#magic-magpie

The walk up the stairs was a long one, the exhaustion set deep in Leon’s bones. He’d just come back from a mission debrief, filled out the necessary paperwork thrust upon him not two seconds after returning to American soil. Hunnigan had done her best to lighten the load though, and he couldn’t be more grateful. It meant he could return home quicker, back to comfort, back to his bed. 

Back to you. 

A glance at his watch told him it had just gone eight, too early for you to be in bed. The thought of coming home and seeing your face gave him the energy to put one foot in front of the other, and it was with a sigh of relief that he opened the door and entered their home. He shucked his boots off and left his motorcycle helmet on the nearby counter, and as he shrugged his jacket off he heard your sweet voice call out his name. 

“I’m back,” he called out in reply, and there was a bit of clatter in the living room before he heard a familiar set of footsteps approaching, and then there you were and it was like a weight had been lifted off his chest. A beautiful smile was on your face, your eyes sparkling in that way they only seemed to sparkle when you looked at him. He hung his jacket up and then you were hugging him and this, this was what kept him tethered. Your arms were wrapped around him, hands rubbing soothing circles into his back, face buried in his chest. He hugged you back, held you close, resting his head on yours and breathing in your familiar scent, so refreshing and comforting after trekking in the middle of nowhere for weeks. 

“You smell like shit,” you said, cheek pressed up against him. He breathed out a laugh, tickling the top of your head. 

“I’ve smelt worse.” 

“Shower or bath?” 

He hummed. “Shower.” 

A bath sounded nice, but honestly, he just wanted to collapse with you on the sofa as the TV droned on. Lay down with you, regain his sense of self in your warmth – as much as he had left, anyway. 

“You take a shower then, and I’ll get you dinner. I just made pasta – I didn’t know you were coming home tonight so I don’t have anything better.” 

His arms tightened around you, and he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. 

“Pasta’s fine.” 

Before you, he honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a home-cooked meal made for him. You’d told him you weren’t the best cook, to not judge your basic dishes, but every meal you cooked tasted wonderful to him. It tasted like home, like love, like someone cared about him enough to cook for him. 

Pasta was more than fine. 

“Cool, I’ll get that heated up for you then,” you said, and he eased up his hold to let you go, immediately feeling the loss of your warmth and having to stop himself from chasing after it. “Now go clean up, stinky.” 

He snorted, punching you lightly in the arm as he set off towards the bathroom, your subsequent laughter washing over him like a balm.

----

Stomach full, clean, and dressed in his comfy clothes, the two of you were cuddled up together on the sofa, lazily watching a shitty B-movie. You’d started off sitting apart but sometime during the movie you’d drifted closer together, and now you were nestled in Leon’s arms, practically on top of him, you holding his hand and idly stroking it with your thumb. There were a lot of explosions and yelling going on in the movie, but Leon found his gaze drifting to you instead, like a magnetic pull. You were dressed in his old hoodie – one of the ones you’d deemed part of the ‘communal wardrobe’. He’d acted grumpy about it at the time but he honestly loved seeing you in it, and if he’d left a few more of his hoodies around for you to steal then that was between him and the God he didn’t believe in. 

His gaze drifted down to your hand holding his, then zeroed in on a marking on the inside of your wrist. 

“Hey, what’s this?” 

Curiosity piqued, he grabbed your hand and pulled it closer, making you yelp in shock. 

“Leon, give off!” 

“Just looking!” He said, curiosity piqued even more by your protests. He turned your hand to see the inside of your wrist, and his breath hitched. 

It was his name written in pretty cursive, with a heart around it. He stared at it, lips parting slightly. His first thought was that it was a tattoo, but there were some little smudges here and there. 

He looked down at you, your face redder than before and pointedly avoiding his gaze. 

“You wrote this?” 

“Who else?” You replied, which was a fair point. You tried to tug your wrist back but he held firm, not done looking at it. The heart was a little wobbly, and he could see where you’d rubbed off ink and redrawn certain parts. His name was smoothly written though, and in the prettiest cursive he’d ever seen you use. He’d made fun of your typical handwriting before for somehow being worse than his own, so this was new. 

“I... I write it when you’re not here,” you said, voice quieter than normal, as if you were going all shy on him. “Like, when you’re on missions and stuff.” 

“You’ve done this before?” He asked softly, and oh God, his heart feels like it’s about to burst out of his chest. You nodded. 

“I dunno, it’s just, like,” you’re looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world, you were definitely going shy on him, “you’re not here, so I write that and it helps. With, y’know, missing you. I usually wash it off when I know you’re coming back home but I had no heads-up this time so I forgot.” 

