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The villain’s lair flashed red and its original colour, the alarms and the automated voice repeating, “This building will explode. Please evacuate.”. Dayang and Ganz looked at each other, already remembering the plan. They were going to leave Djin here purposefully like rehearsed but Zain’s focus moved between the unstable Azurium and the fallen Core Leader. “Zain!” Dayang called for the team leader who was unresponsive — Fuck, he always winds up deep in his thoughts whenever a dilemma occurs. This was not a good time to be avoidant! The Tekno leader, this time, harshly tried again, “Zai-”
There was no other thought that popped up in his mind, Zain immediately charged towards Djin and ignored his teammates’ frantic calls. Even if the heavily injured Djin was wincing when Zain picked him up quite harshly, he was unresistant. Zain could feel how shaky Djin was while the Inviso latched onto him tightly, but he did not let that disrupt solving the situation. “Go grab the Azurium!” Zain instructed to the Kombat and Tekno from afar with a loud voice. At first, the two were staring for a few seconds. This was not the plan at all. But, after some time, Dayang was the first to head to the containers with the ores and Ganz followed after her once he witnessed her running.
With their natural synergy, there was no problem executing this divergent plan. All of the agents came out alive with the Azurium in hand. Zain and Djin escaped first. Ganz and Dayang came after with the unstable ores in their hands. After running to a remote area far away from the base, they could safely regroup. The Neuro placed down the shaken man onto the grass, putting his hand on his shoulder while he looked at his teammates who approached him. Dayang nodded to him, pushing her arms forward a bit to reveal the Azurium and Ganz showed his batch too. Mission success.
*
Once they were back in headquarters, Djin’s injuries were immediately assessed and left being tended to in the infirmary. Dayang and Ganz sat in a cafe nearby, mentally recovering from the near incident they had. Zain, however, refused to walk away from his spot as it was close to the room Djin was in. Regardless if he was changing for the worse, Zain just could not have the heart to abandon him defenceless in a base all alone. That was not what he wanted at all. Minutes passed and the nurse walked out, giving the Neuro leader the permission to go in. And, so he did.
Djin was laying on his side, away from the door so all Zain could see was his back. It almost looked like he was asleep, but Zain knew better. Djin’s quick breathing revealed how he in fact was not sleeping. It was subtle, yet obvious to someone who knew details and patterns. “I know you are not asleep, Djin,” he directly confronted him, but without any sort of malice. He slowly walked over to a bed nearby and sat on it. “Pretending does not work on me. You know this already, you cannot lie to me. Avoiding your feelings is no solution.”
Djin only rested, leaving Zain with mere silence... Until, Djin finally responded. Although, it was quiet. “So? What are you trying to say?” He asked, unable to raise his voice as the incident flashed in his mind and he tried to mask his unintentional cowering with involuntary spasm. Zain saw through it the second Djin attempted to hide it. “Do you want me to talk? Because Invisos do not talk,” he told him and the conversation fade into silence again.
Zain could not tie this abnormal behaviour to anything other than fear from the base, and he sighed. Djin obviously did talk and was one of the loudest people when analysing subjects or stolen items. That Inviso claim is bullshit. He stopped looking at Djin. “I do not want you to talk if you are averse to it.” Then, he looked back at him as Djin shifted and positioned himself to sit up right, but Djin still avoided Zain’s gaze. “I want you to know neglecting your fear will only exacerbate it and supporting you is my priority right now.”
Djin glanced for a moment when Zain stood up and walked over to him, but suddenly, Zain grabbed him and wrapped his arms around his body. Fuck, this is not what Djin wanted — but, Djin could find himself leaning into the warm embrace, hesitantly hugging him back with a small exhale. Under his breath, he asked, “Why did you save me?” His grip tightened and he nuzzled into him more when the memories haunted his mind again. Zain just listened to Djin’s small breathing, noticing how Djin’s chest rose against him slowly with every intake of air. He noticed how much his breathing had slowed down in comparison to earlier.
Zain actually struggled with answering that, so it took him a few minutes. He stopped hugging him and instead gently held Djin’s hands. “Imagining a world without you is something nearly impossible for me. I just.. Reacted,” he looked into his eyes now. “I know in one universe if I had not saved you, I know my guilt would have consumed me.”
Djin’s tense body partially relaxed when Zain gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. He pulled back, whispering, “You are who I live for...” And he kissed him again.