light up the dark [XV] - Leo Valdez x reader
wc: 2.2k
genre: tooth rotting fluff, making out, almost smut but not (making out shirtless on a bed for like 5 seconds), questionable plot devices and resolutions
warnings: emotional confessions, hurt/comfort (mostly comfort), Leo being the best person on the earth
summary: after the battle, worrying about Leo was too much, and you find yourself finally spilling your guts
song recs: all I ask - adele, you matter to me - waitress obc
a/n: I think I'm a little sick which is incredibly inconvenient bc I need to get ready for nano and write more fics and I also have a psychiatrist appointment coming up in like two days or something????? forcing myself to sleep when I get home from work lol
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“Are you okay?”
Now that you’re finally upstairs, finally alone for a moment to clean yourselves up and get dried off, Leo tries to check on you. You’re barely down the hall when he asks. You’ve only been around one fight before this, and the last thing he wants is for you to be anymore traumatized than necessary. He wants to at least get you to camp first. His voice is so reassuring, it sends overwhelming emotions crashing through you. He opens his mouth to follow up, to really see if you’re okay, but before he can the air is knocked out of his lungs as you throw yourself against his chest and pull him into the tightest hug he’s ever experienced.
You grip his shirt with shaking fists, and bury your face into his neck, not seeing the shocked expression on his face. He can feel your rapid breathing, your chest pressing into his as you cling to him like a terrified cat. You’re shaking, but he knows it’s not from the cold. He wraps his arms around you gently, one holding you close across your back, the other cradling you on the back of your neck. You continue breathing fast and shaking until you begin to speak, muffled into his chest.
“...I thought something bad was going to happen to you,” you start, eyes welling up at the thought, “I thought you were going to get hurt, or- or… I don’t know what, I-”
It all tumbles out of you in a rush, and you find yourself speaking more freely than you can ever remember. You ramble until your throat tightens up, and you can’t speak anymore. You squeeze your eyes shut,shaking in his arms. He feels a damp spot on his shirt, growing with every jagged breath you manage to get out. You’re crying. You’re crying… because you were worried about him. You’ve been terrified that something was going to happen to him. He looks up to the ceiling in relief, and rubs your back gently.
He was right. His gut instincts were all right about you, that the aloof thing was an act because you were afraid. Acting like you didn’t care was the only real defense you had against the world. You were never just yanking his chain last night when you said you want him. You haven’t been yanking his chain at all, and he’s never felt more validated in his judgment of character or his dogmatic belief that there’s more to you. He was right this whole time; you’ve always had a beautiful heart of gold just below the surface, you’ve just been too afraid to show it. He lets out a breath. He doesn’t want you to be afraid anymore.
“Hey,” he says gently. He pulls away enough to place his warm hands on your cheeks, still stinging from the cold. He brushes his thumbs across your soft skin, wiping away your tears, and brings his face so close to yours.
"I'm okay." He reassures, "I'm okay, you're okay - you are okay, right?"
Through your misery and sobs, a weepy laugh escapes. That's just the effect Leo has on people. He's pure warmth, pure sunshine. He smiles, still caressing your cheek. The sound of your laughter, however sad it may be in this moment, fills him with relief.
"See? We're okay. It's… it's all gonna be fine."
With those few words, he fills you with more reassurance and comfort than you can ever remember getting from someone. You can feel your breathing begin to slow in his embrace. As suddenly as your sorrow goes, a fresh new wave of it overcomes you. This time, it's not from the fear of losing him - literally or figuratively - it’s the strange sense of comfort and warmth that you always get when you’re around him. The peace and happiness he radiates just by existing, the kind that heats you through to your core like a sun lamp. It’s overwhelming, and the harder you cry over how comforting you are, the more he comforts you. He holds you like that, you’re not sure for how long and you don’t care. You could spend forever wrapped in his arms, finally safe in his warm embrace. You stay there, with him rocking you soothingly, cooing comfortingly in your ear and pressing kisses to your hairline.
Your defenses are down, and everything hits you much harder than you suspect it normally would. You’re both exhausted, and still coming back down to a normal temperature. That fight was the first life or death experience you’ve really had - or can remember having, at least. Leo remembers how scary that is, how viscerally ground shaking and terrifying that is to experience. So he holds you tight, rubbing soothing shapes into your back, letting you know it’s okay. He comforts you the way he wishes someone had comforted him. He holds you, safe and warm. He makes comforting shushing noises with one hand still on your cheek. The other rests on your back, warm against the spot where you had tucked your wings in a little while ago. He presses soft kisses against your forehead, along your hairline. For the first time in a really long time, you feel like things are going to be okay.
“I think I’m in love with you.”
The words are out before you can stop them, so soft and muffled against his chest. You continue, your voice soggy and tight with emotion, and you can feel yourself finally spilling your guts, unable to stop or slow down or censor your thoughts.
