Alternate titles for this part: "Sex and Heartbreak," "Angst, Sex, and Failure Prompts," and "Leon Gets Laid."
Disclaimer: Resident Evil and its characters, settings, and events all belong to Capcom. I am just scribbling silly notes in their margins. All songs belong to their respective artists and labels.
Rating: We've hit M, ladies and gents, for some rough language and some descriptions of sexual situations for both Ada/Leon and Claire/Leon.
Author's Notes: This section contains the first example of a prompt I failed to answer in the space of the song. Normally I stop, but in this case-and one in the next section-I decided to finish the thought. And since I enjoyed the answer, I am going to go ahead and inflict it on yall. Also, the first prompt references the events of the Raccoon City Incident as seen through the lens of Darkside Chronicles; I am aware that this doesn't jibe with the canon of Resident Evil 2, but it fit with the prompt, so I went with it.
Thanks, as usual, to the Lovely Betas for help with arranging the prompts and titling the section. Thanks as well to everyone who's read through these, and special thanks to those who've taken a few moments to leave a review. Thanks as well to Jay Kennedy for keeping her awesome Tumblr as well.
I hope yall enjoy. :)
Melody Gardot - "Your Heart is as Black as Night"
I don't know why it came along
At such a perfect time
But if I let you hang around
I'm bound to lose my mind
Ada wrapped herself around the wire that would take her out of Raccoon City and did her best not to think about Leon.
He was a kid, she reminded herself. Younger than her. Couldn't even drink. She'd glanced over his dossier before she'd gone into the city; they hadn't been sure when the outbreak would hit, and so future employees had been on the list as well as current ones. He came from a decent family, full of cops and straight edge lawyers. This justice stuff, this honor stuff, it ran in his blood.
Blood she'd had her hands in that night...
Blood she'd been sure she could taste, even in the brief kiss they'd shared.
And that's all that would happen if she found him again. If she tried to be part of his life.
Blood. Spilling out of both of them.
That's all it ever could be.
‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›
K's Choice - "I Will Return to You"
Dry the rain inside my head
To hear the things I never said
I will return to you
"There," she said with a flourish, finishing off the knot. "Test that."
Leon pulled lightly on the cord, and it held. "Looks good," he said. "Feels fine, too - not too tight." His eyes glittered. "Time for that dress to come off."
"Yes," Ada purred, reaching back to her zipper. "Yes, it - "
BEEP BEEP BEEP
God-dammit
Ada paused and looked to her left.
"Ignore it," Leon said through clenched teeth. "Ada, c'mon, you can just - "
She gave him a faded look, melancholy washed by time. "I could," she said. "I just don't think you can."
And Leon sat up.
He rubbed at his wrists for a moment, then at his eyes. Morning light seeped through the blinds, not bright enough to blind, but bright enough to be there.
He reached over and hit the alarm.
Goddammit.
She was never coming back.
She never could be there in the first place.
Goddammit.
‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›
Tori Amos - "Leather"
I could just pretend that you love me
The night would lose all sense of fear
But why do I need you to love me
When you can't hold what I hold dear
Leon comes with a grimace. He always does, and like always, he slumps to the side of her. He breathes for a long moment, and then he opens those eyes, blue like sky and grey like clouds, and asks, "All right?"
He always does this. And in the midst of the tingles and tangled fire in her veins, Ada nods back.
He closes his eyes, and as his breathing slows, one hand shifts to her shoulder to pull her closer. Leon always wants her closer. It's like he wants her flesh to be inseparable from his. He wants them to share the same air. He wants them to feel the same way, skin and soul both.
But they don't.
She - wants him to love her. He's seen all of her, after all, and right into her, right into that part of her that she thought she buried screaming years ago.
But for all he sees, he doesn't understand. His mind has been opened in a specific way by his experiences, and it's just not wide enough.
He can't really love what he doesn't understand.
So this'll be their last night together until he does.
Even though she prays he never will.
‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›
Katy Perry - "I Kissed a Girl"
Soft skin, red lips, so touchable
Too good to deny it
"Ah. Claire Redfield."
Claire looked up from her reports, shaking off the slight fog of data, to meet a pair of grinning almond eyes.
Well, shit.
"Ada Wong," she said. "Back from the dead - again? Or still? I can never quite keep up."
"Still, I think," Ada said. "You've been out of the game long enough to miss out on...recent events."
Claire offered a pleasant smile, holding in the biting comment behind it: No, Leon still e-mails me. I know all about Spain.
