Work Text:
Joonas takes in another shallow breath, trying to keep it even, though his shoulders are shaking. He doesn’t think he’s ever been in this much pain in his life.
The tunnel had caved in. His foot had gotten stuck at some point when he was wriggling through, and when he’d finally been able to free it, the stone ceiling had given. A heavy chunk of rock had landed on his back.
It hurts to breathe. The weight and pressure of the rock keeps his ribcage from expanding enough to take in any proper breaths anyways, even more so than it had when it had just been a narrow canal that he was inching through. Joonas thinks his leg must be crushed. It’s bursting with a stabbing, white-hot pain, and he can feel the pressure of rubble around it.
Joel is cursing, pacing around the junction just outside the mouth of the tunnel. It sounds like he’s crying. Joonas can feel tears on his own face, but his chest hurts too much to cry. There’s no room for him to anyway.
“We’re gonna get you out, okay?” Joel says, his voice strangled. He’s trying to keep Joonas calm, but Joonas already knows what’s coming. “I told– I told Tommi where we were going before we left like you said, he knows where we are,” he sucks in a trembling breath. “He’s gonna come– and he’s gonna help, so just hold on,”
Joonas swallows down a sob. “We’re hours away from town, Joel,” he says, as calm as he can. “He’s not- he’s not gonna get here in time.”
“You’re gonna make it,” Joel says insistently, but there’s an edge of hopelessness and doubt bordering around his words. There’s a heavy pause before Joel speaks again. “I’m going to go get help.”
“No!” Joonas’ shout drives a spike of pain down, down through his ribs. “Don’t leave me,” he wants nothing less than for Joel to leave him, down here in the dark, crushed inside the unforgiving rubble of a broken tunnel. They both know he’s not going to make it anyway.
“I don’t know what to do,” Joel moans, and he’s crying properly now.
“Can you hold my hand?” Joonas chokes out, his vision blurring with a rush of new tears. He’s so afraid that Joel will leave him still, and he nearly sobs with relief when he feels Joel’s warm hand reach in through the opening and grasp his.
“I’m sorry,” Joel sobs. He’s switched off his headlamp, and with the light of his own, Joonas can just see enough of his face from the awkward angle to see the shiny streaks of tears on Joel’s cheeks.
His vision is starting to bubble with black spots and he knows that he’s bleeding and not getting enough air. Joonas presses his cheek to the floor of the cave, trying to relax. “I love you,” he offers, his thoughts starting to swim.
Joel responds in kind, his words even more strained than Joonas’, as if he were the one being slowly crushed instead. Joonas smiles weakly, feeling like he’s slipping away, melting into the rock below.
He thinks he can hear Joel singing, but if he is, it’s choked by tears, and Joonas can barely hear anymore anyway. He starts to fade out, only holding on by the warm grip of Joel’s fingers.