For the h/c bingo prompt “trust issues”. Post-canon.
"Leo?" Zo stepped gingerly over a wineskin and an inkwell that had been tossed to the ground. Papers were strewn over the floor and table, precious notepaper scrumpled and scribbled on and discarded.
Leo himself sat, head bowed, at the table.
"Leo," Zo said again. "Come on. We're friends. Talk to me."
It had been days since the break-up and Leo was again grieving a lost relationship, this time without the distraction of a war to pull his attention from the pain.
"Friends don't clam up. They don't pretend to be fine when they're not. They talk about their feelings," Zo said. He'd made the same speech three days in a row. For three days Leo had ignored him, unwilling or unable to unburden himself.
Today, thankfully, was different.
Leo swallowed, turned damp, reddened eyes to Zo. "Sometimes, I wish I could stop feeling."
"What?" Zo pulled up a chair, sat down.
"It hurts. Everyone hurts you eventually. They leave, one way or another. And I can't fix it." Leo gestured wildly at the disarray. "They say they care and then they're gone. They can't handle it. Me. This."
Zo suppressed a sigh. He was sorely tempted to find Leo's latest conquest and punch the little shit in the face a few times. "If he couldn't handle your genius, then you're better off without him."
"He said I dreamed too much, too big," Leo mumbled. "Too dark. Too wrong. Not pretty enough! As if life is pretty! As if progress is pretty!"
Zo let Leo ramble for a while. Sometimes what was needed was a sympathetic ear. No judging, no rebuttals, no trying to fix things, just being there. Especially for those like Leo, who lived so much in their heads. Especially when they'd opened up to someone and paid the price. Leo needed people, but particular people; there were those he dallied with on a shallow level, and then there were those he let in.
And of those he'd let in?
Andrea (dead). Lorenzo (turned on him). Lucrezia (betrayer and now dead). Vanessa (chose Lorenzo). Nico (chose to stay near Vanessa). Riario (back to his old ways in Rome, no surprise to Zo). Sophia (took up with a smooth tongued lover on his way to the Orient last year, they'd had one letter from her since). This latest lover (made promises that had gone unkept, dumped Leo unceremoniously.)
It was enough to give anyone trust issues.
You couldn’t be hurt by someone you didn't care about but you could be wounded by someone you did.
"I'm here," Zo said, when Leo ran out of steam. "I have always been here."
Only a minor exaggeration.
"I will always be here," God willing. "I know others have abandoned you, but I have always been at your side and I always will be. Do your shopping, sail halfway around the world, defeat an army; I've always chosen you, Leo. I will always be here, no matter how angry or upset or joyful or melancholy you are, nor for how long each mood lasts. Because that's what friendship is. I'll be here and I'll listen, always. At your side."
Leo let out a deep breath. "I still feel things. For you. I trust you. I'd be lost without you."
"I know." Zo gave a smile.
Leo studied him for a long moment. "I'm hungry," he said at last and that was a relief because Zo was fairly certain his friend hadn't eaten since the break-up.
"Then we'll get food," Zo said and held out his hand. "Come on, I found a great stall the other day, they sell these funny bread things full of spiced vegetables. You'll love them."
With a smile, Leo took Zo's hand, and they went to get food.
Fic also at AO3