"May I?" Ada said, indicating the chair next to her.
Claire took her in a second, then stood. "You know what?" she said. "I think we should just get this over with."
Ada's brow furrowed. "Over with, Ms. Redfield?"
"Yeah," she said, and kissed her.
(And had I had the time:
Ada wore lipstick, red lipstick, and though Claire was mostly gentle, she did her best to smear that lipstick across her mouth as much as she could. She noted when she pulled back that it had almost worked. The shock in Ada's eyes made up for the difference, though.
"I'm not fucking Leon," Claire said. "But I also don't fuck with him. So, if you don't mind? I've got some papers to read."
Ada's eyes were still wide with shock. Claire couldn't help but wonder when the last time she'd worn that expression was.
Then she gave a little nod, turned, and strode off into the airport terminal. She did not, Claire noted, touch her mouth once while she was still in sight.
Claire shook her head. "Of all the airports," she murmured to herself, then picked up her report again. She'd e-mail Leon about it tonight, just as a heads up in case she was supposed to be dead (again), but otherwise, she wanted it out of her brain. And nothing did that quicker than a report.)
‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›
BTVS Musical - "I'm Under Your Spell"
Now I'm bathed in light
Something just isn't right
After Harvardville, Leon and Claire see a little more of each other than just an e-mail address.
At first, Leon wonders if she's planning it. Claire's got connections now, and while they aren't as muckety-muckety (or fuckety fuck, as he occasionally thinks) as his connections, they can get things done. She can get things done. It's the force of personality that comes with being a Redfield; he's seen her brother pull off some shit that should not be possible.
But no, no, he eventually realizes it's just serendipity. Brought them together. Can bring them together again.
Then he's having drinks with her in a bar, and it's getting on the bar closing, and they're still talking. They're not even drinking much anymore. They're just still...talking.
And he thinks - "Something's wrong with this."
And he's not wrong about that.
But he's not right either.
‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›
Alexisonfire - "You Burn First"
Cover me, if there is a fire
'cause I want you to burn first
How long's it been, she asks in a voice like dripping honey, like the translucent cream on her thighs, wet and beckoning as she sits above him. Musk in the air - smell of him, smell of her - and the last thing he wants to do right now is to answer questions.
How long since -
Since you took, she asks, braiding one hand with hers, then the other, inching in above him. He's wrapped and waiting, willing and waiting, and she's still asking questions.
Since you did nothing but take, Leon, she breathes, centering herself over him.
He thinks, and it hurts to think right now but he does it anyways, and he finds the answer.
Years, Claire, he tells her. Years.
She smiles a little then, and it's the kind of smile with fangs in it. He bet her brother's seen that smile, though not in this context.
"Then take," she says, and slides down over him to give.
Guy's not supposed to come first, he bites out as she moves, as she rocks above him, fingers pressing on his knuckles.
Guys usually come first, she snaps back, a bite with her gums. Just the good ones do something about.
She quiets and moves, rolls, and the heat and the wet that pound around him and hold him down squeeze the air and the groans right out of him.
Can't...Claire, you gotta...I can't...
Shh, Leon. Shhh.
Claire -
Shut up and feel it! Feel me, Leon, like you've wanted to before.
He shuts up. He does. He feels, and feels her give, and in the end, he takes it all and comes first.
And she smiles when he does.
‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›
Thea Gilmore - "Razor Valentine"
I love you like the last shot
At the bottom of the bottle
I love you, razor valentine
They're intertwined on a hotel mattress. Nice hotel. Nice mattress, too. The window is open, and the breeze that rolls off the sea is nice, too.
Nice to be out of Virginia. Nice to be on another coast all together. Nice to listen to the waves crash on the shore and think, "I don't have to ask the waves to turn it down in case the President calls."
Nice. Oh so nice.
She feels nice there, skin against skin. Her hair is a shock of red against the mattress, dark as a bloodstain on white sheets. He's always wondered why hotels bother with white sheets, but it's probably a point of pride to them at this point.
Her eyes are closed. She always rests when they're done. She breathes deep, and the tiny stress lines on her face relax, and her eyes fall shut.
He wants to kiss those eyes. He wants to lay one on each of the stress marks. He wants to take a little bit of that from her, every time they meet up like this. And it's not often. And it's not really necessary, for who they are.
But sometimes, they are what each other needs.
And in that space, he loves her.
Will always love her.