"Ya know I never did get your name."
"Leonardo. You can call me Leo. And yours?"
My smile widens a bit. "Come by again sometime and I'll let you know."
Leo chuckles. "Deal."
Then he jumps off of the fire escape and runs off into the night.
• • •
"Hey, what happened to your hand?" Anna asks as we both pack our stuff up.
F/a has just ended and everyone's packing their stuff and talking now. Luckily today was an easy day, so everyone gets to leave a little earlier. Luckier for me considering last night...
"Um..." I start to think of a lie as I zip up. "I broke some glass yesterday, wasn't careful enough..."
She nods, luckily not questioning my vague explanation, and the two of us grab our bags and head outside for her to wait for her ride. For the umpteenth time today I'm led to thinking about that strange creature who saved me last night. Leo... Partially because of how dramatically mysterious he is, and partially because of the bruises on my back from being slammed against the dumpster so much.
"You ready for the (final/event) in a few weeks?" Anna asks me, bringing me from my reoccurring thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm so excited. We are gonna kill it."
Anna laughs as her mom pulls up. "Are you sure you don't want a ride home?"
"Yeah, it's fine. I don't wanna be a bother."
"I don't think my mom will mind."
"It's okay. It's just a few blocks, and I need to get some food and other stuff on the way back anyway. But thanks."
She nods and gets in the car, waving with her goofy smile. "Alrighty, try not to get mugged! See ya tomorrow."
"Bye," I smile, waving to her and her mom as they drive off. Oh the irony.
On the walk back home I pick up some (favorite/fast/food) and stop by one more shop to get something, feeling glad that it's not too close to dark yet since we got out a couple hours early. I warily cross onto my block again, looking around. There are more people around than yesterday, so that's a good sign.
But a few moments later I get that feeling again. Like I'm being watched or followed. I tense up a little.
Relax, Y/n... you're probably just paranoid from yesterday. Nothing's gonna happen in broad daylight in front of all these people.
But the feeling remains there. It's different than last night though; I actually don't feel endangered like before. More so... watched over. Almost protected? And the only time I've ever had that feeling was with...
Leo.
As soon I get the idea I immediately look up towards the rooftops, and could've sworn I just saw a certain turtle-like figure flipping onto the next building I'm nearing upon. I lightly chuckle and, against my better judgement, walk into the alley next to the building. I scale the side of the building up to the roof, where I can see Leo crouching at the ledge and looking over the city streets. I walk a bit closer. It looks as if he's looking for someone specific...
I grin, walking up behind him. "Are you stalking me now?" I ask playfully.
Leo quickly turns, seeing me, and smiles awkwardly with a chuckle. "I wouldn't call it that necessarily..." I cock an eyebrow playfully and he continues. "I thought I'd check up on you after what you went through last night... Figured since you'll be out pretty late for a while I'd help with you getting home."
"Wow... really?" I'm surprised he voluntarily did this. He nods, rubbing at the back of his neck, and my smile widens. "Thanks..."
"No problem." He grins, stepping forward. "Though, it might be easier for me to protect you if I knew your name."
"Right, right." I chuckle. "It's Y/n."
"Y/n," he repeats as his smile grows. "Beautiful name."
"Thank you." I say appreciatively and look around on the rooftop. "So do you always hang out up here? Or just when there are drunken men roaming the streets?"
Leo thinks for a second, then nods to both. "Yep." I chuckle and he does too. "Actually I'm just on another daily patrol. Sometimes I come up here early if it's close enough to dark."
"Right. Vigilante things." I laugh a bit.
He smiles, eyes then shifting to my bag. "I see you added something to your key chain."
I look down at the keys hanging from the side of my bag and feel my face reddening for some reason. "Oh yeah... I just picked it up." The mace hung in between my keys and a token from one of my favorite fandoms. Suddenly I realized the familiar blue color the spray was and look away. "Well come on." I clear my throat, nodding my head to the direction of my apartment.
"Huh?"
"I'm not home yet, so as far as I'm concerned you haven't finished your job."
Leo smiles and shakes his head. "Looks like you've got me there."
I grin and lead the way, taking him to my apartment building again.
"You sure this is a good idea?" He asks once we're at my place and I'm climbing through the window.
