Author's note: This is a response to "I fell in love with my best friend" for Cleon.

Leon was late, but Claire didn't mind; she'd known he would be late. He always was. It was almost October, but the weather was still quite warm and sunny in D.C., Claire had expected it to be rainier. Since the opportunity was there, Claire had taken a seat outside on the patio, enjoying the sunlight and the crisp air. Claire finished the coffee she'd gotten while waiting for Leon and headed inside the coffeehouse to get another. She glanced at her watch and decided to order a coffee for Leon as well. He should be here soon, he was almost never more than twenty minutes late.

"I am so sorry," Leon apologized when he finally arrived and took a seat at the tiny round table.
"It's okay," Claire assured with a smile and slowly slid the coffee she'd gotten for him across the table.

"Thank you," he said as he accepted the mug and took a sip. Just like he liked it, not that it was difficult to remember how he liked his coffee: black.

"How are you?" Claire then asked, and Leon shrugged one shoulder a little. There wasn't much to tell... other than things he didn't really want to talk about any more than Claire probably wanted to hear it. The constant fight was her life too, this was a day off for them both.

"I've been okay. I finally got that bike I was telling you about. I was thinking about taking a little road trip next summer, you should come with if you have the time," he smiled.
"Sounds fun, I'll keep that in mind," Claire nodded. "How's Sherry?"

"She's doing great, she makes an excellent agent. I think she's currently on protective detail somewhere in Norway," Leon answered.
"Good for her! Any interesting office gossip?" Claire then inquired with a grin and Leon chuckled a little.

"Well, let's see. Hunnigan divorced Thomas."
"Really? That's a shame, they made a good-looking couple and he seemed like a nice guy. Granted, I only met them once at that Christmas party, so I guess I wouldn't know really," Claire commented and took a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, well, she had a good reason," Leon said, and his devious grin made Claire frown a little.
"Go on, you obviously know something more and you're just dying to tell me."

"She's dating Helena now."
"Triple-H?" Claire's eyebrows rose, and it was Leon's turn to frown as he tried to understand the connection. He didn't think Claire was referring to the WWE wrestler.

"Oh, it's a silly nickname Sherry and I came up with. Triple-H as in HotHead-Helena," Claire elaborated, and Leon bust laughing in the middle of taking a drink of his coffee, ending up blowing a generous splash of the beverage onto his face.
"Yup, same woman," he confirmed, wiping coffee from his face with a napkin.

"Well, that is news."
"Oh, but I haven't even told you the best part yet."

"There can't possibly be more to that."
"Hunnigan's pregnant and Thomas is the father, but he doesn't know, and Hunnigan doesn't intend to tell him because he never wanted kids, so I'm assuming she's intending to raise the baby with Helena."

"Wow, you're more into office gossip than I thought," Claire remarked with a smirk.
"Nah, I just hear things because Helena tends to forget that the radio frequency we're on isn't exactly private and she gets chatty with Hunnigan when it's quiet during a mission," Leon explained.

"Anyway, that's about it, nothing very new or exciting. What about you, what's up?" he then asked.

"Nothing much to report here either, I spend most of my time just working. I don't go out on field assignments very often these days. I don't know how, but I kind of ended up stuck in an office doing the boring paperwork because after the incident at Sushestvovanie island, someone had to take over Neil's job, and it ended up being me since I knew my way around it. But honestly… it's a headache. Give me a zombie any day over that," Claire sighed, and Leon chuckled quietly.

"Yeah, zombies at least can be shot, paperwork is forever," he said.
"Exactly. But yeah… I guess I shouldn't complain, at least it's been relatively quiet recently. Well, since June anyway."

"True, let's enjoy it while it lasts," he said, raised his mug a little and she clinked her against his to toast the blessed boredom.

"You've lost weight," Leon said after eyeing Claire from head to toe as they walked toward her apartment after stopping at a grocery store to pick up snacks and drinks for their "booze, junk food and movies"-night.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Claire laughed, glancing back over her shoulder and quirking an eyebrow when she caught him staring at her butt.

