Zara's footsteps loudly approached the control room, where Leon and Aaron worked. Aaron had one headphone sitting backward slightly so they could still talk, but his eyes went wide at the sound of her marching, and Leon stared in the direction of the door. She walked straight in and stood over him in his chair. Since she was a foot shorter than him, she ended up around eye level, so it didn't quite have the desired effect. There was a mix of emotions on her face.

"You've been listening to me butchering your beautiful vocals for months. And you've just kept it to yourself." She poked his chest as she spoke, trying to be intimidating.

Oh. The penny had dropped.

Aaron suppressed a cough behind him, likely trying not to laugh. She'd figure that one out soon. Since Aaron had always been close to Leon, he had always known about his role in Sulfur and had been the primary person to encourage him to take the leap into creating the band. Without Aaron, Sulfur wouldn't have existed. Going forward, Zara had given him enough emotional turmoil (intentional or not) to help him write enough lyrics to last him a lifetime. In fact, he had promised to talk to her about the notebook she'd found, but he had forgotten to since he wanted her to know about his role in Sulfur before that.

"Butchering is not the word I would use." He said delicately, lest he anger her further, leaning back in his chair and doing his best to hold in his amusement.

"Every. Fucking. Day." She said, pointing in time with her words.

Leon raised his hands in defeat, knowing he had lost this one. Zara groaned and swore before her shoulders went limp, looking like she'd given up and accepted the truth. She sighed audibly.

She whirled to Aaron, fury renewed. Her eyes shot daggers at him, and Aaron avoided eye contact and shrunk down in his seat.

"Hang the fuck on. You've known. For years! Ughhhh." She put her hands to her head, tugging at the red locks angrily.

Leon was off the hook now, and he pursed his lips in an attempt to stop himself from laughing while Aaron copped her anger. Zara leaned back and groaned loudly again at the ceiling. She pointed at Aaron in a promise of further anger and then marched off again.

"I'm going to pay for that," Aaron said, putting his head in his hands in resignation.

"Yeah, I will, too." Leon nodded but was trying to stifle his laughter.

"It's been years for me. Your punishment will pale in comparison." Aaron pointed out unhappily, and Leon shrugged nonchalantly.

"That's fine with me."

"Of course it is. I thought I was going to get away with it, but I was not so lucky." Aaron groaned at him but kept his head down.

"I've got a plan to get off scot-free." Leon tapped his fingers rhythmically against the desk.

"Yeah, you can just cook her a nice dinner and take her to bed, and you'll be fine," Aaron whined.

Leon chuckled. "Good point. But that's not it. I'm going to tell her about the notebook."

"Don't you think that maybe she's already seen that movie? It came out years ago." Aaron said snarkily, cheering up a little.

"You know what I mean. I need to tell her about it." Leon added a little more soberly.

"You'll be fine. I'm pretty sure you guys were meant to be together, so I doubt a notebook will rock the boat too much." Aaron finally sat back up, resting his chin on his hand.

"Yeah, probably not."

Leon zoned out a little and wondered how he would approach the issue. Zara was already coming over to stay the night, so they would have plenty of time to discuss it.

Eventually, it was time to go home, and the three of them headed out to their parked cars. Aaron said bye to the couple, and they went their separate ways. Leon drove himself and Zara back to his place, and on the drive, he decided to bring up the notebook since it was sitting in his laptop bag on her lap.

"Hey. Do you remember how I told you that I would tell you about the notebook you found?" He said after summoning some courage.

"Uhh, yeah..." She stated questioningly.

"I wanted to tell you about it. Can we talk about it a bit when we get home?" He asked, not wanting to take her by surprise with it.

"Of course. Should I be alarmed? I feel like I should be alarmed." Her panic was evident, and he sighed since it had the opposite effect.

"Sorry, it's nothing bad. I promise. In fact, I think you'll be quite happy to hear it." Leon tried to assuage her fears and placed a hand on her thigh soothingly. "I'm sure you'll be poking fun at me in no time."

"Okay." She said hesitantly.

