[open] jeepers creepers

And all the things I couldn't say

It was a late night at the ice cream shop. It was getting dark out and Leon was still there, somehow having been locked inside the shop so he couldn’t get out. Leon was freaking out. It was cold in here, and there were no blankets, and he was going to have to explain to his boss once more how exactly he got locked inside of the shop, and of course, Leon was always worried about losing his job over the frequent incidents like this. Almost ready to give up and try to find a comfortable spot, he sighed and turned around, trying to think of places that his boss may have put a spare key, in case this were to happen. Then again, it probably would only happen to him. He heard a sound outside the door, and quickly turned back towards it, seeing nothing there. Then he saw it. A small key nearby the door.

Slowly, Leon walked up to the door and peered out the glass window, but he still didn’t see anyone. Leon quickly picked up the key and placed it in the slot, and surprisingly it fit, slipping easily into the lock. Sighing with relief, he opened the door, locked it again, and slid the key back into the shop so he wouldn’t have to explain how he got ahold of a key in the first place. Maybe he should just ask for a pair, and just say that he was worried about something like this happening… and not letting his boss know the ‘again’ part.

Leon was walking down the street, towards his apartment, when a little bit ahead, he saw a smaller figure and a larger figure. The smaller moved faster, the larger moved with the smaller, catching up on the smaller. Leon quickly broke into a sprint, without even thinking. If it turned out to be a false alarm, then no big deal, he’d just claim he was running. But if not…. if he did nothing he would never forgive himself. He could never let something like that happen if he had a chance to stop it.

The smaller, a girl, he could barely see ran into the town hall, the larger, a man, still following her. However, Leon was fast. Incredibly so. And he caught the larger, landing a fist right across his face, hurting Leon’s knuckles and effectively pissing off a big man. The man looked at Leon with a nasty look. “Uh oh.” BAM! The large man was whacked from behind with a bat, and fell forward, as Leon moved out of the fall path. Behind him stood a man, someone who Leon had seen out of the corner of his eye occasionally. The man fled, the larger man still bleeding on the ground. Leon wanted to follow, but he had to make sure that the girl was alright, and she knew it was safe. And of course, he didn’t have a phone to call the police with. Great.

Leon quickly ran to the door of the building, and tried to get in, but something was blocking it. The girl. He knocked. “It’s okay. That creep is taken care of. Promise. Cross my heart.” His voice was cracking slightly, his adrenaline pumping like crazy. He wondered who the girl was, but he didn’t get a good look at her from afar and in the dark.

And all the things I couldn't say

Leon was still breathing hard, trying to get what was happening through his head. Was the guy dead? Was that guy a stalker? He always seemed to be around him when things happened, like he was some sort of body guard. But he didn’t have body guards, so it was weird. And a little bit scary. If the girl was scared, he was out of his mind trying not to think about how his stalker just like beat this guy chasing a girl, and maybe killed the dude. It was beyond scary, but Leon knew he couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, frozen with fear. He couldn’t think about it or else he would. Therefore he didn’t think about it.

“You don’t. You just have to trust me. My name is Leon. I work at the ice cream down store the street. I just wanted to help. The guy, the guy who was following you, he’s… knocked out I think. You can’t stay in there forever, and if he wakes up he’ll find you. You need to get away from here.” Leon just wanted to help. That was always his intention. He hated when he upset people or inconvenienced them. He never tried to hurt someone, unless they were chasing down a girl at night and then he tried to save the innocent girl. But that was Leon, defender of the innocents, of the weak, at least when he wasn’t locked in somewhere where he couldn’t do anything about it.

There was something familiar about her voice, as if he knew who she was, from a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away – wait wrong universe – from a long time ago, in another lifetime…. Dang his knuckles hurt. It almost felt like he broke a bone in there somewhere. That’s what he got for not knowing how to throw a punch correctly.

And all the things I couldn't say

To say that Leon wasn’t scared was to say that Leon wasn’t an accident prone klutz. Meaning whoever said that should be shot because of how wrong they were. But Leon was one of those knuckle heads that was able to brave the fear. He might be internally panicking, but he could stand it and still think just as clearly as he would when he was calm. Which isn’t saying much, since he never seemed to think clearly when he was calm even. Maybe it was because he never really was calm, always looking and paranoid about meeting those from his previous life.

