Dream a little dream of me

𝑀𝒶𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉:

~ Resident Evil ~

Leon S. Kennedy

(The following works are interconnected and form one linear story of Leon and a slightly younger reader, but can all be read and have been written as a standalones)

i call it… the wifey universe :OOOO (i think im SO funny)

In chronological order:

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: A compilation of moments where Leon made your heart stutter, and the moment he almost broke it

Pre-relationship, Agent!Reader, Fluff, Angst

Home is where you are: You and Leon are engaged now and insists that taking care of you is his job now.

Slice of life, fluff, mildly suggestive, very short

Runnin’ for The Hills: You wake in the middle of the night because of a dream. It's not the horrifying flashbacks that usually haunt you, it's the sweetest, most comforting, beautiful dream you've ever had. And it left you restless. Why? Because you know it'll never come true.

Angst, nightmare trope, happy ending

Somethin' Stupid: Married life means a couple things, being there for the good, the bad, and especially the seemingly stupid. So when Leon comes back home with an unexpected surprise you can only hope he has a good reason for selling your car.

Slice of life, Wife! reader and Husband! Leon, fluff, comedy,

Hold you till I can't: You and Leon's days of fighting bioweapons are over. You've built your peace from the ground up in the mountains, your husband and your way of life protected by the hills and valleys of the earth, but all that goes up must come down.

Angst, character death, Ex agent! Wife! reader,

Outside of the wifey universe:

Blood Running Cold: Meanwhile on a solitary vacation to the mountainside, you catch word of a popular sightseeing spot only a short trek from where you're staying. Unfortunately for you, you're not very outdoorsy, so when night falls and the wolves start to howl, you begin to wonder, are you really alone up here?

Yandere!Leon, Angst, Horror, Werewolf! Leon, Request (Possible part 2 otw)

~ Visual Novels ~

The following works are explicitly 18+ due to the original creators wishes, which I respect and support.

The Monsters in Your Closet: (Mycheal, The Mushroom forest)

~ Love and Deepspace ~

Valko

Valkos Goodbye: A short lil drabble made for Valko's unexpected cancelation.

Angst, just pure angst.

More of this and other characters/fandoms coming soon!

𝑅𝑒𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔:

~ Rules ~

Please don't ask for smut, it just makes me uncomfortable and frankly I don't think id be any good at writing it. The most you'll find here is a steamy makeout.

i usually only write for fem and gender neutral reader.

Anything that spreads hate or discrimination to anyone. This is supposed to be safe space for anyone who needs it, so let's not go there.

things like rape, pedophilia, incest, etc.

If I read your request and notice that you have clearly not read my rules I will be deleting it. Please respect my boundaries.

~ Things I am open to ~

Yandere concepts! As long as we remember that it's all purely fiction and should never be taken seriously, id love to consider the idea of some of our favorite characters as yanderes.

AU's! No matter how silly you think they are, I want to hear all your wacky ideas for alternate universes.

𝐿𝒾𝓈𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈/𝒻𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓂𝓈 𝒾'𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 :

~ Resident Evil ~

Leon S. Kennedy

Carlos Oliveira

Chris Redfield

Albert Wesker

Ethan Winters

Jack Krauser

Luis Serra

Definitely will be adding to this list later!

dividers by: @uzmacchiato and @astrivion

A flash of familiar blonde hair and blue eyes is visible before you're pulled towards it and led into yet another dark, suspicious, tunnel. You hoped there was more to Leons plan than just a sudden change of direction because clearly the angry mob behind you wasn't fazed by it.

"What now?!" You try to say, wind completely knocked out of your lungs from running. From the corner of your eye, you can see him pull something from his jackets pocket, and you immediately realize where this is going.

Theres no other exchange of words. You hear a click, a clink, and a-

*BOOM*

Leons entire body is covering yours as you roll on the ground, one hand gripping your torso and the other your head. You come to a stop slowly and separate even slower.

You raise your head to peek at where the mob was supposed to be, only to find its been replaced by a giant splatter of reddish, blackish, goo.

Gross.

You lay back down on the ground next to Leon, heavy exhales and inhales are all that's audible now. You face him after a moment, tiny glare in your eyes.

"You had a grenade that whole time?" You force out.

He whips his head around to face you. "No." He pauses to take a heavy breath. "I had two grenades." He can't even hide the smug grin on his face.

You both steadily rise from the ground until you're sitting up, neither of you had the energy to go back to running for your lives just yet.

