Work Text:
For the umpteenth time Leon had glanced over his shoulder when he felt he wasn’t entirely alone, he was met with some vague relief but still kept his guard up. Whoever it was—they had probably let up on him for now. Trying to keep himself busy he finished organizing some of the newer tools and replacement gears for the old clock tower. He probably could have just left the box there on the dusty floor and not given another thought, but the rookie felt that was a little backhanded. It kind of felt like it would have been saying ‘here it is, you figure it out, not my problem.’ After organizing the tools he soon left the old clock tower. Normally before the current situation reared its head in the room he would have enjoyed lingering in the clock tower for a bit. He liked the sort of creepy, almost ancient feeling it had. While everything else in the city had slowly but surely started to adapt to new norms, new technology and even different personalities the clock tower felt like the only thing that had really stayed the same.
During that time he would occasionally sneak up his sketchbook and quickly try and draw out the scene before him, or at least get the basic sketch down so he could keep working on it, and even turn it into a big drawing on his good paper with all his favorite coloring and lining tools beside him. But now, the place had really given him the creeps ever since that giant that umbrella had dubbed as the ‘bodyguard’ had become a part of the place (Or Mr. X as Sherry called him.)
At first he didn’t seem so bad. He was there as Sherry’s bodyguard, Annette and William’s daughter. She was quite the handful that took a shine to him, just like she did to Claire. She may as well had been the young woman’s shadow. Always following after her, giving her little gifts like colored drawings, or little chocolates she snuck from home. Without warning sometimes she would surprise the older woman by hugging her around the waist from behind. She referred to Leon as the ‘art guy’ and constantly be wanting to look in his sketchbook or asking him for drawing requests. She could be a bit much sometimes, but she had a bright heart. But with her… also came her large bodyguard that would accompany her everywhere.
Being so busy with work, instead you know, hiring a normal babysitter or nanny for the young girl instead the scientific couple decided to create an ‘ultimate lifeform’ (as Leon had heard William dub him) to watch over their daughter. Working at the police station meant that the young officer was now accustomed to hearing the heavy footsteps of “Mr. X” as he trampled back and forth all over the station after the giggling girl. Mostly in the library though. As the blonde girl had played many games of hide and seek with Claire in there. Claire didn’t look any more thrilled than Leon to see the tyrant but still just went along with it anyways. You could imagine her look of surprise when the hulk had given her a couple of roses he picked outside. It was almost hilarious, and Leon would have laughed had he not noticed the blood drained from his friend’s face. Sherry only laughed and told the brunette that her bodyguard liked her.
And it seemed Leon was the second one he took a shine to. Which meant the team of the giant and his little companion often followed him around work more, just like they did to Claire. At this point, Leon wasn’t really sure if he should be flattered, or run away. He went with plan b by quietly excusing himself each time he ran into Mr. X, including now when he had exited the clock tower and ran into him.
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Upon returning to the main office the rookie surveyed the scene before him. The department was a little chaotic today, with more phone calls pouring in than ever, many of his colleagues racing around back and forth and hearing varying matches of bickering, it was no wonder everyone was a little high strung.
“Oh. Very cute Rita.” David said, little more sharply than he probably intended. Leon turned his attention to them as he went over to his desk.
“Hey, I’m just returning the favor. Don’t forget it was you who dumped that night shift on me last week.” The blonde had to hold in a chuckle. Ah yes, that night shift. He and Claire stuck around to keep the woman some company at least.
“You started it before! Who on earth puts a dozen of fake spiders in my desk?”
Rita, one of the officers in the building though she had a good heart, she held a bit of a prankish streak as well. Whether it was fake bugs or spiking their coffee’s with way too much sugar and creamer Leon still got along with her pretty well.
“That was nothing compared to my night shift moron. Why can’t you be nicer like Leon and Claire? Least they kept me some company!” she shot back.
“Oh so your gonna use them as your shields? I see how it is.” David replied.
Deciding to quietly step in, even if it was just a petty argument Leon offered to help him with some of the paperwork. “I can take half of that for you.”
“What!? No don’t help him!” Rita pleaded, but David was all too happy to give half the work to the rookie.
