Work Text:
Madara taps the toe of his boot against the ground, leaning up against the brick wall outside the back entrance of the live house. Leo shouldn’t be much longer — he knows Madara will be waiting for him, and despite his distraction-prone nature he has gotten better about remembering when they have plans.
Those plans tonight include popcorn and their fifth viewing of The Princess Bride this month, but, well. Plans are plans.
Madara’s not expecting to see anyone other than Leo, so he barely registers the presence approaching until something — someone — barrels into his chest with a thump, giggling wildly. He startles but catches them instinctually.
“HiHi~” Sora says, dancing away from Madara. “Hello, Giant-san! Sora will greet anyone he meets.”
“Aah, Sora-san?! You startled me,” Madara says.
Sora leans up against the wall across from Madara. “Sorry! Sora just didn’t expect to see anyone he knew around here, you know? He got excited when he saw Giant-san’s ‘color’!”
Madara huffs fondly. “Well, it’s all okay, but Sora-san needs to be more careful! What if I couldn’t catch you?”
Sora tips his head to the side. “Hmm. Giant-san would always catch Sora, though? Sora believes that.☆”
Madara opens his mouth, then closes it again, unsure what he can possibly say to that. He’s saved from having to figure out a response by the sound of bickering coming from just inside the door.
“– need to take our ‘lives’ more seriously, Leo-senpai, you can’t just show up whenever you feel like it! It’s disrespectful! It’s–”
“Wahaha☆! Suo~ is as uptight as always! I was there, wasn’t I?”
“That’s not the point–”
Leo pushes the door open and steps out into the dark. Illuminated from behind by the soft light of the live house as he is, his flyaways form a halo of gold. There’s a bright, cheeky grin on his face, still flushed from the live. Madara is, as always, stunned into silence.
“Ah! Mikejimamaaaa!–”
“Tsuka-chan!–”
Sora and Leo move as one, their shouts melding into one bright, clear sound. Leo’s familiar weight barrels into Madara’s chest, arms tight around his waist. Madara catches him and spins him once before setting him gently on the ground, but Leo doesn’t pull away, nuzzling into his chest. Affection crashes through him like a wave and he weathers it, arms light on Leo’s shoulders, afraid to hold him too tightly.
“Mama, I looove you!!” Leo exclaims.
By the door, Sora’s got his arms around Tsukasa’s shoulders, bright smile half-tucked into his neck. Tsukasa holds him by the waist, face bright red as he stares firmly at the ground. Ah, Madara thinks, I know the feeling.
“Tsuka-chan, Tsuka-chan!” Sora’s saying, “You were sooo cool during the live! Sora really loves watching Tsuka-chan perform.☆” At the sound of his voice, Leo turns to watch them too, still firmly clutching Madara’s shirt.
“It wasn’t that amazing,” Tsukasa mutters, clearly overwhelmed. “It was just a small ‘live’, Sora-kun.”
Sora frowns. “Tsuka-chan is too hard on himself. Sora thinks you’re amazing, okay?”
“A–ah. Okay. Then… thank you, Sora-kun.”
Sora beams at him. Madara catches the poor boy’s eye and gives him what he hopes is a sympathetic smile. He’s not sure he succeeds, though, given the way Tsukasa’s shoulders tense in alarm at the gesture. Sora turns, then, pads over to Leo and Madara.
“Leo-san!” Sora exclaims. “Sora’s sorry for not greeting you right away! He was just so excited to see Tsuka-chan, you know? But Leo-san did a good job today, too!”
Leo pulls away; Madara tries not to miss his warmth too fiercely. “Oh, Sora! You’re lively as ever tonight, huh? C’mere!”
Leo spreads his arms wide. Sora dives into them, giggling. “Of course Sora’s lively!” he says, muffled into Leo’s hoodie. “Sora’s showing Tsuka-chan his favorite February constellations tonight. It’s important, so Sora was sure to save up his energy for tonight.☆”
“Ahh, is that so?” Leo’s face slowly splits into a particularly mischievous grin. Madara watches Tsukasa’s face pale in real time. “Suo~, you better watch out for Sora, y’hear? He’s soo~ ‘pretty’ he might just get snatched up by aliens, hm?”
Leo’s obviously trying to imitate Tsukasa’s English on the word pretty, voice pitching lower in an approximation of his. Madara raises an eyebrow, fiercely curious what Leo’s referring to.
Whatever it is, it makes Tsukasa’s expression morph from fear to rage in an instant. It’s almost impressive, the range of emotions Leo can draw out of this kid without even having to try all that hard.
“Leo-senpai,” Tsukasa hisses.
Sora pulls away from Leo and cocks his head with a confused furrow in his brow. “Huh? Sora doesn’t really understand, but we should get going, okay? The stars won’t wait for us, even if we ask them nicely.”