"It is, you're looking far too skinny," he replied bluntly. "I'm just worried about you," he then defended his words when Claire glared at him.
"Well, to be honest, it's been kind of a rough year, I guess the stress does that," she sighed and linked her arm with his as they walked.

"You gotta remember to take care of yourself rather than always just save the world, you know," he said.
"You're one to talk," she teased with a smile. "But, at least now I can eat excessive amounts of chocolate without having to feel guilty about it," she then added.

Fifteen minutes later, they were in Claire's apartment and had set an assortment of sweet and salty snacks on the coffee table, a cooler filled with ice and beer underneath the table so that they wouldn't need to get up and go to the kitchen for drinks. In other words, everything was set for the perfect lazy evening.

"I couldn't remember the name of this movie for the life of me, but then I saw one of the actors in another movie and Googled him, and voilá," Claire said as she dramatically whipped out a VHS cassette. She put the tape in the machine and handed the cover to Leon.

"Short time," he read the title, "seems interesting."

"Yeah, Chris still had the tape, I remember him showing this to me when I was a kid. I didn't understand what was so funny about some of the parts I recall him laughing at, maybe I'll get the jokes now," Claire said, sat on the couch and grabbed the remote.

Leon regarded her amusedly when she became obviously somewhat frustrated as she browsed through the TV's settings, trying to find the correct input for the VCR. She hadn't used the machine in ages.

"Here, let me."
"I've got it!" she scoffed at him and yanked the remote further from him, cycling through the settings one more time and finding the right input.

Once the movie was finally playing, Claire grabbed the bowl of popcorn and placed it onto the couch between herself and Leon so that they'd both have better access to it. He didn't seem all that interested in eating though and rather grabbed a beer from the cooler.

Claire recently hadn't had a chance to spend as much time with him as she would've liked, but the few times they had hung out, she'd noticed he did tend to drink a lot. The fact that he never really got drunk despite the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed spoke volumes of his tolerance being rather high which in return told her he was used to drinking a lot and often. She didn't think it was her place to comment since it wasn't any of her business and she didn't judge him; on the contrary.

If all the things he'd gone through hadn't left any marks on him, she would've been more worried than she was now. The cracks and tears in his shell were visible and at the end of the day, that was a good thing. They made him human. The pain made him human. She supposed it was ironic that she was glad to see he still felt something while simultaneously wishing she could've erased the hurt.

It had only recently occurred to her that it had been over fifteen years since they'd met back in Raccoon City. During those years, she'd come to realize that he was the one person she'd always been able to rely upon, even more so than she'd relied upon Chris. He was the protective big brother, but at times that meant he made himself disappear to protect her and contacting him could be a challenge. Leon, on the other hand, was more available.

Claire admitted that it was mostly because Hunnigan wasn't above blatantly violating protocol and relaying a message to Leon even when he was on a mission if Claire asked, whereas the B.S.A.A. agents outright refused to do the same under any circumstances since doing so might possibly compromise the agents on duty. Claire couldn't really blame Chris for that, and she never had. But the fact remained that Leon was the most reliable person in her life.

"What?" Leon asked when he noticed she was staring at him, and she sat up straight, shaking her head a little.
"Nothing, I was just thinking, and I realized you're my best friend."

"Well, I can say the same about you," he smiled, leaned back on the couch and crossed one leg over the other, stretching his arm over the backrest of the couch. Claire moved the bowl of popcorn out of the way and scooted closer to him, raising her feet onto the couch and leaned to rest her head on his chest, wrapping her arm around his midsection.

"…everything okay?" he asked quietly and turned his head a little, resting his chin on the top of her head, lowering his arm a little so that he could put it around Claire's shoulders.
"Yeah… yeah, I just… can I stay here? I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?" she asked, and Leon frowned a little at her oddly serious tone of voice.

"You're not, and you can stay there for as long as you want," he whispered and kissed the top of her head before turning his attention back to the movie, raising the beer bottle to his lips and taking a long sip.

