:)
...
Weeks went by, and then it was suddenly mid-October, marking Leo's second week of working at Blockbuster and his first paycheck. Mentally, Leo was still in September, so the check was a pleasant surprise.
Two more weeks and Leo could technically quit, but once the first paycheck came in, Leo warmed up to the idea of working. He could use a new skateboard deck.
He walked into the store, proud smile on his face, right before his Saturday morning shift. "Hey, Nico," Leo greeted. Nico looked up and frowned.
"Hey."
He and Nico were still in that awkward stage of purgatory, that weird time period when you've hung out with someone once or twice but haven't quite spent enough time together to become true friends. In the three weeks since Nico and Leo had hung at the mall, they really didn't share too many more moments. Sure, there was that day where they ran into each other on the way to the school bathrooms, and maybe Leo would crack jokes during their shifts and Nico would chuckle, but it wasn't substantial.
Leo was fine, as long as he didn't have to deal with the guilt of having Nico hate him. Truthfully, Nico still creeped him out a little bit, regardless of his closet Pokemon obsession.
Currently though, Nico was rooting through a box that read 'Spirit Halloween.' "Mind helping me? Sarah said we need to decorate the store or whatever."
Leo set his skateboard behind the counter, pinned his badge to his polo, and joined Nico. He was furiously untangling some string lights. "I was going to hang this from the counter...what else should we do?"
Leo hummed, rummaging through the box. He pulled out some skulls, a few fake cobwebs, a skeleton, and a few plastic jack-o-lanterns.
They went to work, Halloween-ifying the store. Nico strung up the lights and made a display for Halloween movies, and Leo scattered the rest of the decorations across the store. "Think this is convincing?" Leo asked after propping the skeleton onto his chair, shoving a Blockbuster polo over its head, and pinning his nametag to it.
"I mean, it's probably just as smart as you are," Nico quipped, sitting on the counter and swinging his legs. Sarah would have a fit if she saw him.
Leo laughed. "Oh, fine. He can greet the guests, then." Leo took back his nametag and balanced the skeleton on a stool by the door.
...
Even if Nico and Leo were decidedly not friends, they went to Burger King together during lunch. Nico claimed it was to grow his collection, and Leo said he thought the waitress was cute.
Speaking of which.
"Hello!" Callie smiled, caramel eyes shining. She was one of those people who smiled with their entire face.
"Two kids meals, please."
Callie peered at Nico and Leo and slowly nodded. "Two...kids meals?"
"You know it," he finger gunned. Nico grabbed a cup and filled it up with a Coke Zero. Leo followed suit shortly after, filling his own cup up with a little of every flavor like an absolute degenerate.
"You know, Nico," Leo said, nudging him with his elbow. "I just wonder…"
"You just wonder what?" Nico deadpanned, clicking a lid onto his cup and sticking a straw in.
"What if I just, like, asked her out," Leo voiced, nodding over at Callie. "She's pretty, I kinda know her, and I need a date." Nico rolled his eyes. Leo wasn't exactly listing solid reasons for asking someone out.
Nico gave his opinion regardless. "Sure, do it. It's not like I care that much either way," he said honestly, tucking his hands into his pockets.
Leo's eyes gleamed. "Cool. Great. So I guess I'm doing it!" Leo exclaimed.
He stayed stationary despite his claim.
"Are you going to do it, or are you going to just stand there?" Nico raised an eyebrow. Leo flinched.
"Right! Right. Right…" he mumbled. "Okay, I'm gonna do it." He swaggered up to the counter. Nico snickered. This was gonna be good. He kinda wished he had warned Leo that his fly was down beforehand, though.
"So, Callie," Leo said, leaning over the counter. "I always wondered- how come you're not at school? I mean, you're like, sixteen too. Right?"
Callie's smile got wider as if that were even possible. "I dropped out," she giggled. "Too stuffy for me. Felt like I was trapped."
"Man, I wish I could do that. But like, I have to get an education. And I have friends and stuff." Leo leaned over the counter, hands twitching anxiously.
"I never really had much of that," Callie admitted, looking down. "Didn't go to a lot of the common High School events, you know? No football games, no homecoming…" Nico watched curiously, sitting in their usual booth.
Leo surprisingly picked up on the hint. "Oh! Well… Wanna go to a friend's Homecoming party with me?" He was not smooth with his delivery, Nico noted. He spoke his words much too fast and stumbled over the word 'Homecoming'.
