Chapter Text
DLC Content : Upgrades
It was the inevitable wait and see game Leon was stuck in. The situation at the airport had yielded barely any clues for all the devastation one B.O.W caused so there was no official mission to send anyone on. This had worked out in his favor since they, indeed, wanted him on the ground for it but he was not quite healed up yet regardless of what Chris had to say on the matter. The downside to the wait and see game was it meant two things: Los Illuminados was taking up space rent free in his head again on a grander scale and Rebecca was using the wait period to run a myriad of tests.
“Ace of Spades.” Leon sat across the table from her and gestured towards the card he couldn’t see. “You’re thinking about the Queen of Hearts to throw me off, but your eyes are looking at the Ace of Spades.”
“I’m not sure if I should write all these details down.” She wrote something down on her clipboard but Leon didn’t bother to pry into her mind to see what, exactly, she scrawled out. “How much effort do you have to expend to do that?”
It was another question he wasn’t sure how to answer so he shrugged. “I guess not much.”
“I see you finally trimmed the hair a bit,” she noted before shuffling through the card deck again. “You look like your old self, sans the blue eyes.”
It felt nice to not have to wear the special sunglasses indoors anymore but he missed the protection they provided from people seeing the new crimson coloration. “You didn’t like the drunk hobo look?”
“You look more tame now, which puts a lot of the people in the building at ease.” Rebecca took the glasses off her face and held up a card, facing away from him. “Ok, one more time.”
“Three of Hearts, you’re thinking really hard about the Jack of Clubs and also wondering if your glasses were casting a reflection before.” He leaned forward. “They were, but I didn’t need it to give you the answers.”
She slowly sat the card down, face up, and put her glasses back on. “Is that something you can control?” Her expression changed to one of worry. “Or is it like… always on and connected?”
“I can’t read your thoughts unless I focus.” The thought of never being able to shut someone’s thoughts up was terrifying. “Sometimes I can hear Chris’, but that might just be me subconsciously seeking them out.”
He watched her scribble a few more sentences on her clipboard before she shuffled the stack again. “So far, it’s just mental stuff?” She knocked the deck against the table top to straighten the stack. “Only humans? Any cravings for blood?”
“The thought of drinking blood makes me feel like I’m going to hurl.” The thought of continued testing or surprise mutations did, too, but he saved those thoughts for his new weekly therapy appointments. “But I do notice when I need a serum booster so… mostly no but in a way yes?”
“You didn’t answer the first question.”
Leon leaned back and stretched his legs out under the table. “Define mental stuff .”
“I had Carlos come down and make sure no new equipment had been installed before your visit,” she said and put her pen down. “There is zero surveillance equipment in the room, I promise. Have you manifested anything new?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Leon-”
He shook his head. “I’m serious, Rebecca. If I have something else that’s developed, I can’t access it and I don’t know shit about it and I like it that way.” Lazily, he gestured towards the door. “Do they know about Chris’ residual shit?”
“No.”
“Let’s keep it that way.”
“Agreed.” She picked up her clipboard and threw it at him.
“What the-” It wasn’t the feeling of the metal board connecting with his hand as he tried to deflect it that silenced him. It wasn’t her expression of awe that quieted his words either. It was the vibration he felt under his skin coupled with the lack of feeling anything at all against the palm of his hand. The clipboard was suspended in mid air, between the two of them. “... fuck.”
It fell with a clank, metal against metal, to the tabletop as soon as he acknowledged what was happening.
“Do not write that down,” he said, eyes narrowed. “Did you know that was going to happen?”
“No,” she said as she slowly slid the clipboard back towards her but did not pick up the pen to write anything. “I just wanted to see if you could.”
Leon ran his hand down his face and sighed. “You gotta stop reading comics, Rebecca.”
“Did it not just pay off?” She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “But I can’t call you Xavier anymore. Now I’m just calling you Jean Grey.”
*
“One more time, boss.”
Chris sighed and glanced around the faces of three of his Hound Wolf squad before he stopped back on Lobo. “No,” he growled.
“Come on, Alpha,” Charlie begged. “Just one more time?”
Chris rubbed the back of his neck. “Ok fine, if it gets you guys to shut up.” He hoped Leon was done with his tests because entertaining his squad because they refused to do routine cleaning and checkups was getting old.
Emily was already pushing her night vision goggles back down to check his count while turning off the lights. “Ok, how many fingers are we holding up?” She joined in with the other guys when the gold glowing lights emerged from the pitch darkness she’d created.
He wasn’t sure if he should be amused at how easily amused his squad was or frustrated that out of all the things they could be asking him to do it was count fingers with new night vision in a storage closet . “Nine, if you don’t count the middle finger Lobo is holding up off to the side. If you count that, and fuck you for trying that shit, it’s ten.”
The lights came back on as Lobo was clearly laughing in spite of himself. “Can’t blame a guy for trying, boss.”
