Chapter Text
"That prompt was fucking bullshit, and he knew it too!" Claire shrieked as she threw the door to her bedroom open, letting the hard wood slam against the hallway wall, and piled into her room. She shucked her weekend bag off of her shoulders, chucking it to the far corner of her bedroom onto a pile of unfolded laundry, and collapsed in a heap onto her beanbag chair.
As her ass hit the chair, following swiftly behind, her best friend, Leon Scott Kennedy, strode into the room. After a rousing week of difficult exams, bullshit papers, and a heap of drama amongst their four other suite mates, a well-earned extended weekend away from campus was desperately needed for the pair. That weekend came in the form of packing three days worth of clean clothes, hopping on their bikes, and riding side by side the few hours from campus to Raccoon City to crash at her and her brother Chris's place right outside the city proper.
The house was a small, post WWII-era bungalow with a fully furnished basement that Chris dubbed his "base of operations-" aka a pit of hell Claire wouldn't venture into even if her life depended on it. Who the hell knew what creatures of darkness crawled and slithered around in Chris's mess all day? Still, it gave him a place to contain himself, his explosive mess, and his rowdy drinking buddies while Claire was otherwise granted full reign over the top of the house, minus the common areas like the kitchen and living room. Thus, she kept the big bedroom with the attached bathroom, and the smaller bedroom was used as a guest room- or, more likely, even more of Chris's mess and go-bags for his emergency calls.
A fellow criminal investigations major, Leon was a junior to Claire's sophomore, and the two of them met in one of their intermediate classes they shared for their degree. What started as a partnership for a group project quickly snowballed into a tightly bonded friendship complete with late night study sessions, drunken walks back home from Greek life parties, holding each other's hair while puking their guts out, and shared sobs over the latest dirtbag man to shatter either of their hearts. While Leon's educational route would eventually grant him a leg up in the police academy, Claire's passion lied with investigative journalism. Leon knew precisely the professor she was currently hollering about; he had only passed his class the semester before by the skin of his teeth, and if it weren't for a very intelligent upperclassman taking pity on him and taking him under her wing, he'd still be in front of that assignment to this very day.
After stepping into Claire's room, Leon removed his own bag from his shoulders and carefully placed it down beside her dresser. He chose to walk over to her bed, slipping off his shoes before he sat down on the mattress, "He's such a fucking sleazeball. I can't believe he still has a job."
"And you know what doesn't make any sense at all?!" Claire, clearly still hot about the subject, continued, "If you're gonna give me an essay prompt about a 'controversial topic,' and I answer it my way, not the way you wanted me to answer it, one: don't call me out about it in front of the class like I'm a fucking child, and two, don't give me that prompt in the first place, dickhead!"
"It honestly sounds like he just wanted to argue with you," Leon commented as he folded his legs up underneath himself, "Because you dare have an opinion that challenges his right-wing bullshit,"
"Tell me about it," Claire growled and threw her head against the back of the bean bag chair. She promised, in the back of her mind, that she wasn't going to make the entire weekend just bitching about school. When she said they needed a break, she meant it. "Well, that sucked."
"Yeah. But it's over now," Leon's subtle words of hope permeated through the room, "And I can safely say that we're gonna have a much better weekend than O'Connell will,"
That got Claire to smirk a bit, the corner of her lips tilting upwards, "Yeah, divorce is a helluva buzzkill, aye Jeffrey?"
Leon laughed. Seemed the rumors around campus were true. Either way, nothing they have to worry about now, "So, what's the plan, Red?"
"Well," Claire sat up in the chair, straightening her back and looking over at her friend from across the room, "Should have the place to ourselves for the most part- Chris is supposed to have some mercy flight training in the mountains this weekend, so we can either hang out here, tear up Market Street OR hit up some of the clubs off Bourbon!"
Leon raised an eyebrow to that idea, "And you're getting into some of those places…how, exactly?" his question was a bit more facetious than serious, but it still addressed the logistical issue of Claire being just shy of her 20th birthday, let alone her 21st. And while Leon cleared that hurdle a few months prior, his compatriot wasn't so lucky.
