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Chapter Text

It was a quiet and solemn affair.

Chase did his best to keep a straight face and not let his emotions get the better of him but it was hard. Bree had her head resting on his shoulder as she cried into a tissue while Adam didn’t even bother hiding his tears as they rolled down his cheeks and he stared straight ahead.

The super genius gave a brief sniff, trying hard to stop his eyes from stinging even as his face flushed with heartache.

To his right, sat Tasha with Mr Davenport sobbing while her husband tried to comfort her and the priest on stage began to speak.

“Dearly beloved, we are here to celebrate the life of Leo Francis Dooley in the presence of his friends, family and classmates.”

Chase swallowed hard as he looked over to the picture beside the dark oak coffin with gold accents. It was a picture they took not long ago. Chase remembered how annoyed he was when Leo asked him to take it. The same picture over and over again because either the light wasn’t right or the angle was wrong or the camera wasn’t fully capturing the essence of his glow.

The super genius almost gave a snort only for his jaw to clench.

It happened two weeks ago.

It didn’t happen because Douglas started acting up again, or Krane came after them or because of some other villain showing up and trying to terrorize their lives. It was a car accident.

A goddamn hit and run.

Leo had ben crossing the street when a car came out of nowhere and hit him. They didn’t find out about it until police showed up at the house and delivered the news. They were all shocked, Tasha was absolutely crushed and Chase…

Chase couldn’t understand how it could have happened. It didn’t make sense. They found Leo’s body on the side of the road in a part of town where Leo had no business being. He had no reason to be hanging around downtown Mission Creek, so how did he get into an accident there?

The next thing that didn’t make sense was Leo’s bionic arm. Surely if Leo was about come face first with the hood of a car he could have just reached out and stopped the car before it could make contact. Douglas reminded him that Leo wasn’t all that coordinated. Its perfectly possible he didn’t even see the car coming before it hit him and even if he had, he might not have been able to move fast enough to stop it or jump out of the way.

Chase refused to believe it. Leo had been training, working so hard to learn how to use his arm and use it right. He might not be very coordinated, but Chase refused to believe that Leo would get taken out by some random car.

The other thing that Chase couldn’t understand is why Leo suddenly just disappeared two hours before the supposed hit and run. Douglas had been the one to notice it since he put a GPS locator in the bionics on Leo’s arm. For Two hours Leo just seemed to vanish into thin air. Douglas’ systems alerted him of the fact that the locator was not operating, that’s when they realised that Leo wasn’t in the house.

They called Gordo, called Janelle they even checked in with Principal Perry at school but none of them had seen him. The Davenports started to panic slightly, worried that Krane might’ve managed to get to Leo and would be holding the boy hostage. Two hours later Leo’s locator was suddenly back on and seconds after that the police were knocking at their door.

The last thing was Walter.

Walter was a new kid at school that Leo had recently become friends with. He was skinny, tall, blue eyes and blonde hair; he gave off skater hacker vibes as Bree once said. In the weeks before Leo’s death, they spent all their time together. Walter was always calling him, always texting. Leo had started sneaking out of the house to go see him. Leo liked to talk about Walter’s older brother, Tom. They never met him though.

But after Leo’s death; Walter just vanished. Chase did a little digging found out that Walter… didn’t exist. There were no school records no hospital records, nothing. The same went for Walter’s brother Tom. Chase remembered the lanky teen hanging around outside the house waiting for Leo almost every day. He saw Walter at school between classes and outside the building and then suddenly he’s just gone? And this just after Leo dies?

It was all so strange, none of it was making sense. It didn’t help that he hadn’t been sleeping well lately.

Chase has been having dreams. Strange dreams about a strange people in strange places. People that he’s sure he’s never seen before. One of them was a man. He was tall, with dark skin, no hair, a pair of reflective glasses covering his eyes. The man would ask him a question the same question every time.

The red or the blue pill.

Chase would wake up in his capsule in a cold sweat and feeling absolutely confused and now, Leo’s gone.

The priest was still speaking Chase was still fighting back against the tears. He couldn’t understand it, something isn’t right. He can’t talk to anyone else about it though. Tasha was much too distraught, Mr Davenport and Douglas were both riddled with guilt. Bree just wanted to move on and Adam was still working through his grief. It wouldn’t do to involve any of them. So he’ll do it alone. He’s always been closer to Leo than Adam and Bree were anyway. After the mess with Marcus, Chase knew that if it had been him, Leo wouldn’t give up until he knew what happened.

He’ll figure out what happened with his brother. He’ll find out what really happened to Leo.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Leo’s never felt quite… right.

His mom used to say that he had an overactive imagination. Grandma Rose used to call him her little dreamer. Leo liked to think he was more of the latter than the former. But, he’s never felt quite… right.

His whole life something had always seemed off, like he was missing something, something he couldn’t explain or describe. When he started school, Leo really got into it. He didn’t like the idea of being kept in a stuffy classroom all day, he didn’t like the idea of the routine and control; of always doing as he was told. But he loved to learn about things. Learn about everything.

He was actually really good at school. It’s not like he was a natural genius or anything. He just liked learning new things. Taking his toys apart and them putting them back together again. Sometimes he’d look up at the sky and wonder about exactly what was out there if there was anything out there at all. Aliens, alternate universes, terrifying monsters and impossible things that might be out there waiting to be discovered.

He spent hours on the internet, looking up new things to learn and know. It wasn’t easy with Tasha restricting his internet access but Leo managed to figure out a way to get passed the child lock by the time he was twelve so that wasn’t hard to manage. He tried to stay safe anyway so he didn’t think it was such a bad thing.

When Tasha introduced Leo to Donald Davenport for the first time, he’d been thrilled. Donald Davenport was a scientist, an inventor. He knew things, things that Leo didn’t and so he was more than happy at the idea of having the man as his new stepdad although…

Big D wasn’t quite everything that Leo had hoped he would be. Aliens, alternate universes, terrifying monsters and just general impossible things were things that he always brushed aside and didn’t want to discuss. He was all about that scientific explanation even their shared love for Pig Zombies didn’t seem to help in that regard.

And then sometime later, he met Adam Bree and Chase. Yet another new different thing that he was excited to learn about.

For a while, he could distract himself from that feeling that he’s had since he was a child. That feeling of wrongness. That feeling where it felt like something wasn’t quite right, like something was missing. But that feeling always managed to creep back in eventually and his new family, well…

When he brought it up with Chase the genius would just dismiss his notions and explain away every question he had with the help of science. Bree didn’t really seem to get what he was talking about and while Adam was more than happy to indulge him in conversations of the unknown, Leo could never manage to hold his attention for too long.

There was something out there, something bigger. Something that called out to his soul and had him dreaming about things he probably shouldn’t have been dreaming about. A different life, a bigger life, something… more. Something right there but just out of his reach.

But he never had anyone he could talk to about these things.

No one except for Andrew.

Leo met Andrew on the sidewalk after school.

They literally just bumped into each other. Andrew had green eyes and brown hair. Andrew was older about twenty-five to Leo’s eighteen.

“Sorry.” the teen mumbled seeming very distracted as he stared at his phone.

“No problem.” And then Leo stopped. He hadn’t been looking when he bumped into the man, but something made him stop. Something screamed for his attention and had the teen turning back to look at the man. He blinked when he realised that the brunette had stopped to look at him as well.

“Uh… do I know you?”

The older man blinked, “No. No I just… I like your backpack.”

His backpack?

“Thanks, I guess.” The teen gave him a look, head tilting to the side and eyes narrowing slightly, there was something about him-

“You seem familiar.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve never met.”

“What’s your name?”

“Andrew.”

“Andrew?” He doesn’t know anyone named Andrew

“What’s yours?”

Don’t talk to strangers let alone give them your name. That’s what they teach you when you’re little right? But he still felt compelled to answer, the teen shrugged, “Leo. El Dool, for the cool people.”

Andrew scoffed, “Well it was nice meeting you Leo.”

“Yeah…” Leo trailed off, he was frowning. Something about this guy-

“I like your jacket.” He said back and the man turned to look at him. He doesn’t know why he said that. Andrew was wearing a dark suede jacket, there wasn’t anything special about it but it seemed to be the right move as he got a smile.

“Thanks. Its old.”

Leo smiled back, something was nagging at his brain about this guy. “You wanna get some froyo?”

The man blinked and Leo felt himself flush.

Why did he say that? He doesn’t even know this guy. He must look so weird-

“Sure.”

“Oh.” Leo cleared his throat, not sure what to do now that the man had actually agreed for some reason. This is weird right? It isn’t normal. He wanted to take it back, but how was he supposed to do that?

“I… you don’t have somewhere you need to be?”

He was walking in the opposite direction.

“It can wait.”

“O.K, there’s a froyo shop around the corner.”

The man walked up to him and his smile grew a bit more, “Lead the way.”

What the hell is he doing?!

Leo started walking, the man fell into step beside him. “So are you new to Mission Creek? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

“Kind of, I’m just kind of in the area for a while. I won’t be staying.”

“Oh, where do you live?”

Andrew paused, “Out of town. So, you go to the high school, are you a junior?”

“Senior.”

“A little short, aren’t you?”

Leo rolled his eyes, “I’m tall enough.” Andrew laughed and something warm bloomed in Leo’s chest he looked away, “Do you usually go prowling around high schools to find someone you can buy frozen yoghurt?”

Andrew arched a brow, “I’m paying?”

“You didn’t think I was going to, did you?”

Andrew shook his head, “It’s fine. To answer your question, no I don’t prowl high schools for froyo partners. I was just walking by and you asked me remember?”

“Why did you say yes?”

“Why did you ask?”

Leo shrugged, “Boredom.”

Andrew smiled, “Same.”

Leo laughed, “What do you do?”

“What do I do?”

“Yeah, you’re older than me I figure that you have a job. Otherwise that whole paying thing might get awkward.”

“Well, yeah.” Andrew answered with a scoff, “I work in IT, software development. Freelance mostly, that’s why I’m in Mission Creek right now. Do you like computers?”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“No, I mean do you like working with computers.”

“Yeah, my stepdad’s an inventor. He lets me help him with stuff from time to time. It’s a lot of fun.”

They just got to the froyo shop, got two cups and Leo loaded up the toppings. They settled into a bench in front of the store.

“You ever do programming with your step-dad?”

“Yeah, my brother Chase usually has to work out the bugs though, but I think I do pretty good.”

Andrew paused, “Have you ever done any hacking?”

Leo tensed at that. He did a little once, a while ago. Mostly low-level stuff just to see if he could break into a company’s system or something like that. These days, he still does a little hacking but it’s mostly because of stuff for Big D or when Adam Bree and Chase are in trouble.

Leo looked up at the man, “Are you a cop? Because you’re supposed to identify yourself if you are. I saw that in a movie once.”

Andrew laughed, “No, I’m not. I think I’d get into some pretty big trouble I was.”

“You do hacking?”

“A little, sometimes just to see what’s out there.” Andrew then looked down at his frozen yogurt. “Do you ever wonder about what’s out there Leo?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, have you ever felt lost. Like you were looking for something but you didn’t know what it was. Have you ever felt like something was missing, something that’s right there in front of you-“

“You can almost see it, almost taste it but you can’t reach it.” Leo finished for him and Andrew seemed to blink as he looked at the teen. Leo swallowed hard before taking in a spoonful of chocolate chips and yogurt. “Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

Leo’s lips pursed, “A lot… all the time. It feels like, there’s something more out there and I want it so bad but I can’t reach it.”

Leo liked to think that he was just ambitious. He wanted more from his life and there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious right? He poured his energy into trying to find and get more but somehow… it never felt like enough.

“I know what you mean.” Andrew said pausing to move closer to the teen beside him before he spoke, “You know, there’s nothing wrong with that feeling Leo. It’s perfectly normal. Good, even.”

“Really? Cause it doesn’t always feel that way.” He said letting out a sigh, “Sometimes… it feels like there’s something wrong with me, maybe there is-“

“Hey.” Leo was forced to look up when there was a hand on his chin and the man beside him was suddenly just so much closer than what he was before. “There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re feeling. Don’t be scared of those feelings and don’t try to reject them. You’re O.K.”

He was really close, so close that Leo couldn’t stop himself from giving into the sudden impulse and leaning up to kiss the older man. To his surprise, Andrew didn’t tense or pull away. He kissed him back, the hand on his chin went around to the back of his neck and Leo moved in even closer and that’s when the kiss broke.

Leo blinked and some of his senses came back to him, “Sorry I-“

“C’mere.” Andrew said taking hold of the younger man’s hand and leading him away from the store front to the alley along the side, leaving their froyo cups completely abandoned.

As he was led to the alley Leo wondered what the hell he was doing. Why he was letting this complete stranger lead him around into dark alley ways and why he kissed the man in the first place. He really doesn’t know why he kissed Andrew.

It really was an impulse, something in his brain just clicked and he moved before he even knew what he was doing. It was so weird.

Leo’s only kissed two people in his life. Janelle… and Chase.

He used to kiss Janelle when they were still doing that on again off again thing that they always seem to do. Janelle would want to give Leo one more chance since the last disaster had to be the worst and next time things would totally get better. They didn’t, but she still liked Leo enough to want to give him a chance at least.

Chase happened once and only once.

It happened that day when Krane kidnapped them and then activated their Tritan apps. It happened because Chase remembered that Leo had been the one to get through to him and helped him break Krane’s control. They were in the living room, long after everyone else had gone to sleep. They couldn’t sleep in their capsules since the lab was destroyed so he and Chase were going to camp out in the living room while Tasha sorted out their new rooms. Bree called dibs on the guestroom since it already had a bed and Adam commandeered Leo’s room because he could.

They were in the living room talking and then Chase leaned over and kissed him. And Leo kissed him back because… he isn’t really sure why he kissed Chase back. It was that same feeling as Andrew, that impulse to just give in and submit to the other teen. Chase leaned over and kissed him and things escalated a little until Chase seemed to come back to himself and stopped. They were both pretty worked up by then, flushed and gasping before Chase quickly pulled back and left to use the bathroom.

The feeling of rejection had been almost crippling. It only got a bit better after Chase came back and they just sort of cuddled into each other till they both fell asleep. Leo tried to not be clingy or overbearing in the days that followed, though it was hard when every nerve in his body was screaming at him to get closer to the bionic teen. Eventually that feeling passed and things went back to normal, though being around Chase still had him feeling a little needy from time to time.

Now there’s Andrew.

This guy he doesn’t know, who Leo got to buy him froyo and-

“Andrew.”

Leo gasped as he was shoved back hard against the wall and Andrew was kissing him again, this time his hands clenching tightly on Leo’s hips while Leo wrapped his arms around the older man’s neck to draw himself closer. Andrew worked his mouth open and slipped his tongue inside.

Leo moaned and shut his eyes only to yelp into the other man’s mouth when he was lifted up and pressed tightly against the wall, his legs urged to wrap around Andrew’s waist and the older man started to grind into him as hands went up under his shirt.

The kiss broke Leo gasped as the brunette made kisses and bites along his neck, one of his hands went around the teen’s back to trace along his spine while the other was at the front teasing him as he continued to grind into the younger man, stuttered waves of pleasure washing over him.

Leo moaned, “Andrew. Please.”

He didn’t even know what he was asking for. He was just suddenly filled with the most shocking and consuming feeling of desire that-

Andrew stopped, pulled back and set the younger man down.

Leo opened his eyes and blinked in confusion, “What-“

“Not here. Not like this.” The brunette was taking deep breaths, raking a hand through his hair as he took a step back. Leo felt something sharp and cold pulse through him at the rejection. Something similar to what happened with Chase but now somehow so much worse.

He turned away, fixed his shirt. Leo was surprised when he swallowed and felt a hard lump in his throat. He was surprised when he realised that his eyes were starting to sting.

What the hell is wrong with him?

“Hey, no. Leo, look at me.” Andrew said as he moved forward again to cup Leo’s face and press a kiss on his lips, “I want you. You have no idea how badly I want you.”

“Then what-“

“I’m not doing that to you. Not like this.” Andrew said looking right into his eyes, “You deserve better than this.” He kissed Leo again, this time on his temple and pulled the younger man in close, “I promise, once you’re out. I’ll make it better. But not now. OK?”

Once he’s out? What’s that supposed to mean? But Leo felt relief when the older man wrapped around him so he ignored the thought for the moment.

Leo swallowed hard, “O.K.”

“You’ll wait for me?”

The answer came before Leo could even think about it.

“Yes.”

Andrew smiled, pressing one more kiss on the Leo’s temple before turning around and leading him out of the alley.

With one more kiss Andrew said goodbye, promising to contact him soon. At the time there was so much going through Leo’s brain, so many emotions that he didn’t think to question exactly how the older man would do that…

Or how absolutely insane it is that he made out with a total stranger and then felt so miserable when he thought he was being rejected.

That thought wouldn’t hit him till later that night when they were all sitting in front of the TV and Chase looked over to ask him if something was wrong.

“What?”

“You just seem different somehow.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Leo looked at Chase, resisting the urge to touch his lips as the memory of Andrew came back to him and he just shook his head.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He said curling a little further into Chase’s side and the super genius wrapped an arm around him in return.

The next day, Leo woke up with the worst cold in human history. His fever was insane, his nose was blocked, his head was pounding and he had aches all over his body. Tasha took him to the doctor since it was so bad that she couldn’t imagine a simple cold being the cause of his illness. But the doctor just shrugged it off, gave Leo some antibiotics, and flu medication and sent them home. Tasha tried to brush it aside. He got sick from time to time, but the last time it was this bad was when Leo turned sixteen. Worst birthday ever, point is, Leo getting sick wasn’t the issue it just hadn’t been that bad in a long time.

