#broken arm

He supposes being unexpectedly ambushed by a nightmarish robot squid with tentacles covered in venomous razor-sharp metal teeth will have that effect. He doesn't think he'll ever forget the sound of Juno's screams as one of said tentacles wrapped itself around his arm and squeezed.

"Ransom!" Vespa's voice pulls him back to the present. "I know I said that. But he's not giving me much choice! The computer is still running analysis on the shit in his system, but in the meantime Steel can't afford to just wait around. I need to set his arm, but I can't do that until I get all of the--what'd you call 'em? Teeth? Whatever they are, they need to come out first so I don't cut my hands to ribbons and get poisoned in the process. If I don't do this soon, like now,he could lose the arm."

Nureyev looks down at the injured man, sweaty and gasping and half out of his mind with pain. Not just a man. Juno, part of him thinks, while another part of him remembers the ever-present ache that's resided in his chest since Juno Steel left him. An ache that may never heal, but that certainly won't if Juno dies here.

"Juno," Nureyev says with more gentleness than he thought it was possible to summon for the man who broke his heart. "Vespa needs to work."

Juno's lips part slightly, and it takes a moment for him to speak. The single word response comes out as a low groan, wretched and horrible-sounding.

"Hurts."

"I know. I know it does." Nureyev reaches for Juno's good hand, doing his best to ignore the feelings and memories—a mixture of love and hurt and lust and anger—that swirl with increasing intensity as his fingers stretch toward Juno's. "Hold my hand."

Surprisingly, Juno does so with very little hesitation. Things have been so strained between them that Nureyev had assumed the offer would be met with some resistance. But no, Juno moves his hand toward Nureyev's. Then they make contact and it's...oddly unremarkable, actually. Juno's skin is clammy, his grip strong in spite of how out of it he is.

"You need to let Vespa help you," Nureyev says quietly. He can feel Vespa watching closely, but she doesn't say anything. He continues, ignoring her silent stare. "It is going to hurt, but you mustn't fight her. Just hold onto me, Juno. Hold tight." He looks up at Vespa and nods once.

"I've got him."

She nods back, then picks up a long pair of tweezers from the tray of instruments beside her. Juno's hand tightens around Nureyev's before Vespa even comes into contact with his injured arm. And then Vespa closes the tweezers around one of the metal teeth. Juno lets out a sharp cry and his whole body jerks, but Nureyev holds him fast, keeping him from lashing out with his good arm.

"Well, I actually managed to get one out of his arm that time," Vespa says, and there's a small clink as she drops the tooth into a metal bowl. "Now just a couple dozen more to go."

Juno makes a miserable sound. There are tears streaming down his face.

"I've got him," Nureyev says again.

Vespa gets back to work. Juno rotates his body toward Nureyev, pressing his forehead against Nureyev's leg. He's holding onto Nureyev so tightly that Nureyev's fingers are going numb. He doesn't care. For now at least, all of his own anger and hurt has fled in the face of Juno's agony. Right now, he's just a person, helping another person get through something terrible.

It's more difficult at beginning, physically. Nureyev has to use all of his strength to keep Juno from wrenching his good arm free, and Juno's grip on his hand becomes crushing and painful. But as Vespa goes on, pulling out each of the tiny, sharp pieces of metal, it's obvious that Juno is growing exhausted. The thrashing gets weaker and then stops altogether. His hand in Nureyev's loosens. Screams are replaced with quiet sobs.

The emotional toll of seeing Juno worn down like this is worse than any physical discomfort Nureyev had had while trying to keep him still.

Vespa is pulling out the last tooth when the computer chimes, and she quickly steps away to look at the screen. Her expression is as unreable as ever as she looks over words that are too small for Nureyev to read from where he's seated.

"So?" he says after a moment. He can't tell by looking at Vespa whether it's good news or not.

"It's like I thought. Whatever venom is in those teeth is nasty, but it's designed to debilitate through pain. It's not designed to kill. And there's nothing in it that'll interact with a sedative."

Nureyev lets out the breath he'd been holding. "That's good."

"It is good. It means I can sedate Steel before I set the arm." She's already hanging up an IV bag, getting a medication ready to go for Juno. "You can go now if you want. I've got it from here."

Nureyev considers it for a moment. And then he shakes his head. "I think I'll stay--if I won't be in the way, that is."

Vespa shrugs. "Whatever."

Nureyev is still holding Juno's hand when Vespa sedates the injured man. He holds it as Vespa sets the bone, and as she seals the small wounds and places the cast. And then he holds it for just a little bit longer, until Juno starts to stir and it's obvious that he's starting to awaken.

And then, Nureyev slips silently out of the infirmary and to his quarters. He lays on his bed and, unable to sleep even after all the chaos, stares up at the ceiling.

"Damn you," he whispers into the darkness. He isn't sure if it's Juno he's talking to, or if it's his own heart that he's addressing. A heart that seems to be forgetting what was done to it. He sighs.

"Damn you."