Archive of Our Own

i.

The sun filters in through the murky mist of Hellsalem’s Lot and dimly lights up the tiny apartment. A weak ray of light is cast over Leo’s face like a mask and slowly stirs him awake. He sinks his palms into his eyes, rubbing at them a bit before removing the pressure. He’s left with seeing rings of light dance in his vision.

His neck hurts and he goes to move but stops himself once he remembers Black’s here too. He soon notices that they had fallen asleep on the couch and not in his bed. The tv is replaying the title screen to a movie they were watching last night and he searches for the remote to turn it off. His nose scrunches up when he sees it’s too far to reach in his current spot so he stays put and lets it play.

The position they’re in is a less than ideal one, but Black looks comfortable and cozy so Leo can’t bring himself to mind too much. Black's glasses are pressing up against his forehead and Leo carefully removes them, setting them down slowly on the end table. Black still doesn’t stir at the movements and Leo feels relieved. He doesn’t want to wake him up, he looks too peaceful and he would feel bad if he disturbed him. So he gazes at him.

Black’s hair was a bit bedraggled and he was drooling on Leo’s chest. If it were anyone else, he’s sure he’d feel a bit disgusted, but again he couldn’t find it in himself to mind. It was endearing to him. His features were untroubled and soft puffs of air could be heard exiting from his nose.

A feeling of complete and utter admiration envelops him and he hums softly in soft surprise. Black always made him feel warm and content. It was nice. Kind of like the first sip of freshly made tea or coffee. It’s the warmth that begins in your chest and slowly spreads throughout the rest of you. Leo felt that when looking at Black. Every time.

He wondered if that’s what love felt like, he didn’t know for sure. But he was sure that he did love him. Especially in this moment.

ii.

Grocery shopping wasn’t something Leo found himself excited to do. It was something that had to be done though, but Black made it a little more bearable. Often times if Leo goes by himself he only ends up getting junk and, if he remembers, bananas for Sonic. So Black goes with him this time. It all feels very domestic and Leo can’t really say he hates it.

Black holds the shopping list and Leo pushes the cart.

“We need milk.” Black muses, tapping the pen he’s been using to cross things off against his chin.

“Milk, got it.” Leo nods and he leaves the cart next to Black as he looks up and down the shelves that hold soups and pastas.

Leo wanders to the refrigerators that are designated to hold dairy products that are needed to kept cold. He scans the many gallons of milk, trying to find one that has the furthest expiration date from today on it. He spots one near the back and opens the glass door to take it. He huffs at the cold temperature and snaps it shut once he’s gotten the jug.

He deems it alright and begins to walk back to Black. He looks around the store, letting his eyes wander and he slows when he reaches the snack aisle. He contemplates walking past, but he succumbs to his weakness and enters it.

He doesn’t look for anything in particular this time, just anything that looks good at the moment. Anything that looks good at that moment was a lot. So he picks out a few things and realizes he doesn’t have enough hands so he readjusts what he’s holding. He sets the milk down on a relatively open shelf and tucks a few bags under his arms and grabs a few other snacks off a shelf.

He’s in the aisle for a couple of more minutes before deciding he should get back to Black. He leaves the aisle and makes his way over. He spots him with the cart not more than 15 feet away and rushes over, dropping his heap of snacks into the basket.

Black looks at them in surprise and then back up at Leo. “You got distracted didn’t you.” He said, fondness clear in his voice and on his face.

“Huh?” Is Leo’s ever so eloquent response. Black gives him a moment, eyebrows raised and then it dawns on him. “...The milk!” Leo all but squawks and he spins on his heel and hurries back to where he had left the gallon.

He’s relieved to see it still there and not taken by someone or moved back to where it belongs. He picks it up, grabs one more thing off the shelf, and goes back to Black.

“ Now you can check off the milk.” He plops it into the cart, feeling rather accomplished, and Black blinks at him for a moment. Next thing he knows is that Black’s laughing. It’s an absolutely wonderful sound that, if Leo could, would listen to for the rest of his life.

Leo can only watch in awe with his face heating up a bit, and he makes sure to commit this to memory. Black always throws his head back when he laughs, and then he ducks his head down and his eyes squeeze shut. His shoulders will shake sometimes, depending on how hard or loud he’s laughing. They’re shaking a bit right now.

Leo doesn’t think he could live without this sound and makes a mental note to get Black to laugh more often so he can hear it. His chest is flooded with a content feeling and he lets himself begin to double over too.

In this moment he’s quite sure he loves Black.

iii.

Leo has time today to visit the Diannes Diner so he stops by. Black immediately spots him enter and waves with a bright smile. Leo responds with a smile and a small wave.

Leo went to their usual booth and sat down. Black maneuvered his way over and before he could speak Leo opened his mouth. “I can wait till things calm down.” He assured, adding a grin for extra measure.

“I-I’ll be right back I promise!” His response was brisk and was delivered with a sheepish smile as he melted back into the chaos.

