Chapter Text
Leon knows he's seen that jacket somewhere. He sits at Claire Redfield's apartment as she horks down a rather impressive sized piece of ice cream cake while watching a shitty action movie. It's one of his few and far between days off. One that he fought for with tooth and nail given the fact that it's Claire's birthday today and he's dead set on not missing any more of her birthdays. She has on her signature red leather 'Made in Heaven' jacket and Chris, who is standing over in the kitchen area getting his own abnormally large slice of cake, has on one that almost matches Claire's. It's a brown bomber with an angel instead of an angel with devil horns like Claire's, and it also sports 'Made in Heaven' in large lettering on the back. Leon swears he's seen it somewhere. Chris turns, catching his gaze and raising a brow at him. Then it hits him.
"The S.T.A.R.S. office." He blurts out loud which gets both Redfield's attention. He makes a face and rubs his arm sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just wondering where I recognized your jacket from Chris, and I finally remembered that I saw it in the S.T.A.R.S. office in the RPD." Chris smiles warmly.
"Do you like it? It's my favorite jacket."
"Yeah, thought it looked super cool then, still looks super cool now." Leon especially likes how Chris looks in it, but he decides against commenting on that, not sure if it'd make Chris uncomfortable or not given he doesn't even know if Chris is into men. "How'd you get it out of Raccoon City, or is it-"
"Thaat was me." Claire butts in. "I saw that someone had left it in his office and I thought, since the place was overrun by zombies that a certain someone might never get it back." She directs a pointed look at Chris and he makes a rather offended noise.
"In my defense I didn't know Raccoon City was going to get overrun by B.O.W.s! If I had known I most certainly would not have gone to Europe in search of Wesker. But at the time I thought it was safer for me to leave my jacket at my desk!" Claire just narrows her eyes at him and sticks her tongue out, then she turns her gaze back to Leon.
"Anyways, I grabbed it and took it with me, glad I did too because.. y'know. " She shrugs her shoulders up a little, expression becoming sad and a bit wistful. Leon feels the same emotion wash over him. It may have been over a decade ago now, but he'll never forget the feeling of seeing the city he was sworn in to protect go up in literal smoke. He hadn't even been living there yet, so he can't even begin to understand how much the loss of Raccoon City still haunts Claire and Chris. It was Chris's home and Claire's home away from home. They both knew the streets, the people, and they both had to see all of it reduced to nothing but ash and smoke.
"Well, I'm glad you saved the jacket, especially since it's Chris's favorite. I think it's neat that you both match!" Leon forces a smile onto his face trying to get the conversation back to a more playful tone. Claire shouldn't have to reopen old wounds on her birthday for fucks sake. Claire lets her lips uptick in a soft smile.
"Yeah, it's kind of our Redfield family tradition thing."
"Family tradition?" Leon cocks his head to the side curiously. Chris finally joins them on the couch, plopping down in between them with a sigh.
"Yeah, it was actually started by Claire being whiney." He chuckles, barely even reacting when said little sister smacks him in the ribs. "Our parents got me my jacket when I turned sixteen and Claire got super jealous. She kept trying to steal it from my closet so I ended up buying a lock for it. Then she threw a fit and our parents ended up giving her one for her ninth birthday."
"It was super big on me because they wanted to make sure I could grow into it." Claire smiles warmly hugging her chest. "I'm really glad they thought ahead… they even got their own and we wore them for family photos when we went on trips and holidays and then well…" She frowns slightly, then sighs. "Then when it was just Chris and me, we continued wearing them together every holiday or big event we celebrated. And now, it's just tradition."
"And we're most certainly going to continue it if we ever have kids." Chris adds on and Claire snorts.
"You mean if you have kids, I'm forever going to be the wine aunt with an indiscernible amount of cats and I'm gonna enjoy it." She laughs when Chris makes a face, bumping his elbow into her arm.
"Hey, unfair, I want to be an uncle just as much as you want to be an aunt."
"Yeah, but you got lots of women and men, might I add, who want to get in your pants on the daily. You have much higher chances than me of building a family."
"I do not."
"Do too, you're just too busy with work to notice."
"Do I?"
"Oh my- you know what, nevermind you clueless oaf. Hey Leon, how about you?" Claire leans forward to look past Chris and at Leon. Leon startles slightly, having been pretty entertained by just sitting back and watching the two banter.
