Realized that there was no real easy way to find all of the chapters of in your eyes (Im still learning tumblr im sorry!) So i think I am going to start working on a master list now just for that ease
Being sent home early after asking for your old job duties back was not on your bingo card, but at least Chris is here to save the day.
CW: None (that I can think of)
Chris is a little forward and theres some vaguely suggestive conversation but it is nothing extreme.
Let me know if there are any that should be tagged!
This is a really short chapter but I got excited and HAD to post it now even though I'm only halfway through chapter 4. Things are slowly starting to progress!
You tried not to think about it. Not on the ride home, not as you made dinner, not while you laid in bed at night when you couldn’t sleep, and certainly not while you sat behind your computer screen.
You were, however, thinking about it despite all attempts not to. Government organizations were never known to let people like you go freely back into civilization. Your affiliation with Terrasave didn’t mean anything.
All those appointments with specialists, with doctors that they chose for you, were they keeping tabs? Were they keeping you too busy in your free time to give it any thought? Did it have anything to do with the change of work you were given in office?
Now all you could do was think and think and think and think and think of what Chris had said. ‘once they get their hands on you, you’re never out of their clutches.’
This was going to drive you mad before your shift truly started. You put your face in your hands and take a deep breath in. You shouldn't get yourself worked up this early in the day.
Letting out that breath you prepare yourself for work that day, looking over the new files that have left on your desk.
“Another lab was found and routed… government funding going into finding more cures…” you read the titles aloud softly before looking at the post it note left on them.
‘Can be digitized as is.’
-L. Smith
You roll your eyes at the piece of paper before crumbling it up in your hands with a growl of frustrations.
You were a data analyst god damnit! Not a receptionist, not a bookkeeper, and not an errand runner for the lazy people who couldn’t scan their documents on their own.
It was starting to get old that they didn’t let you do your official job title. You were acclimated back into life at this point, you could handle reading the numbers, finding the similarities between outbreaks, you were more than capable of doing your desk job.
“Breathe Y/N.” You say to yourself, clenching your fist and taking another deep breath in. “Clear your head and then you can take this up with your supervisor.” You say under your breath and settle into your seat.
You'll do your assigned tasks for the day, but this was the last day you’d settle for doing other people’s busywork. You were promised your job.
—
“I’m sorry Miss. L/N but I don’t think you’re quite ready for that line of work again.” Ben David’s, your supervisor, says with a bored expression on his face. He barely even looked up from his computer as he addressed you.
“You mean the job I have always done before the incident?” You remind him, “You mean the job that I did that predicted that attack?”
“And that attack has broken you, Miss. L/N.” He looks up at you finally, “Did you really think no one could tell how weak your psyche is these days? Why would I entrust life saving data to someone who is not all present enough to truly analyze it deeply?”
Your eyes narrow at his condescending tone. “I was promised my old position back.” You shoot back.
“And you have your position in title and pay. I am not seeing why you are so upset Miss. L/N.” He’s brushing you off, but you’re too far in to back down now.
“It is an insult to hold my title and be stuck doing scheduling and scanning documents that those who work the field are more than capable of scanning!” You break, raising your voice and slamming your palms flat against his desk, leaning into his space.
Mr. David’s jaw tightens and he pushes his glasses up a little too harshly, “This is precisely why I didn’t want to take you back.” He says through a false sense of calmness, causing a pool of dread to form within your stomach. “Go home for the rest of the day.” He says strictly, “Before I talk them into letting me fire you.”
You bite back a colorful choice of words and leave his office with a harsh slam of the door. Something fishy was going on here and you were going to get to the bottom of it.
—
You had texted Claire the situation as you packed up your office for the day. She still had another five hours to her shift and you had wanted to let her know you were going to opt to take the bus home. Claire being the friend she was, made sure you did not have to step foot on public transportation.
Which is how you find yourself sitting in shaky anger and clutching your purse with a death grip in Chris Redfield’s truck.
“You didn’t have to do this, you know?” You say once you’ve calmed yourself down enough to speak. “I’m capable of taking the bus.”
“I know.” Chris shrugs, “But then I was handed a golden opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.” He continues, his eyes focused on the road before him.
“Yeah? What’s that?” You ask, entertaining conversation.
“I’d get to see you.” He says nonchalantly, he still hasn’t looked at you, his grip on the steering was tight. “Alone.”
Your eyes widen at his admission and you flush, not expecting him to answer in that way. Those words could mean anything, and he says them as if they mean little, but his body language is odd.
“Oh…?” You trail off softly, “That’s a loaded statement.” You note.
“Take it how you will.” He says, finally glancing at you, a as soft of a smile as he could muster up was painted on his face.”Besides, I was curious to find out what happened that riled you up enough to get sent home.” He adds on with a chuckle.
“Claire didn’t tell you?” You ask surprised, you thought she would’ve.
“No, she said you’d speak about it if you wanted to.” He explains, “Which, I’m all ears if you do…” he looks at you fully, “I can also offer a distraction for whatever it is that’s on your mind.”
Your face flushes hotly at the timbre of his voice, the double meaning of his words. You shake your head. ‘Mind out of the gutter!’ You tell yourself. You barely know each other, he’s just reaching out as a friend.
“I was thinking about what you said the other day.” You say instead, maybe talking about it will be enough to clear your head. “Why did they let me go with no string attached? I mean I waltzed right back into my job like nothing happened, except…” you trail off, letting a silence build between the two of you as you go over today’s events.
“It’s not really like nothing happened is it?” Chris offers gently, a knowing look painting his features.
“Not at all. I hold my title, my pay, but…” your eyebrows furrow and you gaze at your lap, “How much do you know already?” You ask, “I’ll fill in the blanks.”
You miss the way Chris’s jaw tightens as does his grip on the steering wheel. “What the public knows or the files?” He asks slowly, “Cause I could recite the files verbatim.”
“Please do not do that.” You respond, giving him a look, “How many times did you have to read them to do that… and why?” You ask in disbelief.
“Claire is my sister, remember?” Chris chuckles dryly, “She was in shambles when you were quarantined. Said she didn’t think they would ever let you leave. I tried asking her what happened and she just handed me this hard drive.”
“And the hard drive has what on it?” You ask, watching him, his gaze still glued to the road like he couldn’t so much as look at you when he said this.
“The events that transpired…” he says carefully, “Blood results, tests, probably plans, chances of survival.” He continues on, “From what I saw, they weren’t going to let you acclimate back into society. You were going to be put into some sort of custody, no doubts to run experiments on. People don’t just survive infection the way that you did, and with you carrying a new virus…”
“Just what did Sherry do to convince them?” You ask softly. She’d been the one to talk them into not experimenting on you, hadn’t she? You weren’t sure if you were remembering correctly any longer. That wasn’t important right now.
“My supervisor must know something more then, or he’s keeping me from something .” You finally say, pulling yourself away from your own thoughts, “I’m not actually allowed to do what my job entails. I’m just a receptionist now, without the pay decrease… and he didn’t exactly want me back in office.”
“Sounds like someone wasn’t happy you predicted that attack.” Chris mumbles. Right. Of course he knew about that too. “I’m assuming you brought it up?” He glances at you curiously.
“Apparently I’m not mentally well enough to read numbers again, or whatever.” You roll your eyes. “It’s stupid and it’s only making me wonder more than I ever have before. That I’m not mentally well enough for.” You snort
“Want to get your mind off of it? For now at least.” Chris suggests again, “I think with what we all know now, we will just be creating conspiracy theories.”
You look out the window, holding your face in your hand and elbow propped against the door. His words left much room for imagination, creating a breeding ground of butterflies within your stomach. You couldn’t make heads nor tails of what his intentions are: was he being a friend, or was he wanting something more?
Chris on the other hand kept his gaze on the road, his fingers tapping against the steering wheel anxiously for your response. He was starting to kick himself for coming off a little too strong. He knew his words held double meaning, but he wanted you to choose the trajectory of things.
He was too old to be beating around the bush, but he understood that this, whatever it may be, may be too much for you. He wanted to be what you needed, despite what he felt, despite what he wanted.
