Notes: - So here's Chapter Seven! Right off the bat I'm going to make an apology! There's Spanish later on in this chapter and I apologise if it sucks or is in anyway wrong. I did Spanish in high school but have never really used it so it's rusty at best.

Thanks to DamonWesker and YaoiGirly for your reviews!

The Facility – Chapter Seven

After that night, Chris marked difference in Leon. The younger man had become quiet and withdrawn. He preferred to spend most of his time at his laptop, typing away, a fixed look of concentration on his face. The only time he left the house was to attend his physical therapy sessions, which, at his own insistence, had been put up to three times a week. He made good progress and in the space of another three weeks had gone from using two crutches to only having a slight limp.

Chris decided the best thing for Leon to do was to get out and go somewhere other than his physical therapist's office. Leon was barely speaking to him at the moment and it was concerning. At least before he'd get the odd acidic comment but now he wasn't even getting that. He figured that if Leon could get some fresh air into him and have a bit of a laugh along the way then he might just lighten up a bit. Chris knew that his mind was probably on the impending debriefing but it couldn't hurt to take his mind off it.

"I thought we could go out today," He announced cheerfully as he came down to breakfast the next morning. Leon was already up and sitting at the table. His laptop was open once more and he was typing away. He barely looked up as Chris helped himself to a glass of juice. "I know you've been busy with the stuff for the debrief but one morning can't hurt," He closed the fridge door and leant against it. "And the walking will do your leg some good."

He saw Leon's shoulders tense as if he were biting back an insult or rude comment.

"If I say no you're going to bug me aren't you"? He finally asked, not looking up from his computer screen. Chris couldn't help but smirk at that. Leon might be all cold and distant at the moment but it didn't mean that the younger man didn't know him.

"Of course." He said. "Any suggestions for where we can go"?

"I know a place." Leon replied, sounding resigned.


It was a typical Spanish morning, bright and sunny and just the right temperature so that it was pleasantly warm as opposed to stiflingly hot. They'd walked into the older part of the town as Leon had suggested they visit a market. The market itself was in a large square surrounded by old, brown buildings that reminded Chris of baked clay. The buildings were close together and unlike the neat rows of streets he was used to back in America, seemed to be arranged higgledy-piggledy around the paved square with a hotchpotch of washing lines stretching between window to window over their heads.

The stalls were just as uneven as the buildings with the seller wares set out on tablecloths of various colours including stinging emeralds and bright ruby reds. Smells drifted into the square from the fruit stalls, an attractive citrus bouquet that made you want to buy what was on offer. The sellers were calling things out in Spanish, competing with each other for custom. The natives of the town were bustling about with purpose, the tourists standing around in awe at the riot of colours and sounds attacking their senses. There was a pavement café at the other end of the market with dainty white tables and chairs shaded by large yellow and red umbrellas. A few people were sitting at the tables, sipping coffee and nibbling cakes whilst watching the busy market.

"Good choice." Chris said, nodding encouragingly. He wasn't really into checking out the sights and sounds of foreign countries but even he could see the beauty in the market. They set off walking at a slow pace, strolling easily in-between the stalls. Chris stopped every so often to check out a seller's wares. Leon walked silently, barely looking at the stalls, a moody expression on his face.

The midday heat soon hit them. The tourists bustled off to their various hotels, no doubt looking forward to a dip in the swimming pool to cool off. The locals went about their business, obviously used to the heat. Chris started sweating in the three quarter length black shorts and green t-shirt Leon had bought him. Leon didn't seem to be similarly suffering, although he did go slightly pink in his grey sweat pants and black vest.

"It's getting really hot." Chris complained as they walked past another stall. He was glad that Leon was out and getting the exercise his leg needed but on the other hand his silence was getting to be quite annoying and very boring. Chris yanked his t-shirt off, wiping his sweaty body down with it before tucking it into the waistband of his shorts. He gave his armpits a quick cursory sniff and judged the smell to be suitably manly but slightly verging on needing a shower. He gave his muscles a little flex, as he always did when taking off his t-shirt, and grinning smugly when a nearby tourist eyed him up.

"What's USAP"? He heard Leon ask dully. Chris stopped grinning at the tourist and turned to regard his partner. He must've looked confused because Leon added. "On your arm." It took Chris a little while to clock on but he finally realised that Leon was talking about the tattoo he had on his right arm.

