#rahl

"Rahl, I don't need-"

"I said sit. Damn it, Keth, stop being so stubborn!"

Slender, steely fingers gripped Keth's arm just above the elbow, steering him to the bunk and urging him down. With a vaguely-displeased rumble, he sank down, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. His head still pounded and his ears still rang from the blast that thrown him across a darkened corridor, pulverizing armor and shredding suit and hide and sending his helm clattering into the darkness.

It would have been more than just a helm rolling away if it had been Rahl. It would have been more than shattered armor and lacerations and a blinding headache. Far more...

It was why he'd dragged the smaller warrior back by the nape of his neck and shoved him away from the door the moment he'd heard the mine activate. Why he'd caught the brunt of the blast with his left shoulder instead of the center of his chest.

It was also why Rahl - so small, so fierce, so finely-featured and full of fury - was still alive to berate him for his recklessness and despair over his injuries.

So Keth just closed his eyes and lowered his head with a long sigh, quietly letting his partner tend to his wounds.

"...you could have been killed, you know."

"...I know..."

"Then why?" Rahl's voice was sharp with disbelief, but there was no anger to it. Still, Keth couldn't help but flinch. "Why put yourself - put us in that position?"

"You would have been killed. I - you..." He let out a frustrated sound, halfway between a groan and a growl. "If one of us is to die, it would be better if it were-"

"Don't." A single word, strangled and cracking, cut him off. Fingers curled under and around his lower mandibles, lifting his head, and Keth opened his eyes to see Rahl's ablaze with anger and... fear? The smaller male's mandibles quivered, working soundlessly as he struggled for a moment to recover his voice; when he managed to speak again, it was soft, only just barely audible and shaking with intensity.

"...don't you finish that - don't you ever say that..." he breathed, "never say that, Keth..."

The hand beneath his jaws trembled, and moved to slide along the side of his neck as Rahl leaned in to rest his head against Keth's, exhaling hotly against his cheek.

"...don't make me worry that I'm going to lose you..."