Hellooo. Here's a crossover between Teenage Baby and my other books! So basically it's Aaron and Leo interacting with characters from other books i've written :D

Characters and from which book they are:

• Leo, Aaron; Teenage Baby
• Nathan, Adelaide; The Play
• Aurelio (Elio), Leslie, Matt; Aurelio's Dilemma

Also make sure to add this book to your library/reading list so you can get a notification when i upload part 2!

Btw have fun and dont take this too seriously bc realistically all these characters cant actually meet 😅.

Bonus Chapter | Crossover (Part 1)

Nothing blew Aaron's mind more than Leo's fluctuating maturity.

At times Leo held himself together better than Aaron ever could, explained his current love/hate relationship towards the captors in an astonishingly reasonable manner, and handled triggers and anxiety and PTSD surprisingly well (unless related to his BAD scars).

Other times, however, Leo pouted and whined and complained endlessly because Erika got to be in the front seat.

Which was the current situation. 

With his left hand on the steering wheel, Aaron kept throwing glances at Leo through the mirror, and every time, Leo returned him with a glare. Aaron sighed. All the windows in the car were down, and the air blowing into his face pissed him off, but he knew he couldn't ask anyone to close them because it would make Nathan feel suffocated.

Nathan—a fellow kidnapping victim, gone through an entirely different type of pain, an entirely different situation, equally difficult if not more. Aaron knew him from high school, although they hadn't been friends at that time. 

"Erika," Aaron said, pointing to a bag of snacks. Erika understood, grabbed Leo's favorite out of the bag, the handed it to Aaron. Blindly reaching back, Aaron swayed it until someone took it from him. "Pass it to Leo."

Adelaide did—she was another victim in Nathan's case. After a few seconds, she leaned between the front seats and said to Aaron, "He says, 'No, thank you, Aaron,' and he specifically told me to stress your name."

Aaron bit his lip to force the smile off. "Tell him that if he actually had a full name I'd be using that too."

Silence, then, "He says that he doesn't have one, so joke's on you."

Aaron gave up; it was the best option with Leo. He'd cheer up sooner or later, as always. Aaron focused ahead; he drove between two green fields strewn with trees, on a bumpy road he hoped wouldn't destroy the tires. They were headed to a park. It was summer, midday, and there was fog. Aaron frowned at it. It hadn't been there a few minutes ago.

Erika reached over and grabbed his arm, alarmed. "Aaron... this fog..."

The conclusion had already set in for Aaron. "It's not fog. It's smoke," he said as he looked for a spot to park.

"Is it coming out of our car?"

"No, Erika. It's coming out of my ears."

Erika gave him a look. "Sarcasm in deadly situations? Nothing new, Aaron. Nothing new. Will you park now?"

Aaron cursed and swerved the car. Over Nathan and Adelaide's conversation, even Leo hadn't managed to notice the situation. So when Aaron parked by the sidewalk near a line of wooden fence guarding a field several acres wide, the three of them fell silent. Then there was chatter and confusion. Erika told them about the smoke situation and everyone sprang out of the car.

Except Aaron. Calmly he stepped out then made his way to the front, frowning at the car. Everyone stood further behind at a safer distance. When he lifted his hand to open the hood, someone grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

"Dude," Adelaide said. "Do you wanna die? Step back! We should call someone."

Aaron sighed. "Adelaide."

"Yes?"

"Do me a favor."

"Anything."

"Your hand." Aaron looked at her hand on his arm. "Off. Please."

Adelaide's expression fell flat, like she was disappointed Aaron didn't actually need her help. "As you like," she said, holding her hands up, surrendering to his pattern, "Your Highness."

Her voice dripped dry mockery. Aaron gave her an unamused look in return. Stepping closer, Leo tapped Aaron's arm, his eyes skipping from Adelaide to Aaron.

"What does that mean?" Leo asked. "Your Highness? Why did she call you that?"

"Explain to him, Adelaide. What does it mean?"

"Uh..." Adelaide laughed awkwardly. "It's basically the way they you used to talk to kings and queens..."

"Oh," Leo said. "So you think Aaron is a king?"

Adelaide's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "No..."

"You think he is a queen?"

