Title: How is He Supposed to Know?
Fandom: Resident Evil
Rating: K+
Genre: (attempted) Humor, Romance
Characters: Luther West, Alice, and some other.
Summary: Post RE4. "Luther thinks he's a keen observer. Alice proves him otherwise." Luther/Alice.
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or any involved materials.
Warnings: Grammatical mistakes and stuff. Yeah, English is not my main language, and I'm not a pro or sumthin', so yeah. It's short, but this is not the shortest one I've written so far.
"So tell me," Alice starts casually, though he can tell that she's being serious with her question through that small glimmer of hope and worry in her eyes. "What can you see, when you look into my eyes?"
Obviously, he can tell a thousand of things, from how beautiful they are down to how complicated of a person she is, but he doesn't say it. Instead, Luther raises his brow amusedly at her and smirks, crossing his arms on his chest and asks; "Is that a challenge?"
She gives him an angelic smile.
They stand at the second floor of the Cell Block B, eyes casting downward at the sight of the other survivors; Claire is sitting next to Chris on a table at the corner of the room, Angel is currently busy talking with Crystal, who's trying her best to not be distracted while cooking, and Bennet and Kim Yong are too busy with themselves to notice.
Alice looks at him expectantly—her eyes shining, her lips curve into a small sly smirk—and leans against the railing. He knows what she wants him to do, but he needs her to say it, because even if she's one hell of a tough badass woman, she's still a woman, and it is impolite to rush things on his own.
"Well?" she finally speaks, and he throws her a smile before taking a deep breath.
His eyes land on Bennet and Kim Yong first (surprise, surprise), and he watches as they whisper secretly to each other. Sometimes, Bennet speaks louder and faster than he's supposed to, but it doesn't seem to startle the younger Asian at all. The looks on their faces tell him everything, and Luther smiles.
"Bennet and Kim Yong—they are trying to escape, together." He says proudly, his eyes find hers and she raises her eyebrow questioningly at him, as if asking "that's it?" and he chuckles. She really does look cute, even when she's practically bringing some illegal weapons that are impossible to find in these days and age.
"They want to escape from this place, and when they do, which might not happen considering our current dire situation at hand, they will start a new life." Luther tries to explain as best as he can, but clearly, she misunderstands some of his words, and he chews on his lower lip slightly. "They're not… having a case of sexual orientation, if that's what you're thinking."
Alice laughs at this and shakes her head, and he just stares at her, his heart warming all of the sudden, and his stomach flips, but he pays them no mind. He doesn't want to lose in this game, not at all.
When she's done laughing, she gestures toward Crystal and Angel, who seem to be fooling around or flirting, or possibly both, and he grins. Those two are the easiest to read.
"Angel thinks of Crystal as his sister. He told me once that he had a sister, who turned into a zombie and killed their parents, and tried to kill him, until he stabbed a dagger through her chest." She pursed her lips at this, but doesn't say anything. Luther knows that she wants to say something, but he continues confidently.
"As for Chris and Claire—where, clearly, she doesn't believe that he's her brother. She's keeping an eye on him, because she knows that I was right." And at this, Alice offers another heart-warming smile and chuckles. Luther doesn't understand what's so funny, well, it's either that or she's attracted to him, but he thinks it's the former, not the latter.
"That's all?" she asks, and he thinks "finally", because she seems to be holding that question back at the back of her throat. Luther counts to seven before giving her his reply, solid and confident, as usual.
"Yeah," he says, and adds, "That's all," as a confirmation.
Alice smiles again—she seems to smile a lot these days, Claire told him once, and he wonders if it's because of him or the irony of their situation—and points her finger at where Bennet and Kim Yong are sitting.
"They're talking about a movie. His movie, to be precise," she gestures uncomfortably at Bennet's way, and continues; "About how humiliated he was when they put it into post-production status under someone else's name, and Kim Yong is… not really listening. He's thinking of something else entirely."
He raises a brow at this, and wonders if she's joking with him or what, but she looks dead serious despite that oh-so-sweet-smile on her face, so he shuts his mouth tight and waits, just like she did.
Surprisingly, Bennet suddenly shouts about 'Barthimaeus' and 'Nathaniel' and 'Resistances' and something like 'if just this life is as easy as Stroud's novel', and he fell silence, shock graces over his feature, and she doesn't wait for him to recover and continues.
"Crystal and Angel… he's not thinking of her as a sister. You should know that." Alice looks at him then, and he can see the mocking and amusement in her eyes, but he brushes it off and stares at her challengingly again. "Look at the way he's talking to her; his eyes show passion and something else, they turn warm every time he looks at her, and Crystal is in the same condition as he is."
He's not sure with that, because Angel told him once that he thinks of Crystal as nothing but a friend, or a sister, and he's honest when he did.
But then, from the corner of his eyes, he sees Angel curls his finger in her lock of black hair, and he stares with half-parted lips in surprise. She chuckles once again, but he decides to pay her no mind as well, because his pride is hurt enough with the truth.
"And then, we're on to the most difficult couple of all," he hears her says, and he shifts his attention fully to the (maybe they are, maybe they're not) siblings.
They are sitting at the same way he saw them before; Claire sits on the table, one of her hands is hidden behind her, while the other is busy playing with a dagger. Chris also sits in a similar fashion, but his head is slightly tilted to her side, and he finally sees what he had missed before.
They are talking to each other. Secretly too, he doesn't understand why, but they do.
"Even though it doesn't look like it, Claire is… very fond of Chris, I think. She speaks to him once in a while, nervously, if I may add, and Chris seems to be amused by her behavior." She declares softly, and it takes a minute for him to process what she just said.
"Are you saying that… they are—"
"No, of course not." Alice cuts him off, and he frowns at her. She feigns innocence, and he decides to shake it off, just like the rest.
"I can't believe it," Luther starts off, his voice sounds nervous and impressed and amused, and she listens patiently, although she already knows what he wants to say. "You're a better observer than I am."
When he finally says it, she can see that he is troubled and ashamed of himself for ever telling her that he's 'good with people' or 'know people', but now, she's making it as if he's a judgy person, and maybe he is. He just realizes it too late.
"I know." Alice says, her smile looks even brighter than before, and even though he does feel somehow guilty and all, she washes them all away with a smile, and he doesn't mind.
Uhh, okay, so this is weird, even for me. Yeah, I know, I've been writing a lot of weird stories lately, but would please, leave a review after you read this? It makes me sad that I haven't received a single review, lately… *cries off on the corner*
Oh, and that thing about Bartimaeus is real. He's a genie from Jonathan Stroud's books, The Bartimaeus Trilogy, which, in any case, you must read. It's an excellent series, with strong ending, so it is highly recommended for you to read it.