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Leon, carefully resisting the urge to throttle his lover when he found him, sat down heavily on a tree stump as Mia paced in front of him, stroking her chin in thought.
They’d been waiting at the edge of the forest for hours in the hope that Ethan would emerge and solve them all the trouble of a search party. Initially, Chris and the others had stayed too, their worry practically palpable, but one by one they went to sleep.
Leon was slowly starting to wish he’d joined them.
Things had gotten better, after the accidental reveal of Ethan’s magical mould related powers when he and Leon broke out of the BSAA medical facility he was being held at. Although Leon had promised to take Ethan out if he became a threat, he just couldn’t bring himself to put a bullet between those pretty eyes. So he’d talked him down, encouraged him to try and work with the mould rather than against it. The resulting carnage followed by a bloody kiss that shouldn’t have been hot and yet was the most attractive thing he’s ever experienced is a permanent brand in Leon’s memory.
The man no longer had to sneak around or hide things from them, they had all made that abundantly clear when he broke down into a sobbing mess at Leon’s feet begging for a quick death once he was back at base.
And yet, even months later, not one of them had caught a second glimpse of the powers he held. The man still seemed to believe he was due to be turned in at any given moment. He snuck around, dodged questions, did everything manually when people were watching. He acted like a man unsafe in his own home. Leon hated to think that he used to be just that, with BSAA constantly hounding him for blood tests or samples of the mould.
He insisted on searching for threats himself, on taking space to work through his powers alone, taking walks in the moonlight. Constantly, he had been told to update someone else on his location if he chose to leave his room at wacky o’clock in the night, yet he either chose ignorance or genuinely forgot every damn time.
He’d been gone for too long this time.
Which brought them to the woods. In the middle of the night. With only a sliver of moonlight to see by. Mia refused to stop pacing, and Leon had stopped paying attention to the anxious mumbling under her breath hours ago. His own foot was tapping absently against the damp forest floor, making a wet sound each time his boot connected with mud. He was startled when Mia threw up her arms with a yell, a blended noise of frustration and worry.
“I’m done! We’ve been here for nearly the whole night Leon, where is he?” It was unusual to see Mia so wound up these days, but Leon could tell from the tenseness in her shoulders it wasn’t out of any malice. She was worried sick.
“Mia, why don’t you head back to base, look after Rose and tell Chris to arrange a search party if I don’t return by morning? I’m going to look for him.” Making sure his gun was securely on his belt, he pushed himself off the log and shook out his legs, eager to be moving again. A warm hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“Leon? Be careful.” They both knew all too well that there were dangers in those woods that not even most of Chris’s squad would like to face. He offered Mia a grin, could only hope it didn’t fall flat.
“We’ll be back before you know it, just tell the princess.” Mia gave him a disapproving look for his choice nickname for Chris, but she looked a little lighter, so Leon considered it a victory.
The sound of Mia starting up her bike faded into the background as he headed further from the treeline, keeping his knife on hand just in case there was anything out here Ethan may have missed on his way in. He knew better than to take this situation as a joke.
Maybe, back when they didn’t know Ethan better, they would have assumed he’d just tripped on the stairs and found him the next day. Now? Leon didn’t even want to think of the connotations of a missing bioweapon known to be wanted by multiple organisations. If word had somehow gotten out that they were guarding him and keeping him safe from the laws regarding bioweapons? There was no end to who might want to hurt Ethan. Who might succeed.
He sliced some low hanging branches out of his way with slightly more aggression than called for, getting a face full of leaves for his effort. With a grunt of annoyance he shoved them aside, carefully stepping over a log as he continued deeper.
Finally, after what felt like years of walking, he heard Ethan’s voice.
It somehow both sounded like his lover and didn’t, a soft growling feature to his words that was usually lost in the day. Leon stumbled straight into a battlefield, and stood frozen in shock for a few moments.
His partner was hovering slightly away from the ground above a man training a very powerful looking rifle directly at his head, red dot sight trained in the perfect position for a shoot-to-kill operation. Ethan’s eyes were shadowed with shades of green and black, framed by the angry furrow of his brows and only lightened by the dancing gold glow hiding amongst the depths. There was a slight snarl to his lips, a hidden strength in his shoulders. Leon was mesmerised, watching and listening as each powerful burst of glittering magic attacked his opponent, battering away whatever defences they’d built using various grenades and tech sheilds. He knew he should move to help Ethan in some way, but he felt frozen in place, watching in slow motion as a second person emerged from the brush, throwing a knife towards Ethan. Distracted, the blonde didn’t have time to block, yelling out in pain as the blade thudded into his arm.
His restraint on his power seemed to vanish, exploding out of him and sending everything in the vicinity flying backwards in a sea of black goo and spiralling branches. Leon distantly felt his back hit a tree, but he didn’t have time to register the pain before he was practically launching himself back onto his feet and running to reach Ethan.
His partner had curled in on himself, his sides heaving with each uneven breath. His frantic eyes remained gold, and Leon knew that if he startled Ethan right now, he was in danger of being struck down again, either by mould or the glow Ethan prefers to utilise. He slowed his steps until he stopped a short distance from Ethan, then whistled once, softly. The poor man jolted to attention, eyes scanning him like a wild animal assessing a predator. He crouched slowly to Ethan’s level, wincing slightly at the ache in his spine as he moved.