Leo frequents the diner enough to know when it’s usually more hectic than normal, and sometimes he comes in when it’s busy because he likes to see Black work. Though he does feel a little guilty that his presence only adds to the disarray.

But, it’s a nice sight to see Black working. He’s always got a smile on his face and Leo is sure that it’s always a genuine one. He finds that endlessly endearing. He watches content from him booth and smiles to himself.

Black was still fairly new to waiting, so he was prone to mistakes like most people are. He always apologizes profusely when he does. In response most customers are kind enough to tell him that it’s not that big of a deal. There are some who aren’t kind enough but that’s sadly a given in a place like Hellsalem’s Lot.

Despite that, Black seems to enjoy working at Diannes Diner. Vivian has definitely taken a liking to him which is no surprise. It’s very hard to hate Black. When you first meet him you have the urge to protect him, and while he’d argue against needing protection it’s still a feeling that’s there.

Unbeknownst to Leo, a plate of fries had been slid onto the table along with a milkshake and when he finally notices he sees Vivian gesturing for him to eat. He decides to do that.

Not too long after he started eating Black drifts back over to him.

“Ah! you got food? Good! You need to eat anyways, sorry it’s really busy I don’t mean to keep you waiting like this.” Black apologizes and Leo shakes his head.

“No it’s alright, I didn’t think it’d be so busy.” He pats Blacks hand that’s resting on the table for good measure. “Take your time.”

Black’s face is soon dusted pink. “Ah...alright...I’ll be right back...again.” He disappears once again. Leo must have an obviously smitten look on his face because Vivian walks over and says something but the only words Leo can catch are doting and moonstruck. And maybe she wasn’t totally wrong but Leo would never admit that out loud or to himself.

He just happened to love Black to the point where it felt like he’d burst. He was still debating on whether that was a good or bad thing.

iv.

Sundays were always nice. Both Black and Leo didn’t usually work those days so they liked to either spend the day lazing around their very small apartment or they went out and did something. Today they chose to stay inside.

Leo is laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling while Black stands in front of the kitchen counter cutting something up. He listens to the steady chopping and then sits up right. He glances over and cocks his head a bit as he watches Black work away at what he was making.

He looked very absorbed in his chopping and his eyebrows were furrowed a bit. His hands moved steady and skillfully from chopping peppers to carrots. Leo wondered how a person’s hands could move that fast and steady and not end up cutting their finger. As if Leo jinxed it the trance Black was in was cut short when he lets out a short yelp. The knife clatters against the countertop and Leo is up and over by him faster than he thought he could move.

“I-I’m okay it was just a little nip.” Black assures, sucking on the finger he cut. Leo doesn’t look or feel very convinced.

“Just let me see.” He reaches to take Black’s hand but Black steps back before he can.

“ Really , Leo I’m fine . I only need a bandaid.” Leo narrows his eyes (or what Black assumes is narrowing his eyes) and steps forward making another move to grab at his hand but Black steps back once more.

He’s now pressed back on the kitchen sink and Leo leans in intending to see the cut on Black’s finger. “What’s the harm in just showing me? Stop being so stubborn,” Leo practically whined and took Black’s hand from his face and inspected the slash. With Leo having had his fair share of scrapes his can easily fix this. “C’mon, I can take care of it.” He murmurs and directs Black to the couch while he gets the rubbing alcohol and a bandaid.

He returns shortly and sits down in front of Black and sets to work. It doesn’t take too long, a few minutes most likely.

Leo notices that Black’s hands are rougher than expected. He looks like the type of person to have soft hands in Leo’s opinion. He has light scars on them that are hard to see but they’re there if you’re up close. He makes an equivocal sound when he address this fact internally and then looks up at Black with a smile.

“There, all done. Wasn’t so bad.” Black is looking at him fondly again and Leo can feel his ears warming. He goes to get up but Black links their hands before Leo can let go and he stumbles back onto the couch.

Leo’s face was definitely red now and Black’s was feeling just as hot.

Leo lets go and readjusts his position so that they can sit comfortably next to each other. Once he does he relinks their hands and Black sets his head on top Leo’s shoulder. Leo makes a soft humming noise Black sighs softly.

“I guess dinner will have to wait.”

“I guess it will.”

“Thanks for bandaging my finger.” Leo just hums again in response.

They sit like that for a while, light conversation doting the comfortable silence every now and then. Black soothingly rubs small circles on Leo’s hand with his thumb and it makes him a bit sleepy.

He attempts to stifle a yawn and he feels Black laugh lightly next to him. If he fell asleep on the couch he was sure to get a crick in his neck. Though he didn’t mind too terribly if Black was with him.

Their moment lasts for a little while longer before Black decides he should finish making dinner. Leo is half asleep at this point though, so he barely notices him get up. Black fetches a blanket from the tiny closet next to the front door and lays it over him. He leaves a soft kiss on his forehead and mumbles that he’ll wake him up when the foods done. Leo makes a noncommittal noise and Black laughs softly again.

He feels himself drifting off again and he makes another mental note of his love for Black. This time he makes sure to add the reminder that Black loves him too.