“I don’t think I really know what that means, I don’t even think there’s someone that’s liked me for more than just sex before, which - god, does that sound pathetic - but, I just- I…I like how I feel around you, I like that you actually want to be around me, and I don’t know if that’s love, but…” You trail off, and he lets out a disbelieving laugh, that blinding, brilliant light shining from his smile and up through his eyes. He shakes his head a little, and you look at him confused. You don’t know what you expected, but it’s certainly not this. Before you can even open your mouth to speak, he catches your lips in the warmest, happiest, most loving kiss you’ve ever experienced. Maybe ever. You kiss him back enthusiastically, melting into his warm touch, and hold each other tight. You grab each other, needing to be even closer than you are. You grab the back of his shirt, needing him more viscerally than you’ve needed anything, more than you need air, or Pierce the Veil’s entire discography. You need him. You kiss him and kiss him, growing giggly and breathless at your newfound realization. You love him. You love him so, so much. The way he kisses you leaves little doubt of him returning your feelings. You have to try so hard not to giggle, and it proves more difficult than you would have expected.
After a few more moments of his soft lips on yours, telling you with every breath that he loves you too, he loves you so much, his hands move down your spine, ghosting over the curve of your hips, snaking around to the back of your thighs. He picks you up, and you can’t hold back anymore. You giggle sweetly against his mouth, and he thinks it’s the loveliest sound he’s ever heard. You wrap your legs around his waist, needing to be close to him, and he carries you through the threshold of your room. He kicks the door closed, and tosses you on your bed. Now both of you are giggling as he climbs on top of you and kisses your neck. He pulls off your jacket and bra to toss them away. As your bare back hits the sheets and you slide your hands under Leo’s shirt, you’re not met with the usual icy chill that greets you here. For the first time, your bed is warm. Your sheets are lived in.
He throws your jacket towards the foot of the bed, and you see something poking out of the pocket. It catches Leo’s attention, too. You reach forward, and pull out the container of sundrop tracking slime that doesn’t work. You set it on your night table next to Eldritch Deity furby, and to your surprise, it starts glowing. You both laugh at the way it repeatedly lead you in randomly incorrect directions. Even now, it’s saying you’re close to the sundial. You run your hand through his soft hair, mostly dry and significantly fluffier than it had been outside. Everything feels better now that you’ve said. Now that you’ve said that you love him. You tug off his shirt the rest of the way, more desperate to be close to him than ever. Something itches at the corner of your mind, but the feeling of his bare chest against yours is too good to pay it any mind. You reach over to your nightstand to fumbling around for a condom. You fumble a little too hard, and something falls off the wooden surface, landing on the floor with a splintering crack. You both pause, looking over to see what fell. When your eyes land on it, your heart sinks.
“Eldritch Deity furby…” you gasp softly, picking him up. You turn him around, inspecting the broken pink plastic from the battery case that sits splintered in your hand and scattered across the hardwood floor.
“Oh,” Leo breathes, taking him gently from your hands to look at the damage. There are no batteries in him, so he has a clear view of the broken part. He sits back to examine him, straddling your lap as he does. The screws are stripped, for one thing, and obviously the battery case is shot. As long as none of the guts were knocked loose, he should be able to replace this pretty easily. He should check on the hardware inside while he’s in here, just to make sure nothing else needs to be replaced or tuned up.
“I can get this fixed up in… hold on…” His brow furrows as he opens up more of the cracked plastic. Stuffing starts to poke through, along with something else. The expression on his face is unreadable, and you’re worried about what he found in there.You can’t remember putting anything in there, so your curiosity is piqued.
“Holy fucking shit…” he says, pulling something out of the stuffing. The rest of the battery case falls apart, and a seam pops as he tries to wiggle it out. He’s able to, removing it carefully, and you see part of a familiar crystal you’ve seen in your dreams now resting between his fingers. He removes the rest of the sunstone - about the size of his hand - out from the fluff.
“No,” you gasp softly, hands coming up to his face. He removes it all the way, and sitting between you in the palm of Leo’s hand, is the sundial. You swear to whatever gods are apparently up there, if this thing has been under your noses the whole time… You look back over to the tracking slime, now at a dulled glow on your night table. You pick it up, moving it closer to the sundial. It glows as bright as it had been a few moments ago. You take in a collective deep breath. You’ve been running yourselves ragged, chasing wild geese for an artifact that’s been in your bedroom this whole time. In spite of your frustration, you can’t help but feel warm with Leo this close to you. Maybe everything you’ve been looking for has been closer than you thought it would be. Maybe it’s been right there the whole time. Leo laughs in disbelief. He climbs off you to go show the others, and you follow him. Leo does a double take at you, and tosses you a shirt before walking over to the door. You chuckle and pull it on, following him downstairs.
“Guys!” He calls to his friends, still scrambling for a strategy in the living room. They look up at him, and he holds up the sundial. Shock is evident on everyone’s face, and the room once again erupts into chaos.
“You’re never gonna guess where we found it.”
That alone means the answer was right in front of them, and they groan in frustration. Frank gets up to grab drinks for everyone, while you and Leo descend the rest of the stairs, ready to tell them about the worst hiding place in history. On your way down, Leo looks over at you and laughs apologetically.
“I promise most quests aren’t this anticlimactic.”
He’s sure you must feel disappointed, like you’ve been cheated out of a real adventure. Maybe frustrated at having to go on such a wild goose chase in the first place. But as you enter the living room with his free hand intertwining with yours, you don’t feel like you have much to complain about.
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