Work Text:
The door creaked as it opened, and footsteps were sounded before the creak returned, but this time it was accompanied by the sound of the door closing.
Leona didn't go and stand on defense. He didn't even open his eyes. He knew that there was only one person that enters his bedroom on their own accord.
Only when his bed dipped slightly at one side, did he open his eyes and turn his upper body to face the Pomefiore housewarden, who was sitting on the edge of the bed with an expression that was dancing in between a resting face and a face of worry. "Mind telling me why you didn't attend to any of your classes today?" the lilac-eyed asked. "That you miss one or two is no surprise, but all? What's eating at your ass this time?"
Leona didn't respond immediately, he just let out a heavy huff and turned his back to his partner again lazily. "Nothin'." He murmured out.
Vil frowned a little at the way his partner spoke. He rested both of his hands on the Savanaclaw housewarden's bed, leaning more onto it as he got comfortable. "Did your brother contact you again?" he asked, changing his attitude to something more soft, more gentle.
"Mn... No."
"Cheka?"
"No."
Seeing that Leona had a perfectly fine relationship with his brothers' wife, and Kifaji wasn't too bad either, Vil didn't even bother asking if they did something. But then what was it? He reached towards his shoes to take them off, and then moved further onto Leona's bed. It was a large thing, so this was the easiest way to get closer to his lover, really. "Then what's up? You're worrying me." Vil rested a hand and his chin on Leona's upper arm, now being able to see the dull expression on the lion's face, his emerald eyes just staring at the orange sky in front of him, visible through the window-like gaps of the wall, signing that the sun was setting. "Is it... A recurring thing?"
"Are you really going to guess?"
"How will I find a way to cheer you up if I don't even know what's on your mind?" Vil could hear a sigh leaving Leona's lips.
"You don't have to cheer me up." He said, and fell silent for a moment before he mumbled something out again. "Jus' feeling unmotivated."
'Ah, that again...' Vil thought. This wasn't the first time that Leona lacked motivation, and he knew damn well why he was feeling this way.
Leona tended to be second place with a lot of things. Whether it was in his family, or with sports, he was so close yet so far from first place. With most people, it didn't matter much. But for Leona, it did. Since that position has been like that since his birth, and he was put in an undeserving place every time, it ripped hope away from him. It stole his light, so to say. It made him unable to see a road that'll lead to a successful future. It was why he was the way he is; he lacked the vision, and he lacked care, and that led to his rebellious attitude and him skipping classes. Leona always played it off as being unmotivated, but in reality it was much more than that. Vil would almost call it depression, but it didn't cross that line quite yet.
"Did something happen that you feel like that?" Vil asked, trying to get more out of his partner. "Or did it happen by itself?"
Leona scoffed. "What are you, my therapist?" Vil could see an ever so slight smile on the prince's face, showing that he didn't mean it offensively, and that he actually appreciated Vil's commitment to get something out of him. "I woke up feeling like shit."
- - - - - -
"Well, you're certainly not going to be able to get a job as my model partner with that attitude."
After about fifteen minutes of a starting conversation, it was in full swing, and Leona finally turned around to face Vil with a look in which he almost cringed.
"I'm definitely not going into that world of yours out of my own will." He stated, turning his whole body to face his boyfriend.
Vil was laying onto Leona's bed (almost on top of Leona, actually) now as well, his elbows keeping his upper body up, yet his abdomen was resting on the sheets that were too big for the bed and hung poorly from the sides. "But you did really well in the Halloween shoot!"
"That was because the outfit suited me."
"True... I'd love to see Captain Leona Sparrow again..." Vil sighed, not even denying Leona's words. "But still. You'd definitely be able to get a good spot as model, especially if you join the agency I work for together with a few good words from me. The industry yearns for a face like yours... I bet some already know you, considering you made a magazine cover once with your Spelldrive shoot."
Leona shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, being a model would be too much work. You'd have to watch your reputation, do things like diets, and you have to have a clear schedule at all times in case a shoot randomly gets thrown at you." he was calling out things he knew Vil did that didn't appeal him. "And sometimes you don't even get a day worth of rest."
"But that's the fun part about it." Vil pointed out. "You get to work hard, please people including yourself, make money, and when the busy schedule has been dealt with, you finally get to relax to the fullest." He explained.
Leona looked back outside. The sky was dark now, which meant that it was late, but surprisingly, he didn't feel too tired, and Vil seemed to be able to stay awake for a while, too. "It just doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy."
"Then what would you enjoy?" Vil asked, and the room fell silent at that. Vil remembered that Leona didn't have a good look onto a future, so he tried to answer for him. "Wouldn't you like to be able to do something with sports? Professional Spelldrive player or something?"
"Same reputation and diet thing."
Vil tried some more occupations, only to be met by the same answer over and over he huffed, almost wanting to say that the other was hopeless, but he knew better than to say something like that, and he didn't like to lie. There was a lot of potential in Leona, but he didn't care enough to show it. He had good skills, was smart... "What about becoming a professor?"
"A professor?" Leona scoffed, his emerald green eyes meeting lilac.
"Yeah. A teacher or something." Vil continued, sitting up. "You're smart, you know that damn well. Despite slacking off, you get fairly good grades, you help people from classes below you, and you're skilled in pretty much every subject."
A response wasn't right away, a sign that Leona was actually considering Vil's idea. "...This is the second time I'm in this year though."
"So?" Vil asked. "Doesn't really matter. As long as you get a degree, you'll be fine. And sure, you might have to study some more in order to be allowed to apply for jobs as a teacher, but you'd be able to use your smarts to your advantage. You'll always be above your students, and you'll be able to show them the ropes and teach them how things are done properly." Now he had actually come up with something that sounded fitting for Leona, Vil himself actually got a little excited about it.
"Where would I even be allowed to teach? I have an attitude and a nasty scar children wouldn't be too keen on seeing every day." Leona reasoned again, clearly trying to find a way out of this conversation to go back to brooding. But even so, Vil could see that Leona got just a small spark of interest.
Vil placed his hands on his partner's shoulders, looming above him. "What about here?"
"Here?"
"Night Raven College." Vil elaborated. "You know everything here already, so it'll be way easier for you to find your way through campus and the school, and I'm certain that some staff will still be here by the time you'd start teaching here, so it isn't much of having to get to know new colleagues, either. You don't have to be at the palace in Sunset Savanna much either, because you'd spend at least four days a week teaching." Everything he was calling out, Vil knew were pros for Leona. "Also, you can just sit in a classroom to grade your students when classes are over. It seems like the perfect job for you, no?"
Leona squinted his eyes slightly, considering the idea. Maybe... Vil had just come up with a future for Leona.