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In D.C., not long after he and Ashley were cleared to return from Spain, there was a small ceremony where President Graham recognized Leon for his “peerless heroic deeds,” as he put it. Leon didn’t want the recognition, nor did he expect it, but the president — and Ashley — had insisted. It was closed to the public; on official records, it didn’t even happen. But even when the president draped a medal around his neck, the only thing he could focus on was Ashley’s small, almost furtive smile at him.
And yet he was still so tired.
Leon expected to go back into the field the minute he lied his way through his psyche eval. He didn’t know why, but he figured he’d never see Ashley again except on the glossy pages of a magazine. She proved that she didn’t need him several times over. So it came as something of a surprise to him that the president requested he be Ashley’s personal bodyguard. U.S. STRATCOM was hesitant to let their best agent go — and if Leon was being honest with himself, so was he — but the president said it would be a fitting reassignment for him. The closest thing he’d ever get to a vacation, Leon thought. And, he figured, it’d be a nice break from his fellow task force operatives intoning “ that’s Leon fucking Kennedy ” in hushed reverence every time he walked down a hallway.
So he accepted the job. Hardly anything happened. And he hated it.
At some terrible moment in his life, zombies and Ganados and bioweapons had become part of the job. They were expected, familiar, comforting in an awful kind of way. But scanning crowds for potential threats and shoving rabid paparazzi to the ground? He couldn’t do anything with that. He knew that all of this minutiae would only ever be the prelude to something worse. Leon spent his days as Ashley’s bodyguard in a perpetual state of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because in 1998 and 2004, they did.
He kept things professional around Ashley. They made small talk, he laughed at her jokes. She had understandably bowed out of college for the year, so she accompanied her father on a lot of official visits and took Leon with her.
Neither of them talked about what happened in Spain. Leon wasn’t sure if he could. He made a couple oblique references to his single day as a cop, phrasing them as jokes that only drew concerned laughter. But he did get a crash course in how the other half lived; state dinners, charity balls, VIP boxes, that sort of thing. It was all so exceedingly luxurious — yet another thing completely out of his wheelhouse. The boys from the Secret Service could tell this at a glance, not that it stopped them from the same astounded gawking the STRATCOM jokers gave him when they thought he wasn’t looking. They didn’t know the whole of what happened to him, but they knew something had.
The newest event was a state visit to England. The president was visiting with his family for a week to ink a new trade agreement with the prime minister. Something like that, anyway. Leon wasn’t one for the finer points of economics. What that meant for him was accompanying Ashley as the family traveled around the UK, doing all the touristy things that would look good for the papers.
They put him up in a luxury hotel room overlooking the Thames, by far the nicest place he had ever slept in. Not that he could sleep for very long. His room was across the way from Ashley’s, just in case.
One night, Leon laid awake in bed on his too-soft mattress on top of too-smooth sheets, his black compression shirt and most comfortable pair of sweatpants almost bristling against them. He stared up towards the ceiling at nothing in particular, the lights of London’s skyline glittering in the darkened room. The heady waves of sleep refused to wash over him. He half-expected to lie awake until he watched the sun lurch up and over the horizon.
There was a knock at the door.
Leon perked his head up to look at where the noise had come from. He slowly reached over to his nightstand and flicked on the desk lamp. Glancing around the room, he noted a few things that could be used as weapons should the need arise — knife in his suitcase, chair, corded hair dryer, drink glass. He then gently pulled open the nightstand’s drawer and reached for his gun, resting in a leather-
“Leon? You there?” Ashley said.
Oh, Jesus Christ, he thought. He breathed a sigh of exasperation at himself and shut the drawer. Leon got up off the bed and opened the door to see Ashley, a tired look in her eyes, clad in a pink, silken, button-up pajama shirt and matching pink shorts. He rested a hand on the door frame. She looked up at him with an apologetic wince.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said. “Sorry. Did I wake you?”
“No, no,” Leon said. “I couldn’t sleep either. Did you want to come in?”
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
Leon stepped out of the doorway and let Ashley in, shutting the door behind her. Ashley glanced around the place, looking at his semi-unpacked suitcase lying on the floor, then to the dresser where he’d hung the garment bag for his government-issue black suit.
“We’re only staying here for a few days,” Leon said. “Figured it wasn’t worth the effort to get everything out.”
“I can see that,” Ashley said. She took a seat on the edge of the bed and grinned at him. “So, how’s the Sexy Service Agent finding our little trip?”
