✧ Genshinluvr ✧

I write fanfics for Genshin, HSR, ZZZ, Love&Deepspace, and Resident Evil! I post twice a month—after an update, I usually take a week long break so I won’t burn myself out Unsolicited advice are not welcomed

[genshinluvr]

To be 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 is to be 𝒹𝑒𝓁𝓊𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓁

Hello and welcome to my blog! On my blog, I post SFW and NSFW fics for various fandoms.

Don't like the things I write? You can either scroll and not interact with any of my posts or block me. If you choose to go through mental gymnastics just to send me (anonymous) hate over what you chose to read on your own volition, that is all on you and not on me. The only person to blame is yourself, not the writer.

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— 𐙚 Want a more detailed explanation of what each masterlists contain? Click here! 👉🏻 What fics are linked in each Masterlists 👈🏻

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[genshinluvr]

Just read shameless, What is this ? It’s SO good! 😍 I wasn’t sure how you were going to handle the first time Leon heard us, but GODDDD, the way you worked it into the original storyline was amazing!And for the first time ever, I’m not even mad at the reader for being so down bad for Leon because, girl... he is way too gorgeous and hot for me to care about my pride. 🤤I loved every part of this, and I love your brain for coming up with it. Thank youuuuuuuuuuuu! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Ahhhhhh thank you, thank you, thank you 😭❤️ I’m really happy to see that you and many other readers enjoyed the RE9 isekai fic 🥹

I had this thought sitting in the front of my mind every time I play RE9 because I’ve always wondered how these characters (specifically Leon) would react to their fans thirsting over them, the fans commentary, etc.

I think it turned out pretty well cause it was so fun to type it out, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Aside from having to replay the game for the fifth time, I also watched cut scenes on YouTube for specific parts of the game so I can type it out for Shameless :’)

I enjoyed typing out every Leon Kennedy fic I’ve posted so far, and I have another one that I’m also excited to start on. A part 2 will happen soon, but not this upcoming update ^^

[genshinluvr]

Shameless

Pairing: RE9!Leon Kennedy x isekai'd!fem!Reader (ft. Grace Ashcroft and Victor Gideon) Summary: Whenever you play Leon's part in Resident Evil Requiem, Leon hears everything you say—from your curses, to your praises, to your reaction to seeing him break open a warped door with his hatchet—he hears it all. Even when you get thrown into his universe, you're just as shameless as you were before you arrived. Note: It ain't a Genshinluvr fic if I don't write at least one fic with an isekai plot. There are snippets of the actual game in this fic, and as the fic progresses, once you/the reader gets isekai'd into Resident Evil Requiem. I had the time of my life typing this out, not gonna lie. It was fun as hell. Anyway! I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo). Warning: Violence (the usual), Victor Gideon caressing Leon (is that a warning itself?), The Girl, you'll probably get secondhand embarrassment from this fic. Word Count: 9.8k

You're buzzing with excitement, knowing you're going to see the 49-year-old Leon S. Kennedy in his glory after playing Grace's part at the Wrenwood Hotel. You have been anticipating the release of Resident Evil Requiem ever since you saw the trailer for the game. Now that it's in your Steam library, you have been itching to play the game after work.

You're sitting at your desk, knees pressing against your chest as the cut scene plays before you. Your heart is still pounding against your chest after you manage to escape from the infected police officer, Cole. You watch Grace collapse in the strange man's iron grip, her body slumping to the side, and the screen goes black.

"Is it finally happening?" You whisper, leaning forward towards the monitor, and watch the series of police cars slowly appear on the screen, before cutting to a scene where it shows a dead body with strange blotches on the palm of the deceased's hand. Your eyes light up. "It is! It is it is it is!"

The man—obviously, it's thee Leon S. Kennedy—gets up from where he was kneeling and leaves the area that is blocked off with crime scene tape.

"Talk to me. Is this one like the others?" A woman's voice breaks through the sound of pouring rain as the man walks towards the CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS and POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS tape.

"Same black blotches." He ducks under the tape and continues to walk past the police cars at the crime scene.

"And it's not postmortem lividity?" The mission coordinator asks.

"No." He turns toward the area where his car is parked. "No, this is different. That's six now. Six survivors of Raccoon City, all dead from the same thing." The scene switches to the inside of the car.

"Yeah, that's… not good."

"No… No, it's not." The car door opens, and the investigator gets into the car before closing it.

You lean in your seat, biting your bottom lip. God, his voice is so husky. You continue watching the cut scene, completely immersed and enamored by the sight of the man you will be playing as very soon, once the cut scene is over. The mission coordinator proceeds to give additional information to the mysterious man.

You already know who this mysterious man is behind the wheel. But when the bottom half of his face is shown in the rear-view mirror, you audibly gasp and continue to watch the cut scene, watching the man grab his gun and pop out the cylinder, spinning it around before popping it back in, while the mission coordinator continues to speak in his intercom.

The minute the game finally reveals Leon's face, you gasp. "Oh my—Leon, you're so handsome."

For about thirty seconds, Leon doesn't respond to the woman on the other end of his intercom. His eyebrows slightly furrow, his eyes scanning his surroundings. Did he just hear someone else's voice? It's certainly not the mission coordinator. What the hell?

"You there, Leon?" The mission coordinator asks, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Leon nods. "Yeah. I'm here."

"You okay?" Leon can hear the woman raise her eyebrows as she waits for his response.

Leon doesn't respond to her question. Leon glances in his rear-view mirror, checking to see if a random woman may have sneaked into his car, but he sees no one. Leon pushes the start button of his Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT, and the black luxury car purrs to life.

"Send me the address," Leon says, putting his car in reverse and turning halfway. "I'll check it out." Leon puts his gearshift into drive before he drives off into the night.

You stare at the dark screen after watching Leon's car disappear into the night—your mouth agape. You're so glad that you spent $69.99 for this game. You could spend additional money on the deluxe version, but you wanted to finish the game first before deciding whether a deluxe version is worth buying.

You end up playing the game for a little over an hour. You're now on Grace's part of the game, where you need to find a screwdriver for the fuse box in Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center. You didn't know what got into you when you chose to play the standard classic mode rather than casual or standard modern mode.

"God, I'm so stupid. Why am I doing this to myself?" You mutter after Grace grabs the ink ribbon in the room that you unlocked with the Cherub Key. "Limited autosaves, and I need to save my gameplay wisely. Why did I choose this mode again?"

You're roaming around the area as Grace—you're playing in first-person point of view—trying to gather the courage to go to the nursing station. It's so dark that you have to squint to see in the darkness. As much as you want to change the setting to make it a little brighter for you to see in the dark, where's the fun in that?

"It's okay! I can do this! Everything will be okay, and nothing will happen!" You try to give yourself a pep talk, having Grace walk to the nursing station with a tiny lighter in her hand, illuminating her path. Just as Grace approaches the door, a cut scene is triggered, and an infected corpse falls through the door, scaring both you and Grace.

Grace leans down and touches the corpse's neck. "He's dead." Grace states the obvious.

"I would hope so." You mutter, mentally preparing for what's to come.

After Grace moves the man's head, a large hand emerges from the darkness and grabs the infected corpse. Grace lets out a choked gasp, watching in horror as the grotesque monster brings the dead body up to her mouth and bites off the head.

Its eyes lock on Grace, mouth and teeth stained with blood, and it leans towards Grace. You flinch back from your monitor, questioning your choices on playing the game in the dead of night. After the cut scene ends, you immediately turn around and leave the nursing station with the monster at your (Grace's?) tail.

"Come on, come on, come on! Can you please run any faster, Grace?" You panic, shaking your legs as you run to the nearest room that has lights. When you successfully run to Room 203, you turn around to see the grotesque monster at the entrance of the room.

The monster steps into the room, causing Grace to fearfully yell out, "Don't come any closer!"

The monster's gray skin starts sizzling and burning from the lights in the room. It shrieks and steps outside the room. You and Grace watch the monster climb up a hole in the ceiling, leaving Grace alone at last. Just when you thought you were safe, the lights in the room went out, sending chills and shivers down your spine.

You run out of the room, heart pounding against your chest. After you make it back to the nursing station, you grab the med injector and start searching for the screwdriver for the fuse box. You can hear blood pounding in your ears, listening to Grace's shaky breath.

You search around the room and eventually have to move the cart. But before you do that, you move it slightly and open the locker to see a green herb.

"This could be useful," Grace mutters, grabbing it.

You climb onto the cart, grabbing the antique coin from the top of the locker before getting off. You grab the cart and start pushing towards the shelf where you spotted a red toolbox perched on top. Just as you're halfway to the shelf, a metal tray slides off the cart and clatters loudly to the ground, causing you and Grace to freeze momentarily.

You hear chains and shackles dragging on the floor, followed by heavy footsteps that are heading towards the nursing station where Grace is. Out of sheer panic, you grab the cart and move it closer to the shelf, ignoring the other items falling off and crashing to the ground.

You catch a glimpse of the creature through the window, slamming her hand against the glass while walking towards the nursing station. At this point, your heart is in your throat, and you're close to pausing the game and ending it there for the night, but the issue is that you still need to save the game, and if you don't, you have to redo where it last auto-saved.

Once the cart is close enough to the shelf, you climb onto it and grab the red toolbox, unlatching it and taking out the screwdriver. You sigh in relief, hopping off the cart and running to the nearest hiding spot. You extinguish the flames of Grace's lighter, staring at the door while listening to the monster getting closer to where you're having Grace hide.

The monster's hand suddenly appears, grabbing onto the doorframe before walking into the room. It sniffs the air, walking further into the room and looking around. It gets close to where the cart is and lets out a frenzied growl, swiping at the cart, causing it to fly to the desk. Grace whimpers.

You take it as a sign to start running. Before the mutated creature can turn and look in your and Grace's direction, you have Grace leave the hiding spot and start sprinting in the darkness. Since the creature turned the lights off in Room 203, you start running to the room where the typewriter sits. Before you pass the nursing station, the door bursts open, and the monster appears.

You briefly pause the game, staring at the menu in horror. Your heart is thudding painfully against your chest as you try to calm down. You lean back in your seat, heavily debating if you should just stop there.

"But I made so much progress. I have the screwdriver. I just need to find a way to get Grace to go around the monster, run to Room 201, get the fuse from the fuse box in that very room, and run to the other fuse box where I got the Cherub Key."

You take a deep breath and close your eyes. God, this is horrifying. Playing the game in first person point of view makes it even scarier than you anticipated. You give yourself a pep talk before unpausing the game. Grace cries out in fear, freezing in fear when the monster fully reveals itself in front of Grace.

You start mashing the buttons, begging for Grace to start moving or else she's dead. "Come on, come on, come on! We gotta go, or else we're next, Grace!"

As if she heard you, Grace turns around and starts running to the other entrance of the nursing station where the two of you came from. Grace hides near the desk in the nursing station, panting as the two of you wait and listen to the monster walk past the nursing station over and over.

"This is horrifying." You mutter, hands trembling on your mouse and keyboard. "Is the empty bottle even going to work in this situation?" You creep towards the door where the monster burst from, trying to see where it is.

You take the empty bottle out of Grace's inventory and aim for the furthest part of the hallway—close to where the plant was knocked over—and toss the bottle. The bottle shatters, grabbing the creature's attention. It shrieks and charges towards where the bottle landed, giving you and Grace a small window to escape your hiding spot.

You have Grace sprint to Room 201 as fast as she could, but it feels like Grace wasn't running at all from first person perspective. It feels more like a power walk rather than Grace running for her life. Halfway down the hallway, you and Grace hear the monster shrieking and charging towards where you're heading.

"Hurry, hurry!"

Grace pushes the door aside and makes it to the room where the typewriter sits. You sigh in relief, blood pounding in your ears. Grace takes a few steps towards where the fuse box is, only for the entire building to shake and the lights to flicker and turn off.

"We need to get that fuse and get the hell out of here as soon as possible," You say, making Grace go to the fuse box inside the closet. You unscrew the fuse box with the screwdriver, and Grace takes out the fuse, triggering a cut scene.

Grace stares at the fuse, "Alright," she mutters. Grace turns around, and just when she can leave the closet, you and Grace hear a faint thud coming above her. Grace gasps and looks up at the gaping hole in the ceiling of the closet in horror.

Grace takes a step back, eyes still locked on the hole. "Oh my god," Grace whispers.

The monster starts climbing into the room where Grace is, causing Grace to gasp and start panicking. The cut scene suddenly ends, and now you find yourself forcing Grace to turn around and make a run for it to the fuse box where the Cherub Key was located.

The lights shatter, and the building rumbles as Grace runs through the dark hallways of Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center. When you press 'F' at the fuse box, a cut scene is triggered, showing Grace shoving the fuse into the fuse box, pressing the button, and quickly looking back as the security gate slowly pulls up.

You watch Grace drop to the ground and quickly crawl underneath the moving gate. "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!" Grace pleads as she crawls through the gate, and the monster appears where Grace came from. You collapse in your seat, sighing in relief, happy that you have gotten through the first (among many) difficult parts of the game.

The monitor goes black before switching to another cut scene—but it starts with showing Leon's Porsche driving through the gate of Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center and to the front. Leon exits the car, and you gasp in awe, completely enamored by the mere sight of Leon S. Kennedy.

"God, he looks so good." You whisper breathlessly as you watch him walk to the door of the facility after closing the car door. "Why can't you be real?" You lament, resting your chin on your knees as you continue watching the cut scene unfold.

Leon stands in the central hall, his eyes scanning his surroundings. It's quiet, too quiet. But despite how quiet it is in the facility, Leon still hears the same voice he heard earlier near the crime scene he left before arriving at the sanatorium. Maybe he's going crazy, and the side effects of the T-virus are starting to get to him.

You watch the nurse appear behind Leon, calling out to him and informing him that Dr. Gideon was expecting him.

"Funny. I don't remember getting an invitation," Leon's sarcastic response makes you snort, shaking your head. Leon hears the faint snort, the corners of his lips barely curving up into a smile.

The nurse continues speaking to Leon, telling him that Dr. Gideon is waiting for him. Leon soon follows after the nurse as she guides him to who knows where. The cut scene continues a little longer, only for the nurse to lead Leon to the rehabilitation ward. The door closes behind Leon, making him turn around. Then the cut scene ends there, and now you're in control of Leon.

You don't move Leon, watching him on the screen and admiring his design. God, the developers at Capcom really went all out for Leon. You spin the camera around, continuing to admire him. Leon looks around the facility, wondering why he couldn't move despite trying to. It's like he's locked in place until someone commands him to move. The nurse is waiting at the end of the hallway, waiting for him to follow.

"Okay, I need to get moving and stop getting easily distracted by Leon," You say to yourself, finally controlling Leon's movements and proceeding to follow the nurse as Leon.

The nurse explains about the facility and what they do at the sanatorium as both Leon and the nurse continue walking down the hall. Leon has no idea where the nurse is leading him, and neither do you, but judging by the map, it's probably to your (mainly Leon's) doom.

"The facility keeps a low profile due to the sensitive nature of the research," The nurse says, walking to the rehabilitation center of the facility.

"Oh, I bet it does," Leon replies, as he follows the nurse throughout the facility.

You hum, eyebrows furrowing at the conversation between Leon and the nurse of the strange facility. "That's something someone suspicious would say," You mutter, face scrunching up. You're so glad that you haven't dealt with any horrors as Leon just yet. "You have a mutated monster stomping around your facility right now, too."

Leon raises his eyebrows at your comment, still questioning if he's going crazy. Leon glances around, then at the nurse, but she doesn't seem to notice anything strange—or hear a woman's voice for that matter—and continues making her way to the room at the end of the rehabilitation ward. Once Leon gets closer to the room and the nurse, a new cut scene starts for you.

You yawn, stretching in your seat, watching the nurse leave Leon alone in the room and closing the door behind her as she leaves. The camera zooms in on Leon, making your face scrunch up.

"God, this Dr. Gideon guy is way more obsessed with Leon than I am," You comment, watching Leon peek at every little thing in the room.

Leon raises his eyebrows at your comment. "Almost as you are? What do you mean by that?" Leon wants to ask. Instead, Leon chooses to stay silent, as saying things out loud would earn weird looks from whoever passes by the room he's in, or could land him in this exact facility.

Little did you know, Leon's searching around for where the voice is coming from. The woman's voice is loud and clear to him, and yet he sees no one. He's alone in this room, but he's been hearing voices in his head every now and then. The voice comes and goes, gushing over him and his skills; other times, the same voice would chime in after someone—who's conversing with Leon—says something.

Leon rests against the desk, reaching for the photograph of Victor Gideon and his medical team that runs the facility. Leon subconsciously furrows his eyebrows as he scrutinizes the image in his hand before setting it back down where he found it. Leon checks the time on his watch, his expensive watch appearing on your monitor.

"That looks expensive, but I shouldn't be surprised. You drive a Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT—that's probably the most expensive thing I've seen you own." You comment, watching the time tick away on Leon's watch.

Much to your disappointment, the cut scene soon comes to an end after the nurse is killed by the chainsaw-wielding doctor. You're soon in control of Leon again and have to kill every infected person in the surrounding area with a chainsaw, which you're not a fan of.

"This thing is a bit hard to wield around. It kind of slows me down, and after Leon plunges the chainsaw into a zombie, I would need to retrieve it again from said zombie…" You sigh, shaking your head. "Oh, shit." The chainsaw drops to the ground and starts spinning out of control.

You force Leon out of the way, trying to avoid getting hit by the out-of-control chainsaw. A zombie nurse charges at Leon with her arms outstretched, trying to grab him. You try shooting the nurse with the requiem gun, but miss.

"Fuck. My aim is atrocious. I am so sorry, Leon. You're supposed to be cool, but I'm making you look like an amateur loser." You frown.

Leon frowns. "Amateur loser? Who are you calling an amateur loser?" Leon mouths to himself, continuing to aim his gun at the infected nurse.

You try shooting the nurse as she gets closer to Leon, but before you can shoot, the nurse lunges at Leon. You let out a choked gasp, assuming Leon is done for, but he ducks underneath the nurse's grasp and shoots her at the back of the head, blood spewing all over the place when her head explodes.