"Not too shabby, though." A smile creeps onto your face as you say it. "For an old man."

You watch as he scowls dramatically and furrows his brow, augmenting the lines of his face. "Who you calling old, sweetheart?" He coughs out a laugh as he says it.

"I am." you say plainly, extending your arm in front of you to see your watch.

11:59:57

"Right..."

11:59:58

"About..."

11:59:59

"...Now."

Leon stares at you in utter confusion.

July 31st, 12:00 AM

He watches as you quickly turn to your shared case of supplies and begin to rummage through it. He chuckles a low laugh and shakes his head at your behavior.

"Baby... what are you..?"

He pauses when you finally turn back around with something small and circular in your hand.

A cookie.

You smoosh the tiniest birthday candle he's ever seen into the center of it and Leon can only watch in awe as you light it. When your expecting eyes finally meet his once again, he can't help but feel a part of his heart shatter.

You looked so fucking precious.

He blinks once, twice, thrice-

"I can sing the song too if you'd like, I just can't promise it'll be pretty." Theres a playful tilt in your head as you hand it over to him, placing it in his palm like a sacred treasure.

You scoot closer and place a chaste kiss on his cheek and whisper: "Happy birthday Leon." He can't even bring himself to look at the small dessert without feeling a knot in his throat, so instead, in the small candlelight, he rests his forehead against your temple and closes his eyes.

You feel a sigh from his lips brush your cheek. "Im sorry it's just a cookie, I wish I could've done more but I already had to bribe the supplies guy back at HQ for this-" You're interrupted by a kiss.

It's deep and slow, almost reverent. With just the right amount of love to swallow down the bittersweet feeling that's in both of your guts.

"its perfect." He whispers.

Another peck to your lips.

"Thank you."

Before he can go in for another one, you turn his face away with your pointer finger towards the cookie. "Hurry up and blow it out before It gets covered in wax." He laughs and quickly follows your instructions.

One big breath and the light flickers away.

You both watch silently as the smoke coils and rings up into the air.

"What did you wish for?" You ask after a moment.

He ponders for a second, not over the answer but over whether that's something he should even bring up right now. Leon feels the small, circular, shiny, expensive, object of his own poke him in his jackets pocket.

No, that would have to wait for some other time, he guessed.

"You'll know soon enough."

A/N : could y'all imagine if he threw the ring instead of the grenade?

A beat of silence follows. Maybe he called by accident? Or there's no signal? Or-

A heavy sigh interrupts your thoughts.

"Hi, sweetheart." The words reach you rugged and cut, like they've been forced out. "You doin alright?"

The question renders you speechless for some reason. You can't put your finger on it but something is different and wrong.

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay." You glance at your bedside clock. "It's four in the morning though. Are you alright?"

More silence.

"Val?..."

You're starting to get concerned. "You there?"

"-Yes, I'm okay, I'm fine." You hear what you can only describe as an interrupted sob break through the line.

"Listen, I'm just calling to let you know that I'll be going away for a while."

Your brows furrow in confusion. "Going away? Where? Why?" You wish you didn't sound as childish as you just did, but you can't help it.

"Doesn't matter, I guess." You hear the rumbling of an engine in the background and you can picture him clear as day, one hand with the phone up to his ear, the other on the steering wheel. You wish you could see him.

"Just thought you should hear it from me."

You sit upright in bed, covers still half covering you. "Well, when will you be back?" Your question hangs in the air.

"I don't know."

The answer has only more questions popping up in your mind but you don't get to voice any of them.

"Go back to sleep, I shouldn't have woken up you up."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it. I promise this will all seem like a bad dream when you wake up."

A beep cuts through and you look at the screen. He hung up.

You want to call him back and demand answers, demand he stays. But you know that's not what he wants. Maybe there's even a part of you that knows it wouldn't change anything.

You plug your phone back in and set it on your nightstand, eyes closing faster than you anticipated when your head meets the pillow. Theres a strange melancholy feeling in your chest but it washes away with sleeps embrace.

You hoped this would be a bad dream when you woke up.

Goodbye Valko, we hardly knew you. Literally.

Still hurts though I was actually psyched for his release :(

Infold please return himmmmm.

The snow crunched underneath your feet, your ragged breathing wringing in your ear. "Stay calm." You whispered to yourself, the worst thing you can do in this situation is panic. You look to your surroundings, desperately trying to find something that looks even remotely familiar.