“Are you asking me out on a date?” You ask him slowly, your face painted a soft pink.
“It’s whatever you want it to be.” Chris shrugs, shooting a hint of a smile in your direction.
Chris is handsome, to put simply, but he is also Claire’s brother… but Claire has actively tried to steer you into his direction. That of course doesn’t change the fact that he seemingly knows everything about you when you know virtually nothing about him.
But what you did know was that he’s been nothing but kind to you, and that he was easy to talk to. Would it really be so bad of you to consider what Claire had suggested? Despite the mess involved around you? Despite the mess you know you are going to create?
You were nothing but questions you weren’t sure anyone could answer. Would he want to answer? Was it wrong to want him to try?
“Well…” you trail off contemplative, “Let’s see how the day goes.” You offer him, teeth worrying at your bottom lip. “But I’m fully expecting you to get my mind off things now.” You say lightly.
“That’s alright, I like a challenge.” He chuckles, the timbre of his voice making you flush. This man was going to be the undoing of you. “By the way… what’s your range of motion in your arm like?”
“It’s enough.” You say with an eyebrow raised, curious by his question.
“I can work with that.” He says more so to himself, “I can work with that indeed.”
So I want to avoid burn out for myself when it comes to writing fanfic, so I'm going to leave a for other fandoms I am in if anyone wants to talk about them or leave suggestions.
Dont worry, I am not actively in burn out and I have quite a few more fic ideas for resident evil, but I know myself. I know if I only write RE fics I will end up abandoning them like I did with my ghost fanfics (If you know me from ao3)
Games:
Dragon Age (ive played all of them but 2 and I have a fic idea for Lucanis.)
Devil May Cry (New to the fandom! currently playing the first game. planning to write for this one!)
Baldurs Gate 3 (One of my favorite games! I've replayed it about 4 times now)
Fire Emblem (I have played.... far too many of them. Shadows of Valentia, radiant dawn, awakening, fates three houses, engage, three hopes, warriors, tokyo mirage sessions, and heroes. I also collect the cipher cards for this!)
Pokemon (Yall... I've played at least one game from each gen except maybe four. Theres too many to list but I have played A LOT of them and have seen most of the animes)
SKylanders (Okay I am not going to write for this one but I do love talking about this game! I have played swap force and plan on playing the other entries after I am done with my replay)
Stardew Valley (I have been playing since the game originally came out! I have a pc, switch, and mobile copy of the game)
Cookie Run Kingdom (Another one I'm not going to write for but its a comfort game and I adore talking about it.)
Resident Evil (I own all the main games besides 9. I have played re5, 6, parts of 7 and have started 1 and 3. I'm shit at the games so I also keep up with playthroughs cause they take me so long to get through.)
I think I am going to cut the game list short here cause I have... so many games I have played
Books and Comics
I probably will not be writing fanfic for any book or comic I have read but again I enjoy talking about these with people!
The Grishaverse (I have only read the original trilogy, I plan on reading the rest but I've been having some major fantasy burn out and I didn't want to ruin the series for myself)
X-men (This will be insane to list every comic I have ever read here, so I wont but I love the X-men so much! My favorites are wolverine, nightcrawler, and rouge)
Deadpool (One of my all time favorites!)
Anything C.G Drews (Hazelthorn, Don't Let the Forest In, You Did Nothing Wrong. I just love the way they write horror!)
Krystie Boyce (Dungeons and Drama/Dating and Dragons)
Delicious and Dungeon/Death Note/Tokyo Ghoul/Sailormoon (Grouped together the manga I have read but have also watchedd the anime for)
Honestly I have read so many things that I am not going to list them all lol. Like sometimes I read D&D modules for fun
While I may not write for all of these, I do enjoy talking about these things and may post about them ( or others not listed)
At what point do I consider creating a master list? When I have more than one fic/series??? Or should i just go ahead and make one soon to make my series easier to find?
Ever refresh AO3 so much looking at your author stats and hoping for comments that you start to get the Cloudflare “please prove you’re a human and not a dos attack” page? Just me? Ok cool.
Honestly, it was kind of scary posting my chris x reader fanfic having never written for resident evil before... but I'm really glad to see that it seems that people are enjoying it! Both on here and ao3 (I probably check for any comments a little too often out of excitement.) But its just nice to know that my writing still reaches people even though I no longer write for ghost (as of right now)
Like what do you mean some one wants me to tag them when I publish new chapters? Thats so cool!
I keep getting comments about someone needing to "message me about my account" and "not being able too" and I'm starting to wonder if these are scams I should report
Chris see's a part of you he probably shouldn't, but surely a coffee could fix it? Or does it just raise more questions as you start to wonder things...
CW: more mental spiraling, brief descriptions of a B.O.W bite, descriptions of scar tissue, mentions of previous medical procedures
Let me know if I have missed any that should be tagged!!!!
Y'all I wont lie... I finished this chapter and then immediately started chapter 3 lol. While I don't have a schedule nor plan on having a schedule, I think my goal is to post chapters only when the next one is close to being finished. For example, chapter three is done, but I am not going to post it until chapter four is almost done. I also think I'm not going to push past 3k words per chapter just so I dont burn out.
Anyways! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
“So…” Claire strings out, tapping a beat into the steering wheel of her car. “How are you holding up?”
You look at her from the passenger seat, taking in her nervousness. You knew she felt bad for not initially telling everyone to not bring up the Terrasave attack, and you knew she felt bad for contributing to the conversation, neither of which you particularly blamed her for.
You try not to think about what had happened years ago, the calcification of your muscles was a biting enough reminder of the incident, so much so that you hadn’t even considered that the actual agents may bring it up.
“I’m fine now, just got overwhelmed.” You shrug, “You know how I get.” You say lightly, smiling at her reassuringly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t think this through better.” Claire says unusually softly.
“I don’t think either of us did, and that’s okay. I’m not gonna hold it against you.” You say earnestly, “I can’t say I considered my past being brought up at all.” You shrug at her, “It made me realize something though.”
“Oh?” Claire raises an eyebrow concerned at your tone.
“Just how fucking un-healed I am!” You laugh at this, knowing if you didn’t you might just cry. “I was so overwhelmed in there and…” you trail off, trying to gather your words, “And no one was particularly doing anything. They didn’t know how touchy that subject is, how could they? And meeting so many people at once…” you shake your head.
“Claire…” you say slowly, resting a hand on her knee, “Don’t blame yourself for my issues. You were just trying to get me out there.” You reassure her, hating how she was blaming herself for your own inner plight. “Besides…I think I made some new friends in there thanks to you.” You smile genuinely, thinking about the three new contacts in your phone.
Claire seemingly calms down at this and laughs, “We are both so…” she trails off, shaking her head before smiling at you. “Still I’m sorry. I feel like it’s my fault.”
You give her another look. The both of you really were hot messes tonight. “Let’s just blame the food for the night taking a detour.” You laugh, looking at the restaurant. It was mediocre food at best.
“Right right, the food. We’ll blame the food.” She plays along with you, falling silent shortly after.
It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence but you could tell that Claire had something on her mind she was wanting to bring up.
“So about Chris…” she says slowly after awhile, her words cutting through the quote of the parked car. You flush, knowing she caught you staring a little too hard at her brother.
“I’m sorry!” You get out quickly, “I was just caught off guard and-“ you stop and slump into your seat, hiding from Claire, “I’m not making this better.”
Claire lets out a loud laugh and pats you on your knee good heartedly. “You’re funny but I was not trying to come off mad.” She reassures you, turning back to the wheel and finally starting up the car. “I was just going to say to give him a chance.”
“Huh?” You ask bewildered, sitting back up in your seat properly now that the car is moving. “Y-you just- I was just…and you-chance… huh?” You fumbled out, absolutely flabbergasted at her suggestion.
Claire offers you no answer why she backs out of the parking lot, her focus shifted on not rear ending anyone. She knew what she was doing; starting a conversation and not continuing it immediately. Truthfully, she wanted to see how you’d react to her little suggestion.
She’d seen the way you had looked at him, the flush on your cheeks, the awe in your eyes. You were practically drooling.