Leo was in bed for four days and in those four days Andrew never left his thoughts once. Not even when Chase lingered around his room to check on him, or talked about whatever experiment Big D was doing or complained about Adam. Not even when Chase snuck into his room at night and held him close till they both fell asleep. Chase would usually hang around when he got sick anyway so it wasn’t all that weird.

Chase being there helped somehow, so Leo didn’t try to make him leave. But he couldn’t stop thinking about Andrew either.

Four days later he was feeling better. The day after that, Andrew contacted him, via email of all things.

The only time Leo paid attention to his emails was because of his next shipping of Finnish horror movies or some update on one of his social media pages. He hadn’t even known what he was looking at at first.

Feeling O.K?

That’s all the email said.

Who is this?

He replied and then all he got back was a link to some private chatroom. Of course, Leo’s no stranger to spam so at first he’d planned on ignoring it. But curiosity got the better of him and he opened up the link. As predicted the link took him to the world’s shadiest chat site with nothing but solid black backgrounds and green texts. Leo was already working on shutting the window and starting his virus detector when he got a message.

Andrew: I missed you

Leo tensed and just stared at the screen until the next message came up.

Andrew: Are you doing OK?

Leo: I’m fine. I was sick for a couple of days but I’m fine

Andrew: Good

Andrew: I really missed you

Leo paused and then typed in

Leo: I missed you too

After that he was chatting to Andrew almost every day. Andrew explained that the chatroom was one that was used by hackers. A private site located in one of the many back doors hidden away in the internet. Leo couldn’t help but think that that was insanely cool.

They talked every day, that is… until he met Walter for the first time.

Walter was a new kid at school. He was taller than Leo, a little on the skinny side, blonde hair and blue eyes. He seemed a little awkward at first which is why Leo was so surprised when the teen made a beeline for the vacant seat next to his in biology and held out his hand.

“Leo, right?”

“Uh, yeah, how do you-“

“I heard one of the other kids mention your name. I’m Walter.”

Walter seemed funny. A little nerdy but fun. He’d crack jokes and try to convince Leo to skip a few classes so they could mess around at an internet café or just sit at one of the computers in the library. Walter was great, Leo felt calm around him. Comfortable and safe. The only issue he had with Walter was how he insisted on being annoying when it came to Bree.

“Just because she doesn’t have a boyfriend now, doesn’t mean she won’t have one later.” Leo said with an exasperated sigh when they were standing outside after school one day. Walter shrugged.

“I’m just saying I think I’d be a major upgrade from that Owen guy.”

Leo paused, “True, but that doesn’t mean I’m cool with you hitting on my sister.”

“You don’t think she likes me? Because I’m pretty sure that if you put in a good word for me, she could like me.”

Leo rolled his eyes, “Nuh uh. I’m not involving myself in the train wreck that is Bree’s love life.”

“It wouldn’t be a train wreck with me.”

“You’re right it’d be worse.”

Walter laughed and just then Adam, Bree and Chase came through the school doors. Chase as always frowned at Walter while Adam just gave an oblivious smile. Bree immediately rolled her eyes when the blonde approached.

“Hey Bree.”

Bree just looked over to Leo, “It’s time to go.”

“Hey, hey. I was hoping I could talk to you. Maybe get you to tutor me with Spanish?” Walter asked with a smile, “I’m kinda failing and Leo told me your grades are pretty good-“

“Leo’s are better, ask him… tomorrow.”

“But you’re way easier on the eyes than Leo so-“

“Wow, thanks Walt.” Leo said with a roll of his eyes and Walter shrugged.

“Hey, you’re cute, you’re just not my type.” Bree had turned to walk away when Walter caught up. “Wait hang on Bree, how about this? Let me take you to Spring Fling. If you hate it, I’ll never bother you again.”

“Or I can just say no now and you can never bother me ever.”

“But-“

“Walter!”

A voice suddenly called out and Leo turned when Walter did to see a man standing a few yards away. He had pitch black hair, dark brown eyes, tall  with pale skin. Leo paused since something about him-

“Let’s go.”

Walter paused and looked at Bree, “I need to go, we’ll talk about this again Bree?”

“No, I-“

“Leo, see ya tomorrow.”

“Uh, yeah.” Leo answered distractedly, he was still staring at the man who openly stared back. There was something familiar in that gaze. Something that kept Leo trapped and rooted right in that spot.

“Leo.”

Leo blinked when a hand wrapped around his wrist and he saw Chase beside him. “Are you O.K?”

“I-“ Leo looked back at Walter and the man who was still staring at him. He swallowed hard and looked away, “Yeah I’m fine.”

Chase was still frowning, “Let’s go.”

“O.K.” He said as he let the super genius led him away while Bree glared at Adam who kept teasing her about Walter.

The next day he asked Walter about the man he left with. Walter just shrugged, “That was just my older brother, Tom.”

“Oh, he’s cute.” Leo said with a shrug and Walter gave him a look.

“Is this revenge because of the stuff with Bree?” Leo felt himself flush but still gave a wide smile.

“Maybe.”

“O.K no, no no no. He has a girlfriend.”

Leo almost frowned at that, he shrugged instead as he teased, “Yeah but Walt. If we got married then we’d be brothers. You want me to be your brother, don’t you?”

Walter frowned, “If this is what it’s like when I talk about Bree then I sincerely apologize.”

Leo laughed.

“Don’t joke like that. How am I supposed to introduce you to him if you’re going to get all weird about it like I do.”

Then Leo paused, “What, like, today?”

“Yeah, we’re skipping from third period anyway, right?” Walter asked and Leo gave a shrug.

“Yeah, I guess so. And your brother’s cool with you skipping classes to just hang out?”

“Oh he’s very cool, you’ll see. We’ll meet in the same place?”

The place where Leo meets Walter to skip class was behind the library since Perry didn’t seem to care much for the nerds that usually studied there.

Walter showed up a few minutes after he did and they snuck around back to the front of the school where Tom was waiting for them. Like before Tom had just stared at Leo even as they came closer, he almost didn’t realise that Walter was talking to him-

“Leo!”

“What?”

Walter’s head fell to the side, “Space out or something?”

“Something like that.” He said just before they reached Tom who was standing by a black vintage car parked by the sidewalk.

“So this is Leo?” Tom said though his eyes never seemed to leave the younger man even for a second. It felt… odd.

“Yeah, you wanted me to make friends, right?” Walter said, there was something odd in his tone, Leo looked up at him but he was already opening the door to get in the back.

“My name’s Tom.” He held out his hand, Leo took it. A shiver ran down his spine. Something about it felt way too similar to when he touched Andrew all those weeks ago.

“Uh yeah, Walt told me.” He said pulling back quickly. Tom’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly before he pushed off the side of the car and opened the passenger side door for him.

“Ready to go?”

Leo cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

He got in the car, pulled his backpack on top of his lap  and gave into the impulse to hug it against his chest just as the door shut again.

Something felt odd… well, more than usual anyway.

“Leo.” He heard Walter say softly and a hand fell on his shoulder. “You O.K?”

Walter was frowning and Leo gave a slight smile, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

“Ya sure?”

Leo reached out and put his hand over Walter’s, something told him that he’d feel better if he did. And it did feel a bit better. Walter smiled back.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

The door opened and Tom got into the driver’s side, he paused to look between the two teens and arched a brow.

“You two O.K?”

“Yeah we’re fine. Starving though!” Walter said dramatically as he flopped back into the back seat. Tom scoffed as he pulled on his seat belt and Leo followed suit.

“How about hot dogs now and froyo later? We’ll go to the froyo place around the corner so we can drop Leo off.”

Leo couldn’t help but frown and he looked up at the older man in question. Tom paused just as he put the key into the ignition.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Leo shook his head, taking a deep breath as he let go of the death grip he had on his backpack as he looked back to Walter. “Are we going to the internet café again?”

“Actually,” Walter said coming up to lean against the front seat just as the car roared to life and pulled out of the parking spot, “Tom was thinking that maybe we should take you somewhere different.”

Leo paused, “Different how exactly?”

Walter smiled and Tom let out a scoff, “You’ll see.”

He said just as the car pulled away from the school, Leo stared at the large building out of his window as it went by before watching it in the rearview mirror. That odd feeling from before somehow intensifying only to stop when he felt a hand on his own all over again.

“You sure you’re O.K?”

Tom was glancing at him before just returning his gaze to the road. Leo swallowed hard but didn’t shake the hand off, “Yeah I… I’m fine.”

He let go just as Walter was leaning over the front seats again, “I think we should bring Bree next time.”

Leo rolled his eyes hard, “No.”

What surprised him was how Tom said No at the exact same time that he did. Walter gave a look of mock betrayal, bracing his hand on his chest for added effect.

“Et tu, Tom?”

Leo just laughed.

Chapter Text

“Ow! Ow owowowow!”

Leo hissed as he tumbled in from his bedroom window and landed with a thud on the floor, right on his tail bone. He squirmed as he fell over onto his side.

“Hey! You O.K?”

Leo paused from rubbing his aching lower back to grab hold of the windowsill to hoist himself up and look out of it.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

A scoff.

“Sure?”

If Leo wasn’t in so much pain he’d glare at the stupid smirk on Walter’s face. Instead he rolled his eyes as he rubbed his back with his free hand.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Leo then frowned when he noticed just how high up his bedroom window was, “How did you manage to boost me up so high anyway?”

The two on the ground shrugged and Walter grinned, “Seriously? I’m pretty sure you weigh fifty pounds soaking wet.”

Leo glared, “That’s fifty pounds of awesome. Just so you know.”

Walter laughed, “Plus, Tom works out.”

Tom looked very close to rolling his eyes before he looked up at the teen, “We’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

Leo blinked, “Again?”

“Uh, yeah. Perry’s getting kind of suspicious.” Walter said before looking over to give his brother a pointed look, “Maybe it’ll be better if we actually go to classes tomorrow.”

“No, I mean-“ Leo started as he looked at the two siblings, “I don’t mind or anything. I can hang out tomorrow. It’s just… Adam, Bree and Chase wanted to do movie night and, I don’t know-“

“We’ll have you back before then.” Tom said simply, Walter was frowning at him and Leo just knew that they were seconds away from getting into another one of those weird whisper fights they were always having.

“Then after school this time, till like six?”

Walter opened his mouth to protest, but Tom spoke first.

“Fine.”

“O.K.” Just then Leo heard footsteps in the hall, “Shit, I need to go… you’ll be able to manage Big D’s security system, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait, how did you manage to do that the first time-“

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Leo.” Tom said as he turned back pulling his hoodie over his head as he turned to leave and Walter did the same. Waving back to the teen in his room.

Leo just sighed only to jump when there was a knock at his door.

“Leo?”

He quickly shut his window, tossing his backpack beside the bed and moved over to the wall to turn on the light just before he quickly went over to open the door.

Leo tried for a smile, “Chase, what’s up?”

The super genius frowned at him, “It’s dinner time. Tasha said I should come get you.”

“Oh… I was just about to come down. What is it this time? It’s not tuna casserole again is it? I told Adam to incinerate the cans before-“

“Where have you been?”

“What?”

Chase was looking right into his eyes, Leo swallowed hard.

“Where have you been?”

“Here.” Leo said and Chase’s brows pulled together ever so slightly as his frown deepened.

“You didn’t come home with us.”

“Oh well, you know Trent. Walt and I decided to leave a couple minutes early so we could avoid the football team. I’ve been up here all day.”

“Dressed like that?”

Leo resisted the urge to look down at what he was wearing. He knew exactly what Chase was talking about. Leo was wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans. His sneakers very obviously had mud on them, from him trekking through the flower beds just beside the walls of the house before Tom lifted him up over the wall.

Instead he slid passed Chase out into the hallway, “Same thing I was wearing this morning.”

He could hear the super genius let out a huff, “I know you skipped classes, Leo. And I know you weren’t in your room all day. I could pick up your heat signature just after you got here.”

Leo stopped as Chase continued, “What’ve you been doing with Walter?”

“Hanging out at the arcade, playing some games, checking out the mall.” Leo started walking again. “You know, having fun.”

“And you can’t do any of that after school?”

Leo sighed as he looked back at the other just as he made his way downstairs, “I’m not falling behind with school. All my homework and assignments are still getting done. Perry hasn’t noticed anything. Everything’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.”

“You’re making this out to be a bigger deal than it really is.”

They’d just made it to the bottom of the stairs. The smell of lasagne filling the air and Leo sighed in relief, just knowing that Adam probably helped his mom with cooking this time. He stopped when Chase grabbed his arm and looked back to see the super genius wearing a glare of frustration.

“Leo-“

“Chase, I’m just hanging out with a friend. Why are you getting so worked up about this? You didn’t act like this when I was spending time with Gordo.”

“Gordo doesn’t have you skipping school and sneaking in after dark.”

“Only because Gordo’s curfew is five o’clock.” Leo said trying to pull his arm loose from Chase’s grip only for it to tighten. Leo blinked as he looked up at the super genius incredulously, “Chase-“

“Leo, Walter doesn’t seem like a good influence.”

“A good influence?”

Chase bit back another sigh of frustration, “I just want to make sure you’re being safe.”

“I am being perfectly safe. Walt’s fine, he wouldn’t hurt me, I’m more than safe when I’m around him. Plus, his brother is always around us too. It’s fine, so you can relax.”

“Why won’t you listen just for once?”

“I don’t know, why didn’t you ever listen to me when I tried to warn you about Markus?!” Leo hissed and Chase flinched back. Leo blinked, letting out a heavy sigh, “Chase-“

“It’s because of the mess with Markus, that I’m trying to look out for you. You get that right? Yes, we didn’t listen to you and look what happened. Why can’t you just listen to me?”

Leo looked away and then took a deep breath, “They aren’t like Markus-“

“How do you know?”

“I just do, alright?” Leo snapped only to look back at the dining room thankfully no one seemed to be paying attention to them. He shook his head, “I’m sorry. But I promise, everything’s fine. Hanging out with Walter and Tom makes me feel… good. It makes me feel, useful, somehow. More than I do when I’m around here.”

“Useful? Leo-“

“Walt is really nice and Tom is cool and I feel good when I’m around them.” Chase’s jaw clenched as he looked away. Leo followed the first instinct that pushed him forward and wrapped his arms around the super genius’ waist in a hug. Chase tensed briefly before relaxing as he let his arms wrap around Leo as well. “I promise, if anything weird or creepy or bad happens, I’ll tell you. But for now, just… let me have my space. O.K?”

Chase shut his eyes with a sigh, “Fine.”

“Thank you.”

“But-“

“If they try to trap me in an evil underground lair, you’ll be the first to know.” Leo said as he pulled back and Chase frowned.

“Don’t joke like that.”

“You stop overreacting. Walter and Tom are harmless.” Leo laughed, “Seriously though I’m starving. What’s for dinner?”

He said turning around to walk to the table just as Big D sat down with Adam and Bree while his Mom brought a casserole dish closer.

“Adam helped this time. Chicken pot pie.”

Leo stopped and frowned, “What?”

“Dinner is served!” Tasha chimed as she set the dish down in the middle of the table with a salad and juice jug right beside it. She looked up and smiled at Leo, “Hurry up, before it gets cold.”

They sat down, but Leo was still frowning as the lid was lifted and, “I thought-“

“I worked on this all day, don’t even think about saying anything smart, young man.” Tasha warned while Adam scoffed.

“You mean, ‘we’ worked on it all day.”

“Yeah just like ‘they’, burned the first one.” Bree teased and Tasha rolled her eyes, “Alright, that’s enough out of you two.”

Donald just scoffed before leaning over to press a kiss on his wife’s cheek, “It looks great honey.”

As they started dishing out and eating, Leo kept staring even after his plate got a big helping of chicken pie.

“Leo, is something wrong?”

“Seriously, I helped her. It’s edible this time.” Adam said only to get smacked on the back of his head and the others laughed. Leo shook his head.

“No its just. Nothing.” He looked up and smiled, “It looks great, Mom.”

“Thanks, sweety.”

As they ate, Chase noticed that Leo was still wearing a frown until Tasha spoke.

“So how was school, kids?”

“Fine.” Leo said absently and the rest nodded and hummed before Bree spoke.

“I have a project with Caitlin for chemistry, we were supposed to start on it after school but she was too busy stalking Anthony from geometry so we’ll have to start over the weekend. Is it O.K if she sleeps over this Saturday?”

“That’s fine. Just remember to keep her out of the lab please.” Donald chimed and Bree hummed. Chase frowned as he glanced over to the vacant seat at the table.

“Where’s Douglas?”

“Oh, he’s still down in the lab, said he’ll come up in a bit.” Donald explained, “We had a brief security breach at Davenport industries today, he offered to run diagnostics.”

“And you’re letting him do it alone?” Bree asked and Donald shrugged, “I was doing it myself but I needed a break… it’s frustrating. I heard from a few contacts that three other tech companies got their servers hacked as well. All in the last few weeks. Weird thing, it doesn’t seem like whoever it is is trying to steal any information or anything. They just break in and disappear.”

“No malware?”

