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Leon had frozen, he’d gotten too comfortable, and he let his guard down. One minor mistake, and everything is taken away from him. One slip up. One second of peace. His gut felt like it had been ripped out and crushed, and the worst part was, it was by someone he trusted, his mentor. Someone he never would’ve suspected would do something like this. Stolen goods? Did he really have to do something so major, he could’ve taken it without stabbing him! But nothing ever goes right for Leon Kennedy.
Claire, Sherry, Ada, and now Luis. He’d barely gotten the time he wanted with the man, what started off as actual hatred, and venom behind his words, turned warmer. Leon had begun to enjoy, and appreciate the light nature of Luis and his conversations. No matter what was going on or what they were discussing, Luis had a way with his words that made everything seem more fun. And due to that, Leon slipped up. Life reality checked him real quick.
After he had dealt with Krauser somewhat he rushed to the elder man’s side, “Luis, talk to me.” Leon places a hand on the spaniards neck in comfort, Luis looks like he’d already come to terms with what was about to happen. Possibly long before anything had happened to him, hard not to when you’re stuck in this hell hole. “Not looking good, ey my friend?” Luis replies, Leon is still met with a small smile from the other man despite his grievous injuries, he continues shortly after, “And such a loss to the ladies of the world.”
If Leon hadn’t understood what was happening, and learned how Luis functioned over the time spent being hunted, escaping, and chatting in the shooting range, he would’ve smacked him for joking at a time such as this. But Leon and Luis were polar opposites, which meant Leon understood Luis' thought process, and was somewhat thankful for Luis trying to keep the conversation light. On other hand Leon wanted to throw him over his shoulder and haul ass out of this place.
“Don’t talk.” Leon tells him, eyebrows furrowed with a slight shake of his head, only about a million scenarios of how he could try and get them all out of there. But his mind is just so tired, he’s been running and fighting for so long now that he isn’t thinking clearly.
Luis reaches out readily and grabs Leon’s hand, for a moment Leon thinks he is just seeking comfort, and is okay with the fact. But a key falls into his hand, and the threat of Luis’ mortality comes wracking up again. This will not, it can not, be Luis’ final gesture. “Take this.” Blood has started to drip out his mouth at this point, and Leon’s heart races faster. “The key to my laboratory.”
If this had been happening when Leon first met Luis he would have been absolutely stunned that this man had any selflessness, but now? Luis was so raw and full of emotion, closed off but not in the way that Leon is. And Leon admires that about him. Luis didn’t have to put on a cold front, he didn’t have to be sent out to extinguish life’s greatest dangers. But when he was thrown into this mess he still kept his shine. Leon hadn’t been so lucky.
“Go there.. and remove.. those damn parasites.” Luis’ neck had begun to droop more now, which results in Leon resting his hand on his neck once again, trying to steady him, Luis using his strength to be able to look back up at Leon when talking to him. He reaches into his pocket to bring out a pack of cigarettes, his arm only gets about half way up before he gets tired so Leon takes it upon himself to take it from him and place it gently in his mouth, “Help… Ashley.” The spaniard manages to breathe out, although slowly.
He takes out his lighter which Leon had seen him twirling on multiple occasions. Similar to the cigarette it doesn’t make it to his mouth, this time it falls, clambering away. Leon’s heart squeezes when he realizes it’s a sign of Luis’ mortality rapidly coming to a close. Leon reaches for his lighter and brings it to Luis’ mouth and lights the cigarette for him, a hand under his chin keeping him steady. Luis’ brown eyes stare back into Leon’s blue. Opposite, but complimentary. Leon wishes to say something, but there’s too much, and too little to say at the same time.
“You know, I led a pretty shitty life.” The blood starts to run down his lips more, he takes a deep breath of his cigarette, the bud lighting up with orange and the smoke filling the air. Leon could care less about it right now. “But now, eh…” Leon was now fully supporting the weight of Luis’ head. He can do something, he knows he can. But everything is so wrong and he can’t think, he’s human, and he’s imperfect, and he isn’t some machine that can calculate what to do in a moment like this. All his brain can focus on us Luis, Luis, Luis.
