the fucking brainrot…i’m sorry (no i’m not)
a little study of his face
aggie doodle with fren! @mukikori
re2r!Leon x college student!Reader.
isn't it just good manners to warn the cute biker about the cop car that's always stationed a few blocks over?
You bounce the shopping basket in your hands, eyes working around the grocery aisle underneath the harsh allure of the florescent lights. A carton of milk, a bag of chips, two sodas, a popcorn bucket and a bag of clementines just so your mom won't hop on the next flight to land right in front of your dorm room chastising about your eating habits.
Milk was healthy, too, right? Maybe not with the sugary cereal you're in search for, but at least it gets the calcium in your system, so who are you to complain.
Where was this darned cereal though? You're surely in the correct aisle, seeing lines of other boxes occupying the shelves, right next to all the jams, jellies and preserves colouring the dull gray of the counters. Taking a few steps back, you finally spot it at the very top and to your dismay, it is a lonesome box pushed to the very back.
You huff out an annoyed breath, securing the basket on your forearm. You're not leaving without that box or you're sure that you will not be eating any dinner for the next ten days.
But try as you might, you can't reach it. It doesn't help that you're on the tip of your toes, hand stretched up to an impossible length as your fingers are unable to even graze its surface.
You must look silly, thanking your luck that the store is empty, save for the cashier but he can't spot you from his counter. Unless he's chuckling in amusement through the security camera. Your dignity would have to take a backseat right now, this was more important than some middle aged man's amusement.
"Um, hey."
That makes you freeze, hand still up in the air, heels lifted at least four inches off the ground and your head turned in the direction away from where the muffled voice came from. With herculean effort, you twist your face, mouth opening slightly in horror as your eyes meet the man who had gently called out to you.
Washed out jeans, a black tee and a leather jacket in a colour so dark so you can't tell if it's blue as well or black. A helmet hides his face from you, sitting snuggly on his head with the visor tipped up that allows you to see his cool, blue eyes, the pale skin underneath pushed up as though the helmet was squeezing his cheeks.
You would have thought how adorable it looked but nothing mattered to you right now as you were horrified by being caught in your 'no one will see me' outfit by a cute biker. You know for sure now that someone somewhere is laughing at you. Maybe it is the cashier.
"I'm not gonna let you have this last box," You hear yourself blurt out defensively and as the words are out in the air, you want to slap yourself. Because apparently you hadn't embarrassed yourself enough.
His eyes crinkle, a chuckle making his chest vibrate. "Oh no, don't worry I wouldn't dream of it." He switches the gatorade and one stick of protein bar to his left hand. "I uh was just going to offer if I could get that for you?"
"Oh," You say stupidly, "Yeah please, that would be great." And finally you peel yourself away from the shelves and step back, feeling your skin get hot with embarrassment.
Nodding, he covers the distance easily with two strides, reaches up and plucks out the box without an hassle. "Ah, the elusive cereal box. They really should install step stools for us vertically challenged folks."
You raise your eyebrows, unable to stop the laugh that leaves your lips making your shoulders relax. "Us? I don't see you struggling to reach the top."
He winks at you. "I was just saying that to make you feel better." He holds the box out to you, "You know these are very sugary."
"Well I happen to like sweet things," You settle the cereal in your basket. "And that's why I also have the clementines to balance things out."
He laughs, shaking his head. For someone who speaks so softly and sweetly, it amazes you how much space he takes up in the aisle. All tall and broad, filling out his jacket in a way that has you fighting to not stare at the way his biceps are straining against the leather. And you feel your cheeks getting warmer, "What?"
"You're a college student?" He asks.
You wince, "My eating habits are that bad that it gave me away so quick?"
He blinks, tilting his head to the side as he gestures to the sweatshirt you have on with your college name stitched on so clearly with a maroon thread.
You look down and the urge to slap yourself returns. Great, another opportunity to embarass yourself and you decided not to pass it up. Bye-bye dreams of becoming someone's backpack. "Right," You cough, clasping the handles of the basket with both of your hands, "Yeah uh I go to college here. Are you a student too?"
To your surprise, he shakes his head, "No I work nearby."
Before you can ask where, you feel your phone buzz loudly in your pocket. Once. Twice. And then thrice. Throwing him an apologetic look, you dig it out to find a barrage of texts from your roommate asking where you were and if you'd gotten the popcorn yet.