“Uh no, I didn’t do it. Some other guy did and ran – ” In the middle of speaking she opened the door and Leon froze mid-sentence. The very thing he had been worried about for years now had just slapped him in his face as he stared at his childhood friend Hannah Emerds. He’d been ducking and dodging and here he was, running to her rescue without even realizing it. Someone really had funny sense of humor. His heart had leaped up his throat, happy and scared and relieved and worried all at the same time. Too many emotions flooding his brain. She said his name, was aware of that as blood bounded in his ears. Calm down, Leon. You can do this. You can do this. It’d been years since you last talked to her. But you knew this was going to happen eventually. At least it wasn’t uncle. That would’ve been worse. “Hannnah… I…” But he couldn’t go on. He actually said words though.

And then she hugged him. Leon was about to cry from all of the emotions welling up inside, but her hugging him, it grounded him. It brought him back to the moment, the pounding in his ears dying down. But she was upset with him. And he didn’t blame her. He just up and left and never talked to anyone, after his father died. Disappeared. Most assumed him dead. His uncle took over the company. And he couldn’t bring himself to leave Storybrooke, as if programmed in him, so he became a normal person. Dyed his hair. Wore makeup to hide some of his features. But he would be recognized if seen up close, but not just walking down the street, which is what he was going for, never thinking he would get this close to anyone who knew him before.

“It wasn’t me,” Leon said stretching his fingers on his hurt hand and clenching his fist, pain jolting up his arm. “I… Tried though. And this guy who follows me around took him out.” He looked behind him at the guy who was on the ground, bleeding from the back of his head where the guy hit him with the bat that had been dropped nearby. “Hannah, I’m sorry. For leaving. I was… scared.” He looked back at her with a frown and then looked down at the ground. “We probably shouldn’t stick around. He might wake up.”

And all the things I couldn't say

Leon laughed when Hannah slipped her hands into his hair. So touchy, not that Leon minded. It’d been a long time since someone else ran their hands through his hair, and they had been good friends. Leon still felt like they were friends, but he understood if she did not, given he’d run away and avoided them and everyone else for years and years. He wouldn’t be friends with himself if he were in her position. Well, actually he would, but that was because Leon wanted to be friends with everyone and wanted to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Someone would have to do something really big (though running away without any contact was a big thing, something much bigger than that, like killing someone) for him not to be friends with them. “Uh yeah, I wanted to… get away. No one recognize me. Well, at least from a distance. I mean, if my uncle saw him up close it’d be obvious that its me.”

Leon bit his lower lip when she mentioned that he mentioned his stalker. Except he wasn’t a stalker in the normal sense. Leon didn’t get a bad vibe from the guy. It was like he was some sort of bodyguard who never talked and just followed him for some reason. Leon didn’t know. But he also didn’t know if he wouldn’t hurt Hannah. He was sure that the guy wouldn’t hurt him, but he didn’t know about others. Ah, well, if the time came when he had to stop the guy, he’d just hurt his hand and yell for help, stand in the way, see if his stalker would really hurt him if it came down to it. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve just seen glances before today and then he stopped the guy. But he’s not bad, I don’t think. Otherwise I’d probably be dead.” Such a terrible joke, he knew as he rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous laugh.

Leon wore a half forced smile. “It’s been fine. New life, new job. Living the simple life. I kind of miss my…” He was about to said father’s, but he decided against it. “Family’s business.” He always remembered looking forward to leading the business when his father was old and he gave up ownership to him to retire. He’d been so excited, and sometimes a bit spoiled and ordered others around before his father taught him not to be like that. And to think, now he was working a job at an ice cream shop and living in a small apartment and worrying about budget every week.

Leon narrowed his eyes and looked around at the guy still on the ground. “You’re right. We could go to my place, if that would make you feel better. Lock the doors. I’ll be there in case anything happens.” He didn’t want her to be scared.

And all the things I couldn't say

His uncle had taken over the business, he’d deserted them, so why would they even accept him back? Who would accept him as the leader of the company? He was sure everyone would be angry at him if they discovered he was still in town, still alive, and just left. He even thought that it wasn’t his place to even go back even if the company had been in his family passing down to the first born son for several generations. His uncle was better suited to run it anyways. He was sure he was doing a good enough job with it anyways. At least then he wouldn’t be the reason it failed, he wouldn’t run the company into the ground, like he was sure he would do. His uncle would make sure it survived past him. He obviously couldn’t deal with the responsibility.

