"One Kiss"

a Luis Sera story

— By Sha Amaranth —

Luis, Leon, and Resident Evil belong to Capcom.

Mona, and Viktor belong to me, and my siblings.

Christmas was approaching, and everywhere Luis went, there was another storefront setting up colourful decorations and toys of which plenty of children had been known to look longingly at, in shadows long since past. It seemed lesser and lesser children stopped to look at these old toys, what with the latest video games coming out these days.

For old time's sake, Luis slowed his pace to stand before a storefront of one of the older buildings around, and observed a train set with a nostalgic sigh, watching the little train move around the storefront. A faint boyish smile wavered on Luis's face as the little train steadily made it's way on the tracks between toy soldiers, over the heads of ragdolls and through little tunnels cleverly set up by the store owners.

"I'm too old for this," Luis sighed, tucking his hands deeper into his pockets and watched the sight of his breath on the icy air fade away, before Luis turned around to head toward the section of town where his friend, Leon, lived. The sounds of cars and chatter among a college crowd filled the air, while Luis casually glanced at passerbys he happened to cross paths with in the busy city afternoon.

The faint sunlight was fading, leaving a twilight effect on the hour despite only being about the middle of 4pm, but that was Winter there. The air seemed colder in this part of town, as Luis turned to make his way down a quiet neighbourhood, where some early Christmas trees were visible in a few windows past gardens of colourful lightbulbs.

Luis walked down the long sidewalk on the empty street, coming up to an iron gate where Leon's family house was only several feet beyond. Luis glanced over to the modern house decorated with more colourful lights and wreaths on the left, where Leon's cousins lived before he turned his pale blue eyes back to study the older architect of Leon's house, where a few simple Christmas lights lingered against the darker wood of the porch with a large Christmas wreath on the door.

"Interesting contrast," Luis shrugged and reluctantly took a bare hand out of his warm pocket to make contact with freezing iron, and - with a slight gasp - Luis opened the gate to quickly step inside the garden, closing the gate behind him as quickly as possible before rubbing his hand against his coat with a small sigh.

Luis looked up through sleeping tree branches at the skies where he could see only the very last faint streaks of sunlight fading fast, and noticed a few small stars trying to break through the dark velvet of the evening sky.

Down the short path, Luis placed one foot up on the porch steps just as the front door opened to Luis's surprise. It took only a moment for Luis to adjust his eyes from the dark of the outside house to the brighter hallway light that shone past the silhouette, who Luis recognised as Leon's sister, Simone.

"Luis," Mona spoke his name in a soft Russian accent, and grinned at the Spaniard who blinked a few times, trying to shrug off the slight stinging of his eyes.

"Hi Luis, you're here early. Leon's waiting for you out back."

"Hey senorita," Luis grinned back at her, leaning one elbow casually over his knee with his foot still on the bottom step and clicked his tongue a moment thoughtfully, before nodding his head.

"Thanks for the info. Now say, you want to help me get warmed up inside? It's awful cold out here, you know," the playful suggestion in Luis's tone was caught by Mona, who rolled her eyes and smiled at Luis with a face like a child. She was flattered, and Luis knew he could say that, but she wouldn't.

"Luis, you don't need me to get you warmed up, you know," her words a playoff of his. With a more serious tone, she continued with, "The living room is pretty warm, if you would like to go inside. I could go get Leon for you, before I leave."

"Pretty warm, eh? Not as pretty or warm as you, I'm sure," Luis smiled at the younger girl, as he stood up to step up on the porch, leaning over Mona with a face to make an angel melt. Even with his flirtatious nature to hide behind, Mona could see in Luis's eyes that he was a cautious person when it came to the heart - just like her.

"How about one kiss, senorita?"

Carelessly, Mona smirked at Luis with a slight shake of her head and a soft sigh. She stepped pass him without another word, and Luis could take a hint. She probably wasn't in the mood right now, Luis figured and decided to take a more down to earth approach on conversation.

"So, hey," Luis felt awkward, "Where are you going?"

