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starrysky28 · 3 months

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The Times We Were Together: Chapter 2

Series Title: The Times We Were Together

Series Summary: After the Raccoon City incident, Claire, Sherry and Leon start living together, where they share many memories and moments with each other.

Chapter Title: "Closer To Normal"

Rating: T

Words: 2,664

Warnings: None, mentions of alcohol in the middle of the chapter

Much to the relief of everyone, the two hour car ride to Chris's house was a mostly smooth and easy one. Claire had insisted on driving over Leon, saying that he "drives too fast", to which the man in question had a few words denying this claim.

After nearly getting lost more than a few times due to Leon's shocking inability to read a road map, and a few "are we there yet's?" from Sherry in the back seat, the trio finally arrived.

"You sure this is the place?", Leon asked.

Claire nodded confidently, "No doubt about it. I know my childhood home when I see it"

The house was a decent size, albeit a little big for just one or two people, which explained the fact that it was Chris and Claire's "childhood home".

"Whoa! This place is amazing!", Sherry exclaimed in awe.

"You should see the inside!", Claire replied.

The excited child ran up to the door and knocked politely with zero hesitation.

"Wait for us, Sherry!", Claire laughed, grabbing Leon by the hand.

The young man was shocked by this gesture, his eyes fixated on her small, soft hands, only slightly calloused from the day before.

As Claire and Leon reached the front steps, the door opened, revealing a tall, burly man with short, dark brown hair and a serious, almost intimidating expression plastered onto his face. He also looked to be at least a few years older than Claire and Leon.

"Claire", The man nods.

There's now a sight softness in his expression, "I'm glad you're safe"

"It's good to see you again, Chris", Claire smiles fondly at her brother.

Chris clears his throat, now looking down at Claire's left hand, which still held Leon's right hand loosely.

A few seconds pass before Claire notices and lets go, "Oh! Um..."

"This is Sherry", She says, gesturing her hands towards the beaming girl in front of him.

"It's very nice to meet you, Sherry", Chris smiles, bending over to shake her hand.

"So...You're Claire's...?"

"Older brother? That would be me. I'm sure she told you all sorts of embarrassing stories already", Chris joked.

Sherry giggles, "Only a few..."

"Is that so, hm?", The man was now standing up straight, locking eyes with Leon.

"Who's the guy, Claire?"

Claire was slightly hesitant. Chris tended to be a little overprotective of Claire whenever there was a guy involved, at least that's what she'd learned from bringing home her old boyfriends from high school.

Leon, however, was just a friend.

"This is Leon. He was a big help to us yesterday", she said.

"Big help, huh?", Chris's eyes were still fixated on Leon, whose expression showed a slight tinge of panic, though he was trying hard to hide it.

There was an awkward silence before Chris spoke again, "Why don't you all come inside, it's a bit chilly out there"

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Walking into the house gave off the impression that the Redfield's seemed to be rather well-off financially, but also felt as if it were stuck in the 1980s, as most of the old furniture and belongings appeared to be intact from when their parents were still around.

"Make yourselves at home. The bedrooms are all set up for whenever you're ready to put your things away"

"Ooh! after we settle in, can you show me your old bedroom, Claire?", Sherry asked.

"Of course! C'mon, lets go put our stuff away", Claire replied, rushing up the stairs with the little girl behind her.

Chris laughed, "Look at those two, huh?"

Leon didn't realize he had been talking to him until he noticed him staring him down again, "U-Uh, yeah. Sherry follows her around like a baby chick. Cute, isn't it?"

Chris nods, "So, I have to ask..."

Leon gulped nervously.

"Are you and Claire together? Like a couple?"

"Ah- No, We're just friends, we only met a little over a day ago actually...", Leon blushed and itched at the back of his neck awkwardly, a habit of his for whenever he felt embarrassed.

"Oh...", Chris tried not to smirk.

"I guess I was wrong then", he continued, turning in the direction towards the kitchen area.

"Can I get you something to drink, Leon?"

"Sure, what've you got?"

"I've got tons of stuff in here", Chris says peering into the refrigerator.

"Water, Soda...Alcohol...", he begins listing off items.

Leon thought he probably could have used an alcoholic drink after the events of yesterday, "What have you got for alcohol?"

...

Chris and Leon sat on the couch in the living room, a can of beer for each of them.

"I probably should have asked this beforehand, but you're old enough to drink right?", Chris asked, switching on the TV.

"Yeah. I turned twenty-one this year actually, why?"

"Just making sure. Don't take this the wrong way, but you've got a bit of a baby face"

Leon chuckled, taking a sip of the can, "I didn't think I looked that young"

The two then began to watch a few seconds of the bad sitcom that was on:

"Honey, there's someone at the door", a woman calls out

An uninterested man reading a newspaper answers, "Oh yeah, who is it?"

