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The bright glow of the TV screen lights up the dark living room. Outside, the snowstorm seems to be brewing, coating everything with a white blanket. But their apartment is warm and cozy, the smell of buttery salted popcorn wafting from the kitchen. The young couple sits together on the couch, pressed against each other and wrapped by a thick blanket. The two are caught in a familiar ritual as they scroll through Netflix, trying to find something decent to watch.
“I say we should watch the Ice Age.” Leon declares, quickly tapping the buttons on the remote to search. “It's been so long since I've seen it. What's that big-eyed ugly ferret called again?”
Claire turns to him in slow motion, genuine concern showing on her expression. “He is a sloth, not a ferret.”
“Well, I did tell you that it's been a while.” He says as a matter-of-factly. “There's a tiger, a mammoth… and a squirrel chasing acorns, right? The squirrel also has huge eyes, I remember that.”
“Oh you'd know all about acorns, wouldn't you?” Claire teases him and sends him a playful grin.
“Haven't got any complaints about my acorn yet.” He fires back. He can’t be the only one with red ears, now can he? Not like his teasing works, she is used to it now.
He grabs a big handful of popcorn and presses a finger against his lips, eyes drifting back to the screen. “We still have to watch Paddington 2. Looks winterish enough. How about it?”
“That also sounds fine… But I've also been thinking about Zootopia 2. Maybe not really full of winter vibes, but I'd like to check it out.”
…
Fifteen minutes later, their Netflix list is a lot longer and diverse. The list mostly has winter movies, action movies and comedy. That is too many options for someone as indecisive as Leon and Claire.
“But who says we can't.. watch five of them, if we want to?” Claire suggests, leaning back against him as she steals some of the popcorn.
“We are on vacation. It's okay to flash our eyes with blue light once in a while. It won't kill us.”
She's right. There are no alarms to set for tomorrow, no schedules and work to be done, just this old couch, them cuddled up on it, and the TV in front of them.
Leon sighs contentedly “Ah, I love being an adult and having free will.” He says dramatically. “I'll spend tonight watching movies, eating an unhealthy amount of snacks, and cuddling the love of my life. Can it get any better?” Claire laughs and reaches over to snag some of the popcorn from the bucket.
Not even twenty minutes into the first movie, the popcorn is already gone. The bowl sits empty, save for a few sad crumbs and stray kernels rolling around as they both try to dig out that last piece that doesn't exist. Needless to say, the attempts were unsuccessful.
“Wait, already? How is this possible?” Claire protests. “You ate it all so fast! You're basically the Cookie Monster, but for popcorn!” Leon raises his hands in mock surrender, smiling sheepishly.
“I'm a big man who needs a lot of popcorn.”
“I made enough popcorn to feed the entirety of Valdelobos.” Claire replies, rolling her eyes as she forces herself to stand up. “Unbelievable.”
She heads towards the kitchen to make another batch of popcorn, leaving Leon alone in the living room for a while.
As he waits, Leon's gaze drifts towards the small scented candles arranged carefully on the coffee table. His attempt at being romantic. He bought them specifically for tonight, forest berry scents he knows she loves. He wants to kick his feet at the thought of making their evening even better.
He grabs the lighter and lights up three small candles that he places back onto the table, aligning them the way they were before.
It doesn't take long before the smell of freshly made popcorn is back, and so is Claire.
She lets herself fall on top of Leon, drawing a small ‘oof’ from him as he steadies himself and gets ahold of her waist.
“The candles,” she notices immediately. “They smell good. You picked out my favorite scent, huh?” The smile that Leon gets in return makes him melt. Heck - it's only a few candles, she deserves the world! He will get her fifty candles- no, hundred!
They turn their attention back to the movie.
“Where's the squirrel? I think he is my favorite, he is funny.” Leon comments as he stares at the screen, mindlessly caressing Claire's waist with his thumb.
“Babe… He barely has any screen time…”
“Whatever.”
“Hey, the lack of screen time doesn't make him any less important.” He argues. “This little dude causes major disasters over one acorn!” He explains and Claire observes with heart eyes.
“I mean, come on! One acorn? Feels unrealistic, I'd do it for two.”
If Leon had to be honest, it didn't really matter much which movie they watched. If he gets to watch it with a belly full of popcorn and his favorite Redfield pressed up against him? Shit, he would watch the Teletubbies.
Claire glances at the bowl and sees how fast the popcorn is disappearing from it.
“Mr. Kennedy, paws off. Leave some of the popcorn for me!” Leon keeps eye contact as he steals another kernel and slowly bites into it with a grin.
“Give me a kiss and the popcorn is all yours. Pinky finger promise!” He raises one of his pinky fingers as a statement.
“Oh, so now we are bargaining over the popcorn that I made?” Leon shamelessly nods and leans back, waiting.
“I'll have this and the next popcorn batch that you will make for me.” He pretends to think and gives in with a dramatic sigh.
“This stand operates on a prepayment basis.” Claire snorts and leans in, honoring their deal. Leon closes his eyes, already feeling victorious-
and a hiss leaves his mouth when she twists his nipple. “Ow, what was that for?”
“Sorry, I was just turning on the popcorn machine.”
Claire snatches the bowl away and playfully shows him her tongue. They share a laugh and Leon stands up to honor his part of the deal.
“You don't need to do that to turn me on.” He wiggles his eyebrows then runs away once a pillow is thrown at him followed by a laugh.
Movie night, apparently, came with terms and conditions. And he planned on collecting plenty of prepayments.