i find it's very easy for us and the game itself to dismiss carl as an archetype, a wise old man and nothing more, when in reality he's incredibly flawed. i find it so fascinating how martyr-able he is, despite the fact that we know he had leo with a "young groupie", and despite struggling with addiction himself, shows a limited sympathy towards leo. i don't find myself endeared by him seeking retribution in leo and, when finding he is not a conduit for carl to soothe his guilt but rather, an angry reminder of it, turning away and towards a perfect replacement. something that can pose as a son-like figure and yet, can never be angry with him, or disappointed. i believe at the core of carl is a deep-seeded regret and self-loathing over leo that he seeks to cure in Markus, fathering him the way he thinks he'd have liked to father Leo. and a regret and self-loathing he ultimately does not and perhaps cannot cure. i don't think he's a bad person - insofar as you can quantify anyone as a bad or good person. i'd just like some nuance on the table. but I'm also very biased towards Leo, so, maybe I'm just looking through tinted glass
firm believer that leo manfred just needed some smooches and also maybe for his dad not to be a dickhead and instead of just simply cutting him off from finance he may need considering hes in poverty due to his addiction maybe help him overcome his addiction what the whattt how crazzyyy
people villainize leo far too much considering he was just a man who was struggling with addiction and with the fact his father didn't seem to love him whatsoever and loved what at the time appeared to be nothing but a machine to most if not all of the world- like imagine your dad loved a roomba more than you, its not an exact comparison but to their viewpoints at the time it kinda is, and it isnt his fault hes misinformed about that
he deserves what he got in the graveyard scene and it upsets me deeply that he only overcame his addiction and appeared a lot healthier after his father's passing
Daniel and Leo enjoying a beach day for @dbhrarepairs week! Leo looks so smug. @disterra suggested he would probably wear long sleeves despite the hot weather. Danny on the other hand, is ready to swim. He should probably pick Leo’s butt up and chuck him into the water.
i love codependent relationships in fiction i love watching two messy people unforgivably in love with each other shatter the world around them i love seeing interpretations of love as a cosmic disastrous redemptive force i love watching love consume people whole i love looking at romantic relationships and going "oh that is so fucked up! good for them"
SharkDanny and his little human hero, Leo. Everyone assumes Daniel is just a cold-hearted killer with no hope of redemption, and needs to be put down before he hurts someone else. Leo’s got some reservations about that.
Oh no. Leo’s making it a little hard for Daniel to get any work done. Danny’s face fought with me the entire effing time but I finally managed to make it work. Leo, as always, was a good boy and did exactly what he was told.
There’s more to this depravity if you want to see more dick I mean detail. The full version is available on my Patreon.
Just proving that I'm still alive, even tho I haven't had the time to write. Here are some photo study sketches I did of Paul Spera (Leo from DBH) over the course of a few months.
Summary: Daniel and Leo were both fucked up. Badly. There was no lying about it. But at least they had each other.
Ship: Daniel/Leo Manfred (Detroit: Become Human)
Warnings: None
Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Drug Withdrawal, Leo Manfred Redemption, Insecurity, Hopeful Ending, Ficlet
Wordcount: 746
A/N: Little something for @disterra. Thanks again for introducing me to this ship, Dee!
You can also read it on ao3!
Just look at them, Leo always used to think as he passed by numerous androids on their way to work. Plastic pricks. They are prancing around, being… perfect. The impeccable dress-up dolls who never argue or have bad days. Unlike I do. No wonder dad likes them more than me.
That last thought stung like a sharpened blade. He despised this feeling of helplessness that weighed heavy on his heart. Luckily, it was almost always overshadowed by the loneliness his way of life was bringing him, with nothing to comfort him other than a handful of a Red Ice, and rage. Wrath at father, his perfect plastic pet, everyone.
When Markus finally snapped and stood up to him, bashing his head open in the process, it opened his eyes. Nearly dying does that to a person, he supposed. Or maybe it was how he found out later that his dad did care, even after all of this mess. Nurses said he stayed by his bedside when he was still unconscious. Hearing how he held his hand during the sleep felt so surreal… It was the last straw that drove him to want to become a better son and a person.
On some lonely days, it was so fucking hard not to give in to the tempting lure of the Red Ice, falling back into his bad habits. But he still tried his best as the world around him changed.
