Text; Leo ⇄ xav

averydawson​:

Avery playfully rolled her eyes at his words. But her eyes went wide when she saw him bolt for the bathroom. She knew exactly what was happening. She heard the cup falling, knowing he spilled and that his head was in the toilet. “okay.” she said quietly, getting a new cup of water then follow him to the bathroom. She swallowed hard and walked in. “You good?” she  asked, kneeling beside him and rubbing his back. “Let it all out.” she added. “Here drink this, you need to finish it. Please.” she advised. Thankfully, she had mouth wash for him to use. 

-

Leo quickly reached up to flush the toilet when he heard her come in. Whether it was a pride thing or out of courtesy, he didn’t know. No one had seen him this low. He had done such a good job of hiding the effects his depency had on him from everyone close to him. He had done such a good job from hiding himself. And with the biggest secret he’s ever had looming over his head, he couldn’t drink the guilt away. no, not this time. tonight was proof there wasn’t enough alcohol to wash away this indiscretion. it pained him to even think about it that way.  leo coughed and took the water from Avery, his half lidded eyes not showing much. “when I left here the other night... it was because my friend was having a baby... my baby..” he said in weak montoned way. he was becoming coldly sober. he took a sip of the water before dragging his eyes to Avery’s face. “I have a baby with someone who’s not my wife.” 

heart: randomly starts beating faster me: what is it what do you see

renfarber​:

She sat when he sat, and stared for too long just like he did. She saw his eyes taking in her new hair and her new tattoos, just as she took in his new facial hair, and his new… wedding ring. Suddenly the ten years felt like ten years. There was less than a foot in physical distance between them now, but there were ten full years, and a spouse, and at least one baby. But even so, she couldn’t stop herself from fucking smiling at him.

“It’s good to see you,” she said, and it was, although it probably shouldn’t have been. It was weird to see him, older and married and scared of her, but the dappled projector light softened everything. Like they were the ones in nostalgic black-and-white. “How long have you been married?”

-

The way she smiled at him kept his nerves from growing further out the lines. it was a familiarity he appreciated as he really tried to let time settle between them. The corners of his mouth lifted, causing his eyes to wrinkle with a soft smile. “I was gonna say the same thing.” He said, bringing his eyes back to her. Though he was still careful around her. Out of precaution or experience; he didn’t know which. He brought his eyes back to the screen. because he couldn’t let himself dote on her appearance any longer. It was far too easy to fall back into admiring her looks. He owed some restrain at the very least for his twenty-three year old self. he carried that broken hearted twenty something leo, too close and too long. 

At her question about his marriage caused his brows shot up and he looked at his left hand. The white gold still glinted in this light. “Oh,” he enthused and arranged his hands so his left one was out of view at the side of his popcorn bucket. “Almost a year or so.” He replied not really knowing the date by memory. It was somewhere in his phone. He finally looked at her again. “What about you--married?” He questioned quickly, his curiosity getting the best of him. his eyes even flicked downward to her hands. 

Dumb & Dumber (1994)

blakemadden​:

Behind a table she’d be safe, that was what Blake was telling herself as she sat there waiting for Leo to arrive at the cafe. God knows what had possessed her to suggest the two of them meet up when she was visibly pregnant by this point, yet she had done it. Even in the oversized sweater she was currently wearing - if anything it’s size was making this worse.

Before she could bail entirely on the coffee altogether a familiar figure walked through the doors with his familiar brooding air about him. As if he was on some kind of mission which was a little scary, but it didn’t last long, and when the first thing he said was a compliment she smiled sweetly. Unable to get up to give him a hug hello it was the best she could do. “Thanks, so do you. Do you want to…” she only got half way through her sentence and it was like Leo had read her mind, sitting down before she could finish. Glancing at her phone she saw it only said 12:03pm. He was hardly late. “No, no not at all I just finished a cake a little earlier than I thought I would so I thought the walk down here would do me good instead of getting on the subway. It gets so stuffy down there I swear, it’s like the whole city has gotten hotter.” Or was it that she was more sensitive to heat. Probably the latter. He looked so handsome as he sat there in front of her. Chiseled. No wonder his wife hadn’t managed to stand in the way of her attraction to him for long despite thinking she was a pretty morally sound person. “I just thought that maybe we should like…clear the air. You know? In a friendship way.” Plus she wasn’t sure yet if she was going to tell him about the baby, likely not, so she could hardly cite that as the reason for inviting him here. “How have you been?” 

-

Leo brought his gaze back to her when she said the time. His own time read two minutes ahead. He had nodded, listening to why she appeared so comfortable in her seat. She had time to relax in the booth. But did she have to look so warm and inviting? The color in her cheeks reminded him of how she looked after he had-- his mind was suddenly taken back to reality as she spoke up again.

“In a friendship way?” He repeated with a small laugh, a twinge of bitterness at the end. “That sounds like a new way for us,” He observed dropping his gaze but his face stayed toward her. “But if that’s what you want, by all means.” He agreed, bringing his eyes back to her face. His elbows moved on to the table and his arms crossed in front of him. His chin rested on the back of his hand. A physical defense his body had created as he reminded of her rejection. He knew he had to let their affair devolve if he wanted to keep her in his life. After all, their entanglement had gone undetected by Leo’s wife, and that’s all he could hope for. Losing his physical intimacy with Blake was the price to pay for it. And wife learning the truth about him is never an option.