Claire had stopped paying attention a while ago already. Apparently, she probably wouldn't find out what Chris had laughed at so heartily way back when today either. She closed her eyes, the sounds from the movie fading away in the background as she concentrated on the sound of his breathing and the liquid splashing quietly in the bottle of beer as he drank from it once more. He chuckled softly and silently, the only thing giving it away being the way his abdomen seemed to recoil as the amusement erupted from him subtly.

Claire couldn't say how long she'd stayed there, just enjoying the feel of having him close to her and the warmth radiating from his body, but evidently it had been long enough for the movie to end. Leon moved slowly to grab the remote from the coffee table, his movements careful as if he was worried about waking her, obviously not realizing she was awake. He stopped the tape and hit rewind, the familiar but nowadays so rarely heard sound of the machine whirring as it wound the tape back filling the room.

Leon began to flip through the channels, the fingers of his free hand finding their way to softly stroke the nape of Claire's neck and gently tug on strands of auburn hair as he spun them around his fingers. Claire swallowed hard at the warm touch but didn't say anything or move, she didn't want him to stop and she worried he might if he realized she was awake.

She found herself almost desperately wanting to slip her fingers underneath his shirt and feel his bare skin against her own. She wanted to straddle him and put her arms around his shoulders, sink her fingers into his hair and pull him to herself. She wanted her chest pressed against his chest. She wanted to taste his breath, kiss him so hard it might split her lips, feel his stubble sting her face as she did. She wanted the same furious passion fueled by adrenaline and the need to feel alive that she'd felt with him once before, shortly after Raccoon City, at an abandoned cabin where they'd taken shelter to rest for a while. Funnily enough, the only one taking a proper rest at the time had been Sherry, who'd fallen asleep almost the moment her head had hit the pillow.

They'd never spoken of it since then, and Claire had run off to search for Chris almost immediately after. She still didn't think Leon had ever forgiven her for that. But she didn't regret it, not even after everything she wished she would've done somewhat differently.

She'd never told him she loved him. She'd never told him he'd been her first. What would've been the point? Every time they'd ran into each other since then had only strengthened her belief that she'd made the right call by not telling him.

Lately, however, they'd begun spending more time together, doing delightfully ordinary things like having a coffee and chatting or going to the movies. Despite everything Moira had said while teasing Claire about Leon being her boyfriend, her relationship with him had always been just friendly, platonic… aside from that one time over fifteen years ago.

But now, things felt different. Claire had given herself the permission to cautiously begin hoping that maybe they could both just lead normal lives, at least for the most part. And if they could do that, maybe they could be together like this more often, only not just as friends.

Claire inhaled deeply through her nose and shifted a little on the couch. His close presence had caused a red hot blade of arousal lash through her, the exquisite ache cascading through her insides and pooling between her legs causing the pressure she felt to grow from deliciously sweet into something almost unbearable. It was a pleasant ache for now, but she knew it wouldn't last unless it was dealt with or unless she could figure out a way to convince her mind and body to switch it off and shut it down. The fact that she could feel Leon looking at her didn't do anything to help her. It was all she could do to not just tilt her head back and push herself upward a little and capture his lips into a kiss. Claire bit her lower lip.

He knows. Oh, my God, he knows, she thought even though the odds of her being right were ridiculously low.

"Are you all right?" Leon asked, and Claire sighed a little at the genuine concern she could hear in his voice. Somehow that made him even sexier right now.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said and sat up. "I've gotta use the bathroom," she then excused herself and got up.

She locked the door behind her and undid the buttons of her jeans, shoving them down her legs and stepping out of them. She then removed her underwear, folded them and used them to wipe off the excess slick wetness that had already soaked through the fabric.

For God's sake, she scoffed internally. She recalled once overhearing one of the more mature women at the office mention that once you hit your thirties, you can't even get wet like you used to. Apparently, that wasn't something Claire was suffering from despite being a few years past the magical thirty years-milestone. Either that or the woman who'd said it had never been with the right guy since turning thirty herself.