And to that, Claire raised an eyebrow of her own, "That's my business, mister,"
Leon shook his head. He could argue- as he often did when Claire got a wild idea in her brain- but he was far too curious to see how this plan would ultimately pan out. So, for the next several minutes, the two of them chatted over logistics of what clubs they could hit up, where they could park their bikes so they didn't get towed, and which places to steer clear of to avoid running into her brother's fellow officers.
And as the early afternoon drifted sleepily into early evening, when the sun fell past the trees, Claire and Leon changed into what they dubbed their "signature going out clothes," loaded onto their bikes, and zipped their way into the hustle and bustle of R.C.'s entertainment district.
In so many words, the night could have gone better.
At first, things were going smooth. The club Claire thought would be free and clear for her worked out, and her and Leon managed to sneak their way in while her favorite bouncer had his back turned. For a couple hours, they flew under the radar by ordering stiff drinks for themselves, chugging them, then blending seamlessly into the crowd around them as the buzz kicked in. The pair danced feverishly with one another, as well as random patrons that happened to stroll by and compliment parts of their apparel. However, the good vibes they were cultivating eventually soured greatly once a recognizable profile flashed into Claire's peripheral: Eddie Dewey, a colleague of Chris's from the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, dancing his heart out with a strikingly beautiful woman across the floor.
Panic-stricken, Claire grabbed Leon before a particularly handsy brunette man could whisk him away and made a break for the exit, praying to any deity hanging above her Eddie didn't lift his head up and spot them. With her go-to spot a total bust, they pivoted to Plan B, i.e. the club literally two doors over- only to be turned away at the door the moment the bouncer recognized Claire as "little Redfield". Before she could give the guy a piece of her mind, Leon redirected her further down the street. Voices of reason prevailed, and the pair instead pivoted again to continue walking through several neighborhoods to the market district. Once there, they treated themselves to browsing various late-night storefronts including media shops, magazine shacks, and other various open-air vendors. The blurry warmth of the alcohol burned its way through their systems steadily, and it was another few hours before they trapesed their way back to the bike to begin their journey back to Claire and Chris's house.
As Claire rounded the corner, she brought the bike to a stop at the sign- despite her usually blowing right through it when there were no other cars around. As the two turned to watch either side of the road, her eyes fell forward towards her house.
Her jaw fell wide open.
From their position at the intersection, she saw their garage door open and light spilling out onto the darkened street. And in the driveway, taking up nearly the whole slab of asphalt, sat a souped-up 1998 Black Ebony Ford Expedition.
"Shit," Claire shouted, loud enough to rattle over her engine and alert Leon beside her.
"What's wrong?!" Leon called above the hiss of his Kawasaki.
"He was supposed to be gone!"
Claire revved her engine and sprung forward through the stop, which prompted Leon to follow close on her heels. They crept up the rest of the street, as quietly as their ear-piercing bikes let them be, and pulled over to the junction between the Expedition and their neighbor's driveway, out of sight line from the garage. The bikes turned off, and their engine hums were replaced in the air with the sounds of an unplugged electric guitar, thumping bass drum, and the shredded vocals of an amateur grunge singer. The two leapt from their bikes, and as soon as his feet hit the ground, Leon sprinted over to Claire, his face draped in confusion.
"What's going on?" He questioned, but Claire quickly shushed him and peered around his shoulder as the music stopped.
Leon turned to follow her gaze, and as he did, a waft of voices floated overhead from the garage.
"Can you fucking stay on beat for once, dipshit?!"
"I'll stay on fucking beat when you stop sounding like Eddie Vedder's nut sack,"
"Eat shit and die, Redfield,"
"Eat shit and live, Speyer,"
"Can one of you fuckers toss me a beer?"
"If you gimme my smokes back, Frosty,"
Claire's eyes rolled in the back of her skull, "Oh god,"
That did absolutely nothing to answer Leon's question. His confusion morphed into bewilderment before their very eyes, "Claire- what's the matter?! Why are you being so weird right now?"
"It's fine- we'll just go to my room- maybe they won't see us," Claire tried to grab hold of Leon's sleeve to drag him towards the front entrance of the house.
