Bonding Despite
Jan. 16th, 2024 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry/Resident Evil/Background NCIS Crossover (Hold My Heart)
Chapter Summary: Ashley gets some answers she absolutely didn't want.
Word Count: 1109
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Leon/Xander (discussed)
Mystery man looks like he wants to escape, but he sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Sure, why not. Leon’s had to tell everybody so far and I haven’t had to tell anyone as of yet because my friends and family are all incredibly nosy, so fair’s fair. I’ll take one for the team. You might as well take it out on me.”
Redgrave bites his lip and closes his eye, frowning like he’s thinking, before opening it again. “Okay. Let’s put it this way. If a woman answered the door half-dressed having just come out of the shower in a guy’s apartment, what would be your first reaction?”
Ashley gasps, instantly—no, no—she doesn’t want to imagine that—“He’s not gay!”
That deep blue eye turns hard and icy, the laidback chill vibes disappearing in an instant. “I’m giving you one freebie for shock. No, he’s bisexual,” he bites out in a polite, frosty tone that she can practically feel chilling her bones. “And president’s daughter or no president’s daughter, if you say anything homophobic—or biphobic, I guess—to him, anything at all, I know ways to make your life a living hell and I’m not above using them. Absolutely keep you alive, because that’s in the job description, but you might regret that.”
He’s fully serious, and Ashley’s caught between confusion (so then what was going on with that Ada chick?), the desire to cry (because as long as he hadn’t been dating anyone, there’d been hope, treacherous thing that it was), and absolute horror (because she can’t believe she’d said that).
“I’m not—I didn’t mean to say that; I’m sorry,” she offers, meek and damn it she really is going to cry in front of, what, Leon’s partner? Boyfriend? Squeeze?
To her surprise, rather than continuing to lecture her, Redgrave offers her a half-smile. “We live in a society. A society that, yeah, is homophobic and racist and all the bad things. But at some point it’s on us if we keep up those traditions, y’know? Can’t blame it on society forever.”
It’d been—with Ada, it’d been easy. Sure, it’d been easy to see as much as he’d actually been wary, wanted to keep his distance, because he honestly had some type of self-preservation even if it’d been warped along the way, he was head over heels for her, but she was the femme fatale and femme fatales don’t date, and it’d been pretty easy to see that a part of Leon really, really wanted that edge of normalcy. To go on dates and show off a pretty partner and blush at compliments. Or maybe that was just her fantasies speaking—point is, she thought she could maybe offer him something that woman couldn’t. But with Redgrave here—let’s face it, showering in your crush’s apartment is about as normal as it gets, and it wasn’t like Leon could hide the fact that he fell hard, no matter how sneaky he thought he was about hiding it.
...Then again, that does mean she probably wasn’t totally wrong about him wanting something normal.
She should apologize. Offer an olive branch, maybe tell him in return that if she’s not going to get to date Leon he’s going to have to do the best job he can for both their sakes. “Is he a good kisser?” she asks suddenly, a second later mortified. He’s going to hate her, he’s going to hate her—
He’s looking thoughtful. “Is this going to be one of those things where you’ll stop wondering about it if you get the answer, or is it just going to be torture that’ll haunt your waking thoughts?”
...Okay, Redgrave is weird. “Why would you care?” Because on the face of it, he shouldn’t. He should just answer, rub her face in it, see, I managed to catch his attention and you didn’t.
“Leon cares,” the man responds simply, shrugging like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “And when you’re not being cattier than Miss Kitty Fantastico was, you remind me of one of my favorite people, too, so I care.”
It...can’t quite be that easy, can it? “Who?” she asks cautiously, intrigued despite herself, and the smile is equal parts genuine affection (how? why? Redgrave really is a weird guy) and relief, because he’s found the right bait. She’d be annoyed if she wasn’t so intrigued.
He starts combing his fingers through his hair, like that’s gonna work when it’s about as long as Leon’s. He’s still dripping onto the carpet and Leon’s t-shirt. Maybe he wants to continue to try to towel off, but he doesn’t want to lose eye contact, because for whatever reason he is trying to convince her he’s taking this seriously. She’s had a lot of experience with that, with her dad in politics and all. “Dawn. She’s the little sister of one of my best friends. She could be a bit of a brat, so I guess you both have that going for you—”
Okay, that’s just downright rude. But at least he’s not eyeing her up. “Hey!”
He grins at her, mischievously, so maybe that’d been a playful dig or retaliation for her earlier comment. “But she’s also brave, despite having more common sense than the rest of us combined, probably—well, there was the teenage years, but we’re not counting those—loyal to her friends, quick-witted, snappy dresser, and there’s also...I don’t know, both of you seem to be able to adapt to situations pretty easily, but that doesn’t mean you like it.”
At her raised eyebrow, because there’s absolutely no way he’d read all of that about her by having barely just met her, he chuckles.
“Leon talks about you, and most of what got me thinking was that he talks about you the way I talk about Dawn—sorry, Ashley. Think you’re relegated to little sis, and this isn’t one of those anime. Though if it makes you feel any better, a) you are and probably will always be one of the most important people in Leon’s life, and not just because that was a huge, life-changing mission for him, and b) Dawn has a crush on me, furthering the parallels, and you can probably get together and gripe about how this all worked out for your love lives.”
That’s just so absurd, Ashley just has to laugh, and Redgrave grins.
Okay. He’s soooo not her type, but she definitely has friends at school who would find him gorgeous, eyepatch and all. And apparently that also includes Leon. Damn it.