“Maybe someday.” Leon made sure to smile, even though he knew it probably wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t want to worry her about the whole not going for his childhood dream job. Or going back to his family. Albeit, it was just his uncle now. But he was still family. He had other friends from then that he just left behind. He left everyone behind, including her, and he never actually entertained the idea of going back. Not really. Sometimes he wished, but he could never work up the sort of courage he needed to go back.

‘You can never come back. Run. Run and never come back. It’s all your fault.’

His uncle’s words echoed. His father jumped in front of him. He carried his father. His uncle carried his father to the hospital, but he died. He didn’t know his uncle made sure a bubble got into his blood stream. He thought it was his fault. So he ran. He ran, he ran, he ran. Why would his friends want to be friends with a killer anyways?

But Hannah didn’t seem to think that. The news said that the shooter was the killer, but Leon knew better. If he weren’t so stupid and hanging out with the wrong crowd, then his father would be alive. He couldn’t tell her that though. No, no. He couldn’t do that.

“Yeah, my place.” Leon was smiling again as she hooked arms with him, laughing as she did, “Just like old times.” How he missed her. Missed this. What he thought would be the worst night of his life (meaning someone recognized him), was turning out to be the best night of his life, reconnecting with his old friend as if it were nothing. Though he figured they would most definitely talk about it some more. “This way, Ms. Emerds.” And thus, they began down the street towards his apartment building.

And all the things I couldn't say

As they walked down the street, Leon tried to keep his eyes up front, to watch where he was going, in case there were more creepers about, though he really wanted to turn his head and look at Hannah to see her. Soak in her face once more, having missed it so dearly. But he couldn’t. He had to make sure no one was going to jump them. It probably helped that there were two of them, most people wouldn’t jump someone if they were outnumbered. Still, he couldn’t be too careful. Two attacks in one night would be bad. He wanted to make sure she was protected more than he wanted to see her again, and that was saying something given the amount of times he nearly lost focus on his task at hand.

When they arrived at his apartment building, he led her inside and up to his apartment. He kind of enjoyed the silence for a few moments, just being in each other’s presence. Leon unlocked the door to his little studio apartment and realized he hadn’t cleaned his room today. He’d planned on doing it when he got home, but he was here now. There was a small twin bed in one corner a tiny little counter space and a two burner cook top in another, and a television and couch towards the front of the room. The bathroom was off to the side between the bed and the television, but otherwise he didn’t have much. At least it didn’t smell.

“Sorry for the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.” He quickly ran around and picked up the random pieces of clothing from around the room and put them in a laundry bag hanging on the back of the door, and threw away the empty pizza box (it was a yummy supreme pizza that he was sure Hannah would’ve hated). Well, at least it was mostly clothes. Leon wasn’t a big messy room full of trash sort of guy, just discarded clothes. Then, he locked the door behind her. “Welcome to my place.”

And all the things I couldn't say

In a lot of ways Leon’s life felt empty. He didn’t feel like he had a purpose. He felt like his destiny had disappeared, that he wasn’t supposed to be important, that he was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. His apartment was not one of those things he felt was empty though. Despite coming from a life where he had everything he ever wanted, everything in his apartment he worked hard to get. Well, aside from the game system; that was a present from his regulars for his birthday one time. He wanted more from life, but this apartment was the fruit of his labor. Sometimes he did feel like it was little, that he worked harder, and that he wanted more. But this made him appreciate all the hard work that everyone did, that life didn’t just come easy. At least he was learning from this experience, though he knew, or at least thought, he would never be going back to the life he had before.

Perhaps he could build himself a company of his own. Build his way up from the bottom, become successful and remember this time to better treat his employees. It was something he thought about often, but then he remembered that he was hiding and he couldn’t make himself public like that. Mr. Gold had offered him a starter fund, if of course he met Gold’s demands. But Leon was smarter than that and refused the man’s help.

“It’s okay, really, it’s not a problem at all. You can come over anytime you want.” He quickly finished the quick pick up and nearly threw himself onto the couch, exhausted from the day in general, the adrenaline from the whole attack starting to wear off. She turned on the television and Leon laughed. “What? Am I not interesting enough?” He didn’t mind a little white noise, because otherwise it would be awkward any time there was silence. He offered her a seat next to him.