Resident Evil Series x Reader Oneshots (Requests: Open)

A Sliver of Anxiety Pie (Ramon Salazar x Short Fem Reader)

(Request by: alsa1013)

(Word Count: 1,852)

(A/N: Sorry for the wait! A bit of context, this is a modern timeline where Ramon isn't a crazy dude, but rather a shy guy who struggles with anxiety)

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Ramon felt his heart hammer against his chest as he nervously gripped his backpack close. He shot a couple of glances at the bathroom mirror in the men's locker room. He couldn't help but feel a wave of insecurity wash over him. While the average height for a twenty-year-old male tended to be 175.25cm, Ramon was unfortunately under the average height. Standing only at 91.44cm tall, he felt like an ant compared to the rest of the world. His height had always been a sore subject for him and it was all due to unfortunate circumstances that had happened during his early childhood.

"Am I going to do this? Should I think of an excuse to get out of it? But, wouldn't she be upset? It wouldn't be cool of me just to ditch her...I promised I would come to the gym. I just...hate this..." He murmured. "How the heck did I end up in such a predicament...?"

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He was notoriously bullied when he attended public school. It got so bad that his parents had to pull him out of school. He found himself from first grade up to his high school years being homeschooled by his mother. It was a rather lonely experience being cooped up at home and he soon became a recluse that hardly spoke to anyone. To pass the time that blurred together the young man was sticking his nose in a lengthy novel. From the age of six years old, Ramon discovered his deep love for reading literature. He dove straight into reading a variety of pieces of literature from Shakespeare to Edgar Allan Poe.

He would either have his nose in a book or be working on some homework, but he didn't participate in activities that other children his age were doing. His parents became concerned for their son's well-being and began to gently encourage him to branch out from his comfort bubble. They tried to take him to baseball games, soccer games, dance, gymnastics, summer camps, scouts, and a variety of other activities. Yet, Ramon wasn't interested in any of it. He would turn his nose up and go back to reading his books or doing his studies. His parents exhausted themselves to try to simulate normalcy for the youngster, but it only further caused Ramon to withdraw into himself. His parents had asked their other parent friends what they should do about their son's reservedness. Someone suggested getting a pet. Unfortunately, Ramon was allergic to general furry animals, which meant the family couldn't get a dog or cat. However, that didn't mean they couldn't get a non-furry animal. So, one day, they took a thirteen-year-old Ramon to a pet store.

They were delighted to see their shy son held a quiet excitement as he darted from cage to cage. He would cup his hands to look inside. Ramon felt happy for the first time in a long while as he had always wanted a pet, his former classmates had them. After zooming around the pet store, he settled on a cage in the further back where a medium corn snake was curled into a ball.

"I want that one!" Ramon said while bouncing up and down.

"You want a snake? Are you sure? What about those cute parakeets and budgies we saw over there..." His mother suggested, but she was interrupted.

"I don't want a stupid bird; I want this snake. Look at how cool it is!"

"I...don't know honey, snakes aren't known to be very affectionate animals." His mother pointed out.