Claire put her jeans back on and splashed cold water on her face, pausing to lean against the sink and sighed, taking a long moment to just stare at the water drops slowly falling from her chin and into the sink. It helped very briefly until an errant thought rammed through her mind like a runaway train.

I want to fuck him.

She'd spent more time than she cared to admit bitterly masturbating to the fantasy of slowly making love to him with gentle, quiet passion, but right now, she really did just want to fuck him. She wanted him to throw her onto the bed and ravish her, she wanted to feel his weight on top of herself and his thick meaty cock inside her. She wanted—

"You okay in there? I'm not usually one to rush someone in a delicate situation like this, but I kind of need the bathroom myself, beer flows right through me," Leon called out from the living room, his words followed by a warm chuckle. Claire cursed under her breath, threw the wet panties into the laundry hamper and shut the lid of it before exiting the bathroom.

"All yours," she told him happily and went back to sit in the corner of the couch, reaching to grab a beer as well, staring at the TV but not really caring about the antics of the sitcom-characters displayed on the screen.
"Leon, we need to talk," she finally told him once he returned to his seat.

"Uh-oh, this can't be good. For the record, I'm not an alcoholic, I don't go to any meetings," he tried joking and Claire smirked slowly.
"You should consider going, but that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Well, in that case, what's up?" he said and turned to sit sideways on the couch, bending one leg at the knee and sitting on it, leaning his side against the backrest of the couch.
"For the past fifteen years you've been the constant in my life, the most reliable person in my life… and you have no idea how much I really needed you after escaping that island, and how much it meant to me that you actually were there through thick and thin."

"Of course I was going to be there, you're important to me," Leon interjected quietly.

"You didn't have to be, but you were, and I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am of that. Like I said, you're my best friend, and you have been for a long time. And recently I've come to realize that… I fell in love with my best friend," Claire said, her voice softly quieting toward the end of the sentence, but Leon heard her loud and clear.

"Oh. Well. That's…"
"I know, probably not something you wanted to hear, I mean… the whole time I've known you, you've been quite the ladies' man," Claire smirked, and Leon chuckled awkwardly.

"Ah, not really, it was mostly just… a young man's unnecessary bravado," he confessed.

"Still though, you're a flirt, and I don't think you're the kind of a guy who'd even know where to begin settling down, so I'm not even gonna suggest that. I just… I had to tell you, even if it might ruin our friendship… which I hope it won't. But the reason I had to tell you is because I know I'd feel… guilty for being so close to you and secretly enjoying it a lot more than you'd think."

"Well, that doesn't sound ridiculous at all," he said sarcastically.
"I know, I know, I never claimed it made sense," Claire chuckled and exhaled deeply then, shaking her head a little.

"Claire…" he whispered and scooted closer to her, reaching to take her hands into his own. "You have to have known that I've always loved you."
"I… did not. Why would I have known? As I said, you were always flirting with practically anyone who had a pair of boobs."

"Yeah, well, it never meant anything serious… which is why I've never flirted with you. I can joke around and be flirty with anyone else because it's just a bit of fun, but it would actually mean something if I did it with you, which is why I never did. I was afraid it would hurt."

"I don't think you would hurt me."
"I wouldn't, at least not knowingly… but it wasn't you I was worried about, it was me; I was scared it would hurt me."

"Leon… likewise, I wouldn't hurt you."
"I believe you, but you're the only one who really could… and that's what scares me," he said, his voice growing somewhat hoarse.

"I'm sorry, but I have to kiss you," Claire said and gave him barely a second to react before reaching to put her hands onto his cheeks and pressing her lips onto his. He quietly breathed her name into the kiss, his arms instinctively wrapping around her and enclosing her into a tight embrace. They remained there for a long while before Claire rose to stand on her knees on the couch and Leon gripped her hips to stop her from moving off the couch.

