12:30 in the afternoon... seconds ticked, minutes stalled, hours passing achingly slow and yanked at Chris Redfield's eyelids, threatening to suck away his consciousness, leaving his mind to wander among his slumber. A seminar on gun security was about as thrilling as it was going out into the field with zombies lurking around every corner, the only friends to commiserate with that the captain had left to him. It was a one week conference with a number of speakers each day and demonstrations in slow completely unrealistic timing for allowing leaders and subordinates to see proper procedure for dealing with gun shot wounds. Chris had been bored since day one, sadly it was only the second day, leaving him another five with which to imagine slaying HQ for their decision to send him into this hell. He was dreaming of their demise with great zeal, that was until he'd laid eyes on Piers.
He was here with his company, apparently they'd come off duty in the same area and the hotel had offered the men free rooms for their service. At first he'd wanted to know what kind of joke it was to see a twenty year old seated with the Army's Black Ops crew, but after a brief conversation with their commanding officer he'd been shaken to find out that the boy was their ace. Chris attributed his curiosity to his ridiculous boredom, but that didn't explain away all of it. Still it was surprising. And more surprising yet was how often he found himself looking at the him perched on the balcony that day, enjoying the way he was leaning his weight against his forearms on the rail settled quietly above. Snipers were renown for knowing where to put themselves for a good view, but Chris thought it was interesting that he'd picked the one place in the convention center that provided a view of the audience and not the speaker. Obviously he was as uninterested in the speech on proper safety procedures as Chris was. If it hadn't been for the last incident in his crew, Chris wouldn't have been there at all, but then he also wouldn't get to entertain himself with thoughts of the sniper. It wasn't desire or lust at the time, just simple curiosity that had him considering joining him up top, but every time he looked at the tawny haired boy it seemed he was searching for something else, not company that was for certain.
After a few hours plastered in his seat, ass sore from the poor cushioning and an intermission with lousy food, he decided he'd much rather brave finding the younger soldier than be subjected to another few hours on how people shot themselves in the foot. There were questions that might be asked about why he was seeking him out, but Chris was a captain, finding specialists was his duty for the B.S.A.A., even ones too young to join the crew. It was preliminary evaluation if anyone decided to ask. After a while though of asking around he decided no one would, it seemed no one in his crew was looking for him either, and the way they spoke about Piers had him curious why the team appeared to be snide about all concerning him. Pressing the heel of his hand into his temple, Chris took a jog up the stairs, taking two at a time and ignoring the scenery of plush velvet everywhere. The elevator was faster, but this was more like a unknown game of hide and seek. It was a ritzy hotel, but that held no consequence for Chris, all he did was sleep in the room, so what on earth did he care if they had Victorian wallpaper or dome ceilings until now.
It was quiet up top he had that much to say. Dipping down one hallway and up the next he found there were other conference rooms, smaller by far and each locked by a system of key cards. Hide and seek without a a knowing hider, it was interesting. Each hall had a staircase at the end and they came together at a cross hatch over the main conference room, the large gapping hole surrounded by enormous draped burgundy crush curtains. Finding each of the hallways and poking his head around the corners much like he'd been doing in recon in Europe a few years ago. The elaborate balcony was built of short marble columns and was wide enough for a precession to come through, which gave him room to move near the wall without anyone being able to look up and see him. Still he hadn't seen the elusive kid since he'd mounted the steps, even when he stopped to look across the expanse. Stopping his search Chris felt a sort of disappointment clutch at his mind, he wasn't certain just why, but there it settled. Resting his hands on cool stone, feeling its smooth surface under his thumbs while he hung his head down, he cursed himself for being so stupid to come up here in search of someone he didn't even know. Sure when he was bored curiosity got the better of him, but that didn't mean he needed to run around a hotel looking for something to do.
"Looking for someone?"
Insult slipped through Chris' head, followed quickly by shock at the fact anyone was capable of moving around quietly enough to sneak up on a captain in the B.S.A.A. He hadn't been anything but careful while he stalked the halls, so unless the boy had followed behind him the entire time dogging his steps he should never have been able to manage it. But he knew the voice sounded just as young as the man he had been searching for. Craning his neck to examine the man in loose fatigues, boots to waist before he decided to turn around, putting his weight back on the white and black veined rock, he smirked. He was older up close, at least that much was clear. The way his jaw set was tight, and his eyes were cold, but it didn't change that inexperience that he held himself with. Uncertainty clung to him like a leper. He was an interesting array of emotion in those golden orbs, which after Chris stared long enough with equal veracity seemed to have him shifting underneath his continuing stare. "Why, does that surprise you?" His question seemed to go without registering a minute before the kid shifted, shrugging his shoulders up, hugging his arms across his chest and turning on his heel.
Damn it... He hadn't intended to bother him. He didn't know what he intended, he was just bored. Or what had drawn him up there in the first place other than to get a better look at the kid? Why was he so jaded was the question. Obviously the kid didn't enjoy company. Watching his deliberate stride passed the flowing curtains, Chris chuckling at the place where the plush curtains offered a wall between the hall and a bowed out section of balcony. Obviously in his haste, Chris had walked right passed him and hadn't even noticed because he'd ducked in behind one of these. He took three steps that thumped off the walls, swallowed up by the carpet underfoot, after him before the same tenor greeted his ears again, not offering to turn around to confront him. "A rookie sniper could peg you. You should try being a little more discreet." His voice was short and sharp, but it sent a shiver down Chris' spine.
"Piers right?"
"You stalking me or some other reason you had to come up here Captain?"
