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It’s around 4 AM when Leon returns to his apartment. He wasn’t bothered to check his watch when he finished his reports for the mission, and even less when he realized that the building he lives in managed to break their elevator again, leading him to use the stairs up six floors.
D.C. is unbearably cold, even for this time of the year. Leon couldn’t have one of the best apartments around the area for the sake of security and detection, and even if the complex isn’t at all the worst he’s lived in, he would appreciate some heating in the main areas for the most part. When he reached his room, unlocking it and shutting the door quietly to not wake his neighbors, checking the time wasn’t much of an option when he realized his phone was dead.
Leon places his phone to charge, and takes a quick shower to rinse of whatever dirt, blood, and other unknown substances that lay on his skin before his body decides to suck it in and get sick on him. The last time he went on a mission where treading through water is involved, he had to spend a good week after coughing his heart and lungs out with Theraflu Day & Night tea being his best friend.
Leon took whatever towel he had left in the hanger the last time he genuinely stayed in his apartment, drying himself off. He lays down on his bed, his muscles finally relaxing themselves for him to feel just how strained and exhausted he really is, and forgets about checking the time and whatever he may have missed while he was gone to let himself finally rest, darkness meeting him in his dreams.
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The sound of his phone vibrating against his bed and continuous buzzing is what wakes Leon up momentarily. He opens his eyes, lids still far too heavy and his room still basically pitch black. It probably hasn’t been an hour since he’s slept, or maybe just past that, and of course it’s the damn phone that wakes him.
He closes his eyes again, reaching up to wipe the crust that already managed to build up in the corners and yawns. He blindly reaches for his phone, flipping it up and turning his head lazily to take a brief look.
Jesus, Leon’s eyes are not awake enough to even read whatever notifications bubbles popped up. He can already tell most of them are from when his phone was dead, as he swipes further down the line of missed calls or texts, ranging from Sherry to Claire, pictures, memes, and when he scrolls back up, surprisingly Chris.
Well, he can read most of what he’s missed when he actually wakes up at a normal morning time. Just in case, he makes sure his phone is on Do Not Disturb.
Leon’s very sure they can all hear from him, make sure he’s alive and semi-healthy in the afternoon, when he manages to actually wake up of his own accordance and will.
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Leon feels himself drift into consciousness slowly, blankets snug on top of his body and retaining a comfortable heat. He can hear the traffic of D.C. out from his window, meaning it could be at least noon, an early lunch rush for most people that take the interstate over for government or military work.
He slowly sits up, taking time to stretch his back and sighing as his muscles tense and release themselves, feeling for any pulled areas or bruises. When he clears his limbs to be fine enough, Leon gets out of bed and immediately heads to the bathroom to check the mirror.
His hair looks like it could use its own dedicated wash, and there’s some bags under his eyes. At least he did scrub off most of everything on his skin when he came back, but another wash would probably do favors for him, physically and mentally. Maybe some music playing would even have the shower be almost therapeutic.
Grabbing his phone, he swipes it open to see no notifications. He turns off his DND, and watches several notifications fly through his lock screen, eyes wide.
“Maybe you shouldn’t ignore everybody when you’ve gone ghost for over a month, Kennedy.” He mumbles to himself, noting the missed calls from Sherry. He scrolls to the latest missed call from her, and calls her back. It picks up right after the second ring.
“Leon! You’re okay!” Sherry exclaims.
“Of course. Sorry Sherry, I just got back from my mission, took a long nap.”
“It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re alive. Did you at least get cleared by medical?”
Leon heads back to the bathroom. “Yup. Passed with flying colors. If you’re worried though, I can drive over and visit? I’m on some leave for a bit because of the mission.”
He waits for Sherry to respond, and the silence makes Leon frown slightly. An uneasiness sets in his stomach, and he clears his throat. Right. Just because people are wondering if he’s okay doesn’t mean they’re suddenly available for him either. He’s really got to work on his loneliness streak.
“Unless you’re busy, that is. We can talk another time then,” He quickly says, fumbling for his toothbrush and toothpaste, “You and Jake okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay but..Leon, I would love it if we could hang out but I think that Chris has been trying to get in contact with you since last night.” Sherry says gently.
Leon pauses. “Really? Did he try calling me or something?”
“Well,” Leon hears Sherry muffle a laugh. “Claire went out last night with him, Jill, and Rebecca. She told me that he got pretty wasted and did some stuff on his phone, and started ranting about you. I think he left some voicemails or something, and this morning he called me asking if you were awake or said anything about him.”
“Oh. Well, no, I didn’t look at any other notifications yet. I checked yours first.”
“Aww, thanks Leon. Well, I’ll let you check those first. Call me back if you’re available though! Though, I don’t expect a call until tomorrow.”
“Huh?” Before Leon could ask, Sherry hangs up on him.
He drops his toothbrush and paste, opting to check what Chris called him about all those times before focusing on his hygiene. If it’s that important, or weird, he might as well give the man some peace to his mind. If only Chris could do the same for him. Leon feels his ears turn red at the mere idea that a drunk Chris would be trying to contact him of all people. He would know how many times he almost fell into temptation during his drunken spells to try leaving the man a message.
