10:43 AM
Los Angeles
February
5 days before Valentines Day...
"I brought some cake...", Leon told his bodyguard while getting inside his office inside the building of Gaze. He was holding a clear container holding a piece of red velvet cake.
"Enjoy your desert, Sir Cashmere...", Leon sat down and opened the container, red velvet was his favorite, so he grabbed the plastic spoon and took a bite of the cake, he started to chew slowly before swallowing its sweet contents down his throat.
"Noel, move the chair next to me...", Noel looked quite surprised of the sudden command, but he still grabbed the chair and moved it next to Leon's.
"Want a bite?", Leon suddenly looked up at him, Noel was at a loss for words, was he teasing him or...?
"I'm fine, Sir Cashmere. Thank you for the offer", Noel declined, but Leon rested his head against his fist, titling his head, he dug into the cake with the spoon before extending it closer to Noel.
"You can take a bite", Leon offered him, these days he has thought of Noel as an innocent soul, the idea of him being so kind and gentle towards Leon despite being so rough of him has made him want to give the same energy he receives from his bodyguard, it felt quite enticing.
"No, Sir Cashmere. That's your dessert and you should be able to enjoy it", Noel hesitantly told him, Leon's lips cursed into a faint smile, making Noel shook by his facial expression.
"You're hilarious. Come on, take a bite, it won't hurt you", Leon insisted, Noel looked quite puzzled, considering he's actually smiling at him.
"I want you to try it, see if it's good or not...", Leon offered him politely, Noel is questioning himself why was Leon teasing him so much, is it because he can get away with it? He finds it really odd to have his boss smiling, complimenting him, talking to him with generosity, always playing with his hair, hugging him occasionally...is he even flirting with him?
"Why is he being like this towards me, but not everybody else?", Noel thought to himself, Leon waited for a response silently, Noel finally sighed before shaking his head.
"You can have the piece of cake if you want", Leon still insisted to him, Noel decided to finally cooperate by leaning forward, taking the spoonful of the red velvet cake before chewing it steadily, Leon staring him down at every movement intently. His hand placed the spoon next to the cake, pushing it towards his bodyguard, he continued staring at him deeply, it feels scary having someone staring at him all the time.
"It's good, right?", Leon asked him, Noel nodded quietly. "I'm trying to be nice to you. I guess it looks weird, doesn't it?", Leon teased him as his fingers ran through his curly hair so delicately.
"It actually does, Sir Cashmere. It looks...scary", Noel replied to him, his boss scoffed lightly at his response. "Don't worry about it", Leon told him before his fingers left his hair to typing on his computer.
"When's your birthday? I haven't asked you that earlier", Leon decided to ask a question to engage in a conversation while writing replies considering some questions from his employees, who are wondering about the campaign.
"September 23rd, Sir Cashmere...", Noel replied while looking at the cake given to him, wondering whether he should eat it or not.
"Oh, didn't know that...", he replied to him, while typing something down. Noel pulled out his cellphone to look at social media. After the awkward ordeal, they both went on silent for a long time.
°~11:37 AM~°
"Hey, you little bitch", someone suddenly busted through the door, it was Nico.
"Nico, come on in...", Leon replied to him, he went inside the office before closing the door, coming towards the chair in front of him before slouching back against the chair.
"Bro, I'm so fucking mad. My mom kicked me out again...", Leon turned his head to gaze at him, but later looked at the bright computer screen and began typing again.
"So you're considering staying at my place then?", Leon asked him, Nico scoffed at his question, it was obvious.
"Nah...I'll sleep in the middle of the streets", he replied to him sarcastically. "Alright, good thing I'm tolerating your bitchy attitude right now. If not, I've would've told you to go back", Leon warned him, calmly. "I mean, only because she got into a fight with my auntie, and then she's out here being a fucking bitch over me having a boyfriend. Let me do what I fucking want, it's not going to end me up in the streets anyways. I have a rich family, so what is that fucking old ass, raggedy rat out here telling me about how I'm just being a sick bastard for being part of the LGBTQ?", Leon listened to him as he ranted about how his mother is homophobic and still thinks like in the old times.
"I heard you kissed...umm... your friend in front of her. You bold for that, ain't gonna lie", Leon tried not to let his embarrassment show as he mentioned that, he only did it to get on Sophya's nerve, nothing more nor nothing less.
"You just did it to piss her off though, right?", Leon nodded his head quietly while focusing on some files he got from his employees.