"It doesn't say USAP" Chris corrected huffily. "It says U.S.A.F. Y'know, as in the Air Force"? He said the last part proudly, puffing his chest out slightly and yeah; maybe he might've flexed his tattooed upper arm a bit too.

"Looks like it says USAP." Leon responded vaguely.

"Yeah well," Chris shrugged off the embarrassment. It hadn't been the first time someone had pointed that out. In fact, it seemed to be the general consensus that it said USAP but he wasn't about to admit that. "The guy who did it had a shaky hand. It's hard to do a decent tattoo in a fighter jet." He boasted. Obviously that wasn't the truth behind his ink. He'd sneaked a few beers into the barracks one night and him and a couple of other recruits decided it would be a good idea to cement their new friendship by getting tattoos. One of them had piped up that he was practically a professional tattooist and could do it if he had a needle and some ink. They'd used a needle from a sewing kit and Chris had swiped a bottle of ink from one of the other recruits. Chris had been the one who'd bravely rolled up his sleeve and gone first.

He'd sunk another couple of beers and braced himself on his bunk as his friend got to work. He hadn't realised quite how painful getting tattooed was but he sucked it up, figuring that the end result would be worth it. His 'tattooist' friend however not only had terrible handwriting, but also had a shaky hand. Consequently, the 'F' in USAF looked more like a 'P' and the whole tattoo gradually sloped downwards. There was no way in hell that he was ever going to admit that to anyone. Instead, he stretched casually and did a good old subject change. "Let's go get a drink at that pavement café."

Without waiting for a response, Chris hurried off in the direction of the café. Leon sighed deeply. He wasn't stupid. It hadn't taken him long to figure out the true reason behind his happiness at finding Chris in the house when he'd returned from hospital. He hated Chris when he first met him. He resented the fact that a partner had been forced upon him and Chris stood for everything he hated. Sure, he was good looking. He had a great body that he'd obviously worked hard for and he had deep brown eyes and thick brown hair that looked soft and inviting. It didn't take too much of an imagination to guess how it would feel to kiss those lips, touch that body and tug on that hair. Leon didn't doubt for a second that he could appreciate all that but still, the hatred he'd felt towards him had gone some way to cancelling that initial physical attraction out. He'd been attracted to guys he'd worked with before but he'd always managed to keep them at arms length by acting the jerk. They usually ended up either acting like a jerk back or giving up entirely and asking to work with someone else. Chris however, had been annoyingly stubborn.

He'd taken every single one of Leon's carefully chosen insults on the chin and still refused to go away. It was a frustrating situation. Leon could've cursed himself that night he'd gotten drunk on the brandy and spilled his guts about Sherry and Raccoon City. He'd let Chris in that night and that had made it so much harder for him to carry on pushing him away. He'd managed it though and Chris had still come back for more. When they'd been separated at the facility Leon knew that protocol dictated that he should've secured whatever information and samples he could, then got the hell out of there. Except he hadn't, he'd risked his life and taken on a trio of zombies with a damn biro to get back to Chris.

Chris had saved his life even though he was injured himself and that had made the older man rise quickly in Leon's estimations. And then that night three weeks ago when Chris had told him about his past with Wesker, it had made it all but impossible for Leon to continue dismissing him as a brainless, unfeeling oaf. He'd realised that his attraction to Chris had gone much further than physical and it had scared him. It scared him how easily he could feel so much so quickly for a relative stranger. He knew that he stood no chance with Chris and on the one hand he wanted the older man to go away and never darken his doorway again and on the other he wanted Chris to stay for as long as possible. He'd been so confused over the past few weeks and he'd realised that he was going to have to get over the fact that it was never going to happen and deal with it in his own way.

He limped over to the café and sat down whilst Chris disappeared inside and ordered them some drinks. He leant back in the slightly uncomfortable white plastic chair and let out a heavy sigh. There was a guy sat at a table across from him sipping his coffee and just watching the people go by. He was tall and lean with an athletic body, dressed casually yet smartly in dark trousers and a maroon open collared short sleeved shirt. His hair was long and jet black, hanging in loose waves around his tanned face. He looked up suddenly, his dark brown eyes locking onto Leon's. Usually Leon would've looked away but there was something drawing him to this man. He forgot all about his rule of ignoring the locals and smiled at him. A short, non-lingering smile but enough to let the other man know he was interested. Just as he expected, the man stood up and moved over to him, smiling warmly.