Coming up empty handed, you look towards the sky, noting that the pines here are so tall and mighty you doubt even a smoke signal could get you out of this. That is, if you knew how to make a fire... which you don't.

Damn it. What were you doing here? Did you think you'd suddenly become Steve Irwin and be one with nature-

A howl interrupts your thoughts.

The wolves of this mountain let their presence be known with the sight of the setting sun beyond the tree-line. It reminds you, like cold water being poured down your spine that this is their home, not yours.

You need to get out of here, fast, but picking up the pace is almost impossible, you're exhausted out of your mind. On the other hand if you let the sunset pass and the dark consumes this forest, what would there be left of you?

Maybe it was the stress or the onsetting paranoia you could feel building in your chest, but there's this strange feeling that rolls down shoulders to your lower back; the feeling of being watched.

"Don't think about that." Its for yourself and for yourself only that you say it, not only because of the lack of anyone else to say it too, but because you know once you think it, it won't be long before you believe it.

Regardless, you doubt anyone else would be out here in this storm. You can't even see a foot in front of you and you think someone is watching you? Ridiculous.

The sight of a clearing makes you smile, you must be getting close! You step further with a little bit more determination than before just for it to be crushed all over again.

A giant, gorgeous, frozen, waterfall stood in front of you.

"No..." You whispered in despair.

You had looped back around.

Somehow, at some point, you managed to turn around. That means you were more than an hour away from your cabin and you had little to no time to get back.

The setting sun began to feel less like a beautiful painting and more like a threat in the sky.

"... no no no..." Your breathing spikes and your heart pumps faster than you've ever felt before. You collapse on the ground, your own weight dragging you down to the snow.

Snow? No, this was ice.

Wait, Ice?-

You don't have time to process the crack that reaches your ears, you only feel the freezing, scraping, cold, water breach your clothes and hit your skin.

You manage to successfully grab onto the edge of the opening you created, slicing your palm open on its sharp edges.

You hang on and try to pull yourself up one, two, three, times. By the fourth, you don't have it in you to push forward. You're out of breath and out of strength. Your eyes close and your hand relaxes, succumbing to the dark waters.

Gasp.

The wind of the mountains greets you sharply, biting into your wet skin. You're confused and dazed as how you're breathing or how you were even pulled out of the water, but it doesn't matter right now.

Something sharp grabs onto your jacket and pulls you onto your side, causing you to cough up whatever water was left in your lungs. You hack and wheeze relentlessly for a moment, desperately trying to find your breath.

"Thank-" *cough* *cough* "-you." You croak once you have the strength. "Thank you.." You whisper it like a prayer. Blinking up to the cloudy sky, you hear a growl or maybe a huff? You couldn't tell, so tired that it didn't even occur to you to be confused.

Tunnel vision slowly set in along with a twinge of fear in your heart. You guessed your tiredness must be causing you to hallucinate because the last thing you saw before you passed out was a blur of thick white fur and a pair of daunting, yellow, eyes.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Cmon' sweetheart, don't leave me hangin'."

It's said far away, farther than you can even think of going right now. All you want to do is stay in this warm, dark, place. At least here your bones don't ache and your muscles don't feel tense. What else could you want?

A cold touch meets your temple, you quiver at the sensation.

"Don't you wanna say thank you to me again?" It's closer this time, much closer. "You said it so pretty for me last time." The voice feels almost like it's right up to your ear now but somehow you know it isn't.

Your eyes open slowly.

"There she is."

Crystal blue eyes greet you, so blue and so light, yet dark and cloudy in a way color on its own can't describe. The face that comes with them isn't any less beautiful, despite its clear age. Dark blonde hair with a few gray strands, tamed facial hair to match, and a menacing yet gorgeous scar that ran from the bottom left side of his jaw, up his cheek, through his hair, and ended at the tip of his cranium.

"I-" You tried to speak but only a rasp came out followed by several coughs. "Easy there." The man said, slowly hoisting you up so you could breathe easier. He held you there for a second till your coughing ceased and he was sure you could hold yourself up.

He separated himself from you for only a second to grab something; water, to your relief. "Here." He whispered. "Drink slowly, there's no rush." The blue eyed man held the bottle to your lips and you greedily took it from his grasp, ignoring his words, taking gulp after gulp, feeling like there's a dessert forming in your mouth.