Sighing, you shoot back a text saying you'll be there in ten as you sway on your feet, preparing to move. "I should go. It was really nice to meet you..."
"Leon," He adds with a smile, cheeks squishing even more under his helmet.
You return his smile and give him your name in exchange, which has his eyes crinkling deeply. And just before you disappear around the aisle to the cashier, you stop and turn around.
"Hey," You call out to him, waiting as he turns to you, "Friendly tip, there's a cop car that's always parked a few blocks away. It's well hidden behind a few bushes, so it makes it hard to spot." You pat your head, feeling a little foolish and hoping that's the correct sign for 'police' in the viking community. "Be careful so they don't give you a hard time."
Leon grins widely under his helmet, feeling almost giddy. He should leave too if he wants to be up bright and early to report to his post with the cop car a few blocks away.
Leon pats the top of helmet, mirroring you, "Thanks for letting me know! I'll keep an eye out for that."
And this time he watches you as you shuffle on your feet, face contorting like you wanted to say something else but then deciding against it and then almost tripping on your feet before you walked away, your neck suddenly a shade darker.
The same one you just mentioned.
ヾ(๑╹◡╹)ノ" ♡
apologies all, i havent written on tumblr in an embarrassing amount of time but ill learn how to properly tag my shit lol
RESIDENT EVIL 4 (2023)
CRYING!!!!! THIS SHIT IS SO FUCKING CUTE!!!!!
invisible string
content ꒰ 2.3k ꒱ re4r leon x female reader. fluff! reader is friends with ashley. short & sweet. no warnings really. both reader & leon are hopeless romantics. and also bookworms apparently. mentions of the women in leon's life. french people slander. spoilers for the stranger by camus. not proofread, as usual. i miss autumn dearly. author's note i watched before sunrise the other night and it made me believe in love again for a second there. def recommend if you haven't seen it !! also listened to champagne coast by blood orange on repeat while writing this hehe. reblogs & comments are always very appreciated. ꣑ৎ
"He's, like, really gorgeous," your closest friend, Ashley, sighs dreamily, walking hand-in-hand with you towards the train station. The chilly October air nips at both of your cheeks, hers flushed red. "I think you'll really like him."
Given her track record, you'll be the judge of that.
"I dunno Ash," you shrug, giving the girl a lopsided smile in a poor attempt to reassure her, "He's a blonde. Are you sure he isn't the devil reincarnate?" You deadpan with a sip from your stale coffee.
At her frown, you sigh, "...I guess he did save your life."
Ashley had been dying to introduce you to Leon, whom she barely hung out with herself; his schedule was chaotic, like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. Between his personal life (or lack thereof) and missions in foreign countries, he almost never had the time. But finally, he had a day off, one he could dedicate to the President's daughter—and you.
"Trust me, Leon's a total sweetheart," she says as the two of you step onto the train, "He might not look it, but deep down, he's a big softie."
"If you say so," you mumble more to yourself than to her.
Gorgeous was an understatement. Through the glass windows of the café, you see Leon sitting in the corner near the record player, his blonde locks falling in front of his pretty face. A worn book is poised between his index finger and his thumb; Camus, how predictable.
The small bell above the door chimes softly as you both stumble inside, Ashley quickly waving with her sugary sweet smile at the sight of her little knight in shining armor. Oh, you had no chance with him if she was around. Your smile pales in comparison to hers; awkward and stiff.
Whatever, you didn't owe this stranger anything. Even if he was perfect in every way imaginable.
Leon smiles back at Ashley, then stares at you momentarily, before gesturing for the two of you to come on over. You have to fight the urge to physically cringe; the look he gave you felt so...weird. It wasn't exactly a nasty scowl, but it also wasn't a polite grin.
"Leon! How've you been?" The blonde gushes, taking a seat across from him; you follow right next to her. Before he gets the chance to reply, Ashley introduces you as well, "This is my friend I'm always talking about. She's the best girl I know."
You offer him a half-hearted smile, paired with a little shy shrug; damn, this man had you acting a fool already. To your surprise, he smiles back, albeit a little tensely, and nods, "It's nice to meet you."
"Like wise."
Ashley keeps the conversation afloat, mostly asking Leon about his missions—vaguely, of course, given their classified nature—and life in general. He'd reply and return the questions back to her, while you sat there with a constipated expression plastered onto your face, feeling completely out of place. Obviously, they weren't deliberately trying to single you out, but your attempts at trying to chime in had gone unnoticed. More like ignored.
