Sooo, here we have my AU-first. Let's see if you guys like it ;)


Shifting his stance, Phil yawned heartily and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He hated waiting. And he would have to wait for at least another ten minutes or rather six indecisive people long. So maybe the at least ten minutes would rather be at least twenty minutes. How complicated could it be to tell the lady behind the desk how much cash one wants to draw from the account? A difficult task to perform. Obviously.

The yawn trailed off to a resigned sigh as Phil's eyes found back to the line of people at his right. So much time wasted on waiting…

His gaze wandered along those people, towards the desks and his eyes stopped their travel as they found red hair. For the third time now. Somehow this nicely copper tinged hair was a nice distraction from the boredom. Red hair and broad shoulders was all he'd been able to make out. Well, that and the fact that the guy was quite tall. And he was actually a lucky guy, because this very moment it was his turn to… get some money. Or whatever.

Just as he wanted to wrench his eyes away from the redhead, there was a shift in the lines, giving him a free view on that person of interest.

Oh. The first thing that crossed his mind. Oh, wow. His second thought. Hello, handsome. His third thought. This guy looked too goddamn good and he knew what he wanted, obviously, because unlike all those other people it had taken him less than two minutes at the desk a now Phil wished he would just keep standing there a little longer. Only a few minutes, so he could gaze a little longer at the redhead.

But instead the redhead stepped between the lines and made his way towards the exit. He would pass Phil on his way out and Phil was torn between letting the chance pass or ask him out for a coffee. But how good were the chances that an eye-candy like this guy, who actually also was just the perfect height with perfect broad shoulders was interested in men?

And all those thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the redhead looked up and directly at him and because he wasn't a pubescent thirteen year old, Phil covered his surprise with a small smile. The smile he got in response wasn't one of those forced polite ones, but a real and nice one. Small and sweet. Sweet enough actually to make the redhead's eyes sparkle.

Jeebus, he thought, and if there had ever been a real doubt about if he should try his luck or not, that doubt was wiped away in a blink, because such a chance didn't come along every day. Or rather a guy like him. But… just as the redhead was passing him, Phil found himself unable to speak and fuck, for no apparent reason he felt a certain heat rise…

And then the world around him exploded in chaos.

Within a split second the air around him was filled with the sound of gunshots and screams and the last thing he knew before his world blacked out, along with a dull pain in his head, was that he was being shoved to the side and a massive impact, wiping him from his feet…

Dimmed sounds reached his brain, before he came round fully, but emerging from the blackness brought reality along. With a groan he tried to roll onto his side, while screams, loud voices and sobs, pained moans and wails rained down on him, but he couldn't move. Something heavy pinned him to the ground. The time until his dizzy mind caught up with the situation seemed to be endless but was nothing more than a couple of seconds.

The very moment he opened his eyes, he wished he just wouldn't have woken up. He was lying on his back and when he took a look to the side, he eyes found… motionless bodies lying in growing puddles of blood between panicked and scared people. The hall was a picture of destruction with holes in the wooden desks, shattered glass dividers and torn paper scattered all over the floor. And masked men, standing between shivering women and men, holding guns in hands. Like in a fucking bad movie. Only that this wasn't a movie…

A cold grip closed around his heart and panic ripped at his insides. This… this was a goddamn bank robbery…

For a long second he couldn't breathe, before his breathing suddenly sped up, coming close to hyperventilating as the panic in him grew and he tried to crawl backwards, but the weight was still pinning him down. Finally looking down on himself to see what was keeping him glued to the floor, he could only stare for a long moment. Red hair. Broad shoulders. Lying half on top of him, sprawled over his legs. Phil blinked once. The other man's head was resting on his belly. Phil blinked again, slowly. The way the redhead was lying there, on his back, as if… as if he… had… shielded him? Blood was trickling from a gash on the other man's forehead and it was now that he realized that… there was no movement, too. There was no hint that the man was alive. Bringing a hand to the redheads neck, his fingers felt around to find a pulse, but he couldn't feel a heartbeat under his digits. There was nothing, there was…

… there was the faintest beating of a heart.

