The one thing he didn't want to talk about...

[governmentninja]

He knew he couldn't avoid this discussion forever, but they were going to have to talk about it. They were going to have to talk about her...

Ada Wong.

Leon led the way to his apartment from the nexus in relative silence, and stayed quiet the first few moments they arrived at his place. The last time they talked about Ada was horribly uncomfortable for him, and he knew this time would be no different. So, finally, as he sat down on his couch, he broke the silence.

"Look, first of all, you're not my 'second choice', or 'second prize', or 'second... anything'. I'm with you because I want to be with you, I really want to be with you. Not because I couldn't be with someone else and decided 'eh, you'll do'.

"You're not second to anyone. Understand?"

Comments

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire stayed standing, for the moment. This wasn't a conversation she'd ever wanted to have.

She decided she'd kill Sweet if she ever had the opportunity.

"I... I'm not...

"Every time I'm in the same room as she is, I feel like a little kid. I look at her, and then at my jeans and my ponytail and my lack of makeup and I feel like I'm just playing at something, and she's the real thing."

Claire shook her head. "Maybe I'm jealous of her. Maybe... it's that whole--there are parts of you I'll never see, and she will..."

[governmentninja]

"Claire...", Leon stood up, and walked over to her.

"You're easily the only person on the planet who can see right through me. Anything she's seen, you've seen... and a whole lot more."

He grabbed her arms gently "And I like the jeans. And the pony tail. and the lack of make up, cause that's part of who you are. I wouldn't want you to be anyone else. And I don't want to be with anyone else."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire looked up at him. "But you love her, don't you?"

[governmentninja]

He sighed, and lowered his head. She had him there. "Yeah... yeah, I do."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire was quiet for a while. Most of that was because her vocabulary had completely failed for some reason. She couldn't think of what she wanted to say, or how she wanted to say it.

"See, that's just it, though," she said finally. "I know you would never lie to me... and I know you told me the truth just now. I... maybe I'm just stupid, and can't understand why anyone would--"

She sat down heavily on the couch.

"Fuck. You know what, this is about me." She shook her head. "It's not that I don't understand how I wound up with you, it's that I don't understand why anyone would want to wind up with me."

Claire pulled her pistol out of her shoulder holster and tossed it onto Leon's coffee table. "And it's all because of this shit."

[governmentninja]

Ok, that surprised him. He didn't react for a moment, because he didn't know what to say, and in that moment, he felt like he failed her. As a friend, and as her boyfriend. But that was leon, always needing to save the day.

He eventually sat down next to Claire and pulled his gun out of his holster, and dropped it on the coffee table. Next, he added his knife. Then came the .45 which was tucked in the small of his back.

"Yeah... because of that.

"It's because of that, we're both screwed up. But it's also because of that, we met in the first place. It's because of that, I saw something in you that I...

"Y'know, sometimes I wish you could see yourself the way that I see you. Then maybe you'd understand how truly amazing you are, and why I'm lucky to have you."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire watched him add the guns to the pile, and listened, and smiled sort of faintly.

"Do you remember that fight I had with Chris, that one time? Right before we went to get Salazar?" She made eye contact for this. "I said something to him then... made a lot of sense at the time, and since.

"When I'm with you... I don't hate myself." She puts her face in one hand and looks away. "It's stupid. It's petty and it's stupid and it's selfish as hell, but it's probably why I lo--"

She caught herself.

[governmentninja]

He looked over at Claire as she stopped herself and thought for a moment. Should he press her about that last bit, or let it go? For now, he just slid his arm around her. Eventually he leaned in closer, and whispered in her ear

"I know... and I...

"...I feel the same way about you."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire decided in that moment she had just about nothing to lose.

"...I love you."

She'd finally said it.

[governmentninja]

If she can see the smile he is wearing...

"I know. I love you too."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Somehow, she wasn't expecting that.

Claire looked back at him and yeah, there's that smile. The smile's what makes her believe it.

So she just hugs him, because she doesn't trust her mouth right now.

[governmentninja]

Yeah, he said it and he meant it. He hugged her to him tightly, there was really nothing more to be said right now.