“Why thank you Leon, here.” He said, handing the thick mass of paper over to the blonde. Rita only rolled her eyes at David and didn’t hold back with giving him the finger. Leon only responded in a quiet smile and went back over to his desk. He tried his best to keep it clean, and though it was considerably neater than most of the desks surrounding him the paperwork hadn’t exactly helped with that. Nor did the rookie’s bringing in of little sketchbooks and colored brush pens.
Once starting he methodically scanned each one, organized it into each little section and kept going. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes Claire came in with some coffee for the both of them and offered to keep Leon some company.
“Here, gimme some of that, I’ll give you hand.” She said, pulling up a chair next to him. Leon smiled.
“Sure, could you do these?” he said handing her a small pile.
“Yeah, I gotcha.” Claire replied and soon began work. Not even bothering with the personal space. Lately his fondness for the brunette had started to grow more, and almost felt a little leap of joy when she sat down so close to him. Whether or not he was going to act on his feelings for her, he decided to give it a little longer. Just so he was sure his crush was genuine, and not just a spur of the moment.
“So how’s your family? Doing pretty good?” she asked while looking through each of the papers.
“Mostly, Roy got into another scuffle though.” Leon noted, a little tiredly. Lately his younger brother had been getting into more fights at school, sometimes for good or at least understandable reasons.
“Oh boy, who was it this time?” Claire sighed.
“Some kid at school, it was over some dumb crush on a girl.” Leon replied, less than impressed at the reason.
“What was he trying to impress her?” Claire snorted, not totally understanding the trope of how it could possibly be attractive if two people were fighting over you.
“Something like that.” Leon muttered, wishing he could be home to talk some sense into the younger one. Roy was a really good kid, really and truly. But no thanks to this thing called ‘hormones’ the thirteen-year-old had been quite the troublemaker at school. Still—at least nothing had really changed between him or their youngest sister Gertie, and that put Leon at ease. They were still having their rounds of ‘Mario Kart’ and ‘Sonic’ most nights after school (when they should have been doing their homework.)
“I don’t understand boys… you weren’t like that when you were younger right?” Claire asked, though her opinion and view of her friend probably wouldn’t have changed even if Leon said so.
“Nah, course not. I mostly got into fights when other students were being bullied.” Leon said.
“Wow the knight in shining armor.” Claire chuckled. They both laughed while still working, but just out of the corner of his eye he caught her trying to reach for his square sized sketchbook.
“Nope. Hands off.” He said sternly but not without some playfulness in his tone.
“Awww…” Claire muttered looking somewhat defeated. Still she held that determined look in her eyes. Out of everyone in the station (aside from Sherry) Claire was the one who would constantly swoop in to take a peek at his drawings.
“Not even one peek? I haven’t seen you bring this one to work yet. Or it looks new anyways.” She noted.
“Maybe later.” Leon lightly teased, earning an annoyed look from his friend. Knowing her she would probably try and fish it out of his desk later to glance in it. Before either one of them could say anything else however the door burst open. Before either one of the officers could register who it was a little blonde blur had raced through the room, ducking under the box that Elliot was holding and practically latched onto Claire. The young woman looked a little startled but relaxed once she knew who it was.
“Whoa! Easy there.” Claire said while trying to regain her balance in the chair. She was only met with giggles as Sherry held on tightly. Marvin came trailing in, a little out of breath and looking like he had just been thrown through a loop.
“There’s the speed demon…” he sighed. “Claire keep an eye on her.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Claire laughed, patting Sherry on the head.
“Oooooo! Can I see your sketchbook?” she asked. Leon gave her a smile,
“Sure.” He said handing it over to her.
“Oh I see how it is, she gets full access, but I don’t?” Claire said, giving him an unimpressed look.
“Maybe if you asked nicely you would.” Leon replied, trying to hold back a grin. Sherry took the black leather pad from him and started looking through. Claire was in the midst of pulling up a chair for her from a lone desk, until they heard heavy footsteps with a vague ‘chink!’ descended upon them. Leon felt an icy nervousness build up in his heart all the while his hairs stood up on his back neck. Marvin quickly moved out of the way knowing all too well who it was that followed.
