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Something was wrong.
Lying on the ground, George gasped. Kept his hands pressed to the multiple stab wounds. Sure, that was bad enough. But there was something more. Something he couldn’t quite detail. Something deeper. Wheezing, he curled around himself. Keep pressure on the wounds, George. Come on. You need to go home tonight, his mind flicked to Cat and Dog. He needed to take care of them. No one else would feed them. If he disappeared, no one would notice. Not until it was too late. He was too private. Not like others on the team who told everything.
Coughing, he raised his head as best as he could when he heard footsteps. Someone was approaching. Come on, come on, reaching down into himself, he forced the air around him to chill. “Nexus? You alright?” A familiar voice asked. Sighing, George dropped his head back against the chilly gray concrete pressing into his shoulder. His cheek rested against the cool stone, and he dropped the ice building up in him. It shattered easily, much like his rapidly melting strength.
“Manhunter.” He forced out. There was a pause. Dream hurried over to his side, dropped down. Knees pressed into his back, then Dream shifted to his front. His hands hovered over George’s side for a second. Blood pooled around them. For a second, George couldn’t help but be glad for his colorblindness. At least he didn’t have to see how much red there was spattered on the walls. They were painted brown. There had to be blood smattered across them. But he could ignore that. “Hey.”
“Oh gosh.” Dream reached for him. Hesitated. Weakly, George coughed. Heat spattered his lips under his mask. He was coughing up blood. Definitely not a good thing. A gentle hand slipped under George’s neck. Then, slowly, Dream lifted George’s head a little bit, slipped a hand under his knees, and slowly scooped him up.
Gently, Dream cradled George to his chest. “We have security here, do you want me to take you out a hidden way?”
“No, just get me out.” George mumbled, tipping his head to the side. Humming softly, he pulled his arms closer to his sides and then rested them on his stomach. He could hear some chattering as he and Dream emerged into the night air. The bad guys had been taken down, so the security was there to pick them up. Of course, some people were looking their way. Someone asked over and asked Dream if he needed help.
“He’s alright. Just need to get him home.” Dream replied casually. There was a nod. Someone thanked him for their service, and Dream didn’t reply. Then, he hurried forwards past the various reporters who were taking pictures.
George buried his face in Dream’s chest a little bit more. There was more heat across his chest, the pain was spiking up now that he had been scooped up and held closer. Now that he didn’t need to stay conscious.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Dream ducked into the nearest alleyway, started making his way up to the rooftop and then held him closer. George huffed out a breath. Winced when the adrenaline continued to drop down and the pain spiked up. “Yeah, it’s the adrenaline going down. It’s gonna hurt a bit. I’ll help you, I’ll get you home to Seraph and then we’ll get you fixed up, alright?”
George nodded. Closed his eyes. “Mind if I rest? Should be alright for a little while. Right?”
“Yeah, yeah. Save your strength. Try to keep your eyes open if you can. Okay?” George hummed softly. Leaned into Dream and opened his eyes. There was a gentle kiss to the top of his head. Shakily, he coughed and huffed out a breath.
“Stupid knives.” There was a soft, huffing laugh.
+++
Hands slid over George’s shoulders, and he was pressed into the bed.
Arms crossed, he looked up at Dream and wrinkled his nose. “I’m fine, Dream. You don’t need to check my shoulders.”
“Mhmm.” Dream murmured, running his hands down behind George’s back and then around his shoulders. After a moment, he started touching George’s chest, checking for broken ribs or bruises.
“You can see if I’m bruised. Not like I have a shirt on.” He didn’t. It was near impossible for him to pull on a shirt and all his button-ups were in the wash. Dream’s thumb ran over a dark bullet scar on George’s chest. Glancing down, he paused and swallowed. Looking up, he met Dream’s jade hazel gaze. Leaning in, Dream gently kissed him. George let him, smiled lightly. Reached up and touched Dream’s cheek. Dream pushed down on him just a little bit, hummed and touched his ribs.
On the bedside table, Dream’s phone hummed. He looked over and picked it up. Snorted softly. “Bad wants us to stop making out for the sake of your chest.”
“How does he know?” George asked. Shrugging, Dream set his phone to the side. Lifted George to him and then slowly rolled over, started kissing along his jaw and his temple. “Hey. I thought he said no making out.”
“Not making out. Just kissing you and loving on you.” Dream replied, gently settling George on the pillows and lying down beside him. Dream propped himself up on one arm, settled his chin in his palm and reached over with his free hand to begin brushing George’s hair out of his eyes. Leaning in, he kissed the bridge of George’s nose. Wrinkling his nose, George rolled his shoulder. There was a sharp pain in it, right in the bone and the joint. Wincing, he looked down. Reaching over, Dream cupped his cheek. Rubbed a thumb over his skin and leaned in to kiss him again. There was a soft warmth that rattled through his body as Dream used his powers, gently sapping some of the pain from George’s body. Humming, George closed his eyes. Leaned into it.
Then, he relaxed into the bed. Exhaled softly. Dream smoothed a hand over his hair, shifted on top of him and kept kissing him. Not in a making out way, especially once George realized that he was feeling a soft sort of sleepiness in his chest and weighing down his bones. Humming, he leaned into Dream’s touch. Let himself drift off then.
When he woke up, it was to Dream lying on him enough to press him into the bed. Humming softly, George dropped his head back on the pillows. Exhaled slowly. Dream lifted his head. Pushed into the crook of George’s neck. “Mmmmmm…morning.” He whispered, cuddling into him. George laughed, settled his arms around Dream again. “How do you feel?” There was a slight pinch to his eyebrows that showed he was in a lot of pain.
“Are you alright?” George asked. Quickly, he checked where Dream could be touching him. There were hands in the small of his back, settled down with his palms completely flat against George’s skin. He exhaled softly. A gentle breath of air puffed against his neck.
Humming, Dream pulled him closer. “’m fine. Just needing to hold you.” He replied.
“How long we been out?”
“Little while. Everyone knows that Nexus needs to be out for a little while to recover, so the other members of the team have it. Alright?” George looked at him.
“So we can stay in bed and sleep all day?”