Chapter Text
Leo’s POV
Leo was tired. It had been far too long since he had seen his own bed, and as much as he hated the house it was in, he was beginning not to care. Sleeping in a shabby little shack with only a basic sleeping bag on the ground up a snowy mountain was already a lot to handle for him, but being sent with the particular companion the company chose seemed like a planned attack. “Hmmnnnng” Leo turned to look at the blonde man grunting in his sleep nearby, his limbs strewn about on top of one of the sleeping bags provided to them. Leo wondered often how the other man was able to get any sleep up here, but had to remind himself that he didn’t feel the cold the same way as everyone else. Having control of fire seemed to have some perks Leo was currently very jealous of. They had been on this mountain for about 4 days now tracking down some smugglers, and while at first the temperature wasn’t much of a problem, the cold was starting to seep into Leo’s bones and he found it almost impossible to sleep. Seth over there on the other hand had been having no problems with the frigid temperatures, snow literally melting away from him where he currently laid covered in sweat, while Leo sat awake contemplating his current situation. The heat radiating off of his companion in these close quarters was enough not to freeze up here, but it was still cold enough to be quite uncomfortable. Suddenly Leo’s outer thigh was enveloped in warmth. He glanced over to see Seth had rolled over in his sleep and one leg was now resting against Leo’s own. He flushed. See, this seemed like a planned attack not because Leo was jealous of Seth’s fire, (though that was also very true at this current moment) but because Leo had a sizable crush on the blonde man that was now leg to leg with him. It had started small, Seth had already caught Leo’s eye on their first day working for the company. He was loud, overly confident, and asked way too many questions much to Leo’s annoyance, but his outgoing personality and insistence started to draw Leo in and the more he got to know about Seth and his true personality underneath the false bravado, the more he was falling for him. WHICH IS WHY THIS MISSION FUCKING SUCKED! Seth had no idea Leo had feelings for him and he wasn’t trying to let that information out into the world, but all this close proximity and alone time for days on end were not helping his situation. Seth, it turned out, was a great leader. Which, Leo supposed, did make sense considering unlike himself, Seth had on several occasions in the past led missions of his own with full teams. Seeing this whole new side of his favorite coworker was proving to be bad for his secret keeping abilities.Gods, he wanted to sleep and stop thinking about all this, or at the very least be able to think about the mission instead-
“-eo.”
“Huh?” Leo turned his head to look over at Seth who was now staring at him, red eyes half lidded.
“Dude, it’s like,” Seth peered at his watch, “2am. Why are you awake?”
“I could ask you the same question.” he retorted quickly.
Seth pointed at Leo’s shadowy tendrils lightly creeping around the shack, one having started sliding across Seth's shin. Leo quickly withdrew them.
He hoped Seth couldn’t see the deep flush spreading across his cheeks, “WELL!...Well, someone’s gotta be on watch right?” he answered a little too loudly.
“I’m a light sleeper.” Seth was now leaning up on one arm fully looking at Leo “You can sleep.”
“Yeah, but-” Leo tried, “You know, I was just gonna let you do your thing, but you haven't been sleeping at all up here have you?” Seth interrupted. Whatever Leo had been about to say got caught in his throat. “You’re going to pass out at some point and I'd rather you do that somewhere safe and on purpose, not randomly in the middle of a hostile situation.” Silence.
Leo mumbled something under his breath.
“What did you say?” Seth leaned closer to the taller man.
“I said, it’s too cold.” He was sure the heat coming off of his face might rival Seth’s resting temperature at this point. “I can’t get my body to shut off out here.”
“Tsk.” Seth clicked his tongue as he ran a hand down his face. Leo was thoroughly embarrassed now.
“Don’t tsk me. Not all of us can easily lay on frozen ground!”
“Man, seriously. Why didn’t you just say something?” Seth lifted his arm, opening up the sleeping bag still partially underneath him. “Here, I can share more heat, I’ve got plenty to spare.”
“WHat? NO! I mean, no, I’m good, actually no I'm great I’ll just stay over here plus I lied, your heat radiating in here is Plenty enough for me I’ll be fine! In fact it's too hot in here, stay over there.” Leo scooted away as much as he could, which wasn't much and faced completely away from the older man laying back on the cold ground. Seth smirked.