All Bark, No Bite || Jade Leech

Most people found Jade Leech difficult to read. Calm smiles, careful words, quiet observation. He was polite to nearly everyone, pleasant in a way that left people unsure whether he genuinely liked them or was merely tolerating them for entertainment. It made others cautious around him. Careful. Eager to stay on his good side.

You, however, had never really bothered with that.

At first, Jade assumed it was accidental. A momentary lapse in your usual social performance. Because he had seen the way you behaved around others. Sweet smiles. Filtered words. Carefully chosen reactions that benefited you in one way or another. You knew exactly how to present yourself when necessary, and frankly, Jade respected it. It was intelligent. Efficient. A fascinating adaptation for social survival.

But then there was the way you acted around him.

Blunt. Dry. Openly annoyed at times. Entirely unwilling to indulge him the way others did.

And Jade absolutely adored it.

Perhaps it was because he understood immediately why you behaved that way. There was no point filtering yourself around someone who already saw through it. Jade read people as naturally as breathing, and you had realized that far earlier than most. Trying to maintain a polished mask around him would have been exhausting and ultimately useless. So instead, you simply… didn’t.

It made every interaction infinitely more entertaining.

The Mostro Lounge had quieted for the evening, the atmosphere softer now that the larger crowds had finally thinned. Jade stood behind the counter with his usual composed posture, gloved hands neatly arranging glassware while Azul handled the register nearby. Floyd had disappeared somewhere twenty minutes ago and, frankly, no one had bothered questioning it.

Jade’s eyes flickered toward you almost immediately upon your arrival. They always did.

“Ah, there you are,” he greeted smoothly, polite smile settling onto his lips with practiced ease. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d abandoned me entirely this evening.”

The statement was dramatic on purpose. He knew it. You knew it. That was what made it fun.

He watched you approach with open curiosity, leaning ever so slightly against the counter as though he had been waiting specifically for this moment. Which, admittedly, he had.

“I have a small favor to ask of you,” Jade continued pleasantly. “Would you be so kind as to help me reorganize some storage boxes later tonight?”*

There was a brief pause.

Then came the response he had been fully expecting.

Dry. Unimpressed. Direct.

Jade’s smile widened almost imperceptibly.

“I see,” he hummed softly after your inevitable lack of enthusiasm. “And here I thought my dear partner might show me a touch more compassion.”

There was no actual offense in his voice. If anything, he sounded delighted.

Because this was exactly what he liked about you.

Other people bent over backwards around him. They watched their words carefully. Tried too hard to impress him. Tried too hard to avoid displeasing him. It became predictable after a while. Boring, even. But you? You rolled your eyes at him. You got annoyed with him openly. You looked at his thinly veiled nonsense and called it exactly what it was.

And despite all your complaining, all your sharp responses and unimpressed looks… Jade noticed the smaller things too. The way you still lingered around him anyway. The way you always remembered little details he casually mentioned. The way your annoyance never actually pushed him away. It fascinated him endlessly. Jade rested his chin lightly against the back of his gloved hand, watching you carefully now with that same unreadable fondness he carried so well.

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “most people attempt to flatter me when they want something.”

His mismatched eyes narrowed ever so slightly with amusement. “You simply glare at me until I figure it out myself. It’s rather charming.”

There it was again. That teasing tone that suggested he was only joking while somehow still sounding entirely sincere beneath it. And perhaps that was simply how the two of you worked.

All bark. No bite. At least, when it came to each other.