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Awsten coughed against the dusty road, pain radiating through his ribs. His waist froze in the wind, exposed by his torn clothes and armour and drenched with dripping blood. He couldn’t lift his arm, the muscles along his side twitching uselessly in response to his efforts, pulling at nothing.
“Awsten, come on.”
He felt something press into his thigh, agony shooting through his body as the bone and tissue along his side reknit itself. By deathclaw standards, the wound had barely been a scratch. A little higher and his head might not even be attached to his body right now.
Jack took his hand, tossing aside the used stimpak, and hauled him to his feet, pulling his arm over his shoulder. “Come on, you got this.”
As much as he’d rather throw up, Awsten nodded and let Jack pull him into a stumbling jog. He tried not to hear the roaring deathclaw or the crackle of Rian’s coverfire as they stumbled down a narrow street. They slowed at the sound of an enraged screeching ahead of them.
“Shit.”
Jack steered them into a doorway, pulling Awsten close by his hips as a hoard of ghouls shambled past. He kept his 10mm aimed out at them, but none noticed them as they ran at the deathclaw. They must have been aggravated by the sounds of the fighting.
The door had been smashed in long ago and they stepped over its remains, scanning the room they entered for unfriendly occupants.
“You good?” Jack asked quietly, leaning down so Awsten could hear him.
Awsten nodded, adjusting his grip on Jack’s neck for stability and feeling self-conscious of the gravel and dust stuck to the side of his face. “A little dizzy.”
One of Jack’s hands left Awsten’s hip to wipe a bloody piece of glass off of his cheek, his brow furrowed in concern. His face was almost close enough for their noses to touch, eyes on Awsten's, and there was a pretty good chance that they could fucking die here, so Awsten leaned up to kiss him before he did something embarrassing like pass out from blood loss.
Jack’s lips responded easily, moving with Awsten’s as if they’d done this a thousand times before. It wasn’t helping with the dizziness or his deafening heart rate, but the nagging panic was ebbing with the rest of his slowing thoughts as he focused on Jack.
“Tell me more when we get back to camp,” Jack breathed as they separated.
“Yeah,” Awsten agreed lamely.
Jack grinned and led him back out the door, peeking around the corner. There was no gunfire now, the deathclaw distracted by the ghouls that lunged at its legs as it swiped at them and roared. Awsten looked away when it took one’s arm off, blood spraying over the others as the ghoul shrieked.
They kept to the shadows as they made their way out, Jack’s arm tight around Awsten’s waist. Who could blame Awsten for enjoying the welcome distraction a little more than professionally necessary?