SAVEGUARD ⟼ leon s. kennedy

xxviii. vote of confidence

𝕝𝕖𝕠𝕟

"So you really think this Raymond Vester didn't betray his partner Rachel and turn against the FBC to side with Veltro?" Jill is asking Leon, thinking out loud as she paces the cabin's living room, with her hands on her hips.

The fireplace is on, crackling in the background, and he's surprised that she hasn't built up a sweat yet from all the laps she's done around the room.

"From what Hunnigan has told me, it doesn't sound like it, no," Leon replies, his eyes following her as she walks around the room. She was starting to do his head in with all the incessant pacing.

"Jill, just sit down," Chris says, yawning.

Leon had never seen the man yawn, especially not while on a job. He wonders if these two got as little sleep as Leon and you got last night. He also wonders what it is about life-threatening situations that makes someone crave intimacy so much more than usual.

"We got Luciani and Sherawat joining us, both of them worked with Raymond," Chris continues. "Their insight is crucial right now."

"Six agents on board the same ship... I have a bad feeling about this," Jill mumbles as she finally stops her pacing and sits down next to Chris, who shifts his position so she can sit close to him, their knees touching.

"I'm not an agent," you say quietly, and Leon looks in your direction. You're wearing his jacket—it sags at your shoulders and comes down to past your hips, he's cold but he would rather freeze on the spot than see you wearing Redfield's jacket again—and sipping your ridiculously over-sugared hot chocolate. He would've probably said something had he not been the reason you stayed up all night and are currently in desperate need of sugary energy.

Looking back, it was a bad idea to miss almost a full night of sleep. Not for him, because he rarely can sleep for longer than three hours on a good night, but for you. But he couldn't keep his hands off of you... And it seemed like you couldn't either, which is something he still can't believe.

He refuses to believe someone is as completely interested in him as he is in them. It just never happened before. And for that person to be you... Well. He doesn't know whether to feel extremely lucky or incredibly naive.

"Oh yeah, Clementine, sorry— I forgot. You handle yourself well out there. Consider joining the BSAA?" Jill says, sipping on her own coffee.

"Maybe one day—" you start to say, but Leon clears his throat and interjects.

"No way," he says, looking down at his empty styrofoam cup. The last thing he needs is to see you go through the hell that he has to go through every day of his life. "This shit is never-ending. You don't want anything to do with this."

"Which is why we need more competent people," Chris says with a tight smile. "Think about it, Clementine."

"I don't think I could handle myself like you guys do out there for long." You say with a gentle smile back, your eyes flashing between Leon and Chris. "The anxiety is already sorta eating me alive."

"Anxiety comes and goes. The feeling of knowing you did something to help the world, well, that is what warms me up at night," Chris says with a proud smile.

"Leave it, Redfield," Leon says, getting up to toss the styrofoam cup into the cabin's kitchen's trash bag.

"Let her think about it," Jill tells Chris, in her signature assertive tone that seems to be the only one to get Chris to shut up.

You smile at Leon as he walks past you, but he doesn't smile back, his stomach churning at the idea of putting you in even more unnecessary danger. The idea of something happening to you because of some bioweapon mission. The knowledge that you got dragged into this because of him.