Chapter Text
Leon can’t believe his eyes.
It’s a quiet Saturday evening. Leon and you had just returned from a mission yesterday, and now you were both intent on spending the day snuggled up together and watching trash television. You were both due for some off time, and needed some R&R after another long, rough mission.
He’d only stepped away for a moment. While you were busy making snacks, he had stepped outside to pick up the mail from his box, bills, letters, and junk mail overflowing from it like usual.
A royal blue envelope had slipped out from the rest, large, looping eye-catching silver font stamped on the front. It was his name and a very old address on the front, though the address was partially obscured by the official yellow post officer sticker that indicated the mail had been forwarded to his current address. He frowned. He couldn’t even think of anyone in his current life who would even associate him with that address, given that it was his parents’ old house from before he moved out.
He set the other mail on the top of the mail box and slid his finger along the envelope’s seal. Momentary regret hit him as the thought of suspicious powders and possible infectious agents crossed his mind- maybe he shouldn’t be opening weird mail. But the deed was done, and it's not really like he wasn’t exposed to all manners of biological agents on a regular basis anyway.
Inside is a single sheet of paper with a few typed lines. He scans it, his eyebrows raising up to his hairline with every word.
Class of 1995 - 20 Year High School Reunion!
Hey Leon! You’re a hard man to find. I hope this letter will make it to you this time. We missed you at the ten year reunion. Everyone would love to have you at the upcoming reunion. And feel free to bring a plus one!
The letter had a time and date at the bottom. The letter must have been sitting in his mailbox for a while, because it was soon- within the next couple weeks, in fact.
Leon couldn’t help but let out an unbelieving laugh. He hadn’t been back to his hometown since he had left for Raccoon City. His parents had moved away, so he’d never had a reason to step foot back there. It was a small town, and gossip spread like wildfire there; if he’d ever tried to make a quiet visit down memory lane, he was sure every acquaintance would have found out he’d come to town within thirty minutes of his arrival.
Leon was so lost in thought about the slightly ridiculous letter that he didn’t hear you walk up behind him.
“Thought you got stuffed in a van or something.” You said, smirking as he jumped a little. You leaned into his back, your chin resting on his shoulder so you could steal a look at what he was reading. “What’s that?”
He relaxed into you, holding the letter up for you to see. “An invitation to my high school’s 20 year reunion, if you can believe it.” He said dryly.
You raised your eyebrow at that. You skimmed over the letter at the date and location. Some town you’ve never heard of in New York. Not too far away from D.C., you thought. Interesting. Leon didn’t share much of his early life with you, so this felt like a little window into a part of him you hadn’t seen before. “You gonna go?” You asked, looking up at him.
He snorted. “No. I didn’t go to the first one. I haven’t spoken to anyone from that town in twenty years. Why would I go?” He said, his voice a little incredulous.
You pursed your lips in thought, your eyes bright. “I think you should go.” You said.
He frowned, his lips looking pouty. It was adorable when he was broody. “Why?” He said, his eyes narrowing.
“I think it would be good. A chance to reconnect with some people, get away from work for a while. You could show me around town.” You said, giving him your best puppy dog eyes, and pressed a kiss into his neck. You were really laying it on thick.
“Oh, so not only do you think I should go, but you’re also inviting yourself along?” He said with a fake huff, turning around to wrap you in his arms. He looked down into your eyes, still pouting.
You smiled sweetly at him. “Well, duh. Who else are you going to take as your plus one? Don’t you want to show me off to all your high school friends and enemies?”
He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling now. “Maybe the idea does sound a little appealing.”
***
It was hard to focus at work for those few weeks.
You couldn’t believe you had actually convinced Leon to go. You sat at your desk, trying to focus on the dull mission report you were typing up. You peeked around your computer screen to see Leon having much the same problem, his eyelids blinking heavily as he typed slowly.
Your boss had given you a look when you handed in your PTO request two weeks ago. You and Leon requesting the same block of time off was a little… irregular, as it were. Given that your relationship was entirely secret, it had been a bit of a risk, but in the end, your boss had said nothing and approved both your requests.
Today was the last day before you were scheduled to be off. You and Leon would make the final travel preparations tonight, and in the morning, you’d be off on your trip to New York. You were practically buzzing with excitement. It would be one of the extremely rare times you and Leon had a chance to go somewhere non-work related together and actually have a whole week off to yourselves. You’d covertly looped in Hunnigan too, and bless her soul, she’d promised to try and route any missions that came through to other agents for the week. She was the only person in the DSO aware of you and Leon’s involvement together, and you were thankful she’d grown to be a great friend to the both of you.
Finally, the clock struck four, and you were free. You gathered up your things and resisted the urge to run out of the office building.
