Chapter Text
The sounds of your alarm going off woke you from your dreamless sleep. You groaned as you shifted, the plush mattress under you was surprising, you didn’t remember getting into bed, then your face flushed at the thought of Leo carrying you up to the room, and the embarrassing night came flooding back too. You let out an audible groan at that, but the still ringing alarm was making your head hurt, so you reached up on the nightstand to silence it. Your head hurt, not nearly as bad as you thought it would, but lying in silence was nice. You snuggled up against the plush sheets, you wanted to stay in bed all day, but work wasn't gonna wait for your life to get itself together, so you begrudgingly got up, stretching your arms over your head, feeling the soft pops in your shoulders and neck.
A soft yawn escaped your lips as you slipped out of the sheets, grabbed some new clothes, and found a towel. You started the shower and let the water get warm, taking off your clothes, you threw them over as neatly into a pile on the floor. Stepping in, you let the warmth envelop you, the gentle streams of water were massaging your skull and making your aches and pains go away. You finished up cleaning the last bits of soap out of your hair, turning off the water, you pushed the curtain back a little to grab the towel, and wiped yourself off before stepping out of the shower.
You were drying your hair when you heard something in the other room, it sounded like the floorboard creak and you paused in drying your hair to look outside the door. You opened the door, taking a peek you didnt see anything so you leaned out further to get a glance of beautiful tan skin and as your eyes scanned up you kept seeming more then you finally caught the face attached to it.
He was smirking, you could feel your face burning, your headache was non-existant in the moment, “Morning.” Leo said as twiddled with a shirt in his hands.
You let out a yelp before covering yourself and slamming the bathroom door, “M-m-morning…why are you in here?” Your voice reached a new octave.
“Get changed and Ill explain it out here.” Leo’s voice filtered through the door.
“Sure…yeah.” You said and somehow you got dressed in a new world record, one final check to make sure your bra was in the right place.
Opening the door, Leo was putting on his shoes at the edge of the bed. He was leaning over, lacing his shoes up, and his ears moved as you entered the room. He looked over at you, “So…long story short, Raz threw a release party last night and people were making out in my bed, and lord above help, they aren’t there still.” He explained, “So I slept in here…with you.”
“In the same bed?”
“Yes…”
“When? All night?”
“Yes, you were passed out on the bike, I brought you up here, and you were sawing logs. I promise nothing happened. Honest, lions honor.” He said as he stood up and walked towards you.
You took a moment, you were still in clothes this morning so you knew nothing happened, “Will it be a recurring thing?” You asked, but kept the tone light.
He pulled a small smile on his lips, “No, unless you ask for it…” He leaned in and wiggled his eyebrows.
You pushed his shoulder and laughed, “Oh, hey, would it be ok if I borrowed a car? I need to get to work, I’ll pay for gas, and I’ll keep it neat and clean.”
“I can take you, I’ve gotta visit the office today,y but I can come get you when you're finished, just text me.” He said.
“You don’t trust me to drive your car?” You asked, you knew they were his and he had ever right to them but it kinda made you feel sad he didnt trust you.
“Huh? Oh no, but the car I usually drive is having issues, and Raz takes the older one, so I only have the Jeep or bike, and while I think you would look fabulous on my bike, I think your face would sue me. Also, I may have to take clients out, so I can have Raz carpool or…”
“No, you can take me. I didnt realize your sports car was having issues.” You said, as you grabbed some things and put your shoes on.
“Yeah, it's making some strange noises. I've got someone to come by and look at it this weekend.” He said as he walked towards the door. You followed behind him, “Need any coffee before we go?”
“No, I can grab some at the office…oh lordy.” You said that as you saw the state of the house, there were bottles everywhere, wrappers, food crumbs, and you hoped those were clean underwear.
Leo let out an audible groan, very loudly that it almost sounded like a roar, “Do not clean this up, I am making Raz clean this up.”
