LeoPika short stories and one shots!

Hat

{middle school, trans!Leorio au, CW: transphobia and Chrollo slander}

Leorio flinched as his mom yelled at him.

"Lienna! I told you that you were not allowed to cut your hair, so you went and shaved it all off?!"

"You know I hate my long hair, mama."

"What will your father say? What will he do to me because I allowed his precious daughter to shave her head while he was away at work, slaving away so we could have enough money for your schooling?"

Leorio tried to stop his eyes from watering. He hadn't cared what his parents thought. He hadn't considered his father's reaction.

"What will Abuela think of what you've done to your beautiful hair?"

"I'm sorry mama." Leorio cried. He felt terrible. He hadn't wanted to upset his abuela, or his father.

"Go to your room and think about what you've done."

And so Leorio went to his room. The doors in his house didn't have locks, so he could only hope that no one walked in. He curled up on his bed and buried his head under the pillow.

He hadn't meant to shave his head, It was just a haircut at first. Then it gradually got shorter the longer he looked in the mirror, trying to line up the sides and straighten out the bottom. The hair he had left was only a centimeter long. He'd used his dad's electric razor to get an even cut all the way around.

Leorio wore a hat to school the next day. He could only hope that people wouldn't notice... but his hopes were shot down the moment he arrived.

First it was his friend Zepile, congratulating him for finally doing it. Then it was Palm, giving him an unimpressed stare. Then it was Tonpa telling him he shouldn't have done it because boys don't like girls with no hair. Then it was Chrollo's confused glare. It was no secret that he had liked Leorio for a while, but now... he wasn't so sure.

During lunch period, people stared. They were probably just adjusting to seeing him with no hair, but the constant attention made Leorio feel kind of sick.

Leorio was having a nice lunch break with his friends when suddenly his hat got ripped off. He immediately looked for the thief because my mom made that, give it back.

"So it was true." Amori, one of the three biggest bullies sneered while holding Leorio's hat. "You went and made yourself ugly."

"I'm not ugly. Give that back." Leorio snatched his hat and shoved it in his bag.

"Why did you do it? I heard it was because you had lice." Said Imori, the youngest of the three.

"Gross. That's probably 'cause she sleeps with rats." Umori, the biggest and ugliest of the bunch, scoffed.

"I don't sleep with rats, come on, that joke is old." Leorio waved it off. He went back to eating his meal and trying to ignore those gnats.

"You know that boys aren't going to like you if you have short hair." Amori pushed. "It makes you look like a little boy."

"An ugly little boy." Imori added.

Leorio just ignored them. What bothered him the most was that nobody at his table was standing up for him.

Lunch break ended without further incident, and Leorio went to his last class. It was a class he shared with Chrollo. They'd been sitting next to each other for two weeks now, passing notes and giggling sometimes.

But today Leorio got the cold shoulder. It was like he didn't even exist. It hurt, it really did. Watching your crush pointedly ignore you. Having him pretend you aren't there so he doesn't have to look at something so repulsive.

After school got out, Leorio was stopped at his locker, pulling out the textbooks that he would need for his homework. That's when he heard it; a shout, then the unmistakable sound of a punch.

He shut his locker and hurried toward the sound. A fight? I can't miss this. But what he saw surprised him.

In the hallway between the gym and the locker rooms, a short blond boy was standing menacingly over Chrollo, who was on the ground, covering his face with one hand. There were only a handful of people watching.

"I will only say this one more time." The blond threatened. "You are not allowed to call her that word, and if you ever do again, I will not hold back. I am no stranger to violence, Chrollo, and I am no stranger to transphobic slurs, so don't think for a second that you can get away with it."

The blond was radiating an intense fury. It was kind of amazing to see.

"I'm not afraid of you," Chrollo spat. "You're skinny and short and you got one lucky punch. If it was a fair fight-"

"This is not a fair fight, this is punishment for calling Lienna a transphobic slur."

Leorio's blood turned cold as several faces turned toward him. The blond saw everyone's shift of attention, and made eye contact. Chrollo turned around and stared with wide eyes.

"What did you call me?" Leorio asked simply. A deafening silence met his words. So he asked again, a little bit louder. "What did you call me, Chrollo?"

Chrollo looked down in shame. Suddenly a teacher was running to his rescue.

"Alright kids, break it up. Who struck first?"

"I did, sir. Because Chrollo called Lienna a horrible name. A slur."

"Uh,,, that's not allowed." The teacher said stupidly. "Chrollo, Kurapika, let's have a chat with the principal, alright? Tell your parents that you're being held after school."

The blond boy straightened and suddenly dropped the menacing aura. "Oh sure, I'll let my mom know."

Everything went uncomfortably silent. Leorio shifted uncertainly. Why did everyone react like that? Who is this guy anyway?

"Hey now, don't sass me." The teacher said weakly. "Chrollo, get up. Let's get that nose taken care of."

As the teacher escorted Chrollo to the principal's office, the blond boy approached.

"You must be Lienna." The boy stuck out his hand to shake. "I'm Kurapika."

"Nice to meet you." Leorio shook his hand. "What, um... What did Chrollo say about me?"

"People were giving him shit about his crush on you, then he declared that..." Kurapika leaned in to whisper in his ear. "He declared that he could never have a crush on a tranny." Kurapika straightened up. "So I declared that if he ever said that word again, I'd beat the daylights out of him."

Leorio had gone quiet. "Tranny, as in transgender?"

"Uh, yes, but you really shouldn't use that word. Like I said before, it's a slur."

"Transgender, as in a girl thinking she's a boy?" Leorio asked the question quietly.

"No, it's more like... a boy who was born in a girl's body."

That's me. "Oh. Okay."

"Would you like me to walk you home?" Kurapika offered. "Lienna?"

"Leorio." He whispered, then met the inquisitive stare pointed at him. "I like the name Leorio."

Kurapika hummed. "Do you like the name Leorio? Or is it your name?"

Leorio smiled. "My name is Leorio."

Kurapika's smile was like a ray of sun. "Well then, Leorio. Would you like me to walk you home?"

"I would like that, yea."

-
Ting✨