"Wha?" He says eloquently.
"You got any Kennedy family traditions? We told you ours so now you gots ta spill yours." She looks at him in expectant excitement, almost bouncing. Leon tries to stop his face from falling into a deep frown but it's too late, watching as her face falls too, looking a bit concerned. He sighs and rubs his shoulder with his hand, very suddenly itching for some whiskey.
"Well I… not really. Unless you count seeing how fast I could dodge a vodka bottle on a friday evening as a tradition." He chuckles and then looks up and sees the horrified looks on both his friend's faces. Fuck. He did not mean to cause them to react like that. He's used to sharing trauma as half baked jokes and just having the people around him laugh it off awkwardly and step away from the subject. He puts up his hands. "It's okay though, I'm fine with not having traditions. Also the bottle never hit me, wasn't even thrown at me really, just at the wall." It had hit him, a lot, and it took him a while to develop the proper reflexes to dodge it, but they don't need to know that.
"Leon…" Claire begins softly, sounding horrified.
"Really guys I'm fine, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even brought it up, it was a stupid joke, let's just continue on watching, uh, whatever this movie i-" Then he's being pulled into Chris’s arms and he stiffens. Claire joins the hug too and Leon isn't really sure what to do. He doesn't get a lot of hugs, nor does he give them. He feels small sparks of panic dance through him for a few seconds before his body finally relaxes into the warmth of the two sets of arms around him. He slumps a little and shakily wraps an arm around Chris and an arm around Claire.
"I really am okay." He says softly. "It's been a long time, and I'm not that fragile."
"You most certainly aren't fragile, but you're human." Chris pulls away first, looking at Leon, gaze gentle, filled with emotions Leon can't quite get a proper read on. "And stuff like that can really mess you up, especially after you pile on the non-stop hell we've locked ourselves into for years now."
"If you ever need someone to talk to about anything, Leon, Chris and I are here." Now Claire's looking at him with a small worried smile. "You don't have to say anything now, or ever, I just want you to know that we both will always give you a shoulder or an ear if you need it. You're like family to us y'know? The other big brother I never had." She smiles a little wider and Leon feels something in his chest twist. He feels warm, he feels safe. He relaxes completely and cracks a little smile.
"Thank you, I'll think about it... For now, could we just watch whatever the hell this movie is and get back to celebrating your birthday? I'd much rather not take the spotlight from you on today of all days."
Claire nods and snorts, pulling away completely, her mood doing a one eighty. Probably to make Leon feel better, but he doesn't let himself dwell on it.
"Oh Leon, dear sweet Leon, you'll never take the spotlight from me." She flips her hair dramatically.
"Oh I'm not so sure about that, I mean look at him." Chris says good-naturedly, gesturing to Leon. "The guys basically a model and he's got the agility of an olympic gymnast!" Claire pouts and Leon feels his face heat up a little. It isn't like he hasn't heard that before, but from Chris…
"I mean yeah, he's drop dead gorgeous and he's a better shot than the both of us. He's the ultimate threat, but I'm… wait shit I got nothing, oh well."
"I'm right here you know." He says dryly, trying to play it off like he didn't just go through a whirlwind of emotions. "But, thank you Chris, I'm flattered. Also don't sell yourself short Claire, even if you are." It takes a second, but then the joke registers and Chris snickers and Claire gasps.
"I can't believe this! Calling me short, on my own birthday! Leon you utter asshole, you wound me!" She puts a hand to her chest in over acted dramatics. "This betrayal will forever haunt me til the day I die, I will never recover."
"Is there anything I can do for you to ever begin to forgive me?"
"Mmm, get me another slice of cake and a beer and I'll think about it." Claire smiles at him and he chuckles.
"Got it." He stands and stretches before walking to the kitchen. Then he looks back at the two Redfields, eyes lingering on Chris for a few seconds. After he grabs Claire's slice of cake and beer, he returns to the two. Then he decides, 'fuck it, why not?' and looks at Chris, keeping his smile playful.
"Gotta say it again Redfield, your jacket really does look great, especially on you." He winks and he definitely notices Chris's cheeks pink a little as Claire cackles joyously beside them.