"They'll be home soon," Xander called out to Leon, who was tying balloons to the back deck of the mansion, "Hyunwoo let Bella know they're on their way back, Val doesn't suspect anything."
Leon grinned back at him, "Perfect. I know Val has had a few decent birthdays with Hyun and Bella but since Hyun was gone on a mission last year, I think she really wasn't expecting anything to happen this year."
Xander laughed, "I mean, we all had to recover from a lot. Plus, in her case, with Veronica at the end there...I didn't see it but the way Nia talked about it...She needed time to recover as well."
The younger sighed, "I mean, a lot was going on for everyone, you've got to let them be kids at some point. It's nice to see her, Nia, Owen, and Val getting along. They didn't have a chance to…Before…"
Xander was quiet, "Leon, I wish you could see what I see when I look at you," He said quietly, "Because when I look at you—Honestly when Kaedan, me, Chaewon, and Elliot look at you, we see a kid that never had a chance to be a kid. I mean, hell, Fenix and Val are technically the same age as you and Risále. You two are still kids as well."
Leon leaned back on the railing of the veranda, "...None of you guys really got to be kids. Kaedan had to deal with his family since he was a kid, you have your whole soap opera and you practically raised Lumina. Chaewon did actually raise me to the point where she's basically my mother more than my sister, and Elliot is the closest thing I have to a father figure, but he was still a kid at the time. Plus, he's like me, he's been part of the White Lotus since he was a kid, and we know what that place does to kids."
"I get that, Leon. I'm not disagreeing with you there," Xander said softly, "But we're grown up now. We have more responsibilities now, and as much as we can have our indulgences, it's not the same. However, you still have time. I know that you're the only one who knows how to get us out of this situation but…Do you have to keep pushing yourself so much? Don't we have time?"
"...We don't," Leon whispered, "Have time, that is. It scares me, how little time I have to do this and do it right. Risá knows quite a bit now. Not as much as us but she very specifically seems to know things that we need right now to get closer to the goal, and things that I don't know. But from what I do know, there's not much time."
Xander put his hand on Leon's shoulder as he leaned on the railing next to him, "I trust you. We all do."
"That scares me the most. I'm scared I'll let you down."
"You forget, Leon," Xander laughed softly, "We don't think of you as our savior. You're just our Leon, that's it. No matter what happens, we'll never blame you for it. And we don't blame you for anything in the past either," Leon seemed to relax in hearing this. He knew it, but it still did help to hear someone say it sometimes, "I haven't asked recently, how are you dealing with all of this?"
Leon looked confusedly, "All of what?"
"Well, you know, boyfriend coming back, seeing Val again, meeting Bella, having Risále start remember—Oh, and also how Bella is dating your boyfriend but also I'm very damn sure she and Risále have something going on—And, not to mention your crush on Risále and Bella—"
Leon launched himself at him, pushing his hands against Xander's mouth, hissing, "Could you be any louder, someone might hear you, Jesus Christ."
"Too late, someone already heard you," Mina said in a sing-songy voice, being followed by Owen, "Although I don't think Xander even needed to say it, the tension between the four of you is something else, alright."
"What tension," Leon rolled his eyes, "I'm dating Hyun, Hyun is dating Bella, Risá and Bella have…Something going on. And that's it."
Owen raised an eyebrow, "That's it, huh? And we're not going to talk about how you also have a crush on Bella and Risá?"
"We are not discussing this now," Leon hissed, "Especially not when both of them are in the damn house as well. Make fun of me about having a crush on my boyfriend all you want but not the two I'm not together with yet!"
"Oh, so, there's a yet?"
"Will you knock it off before I knock you out?"
He heard someone laugh from behind from the glass doors leading to the patio, "Come on, guys, stop bullying him. There'll be enough time for it later," Lumina was leaning on the door. She turned to face Mina, "By the way, Princess, can you help me with the cake? It's a big one since we got so many people here."
"Mhm!" Mina hummed, walking over to her with a bounce in her step before leaning up to press a kiss to her cheek, "Let's go!"
"How did they get even worse after getting together, I genuinely didn't think that was possible," Owen scrunched his face up, shaking his head, "Anyways, I'm going to go check if Fenix needs help—Not like that, get that look off your face, Leon, or I'll send Bella down here," Owen glared at the older before walking back into the mansion.
Xander on the other hand, was wiping away fake tears, "God, I never thought I'd see the day where they actually end up together. It's a miracle, I tell you."
"Which ones, Lumina and Mina, or Fenix and Owen?"
"Both," Xander responded immediately, "Although I'm slightly leaning towards Lumina and Mina. At least nine years of pining is certainly something, I was beginning to think that it would never actually happen. Unfortunate circumstances but…I'm happy they have something to be happy about."
Leon nodded, "I'm happy for them as well. And you? Are you happy?"
Xander's smile took a mischievous turn at this, "I'm definitely happy, but I think I'm going to be even happier very, very soon. What about you? How does it feel, seeing your sister and Elliot after so long?"
"Unbelievable," Leon let out a breathless laugh, "The last time I saw Chaewon-Nuna was probably a little after…A little after the last time I saw you? Before we met again, I mean. I was separated from her and Elliot by the time I was nine or ten. Our parents were…Both of them were absolutely terrible and never around so Chaewon was basically all I ever knew. Elliot…I think he was around after I turned three. He was more like a dad than my actual father and I can never thank him enough for that. You mentioned they got married about six years ago, right? It does make me sad that I didn't get to see my sister's wedding. I would have liked to be there. But seeing her now, healthy, happy, alive…It means everything to me. And I…I don't think I could be okay until I saved her."
"I don't know how much she'd want to hear that," Xander said softly.
Leon sighed, "I know. That's why I'm not going to tell her that. She doesn't need to know, it won't hurt her."
