guys i got a job at a con and what are the odds that i get assigned to be nick’s assistant. 2/3 days in we’re like cracking jokes and he finds out that i like resident evil and he offers me an autograph FOR FREE. im alr crashing out cause he sounds exactly like leon so when he calls my name i genuinely tweak bro.
➵ summary: leon finally tells you why he's been avoiding you since the two of you had seen a 500 year old portrait of a man who looked suspiciously like him.
➵ tags: any leon (i imagined re4 armor modded leon), reader is his lover in a past life, unresolved tension, slight mentions of grief and trauma, yearning, initial unrequited love, fluff
➵ part 1, part 2, part 3
➵ word count: 1.9k
“You better explain everything. Now.”
Despite all the castle servants scattering across the kingdom in efforts to find you, you glare at Leon, your refusal to move making it clear to him that you wanted an explanation for his behavior. The knight sighs and puts his offer of a helping hand down.
“I really didn’t want to tell you like this. I actually wasn’t even planning on telling you at all but..” He starts while looking back at the brick-layed ground of the entrance of the castle.
“It has to do with the portrait we saw in the library.” He finds your eyes. His baby blues trembled slightly under the pressure of confession, but nonetheless held your gaze.
The two of you found your way to your bedchambers, as, although you were stubborn about moving, you agreed that the conversation needed a more private setting. Of course, only after a strict lecture from your father and apologetic nods to all the castle staff, you found yourself sitting, knees tucked to your chest at your window seat, Leon sitting across from you.
“You remember right? The last portrait we found down there?” He asks you. Leon had one knee up, his arm resting upon it, while the other leg was gently swinging off the seat. It looked surprisingly boyish for a man who seemingly wanted nothing to do with you a day prior. He was nervous.
You nod at his question.
“I figured it had to do with the portrait. You started avoiding me after we saw it…” As you look up, you see the knight cringe at his actions, and rub the back of his neck.
“Look…there’s no better way to say this, so I’ll just say it upfront. That portrait was painted way before I should’ve even been alive, but the man in the painting is me.”
You stare at him, eyes wide and confused.
“What..?” You manage to stutter out. I mean, yeah the man in the portrait did look super similar to Leon (it had flagged your memory when you initially saw the painting) but you didn’t think it was actually the blonde himself.
“I mean…I thought it was weird that it looked so similar to you, but I just assumed it was an ancestor. You’ve said before that your family has served ours for generations, right?” Your words spilled out.
Leon pinched his nose bridge, not in frustration, but rather a mixture of being both overwhelmed and embarrassed.
“So…if that’s you, shouldn’t you have known from the beginning? Why did you...avoid me?” You pry gently.
“I….” Leon slumps down in admission. He sighs before sitting properly to face you.
“When we were down in the library, I would occasionally get these” He pauses looking around trying to find the right word.
“I wouldn’t call it deja vu, but…this weird sense of familiarity. Like I had been there before.”
You hug your knees closer to your chest and nod, urging him to continue.
“I realize now it was probably memories of that time. Gosh, I think it was about 500 years ago.” He rubs his chin, as if that would help him process the years better.
(500 years ago):
Leon was always the “rookie” at his knighting school. His armor always laid crooked on his limbs as he was smaller than the other boys and his sword always swung in an awkward action. His intelligence had always made up for his lack of physicality.
Leon graduated top of his class, relying on pure brain power, which led to his apprenticeship under Marvin, the head knight of your kingdom. From there his muscles filled out and his combat skills had earned him a notable reputation within the kingdom, and of course, he slowly started to become the charming, kind Leon you knew. Although both his reputation and charismatic behavior had begun to catch the interest of many, he always turned them down with a witty one-liner or a shy smile. To the naked eye, it seemed like Leon was never the type of guy to be interested in romantic relationships, but to Leon it was always you.
His infatuation began under his apprenticeship, when he was still the lanky kid who was smart enough to be a diplomat, but weak enough to lose an arm wrestle to the kingdom’s jester. The same appearance that had gotten him bullied back in the academy and laughed at within the castle walls.