“You sure? I don't mind…”
“Yes! The last thing you need to clean up after these people. Now let's get you to work.”
Work seemed to drag on, people kept asking you questions, poking around, and it was stressful. You didn’t want to explain all of this to anyone, but Kimberly kept pestering you at lunch, and you half contemplated asking Leo to come get you. “ Soooo , you just gonna NOT tell me? I know something is up, girl.”
You rolled your eyes, “Kim, I don’t want to talk about it, it's… It's a lot.” You said with a long exhaled breath.
“Yeah? That's why you were dropped off in a Jeep this morning?” She asked, the tone dripping with sinister intent.
You honestly felt so cold, everything hurt, your head, your heart, and coming to this dead-end job. You wanted something different, but what that different was, you weren’t sure, but this was starting to wear on you. She kept poking at you about the car, even after you chose to just ignore her questions and tried to politely shrug it off. The day only got more hectic as more people kept asking about the Jeep, if your boyfriend got a new car, were you still fighting, and nothing about the actual work that needed to be done today.
You slouched in your chair, your brain didnt want to look at this report anymore, and your eyes needed a break. You got up, grabbed your phone, and went outside to get some fresh air. The breeze felt nice, the sun was heating you slowly from the air-conditioned office, and looking down at your phone, it was only a little past noon, which was gut-wrenching because that meant four more hours of this craziness. You walked around the building, scrolling through your phone, and you checked your messages and saw Leo’s name. Debating with yourself on whether to message him or not it might make you feel better and give you something of a silver lining today.
“Hey, how is work going?” Sent
You took one more lap around the building before you went back into the office. You slid into your chair, and the echoes of chatter and typing rang through the building. You heard your phone buzz on the desk, flipping it over, you saw that you had a new message and opening the phone it was from Leo.
“Busy, got lots going on, a few more meetings, and I should be done. How about you? Do I need to come get you?”
You started typing a message out, “Did you hear?” one of your coworkers' voices said in the cube next to yours; the foam wall divided the two, but you could hear everything; it didn't muffle much to your annoyance.
“No, what do you know?” Another girl's voice asked, it sounded like Sue, but you couldn’t be sure.
“It's about the Jeep that Y/N came in. One of the guys in IT had the plates run, and it belongs to a millionaire!”
“What!” Sue said in a quiet shout.
“Yeah, guy's filthy rich, guess we know why she isn't saying anything. She’s cheating on Ryan. Fucking bitch.”
“Damn, Ryan’s pretty handsome, too. I knew they were having trouble, but I didnt expect her to have such a slutty side.”
“Right? I asked IT to dig up some photos, but turns out the guy doesn't have any social media, which is a bummer.”
The rest of the conversation blurred together, your ears were ringing, and staticy white noise was deafening. You couldn't breathe, your chest hurt, it felt like a knife was twisting in your chest, and someone was squeezing your lungs. Everything felt wrong? Dizzy? Spinning? You were sweating, shallow breaths, you couldn't catch your breath, and now you were panicking. The world was spinning, you got up and ran to the break room, grabbing a cup of water. Gulping down several cups, you felt a little calmer, but everything still hurt.
Those women knew full well Ryan cheated on her time and time again; he bragged about it at one of the Christmas parties. This place was toxic from day one. You remembered thinking it wasn’t a good fit after two months, but you needed the money, so you held out. You let out several deep breaths and headed back, but your boss was coming towards you and he didnt look too happy.
“I don't mind breaks, but you missed an important call. What's wrong with you?” He asked, he looked you over, seeing the tears that had escaped.
“I uh…overheard something from coworkers that made me feel uncomfortable, and I think I just had a mild panic attack.” You said your chest still felt like a clamp was squeezing it tight.
“Ok and?”
That was it, ok…not what they said, now why I felt uncomfortable, just ok, well ok then, “Sir…I quit.” I said, and walked around him to get my things.
