Side Effects May Include...

Chapter Four:


By the time Chris woke up the next morning, the code to the door had been changed. He noticed that his senses of vision and hearing had been heightened further. He was surprised to find a small battery-operated radio and two paperback books on his table. A sudden feeling of suspicion shoved its way into the forefront of his mind. Why was Wesker giving him what he asked for? He didn’t mind, but it was very unsettling.

Wesker’s acquiescence to Chris’ demands wasn’t the only think that seemed suspicious. He was still no closer to figuring out who had given him to door code. His mysterious helper hadn’t left him anything since then. Aside from reading and listening to his radio, Chris spent a pretty good portion of his time documenting the subtle changes taking place in his body. The more things he noticed, the more nervous it made him, as he had still made no headway in figuring out a way to reverse his infection. What Wesker had described as the ‘inexplicable arousal’ had only reared its ugly head a few times in the past week or so, and Chris was quite proud of having been able to resist each time, although he noticed it had become more and more difficult for him to do so.

Midway through his second week in the facility, Chris awoke to find another piece of paper on his bedside table. This one also had a long string of numbers on it, but written underneath in the same neat, blocky letters were the words, ‘keep left.’ Chris wondered what the meaning could be behind the words as he changed out of his pajamas. It wasn’t until after then that he realised the words might not be as abstract as he thought.

He carefully typed the code into the panel next to the door, and hung a left once he got out into the corridor. Keeping an eye out for Wesker, Chris meandered around whichever wing of the facility he was in. It was then that he realised that, while he was wandering aimlessly, he could have been searching for a way to reverse the effects of his infection. He’d finally stopped jumping out of his skin every time he looked in the mirror, but that didn’t mean he’d accepted his fate. He refused to believe that his only future was to stand beside Wesker as the world was destroyed.

He stopped walking and peered into one of the laboratories as he walked by. Finding the room to be empty, Chris slipped quickly through the door, closing it behind him. The room he’d entered looked a whole lot like the one he’d first woken up in, but for all he knew, there could be hundreds of identical rooms, all in the same building. Looking around the laboratory, Chris spotted a desk in the corner on the other side of the room. He decided that that would be as good a place as any to begin his search. As he made his way across the laboratory, Chris passed by shelves upon shelves full of books about bacteria, microorganisms, and… viruses! He stopped dead in his tracks and yanked a big hardcover book off of the shelf closest to him. After putting the book down on the countertop to his left, Chris opened it up and flipped to the back in search of an index. Once he found the index, Chris realised he didn’t really have a clue what he was looking for. He turned to the page with all the words that started with “u” on it, and Uroboros was nowhere to be found.

That would’ve been too easy… Chris thought to himself as he closed the book and slid it back into its place on the shelf before walking over to the desk. The first drawer he tried to open was unsurprisingly locked. He tried the top drawer in the middle next, and was rather surprised when it slid open. Chris rifled through the stacks of paper until he reached the bottom of the drawer. But wait… It wasn’t the bottom of the drawer. Chris stuck both of his hands into the drawer and took out a rectangular object.

It was a picture frame. He turned it over in his hands to find that in it was a picture of himself and Wesker. It was from way back in their S.T.A.R.S. days, but not long after they’d started seeing each other. His grip tightened on the frame as he tried to prevent the memories flooding back, along with the horrible reality that it had all been a lie. Too late. Chris’ mind had gone straight back to their first sexual encounter, which had occurred not long after the photo in his hands had been taken; the same day, actually. Chris could remember the entire thing with crystal clarity. He could still feel his mouth on Wesker’s, and Wesker’s hands in his jeans, and his mouth around Wesker’s length, nervous and uncertain.

“Such a long time ago, wasn’t it?” The sound of the older man’s voice threw Chris backwards out of his memories, and the picture frame fell to the floor with a clatter. He turned to face Wesker and found his fight-or-flight response kicking in, but it wasn’t until Wesker had closed the distance between them and put his lips to Chris’ that the brunette realised what the ‘something else’ was.

