It’s just a graze, he thinks as the tension dies down and the last of the hired mercs fall to the ground with heavy thuds. But even as he steps away from Chloe to brace himself against the wall, gritting his teeth to keep his breath from hitching in a way that would make it obvious, he knows that’s one hell of a lie that she isn’t going to believe. The blood seeping through his shirt is indication enough, but Chloe knows him too well to buy into his bullshit lies. She’s always been able to see right through him.
“It’s nothing,” he says, his voice strained a bit as he tries to wave her off. But there is no waving her off, not when she’s determined, and she takes a look at his wound and, yeah, it’s definitely more than how they downplay it. “Feels fine. Just gotta, you know, walk it off.” He leans his back against the wall and huffs a laugh, which also hurts, but he isn’t going to let something like this kill his sense of humor.
“Just the sleeve? Come on, Chloe, if you want me to take my shirt off, you can make a better excuse than that.” Another attempt at a laugh, but he’s taking his shirt off anyway and handing it to her, bloody and dirty and sweaty, to use as a makeshift bandage.
❝ mhm. easy peasy, right? ❞ she hums, keeping that light mood because that’s how they deal with things. much easier to make a joke of it than address the seriousness of the situation. they’re not exactly in the best location for him to be this injured. still-- they’ve gotten through worse, they’ll be fine. ❝ oh, you know me... always looking for an excuse to ogle you, Nate. ❞ she teases back, accepting the shirt from him.
it’s hardly sterile, but it’ll do in a pinch. she tears it into strips as she eyes the wound for a moment, before she presses a wad of the shirt against it and uses the longer strip she’d made to wrap it around his body. she knots it tight, to make sure that it’s keeping pressure on the wound as best it can, and then she’s sitting back on her haunches to cast a look over him.
she gives a playfully low whistle as she eyes his torso, before she flashes him a grin. ❝ now i get some eye candy as we head back to the jeep. ❞ she winks, a little exaggeratedly, and then stands up to offer his hand out to him.