Markus has won – the revolution was successful. Androids were recognized as new sentient beings and all kept by the DPD as evidence were supposed to be repaired and get a fair trial as every person should. All was just peachy. But Leo still couldn’t help at times the sharp pang of jealousy whenever he watched Markus’ speeches. The grace with which he delivered his witty lines. That strange unnatural aura of perfection surrounding him. Leo was sure he would never understand his kind, but at least chose to not act upon those ugly feelings.
It wasn’t until he met Daniel in front of a therapist’s office that he realized his jealousy was pointless.
Daniel was not perfect. One could argue he was as far from it as he could get. An obsolete model with serious abandonment issues and more than a troubled past. But once you somehow managed to crack that thick shell he kept around his heart to protect himself, you found an intriguing sensitive being who had so much love to give, when he got over his fear of getting hurt again.
Dan has seen him at his worst – and to his surprise, he didn’t run away. He stayed with him during his most severe withdrawals and hardly even flinched. It baffled him at times, to be honest. Anyone sane would be gone by now.
“Why don’t you just leave me? Everyone else did,” he asked after one of the worse episodes which ended with him on the bathroom floor, head in Daniel’s lap as he stroked his hair glistening with sweat to calm him down. “Don’t you see I’m a complete mess?”
Daniel stayed silent for long enough to worry him, a frown marring his handsome face.
This is it, Leo’s heart sank as he waited for the other man to shake him off his lap and go for the door. Instead, he was surprised by a kiss being pressed onto his forehead that was running hot with fever. It wasn’t nearly as tender as he expected it to be – not with his fiery Dan. But there was a raw emotion hidden behind this little gesture. So much so he couldn’t doubt it was driven by love.
“Hey, stop with this nonsense. I’m not gonna leave you just because you are struggling right now. We are all fighting our demons.” His voice turned wistful, trembling with emotions he could barely get a hold of. It made Leo reach out and put his hand, which was still shaking like crazy, on his cheek, cradling it with more warmth than he thought he was capable of. “You know what I’ve done. How it haunts me to this day. But with you, here… I want to try and fight our demons, together. For as long as you’ll have me.”
It was then that Leo teared up. He didn’t deserve this man. And yet…
They were both fucked up. Badly. There was no lying about it. But at least they had each other. That was all that mattered.
"We’re about to close and you just walked in looking like you’ve been sobbing for an hour and asked to buy all the leftover cake we had left for the day." Leo at Simon and Danny's bakery...
"Do you want me to lock up on my way out?" Simon asked, pulling on his coat.
"No, I'll do it when I take out the trash. See you soon." Daniel waved at his brother as he left, and went in the back to quickly organize the storeroom and clean up a bit. After about five minutes he heard the bell ring and sighed. He should have just told Simon to lock up, people couldn't fucking read... He went up to the counter where a familiar figure had just come in.
"Sorry, we're - Leo?"
Leo looked up, wrapped up in a coat, hat, and scarf. His face, the small portion that was visible, was flushed and tear-streaked, and his eyes were red and strained.
"Hey," he said in a wavery voice. "C-can I get... just any leftover cake you're gonna throw out? Did - I know you're about to close, I just - did you take the trash out yet?"
"No... And you can have some cake, Leo. Want to sit down?"
Leo blinked at him, turned to look at the empty tables, and shivered. He nodded.
"Go sit down, I'll be right there," Daniel said, grabbing a plate and piling it with slices of different cakes. He quickly brewed a cup of chai as well, and added extra sugar and cream the way Leo liked it. He brought both over to where Leo was hunched over the table and sat down across from him. "What's up?"
Leo sniffled and shook his head, cramming an entire slice of carrot cake in his mouth. He tried to say something through his mouthful, but even Daniel’s advanced speech and language recognition couldn’t identify it.
“Leo. Chew, swallow, then talk.”
Leo nodded, chewing the cake. He had to swallow a few times, then took a drink of the tea and exhaled loudly. “That’s really good,” he mumbled.
“Thanks, that’s one of Simon’s. What’s up?”
The tears began again and Leo sniffled, wiping his face. It wasn’t his birthday, it wasn’t any big milestone that Daniel could think of...
“Did your dad say something shitty? Did Markus? Want me to kick him for you? I’ll do it.”
Leo tried to smile but just ended up crying harder. He shook his head, snuffling loudly into his sleeve as he wiped his face. “It’s not them. Y-you can kick ‘em anyway if you want.”
“Maybe later,” Daniel said, squeezing the hand that wasn’t covered in cake and tears. “What happened?”
“It’s... it’s the worst day ever, I just... everything.”
