Blakemadden​:

PENN BADGLEY — The Paper Store (2016)

annalisechambersx​:

Annie’s face lit up when the man agreed to eat some wings with her. She was honestly expecting him to tell her to fuck off, so that was a very pleasant surprise. And when he introduced himself as well, she smiled warmly and nodded her head, “Leo. Lovely name. I had a friend growing up whose name was Leo.” She paused, “Well, is Leo. He’s not dead.” She paused, “I don’t think so, at least… I’m sure he’s fine. We used to go roller skating around London together.” She giggled fondly at the memory as she sat down in the seat beside him.

Bar stools were always kind of fun. They rotated so she was able to spin a bit as she sat there beside Leo. Hearing his comment, she laughed and nodded again before she shrugged, “I…yes, I do.” Annie told him, “You’re not the first to tell me either.” It was those people who also told her she was overtly annoying, which hurt her feelings but she never told them that. They didn’t deserve that satisfaction, “I know I’m a lot…but I just like to smile and spread that around, you know?”

As the beer was set down in front of Leo, she thanked the bartender and turned her gaze towards him. Her brow furrowed as he spoke and immediately, she felt a wave of anxiety wash over her, “Oh…oh, no. I’m s-sorry. R-Really.” Immediately, she reached over and pulled the beer away from the man and turned around in her chair, hoping she could find someone else to give it to. Annie didn’t really drink beer either but she figured most people did and it was safe choice. Pulling herself from the stool, she approached another man and offered him the beer, saying it was ordered by a mistake. He accepted it and turned back to his friend with a shrug.

As she approached Leo once again, her hands rubbed together nervously and she gingerly sat down beside him. She wasn’t happily spinning this time. She was just still, looking at her hands, “I should have asked what you wanted. That is my fault. I’m sorry.” Annie’s gaze didn’t move from her hands. It just remained there as she waited to be screamed at by Leo like her ex-husband would do whenever she made a mistake like that. She was used to it by now.

-

Leo had stifilled his laughter as she rambled on about another Leo. He mentally tilted his hat to the other man who was still alive, sharing his name. “I believe you.” He said, again holding his laughter in his chest when he heard that he wasn’t the only one who could tell how cheerful she was. She was like the golden sun herself in human form. He was sure if he squinted enough, she had sun rays. 

Leo’s interest was peaked again by how immediately remorseful she was. She kept doing that to him. Dragging him back before he could get out. And he couldn’t help, but like that. Although, the longer he watched her, he could see that his bratty nature wasn’t taken lightly as he quietly intended. Once again, he was too abrasive. His humor too dry. He couldn’t think of anything else that would cause that reaction. He was rude, that’s all he at least knew about himself. he worried about previously about snuffing out her light, and it had materialized right in front of him, because of him. 

His lips had parted to protest her getting up to give the beer to some lucky bastard. She didn’t have to jump to such lengths. Leo was close with the bartender, and he could have done something. He continously watched Annie, closely now as she came back to their barstools. He took in her careful approach back in her seat next to him. His brown eyes not missing a thing as he leaned onto his arms on the countertop. It wasn’t lost on him that the sunny doe-eyed woman beside him had closed up. He didn’t know what it was or how he shifted from wanting the conversation to end-- to wanting to keep it going. It was now a game to make her laugh. “You didn’t have to do all that. Or apologize. I mean, please, buy me as many drinks as you want.” He playfully pleaded, his eyes widening at the notion. “But not beer, I’ve never been a fan, and I’m certainly at the age where I could grow a beer belly.” He explained, turning in his barstool even more towards her.  His body language completely open toward her as he made his self effacing joke. “If anything it’s my fault for not being a stereotypical male.” Again, he was joking but this time making him sound better than most men cause he believed it so. how poignant. “I don’t even like sports much either.” 

“I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.”

— Saul Bass (via wnq-art)

renfarber​:

Something in the way he was looking at her was making her head spin. No matter how much she tried to stay in the present here, and no matter how many times both of them mentioned how much time had passed, he was still looking at her the same way he used to. And her heart was still skipping a beat the same way it used to. And she hated that she couldn’t stop it - even if she didn’t hate the feeling, at all. 

Just as she was beginning to fall into her all-too-familiar pit of guilt over cheating on him, he winked and grinned, and she rolled her eyes and laughed, and whatever year it was, they were there together. He was way too fucking charming for his own fucking good, and he knew it. She’d never put up with that shit from anyone else, but… it was Leo. So. She stole some of his popcorn, arm brushing against his, and stopped fighting it - at least for now. 

