In Time of Need Chapter 4, a vg cats fanfic

In Time of Need

Chapter 4

Leo stood for a while, holding Aeris while she continued to silently cry. He had never seen Aeris cry before, and sometimes doubted she even had the ability. She still didn't know why she was crying, and she sure as hell didn't want to do it in front of Leo, but there was no stopping it now. She straightened her posture as she wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Leo," she sniffled. "I...don't usually get this way." Leo gestured for her head to rest on his shoulder.

"Shh..." he whispered. "It's ok, I understand." He stood for another few minutes, comforting her. "Hey, Aeris?"

She looked up at him. "Hm?"

"Can we sit down? My leg is killing me." She nodded as Leo walked back toward the bed, ushering her along with him. He leaned back against his pillows and she crawled in bed next to him. "Feel better?" Aeris wiped off her furred cheeks, that tears had left matted marks on.

"Mm-hmm," she responded, giving him a quick hug. "Thanks for listening." Leo lay his paw on her shoulder, patting it reassuringly.

"No problem," he said. "If you ever feel like having another breakdown, you know where I'll be." Aeris let out a purr of affection as she grabbed Leo's hand. "Somewhere else." She started laughing. He rolled over to look at the clock - it was a shade past 8:00 - when he noticed the two plates of freshly made food.

"You gonna eat?" he inquired. Aeris sat up, her eyes still misty. She had almost forgotten the food was there, despite that she heard Leo's mom bring it in, as well as the little conversation they had.

"I suppose," she said, "but only if you do." Leo sat up slowly, still sore from the crash.

"I'm not hungry though." Aeris huffed.

"You have to eat though, Leo. The doctors said you lost a lot of blood from the crash, and you need to get your strength up." She got off the bed and proceeded to pick up a plate. "Besides, your mom spent so much time making this." Leo rolled his eyes.

"All right, fine," he sighed. "If I eat, will you quit nagging me?" He spoke in a slightly frustrated tone with a mostly sarcastic overshadow. Aeris nodded, as she took a bite of the chicken carbonara, which was still warm.

"Oh wow," said Aeris. "Your mom's an insane cook, Leo." She prepared another bite as she continued to chew her first bite. "My parents never cook like this."

"Neither do mine," said Leo, poking at a piece of noodle. "Usually, at least. She only makes a big meal whenever we have company, or on a special occasion... You know, Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays... stuff like that."

"Speaking of birthdays," chimed in Aeris as she swallowed another bite of food, "isn't yours coming up?" Leo continued to poke at his food, seemingly mesmerized by it.

"Yeah, in a few weeks I think."

"Got anything planned?" she asked. Leo shook his head.

"Not really, probably just gonna hang out with a couple friends." He continued to poke his food. Aeris rolled her eyes.

"Leo, eat the damn food or I'll make you eat it," she snapped. Leo winced as he reluctantly took a bite, rather than rattle her cage any further. "There, was that so hard?" He chewed the food and reluctantly swallowed it.

"No," he replied, "but I am honestly not hungry. It might be the drugs they gave me in the hospital. I'm more tired than anything."

"Try to eat a few more bites," she suggested as she finished off the rest of her dish. "Then go to sleep, but you have to eat something first." Leo groaned as he reluctantly put another bite into his mouth. "Be right back." Aeris got up to take her plate into the kitchen. Leo sighed as he choked down another bite. His dad was watching Lost, his mom was at the kitchen table sorting papers and making phone calls for work, and her parents were sifting through newspaper ads looking for an affordable apartment to stay at until the repairs to their house were finished. Aeris went into the kitchen, loaded her plate and fork into the dishwasher and grabbed a soda out of the fridge.

"Dinner tasted great, Ms. Leonardo," she said.

"Thanks, sweetheart," said Leo's mom, not taking her eyes off the laptop she was typing in. "Is Leo eating?"

"Meh, a little bit," Aeris replied. "He doesn't look too hungry, but I'm convincing him to eat a few bites."

"Good job," congratulated Leo's mom. "Hey, if you're in the mood for it, I'm almost done with work, and we were gonna order a movie on-demand...try out the new surround sound. You up for it?" Aeris agreed.

"Sounds like a great idea," she said as she turned around to get another soda out of the fridge for Leo. "What movie?"

