"John, ya nye mogu videt! John... gdye ty? Gdye ty!" His usually calm, sombre voice, with its laid back drawl, broken and cracked in desperation.

In the end, Price had taken the decision to sedate him in the heli, one of those big hands clenched in his to keep him anchored as the drugs brought his heart rate under control and soothed his panic. He had lashed out at Gaz blindly - "otyebis ot menya!" - but between them they had managed to get the sedative into his thigh.

There were other wounds; bumps, scrapes, but none as serious.

"Sir, I'm sorry," Gaz had rasped, chucking the needle back into the bag. "This is my fault."

"No," Price had shaken his head. "Not your burden to carry. G'won, go eat somethin'."

The door at the end of the hall opened and the doctor summoned him with a flick of the head. "Well?" Price demanded, ignoring the pursed lipped irritation he got in return.

"It's temporary," the doctor said, his arms folding. "The gas was old, degraded. Still potent enough to cause damage, but with the right treatment, he'll get his eyesight back."

"How long?"

"Difficult to say. Four to six weeks for the skin lesions to heal. His body will decide on the rest... uh, captain," the doctor reached out a hand as Price tried to walk past, "there is a risk of long-term dyspnea, respiratory problems, awful stuff mustard gas, it attacks the central nervous system too, it can cause changes in mentation, and I understand from his file that he has a medical history of--"

"--I know what's in the file."

"We may be looking at more damage here than just his eyes. But only time will tell."

When Price stepped through the door, Nik startled, looking in his direction even though the heavy bandages over his eyes prevented him from seeing. Price spoke softly as he closed the door at his back. "S'just me, Nik. Easy."

Price nodded tightly, walked by and shouldered his way into the next ward. He found Nik's room but hesitated outside. Nik was awake. He was trying to grope around the table in front of him, searching.

"Captain, it is... well, I would say good to see you but..." He gestured vaguely at his head, his wry smirk shaky, and then that hand returned to patting around the table.

"Did they explain everything? Did you..." ...understand. Fuck, Price didn't understand half of the medical jargon, so he wouldn't be surprised if Nik struggled in his fourth language to parse what they were saying. Fourth out of eight. Asking felt like an insult to Nik's intelligence. The doctor's comment about mentation lodged in Price's throat like a shard of glass.

"Da. It will heal but there may be some future complications, I..." Nik suddenly slammed his fist against the table, anger twisting his mouth into a snarl, "..blyat, where is my phone? I need.." Nik's voice cracked and his chin tilted down with the shame of it, trailing off into miserable silence.

Price reached for him and tried not to let the resulting flinch shred his heart. Once Nik realised it was Price's hands and not whatever phantom his mind has conjured, he relaxed. Price sat down on the edge of the bed. "You don't need t' do anythin' but heal. We've got yer covered."

The way Nik's jaw twitched, teeth clenching at the back, his shoulders rising a little towards his ears; Price could see the clawing discomfort without needing to see his expression.

"You're gonna have to trust us, Nik. I need yer to trust me."

"I do," Nik croaked. "It is... This is not your burden to carry."

"Even if you weren't who you are, you still got injured in one of my operations."

"I let you down. And now I am useless." Nik's other hand clenched into a fist at his side, making the finger monitor creak under the strain.

"Temporarily out of commission. Not useless."

Nik turned his head away, refusing to hear it. They sat in silence, Price's thumb stroking back and forth over Nik's knuckles, giving him a point to focus on that wasn't his burning skin or the darkness of his vision.

"Nik, short of turnin' me over to Al Qatala, you could never let me down," Price said, finally.

Now was the time. Now Nik needed to hear it more than ever.

"You... mean the world to me. I..." he rubbed at his face, tugging at his whiskers, "...I love you. And when I saw you go down, my heart stopped for a second. The world stopped. Believe it or not, I was glad you were screamin' bloody murder in that chopper, cause that meant you were still here."

Nik drew a stuttering breath, but he didn't say anything. The man who had a one-liner or a bit of sass for every occasion sat in mute silence. It made Price ache in a way he never had before.

"'M not gonna abandon you, Nik. Wouldn't have even if this had been permanent. An' I know you don't believe me. I know. But... 'm gonna show ya. And you can grumble and cuss at me 'til the cows come home."

Nik's head fell back against the pillow and he sniffed, scowling with a muttered curse.

"You olrigh'?" Price squeezed his hand.

"Da. I am crying like little girl and it is stinging my eyes."

Price chuckled, patting their joined hands against his own thigh. "Soppy git."