"Sure! Wow!" Leo looked ecstatic. "I'll, um, call you? We can go on a date, test the waters before committing?" She scribbled her digits on a napkin, placed it onto his tray along with his food, and practically shoved the tray into his arms with a blush.
"Sounds awesome."
Nico high-fived Leo as he ran back to the table. "That was spontaneous. You barely even know her," Nico said, diving his hand into his Burger King meal immediately and fishing out the toy.
"I mean, yeah," Leo replied, rubbing the back of his head. "But who cares? I have a date, maybe even a girlfriend! Wow."
Nico snorted into his napkin. "Have fun at your little Homecoming party."
"Oh, no," Leo shook his head dramatically.
"...What? I'm not following," Nico said, slurping from his Coke Zero. "Elaborate."
"I'm not gonna let you brood at home alone. You're going to come with us to the party." He leaned over and set a hand on Nico's shoulder. "I don't care if you think you're too cool. You're coming with us."
Nico frowned. "Fine. But it's going to be boring third-wheeling it," Nico complained, opening up his toy. Leo grinned, seemingly pleased, and retracted his hand.
Callie watched them. She smiled, but her eyes didn't match her expression.
…
"Think we'll get caught skipping?" Nico asked, pulling back into the student parking lot.
Leo shook his head. "Take a chill pill! Once, me and Piper just walked out of class and nobody did anything." Nico nodded. "We'll be fine."
"Good," Nico said, unbuckling his seatbelt.
Leo rolled his eyes. "Not like it would be a big deal if we get caught."
"It's not," Nico acknowledged. They took the back entrance, as it would be a little obvious if they just strutted in through the front doors. "I just would rather not draw extra attention."
"Makes sense." The tips of their fingers brushed as they walked. Leo's hand twitched. A part of him just wanted to grab onto Nico's hand.
Leo enjoyed physical contact, and especially being affectionate with his friends. He'd snuggle up to Jason randomly, lean his head on Piper's lap, use hugs to greet people, and just generally show his love physically. It was just how he showed his love. He was touch-starved for a lot of his life and craved the attention he got.
However, Leo also understood the importance of boundaries, and he knew Nico had a lot of them. He wasn't a fan of being touched.
But maybe, Leo could test the waters a bit. After all, they were sort-of friends now. He reached his hand out, intertwining it with Nico's as they walked. Nico looked up, startled by the action. He resembled a deer in headlights. He even cocked his head a little bit and raised an eyebrow.
"Is this okay?" Leo asked, squeezing Nico's cold hand in a way he hoped was reassuring. Nico returned his squeeze.
"Sure," he mumbled, looking away quickly.
...
Jason and Piper ate lunch together.
Alone.
For the second time that week.
Piper groaned, slamming her head into the wall. "Ow! I wanted to do that to be dramatic, but that kinda hurt."
Jason raised an eyebrow and bit into his Uncrustable. "Why?"
"Where is Leo?" Piper asked. "I swear, he's still avoiding us sometimes and I just-ugh!"
Jason closed his eyes and exhaled. Leo was still taking any opportunity he could to leave them alone together, but it had backfired tremendously- Piper seemed to think Leo was upset with them. "I mean, why would he just bail on us so much, Jason? Is there something going on?"
"Probably not," Jason mused. "Look, I'm sure there's a reason that he's, uh, avoiding us."
Speak of the devil, Leo walked into the side entrance of the school, shit-eating grin splitting his face. Nico was behind him, towering above his coworker as always. They were connected with intertwined hands- something Piper rose an eyebrow at.
"Guys!" Leo released Nico's hand, sprinted down the hallway, tackled Jason, and began to aggressively shake him. "I got a girlfriend!" Nico slurped from his soft drink.
"T-that's-" Jason struggled to speak, glasses bouncing off his face. "That's great, Leo. Can you get off now?"
"Hehe, sorry." Leo untangled himself from Jason's limbs. "But there was this girl at Burger King, and she was makin' hints, and I just said fuck it and asked her out."
"Uhh...you met her at the Burger King? Do you even know her?" Piper asked, cocking her head like a puppy would.
Leo fumed, slumping to the ground and nudging Piper's thigh. "I swear, it was more romantic. Back me up, Neeks…?"