Tsukasa’s whole face softens when he looks at Sora and he nods. “Of course, Sora-kun.”
Sora bounces over to him and takes his hand, lacing their fingers together and smiling widely. He waves to Leo and Madara with his free hand.
“Bye-bye, Leo-san, Giant-san! It was nice to see you!”
Sora tugs Tsukasa away by the hand. Tsukasa looks back for only a moment, just long enough to stick his tongue out at Leo in a remarkably childish gesture which Leo, naturally, returns without a second thought.
Madara watches them go, the soft way Tsukasa seems to almost cradle Sora’s hand, the absolute trust Sora has that Tsukasa will follow him. He looks down at Leo, who is also watching the two of them. When they round the corner and disappear from view, Leo finally looks up at Madara, still grinning that mischievous grin.
“Aah,” Leo says, resting his hands on the back of his neck and starting off down the path to his dorm, “Suo~’s crush on Sora is so adorable.”
Madara grins. “Oh, so you picked up on it tooo, Leo-san?”
Leo scoffs. “It’s not like he’s subtle about it, Mama! Well, I say that. Naru dragged it out of him at Rittsu’s a few months ago. But I would have noticed on my own, you know!”
Madara hums in acknowledgement. Arashi, he knows, had begun to insist on Knights bonding sleepovers between the five of them, and Ritsu’s family home was the only one able to comfortably fit them all. He’s not surprised to learn they devolve into that sort of gossip, but he is desperately curious to know what other things have come out.
“Aah, Mama’s so happy for those kids… who confessed, then? I’m dying to know, you know?”
Leo’s face scrunches up in frustration. “Neither of them, yet.”
Madara stops. “Whaaat? But it’s so obvious Sora-san likes him too!”
“Ugh, we tried telling him that!” Leo throws his hands up in the air. “Suo~’s being such a little coward about this, Mama, it’s awful to watch.”
Ah. Well, that’s not an unfamiliar situation. Madara swallows. “Weeell, it’s hard, you know? When you like someone and you’re not totally sure they like you back.” Or when you’re totally sure they don’t. “Tsukasa-san’s a real methodical kind of kid. Shouldn’t he go at his own pace? Sora-san doesn’t seem to mind waiting for him, after all.”
Leo frowns. “Suo~ should just tell him. I think it’s always worth it to tell someone you love them. Even if they don’t feel the same way, isn’t it nice to be loved? Shouldn’t you want them to feel that way?”
That catches Madara off guard. “Leo-saaan, do you love someone?”
Leo stares at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. When he composes himself, he grins at Madara. “Yup!☆ I tell him all the time! But he’s a real bonehead about that kinda stuff, so I’m not sure he really gets it.”
And… well. That’s it, then. Madara knows – has always known – that Leo was too good for him, that someday Leo would fall for somebody wonderful and Madara would have to figure out how to be happy for them. He just didn’t think it would happen so soon.
He gives himself three seconds to work through the selfish pain of it and then says, “Leo-san, that’s so sad! Come here, come here, let Mama comfort you.”
Leo allows himself to be bundled into a hug. After a moment, he taps Madara on the shoulder. Madara releases him, more reluctant than he has any right to be.
“No worries! I’m preeetty sure he likes me too, so I just gotta be patient.” Leo winks at him. “Me and him have a good thing going already, so I don’t mind waiting as long as he needs for the rest.”
Madara nods, quietly, wracking his brain to figure out who Leo could possibly be in love with. Izumi? That would make sense, maybe. They were close during the war, and have been getting closer. And Izumi can be oblivious. And Leo does tell him he loves him often.
Not that that last point narrows down the possibilities at all. Leo says I love you like breathing. He tells Madara he loves him all the time. He loves his Knights and his roommates and any random person on the street who inspires him. Leo has so much love to give; Madara knows, in his head, that even if Leo loves someone a little differently than he loves everyone else, it won’t take away from that love.
Madara will still have him like this, gentle under the streetlights as they walk back to his room. It will have to be enough.
Leo fumbles with his room key. Natsume looks up from his bed as he opens the door and makes a face when he sees Leo.
“Wahaha! Nacchan’s here!” Leo exclaims, plodding into the room. Madara follows, murmuring a sorry for the intrusion as he does.
Natsume frowns at them. “Are you going to be Loud? If you’re going to be Loud, I’ll go see Sora instead of staying here to listen to You.”
“You can’t! Sora’s on a date,” Leo informs him, setting up a nest of pillows for them at the headboard of his bed. “Seemed like he’d be out pretty late. Suo~’s gonna be grumpy tomorrow morning☆”
Natsume sits up so fast it rattles the crystals on his bedside table. “They’re on a Date? Tsukasa-kun finally asked Him?”
