Genre: Smut, Romance, and a hint of Fluff
Ships?: Tony Stark/Zexion
Characters: Tony Zexion
Rating: R
Spoilers: Nope
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Ironman, or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Music: One Minute Man by Missy Elliot
Notes:
Here Come the Blue Skies
When he sleeps, Leo dreams strange things.
When he dreams, he draws them.
When he draws his dreams, his parents worry.
When they worry, they take him to a therapist.
"These are very nice, Leonardo," the man tells him in that condescending 'kind' voice grown ups use. Papers shuffle in his hand -Leo's pictures. If it were up to him, the old man would have none of them. "You are a great artist."
Because he's too polite to say much else, Leo glances to the side. "Grazie," he mutters and swings his legs.
"Some of them are very odd, however," the therapist continues. He pulls out one picture and shows it to him. On the paper, there is a figure in white with a pointed head that is half in black and his arms extend into wings, the bottom halves which are colored red. "Is this an angel? It comes up a lot in your pictures."
Leo bites his tongue, for real. He wishes his mama and papa hadn't brought him here. He doesn't want to explain his pictures - let alone his dreams - to this man. He just knows he wouldn't get it anyway. "He's not an angel," he finally says. "He's..." It's hard to say. In Leo's dreams, the man adn the eagles are two separate things, but mean so much to each other. AT least, Leo thinks so. All he knows is that he privately thinks of the dream man as 'Ezio'.
It's funny, really. The Ezio Leo knows lives just down the street and, while he likes to wear white hoodies and run around, is nothing like the desperate and daring person in the world of dreams. "He finds people."
"Why does he find people?"
Leo lies, "I don't know." Badly.
"Leonardo. You don't have to hide the truth."
With a sigh, Leo relents. "Because he wants to get rid of them."
"Get rid of them?"
Leo squirms guiltily. "So they aren't alive anymore." To his surprise, the therapist doesn't look worried like his parents. He just shakes his head and smiles before pulling out another picture from the pile. Drawn is a rough child's picture of a man in black with strange snakes coming from his back.
"What about this?"
From the display earlier, Leo feels a bit bolder as he peers out from beneath his bangs. "They're mean. The snakes, I mean. The man is really nice but the snakes say bad things to him and eat hearts."
"That's interesting." The therapist sets the pictures to the side. Hsi smile is nice as he claps his hands together and leans forward. "Can I ask you a question, Leo?"
"I guess, Signore."
"Do you watch a lot of movies?" A nod is the reply. "What about action movies? Or scary ones?" Leo thinks about this for a moment before nodding again.
"Si. My best friend and his brother dare each other all the time to watch them, and sometimes, I watch too." He warms up quickly. "We like the monster movies best! We're gonna dress up for Halloween. I'm the Wolfman."
"How exciting," the therapist chuckles. "One last question, Leo. Have you had any more strange dreams lately?"
The girl and boy in similar but different red outfits, moving like acrobats as they practically fly through the air - or swing from string, in the boy's case. A very sad man in the dark, scarf a bright red from where it hangs. A man disappearing into flame with a regretful smile. Some stranger in armor exchanging clever words with a short man with unusual gray-blue hair. Leo shrugsd. "Not really."
"Alright then. Now, why don't you step outside while I speak to your mother?" And then Leo is given a lolipop and shooed away. After that, he does what all children do.
He eavesdrops on his parents and keeps all his drawings hidden. 'Just too many movies' the therapist had said. That's wrong. Even without the movies, the dreams still come to him in his sleep. They're hidden within his math homework and for the truly dreadful ones, eh gives them to Ezio to hide in a box at his house. Because they're best friends, Leo knows Ezio will never peek.
Pne day, however, thigns are different.
"I am sorry, my friend," Ezio mutters miserably, poking his head over the brick wall. Instead of white, he wears black today - a suit. "We are about to go, so I don't have any time."
"It's okay," Leo replies, smiling and holding the papers close to his chest. "I will figure something out. Where are you all going?"
"To meet a cousin," Ezio tells him, frowning.
"You won't be able to meet Jackie today, then?" Leo finds himself frowning as well. He has never me this other friend of Ezio's, but he has heard some stories. "That is bad luck." Standing on the tips of his toes, Leo pats Ezio's hand. "Ther eis always tomorrow."
