~Ivystorm~
You think? XD I love Cynthia x Leon to death! Xd And I really do like Cinderblaze in of itself too ^_^
Really?! That's freaking awesome! I wish you all the luck and attempt to give you some of my music skills! (Also, I have a question about my beta reading story Hexagon, do you have a PM box? We're trying to settle the mini war in the reviews XD)
~Arabella~
Thx! I really enjoyed writing it :D
~doctordonna39~
The return of the thin mints is in progress ;)
"Jay are you serious?!" Holly hissed to her twin brother from their position sitting at Cynthia's kitchen table, the twenty-two-year-olds were having a heated conversation while Cynthia was trying to wake up properly.
"Why would I joke about this?!" Jay snapped back in a low tone as they tried to keep Cynthia from hearing. He glanced up at the drowsy looking twenty-one-year-old who was leaning on a counter in her kitchen. Her black hair was in a messy bun, her blue eyes were misted with sleep and exhaustion, and she was clothed in sweatpants and a hoodie. "I wouldn't put this on her if I wasn't serious Holly!"
Holly groaned, "you're asking her to get back together with Leon who doesn't know Cleo's his!"
"I know that and I don't like it either!" Jay hissed, "Cynthia kept it from him for a reason! Do you think I enjoy messing that up?!"
"Jay this can screw up everything!" Holly hissed, "you can't do this to Cynthia! You can't!"
Jay looked pained, "I can't do anything about it, Hadara's parents expect them to be together with Hadara's talk about Cleo and they refuse to let me marry her till they talk to our parents. Which means they're going to be here and Cynthia has to be together with Leon or they won't give me their blessing in regards to marrying Hadara!"
"What's going on?" Cynthia asked sleepily as she dropped into a seat at the table, her blue eyes partially closed, body language slouched and tired. "What's wrong now? Not that I don't appreciate having Jay over at my apartment, but when he's here at eight in the morning something's wrong."
Jay sighed, "Hadara's parents are coming back."
Cynthia's blue eyes fully opened as the words woke her up. She pushed herself back to her feet and went back into the kitchen with the intention of getting the pair of siblings some water along with some milk for herself. "That's great! What does it have to do with me?" she asked as she filled up a few cups with water and put two of them on the table before she went and fetched the last one that had milk in it.
"They expect you and Leon to be together."
Crash!
The glass Cynthia had been holding hit the floor and shattered into a hundred pieces. Cynthia averted her gaze and knelt down to clean up the broken glass, her fingers trembling slightly as she did so.
Holly silently got up and walked over to her friend before she knelt down and began to help her clean up the mess. Her green eyes were full of concern for her best friend who haven't said a word since Jay's last sentence. "Cindy, are you okay?"
Cynthia nodded and continued to pick up the glass, "I'm fine." she muttered softly, "I'm fine. When are they coming?"
"Monday," Jay responded quickly, trying to make this conversation short.
Cynthia nodded, "okay, I'll figure something out." she murmured as she finished picking up the broken glass with Holly's help.
"Cindy you don't have to do this," Holly said quietly, "you don't have to pretend you're with Leon."
"Jay needs my help," Cynthia responded quietly, "I can pretend we're together for a day or two."
"They're going to be here for a week."
Cynthia tensed up and she faltered, "a week?"
"Or two," Jay sighed, "they want to talk to my parents and they want to meet Cleo."
"Anything else?" Cynthia asked weakly, her blue eyes were slightly wide and her skin was a little pale.
Jay winced, "they think you and Leon are engaged."
Cynthia stared at him, "oh."
"Sorry," Jay said quietly, his blind blue eyes were rather guilty and his voice contained guilt and worry about the situation.
Cynthia breathed a shaky breath, "have you told Leon?"
Holly shook her head, "we wanted to make sure you were okay with it first."
Cynthia nodded almost dumbly, "right. I can do it." A loud crying startled the three adults. Cynthia got to her feet and darted off down the hallway to fetch her grumpy daughter.
Holly and Jay exchanged worried glances, this was going to be hard.
Cynthia and Leon haven't been together in a romantic relationship for over a year since something happened. In fact, they two had been in a relationship after the whole pretending fiasco for two years, but something -that neither sibling knew the full details about- caused Cynthia to abruptly end the relationship and they became awkward friends. They tried to get back together less than two years ago, but Cynthia panicked and she ended it again when something else happened. Currently they were just friends, good friends with a slightly strained relationship. Another factor of their relationship was that Leon didn't know Cleo was his, Leon knew Cleo as Cynthia's daughter from a rebound after she had broken up with him for the second time. Cynthia reemerged from her daughter's room with her nine-month-old daughter, Cleo hiccuped softly from her position cuddled against her mother's shoulder and she was cuddled in a very fuzzy blanket. "When're you telling Leon?" Cynthia asked wearily as she walked into the kitchen to find something Cleo would eat.
Holly looked over at Jay who defeatedly responded, "We were waiting for your decision before we told him."
Cynthia sighed, a defeated look in her blue eyes as she absently shook a bottle full of apple juice, "call him, we'll tell him now before I have to go to work, and call Hadara too."
"You don't work till noon though," Holly pointed out.
Cynthia looked at them, her blue eyes a whirlpool of hurt, confusion, and resignation. "If we're going to do this you three need to know what happened to Leon and I." She breifly shut her eyes as if to steady herself, "almost everything, not little bits and pieces." She looked at the pair of siblings, looking pained, "otherwise the confusion between us all will make this fail."
Holly nodded and took out her phone to call Leon while Jay called Hadara. "Hey Leon," Holly greeted her younger brother, "can you come over to Cynthia's apartment-?"
Cynthia swiped the phone from her, her blue eyes full of resignation, "Leon, it's time."
Leon arrived at Cynthia's apartment within twenty minutes, his arrival was delayed due to his current job. Hadara was already there when the blonde was let into the apartment. Leon's amber eyes were slightly hardened, as if he was protecting himself from something. "So Hadara's parents are coming back." He stated simply as he took a seat on the other seat positioned in front of the couch where the other three were -besides Cynthia who was sitting in the other chair with Cleo sleeping against her shoulder.
Jay nodded, "yeah, how'd you know?"
Leon and Cynthia exchanged brief looks before Leon spoke again. "We knew they would, they're protective parents, there's no way that they wouldn't come back."
"Plus it one of the things that hung over our heads when we were a couple," Cynthia said, her tone soft and reluctant.
Hadara looked surprised, "what do you mean?"
Cynthia and Leon exchanged looks again before this time Cynthia sighed and Leon spoke. "We'll just tell you the whole story."
