#ch: what a time to be alive (oh i'm going neon in the nighttime)

[thestayathomedragon]

So I read the most amazing fic the other day Bait & Switch by msfcatlover which was inspired by a comment left by Promistor on iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid’s wonderful time loop fic onward and upward that asked the question, “What if Leon used the amber containing the dominant strain of plaga Luis had on him to save him?” and I couldn’t help but be inspired to continue it.

what a time to be alive (oh, i’m going neon in the nighttime)

Blond strands, stiff and clumped together by the red staining them, fell back into Leon’s eyes after a failed attempt to push them out of the way. It figured. His hands and gloves were practically soaked in blood.

Luis’s blood.

Luis, on the other hand… There was way too much of it outside of his body for him to still be able to stand. But here he was. Alive and standing. And looking at him with those eyes. The other man had already been a bit doe-eyed before but now… Now they were fucking glowing.

Glowing.

Luis’s wide grin had slowly become a grimace. A hiss that didn’t quite sound like something a human should be able to produce pushed out from behind his blood-stained teeth, carrying bloodied spittle out with it.

Leon continued to look on, dumbfounded.

“What. Did. You. Do?”

Leon blinked slowly, his mouth falling open uselessly.

“Leon!”

“I… I… uh… t-the… sample.” Leon stumbled over his words, uncharacteristically anxious.

Who would have thought he’d be in a position where he was intimidated by the Spaniard and not the other way around. But the man’s eyes seemed to glow brighter when he was angry it seemed, and Leon found that he felt just as disturbed as he did… excited(?) by the discovery. Luis looked menacing in a way he never would have been able to pull off otherwise. His eyes were lit up with an intensity similar to the one he’d seen on the man’s face as he stared down Leon’s former mentor. He had been barely holding himself and his gun upright at the time.

But now this Luis, he was standing before him back straight, chin painted crimson with his own blood, eyes glowing the color of molten metal, and something warm and heavy coiled tight in Leon’s belly at the sight.

What the hell was wrong with him? If there was ever not a time for this, it was certainly now. He wasn’t even sure what Luis would do once he realized what Leon had done.

Focus, Kennedy!

But Leon wasn’t blind. It was frustratingly obvious that Luis was an attractive man. And it certainly didn’t help that the brunet was more than aware of it. He had practically gone out of his way, even in a place like this, to find every means available to emphasize the fact. But all this time Leon had done his best not to be obvious about looking. Not that he had many opportunities to do so. He just hoped his good luck in that regard would continue to hold out.

“The… Sample?” Luis’s eyes narrowed, no longer the dark, storm gray Leon had become so accustomed to. “What about the sample, Leon?”

“I… y-you were dying, Luis. I had to try.” Leon shrugged helplessly.

“You had to try what, Leon? Y-you…” Luis voice trailed off as he followed the other man’s line of sight to the floor between them. There Luis found the source of Leon’s attention, the key to his laboratory and the now empty specimen container turned key chain.

Luis gasped, nearly bending over as his legs almost gave out on him. Leon sprang forward without thinking to steady the man.

“Dios Mio… Qué me has hecho?” Luis muttered, luminous eyes going wide in shock.

“Hey… Hey, sit down for me, yeah?” Leon said as he turned to steer Luis to an overturned crate to rest on. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“You… infected me?” Luis said, voice going higher as he looked up at Leon in disbelief once he was seated.

Leon had to look away from those strangely captivating eyes. The reality of what he’d just done was too much.

“You were dying.” Leon said, voice whisper quiet and his teeth clenched in an effort not to lose his composure. “It was then only way I could think of to save you. Look, we’re heading to your lab, right? We can remove your parasite just like you were planning to do with mine and Ashley’s. It shouldn’t be long now, right?”

The anger that had been radiating from Luis had fizzled out just as quickly as it had come. Now, the man just looked scared.

Leon couldn’t help but feel guilty. Luis wouldn’t have even been down here if it wasn’t for him. And Krauser of all people showing up and trying to kill him. What was the bastard even doing here? Leon knew he hadn’t seen the last of the man. Especially, since the amber sample the man had made off with had turned out to be a decoy. He would be looking for them once he realized it and he would be furious.

Not that Leon wasn’t looking for a rematch but Luis… Leon couldn’t risk the man’s life like that again.

“We should get moving.”

Luis didn’t say a word, just nodded in response.

Leon has to steel himself against another wave of ice-cold guilt. He had done this and now he wasn’t so sure that he would be able to undo it.

-------

“You keep… looking at me like that.” Luis knew he probably looked like a horror show. His clothes were dirty and torn, soaked and sticky with blood. They had both tried their best to clean him up but there was only so much they could do with the time and resources available to them.

