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Some of the windows in the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center are slightly ajar, letting in cold, crisp air that bites against Leon's face as he and Ada as they fight their way through a horde of zombies. Neither of them have any trouble against them, gunning each one down with practiced ease. Leon sometimes wonders if this familiarity with slaughtering the infected was a good or bad thing.
The two of them find themselves in a hallway on the side of the building. It branches into two directions, forward and to the left. Going forward leads to a closed door whereas going left would take them to another hallway. Leon knows that this is where he and Ada will have to split up since they're looking for different things. They've always been stuck in situations bigger than just the two of them after all. He'll go through the door to look for Grace; Ada will head left to find whatever it is she's looking for. He doesn't know what exactly that is. Not like she would ever tell him.
There is only one zombie left in the hallway, staggering towards them. Leon aims his gun to shoot, but Ada beats him to it, popping the zombie's head open in one shot.
"Last one," she sighes. A chilling gust of wind blows through the windows and rustles her hair ever so slightly.
Leon turns around to look at her. Ada had holstered her gun and crossed her arms tightly across her chest. She had lost her coat two rooms back when two zombies managed to grab at her from behind and she had to kick them off of her. She was unscathed, of course, but in the process of fighting them, she had slipped out of her coat and had to leave it in a gross puddle of zombie blood and organs. She's had to continue on in her slacks and blouse which, while warmer than a mini dress, weren't warm enough for the cold, sterile air of the care center. Leon immaturely wonders if he should thank the zombies for pulling off Ada's coat, for revealing the way her dark red blouse dips low enough to show off her collarbone and the way her slacks hug her waist and elongate her legs.
Another gust of wind blows through the hallway, making Leon flinch and Ada shudder. Surely it shouldn't be this cold in October. Leon makes his way to Ada and shrugs off his jacket. She watches him turn it around in his hands before he wraps it around her shoulders.
"What's all this for?" Ada asks, unable to stop the corners of her mouth from lifting. Her hands move to pull the jacket tighter around her.
"You seemed cold, " Leon murmurs. He looks at her intently, studying the details of her face. Her large, doe-like, dark brown eyes and the glittery makeup framing them; her lips, tinted a deep, rosy red; her cheeks, flushed from the cold and their close proximity; the tip of her nose invites Leon in to kiss it, but right now he'd rather just keep looking at her. Leon moves one of his gloved hands from his jacket to caress the side of Ada's face, swiping his thumb against her cheek. The skin around her eyes had started to crease with age and if Leon looked closely enough, he could see silver strands intertwined in her jet black hair. God, she's so gorgeous. Leon's eyes dip back down to Ada's lips and he considers whether or not to lean in.
"Leon?" Ada's voice shakes him out of his thoughts. He pulls his hands away from her and steps back. He doesn't notice the way she follows after his touch.
"I- " he clears his throat. "I should get going."
He turns away from Ada and starts making his way towards the end of the hallway. His footsteps echo in the silence.
He's almost halfway to the door before Ada's voice graces his ears again.
"Leon, forgetting something?"
Leon stops and looks back at her. She had slipped her arms into the jacket and put her hands in the pockets. Had he left something in there? "You can keep whatever's in there. I'll be fine-"
"That's not what I meant," she chuckles. She motions for him to walk back. "Come here."
Who is Leon to refuse? He walks back to Ada, trying to ignore the warm, fuzzy way seeing her swathed in his jacket makes him feel. "What is it-"
Ada leans in, takes Leon's face in her hands, and presses her rosy red lips against his. Leon's shock only lasts for a split-second before his eyes flutter close and he melts into the kiss. It reminds him of that night, 28 years ago, when Ada had kissed him for the first time. He had froze up and the only things he could remember about leaving the tram were the way his heart hammered against his chest and how hot his face felt. He was such a kid back then, but it's been almost 3 decades since and he's a different man now.
He wraps one hand around the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her hair and the other underneath his jacket to grab her waist. He pulls her in, pressing her body into his. She moves her hands to brace against Leon's chest, taking the opportunity to feel up his muscles. She hums approvingly as he moans at the feeling of her hands massaging his pecs.