"After Hadara's parents left we became an actual couple," Cynthia started telling the story, "but about a year into the relationship I started to notice some odd behaviors from Leon. He started lying to me, disappearing without telling anyone where he went, and sneaking around."
Cynthia felt the couch cushion next to the ones she was asleep on raise awkwardly, which caused the blue eyed teen to wake up, her eyes to open and a faint complaint to slip from her mouth. Leon was walking quietly away from the couch as if thinking she didn't notice his movements. "What's going on?" Cynthia slurred sleepily and stretched slightly, blue eyes groggy and confused.
Leon tensed up and his amber eyes turned with faint guilt, "I have to go practice for a basketball game, that's all Sunshine." He walked back over to her and gently kissed her forehead, brushing his hand softly through some of her black hair.
"Kay…" Cynthia's blue eyes slid closed at his movements, her body relaxing as she drifted off to sleep.
"So after a few weeks of me catching him lying to me I asked Bree to help me find out what he was doing, since she could easily hack his phone and track it or something else to show me what was going on."
Leon took over, his voice weary, "Isa had asked me to help her with some of the basketball tricks that our team has, so I started helping her even though I felt guilty about it and didn't want Cindy to find out. Isa gave me compliments like it was nothing, and I felt flattered, Cindy tried not to stroke my ego, joking about how it would make me turn into Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter."
"And of course one day while he was helping Isa I wandered into the gym with the intent to do some practice myself." Cynthia continued before she snorted, "not that I can for a while, I have too much baby fat now. Anyway," she delved back into the story, "and I caught Leon holding a basketball and sitting on a bench while Isa was brushing her fingers through his hair, sitting as close to him as she could get."
"I was taking a break at that point and I thinking about both the moves I was working on, how I was going to teach Isa, and how excited I was for Cindy and I's date later that evening, so I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings which would kick my butt later." Leon sighed.
"I was confused, I didn't understand why he was doing that and while I felt the itch to punch Isa in the nose and ask Leon what in the world he was thinking," Cynthia continued to tell the tale, "instead I walked over to Leon and took his basketball and shot a three-pointer with it, jolting him from his thoughts."
Cynthia felt her chest squeeze itself, but she didn't do what she wanted to do, which was punch Isa in the face and yell at Leon, and instead walked over so she could calmly get the information she needed. Quietly striding over, she swiped Leon's basketball and promptly dribbled out onto the field before shooting a perfect three pointer. "So, did I miss a team practice or something?" She asked as she went and picked up the ball.
Leon's head shot up and he looked at Cynthia, guilt written over his face.
"I figured." Cynthia said and threw Leon the ball in a good pass, "care to explain before I call off our date tonight?"
"Please don't!" Leon pleaded and dropped the ball to jog over to her, his amber eyes now distressed.
"I tried to explain that I was just teaching Isa for basketball, but then Isa had throw herself into the situation and had to kiss me." Leon sighed and ran one hand through his hair. "I will never forget the look on Cindy's face, she looked broken at that moment, especially when I was so shocked I didn't push Isa away till it fully registered."
Cynthia's eyes widened and she took a step back, tears pooling in her bright blue eyes. She swiftly spun around and hugged herself, looking up at the ceiling as it waiting for them to be done kissing and trying to get a hold of her composure even when her heart was squeezing itself.
After a few moments Leon got ahold of himself and pushed Isa back, "what the heck?!" He snapped, "what was that for?!"
Isa looked innocently at him, "I was just getting what you promised me."
Cynthia gave a strangled sob at the words and Leon floundered, "What? I didn't promise anything! I don't kiss anyone besides my girlfriend who's in front of you!"
"Just ignore me," Cynthia said, her voice thick and clogged with hurt that was making it hard to breathe. "I'm gonna go home, sorry about interrupting you two." She said and started to quickly walk toward the gym's door.
"Cyn wait!" Leon darted past her, "I didn't promise Isa anything! I'm just teaching her!" His heart caught in his throat at the overly bright and glazed look in Cynthia's eyes, which meant she was about to cry.
"She told me to go ahead and continue teaching Isa then," Leon sighed, "she also said the date was off and to leave her alone, that she needed time before she could be around me again."
Cynthia breathed a heavy sigh, "Leon broke my heart and my trust in him, I couldn't trust his word after all the lies and it broke my heart when I couldn't believe him and after what I had seen."
Holly's green eyes lit with understanding, "that's why you ended up on my doorstep before you passed out from an anxiety attack."
Cynthia nodded, "the heartbreak was so bad that I felt like I couldn't breathe and I ended up passing out on Holly's doorstep."
Jay spoke up, his voice flat, "what about when you guys tried to get together again?"
Cynthia and Leon blushed and avoided looking at each other, "It just didn't work out." They both said at the same time.
"I couldn't get over my trust issues with Leon to handle a full relationship with him." Cynthia added at the end and neither she or Leon looked at each other, their faces stained pink with an identical blush.
"So what are we going to do?" Hadara asked, her voice soft and slightly unsure. She felt bad for putting Cynthia and Leon through this again, and even worse for how it was going to cause memories that niether wanted to remember to remember to resurface.
"Well what do your parents think Leon and I do?" Cynthia asked the blonde as her blush faded and she looked at Hadara.
"Well they think you two are engaged, living together, and that Cynthia's on her maturnity leave with how she was working for the first few months while Cleo was in the NICU." Hadara responded quietly.
Cynthia and Leon both stiffened, they were going to have to live together, share their own earnings, Cynthia was going to have to take time off, and they were going to have to both come up with an engagement story, and wear engagement rings.
Cynthia groaned, "So I'm going to have to waste some of my vacation time for this whole fiasco." She groaned and settled Cleo more comfortably in her arms so that the baby was sleeping against her chest.
Hadara flinched, "yeah, sorry."
Leon sighed and ran one hand through his hair, "Cindy'll be fine, Hadara, don't worry. When exactly are they coming?"
"next weesk" Jay grunted, "so we have three days to prepare and for Cynthia and Leon to adjust having to live together."
"We're gonna need it." Cynthia and Leon spoke at the same time, a reminder of how close they once were.
Holly spoke up, "let's get a plan then." She took out a small notepad, "I'll help Leon pack most of his stuff into boxes so that he and Cynthia can organize them when she gets back from work and arranges the time off. Jay, while Cynthia's at work and I'm moving the boxes to the apartment, you and Leon select the engagement bands-"
"I have one," Leon mumbled, his words barely audible.
Holly looked at her brother with exasperation, "Leon, I can't hear you."
"I have a ring." Leon mumbled a little louder.