You felt like a fucking third wheeler.
At least, until Ashley excused herself, claiming she needed to go to the bathroom "real quickly." Five minutes of awkward silence had already passed, mixed in with the occasional this coffee's really good and it's kind of cold in here. Leon looks at you, you look at him. Then out the window at the red and orange fallen leaves, and lastly, to the wall adjacent, just...admiring the vinyls on display.
Your eyes land upon his book, set haphazardly next to the ceramic mug, and then it hits you: you've read The Stranger, you can make conversation! At least, enough conversation until Ashley came back.
Breaking the unbearable silence, you say, meeting his gaze, "So...Camus."
Leon looks at the book, then at you, "What about him?" An inscrutable look etched itself onto his perfect features.
Ouch. Still, you persevere, "Have you read the book before? I wouldn't want to spoil it for you."
You take a sip of your vanilla latte, a maroonish lipstick mark left on the rim; this was much better than the sad cup of coffee you drank in the morning.
He chuckles, running a hand through his blonde locks. "Only a million times." Cheesy, but you could work with it. "I love French literature."
You shrug, feigning disinterest, "The French suck though."
But, not wanting to burst his bubble, you add, "The whole concept of absurdism really stuck with me, I have to admit. Sometimes I wish I could be as indifferent as Meursault. He just...doesn't care." You laugh, the words flowing so naturally it shocked you.
"Just drifting through life without any real purpose?" Leon adds for you with a light scoff, his gaze softening a bit. "In my dreams. I liked how the trial was more of a judgement of his character rather than his actions. It's almost as if the real crime was his nonchalance towards his mother's death."
That's the most you've heard Leon talk in the half an hour you'd known him. He looked so cute, explaining the parts of the book he enjoyed. You wanted to kiss him so bad.
You're both fully engrossed in each other and your shared taste in literature, the outside world fading into a blur. You can't even seem to notice Ashley, who finally returns with a sly look on her pretty face. She slides in right next to you, clasping her hands together above the table.
"Wow, you two seem to be really hitting it off." Oh, her disappearance was so deliberate. Her voice snaps you both out of your little trance.
All her comment earns are two awkward chuckles and averting gazes. It's like everything's falling into place, just how she wanted it to, so seamlessly. Ashley really was pretty good at this whole matchmaker thing. Hell, she could give Cupid a run for his money.
The more you got to know Leon, the more that sweetness Ashley had mentioned began to seep through his rough exterior, like the morning sun pouring in through parted curtains.
Now it was her getting sidelined.
Leon was slowly falling in love with you.
He couldn't help himself. Despite his awful luck with women in the past, he still found himself gazing longingly at you, wishing you were in his arms. After the little get-together with Ashley, you two exchanged numbers, started hanging out together without her. You called that night before bed. His heart nearly skipped a beat.
You were just a college girl who did ballet and enjoyed the same music & literature as him; you couldn't be like Ada, right? An ordinary civilian, someone who hadn't seen the things he and his old flame had. He felt some semblance of normalcy around you, something he couldn't even feel with Ashley or Claire. It was so refreshing.
Ever since Leon met you, he no longer found himself picking up random women at bars for meaningless sex. Almost as if he was remaining faithful and loyal to you, even if you weren't together.
He was smitten.
No one, not even the woman in the red dress, the President's doe-eyed daughter, or his closest friend, could steal his attention away from you. They were all very beautiful, Leon had to admit, but you were ethereal. Out of this fucking world.
When you called asking if he wanted to come over and watch a movie together, Leon felt his cheeks go hot, regardless of the biting cold December winds outside. He was walking back to his apartment after a rather unsuccessful mission; every muscle in his body ached, exhaustion creeping beneath his skin. But he couldn't leave you hanging.
"Yeah, sure." He manages to reply. "What movie?"
"Before sunrise." You say; Leon found your choice interesting. "It's one of my favorites. Have you seen it?"
"Who hasn't?" Leon chuckles. "I'll be over soon. Gotta take care of a few things first." He desperately needed a steaming hot shower after whatever the fuck his last mission was.
"Okay, great." He can almost hear the smile through your tone. "See ya."
