Work Text:
Date Night
It was a very good day. A fucking good day, if you’d have asked Nigel.
He took Adam out on a date night, like they always did every two weeks.
Nigel picked Adam up from work just a few minutes after five p.m.. They walked all the way from the observatory to their shared apartment (a two hour walk) and stopped at their favourite spots; the small park, their trusted coffee shop (a black coffee with sugar for Nigel and a camomile tea for Adam - it tasted like nothing, that’s why Adam liked it) and Adam’s favourite corner store. It had a new variety of space and astronomy magazines every two weeks.
Nigel insisted on buying them for Adam every time they went there. At first Adam wanted to buy it for himself, “You bought me a tea already Nigel, I can buy them myself.”, at what Nigel only said, “Next time, gorgeous.” But the time after that, Nigel bought them for Adam again. And then again. Until Adam simply took them from the shelf and handed them to Nigel, without saying anything.
It was a fucking good day, until Nigel’s phone rang.
“One second, darling.” He interrupted Adam’s rambling of why the new magazines had a different cover, it was because they had a different publisher, and why he liked the old ones more, they were filled with theories of outer space creatures and much more interesting themes.
Adam always read the magazines the second Nigel bought them.
Adam stopped talking and took Nigel’s hand instead. The man grinned down at him and picked up the call with his free hand. “What?” He barked into the phone, already annoyed by the phone call. “You have to come to the club, right fucking now.” He didn’t look who was calling him, but he could recognise this voice even if he was fucking deaf.
“Why are you fucking whispering, asshole?” Darko’s breathing was ragged against the microphone, at what Nigel stopped walking. “Darko?” His voice had to sound troubled as Adam pulled at his hand, signalling him to keep walking and looked at him with big eyes. Nigel shook his head and pulled Adam closer to him by his hand.
Darko still didn’t answer. Nigel couldn’t hear anything, except for Darko’s heavy breathing. “What the fuck is going on?” He nearly shouted in the phone, but lowered his voice once he realised that he was outside.
“Come to the fucking club. Code purple, fucking purple.” And with that Darko hung up and the line went silent.
Nigel took the phone from his ear and didn’t know what to do. The first time in his life he didn’t know what to do.
“Nigel?”
He had Adam with him, his fucking heart was beside him. He couldn’t take Adam with him, it would be too dangerous for him. He didn’t even have a gun, not even a damned pocket knife. Must have forgotten it at home, fuck my luck, he thought and tried his best not to hit himself. How could he-
“Ni?”
Nigel’s eyes moved to Adam. His darling’s face was staring up at him with confused eyes. Nigel sighed and took the bag with the magazines from Adam’s hand. “We have to go to the club.” He said and tightened his hold on Adam’s hand. Adam’s confused face only grew. He let out a sound of protest when Nigel started walking. Nigel turned around and took Adam’s face in his hands. The bag of magazines hung from his wrist and gently swung from side to side.
“You have to listen to me, baby. Very carefully,” Adam nodded and looked at Nigel’s thin, dry lips.
“We have a problem at the club. A huge fucking problem.” His thumbs brushed softly over Adam’s ruddy blushed cheeks. Thanks to the windy weather, the streets weren’t as full as they were on a normal day. Leaving them standing alone on the pavement, with only a few people walking past them.
“Some fucking bastards are trying to piss at our legs. I don’t know how many there are, but I do know that they’re fucking dangerous. It’s a code purple.” Adam nodded, trying to understand everything. He knew what a code purple meant. Code purple meant fucking live or death, explained in Nigel’s words.
“What we will do is, I’ll go through the front door, while you’ll go through the back and hide in one of the bathrooms. Don’t lock the door once you’re in there. It’ll be too loud. Don’t fucking come out, okay?” Adam nodded. Nigel gave Adam’s forehead a protective kiss, before they went to the club.
-
It wasn’t a long way, it only took five minutes, but these five minutes felt like five hours to Nigel.