Nico stood a couple of feet away from the trio, not wanting to impose. "Not really? You asked out some girl in the middle of Burger King." He sipped his Coke Zero again and directed his eyes to the left.
"Okay, but more importantly," Leo hissed. "I gotta girlfriend!"
"What's her name?" Jason asked, crossing his arms patiently.
"Callie," he whispered, the word folding like poetry on his lips. "She's great."
"So not judging you, Leo," Piper said, throwing up her hands. "But do you really like her or do you just want a girlfriend?"
"Whatever, Piper. I don't see you dating anyone." He looked at Jason for a second before turning his eyes back to Piper. "And who cares if we barely know each other or if we haven't met much before now or if the most knowledge she has about me is that I order a Burger King kid's meal? I have a girlfriend."
Jason and Piper shared a worried look. "Weeellll," Jason said. "I'm, uh, glad to hear that?"
Nico walked away once they stopped noticing his presence. He didn't want to make things awkward by sticking around longer than he needed to.
...
Leo skated down the street, Piper and Jason tagging along behind him. He ollied over a large rock perfectly, landing clean on his board. Piper tucked her hands into the pockets of her overalls, gliding down the street in her skates. "So...two weeks."
"Two weeks," Jason repeated.
"Two weeks," Leo parroted.
"Shut up, I was trying to be dramatic," Piper said, huffing and clenching a fist. "Two weeks until we have the night of our lives, as all the stupid-ass coming of age movies like to put it."
Leo grinned. "It's going to be worth Drew's manhandling, I'm telling y'all! We're going to a real-deal high school party. I wonder if it'll be like Ten Things I Hate About You. I hope so."
"Well, I hope you enjoy your time with Callie. Have you guys talked since you asked her out?" Piper asked.
"Only a little on the phone," Leo scoffed. "Do I look like I have unlimited phone minutes tattooed on my forehead?"
"Maybe I could tell if you got a haircut," Piper retorted. "You keep hiding it under that hat. So not flattering." She carefully moved her feet to continue momentum on her skates.
"Okay, so, what are you going to wear to the party?" Jason chimed in to prevent a rising argument. He was the peacekeeper between Piper and Leo- they were best friends, but they were both incredibly stubborn. "It's a costume party. But I don't know what to go as."
"I dunno either," Leo admitted, kneeling on his skateboard and pushing off the ground with his hands. "Maybe something sexy."
"Speaking of sexy, I'm going to personally beat the shit out of anyone going as sexy Pocahontas," Piper proclaimed boldly, spinning in her skates for effect and stumbling on a pebble. "Cultural appropriation is bad."
"I mean, where are we gonna get costumes?" Jason asked, ignoring Piper's statement because building on it would incite a rant. "I spent my last bit of money on snacks," Jason admitted, scratching the back of his head.
Piper sighed. "Wanna raid my house?"
"Of course!" Leo said. "Your dad is like, so cool."
"No, he's not."
"Propaganda."
"If he was your dad, you wouldn't say that," Piper said glumly. "I know you love movies and all, but trust me, he's not his characters."
Leo frowned. "Yeah… Well, let's brainstorm costume ideas. Jason, you should go as sexy Superman!"
"I'm good," he said gruffly.
"Oh, come on," Leo said. "You fit the bill: your three personality traits are being handsome, being nice, and liking golf. Sometimes we can add 'wearing glasses', but that's on a good day."
"Not true." Jason rolled his eyes and folded his arms - his balance faltered since he was on a bike, and he quickly put his hands back on his handlebars. "I like golf an ordinary amount."
"Piper," Leo prompted, noting her silence. "Do you think Jason should be sexy Superman?"
"Oh, I don't know. Let's just get to my house already. It's a long ride," she said, airily.
And a little bit too quickly, Leo noted. Like the thought of sexy and Jason was something that made her flustered.
Leo grinned.
…
"Oh my god…" Leo said softly, staring up at Piper's mansion. "I always forget how...how amazing your house is…"
"It's-" Piper blushed. "It's nothing special. It's much too big."
"That's what she said," Jason mumbled.
"Pipes, you live in a motherfucking mansion! Y'all, my entire apartment complex is smaller than this, what the hell," Leo said, throwing his arms up. Piper ignored Leo (a common occurrence) and went up to the gate.
She entered a special passcode and the gate opened. Leo and Jason followed her as Piper navigated them towards the front door. "Wait for me to open the garage." Piper slipped off her roller skates and opened the door with a key.