"StarClan, speak clearly Leon!" Holly huffed
"I have an engagement ring for Cynthia alright?!" Leon exclaimed in a loud voice, clearly embarrassed and frustrated by the words he spoke and his sister's inability to hear him.
He blushed slightly and refused to meet Cynthia's stunned and curious gaze as she looked at him in shock. "Go on Holly," he mumbled.
Holly shook the shock from her brain and continued, "then Cynthia will get a band for you Leon-"
"I have one." Cynthia said, her voice clear even as she turned her gaze to the ground and avoided Leon's now surprised amber eyes.
"I'm not even going to ask why you both have a ring for each other," Holly rolled her eyes, "Jay, you and Hadara clean up your apartment while I get Bree to come and help me move boxes to Cynthia's apartment."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to have her be moving stuff around?" Hadara asked with a hint of worry in her voice, "I mean she did get that surgery done less than a year ago and recently finished physical therapy."
"She'd want to help and get involved," Holly pointed out, "we all know Bree, she'd be furious if we don't tell her and let her help out to her best ability."
Cynthia nodded, "I agree with Holly." She said as Cleo stirred from her snooze with a wide yawn and slight fussing. "Let's get to work then." She looked over at Holly, "will you watch Cleo while I'm at work-"
"I'll watch her," Leon interrupted, "if I'm going to be around you both twenty-four-seven then I need to spend some time with Cleo."
"You spend time with her all the time," Cynthia rolled her eyes but agreed, "if you want to watch her you can, just be careful." She looked down at her daughter who cooed at her mother and wrapped her fingers around the light blue fabric of Cynthia's shirt.
Cynthia stood in front of her front door after she unlocked it, unsure what she would see when she walked in, while she had to admit that Leon spending time with Cleo was amazing and that she loved the idea, she was nervous that he would figure out that Cleo was his, and how he had treated her baby girl. Plus, it had been at least a year since she had been around Leon like this, usually when he was here he was spending time with Cleo waiting for her to be ready for whatever they had decided to go do that weekend. She took a deep breath, she wasn't looking forward to sharing her bedroom with him, she was scared, and mainly tempted to sleep on the couch, but she couldn't with what they were trying to pull off. I can do this, Cynthia took a deep breath and let it out, I can do this. She then slowly put her hand onto the doorknob and turned, letting herself into the apartment. She noticed right away that Leon was asleep on the couch, that boxes now littered her apartment floor, and that her baby was asleep on Leon's stomach, wearing new clothes than the ones she had put her in this morning.
Leon jolted awake at the sound of the door opening and he looked over at her, "hey," he said with a smile, "what'd you do?"
Cynthia shrugged, "investigated," she replied and put down her coat and shoulder bag, "and got the time off I need for this crazy thing." She sighed and pulled her hair out of her ponytail, using the action to hide her agitation with their current situation and helping relieve the headache she had managed to obtain while at work that morning.
Leon nodded and for a few moments it was silent, the two adults reluctant to talk to eachother with the situation looming over their heads like a lightning storm, ready to strike at each of them.
Cynthia glanced at her daughter, inwardly debating about taking her from Leon, before she reluctantly picked up one of the boxes instead and moved it toward her bedroom. The box was labeled clothes, bedroom in Holly's loopy handwriting, and Cynthia was grateful for it because it told she where the box went and what was in it. It was difficult letting Leon have Cleo for so long while she was and wasn't there, it was also difficult to be away from her baby in the first place. She was so close to her that it was difficult normally to let other people watch her while she was gone. She even usually brought her to work with her, staying at her desk and doing desk work. She didn't mind the boring desk work if she didn't have to worry or fret about her infant because she wasn't there with her. Cleo was her life at the moment for the most part, she loved her daughter more than anyone else even Leon, and this entire situation was going to make the walls protecting her heart from breaking again come down.
Cynthia put the box down on the floor in her bedroom and breathed a deep sigh, her bedroom was her safe haven and now she was going to have to share with the one person who had and could hurt her the most. She had risked everything in the two attempts of their relationship and she had ended up heartbroken multiple times with a hole in her heart that only the blonde could fill. She heard footsteps, and knew right away, with a painful sting, who's they were. She had heard those same footsteps following her for years, and now they were just a painful reminder of how close she had gotten to him and how much of a place in her heart he had.
"Hey…" Leon greeted her slightly awkwardly after she heard him place her daughter down in the crib tucked in the far corner of the room, "we kinda need to talk, don't we?"
"About what?" Cynthia responde in turn and used her keys to cut through the tape on the box before she opened it up completely, "there's about a million different things going on right now." She could tell he was standing to her left behind her, able to hear his breathing that had once been comforting to hear.
"Yeah, I know, and I mean about us, both with this whole thing and outside of it." Leon said quietly, "Cynthia…" he hesitated for a moment before continuing, watching her unpack the box in front of her. "Cynthia when I went to Cleo's room to find new clothes to change her into I saw a picture."
Cynthia's hands stilled briefly, holding a slightly familiar hoodie of Leon's, but then she recovered, hiding her slight wariness, and continued unpacking the box.
Leon stepped toward her and stood next to her and lifted a picture up so that she could see it, "and I picked it up to look at it I realized something." He looked over at her, "usually a single parent has a picture of them with the baby's father in the baby's room, and they teach the baby who their father is. This picture was in Cleo's room Cia, why?"
Cynthia put the t-shirt she was holding down and gazed almost tiredly at the photo, knowing what it was by heart. The picture was one that Cynthia had gotten Holly to take while they had been in Vyliea looking at Bree's new house, all seven of them visiting their friend's new house. The picture however was one close to Cynthia's heart, they were splashing each other at the Vyliean waterfront, Leon had just pulled her to his body and lifted her up, and was playfully threatening to flop over completely while she had been laughing and demanding that he put her down before she kicked him or pinched his nose. "Does it really matter Leon?" She sighed softly and took the picture from him, "I still have pictures of the two of us, is that a big deal? I've grown up with you Leon, you've been my best friend besides Holly since I was little." Her thumb brushed over the side of the frame, "and someone as young as I am doesn't forget their first love." She placed the picture down on the bed, "I don't see the problem with that."
"That's not the problem," Leon went and picked up Cleo before coming back to her.
Immediately Cynthia's eyes widened, no… he couldn't have… She watched helplessly as Leon scooped up the picture and pointed at Cynthia in the picture while speaking to Cleo.
"Who's that Cleo?" He asked the baby who knew as far as he knew, two half words.
"'ma!" Cleo giggled and reached for the picture, "'ma!"
Leon glanced at Cynthia and then pointed to him in the picture, "and him?"