That had to be a good sign. Tear ducts were what the eyes used to heal and maintain themselves, right? And he could feel the tears. Positive. This was positive. Price lifted Nik's hand to his mouth and kissed his knuckles, lingering there to feel the warmth of his skin.

Nik swallowed, his fingers tightening in Price's grip. "If I had known that losing my eyes would have earned me John Price, I would have cut them out years ago."

"Fuckin' 'ell, Nik," Price said incredulously, always somewhat taken aback by the intensity with which Nik expressed himself when it was just them. He sighed. "Yer've had me all this time. I just... I'm just not as brave as you are."

Nik huffed. "Bravo Six is the bravest man I know."

"Only for some things. Not feelin' particularly brave right now, and you're the one in the gurney."

Nik tilted his head towards Price, so desperate to see his face. Price was glad he couldn't. His damn eyes were watering. "Then, I will be brave for you. This, I can do without my eyes."

Laid sprawled out on your bed with your hand between your legs, you thought of only one person. Fuck, he really unknowingly made his way into every thought, every fantasy you’d had these last few weeks since you’d met him and it was driving you crazy.

You knew your friends were just sitting in the next room so it took everything inside of you to keep as quiet as you could, biting your lip with such force it’s a shock your teeth didn’t cut into the soft skin.

You curled your fingers inside yourself, groaning as you pictured his long, slender digits instead of your own. The palm of your hand nudged your clit with every fluid motion of your hand, pretending all the while it was all him.

You needed him, you craved him. Your other hand slid up your body to pinch and twist your nipples and your eyes remained closed tight. You pictured his beautiful face looking up at you as he fingered your cunt, his breathtaking smile on his full lips before they’d latch around your clit and felt yourself clench around your fingers, feeling the coil in your stomach about to snap.

“Fuck, Ethan.” You groaned quietly, grinding yourself down on your fingers.

“Hey, Tara was just wondering if- oh fuck, I’m so sorry!”

Your eyes flew open and fixed on the tall curly haired boy standing in your doorway, his own eyes wide and his mouth open as he stared at your naked body touching yourself on your bed moaning his name before blinking quickly and spinning on his heel to face your wall, about to make a break for it.

“Ethan, wait!”

You didn’t feel even slightly embarrassed, your fingers still plugged inside your cunt as you called to him.

“I’m really sorry, I uh… should’ve knocked.” He stood with his back still to you and staring desperately at your wall.

“Come in, close the door.”

You saw his shoulders tense a little as he hesitated for a minute before reaching for the door knob and closing the door, remaining awkwardly standing by your wall.

“Turn around.” You instructed.

He turned slowly, eyes still refusing to look at you. His cheeky were a gorgeously furious shade of pink and you couldn’t help but smile at the fact he was so embarrassed.

“Come here.”

“Wait, what??” He quickly flashed a confused look at you before his eyes widened when seeing you naked again before dropping to look at his feet. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. You weren’t even phased that he’d walked in on you in the most vulnerable situation you could possibly be in. You’d moved a little whilst he was staring blindly at the wall so that you were propped up, hands now resting on your thighs, still completely naked.

“I said come here.” You repeated gently, patting the bed.

He hesitated for a moment before slowly walking toward you, perching precariously on the edge of your bed.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to barge into someone’s room like that?” You chastised him playfully, loving the way he still couldn’t look at you. The bottom half of him was angled away from you and his hands were crossed over his crotch, trying to hide a very obvious growing bulge in his pants.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled again, cheeks flushing an even deeper, prettier shade of pink.

You tilted your head at him, moving to lean over to him, turning his head by his chin so he was forced to look at you. His big brown eyes stared into yours and it sent another shudder of want down your spine.

“Did you like what you saw?” You watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped, noticing him glance down at your breasts once before meeting your gaze again and nodding slowly. “I thought so.” You were quiet for a moment before another smile broke across your face as you asked, “are you a virgin, Ethan?”

“I- what?” Ethan stuttered his words a little, sharply diverting his eyes away from you but you gripped his chin in your hand even tighter so he couldn’t look away completely.

“I said, are you a virgin?”

His cheeks flushed yet again. Were you making fun of him or genuinely curious? He frowned deeply trying to make sense of what the fuck was happening before unconsciously saying, “uh… yeah.”

Your smile turned affectionate as you released his chin, leaning back on the bed again. To him, it was almost endearing how comfortable you felt being this naked and vulnerable around him. The only time he’d seen a naked woman was in porn and this… this was already leaps and bounds above porn because it was you. He felt himself twitch in his pants as he watched your legs casually fall open again and your hand glide between them. He watched intently as your fingers grazed up your thigh before slowly circling your clit. It’s like his eyes were glued to you, unable to even blink at the risk of missing a moment of you touching yourself whilst watching him.