Reality would hit them eventually, but it could wait until the lights came back on. 

“I doubt you’d want to hear an actual explanation… even if I had a good one,” she said, watching as the monochrome movie light flickered on his face. She wondered whether to tell him that cheating on him had been the only real regret she’s ever had in her otherwise free-spirited life. But she was sure he knew. And anyway, what he said next confused her into momentary silence. 

It’s silly to expect that kind of commitment, he said, and she raised an eyebrow at him. “This, from the man in the legally binding committed relationship,” she said. She hadn’t really wanted to bring it up again, preferring to live in the past, in the dark… but part of her knew that if she didn’t say it out loud, they could easily slip a little too far backwards. 

He said that she didn’t need anyone, and even if it wasn’t entirely true, she loved that he still saw her that way. She’d always prided herself on her independence, choosing who got to be around her because she wanted them there, not because she needed anything from them. It had turned out not to be quite that simple, in the end, but she still liked it, as a concept. 

“It’s good to have constants, though, isn’t it? I’ve got a good support system, like my mom and my best friend. …A new best friend though, I got rid of Tori. She turned out to be a total asshole, just like you always said she was,” she smirked. “It’s probably kind of nice, though, to have a person who’s always there for you, and who you’re always there for. Is it?”

-

Leo had purposefully adjusted himself in his seat to face towards her rather than the film. He had done the same with the popcorn, offering it to her as well as offering all of his attention. “You don’t have to explain. It happened and we were so young.” He said, trying to avoid finding that wound and licking it. It had hurt. It him so bad losing that ounce of integrity when it came to trust. He hardly had it to begin with. But above it  all, it hurt losing her. Looking at her now, it panged a bit to see how much he had missed in her life and how much he missed her in his own life. Serenity had been the only one to reach him to his core, and he kept it that way since. Even though he was now married. 

Leo laughed at her mentioning the severity of commitment marriage was then he glanced down at that shiny ring around his finger. How long had he worn it till it stopped meaning anything to him? Would admitting he was an unfaithful husband give him a chance to turn back time for a night? Should he take that risk? “It is nice when I do get to see her.” He confessed, showing his current point of view of his marriage without being too detailed. “Constantly missing each other is probably not the constant you’re describing.” His loneliness finding its’ way out with his words. Being lonely and insatiable were the fundamentals to his catastrophic nature. No statement had ever been more true for the orphan. They were his demons then, and they were still his now. Still he managed to his head around what she mentioned about her best friend situation. He grinned because he loved hearing that he was right, of course. “Told you she was. How’d you figure that? And anything else in the span of the ten years we’ve been apart that I’ve been right about?” He gloated so openly, a smile on his face as he sunk into himself more comfortably in her presence. 

PULP FICTION (1994)

YOU (2018- ) cr. Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble

blakemadden​:

Blake felt like she had whiplash with he way Leo’s mood towards her seemed to change as he heard there was no other man in the picture. Eyes widening as he pushed his way back towards her almost toppling other people in the process, he sounded genuinely concerned for her. How that might change if he knew the reason she was doing it on her own was because she hadn’t told him that he was the other party involved. “I…yes…well no not all by myself I have friends and stuff that are helping out but..” She trailed off, looking down at their hands as he took hold of them, unable to stop herself from grasping them back. In an ideal world the two of them would be doing this together, as parents to their baby, but he had a wife so this was likely as close as that little dream could come to being a reality.

“Leo…you don’t have to do that.” The baker murmured as she looked up at him, feeling a wave of emotion coming over her. If only this could be how the two of them were as a genuine couple. God that would make her so happy. “You have your…everything else to be dealing with. You don’t need to be dealing with me on top of that.” His wife, the unspoken word was wife.An the issue was she wanted him to stand by her side through this, she wouldn’t have been with him in the first place if she didn’t feel something real and deep for him. 

-

Leo felt her smooth hands began to take hold of his, and this caused his ego to stir in him. He hadn’t totally lost her affection like he thought. She was holding onto his hands with the same warmth she had months ago. He listened to her and shook his head at her reasonings. “But I want to. I want to be one of those friends that are helping you out. Don’t keep me from being one of them.” He pleaded, and suddenly his desire to help became a way to weasle himself back into her life. He did wanna be there for her, she looked so helpless, but it was such a perk to have access to her again. 

“Hey, relax,” he nearly cooed. “I’ve made time for you before, and you’re not something to deal with Blake.” He said closing the space so it was just her baby bump between them. But his eyes never left her beautiful face. "I’ll do what I can for you.” He said, his words coming out like a lover’s promise but he was also establishing his boundaries. He was going to be a good friend for her within reason. He didn’t want the responsibility of raising a kid that’s for sure. 