"Why, what's the big deal if they do?!" Leon fought the pull and wriggled against her, but she persisted as their pace quickened. The pair was almost to the steps leading up to the front door, when the ultimate betrayal was cast upon them:
The motion-activated front door light.
Yelping, Claire quickened her pace, "Go-go!" She tried to push Leon forward, but neither she nor her buddy sensed the speed in which the various pairs of legs from the garage moved around the Expedition towards the shining light. The students hardly put their boots to the cobblestone steps before a familiar voice called out:
"Claire?"
Claire and Leon froze in their tracks. Shit. No where to hide now.
Slowly- as if, if she moved any faster, she'd be turned to stone- Claire's body turned towards the direction of the voice. Leon followed her motions, and as they did, a shadowy figure stepped into the overhead light.
Towering over them, in a tattered white shirt clinging to his torso in sweat and green cargo pants filled out to the seams, stood S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team point man, and more importantly, Claire's big brother Chris Redfield. He stood before the students against the side of his Expedition, and the florescent light illuminated his features. Strands of his chocolate brown lay draped handsomely across his forehead. His cheeks, nose, and tips of his big ears were peppered in a heat-flush, dusting a light red over his tanned skin, likely from the various musical and physical activities he and his mysterious buddies were up to in the garage.
But what stood out to Leon the most were Chris's eyes: Deep brown pools that bore down on them with the power of ten suns.
The photos on Claire's bedside table at school didn't do this man any justice, because he was the most gorgeous man Leon had ever laid eyes on. And upon standing in front of him for the first time, all capacity for rational thought swiftly exited through Leon's ears.
Oh, no.
"What are you doing here?" Chris questioned as he sauntered over to the steps, "I thought you had exams this week,"
"What are you doing here?" Claire retorted, her heavy boots scraping into the cobblestone. "You were supposed to be in the Arklays!"
Chris, befuddled, blinked for a few seconds before the realization dawned on him.
"Next week, Claire. I'm gone next week,"
Claire just stood gaumless beside Leon, as if she was hearing those words in that order for the first time.
Chris shook his head, unsure of what to think of his sister's presence, let alone her presence with a friend of hers he hadn't met. On one hand, he was super excited to see her, as it's been weeks since she's been back at work. On the other hand, his older sibling instincts were strongly kicking in and could see the red flags all over that indicated to him that they were up to some nonsense. The officer's gaze shifted from his little sister to Leon, his face filling with more questions. In response, Leon straightened uncomfortably at the sudden intense eyes on him like a spotlight.
Not that he was minding the sudden attention necessarily…
"And who's this one?" Chris asked.
"I'm Le-" Before Leon could introduce himself, Claire interrupted him.
"Leon, remember? We're roommates now,"
The gears in Chris's head begin to turn as they drift downward on Leon's body, giving the young man a solid once over. So this was the famous best friend his kid sister told him all about. Needless to say, despite the weird circumstances, it was nice to finally put a handsome face to the name.
"Leon…Right," Chris repeated his name slowly- an action that forced heat to pool into the deepest pits of Leon's belly- before returning his attention to Claire, "Not that I'm not stoked to see you, but what are you two doing here? You're not skipping are you?"
"No- just-" Claire, exasperated, sighed and ran a hand through her messy red hair, "Look, we've had a shit week- shitty weeks- we just wanted a break- we grabbed shit after class and rode home. We just hung out in town, and we're tired- so we'd like to go to bed and-"
"Claire," It would seem, during her speech, Chris leaned closer to his little sister as he listened. As she spoke, a familiar stench cloud resembling the ghost of a previously enjoyed vodka cranberry wafted into his nostrils- a smell the older of the two could detect from a mile away. And as he leaned forward, Claire's eyes widened.
Not a word was spoken for several seconds. No one even dared to breathe.
Then, all Chris asked was: "Where?"
Claire sighed. She really couldn't hide anything from him. She didn't even know why she tried anymore.
"Fox Hole,"
Chris's lips tightened.
"Who worked the door?"
Claire swallowed. Chris didn't blink. Leon's nervous gaze cut between the two.
"…Rodney,"
Chris nodded once.