"Whoa!" You gasp, eyes wide in awe. "How did you do that?!" You exclaim, pausing briefly to look at what buttons you've pressed, but you're too busy mashing different buttons to know the actual controls of the dodge he just did.

You unpause the game. "Leon, can you do that again?" You ask yourself, shooting every zombie that's charging at Leon at full speed. How the hell did you do that again? You really need to know what the controls are, or else you won't be able to pull that cool move ever again.

As more zombies emerge from the other rooms in the rehabilitation ward, you shoot every zombie in the head successfully despite having bad aim. An infected doctor lunges at Leon, causing you to panic momentarily, miss your shot, and giving the zombie an opportunity to grab onto Leon and bite down on his shoulders.

"Ah, fuck! I'm so sorry, Leon!"

Leon cries out in pain as he thrashes around, trying to get the zombie to release. You press on your mouse frantically, watching Leon's health bar rapidly deplete at a dangerous pace, the longer the zombie bites down on Leon's shoulders. Leon reaches for his hatchet and attacks the zombie, causing it to back away.

"I really need to learn how to properly parry and aim." You grumble, aiming Leon's requiem gun at the zombie and shoot, only to miss again. "Man, I'm making Leon look uncool, what the fuck."

The zombie lunges at Leon again, and before you can panic, Leon dodges under the zombie's arm and shoots it at the back of its head. The adrenaline dies down, and Leon is left alone in the rehabilitation ward, surrounded by headless zombies.

The only sounds you hear are the sounds of the chainsaw and Leon's heavy breathing, his health bar yellow rather than green. Before escaping the ward, you have Leon search around the room for a healing item. You could use the green herb in your inventory, but it's not enough to fully heal Leon.

"It's okay, Leon! You're going to be okay! You're not going to die under my watch, no matter how bad I am with aiming and parrying." You reassure the DSO agent, picking up the mixed herbs from the glass cabinet that Leon broke. After picking up the mixed herbs, you immediately use them, watching Leon's health bar slightly go up.

You continue playing the game until almost four in the morning, only having to end your gameplay after Leon's cut scene with Victor Gideon after your Mom peeks into your room, scaring the shit out of you.

"Why are you still awake?!" Your Mom asks, staring at you in horror.

You point at your monitor, a cut scene of Leon tied up to a chair playing on your screen. Your Mom peeks at your computer and sighs, shaking her head before leaving your room, muttering under her breath about how you need to stop staying up so late.

You turn back to your monitor, taking multiple screenshots of Leon tied to the chair while Victor Gideon is almost sweet-talking to the DSO agent. You stare at Leon in awe, mouth agape. The side view of Leon on? Whew! His biceps are looking extra delicious.

You bite your bottom lip. "God, I would love to sink my teeth into those biceps of his." You lean back in your seat, groaning. "The ladies at Capcom did a fantastic job at designing Leon."

You watch Victor Gideon touch Leon, almost oh-so intimately. The way his gray fingers brush the strands of Leon's brown and silver hair. Ugh. You're so envious of Victor's privilege to even be in the presence of Leon Kennedy. You make sure to take multiple screenshots of Leon—frame by frame.

Leon can hear the camera shutters, raising an eyebrow. It's strange how Victor Gideon is touching him, and yet this voice in his head is swooning over him being tied up and touched by the former T-Virus researcher. Of course, he doesn't hear you mention a single thing about Victor, only about wanting to sink your teeth into his (your words, not his) beefy biceps.

"I don't like how he's touching you, Leon. He's practically fondling you." You grumble. "I should be the one to do that, not him. Just like how I should be the one to lunge at you and sink my teeth into your biceps, not those greedy zombies."

The camera cuts to Leon looking down while Victor Gideon softly says, "Are the answers to your disease here?" after pulling down Leon's shirt collar. Victor leans down, his face not far from Leon's. "Yes…." Victor whispers.

Leon flinches, his face pinching up with disgust. "You know, I do have a question," Leon says, looking at Victor, deadpanned. "When was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

Leon hears immediate laughter coming from you after asking. Leon's tempted to laugh as well, but because of the predicament he's in, he doesn't smile. The smile on Victor's face slips off, and he backs away from Leon and takes a few steps in front of Leon.

Mechanical whirring can be heard from Leon's end as Victor stares at him, zooming in on his face and his eyes. You take a quick screenshot, thanking Victor for being oddly meticulous when it comes to Leon. If it weren't for Victor, you wouldn't have a lot of screenshots of Leon added to your new collection.

The cut scene soon ends with you taking over fifty screenshots (you're pressing down on the screenshot button, taking screenshots of every frame), and you find yourself back in control of Leon. You frown, letting out a wistful sigh. "I'm going to need to find a stopping point and go to bed. Let's trigger an auto save somewhere, and I'll continue when I wake up." You say to yourself.

You make it to where Leon needs to go and stop in front of a metal cabinet storage that's blocking a doorway. You poke the inside of your cheek with your tongue, approaching said cabinet storage with a cheeky smile. Oh, you are going to enjoy this!

You press 'F,' and Leon starts lifting the cabinet to move it out of the way, his biceps and back muscles flexing as he lets out a grunt. Before Leon successfully moves the cabinet out of the way, you suddenly release the 'F' key.

"Oh, fuck, my hands slipped." You say to no one.

It's a good thing Leon's back is facing your monitor because if it were facing his direction, you would've seen an eye roll from him along with a shy smile. Leon knows what you're doing; he's not stupid. You press the 'F' key again, watching Leon lift the cabinet, his biceps flexing underneath that tight shirt of his. Again, before Leon can fully move the obstacle out of the way, you release the keys.

You huff. "Man, my keyboard is messed up. I really need to get a new one because for some reason, it's not lasting long," You say with a shit-eating grin on your face. "I have a bad feeling that this keyboard is going to give me… issues the longer I play this game with a broken keyboard."

"Oh, yeah?" Leon mutters, shaking his head with a small smirk, his shoulders shaking from his quiet laughter. He can get used to hearing your commentary while he's handling the shit show that's happening at Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.

Finally, after some time, you finally have Leon move the metal cabinet, relishing in the sight of his muscles flexing underneath his shirt, and the sound of his grunts as he does so. Leon S. Kennedy, the man that you are! The autosave button appears in the top left corner of the screen, signaling you to go to bed.

With a heavy heart, you bid Leon goodnight—as if he could hear you—before pausing and exiting the game. You plop onto your bed after the game closes and roll on your bed, eyelids feeling heavy after staring at your monitor for who knows how long. You close your eyes and drift into a dreamless sleep.

A few hours into your sleep, you wake up to the feeling of your bedroom shaking, forcing yourself to crack your eyes open briefly and stare up at the ceiling, still groggy from your slumber. You rub your eyes, mumbling to yourself, and turn over on your right side before going back to sleep. Earthquakes are common, so waking up to one isn't out of the ordinary. Nothing seems out of the norm, but little did you know, this isn't any other earthquake you've dealt with in the past.

That is, until you wake up to someone shaking you nonstop. "Hey, can you hear me? Wake up!" The voice says as the shaking continues.

You groan, trying to turn over and ignore whoever is shaking you. "Not now." You mumble, eyebrows furrowing.

Whoever is shaking you is very persistent, as they continue to do something to try to rouse you from your sleep. The person starts lightly patting your cheek, muttering about how you need to wake up and stop ignoring them. You finally crack your eyes open after a while, vision blurry from your sleep. A blurry face is hovering above yours, but as your vision gradually clears up, your heart nearly falls into your ass.

"Leon?" You whisper in disbelief, mind still foggy from your sleep.

Leon chuckles, sighing in relief. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty. Good to see those eyes of yours," Leon says, his eyes scanning the littlest details on your face. "I was worried you weren't going to wake up, but it seems like you're not a morning person, huh."

You don't respond to Leon as you slowly reach up and cup his face with both your hands, still trying to comprehend what's happening. Surely this is a dream, right? You did play Resident Evil Requiem for hours before going to bed, and Leon's the last thing you were thinking about before drifting to sleep.

"This is the most vivid dream I have ever had," You mutter, still holding Leon's face in your hands. "Man, it's going to be so disappointing when I wake up."

Leon stares down at you, confused. "What are you talking about?"

You shake your head, head falling to the side before sighing sadly. "This is the best dream I've ever had, and yet I'm going to get a rude awakening very soon once this ends." You lament.

"Aw, man. I think you hit your head pretty hard when you fell," Leon mutters, feeling around your head for a possible concussion.

You blink at Leon. "Of course, I fell for you. Who wouldn't fall for you?"

Leon shakes his head, the corner of his lips curling up. Despite everything, you still manage to be a sweet talker, much to Leon's amusement. Then again, you do think that this is all a dream. Leon's fingers brush a certain area on your head, earning a hiss from you. "I can feel a goose egg forming."

Now that your mind clears up and you're more awake than you were, you come to the realization that Leon is cradling you in his arms—his beefy arms. Wait, that means that his bicep is your pillow. You rub your eyes again, sitting up and looking around to see that you're not in your room. This dream is a bit too realistic for your liking, because why are you in the attic of Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center?

Panic hits you like a train. Your head snaps towards Leon's direction. "This is a dream, right? I'm still asleep in my bed, right?" You start pinching yourself, but nothing is happening. "Oh, my god. This can't be real. This has to be a dream."

Leon doesn't say anything. Instead, he continues to stare at you, taking in every detail of your face, your hair, and your clothes. The longer Leon listens to you ramble, the more he realizes something.

His eyes light up. "You're the voice I've been hearing," Leon says, his arm still holding you up.

His comment makes you go silent. "Pardon?" You press your lips into a thin line. "What do you mean?"

Leon's lips curl up into a smile, shaking his head. "I don't think now is a good time to tell you when you're having an inner turmoil."

Maybe a hug will help you calm down a little, but given the things he heard you say a few hours before your arrival, it probably won't help. But it won't hurt to try, right? Leon pulls you into his arms, hugging you. Your cheek is cushioned against his chest, his beefy arms around your torso, and his chin is resting atop your head.

You wrap your arms around Leon's neck, feeling yourself melting in his arms. God, it feels so nice to hug him. You can't describe what it's like to hug Leon, but you can live in his arms if it's possible. You and Leon sit like that for a while. It doesn't feel weird or uncomfortable to be hugging someone you don't know—a fictional one, to be specific.

It's comforting and gives you a small window to collect your thoughts. You went to bed, but woke up to an earthquake before falling back asleep. Then you're roused from your sleep by Leon, who claimed that you hit your head when you fell. This is all so strange.

"How the hell did I get isekai'd into Resident Evil Requiem? I didn't get hit by a truck." You mutter to yourself, but it's loud enough for Leon to hear.

Leon raises his eyebrows, leaning down to look at your face from the side. "What does 'isekai' mean? And what do you mean by getting hit by a truck?" God, the creases between his eyebrows are so cute. You'd love to smooth the wrinkles over with your fingers.

"I will explain that to you after you tell me what you meant by 'you're the voice I've been hearing,'" You reply, looking up at him.

Leon stares at you for a moment, chuckling to himself. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you what I meant when I said that," Leon caves in.

Leon's not sure if he should look forward to your reaction after he explains everything to you. But hey, you did say that you want him to explain what he meant by what he said, so who is he to deny you? As Leon explains everything, he watches your reaction and body language closely.

The way your face fell was both comical and endearing because now you're covering your face out of sheer embarrassment, but you didn't cover your ears, letting him know that you're still listening despite your reaction. By the time Leon is done explaining, he has a wide smile on his face, the crow's feet at the corner of his eyes becoming noticeable.

You take a deep breath, trying not to have a mental breakdown after hearing Leon's explanation. "You heard everything." You say. Suddenly, you feel faint, but you can't faint in front of Leon. You can't embarrass yourself in front of Leon for the umpteenth time in a row.

Leon nods, still smiling. "That is correct."

"My cursing whenever you get bitten by a zombie."

"You curse like a sailor, but also like a child who was granted permission to curse by her parents." He replies.

You immediately protest. "What! No, I don't!" Do you? Man, this just keeps getting worse and worse for you. "… You also heard my thirst over your…"

"Beefy biceps, me using my hatchet to crack open a warped door, and you claiming that your keyboard is broken when I need to move the fallen metal cabinet in front of a doorway. I can go on, but I'm afraid that you'll have a heart attack if I continue." Leon says.

You hug your knees to your chest. At this point, you're more likely to die from embarrassment than from a zombie bite. You didn't know that Leon can hear everything you say! Does that mean Grace and Victor hear the things you say, too?

You peek at Leon, "Please tell me that no one else hears the things I say." You whisper.

Leon gives your shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You don't need to worry about that. As far as I know, I was the only person who heard your voice. It doesn't seem like Victor heard your voice, and as for that FBI agent—Grace Ashcroft, I'm not entirely sure."

After Leon's explanation, you choose to stay quiet. There's no need for you to embarrass yourself again in front of Leon, right? Leon checks his watch, and when he looks up, you're staring at him with stars in your eyes. Leon is even more beautiful in person. His hair looks so soft and healthy for someone who bleaches his hair often. God, the stubble… You love the scratchiness of it when you cupped his face in your hands.

Leon doesn't say anything; instead, he lets you do what makes you happy and stay sane. His eyes are blue, but they're not nearly as blue as it was when he was in his early twenties. Maybe they're still the same blue, but you would need to get a closer look at it—if he catches your drift.

"I love how you kept your signature hairstyle after all these years…" You murmur, leaning side to side as your eyes continue taking in every detail of him.

"Now it's your turn to explain to me what 'isekai' means," Leon comments, crossing his arms over his chest.

You quickly glance at Leon's bulging biceps before looking back at him innocently. His biceps looked at you first, so it's only fair for you to look at them in return. "Where do I start…" You trail off, tapping on your chin.

So you start explaining to Leon what isekai means, giving him a rundown on it, its origins, and how there's a handful of animated shows (specifically anime) that have this concept. Leon is intrigued, but also confused. The look of confusion on Leon's handsome face is cute. His eyebrows are furrowing, his head tilting to the side while not taking his eyes off of you for one bit.

You subconsciously reach forward and gently press on the space between his eyebrows, smoothing the creases between his brows. Man, even Leon has soft skin for someone who goes through hell. You meet Leon's eyes, causing you to quickly retract your hand before apologizing sheepishly.

"After explaining to me what 'isekai' meant, it makes sense. Is there a way for you to return to your world?" Leon asks.

You frown dramatically. "Aw, you want to return me to sender already? I'm hurt." You joke, clutching your chest playfully. "I thought you would enjoy my company after going through the horrors of having to deal with Victor Gideon caressing you lovingly."

You turn around and face the wall, pretending to be offended by what he asked. Leon shudders at the memory of Victor's fingers brushing through his hair, fingers ghosting over the dark blotches on his neck after lowering the collar of his shirt. That is not a pleasant memory, and he certainly wishes he could erase it.

"Your presence is a breath of fresh air. I'm merely asking because I don't think you would want to stay and deal with what's waiting for us," Leon replies, reaching forward and grabbing your forearm and turning you around to face him.

You can just melt in his arms right now. You've imagined this very moment, but in a different scenario. Leon Kennedy grabs your arm to stop you from leaving, gazing at you with those dazzling blue eyes of his, his eyebrows knitting together as he pleads for you not to leave. And the way he says it? It'll be soft, making you weak at the knees.

"By the way, you never introduced yourself. You know my name, but I don't know yours." Leon adds, pulling you out of your thoughts.

Your eyes widen. "Oh, crap! You're right! How could I forget?" You smack your forehead before introducing yourself to Leon. After telling Leon your first and last name, Leon stares at you while muttering your full name to himself. Heat rushes to your face the longer he does it.

After what feels like forever, Leon smiles and nods. "Your name suits you. I like it. Your parents must've put a lot of thought and love into naming you."

You stare at Leon, mouth agape. Why did he have to say that? Leon raises an eyebrow at you, smiling in amusement. Without saying anything, you cover your face with both hands as heat continues rushing to your face. This man can effortlessly make you blush like a schoolgirl.

You groan behind your hands. "What are you doing to me?! It's not fair. You know you have this effect on me! Damn you, Leon Scott Kennedy!" You whine.

If only you could evaporate right now. Maybe Leon was up to something when he asked if there was a way for you to return to your world, because how much longer can you handle being in the presence of Leon S. Kennedy? The only thing you hear is laughter coming from Leon—his laugh is soft, very gentle. You peek between your fingers to see him shaking his head, a wide smile on his face as he gazes at the wooden floor.

Realization hits you. You're so fucked. There's not a single man in your life—real and fictional—who has made you feel this way before. Until Leon S. Kennedy happened. You love every version of Leon, but there's something about forty-nine-year-old Leon Kennedy. Aside from his looks, there's something that makes you feel so warm and gooey inside when he shows up on your screen.

You look at an imaginary camera, hands falling on your lap before sighing. "I'm so fucked." You whisper, shaking your head in disbelief. "Okay, let's kill some zombies and get the hell out of here."

You push yourself off the ground, feeling around for the so-called goose egg Leon felt on your head, while Leon gets off the ground and brushes the dust off his ass. Leon grabs your wrist, preventing you from finding this goose egg. You look at Leon, frowning.

He wags his pointer finger at you, shaking his head. "Don't search for it."

"Fine." You mumble, lowering your arm, but Leon doesn't let go of your wrist.

You blink at him, looking back and forth from your hands to Leon's face. Leon doesn't say anything and starts looking for an exit with you in tow, his hand still wrapped around your wrist. You will take that as a win because Leon is holding your hand, kind of! You peek at Leon and wiggle your wrist to hold his hand.

You and Leon soon come across the familiar metal cabinet that's blocking the entrance. Your heart nearly sinks into the pit of your stomach when you realize what you're about to face soon. This is strange; you could've sworn that you moved the cabinet before ending the game right there.

"Step back. I don't want you to get hurt." Leon says, gently nudging you to the side, and starts lifting the cabinet.

