Stabbed Through The Heart

WHEN THE WORLD'S AGAINST ME

is when I really come alive

The worst day of his life had arrived. He'd thought it had already been and gone when Atticus' mum had died, but no. No. This was much worse. Waking up to see the announcements that morning had been pretty run of the mill. Make a coffee, have a quick shower, get Atti ready for the day, see your own name in the matches. Leo had nearly vomited. His stomach was coiled so tight he thought a few muscles had definitely snapped, and he had a headache from clenching his jaw. He did not want to be matched. Ever. He wanted to play around and have short flings for the rest of his life, never get attached to anyone ever again, and die alone. That was his grand plan. As long as Atticus was alright, he didn't care about love and marriage and settling down.

And Atti would not be alright. Not with this. How was he supposed to introduce some complete stranger into his son's world as a mother figure? She could be a psycho for all he knew, he didn't recognise the name of the woman he'd been matched with, but it didn't matter. He couldn't ruin his and Atti's lives by marrying a stranger, no matter what the ministry loons said. But then, he couldn't very well risk going to jail and leaving his kid fatherless, could he. He did the only thing he could think of, he took Atti to Izzy's place. She'd do something fun with him while Leo had some space to think, even just for an hour so he could sort his head out. Or at least try.

That's what he'd done. He'd sat on a park bench in the cold autumn air for an hour, freezing his butt off, and failed to sort his head out. He had no idea what he was going to do. There was no use sitting out in the cold any longer, it wasn't helping him, so he headed back for Izzy's flat to get Atti. Only, the ground shook as he stepped inside the building, and he rounded the hallway to see a fire burning outside the flat door. Panic surged through his chest and Leo ran to the door, barging it open and charging inside to find absolute chaos. Mina was standing in the middle of the room, wand raised, raining destruction down over the whole flat. One wall was gone, the fireplace was missing, and he was pretty sure she was about to bring the ceiling down. "Where is my son!?" he roared over the din.