✦ inspired by : lee-posted on tumblr ! (delete this, enjoy pretties!)

Leon’s arm locked around your neck before you could recover from the failed takedown, your back pressed flush to his chest as he cinched you in close. He was all solid muscle… broad shoulders braced tight beneath your struggling hands. And just when his bicep flexed under your jaw, it felt less like a hold and more like he was pushing you in a sort of test.

“Tap out.” Leon murmured near your ear, practiced in the years he’s trained. But, of course, you didn’t.

Your fingers dug into his forearm, feeling the dense strength there, the steady pulse beneath skin that had survived far worse than you. The mat blurred at the edges of your vision, your heartbeat roaring, and instead of surrendering you turned your head and bit down.

He reacted instantly, grip vanishing as he shoved you forward on pure reflex, years of survival overriding everything else. You stumbled free and spun around just in time to see him staring at you, eyes sharp and assessing, chest rising slower than yours.

A faint mark was already blooming where your teeth had pressed… and the silence stretched abhorrently thin. You felt it in your throat, in the heat pooling low in your stomach… you couldn’t decide whether to apologize or just walk out in embarrassment.

Leon’s gaze dropped briefly to his arm, then lifted back to your mouth. Something shifted in the way he moved, like he was gauging it.

“You just bite your higher-up?” he asked, voice rougher than before. You held his stare, breathing hard and mortified. Leon stepped in again, slower this time, closing the space without hesitation. His gaze strong enough to keep you in your place without even touching you. “That all you’ve got?” he asked quietly.

The movement of him tilting his head made your pulse jump, before he stepped back half a pace… opening himself up instead of closing in.

“Do it again,” he said, chin tilting slightly in challenge. “This time harder.” You could’ve sworn his lips twitched upward with a hint of a smirk… but it died just as fast as it appeared.