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He had seen it from the corner of his eye. The way the Federation soldier had flung Keegan over the railing and how he had landed on the ground below on his left side. Logan had shot the Fed in the head the next second and by the time his eyes found Keegan again he had been up and running. He had looked okay so Logan had pushed his worry aside for the moment. They had a mission to complete. But by the time their exfil picked them up he could see Keegan was favouring his left side, holding his weapon one-handed and he noticed the older man didn’t lift his left arm unless he absolutely had to.
He had wanted to go over to him, wanting to check if he was okay but once they were in the helicopter Hesh had pulled him aside to help him go through the intel they had gathered. And once back on base Keegan vanished before Logan had even started pulling off his gear. He wanted to think he’d gone to get checked out but he doubted it, Logan knew how stubborn the older man was when it came to injuries and how he rather dealt with them on his own.
So once he was done putting his gear away he went looking for a medkit before heading to their rooms, going straight to Keegan’s and knocking on his door.
He heard a gruff ‘I’m fine’ even before the door opened, revealing a shirtless Keegan but Logan just gave him an exasperated look and pushed past the older man into the room.
“Put that thing away, there’s nothing to fix.” Keegan grunted as he motioned at the first aid kit.
But Logan merely placed it on his desk and turned to stare at the older man, looking him over but even as he couldn’t find any cuts or even bruises he wasn’t convinced.
“Lift.” Logan spoke and motioned with his own left arm, lifting it up over his head. And when Keegan mimicked him with his right arm he rolled his eyes and huffed, stepping closer to the taller man and taking a hold of his left wrist. “Lift.” He repeated, giving Keegan’s wrist a squeeze but not moving it himself.
Keegan squinted his eyes at him but eventually complied, lifting his left arm to level with his shoulder but even as he did that he wasn’t fooling Logan.
It hurt, Logan could see the way his muscles twitched in protest and how he clenched his jaw to keep himself from wincing.
Logan let go of his wrist and turned back to the medkit, opening it up and going through it until he found a bottle of painkillers.
“Logan, I’m fine. I don’t need those.” Keegan tried to insist as he ran a shaky hand through his messy black hair.
This time the younger man didn’t even bother with the look and just pointed at the bed, a clear indication that he wanted Keegan to sit on it while he went to grab the glass of water by the bedside table.
“Your ribs aren’t…bruised but-”
“I know, which is why I don’t need-”
Logan cut him off by poking his left side just below his shoulder blade, eliciting a pained groan from the older man.
“Not bruised but the fall shocked your muscles.” He spoke calmly and handed the water and a couple of tablets to the other man.
“You saw that?” Keegan asked, so surprised he didn’t even argue when the items were placed in his hands.
Logan just nodded and then focused back on examining Keegan’s side, this time with much more gentle touches. He felt around the shoulder blade, noting the way Keegan stiffened when he pressed along the underside of the bone. Then he traced his ribs, starting from the spine until he reached his chest, checking them one by one.
“You’ll feel worse tomorrow.” He stated once he was done and flattened his palm over the area that he’d found was the most painful. “I have…I could…”
Logan cursed himself when the words got stuck in his throat. He had gotten so much better with actually talking with the older man, sometimes they even had actual conversations when they found themselves alone around the base.
His eyes snapped down when he suddenly felt a hand on his own arm, then back up to see Keegan looking at him with a hint of a smile.
“You’re not letting this go, are you?”
Logan swallowed at that, then determinately shook his head and he watched as Keegan let out a sigh before he actually finally swallowed the pills.
“Fine, do your worst.” He smirked up at the younger man. He didn’t know when or how the younger Walker had managed to get under his skin but he found himself caring about it less and less. The boy, man, was smart, efficient, a good soldier to have by your side.
Keegan watched as the younger man held up a finger, mouthing out wait before he rushed out the door.
What Logan’s worse turned out to be was a careful massage with heating liniment, which still drew out hisses and curses from the older man, which then turned into a whole back massage, whether as an apology or something else, Keegan couldn’t tell but he also wasn’t about to complain. Logan was surprisingly talented with his hands, knowing exactly how to knead out the tension in his stiff muscles and Keegan felt like a pile of goo once he was done. And maybe Logan had just massaged his way through his impenetrable walls, or maybe he was just too relaxed and tired to keep them up himself, or maybe both. But the next thing Keegan was aware of was that he was kissing Logan.
Languidly, and Logan wasn’t pulling away so he took his time, acquainting himself with the feel of Logan’s soft lips. The few times he’d allowed himself to imagine himself in this situation, never once had he thought it would be this gentle, that he could be this gentle. That he wanted…
“Stay with me?” The words slipped out of Keegan’s mouth, his lips still brushing against Logan’s.
He could feel the pull of exhaustion in every muscle of his body, the need to sleep aching behind his eyes but he didn’t want…
He didn’t want to be alone. Logan’s hand was clutching his bicep, their lips were still brushing against each other and the heat that radiated from the younger man’s body, it all brought him a sense of calm, of comfort and he didn’t want that to go away.
And Logan seemed to catch on, like he always somehow did, reading Keegan like an open book. The younger man nodded as he pulled away, resting his forehead against Keegan’s for just a moment to gather his breath and then he motioned for him to lie down on the bed. And as Keegan did, he shrugged off his jacket, throwing it on the nearest chair he climbed on the bed too, behind Keegan who had wisely shifted to lie on his right side. He scooted in close and pressed his forehead between the older man’s shoulder blades, his hand gently touching along the injured area on Keegan’s side before he draped his arm over his midriff.
When Keegan eventually woke from his nap he felt groggy from such a deep relaxed sleep. Or it could have been from the painkillers but he didn’t feel like fooling himself anymore when he could still feel the warmth against his back and a protective arm around his waist and the hot even breath tickling against his neck.
It was all thanks to Logan.