love, from indigo ((yandere x reader))

XVI- new routine

It was probably by the fifth night that (Y/n) stopped being surprised to see Leo.

He'd be there at the start of her shift and stay usually until midnight. He insisted that he was still waiting for Indigo to turn up but deep down Leo knew that wasn't the case... Not even deep down, even the shallowest part of himself knew he was just doing this so he could be around (Y/n).

"Evening, (Y/n)." He greeted when she walked in, Leo would often turn up much earlier than ten because he could no longer wait to see her, even though she wouldn't be there when he got there it would still help just be in her work environment.

"Hi, Leo." (Y/n) had grown much more accustomed to him just being there. She recognised that it wasn't normal but owed it to whatever emotional connection Leo had to his jacket, (Y/n) understood it wasn't her place to judge him. He didn't bother her too much after all.

Leo knew she had to work so while he'd try to talk to her whenever the store was empty he made sure not to hover around her constantly. Though whenever he wasn't directly interacting with her he'd absolutely be watching (Y/n). It was much like an addiction, Leo wouldn't last very long without her and not feel the effects of withdrawal.

He'd always find himself gushing over her appearance when (Y/n) would emerge from the employees only area. Even in that ugly yellow shirt she looked so pretty.

At this point there was one other customer milling around the store while Leo made casual conversation with (Y/n). He was constantly trying to learn more about her, her likes and dislikes were very important to him, her feelings on different things, her family, her past. Leo wanted to know everything.

"...But I never missed class after that at least so the two weeks detention was kind of worth it." (Y/n) had just finished off telling Leo some anecdote from her high school life rather nonchalantly, unaware of the precision with which he committed every single detail to memory. Each name and face that cropped up in her life and her relationship with that person was revised, the way she reacted in these stories helped Leo gain a deeper understanding of how she may react to other situations. Even small off hand phrases would add to the rich tapestry of knowledge Leo had about (Y/n) in the short time they'd known one another.

The customer, a woman of around thirty years old, was approaching the register with her items so Leo took the hint and slunk away to allow (Y/n) to do her job.

She put her basket down harshly and began to root through her handbag as (Y/n) scanned them. "Do you need a bag?" (Y/n) asked.

"No, I clearly have one." The woman said with a 'duh' tone as she lifted the handbag she was referring to. (Y/n) wanted to point out that all her items wouldn't fit in there but knew better than to cause too much friction with customers.

"Okay, that brings your total to twenty-eight dollars and ninety-nine cents." (Y/n) smiled at the woman who was pulling a sour face. "Would you like to pay cash or card?"

"I'll pay card but I actually have a rewards voucher." She pushed an old receipt forward and on the back it said that the owner of said receipt could return to the store within the thirty day period to redeem twnety percent off the price of their items. This would be all well and good if the voucher was still valid.

"I'm afraid this has actually expired." (Y/n) said apologetically. "You see here it says that it only lasts thirty days."

"Well, if you print it so small how do you expect anyone to see it??" She snatched the receipt back, scratching (Y/n)'s hand slightly in the process, and examined it. "Fine then, I'll buy one of the items and then use my new twnety percent off coupon for the rest of it."

"We actually no longer offer this coupon." (Y/n) rubbed her hand with her opposite thumb to soothe the slight pain that came with the scratch she'd received.

Leo was listening to this whole interaction with his blood boiling. Who did this lady think she was to go around and talk to (Y/n) in that way? It took every fibre of his being to hold himself back from intervening.

"Why the hell not? I want to talk to whoever's in charge here." She stomped her foot on the floor adamantly and (Y/n) almost rolled her eyes at the 'can I speak to your manager?' cliché.

"My boss actually isn't here right now but I can pass on whatever message you have to him." (Y/n) with false politeness.

"Tell him to stop hiring such incompetent bitches on his staff!!" The lady screeched.

That was the final straw for Leo, he marched over to the counter. "You need to leave."

"What are you? Security? Get off of me, I'll sue this place into the ground!" She spat, beginning to step away.

"I don't work here actually, but you shouldn't be rude to someone who's doing you a service. Now get out." Leo said angrily, his fists clenched.

"Leo, you don't need to-"

"Oh, I see, you two were talking away the whole time I was shopping instead of having her actually work. I'm never coming to this shit hole again." She announced and brushed past Leo.

"Good." He muttered as she left, Leo then turned his attention to (Y/n). "Are you okay??"

"I'm fine, you don't need you to stand up for me..." (Y/n) sighed.

"She was being an asshole."

"I get tons of assholes in here, I've worked in retail before and trust me you just have to learn not to take it personal and put on a fake smile." (Y/n) was audibly annoyed but didn't want to spiel on about all the rude customers she'd encountered. "It's part of the job, you learn to deal with people who think they're above you because of what you do for a living."

Leo frowned. "You still shouldn't be treated that way."

"No one should." She shrugged.

'But not you specifically.' Leo thought. '(Y/n) doesn't understand how truly precious she is.'

When Leo got home to go to bed later that night he was so conflicted. He had wanted to stay longer but he had to work in the morning and he knew that if he tested his limits too much he'd end up passing out on his drive home.

(Y/n) said she dealt with a lot of people like that, but just how many was she talking? Leo didn't think he'd be able to live with the fact that at any given moment while he slept peacefully someone who wasn't even worthy to look at (Y/n) was calling her a bitch or some other terrible name.

He didn't want her working there if she received so much abuse from customers! The more Leo thought about (Y/n) no longer working at 𝑺𝒐𝒍'𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 the more it appealed to him.

Without her night job he'd be able to see her much more often. With things the way they were he'd seldom be able to take her out on a dinner date or be able to hold her as she slept like an angel in his arms. But Leo was getting ahead of himself.

For now he'd protect her at work as far as he could, there were security cameras so he knew that any physical altercation was unlikely but the possibility still taunted him.

Leo didn't know what he'd do to a person if they hurt (Y/n) and didn't want to find out.