Work Text:
To say you were overwhelmed was an understatement.
You were tasked with escorting DSO agent Leon S. Kennedy to a meeting in Washington D.C.
You were only an intern though.
It definitely seemed like you were the one being escorted. But, Hunnigan ordered you to follow him on the premise of “you need some form of field experience” and “interns can’t do paperwork forever”.
This wouldn’t have you made you nervous, you were up to doing bigger things than paperwork when you applied.
But, Leon himself requested you to accompany him. An infamous agent; you’ve read all the articles on the missions he was apart of. He was also hot, goddamn.
Out of everyone, he chose you?
Probably because out of like 10 interns you were the only one who finished the work you were assigned to everyday.
At least, you did most of it. Interning at a Security Operations with no operations is a fair excuse to be bored 24/7.
But you showed up on time so that’s all that matters.
”Watch it,” the man known as Leon pulled you back by your shoulder, as you almost stepped into another agent in front of you.
“Oops, sorry!” You chuckle nervously. You glanced up at Leon, who gave a small smile.
Your head was focused in your hands, eyeing two plane tickets.
You guys and a bunch of other agents were in the Federal Register of the TSA area, so if you turned your head to the left you could watch the public fight their way through a forty-minute bag check.
“Good thing we’re not in that line.” You muttered.
“Yeah, I don’t need you getting caught in the CT scanners.” Leon chuckled, showing his badge to two TSA agents.
You opened your mouth to retaliate, but was at a loss.
The most unexpected part of this assignment was that Leon was a lot more vocal, and sarcastic than you thought.
The line for snacks was long, you were waiting for like 10 minutes just standing with bags of chips and candies in hand.
And then you started thinking.
Did I really just leave Leon sitting in the terminal so I could go get shit??? Oh my GOD, what type of intern, no, escort am I??
You felt like the scum of the Earth, leaving someone who’s practically your boss all alone.
Does he think I’m pushy? Cocky? Ordering him to sit and watch my luggage while I go and give into airport capitalism??
Did you even ask if he wanted something? Oh my god, you don’t remember.
I-I’ll get him a drink then, to make up for whatever sin I just committed. Does he like tea?? Diet Coke??
Maybe he wants—
“Hey,” You heard a deep voice call behind you, and you instinctively turned around.
”Mr. Kennedy! H-hey, sorry about the wait—“
Leon waved his hand in the air.
“Don’t worry about it. Listen, our flight changed departure time, we leave in 15.”
Oh god, if he hadn’t told me how long would I have stood here djjdkfk
“Okay, great!” You smiled. “Thanks so much, do you want something?” You held up a bag of Hot Cheetos.
He smirked. “I’m alright, thanks though.”
You both just kinda stood there. Shit was awkward, hearing the beeping of the cash register ‘n stuff.
“I’m gunna head back, shout if you need me.” Leon broke the silence and turned around.
“Will do!”
Your face was still burning by the time you got to the front of the line. You looked at the little pop up cardboards on the side of the counter, holding gum packs.
Everyone likes gum. Leon will like gum!
So, you didn’t know what type of gum he liked and you internally panicked at the unspoken peer pressure of the people waiting behind you so you grabbed like every Trident flavor and paid.
Who gives a shit it’s the DSO’s money anyways.
You made your way back to your terminal to find Leon sitting, playing on his phone.
”Leon, I’m back—“ You started.
He shot his head up. You shot your eyes open.
”I mean, M-Mr. Kennedy...” You forced a smile.
He shook his head and softly laughed, picking up his bag on the seat next to him and putting it on the floor.
”Take a seat,” He met his eyes with yours. “You can call me Leon, I don’t care too much for titles.”
You sat down and felt your face go hot, but leaned into your bag on the floor to hide it.
Mr. Kennedy, you charmer! Too bad I’m a fucking intern and probably look like a child; I would've tried to get that number.
“Oh, I got you gum! I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I figured something small—“ You held out like 10 packs in front of him.
”O-oh wow,” He raised his brows, his mouth a half open smile. “I appreciate it, thanks.” He picked up the mint pack.
