Leon Orcot (under_arrest) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-06-28 08:17:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, leon orcot, riza hawkeye |
Who: Leon and Riza
What: Riza comes over to see where Leon's been
When: Mid-June
Where: Leon's apartment
Ratings/Warnings: Low/none
Status: Complete
When it got to a week and Riza hadn’t seen Leon at the range she began to worry so rather than text him and possibly get an untrue response she decided to call in on her way home and make sure he was alright. He was a good friend and she just wanted to reassure herself.
Knocking on his door she waited for him to answer, “Leon?” she called out at the same time.
Leon’s apartment was usually a mess. He wasn’t big on the whole ‘cleaning’ aspect of living on your own. Sometimes Sharon would come over in full mom mode and clean the place, but it didn’t happen very often now that Viv was born.
But it was definitely worse now. Since Peggy had told him that they wouldn’t see each other anymore, since Leon had felt something for Revy that he didn’t understand, Leon had thrown himself into his work so he didn’t have to think about the things he didn’t want to think about. Which meant his life for the time being was waking up, heading to work early, working extra late (he’d even revisited the crime scene a couple of times at two am when he had a hunch in the middle of the night), coming home, eating some takeout and drinking a few beers.
His kitchen table and his coffee table were both strewn with case files. There was a small mound of take-out containers piled off to the side of his kitchen table, and the empty paper coffee cups were outnumbered only by the empty beer bottles. His dirty clothes lay where he’d taken them off, so most of them were tossed haphazardly all over the living room, with one of his t-shirts lying in his kitchen sink with a stack of dirty dishes.
At the knock and the call, he looked up from his files with a look of annoyance before he clued in that it was Riza’s voice on the other side of the door. “Yeah,” he called to let her know he was coming. He stood up for the first time in a couple of hours, cracked his back, and headed to the door. “What do you want?” he asked, not unfriendly, opening the door.
“I came to make sure you were alright” Riza said checking him over when he opened the door, “I haven’t seen you at the range and if I can be honest you look awful. Has something happened?” she asked, perhaps he’d been ill or maybe something had happened to Chris and he was taking it badly.
“Thanks,” Leon deadpanned. He didn’t think he looked that bad. Maybe he was a little dark around the eyes, but that’s just the kind of thing that happened when you were working instead of sleeping. “I’m fine. Just been catching up on work.”
He frowned a little and looked over his shoulder at his apartment. Then he sighed. “Did you want to come in? I wasn’t expecting anyone so it’s a bit of a mess, but it probably beats talking in the hall.”
“Working too much by the look of it. I’m sorry you just look really tired and I was worried” Riza told him before she nodded, “Thanks and don’t worry I won’t judge you on the mess” In fact she’d help him tidy up if he wanted her to.
“No such thing,” Leon joked, though that wasn’t necessarily true and he knew it. “I’m fine though, really.” He stepped away from the door and headed toward his case files, quickly closing them and stacking them so that Riza couldn’t get a good look at them. He trusted that anything she’d see would remain in this room, but, well, why bother risking it? Or make her look at gruesome crime scene photos.
“You want a beer? Or I could make some tea or coffee if you’d prefer one of them.”
Riza didn’t take any offence, she knew cases were delicate things and besides it respected the privacy of those involved and she was all for that.
“Sure beer sounds good. So any particular reason you’ve been working yourself so hard lately? Tough case or something else?” she asked him, her tone curious and caring but not accusing or patronising.
“No, nothing like that. Just some 20-year-old kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. What, a guy can’t be dedicated to his work?” Leon said, a little defensively. He let out a heavy sigh, since it really wasn’t Riza’s fault, and there was no reason for him to get bent out shape over her asking a perfectly reasonable question. “The girl I was kind of seeing went and got herself a new boyfriend. Working just helps to take my mind off it.”
Riza let him take whatever it was out on her, sometimes it helped though she was pleased that he went on to open up to her. That would hopefully help more, “Oh Leon, I’m sorry” she said honestly, “I know how crappy that can feel. And I can’t blame you for working to take your mind off it but you need to make sure you don’t cut yourself off from your friends too”
Leon shrugged. “Well, a guy gets used to getting dumped,” he said, attempting an air of nonchalance. It still sucked every time. Especially since he and Peggy had been going on dates for longer than he’d gone out with any other girl. “But that’s not what I’m doing. I’ve just been…” he stopped. He hadn’t had drinks with Revy in a while. Or anyone, for that matter. Before Chris had come, before he’d joined the Network, Leon hadn’t really had any friends outside of the police department, and aside from Logan he wasn’t especially close with any of them. It wasn’t something he’d ever had to think of before.
“That wasn’t what I meant to do,” he amended a little sheepishly.
“Don’t worry, we all do it. But now you’ve recognised it so you can make sure you don’t continue” Riza said, she honestly understood. But she cared about him. Leon was a good friend and she didn’t want him to feel alone. “You can start by meeting me for practice once a week, okay?” she asked hopefully.
“Yeah, okay,” Leon said, feeling embarrassed all over again that he’d missed his standing appointment with Riza and hadn’t even thought about it. “I’ll be there next week for sure.” Then he brightened, remembering that Riza worked in a flower shop. “Oh! By the way, Gatolotto’s started to bud! Lemme go get her,” Leon said, disappearing into his bedroom briefly and then coming back with the budding Christmas cactus. Nothing had bloomed yet, but the red of the buds stood out against the dark green of the succulent leaves.
“You better or I’ll have to come and seek you out again” Riza told him, though it wasn’t unkindly. When he brought out the plant she smiled brightly, “Oh she’s doing so well. You’re obviously taking wonderful care of her” she said approvingly. Riza didn’t own a florist store just for the sake of it, she had a true interest and knowledge of plants.
“Don’t worry, I won’t make all the extra work for you,” Leon assured her. He’d even enter the appointment in his phone when he had a chance later. He smiled abashedly at Riza’s praise. “Ah well, I try,” he said. “It’s going to sound crazy, but I can’t help but think she’s trying to cheer me up.”
“I don’t think that’s crazy. Plants are alive, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s picked up on your feelings lately and does want to cheer you up” Riza said, she talked to her flowers everyday and made sure to be cheerful around them. Who knew what kind of things they could pick up on.
“There’s no way I’d believe that if it wasn’t for my dreams,” Leon said, placing the plant carefully on his coffee table and giving her a fond smile before turning his attention back to Riza. “But yeah, I’m starting to feel like plants got just as much personality as some animals.”
“I think they have. They’re intelligent, more so than people think” she said, “Now can I help you tidy up or anything?” she asked since it seemed like he’d let the housework build up while he’d been working himself so much.
Leon looked around his apartment and let out a heavy sigh. It really did need to be cleaned, whether he wanted to do it or not. “Yeah, alright,” Leon said after a moment. “If you want to, then I guess now is as good a time as any.”
“Don’t sound so downhearted, we’ll have the place sorted in no time. I promise and then I’ll make us a nice dinner if you like?” she said with a smile.
Leon would be touched by the amount of people willing to take care of him if it wasn’t so embarrassing. Still, he wasn’t going to pass up a home cooked meal. He hadn’t had one of those in weeks. “Yeah,” he said. “That sounds great. Thanks, Riza.”
It wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about from Riza’s view, friends were there to offer support and help when it was needed. That was what she was doing. “Anytime” she said with a soft smile before standing to start work on clearing up.