“Just one, but it’s so simple a quick virus cleaner will take care of it. Seems weird for someone to have the skills to break through so many walls and then leave something that even… Tasha could get rid of.” Donald paused when he saw the glare on his wife’s face and he gave an apologetic smile, “You know I love you honey.”

Bree scoffed, “So, if they’re not trying to steal anything and they’re not trying to do any damage, then what are they doing?”

“I honestly don’t know. It’s like some kind of game. It’s like they’re breaking through security systems just to see if they could.”

Chase frowned, “Maybe we could look into it. Whoever this is might not be a threat right now, but they could turn into one eventually. Are there any leads?”

“Not yet.” Donald sighed, “The only thing we have is the virus. Again, its simple, the only interesting thing is the calling card. You’ve been caught in Arachne’s web, spider webs show up all over all the screens in the building.”

“Arachne?” Adam asked.

“Greek mythology.” Chase explained, “Arachne was a human who beat the goddess Athena in a contest. She embarrassed Athena and humiliated the gods in the process. So Athena cursed her and turned her into a spider monster. The idea is that Athena was punishing Arachne for her pride and vanity for daring to think she was better than a god. But in the end, it just exposed the pride and vanity of the gods, being beaten by a mere human and not being able to take the loss graciously… It’s kind of poetic. Whoever this is, is taking on big tech companies and then just vanishing. It’s like they’re just trying to prove a point.”

“Sounds like someone has a thing for spiders.” Bree commented casually while Donald glared.

“No, it sounds like someone is trying to tick me off. I’ll tell you right now, if it’s a challenge they’re after, it’s a challenge they’re getting!”

“Oh the irony.” Chase scoffed before pausing in thought. “Well, Leo and I could check it out after dinner, maybe spot something that you and Douglas missed. Right, Leo?”

“What?”

Leo had been quiet the whole time, tense as he stared only at his plate. Chase frowned. “The security breach. We’ll check it out after dinner, right?”

Leo shrugged, “Sure. But I mean, I don’t think it’ll be necessary. They won’t be back.”

“Why do you say that?” Tasha asked and Leo swallowed hard.

“If they aren’t hurting anyone then, I don’t think they’ll suddenly start now. And like Big D said they’re just trying to see if they can break in. I don’t think they’ll come back.”

“Well, we’ll need to make sure. Just in case.”

Leo said nothing to that as he just went back to staring at his food and Chase frowned.

Leo caught the super genius’ gaze and quickly lifted a forkful of pot pie and stuffed it into his mouth. Trying to think of exactly how he’ll fake not knowing what’s wrong when they’re working on the breach later.

Damn it!

He told Walter that going after Davenport Industries was a bad idea but, Walter somehow managed to make it seem like such a good idea at the time.

“C’mon Leo, we’re just going to see if you could get in, just like the others. Besides, this’ll be a good way to see just how good your stepdad’s security is. It got hacked before, right? You’re not worried about someone else breaking in?”

Leo sighed, “The last time only happened because the guy that did it managed to manually hack the system. I don’t even know if I could do it from here. Plus, big D will kill me if he finds out.”

And, of course, Tom was there, staring at Leo with a soft encouraging smile.

“He won’t find out. You’re good Leo. Davenport industries security system is impressive. It’ll be a great way to see just how good you are.”

Leo sighed, “We’re not taking anything right? No breaking the systems or letting any damaging viruses loose-“

“No.”

Tom was still staring right into his eyes, Leo just sort of gave in.

“Fine.”

Walter grinned, “Awesome!”

The blonde practically leaped into the chair at the station opposite to his own while Tom reached over to put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll shadow you like always, even if you get caught, we’ll hide you.”

Leo took a deep breath and nodded, Walter poked his head out from the other station. “Relax, Arachne. This’ll be fun.”

Leo rolled his eyes and just moved his chair closer to his to get started.

Walter was right. It was fun.

Nerve wracking and terrifying, but fun. Then again, most things with Walter and Tom have been fun.

The first time, that day when Leo officially met Tom, they took him to an old abandoned building near the edge of town. Leo had been worried and immediately began strategizing every possible escape he could use, in case this turned out to be another Markus or Crane situation and he needed to make a quick exit. Wouldn’t be the first time he got kidnapped after all.

Leo was nervous and it showed.

Walter reached over to wrap the younger teen in his arm and pulled him over towards the entrance. They went inside, Tom opened the door to a dark room before shutting it behind them and then flicking on the lights.

Leo only stared. It wasn’t just that the room was much cleaner than the rest of the building. There were three stations set up in the middle of the room. Three stations with four monitors each and so much hardwear and gear that Leo wasn’t sure what he was looking at, at first.

“What’s all this?”

“This…” Walter said with a smile as he plopped on a plush desk chair at one of the stations spinning around in a circle before he stopped, “Is home.”

“Okay.”

He almost jumped when he felt Tom’s hand on his shoulder, “Walter said you two get up to some… IT work, sometimes.”

Leo blinked, “You told him?”

Walter rolled his eyes, “Yeah and clearly he’s not bugged by it. Wonder why.”

Leo looked up at the older man who urged him closer, “I figured you might like to try it with something a little more…appropriate.”

Leo suddenly realised, “You guys do this a lot, don’t you?”

Walter scoffed and Tom smiled, “Kind of.” He then urged Leo towards a workstation that looked like it had never been used before, “Wanna take it for a spin?”

Leo looked at the computer and then back at Tom and smiled, “Definitely.”

That’s how it started.

At first it was maybe once every couple of days. Tom would pick them up and they’d screw around on the computers for a while. Hang out and then grab something to eat. At first the only weird thing was how they always went to a different building every time and how despite that, the room would always look exactly the same no matter which building or warehouse or abandoned house they were huddled up in.

When Leo asked, Walter didn’t explain. Tom said it was necessary, to avoid detection in case one for the companies they were hacking managed to track them. That made Leo feel a little nervous at first, made him feel guilty about what was him essentially repeatedly committing a crime. But it all seemed so harmless. At first. Most of the time, Walter was teaching him about software design programming that sort of thing. Leo was actually learning a lot and was able to come up with some improvements on the designs that he was already working on for Big D. Even managed to figure out a way to improve those security bots he designed some time back. But then Tom started helping as well.

Tom is… incredible. Tom is a machine. Working through programming and disassembling code before putting it together again so fast Leo could barely keep up. Honestly, not even Chase worked that fast.

“That’s the simplest way of doing it.” Tom said as he turned away from his monitor. Walt was on the couch over towards the wall, looking through a magazine but very clearly lingering on a picture of some blonde lady in a red dress. Leo just stared at the green and black screen in awe before looking back at Tom.

“I’m sorry what?”

The older man laughed, “You’re hilarious.”

“Who’s joking? Seriously, how do you do that so fast?”

“Practice.” Tom said and Leo rolled his eyes.

“Yeah right.”

“You already know how to code, Leo. This isn’t much harder.”

“Yeah, I know how to code but that, didn’t look like simple coding.”

“It’s not, it’s a little more complex. But nothing you won’t be able to handle.”

Leo sighed and Tom’s head gave a tilt.

“Wanna try it?”

“No.”

“Let’s try it.”

Leo sighed again as Tom got up and walked around his chair to stand behind it to push it closer to the workstation.

“Leo.”

“Alright fine.” He said sitting up a bit more and lifting his hands up to the keyboard in front of him, only to stop when Tom suddenly put his hands on his shoulders.

“Close your eyes.”

“What-“

“Close your eyes. Breathe deep.”

Leo resisted the urge to look up at the older man and did as he was told, shutting his eyes and breathing deeply.

“You’re thinking too hard about what you’re doing. Obsessing over the steps and not enough about results.”

“If the steps are wrong then the results will be too.”

“The point is, it’s all important. The steps won’t matter if you don’t even see where you’re going. Do it all simultaneously, see it all at once.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Relax. Don’t hold back, don’t worry about your hands keeping up with your mind. They’ll keep up.”

“How-“

“The only limits that exist, are in your mind. Relax, you know what the code should look like, you know how to get there so just do it.”

The program Leo was coding was a security program of sorts. A protection program, that targets and destroys malware and destructive programming or at the very least temporarily incapacitates it. Tom helped him work out how it would look and work, but Leo spent most of his free time trying to perfect it. When Tom told him to relax and just tried to let flow, he tried. Let his fingers work across the keyboard and mouse, his eyes darted between the screens. It started taking shape, Leo kept adding code, rewrote something here and there until-

“Whoa-“

He stopped when he heard Walter and looked up, “What-“

The sparks suddenly lit up on the keyboard and the monitor in the centre. On the screen, the green and black warped twisted until the image of a lion roaring filled the screen before it flashed and the screen shut off. He flinched back and held his arms up to protect himself as the box sparked and flashed until it burned out and smoke started to rise from the machine.

“Uh…” Leo said looking up at Walter who was staring at the screen in shock and Tom who gave him a warm smile. “I don’t know what I did… but I’m pretty sure it was an accident.”

Walter just stared at him and Tom laughed, “That was good.”

“It was?”

“You need a little restraint, more focus. But it was good.”

“Uh…” Leo said staring at the computer unsure of what to think since he totalled their computer and Tom didn’t seem angry, “So…”

“We should go.” Tom said. Walter was already reaching for their back packs. The raven reached out to grab Leo’s arm and pull him from the chair.

“What? Why-“

“I’m starving!” Walter suddenly said as he reached out to wrap his arm around Leo’s neck as he pulled him towards the door, “Pizza and Froyo right?”

“No, wait. What about-“

“It’s fine don’t worry about it.” Walter said, “By the way, what kind of pizza does Bree like?”

That was a few weeks ago. They went from programming to hacking.

Today they hacked Davenport Industries.

Leo wanted to feel guilty about it, but, he just didn’t.

He shovelled another forkful of pie into his mouth with a frown. He could’ve sworn he smelled lasagne.

Whatever.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Hey, Leo. What do you think of Tom?”

Leo paused looking up at Walter. They were in chemistry, working on a sheet that needed to be handed in at the end of the period. Textbooks on the table and pens in hand.

“What do I think of him?”

“Yeah.”

Leo shrugged, “He’s cool.”

“Do you like him?”

“Do you mean in a healthy, totally not problematic; this is my friend’s brother way, or do you mean the way you like Bree?”

Walter rolled his eyes, “The first one.”

“Oh,” Leo shrugged again as he pulled his textbook closer, “Yeah, again, he’s cool. Smart. Why?”

“You don’t feel… weird around him, do you?”

“Weird how?”

“I mean,” Walter shifted in his seat a little, “Uncomfortable, like something’s off about him.”

Leo paused to look up at the blonde, “O.K, is this the part of the movie where you reveal some creepy family secret before your brother tries to hunt me down wearing a mask and wielding a chainsaw?”

Walter laughed, “I don’t think he’d have to chase you very far considering how slow you are.”

“Seriously though, what’s with the question?”

“Nothing it’s just, people aren’t always super comfortable around him at first. He takes some getting used to. I want to make sure you’re O.K.”

Leo shook his head, “He seems fine to me.”

“And that’s great. It’s great that I could make a new friend and you know, you’re cool with hanging out with Tom.” Walter’s head gave a tilt, “He doesn’t even seem a little intimidating to you? Like kind of… controlling or domineering.”

Leo blinked, “That feels like an oddly specific way to put it.”

“I mean it as a general term.” The blonde said quickly and Leo just stared at him.

“Right…” Leo let out sigh, “I don’t know. He seems fine. A little intimidating maybe… But controlling? I mean, no more than Chase. I already told you how he’s a total control freak sometimes.”

“Right, Chase.”

“Like last night, he freaked out cause he figured out that I’ve been skipping a few classes to hang out with you.” Leo shook his head as he looked down at the book between them, “I’m trying to make sure you’re safe, now suddenly we need to be careful about who we hang out with when-… he’s such a dictator sometimes.”

“Is he always like that?”

“Not really… yeah? Sometimes, I don’t know.”

Walter bit his lip, “Has Chase ever made you feel uncomfortable or weird?”

Leo looked up, “O.K, there’s clearly something specific you’re trying to tell or ask me so just say it already Walt, because you’re starting to freak me out a little.”

Walter took in a deep breath, “Do you like boys?”

“What?”

“Do you like other guys, is what I mean.”

Leo just stared back at Walter, “Uhh…”

“No, it’s just-“

“Wait, does your brother like me? Is that what all the weird questions are about?” Leo felt himself flush but he quickly covered it up with a smug smirk and as much false confidence as he could muster, “Cause I’m flattered Walt, really I am but I’m not sure if it would work.”

Walter rolled his eyes hard, “He has a girlfriend.”

“Bree has a boyfriend.”

“I thought she and Owen broke up.”

“They got back together.”

“We’re not talking about Bree right now.” Walter huffed and Leo laughed, the blonde smiled despite himself and let out a soft breath. “I was just wondering.”

“If I like dudes and also maybe like your brother. I don’t think wandering works that way.” Leo said shaking his head and Walter sighed again. Leo’s lips twisted a little, “Also were you trying to imply that I maybe like Chase?”

“No… You’re making this really hard you know.”

Leo let out a sigh of his own, “I don’t know, I guess I never really thought about it but I don’t think I really have a specific preference or anything like that.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

Leo looked up and smirked, “Does your brother like boys?”

Walter started to glare a little, “He has a girlfriend.”

“You’re not answering the question.”

“Because I’m not going to.”

“You can’t expect me to not get some payback for all the weird fawning you do over Bree. So seriously, does he like guys, I bet he likes me.”

“We’re not doing this now or ever.”

Leo laughed and Walter smiled just a bit only for that smile to falter, “It’s just… last night, when Tom suggested we hang out again; you didn’t have to say yes you know.”

Leo nodded, “I know, but it’s not a big deal. I like hanging out with you guys and seriously, movie night isn’t till six. As long as I’m home before then we’re good.”

Walter smiled, “Good.”

Later after Tom picked them up, the topic came up again. Only this time, Leo wasn’t as sure with his answer. It was different with Tom right there and Tom being the one asking the question this time.

“If I made you uncomfortable-“

“I’m not uncomfortable.” Leo said looking out the window to watch as Walter got their froyo whilst also totally not flirting with the girl at the counter.

Tom nodded. “I’m aware that I might seem a little… intimidating sometimes. After talking to Walter, I realise that I might’ve come off a little strong yesterday.”

Leo shook his head but still didn’t look at Tom, “Seriously, its fine. Like I told Walt, compared to my brother, you’re not even half as bad.”

“Your brother… Chase, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Walter says that you’re close.”

“I guess.” He shrugged, “He’s my brother, of course we’re close.”

“Right.”

Suddenly felt like he said something wrong. He felt uneasy, he felt-

Leo looked over to Tom, noticed how he was staring hard out into the street with one hand clenched tight around the steering wheel. Leo swallowed hard, squirming a bit in his seat.

“So, Walt says you have a girlfriend.” He needed something to say and that’s what his mouth came up with. Good enough.

Tom blinked and suddenly that odd feeling from before felt different almost… muted.

“I… yeah.” Tom looked away, clearing his throat, “Her name is Tiffany.”

“Tiffany, huh? Cool.” Leo gave a slight scoff, “There’s this girl at school that I like… Janelle. She’s really smart, pretty, really nice too since she’s willing to give me the time of day.” He joked and then looked up at Tom. “What’s Tiffany like?”

“She’s… smart too. Strong, really really dedicated.”

“Ohkay?” Leo said with an arched brow at the look on Tom’s face and the older man gave an awkward laugh.

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“She’s… good, great even. I uhm, I’m really lucky to have her.”

Leo nodded, “O.K… great.”

It was quiet for a moment, Leo looked out the window wondering what was taking Walter so long when-

“I’m sorry.”

Leo looked back with a frown, “For what?”

Tom was staring at him, right into his eyes and Leo felt himself tense right from the centre of his core.

“I-“ His eyes flickered up and before coming back again, “Can I come over to see you later?”

“Later? I told you I have movie night with-“

“After that. After you spend time with your siblings. There’s something I want to show you. I’ll pick you up around eleven.”

“I-I mean, I guess I could sneak out but-“

“Good.”

Before Leo could say anything, else Walt got back to the car handing the two froyo cups through the window to Leo before he opened the door.

“The cashier girl’s pretty cute, huh?”

Leo scoffed, “Cuter than Bree?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“She was cute enough for the Froyo to get melted with you drooling over her.” Leo said stirring the cup of semi melted not melted mess of sprinkles nuts, chocolate sauce and yogurt, “Really Walt?”

Tom laughed.

They spent the day the way they usually did, messing around on the computers in an abandoned house near the edge of town and Walt managed to keep Leo so busy that he just barely noticed Tom watching them the whole time. Rarely saying anything and Leo never felt like he could meet that gaze directly, he always felt like he had to look away. He couldn’t explain it… it felt so intense.

He was home by six o’clock as promised.

Leo watched a movie with his family, laughing at Adam’s jokes and rolling his eyes whenever Chase decided to ruin the movie by explaining why gravity didn’t work like that or why fire behaving like that was scientifically impossible. It all felt blissfully normal.

Until ten minutes to eleven.

Leo’s nerves were shot as he paced around in his room. Tom’s going to pick him up in ten minutes, so Leo has to sneak out and meet him in front of the house. It’s nothing he hasn’t had to do since he started hanging out with Walt and Tom only this time, Walt wasn’t going to be there.

It should be fine. It shouldn’t be weird. But for some reason he felt beyond nervous at the prospect of hanging out with just Tom while Walt wasn’t around.

