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It had been a while since Leo had meant it quite like that.
They were starving by the time they were done, Josh whining about his empty stomach. Damon immediately pounced on him, teasing him about how much it’d taken out of Josh to lose to him after all that smack talk.
“I wanna break our bond. This is over,” Josh declared, laughing loudly when Damon grabbed him from the middle and flung him around.
“Leo, help me,” he shouted.
Leo helped by throwing Josh over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and running away from Damon.
“This is not what I meant,” Josh complained breathlessly.
Leo put him down, sticking his tongue out at Damon, who caught up to them and growled playfully.
They managed to walk normally to the taco truck nearby, ordering way too much food and sitting on the curb to eat it, fingers sticky with meat juice and sauce by the end of it.
“Oh, my God.” Leo groaned. “I can’t move. Roll me home.”
“No, me,” Josh replied.
“You guys roll each other home, I live here now,” Damon proclaimed.
Josh went to throw all the wrappers away, settling in between the two of them and looking at Leo. “Thanks for coming out with us. This is really fun.”
Leo stared at his hands. “I mean, thanks for inviting me. For giving me another chance.”
“We missed you,” Josh said softly. “I mean, we’re glad that you took that time for yourself and to get away from things that were, you know, causing you pain, but. Yeah.”
“I missed you guys too.”
Damon cleared his throat. “You’re working in something else now?”
“Yeah. Babysitting, actually. Two cutest kids on the planet.”
Josh’s eyes went wide. “No way, really?”
Damon smiled. “That’s awesome. What are their names?”
“Lily and Sam. They’re three and six and so freaking smart, too. Lily is the six-year-old, and she just comes up with the funniest stories. Her imagination is insane.”
“How’d you meet the family?” Damon asked.
“My sister introduced me. We hit it off, and…here I am.”
Damon gave him a small smile. “They’re lucky to have you.”
Leo felt himself blush. “I’m the lucky one. What about you guys? What have you been up to?”
Josh shrugged. “Same old same old, really. Things have calmed down since I started the treatment. Started kickboxing.”
Leo’s eyes widened. “No way, that’s awesome.”
“It’s so much fun. Or maybe it’s just being able to exercise without passing out. That’s pretty cool.”
“Uh, yeah. I’d hope so.”
Josh grinned, but Damon was still looking at Leo intensely. “It must have been hard, though. I mean, you seemed…sad, sometimes. You seem so much happier now. I mean, I’m super glad, but it must have been hard? You don’t have to talk about it or anything—”
“No, it’s okay. I mean…yeah. I just—” Leo sighed. “I didn’t have the best childhood. Mom died when I was six, Dad’s a total asshole. And, honestly, sex work had a lot of good parts, but it’s definitely not a job for people that struggle with setting boundaries, you know? Or for someone who’s learned to tolerate a lot of abuse but still internalises it.”
