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Leon had been sorting through some old supplies in the Synthesis Shop when Sora had found him.
Sora finding him was not like someone else finding him.
A normal person would have waited for Leon to get out from underneath the table he was currently lying underneath before saying his name loudly to get his attention.
Unfortunately for Leon, Sora was far from a normal person.
When Leon had heard his name being shouted loudly and unexpectedly, he had automatically gone to sit up forgetting where he currently was making him hit is head on the large wooden plank above him.
Sora did look slightly remorseful when Leon removed himself from under the table to glare at him.
“Uh, sorry.” He said cautiously, his hands held out in front of him as if he half expected Leon to grab his Gunblade from across the room and start attacking him with it.
“It’s fine.” Leon said trying to blink the tears out of his eyes. “What are you doing here anyway.”
Sora perked up a little bit. “We found this weird type of Gummi thing and Cid said he would have a look at it for us.”
“And you came here to pester me because…?” Leon trailed off.
Sora blinked at him slowly before saying, “Well I went to go find Yuffie first to show her this super cool move someone taught me. But I couldn’t find her or Aerith so I just headed straight here instead.”
“Yuffie and Aerith are helping the Moogles with something.” Leon said before his brain had the time to processes Sora’s words fully. “So you couldn’t find them, so you came to see me as a last resort. You do know how to make me feel special, Sora.”
Sora’s reaction was instantaneous and a tad over the top. “No! It’s not like that!” He blurted out. “It’s just that- You know that I would always come to you first! It’s just-“
“I know, I know.” Leon said unable to keep teasing him any longer. “It’s okay, I was happy for the peace and quiet for once.”
Before Sora could respond he picked up one of the books he had open next to him and threw it at Sora. “But since you are here you can make yourself useful.”
Sora flipped through the pages, confusion clear on his face. “What do I need this for? Is this reason you were under the table.”
“Aerith asked the Moogles to make a big batch of Mega-Potions for her and they weren’t too sure if they had all the materials for them. So, whilst they went out to farm some materials they asked me if I could stay behind and sort out a bunch of stuff they were given ages ago but never fully catalogued.” Leon explained, pointing to the jars and the unopened boxes that were under the table behind him.
“Why didn’t you just move the boxes out from under the table?” Sora asked.
“And make more work for myself?” Leon asked dryly before gesturing to the book in Sora’s hands.
“It takes so long because I have to double check that I am labelling them all correctly. Apparently Mogtaro mixed up a Dark Shard and a Dark Matter last week and it made the place so smoky they had to leave the shop for the day.”
Sora’s expression was serious as he leafed through the book. “Okay, so what do I have to do?”
Leon explanation was short and sweet.
I will tell you what I think it is or what it looks like and you will double check and write the label out. Easy peasy, squeeze the lemon.
And it was easy peasy squeeze the lemon for the first ten minutes. Leon would call out a description, “Red, shiny and translucent. Check that it’s a Blaze Shard.”, before rolling the jar towards Sora. Sora would flip through the pages of the book before calling out, “Definitely a Blaze Shard” and would write down on the label and set the jar aside.
They had a nice little rhythm going up until Leon reached a trio of little jars tied together with a ribbon. All three crystals were almost identical. Pale blue, smooth and about the same size however they all gave out a weak light that differed in colours somehow. He untied the ribbon holding the three together and rolled each one out towards Sora one after another.
"Right." He picked up the first one. "Blue, translucent, slightly jagged. Absolutely no idea what they could be probably look for Frost or Blizzard first.”
Leon waited whilst Sora flicked through the pages. It felt like an eternity before he heard Sora let out a frustrated noise.
"Sora?"
"Hm?"
"What does the book say?"
“Hang on, I’m still looking.”
Leon waited. A few more seconds passed. "What page are you on?"
"Erm …. The blue page."
Leon rolled his eyes. "There are several blue pages."
"Yeah, that’s the problem.”