There isn’t even anything wrong with Tom. Tom’s nice and smart and… weirdly intense and that intensity always felt strongest when it was just the two of them, whenever Walt wandered away for a minute but-

It should be fine. It’ll be fine, right?

Leo spent the next ten minutes pacing around his room before he grabbed his black hoodie and pulled it on, before grabbing his backpack and phone and climbing out the window. He can’t use the stairs since the security system went on an hour ago and Eddie would absolutely snitch on him if he tried to go out the front door. He’d shut Eddie down along with the security system if he wasn’t afraid of Big D figuring it out and grounding him for the rest of his life.

So, he chose the bedroom window.

At this point, he’s been in and out of it so many times the height doesn’t really bother him anymore. There’s a landing just outside of his window and he learned to jump over to the gutter and slide down the pipe easily enough. The only issue was the outer wall. Usually Tom help’s him around it. What to do…

Leo was still staring at the smooth plastered and ridiculously high wall when-

“Leo.”

A voice called out and the teen jumped before stepping closer to the wall with a frown, “Tom?”

“C’mon, let’s go.”

“Uh, yeah, just let me figure out a way to grow by three feet and I’ll be right with you.”

He could hear Tom laugh, “You can make it, just jump.”

Leo gave the wall a very dull look, “You’re hilarious. How about instead, you jump over and help me?”

“You can do it, just trust me.”

“I trust you, but I trust my body to make that jump about as much as I trust my legs to get me away from the football team.”

Tom laughed again, “O.K close your eyes.”

“How is that going to help?”

“Just do it.”

Leo let out a sigh of frustration before he did as he was told, “Fine, they’re closed.”

“O.K, imagine the wall in your mind. Do you see it?”

“Yeah.”

“Reach out and touch it.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Fine.” He said resting his hand against the cool touch of the wall, “Now what?”

“That wall is only as high as you want it to be. It’s only as thick as you want it to be. Do you understand?”

“I think so.”

“O.K now clear your mind, don’t see the wall just feel it under your hand. You can clear it, you know you can. All you need to do, push up and jump-“

“Tom-“

“Focus. Concentrate on the wall, see yourself jump in your mind and do it.”

Leo took in a deep breath and tried, because why not at this point? Maybe if he fails Tom will let him off the hook and he won’t have to go.

Focus on the wall, see it in your head, see the jump and just do it-

For the moment, Leo didn’t let himself think about his imminent failure. Just on Tom’s voice and what he said and-

“Leo, jump.”

He jumped and his eyes flew open when he felt the wind blowing by his face as he went up in the air and started coming down just as quickly. Leo let out a terrified scream as he went hurdling down only for it to cut off in a gasp when he was caught.

“Whoa!”

He looked up to find himself in Tom’s arms as the older man smiled at him.

“See, easy right?”

“No kidding.” Leo looked back at the wall, it still looked insanely high, “I had no idea I could do that.”

“I did.” Tom said as he set the teen down on his feet, “C’mon, let’s go.”

Leo looked around himself once he was set down.

Seriously, how did he do that?

The teen frowned as he looked at his right hand. His bionic hand.

Maybe he pushed himself up using his super strength. He has been training lately, trying to learn to use his bionics to help his family out more often. Maybe that’s what it is. Leo shook his head with another sigh.

He should really ask Douglas for a manual to this thing.

“Leo.” Tom called out and Leo jumped turning to see the older man standing by his car.

The real question here is how Tom knew he could do it.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” He quickly walked over only to stop when Tom grabbed a hold of his arm.

“No, I mean.” His eyes narrowed down ever so slightly, “You should leave your phone.”

“My phone.”

“You won’t need it, I’ll have you back home in a few hours anyway.”

“I-“

That doesn’t sound like a smart idea.

“I don’t go anywhere without my phone.”

“You trust me, right?” Tom asked and Leo’s lips pursed for a moment before he answered.

“Yeah.”

“Leave it here.”

“But-“ Leo looked back at the wall, “I’ll have to go back-“

Before he could finish his sentence, Tom had tugged the backpack off of Leo’s shoulder and held his hand out.

“Put it in your bag and we’ll toss it over the wall.”

“Over the wall-“

“I promise, you’ll find it just where you left it when we get back.”

“Why can’t I just bring it like I always do?”

“Because I don’t want any distractions.”

Leo gave him a look, “Is this the part in the movie where I get abducted, because I was dumb enough to get into a car with the hot mysterious guy without my phone?
”
Tom laughed, his eyes seemed to warm, “No, but its nice to know you think I’m hot.”

Leo felt himself flush, “Seriously, why can’t I bring my phone?”

Tom’s head gave a tilt, “Arachne, do you trust me?”

Leo paused, he felt distinctly odd when Tom used his hacker name but at the same time-

He let out a heavy sigh and pulled out his phone, unzipping his bag to put the device inside and closing it again. Tom smiled as he took a step closer to the wall and tossed the bag over it.

“You know, I’m still not sure I really like that name.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Tom shrugged as he walked over to open the passenger side door and held it open for the teen. “You can still change it.”

“To what?” Leo asked as he walked over to the door to slip inside, Tom leaned over towards him and smiled.

“It’s your name, you can make it whatever you want.”

Leo looked away and Tom shut the door to walk around to the other side before he got in as well and shut the door behind him.

“When we’re away, from everything,” The older man suddenly started, “You can call me Neo.”

“Neo?” Leo asked, “O.K, so where are we going, Neo?”

Tom grinned, “It’s a surprise. Ready to go?”

“Sure.”

Chapter Text

They went to the water tower on the edge of town. The old rusty rickety one that hasn’t been used in years. The metal fence around the tower had a huge gaping hole in it so reaching it wasn’t too difficult, much to the teen’s dismay.

Leo stared up at the tall structure before looking over to Tom and giving him a very dull look.

“I’m not going up there.”

Tom smiled at him, “You trust me, right?”

“Yeah, O.K, but I don’t want to die.”

Tom held out his hand, “C’mon.”

Leo stared at the hand for two full seconds before he took it with a sigh. His face warming when Tom’s hand tightened around it and he was pulled towards the ladder attached to the tower.

He didn’t feel more nervous the closer they got to the structure, surprisingly enough. He felt O.K. And wasn’t that just the weirdest thing? He’s about to risk his life here and-

“You first.” Tom said startling Leo from his thoughts. Leo frowned at him.

“Seriously?”

“If you fall, I’ll catch you.”

“You’ll catch me?”

“I did it before, didn’t I?”

Yeah, he did do that.

Leo paused and then just sighed again, “O.K.” He reached out to grab hold of the ladder and swallowed hard when he looked up at his destination. Way up at the top of the tower.

“This seems like a really bad idea.”

“You’ll be fine.” When Tom spoke, Leo jumped. The older man was suddenly way too close. He looked back and found Tom almost towering over him still with a soft smile on his face and swallowed hard and then he quickly looked away.

One deep breath and he started climbing.

It wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. The tower squeaked and metal groaned every now and then but it wasn’t the type of sound that usually signalled imminent collapse. Just the sounds of a very very old structure. There wasn’t any swaying or other sudden movements from the tower, so he kept his breathing steady and didn’t look down once. He could hear Tom climbing up after him, heard his steps up the ladder the same as his own and that at least felt a little comforting. But the silence was somewhat unnerving, it made him feel nervous. Even with the sound of the crickets and cicadas somewhere nearby.

“So,” Leo started just as he reached for the next step, “What do you do?”

“What do I do?” He heard Tom call back so he kept moving.

“Yeah, I kinda just realised that I never asked you or Walt before and… we’ve been hanging out a lot. You don’t have a job or anything?”

“Right… I work IT. We usually have individual projects and work our own hours. That’s why I have the extra time.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Leo said mindlessly, “And what about your girlfriend? Tiffany, right?”

“Yeah, uhm, she does the same… Actually, we work for the same company.”

“Cool. What’s it called?”

“It’s a private company, we don’t really operate in the mainstream. I doubt you’d know what its called.”

Leo frowned and stopped, “Seriously? You know who my stepdad is, right?” And he made the mistake of looking back – Wow they are really high up!

Leo quickly turned back to the ladder and shut his eyes.

“Hey, are you O.K?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Leo said quickly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“O.K, just keep climbing and don’t look down. I’m right behind you.” Tom urged and Leo took a deep breath before he opened his eyes and kept them up.

“I got it.”

One more breath and he kept moving, “So, seriously, what’s it called?”

Tom said nothing, though Leo could still hear him climbing up just behind him.

“Tom?”

“I’ll tell you, one day. Just not today.”

“Okay, that doesn’t sound weird at all.” Leo mumbled but Tom still heard him.

“Sorry.”

“No, its fine. I just don’t get why it needs to be a secret.”

Tom was quiet again for five whole seconds before he suddenly spoke, “Almost there?”

“Yeah.”

He’d just reached the catwalk around the bottom of the water tank. The gate at the ladder was rusted shut so they had to climb over that. Leo groaned out loud when Tom said he wanted to go up to the top of the tank, the older man just laughed as he pushed him towards the next set of steps.

But once they finally made it to the top, Leo realised that the view was totally worth the slight heart attack he almost had. It was wide and open. The tower stood on a hill just outside of Mission Creek and it felt like you could see right to the other end of town from there. The crescent moon in the sky was bright and the stars were so much clearer without the light pollution from the street lamps or Big D’s high voltage security spotlight.

“Wow.”

Tom laughed and Leo looked back to see the older man already sitting down, “Not bad right?”

“Yeah.” Leo said as he walked over to stand next to Tom but kept his eyes on the sky, “Is this what you wanted me to see?”

“…yeah.” Tom nodded and Leo sat down about a foot away from him.

“Why couldn’t Walt come?”

Tom shrugged, “He’s been here already and after a while of staring at the same thing over and over again… you don’t really see it anymore.”

“He doesn’t think this is amazing?” Leo shook his head with a click of his tongue, “I’m going to have to have words with him later.”

Tom scoffed, “Well, with the way things are now… its hard looking at things and seeing them like this, you know.”

Leo frowned, “No not really.”

“When you’re constantly looking at the same numbers and strings over and over again its hard actually seeing the picture sometimes. You know it’s there, you know what’s there.” Tom started pointing around them, “Stars, moon, three satellites in orbit above us right now, two thousand three hundred street lamps, five hundred twenty six cars-“

Leo looked at him incredulously, “Do you see all that from here?”

Tom laughed and shook his head, “It’s just, it’s all relative and eventually, you don’t really see things anymore just… numbers. Walter likes coming here sometimes but, at the same time he doesn’t like it. Do you know what I mean?”

Leo looked out over the town and folded his legs beneath him, “Sort of, I mean, I get seeing the same thing over and over again and not really seeing it anymore but… It’s still beautiful, right?”

“Right.”

“And anyway, seeing this all the time doesn’t seem so bad.”

“…right.”

Without thinking about it Leo lay back against the roof of the tank, arms braced behind his head as he stared up at the sky before looking over to Tom, “O.K but seriously, how do you know there are three satellites orbiting above us right now?”

Tom shrugged, “Just a guess.”

“That’s a weirdly specific guess.”

Tom scoffed and Leo couldn't help but look over to him as he asked, "Have you ever brought Tiffany here?"

Tom blinked and looked over to him, "I - no. I mean... no."

"No?"

Tom took in a deep breath and then let it back out. "Tiffany... she wouldn't like this."

"But you do?"

He looked over to Leo, "Something like that."

"I guess there are two people I need to have words with."

Tom shook his head "She's realistic."

"What's the point to that if you don't even enjoy any of it?"

"The real world doesn't seem like fun, huh?"

"Nah." Leo looked up at the sky and his lips started to pull into a smile, "I just think that's beautiful."

Tom looked at him with an arched brow, "Would you bring Janelle here?"

Leo let out a startled laugh, "That would be an awesome idea, but I don't think Janelle would follow me up a rusty creaky tower."

"Why not?"

"She's way too smart for that."

Tom laughed, "What does that say about you?"

"Not a lot." Leo said, feeling his face flush slightly when the man beside him laughed again. It felt good... hearing Tom laugh. Leo looked over to him and his head gave a tilt, "I'm serious, this thing seems like its going to carry our weight for another five minutes tops before it collapses and we fall to our deaths."

"We're not going to fall to our deaths."

"Are you going to catch me again? You're going to have to, cause you dragged me up here so I'm not going to save myself."

Tom laughed as he looked over to the younger man with a smile, "You..."

"What?"

Tom pursed his lips for a moment, "You're bright."

"I'm bright?" Leo scoffed, "What, like, I'm smart?"

"Yes, but that's not what I meant. It’s hard sometimes, remembering that people can still be like this."

"Bright?"

"Real."

"Real." The teen said as he moved so he was lying on his side to face the raven, "I'm not fake."

Tom moved to face him, lying on his side as well. "I don't want to ruin you, but I don't want to leave you here either."

Leo frowned, "What?"

Tom took a deep breath and let it back out, "Are you happy, Leo?"

"Happy, you mean right now? I mean... yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Leo felt his face flush a bit more, "I'm having fun."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean," Leo frowned, "And what did you mean about not wanting to leave? Are you going somewhere, where are you going? Walt didn't say anything about movi-"

Leo froze when Tom suddenly reached out, fingers slipping over Leo's cheek up to his ear with his palm resting on his cheek. Leo's face caught fire and he stared back at the older man with wide eyes. He opened his mouth to speak only for whatever words he had to die away on his tongue, he could feel the warmth of the hand on his skin despite the heat of his own blush. Deep brown eyes stared right into his own and Leo's heart was racing before his breath hitched.

It was a feeling that reminded him of Andrew and the thought almost dragged him back to reality.

"There's a feeling you have sometimes, like you're missing something. Like there's something just there outside of your reach, you can't see it but you know its there."

Leo frowned.

O.K that sounds exactly like Andrew.

“Leo.” Tom said and the teen took a deep breath before he answered.

“Yes.”

“If you could make that feeling go away, find out exactly what you were missing; would you go? Would you take that chance?”

“Yes.”

“Even if it meant that your life would change forever?”

Leo pulled back a bit, but not enough to pull out of the older man’s grasp.

“Change how?”

Tom’s lips pursed, “I mean, if it meant – potentially – never seeing your family again.”

That time Leo did pull from his grasp as he sat up and frowned at Tom.

“O.K, seriously, what are you talking about?”

“I-“

But before Tom could respond, a low ringing went off and he quickly sat up to start digging around in his pocket. He pulled out a black phone. A flip phone, the teen noticed. Leo blinked just as Tom flipped it open and answered.

“Yeah?” He paused, something passed behind his eyes and he looked at Leo. “O.K, I got it.” And then he flipped the phone shut again, “We need to go.”

“What? Why?”

“There’s an… emergency back home.” Tom said as he got up and Leo did the same.

“An emergency? Is Walt O.K?”

“He’s fine. But I need to get you home and get back.”

Leo nodded as he followed the older man down the stairs and away from the tower, through the hole in the fence and back to the car.

“Tom, is something wrong?” He finally asked once the car was moving. It felt weird again and Tom seemed… Leo felt like the older man seemed stressed for some reason. Tom looked at him and shook his head as they got onto the dirt road leading to the tower.

“No, nothing’s wrong but-“ Tom glanced at him and shook his head, “You’ve been doing really good, with the program that you’re working on.”

Leo frowned at the sudden change of topic, “Are you talking about that time when I totalled your computers somehow?”

Tom laughed, “I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but you were on the right track.”

“Yeah, so does that mean that we’re going to do that again soon.”

“Something like that.”

Leo shook his head before he spoke, “Neo, what did you mean earlier?”

Tom looked over to the boy, the older man seeming to hesitate when-

A siren.

They’d just gotten back to town, blue lights were flashing behind them and Leo frowned as he looked back.

Did they run a red light or something? Crap, what if his Mom finds out about this? But it should be O.K, right? He’s eighteen and its not like Tom doesn’t have a licence anyway, right?

Leo frowned at the police car behind them only to look up when Tom suddenly cursed.

“Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“This is the Mission Creek Police department, pull your vehicle off to the side of the road and step out of the car. I repeat, this is-”

As the order came in on the horn again. Leo looked over to Tom, who didn’t seem like he planned n stopping anytime soon.

“Uh… Tom. I think you need to pull over. Tom?”

Tom glanced over to the teen in the seat beside him and swallowed hard as his eyes snapped up to the rear-view mirror.

“Leo, do you trust me?”

What is happening?

“What? Tom, why aren’t you stopping the car?” He felt a distinct feeling of dread building in his gut.

Deep brown eyes went over to lock onto his own as the older man lowered his voice.

“Do you trust me?”

And just like before, Leo didn’t even have to think about the answer.

“Yes.”

He gasped when Tom suddenly hit the gas and the car surged forward, forcing him back into his seat.

“Tom?!”

They went shooting through the street, with Tom shifting gears and not even slowing own for one second. Leo was screaming most of the way there, his heart beating wildly in his chest as he wondered what the hell was going on. The sounds of sirens got louder, he could hear more police cars joining the first one and Leo’s eyes went impossibly wide when he realised that he was in an active car chase. Which would be cool, if he had any clue as to what was going on.

They tore through the streets of Mission Creek, swerving around cars and running just about every red light and stop sign they came across. Leo kept a tight hold of his seat as the car seemed to go faster and faster with every second that passed as they blew through the city and right into the suburban area.

“Tom! What is happening?!”

“We can’t get caught.”

“Why?!”