***
The car was loaded up, the road trip playlist was ready, and you were both fully loaded up with snacks. It was just shortly after dawn, and it felt like the two of you were driving into a dream as the sun rose over pastel pink and orange clouds.
Leon had wanted to drive, so all you had to do was sit back and call out the necessary directions and relax for the four or five hours it would take to arrive at the hotel. There was only one in town, but it had looked pretty cute in the pictures online. Definitely a far cry from the crappy motels the agency liked to put the two of you up in when you were travelling on missions.
You looked over at Leon, taking him in. He was dressed more civilian than you think you had ever seen him. He had chosen a blue short-sleeved button up shirt that was open, with a grey tank top underneath. Black jeans and actual sneakers you didn’t even know he owned completed the look. With his aviator sunglasses resting on his head, he looked every part of the casual tourist. The thought made you smile stupid. You could get used to seeing him like this, you thought.
You had dressed similarly, being forced to rummage through your closet for things that didn’t scream ‘military’ or ‘I work for the government’. Given your jobs, it wasn’t like you could let people in on what you did for a living. You and Leon would be going with your usual cover story: you worked as paper pushers for a government contractor. It was adjacent to the truth, and allowed you to claim that your work was confidential when anyone got too interested or asked too many questions.
Leon caught your eyes and smiled back at you. He looked happier than he had been in a long time. Despite the initial hesitation and poorly disguised apprehension, he had seemingly come full circle, and was just excited as you were.
***
The first day of your trip was for travel and settling in. The drive had gone off without a hitch, and you’d even found a great burger joint along the way. The hotel’s pictures online hadn’t lied- it was clean and had a nice cozy feel to it, your room feeling inviting as you and Leon had dropped your bags on the floor.
Tired from the drive and the casual sightseeing you’d done along the drive, you were now snuggled up in bed with Leon, watching some cheesy romance movie that was playing on one of the hotel’s channels. Despite it being early in the night, you were already yawning, and could feel yourself starting to doze off. Leon turned off the light on the bedside table and pulled you closer, leaving the TV on quietly. You smiled as a sense of peace that you had long forgotten washed over you, and you drifted off to sleep.
***
Leon’s high school was twenty minutes away from the hotel. You marveled at how small the town was. Leon said it didn’t look much different than it did in the 90’s, surprisingly. A new hospital, a couple of refurbished strip malls, a neighborhood or two- but otherwise, it was like the town had been left in an earlier age.
Leon pulled up to a small campus of a few clearly outdated buildings and parked. After turning the ignition off, he simply sat and looked out the windshield at the high school, an unreadable expression on his face. “This is so strange.” He finally said, his voice distant.
You nodded. “Yeah.” Your gaze rested on him, but he didn’t turn away from the school. “You worried?”
He chuckled a little. “No. Well, maybe.” He said, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel.
Unbeknownst to everyone else at the agency, you knew Leon was actually somewhat shy. No one would ever have believed them if you told them, but you swore to it. The man could face almost certain death, but the idea of socializing with old acquaintances clearly gave him pause.
“What about?” You asked.
“Well for one thing, I’m sure you're going to see embarrassing photos of me as a teenager. That would be mortifying enough on its own.” He said with a thoughtful look. “But… I don’t know. I guess it’s how people will see me now compared to the Leon they knew. I was a pretty happy-go-lucky kid in school, you know. Kind of a nerd, too.” He said, giving you a sheepish grin.
You can’t help but laugh. “I’m dying to see these pictures now.” You said. God, he was adorable. “It’ll be fine, Leon.”
He sighed a little. “I know, I’m just so different from who I was then. It’s not something I think about much anymore. It’ll be… weird, being around people who knew me like that.” He said softly, finally looking away from the school.
You reached over and took his hand. “Hey, if it gets too weird, let me know. I’ll create a diversion or tell an enrapturing story about myself.” You gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
Leon’s shoulders relaxed, and he nodded. “All right. I’ll be counting on that, partner.” He said, returning your squeeze. He leaned in, stealing a kiss from you. You could feel his smile against your lips, and your heart felt full of warmth.
***
The reunion was being held in the gym. Not the classiest place, but the small town didn’t have any venues that could handle the seventy or so people that were milling about. Leon hadn’t been kidding about it being a small school, it looked like.
The two of you strode over to the check-in table just inside the double doors. There were nametag stickers and sharpies laid out on the table for attendees. Convenient, you thought, picking up one for yourself. You wrote your name on it and pressed the sticker onto your shirt. Leon did the same, and gave you a nervous smile. There were tables in the center of the gym, and everyone was chatting with drinks in hand. Soft music was playing in the background, and there seemed to be a good amount of refreshments. You had to give the organizer credit- it seemed like a fine setup so far.
