Blind Leon AU pt1
Chris and the rest of the BSAA team burst in just in time to watch yet another B.O.W. hurl Leon clear across the massive building. The barn, where some washed-up farmer had decided it was a brilliant idea to experiment on his own livestock, had reinforced concrete walls. Leon slammed into one of them hard enough to make the whole structure shudder before crumpling to the floor, motionless.
The enormous thing—had it once been a cow?—whipped around at the sound of the entry team, its writhing mass of tentacles only to be met with a hail of heavy-caliber gunfire. Unlike Leon, whose standard equipment was, as always, a leather jacket and a handgun, the BSAA squad had arrived fully geared up. The creature never really stood a chance.
But, unlike every other time, Leon didn't get back up.
He remained exactly where he'd fallen.
Standing outside Leon's hospital room, Chris forced himself to push the memory aside. The paramedics had reached him in time. Leon was alive, stabilized, and recovering.
Hunnigan, who had been sitting with him until now, greeted Chris with a weary sigh.
"He's awake," she said quietly, sounding almost apologetic. "...And not exactly in the best mood."
Chris sighed and nodded.
He had already agreed to look after Leon, and he wasn't about to back out now. He'd known from the start that Leon would need someone around while recovering, whether Leon liked it or not. And... thanks to Claire, Chris also knew there really wasn't anyone else who could take care of him.
He stepped into the private room, where the only company Leon had was the steady chorus of medical equipment.
Leon was propped halfway upright in bed, most of his hair hidden beneath thick layers of bandages. At the sound of the door opening and two footsteps entering the room, he lifted his head sharply, listening with obvious concentration. His eyes, however, were dull and unfocused, fixed somewhere beyond Chris as if he weren't there at all.
Chris had known this was coming. Hunnigan had warned him. The doctors had warned him.
He still wasn't prepared.
All the medical terminology about trauma-induced vision loss, followed by Rebecca's gentle explanation that Leon's blindness was temporary, had done absolutely nothing to prepare him for the reality of seeing Leon like this.
"Hey," Chris said awkwardly, taking another cautious couple of steps closer. "It's Chris."
Leon didn't answer.
His shoulders tensed almost immediately. His hands clenched into fists, wrinkling the blanket beneath them, and the crease between his brows deepened.
Leon had teased him more than once for being far too heavy-footed to sneak up on anyone. It had mostly been a joke—Leon was the one who relied on stealth, while Chris specialized in direct assaults, and it wasn't exactly easy to move silently while wearing over fifty pounds of tactical gear. Right now, though, Chris was grateful for it. Leon could hear every step he took and follow his position through the room, his head turning ever so slightly as Chris moved.
Chris pulled a chair over beside the bed.
The scrape of its legs against the floor made Leon wince, but Chris figured that was still better than setting it down without warning. This way Leon could at least track where the sound started, where it ended, and where Chris was sitting.
"Becca said they're discharging you tomorrow," Chris said, mostly just to get the conversation started.
Chris didn't miss the way Leon flinched, almost imperceptibly.
Leon let out a quiet, irritated sigh and turned his head away.
Wrong thing to say.
He should've started with something else, Chris realized a little too late. Something casual. Something neutral. Anything that didn't make him sound like the bearer of bad news yet again.
The problem was, Chris had never been much of a conversationalist. Small talk had never been his strong suit, and long, meandering conversations about nothing definitely weren't. Besides, what exactly was he supposed to ask? How've you been? How are you feeling? Either question would sound more like an insult than genuine concern.
Better to stick to what mattered and avoid getting on each other's nerves any more than necessary.
"Well," Leon said after a second and a half, "it's not like I was planning to overstay my welcome in the BSAA medical wing."
"Don't worry," Chris replied gently. "I'll drive you home and help you get settled."
Only after the words left his mouth did it occur to him just how impossible getting home would've been for Leon on his own. He probably had no idea how he'd even make it back. He couldn't exactly call a cab in his condition—and even if he somehow managed that, he'd still have to find the car, get out of it, and make it to his own front door completely blind.
Leon jerked upright in bed, only to grimace the moment he moved. More bandages peeked out from beneath his hospital gown—apparently, getting launched into a concrete wall had done more than leave him temporarily blind.
"I believe I just said I wasn't planning on overstaying my welcome..."
"And how exactly are you planning to get home?" Chris cut in. "Feel your way from building to building until you recognize something?"
Maybe that had been harsher than he'd intended.
Still, it did the trick. Leon fell silent, abandoning the argument before it could really begin.
"I'll finish my morning reports tomorrow and come pick you up."
Leon answered with nothing more than a displeased press of his lips.
Silence settled between them.
Chris couldn't think of anything else practical to say that wouldn't irritate Leon even more, but leaving didn't feel right either. Every instinct he had told him that walking away now would be a mistake.
Disoriented, injured, and suddenly stripped of his independence, Leon had nothing to keep him company except his own thoughts.
And Chris doubted they were treating him kindly.
Unfortunately, the only thing Chris himself could think of was the mission they'd just come back from.
"I've gotta say," he said at last, "that was hands down the ugliest cow I've ever seen."
Leon let out a quiet snort.
"I bet milking duty was punishment detail."
For reasons Chris couldn't quite explain, the fact that Leon was willing to play along with the joke filled him with an almost embarrassingly intense sense of relief.