#explosions cw

Bullets fly. Nicky shoots those aiming for Joe, but he only has four shots. They hit four bodies, but it is not enough. There are so many.

A shot catches Nicky’s knee. Stumbling, he throws his useless gun away and draws his sword.

He never gets to use it.

A bullet hits his shoulder.

Joe takes two to the chest, and one to the head. He drops.

Nicky tries to call his name, but there is blood in his mouth. He spits it out, but then there’s more.

All guns turn on him. Their muzzles flash. He doesn’t hear anything.

He falls into silence and darkness.

*

He blinks awake to chaos. An explosion, he thinks. There’s dust and smoke and death in the air. Bodies are around him, more than he killed. He looks to where Joe fell. He’s not there.

He’s not -

Another explosion shakes the whole building. Nicky’s ears ring. With fresh smoke in the air, he coughs and coughs.

Sword in hand, he pushes himself up on wobbly legs. To hell with the way his eyes sting and lungs burn. Joe is gone, and Nicky will find him.

They promised. Together.

He takes one shaky step, and then another, growing stronger each time. He’s healing. Is Joe?

He wants to cry out, to scream Joe’s name. But when he tries, ash, not blood, chokes him this time.

Slowly, the smoke clears. The house looks a battlefield, windows blown out. Bullet holes splatter across the daisy-chain wallpaper. So many bodies. Did the enemy bring an entire army?

And where is Joe?

Hugging what is left of the wall, Nicky hurries forward. He doesn’t care if he is being reckless. If they have Joe, Nicky will burn them. He will tear down the whole world until Joe is back in his arms.

The next room is much the same, bodies and blood and dust. No Joe.

Next room, the same. Next. Next.

Wait.

Voices. Outside.

“Let me go back!”

“Joe, damn it. That whole place is going to topple.”

“Nicky is in there!”

“We’ll get him, I swear. But if we go in now, we’ll all die.”

“You stay. I’ll go.”

“He would want you safe.”

“No! We go together!”

Joe. Joe.

Yusuf.

Nicky doesn’t know where the door is to get outside. They’d come in through a window.

The window.

Nicky hurries to it. It’s only half blown out, glass hanging in precarious sharp sections. But through it, outside, by the light of headlights and fire, Nicky sees Joe and Andy and Nile.

What’s a little glass?

Nicky sheathes his sword, throws up his elbows, and jumps through the window.

Blissfully, he doesn’t fall far. The glass, though, slices deep and everywhere. He might bleed out. But he can see Joe, and Joe -

“Nicolo!”

Behind Nicky, the whole building collapses on itself. Dust clouds the sky, taking Joe from him again.

Nicky inches through it, to where he saw Joe. If he could get to him... If they were together...

Joe, crawling on his hands and knees, finds him first. He’s coated in ash and blood, and he’s absolutely the most beautiful man Nicky has ever seen, even as he is. He is a vision.

“Joe.” Nicky reaches.

Joe catches his hand, his shoulder as he falls, the pain catching him now that he doesn’t have to push anymore. He has Joe. He has Joe, everything else can come now.

His body fights, pushing out the glass shards. Gently, Joe removes the ones from his face and neck. He brushes his fingertips over the healing skin beneath. His eyes close and he exhales deeply.

“When I was... they were pulling me away,” Joe says. “Andy and Nile arrived in time.”

“Good,” Nicky says. When the glass is gone from his hands, his arms, he touches Joe’s near the elbow, gripping onto what’s left of his shirt.

“I am sorry,” Joe says, “that you had to wake alone.”

“I found you,” Nicky says. Joe has no reason to apologize. “I will always find you.”

”Oh, my heart.” Joe leans down. He presses soft kisses to Nicky’s face. “My love.”