A part of him always knew he’d never live the life of an ordinary man. Maybe, deep down, he’d already accepted it. Quietly closed his eyes to the most basic parts of living.

A family, Children; A lover.

Maybe Leon Kennedy was never meant for that. Maybe he was made to ache for a woman he could never reach. Maybe he was the universe’s favorite joke; its most tragic clown, crafted to amuse the gods.

Maybe he was the hero who saved everyone and no one ever came to save him.

But then again, Leon was just a man.

Beneath the layers, beneath the titles, the missions, the bloodstains and briefings, he was only man. A man who’d seen too much. Survived too much. A man who still needed, even when he told himself he didn’t.

And sometimes, the armor cracked.

Sometimes, the man bent under the weight of it all, just long enough to reach for something warm. Just long enough to believe he deserved it, even for a moment.

Leon found that warmth in you.

It wasn’t serious at first. He was just a handsome older man, too tired to flirt properly but with enough charm, and government money, to keep things interesting. You liked the attention. Liked giving it back.

But somewhere along the line, it became more.

It became the quiet click of his boots at your door. His head on your chest after missions, one arm slung across your waist like a lifeline. Your hand in his hair as he muttered half formed thoughts he never dared speak to anyone else. It became movie nights and sleepy goodnights and your number always being the first one he texted after walking out of hell again.

And yet, he always knew it wouldn’t last. No good thing ever did.

And if it did, it only survived by becoming something as broken as him.

You were soft. Good. Still whole in ways he didn’t remember how to be. And the idea of pulling you into his wreckage, it made something cold twist in his gut.

He’d ruin you. The way life ruined him. And maybe, just maybe, he didn’t want to see that happen. Not to you.

“I’m picking you up in an hour. Be ready.”

Because despite everything, he was still just a man.