I stared down at Wesker's sleeping face, following the lines that defined his features. After watching far too much tv, taking breaks for meals, and trying to find other things to do, he ended up giving me the next letter though wouldn't read it with me. "Rebirth" was a direct continuation of "Death" so I wasn't sure if it was okay to talk about or not. As we burned it I admitted that it was a little satisfying to know how things went down on his side of things and how he got his powers. He only shrugged through a yawn so I guessed he was just too tired to really get into it then which was fine.
Without anything else to do, we ended up back on the couch to continue our on and off binge watching. He was laying in my lap again and eventually fell asleep there. I didn't want to wake him up… but it was very late, technically very early, and I was tired too. He looked normal… human. Could he really feel the same way about me as I did for him?
Back in STARS… he knew I was attracted to him and he didn't do anything about it when he could've had me fired and ruined a lot of working opportunities for me, really him exposing me back then would have been really bad for me. But he never treated me differently because of my "abnormal" sexuality. He picked me first for missions which I never used to think about since it just made sense because I was our team's pointman but maybe it was also because I came to mind first. I was the only one he frequently checked on when injured and he even tried to help take care of me. Even in the mansion, against his orders to kill off STARS, he left me spare ammo and medical supplies to help me survive. He even took the time to leave me notes, warn me not to engage Lisa Trevor since she wouldn't die, and hell he even fixed a door I couldn't get through. I know he did that just for me because he said in his note to use it to make sure I could escape. And yeah, he pit me up against such a dangerous foe as Tyrant but he did it knowing I could handle it. He believed I was skilled enough to take it on and I did. I didn't like that I once again came to his mind first when he picked me to witness his death but even that was… sweet, I guess, in its own way. He trusted me with the secret fear he hid and he wanted me to be the last person he saw.
Even after we encountered each other again… he never really hurt me despite claiming to want me dead. He might have roughed me up but there were so many times he could have just killed me and been done with it… but he never did. I wonder if that ever frustrated him or what he told himself was the reason for letting me live since he didn't realize his feelings for me until recently. Did he tell himself it was simply more fun? That seemed to be what he implied before he recognized his true feelings. The last time I saw him before all this… I hadn't realized it at the time because everything was happening so fast but there was an exaggerated pause between Wesker raising his arm to kill me and Jill taking him out of the window with her. I wasn't looking at him at that point, going over what I believed to be my last thoughts before death. He really had to have hesitated then, didn't he? I guess I've always been a little skeptical of his claim to have spared me then but it had to be true. But… he said he didn't choose to spare me, he said that he couldn't kill me.
Within the last twenty days of us being stuck… no, of us living together, Wesker's grown close with me on an emotional level I never expected from him- not even back in STARS when I used to fantasize about what life with him would be like. He was just as tense with me as I was with him starting out though he was more subtle about it and since day one he was the one trying to extend some kind of olive branch even after I smacked him in the face with it. He tried to make sure I was eating, sleeping, and adjusting as well as possible to what he recognized was the very stressful situation he put me in. He said he didn't expect much from me, so even thinking that I would be hostile toward him all month… he would still try. There were hints too about his feelings, some discreet and others more direct… like him calling me… his "right guy". Remembering that still put a fluttering sensation in my chest now that I knew the words carried the same meaning between us.
Then there was… I didn't even want to think of it like this… but it was true, wasn't it? My own people in the organization I helped to build from the ground up… abandoned me when I was panicking over the possible loss of my little sister- the only family I had left in the world. But Wesker was right there for me the entire time. Trying to calm me down, stopping me from hurting myself, reassuring me about Claire's capability, and giving up information early just to help me. He was tense because I was, he kept a close watch on me to intervene in any more destructive behavior if needed, he was genuinely worried about what I was going through, and he tried to comfort me. Once I had slipped into a delirious state, he tended to me even after I was so mean to him. He stayed with me, helped me breathe properly again, spoke so soothingly to me… he took a bullet for me. I mean it's not like anyone was trying to shoot me and he got in the way or anything, I was never in danger of being hurt. He dropped me the first time they shot at him so he could dodge the bullet and that's how I wound up on the floor, but he was willing to take the second bullet so he didn't have to drop me again. I was worth the inconvenience to him.
