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Leo was stood up. By his boyfriend of two years. On Valentine’s Day.
It sucked.
The waitress keeps asking him if he would like to order something and Leo keeps saying that no, he’s waiting for somebody, and other people in the restaurant keep sending him those apologetic looks, probably laughing at him because he’s the idiot that got stood up on Valentine’s Day.
Leo takes his phone to text his boyfriend (again) when somebody sits down at his table. Leo looks up with a frown, ready to tell whoever just sat there that the seat was occupied, but he freezes. There’s a man on the other side of the table, smiling widely at him.
“Hi Babe, I’m so sorry I’m late, the traffic was awful.” The man says loudly. Then, he leans forward and whispers. “My name’s Neymar. Just go along with it, okay?” The man, Neymar, winks at Leo.
Leo thinks. He could make a scene (never a good idea) and leave the restaurant, his day ruined. Or, he could stay and get to know this (very pretty) man. He seems nice enough, trying to save Leo’s face in front of all those judgy strangers.
Leo goes along with it.
“It’s okay, I’m happy you made it.” Leo answers and that makes the last of the staring people go back to minding their own goddamn business. “I’m Leo.” He adds.
Neymar smiles at him, so brightly Leo feels like if he’s looking at the sun.
“Who’s the asshole that stood you up, huh?” Neymar asks, grabbing a piece of bread the waitress had brought earlier.
The question dampens Leo’s mood. He looks down at his phone, still in his hand.
“My boyfriend.”
“Well, your boyfriend’s a dick.” Neymar states, his mouth full of the bread. Leo looks at him dumbfounded. Neymar had never met Miguel, so those words might be a little bit harsh, but Miguel standing him up on Valentine’s Day is a dick move, so Leo supposes Neymar is correct in his observation. Leo doesn’t feel like defending his boyfriend.
The waitress comes, smiling widely and Leo gives his order. He had decided on it an hour ago. Neymar scrambles for the menu and quickly orders something Leo had never heard of.
“I guess he is.” Leo says when the waitress leaves.
“Huh?” Neymar asks, looking up from the menu. His eyes are wide open and he looks like a deer caught in the headlights.
“My boyfriend.” Leo clarifies. “I guess he is a dick.” He shrugs. There’s no point in trying to hide the truth.
Neymar laughs with his head thrown back and Leo stares at him, mesmerized. Neymar looks really pretty when he laughs, it makes Leo want to make him laugh all the time. And Leo doesn’t even think he said anything that funny. He had just repeated Neymar’s words.
They talk for some time. Neymar keeps asking questions and Leo answers them with his usual level of awkwardness. Neymar doesn’t seem to mind though - he smiles and encourages Leo to talk more.
The waitress comes back with their orders and Leo immediately digs into his food, hungry after all his waiting. His hunger is what causes him to miss the way Neymar looks at his plate.
Neymar looks disgusted. He is staring at his plate as if it had just offended him and his whole family.
“What’s wrong?” Leo asks, abandoning his own plate.
“There are olives in it.” Neymar replies, still glaring.
Leo blinks and tilts his head. “And?”
“I hate olives.” Neymar whines and pushes the plate away from himself. He crosses his arms on his torso and frowns at the olives. He looks like a petulant child. Somehow Leo finds it endearing.
“Why did you order this, then?”
“I didn’t know it had olives in it.” Neymar looks like he’s three seconds away from crying. There might actually be tears in his eyes.
Leo doesn’t hate olives. He actually likes them quite a lot. He looks at Neymar’s plate and then at his. He sighs. “Do you like spaghetti?”
“I do.” Neymar says quietly, still sulking.
“Do you want to switch? I don’t mind the olives.”
Neymar’s head flies up at that and he looks at Leo as if he had hung up the stars.
“You would switch? For me? Really?” Neymar looks at him with so much of… something, that Leo finds himself blushing and looking down on his hands.
“Yeah. It’s not a problem.”
“You’re a life savior, dude!” Neymar exclaims and switches their plates.
“You’re the real savior here.” Leo argues. “Saved me from the pitiful looks all the people were sending me.”
Neymar waves him off. “It was nothing, man. You looked so dejected I had to do something. Your boyfriend? He’s an ass who doesn’t see what he’s losing out on.”
That causes a fifteen minutes long complaining about Miguel, because today is hardly the first time he had messed up. Neymar listens to the whole thing, nodding along and interjecting his opinion here and there. Their food is eaten by the time Leo ends his monologue.
“I’m sorry, I just dumped all of this on you.” Leo rubs his neck in embarrassment. Leave it to him to fuck whatever he might have going on with this guy. “You probably didn’t want to hear about my relationship problems.”
Leo expects Neymar to agree, but the man shakes his head.
“I don’t mind. You had to get it off your chest. I bet you feel all better now, huh?” Neymar smiles.
Leo does feel better, but he doesn’t think it’s because he had finally talked about it, but because he had talked to Neymar. Leo likes talking to Neymar. It's easy and it was never easy for Leo to talk to other people before. There is something in the other man that just draws Leo in.
So Leo just smiles back, hoping it's enough of an answer for Neymar.
The waitress comes to collect their plates and they order a dessert, but this time, Neymar studies the menu closely, making sure there aren’t any ingredients he dislikes in the cake he orders.
They don't talk about Miguel for the rest of the night.
The dessert gets eaten and it’s time to go home. Leo drags himself out of his chair, desperately trying to think of something, anything, that would allow him to stay in Neymar’s company for another ten minutes. There’s nothing.
They pay for their meal, put on their coats and leave the restaurant. It’s snowing. They stop before it and look at each other in awkward silence.
It’s Neymar who breaks it.
“You should probably break up with Miguel. He sounds like an ass.”
Leo huffs at that. “I thought we had already established that.”
Neymar smiles, but it looks strained. He is biting on his lip, like if he was stopping himself from saying something. There are snowflakes in his hair. Then he looks down on his shoes. “I guess we better get going then? It’s freezing out here.”
Leo nods, but neither of them move.
“After I break up with Miguel,” Leo starts. Neymar looks up at him. “Would you maybe-“ Leo swallows. Now it’s him that’s looking at his shoes. His hands are shaking and he feels like his heart is going to jump out of his chest. “Would you like to go on a date with me?” He whispers the question so quietly, he’s surprised Neymar hears it. At least he thinks he did, judging by the sharp intake of breath he had just heard. Leo still can’t look up from his shoes.
There’s a hand on his chin, and soft lips on his lips, but they disappear quickly, too quickly. Neymar is close, he’s so so close and Leo doesn’t want him to ever leave. They look at each other in silence and Leo is trying to tell Neymar with his eyes how grateful he is that he had sat down when he did. How grateful he is that Neymar had talked to him. How grateful he is for Neymar. It’s probably a stupid thought, he had known Neymar for a few hours only, but it felt so much longer.
It’s Neymar who steps away. He smiles and pushes a piece of paper into Leo’s hand.
“I’ll see you around.” Is all he says and then he turns and walks away.
Leo looks down at the paper in his hand. There’s a phone number scribbled on it.