Leo was confused. She didn’t get it. They were being so nice, like they didn’t know she was a street rat. They had fed her until she was actually full, and were now repeating the process. She gnawed at the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Harry (she finally learned their names) had given her. Crusts cut off and everything.
They had even taken the time to bathe her and comb her hair, one of which hurt like mad but she was grateful of it no less. And to top it off they got her clothes. The big shirt she wore smelled so much nicer than her old one and the little white things on her feet felt fantastic. She couldn’t stop wiggling her toes, feeling them slide in the soft fabric. New. She had seen when Louis pulled them straight out of the pack. She had never gotten anything new. Always hand-me-downs. Even hand-me-ups because she was so small.
She hopped off her chair, carrying her plate and standing on her tip toes to place it next to the sink.
And Harry called her eyes pretty. She’d never been told that before, about anything. Escpecially her eyes. They were what got her picked on in her old home. That and she couldn’t speak.
“Hey Leo why don’t you go exploring,” She heard Louis say from his place at the table.
Exploring? She looked back at the man with a confused expression. She’d heard other kids use that word before wandering all over the garden, turning over rocks and digging in the grass for bugs. Is that what they wanted her to do?
“Like go look around the house a bit, find out where everything is, all the secret little places,” Louis’ mischievous smile had her imagination going. She set off the find the sketch book she had hidden under her bed and dived into her adventure.
Leo explored all of the second level, looking in nooks and crannies and under beds and in closets and behind furniture, drawing little doodles of the things she saw and found. Random pennies, tiny spiders, dust bunnies, discarded buttons, a random tie she had found in the closet of the bedroom next to hers. She managed to tug it down and tied it around her head, the closest thing she had to a costume.
She continued downstairs, little feet padding across the carpet. She found the little room under the stairs, reminding her of a movie she had watched. She remembered what the boy in the film had looked like and drew him in the room, finishing it off with a little scar on his forehead.
She looked at all the pictures on the wall, or the ones in her line of sight. There were dozens. Some of people, some of objects or simple things or scenery.
What she loved though, was the giant network of shelves built into wall. They held books and vases and more pictures and random things, all with a Telly smack in the middle. She immediately sat down to draw it in her sketch book.
Watching Leo ‘explore’ their living room was the most endearing thing Harry had ever seen. She gazed at things with child-like wonder on her face, drawing things in a notebook. He and Louis watched on with amused smiles. When she sat down in front of the custom cabinets in the living room though, Harry couldn’t resist taking a picture. He grabbed one of his professional cameras and crept quietly to get Leo in shot.
He snapped a picture, Leo didn’t even hear the shutter, too enraptured in her own artwork to notice Harry’s. He walked the long way to get behind her, he lowered the camera nearly to the floor, getting the perfect angle.
Still Leo did not hear him.
He smiled to himself and went to show Louis his new candids. Harry was a very popular photographer in London and he had pictures all around the house to prove it. These photos were no less artistic.
In the first one Leo was in profile, her blue eye showing, he face tranquil as she stared up at the cabinets, seeing something neither of them did. The next one was taken at almost her level, her full back displayed in the navy shirt, her neck tilted up and the curls in her hair flared and messy, the tie around her head tied unevenly, and the cabinet in the same perspective she was probably seeing it in.
“These are lovely babe,” Louis said, pecking his husband’s cheek.
They continued to watch Leo in her discovery of their house, goofy grins on their faces. Leo was too cute for words with her little socks and t-shirt dress, running around with a bright purple tie around her head, toting around a little sketchbook they had no idea where she found.
There was a quiet through the house though, a silence that went on for longer than usual. They went to go check on the little girl to make sure she hadn’t gotten into anything. They found her one of the little room upstairs, asleep in the beige rocking chair by the window. The tie had fallen off somewhere, her curls a halo around her face as she curled in on herself, note book in lap, and bowed lips slightly open. Harry took another picture before Louis picked her up, carried her downstairs, and laid her on the couch to finish her nap.
Leo woke up not to long after with a gasp, making Harry jump from his place on the couch.
“You okay, Leo?” He asked, seeing the panic in his foster daughter’s eyes, even as she nodded.
“Bad dream?” He pressed further, and she shook her head frantically, messy curls bouncing.
“Harry! Come help with the laundry!” He heard Louis call from somewhere in their bedroom. He left the room, grimacing as Leo went back to drawing in her little book ;they really should have gotten some toys.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the house, all three of them enjoying a quiet Sunday.
Leo laid flat on the floor, her full belly pressed against the carpet, looking up at the flat screen TV. She’d never seen a full movie before, and this one was fascinating. A skinny skeleton man was dressed in a pinstripe suit and was the king of the pumpkin patch, his dog was a ghost with a bright red nose and his girlfriend was a stitched up redhead. The skeleton wanted to try having Christmas, but the redhead thought it was a bad idea. There were catchy songs and spooky scenery and Leo’s full attention was on the film.
Louis and Harry dimmed the lights and cuddled on the couch behind Leo, who was completely immersed in the animated musical. Neither of them could fathom how the little girl could lay on her stomach after having eaten as much as she did.
About an hour into the movie they realized that Leo’s head was no longer propped up on her wrists and elbows, and instead was cradled on her forearms. She was dead asleep on the living room floor.
Louis chuckled and went to pick her up off of the carpet, her head lolled against his shoulder, a comfortable paternal weight. Her breath was even and smooth in his ear and her hands moved subconsciously to hold onto his shirt. Harry followed behind the two, watching with soft eyes as Leo nuzzled into Louis.
The older man stripped back the comforter and laid Leo on the sheets before laying the blanket over her tiny form. Louis pressed a kiss into her forehead.
“’Night Leo,” He mumbled before taking Harry’s hand and leading him back down the stairs and into their room.