He's been patient and caring, he's shared a lot with me, and he's listened to me over small and big things. One very important topic… was this fight worth as much as I lost? I tried to believe it was but that future without fear that I strived to create only seemed to get farther away. Wesker first suggested retiring but there's just no way I could do that. Sure I might want a peaceful life that didn't have me risking my life all the time or losing friends- I didn't want any part of any loss of life. But I couldn't just leave… that's not really what I wanted. It wasn't about wanting to leave, it was about wanting the world to be a safer place. I wanted a normal life that didn't require any fighting but more than that I wanted a happy life where fighting wasn't necessary. If I knew the world and all its inhabitants were completely free and safe from people like the man sleeping in my lap then I could relax and live that life. But as long as I knew there was danger and a need for soldiers to protect others from that danger, I would always put myself on the front lines. So when I said I wanted to stop fighting, I meant that I wanted the war to be over. But as Wesker said, it wasn't going to stop. Soldiers like me would always be needed… so I would never be free.
"But that doesn't mean you can't change how you fight."
Those words lingered in my head all day… I still didn't want to think about it but the words wouldn't leave me alone. Change how I fight… what changes would I even want to make? No, no, none of that was at all possible.
"Wesker… hey, wake up." I softly called to get him up as my fingers stroked gently through his hair. His eyes easily slid open to meet mine. He hummed in greeting and raised his hand to touch my face so I kissed his palm before leaning my cheek into it. "Are you still coming to bed with me?" I questioned and he nodded. Not wanting to get up from the comfortable position, we both stalled moving from the couch but we eventually did. We moved into my bedroom, leaving the door open to let light in so we could still see each other without having to turn on the one in my room. He got into bed first and I crawled in after him, just barely having gotten under the blanket before he was making a grab for me. I wanted to turn around and lay on his chest so I could hold him too but he pulled my back to him and nestled his face into my shoulder.
"Night." he muttered sleepily after placing a loving kiss on my skin. I found the whole thing rather adorable, Wesker actually acting tired was somehow precious. He got comfortable pretty quickly and I didn't want to disturb that because it was very cozy.
"Good night captain." I replied as I laced my fingers with his across my chest and relaxed against his arm under my head. I wanted to be even closer to him but this was nice. We still had time.
… … …
"Never?" I asked again, still in disbelief.
"No Chris, for the third time, I haven't seen it." the blond repeated once again with annoyance now in his tone but I ignored it as I continued to stare at him in shock and confusion. Out of boredom we'd found our way back to the couch to watch some more tv when I came across an old movie that had me laughing over nostalgia but Wesker very nonchalantly informed me that he hadn't seen it which hit me like a truck.
"Never?"
"Chris!" he warned with full on irritation now because he had already repeated himself for my benefit and I was continuing to make him do it.
"Sorry!" I pleaded with my hands held up in surrender to his agitation. "It's just… I mean, it's a classic- everyone's seen it."
"Evidently not." he folded his arms, still holding his steady gaze on me. He wasn't quite angry or defensive, just entirely done with this topic.
"But you knew the reference." I countered as my mind wandered back to our STARS days, everyone in the office cracking jokes and making silly movie references. Some of them Wesker didn't understand as even being references to anything at all though some he caught onto- this was one of those. All these years I was sure he'd seen the movie because he picked up the reference.
"One can have knowledge of a movie and its contents without actually having watched it." he explained as if I genuinely couldn't comprehend the idea though I guess I was acting like I couldn't.
"Yeah but…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say. I don't even know why I was getting so hung up over this. Really I guess it wasn't so surprising but still… everyone's seen Ghostbusters. I still remember when it got brought up so clearly because that whole day was a really good one for me. Jill and I went to the RPD's shooting range for her usual lessons, we ran into Wesker and I stuck around to talk to him while Jill went to set up. He was venting off his frustrations with Chief Scumbag- I mean Chief Irons, and he was actually willing to let me try to cheer him up. He'd asked if I was there with Jill since we could obviously hear her moving things around and I joked that I hadn't so there must be a ghost then I asked him who we should call. He told me he wouldn't fall for the bait for "that movie reference" which made me think he'd definitely seen it to know what I was talking about in the first place. Jill covered for me and yelled out 'Ghostbusters' so I at least wasn't left hanging. I held that memory close to my chest because it was one of the first times Wesker had been willing to talk so casually with me outside of work.