They went speeding into a residential street, when Tom looked over to the teen in the seat beside him. “We need to jump.”

“We need to what?!”

Tom popped the latch on Leo’s door, he put some sort of pole lock the steering wheel and shoved another on the gasp to keep it going. Leo didn’t even get the chance to ask anything when Tom climbed over him and pulled him into his arms before pushing the door open and jumping from the car.

They went crashing into a hedge and Leo cried out in pain at the branches that caught and scratched him. The impact surprisingly wasn’t that bad as they rolled onto a green lawn, but Leo didn’t even have time to recover as Tom pulled him back, against the hedges just as the police cars came speeding by, chasing the now vacant car heading down the street.

Leo was breathing hard as he listened to the cars go by, keeping his arms locked tight around Tom’s waist and his head buried in the older man’s chest while Tom kept him locked in his arms.

The cars went by, sirens and engines ringing out in the distance. It started to go quiet and Leo just kept huffing out panting breaths, for a moment he almost thought he could relax only for one more siren to come up after all the others. What sounded like a motorcycle pull up on the street right in front of the hedges and stop where they were hiding.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

“Shh.” Tom whispered and Leo’s eyes shut tight. That old child hood mantra that he used to keep in his head, whenever he was scared, coming back to him.

‘If you can’t see them they can’t see you’

Who was they, Leo didn’t even know. He didn’t care either.

He kept his eyes shut and his arms around Tom. Leo held his breath, with his head on the older man’s chest he could feel Tom’s heartbeat beating just as fast as his own.

He could hear the footsteps approaching before they stopped right at the hedges it was quiet for a moment and then.

“I’ve lost the subject.” The voice that spoke sounded oddly cold, almost robotic. “We weren’t able to identify their target. Yes. Understood.”

And then the footsteps walked away, Leo heard what sounded like a scream before a low groan.

“What the hell…”

A few more moments of confused shuffling before the motorcycle roared to life and took off again, leaving them alone.

“Leo.” Tom said quietly, when the teen didn’t immediately respond he gave him a brief shake, “Leo, it’s O.K, they’re gone.”

Leo finally gasped in a deep breath, his face feeling flushed and his heart racing in his chest.

“Hey. Breathe.” Tom took the teen’s face into his hand lifted it to look the younger man in the eyes, “It’s O.K, you’re safe.”

Leo breathed in as deeply as he could, in and out.

“Leo.” Tom said sternly and the teen finally felt his gaze clear enough to actually be able to see him through his panicked haze, “You’re O.K. Its O.K.”

“Tom, what just happened?” Leo asked and the older man swallowed hard, staring right into the teen’s eyes before he suddenly pulled him into his arms and hugged him tight, not saying a word.

Leo kept breathing in and out until he finally felt his heart slow and he finally felt himself relax, letting the heat from the older man calm him when-

“There’s no more time.” Tom pulled back to look at him again, “Walter and I are going to pick you up tomorrow. I need you to be ready.”

“Ready for what?”

Leo blinked when Tom suddenly leaned in and pressed a kiss against his temple.

“Don’t tell your family anything, leave your phone in your room. Understand?”

“Why?”

“Do you trust me?”

Leo let out a heavy sigh, knowing his answer even though he knew exactly how stupid that answer was.

“Yes.”

Tom smiled, “Twelve o’clock. Sneak out the window, don’t tell anyone.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Waking the boy was Neo’s idea.

Originally, they’d planned on waking Chase Davenport. But their attempts at waking the young man had turned out to be… disappointing. Chase was smart. Very smart. Which was the whole reason why they wanted to free him in the first place. Unfortunately, it’s this intelligence that made it difficult to release the younger man. The idea that life was actually a simulation and that none of what he believed was reality was actually real, refused to settle into his mind. He came up with all sorts of possible explanations for the things that they showed him and things he was told. Morpheus hadn’t been too surprised.

The concept of the Matrix unfortunately required more than just intelligence, it required a bit of an imagination. So when offered a choice between the blue pill and the red pill. Chase refused both. They had to knock him out and force the blue pill on him in order to send him back to his reality without raising alarm since just letting him go would be too risky.

But Chase was important.

These bionics he believed were a gift from his father were actually programming that the machines granted him. Programming they realised would still be in effect after he was liberated from the matrix. They needed Chase Davenport, but he wouldn’t come willingly.

Yes accepting the Matrix required some imagination, a little bit of faith. Something that made Neo believe that Chase’s apparent step-brother would be a better target for the time being. Chase and Leo seemed close, very close. While Chase was all logic, Leo was brimming with imagination and he seemed to be able to inspire some faith in Chase from time to time. If they could free Leo, then it was very possible that he would be able to convince Chase to leave the Matrix.

It helped that Leo was also very intelligent, not quite at the same level as Chase but both Tank and Dozer could tell from the scans that he was operating on the same level as many other subjects that they’d freed from the matrix before. His frontal cortex seemed to have heightened activity. He had so much creativity, something that would be beneficial to navigating the Matrix. If they couldn’t free Chase they’d still have a valuable addition to their cause.

The only concern was that from what they could tell, Leo was an omega.

Integration for omegas was a bit difficult since their heats seemed to engage from the second their bodies were rehabilitated and they were conscious. Secondary genders were absent from the Matrix, so waking up and suddenly being confronted with a heat or rut was traumatising to say the least.

Morpheus thought that they should let Niobe and her crew on the Logos be the ones to free Leo. They were better at dealing with omegas fresh out of the Matrix and once Leo was better he could come aboard the Nebuchadnezzar. But Niobe and her crew were on another mission in a sector miles away, meaning that even if they did free Leo, it would be months before he could move from the Logos to the Nebuchadnezzar. They wanted him on the ship and ready to enter the Matrix as soon as possible to help free Chase. Morpheus checked with Dozer and Mouse, both of whom confirmed that they’d be able to help Leo through his first transition and then Neo offered to help the teen in case he needed an alpha to help him stabilise his hormones.

That’s why Morpheus agreed and they got to work on freeing Leo Dooley.

They had to find Leo in the fields, and then they got to work on contacting him in the Matrix. Mouse was the one to make first contact, befriending the teen under the guise of a new student at school. Neo would show up every now and then posing as Mouse’s older brother, just to make sure things were going as planned.

They spent weeks inside, Mouse spent as much time as he could with Leo, slowly but surely bringing his attention to the strangeness of his world. Morpheus thought it prudent to give Leo a few tests, to see just how good his skills with technology were and he was impressed to find that that he knew just how to make use of that frontal cortex. He came up with ideas, inventions, programs that weren’t just inventive but functional if not a little flawed.

He needed someone that could reign him in control that creativity and give it purpose; direction. Chase had the logic and restraint to do that. He and Leo trusted each other and from what they’d seen from observing the two, they worked well together. Morpheus realised that freeing Leo first had been the best route. Though Leo had a bionic arm inside it was different from the bionics that Chase and his siblings had, but still… If he and his stepbrother were freed they’d be very valuable indeed.

Leo started spending more and more time away from his family. He’d sneak out of the house and skip classes, to spend time with Walter and his brother Tom. He started to notice that things weren’t quite right, things that used to make perfect sense things that he never even paid attention to suddenly seemed off. Leo started to notice the oddness of his world.

“That’s weird.”

“What is?” Mouse asked from his spot beside the boy on the bench in front of the Froyo shop.

Leo frowned before shaking his head, “Nothing.”

Neo who’d been sitting on the teen’s other side looked at him, “No really, what’s weird?”

Leo looked up at the older man for a moment before giving a sheepish smile as he picked at the frozen yogurt in his cup with the spoon, swirling the sprinkles and chocolate chips around.

“No really its just.” He frowned as his eyes went down the street to the pedestrians looking up ahead, “I could’ve sworn, that kid over there, it looked like his mom had black hair, now its red. I don’t know.” He shook his head again, “I think I need sleep, maybe I’ll stay in tonight. You don’t mind if I bail on you, do you?”

“No, of course not.” Neo said and Mouse leaned forward, “You’re making this up to me though, I didn’t run interference with Perry to spring you for free you know.”

Leo rolled his eyes, “I am not giving you my sister’s number. Bree would kill me.”

“But if we got married, we’d be brothers. Don’t you want me as your new big brother Leo?”

Leo gave him a dull look, “Firstly, we’re the same age. Secondly, I have a big brother and thirdly, you’re way too annoying to be related to.”

Mouse stuck his tongue out at the other and Leo just laughed, Neo turned a bit more to face him.

“Your family… Do they know, that you’ve been hanging out with us?” Neo asked and Leo shrugged.

“I guess.”

“You guess?”

“I said I’m hanging out with friends and that’s what I’m doing.”

“Do they know about the computer stuff, you know, the hacking, the programs...”

Leo sighed, “I’m not sure that they’d get it, you know. Sometimes when I tell them stuff they don’t always get it... or listen. Like last night I-“ the teen shook his head again, “I really need sleep.”

“Leo, what happened last night?” Neo urged and Leo looked up at him before frowning.

“Nothing? I just I could’ve sworn… we were watching TV and the channel suddenly just changed itself, like a channel with a totally different language. I think it was Spanish but it happened so quickly. It was weird. I asked if anyone else noticed and the only person that had was Chase, but he said it was just a glitch and that totally makes sense but-“

“But what?”

“For a second, I could’ve sworn it was green.” Leo said quietly though it seemed more to himself and Neo frowned.

“What was green?”

Leo’s frown deepened as he stared at the ground with his eyebrows pulling together.

“Everything.”

He was ready.

It took some doing, a few more days before they could spring him. The agents had noticed their attention on someone in the Mission Creek quadrant of fields. Neo decided to pull Leo out immediately before the machines realised who they were really after for the moment.

Neo and Mouse brought him to the safe house in down town Mission Creek. He was very freaked out at first, but his curiosity seemed to win out on him and he let the older teen take him inside which is where he met Morpheus for the first time.

Neo stood beside Morpheus chair, Mouse stood in the corner. Neo insisted since he thought it might make Leo feel more comfortable. Though the black trench coat and glasses seemed to make the boy more wary than it comforted him. Mouse cracked a few jokes, just to make him feel a little bit more comfortable. Though it seemed like Morpheus’ ever calming aura is what did it for him. Even in the Matrix the alpha knew how to calm an omega down.

Morpheus had taken his glasses off, with his elbows braced on his knees and Leo swallowed hard before he spoke.

“So, if-if none of this is real then what about… what about my mom and Big D and Adam, Bree and Chase-“

“Leo calm down.” Neo started, “They’re all real people, its just the world you live that isn’t.”

“Think of it like an online game.” Morpheus started, “The world is fake, the game isn’t real, but the people playing it are.”

Leo let out a deep breath, “O.K so, if this isn’t real. Then what is? Is there a world outside of the Matrix?”

“Yes, and we’d like to offer you the chance to go to that world; the real world.”

“Why me?”

Morpheus gave him a soft smile, “Why not? We’ve been watching you for some time, you have skills that would be beneficial to the fight against the machines.”

Leo blinked, “I do?”

Neo smiled and smothered a scoff as he looked away. Mouse didn’t bother hiding his laugh and Morpheus arched a brow. “Yes. I’m sure Neo and Mouse agree, it wasn’t just simple programming and hacking that you’ve been doing with them Leo, its very complex work. You’re a little rough, but nothing that can’t be polished.”

“Neo and Mouse.” Leo said with a frown.

“Tom and Walter.” Morpheus said simply. Leo paused and looked back to the teen behind him.

“Mouse?”

He rolled his eyes, “Don’t ask, Francis.”

Leo rolled his eyes hard before turning back to Morpheus, “If I say yes, to going to this other place… what happens?”

“That isn’t something I can really explain. But I will say this, it will be a difficult experience, possibly the hardest thing that you’ll ever have to endure. It will be painful, it’ll be traumatic and once you take this step, there will be no turning back.”

“I don’t like pain.” Leo mumbled softly when Neo spoke.

“Leo, it’s going to be hard, but I promise; it’ll be worth it.”

Leo bit his lip and stared down at his hands, “What if I said no?”

“Then we’ll let you go. You’ll leave here, you’ll wake up tomorrow morning and you can believe whatever you want. It’ll be like nothing happened.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’d be able to forget any of this.” Leo said and took another deep breath, “This is a lot to take in you know.”

“I understand.”

“Can I have a little time, to think about it-“

“Leo, there’s no time.” Mouse explained, “The whole reason we’re doing this today is because… our times run out.”

“It wouldn’t be safe for you to go back like this anyway.” Neo then said and Leo frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“By now the machines have figured out that we got a hold of you. If we let you go as you are, they’ll come after you and it won’t be pleasant.”

“What about my family?”

“We haven’t made contact with them, so they’re safe.”

Leo looked away, dragging a hand over his face. “I don’t… how do I even know that you’re telling me the truth? You could all be a bunch of crazy people trying to trick me into joining some sort of cult.”

“Fair enough.” Morpheus gave him an indulgent smile, “Your bionic arm, you can throw energy spheres right?”

Leo’s eyes went wide, “How do you know about that?”

“How about you throw one right now, at Neo.”

Leo’s eyes went from Morpheus and Neo very quickly, “I-“

“Leo, it’s O.K.” Neo said. Leo frowned but stood up anyway, he held out his hand and a large glowing sphere in the palm of his right hand.

“How do you know about bionics?”

“They aren’t bionics, its just programming in the Matrix and like every program it can be replicated or altered. Go on.”

Leo looked at Neo who smiled at him so he just let out a sigh of frustration before he pulled his arm back and threw the sphere at Neo… who caught it. Leo blinked, his eyes went wide and his mouth fell open in a gape when Neo threw the sphere up in the air and the ball broke apart scattering bursts of light all across the room.

“How-“

“Your programming is a little more superficial than Adam Bree and Chase’s, that makes it slightly more difficult to replicate.” Morpheus explained, “But Neo can replicate most things.”

“Oh my god.” Leo said, quickly sinking back in his seat. “None of this is real.”

“There’s a real world beyond this Leo.” Mouse said as he walked closer to stop by the teen’s chair, “We’ll take you there, if you want to go.”

“But if you want to stay, if you don’t want anything to do with this. You’ll go home and none of this will have happened.”

Leo looked at Morpheus, “Exactly how would you send me back?”

Morpheus pulled out a small silver box before opening it and holding it out to the teen.

Inside the plush interior was a red pill and a blue pill. Morpheus took both out and held each one in the open palm of his hands.

“If you choose the blue pill, you’ll go back home and believe whatever you want to believe. If you choose a red pill, then you’ll leave the Matrix and become part of the real world.”

Leo stared at the pills, “How do they work?”

Morpheus smiled, “It’s just programming. A virus, one to make you forget and another to release you from the Matrix.”

“So, if I take the blue pill it’ll be like nothing happened?”

“Yes.”

Leo swallowed hard, “If this… I don’t want to leave my family behind here. Why can’t they come too?”

Morpheus paused, “We can only take one at a time. Trying to take too many would draw attention.”

“We’ll come back for them, but not yet.” Mouse reassured. “C’mon Leo, you don’t think I’d leave Bree here indefinitely do you?”

Leo rolled his eyes hard, “Stay away from my sister.” Mouse laughed and Leo brought his gaze back to the pills when Neo took his glasses off and spoke.

“Leo, I promise. You’ll be O.K.”

Leo looked into the older man’s eyes before looking back to the pill and bit his bottom lip. With one more deep breath he reached out to take the red pill Mouse took a glass of water nearby and handed it to Leo who put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it down with some water.

“O.K, now what?”

Morpheus smiled, “It’s time to go.”

Mouse pulled Leo from his chair and led him over to a door that Leo hadn’t noticed before. Behind the door, Cipher, Switch and Apoc were working on the computers. Leo blinked.

“Okay-“

Mouse led him over to a chair on the other side of the room. Neo was attaching nodes to his temple chest and back.

“Uh…”

“How far are we?” Morpheus asked as he leaned over one of the screens.

“We found him. We just need him to pop.”

Leo’s head seemed to spin as he stumbled and then collapsed in the chair. The monitors nearby were going haywire until they suddenly just beeped insistently. Neo moved over to touch a hand to his pulse.

“He’s out.”

Morpheus nodded, “Good.”

Neo gave the boy in the chair one more look while Morpheus flipped open his phone.

“Operator.”

“We’re ready to leave. Get ready for pick-up.”

“On it.”

He shut it, “Switch, Apoc. Deal with the body.”

Switch got up along with Apoc and they moved over to pick up Leo’s body. Neo tensed when Apoc pulled him away and lifted him up, Switch noticed and stopped by his side to speak quietly.

“Relax. This one isn’t real, remember?”

Neo then took a step back and watched them leave out the door when Cipher spoke.

“Agents coming in.”

“Let’s move.” Morpheus said and they all quickly left the building.

Ten minutes later they were out of the Matrix. Trinity unplugged him. Tank and Dozer were already moving the Nebuchadnezzar in position at the dumping site. Ten more minutes later Leo was in the ship. Dozer had him in the med bay to get him stable while Morpheus watched on. Neo, stayed in his room.

He felt terrible.

What he did was so… wrong, but-

No, there’s no excuses absolutely no excuse but… he had to do it.

Chapter Text

It took about two months for Leo's body to acclimate. About two months for them to help develop and strengthen his muscles so he'd be able to move and walk well on his own. In that time Neo would linger around the med bay. Morpheus said that it wasn't necessary but Neo insisted that he didn't mind. The alpha had just given him a soft smile, thinking that Neo felt responsible for Leo since he had been the one to help free the omega from the Matrix.

