(A/N): 1975. Lisbet, Leo, Jerremyah.

Lisbet

Of all the things Leo could have said, that was one of the most worrying by far- an indeterminate length of time where his whereabouts and well-being were unaccounted for? Which he outright refused to talk about? Terrifying. But the fact that, even when he'd been pulling away from me, he'd been burrowing further into Jerremyah's arms? Priceless.

I'd freaked out- of course I had, I couldn't really help it- but Jerremyah had stepped up. He'd taken over, making Leo feel less... well, I don't know how he was feeling. I could smell the fear coming off of him in waves, but was he actually scared, or was he just nervous? Uncomfortable? It was hard to say for sure. Jerremyah had called him Nounours- something I didn't know I needed to hear- but then Leo had made it clear he didn't like it. Or at least, he didn't want it from Jerremyah, right now.

We'd moved on to talking about Jerremyah- or rather, we'd given Jerremyah the platform to talk about himself, and he'd taken it. And then he'd taken the opportunity to make a crude joke, but considering it'd made Leo snort in amusement, I let it slide. For the most part. "Your favorite topic of conversation is your love for me, don't bother trying to lie." His smirk dropped into something much more... adoring; as though that same love was trying to shine its way out of his eyes.

"My second favorite, then," He acquiesced easily, his voice quiet and soft like he was trying not to startle. Me, or Leo? "First is my love for you, second is making lo-" I smacked his arm lightly, but couldn't help the way my lips curved upward to echo his grin.

"Behave. For once in your life, please-"

"Speaking of misbehaving, at least he didn't say-" I cut Leo off as gently as possible, pressing an extremely firm kiss to his temple as I used one hand to cup his jaw and squeeze his cheeks as an alternative to covering his mouth.

"No. Whatever you're going to say- I know you. You, too, need to learn to behave." As soon as I said it, I had the awful feeling I'd said the wrong thing. 'Behave' probably brought back memories of his mother's various attempts at discipline- which was the last thing I wanted to remind him of. "I mean- fuck." If in doubt, tactical f-bomb.

Apparently I'd managed to salvage the situation, because he made a sound that I think must've been a laugh, and the strength of the grin forming on his face forced my fingers to move with his cheeks. "Lith!" He objected, voice lisping, and I brushed another kiss to his cheekbone.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I wasn't thinking-" This time, he cut me off. He brought a hand up to gently remove mine, and I saw him hesitate. Then, before I really even had time to register it, he brought my hand to his mouth again, and pressed a kiss to the meat of my palm.

"Don't apologise to me. Not about that. Not you." He murmured against my skin, and I felt something in my chest relax. Soften.

"Why not?" I asked, mostly rhetorically, knowing he probably wasn't going to actually give me an answer. "No one else is going to."

I don't think either of us were surprised when Jerremyah snorted. "I'm certainly not going to." Liar. He absolutely would, if he felt like that was what Leo needed- or if I asked him to. Leo seemed to know something was up with this, too, because he managed to dig his elbow into Jerremyah's ribs again before he could stop him. He certainly tried to glare at Leo, but given his- warranted- wariness about the possibility of making Leo uncomfortable, it came across a little weak. It was then further softened by the lopsided grin he made sure to keep on his face the whole time. "You've got sharp little elbows, y'know that?" Leo, predictably, grinned back at him.

"Sharper than your brain." Jerremyah's mouth dropped open in a display of blatantly false offense, and I saw Leo roll his lips in an attempt to prevent his laughter from bursting forth- and subsequently lighting up my life.

"Rude," Jerremyah huffed, and Leo's lips moved from rolled to bitten. "True, but still. Rude." I heard a sound come from the back of Leo's throat- clearly an aborted laugh- and Jerremyah's face lit up. "I like it when you're a little mean," Unfortunately, Leo sobered. "To me, it shows you really do trust me. Trust me not to judge you, or hold some sort of grudge over it. You're so worried about being liked, but with me-" He shrugged, cutting himself off, and by now, Leo had relaxed again, at least a bit.

"Some might say it's a defense mechanism." Which was... unusually forthright, especially for something that came out of Leo's mouth. "Being nice, trying to be liked. If people like me, they're less likely to..." To? With a normal person- or someone other than Leo, anyway- it wouldn't be worrying, or even noteworthy, but with Leo, any question left unanswered was a glaring red flag.

Jerremyah shot me a look, but for once, I was well ahead of him. I wasn't opening my mouth until I had to. "Do you... think people won't like you, if you aren't nice?" He asked, and Leo's eyebrows furrowed.

"Well..." He hesitated, which was to be expected at this point. "I don't typically like people who aren't nice." Jerremyah cocked an eyebrow at him, and Leo's cheeks flushed. "You're nice to me." And wasn't that just the disclaimer on the package that was Jerremyah? "I... guess I define 'nice' a little different than most people. If you're not actively trying to kill me, we'll get along just fine." Hm. I didn't like the fact that I was most likely part of the reason he specified 'actively'.

"Wow," Jerremyah said, and I glared at him as I saw Leo shrink ever so slightly into himself at the perceived judgement. "Your standards are almost as low as Lisbet's." I wanted to scold him- to reprimand him for being so self-deprecating, especially in front of Leo- but before I had the chance, laughter bubbled out of Leo's mouth.

His near-blinding grin almost made me forget why I'd been upset in the first place. "So if you don't care about people trying to kill you, why are you worried about being nice to people all the time? What could they do to you that could possibly be worse than killing you?" His eyes widened at my question, and he immediately sobered- again. A true travesty.

"Lis-" He cut himself off, then shook his head as if he was trying to clear it. "I'm sure you can think of something worse than death- I certainly can, and half of them I've already experienced firsthand." I flinched at the thought.

It was quiet for a second- no, not quiet, silent. Dead silent. The only sound was Leo's breathing and heartbeat, which was even more comforting than usual, given the subject matter. I broke the silence, knowing Leo wouldn't, and if Jerremyah had been going to, he would've done it by now. "Leo..." Was there even anything else I could say? I dropped a kiss into his hair. "Baby..." He turned his head, and buried his face in my forearm.

"I think maybe it's a little hypocritical of us to think death is the worst thing that can happen to someone, considering that we're, y'know, dead." It was probably for the best that Jerremyah had moved to distract, and I certainly couldn't say I was anything less than thrilled by the puff of air I felt hit my skin, as Leo huffed out a laugh.

Regrettably, he pulled back slightly to be able to speak. "Death isn't the problem- being murdered is the issue." Very, very regrettably.

(A/N): I would like to thank my sister, for not complaining when I send her over fifty messages brainstorming names for characters, and then pretty much completely disregard her input because the vibes on the names she chose simply do not fit the vision in my head. As I said to her the other day, "You stand between me and insanity with a XD "

Leo was going to say: "At least he didn't say 'having sex with you'. 'Making love' is very classy, in comparison." or at least something along those lines.