Cleo took the picture frame and the baby brought it to her face and gave it a baby-like kiss, "da!" She giggled then Leon caught the picture as she reached for her mother, "ma!"
"Cynthia, Cleo is my daughter. She's my daughter." Leon told her as he put down the picture.
Cynthia looked at Leon, she looked even more tired now that her closest secret had been revealed. If anything she looked tired and defeated, beaten and exhausted. "What do you want me to say Leon?" She asked in a defeated fashion and took her baby girl from him, "yes, she's yours? Yes Leon, you're a father?"
"I don't know Cynthia, I don't know what I expected you to say," Leon retorted, "maybe something along the lines that I'm wrong? That I haven't missed my daughter's birth, first sounds, first few months, first everything! StarClan above Cynthia! I knew you had a baby, I assumed it wasn't mine, and here a year later I finally find out that the baby I knew as just yours," his voice cracked with emotion, "is mine. That she's mine."
Cynthia gently put Cleo down, letting the almost twelve-month-old infant crawl and try to stand against her legs if she chose to, before she looked back at Leon and sighed, "I can't tell you that your wrong because that would be a lie. Cleo's yours, has been since day one Leon."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Leon asked her in a semi hushed tone, "I could've been there with you the entire time, I could've done everything you wanted me to… You wouldn't have to have done this all by yourself."
"We ended our relationship on terrible terms," Cynthia responded with a small shrug, "I didn't want to go back to you weeks later to tell you that I was pregnant and that the baby was yours. The whole thing was a mistake Leon, a lapse of judgement that shouldn't have happened."
"So you regret having our daughter?" The words 'our daughter'felt odd on Leon's tongue, even though it sounded almost perfect to Cynthia's ears.
Cynthia lightly shook her head, "no, I don't, but I wish I had been older and I had had more control of what and when it all happened. I had been feeling miserable because of the break up again, and this time ended up inebriated with my heart torn to shreds and practically bleeding. So I had gone to you and cried, pleaded, and practically begged you to help me understand why you had so cowardly broken up with me through a text and didn't tell me why. Not that you told me anyway," she added, "and so I ended up sleeping with you purely on accident and because I had been feeling terrible." Her voice wavered, "because I thought I had done something to make you hate me and leave me and that the guy I had loved since I was seventeen had torn my heart out and stomped on it. Again."
Cynthia looked down at her daughter who was using her legs as a support to stand, "I'm ashamed to admit that I had been planning on telling you at first if only to have you close to me again, where I could have the one person who had everything I could give, just hold me again." She looked down at her shoes, "but it was selfish and wrong so instead I resolved to stay out of your love life." Tears pricked at Cynthia's pretty blue eyes, "I decided to pretend that I had moved on and so I had apologized the day after after standing in the rain for ten minutes deciding what I wanted to say instead of telling you and risking you hurting me even more."
"Why didn't you tell me later?" Leon asked softly, remembering most of what she had just told him but from his point of view. "You could've told me during the pregnancy when it got to hard for you."
Cynthia's shoulders trembled slightly and she took a deep breath before she looked up at him, "I wanted to, I wanted to so badly that I physically had to restrain myself from sometimes throwing myself at your feet and cry while telling you the baby was yours and that I wanted your help. But I didn't think you'd believe me, so instead I pretended I was fine with us just being friends when I wanted to stay cuddled in your arms forever. And I did ask for your help sometimes."
Leon nodded slowly, "I remember you showing up at my door at odd hours of the night sometimes asking me to just give you a hug and to tell you everything was okay."
Cynthia nodded, "I couldn't sleep most of the time, so occasionally I let myself go to you and just ask you for a hug and for you to tell me everything was going to be okay, and everytime I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking you to tell me you still loved me, knowing that you were probably with another girl and that we were just friends."
Tears glinted in Leon's eyes, "what about the birth? Cynthia I would've helped you even as just a friend."
Cynthia swallowed the lump in her throat, "Holly, Hadara, and I lied to everyone, I didn't give birth to Cleo at the normal forty weeks Leon."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked in a breathless and shocked manner.
Cynthia squeezed her eyes shut, "I went into labor abruptly at just barely over seven months Leon, I was in the hospital for weeks as they tried everything to keep me from having Cleo that young and nothing worked!" Angry and upset tears slid down her freckled face, "I had Cleo naturally even though she was so small!" She lifted her slightly shaking hands and held them out in front of her, her eyes now open, "she was able to fit from head to toe across my hands Leon," her voice trembled, "I passed out from blood loss due to complications in the birth and wasn't allowed to see her in the NICU till she was about two weeks old, and even then I wasn't allowed to carry her in… in my arms till she was over a month old."
Leon stared at her hands, imagining how small his daughter really had been when she had been born. But he didn't interrupt Cynthia's story, sensing that she needed to get it all out, come clean to him with the full truth.
"I wanted to go to you and throw my arms around your neck and bawl but I didn't, I was drowning in fear and worry for my daughter and I had to do it by myself…" Cynthia said in a half whimper, "and I cried more in a day than not and could barely handle the idea of our baby not making it at all, but I did it. I pretended that I had Cleo at the normal time period and had to say nothing when you held her for the first time with the latest girl you had taken on a date before you had heard about Cleo's birth."
"What did you want to say to me?" He asked softly, grasping her hands in a soft grip and temporarily ignoring the whimpering baby on the floor next to her.
Cynthia swallowed hard and her voice reflected her emotion, "I wanted to say that our daughter was beautiful and that you were her perfect father. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying that Cleo was yours, and that I loved you so much at that moment."
Leon nodded slightly before he spoke, "what had you wanted me to say in return?"
Cynthia closed her eyes again, "I had wanted you to say that I had done a good job, that you were excited to be raising this little girl with me, and that you loved me too."
Leon stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around Cynthia's body, cradling her to him as he spoke in a whisper, "I'm so sorry I didn't notice before," he whispered softly, "I'm so sorry…"
Cynthia finally let herself cry like she had wanted to do ever since Cleo's complicated arrival, burying her face into his shirt and grabbing fistful's of his shirt as she leaned into his hold and bawled.
Leon gently lowered Cynthia onto her bed about five minutes later, she was pretty much asleep from all of her tears and had been lethargically standing in his hold with her head bobbing like she was about to fall asleep.
Cynthia groaned softly when he lowered her down onto the bed, but beyond that she stayed lying on her side and fell asleep, her breathing evening out and deepening, a sound he was familiar with in many different ways.
Then he looked at the infant sitting on the floor looking like she was about to cry for her mother. Leon quickly scooped her up and held her in a gentle cradle hold while lightly rocking her, pacing around the room and eve humming, something he had always wanted to do to his own children.