Leon swallowed. God, you were perfect. Dressed in his hoodie, his name on your wrist, waiting for him to come home. How many years had he spent just coming home to an empty apartment, nothing to greet him except the utility bills, no one to miss him except the mould growing on the food he accidentally left out? On every mission there would be a not-insignificant part of him that contemplated just... not coming back. Letting the bioweapon with its hands around his throat snap his neck. Letting himself bleed out on the floor. Letting go of the ledge and falling to his death. He was going to die on the job - might as well have it happen sooner rather than later. 

Then you came along, and he found himself wanting to come home. Your face flashed through his mind when he parried an attack, when he shot an approaching threat. He wanted to come home and see your face again, wanted to feel you again, wanted to live to see tomorrow if that tomorrow would be spent with you. 

“Maybe I shouldn’t give you a heads-up from now on,” Leon said, then pulled you across until your face was closer to his, laughing at the surprised little noise you let out. Your face was still red and he could see the question forming on your lips, but he swiftly leant down and kissed you with all the affection that had been bubbling up inside his chest. He let go of your wrist in favour of circling you with his arms, another wave of adoration washing over him as your lips moved against his, fingers tangling in his hair. 

I love you, he thought as he held you close.  

I love you, as the kiss deepened, you making the little noises he loved. 

I love you, as you separated for air, breaths mingling. 

You laughed softly, and God if that wasn’t the most beautiful sound. 

“This is so embarrassing,” you whined, practically hiding your face in his chest. He wanted to make a little teasing remark, but as you lay there, dressed in his hoodie, his name on your wrist, all he could think about was that he loved you too fucking much. He took your hand, stroking his thumb over your knuckles. 

Imagining how it would look with a ring on it. 

“S’not embarrassing,” he replied, “it’s cute.” 

“You weren’t meant to find out,” you went on. He laughed softly, pressing a kiss to your forehead. You looked up at him, and if he could have this view for the rest of his life, he’d die a happy man. 

“Yeah? Well, I’m glad I did.”

----

You were stood at the kitchen counter, chopping up some potatoes. You’d finished work earlier than Leon today and so had bought a couple of steaks on the way back home, intending to make a better dinner tonight to make up for yesterday’s basic pasta with store-bought sauce. Not that Leon had voiced any disappointment with the dinner, but you liked making his favourite meal when he came home after a mission. 

Leon had texted you to say he’d be home soon, so you put the potatoes in the oven then got ready to work on the sauce. You caught sight of his name on your wrist and smiled. You didn’t tend to write it when he was around, but he’d seemed very happy to learn of your little habit , and so you figured you might as well re-write it on your wrist today. And every day after that, you supposed. 

A tattoo would solve the re-drawing issue, but you liked writing it. It felt romantic. Plus, you got to add little embellishments, depending on how you were feeling. Sometimes little stars, or dots around the heart. You’d opted for a classic design today, an arrow through the heart. 

A short while later you heard the front door open, Leon coming into the kitchen soon after, looking tired but thankfully without that dead, empty look he got after missions. He smiled when he saw you, that beautiful smile you treasured so dearly. 

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said as he approached you, hugging you from behind and resting his head on you. “Nice day?” 

You shrugged, turning the cooker off on the sauce. “So-so. You?” 

“Better than usual.” 

“Oh?” You said, turning round to face him properly. There was a little sparkle in his blue eyes, a little grin tugging at his lips. It was rare to see him like this after work – it normally took him a bit to shake the work off, so to speak. It was making you smile too. “And why was that?” 

“Because,” he said, then raised his left hand and shifted his watch to reveal your name in wobbly cursive, encased in an even wobblier heart. “I had you there with me.” 

Your face broke out into a smile, laughter bubbling up as you drank in the sight. He was fully grinning too, a dorky little grin with his eyes crinkling in such a way that had your heart doing topsy-turvies. You pulled up your sleeve to show him your matching inscription. 

“What a coincidence - you were with me, too,” you said, and Leon laughed, joy evident. Seeing him this happy melted your heart, and as he took to admiring your wrist again, blue eyes alight with adoration, blond hair loosely falling over his face, framed by the overhead lighting, he looked positively angelic. 

Truth be told, he was your angel. He’d disagree, would say he’s ‘just a guy’, but in him you’d found a love you’d only dreamt about. He wasn’t perfect by any means, but that didn’t matter when he held you so tenderly when you cried, when he supported you through thick and thin, when he made you feel so, so loved.  

Watching him like that, stroking your wrist with his thumb, looking at you like you hung the stars when all you did was write his name on your wrist, you knew that this was the man you wanted to spend forever with. 