To no one's surprise, you end up in another coughing fit. The man sighed deeply. "Live and learn, I guess." You hear him say, but despite his clear frustration, there's still a hand that comes to your back and rubs slow circles there.

You finally regain your voice after a moment. "Who are you?" You asked to the best of your ability. The man before you smiled, a toothy, sly, grin that was charming in a way you didn't quite understand. "Straight to the questions, huh?" He quipped comically.

You ignored his comment. "Were you the one who pulled me out of the water?" You probe once more. The scarred stranger squinted his eyes at your persistence, looking like he was mulling something over in his mind. "Yes." He said after a moment. "Yes, I was." He continued to stare at you silently.

His response makes your eyes widen. "You..." What should you even say? "You saved me." There really wasn't much else to state other than the truth. "I owe you my life."

He smiled, but not like before. This smile made you uncomfortable in a way that you couldn't quite pin down. Maybe it was because it didn't reach his eyes, maybe it was because it showed off his sharp looking molars, but it was probably because it felt too eager, almost uncanny.

His smile dropped.

"I'll hold you to that."

Without another word, you watched as he stood from where he crouched next to you and walked over to a table in the corner of the... room? Wait, was this not a house?

The sudden realization that you were completely unfamiliar with your surroundings puts you on high alert. its only now that you notice that the walls are not made of wood or brick, but a jagged, uneven, surface that you could only assume was stone. Mountain stone.

Your view of the ceiling confirms your suspicions, as you realize all light in the room comes from an old oil lantern, no ceiling fixtures or electrical lighting to be found.

What is this place?

"Do you live here?" You asked quietly, surprised by the echo, how did you not notice beofre? He looks at you with a raised brow and you immediately rectify your words. "Not that there's anything wrong if you did live here, it's lovely! Actually its perfect, you have great taste in decoration-"

"I don't." He cuts off your restless rambling with two syllables.

Well, that's a relief.

You look around once more, visibly confused, so he answers you without prompt. "I just come to do some work here." Suddenly things become a little more clear to you. "Oh, so you hunt or something like that?" It was your only guess for the array of tools on the table.

"Something like that."

While you didn't appreciate his vagueness, you guessed the man didn't technically owe you anything. Actually it was you who was in debt to him and here you were being rude of all things.

The room... cave?.... goes quiet once more, mostly because you're unable to find anything else to say. Your eyes peer down in your silence and find your hand. Right, the cut from the ice. It's been neatly bandaged since the last time you saw it, though it clearly needed to be changed, the dressing already being multiple shades of red.

That's funny, you don't remember it being that big. It's crazy how adrenaline works, you suppose.

You watch as your savior sharpens a hunting knife, the sound eerily filling the space.

Shing.

Shing.

You try to rise from your spot on top of the stacked animal pelts but are met with hazy vision and labored breath. "Look, I really appreciate everything you've done for me, but I should really get going."

The knife thuds as its plunged into the table, a deafening silence follows.

"Why the rush, sweetheart?" He speaks, but it's different now, rougher now.

You can't lie and say the way he was looking at you wasn't incredibly intimidating. "Well... I should probably get this checked out by doctor-" You raise your hand to show him. "And I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome." You finish with what you hope is a polite smile but probably comes across meeker than you intend.

He huffs like you just personally offended him. "You've really only been here for a couple hours." He pauses to walk back over to you. "That storm outside hasn't blown over yet and we both know you're in no condition to hike your way back." He kneels in front of you, taking your hand in his, as he slowly unwraps the bandage on your hand.

Theres is a strange trance that comes with the sight of this scarred, calloused, man doing something painfully gently. He reaches for clean gauze with his other hand, not daring to let go of your injured one. It didn't occur to you to question why one man would need several dozen stacks of gauze in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.

"You should get some more sleep." You let him lay you back down against the pelts, not too sure why, you'd never let a stranger get this close. "Tomorrow morning, when the weather calms down a bit, we'll see what we can do about getting you back to your cabin, alright?"

You nod against the hand on your cheek, thoughtlessly. Wait-

"How do you know about my cabin?"

The question leaves you before you can even process what it insinuates, but when you do your eyes widen and lock onto him, like deer caught in headlights.

Theres a beat of silence.

He doesn't answer, he only smiles that same toothy grin from before, like an animal bearing its teeth before the pounce.

You stand up slowly, still unstable from your blackout, but determined nonetheless. He watches as you steadily back up away from him towards what you can only assume is an exit.