"Hola" He greeted. "Me llamo Marco, y tu"? He asked smoothly in a deep, rolling voice.

"Leon" Leon replied, nodding as Marco motioned to the empty seat. "Se habla Ingles"?

"Of course" Marco said in his divine Spanish accent. "I must say, your Spanish is very good"

It was a typical pick-up line, worthy of little to no merit. After all, Leon had only said one thing and he wasn't even sure it was grammatically correct. Usually he would've been giving this guy the brush off for his cheesy chat-up lines but this time he thought what the hell? The guy was interested and it seemed like a nice little distraction to forget about his hopeless situation with Chris.

Chris came out of the café struggling to balance two cups of coffee. It had been lucky that the person serving had spoken English. He scanned the tables for Leon and spotted him a short distance away deep in conversation with some long -haired stranger. Chris narrowed his eyes. Who the hell was that and how the hell had he gotten Leon to speak so animatedly? Chris was about to stalk over and demand to know what was going on but Leon and the stranger suddenly stood up and started to walk away. Leon was exaggerating his limp and the stranger reached out for him, putting his arm around his waist to support him. Leon didn't bat him away.


Chris leant back in the hot tub, a large glass of brandy in his hand. After he'd watched Leon go off with that stranger, he'd downed his coffee and marched straight back to the house. He wasn't even sure why cared so much. After all, Leon was entitled to go around with whomsoever he wanted. Chris took a sip from his glass, shuddering as the liquid hit the back of his throat. The thing that was bugging him the most about the whole situation was how animated Leon had been. It had taken that strange guy less than five minutes to get Leon chatting away with a smile on his face. Chris drank some more of the brandy. He'd been trying for days to get Leon to speak to him. He'd known him for over two months and not once had he seen the younger man as animated as he had been at the café.

He downed his glass and poured himself a fresh one from the bottle that he'd put beside the hot tub. After everything he'd done for Leon, it seemed like a bit of a smack in the face. It pissed him off and if he really thought about it he knew he should get on the first plane back to America. It was plainly obvious that Leon didn't need him anymore.

There was a loud bang and Chris jumped up. He grabbed the shorts he'd dumped by the side of the hot tub and yanked them on. He rushed back into the house dripping wet and discovered that the loud bang had obviously come from the front door being slammed as, standing in the hallway, was Leon looking somewhat worse for wear and being supported by another guy. This wasn't longhaired stranger from the pavement café but another man. Still tall, still tanned, but this time with short red spikes and muscles that could almost rival Chris'. Each arm was a riot of colour from the tattoos that snaked up and down them. He was wearing black jeans and a tight black vest and seemed to be just as drunk.

"Who the fuck are you"? Chris demanded, folding his arms across his chest. The stranger didn't seem at all intimidated. He looked at Chris admiringly and gave him a wink. Chris glared at him.

"This is Marco." Leon slurred, barely looking at Chris. He was leaning heavily against the stranger, one arm around his back, the other one across the man's front, stroking his chiselled stomach and dipping down into the waistband of his jeans.

"I'm Tony," The man corrected with a strong Alabama twang that momentarily reminded Chris of his old S.T.A.R.S buddy Forrest Speyer.

"Marco…Tony…whatever!" Leon attempted a shrug. "Bedroom's upstairs!" He added, trying to steer Tony in the direction of the stairs. Tony smiled smugly and allowed himself to be led.

"Hey, whatever you say Baby!" He replied, winking at Chris once more.

Chris watched them go up the stairs and shortly afterwards, heard Leon's bedroom door slam. He wanted to march straight up those stairs and barge into the bedroom and forcibly remove this Tony person from the house, perhaps giving him a few solid punches to beat the smugness out of him. Leon was, however, a grown man and certainly wouldn't thank him for doing something like that. Even if Chris didn't like the way that Tony had been looking at him. He wondered if Leon was even aware of what he was doing. As much as it annoyed him he knew he had no right to go marching up there and stop whatever was about to happen. Muttering curses under his breath, Chris turned on his heel and headed back for the hot tub deciding that the only thing he could was trying to forget about what he'd just seen and hope that the two of them wouldn't be loud.