You press your lips into a thin line and cover your mouth, watching his back muscles and biceps flex under the fabric of his shirt. Leon grunts and starts lifting the metal cabinet. You bite your lower lip, enticed by what you're seeing and hearing.

After a few minutes, Leon successfully moves the cabinet out of the way. He fixes his shirt before pulling out his gun from the holster. Leon turns to you to see you staring at him in a daze, earning an eyebrow raise and smirk from him. You quickly snap out of it, acting like you weren't ogling him just now.

"So, do I follow you into that room or do I wait out here until you finish your, uh, duty?" You ask, rubbing the back of your neck.

You don't know how much has changed since your sudden arrival in this universe, but you're hoping it's not much change, but who knows?

Leon holds his hand out and gestures for you to follow him. "I'm not leaving you behind, are you crazy?"

"For you? Yes." Is your automatic response. You slap your hand over your mouth and squeeze your eyes shut. "I mean, let's go and get this over with!" You say, grabbing his hand and walking through the entrance with Leon in tow.

You're always amazed by your ability to humiliate yourself. This has got to be a new record for you. Once you and Leon step through that door, everything shifts. The atmosphere, the mood, the air, and the sound. You hear squelching coming from the other side of the room.

Think of someone chewing with their mouth open, but multiply that by a thousand. That's how loud it is in person. The squelching is accompanied by deep rumbles. You and Leon trade looks with each other before slowly making your way through the room, making sure Leon picks up ammo for his guns.

Leon stops in his tracks, holding his arm out in front of you before looking over his shoulder at you. "You're going to have to trust me on this, alright?" Leon murmurs.

You look at him, confused. "What are you planning? Should I be worried?" You whisper.

Leon doesn't respond and continues walking towards where the disturbing sound is coming from. You swallow the lump in your throat when you eye the grotesque creature towering over a dead body, feasting on its rotting flesh. The smell is rancid, making your stomach churn.

You grip the back of Leon's shirt, lightly tugging it. "How can you handle a smell like that when you're dealing with these things?" You mutter to him, tempted to bury your face into his back to block out the smell of decomposition and blood.

"When you're constantly out on the field dealing with these things, you'd get used to it."

You raise an eyebrow at his response. "But you recoiled when you caught a whiff of Victor's breath." You point out.

Leon snorts. "Smelling rotting flesh and bad breath are two different things. Besides, who knows how long it's been since he has brushed his teeth?"

"Can't argue with that."

You continue following Leon around the room while he collects ammo for his guns, occasionally peeking from behind him to get a look at the mutated being. For something that large, you're shocked that it hasn't heard you and Leon walking around the vicinity.

"Do you trust me?" Leon asks suddenly, turning towards you.

You falter. "Uh, yes, I do trust you—even though we met not long ago. I'm surprised you trust me despite the things I put you through." You refer to your failed aiming and parrying before you were isekai'd into Resident Evil Requiem.

Leon chuckles, shaking his head. "Of course, I trust you. You're the only one who kept me sane at the start of this shit show." Leon replies.

Leon turns around and aims his gun at the ravenous, mutated creature and shoots it in the head with his shotgun. You flinch at the sound, gripping his shirt hard as you watch the creature stop munching on the corpse and turn towards your and Leon's direction.

Fueled by rage and anger, the chunky zombie roars. "Food! Food! Food!" He growls, getting ready to charge towards you and Leon.

"Hope I'm not next," Leon mutters.

Before you can say anything, Leon quickly turns around, grabs you by the waist, and tosses you over his shoulders before making a run for it. Upside down, you wrap your arms around his waist, whimpering as the monster gets closer to you and Leon. You certainly didn't sign up for this when you got isekai'd, but hey, you didn't sign up to be isekai'd in general!

"Leon! He's getting closer!" You whimper, patting his lower back.

Leon loads his shotgun, making sharp turns to avoid getting grabbed by the ravenous creature. Leon picks up a med injector from a wall that was broken by the monster, along with the shotgun shells and handgun ammo. Leon quickly grabs onto the ladder and climbs up. You nearly flip over if it weren't for Leon's quick reflexes and your iron grip around his waist.

"Are you sure I'm not getting in the way?" You ask, lifting your head to look at Leon. "I feel like I'm adding more weight on you. Metaphorically and literally."

Leon pats the back of your thighs. "You're fine, you're not getting in the way or adding weight on me," Leon reassures you.

Leon quickly puts you down on the platform, fixes his gear, and gestures for you to get on his shoulders by squatting in front of you. You climb over Leon, stomach resting on his shoulders, while your arms are wrapped around his waist. Leon wraps one arm over the back of your thighs, checking to see where the mutated monster is.

On cue, the chunky mutated monster, which you found out is named Timothy from the note Leon read to you, appears at the bottom of the platform. Timothy growls and tries reaching for you and Leon, but Leon shoots him in the face with his shotgun, but Timothy's not phased by it.

Timothy starts climbing up the platform, causing you to involuntarily flinch. "Leon…" You plead, patting Leon's thighs. "We need to move, or else we will be on Timothy's menu!"

Leon tightens his grip on your legs. "Brace yourself."

Before you can process what Leon's doing, you suddenly feel airborne. Your heart is in your throat as you cling to Leon for dear life. Leon lands on the ground with a grunt and shoots Timothy a few more times before making a run for it, loading his shotgun.

The chase lasted five more minutes because Timothy was very motivated to get both you and Leon. Finally, Timothy stops, and blood starts spewing out of the holes and gashes on his body that he received from the shotgun shells and Leon's hatchet.

While Timothy is gushing all over the place, Leon walks to the other end of the room to collect extra items that are lying around before putting you back on the ground once Timothy explodes. You brush off your clothes and turn to Leon, propping your hands on your hips and watching him reload his shotgun before switching to his other handgun.

"You know, when I said that I wanted to be manhandled by you, this isn't what I imagined." You comment.

Leon shakes his head, chuckling. "Don't worry, there will be plenty of time for that. Come on, let's get out of here." Leon gestures for you to follow him as he walks towards the door where the rotting corpse—Timothy's final meal—is lying.

You stare at Leon, mouth agape. What does he mean by that?! Wait, Leon is probably implying other boss fights that are waiting for both you and Leon. You really need to get your head out of the gutter. You follow behind Leon, shuddering when you step in the pool of blood that was once Timothy.

Leon grabs the hand grenade from the puddle of blood and continues walking to the exit. Finally, you and Leon will get to leave this place and face more horrors waiting for both of you. Leon unlatches the door and pushes it open, occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure you're still following him.

You and Leon come across a wooden closet with a warped door. Leon walks to it, grabs his hatchet, lodges it between the doors, and starts prying them open. You bite your bottom lip, watching his biceps flex as he tries to open it. Once the door bursts open and Leon grabs whatever is inside, you look away, trying to act like you weren't drooling over him.

"Ready to go?" Leon asks, turning to you as he puts the mod on his handgun.

You nod, tucking your hair behind your ear. "Yeah! Are you ready to go?" You ask, looking at him from the corner of your eyes.

"Of course, I am. I'm always ready." Leon says softly, walking past you while gently nudging you to follow him by patting your lower back.

You bite the inside of your cheek, screaming internally. You really need to get yourself together because you're acting like a cat in heat. Leon pushes the red button, and the attic opens; the metal ladder slides down, and Leon starts climbing down.

Once Leon gets off the ladder, you start climbing down, shuddering when you see the amount of blood in the office. The whole time while you're climbing down the ladder, Leon's keeping an eye out while holding out his hands to catch you just in case you slip. You step into the puddle of infected blood, groaning with disgust.

"You'd get used to it," Leon says. "Come on, we need to find Victor Gideon's office."

You follow Leon out of the Chairman's office, on edge about whether zombies are roaming around or not. You don't think there's any zombies roaming around cause you killed most of them when you were playing as Grace. You come across another warped closet outside of the Chairman's office, and you sit back and watch Leon do his thing.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Leon asks, turning to you after taking the handgun ammo and shotgun shells.

You look at Leon, flabbergasted. "Wha—is a lady not allowed to admire a total eye candy in front of her?" You huff, crossing your arms over your chest. "I have had enough of your teasing! Let's find Victor's office." You stick your nose in the air and walk towards the bar and lounge room.

Leon pinches the bridge of his nose, chuckling. "You truly do make this more entertaining than it should be."

The minute you walk into the bar and lounge room, a zombie in a white button-up starts contorting violently while screaming in agony. You walk backwards frantically, bumping into Leon as the zombie gets off the ground and his head morphs into something more horrifying.

"This place is infested," Leon mutters, shaking his head, and aims his gun at the blister head that's running towards both of you. Leon shoots, and the bullet penetrates the zombie's head, causing it to burst, and blood spews everywhere like a water fountain.

You sigh, turning to Leon. "Can you teach me how to shoot one day? You know, in case I have to fight for both of us."

Leon chuckles, shaking his head. "Of course. I can show you when we come across another zombie."

You and Leon continue searching for Victor's office. Instead of having you walk behind or in front of him, Leon makes sure you're by his side at all times because you'd never know when a zombie will sneak up from behind or jump out of nowhere.

As you're both walking up the stairs to the third floor of the sanatorium, you and Leon hear a faint beeping and gurgling from a zombie. Leon hands you his handgun and gestures for you to follow him quietly. Once the zombie is in your and Leon's line of sight, Leon quickly adjusts the gun in your hand, angling your arms a certain way.

"Make sure to have a firm grasp on the gun so it doesn't recoil and hit you in the face," Leon murmurs, his chest pressing up against your back. "Okay, now, you can either shoot the zombie or the red propane tank. I would go for the explosive canister because it's quicker, and who knows how many shots it'll take to kill the zombie."

Taking Leon's advice, you point the handgun towards the red gas tank and shoot. The red canister in the zombie's hand explodes, taking the zombie out with it. You tilt your head up and see Leon's smile as you lower the gun.

Leon pats your shoulders, "Not bad."

"But not good either." You pout dramatically. "Okay, let's go kick Victor Gideon's ass, Leon!" You grab his wrist and drag him up the stairs to another warped door—much to your delight.

Leon shakes his head as he pulls out his hatchet and starts prying the doors open. Once Leon successfully opens the door, you and Leon enter the room and look around to see many bodies with no heads. You immediately latch yourself against Leon, trembling as Leon picks up the paper on the ground.

"Burst their heads if you want to survive."

On cue, you and Leon hear the familiar screams of agony close to the entrance where you and Leon came. This is not what you expected when you got isekai'd into Resident Evil Requiem. Leon shields you from the blister head and starts shooting the head over and over until the zombie finally dies. He leads to the corner of the room where the other zombie lies and takes the shotgun shells and handgun ammo from the vase.

"Do you trust me?" Leon asks, loading his shotgun and handgun.

You nod. "Of course, I do." You answer.

"Good, cause you're going to need to trust me on this." Leon leans down and tosses you over his shoulders just when another blister head bursts through the door to the meeting room.

You squeeze your eyes shut and cling to Leon's torso as he shoots the blister heads and storms the meeting room, where another blister head is getting ready to charge at Leon. This is going to be a long night, and the worst thing is that you're not even sure if you'll return to your world after all this.

Note: I love how in almost every Leon fics I've typed out, I would be kicking my feet and twirling my hair cause I'm having the time of my life typing Leon fics. I completed insanity mode for RE9, and I feel like I've been through hell and back; I finished that game one minute faster than the standard classic mode, somehow. Every time I write a new Leon fic, I replay RE9 because I miss Leon and want to see him tied up. Anyway, to all my new and returning readers, keep in mind that I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3! Read more of my works on my Grand Masterlist, which contains every masterlist I have created! | Maybe support me by tipping me on Ko-Fi or by reblogging my fanfics! ^^ I will also be posting exclusive fanfics on Ko-Fi as well very soon! I might post all of my stories there, too, but who knows? You can also tip me on Tumblr if you'd like, as a way to show support! ^^ Join the Discord to get future fic updates and connect with other readers, maybe?:) Raccoon City Sanctuary

[genshinluvr]

Laughs evilly

Olive, I am banning you from commissioning me after I complete your second commission 😭 you need to save your money for college!! Not commission me to write more mpreg and pegging Varka fics >:0

[genshinluvr]

Sparkly pink Mpreg strap send tweet

Ofc you would pop up in my inbox with this 💀 Olive, let me work on my Leon fic in peace 😭

[genshinluvr]

Fated Intervention

Pairing: RE9!Leon Kennedy x fem!Reader (ft. Grace Ashcroft and Victor Gideon) Summary: In desperate need of money, you applied to work for Rhodes Hill Care Center as a medical test subject, but before you can do anything further, Leon intervenes. Note: This fic is more reader-focused, and a test to see if I could squeeze in a non-canon character into an already established plot/universe:) I'm actually satisfied with how this turned out, surprisingly enough. I've thought about adding Leon's part towards the end, but that would drag the fic out even more, so I cut it off where it currently is. Anyway! I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo). Warning: Violence, blood, zombies, possible ooc of the characters involved, brief appearance of The Girl, could Victor Gideon be a warning himself? Word Count: 9.2k

Money's getting tight, and so is time. It's been a little over a year since you were laid off from this company you worked for, and now you're left scrambling to find a job for months. The economy has gone to shit—even shittier than it already is—and everyone is struggling just as much as you are. However, you're lucky that your parents allow you to live under their roof completely rent-free, for now.

Day and night, you're sitting at your computer, scrolling through tons of job listings and aimlessly applying without checking whether you are even qualified to work there. Your Mom occasionally peeks into your bedroom, checking to see if you've eaten anything yet.

How can you eat when you're not hearing back from the people who posted the job listing? Watching the number of your "jobs applied" tab increase makes you lose appetite and hope. Noticing the look on your face, your Mom gives you a sympathetic smile.

"It's okay if you can't find a job right now, sweetie. When the time is right, you'll find something. Now, let's go downstairs and get something to eat, yeah?" Your Mom gestures for you to follow her before disappearing from the doorway.

You poke the inside of your cheek with your tongue, letting her words sink in. Your mom knows how stressful it is to find a job, and she tries her best to reassure you that you will find one in no time and that you shouldn't rush to find one. But how can you not stress out over not being able to find a job? Two master's degrees, a bachelor's, and seven associate's degrees have gone to waste at this point.

"Should I get into the medical field…?" You wonder. "Is it too late?"

Before you can mull over the idea of going into medical school, your Dad knocks on your bedroom door, peeking in. "Your Mom's calling you down for dinner."

You push yourself away from your computer and follow your Dad downstairs to the dining room, where steaming food is waiting for you. Dinner is mostly silent, minus the clinking of cutlery against the ceramic bowls and plates. You can't help but scroll through more job listings on your phone, drowning out the sounds of your parents gossiping about an extended family member.

"And then (Uncle) Anton decided to get a vasectomy. I asked him why his wife couldn't get her tubes tied instead." Your Dad shakes his head, scooping rice into his mouth.

Your Mom shakes her head, sighing. "It's a good thing they're stopping after four children. You would think they learned after six miscarriages, especially when they're so reliant on government assistance."

You shake your head, trying not to let that sidetrack you from what you're doing. So far, you've applied to ten more places, knowing that they're not even going to look at your application. God, this is miserable. You eventually shut your phone off and focus on your food, trying not to ruin the mood now that your parents are discussing your sister becoming a doctor and getting married to some finance bro.

"Why do you look glum?" Your Dad asks, snapping you from your thoughts. "If it's about job searching, you don't need to be sad over it. Times are hard, and you're not the only one struggling to land a job interview. Not only that, but some of these job listings are fake."

"I know, but I really want to get a job so I can help you guys with the bills, and maybe save up money and eventually move out on my own. I'm too old to be living with you guys."

Your Dad scoffs. "Old? Last time I checked, you're still my baby girl. I don't want you moving out until you're married—heck, your future husband can move in with us!"

You rub your temples, chuckling at your Dad's comment. Of course, your parents wouldn't want you to move out.

"Why are you in a rush? You're still young. Life isn't a race. Think of it this way, if you feel like you're behind in this 'race' that is life compared to your peers, then the finish line is death. Remember, death doesn't discriminate, and life isn't a race. Take it slow, and something will come to you eventually."

You know your Dad is trying to put your mind at ease, but the mere thought of not getting a job with numerous degrees under your name is just sad. Sure, it's not your fault—it proves that the job market is broken and everyone is getting fucked over regardless of education and experience. It's all about connections to be able to get a job.

After dinner ended, you retreat to your room and continue where you left off. You have different job listing websites pulled up on two monitors. You're leaning very close to the monitors, searching for a potential new job. That is, if they even look at your resume.

"Data entry clerk, machine operator, quality control technician, front desk receptionist at a dental clinic…" Your eyebrows furrow the more you read on. "An office job, but you also need to interact with customers by going to their house—okay, so, a door-to-door salesperson?"

You apply to most of the jobs you come across—not including the door-to-door salesperson job. You hate applying for jobs because of how long you have to wait to hear a response from them. Heck, some jobs take months to reply to your application, just to reject you, saying they're going to continue with the next candidate who aligns with the company's beliefs and experience.

As time passes by, you eventually take a break from your job search to get ready for bed. You take a long shower, brush your teeth, and do your nightly skincare routine while simultaneously scrolling on your phone, looking for a job.

"I could be a dog and cat sitter…" You trail off, leaning against the sink while the faucet is running in the background.

You finish up your skincare routine and turn the faucet off, returning to your bedroom with your eyes glued to your phone. You shut the door behind you, collapsing onto your queen-sized bed, eyes still glued to your screen. You're mindlessly scrolling through the job postings, only to stop when something catches your eye.

Clinical Trial Participant for Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center. The job listening makes you raise an eyebrow. Regardless of the interesting name for a job position, you click on the job listing and read through it.

"As a Clinical Trial Participant for Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, you will be working closely with healthcare professionals in medical research that will break through many scientific barriers within the healthcare industry!"

That doesn't sound too bad, but not enough for you to want to apply there. Just as you're about to click away to find another job to apply for, the sentence at the bottom of the listing stops you in your tracks.

