bang!!!

leo: van, van, van the man, i am a fan, you should have a

leo: friend named dan? i lost my rhyme bone bro 🥺

leo: FLAN

“I love crafty shit,” Leo said cheerfully, the mini-pair of scissors he was using to trim the stems off of his little collection of flowers almost comically small in his hands. He looked again at the pretty blue baby’s breath, and carefully -- so, so carefully -- snipped another half an inch from the stem. “Imagine if I was good at it, though. That would be an insane.” With a smile, Leo looked up at the person sitting beside him, eyes conveying a vulnerable kind of helplessness that he swore wasn’t manipulative when he really genuine was helpless most of the time. “Can you wear mine when it’s done? I’d be so depressed wearing one I made for myself, but something tells me I’m not about to have people scrambling for it.”

“I can, you just insulted their family recipe. Italian grandmothers everywhere are quaking,” she laughs, ruffling his hair before removing her fingers from it completely. There was never a time that dare didn’t pay off, especially when the end result was a pizza arriving at the doorstep.  “Extra cheese,” she whispers as he orders, resting her chin on his shoulder in order to eavesdrop. She barely notices his fingers in her hair, but grins at the compliment, though its shortly followed by a roll of her eyes as she hears her dare. “Way too easy,” she says with a click of her tongue, reaching down to move a nicer looking ring to her ring finger. She climbs off the bed to sit beside him, pulling her phone out and opening the camera. They’e almost eye to eye now, her voice growing softer as she grins up at him, “Make it look real, alright?” With that she leans in, pressing a gentle kiss to the edge of his mouth as she holds her hand up for the camera. 

As she sat beside him, Leo leaned forward from his previously slumped position, shifting to drape his arms casually across his knees. “You’re such a badass,” He laughed, equal parts amused and impressed by Lina’s refusal not only to barely even blink before diving head first into the dare, but further to take it up a notch, essentially announcing a wedding-to-come to all of her loyal followers. Or, Leo imagined Lina had loyal followers. She had one, at least, in him. 

Distracted by these thoughts, Leo was barely cognisant of how close Lina was to him until it happened, until her lips just barely grazed his own. Leo was no stranger to kissing, and certainly no stranger to kissing friends -- platonic affection was how he made it through the day, after all -- but it wasn’t so often that he felt a little ricochet in his chest. Within the space of a second, Leo’s understanding of a number of moments he’d shared with Lina realigned; suddenly lingering eye contact was more than just an inside joke acknowledged between friends, arms around each other in greeting just the bass line to a whole song that Leo hadn’t realised was playing. By the time he leaned back slightly, his gaze was softer, yet more sharply focused, a seriousness uncharacteristic of Leo in the way that he searched Lina’s face. Her words whispered through his mind again, and now he lifted a hand to the  side of her face, thumb sweeping gently over her jaw. “I can make it look real,” He breathed. 

And he kissed her, feeling about as real as he ever had.

Leo loved new people, especially new people he hit it off with. Undeniably, Tycho was one of those people; Leo liked to listen to him play, and, you know, Leo had hit some stuff for the guy, too. “Be honest,” He said now, legs hanging over the edge of the stage elevated just so at Allied Bar. Perks of being a performer? Sometimes you were let in a little early to set up. “For fifty bucks, would you run over my foot? Like, just a tiny bit.” 

At first, Sonata’s lips parted to speak but said nothing. It wasn’t until Leo jokingly placed a hand on his chest to show his false betrayal that Sonata’s lips curled into a smile followed closely by a laugh. “Of all the ones to believe in, a bunny that hides painted multi-colored eggs with candy in them? The Jersey Devil is real before Easter Hare. I will say, the Tooth Fairy made me the saddest.” Sonata normally tried to remain wry when talking to strangers, but Leo was endearing. Though they fought it, a pink brushed their cheeks slightly. “That’s sweet of you to say. I wonder, if you come to know me better, if you’ll still feel that way.” they shrugged coolly, letting their fingers leave the stack of records and leaning forward. Sonata’s eyes wandered in thought, “Alright.” they said, “In light of our venue of choice,” they gestured to the record shop around them, “I dare you to give me your best impression of your favorite musician. I’ll try to guess.” they smiled. 

“I don’t know what the Jersey Devil is, but now I feel like I need somebody to hold my hand. He’s not gonna get me in the night, right?”  Leo’s brows drew together, though he still bravely wore a smile, which turned only softer at their tooth fairy fondness. “Stop. I swear, if  you ever lose another tooth, let me know. I can bring you like, four, five dollars at least. Then the real tooth fairy can be the friends we made along the way.” Despite the fact they were in the middle of a record store -- music playing softly in the background, a middle aged man sweeping past Leo with a little impatient grunt -- Leo was starting to feel less like he’d reeled Sonata into an impromptu game of truth or dare, and more like he was doing one of those twenty questions to ask someone alone in a big white room to be bonded forever videos, or whatever. 