Leon pulled himself ever so slightly from under the table so that he could see Sora. He watched as Sora slowly turned through the pages of the book, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"You finding it?"
"Yeah."
"You don't sound very confident."
"I am." Sora said turning another page.
This time Leon came out fully under the table careful not to hit Sora or the sea of small jars around them with his lanky frame. Leon leaned over slightly so he could see the page Sora was reading and frowned.
“Did you already look through the Blizzard ones?” He asked.
Sora looked at him in confusion. “Huh?”
He pointed to the little tabs on the side of the book. “The entries are in alphabetical order and you’re looking in J.”
“I know.” Sora said, his voice unusually quiet.
Leon couldn’t help the unease that was building in his stomach. “Turn to the Frost section again and let’s double check it’s not there.”
Leon watched as Sora closed the book fully and reopened it using the faded F tab. He watched as Sora flicked through the pages barely looking at the entries as he did so.
“Hey, slow down.” Leon said moving closer to the Keyblade Wielder.
Sora did slow down slightly, and it allowed Leon to proper look at Sora’s eyes and where he was looking on the page. Sora’s gaze was jumping all over the page, not following the text at all before jumping to the black and white illustration and then turning the page.
“Sora, what page are we on?” Leon said trying to sound neutral.
It took a few moments for him to respond. “I think were on the Dazzling Stone page.”
“You think or you know? What does the description say.” Leon prompted.
Sora didn’t respond, his eyes still fixed on the page.
“Read me the first line.” Leon asked gently.
Sora’s grip on the book tightened, his knuckles turning white.
"I don't want to." Sora said, his voice wavering.
"C’mon Sora.”
"I said I don't want to." Sora said again his voice rising in volume.
“Sora,” Leon prompted, giving him another chance before he slowly took the book from Sora’s lap and put it out of the way beside him.
This was not the happy, enthusiastic Sora that Leon had come to known since Sora landed in the Traverse Town all that time ago. He was practically curled up on himself, head down so Leon couldn’t look at his face. Leon moved slowly towards the boy, gently as if he was approaching a dangerous creature ready to bite at whoever came near.
Leon’s voice was soft and neutral when he said, “You can’t read the book, can you?”
Sora’s balled his fists where they rested on his knees. Leon waited for Sora to answer and when he did, he could barely hear his words. “I can. It's just hard. The letters are sometimes blurry.”
“Blurry.” Leon repeated. “Do the letters move around sometimes when you’re trying to read as well?”
Sora moved his head slightly and Leon understood it as a nod.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Leon sighed shifting so he was sat directly across from Sora, their knees a few inches apart.
Sora didn’t respond and now that Leon was thinking about it, he didn’t know how he didn’t think anything was wrong sooner.
Donald was the one who always bragged about reading the maps. Goofy has proclaimed how he was the one best with directions and reading signs. And Jiminy was the one who wrote in the journal and no wonder Sora didn’t know what was in the journal because he couldn’t read it.
“I just came here to help, and I couldn’t even do this because I’m too stupid.”
A wave of something roared to life inside Leon’s chest. “You stop that right there.” He said firmly and demanded, “Look at me.”
It took Sora a moment to comply and when he did Leon’s heart ached at the sight of tears in Sora’s eyes.
“Listen to me carefully.” Leon held Sora's gaze despite the tears threatening to spill over. “You are not stupid just because you can't do something."
"But literally ever other person on every other world can read a book.” Sora protested.
"So?"
"So... I should be able to as well. My brain is the same as everyone else’s brain.”
Leon let out a scoff at Sora’s words. “Your brain is not the same as my brain. It's not the as Yuffie's or as Aerith’s. You can remember the layout of every world you have ever visited. You can pick up a new Keyblade just like that and know exactly how it handles and what it is best suited for. You have such a deep understanding of people’s hearts and feelings that you can make friends anywhere you go. That doesn’t sound like the brain of a stupid person to me.”