“Qué es? Qué pasa?” Luis asked, slipping back into his native tongue due to his exhaustion. His voice was nowhere near as boisterous as Leon had become accustomed to. Luis probably had no idea how many times his dumb jokes had carried Leon through. But now, Luis’s voice was more subdued, weary.

Leon never imagined he’d miss it as much as he did right now.

Leon stopped walking and sighed. He looked away nervously. “It’s… your eyes.”

Luis knew what the eyes of the infected looked like, the Ganados. Hell, he’d never forget them for as long as he lived. Bloodshot and glowing blood red in the dark. They had and would continue to haunt his nightmares even after they finally escaped this wretched place.

But Leon and Ashley’s eyes weren’t like that yet. His own had never gotten to that point the first time he’d been infected with Las Plagas but this time he had been near death when he’d been infected. And with a newly discovered variant of Las Plagas at that. There was really no telling what type of changes he was in for in the next few hours.

“Mierda… Debo parecer aterradora.” Luis said, his shoulders hunching in even more on themselves.

“No… No… it’s just… they’re actually…” Leon fumbled for the words. “Pretty?”

Luis’s eyes snapped back up, a look of utter surprise and confusion on his face.

There was a faint dusting of pink on the other man’s face.

“Uh… there uh… Here.” Leon said as he reached into one of the many utility pockets of his tactical vest and pulled out a small mirror. What on earth he needed something like that for Luis couldn’t even begin to guess but any thought about that was whisked away by what he saw reflected back at him.

His eyes… They were glowing. They were no longer the dark gray color he had seen staring back at him in the mirror his entire life. They were yellow… gold even.

“Joder…” Luis gasped backing away from the sight.

The scientist in Luis was thrilled. He had only seen a mutation like this before in one other person… Lord Saddler. And while the scientist in Luis may have been eager at the prospect of getting to so closely study such mutations, the part of Luis that was just some guy was terrified to see these changes in himself. And so quickly at that. What would he be like in the next hour? Or two? They still probably had hours before they would make it to his laboratory.

“Luis… hey, hey… it’s okay. It’s just temporary. We’re almost there. We just have to get Ashley and we’ll take care of it. Back to normal.”

Leon was slowly approaching him like he was some feral animal. Hand up placatingly although Luis couldn’t help but notice the other was never far away from his gun. As much as that unexpectedly hurt, Luis couldn’t really blame him. If the shoe was on the other foot, Luis would be weary of Leon as well.

Luis did his best to mask that hurt and nodded, “Yeah. Back to normal.”

Luis didn’t want to tell Leon that he had never operated on a person infected with a dominant strain of the plaga before. Or that he’d only just discovered this variant and still knew so very little about it. Or that the plan was to study it more once he had escaped Los Illuminados.

Luis didn’t want to tell Leon that he was terrified of what he was already feeling going on inside his body. Or that he could feel himself changing by the minute. He didn’t want to tell Leon that he had no clue what he would become between here and his laboratory.

Leon already felt bad enough already. Luis could tell.

He could feel it.

And wasn’t that absolutely horrifying.

“Luis?”

Worry. Fear.

What did I do? Oh god, what did I do?

“Eh?” Luis stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, and focused on not hearing Leon’s spirally thoughts.

He needed the energy to fixate on his own after all. 

“You… feeling any better?”

Leon’s deep, blue eyes were full of apprehension and remorse. And as terrified as Luis was feeling, he didn’t want to transfer any more of that to the man who had only wanted to save his life. Especially, when he couldn’t say for sure that he wouldn’t have done the same thing had their roles been reversed.

In Luis’s mind, he was barely holding back a door to the other man’s thoughts and his feet were slipping, unable to find stable purchase.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.

“Por supuesto! S’not every day a man gets to cheat death, Sancho.” Luis smiled.

I’ll fix it. We can still fix it.

Luis could still taste blood on his tongue.

to be continued...

[thestayathomedragon]

Omg y’all look at this beautiful man. Even more gorgeous while infected. How do you do this Luis?! A complete babe. 😍🥰😘

Incredible art as always Kay :3

Infected Luis. inspired by "Infected Luis AU" fanfic: 1. "Bait & Switch" 2. My beloved @thestayathomedragon ".scar.crossed.lovers. chapter 13 / 17" 3. "Cherry Waves"

[thestayathomedragon]

So currently I am looking as pictures of Saddler and trying to figure out how that whole mess would translate to Luis but like not disgusting.

What the fuck has my life become? Why do I keep doing this to myself?