Ugh, Leon you beautiful basic man.
When the aircraft began taking people it took forever because your terminal was filled.
Had you held first-class tickets, you would’ve been boarded first. But no, you were economy.
No hate on economy, you just think the DSO could’ve thrown in some extra cash for that legroom, especially since Leon told you his first-class seat stories while you were waiting.
Or at least business! Leon said it was because “interns are too expensive” but you think he was joking cause he winked.
As his escort, you wanted to go into the plane first with him following behind, and put his luggage on the top bunkers so he didn’t have to. Which you did.
Then you realized, as you were first and it wouldn’t make sense for Leon to try to squirm around you in the narrow walkway, that you would have to sit first.
Sit right next to an old man who’s sitting by the window.
You hesitated, which Leon could feel but you wouldn’t know that. You suppressed a jump when you felt his hand on your back, to which you responded by immediately sitting down.
With a smile, of course.
“Hello, sir.” You said as you, regretfully, made eye contact with the mystery man.
No hate on old people, this guy just gave off big creepy vibes.
”Hello, cutie. Excited to be flying, yeah? With such a pretty girl, yeah.” He coughed.
I was right! Creep!
You hesitantly faked a giggle, not responding but rather turned to Leon, who was buckling his seat belt.
“Pretty girl, yeah?” He whispered and you shook your head, stifling a laugh.
”Stop it,” You whispered back, biting down a smile.
After the safety presentation, and some fiddling with the tiny TV embedded in the seat in front of you, the lights of the plane turned off and it began to fly.
An hour in, you ran out of snacks. Damn.
You heard your stomach rumble, and you felt your face go hot.
”Hungry?” Leon asked, and smiled when you nudged his shoulder. A silent “no”, if you will.
He ended up ordering you some chips.
Thirty minutes later, a baby began crying. Leon and you immediately met eyes, to which you both shook your heads.
“Let’s share earbuds, what do you like to listen to?” You looked up at him, slowly backing away when you realized how close you actually were.
Leon’s eyes scanned your face.
“Whatever you want.” He whispered.
You looked at the time, 2 am. You turned your eyes to watch Leon, who was watching a documentary on his TV.
He was really pretty.
Maybe it was the dim lighting of the aircraft, but something about him just eluded a sexy charm, you couldn’t find a word for it. You just knew his presence made your heart skip a beat!
You turned back forward and suppressed a yawn. You always sleep on planes, sometimes watch a movie but mostly sleep.
”Hey,” you moved in closer to Leon.
”Yeah?” He took out his earbuds and looked at you.
”I’m gunna take a nap.”
Mischief twinkled in his eyes.
”My escort, sleeping?”
...
...
OH MY GOD YOU TOTALLY FORGOT YOU WERE A FUCKING ESCORT DJDKKDL
Any ounce of tiredness in your body was GONE in an instant. This whole entire time you forgot you were on an assignment and just treated it like a fun trip with a cute guy.
Your eyes widened and you furiously shook your head.
”Oh my god, I’m so sorry I totally forgot! My bad, sorry, no I’m sorry that was-that was—“
“Shh,” He immediately began patting your shoulder to shut you up cause you were on the brink of whisper-screaming.
“I’m just messing with you, I don’t expect you to be my bodyguard you know. Take a nap if you’re tired.”
You closed your eyes in anxiety as you heard him begin to laugh.
“Very funny, Leon. Too funny.”
“It was very funny. You’ve been tense all day, so just relax now.”
You obeyed and pulled out the table in front of you, leaning down to rest your head on it.
”Here,” Leon’s whisper stopped you, and you widened your eyes as he handed you his jacket. “Make it into a pillow, or something.”
You felt your face heat up.
”A-aw, thank you.” You took it, and tried folding it into a nice square instead of just crumpling it into a ball.
You burrowed your face in your arm and Leon’s jacket, the smell of his cologne making your heart beat sporadically. You focused real hard to make it stop so you could sleep.
”Y/n... Y/n...!”
Huh?
