Warnings: no beta, OOCness, English is not my first language, inconsistent tenses, i am very bad at prepositions, alcohol, sexual situations
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.
A/N: one morning i was watching TwoSetViolin's "Meet me at the CAFE" video, and on the afternoon of that same day, i went to a cafe with a friend. and thus this fic was born. fic title is taken from the twoset vid.
Leon was, as usual, waiting for Ada.
And Leon had, as usual, gotten a message from an unknown number, telling him to meet him at a café in Prague.
He had gotten enough spam messages from unknown numbers, but he and Ada had a secret code that made them recognise each other's messages among the spam.
Hi, hon, her message had said. Grand Café Orient in Prague, September 20, 13:00. I already booked a hotel room. That all right for you, handsome?
Like Leon had any other choice.
He had gotten that message early September, two months after Lanshiang. He and Ada had a lot of things to talk about regarding the C-Virus outbreaks, so of course he had said, All right, sexy. See you soon.
Hon. Sexy. Old pet names, now code words to make them determine that it really was the other who had sent the message.
Of course Leon had to pay for and book his own flight. Of course Leon had to fight tooth and nail to get his sudden vacation day approved. Of course Leon would stop at nothing to see Ada again.
The café she had chosen boasted to be the only café in the world built in a cubist style. Leon had no idea what that meant—he knew about art as much as a fish knew how to walk—but it was very Ada to choose a classy place with distinct furnishing. He had researched this café. Apparently, it was one of the most popular cafés in Prague.
Now, it was September 20, 2013, 13:26, at the Grand Café Orient, and Ada was still nowhere in sight. The compact mirror she had left him sat heavy in his pocket—as heavy as the questions he had running in his mind. Leon had been sitting alone in a booth near a window for almost half an hour, and his cup of Irish coffee was almost running out.
Finally, a few minutes later, he saw Ada through the windows, looking like she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine spread. The autumn wind gently played with her hair, adding dramatic effect to the vision before Leon.
She strode towards him like she was walking in a runway, with her long legs and thigh-high boots and designer eyeglasses. A handbag costing as much as a small house hung from her arm, which she then placed on the table in front of Leon.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, handsome," she said, lowering herself to the opposite seat. "Have you been waiting long?"
"I got here at one p.m., like you asked me to," he replied, although there was no resentment in his voice. Ada was always fashionably late, and Leon was always willing to wait for her.
"There was a bit of an accident at the road, but nothing too serious." She removed her sunglasses, and Leon saw her face for the first time in two months. Was it possible for her to be even more beautiful than before? Leon swore that she got more and more attractive each time he saw her.
He wanted to reach out and touch her, just to feel her heartbeat thrumming under his fingertips, but he refrained. They would have time for that later, and for now, he needed answers.
"Where's your luggage?" he asked. All she had was that itty-bitty handbag.
"At the hotel. I see you're carrying only a duffel bag." She unbuttoned her black coat but kept it on, revealing a low-cut red dress underneath. He wasn't sure if Ada did that because she found the temperature hot, or if because she was trying to seduce him.
Either way, Leon had already been seduced. She didn't even have to wear skimpy clothing to do it; all Ada had to do was bat her eyelashes at him and Leon would readily unbutton and unzip his trousers, no questions asked.
"Well, I'll be here for only a night, aren't I? Unless you're planning something else."
"Oh, you'll be here for just a night, but I'll stay longer." She smirked. "I've got work to do."
Uh-oh. "Should I be worried?"
"If things go smoothly, you won't be."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing you need to be worried about right now." She opened the menu. "I'll order some food. What do you want?"
"I already saw the menu, but how about you pick for me? You know what I want." She could interpret that statement however she wanted, and he wouldn't argue with her interpretation.
She smirked. Already Leon had an idea of what their night was going to look like. "Would you like to sample local treats?"
"Only if we're talking about food."
She shook her head, but her shoulders were shaking lightly and there was a small smile on her lips.
"How about this?" She pointed to an item on the menu. "Pancake with chicken, mushroom sauce, and parmesan cheese. Perfect for a breakfast lover like you."
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Why do you think I'm always asking you to stay for breakfast?"
"I thought you just wanted to spend more time with me."
"That's half of the reason. But really, I just wanted to eat breakfast with you."