His lips twitch into a subtle smile, while Leon’s purse together as he bites the inside of his mouth. “What do you think, Leon?” He asks, one another’s eyes refusing to leave the otters, “People can change, right?” And Leon curses himself for every time he thought to himself that he wanted Luis to shut up. Because the cigarette falls from the spaniards mouth, hitting the ground between his legs and Leon squeezes his eyes shut, willing his brain to think of something, anything.
He checks Luis' pulse, it’s very, very faint. If not for whatever was up with this world Leon wouldn’t believe that anyone was coming back from that. But this world is messed up, so he has to try. He looks through his pouches, scavenging for anything that might help, but throughout several very close calls most of his medical supplies had been used up. No spray, no combined herbs. But a singular green herb that he hadn’t seen earlier had been left and Leon prays, he prays to anyone that will listen, for the first time in many years, that this will be enough. “You’re a fine knight, Don Quixote, which means you need to get up for me..” Leon mumbles.
So Leon lifts Luis just barely, enough to get to the wound and place the herb deep into it, “I’m sorry pal, I really hope you can’t feel this.” He mumbles, far too focused to form coherent thoughts. He leans Luis gently back onto the dirty wall, looking at the pale face of the spaniard.
He looks down to the lighter in his hand, and back to Luis. He contemplates laying it gently in his hand, but shakes his head to himself, “if you want this, you’re going to have to wait for me.” And if he doesn’t survive this, this is the only piece of Luis he’ll have, “I’m going to come back Luis.” He brushes the grimey hair out of the other man’s face, “I will. I’m not going to leave you here.” He promises, pocketing the lighter. He would never usually say these things but, well, he’s pretty sure Luis can’t hear him. In the back of his mind he thinks it wouldn’t be that bad if Luis could hear him though. He brushes off that thought just as quickly as it comes to him. He has a mission. If he wants to have a fighting chance at keeping Luis alive he needs to finish his mission, and fast.
-
Meeting up with Ada after ridding himself and Ashley of the Plaga brings back a bitter taste in his mouth. Back when he was a young naive cop he thought Ada was someone who he would forever think about as a fond memory amongst a nightmare. But ever since she’d reappeared, whenever he thinks of her he wants to shy away, to forget anything and everything about her. Agents really are dicks, but he only thinks that, keeping it to himself.
“You two ready to get out of here or what?” She asks, her ever so sly smirk plastered across her face, who lets an agent dress like that while on a mission anyways? “I’ve been ready to leave since I got here.” Ashley huffs, leaning her weight against Leon, who she has somewhat become attached to. Leon lets her do as she pleases, as he too has become quite protective over her. He only wishes that she not become like Sherry, who was ripped away from him.
“You guys can leave without me. I have some unfinished business here.” Leon has his arms sternly crossed, looking to Ada as he speaks. Ada raises an eyebrow in question, “There won’t be another helicopter out here until later tonight if you don’t leave now, aren’t you just raring to get out of here?” She asks, which Leon suspects she wouldn’t have inquired if she didn’t find it interesting. “I’ll be fine, mostly everyone is dead anyways.” He shrugs, and Ashley tenses beside him.
“You’re not coming back with us?” She leans back to get a full look at him, her eyebrows low on her face as she gives a look of concern. She tugs on Leon as she speaks quietly to him, “You’re leaving me with her, is that really a good idea?” She looks to him for an answer. Leon sighs and shakes his head, “you’ll be safe with her, she’s a good agent. Just don’t let her get too close to you.” He says the last part a bit louder although he knows she has heard the whole convo.
“Ada, I need your medical supplies.” He says as less of a question and quite a bit more as a demand. She rolls her eyes, uncrossing her own arms and pulling out a large bag from the helicopter, throwing it to Leon who catches it readily. “Last chance to get in this helicopter, Leon.” She says as she herself climbs into it. Leon shakes his head and takes Ashley’s hand, helping her the helicopter beside Ada, “No, I need to do something.“
He watches as Ashley keeps her eyes on him as she sits down, “Make sure there’s another helicopter here later, no less than 4 hours.” He says as he turns away, “Ashley, be safe.” He says without looking at her, the helicopter blades beginning to spin, “And maybe put in a good word with your dad for our mutual friend, okay?” He says, Ashley’s reply is drowned out by the noise of the helicopter taking off. He throws the bag of medical supplies over his shoulder and walks off in the direction of where he left Luis.
