Fullmetal Alchemist (Tobira no Mukou e) - Sore Throat

[scriveyner]

Title: sore throat
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
AU: Tobira no Mukou e
Characters/Pairing: Nick, Takeo
Rating: M
Length: 336
Summary: Nick opened his eyes when the cool cloth was laid on his forehead. He glared muzzily at Takeo, whose face was pale. “What are you still doing here?” he asked, his voice strained rasp. “I thought you were headed out on the next train back to Central."


Nick opened his eyes when the cool cloth was laid on his forehead. He glared muzzily at Takeo, whose face was pale. “What are you still doing here?” he asked, his voice strained rasp. “I thought you were headed out on the next train back to Central."

"Don’t,” Takeo said, and looked away. “Don’t try to talk, your voice-"

Nick swallowed, his throat raw. It did hurt, but the soreness paled in comparison to the constant, raw stream of feedback straight through the nerves of his arm. "Tak-"

"Stop it!” Takeo shouted. Nick winced at the volume, and Takeo sagged in to himself, he looked almost as badly as Nick felt. “Please, Nick, just… you don’t have to do this, you know?"

This. Barely out of the hospital, and right back into the operating room - but if he healed, if he waited for the wound to seal, it would just be all the worse when they tore it open. You had to be awake and conscious for this operation, as the technician and surgeon connected each wire directly to a nerve ending, and he had screamed his throat raw before someone had thought to shove a piece of wood between his teeth to keep him from biting his tongue clear through.

"You shouldn’t be here, Takeo,” Nick croaked, his eyes flat and dull with the pain. “Go back to Central, I’ll be fine."

And Takeo, with his face pale and hands trembling, he had heard every agonizing instant of it. This is why Nick hadn’t wanted him here in the first place, he wanted him safely locked away in a library studying in peace. He didn’t need to bear witness to this.

"You wouldn’t leave me behind,” Takeo said, his voice somehow not shaking. “Like hell I’m leaving you.”