Who: Leon Orcot and Veronica Mars What: Veronica breaks into Leon's apartment, catches him talking to the plant When: Recently Where: Leon's apartment Rating/Warning: Low/Language, probably. Otherwise, probably nothing. Status: Complete
It was getting late by the time that Leon got home. Some of the guys at work had invited Leon to play a couple rounds of poker, and while he’d refused the last few weeks since Gattolotto had come into his life, he figured that a night out probably couldn’t hurt this time. Well, couldn’t hurt anything other than his wallet. He’d lost nearly every hand.
Even still, he was a fairly good mood when he came waltzing through his front door. “Gattolotto, I’m home!” he called cheerily to his house plant, making a beeline over to her. “Hope you weren’t too lonely without me. How are you doing? Thirsty?” he stuck his finger into the soil, thought it seemed pretty dry. Gattolotto didn’t need much watering, but she did need some watering, and he turned to go get a glass of water for her.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Veronica sitting on his couch, staring at him. He leapt back, bumping into the windowsill, hand clenching his chest where he was pretty sure his heart was fighting to escape. “Jesus Christ, V, what the fuck are you doing here?!”
Veronica had decided to spring another surprise visit on Leon. Only he didn’t answer the door. Veronica was not about to wait in his hallway, so she let herself in. Not with a key, but she still had her B&E skills that she used on the regular back in high school.
Once inside Veronica got settled on the couch, going through some messages on her phone. Until Leon walked in talking to Gattolotto.
The fuck?
It took Veronica a minute to remember Gattolotto was the plant he had posted about not that long ago. Which was even more evident when he walked up to the plant, asking how it was and sticking his finger in the dirt. Gross.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Veronica shot back once Leon noticed her. “You do realize that’s a plant, right Orcot?”
“They grow better if you talk to them,” Leon said, momentarily embarrassed that Veronica had seen him talking to Gattolotto, and he blushed, but the embarrassment was quickly replaced with annoyance. This was his apartment. If Veronica didn’t want to see him talking to his plant, then she didn’t have to be here.
“Besides, this is my place, Veronica. I can do whatever the hell I want in my home!” he snapped.
Veronica was unphased by Leon snapping at her. “Clearly we need to hang out more,” she concluded, still sitting on his couch. “Get you talking to actual humans.”
Nevermind that that was what he had been doing. It was Veronica that had been by herself and in the need of company. Hence the breaking into Leon’s apartment. But whatever. At least she hadn’t resulted to talking to plants like they were human beings.
“I’d rather talk to the plant than most humans,” Leon muttered. Leon would rather avoid most humans, if he could help it. But he shook his head, making the very short trip to the kitchen on the other side of the room. He filled up a glass of water for Gattolotto, and pulled out a couple cans of beer for him and Veronica.
“You still haven’t told me why you’re here,” he said, handing one of the cans to Veronica on his way back to Gattolotto.
Veronica took the beer, cracking it open and taking a long swallow. At least she hadn’t helped herself to any while he was gone. See? She could be nice.
“To watch you talk to your plants,” Veronica replied matter-of-factly. “It’s pretty entertaining,” she smirked, taking another swallow from the can. “Didn’t realize I needed a reason to come see you.”
Leon scowled at her even as he dipped the glass of water into Gattolotto’s soil, and said “I’m glad to entertain,” dryly as he poured. He left the empty glass next to her on the windowsill and made his way to sit next to Veronica on the couch.
“Am I gonna have to figure out a way to Veronica-proof my locks?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn’t bothered, not really. It wasn’t like he had anything to hide from Veronica - other than his conversations with Gattolotto and that was apparently out of the bag now - but the very principle of the matter meant he should at least attempt to seem offended.
“Oh,” Veronica said, leaning back on the couch a bit. “Like such a thing exists.” Leon was well aware of just how good Veronica was at breaking into places. Her skills had only improved over the years.
“You know,” she went on. “You might as well just save yourself some trouble and give me a key.”
Leon opened his mouth to protest, but when he tried to think of some reason why that was a bad idea, none actually came to him. Veronica could obviously enter his suite whenever she wanted, and it would probably raise less questions from the neighbours if she wasn’t picking his locks.
“Yeah, alright,” Leon muttered. “I’ll go get a key cut on my next day off. You can water Gattolotto if something happens to me.”
“Whoa,” Veronica said. “Nothing is gonna happen to you.” Even just hypothetically Veronica didn’t like thinking about anything happening to Leon. “How bad of a cop are you?” she joked, keeping things light. Of course Leon had seen her be vulnerable before, he was one of the few who had. But it wasn’t something she showed often. Jokes and sarcasm were her defense mechanism.
Leon managed a wry smile and a shrug, not about to contradict Veronica but not about to agree with her either. He’d always been the type to leap before he looked, and it had cost him before. He’d been stabbed in the course of his work, the long thing scar white against his abdomen. He’d had bruises and broken bones, and he’d been shot a couple times too.
Except no, he hadn’t been shot, and he wondered where that thought had come from. He knew he didn’t have the puckered entry wound scars that would attest to that, even if he could, for some reason, remember the sensation of being shot. He’d always been the type to leap before he looked.
“I’m a great cop, I’ll have you know,” Leon said instead.
“Then we have nothing to worry about,” Veronica replied with a grin. There wasn’t even a hint of sarcasm in her voice at that. He had saved her ass a few times back in high school. She was sure he was a decent enough cop now.
Leon sat down on the couch next to Veronica and took a long swallow of his beer. “Well, now that we’ve figured out that the whole purpose fo you coming here was to weasel your way into getting a key,” he doubted that was the whole reason that Veronica had come over, but figured it was probably a big part of it, “what do you wanna do? I could throw on a movie. Die Hard? Beverly Hills Cop?”
“It’s not Christmas,” Veronica replied, smirking at him. So that left Beverly Hills Cop. She was pretty sure Leon was smart enough to figure it out.
“Die hard might be the best Christmas movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s only a Christmas movie,” Leon said, but he still put on Beverly Hills Cop. He hadn’t watched it since high school, but he and Veronica had put it on a lot, mostly to tease Keith, the actual Beverly Hills Cop.
“True,” Veronica agreed. But she was still more in the mood for Beverly Hills Cop. Just like Leon, it had been years since she had seen it. She settled into the couch as Leon started up the movie. Veronica forgot how much she had missed just hanging out with her best friend. And now that he was getting her a key she would be coming by a lot more often.