Chapter Text
Not long ago, the main hallway of the humanities building had been loud, crowded, and filled with the crushing existential dread of midterm season. Back then, for Leon, the world was ideally a cold, calculated place governed by strict rules and unforgiving logic. He liked things predictable. He liked them orderly. And he liked them miles away from the university's drama. But most certainly, he had wanted to be miles away from Chris Redfield.
Well… that was what he thought before he went on a date with him.
Leon had fully intended to endure one loud, arrogant evening with the campus’s notorious golden boy and then reject him so thoroughly that the senior would finally leave him alone. Instead, a single evening had completely shattered every rumor Leon had ever heard about him. The night he thought was going to be very annoying and exhausting had somehow turned into a beautifully chaotic disaster involving a broken-down car, an emergency building evacuation, and a roommate on a bicycle mission.
By the time Leon walked back into his dorm that night holding a slightly wilted bouquet, he realized Chris wasn't a smooth, calculated player at all— he was just an incredibly earnest, stubborn guy who wore his heart entirely on his sleeve.
Now, as midterms loomed closer, the rules of Leon's predictable world had been completely rewritten, and the mechanical engineering senior had somehow become a permanent presence in his new routine.
Down deep in the quietest, most secluded corner of the main campus library, the golden hour sunlight filtered softly through the high windows. The dust motes dance through the heavy, cozy atmosphere of the late afternoon.
Buried behind a mountain of thick, imposing law volumes, is Leon, trying to study his ass off for midterm. It was going well at first. He's always been a smart kid so it's easy for him to memorize things, but then… he meets his nemesis. Statistics, more specifically, inferential statistics— a mandatory general education elective that had absolutely no business being in a law curriculum, and his biggest source of misery right now.
Because of that, Leon was running on pure fumes. He aggressively rubbed his temples, completely drained by data charts and math formulas that simply didn't make sense to his brain.
He let out a heavy sigh, dropping his pen onto the open page and burying his face in his hands just to escape the blur of numbers that goes round and round on top of his head like a carousel. The quiet hum of the library was starting to sound like white noise, and he seriously considered just using his thick law books as a pillow.
He was just about to pull his hands away to force his eyes back open when the warm, golden light filtering across his desk was suddenly blocked out, and then, a large shadow fell over Leon’s desk.
Leon looked up, expecting to see maybe the librarian ready to reprimand him for his frustrated sighing. But instead, he found the engineering senior, Chris, standing there.
The senior was wearing a standard campus hoodie and slinging a backpack over one shoulder, but still… he didn't look like he had actually come here to study. His posture was wayyy too relaxed for midterm season, his eyes were fixed entirely on Leon, and his jacket was zipped up suspiciously high, looking oddly bulky right around his chest. He was trying his absolute best to blend into the quiet, academic environment, but he clearly looked like he was hiding something, especially with that wet spot on his chest.
Skipping any form of greeting, Leon just narrowed his eyes and whispered flatly, "Why do I feel like I don't want to know what you've got hiding in there…”
With a confident and lazy grin, Chris casually unzips his hoodie to reveal what he was hiding, a premium iced coffee from the expensive café across campus.
Leon instantly panicked. "Are you crazy?" he hissed. "We're in the library. LIBRARY. Food and drinks are strictly banned here. If the librarian catches us, we’re both getting kicked out."
Chris just chuckled quietly, his deep voice barely a rumble as he slid the coffee safely out of sight behind Leon's impenetrable tower of textbooks.
Then, as if already knowing how to silence his gorgeous freshman, he took out a notebook from his backpack and slid it over to him too.
Leon glanced at him suspiciously before pulling the sleek notebook toward himself. Chris didn't say a word, which only made Leon more confused as he flipped open the cover.
At first, he just aimlessly skimmed the pages. But as he kept flipping, his fingers suddenly stopped. There, on the paper, was the exact material he had been hopelessly stuck on. Leon blinked, reading through a few of the handwritten lines. Unlike the official textbook that he borrowed, which read like a dense, frustrating alien language, these notes broke the concepts down into a clear, painfully straightforward sequence. It was actually... easy to understand.
Leon looked up in genuine shock, only to realize that Chris had already smoothly slid into the empty chair right beside him, still grinning from ear to ear.
"I remember you mentioning this class was kicking your butt," Chris whispered, leaning in close. "So I dug through my old storage boxes just to look for my old notebook. What do you think? You won't find a kind senior like me anywhere else.”
Leon only let out a soft huff at the senior's blatant self-praise. He finally dropped his guard and took a cautious sip of the hidden iced coffee, while actually, he couldn't help the small smile that formed on his lip.
Feeling satisfied, Chris took the Laptop from his backpack and turned it on. Seemingly doing his own work and not bothering Leon who's currently so focused on his new discovery.
They fell into a comforting silence. For the next hour, the only sounds in their secluded corner were the soft, steady clicking of Chris's keyboard and the quiet turning of Chris’s notebook in Leon's hand.
As Leon worked through the notes, he found his attention repeatedly drifting over to the senior beside him. He had never seen Chris so completely focused before. The usual playful, goofy smirk was entirely gone too, replaced by an intense concentration as his fingers flew rhythmically across the keyboard.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Leon leaned back in his chair, raising his arms to lazily stretch his aching back— using it as the perfect chance to get a look at Chris’s laptop screen. He fully expected to catch Chris slacking off, maybe watching some rugby highlights, or playing some video games. Instead, his eyes landed on a wall of heavily formatted text, and on top of it all were a massive, bolded title: FINAL INTERNSHIP REPORT.
Squinting slightly, Leon’s sharp eyes tracked just a couple of lines below it, recognizing the formal layout of an official university submission addressed straight to the Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department.