“What? You can’t quit over what some gossip?” He asked, and there was a huff in his voice like he couldn’t believe I would.
“No, sir, this place is toxic, and I am done. I need help and…and I don't need this place.” You said as you kept walking. You grabbed your bag, throwing in your items, a few things you owned, on the desk, and walked to HR.
Well, that was not how you saw the day going, but honestly, you felt like you could breathe a bit easier now, sure, you didnt have a job now and would probably be living with your parents from now on, but you could feel the stress leaving your shoulders. You had texted Leo that you would need him to get you around three, and that left you an hour to get your story straight. You did have about two boxes of stuff that were yours on top of your bag being full.
You dragged the boxes across the street. There was a bench you could at least sit down at while you waited, but your stomach growled. You hadn’t eaten, not much, and the smell of food being cooked caught your nostrils. Looking around, you saw a food stall that, like many of the food joints, was an open concept, a small kitchen, and a tiny counter to order from with a canopy to cover them from the blazing heat of the day. The stall was called Hakuna Matata, and from what you could tell, it had some burgers, and were those bugs?
You walked over to the stall, looking at the menu there were definity bugs on the menu, chocolate covered grasshoppers, slimy but satisfying grub salad, and while that made your stomach turn, many of the patreons seemed to like it. Though they seemed to have a menu for burgers too…
“How can I help you?” A small, slim bestman asked you, looking down, you saw a meerkat beastman with a tiny chef hat on, a messy apron, a white, stained tanktop with a notepad in his hand.
“Oh, uh…can I get a burger and fry to go?” You asked.
“Sure, how ya want that done?”
“Medium, please.”
“You got it. Hey Ernie, get a medium patty and a fry down!” The man shouted.
“Ok, you got it, T!” The large warthog beastman in the back shouted.
“Shouldn’t be long, want a drink?”
“No, thank you. What a unique menu, I never noticed you guys here before.” You said, working across the street for so long you think you would notice.
“Oh, we just opened a year ago, and business has been slowly building. Mind if I ask, but why the long face?” The meerkat asked.
“I just quit my job, it was super toxic but…” You let out a sigh, “It's been overwhelming, a lot of things happening these last few weeks.” You said.
“Well, we can't have these negative vibes, nope!” The meerkat came out from around the counter, grabbed you by the shoulder, and pulled you close, “Listen, those things sound horrible, believe me, I used to work for a crazy organization of construction workers, dig, dig, dig all day, and they thought it was fun, but not me. No, I wanted more, I wanted to see the world, well, actually, I just wanted a place of my own to spread out and not smack elbows with everyone in the world.
“Now, I run this place with my best buddy Ernie, and a piece of advice, let it go.” He said with a smile.
“Let it go?”
“You can't change the past, nope, so just forget about it and move on, Hakuna Matata.”
“Hakuna Matata?”
“Hakuna…Matata!” Ernie shouted from the back.
“It means no worries, so just let those nasty past negative emotions go. Lifes too short, right Ernie!”
“That's right! Order up!”
You somehow found yourself smiling; they just had such a great vibe around them, and you couldn't help but laugh. Maybe you did need to just let go, worrying about this stuff wasn’t going to make the past change or the people who did it to you act any different. “Oh, I didnt pay for the food.”
You dug out your wallet, but meerkat held up his hand, “Hey kid, it's on the house, ‘sides you looked like you needed a pick me up.” He said as he handed you the bag of food.
“Thank you but next time I’m paying, mister?”
“Call me T!”
“T, thanks again! Ill try…Hakuna Matata today.”
“That a girl!”
The burger was actually really good; it was tender and moist, and the fries were salted to perfection. While you waited for Leo to show up, you called your mom to break the news to her, so many things to tell her within a short amount of time, but she seemed to take it well. You chatted with her while you waited for Leo.