"You lot weren't the only ones making movie references or trying to get me interested in them. I heard plenty about it before I even met any of you." the blond continued and I just stared at him for a moment with nothing more to say to argue it. It made plenty of sense but still… even after all this time, never?
"You know I have to put it on now." I stated as I used the remote to select it and he sighed in disapproval but didn't otherwise complain. So I hit play on Ghostbusters with the full intention of being completely obnoxious every time the theme song played. He groaned and looked at me like I was an overgrown child he was unfortunate enough to be forced to deal with but didn't otherwise try to stop me.
We'd gotten about three quarters of the way through the film when my phone rang from the coffee table and it was actually Wesker that nearly sprung for it, grabbing it and answering the call before I could argue or even see who it was. For all he bitched whenever I got a call, he sure was ready and willing to interrupt our movie night- well, day.
"Oh, hey Jill." I greeted once Wesker set the call on speaker and held my phone up for me so I could actually see the name on the screen now.
"Argh- Chris!" my best friend hissed my name back at me like she wanted to tear out my throat.
"Woah, okay, uh… what did I do?" I questioned as I set up a little straighter and took my phone from the blond. I looked at a nearby camera, wondering if she was already on the monitors since it was getting to be about time for her shift.
"Everyone's coming to me with their complaints and concerns about your relationship with Wesker!" her exclamation put me at ease. I wasn't worried something was actually wrong because Jill was cool headed under pressure and mostly all business to get things sorted so if she was letting her frustration show this much it was because it was safe to do so. But still, I had thought she was actually mad at me- well… she was but I knew her well enough to know it was indirect and she just needed to vent. And what else are best friends for?
"Tell them to talk directly to me about it then." I held back a sad sigh because… well, I didn't like the accidental reminder that no one was talking to me anymore. I used to get people checking up on me and giving me encouragement to get through each day… I haven't heard from a single person other than Jill and Claire in at least a few days. I knew I couldn't have any work stuff going on in here where Wesker could possibly get information he shouldn't but this was different. Everyone was talking about me and asking questions but no one even thought to ask me, instead using Jill as a middle man as if it was against the rules to talk to… another prisoner.
"I have. Repeatedly." I didn't have anything to say to that- no, I did, I just didn't want to say it to Jill. These doubts were… fuck why did I feel the need to hide this from Jill when I could be the one to bring up the subject with Wesker? I know I haven't really let that conversation fully happen but I felt it was fine to at least let him know the doubts existed. Maybe it was because the BSAA was just as important to Jill as it was- maybe… used to be to me. I didn't want her to know I've been losing faith in our organization. I noticed the way Wesker was looking at me, a tense stare that held questions over my saddened expression. I shook my head and looked away from him. Maybe I would try again to explain a little bit of what I was feeling later, maybe not. "I mean not all of it is bad or anything, some of it is just the usual gossip but even then why are people gossiping to me about it like I don't already know?"
"Tell me who's pestering you and I'll call them then." I suggested with a shrug, not really knowing what else to tell her. I couldn't really do anything about it if no one was willing to talk to me.
"The new director is one of them- I had to come in early to have a meeting with him and a few other higher ups about this shit." she explained and I did sigh now. This was getting out of hand. I believed Jill when she said that it wouldn't come to anything actionable but we both knew it would cause some problems. And I was the one that decided I didn't care… I was the one that decided Wesker was worth it. Speaking of, he gently grabbed my chin and turned my head back to him. He didn't say anything, just studied the tiredness I could feel descending over me. "I have better shit to do than try to explain to the brass that, no, you're not being swindled by Wesker into defecting." my eyebrows furrowed in frustration but it was only a front for what I was actually feeling. He knew. He knew what was going through my head and he wanted to do something about it but I'd stopped him last time. "Because you're not, right?" there was something in his expressive eyes but I couldn't really tell what. Was he trying to convey his understanding? Was he asking for permission for something? Whatever it was, I couldn't keep looking at him so I turned my head away and he allowed me to. "Chris- right?" Jill's now raised voice demanded my attention back to the conversation. I wasn't really sure what she said but I hurriedly agreed with her.