Leon scrolls to the earliest voicemail left and plays it on speaker.
“Leeooooon.” Leon gulps. Geez, Chris sounds too whiny already. “Leonn, I miss you. Why do you work so ofteenn?”
“Because he’s a DSO agent, Chris. He works much harder than you do.” He hears Jill in the background, along with glasses clanking together and what he can deduce to be Claire’s laughter.
“Work for the BSAA, Leon. I’d treat you soo right. Better than I had before.”
“Claire, don’t let him leave that message! He’s going to embarrass himself when he realizes—” Rebecca warned Claire over the phone, and by the looks of it she listened the first time as Leon hears Claire grab the phone and Chris yell about it, the voicemail ending.
He instantly plays the next voicemail, which was left only fifteen minutes after that first one.
“Leon, will you go out with me? I’ve been dying to ask since we met.”
“Chris! How’d you get your phone back! Jill, help me with Chris!”
“Let him wax his poetry, Claire. Maybe the liquid courage will put all of us out of our miseries on hearing Chris woe about Leon S. Kennedy every time we hang out like this.”
“Leon, they’re taking me away from you, rescue me!”
“Jill, help me delete these voicemails.” Beep.
He looks up at the mirror, stricken and completely flustered down to his chest. Drunk Chris, who apparently likes Leon, was asking him out on a date last night. And Leon decided to sleep. He feels like his post-op self was a goddamn idiot and should’ve checked the phone once it turned on before trying to sleep.
Leon checks the next voicemail, left almost thirty minutes after the last two. He doesn’t hear Chris or any of the others at first, but there’s shuffling of clothes and what sounds like a bed.
There’s a creak, almost exactly like a bed, and then a wet gasp from Chris. “Ah, Leon..”
Leon swipes off the voicemail. “Oh my god.”
He saves the voicemail for later, and calls Claire without viewing any more of the notifications.
She quickly picks up. “Leon, you’re awake? Sherry told me you’re back from your operation. Did you uh, check your phone by any chance?”
“Hi Claire. Yes, fortunately. Is your brother up?”
` “Maybe. I dropped him off yesterday at his place, and he sent me a good morning text to see if I made it home okay. Did you..uh..”
“Yes. I did. Tell your brother I’m coming over in twenty and to get dressed. We’re going on a date.”
“Wait, what? Oh my god, wait where? I need to know the details, Leon! You owe me so much, I have a right!”
“I’ll tell you after. Love you, Claire.” Leon hangs up, and immediately sets on brushing his teeth and washing himself as efficiently and thorough as possible.
He dries his hair, setting it with hairspray and picking a maroon collared shirt, keeping the top buttons unbuttoned, along with black slacks and his silver watch. His helmet is already at the door along with his motorcycle keys, and he heads out the door and onto his motorcycle.
Leon speeds through the majority of early afternoon traffic. He’s well aware that Chris is spending his vacation in D.C., both because of his vacation plans with Claire and because they were planning a meetup in July.
He’s had an instinct that their past meetups and affairs always had a tension beyond their physical stress but he never wanted to hope or get delusional about it, especially since it isn’t just Chris he would be affecting if he was wrong, but also Claire. He didn’t want to hurt their friendship like how it happened then, even if the situations are different.
Eventually the familiar apartment complex is within his view, and he takes a moment to find a parking spot closest to the entrance. He hops off, not willing to spend time taking his helmet off, and goes through the familiar reception and up the thankfully working elevator. When he reaches Chris’s floor, he finally takes off his helmet to breathe and compose himself, before walking towards the other man’s apartment door.
Leon stands in front of it, hesitating. Even if Chris was drunk, he surely meant some of what he said at least. Even if things have became more intimate between the two, they’ve never tried treading near the boundary of their more-than-friends situation into romantic partnership, as much as Leon wanted to and tried hiding. Before he could overthink himself into turning away and eating his own words, he knocks on the door.
It’s an awkward set of thumps, and Leon wonders for a moment if they’re too weak for Chris to hear, but there’s loud banging on the other side, almost as if a piece of furniture was bumped or knocked over. Leon bites his bottom lip in anticipation when he hears Chris’s muffled cursing from within.
Loud footsteps approach the door, and Leon watches the door open halfway, a disheveled Chris Redfield halfway out of the gap, his hair wet and messy and only wearing boxers and a tank top, fresh out of the shower.
Chris clears his throat, Leon’s attention quickly drawn to his face instead of his body. Leon would blush, but he doesn’t feel as possibly embarrassed as Chris is right now with the way his entire face is already reddening.
“Chris.”
“Leon, look,” Chris scratches his head, frowning to himself. “Last night I was clearly drunk, I wasn’t thinking straight, obviously. I know you like your boundaries and your personal space so if I violated that and you came over to punch my face in, you’re more than welcome to, but don’t drag this out. I’m pretty humiliated as-is.”
Leon smiles, pushing the door wider and forcing Chris to take a few steps back as he enters his apartment. He shuts the door behind them, locking it. “You’re an idiot, Redfield.”
Chris’s brows furrow. “Okay, you don’t need to insult me either.”