Buffy/Devil May Cry/Resident Evil/Background NCIS Crossover (Hold My Heart)
Chapter Summary: Ashley gets some answers she absolutely didn't want.
Word Count: 1109
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Leon/Xander (discussed)
“Who are you? Why are you in Leon’s apartment?”
Mystery man looks like he wants to escape, but he sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Sure, why not. Leon’s had to tell everybody so far and I haven’t had to tell anyone as of yet because my friends and family are all incredibly nosy, so fair’s fair. I’ll take one for the team. You might as well take it out on me.”
Redgrave bites his lip and closes his eye, frowning like he’s thinking, before opening it again. “Okay. Let’s put it this way. If a woman answered the door half-dressed having just come out of the shower in a guy’s apartment, what would be your first reaction?”
Ashley gasps, instantly—no, no—she doesn’t want to imagine that—“He’s not gay!”
That deep blue eye turns hard and icy, the laidback chill vibes disappearing in an instant. “I’m giving you one freebie for shock. No, he’s bisexual,” he bites out in a polite, frosty tone that she can practically feel chilling her bones. “And president’s daughter or no president’s daughter, if you say anything homophobic—or biphobic, I guess—to him, anything at all, I know ways to make your life a living hell and I’m not above using them. Absolutely keep you alive, because that’s in the job description, but you might regret that.”
He’s fully serious, and Ashley’s caught between confusion (so then what was going on with that Ada chick?), the desire to cry (because as long as he hadn’t been dating anyone, there’d been hope, treacherous thing that it was), and absolute horror (because she can’t believe she’d said that).
“I’m not—I didn’t mean to say that; I’m sorry,” she offers, meek and damn it she really is going to cry in front of, what, Leon’s partner? Boyfriend? Squeeze?
To her surprise, rather than continuing to lecture her, Redgrave offers her a half-smile. “We live in a society. A society that, yeah, is homophobic and racist and all the bad things. But at some point it’s on us if we keep up those traditions, y’know? Can’t blame it on society forever.”
It’d been—with Ada, it’d been easy. Sure, it’d been easy to see as much as he’d actually been wary, wanted to keep his distance, because he honestly had some type of self-preservation even if it’d been warped along the way, he was head over heels for her, but she was the femme fatale and femme fatales don’t date, and it’d been pretty easy to see that a part of Leon really, really wanted that edge of normalcy. To go on dates and show off a pretty partner and blush at compliments. Or maybe that was just her fantasies speaking—point is, she thought she could maybe offer him something that woman couldn’t. But with Redgrave here—let’s face it, showering in your crush’s apartment is about as normal as it gets, and it wasn’t like Leon could hide the fact that he fell hard, no matter how sneaky he thought he was about hiding it.
...Then again, that does mean she probably wasn’t totally wrong about him wanting something normal.
She should apologize. Offer an olive branch, maybe tell him in return that if she’s not going to get to date Leon he’s going to have to do the best job he can for both their sakes. “Is he a good kisser?” she asks suddenly, a second later mortified. He’s going to hate her, he’s going to hate her—
He’s looking thoughtful. “Is this going to be one of those things where you’ll stop wondering about it if you get the answer, or is it just going to be torture that’ll haunt your waking thoughts?”
...Okay, Redgrave is weird. “Why would you care?” Because on the face of it, he shouldn’t. He should just answer, rub her face in it, see, I managed to catch his attention and you didn’t.
“Leon cares,” the man responds simply, shrugging like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “And when you’re not being cattier than Miss Kitty Fantastico was, you remind me of one of my favorite people, too, so I care.”
It...can’t quite be that easy, can it? “Who?” she asks cautiously, intrigued despite herself, and the smile is equal parts genuine affection (how? why? Redgrave really is a weird guy) and relief, because he’s found the right bait. She’d be annoyed if she wasn’t so intrigued.
He starts combing his fingers through his hair, like that’s gonna work when it’s about as long as Leon’s. He’s still dripping onto the carpet and Leon’s t-shirt. Maybe he wants to continue to try to towel off, but he doesn’t want to lose eye contact, because for whatever reason he is trying to convince her he’s taking this seriously. She’s had a lot of experience with that, with her dad in politics and all. “Dawn. She’s the little sister of one of my best friends. She could be a bit of a brat, so I guess you both have that going for you—”
Okay, that’s just downright rude. But at least he’s not eyeing her up. “Hey!”
He grins at her, mischievously, so maybe that’d been a playful dig or retaliation for her earlier comment. “But she’s also brave, despite having more common sense than the rest of us combined, probably—well, there was the teenage years, but we’re not counting those—loyal to her friends, quick-witted, snappy dresser, and there’s also...I don’t know, both of you seem to be able to adapt to situations pretty easily, but that doesn’t mean you like it.”
At her raised eyebrow, because there’s absolutely no way he’d read all of that about her by having barely just met her, he chuckles.
“Leon talks about you, and most of what got me thinking was that he talks about you the way I talk about Dawn—sorry, Ashley. Think you’re relegated to little sis, and this isn’t one of those anime. Though if it makes you feel any better, a) you are and probably will always be one of the most important people in Leon’s life, and not just because that was a huge, life-changing mission for him, and b) Dawn has a crush on me, furthering the parallels, and you can probably get together and gripe about how this all worked out for your love lives.”
That’s just so absurd, Ashley just has to laugh, and Redgrave grins.
Okay. He’s soooo not her type, but she definitely has friends at school who would find him gorgeous, eyepatch and all. And apparently that also includes Leon. Damn it.
