LEO REALLY LIKED STEVE. He expected to like him much more than he did, which wasn't to say that he didn't like him, because he did, but he had expected to be drooling after the peak of human perfection every time he so much as heard his name, back to his usual puppy dog self that he was in high school, but that wasn't the case.

He hadn't grown out of his puppy dog phase by any means—he was starting to realize that it wasn't a phase at all, he just was—it was simply that, while Steve was the peak of human perfection and nearly twice Leo's size, he wasn't enamored with him.

However, that didn't mean that they didn't spend a lot of time together.

"Rogers, it's too early," Natasha said, sighing as she walked into the viewing room to find Leo in Steve's lap, the two watching cartoons, Steve with his arms wrapped firmly around Leo's waist, watching over his shoulder.

"He said he was cold," Steve argued weakly, and Leo nodded in affirmation, placing his hands on Steve's arms to keep him in place, avoiding Natasha's eye, because that woman was intimidating.

He had found himself in this position when he woke up much too early and decided that he might as well make the most of it, figuring he could get an early breakfast and keep to himself. While he had made progress with Pietro when the rest of the team was gone, the blond wasn't his best friend by any means, and had glued himself to Wanda and Arabella the moment they returned home, which made sense.

Because Pietro wasn't in the mood to spend time with anyone else, Leo was given time to regroup,  going over all he had learned, which he had been doing the past few days and what he had planned to do once he got himself breakfast that day.

But his plans were deterred, as he had forgotten to account for Steve who, for some reason, was awake at any and all ungodly hours of the day, whether it be much too late into the night or much too early in the morning, acting like it was the afternoon and he had just slept in.

"Good morning," the blond had greeted, because that was what he did, and Leo had smiled from where he was making himself some tomato soup with the grilled cheese he was making.

He had watched as Steve began to take things out of the pantry, making himself some food, and he couldn't help but ask, because he was a pathetic little fanboy, "Did you eat already?"

Steve had ducked his head, turning a light shade of pink as he nodded, "Yeah, I ate before I went to go exercise, but I gotta eat a lot to keep up with my metabolism, so this like second breakfast."

Leo opened and closed his mouth, wondering if Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, had just made a Lord of the Rings reference.

But the shining baby blue eyes and wry half-smile had told him that, yes, he had, and he could only stare as the man made two large glasses of smoothies, as well as a sandwich for himself, picking them all up and jerking his head over towards the viewing area, and Leo could only finish up his food and trail after him.

He didn't immediately sit in his lap, he wasn't that much of a floozy—others, including Fury and a certain family member, would argue otherwise, but his arms were much too toned for that, in his humble opinion. But after one twelve-minute episode of Spongebob later, Leo was in Steve's lap, the man softly asking him to explain some of the jokes.

So there they were, Natasha leaning over to eat some of the leftover crusts that Leo had been too lazy to eat with the tomato soup, and she hummed when she tasted the tomato soup. "Pretty good, Legacy. No wonder we keep you around."

Leo laughed, because he didn't want her to think he didn't like her, because he did, but he didn't know how to react to being called Legacy by her; it wasn't the worst thing, she wasn't trying to be demeaning.

In fact, it sounded like she used the name for someone else before him.

"She and Clint have been calling you that more and more, are you comfortable with it?" Steve asked, and Leo nodded, because he was fine, he just wasn't happy, but he was comfortable.

He needed a backbone, this was slightly ridiculous.

But he nevertheless assented to the nickname, though he did add, "But I'd like it more if you called me Leo."

Steve didn't seemed all too fazed, though he seemed concerned, nodding before dropping his forehead onto the back of Leo's head, the two waiting for the commercials to be over to continue their marathon of Spongebob before the upcoming Fairly Odd Parents marathon.

"You really like these things, huh?" Steve asked, and he nodded, eyes trained onto the screen, "Why?"

Leo shrugged, not even thinking as he answered, "My dad would watch cartoons with me. At least, he did when I was younger. We stopped when I got into high school, and then he just...stopped hanging out with me altogether. 'Cept for training and wrestling and stuff, but that's not really hanging out, huh?"

Steve hugged him tighter, Leo nearly melting into his large chest. "I'm sorry, Leo."

