Work Text:
Leon has no idea what time it is. It’s definitely late and he definitely should be asleep already before another gruelling day at work, but laying wrapped around Ada, her fingers caressing his arm, he can’t help wanting to stretch the time as much as he can. It’s not even a given that he’ll wake up to an empty bed tomorrow – not anymore, Ada staying the night every now and then. She never tells him in advance though, and for fear of coming across as clingy, he never asks. Maybe it’s stupid. Still, he works his hardest to keep his voice casual and even as he forces out:
„Staying for breakfast?”
Ada takes a moment to respond.
„Sure. I have some things to take care of in DC, will stay for a couple of days.” A beat. „I haven’t booked a hotel… thought I could perhaps stay here?”
Her voice doesn’t waver for a second, but Leon is sure she’s nervous to ask – he feels it in the way her body tenses against him, her hand stills. Just as he’s sure she can feel his heart hammering in his chest as he responds:
„ ‘Course. As long as you need.”
Ada doesn’t say anything else, but hugs his arm a little closer in response. Relieved, he finally allows himself to drift into sleep, but not before briefly wondering what is even the point of their pretend nonchalance. It’s not like they’re fooling each other anyway.
Leon loves learning new things about Ada whenever he can. Today’s discovery – she likes to laze in bed when she’s not in a hurry, evident from the fact that she only turns to her other side when his alarm rings, and soundly sleeps through all his morning preparations. She only emerges from the bedroom when he’s almost ready to go, grabbing herself a cup of coffee before kissing him at the door.
The day at the office is uneventful, which does not help stop his thoughts from drifting to Ada. Ada in his home. Spending the day – a couple of days even. It’s what he wants, but at the same time can’t help feeling… nervous. What does Ada expect of a day with him? He doesn’t even remember what everyday life is supposed be like, but he’s pretty sure he’s doing it wrong.
The nagging thoughts persist right until the threshold of his apartment, until stepping into the living room, he sees Ada casually laying on the couch, reading a book. She looks up and throws him a soft „Hi” – and just like that, everything’s right. God, he could get used to this. He goes to her, sits down pulling her feet onto his lap.
„How was your day?”
„Long and boring.” He shrugs. „Though I suppose it’s better than the alternative.”
Ada huffs a small chuckle. „Indeed.”
„What’cha reading?”
She lifts the book to show him a familiar cover – Pet Sematary. „Found it on your bookshelf.”
„Is it any good?”
The question earns him an amused look. „You haven’t read it?”
„Haven’t read almost any of the books I have. Don’t really have the time. Or the energy.”
Ada hums pensively. „I don’t get to reach as much as I’d like, either. Especially not for entertainment – can’t really afford being seen with a silly novel.”
Leon nods and stays silent for a moment, looking away, softly running a hand over Ada’s shin before continuing.
„Well, you can read anything you want here.”
Ada smirks at that, throwing him a bemused look. „I don’t know darling, you can be pretty judgemental.”
Warmth spreads through Leon at the sound of the pet name and he immediately chastises himself mentally. It’s nothing, just an offhand joking comment, but it’s… nice. He can’t remember the last time, if ever, being called that. Scrambling to hide his fluster, he chuckles. „Try me.”
Smirk turning into something softer, Ada responds. „I might.”
They lapse into a comfortable silence for a while, until Ada raises from the couch.
„I was thinking Thai for dinner – you wanna go wash up? I’ll order.”
„Sounds good.”
He really could get used to this.
---
Leon stands among rubble after dispatching the latest variety of BOW the endless human creativity came up with, surveying the site, eyes searching for the familiar figure he spotted a while back. The warehouse the fight broke out in did not escape unscathed, but it seems like the building is not coming down just yet. He can take a moment. He hears the unmistakeable sound of a hookshot followed by a soft landing behind him.
„You okay?” Ada asks, eyeing an ugly gash on his arm, which, luckily, doesn’t feel too deep.
He moves to grab the first aid kit from his pouch. „Yeah. ‘Tis but a scratch”, he adds, cheekily.
„Har har”, Ada rolls her eyes, even as she moves to grab the kit from him. A moment of silence passes as she bandages his arm before he speaks:
„You know, I actually read Pet Sematary when you left it unfinished.”
She looks up from her work with amused eyes. „Did you now? No spoilers then.” Once finished, she gives his arm a light pat and turns to leave before giving him one more look. „Hope you didn’t move my bookmark.”