-
It’s a near hour run to where he was left, Leon thanks his brain for not totally forgetting where he was supposed to be going, despite him only running on pure adrenaline in a maze of a place. The wait going down the elevator seemed like a lifetime, which sounds perfectly normal if you’re about to figure out if someone is alive or not Leon reasons with himself.
While in the elevator Leon is near vibrating in his skin, his brain hadn’t stopped racing for two days, his body is on the verge of collapse, and adrenaline was all he had to offer, but there was no way he was stopping now. So he let himself pace, and think now that he had a moment to do so. About Ashley, about Sherry, Ada, Claire, Raccoon city. Everyone he couldn’t save. And if it’s going to be a repeat of last time. Too late. Always too late. Many what ifs. What if he’d been a little faster, more skilled, what if he hadn’t gotten comfortable and let his mind slip, his guard down. Maybe he could’ve prevented all those bad things from happening.
After raccoon city, the military training, he vowed he wouldn’t let that happen. But Luis had made it so easy. And for a moment Leon had felt human again. Like he wasn’t running on autopilot. One person could never make up for everyone he couldn’t save, but Leon will be damned if he leaves Luis behind. Whether it’s his body, or the man in whole.
His thoughts were cut short when the elevator came to a stop, and so did Leon’s heart. It stuttered as he stepped out, the fear of what he might find couldn’t outweigh his desire to do what he could, if there was even anything to be done. Leon gripped the strap of the bag as he forced his mind to focus, jogging out the elevator with swift steps, preparing for the worst.
Luis was pale, but not nearly as pale as when he has been rapidly losing blood and on the verge of death earlier. Yet still, his breaths were so shallow that to the naked eye you could barely see his chest rising and falling. At some point he had tipped over from where he had leaned against the wall, which meant he was doing better, if his body had been stiff and sat upright.. Well that’s a clear sign of something Leon rather wouldn’t think about.
Leon quickly slings the bag from over his shoulder onto the ground in front of him, digging through it to find some medical spray, silently thanking Ada for her cooperation. While he was digging through the bag he grabbed some high end pain meds and gently drug Luis to where his head was sitting on Leon’s thigh, propped up. Leon shook out two pills, opening Luis mouth and willing him to swallow them, because what was about to come wasn’t going to feel very nice.
Once Leon was sure the man had swallowed the pills after some prodding, he rolls the man over as gently as possible, to where he is laying on his stomach and his wound is visible. Leon’s previous attempts to treat it hadn’t been completely useless, it had crusted over in the slightest and nearly stopped bleeding at all, but it hadn’t been enough to bring him back to 100%.
“You really got yourself into it huh, pal?” He asked Luis, furrowed brows, despite him knowing the spaniard cannot hear him. Leon gently removes the now wilted herb from where he had placed it earlier, as it was useless to him and only in the way of what he was about to do.
He shook the medical spray, the clambering sound echoing throughout the cave live place. “This isn’t gonna feel good.” He says more to comfort himself than to comfort Luis at this point. It had been too quiet. Far too quiet since.. This happened. He had grown used to Luis’ constant banter and upgoing personality. So when he had to continue his mission without him, it hadn’t felt the same.
Leon only let his thoughts drift for a moment before raising Luis’ shirt and jack up to his neck, spraying his wound generously. Its not like Leon would need the rest later, because they’re going to get out of there, if it’s the last thing that he does he’s going to save him. And maybe for a second Leon believed that if he could save Luis, it would make up for everyone he couldn’t save, even if Leon went down for it instead. And that scared him, that someone had such an impact over him. That Luis had such an impact over him.