“Aah, I don’t think so!” Madara cuts in, before Leo can worsen the misunderstanding for his own amusement. “I wish he had, though. They’re both such earnest kids. I want to celebrate for them already.”
Leo snorts. “They’re stargazing,Mikejimamaaa. It’s, like, two inches away from being a date.”
Natsume sighs loudly, falling back against the pillows. “Tsukinaga-senpai, can you please tell your cowardly boy-king to stop stringing my apprentice along Already?”
“Your boy could ask mine out, too, y’know,” Leo says absently. Apparently having gotten the pillow-nest exactly as he wants it, he flops down in the middle, leaving just barely enough room for Madara to squeeze in beside him. He flips open his laptop and starts searching for the movie.
Natsume snorts at him. “Sora tells Tsukasa-kun how much he likes him every time they see each Other. It’s not his fault the brat is being Obtuse.”
“Don’t be so rude, Nacchan. That’s our king, you know. Anyway, yes, I’ll talk to him! Or... something.” It’s Leo-code for I’ll make Naru talk to him, and Madara’s not sure if Natsume knows that, but either way it seems to satisfy him because he lies back down, pulling his headphones over his ears and turning to face away from them
Leo pats the bed beside him insistently. Madara, as always, goes.
---
When Madara gets to the NewDi offices the next morning, the first thing he hears is a commotion from Knights’ practice room. Normally he wouldn’t intrude, but Tsukasa’s voice, obviously upset, draws him to the door. He pokes his head in.
“Yo, Knights!” he says. All five of them look at him in unison; he’s reminded powerfully of a community of cats.
Tsukasa sighs, looks away first. “Oh, it’s you, Mikejima-senpai. Sorry, but we’re a bit ‘busy’ at the moment, so could you–”
Leo cuts him off by launching himself at Madara. “Mamaaa!” he exclaims, burying his face in the crook of Madara’s neck. Leo’s lips brush against the exposed skin of Madara’s shoulder, and he tries very hard not to shiver.
Madara catches him, supporting his weight as he clings. “Leo-san,” he says, far too tender. He looks around; Arashi and Ritsu are watching them knowingly, but Izumi isn’t paying them any attention, rubbing comforting circles on Tsukasa’s shoulder as he stares down at his hands.
“Tsukasa-san, what’s the matter?” Madara asks, walking more fully into the room so he can deposit Leo onto the couch. Leo pouts for a moment before pulling Madara down into the seat beside him.
Tsukasa sighs. “It’s nothing, Mikejima-senpai. I only– ah, misled myself, regarding some things. I am adjusting.”
“We’re telling you, Tsukasa-chan, that’s not–”
“Narukami-senpai,” Tsukasa says, quiet but imposing. Arashi quiets immediately. “I have lost my chance. To continue trying to convince me otherwise is unkind and unfair.”
Madara blinks. “Is this about Sora-san?”
Tsukasa’s head shoots up in alarm, his cheeks coloring. “I– Mikejima-senpai, how do you– um, I mean–”
“Aah, you just remind me of someone. Did Sora-san say something?”
Tsukasa is quiet for a moment. Ritsu reaches over to poke him in the forehead; Tsukasa glares reproachfully at him. Ritsu says, “Mikejimaman is his roommate. It can’t hurt to get his opinion, Suu-chan.”
“I… was going to tell him. So I asked if he was free on ‘Valentine’s Day’. And he said… um. He said, Sora’s waiting for the person he likes to ask him out!” Tsukasa looks up, a little desperate. “I don’t know what that means, Mikejima-senpai.”
Madara hums. “Sora-san’s a real straightforward kid, but he’s also not used to being with people. I think he thinks he’s been clear enough with you about how he feels. He praises you often enough, yeah?”
Something starts to click, then, in the back of Madara’s mind; he ignores it, unwilling to indulge the thought just then.
“I… Sora-kun is kind to everyone, though. It doesn’t mean I’m special.”
Leo pipes up, “Don’t freak out, but hasn’t he probably seen the color of your feelings already?” He looks sidelong at Madara. “And he’s not cruel. He wouldn’t tell you he liked someone else if he knew it’d hurt you.”
Tsukasa makes a frustrated sound. “If he knows, then why hasn’t he…”
Leo shrugs. “Lotsa reasons. Maybe he’s scared. Maybe he doesn’t know how to say it any more clearly than he has. Maybe he just wants to feel wanted.”
Madara … is starting to get the feeling that they’re having two conversations here. “Leo-san?” he says, tentative.
“Or something like that! Y’never know, Suo~!” Leo winks.
Tsukasa looks down at his clasped hands. “I don’t want to ‘embarrass’ myself,” he mumbles.
Arashi lays her head on his shoulder, patting him gently on the elbow. “It’s not embarrassing to like someone, Tsukasa-chan. Sora-chan isn’t going to think any less of you, you know? So go ask him, okay? He’s waiting, you know.”
