#implied beating tw

Leo cuts off midsentence, rushing from the kitchen and stopping as soon as he sees Aiden. 

“He’s here,” Leo says into the phone, “Thank God. I’ll call you later.” He falls into a seat on the couch and drops his head into his hands. “Jesus,” he says to himself, followed by a few rounds of haggard breaths that tighten Aiden’s chest. 

Aiden quietly replaces Leo’s car keys on the hook and toes off his boots. His hands shake even more than usual as he imagines the glare Leo’s staring into his back but when he turns around Leo hasn’t moved. 

All the lights are on, nowhere to hide. The house is immaculate, like maybe this is the first time Leo sat down since realizing he was gone. Guilt twists in his stomach. 

Leo still hasn’t moved. A shower won’t improve his fate but it will at least delay the inevitable. He grips the banister. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” 

His stomach drops. “I—”

Leo lifts his head. “Get in here.” 

Aiden cringes, sucking in a shallow breath as he slinks into the living room, trying not to limp. 

Leo squints up at him trying to see his face under the hood. “Well?”

“I’m sorry,” he says, hanging his head.  “I—”

“I don’t want to hear that,” Leo says, voice hollow. Even his expression is flat, tired, exhausted by what Aiden put him through. All for nothing. “I want you to tell me where the fuck you’ve been for the last four hours. In the middle of the night. With my car. And no license or ID to speak of.” 

He flinches.  “I—I—” The words won’t come. What does surface are tears because he feels so, so stupid for ever thinking his plan would work. 

“Aiden?” Now there’s worry in his tone, reaching down Aiden’s throat to twist his stomach further. Leo stands. “Look at me, are you okay?” 

He swallows a sob and nods. 

“Aiden.” It’s as much an admonishment as an accusation. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. Any louder and he’ll be crying. It’s already half whimpered. 

Leo sighs. The sound of his disappointment makes Aiden want to fall to his knees. Leo reaches out slowly, like he’s trying not to spook a frightened animal and pushes back the hood. His breath catches audibly and he covers his mouth with his hands at the sight of Aiden’s busted face. 

Aiden breaks, dropping to his knees with a sob. 

Leo catches his arms and follows him down, sitting on the edge of the couch again. “Aiden—”

“Mmm’sorry. Mmm’so… s-s-sorry,” he cries. “I-I mmm’was, so, s-s-stupid.” 

“Easy, easy.” Leo holds him by the shoulder and brings his other hand to his chin. He gently turns his head to one side and then the other, eyes still wide with shock. 

His broken lip throbs, left eye swelling shut. He did what he could with some hand wipes in the car but he’s pretty sure the cut on his forehead is going to need stitches if he doesn’t want yet another disfiguring scar. 

“Are you…hurt in any other way?”

“No.” He doesn’t know if he’d be able to tell Leo even if it had come to that. 

“Did anyone follow you?”

He shakes his head, wanting nothing more than to lean into Leo’s hand on his chin, collapse into his lap. 

“Do you think they knew your history?” 

You mean what I am? He shakes his head again. By some miracle, they hadn’t made that inch long leap. 

Leo only looks infinitesimally relieved. Aiden bites back a whimper as Leo surveys his face again, frowning. He stiffens when Leo pulls him to his feet. 

But all he does is pull Aiden into his arms. “God, I could kill you. I was so worried.” 

“I’m sorry,” he says into Leo’s shoulder. 

Leo pulls him closer, squeezing the back of his neck. Aiden ignores the pain in his face and sinks into Leo’s chest, letting out a shaky exhale. 

Too soon, Leo herds him into the kitchen and onto a stool. He feels unsteady now, without Leo’s arms around him. 

“I’m getting you some ice and you’re going to tell me what happened.”

“Yessir.” 

Leo turns around to level him with a look. 

Aiden wilts. “Sorry.” 

“Seems to be a lot of that going around.” 

He swallows. 

Leo gets the ice pack and fills a glass of water for him. “Would you take some ibuprofen?” 

“Yes,” he says, too quickly. 

Leo narrows his eyes. “Because it hurts that much or because you’re placating me?” 

“Can’t-can’t it be… mmm’both?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Leo says, tone biting. “Is it?” 

He hangs his head. Admits in a whisper, “No.” 

Leo sighs. “Normally, I wouldn’t let you make this choice based on the fact that you think it might earn you some good will…” Aiden’s cheeks burn but he forces himself to hold Leo’s gaze. “That said, I really don’t like the look of the swelling around your eye. And Delia will probably come up with more reasons why it’s necessary.” 

Aiden nods. 

“Can I convince you to eat something with it? Maybe drink a glass of juice?” 

He looks at his hands to hide his face. 

“I don’t even have to try, do I?” Leo asks.

He shakes his head, eyes down. The knuckles on his right hand are raw from his feeble attempts to fight back.  

“God,” Leo swears under his breath and Aiden flinches. 

“I…fucked up,” he whispers, another weak defense. 

Leo sighs. “That doesn’t mean we have to go back to this.”

“I-I don’t— I can’t—” He blinks back tears. Crying will only make this worse. Leo already thinks he’s pathetic. Hates when he regresses to a spineless pet. “If you—you’re not-not… going to…uhm…” He doesn’t think he can even say it. Half because he knows it would never happen and half because of the hard look in Leo’s eyes, confirming he doesn’t have to speak the unthinkable out loud. “If I don’t—don’t… How-how will you, you, mmm’mmm…” He’s perilously close to crying. Fucking inarticulate—

“Hey, com’ere.” Leo leans across the island and reaches for his hands. He surrenders them, biting his bottom lip to stop himself from just apologizing again. Leo rubs his thumb over the back of his hand. “Listen to me. I know you know this but I’m gonna say it anyway: You don’t have to do anything to earn my forgiveness.” 