"Y-yeah, right."
"Sorry I didn't catch that, could you sound even less convincing?" she was teasing but her voice was still agitated. "Hold on." she sighed as I heard a door open from her end of the line. There was a short muffled conversation as she talked to someone else. I peeked back over to Wesker but his gaze was past me and… into my bedroom? He noticed me looking so his reddened eyes shifted back to me and… he offered me a small reassuring smile. My chest instantly lightened and I smiled back, somehow already feeling a little better. "Is that Ghostbusters?" thanks to Wesker seemingly magically lightening my mood, I was able to chuckle.
"Yeah, Wesker's never seen it."
"Ngh, not this again." the blond grunted in annoyance next to me as he shifted to face forward and lay his head against the back of the couch.
"Really?" she asked in disbelief and I laughed now. I looked at a camera as I nodded since I knew now she had just started her shift. "Seriously?"
"I was just as surprised." I assured her.
"Wait but, I swear he made a reference at some point."
"I did no such thing." Wesker quickly corrected and I laughed again.
"Yes you did!" the woman argued. "It was the first time I went into the office wearing that huge ass white winter coat and you called me the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!" I thought about that for a minute, trying to remember if Wesker did do that but I honestly couldn't remember. I remembered that coat, we all teased her about how big it was on her and I know for sure that comparison had been made but I couldn't recall who started it.
"You asked my thoughts on it after being teased by the rest of the team and I agreed that it made you look like a marshmallow but I was not the one to make reference to any movie character." Wesker explained and that sounded right. "I wasn't even aware the marshmallow looking creature in this movie had a name."
"Yeah sorry Jill but I'm gonna have to side with Wesker on this one, I think it might have been either me or Joseph that made the reference." I told her and heard her sigh in defeat, the memory probably not strong enough in her own mind to argue further.
"Wait, then why are you so surprised he hasn't seen it?"
"Remember that time we ran into him in the shooting range during one of your lessons?" I asked and gave her a minute to think about it because while we were all often in the shooting range together for practice or training, it only happened outside of work once.
"Maybe?"
"Do you remember me calling out the 'who do you call' line?"
"Yeah! Now I remember- I yelled back 'Ghostbusters' and you called me your ghost friend." she was laughing now and I was glad for it so she wasn't as stressed.
"I was trying to get Wesker to say it but he said…" I trailed off as I held my phone a little closer to him to cue him to repeat his words from back then because there was no way he wouldn't remember what I was talking about.
"If you're trying to bait me for that movie reference, I refuse to say it." he quoted himself and though I don't remember it well enough to know if it was word for word, it wouldn't surprise me if it was. Jill laughed harder at the irritated tone our former captain spoke with, still disapproving of this topic but at least it was cheering both myself and Jill up from our bad moods.
"Alright so you didn't make the reference but you knew it." Jill countered and surprisingly Wesker, in a very exaggerated manner, rotated his head to peer incredulously at the camera I'd been looking at as if to look at the woman as well. He'd already had to explain how he could know movie references without seeing them thanks to others talking about them. I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to stifle my next laugh but the blonde woman didn't, letting out a hearty sound over the annoyance caused to the man next to me.
"The pair of you share a single brain cell." Wesker muttered and I covered my mouth with my hand as I laughed into it. But then Jill started singing the Ghostbusters theme song and I couldn't contain my laughter anymore as I joined in, proving him right about our shared brain capacity. "Just to be clear, no consequences are coming from Chris and I being together. Correct?" I bit my lip at the blond's wording, not having thought he would so directly claim we were together. Did that mean he thought we were dating- were we dating? Shit, I hadn't really even thought of it like that… so far to me, we just kind of have been a thing without a name. Did Wesker think we were dating? Did I? I didn't want to correct him so maybe I did? I did really like the implication that we were a serious thing rather than just a fling to last the rest of the month. "Christopher." Wesker called loudly which told me he'd been trying to get my attention. Shit I guess I spaced out again.
"What?"
"You're overthinking again. Did you hear what Jill said?" he stated though didn't seem at all bothered by my lack of attention to the conversation.