"You shouldn't lead a lady on like that, Leon," Ada murmurs against his lips, pausing to kiss him every few words. "I thought you were finally going to take initiative and kiss me for once."
"I've kissed you plenty of times before," Leon argues, moving his arms to wrap them both around her waist and pull her even closer to his body.
"Even so," Ada moves her arms up to wrap around Leon's neck and steps onto his toes so she wouldn't have to crane her neck as much to kiss him. "You can't just give a girl your jacket and not kiss her goodbye afterwards."
"Isn't that what I'm doing right now, Ada?" Leon challenges.
Ada just scoffs in response and angles her head to deepen her kisses. She runs her tongue along the seam of his lips, demanding for entrance. Leon lets her in eagerly, the heat from their mouths running down his throat and up his back. The hot, wet slide of their tongues and the soft press of their lips are luxuries that he would always savor.
It feels like it could last forever. When of one them pulls away, the other leans right back in. Neither of them could care less about the cold wind coming in from the windows or the bloody zombies scattered at their feet. Not when they have each other in their arms, sharing body heat, and feeling the warm rush of oxytocin in their blood. They are living in their own world, one that doesn't smell of metallic blood or rotting flesh, but of the mix of her flowery perfume and his woody cologne. Leon wishes it could last forever.
Ada finally breaks off the kiss to catch her breath and steps off Leon's toes. Leon can't hold back the groan that escapes his throat when she does. She smiles as she moves her hands to hold his face again. Her eyes scan over his face, starting from the faint lines on his forehead, to his dark eyebrows, to his icy blue eyes, to the point of his nose, to his flushed cheeks, to the salt and pepper stubble along his jaw, down to —
Ada's smile drops.
Leon knows why. The rotting infection of the Raccoon City Syndrome is a grisly reminder that their time together is limited. And in a cruel sense, it's a reminder of how they first met and how their lives were then changed forever. Leon's lucky that the black marks on Ada are covered up by her clothes. He doesn't know if he could handle seeing them on her. He can't imagine what Ada must be feeling, looking at the dying skin crawling up his neck.
"Ada…" Leon reaches up to hold the hand ghosting over his infection. She's shaking. Ada looks back up at his eyes and does her best to steel her expression.
"Come back to me alive, Leon," she whispers.
"… I will."
"Good," Ada leans up and plants a kiss on Leon's right cheek. He takes the moment to breathe in and memorize her scent (rose, jasmine, cherry, and cedar) one last time before she steps away entirely and he has to let go of her.
Ada wraps Leon's jacket tighter around her body and nuzzles into the fur collar as she turns to leave. Leon's heart begins to pound at the sight. "I'll see you later, then."
"Yeah," Leon breathes out. He watches her walk away, entranced, and doesn't take his eyes off her until he can no longer hear the click of her stiletto heels against the floor.
Leon eventually comes back to his senses. He needs to find Grace. As he heads towards the door, he touches the back of hands to his cheeks to try and cool his face down.
Grace knows she shouldn't be staring, and especially not at an intimidating, seasoned DSO agent like Leon Kennedy, but there's something about his face that's been bothering her. Not the gnarly, dark infection crawling up his neck and inching towards his jaw. He had that when she first met him. No, he had gotten a red smear on his cheek and another one on his lips since the last time they saw each other. It doesn't really look like blood, so Grace only has one guess on what it could be.
And where did his jacket go?
"What is it?" Leon asks, startling Grace.
"Huh!?"
"You've been staring for a while now. Is something wrong?"
Shit, had she been that obvious?
"No, but… Is…" Grace scrutinizes the red smears on Leon's face again. "Is that lipstick on your face?"
Leon's brows knit in confusion. He immediately swipes a finger against his lips and pulls it back to see a faint red smudge on the tip of his glove. He stares at it for a moment before he drops his head in his hands and, to Grace's surprise, starts laughing.
"Is…" Grace is starting to get uncomfortable. Did this old man really make out with someone in these sort of conditions? "Is it lipstick?"
Leon looks back up. His hands are still covering most of his face, but Grace can tell that he's blushing. "Yeah."