"I didn't want to worry you, but I didn't want to blindside you either." He explained to try to calm her nerves further, but they needed to sit down properly to talk about this.

As he spoke, they pulled into his building's underground parking and into his usual spot. Zara shuffled beside him as they went up in the elevator to his apartment. She looked a little concerned so he didn't waste time. He grabbed the notebook from his laptop bag and led her over to his couch to sit down.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. You read a little bit of what was in here, right?" Leon opened the notebook and tried to find the right page.

"I only wanted to find out who it belonged to, but I kind of got interested." She admitted shyly.

Leon smiled at her. "That's okay. Let me find a good example." He flicked through the pages and made an 'Ah' sound when he found something.

"You'll probably recognise this one." He handed her the notebook and traced his finger down the right-hand side of the book.

I am drifting through the places we used to go.
Every shadow looks like you,
Every echo sounds like your breath.
I am not here. I am nowhere.
Maybe if I let go, I will fall.
Maybe if I stop looking for you, I will land.
But what if there is nothing beneath me?
What if I never stop falling?

Zara's eyes widened as she recognised the lyrics. They were from the new Sulfur single that had been released a little while ago. She looked at him with a brow furrowed in a question she couldn't quite figure out how to ask.

"Yes. It's about you." Leon answered her before she got the chance to ask.

"Leon..." She said, dropping her eyes back to the page and reading over the words once again.

"This one was when I...dreamed about you one night. It was the night I gave you your headphones, actually." He remembered it more vividly than he would have hoped, but it was all right now since he had her in his waking moments and dreams.

"I woke up to an empty bed after dreaming you were lying beside me. I didn't get back to sleep that night." He explained and watched her eyes soften.

She handed him back the notebook when he held his hand out, and he flipped to another page.

In the depths of shadowed halls, I find you,
A spectre that consumes my soul,
The void within me echoes hollow,
Your touch, a phantom whisper in the darkness.

Tangled in the night's cold embrace,
Our desires unfurl in silence,
Every breath, a dark promise,
Every heartbeat, a mournful vow.

"This one was when you sang 'Eternal' for me in the studio." He continued, spilling his guts about the emotional weight of each passage he could specifically recall the inspiration for.

Turning the pages again, he found another one that opened a wound he thought had closed and pointed it out to her.

I watch you love like it is effortless,
like it does not leave you hollow,
like it does not hurt to give it away.
And I wonder what it is like
to be the one you reach for without thinking.

I am everything and nothing in your world.
Close enough to touch, but never to hold.
I could carve myself into something beautiful,
and still, I would not be enough.

If I told you, would you break me gently?
Would you let me down with careful hands?
Or would you turn away
like my heart was never yours to hold in the first place?

I will love you in the quiet.
I will love you in the spaces you will never see.
And you will go on,
never knowing what it is like
to be everything to me.

"I thought you liked Dane." He couldn't say more, worried his voice would tremble.

Leon kept his chin to his chest but could see that Zara was reading through the passage. He heard her breathing shift, saw a tear drop onto the page, and panicked.

"Zara!" He said with quiet urgency, shifting closer to her.

Brushing some hair behind her ear, he saw a hand over her mouth and glassy eyes as she looked at him. Unable to speak, he reached out and held her hands between his own after putting the notebook on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." He shook his head in worry.

"No, I'm sorry. You felt like this?" She rebutted firmly with a sniffle and gasped when he nodded.

"The notebook is where I get many of my lyrics from, but it's mostly just a stream of consciousness and expression." He stated matter-of-factly that the markings and scars on his soul weren't documented on those pages.

"I didn't know. I didn't know." She repeated, sobbing softly.

Leon wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him tightly. "I know you didn't. I never blamed you; I always blamed myself. You were always so kind and innocent, and I was so scared about dragging you into my pain. I still wasn't sure if it was you or Red I was yearning for."

"If I had known, I wouldn't have hidden my feelings from you. I could have saved you from feeling like this. You should never have to feel so lonely." Zara apologised emphatically.