He sighs and shakes his head, smile still on his face.

"Had to make things difficult, didn't you?"

You run.

You're out the den faster than you anticipated, rushing past trees and hills at speeds that confuse you but are grateful for.

Theres not much time for thinking but you do note that you've never run like this before in your life. It feels like your feet are about to fly out from underneath you, like they're their own being separate from the rest of you.

You run with no direction, or so you think. You let your legs do all the thinking and take you where they deemed you should go.

Imagine your surprise when you find your way to the waterfall you met your demise at?

"Not this again..." You say slightly, but barely, out of breath.

You slowly come to a stop, feeling like you've put enough distance between you and the cave. Your ears assure you that you're not being followed, detecting no signs of rushed footsteps or ragged breath. Actually, did you even see that guy follow you out of the den?

From here, you thought, you should be able to make it back to your cabin, pack up your things, and make it to a town. It's dark out now, but it doesn't scare you. Theres a strange determination building in your head that doesn't quite mind the challenging environment.

You make a point to walk slowly moving forward, avoiding the spots on the ground you know will give away your position. Even though you technically have no reason to think so, there's still a chance that you're being followed.

After what you guessed was about an hour, you finally noticed that the trees started to disperse bit by bit, which means that they are clearing the way for something, most likely your cabin, but at this point you'd take any human establishment.

And there it was was. After what felt like forever and several traumatizing experiences later, you finally made it back to your cabin. it sat there exactly as you left it the night before, lights on-

"You did good."

It's said behind you in a rough, gravelly voice. You whip around, immediately expecting to find the strange man from before but there's nothing there.

Your eyes whip from one direction to the other, scramming to look for the danger.

"I didn't expect you to get this far but..."

The voice seemingly moves from place to place without any motion, moving like smoke over a fire.

"Here we are."

You spin in place, heart pounding as you look for the voices origin but are met with a sight that knocks the wind out of you.

Yellow eyes like the sun, teeth like knifes, fur as white as snow, and a long pointed scar running through its face.

The wolf opened its mouth and spoke.

"Ive never seen it work this fast before." You watch as its inhuman lips curl and enunciate every word perfectly. "I knew I was right about you." Theres a sick and twisted chuckle that follows the last sentence, it left no doubt in you that this thing was the man you met before.

The beast circles you slowly, rounding you again and again in silence, its eyes never leaving your silhouette. "What are you?" The question leaves you in a sour tone that he doesn't seem to appreciate.

"You'll know soon enough."

It's the last thing he says before you hear a growl and a bark. You've been tackled to the ground, back hitting the sharp rocks harshly.

With you down on the ground, the creature walks out of your field of vision and towards your legs. You hoist yourself upon on your forearms to see him standing by your feet.

"This will hurt." He pauses not for a moment of light hesitation. "I'll make it up to you later, I promise." His words make your eyes widen.

"Wait-"

Teeth clamp down on your ankle. A searing pain and your wild screams follow shortly. Your body doesn't know if it should lay down, sit up, or curl up and die. Not that you could though, a swift look downward lets you know that he has not let go.

Looking down was almost worse than the actual pain itself. The sight of pooling blood distorting the view of your limb, where there was once your ankle there was snow a strange, painful, blur of flesh and blood.

Teeth dig deeper into your already damaged joint. The pain is so strong you don't even notice the world around you starts to move as he drags you from your spot on the ground deeper into the woods.

You don't know if you passed out from the loss of blood or the pain, but you were glad it was over. You embraced the dark, heavy, state of unconsciousness like an old friend, hoping that when you awoke once more you'd find yourself in your bed, breathing heavily and a sweaty brow as you realized it was all a dream in your head.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Leon was never the sentimental type.

He lived his disgraced life as he should, alone. Endlessly wandering this seemingly infinite frozen landscape for however long he had left.

Why should it be any other way?

Wasn't this the way of life of a beast? Of him?

The world had dealt him the card of monster, so that's the one he will play. He clearly wasn't anything else.

So, why? He asks himself.

Why save you?

Why pull you out of the hole you dug yourself into?

He could've done it, if he so wished. Prey had never been served easier or prettier.

He'll never forget that moment, his teeth so close to your neck, your blood audibly pumping through your veins, it was perfect. Like dinner served on a silver platter.

So, why? Why pass up on the first human he had seen in months?

