“When was the last time you ate” with Aeon. Bonus points if Ada says it.
Canon Divergence set after events of RE4.
a.n i know this is years late, so sorry about that. if you no longer interact with this ship, feel free to ignore it entirely.
The apartment is cold when Ada shimmies the lock open to step inside. For a man that made a decent salary, Leon did not choose the housing that Ada imagined he might. All the times she imagined herself in his living space, it was in a two-story house with a picket fence around the yard. Certainly not the grimy apartment complex she found herself in now.
Nevertheless, it would seem that it didn't matter if his locks were shitty.
Leon himself was the security, edged in what she assumed was his bedroom doorway, with a gun pointed in her direction. After a moment, a flashlight was beaming in her eye. Slowly, with squinted eyes, she raised her hands as a peace symbol.
"This isn't a work-related visit, if you're wondering," she said, and gently kicked the front door shut behind herself.
Leon scoffed and turned off the flashlight before finding an actual light switch to illuminate his living quarters. "Yeah, well, what kind of visit is this, then?"
He still had the same attitude he did in that boat on the island. Ada could read past his nonchalant outer layer. He cared deeply, unwilling to show it now, but she would coax it out of him... Eventually.
"The kind that a friend makes to make sure you aren't drinking yourself to death," she answered, after spying a half-empty bottle of whiskey on his coffee table. American men and their choices on liquor would never not raise disgust in her.
"I have friends for that. What do you really want, Ada? Why are you here, why now?"
He might as well accused of her putting him up to the slaughter.
"Despite what reservations you have about me right now, Leon, I do care about you," she said, while taking a few steps around his couch. He still lingered in the bedroom doorway, dark circles visible under his eyes. "That, I've never lied about."
Before he could say something foolish, she stopped him by adding, "When was the last time you ate a proper meal? You look smaller than when I last saw you."
In an instant, Ada felt transported back to her earliest childhood, when her lǎo lao would pinch her face for refusing another helping of dinner. She couldn't remember the last time she thought of that old woman. In this moment, she felt like her, but instead she chiding a man she barely really knew for a symptom of a situation she had a hand in.
It seemed to catch Leon off guard enough for his shoulders to relax. He clicked the safety on his gun before tossing it back into his bedroom, where it landed on his bed.
"Don't know, I don't really keep a written schedule of that," he said dryly, and walked into the room with her to sink on the couch. He dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his temples with the pads of his thumbs.
"Well you should eat," she said, and sat close to him, but not too close. This wasn't that kind of visit. "I promise you it would help with all of... This." She vaguely motioned between the whiskey and him. Ada knew his trouble ran deeper than a bottle, but to talk about that, was too revealing.
He turned his head to look at her, and she could tell he was trying to make sense of her words and actions. Truthfully, Ada barely knew what to make of herself right now either. It was never like her to get attached. Not since... Well never mind him.
Leon was all she thought about between jobs now, and those thoughts made her work ten times harder. She'd begun to ask herself questions of morality that never crossed her mind for more than a few seconds before.
All of it was to blame on Leon and his once boyish innocence, his charm, the never-ending care that seemed to pour out of his heart. Ada didn't want to see that spirit broken, much less by her actions.
She couldn't fix everything, especially not now, but she could offer him hope if he was willing to accept it.
"How'd you find my apartment?" he eventually asked, seeming to settle for the question rather than ask something deeper. "It's not even in my name."
"You know I don't kiss and tell," she answered, with a hint of humor to her tone.
She was glad when he smiled rather than become irritated. This was the Leon she knew and loved.
"Will you stay?" he asked after a beat.
After another moment she answered, "For tonight, if you promise to start taking care of yourself come morning."
He nodded, and reached for a hand. When they met, she grasped his loosely in her own.