"You said your patrol hasn't really started right?" He nods, and I gesture to my living room. "So relax until then, let me repay you for yesterday."
"I meant about coming here." He tells me. "No one else is home right? And, I don't expect you to repay me for that. It was really nothing."
I grin to myself, walking to the kitchen. "I figured you were the humble type... And no. No one else is here. Had dinner yet?" Leo shakes his head so I pull out a box of leftover pizza and put my (fast food) in the fridge for tomorrow. "What better way to repay someone than with hot, fresh pizza?"
Leo chuckles as I slide it into the oven. I turn back to him, noticing the thin, red line on his arm from yesterday.
"So, how's your arm feeling?"
"Better after rewrapping it the right way. It'll be gone normal soon."
"That's good to hear." I toss him the remote before starting to pour the drinks. "Make yourself comfortable." As I do so I notice him scrolling through the guide for a while before finally picking some channel I've never watched before. Leo's practically grinning ear to ear as I sit on the couch with him and hand him his drink.
I honestly can't help but laugh admirably at his face before glancing back at the screen. "Wait a second... is this–" I pause, trying to think, "what's that one show called?"
The title comes up.
SPACE HEROES
"Space Heroes!" Leo reads excitedly then looks at me. Apparently I made it seem like I was a fan myself. "You like the show, too?"
Now, I was ready to be honest and tell him I'd frequently scrolled past it in some of the higher channels. But then I saw that look of hope, and it honestly rendered me with no idea of what to say. He just looked so excited. "Well..." I rub the back of my neck. Leo smiles at me so undeniably happy that I finally just say, "Love it."
"Really?" His eyes brighten a bit and his smile widens.
"I... No."
"Aw, come on." He laughs as he gestures to the screen. "The show's genius!"
"I've never actually watched it." I grin and plop down next to him.
"Then you, my friend, have not lived."
I chuckle and shake my head. "Oh okay. Mr. I-live-my-life-on-the-rooftops."
"That's what you think." He winks at me before looking back to the TV.
"What do you mean?"
"I live in the sewers." He says with a completely straight face.
"... Say what now?"
He chuckles. "Yep that's the usual reaction."
I smile sheepishly after catching myself. "Sorry. It's just... for one you don't smell like sewer... and it's not everyday you hear that the turtle vigilante guy who saved you and goes around at night beating up bad guys for a living while fantasizing about heroes in space lives in the sewers of New York..."
Leo laughs again and teases. "Do you usually talk that much?"
"Usually? No... 'Always' is a better word."
He chuckles again.
His eyes shine when he laughs... I think.
He shifts into a more comfortable position on the couch, which reveals to me some of his knives and ninja stars. "Dude, where do you get these cool weapons?" I ask, reaching over.
"Give it back, I don't want you to hurt yourself," he says, but smiling a little.
I smirk. "Who says I'm gonna hurt myself?" Leo raises an eyebrow, so I smirk more and stand up and start doing some pretty "impressive" tricks with the small blade I slipped from him.
Leo shakes his head at me. "Come on, put it down."
I continue simply spinning it between my fingers as if it's the coolest thing in the world while making silly faces at him. He laughs more but stands up to get it from me, so I try to run away with it. But he easily catches me by the waist before I even get anywhere and gently takes it from my hand, practically holding my back against him.
"Didn't anyone tell you not to play with knives?"
"Nope! Never."
"Well consider this your reminder, hotshot."
We share a laugh before the oven timer goes off. He then realizes how close the two of us are and blushes lightly as he lets me go. I hope he doesn't notice my mutual blush as I go to get the pizza out of the oven.
After joining him back on the couch, we eat our dinner while I tease him about the weird Space Heroes show and he even lets me look at more of his knives. Until finally it gets dark enough and he says he has to go for patrol.
"Okay..." I say and try to hide my sadness through a smile. I actually really enjoyed his company.
Leo notices and smiles back at me. "Hey, I'll see you after f/a tomorrow, okay?"
I genuinely smile and nod. "Yeah. Bye, Leo."
• • •
{{I honestly feel like I did terribly on this chapter, especially compared to the last one, but oh well I guess. But I'm posting an important A/N next cause I need a bit of help on something. So please read it if you're reading this.}}