Chapter 6 – Leon
Chapter Six
LEON
T ogether was probably the only way they were going to manage to stumble their way through the next two rooms of the house. They were like uncoordinated baby fawns. Or maybe a couple of jackasses.
“Okay, vampires don’t sound so bad–” James said, immediately interrupting himself with a shriek as the coffin right by the door very predictably swung open to reveal the bust of a vampire.
Leon was about to laugh at him when something grabbed onto his leg. He shouted and kicked off what looked like a huge stuffed bat.
James let out an actual fucking giggle, and Leon wheeled on him.
“Oh yeah?” he said, unable to keep the smile off his face. “Think that’s funny?”
James gave him a lopsided grin that showed off one of his adorable dimples. Leon desperately wanted to kiss it?—
And he could.
“Alright, little mensch, you can go first then,” Leon said, releasing James’ hands to grab him around the waist and haul James in front of him. He pressed a quick kiss to James’ cheek and then pushed him forward.
“Leon!” James squealed, reaching back to grasp Leon’s arm.
They stumbled forward, narrowly missing a stuffed wooden stake that flew overhead.
James continued to try to dodge back behind Leon, but Leon was quite a bit stronger than him.
By the time they made it halfway into the room, Leon had managed to get his arms securely wrapped around James’ waist and his chest pressed into James’ back.
“Come on, darlin’,” he growled in James’ ear. “Lead the way.”
James shivered from the top of his pretty head all the way down to his ridiculous loafers.
Was this actually real? Had Leon passed out in the hospital of horrors room, and this was all a dream?
“I’m going to end up walking us into a wall if you keep doing that,” James said.
Leon was surprised to find he could watch the flush creeping down the back of James’ neck. He grabbed James’ chin and turned his head towards the door at the end of the room. “Eyes forward then, darlin’.”
James shivered again before one of his familiar put-upon-sounding sighs escaped his lips. “You’re doing that on purpose.”
“Damn right I am.”
James settled into Leon’s embrace, and Leon spread his legs a little until he was able to hold James’ weight easily. They stood there, in the middle of the gaudy black and red lace covered room in a peaceful silence.
“We are going to talk about this later, right?” James asked, his voice low and suddenly very serious.
Leon had to tamp down his knee-jerk response to make a joke or snarky comment. He needed to take his own advice. They didn’t have to do that anymore. They could be playful and flirty and joke around, but—just like he’d said earlier—not about something this serious.
“‘This’ meaning us?” Leon asked.
“Yeah. Like…if there is an us?”
Leon tightened his arms around James. His fingers started to tingle, and he realized that James was probably right. There wasn’t an ounce of anger in him right now, but there was a startling amount of fear.
“If I have any say in the matter, there will be.”
“A talk?” James asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“An ‘us’ to talk about.”
James’ breath caught. He tried to turn around in Leon’s grip, but he stilled him with a quick squeeze around the middle.
“We can talk as much as you want when we get back to my place, but we probably should finish the last two rooms.”
Leon couldn’t see more than the profile of James’ face, so his responding silence worried him for a second.
Then James moved faster than Leon could stop him, managing to step forward and out of his grip.
Leon reached for him, but it was in vain because James spun around and grabbed Leon’s face in both of his soft hands.
He brought his lips right up to Leon’s before he paused and whispered, “Please.”
Leon kissed him, hard and fast, sliding his hands around James’ back to clutch him possessively to his chest.
Oh, there was going to be an “us” for fucking sure.
Leon wasn’t going to stop at three hasty kisses.
He wanted a million, and he wanted snuggles on the couch and hand holding over quiet dinners that led into loud nights in his room.
He wanted amusement park rides and trips to the beach and traveling abroad and?—
And he wanted to get out of this fucking haunted house.
Leon ended the kiss, pulling back only to have to grit his teeth to keep from kissing him again. James was staring up at him with huge, gorgeous, pale blue eyes, swollen lips, and splotchy cheeks.
“You can’t look at me like that, darlin’, or we are never getting out of here.”
James’ eyelids fluttered. “God, why does that make my entire body tingle?”
“You are remembering to breathe, right?”
James’ pretty eyes narrowed into a glare. “I am, yes.”
Leon grinned impishly. “Yeah, I mean, what kind of fucking loser forgets to breathe?”
He had genuinely meant it as a joke, but James’ face fell. “Hey! Don’t talk about my…my Leon like that.”
