#(…technically)

You never knew what made you so qualified for this job.

Before this you were just an elementary school teacher. You just figured it was because you were from a small town, and didn't have a family…it would have been easy to take care of you if you ever stepped out of line.

Honestly, you remember your first day like it was yesterday—because it was definitely a day you’d never forget.

As you approached him, you gave him a small smile. He quickly smiled back. As you got closer, he reached to touch you, as he always did, but you quickly whispered "Don't," tilting your head towards the guard.

It took him a second to realize what you meant. You always thought his confused face was the most adorable thing. Then it hit him. He quickly nodded, and gave you small thumbs up.

After saying your hellos, mostly you talking, which never bothered you, he listened. He always enjoyed the sound of your voice.

You pulled out a small packet from your bag before looking over at the guard clearing your throat.

“Do you mind?” you asked, pointing at the hand cuffs around his wrist.

The guard stepped forward and unlocked the cuff. You spoke again.

“Daniel, do you mind—” you paused, thinking carefully about what you were going to say, “You know how shy he is. Can you wait outside the door? I’ll let you know if I need anything.” then you flashed him a smile.

He groaned as he made his way to the door, letting out a scoff and mumbling, “Your funeral.”

Once the door was closed, and you were sure it was closed, you turned to him.

Before you could say anything, he quickly pulled you into a hug. A tight hug. A little shocked yourself, you let out a small yelp.

When he let you go, you immediately turned to his hand, rubbing the irritated area.

He was busy placing kisses along your neck and face.

“Does it hurt?” you ask. All he did was grunt back

You turned back to him, lightly grabbing his chin so he’d faced you.

“Use your words.”

His eyes closed for a moment before he spoke, very carefully and softly.

“N..no.”

A wide smile spread across your face as you cradled his cheeks in your hands, pulling him in for a kiss.

His lips were always so soft, soft enough to catch you off guard every time.

You knew what you were doing was wrong. If anyone ever caught you, you knew your job wouldn’t be the only thing that you’d lose.

You pulled away to catch your breath for a moment before slowly running your fingers through his long hair. Also, surprisingly soft.

You always felt a sense of relief just being around him. And that always made you feel even worse about your whole situation.

Then your attention fell back to his wrist.

Still confused, you lightly rubbed the irritated skin, genuinely concerned about what caused it. There wasn’t much that hurt him. Not much that left a scar.

Your face crinkled up, trying to make sense of it.

He lightly placed his head on your chest, as he so loved to do. You always thought it soothed him.

You let out a frustrated sigh, as you spoke softly—more to yourself than him.

“This isn’t from the hand cuffs…what is it from?”

You were so caught up in your own thoughts, you didn’t even hear him speak at first.

He let out a grunt before quickly correcting himself.

“Don’t,” he paused for a second as your hand drifted to the back of his head, brushing his hair. “Know.”

He always spoke slowly, but it never bothered you. Honestly, you found it really sweet—especially since you were the one who taught him how to speak.

“Did something happen?” you asked, still focus on his wrist.

He looked up at you before speaking, making that face again—it was so adorable, it always made your heart melt.

“He…” he started slowly. That’s what he always called your boss. “Umm,” he looked up to you like he expected you to read his mind. And sometimes, it felt like you could.

“He… test,” he said, sounding like he wasn’t sure himself. But you knew what he meant.

You always felt so bad about how he was just treated. Like a test subject. What made it even worse, you couldn’t do much to stop it.

All you could do was quietly whisper, “I’m sorry,” and pull him closer.

He looked up from your chest again, smiling big.

“It okay,” he paused again, he always did that , before continuing “You… make better.”

You smiled softly and gently corrected him “Make IT better,” you didn’t even notice the tears streaming down your face.

He quickly moved to comfort you in his own way, lifting his head from your chest before touching his wrist. “It okay,” he said, then wiped the tears off your cheek. “No…uhh… hurt.”

“I’m such a mess, i’m sorry,” you whispered, finally letting go of him and reaching for the packet.

“Are you ready for today’s lesson?”

He nodded, and the two of you made your way to the small table in the room. As he sat down, you pulled your chair closer.

“Do you remember where we left off?”

He nodded again, it all reminded you of your very first day with him.

You were so nervous. Looking back, it all sounded so sketchy…but you were glad you took the chance. Because of that, you got to meet him. It was bittersweet. But, you’d do it all over again, in a heartbeat.

“Very good. Now do you remember this one?” you asked, pointing to the letters on the sheet.

He began to read slowly. “Th..the. The sun.”

“It's okay, go slow. I’m not going anywhere,” you say softly, a gentle smile on your lips as your hand drifted to his thigh, your thumb moving in a slow, soothing motion.

But before he even opened his mouth again, you heard the door creak open.

And before you could even move your hand, the guard came back in.

“All right, lovebirds, wrap it up,” the guard said.

You quickly stiffened up, “I still have like an hour left?” you asked, face scrunching up in confusion.

The guard shrugged.“The boss wants to see him.” He turned around. “But… wrap it up, quickly.”

You smiled, before whispering, “Thank you, Daniel.” You just knew he was rolling his eyes.

Then you turned your attention back to him, seeing the puzzled look on his fave.

“Wrong?” he asked quietly.

You sighed. “No.” You brushed the hair from his face. “He wants to see you.”

He frowned before slowly getting up. “Bye…”

As he turned to go, you let out a pout.

“That’s no way of saying goodbye, is it?”

He paused for a moment to think, then quickly pulled you into a kiss. It wasn’t perfect. It was rushed and a little clumsy, but you didn’t mind. His hand found your jaw, fingers tightening like he was scared you’d pull away.

