Chapter Text
‘Red, orange, yellow… green, blue, indigo… and violet makes a rainbow!’
Leon puts the finishing touches on his picture and sits back with a huff of contentment. The rainbow is the final piece in his picture — a medieval knight wields a sword against a big, scary dragon. There are little mushroom people in the background cheering him on, chanting for their saviour to vanquish the evil scourge that has terrorised their village for the past several months.
He’ll draw the next scene where the knight defeats the dragon, but he knows there’ll be blood in that one, and he doesn’t want to use his red crayon for something scary like that. Not today.
‘Whatcha drawing, sweetheart?’
He lifts his head and looks up at daddy. He feels his mouth pull wide into a big, happy smile. He didn’t hear daddy coming into the room. He must be done with his work now, which is good. Leon knows he had lots of phone calls to make and lots of boring papers to look at. He’s always in a bad mood when he has to do grownup stuff.
‘A knight,’ Leon announces. ‘He’s gonna save the mushroom kingdom!’
Daddy ruffles his hair and gives him a kiss on the top of his head. It makes Leon feel safe, like the mushroom people watching their protector take on the evil dragon.
‘Is that right, champ?’
He nods his head proudly.
‘The knight was scared, but it’s ok, ‘cause the sorceress gave him a magic sword!’
With a loving smile, daddy climbs onto the couch behind Leon and nestles his good boy between his legs, tucking his chin over Leon’s shoulder to get a look at the drawing. His whiskers scratch at Leon’s neck and cheek, but it’s ok. He likes daddy’s whiskers.
‘The knight got a name?’
Leon chews his lip and thinks for a while.
‘Chris…topher.’
Daddy laughs. His breath is warm on Leon’s skin, like a warm summer’s breeze.
‘Like me, huh?’
‘Yup!’
‘Well, all right.’
Leon sets his crayon down and pushes the paper aside. Behind him, he feels daddy sigh, and an arm slips around him, safe and strong.
‘You hungry, sweetheart?’
Leon shakes his head. His tummy rumbles.
Daddy laughs.
‘Tell you what,’ he says, touching a kiss to Leon’s cheek. ‘Why don’t you clear up all this stuff and I’ll go make some lunch?’
Leon pouts and folds his arms grumpily across his chest. He doesn’t want to have to clean up — he wants to colour, and play with his toys, and run around outside. Cleaning up is boring.
‘Leon.’
Daddy isn’t mad — he never gets mad, and he never raises his voice — but Leon knows that tone. He knows it means he can’t get his way, even if he stamps his foot.
‘Fine.’
‘Leon…’
Leon makes a great big harumph with his breath. It makes him feel a little better. He knows he’s not being very nice, though, and daddy always says how important it is to have manners.
He twists around in daddy’s arms and clings to him in a tight hug.
‘I’m sorry, daddy.’
‘It’s ok, kiddo. Don’t worry, I’m not mad.’
‘I know.’
He feels daddy move away from him, standing up. Then daddy puts a hand on his shoulder and points at the crayons scattered across the top of the coffee table.
‘Why don’t you make it a game? See if you can line up all your colours like a rainbow. I bet it’d make a really pretty pattern.’
Leon frowns and looks at the crayons, considering daddy’s suggestion. There are lots of colours, and most of them are out of the box — he never remembers to put them away when he’s done, and he always needs daddy to help put them back in the right order. There are lots of them, too. Too many for him to look after on his own.
But maybe daddy is right. If he can find the colours of the rainbow, maybe he can find the colours that go in between, too. He likes matching things up, and seeing how good they go together.
‘Ok! I’m gonna do it.’
‘Great.’
Daddy ruffles his hair again. Then he steps away, but Leon has already started his game, finding all the reds and putting them in a pool together. Next he’ll do the purples. Then he can find everything that goes in the middle.
‘Leon? Leon. Leeeeeon.’
He looks up, only noticing daddy’s voice now.
‘Mhm?’
‘Do you want ham and cheese, or PB&J?’
Leon thinks about it for a while.
‘Peebee!’
‘Ok, champ. I love you.’
‘Love you too, daddy.’