Page 7 of Haunted Mediation
“Do you…have any set plans for this Halloween in particular?” James asked.
Leon typed in the final keystroke and waited for the successfuldingbefore quickly forwarding the new credentials and marking the ticket as complete. It was best for him to do these stupid little tasks as quickly as possible, lest he forget or they become too boring for him to want to do.
He swiveled around in his chair, clearly catching James by surprise. He was bending the fingers of his right hand backwards with the palm of his left hand, which Leon always made fun of him for. Why didn’t he just crack his knuckles the normal way? He didn’t seem to mind it when Leon did it. He’d often catch James staring at his fingers when he cracked his knuckles or played with one of his many rings.
Leon watched in amusement as James quickly dropped his hands to his sides.
“I don’t have any plans,” Leon said.
He brought his hands together in front of his chest to crack his knuckles—the right way. James’ eyes tracked the movement, and he pulled the side of his lip between his front teeth. IfLeon squinted, which he wasn’t going to do because that would be weird, he would be able to see James’ crooked canine tooth. Leon had first noticed the small imperfection during their conflict mediation session, and for some reason, it still tugged at his heart. Perfectly-put-together—on the outside at least—James was fallible. Just like the rest of them.
“Oh, okay then… Maybe we could move our plans from tonight to tomorrow?”
Leon raised an eyebrow. “Our plans to go to a Halloween event at Rainbow Bean that is only being held tonight?”
James’ cheeks flushed, starting at the peak of his cheekbone and slashing down towards his nose. “I know we only had plans one day this weekend, so I just meant we could hang out tomorrow instead of tonight.”
Leon grabbed his favorite stress ball, which was shaped like a penguin, and tossed it in the air as he tipped back in his seat. The other week, one of James’ little minions had asked him if he had ADHD, and Leon had scoffed. That wasn’t the sort of thing his teachers had known to look for when he was a kid, and his mam sure as hell wouldn’t have noticed or thought to get him assessed for it. He could talk to his therapist, Caden, about it, but right now they were “unpacking Leon’s need for independence,” and he didn’t think Caden would appreciate the diversion.
“Why not both?” Leon asked as he caught the stress ball, gave it a few good squeezes, and then tossed it to James.
James fumbled to catch it, his cheeks flushing even darker as he dropped the thing and had to chase it around the side of Leon’s filing cabinet. He actually got down on his knees to reach around the metal contraption.
Sadly, today’s dress pants weren’t doing James’ ass any favors. He had a grey pair that were really flattering, as well as a pair of jeans he sometimes wore on the weekends that looked practically painted on.
Just another reason Leon wasn’t impressed with this costume.
“You can’t wear the same costume both days, though,” Leon added.
James huffed. “I only have this one, so I guess I’ll save it for the actual holiday?”
James finally managed to grab the stress ball, and he pulled it out to reveal it was now covered in decades' worth of dust and grime. Leon wheeled himself the two feet between them until he was positioned directly in front of James.
James looked up at him through his lashes and hesitantly held up the now disgusting penguin. Leon raised an eyebrow, which was quickly joined by a second as James went to wipe the ball off on his suit pants.
“Don’t be such a mensch,” Leon said, snatching the ball out of his hands and pushing his chair back. “I’ll wash it off in the bathroom.”
He walked over to his door and threw it open, turning to look back over his shoulder to see James still kneeling on the ground. “We’re going straight to the Rainbow Bean, so you should stay in this for tonight.”
“And tomorrow?” James asked.
Leon smirked. “Guess you’ll have to get creative.”
“This is not what I meant,” Leon practically growled.
James was standing in front of Leon’s front door in yet another suit.
If Leon was feeling generous, which he wasn’t, he would admit it appeared to be a blazer, dress shirt, and slacks, so not an actual suit. But still.
“It’s a different Halloween costume!” James said, a mix of petulance and something else in his voice. James quickly undid the top three buttons on his dress shirt to reveal a red t-shirt with spiderwebs across it. “Spiderman always wore his costume under his clothes, too!”
“Okay, but did Peter Parker even wear suits?” Leon asked as he gestured for James to come inside.
“When he was working at the Daily Bugle, I’m sure he did,” James said, taking off his shoes at the door and leaving them next to Leon’s combat boots and Doc Martens.
Leon pulled out his phone and googled “Spiderman” and “suits,” trying to ignore how adorable it was that James was also wearing Spiderman socks.
“All the results I’m seeing are for his actual superhero suit… oh, no… wait…” Leon glanced back up at James, then down at the photo. There were two pictures of the different Spiderman actors wearing suits in a similar color and style as James', with an entire fan theory page about something called the Spider-Verse.