All Leon could do was groan, look at the floor and shake his head. Ashley giggled. “Sexy Service Agent” was the name one the tabloids in these parts gave him after his first day on the trip. He wasn’t even doing anything, just standing around next to Ashley and patiently keeping an eye out as the president delivered a speech, but some photographer decided he was more of a news story than that. Admittedly, he himself wasn’t paying attention to the speech. And, though he’d never say it, the photo was kind of flattering.
“They ran a segment on you on one of the morning shows, y’know,” Ashley said. “Said a lot of nice things about you.”
“I’m sure they did,” Leon said. He took a seat next to her, still staring at the ground. “No, I’m enjoying myself here. Even with all this … unexpected attention.”
“Nice to see Europe when you’re not having crazy cultists trying to kill you, right?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. I bet this is all normal for you, though.”
“Kinda, yeah. It was kind of a nice perk when my dad was on the campaign trail. Didn’t happen a lot, but occasionally he’d want to bring the whole family out for a rally or something. Got to miss school for a day. It was fun.”
“Sounds like it. Usually, when I was missing school, I was, y’know, acting out.”
Ashley sat a little more upright. “No way.”
“Way.”
“Leon Kennedy, skipping class? I don’t believe it.”
Leon snickered and looked up at Ashley. Tresses of blonde hair fell in front of her face, perfectly framing her eyes. He never noticed how pretty they were — a shimmering, calming shade of green.
He hesitated for a moment before responding, “No, it’s true. I wasn’t always the best student growing up.”
She appraised him briefly. “Huh. Never would’ve guessed.” She paused. Leon looked down and realized that his shoulder was touching Ashley’s, drawn by an unconscious magnetism.
“I think that’s the first time you’ve told me something about your childhood,” Ashley said.
Leon sighed and stood up. He walked over to the window, surveying the shimmering lights of the city, how they glowed against the raw darkness.
“Not a lot to tell,” he said. “My folks were wrapped up in some… bad shit. Whole family was. They all died when I was young. I only survived because of one cop.” He turned around to look at Ashley, crossing his arms and leaning his back against the glass pane. “Now I’m here.”
Ashley’s face had fallen. “Leon… I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
He smiled mirthlessly. “Don’t worry about it. Happened a while ago.” Leon cleared his throat. “So, uh, are you thinking of going back to school?”
“Hm? Oh, right. Yeah, I’ll go back next year. I just couldn’t do it now. Not after… y’know.”
“You don’t have to explain that to me. I get it.”
Another silence hung between them before she spoke up. “Could I ask you something?”
Leon uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off the window. “Of course.”
Ashley patted the spot on the edge of the bed where he was sitting. Wordlessly, he returned to his seat. The air in the room grew heavy.
“Do you… dream about it?” she said.
The hungry roar of a chainsaw.
Slithering, spiked tentacles from perversions of nature.
His mentor’s knife slicing hot through his skin.
Luis’s cold flesh.
“Spain?” he said.
Ashley nodded.
“Yeah.” He sighed. “Sometimes. Used to happen more often, but these days it’s less frequent.” He looked into her jade eyes. “Do you?”
She returned the look, her gaze pained with understanding. “Yeah.”
“Is that why you couldn’t sleep?”
Ashley nodded, turning her face away. “It hadn’t happened for a while. And then tonight, I…” She trailed off. “Yeah. I don’t want to go back to bed.”
“I get it.” Leon glanced down at his hand, only centimeters away from hers. His heart started thumping harder in his chest. Slowly, he inched his hand towards her, close enough that he thought he could feel it without touching it.
Ashley then slid her hand on top of his, her soft skin brushing against his own. Leon’s breath hitched silently. I shouldn’t be doing this, he thought.
“What do you see?” Leon said.
Ashley’s whole body shivered. “Knights coming to life and attacking me. Those cult fuckers lifting me over their shoulder and hauling me away. Saddler taking me over… only this time, I’m not able to resist him.” She let go of a shaky, fearful breath.
Leon flipped over his hand and locked his fingers with hers, squeezing gently. “It’s okay.”
“What if I killed you, Leon?” Ashley whispered. “What if I wasn’t strong enough? What if I-”
“But you were,” Leon said. “Strong enough, I mean. I wouldn’t be here right now if you weren’t with me. The mission was to rescue you, but you’re the one who ended up saving my ass.”
Ashley chuckled. A warmth spread in his chest when he saw her smile.
“You mean that?” she said.
“Of course.”
“Thank you.” Ashley composed herself. “What do you see, Leon?”
Shambling corpses.
Thundering giants.
A sea of eyes.
Something writhing under his skin.
“Just bad memories,” he said. “Sometimes it’s you and me in Valdelobos or on the island. And sometimes…”
“You’re back in Raccoon City?” Ashley said.