"Gosh, no, Leo! It was a joke! I didn't mean it literally. I was messing with him." When Leo only kept giving her an confused look, Adelaide twisted just enough so she could glance at Nathan. "Nate!" she called. "Help! I put myself in another awkward situation..."

Aaron glanced at Nathan; he walked closer, grinning, confident he could resolve this situation. "The best way to get out of an awkward situation," Nathan said as he stood next to Adelaide, "is to make it weird."

"Ingenious," Aaron said.

Adelaide glanced at Nathan. "Never mind, Nate. Don't--"

"Did you know—"

"No! Nate! Stop! No one wants to know one of your weird facts!"

"—that a female praying mantis eats the male's head while they're mating, then stimulates his nerves to make him continue fertilizing her even after he's beheaded!"

Adelaide shook her head. "I'm sorry, guys. I couldn't stop him. He just keeps doing that."

"What's a praying mantis?" Leo asked, his eyes skipping between Aaron and Nathan. "Huh? What's a praying mantis?"

"It's an insect," Nathan said. He smiled, poking Adelaide with his elbow. "You're welcome. They won't give a shit about your awkwardness now that they have this image in their head."

No, really.

It worked.

Aaron let out a sigh, then looked at Nathan with an annoyed expression. "Now tell me, you clever, clever boy," he said. "How the hell am I supposed to get this image out of my head?"

"I can replace it." Nathan grinned. "With an even more fucked up—"

Aaron's eyes widened, and he glanced over his shoulder at Leo for a second. "Don't say that word in front of Leo!" he whisper-yelled. "He has a habit of repeating almost everything he hears. Watch your mouth. Please."

Nathan nodded. Erika approached them and pointed at the car. "So... we're just gonna chill here while this car might explode?"

"It won't explode." Aaron turned and focused on the engine compartment again. He'd already noticed that one of the caps was unscrewed—the one that stored water, and it had evaporated from the heat. "We just need water." He tapped the loose cap. "Gotta refill this."

Everyone was silent. Leo peeked at the engine compartment over Aaron's shoulder, trying to understand what the problem was. Nathan opened the front door and reached in to grab water, but he came out empty-handed. "We don't have any left," he said.

Adelaide didn't look convinced. "Aaron... Are you sure that's how you fix it? Dunno... Messing with this stuff sounds dangerous to me."

Erika raised a playful brow. "Don't question our mechanical engineer's skill."

"Aaron's a mechanical engineer?"

"Student," Aaron said.

"Why in the world would you do that to yourself?"

Aaron frowned. "What?"

"First an abusive father, then you get kidnapped, and now you ask for more torture by studying a major that's notoriously difficult?" Adelaide said. "I mean... good luck with it and I'm sure you'll be a great engineer... But if I was you, I'd want to do absolutely nothing for a very long time."

"Girl," Erika said. "Are you shaming him for still having passion?"

"Oh my gosh, no! I-I'm just surprised he still has enough energy after everything he went through. Which is a good thing! Unless... unless he's pushing himself too hard. That would be terrible. But he's not doing that! So it's alright! I mean, at least I hope he's not—" Adelaide stopped herself and let out a nervous breath. "I'm just gonna stop talking now..."

Erika stared at Adelaide, then Aaron, then Adelaide again. "Adelaide... You just gave me something to worry about."

"I'm not pushing myself too hard," Aaron said. "I'm fine. And I love my major, even if it's stressful. Last time I saw engineering students literally launch small rockets they built for a project. It was so cool!" He smiled. "I hope I get to do that too at some point."

Adelaide opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment chatter and laughter echoed behind them. Aaron craned his neck to glance back, and he found three teenagers—two boys and a girl—strolling along the sidewalk, one of them carrying a picnic basket.

The three slowed once they approached Aaron's car, and they quieted down, observing the situation.

The girl was the first to speak. "Is there anything we can help with?" She glanced at the open hood of the car.

Aaron looked at the picnic basket in the hand of the boy with dark hair and dark eyes. He looked like he'd drop and sleep on the ground if someone accidentally pushed him.

"If you have water," Aaron said. "We need to refill this." He pointed at the loose cap.

