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"I'm dying."
Nicholas gritted his teeth against the exertion, "I know that."
"Just…leave me behind, Nicholas," Euijoo's voice was thin against his ear, but that perpetual stubbornness of his was still present. "You…you know it's protocol for…an injury like this."
Protocol. The word made Nicholas want tk hurl. Since when had he been someone who followed protocol? Euijoo of all people should know just how much trouble Nicholas got into with their higher ups for not following protocol whilst on missions. Nicholas may be a muzzled dog but that didn't stop him from snapping his jaws at the hands that wanted to control him.
"I can't do that."
"Why?"
"Because—"
Nicholas could never fathom voicing his feelings aloud. Not when it would all be for naught. Love had no place in a life like this— filled with lies and deceit and...and killing. So much killing all to further a goal that they barely believed in. Trapped in an organization who viewed them as disposable and used them up until they were husks of the people they once were.
Instead, he shifted Euijoo's arm over his shoulder to better hold him up. He tried to ignore the way Euijoo's blood was soaking warmth into his side.
They finally ducked behind a wall, away from the noise of combat and gunfire. Here, Nicholas could thoroughly assess the injury. A bullet wound through-and-through. That meant there was no risk of further injury from any bullet fragments.
Instead, what Euijoo was running out of was time. His face, which usually held the rosiness of the sun in his cheeks, now looked sickly pale. Sweat dripped down his forehead and Nicholas tried not to feel sick as he put pressure on the wound, tying it off with a bandage.
Euijoo's brows were drawn together and Nicholas could practically hear his next words, "You…you know protocol. You need…to get to safety."
Nicholas' nails dug into his palms, "Where would you rather die? Out here, where we'd lose track of your body in the rubble? You want us all to bury an empty casket? Is that it? How could you give up so easily? Why would you ever ask me to—"
"Nichol."
Nicholas refused to cry. The unshed tears burned hot in his eyes but he blinked them away the best he could. Euijoo had this almost helpless look on his face when Nicholas looked at him. He couldn't stand it.
"At least die at home dammit," Nicholas muttered, just as Euijoo pulled him forward. It was the worst hug Nicholas had ever been given yet he held on to Euijoo's dust caked shirt anyway. They didn't have much of a home, just nine people trying to survive in an organization that treated them like pawns, but at least it was something. With Kei drawing the lead, Euijoo leading from behind, and Fuma's intel, there was no mission they couldn't finish. At least, until now.
"If you leave me behind, at least I won't die in front of you," Euijoo mumbled against his hair, oddly tender. "I don't want to die in front of you."
Nicholas pushed him away, a new bolt of determination hitting him, "Then don't. Don't die in front of me. Promise me that."
Euijoo's eyes were brimming with tears when Nicholas looked at him again. He looked so tired. "I'm no good at promises."
"Then try. Try to be better, Juju," Nicholas said, hooking an arm underneath Euijoo's and hoisting him up again. The end was nearly in sight. Nicholas knew exactly where their escape vehicle was from here. "Do it for them."
Do it for us.
The words went unsaid but the helplessness in Euijoo's eyes waned into something sharper. A dying man's last wish, perhaps. All Nicholas knew was that he would do whatever it took to get Euijoo out of here.