They all had firsts after all. For Apoc it had been Switch, for Trinity it was Mouse. Which is why Apoc was always looking out for her and Trinity felt especially protective over Mouse. So Morpheus let him be. Let him linger around the entrance of the med bay and beside Leo's bed, thinking his alpha instincts might be driving that protective energy that they all felt with ejectees. Dozer of course, didn't share the sentiment, but he didn't say anything as they continued to work on the teen and tried to get him healthy.

Once Leo was fully awake and able to register his surroundings, Morpheus decided it was time to show him around and introduce him to the crew, before his heat kicked in and he was out of commission again. So, of course, before anything else could be done; they needed to have the talk.

"Omega?" The teen asked with a frown, clutching the blanket around his shoulders tightly with one hand while he rubbed his nose with the other. "What's that?"

He looked up at Morpheus with glazed eyes and the alpha frowned, before looking over to Neo who sat right next to Leo with an arm wrapped around the teen's shoulders. Morpheus paused.

"Neo, maybe Mouse should sit with Leo. I think he might need some distance, just for a bit."

Neo blinked, he looked over to Dozer who reached up to scratch at a spot on his neck and he finally remembered to pull his pheromones in. "Uh, sure."

He got up, Leo frowned. His eyes cleared just as Mouse sat down beside him. The teen took in a deep breath, his frown grew.

"You smell different." Leo said softly and Mouse scoffed.

"I bet I do."

"No, I mean-"

"I know what you mean Leo." Mouse said wrapping his arm around the teen in very much the same way that Neo had, "This is one of the things Morpheus is talking about. You're going to be able to smell us now."

"That's right." Morpheus said with a soft smile drawing the omega's attention back, "Leo, there's something called secondary genders here besides the ordinary biological genders of male and female. There are three secondary genders; alphas, omegas and betas. You are an omega, so is Mouse. I am an alpha, along with Neo and Dozer is a beta."

"O.K." Leo said with his eyes going around the room, his gaze lingering on Neo for a bit before going back to Morpheus, "I still don't know what that means."

"A bit like animal dynamics. You know how wolf dynamics are described, with a dominant figure leading the pack while the others follow. An alpha to lead while the rest follow."

"O.K."

"Of course, humans are a bit more complex than that but it's basically the same idea. Alphas are typically a bit stronger, more resistant, maybe faster. Omegas are typically on the opposite side of the spectrum. A bit weaker and less resistant, but again, we're human beings so while these things are typical they aren't necessarily the rule."

Leo frowned, "I don't really get it."

Morpheus gave a sheepish smile, "Secondary genders are a bit difficult to explain but what it effectively means is that your body's different from what it was in the Matrix. For one thing; we've already established that you've noticed the smells. We all have scents, they distinguish us from one another, very useful in detecting mood and danger. So you might be able to tell by smell if Mouse for example feels happy or upset. For you specifically though Leo, because you are an omega your changes will be a bit more drastic than most. You see, betas are effectively normal people. They can detect scents but they don't have any of the added extras that alphas and omegas do, like pheromones, mating and mating cycles."

"Mating and mating cycles?"

Mouse scoffed and Leo frowned at him before Morpheus spoke.

"Its a biological process. All alphas and omegas have them. If you're an alpha you go through something called a rut and an omega, like you, would go through heat. I'll let Dozer explain the finer points to you, but what it basically is is your body preparing itself for conception."

“Conception?”

"Pregnancy." Mouse supplied and Leo frowned even more before his eyes went wide and his hand clutched tightly in the blanket.

"I can get pregnant?!"

"Yes."

"But-but I'm a guy! I don't have a-"

"That doesn't really matter with secondary genders. What matters is that you're an omega."

"Oh my God."

Morpheus scoffed, "I know this is a lot to take in, but a little later once your heat's passed Dozer will have all the time you need to explain everything. And of course you can come to any one of us if you have more questions, we've all gone through the change-"

"Wait, what do you mean once my heats passed?"

"You just got out Leo, your body's finally adjusted." Mouse said with a shrug, "Right now its only a matter of time until your heat kicks in."

"What-what happens then?"

Morpheus looked away for a moment, "Leo, you get sick a lot, don't you. Usually about once every two months maybe more sometimes."

"I-"

"Your nose feels stuffy and your sinuses generally feel off, you feel weak and you can barely move, you get a terrible fever and yet for some reason, when your brother Chase is with you, you feel better. The worst one was when you were sixteen, you felt like you got hit by a truck and felt awful in the days after."

Leo just stared back for a moment, "How do you-"

"Those aren't colds or sick spells Leo, you were going through a heat. But the Matrix doesn't allow secondary genders so it made it seem like you were suffering from a bad case of the flu until it passed." Morpheus explained, "It's going to be a little... different now that you're out, but I promise it won't be anything you won't be able to handle."

"Am I-" Leo swallowed hard, "Am I going to get pregnant?"

Neo couldn't stop the scoff that left his mouth, Mouse laughed out loud as he spoke.

"Not unless you get a little action while you're in heat. You need to have sex with someone in order to get pregnant, that much hasn't changed Leo."

Leo flushed, the scent of vanilla and caramel tinging the air, "That's good to know."

Morpheus let out a soft chuckle, "It's going to take some getting used to Leo, but, you will be fine."

Leo took a deep breath, "So you're an omega, like me?" he said looking at Mouse and the blonde nodded.

"Yup."

"And you're an alpha." He said looking at Morpheus before looking back at Neo, "You're an alpha too?"

Neo nodded, "Yes."

"You're a beta?" He said looking at Dozer who gave him a soft smile in return, "And you said Chase..." Leo's lips pursed into a tight line, "He's an alpha?"

"Yes, it would explain why you may have felt more comfortable around him and maybe just a bit intimidated."

"Remember how you said Chase can be kind of a control freak sometimes?" Mouse asked and Leo nodded. "Alphas have a thing about control, they're kind of aggressive by nature. Maybe Chase told you to do something and you felt like you had to do it, or at least stop to listen to him." At Leo's slow nod Mouse shrugged, "It's an instinct thing. As an omega sometimes you feel compelled to follow orders from an alpha. They might feel compelled to order you to do something. Though as long as the alpha isn't a dick about it; they're usually able to control themselves so you don't have to worry about that."

"No one on this ship would ever try to make you do something that you don't want to Leo." Morpheus said clearly and Leo nodded his head.

"But it is important to remember to be careful. Omegas are especially sensitive to alphas since typically, omegas tend to mate with alphas; settle down and have families. But of course that's not the rule. There are plenty alphas that mate betas or other alphas, omegas that mate betas or other omegas. Who you choose to mate or bond with is completely up to you. Of course you may feel particularly drawn to a particular person, this might mean that they're a potential bonding mate, but the ultimate decision still lies with you."

"O.K." Leo took in a deep breath and let it out, "So I'm going to go into heat soon?"

"Very soon." Morpheus said, "Which is why I think we should give you a tour of the ship and introduce you to the crew. Once it kicks in it'll be best if you have... privacy."

"Why? What's going to happen?"

"That isn't really something that any amount of explanation can do any justice. However, Neo has offered to help you through the process, Mouse will help you acclimate in the aftermath and of course Dozer will monitor you and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"O.K." Leo said as he nervously looked at Neo, the alpha seemed to pause.

"Leo, if you don't feel comfortable-"

"No, no it's O.K. I'm guessing that having you there will make it easier, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then... it's O.K."

"Good." Morpheus said with a nod as he stood up, "I think it’s time we started that tour."

He got up and led the way out of the room. Mouse still had an arm wrapped around Leo's shoulders as they got up as well, but as they left Leo looked back at Neo; a frown pulling at his lips and confusion in his eyes until Mouse urged him the rest of the way out of the room. Neo made to follow when-

"Neo, let him breathe." Dozer suddenly said and Neo stopped to look at the beta as he spoke. "He just got settled. He's still figuring out what he's feeling. Give him some space."

"I'm not-"

"You're still leaking pheromones." Dozer said simply as he turned back to one of the monitors in the med bay, "Take a minute. Calm down. You can catch up with them later."

Neo paused, he awkwardly cleared his throat. "I wasn't doing it on purpose."

"I know. That's why we need to talk about exactly how you're going to handle helping him with his heat. Do you plan on marking him?"

"No."

Dozer looked back with his eyebrows raised, "You're sure you're going to be able to control yourself? You haven't been out of the Matrix all that long either."

"I know," Neo sat down in one of the steel chairs in the corner, "But, I think I'll be fine. I've been with Trinity through a few of her heats, she's helped me through ruts. I haven't bitten her yet."

"It might not be the same this time. Potentials are different for everyone Neo. Just because you were able to resist marking Trinity, doesn't mean you'll be able to resist Leo. And with this being his first heat outside-" Dozer sighed before he turned to face the alpha, "I think you should tell him before hand-"

"No."

"In case something happens, so he'll be prepared, Neo."

"No, I can't tell him. Not yet."

"Then at least tell Morpheus, so he's prepared. Fresh bonds can be tricky to navigate for a crew, they should know-"

"They don't need to know because I'm not going to mark Leo." Neo said clearly as he looked up at the beta. Dozer sighed again.

"You know, Tank offered-"

"No." Neo almost snapped a low growl rumbling from his chest and Dozer paused to arch a brow at the other before he spoke.

"Don't try to pull that alpha nonsense on me, you know I'm immune." Dozer said as he walked over to Neo and stopped less than a foot away. "All I'm saying, is that the help is here if you need it, not just for you but for Leo too. Look, I get it. There's a chance that Leo is just a potential and not the one and you don't want to turn this into a big deal in case he isn't, but you shouldn't risk underestimating the situation either. Tank offered help. He's been handling his own ruts since he was sixteen, he's been around plenty of fresh omegas back in Zion. If you need help with Leo, ask. Tank will keep him safe, I promise."

"I-" Neo cut himself off, he didn't want to admit it but Dozer was right, "If... If I need help, I'll ask Tank. I promise. But I'm fine for now."

The beta let out a sigh, "Alright, but only if you're sure, Neo."

"I am."

"O.K." Dozer said, "I think it'll be a few hours before Leo's heat kicks in, but he is a little more sensitive than the others. Maybe don't sit right next to him until that happens, alright? I want him to get a feel for what it's like when it's just normal without an alpha leaking pheromones all over him."

Neo gave Dozer a withering glare, "I've got it under control."

"Uh huh, are you going to handle his training yourself or are you going to let Morpheus do it?"

"Doesn't Morpheus usually-"

"He does, usually, but in special cases... under extenuating circumstances, he lets someone else handle it. Apoc started training Switch, she was just more comfortable with him at the time. You can ask, Morpheus will want to know why though."

Neo looked away and Dozer sighed, "Or maybe you can ask to sit in, he let Trinity sit in with Mouse's training. But that'll have to wait till after his heat passes." Dozer waited until Neo was looking at him again, “Give him space. When his heat starts… Make sure you don’t knot him, don’t bite him-”

“I’m not going to mark him.” Neo said clearly and the beta shook his head.

“Its just a reminder Neo. Omega pheromones can be tough, especially those from a potential.” Neo made to open his mouth only for Dozer to cut him off, “Don’t knot. Don’t bite. Remember that.”

“I’ll remember.”

“Good.” Dozer took in a deep breath, “I think you can go catch up with them now. Wait till Leo’s heat actually hits before you touch him. O.K?”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Neo got to the canteen he almost froze.

Everyone was sitting around the table talking, with the exception of Trinity; who sat in the corner on a chair as she ate from the makeshift metal bowl in her hands. What made him freeze was the sight of Leo leaning up against Tank, with his face nestled in the crook of the alpha’s neck. His eyes were shut, Tank laughed at something that Mouse said just as the alpha looked up and caught sight of Neo standing in the door.

He cleared his throat, “He likes my scent.” Tank said with a smile, but didn’t move and Leo didn’t seem all that aware of his surroundings as he nestled in deeper into Tank’s side, “I figured it’d be O.K to let him get used to it.”

A few of the others glanced up at Neo before they just kept eating, Morpheus frowned.

“Is everything alright, Neo?”

Leo’s eyes snapped open and he looked up at the doorway. Neo cleared his throat, reminding himself to pull in his pheromones.

“Everything’s fine.” He said as he walked over to get himself a bowl of food. Mouse moved over to make space for him to sit down. Neo noticed Leo staring at him, a frown on his face. Tank glanced down at the teen before letting out a laugh.

“You doin’ O.K?”

“Uh… yeah.” He rubbed his nose again, “This just feels really weird.”

“You’ll get used to it Leo, just give it time.” Switch said just as she got up and put her bowl in the sink. The omega nodded.

“Once your heat’s past we can start on your training.” Morpheus said and the teen’s head gave a tilt.

“Training?”

“Yes, now that you’re out of the Matrix we need to teach you how to navigate it as an outsider. It’ll be hard work but nothing you won’t be able to handle.” The alpha said before looking over to Neo, “Neo, you can sit in if you’d like. You both might still be a little raw after his heat passes.”

All at once it felt like everyone was staring at him. Neo cleared his throat again as he looked down at his food, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Good.” Morpheus said and Neo did his best to avoid Trinity’s questioning gaze as he started eating. “It’ll take some doing, we have a few missions to run while you’re occupied with Leo.”

“Occupied with Leo?” Trinity asked and Morpheus nodded.

“Neo has volunteered to help Leo through his rut. You know, ejectee attachment.”

“Right.” Trinity said giving Neo one more look before she started eating again.

The conversation flowed easily. Leo didn’t say much, just kept his face in Tank’s neck. Neo resisted the urge to glare at the younger teen and just kept his eyes on his food as he ate. He tried to make sure that his pheromones weren’t leaking and no one would notice that he was… slightly irritated at that moment.

It started months ago. Their attempt at liberating Chase Davenport had been a failure and Morpheus was considering the option of just abandoning that route and searching for a better target. It was late. Most of the crew was either sleeping or in the kitchen. Tank was up, watching the Matrix like always. Neo couldn’t sleep so he decided to head out to the control room and slumped in the seat beside him.

“What’re you watching?”

“The Davenports.” Tank said arms folded over his chest, “This Chase kid really is pretty brilliant you know, too bad he’s so stubborn.”

Neo scoffed as he leaned over to see the screen and frowned, “Who’s that?”

“Leo Dooley. Step-brother. They’re pretty close.”

Neo’s frown deepened, “His programming looks-“

“Odd? It would look different compared to yours and Chase’s. You’re both alphas Leo’s an omega.”

“Omega. Why does that make his code different?”

“The machines put in a few fail safes; heat suppressors, body regulators, hormone dampening that sort of thing. He’s hyper-sensitive so he needed a little extra work. Even Switch and Mouse didn’t need this much attention.” Tank explained as he reached out to his control console and started typing, pulling up Mouse’s Matrix scans and pointed at the screen, “See that, there’s a little extra code, just to keep his heats and hormones under control. But with Leo they had to add entire sections of it. There should be extra equipment on his pod to keep him stable too. I’m surprised he hasn’t been ejected for that alone.”

“They’d do that?”

“If Leo required more energy than he was putting out; yeah, in a heart beat, it hasn’t gotten to that point yet. If the machines allowed secondary genders he could’ve actually tried looking for an alpha and that would’ve relieved some of the strain, but they don’t so…”

“Is that rare?”

“Not really.” Tank said as he closed up Mouse’s scans, “A little rare for male omegas maybe. I guess its more surprising that they haven’t tried to ditch him yet.”

Neo nodded but kept his eyes focused on the code on the screen, it was interesting. Different. It was an odd thought, liking the way that Leo’s code looked as it scrolled across the screen, but he didn’t question it. Just brushed it off as one of those things that’s been different since he left the Matrix.

It became a bit of a routine after a while, to just check in on Leo. Tank and Dozer were usually checking in on the Davenports so it wasn’t hard, there was no need to explain.

Two weeks into it, Tank was manning the screens again Neo decided to head in to see Leo up close. He didn’t have a reason for it, he just needed to.

Tank thought it was a terrible idea, especially since they were trying to keep contact with the Davenports to a minimum to try and avoid alerting the machines. But Neo reasoned that he was just going to see Leo, not for long and Tank could program a disguise for him too. He wouldn’t be there long, two minutes tops. Tank reluctantly agreed and Neo was jacked in.

He ran into Leo after school, the teen had just gotten out from detention and was walking home.

“Sorry.” the teen mumbled seeming very distracted as he stared at his phone.

“No problem.” Neo said watching him go. He was maybe a bit shorter than the average eighteen-year-old, dark skin, big brown eyes a little on the skinny side. Neo wondered how different he’d look out of the Matrix. Suddenly the teen stopped and turned to look back at him, paused when he noticed that the older man had stopped to stare at him as well.

“Uh… do I know you?”

Neo blinked, “No. No I just.” He thought quickly, “I like your back pack.”

He internally cringed. That totally wasn’t creepy or weird or anything.

“Thanks, I guess.” The teen gave him a look, head tilting to the side and eyes narrowing slightly “You seem familiar.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve never met.”

“What’s your name?”

“Andrew.”

“Andrew?”

“What’s yours?”

The teen shrugged, “Leo. El Dool, for the cool people.”

Nothing went the way he thought they would from that point forward. He crossed a line that he hadn’t intended on crossing, he wasn’t even sure why he reacted to Leo the way that he did.

