#me being down bad as usual

[cecedownbad]

TOUCH

Summary: Leon got a temporary partner, he wasn't keen on it yet why did you look at him like like that? Why did your touches leave him falling apart? [Leon X GN!reader]

Warning: No Y/N, slightly suggestive, this was self indulgent, I made Leon a softie but also not *wink*

Word count: 1.9k

I wrote this right after I got all the achievements for RE4R, I'm so down bad. Pictured ID Leon for this one. [Put the MDNI tag after editing, Listen kids don't be reading things you aren't supposed to.]

Enjoy

A rare occurrence this was, where the independent agent would be assigned a partner to work with. He didn't welcome the idea but upon insistence from high authority, it was something that required no refusal. To the other however, you were not new to the concept but had other reasons for finding it difficult to work with another. Just this moment however, the idea didn't seem so bad, not when the man crouched before you had features meant to be carved on statues.

"Do you mind if I..." Admiring the soft strands that covered Leon's eye, you grazed a few to catch a glimpse of those baby blues, those eyes that seemed to shift at the softest contact with light. Oh what a dream they were but the other could only flinch at your touch. "—What do you think you're doing?" The question left his mouth hastily, the brush of your fingertips had him startled enough to sound like he could have raised the weapon in hand to your throat. But what should have scared you, only made you want to gaze further but the situation around had sent its own hints that were hard to avoid, so with hesitance, you retract your hand and place it by your side, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"It's fine, let's get this over with." This wasn't meant to be complicated. Leon had his own share of grueling missions, ones that he'd imagined that he'd never return from. So, why was it that information retrieval required a party of two, one of which already seemed distracted, by their partner no less. "They're moving out, I'll take this exit, you take the one on the east end. Go." He instructed, you truly were distracted. Following his orders was easy, but the way his voice sounded so rich, the gruff undertones left you waiting for what else he could say, a second look from him gave a clear idea that it was all you would hear.

With a nod, leaving the area, you'd trace every corner of the building, inspecting any unusual anomaly that laid before you, clearing hallways as you pass by. It wasn't any different on Leon's end, though there was one anomaly that couldn't seem to dissipate, it was the slight warm touch of your fingers by his cheek. He'd been entranced by that way your eyes would gaze at every bit of his face, all the indentations had been marked. His awareness of this wasn't something outlandish, he knew that few found him attractive but the stare that you'd left him with screamed something so raw.

Taking his thoughts, he rubbed away your phantom touch and dragged on with his mission at hand, the one thing he should be focused on. "Helios coming in, I have spotted hostiles at the exit gates, waiting for your approach Condor one." The static grated through Leon's comms, leaving any hesitation behind, he answered, "Copy, keep eyes on the hostiles."

Leon made it by your side shortly after, with total silence weighing over you, this was the opportune moment to take down the guards. Taking a final look at your gear and checking your handgun, the time to slip away had arrived and with the help of your support operative, a vehicle with an armed driver was provided. The question still rested, why was it that two agents were required for this mission, either one of you could have retrieved the information. And with that still lurking at the corner of your mind, subtle glances at Leon were made.

Curiosity took ahold of the question that popped up, along the way the question was lost to the farthest reaches. The car had been silent along the way, not even the radio could overtake the hold it had but the silence opened the gates of your fleeting observations to run wild and with that, so did your senseless curiosity. The man next to you had been gazing out the window, his hand rested on the side of his neck, with his elbow placed on the car door. The light from the window had blanketed him with such vivid beauty, almost as if it embraced him. The clothes that he wore were simple, dawning nothing more than a jacket and a dark shirt on the inside.

Unlike before, you'd try and make your glances more discreet but really, how could that be possible when his very frame looked as though it was meant to be painted, as if he was the only source to study. Your eyes were caught by his, Leon didn't make do with ignorance this time, "Do you enjoy staring at people that much?" His tone was not contempt, in fact his question was rather genuine with its details and all he wanted was an answer from his temporary 'aid'. "I'm sorry, I just—I really did not mean to make you—"

"You keep looking like I'm the last thing alive, I'm...curious, why?" His back turned away from the window, the rays now outlining his figure gently. The answer to that question was so obvious, it almost poured out a second later. So you answer, an ounce of hesitation now whisked away, "Because, I find you...beautiful." it slipped out with ease that it caught you off guard at the departure.

"Beautiful? Listen, I'm not up for insults."