You nearly choke on your saliva when you see: "Clinical Trial Participants will be compensated with $250,000 by the end of the research." Two-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars!? That's a lot of money! But it makes sense because it's medical research, and who knows how long this research will drag out for.

The problem is you're looking for a full-time job, not something temporary like being a research participant. You're incredibly hesitant about applying to be a clinical trial participant for the care center, but you're incredibly desperate for money. With that much money, you're set for the next few months or years, depending on what you're putting that money into.

"Fuck it. It's not like they'll see my application among thousands of willing participants." You click on the apply button next to the title of the listing and submit your resume to Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.

If this helps the facility break through barriers in science and health, then it won't hurt to participate, right? Desperate times call for desperate measures, and you will do anything for a job, even if it's temporary. As long as you're getting paid and helping people—researchers, healthcare professionals—on the side, then it doesn't hurt to try.

"Your application has been submitted to Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center!" Pops up on the screen not long after you click submit. Your heart drums against your chest as you snuggle into your pillow, a million thoughts racing through your head. Even though the possibility of you being chosen to be a clinical trial participant is slim to none, you can't help but get a weird feeling.

If you get rejected or receive no response within a week, then you continue the usual cycle of applying to other jobs. But man, $250,000 is so enticing, and it would be a shame not to be picked for this medical research. Maybe before the research ends, you could ask if there are any job openings at the facility. While you're not a medical professional, it wouldn't hurt to ask to be a receptionist at the care center, right?

Your eyelids soon grow heavy the more you scroll through job listings, forcing you to charge and put your phone down. You roll over on your side, pulling the blanket over your body as the soft LED of your computer lulls you to sleep.

- You hate what job searching has made you become as a person. You're constantly checking your phone and email, hoping to get a response from the jobs you've applied to. It reminds you of how you were when you were still in the dating scene—desperately checking your phone, hoping to get a message before the day or week ends. It's laughable, pathetic, even.

It's late afternoon, you're doing the usual of sitting at your computer and applying for jobs. It's routine at this point—heck, it might as well be your new job since you're doing it every other hour until it's time to go to bed. Your Mom enters your room, watching you stare at the monitor.

"Your father and I will be visiting your sister in California tomorrow morning. Are you sure you'll be able to handle being alone for a week?" Your Mom asks, sitting at the edge of your bed while you're scrolling through job listings on one monitor, while listening to a YouTube video in the background.

"Mom, I'm an adult. I'll be fine, you don't need to worry about me," You mutter, not taking your eyes off the monitor for one second. "Besides, it's not like I'll be leaving the house any time soon."

You click on the "jobs applied" tab, scrolling down to see many pending job applications. Your Mom doesn't say anything before getting up to leave your room, but you paid no mind, as you're too busy staring at the application you sent to Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.

Still no response from the facility—heck, they didn't even open your application. You eventually close the website tab, increasing the volume of the YouTube video you're playing in the background, hoping it'll drown out the voices in your head. Life's not a race, so why are you in a rush?

You groan, head falling back against the headrest of your chair. "I hate job searching. It's like no one wants to hire anymore! 'No one wants to work anymore,' my ass."

The commentary from the YouTube video gradually becomes fuzzy and incoherent as you space out, staring at the ceiling while contemplating whether it's worth waiting around for a job to fall into your hands. It's been over a year—a year!—since you've been laid off from your job, yet you still can't find a replacement job.

"I need a nap." You huff, leaving your seat to plop on your bed.

A nap can fix everything for the most part. It'll definitely get you to stop worrying temporarily. You put your phone on do not disturb before closing your eyes, waiting for sleep to overcome you.

Sleep took its sweet time to kick in because you were tossing and turning, trying your best not to go on your phone, because that will prevent you from being able to nap. You end up going on YouTube on your phone and click a random sleep aid video, hoping to finally fall asleep.

You stare at the ceiling, listening to the sound of rain coming from the speaker of your phone. You try not to have any thoughts in your head, as it will keep you up for who knows how long. The faint crack of thunder cuts through the pitter-patter of rain, startling you.

"Everything will be okay. It'll work out for me eventually." You whisper, your eyelids becoming heavy with each passing minute. Soon enough, you fall asleep to the sound of rain and thunder.

- You're startled awake by the sound of knocking at your bedroom door. You rub your eyes with your knuckles, grumbling under your breath. Your Mom and Dad peek into your room as you try to sit up, but your body feels so heavy from your interrupted sleep.

"We're getting ready to head to the airport. Are you going to bid us goodbye before we leave?" Your Dad asks.

You blink owlishly. "Huh? Already?" You ask, still trying to process everything. You reach for your phone to check the time, only to see that it's already the next day. "How long was I asleep?"

"You were knocked out when I went to check up on you yesterday. I was going to wake you up for dinner, but you refused to wake up and continue to sleep." Your Mom comments, shaking her head. "Go help your father and me with putting our luggage in the trunk."

You watch your Mom and Dad walk downstairs with their bags. You attempt to rub the sleep from your eyes as you stumble out of bed to help them, making sure to grab your phone in the process. It's five in the morning, and the sun is barely peeking from the horizon. You grab one of the bags waiting at the front door and waddle to their SUV after putting on your sandals.

"Have a safe flight." You mutter, watching your parents stack their luggage and carry-on bags in the trunk. "Are you sure they're going to let you guys bring that many items on the plane?"

Your Mom brushes off your concern. "It's not like it's over the weight limit. Most of these things are for your sister and her fiancé."

Once your parents are satisfied with how their luggage is stacked, your Dad closes the trunk, and they each give you a tight hug before getting into the SUV. You stand on the walkway, waving to them as they pull out of the driveway and head to the airport. Once the car is out of sight, you retreat into the house, close and lock the door behind you.

"I did not mean to fall asleep for that long. So much for a nap."

Now you have a slight headache, and you're still a bit disoriented from your unintentional sleep. You return to your bedroom, which is still brightly lit by the lamp on your desk. You check your phone and turn off the do-not-disturb mode, watching loads of notifications appear on your phone.

One notification in particular makes your heart drop into the pit of your stomach and your heart rate spike. You finally received a response from Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center about your job application—uh, clinical trial participant application. You immediately click on the notification while trying to remain calm.

"Dear Miss. [Y/N] [L/N], we are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen among 1500 candidates for the Clinical Trial Participant position…" You stop reading from there, nearly crying with joy.

Finally, finally, you hear some great news after so long. You sit at your desk, trying to regain composure before proceeding where you left off in the email. It seems like the care center provided transportation for you (and others who have been picked among 1500 people who applied), meaning you won't need to worry about driving to where the care center is located.

"We will provide more information regarding the clinical trial on site. We look forward to seeing you very soon." Underneath the message is the date of when you'll be picked up from your house for the clinical trial.

You quickly shoot a text to your parents, letting them know about the clinical trial that you applied to be a part of. You could hide the information from your parents, but they already have your location, so it's pointless to lie to them about these things.

After your parents received a text from you informing them about the clinical trial you applied for, they immediately called you and were a bit hesitant about letting you do it. But hearing the excitement and relief in your voice made them (reluctantly) agree to letting you be a part of this medical research. After all, it's almost a job considering the hospital is paying you, and you're not doing it for free. Not only that, but you're also helping people by being a part of this trial.

Did you mention how much you'll be given as compensation once the research is over? Not really, all you mentioned was that you're going to be compensated for your time as a clinical trial participant.

You twirl the pen in your hand while your phone is sandwiched between your shoulder and your left ear. "A shuttle will be picking me up tomorrow at the bus stop outside our neighborhood, on October 8th, between 9 AM and 11 AM."

"Can't you drive to that building? Why must they go through this much trouble over research? It's not like you're living at the facility while the trial is ongoing, right?" Your Dad sounds apprehensive.

"I don't know," You mumble. "But I'm not complaining because I do not want to drive."

Your Mom sighs on the other end of the call. You picture her pinching the bridge of her nose, shaking her head as she debates whether they should turn around and return home or not.

"Mom, Dad, I'll be fine. Just view this as a gateway for me to land a job there as a receptionist! I need to network with these researchers and healthcare professionals while I'm assisting them with this research study."

Your Mom and Dad go silent over the phone. All you can hear is the background noise in the car, along with the faint sound of the radio playing some pop music. You nibble on your bottom lip, rereading the email on your computer monitor.

The email didn't mention anything about packing your bags, only to bring proof of identification and a Social Security card. Right, you need to make a copy of these things before showing up at the care center tomorrow. Finally, the silence over the phone is interrupted by your Mom sighing.

"Just be careful, alright? I know it's a medical facility, and you're doing this out of your own volition, but I can't help but worry. I'm your mom, and the sound of alarm bells is going off in my head."

You playfully roll your eyes. "Mom, the alarm bells were also going off in your head whenever I went to a concert by myself last year—you know, the same concert you and Dad dropped me off at."

"Am I not allowed to worry? As I said before, I'm your mother."

"You're a worrywart, Mom. And so is Dad, but you're a bigger worrywart than he is."

Your Dad interjects, "I'm a worrywart when it comes to the creatures you call men you bring home. I expected my daughter to have better taste in men, but the dating scene is… questionable. I prefer you to be single."

You roll your eyes for the second time as you get up to leave your bedroom to search for your Social Security card to scan. "Don't worry, Dad. I doubt I'll be dating any time soon."

You walk into your parents' walk-in closet to fetch the file box. You stand on your tiptoes, blindly reaching for the heavy plastic box. Your fingers brush against the box, and you lightly push it towards the edge just enough for you to be able to grab it with both hands. You put your phone down and pull the box from the top shelf, nearly dropping it due to how heavy it is.

"Damn, what's in this thing? It's probably fifteen pounds!" You exclaim, setting it down on the ground in the closet.

"Birth certificates, degrees, Social Security cards, passports, and many other things." Your Mom lists out.

You unlatch the box and begin skimming through the labeled files. Once you find a section labeled with your name, you immediately flip to it and start searching for your Social Security Card. Not going to lie, it took you way too long to find your Social Security Card than it needed to be. You eventually find it and grab it from your section of the file.

"We've arrived at the airport. We'll update you when we board the plane and land at LAX." Your Dad says.

You raise your eyebrow, walking downstairs to your Dad's office to scan your Social Security card. There's no way you're bringing the actual card to the facility. It's not like you don't trust the people who work there; you're just protective of things that are attached to your name and identity.

"Okay, have a safe flight. I will be expecting a text message." You reply.

Your Mom snorts on the other end of the call. "We love you too, sweetheart."

And with that, your parents end the call, and you continue where you left off. While you're waiting for the printer to scan your Social Security card, you return to the email on your phone to see if there are other things you need to bring with you to the care center. Again, no mention of needing to bring personal belongings aside from proof of identification and the Social Security card.

Hell, there's no mention of how you should dress when you show up. You opt to wear something comfortable yet presentable. Since this is a clinical trial, there's a slight chance they're going to have you change into a hospital gown—but, god, you hope not. You're not in the mood to have your ass hanging out for everyone to see.

Once the scanning is completed and you have a copy of your Social Security card, you put everything back in the file box and store it back on the shelf in your parents' closet. You grab a small travel bag and start packing essential items into it.

"Now I have a lot of time to kill before tomorrow." You plop onto your chair and continue your job search despite being chosen for the clinical trial for Rhodes Hill.

Aside from job hunting, you've been trying to do some research on Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, but little to no information shows up in the results. The only thing that showed up in the results is who purchased the facility and general information about it—aka, it's a sanatorium that specializes in treating specific diseases and ailments related to said disease.

There's a blurry picture of the staff members; one in particular catches your eye. You squint and look at the name listed below the picture, "Dr. Victor Gideon," the man who purchased Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center—a former T-virus researcher.

"I wonder if I'm going to see him around the facility during my time there." It's not like you want to see Dr. Victor Gideon at the facility. If he is the purchaser, director, and doctor of the sanatorium, then it wouldn't hurt to ask if you could work there as a receptionist, right?

Though you can't help but feel spooked about his picture, the longer you stare at the image. He doesn't look necessarily normal. Maybe it's the color of the picture, but he looks gray, like a corpse. Maybe he looks less gray in person, but who knows. You click away from the image, chills running down your spine.

Everything will be fine, and so will the clinical trial! And maybe after the trial is over, you will get a job as a receptionist at the sanatorium and the $250,000 that will be given to you (and other volunteers).

- After yesterday, everything is a blur. October 8th arrives in no time—quicker than you thought it would, actually. It's almost like you're having some kind of out-of-body experience, watching yourself go to the bus stop and getting onto the shuttle with other chosen participants, staring outside the window and watching the scenery go by before arriving at your destination.

The shuttle stops outside of Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, and everyone piles outside the shuttle with their belongings. You stare up at the massive building in awe, admiring the baroque classicism architecture.

"This place is huge." You mutter, following the woman walking ahead of your group, assuming she knows where to go.

"With a building this big, you would think they're allowing us to stay here until the clinical trial is over." A man, you're assuming, in his mid to late thirties, says as he walks between a woman and another man. "Shuttling back and forth between different bus stops seems a little tiring."

As your group—there are about ten people in total, including yourself—approaches the entrance, the doors open, revealing two nurses and three doctors. They each smile at your group and gesture for you all to enter the sanatorium before closing the door once everyone steps in. Of course, not before double-checking to make sure no one is getting left behind.

"Before we get started, we will have you all go to the receptionist and check in. Please take out your driver's license or state-issued ID to verify your identity." The nurse says, standing to the side with the other nurse and doctors.

While everyone is waiting in line at the reception desk, waiting to check in and verify their identity, your eyes skim around, looking at the littlest things about the building. It's beautiful and quiet. The main lobby is eerily quiet. Sometimes, someone from the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center staff would enter and exit the lobby, not a single glance in your group's direction.

Finally, it's your turn to check in, and you pull out your driver's license after giving the receptionist your first and last name. You hand her your driver's license after she requests it, and you watch her type away at the computer behind the reception desk, writing on the piece of paper and turning it towards you. You sign your name, write the date, and time you've checked into the facility.

Even though it's just a clinical trial, you're not entirely sure why you feel so on edge. You look at the doctors and nurses present, who are talking among themselves while flipping through their clipboards. Once everyone signed in and verified their identity, people were split into two groups.

"Alright, Group A, if you would please follow me. I will take you all to the waiting room in the East Wing before tending to you one by one." The brown-haired nurse says, gesturing for your group (Group A) to follow her.

As your group walks to the waiting room in the East Wing, you see a nurse guiding a stumbling patient down the hall. He has bandages wrapped around his head, his hands clutching the IV pole with a blood bag hanging from it. He's muttering something about how the noises in the sanatorium make his head hurt and how he wants them to be quiet.

"He does not look okay at all—physically and mentally." The man in your group mutters to the woman he's walking beside. "The gauze is bloody."

Before the woman can respond, the patient looks over in your group's direction, his eyes wild. "QUIET! QUIET!" He screams, clutching at his head while tightening his grip around the IV pole until his knuckles are white. As he's about to make his way to your group, the nurse and the nearest doctor quickly rush to his side to stop him and redirect him to the next room.

The nurse leading your group turns to you all with an apologetic smile. "Please do not worry. Your safety is in our hands, and we take it seriously."

You all sit in the waiting room, watching the nurse close the doors on both ends of the room to ensure your group's safety from possible rogue patients like the one with the IV pole. You sit on the brown leather chair, feeling antsy about what to expect in this clinical trial.

"You don't look too good," The blonde woman says, glancing in your direction. "Is this your first time as a clinical trial participant?"

You want to raise your eyebrows at her question. Is this not her first time as a clinical trial participant? "Yeah, it's my first time. Is being a clinical trial participant the usual for you?"

She laughs, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "You can say that! I might as well make it my career with how often I'm chosen for these things. What can I say? My body can handle a lot of poking and prodding."

Whatever that means. You purse your lips, nodding. How else are you supposed to respond to that? The nurse at the reception desk at the front of the waiting room approaches your group with a plastic bin in her hands.

"Due to the sensitive nature of this clinical trial, we kindly ask you all to relinquish your mobile devices to this bin. At the end of the day, we will hand you back your devices and will request that you do the same when you return." The black-haired nurse says, approaching each person and holding the bin out in their direction.

Some put their phones into the bin, others put both their phones and other smart devices (like a smartwatch and wireless earbuds) into the plastic bin. You pull your phone out from your pocket and put it into the bin when she approaches you.

"How will we contact our emergency contact if something happens?" The blue-haired man asks, crossing his arms over his chest after putting his stuff into the bin.

"Well, you are surrounded by healthcare professionals. If something happened, a doctor and nurse would be on the side, ready to help. Now, give me a moment to store your items away before getting the waiver and NDA for you all to sign and agree to." She walks back to the reception desk with your items.

A waiver and an NDA? NDA is understandable because it's a clinical test, but a waiver? What are they going to do to the participants? Hopefully nothing illegal, right? The nurse locks away the plastic bin before grabbing five clipboards with an NDA and waiver clipped to them.

You read through the waiver and NDA before signing your name at the bottom of the paper. You're already here, so it's pointless to back out and not want to do this trial. Though some things mentioned are a bit concerning, it's medical research, so you shouldn't be surprised or worried about the things that could emerge during the tests.

You leave your seat to hand the nurse your clipboard before returning to your spot. Once everyone has given the nurse their clipboards, the door on the other end of the room opens, and a silver-haired nurse peeks in, smiling at everyone before calling your name.

"Please come with me for your examination before the test trial begins." She gestures for you to follow her.

You get up from your seat, ignoring the stares you're receiving from other participants. You and the nurse exit the waiting room and walk to who knows where. You walk past the isolation ward, shuddering when you hear faint screams and rambling from patients locked inside the isolation ward. You don't like how the sign has a red, ominous glow to it.

You walk past many well-dressed men, they smile at you and the nurse as you two continue making your way to a room that's at the end of the hallway, tucked away from the rest of the building. The nurse gestures for you to sit down after closing the door behind you.