"Wow he sure learned you fast, didn't he?" my friend teased with a small chuckle.
"Shut up." I groaned but made no correction there either.
"I said no, there's no sort of punishment or anything coming your way, everyone's just worried." Jill retold me and I sighed as I nodded to myself.
"We already knew that." I commented, recalling the conversation we'd had where the woman had been the one to state she doubted anything would come of it.
"Then why is it that everyone is seeming to neglect him?" Wesker growled, his brows drawn together and his narrowed eyes dimly glowing red in genuine anger. I would have stared at the sight of him getting angry at those ignoring me on my behalf because he knew that it was bothering me but I smacked his chest with the back of my hand instead as I glared at him. I didn't want Jill to know how it was affecting me.
"Chris?" Jill asked with a concerned tone and my expression pinched in frustration. I forgot that she was the one monitoring the cameras and just saw that exchange.
"It's nothing." I tried to dismiss it but that only made her tone harder and… maybe even a little suspicious.
"Then why does Wesker know and I don't?" fuck. I didn't have an answer for that, I've been wondering that myself since I first told him about my doubts when I hadn't told anyone else.
"I've been questioning the competence of the BSAA since you can't seem to keep your members in the loop even when it comes to cases they're involved in." Wesker started and I looked at him with a tense stare. The BSAA was very good with open information sharing so long as the proper clearance was obtained so anyone that didn't have clearance simply wasn't allowed to be involved in the case. I even told him that all of this information processing had given me a new respect for all the paperwork we had to do. So what was he talking about? "Chris disagrees and lectures me for 'dissing' on your organization." then it clicked. He was lying. He was lying about the meaning behind our interaction to make it seem like this was something we've argued about before. He even threw in a word he would never use but I would to make it seem as if he were taking a quote from something I've said in a previous talk about it. I only said that I hadn't told anyone, except for him now, about my doubts concerning the BSAA but I never said what all was making me doubt. The part about being ignored down here was a growing factor of all that but it wasn't one I'd told him was tying into all of it otherwise I don't think he would have brought it up. He was lying to cover up the slip and create a situation that I could have reacted like that over. He was lying to give me an out.
I ran through it in my head quickly. If we had argued about him insulting the BSAA before enough for me to be irritated that he even started again… yeah I would probably glare and hit him like I just had. And what he said about them neglecting me could be seen as an insult… it still seemed a little out of place but he was a good enough liar to pull it off but was I? Did I… did I want to lie to Jill though? Was this a big enough deal to me that I would actually put effort into lying to my best friend? Would she care that I was second guessing the organization we both put our very souls into helping form? If it came up at a different time, maybe not… maybe we could talk it out and I could share my concerns with her. But not now, not like this. If the way she found out about these feelings was through Albert Wesker's already intimate knowledge of them- especially after a joke about him making me defect… no, that wouldn't go over well. Besides, I've once again referred to the BSAA as a separate thing from myself as if I weren't a part of it… I've been doing that more and more lately. It was starting to scare me.
"He's been like this since the Irving thing." I stated as casually as I could muster, forcing myself to roll my eyes like I was still irritated though my heart pumped gratitude and my blood carried guilt. "He's just pissy that it took so long to get anything back about what he said. He kept nagging me if anyone had gotten to him yet." in honesty, the blond had never even asked about Irving. Knowing Wesker, he kept a very strict seal on information so he wouldn't be very worried about leaks. If this Irving guy was smart, he wouldn't say more than necessary and he hadn't.
"I don't nag." Wesker corrected me even though we both knew it was a lie but the banter over it was making it more believable. "I was confident he wouldn't reveal anything he shouldn't but at times he can get rather chatty."
"You didn't tell him anything, did you?" Jill questioned, her tone taking on a different sound than the one before. It was still suspicious but in a less worried way and more of a professional concern.
"Of course not." I nearly exclaimed, knowing she was probably just making sure but I was still offended that she even felt the need to ask.
"If Irving had said more than he should have, I would have been able to tell regardless of whether Chris told me or not." that was probably true. I wouldn't have been able to keep my body language from telling him.