Leo POV
Your text came out of nowhere to get you around three, but maybe your boss let you go early, he didn’t mind, he might have to take her back to the office for a bit. Only because he has a client who called last minute and demanded to see him. He never liked those kinds of clients, but they were paying him a lot of money, so how could he refuse? He was about two lights away from the address she gave him this morning when he thought he spotted her across the street, nah, that couldn’t be, but as he got closer, it was. You were sitting on a bench talking with someone on the phone, and why were there random boxes there? He slowed the car down, turned on the hazards, and got out.
“Hey, you get out early?” He asked, as he stood on the sidewalk.
“Oh, I have to go mom, my ride is here. Yes, I love you too, ok, see you Wednesday.” You said, it kinda hurt to know you would be leaving in a few days but they were your parents so they would keep you safe, “sorry, uh…sorta. I need these boxes to come with us.”
He looked over at the two larger boxes. “What's in them?” They looked rather heavy, and they were when he bent down to get them, “open the back.”
You hurried to the truck and popped it open for him, “my stuff from my desk…” you said, rather sheepishly.
He closed the truck and leaned against the back, “what happened?” He tried to keep his tone light but he knew something was off.
“I…well, quit my job.”
He thought he heard you wrong, so he blinked a few times but you didnt say anything, “you did?” He asked, now sure what else to say.
“Yeah,” you threw your arms out then let them hit your sides, “I quit…I can tell you about it on the way…comfier chairs.”
He nearly drove off the road when you finished your story, while running plates isn’t a totally legal thing for a normal IT guy to do, it was more so that some strange people had his information and if anyone did any kind of digging they would eventually end up finding out who he was. Not that you seemed particularly close with anyone there, nor would they really contact you, but still, it had his heart racing, and he might have to contact Ruggie to make it go away.
“Well, I am glad you left. That place sounds horrible.” He finally said after taking a moment to breath.
“I honestly feel so much lighter…it wasnt easy but man do I feel better.” You let a small sigh pass your lips.
He smiled to himself, he liked hearing that you were feeling better, “Hey, so I have to go back to the office, apparently a client decided to stop by and I have to deal with that. I can drop you off at the house if you don't want to come to the office with me.” He said, going home would be a pain, but if it made you more comfortable, then he’d make it work.
“I can come with you, I don't mind waiting in your office, besides, I can't imagine it would be worth it driving back home to come back.” You said, a small smile on your face.
Yep he was a goner, a sucker for that smile, “ok, I’ll try not to bore you with my lame office, I should hire a decorator.” He chuckled.
The office wasn't glamorous; it was a large warehouse that had lots of product on shelves, trucks in loading docks, large bay doors, and another section that led to the actual working offices for his sales team and staff. He watched you eying all the big equipment and large orders that were being moved around. He did feel a sense of pride in his accomplishments, it was all his hard work and that was something no one could take away from him.
He took you through the doors that lead to the office, and the change of noise level was almost scary. The loud beeping, engines, and pallets rattling all just went quiet as the door shut behind you, and the sound of computers typing, sales calls, and tech support was echoing about.
“This way,” he said as he pointed towards a staircase that lead to the upper levels. There wasn’t much up there, his office, some storage for IT, server rooms, and for his right hand people. Opening the door for you, you both walked in, he ran over to his desk to gather all his documents for the meeting, when a soft knock came to the door.
“Sir, she’s here…should I take her into the conference room?” Melia said, she was his secretary and ran the front of the office.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” He said over his shoulder, he picked up a few files from his stands and notebooks. “I shouldn’t be in there for too long but feel free to get comfortable.”
“Thanks, good luck.” You said as you found a clean spot on the couch to sit.
Reader POV
You looked around the room. His office was large, with lots of paperwork spread around everywhere and large rolls of blueprints. He had lots of bookshelves, filing cabinets, a beautiful large table, and this comfy couch. You took out your phone to scroll through some messages, nothing new, and so you poked through other social apps to entertain yourself. It had been half an hour in, and now you had to use the restroom, so you ventured out of the office. The upper level seemed to be empty; they all must have been in that important meeting, so you walked to the staircase that overlooked the front lobby, and you saw the girl who came in earlier was sitting.
