger, but now I think it excites him." Carslile sighed and nodded. "I think Edward will soon follow suit with Bella, Alice has already seen visions of Bella spending time with Edward, today actually. You may leave."
I left his study and went straight to the kitchen, I was the only person in the house who ate so I got the whole fridge and cabinet space to myself. I grabbed deer loin that Jasper had caught out of the fridge, that was our routine. He got the blood and brought the body back for me, I gut and flayed the deer and then put it in the fridge for when I was hungry. Of course, I could survive off blood as well and my meat didn't need to be cooked but I preferred human food. I heated up the pan with butter, rosemary, garlic and parsley and seared the steak on both sides. As that was cooking I heated up some asparagus on the side and plated it when it was done. I sat at the table alone, Alice came and sat across the table from me and Jasper followed suit. "How did it go?" "You already know how it went, Alice." "Yeah but I didn't see the whole thing, tell me how it went!" I rolled my eyes and relayed what had happened that day. "You grabbed his waist and sniffed his neck? How do you get that close to him without wanting to eat him?" "It's… Weird. I've never experienced a human that smells like him. He smells good but he doesn't smell appetizing, he actually smelled like he doesn't have blood." Jasper nodded and spoke up. "I noticed the same thing, we briefly crossed each other in the hallway and he's the only human that hasn't seemed appetizing to me, I almost wanted to talk to him because I knew I could control myself." Carlisle and Esme had been listening, they joined us at the table. "Carslile, did you experience this at the hospital." "Yes, actually. Bella smelled normal, but when I did my testing on Felix I couldn't smell his blood, he just smelled like a human without blood. He had the normal odors and of course I could smell the asphalt from where he had fell but his blood had no scent, even when I was stitching his head wound. It's possible he has some sort of deflection, how Edward can't read Bella's thoughts but she smelled so good Edward almost couldn't contain himself, Leon if you don't mind?" "Not at all." "Leon said when Felix entered the room it seemed as if his world stop and he couldn't tell if he was attracted to him or wanted to kill him. This feeling often happens with demons when their find their mate but there also has been false positives and this feeling is just a human who makes their prey drive increase significantly. It's a possibility because Leon has never actually tasted human flesh or blood, something about him could be more appealing but I don't think that's the case since you said he smells like he doesn't have blood and Jasper felt as if he could talk to him. I actually kind of want you to invite him over so we can see if everyone else feels the same way." By the time Carslile had finished talking and discussing theories I had already finished my meal. "Well, maybe I will invite him but for now I'm going to bed." Jasper rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes, please continue to tease us that you're able to sleep." Jasper often teased me about the differences between our species, but I didn't mind I actually got along with him and Emmett the most. I made my way up to my room on the top floor, closing my door behind me and taking off my clothes leaving only my boxers on. I turned on my fan and got into bed, immediately drifting to sleep.