Leon grabs the man’s collar, pulling him down. “Ask me out. Properly.”
Chris’s eyes widen. He blushes, looking at Leon’s eyes and gritting his teeth. “You’re kidding me.”
“Ask me out right now and I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go, baby,” Leon moves his hand to hold the back of Chris’s neck, the other traveling from the collar to hold the man’s cheek, thumb brushing his bottom lip. “But I don’t want a confession if it’s just you drunk. I want to know you want me the same way I want you.”
He watches Chris as he digests that information. As much as Leon wants to already kiss the daylights out of him and possibly take this to the bedroom for celebration, he also needs to know himself that Chris truly meant it, that Leon’s giving him a chance to back out right now and they’ll never discuss this ever again and Leon can crawl back to home in his own shame.
“Go out with me, Leon Kennedy. I’m tired of us waltzing like horny highschoolers, and I don’t think I can go another year with people assuming we’re together when I wish in reality we actually were.” Chris leans closer to Leon, tilting the blonde’s head upward.
Leon smiles, a blush growing on his face. “You just want to call me yours in front of your coworkers, huh. Possessive much?”
“Only for you, Leon. I pick the date, right?”
Leon nods, tugging lightly at Chris’s hair. “Any place. I’m all yours now.”
“Great. Let’s stay in for the day. I heard it was going to snow anyways, and I think a calm movie night would suffice.”
Chris finally leans down completely to kiss him. Leon closes his eyes, lips already moving against the other’s in their familiar way, except now it was more sensual, slower, the way Leon dreamed of during their moments in bed or on covet missions of wanting more with the other man than he thought he could have. When they break apart, Leon lets out a tiny whine, trying to tug Chris back in.
“Come on, let me have this a bit longer.” Leon nearly begs.
“I’ve been waiting as long as you. But we don’t need to rush, now that you’re basically my lover, I don’t think I’m letting you leave my reach anytime soon,” Chris teases him, tilting Leon’s head to the side to leave light kisses on his neck and cheek. “What movies do you like to watch, Leon?”
“Whatever you want, Redfield. I’m not a movie guy, don’t have time to watch anything these days.”
Chris pulls away, humming to himself. “I guess we can do a marathon then. How about Lord of the Rings?”
Leon nods. “Sounds good. You want me to go out and buy anything?”
Chris shakes his head, only grabbing Leon’s hand and leading him to the bedroom. “Just get changed into something comfortable and meet me in the couch. I can make the popcorn.”
When he heads into Chris’s room, noting the unmade bed and the incriminating phone that looks to have been tossed onto the ground, Leon sighs in relief, thankful to have taken the courage himself to show up. There’s a weight off his stomach that’s been growing ever since they both started fooling around together, and it only got worse after China and Chris’s memories, then with Leon’s own insistence in isolation and ghosting the man for weeks or months.
He puts on one of the B.S.A.A.’s shirts, along with short sweatpants. It’s all a bit big on him as expected, but it reminds him of how couples do share their clothes like this. He chuckles at the fact that in a way it’s like the boyfriend giving the girlfriend his oversized hoodie.
He heads back to the couch, having grabbed the blanket right off of Chris’s bed, reorganizing it all to make it comfortable for a movie marathon.
“How long are the movies anyways?” Leon asks.
Chris, who’s brewing two cups of coffee from what it looks and microwaving three popcorn bags, shrugs. “I think nine hours. They’re pretty long, but trust me they’re worth it.”
Leon’s eyebrows shoot up. “Wow. So you’re stuck with me all day, huh. Don’t hate me if I end up falling asleep. I’m too a bit worn from my last op.”
“Don’t worry. We both probably will,” He comes over with the bowl of popcorn and two cups of coffee, handing Leon his cup. He takes a seat on the couch, already stretching legs out and placing his mug between his legs, motioning with his now open arm for Leon to tuck himself in. “Come on, baby, don’t keep your boyfriend waiting.”
Leon snorts, but obeys anyways, resting his head on top of Chris’s shoulder. “Is that what we are now? Boyfriends?”
“I think so. Or lovers, monogamous partners. Whichever you prefer.” Chris smiles. He turns on the TV, searching for the movies that he’s downloaded.
Leon snuggles a bit closer, and takes a sip of his coffee. “As long as I’m yours and you’re mine, I think I’ll be fine.”
Chris smiles, looking at Leon and giving a light kiss on his forehead. “Don’t tempt me with marriage just yet.”
Leon sputters, embarrassed at the idea and the lack of hesitance he has with it internally. Marriage with Chris is a whole other daydream he can’t conquer with today. His heart might give out at the luck, or he’s in some drug induced dream enticing him to stay. Chris laughs at his expression, giving another kiss.
“That’s for another day. Relax, Leon. I’ll take care of you.”
“Okay.” Leon smiles back, calming himself down. “Wake me up if I fall asleep, though. I want to actually watch these movies with you.”
“I will.” Chris leans his head on top of Leon’s, having found the first movie and hitting play. Through his window he can already see the start of snow building up outside, and smiles to himself before turning to Leon, who already is looking at him with a look of content and joy.
The pair smile together, looking at each other instead of the TV as the movie starts.