Soooo my ducklings, I am beginning to work through my drafts so that hopefully I’ll be opening my requests again ^^ It’s gonna take me a while, and I’m so so sorry that it’s taken me so long >2< I can’t thank you enough for sticking by me during my hiatus and slower upload schedule - You are awesome <3
- JJ x
~~~~~~~~~~
Leonardo Da Vinci:
Leonardo will need a little time to get used to the constant affection but, he’ll learn to love it as much as MC does.
He’ll be firm with his boundary of needing some space and time to himself but whenever he can, he’ll make sure to be with his girlfriend and make sure she knows exactly how he feels about her.
Leo is an excellent cuddler: He’s big and warm and his hugs always make his lover feel protected and safe. His embrace is especially welcome on cold winter days where snow coats the gardens with a blanket of frost, and always a little tighter on days where you’re feeling especially tired or grumpy.
Leonardo is a sleepy, sleepy man but that makes him an amazing cuddler. When he feels MC’s presence enter the room, he’ll simply open his arms where he lays in bed - not even blinking an eye open - and usher her against his broad, warm chest.
Arthur Conan Doyle:
He absolutely adores the attention, honestly he cannot get enough of his darling little bird and he cannot bring himself to say no to a good cuddle whenever MC needs it.
Arthur is a very hands-on lover so to have that energy reciprocated by MC? That’s paradise to him.
Arthur is a very fidgety cuddler, he’ll need to change positions a lot, his hands will wander both innocently and not-so innocently from time to time.
Morning cuddles are a must with Arthur. He normally goes to bed far after MC does so, he’ll always relish lazy mornings in with her, carding his deft fingers through their messy hair and nuzzling his face comfortably into the crook of his beloved’s neck.
William Shakespeare:
Will finds the idea of being with someone 24/7 a little daunting - its not that he doesn’t want to spend time with his girlfriend whenever he has the chance, not at all, he just needs space to himself sometimes.
However, he is extremely grateful to her for making him so feel loved and secure; he never had to ask how she feels about him because she always makes it clear that she is absolutely smitten with him.
Shakespeare is an anxious cuddler. When you first snuggle up to each other, he’ll be a little stiff and awkward but once he’s warmed up, his main objective is to just be as close as possible.
(a/n): This piece is my contribution to the First Time for Everything Ikémen Fan Zine hosted by @dicenete and @lorei-writes
It was such a lovely experience. Thank you so much for the opportunity ♥3♥
Don't forget to check out the Fan Zine
“Keep your chin up, cara mia,” Leonardo instructs with the brush in his hand.
“Sorry, it’s hard not to look down at Lumiére. He’s just so cute.” Ronnie pouts, gazing down at the sleeping feline again, and gently rubbing its black fur.
“You’re doing it again.” He chuckles, walking towards her. He fixes her pose and gives her cheek a gentle pinch.
“Sorry, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like your hands on me.”
“Naughty girl,” he snickers.
Ronnie chuckles, then sighs contentedly. The sweet smell of the flowers around them wafts to her nose, a familiar scent she has missed. “I’ve missed this place.”
He hums. “Me too. It looks exactly how it did when we left for our honeymoon five years ago… somehow.” She laughs again. “Now stay still, just like that.” He presses his brush against the canvas in swift and smooth strokes as he works on the portrait. “Good girl.” That makes her cheeks flush with a soft shade of pink, a smile fighting its way across her face. “Lovely shade…” he murmurs.
Leonardo grows quiet as he studies her face, her gentle expression, soft brown eyes, and warm yet teasing smile. After a moment—once her expression has settled into him—he says, “You know, cara…You’ve changed remarkably little since the day we met.”
She snorts. “We don’t change the way humans do, tesoro,” she says softly, “but the way we settle into ourselves… that does.”
He notices how calm she is with him, how natural their banter is, how inevitable they feel, and how he does not fear the passing of time since they are together.
“...Curious,” he murmurs to himself.
“What is?”
He hesitates for a moment, brush hovering over the canvas. “When did you know?”
She tilts her head to one side, confused. “Know what?”
“That I was the one you’d endure eternity with?”
Her cheeks blush ever so softly, and that almost shy smile that he adores creeps across her face. He feels the urge to recreate that hue.
She thinks for a moment, the memory unfolding as if it had happened yesterday. The sound of the river, the distant market noise, the smell of freshly baked bread, the sweet tobacco clinging to his clothes, the cacophony of laughter, the bustling people, the flapping of bird wings, and the light, frantic stir in her chest. The Oporto of three decades ago comes to life once more.
