Hi, anon! Thank you for your request :)
🍓: Last fic for my event!! :D It was my first time writing requests and I found it a bit challenging but also fun 💖.
Update/important note 4/22/23: MC!reader is gender neutral in all of the posts for this event
🍓: Here’s the masterlist to my event for those who may want to read the fics/check the fics out.
14. ❛ I knew you would be here. ❜
24. ❛ let’s go somewhere, just you and me. ❜
F. Leona picks you up after class
🍂 “I knew you would be here,” you teased, peeking outside the doorway of your last class of the day, Animal Languages. Everyone in your class, including Grim, had already left, but you stayed behind for a few minutes since Leona texted you that he’d come pick you up.
🍂 Leona leaned against the wall next to the doorway with his arms crossed, all casual-like as if he just happened to be there.
🍂 “It wounds me that you’d think I wouldn’t show up on time, herbivore,” Leona shot you his smug, easy-going grin, which grew into a genuine grin at the sight of you. “How was class?”
🍂 “Superrrrr boring,” you groaned as you walked out from your classroom. You took his hand and the two of you walked through the bustling hallway filled with students chatting about their weekend plans. “Professor Trein sure gets really passionate about cat languages. He spent the entire class time talking about that instead of the other animal languages we were supposed to learn. How was the dorm Magift practice?”
🍂 You noticed that Leona wore a thick brown coat over his short-sleeved marigold PE uniform shirt and black track pants. Strands of his dark-brown mane escaped from his loose ponytail and the side of his neck glistened with sweat. He must’ve come to pick you up straight after the practice, and the thought of that warmed your heart even more.
🍂 “Good, we made progress today,” Leona yawned, exhausted from the hardcore practice. Magift was a big deal to him, and the fact that his Savanaclaw members were improving was a testament to the members’ hard work and his leadership. “Though we still have a long way to go if we wanna win next year’s interdorm tournament.”
🍂 You used your free hand to wave back at fellow students who spotted you and Leona. “I bet you will. Are we going back to my dorm or your dorm?”
🍂 “Let’s go somewhere, just you and me,” Leona brought your hand holding his into his brown coat pocket to keep your hand warm as the two of you stepped out of the building. “The Botanical Garden’s closer and I need a nap.”
🍂 “Ok,” you gave his fingers a loving squeeze, to which he reciprocated with a gentle squeeze of his own.
🍂 A few minutes later, you and Leona stepped through the glass doors of the Botanical Garden. You felt transported back in time as you noticed that the current flowers and green plants in the garden retained the same colors and shapes despite the fall season, thanks to the NRC botanists and Science Club members.
🍂 Outside the glass dome of the Botanical Garden, the campus’s barren charcoal trees with barely-there orange and amber leaves of fall stood tall, contrasting the abundant plant life in the Botanical Garden.
🍂 Leona led you over to his secret spot just behind the giant viridian bushes. In a matter of seconds, the lion beastman already had his arms folded behind his head as he rested comfortably onto the soft grass.
🍂 “I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing the plants here until now,” Leona hummed, inhaling the familiar earthy scent of soil and the lighter floral scents of the flowers around the two of you.
🍂 You laid down next to Leona. His dark-brown bangs, still beaded with drops of sweat from practice earlier, fell over his eyes and clung to his forehead. You brought your hand up to brush the strands away from his forehead and eyes.
🍂 “Now that you mention it, we haven’t been here in a while,” you realized how the fall season kept you and Leona busy with schoolwork and individual extracurriculars.
🍂 The dropping temperatures of autumn and the occasional rainfalls in recent weeks which signified an incoming change to winter also kept you and Leona indoors more, so there weren’t many chances to visit the Botanical Garden as much as the two of you did during spring and summer.
🍂 “We haven’t gone anywhere outside of school lately,” Leona mused, wrapping an arm around your waist as you rested your head on his chest.