Cleo's green eyes drooped and closed, and the baby dozed off, held safely in her father's strong arms.
Leon just looked at the baby girl in his arms, looking for any features that were like his own. She mainly looked like her mother, with the same nose, freckles, and the shape of her eyes, but Leon could see a little bit of him in her, the shape of her chin, the way her soft and fuzzy hair was lightening from black to an auburn color at the ends, and the shape of her head in general. She was a beautiful baby, he had always thought that, but now she was even more beautiful and special. She was his. The infant held in his arms was his own flesh and blood. Leon wished he could go back and see all of the things he had missed, the first few months were everything to a new father, and Leon had missed them all. His throat clogged up, he hadn't connected the dots between Cynthia coming to him in the middle of the night during the whole pregnancy.
Leon groaned, he hated it when people arrived at his doorstep in the middle of the night. But he opened the door anyway, and found out who it was with a shock. Cynthia, in all of her tired and yet beautifully pregnant glory was standing at his door, rain streaming down her face and clothes. "What're you doing out here?! You're going to get you and your baby sick Cynthia!"
Cynthia didn't speak for a moment, instead she moved closer to him and held out her arms, "can you please just hug me?" She asked quietly, "and tell me everything's going to be alright?" Tears were in her bright blue eyes, from what he didn't know.
"Oh… Cia…" He spoke softly, "of course I can." He swiftly wrapped his arms around her middle, refraining from resting his palm against her rounded stomach, and resting his cheek against the top of her head. He hoped she hadn't had an argument with Ashton, the baby's supposed father, of which he selfishly refused to believe. "Everything's gonna be okay Sweetheart," the nickname slipped out before Leon could stop it, and was surprised to feel Cynthia relax at the nickname, "everything's gonna be okay."
Nor had he connected how once almost everyone had left and it was just them, Cleo, and holly in the hospital room after Cleo's 'birth,' how she had muttered 'I love you' under her breath and he thought she had just mistaken him for someone else.
Leon couldn't help but keep smiling, the baby was beautiful, a little on the small side, but as beautiful as newborns went. The picture was completed perfectly with Cynthia lying most asleep on the hospital bed with the covers almost up to her neck with the baby lying against her chest, keeping the baby warm and helping her get comfortable in the brand new world.
Currently Cynthia was holding two of his fingers in an exhausted grip with her head turned toward his with her cheek resting on her pillow and with her eyes closed. "I love you," she mumbled suddenly and Leon almost had a heart attack before remembering that the baby wasn't his. "Cynthia," he forced himself to chuckle, "I'm not Ashton, I'm just your friendly best friend Leon remember?"
He didn't get a response, Cynthia had completely fallen asleep.
Leon sighed and looked over at the sleeping woman who was apparently the mother of his child amongst other things. I love you too Cia, he said mentally, I love you too.
Leon looked up from the sauce he was currently stirring at the sound of footsteps coming from Cynthia's room. He was met with a sight that admittedly made his heart melt. Cynthia was rubbing at her eyes in a sleepy fashion, she had changed clothes and was now wearing an oversized t-shirt over a tank-top, and sweatpants. Her black hair was down and messy from sleep, causing the light natural waves to be more prominent and visable, and her blue eyes were still rather clouded from a drowsy awareness. "Hey Sleeping Beauty," he teased, trying to temporarily keep the upcoming awkwardness at bay till she was completely awake. "Have a good nap?"
Cynthia sleep riddenly glared at him, "shut up Leon," she perked up a little at the sight of him making food. "What're you making? Spaghetti and meatballs?" She asked in a rather hopeful and sleepy tone and Leon laughed.
Leon laughed and turned over one of the meatballs he had cooking on the stovetop. Cynthia's favorite meal of his back when they had been together was his marina pasta and meatballs, it was something he had teasingly said to her that he thought she could eat it for dinner every day. Both of them knew how to cook, and spectacularly if he told himself. So when they had been together they had switched off cooking for each other, especially after they had reached eighteen and found their own place together. Of which was now Leon's, his small apartment with one bedroom and bathroom. Cynthia had gotten her own after their break up and left most of the stuff she had had there, there. "Yeah, making the dish you'd eat every day and all the time Cyndy."
Cynthia poked her tongue out at him, the easiness between them was relaxing, and for a few moments they could both ignore the major elephant in the room and just be themselves like they always had been. "So what? It's good and I'm pretty sure you would eat almost anything I can make all the time."
That was true, Leon would die to have Cynthia's cooking all the time, while she certainly didn't seem to be a good cook she was indeed brilliant. Her skill in chemistry seriously came into play when in the kitchen, she could take stuff that sound terrible together and make it seriously amazing. Even though they weren't a couple any more they were still good friends, and throughout Cleo's "first months" as Leon knew them, he helped provide his busy friend with meals, figuring she was busy enough with her new baby without having to cook every night. In fact sometimes he would just go over to her apartment and cook there, giving her a friend to rely on and some company.
Cynthia seemed to figure out what he had been thinking about and smiled, her blue eyes still rather sleepy.
Leon smiled back and gave his sauce a stir, briefly lost in his memories.
"I'm starving!" Cynthia gave a teasing groan as she let the blonde into the apartment. "What's your plan today Leon?" She looked tired and rather hasseled, with a new baby at home and being a completely single parent she looked pretty stressed on top of everything else.
Leon flashed her a grin that he could've sworn made her smile turn breifly wistful, then spoke, a large paper bag held in one arm. "I'm going to start dinner, and you my friend are going to take a shower while I watch Cleo for as long as you'll let me."
Cynthia gave him an almost unsure look, so far she hadn't let anyone else hold her daughter except on the day of the birth, and Leon could tell the idea made her nervous.
"I promise I won't carry her, just watch over and entertain," Leon promised her with a smile and stepped into the apartment. "We can move her little hamock bouncer thing next to the kitchen or that portable crib I helped you set up."
Cynthia sighed abite reluctantly, "fine… but if I catch you picking her up when you told me you wouldn't I'm going to strangle you."
Leon rolled his eyes and lightly nudged her, "I swear I won't pick her up without your permission… That being said, can I hold her just for a few moments before you shower?" He gave her the puppy eyes, hoping she would let him hold the tiny newborn for even just a few seconds. He thought the baby was beautiful, just as beautiful as her mother, and that was saying something coming from him.
Cynthia gave in to the puppy eyes and she sighed before nodding at him, "okay fine, but only for a few moments while I get her bottle finished up."
Leon looked gleefully at her, "awesome!" He pulled her into a side hug, "thank you so much!" He smiled sincerely at her, "your daughter is perfect Cynthia, completely perfect."