"True." Ezio sighs but jerks his head up at the far off call of his name. "Time for me to go. But... CAn you tell me what you drew this time?"
Leo smiles sadly. "A murder." Once he's safe at home, in his room, he looks down at the drawing. There is a girl in it, lying in a halo of blood. Feeling very sad for her - for this is not the first dream of her, adn he knows she is kind - Leo hugs the picture. Sometimes, he wishes he could change his dreams. Why must so many be sad ones?
A few days later, and his mama reaches across their dining table to cradle his hands within hers. "Elonardo? You do not have many friends, do you?"
Sensing what is to come, Leo puts on his best smile adn leans forward as well. "Mama, it is okay. I have friends, like the Auditores."
She bites her lip. "But stilll... If you were to have someone else...?"
"Mama?"
"I have been thinking of getting you a sister... Of adopting." She wrings her hands.
That is how, one day, Leo finds himself in a big and grand building whose gates seem older than the orphanage. It's quite different from the apartment he lives at, and he lags behind to marvel at the fountain in the courtyard. Well, more like a pool of water; nothing flows from the mouths. He doesn't realize he's been left behind slightly- there's writing on the bottom of the pool and he's trying to read it. At least, not until someone comes over to peer over his shoulder.
"It says 'Tunnel Snakes Rule', y'know." The girl he turns his head to look at is just a little younger than him, Leo thinks. She has dark eyes and dark hair that's pulled into two ponytails, but something about her seems to lighten up things. The smile, Leo decides. It makes him trust her instantly and, unlike a grown up, doesn't question it. When you just know, you just know. "Hi! I'm Jenny. Are you new here?"
"Not really..." Leo's hands find the straps of his backpack. "My name is Leonardo. Do... you live here?"
Her ponytails wag as she nods her head. "Yep. For a couple of years now. So, I guess you're here with one of your parents?"
Leo raises his eyebrows in surprise. "Is it easy to tell?"
"Nah." Jenny giggles. "But you said 'not really'." Leo grins at that; it's true, after all, he likes the way she laughs. It's familiar. "Do you want to come play games with us?" In the end, he ends up with a gaggle of orphans, boys and girls mixed, playing every thing under the sun from jacks to hopscotch, the squares which Leo himself draws and decorates. In the end, however, he ends up sitting at the fountain, sketchbook out again, just doodling. He's not surprised when Jenny comes to sit next to him.
"Did you win jacks?" he asks, looking up.
"Yeah, Darrel's not that good at 'em." She looks over at his sketchbook curiously. "You're really good!"
Leo's teeth peek out shyly when he smiles. "People say that alot." His pencil taps along the edges of his book. "I coudl draw you, if you want."
Jenny claps her hands, delighted. "That'd be so cool!"
Something strange happens when he draws her, however. He can't bring himself to draw a girl. Instead, what comes out on the paper is the woman with the nice smile from his dreams. It's then that he realizes why the girl is so familiar; he's seen her in his head. Of course, Leo keeps that to himself; he just scribbles down the picture. When he hands it to her, Jenny doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she hops to her feet and holds up the drawing, spinning around.
"I look so pretty! This is me as a big girl, right? I can tell, there are my pigtails!" When she plops back next to him, her eyes are shining. "You're going to be an artist when you grow up, right?"
And just like that, the dam is broken. For what feels like forever, he tells her about all his dreams. Inventor, explorer, artist, writer- he wants to be all of them! And more. There's no laughing, no condescending smiles from her, like he gets from some other kids or grown ups. She grins right back, encourages him, tells him of all the things she is going to be.
When his mother finally comes back, brow worried as always, Jenny hugs him in good bye. "Come and visit sometime," she says with a smile, apparently used to people leaving. As Leo is lead out of the orphanage gates by his mother's hand, he looks over his shoulder. The other children have scattered, and Jenny plays hopscotch alone.
"The person in charge was very nice," his mother babbles as they drive home, a nervous habit of hers. "They said the process would be very easy and soforth, but-"
"Mama?" Leo interrupts her, rude not on purpose but because he is remembering the light in Jenny's eyes and blood splatters in his dreams. When his mother turns to look at him, he finishes his sentence.
"I... would like a sister."