Standing a few feet away from the entrance door, Nigel pulled Adam into a tight hug. He inhaled the soft soapy scent of Adam’s shampoo and kissed his hair. “You know what you have to do?” Nigel mumbled into Adam’s hair and basked a few seconds in the feeling of Adam’s soft, warm hands clutching at his loose button up.
They pulled away and Adam looked for a second in Nigel’s eyes, but it was very, very briefly. “I love you, Ni.” Nigel took Adam’s face again in his hands and kissed his soft lips. “I love you too, gorgeous.” He kissed Adam’s lips on last time, before they parted.
Adam didn’t waste any second and did as Nigel told him. He vanished in the alley beside the bar and went to the back door, where the bathrooms were. Nigel took a big breath and went to the front door. Only as he was about to open the door, did he realise that he still had Adam’s magazines around his wrist. He pulled the bag over his wrist and laid it behind the tall flower pot, which was, technically speaking, a big ashtray.
Nigel looked beside him at the alley one last time and opened the door.
-
Adam was a wreck. His hands were shaking when he opened the back door. He didn’t close the door fully, an inch was still left because the door would make a sound, if he chose to close it.
The hallway was short. One door was on the left wall, a storage room, while two doors were on the right wall, the two bathrooms. The hallway ended with an open space, which lead straight to the bar and dance floor. Nigel would be there.
Adam quickly, but quietly moved to the men’s bathroom, not wanting to break a rule even in a situation like that. The door was open, like always. With light footsteps went he through it, closing the door with only an inch left.
His breathing was rushed and irregular. His mind was screaming at him that everything was wrong and that he shouldn’t be there. He should be on the way to the apartment with Nigel. Not hiding in the man’s bathroom at Nigel’s club.
He tried to get his thoughts under control. His hands grabbed his hair on their own and he pulled on it. The pain was a good distraction from his chaotic mind. Adam walked to the wall and slid down to the ground. His hands were still in his hair, but they weren’t pulling anymore. Instead, they applied even pressure on his head, calming him down.
His body began to rock on its own. Adam didn’t try to stop it.
At least the bathroom was clean.
-
The front door closed with a loud bang.
Darko and the three strangers all turned to him.
Darko’s face fell in relief. He stood behind the bar, looking calm and collected.
The three men, who were sitting on the bar chairs in front of him, on the other side, looked like they were from the fucking mafia. They were wearing completely black suits, one of them had sunglasses on, even if it wasn’t even fucking sunny and gave off the vibe that they killed at least fifty people, each.
“You called?” Nigel asked Darko and nodded to the strangers. He tried to play it cool and hoped that he didn’t look like a fucking scared puppy.
Darko nodded and gestured to the three men in front of him. “You remember the kid with the long black hair and these black fucking music T-shirts?” Nigel nodded and circled the bar to stand beside Darko.
“His girlfriend always wanted fucking orange juice.” Nigel chuckled and pulled Darko into a manly hug. “Adam se ascunde în baie.” He whispered into Darko’s ear quickly, before he pulled away.
Darko didn’t say anything, he only patted Nigel two times on his arm - like some do when they hugged. It was a silent okay.
“Looks like we’ll get our stuff from these gentleman in the future.” Darko said to Nigel who furrowed his brows. “What happened to the kid?”
He really started to like the kid. He was eighteen years old and always had the best stuff for a few bucks. His name was Patrick, but he called himself Blade. Fucking freak, if you’d ask Nigel. The only normal thing about him was his girlfriend. Kelly was her name and she looked like a damned Kelly too.
“You don’t have to worry about him.” A gruff voice answered. Both Nigel and Darko turned to look at him. “What did you fucking do to him?” Nigel spat out, he always tend to forget when it was time to remember about fucking manners.
The guy who answered stood up. In the same moment Darko pulled Nigel to himself by his arm. “Fucking stop.” His voice was low, but stern against Nigel’s ear.
Nigel gritted his teeth, but did as told.
The man sat back down too, looking too confident in his sunglasses.
“Why don’t we all sit down and talk, mh?” Darko said. He pulled Nigel down by his arm to sit on one of the three bar stools, which stood behind the counter. If the club had a slow day, the barkeeper could sit down and talk a bit with the people - Darko had to do it as soon as he saw it in a movie.