He searches Leo’s eyes, their familiar brown. The creases at the corners that deepen when he smiles are shallow now. 

“I was—it was—so… mmm’stupid.” 

“I bet. But I don’t care.” 

He’s too shaken to wait very long for the other shoe to drop. “I don’t…”

Leo holds both of his hands in one of his and lifts the other to Aiden’s cheek. “I know. And I have to be more patient with you while you learn to trust that.” 

“M’sorry,” he whispers. 

“Shhh.” Leo brushes an escaped tear off his cheek with his thumb and Aiden swallows a sob. “How about we agree that you take the ibuprofen and have a snack because you need it and no other reason?” 

Aiden nods. Maybe one day he’ll actually be worthy of all the second chances Leo gives him. 

It takes him three tries to choke down two ibuprofen. He doesn’t doubt that the pills are what Leo says they are. He can even read the bottle. Recognizes the familiar greenish tint to the liquid capsules. His body isn’t on the same page, even as his ribs ache with every gag and cough. 

Leo keeps a hand on Aiden's back while he calls Delia. Aiden diligently eats his granola bar, chasing it with a glass of orange juice and trying to distract himself from thinking ahead to her visit with the warmth of Leo’s touch.  

“She’s off in a half an hour and then she’ll head over.” 

Leo puts Aiden’s empty glass in the dishwasher. He lifts the whole stack of neatly folded kitchen towels off the top shelf of the cabinet to pick a dark green one from the middle. Restacks the rest and replaces them before wrapping the chosen towel around the ice pack. “Come on, let’s sit on the couch and you can tell me what happened.” 

He keeps his hands in his pocket to hide their shaking, tucking his feet up under him on the couch. Leo gingerly holds the ice pack to his busted face. 

Aiden swallows the lump that rises in his throat. 

“Hey, look at me.” Leo waits. “I just want to know what happened. You’re still not going to be in trouble.” 

“I-I should… be. You don’t—you don’t, mmm’know how…s-s-stupid it was.”

“Easy, sweetheart.” Leo takes a deliberate breath, waits for Aiden to do the same. “Just start at the beginning.” 

He looks at his lap, tears brim in his eyes again. “I just—I just… mmm’wanted to get, uhm, to get your… mmm’money… back,” he whispers. 

Leo lets the ice pack fall. “Tell me you didn’t try to find that scamming dirt bag again.” 

“No, no.” Much stupider than that. “I-I… mmm’made an, um, an ad.” 

Leo narrows his eyes. “What do you mean?” 

“Uhm…for-for a…an, umm, a… mmm’companion.” 

“Aiden.” 

It knocks the wind right out of him, hearing Leo say his name in that tone. He shrinks back against the couch. Leo didn’t even have to raise his voice. 

“Are you serious?” 

He nods, shoulders up to his ears. 

“Jesus. Fuck. Do you have any idea—” Leo closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Sorry, I can’t— the thought of what could have happened…” 

“Mm’okay,” he whispers, guilt clawing its way up his throat. 

“No. No, you’re not,” Leo snaps. 

He doesn’t know why he’s defending himself when Leo is right. 

It could have been awful. He could be chained in a basement right now or headed back to WRU. Never seeing Leo again. It could have ended his life. 

“I’m, I’mmm’here,” he insists, half to himself.  

“Yeah, by the skin of your teeth.” Leo gets up and paces away. Aiden holds his breath when he turns back. “God. How could you be so impulsive? When is it going to get through to you how devastated I would be if anything happened to you? If you hadn’t made it home?” 

Aiden blinks up at him. “I-I—” 

“Do you have any idea what that would be like for me? Trying to get on with my life if you were gone?” He presses the heels of his hands against his temples. Aiden’s chest feels tight. “Can’t you see how much you matter to me? Way more than five fucking grand, I can tell you that much.” 

He paces to the window and stands there seething. 

Aiden bites his bottom lip to stop it from trembling. Every part of him is shaking now, a storm of guilt and regret and too many other things to pick out by name, pushing him to the edge. 

“L-Leo?” 

He spins and Aiden flinches, hands twitching up defensively before he can stop them. 

“Fuck,” Leo breathes as the tears start falling from Aiden’s eyes. Aiden covers his face with his hands. 

Leo drops to his knees in front of him. “Com’ere, baby. I’m sorry.” He pulls Aiden into his arms. Aiden sobs against his chest. 

He feels it all again, in the safety of Leo’s arms. A fist in his sweatshirt. The slam of his back meeting the pavement. Boots against his ribs. Hands around his neck. “I-I was so, so… mmm’scared.” 

“Me too.” Leo rubs the back of his neck. “Promise me you’ll never pull something like that again.” 

He sniffles. “I… mmm’promise.” 

Leo holds him until he stops crying. Even then, keeps Aiden under his arm while he holds the ice pack to his cheek. “You’re going to tell Delia everywhere else they hit you so she can make sure you don’t have any internal bleeding.”

He nods. “I-I had it—I had the-the mmm’money. It almost… mmm’worked.” He just wasn’t fast enough. 

“Aiden. Listen to me. I don’t care about the money.” Leo looks into his eyes, one at a time to make sure he’s hearing him. “We’re going to find another way to get you an ID. And by ‘we’ I mean me and Delia. Alright? None of this is for you to try to fix.” 

“Mm.” 

Leo thumbs his chin gently. “Now you mumble at me like a teenager?” 

“Yessir,” he amends, biting his lips together. 

“God.” Leo rolls his eyes and pulls Aiden against his chest, pressing a chaste kiss to the top of his head. “You’re grounded for a million years. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

He’s joking but Aiden’s heart still rushes in his chest. He doesn’t want to be alone anytime soon either. 

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