nicky is unable to do undercover missions unless his identity is a variation of his actual name because one time his cover identity was “pietro” and andy was practically screaming at him across a plaza because he wasn’t responding to it
Poor Pietro, Nicky thinks, taking a sip of his coffee. He glances around the plaza, tries to spot this elusive Pietro that’s unknowingly causing a commotion. His eyes drift past the tourists, Andy, the street performer—Oh shit, I’m Pietro.
23. “just tell why you did it!” “because i’m in love with you, okay!”
when the arrowhead pierces the flesh of nicolò’s right shoulder, he pushes yusuf out of harm’s way and screams, “archer!”
nicolò looks around in a daze, longsword already out of its scabbard as more arrows rain down from deep within the forest, and he suddenly begins to feel... dizzy. a burning sensation starts to spread down his arm and back, his breath coming out in short, rapid bursts.
his vision swins around the edges as he vaguely hears yusuf yell out instructions in clipped ligurian and nicolò’s grip on his longsword falters as he tumbles to the ground, gasping for air.
he is going to die again.
out of the corner of his eye, nicolò spots his longsword a couple of inches to his left and tries to reach for it with his last breath, burying his fingertips in the dirt and coming up empty.
a few seconds before his death, nicolò swears he hears a pained cry that sounds a lot like yusuf’s voice calling out his name.
*
when nicolò wakes up again, it is already nightfall and he is shirtless, his skin clammy with sweat. he breathes in deeply, like a drowning man holding onto a lifeline, until his eyes meet yusuf’s and nicolò realizes he has been staring at him.
“you knew the arrowheads were poisoned,” yusuf states calmly, arms folded across his chest. the blade of his scimitar gleams under the firelight and nicolò only nods, looking down at his hands. “why did you not take cover, then?”
nicolò sees his longsword on the floor next to him and shakes his head. it matters not that their relationship has improved greatly over the past few years - nicolò will not jeopardize the only real friendship he has over some... over...
i will keep you safe no matter what, yusuf. i will not let you come to any harm.
nicolò idly touches his right shoulder, flexes the fingers of his right hand to test his muscles and sighs, unaware that yusuf’s eyes are following his every move, an unreadable expression on his face.
“it is important to me that you are safe,” nicolò says, meeting his gaze at last. the firelight plays on yusuf’s eyes, making his face glow, and nicolò has never longed for anyone in all of his years the way he longs for him. “besides, i cannot be permanently killed.”
“it took you three hours to return this time,” yusuf runs a hand through his curls and nicolò’s own hand trembles, his heart racing. “your wound festered and you had a fever-- is this your idea of keeping yourself safe?”
nicolò merely shrugs. “do you think i care about being safe?” the if you are not hangs in the air between them and he winces, taking in a deep breath before concluding, “i would have done it all again without a second thought.”
when yusuf stands up nicolò does the same, eyes never leaving his face. the intensity he sees in his brown eyes overwhelms him and nicolò freezes as yusuf stops a few steps away from him, the night breeze gently playing with his hair. nicolò’s heart aches. “you do not have to risk your life for me, nicolò,” he is so close now that nicolò can feel his breath on his lips and it is almost too much. “just tell me why you did it,” he pleads, and it is his tone that makes nicolò cave.
“because i am in love with you!” the words cannot be taken back and nicolò gasps in shock, his cheeks burning under yusuf’s scrutiny. he waits for the inevitable rejection, the look on his god-like face to change into one of pure disgust, for yusuf to storm away from him never to be seen again...
but none of these things happen. nicolò’s heart is beating so fast he thinks yusuf might hear it but he just... stares at him like he is seeing him for the first time, and then yusuf is smiling and pressing closer and closer until his lips touch nicolò’s softly and he feels like he has died - again.
“i am in love with you too, nicolò,” yusuf confesses against his lips, his hand gently caressing the curve of neck as their foreheads touch, tenderly. “i thought i had lost you tonight...” he kisses his lips again, more intently this time, and nicolò does not want to wake up from this dream.
when they pull apart to catch their breaths, nicolò whispers softly, “you did not. you will not.”
#also I adore that he’s got that sword in a gorgeous scabbard#but it’s being held on his belt by $2.50 worth of nylon webbing#‘I have a priceless weapon hand-crafted for me by expert artisans. I shall hang it from my belt#with a piece of airplane seatbelt I found somewhere’
“3023m,” he says, levering himself sideways. “Maybe if we move over to-”
“It’s fine.” Nicky’s voice is deep and quiet. Joe glances down at his him.
“Quite a distance. You sure?
Nicky doesn’t respond but his shoulder blade ripples in a way that tells Joe to settle himself into as much motionless as he can muster. He sees Nicky’s finger brush over the scope, the adjustment so fine Joe used to wonder if he ever made any change at all. A muscle jumps in his cheek, and he tilts his head fractionally in the cheek rest. One deep exhale and he stills as if stone.
Joe watches as his breathing evens, lengthens and practically pauses. The breaths so slow and so soft the action is completely imperceptible. A minute passes, then two, and Joe would be fighting the inane urge to press his fingers to Nicky’s throat, could he not see a pulse pumping against the skin there.
Then his finger tightens.
A muffled crack in the air and the weapon jolts hard against Nicky’s chest. Immediately he lifts his eye from the sight, lowers his forehead to the ground and brings up both arms to stretch out fully in front of him. His fingers curl in the air and his feet lift and straighten behind him as he stretches and twists every muscle in his body. Joe quickly tries to catalogue the delicious dips and troughs and curves rolling down Nicky’s form before he remembers to jam his binoculars back onto his face. Not that he needs to.
Nicky rolls onto an elbow and looks up at him, blinking indulgently.
A take that I don’t have the energy to put effort into, so I will just present you with WAY too many gifs:
Nicky shows his emotions in his jaw/mouth
Joe shows his emotions in his eyes/eyebrows
I’ve been thinking about this A LOT while I’ve been writing fics and how I differentiate between the two of them.
Obviously they both use their entire faces to emote lol. I mean just look at Joe’s smile. But when they’re experiencing especially intense or scary emotions more often than not it’s Joe’s eyes and Nicky’s mouth that show the most emotion.
Idk… maybe I’m seeing things…. here’s my “proof” lol:
I super love ^this^ one cause it’s the first clear shot we get of them after they wake up. Nicky is touching his mouth (remembering the blood from the dream) and Joe is squinting.
*jaw clench + heart eyes*
Joe’s turn:
Not to be horny on main or anything buuut I can’t look at this gif/moment without thinking Joe looks like he’s getting his dick sucked. I’m sorry but I can’t lol
And now Nicky:
The temptation to write “*jaw clench*” every time Nicky clenches his jaw is very hard to ignore.
ANYWAY
This is probably nothing, but like I said I’ve been thinking about it a ton while writing fics and I needed to put it out there into the universe
so here!
*throws 25 gifs at you*
Do with that what you will….
When I set out to make gifs for this I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find enough…. yeah- I made 44 gifs. there are 19 more of these!!! lol That is how much evidence I found.Most of it is Joe because Marwan’s eyebrows have a mind of their own!!
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