Leon Urie (Adopted By The Uries) ~COMPLETE~

Chapter Eight

Leon awoke bright and early the morning of his birthday. He heard someone moving around downstairs, and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He checked his phone and saw that Frankie had texted him a happy birthday message. Leon grinned and replied with a thank you, then opened Twitter. Brendon and Sarah had both tweeted him happy birthday messages, and as Leon scrolled through his feed, he saw tons of Panic! At The Disco fans telling him happy birthday as well.
  When he came downstairs in stocking feet and pyjamas, Brendon was in the kitchen, making chocolate-chip pancakes, Leon's favourite. When he saw Leon, he gave a wide grin and said, “Happy birthday, Leon. Did you sleep well?”
 “I did, thank you,” Leon grinned back, going to hug Brendon.
  Brendon hugged him back, and ruffled Leon's hair, saying, “Have a seat, the pancakes are almost all done.”
  Leon sat at the table, which was set nicely with a white tablecloth and the nice china.
  “The birthday boy is awake!” Came Sarah's voice from her and Brendon's bedroom, and a moment later, she came hurrying out with a big grin on her face, enveloping Leon in a hug. “Happy birthday, sweetie.” She told him.
 “Thanks, Sarah,” he beamed.
 Sarah bent and pulled something from under the table- two boxes wrapped in colourful paper and a red present bag. Leon's eyes widened. “You didn't have to-”
 “No, we really did,” Brendon interrupted him. “It's your birthday, kiddo. Birthday means presents.”
 “Th-thanks,” Leon stammered as Sarah moved his plate and silverware and set the boxes down in front of him. Brendon put the last of the pancakes in the oven to keep them warm and joined Sarah and Leon at the table.
  Leon carefully peeled the tape off the wrappings of the first box, and unfolded the paper. It was a nondescript white cardboard box a little smaller than the average shoebox, and when he opened it, Leon's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Inside was a big tin of Derwent coloured pencils, an array of different graphite pencils, and an unfamiliar kind of pen that had a metal piece at the front instead of a ball point or fine liner tip. “It's a fountain pen,” Sarah explained. “You can refill it, and it writes really nicely.” There was also a black leather travel sketchbook with a silver clasp, along with two different types of erasers and a Stabilo pencil sharpener.
 “Th-thank you so much,” Leon stammered, looking up at Brendon and Sarah, who seemed glad that what they'd picked out had been the right thing.
 In the bag were a selection of CDs: the Queen set that Leon had seen at Target, three from an artist called Peter Gabriel, one by Kate Bush, Revolver, the White Album, and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, and the newest Fall Out Boy album.
  “Some of those are things you don't know, but I'm sure you'd like them.” Brendon told him, as Leon took in all the shiny CD covers with wide eyes.
 “Thank you so much,” Leon said again and again.
  “Open the last one, sweetie,” Sarah urged. “It's something you mentioned a while back.”
  The other box was small oblong, wrapped in dark-blue-and-gold wrapping paper. Inside it was a piece of paper, rolled loosely. When Leon unrolled it, he saw a date not too far in the future after the words, “hormone replacement consulting appointment.”
  Leon read the words multiple times before his brain caught up with what he was seeing. “Oh, my god.” He looked back at his parents with wide eyes. “Thank you so much. Thank you thank you thank you!” He hopped up and ran around the table, hugging both of them in turn. “I- I cant thank you enough...” he mumbled.
 “We're glad you like the idea,” Sarah smiled softly. “I wasn't sure if you wanted it now, but we thought since you could call it off at any time, it'd be worth a shot.”
  “This is- this is amazing,” Leon's eyes were stinging with overwhelmed tears of joy. After Brendon and Sarah had told him all the details, he carefully put the paper back in the box and Brendon got up to serve the pancakes.
  After breakfast, Leon sat at the kitchen table and tried out his new drawing supplies. The new notebook had come with a loose folded sheet of the same paper as it was made of, and Leon was filling it with small sketches of faces floating in his memory from school. Brendon and Sarah finished doing the dishes (they'd insisted that Leon didn't have to help), and came to sit down at the table with Leon, drinking coffee and chatting. Leon had to fight the urge not to cover up his drawing, though he knew they wouldn't look at it unless he said they could.