She quirked an eyebrow at his reaction, but the realization dawned on her when she noticed the intense way he was staring at her crotch which was conveniently almost directly at his eye level leaving Claire with very little means to hide the fact that the fabric of her jeans was noticeably darker where her wetness had soaked through. She offered him a lopsided grin and shrugged on shoulder a little. Leon grinned back at her and brought his hands up and slowly began unbuttoning her jeans. He pulled them halfway down her thighs and leaned forward, his hands still firmly gripping her hips.

"Leon…" Claire inhaled sharply when he slid his tongue slowly over the sensitive flesh, tilting his head back and moving his hands lower to possessively grip her ass, silently appreciating the firmness of it. He pulled her to himself tighter so that he could slip the tip of his tongue deeper and let it tease her entrance before slowly curling his tongue to gather up as much of her taste as he could.

Claire moaned his name again, sinking her fingers into his hair, her hips swaying back and forth in sync with the rhythm of his tongue, her movements becoming more insistent and he enclosed his lips around her clit, lightly sucking on it and grinding his tongue against it in a slow pattern. He wouldn't have minded staying there longer, but Claire balled her hand into a fist, softly tugging on a handful of his hair and pulling back from him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and Claire had to stifle a little laugh; he looked so confused, but what really made him look somewhat comical was the way his chin and upper lip were glistening with wetness.
"Nothing. I just want a lil' sumthin' else…" Claire explained then and kicked her jeans off before moving to straddle his knees, lowering her hand down to stroke the growing bulge tucked into the left leg of his pants.

"Who you callin' lil'?" he smirked quirking an eyebrow.

"Well, honestly, if memory serves me right, you're anything but lil'…" she trailed off with a smile and raised her arms up as he pushed her shirt up and tugged it off of her, doing the same to her bra, too impatient to bother undoing the hooks. She leaned back, exhaling deeply and closing her eyes when he trailed his lips over her breasts, the feel of his stubble gently scratching the sensitive skin surprisingly pleasant.

Finally, she practically ordered him to take her to the bedroom and he was more than happy to oblige, tightening his grip on her, carrying her across the room and onto the bed. He eagerly undid his pants and got rid of them while she shifted on the bed to a better position, turning onto her back. She didn't say anything, she simply parted her legs a bit further and that was all the invitation he needed.

Cherry bark and almonds. Leon would've recognized Claire's scent anywhere. For the longest time he'd been certain he'd imagined it, but the more he'd thought about it, the surer he'd become of the fact that Claire had smelled of cherry bark and almonds even during the hell that had been Raccoon City. A city filled with zombies, gore, fires and smoke, and somehow, that girl had managed to walk through it smelling like something incredibly sweet. Realistically, he knew he was exaggerating a little and that time had painted his memories with sweet shimmering gold, but her scent was what he remembered the best of that day.

Never had he ever imagined he'd one day get to wake up in her bed, the scent of her perfume and her body clinging to the sheets and pillows, its comforting familiarity surrounding him and filling him with pleasant warmth. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled.

Claire lay on her side next to him, her head on his chest, her arm around his midsection and her leg resting over his waist. She was still asleep, the sunlight seeping in through the pale curtains tinting her with a gentle rose gold glow. Leon trailed her eyebrow gently with the tip of his index finger, slowly sliding it over her cheekbone, along her jawline and to the tip of her chin. He then moved to softly grip her chin with his thumb and index finger, leaning in to kiss her lips. She responded to the kiss sleepily, tightening her grip on him and hummed happily, a brilliant smile rising to her lips.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" she then inquired.

"Next to you, who wouldn't?" he smiled back and kissed her lips once more.

"Flatterer," Claire chuckled and snuggled into the side of his neck. "Can we stay here for like… the rest of the day?" she then asked in a tired, soft mutter.

"Believe me, there's nothing that would make me want to get up," Leon replied, kissed her forehead and nuzzled the top of her head, once again inhaling the sweet scent of cherry bark and almonds, or as he'd just come to call it, "Red". He closed his eyes, breathing her in and sighed happily, realizing that this was the first time in his entire life that he could say he genuinely knew what it meant to be truly content.