They were walking along the Duero River; the streets were alive with vendors, laughter, and overlapping conversations. But this time, their loud voices did not bother Ronnie at all, perhaps because she was too focused on what Leonardo had to say. She always listened to him, especially when he rambled about the things he loved. This time, he was talking about humans, and there was a gentleness in his tone and a twinkle in his golden eyes that had her staring at him in awe and wonder. She tightened her grip on his arm, smiling softly at how passionately he spoke about those creatures. Were it not for his insistence on her giving humans a chance, she would have never gotten out of the comfort of her book-filled chambers at her family’s manor in South America.
“You see, humans aren’t defined by their worst instincts. They’re defined by the moments when they choose to—” He stopped abruptly, his expression shifted from admiration to focused. He let go of his companion and crossed the street without much of a word.
“Hm? Leonardo?” She stood there for a moment, confused and wondering what had just happened, before trailing behind him. He strode towards one of the vendors, the one who was selling birds. The cage was cramped and rusty, and the poor creatures were fluttering their dull feathers in panic, evidently stressed. She frowned, lip twitching in contempt, not at the birds but at the vendor.
“I want to buy them all,” was all Leonardo said.
Ronnie blinked in surprise, having expected him to lecture the vendor and demand the avians’ release—but instead, he paid for them.
As soon as the vendor handed Leonardo the first of the caged birds, Leonardo opened his palms, setting it free. He did the same with every one that followed—and every single time, her heart fluttered.
Leonardo’s soft chuckle brings her back to the present. She smiles at him, eyes crinkling with joy.
“Back then, you didn’t look back at me. You didn’t look at anyone. You only watched the birds flying away in the sky with an expression so gentle that it made my heart quiver.”
“Cara mia,” he whispers, walking towards her.
“Only when the birds were out of sight, you turned to me. Do you remember what you told me?”
He nods once. “I said, ‘If people were only what they do when desperate, then none of us would be worth saving. That choice… that’s what defines them.’” He smiles. “I meant it.” He cups her cheeks ever so tenderly, rubbing his thumbs on them.
She leans into his touch. “I know.”
“Didn’t know that simple moment stayed with you all this time.” He exhales softly, the sound almost resembling a laugh. “You’ve always seen me so clearly, haven’t you?” He leans his forehead against hers. “I think that somewhere along the way, that’s what made me fall in love with you, Ronnie,” he whispers, breath tickling her smiling lips, before claiming them with a loving kiss.
Leonardo pulls away, eyes closed, and exhales: “I couldn’t have chosen a better wife than you, amore mio.”
Her cheeks blaze at his words, and she giggles contentedly as her hands find purchase in his shirt, pulling him in for another kiss.
Lumiére, who feels trapped between the two, jumps off her lap and stretches meowing once.
Leonardo stares down at his beloved pet. “Heh, tired already, little one?” The cat simply turns around and calmly saunters towards the manor.
“Maybe we should continue tomorrow,” she offers, finally getting up and stretching her weary limbs.
He teases, “Hope you can stay still tomorrow.”
Smirking, she fixes the collar of his shirt and says, “Who knows, I might surprise you.”
Surrounded by tender banter, laughter, and the sweet aroma of the flowers, the painting remains unfinished—yet as inevitable as their love story.
🌸 Masterlist 🌸
If you like my writing, please consider buying me a ☕ (You can find the link in my bio)
🙀 Leonardo da Vinci x OC (Leanna); a gift for @rinaririr , made as a part of Top Tier! Gift Exchange hosted by myself and @pond-lilies; Fluff, Angst, Slice of Life -- a little bit of everything; Reincarnation; Soulmates; Red String of Fate; Cofee Shop; Cats 🙀
Soft sunlight weaves itself through Leonardo’s hair, strokes the contours of his face while feathering kisses over his eyelids. Overzealous in its affection, it earns itself a grumble and then a yawn, a stretch of his arms. A cat reconsidering a nap, Leonardo turns onto his side. Long, dark hair scattered across the pillows tickles his face. His nose scrunches up.
“Five more minutes…” a voice beside him mumbles.
“Scusa…”
His arm wrapped around her waist, Leanna releases a pleased sigh. If he could, he’d freeze the moment, preserve it in time… Just this once, just for her, just because of her. Before the well of years they have left to share fully dries out. Leonardo nuzzles against his love, lips hot on her neck. Her pulse is still strong, and it lures out his fangs, something inside of him begging to turn her seconds ironclad.
