Work Text:
Leo had been watching for a while now.
It had ultimately been a quite day today, sometimes these types of days would come along and surprise them. He had mostly stuck around the office. Filled out some paperwork that Steven had been nagging at him to finally complete, went on the lunch run, Zed stopped by with coffee mid afternoon. The most hectic part had been when Zapp had barged in at some point, loudly complaining and with an open wound. Blood gushing out his chest. That had been quickly sorted out and then office lapsed into silence again.
It was bordering evening now, the dusky sky sending warm orange rays through the windows. A brilliant bronze hue tinting the room. He was currently sat on the couch, a file discarded on the coffee table that he had decided he would get to tomorrow, phone precariously balanced on the couch arm.
He’d been watching for quite some time, which is probably why he was so distracted.
See, the only three people in the office right now was himself, Klaus and Steven. Gilbert was out pottering elsewhere, would most likely be back later to drive Klaus home. It happened more often than not, the three of them ending up here together and working quietly. Leo didn’t mind it, he’d rather face Steven’s reminders about paperwork than face Zapp’s annoying antics any day.
He’d been watching Klaus, mostly. Steven was out of his peripherals, off to the side and aggressively scratching a pen against paper. Klaus was sat in front of his computer, like he often was, hunched over slightly and face stoic with focus.
Then, at some point that focus shifted, his eyes became a little hazed. He blinked at the screen.
It was a gradual shift, he had started the day out strong. Leo had noticed the faint dark circles under his eyes but had decided not to mention it. Why would he? Klaus was a capable man and they had recently had several back to back cases they were dealing with so everyone currently was feeling a little tired around the edges. However, Klaus seemed to drift off almost, he’d blink a lot slower, typing becoming sparse rather than the constant clicking that filled their morning.
Then, Klaus sways, eyes fluttering shut. He falls forward, his head slamming into the computer keyboard.
For a moment Leo doesn’t know what to do- Klaus, the epitome of strength and dedication, breathing heavily with his head down on the desk. He goes to stand, ready to cross the room but Steven is ahead of him, waves a hand that silently tells Leo I’ve got this. Leo sits back down and decides to just watch, as he has been aimlessly doing for the past few hours.
Steven leans onto the desk, shakes Klaus’ shoulder with an intimate gentleness. He waits a moment and when there’s no response, he taps the shoulder instead. This causes Klaus to stir. He lifts up his head, rests his folded arms against the top of the desk and blinks slowly. He straightens out his glasses, glances around and finally lands on Steven who is still right next to him.
For a moment they hold the gaze and there’s an unspoken conversation between the two. Words exchanged that Leo doesn’t understand, will probably never understand. He’s always knows that Steven and Klaus were close, assumed it was friendship forged when creating this group. A few near death experiences often bring people closer together.
Then there’s an actual conversation between them, but their voices are hushed so Leo can’t pick up any of the words. Can only focus on the intonations emitted. Klaus, slightly rough and heavy with sleep. Leo had been worried before but now he assumes Klaus probably passed out from exhaustion. Hopefully an easy fix. Then there was Steven, his tone was gentle, something he really hadn’t heard the man use before. He was all stern voice and focused on work, he was catching a rare glimpse to a completely different side of him.
The conversation spans out for several minutes, then Steven does something utterly shocking. He leans in, Klaus doesn’t try to push him away, and runs a hand through Klaus’ hair.
He’s invading an intimate moment; Leo thinks to himself. Yet he doesn’t rip his gaze away, watches the intimacy unfold. It’s so warm and quaint and so unlike Steven- yet to them it must be natural. It’s a quick motion, one he repeats a few times and it has Klaus leaning into the touch. There’s a crinkle at the corner of his eyes, the ones he gets when he smiles kindly at others.
Then, Steven lowers his head slightly and plants a gentle kiss on the centre of Klaus’ temple.
Leo looks away. Feels like he’s intruded too far now, seen too much. He fiddles with the sleeve of his jacket, there’s a frayed thread that he tugs on. Whatever was happening across the room from him right now felt too personal for him to be watching. Leo doesn’t pry into their personal lives, and they don’t pry into his (unless it's to do with his eyes, then usually it’s something important that needs to be discussed.) So, he lets them have their privacy. He doesn’t get up to leave, conscious that that will bring attention to him. Instead, he continues to pull at the thread, grips on it hard enough that it snaps, taut.
A moment passes, he hears the muffled voices, then there’s a chair scraping across wood and shuffling footsteps.
Leo looks up, catches Klaus as he’s heading out the front door. Klaus gives him a nod and a warm smile, Leo assumes he’s leaving to go home (and hopefully rest) so he offers a small wave back. Steven follows him out to and of course Leo doesn’t question it.
Before he’s out the door, he quickly says, “Gilbert will be back to lock up, see you tomorrow, Leo.”
“Okay thanks,” Leo responds quietly, “see you tomorrow.”
The door clicks shut, and Leo is left to his own thoughts. He has a lot of thoughts right now, funnily enough. Maybe he’ll ask Chain or Zapp about what he saw today, the former more likely to produce actual useful information than the latter. Or perhaps KK, he could trust her to let him in on some gossip.
He’s seen a small slither of a private life that Klaus and Steven potentially have together. And it didn’t seem they were too bothered on hiding it, Steven wouldn’t have been so careless, or Leo would’ve just been asked to leave. It was peaceful, regardless of the fact that Klaus had literally passed out. He just hopes is that Klaus is okay, is all.
He gets up, stretches out his back and it cracks satisfyingly. Then he’s packing up his bag and heading home.