For my ever tolerant santa, @mysticeclipses.
I've been told to post it here so imma do just that. Idk if you already read it or not but I hope you like/liked it and I hope whoever is curious enough to read this does too. I did my best, it's been a while since I've done a fic so don't judge me. I also don't know how to act all British.
Thank you organizers for letting me be part of this and making it possible, I feel special @nikprice-gift-exchange
Merry Christmas to everyone and enjoy the fic:
-No need for those three words-
When Nikolai’s helicopter crashed, John panicked.
He knew missions had their risks but this mission had been particularly suicidal: Having to intercept a convoy carrying a potential bio weapon or gas weapon. And Nikolai had been victim of forming part of the collateral damage. An RPG headed his way and the helicopter crashed.
The whole mission itself had gone sideways, while the weapon had been secured, everything else was a mess. Injured soldiers, roads blocked with crashed cars and of course, Nikolai.
John first had to follow protocol, which meant confirming all downs and whether or not they’ve achieved their goal. As much as John had the urge to simply go out to look for Nikolai, he couldn’t.
“Weapon’s secured, at least 3 casualties, no civilians, Nikolai’s M.I.A.” John called through his radio, voice breathy and ragged as Laswell answered.
“Aye, helicopter went down. Took an RPG.”
“Did you see where he crashed?”
“Did you see if he jumped?”
John went silent. He hadn’t seen Nikolai jump, and he hoped he had “No.”
“Sending a search unit then. I suppose you wanna join them?”
“That’s right” John sighed “Permission to start ahead of them?”
Problem was, John was no professional. He had no idea where to start, he had no clue where Nikolai crashed, but he could see the smoke coming from what he guessed was Nikolai’s crashed heli.
Even though he himself was injured, he guessed he was in better shape than Nikolai. He began walking, following the giant smoke, visible through trees, though that indicated the helicopter was inside the forest.
Walking through the trees, bushes and avoiding the wilderness, he felt like it took hours before he found the helicopter. It was on flames, near to exploding. He could see the helicopter was empty, which meant Nikolai had in fact jumped. Now the question was where.
Nikolai had been flying above the convoy, watching and waiting to extract John and the other soldiers. Of course, the enemies didn’t like that. With one of them on the back of a pickup, a man stood with an RPG in his hand. “Captain.”
“I see him.” John’s voice came through the comms, clearly agitated. But he was focused with the rest of the hostels that were shooting at him.
Nikolai moved away from the convoy and used flares when the beeping of his helicopter went off. They worked once, the rocket followed the heat from the flares and exploded behind Nikolai. Then the man reloaded and fired again. Nikolai used flares again. The rocket missed and exploded once more behind Nikolai. The man reloaded and fired just before John shot at him, Nikolai used the flares again but they got stuck and didn’t release.
The rocket hit the tail of the helicopter, all alarms went off in Nikolai’s cabin “Fuck, I’m hit!”. Pulling the throttle up was no use, the alarm kept blaring “pull up, terrain, terrain, pull up.”
The helicopter spun once, twice, then headed down. Smoke followed it as he came crashing onto the forest, trees catching the fall. Nikolai was unconscious momentarily before he woke up due to the scorching hot flames, cutting off his seatbelt, he got out and crawled out, panting heavily as his leg didn’t respond to him. Dragging himself away and up, he leaned against a tree before looking around and walking, limping, towards the north. Why? Because he had seen a farm there.
Fortunately, the forest wasn’t dense, so he soon was out of the trees and fell against the fence of a farmland, the nearby shepherd dog barking. That was the last he saw.
The search unit used the crash to pinpoint Nikolai’s location, using a perimeter amongst the crash and following logic, going to nearby towns and hence, farms.
They didn’t take long to find Nikolai, when one of the soldiers knocked on the door, the farmers already had an idea as to why they were here. Nikolai was put on a stretcher and loaded into a helicopter as they called in the finding “Watcher -1, this is Search Unit 42A, we’ve located your man, he’s in our corresponding aircraft, heading to base.”
Laswell responded “Status?”
“Alive yet unconscious, the medic declares there’s a possibility of several broken ribs, as well as a visible wound on his leg, impaled by a metal bar. Most reflexes are fine but he does need medical supervision upon arriving.”
“Copy that, thank you 42A” And then Laswell turned to John. “John. They found him.”
Before John could even speak, Laswell knew what he was going to ask “Alive but injured. Head to base and meet them at the medical bay.”
With only a hearable sigh, John did as told.
John arrived at the base long after Nikolai did. He immediately walked into the medical bay to look for Nikolai. He asked one of the nurses, who led him towards Nikolai and then she left.
Nikolai had just gotten out of surgery and was now resting on a bed. He wasn’t in a coma but he was unconscious. When John approached, he grabbed a seat and just sat next to the bed, staring at the man.
Nikolai and John didn’t exactly have a label. No words were said, but things were done. Kisses, intimacy. Yet, they never confirmed or denied whether this was a relationship or something casual. In a way, it was better this way. John couldn’t get caught fraternizing with a comrade, much less a man. And it’s not that he was disgusted by this, or afraid, but he’d grown around an environment that painted it as wrong. And despite the new years, it still didn’t mean they were safe to be public, not only is fraternization against regulations and they could get court martialed, but also other soldiers might not take it kindly. There was no need to say those three words that always got stuck in their throats.