 Her question to how he’d been made him think of his latest paramour, Ana. He had started his affair with her shortly after Blake ended things. He kept his face straight and blinked, “Been busy...” He said, unsure if he should even share just whom had been keeping him active. He idly wondered if it was upset her that he had found another heart to pull the strings upon. Replacing her, so to speak. “...with classes, a lot of students are getting cast so, of course they need more of me.” He continued. 

renfarber​:

It happened when we were so young, he said. He said it so easily, as though he’d moved on ages ago… and maybe he had. Maybe he hadn’t been as completely destroyed by it all as she had. He clearly at least had the ability (and desire) to fall in love again, which was more than Ren could say. …Not that she’d say any of that out loud.

She didn’t want to think about it, but she couldn’t help wondering what his wife was like. What was Leo’s type now? Was she anything like Ren, or was she the complete opposite? It wouldn’t make any difference to know, but she couldn’t help being curious anyway.

But then he spoke of her, and there was something in his voice that Ren recognized. Something similar to what had been there the rare occasions he’d spoken of his childhood - she could almost see the walls going up around his heart, as the charming smile faltered slightly. He was lonely. She didn’t know why that surprised her - she knew from her own parents that married people could be just as lonely as anyone else.

“Well. Absence makes the heart grow fonder… right?” she asked, not entirely certain if she was still asking about his wife.

Just like that, the grin was back, and she was laughing again, shaking her head. “Jesus, all this time and you’re still a little shit, huh?” she smirked. “Yeah, I know you told me. That was the first thing my mom said when I told her about it, she said ‘Leo tried to warn you, child’. Fuckin’ menaces, both of you. Always ganging up on me. …But yeah, Tori was always a hot mess, which was funny until I had this one party… she drank half a bottle of vodka, invited everyone she knew to my apartment, vomited on my bed and fell asleep on the floor. So…”

-

Leo, a decade ago wouldn’t have been so nonchalant and calm about discussing their breakup. There were still parts of his twenty something mind that wanted to tell Ren how she had broken him, and the ways he had to learn to cope. But this was neither the time or place. Not when he could hide in here with it being just them without the weight of their past and he wanted to keep it that way. Plus, he didn’t know if this was the first or last time their paths would cross.

“Yeah…fonder,” His eyes flickered to her face, “…right.” The absence of her caused him to grow fonder. And as he agreed, he found he wasn’t thinking about his wife but thinking of Ren. Ten years apart didn’t dull his longing for her. Hell, as he sat there in the dark with her, his mind couldn’t help but think of closing the inches between their bodies. He had chosen to look at her hands inbetween looking at her face and it took him clutching onto the popcorn bucket to behave himself.

  Leo let out of a disapproving click of tongue and shook his head at her question. “I don’t think it’s possible to grow out of being a little shit.” He smirked back, but then smiled so boastfully as he learned that her mother had agreed with him. He had missed her mother and her friends. He remember how much it sucked to lose those connections as well. He had accepted them as his makeshift family then. But upon learning about what the last card dealt from Tori was, caused Leo’s face to move almost cartoon like. His forehead creased from lifted brows and a parted mouth as he pictured the scene Ren had walked into. He couldn’t help but try to say something funny to hopefully see her smirk or laugh again. “I don’t know that kinda sounds like a good time, if you’re Tori.” He quirked his brow at her then tossed a kernel of popcorn in the air and catching it. he chewed, looking ever so smug. it was the first time in a while, that he had such charming banter such as this. he could get use to it all over again. 

open starter: everyone CLOSED - Capped at 7 muns. location: masquerade event, boys and girls club donation table

This wasn’t the last place Leo wanted to be at. It was a Masquerade. How timeless and niche, and Leo adored timeless and niche. He liked it enough to choose the black and gold leather mask, shaped and painted as a lion and its’ mane. But when he began to read the details and realized it was for charity, he was immediately put off. He was possessive over his hard earned money, over his wife’s hard earned money, to give it away in a way that didn’t serve him directly.

 Was I a bad person? Leo thought, leaning against the table some more as he stared hard at the blank space beside the dollar sign. He was suppose to donate. It was good to donate. And definitely was the better choice between volunteering and donating. Especially to a group that had tried to help him when he was growing up in the system. But still look at where all the help had got him. He turned to the nearest person next to him, his eyes making a show to glaze over their mask as he took their appearance in. Then he took a glance at their respective donation slip. “Hey, do you think five dollars is enough?” He chimed.

PENN BADGLEY Desus & Mero | 2.03 Hard To Get a Ticket (2019)

renfarber​:

She laughed, the sound of it bouncing off the walls, even with the eerie theme music of the film playing. “Yeah, dude. I made a whole human. Wild, right?” She shook her head. Being pregnant and giving birth and taking care of a whole human child were the scariest, most painful, disgusting things that had ever happened to her. But unconditional love was always kind of like that.

Her nose scrunched at the word ‘boyfriend’ and she shook her head again. “Nah, it’s… it’s just me.” It sounded kind of sad when she said it like that, but Ren preferred it this way. Having Max all to herself. It was selfish, of course, but when had Ren ever done anything that wasn’t? Leo knew that more than most. “Do you… want to see a picture of him? You can say no, I know not everybody likes babies.”

-

 Leo smiled again hearing that melodic laugh. His mind had selected her voice above the film. wild, indeed. he began feeling the true weight of time once again. he hadn’t been there for any of the changes time had brought her, and vice versa. but had enough time past that he didn’t view her as the first and only woman to break his heart? 

Just you, he thought, repeating it to himself in a sad tone. Leo knew being a parent wasn’t easy. Hell, one of his parents passed away and the other gave him up to stop being his parents. How she was doing it on her own was hard for him to wrap his head around. Especially when he was the type to not even have a pet. He looked at her with this admirable look on his face. She was always so independent. “Yeah, show me,” he as his curiosity began to grow. Maybe seeing her son would actually help the reality that she was a parent click in his thick skull. “You’re the first person I know to have a kid.” He added, letting her know this was a new experience for him.