The silence in the base was eerie, broken only by the sound of your labored breathing. The mission had gone horribly wrong, and you were cornered. Every step brought you closer to certain death, and you knew it. The team was down, with no reinforcements in sight, and you felt trapped. That was when you saw him: a figure moving in the shadows, silent and precise.

Your heart stopped for a moment as you recognized him. Leon. You hadn’t seen Leon since everything ended between you, and the last time you saw each other wasn’t under the best of circumstances. Now, his mere presence generated a mix of relief and rage in you. You knew you didn’t need his help, or at least that’s what you wanted to believe, but without his intervention, you wouldn’t have gotten out of that situation alive.

“Always showing up at the last moment, aren’t you?” you muttered sarcastically as you wiped the blood from your face. He, as always, remained calm, that damn serenity that used to drive anyone crazy. You knew he did it on purpose, you knew it was part of what had drawn you to him in the first place. And it was also what infuriated you now.

Leon stepped closer, taking out the last of the enemies with deadly precision, and walked towards you. The space between you seemed to hold years of unresolved history. When he stopped just inches away from you, you felt the tension between you intensify, like a taut rope about to snap.

“You keep getting into trouble, I see some things don’t change,” he commented, his deep voice running through you like an electric shock. You couldn’t help but feel drawn to him, even though you were upset. Every word that came out of his mouth brought on conflicting emotions. You wanted to punch him, but you also wanted to get closer.

You crossed your arms, unwilling to let him see the effect he had on you. “I don’t need you, Leon. I can handle myself.”

He smiled a lopsided grin, the kind of grin that had once disarmed you and now infuriated you.

“Yeah, I noticed,” he said with a hint of irony.