(A/N): Hehehehe... blaze it.

Trigger Warning: Leo is a bit manipulative. It's not a big thing, but he basically tries to attempts to take advantage of the fact that Jerremyah is an open book, and Lisbet calls him out on it. It's kind of an unfortunate habit that he picked up from his childhood.

Leo

Lisbet was clearly touched by me saying that Jerremyah and I loved her- that he had confirmed it, too. She was watching us with a look that was eerily similar to the one Jerremyah usually wore when he was watching she and I sharing a moment- if slightly more fond where his was outright awestruck- but she didn't even attempt to interfere. And a few minutes later, when I was ready, Jerremyah rather graciously allowed me to pull away- and tuck myself under his arm.

I mean, I definitely saw him blink a few times as if trying to reorient himself, and his mouth popped open, his jaw working like he wanted to say something, but either couldn't get the words out, or couldn't find them to begin with- I think I had surprised him, a bit. Lisbet seemed to like it though, if her tiny little grin was anything to go by. She clearly caught me looking at her, but the only change was that her smile became less amused, and more just straight up indulgent- like she was trying to tell me with only her expression how much she was enjoying seeing me under her mate's arm- or maybe she just really liked the stunned but undeniably pleased look on his face. I saw her glance at him and sober slightly, as though her focus had shifted- then, she turned her gaze back on me.

"So, what did Jer tell you, exactly?" She didn't seem annoyed anymore- I think at this point she recognised that the need to distract Jerremyah so he didn't eject me from under his arm was more pressing than whatever frustration she may be feeling on the subject.

"Honestly, not that much." Lisbet's eyes were drawn to his wince, there was nothing I could do about that. "As I said earlier, he stonewalled me on most things, and told me to ask you. That's- I don't think that needs to happen right now... at least not most of it." She looked like she wanted to argue with me about that, so I pushed on. "Tomorrow. We'll talk about the rest of the stuff tomorrow- I'll ask as many embarrassing questions as you can handle, I promise." She seemed satisfied with this answer, if a little queasy at the mere prospect of having to field all of my so called 'embarrassing questions'.

"...alright." I felt Jerremyah's arm shift over my shoulders, and I assumed that he was going to pull away- but then I felt his hand squeeze my shoulder, and realised that had never been the plan. I saw Lisbet's eyes stick on that particular point of contact for a few seconds, before her gaze flicked to meet mine again. "Is there anything you do want to talk about, right now?" Hm...

"Well..." I hesitated, and she clearly took note of it, because I saw her straighten up a little- as if her body was responding to that even without her intention. "I do have one question, that is either... really important, or not at all important- entirely depending on what it actually means." Her eyebrows furrowed, and I could tell that she wanted to share a look with Jerremyah, but resisted doing so only because she wanted to keep her eyes on me, instead.

"What it means?" She asked softly- as if she was trying not to put too much emphasis on any part of it. As if she was trying to urge me onward simply by not putting any additional obstacles in my path. I appreciated it enough to force myself to be as candid as possible on the subject... even if I did feel a bit dumb having to ask.

"I have to ask... when he calls you 'Lisabetta'... that's just a nickname, right?" Her gaze was blank for a second, like she didn't understand what I was really trying to ask- and then she blinked, and her mouth dropped open. Her eyes started darting from side to side, as if she was trying to stare into both of my eyes separately, at the same time.

"Nickname! Yes, just a- a nickname." She held my gaze, slowly calming most of the way down as she seemed to know that she had gotten the information across. As it was, I took a moment to blow out a relieved breath, and did my best not to be distracted by Jerremyah rubbing a reassuring thumb against the front of my shoulder.

"...good." I said, only to watch Lisbet's eyes narrow almost imperceptibly- like she wasn't sure she believed me. "No, I just- I was worried- I mean, it's not like it would actually matter to me one way or the other, but I would've- it would've been a shame not to be calling you by your real name this whole time. If that- if that was what you wanted. I mean, I assumed that if Jerremyah was calling you that, then you were probably alright with it, but- he's him, and I'm-" She stepped forward, and put her hands on my cheek- but whether that was exclusively to shut up my rambling, or an attempt at some kind of shared comfort.

"It's not my name." It was simple, but didn't entirely hide the emotion in it. "It's just a..." Her eyes darted to meet Jerremyah's for the barest of seconds, and the corner of her lips quirked up. "...silly nickname." Maybe that was true, but it didn't feel like it. In any case, I knew I wasn't likely to get anything more out of Lisbet on the subject, so I turned my attention to Jerremyah. Immediately, I knew that he knew that I was looking at him, and was only pretending that he didn't- because he knew that if he looked at me, he would inevitably give something away- he wasn't exactly subtle, and I suppose it was an unexpected show of that introspection he was aiming for that he was aware of that fact.