"Yeah…" the woman hesitated like there was something more to that she wanted to say but didn't. Maybe I'd ask her about it later but not with Wesker listening since that was probably the problem and I wasn't about to call her on keeping something from me when I was actively lying to her.
"Like you said I'm not being swindled here." Wesker and I made eye contact and there was something playful in his eyes that told me he was enjoying concocting this lie together and… well, I kind of was too. Though I still felt incredibly guilty for lying to Jill- to cover Albert Wesker's slip up of all things! But it was also for me because while it was his slip up, it nearly revealed something I didn't want known. "So like I said, it's nothing." it wasn't the best lie and there was still Wesker's full reaction to his own question to consider. It was too deep for him to just have been insulting the BSAA, it obviously meant something but that was his thing to explain which he was better at not doing. The lie wasn't meant to cover up his reaction, it was meant to cover up mine. Now it wouldn't seem like I was mad over him saying something I didn't want him to, it would seem more like I was just mad at him for bringing up the BSAA in an accusatory way at all. Or at least that's what I could claim. So it wasn't the best lie but Jill would never assume I was lying… she would trust that I would be honest… and I was lying to her.
"Not that the way we share our information is any of your business Wesker," Jill told him with almost a taunting voice. "but I get it. It frustrates me too that Chris is shut out of work right now but you realize that it's because of you, right?" I watched Wesker carefully for his reaction to that, seeing only the slightest bit of tightening in his jaw and the smallest bit of narrowing in his gaze as his eyes shifted to look at a camera. He wouldn't let Jill see that actually got to him but he couldn't stop the red in his eyes from flashing. He knew that not being able to work was affecting me negatively and I was being shut out because they didn't want information possibly getting to Wesker if he were to somehow get ahold of my computer or my phone- which he has though not for the purpose of snooping through it.
"Are you suggesting he could do without the break? Come now, I thought the two of you were 'best friends'. You saw the sorry state he was in while he thought we were dead after you, oh, so heroically sacrificed yourself for him." he taunted her back while wearing a vicious smirk and Jill scoffed. I caught that he included himself in my mourning though I had never said that I did mourn him this time. But it was a fair assumption since I've admitted to mourning his death before and I've admitted my feelings for him so it was reasonable to think I would have mourned this supposed death as well. I sighed heavily.
"Need I remind you that it was you that was about to kill him?"
"Incorrect. I wasn't going to kill him."
"Bullshit- we both saw it!" she exclaimed and I sighed again as my fingers rubbed at my eyes. "And besides he got so much worse after being sent in there with you!"
"And look at him now." Wesker gestured to me. "He's well rested, well fed, relaxed, he's even happy." though he said kind words, his voice was still venomous with pride in himself like my improved state was only thanks to him- plus he was enjoying being more "right" than Jill.
"Until you break his heart again and-"
"You two realize most of what you're saying is just putting me down, right?" I called over both of them. "My 'sorry state' and I got 'so much worse'? Yeah, thanks, really feeling the love." that at least got both of them to shut up, Jill groaning at herself while Wesker just turned his head away indignantly. "We're gonna call this a draw and drop it, okay?" Wesker nodded once without looking back at me and Jill gave a long sigh before verbally agreeing. "Great. I still think we need to call a timeout so we'll talk later."
"Fine." my friend relented so we both said a quick goodbye before hanging up. I grunted and leaned forward as I rubbed my hand over the back of my neck. I felt Wesker's eyes on me but didn't look up at him yet.
"Nagging?" Wesker questioned and I just shrugged. I didn't think he'd mind me throwing him under the bus for the sake of the lie, especially since he was the one that caused the need for one in the first place. But because of that lie, he ended up being called out and insulted in a way that actually got under his skin by someone that actually somewhat mattered. "I apologize for putting you in that situation."
"You didn't mean to… and you got me out of it."
"At cost to you."
"And to you." he didn't argue that and after a minute I heard him shift as he moved to scoot closer to me until our legs were touching. His fingers touched my chin and urged my face up to look at him so I reluctantly did. He kissed me softly once before leaning his head against mine.