He hadn’t felt this way in a long, long time. Not in the last 6 years of his military training, and missions, had he let himself just, feel. But Luis brought it right back to the surface where it’s been bubbling and ready to burst. And for the first time in 6 years Leon was scared, not of a monster, disease or failing a mission. But over a person.
Leon scavenged throughout the bag for a bandage big enough to cover the wound but had to settle for some gauze and medical tape which he generously packed over the wound in Luis’ back. Leon turned the man back over once he was finished, getting on a knee to stand up. Now all he could do was hope that Luis wakes up, letting the weird spray do it’s work.
So Leon scoops an arm under Luis’ legs and back. Carrying him bridal style isn’t going to work with his wound so Leon sits him down and hauls him over his back, situating him to where he was leaning slightly forward to where Luis wouldn’t fall to the side or backwards.
So Leon walks, and walks. And it takes a lot more time getting back with an extra incapacitated person than it did with himself running on adrenaline. Leon votes to take the safe route despite massacring the place, since the chopper wouldn’t be back for around two more hours or so. He can feel Luis’ warm breath on the back of his neck which is more comforting than it should be.
The walk is quiet, fire crackles as he passes through places that he’s had.. confrontations in. The place is pretty busted up and he’s almost glad Luis isn’t awake yet to see this place. If it had been Leon’s home place, he’d probably have been devastated. But he had a feeling Luis knew something like this had been coming for a long, long while now.
Leon’s legs were barely working by the time he had gotten to the pickup point, the adrenaline had worn off and the exhaustion was catching up to him. He gently moved Luis to a bench where he not so gently sat down beside him, his legs giving out on him. He wrapped an arm around the spaniards waist to keep him from falling backwards. He took a deep shaky breath, it felt like the first time he had breathed since he’d gotten out of the vehicle when he first arrived.
About thirty minutes into sitting there Leon had started to nod off but quickly awoke again when he felt stirring beside him. After nearly jumping out of his skin he looked to his side where Luis had started to become coherent as it seemed. Leon’s hands quickly found their way to the other man’s face, checking out his pupils. Luis groaned at him, bringing an arm up to his hands trying to swat him away, “Eh, what’s the big deal, cariño?” Luis breathes out, and Leon’s shoulders fall, the tenseness leaving them. Luis coughs, hard. Probably pretty painfully too from where he’s grabbing his chest, a little bit of new blood meeting the blood that had dried from earlier.
Leon steadys him with an arm around his waist to keep him upright, his other arm grabbing a water from his medical bag and bringing it to Luis’ mouth where he gently tips it back for the other man to drink from. Luis downs the bottle readily so Leon discards the bottle as quickly as he grabbed it, bringing up this hand so that it lay softly on the other man’s cheek, to try and ground him, because Leon knows from experience.. when you wake up from a near death experience, everything feels.. unreal.
Now that Luis was awake.. Leon didn’t know what to say. How to rationalize his actions, or comfort Luis, so he just says, “We’re gonna have to bring you to the states.. you may be fine now but you probably have some internal stuff going on.” Leon lets his hand drop to rest on Luis’ knee. Luis’ breaths become steady somewhat, calming after his coughing fit. “Eh, I don’t think that’s a good idea muchachote, I may very well be arrested on the spot.” Luis' soft laugh echoes that of each one Leon has heard before, and Leon admires him greatly for his resolve despite just coming back from near death.
Leon huffs out a breath as he watches Luis’ neck turn to look at him, that smile still lingering. “Well I’m not leaving you here to rot.” Leon replies, suddenly feeling too shy to keep up the eye contact. Leon has never been good with confrontation of how he’s feeling, but now he’s struggling to keep things strictly professional.
Luis brings the back of his hand to his lips, rubbing the crusted blood off along with the never bit from his coughing fit, although Leon was pretty sure it was just lingering blood otherwise it would’ve been more significant. “Here to save me then, Prince Charming?” He asks, a tease to his voice. “I’d ask how you managed to get me out of there, but I worked for umbrella long enough to know what’s possible.” His head seems to lower when he mentions his time working for umbrella.
