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So, this was autumn?
Chilly winds, pavements littered with crunchy orangey-brown leaves shed from deciduous trees and bushes, people wrapped up ever so warmly (fashionably too) and above them? A glowing salmon pink evening sky with thin light-tangerine dyed altostratus clouds stretching across the heavens, casting faint light downwards on the Earth that was succumbing to the effects of fall.
As X continued mulling over all that it was observing in the park that itself and its partner Leon were taking a leisurely stroll through, it could see now why its beloved had been so excited for the autumn season.
It was just as he had said, the world did feel like a completely different place. There was an atmosphere of blissful peace and serenity in the cold air, with strong earthy aromas from the park mixed in with the smell of smoke from back garden bonfires that people had made to drink cider by and toast marshmallows over with family and friends at their fall themed parties. It was a delightfully pleasant combination of smells.
X's thoughts were interrupted when Leon glanced up at the Tyrant with curious baby blues. "Is the fall what you expected it to be, big guy?" Then he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and resumed looking on ahead as the old Victorian street lamps dotted along the pavement began to turn on one by one.
In response to the question, X placed a hand on Leon's left shoulder, bringing him to a stop to get his attention. Making eye contact with one another, X gave two firm nods paired with a big smile, which Leon understood as 'Yes. I like the fall.'
With a grin, Leon placed his hand atop the gloved one on his shoulder. "I told you that you'd like it. It's my favourite season."
Before X could reply, Leon's attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere, somewhere towards the distance on his right. Looking over where its beloved was staring, X noticed a small metallic grey shed looking thing in the distance with a hole in the middle of it where an artificial light shone out and two signs near the bottom of it proudly stood. This grey thing was new, as new as autumn was to the Tyrant.
"You smell that, X?" Asked Leon in a voice filled with restrained excitement.
Now that Leon mentioned it, X could smell something it identified as... Freshly cooked food. X definitely knew this smell as Leon was always cooking in their home, and X enjoyed watching him. The Tyrant was still so fascinated by what big meals could be made from such small simple things like vegetables and pieces of meat. It didn't quite know how it all worked, but it was sure it'd learn in time because Leon was good at teaching it things, as good as he was at cooking and so many other things.
"X? Fancy going on over to that food kiosk and grabbing a pumpkin pie with me?"
As if Leon needed to ask! Leon could've asked X if it would come with him to the ends of the earth, and it would've agreed in a heartbeat!
Grasping X's large hand gently, Leon began to lead the Tyrant over the leaf covered ground to the food kiosk. X focused on the kiosk and wondered if the pies it offered were as big as Leon made them at home. Or if they'd have the same light brown coloring too.
Finally reaching the kiosk, the pair were cheerfully greeted by a middle aged man in a red and white apron. "Hello, gents, what can I get you? Everything here has just been cooked and is piping hot! This is my second batch of goods today."
The man continued to ramble as he went about gesturing to what he had on sale, and it made X smile internally. Leon liked to ramble as much as the man; sometimes he rambled about nice memories, sometimes about his interests, and other times he'd ramble about the most random stuff that came to his brilliant mind.
"Don't these look good, X?"
Leon raised his hand up, where on his palm sat a small pie in a round foil dish with steam rising from its golden crust. It did look good, and the little dollop of cream on top was a nice touch, but X decided that Leon's pies were superior.
With a single nod, X agreed with its partner, saying, 'It does look good.' With that single nod.
Pulling his hand away, Leon reached into his pocket with his free hand and put crinkly dollars totaling up to $3.99 on the counter. Leon received a hearty laugh after that, followed by a cheery "thank you!" As he and X walked away from the stall to continue their evening.
A hum of approval came from Leon as he took a bite of pumpkin pie. "S'very good." He managed to say before breaking a little piece of crust off with a small swirl of cream on top and offered it to the Tyrant with a curious, "wanna try a bite?"
Now, X had tried bits of foods before in the past, and it enjoyed a few things. But really, it didn't need to eat at all and almost all of the time it refused any food Leon wanted to give it as X didn't want its beloved wasting food his body actually needed. But the thought was nice, though.
"You'll like it, X. It's sweet. Got a few spices in like nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. You've tried cinnamon before, remember? You had a slice of cinnamon cake, and you loved it."
Ah, X remembered that cake. Leon had bought it as a suppertime treat for himself and ate slices of it off a plate from the comfort of his Tyrant's lap before deciding to share a slice with it. Leon shared nearly everything with X which made it feel wonderfully human.
Outstretching its hand to Leon, X watched as its beloved placed the broken piece of pie on its awaiting palm. Grey eyes stared at the crumbling piece for a moment, then X placed its hand near its mouth and took the piece.