Leon nodded. God, when was the last time he talked to anyone about Raccoon City? He was thoroughly interrogated when he was picked up by STRATCOM, but he hadn’t really talked to anyone else about what happened that day. Vanishingly few would know what really happened. Even fewer would understand what it did to him. He hadn’t seen Claire since 1998. Marvin and Luis were dead. And Ada… Ada wasn’t here right now.
But Ashley was.
“What I saw that day, I’ll never forget,” Leon said. “Don’t think I could if I tried. What Umbrella was doing to people… it still frightens me.”
“Oh, Leon…”
“Yeah. I’m just glad it didn’t happen to you.”
Ashley took her free hand and held Leon’s cheek, stroking it with her thumb. Leon felt his face flush as she brought his head that much closer to hers.
“I don’t think you would’ve let it come to that,” she said. “Not the Leon Kennedy I know.”
Leon looked at her face and the visage of absolute trust she had in him. The space between them grew electric. Leon moved his head a minuscule amount toward hers, his heart growing shakier the closer he got. Ashley moved her head closer in turn. The two of them gazed at each other — the only two people in the world who could understand what they’d gone through at that second.
“This is a bad idea,” Leon said.
“I know,” Ashley said. “Wanna do it anyway?”
For a moment, the only thing Leon could see was Ashley’s eyes and the only thing he could feel was the hypnotic caress of her breath against his face.
“Yes,” Leon said.
Ashley lunged forward and kissed him greedily. Her lips were soft, even hungrily pressed against his own. He melted into her, wrapping his arms around her waist, feeling the curve of her through the gossamer fabric. The friction of guilt and pleasure clashed in his brain. He knew for a fact that he should not be doing what he was doing right now. If anyone found out about this, both of them would catch hell for it. But he couldn’t stop himself.
Ashley pulled away to catch her breath. A giddy grin crossed her face. “I’ve been waiting to do that for a while,” she said.
Leon smirked like a jackass. “I could tell.”
Ashley scoffed and rolled her eyes before putting a hand on Leon’s chest and gently pushing him down onto the bed. She straddled him, causing a jolt of need to shoot through him. His hips twitched involuntarily as she lowered herself down and kissed him again. His hands found her back, running up and down her silk shirt, and he wished he could rip it off her body so he knew what she really felt like. Long-dormant signals of desire found their way to his lower abdomen. He felt himself starting to fluster and stiffen as visions swam in his mind of just what he wanted — needed — to do with her.
Ashley seemed to notice. She broke away from the kiss and a low, wicked giggle escaped from her lips. “Feels like you’ve been waiting for this t-”
Without warning, Leon dove for the side of her neck with his mouth, laying his lips and slowly running his tongue along her soft, supple skin. Ashley let out a sharp gasp in Leon’s ear, her moans only pushing him to go further.
“Leon… holy shit…” she said.
Leon gripped the back of Ashley’s head, intertwining her hair in his fingers, as he continued to attack her neck. “You like that?”
She let out another strained cry of pleasure. “Yes…”
Leon smiled lasciviously against her throat. “Knew you would.” He could feel the cocksure, flirtatious persona he’d developed in the years since Raccoon City returning to him, fitting like a worn-in glove. Somehow, though, it felt less like an act with her. With every lurid whine, he felt more emboldened, more flushed, more aroused. His cock swelled in his pants; he swore he would shred his boxers to ribbons if he didn’t get them off soon enough.
Ashley yelped as Leon suddenly sat up, one arm around her waist to keep her from tipping over. She wrapped her legs around his midsection as he rolled over so he was on top of her. Leon took a moment to admire her beautiful blushing face, the way her blonde locks splayed out on the bed, and the way her eyes dared him to do more.
Leon found her lips and kissed her once more, pressing his weight into her as he did. He ground his hips into hers, feeling the heat between her legs even through the layers of clothing separating them. He moved slowly at first, each push harder than the last, a wild desperation growing inside him.
Leon reached down to her chest to paw at Ashley’s shirt, the rapidly diminishing part of him still in control trying to rip it off her without destroying it. Ashley pushed him off and unbuttoned it herself in a flurry of motion. Leon yanked open her shirt, freeing her breasts. Dipping his head down, he laid his mouth on one of her nipples, taking the other in between his fingers. Every single noise he could get out of Ashley only served to rouse him further. He wouldn’t have made it out of Spain alive without her; the least he could do was show some appreciation.
“L-Leon…?” Ashley said, breathing hard as he continued to kiss and suck at her plush breasts.
Leon broke away for a moment. “Ash?” Part of him grimaced at the new nickname.
“Lie down on the bed for me. Please.”