His stomach drops.
He shouldn’t.
“Leonardo?” Leanna asks, turning onto her back to better see him. He’d rather she didn’t. “Why so early?”
He can’t.
“It seems your pull on me is stronger than expected, cara mia. Couldn’t help myself.”
Crow’s feet appear around her eyes as she smiles, and she is just as radiant as when he’s first met her. Leonardo cups her face, his thumb stroking the dark circles underneath her eyes. How very selfish of him to disturb her rest; as if to apologise, he kisses her forehead, to then draw her against his chest, their limbs tangled as they strive not to fall off the piece of furniture he generously calls “his bed”.
“Hey!” she protests, but without any real spirit behind the sentiment.
“Five more minutes,” Leonardo murmurs against the crown of her head. Five more minutes is reasonable. That much he is allowed. His eyes close to shut off any hesitation, the warmth pressed against his heart lulling him into the most pleasant of temporary dreams.
Days turn into weeks, which in turn become months, years, decades… No more than decades. Leonardo runs his hands over the duvet to smooth any folds in it, rather unsure whether his life hasn’t been just a particularly long nap. It hasn’t felt real for a good while. The door to their bedroom opens, and Leanna joins him with an armload of fresh linens.
“Laundry duty?” he asks.
“Laundry duty,” she echoes, rather tired by the looks of it. “Sebastian said there was no room left in the closet and that we should store them here. Open the chest for me? I can hardly see where—”
The globe – his favourite – spins just as his world does, slamming against a stack of books right when his back hits the floor. Leonardo tries to look around, but a fallen sheet obscures his vision. A weight presses him down, a sharp elbow turning against his ribs, and after a moment he is no longer blind. Leanna peers down at him, her brows knitted together in a lovely frown. Spread half on the floor, half over his torso, she does not appear to be particularly pleased with the present state of affairs.
“I thought it was your favourite,” she remarks. “Weren’t you supposed to put it away? Three days ago?”
“Oh? So it wasn’t months this time. I told you, dolcezza, I would improve.”
“I should have left you below that bedsheet.” Leanna glares at him, but he can see amusement glimmer in the depths of her eyes. In either case, she averts her gaze soon enough.
“Well, we could still fix that.”
Her face turns towards him, surprise flashing though her features lightning-fast. That moment he, too, will cherish. Leonardo catalogues her expression in his memory to later sketch it out, and it is only the silver woven into her hair that worries him.
Time.
He needs more time.
It moves on too fast. He won’t be ready to let go.
“Cara mia!” Leonardo announces upon entering their bedroom. “I wound your watch.”
“Was it a nice walk?”
Leonardo sits on the edge of their bed – a proper one, for the old couch has long proved to be insufficient. Leanna lay on her back, snow-white hair spread over an equally pristine pillow, eyes expectant, dim, yet not fully devoid of light. Wrinkled as they may be, her hands still belong to her, and he craves them all the more now that they are approaching the end. Leonardo entwines their fingers. He hasn’t changed, aged for even a second, never mind a day.
“Yes. Next time, I will carry you along.”
“People are going to think I’m your grandma. Again,” she complains, although with a hint of humour in her tone.
“Let them think whatever they want.”
“There is no other choice.”
Silence falls, heavy and too thick to swallow. Leonardo shuffles his feet against the carpet; if he wanted to, he’d distract her with another story or play for her until his fingers grew numb. Perhaps that would be the right thing to do, however, he stalls.
“Soon—”
“We’ll start again,” he assures, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. “I won’t stop looking until I meet you again, Leanna.”
***
Leonardo lacks a compass or a map, the path he seeks remaining stubbornly uncharted, obscured even from his very own eyes. Minutes have become a century and a half, the memories of affection now bitter-sweet, the rotten heart in his chest still daring to instruct his actions. Leanna is gone. Has been for a long, long while. Yet… Yet that ridiculous, wretched organ holds an eternal hope. Leonardo clutches his suitcase to then set it down on the conveyor belt. Onto another country. This time, this time surely, he will find her.
Cheap airlines have never been the height of Leonardo’s dreams, but it is what the moderate remains of le Comte’s fortune can afford him. The digital age has not been particularly kind to their kin — one can only transfer assets so many times without raising any suspicions, although the word has it Queen Elizabeth XVIII of England has tasted the eternity. One day, Leonardo will have to pay her a visit and inquire about that personally; currently, however, he has more pressing matters to attend to. A child seated beside him breaks into a healthy cry. The plane takes off. Five hours to go.