Knowing Chris had already finished his corporate internship hours months ago, it suddenly dawned on Leon that Chris didn't even need to be here.
Eventually, Leon couldn't help himself. He used the tip of his pen to lightly tap the side of Chris's laptop frame to get his attention. "You know," he murmured, resting his chin on his palm, "for an eighth-semester senior writing a final internship report... you could easily finish that on the couch at your place, couldn't you?”
Chris’s fingers paused on top of the keys. He let out a low chuckle, leaning back in his chair while keeping his eyes locked onto Leon. "I definitely could. Honestly, the Wi-Fi is way faster at my place too."
Leon tilted his head, pushing a little further. "Then why are you here?”
Chris leaning an inch closer over to him. His voice dropped, losing its usual playful tone and turning into something quiet and intimate. "Because my couch doesn't have a view of a cute law freshman.”
The line hit its mark, but Leon wasn't a future lawyer for nothing— he refused to let his defenses fold that easily. Forcing down the sudden flare of heat in his cheeks, he locked his gaze and leaned in too. "If you like the view so much, when are you taking me on a second date?”
Chris choked back a laugh, his shoulders shaking slightly as he remembered they were in a quiet library. Instead of answering right away, Chris leaned back. He reached across the gap between them and playfully bopped Leon on the nose with his index finger.
"Focus on your midterms first." Chris whispered coolly. "Then you get your date.”
The nose bop completely shattered Leon's composure. His cheeks burned a deep pink, and before he could stop himself, he delivered a sharp kick to Chris's feet under the table.
Chris bit his lip to keep from making a sound, throwing a playful, suffering glare at Leon.
For a few seconds, they both froze, holding their breath to see if their little scuffle under the table had drawn any attention.
Then slowly, the silence in their corner grew heavy— and that’s when a sharp, rhythmic echo shattered it from down the aisle.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The sharp, terrifying click of heels echoed down the nearby aisle. It was Madam Carla, the notoriously strict head librarian, doing her infamous evening sweep for illegal snacks and smuggled drinks.
Leon froze. The forbidden premium coffee cup was still sitting right there on the desk, and the ice melting and dripping is a dead giveaway that would guarantee their expulsion from the sanctuary of the library.
Chris didn't hesitate at all. With his athletic reflexes, he stepped right out into the aisle, completely blocking the path just as Madam Carla was about to turn the corner into their quiet study nook.
Startled by his sudden presence, the strict head librarian stopped dead in her tracks. She adjusted her reading glasses, her eyes narrowing as she looked up at him.
"Oh, Mr. Christopher," she said, her voice dripping with deep suspicion. "Fancy seeing you here. And during midterms, no less.”
Chris flashed his most dazzling, 10.000 megawatt smile. "Good evening, Madam Carla. Honestly, I completely forgot about my engineering report the second you walked down the aisle," he murmured softly. "You look absolutely beautiful tonight. Did you do something different with your hair? It really suits you.”
Madam Carla completely froze. A bright pink blush quickly bloomed on her cheeks, instantly shattering her strict, militant posture. She awkwardly cleared her throat and tapped her clipboard just to give her hands something to do. She tried desperately to keep her scary face on, but she was entirely melting under his undivided attention.
"Well... flattery won't save you if you're breaking the rules, Mr. Christopher," she stammered, though her voice had lost all its terrifying bite.
Not giving her a single second to look past him, Chris immediately launched into his distraction.
"Actually, Madam Carla, I'm incredibly glad I ran into you," he said smoothly, leaning in just enough to keep her focused entirely on his face. "I'm completely stuck trying to find some old engineering archives on the upper floor. The cataloging is a bit confusing up there, and I knew a scholar of your expertise would know exactly how to navigate it. Would you help this poor student here?"
He gestured grandly down the opposite hallway, taking a slow step to physically lure her away from their corner.
Just before walking away with the librarian, Chris looked over his broad shoulder, flashed Leon a triumphant grin, and gave him a quick, playful wink.
Catching the signal, Leon quickly shoved his book into his bag and grabbed the coffee cup before silently slipping out of the library like a shadow— of course, not forgetting about Chris’s backpack and laptop.
A few minutes later, Leon was waiting outside the library doors in the cool evening air, his heart still hammering from the adrenaline of their narrow escape.
The heavy doors swung open, and Chris strolled out looking entirely unbothered.
"You're lucky I'm a natural charmer,” Chris said immediately, his voice low and teasing in the dim light.
Leon merely rolled his eyes and shoved the senior's heavy backpack and laptop back into his arms. Chris caught it easily with one hand, then reached over with the other to pluck the empty iced coffee cup right out of Leon's grasp. With a casual, precise flick of his wrist, he tossed it straight into a nearby recycling bin. Which is kinda cool, actually.
"So... Do I get to walk my favorite law freshman to the dorms, or do I need to go back inside and flirt with Madam Carla some more?” When Chris is about to look down at Leon again, his breath catches in his throat.
Leon is so close to him. He had moved right into Chris's personal space, completely closing the gap between them.
Before Chris's brain could even register how dangerously close they were, Leon reached down, took Chris's hand and firmly linked their fingers together.
Blue eyes looked up, meeting Chris's widened eyes with a sly, devastatingly calm smirk. He tugs slightly on Chris's warm hand to pull him forward while saying, "stop talking so much, senior. Just walk me home."
The effect of the hand-grab was immediate and absolute. Chris’s confident, "cool senior" persona completely short-circuited. He stared down at their intertwined fingers, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly. A massive, deep blush flooded his face, burning hot all the way up to the tips of his ears.
Leon didn't wait for him to recover. Still holding Chris's hand tightly, He casually turned and started walking down the twilight campus path, effortlessly dragging a bright red and utterly whipped golden retriever behind him.