Work Text:
“Mom just wanted to know if you’re coming to dinner this Sunday." Claire leans on her brother’s desk.
“Yeah sure, I'll come. But she could’ve just texted me. Didn’t need you to come here just to ask me that."
“It’s fine; I was just passing by anyway. And I wanted to see my brother too. It’s been a while since we last saw you." The girl excuses herself, looking around the room discreetly.
“You know how things work here. One day you’re buried in work, the next you’re just sitting around and waiting for time to pass." Chris leans his head against his chair, letting out a sigh. These past days the work outside the police department is barely minimum, meaning all they can do is paperwork. The thing Chris hated the most.
“Now seriously, what do you want? My apartment this weekend to go with your friends?” It wasn’t weird to her that he was asking things like that of his brother. His days were based on working and having full shifts during weekends, so she used to go to his apartment, taking advantage of the fact that it would be empty.
Claire shrugged casually.
“What? I can’t visit my brother?”
Chris narrowed his eyes slightly.
“... You’ve visited three times this week, and it's just Thursday. Are you hooking up with someone and you want to use my apartment?"
“No! I just…” The office door opened abruptly behind them, a Leon, loaded to the brim with reports, showed up.
They both turned to him, Claire trying to hide his sudden surprise.
She obviously came here not to see his brother, but him. Didn’t expect to have them both in the same room tho.
“Didn’t know you had company," joked the rookie a bit. He then leaves the reports on his desk.
“She’s my sister, Claire,” he introduced them formally. Little did he know a couple of days ago she was under the blankets of his co-worker.
Leon extends his hand to her. “Leon Kennedy, nice to meet you, Claire.” The girl doesn’t hesitate and takes it to shake their hands. They both try to hide their smirks and how surreal this whole situation is for them.
“Anything new, rookie?” asks Chris, trying to get these two’s attention. As a big brother, he doesn’t like when a man reaches up to his little sis. Even if it's Leon.
“Actually… ” the young man turns to him, "the captain was asking for you. It looks like there’s some action outside and it needs a pair of officers. ”
“Finally!” Chris gets up as soon as Leon finishes talking. “I’ll go see what's happening. I’m sorry, rookie, but you’ll have to stay here today." He then gives him a little squeeze on his shoulder before turning to his sister. “I’ll see you on Sunday, then. You can stay Saturday night in my apartment if you want!” His voice gets cut as soon as the door closes behind him.
Once the older Redfield is out of the office, Leon lets out a big sigh. Claire can only laugh at it. “You don't know how tense that was." He shakes his head, chuckling out of nervousness.
Claire walks towards him, resting her hands on his chest and moving them up to his tense shoulders. “C’mon,” she murmured with a grin. “My brother is not that bad."
Leon let out a quiet laugh.
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the guy secretly sleeping with his sister."
Claire raised an eyebrow.
“He wouldn’t do anything." Her fingers ran to his nape, hanging there for a bit. “He’s intimidating, but he wouldn’t hit a fly."
He leans his forehead against hers, joined with another sigh. “I don't know, Red…” His hands find their way to his hips, like they mean to be there.
"Just give him a chance…” she grins softly against his lips, finding extremely cute how preoccupied Leon is to his brother's reaction if he finds out about them.
It’s been a couple of months now since they’ve been seeing each other. A friend in common introduced them at a party from Claire’s college; now the rest is history. Trying to maintain this in secret was her idea once she found out that he was going to become an officer at RPD. She knows extremely well how overprotective his brother can be and didn’t want Leon to have a hard time the first days at his new job.
But now, a couple of months later, and seeing that they both are happy with whatever's happening between them two, it wouldn’t mind if Chris finds out.
“If he tries to kill me once he finds out, I just want you to know that these past few months have been really good." He shrugged lightly; the small smile on his face softened his words.
Claire let out a quiet chuckle. “Oh wow,” she leaned a little closer. “Already preparing your last words?”
“Just being realistic,” he excused, without taking his eyes off her.
She shook her head playfully before leaning up and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.
“Relax, rookie," she murmured when she pulled back, just a little. Leon immediately groaned.
“Please don't call me that." He gave her waist a little squeeze. The grimace on his face disconcerned Claire, before she raises an eyebrow.
“Are you so full of yourself that you don't want me to call you what you are anymore?” She teased, but Leon’s face didn’t change.
“It’s not that, just…” He takes a step back, leaving Claire’s body and leaning against the desk. Uncertainty makes Claire roam his eyes all over Leon, trying to find what's going on with his nickname.
Silence fills the office for a few seconds, until he lets out a dry chuckle, shaking his head. “Your brother calls me that too." He runs a hand through his hair, smoothing it down. “And hearing you say it while we’re… you know…” he sighed vaguely. “It makes it weird."
Claire laughed softly. “Oh my god, you’re unbelievable.”
Leon lifted his hands slightly in defense, though a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“I’m dead serious.”
She crossed her arms, sitting up on Chris’ desk. “So what, I’m not allowed to call you rookie anymore?”