"Leon, you're going to having some burning meatballs here in a second," Cynthia's amused voice pulled him from the memory, accompanied by the sound of Cleo's soft babbling.
Leon blinked and looked over at the pair, mother and daughter. His amber eyes softened at the sight of Cleo nestled in Cynthia's arms, the baby pushing her face sleepily against her mother's chest and snuggling close to her. Cleo had been asleep in the portable crib out here tucked next to the kitchen's entrance while Cynthia had been asleep, sleeping for the most part while Cynthia wasn't there. "Okay, okay, I'll make sure your food doesn't burn," he lightly teased and turned over the meatballs again before mentally giving himself a reminder to take them off in a minute.
Cynthia poked her tongue out at him, "I was just saying, you were the one spacing out." She was holding Cleo in a craddle hold, with the baby, upright, facing her and snuggled to her body. "You didn't even notice when Cleo started to cry."
Leon looked a little guilty, now that wasn't good. He needed to be able to hear Cleo's crying from anywhere and no matter what he was doing.
Cynthia imeadiately realized what she had just said and quickly apologized, "I didn't mean that in a guilty way, I just meant it like I was surprised you were so lost in your thoughts you couldn't hear how loud it was."
Leon lightly shrugged, "well I'm really new to the whole father thing remember?" Then he cursed under his breath and apologized as well, "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for and very, very unfair."
Cynthia shrugged as well but averted her gaze and bounced her daughter slightly to soothe her as she fussed. "It's fine, it does bring up what we need to talk about though."
Leon turned off the stove and nodded, taking a deep breath in the process, "yeah. It does."
Cynthia sighed, "why don't you dish out what we're eating and I get Cleo's blanket so I can nurse her while we're talking?"
"If that's how you want to do it sure, I don't want you to be uncomfortable while you're feeding our daughter." The word our still felt strange on Leon's tongue, the concept was still so foreign to him but at the same time it was also familiar, and perfect.
Cynthia lightly shook her head, "I'll be fine, we need to talk now before Hadara's parents get here in three days."
Leon groaned, he had forgotten about that detail of the situation, "I'd rather forget about that part of our situation," he grimaced.
Cynthia looked sympathetically at him, "believe me, I do too."
"So…" Leon started semi awkwardly, unsure how to start the conversation. "What should we talk about first?"
Cynthia, who had been looking down as she adjusted the blanket covering her front, looked up at him and sighed. "I don't know Leon, I've honestly been dreading this conversation all year."
Leon nodded slowly before he tentatively spoke, "so we have a daughter."
Cynthia nodded, looking drained, "yes, Cleo's both of ours."
Leon felt pride and something akin to joy spread through his chest and he smiled broadly, "Cynthia, we have a daughter. We have a beautiful little girl who's the perfect blend between us. Cleo's both of our flesh and blood."
Cynthia couldn't help but smile a little at his excitement and nodded again, "yes, yes we do Leon. We have a daughter." Her smile widened a hair at the word 'we' instead of 'I,' she had been wanting to say that she and Leon had a daughter for so long, that now it sounded a little strange but it was also brilliantly perfect.
Leon cautiously put one arm around her shoulders across the back of the couch and was pleased to see her lean into his touch a little. "I have a baby girl, with you," he said slowly, testing the words and making sure it registered properly. "With the woman I've known and loved for years."
Cynthia's cheeks pinkened at the words but she did smile as well, "yes. You are a father to a loud and happy auburn haired baby girl."
Leon's grin was wide enough that not much could rain on his parade. It was really going through his mind, he and Cynthia, the woman he had loved for half of forever, had a perfect little girl. Cynthia hadn't gone to Ashton at all, and the baby he had learned to love at his daughter actually was his biological daughter. He had a beautiful little girl that he and Cynthia could raise together, a girl who he could spoil, teach, and learn from himself. He was a father. "I don't think I can get any happier," he grinned at Cynthia, amber eyes twinkling with joy.
Cynthia lifted one of her eyebrows, "oh really?"
Leon nodded, "yup, nothing can top being a father-"
"I love you," Cynthia abruptly blurted, and her blue gaze remained fixed on his face, looking for a response from him good or bad. She was hoping for a good one, she didn't want to have to give up her daughter because she couldn't live with him if he didn't love her anymore.
Leon's eyes widened and he stared at her in shock, stunned to the core. StarClan above, after everything had had happened between them she still was in love with him?
Cynthia's expression turned nervous and she averted her gaze, turning her head to be facing forward and jerking her chin down, hiding her rising tears. Okay now this was a nightmare. She still didn't get a verbal response of anything from Leon and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, as per usual she was an idiot to believe he still cared for her more than a friend.
Leon was struggling to process everything, and he was struggling to get the words out, having not said them to her in two years.
Cynthia jumped to her feet and mumbled something about wanting some privacy and started toward her room, angrily rubbing one of her hands against her eyes to brush away the tears. Cleo squawked in her arms and complained, the baby starting to cry at Cynthia's jerky movements.
Leon scrambled to his feet, "Cynthia wait!" He fumbled to grasp her wrist and failed more than a few times as she jerked her arm from his grip. "Will you give me a chance to respond?!"
Cynthia put her daughter in the portable crib despite how the infant was now crying, and slung the blanket over her shoulder. "Leave me alone Leon," she mumbled bitterly, "you don't feel the same way, I get it."
"Just wait for a split second!" Leon demanded and finally managed to grab her wrist, "Cyndy I'm just surprised! I've screwed up everything for us more than once and yet you still love me! Give a guy a chance will you?"
"Of course I still love you!" Cynthia snapped back as she whirled around to face him, angry tears welling in her blue eyes, "I've loved you for years Leon! And nothing will make that change! But at the same time I can't handle living with you if you don't feel even remotely the same way!"
"I never said I don't feel the same way!" Leon retorted, "I never ever said I didn't love you Cynthia!"
"Yes you have!" Cynthia snapped back at him, "you did when you broke up with me in the most cowardly way and never told me why other than saying you didn't love me anymore!" Neither adult paid attention to the wailing infant lying in the crib beside them. "I never knew if you still cared beyond friendship Leon!"
Leon looked floored, "even through Cleo?"
Cynthia's blue eyes stung with tears, "even though having your daughter I didn't know if you still cared beyond friendship! I didn't know if the guy I had wanted to have ask me to marry him at some point loved me anymore! Instead all I knew was that you broke up with me, refused to tell me, and that I ended up pregnant and completely alone!" She stomped angrily at the last part of the sentence. "All with the knowledge that you told me right before breaking up with me for the second time that you didn't love me anymore!"
