"Hey Idiot."

Elliot looked up from his copy of Holy Knight, to see Leo's smug, smirking face. "Oh, hey Leo." His eyebrow quirked a little in annoyance, and he added, "By the way, the name's Elliot."

"You'd think you'd be happy to see me or something." Leo teased, pulling out a chair to sit across from Elliot.

"That's a bit of a stretch." Elliot mumbled, closing his book. But contrary to his words, he was indeed happy to see Leo. "I was just about to get some coffee. Do you want anything?"

Elliot had spent about an hour sitting on the outside porch of the coffee shop where Vincent worked, reading his book, and of course waiting to see if Leo would show up or not.

"What's that, you're treating me?" Leo stood, the chair scraping across the concrete with a harsh metallic sound. "Well then again, who am I to turn down something free? Sure, might as well."

Elliot rolled his eyes, standing as well. "Of course he'd say that." He lead the way into the coffee shop, a rush of cold air greeting his face. "Anything in particular?"

"Hmm…..." Leo placed a finger on his chin, as if contemplating the question. "I guess something cold sounds nice….maybe a mocha frappe?"

"Hey, that's what I was going to get!" Elliot thought with a start. "I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, they are pretty good after all. But still…." Aloud, he said with a grin, "Well, if nothing else, you've got good taste in coffee."

"Are you trying to insult my tastes in other things?" Leo challenged lightly, following behind Elliot.

"Maybe, maybe not." Elliot shrugged, getting in line. It wasn't long, and soon enough Elliot was able to place his order, and the two took a seat at a nearby table. "Although," He added afterwards, his words directed at Leo with a return to the challenge, "I suppose I forgot one. You have good taste in coffee and music."

"Ah, that reminds me!" Leo made a fist with one hand, and dropped it into the other, open hand, before reaching across the table to hand Elliot a stack of papers he had been previously holding. "Here."

Elliot took the papers, curiosity rising. "What could this be?" A quick glance solved the puzzle, and Elliot felt surprise replacing curiosity. "You wrote out that piece? The one you played the other day?" He flipped through the pages, remembering the melody as his eyes scanned the notes.

"Yeah. I figured I might as well, since you seemed to like it so much, and I kind of did too. You can keep that copy, if you want to. Play it at home or something."

"Really?" Elliot stacked the sheet music back together, smiling. "I don't know if I could do it justice, you have a style that's way beyond my ability." It was painful to admit, since Elliot was very prideful of his piano skills. But Leo deserved credit where credit was due, and in this case, credit was most definitely due.

"That's not necessarily true, but thanks." Leo accepted the compliment, "I guess it just came naturally. Then again I'm self-taught, so maybe self-taught people have different styles….."

Elliot's eyes widened. "He's self-taught?! With that kind of talent?! I don't believe that!"He glanced over the sheet music once more, noting the complexities in the score. "You remembered all of it? I'm really impressed!"

"It wasn't that hard." Leo shrugged, "But I guess it helps that I was able to write it down fairly quickly. Lauren has a piano, so that was helpful too."

"There's that name again." Elliot thought, and this time he decided to voice his question aloud. "Who's Lauren?"

"Hm?" Leo tilted his head, "Oh, Lauren? My foster father. Well, until I move and stuff."

Elliot felt a tinge of sadness at Leo's statement, both because it was a reminder that Leo was indeed moving, and because Leo referred to his foster father by name. "Then again, I guess that makes sense, since he probably doesn't really feel like a foster family is his family."

"You don't have to look so sad about it." Leo commented, leaning against his hands, placing his elbows on the table. "I don't really care either way. I was upset about leaving this area, not those people."

Before Elliot could respond, he heard a familiar voice once again call out his name. "Ah, I'll go get those." Elliot stood, striding across the room to where Vincent was waiting, drinks in hand. "Thanks Vincent."

"No problem." Vincent responded, but he wasn't looking at Elliot, but rather he was looking at Leo. "Is he causing any trouble?"

"No, he's not." Elliot assured, "We've just been talking." With that, he turned away from Vincent, returning to his table. He slid one of the coffees over to Leo, taking a straw and sipping on his own. "Next time it's your treat."

