#cleonsongweek

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Fate sure has a funny way of pulling them together.

Strings of time spent apart, but pulled together when they seem to need each other most, weaving in and out of each other’s lives but never severing them completely. Each time an important lesson on trust and partnership even when they can’t make it work as anything other than acquaintances with loaded history.

They try to make times for the two of them without the threats on the world on their backs but they’re even fewer and further between, brief moments snatched from Time’s jaws often ruined by their own pride and bitterness.

But always they get pulled back together again. Always.

One final time, one final try. A local dive bar in D.C. neither frequent but were drawn to when passing by without realizing.

Leon can spot her anywhere, the energy around her warm, even when she’s in a bad mood- even when she’s furious at him. Claire doesn’t flinch when he touches her shoulder and says her name, smiling up at him like the last time they met didn’t end in harsh words and awkward silence.

“Leon.” She rises to her feet immediately hesitating only a split second before pulling him into a tight hug, his own arms instinctively wrapping around her to hold her close.

Pulling away they both seem to be marveling at the odds, a smile creeping onto his face that has Claire’s eyes widening and giving him a happily curious one in return.

He changes his mind on shots, ordering the same beer as the one on Claire’s table and she’s got the same curious expression on her face.

“I thought you wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore.” She admits once he’s settled with her. “I was being a bitch last time.”

He’s already shaking his head, “I couldn’t have been meaner if I tried. I’m sorry too.”

Nodding thoughtfully Claire takes a sip of her beer, eyeing him.

“Let’s skip that this time, okay?” Leon’s tone is halfway towards joking and she sort of smiles though it doesn’t spread across her face like it usually does, studying him closely. “What?”

“Just thinking.” Claire says with a shrug. “Strange, isn’t it? That we keep finding each other.”

He thinks on it, how no matter how hard they’ve tried to shove each other away they always instinctively know what the other needs, how to find the other. “Yeah, think it’ll stick this time?”

Looking like she’s facing a high dive she nods, almost shy, a weird thing to see on someone as bold as Claire. Carefully he slides his arm along hers, brushing the back of her hand with his and holding it palm up in an offering.

She looks Leon in the face for a long moment then at their hands as she laces their fingers together, smiling to herself. “If we want it to, I think it just might.”