The black-haired girl tapped the boy carrying the basket on his arm, trying to grab his attention. "Elio?" she said. "Let me just grab a water bottle for them." He barely responded by tilting towards her so she could reach into the basket.

Elio.

Elio was staring at the car like it was a demon.

Aaron looked at him and patted the edge of the car. "Fascinating invention, huh?"

Elio snapped out of his daze, and he blinked at Aaron for a moment. "Nah," he said. "Stupid one. Horses were better."

Aaron pursed his lips. "Um. I guess for the environment, yeah, maybe."

"That's not what I meant," Elio said. "It's just that if cars didn't exist, I wouldn't have a huge problem in my life right now."

"You'd have an alternative problem," Aaron said.

Elio frowned apprehensively at first. Then he looked at Aaron again. "Well, now I feel even more depressed. Thanks."

"It's... It's actually supposed to make you feel better," Aaron said. "Instead of thinking about how things could have been better, try to imagine that things could have actually been much, much worse." He shrugged. "I don't know. That's how I comfort myself."

"Huh," Elio said. "That's kind of true. Maybe I should start comforting myself like that too."

The girl rummaging through the picnic basket finally came out with a water bottle, and she approached Aaron to hand it over. Just when he reached to grab it, she pulled it back, frowning instead, inspecting his face.

"Have I seen you somewhere?" she asked. "Your face's a bit familiar."

Oh, God.

Aaron shook his head. "Don't think so." He took the bottle and quickly turned to face the hood of the car again, filling the water compartment.

"I...No, I'm sure I've seen you before." Her voice slowed, apprehensive. Then she gasped and snapped her fingers. "Oh, oh, I remember! You're—oh my God." Twisting, she scanned the place. Aaron knew she was looking for Leo now. She had probably recognized him from that one interview he'd done about the kidnapping case, and Leo from the articles explaining his situation. "That's Leo, that boy who grew up in a... I read all about his case." She closed her mouth, catching herself, stopping the ramble. Then, she looked at Aaron and gave him a stiff nod.

With a sincere voice, she said, "I'm sorry about what you two went through. I hope you're better now." Then she turned away and went back to her friends.

Elio and the other boy were staring at Aaron, like they hadn't recognized him until the girl pointed it out. When she rejoined them, they leaned in to whisper something.

Aaron tsked. "Make it a little more obvious, why don't you?"

Startled, Elio and the girl stopped talking and quickly averted their eyes. The third one did the same a few heartbeats after them. In this direction, they ended up facing Leo, who was looking at Nathan, probably trying to figure out why Nathan kept wrapping a rubber bracelet around his finger, then unwrapping it, the wrapping it again. This boy just couldn't stop fidgeting for a millisecond.

Aaron sighed nervously. No one had ever recognized him like this girl had, mostly because the case hadn't exactly blown up. During the interview, he'd revealed minimal information, reducing the entire situation into three psychopaths who believed he was their little child. He hadn't delved into the details of how they had treated him. Especially anything related to Cara.

Thankfully, the family picture they took during his captivity never got leaked, so no one could see the extent of the humiliation. There's no reason to panic, Aaron desperately told himself. They don't know about the details. They don't know what actually happened.

When Leo noticed Elio and his friends, he left Nathan and moved closer to Aaron. He stared at the three teens with a mix of curiosity and wariness.

"Elio," Leo mumbled beside Aaron while looking at Elio, observing him, inspecting his face. "Elio has brown eyes, Aar." He turned to Aaron. "They look like—"

"Leo," Aaron said.

"—chocolate." Leo smiled. "What did you think I was gonna say?"

"Was he about to compare my eyes to the color of shit?" Elio asked, and there was a bit of humor in his voice. Completely unoffended. He had definitely heard about Leo's case too, otherwise he would have been a lot more weirded out.

"...No."

The small, polite smile on Elio's face made Leo feel more comfortable, and he relaxed a little beside Aaron.

"Your name sounds a little like my name," Leo told Elio. Elio nodded. Glancing at the girl and the other guy, Leo pointed at them. "What are their names?"

"Matt and Leslie."

Leo pinned them with a long look. Leslie passed him a gentle smile, but there was an eternal scowl on Matt's face.

