BLEED/HAVEN

[XXVII] LEO

The speech Holland gave invoked a sense of belonging to Leo, something he had felt ever since joining the Lionessa. It was a completely new way of viewing Roakon that his days as a detective never truly provided for him. Thinking back in comparison to then and now he truly believed he was beginning to take Charnita's words when he first joined, to find something worth fighting for. It started to become clear as to exactly what he wanted to fight for.

From that point on, the party started to become much more lively with everyone joining in for games of beer pong, cards, and switching from table to table and getting to know the ones they had once called strangers. Leo caught a glimpse of Bryant with a drink in his hand chatting it up with another man, whispering something in his ear and getting handsy. Leo smiled and waved to which Bryant returned to him a raise of his glass towards him.

Juno was having a ball, enjoying the games and such while many approached her and asked for a dance. Leo prodded her on until she finally joined in with a man to enjoy a lively group line dance. She spun around, following the moves of the crowd surrounding her while Leo clapped along to the song playing with a smile. His friends came over and joined in on the clapping. Leo could feel Tina's eyes on him and she leaned over to yell over the music,

"Why don't you get in there and dance with her?"

Leo laughed this off and replied,

"I can't dance, it's fine."

That was a mistake to say, as a drunk Jet leaned over next and spoke,

"You can solve impossible cases and take back a rogue facility in a day but you want to tell me you can't dance?"

Leo felt his face getting hot and an anxious feeling of dancing in front of a crowd did not sit too well with him. The crew however had other ideas, Charnita coming over with Setton and taking him by the arms,

"Get your ass in there and dance with the girl rookie!"

They promptly tossed him into the group, he stumbled and turned around to try and squeeze his way back into the crowd but they stonewalled him. He threw his arms up in defeat, as at this point he would look more like a jackass trying to leave. So he looked at the group and followed the movements of the men in line next to him, swaying his hips, clapping his hands to the beat and so forth. The men and women separated into lines by gender and Leo found himself standing in front of Juno who gave him a curtsy to which he answered with a bow. They followed the motions of the group and went along dancing around one another, spinning the female partners and moving every which way. Leo lost himself in the joy of dancing and the emerald eyes of Juno until the dance ended and the audience surrounding answering with applause and cheering.

Leo was burning up at this point and Juno laughed as she spoke,

"Who knew you could dance without me downloading for you."

He replied, out of breath,

"What can I say, I'm a fast learner."

She punched his shoulder playfully and the rest of the team approached complimenting how the two looked good together out on the dance floor, then Setton insisted that they head outside onto the balcony for more drinks and fresh air. Leo agreed and followed the five out to the said location.

The cool night breeze hit in all the right places, Leo took a deep breath of fresh air draping his jacket over Juno  after she made a comment about it being a little chilly. Whether she could actually feel if it were cold or not had not really crossed his mind, he was simply trying to offer a kind gesture to his partner. She thanked him and they all went to sit at the bar and tell stories about personal lives, unclassified missions and the like. After a prolonged period of sitting outside, the three men decided to go to the bathroom, to which Charnita commented,