Jason began to whistle to the tune of Barbie Girl. "So...how do I do it?"
"Do what?" Leo snapped his head out- he had gotten distracted watching a squirrel climb a tree.
"Ask her out. I still. I still have not done that."
"Pussy." Leo coughed violently to cover up his words. Jason clicked his tongue.
"You ask one girl out and you're suddenly a romance expert? That's rich." Jason leaned against the brick exterior, hitting his palms to his knees methodically.
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Well, you won't get anywhere if you don't even try to make a move. You like her, right?" Jason nodded. "Act like it then! Ask. Piper. Out."
"But what if she says no?" Jason ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Piper is Cool. She roller-skates, she crops her own shirts, she's a vegetarian, her dad is some big-shot A-lister, and like- I'm me!"
"What's wrong with that, Jace?" Leo asked, actually seeking a serious answer.
"You said it yourself," Jason murmured bitterly. "I can't stack up to Piper. I like to golf, I dress as everyone else does, and apparently being 'handsome' is one of my only personality traits?" Jason sighed glumly.
"Hey! Hey, I didn't mean it- I didn't mean it in like, a bad way," Leo quickly said, placing a hand on Jason's shoulder and smiling. "We like you for who you are, Jason." His lips tightened.
"Look, I'm not good at comforting people," Leo admitted, removing his hand and clamping it around his wrist. "You know that more than anyone else. But you can't keep bringing yourself down. Jason, you're a great leader. You keep the peace between us. You know exactly what to say when something goes wrong. You were there for me- and Piper- when nobody else was."
"You're confident. You're cool in that you know how to keep your head level. And, yeah," Leo said, a smile on his face- the same smile Jason knew meant a joke was coming. "You're a little sexy."
Jason laughed. "You just had to ruin the moment we had going on."
"Oh, I didn't want things to get too weird." Leo's face shifted. "Well, I do have one more serious thing to say."
Jason nodded slowly. "Go ahead." Jason's eyes flicked back to the garage door. Piper was still inside.
Leo took a deep breath. "You know that guy I had a crush on freshman year? The unnamed one? The one that was making me question everything about myself?"
Jason didn't understand why that was relevant. "Vaguely."
"That was you, man. I'm over it now," he said defensively. "But like, you were my first guy crush. So, yeah. Don't undermine yourself."
"Wow. Well." Jason didn't know what to say. "Cool."
Leo burst out laughing. "My sexual awakening is cool. Nice to know."
"Hey, guys!" The garage door screeched open, interrupting their heart-to-heart. Piper smiled up at them, waving her arms. "Put your shit in here!" Jason and Leo exchanged a look and nodded.
They entered Piper's garage. It was pristine, with untouched, high-quality tools just sitting on shelves, collecting dust. A top-of-the-line sports car was parked. Piper walked around it like it was nothing but a nuisance. Leo would have killed to have a garage like that. He would spend hours working and tinkering if he could. Leo whistled, almost feeling bad as he parked his skateboard in the corner of the garage.
"Take off your shoes before you enter," Piper said, opening the door to her mansion and walking in. The interior of the house was just as spectacular as the garage, with an expansive foyer and expensive-looking furniture.
"Hey," Jason said, nudging Leo to get his attention. "I thought all the flirting you did was just a joke or something," Jason muttered to Leo as they walked inside.
"I think that I was subconsciously doing that to cope with my sexuality or something. Like, I hoped you'd take it seriously and magically want to date me. I don't know, it was stupid and I started doing it before I even knew I liked you," Leo replied, his voice rough.
"What are you two whispering about?" Piper asked, turning and walking backward so she'd face them.
"Jason wanted to know if his letterman brought out his eyes," Leo answered. Piper shook her head, examining the signature navy-blue and gray letterman and then comparing it to Jason's own eye color. Their eyes collided, and Leo felt uncomfortable just existing while that was happening.
"I think it does," she winked, turning back to the front.
Leo grinned up at Jason feverishly. "You better ask her," he whispered. Jason blushed.
Maids meandered around the house, greeting Piper when they saw her. "Wow. You have servants?" One of the maids gave Leo the stink eye. Piper rolled her eyes.
"God, you make me out to be some sort of a spoiled brat. They're paid maids," Piper explained, leading them to her attic. "I still do chores around the house. I clean my own room sometimes. But anyway, here we are." Piper did sarcastic jazz hands.