"Ooh~ Is that cake I see?", Nico pointed out at the barely eaten red velvet cake in front of Noel.
Leon turned around to look at his bodyguard scrolling through social media and liking some woman's post before leaving a comment in Spanish, he didn't care about that though. "Let me take another bite", Leon grabbed the spoon before eating some more of the cake, Noel gazed at him as he put the spoon back in its place.
"Hey, do you like boys?", Nico asked Noel directly, Leon stared at him while he saw the blank expression of his bodyguard.
"Uh- may I ask, why are you asking me this, sir?", Noel questioned him back. "I want to know your sexuality, that's all...", the kid replied to him. "I don't know...", Noel replied to him, Nico sighed in defeat. "Nico, that's enough...", Leon stared at him before intervening in the conversation.
"What?", he asked him, in a serious tone.
"It's alright, Sir Cashmere", Noel told his boss as he knew things were getting out of hand.
"So yea, would you date a man?", Nico asked him, Noel looked down at the screen as his phone buzzed.
"I don't know", Noel typed a message down in his cellphone.
"Let me guess, you're bisexual?", Noel shook his head, he sent the text message before looking up to him. "That is personal information, sir", Nico let out a dissatisfied sigh as a response.
"Do you have a girlfriend then?", Noel shook his head, he's launching many personal questions at this point. "Married?", Noel shook his head again. "No...", he replied as to stop him from asking anything else.
"What about engagement?", Noel sighed before answering. "I don't know", he simply replied.
"Kids?", Nico asked him. "That's up to you to guess", Noel replied to him, finally Leon stepped in and told him to shut up. "If you're going to be a nosy distraction, just leave and go to Anya", he scolded him. "I'm just talking to him though", Leon glared at him to leave the office, Nico sighed in defeat. "I'll go to Anya then...", Nico stood up and stormed off without a trace.
"He can be a fucking bother", Leon told his bodyguard, stopping to take the spoon to grab a bite before extending it out towards Noel. Noel leaned in closer before chewing softly, eventually swallowing it.
"It's good", Noel told him his opinion the cake, his boss nodded in agreement.
"Same", Leon said, he grabbed another spoonful of cake, he gave it to him before feeding him again, he thought of Noel as an innocent soul, it gave him some sort of unknown enticing feeling, what was it?
He didn't know what it was but it felt delightful, he always talked to him every day, and would tease him, that's what he was doing apparently. Yea. Just..teasing.
°~11:58 PM~°
"Okay, you can put the spoon down, Sir Cashmere. I wonder why are you even doing this? I'm an adult, not a child", Noel finally spoke up, he's been spoonfed by his boss for the past 15 minutes or so. "Don't worry about it. If you don't want anymore, it's fine. It's the last bite anyways", Leon brought the spoon to his mouth, Noel felt paralyzed, they've been sharing the same spoon this whole time, why is he not worried about it?
"I mean... I barely see you eat anything, everything alright?", Leon asked him, he sounded a bit concerned. "I'm fine, Sir Cashmere", he replied, politely, it was quite shockingly he mentioned his loss of daily intake of food.
Afterwards they realized that it almost time for their lunch break, he decided to save his files before finally shutting off his computer. "Let's go", Leon commanded him, they stood up before Noel placed back the chair neatly in its original place.
°~12:47 PM~°
"That food was actually amazing, no wonder people like hispanic food so much", Leon was talking about a food he tried with Noel at a Mexican restaurant, he usually would just order the most basic salad known to humanity to just feed himself since he's not the one to constantly eat fast food, but today he decided to try enchiladas, he would definitely eat it again.
"I'm glad you enjoyed the food, Sir Cashmere", Leon suddenly wrapped an arm around his neck, what a surprising move.
"Call me Leon. Don't always have to be professional all the time", Leon told him, Noel ignored his offer knowing he's being paid to be professional at all times.
"Hey, Mr.Cashmere...", a voice called out to him from the distance as they were stepping onto the stairs leading to the main entrance, on the corner of his eye, he saw Marcello waiting for him with his arms crossed. His eyes flew open in disbelief, what is that thing doing here?!
"I'm code blue, don't worry about me wanting to kill you. This is more like, umm...an opportunity of an alliance", Leon was dumbfounded, but he stopped short before stepping towards his way with Noel beside him.
