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Pairing: Modern!Leon x GN!Reader
Warning(s): None
*****
On New Year's Eve, you reflected. You took a moment to acknowledge your achievements and see how far you'd come in the last twelve months. You saw the emotional progress, the focusing on the relationships that really mattered to you. You saw your efforts to make this world a better place. You dwelled on the positive thoughts, let them soak in a little deeper, then took a deep and relaxing breath. The New Year could come. Then you start over, building a new layer upon the foundational achievements that came before.
"Hey, you okay?" Your friend, Leon, spoke as he handed you a bottle of beer he had snatched from a box full of beverages cooled by ice. "You're surprisingly silent today."
You turned your head around and grabbed the drink he had gotten you before going back to leaning against the cool metal ledge you had relaxed upon while waiting for Leon.
"Yeah, just, you know, thinking about...stuff." You took a swig of your beer, letting out a sigh of contentment as the mixture of bitterness and slight sweetness hit your tongue. Leon crumpled his eyebrows together and put on a teasing smile before commenting on your reply and gulping down his own drink.
"It's New Year and you're still thinking about stuff?"
"Well, they're not bad. I was just thinking about how far I've come now in saving the world and all that stuff. Shit's calmed down now, you know." The two of you went silent for a minute, observing the cars and lights that were exhibited below you and practically ignoring the party that was going on behind you until Leon broke the quietude by laughing a bit too loud.
"You're fucking cheesy, man," He spoke in between breaths before quaffing a small amount of his beer. You nudged him.
"Hey! You're cheesier than me, Kennedy."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Fuck, yeah!"
"Prove it."
"'Where's everyone going? Bingo?' Shut the fuck up, you fucking Oompa Loompa." Instead of faking being offended, he laughed harder at your terrible impersonation of him and at the weird fucking nickname you just gave him.
"First of all, that impression was horrible as fuck. Second of all, Oompa Loompa? Seriously?" He clutched his stomach in pain as he controlled his breathing after his laughter had became a tad bit tamed and stared at you with so much humor in his eyes.
"What? I can't think of anything else to call you."
"Mhm, yeah, sure... But I gotta admit though, you're right. We haven't been on a mission this year. Think everybody has given up?"
Since the New York and Louisiana incident back in 2017 (you only heard about what happened with the Baker's family through Chris' report), bioterrorism almost didn't exist from then up until 2019 and when 2020 came, it just disappeared out of nowhere like people actually fucking finally realized that making biological weapons and shit just aren't gonna do anything to improve the world. Y'all need to have some X-genes or something to become something almost inhumane and supernatural.
"Hopefully. I think they learned that we kick asses hard, right?" You said, hitting his upper arm playfully with your elbow while doing so. He chuckled.
"Whatever."
It was then when no words were exchanged between the two of you that the countdown started and everybody's attention was focused where explosions were expected to be displayed, their synchronized voices echoing through the evening air as they yelled numbers in a backward manner.
10
He averted his stare from the ground to you...
9
He slowly stepped closer to you...
8
He contemplated...
7
He finally decided to just man up and do it...
6
He gently gripped your chin with his thumb and forefinger...
5
He turned your head towards his...
4
He leaned closer to you...
3
You both closed your eyes...
2
You both stopped midway and took in each other's fragrances and the way your breaths sent a shiver down your spines...
1
Your lips pressed against the other...
Fireworks cut through the black behind you like they were super-imposed on the night, like the stars behind were only a backdrop brought in for the occasion. Every streak bared a curve of sorts, brilliant lines with a living feel, organic in the way they grow. They burned with impatience, everything at the speed of a camera flash. They sent hot sparks into the cool evening air, soaring until they were extinguished to nothingness.
It felt like a year when you pulled away when in reality, it was only less than a minute, and when you saw each other's faces again, you both lit up with a smile, your hands holding each other as you welcomed the start of a brand new life where new beginnings and adventures would sure come and surprise you all.
"Happy New Year, Y/N."
"Happy New Year, Leon."
New Years' Eve celebrations were a chance to reflect upon the future, to see each year before we morph into the next, and to think about the trajectory we were all on. And now that you had done it all, you were ready to wrap 2020 up and bring the lessons you had from then to 2021...
*****
Another rushed one lol. But I hope you guys had a good year even with all that's going on in the world right now and I wish you guys a happy New Year.