Xander shook his head, "Leon, if there's one thing I learned while practically being Lumina's dad at times, it's that not knowing the weight of the pain your child or younger sibling is going through hurts more than anything else. When she was going through everything with Veronica, I couldn't even go back to help her for long enough to make a difference. The one time I was there to make a difference, and I didn't even know how bad it had gotten. And I hated myself for that. She felt like she didn't need to tell me because she thought it was a situation she got herself into. It hurt, Leon, knowing what she went through. But it hurt more knowing she kept so much of it from me because she wanted to keep me happy," Leon was quiet during all of this, and Xander took a deep breath, "Talk to her, Leon. She would want to know."
Leon looked down, and then, slowly nodded, "Alright, I will. You've always been a good older brother to her, Xander. Even back then, I mean, through all of it, you kept telling us to keep Lumina out of it…I wish we had—"
Xander covered Leon's mouth with his hand, "No, not another word. I told you, I don't blame you for that. It was a tall order, even for a grown woman like Chaewon. How could I have possibly expected you to keep that promise? You were a kid and had no control over it. Let's just…Not talk about that right now. But just know that I could never be angry at you for that."
"...Okay. Thank you."
"Besides, I did want to ask you," Leon could feel the incoming headache as Xander's tone turned into a teasing one, "Was your little crush on me so obvious that even your sister knew back then?"
Leon smacked his arm, covering his face as he blushed, "...Listen, that was up until I was like…Ten? But I think I did keep going on about how pretty you were. And where do you think I was getting those flowers from? Chaewon thought it was cute after she was sure you had no ill intentions, of course. It was kind of like a celebrity crush thing, like of course I didn't want anything to come of it, but I definitely liked you."
"I remember it, you know? When we first met? You snuck into the testing room when your sister wasn't looking, and when I mentioned Lumina, you kept asking about her. I told you—"
"She used to braid your hair," Leon smiled, "I remember. You said you missed her, and I asked you if I could do your hair. Even as a kid, I got the sense that you weren't supposed to be there and if I could at least give you that comfort…"
Xander sighed, leaning back again, "It was very sweet. It did help a little. And then you ran out the door, all excited—" He smiled fondly as Leon groaned at the memory.
"Oh Lord, Chaewon won't ever let me live that down," He said under his breath, "It's because I went to ask her for the flower that I put in your hair."
Xander's muffled laughter made Leon smack his shoulder again, "Sorry, sorry, it really was so cute. Your face was red and you were stammering and everything, Chaewon really must have teased you…"
"It wasn't because of that—Ugh, alright, promise not to make fun of me for this because I swear, I will end you," Leon said, and Xander nodded, "It was because you smiled. I had seen you around before but I'd never seen you smile until then. And I'm sure your boyfriend tells you enough, but you have a really nice smile. Made me begin to question if I liked guys. Thanks for that, it did actually make it a lot easier for me to accept I was in love with Hyunwoo."
Xander's eyes widened, "Holy shit, are you saying that I was your bi awakening—"
"Shut the fuck up, Xander, or I will find a way to give you amnesia again."
"Alright, alright. And…Now? It's not awkward for you or anything, right? You know, with me not really feeling anything like that for you…" Xander asked carefully.
Leon laughed, "Oh, no, we're cool. Trust me, my feelings for you were gone by the time I was like eleven when I realized that it was just a passing childish fancy, I think is the best way to put it. Besides, after meeting Hyun, I realized what I felt for him and what I felt for you were very different. And then after losing him and meeting you again, those feelings never resurfaced. Don't get me wrong, you are annoyingly gorgeous, but this whole time after meeting you again, I've only ever seen you as an older brother figure. So, every time I've walked in on you and Kaedan has basically just been scarring for me, the same way it would be if I were to walk in on Chaewon—Oh, God, you know what, I don't even want to finish that sentence," He gagged.
"Don't think too much about it," Xander ruffled Leon's hair, "But you do owe me flowers. And you still have to braid my hair."
At this, Leon seemed to perk up, "Oh! Well, I can do the hair now. I kind of…Well, growing out my hair meant I learned to do a lot with it. I can do something simple for now if you'd like," He said, almost shyly.
Xander smiled fondly, "Sure, kiddo. That would be nice."
He sat down on the steps leading to the backyard and relaxed as he felt Leon's fingers taking a piece of hair from one side of his head, from in front of his ear and gently begin to braid it back, draping loosely along the side of his head, "Hold this for me?" Leon asked softly, and Xander reached back to hold the braid. Leon began to carefully work on the other side, making both sides perfectly symmetrical, "Do you have a hair tie?" Leon asked. At this, Xander shook his head and Leon sighed, "Alright, I'll just use my own," After a few moments Xander felt the two braids being tied together and resting on the nape of his neck.
He turned around to look at Leon, "How does it look?" He asked.
"Pretty. You should show Kaedan, I think he'd love it," Leon responded, smiling, "He loves it when you do things with your hair. As for the flower, wait here for a moment," He stood up and headed back into the house. A few minutes later, he showed up, and Xander could see the white flower in his hand, "I had it for a while but there was never really a good time to give it to you, but here you go."
Xander's hands made the flower look small, but he couldn't help but smile when he looked at it, reminded of the little boy who just wanted to ease his misery, even a little bit, "Thank you, Leon."
"I promise. I'm going to save you all," Leon said firmly, sitting down next to him.
"It would be wonderful if you could," Xander responded quietly, letting the boy lean on his shoulder, "But no one would blame you if you couldn't."
"...Can we talk about something else?"
"Sure, kiddo. Let's go find your girlfriends, I'm sure they've got something for you to do," Xander teased, standing up and pulling Leon up.
"Could you not—"