But she had also noticed how her brother watched you the entire night, silent, observant, how he took in every word you had spoken while not letting it be known he was; to the others of course. Claire knew. Claire always knew, and when he insisted on following you outside? That was the final nail in the coffin.
It wasn’t a whole lot to go off of, Claire knew that, but could you blame a girl for wanting both her best friend and brother to be happy. Besides, there was a new found light in your eyes for a split second before she caught you staring. To Claire this seemed like a step in the right direction for you.
There was one problem though. You and Chris were the two most stubborn people that Claire has ever known. She knew you weren’t going to do much with her suggestion, you never did anything truly for yourself.
“I just mean that you two clicked at dinner and well…” Claire shrugged, quietly plotting to herself. “Chris is a good guy, whether or not he agrees with that sentiment.”
“I’m sorry, are you trying to set me up with your brother?” You ask her bewilderedly. Usually you should try to avoid dating your friend's brother, lest something goes wrong.
“No, no, nothing like that.” Claire brushes off casually, her eyes focused on the road. It was absolutely something like that. “I was just more so saying that if you were interested in pursuing somthing… that you should. I’d support it.” She shrugs.
“I don’t know…” you say softly, “If I’m panicking while having dinner with new people… I don’t know if I’m really in the correct headspace for a relationship right now.” You purse your lips in thought.
It has been awhile since you had last been with anyone, long before you were infected, and truthfully the thought of being with anyone hadn’t exactly crossed your mind. Simply no one had ever made you feel nervous in a warm way since your college years.
But Chris… he was handsome for sure, anyone could see that, but did anyone else see the way he carried his emotions in his mismatched eyes? They’d softened when he saw Claire, and held warmth when with his friends, there was a stormy haze about them when he offered you company and a cigarette, and something unnamed when he looked at you.
He piqued a curiosity in you that you didn’t know you still held, but he wasn’t even an infatuation at most. Just your best friend's brother who happens to be handsome and kind in that rugged way.
“That’s fair, but don’t keep yourself from being happy just because you feel unworthy.” Claire says softly with a smile, willing to drop the subject for now.
You chuckle dryly “I’ll try, but no promises.” You tell her, shifting in your seat and settling into your new found thoughts.
—
Claire knew she was meddling, of course she knew this but that wasn’t stopping her from pestering her brother.
“You’re interested aren’t you?” She asks Chris, noticing the way his eyes linger a little too long over a framed photo Claire had of the two of you. It was from a trip the two of you had taken sometime after you were deemed recovered. You guys had only gone a state over for two days due to a zoo and an aquarium you had expressed interest in and the photo depicted the two of you in front of the entryway of the zoo.
Chris’s eyes snap up to meet Claire’s, a puzzled expression drawn on his face. “She seems interesting if that’s what you mean.” He says gruffly, eyeing his sister. Chris was already regretting his decision to spend the week at Claire’s.
“Don’t play stupid, you know what I mean.” Claire says as she slouches on the couch next to him. “It’s not the first time I’ve noticed you look a little too closely.” She nudged him, “I watched you interact at dinner.” She says more softly.
“I think you’re grasping at straws, Claire.” Chris shoots back gruffly, “I just reacted the way I thought I needed to.” He shrugs, not wanting to think too deeply on what might be a one time meeting.
Claire was right to an extent, he was interested in you and he wasn’t going to lie and say he didn’t notice your looks, those photos around Claire’s house just didn’t do you justice.
Meeting you though? You carried yourself like one of his shell shocked soldiers. The glazed look in your eye as your experiences were talked about around you, you removing yourself from the group stiffly, relaxing only when you were away from it.
You let yourself suffer silently, Chris knew what that was like all too well.
Claire remains silent, thinking over the night's events, you, Chris… “I think you responded in the way that she needs.” She says finally, “Someone who understands what it’s like.”
“And you don’t think Leon would be a better choice?” Chris asks, “He was infected.” He wasn’t sure why he was pushing away the opportunity that his sister was so clearly trying to create.
“And yet here I am suggesting you.” Claire responds, “I know my best friend, and I know she needs more people in her life that gets it. Someone who understands the pain of even knowing about B.O.W’s existence’s. Besides Leon is…” Claire shakes her head. Leon was a good guy, but he was still too caught up on Ada at the moment.
“And what does she think of this?” Chris asks, sitting up, his elbows resting on his knees.
Claire only smiles in response at his words.
—
“Is this a good idea?” Chris finds himself asking his sister as they pull up to the building where your physical therapy takes place. Claire usually was the one to pick you up and drop you off and to Chris, this felt like an intimate thing he would be walking in on.
“We are just picking her up, it’s fine.” Claire reassures him, putting the car in park. “Now c'mon!" She unbuckles her seatbelt and gets out of the car, beckoning him to join her. Chris shakes his head but ultimately follows suit.
“Ah Claire!” The receptionist greets upon their entry to the waiting room. She was a woman no older than fifty, her dark hair speckled with a few strands of grey, and she sported a friendly smile. “I see you brought a new face with you today!” She speaks brightly, her voice warm with recognition.
“This is my brother Chris, Chris this is Marie.” Claire introduces them just as brightly, “He’s joining us for our coffee run today, figured I’d let him out of the car while we wait.” She laughs with the woman all the while Chris is hanging off to the side awkwardly, his eyes surveying the area.
Like most doctors' offices, the waiting room was painted a sterile light grey, making the already bright fluorescent lights brighter. The walls were mostly barren besides a few posters outlining joint health and flyers highlighting different brands of orthopedic shoes for ‘’maximum standing comfort.’
But what caught his eye was you. Your hair was pulled up in a simple pony, your bangs framing your face delicately. Chris couldn’t stop himself from taking you in, his eyes lingering a bit too long on your exposed shoulders. The soft grey tank you wore did nothing to conceal the red shiny discoloration section of skin that ran from the base of your neck, cross the shoulder and down your left arm. Chris could see dark purple spider veins, no doubt left from the infection, course themselves through the scarring.
“Oh- I didn’t know Chris would be joining you today.” You say awkwardly, noting the way his eyes trailed over your arm, and quickly shrug on your cardigan.
Shit. You’d caught him. Chris looks away awkwardly himself knowing he has seen something he shouldn’t have.
Claire frowns a bit, noticing your tone of voice and how you were holding yourself. She didn’t think to consider your scar, used to seeing it all the time when the two of you were alone, and mentally pinched the bridge of her nose. Yet another thing she didn’t think completely through.
“Yeah- he’s in town for a bit so I figured… well I figured he could join us for coffee?” Claire speaks, suddenly unsure of herself.
You nod stiffly, “Alright- yeah we can do that.” You say forcing a smile and pulling your cardigan around you tighter. It was a different one from the one you wore to dinner the other night, this one being a dark grey one that just almost matched your yoga pants.
“Is this a bad time?” Chris leans down to whisper to Claire as you lead them out of the building.
“No. I was just caught off guard.” You respond over your shoulder before Claire can, having picked up on his words.
‘Claire is just trying to make you friends. Breathe. It’s okay. It’s just a scar that Chris saw. Everyone has scars.’ You think to yourself, loading yourself into the backseat of the car.
Truthfully, it was more than just a scar to you. It wasn’t just an ugly and constant reminder of rotting teeth shredding through your skin, but also a reminder of all the things you’ve had to change in your life to accommodate the changes the virus had on your body.
Part of you wonders if things would feel different if they couldn’t save the arm at all.
—
The car ride to yours and Claire’s usual coffee shop was awkward. You were silent as you collected yourself and thoughts, pulling yourself from an oncoming dangerous headspace: Claire had attempted to make small talk to no avail and had eventually chose silence herself: and Chris was lost in his own thoughts, his mind wandering back to the long jagged scaring that you hide behind your soft cardigans.
When you arrived, Claire suggested that you and Chris find seating in the outdoor area while she went inside to grab everyone’s orders.
You wound up finding a table that miraculously had not just a working umbrella but close enough to a tree for additional shade. You slouch down on a chair and watch silently as Chris sits across from you, his gaze averted.
“You’re thinking about it aren’t you?” You ask him, “My scar.” You sit on your hands nervously as you eye him, watching his expressions.
