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Leon woke up to a headache to end all headaches. With a sigh he shifted a little, taking in his surroundings as he tried to remember just which one of his bad decisions the day before had landed him here. He was in bed in a strange hotel room that certainly wasn’t his, wearing only boxers and a large t-shirt that also certainly wasn’t his.
Sure he remembered the wedding, even most of the party. He remembered how beautiful Claire had been, how much she’d been smiling, and remembered toasting for her happiness more than once. There had been speeches, a lot of food and a lot to drink… loud music, so surely also dancing? Still, somewhere around the ninth glass of wine things started to get a little hazy, and Leon didn’t have any idea what had actually happened beyond that.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
The sudden voice made Leon sit up and whip his head around, only to regret it a second later as not only did the headache flare up but he was hit with such an intense wave of nausea he had to close his eyes for a moment. With a groan he brought a hand to his forehead, focusing until the worst of it faded. At least it gave him a moment to inwardly freak out, as he couldn’t believe this was really happening.
Leon was half dressed in a hotel room bed, and Chris fucking Redfield had just walked out of the bathroom, all wet and glistening, only a towel slung low around his hips, like an unfairly gorgeous piece of goddamn art.
And Leon couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid. After all these years of carefully circling around each other and not taking the next step for the fear of screwing something up, he had fucked up, he had gotten so spectacularly drunk at Claire’s wedding that he’d slept with Chris. He’d risked a perfectly good friendship for a night of fun. He hadn’t even had the brains to do it right but he’d gotten greedy and…
Jesus Christ, they’d had sex. Leon groaned again, this time less because of the headache and more because he felt so unbearably dumb. He’d probably had the best sex of his life, and he couldn’t remember it.
“Here. Take these.”
Carefully Leon looked up. Chris had gotten dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, the towel around his neck, and he was holding out a glass of water and painkillers for Leon to take. As Leon didn’t act on it immediately he waved his hand a little, and with a low chuckle Leon grabbed the glass. This was so typically Chris, seriously. Taking care of the people around him whether they wanted it or not. “Thanks,” he croaked out, swallowing the pills and downing the entire glass of water after them.
Chris took the glass from him, setting it aside before turning to look at Leon questioningly. “How’re you feeling?”
“Like an idiot?” Leon hazarded a guess, certain that his smile turned out to be much more a grimace than anything.
“C’mon, I don’t judge,” Chris said, but the earnestness only lasted for a second and he let the smirk break free. “You could’ve gone for a worse analogy than the bobcat. But I gotta say, the pretzel was a little weird.” He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, before brushing his fingers through his wet hair.
The words, though, those left Leon stunned. “What.”
“The twisty pretzel?” Chris laughed, but then he must’ve seen something on Leon’s face as he suddenly turned more serious, looking at Leon from wide eyes. “You don’t remember?”
Leon could only groan. Goddamn his head still hurt. “The twis— Chris, what the fuck are you talking about?”
The expression on Chris’ face was something between worried, amused and kind of just fond. “So you don’t remember hanging off my arm, petting my bicep and telling it that it is, and I quote ‘the most gorgeous muscle in that sculpted body, regardless of what anyone else says’?”
Immediately Leon could feel all the blood draining off his face as he stared at Chris from wide eyes. “Oh god.”
Chris wasn’t done though, he shrugged and took a seat next to Leon on the bed, grinning widely at him. “Then you looked up at me and told me you were going to seduce me.”
This was it. Leon would die of mere mortification. He’d forgotten the best sex of his life, he’d slept with his best friend without even one goddamn memory of it, and he’d been an absolute idiot while hitting on him, to top it all. “Oh please, no.”
“Still rings no bells?” Chris laughed. “You said you’re like a bobcat in bed, and that I wouldn’t regret it if I took you home, and I gotta say I believe that. But you didn’t exactly give me the chance to even reply before you told me you can bend like a pretzel, like the twisty kind. You would’ve showed me, but you were kind of drunk, I don’t think you would’ve been able to stand on your own on two feet, much less only one.”
Truth to be told, Leon was sure that if someone could die of sheer embarrassment, it would happen to him any second now. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that if he ignored everything around him he maybe could pretend like none of that ever happened. “Chris, I…”
“I told you,” Chris interrupted him. Then there was a gentle hand on Leon’s jaw, urging him to look up again. Chris was smiling, but not in what seemed like a mocking way, but rather almost unbearably soft. “That I wanted to rather have this conversation when we’re both sober.”
Leon held his breath, almost scared to hope.
“I really don’t mind you seducing me,” Chris said, “but I’d rather you remember it. So,” he shrugged a little, explaining the rest, “I dragged you up here, and I’m sorry if I crossed a line when I changed you for bed but I figured you’d rather not sleep in the suit. So yeah. That’s all of it. You didn’t even try to sleep-snuggle me, you were out cold.”
“Oh thank fuck,” Leon sighed, relief washing through him so forcefully he needed a second. Finally he felt like he was regaining his footing a little, and in a fit of courage he reached out and grabbed Chris’ hand in his own. “Okay, now we’re going to find some breakfast, and then…”
“Then?” Chris looked at him. Leon wanted to think that it was hope he saw in his eyes, too.
So Leon took the leap. He grinned. “Then I’m going to seduce you.”