"No, this is not your fault." He cupped her cheeks and made her look at him. "I was just always hopelessly in love with you. For many reasons, but one of them is this. You have such a kind heart. Crying for me because I wanted you so badly." Leon did his best to hold back his own tears, not wanting her to think her emotional reaction had upset him.

It had, but not in a bad way. It had only made him realise how incredible she was. Reading the words he had written had made her feel guilty for making him feel the morose grip of loneliness. Although he hated the fact that he'd made her cry, Leon greatly appreciated the gesture at the same time. To see her so upset for the pain he'd gone through while figuring out that he was in love with her and not Red was so genuinely kind. No blame could be laid at her feet, and yet she still felt some responsibility.

"Wait. Let me find it." He grabbed the notebook in a crushing grip, creasing the pages as he frantically flipped through the pages. "This one."

I do not need the stars when I have your hands.
I do not need the heavens when I have your breath.
Love is not a war I must fight for,
not a wound I must carry.
It is you. It has always been you.

"I wrote this one after our phone call, the day after the album release party." He pointed to it with a sniffle.

"I'm sorry I was so stupid for so long." Zara apologised again, tears falling down her cheeks.

Taking hold of her chin, he wiped away her tears with his thumb before shaking his head. The green in her eyes stood out more, and even though they were bloodshot from her crying, he found her incredibly beautiful in the moment. Leon was surprised by the depths of her feelings and seeing her react like this, and it warmed his heart to know that she was so understanding of the magnitude of the words he'd written.

"You have nothing to apologise for. Everything happened the way it was supposed to. The important thing is that you're here now. With me." Leon reinforced and reassured as best he could.

"I'm here. I'm yours." She all but flung the notebook from her lap and dove into his embrace, squishing her face against his chest.

Leon kissed her hair and whispered it was all right until she finally relaxed and pulled back. His shirt had a dark patch from her tears, but he couldn't care less. Using his shoulder, he wiped his tears away so he didn't have to release her from his embrace.

"I'm sorry for making you cry." He kissed her forehead softly and felt her shake her head to say it was okay.

"I'm sorry for making you feel like that." She retorted.

"No. You don't need to apologise for anything. You've always been so wonderful. How could I not fall for you?" Leon asked rhetorically and kissed her briefly to show his appreciation for her.

Zara's breathing eventually evened out, and she relaxed into his arms. This was the pinnacle of his desires, having her tucked into him, in his home and hearing her say that she was his. When she raised her head a while later, he kissed each of her eyes gently and soothingly. She sighed heavily and slowly when she looked back at the notebook.

"Don't apologise again. There's no need." He said when she opened her mouth to speak and watched her close it again.

She huffed faintly and pursed her lips. "I can't not feel slightly responsible. At least on my part. I could have said something to you about how I felt. I just didn't think it was fair since my appearance caused you some…distress."

"Although it was strange…I think everything happened how it was supposed to. I'm just happy since I have you to myself." Leon laughed as he buried his head into her hair, inhaling her scent.

"Thank you for sharing this with me. I'm sure it was hard." She said and kissed his cheek.

"I don't want to hide anything from you. Now that you know all of my secrets." He grinned cheekily.

"Yeah, letting me rant and rave about how amazing the Sulfur frontman is and hearing how much I adore him ad naseuem until you finally tell me that you are him." Zara poked him in the ribs a few times and glared at him in mock-anger.

"I said I was sorry." He tried to shield himself but failed miserably.

"I'm sure you didn't have to wait so fucking long." She wasn't really angry at him and was mostly embarrassed about all of the times she'd talked about Sulfur in front of him.

"You were going to find out eventually, but I just wanted to find the right time. I also wasn't quite sure if you would believe me unless you saw it in person." Leon admitted bashfully.

"It certainly added a 'believe it when you see it' element." Zara smiled at him.

"Either way, I'm just glad to have you. I want to make you happy." Leon said as he ran his fingers through her blood-red hair.

"I am happy."

Leon beamed at her and cupped her cheek to kiss her with all the passion he could muster, but not enough to overwhelm her. Although he literally always wanted to have more of her, this was what he wanted now.

For now, he just wanted her warmth and her presence…