#a late start | resident evil leon kennedy x reader
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
implied/referenced rape/non-con, mutual pining, slowburn, college au, afab reader, no use of y/n for reader, baby leon re2 ver, raccoon city might happen im still debating, healing
They never thought this would happen to them.
Their boyfriend of four years returned home from a trip and in the afternoon they were taking a nap together, he had decided his needs were more important.
So they lay there. Taking it.
Every thrust was uncomfortable.
Every moment scared them.
They could brush him off but who’s to say that he won’t choke them like before.
Who’s to say that he won’t just slap their face again.
Sure they had a safe word, but what use is a safeword when they were doing what they wanted?
They headed home afterwards. Violated. Upset. Uneasy.
Two, three months later, they finally broke up with him. It tore through them anyway, the anxiety never leaving.
What if they see him on the roads again?
What if they encounter him at the mall?
What if he had a new partner and did the same thing to them?
So they throw themselves back into studying for their degree. In a different town, at least two hours away from him.
And it gets better. Their friends notice that they’re more outgoing. They’re happier. They’re bonding with people. Sure, they land in some shit time to time, but it's okay for once. For once in 4 years, they finally felt alive.
The weeks afterwards they just live life for the first time. They go out for the first time since dating him. A man so insecure he didn't want to let them go downtown clubbing. And now without that man, they go.
It's a little overwhelming at first. The music is loud, there are so many bodies around them, the “friends” that had brought them out were nowhere around and didn’t care to have a conversation with you, so they were sitting at the bar, trying to see if “drunk” is a state they can even reach.
They quietly nursed on a sake bomb, a drink not usually meant to be nursed, usually downed in one go, but who’s to judge them? It was a little odd, a Monster energy drink mixed with Sake, but it tasted good. Not amazingly sweet, but the caffeine in the monster was definitely working against the alcohol.
Swirling the drink in their cup, watching the liquid mix, out of the corner of their eye, they saw couples making out along the wall, a bunch of horny people grinding and dry humping, their eyes finally landing on a pretty dirty blonde haired boy.
Seemingly also going through shit from the way his eyes were red and puffy.
But the two of them made eye contact, and he made his way over, sitting next to them at the bar.
“One of what they have, please,”
They glanced over, finding him sitting hunched over at the bar, hand up to his eyes and rubbing at it.
“You know, the more you rub it, the more irritated it's going to be,” They remarked, resting their face in their hand as they glanced over at him.
He paused his hand from rubbing, setting it down onto the counter. They watched him blink away the tears instead, trying to hold onto his emotions in public.
The two of them sat in silence, as best as they could in the club with Party in the USA playing in the background. He’d clearly gone through it tonight. They wondered what even happened, but he was just a stranger, and they were just out for the first time.
The bartender eventually served the sake bomb to him, and he sat there perplexed, a pair of chopsticks on top of the tall glass with a shot glass on top of the chopsticks. Clearly this was his first time having a sake bomb.
“You want me to show you how to do it?” They offered to the boy, meeting his eyes, no judgment at all in their tone.
He nodded.
They made two fists and made the motion of banging it on the table. The boy, confused, followed their actions, but a little too slowly and a little too gently to make the shot glass fall in.
“Slam it basically, like pound on the table,” They banged on the table once, showing him that it would move as long as they hit it hard enough and with enough repetition to fall in.
He followed their instructions and the shot glass fell in, and he smiled for the first time that evening, now chugging the drink as it should be done, slamming it on the counter once he was finished.
“Good?”
“Yeah,” He chuckled a little, wiping away the sake from his mouth, the tears now drying up on his cheek.
“Rough night?”
“You can say that,”
“Mhm, my friends all ditched me, I think they went back to the apartment,”
They didn’t know why they were divulging the information. He didn’t need to know anything about them. Maybe it was pity, seeing the boy cry.
“I got dumped like an hour ago,”
“Ah, sorry about their loss,” They responded dryly. They didn’t feel too bad about it. After all, they had been the one doing it a while back, maybe they also had a good reason for it.
“I thought we were pretty okay, took her out to dinners, drove her home from frat parties…” He muttered, getting a beer now. Maybe the sake bomb wasn’t to his taste.
They turned towards him, “Things aren’t meant to be sometimes. Besides, you look around my age, if you’re in a college town, you’re bound to be fine, life doesn’t stop just because of a breakup,”
He stared down at the beer bottle now in his hands, processing their words. The condensation of the beer pooled on his fingers and the table. They had gone through it just a few weeks ago. Sure, the lasting trauma might never be fully fixed, but life keeps going. The world keeps spinning. He chuckled a little, looking at them, trying to figure out where the wisdom suddenly came from.
“Yeah, that’s true, I’m just like, had this whole life planned out with her, and everything, white picket fence, maybe a kid, maybe a cat or a dog, just all seemed so perfect until today,”
“I can relate to that one,,,” They let out a slow breath, funny enough, almost exactly a year ago they were talking about getting married once they had both finished school.