“Now that’s it,” Chris said but he gave a small smile. “I know you assholes have actual work to do.”
When he opened the door and found Leon leaning against the wall, he felt like he should be embarrassed for getting caught goofing off at work. Even with the fresh haircut that didn’t change much, because Leon Kennedy refused to actually cut his hair shorter than his damn jawline, he still had baggy jeans and a black hoodie and some t-shirt with a logo he couldn’t quite make out. Chris glanced down at the boots and could see laces dangling instead of being tied. Professional hobo was going to end up on his resume at the rate he was leaving the house dressed like one.
“Don’t let me interrupt.” Leon slid his hands into his pockets but his eyes were full of amusement.
“Speak nothing of this,” he said cryptically.
“Orgies in the closet and I wasn’t invited?” Leon straightened his poster when Chris approached him. “I thought you said you didn’t like to share and I assumed that meant yourself, too.”
“Shut up, Leon.” Chris gestured down the hall. “Rebecca done with you for today?”
At the mention of Rebecca’s name and the testing session that transpired, Leon tensed up. “Thank fuck. Let’s go.”
Chris followed him as he made a beeline for the nearest exit. “You’re not telling me something.”
“Yet,” he clarified as he shoved his sunglasses back on his face before he shoved the front entrance doors open. “I haven’t told you yet but I’ll tell you.”
As he followed Leon through the lines of cars in the parking lot, his worry started to spike. “Are you going to tell me when we get home? On the way home?”
“We are driving somewhere else.” He dug around for the keys to his Skyline and the tell tale beep from the vehicle signaled the doors were unlocked. “ Then I will tell you.”
Chris didn’t get into the passenger’s seat fully until he was sure Leon was in with the door shut. “As long as you tell me,” he frowned.
“I think I’ve gotten the phobia of being recorded from Claire,” he groaned. “Give me somewhere to go that’s far as fuck away from civilization.”
So… did you forget you have telepathy?
Leon laughed and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Considering that’s what I’m trying to talk to you about? Yeah, that’s a fucking hilarious faux pax on my part. “Tell me a spot to go.”
“Take this exit, follow it for about forty five minutes. It leads towards Cunningham Falls.” So you’re really not going to tell me, even the super secret way?
I have to show you.
“Let me tell Claire the general area we’re heading to.” He could feel Leon shooting him a glare. “If I don’t, then the government will come looking for us because we aren’t accounted for.”
When the ride was proving to be too quiet, a side effect of Chris worrying and sulking at the same time, Leon turned on the radio. When the radio proved to be too grating, he switched over to the music in his phone. He even opted to put it on the classic rock that Chris enjoyed best because Leon was a giving kind of person.
“Turn here.” It was almost an hour on the dot until Chris finally spoke again. “Secret dirt road entrance your car should be able to handle with no damage. Dirt, however, might have to be cleaned off.”
He took the turn and silently plotted Chris’ ass beating if his imported Skyline acquired any damage from the drive. “You know, if you were driving, I would’ve given you a hand job or something to pass the time.” The sun was setting fast so he slipped the sunglasses off and pushed them into the middle console for safe keeping.
Finally, for the first time that entire car ride, Chris smiled. “You could have asked.”
“Oh, you are so lucky I do not want to hard brake on this dirt road in my overpriced fucking car.” He didn’t dare look down to see the hand he felt snaking across the middle console to work its way under his hoodie to unfasten his jeans. “The best road to do that on is the dirt one, brilliant idea.”
“Are you complaining? Because I can stop-”
His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel but he adjusted himself to acquire better access. “You better not stop… just tell me how far I have to keep going.” The sun was almost hidden behind the trees and Chris’ back road entrance seemed desolate but he’d never been and Chris was working him over. Thinking was quickly becoming out of the question.
“Park under that tree.”
Leon slowed down as he approached and when he came to a complete stop, he maneuvered carefully around Chris’ arm to pull up the emergency brake. “Don’t be that asshole that stops because we’re here.”
Chris reached over to the other side of Leon’s seat and reclined it for him then unbuckled their seat belts. “You’re lucky I love you, otherwise you’d be telling me what you needed to tell me before I get you off.” He pushed the hoodie and shirt up enough to switch over to his mouth.
“You need…” Leon had a sentence, he knew he had a sentence, but it was hard to get out. “... to grow more hair.” He reached up for the oh shit handle above his driver side window and smoothed his other hand on Chris’ back in lieu of grabbing a handful of Chris’ hair to steady himself. “Fucking hell.”
The Asshole Captain’s laughing sent a vibration down Leon’s whole damn shaft and he meant to offer him a sarcastic remark but all that came out was a noise he didn’t know he was capable of. There were times, much like that moment, where he knew he said things or suggested things and they were off-handed commentary. He was, in that moment as his own hips were working of their own volition and Chris was sucking his will to be surly out of him, so glad he said them.