Chris’ mind was still grappling with the sudden change in the situation, but his body had already made the decision for him. He slid his arms around Wesker’s neck, without stopping to think how the blond would react. If the action bothered Wesker, he didn’t let on that it did, and simply placed his hands on the younger man’s hips. Any qualms Chris’ conscience may have had about the situation went straight out the window as he unwound his arms from Wesker’s neck. It was then that Chris realised that this situation felt different than the others, although he couldn’t quite figure out why. It wasn’t until after he’d broken the contact between their lips and started kissing Wesker’s neck that it dawned on him.

Right then, he wanted to touch Wesker much more than he wanted Wesker to touch him. Chris shoved the older man back against the countertop behind him, earning himself a disapproving glare from his former captain. Wesker’s irritation was soon superseded by his curiosity as he wondered what Chris was going to do next in his futile attempt to display some sort of dominance. He allowed Chris to kiss along the side of his jaw line and down the side of his neck to the hollow of his throat. Only when Chris reached up to remove Wesker’s sunglasses did he wrap his hands around the younger man’s wrists.

“Watch yourself,” Wesker hissed. Chris looked down at his feet, suddenly feeling sheepish. Wesker reached down, tilted his chin up, and kissed him again. Between when he’d looked downward and when Wesker had kissed him again, he’d spotted a rather noticeable bulge in the front of the blonde’s pants. He’d been aware of his own arousal, but at that point, he was more interested in getting Wesker off rather than getting himself off. Dropping to his knees, Chris unzipped Wesker’s pants before sliding them down past his hips. Chris ran his tongue up and down Wesker’s entire length, keeping his eyes on the blonde’s sunglasses; as if doing so would reveal to him what the older man was thinking; but his face remained as unreadable as ever.

As Chris slowly took the tip of Wesker’s member into his mouth, the blonde dropped his hands to the countertop behind him, letting out an almost inaudible sigh. It had been far too long since his cock had felt something other than his own hand, and Chris’ mouth wasn’t disappointing. Wesker smirked. It was almost cute; the way the brunette was trying so hard to please him. Out of nowhere, Chris opened his mouth as wide as he could and leaned forward, very nearly taking all of Wesker into his mouth. The older man’s fingers clutched at the edge of the countertop, and he gritted his teeth as his bit back a moan. Chris took his mouth off of Wesker before repeating his previous action, only to successfully take the entirety of the blonde’s length into his mouth. Wesker’s knuckles were turning white from the force with which his fingers were gripping the countertop.

“You… were never able… to take all of me in the past; have you been practicing?” Wesker taunted, trying desperately to keep his voice level. Chris didn’t reply, only paused to run his tongue up the underside of the blonde’s cock. The next time Chris’ lips met up with the base of his shaft, Wesker began thrusting slightly into the younger man’s mouth. The blonde could feel the pressure building up inside him, and he knew he was close. He knotted his fingers in Chris’ hair and rolled his hips, trying to push himself over the edge. He came a few seconds later, as his eyes rolled back in his head, and he inadvertently let a nearly imperceptible moan escape his lips.

Chris’ first instinct was to spit, but in one swift motion, Wesker pulled out of the brunette’s mouth and clamped one of his hands around his jaw; effectively holding his mouth shut. Chris then understood what Wesker wanted him to do, and complied, wincing slightly as he did so. It was a taste he’d never quite gotten used to. Wesker tucked himself back into his pants.

“As much as I enjoyed that,” he began. “I would advise you not to go rifling through my things again. How many times must I tell you? It’s far too late for you to revert back to your old self,” said Wesker, before pinching Chris’ cheek in a patronizing way and exiting the laboratory.

A few minutes later, Chris had made his way back to his room. His mind was whirling away a mile a minute, and he was filled again with self-loathing, along with confusion and frustration. He retrieved the marble notebook, and sat down to write out what had happened, along with the few scraps of information he’d picked up from the papers in Wesker’s desk. The blonde’s insistence that it was “too late” for a cure only made Chris more determined to find one.

After jumping in the shower, Chris changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed. He had no idea how long he lay there, replaying the sound of Wesker’s moan over and over in his mind before finally falling into a shallow, fitful sleep.

-- To be continued.