She leaned across the table to flick his forehead. "Sap." She got back to her seat, pointing to another item on the menu. "Here's something American for you. Club sandwich."
"Sounds good."
"You're in a foreign city yet you're still ordering American food." She shook her head. "How unadventurous." She flipped the pages of the menu. "For drinks, you're going to have Fanta."
"Hey." He grabbed the menu from her. "They have a good selection of alcohol here. See this Bacardi?"
She took a sip of Leon's coffee. "Irish coffee, huh? You're already drinking alcohol. It's just midday, Leon. Let's reserve the alcohol for this evening, shall we?"
If anyone asked, he didn't pout; he scowled. "How unadventurous."
"I want you to be sober for our conversation."
"On the contrary, I think I'll need a lot of drinks."
She gave him a stern look. "I'll permit one bottle of Budweiser."
He sighed, resigning to his fate. "Fine."
Ada flagged down a server, ordered their food, and a little while later, their server came back with two trays bearing his Bud and club sandwich, and the other food Ada ordered—salad, lemonade, and…pastry, he assumed.
Their server arranged the plates on the table, and when she saw Leon looking questioningly at the pastry, she said, "This is a věneček, a traditional Czech dessert. Traditionally shaped in a circle, the cubist style of Grand Café Orient made sure that our věneček would be square-shaped. It has vanilla icing on top and custard filling at the centre."
"Didn't I tell you that I'll make you sample the local treats?" Ada said. Their server finished arranging the plates, and Ada turned to her and said Thank you.
When their server left, Ada dug into her salad, handling the utensils with the grace of a queen. There was no part of her that looked shoddy, and every movement she did screamed elegance.
Or maybe Leon was just biased. He had seen her grimy, her face covered in blood and soot, and Leon still thought she looked divine.
He reached into his pocket and took out the compact case from it. He slid it across the table towards her, saying, "You gonna tell me what the hell happened back there in China?" He drank his beer. God. He needed something stronger.
She swallowed her food before replying. "I thought you already knew?"
"I think I do." He took a bite out of his sandwich, eating it with his hands instead of the knife and fork provided. Unlike Ada, he didn't care about looking elegant; he just wanted to get food into his stomach. "But I still want to hear everything from your mouth."
"Can I speak off the record, Agent Kennedy?"
When had she not spoken off the record with him? Every job-related thing she had told him was spoken in confidence, and Leon never once mentioned where he got his intel from.
"You know you can," he said.
Ada took the compact case from the table and turned it over in her hands. She opened it and looked into its false bottom, revealing a small folded note inside.
She looked at Leon in question, and he gestured, as if saying, Go ahead, open it.
Upon opening the note and reading the message inside, she chuckled. "You sap."
"What?" He took another bite out of his sandwich. "It's the truth." He downed his food with beer. "You ready to spill the beans?"
She placed the compact case inside her bag. Leon had now returned it to its owner.
She ate a forkful of her salad before beginning. "You might know this already, but Derek C. Simmons was one of the people who authorised the sterilisation of Raccoon City…"
Ada told him her side of the story at the café, and her retelling of the events continued on to their afternoon stroll around the lovely city of Prague (where they walked hand in hand), to their drinks at the hotel bar, up until their pillow talk after she was done having her way with him. Leon had already known most of these things through their investigations, but hearing Ada talk about everything from her own perspective answered the lingering questions he had in mind.
In the morning, Leon packed his own things while Ada's own remained in the hotel closet. It was strange, being the one who had to leave first for once, but it couldn't be helped; it may be Saturday, but the DSO was still in the middle of investigations, not to mention apprehending members of The Family. They were working around the clock, especially in wake of Adam Benford's death.
He sighed at the memory of the former president. He was Leon's friend, and he had known him for a long time. The death of a friend wasn't something he would easily get over with.
He was sitting on the bed, arranging his things, when he heard the bathroom door open. He felt arms encircling his waist and a pair of lips pressing a kiss to his nape, and her perfume, lotion, and shampoo lingered in the air. She was clad in nothing but a bath towel, and her hair was still damp from the shower.
"Something on your mind?" Ada asked.
"Nothing. Just…" He shook his head. "The world has gone to hell, and here I am, having a holiday."
"Hey. You deserve this. You needed a break." She kissed back of his ear. "And you're going back today, so if anything, I should be the one complaining."
