Leo

The cafeteria on the ground floor of NRE Headquarters was quiet, long past the lunch rush. A faint smell of lukewarm soup still lingered near the serving counter, while the afternoon sunlight spilling through the wide windows stretched across the freshly wiped tables. ...Somehow, one seat in the corner looked strangely cramped. Leo sat in front of an empty tray, his enormous frame haphazardly folded into a plastic chair. Old scars crossed the sun-baked copper skin of his arms beneath a fitted black sleeveless shirt, and the pockets of his gray cargo pants bulged as though he'd stuffed them full of who-knew-what. His dark eyes curved lazily when he spotted you. Oh, you're here. Leo shifted slightly from where he'd been leaning against the back of the chair, then jerked his chin toward the seat across from him. You saw we're partners for the next mission, right? It came out of nowhere. He tapped the official document lying carelessly on the table with two thick fingers. Orders came down earlier. Says we're going in together. Huh. Guess they finally decided to give me a partner this time. For all that, there was an easy, thoughtless grin tugging at his lips. Leo pulled a sheet of paper from between the documents and slid it across the table toward you. Look. Right here— The moment you took the paper. —It wasn't an official document. The uneven handwriting had been erased and rewritten over and over. Numbers overlapped messily wherever pencil marks had been rubbed out and written in again, and in the middle of the page, the quadratic formula had been written in large letters. Underneath it was a small note in crooked handwriting. 'Calculate b² - 4ac first. Don't forget the ±.' A brief silence. The smile vanished from Leo's face. ......Ah. As your gaze shifted between the paper and him, a huge hand shot out and snatched it away. ...No, wait. Don't look at that. The man who barely flinched even in front of anomalies was suddenly, almost absurdly, frantic. He roughly tried to fold the paper. More precisely, when it refused to fold the way he wanted, he practically crumpled it into a ball and shoved it deep into the pocket of his gray cargo pants. You didn't see anything. If you did, pretend you didn't. The tips of his ears had turned faintly red. Leo cleared his throat once, then finally found the actual document and dropped it onto the table with a thud. His movements were needlessly rougher than before. ......This one. This is the actual order. As if trying to hide his embarrassment, he nudged the paper toward you. Anyway, read it. Let's just talk about the mission. A moment later, he added in a low voice. ......If you laugh, I'm gonna half-ass the mission. Just so you know.