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The Plague rounds the corner, her breath hitched high in her throat as vomit pools behind her lips, and Chris barely has time to register Leon turning before he's shoved ahead.
He nearly falls at the shock of it, Leon's hands gripping his arm hard for nothing more than a second and pushing him closer to the gate, and the bile rains down on them both. Leon screams when it burns his back, straight through his vest like it's not even there, Chris can see his eyes squeezed closed and without thinking, he grabs Leon's wrist as he stumbles through the threshold. The Entity lurches forward, It grasps at every inch of his skin and he fights against It, calling out.
"Leon!"
And the Plague puts her foot on his back, crushing his spine under her weight, the Trial is growing distant by the millisecond and Chris fights, fights, fights against it, straining back towards the gate. Leon reaches for his outstretched hand, fingers barely grazing the shimmering wall between them, and Chris's eyes widen at the tendrils snapping out to meet him.
She screams out her frustration, clawing at the gate as the Entity takes hold of Leon and pulls him into the forest once more, and everything from the cornfields falls away from them. Like melting, trees swirling together before parting again as they take the place where the Plague once stood, wreath the exit, shadowing everything in darkness. Soft grass buds up beneath them, blooming in mere moments, unfurling loose blades and Leon holds fast to it, gasping in the silence.
Chris gets him up onto his knees just before he retches, his body working desperately to expel the Plague's corrupted vomit as it threatens to swallow up all else. And, of course, it is the Entity's work. Can't go killing anyone in the forest, after all.
He wraps his arms loose around Leon's shoulders, just enough to keep him upright and from falling into the black puddle beneath him and, sure, it's disgusting but there's no such thing as being grossed out after the hell they've both seen. He can feel Leon gagging and trying to get a breath in under his palms and he squeezes lightly.
"Sorry," he gets out, just before another wave hits him.
Chris rolls his eyes at that, because of course Leon is finding a reason to feel guilty. "Relax, Kennedy.”
And he does, if only a little bit. He reaches up to grasp at one of Chris’s wrists near his shoulders, he can tell Leon wants to dig his nails in and tense up all over as his stomach clenches, but he flexes his hand out straight and simply lays his palm over the back of his hand. Simple, it’s simple, yet so dizzyingly profound that Chris loses whatever words he may have had.
In lieu of words, he holds onto Leon a bit tighter. He’s warm, warm all over, warm from the sickness, warm from running and hoisting the brown-haired girl off her hook, Leon leans back into his chest as he finally takes a full breath and it feels like the warmth is seeping into his very bones. His heart beats a little quicker, unsure, he shifts back a bit as he pulls Leon in and the sigh he lets out is the oddest thrill of hope he’s felt in—well, he’s not sure how long. Days work differently here. It feels like months, yet he and the rest of them are utterly untouched by time.
Chris moves slow, slowly enough that Leon would have ample time to pull away if he so wished, and he rests his forehead on Leon’s shoulder and hugs him tight.
It’s addicting, in a word. Like something he didn’t know he was missing out on. Leon’s chest rises and falls, heavy and ragged from retching, firm and real beneath Chris’s hands where they’re overlapping a bit and it’s like feeling for the first time. Everything in the Entity’s realm feels distant, faint like it might disappear before your very eyes, but Leon is different.
So, of course, when he feels Leon shifting a little, his heart just about breaks.
Releasing his hold immediately, Chris eases himself backwards to give Leon some room as he says, “Sorry, I don’t know what I was—”
“Relax, Redfield,” Leon says, and when he turns, Chris can see the half-smile on his face and all the tension bleeds from him.
Teasing. Leon is teasing him, parroting his words from earlier, and Chris shakes his head incredulously. Lifting one arm up, he huffs when Leon buries his face in his shoulder, nearly knocking both of them to the ground. Chris can feel their knees touching, Leon halfway in his lap, and he squeezes him around the middle and it feels, honestly, like the easiest thing he’s ever done in his life. Like there’s no effort to it.
“I hate this shit,” Leon says, voice unsteady, and starts laughing.
“I know.” He hesitates for a second, but the way Leon melts under him when he rubs one of his hands over his upper back is so worth it. “I know, it’s fucking awful.”
Leon nods against his neck and if Chris’s face is as unusually warm as it feels, he chooses not to mention it.
And they stay there awhile.