Prompt: Leon cuteness when he was a kid with Constance
A.N.- Happy Valentine's Day here's a thing
---------------------------------------------------------------
Leon ran up to his mom, beaming a smile as he held out the card he'd made her. She returned the smile and took the card in one hand, using the other to hold his hand as they left the school and headed for the car.
"Oh, I love it!" she said, kissing him as they stopped at the car. "Thank you. Did you get a lot of Valentine cards?"
"I did!" Leon said, patting his backpack as she helped him into the car and strapped him into his car seat. "And I made a card for Caroline and Adam and daddy."
"I'm sure they'll love them," Abby said as she got in the car and drove towards the house.
Leon grew more excited as they pulled into the driveway a few minutes later and he saw his dad's car. His siblings were home.
Abby helped him out of the car as he babbled on happily about the Valentine's Day party his class had. She held the door open for him and he hurried into the kitchen, where his dad and siblings were just taking their coats off.
"Abby, don't forget our reservations are at six," Constance said as he slung his jacket over a chair at the table. "Hi, Leon. How was school? Did you get any cards?"
"Uh-huh," Leon said, and dug in his bag. He smiled and held a card out to Caroline. "Here, Caroline! I made it!"
"Thanks, Lee," she said, taking it from him.
"Adam, wait," Leon said as Adam started to leave the room. "I made one for you too!"
Adam frowned over at him. "You did?"
"Uh-huh," Leon said, taking it out and holding it out to his brother. "For you!"
"Oh. Thanks," Adam said, taking it. "Here, you can have this bag of candy I got. It's got Reese's in it."
"Is that the candy Layla gave you?" Constance teased.
Adam's face heated up. "No! I mean..." He groaned and pushed it into Leon's hands. "Here, take it." He ruffled Leon's hair and hurried out of the room.
"Wait, wait, I want to hear this story about Layla giving you candy!" Abby said, taking off after him.
Caroline giggled. "I gotta see this." She took off after them.
Constance shook his head. "Too much candy for those two."
"Here, daddy. I made this for you," Leon said, handing Constance the card he'd made. He frowned. "I tried to glue a heart on it, but I spilled the glue all over my fingers!"
Constance took the card and looked it over. "Thank you, Leon. Your spelling is fantastic."
Leon brightened. "I sounded all the words out! Well..." His smile grew shy. "I had to ask how to spell Valentine."
"It's a hard word for a five year old," Constance said. He knelt down and pointed to the picture Leon had drawn in the card of two stick figures smiling. "This one is me? With the brown hair?"
"Yea!" Leon said eagerly. "And see, I drew you wearing the green shirt you like! And that's me. I'm wearing the shirt you got me at the zoo."
Constance smiled a little. "The one with the wolf on it."
Leon nodded and pointed to a heart on the other side of the card. "And I drew the heart all by myself too. Do you want some of my candy? I got a lot!"
Constance scooped Leon into his arms and carried him to the living room, sitting on the couch and settling Leon in his lap. "Show me the cards you got in school today."
So Leon went through, showing all the cards he got from his classmates. He showed off the candy he got, too, and told his dad about their party.
"It sounds like you had a lot of fun," Constance said.
"I did! Did the Academy have a party?" Leon asked.
Constance shrugged. "I let the teachers make that decision. I know a lot of them did, even for the older kids."
Leon opened the candy his brother had given him and held a piece out to Constance. Constance took it and popped the candy in his mouth.
"Not too much," he warned as Leon started munching on it. "I made the mistake of letting your siblings eat too much candy, and now even Adam is hyper off sugar."
"Did you get mommy a present?" Leon asked.
"I did. Promise not to tell her if I tell you what it is?" Constance said, holding out his pinky.
Leon wrapped his pinky around it. "Pinky swear!"
"I got her a ring with all your initials and birthstones on it," Constance said.
"Oh," Leon said. It didn't sound as fun as a toy, but adults didn't always like fun things. Then, because he realized "oh" was rude, he added, "She's gonna love it, daddy."
"I think so too," Constance said. "And hey, if you keep it secret, I'll save some of my dessert to bring home so you can eat it tomorrow. Deal?"
"Deal!" Leon cheered, throwing his arms around his dad's neck. He settled back down and frowned at his dad. "Who's Layla?"
"A girl in Adam's class. He thinks she's cute, and she gave him a card and a bag of candy today," Constance said.
"Are they gonna date?" Leon asked curiously.
"No, I don't think so. They're still children," Constance said.
"Will I ever love someone like you love mommy?" Leon asked.
Constance's expression softened. "Yes, I think you will. I hope you do. And whoever that person is, they're lucky. You have such a big heart."
Leon smiled. "I can get them flowers like you gave mommy this morning!"
"Did you know mommy left a card in my office last night so I'd find it when I got to work today? I hope someone does that for you someday." Constance kissed Leon's head. "Don't worry about it, Leon. Someday you'll find someone who loves you as much as you love them. I just know it."
"I can't wait!" Leon said.
"Well, in the meantime, why don't we have a little more candy?" He paused, forced a stern look. "Just a little, though. You still need to eat dinner when the babysitter gets here."
Leon snuggled against his dad and split the candy between the two of them. "I hope she likes the ring, daddy."
Constance held Leon to him. "I love you, Leon."
"I love you too, daddy," Leon said warmly.