The sigh of relief that wanted to escape his throat got stuck in it as a muzzle appeared in his view, pointing at him. His heart sank and with a pang a queasy feeling flooded him.

"Move your ass to the back of the hall," a sharp voice barked and when Phil didn't react, the muzzle was pressed against his forehead. "Move!"

This can't be happening, he whispered in his mind, not daring to think louder as the cold metal stayed pressed against his skin.

Closing his eyes, he tried to wiggle out from under the heavy body. Eventually he felt the weight slip from his legs and the frightening feeling of the gun against his head vanish and with it his eyes opened again, dropping to the redhead's face. Bloody. Like dead. But there was still a pulse. He'd felt it. And then his eyes wandered to the other man's belly as he noticed a big, wet and crimson spot on the white shirt.

Fuck.

Automatically his hands slipped under the redhead's shoulders to drag him with him to the back of the hall, as the muzzle was pressed against his temple.

"Move. Your. Ass."

The words were hissed, making his skin crawl.

"Please, I just want to…"

He swallowed hard as the metal dug deeper into his skin.

"He's dead. And if you don't want me to blow your brain out, you should move you ass over there! Now!"

He felt a certain dizziness, maybe because he wasn't breathing. Or was he? He wasn't sure. The gun that was poiting at his head got all his attention.

"He's alive and I'll take him with me."

The gun was being pressed even harder against his temple, hard enough the force his head a bit to the side. He waited for the bang of the shot. But nothing happened.

Fuck, what the fuck am I doing here?! They'll fucking shoot me! His nostrils flared as he tried to draw in some air. His eyes… were fixed on the constantly growing bloody spot on the shirt. He took the bullet for me. I can't let him lie here to die alone. Fuck, I can't let him die.

"He's still alive," Phil whispered and he did his best not to flinch as someone stepped up beside the gunman, testingly kicking the redhead into the ribs.

There was no reaction from the unconscious man and Phil felt anger rise for having to watch the bastard do this, but he didn't dare looking up though. He was angry. But he was also scared as hell.

"Stop toying, man. Either shoot him or not. We don't have time for your personal fun," the newcomer muttered to his masked colleague, before turning around to leave again.

The muzzle was pressed even harder against his temple if possible, before it was drawn back. A soundless ohgodthankyou passed his lips. And the red spot was still growing. Too fast.

"Today is your lucky day, motherfucker," the gunman hissed once more. "Make sure he keeps quiet or I'll take care of him. And you."

Tightening his hold on the redhead, Phil gave a curt nod and began to drag the heavy body towards the far end of the room. From the corner of his eye he noticed other customers and employees already sitting there, some more were still walking towards the sitting group. A shove against his shoulder indicated him to sit down. He did sit down, carefully easing the still unconscious man to the floor. And then the gunman walked off without another word.

For a minute, maybe two… he had no idea how long. Phil just sat there, staring at the lifeless face, feeling like throwing up… praying that this was just a nightmare and that he would wake up any second. But it wasn't a nightmare. This all was real.

It was a tiny twitch on the other man's face that shook him out of his thoughts and it reminded him that he needed to stop the bleeding, and so he slipped out of his hoodie jacket and leaned back against a desk, before pulling the still motionless body up until the redhead sat between his legs, resting against his chest. Carefully Phil pulled the bloody shirt up a bit. And once more he wanted to throw up. He wasn't a fucking doctor, but he didn't need to be one to know that this was bad. His hand wandered around to the back, searching for an exit wound. There was none. The gash on the forehead wasn't bleeding much, but it was close to the left eye and it had already begun to swell visibly.

Two bullets. This man had taken two bullets for him. Or rather one and the second bullet had grazed his forehead, had almost killed him. If the bullet had hit his head from a different angle, it wouldn't have left only a graze.

Bringing a hand up to the redhead's mouth, he covered is neatly… and pressed the jacket onto the belly wound and the groan of pain that followed got muffled by Phil's hand. Weak fingers clawed at Phil's legs, his arm.

"Sssh, I know it hurts, but you need to be quiet or they'll shoot us," Phil whispered close to the other man's ear.