You came down, walking over the girl, looking closer, you saw she had short ears and wondered what kind of Beastman she was. “Hi, um…where is the restroom?” You asked.
She looked over at you, “Oh, hi, the restrooms are over there,” she pointed towards the far wall where you saw the two signs on the wall, “do you need anything else?” She seemed very sweet.
“No, no thank you.” You gave a short bow before heading off to the restrooms.
They turned out to be quite nice, well lit, nice tiles, spacious, and clean. Not that you were expecting otherwise, but it was always nice to see a neat bathroom; you had been to some that were gross. You were just starting to wash your hands when the bathroom door flew open, causing you to jump and look over to see probably the scariest-looking woman you had ever seen.
She was a lioness, tall, slim, short bob hair, she had thick makeup on her face, and a scowl that could make an onion peel. Her nails were painted a deep red and pointed as she marched towards the sinks. You moved over a bit to make sure she wasn’t crowded, “I do not bite…little human.” She said, her voice was cold, but the accent was rich. Wherever she was from, it was deep in the country.
“Oh, sorry, I just didnt want to crowd you. I like your nail color.” You said, hoping to at least lighten the mood with this stranger.
She took a moment to look at her own nails, “Hmm…it could use another coat. What department do you work in?” She asked point blank.
“I dont work here.” You said, hoping to avoid the next question, but she got to you before you could dry your hands.
“Then your husband? Partner? Someone works here, or are you a janitor…no, you are dressed too nice.” She asked, her eyes searching your face as you thought.
“I um…I’m friends with someone here and I was just visiting.”
“Who is this friend?”
You paused, “may I ask why you care?” You tried to keep your tone light but this conversation was very weird.
She gave you a thin smile that curled up against her cheeks, “Seeing as I am doing business, a rather large amount of business, I tend to…do my due diligence with who I am working with.”
You looked at her, “I thought you were already a client?”
“Oh, strange that you know that, you must be friends with someone high up.” She leanded against the sink.
You knew that was a trap, it was oozing with ‘please go on’, so you decided to ignore it, “Sorry ma’am, but I have to go.” You pulled the door open and walked towards the staircase.
Being back in the safety of Leo’s office, you got comfortable on his couch, starting to scroll back through some of the apps and games you had. It had been an hour now and still no sign of Leo, not that you minded. You knew these could take a while, but ask the second hour rolled in, you started to worry that maybe he left you by accident at the office and thought about sending him a message to just double-check.
Though you didn’t have to wait much longer because Leo walked in about five minutes later and groaning. “What a waste of time! Such a pain!” He shouted.
You sat up, “you ok Leo?” He looked over his shoulder at you, seemingly like he forgot you were there, “something happen?”
He slid into his chair, his hand ran along his face and into his hair, “Ziara is just a pain in the ass client who likes to get under my skin.” He let out a groan as he spoke.
You thought of the lady from the bathroom, “Does she have short hair and long red nails?” You asked out of curiosity.
He looked over at you, “how did you know that?”
“I met her in the restroom…she was terrifying.” You said, you felt a shudder go through you as you remembered her cold amber eyes looking at you.
He tapped his fingers along the desk, “I see, so she was gathering intel, I knew she was a piece of work, but…” he waved his hand around as he thought.
You sank into the couch, “I’m sorry, she caught me off guard…”
“Im not mad at you, she’s done this before,” he said, as he sat up in his chair, “oh well, guess that is something I will address in the next meeting I have to have with her.” He let out a deep breath, “Ok, well that's enough work for one day, how about we grab some dinner, yeah?”
You looked up at him, “Sure.”