 Leon half listened to their conversation about the news, focussing more on his drawing until Brendon asked him, "So, what do you want to do today?”
  Leon looked up.  “I'm... I'm not sure... did you have any ideas?”
  “Well, we thought it might be nice to go out to eat for lunch,” Brendon suggested. “We could invite a friend of yours, if you'd like.”
 “Oh! Yeah, that sounds great,” Leon replied.
  He decided to invite Frankie. She biked to his house, arrived out of breath but grinning, and still beautiful. She was wearing high-waisted black ripped jeans and a Pink Floyd hoodie, hair in space buns. Leon had opened the door for her, and now she came inside, hugging Leon and wishing him a happy birthday again. She smelled of flowers and the late autumn outdoors.
  Brendon came into the hall, and Leon said, “Brendon, this is Frankie. F-Frankie, Brendon.”
  “Hi, Brendon,” Frankie stretched out a hand to Brendon.
 “Nice to meet you, Frankie,” Brendon shook her hand warmly, grinning. “Leon talks about you all the time.”
 Leon blushed. “I-I- not all the time...” he protested.  
  Frankie grinned at him. “Aw, beano.”
 Brendon chuckled, as Sarah entered the hall, ready to go. She saw Frankie and smiled at her.
  “Hi, sweetie.”
  “Hi, Sarah! Hey, I really like your Instagram.” Frankie told her, and she drew Sarah into a conversation about photography and makeup. Leon looked at Brendon cluelessly.
 Brendon laughed and shook his head.
 They went to eat at the same place where they'd gone on the day Leon was adopted. The red booths brought back confused memories for Leon. He realised he was a different person from who he'd been that day almost eight months ago.
  He forgot all about it when Frankie slid into the seat right next to him in the booth, leaning her elbows on the wooden table and grinning at him, the smell of her shampoo wafting over him again.
  Frankie bent to rummage in her little backpack, and finally pulled out a small wrapped present, which she handed to Leon with a grin. “Here, open this.”
  “Oh, thank you- you didn't have to...” Leon looked at his best friend with wide eyes.
  “Yes I did. Open it, Leon.” Frankie urged.
  Leon bit his lip, peeling away the tape. Frankie, Brendon and Sarah watched as he uncovered a small wooden box. When he opened it, a colourful bracelet fell out.
  “Look- I have one too. It's a friendship bracelet,” Frankie pulled up her sleeve to show him her identical bracelet.
 “Aw- thanks,” Leon grinned, putting the bracelet on. Frankie helped him tighten it to fit his wrist. “I'll never take it off.”
 Frankie grinned and hugged him.
  The waiter arrived to bring them their drinks and take the order, and Leon found himself getting the same thing he had the day of his adoption.
 Sarah asked to get a closer look at the bracelet, and Leon obliged, stretching his arm across the table.
  “Did you make it?” Sarah asked Frankie.
  “Yeah!” Frankie beamed. “I used to always make them for myself when I was younger, and I just dug out the stuff again the other day.”
 Leon pulled out his sketchbook and his box of coloured pencils as they all waited for the food to arrive. He flipped to the most recent page, half listening as his parents talked.
  Frankie had been checking her phone, and coincidentally looked over at Leon as he paused at a half-finished drawing.
  “Oh my gosh, is that me?” Frankie asked with wide eyes.
  Leon blushed and snapped the sketchbook closed in surprise. “Um- yeah, sorry, I should have asked if-”
 “I'm not mad, Leon, that's really sweet. Can I see it?” Frankie asked. Leon reluctantly opened his sketchbook to the drawing again. His face was burning. “Hey, I love it, Leon. I didn't know you could draw!” Frankie told him earnestly.
  “I- I don't know. I just draw whatever is in my head…” Leon mumbled.
 “Well, what’s in your head is fifty times as beautiful as what’s in mine, then,” Frankie grinned at him.
  After lunch, they headed home again. Frankie and Leon decided to take a walk around Leon’s neighbourhood, enjoying the fresh fall wind.
 “How was your birthday so far?” Frankie asked as they rounded a corner away from Leon’s street.