"I will be asking for general information about you and your health history before proceeding with the clinical trial." The nurse says, walking towards the computer in the corner of the room.

You sit on the examination table, waiting for the nurse to start asking whatever it is that she needs from you. You start bouncing your legs, looking around the room, and at the littlest things in the room. There's an anatomy poster on the wall, and a poster with facts about certain vaccinations.

Once the nurse is ready, she starts asking questions: your full name, birth date, if you are/were pregnant, if you're currently breastfeeding, and when your last menstrual cycle was. Most of the questions are easy to answer, but then it got a little bit interesting—a little bit tricky to answer.

Were you born in Raccoon City? Do you have family who was born (or used to live) in Raccoon City? Do you or any of your family members have the T-virus? You would know if a family member (or yourself) has the T-virus, as it would've been obvious.

"Alright! Do you know your blood type?" She asks, looking away from the monitor and at you.

Embarrassingly enough, you do not know your blood type. You have gotten blood tests to see if you have immunity from a certain vaccine, but you've never had a lab test specifically to know your blood type, nor have you donated blood. You shake your head, warmth rushing to your cheeks.

"It's alright if you don't know. We can give you a blood test before proceeding with the clinical trials." The nurse says, getting up from her seat. "I will be right back shortly." She then leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

You slump forward, resting your elbows on your knees, and wait for the nurse to return from wherever she went. This place is strange. The nurses and doctors aren't wearing any IDs on them, and there are people roaming around the building wearing suits.

How long has time passed? Surely it hasn't been that long, right? Maybe an hour or two? You don't know what time it is because you don't have your phone on you, and the building doesn't have a clock—or at least within the areas you've been in.

After some time, the door opens, and the nurse enters. "Alright, you can either roll up your sleeve or take your jacket off. Do you have a preference for where you would prefer to have your blood drawn?" The nurse asks, standing in front of you as she puts on blue latex gloves.

You shake your head, shrugging your jacket off your shoulders. "I prefer my non-dominant arm." You reply, holding out your non-dominant arm towards her. You'd rather be sore on the opposite arm than on the one you use the most.

It's quicker than you expected, and you're quite glad that it's fast. Your arm feels sore after the test is completed, and you can see a faint bruise blooming where the nurse drew blood from. You slip on your jacket and watch the nurse exit the room with a vial of your blood in her hand.

Time ticks by, and the nurse doesn't return. You sit back on the examination table, trying not to fall asleep. The room you're in is cold, cold enough to lull you to sleep. Every time you feel yourself dozing off, you snap out of it, rubbing your eyes with your knuckles.

"She's probably caught up with something else." You say to yourself. "It's not like I'm in a rush anyway."

So, you waited and waited for the nurse—someone, really—to appear at the door, but the nurse never showed up. Eventually, your stomach starts growling, making you mentally beat yourself up for not getting something to eat before getting onto the shuttle. But how can you eat when you're nervous?

The longer you wait, the more you're tempted to just get some sleep before the clinical trial begins. You eventually give up on waiting and choose to take a nap because you don't have your devices on you, so there's no way for you to contact anyone or check the time. You could leave the room to find someone, but you don't want to roam around the sanatorium when patients, like the one who hates loud noises, are also roaming the building. You soon drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Your slumber is interrupted by the sound of the intercom ringing and crackling. You jolt, rubbing your eyes, and sitting up. "What the hell?" You turn to look for the intercom, wondering if the clinical trial is finally going to begin despite the nurse never returning to the room.

A voice finally comes on the intercom, "Code Six! Code Six! All staff, initiate emergency protocols!"

"Emergency protocols?" You mutter, hopping off the examination table. "What does that mean!?"

Just as you're about to walk to the door and open it, you stop in your tracks when you hear screaming in the distance and items being thrown around. You back away from the door, fearing what's happening outside the room. You search for an object to use in case you need to defend yourself from whatever is happening.

There's a lot of screaming and growling from the distance, but you force yourself not to get anywhere near the door, no matter how curious you are. You tighten your grip on the scissors, preparing to use them as a weapon to defend yourself. Shit, if the scissor is useless, then you might have to use the roller chair.

Still, you continue to hide behind the examination table. Your Mom was right. She was right all along. Something bad did happen, and you can't do anything about it because your phone is locked away in a bin in the waiting room! The door handle rattles, startling you out of your daze.

Your heart pounds against your chest as you peek from behind the table, watching the doorknob turn. The doors open, revealing a tall man wearing a leather jacket and a massive gun in his hands. His eyes land on you, his eyebrows furrowing with confusion.

Before he can say anything, you blurt out, "Please don't shoot me! I'm too young to die."

He holds one hand up. "I'm not going to shoot you."

You sigh in relief, getting out from your hiding spot while still clutching onto the scissors. He examines you briefly, making sure you're not infected or part of the sanatorium staff.

"Leon Kennedy, DSO."

You give him your name, heart still pounding painfully against your chest. "What's happening? I've been here for who knows how long, and the nurse who drew my blood never returned, and I wake up to hearing something about a Code Six?"

"The entire facility—the staff and patients—are infested with zombies. You're the first human I encountered, so far." Leon replies, peeking over his shoulder to make sure there aren't any zombies charging in your and Leon's direction.

Your heart drops into the pit of your stomach. "I'm the first human you've encountered at Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center? What about the other nine clinical trial participants?"

"Clinical trial participants? You willingly chose to be a lab rat for Victor Gideon?" Leon asks, staring at you in shock and almost horror.

You frown, rubbing the back of your neck. Well, he didn't need to put it like that. Before Leon can say anything, a vicious growl interrupts the brief silence between you and Leon. A small whimper escapes from you, making Leon quickly look in your direction.

"Stay behind me," Leon instructs, holding his arm out in front of you before aiming the massive gun at the charging zombie. Without hesitation, Leon shoots the zombie in the head, causing it to explode and blood to spray on the walls and floor. "We can't stay here any longer. Follow, and stay behind me."

You nod and follow Leon outside the room, making sure to stay alert in case you and Leon come across a zombie. The number of headless bodies lying around the sanatorium makes your stomach churn.

"Hey, if you don't mind my asking, why did you volunteer to be a clinical trial participant for Dr. Victor Gideon?"

You purse your lips. "It's sort of a long story."

Leon scans his surroundings, grip firm on his gun, before looking at you. "I got time." He shrugs.

You're caught off guard, feeling yourself becoming flustered under his gaze. Now that you got a better look at him, Leon's insanely handsome—the most handsome man you've ever laid your eyes on. Wait, you need to focus. You nod, tucking your hands in your pockets as you explain everything that led up to this moment to Leon.

Leon's a great listener; he didn't interrupt you one bit to ask questions as both of you walked through the facility. Maybe he's also listening for any zombies nearby. If a random zombie nurse pops out of nowhere, scaring the absolute shit out of you, Leon didn't hesitate to protect you. Leon is leading the way, and despite being ahead of you, he always has his arm out in front of you.

"$250,000 as compensation once the clinical trial is over? I can see how this lured you and the other participants into the trap," Leon comments, glancing back in your direction after stopping in his tracks. "Why not apply to work for the DSO or the FBI?"

Your eyes widen, immediately shaking your head. "No, no! I don't think I'm capable of handling what the DSO and FBI do. Besides, I doubt I'm qualified to work for any government entities."

Leon shrugs, reloading his requiem gun. "Why not? It won't hurt to try, right? After all, you have numerous college degrees to your name, and I'm sure there is a spot for you."

You hum softly, walking up the stairs behind Leon. You have considered applying to work at a government job, but your lack of experience stops you from applying anywhere beyond county-level jobs. Even if you did apply to work at a county job, they never looked at your application due to an influx of applications they've been receiving.

Now that you're out of that room, you realize how late it has gotten despite it feeling like you've been here for about four hours rather than over twelve—no wonder your stomach wouldn't stop growling. Rain pitter-patters against the window, and a faint thunder rumbles from a distance.

Leon suddenly stops, nearly causing you to run into him. Shit, if you did run into him, he wouldn't move at all because of how sturdy he is. You blink, looking around to see if you missed something.

"I don't know about that, Leon. If I do apply, I doubt they'll glance at my application among many amazing applicants."

He briefly looks over his shoulder and at you. "I'll put in a word for you, don't worry about it," Leon reassures you, before peeking around the corner of the building while gesturing for you to continue to follow him.

You could question whether that would be considered nepotism in some type of way, but then you remember that many people use their connections to land their dream job. Working for the DSO or possibly the FBI isn't necessarily your dream job, but if Leon suggested working for either company, it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Sherry, can you find me the floor plan?"

You hear a faint crackle and a woman's voice responding to his question. Your head tilts to the side, wondering how Leon is communicating with this "Sherry" woman. He wasn't wearing any wireless intercoms—or at least visible ones.

Leon gives Sherry a rundown on what happened when he arrived at Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, how the facility initiated Code Six not long after he arrived, and how everyone at the care facility turned into zombies—except for you, whom he coincidentally met when he opened the door to the room at the end of a hallway, completely secluded from the rest of the sanatorium.

You freeze, tapping on Leon's beefy biceps. "Wait, does that mean the other participants turned into zombies too, or were they attacked and killed by the zombies here?"

Leon shrugs, stopping at the entrance of the second floor that leads to a strange entryway to who knows where. "I've come across zombie nurses, doctors, and patients. I don't think I've run into other clinical trial participants aside from you."

You press your lips into a thin line, questioning whether the participants you arrived at Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center turned into zombies as well, or if they left before this whole Code Six happened. You're leaning towards the latter because it's almost midnight, and yet you're still here, and Leon didn't see any clinical trial participants while he's running around the building? Man, everything about this is so weird.

"Do you know what's supposed to happen in the clinical trial?" Leon asks, making a mental note to himself about the strange trial involving Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.

You shake your head. "I was told that the clinical trial was going to begin after my blood test, but the nurse never returned. We were given waivers and NDAs to sign, but the trial never happened, so I don't know what to expect or what's waiting for me."

This whole thing feels suspicious—then again, this is Victor Gideon he's dealing with. Maybe there's a reason the facility chose to isolate you from other participants. But who knows, this is purely speculation on Leon's part.

"They didn't inject you with anything, did they?" Leon asks, squatting to get a better look at you, his eyes taking in every detail of you. You look healthy as a horse, maybe sleepy, but that's understandable because you're probably here longer than you need to be.

Again, you shake your head for the umpteenth time. "They only drew my blood, that's all." You reply, heat rushing to the apples of your cheeks, the more Leon stares at you. "Also, do you have any snacks on you by chance? I've been here for over twelve hours, and I haven't eaten or drunk anything at all today."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't. There should be a kitchen on the ground floor. We could find something for you to eat, if you want?" Leon asks, gesturing to the ground floor with his thumb.

You squint, rubbing the back of your neck. "I don't think it's a good idea to eat anything in this building, now that this place is, most likely, infested with zombies."

Leon chuckles, shaking his head. "Good call. I'll get you something to eat once we leave this place. Of course, we cannot leave just yet because I'm here to find someone." Leon walks towards a dark, ominous hallway that has a security gate over it.

You chase after Leon. "Oh, no! You don't have to get me anything to eat—" Your words die in your mouth when the gate suddenly slides up, and a blonde woman slides out from the shadows, startling you.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!" The blonde woman pleads for the gate to hurry up and open.

Before you can process what's happening, a grotesque monster emerges from the darkness. Your breath gets caught in your throat as you watch the monster grab onto the blonde woman's ankle and throw her against a radiator. The blonde woman cries out in pain, clutching her back. The monster grabs her ankle again and drags her back into the dark.

Leon runs after the blonde woman and the monster, aiming his flashlight and gun in their direction. Just when the monster could drag the woman farther into the darkness, Leon shoots the monster, forcing it to release her.

Leon calls out to the terrified and injured woman, "Hey! Over here!"

The woman doesn't hesitate to get up and run behind Leon to where you're standing. Leon proceeds to shoot the monster four more times before the monster's brain matter sprays the walls. The monster falls over, eyeball dangling from where the sockets should've been.

"What the fuck is that!?" You whisper, now realizing you and the woman are holding onto each other. "Are you okay?"

She nods, hyperventilating. "Y-Y-Yeah. I-I'm fine. Thank you." She then stumbles out of the darkness and into the well-lit area near the hallway she emerged from, taking deep breaths to try to gain her composure.

"Leon Kennedy, DSO." He holds his hand up, trying his best not to scare the woman any further.

Her eyebrows furrow with fear and worry, "DSO? I-I'm Grace, um… Ashcroft. Uh, FBI." Grace introduces herself, her mind all over the place.

Leon raises an eyebrow. "FBI? What are you doing here?"

Grace whimpers, her breath shaky. "Someone kidnapped me."

"Victor Gideon?" The creases between his eyebrows become prominent.

Grace looks down. "I-I don't know."

Why would someone like Dr. Victor Gideon kidnap an FBI agent? Man, the more you learn about him, the more you're hoping that you never run into him. Leon quickly glances in your direction, as if he's making sure you're still there.

"We should leave." Leon takes a step forward, but the security gate comes crashing down, separating you and Leon from Grace.

The gate slamming to the ground scares you, making you clutch onto your chest, trying to calm down. Just when you thought nothing could get worse than that, a metal security shutter gradually comes down. Leon and Grace briefly talk—well, Leon tries to interrogate Grace about how Victor Gideon kidnapped her for a reason.

You peek behind Leon, making sure the creature is still dead on the ground. But darkness is slowly consuming the remaining light coming from Grace's side, making it impossible for you to see anything past the fuse box. Leon hands Grace his gun, telling her she might need it. Grace takes the gun from Leon's hands, briefly looking at you.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Grace asks.

You stared at her, mouth agape. Grace is an FBI agent, and Leon works for the DSO, and you're… unemployed and in desperate need of money that you applied to be a part of a clinical trial participant for Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.

You tell her your name before following up with, "It's a long story, I'll tell you when I see you again, hopefully." You smile at her. "Be careful out there, Grace."

She smiles sadly at you. "You too."

Once the hallway is consumed with darkness, Leon turns on his flashlight and starts shining it around while blindly reaching behind him to get a hold of you. You grab Leon's arm, sticking close to him. Soon enough, Leon's flashlight shines onto a tall figure wearing a snake skin coat.

"She won't get away, you know." The figure says softly, slowly facing you and Leon as he reaches for his hood.

You cower behind Leon, watching the figure reveal his face to you and Leon. What is he wearing over his face? He's gray and has strange veins along with scars crawling over his lifeless skin. No offense, he looks like he's never showered a day in his life.

"Dr. Gideon."

Victor takes a deep breath at the sound of Leon saying his name. You can't help but make a face at his strange reaction. What an interesting reaction to a man like Leon Kennedy saying your name. Perhaps you were underreacting when you first met Leon—no way someone like Victor Gideon would be titillated by the presence of Leon Kennedy. Man, everything you learn about Victor Gideon is against your will.

"So nice to finally meet you, Leon," Victor Gideon says, walking towards you and Leon, only to stop when his eyes land on you. Is he looking at you? It's hard to tell with that device over his head. "Leon, I didn't know you brought a guest with you."

You subconsciously tighten your grip on Leon's arm. God, if only you could fuse yourself to Leon right now because you do not like the expression on Victor's face.

Victor then turns to Leon, saying, "Why don't we have a little talk?"

Leon takes out another gun and tries to shoot Victor, but Victor's too fast. Victor lunges forward, grabs a hold of Leon's neck, lifts him in the air, and starts choking him, leaving you vulnerable. You try reaching for Leon's gun to shoot Victor, but Victor kicks you in the stomach, knocking the wind out of you, and sending you stumbling back.

You land on your arm, weirdly, with sharp pain shooting up to your shoulders. You sit up, clutching your (assuming) injured arm to your chest, watching Victor inspect Leon closely as you struggle to get up from the ground.

"Get your disgusting, rotting hands off of him!" You rasp, getting on your knees and using the wall for support. You stumble forward, still cradling your injured arm to your chest. You can still feel the kick that Victor landed on your stomach.

Victor pulls out a small gun and aims it in your direction. Leon's eyes widen, and he starts thrashing around in Victor's grasp, only for Victor to tighten his grip around Leon's neck, restricting airflow. Victor pulls the trigger, and a dart flies out, striking you in the arm.

"Ow! What the hell was that?" You reach for the dart, trying to pull it out, but your body feels like gelatin. Your vision blurs, your knees buckle underneath you, causing you to collapse.

As you're losing consciousness, you see Victor lean in towards Leon, and muttering something to him, something along the lines of "exhibiting symptoms" and "Umbrella's curse."

You watch Leon become limp in Victor's iron grip. You try to fight off the drowsiness while watching Victor slowly approach you. He reaches down and grabs you by the neck—what is up with Victor and grabbing people by their necks!? Victor squeezes your neck to cut off your air supply, and to speed up the process of knocking you out (or killing you—either one works!).

You claw at his hand, trying to get him to release you, but that only pushes him to tighten his grip even more. Black specks rapidly dot your vision, your hands fall to your side, and you finally succumb to the darkness.

Note: I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to make a part two after my break because I have a different fic in mind, something that is very much genshinluvr's "usual" concept. There's a possibility I might start working soon, but idk how soon, so that's going to make my uploads even more sporadic and inconsistent 🥲 I'm also currently on my fourth playthrough of RE9—I'm playing Insanity Mode! Anyway, to all my new and returning readers, keep in mind that I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3! Read more of my works on my Grand Masterlist, which contains every masterlist I have created! | Maybe support me by tipping me on Ko-Fi or by reblogging my fanfics! ^^ I will also be posting exclusive fanfics on Ko-Fi as well very soon! I might post all of my stories there, too, but who knows? You can also tip me on Tumblr if you'd like, as a way to show support! ^^ Join the Discord to get future fic updates and connect with other readers, maybe?:) Raccoon City Sanctuary

[genshinluvr]

Should fr make a pole on who will get an mpreg fic next just to see what the people say

Ofc you’re the one to suggest an mpreg poll…

[genshinluvr]

Thank you for keeping your tumblr page up as I have gotten back into playing genshin and these fics have been feeding my delusions <3

I wish you nothing but eternal happiness and success in whatever you may be aiming for <33

LMAO happy to feed those delusions, as they are a product of my delusions as well 😭

Thank you, you’re too kind 🥹❤️ I wish you the same thing too 🫶🏻

[genshinluvr]

Since when it's become 40 characters in your genshin fanfics? Wasn't it still around 30 last time? 😭

Almost, darling. I said almost 40 people— if we are counting future unreleased characters (and NPCs) for Snezhnaya and other regions.