“Unless you want that down your throat-” Chris was too good with his mouth. Too good. He hadn’t had a watch to time the man work but it couldn’t have been more than two minutes, maybe three.
Chris stopped long enough to offer up a two word response. “I do.”
Then back to work he went, and it was the hottest two word sentence Leon had heard all day. When it finally hit, it hit hard. He felt like an old and frayed string unraveling in the goddamn washing machine and he loved every second of it. Chris, being a professional, swallowed it all down. Not a drop was spilt, nothing wasted.
When he finally picked up his head, Chris licked his lips. “Now if you don’t want to taste-”
Leon shut him up by leaning forward and shoving his tongue in Chris’ mouth. His hands grabbed at Chris’ shirt and tried to pull him further on top of him but Chris was already pulling back. He probably whined about it; he didn’t remember but he knew he had protested in some fashion as Chris withdrew from his reach.
“Not until you tell me what you need to tell me.”
“Show you.”
Chris opened his door. “Ok, then,” he said with a laugh as he got out. “Let’s go so you can show me.”
“You have the willpower of a fucking God.” Once Leon was out with the door shut, he used the remote to lock the doors.
“It’s been helpful getting me through a lot of bullshit as of late,” Chris conceded, “but damn it’s hard to tell you no.”
“So I’ll be making note of that for future torture.”
He took Leon’s hand and led him down a narrow hiking trail. “I used to come up here to fish and…” He trailed off and smiled.
“With Piers?” Leon nodded, no hint of jealousy to be found. “As weird as this is going to sound, I think I’ve been to a version of here before. The smell of the lake seems familiar.”
Chris looked over at him and slowed their pace. “Ok, now it’s awkward,” and his laugh was just as awkward. “I’m not bringing you up here to recycle old fond… I mean I’m not trying to make new memories I made with-”
“Oh my god, shut up,” Leon groaned and quickened their pace. “Piers took me here. He told me you liked fishing. You’re going to make it awkward if you keep talking like that.”
When Chris stopped, he was an immovable object and Leon felt his arm almost jerked backwards when Chris put on the brakes. “You saw Piers here?”
“Now it’s awkward, one hundred percent.” Leon let go of Chris and shoved his hands into the pockets of his oversized hoodie. “When I came out of the coma, yeah. Fell asleep and there he was, here we were. He said he was happy you were happy and that he’d stick around for a bit to make sure you were okay. Apparently he’s just been loitering around because you didn’t want to move on with your life.”
What Leon expected was Chris to talk about Piers and that would’ve been okay. “You do make me happy.” What he got was Chris’ hand gently pressing against his face and his lips equally as gentle against his mouth. “Very happy.”
“Someone get the goddamn camera rolling, this is Hallmark Commercial material.” Leon’s hand found Chris’ and pressed over the top of it. “You are a fucking romantic son of a bitch. It’s really disgusting.”
Chris gave him one more kiss before he took his hand back in his and led the way once more. “Well you’re stuck now,” he reminded him. “You better get used to it.”
The trail opened up to a clearing beside the lake Leon had seen before. The dock looked just as usable but old, the grass just as lush and slightly overgrown. As they walked through it, he didn’t even have to reach down to run his hand along the top of the growth. He’d felt deja vu before but looking at the same spot he’d dreamt was different. It cemented that what he’d felt in that dream was real.
“Okay.” Chris slowly released Leon’s hand and took a few steps away, arms outstretched briefly. “Show me this parlor trick.”
Leon nodded and collected himself. “Throw something at me.”
“... What?”
Leon nodded again. “Just… not the face. It might not work the same way twice.”
Chris kicked the dirt around him and found a rock. “Okay,” he sighed and shrugged.
“Don’t tell me when you’re going to-” Again, on instinct, he stopped the rock before it connected. “Hah!” Again, once the concentration was broken, the rock fell straight down to the ground. “Did you see that?”
Chris stared at the rock for a few more seconds before his eyes slowly lifted back up to Leon’s. “Shit.” He started laughing with him then a thought came to mind. “So.” A very decidedly indecent thought. “What else can you do with that?”
It didn’t take Chris’ slow pace over to him for Leon to catch on. “I dunno, Alpha.” He walked a few steps closer. “I only just discovered the trick today and I don’t think I’d want to practice on my second favorite part of your body first thing.”
“ Second favorite?”
Leon was close enough to trace his fingers along Chris’ lips. “There’s definitely something that takes first place, even over your magical dick.” It didn’t take his other hand slipping behind the waistband of Chris’ pants to know it wouldn’t take freaky mind powers to get him going. “We are about to get really fucking dirty, aren’t we?”
“Mmhmm.” The grass around them was tall enough and it was dark enough. No one would even know. “Just… try to keep your voice down.”
Leon laughed and allowed himself to be eased down to the ground beneath them. “I don’t know if that’s a miracle I can perform.”