"Ah, you mean you won't get fed up with me today?" Leo teased, then added, "Can't say the same for your brother. He's been glaring at me behind your back. He's going to get a bad rep if he keeps doing that."

He'll probably do that for a while." Elliot glanced over at Vincent, who simply smiled back. "Like I said, he's insanely protective of both Gilbert and I."

"So I guess I'll just have to resign myself to being glared at?" Leo shook his head, "That might get just a little bit-"

Leo was cut off by a feminine voice calling out to him. "Oh Leo!" The girl who had been working with him appeared behind him suddenly, an odd smile on her face. "Who's that?" She asked, referring to Elliot.

"None of your business, Lottie. I'm already going to have to deal with you every day, can't I at least talk to someone else?" Leo seemed annoyed at Lottie's interruption, to say the least.

"Aww, but it looked like you two were having fun!" Lottie protested, "Can't big sis Lottie join in?"

"No." Leo said flatly, turning away from her. "Anyways, where were we?"

"So, who's this cutie?" Lottie interrupted once again, making her way over to Elliot with a grin. "Is he someone special to you maybe?" She placed one elbow on top of his head, ruffling his hair with her free hand.

"Maybe, maybe not." Leo smirked once again, "Who knows?"

Elliot, however, was completely red in the face. "Why does everyone keep thinking that?!" He protested in a flustered manner.

"Aww, you're embarrassed! How cute!" Lottie took advantage of Elliot's present situation, and turned to Leo, "Isn't he so cute, all flustered like this?"

Leo didn't answer for a moment, and just stared straight ahead (or so one would assume). "Hmm…. I suppose, although you should have seen him yesterday, he was shouting while I was in the middle of work, and his face was even redder than that."

"You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" Elliot groaned, "You just caught me off guard! No-one had ever said anything like that to me before!"

"Ah, I see. Looks like we have things all wrong, don't we Lottie?" Leo's remark was loaded with sarcasm, although it wasn't in a hateful manner, but rather more teasing just meant to further embarrass Elliot. "He doesn't care about me at all."

"I didn't say that!" Elliot's exasperation was rising by the second. "Would you two cut it out?! Yes, Leo, I care about you, but I want to get to know you as a friend, got it?!" He shoved Lottie's arm off of his head, combing through his hair with one hand to get it back into place.

"Whoa, settle down, we were just teasing." Lottie frowned, then her eyes fell on the sheets of paper in front of Elliot. "Ooh, what's this?" She snatched it up, not even waiting for an answer. "Hey, Leo, you wrote this? Can you play it for me someday?"

"We'll see. Does he have a piano?"

"Does Glen have a…..." Lottie laughed, leaning against the table for support. "Of course Glen has a piano! He used to play it all the time!"

"Well now I wouldn't know that, would I?" Leo questioned in a slightly irritated tone. "Either way, I'm still talking to someone right now, as you can see, so please leave us alone."

"Nope, I think I'll stay right here!" Lottie began to pull up another chair, grinning all the while. "Big sis Lottie gets to join in on the fun!"

"Are you seriously going to keep calling yourself that?" Leo sighed, stirring his coffee with his straw so that some of the whipped cream and chocolate blended in with the rest of the drink. "Just because you convinced him to take me in, does not mean you get to call us siblings, got it?"

Elliot looked between the two, realization beginning to settle in. "This is who you were on the phone with the other day, isn't it?" Now that he thought about it, the name Lottie had come up while Leo was on the phone.

"Ah, you caught me!" Lottie threw her arms up theatrically, "I'm the one and only Lottie!" Her grin grew, and she took a breath, preparing to speak once again, only to be cut off by a sharp beeping sound. "Oops, that's my alarm, gotta go!" She pushed back her chair, ruffling Leo's hair as she passed. "Play that piece for me someday, OK?"

Leo just sighed and shook his head as Lottie swept out the door. "I swear, she can be a big pain sometimes." He reached up and attempted to comb out his hair with one hand, as Elliot had before, but only succeeded in making things worse.