"EXCEED has betrayed us, knowing we are less powerful unlike them, being the most richest gang or mafia group in the world. So on the good side, we are planning to take revenge on them for their betrayal, we have already paid all the damages we caused back there as you know, so I came here to apologize at my defeat", he started to explain, Leon was attentive of his every word and movement, making sure it wasn't some sort of trap.
"You know, I want to apologize for everything we did", he started to explain in a lower voice than usual, so he wants mercy? What a shitshow.
"We'll talk about it later, now I don't have the time for that shit", Leon replied to him before finally taking his leave. There's more details into that than what usually is being given to him. That's for sure.
°~6:23 PM~°
"Okay, start talking...", Leon started to let him talk inside a warehouse, it was his warehouse where usually his men train inside and use as their hideout.
He leaned towards the table, crossing his arms before giving a direct glare towards his target, Marcello Mancini.
"So Lianelle is not betraying you? I payed for the damages of that building, but she's the one who's been giving us intel this whole time until recently. I have a contract that'll work out with us, between the Russians and us", Leon slightly raised an eyebrow, narrowing his gaze deeply. "And that is?", he asked Marcello, he sighed deeply. "Arranged marriage...", Leon scoffed at his offer, in his family, everybody has depised the idea of an arranged marriage, especially Anya.
"Anything else?", Leon asked him. "We can both just plan our attack together against him. But an arranged marriage really just an alternative", Marcello explained to him, good thing it was only an option, definitely not one his family would choose.
"What's the plan in your mind?", Leon asked him. "He's planning to capture a target to use as blackmail, so we're going to try and stop him for once. I know how to hack one of his bank accounts, it has over 58 million dollars...we can use it to help us supply during the mean time. After that, we plan an attack towards him, roll him up, or turn him to the FBI", Leon listened to him, aware.
"What about to stop the attacks against us?", Marcello suddenly stopped for a brief moment, that's the problem, EXCEED is attacking and creating alliances left and right, creating a lot of enemies and more power for themselves. W.I.N is still capable of winning them over due to having such status, so they needed to scare him for once so it wouldn't cause an entire mafia war against everyone involved with gangs, drug dealers, and assassins.
"Right...we can't move on if we don't know how to scare him away", Leon told him, Marcello's eyes suddenly flew opened as he realized something that could change his life.
"I know where they are, in Massachusetts...", Marcello remarked, "We can go against him in Massachusetts, we'll give a piece of his own poisoned cake...".
"About Lianelle...", Leon decided to mention, he checked his phone before turning around to see the small, rusted door open wide to see a lady with dark short hair and light brown eyes, wearing a dark outfit of a black shirt and jeans.
"Hey Marcello...", she waved at him with a bright smile, his eyes widened in pure astonishment. "Lianelle Souza, the Brazilian model...", he muttered under his breath, her beautiful, vibrant brown eyes looked over at Leon.
"What's up?", she asked him, she was now working for C.H.E.S.S under Parker's rule.
"Bitches, you know what time it is...", another voice called out, Parker.
Lianelle gazed over at another person who's been quiet the entire time, Noel. Her eyes flew open, she felt completely shocked at the moment.
"Noel!", she ran towards him with such sorrow and joy, Noel looked over before he froze from amazement, he also walked over her direction before she hugged him tightly and he wrapped her arms around her so gently.
"I missed you...", Lianelle started to tear up from the such happiness she felt from reconnecting with her friend after such a long time.
"Mami, I've been waiting for you. Where you been for so long, princesa?", Noel asked her while he consoled her,
"Wait, you two also know each other?", Parker felt shocked, apparently Noel knew a lot of people it was quite scary at times.
Lianelle turned around before using her hands as a fan by trying to dry her tears away from ruining her flawless makeup.
"Haven't seen you in a while", Noel questioned her friend, she nodded in affirmation. Leon and Marcello observed them quietly.
"He's my friend...", Lianelle explained to Parker, they knew each other for a long time.
"And I thought you didn't know him at all...", Parker told her, slightly furrowing his brows from confusion.
"How's Denise?", she asked Noel, "She's alright, I saw her the other day".
"I'm going to call her when I get back home", she said as she looked around.
"Anyways...Back to we were talking, Parker, we both probably might be going to have to travel to Massachusetts. We are going to have to plan this out, unless you got a trick under your sleeve...", Leon glared over at him, Marcello felt a chill crawling down his spine, that death glare he received was not so friendly at all.
"Alright, let's see...", Parker nodded, he went to grab chairs and a pack of beer for everyone.
Once he sat down, there was no going back on getting talked to for hours without end.