"I know you're depressed right now but try not to be too expressive as we finish the movie to avoid suspicion then we'll go into your room where we can speak safely about the matter." I didn't like that he used the word "safely" as if Jill were unsafe but I couldn't object to it since I was the one that was willing to lie just to avoid her knowing. I kissed him again in confirmation before sitting back and grabbing the remote. He sat straight and sighed once the movie resumed playing so I made myself chuckle like I probably would if I was in a better mood. He obviously wasn't enjoying the movie but he was still willing to watch it with me since I wanted to and that made my smile a little more sincere. I'd let him pick the next movie, there had to be something he liked.
~...~...~...~
Pulling the elevator door open, I headed down the short corridor back to the main laboratory our team operated from. Thanks to the excellent sealing around the room, I didn't hear anything odd until the door slid open. My ears were assaulted with the noises of slapping skin and panted moans. I stood in the entrance for a few seconds as I tried to understand why the hell anyone would dare- or even want to have sex in the lab. I spotted their movement on the other side of the lab through the clear liquid of the pods taking up a large portion of the center of the room and glared. Apparently they were too entranced in each other to have heard the door opening or hear it close as I finally stepped into the room. I walked over to the main console, perfectly within sight if either of them would bother to look up. I logged in and navigated into the system's security to activate an alarm to sound only in this room. I set it on a ten second timer then moved back towards the door where I wouldn't be immediately seen.
Sure enough, the alarm blared loudly and startled the lovers into a panic of trying to figure out what had happened. I deeply hoped at least one of them worried about possible contamination due to their actions. William came around to the console first, his fingers flying over the keys to pull up the needed information to figure things out but he didn't get far since I was currently logged in.
"What the… Wesker?" his voice carried a profound confusion at seeing my name active.
"Birkin." I greeted with a harsh tone, causing the man to jump in surprise and fear. At least he had the decency to adjust his… tools back into his pants before spinning around to face me where I stood with my arms crossed, my gaze glaring him down in disapproval through my dark glasses.
"Oh my god!" he shouted and motioned for his lover to stay hidden behind the pods. "You scared the hell out of me! I thought you left, what are you still doing here?" he called over the ongoing alarm. I stepped forward to join him at the console, trying to ignore the way the musty smell of sweat and sex lingered heaviest around him. The lab was well ventilated but it was still an underground facility with no windows or other means for the moistened air to easily escape.
"I only left the building to take a walk." I told him once I had silenced the alarm. "Regardless of who's around, you would do well not to violate our workspace." I spoke harshly to him like one would a child that was supposed to know better. It was the only time he wasn't proud to be younger than me. "I would expect Annette to know better as well." I said louder to ensure she could hear me. William sighed and a moment later the woman revealed herself, looking more put together than her partner though that was standard between the two.
"Every precaution was taken to ensure we wouldn't dirty anything." she assured me but it only made my hardened gaze turn to her.
"Accidents happen, not to mention the other kind of "accident" that could occur." we were busy enough as it was and there was enough drama within the department as it stood, the last thing we needed was for Annette to get pregnant. The two having a child would only mean more drama, gossip, mood swings, arguing, and eventually needed time off. We didn't need the delays all of that would cause nor should anyone want for it. The comment caused her to blush though she put on a strong face.
"Thanks for your concern but we were being safe in those regards as well. Not that it's any of your business." she crossed her arms to mirror my stance as if she could measure up. William wisely stayed out of it as he had learned the bickering between Annette and myself could get more heated than when he and I argued. I respected her as a scientist but I didn't like the distraction she had become to William and she was headstrong enough to defend her place and retaliate any ill intended comment I gave on the matter. She was the only person here that dared talk back to me, sometimes even when William wouldn't dare. So we didn't exactly get along. I bent closer to her to get into her face and lowered my level to speak with a more dangerous tone simply because I knew she didn't like it.
"If you don't want your sex life to be everyone's business, don't fuck in the lab." her face reddened more at my rare use of vulgar language and she said nothing else so I straightened and looked pointedly at my close acquaintance. He slowly cleared his throat as he nervously wrung his fingers over each other. "There are plenty of rooms in the building, I suggest the next time the mood comes on you find one." I stated before turning back to the main console to make a point of turning on the fans meant to aerate the room. Then I reactivated my workstation before heading in that direction, intent on ignoring the couple for a long while as they hesitantly shuffled about and whispered to themselves. It only took a few minutes for them to approach me though I didn't turn to give them my attention.