It is too early for my cortisol to be this high 🫩 got me typing in my notes app at almost 4 AM

If you would like the definition of the word “almost,” I will provide it down here:

[genshinluvr]

hi!! not sure if you're still doing the genshin harem, but if you are, will you add lohen?

I am, but I won’t be posting for Genshin in a while because I lost interest in Genshin—almost as much as I did with HSR 😭 maybe after my fifth or sixth Leon Kennedy fanfic, but that’s if I have any idea on what I want to write

Also, I have huge writers block for the Genshin series and I will be ending it soon. It’s been running for way too long (over 4 years) and I want to complete it and maybe make a “book 2” for it. With the number of people in the harem, it makes it hard for me to have a fleshed out story without it being filled with nothing but dialogue from almost 40 people 😔 I’ll figure it out eventually

[genshinluvr]

Heartbeat II

Pairing: RE9!Leon Kennedy x fem!Reader Summary: As if your smartwatch notifying you of your increasing heart rate isn't embarrassing enough, it's almost as if Leon's purposefully making your heart skip a beat. Even if it was unintentional, he's very aware of your reaction. Just when things are warming up between you and Leon, someone decides to try to step in to ruin the picture. Note: This is part two of Heartbeat, but it can be read as a standalone fic:) Thank you so much for the love for my very first Leon fic! It makes me happy to see that people really enjoyed it and wanted another part. I had to make part two. A lot more is happening, as you can see from the word count hehe. I hope you guys like it tho :') Anyway! I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo). Warning: Violence, blood, ooc characters until I get used to writing for Resident Evil, annoying side character named Patrick—Patrick in this fic is not from Resident Evil Infinite Darkness, slight hurt/comfort Word Count: 10.8k

There have been a few subtle changes around the DSO building: a few new hires, faster, stronger internet, and new equipment for every department in the DSO. It's the smallest things that make everyone's job a bit easier and less of a hassle to deal with.

Oh, and this budding romance between you and Leon! It's fascinating to witness the relationship between you and Leon start as a horrifyingly embarrassing introduction to one another—more embarrassing on your end, then slowly sprout into something more endearing and almost fragile.

God, you're such a mess—an adorable one to Leon. You try your hardest to be professional around Leon, but sometimes it's hard for you to make eye contact with the DSO agent because he's been through so many things and has so much experience on and off the field compared to you, a rookie in this field of work. It's definitely not because you're enamored with thee Leon S. Kennedy.

You thought that as time goes by, the more you see Leon and work alongside him, all of this (the heart racing, blushing, intentionally embarrassing yourself) would come to a stop eventually. Boy, you were wrong. Leon is fantastic at being professional on the clock, but you? You're also great at that, but there have been some instances where you do slip up. Luckily, that goes unnoticed with your other coworkers, but not with Sherry or Leon.

While Leon is great at keeping it strictly professional on the clock, he still finds ways to show that he thinks/or cares about you. Leon usually arrives at the DSO building early in the morning before you do. He makes sure to get you something to eat—like a donut or breakfast sandwich, along with coffee— and leaves it at your desk before you arrive.

You enter the office, checking your watch to see if you're late. There was heavy traffic, and you were stuck on your way to work, but thankfully, you made it just in time. You nearly rip your hair out of your head when you realize that there's a possibility that you're going to be late to work, and you're never late to work because you leave the house earlier than you need to. That means you usually skip breakfast.

"8:58 AM, not bad." You mutter, "But not good either. Maybe I should leave a bit earlier next time." You fix the strap of your tote bag on your shoulders and make your way to your desk.

On a good day, when there's light traffic, you would stop by somewhere to get something to eat. Sometimes you make breakfast at home and eat and finish your breakfast in the parking lot of the DSO building. But today is a bit out of the ordinary because when you arrive at your desk, there are two donuts on a small paper plate with a coffee cup beside it, sitting on top of a napkin.

You look around, wondering if everyone else has donuts and coffee on their desk. You turn back to your desk, your head tilting to the side, before you pull your chair out from underneath your desk and hang your tote bag on the armrest.

"Good morning, [Y/N]! Glad to see you arrive on time," Sherry says, leaning against your desk as she watches you turn on your computer.

You sigh in relief. "Morning, Sherry. I'm glad I made it on time, too. Almost didn't make it because of the heavy traffic on my way here." You enter your password on your computer.

"Well, it's a good thing you made it here on time because I heard from someone that you're going to be training the new recruit," Sherry replies, sipping on her coffee.

You pause what you're doing and slowly turn to her. "I am? This is news to me. Have I been working here long enough to be qualified to train the recruit? I'm still new, aren't I?"

"That, I don't know. But according to Zhao, you've been outperforming people in your department, and you're a fast learner. I can see why they would want you to train the new recruit now that things around here are picking up."

You nod, reaching for the coffee cup and taking a sip from it. "By the way, do you know who put the coffee and donuts on my desk? I want to thank them later when I see them."

Sherry's eyes light up. "It was Leon! He arrived early today and decided to get you coffee and donuts for breakfast before heading off to his meeting."

Your heart flutters in your chest. "I will have to thank him later," You smile as the apples of your cheeks become warm. "Do you know how long his meeting will be?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not entirely sure, but I heard it has to do with an outbreak that's connected to Raccoon City."

"An outbreak connected to Raccoon City? Is Leon going to be sent out on a field mission soon?" Your heart falls into the pit of your stomach, making it almost impossible for you to swallow the warm coffee. You press your lips into a thin line, nodding, trying to act nonchalant. It's part of Leon's job; it's not something he's never done before.

"You alright?" Sherry asks, gazing at you worriedly.

You nod. "I'm fine. I'm still trying to wake up and mentally prepare myself to train the new recruit, which was new information."

Sherry gives your shoulder a light squeeze before walking to her desk. You move your seat closer to your desk and sigh. There's a very high chance of Leon being sent out to where this outbreak takes place for a mission. You reach for the donut and take a bite out of it; it's still warm and soft.

Thirty minutes go by, and Leon emerges from the meeting room, and his eyes immediately lock in on where you're sitting. He sees you squinting at your monitor with a donut in one hand. A smile appears on Leon's face when he sees a donut glaze on the corner of your lips.

Leon approaches where you're sitting, nodding to Sherry as he passes by her desk. Standing by your desk, he watches you do your work while snacking on the donuts he bought for you. You look up from your monitor and smile at Leon, reminding him of a smiling fox. Can you be any cuter?

"Morning, Leon—Mr. Kennedy! I hope your meeting went well," You say shyly, putting the donut on the paper plate and wiping your fingers with the napkin.

"Morning to you, too, Miss. [L/N]. Enjoying the donuts and coffee?" Leon asks, gesturing to the pastry and beverage.

You nod. "I am! Thank you for the donuts and coffee. It's very much needed after what I dealt with today so far." Despite your cheerful response, the smile doesn't reach your eyes.

Leon frowns and speaks in a low voice, "Are you alright? What's worrying you?"

You purse your lips, debating whether you should let him know about what Sherry has told you, or act like nothing is wrong and that you were just having a rough morning with being almost late to work due to traffic.

Leon reaches forward and smooths the creases between your eyebrows. Your heart skips a beat, making your breath get caught in your throat. You clear your throat and nod, rubbing the back of your neck awkwardly.

"I'm fine, Leon—Mr. Kennedy."

Leon raises his eyebrows at you. "But…?"

"There's a possibility you're leaving to go on a field mission soon, and that means I won't get to see you around until you return, and we don't know how long that will be. I'm also worried about your safety, but this isn't your first day on the job, so why am I worried?" Is what you want to say to him, but the words are stuck in your throat. Instead, you sigh, shaking your head. "It's nothing."

Leon frowns. "We'll talk during lunch, alright?"

You nod, earning a light, reassuring squeeze on your shoulder from Leon as a response before he walks away. You hate to see Leon go, but you sure do love to watch him leave. You sink into your seat and proceed where you left off on your work, finishing your donut and coffee.

"Everything will be okay," You whisper, ignoring the buzzing of your smartwatch.

Whenever you're stressed or worried about something, Leon does his best to comfort you. Sometimes he doesn't know what to say in these situations, but he's always there with open arms to give you a hug when you need it.

That very same day, during your lunch break, you and Leon are dining at a restaurant a few miles from the DSO building. Both you and Leon are tucked away in the corner of the restaurant, away from prying eyes and ears. It feels a little awkward, but not enough that you could hardly speak to each other and avoid eye contact. While waiting for your orders to arrive, you finally tell Leon what's on your mind.

"Sherry told me that you had a meeting about an outbreak that's connected to Raccoon City, and that made me worried about the possibility of you leaving to go wherever you're needed," You began, wringing your hands. "I know this is a cake walk for you, and it's nothing new because you've been doing this for years, but I can't help but worry."

Leon reaches across the table and grabs your hand, gently squeezing them. "Yes, I did have a meeting about an outbreak that is connected to Raccoon City. I'm happy to hear that you worry about me, but there's nothing to worry about. Everything is going to be okay, and if I do have to leave for the assignment, I'll be gone for at least a week max."

You nod, rubbing your thumb over his hand. Out of pure curiosity, Leon takes a peek at your watch when the screen lights up. Lo and behold, you have received a notification about your increasing heart rate. Leon looks up to see you already staring at him, almost like you got caught red-handed. Before you can pull your hand back, Leon tightens his grip on your hand.

He shakes his head. "No, no, you're not allowed to pull away after what we've established." A big smile appears on his face, making the crows' feet in the outer corners of his eyes prominent.

"And what is that?" You mutter, face feeling a bit too warm for your liking. Damn him and his effects on you! You try really hard not to smile, but seeing Leon smiling so wide makes it impossible not to.

"We've established that I'm the only person allowed to make your heart race, skip a beat, and flutter. Therefore, you shouldn't feel embarrassed about your smartwatch notifying you of your increasing heart rate."

You sigh, allowing Leon to continue holding your hand across the table. Leon is right; he's the only one who has this effect on you. No one else, but him—and he takes pride in it. If making your heart skip a beat were an achievement, Leon would wear it like a badge of honor.

"Who is this 'we' you speak of?" You ask, head tilting to the side.

Leon smiles. "Me and your smartwatch, of course." Leon lifts your hand and plants a kiss on your knuckles. "Though your smartwatch established it way before I did."

You nearly groan, covering your face with one hand. Leon laughs, shaking his head while relishing your adorable reaction. God, you're so cute! He would do anything to see that smile on your face, completely free of worries and stress. Leon reaches forward and lightly pinches your cheek, causing your face to feel even hotter.

Before you can protest, the waiter arrives with your and Leon's order. Leon is lucky that you're both in a restaurant, or else you would've—never mind. About thirty minutes later, you and Leon exit the restaurant together, hand in hand, walking towards his Porsche.

Leon opens the passenger side door for you, but instead of getting in, you stare at Leon with a faint pout on your face. Well, you're not actually pouting, but to him, it looks like you are.

Leon cups your face, tilting your head up. "You have nothing to worry about, alright? I'll let you know if anything happens," Leon murmurs, gently caressing your face and stroking your cheek with his thumb.

"Okay," You whisper. "I don't know how long I can go without seeing you."

"I feel the same way as you," Leon murmurs, leaning down and pressing his lips on your forehead. "You have no idea how much you mean to me."

Leon pulls you into his arms, wrapping his arms around your waist while your arms are draped around his shoulders. It feels so nice to be in his arms, feeling his incredibly beefy arms around your waist, his muscular pecs under your cheek as you press your face against his chest.

"Can we stay like this forever?" Your voice is muffled against his chest.

Leon's chest rumbles with laughter as he tightens his arms around you, kissing the top of your head. "I don't see why not."

Eventually, you and Leon did return to the DSO building and clock back into work, much to your dismay. The new recruit whom you're supposed to train was a no-show. According to your supervisor, the new recruit is sick and will show up tomorrow rather than today.

Which means you can continue with what you're doing as a telecommunications specialist, and that is to make sure the telecommunications systems and servers are running smoothly, and to upload data into the systems for them to be analyzed. Sounds complicated and intimidating, but you got the hang of it after seeing how it's done.

One thing about Leon is that whenever he enters a room, his eyes immediately search for you. It's intentional, yes, but it's gotten to the point where it becomes a habit. Even if you're not in the same room, Leon would scan his surroundings, looking for that familiar face of yours.

The same thing goes for you: whenever you walk into a room, you look for Leon. And if you two happen to be in the same room, but on different sides of the room, you and Leon would subconsciously look for the other. While your back is facing Leon's direction, occupied with a task or talking to another coworker about issues that appeared, Leon would be across the room, staring at the back of your head.

If Leon is occupied with talking to someone from the higher-ups, you would pretend to look around the room just to get a glimpse of his handsome face. Of course, whenever either one of you is doing that (searching for each other or staring at the other person while they're occupied), the other party would be too occupied to notice it.

Were there times when you and Leon made eye contact? Surprisingly, not as much as you think it would happen. However, after a colleague leaves the conversation, Leon would approach you. Leon is usually the first one to approach you, hardly the other way around.

In your coworker's eyes, it looks like you and Leon are discussing work-related topics—which is true. But most of the time, you're checking up on each other after the discussion.

"How're you doing today?" Leon murmurs, subtly linking his pinky around yours from underneath the table. "Has today been treating you well?"

You smile, curling your pinky around his. "Today's been busy. The servers kept crashing, and no matter what I did, they continuously crashed or bugged out."

"And you managed to get them back up and running?" Leon murmurs, studying you closely—he's actually admiring your face, but people buzzing around you and Leon don't know that.

You nod. "After almost an hour, yes. I also had to show the new recruit how to get the servers back up, among many other things."

Ah, right, the new recruit. The new recruit is a man who's almost as tall as Leon, with curly brown hair and large circular glasses that perched on his nose bridge. Leon's seen the guy around the DSO building, following you around like a lost puppy. A little too close for Leon's liking, if Leon has to be really honest. It should be Leon, not the new recruit.

"You're doing great in training the new recruit. I've been hearing great things around the building, specifically from Zhao, Mrs. Lee, and Sherry, which is no surprise to me. What's his name again?"

You blank out. Fuck, what was the guy's name again? The only thing you remember is that he likes standing way too close to you whenever you're training him. "I think his name is Brandon, but I could be misremembering."

"Too busy with work to pay attention to other people, huh?" Leon mutters, refraining from smiling.

"Oh, yes, super busy! I don't have the time to think about men," You playfully scoff, "Unless that man's name is Leon Kennedy." You add under your breath.

Leon blinks. "What was that?" He leans in closer, an amused smile appearing on his face.

"Nothing! I was just saying that I'm too busy with work to be thinking about men." You clear your throat, rubbing the back of your neck.

The banter between you and Leon is cut short by the sound of someone clearing their throat. You and Leon look in the direction of where the sound came from to see the new recruit standing there. The new recruit looks awkward, but also confident at the same time.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Mr. Zhao wanted you to teach me how to, uh, collect communications data from surveillance monitoring equipment and have it downloaded onto various systems for the analysis team—whatever that means. "

"Oh! Alright. You can head to the office on the floor below us, and I'll meet you there." You say, slowly gathering your tablet and folder.

Leon watches the curly-haired man turn to leave, but not without glancing back at where you and Leon are sitting. The two briefly make eye contact before he walks out of the meeting room and towards the elevator, slowly. Leon tightens his pinky around yours, as if reassuring you.

"I'll walk you to your destination," Leon states, his blue eyes flickering over to you.

You don't protest—why would you? You'll do anything to be able to spend a little more time with Leon. So, you and Leon walk out of the meeting room and towards the elevator, only to see the new recruit standing at the elevator, waiting for you. What is his name again? You're horrible with names.

The new recruit—sorry, can't remember his name—points to Leon, "He's coming with us? I didn't know he was in our department."

You smile. "Leon will be taking me—us to our destination. He offered it, so who am I to deny his offer?"

You, Leon, and the curly-haired man get onto the elevator. You press the button that leads to the floor you're needed on, and watch the doors close. You stand between Leon and your new colleague, a little closer to Leon. The air is thick between the three of you, and it's awkward.

"I don't think we've formally met. My name's Leon Kennedy, DSO agent—I'm usually on the field, but for now, my presence is needed here until further notice." Leon says, turning to the new recruit.

The man awkwardly adjusts his tie. "Yeah, I've heard of you, Mr. Kennedy. I'm Patrick Fitzpatrick. I'm a recently hired telecommunications specialist like Miss. [Y/N]."

For once, the universe is on your side because after the awkward introduction, the elevator doors open to the floor where you're needed. You, Leon, and Patrick leave the elevator and head towards the office. Occasionally, Patrick would look in the corner of his eye to look at Leon, and Leon would catch him in the act, causing Patrick to quickly look away with a bright red face.

You walk into the office with Patrick and Leon following behind, briefly greeting your other colleagues who greeted you first. You unlock your tablet and begin typing on the computer before gesturing for Patrick to sit down so you can get started on training him.

"Is he going to be here with us the entire time?" Patrick asks, pointing in Leon's direction.

Leon crosses his arms over his chest, huffing. "Why do I get this feeling where my presence isn't welcomed?" Leon asks, staring at Patrick, mildly annoyed.

"Leon is welcome to watch, if he would like to join us. Even though he's not in our department, it's nice to learn something new in case of an emergency. Now, sit down so we can get started."

Patrick mutters something under his breath before sitting at the computer. You and Leon give each other a look. Instead of sitting right next to Patrick to train him, you remain standing beside him, pointing out which programs do what and how to download collected data onto various systems.

