"Of all the people I could've gotten stuck in an elevator with," Jake complained. "It just had to be you."
Ezekiel glared at the other man from his seat in the corner of the elevator, arms and legs crossed as he scowled. Like a petulant toddler forced to sit in time out. They'd gotten away from the bad guys trying to kill him, but then the power in the whole town had freaked out.
"I'm just as happy about this situation as you are." He snapped angrily. Trust Jake to take a bad situation and make it worse just because Ezekiel had taken some time out of his mission to acquire some new jewelry. It hadn't even taken that long, god...but Jake had been on a rollercoaster righteous indignation ever since. Why did the clippings book keep sending them on missions together? Ezekiel was seriously started to doubt the sanity of all these inanimate objects and buildings. The Library must be crazy, it had chosen him, right?
"Oh, i'm sure you are. After all, you love wasting time!" Jake guffawed, in the most condescending, sarcastic voice he'd ever heard from the other man. Which was saying something.
Ezekiel's irritation and unhappiness skyrocketed to a climax, and he shot up with them. "Look here, mate-" He started to shout in response, but before he could carry on, pain caught up with him, and he doubled over, sliding down the wall in a slump as the world started to spin. Jake, anger forgotten, dove forward in concern. He grabbed onto Ezekiel's shoulder, kneeling beside the other man and trying to figure out what was wrong. Ezekiel's arm was around his stomach, and his eyes were clenched closed.
Jake reached down, and pulled Ezekiel's arm away before the other man could come back to himself. The dark red he saw staining Ezekiel's stomach made his eyes widen.
"Why the hell are you bleeding?!" Jake exclaimed. Ezekiel huffed, as Jake maneuvered to lay the other man onto his back.
"Got shot. But it's just a flesh wound, didn't hit anything major." Ezekiel gritted out, wincing as jake pull his shirt up to inspect the bloody wound in his side. Jake's terrified eyes flicked up from the bullet hole to the man's face.
"How the fuck would you know that?" He demanded in disbelief.
"I was in the MI6, remember? Not the first time i've been shot." Ezekiel snapped, trying to push Jake's hands away. Jake pushed his hands back, and gave him a stern look. Ezekiel fell still, conceding silently. Then Jake ripped off his jacket, and wadded it into a ball.
"I've gotta stem the bleeding. This is going to hurt. Maybe you should-" Jake started to look around, for something for Ezekiel to bite down on.
"Just fucking do it already!" Ezekiel, uncharacteristically.
"Okay, okay, fuck!" Jake pressed the wadded jacket onto the wound, then hesitated. Ezekiel was already pale, and sweat beaded his forehead. The pain and the shock wasn't going to help him, but Jake needed to put pressure on the wound, and he had no idea how long it would take anyone to find them…
"Cowboy, I swear to god, if you don't-" Ezekiel started to hiss in impatient fear, but was cut off when Jake leaned forward to press their mouths together. Just as Jake started to kiss Ezekiel, he started to push all his weight down onto the wound, hoping the moment of surprise would help distance the pain. It seemed to work - Ezekiel tensed, jerking slightly at the pain, before relaxing. A slight groan rumbled between their lips, before Jake went to pull away. The job was done, after all. It had worked. And now Ezekiel was probably going to be pissed at him for kissing him -
Or at least, that's what he thought. Before he could move more than a centimeter away, Ezekiel's hand was at the back of his neck, pulling him back down. Jake went, his turn to be surprised as their lips started to move together. Ezekiel kissed him with more passion than Jake was used to seeing from the other man, and Jake had to take a minute to make sure he wasn't forgetting to keep pressure on the wound.
When they finally pulled away for good, Ezekiel had a bit of color in his face again, but looked even more haggard than before. His eyes stared quizzically up at Jake.
"You better have meant that, Cowboy." Ezekiel said weakly. "I don't like being misguided."
"I meant it." Jake heard himself respond, in a hoarse voice. Ezekiel let his exhausted eyes fall closed in a moment of acceptance.
"Good. 'Cause I really did."