“Can I have my hand back?” You asked teasingly, and Leon’s smile turned a little sheepish as he lowered your hand, but didn’t relinquish it, instead simply shifting so he was holding your hand instead of your wrist, fingers intertwined with yours. 

“I’ll let go if you give me a kiss,” he teased back, leaning in expectantly, and you gave an exaggerated eye roll before leaning up and pressing your lips against his, smiling into the kiss. He released your hand in favour of winding his arms around your waist, and your heart fluttered as he gently pulled you closer, enveloping you in his warmth. Your hands came up to embrace him in turn and the two of you stayed there, enjoying this time you had together, enjoying each other’s touch, enjoying the feel of the other’s lips, a feeling that was so familiar but never got old. 

Eventually you pulled apart, all lovestruck smiles and little laughs when your eyes met. 

“I love you, you know that?” Leon said, thumbs stroking circles into your skin. “I know I don’t really say it often, but I do. I love you.” 

You smile. “I know.” 

“Y’know, I figured out of the two of us I’d be Han Solo.” 

“Nah, you’re my princess.” 

“I’m not dressing up as Leia if that’s what you’re hinting at.” 

“Boo, you whore.” 

Leon snorted, rolling his eyes fondly before pulling away. “Alright, I’m gonna go get changed. See you in a bit.” 

He pressed one last kiss to the top of your head before walking off, and as you watched him you felt that certain fondness swell in your chest. He was your everything, the one you loved most ardently, and who, by some grace of God, loved you so ardently in return. 

“Hey, Leon?” 

Leon turned around, having just entered the hallway. “Yeah, sweetheart?” 

“I love you too.” 

He smiled softly, and that was your raison d’être. You could see a million stars, watch thousands of meteor showers, look up at a twilight sky, and none of it would compare to the view right before you. 

“I know.”

- He's sentimental. He tries to not let it on, but he is v sentimental. He kept Marvin's knife and still uses it all these years later. I think he'd keep Ada's bear keychain and Luis' key too. I'm double-minded as to whether he'd keep Krauser's knife - on one hand it was the knife that had trained him, that belonged to the mentor who made him the combatant he is today, but on the other hand that knife is the one he used to kill Krauser and it doesn't bring back good memories.

- Him liking movies is canon, but I think his behaviour during a movie depends on the context. If you're in the cinema then he's the type to keep v quiet or talk to you briefly in hushed whispers, and he is nOT taking bathroom breaks. Tbf he doesn't really nEED to, military training has given him good bladder control (do I know if it can give good bladder control? No but I imagine it does so <3), but if you're the type who needs to piss during a movie he'll accompany you but he'll also be lowkey antsy about missing the movie. He tries not to let it show but you can see by the way he's fidgeting, tapping his foot/jiggling his leg, and as soon as you're done he'll practically speed off back to the theatre, you in tow. If it's a new movie he's watching at home, he likes to try and replicate the cinema experience a bit - lights off, and if you'd planned for it then he'd get some popcorn, but if not then just random snacks you've got laying around will have to do. How much he talks here depends on the movie, but generally speaking he's more talkative. If it's a movie he's seen before that he's showing you, he'll definitely be more talkative here - he's the type to talk about the different shots, any behind-the-scenes trivia, things like that. So if you want to Netflix and Chill with him the only way you're doing that is if you put on a shitty B-movie or w/e that he's either seen before or doesn't really care about, otherwise he's Locked In

- This one might be canon idk, but he's a bit of a gun enthusiast. Not a collector or anything, but an Appreciator. He canonically does help design the guns for the DSO iirc, so yeah. He's also a motorcycle enthusiast (more of a motorbike enthusiast than gun enthusiast, if he had to pick one), and I recently found out that Claire's a motorbike appreciator too, so they like talking abt bikes together and also having friendly banter abt whose bike is better.

- He wasn't very popular in school. He wasn't uNPOPULAR, but he wasn't popular either, he was just kind of There. His social standing increased when he joined the baseball team and proved to be damn good at it, but he's still just not very good socially. He started getting invited to parties but hand on heart he didn't particularly lIKE them, but he liked the alcohol. But otherwise the parties were too loud, there were too many people, and the main idea was to talk and mingle and that was nOT his strong suit.

- Following on from that, he initially wasn't very 'popular' in the police academy either. I'm hazarding a guess that the police academy in the 90s was quite a toxically masculine environment, and Leon... is not this. He's awkward, a softer kind of guy, a prettyboy, and the rest of his cohort initially just ended up 'othering' him and probably teasing him for his prettiness too. But then he started showing them up in the marksmanship lessons by a landslide, and whilst he wasn't the sTRONGEST there he did damn well in the physicals too, better than most. So they started including him, inviting him out to the bar for drinks, that kind of thing. But he still didn't really fit in. The toxic masculine environment didn't suit him.