The clawing stopped then and the hands slipped down to Phil's legs, where they came to lie almost as lifelessly as before. Almost. But Phil felt those hands tremble. Hesitantly he took his own hand away from the other man's mouth, sighed inaudibly as the only thing that passed the redhead's lips was a shuddering breath as the broad chest rose and fell in an unsteady, shallow rhythm.

The room had fallen more or less quiet around them, only disturbed by quiet sobbing and the sickening moans of injured persons. From where he sat, he could count six masked and armed men, three of them watching the group of hostages, while one man stood safely shielded by a big stone column, staring out through the big glass front. The other two men were standing close to him, also safely shielded by a columns and a massive wooden desk. And the faint sound of sirens indicated that cavalry was already arriving.

"Are yer… okay?"

The words were nothing more than a breath and it took Phil a second to process them.

"Yeah, thanks to you," he whispered back, gazing down at a strained and much too pale face and carefully he wiped a thin sheen of sweat from the other man's forehead. "You pushed me out of the way, didn't you?" There was a twitch around the other man's lips, a shadow of a smile, but it was gone as fast as it had come. So Phil had guessed right. And it made him feel deeply guilty. "Is saving other people's life your hobby?"

Another tiny twitch. This time the barely there smile stayed a bit longer.

"Me job… habit… I guess."

"Your job? What…" Phil began, but the whisper trailed off to a nothing as he noticed his personal gunman walk past them, pointing the gun at them.

"I'm… I'm a cop," the redhead breathed as the man was out of earshot.

"Well, we should keep that to ourselves, I guess."

The answer was a weak snort that dropped to a shaky breath and Phil was glad that the sounds around them were still loud enough to cover their whispering. The other man's head rolled against his shoulder until a clammy forehead rested against his chin. The copper tinged hair tickled his skin. A nice feeling in the midst of a disastrous situation.

"What's yer… name…?"

The hands which were still lying on his legs were still trembling, maybe even more than before and in a dark corner of his mind Phil wondered how long the other man would hang on… if he would get out of this alive. He hoped it.

Gently blanketing a trembling hand with his own free one, he replied: "Phil. Yours?"

"Stephen…"

The trembling eased a little under his touch.

"Thanks for saving my life, Stephen," he murmured, getting a barely audible yeah in response. He had no idea why, maybe because he was really attracted to Stephen and was even more worried about his condition, but he added: "Promise me that you hang on until a doc can fix you up, okay? I can't ask you out for a coffee if you die in here."

For a long moment nothing happened and Phil thought that there was a chance that it had been a mistake to say it, that Stephen might be disgusted or whatever by the thought of being asked out by a guy, but even if it made him stay alive only to get away from him, Phil was fine with it.

Eventually Stephen whispered: "Yer… want to ask me out… for a coffee?"

The hand under Phil's wasn't pulled away. Either it was a good sign or Stephen was simply too weak. Phil decided to take it as a good sign.

"Not the time to be homophobic, Stephen."

Again a weak snort.

"Not homophobic… but I'd prefer… a beer." Phil was about to give a teasing reply about cops and beer, as Stephen's hand moved under his, turning palm up to close around his in a surprisingly tight hold, before he said: "I'm scared."

Stephen was tall, all muscles and he was tough looking cop. A guy you thought would barely be scared of anything. Phil would have been surprised if Stephen wouldn't have been scared, still… to hear it… was somehow shocking. Yet it also made him feel a bit better. And once more he felt guilty.

Gently tightening his own hold on Stephen's hand, he murmured: "I know. I'm, too. But we…"

He fell silent as he felt Stephen tense up, as he heard him mutter a fuck.

"What?"

"Tha guy…" Stephen whispered and Phil looked up to scan the room, finding his personal gunman standing there with a wallet in his hands, staring back at them. "Tha's… my wallet… with my badge…"

It took a second until the words sank into Phil's brain, causing his heart to trip as he understood what Stephen meant. A cold shiver ran down his spine.

Fuck.


A review or two will be greatly appreciated :)