(POV: Ethan)
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The thing about Leo is that he's like a human version of one of those mystery boxes you find in RPGs.
Looks unassuming on the outside. But open it up, and suddenly you've got a magic sword, a taxidermied ferret, and a letter from the Queen of England.
What I'm saying is—every time we think we've finally figured out Leo Arclight, the universe just decides, "Nah. Let's throw in another plot twist."
Case in point: this one rainy evening.
We were all holed up in Ava's living room, procrastinating on life as usual. Sophia was scrolling through job listings because she had decided that she needed "more real-world experience" or, in her words, "money for more iced lattes."
"Why do they all want experience when I don't have any?" she groaned, flopping dramatically onto the beanbag. "It's like—hello, I can breathe, isn't that enough?"
Ava nodded. "That's capitalism, babe. They want you to be twenty-one with fifteen years of work experience and three degrees."
I was halfway through texting memes into the group chat when Sophia suddenly sat up and pointed her phone at Leo. "What about you? You've had a job before, right?"
Leo looked up from his book like a vampire who'd just been asked about his dental plan. "…Which one?"
Ava blinked. "Which one?"
Leo shrugged, as if we'd just asked what he ate for breakfast. "I've worked at a few places."
Sophia narrowed her eyes. "Define 'a few.'"
Leo paused. "Seven?"
Silence.
SEVEN.
Ava looked personally offended. "You just became twenty."
Leo looked thoughtful. "Eight, if you count the online one."
I dropped my phone. "You've had EIGHT jobs?!"
Leo nodded.
I physically needed to lie down.
Sophia grabbed her phone again. "Name them. All of them. Right now. Go."
Leo didn't even blink. "Library assistant, data entry clerk, barista, night shift cashier, private tutor, IT intern, receptionist—"
Ava cut in. "Back up. Receptionist?"
Leo nodded.
Sophia choked. "You?! Mr. Emotionless Energy, greeting people?!"
Leo, calmly: "They said I was very professional."
I had to press my knuckles to my mouth to stop from howling. "What did you even do?"
"Answered calls. Scheduled appointments. Managed the front desk. Filed things."
Ava: "You hate phones."
Leo: "I wore headphones."
Sophia gaped. "YOU HAD A SYSTEM."
Leo: "It worked."
Ava was now pacing in the room like a conspiracy theorist. "Okay, okay. Let's break this down. When was the first job?"
Leo leaned back. "I was sixteen. Library job."
"Sixteen?!" I shouted. "I couldn't even remember to brush my teeth at sixteen!"
He tilted his head. "That's concerning."
I glared. "Don't deflect."
Sophia leaned forward. "Wait—what did you do at the library?"
Leo paused. "I shelved books. Helped with inventory. Occasionally ran kids' reading sessions when the librarian was busy."
Sophia blinked. "Wait… you read to children?"
Leo nodded. "They liked when I did voices."
Ava dropped her phone. "YOU DID VOICES?!"
Leo, deadpan: "The Gruffalo demands presence."
I curled up into the nearest couch pillow. "This isn't real."
Sophia tapped her screen furiously. "Wait—how long were you at each job?!"
Leo considered. "A few months each. Sometimes longer."
Ava looked at him like she was discovering a new cryptid. "And how did we never know?!"
Leo blinked. "I worked nights. Weekends. Holidays."
I pointed at him. "You worked on holidays? While the rest of us were eating cake and ignoring our relatives?"
Leo nodded. "Cake's still there when you get home."
I facepalmed so hard I think I saw stars.
Leo continued like he hadn't just obliterated our sense of reality. "Then came the data entry job. It was remote. Boring. But I got to listen to music while doing it."
Sophia tilted her head. "What kind of data?"
Leo: "Mostly survey results. Typing numbers into spreadsheets."
Ava: "That sounds… miserable."
Leo: "It was calming."
I blinked at him. "You and I have very different ideas of 'calming.'"
He nodded like that was the most natural thing in the world.
"And then?" Ava prompted.
Leo thought for a second. "Then the barista gig."
Ava raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that makes sense. You know way too much about coffee."
Leo shrugged. "It was a busy café. The owner liked experimenting with beans. Once we had this citrus-infused roast that almost caused a riot."
Sophia gasped. "Why?"
Leo looked deadly serious. "It tasted like orange soap. People were angry."
I couldn't breathe.
Leo: "I learned a lot about customer service that week."
Leo, casually sipping coffee: "And sometimes got tipped for the work." Wait when did he get the coffee.
Sophia looked up sharply. "Wait. You got tipped?!"
Leo blinked. "Yeah. Regulars left good tips."
"Next?" I prompted, even though my brain was already short-circuiting.
"Night shift cashier," Leo said. "At a 24-hour convenience store. That one was… eventful."
Ava leaned in. "How eventful?"
Leo: "A man tried to buy frozen peas, a can of whipped cream, and six AA batteries at 3 a.m. while wearing a banana costume."
We all stared.
Leo continued. "He told me he was on a quest. I said 'good luck.' He nodded and saluted."
Sophia muttered, "This sounds like a fever dream."
Sophia leaned forward. "What was the weirdest job?"
Leo thought for a moment. "Probably the private tutoring."
Ava raised a brow. "That doesn't sound weird."
Leo shrugged. "The student was thirty-two. Wanted help passing a high school equivalency exam."
"Oh," Ava said.
"…And also made me help him write fanfiction."
Sophia choked on her soda. "EXCUSE ME?!"
Leo nodded. "He paid extra."
I stared into the void. "I think I need to sit down."
"You're already sitting," Leo pointed out.
"Then I need to lie through the floor.".
Ava crossed her arms. "Okay, but you had to have a favorite job, right?"
Leo actually paused. "…The IT internship. They had good snacks."
Sophia stared. "That's it? That's your criteria?!"
Leo nodded. "I still have their coffee subscription."
I was stunned. "That's it. You've done more work than all of us combined. You're basically a business legend and none of us noticed."
Leo blinked. "You were busy with your YouTube channel."
I scowled. "Excuse me for trying to become an internet sensation."
Sophia had officially opened her sacred Leo's Nonsense List and was typing with purpose.
"Let's just review this," she mumbled. "Leo Arclight: librarian with a talent for voices, data ghost, coffee wizard, night-shift therapist, ghostwriter for fanfiction, IT guy with snacks, and receptionist of emotionless mystery."
Ava clapped slowly. "Add 'possibly mythical being.'"
Sophia looked up at Leo. "Anything else?"
Leo blinked.
Then looked away.
That was very suspicious.
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End of Chapter 28.