Four and a half.
Three and three quarters.
Three…
Two.
One and a half.
One.
A half.
A quarter.
Ten minutes…
At last, the plane lands, and it takes all of Leonardo’s patience not to burst through the emergency door. None of his ploys have worked, all his genius rendered fully inconsequential in the face of inaccessibility of the MelonNana TV channel. Nevertheless, he is tactful enough to exit it as a normal person would, even going as far as to collect his luggage. His looks must have alerted the taxi driver. The man doesn’t strike a chat. That suits Leonardo just well, his head turning towards the window, although he can hardly see the buildings they pass. They stop in front of his hotel sooner than he would have expected.
The reception, his suitcase hitting the floor, the rustling of the bedsheets as he drops among them, all thoughts fade out of his head. Leonardo closes his eyes. A cat nap wouldn’t hurt, but the persistent meowing outside pounces on his consciousness whenever it is about to dissipate and release him into the ether. His brow furrowed, Leonardo gets up to his feet and walks up to the window. He glances out of it, but he cannot see anything. He grabs the handle.
“Meow!”
A cat looks at him from the ground, its black fur shimmering in the setting sun. Red ribbon tied around his neck, it holds its chin high, golden eyes filled with pure, unfiltered disdain.
“Hey, you there! Tone it down a little, hm?”
“MEOOOW!”
“Some of us are trying to sleep.”
“ROOOWR!” The cat bristles. “MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!”
Leonardo runs his hand down his face. His options are numbered, so… He takes a note out of Dazai’s book and leaps out the window. The creature doesn’t seem affected. It simply begins to walk away.
“You’re a rather cold furball.”
The cat glances over its shoulder.
“If you don’t like that, you should change your attitude.”
The cat takes a few steps. Again, it looks over its shoulder. Leonardo needs no further instruction – he follows after the pet.
They cross busy, four-lane roads, march through bridges, cross all sorts of neighbourhoods (some more than once). Leonardo has begun to question his sanity, however, a part of him enjoys the walk. The watch he’s been ordered to take care of also appears rather pleased, the mechanism inside of it heating from excitement. Sweet ragoon creeper climbs up fences and walls.
“Where are you taking me, gattino?”
The cat opts to remain silent, as per its right.
The door to a building opens as a man exits onto the street; seizing the opportunity, the cat plunges inside. Leonardo stands still on the pavement for just a moment. He looks up to investigate the sign.
BLACK CAT
It tells him precisely nothing, but he does enter the establishment.
Dark eyes settle on him the moment his foot passes the threshold. The watch on his wrist stops together with his heart.
“How may I help you?” Leanna asks from behind the counter, the black cat stretching besides the register. She is exactly as he has remembered her, from her tired eyes, to the charming air of awkwardness, and her dearly beloved hands.
“Scusa… I followed the cat,” Leonardo blurts out after a short while.
Her eyebrows shot up at the remark. “It’s a coffee shop, sir.”
“One espresso then.” Leonardo sits down in the nearest chair. “What’s the name?”
“I’m Leanna.”
He smirks at her. He’s known that much for far longer than she has. “I meant the cat.”
“Lux.”
Light. Yes, the light has returned.
🙀🙀🙀
Dear Rina,
As you know by now, you were my giftee. I hope you like the story I've prepared and that I did Leanna justice. I gave it my all.
Truth be told... When it was greenlit that I would prepare something for you, it made me really happy. Sure, sure, I joke that I'm your fangirl, but it isn't wholly incorrect -- I do appreciate you a lot as an artist and a person. So... >:) In a way, this is also a revenge story for all the nice things you've made for me.
Keep warm,
Lorei
PS
I had to read Leonardo's route specifically for this story and I was so uncertain about my characterisation choices I ended up asking 5 people to verify them -- so I owe major thanks to Shao-wei @youngshaowei1991, Venulus @venulus, Chisa @cheese-ception, Lily @pond-lilies, and Eli @cottonfluffballofdoom.
Have a laugh at how bad I overthought things, please, hahaha.
A sketch of a scene from the ikevamp stage story sale :)
They said a lot more in between but I had to cut down bc space 💖
Honestly spent wayy too much on the story sale but thats ok bc the story was worth it! They rlly showcased more characterization and since Leo is my fav, I rlly cherish more content on his character 💖
Ikemen Vampire but instead of a dating sim it’s a 90s sitcom because the idea of 10+ historical figures from different time periods and countries living together as vampires in a mansion with a human guy as their butler in 18th century Paris is already crazy enough