Leon’s face scrunches at this, he quickly combats Luis’ dread with, “It wasn’t your fault.” Which Luis raises an eyebrow at. “You don’t know that, Leon.” And with that, not even Luis can keep up his playful demeanor. Leon knows, more so senses that this is a tough subject. But he can’t just let Luis wallow in his own dread, not like he himself did. “Did you start the literal apocalypse? Did you know what they were going to do with what you were helping create? Did you-“ and Luis cuts him off, “Well, no but-“ and Leon too doesn’t let him finish, “Then stop blaming yourself.” Leon meets his eyes again to say this, his words desperately leaving his mouth, willing Luis to believe him, to listen to him.
“I could say the same about you, vaquero.” Luis holding the eye contact similar to Leon, blue and brown meeting once again. Leon wasn’t sure if that was ever going to happen again only a few hours ago. “Luis-“ Leon tries to oppose Luis’ statement only to be cut off again, “Ah ah, no, you’re going to listen to me cariño.” He points an accusatory, yet gentle finger, to Leon’s chest.
“No one person could stop what happened, you were young, unqualified, and the government would’ve never listened to anything you said.” He tells Leon, who has readily shut up after Luis had told him to do so, “American’s always have their minds set on something, and then refuse to change their mind, no?” And Leon doesn’t have it in him to roll his eyes at the other man, so instead he listens contently.
“If I wouldn’t have let my guard down, maybe Krauser wouldn’t have-“ Luis is having none of what Leon is trying to say, “Eh, stop it, I’m here now, right? Besides, it has been an honor to see your softer side príncipe.” He says to the blue eyed man, emphasizing the last part.
Leon doesn’t have it in him to argue back, so he sighs and nods at the other man, resting his tired head onto the spaniard's shoulder, “You could’ve died, Luis. How are you not blaming me?” Leon murmured, finding it hard to believe that this hadn’t been his fault, that Luis hadn’t almost just lost his life due to his own mishaps. “Quiet Leon, if you hadn’t been here in the first place I would’ve been long gone, im a science man, no fighter really. No habría llegado tan lejos sin tu ayuda, así que cree en ti mismo .” He reasons, and the fact is, he probably would’ve been dead. If not for Leon he would’ve been in that sack and most likely burned, his name lost to the world entirely. But now someone knows his name, and came back for him. And well, he could never blame Leon. Not in a million years.
Leon was far too tired to translate what Luis was saying to him, but he had a feeling it was a term of endearment, so he left it at that. “Before you decide to haul me back to the Estados Unidos , I need to.. tell you something.” Luis noted, tensing as he mentions it. “The uh, the big guy you ran into. Agent Ada mentioned that you had some pretty close calls, and-“ “I know.”
Luis looks a bit stunned at the revelation, “You-“ “There were photos of you with your team. I know Luis.” He assured the spaniard. “Then why are you helping me, Hay gente muerta por mi culpa Leon!” He pleaded for an answer, any semblance of why he deserved the kindness Leon has shown him.
“Because! Luis. You make me feel something. It’s like I’m not just a government tool when I’m with you. I enjoyed our banter, I enjoyed fighting alongside you, and I enjoy the way you make me feel. For the past 6 years I’ve been trained, grilled, and had it burned into my brain that I can’t have connections, that they make me weaker in the field, and I believed it! I was good at it too, until you came along and you uprooted everything I’ve been trained to do.” He says without taking a breath, and for the first time in a long while, Leon Kennedy cries. Not because he lets himself, but because he can’t contain it any longer. He’s exhausted. So very exhausted. And Luis just brings out every semblance of his humanity that he has left under his training.
And Luis lets him cry, snaking his arms around Leon’s waist and Leon clutches to the back of the spaniards grimey jacket, resting his chin in the crook of his neck. The elder man whispers sweet encouragements to the other man, “ Está bien mi príncipe. ” And “ Ha sido un placer tenerte en mi vida.” His endearments in Spanish seem almost more intimate than that in English. He hums softly as he trails the back of his hand up and down the larger man’s back.