"Hm?" Mona turned back to look up at Luis, who realised she didn't catch his words; he probably spoke too quickly there, and so Luis repeated himself with a small nervous laugh. There was no reason to get nervous, but Luis felt nervous anyhow, let alone that he felt cold and that was making him jittery enough as it was.

"Oh, I'm going down to the library."

Luis nodded.

Not going much anywhere, so Luis decided to let it go.

"Well, I don't want to keep you held up, so have fun, senorita dear," Luis grinned somewhat bashfully at Mona, and she tilted her head at Luis, unsure of what to make of him before a small smile played over her lips. Nervously, Luis stepped up behind the rail of the porch, glancing towards the door which was cracked open an inch, or half, where the hallway light poured out upon the porch steps. From where the door was opened, Luis noticed it was pretty empty save for some Christmas decorations along the wall and ceiling.

"Hey Luis."

Luis looked over at Simone with a raised eyebrow.

"It's snowing," Mona laughed childishly and Luis looked up at the skies, where small snowflakes contrasted against the dark blanket of the night sky as the snowflakes danced pass the few stars visible above the city street. It was pretty dark down this street, so the stars were a bit more noticeable around here than were they elsewhere. A smile spread over Luis's lips at the sight of snowfall.

"It's probably not going to last long," Luis said as he stepped down off of the porch, and walked over towards Mona, stopping next to her where he turned to glance up at the snowfall. Mona gave Luis a small childish pout, sighing before she looked towards the skies and stared thoughtfully a moment at the snow. Luis studied her eyes, feeling a flush over his face when a moment later, her dark eyes met his with curiousity.

"I wish it would last," she spoke quietly.

"Well, I'm only supposing it won't last long because of the last few snowfalls," Luis mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck before taking a more optimistic perspective, and smiled at her with a look that let Mona know Luis wasn't just saying this for her, "But you know what? Even if it doesn't last, why not enjoy it while it does?"

"That's true, but I do wish it would last," Mona sighed softly, then grinned wearily up at Luis, "If only the snowfall would last, aye?"

A silent moment passed while the two observed one another. Luis felt calm, forgetting about how cold it was, while Mona turned her eyes to the snowfall, realising she wasn't good at keeping eye contact despite how safe Luis made her feel. The library forgotten, Mona turned back to Luis with a shy look in her eyes as she gently bit her lower lip nervously.

"Luis, did you want to see Leon?"

Luis turned his head to look down at her.

"Oh! Right, yes, I came over to see Leon," Luis grinned and jokingly added, "You think Leon is going to be able to forgive me for keeping him waiting?"

"Leon's not the type to get angered easily," Mona looked past Luis, unable to keep eye contact and stared into the hallway; it was empty, except for the Christmas decorations and apparently her brothers, Leon and Viktor, hadn't noticed the draft yet, but then again, they all loved the cold as it made it easier to breath despite how frightful cold it could get on some colder days.

"After all, Leon's cool,' Mona smiled at Luis with a playful tilt of her head, and, remembering that she was leaving for the library, she gave Luis a soft push towards the house, "Don't keep my brother waiting any longer, Luis."

"Just one thing, senorita," Luis spoke as he walked towards the door, stepping up onto the porch and turned back to look down at her walking down the path towards the gate. Mona turned back towards Luis, where she stood at the partially opened gate with a single hand upon it.

"Yes?"

"If the library can wait, could you go get Leon for me?" Luis asked, holding the door open while he stepped inside and turned back to Mona, who nodded curiously.

"Sure," Mona walked across the path, leaving the gate partially open and stepped up the porch slowly, taking her time as her pains acted up. Luis looked at her with concern, and Mona just grinned at him, letting him know it was okay. "You going to stay here, and... 'get warm'?"

Surprised, Luis grinned at Mona teasing him, and he nodded.

"You got it, senorita," Luis now smiled at Mona, who stepped pass him just as Luis gently placed a hand on her arm to turn her towards him. Mona stared up at Luis curiously, noticing the mischievous look in his pale blue eyes while Luis nodded his head upwards without taking his sight away from her face.

Mona looked up, and, with a blush, she noticed the mistletoe hanging up above the door.

"One kiss, senorita dear?"