“I didn’t say that.” Leon muttered, slowly moving away from his desk.
“You literally just said that.”
“I said it makes it weird."
Claire tilted her head, clearly enjoying this far too much while swinging her legs.
“Alright then,” she started slowly. “What exactly am I supposed to call you?”
Leon looked at her for a second, taking step by step towards her, as if considering his answer. Once he’s close enough, his hands lean on either side of the desk, trapping her body. Then the faintest smirk appeared.
“Your boyfriend, maybe?”
Claire blinked, not expecting that answer at all. For a second she just stared at him, close enough to feel his breath against her skin. Then she lets out a small chuckle, shaking her head.
“Okay,” she admitted. “That was smooth."
Leon shrugged, casually. “Had to try something”
“But I didn't figure you for someone so cheesy," she added, brushing a strand of hair away from his forehead.
“Well, you should start getting used then." He leans at her touch, closing his eyes briefly.
Claire’s expression softens a little; watching him being so cuddly is something new to her. It was almost every time they saw each other some kind of rushed thing. Not because they didn’t want more, but having to pretend in front of others.
If they had spent more time together instead of rushing things, his lie probably wouldn’t have lasted this long.
“I’ll take you on an actual date,” Leon adds.
Claire raises an eyebrow.
“An actual date?” she repeats, clearly surprised. “What, like dinner and everything?”
“Yeah. Dinner. Maybe a movie. Somewhere that isn’t my apartment or a parking lot."
Claire lets out a soft laugh.
“Wow. Look at you, officer. Getting all romantic on me.”
Leon leans a little closer, brushing his nose against the crook of her neck, a soft smile forming on his lips. Maybe he’s getting a bit shy, but he wouldn’t admit that loudly. Ever.
“And after the date?” she asks, pulling back lightly so she can see his face clearly.
He hesitates for a moment, their eyes meeting. Both of them with the pupils fully dilated and the hearts beating faster than they should.
“Then I'll ask you to be my girlfriend.”
Claire studies his face for a moment, before sliding her hands lightly to the front of his uniform.
“Well, rookie—”
Leon immediately groans.
“Please”
She chuckles, grinning.
“ — fine, pretty boy," she teased. ”That sounds like a good plan."
He smirks, getting his face closer again.
Claire grabs him by the lapel of his uniform and pulls him towards her, pressing another kiss to his lips, slower this time.
Leon melted into it almost immediately, one hand resting against the desk while the other one moved to her waist.
They’re so invested in each other that none of them noticed the office door quietly opened again behind them.
Chris stopped as soon as he saw the picture.
His eyes landed immediately on Leon’s back, standing between his sister’s legs where she was sitting on the desk. His desk.
And on the fact that they were very clearly kissing.
Chris slowly crosses his arms.
“... well.”
Claire opens her eyes lightly, without separating from Leon. Once she notices his brother leaning against the doorframe, she quickly gets off of the desk, coughing.
Leon, concerned, furrowed his eyebrows. “Why did you—”
He then notices the presence of his superior. His face drains of color.
Claire raises one hand in a small wave.
“... Hi, Chris.”
Leon looks like he’s about to pass out.
Chris tilts his head slightly. Ignoring his sister’s presence, he directly shoots at Leon.
“Rookie.”
The simple nickname gives him shivers.
“Yes, sir." He straightened immediately.
Chris smiles, enjoying it. He then points between them.
“You wanna explain… this?”
Leon opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looks at Claire, standing right on his side, who looks more confident than him right now.
She sighed before stepping forwards.
"Oh, for god's sake, Chris,” she muttered, rubbing her temple. “We were going to tell you eventually."
Chris looked at her.
Then at Leon.
Then back at her.
“... How long?”
Leon answered immediately.
“Three months now, sir."
Chris closed his eyes for a moment and took a slow breath. When he opened them again, they found Claire’s.
“I’m assuming Mom and Dad don’t know about this either.”
Leon grimaces; the thought of meeting her parents makes him want to throw up.
“We’re not even official yet, Chris," Claire excused herself. “Of course they don't."
Chris opened his eyes widely. “Three months and you still haven’t asked her out? ” He pointed a finger at Leon.
“I did it, like ten minutes ago," Leon protects himself.
Claire nodded. “He did."
Chris crossed his arms again, taking a step closer to them while a smirk started appearing on his face. “Then, I guess you’re coming to dinner this Sunday.”
Leon looks at Claire confused, not knowing what Chris is referring to, while she looks at his brother straight, wanting to kill him. She knows now that he won't shut up once they finally meet with their parents, so it’s basically a trap for the poor rookie.
“With my parents…” Claire assures Leon, who almost passed out at the thought of meeting her parents in barely three days.
He takes a deep breath, stepping to his now brother-in-law, or at least it will be in less than a day. His now confident smile unsettles Chris. “We’ll see there, yeah."
That takes Claire by surprise. Less than twenty minutes before, he was panicking about his brother finding out about them hooking up, and now he’s being too confident about meeting her parents in a couple of days.
Maybe that's why he’s a cop, faking confidence in everything.