Despite all, John rested his head on the edge of the bed and his hand found Nik’s, staring at him only looking away when he fell asleep.
Nik woke up with a gasp, jolting awake and sitting up in an instant, his injuries protesting and reminding him that he shouldn’t be moving. Only then did he feel a weight by his thigh. John’s head rested carefully, eyes closed. He almost didn’t look 35. Moving slowly, he placed his hand on John’s hair and slowly caressed said hair, and with a jolt, John woke up. They both stared at each other before John sighed and sat up, eyes brightening up.
“I need to tell a nurse.” John stood up, hand leaving Nik’s as he walked out to look for a nurse.
Nik immediately sighed, his hand clenching the sheets gently, only easing when the nurse arrived.
The nurse checked his vitals, temperature and changed the IV bag with a new one. Then she turned to John to start explaining how Nik’s healing process would go.
Nik had to use a clutch and was off duty until the doctors confirmed he was in shape to return, so John took care of him.
Having John as a caretaker meant having him fuss over Nik like a mother hen, but in this case with a partner. He fed Nik for a few days, although he soon stopped when Nik made it clear he could eat himself. He helped him with showers and to get dressed. John still had duty so it wasn't as exaggerated as Nik made it sound, after all, there were times he missed John by his side.
So, he often had Gaz accompanying him whenever the Captain couldn’t. Gaz brought him flowers, getting him food and they played card games. One day he even bought Nik an oldie he found somewhere in the armory room while looking for ammo for the shooting range. It was a VHS, looked like it was from the 50’s and was titled “Singin’ in the Rain”.
And after watching said movie, Nik had an idea.
It was rain season, and it had constantly been raining, so one day, as soon as he heard water drops hit the window, he put his plan into motion. Everything had aligned; John would be visiting today after finishing paperwork, so he waited, watching the window until he received a message “Coming over, be there in 8”.
Nik stood up fast, grabbing his clutch from the side, putting on his slippers and using the excuse of going to the showers to leave his room. Slowly but surely, he walked outside through the back door of the medical bay, the one that led to the training field for emergency uses. Standing outside, the rain fell on him slowly, carefully. It was a gentle shower, not a full on storm. And he timed it perfectly.
As he’d predicted, John panicked as soon as he saw Nik’s room empty. He started searching around until one of the nurses told him he’d said he’d gone to the bathroom, but of course, he wasn’t there. He walked outside and looked all over the training field before he saw Nik.
John hurried over “Nik, what are you doing here?”
There was a silence between the two, Nik staring at John expectantly, John staring at Nik surprised.
There was another quiet pause before John sighed, nodding. His hand moved, resting on Nik’s waist, Nik’s hand did the same. Their free hands met each other and intertwined.
“Your leg okay to move?” John asked, gaze moving to Nik’s bandaged leg.
“No.” Nik looked at the same leg, then at John again, eyes meeting.
Nik pressed closer, his hand resting more on John’s lower back. He pressed their foreheads together and rested his leg on John’s, leaning slightly against him. John sighed, closing his eyes, Nik followed. Then John started swaying them just barely, only rocking back and forth, their breaths mingling together, feeling each other’s warmth despite the rain that fell on them.
Was it dangerous? Yes, could they get caught? Also yes, but it didn’t matter when this moment felt right, no matter how random it was.
Foots shuffled together against the wet dirt, which slowly turned into mud. John’s boots compared against Nik’s medical slippers, John’s grey t-shirt and olive camo pants against Nik’s medical gown. Nik’s face leaned down to bury itself in the crook of John’s neck, sighing against it “Spasibo, John.”
“Mm, anything for you luv.” John's voice was a whisper
They rocked together, moving in circles without actually moving from their place. And John only stopped when Nik suddenly pulled back.
Before he could ask why, if maybe he’d done something wrong, Nik sneezed against his inner arm and sighed “Maybe I get sick.”
John stared at him before shaking his head, smiling gently, that smile that made his cheekbones more visible “Lets go inside.”
When they did walk inside, they both got scolded by the nurses, especially John for 1, staying outside in the rain, 2, filling the floor with water and mud, and 3, John risking opening Nik’s injuries.
John was given spare clothes while Nik was given another clean medical gown and then they were both sent to shower. Inside, they faked going into separate stalls but in reality, they didn’t when the nurses left, John moved to Nik’s shower, closing the curtain behind them. His eyes instantly went to the stitches, and he couldn’t contain his sigh. Approaching, his hand rested on said stitches and gently caressed them, earning a grunt from Nik, which immediately let John know it hurt.
John looked up at him, worry clear in his eyes.
Before he could say something though, Nik leaned in, pressing their lips together. Both men sighed and John returned the kiss. Their lips moved together, eyes remained closed. Gentle, soft, short. They pulled back and then embraced each other.
“I am okay.” Nik murmured against John’s hair, and John, whose head was buried in Nik’s neck, nodded.
That earned him a chuckle
“Love you.” The words left John’s mouth easily, even though he’d never said them before, not to Nik.
And the other was quiet, too quiet. It made John freak out, think he’d messed up.
“tozhe tebya lyublyu.” Nik murmured and John understood nothing, but he didn’t have to ask to know Nik had said the same.
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