"No, I find you beautiful, I can't help but stare." He'd never seen someone face him with such words in conviction, as if nothing could phase the fact. You raise your hand to his face, the action - slow but you never felt so light, "May I?" A question that sounded so desperate, he responded by shutting his eyes, accepting your touch.

Tenderly your palm rested on his face, soothing his skin with your thumb. He didn't seem to mind, no, he didn't mind at all. He once refused the touch of any other, after all, the pain knew nothing more than the soft warm touch of another now. Leon didn't refuse, he couldn't turn away, your hand caressed his cheek, slowly parting his hair from his eyes like before.

The sensation no longer makes him flinch but want. That scared him, he couldn't believe that he'd crave the touch of another in such a way he could've lost himself. No, he shouldn't want any more but oh, the way you'd gaze at him, the way your eyes followed all his indentations, he lost himself in your hands.

It didn't go past you, you noticed it as well. You retracted your hand, it hurt you but the sudden loss had Leon peering at you. All you did was caress his face yet he seemed to have wanted more but that led to the two recording their surroundings. The vehicle had reached its destination, you thanked the driver and hoped to all the constellations that the glass divider between the driver and passenger seat gave away little of what was exchanged before.

As such came your formalities, this was where you'd expected to part ways with Leon, the two of you report to different authorities afterall. You contact your support operative and file in the report at your desk.

"It went well I assume, no slip ups?" The woman sat before in the desk eyed your files. Her glasses rode all the way down to her nose. "Yes, working with Leon Kennedy made it a much smoother retrieval. I do have a question though." You needed to ask, that one recurring question, "Since you did well and I have some time, go on." She accepted the query.

"Why were both Leon and I assigned to this? When we got there, the place could have been easily swept by either me or Leon alone." It wasn't daunting in any way, a simple query but the woman furrowed her brow and peered at you with rather tense eyes. "It was an order from someone else, we had expected the location to be more guarded, it was good that it wasn't."

It barely answered anything, but you accepted it, walking out the office and returning to your very own. When you would have expected to be alone with your thoughts, you see a surprising figure at your desk, it was Leon. "Hey, I'm guessing you just finished with your report?" He asked.

"Yeah, did you...want to ask me something?" You eyed the way he'd been leaning on your desk, had he been waiting here a while? That rested on your mind and the thought didn't bring any discomfort. He looked down from where he stood, but his eyes met you just as fast,

"Back there, I..."

".....back there you? Hm?"

"I didn't—I didn't hate what happened, I have something to ask you, how long have you been, watching?"

"Huh? oh no, I never tailed you or anything, I just looked from afar. Believe me, I wasn't stalking you or—" His question caught you off balance, this time it did bother you, causing profuse apologies slipping out but he caught you from spewing any further. As your eyes darted away, trying your best to focus on anything but him. Though that went all up in flames since he placed his hand at the back of your head, making you look directly at him, "Look at me, I'm right in front of you." Leon wasn't harsh with any of his movements, that tilt was only meant to make you look at him in your fluster but this had gotten you to go quiet.

It was his turn to mark your every feature, he could never miss a thing at this set up. "You really know how to get to me." He pressed his thumb to your lips, running over them both, parting them softly. His eyes were trained on you, as though you were the only one there. Leon's eyes fell from your eyes to your mouth and landed on your hands, which he grabbed, taking it up to eye level. He placed your hands over his lips, grazing them softly against it. Your stomach rolled for miles at this point, his actions were captivating and it made you scream all sorts of profanities that your mind could make up.

"Look at you, I shouldn't make you wait any longer." Oh he knew what he was doing. How could that very man who looked as though he could have fallen apart by touch alone be standing before you, locked in place, holding both your hands together, like a cuff. "O-okay, uhm, I need to get back to work, I'm guessing so do you, can I go now? Please?" Your plea was practically begging, you didn't hate any of this but it didn't make your heart grow any quieter. He let out a small laugh, as though he'd triumphed, won an achievement no one said he could. He let go of your hands, relieving you of the hold.

You seated yourself right after, clearing your throat to dissipate any other unwanted thoughts. Expecting to see him walk out of your office, you waited but he didn't, instead he turned your chair to face him, your eyes landing on his chest before looking up at him.

"I'll see you later."

The words were so simple yet he left you by grazing your face. The soft touch similar to the one you both exchanged.

He left you wanting more.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

"What were you doing at Wayne Enterprises?" A gruff voiced asked from behind him.