"I don't know. We were gonna take a vote." Leo's mom saved the document she was writing in as she shut down her laptop and started stacking papers. "Got any requests?"

"Nah," she insisted. "I'm up for anything." Leo's mom nodded as she started placing her sorted papers neatly in her briefcase. She locked up her briefcase and carried it back into her bedroom. She peeked across the hall into the guest bedroom.

"Dan? What are you doing?" she inquired. Aeris's dad glanced up at the door, then back at the newspaper he was looking through.

"Looking for some apartments to stay in while they fix the house," he replied, turning to a new page.

"Oh, put that down," Leo's mom chuckled. "You're gonna stay here 'till everything gets sorted out."

"We don't want to be a bother..."

"Nonsense!" insisted Ms. Leonardo. "It gets boring here by ourselves anyway. Besides, I know you're tight on money right now, and Aeris and Leo seem to be enjoying themselves. You're welcome to stay here as long as you like." Aeris's dad laughed as he folded up the newspaper.

"All right, if you insist..." He stood up to give Ms. Leonardo a hug. "But at least let me pay you back once we get settled back in."

"Ah-ah, your money's no good to us," she insisted.

"Fine," Dan continued, "but Christmas is at our house this year." Ms. Leonardo laughed.

"Okay, deal." Dan got up and followed Leo's mom back into the living room.

"You're a saint, Linda," he said as he patted her on the shoulder.

Aeris walked back into Leo's room, where he was laying back on his bed, one hand on his forehead and the other on his stomach. "You all right?" she asked, putting his soda on the end table next to his plate. "More importantly, why are you not eating? Your food is getting cold."

"Oh God, please don't mention food..." he strained. She opened her soda and took a sip.

"What's the matter, kitty got a pussy stomach?" she teased.

"At this point? Yes. And you're not helping." He burped quietly under his breath as he breathed deeply, desperately trying not to throw up.

"Leo..." She sat down on the foot of his bed. "I know I'm being a little bit of a bitch right now, but you need to eat."

"I told you I wasn't hungry," he snapped back. "Oh god..." He stood up as quick as he could and rushed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. She could hear him gagging and wretching through the door as another pang of guilt shot through her heart. He was in the bathroom for about 5 minutes before he brushed his teeth and came back out.

"Well you got lucky this time," he said. "Next time, I'm aiming for you."

"Heh, sorry..." said Aeris, remorsefully. "But you had to eat something."

"Yeah, yeah..." Leo retorted as he sat on the bed, clutching his leg, which was now accompanied by blinding pain.

"Oh yeah, your mom said we were gonna order a movie on demand tonight."

"Fascinating," Leo grumbled as he tried to quell the shooting pain. "Do me a favor? Go in the kitchen and grab my painkillers off the counter. I think I'm gonna need one." Aeris was reluctant at first - the doctor had prescribed him oxycodone, and Aeris knew of its extremely addictive properties after her dad became addicted after a work injury - but when she saw how badly Leo was hurting, it would be cruel to not get them. She grabbed his plate and put it in the fridge as she snatched the bottle off the counter.

"Here you go," she said offering him the bottle. He responded with a muffled grunt as he read the instructions and took one of the large, white pills.

"Thanks, Aeris." He closed the bottle and set it on his bedside table. "Listen, I'm sorry for being such a jackass tonight." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Well, you're always kind of a jackass...", she said with a giggle, "but apology accepted, I understand."

"No, you don't. Just... so much has happened the past couple of days, I... guess I don't know how I feel, and I think that confusion is manifesting itself as anger. And there's no excuse for that." He began to pat her on the shoulder. "You don't deserve that." She started to blush as she put her paw atop his, which was still resting on her shoulder. Aeris began to felt like she was going to start crying again, but she stopped herself. Before she knew what she was doing, she whipped around and locked lips with Leo. He reacted with a startled (albeit muffled) grunt, which slowly turned into a quiet exhale, but didn't resist as he wrapped his arms around Aeris in an effort to pull her closer. They stayed like this for a solid 3 minutes before either felt like disbanding.

"And you didn't deserve that," she responded as she stood up to put the rest of her soda back in the fridge. Leo sat there, dumbstruck, and when she came back, he was just staring into space. She waved her hand and snapped her fingers in front of his face."Snap out of it, ya dummy!" He blinked his eyes and shook his head.