“You wanna touch me?” You asked him, sighing a little as your fingertip rubbed over your already sensitive nub.

“I haven’t… I’ve never….” Again, he couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence, completely captivated watching you work over yourself.

“I’ll teach you.”

This caught his attention and he looked up at your face, his expression an almost amusing combination of aroused and slightly sceptical.

“Why?“

“Been thinking about you a lot.” You said casually, fingers still running over your cunt. “You probably caught on to the fact I was saying your name whilst I was touching myself when you oh so rudely came barging in here.”

Ethan swallowed again, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Just.. fuck… come here.” You were beginning to grow impatient. You’ve wanted this, wanted him for far too long. You felt an overwhelming need to teach him, guide him through it all. You needed to feel him and show him what to do.

He inched a little closer before you removed your fingers from yourself, taking his hand and pulling him between your legs. “You want to start off by fingering me, or eating me?”

His eyes didn’t move from your soaked cunt. He felt a compulsion to do whatever you said, so with a sudden burst of enthusiasm he asked, “can I taste you?”

You smiled down at him, running a hand up his cheek and into his hair, gripping his thick brown curls between your fingers.

“Of course you can,” you said softly. “You want me to talk you through it or- oh fuck!”

You let out a small gasp as you felt his tentative tongue run up your slit curiously, gently lapping at the juices that already leaked during your little solo session. At the taste, he grew more eager, exploring your cunt with his tongue as his arms hooked under your thighs to pull you closer to his face. His sweet inexperience and innocent excitement made you groan, head falling back against your pillow as you bucked your hips, pushing your pussy against his hot, wet mouth.

“To the left a little- up a little-“ you whispered out small instructions to which he eagerly listened to before his mouth finally latched onto your clit, feeling the tip of his tongue press against it curiously. “Oh, god.” You whispered, eyes rolling back as you felt him lap at your clit with his tongue with an excited eagerness.

“Such a quick learner.” You cooed to him, lifting your head to look down at him. Just as you wanted to see, he was looking up at you whilst he ate your pussy, brown eyes wide and needy. Your grip on his curls tightened as you slowly started to grind your cunt from his lips to his nose, his tongue moving along with your hips before he made the decision to plunge it into your soaked hole, halting your grinding motions and letting out a surprised but satisfied moan as he did. His long, silky tongue explored the inside of your pussy and his nose bumped against your swollen clit as he hungrily licked and sucked.

“Fuck,” you couldn’t help but groan, eagerly pushing yourself down on his tongue. For a first timer especially, he was good at this. A little hesitant and out of sync but nothing that wouldn’t improve with a little practice. But just the fact it was Ethan, the guy you’d been fantasising about for weeks now, was the one with his head tucked between your legs was driving you crazy. “You’re such a good boy, aren’t you? Eating my cunt like it’s the best fucking thing you ever tasted.” Ethan nodded eagerly, a mumble was muffled by your pussy as he delved in even deeper, his tongue swiping at your pulsing walls causing his nose to press against your clit harder, rubbing against it with every movement of his head and mouth.

Your head fell back again, not caring who could hear you anymore as Ethan lapped greedily at the juices spilling out of your cunt, eyes still watching you as you felt the coil snap in your stomach and began to cum on his tongue. His eyes widened a little as he felt the juices flow across his tongue but he licked and sucked in every last drop as you rode out your high on his face, moaning out, “such a good boy, such a good boy,” over and over again until you finished.

Your legs were shaking, cunt twitching as you very gently pulled his head up from between your legs, smiling at him with an almost weak satisfaction. He had never looked prettier, chocolate brown curls a wreck, plump lips swollen and his chin soaked and dripping with your juices. He looked happy, practically content and his eyes were almost half closed. He was 100 percent pussy drunk.

“Was that okay?“ His voice sounded a little cautious and out of breath and you laughed a little, nodding your head.

“More than okay, E.” You said softly, swiping your thumb across his swollen bottom lip before pulling his face to yours, taking him a little by surprise as you kissed him for the first time, moaning into his mouth a little as you tasted yourself on his tongue and lips. “Next-“ you said, pulling away from his mouth and laughing lightly as he almost pouted as you did so “-I’m going to show you how good it feels to get your pretty cock sucked.” You said, hands sliding down his torso and reaching for the strained button of his jeans.