Text !! Nate & Leo

Nate: If I said that I liked the last class would it be a compliment or really really creepy?

Nate: cause it's definitely not creepy!!

Nate: is it creepy that I started this conversation?

Nate: okay but forget it

Nate: sorry sorry sorry!

Nate: don't kick me out :(

Nate: I was just complimenting your teaching and acting abilities and nothing more!!

Leo: Is this your way of confessing your love for me?

Leo: You needa lay off whatever your vices are, kid, but I'll take this as a compliment.

renfarber​:

She hadn’t realized how nervous she’d been until she saw him smile. This apartment was her, all over, just the essence of who she was splashed all over the walls. It was her, and it was Max, and so it mattered to Ren if Leo liked it. If he liked them. She didn’t know how to feel about that mattering to her, so… she just pushed it down with all the other feelings she had right now. They could come back out after some whiskey untangled them.

She dragged a chair over to the counter so she could reach the top shelf of the cabinet. She wasn’t entirely sure why she kept the liquor up here - it wasn’t as though Max could get into it at seven months old - but it was always good to make things like that hard to reach. For emergencies only. And this definitely counted. On her way down, Leo handed her one of Max’s toys, and she smirked. “Thank you.”

“Max is with my mom,” she said, getting ice out of the freezer. “I should text her, actually. She should probably keep him overnight.” Her eyes flicked up to him, knowing how he’d take that. She held up a finger. “Because we’re drinking. And we need to talk without a crying baby. You stay two feet away from me,” she smirked. She shouldn’t be joking about this, not when he had a wife, not when he had a baby with her best friend… it just… came so easily. 

She poured two drinks and passed one over, sitting at the table and sending a quick text to her mom. Seconds later, her phone beeped, and she rolled her eyes, texting again and then turning off her phone. 

“Mom says hi,” she smirked. Gloria had always loved Leo. Even now, after Ren had cried on her shoulder about the mess they were in. It was disloyal, honestly. But Ren supposed it was only fair, since she didn’t hate Leo either. She sighed, pulling her braids over one shoulder, and looking at Leo. “So… how’d you meet your wife?”

-

Leo’s brows immediately quirked up at Ren’s words, taking them just as suggestively as she assumed he would. He couldn’t help but break into a small laughter at the finger she had held up. He held his hands up and sat at the table at the furthest one from where she was currently. “Two feet it is.” He agreed though he did find it funny how she needed the physical distance from him. Like he had a pull. Though he felt the same way about her lips. 

He watched as she poured the drinks. His eyes admiring the caramel hue a bit too closely. It had been a minute since he was able to indulge. It was getting a lot harder to sneak away. His hand couldn’t help but tap on the counter till the drink was passed over to him. From there he had taken a well measured first sip while she was distracted with her phone.

“Tell Gloria, I said hey,” he smiled that shit eating grin that was just a permanent reaction to when his ego was stroked. Though that grin had immediately left his lips at the mention of his wife. His forehead wrinkled as he pulled his brows together, he laughed once before replying, “You don’t wanna talk about that.” He said openly refusing to answer. “We have other things to talk about.” He said quite solemnly as he brought his drink to his lips. 

jfcjosefina​:

Josefina was having the time of her life. The ballet had spared no expense for the extravagant evening, and it showed. And the patrons who arrived at the event seemed to take the theme seriously. Everybody donned masks of different intricacy, and somehow, Josefina almost felt underdressed upon seeing the fluffed out ballgowns some of the women were wearing.

The attorney had approached the donation table, her small purse slung across her body. She reached down to pick up a donation slip, grabbing a pen. It was a great cause, one that Jo was more than happy to donate to. She tilted her head in the direction of the voice that had spoken, raising an eyebrow. “Um, if that’s all you want to donate, I suppose it’s better than nothing.” She commented, writing out the four digit amount she had planned to contribute. 

-

Leo nodded, and he was left with a certain desire to get a rise of this stranger. for some reason receiving common courtesy wasn’t working for him tonight. “How about four ninety-nine?” He asked again with quippy tone. His michievous nature, seemingly amplified by his lion mask. “I told you mine, so I think you should tell me yours.” Leo argued, brown eyes behind his mask looked pointedly down at her slip. He let out a low whistle as if he saw the huge number she had written down. Though he didn’t see much from his angle. He only wanted to put in a front that he did see her slip. Another way for him to get a reaction.