Which was why he frowned -- genuinely frowned, smile slipping entirely off his face as it so infrequently did in company -- when they responded to his compliment. “Why wouldn’t I? Just being across from you is making me like you. Getting to know you would be, like, fifty times as good.” Leo tilted his head to the side, letting his lips curve upward just a little as he turned the situation over in his head. “It’s not too late, you could switch your dare, tell me to be your biggest fan?” He suggested. “I’d be real good at it.” 

          “kevin rights, is it? in that case, cheers to that and that kevin, what a proper man,” van whirls his finger in the air, absolutely entertained by the fact that such a thing exists. leo always seemed to send van into a laughing fit, for whatever reasons honestly. he was just a fun and interesting person to be around, van felt, and he honestly needed more of that in his life. “no, mate… i’m right there with you… like i love my dad but kevin jonas….” van drifts off, a smile hanging on his lips before he comes back to the immediate situation, maintaining that smile. “dare, now, is it? hm,” he crosses his arms in deep thought, eyebrows furrowing while he’s at it. “i dare you to ask the third last person you’ve texted on a proper date tonight,” van says with sweet malice in his voice, winking as if to put salt on the burn. 

Lacking a drink to cheers, Leo settled for tapping his own finger with Van’s one as he twirled it in the air. He was still grinning about the concept of himself and Van being Jonas Children together with their Papa Kevin at the helm when Van followed up on his dare, which had almost slipped Leo’s mind. Not Van’s, though. All those flowers had to be having some kind of herbal benefit on his memory. “Snap, bro,” Leo said woefully, though he was already reaching into his pocket for his phone. "I baby birded you and you pterodactyled me.” A quick scroll through his three most recent conversations showed a groupchat with his band (the most recent message was from him, a string of otter and heart emojis), a selfie from his mother, and then... “Lina! Okay, actually, your mind.” His thumbs moved swiftly across the keyboard, brow pinched just slightly in concentration. “I’ve been meaning to do something since we kissed, but I was just like -- shit, wait, your turn again! Truth or dare?”  

Lina’s fingers continue to run through Leo’s hair as she mulls it over, eyes studying him carefully. It wasn’t as if she’d never noticed how attractive he was, but now that he brought it up, she couldn’t seem to stop noticing it. “Of course I will,” she says finally, retracting her hand with a grin, “The hottest. Now where are the scissors?” She was kidding, of course. Well- she was sort of kidding. One more drink and she’d be searching for a Leo’s head sized bowl. 

She giggles softly as he dials the number, chin resting in her hand as she listens in on the interaction. It wasn’t quite as explosive as she’d hoped, but it would have to do. She pretends to throw the two options around in her head, as if she wasn’t the girl who kept picking dares until people ran out of them. Still, its all part of the show. “Dare,” she says, looking at him expectantly, “But my hair is absolutely off limits.” 

The phone call could’ve been uncomfortable, but Lina’s fingers carding through his hair gave him that extra oxy-something (Leo remembered the first part of the official word for love feelings because Theo had made a joke about it when they were on oxy last week, which Leo had thought was a good one) that meant he was just comfortable enough to be yelled at a little without crying. “I can’t believe they didn’t take my order,” Leo lamented, mostly for the ha-has, but he was a little bummed. Two pizzas would’ve been it. He pulled out his phone to start ordering from Joe’s, per Lina’s earlier request, but was distracted by the grin that overtook his face when she opted for dare. 

“Hell yeah!” He laughed, turning his attention back to her. Ever affectionate, Leo’s hand strayed to the ends of Lina’s hair, twirling it gently around his finger as he brainstormed. “No way. This stuff should be insured for twenty mil. I can’t fuck with that.” But... “Oh shit. Got it. Put taken, 26.06.20 on your story and wait for the messages to roll in.” 

troublespin·:

“Guys, guys!” Zoe called at the top of her lungs to be heard over whatever Alexa and Theo were going on about. Knowing the two of them, their conversation topic of choice was, like, rimming or something. Her pointer finger tapped against her lips repeatedly in the universal motion for shush, which she meant lovingly. “Leo’s got an idea.” She returned her attention to Leo, her lips quirking into a smile at the first shine of his enthusiasm. Oh, fuck. Middle school rights. “Let’s fucking do it. Me first!” She claimed the first spot, not waiting for the other bandmates to be included or not. Zoe straightened her posture, puffing her chest out bravely, and gave Leo a serious look. “Dare.”

“I’m just saying it’s 2020 and if I want to be open about wanting to be pegged, I should be. What do I have to be ashamed of? Having a good time?” Theo rants as Alexa nods sagely, hanging onto every word they say. 

“I hear ya’. It’s a double standard. The idea of anything going near my-.” She quirks a brow to Zoe who interrupted their conversation (which was probably for the best) but her expression quickly changes at the mention of truth or dare. Alexa wanted to say they should be practicing for the upcoming show, but with Theo already making their way over to the other two she figured they worked enough for the day. 

“If anyone says truth, you’re out of the band.” She says.

“Come on Lex, truth can be fun. It’s time to be known. And if we only do dare it just turns into any other Friday night.”