„Wouldn’t dream of it.”
„Good. See you around, handsome.” With that, she’s gone.
---
With the meagre size of Leon’s library, Ada burns through it in no time, even with the sparsity of her visits. He is not surprised, then, when on another occasion, leaving for work he sees her grabbing a new book from her bag. He is surprised, though, when he sees the cover.
„Twilight? Ada, isn’t that… a book for teenagers?”
Ada shrugs, completely unfazed. „I wanna see what the fuss is all about. Besides,” she continues, giving him a pointed look, „you promised, no judgement”.
Leon chuckles at that. „I absolutely did. I’ll leave you too it then, hope you enjoy.” With a quick kiss, he grabs his keys and leaves for work.
Ada apparently does enjoy the book, since returning hours later, Leon finds her on the couch, in the same clothes as in the morning, already halfway through. Dropping his jacket on a chair, he moves to lay down stretching on top of her, finally able to relax. She keeps her eyes on the book even as she softly cards her fingers through his hair.
„So how is it?”
He can hear the laugh in her voice as she answers. „So bad. I can’t put it down.” After a moment, she closes the book though. Continues in a more impassive tone, with slight hesitation. „I does make me think though… about all the things I missed in my teenage days”.
At that, Leon looks up. Ada almost never shares about her life before they met but from the tidbits Leon managed to get through the years, he knows it was not a happy one so he never pushes for more information. Still, emboldened by her bringing up the subject, he decides to probe this time.
„What were your teenage days like?”
Ada looks away, takes a while to answer. „They were… busy. Training. First assignments. There was a group of us and by then we already realised we were each other’s competition. So there wasn’t really any room for friendship or fun. Bit of a dog eat dog situation” she adds, with a wry smile.
Leon can’t help thinking about himself as a teenager – about school, friends. How even with his own unfortunate family history, he still has plenty of memories from that time to look back on fondly. He feels a wave of sadness – not pity, he would never pity her – but a sorrow for all she’s had to endure, thinking not for the first time that she really is the strongest person he knows. He can’t let her see any of that, though – not if he ever wants her to confide in him again. So with a lopsided smile, he motions at the book in her hand:
„Well, I’m glad you can now catch up on teenage reading at least. With this… what I’m assuming is a beautiful love story”.
She laughs at the comment, shaking off the momentary gloom. „Yes, it’s truly wonderful. All it’s missing is a love triangle.”
By the time she gets to the second book, she gleefully informs him this deficiency has been rectified.
----
She ends up reading all four books, cheerfully placing them at the center of his bookshelf once she’s done – just in case he wanted to read them, she says. He rolls his eyes at that, but in truth, he doesn’t mind. If he’s being completely honest, he likes seeing them in his apartment – a reminder that Ada’s been there. Not only been, but stayed. And kept coming back. It’s also proof that he’s privy to a part of her that no one else gets to see, that she trusts him enough to drop her barriers even a little bit. So he never moves the books, at first sometimes stopping to look at them with something like fondness, in time getting so used to them he hardly notices them at all. Until one day, when he gets a visitor – the only one aside from Ada to ever step foot in his apartment.
„Leon!” He hears Claire cry out in the living room as he’s busy in the kitchen, unpacking the takeout they brought. In a moment, he sees her approach brandishing the familiar book with a grin that makes him cringe inwardly.
„I think I just lost a bit of respect for you.”
„Wasn’t aware that you had any”, he deadpans.
„Touché. But I would if I did – Leon, Twilight? I try not to judge people on how choose to relax, but I didn’t expect this from you.”
„It was a gift. And a joke, I didn’t actually read it.”
„Riiight. If you didn’t want it, you could’ve just regifted or donated it.”
„Come on, that would be rude.”
„And since when you’re such a paragon of propriety? Come on, just admit it – you’re totally Team Edward, aren’t you?”
He chooses not to dignify that with an answer, instead pushing past her carrying the food into the living room. Claire follows, still laughing behind him, but does not press the topic further, putting the book back in its place before plopping down on the couch. They move on to chatting about latest events and Leon sincerely hopes Claire lets the issue drop.
She very clearly does not when his birthday comes and included with the usual birthday card, he finds a DVD of Twilight. „Nothing to be ashamed of”, the note attached says. Right, as if she wasn’t subtly shaming him now, Leon chuckles to himself. Still, he thinks, placing the box on a shelf, this isn’t such a bad present. Maybe Ada will want to watch it together.