@abcdefuk-off - thanks for the prompt
* * *
It’s hazy through the pain. He stumbles through the door, his hands shaking as he does so. (They never shake. His family has depended on his steady hands for centuries.) A voice calls out, speaking his name in a sob and he falls forward into a gentle touch that feels like a balm on his body. “Weeks,” Joe gets out. “It’s been weeks Nicky, you’ve been gone-” His breath hitches at the same time as Joe’s sob and Nicky wraps his arms around his husband and holds him tight. His hands are still shaking. “I’m sorry my love,” Nicky murmers and he cards his hair through thick curls at the base of Joe’s neck. “I tried to get back to you. I did everything I could, but-” Joe shushes him and looks at him with tears in his deep eyes. He’s heartbroken, Nicky can tell, and exhausted. Something is wrong. His hands are still shaking. “You know I’m coming for you,” Joe says and Nicky’s heart skips a beat. This is Joe, but it is the Joe that sits close to his heart. His curls are long and his clothing is simple things, linnen to texture and warm to the touch. This is *Yusuf.* (Joe is somewhere in Russia, his hair shaved and his body cold. It’s been six weeks since he last saw Nicky, who was captured in his sniper’s nest when a mission went sideways.) “It’s cold,” Nicky says and his hands are shaking. “I don’t-” “I’ll find you,” Joe promises and he kisses Nicky. The dream ends. He awakens to the harshness of water being poured over him and Nicky gasps as his body twists in the metal chair. The too tight shackles cut into his skin once more and his blood drips to the floor. His captors scream at him, demanding answers to questions that Nicky will never give. He shivers in his chair and bites his lip hard enough to draw blood when they take one of his shaking hands and they crush it with a hammer. Shattering the bones and making his whole body spasm in pain. “Who do you work for?” His captor shouts, face red and angry. Nicky has been here for six weeks. They’ve tortured him for hours - even managed to kill him a few times, and this man’s patience is getting thin. He will make a mistake, and his family will catch it.
Joe will come for him.
And his hands will shake no longer.
