He does like cuddles!

"Growing up with Sunnydale Syndrome is really really bad."

"Growing up without it seems pretty bad too." 

"I think growing up without it is bad because you might get eaten, and growing up with it is bad because... everyone you know is constantly lying to you about basic things you see about reality?" Leo curls up. "I wonder what Lilith would have been like if she'd grown up with people who knew."

Sasha keeps petting him. "Cruel is cruel, plenty of regular humans manage to be sexual harassers and bullies." 

"I don't think being traumatized helps."

"I don't either. I just — keep thinking about Marlo, nine years old, being told his ankle couldn't really have been broken or it wouldn't already be healed and he'd been crying about nothing, and believing it — and it's hard to be sympathetic to Lilith when I look at him. 

I know not everyone can be Marlo but if you rape people because you think everyone's attracted to the fairy princess and they just need convincing I don't care how many times you've been told you were just wrong about reality." 

"Sorry." Leo summons up all his best ability to model humans. "You don't want me to wonder about why Lilith is the way she is because that feels like it's saying it wasn't her fault and it was her fault really? And she sexually assaulted you and cursed you? And the same thing that happened to Lilith happened to Marlo and Marlo isn't raping anybody and-- this is the part where I am confused--"

"— all of that, and also Lilith was specifically cruel to Marlo about things that had nothing to do with magic, so saying she's the way she is because of magic feels like it's incorrect and also like it's saying that didn't really happen." 

"Okay." Leo cuddles up to Sasha. "And I am the way I am because-- I want to understand people? People are very strange. They are the most interesting and complicated thing in the world, even more interesting and complicated than stop signs or popcorn. And I-- want to know why Lilith behaved the way she behaved. But I can wonder about that to myself if it makes you sad." His tail wags. "I'm very good! I care about things OTHER than making you happy." 

"...I think she told herself she cared about justice, but actually she just wanted to hurt people and found excuses for it. And I think if she'd been raised by people who understood, maybe it wouldn't have been justice, maybe it would have been some other thing, but lots of people do that and most of them are just humans. 

You are very, very good, it's true." 

"But fairies are made of Law. Wanting to hurt people just to hurt them is Evil, I am pretty sure. It is confusing. Maybe being around humans makes us more human?"

"Maybe." 

He's really, really tired. 

Leo pulls the blanket over Sasha's shoulder with his teeth. "Take a nap, we can talk later."

"Mmhm," he says, and sleeps. 

(He dreams of big green eyes that don't let him move — of nearly-black eyes he's floating in drowning in — of warm dark eyes that feel like home — of floating of falling of being held tight —) 

And when he's asleep Leo cuddles up to him and thinks about Lilith.

After a few hours he wakes up and immediately starts coughing again. 

"Is there something I can get you for the cough?"

"I don't know," he says, and drinks the rest of the koolaid, because Marlo will be worried if he gets home and there's still a mostly-full cup on the table. "Water would be nice, I guess." 

Leo gets Sasha to turn him into a human and fetches Sasha water.

Sasha drinks water and cuddles up to Leo. (He hadn't realized how cold he was until he had a human-sized body to cuddle.)

(The heat pours off of him.) 

"You're incredibly warm, I don't think humans are supposed to be that warm."

"I feel cold, actually." He wraps an arm around Leo's waist. 

"That's... weird. Maybe it's a curse thing? You're very warm but you feel cold?"

"It's a fever, humans get them sometimes when we're sick. I've had them before." He's under a blanket and cuddled up to Leo and he's still shivering. 

"What do I do?"