Re: Promises, or So They Say (Leo)

[Guest]

Leo didn't realize he'd been somewhat chilly before the amorous turn of events, mostly because he'd been preoccupied with somebody else. Glad he chose not to immediately pull away, Leo watched Adonis poke his hand as if it were the second most interesting thing in the world (the first being how well his date functioned as a radiator). He wasn't sure how much time he'd spent watching and waiting for Adonis's hand to move again, but it was sometime before Leo finally snatched it.

He thought about simply holding it like dates usually do, but without any motive whatsoever, Leo instead turned his friend's  palm up and uncurled each finger one by one. He thought about a few things while looking at it; what kind of shapes it might take to draw a hand, the way every part surely had to bend when flipping through books. Most notably, he thought about the lines on them.

You don't think very realistically, his little sister had said. See? Your head line is really curved. Maybe you should work on that...

"You think realistically," Leo said wistfully, resting a finger on the line adjacent to what his sister and her stupid book called the 'life line'. Adonis's was rather straight, unlike Leo's, which was clearly curved. Adonis also wouldn't have to worry about a seven year-old making fun of a line on his palm.

[Guest]

"What?" Adonis muttered, watching Leo toy with his hands. He had no idea what was going on in that boy's head, but he was sure he didn't mind it. He wrapped his arms tighter around Leo before kissing him softly on the cheek, which was slightly difficult given that he was behind his friend/date. It landed more on his jaw, but that was alright, Adonis figured.

"You make no sense sometimes," he chuckled, poking Leo's hand again. He traced the line that was similar to his, but far from identical. He didn't know what the Hufflepuff was going on about, but he could at least tell the difference between them. "What does yours mean, then?"

[Guest]

"The exact opposite," Leo murmured. He almost argued that he made perfect sense, but it only took a brief moment of self reflection to agree with his date. It was kind of like that time with his sister in that way, Leo at first agreed with her....and then she called him a dunderhead. Jaw kissing and hand poking was, in his opinion, far better than having to chase a little girl around.

[Guest]

"Hmm," was the only answer Adonis could really come up with. It was interesting but, as Leo had pointed out, he thought practically and logically, so it was a little harder for him to comprehend superstition and its affiliates.

"Are you doing alright? It's kind of cold, I mean. Whenever you want to go back, you can," he offered. He really didn't want to go back to his dorm, as he would probably be just as cold there, and the loneliness would probably make him miserable for the rest of the night. However, he wanted to make sure that Leo was doing alright because it would be horribly selfish if he was the only one that wanted to stay out.

[Guest]

"I'm not tired," Leo insisted, only to yawn shortly afterward. Annoyed with his body, he scowled and racked his brain for another excuse to stay out in the hall. The awkward hug happened some time ago, but the warmth of it kept Leo rooted in place. He resolved to cuddle more often.

"You're much better than my bed, anyway"

[Guest]

"Am I now?" Adonis asked, a teensy bit suggestively. "I don't have blankets though. Maybe next time I'll remember, and then you can say that."

The Ravenclaw could feel his ears growing warm, but he only hugged Leo tighter, resolving to try to be the best blanket he could. His suit jacket was behaving like an overprotective parent, however, restraining his arms and pulling tight around his shoulders. Unlike a parent, he could shed the jacket with ease, using it instead like a cape, draping it over his shoulders. His arms got a tad colder, but he didn't mind so much, as he was a lot more comfortable.

[Guest]

"You don't need blankets, you're more than fine just the way you are." Leo replied, a stubborn edge to his voice. A lot of the time, Leo did his best to evade bedtimes. His mum was usually tasked with bargaining, chasing, and telling him about all the bad things that could happen if he didn't sleep. It wasn't that he didn't like sleeping, Leo just didn't like the thought of missing out on things.

[Guest]

"Stop that," Adonis replied, a definite sulking tone in his voice. "I can't hug you any tighter or I'm going to squish you, and if you keep doing that that's just what's going to happen."

As a matter of fact, he was hugging Leo rather tightly, almost as though he was a giant teddy bear designed specifically for that purpose. He buried his face in the crook of Leo's neck, happily inhaling the boy's scent like a perfume he couldn't get enough of. Of course, it was better, mostly because Adonis was allergic to perfume. It was nice that the Hufflepuff didn't feel compelled to wear overbearing amounts of cologne or anything, and Adonis didn't see why he shouldn't make that known. He was also nearly certain that he'd mentioned this before, but he told Leo he smelled nice. It wasn't something that would grow old or anything, so why not?

[Guest]

"How tightly can you hug me?" Leo asked, skeptical. He felt incredibly wanted, and if Adonis hugged him so hard he couldn't breathe anymore, Leo didn't think he'd mind. Being hugged would be a nice way to die. Not that he wanted to die, after all, they did still have pictures to take.