Leon didn't surface from the bedroom until well after noon the next day. Chris knew that Tony wasn't with him because he'd heard him leave in the early hours. He frowned as he watched Leon limp towards the fridge and grab himself some juice. Chris wondered where this sudden change in his partner's behaviour had come from. It had kept him awake most of the night and finally he'd come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to work this one out on his own. Leon's sleeping around had just come out of nowhere and he would need help if he was going to figure out why. He gotten up way before Leon and had quietly phoned Dennis. The older man had been a little surprised to hear from him but as soon as Chris had laid out his concerns, Dennis had agreed to meet with him at the pavement café by the market.

"Don't forget you've got physical therapy in an hour." Chris said as Leon drained the contents of the juice carton before slumping into one of the chairs. There were dark circles under his eyes and his eyes themselves were bloodshot. Chris had a good idea of how the younger man would be feeling right about now.

"How could I forget"? Leon muttered as he left the kitchen. He'd left the carton on the kitchen counter top. Chris sighed heavily. The sooner he got to the bottom of this strange behaviour, the sooner he call Leon out on it and get things back to relative normality.

Chris stared at the coffee in confusion. He'd never seen anything like it before. There was no sign of the usual brown liquid that constituted a decent cup of java. Instead it seemed to be a cupful of white foam with some brown sprinkles on it. He'd arrived at the pavement café to find that Dennis had already ordered on his behalf. That was great and all if he had the remotest clue what he'd ordered. Dennis smiled as he sat down. He had one of those cups of froth too.

"Thanks for coming." Chris said as he stirred his coffee disconsolately. The spoon clinked against the sides of the cup and reminded him of how he used to drive his fellow S.T.A.R.S crazy by stirring his coffee for ridiculous lengths of time. He couldn't help but smile. It had always been worth it to see the look on Brad's face and the vein in Barry's forehead put in an appearance.

"Not a problem." Dennis replied. "I can fully understand your concern," He took a sip from his coffee and wiped the foam from his upper lip. "From what you've told me it seems that Leon isn't acting like himself at all."

"Yeah…he's kinda acting normal with me I guess…" Chris' happy reminisce was over and he was back in the present. "He's never been particularly friendly with me and he's always been the first to put me down but now it's like he's…he's not speaking to me at all if he can help it and then there's this thing with all these guys that I told you about on the phone. He brought a random stranger home last night and yesterday afternoon I saw him go off with some other guy. He came home wasted and didn't even seem to know who he'd brought back."

"Yes, that isn't like Leon at all." Dennis said thoughtfully.

"I don't know if I'm blowing this whole thing up," Chris continued. "He's got a right to bang who he wants to it's just it seems like a total 180 from the guy I know. I'm just confused is all."

"I understand your confusion," Dennis replied. He took another sip from his cup and appeared lost in thought for a moment. "This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I know you're aware with the problems Leon had with Jack Krauser."

"You are"? Chris considered trying a sip of his own cup of foam but decided against it. There was something about the foam that he didn't like. He didn't trust the way it moved.

"I know you've read his file," Dennis smiled slightly as Chris let out an uneasy chuckle. "When he first came to Spain he acted in a similar manner. It would seem that promiscuity is Leon's way of dealing with stressful situations. Eventually he stopped in his own time and returned to his normal self. I would suggest you talk to him but I know that it certainly didn't work for me."

"That figures" Chris replied. He played with the packet of brown sugar on his saucer. "It doesn't make sense though…that whole thing with the facility was weeks ago."

"Stress does funny things to people" Dennis countered. "My advice would be to just ride it out. As concerning and annoying as it is. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you but Leon is very much a closed book. You can try and try to get something out of him but I can guarantee you that if he doesn't want you to know then you won't find out."

Chris nodded and thanked him. Shortly afterwards, Dennis made his excuses and hurried off, leaving Chris brooding over his cup of foam.


Chris spent the rest of his afternoon wandering around the market before coming across an American themed bar. He sunk a couple of beers had a large plate of chicken wings before heading back to the house. His meeting with Dennis had given him something to think about but he didn't like the idea of just sitting back and waiting for Leon to burn out. From what he'd already seen in Tony, the guys that Leon seemed to be picking up weren't ideal. He'd seen the bruises on Leon's arms and knew that Tony hadn't been gentle. He'd gotten close to Leon and saw him as one of his good friends. He cared for the guy as much as he cared for Barry or Claire's boyfriend Kevin Ryman and he didn't want to see him get hurt. On the walk back to the house he decided that he was going to have to sit down with Leon and talk it out. He didn't care if Leon wanted to hear it or not, he was going to make him listen. What was it called again?