You, who happened to be walking around the castle gardens, conveniently had your nose buried in the many fantasy books your parents had kept you busy with, to not hear about his arrival initially.
Oh! The little knight saves the little princess from a dragon. How adorable.
You turn the page, but you’re brought out of your reading-trance by the loud clanging of a sword being dropped.
“I’m tired, sir. Can’t we take a break?” Leon huffed out on all fours, his sword discarded next to him. The poor boy had been training all day with little to no breaks.
“A few more rounds and we’re almost done, Rookie. Come on, get up.” Marvin says tapping Leon’s back armor with the blunt edge of his sword.
You peak out from the marble pillar and floral bushes and watch in curiosity. The blonde pouts, but gets up without complaint and continues to swing at the dummies.
It wasn’t until a few months later that you and Leon had finally met. He knew about you, of course, and had seen you in passing or from afar a couple of times, but the two of you had never properly been introduced.
“Princess, this is Leon. He will be assigned to you as your knight and guardian.” Marvin says as he gently pushes Leon, who stumbles towards you.
“Hi…” You wave shyly towards the young knight.
“Hello Princess.” He smiles, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks.
From that day on the two of you were basically attached to the hip.
From Leon escorting you to your many extracurricular classes, which the teachers would always reprimand the two of you for exchanging silly faces; the two of you too cute to tell your parents or Marvin about. To you attending Leon’s training sessions when you had downtime, yelling “Leon watch out!” or “Nice swing Lee!” and clapping when Leon was able to dodge an attack from Marvin.
For Leon, it was nearly impossible for him to not start to have feelings. Not only were you the princess, beautiful as you were, but you were the only friend he had, as he was yours.
“Leon! Wanna do something fun? You don’t have training today right?” You had just finished your extracurriculars, and were running up to Leon. He shook his head.
“What were you thinking?”
“I wanna explore the downstairs library. My grandmother had mentioned it at dinner last night, and said she loved being down there as a girl. Thought you would want to come with.” You smile.
So you led Leon down the stairs into the library, which had been untouched since your grandmother had been a little girl. It was in surprisingly good condition, considering it hadn't been touched in over 6 decades. The two of you explored the numerous books, played dress-up in old clothing, and imitated the portraiture of the royalty before you.
Giggling and tangled up in old attire, you and Leon were lying on the floor in front of the paintings.
“Do you think we’d ever be up there one day?” You ask, turning your head towards Leon. Leon turns his own to catch your gaze.
“You for sure. You and your king, it’ll be cool. I don’t know if they’d want a portrait of the Princess’ bodyguard up there” He says putting his hands behind his head, chuckling.
“What? Why not?” You sit up, brows furrowed.
“Portraiture is just for royalty, Princess.” He responds and props himself up on his elbows in relation to you.
“Nuh uh. I want one with you, I’m sure I can make it work.” You cross your arms and pout slightly. Leon laughs and warmth blooms in his chest.
“I’ll look forward to it then.”
500 years later (Present Timeline):
You stare at Leon, mouth open and eyes wide as he finishes explaining how the two of you had already crossed paths 500 years prior (minus the part where he had a crush on you). If it wasn’t for the portrait of Leon, you wouldn’t have believed a single word he had said. Your head was spinning with billions of questions, and it was apparent to Leon when you unknowingly opened and closed your mouth a few times without saying anything.
“Wha…? How is it that you can remember everything? How…How do you know that’s me? Why can’t I remember anything? What happened to us? Is rebirth re-” You feel a hand on your knee and Leon calls out your name. He’s kneeling in front of you, and the expression on his face made it obvious that he had called your name out in multiple attempts.
“Hey, we have all night. I know it’s a lot to handle right now, but one question at a time please” The knight attempts to ground you, and make light of the situation, offering a soft smile.