Leon did as he was told, flopping down onto the bed with his head resting on a pillow. Ashley sat down on one side of him and tapped the waistband of his sweatpants. On command, he lifted up his hips into the air. Ashley gripped the waistband of his sweats and pulled both them and his underwear off, flinging them to the ground and allowing his rigid cock to flop onto his abdomen.
Ashley could only stare when she looked down at him. “Oh. Oh, wow.”
Leon quirked an eyebrow. “Something wrong?"
She somehow turned redder than she already was. “Nothing! Nothing. Just, uh… didn’t realize you liked me that much.”
At that, Leon bit his lip and chuckled silently. Ashley snickered in turn and shook her head.
“Oh my God,” she said. “You are insufferable.”
“Hey, I’m not the one that took my pants off.”
She scoffed. Laying down, waiting for Ashley to make a move, Leon realized just how comfy the bed was. His body didn’t feel coiled like a snake, waiting to strike at the slightest hint of danger. He felt calm, at ease — God forbid, relaxed . More relaxed than he had felt in years. For once, the jokes weren’t thin armor against mortal peril, but playful banter with someone he’d grown to admire. He didn’t know how long it would last, but he planned to ride this wave of ease as far as it would take him.
Leon traced the movement of Ashley’s hand, involuntarily gasping as she wrapped her fingers around the base of his length. A clear bead of precum formed at the tip of his cock. He could feel himself pulse in her hand as she bent over above his hips and brushed her hair out of her face. A devilish flash of emerald met his eyes before Ashley laid her mouth on him, her sumptuous lips and tongue massaging his shaft.
“Fuck…” Leon hissed.
Ashley ran her mouth across his cock, a deep groan of satisfaction rising from her. Leon panted and grunted through gritted teeth. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this good. He watched her vary her pace and movements as she played with him, testing what noises she could wring out of him. Leon shut his eyes, letting the pleasure streak up and down his body like lightning. Without sight, every sensation became louder, brighter, borderline overwhelming. Sweat ran down his forehead, trailing lines down his face like cold styluses. Every single motion brought him closer and closer to the brink of orgasm. If he wasn’t careful, this would all be over much sooner than he wanted it to be. He wasn’t ready to be done.
“Stop,” Leon whispered. “Stopstopstop.”
Ashley stopped what she was doing and looked up at him with confusion and concern. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. That was good. Really fucking good, actually.”
“Could barely contain yourself, couldn’t you?”
“Something like that, yeah. Now get over here. It’s your turn.”
“You and your one-liners, I swear…”
Leon snorted. “Well, you seem to like them.” He sat up and peeled off his compression shirt, now matted with sweat. In response, Ashley took off her shirt and tossed it to the floor. The two traded places on the bed with a brief kiss, Leon now sitting in between Ashley’s legs with nervous anticipation. He mentally noted the small scars that marked her torso and arms, slight white slashes along her skin. He thought about his own. One more link between them.
His eyes drifted down to her legs, slender and pale. Leon laid a kiss on her inner thigh and dug his fingers beneath the waistband of both her shorts and her panties. Ashley lifted up her hips and, in one fell motion, Leon wrenched the remaining clothes off her body. He quickly positioned his head in between her legs, tantalizingly close to her aching, needy cunt. He thought briefly about teasing her more, making her beg for it. But those ideas were shunted to the side by another, one infinitely more primal — God, I need to taste her right fucking now.
Leon ran the flat of his tongue agonizingly slowly up the length of her slit, Ashley crying out in surprise. He could feel fingers tightly gripping his hair, the pain enmeshing itself with his white hot arousal. Ashley called out his name, but all he could focus on was the way she felt against him. He found her swollen clit, swiping at it with the blade of his tongue. With every taste he got, he could feel himself burn harder for her. Ashley’s thighs wrapped around her head like a vise, muffling her sweet noises as the grip she had on his head tightened. Leon grabbed her legs as she bucked in response to his every movement. He felt like he was being driven insane for her and begged whatever higher power was above him to push him over the edge.
“Leon…”
Something about the way she called her name, like a piercing beacon through the haze in his mind, made him look up at her.
“Please…” Ashley said, catching her breath. “Please fuck me.”
The bluntness of her request hit like a cold shock of water to the face. He unwrapped Ashley’s thighs from around his head and sat up. The rational part of Leon’s brain took over for a moment and asked, “Are you sure? Do you have protection?”
“Don’t get shy on me now,” she said. “I’m on the pill, so you don’t have to worry about that. I need you right fucking now, Leon.”
That was all he needed to hear. Whatever doubts Leon had up to that point dissipated in his head. Lust roared back into his body, the saner bits of him getting drowned out by animalistic need. She yelped as he spread open her legs, taking his cock in his hand and aligning himself with her entrance.