An intervention! That's what Leon needed. Chris had had one of those himself. Not long after the Mansion incident and his rescue of Claire from Antarctica, he'd hit rock bottom. Exhausted from the constant worrying and the threat of Umbrella, he'd hit the bars hard and drunk himself into a stupor most nights. He'd woken up one afternoon to find Barry and Kevin standing over him. They'd forced him to shower and shave and had sat him down and made him see what his behaviour had been doing to himself and the people around him. He'd gotten back on track shortly after that day, hit the gym and gained a body he was proud of. Since it had worked so well for him, he figured that he should at least try it with Leon. If he could make the younger man see how many risks he was taking he could maybe get him back on track.

He rehearsed how he was going to handle it and had it down perfect as he got to the front door. Just as he was coming in however, it seemed that Leon was going out. He was dressed in tight black jeans, black boots and a tight black t-shirt. He smelt strongly of aftershave.

"Where are you going"? Chris asked as Leon pushed past him.

"Out." Leon responded, not even stopping. He stalked down the path as best as he could with his limp, and disappeared out of sight. His tone had reminded Chris of when Claire had hit her teens and starting acting out. It was kind of funny considering it was coming from a grown man as opposed to a teenage girl. He sighed deeply. Not only had he smelt the aftershave as Leon had walked past, he'd smelt the alcohol too. Without really thinking about it, Chris turned on his heel and decided that he was going to follow him.


"Back off. Not interested" Chris said for what felt like the hundredth time that night. He'd carefully followed Leon all the way into the town and to, judging by the amount of guys he was fighting off, a gay bar. He'd watched Leon make a beeline for the bar, sink a few shots before hitting the dance floor and, for want of a nicer way of putting it, pressing himself up against any guy who seemed remotely interested. Chris had kept a safe distance, sipping from a beer in a darkened corner of the bar. He'd had more than a few offers himself and, even though he wasn't interested, it was kind of nice to know he had options.

He knew he should just march across the dance floor and drag Leon home but that definitely wouldn't be appreciated. At least if he followed the younger man he could keep an eye on him and step in if it looked like he was getting into trouble. Leon was dancing with a guy a few metres away. The guy's hands were all over him and he was saying something into Leon's ear. He stepped back, his left hand lingering over Leon's buttocks before heading in the direction of the toilets. Leon continued to dance alone as the guy made his way to the toilet. Chris watched as the guy stopped just by the door to talk to someone else. What followed was swift and smooth but Chris still saw it. The guy had just been given a small bag containing white tablets. It looked like he was going to have to do his stepping in.

He dumped his beer on the bar top and, making sure Leon wasn't watching the toilets, followed the guy in there. He was standing by the urinals bragging to another guy who was dressed in nothing but a pair of tight white jeans. Judging by their accents they both seemed to be English.

"I've scored out there mate" Leon's guy was saying as he leant against the tiled wall. White jeans nodded emphatically, a grin spreading across his greasy features.

"You'll have to let me have a go when you're done. You've picked up a right hot piece there." White Jeans replied.

"Sure. Blondie's up for anything!" came the sleazy reply. "Might even convince him to take both of us on. Once he pops one of these babies he'll hardly be able to argue."

Chris moved like lightning. He might be big and muscled but that didn't mean he was slow. In seconds he had the sleaze ball up against the tiled wall by his throat.

"That's my boyfriend you're talking about!" He snarled into the scared man's face. White Jeans fled immediately, obviously no longer interested in getting involved with anything his friend was doing. Funny that.

"Listen mate, I can't help it if your boyfriend acts like a man whore." Sleazy spat into Chris' face. He was obviously completely terrified but doing his best not to show it.

"I wouldn't argue with me." Chris replied coolly. "I'd get the fuck out of this bar and pretend you've never been here tonight and as for these," He snatched the little bag out of the man's hand. "Let's flush these shall we"? He released the man and stalked over to the lone cubicle. He emptied the tablets into the toilet bowl and flushed before flinging the now empty bag onto the floor. The sleaze ball stared at him incredulously. "Well? Get the fuck out then." Chris said, taking a couple of steps towards him. The man mumbled something that could've been, and probably was, an insult before scuttling out of the toilets. Chris followed close behind and watched as he stalked straight out of the bar. He saw Leon watch the guy leave, an expression of confusion on his face. It took him roughly five minutes before he was dancing with the next guy. Chris went to the bar and ordered another beer. It looked like it was going to be a long night.

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN.