I don't own Left 4 Dead.
A/N: As I said before, I need reviews to keep my spirits up so people from Deviantart and that are reviewing, are awesome. Thank you people. And Keith fans, don't worry. I'm not planning on killing him anytime soon so you're all safe. XD
BTW, I looked it up, Ellis really has green eyes and Nick's eyes are gray and I got two of the same request so here's the poll.
Ellis/Nick romance: 2
Now you all take it from there. Seriously people. Talk to me, I listen. I don't bite.
Chapter 2: "I ever tell you the time Keith and I found this Stranger named Nick...?"
"Ur gunna wut?" Keith asked Ellis the second they got into the house. Ellis was having some difficulty carrying the taller man but he stubbornly refused any help Keith gave except for opening the doors and carrying the items that came with the strange man. Ellis shifted the weight in his arms, causing the unconscious man to groan.
"Well, he needs a bath and he can't do that unless he wakes up. And unless you want blood on any of the beds, that's fine by me. We used to have mud on the sheets after a day of cleaning the hogs on Dave's farm." He rambled. Keith scratched his head and shrugged. "Do whut you want. Blood is harder to get out than mud." He stated before going out the door. "Where you going?" Ellis asked, turning with difficulty to face the other mechanic.
Keith popped his head back in the doorway. "Ol' man Carl needs help cleanin' his barn and I offer ta' do it." was his answer as he gave a knowing grin, practically jumping with excitement. Ellis smiled. Old man Carl was the old man who used to hire Ellis and Keith to work on the farm before Keith found his stash of moonshine and fireworks. There was an early Fourth of July. Real early considering when that happened, it was in May. Keith had been burned all over and had to take another trip to the hospital to get patched up. Luckily, all Ellis got was more like a sun burn so he didn't have to stay there for a week like Keith had to. But the whole incident cost them a whole years pay just to pay off the damaged to the barn and the loss of Carl's moonshine and fireworks.
"Yeah, yeah, fine." Ellis relented with a wave of his head. "Hey, you stay away from his stash and Jenny." He ordered playfully. Jenny was Carl's nineteen year old daughter who also worked on vehicles and did stupid stunts like Keith and Ellis. It wasn't hard to notice that Keith had his eye on her. Speaking of Keith, the man only answered with a grin before hopping into his truck and driving away with a whoop. Ellis huffed at the fact that his friend had left the door opened so he hobbled over there and kicked it closed before heading of to the bathroom.
For once, Ellis was grateful that the bathroom was on ground floor. He didn't even want to imagine going up those steps with the man in his arms with how heavy he was. His boots clomping on the wood floors soon changed to a slap with the alteration of wood being replaced by tile as the mechanic reached the bathroom, slowly and gently setting the man on the floor closest to the bathtub before standing up and rubbing his arms to get feeling back in them. Once he was sure he could move them properly, he left the bathroom and ran to Keith's room to retrieve a shirt and pants, ignoring the underwear. Ellis was sure that the man he carried into the house wouldn't be all that happy to wear another man's underwear and since Keith was the bigger one between the two, it was the best idea to use his clothes until the man in the bathroom got some clean clothes for himself. Heading back down the stairs and into the bathroom, he arrived just in time to hear the man groan and move. The first move the stranger made was to rub his head before raising-or at least, trying to, to a sitting position but failed and would have cracked his head against the hard tile if Ellis hadn't jumped in and grabbed the man's head.
"You need to be careful. You're too weak to be moving and stuff." Ellis stated and lowered the man to the floor, catching the mans eyes. His eyes had to be the grayest pair of eyes he had seen. They looked like a thunderstorm cloud and they clashed with Ellis' green ones. The deeper the mechanic looked, the more familiar those eyes seemed to him. But he couldn't place the familiarity. He shook his head and set the dark haired man's head gently to the ground. "Now don't move." Ellis ordered nicely. "You'll hurt yourself." Then he got up, trying to ignore the painful stare the man was giving him.
"How is it that you're alive?" The stranger asked. Ellis cocked his head as he grabbed towels and a was rag from the cabinet over the toilet. 'That was a strange question.' Ellis thought and turned back the the man, with a confused face he asked: "Why wouldn't I be alive? I don't have a hit on me do I?" He clutched the towels to himself, teasing the man now. "I knew they'd find me one day. S'only a matter of time." After he said that, it was clear that the man on the floor was not amused because of the intense look he was sending. "That wasn't what I was asking. How did you survive the tank?"
Ellis blinked and set the towels on the sink before singling the shortest one out and used it for the floor towel to catch the water when he had to get the man out of the tub. "Tank?" He asked, starting the water, avoiding the man's eyes. "No tanks around here, or, not that I know of. The military mostly stays up north since the UFO incident that Keith pulled. Hey, You want to know about the time Keith and I found this UFO out in the woods but it ended up being a torn up ol' scarecrow-"
"Ellis!" The man interrupted. "I'm being serious here. How did you survive?! I saw you die when that car landed on you!" Ellis finally stood up from the tub, letting it fill with water, he turned to the man on the floor, rubbing his brown hair furiously. "Dang gun, you said my name again. How'd you know my name? I never gave it to ya'." the mechanic pointed a finger at the man covered in blood.
The said man looked as if he had been stricken. "Ellis, you did give it to me. Back in the elevator. It me, Nick. Remember?" Ellis felt his anger deflate a little at hearing the man-Nick's name. Now he knew what to call him. "Well, Nick. I ain't never been on one of them elecaters-"
"Elevators." Nick corrected and groaned as pain went through his body before easing out. "Whatever." Ellis waved the correction away. "Point is, I don't know you, but I do know one thing, you need a bath and a good long rest." Then the brunette put on a smile and lifted Nick to a sitting position, making a move to remove the conman's clothes. All to which, the guy protested, weakly trying to slap his hands away. "I can do it myself." Nick grumbled which caused Ellis to laugh but the mechanic at least got him out of the coat of the suit. Humoring the humiliated man, he dragged Nick to a nearby wall and let him lean against it.
"Fine. After all, you're just tired, not hurt. I'm sure you can do it by your onesie. Go on." Then he stood back, leaning against the sink, watching the other man. Nick scowled and made an attempt to raise an arm to the buttons of his shirt only to have them fall weakly back to his sides. He glared at his shirt and made another attempt but failed once again. After Nick's third try, Ellis felt he had to stop the man before he embarrassed himself. Getting off the sink, he went over and squatted down to Nick's level, staring at the grumbling man.
"Are you sure you don't need help?" He asked patiently as he watched Nick closely. Nick wasn't even making any eye contact with him, instead, choosing to look at the closed door in his frustration. Ellis watched as his face turned a slight shade of pink but the scowl never left his face. "Fine." Nick surrendered quietly, letting himself be dragged back to the tub and letting the rest of his clothes be removed with skilled hands that he never remembered Ellis having. After getting the man out of his clothes, to which he threw in the empty hamper behind the door, Ellis turned the fauset off and bent down to pick Nick up, only to once again get slapped away.
But Ellis wasn't going to back down easily. Taking Nick's face in one hand, he made the other man look at him in the eyes before asking kindly: "Do you really want to attempt to get into a tub that is higher than what you can stand now?" The answer was obvious and Nick knew it too. So the dark haired man shook his head and once again, allowed Ellis to move him from the floor and into the warm water of the tub. But before anything else, Ellis handed Nick the soap and wash rag. "Here." He said. "Wash your lower half. I'll get everything else. Lemme know when your done." Then he turned his back to sit on the toilet, facing away. Knowing that Nick was grateful for this bit of privacy, he couldn't stop the smile.
"So." He began, wanting to start a conversation with the once stranger. "What did you use to do?" He asked. He could hear the water splash and crinkle with Nick's movement. "Do?" he heard the older man ask as he continued to clean himself. Ellis nodded excitedly. "Yeah, ya' know. For a job?" There was a pause. Not even the water was making a sound. "I...em..." Nick's voice had gone raspy and thick as if struggling. "I was a gambler." finally was chocked out and he heard the water again but slower, as if Nick was waiting for a possible rejection.
But the news excited Ellis. He always wanted to play cards and do a little gambling. Not much but just some innocent little gambling, like for marbles instead of money. Ellis liked marbles. "Really? Cool! You know, I always wanted to know how to play cards. Can ya' teach me sometime?" He asked. There was another pause before he heard a deep chuckle. "Sure, kid."
Ellis was hopping on his seat now. "Whoooweee! I'd be very grateful! Keith would be so jealous that I'm gonna find out how ta' play before him. The only one around here that knows how to play is Carl and Jenny but they won't teach us. Said that we'd make ourselves go broke. Oh, I remember Keith and I one time went to ask Carl for the tenth time to teach us and he said that if we managed to collect the gophers eatin' his crops. Well, it wasn't easy so Keith figured that he'd need to dig them out, so he got Bobby J, the goat who was named by Jenny, she was weird about names, anyway, he got the goat and-"
"Done." Nick had interrupted hurriedly and Ellis turned around. "Already? But I didn't finish my story." He pouted but shrugged it off and got up and walked over to the tub, taking the rag from Nick's and and lathered the unused side with soap. The pink on Nick's face was evident that he didn't like being cleaned by another person. The thought made him chuckle. "Don't be ashamed. I had ta' do this for Keith loads of times considering that he's always going to the hospital for one stunt or another.
"Shut up." Nick had grumbled.
A/N: I hope you like chapter 2. Was it as good as the prologue and the first? R&R!