Page 23 of Playing with Fire

Needs reassurance about his body

Wants clear communication about boundaries

Deserves better than I know how to give

I stared at that last item for a long moment before deleting it. That kind of self-doubt wasn't productive. Instead, I added:

Deserves my best effort

Deserves honesty about what I'm feeling

Makes me want to be better

Leo emerged from the dressing room with his selections, and I quickly pocketed my phone. He caught my eye and smiled, his earlier nervousness replaced with something that looked like quiet confidence.

"Ready?" I asked, holding out my hand.

He took it without hesitation, his fingers intertwining with mine. "Ready."

I pulled out the black credit card Algerone had given all three of us, a constant reminder of the complicated relationship with my biological father. I might despise everything he stood for, but I had no problem using his resources to take care of what mattered to me.

"You guys are actually disgusting," Misha observed as we made our way to the checkout, but he was smiling. "Both of you."

"Don't you forget it," I replied, squeezing Leo's hand.

Thehousewasquietwhen we returned, Leo's arms full of bags containing his new life. After buying clothes, I took him to that anime store he liked and bought him a few figures. They wouldn’t replace the ones he’d lost in the fire, and they were expensive, but it was worth every penny to see him smile. After hitting up the food court for lunch, and grabbing a flyer for some cosplay contest he was interested in, we were both pleasantly exhausted.

My bedroom had always been a shared space with Xander until he moved out last month. The evidence of his absence was still visible in the half-empty closet and the vacant spaces on the walls where his more flamboyant posters had hung. I hadn't bothered to reclaim the territory, content with my half of the room remaining exactly as I preferred it: organized, minimal, functional.

Leo arranged his new purchases along the empty shelves where Xander's makeup and accessories used to live, his movements careful, like he was afraid of disrupting my space. I watched him for a moment, struck by how right it felt to have him here, filling the emptiness Xander had left behind.

"You don't have to be so careful," I said, settling at my desk. "It's your space too. You can move things around if you want."

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