Come two hours, and Leon's standing in your doorway, in all his blonde glory. "Hey sweetheart," he smiles softly; definitely a totally platonic, friendly, kind pet name specially for you. The cute look that'd sneak onto your face whenever he used it had Leon's chest tightening uncontrollably.
"Hi Leon." You let him walk past you.
He'd been to your apartment a few times before, but never alone; usually either with Ashley or some of his friends that you'd met in the two months you knew each other so far. Your heart was beating a little too fast for comfort right now, the idea of the two of you being alone together at night sending your mind into a frenzy.
There's a comfortable amount of space between you and Leon on the sofa, though you wished you were curled up on his lap. If only you knew how badly he wanted that too. The movie plays, but your concentration is on anything but. His cologne invades your senses, the subtle sound of his breathing solidifying the fact that he was right next to you.
Feigning fatigue, you "casually" let your head fall upon his shoulder, causing Leon's breath to hitch. He sits still, not daring to move an inch, afraid you might move yourself. He felt the way your knee brushed against his, your arms that were just itching to wrap around him. At first, he thought he was just imagining things; wishful thinking playing tricks on him for the umpteenth time.
But then your arms did wrap around his waist, lazily draped over him. You made yourself more comfortable, body flush against his, leaning against him like he was your boyfriend.
Leon really didn't want to say anything. But he just couldn't help it. "Everything okay?" You were generally touchy, sure, but there seemed to be meaning behind your actions this time.
"Yeah." The way you say yeah makes it seem like he's crazy for insinuating otherwise. "Why do you ask?"
"I-I don't know," Leon feels like he's dug his own grave. He clears his throat, "You're being awfully...affectionate." And now he wants to shoot himself.
You laugh. You fucking laugh. Leon blinks twice, wondering if he's dreaming.
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"Not necessarily." He coughs. "It's just a little, um," Leon frantically searches for the right words to use, "Unexpected, I guess."
"I can let go if you're uncomfortable." Please don't, he wants to say.
"Nah, it's fine. I don't mind." And on that note, you smile, returning your gaze to movie, even if Leon's face was a million times more interesting. Of course the scene playing on the screen is Jesse and Celine's first kiss. How cliché. You're both fighting the urge to follow by example.
Silence envelopes the room, the air thick with tension that never really existed between the two of you before. Getting all awkward over a kissing scene felt so awfully juvenile, but it wasn't your fault Leon had that effect on you, and vice-versa. Both of your eyes are locked on the TV, not daring to look at one another.
To your surprise, Leon says, very quietly, "You're really pretty."
His words rip through the stillness. You don't know how to respond, but also don't want to leave him hanging. So you pull back a bit, enough to get a better view of his perfect face, and smile, "What?"
"You heard me," he mumbles, baby blue eyes meeting yours. Seeing Leon all shy strikes something within you.
"I did. I just..." God, this was awkward.
"I know this might seem weird, but..." Leon sighs softly, biting the corner of his lip for a second as he searched for the best words to use. "I think you're a great girl. Sweet, too. And I really want to kiss you." He mentally chastised himself for sounding so cliché, so corny.
He quickly adds, "You don't have to say anything, by the way. I just...I needed to get that off my chest." As if you could go on normally after this.
You stare at him in disbelief, mulling over his words, wondering if he was just saying things. When you were inviting him over to watch a movie together, you didn't expect a heartfelt confession, but really it was naïve to think you wouldn't. Especially after holding onto him like that. Your reluctance to respond has Leon's expression fall flat.
So you don't say anything. You kiss him. And he doesn't waste any time kissing you back. It's soft, delicate. Testing the waters. His hands clasp onto your hips, slowly smoothing up and down your back. It doesn't take long for him to really get into it, though.
The outside world fades into nothing, the feeling of Leon's chapped lips on yours overpowering any other. "Are you sure about this?" He mumbles between kisses, unsure if you really wanted to kiss, or simply did it to please him. You mumble a quick shut up and tangle your fingers into his soft hair.
Your hips shift a bit, coaxing him into pulling you onto his lap, lips still connected together. You only get sloppier with your kisses, forcing yourself to breathe through your nose, just in case he might change his mind about all of this the moment you part.
"Easy baby," Leon whispers, pushing you back slightly; this definitely wasn't the reaction he was expecting. "I'm not going anywhere."
It's safe to say the movie didn't get finished. Good thing you both watched it before.
RESIDENT EVIL 4 REMAKE (2023) dev. Capcom