But you didn’t.

You kissed him back, it was warm, sloppy and a bit too desperate. And just as you were forgetting the world around you—

“Ahem.”

The guard’s cough snapped you out of it, dragging you back to your bitter reality.

Your hand lingering on his back a bit longer than it should have, Before he pulled away and walked off.

You whispered your goodbyes.

As the door shut behind him, the sadness crept in.

You let out a sigh, slowly pick up your things and making your way out.

-

When you got home, you opened the door to your apartment and sighed again, throwing yourself onto the couch and letting out an exhausted groan.

You looked around. It was nice, sure. But it’d be even nicer to share it with someone.

Your thoughts always drifted to him, whether you wanted them to or not.

He haunted your mind.

You wondered what he sounded like when he slept.

What his body would feel like under your hands.

You shoved your face into the pillow next to you and groaned softly.

You hadn’t even touched him… not really. Just kisses and touches that didn’t last long enough.

It was dangerous to think like this.

Even worse to want it.

But you did.

You stayed like that for a while, face buried in the pillow, wallowing in self-pity.

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────

So! This au is something I've been meaning to post for… a while, but I just kept getting distracted by other things and wasn't able to post it in the way I wanted. So… here's what I've got.

If you couldn't tell, this is a crossover between Resi and Monster Hunter, and I'm basically abusing the portals that popped up during the Witcher event in World to explain this nonsense.

During the events of RE2, a portion of Geismogorn's Qurio flock gets spat out of one of these portals - for reference, these are the Qurio:

Anyway, these guys are obviously extremely lost, and their luck gets worse when they run into G-Birkin.

Thankfully for them, Leon was nearby and thought Birkin was attacking more survivors. So he shoots at the monster and pulls it away, shouting at the "people" to run.

He nearly gets killed for his efforts, only being saved by the Qurio repelling Birkin with their venom. Unfortunately, the monster still landed a devastating blow, and he's bleeding out.

The Qurio try to help him by sharing some of their dragon energy, while some try biting and injecting him with their venom.

So, little side-tangent: we know thanks to the events of Sunbreak that this venom is strong, so much so that they needed a fucking Espinas to counteract it. I headcanon that this is because Malzeno - one of their preferred hosts - is an Elder Dragon, and thus probably has a way stronger immune system than say a Kulu-Ya-Ku.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, let's remember how some antivirals are made: by using the poisons of other plants or animals.

Residual Malzeno DNA, coupled with the dormant strains of G and T-Virus within Leon, results in him mutating into what you see above. It also had the added effect of subduing the viruses within his body after initial mutation.

At first he's kinda stuck in Malzeno form, mainly because he didn't know he could shapeshift. So after waking up post-mutation, he promptly freaks out as one does.

The Qurio try to calm him down, although even they aren't exactly cool and collected considering what just happened. But they do manage to prevent a complete panic attack so… progress?

Leon can still talk in this form! Don't ask me how that works, I just wanted him to. He can also understand what the Qurio are saying, which links back to Malzeno and the leech-bats'… well it's certainly not symbiosis-

If you'll notice he also takes aspects from Primordial Malzeno! That monster fits him to a T, so I had to implement some bits from it as well. A fun fact about this is that: the longer Leon is separated from his Qurio, the more he changes into a Primordial Malzeno.

Anyway, if it wasn't obvious, the Qurio did not intend for this to happen. So poor Leon kinda gets bombarded by apologies for a little bit, until he hears Birkin attacking Sherry and Claire.

Que a very uncoordinated vampire dragon and his leech buddies somehow beating Birkin back, at least enough to drag the duo to safety.

It's actually as they're escaping that Leon discovers his shapeshifting; the hallway's way lower than the room Sherry and Claire were in, so in a burst of dragon energy he changes into the form you see in the second picture.

Leon is still taller than he was before though (because I'm very short irl so I must compensate lmao), being almost eight feet in height (not including his horns), so he's gonna be an awkward mess for a bit.

Claire doesn't even get a chance to ask what the fuck happened because of Sherry's infection, and it isn't properly addressed until the DEVIL vaccine's administered.

Up until that point Leon had been under the assumption that the Qurio were an Umbrella creation, but Annette shoots that idea down as the only things remotely close to them are the Las Plagas and Nemesis parasite.

On that note; Leon's Qurio have a far more symbiotic relationship, and this is because of the viruses in his body.

Remember how I said the venom subdued the G and T-Virus? It didn't just do that, it also forced them into benefiting the host - AKA: Leon.

He now has enhanced regeneration - even better than Wesker's due to having two viruses, one of which is the biological equivalent of a doomsday scenario. Because of this, his Qurio can eat their fill and it won't have any adverse effects on him.

His wings are just as durable and maneuverable as Primordial Malzeno's, meaning he can use them as shields and spears on a whim. He also obviously has access to Dragon Element, his flock sharing it with him as he can't actually generate it on his own.

He does also have Malzeno's enrage, although the first time it happens isn't until the events of Code Veronica (which yes, him and Sherry are there for!).

Leon also doesn't join STRATACOM in this au, as he just flew the three of them as far away from Raccoon as he could. This is mainly because I do not trust the Resi government to be within ten miles of a Monster Hunter monster, much less a fucking Elder Dragon.

So fun fact about his flock: the eagle-eyed amongst you might've noticed that they aren't the normal red, but instead a blue color. That's because I headcanon that they adapt to match their host the longer they stay with them; since Malzeno turned red after bonding with them, the Qurio turned red to match.

As for why Leon's blue… I'll be honest it's purely because I didn't want him to just look like a carbon-copy of Malzeno.