"Okay, the first time was all you, you broke up with me remember?!" Leon shot back, "and why didn't you ask me for StarClan's sake?! Why didn't you just ask me if not loving you was true?!"
"Because I did!" Cynthia nearly sobbed, "I did ask you! I asked you when I was so torn up about the break up that I went and got myself drunk Leon! I never, ever drink anything like that and yet that one time I did it anyway! I did it anyway and ended up begging you on my freaking knees to tell me what I did wrong to have you break my heart again for the second time!"
"I didn't answer because I didn't think you'd remember all that much!" Leon shot back, "you were a complete and total mess Cynthia! Soaking wet from the rain, clearly drunk, and emotionally shattered! I didn't tell you because I didn't think you'd remember! And I was ashamed!" He added angrily and ran one hand through his blonde hair, "I was ashamed Cynthia!"
"Ashamed for which part?!" Cynthia snapped, "breaking up with me? Not telling me anything? Breaking my heart-?"
"For taking advantage of you!" Leon roared, speaking over her and looking at her through guilt ridden amber eyes. At the wide eyed look in her eyes he softened his tone, "I was ashamed of taking advantage of you." He said in an ashamed voice, "for taking advantage of you and your total mess of a state that night."
Cynthia was silent, likely shocked and confused.
Leon ran one hand through his hair in a stressed fashion, "I never meant to do that, and yet I did it anyway. I took advantage of you when you were at your most vulnerable thanks to me, and you can't even remember almost any of it because of how drunk you really had been." His hands shook as he sat down in one of the dining table chairs. "I had been so messed up thanks to my own emotions that I completely screwed up and took advantage of your miserable state and advantage of the pleading hope you were clinging to that I still loved you. I screwed up, and I was beyond ashamed for what I had done." He hung his head, "I was so ashamed and awkward for what I had done that at first I had ignored you, pretending that it hadn't happened and watching as the hope you had habored after it all that I still cared about you, flickered and died as you realized thanks to my own idiocy that it had meant nothing to me. None of it." He took a half gasp of a breath and buried his head into his hands. "I watched as you fled from me, getting your own apartment and never stepping a foot inside of mine, the one we used to share. Too upset over my reaction to the whole thing to go inside and be forced to see what we used to have together and what you had left behind."
"Then I saw Ashton, one of the other college kids ask you on a date and I couldn't hear what you had said so I had just figured that you had said yes." Leon continued, speaking rather fast in his haste to get everything out. "But I couldn't just get over you, I still loved you and the situation got more complicated when I found out you were pregnant. With who's I didn't want to think about and just assumed it was Ashton as a rebound from I stupidity that temporarily ended our friendship. And I got close to you again, becoming friends again and supporting you as you suffered through being sick all day long and barely handle eating anything at all. And I had to repeatedly remind myself the baby wasn't mine, only to find out nearly two years later that yes, the baby was mine the whole time. All from a mistake I was so ashamed by I shoved you away and left you out in the cold to suffer while I tried to continue with my life." He stood up and sniffled, the blonde refusing to cry in front of Cynthia, flat out refusing to.
Cynthia however surprised him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and yanked him down to her level before slipping one arm around his back in a close hug, giving him as much comfort as she could muster.
Leon wrapped his arms around her waist and let his head rest against hers with his eyes shut.
"I remember more than you think I do," Cynthia murmured quietly in his ear, "I remember giving you my permission and going along with it, we made that choice." She murmured quietly, "not you. I made it with you."
It seemed that tears were going to be a repeated occurence in these next few days as everything they had ever held back from each other finally surfaced.
Cynthia was familiar with tears, she had cried more during her pregnancy and during Cleo's NICU stay than she had in her entire life. Leon on the other hand wasn't as familar with them, and they both knew that they were going to have to get over their stubborn decisions not to cry in front of each other and just suck it up. Right now Leon was sitting at the dinning table, slouching forward and leaning on his elbows while gazing out at nothing, his eyes a little red rimmed and spaced out.
Cynthia softly set down the small black mug on the table in front of him, the cup was filled with her own hot chocolate blend, one both of them had enjoyed over the years. Cleo was now asleep in a child sling across Cynthia's front with a pacifer in her mouth and a closed bottle held in her tiny arms. Cynthia hesitated for only a breif second before she leaned against the table and lightly brushed her fingers soothingly through Leon's hair, finding the soft texture of his thick blonde hair comforting in it's own way. She had used to run her hands through his hair all the time, to the point where he would complain that it wouldn't stay where it wanted to. She had always enjoyed having his head in her lap and him letting her play with his hair, playing with the soft strands that made up Leon's thick head of blonde hair. She also used to do the occasional short braid to keep her hands occupied, and she had found out over time that when she did run her hands through his hair it was soothing and comforting to him. After all, it was something only she was allowed to do. (2) "Leon," she spoke softly, "you okay?"
Leon returned to the land of wherever he had been and nodded, his eyes sliding half shut from Cynthia running her fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"Are you sure?" Cynthia asked him gently and continued her actions, knowing when to stop by his body language.
"Yeah, glad I have most of the guilt off of my shoulders though," Leon admitted with a rather weak smile. "And to had eaten." He had pretty much been a zombie after his short meeting with tears, eating dinner and then doing the dishes while Cynthia soothed and fed their daughter.
Cynthia smiled softly at him, "good." She swallowed a little hard, this was going to be hard as well, sharing her bedroom with him. "Cause we've got another little piece of hardship ahead of us."
"And that is?" Leon asked with a sigh and opened his eyes to look at her and pull away from her slightly.
Cynthia withdrew her hand and sighed, "I don't know about you but I'm flat out exhausted and it's ten-'oclock. Cleo's going to already be waking me up at midnight cause she may be hungry again and so I'm ready to go to bed."
Leon's shoulders and body tensed, "right. I kinda forgot about the whole shared bed thing," he admitted a little sheepishly.
Cynthia smiled weakly at him, "I would make you sleep on the couch but we need to clear the awkwardness before Hadara's parents come."
Leon nodded in agreement, "yeah, I know you would've." Then he sighed, gulped down his now cooled hot chocolate and got to his feet, "here we go again now don't we?"
Cynthia nodded, but her attention was on the small amount of cream on Leon's upper lip, and she had the urge to use it as an excuse to kiss him. Instead she lifted one hand and brushed her fingers over his upper lip, cleaning the cream off of his face. Then as if drawn by a magnet she leaned forward as he leaned down slightly and her lips barely ghosted over Leon's before she pulled back, semi confused and rather worried. If that kept happening to her then she was in some big trouble, and Leon may not even want to stay with her after the whole thing with Hadara's parents. She was setting herself up for more heartbreak. "Sorry," she mumbled, "you had whip cream on your upper lip."