She looks at Madara when she says this. The obvious double-meanings just outside his grasp are starting to hurt Madara’s head.
Tsukasa stands. Arashi, apparently not expecting it despite that she was advocating for it moments before, falls backward onto Izumi. He nods, once. “Okay. Okay, I’m going.”
“Wooo! Get ‘im, Suo~!”
“Break a leg, Suu-chan~”
“Idiot, you don’t say that unless it’s theater, it’ll sound like a threat–”
“Shut up, Secchan–”
“–We’re proud of you, Tsukasa-chan!”
As the other Knights all talk over each other, Madara makes eye contact with Tsukasa, stopped in the doorway. Tsukasa looks over at Leo, then back at Madara, eyebrow raised in a knowing way he definitely picked up from Arashi.
Madara sighs. This is… something he’s going to have to think about now, isn’t it? Because there’s no way it’s him Leo loves. There’s no way, but– the look in his eyes, the way the other Knights had stared after him. Leo knows him better than anyone else; he’d been foolish, to think he could keep this from him. And– He wouldn’t tell you he liked someone else if he knew it’d hurt you.
There’s no way, but– but– Maybe he doesn’t know how to say it any more clearly than he has.
Maybe he just wants to feel wanted.
Leo grabs his hands, startling him out of his thoughts. “Leo-san?”
“Mamaaa,” Leo complains, “you totally spaced out! Hurry up or we’ll miss it!”
“Miss–” Madara’s voice dies in his throat as he looks around and finds… it’s just them, now. “Er, Leo-san? Where’d they…”
Leo flicks him in the forehead, pulling him to his feet. An amused smile plays on his lips. “Did you think they weren’t gonna spy? Wahaha! Mikejimama, you don’t know Knights at all!”
Madara frowns. “Doesn’t that seem reeeally rude? Tsukasa-san will be upset.”
Leo laughs and then he’s pulling Madara out the door. For all his protests, Madara, as ever, follows.
Tsukasa and Sora are standing in the corridor outside Switch’s office. Leo looks around for a hiding spot only to find all the pillars and hallways already occupied by the various other idols of NewDi – even Kohaku is here, for some reason, tucked behind a potted plant and pretending not to be listening.
Leo, ever resourceful, dives beneath the nearby desk, dragging Madara down with him.
It’s cramped – definitely not big enough for one full-grown adult, much less two, even if Leo is on the smaller side – and Madara finds himself folded almost in half in the corner, hovering over Leo, boxing him in. Leo grins up at him.
“– something to tell you, Sora-kun,” Tsukasa’s saying. Madara can barely hear it over the sound of his heartbeat, of Leo’s breath in his ear.
“Tsuka-chan knows he can tell Sora anything,” Sora says, indulgently. Leo raises a hand to Madara’s face, grazing his fingertips across Madara’s cheek. Madara can’t stifle his gasp.
“Mama,” Leo whispers, pulling Madara’s attention to his mouth. “I love you, y’know,” he says.
And Madara – he can’t ignore the way Leo’s looking at him. Not for another moment.
Tsukasa stammers, “I– I know you said you have someone you like, and I don’t want to get in the way of that, but– but I am sure I would regret it if I did not tell you how much I– Sora-kun, you’re so pretty. And so cool, and kind, and I– I like you a lot, so. So, um. Go out with me on Saturday. Please.”
Leo snorts gently at Tsukasa’s stuttering. Madara shifts closer to him, presses their foreheads together.
“Leo-san,” Madara murmurs.
There’s a yelp and then a thump from the other side of the desk. Sora exclaims, “Yes, yes, yes! Tsuka-chan, Sora’s been waiting for so long!”
Leo raises his eyebrows, still smiling, still waiting.
“I’ve been stupid, huh, Leo-san?” Madara says.
Leo chuckles. “Yep! But that’s okay. Mama is Mama. I meant it when I said I didn’t mind waiting.”
“I’m sorry it took so long. I… love you a lot, Leo-san. I have for a long time.”
Leo winds his arms around Madara’s neck and pulls him impossibly closer. When Madara kisses him it’s gentle, arms braced on either side of his torso on the carpeted office floor. Leo’s mouth is soft and warm, and he sighs, like he’s gotten something he’s wanted for years.
Madara pulls away only when a sharp metallic bang resounds through the desk next to him. Through the gap at the bottom of the desk he can see Tsukasa’s polished brown shoe, Sora’s white and green sneakers.
“Leo-senpai, I know you’re down there,” Tsukasa says, all the Sora-directed fondness of moments ago gone from his voice, replaced with barely-contained rage. Sora’s very obviously giggling and trying to hide it. “All of you are insufferable. Go away already.”
Leo bursts into laughter, bright and clear.