Maybe it's the natural prey drive in him, he thinks. The need to hunt down his meal and play with his food before he can eat. To make you trust him, be comfortable with him, and then and only then sink his teeth into your flesh.

No... there's more to it than that.

It was probably because when he got close to you for the first time, you thanked him. So purely and desperately, not caring who or what was on its receiving end.

Or maybe it was the way your eyes fluttered gently when you were unconscious, dreaming of better circumstances for sure, but he found himself wanting to know.

Perhaps, it was the way your chest rose and fell with the rhythm of your breathing. In and out like a melody. So peaceful, so serene, so alive.

Regardless of the reason, you were an enigma to him, something rare and precious, and that was more than enough for him to take your injured hand, hold it close to his cheek, and then take a small but precise bite.

Not enough for you to immediately notice when you woke but enough for his DNA to mix with yours. He guessed it didn't matter anymore, if that wasn't enough to make the change than the fresh bite on your ankle defiantly will.

He didn't want to hurt you. It just wasn't in his plan for you to be able to get away so fast and he had to bring you back somehow. He's keeping his promise though. As you lay unconscious on his pile of pelts once more, he gently cleans and wraps the wounded area with expert care. He promises to catch something big for you once he can go out again.

He presses a kiss to your shin as you grimace in your sleep. Life may have dealt him a bad hand but you may just have traded him your royal flush, and he's not gonna let it go to waste.

He tucked a strand of hair away from your face.

You're not getting away from him anytime soon.

Anon if your reading this im so sorryyyyyyy, I know this took me forever. But I hope you enjoyed nonetheless! And thank you so very much for being my first request!! Im honored to have written it :)

Incase anyone was wondering, this of coarse does not follow the storyline of the wifey universe. But! if you liked this and wanna see more of my writing or send in a request you can find all of that here.

Lowkey tempted to follow up on this.... mmm idk. We'll see!

The lack of body heat alerts him immediately, how long have you been gone? He cranes his head up in realization, body becoming stiff and aware of your unusual absence, searching the area for you with his sight. He doesn't want to admit he slightly panics when he comes up blank.

The following actions are less instinct and more military protocol. He rises from the bed, silently, feet avoiding the floorboards that squeak and give away his position. When he reaches the bedroom door he turns the knob with clinical precision and opens his view to the living room; the sight that greets him finally allows him to breathe out.

You're sitting on the couch, head turned to the floor-to-ceiling apartment window, watching the rain cover the streets of D.C. Your eyes are lost on the cityscape, so much so that you don't even notice him coming up behind you.

"Hey..." Leon said quietly. You jump out of your skin before realizing it was him wrapping his arms around your waist. "Why'd you leave me?" It's asked solemnly like a deep, cruel, betrayal. He wrests his chin on your shoulder, breath fanning your cheek. "I just.." You start but you don't really know where you're taking your words.

You hug your arms to his to ground yourself. "Just what?" He whispered, pressing small, sweet, kisses to your neck. You exhale deeply. "Couldn't sleep." You say, and while the occasional sleepless night wasn't unusual for either of you, Leon knows you're not telling him the whole truth.

His kisses trail up to your nape and eventually the shell of your ear, there's a sweet reverence to it all, it calms your busy mind. "Come back to bed, then." He murmured, deciding not to press, he'll ask you about it tomorrow. "We have to be at the airport in-" He stops to look at the clock on the wall.

3:14 AM

"Less than three hours." The reminder of the coming day makes you tilt your head back, your crown resting on his shoulder. "Ugh. The mission." You groan, he only hums in response. "Don't remind me." You say, hand coming up to your face in distress.

"Mhm, more of a reason for you to be asleep right now." You feel him shift to have an arm underneath your knees and you instinctively wrap yours around his neck, carrying you bridal style. You sigh into his chest, giving in to the tiredness you still feel. "Cmon, what kind of husband will they think I am if my girl shows up all tired and depressed tomorrow?" He jokes.

"One who is also tired and depressed."

"That's fair."

----

To no one's surprise, the early rising isn't any easier than the sleepless night. By the time your alarm goes off you're not feeling any more refreshed than you were hours ago, if anything, you somehow feel more beat up.

You go about your routine the way you do when your job allows you to have a routine. You wake up to find Leon still dead asleep, get up, put on a pot of coffee, and get ready while it's brewing. You try not to think, try not to imagine, try not to dream about how things could be different.

But everything you do reminds you of your unfortunately sweet dream last night.