"Uh...w-what?" Aeris chuckled.

"Jesus, Leo, the way you reacted, you'd think you've never been kissed before." Leo blushed and shifted his vision to the ground. Aeris's face, and heart, sank. "Oh god... you mean..."

"That was, um... my first..." Leo mumbled awkwardly, his ears pressed flat against his head. Before she could respond, they heard Leo's mom calling from the living room.

"Guys! Movie time!" Aeris could have easily made fun of him for this, but she decided not to in favor of relaxing - something she hasn't done since the night of the fire. She helped Leo stand up and they walked into the living room, where they had settled on watching Surrogates. Aeris and Leo sat on the loveseat, while Leo's parents and Aeris's mom sat on the couch, and her dad sat in the recliner. Leo felt himself getting woozy from the painkiller, and he tried to stay awake through as much of the movie as possible.

Aeris woke up just under a couple hours later, having dozed off during the movie. Damn, she thought. I really wanted to see that, too. She looked around - everyone else had gone to bed, and the TV and lights were off. She propped herself up on her elbow and tried to get her bearings, still in a half-awake stupor. She looked down at where she was just lying. Instead of finding the couch arm or pillow she'd thought it was, instead she saw the familiar blue fabric of Leo's shirt. Focusing her eyes, she saw the faded blue blur slowly transform into the shape of her grey-furred friend. Blushing slightly, she carefully sat up and examined her surroundings. The clock on the cable box read just after midnight. She took her blanket off and - Wait a minute, she thought. I wasn't wearing a blanket... That means... aw, shit. She had hoped no one would find out yet. Maybe they didn't know; maybe they knew she was sleeping and didn't know what she was doing. At least, that was what she hoped. She gently shook Leo.

"Leo," she said softly. He just grunted and nuzzled closer to the arm of the loveseat. She tapped him on the knee. "Leooo~.." He grunted again. She shook him harder this time, and he woke up.

"..mmf? What time izhit..." he mumbled.

"Not long after midnight. C'mon, let's go to bed." He stretched on the couch and stood up; he would have fallen over had Aeris not caught him.

"Shit... I feel shoo drunk...", he slurred. Aeris chuckled as she carried him wounded-soldier-style to his bed. Feeling more comfortable about the situation, while Leo started taking his shirt off, Aeris began to undress too, much to Leo's pleasure. He thought he let himself slip out another stupid chuckle - which he'd hoped he didn't do, but Aeris's laughing told him otherwise. But, fuck it he thought, he was too bubbly to care. Leo started taking his jeans off, seemingly forgetting his leg was broken, judging by the severe pain he inflicted on himself. Aeris sighed.

"Let me do it..." She walked over and reached for his button, causing him to jerk back.

"Aeris!" he said in a hushed shout. "What are you doing?!"

"Keeping you from messing your leg up, dummy. Trust me, I don't want to do it either..." She undid his button and started taking the jeans down.

"My mommy told me not to let people touch me there...", he said tiredly. Aeris stifled a laugh and continued with the task at hand, carefully sliding Leo's jeans off and draping them over the back of his computer chair. She finished taking her own clothes off and helped Leo to lie straight in the bed, turning his light off and sliding in carefully next to him, covering them both in the sheets.

"Hey Aeris?" he asked.

"Mm?"

"Was it good for you too?" he said, accompanied by a stupid laugh.

"God, you're a dumbass," she said, laughing. They both laid silent for awhile, as Aeris stared at the ceiling, thinking. "Leo?"

"Hm?" came the barely audible response.

"Did you notice anything strange when you woke up?"

"Not really, like what?" he responded with a slur.

"Like the fact that the lights were off, I had a blanket, and the TV was off?"

"Yeah, so? What does...oh...OH..."

"Yeah..." Aeris added.

"Oh well, they prob'ly...they prob'ly just thought we... we didn't know what... ahhh, fuck it, you know what I mean." Aeris chuckled.

"Jeez, you're stoned out of your mind, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's some good shit," he said groggily. Aeris giggled.

"Whatever. Get some sleep, druggie, we got school tomorrow." She finalized this with a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Mmf... good night, Aeris," he responded, sounding half asleep.

"'Night, Leo," she responded, snuggling her covers. He rolled over, his back facing her.

"I love you, Aeris."