"You frown a lot," Leo said as he looked at Matt. "Like Aar."

Matt blinked at Leo.

"Your eyes are the same color as mine," Leo continued describing Matt to Matt, then he glanced at Nathan and pointed at him for a second. "And you have dimples like Nate. But Nate has only one." Aaron raised his eyebrows, surprised by Leo's observation. He hadn't even noticed that about Matt. "Why do you have two?"

Matt shrugged. "Dunno. Genetics."

"It's like you have holes in your face."

"Okay."

"I don't understand what genetics is."

"Okay."

Leslie was standing next to Matt, and she smacked his arm. "You don't have to be so dry, idiot," she whispered. Matt side-eyed her, then he returned the smack, and they glared at each other.

Leo stared a little longer at Matt. With that stiff, unwelcoming posture and reserved frown, Matt clearly wouldn't tolerate Leo's prodding for too long, so Aaron figured he'd distract Leo before Matt would flip out.

But he didn't have to; Leo lost interest in Matt on his own, and he cut his gaze to Leslie instead. Leslie waved him at him. "Hi," she said with a welcoming voice, and like Elio's smile, she managed to encourage Leo into taking a few tentative steps towards her.

Leo stared at her shoulder-length hair. "Same color as Aar's hair," he mumbled. He looked at her eyes, then he frowned, then his eyes widened, and then he stepped back, bumping into Aaron. Aaron was knocked back a tiny step, but he quickly steadied himself again and looked at Leslie, trying to understand Leo's reaction.

Oh.

She had green eyes.

Aaron didn't find green eyes particularly triggering because he'd seen a few throughout his life, but for Leo this color was distinctly Cara's.

"Did I do something?" Leslie asked, panic resonating in her voice as she looked at Aaron for guidance.

"No. Don't worry," Aaron said. He felt Leo's hand grapple for his, but Leo quickly pulled back again and looked around, searching for distraction while carefully avoiding Leslie's face.

Before Aaron could do something, Nathan was tapping Leo's shoulder. Leo looked up at him, then he stared at the prescription eyeglasses he was holding out.

"What?" Leo mumbled, still sounding a little disoriented.

"Try them on."

Leo looked so incredibly confused while Nathan handed him his glasses.

"Nathan," Aaron said. "I understand what you're trying to do, but I wouldn't give him--"

"Shush," Nathan said. "You just relax and let me handle this."

Aaron made a face. "Don't tell me to relax," he muttered.

"Okay. Aaron, don't relax. Be tense. Better?"

"Yeah," Aaron said. "Better."

Nathan laughed. "Dude. You remind me of cats."

Cats?

Nathan turned towards Leo again, watching him fiddle with his eyeglasses, touch the lens, then the frame. Nathan reached over and guided Leo into putting it on. "Ever worn one?" he asked.

"Hey," Leo said, perking up. "I can see better!"

Aaron recoiled. Nathan raised a brow at Aaron with a boyish grin, then gave his shoulder a pat. Aaron frowned at his hand.

"You're welcome," Nathan said. "Now you know Leo needs to see an optician. I'm just useful like that."

Leo took the glasses off and handed them back to Nathan. "Optician. I know what that means. Eye doctor," he mumbled to himself. "I hate doctors. One time they put a tube in my nose to make me eat. It was so uncomfortable and it made my nose burn." He shuddered as he remembered the feeling. "They wouldn't let me take it off. I cried a lot."

Aaron looked at Leo with sad eyes. He hadn't been there. He hadn't been there to help Leo through that. The two years they spent apart... They must have been torture for Leo. Leo rarely ever spoke about that period, so this random piece of information he threw about the feeding tube broke Aaron's heart.

Leo noticed Aaron's expression. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel sad for me," Leo said. "It's okay now. It's all water under the table."

"Water under the table?"

"It's a saying. I heard it from someone, but I forgot who."

Aaron chuckled. "You forgot how to say it too, Leo. It's water under the bridge, not table."

"Oh..."

Leo shrugged, then turned and focused on Elio, and Aaron could tell something was on his mind. A question, or an observation.

"So is she your girlfriend?" Leo asked Elio, pointing at Leslie without looking at her.