Danny cringed. Of course, Batman would catch him off guard. He turned away from the guy he had just saved from the poisoning, feeling confident that the antidote was doing it's job, "I was just exploring. I wanted to know what a corporate place looked like when I saw that guy put something in Mr. Drakes-"

"Tim." Tim interrupted.

"Mr. Drakes," he said more firmly, ignoring the teen co-CEOs pout, "drink. He was lucky I knew what it was and how to cure it."

"How did you know?" The dak knight pressed.

"Because," Danny gritted his teeth, "That wasn't created to be a poison, it was created to be a fuel source by my parents and they created an antidote the moment they realized it was toxic and a safety hazard." Danny took a step towards the Gotham vigilante, not an ounce of fear in his eyes, "That man is Slade. He murdered my parents and stole some of my thier work. I'm going to kill him and I won't let you stop me." And with that, Phantom vanished.

Bruce tensed, anticipating an attack, but after a few minutes where nothing happened, he turned to leave. He pressed a finger to his ear, "Spoiler, Red Robin, since you two know the most about Phantom I'll be expecting a full report."

Tim did his best to hold back a groan, cause now he had to tell his Dad all about how he's been flirting with a supernatural entity when in the mask. Awkward.

[aroaceleovaldez]

What is the PR disaster in question that made Rick announce TSATS? I wasn’t active in the online fandom at that point

Of course! This was awhile ago so it figures people don't remember it/aren't familiar:

Basically a couple years back (2020) the fandom had some posts circulate discussing the ways different characters in the Riordanverse were written poorly or offensively. There was a masterpost that went around tumblr but the two major points people were particularly focusing on were Piper and Samirah (particularly because Piper had featured prominently again in Trials of Apollo recently and the third MCGA book had further emphasized and discussed Samirah being Muslim, since it was supposed to take place during Ramadan). Basically each had multiple posts breaking down the ways they were depicted incorrectly or offensively. The entire fandom for a little bit was VERY intensely discussing this (and it's around this time the "RR crit" tag got very popularized on tumblr - it did exist before, but suddenly was being used VERY frequently - cause it was that wide-spread - though the discussion took over basically every side of Riordaverse social media on different platforms). People really wanted Rick to respond to these criticisms, so he did!

He made two blog posts, one about Piper and one about Samirah. He has since deleted both so the links are to archived versions. The short version: he essentially tried to justify his poor research and double-down that he hadn't written them offensively, actually, people were just being mean to him. The fandom, of course, reacted poorly to this.

[Further elaborated events under the cut since this got a bit lengthy]

(Fun fact, this all happened within a month or so of the time i posted an open letter on aphobic tropes in the Riordanverse that Rick replied to, and then he immediately followed with announcing that Reyna was intended to be ace-coded [which cause a LOT of fandom debate] before Rick dipped for a couple of weeks, and then came back to post the blog posts in response to Piper and Sam stuff. So I like to jokingly refer to this as "The time I imploded the fandom/drove Rick off of twitter." Twas I that set the house ablaze.)

Rick fully left social media after this and the LT Musical social media manager became Rick's social media manager for the time being.

So this all happened June/July of 2020. Tower of Nero would end up being published in October of 2020 and a few months after that Rick would state that he was done with the series and wouldn't be writing any more series installments involving Percy, and also that he wouldn't be writing a Nico quest following Tower of Nero as it "wasn't his place to" and encouraged the community to write their own versions of Nico's story.

The community continued to circulate the tumblr posts and discuss the topics of Rick's offensive character depictions, and this is also where we see the dramatic shift in how the fandom depicts Piper in fanwork (though in most cases it is admittedly not an improvement 😬) because of all this discussion. This is also around the time when the fandom brought Viria under scrutiny claiming that she was whitewashing Piper as part of the same discussions, through the justification that she was drawing Annabeth as having tan skin (which she does canonically), and if Annabeth has tanner skin then Piper then that's whitewashing Piper? Except they were using completely separate images of not fully rendered Piper art versus Annabeth in dramatic lighting, so it's all very awkward and poor logic, and did actually get kind of racist. A lot of people were calling it "Tannabeth Blackchase" (yeah, i know) or similar and a common sentiment you'd see repeated is "Don't draw Annabeth as having darker skin than Piper, because that's offensive/racist/whitewashing." (Note: it was not phrased "don't draw Piper as having lighter skin than Annabeth" - we also won't get into certain offensive depictions of Native Americans, but I digress). But yeah, the Annabeth stuff in all that did not age well at all.