[Guest]

Adonis thought for a minute, then shrugged. "Not sure, but pretty tightly. I don't want to hurt you though, so I'm not going to try. Don't get any ideas, Leo." He kissed the side of the boy's neck, lightly to avoid any marks, then rested his head on his shoulder, smiling to himself.

[Guest]

Leo began to wonder why mother's didn't kiss in such nice places, but after a mental image decided that it would be really weird if his mom kissed his neck. Banishing the thought was easier said than done. Without thinking, he shut his eyes and allowed himself to relax a little more. It didn't matter that he fought it, sleep was always the result.

"I've already got ideas, but you don't seem to want to test them." He muttered, still trying to not think about mom's kissing places that weren't foreheads and cheeks.

[Guest]

With a sigh of consent, the Ravenclaw replied, "Fine you can have ideas, and you can share them. That's it though, unless I like your idea. Fair enough?" As he spoke, Adonis played with Leo's fingers, covering them with his own or manipulating his entire hand so that they were interlocked. He wasn't sure what else to do, as he'd never really cuddled before, or even done anything close to it.

[Guest]

Content, Leo hummed. Hands fit together almost too well, and they made complicated shapes when they did so. Almost everything seemed to evolve into something much more complicated and pleasant; friendships, hands, kisses, ideas. Of course, none of the negatives came to mind. Leo rarely thought of consequences when it came to indulgent things.

"I've got another idea," He said informatively, as though it weren't an entirely silly one.

[Guest]

"Hit me," the other boy replied. Figuratively, of course. He didn't want Leo to actually hit him, obviously, even though he was sure it wouldn't be too painful. Adonis tried to turn his entire attention to what Leo was saying, but he found himself a little too easily distracted by the back of the boy's neck. It was so smooth and soft and cruelly kissable, and he started to wonder if his date would be able to even talk with lips virtually attached to his neck.

[Guest]

"Um, no that's not very cuddly" Leo said with a frown. "Not that singing Christmas carols backwards is anymore cuddly but at least it's nice..."

Realizing he'd just blatantly spit out his idea, Leo grimaced. Hitting wasn't very cuddly, but he felt like hitting himself for that one. Shaking his head, the Hufflepuff pushed on.

"Best one wins."

[Guest]

Adonis wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. "Um, what?" He'd never actually sung Christmas carols before. He'd tried to get his family to go caroling once, but they were so melancholy about it that he gave up literally a minute into the event and they went back inside.

He wasn't sure what Leo meant by 'best one wins'. He easily gathered that it was for ideas, but he didn't know if 'best' meant literally best or sarcastically worst, let alone what sort of ideas he was supposed to be coming with. If it wasn't for the level of irrelevancy of Christmas carols to cuddling, he would have guessed it was things to do while cuddling, but now he was just so unsure that all he could do was relay his confusion to the wall across from them.

[Guest]

"I'll start!" Leo chirped, a little too loudly.

"tonight sleigh my guide you won't..." It was less of a melody and more scowling, pausing, and trying to keep track of words. Leo was quickly finding that perhaps he didn't know 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' as well as he thought. He resolved to pay better attention to Christmas specials and dates with confused expressions.

[Guest]

With a smile and a sigh of mixed contentedness and confusion, the Ravenclaw interrupted, "Leo, I don't even know Christmas carols forwards. I wouldn't be able to participate anyway." Even if you weren't doing so badly he wanted to add. He would soak it in fondness, of course, because that's how he felt, but he wasn't sure that Leo would see that even if he kissed him afterwards.

Against his word, he hugged the Hufflepuff tightly again. Adonis really had no idea how this odd display of... whatever was going through Leo's head, could make him think the other boy was even more adorable than before, therefore causing his muscles to flex and pull him tighter against his chest. Although contradictory to everything his house stood for, the Ravenclaw resolved to think less when he was around Leo; he found himself more and more confounded with ever passing second. Not that he minded, though. He just needed to not think as much.

[Guest]

Leo's eyes fluttered open as though they were butterflies confined to a jar. It was almost as if Adonis had admitted to doing something completely taboo. The tightening hug hardly mattered in the face of such a deprivation, and feeling loved hardly seemed important when the person doing the hugging didn't know Christmas carols.

"For real? Not one?" He asked, completely amazed. Even people who didn't celebrate Christmas knew Christmas Carols...they played on the radio nonstop during the holidays.

[Guest]

"No, none. We don't own a radio, because my mother dislikes politics. My father goes to his friends' homes to listen if he wants to, which is rare. And, well, I don't have any friends anyway. I mean, I did have one, but he never listened to Christmas carols because he thought they were annoying." Adonis's voice broke down to a whisper for the next part, as it was basically a horrible thing he was almost confessing to and was genuinely ashamed of it, even though he didn't actually admit to what he did. He just said, "He wasn't around for very long though..."

