Work Text:
princess hair
Leon sat on the fluffy carpet in the living room, his long legs stretched out, trying to look dignified. It wasn’t exactly easy when two little girls were kneeling on either side of him, working on his hair with intense concentration.
“Not too tight, Rose,” he murmured as Rose carefully parted a strand of his blond hair with a serious expression. The girl nodded solemnly, as if she were performing an extremely important operation.
Emily, meanwhile, was already holding up a handful of pink and purple hair clips. “This one goes perfectly with your eyes, Leon!”
Leon smiled crookedly. “My eyes are blue, Em.”
“But the clips have glitter! That’s basically the same thing. Because every time you see Chris, your eyes sparkle just like those hair clips!”
Leon couldn't help but feel a warm glow in his heart at Emily's words. She already seemed to have a knack for observing things.
He let out a quiet sigh, but it was a fond one. Ever since Chris had left for work that morning, Leon had taken over watching Rose and Emily, because he had offered Grace to watch Emily for a week. He was the only one of the three who finally had time off anyway. And today was supposed to be a quiet day – watching cartoons, baking cookies, maybe some reading. Instead, he had officially been appointed as a living styling doll.
Rose skillfully divided his hair into several small sections and began braiding tiny little pigtails. Her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. Emily immediately decorated each finished braid with a clip – butterflies, stars, a little unicorn.
“You do realize Chris is going to laugh at me when he gets home, right?” Leon asked dryly.
“He’s gonna think it looks really pretty,” Rose said confidently. “You look like a pretty princess!”
“A really cool pretty princess,” Emily added, sticking another sparkly clip right above Leon’s forehead.
Leon closed his eyes for a moment and let them continue. The little fingers in his hair felt strangely soothing. After all the years of fighting viruses, and zombies, this was… peaceful. Almost absurdly peaceful. So he let the girls keep fiddling with his hair.
________
When the front door finally opened, it was already afternoon. Leon heard Chris’s heavy footsteps in the hallway and the familiar sound of him hanging up his jacket. “I’m home!” Chris called out, as always.
Then he rounded the corner into the living room – and stopped dead. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. His eyes widened, and a broad, far-too-amused grin spread across his face.
Leon just raised one eyebrow, though the effect was somewhat diminished by the two tiny braids right above his forehead. “Not. A. Word, Redfield-Kennedy.”
Chris walked over slowly, arms crossed over his chest. He looked his husband up and down – the many little braids, the glittering clips, and especially the very prominent unicorn right at the top of his head.
“Baby”, Chris began in his deep, warm voice, “you look… enchanting.”
Leon snorted. “Shut up.”
“No, I mean it.” Chris crouched down in front of him so they were at eye level. He reached out and gently touched one of the little braids. “Very… avant-garde. Very graceful. Very Leon-Redfield-Kennedy.”
Rose and Emily giggled behind their hands.
Chris grinned even wider. “I didn’t know I married a fashion influencer. Just wait until Jill sees this. Or Claire. They’re gonna demand I take a picture.”
Leon narrowed his eyes, but he couldn’t suppress the telltale twitch at the corner of his mouth. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“A little,” Chris admitted. He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Leon’s forehead, right between two clips. “But mostly I think it’s sweet. You let them do whatever they want with you.”
“They bribed me,” Leon muttered. “With hot chocolate.”
“And it worked!” Rose noted, clearly proud.
Emily triumphantly held up one last clip. “One more! The rainbow one!”
Chris sat down on the carpet beside Leon, wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. “Go ahead, girls. I’ll hold him so he doesn’t run away.”
Leon leaned his head against Chris’s shoulder, the many little braids rustling softly. “I hate all of you,” he said, with zero conviction.
Chris chuckled quietly, kissed him again on the temple and whispered in his ear: “Liar. You love us.”
And Leon, surrounded by glittering hair clips and the warm weight of Chris’s arm around him, couldn’t argue.