Leon stares at the monitor, following where you're pointing and glancing over at Patrick, only to see him staring at you and probably not listening to a single thing you're saying.

You tap on your tablet, eyebrows furrowing. "And that's how you do it! But don't worry, I'm sure Zhao or another senior technician will be there to guide you if and when systems are down."

"Can't you guide me instead? After all, you are the one who's training me in this," Patrick says, staring deep into your eyes.

You shake your head. "While I'm honored that you would trust me enough to want me to be there to assist you if and when systems are down, I'm not a senior technician, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Therefore, I cannot do that. I will have my own duties to take care of as a fellow telecommunications specialist."

"Oh, that's a bummer," Patrick mutters, nodding his head with a disappointed sigh. "It was worth the shot."

Leon never thought that he would have to deal with an insufferable colleague until Patrick Fitzpatrick—what a dumb name—entered the picture. It's not that Leon is jealous of a man named Patrick Fitzpatrick. Leon's not the jealous type; he wouldn't consider himself possessive. However, when your safety and security become the topic of conversation, Leon takes that very seriously.

Leon's painfully aware that Patrick isn't fond of him. For what reason? He doesn't know, but it's most likely because Patrick is intimidated by him in some kind of way, given by his body language and how he acts whenever Leon's around.

For now, Leon is watching from the sidelines, making sure that this Patrick guy isn't going to make things harder for you than it already it. But does that mean Leon's not going to step in with every chance he gets? No, he's still going to find a solution to prevent you from ever being alone with Patrick.

Everything was going according to Leon's plan, and seeing Patrick visibly seethe brings unbridled joy to Leon. Of course, Leon's not always by your side at work, but he makes sure that Patrick sees you with Leon every single day. And due to their work relationship, they need to be cordial with one another despite the tension between them.

About two weeks go by, Patrick approaches Sherry early in the morning, catching the blonde woman off guard. "Hey, Miss. Birkin, do you know where Miss. [Y/N] is? I wanted to ask her if she could help me with something."

Sherry politely smiles at Patrick, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Fitzpatrick, but I don't know where she is. It's still rather early, and I'm assuming she's probably stuck in traffic right now," Sherry replies, glancing down at her watch.

Before Patrick can say anything, the elevator chimes and the doors slide open, revealing you and Leon in the middle of your conversation. You two step out of the elevator, laughing while holding onto matching coffee cups and breakfast sandwiches in your hands.

"Good morning, you two! You're quite lively on a Monday morning," Sherry says, sipping from her steaming coffee cup. "Did you two happen to arrive here at the same time?"

You shake your head, heat rushing to your cheeks as your smartwatch lights up. "Oh, Leon drove me here, actually! My car is currently at the dealership getting some things changed and realigned."

Patrick's eyes zero in on the tote bag hanging from Leon's broad shoulders. A familiar tote bag that would rest behind your monitor as you type away at your computer while muttering under your breath. Patrick's jaw ticks as he proceeds to watch you and Sherry speak.

"And you two got breakfast and coffee together?" Sherry asks as the same teasing smile appears on her face, causing you to become shy.

You turn to Leon, only to see him looking at your watch before his eyes flicker to your face with that familiar smile on his face. You peek at your watch, trying to act nonchalant after seeing the familiar notification about your increasing heart rate. It's fine! Everything is fine!

"Yes, of course, we got breakfast together." You mutter shyly. "Wouldn't want to start the day off without breakfast and coffee."

Sherry giggles as you gesture for Leon to follow you to your desk inside the office, brushing past Patrick without even acknowledging him. As you and Leon walk by, Patrick watches Leon, who's walking beside you, hover his right hand over your lower back. Leon opens the office door for you, you shyly thank Leon, and enter the office while sipping your coffee.

"Leon, thank you again for driving me here. You're a lifesaver," You say, putting your coffee down on your desk and biting into your breakfast sandwich while turning on your computer.

Leon puts your tote bag behind your monitor and pulls your tablet out, putting it next to your keyboard and mouse. "No need to thank me. I'm happy to help, and will be here if you need me."

"I'll always need you," You blurt out. Dammit, you're not supposed to say that out loud—at least not at the office. "Because you're always happy to provide assistance when someone needs it." You look around to make sure no one's listening to your and Leon's conversation. Thankfully, not many people are around and are too engrossed in their work to eavesdrop.

Leon snorts. "Nice save."

As you're settling into your desk and Leon's checking his watch, one of the higher-ups approaches your desk. You and Leon look at the woman and greet her. That sinking feeling in your chest emerges, making your heart race against your chest.

"Apologies to interrupt your conversation, but Mr. Kennedy, may you please follow me to the nearest meeting room?" The woman asks, adjusting her glasses on her nose bridge as she slowly turns to leave.

"Of course. What is this meeting about, may I ask?" Leon follows after her.

"This is a follow-up meeting regarding the outbreak that's connected to the Raccoon City incident," The woman says. "We have an update on this case and need you to…" Her voice fades as she and Leon walk to the nearest meeting room.

You type into your computer, swallowing the lump in your throat. You peek from your cubicle to see Sherry greeting Leon and the woman, the meeting room door closing behind the three of them. Your smartwatch buzzes, pulling you out of your thoughts briefly to swipe away the notification.

For the rest of the day, you don't see Leon as much as you would like. Despite wanting to know what's going on, you have work that needs your attention. Besides the amount of work that requires your attention, you also have to continue training Patrick despite Zhao informing you that you don't need to train Patrick because he knows enough to work alone. For some reason, Patrick does not want to be left alone with his tasks.

Every hour or so, he approaches your cubicle about something as small as not being able to figure out the password to his computer. So, you're constantly getting up from your computer and going to his cubicle to assist him with something so minuscule, with Leon in the back of your mind. Actually, that's a lie; he's at the forefront of your brain while you're performing tasks.

As for Leon, he's in and out of meetings, stacks of files in his hands, nose stuck in said files. The crease between his eyebrows deepens the more he reads through countless files throughout the day. When he needs to take his eyes from the manila folders to rest his eyes, he looks around the office, searching for you. Every time he manages to find you in the sea of workers, you're either typing away at your cubicle or you're being dragged away from your desk by Patrick.

"Bastard's relentless." He mutters under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"He seems to take quite a liking to her, Leon. Patrick approached me this morning to ask about her whereabouts before you two arrived." Sherry mutters.

Leon scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief. "You don't say." Leon's not surprised in the slightest. Should he be?

Once lunch break rolls around, you begin to make your way towards the elevator, but Patrick blocks your way. You adjust the tote bag strap on your shoulders, shooting him a confused look.

"Do you need something, Mr. Fitzpatrick?" You ask.

Patrick adjusts his crooked glasses on his face, clearing his throat. "I was wondering if you would like to join me for lunch. I still have some questions about the telecommunications systems and how to transfer the data."

"She can help you after we return from our lunch break." Leon interrupts, standing between you and Patrick. Leon looks at you, his hand on your bicep. "Are you ready to go?"

You smile, nodding as relief washes over you. "Yes, I'm ready to go." You peek from behind Leon's massive biceps. "I'll help you and answer your burning questions after lunch, Mr. Fitzpatrick."

Leon takes your tote bag from your hands before guiding you towards the elevator; his hands are, once again, hovering behind your lower back. Patrick watches the elevator door slide closed, leaving him standing in the hallway alone.

Inside the elevator, you finally relax, all of the tension in your body leaving. You lean against the wall, sighing. "You really are a lifesaver." You chuckle, looking at Leon.

Leon loops his pinky around yours, his eyes never leaving your face. "I'll always be here for you, to protect you," Leon murmurs. "If he's making you uncomfortable, I can put a word in and have him transfer departments, if you'd like."

"As much as I like the sound of that, I can't help but doubt that HR is going to see it as an issue. They'll see it as a new employee asking a colleague for assistance when trouble arises. Plus, I'm worried that if we involve HR or any higher-ups, Patrick is going to try to flip the script, if that makes sense."

Leon nods, resting his head on the cabin's wall. When the elevator arrives at ground level, you and Leon walk towards his Porsche. Leon's debating whether he should tell you the news now, over lunch, or when you two return to the DSO building after break.

You poke Leon's arm. "What's on your mind? You seem distracted."

Leon unlocks his car and puts your tote bag on the passenger seat after opening the door for you. You continue to watch him, worry etched on your face. Leon grabs your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours. There's really no point in hiding or stalling it when it's inevitable.

"After I drop you off at your house, later today, I have to go to a site near Wrenwood Hotel for an investigation. I do not know how long I'll be gone, but just know that it shouldn't take longer than a week."

Your heart drops in your chest. Leon's going to a site near the Wrenwood Hotel? Later today? It's so soon—too soon for your (and Leon's) liking. It's another field mission for Leon; he's completed plenty of them without a hitch, and yet you're worrying.

"Hey, say something," Leon whispers, his right hand coming up to caress the side of your face.

You lean into his touch, not breaking eye contact. "Please be safe when you leave for your field mission to investigate. I can't bear the thought of you getting injured."

"I'll make sure to return to you unscathed, I promise. You have nothing to worry about." Leon lifts your hand to his lips and kisses your knuckles. "Let's get something to eat, yeah?"

You nod, earning a kiss on the forehead from Leon before getting into his car. Leon closes the passenger door once he makes sure you're fully seated and buckled before walking to the driver's side.

That was a few days ago, and you haven't heard a single peep from the DSO agent. As the mission coordinator, Sherry is cooped up elsewhere in the DSO building, helping Leon with his assignment, getting updates from him, and assisting with hacking systems as needed.

It's hard for you to stay focused on your work when Leon's at the forefront of your brain. Every now and then, you'll glance at your phone near your keyboard, hoping to get an update from Leon. Heck, the buzzing from your smartwatch makes you assume that you received a text from Leon—only for it to be a notification about you needing to get up and walk around.

Zhao approaches your cubicle and knocks on your desk to grab your attention. You pause what you're doing and get up from your seat after he gestures for you to follow him. As you tuck your phone into your pocket (after locking your computer), you see Zhao doing the same with Patrick from the corner of your eyes.

You and Patrick follow Zhao outside the office and to a meeting room next door. Zhao closes the door and gestures for both you and Patrick to sit down across from him.

"You may be wondering why I pulled you two to the side," Zhao begins, sitting across from you and Patrick. "As telecommunications specialists, you're tasked to go to remote areas around the world no matter the conditions."

You and Patrick nod. Your heart starts drumming against your ribcage, making it hard for you to breathe. Why are you nervous? This is part of the job—but you've never been on field missions before.

Zhao looks at you, "I know you're still rather new here, but you've exceeded my expectations. With your skill set, knowledge, and willingness to help colleagues, I am sending you and Patrick—along with myself and other senior technicians—to Raccoon City."

Huh.

"I'm sorry—what business do we have in Raccoon City?" Patrick asks, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm still new here, Mr. Zhao. I-I still have a lot of things to learn, still!"

"Indeed, you are. However, with the guidance of Miss. [L/N] and the senior technicians, I'm sure you will be able to quickly learn the information everyone provides."

"When do we leave?" You interrupt, wringing your hands in your lap. "To Raccoon City, I mean." You watch your smartwatch buzz and light up. Increasing heart rate.

Zhao glances at his watch. "We leave in fifteen minutes. Gather your things and meet the other senior technicians and me in the lobby." He gestures for you and Patrick to leave the meeting room.

Patrick's the first person to leave the room, muttering under his breath while running his hands through his unruly curls. You, on the other hand, slowly trail behind him, hands itching to pull your phone out to let Leon know that you're going to be heading to Raccoon City for your assignment. But at the same time, you don't want to distract him if he's in the middle of something dire.

So, you refrain from doing so before logging out of your computer and shutting it down. You grab your tote bag and tablet, walking towards the elevator to see Patrick nervously waiting for the elevator cabin to arrive.

"Can't believe they're sending us rookies to the ruins of Raccoon City," Patrick says suddenly. "It's almost like a test to see how compatible we are… as teammates for these missions."

You shrug, trying to ignore the thudding of your heartbeat. "I just hope this won't take long." You mutter, getting into the cabin when it arrives on your floor.

"Why? Don't want to be near me?" Patrick jokes, standing beside you after pressing the ground-level button.

You scoff. "Oh, please, I see you every day at the DSO building, Mr. Fitzpatrick. We work in the same department, and I have been helping you almost every hour since you arrived here."

Patrick holds his hands up in defense. "I'm just messing with you, relax a bit."

Once the elevator chimes and the door slides open, you and Patrick exit the elevator cabin and head towards the group of senior technicians. The five of you (You, Patrick, Zhao, and two other senior technicians) get into the company van that's parked in front of the building.

"Do you know how long we'll be in Raccoon City?" Patrick asks.

Javier Gomez, one of the senior technicians, starts the van and looks at Patrick from the rear view mirror. "Could take a few days, maybe even weeks—heck, maybe a few months. It all depends on how things go."

You stare out the window, watching buildings pass by as the company van drives out of the city and to the ruins of Raccoon City. You pull your phone out, tempted to message Leon, but don't want to be a distraction. You're not entirely sure how confidential this mission is, so you refrain from texting anyone about it.

- Upon arriving at the ruins of Raccoon City, Javier parks the van in front of an abandoned building. Everyone files out of the car and cautiously enters the rundown building where computers and communications systems are set up.

"There are about three communication systems set up around Raccoon City. We will split up into groups, and each group will go to their assigned locations." Zhao says, pulling out a map of the locations that are set up around the ruins.

"A group? There's an uneven number of us—three senior technicians, and two telecommunications specialists who are still relatively new to the field. Are you sure that's a smart decision, Mr. Zhao?" Patrick asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"When setting up this team, we had a discussion beforehand. We're fairly confident in the decision we've made with this group." Javier interjects, crossing his arms over his chest. "There is nothing you need to worry about. Yes, there are zombies roaming around the ruins, but I doubt they will get to the areas that have our communication systems."

You can't help but doubt it. These zombies can and will carry weapons and charge at any living being. Plus, it's not like the telecommunications systems are out in the open, right? At least, the one in the rundown building isn't outside.

"We'll be assigning groups right now. Once the group has been established, Zhao will be driving you to your destinations. If your group happens to be here, then your group remains in this area—please, do not leave the area in which you have been assigned to until further notice—while Zhao takes the others to their designated location."

"Gomez and Smith, you're in group one. So, you will stay here while I take the next group to their destinations." Zhao says, tapping away at his tablet.

You, Patrick, and Zhao watch Javier and Elise walk to the nearby communication systems, starting their assignment. Your heart thuds against your chest as a sense of dread washes over you. You already know what's going to happen; it's painfully predictable.

"Fitzpatrick and [L/N], you will be at the third location. Remember, you are not allowed to leave the area until further notice. You're not allowed to abandon your partner, no matter the circumstances."

"You're going to be at the second location alone? With no assistance or backup in case of an emergency?" You ask, tightening your grip on the straps of your bag. "I know you're fully capable of handling these things yourself, but it doesn't seem like a good idea."

"I appreciate the concern, but there's nothing to worry about. I paired you with Fitzpatrick because he informed me that he wanted to work closely with you because he has learned a lot from the training you've provided." Zhao smiles, nodding to Patrick.

You purse your lips, nodding. "I'm honored to hear such feedback from a colleague." You lie through your teeth. Alone? With Patrick? For hours? Days? Weeks?

"Alright! Now, please make your way to the company van, and I'll drive you two to your locations." Zhao gestures for you and Patrick to exit the rundown building.

You sit in the backseat of the van while Patrick sits in the passenger side of the car. The drive to the location is filled with mostly silence on your end, but lively chatter from both Patrick and Zhao. By the time you reach your destination, it's mid-afternoon. Zhao gives you and Patrick a short tour of the site, where certain technologies are located, before handing you the walkie-talkies.

"Remember not to abandon your partner and stray from the site. If anything happens, please use your walkie-talkies to reach out to me, or Gomez and Smith." Zhao begins making his way to the van before stopping abruptly. "Oh, and before I forget, you will need this in case of an emergency."

Zhao walks to the trunk of the van, pops the trunk open, revealing an array of guns and ammo. He pulls out two large revolvers and pistols and hands them to you and Patrick, earning an eyebrow raise from Patrick.

"Doesn't she need a license to possess a gun?" Patrick asks.

Zhao raises an eyebrow at Patrick. "I would worry about the communication system over whether she has a gun license or not. And for your information, Miss. [L/N] does have a gun license. We made sure of it before sending her out for this assignment."

You make sure to pick the largest gun out of the two, putting it in your holster after loading the revolver. Zhao bids you and Patrick good luck and farewell before going to his destination, who knows where exactly.

You and Patrick retreat into the rundown building. After what Patrick said, you have nothing to say to him. You pull your tablet out and begin entering your password and pulling up the data that you've received from Gomez and Smith. Patrick stands next to you, his arms over his chest as he eyes the information that appears on the screen.

"Sorry if I offended you back there. No offense, but you don't look like the type to know how to handle a gun."

"He says as he follows up with another insult." You mutter under your breath. "We need to get this started. We have no time to waste."

You connect your tablet to the computer, checking the communication systems and making sure to download them and transfer them to the nearest tower. Most of your (and Patrick's) duty is to have whatever is in the system downloaded and sent to the next group, then that group will relay that information to (presumably) Zhao.

"How do you know how to do all of this stuff? Zhao said you're relatively new as well." Patrick comments, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"With a job like this, you're required to grasp information quickly. I'm trained on many things by many people—there's no room for mistakes, especially when things are at stake."

Patrick leans against the desk, causing it to shift backward against the wall, startling you. Patrick quickly apologizes, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. You exhale through your nose, trying to remain calm while the data is being transferred to the nearest communication tower.

The silence between you and Patrick is overwhelming and awkward. If anything, you would much rather be paired up with someone else, but of course, Patrick had to find a way to get paired up with you. But it's fine because once everything is transferred and completed, you should be able to return to the DSO building, right?