[Guest]

"Why? What happened to him?" Leo did his best to ask the question carefully. He softened his voice like his mum did when he was about to cry, and he made sure to sound more concerned than curious. Up until then, Leo hadn't really seen Adonis in a remotely melancholy state. When faced with it, he really wanted to play Christmas carols for him and try his best not to trip when he danced.

[Guest]

Damn, you've done it now... He hadn't really meant for Leo to inquire about it, but a person can't mean for others to do things. When it came to his date, Adonis really ought to know better.

"Well," he swallowed, trying to clear his throat of the guilty lump, "I ate him, to be blunt about it. It wasn't as much of an accident as I wish it was."

Any romantic plans for the rest of the night were swept away by his statement, and he knew trying to come up with any would just result in an intense form of awkwardness. He let go of Leo, trying to make sure that the boy didn't feel trapped or in danger, because he really, truly wasn't. Adonis wanted to fold in on himself, but he didn't want to seem like he struggled for control of his cannibalistic impulses, as that wasn't entirely true. It was only on occasions when he was desperately hungry, which he wasn't right now. Oh if only he knew how to keep his mouth shut when he was thinking...

[Guest]

People who eat people are mad, he looks serious, and it's cold were all things that passed through Leo's mind. He couldn't bring himself to move, nor could he bring himself to look away from the very ashamed looking boy who'd let him go. He was almost positive he should feel nauseous, that he should call the kid a freak and go to bed, or even do everyone at school a favor and tell a professor.

Except, that went against almost everything Leo stood for, and he really did care about the people he was close to. Leo wondered if the virtues he was raised on applied here, if 'Don't knock it until you try it' was a valid argument. Either way, he didn't have it in him to tell on Adonis. He couldn't tell on, abandon, or fear anyone who didn't know the joy of Christmas carols and made a face like the one he was looking at.

So he denied it. Adonis was twelve. Twelve year-old boys didn't kill people and eat them. Hopefully, almost stupidly so, Leo told himself that the Ravenclaw was joking. He wished he could've convinced himself.

"That's not funny?" He tried, voice weak, hopeful, and unsure.

[Guest]

Adonis nearly cried, that's how taken aback he was by Leo's response. The boy didn't freak out, which was what Adonis expected at first. Rather, he sat there and thought about it. Most people wouldn't even spare the seconds it took to do that. However, it stung that he held hope for it to be untrue, because there just wasn't a way around it.

"I wasn't trying to be funny," Adonis whispered. He really did fold in on himself then, hugging his knees to his chest because he was too scared to hug Leo again.

[Guest]

"Oh, um" Leo's mouth went dry. He then kept himself from reaching out for the other boy, no matter what his mum said about everyone deserving comfort. Biting down on his lip, he Leo tried to make himself stop thinking. It didn't work. He only thought about it more, he only wondered how, and why, and worst of all, what did he taste like? Such curiosity made Leo feel sure his mother would never be able to look him in the eyes again. There were conditions, though. Circumstances. People who went days without food, people who couldn't tell what was real from what wasn't, People who just enjoyed really weird things.

"There's, um, no nice way to put this. So I'm, er, sorry..but..." Leo sucked in a big breath. "Did you...did you...kill him?"

It was too blunt, Leo was almost positive. He winced.

[Guest]

"Well... yeah, I mean I guess. I pushed him out of a tree, that part was an accident. But then I just thought, well, I haven't had anyone to eat for a while, so I, well I ate him. Not raw, I mean I cooked him even though that sounds so, so much worse." Everything he was saying just sounded a thousand times more evil and inhumane the more he talked, so he figured he should just stop talking, which he did. The odd part was that he wasn't ashamed of eating the person; he was ashamed of telling it to Leo, and perhaps about who it was that he'd eaten. "I'm sorry," he muttered, only for Leo's sake. "I'm not sorry about what I did. I'm sorry for you, having to listen to me talk. You don't have to stay with me, you know, if it bothers you too much." His last sentence could be taken one of two ways: with him where they were, or with him as a friend at all. Adonis knew what he was offering, but it was only right to do so.

[Guest]

"No.." Leo shut his eyes for a moment and took two, steady breaths. It didn't make him feel any less overwhelmed. "I asked...I...you were just...hungry? Like...you can't help it...? Like...little girls and pink frosted cupcakes?"

He was justifying it. He knew he was, but Leo didn't stop trying to. Leo refused to lump Adonis with horror movie villains and sick men from the papers. Adonis cuddled, laughed, smiled, and blushed just like everyone else. Leo couldn't associate him with the word evil.

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