🍂 You sighed in content, hearing his heart’s steady beats and the gentle vibrations of his breathing that rumbled through his chest. With the peacefulness of it all, Leona closed his eyes to take a nap. “We should go out for dinner tonight,” you suggested.
🍂 “It’s freezin’ outside,” Leona cracked an emerald eye open, grimacing at the thought of going out in the cold weather.
🍂 “You’re right,” you twirled a strand of Leona’s mane with your finger. “Maybe we should stay in at Savanaclaw tonight. Order a pizza?”
🍂 “Sounds good to me,” Leona mumbled, planting a kiss onto the top of your head. “Half Meat Lover’s for me, half (your favorite pizza topping) for you?”
🍂 “You got it,” you reached up to kiss the tip of his nose. You then shifted off of Leona to lay parallel next to him on the grass. “I can’t wait for spring to come so that we can travel to more places.”
🍂 “What places do ya have in mind?” Leona inquired as the two of you tipped your eyes and chins up to watch the burnt-orange and lavender sunset turning into a ebony-purple sky outside the Botanical Garden’s transparent glass dome.
🍂 “I really want to go to that famous restaurant at Port Jubilee known for its gumbo and beignets,” your eyes sparkled at the thought of getting to travel more throughout Twisted Wonderland with Leona. “And then there’s the floating lanterns festival in that small kingdom in the Land of Pyroxene…”
🍂 Leona listened as you continued to list all the places you wanted to travel to with him. His eyes shifted from the sunset to focus on your starry eyes. Leona imagined all the sights the two of you would see in your future travels together, and how your eyes would sparkle even more at the new places the two of you had yet to explore.
🍂 He might call himself cheesy for it, but Leona loved seeing the world through your eyes. Maybe it was because you came from an entirely different world, but Twisted Wonderland seemed brighter, more beautiful—as if touched by your light—whenever you were by his side.
🍂 “…Leona?” your voice brought Leona out of his thoughts. Your eyes were now staring back into his. “Are you ok?”
🍂 “You looked so cute talking about the places you want us to visit together,” Leona smirked, still gazing at you. “I couldn’t help but stare.”
🍂 “Oh, you,” your cheeks warmed. Leona always knew how to make you flustered, even more so when you knew he was telling the truth. “Is there any place where you want to go, Leona?”
🍂 As a prince, Leona travelled to many countries in Twisted Wonderland for diplomatic or celebratory events with his family ever since he was a cub. However, there were still places throughout Twisted Wonderland Leona had yet to explore, and he wanted to explore them with you.
🍂 “Haven’t been to Port Jubilee yet, and I do want to check out that restaurant you were talking about,” Leona winked at you. “There’s also this city I haven’t been to yet known for their cutting-edge technology. Did ya know that they have marshmallow-like robots programmed to act as caretakers?”
🍂 “We should definitely go to the Port Jubilee restaurant for a special dinner someday soon,” you rested your head against the crook of Leona’s neck as his tail snaked around your leg. “That city you mentioned also sounds really cool. ‘Marshmallow-like robots programmed to act as caretakers,’ those sound so cute and efficient at the same time.”
🍂 You and Leona continued to lay on the grass in the Botanical Garden, surrounded by the abundant greenery as the two of you planned out your travels together for next year’s spring and summer.
🍂 Above you and Leona, a flock of birds traveling in a v-shape dotted the sky as they got a head start on their “vacation” to warmer places.
- The “city known for their cutting-edge technology” that has “marshmallow-like robots programmed to act as caretakers” is a reference I made to San Fransokyo and Baymax from Big Hero 6 hehe
- I also made references to Tiana’s restaurant “Tiana’s Palace” from The Princess and The Frog and the kingdom of Corona from Tangled ;)
🍓I don’t own any of the characters I mention or write about; they belong to their original and respective creators.
🍓All content on this blog is created by me, @thebettybook. Do not modify, claim, repost or translate my work onto this platform or any other platform.
🍓Reblogs are appreciated. Want to read Leona romance fluff? Check out my masterlist