Leon smiled softly at her and gently grasped her hand, "come on, it's definitely time for you to go to sleep sleepy head."
Cynthia smiled weakly at him and let him pull her along toward her bedroom, feeling more drained than she had in a long time. This entire thing was going to take a heavy toll on her.
Leon's amber eyes flickered open at the sunlight spilling in through the windows and Cynthia's phone going off with an alarm. He groaned and lifted one arm to rubbed sleepily at his eyes before he stopped abruptly at feeling Cynthia's hair brush against his fingers. Fully alert now, the blonde looked down in front of him, noticing the black haired woman tucked against his body and completely asleep.
Cynthia was facing him, her head pushed against his chest while her legs were tangled with his, she had her arms looped around his middle, holding him in one place and close so his movements wouldn't wake her up. The black haired woman's black hair was fanned out over the blankets like a dark halo, and she seemed pretty comfortable without a pillow and with her nose squashed against his chest.
Leon himself was laying on his side, with one arm curled around Cynthia's shoulders and the other currently lifted to rub his eyes. The blankets were ruffled and partially tangle around Cynthia's body, ever the active sleeper. The snuggling however was new. Cynthia wasn't much of a touchy feely person on a day to day basis, it had taken him over four months to get her to kiss him again after the whole first Hadara's parents fiasco, of which had been her first kiss. She had slowly become more of an affectionate person, besides kissing, she had enjoyed that from the beginning, over the years when they were together, but never when they weren't. If anything he had been a lucky person to get even a hug and kiss on the cheek. So the cuddling thing was very, very new.
Then Leon's eyes softened as he realized something, she was probably keeping him to her because she was a light sleeper, and because she didn't want him to leave her again. I'm so sorry, he mentally whispered to himself and Cynthia and brushed his thumb over Cynthia's cheek, I've done so many things to you that I shouldn't have done… Lost in his thoughts for a few moments Leon didn't realize until after he refocused that Cynthia's deep blue eyes were looking back at him, glazed with drowsiness and sleep but awake.
Cynthia had pulled back from him a small amount, allowing her to look up at Leon while also not really moving her arms all that much. "G'morning," she mumbled in a sleep ridden voice and looked back down at Leon's shirt before she rubbed her eyes with one hand. "Can you turn the alarm off?"
Leon, almost nervous about anything breaking the spell Cynthia seemed to be under, nodded and reached over before picking up her phone and typing her password. "Good morning Cynthia."
Cynthia gave a mumbled response, "mhmm, morning handsome." She mumbled, clearly mostly asleep.
Leon stared at her, he hadn't heard her call him that since the night they had broken up for the second time, the first and supposedly last time she had really called him that as a pet name. "Um…" he cleared his throat, "what's the alert for?"
"Holly's coming over to check on us in an hour," Cynthia responded in an even drowsier tone, her face now nestled back against his shirt.
Leon was really half wondering if she was aware enough to remember everything that was going on between them. "I honestly hate to break the moment," he told her sincerely with faint confusion, "but Cindy, I think you're asleep and we should get going."
Cynthia took a moment to respond where she quickly apologized and moved back as she startled completely awake, "sorry! StarClan above, I'm so sorry!" She said as she moved fast enough away from him that she fell off the bed with a small yelp. "I'm so sorry Leon!" She rambled apologies, still upside down and partially on the floor, "I didn't mean to, I'm sure it made you uncomfortable, I should've slept on the couch, StarClan I hope I didn't do anything else weird," she rambled, clearly feeling awkward and uncomfortable for Leon at finding herself cuddled against his body. While she didn't mind waking up cuddled next to him she was very sure he wasn't a fan of finding her snuggled to him when they weren't together and likely wouldn't be again. She was still setting herself up for even more heartbreak. Like she needed her heart broken by the same guy for the third time.
"Hey, hey, hey," Leon cut her off, "it's okay, Cynthia it's not a big deal."
"Not a big deal?" Cynthia echoed as she stood up, "I'm sure you weren't comfortable with me doing that! Next time I'll sleep on the couch, that way I can't do that to you again!" She pinched the bridge of her nose and cursed, "I knew I was going to do that, I knew it was going to happen!"
Leon got side tracked by that last sentence as he sat up, "what do you mean you knew it was going to happen?"
Cynthia looked uncomfortable, "well, I… IdidthesamethingthatonenightandIguesseditwouldhappenagainbecauseIhadreallyenjoyedit." She said all in one breath.
Leon blinked then rubbed one of his ears, "can you say that again?"
Cynthia fidgeted, "I did the same thing that one night and I guessed it was going to happen again because I had really enjoyed it." She repeated in an embarrassed tone.
Leon blinked, "of all things you remember you remember cuddling with me? Good grief Cindy, I don't remember that bit."
Cynthia gave him a half hearted glare, "I was drunk, I only have snippets of memory. The morning however I was hungover. I have perfect memory of everything from when I opened my eyes. Including when you ran away from me," she mumbled the last part, looking down at the floor for a few moments. Before she apologized and pinched the bridge of her nose again, "oh my gosh, I sorry!" She winced at bringing up bad topics, "I've never been a very friendly person in the morning and I don't really have a filter anymore it just comes out of me without thinking-"
Leon leaned over and covered her mouth with his hand, cutting her off. "Cynthia, I know you're not a morning person, I've been around you for years. You lived with me for a year and a half remember?" He cracked a grin, "I know how grumpy and emotional you are in the mornings, Holly was the only one who could keep you from being grouchy in the morning and purely because of the breakfast muffins she still makes."
Cynthia's expression turned half curious half surprised, "are you serious? The same ones she made during high school? I figured she stopped making those our senior year, or at least when we started college."
Leon grinned, "the very same ones. She doesn't make them as often, but she still does, occasionally uses them as bargaining chips."
To Be Continued
I totally realized I didn't have anything to upload today so I literally just jumped into my Google Drive and pulled out a random WHSS story XD Even though it was very unexpected, I hope you all like it and I think I'm going to upload a short chapter one week then a long newly written chapter the next so that I have more time to write and upload these around my rewrite of boring office work and Flashes vs the Dark Blades. Which will be uploaded separately under the title: Unjust Justice due to it not being as kid friendly as WHSS.
Let me stress that it'll still be rated-T, it'll just be more of my natural writing than filtered topic-wise :P There's still not a ton of swearing besides Cynthia, and everything is still T, it's just a more of a serious style of writing and usually takes me a lot longer purely from description :P