“No…” your eyes narrow as he speaks, “Well, uh yes, but not in the way you’re probably thinking!” Chris says quickly at your change in expression, “But it is not something we have to talk about.”
You relax a bit at his words before letting out a sigh, “I don’t think I’ve made a great impression have I?” You ask him softly, embarrassment creeping up inside you.
“You’re doing great.” Chris says softly, watching how you shift in your seat nervously. You were trying where you could and it showed, even despite the rocky start of things.
You flush a bit before smiling a little “So, what do you do outside of work for the BSAA?” You ask him, wanting to get to know him genuinely. Why shouldn’t you attempt to build at least a friendship with someone who wasn’t Claire or Sherry?
“Me?” Chris asks, taken aback, “Well…” his eyebrows furrow and he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly as he thinks, “You know it’s really rare that I get down time like this, and when I do… well I spend it with Claire or the others you had met the other night.”
“I’m about in the same boat, except I have weekends off. Oh and less friends.” You chuckle a bit. “Though, Claire is working on that one.”
“She talks about you a lot, you know?” Chris responds, leaning his elbows on the table, “So much so I had assumed you were her girlfriend.” He chuckles.
“People still do typically confuse us for that.” You laugh a bit. You and Claire were close, and Claire herself being queer did create some rumors around the office for the bit, but you never did mind. “I fear she has eyes for someone else’s though.” You add on lightly, giving Chris a knowing look, wondering if he knew about how she felt towards a certain brunette woman.
“Hey! Are you guys talking about me?” Claire’s voice breaks through, filled with mirth. In her hands was a cardboard drink carrier with our three drinks.
“Only good things.” You smile at her as she passes over your drink before sliding into the seat to Chris.
She laughs and shakes her head, “I got the usuals, is that okay?” She asks, sliding a black coffee to Chris.
You scrunch your nose at the drink in his hands and take a sip of your flavored cold brew that had a cold foam topping. “Oh this is what I needed, thank you Claire.”
“Thank Chris, I took his wallet.” Claire says holding up a leather billfold that clearly wasn’t hers before sliding it to Chris.
Chris lets out a surprise cough through his drink at her words, “How did you even get that?” He gives her a playful glare. There was no real heat in how he looked at her, just genuine surprise at his sister's antics.
“You left it out.” Claire shrugs, taking a sip of her own drink “I’ll pay you back.” She adds on casually, winking at you from across the table, “Maybe.”
“Don’t bother, it’s just coffee.” Chris shakes his head, “If you can still even call it that.” He adds on, eyebrows furrowed as he inspects Claire’s drink.
“It’s a bit too sweet for me too but that,” you point to the sugary concoction Claire was sipping on, “Is thankfully not her everyday coffee.” You laugh a bit.
Claire watched you over her drink, a surge of pride bubbling within her as she took in how relaxed you were compared to earlier. You were finally showing off your personality, bit by bit, even despite how things have been going.
“I think you’re one to talk. That’s cream topping yours.” Chris responds, gesturing to your own drink.
“It’s still nothing in comparison.” You defend yourself.
“Listen, mine is like a little treat as a reward for finishing a tough week.” Claire shrugs, “You’re put through intensive physical therapy twice a week and you choose to get… black coffee with foam on it.” Claire teases you.
“It’s got some vanilla syrup too!” You defend your drink of choice, taking a sip. Chris watches you two and shakes his head.
“Is this what you two do in your free time?” He asks lightly. Really it was just an excuse to get you talking more.
“Oh well… physical therapy takes up most of my free mornings, and usually Claire and I make coffee runs after…” you trail off thinking over your normal day to day activities, “I suppose I read a lot, just simple things that aren’t likely to flare up my injury.”
Truthfully, there for a while, there wasn’t a whole lot you were able to do. Pieces of your shoulders muscles were removed, parts considered too damaged by the infection. It left you with a limited range of mobility in your left shoulder and you would eventually need a full shoulder replacement, but with a dormant infection still living within you it wouldn’t be for a long time.
“It’s… miraculous you know.” You say, deciding to bring it up while your mind was mostly clear, “That they let me leave that facility at all, considering everything that happened. It wasn’t like I just got bit and survived… The infection is still a part of me. But they let me come back to my normal life after clearing me.” You admit softly, eyes glancing around.
Chris bristles at your words, “Y/N… once they get their hands on you, you’re never out of their clutches.” He says slowly, his voice having lost any lightness it may have held earlier.
Opening up proved to have created some questions you weren’t sure had answers.
The one where Claire tries her best to help the reader garner new friendships (and maybe even find love) only for them to unravel the mystery surrounding the attack that left the reader infected only two years prior.
“‘Claire Redfield finally got her way.’ You think to yourself, one hand propping up your head and the other tapping your desk nervously.
After months and months of Claire begging you to join her and her friends for dinner, you finally accepted. It wasn’t that you had anything against the other people in her life, far from it really, you’ve heard nothing but great things about all of them. Really the issue was you.”
CW: mild to extreme description of mental illness, mental illness episodes, descriptions of physical disability, canon typical violence (mentioned) Age gap implied (Chris is written to be in his forties and the reader is written to be in her late twenties/almost thirty)
Read on ao3 here
Hello! This is my first fic I have written in... well probably two years? I told myself this was going to be a one-shot where Chris teaches the reader how to shoot a gun and well... I lored too much on the reader character I'm ngl.
This fic is following kind of my own canon between what happened between re6 and 7 and even then its still non canon compliant.
Theres one more thing I would like to add before the fic and that is that I wrote a lot of myself into this. A lot of the physical pains and descriptions of mental health and physical limitations and disabilities is based entirely on my own experiences that I have put a horror twist on. I ask you to be kind in regards to that factor.
With that out of the way, please enjoy the fic <3
‘Claire Redfield finally got her way.’ You think to yourself, one hand propping up your head and the other tapping your desk nervously.
After months and months of Claire begging you to join her and her friends for dinner, you finally accepted. It wasn’t that you had anything against the other people in her life, far from it really, you’ve heard nothing but great things about all of them. Really the issue was you.
You were shy and on the softer side, even after seeing all of the horrors that B.O.Ws cause. You also weren’t a DSO agent or BSAA or really any kind of special military, and while you worked with Claire at Terrasafe, you stayed far from the field.
Really you were a glorified receptionist. You stayed office bound and kept record and track of any important files. You were no hero. Just someone who pushed files in the right direction.
But Claire was a dear friend of yours, and she knew damn well that her consistent begging to introduce you to her friends would eventually wear you down. Especially when it was something that made her so excited she could hardly talk about anything else.
Seriously, how are you supposed to tell Claire Redfield now when she looks at you with her bright blue eyes all full of excitement as she invites you out.
“Please Y/n, it would be so fun! Besides you need to branch out more anyways, why not with some of the best people I know?” She had suggested during one of your coffee runs where your breaks managed to coincide with each other.
“I’ve branched out plenty.” You replied gently, not wanting to give an outright no; not that you knew how to do that anyway.
She had only shaken her head at you in a fond manner, “We both know how untrue that is.” And she had given you a knowing look.
“Will Sherry be there too?” You responded curiously after a moment's contemplation, hoping that there would be at least one other person you would know.
“Are you only deciding to go based on if you know people?” Claire asked, seeing right through you, just like she always did. You give her a sheepish smile which was all the answer she needed. “I’ll make sure she’s there, only IF you promise to show up.” She says, not unkindly but with emphasis.
“Give me a time and a place.” You eventually respond with a sigh. You were sincerely hoping you were given enough time to mentally prepare
meeting such a large group of people.
Claire smiles awkwardly “Wellll….” She drags out, “It’s such a rarity that we all have free time at once that we were going to try and get together tonight…” she continues, voice pitched higher than normal.
“Claire…” you say with a warning tone to your voice. “Was this already planned?” You ask, putting the pieces together. All of her constant asking and insistence.
“Maybe?” Claire lies because it was planned in advance and she did already account for you being there when she made the reservations, she just never considered it would take you this long to agree to it.