"Je-" Lisbet pinched my cheek, a rather gentle signal to stop me needling him for information.

"Don't be sneaky, Nounours- he's not equipped for that." I heard his mildly offended scoff, practically felt the roll of his eyes- and even still, the smile stayed on her lips, equal parts fond and cheeky. Like she was poking fun at both of us, in the sweetest way possible. "If you have a question, stand up and ask me to my face." I narrowed my eyes at her, and saw something change in hers- like she knew she hadn't said the right thing.

"You made it pretty clear you didn't want to talk about it." Her gaze skittered around the room, as if she didn't know what to focus on, but couldn't bare to maintain eye contact with me right at that second.

"It's not- it's not that I don't want to talk. I just... I think you understand more than most, when I say that spilling my guts doesn't come easily." I'd always thought that was a fitting analogy for talking about my feelings, since both left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

"If you don't want to answer, stand up and say it to my face- or I'm going to try to get around you. By asking someone who will tell me- whether he intends to or not." Again, Jerremyah made a little offended noise in the back of his throat, and pushed his hand against my shoulder like that was the closest he could come to a punishment.

"Remember when I told you that you're too nice sometimes? I think I was wrong." Well, at least he wasn't sure about it.

"You're not the only one with control issues." But in this case, I wasn't referring to our shared bloodlust. Jerremyah's jaw twitched, because either option was unappealing.

"That's... oddly self aware, of you." I narrowed my eyes at her again, and she winced. "Right, right, I get it." She sighed, and closed her eyes. When, she opened them again, and I could see the reluctance there. "It's a long story, but I'll do my best to tell it." She gave Jerremyah one last lingering look, as if she was taking strength just from looking at him- and then, she focused more fully on me. "It was a long time ago- we were... well, we were... quite inebriated." They were...? Wait...

"Why do I have the feeling I've already heard this story? Or, part of it, at least?" She blinked- then, her eyes darted to Jerremyah again, who shrugged.

"What do you-?" I didn't manage to bite back a laugh in time, and her eyes scanned my face as I finally managed to stifle it. "Leo, why don't you tell me what you heard? What Jerremyah decided he should tell you." I tucked myself further under his arm, and slid my own around his waist- as though I could brace him against Lisbet's clear disapproval. Not to mention the fact that it brought me an unexpected measure of comfort to do so.

"He only told me what was relevant-" She cut me off.

"It was relevant for you to know that we were... impaired by substances?" I rolled my eyes at her.

"First of all, just say that you were drunk- pissed, sloshed, sozzled, hammered, completely blotto-" She cut me off again, holding up a hand to stop me in a more physical way- as if her hand hadn't already been on my face.

"Please stop." I felt my lips twitch as I fought to restrain my grin, and the corner of her eyes crinkled.

"Second of all," I debated starting up again, but decided that it wasn't worth it. In the end, it wasn't worth annoying her- or at the very least, making her slightly uncomfortable- just to amuse myself a bit. "You just started this story by telling me the same thing, so you can't exactly get on Jerremyah's back about it." She blinked- then, her expression turned dry.

"It's... relevant. You know, you can't just defend him every time I have an issue with something he did." I flushed slightly, but took the opportunity to tuck myself further into Jerremyah's side- which he seemed to appreciate, since he patted my shoulder again.

"I promise I'll only defend him when I feel like you're being unfairly hard on him." Her face went slack, and when I glanced at Jerremyah, I saw much the same thing. "Are you going to tell me how you came by your nickname, now?"

(A/N): Leo: *tucking himself further and further under Jerremyah's arm*

Leo: *this is chill, this is casual*

Jerremyah and Lisbet: *internally freaking out about it*

also

Leo: *being manipulative*

Lisbet: *spraying him with a water bottle*

Lisbet: 'No. Stop that. Naughty.'

Leo: *hisses*

Jerremyah (to Lisbet): 'It's fine, stop punishing him.'

Jerremyah (to Leo): 'Remember when I told you that you're too nice sometimes? I think I was wrong.'

Leo: *being far more affected by that than anything else*

also

Lisbet: *incredibly reluctantly* 'We were... QUITE inebriated.'

Leo: 'I'm having deja vu.'

also

Lisbet: 'You can't just defend Jerremyah every time I have an issue with him.'

Leo: 'Someone has to.'

Leo: 'I promise I'll only defend him when I feel like you're being unfairly hard on him.'

Jerremyah: * :') *

So I can't find the post at the moment, but I saw someone online say that when writers write, a lot of the time certain things come up that we wouldn't even say in therapy, and I don't think anything has ever exemplified that for me as when I reread a particular line I had written in this chapter: 'I'd always thought that (spilling my guts) was a fitting analogy for talking about my feelings, since both left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.'