He didn't break stride until he found the tiny nook in the edge of balcony, sliding down to sit, kicking out one leg and pulling the other in to his chest, leaning his head back against the wall, loosely examining Chris as he followed suit. Slipping down along he wall to drop beside him, the older man dared to look him in the eye, trying not to drag his eyes down and lock on the pillow soft lips that seemed to curl down in disapproval. They stared for a long while at each other before Chris was the one to lose patience, finally allowing himself to examine the boy in front of him.
Ugh, was he ever a boy. How could he let himself so completely thrown into a child? Either way he was a mix of oddities. On leave and he still wore fatigues and military boots, but his top was covered by a tan stretch long sleeve that hugged his well tone biceps and forearms snug. It was obvious in the form of his muscles that he wasn't weak, but he was built completely opposite of Chris. Finesse versus hulk. There was a mesh sniper's scarf settled around his neck, hiding the only remaining flesh to be seen, but the shirt pulled tight across his upper body and pectorals enough that it pulled up just over his waistline, revealing hardened tan skin and the hem of dark colored undergarments just under the edge of his pants. He wasn't certain why his eyes couldn't tear away from the bare flesh, each breath taking the shirt just slightly higher, less than a quarter of an inch at a time. Finally Chris shook his head with a quick intake of breath, continuing his examination. He was a mix of sniper and civilian. He was weaponless, but he carried his weight in the same manner as though he still had an M4 on him, which made his weight over compensate to one side when he leaned. And then back to that face. He was obviously still permitting the action of Chris' once over, one eyebrow quirked up, his eyes still trained on Chris' as though they hadn't moved since he'd sat down. Maybe they hadn't. He was watching Chris judge him and it sent a thrill through his body that he hadn't expected, wrestled into his tensing his gut, trying to push back the arousal he felt under that kind of scrutiny. At the revelation, Chris smiled rather lopsided letting himself examine he boy's features at last, his eyes skimming over the short brown hair his longer hair flipped up like the juvenile he was, and then trailing along the jawline that seemed to tense a few times but as soon as his eyes found those pouted lips Piers turned his head stealing away so that the older man couldn't continue his judgement them, looking out over the crowd below them.
"Like what you see captain?"
Chris felt his pulse quicken and wondered immediately if it was the height or the way the kid had said it that had him on edge. Chris was as straight as they came, but for whatever reason he was lost on this kid. The way he said everything held a hint of something, masked by annoyance, but there was something else hidden there under it. He didn't know if he should answer the question or reach out and pull the hem of his shirt down that continued slowly riding up his back, stealing Chris' attention. Piers knew he was good looking that much was evident, but what Chris hadn't expected what was the cockiness in his tone. The casual, was it, flirting? "Maybe..."
He couldn't help how gravelly his tone that issued forth was when replying, swallowing back the lust that crept into it. He wasn't sure exactly when he'd started looking at Piers like a piece of meat but he couldn't shake his urges. He didn't even have to look back at Chris for him to know that the answer had been unexpected. Muscles in his arms flexed just the slightest before he turned back, blinking once rather nonchalant before Piers slipped completely unexpected over Chris' legs, straddling him there on the balcony. Keeping his weight centered over his thighs, one gloved palm shoved into the older man's chest, pinning him against the wall, caught under hazel eyes. He felt his stomach tighten, a snake coiling in his belly under his stare, and the kid said nothing but for the fire dancing behind his eyes. They stayed there quiet for a long while without moving, something judging in the kid's face while Chris fought to control his breathing, letting his eyes rake over the body over him, fighting to reach out and touch him. Maybe it was the refusal to act in Chris' countenance that that finally brought those lips into a smile, but it seemed as smug as the way he rolled his hips causing the older man to shutter, reaching out shocked to find only empty space where Piers had been as though he'd ghosted completely away.
"Your it."
The voice cut through the air from the hall, Chris swallowing the growing lump in his throat, and quickly replacing it with a chuckle. Really? It? When the sniper disappeared around the corner he finally looked down at himself, thumping his hard head against the wall, cursing himself. What kind of captain was he that he was paralyzed and half hard just from a kid sitting in his lap for a minute. Not just a kid, a boy. What the hell had just happened, was he playing with Chris the way he had been when he'd thought at hide and seek with him? What kind of soldier sat in a captain's lap anyway just from getting a quick once over. There was no way that would happen again... Oh the boy knew exactly what he was doing, he'd judged Chris just right and shocked him into submission and Chris wanted to set him straight, crush his body underneath him for having danced just out of his reach when he'd finally succumbed to what he'd been feeling. The look in those eyes had been sorted, searching for something the same way they hunted the crowd below him when he'd first seen him. He'd been pinned in place by a ridiculously young army brat and he'd been aced just as fast. Kid had balls that was sure, the moment Chris had spoken he'd made up his mind to crawl into his lap like that and the boldness had him aching. He couldn't stop thinking of the way those lips looked when they curled into that smile and if he hadn't disappeared like that he would have trapped those lips in a bruising kiss. But he was gone. Where the heck were his instincts?
Gulping in cool air, he carefully yanked himself up off the floor, tripping up on his own feet once, catching his weight against a wall and his shoulder. Good lord he was good looking. He wasn't just good looking, he was fast and sure. He was completely dominating and it made Chris want to choke him and force him down to his knees and make him take it. How could he just skate off like that as though nothing had happened? He was gone too, completely gone from sight and after that he wasn't certain he wanted to find him again just yet. His cock stiffened and egged his thoughts on, pressuring him into seeking out his own room in replacement for the conference to chase Piers from his thoughts. There was no way he'd be able to concentrate on anything but his aching need, particularly after that brush against his groin Piers had done, urging a heavy breath from the captain's broad pectorals before slipping away from him. It had certainly freed him of boredom however, and Chris couldn't help but consider the possibilities for the morning.