"How on earth does he manage to get by with his hair like that?" Elliot wondered for probably the thousandth time. It never ceased to amaze him, the fact that Leo's hair was so horribly, unbelievably messy, not to mention it covered his eyes, and yet he could somehow manage to walk without tripping over everything in his path. "I don't know, you two seemed to enjoy teaming up against me. That was a pain, if you ask me."

"Well, no-one asked." Leo smirked, pulling his straw out of his coffee and using it to point at Elliot. "Besides, you can't act like you didn't enjoy it at least a little."

Elliot couldn't hold back his temper, and slammed one hand onto the table. "You think that was funny?! That I enjoyed it?! I did not!" He protested emphatically, "How would you feel if someone was saying that to you?!"

"I wouldn't care." Leo shrugged, dropping his straw back into his cup. A small dollop of whipped cream had fallen from the edge, puddling on the table in a sticky mess. "I'd just let them say it. I've heard way worse, trust me." For just the slightest moment, his voice wavered, despite his strong words.

"What does he mean by that?" Once again, Elliot felt curiosity rising, but he also felt sadness, hearing the waver in Leo's voice. "What could possibly have been said to him, to make him feel like that?" But he didn't dare to ask, not yet. All the questions Elliot wanted to ask, all the important ones anyways, were ones that he dared not voice. And so, in a calmer manner, he responded, "I'm sorry. For yelling at you, for saying that to you….…..."

"Ah, what's this? An apology?" Leo's voice gained a sarcastic drawl, and he tapped the table with his fingernails, as if considered Elliot's words. "Fine, apology accepted." He gripped his coffee cup with one hand, stirring his straw with the other. All that was left was a fluffy mass of whipped cream with small amounts of coffee, which he finished off quickly.

"You could have apologized for teasing me, you know." Elliot thought, irritation pricking at his mind. "So," Elliot said instead, "It was a bit of a pain, just waiting to see if you would show up, and believe it or not, I do want to talk to you again."

Leo turned away long enough to toss his cup into the trash, and when faced Elliot again, his ever-teasing smirk was plastered once more on his face. "Oh, is this going where I think this is going?"

"Shut up." Elliot mumbled, his face gaining a red tint once more. "Yes, it's going where you think it's going, yes I'm asking for your number, and no, I don't mean anything by it." He held out his hand, and asked, "Can I see your-"

"No." Leo cut him off in a deadpan tone, his hand moving to cover his pocket protectively. "Just tell me your number."

Elliot's lips tugged into a frown, Leo's behavior sending red flags in his brain. "Alright…..." He spoke hesitantly, despite the lingering feeling that something really wasn't right. He recited his number, which Leo slowly and deliberately read back. Once they were both sure the number had been inputted correctly, Leo sent a text.

Elliot reached for his own phone, which buzzed in his pocket as soon as Leo pressed send.

Hey Idiot.

"Really?" Elliot sighed in annoyance, tucking his phone away. "It's not really fair that you get to call me idiot, but I don't get to call you-"

"Say that name again, and I will punch you." Leo warned, a dangerous edge in his voice. "And I don't think you'd really want that, since you're working so hard to be my friend."

"Alright, alright, I get it." Elliot held out his hands, giving in, for now at least, "But it's still not fair. Either I get to call you by a stupid nickname, or you call me by name."

Leo placed a finger on his cheek, and silence fell between them for a minute. "Hmm…..nope. Can't think of anything, sorry."

"Of course not." Elliot rolled his eyes, standing and pushing his chair away. "Anyways, I've gotta go." He picked up the sheet music, the papers rustling in his hands. "See you later?"

"Yeah. Oh wait, one more thing." Leo pulled the top piece of paper away from Elliot's hand, grabbing a pen from his pocket and scrawling a word quickly across the sheet. "There, that's better."

Elliot glanced at the word written across the page, and quickly understood what Leo had done.

"Tempeste."

A/N:So now Lottie has fully entered the picture! I won't say that she'll be a major character, per se, but she'll definitely have her moments.

I kinda just dropped most of the drama and tension in the second half of the chapter XD

Oh, and Leo's piece now has a name! I wanted it to kind of be a counter to Elliot's, both in description and name.

As always, comments are 100% appreciated! :)