He grinned, perhaps a bit too smugly. "Did I hear it right? Miss Wong is now the one imploring me to stay?"
"When did I 'implore'?" She got up from the bed and walked to the closet, letting the towel drop to the floor as she looked for clothes to wear. "You're just hearing things you want to hear."
He chuckled, following her to the closet. He embraced her from behind, feeling her damp, bare skin against his clothed body. "Maybe if you beg me, I'll stay."
Ada turned around. She raised a haughty eyebrow and stepped forward, making Leon step back. She continued prowling until the back of his knees hit the bed, causing him to fall backwards on the bed, a naked Ada towering above him.
"Maybe you forgot, Mr Kennedy," she said as she hovered above him on all fours, "but I don't do the begging."
Leon swallowed. His trousers felt tight, and there was a sudden increase in the temperature. "S-sorry, ma'am."
"Good boy." There was a predatory look in her eyes. "Now let me remind you who here does the begging."
Leon had to be at the airport in a couple of hours, but it was a good thing that quickies existed.
However, Leon doubted that this would be a quick round.
After that impromptu morning sex, Leon had dashed out of the hotel, Ada tagging along with him. Miraculously, he made it to the airport an hour before his flight.
They still had time for a quick breakfast, so he grabbed Ada's hand and led her to an airport café that actually served good food.
Ada was right. Leon loved his breakfast—and he loved it even more when Ada was with him.
Once they were done with their breakfast, they killed some time in the lounge, Leon never once letting go of Ada's hand. But then he heard his flight number being announced over the intercom, and they had to part ways.
He didn't want to, but they had to. Maybe one day they won't have to ever again.
Maybe he could take his first step towards ensuring that "one day."
"Ada, I have to ask you one thing," Leon said, holding her hands, still not wanting to let her go. "Will you have breakfast with me for the rest of our lives? Breathe if you say yes."
She didn't say anything. Instead, she stood there, frozen and smiling.
"Ada?"
She still didn't say anything.
"Ada, hey, are you—Wait, are you breathing?"
No words—just a smile seemingly forever etched on her face.
The intercom once again announced his flight number, and he shook Ada's shoulder.
"Ada, hey, are you—Are you not breathing?!" he said, keeping the panic out of his voice.
Finally—finally—she was moving again. She was laughing lightly, and Leon could feel her body shaking through his hands on her shoulders.
"Ada, what the fuck?!"
"You said, 'Breathe if you say yes,' so I didn't breathe." She shrugged. "Have you forgotten? I've trained long ago to increase my lung capacity. I could go on without breathing for five minutes. It's an essential skill for people in my field."
He groaned. "Ada, do you hate me that much?"
She held his hands and smiled at him indulgently. "Go on now, handsome. You wouldn't wanna miss your flight, would you?"
Leon sighed and reluctantly let Ada's hands go. She embraced him, her arms wrapping around his neck and his arms winding around her waist, and gave him a kiss that would sustain him for a few more weeks.
He kissed her one last time. "I'll miss you, you sexy thing."
"I'll see you soon, hon," she said, winking, as she stepped away from him.
And then she was gone again, and Leon started waiting until he could see her again.
When he was on the plane, he tried to get his laptop out of his hand-carry bag to do some work, but he spotted a familiar object peeking out from one of his bag's inside pockets.
Ada's compact case.
What was it doing inside his bag? He had just returned it to Ada, and now she had given it back to him.
He opened it, revealed its false bottom, and found a note inside—the same note that he had placed there before returning it to Ada.
He unfolded it and looked at the words he had written there—
I love you.
—and stared at the text added at the bottom, scrawled in Ada's elegant handwriting—
I love you too.
He folded the note and placed it back inside the compact case, then put the case in his bag. He booted his laptop and did some work, all the while smiling, his heart fluttering and his insides turning into goo.
He always felt forlorn whenever they had to separate, but the thing with them was that they always found their way back to each other. No matter how different the worlds they lived in were, they always found the time to leave those worlds, be together, and create a world of their own.
Leon was, as usual, waiting for Ada.
But Ada was waiting for him too.
A/N: i low-key wrote this as a way to hopefully redeem myself for writing my aeon series "luminaries" ("under the moonlight" and "against daylight"). i don't feel so good about that series haha 😰 i hope this makes up for it