“What’s your story? Why are they out here sitting pretty at a loud bar?” He asked, taking a swig of the beer in his hand.
“First time I’ve gone down town, gone clubbing basically,”
“And is it anything like you’ve ever dreamed of?”
“Well, I didn’t expect to be talking to someone outside of my friends, that’s for sure,” They huffed out a sarcastic laugh, brushing back their bangs.
“Same friends who ditched you by the bar,” He noted as well, cracking a grin on his face as they rolled their eyes,”I’m Leon,”
An introduction.
They gave Leon their name,
Now acquainted, their eyes trace over his figure, still curious about him, “Maybe you shouldn’t be drinking your sorrows away,”
“What do they recommend instead?”
“There’s a board game cafe about two blocks down the road, it doesn’t close until 4, you want to head there?”
“Thought you said this was your first time downtown,”
“Yeah, for drinks, but I happen to be a regular at this cafe,”
“Lead the way then,”
The two of them squeezed out of the bar, now free from the chaos and out in the much quieter streets. They were now a little more aware of the height difference between them. Leon was tall, about 5 '10”, and they,,, well, clearly shorter than him. A shiver ran through them as they tugged their skirt lower, “Let’s move, it’s kinda cold tonight,”
He nodded, letting them lead the way to the cafe, quickly making it over and jaywalking a few streets. They carefully walked up to the door, about to pull it when Leon reached in front of them and pulled it open. They raised a brow at the sudden show of chivalry and he shrugged, letting them in first and following after.
The two of them walked in, greeting the shop owners with a hello,”What can I get for you guys?”
Their eyes flicked over to Leon, seeing him scan the menus on the counter tops, “Can I just get the green tea? With honey and a lemon slice?”
The order got relayed to their barista, and they ring it up on a tab, waiting for Leon to order as well.
“If you want to sleep later, don’t get coffee, the sake bomb had like half a can of monster,” They advised, raising a brow and making sure he chose a decent drink.
“Then I’ll just get a… Coke float? You guys still do those?” He read it as his expression softened, likely remembering the taste from his childhood.
“Yep, all of us grew up on it in the 90s, it's really popular with our families,” The shop owner smiled, ringing up everything, “With the entry fee, it’s 20.78, tap whenever you’re ready,”
“Mm, haven't had that since I was like 10,” They laughed, a small hit of nostalgia as they grabbed their card to pay. Seeing them take out their card, he immediately bumped their hand out of the way of the card reader and paid for both of them, “Hey!”
“Can’t let a pretty thing like you pay, you got me out of the bar after all” He shook his head, his smile a little bigger, somehow it annoyed them, but they couldn’t really be bothered by it right now. He looked better when he smiled, even if his eyes were still a little red.
She sighed and smiled at the shop owner, who smiled right back, “Your drinks will be down by Beth, at the end of the bar, do y’all have a preference for a game? We got a bunch of card games or board games, take your pick,”
The shop owner stepped back to show them the full wall of games, from Catan to Dungeons and Dragons, it really did seem like they had it all.
“Uh, I think we can start with uno? Seems safe enough,” They suggested, looking at the glass case below of all the card decks available.
Leon nodded in agreement, “Yeah, seems safe,”
The shop owner chuckled and grabbed a deck for them, “Hopefully y’all stay friends after this, I’ve seen so many games end badly,”
“I bet~ Thank you~~” They hum in understanding, memories coming back with their roommates when they played after moving in together. Leon went over to grab the drinks while they found a nice quiet corner table, bean bags as seating with a couple of blankets on the side in case someone needed it, which they gratefully took to cover their cold legs.
They absentmindedly shuffled the rather large deck and dealt out 7 cards for the two of them, pulling one from the deck to start the game. With drinks in hand, Leon headed over to the corner table and set the float and tea on two coasters on the table, keeping them out of the way for the game.
“Oldest starts first,” They reminded, glancing at the box before putting it aside and eyeing him curiously, trying to figure out his age, “I’m ‘x4”
“Ah, I’m ‘x3,” He smiled, “September,”
“Hm, you’re older, then,” They nodded, figuring his age from there, “Should we do it like…every time we play we ask a question?”
“Seems fair for us, I’ll go ahead and start then,” He hummed, placing down a matching card to the one starting- A yellow 4 placed down, “What are you studying here?”
“Boring old business tech, somewhere in the middle, what about you?” They laid down a green 4.
“ROTC, planning on entering the military after,” He explained, placing down a green 7, “Uhh, favorite color?”
“Blue, but like a blue so pretty and pale it doesn’t feel sad,” They noted, looking at his eyes, recognizing the same shade that they had already pinned as a favorite. They quickly averted their eyes and put down a green plus 2, a devious smile on their face, “You in any frats on campus?”
Leon glared at them, picking up two cards from the stack and sorting them into his hand, “Uh no, I’m just a chauffeur for some of my friends, they party hard,”
Once he had put his cards in the right hand, he put down a green 5, “Favorite thing to do around town?”