Leon sucked in an anxious breath and slid inside slowly, agonizingly slowly, savoring the feeling of Ashley’s walls. Both of them cried out together as Leon collapsed on top of her, grabbing fistfuls of the sheets as he was embraced by her warmth. He pressed his full weight on top of her, moving forward until he was at his hilt, listening to her sweet whimpers all the while.
Leon felt a hand cradle the back of his neck, the other grazing its nails on his back. Ashley moved his head so their foreheads were touching. The only thing either of them could see was each other’s eyes; his an icy, weary blue, hers the glimmering shade of green that had grown to comfort him.
Ashley’s mouth hung open as Leon weighed on her. “Oh my god…”
“God, you feel so fucking good, Ash,” Leon said.
Leon gently pulled back and thrusted in again, picking up more speed each time. With each movement, he elicited more noise from her — a sharp inhale, a languid moan. Leon couldn’t help himself either, a strained grunt or an enraptured cry occasionally escaping from his lips. Those were the noises that Ashley seemed to respond to the most. She buried his face in his collarbone, each new sound buzzing against his skin. The what and why of what brought them here melted away in his mind. Leon stopped giving a shit about anyone else outside his room. Who fucking cares if they hear us, he thought. Let the front desk phone ring off the goddamn hook with noise complaints. All that mattered was what Ashley needed — and what he needed in turn.
Without warning, Leon jolted his hips with a rough smack against Ashley’s thighs. Ashley let out a fierce, startled shriek. He pressed himself harder into her, almost crushing her in between the bed and his body as he picked up his pace. Ashley’s nails dug harder into Leon’s back with each frenzied thrust. A thrill went up Leon’s spine with every vulgar sound he was able to wring from her throat, further fueling his need to fuck her into the mattress. She cried out loudly, filling the room with shouts of Leon’s name and pleas that he didn’t stop, he didn’t dare fucking stop.
Somehow too soon and right on time all at once, Leon felt himself on the verge of climax. He clutched the back of Ashley’s head, flattening his cheek against hers. Her pitched gasps rushing against his ear threatened to make him finish by itself.
“Are you c-close?” she said.
“Yes…” he grunted.
“Me too,” she said. “Look at me.”
Leon followed orders, once again pressing his forehead against hers and staring right into her eyes as he continued to hammer into her. Ashley gripped the back of his head, fingers intertwining with his lustrous hair. Her cries — and, Leon realized, his own — began to rise in pitch, sprinting towards climax every second. Her eyes cutting daggers into his soul only made it worse for him. He had escaped death too many times to count and horrific monsters seemed to hound his every step, but right here, right now, fire burning in his lungs and euphoria throttling his nerves, felt like the most intense experience of his entire life.
Leon couldn’t restrain himself any longer. Neither could Ashley. With a final strangled shout, she tightened around him, her torso arching upwards on the mattress, as he emptied himself inside her. He dare not move. All the exertion he put himself through seemed to catch up at once and he let himself melt into Ashley’s skin, his own tingling with pinprick sensitivity. For a moment, the only thing either of them could hear was the sound of panting.
Ashley was the one to say something first. She chuckled. “Where on Earth did that come from?”
In between gasps, Leon said, “Where did what come from?”
“Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean.”
“Oh.” Clarity cut through the post-coital bliss. Leon remembered what an astoundingly bad idea this whole situation was. The sheer scale of his unprofessionalism struck him for a second. He hoped against hope that there weren’t other Secret Service agents that had been listening to him fool around with the president’s daughter.
And then he felt Ashley’s arms wrap around his shoulders and realized that of all the things he was feeling in that moment, regret wasn’t one of them.
“Just kind of felt right in the moment,” he said.
She giggled again. “Well, you certainly know how to treat a girl.”
“Maybe I knew you could handle it.”
“Ugh, you are so cheesy.” She kissed his cheek and held him for a little bit longer. Leon figured he could get used to this, whatever it was. There would be time to figure that question out, he thought.
Eventually, Ashley asked him to roll over so she could get dressed. Leon flopped onto the edge of the bed, watching each inch of her as she picked up her now-crumpled pajamas and clothed herself again. Leon put his sweatpants back on before laying down again and watching Ashley head to the door. She grabbed the handle and turned to face him, a wistful look in her eye.
“Night, Leon,” she said. “Maybe… we could do this again sometime?”
Leon nodded. “Say the word.”
She giggled, winked at him, opened the door and left. Leon reached over and flicked the nightstand lamp off, resting in the comfortable shadow. His eyelids grew heavy.
For once, he felt like sleeping.