On the way into town, Leo was chatting with you about the different types of places; most of the ones he listed were all steakhouses, and they all sounded pretty fancy. While fancy places were nice, you didnt feel like walking into a place that you had to eat with two types of forks, six spoons, and at least a dozen fancy knives. You happened to notice a barbeque place that seemed to be on its own and that sounded much better.
“Hey…um, would that place work?” You spoke up and pointed towards the barbeque place.
Leo looked behind him to see where you were pointing towards, “Really? You sure you want that?” He asked.
“Yes, is that…um…a problem?”
“No, just didnt think you’d want BBQ.” He shrugged and pulled into a parking spot.
The smell was heavenly as you walked into restaurant, the smoky fragrant wafting in the air and the country music in the background made the whole atmosphere cozy. The menu wasnt too large but just enough items that most anyone could find some thing.
After you two placed your order, you grabbed a table, Leo was looking around the place while you watched him, and found yourself admiring him. You took a sip from your drink, and when his eyes met yours, you felt yourself get warm.
“So…uh, how was work other than the crazy client?” You asked to change the subject.
He pushed his drink aside and grabbed your hand, which sent a shockwave down your whole body, “how about we talk about something other than work, like you?”
“Me? You seem to want to know a lot about me lately.” You teased, as you leaned your chin in your free hand.
You saw the blush on his face, but he seemed to play it off, “Well, you are far more interesting than anything else around me…”
“Well, lets see…” You told him about your favorite things, movies, shopping stores, food, books, etc. Your food arrived soon after, and your stomach growled in pure delight at seeing the food.
You dug into the food, at first you started off eating delicately but then you got your hands dirty, you heard him chuckling, “what? Is something on–”
He leaned forward and ran his thumb along your cheek. “Well, one thing is for sure, you are definitely not like the other women I've known.” He laughed gently.
You felt a blush, thinking back to all the events that happened, “Is that a bad thing?”
“Nope, just refreshing.”
“Oh?”
“Most women I’ve known try to be something their not, you, hah from day one have been you. You fought back against your ex, you spoke your mind, you can cook, and honestly you are sweet.” He said.
You felt your ears getting warm, but it also made you feel really warm inside. “Is cooking really that impressive?” You asked, a little chuckle escaped your lips.
He looked over at you, his cheek resting against his hand, “In my book, yes, as someone who was surrounded by women would couldnt cook or didnt want to. Having someone who enjoys it and the food tastes good, win-win.”
“What is your family like?”
Leo (POV)
Your question took him off guard, he didn’t think you would ask him about his family, and he didnt know how to answer that. He couldn't tell you about his real family, that would give him away about being royal, but he didnt want to avoid the question, seeing as that usually led to more questions later on. “Uh….well…they—“
“It’s ok,” you interrupted him, his eyes shot towards yours, “I just blurted that out…I’m sorry. You already mentioned you had a dad and didn’t elaborate…you seem like you don’t like talking about it much, and who am I to just ask personal questions? Not like I’m your girlfriend right?” You chuckled nervously.
That last bit stung, yeah, you weren’t his girlfriend, but in all fairness, he didn’t want to talk about family or even a made-up one. He wanted to enjoy tonight with you, so he was and changed the subject. The rest of the night went a lot smoother with the help of some drinks. You were trying desperately not to drink too much, which was cute; he liked watching you try to hide how messy you were eating, but you failed. Though he was enjoying it, not having to worry about how he acted, what he thought, what he did, it was nice, and you just went with it. You laughed with him, told stories, and he found himself hopelessly falling for you all over again but that could wait. He was enjoying the night and he wasn’t going to soil it. After he paid the bill you two walked back to the car, the air was crisp, it made him shutter but you seemed to be enjoying it due to the two drinks you had, you were smiling like a baby cheetah, he wanted so bad to just pinch and squish your cheeks.
He didnt want this night to end, but tomorrow was a new day and another one he got to spend with you.