There was really, truly, completely, insert other words that Leo didn’t know that meant a lot here, nothing he loved more than being surrounded by his family. Leo grinned as Zoe summoned  Theo and Alexa over, though he mourned internally just a little for their conversation; he’d caught the ends of Theo talking about being pegged, and Leo wanted nothing more for them than that. “If I wouldn’t fall in love with you, baby, you know I’d peg you.” But Zoe had already dibbed the first dare, and since Leo was the one to suggest the game in the first place, he thought it was only right he was the one to suggest her task. The first thoughts that came to his mind involved everyone kissing and holding each other, but, like, Leo did that on a daily basis anyway, so -- “Dare you to love me till we die.” Fuck, wait! That was affection-based too. “No. Dare you to make a new friend!” That wasn’t super actionable in their little apartment though, was it? “No. Dare you to list your favourite things about Dad and Theo!”

She hummed quietly as she thought over dare options, weighing each one in her head. Truth or Dare was a game to be taken seriously, after all, there was no use in wasting turns on lame questions or dares. “I dare you to call Nick’s and ask them if they have real pizza,” she said finally, knowing that Leo was in for an earful for the other end, “And while you’re at it, call Joe’s and order one. They’ve got to be different places, though, I don’t want Italian man spit mixed in.” She laughed softly, flipping over so she was laying on her stomach, “What do you mean, do I actually like the Beatles? Doesn’t everyone? The bowl cuts were hot for the time.” She leans over, one hand gently pushing his hair back, “Hm- maybe I should switch my dare to letting me give you a bowl cut.” 

Oh, a good dare. Lina was full of good ideas, so Leo wasn’t surprised, but certainly impressed. He leaned his head further back on the foot of the bed, twisting awkwardly as he reached for the phone he’d stuffed in the back of his jeans, even as his eyes remained on his friend,  attentive to her answer. “Hot for the time,” Leo echoed,  just as he fished his phone -- screen cracked, clear phone case stuffed with polaroid photos of him and an array of people he loved -- out of his pocket. “Damn, I hope nobody ever says anything like that about me. I want to be hot for all times.” He preened at her touch, though, and amended, “At least tell me you’ll think I’m hot for all time. Then you can give me a bowl cut.” 

But there was a dare at hand, so he dialled Nick’s, grin playing on his features in anticipation. Not that he liked being yelled at, but he figured it might give a bored employee something to do; he sure loved when customers did something out of the good thanks how are you with him at Method Burger. “But it’s your turn now. Truth or dare? Full disclosure, if you pick dare,  I might make us bowl-cut twins.” 

        “jonas brothers? is that right?” he sounds surprised, amazed even, that that was the question leo decided to ask. rubbing his chin as if answering a question of philosophical challenge, he falls into a mode of thinking over who his favorite jonas brother was. “usually, my pick would be joe, but kevin, he’s my underrated man. so probably kevin, for today.” he lets his answer hang in the air for a moment before he breaks into a wide grin directed towards the other. “is it my turn now, yeah?”

Van’s tone made Leo smile, taken off guard yet delighted as he seemed. Leo loved making people smile, even if he wasn’t clued in on all of the reasons people were amused by him. End results were the same, right? Good vibes. But it was his turn to wade his way into pleasant shock, because, “Dude. Me too! Kevin rights!” Leo laughed just a little, being as he so often was very suddenly swept up in passionate agreement. Nobody could say Leo had many strong opinions, just many strong (momentary) feelings. Love for Kevin Jonas was now one of them. “He’s got a whole-ass kid, too. I wish that were my dad. Does that count as a truth? Naw, you didn’t ask. Okay -- dare!” 

Sonata gave a small smirk when the man quickly made himself comfortable, poor records resting under the weight of his arms. “Uh-” they seemed a bit stunted, truly not having expected such a random, and whimsical little question. With their brain caught off guard, after the few moments pause, they dropped their head and couldn’t help but let out a brief, genuine laugh. “Gosh, okay.” pushing back a strand of hair to think, “Sadly enough, I was really young. Four or five maybe? My father wasn’t one for, magic? So, no tooth fairy, no Easter bunny, no mother goose. Wow, I must sound like the saddest child lives inside me?” That’s enough sharing, they thought. “So…” they looked down at the records, fingers playing with plastic as they moved a few, “Truth or dare, hm?”

Leo waited patiently, eyebrows raising encouragingly when they seemed to be mulling the question over. Really, Leo was just happy they were giving him the time of day at all; usually when he shot questions at semi-strangers, they weren’t as indulgent. Not that Leo minded. Everybody was so busy these days! Who was Leo to -- oh, but now they were answering. Leo zoned back in. “Hold on. You’re telling me the easter bunny isn’t real?” He feigned hurt and confusion, one of his hands going to his chest -- though still resting on the records, which shuffled with his movements. “Who's been leaving me chocolate all these years?” Spoiler: himself. In droves. Usually the day after easter, though, when everything was on sale. Hmm’ing, Leo’s expression melted back into a smile. “Stop. No sad children in sight. You look like sunshine to me.” But, more to the point? “Oh, dare.”