Just as the loading bar reaches 95% completed, the system completely shuts down, and the screen goes black. You bury your face in your hands, holding in the urge to scream at the top of your lungs in frustration. Of course, you can't do that because you need to be professional and know how to work under pressure and in unfortunate circumstances, and because you're in Raccoon City, the angry and frustrated scream can and will attract possible nearby zombies.

"What do we do now?" Patrick asks.

You walk to the entrance of the rundown building with your tablet in hand, grabbing the doorknob.

Patrick raises his eyebrows. "Uh, where are you going? You know, Zhao said not to leave our assigned sites until further notice."

"Well, if you want to be stuck here longer and cause delays for the others, you can do that. I don't want to waste any more time. The sooner this gets fixed, the better."

You open the door and take three steps back, hands shielding your eyes from the sun beaming down on you. On the side of the building is a semi-stable yellow ladder that leads to the rooftop where the communication tower sits. You start climbing to the top, making sure not to drop your tablet. You look down to see Patrick staring up at you while talking to someone on the walkie-talkie.

You successfully get to the top of the building and walk towards the communication tower. While you're looking around to find the source of the problem, Patrick reaches the top, adjusting the walkie-talkie hanging from his pocket.

"I talked to Zhao, Gomez, and Smith to let them know about the issue. They need the system back up and running within an hour."

Your eyes zero in on the loose cables, and you kneel to tidy them up and plug them back into the outlet. "Well, I found and fixed the issue. We should head back down and proceed where we left off." You brush past Patrick and start climbing down the ladder, tightly gripping the ladder.

When you reach the ground, you wipe your sweaty palms against your pants. You watch Patrick clumsily climb down the ladder. Once he reaches the bottom, the ladder becomes loose and falls to the ground with a loud thud.

"You have got to be kidding me." Is what you wanted to say, but before you can utter a single word, loud growls and gurgling interrupt you. You slowly turn around to see a horde of zombies stumbling their way towards you and Patrick.

"Holy shit!" Patrick screams, running back into the building without hesitation.

You follow close behind Patrick, but he slams the door in your face before you can enter the building. You reach for the doorknob to open the door, but the door's locked, and all you can do is jiggle the handles and slam your body against the door to get it to budge.

"Patrick! Let me in!"

You don't hear anything from behind the door. For all you know, he's probably barricading the door to prevent anyone from entering. That means you have no way to hide from the horde of zombies—you can't get to the rooftop because the ladder broke.

You reach for your revolver and start shooting every zombie one by one. You don't have much ammo on you, so you're basically fucked if your aim is horrendous—it sort of is, you haven't been to a shooting range in ages. You're able to shoot them in the head, some of their heads exploding, and a geyser of blood gushes from their neck.

The revolver soon becomes useless after running out of ammo—there's more ammo inside the building, but Patrick locked you out of it! You search around the building, only to find a baseball bat that's conveniently lying around near the building. You quickly run towards the baseball bat, pick it up, and start swinging the minute the zombies charge towards you.

You hear a sickening crack when the bat makes contact with one of the zombie's head, knocking it back. You continue swinging like a madwoman, making sure to dodge as much as you possibly can without getting injured or cornering yourself.

One zombie in particular lunges at you and manages to grab hold of your shoulders. He growls in your face, gnashing his teeth at you, trying to get a bite of you while digging his rotted fingers into your shoulders. You try to shove him off, but he won't budge.

You squeeze your eyes shut, screaming while repeatedly kicking and swinging the bat at the zombie's head, hitting yourself in the process. The sound of gunfire rings, and one by one, the zombies around you drop to the ground. The head of the zombie—that's latching onto you—explodes, spraying blood in your face. You scream in shock, watching the body collapse to the side.

You wipe your face with shaky hands and look up to see Leon standing there. You drop the baseball bat, not taking your eyes off of Leon. Leon surveys his surroundings before making his way to you, putting his gun in the holster.

"Leon…" You whisper.

Now standing in front of you, Leon cups your face, searching you from head to toe for any injuries while wiping away blood from your face. "Are you alright? You're not injured, are you?"

You shake your head. "No, no, I'm okay, thanks to you." You whisper.

Leon doesn't take his eyes away from your face; the longer he stares at you, the more you feel heat rushing to your face. You purse your lips and look down, shielding your face with your hand. Leon smiles, holding back a laugh as one hand slides down to your waist.

"I'm just making sure you're not injured." Leon murmurs, grabbing your chin and tilting your head up. "Can't help but be captivated by you."

You try to hold back a smile, taking a step forward to wrap your arms around his waist. "I haven't heard from you in days, and now that I see you, the first thing you do—after saving me—is to make my heart flutter?" You mutter, reaching up to pinch his cheek lightly.

"Of course! I was dying to see you after being gone for days." Leon smiles.

You stare at him, eyebrows furrowing. "I'll let it pass this time." You bury your face into his chest, sighing with happiness and contentment. "I wanted to text you, but I've been refraining."

"Ah, so that's your reason. I've been checking my phone throughout the day to see if I received any messages from you." Leon confesses, tightening his grip around your waist. "Had me worried."

You pucker your lips before replying, "I didn't want to be a distraction and be the reason why you get hurt."

Leon kisses the top of your head. "You could never be a distraction."

You close your eyes and feel the tension finally leaving your body. You tighten your grip on Leon's tight-fitted shirt, not wanting this moment to end. But the more time ticks by, the more you realize you're wasting time, and everyone is waiting for data to be transferred to other communication towers.

"Fuck." You grumble.

Leon peeks down at you. "What's wrong?"

You point at the locked door behind you, slowly approaching the door after reluctantly pulling away from Leon's arms. "I completely forgot about my job as a telecommunications specialist. But of course, I can't do that because I'm locked out."

"What do you mean you're locked out?" Leon raises his eyebrows at you.

You press your lips into a thin line. "Patrick slammed the door in my face and locked it after the zombies emerged from the shadows. I could temporarily hide on the rooftop, but he broke the ladder—which caused commotion and attracted the zombies to our assigned base."

Leon runs his hands through his hair, shaking his head. Of fucking course they paired you up with someone incompetent like Patrick Fitzpatrick. Dumb ass name, too. Leon approaches the door and jiggles the handle, but it doesn't budge. Leon presses his ears against the door to listen, but hears nothing—not even a pathetic whimper. Leon reaches for his hatchet and gestures for you to step back.

You watch Leon jam his hatchet into the slit of the door and see his biceps flex as he attempts to force the door open. You bite your bottom lip; his grunts and biceps are certainly doing something to you. Leon nudges the door with his shoulders, popping it right open.

Leon enters the rundown building, eyes scanning the inside to see Patrick huddling in the corner, his back facing Leon's direction. Leon rolls his eyes before turning to you. You take that as a sign to walk in, but before you do, you stand on the tip of your toes and kiss his cheek as a thank you.

"Thanks for locking me out and making me fend for myself, Fitzpatrick. If it weren't for Leon, I would've been zombie meal the moment I ran out of ammo for my revolver." You cross your arms over your chest.

The sound of your voice startles Patrick, making him dart up from his spot and turn to face you and Leon. His expression drops when he and Leon lock eyes. Leon's full-on glaring at Patrick, not even hiding it anymore.

Patrick points at Leon. "What's he doing here?"

Leon ignores Patrick. "You deliberately locked her out of this building, forcing her to fend for herself against a horde of zombies. If I didn't make it on time, she would've been dead."

"What?! No! I-I didn't do it on purpose! My fight or flight was triggered, a-and I ran for my life!"

"You ran for your life and put her life in danger. That's what you did."

You walk to the computer and plug in your tablet. You rub your temples, sighing when you realize you need to redo everything before the system unexpectedly shuts down. While you're occupied with having to redo the work yourself, Leon picks up the walkie-talkie from the ground and starts speaking into it.

"Mr. Kennedy? What a surprise! If you don't mind my asking, why are you at Fitzpatrick and [L/N]'s assigned location?"

Leon clears his throat. "Zhao, is it possible for you to take Fitzpatrick to your base? He's not providing the assistance he should be, and he endangered his partner's life by shutting and locking her out of the building while a horde of zombies were charging at them."

The line on Zhao's end goes silent for a moment. "Yes, we can do that, but we cannot let her be alone; she needs a partner."

"It's alright, I'll keep her company until everything is completed. I've learned a few things from her, so I can provide some assistance if needed. I can certainly provide protection."

Your head shoots up. "Wait, but aren't you still on a mission, Leon?"

"Alright! I will be there in about ten minutes to get Fitzpatrick."

Leon places the walkie-talkie on the desk near you, standing close while keeping an eye on Patrick. The entire time, no one says a thing. The silence is filled with the sounds of keyboards clacking as you're rapidly typing away and transferring information to the system.

"I really am sorry for inflicting harm upon you. I didn't mean it, please believe me." Patrick pleads.

Leon steps between you and Patrick, nostrils flaring. "You've done enough damage, Fitzpatrick."

The entire time, while everyone is waiting for Zhao to arrive, Leon makes sure to stand behind you to shield you from Patrick's view. No matter how much Patrick tries to talk to you or even get a glimpse of you, Leon's broad frame will obstruct the view. Leon's facing to the side just to be able to get a good view of both you and Patrick from the corner of his eyes, making sure Patrick's not distracting you.

Soon enough, everyone hears the company van pull up and park outside the rundown building. The door opens, and Zhao enters your assigned base, now staring at the three of you, and can sense the tension in the room.

"We'll debrief once we return to the DSO building. Mr. Fitzpatrick, please come with me." Zhao instructs.

Patrick reluctantly walks to Zhao, unsure of what to expect once both of them enter the company van. Leon briefly thanks Zhao before closing the door behind Zhao and Patrick. Leon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose before walking to where you're at.

He kneels beside you, rubbing your back. "How're you feeling? Still shaken up about earlier?"

"I'm okay, Leon. I'm just happy to see you, that's all," You smile at Leon, lacing your fingers with his. "And I'm incredibly thankful that you showed up on time before a zombie mauled my face."

"I'm never letting anything harm you." Leon kisses the side of your head, resting his chin on your shoulder as he stares at the screen in front of you two.

You purse your lips, debating if you should do it or not. Your smartwatch lights up as you gather the courage to kiss Leon's forehead and rest your cheek on top of his head after. You didn't see it, but you certainly feel Leon try to peek at you despite your cheek resting on top of his. If only this moment could last forever; a world with just you and Leon is something you can only dream of.

About a week goes by, and you're back at the DSO building at your cubicle, typing up your report regarding your first field mission in the ruins of Raccoon City. Before your departure from the ruins, you and Leon had to part ways. He still had things to deal with and needed to save an FBI agent named Grace Ashcroft. He didn't give you the entire detail, but a summary of what he was up to.

As much as you didn't want to part ways with Leon, you reluctantly got into the DSO van and returned to the building while Leon watched the van get further and further until the van disappeared from his sight. After returning to the DSO building, you made sure to let Leon know that you made it back safely and bid him good luck on his mission.

His response? A thumbs up with a cute smiley face. Granted, he was busy saving the future of humanity and killing zombies, so you shouldn't be surprised by his response. In fact, it brought a smile to your face.

The sound of distant arguing pulls you from your daydream. You turn around to see Patrick and Zhao arguing—well, Patrick's the one who's arguing while Zhao's checking the time on his watch. You turn back to your monitor and make sure to save your file.

"Hey! I heard what happened in Raccoon City," Sherry says, leaning against your desk. "What Patrick did back there was a jerk move. I'm so glad that you're safe and you're able to fend for yourself long enough before Leon arrived."

"I'm glad as well. That was the scariest moment of my life, and I thought I was done for." You tap your fingers on your lap. "How's Leon? Is he okay?"

Sherry smiles. "He's fine, the mission was a success, and he should be back today."

You sigh in relief. "That's a relief."

Sherry smiles, squeezes your shoulder, and bids you farewell as she makes her way back to her desk. By the time lunch break rolls around, you lock your computer, tuck your tablet in your tote bag, and make your way to the elevator. Again, you haven't heard anything from Leon, and it's making you a bit nervous. Yes, he's fine and should be back, but when exactly?

The elevator chimes, and you find yourself in the lobby of the DSO building. You leave the elevator and head towards the parking lot where your car is waiting. You wave to your colleagues as you're exiting, hands digging in your pocket as you try to take out your phone after you feel the vibration. You stop at the entrance of the building, struggling to pull your phone out.

"Need a hand?"

You look up to see Leon standing there, his hands propping on his hips. You quickly look around to make sure there's no one around before dropping your things to the ground. You run towards Leon, lunging towards him. You wrap your arms around his shoulders and your legs around his waist.

"You're back! You have no idea how much I missed you." You say, burying your face into his chest.

Leon tightens his grip around your waist, a wide smile spreading across his face. "I miss you, too, darling. Mission's a success, and I won't be returning to field missions until further notice." Leon walks to where you drop your tote bag and picks it up with one hand while holding you with the other.

"You didn't text me after your mission wrapped up!" Your voice is muffled against his chest. "I was checking my phone constantly."

"To be fair, I did text you today while you were heading out," Leon says, walking to his Porsche with you clinging to him. He opens the passenger door and puts your tote bag in front of the seat.

Leon pins you against his car, leans down to help you unlatch yourself from him. You fix your clothes and look up at Leon, cupping his face in your hands while his hands rest on your waist. Leon's stubble underneath your palms feels both ticklish and soothing.

You're so mesmerized by Leon. He's so handsome and breathtaking. Leon leans down, pressing his forehead against yours. Your heart skips a beat. He wraps his entire arms around your waist, pulling you to his chest until there's no space between you two. Leon nuzzles the tip of his nose against yours, earning a small giggle from you.

Leon caresses your face in his hands before leaning down, pressing his lips against yours. Your hands slide to his shoulders, pulling him in closer as he deepens the kiss. You pull away from the kiss to get some air, but Leon pulls you back in.

"I can't get enough of you," Leon mumbles into the kiss. Leon briefly breaks the kiss, his lips trailing down to your jaw and neck, sending shivers down your spine. Leon kisses your lips once more before peppering your face with kisses. "Let's get something to eat, yeah?"

You nod, breathless from the kiss. Leon kisses the crown of your head before letting you get into the passenger seat. Leon closes the door and walks around the Porsche to get to the driver's side. You buckle your seatbelt as he gets into the car and closes the door.

The Porsche purrs to life as he buckles his seatbelt. Leon reaches over and grabs your hand, interlocking his fingers with yours before pulling out of the parking lot of the DSO building. You snuggle against Leon's arms, thinking about the kiss from earlier.

Your smartwatch buzzes, grabbing Leon's attention, but he doesn't look away from the road. Leon doesn't need to look to see that you received a notification about your increasing heart rate. Instead, he squeezes your hand, smiling widely with pride. You have the same effect on him; the only difference is that he's not wearing a smartwatch that announces his business to the world.

Note: I may or may not have conflicting feelings with this fic. I loved it, but at the same time, it made me want to rip my hair out cause I keep adding on to it 😭 God, Leon Kennedy, the man that you are. I have so many ideas I want to write for him, and I can't wait to write more! I can't wait for the mini game and DLC :') I completed my second gameplay of RE9 and unlocked infinite ammo and durability for the hatchet >:3 Anyway, to all my new and returning readers, keep in mind that I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3! Read more of my works on my Grand Masterlist, which contains every masterlist I have created! | Maybe support me by tipping me on Ko-Fi or by reblogging my fanfics! ^^ I will also be posting exclusive fanfics on Ko-Fi as well very soon! I might post all of my stories there, too, but who knows? You can also tip me on Tumblr if you'd like, as a way to show support! ^^ Join the Discord to get future fic updates and connect with other readers, maybe?:) Raccoon City Sanctuary

[genshinluvr]

I was curious, do you play wuthering waves?

I stopped playing Wuthering Waves after the event that gives you a free Xiangli Yao :’) I couldn’t keep up with the number of gacha games, so I stopped playing Wuthering Waves.

I still want to write at least one fic for it tho! Idk when cause I only have one idea and it’s for Calcharo and Jiyan.

Calcharo my beloved 🥹

[genshinluvr]

Your Not What You'd Expect series I want to reblog it ALL. I'm just wondering, does it go in a certain order? Or can I just reblog them no matter the order they are on your masterlist?

Not really, the order they’re in (on every single one of my masterlists) is based on publication/upload date. Also you don’t need to send an anonymous ask. I know who you are.

Your name is popping up in my notification every five seconds 😭

Also, you’re reblogging all 132 of my fics? That’s crazy, poppy 😭 my notifications are still going off

@poppyflower-22 you’re blowing up my phone girl, holy 😭

[genshinluvr]

Just wait until I tgcf-pill her (it’s a wip but we’re gonna get there)

Y’all need to stop getting me into fandoms cause once I actually get into something, I’ll probably need to write for it to scratch the itch in my brain 😔

I’m still staying away from Apothecary Diaries tho

[genshinluvr]

Sorry guys I Leon pilled her 😔

THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT 😔 now I have to play all levels of difficulty in RE9 to see Leon (on my second gameplay right now and will be doing insanity mode once I unlock infinite ammo)

[genshinluvr]

Heyy, I reread your tragic outcomes fic after a year and I was wondering if you still plan to continue the fic? It's really beautifulllll, one of the best I've ever read, but I hope reader picks zhongli, xiao is being a jerk(⁠ノ⁠｀⁠Д⁠´⁠)⁠ノ⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

Probably not for a while tbh 😭 I did have a draft three years ago, but I ultimately scrapped it because it didn’t turn out how I planned for it to. I have other fics I wanted to work on (mainly Leon fics because I have more ideas for him compared to other fics), but I’ll try to take that time to reroute the scrapped Xiao draft.

I have two alternate endings for Tragic Outcomes, and the second one will be unexpected. I’m sort of surprised that I still remember the ideas for the two alternate endings for Tragic Outcomes

[genshinluvr]

i loved ur heartbeat fic made me laugh super cute 10/10 no notes hehe 🫶

Thank you!! :’) I’m really happy to see that you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it ❤️