"What's so cool about where we are?" Leo was out of breath from all the walking they had to do.
"This is my dad's costume vault. Full of all the costumes and shit he wore. He has stuff from every show, movie, and play he acted in," Piper said dramatically, opening the door in front of them and revealing a staircase. "I'm sure he won't mind if we raid it," Piper giggled, racing up the stairs.
"Aren't these valuable or something? I dunno…" Jason stammered, but he followed Piper regardless. Leo sneezed, the staircase dusty and rarely used.
"Oh, whatever. There's so much shit in here. Some of it isn't even from shows he was in. There's also suits and outfits he wore to award shows," Piper explained, flicking the lights on.
"This place is cool!" Leo gushed.
The storage room was messy compared to the rest of the house, with disorganized clothing racks and random articles of clothing on the floor. "I'm thinking I'm gonna go as… an angel," Leo decided, plucking up a white tunic-like thing. He recognized it from Tristan McLean's role as a Greek God in that one movie from the late 80s.
Leo wasn't too familiar with Piper's dad's work, though. Piper had forbidden them from renting or watching anything with her dad in it. Leo didn't blame her- it must have been hard to see her dad on posters and movie covers more than she did in real life.
"I'll just be a nondescript, non-sexy-" Leo closed his mouth. "-dude in a cloak. If someone asks 'are you so-and-so?' I'll just go along with it," Jason decided, finding an indigo cloak and slipping it over his jacket. He looked lumpy with all the layered clothing.
Piper giggled. "Then I'll go as a devil to match Leo." She sifted through a pile of clothes to find articles that would match her costume.
"Hey, do y'all like my rack?" Leo asked, holding an empty clothing rack up to his chest suggestively. Piper snickered.
"Gross!" Leo smiled.
"I'm a great angel," Leo proclaimed, picking up a set of bird wings from a skit Tristan McLean starred in. "Why does your dad keep all this shit, anyway? Do they just let him keep it all?"
Piper grunted. "I think he buys it off of them. He makes so much money he can just do that. As for why? I dunno, sentimental value?"
"That's kind of a cool little fact," Jason commented, holding up two turtlenecks and mentally deciding which one to pick.
"Not really. He hoards this shit while others struggle to keep clothes on their back." Jason and Leo silently agreed not to pry- they knew how the topic of her dad made Piper on edge.
They kept building their costumes, asking each other for advice, and making a mess of the vault. Eventually, they had finished their costumes. Leo even had extra time to pick out a cute little bat costume for Nico. It would match his hair, which always reminded Leo of small bat wings, what with how messy it always was.
"Think our dates will be satisfied with these?" Leo asked as they filed out of the costume vault. Since they were carrying a bunch of stuff, Piper hesitantly agreed to let Leo drive them in her dad's Corvette.
Piper snapped her head up. "Dates? Jason, you have a date?" She was very quick to pick up on Leo's pluralized nouns.
"No," Jason said through gritted teeth, glaring at Leo. "I don't. Do you?"
"Nah," Piper said, relaxing her shoulders. "I don't."
"I have to go to the bathroom!" Leo shouted suddenly.
Jason and Piper stared at Leo strangely. "Yes. I need to go to the bathroom. I will now be using the bathroom. Y'all can go to the car. Go. Walk to the car. Alone." Leo dashed off, barging into a random room (a guest bedroom, Piper noted) and leaving.
"Ooookay. Let's go to the car, I guess." Piper said to Jason, who nodded.
Jason silently cursed Leo under his breath, which was starting to become a regular habit. "Are you planning on asking anybody out?" Jason implored.
Piper shook her head after a beat. "No. I think if I got asked out, I'd say yes, but I'm not too confident in the whole asking department," she admitted.
"Oh." Now is the chance, Jason, a little voice in the back of his head nagged. It sounded suspiciously like Leo. Ask her out. Idiot.
"Do you wanna…" Jason began. Piper's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Do you wanna meet up at my house before the party?"
Piper softened, seemingly disappointed. "Sure. Yeah."
"Cool."
"Cool."
...
chapter 6, done! I kind of. do not like parts of this one? I may rewrite it lol but probably not soon.
you know that feeling where you write something and you love it and then you doubt yourself and you hate it? I'm going through that rn :P
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