Like how when you pull a spoon from the silverware drawer it's really only one of two, neither of them from the same set. Your kitchen, is a state of the art, sleek, set of appliances that came with the apartment that has never been used. It mocks you with its perfectly pristine surfaces, no fingerprints, no broken hinge on the cabinets, and certainly no crumbs. You set the coffee to brew silently.

The bathroom is next with its ceiling mount waterfall shower, the only thing you really appreciated about it. But the cabinets below the sink aren't filled with your straightener or Leons shaving cream, no, they're empty, everything that was a necessity was constantly kept in a "go bag" underneath the bed.

Oh, and your bedroom. If you could even call it that. You couldn't stand how unfamiliar the bedsheets were to you, cold, white and pure. Pillowcases picked out randomly by a government agent whose job was to assign you a place to stay. There were no pictures on your nightstand, no coaster for your hot cup of tea.

Nothing about this place was yours.

This is not your home, for either of you, its a cold, hollow, shell of one-

"You ready to go?"

Leons voice interrupts your train of thought. How long have you been stirring your coffee? "Yeah, we should probably head out." You say, trying to sound calm and collected. You could pretend. You can smile at him and go along with it and say it's not eating you alive because you know he prefers it this way.

This is the life he chose, so why would you expect him to change it?

Meanwhile, Leon still can't wrap his head around why you haven't looked at him all morning. He finds it strange that you think he doesn't notice how you tie your shoes almost aggressively or how you slam the apartment door a little harder. By the time you get to the car he decides to ask again. "You sure you're alright?" He says as he opens your door. "Im fine." You say, firmly. You shut the door before he can ask anything else.

By the time you're halfway to the airport, he can't take it anymore. His wife, the love of his life, hasn't said a single thing to him for the past thirty minutes. Leon was gonna fuckin loose it.

"Alright, cut the shit." He said into the silence of the Jeep. You stare at him like he's lost his mind. "What's going on with you?" He asks, patience thinning. "Me?" You ask, stupidly.

"Yes, you." Leon shakes his head with a furrowed brow at your question. "You've been acting strange since last night and every time I ask you about it, you blow me off." His eyes, despite being on the road, strain in frustration, like he knows the exact face you're making at his accusation right now.

"Im just stressed about the mission-"

"Oh, don't give me that." He calls your bluff immediately.

His hand grips the wheel tighter, a heavy sigh leaving him. "Honey, I can't fix the problem if you don't tell me what it is." He admits solemnly.

"There is no problem!" You state, hoping he'll let it go.

He scoffs. "Do you want me to pull over? I swear to you I will stop this car right now if you don't tell me what's wrong." Its not a threat, its a fact, its the least of the things he's willing to do for you.

"Does it bother you that much?" You say angrily, but you don't raise voice. The two of you argue, yes, as all married couples do, but you never fight. All you do in your life is fight, if you brought it into your marriage you're pretty sure you'd go insane.

"Yes. Of coarse it bothers me when my wife won't talk to me." He noted, sternly. That seemed to shut you up, silently acknowledging his point. "Just..." He breathes for a second. "Tell me what's wrong and I promise you- Baby, I promise you- that it'll change. He reaches over and places a hand on your thing, leaving a firm squeeze there.

Leon doesn't make promises, you know this, mostly because he knows that even if he does fate will still have its way, but for you? Even fate couldn't stop him.

"Nothings wrong-"

The car suddenly veers to the left, the ride immediately becoming rougher as Leon pulls into the grass next to the highway. "Leon! Have you lost your mind?" He ignores you and puts the car in park.

"We're gonna be late, we're supposed to be there in minutes!" You're seriously considering walking to the airport right now but before that action could even fully form in your head Leon puts the child safety lock on.

"Then you better start talking, because we're not going anywhere until we figure this out." He turns his whole body towards you and the look in his eyes tells you he's not joking, as a matter of fact, this might be the most serious you've seen him in a while.

"I-" You start but cut yourself off. He raises his eyebrows at you, encouraging you go on but you'd be lying if you said you knew where to start.

"I had a dream last night." You admit, finally. Just saying it out loud takes a giant weight off your chest and somehow also forms a knot of equal weight in your throat. "You had a nightmare?" He asks quietly. "You know better than anyone not to hide those from me-" He starts assuring you but you swiftly interrupt him.

"It wasn't a nightmare." You correct him. "It was actually... really nice." This leaves him confused, to say the least, why would you be upset about a dream that was good?