“Maybe not particularly in town, but karaoke with my roommates at our apartment is always really fun,” They smiled, putting down a green 5 as well, “We made a bet and whoever scored the lowest had to perform at the Night Market event for our club,”
Leon nodded, clearly impressed, then remembered, “Isn’t that the event that the Asian organization puts on in the fall? I don’t remember anyone singing badly,”
They laughed at the observation, “So you went! That’s pretty fun, our paths crossing then, all four of us have backgrounds in music so the scores were like 99, 100, it was really hard,”
Leon smiled, kind of remembering their face, “Were you the one who sang before the Kpop team came out?”
“Guilty as charged~” They smiled sheepishly at the recognition, “That video haunts me by the way, I forgot the second verse,”
“I couldn’t tell at all, I mean, I don’t think anyone did, I just remembered someone hopping off stage all excited and jumping on the sidelines once they finished~” He chuckled at the memory, finding it cute that they had a system behind them for that.
“Any secret talents you got?” They asked their question, remembering that they had already placed down a card.
“Mmm,” He thought while trying to find another card to put down, “I’m pretty good at backflips,”
They looked at Leon, trying to eye him up to see if he could do a backflip– It wasn’t like he was super skinny, they could tell he worked out regularly, probably a part of his ROTC training, but backflips were pretty rare to come by if they didn’t do some type of agility work when they were younger, “Gymnastics?”
He smirked, knowing that's what they were going to ask, “Nah, just parkour stuff I tried back in high school that stuck,”
They nodded, clearly impressed with his secret skills, “You’ll have to show me some time,”
He smiled and placed down a wild card, “Mmmm, make it blue, your favorite color, oh! And uh, I guess, do they play any video games or anything?”
“Pokemon, and Zelda, I really like Nintendo IPs,” They smiled a little at the question, he was really just getting all the right questions tonight, “You?” They had to draw 3 cards before finding a blue to put down.
“Good choices, loved Zelda as a kid, played Breath of the Wild with my friend once I made it here,” he nodded, liking your choices, “I like Devil May Cry, Silent Hill, honestly give me any horror game and I’ll do great with it,”
“Duly noted, I can’t do horror unless I’m with someone”
The game continues long into the evening, and somewhere in between the cards and the questions, the night didn’t feel so heavy.
___
alr cross posted onto ao3 by the same name and username :))
it takes a year for them to realize what they have is special... as long as they realize it before they lose it
hanabi is the stand in name, as I don't like typing out y/n, it means fireworks,,, also kabu's kid in this universe. you'll see them all refer to hanabi as han, or fireworks on occasion
friends to lovers, mutual pining, ooc characters, fluff, songfic, mild angst?, pre sw/sh timeline, contest champion y/n
___
I went for a weekend
“Fireworks!”
The newly master rank contest champion turned their head at the call of their nickname, smiling when they saw the people who called out their name. One of which had his hair now braided into stars along his scalp, his snaggletooth peeking out and getting caught on his lip as he smiled and waved at the gym leader, the other with sunglasses and his purple hair tied up in a messy bun, dressed in a comfy hoodie as he waved excitedly as well.
“Raihan~, Leon~ Long time no see!”
“We saw you before you got on your flight, though–” Leon chuckled, hugging the shorter trainer tightly, only letting go when the other had started to let go.
“Congrats on your win, Hanabi~” Raihan smirked as he finally showed off the bouquet in his hands, as they finished their hug with Leon and turned towards him, pink and white camellias alongside baby’s breath arranged slightly chaotically, fitting for his personality. They smiled and reached up to hug the weather specialist tightly.
“Thank you~”
Turned into a week
Leon got comfortable on the couch, his long legs splaying out in front of him as Hanabi grabbed their rotom laptop and sat down next to him. The Galar Champion glanced over at their laptop, leaning his head onto theirs, “So when’s your flight to head out?”
“Uh, I was planning on leaving tomorrow night, I’m just going to check up on dad after this and then maybe go see Nessa and head back… “ They looked through their schedule on their rotom laptop, seeing the next competition they had planned to attend, and saw the official itinerary. The weather specialist crept up behind them on the other side, rested his chin on their shoulder, and examined the schedule, brows furrowing as they saw the gap in their schedule.
“Stay for the week, I’ll pay for your flight.”
Aghast, they looked over their shoulder to the gym leader, him now leaning back and completely unfazed as he toyed with the clasp of his Dynamax band, the sound clipping back into place rhythmically.
Jaw dropped, spluttering as Hanabi shook their head, “Raihan, I couldn’t–”
He stopped them right there, getting comfier next to them as they brought out the blanket from the other side of the couch and placed it over the three of them,“How am I supposed to only see my best friend for a single day out of the whole year and still share you with everyone else. No, I’m getting at least 3 days before I have to see you only through a screen.”
