Chapter Text
Leo Kuga learned early that Claude Clawmark never did anything without a reason.
That was what made it so easy to forgive him.
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The First Time
It happened during planning.
Maps were spread across the table, weighted down with blades and half-empty mugs. Claude stood at the centre, chin resting on his knuckles, eyes sharp and calculating as he flicked his gaze between everyone present.
“We’ll split,” Claude said easily. “Seible, you’re with me. The rest of you take the eastern route.”
Leo blinked. Just once.
“Claude,” he said, not interrupting so much as testing the sound of his name in the air. “I can take point on the west side. It’s familiar terrain.”
Claude didn’t even look at him when he replied.
“No,” he said. “You’re better suited for defence. Seible’s faster, quieter. Makes more sense.”
Makes more sense.
Leo nodded, because it did. He was a leader, after all. Defence was important. Strategy mattered. Claude wasn’t wrong, he was never wrong about things like this.
Still, Leo felt it when Claude turned away from him, already discussing contingencies with someone else. The way the space beside Claude stayed empty. The way no one noticed Leo had stopped talking.
It wasn’t personal.
Leo told himself that as they broke apart.
It just… lingered longer than it should have.
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The Second Time
The second time hurt worse because it was quieter.
They were walking back late, long after the others had peeled off toward their own rooms. The halls were dim, footsteps echoing too loudly in the silence between them.
“Did you hear?” Leo said, trying to sound casual. “Apparently there was almost a double-cross during negotiations.”
Claude hummed. “Mm. I handled it.”
Leo frowned. “You did?”
Claude glanced at him then, just briefly. “Yeah. Sorted it out earlier.”
“With who?”
Claude shrugged. “Someone useful.”
That word again.
Leo slowed without realising it, just enough that Claude took a step ahead of him before noticing. When he did, he turned, brows lifting slightly.
“What?”
“You didn’t tell me,” Leo said.
Claude tilted his head. “I didn’t need to.”
It wasn’t cruel. That was the problem. Claude said it like a fact, like gravity or weather, something neutral and inevitable.
“I would’ve helped,” Leo said, softer now.
Claude smiled, charming and effortless. “I know. But it was easier this way.”
Easier.
Leo nodded, because again, it made sense. Claude liked control. Claude liked certainty. Claude liked choosing the quickest, safest route.
And Leo liked Claude, enough not to push, enough not to ask why easier never seemed to include him. They walked the rest of the way in silence.
That night, Leo lay awake longer than usual, staring at the ceiling and replaying the conversation over and over, searching for the exact moment he’d stepped out of line.
He didn’t find one. Which was worse. Because it meant Claude hadn’t chosen someone else instead of Leo.
He simply hadn’t chosen Leo at all