Chapter Text
It was the morning of graduation. While Leo’s alarm was set for 8 am, he was wide awake at 4:43 AM. He turned over, picked up his phone, and groaned when he saw the time.
After ten minutes of looking up and subsequently attempting breathing exercises to get back to sleep, he resigned to the fact that the day was starting. He got out of bed and tiptoed towards the kitchen.
To his surprise, Jason was sitting on the couch with a mug of tea, sitting in silence. Leo walked over and sat next to him, taking the blanket across his lap and distributing it across the two of them.
“Well”, Jason started.
“Yeah”, Leo replied quietly.
They sat there for ten minutes in comfortable silence, with nothing except the occasional sip of tea and the sound of their breathing in the room.
“How’d that interview go the other week?”
Jason had applied to jobs a few weeks ago, trying to secure something before they needed to resign their lease or look for a new apartment. He had a few interviews for research positions in the city at libraries or museums, but nothing solidified yet.
“It was alright. I didn’t walk out of it feeling confident. Just waiting for an answer. How was yours?”
Leo decided he wanted to work at a lab before going into industry, so he sent applications for all of the Mechanical Engineering labs at their school hoping to line something up.
“I actually got the job at the lab with my professor from last year. The one in robots and mechatronics. Doesn’t pay fantastically, but enough that I’ll be able to pay the rent and insurance and all the other life stuff. A little bit left over to engage in the quintessential early 20s shenanigans.”
Jason smiled at him and squeezed his hand, and warmth spread through Leo’s chest.
“Are you thinking you want to renew here or find another place? We could reach out to Piper and Shel to see what their plans are—”
Jason leaned in and kissed Leo, putting his hand on his face and caressing his cheek.
“I love you. When we sign our next lease, I want it to be because we’re starting our life together. In that sort of way.”
“So profound, Grace. Therapy really has been working for you.”, Leo smirked.
“Shut up, Leo”, as he leaned in again.
The kiss tasted like coffee, morning breath, and anticipation for the future. It was the best first kiss of all time.
Graduation came and went. Boring ceremony with lots of speeches, having 15 seconds of fame while crossing the stage, taking loads of photos to commemorate the occasion.
With degrees in hand, Jason and Leo started the apartment hunt. While they decided to venture solo, they ended up moving in down the street from Piper and Shel, where weekly game nights quickly became a calendar staple, and vacations once a quarter were the norm.
One night, the four of them were around the dinner table, eating a meal that Piper and Leo had assembled in the kitchen. Yellow rice, peruvian chicken, plantains, and some green beans were piled high on Jason and Leo’s kitchen table, accompanied with the cacophony of forks and knives across plates.
Piper lifted up her glass.
“A toast”, she said, “to surviving the hell that was college, all securing jobs that keep the lights on, and to the love that surrounds us all.”
While normally Leo would launch a crack at Piper’s cheesiness, he obliged in her toast, basking in the warmth of the evening. The Seven had decided to plan a group trip for Thanksgiving, so he had been having one of his best days to date.
At night, when the kitchen table was cleaned up, Leo and Jason got into their bed. Jason kissed his forehead, cuddled Leo close in his arms, and clicked off the lights. Leo couldn’t help but feel like the best was yet to come.