"A donation collector. Says he needs a donation for a community swimming pool"

"Give him a glass of water", he deadpans

A laugh track follows

"So, Claire tells me you're a cop too?", Leon speaks again.

Chris laughs, "She told you that? Sort of, not really though"

"I currently work for S.T.A.R.S, though I'm not really sure what's gonna happen now that Raccoon City is...well, you know. Me and the rest of the team were ordered to get out of there as soon as we could"

Leon sighs, "Yeah"

"But, uh, S.T.A.R.S, right? That's some pretty intense stuff"

"It can be, yes...but what about you? You said you were a cop, right?", Chris asked, changing the subject slightly.

"Yes...but only for a day...", Leon replies.

Chris nearly choked on his sip of beer, "Wait? You mean this was all on your first day?!"

"Yep"

"Man...I could never imagine"

The sound of quick footsteps rushed down the staircase and continued until reaching the living room area.

"Hey, guys", Claire smiled, slightly out of breath.

"I see you two have already bonded"

Chris smiled back at her, then looked back at Leon, "I suppose we have"

"Where's Sherry?", Leon noticed that she wasn't with her.

"Still upstairs", she answered.

"Who knew she'd be so fascinated with my old stuff. Makes me wonder if her parents ever let her even have those types of things..."

"I kinda doubt it", he added.

"So...", Claire sat herself down on the end of the couch opposite of the two men.

"What did you guys want to do for dinner tonight?"

"Oh, Is it that time, already?", Leon asked.

Chris looked over at the digital clock that sat below the TV, "It's about 5:30"

"I dunno about everyone else, but I'm pretty hungry", Claire said.

After Claire mentioned it, Leon realized that he too was a bit hungry, "Hmm, I guess I could eat"

"Why don't I check the fridge", Claire got up and made her way to the kitchen, which was connected to the living room.

However when she opened the fridge, she only shook her head, "Seriously, Chris?"

"What?", The man questioned.

"All you have in here is beer, soda, water, some cheese and an old apple"

"I'm sure all the starving children in the world would love to eat that, Claire", he joked.

Claire rolled her eyes playfully, "Okay, Mom"

"In all seriousness though, we can't make a single thing with any of this"

"Guess we have to order pizza then", Chris shrugged his shoulders.

She thought for a moment before promptly shutting the fridge, "Actually, that's not a bad idea"

"Give me one moment", she strutted briskly back towards the bottom of the stairs.

"Sherry!"

A faint "Yeah?" could be heard from upstairs.

"Come down for a sec, we're gonna order pizza!"

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After ordering the pizza, the four of them sat on the couch in the living room, half-watching the TV show that was still on in the background and half-staring at the wall.

"So...what are we gonna do while we wait?", Sherry asked.

Claire made a face as if she were thinking, "We used to have some board games around here somewhere, though I think we moved most of them into the basement"

"I'll go look", Chris said, getting up from his seat and heading down into the basement.

...

A little over five minutes passed and Chris still wasn't back.

"Your basement can't be that big, right?", Leon joked.

Claire shrugged her shoulders, "It really isn't. I don't know what's taking him so long"

Finally, there was the sound of someone coming back up the wooden basement steps, which brought back everyone's attention.

"Find something?", she called out.

"Yes. Though its not a board game, it's a different kind of game" Chris answered.

The three of them peered over the wall that blocked off the view of the basement door. There was Chris, not holding a board game, but holding what looked to be some sort of device.

"What's that?", Sherry asked.

"This", he began.

"Is a video game console"

"So cool! I've always wanted one of those!", she wowed.

"When did you get that?", Claire asked.

"Someone I used to know from the Air Force gave it to me a year or two back", he said.

"Never really used it, but I was given a game for it and a few controllers"

Chris pulled out a chunky cartridge that had been stuffed in his shirt pocket, revealing the game to be a popular mascot kart-racing game.

"Anyone here up for a few races?"

...

"What?! How did you manage to get into first already?!", Leon shrieked playfully.

Claire smirked, "I think you harshly underestimate my kart-driving skills"

"Alright, well...Take this!", he replied.

Because there were only two controllers, the four of them took turns playing against each other. While Leon and Claire were going all out against each other in a race, Chris and Sherry watched the drama unfold.

"I think Claire is definitely gonna win", Sherry predicted.

Chris somehow knew what was about to go down, "Hmm, I'm not so sure about that. Watch what's about to happen..."

The two of them watched on the screen as a spiky blue shell popped up over the head of Claire's character, who was about to cross the finish line, and quickly spun themselves out in mid-air.