His words held heat behind them, but nowhere near as much as seemed to ignite his cheeks, his entire face turning the color of Dracula’s cape.
If it was possible, Leon was pretty sure James’ face was so hot, it was actually spreading onto Leon’s cheeks.
Hell, it was spreading down his chest, burrowing into his heart, and burning through his veins.
“Your…Leon?” he growled, the sound coming from deep in his gut.
James opened his mouth, to explain, or excuse, or maybe apologize, but Leon didn’t want to hear it.
He slammed their mouths together, loving the way James desperately clung to the back of his jacket.
Not in fear or panic like before, but in…
something else. Lust? Like? Joy? Excitement?
God knew Leon was feeling every single one of those things and then some.
When they finally pulled back from what had been their best kiss yet, they were both panting. James’ eyes ran all over Leon’s face, searching his gaze, skating along his flushed cheeks, and lingering on his lips before coming back up to his eyes.
“I think,” James said, “maybe you shouldn't look at me like that either.”
Leon pulled him in, but this time for a hug.
“We’re going to talk later, right? At your house?” James whispered.
“Mhm,” Leon said, burying his face in James’ neck. He smelled of sweat, forest, and promise. “We can sit on the couch, and maybe I won’t have to pretend to pet Yarmen to sit right next to you.”
James’ breath hitched. Really, it seemed like they might both suck at breathing.
“Poor Yarmen,” James said.
Leon pulled back and shook his head as he grabbed James’ hand. “Don’t ‘poor Yarmen’ me. He’s gotten more love and attention since meeting you than any cat needs.”
“He deserves it,” James said as he easily allowed Leon to guide them through the remainder of the room.
“I deserve it,” Leon grumbled.
Another bat went soaring by their head, shrieking as it went, but Leon could have sworn he heard James whisper, “You do.”
They made it into the sea monster room, and James let out another adorable giggle. The room was…ridiculous. It was painted in dark swirling blues and purples and full of campy Loch Ness Monster memorabilia. There wasn’t anything remotely scary about it.
“What the fuck?—”
“Let’s go!” James cried, suddenly filled with confidence and nothing but smiles.
He dragged Leon forward by his hand, and they ran through the remainder of the room, the pop-ups and flying sea monsters making them laugh and shove at each other until finally they burst out into the dark night.
Leon hadn’t given any thought to the end of the haunted house, but he had no idea there would be more waiting for them outside. There were stations set up all around another courtyard and a big sign that said “Reward yourself with some treats—no tricks!”
He looked around, trying to find Hailey, until James pointed to the other side of the courtyard where Hailey was standing with her friends. If Leon squinted, he could make out her hand intertwined with Catwoman’s.
“Oh my fucking god,” Leon said, preparing to charge down the stairs towards her, but James squeezed his hand.
“I know you’re protective of her, and I know we did sort of explicitly warn her against this, but…I don’t think we really have a leg to stand on here, baby,” James said.
Fuck that word on James’ kissed pink lips didn’t make Leon’s body tingle. It made him feel like he’d been struck by lightning.
“Uh…yeah,” Leon said as James pulled him down the stairs.
Orange lights were strung across the courtyard, and unlike out front, where it had added a creepy feeling to the haunted house’s facade, here, they were warm and inviting.
There were around ten stalls, all featuring Halloween treats, ranging from cauldrons of candy to hot apple cider and ghost-shaped rice cereal treats.
James led them to the first stand on the right, which held the cider. He grabbed a styrofoam cup and handed it to Leon before grabbing his own.
Leon raised an eyebrow, and James shrugged. “Don’t try to pretend like you don’t love fall drinks.”
Leon took a sip, the spices and tart apple exploding on his taste buds. This was the real deal, not the powdered stuff a lot of events tried to get away with serving. It also may or may not have tasted better because his James got it for him.
They kept walking around the circle, and Leon gripped the cup between his teeth so he could snatch up a bag of chocolate covered pretzels and a bag of candy. He quickly pocketed them as James pursed his lips.
“Don’t try to pretend like you don’t love chocolate. These are for later.”
James ducked his head, and Leon pulled him along.
They avoided Hailey’s group, letting her spend time with her friends while they enjoyed the impromptu trick-or-treating.
After they finished their drinks, James grabbed them orange cranberry muffins—which, for some reason, made him blush—and Leon shamelessly picked up some pumpkin spice cookies.