Beautiful Pain

6

Anna is just taking the soup off the burner when a small voice interrupts.

"That smells good."

She turns and sees Leo standing there akwardly, holding his wet clothes in his arms. His normally pale cheeks were flushed bright red.

"Can I have a bag to put these in?" He asks quietly, lowering his head.

"Just give them to me, I'll throw them in the dryer," she responds, taking them out of his hands.

"Why aren't you wearing the sweatshirt?" She asks while entering the laundry room. He follows her.

"It was... too small," he carefully replies, she looks at him, his arms were folded behind his back.

"How much too small?"

"Woman's small too small," he answers and she freezes.

"I gave you a woman's small?" She asks, he nods.

"I am so sorry," she whispers, and turns on the dryer.

She turns on heel and rushes back to her parents room, reaching in her dad's drawer and checking the size before going back out and switching with him.

"Thank you," he murmurs and disappears down the hall, probably to change in private.

'I have never seen a guy that is so private about his body.'

Anna shrugs the thought away and goes to the kitchen to serve the soup. Leo walks in silently and watches her. When she sees him, she jumps.

"Leo, you startled me!" She scolds, he immediately bows his head.

"I'm sorry."

She stares at him, how come when she raised her voice or scolded him he did that? Now that she was getting a good look at him, she notices how, while his body looked well built, he was skinny.

"Leo, I'm not angry. You know that right?" She asks softly, he tilts his head.

"You're... not?"

"Why would I be?" She asks, then takes the bowls off the counter and moves them to the small table, "Here, have a seat."

He quietly obeys and she pushes the food in front of him. He slowly takes the spoon and feeds himself. His hands were trembling.

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Leo nearly cries out in pleasure when he tastes the soup. It was amazing, Anna is a good cook. He steals a look up and sees her staring at him.

"Why were you crying?" He asks, his mouth working before his brain. He mentally facepalms himself. She winces.

"I-um..."

"You don't have to tell me if you're uncomfortable with it," Leo quickly interrupts, then flinches back.

"It's my grandfather, he's having some health issues," she tells him quietly, he can hear the tears in her voice. She sniffs, then shakes her head and looks at him.

"What about you?" She asks, "You ran here instead of back to your enormous house."

"Nobodies there right now, I didn't want to be alone," he lies and puts down the spoon.

He hadn't even eaten half of what she had prepared but he already felt nauseous. He should just go home and stop bothering her. But his head was spinning.

"Leo, do you feel okay?" She asks, he looks at her and nods. She frowns, "Are you sure?" He nods again.

"Are you done with your food?"

He nods. She takes his bowl and pours it into the sink.

"You can go watch some TV until your clothes are dry," she tells him.

He nods and stumbles in to her family room, collapsing on the couch when he gets there. He closes his eyes and drifts away.

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Anna enters the family room expecting to see Leo sitting on the floor and is surprised to find him passed out on the couch.

"Leo?" She calls softly.

He makes no reply. She tip-toes over and looks at him. His face was so relaxed when he was asleep. However, his cheeks were a harsh pink. Gingerly, she places her cool hand on his forehead, moving his damp hair out of the way.

"Liar," she whispers upon feeling how hot he was, "You're not okay."

She takes a blanket and drapes it over his body. His face scrunches up in his sleep and he lets out a small, almost inaudible whimper. She bites her lip, he was hurting and she didn't know why.

"Leo, I want to help you," she whispers, moving his soft hair out of his eyes, "But I need you to tell me what you need."