You breathe deeply through your nose, trying to keep your thoughts in order. "It was the most beautiful, serene dream I've had in a long time." You stare out to the cars racing past you, unable to look him in the eye. "There was this big cabin in the middle of the mountains somewhere, it was so quiet there I could hear my own heart beating calmly." As you describe the scene, Leon keeps his eyes on you, his full attention on your words.

"It was so perfect, big wraparound porch, fairy lights on the balcony, a well tended garden, it was everything." There was this serene look in your eye when you spoke of it almost as of you were still there, it lit something in Leon he had never felt before.

"When I got closer, I could hear laughter coming from inside, so I looked through the window and I saw an old couple dancing. They had their favorite records on the table and wine in their matching glasses... hand knitted blankets on the couch, her favorite flowers in a vase, furniture pushed back so they had more room to dance." Every word that flowed out of your mouth seemed to break you a little it more, but you didn't seem to want to stop.

"But my favorite part was how you could see that it was their home." At this, you finally looked at him again, eyes glassy. "There were scuff marks by the front door from where he wiped the mud off his boots, a cookie tin that was nothing more than tv remotes and reading glasses, dust collecting on old picture frames..." You swallowed hard at your own words.

"it was lived in. It was theirs." Tears finally broke free from your eyes and as soon as they did there was a hand on your cheek, catching them with its thumb. "And-well." you sniffled. "It was ours." You confessed.

Leons eyes became glassy. "It was ours?" He asked even though he knew what you meant. You nodded. "We were the old couple." When you finally got the words out you fell into his arms over the center console and he wrapped his arms around you, neither of you caring if it was comfortable or not.

Tears accumulated on his shoulder and Leon closed his eyes at he feeling. "Oh, babygirl..." Leon didn't know how to cry, nobody ever taught him how, but he was pretty sure what he felt right now must be close to when you want to cry.

"Im so sorry. I didn't want to argue, I should've just told you, but I know it's not what you want-" He cuts you off by pulling you back up at your words. "You think that's not what I want?" He leaves you speechless, mouth closing and opening.

"You think I don't want to grow old with you? To build us a home away from everything?" He holds your face in both hands. "I would give the world for that." Theres a strong current of emotion that comes with the statement.

"Really?" You ask, still teary eyed. "Yeah." He responds with a laugh and places a kiss your knuckles. "We can spend the entire plane ride designing the house if you want." His voice is soft and lighthearted, but it doesn't last long, your eyes widen as you remember.

''The plane." You say, and he immediately understands. You look over at the clock on the dash.

6:42 AM

Oh shit.

"Well, guess the home planning is gonna have to wait a bit." He said, before putting the car into drive and speeding off to the airport. Despite the fact that you almost got into several accidents and he reminded you why he's not allowed to drive, you made it to the airport ten minutes later mostly alive.

By the time you're walking up the runway, private jet set to an undisclosed location in front of you, there's already several government agents harassing both of you.

"- And this is the date for the meeting, you'll both be expected to be there for the mission report-" Leon cuts off the high pitched voiced agent that was talking to him, pushing away the clipboard he was being handed. "Im afraid we won't be able to make it." He says, casually.

The agent widens his eyes. "Wha- You have to, the president expects you to be-" Leon puts pats the mans shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze. "Tell Graham me and my wife will be preoccupied house hunting. He'll understand." He gives the man one more pat before he turns to leave, thankful you're out of ear shot.

He reunites with you as you walk up the steps of the jet, hand on your back to stabilize you. When the door closes behind him and you're both seated on luxury seats, files of the upcoming mission in front of you, he can't even think about where you're both headed right now.

With your head on his shoulder, eyes closed, and lips slightly parted its clear your catching up on last nights loss of sleep. Leon places his head on top of yours and closes his eyes as well, quickly falling asleep.

And for the first time in years, he dreams.

He dreams of a lonely cabin in the middle of the woods.

AN: Sorry everyone I sat down to write and more angst came out :( ILL WRITE A HAPPY ONE NEXT TIME I PINKY PROMISE

Might do a part 2 of them designing the house and building it, who knowwwws

Anyway, this was for my angst lovers who still want a happy ending, cause no yeah me too.

If you liked this version of Leon and reader, there's more of them on my masterlist or feel free to send in a request !

Lots of love!

-Dove 🕊️

P.S

not Leon having a "If you don't behave I'm turning this car around" mom moment????