“Hey, Ethan. It’s Leon. We’re in the woods outside our base.”
Ethan flopped properly onto the ground, a breathless, startled laugh crossing his lips. The gold slowly faded from his eyes, replaced with blown pupils and agony.
“And I’m on the ground.”
Leon struggled to hold back a laugh at the poor attempt at humour. Careful not to touch the wounded arm, he wrapped his arms around Ethan, tugging him into his chest. With a soft grunt, Ethan let himself fall limply into Leon.
He rocked them gently until Ethan stopped shaking.
“We really need to get you back to Chris, dearest all powerful mould host.”
Ethan laughed but it broke off in a groan when he tried to move his arm.
“How bad?” Leon would have hit himself if he didn’t have his arms full of wounded mould-wielder. Of course it was bad it was a knife-
“Apart from the entire dagger in my arm? Not that bad.”
Ethan was steadily growing paler, but the smile on his face counteracted it somewhat. Slowly, Leon settled his hand on the hilt of the dagger.
“You know I have to-" he flinched at even the thought of causing Ethan so much pain, and ripped the sleeve off his shirt in advance.
“Quickly, I’ll be fine.”
Leon tugged his lip between his teeth before pulling the blade out as carefully - yet quickly - as he could. Ethan let out a yell followed by a soft groan when Leon tightly bound the woven cloth around it.
“Up with you, come on.”
He lifted Ethan up into his arms gently, letting his head rest in his neck. Ethan let out a half-assed protest at being carried around before falling silent, closing his eyes and forcing his body to relax instead. Leon felt the remaining sleeve of his shirt grow warm, and knew Ethan was bleeding just slightly too fast for his comfort. The knife must’ve been coated with something preventing Ethan’s abilities from fixing it. A flash of terror makes him feel cold as he considers the possibility of someone having a version of the E-series cure and somehow-
He quickened his pace to a slight jog.
When they reached his bike, he was about ready to kiss the damn engine from relief. There was no time to be gentle, so he unceremoniously dumped Ethan in the seat, relieved when the man was conscious enough to hold himself steady and wrap his arms around Leon’s waist.
Leon pushed his bike into a sedate 50, not confident in his assumption that Ethan would be totally fine without treatment. Hopefully, some magic mould nonsense would keep Ethan safe until he could get him back to Rebecca. He almost groaned aloud at the thought of the annoyed medic and her lectures, but held himself back with the best of his restraint. His bike crashed loudly through the gates, sending one of them forcefully to the ground in an obnoxiously abrasive clang of metal that likely woke half the base. He’d apologise later.
For now, he carefully lifted a half-awake Ethan into his arms, taking great care to keep him as still as possible even as he took the stairs three at a time, his breaths slightly panted. He reached the medics ward in record time and didn’t even bother knocking, knowing Rebecca had probably been awake for hours worrying, despite her pretences that she was only interested in Ethan scientifically. The friendship Ethan immediately sparked with everyone he met was the real magic of his powers.
“Fuck sake Leon!” Ah there was the disapproving eyebrow. He shrugged off the exasperated glare and settled Ethan onto the nearest examining table, causing him to grumble sleepily and reluctantly open his eyes. Gently, he swiped a blonde curl out of his face, reminded sharply of how powerful this man was, and how lucky he was to have him.
“How wonderful to be back.” Ethan’s voice could have been sarcastic, or just raspy. Either way, Leon couldn’t help a soft laugh. Rebecca just clicked her tongue lightly.
“It’s good to see you too Winters. Now let me see.” Ethan didn’t bother to fight, simply turned enough that Rebecca could access his arm before burying his face back in Leon’s shoulder.
Leon watched Rebecca go through each careful motion of first scanning, then treating the wound, feeling slightly sick with the worry his worst fear would be confirmed. Each time Ethan flinched, he’d rub his back until he relaxed, even as his own shoulders climbed closer to his ears as the minutes ticked on.
“It’s not the cure, just regular poison. I’ll whip up and antidote and you’ll be just fine with some rest, Ethan. I’ll update everyone so we can all sleep easier.” Although her words were aimed at Ethan, the reassuring smile and warm hand on his shoulder was clearly intended to calm Leon back down from whatever stress induced haze he was working himself up to.
When they were done, Leon carefully lifted Ethan into his arms and carried him to his room. Like Ethan was breakable, he settled him on the pillow, startled when the blonde yanked him down on top of him with surprising strength, letting out a satisfied sound once Leon had unintentionally crushed him beneath his full body weight. He seemed as though he couldn’t be more content with this development, so Leon decided to just let it happen rather than try to fight it.
“Stay?” Ethan still sounded nervous, like he really thought Leon was going anywhere. He didn’t rescue him from that facility just to abandon him the moment things got rocky. Nonsense.
“Always.” He pressed a kiss to the top of Ethan’s head before wrapping him tightly in his arms.
Powerful bioweapon or not, everyone needed a hug after being hurt. It was just common sense.