“Claire! How am I going to prepare myself on such short notice? I mean I have to rehearse how I’m going to introduce myself and conversation topics…” you ramble on before pausing in horror, “What am I supposed to wear?”
“Hey…” Claire says gentler this time, “These people are nice. You have nothing to worry about at all.” She reassures you, putting a hand on your shoulder as you restlessly tap your finger nails against your desk. “We are going after work, I’m not even planning on changing my clothes if that helps.”
“It does a little.” You say softly with a sigh, “Thank you.” You felt just a tad bit better, a sense of relief coming with knowing your friend picked up on your anxieties.
That conversation was hours ago, however, and the time left of your shift has been ticking down steadily since then. The hours felt like seconds, your growing nervousness making the time pass by rapidly. Truly there were reasons why you were a paper pusher and not one of the ones providing immediate support to victims.
It didn’t help that by work standards your day was slow, leaving you with a whole paid shift to ruminate over your new found dinner plans.
‘These people are going to find me absolutely boring.’ You think to yourself, tapping your keyboard absentmindedly as you watch the clock on your computer. Your company thought it would be a great idea to have it track the hour and the minute, but also the very second; and right now the damn thing was your enemy as you watched your shift end.
You take a deep breath in and hold it for a second before letting it out through a deep sigh. You then attempt to roll out the tension of your shoulders, pushing them back, down, and then around, just like your physical therapist instructed.
Once satisfied with your stretches you finally begin to pick up your desk for the day, meticulously organizing everything where it needs to be, especially the files should anyone need something while you’re away. You took your time with this, knowing Claire would take a minute herself.
“Ready to go?” Claire makes herself known behind you, startling you.
“Claire!” You jump from her voice. “You can’t just sneak up on me like that!” In all of her excitement she had made sure to get to your desk right as you started packing up. Figures.
Claire only laughs and slings an arm around your shoulders, effectively pulling you away from your desk. You only barely managed to grab your purse before being dragged away entirely.
“You know, you have nothing to worry about for tonight.” Claire speaks up after a moment, probably noticing how stiff you were walking; whether it was nerves or your chronic pain flaring up was a guess to her though.
“In theory I know.” You respond with an awkward laugh. “You surround yourself with nothing but good people, I’m not… concerned they are going to hurt my little feelings.” You continue on, “But what if I bore them… or I’m out of place. I’m not exactly like you guys.”
“Listen to me,” Claire says, stopping and grabbing you by the shoulders gently, “You are one of the best data analysts we have at Terrasave. You survived being infected after our offices were attacked, you live with the constant reminder of it too.” She glances at the scaring that crept up your neck from your shoulder. “You are like us and they will find you far from boring.” She adds on reassuringly.
“I’m hardly an analyst these days.” You snort, unable to completely fight off a smile. “They have me doing so much scheduling, I’m like an acting receptionist, minus working at the front desk.” You shake your head. “Regardless, my work is far less interesting than yours.”
Claire rolls her eyes playfully, “We all have our fair share of paperwork you know.” She says lightly, the two of you resuming your walk down to the car garage.
—
The drive to the restaurant of Claire’s choosing was quick and full of light chatter of how each other's days were like, the chatter being more to ease your nerves than anything.
“Well, we are here.” Claire says as she pulls into the parking lot of a bar and grill restaurant simply titled “The Joint.” You raise an eyebrow at the name and give a strange look.
“Look, it was the only place that was able to accommodate all of us!” She laughs, raising her hands in mock surrender, “It’s got decent reviews too.”
“They couldn’t come up with a better name?” You ask amused and unbuckle your seatbelt.
“Apparently not.” Claire laughs with you as you both exit the vehicle.
“Are they waiting for us inside or are we waiting for them?” You ask as the two of you walk to the doors, a couple of people lingering around the benches the restaurant had out front.
“Actually, my brother is already here.” Claire murmurs, nodding her head towards a very tall, very muscular man. His dark hair was grown out from a crew cut, his face adorned by five o’clock shadow, and his eyes… they appeared to be grey in color at first glance, but the longer the looked you realized one was pulling more brown towards the center iris.
“Oh…” you say softly, looking him over. Claire gives you a curious look. You flush when you realize she caught you staring. “A-are we waiting for them out here or are we going in?” You ask quickly, trying to recover.
‘These damn Redfields and their gorgeous eyes…’ you find yourself thinking, looking away from Claire, whose brilliant blue eyes were staring into your soul.
Claire smirks a bit, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t just see that.” She laughs with a shake of her head, “But, there’s a chance the rest of the party is already here and Chris is just waiting for us.” She says as we approach, our footsteps catching his attention.
Chris looks up from the watch he was glancing at, his features softening when he sees his sister. “Claire, hey.” He speaks, his voice deep, rough, worn but a hint of warmth seeps through as he speaks to Claire, allowing her to pull him into a tight hug.
“It’s good to see you.” Claire says as she squeezes him, “Oh, this is Y/N. Y/N, my brother Chris.” She introduces you both as she pulls away, gesturing to you.
“Nice to have a face to the name.” Chris nods, giving you a once over as he extends a hand out.
“Likewise.” You respond politely, shaking his warm, rough, calloused hand. ‘Good god this is going to be a long night.’ You think to yourself with a flush as you pull away first.
He was entirely too handsome and it was entirely too weird in this moment that you were finding your best friend’s brother attractive. To make it worse, you're pretty positive that Claire has once again clocked you and how you feel, judging by the knowing look she’s giving you that you are desperately trying to ignore.
“Are we the last ones?” Claire asks, pulling you out of your own thoughts.
“Yeah, I offered to wait out here for you two so you didn’t have to find us.” Chris shrugs, glancing down at you briefly before drawing his attention back to Claire.
“Well, lead the way.” Claire gestures with a smile, letting him take the lead. Chris shakes head and opens the door, nodding towards it.
“After you.” He says simply, the flat of his palm resting on the inside of the door, keeping it open. Claire rolls her eyes and drags you in behind her.
—
‘Don’t be weird. Don’t be weird. Don’t be weird.’ You think to yourself as you take your seat. True to his word, Claire’s and you were the last ones to arrive, the others already seated and softly chatting as they gaze over the menus.
Sherry perks up and waves at you as you sit, already smiling. “Y/N! It’s so great to see you again, and in much nicer circumstances.”
“It’s good to see you too.” You smile softly, grateful for the familiar face. “And you too Leon.” You nod towards him, vaguely recognizing him from two years prior.
Granted your meeting with Leon Kennedy was foggy to you. You remember he was on the case when the outbreak took out your hometown office, back when your job was reading over more numbers than you could count.
The dirty blonde in question smiled lightly “Glad to see you're still intact.”
“Feels like just barely sometimes.” Your attempt to laugh comes out as an awkward chuckle. What an icebreaker.
“You two know each other?” Chris, who is sitting directly in front of you to your misfortune, asks as he glances between the two of you.
“She’s one of the survivors who got bit when a smaller Terrasave office went down about two years ago.” Claire confirms, “That’s where she met Sherry and Leon.” You nod along to her explanation, letting her handle it.
“So that means Chris and I were left out, huh?” A woman with short brunette hair and piercing blue eyes speaks up, nudging Chris and laughing. “I’m Jill by the way, since Claire failed to introduce us.” She smiles at you.
“My meeting with Leon was brief.” You speak up, “I only kind of remember it and most of what I do remember was that horrid shock blanket I was given. So really it’s like I’m meeting you all for the first time.” You say kindly.
“She’s shy, I wasn’t keeping her from anyone.” Claire finally speaks out, as Jill shakes her head at her.
“Oh but she knows Sherry.” Leon muses, nodding towards the blonde woman. “Enough for the three of you to have pictures together.”
“I was assigned her case.” Sherry shrugs, “Friendship often blooms through these trying times.” She adds on.
It was true, she was the one assigned to you in the aftermath of the attack. All the debriefings, what was classified, what wasn’t, your quarantine process and even making sure you had access to a vaccine. She advocated for you when they wanted to run more invasive tests when they figured out your immunity.
Hell, it was her and Claire who helped you with the whole healing process, trips to classified doctors and physical therapy appointments, and they even ensured you still had a job once you were cleared to go back. Of course you garnered a friendship with her.
