Jaxon made his way back to his office deep in thought, this wasn't how he pictured his morning to go.
After Leon and Darian left, he realised just what he had agreed to and panicked slightly because that meant he would be leaving all of the workload to the Alpha.
Virgil had looked unimpressed at his worrying, he had been expecting a far different reason.
He had reassured him, he had been hounding Jaxon to take a vacation anyway, he didn't have to do anything over there that involved work, he couldn't as a matter of fact. Alpha's orders.
He settled in for the day, his home among the smooth, cold papers and the softly illuminating screen of his computer.
He hadn't seen Darian or Leon ever since they left Virgil's office, was the grounding still effective?
He didn't think so.
He was just in the same room with them a couple hours ago anyway.
The door to his office swung open and the tension in his shoulders bled out, there was only one person who did that.
"Cherry, I brought cookies." Leon's voice floated over, the scent of orange blossoms spilling in.
Jaxon ignored the familiar sound of Leon's voice that felt like electricity against his skin, just realising that Leon usually muted his scent in the presence of other people, covering it up with some generic-smelling, artificial perfume but never when he was with him.
It made Jaxon far too happy to know this, honestly, it was crazy that he hadn't noticed it for so long but now that he had, he could not un-know it again.
"Cookies?" He perked up, glancing up at Leon who made his way over in wide strides, his wicked, ice blue gaze fixed on him.
Jaxon had to remind himself to breathe as Leon threw an arm around him, a plate of chocolate chip cookies placed in front of him.
Breathing didn't exactly help much, the heady scent of amber and orange blossoms swarming his senses, how had he survived around Leon before? What changed?
"Yeah." Leon replied, his eyes never leaving Jaxon's face. "Hayden ambushed me to give them to you and he didn't even offer me any." He half pouted, faking upset.
Jaxon choked quietly, Leon was staring unabashedly at his lips, usually, he never noticed things like this but now it was all that he could see.
"You know how Virgil gets if he does that, to you especially." He tried to reply in a normal enough voice. "It's all your fault." He added in a mutter, reaching out a hand to grab a cookie to distract himself.
Pretending that everything was the same and nothing had changed was taking more energy than he had budgeted for.
Leon just hummed, getting comfortable behind Jaxon to casually run his hands through his dark red curls, like he always did.
"You can always share mine." He rambled, his words coming out muffled because of the cookie he was munching on.
Leon leaned forward at this, looking over Jaxon's head so that he was staring at him upside down, again, Jaxon noticed his eyes flicking downward to his lips and he felt his cheek flush.
The Head Warrior's response was another hum as he leaned closer and lower, his dark pink tongue flicking out to swipe over Jaxon's lower lip, where a cookie crumb had been.
A strangled sound fell past Jaxon's lips, nearly smacking his head against his chair with the way he flinched back but Leon's curved torso acted as a cushion.
For an endless minute, he stared wide-eyed at Leon whose eyes held a blue fire and stared back at him like he had all the time in the world.
Oh shit!
Jaxon panicked, this wasn't how to pretend everything was the same as before, he would have never acted this way before.
Going doe-eyed, lips parted as he engaged in a heated staredown, normally, he would have scolded Leon, wiped his lips and made some commentary about using tissues or something of the sort.
It was too late to put on that act now, he was sure his face was a bright red which was a dead giveaway of what that simple action made him feel.
"Y-you should try one…" He stuttered, breaking away from Leon's magnetic gaze. "Th… they're r-really good."
A ghost of a smirk floated past Leon's lips. "They are huh?" He affirmed in a low voice, taking a cookie from the plate offered and straightening up.
Jaxon breathed in deeply at this, a sigh of relief escaping him, how was he going to survive the rest of today?
Hell! How was he going to survive the weeks that he would spend with just the both of them in a different Pack?
Leon's hands returned to his hair, fingers long and tapered, threading through and untangling his locks to gather it up in a loose bun like he always did.
"I thought the grounding wasn't over yet." Jaxon mumbled, fiddling with his hands.
Usually, he would be able to effortlessly keep on working even while the both of them were there but it was just Leon and now he didn't even remember how to eat cookies anymore.
Leon swiftly put the scrunchie in place, long used to the routine.
He reached forward a hand to cup Jaxon's jaw and tilt his head backwards slightly. "Why? You don't want it to end?"
Jaxon panicked at this, his eyes going wide. "No!... I… I mean… I didn't actually think that... that... Virgil would go through with it." He trailed off, averting his gaze from where Leon had forced theirs to meet.
"Hey, Cherry?" Leon muttered absently, his thumb brushing over Jaxon's lower lip.
"Hmm?" Jaxon replied, surprised his voice box still even worked, with how hard his heart was thumping and how often it kept skipping, it was a real surprise how he hadn't blacked out again, yet.
"Wanna go on a date tomorrow?" He asked in his typical blunt way, usually Leon was slicker than this but it was Jaxie, his circuits were long fried.
Jaxon was stunned for the umpteenth time in the space of a couple minutes, was Leon messing with him?
"Yeah?" He replied hesitantly, immensely confused.
"Cool, pick you up by 9." Leon grinned, kissing his curls before sweeping out just as he strode in, the scent of orange blossoms filling the air.
What the fuck?