Sora looked away, his cheeks burning a deep red.
"The Keyblade chose you Sora. It chose you because of your determination and will power. I don’t think it particularly cares if you can’t read the description and crystallization effects of a Serenity Gem.”
Sora gave a watery laugh that sounded more like a hiccup.
"I never used to like reading when I was at school.” Sora said quietly. "My teacher used to just tell me off for not keeping up with the class and not being able to answer questions on the books. So eventually I just…”
“Pretended that you understood them?” Leon finished.
Sora nodded slowly. "I keep meaning to practise," Sora continued. "I even met a woman in one of the worlds who loved books and she said I could visit anytime to borrow one but I haven’t had the time to go see her and ask.”
Neither of them spoke, the Synthesis shop seeming deadly silent despite the two of them being sat there.
And there Sora did something that Leon had never seen him do before.
He started crying.
Not big wailing cries or chest wracking sobs. Just silent tears that slipped down his face that had been threatening to spill over onto his cheeks for a while.
Leon froze, unsure on what to do next.
Fighting Heartless? He knew what to do. Investigating whatever the King wanted and finding out information on the Heartless? It was as easy as breathing.
A crying teenager on the other hand? Not so much.
Leon opened his mouth once, twice and then closed it again. He had no idea what the correct words were, what sentiments would cheer Sora up.
Instead of saying anything he simply wrapped his arms around Sora, making sure the other boy was not getting a mouthful of fur from the collar of his jacket in the processes. Leon knew it was the right decision when Sora’s arms squeezed him with such ferocity Leon had to stifle a pained gasp.
He wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, but it was enough that Leon had long since lost sensation in his legs before Sora turned his head so it fit more comfortably on Leon’s shoulder.
“Sorry.” Sora said, his voice slightly hoarse.
“It’s okay.” Leon said, “A lot of people have said that I have a good shoulder to cry on.”
Leon heard rather than saw the smile return to Sora’s face. “No one has ever said that to you.”
“A lot of people have said it actually. Aeirth, Yuffie … Cid.”
“Cid!” Sora said loudly and it made Leon’s heart sing to hear the Sora sounding like his usual self.
“Ask him your self if you don’t believe me.” Leon said shifting and wincing as sensation began returning to his legs. Sora pulled away from Leon, rubbing at his eyes as he did so.
“Speaking of which, shall we go see if he’s done looking at your weird Gummi thing?” Leon asked, stumbling as he got to his feet. He all but kicked the Synthesis book under the table as if it had greatly wronged him, a fact that did not escape Sora’s attention.
Sora was still kneeled on the floor and Leon held out a hand to help him to his feet. “And if he’s not done, we can swing by Geppetto’s if you want. I’m sure he’s got some books he would more than happily lend to you.”
Sora’s gaze held so much warmth in it Leon was afraid he would start to melt. “Really?”
“Really.” He repeated back, the edges of his lips turning up into a smile.
Sora let out a little laugh to himself, and Leon had to stop himself from chuckling at the sight. Sora grabbed Leon’s hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. Leon pushed the door to the Synthesis shop open and held it open for Sora to bounce through before shutting it.
As they headed down the stairs towards the World Exit door where Cid would be doing work on the Gummi ship Sora asked. “Do you think Geppetto has any easy books for me to start off with?”
“We’ll have to ask.” Squall said. “He told me earlier that he would be out today, but he would be back by this evening if you are still here.”
“That’s fine, I think Donald and Goofy would be happy to have a bit more time to relax.” Sora said, before turning to Leon and asking almost shyly, “Would you be able to help me pick one? I don’t really know what kind of book I would like.”
“Sure. I’ll make sure it is full of adventure with a love story between a Prince and a Princesses.” Leon said sarcastically.
The sarcasm in his tone went straight over Sora’s head as he enthusiastically replied with a “Gee Leon Thanks! You’re the best you know!”
Leon rolled his eyes but couldn’t help smiling at Sora’s words.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”