Anyways, in October of 2021 however Rick would announce that he was co-writing The Sun And The Star - with a lot of heavy emphasis on how Mark Oshiro works as a sensitivity reader, and some false advertising from the official social media that Mark Oshiro was the first time a non-Riordan author would be collaborating on the series (disregarding the ghostwriters completely). One of the big criticisms in the breaking down of issues in Rick's writing was his lack of ever seeking a sensitivity reader, and fans claiming that a sensitivity reader could solve a lot of the problems. This was basically Rick's "look! I totally listened!!!!" (though it did little to actually improve things, based on the book) and in TSATS as well Piper gets a large cameo at the end where the text very directly addresses a lot of points made in criticism of Rick's writing of her.

We also then of course got the CoTG trilogy later, explicitly stated to be for advertising purposes for the show.

So basically, short version: Rick came under scrutiny for a lot of offensive writing within the span of two months, made some bad blog posts doubling down about it, left social media. TOA ends. Rick says he wasn't going to continue the series/write what would become TSATS. Community celebrates the end of of the franchise but also continues to discuss Rick's poor writing and the blog posts at length. Rick suddenly announces TSATS and Mark Oshiro's involvement. Everybody gets distracted from being mad. Show announcement stuff also happens and the discussions peter out.

[syn0vial]

most relatable Boba Fett Moment™ in the expanded universe is when he very calmly and curtly walks away from what should be a highly emotional conversation (much to the annoyance and disgust of the person he's speaking to), locks himself in a washroom, then proceeds to have debilitating panic attack for several minutes before standing up, composing himself, and walking out in the exact same unruffled manner like nothing happened :^)

[bmpmp3]

finding out ur coworker is way older than you thought and having to very quickly reorient how you talk to them

[dykethoslab]

the trajectory of understanding someones politics from like two things they say is kind of crazy. iskalls video declaring he will be settling this in the court of law, claiming everyone was being malicious and then deleting any comments questioning him, all point to what kind of audience and community he wants to foster bc all the comments are just misogynistic chuds who are cheering him on. have fun with your dudebro libertarian audience man. when is your right wing grift gonna start.

[lovesodeepandwideandwell]

Oh gosh the roommates are unloading the dishwasher ... this is an answer to prayer

[howtodisappearcompletelyand]

20/10 stars little guy

[mcytegg]

ive changed my mind have another dualities s5 sc

[autisticrosewilson]

I love Jayrose but not the way DC writes them most of the time, the better version of them that exists in my head without the racism, misogyny, or classism. The real them, unburdened by the bad writing of the weirdos (derogatory) at DC headquarters.

[scopophobia-polaris]

The fact I have to boot up totk AGAIN, honest to God yall after I make this one fuckass post it is au only I am not doing zelda discourse no more

[al-luviec]

still haven't moved on from zane in this episode (aka I hit tag limit again and am unhappy about it)

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

I think of so many stupid shenanigans between Wriothesley and his daughters in the Addison Lee verse. They tell Wriothesley crazy shit all the time, their daddy-daughter secrets, and it drives Neuvillette nuts that Wriothesley won't snitch.

Sigewinne, whispering into his ear: Today at school I punched a boy because he was being mean. I waited until it was recess, and made sure that no one was watching, and I punched him. Everyone knows he is a liar, so noooo one believed him when he cried about it. And Sigewinne is aaaalways a superstar so Mr Vautrin didn't suspect a thing !

Wriothesley, mildly concerned: Uh huh.

Sigewinne: Papa would say Sigewinne has to be nice to everyone, but, Sigewinne thinks bullies need to get punched sometimes, b'cos, b'cos otherwise, they think everyone is just gonna let them be mean

Wriothesley: Y'know what. That's fair

[perilegs]

my sweet little baby man is no longer with us

[moeblob]

AU where Brent is a drone to help out at crime scenes and offer input after Right finds the drone. And basically he befriends the really weird guy possibly controlling the drone but has his doubts as to how human the drone's source can be. So Right and Brent just go around trying to solve crimes while Right just calls the drone "Fuckwad (affectionate)".

[frameconfessions]

What I love about Warframe as a newcomer is that there doesn't seem to be any sort of shipping wars or fandom discourse at all. I've been into a lot of shooters before (ie. Overwatch, Apex Legends, etc.) so Warframe is a huge breath of fresh, clean air.

💯