You groggily opened your eyes, the half-asleepness keeping them closed.
You felt yourself being picked up by the shoulders, and when you saw a glimpse of Leon’s silhouette you were immediately alert.
”Wh-whats wrong?” You felt embarrassed at the sudden close contact you opened your eyes to; confusion ringing in your brain.
”Sit in my seat.” Leon muttered in your ear. He gently placed you in his seat, and plopped down into yours.
“Alright sir, lets see if you try that shit on me.” He said to the old man, who was shaking his head and staring out the window.
What?
”Leon, what’s going on? Why’d we change seats?” You rubbed your eye.
Leon turned to you. He was so pissed. He was livid, you could tell.
His brows were furrowed. Though the rest of his face was still, he had such a hidden fury in his eyes.
”This old pervert was trying to feel you up while you were asleep,” He pointed at the man.
“So you’re not sitting next to him anymore and there’s no extra seats on this plane for him to move to.” Leon explained.
”Oh, thank you...” You started. You met eyes with the old creep, who immediately adverted away.
“Had you been caught by me, sir, I would’ve killed you.” You smiled, to which he flinched.
Leon seemed taken aback slightly, his eyes softening. “I would’ve liked to see that.”
An hour after that tense, fast moment, the tension in the air dwindled down. The old man hasn’t acted up since.
Your eyes shifted to Leon, who was still sitting in your seat. He was sleeping with his head in his hand.
Leon... He’s been looking out for me since we started this thing. Hopefully I haven’t been terrible company.
Damn...he looks good with messy hair.
”You’ve been staring at me all night.” A hushed voice came from Leon’s sleeping form.
Huh?
Back with the blushing! You just can’t control your blood pressure, can you? 😜
”No, that’s—“
He picked his head up, and met your eyes. Busted.
”No?” He looked at you, his eyes piercing into your own. “So you weren’t staring just now?”
Damn, I mean if you get caught, gotta own it right?
”Wh-what if I was? Would you be...mad?” You mumbled that last part, sweat beating in your palms.
You didn’t know why he was suddenly upfront with flirtations, but it assured you that it wasn’t just you who felt the weird, romantic tension.
You also knew this flight was soon coming to an end. He must know too.
His eyes lit up in amusement, a smirk slowly growing on his face.
”Y/n, you—“
..This is the captain speaking, we have arrived in Washington, District of Columbia. It is currently 4 am and the weather is a nice 64°. I am turning on the seatbelt sign as we are landing shortly, thank you.”
You removed your attention from the ceiling and turned back to Leon, who you knew was gunna say something probably important.
”Y-yeah? You were saying?”
”It’s nothing.” He smiled and shook his head. You muttered an “oh” and looked down at your hands.
Ugh, this feeling keeps gnawing at me...I need to confront it? Is that the moral here?
Everyone rose to get out of their seats and leave the aircraft, and your body began to burn when you felt Leon’s hand on your lower back as he helped you out the plane.
”Breathe that Washington air! We made it!” You smiled at Leon, who was following close behind you as you walked out of the airport onto the public streets.
”You did it, escort.”
His nickname made you laugh, and you shook your head. But, then you realized what was next.
”Oh, um, I guess my taxi is down that way.” You pointed to the left. Leon nodded, looking to his taxi on the right.
DSO interns don’t have the same hotels as agents do.
W-will I even see him again..? This task didn’t require me to exchange contact info with him so I don’t know... I can’t attend his meeting, so—
“H-have a great meeting tomorrow, Leon. Do your best!”
You smiled, and stuck out your hand for a final goodbye.
...
You waited with concern when he didn’t shake your hand. But, your mind totally blanked as you watched him place his phone in your palm.
”You’re acting like I don’t want to see you again. Unless you don’t, of course. But I doubt it.” He winked.
You scoffed, opening his contacts to type in your number.
”So funny Agent Kennedy, real funny.”
”Is agent my nickname? For calling you escort?”
You couldn’t be happier. You grinned, face hurting from smiling and embarrassment.
The next day, Leon told you all about his meeting.