After Leon calms somewhat, Luis lifts his chin so that their eyes meet one another. Luis offers a warm smile to combat the red puffy eyes that he is staring back into, “ Haces que empiece a creer que merezco el perdón.” And as Leon registers what the other man is saying to him his lips meet the spaniards, not hungrily, not like any of his pointless hookups he’s had in the last 6 years, but in warm comfort.
Leon kisses back, savoring, enjoying this moment. It’s not long before fear spikes within his gut and he has to pull back. “No, no you’re not staying here, I can’t leave you here I can’t-“ Luis’ face turns to a frown as he watches the other man panic, “Hey, hey cariño what are you thinking about? ¿Qué ocurre, guapo?”
It’s as if every memory of him and Ada come rushing back to him, a kiss, a goodbye. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t take it from Luis. If he had to knock the man out and throw him in that helicopter to get him back to America he would do it. “You can’t leave after that, you can’t.” Leon pleads. Luis brings his hands to Leon’s face, not gently but not forcefully, just wishing for him to look at him, “I am not saying goodbye, if anything it is more of a hello.” He looks into the other man’s eyes as he says this.
That’s something between them that shakes Leon to the core, eye contact is one thing when keeping it with an opponent, but with Luis, everything seems to calm when they meet one another’s gaze.
Leon’s labored breathing stills as he questions the spaniard, “Then, why?” He asks as if he can’t believe that there would be another reason. The lack of intimacy in his life clouding his judgment among the subject. Luis brushes the stray blonde hairs out of Leon’s face as he speaks to him, “Does there have to be any other reason than you’re the prince to my princesa? ” He asks, “ Soy mejor persona contigo .”
Leon can hear the helicopter in the distance but it’s nearly drowned out by Luis’ words. “You’re coming with me?” Leon’s asks, as if just to make sure, to be absolutely sure that this is no goodbye. Leon should’ve known from the start. Luis is no Ada, what Leon feels with the spaniard has no resemblance to what he felt with Ada. With Ada he had been young and naive. With Luis it was like he didn’t have to be the machine. But a prince. A knight. He could definitely do that.
“Yes, idiota, there’s no guarantee that the little senioritas papi won’t throw me in a prison cell. But if you wish for me to follow you, that is what I will do. What is a prince without his princesa?” He muses, the hands on Leon’s face unmoving. Leon closes the gap this time, just as softly as the first, not quite sure how he has come to feel so strongly about the spaniard in the short period of time which they have known one another. But in no way was he complaining. If he got to have Luis, if he got to feel how he does now all the time, he was going to grip it and keep it for as long as he could hold on.
The separated as the helicopter landed around 15 feet away from them. When Luis looks down into his hand he finds his lighter laid gently in the clutch of his hand. “Had to keep it to make sure you’d come and get it.” Leon muses, his voice soft and as he gets used to their banter again. Luis elbows him in the side playfully, “I wouldn’t mind you holding onto it if that means I get to follow you around.”
Leon’s lips quirk into a smile but Luis decides to let them savor this moment.
They turn their attention back to their ride.Their hair blowing out their faces and red lights flashing and illuminating their faces. “I am still going to refuse your guys awful food. I hope you know.” He says as Leon helps him stand, using his hand to haul himself up. Leon laughs, only quietly but it’s enough to make a wide smile spread across Luis’ face as the blonde man supports him around his waist, “Now that I could get used to seeing in America, mi amor.”
“Don’t get too used to it, pal, I only laugh when you amuse me.” He offers a hand to the brown eyed man, helping into the helicopter. Luis gasps in fake offense, “You dare say I’m not funny, you know you love my humor príncipe.” Which earns an eye roll from Leon.
When they hit the seats and buckle, their thighs are pressed together, both of them savoring the physical touch they have ever so been deprived of. Leon signals for the pilot to take off when they are situated. Luis goes to speak once they are in the air to find Leon asleep on his shoulder, “ Gracias por darme mi segunda oportunidad, príncipe.”
Leon didn’t dream but had vague thoughts as he drifted, maybe they weren’t as different as he had first believed.