"I know, it was dumb. We were just fucking around. I'm sorry, okay? Just…" At that point, Claire was blubbering, her head flipping between Leon to silently plead with him to help and Chris to beg him to spare her the lecture for once. Her face flushed with embarrassment, and all she wanted to do was just run into the house and slam the bedroom door shut.
But, shockingly, no yelling came. No fighting, no lecture. Instead, Chris stepped even closer, wrapped his strong , built arms around his little sister, and pulled her in to a tight hug.
"Good to see you, Bear."
Blinking, Claire pressed her face into the crook of her brother's shoulder and hugged him back with vigor. Leon, meanwhile, only watched beside them in complete starstruck adoration. Claire always told him stories about how much of a pain in the ass Chris could be at times, but that he loved her dearly, and she loved him. And getting to see that for himself up close and personal made his heart swell so much it could burst.
Handsome and sweet? What better combination was there?
After a few seconds, the siblings pulled away, but not before Chris reached up to ruffle Claire's hair, which she smacked away with a smile.
"Listen," Chris said, "I'm not mad- you're safe, that's all that matters. Go inside, get some rest, yeah?"
Claire and Leon both smiled at him, and Claire attempted to dislodge himself from her big brother to go back up the stairs and into the house-
-only for her to realize that Chris was still holding on.
Uh-oh.
Claire looked up at Chris, who was grinning like mad.
Uh-oh.
"-After your punishment."
"Wha-"
Within seconds, at a speed neither Claire nor Leon could sense, Chris wrapped Claire's arm around the back of his neck and bent down at the knees. He lifted her up off her feet and took his other hand to hold behind her leg. Then, he stood, hoisting her into a fireman's carry across his shoulders, laughing along the way as she thrashed about in his hands.
"Chris!" Claire shrieked, and she banged her hands on his shoulders in a desperate attempt to free herself, "Let me go! Chris, I swear to God-" As she hollered his ear off, Chris turned on his heels to make his way back to the garage, with Leon hot on their heels.
"Hey boys!" Chris called to his pals, "Look who's home?!"
"I'm gonna kill you! No, put me down right now! Leon, get me down from here!"
"Don't you dare, or you're next,"
Thank the gods above Chris was walking forward, lest he saw the angry blush spread across Leon's face.
Leon quickened his pace once the siblings disappeared into the light of the garage. From the open door, he heard various male voices holler above Claire's protests, screaming "Little Red!!" and "There she is!" Once Leon reached the garage, he peered inside at the unhinged chaos unfolding before him. In the center of the open garage floor, in front of a full drum kit, Chris proceeded to perform a WWE-style suplex move on his poor sister, careening them both to the concrete floor and pinning her down as she swung at his face and head. Around them, a long-haired man with a large tattoo on his built bicep cackled and hooted on a stool beside an electric guitar, cheering on Chris's antics and slapping his knee. A shorter, skinnier man in camo pants, a bright red bandana and wild blue eyes dropped to his knees and pound the concrete, counting the seconds like a wresting referee. All the while, Claire yelled over their laughter, vowing to set their apartments on fire and crash their cars into ditches.
And as Leon took in the sight in front of him, his gaze gravitated back onto Chris. The harsh light of the garage did little to hide the definition in his muscles, the veins popping out of his biceps as he concentrated his hold, or the beauty of his tanned, glistening skin. His grin lit a fire within him that burned from the inside out, and it was delicious. He wanted it to. His friends were quite the handsome pair, too. The long-haired one, Forest, looked a right rugged type, with a grin that could kill and eyes that told of unknown danger. And Joseph, the bandana-clad one, held a wild-child energy about him that would make him quite the popular party animal on campus. He swallowed audibly, and his head swam in the heat of the florescence.
Why…why is he so…
By the time Chris relented his hold on Claire, she had scrambled to her feet back over to Leon while the trio continued to laugh and sip at their beer. That must have been enough punishment for the youngest of the bunch for one night. As Claire cursed at them one more time and grabbed Leon by the arm to haul him back towards the house, he managed to catch one more glance at the trio before being carded off:
While Forest and Joseph returned to their instruments, Chris remained looking forward.
And straight into Leon's wide blue eyes.