“It’s a little weird how much you all know about me.” You admit, focusing your attention on the menu in front of you.
“I wouldn’t say we know you. We’ve just read the case report.” Jill says almost reassuringly. It would’ve been had the file they were talking about not be about one of the most traumatic days of your life. God you wish you could be as casual about it as others were when it came to their traumas.
“Are we ready to order?” Chris clears his throat, drawing attention to him instead, noticing the way you were shying away.
Claire turns to you and whispers “You’re doing good.” And pats your leg. You give her a stiff smile in response before going back to your menu like the others.
—
Everyone chatted over dinner, the table filled with mirth, laughter, and clanks of silverware and hands falling against the table. The sound of it all made your head spin, you barely managed to respond when directly spoken too.
‘It never used to be this hard…’ You think to yourself, wondering if the virus was truly gone from your system despite the two years it’s been. Maybe it simply altered your brain chemistry and swapped your DNA.
“I-I need some air.” You say shakily, standing up from your seat.
“Are you okay? Do we need to leave? I can take you home.” Claire gets out worriedly, catching your wrist gently as she gives you a once over.
You shake your head at her, “It’s just a bit stuffy in here. Need a second.” You manage out, index finger tugging on your shirt collar, the fabric feeling constricting. “I’ll be fine.” You assure her, ignoring the worried and confused glances around the table.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Claire asks softly.
“No, no… I just need five minutes.” You shake your head, “And maybe a cigarette.” You mumble to yourself, hating the urge that’s prickling at your fingers, an itch you shouldn’t scratch again.
Before Claire or anyone else can get a word out you’re already making your way out the door. The evening air has started to cool down, sending a welcomed chill through your body. It was always like a balm against your nerves.
You slump yourself down on one of the benches, wrapping your soft grey cardigan around yourself tightly, a healthier way you’ve learned to calm yourself down, and take a deep breath in.
‘Meeting everyone at once proved to be too much…’ You let out a deep sigh with the breath you were holding. ‘I can’t even handle social interactions anymore… no fucking wonder they don’t let me work on cases anymore.’
This was getting dangerously close to spiraling territory.
“Hey.” A voice calls, pulling you from your thoughts. You stiffly turn a bit to see Chris walking up to the bench you’re at.
“Hi.” You respond back listlessly, watching for his next move. You were confused why he followed you out here. Surely it hadn’t been five minutes already, and if it had been, Claire would be the one to come out here.
“Can I sit?” He asks, nodding towards the empty space next to you. You nod at him and scoot over to offer him more space.
“Why are you out here?” You ask once’s he’s settled into the seat, his broad shoulders brush softly against your own.
“Wanted a smoke.” He shrugs, pulling out a box of Marlboro reds and pulling a cigarette out. “Want one?” He asks offering the aforementioned cigarette out to you.
“Oh- no thank you I’m good.” You shake your head at his offer.
“Suit yourself.” He shrugs, resting the cigarette between his lips. He digs around in one of his pockets, producing a lighter before cupping his hand around one side of the cigarette as he lights it.
You watch, almost longingly, as he takes a long drag of his cigarette and lets the smoke slip past his lips in a long thin plume.
Chris must have caught your staring because he glances towards you and rolls his eyes. “Thought you didn’t want one.” He says, not unkindly, offering the cigarette out to you.
You hesitate, you really shouldn’t but god do you want to. “Maybe just a puff.” You respond, taking it as an offering. “So where’s Claire?” You ask before taking your own drag of the cigarette, letting the smoke fill and settle within your lungs before letting it bellow out of your lips.
“She wanted to give you the full five minutes.” Chris says, watching as you flick the red hot cherry to the side. “Didn’t sit right with me after seeing the look in your eye.”
“That’s just what we’ve always done.” You shrug, “I say I need five, she gives me five. It’s usually fine.”
“But tonight it’s not.” Chris notes, leaning back into the bench and taking another drag of the cigarette.
“Different circumstances I guess. Triggers I didn’t know I had.” You sigh and pull your cardigan around you tighter, “But… zombie attacks and two years of nothing but doctors and the government poking and prodding at you alters your psyche doesn’t it?” You attempt to laugh, trying to get out of your own head at the situation.
“And you were forced to think about it.” Chris notes, passing you back the cigarette.
The two of you fall into a silence as you both pass the cigarette to each other after your own puffs, enough words had been exchanged for Chris to paint a picture of what had happened back there. There was no need to further push who he saw a wounded soldier in.
“Thank you, by the way.” You say after a while, the cigarette reaching its end.
“For the cigarette?” Chris asks with an amused lift of his eyebrow. You shake your head and chuckle.
“No, no, for coming out here and sitting with me.” You correct him, “You didn’t have to do that.” You say, face flushing.
You had barely met this man and already have you drooled all over him in front of his sister, who’s your best friend, but now have practically bared your soul out too. Damn these Redfields for being not just some of the most gorgeous people you have met, but also the most caring.
Chris looks at you for a moment, really looks at you. You were more than the pretty girl he had noticed in some of his sisters pictures, and sure as hell more than what he had read up on you. How he wishes to further break through your shy exterior, pass the trauma that controlled you, and get to know you.
He opens his mouth to say something, anything, to assure you that there was really nothing following you out here despite all his sister's attempts at keeping him from doing it, but nothing comes out before he hears the tell-tale call of your name from Claire’s mouth.
“Y/n! Are you okay?” She asks, giving you another once over, “God I should’ve thought this through better…” she mumbles to herself as she checks you over, her hands resting gently on your shoulders.
“I’m fine, just… wasn’t expecting that conversation.” You respond to her, “I was already overwhelmed and then it was brought up and I just… I couldn't bring myself back out of it.” You explain, smiling at her in a way that makes you hope she will just brush off the incident from earlier.
“I’m really sorry, I should’ve told everyone to not bring it up…” Claire trails off knowing you probably don’t want to talk about it further and shakes her head, “Regardless, are you feeling alright to come back in or do you need a minute longer?” She asks instead, looking between both you and Chris with an unreadable expression.
You glance at Chris quickly and look back at Claire, “I could finish dinner.” You say finally, ready to try again.
I technically have already posted this chapter here, but it was really just a link repost to my ao3 lmaoooo
I plan on posting my fic chapters both on here and ao3 and now that I have finally figured out how to make decent looking posts... I can post chapter two soon :3
The one where Claire tries her best to help the reader garner new friendships (and maybe even find love) only for them to unravel the mystery surrounding the attack that left the reader infected only two years prior.
“‘Claire Redfield finally got her way.’ You think to yourself, one hand propping up your head and the other tapping your desk nervously.
After months and months of Claire begging you to join her and her friends for dinner, you finally accepted. It wasn’t that you had anything against the other people in her life, far from it really, you’ve heard nothing but great things about all of them. Really the issue was you.”
CW: mild to extreme description of mental illness, mental illness episodes, descriptions of physical disability, canon typical violence (mentioned) Age gap implied (Chris is written to be in his forties and the reader is written to be in her late twenties/almost thirty)
Read on ao3 here
Hello! This is my first fic I have written in... well probably two years? I told myself this was going to be a one-shot where Chris teaches the reader how to shoot a gun and well... I lored too much on the reader character I'm ngl.
This fic is following kind of my own canon between what happened between re6 and 7 and even then its still non canon compliant.
Theres one more thing I would like to add before the fic and that is that I wrote a lot of myself into this. A lot of the physical pains and descriptions of mental health and physical limitations and disabilities is based entirely on my own experiences that I have put a horror twist on. I ask you to be kind in regards to that factor.
With that out of the way, please enjoy the fic <3
‘Claire Redfield finally got her way.’ You think to yourself, one hand propping up your head and the other tapping your desk nervously.
After months and months of Claire begging you to join her and her friends for dinner, you finally accepted. It wasn’t that you had anything against the other people in her life, far from it really, you’ve heard nothing but great things about all of them. Really the issue was you.
You were shy and on the softer side, even after seeing all of the horrors that B.O.Ws cause. You also weren’t a DSO agent or BSAA or really any kind of special military, and while you worked with Claire at Terrasafe, you stayed far from the field.