“Wanna tell me?” Daniel coaxed gently.
Leo took a shaky breath. “So I thought I had until today to sign up for this photography competition I was really excited about but it was yesterday and I didn’t know until tonight. I was gonna go to the sculpture park and... and find some cool lighting and... now it doesn’t fucking matter. And don’t - don’t fucking say I should’ve done something sooner, I... I just didn’t.”
“It happens. You should go anyway, maybe tomorrow, you could still get some good pictures and enter the next contest.”
“No I can’t, I saw... on Facebook, all these guys who used to bully me in high school are in town and they’re all... m-meeting up there tomorrow, and my - he used to be my best friend, but when I... he... he started hanging out with them when I started using Red Ice and he’ll be there too and I don’t wanna give them an excuse to talk about me more than they probably do.” He sniffled loudly. “That’s my fault too, I know.”
“It’s absolutely not. You don’t control people being assholes to you.”
“If I hadn’t -”
“Leo. You can do better. And you have. You don’t need them, forget about them. You’ve got some good friends now, and you can find a better place to take pictures.”
Leo covered a wet cough. “I... I went to the eye doctor the other day, she said I’ll need glasses soon. I know I can’t see as well as I used to, so pretty soon I won’t be able to take pictures.”
“Okay... but you can just get glasses,” Daniel said reasonably. “Or contacts. Right? Lots of people use them, it doesn’t mean you’re going blind.”
“But I might!”
“Nor for fifty years or so, if ever! Come on Leo, you know that’s unreasonable. What else could you do tomorrow, if you don’t want to take pictures? You’re off tomorrow, right?”
Leo wiped snot on his sleeve and nodded, taking a big bite of chocolate cake. “I... I tried distracting myself. I read this book I used to like when I was a kid. But fuck, eight cats died in the war!”
Daniel blinked, LED spinning yellow. “...Which book?”
“Um... The last Warriorcats. Darkest Hour. I just - I knew it was coming but it fucking hit me at the wrong time.”
Daniel sighed, rubbing Leo’s hand with his thumb. “Sounds like a bad day,” he said patiently.
“That’s not even everything. You know that job I applied to working at the Natural History Museum? Fuck, being a night janitor there would kick ass! It’d totally be like Night At The Museum but they sent me a fucking form letter saying they’re ‘not moving forward with my application!’ What the fuck, I’m qualified!”
“That sucks, I’m sorry.” Daniel made a face. “I feel like the hiring process is completely arbitrary sometimes.”
“They probably hired somebody who had connections there,” Leo muttered, going for the confetti cake. “I’m not gonna bring up my dad, I won’t stoop that low. ...Not that I can hide my name. That fucker...”
“Well... keep trying. Something will come up.”
“I guess,” Leo mumbled. He sighed sorrowfully and pulled a brown blob out of his pocket. “Then to top it all off Reddy Teddy finally fell apart tonight.”
Daniel stared at the blob. “...What is it?”
“I - my mom made him when I was a baby and he was my first teddy bear, I... I just kept him. Um. He used to be bright red. And he fit in my pocket, I - people have... things that make them feel better!” he said defensively, glaring at Daniel.
“...Do you have a picture?” Daniel asked slowly. “Maybe I can... fix him.”
“You fucking can’t, he... he’s just gone.” He sniffled again. “He’s like... like a piece of my mom, and now I don’t have either one.”
Daniel stared at the lumpy mass of old cloth. “Would... would you like to bury him, then?”
Leo blinked, crumbs falling from his mouth. “It’s - he’s just...”
“He’s important to you, and it would be appropriate to honor him,” Daniel said softly. “If you want to. You want to sneak into the park and put him under the flowerbeds so he’s got flowers blooming every spring?”
Leo finished the last sliver of cheesecake and wiped his face again. “Really?”
“Definitely. Give me a minute to clean up and we can go.”
Leo swallowed thickly and blew his nose on a napkin. “Y-you don’t have to.” He fumbled for his wallet.
“On the house.” Daniel covered Leo’s hand with his own. “Go in the back and wash your hands. And your face, you’re disgusting. I’ll be done in a few minutes and we’ll get out of here. Think about where you want to put him.”
Leo stared at him for a moment. “C-can we have a funeral?” he whispered.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Come on, get up, I’ll see if we’ve got a shovel to bring.”
“Or we could borrow one there,” Leo suggested, tucking his teddy blob into his pocket again.
“I don’t feel like spending the night on the run from a team of WR600s. They’re fast.”