As an alpha, encountering an omega in the matrix was odd. It was a particular feeling, something tense… intense. It was hard to explain. Almost like static, just barely there. You feel warmer, more alert but not in a way that was too obvious. Just enough to tell you that something was off.

Running into Leo was more intense. It was a more distinct feeling and Neo felt the desire to spend more time around the younger teen, which is why he agreed to go get some froyo with Leo despite knowing what a bad idea it was.

It can also be difficult to control your pheromones in the matrix as well. Instant attraction is never really instant attraction and more likely an omega or alpha leaking pheromones which just translated to attraction in the matrix.

Neo hasn’t been out of the matrix very long, he was still working on controlling his pheromones but he was doing alright. But then he encountered Leo and… something was different about the omega and Neo realised that it wasn’t just something weird with his code.

Neo’s pheromones were leaking without him even realising it. Leo kissed him. The next thing he knew they were in the alley behind the store. The barely there static felt nearly electric and it was all he could do was to force himself to stop and pull away. Neo needed to leave, so after giving Leo one last kiss he left and quickly pulled out the phone in his pocket.

“Operator.”

“I need a line.”

“Neo… what was that?”

Neo swallowed hard.

“Nothing. I just need a line.”

“O.K, two blocks away. An old bodega around the corner.”

“Thanks.”

Tank unplugged him, staring at the alpha in the chair with a frown.

“You wanna talk about what happened now?”

Neo got up from his seat and looked away, “I… just forgot what its like around omegas in the matrix.”

“You were leaking.” Tank said with a nod, but didn’t stop frowning, “Just try to be more careful, next time.”

It was clear to Neo that Tank wasn’t really buying his story, but didn’t seem willing to push for the moment. He spent the rest of the night in his room.

The next day, Neo woke up and his rut hit… early. Trinity had offered to help him through it. Neo turned her down, insisting that he wanted to be alone this time. It was excruciating.

Neo’s first rut came just after he was conscious and recovered from being ejected from the Matrix. It had been traumatic.

Everything was hot and uncomfortable and an itch had settled deep into every inch of his skin. He felt angry and frustrated, snapping at anything that moved, punching and kicking dents into the steel walls of his room. They’d had the foresight to remove anything that could break or be thrown from Neo’s room, only leaving a mattress, pillow and blanket on the floor. He ripped through those on the very first day. But the absolute worst thing had been the lust.

An aching, torturous need for something he couldn’t name, but had every nerve in his body screaming with desire nonetheless. The lust didn’t die down, no matter what he did. Touching himself provided only momentary relief and it never felt like enough. It would only die down after five days.

As the months went by they got better, he got used to it. Trinity helped him through some of it, though Neo tried to avoid that as much as he could.

But that day, after going to see Leo, his rut kicked in and it was like that first time all over again. Torturous, aching, unbearable desire. Only this time he had a focus for that desire, that torturous ache. Dark skin and big brown eyes, that tilt of his head before he smiled. It held out longer this time, four days instead of the usual two. Four days of fruitlessly pulling at his length. The fantasy of Leo naked and panting underneath him, being the only thing that just barely helped. Neo imagined just taking Leo there and then, in the alley behind the store moaning as the alpha fucked him into the wall.

It just barely helped.

After his rut had passed Tank went to see him.

“How are you feeling?”

Neo shrugged as he got dressed, pulling his shirt over his head, “Fine, it was a little more intense than normal but Dozer said fluctuating ruts are normal. I haven’t been out for long after all.”

“Right.” Tank said settling into the seat beside the bed, “I was watching the Davenports while you were out.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Leo got sick.”

Neo tensed, “Sick how?”

“He had a cold, a bad one. Had to stay in bed for a few days.” Tank paused, “His scans showed that he was actually in heat. A month earlier than he’s supposed to be.”

Neo quickly turned to face the other alpha who seemed less than impressed. “Neo, you saw something in his code didn’t you and it wasn’t just that he’s an omega-“

“Tank-“

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you say something before going in to see him?”

“Say what? I didn’t know he’d go into heat after coming into contact with an alpha.”

“He didn’t go into heat because he came into contact with an alpha, he went into heat because he came into contact with you.” Tank said clearly, “You saw something in his code, what was it?”

“Nothing.” Neo insisted Tank’s scent seemed to sour with displeasure. Neo let out a sigh, his jaw clenched even as he spoke, “I didn’t see anything, I just… it looked right.”

“It looked right?”

Neo moved to lean back against the side table, “I don’t know what it is, I just needed to see him up close, not the code but him as close as I could under the circumstances.”

Tank nodded, swallowed and looked away.

“Did Morpheus tell you about bonding mates?”

Neo nodded, “Dozer told me after the first rut, because of Trinity helping me. He said to be careful because I might end up bonding with her, unless that’s what I want to do.”

Tank listened and then moved a bit on the chair before he spoke, “Dozer was right. Alphas, omegas and betas; everyone has potential bonding mates. People that they have the best chance of producing strong offspring with, or at least that’s what most of the doctors say. Morpheus thinks that it’s about more than genetic compatibility, he thinks it’s a soul connection. In Zion, there are a lot of people that found their bonding mates after leaving the Matrix and they seemed to fall in love almost instantly. It’s an intense experience, coming into contact with a potential for the first time. That’s why its important to be sure. Some people bond with potentials thinking that they’re the one only to meet they’re actual intended… weeks, months or years later.”

“Yeah, I know about that.”

“Do you think Leo’s your mate?” Tank asked simply and Neo tensed, swallowing hard before he spoke.

“I… I don’t know.” His own response surprised him. Tank sighed.

“You should tell Morpheus.”

“No.”

“We’ve been trying to pull Chase from the matrix, if his stepbrother is your mate it could complicate things.”

Neo frowned, “Why?”

Tank shook his head, “When Leo got sick, Chase comforted him.”

“Comforted him?” Neo repeated incredulously.

“I doubt he knew what he was doing, nothing sexual happened but… Chase and Leo are close. Leo being your mate could complicate things if Chase already sees him as his omega.”

“His-“

“Obviously he doesn’t know anything about secondary genders yet but once he’s out of the matrix he will. He’ll put two and two together and… He’s spent a lot of time around Leo, comforted him through heats, its impossible to know how he’ll feel about Leo once he’s out of the matrix. Chase’s alpha may have subconsciously chosen him.”

Neo’s jaw clenched, “What are you saying?”

“I don’t even know right now, Neo.” Tank dragged a hand over his head, “What do you want to do about this?”

The answer came to him before he could even fully process it, “I want him out…” He let out a sigh, “I know its selfish, especially with everything else that’s happening, when Leo isn’t even a target right now but, I want him here with me.”

Tank stared back at the other for a moment and looked away, “If we get Leo out first, before Chase, it might… weaken their connection, if you bond with him before we get Chase out of the matrix. But I don’t know how you’re going to explain this to Morpheus.”

Neo didn’t know either. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if they found out that Neo had gone into the matrix to see the omega just to start off with. But he had to and… Neo doesn’t really regret his actions either. He just wants Leo out.

The alpha took in a deep breath, dragging a hand through his hair when it suddenly hit him.

“We’ve been trying to get Chase out of the matrix, but he won’t be convinced. If we had someone he trusted, they could convince him to leave.” Neo explained, more to himself than to Tank, “If he’s close to Leo, then Leo could convince him to leave the matrix.”

Tank frowned, “Neo-“

“Its perfect. We get Leo out first and then we’ll get, Chase.”

“Yeah but this isn’t about Chase for you.”

“Why does that matter? If we do it this way then the plan goes on just the way it was supposed to.”

“What, we get what we need and you get what you want?” Tank asked as he got up from his seat and approached the other, “The problem is that you’re trying to lie about it, Neo.”

Neo looked away, “I know.”

“Look, say we do this. We don’t tell Morpheus and he lets us unplug him. Leo gets here. What if you don’t feel anything for Leo once he’s here?”

“That’s exactly why I don’t want Morpheus to know. I don’t want to turn this into a big deal if it isn’t. Worst case scenario, Leo helps us get Chase out of the matrix. Leo’s smart too, he could only be an asset.”

“O.K what if he is a potential, what if he’s your intended, then what? How are you going to explain this to Morpheus then?”

“I… I’ll figure it out.”

Tank shut his eyes, took in a deep breath and let it back out, “Fine, fine, Neo. But if this doesn’t work out-“

“It’ll be O.K. I just-“ Neo cut himself off, his hands clenching tightly before he spoke, “I can’t explain it. I just need him here.”

Tank opened his eyes, “We need to tell Dozer, though.”

“But-“

“At least ‘he’ needs to be prepared, in case of whatever happens next. For Leo’s safety.”

“Fine.”

A few hours later, they told Dozer while everyone else was occupied. The medic was not pleased, but he reluctantly agreed to help make the transition as smooth as possible once the omega was unplugged from the matrix.

Convincing Morpheus of his plan was surprisingly easy, though Neo mostly attributes that to the man’s unshakable belief that Neo was… the one, who would help save them from the machines. That whole thing still had the alpha’s mind twisted something fierce, so he usually tried to just forget and not think about it.

In the next few weeks as they made contact with Leo and worked to get him out of the Matrix, forgetting about his supposed destiny became easier. The new mission took up most of his time anyway. He was providing back up and support for Mouse who made contact with Leo in the matrix. Morpheus had them teaching Leo how to do coding and patch work, just to make sure that he would in fact be an asset out of the matrix regardless of whether or not they managed to free Chase.

It was incredibly hard, reigning in his pheromones and focusing on the task at hand, but somehow he managed. Having Mouse there as a distraction helped and of course Tank made sure to remind him of what they were doing and why. They also managed to keep the whole thing a secret, with only Switch being the only other person to find out about the situation after she caught Neo arguing with Dozer about it one night.

Switch was not pleased with the lie, but she understood why Neo was doing it. She agreed to help only as long as she didn’t have to explicitly lie to Morpheus about the whole thing.

Now, months later Leo is out and Neo-

He looked up from his food only to tense when he noticed the omega staring at him. Leo’s eyes were glazed over but his lips still pulled into a frown, eyebrows furrowing slightly even as he kept his head on Tank’s shoulder.

“Leo.” Switch suddenly said, breaking the staring contest. On purpose, if the quick glance Neo caught in his direction is anything to go by, “You’re sure you’re not hungry? Dozer kept you fed in the med bay, but it might be good to eat something before your heat kicks in.”

“No, I don’t really feel hungry.” Leo said, letting out a yawn, “A little tired maybe, but-“

“Haven’t slept long enough, huh?” Mouse joked and Leo rolled his eyes.

“No, I mean… I feel weird.”

“It’ll feel better once your heat passes.” Trinity suddenly said and Leo nodded.

“O.K but, you still haven’t explained what that is yet. How do I know I’m not in heat right now?”

Everyone in the room laughed, Neo couldn’t help but scoff as Cipher, who was sitting on Apoc’s left, spoke.

“Trust me kid, you’ll know.”

“But how?”

“You’ll just know. Relax.” Neo said and Leo’s gaze snapped back to him again. He sank into Tank’s side and sighed.

“O.K.”

Dinner carried on. Neo would look up at Leo every few seconds, just to make sure he was O.K. He ignored Trinity’s questioning gaze across the room while they ate.

Chapter Text

Dinner carried on. Neo would look up at Leo every few seconds, just to make sure he was O.K. He ignored Trinity’s questioning gaze across the room while they ate. It was actually easy enough.

Since he first met Leo in the Matrix, he’s been feeling anxious, on edge. The desire to go back in just to see the younger man was nearly overwhelming. But now Leo’s here, out of the Matrix and on the ship. Neo hasn’t even given much thought to going back in since Leo was unplugged. Switch would have to be the one to remind him of his training. Dozer would give not so subtle hints for him to leave the med bay, reminding him that there wasn’t much he could really do with the omega’s body still adjusting. Tank made sure to keep him occupied with simulations for as long as possible, under the guise of working on new combat programs but Neo still recognised the distraction for what it was.

He wasn’t angry or even upset about that.

Leo’s on the Nebuchadnezzar. That’s all that mattered as far as he was concerned.

It was all going O.K until Leo suddenly let out a sharp yelp.

“Ow!”

Everyone in the room looked up at the omega. Switch was the first one to speak.

“Leo, is something-“

“Ow! Ow ow ow! Shitshitshitshit-“ He cursed as he clutched his side in pain, “It hurts, it hurts really bad. What the hell?! Ow-”

“Are you-“ Tank leaned in to take a deep breath of the omega’s scent only to flinch back, his eyes slowly glazing over. “I think he’s in preheat.”

“Neo.” Morpheus said, but the alpha was already out of his seat and headed around the table, his bowl of food completely forgotten as he scooped Leo up into his arms. No one said a word as he left the room.

It was hard.

Carrying Leo back to his room, it was hard not just pushing the younger man against the nearest wall and taking him right there. It was incredibly hard trying to ignore the scent, ignoring the heat and the sounds coming from Leo as he made the long trip back to his room. It didn’t help that Leo had an arm curled around the alpha’s neck, those sounds almost right up against his ear and the omega’s scent that much closer.

He did make it to his room, closed the door behind him. Lay the younger man down on the bed and just took a moment to breathe for a second.

It was difficult, especially now with the door closed and no one there to disturb them. Neo needed to calm down. He turned away from the omega squirming and moaning on his bed, to grab a glass of water from the table in the corner and paused to collect himself.

“Neo…” Leo whimpered and the alpha almost dropped his glass in his haste to set it down and turn back towards the bed. There was one more second of hesitation before he finally allowed himself to walk over and sit down on the edge. Leo’s scent was already so strong. Sweat made his skin gleam and it felt feverish when Neo finally gave in to the impulse to reach over and touch him.

“haa…” Leo breathed, leaning into the alpha’s touch and Neo moved even closer laying down on his side to wrap around the omega and pull the younger man up against his chest.

“Leo, relax. Don’t fight the pain.”

“Is-is this what heat feels like – ah!”

“The pain doesn’t last too long.” Neo said rubbing a hand down Leo’s side, pressed that closely to the younger man Neo couldn’t help but lean in to press a kiss against the omega’s temple, “Breathe, don’t try to fight it. I promise it’ll get better.”

He took in a deep breath and released his pheromones, just enough to help the omega relax and Leo let out a sigh before he finally relaxed against him.

“Neo?”

“Just breathe, Leo.”

Leo obeyed even as he breathed out, “This is so weird…”

Neo chuckled, “It’s odd at first, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Is – Is this what it’s like… for you too?”

Neo hesitated, “It’s a little different for alphas. Alphas go through ruts… ruts…” He trailed off, swallowing hard as he tried not to think of exactly what it feels like to be in a rut. That unbearable ache, lust that throbbed and was so consuming it hurt. He took in a deep shuddering breath, but breathing in Leo’s scent wasn’t doing much to help the situation.

“It’s similar but not entirely the same.”

“How long does it last?”

“A few days. Usually two to five.”

“Five days of this?!”

“You’ll be O.K.”

“O.K… so,” Leo moved in closer to the alpha unconsciously for more comfort, “Is this it, then? It hurts like this for a while and then it stops?”

“No…” Neo trailed off wrapping his arms tighter around the omega, “I just want you to know, I’m not going to do anything you don’t want.”

“What does that mean?”

Neo swallowed hard, “You’re going to feel more sensitive, you’re going to want…”

“Want what?” Leo asked as he wrapped his arms around the alpha’s waist, his hands clenching in the material of Neo’s shirt, he let out a shuddering sigh.

“You’re going to want… sex.”

Leo seemed to pause, “What?”

“Heat is an omega’s body preparing itself for conception. What Mouse said is true, you can’t get pregnant unless you have sex with someone.”

“So what? I’m going to get really turned on or something?” Leo joked, opening blurry eyes to look up at the alpha and Neo took in a deep breath.

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes.”

“Stop messing with me, Neo.” Leo said, some clarity reaching his eyes and Neo’s lips pursed and the omega’s eyes went wide.

“Oh my god.”

“I promise, you’ll be fine-“

“Wait – what are you supposed to-“

“Nothing you don’t want.” Neo said clearly, “What you’re feeling right now, what you’re smelling; I’m releasing pheromones to help you relax, make it hurt a little less. If you want then that’s all I’ll do until your heat ends. But-“

“But what?”

“Your heat might end faster if I help you a different way.”

Leo swallowed hard, “You mean if we… sleep together?”

“There are other things I could do, but they wouldn’t be as effective as that.”

Leo stared at Neo with wide eyes only to suddenly shut them as he groaned, another wave of pain from the heat cramps rocking through him and Neo pulled the teen even closer against his chest.

“You need to breathe. If you fight the pain it’ll hurt more.” He whispered and Leo took in a deep shuddering breath.

“Will it stop if we-“

“Not immediately. You need to come a few times, but in a few hours, yes.”

“O.K… O.K.”

“O.K?”

“I…” Leo trailed off, his hands tightening in Neo’s shirt again. The alpha swallowed hard.

“Leo… have you ever-“

“No.” Leo breathed, his eyes still shut as he leaned up to press his nose against the alpha’s neck, right there near the scent glands, “I-“ Leo let out a pained chuckle, “Never got the chance with anyone, except that one time but we didn’t do anything really-“

“Who?”

“What?”

“Who were you with?”

“Chase,” Leo answered, “We didn’t do anything, it all went really fast, but we didn’t.”

“Did you want to?”

“I don’t know what I wanted to do. It just… I don’t even know how it happened, it was just really really intense.”

