'Till We're 80 -Kleo Oneshots-

-|6|-

Waddup fam! Long time no sees. This one's mostly a time buyer because I gotta admit I'm working on some pretty heavy feels, so stay tuned for that! But in the meantime, scroll down to read: Carved Willow Love

ETHEREAL

Don't focus on the past

Don't dwell on your mistakes

Be careful with your time

It might get blown away.

"Ethereal. What does that mean to you?" Kate asked Leo. Her head was propped in his lap and they were laying in the grass, out below the stars.

"I don't know, nothing much. What does it mean to you?" He asked her back. His fingers were softly treading through her golden hair, as long as it was.

"We should look it up. Or not. Let's just assume its meaning. To me, it means something like eternal. Like what I feel for you. It's always been there, known it for as long as I can remember. You're my best friend, Leo."

If she'd only known how he was feeling. If she'd only known he'd give anything to love her ethereal. Not as a friend, but as a lover.

"I love you, too, Candy Kate." He said, his stomach sinking as he realized she would never know the way in which he actually meant it because he'd never have the guts to tell her.

They were in their thirties now, getting closer to forty every day, and even ten years after they'd met, he still didn't have the courage to tell her how he felt about her. Fear was his only obstacle. That stupid, stupid fear.

The fear never went away, never let him say any more words that could leave her thinking something else might be going on inside his head, therefore she never gave him much thought at all.

What if he lost her? What if she took it the wrong way? What if she didn't love him back? What if they couldn't take each other seriously?

Stupid, really, he knew she would say. How can you even use that as an excuse? He could practically foreshadow her reaction. He knew her so well, body and mind.

And she knew him, too. She knew him, not the him that he put on for the cameras and the public. She knew him.

"What about Sam?" He suddenly asked, surprising even himself. "Do you love him ethereal?" The question took her by surprise. She didn't flinch when she said it:

"No. I suppose not." A frown was settling on her delicate features. "I should've told you earlier. Sam cheated on me." The confession shocked him, but he never showed any reaction.

"Have you got a shovel nearby?" He asked her. She laughed. "You're not killing him, Leo. Promise me." He sighed, rolled his eyes, but never stopped softly caressing her hair. She almost hummed at the feeling.

She took his hand, then, suddenly, forcing his eyes to meet hers. "Tell me you love me, Leo. Tell me you'll never leave me. Tell me you'll hold me forever, tell me you mean it." Even if it's a lie, he could read in her eyes.

Leo was taken aback by her sudden request, but he didn't turn his back to her.

"I love you. I'll never leave you, I can't leave you. I'll hold you forever until all your pieces are where they should be. And I mean it. God help me, I mean it. Every word. I mean it."

Her eyes held a spark within their complicated color. Her hand went up to his face, and she studied his features for a long time before she finally spoke.

"Leo, I love you. And I don't mean it as a friend. This is all new to me and very, very rushed, if I myself may say so. I'm on my second marriage and he didn't particularly hurt me beyond my breaking point for me to want revenge or anything, but I feel this... impulse. I need to be with you, I need to love you like I can because I want to."

Leo was rather surprised, this time it being too much for him to act indifferent. He hadn't the smallest clue how she knew he loved her like that.

"How- how'd you? I mean... when did you find out about...-?

"Oh, Leonardo, don't pretend for a second that you didn't know everyone knows you're in love with me. Save the explanation. I just need you to kiss me right now."

And with that, everything Leo had ever been worried about disappeared. All he could see was her, all he could feel was her, all he could think was her, the only name he could say was hers.

He could only feel her lips against his, her tongue gently brushing against his own. Her hands were now tangled in his hair and she softly sighed as he stroked her sides. This kiss was it. It was everything he'd imagined it would be, and then some.

She was sitting in his lap, the stars shining brightly above them, so bright the moon wasn't even needed that night. It was like the stars were expressing how he felt. Because he felt like he could fly.

So many years of holding back, so many years of watching her love someone else. "So many years" was over now. She was there, with him, in his arms, kissing him, not Jim, not Sam, but Leo.

_________

A few days later, in a time where it was still just him and her, alone in the woods, they found a willow tree. They would go there every day, down the stone path, past the daisy fields, further beyond some pine trees, and, right beside the river, there was the willow.

They would lie under it to read, or he'd run his fingers through her hair as she asked him to. They'd enjoy the shadow and the peace after a swim in the river, they'd run around the woods and walk along the place just to end up having a picnic below their infamous willow.

And even if they were mad, even if they were sad, even if only one of them came to the willow on a certain day, there was nothing the willow could not fix. It was carved there, their love for each other.

They'd carved it there on a hot day after their feet had been in the river and Kate had had to twirl around so her dress would dry out. He'd taken a stone, a rather sharp one, and carved it right in the trunk:

"To Kate, to Leo, to any fairy or elf, let them know that this love is not any, but the one they only share. And if they ever collided, they ought to make amends, for a tree cannot grow without sun, a love cannot grow without them."

It was their Carved Willow Love.

(P.s. The elves and the faeries were Leo's idea, even if he tells you otherwise.)

-|The End|-

Aaaaye! Please, do tell me your opinion about this if you've got a second, I'm not entirely sure I like it...  If you do like it, a vote motivates me to keep writing!

XO, KateWinsletor265