BUTTERFLIES - READER INSERT

02. Wake x Up

YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST MEMORY WHEN YOU'RE FOUR YEARS OLD, it was as if consciousness had been breathed into you. You're in a pile of trash, playing with broken toys as the sun breathed down on you, "[Name]?!" a boyish voice called for you as you looked over and the scene felt familiar.

A trashy city— you know this city! You learned about it, gosh what was the name? It had started with an 'M' and then it clicked.

A trash-filled city, with a lot of abandoned homes— Meteor City— you're in Meteor City! A city famous for its infamy, the excitement tones down as you feel a chill wash over you. You're in a city filled with the roughest of the rough, the evilest of evil, the foulest of foul. The rumored city where the infamous Phantom Troupe grew up!

Looking towards the voice you immediately recognize him, younger, thinner, and much more scared-looking, but this is Leorio— thee Leorio! Oh god, that dream.

It wasn't a dream.

It was real.

"Leo..." you start to say, but your words don't come out like you want them to, it's pure gibberish. Like you couldn't talk, but you registered you were four. You know you're four, so why the hell can't you speak like you could when you were four before?

"[Name]!" he yells as he scoops you up, pressing his cheek to yours as he sobs and the boy's sobbing echos against you as he hiccups mid-cry session, "I was so scared. Don't do this to me ever again— you're all I have," he says and you could feel your self start to cry as you eyes burned.

"No, no, no." he whispers as he starts to take off into one of the nearby abandoned homes, "[Name], please. No, don't turn scarlet. If others know— if they know..." he starts as you shut your eyes and try to calm down. Your eyes hurt when you cry, right? Just don't cry.

You just can't cry.

𝗫𝗫𝗫

YOU STAND IN THE BATHROOM MIRROR FOR WHAT FEELS LIKE THE THOUSANDTH TIME AS YOUR CHUBBY HANDS PRESS AGAINST THE DIRTY GLASS. You glare at yourself in the mirror as you try to say your favorite person's name yet again, "Leorio!" you yell, finally getting it right as you waddle into the makeshift kitchen and grip onto Leorio's leg hair and send him wide grin as you lean into him and force yourself back with a shine in your [E/color] eyes.

"Leorio!" you yell at him as he drops the dry noodles, water pooling into his brown eyes as he gives you an even wider grin.

"Wh-what did you call me!?" he asked, picking you up as you held his face in your hands.

"Leorio! Leorio!" you cheer and even if this is the only word you'll ever be able to say in this life, it's the only word you'll ever need if it makes the one person who kept you sane in your past life smiling like this.

Smiling like the world is alright. As if injustice isn't happening around you both— as if that boy Leorio loved like his brother didn't just die a year ago.

If Leorio can smile like everything is alright, then you can say his name. Over and over again.

To see him smile, you'll do whatever you must.

𝗫𝗫𝗫

YOU DANCE AROUND LEORIO WHO SITS ON A BUSTED-UP COUCH, your [S/color] arms stretched into the air as child-like laughter sills the broken-down home. "Big brother, come on! Let's go for a run!" you yell as you place the scarlet contacts in your [E/color] eyes. Four years have gone by since you first became conscious in this body that was much like your old one, you didn't understand much of what happened, but you decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth.