Leo Valdez X Reader // ON HOLD

The boy in the tree

Lemme just say right here, if you were put off by the title of the last chapter, it was actually the first part of the story.

Your mom took you to the hospital, but your arm wasn't that bad, so you were able to leave within an hour or so.

When you got back home, you decided to not climb Harold until tomorrow after school.

You looked towards the tree, and saw the boy, laying on your branch. It was infuriating to watch someone enjoy your branch when you couldn't even get up to it.

You went to bed that night still feeling angry.

The next morning, you got up to go to school. On your way out, you glanced at the tree. You thankfully didn't see the boy anymore. You hoped he'd be at school, so you could confront him.

He wasn't. When you got home that day, you saw him in your tree again. You decided to go talk to him.

You climbed the tree, careful not to fall again. When you got close to the branch he was on, you noticed he was asleep. You started to shake the branch.

He woke up, and would've fallen off if he hadn't caught himself.

"Woah, you tryin' to kill me child?"

"Don't call me a child. I'm not a child."

"Relax, I call plenty of people child. Anywho, who are you?"

"I think I should be the one asking the questions. This is my tree."

"Your tree? I thought it was nature's tree."

"Well, the tree is like the earth. It is nature's possession, until humans explore and settle it."

The boy nodded in agreement.

"I'm Leo." he said, sticking out his hand. "Leo Valdez."

"I'm (y/n)." you said confidently, gripping his hand and shaking it.

"Well, if this is your tree, I guess I should leave."

"That would be appreciated."

Leo climbed off the branch, and with much agility, made it to the bottom.

He saluted you with two fingers, then ran off in the direction of the road.

Despite Leo knowing you didn't want him in your tree, he came up there a lot. Most of the time when you were there, but sometimes all alone. You would see him from your bedroom window, gazing sadly out at the city.

He looked like he had quite a story to tell. Not that you were curious or anything. Still, you found it interesting. Nobody in Montana had a story to tell.

One day, you were sitting in your tree alone, on a lazy Friday evening. You heard the familiar rustling of Leo climbing up the tree.

He got up, and sat on a branch close to yours.

"So, what's with the sad look?" you asked.

"What? I don't have a sad look. See? Smile!" He pressed his fingers to the corners of his smiling mouth.

"I don't mean now, I meant whenever you're up here alone. I can see you from my window."

"Oh, well, it's nothing. I just. . .have a lot on my hands."

"Like what?"

"I dunno. just some personal stuff, I guess."

You decided to stop probing him for that evening.

"Okay, on another note, do you even go to school? I haven't seen you around. There aren't many schools in this area either."

He shook his head.

"I mean, I would go to school, but I'm not registered or anything."

"Why don't you tell your parents to register you?"

"My mom's dead, my dad couldn't be bothered with that kind of stuff."

"Oh, sorry. Do you have anybody taking care of you?"

"Yep!" He replied, and pointed two thumbs at himself, smiling. "You're lookin' at him."

"Why?" you asked.

"As I said, my parents aren't around. I don't even really have a home."

If you had been drinking anything, you would have spit it out.

"What? Why didn't you say so. If you want, I bet you could stay with us!"

Leo, looked at you, tilted his head, and pressed his lips together.

"I wouldn't want to intrude."

"No, I'm sure it'd be fine. Let me ask my mom."

You climbed down, and started walking towards your house. You gripped the doorknob, then stopped yourself. You are about to invite a random stranger in your home, you thought.

But he's homeless, and he's not a stranger, you argued back to yourself.

He won't even tell you anything? how do you know his real name even is Leo? You thought.

It doesn't matter. He's the same age as me. He's not gonna do anything bad.

But he didn't look very comfortable with that.

You decided not to tell her.

You headed back to the tree, and climbed up to where you were sitting originally.

"What did she say?" He asked.

"I didn't ask her." You replied.

Leo exhaled heavily. "Oh thank the gods."

You smiled, and then frowned. "Gods? plural?"

"Uh, yeah. . ." He replied nervously. "You know, some cultures believe in multiple gods."

You nodded.

You both sat in silence until sunset.

"Hey, what happened to your mom? If you don't mind my asking."

"Nah, that's fine. She. . .uh. . .we were in our machine shop when it caught fire, and. . .she didn't make it out."

Leo seemed to be nervously tapping a pattern on his leg.

"Why are you doing that?" you asked.

"Hmm? Oh, the tapping? My mom taught me morse cide when I was younger, and I just tap things out sometimes."

"What are you tapping out?" you asked.

Leo looked at you, and stopped his tapping.

"Nothing."

You didn't press him.

"So, if you're homless, then wht do you seem so well taken care of?" you asked.

"I have a home, it's just in New York."

"How did you get all the way out here?" you asked.

Leo was silent for a full minute.

A few months ago, there was this big thing back home. I got seperated from my friends, and went looking for this island. I had left a girl there a few weeks prior."

He stopped for a moment.

"Um, so I took her with me, away from the island. We were headed back to New York, but my. . .uh. . .mode of transportation crashed, and I landed here. That's all there is to it."

That wasnt all there was to it. There were missing pieces.

"So, what happened to the girl?"

"Well, she stayed with me for a while, but not for long. At one point, she ran off and left me alone."

Leo's face fell. It was obvious he was pretty broken up about this girl.

He noticed how he must've looked, and tried to look cheerful again.

"But, that's all said and done. I say, focus on the present, not the past."