- Slightly related to that, but I also think he's queer - specifically demisexual. However, he does not know this. He grew up in the 90s and was not in any queer circles or LGBTQ groups or anything, so he doesn't really know anything about queer stuff aside from straight, gay, lesbian, and mAYBE bisexual. That's another reason why he didn't fit in at the academy though, the casual homophobia always made him feel uncomfortable, even if he himself still thought he was straight.

- Wrt his girlfriend pre-RE2 (idk if this is canon w RE2R but I tend to mash the two backstories together), I headcanon that he was kind of going out with her out of an 'expectation'. She approached him at the bar when he was out with some of his peers from the academy, and the other guys were talking abt how she was a super-hot smokeshow or w/e, and Leon just Didn't Get It. Like, he knew she was pretty, it's kind of obvious, but the way the other guys were talking, was he meant to feel like that too? Wasn't he meant to want to totally do her, or...? So he dates her, kind of just waiting for it to kick in. And she starts getting frustrated because he's not really exhibiting any sexual interest, and he starts getting frustrated with himself because he can't figure out wHY he's not feeling any sexual interest. He tried to get hot and heavy, tried to have sex, but backed out when they got to taking underwear off. And then he takes the job in Raccoon City without consulting her and that's kind of the final nail in the coffin to their relationship. They have the argument, they break up, and Leon goes to a motel and drinks himself stupid because for the first time he's truly having to consider whether there's smth wrong with him. Someone teach this man about asexuality pLEASE </3

- Pretty sure this is canon tbf, but he's a grunge/rock enjoyer <3 He loves Nirvana, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Three Days Grace, Saliva, etc etc. Divorced dad rock enjoyer fr <3 He used to make his own mixtapes back in school, and he likes to have some kind of music player on his person at all times. He doesn't tend to listen to his iPod or whatever when walking around town anymore on account of preferring to be Very Aware of his surroundings, but he does like to have it there to listen to if he starts getting too agitated and needs to calm down. He still loves blasting his music out in the car though, and also in his earphones when on his motorcycle. Ashley introduces him to Avril Lavigne and takes him to one of her concerts <3

- His favourite meal is steak and potatoes but he rarely gets to eat it on account of the fact that he's got nobody at home to make it for him, and he's definitely not got the effort to make it for himself. His typical diet is more like eggs, bacon, and, like, basic chicken and rice. He's really just eating to survive at this point. He's got instant noodles too ofc for when he can't even be bothered with all that. The dishes pile up because he either forgets to do them or just doesn't want to. On more than one occasion he's gone off on a mission and come back to dirty dishes in the sink. It's a depressing feeling. He gets takeout on those days. And alcohol.

- He was raised Catholic but no longer believed in God after Raccoon City.

- He has a lingering scent of gunpowder and whiskey. It's not uncommon for him to smell of motor oil too on account of working on his bike.

- He says no to drugs because he was raised like that, and also they mess with your brain and are bad for you. However he does not see the irony of saying this whilst being an alcoholic.

- He can play guitar! Electric guitar in particular. He was self-taught, with maybe some help from the school music teacher. He's definitely amateur and mediocre, but he enjoyed learning his favourite songs on the guitar. He never really went back to it after Raccoon City, and so his skills have atrophied over the years.

- He loves both cats and dogs, but he's more likely to own a cat than a dog on account of them being lower maintenance, he unfortunately doesn't have the time or the schedule for a dog. I don't think he'd specifically go out and adopt a cat though - if he ended up with one it'd be via a stray cat adopting hIM after he gave it food or smth.

- I think he's also pretty good with kids, generally speaking! He can be a little awkward w them at first due to not quite knowing where they are in development, how much 'baby talk' he's meant to use, how much he has to dumb things down, etc etc, but once he gets a little familiar and gets into the swing of it he's pretty good, kids generally love him. Take them on piggyback rides, let them hang from his arm, is good at comforting them too. However if they're bored he has to stop himself from showing them his gun and letting them play with it.

- He doesn't really watch cop shows on account of the fact that he can end up feeling nostalgic for the life he could've lived. Whilst he is aware of the corruption that had taken the RPD and so he knows objectively it wouldn't have been sunshine and rainbows, he's still nostalgic for that life he once wished to lead. It's not like he wON'T watch them, but it's usually when someone else wants to watch them, he doesn't tend to suggest them. He's more likely to watch cop movies of his own volition 'cause they rarely do actual cop stuff in those.