"It's fine," he said, patting the large arms wrapped around him, "I've gotten used to it. And, I mean, what can I do now, he's dead."

Steve didn't seem too pleased with that, grabbing one of the blankets that rested in a stack on the side of the couch, draping it over them, and Leo wondered why Steve was so cuddly, because he seemed to be doing this for his benefit as much as Leo's.

But then again, Sam had told him time and time again that Steve was the kind of person who didn't think about himself most of the time, so maybe he was just reading too far into it, not wanting to face how selfish he was being.

Nevertheless, he turned to rest his head against Steve's chest, the man shifting his arms to keep him close, and he sighed contentedly, grinning at a joke that he had heard a million times, but still loved regardless.

"You showed Pietro this?" Steve asked, and Leo nodded, sighing softly, so the blond asked, "How's it going with him?"

"He doesn't really want to hang out with me much," Leo admitted, adding quickly, "But we made progress when you guys were gone, he doesn't hate me, it's just that he's not super interested in hanging out with me, you know? But we've been making progress."

Steve nodded in understanding, though he didn't seem all too convinced, though not in the sense that he didn't believe they were making progress. The opposite, it seemed, really, it was as if he didn't want to let Leo know he was underselling himself when he really was.

"I think," the man began carefully, "You're just not seeing how much you've done."

"Oh, and you have?" Leo asked, without as much bite as he normally would have put into his words, because he liked Steve, he didn't want to drive him away.

"Arabella and Wanda talk to me a lot," Steve simply said, laughing softly at a joke made from the show, and Leo felt a flutter of joy at the thought of Pietro saying good things about him to his sister and best friend, as well as Steve understanding a joke from the show.

"I'm trying my best, and I think I'm getting there. He doesn't hate me, so that's good," Leo said, and Steve laughed softly, shifting him in his arms.

"Pietro's a lot different than how we first met him, even Wanda attests to that, but I think he's far from hating you," Steve said, and Leo wondered what Pietro was like before; all he knew was that he was quiet and only made snide comments occasionally, keeping to himself.

But that was something about Leo, he never did like giving up. Even if it took him way too long, he always got something done, and he did want to help this kid.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out some candy, tossing a few into his mouth, ignoring the way Steve raised an eyebrow at the sugar, mumbling about how he ate way too much sugar than what was healthy, silencing him by shoving a few into his mouth.

"That's very rude," Steve said, though his disapproving tone was muffled by his chewing, and Leo smiled, his tongue peeking out through his teeth, and Steve made a sound when he caught sight of the titular character smiling on-screen.

"He has the same teeth as you!" the blond cried, much too excited, and Leo could only roll his eyes, snickering softly as he knocked their heads together lightly, Steve now invested in the show, trying to find all the similarities between Leo and his favorite cartoon character.

The two continued to watch the marathon, the cartoon switching to a new series, Steve asking questions about that marathon, Leo happy to tell him all about it, explaining to the others who moved in and out of the viewing room, Sam bringing them lunch because he was glad to see Steve spending time with people instead of just being by himself.

It wasn't until everyone had piled into the viewing room to eat dinner and watch the TV movie that had been Leo's favorite since he had first seen it, and still, to this day, was, that he realized how nice this was.

He was being paid to spend time with people who, for the most part, wanted to spend time with him. It was nice.

He shifted when Pietro pushed his legs up to his chest, he and Steve sprawled sideways on the couch now, Pietro curling up on the other end of the couch, right by his feet.

Yeah. It was nice.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 10.23.18 )

I don't usually like to add pop culture references, it really isn't my thing and I'm not overly fond of it, but I felt as though it was kind of crucial, because it's not just because "oh fun," there was a reason for it, as you can see, and it'll keep being played up, Leo really didn't have much by way of a childhood and with his parents always working, he needed something to connect to his dad to that wasn't just athletics and physicality, and the boy really loved cartoons, and so did his dad.

Also, Leo and Steve are jacked cuddle buddies and I love them. When I was plotting this fic out, I wanted it to seem like Leo and Steve could totally wind up together, but the thing is that they're too close to be able to do that, like, Leo just wants to be held by him and be around him, because Steve makes him happy, and Steve is protective of everyone, and Leo is exactly the kind guy that he wanted to be back before Project Rebirth (and still now, honestly)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!