It was surprisingly soft, creamy, and oh so sugary, with the spices as clear as day to taste as the piece all but melted in its mouth as it chewed slowly, savouring the flavour. The cinnamon was the most dominant spice it could taste, and it made X nostalgic for that aforementioned moment of Leon eating slices of cinnamon cake on its lap.
"Taste nice?" Enquired Leon before popping some more of the treat into his mouth.
'Very nice.' X eagerly nodded in confirmation, which earned it another offering of pumpkin pie from its beloved, a bigger piece this time, that it accepted without hesitation.
After a few more bites, the heavenly pie was gone, and the foil dish was discarded in a nearby bin. X could still taste the treat, as did Leon. "You know, X? I think I'll make some pumpkin pies sometime." His voice took on a rare soft tone, as soft as the look on his beautiful face that X simply couldn't keep its eyes off. "I also might make some gingersnap cookies, pumpkin cheesecake brownies, maple butter blondies, apple dumplings, and some caramel apples."
Leon chuckled to himself and slipped his hand into X's as he decided, "we'll have a little fall themed party. I'll invite Claire and Sherry over to have some food with us and join us in making a big bonfire in the backyard. How do you like the sound of that?"
In response to the question, X gently squeezed Leon's hand and smiled, nodding three times in excitement as it began to imagine the get-together in its head. It loved spending time with Claire and Sherry! As much as it did with Leon. Claire was so kind and bubbly towards it, and Sherry talked to it lots, hugged it lots too. X still couldn't believe how far it'd come with the two, who had originally been so scared of it. It was all thanks to Leon really that it'd come so far. Without him, it wouldn't have anything.
"X, I've just remembered what else we can do in the backyard."
Pushing aside its thoughts, X watched Leon curiously as he jogged over to a huge pile of fallen maple leaves swept up onto the grass a few metres away from the pavement they were walking on. Facing the Tyrant, Leon outstretched his arms to either side, and with a grin, he exclaimed, "we can do this!"
And with that... he fell backwards, crashing onto the maple leaf pile, making some dead leaves fly up into the chilly air.
Alarmed and worried, X stomped over to its lover and knelt down, outstretching a gloved hand to Leon for him to take so it could pull him up. But Leon, from where he lay amongst the leaves, simply cracked up, laughing loudly, while X just raised a nonexistent brow. It didn't understand why Leon was laughing. When humans fell, it was never a laughing matter!
"X, I'm alright." Reassured Leon, laying his head back against the pile comfortably as he rested his hands on his stomach. "Messing with leaf piles is just another autumn thing." He explained, closing his eyes as he sighed contently. "Some people kick the piles to watch the leaves scatter; others try to make the piles higher; some jump into them; and some do what I've just done and fall into them."
Feeling relieved at the fact that Leon wasn't hurt, X shifted and ever so carefully placed itself down next to Leon, peering down at him with a smile. Smiling back up at it, Leon murmured, "it's surprisingly comfy, isn't it?"
X agreed with a nod, then plucked a nearby leaf from the pile and examined it carefully, holding the stem of the leaf between its thumb and index finger as it slowly twirled it, taking in the orange colour and noting the intricate little veins spread throughout the leaf.
"You like it, huh?" Leon mused, admiring X from where he lay, as much as the Tyrant was admiring the maple leaf in its large hand. "Why don't you keep it?"
With that said, Leon took the leaf from X and reached up, sliding it with ease into the black band of X's fedora. "There." A mischievous smirk grew on Leon's lips as he purred. "I can't beLEAF how handsome you look with it."
X couldn't stop beaming at the overly cheesy pun. The lines Leon came up with were just so... Leon. And they would never fail to make it smile, no matter where they were or what they were doing.
Leaning down, X tenderly kissed Leon, saying all it wished to say with that one loving kiss. And what it wished to say, Leon understood perfectly because nobody knew X like Leon, and nobody knew Leon like X.
Breaking the kiss, Leon cupped X's cheek the best he could and gazed at it, finding it hard to speak for a few seconds due to how lovestruck he was. "Shall we go and see what ingredients we can grab for this party we have planned before the shops shut then?"
X simply took Leon's hand and helped him to stand, making it very clear that it very much wanted to shop around with its beloved for the party. All the while, the Tyrant's mind raced with scenarios of having a wonderful time with its dear Leon and its two friends, Claire and Sherry.
As the two made off for the shops hand in hand, X made a mental note to practice speaking again when it got home. Because it wished, more than ever in that moment, with its heart set alight by Leon, that it could look him in the eyes and tell him a long overdue, "I love you."