Neo had to force back the rage he could feel bubbling up, his hands clasped on the omega’s sides before he managed to force himself to take a deep breath. Leo’s here, that’s all that matters. Whatever happened before he left the Matrix is irrelevant. Things are different outside of the Matrix anyway. Even if Leo had been intimate with Chase or anyone else while he was still inside. It’s not the same.

Neo bit his lip before he leaned in to speak against the omega’s ear. Desire was thrumming through his veins. The desire to make Leo forget about Chase and anything else he may have done with the other alpha. Desire driven by the soft static warmth that thrummed through him as he kept the omega close. But he didn’t want to force the other.

“I understand.”

“He touched me, I touched him.” Leo breathed and Neo had to force back another growl. “But we didn’t go further than that.”

Neo let out a deep breath.

He was still in the Matrix. It doesn’t matter.

“We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to feel like this for five days.” Leo said shaking his head, “I want it to stop.”

“Then I’ll help you. I… I’ll do just enough to make it better. It won’t stop till tomorrow maybe? But it’ll be better.” Neo said, lifting his hand to cup the side of Leo’s face, his thumb brushing against the omega’s cheek until said omega opened his eyes. “But you have to ask me for it, Leo.”

“Ask you to…”

“Ask me to help you.”

“You-” Leo let out a shuddering sigh, “You’re not actually Walt’s brother, right?”

Neo blinked and let out a startled laugh, “No. Why?”

“I don’t-… I don’t want things to get weird.”

“It won’t be weird. Its normal for alphas to help omegas through heat. Even if they aren’t bonded. We’ll be fine.” Neo said reassuringly, giving into the impulse to press another kiss on the omega’s forehead. Leo shut his eyes again.

“O.K, I – I need help.”

The alpha paused for a moment, “Is it O.K if I touch you?”

“Yes.”

Neo hesitated yet again, “Can I kiss you?”

Leo nodded, but still didn’t open his eyes. Neo lifted the younger man’s chin to press a kiss onto his lips. He’d intended for it to be a simple press of skin against skin, just something to help the omega get more comfortable. But when their lips touched, he gave into the almost instantaneous urge to deepen it. An electric spark that had him pushing further. His hand going around to the back of Leo’s neck to keep him still. Leo felt so warm, a side effect of the heat, but Neo remembered how it felt to kiss the younger man the first time in the Matrix. Everything feels different out of the Matrix. The machines put in a considerable amount of effort in making everything in the simulation feel as real as possible, but they couldn’t get it all quite right.

Leo felt warm, Neo could feel the omega’s pulse thumping hard and fast against his hand. Leo let out a strangled moan when Neo worked his mouth open, turning them around so Leo was on his back beneath him. He wrapped his arms around Neo’s neck, legs parting when the alpha nudged them apart so he could get closer.

“Neo.” Leo gasped when Neo broke the kiss to start kissing down Leo’s jaw to his neck. His hands already under the omega’s shirt, Leo shuddered at the touch, his own hands clenching against the alpha’s shoulders. “Neo…”

“Relax.” He breathed against Leo’s skin, the scent of heat pushing him oh so close to the edge. Neo tried to stay in control. He needed to remember what Dozer told him. Don’t bite. Don’t knot. It was excruciatingly difficult when all he could think about was pulling Leo in as close as possible, breathing in his scent and sinking into him. His mate, his… omega.

God, this is bad.

Dozer was right. Tank was right. Switch was right. He should’ve told Leo beforehand. Warned him, because now that they’re here all Neo can think about is claiming him. Leo gasped, he whimpered when he felt the alpha’s teeth against his neck, right there over his bonding gland and Leo felt a shiver run down his spine.

He wants to claim Leo. The urge to bite has never hit him so hard before. Even with Trinity, staying mostly lucid was manageable. The scent of heat and the deep thrill of rut was intoxicating at the best of times and near unbearable at the worst. He knew how to stop himself from biting, pull out before he could knot her. But it never felt this intense with Trinity. He’s never wanted her as badly as he wanted Leo right now.

“Neo-“

“Alpha.”

“What?”

Neo moved so he was looking into the younger man’s eyes, his thumb brushing against the other’s bottom lip, the scent of heat still so strong.

“Call me alpha.”

Leo frowned at him, “Alpha? Why-”

Neo cut the omega off to seal their lips in a kiss, Leo’s hands clenched on Neo’s shirt over his shoulders. Grinding into the younger man, Neo was already painfully hard. Leo’s scent was almost suffocating even as he took in deeper breaths to drown himself in it. Without even thinking about it he was getting rid of their clothes and soon enough they were both naked and writhing against one another on the cot, with Neo sucking and biting bruises into his skin. Somehow managing to avoid the omega’s bonding gland

“Uh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t – I feel-“ Leo shifted uncomfortably, seeming to be try to pull his legs close together and Neo quickly realised what was happening.

“It’s O.K, that’s normal.”

“What’s normal?-” Leo gasped again, when Neo reached around to the omega’s backside and let his fingers slip up the crack down the middle. Leo jumped at the feeling, his fingers digging into Neo’s shoulders as if to push him away only to stop when the alpha pressed the tip of his finger against his entrance. Already wet and throbbing, Leo’s breathing became laboured as what had to be a wave of lust washed over him.

“Alpha.” He breathed and Neo yet again had to fight to keep his mind coherent.

Do it now. Do it quickly, so it ends faster.

He thought as he slowly pressed his forefinger into Leo’s hole and the omega tensed against him.

“Relax.” Neo ordered gently but he didn’t stop, pulling the finger out before pushing back in again. Neo leaned in to press a kiss on Leo’s neck and then another and another, he couldn’t stop himself from grinding in against the omega as he did this. His own cock already painfully hard, the scent of not just any omega but ‘his’ omega in heat had him fighting so hard against his instincts it was almost maddening. He was surprised, when Leo moved back against him, seeming to adjust to the digit inside of him while also trying to increase the friction against his exposed member.

It was all the encouragement his alpha needed to move back against his omega, stuttered waves of aching pleasure rolling through him while Leo seemed to tremble in his grasp. Neo pulled out and added another finger and then another. By then, Leo was panting hard against his shoulder, whimpering the alpha’s name into his skin as he chased the sensations both on and inside of him. Neo’s pheromones tinged with unmistakable desire, Leo could feel himself almost drowning in them.

“Alpha, please.” He begged and Neo’s arms tightened around him, thrusting his fingers faster into the omega’s hole while chasing his own pleasure as well. Already so close even as he’d barely given any attention to his own aching length. He could feel pleasure building at the base of his spine just as Leo let out a sharp cry as he came. The grip he had on the alpha’s shoulders now bruising as he rode out his high even as Neo kept grinding against him, but not for long as he came as well. A deep groan as his movements stuttered to a stop, heated static flowed through him in waves. When the urge to bite hit, even stronger than it was before, Neo pressed his head against the pillow beneath them over Leo’s shoulder to bite into the vessel instead. Laboured breaths echoed around them in the small room, slowly and but surely fading into soft pants.

Neo shuddered when he felt a hand in his hair. The omega seeming to instinctively offer comfort as he carded his fingers through his alpha’s dark locks and Neo finally felt calm enough to release the pillow in his mouth, leaning over to seal their lips in a deep kiss.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tank took in a deep breath before he reached out to knock on the door in front of him.

“Come in.”

Morpheus’ soothing voice called out and Tank let out the breath to open the door and step inside.

“Sir, I… wanted a word.”

He stepped in just in time to see the other alpha turn towards him after he’d poured himself a mug of something. Tea. It smells like that herbal tea they picked up on their last supply run in Zion. Absolutely disgusting, but apparently very good for you. Hardly anyone else on the Nebuchadnezzar drank the stuff, but Morpheus loved it.

“Of course.” Morpheus said turning to give the younger man a smile, “Tea?”

“No, thanks.” He said returning the smile, “I won’t be long. I still have some checks to run on the new program.”

“Alright, what’s on your mind?” Morpheus asked as he sat down on the side of the bed gesturing to the only other seat in the room, beside a small side table with a stack of books. Three different religious texts, two romance novels and two philosophy texts. Tank knows for a fact that that’s only a small portion of the alpha’s actual stash. Most of it is back on Zion.

Tank settled into the seat with a soft sigh while Morpheus simply sipped from his metal mug as he waited for the other to speak.

“It’s about Leo.”

“What about him?”

“I was just wondering what we were going to do about him?”

“In regards to?”

Tank huffed, “His place here on the ship.”

Morpheus’ head gave a tilt, “He’s the newest member of our crew, of course. Unless, you have problem with that?”

“No. No no, Leo’s great. I have zero issues with him being here.”

“Alright… but there is some kind of problem, isn’t there?” The alpha asked and Tank looked up to find a soft smile on his face. He wanted to roll his eyes in frustration.

“Not, exactly. It just seems like Neo’s become very attached to him.”

“Ejectee attachment, you know how that works, Tank.”

“I do… I just think that maybe Neo would like to have Leo as more than just a… protégé.”

“Meaning?”

Tank’s lips pursed, “I mean… if Neo were to take Leo as his mate, that wouldn’t be a problem would it?”

Morpheus blinked, “I think it might make things a bit awkward considering… well, considering his connection with Trinity. I’m sure you’ve noticed their closeness.”

“I know, I was just thinking.” Tank moved closer to the edge of his seat, elbows braced on his knees. “I was looking at Neo’s scans. His concentration and focus have both sharpened since we unplugged Leo. His overall performance has improved-”

“And you think these improvements are because of Leo’s presence on the ship.” Morpheus gave a slight shrug, “It might be. It’s impossible to say for sure, unless Neo told you that Leo’s presence has helped him?”

“Not in so many words.”

Morpheus gave him an amused smile, “Then what words did he use?”

“None.” Tank shook his head, “It’s more of an observation.”

“Well.” Morpheus took another sip from his tea, “He has been more relaxed lately. I’ll admit that I’ve noticed that as well. I can’t speak for Neo or on his opinion of Leo. But it was his idea to unplug Leo, he spent time with him in the Matrix. I’m not surprised that he would develop an affection for him.”

“I was just wondering, if Neo was to take Leo as his mate how would that change our plans?”

Morpheus shrugged, “Trinity’s feelings on the matter might be an issue. However, she’s always been reasonable so I don’t see it being a lasting problem. The only real issue would be Chase. He is the main reason why we freed Leo from the Matrix.”

“Right.”

“Once we free Chase from the Matrix, considering his closeness with Leo, it would help if Leo’s unbonded. Young alpha’s fresh out of the Matrix are… difficult at the best of times. Leo would be able to help settle him in. If he’s marked and bonded, smelling of another alpha considering their relationship in the Matrix-“

“Chase could become difficult.” Tank finished with a sigh and Morpheus gave another shrug.

“Very difficult. But the heart wants what it wants. If Neo was to take Leo as his mate,” Morpheus took another sip from his cup, “It would be foolish to try and stop them. Especially if they were potentials, but we don’t really have a way of knowing that at this point. Really it’s up to Neo and Leo to decide on what they want to do, and then we’ll take it from there.”

Tank went quiet for a brief moment, “Right.”

Morpheus’ head gave a tilt, “Is there something you’d like to tell me, Tank?”

“About what?”

“About Leo. You seem very concerned about Neo taking him as a mate.”

“I… I just wanna make sure things go well.”

“I’m sure they will. But I can’t make any definitive decisions unless either of them comes to me to tell me that they may want to become bonded.” Morpheus explained taking another sip from his mug, “There’s a solution to every problem. But if there doesn’t seem to be a problem-“

“Then there’s no solution.” Tank finished for him again. Morpheus chuckled.

“Right now, there’s nothing to do. I think we should wait until Leo’s heat passes before we worry about making any decisions about him.” The alpha then paused with a thought, “That program they were working on before we unplugged Leo.”

“What about it?”

“Once Leo’s out, I want you to work with him to get it finished.” Morpheus said, “The coding is very rough, but there’s potential for something special.”

“O.K.”

“You won’t have a problem with working with Leo, will you?”

“No, why would I?”

Morpheus stared at him, the look made Tank feel uncomfortable and he had to resist the urge to shift under the alpha’s gaze.

“I’m not sure.” He answered before shaking his head to get up to top up his cup with the set near the corner of the small room, “He seems to like you, or at the very least; he likes your scent. I don’t think he’ll have too much of a problem working with you.”

“Yeah.”

“All of these are things we will think about once his heat has passed. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” Morpheus asked as he turned to face the younger alpha who shrugged and shook his head.

“No.”

“Though you’ve got me curious.”

“About what?”

“Leo, what do you think of him?”

“What do I think of him?”

“You said he’s ‘great’, but what does that actually mean?”

Tank blinked, “I don’t… nothing?”

“Nothing?”

“I just mean that he seems great. Bright, funny. Mouse likes him and obviously Neo likes him.”

“Do you like him?”

“I guess.” Tank shrugged, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, things can go in different ways when an omega enters a new pack. It’s not unheard of for the change in energies to cause some tension.”

“Oh, no no. Nothing like that.” Tank said with a shake of his head, “I like him. I don’t have a problem with him.”

“That’s good.” Morpheus said taking a sip from his cup. “But you know you can tell me, if anything comes up with Leo.”

“Of course, sir. But I doubt anything would-“ Tank cut himself off as he thought about the conversations with Neo about Leo and couldn’t help but sigh, “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Right.” Morpheus’ head gave a tilt and his lips quirked up into a slight smile, “Well, unless there’s something else?”

“No. Thank you, sir.” Tank said as he got up and left the room. Morpheus nodded watching the younger alpha leave the room, a frown pulling over his lips before he took another sip from his cup.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Leo’s breathing was easier. Neo kept the omega pressed against his chest, a hand running along the younger man’s side. His scent was still intoxicatingly sweet, skin still hot to the touch but Leo was much calmer, more relaxed. Leo stirred in his grasp.

“You O.K?” The alpha asked and Leo seemed to huff out a sigh against Neo’s chest.

“Yeah? I still feel really hot.”

“That’s normal.”

“How many more times do we have to-“

“Until you start to cool down? There’s no way to know for sure, everyone’s different.”

“Right.”

“Are you sure you’re O.K?”

Leo was quiet for a moment, “So, you’ve done this before… for other people, I mean.”

“I haven’t been out of the Matrix all that long either.” Neo explained, “I helped Mouse through his heat but, all I did was use my pheromones to help him relax we didn’t do other things.”

Leo bit his bottom lip, “And Trinity?” Neo resisted the urge to tense up as the younger man continued, “She’s an omega too, right?”

“Yes… Yeah, we’ve helped each other out.”

“I just, before you and Walt – Mouse said you have a girlfriend. Tiffany? Did you mean Trinity?”

Neo didn’t want to answer that question. He didn’t feel ready to, but he couldn’t tell the omega nothing.

“Trinity and I are close and… I thought there was a chance she could be my potential.”

“O.K and this isn’t going to be weird for her?” Leo asked as he pulled back to look at the alpha, “I mean, you said all you did for Mouse was, use your pheromones on him and we just… I don’t want to make things weird-“

“It’s not weird, I promise. You don’t have to worry about it.” Neo took in a deep breath before letting it out, he quickly leaned in to press a kiss on Leo’s lips, drawing the younger man in closer. Leo sighed, seeming to relax into the older man’s grasp. “Still sensitive?”

“Yeah.” Leo breathed and Neo nuzzled the side of the omega’s face, simply taking the warmth he could feel coming off of the younger man’s body. The warm static that simmered softly under his skin as they simply lay together. “What’s a potential?”

“What?”

“I just realised I don’t know what a potential is. You said you thought Trinity could be your potential.”

“Potential as in, a potential mate. It’s kind of like marriage, only a mating bond is more instinctual than that. When-“ Neo hesitated, “Like a soul mate type of thing. You meet someone and then you just know they’re meant for you. That you’re meant to be together.”

“So Trinity is your-“

“No, I – “ Neo took a deep breath to calm his nerves, “She’s a potential, it basically means that I could mate with her and if I did; we could be happy together. But it wouldn’t be the same way it’d be, if I bonded with my true mate. My intended.”

“Oh.” Leo squirmed a bit in Neo’s grasp, not like he was trying to move away, simply to try and get more comfortable, “How do you know she isn’t your intended?”

Neo swallowed hard, “It’s… complicated. All I’ll say is, sometimes you just know.” He took in a deep breath and pressed another kiss against Leo’s temple. “Try and get some sleep, your heat should start flaring up again. You need as much rest as you can get.”

Leo sighed, “This’ll be over soon, right?”

“Right.”

“O.K... Thanks by the way.”

“For what?”

“Not making this as awkward as it should be.” Leo said with a scoff, “I know you said it’s normal but… thanks.”

Leo was smiling at him and Neo felt his chest warm in a way that he hasn’t felt since he left the Matrix. The omega shifted a little, he seemed to take in a deep breath of the alpha’s scent before he relaxed against him. Neo’s lips pulled into a smile.

“There’s nothing to thank me for. Get some rest.” Neo said and Leo nodded as he let out another sigh as he shut his eyes and slowly falling into a restless sleep. Neo let out a sigh of his own, running his fingers along the omega’s spine.

He needs to tell Leo and he will, but… God, he has no idea how he’s going to do it. But he’ll have to figure out a way, especially now that he knows. Especially now that he’s sure that it wasn’t just the Matrix, it wasn’t just what the omega’s code looked like. Leo is his intended. Leo’s the one.