"We're sorry for our unprofessional behavior." William reluctantly started.
"And we would like to ask that you not tell anyone about this." Annette finished so I sighed and looked over them for a suspenseful moment to let them squirm. William and I were the head researchers here and were practically in charge of the facility, though as of now that was mostly only as far as the research went. The Umbrella Security Service maintained the building but most of them were just grunt workers meant to keep a threatening presence. When it came to general operations, there were others that handled management but as far as the important things went, it was William and I that oversaw everything. She could face punishment from either of us though it was clear that wasn't going to come from her lover and they both knew I valued her as a scientist too much to bring this to an actionable level, nor was I petty enough to simply of my dislike for her. He could face no repercussions unless this got to other Umbrella higher ups and they believed him to have jeopardized the projects here. I would rather kill Annette myself than risk William's life or career but I wouldn't say that. I suppose they could also just be worried about gossip.
"As long as it doesn't happen again, I'll remain quiet." I told them so they thanked me and excused themselves. "For now." I added just after giving them enough time to relax only to pull the tension back. Neither commented on it as they left and it wasn't until the door slid closed behind them that I allowed the smirk to show on my lips. Of course everything I had said was true and I was upset that they had chosen to do such a thing here but I didn't actually care. I trusted them both to have made sure they couldn't possibly mess anything up since the work came first to all of us. Sex was a primal human desire and they were still fairly new in their relationship, it was understandable for them to be behaving in this way though I still disapproved. But now I had excellent blackmail should I need it later. Sometimes it paid well to play the part to manipulate the pieces in my favor.
Ey! What's up? So... this chapter feels weird to me and I can't put my finger on it exactly. It's really just a lot of filler, sorta, kinda, for the most part. We'll have a few of those unfortunately. I feel like I'm not exploring the days as much as I should or want to be and like I'm just trying to get through them. Like last update there was more I wanted to put in the day but decided it was long enough and could get shifted into the next day to fill some room there. It feels lazy and I really don't like feeling like that with my writing so I'm gonna try harder to get more put together through the next few chapters until we're back on track with important shit going down.
Anyway! Shout outs!
I wanna thank usuhikari on AO3 for the suggestion of the two having a movie night and Chris being shocked that Wesker had never seen a well known classic that he thought for sure he must have known. I struggled to think of a suitable movie for this especially since I'm not much of a movie watcher myself. Ghostbusters and the whole reference debate thing actually came to be because I was working on the trick story (that's the big Chrisker I've been teasing forever now and I'll explain why I've taken to calling it that in a bit) and the memory that they're talking about at the shooting range with the Ghostbusters jokes, that's actually a scene that happens in the trick story. I was doing some editing in that chapter, rearranging some things when I thought "huh, this could work for that Imprisonment thing" and so it has come to be. This isn't the first time I've made references between my fics and it won't be the last.
And I wanna thank DugFinn here for the suggestion for the hilarious Jill rant! Some of her dialogue there is even direct quotes from what I was sent for the suggestion and I think it worked out great! They asked about more scenes from Jill's perspective because it would be funny to see her side of having to deal with these "horny idiots" and while I agree that would be funny, I do have to keep in line with the perspectives and formatting I've made for the story so unfortunately it's not going to happen.
I've got a few more suggestions and will give more shout outs when the chapter they've been added to comes up! Thanks for the great suggestions, I loved being about to interpret the ideas and find cool ways to add them into the story. If anyone's got any more, we've still got a few more "to be determined" chapters.
No update news on the next part of the comic yet. It's much longer than the first part and though we've gotten a huge portion of the work done on it, it's still not close to being ready. Though just a heads up guys, Chris is really small. Like I knew he wasn't gonna be his usual big muscle man self but... well he was called twink!Chris and now I can't unsee that. Nothing I can really do about it at this point though because I already told Nikki he can do what he wants so we're just gonna have to get used to it. It looks great though- I wanna say that on record! The line art I've seen for it so far looks great (Wesker's always had a slimmer toned build so it doesn't bother me.), it's just a little weird to see Chris so thin. That's all. Like I said, I'll get used to it and I hope you guys can too.
