cw: grief. drinking. mention of weed. angst.
pairings: re9!leon x dead gf!reader
summary: it has been more than 20 years since you departed for a better place in heaven, yet he cannot forget you.
♫ 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐥𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧 ♫
leon was convinced you were the one for him, despite the brief time you two had together. you touched him in ways that any man like him could only dream of.
he treasured every small possession you had, even if they seemed insignificant to others, they meant the world to him. the only things keeping him alive.
your baby blue scarf that still carried the faint, comforting smell of your soft hair, along with the delicate scent of your remaining perfume drops drifting in the air of his bedroom occasionally—just a few sad remnants of your favorite fragrance. alongside it was your beloved pen, the one with which you had written heartfelt letters to him while you were abroad. even across thousands of miles, your thoughts constantly drifted to him—something no one had done before you came into his life.
but what he truly longed to feel between his fingers was you, not a piece of fabric or the last postcard you sent him decades ago.
he cares about you with the profound devotion of a widower mourning his beloved wife. he was just your boyfriend. yet, a boyfriend who often wished the gods had granted him more time with you, a boyfriend who yearned to stop overthinking and marry you the month after you met, considering you truly the love of his life and the woman he wanted to spend his last seconds with, slide the most beautiful diamond ring around your finger and hear you say "yes!".
whiskey had been his only solace since his loss, often drinking half a bottle in one evening, sometimes a whole one if he was particularly determined to avoid thoughts of you. he remembered how his hands would glide through your soft hair, then slide down the gentle slope of your shoulders, tracing the curves he had spent his entire life worshipping. he even considered reaching out to a dealer for drugs to numb the pain, but he held back—refusing to allow himself to sink that low.
but again, he was already balls deep in the worst state (physically and mentally) of his life.
he spends his lonely nights in his bed, imagining the sheets still smelling like your shampoo.
sometimes, more often than not, he finds himself sleeping on your side of the bed. he refuses to spend meaningless passion with other women because it feels like cheating on you even when you weren’t here.
"you’ve got to let her go, leon. it’s been like two decades now" claire keeps telling him whenever she comes over to check on him.
there she stands on his front porch, the soft glow of the overhead light casting a shadow beneath them both that leon didn’t bother to turn off, illuminating the worn wooden steps and the tension in the cool evening air.
he knows she’s right, especially when it comes to his emotional struggles, where she consistently demonstrates insight. She has been able to read him like an open book since their youth, long before you entered his life, after raccoon city.
"i can’t really manage to forget her when she’s everywhere, figuratively speaking or not."
"sometimes it hits me outta nowhere" he admits "like... I'll see something - maybe a commercial for her favorite shampoo or hear that one song she loved - and suddenly I'm right back there." his voice was steady but there was an ache underneath the words "It's not every day anymore though."
he lies. he just wants claire to stop bothering him about it and leave him alone to think, even though he knows it’s only making him feel worse.
"you’re miserable... seriously, you’ve never looked or felt worse" she says softly, her words driven by a deep longing for her longtime friend.
she can’t simply allow herself to see the man with whom she has spent nearly half her life destroying himself, observing his prematurely gray hair, which has turned noticeably whiter over the years, likely due to the stress and anxiety he endures.
it’s still painful to hear her admit that he’s never appeared worse in that situation, but ultimately, she’s telling the truth.
"at least don’t let me find you with a joint between your fingers again, leon" she crosses her arms like a mother scolding her kid.
"i never consumed that shit."
"just- forget it," she waves a hand at him, a slight frown creasing her face. "don’t let yourself sink so low. you’re not a ship; you’re leon kennedy."
right, the same leon who can’t stop overthinking, the same man who’s faced death a hundred times, but when it comes to someone he cares about, he shuts down and puts his walls up.
sometimes he even forgets you’re gone if something doesn’t remind him.
"well, i gotta pick the kids up" she says before her arms snaked around him in a friendly hug "you take care, leon. seriously."
yet another night finds him sitting awake in his quiet kitchen, a perfectly poured glass of aged whiskey resting on the counter next to him, illuminated only by a faint, warm glow from a single overhead light.
he clutches the worn, faded photograph he has kept of you two, the only tangible proof that you truly existed and that you weren’t merely a figment of his lonely imagination.
you look beautiful as always, with your hair dancing in the wind that slightly obscures your carefree smile—the one he loved to see and kiss, the same smile he would trade his life to see again, even if just once more.
he doesn’t even notice how the picture is gradually becoming more blurred with each passing second, a tear pricking at the corner of his eye and threatening to spill over.
when it finally does, he allows the other tear to flow freely without protest.
"when will you come back?" his voice cracks in the quiet of the room, his heart aching with profound grief.
leon is hungry, starving to feel your presence beneath him once more, to hear the soft, familiar sound of your voice instead of your favorite song playing from the vintage turntable, and to see your face clearly, rather than a woman who merely resembles you across the street.
his days are filled with sad moments without you by his side, yearning to tell you one more time the three words he didn’t have the chance to tell you before you passed.
now he has to live with the heavy guilt living deep inside his chest for the rest of his life, until he joins you up there.
"oh, take this longing from my tongue. all the useless things my hands have done. let me see your beauty broken down. like you would do, for one you love." - leonard cohen.