A giant hulking seven-foot figure entered the room, carefully ducking underneath the door, and making sure that his hat didn’t fall off. His black leather coat shone almost beautifully, making some of the inhabitants in the room wonder who exactly took such good care of his attire. Everyone stiffened when the tyrant entered the room, following after Sherry. Everyone practically shrunk or froze into their seats as the tyrant made his way towards the young girl. Though Leon swore he could have seen a small glint of determination when his eyes landed on him and Claire.
“Hey Mr. X! Over here!” Sherry called out to it. Leon swore he heard Rita mutter underneath her breath “she gave it a name?” Probably to David or whoever.
The tall mass of muscle and god knows what strength stood in front of the trio, towering over them. Sherry raised the sketchbook up to the thing.
“Here! It’s Leon’s sketchbook! Glance through it and tell us what you think!”
“Uh Sherry I don’t think you should-“Claire said but before she could stop him the tall giant took the black pad from Sherry’s hands, gingerly.
Without a word he began to look through it as Leon stiffened up. It wasn’t like he considered himself a bad artist, but he still protective of his privacy of it too. X started glance through the pages while a deafening silence fell across the room, until he came to an all colorful page, one that had a character (his sister’s creation that he drew in his own style) poised elegantly with many detailed flowers surrounding him. A quiet expression graced his face as if he were contemplating a sensitive topic. Leon and Roy liked to joke with Gertie that he was probably just thinking about what was for dinner that night.
X stared at it for a few moments before showing it to Sherry. “Yeah! That’s my favorite one too! Leon’s really talented isn’t he?”
The thing actually nodded in agreement, followed by a subtle grunt. Everyone in the room exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other. X soon pointed to the drawing, prompting confusion from the rookie.
“He’s asking if he can keep it.” Sherry said. “I showed him some of the drawings you gave me a couple weeks ago and he really likes them. X thinks you should have been an artist instead.” Sherry said, somewhat brutally honest but not in a mean way. Besides it wasn’t the first time he heard that statement either. An awkward silence fell, save for Sherry’s happy look while Claire uneasily glanced at him. In other situation, if a normal person had been talking to him then it probably would have been a pleasant interaction. Instead, they had the “ultimate lifeform.”
“Well—” Leon started fumbling for words. His train of thought completely went off the rails. He really didn’t want to give it away, out of most of the pages in that square sketchbook that was the one he put more work into. He made sure to take time with all of the careful line work and the placement of the flowers in the composition. Really, he was intending on framing it and giving it to his sister. Still—he was in kind of a tough situation to say no.
“Um, sure. You can keep it. Let me tear it out.” Leon said, a little resigned. It wasn’t like he could say no. He took the sketchbook and gently tore it out before giving it back to him. “Just don’t damage it.” He said. X took the page back carefully, before fishing something out of his pocket. He handed a hundred-dollar bill back to the young man, in which Leon accepted it with a little bit of shock.
“He likes you!” Sherry stated, a little too happily. “And Claire too! He’s kinda shy though so I normally come with him!” Claire looked like she wanted nothing more than to vault out of the room and go on a marathon away from this guy. But oh no. Apparently Leon was part of the icing on the cake as well.
He wanted to vomit. This thing liked him? And Claire? Oh no. Oh no…
“Is it okay if we come by and visit more?” The little girl asked, beaming. In any other situation Leon would have told the thing to eff off, but the way Sherry looked at him so hopefully, her bright blue eyes glittering like the stars he knew there was no way out of this.
“Sure.” He replied, as levelly as he could, prompting a look of horror from Claire.
“Awesome!” Sherry grinned. Before Leon could do anything else, he felt a large hand hover over his head and gently patted him before pulling back. X took Sherry up in his arm and marched out of there, the drawing in one hand, and Sherry in his left arm.
“I’ll see you later! X and I can bring some snacks!” the girl said before the footsteps receded.
Once the hulking presence had left the main room Claire almost slumped in her seat.
“What. The. Actual. Fuck?” She mouthed, though the volume still carried throughout the room.