The three men nodded and Nigel had to suppress the urge to stand up and punch their fucking teeth out. Nigel crossed his arms nodded. “Okay, let’s fucking talk.”
-
Adam couldn’t stand it anymore.
His body was shaking so bad, he must look like he was freezing to death. The sweat was damping his hands, making him feel even more overwhelmed.
“Onetwothree, onetwothree.” He couldn’t even count properly due to the stress. His thoughts were half in the room with him and the other half was with Nigel. What if something happens to him? What if something already happened? His mind was all over the place, he felt how he was slowly getting a headache.
His breath got caught in his throat, when he heard a gunshot.
Without any control over his own body, he jumped up and ran out of the bathroom. His footsteps were loud and hurried, as he was running down the corridor to his safe place.
-
“FUCK!” Nigel held his left arm in a tight grip. One of the motherfuckers shot him in the fucking arm.
“What the fuck?!” Darko exclaimed with shocked eyes. Even he didn’t see that coming. One second ago they were talking about the drugs and the other moment, Nigel got shot in the arm.
The men all looked at each other and nodded. “We want to work with you.” Said one of them. “We’ll be back on Thursday.” And with that they just walked out of the door as if nothing happened.
Nigel completely forgot about his arm and turned to Darko. “What the fuck did just happen?” Darko just shrugged his shoulders and went to look at Nigel’s shoulder. “This looks not to fucking bad. I’ll be able-“
“NIGEL!”
Nigel’s head moved so quickly to the voice, Darko was worried it might fall off. “Adam?” Nigel’s voice was confused and a tiny bit irritated.
Seconds later emerged Adam through the corridor. His face was red and his breathing didn’t have a rhythm at all.
“I told you to stay hidden!” Nigel’s voice boomed through the room. Adam flinched and Darko laid a hand on Nigel’s right shoulder.
“Sit down and calm down. I’ll get the first aid kit.” Darko gave Nigel a friendly pat and went to get the kit.
Nigel sat down with a huff. His arm was pulsing in pain, but his attention was on the nerve wreck in front of him.
His demeanour softened. “Baby,” His now soft voice called out to his boyfriend, who was now tapping wildly on his thigh. Adam’s head perked up, his eyes big and red.
Nigel let go of his arm, to invite Adam in a hug. Slowly Adam walked towards him. The second he was in reach, Nigel grabbed his shirt and pulled him into his arms. Adam let out a gasp, but hugged him back.
“I’m sorry.” Nigel whispered in Adam’s ear and hissed when Adam accidentally brushed against his wound.
Adam pulled his head back and looked Nigel between his eyebrows. “It’s okay. I broke a rule and you were worried about me.” Nigel smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “Fuck, was I scared.” Nigel felt how all the tension fell from his body, now that he held Adam in his arms.
“I was too.” Adam answered sincerely. His breathing was almost back to normal then. Nigel smiled at him and let out a hiss when a bolt of pain shot through his arm and shoulder.
Adam bit his lip and sat down beside Nigel on a bar stool. “You have to put more pressure on the wound.” Adam said, but didn’t move to help him. He hated to touch blood.
Nigel snickered at him. “At least you’re still a smartass.” Adam pouted at that, but understood that it was a joke and giggled at Nigel.
Suddenly Adam’s eyes widened and he stood up. “My magazine! Where is it?” He frantically asked Nigel, who pointed at the door with a scowl. Adam gave Nigel a quick kiss on the cheek before he walked to the door and shut it behind him.
Darko came back with a first aid kit and looked confused. “Where’s your boy toy?” Darko asked as he put the first aid kit on the bar counter. Nigel let out a sigh. “Don’t even ask.” The other shrugged and began to bandage Nigel’s wound.
The bar was completely silent. Except for the occasional exclamations from Adam, who finally find his beloved magazine.
“Let me bleed out here in my own. No problem, baby.” Nigel murmured to himself and let out a his, when Darko pulled the bandage tight.