Really you were a glorified receptionist. You stayed office bound and kept record and track of any important files. You were no hero. Just someone who pushed files in the right direction.
But Claire was a dear friend of yours, and she knew damn well that her consistent begging to introduce you to her friends would eventually wear you down. Especially when it was something that made her so excited she could hardly talk about anything else.
Seriously, how are you supposed to tell Claire Redfield now when she looks at you with her bright blue eyes all full of excitement as she invites you out.
“Please Y/n, it would be so fun! Besides you need to branch out more anyways, why not with some of the best people I know?” She had suggested during one of your coffee runs where your breaks managed to coincide with each other.
“I’ve branched out plenty.” You replied gently, not wanting to give an outright no; not that you knew how to do that anyway.
She had only shaken her head at you in a fond manner, “We both know how untrue that is.” And she had given you a knowing look.
“Will Sherry be there too?” You responded curiously after a moment's contemplation, hoping that there would be at least one other person you would know.
“Are you only deciding to go based on if you know people?” Claire asked, seeing right through you, just like she always did. You give her a sheepish smile which was all the answer she needed. “I’ll make sure she’s there, only IF you promise to show up.” She says, not unkindly but with emphasis.
“Give me a time and a place.” You eventually respond with a sigh. You were sincerely hoping you were given enough time to mentally prepare
meeting such a large group of people.
Claire smiles awkwardly “Wellll….” She drags out, “It’s such a rarity that we all have free time at once that we were going to try and get together tonight…” she continues, voice pitched higher than normal.
“Claire…” you say with a warning tone to your voice. “Was this already planned?” You ask, putting the pieces together. All of her constant asking and insistence.
“Maybe?” Claire lies because it was planned in advance and she did already account for you being there when she made the reservations, she just never considered it would take you this long to agree to it.
“Claire! How am I going to prepare myself on such short notice? I mean I have to rehearse how I’m going to introduce myself and conversation topics…” you ramble on before pausing in horror, “What am I supposed to wear?”
“Hey…” Claire says gentler this time, “These people are nice. You have nothing to worry about at all.” She reassures you, putting a hand on your shoulder as you restlessly tap your finger nails against your desk. “We are going after work, I’m not even planning on changing my clothes if that helps.”
“It does a little.” You say softly with a sigh, “Thank you.” You felt just a tad bit better, a sense of relief coming with knowing your friend picked up on your anxieties.
That conversation was hours ago, however, and the time left of your shift has been ticking down steadily since then. The hours felt like seconds, your growing nervousness making the time pass by rapidly. Truly there were reasons why you were a paper pusher and not one of the ones providing immediate support to victims.
It didn’t help that by work standards your day was slow, leaving you with a whole paid shift to ruminate over your new found dinner plans.
‘These people are going to find me absolutely boring.’ You think to yourself, tapping your keyboard absentmindedly as you watch the clock on your computer. Your company thought it would be a great idea to have it track the hour and the minute, but also the very second; and right now the damn thing was your enemy as you watched your shift end.
You take a deep breath in and hold it for a second before letting it out through a deep sigh. You then attempt to roll out the tension of your shoulders, pushing them back, down, and then around, just like your physical therapist instructed.
Once satisfied with your stretches you finally begin to pick up your desk for the day, meticulously organizing everything where it needs to be, especially the files should anyone need something while you’re away. You took your time with this, knowing Claire would take a minute herself.
“Ready to go?” Claire makes herself known behind you, startling you.
“Claire!” You jump from her voice. “You can’t just sneak up on me like that!” In all of her excitement she had made sure to get to your desk right as you started packing up. Figures.
Claire only laughs and slings an arm around your shoulders, effectively pulling you away from your desk. You only barely managed to grab your purse before being dragged away entirely.
“You know, you have nothing to worry about for tonight.” Claire speaks up after a moment, probably noticing how stiff you were walking; whether it was nerves or your chronic pain flaring up was a guess to her though.
“In theory I know.” You respond with an awkward laugh. “You surround yourself with nothing but good people, I’m not… concerned they are going to hurt my little feelings.” You continue on, “But what if I bore them… or I’m out of place. I’m not exactly like you guys.”
“Listen to me,” Claire says, stopping and grabbing you by the shoulders gently, “You are one of the best data analysts we have at Terrasave. You survived being infected after our offices were attacked, you live with the constant reminder of it too.” She glances at the scaring that crept up your neck from your shoulder. “You are like us and they will find you far from boring.” She adds on reassuringly.
“I’m hardly an analyst these days.” You snort, unable to completely fight off a smile. “They have me doing so much scheduling, I’m like an acting receptionist, minus working at the front desk.” You shake your head. “Regardless, my work is far less interesting than yours.”
Claire rolls her eyes playfully, “We all have our fair share of paperwork you know.” She says lightly, the two of you resuming your walk down to the car garage.
—
The drive to the restaurant of Claire’s choosing was quick and full of light chatter of how each other's days were like, the chatter being more to ease your nerves than anything.
“Well, we are here.” Claire says as she pulls into the parking lot of a bar and grill restaurant simply titled “The Joint.” You raise an eyebrow at the name and give a strange look.
“Look, it was the only place that was able to accommodate all of us!” She laughs, raising her hands in mock surrender, “It’s got decent reviews too.”
“They couldn’t come up with a better name?” You ask amused and unbuckle your seatbelt.
“Apparently not.” Claire laughs with you as you both exit the vehicle.
“Are they waiting for us inside or are we waiting for them?” You ask as the two of you walk to the doors, a couple of people lingering around the benches the restaurant had out front.
“Actually, my brother is already here.” Claire murmurs, nodding her head towards a very tall, very muscular man. His dark hair was grown out from a crew cut, his face adorned by five o’clock shadow, and his eyes… they appeared to be grey in color at first glance, but the longer the looked you realized one was pulling more brown towards the center iris.
“Oh…” you say softly, looking him over. Claire gives you a curious look. You flush when you realize she caught you staring. “A-are we waiting for them out here or are we going in?” You ask quickly, trying to recover.
‘These damn Redfields and their gorgeous eyes…’ you find yourself thinking, looking away from Claire, whose brilliant blue eyes were staring into your soul.
Claire smirks a bit, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t just see that.” She laughs with a shake of her head, “But, there’s a chance the rest of the party is already here and Chris is just waiting for us.” She says as we approach, our footsteps catching his attention.
Chris looks up from the watch he was glancing at, his features softening when he sees his sister. “Claire, hey.” He speaks, his voice deep, rough, worn but a hint of warmth seeps through as he speaks to Claire, allowing her to pull him into a tight hug.
“It’s good to see you.” Claire says as she squeezes him, “Oh, this is Y/N. Y/N, my brother Chris.” She introduces you both as she pulls away, gesturing to you.
“Nice to have a face to the name.” Chris nods, giving you a once over as he extends a hand out.
“Likewise.” You respond politely, shaking his warm, rough, calloused hand. ‘Good god this is going to be a long night.’ You think to yourself with a flush as you pull away first.
He was entirely too handsome and it was entirely too weird in this moment that you were finding your best friend’s brother attractive. To make it worse, you're pretty positive that Claire has once again clocked you and how you feel, judging by the knowing look she’s giving you that you are desperately trying to ignore.
“Are we the last ones?” Claire asks, pulling you out of your own thoughts.
“Yeah, I offered to wait out here for you two so you didn’t have to find us.” Chris shrugs, glancing down at you briefly before drawing his attention back to Claire.
“Well, lead the way.” Claire gestures with a smile, letting him take the lead. Chris shakes head and opens the door, nodding towards it.
“After you.” He says simply, the flat of his palm resting on the inside of the door, keeping it open. Claire rolls her eyes and drags you in behind her.
—
‘Don’t be weird. Don’t be weird. Don’t be weird.’ You think to yourself as you take your seat. True to his word, Claire’s and you were the last ones to arrive, the others already seated and softly chatting as they gaze over the menus.
Sherry perks up and waves at you as you sit, already smiling. “Y/N! It’s so great to see you again, and in much nicer circumstances.”