Leon gathered up his nerves, and the two of you approached the crowd. They hadn’t looked up to the pair of you yet, but a few curious glances started your way. You could see a few people’s eyes practically bug out of their head once they were in reading distance of Leon’s nametag, bewilderment clear on their faces. You could have sworn one of them almost choked on their drink.
Well, this is going to be very interesting, indeed. You thought to yourself.
At the outer edge, a small group made up of four guys had stopped chattering and turned their full attention onto Leon, and by proxy, you.
There was an awkward silence as the four men and Leon looked at each other. Leon recovered first. “Hey. Long time no see.” He said with an easy casualness that only you knew wasn’t quite real.
“Leon? I’ll be damned.” One of the men, a redhead with the name Trent written on his name tag said in a stunned voice. “I didn’t know you were coming. Class prez said she couldn’t find your address!” He said with a polite laugh.
Leon gave a shrug. “Yeah, I never really gave anyone my address. I was surprised to see the invite, actually.” He still wasn’t really sure how it had gotten to him, actually. One of life’s little mysteries, he guessed.
Another man, Alex, as indicated by his name tag, raised his eyebrows. “You fell off the grid, man. Nobody’s heard from you in decades.”
You could see the subtle shifts in Leon’s body language as he stiffened slightly. You both had known it was going to be a little rough breaking the ice, but he had resolved to endure it anyway. “Life happened, I guess. Got really busy and just kind of left home behind.” He said.
Alex and the other men nodded as if in understanding. They couldn’t have ever guessed half of it. It didn’t seem like anyone knew that Leon had gone to Raccoon City- nobody seemed to have a clue what he had been doing since he left. That was for the best.
“So what have you been up to, then?” Trent asked. “I can’t help but notice your lovely plus one, by the way.” He said, acknowledging you with a glittering smile.
Internally, you rolled your eyes a little, but you kept it cordial on the outside, giving him a polite smile in return. “I’m Leon’s partner. Nice to meet you.” You said.
Leon put an arm around your waist. You suppressed a smirk. A protective or jealous streak from Leon? Now that was interesting, you thought. You were going to have to tease him later about it.
Trent seemed to get the message. “Well, it’s good to know Leon grew up and finally got lucky. He was a bit of a nerd in high school, you know. Terrible luck with dating.” He grinned. You couldn’t tell if he was just joking with Leon, or if this was some remnant of an old dislike.
People in adjacent groups had noticeably stopped chatting or were chatting just enough to appear like they weren’t eavesdropping, though they very clearly were. From your view, it seemed like the others at the reunion had stayed in touch, maybe most of them never even left town. Leon was definitely the most interesting outlier here. A few of the braver (or nosier) individuals were drifting in, joining the group.
A blonde woman stepped in, seemingly to diffuse the tension. “Oh, wow! Leon! I’m so happy you’re here!” She said brightly. She turned to you. “I’m Stacie, the class president. It’s great to have you two here!”
It made perfect sense for her to be the class president. She seemed very… cheery, clearly. You smiled at her, grateful for the distraction from Trent. “Hi. Thanks for having us.” you said, feeling a sense of shyness coming over you now, with all the people that were starting to gather around you and Leon. You put on a brave face though, like you were on an undercover op. Then you realized how silly you were being- these were just Leon’s old classmates, not some shady organization you were trying to infiltrate.
Stacie beamed. “Leon, I didn’t hear- how have you been? What are you up to these days?”
Leon shifted his weight. “Oh, I’ve been fine. Me and my partner work together, so that’s nice.” He said, shooting you a small smile.
“Oh, really? What do you two do?” She asked. She seemed genuinely very interested.
“We handle paperwork for a government contractor.” Leon said. “Desk jockeys.”
The crowd seemed a little surprised at that. A few murmurs were passed along, but you couldn’t make anything out.
“I wouldn’t have guessed that.” Alex’s brow furrowed a little. “Didn’t you want to be a cop or something? Like your dad?”
This time, there was a very obvious discomfort that passed over Leon’s face. “I did. It… didn’t work out.” He said tightly.
Wait a minute. Leon’s dad was a cop? He was following his dad? You thought. A piece of the puzzle that was Leon’s past slid into place. Christ, Leon. No wonder you don’t talk about this stuff. You could just imagine a bright-eyed rookie Leon, excited to be like his dad… then getting pulled into the hell that was your work. Your heart broke for him.
More murmurs had spread throughout the crowd. “Oh. Sorry man.” Alex said awkwardly. He gave a sympathetic smile, eager to change the subject. “Well. I’m hungry, aren’t you? I think dinner is planned to start in a few minutes. Nice talking with you, Leon.” With that, Alex excused himself, and most of the crowd slinked away to find seats of their own.