Elio blushed so fast it was comical. "N-No," he said. "I don't have—I mean, I have a girlfriend. But not Leslie, no."

"Oh. Okay." Leo bit the inside of his cheek. "Do you sit beside your girlfriend?"

"Um... Yeah. Why?"

"Did she get pregnant?"

Poor Elio could not stop blushing. "She's supposed to get pregnant if she sits beside me?"

"Yeah. That's how babies are made. My tutor told me."

"Oh."

Leo cautiously stared at Elio. "You believe that too?"

"Yeah," Aaron intervened to save Elio the embarrassment. "He does. We all do."

Elio glanced at Aaron, then nodded. Leo kept staring, brows creased, apprehensive. "I was thinking about it more and I don't think it's true," Leo said. "I think my tutor was lying. You know why?"

Elio shook his head.

"Because if it was true, Erika should have been pregnant a long time ago. She sits beside Aar all the time!" Leo leaned forward, and he lowered his voice the slightest bit. "And they don't just sit beside each other... They kiss." Leo tapped his lip. "Here."

"They kiss?" Elio said. "Blasphemy."

Matt and Leslie cracked up quietly. Leo nodded vehemently, Elio's humor flying right over his head.

"Yeah," Leo said. "And—Wait. What does blasphemy mean?" Before Elio could even answer, Leo's hyperactive brain took over again. "How come sitting beside each other can make a girl pregnant, but not kissing? Makes no sense."

Elio nodded. "Agreed."

Leo glanced at Matt, as if intimidated by him, then looked at Elio again. "Is Matt married?" he asked.

Elio shook his head. "Um, no." He chuckled. "I think he's too young for that.

"So why is he wearing a ring, then?" Leo stared at Matt's hand, then gasped. "He has three rings! Not just one!"

Aaron subconsciously gazed at Matt's hands, and he caught sight of the black rings on three fingers. "Leo," Aaron said. "That's not a marriage ring. People can wear rings even if they're not married."

Leo nodded slowly while eyeing Matt's hand. "Oh. Can you give me one?"

"No, he can't," Aaron said, holding back his laughter. "I'll buy you one if you want, but I'm sure you won't ever use it." Leo could never ever in his entire life tolerate accessories, that was one thing Aaron was sure of. He always ended up taking them off and playing with them instead. That was probably why he wanted Matt's ring.

Leo stared wistfully one last time at the rings, then he turned and looked around for someone. Probably Nathan. For some reason Leo found him really, really interesting. Maybe because Nathan moved and talked too much, maybe because he was the only person with more restless energy than Leo.

Nathan noticed Leo, and he smiled at him. Leo stared back until Nathan gestured him closer, and then he pointed somewhere beyond the fence of the field behind them. Leo stared in that direction, and then he followed Nathan closer to the fence. Leo leaned his stomach against the fence, peeking into the field strewn with wild flowers and overgrown grass.

"Adelaide," Aaron said. She turned to him, shaking her head questioningly. "Please make sure Leo doesn't throw himself over the fence or stick his arm through it. He'll get stuck. I just gotta finish with the car first."

Adelaide nodded. "I should probably make sure Nate doesn't do that either," she said, chuckling. "Anyway, don't worry. I'll keep an eye on Leo." She joined Nathan and Leo near the fence.

Aaron looked at Matt and Leslie and Elio again, and he realized the bottle he used to refill the water compartment was still in his hand. "Oh, right. Thanks for the help," he said as he gave it back. Elio took it from him. Aaron faced the hood of the car, made sure everything was good, and closed the hood.

So now that this was over, Elio and his friends could leave, and Aaron would never see them again and he could stop thinking about what they knew about him.

"We should be good now," Aaron said, tapping the hood. "So if—"

"Aaron, uh..."

Adelaide's voice.

Aaron glanced back, and, of course, Leo's arm was stuck between the boards of the wooden fence.

*_*_*_*_*

I will be posting part 2 in about a week! If you have any specific scene/interaction you want to see, tell me about it and I'll try to incorporate into part 2! :)

Thanks for reading! I enjoyed writing this so much, and I hope you guys enjoyed it too 🥰