"Ha! Gotcha!", Leon cheered.

"Hey! That's so unfair!", Claire watched as her character's place ranking dropped down all the way from first to fifth.

In the end, Leon's character ended up placing just one spot ahead of her, though he still won fair and square against her.

"Alright, you against Sherry, then I want a rematch on rainbow road", As soon as Claire said this, however, there was a knock at the front door.

"I think that's the pizza", Chris said, getting up from the couch.

"Ooh! I'll come too!", Sherry insisted, following him to the door.

Claire stood up in front of Leon and pointed a finger at him, "This isn't over yet!"

"Oh really? I'm almost positive I beat you that round", he laughed, raising an eyebrow.

She was sitting down next to him on the floor now.

"Don't be so cocky!", she teased, playfully shoving his shoulder.

Claire had shoved Leon harder than she meant to, knocking him over onto his back.

"Oops! Sorry. Here, let me help yo-", As she was getting up to help him, she tripped on one of the controllers still on the floor, falling directly on top of him.

"Hey, so I was thinking we could eat in here instead of-"

In the midst of this rather awkward moment, Chris and Sherry happened to walk into the living room with the pizza.

Chris stopped as he noticed the two frozen in place, staring at him, "Uhh, am I interrupting something?"

"Yeah, why are you guys on the ground?", Sherry asked with a tinge of innocent confusion in her voice.

Leon's blue eyes were widened with anxiety, "We-uh.."

"I tripped and fell, heh...", Claire chuckled awkwardly, though still telling the truth.

There was a long, very awkward silence before Chris replied, "...Okay"

"We're gonna go put these in the kitchen", he turned away, gesturing Sherry to follow him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dinner was long and awkward, which was unfortunate due to the fact that the group had been looking forward to having pizza that evening. Claire was the first to leave the table, stating that she "didn't feel well" and that she was "going upstairs for a bit".

Leon, on the other hand, who watched as she uncomfortably made her way up the stairs, worried that he had done something wrong. Perhaps he had teased her too much? That wouldn't have been likely, Claire seemed to be the type to have thick skin, or at least she had proven herself to be that way.

Without saying a word, he abruptly left the table not even a minute later.

"Leon? Where are you going?", Sherry questioned him.

"Upstairs. I'll be right back", he replied bluntly.

"Why is everyone so upset?", Sherry piped up softly once the man was out of earshot.

"Nobody's upset", Chris reassured her.

"I assume Claire and Leon just have some things to sort out"

"Like what?", she asked.

Chris shook his head and smiled at her, "Don't worry about it"

...

Claire sat silently on her bed, glancing around the room at her old posters and pictures from when she was younger. However, the thoughts in her mind couldn't be any louder.

She couldn't seem to stop thinking about Leon and how she felt about him. She wished the thoughts would go away, but every time he looked at her, smiled, laughed, or even spoke to her, they only kept coming back.

The thoughts couldn't help but make her feel like some lovesick teenager. Sure she'd had a few guys she liked back in school, but something about this felt different. It couldn't be a crush though, could it? No, no matter what, Leon and her could only be friends. Besides, a guy with his looks probably wasn't single either, right?

All of this made Claire's head spin and her stomach tie itself in knots.

Suddenly, a gentle knock on her door startled her out of her thoughts.

"Who is it?", she called out.

"It's me, Leon. I just wanted to make sure you were alright", his voice was muffled by the closed door.

"I'm fine. You can come in if you want"

The wooden door opened with a creak.

"Hey...You okay?", he asked gently, walking into her room.

"Yeah, I'm alright"

"I think I just had too much pizza", she lied.

He sat on the bed next to her and exhaled through his nose, "If this is about earlier, I'm really sorry"

"No, I'm sorry. I'm the one who landed on top of you after all", she laughed.

"It's fine, really. Even if it um, lead to some misunderstandings, I don't mind", he replied, clearing his throat.

"Right", she sighed out of relief.

The two stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, Leon starting to unconsciously move his hand toward Claire's slowly.

"Hey, guys!", Sherry called from downstairs.

"Yeah?", they both answered in unison.

"We're gonna watch a movie if you wanna join!"

"Why don't we go back downstairs", Leon said, gesturing his head toward the now-open door.

Claire nodded, "Sure. Lets go"

As the three of them settled well into Chris's house that evening, the thoughts of Raccoon City didn't seem to be the only things still fresh in their minds, but at least things were now closer to normal than they had been before.

To Be Continued...

#resident evil #re2 #re2 remake #fanfiction #ao3 #leon kennedy #claire redfield #sherry birkin #chris redfield #leon x claire #cleon #fluff #found family

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