“To answer your first question, I remember everything because I haven’t aged since then. It’s coming back to me in bits and pieces, it’s like my memories have been frozen and it’s thawing out in pieces. All I remember is this…voice..telling me that I’d begin to remember my memories when I’m with the right person.” Leon explains. His hand is no longer on your knee, but he was still crouched in front of you.
“Does that mean I’m also immortal, and my memories haven’t thawed out yet?” You ask and watch as the knight rubs his chin quizzically.
“I’m gonna try to look into it, but everything I’ve told you so far is everything I remember, for now at least.” Leon sighs. You yawn, tired from the emotionally charged day you had.
“Let’s get you to sleep, Princess. I’ll be there when you wake up, don't worry.” Leon stands up and offers a hand to you before pulling you up and guiding you to your bed.
You open your mouth to protest, about to say that there was too much information to talk about but the second you sit on the plush mattress, sleep is heavy in your eyes, and you were too tired to urge more information out of the knight.
“This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for questions though.” You say through a yawn, pulling the covers up to your shoulders.
“Yes, Ma’am.” Leon says with a smirk.
notes: ITS FINALLY OUT! oh my gosh, so sorry for the delay, it shouldn’t happen again TT. i should be back on schedule, uni and internship applications have been killing me but it’s died down. i’m not the most proud of the writing for this chapter, it’s super rushed towards the end and i feel like there are a lot of plot holes, but hey at least it’s out. thank you guys again for all the love and support, i hope you’re having an amazing summer so far!!
rookie!leon, who always needs to be touching you. nothing suggestive, but just simple touches to keep himself grounded. his foot nudging yours underneath the desks, between your office cubicles. his pinky curling around yours when he just so “happens” to bump into you in the printer room. his fingers pinching the back of your shirt/bottoms and fidgeting with it when you’re busy talking to co-workers and he needs you. placing/nudging your hand with his head urging you to stroke his hair or give him head pats.
rookie!leon, who although seems naive or clueless at times, is always attentive to small details about you, so much so that he’ll sometimes get distracted. he’d be thinking about some childhood snack you mentioned you craved the other day while pouring water for himself, and he’d end up spilling it.
"leon, that's enough water!” you’d shout after hearing the excess water fall.
he’d snap out of it and apologize sheepishly before cleaning it up.
rookie!leon, whose idea of a perfect date with you is driving you either on his bike or his jeep (he’d prefer the bike just to have an excuse for you to hold him), to get breakfast at the town’s small but charming diner, where you’d take a bite of his food and secretly prefer it, so that he would offer to switch with you. (it makes him feel like a real man)
rookie!leon who proposed the idea of you doing skincare on him because he couldn't wait for you to offer it first. he initially wanted you to ask about it first, so he would be able to “protest”, but he was getting impatient. he’d hate the masks and the sticky consistency of the serums, toners, and moisturizers but he loves how domestic the whole act is.
rookie!leon who loves to watch you sleep (nothing creepy) but he thinks it’s adorable the way you curl up and twitch softly. the one time he fell asleep before you he got upset.
“next time, wake me up.” he huffs, waking up after the two of you were cuddling on the couch.
“but you looked so peaceful!” you chuckle, not seeing the issue.
“doesn’t matter!”
you laugh.
rookie!leon who is sweet to you, but can be like a guard dog if necessary. some random man is bothering you? it’s dealt with. if the two of you are walking down a sidewalk? he’s on the outside. if your date takes place somewhere with a big crowd? he’ll make sure you’re in front of him so no one touches you, and he’ll gently push you towards the destination.
rookie!leon who likes to make you small handmade gifts at random times. he’ll hand you a small gift box when eating take out from the thai restaurant the two of you love. it’s a mp3 player downloaded with songs that remind him of you, a bouquet of clearly-handmade crochet/paper flowers that he’d blush and rub the back of his neck before giving to you at the office. a locket with a picture of him making duck lips on one side, you on the other. “if you close it i’m giving you a kiss!” he’d say happily as he struggles with the clasp to help you put it on.
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