 “Amazing,” Leon replied fervently. “I never had a real birthday before…” he paused. “I mean, with friends and-and family, you know?”
 “I can't imagine how awful that must have been,” Frankie frowned. “I’m sorry.”
 “It’s-” Leon was going to say, it’s okay, but the words stuck in his throat. “It was what it was…” he mumbled finally, looking at the ground. He suddenly remembered how good he had it now. How did he deserved it? There had been so many other kids at the adoption center, why had he been chosen? Because he coincidentally liked Frank Sinatra music?
 “Leon? Leon, what is it?” Frankie asked, bringing him back to reality by putting a hand on his shoulder in concern. Leon started, looked up at her with wide eyes.
 “Sorry…” Leon shook his head. “I just- it's nothing. I just thought of something…”
 “Do you need to talk?” Frankie asked gently.
 “No- no, I'm okay.” Leon lied. He hated seeming vulnerable to Frankie, and he hated worrying her.
 Leon managed to stay at least happy-ish until Frankie had gone home. Then he made up an excuse to go upstairs and lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He didn't know what exactly had triggered this sudden dark cloud over his mind.
  After half an hour, there was a quiet knock on Leon's bedroom door. It was subtle enough that if Leon chose to, he could have ignored it. He didn't, however. He got up and crossed the room slowly.
  Sarah was standing in the hall. When Leon opened the door, she smiled at him gently and asked, “How are you doing, Leon?”
  “I- I'm okay, why do you ask…?” Leon asked quickly.
 “You just seemed a little down,” Sarah replied. “Is everything alright?”
  “I-” Leon paused. If he couldn't trust Sarah, who could he trust? “I guess I have a lot on my mind…” he admitted finally.
 “Do you want to tell me about it?” Sarah asked gently.
  “Um, yeah, I think- I think I do,” Leon stepped back to let Sarah into his room. He left the door open and sat on the bed. Sarah sat down facing him.
  “What’s on your mind, Leon?”
  “This might sound- sound bad or- Sarah, why did you and Brendon adopt me?” Leon asked bluntly.
 Sarah sighed and replied, “We never wanted children, we'd always agreed on that, but in the last year or so, we felt like there was something missing. The problem was that we found out that I can't have kids. So… we did what was natural. We looked at adoption centers.”
 “But… why me? How did you pick me?”
  Sarah smiled gently, and put a hand on his shoulder. “I don't know. When we met you, we both just knew. We didn't have to talk. You were just the one.”
 “I-I’m not that social, I just… I'm not even that smart, or funny, or… I just don't get how I deserve everything you're doing for me….” Leon's voice trailed off as he looked at Sarah.
  “You deserve it because you’re Leon. You're our Leon, and I wouldn't change that for anything in the world.” Sarah told him.
  Leon smiled, but he still didn't really get it. Sarah drew him into a hug, and he hugged her back, burying his face in the shoulder of her sweater.
 “You’re really a son to me, Leon. All I want is for you to be happy,” Sarah told him softly.
 “Sarah- can I ask you something?”
  “Of course, sweetie.”
  “C-could I call you M-Mom?” Leon stumbled over his words.
 Sarah’s eyes widened. “Of course, Leon. I would love it if you did.”
  Leon grinned, even though he felt ready to cry. He hugged Sarah again, tightly. “Thanks for being… thanks for being my mom.” That was when the tears finally came.
  Sarah shushed him softly, stroking his hair. Kissing the top of his head, she murmured, “That’s what I'm here for, sweetie.” Leon slowly quieted.
  Brendon stuck his head through the doorway, and Sarah saw him. She beckoned him into the room with a hand.
  “Did I miss something?” Brendon asked, sitting on the bed as well.
 Leon detached from Sarah so he could look at Brendon. His eyes were a little puffy as he did so. “I-I wanted to ask you, too…”
 “What do you want to ask me?” Brendon looked concerned. “Is everything all right?”
 “I- yeah, it is, I just wanted to ask if- if I could maybe call you Dad?”
 Brendon’s face split into a grin. “Of course, kiddo. Whatever feels comfortable for you.”
 Leon grinned too, a sort of watery grin, and hugged his dad.