“It’s good to see you too.” You smile softly, grateful for the familiar face. “And you too Leon.” You nod towards him, vaguely recognizing him from two years prior.
Granted your meeting with Leon Kennedy was foggy to you. You remember he was on the case when the outbreak took out your hometown office, back when your job was reading over more numbers than you could count.
The dirty blonde in question smiled lightly “Glad to see you're still intact.”
“Feels like just barely sometimes.” Your attempt to laugh comes out as an awkward chuckle. What an icebreaker.
“You two know each other?” Chris, who is sitting directly in front of you to your misfortune, asks as he glances between the two of you.
“She’s one of the survivors who got bit when a smaller Terrasave office went down about two years ago.” Claire confirms, “That’s where she met Sherry and Leon.” You nod along to her explanation, letting her handle it.
“So that means Chris and I were left out, huh?” A woman with short brunette hair and piercing blue eyes speaks up, nudging Chris and laughing. “I’m Jill by the way, since Claire failed to introduce us.” She smiles at you.
“My meeting with Leon was brief.” You speak up, “I only kind of remember it and most of what I do remember was that horrid shock blanket I was given. So really it’s like I’m meeting you all for the first time.” You say kindly.
“She’s shy, I wasn’t keeping her from anyone.” Claire finally speaks out, as Jill shakes her head at her.
“Oh but she knows Sherry.” Leon muses, nodding towards the blonde woman. “Enough for the three of you to have pictures together.”
“I was assigned her case.” Sherry shrugs, “Friendship often blooms through these trying times.” She adds on.
It was true, she was the one assigned to you in the aftermath of the attack. All the debriefings, what was classified, what wasn’t, your quarantine process and even making sure you had access to a vaccine. She advocated for you when they wanted to run more invasive tests when they figured out your immunity.
Hell, it was her and Claire who helped you with the whole healing process, trips to classified doctors and physical therapy appointments, and they even ensured you still had a job once you were cleared to go back. Of course you garnered a friendship with her.
“It’s a little weird how much you all know about me.” You admit, focusing your attention on the menu in front of you.
“I wouldn’t say we know you. We’ve just read the case report.” Jill says almost reassuringly. It would’ve been had the file they were talking about not be about one of the most traumatic days of your life. God you wish you could be as casual about it as others were when it came to their traumas.
“Are we ready to order?” Chris clears his throat, drawing attention to him instead, noticing the way you were shying away.
Claire turns to you and whispers “You’re doing good.” And pats your leg. You give her a stiff smile in response before going back to your menu like the others.
—
Everyone chatted over dinner, the table filled with mirth, laughter, and clanks of silverware and hands falling against the table. The sound of it all made your head spin, you barely managed to respond when directly spoken too.
‘It never used to be this hard…’ You think to yourself, wondering if the virus was truly gone from your system despite the two years it’s been. Maybe it simply altered your brain chemistry and swapped your DNA.
“I-I need some air.” You say shakily, standing up from your seat.
“Are you okay? Do we need to leave? I can take you home.” Claire gets out worriedly, catching your wrist gently as she gives you a once over.
You shake your head at her, “It’s just a bit stuffy in here. Need a second.” You manage out, index finger tugging on your shirt collar, the fabric feeling constricting. “I’ll be fine.” You assure her, ignoring the worried and confused glances around the table.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Claire asks softly.
“No, no… I just need five minutes.” You shake your head, “And maybe a cigarette.” You mumble to yourself, hating the urge that’s prickling at your fingers, an itch you shouldn’t scratch again.
Before Claire or anyone else can get a word out you’re already making your way out the door. The evening air has started to cool down, sending a welcomed chill through your body. It was always like a balm against your nerves.
You slump yourself down on one of the benches, wrapping your soft grey cardigan around yourself tightly, a healthier way you’ve learned to calm yourself down, and take a deep breath in.
‘Meeting everyone at once proved to be too much…’ You let out a deep sigh with the breath you were holding. ‘I can’t even handle social interactions anymore… no fucking wonder they don’t let me work on cases anymore.’
This was getting dangerously close to spiraling territory.
“Hey.” A voice calls, pulling you from your thoughts. You stiffly turn a bit to see Chris walking up to the bench you’re at.
“Hi.” You respond back listlessly, watching for his next move. You were confused why he followed you out here. Surely it hadn’t been five minutes already, and if it had been, Claire would be the one to come out here.
“Can I sit?” He asks, nodding towards the empty space next to you. You nod at him and scoot over to offer him more space.
“Why are you out here?” You ask once’s he’s settled into the seat, his broad shoulders brush softly against your own.
“Wanted a smoke.” He shrugs, pulling out a box of Marlboro reds and pulling a cigarette out. “Want one?” He asks offering the aforementioned cigarette out to you.
“Oh- no thank you I’m good.” You shake your head at his offer.
“Suit yourself.” He shrugs, resting the cigarette between his lips. He digs around in one of his pockets, producing a lighter before cupping his hand around one side of the cigarette as he lights it.
You watch, almost longingly, as he takes a long drag of his cigarette and lets the smoke slip past his lips in a long thin plume.
Chris must have caught your staring because he glances towards you and rolls his eyes. “Thought you didn’t want one.” He says, not unkindly, offering the cigarette out to you.
You hesitate, you really shouldn’t but god do you want to. “Maybe just a puff.” You respond, taking it as an offering. “So where’s Claire?” You ask before taking your own drag of the cigarette, letting the smoke fill and settle within your lungs before letting it bellow out of your lips.
“She wanted to give you the full five minutes.” Chris says, watching as you flick the red hot cherry to the side. “Didn’t sit right with me after seeing the look in your eye.”
“That’s just what we’ve always done.” You shrug, “I say I need five, she gives me five. It’s usually fine.”
“But tonight it’s not.” Chris notes, leaning back into the bench and taking another drag of the cigarette.
“Different circumstances I guess. Triggers I didn’t know I had.” You sigh and pull your cardigan around you tighter, “But… zombie attacks and two years of nothing but doctors and the government poking and prodding at you alters your psyche doesn’t it?” You attempt to laugh, trying to get out of your own head at the situation.
“And you were forced to think about it.” Chris notes, passing you back the cigarette.
The two of you fall into a silence as you both pass the cigarette to each other after your own puffs, enough words had been exchanged for Chris to paint a picture of what had happened back there. There was no need to further push who he saw a wounded soldier in.
“Thank you, by the way.” You say after a while, the cigarette reaching its end.
“For the cigarette?” Chris asks with an amused lift of his eyebrow. You shake your head and chuckle.
“No, no, for coming out here and sitting with me.” You correct him, “You didn’t have to do that.” You say, face flushing.
You had barely met this man and already have you drooled all over him in front of his sister, who’s your best friend, but now have practically bared your soul out too. Damn these Redfields for being not just some of the most gorgeous people you have met, but also the most caring.
Chris looks at you for a moment, really looks at you. You were more than the pretty girl he had noticed in some of his sisters pictures, and sure as hell more than what he had read up on you. How he wishes to further break through your shy exterior, pass the trauma that controlled you, and get to know you.
He opens his mouth to say something, anything, to assure you that there was really nothing following you out here despite all his sister's attempts at keeping him from doing it, but nothing comes out before he hears the tell-tale call of your name from Claire’s mouth.
“Y/n! Are you okay?” She asks, giving you another once over, “God I should’ve thought this through better…” she mumbles to herself as she checks you over, her hands resting gently on your shoulders.
“I’m fine, just… wasn’t expecting that conversation.” You respond to her, “I was already overwhelmed and then it was brought up and I just… I couldn't bring myself back out of it.” You explain, smiling at her in a way that makes you hope she will just brush off the incident from earlier.
“I’m really sorry, I should’ve told everyone to not bring it up…” Claire trails off knowing you probably don’t want to talk about it further and shakes her head, “Regardless, are you feeling alright to come back in or do you need a minute longer?” She asks instead, looking between both you and Chris with an unreadable expression.
You glance at Chris quickly and look back at Claire, “I could finish dinner.” You say finally, ready to try again.
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
germansingergirl
tangentwithtanner
titsay
