A/N: Keeping this here for funsies.

Bite Me, Pretty Boy

Fire. He had to be on fire. How else could Clover describe the sensation of burning in his chest, radiating heat throughout his body? What else could be causing these pins and needles shooting up his spine other than searing flames? What else could be suffocating him from the inside out if it wasn't smoke?

He staggered backwards, blinking heavily, breathing harder. The alleyway was as pitch-black as it had been before he had gotten there, the slivers of the moon which had followed him into the narrow passage having left him behind a few paces earlier. From where he stood, he couldn't even see the neon lights of the clubs lining the street outside. Clover longed to go back to it, to enter the light once more.

Strangely enough, however, he couldn't make himself move.

He felt his heartrate rising, his breath emerging in desperate, pained gasps. A bolt of shooting heat lanced through his side and his hands flew up to grab it automatically; they came away wet, soaked with sticky liquid, the scent of iron tang filling the air.

Clover blinked. His hands looked black in the shadowy alleyway. Oh, he thought dimly, sound beginning to fade away in his ears as he finally lost balance, toppling onto his side. That's why.

The ground was cold. He felt like he was no longer in his body; it was with the vaguest awareness that he realized how the damp, mottled concrete tore up his cheek upon landing. Behind him, he could hear footsteps running away, echoing wetly down the alleyway while sirens screamed ever-closer in the distance.

They stabbed me.

Well. That hadn't been the plan.

That morning, everything had been fine. He had gone to work just like he did every day, his twelve-hour shift ending with little mishap. It had been busy, for sure- the closer it got to summertime, the more people were out and about, leaving Clover more than enough to do over his shift- but Clover never minded that their EMT car was constantly on the road. Clover had felt resigned acceptance as he realized that fireworks season was well on its way.

"We're gonna be dealing with a lot of idiots with burns and missing fingers soon," Harriet had groaned as she slid into the driver's seat that morning. The young woman had yawned despite having chugged down nearly a litre of coffee just moments before, adding, "Are you ready to deal with it?"

And Clover had grinned sliding into the seat beside her, because realistically, they both knew they'd rather deal with an increase in amputated fingers or burns rather than the usual calls they received on their pagers.

Still, the life as a paramedic kept Clover on his toes, and that day had been no different. He hadn't had to deal with any bodies that day. Amidst the one car crash the duo had had to attend that day, everyone involved had been able to walk away fairly unscathed, the most irritated one of them all being the towing company who had had to drag a three-car-pile wreckage apart after insurance photos were taken. There had been one call for a potential suicide, but the police had arrived before them and the duo had been forced to stand down in their ambulance.

Overall, not a bad day. At the end of it all, he had traded greetings with the next shift and clapped Marrow on the shoulder; Elm, another paramedic on Clover's shift, began to tell Clover about whatever silliness the Marrow had gotten up to with his partner the day before. "It was Fiona's fault!" Marrow had fumed, earning nothing but a smack on the back of his head from his partner and a laugh from Clover and Elm. The atmosphere around their dispatch point and main office had been peaceful as usual.

Clover had left in high spirits, ready to go home with a spring in his step despite the long workday. The moon was out, but with the tantalizing prospect of a 24-hour rest awaiting him, the moonlight was like a guiding beacon showing him the way home amidst the fluorescent streetlights. He had slipped in his headphones and tucked his hands into his jacket pockets, walking down the street confidently. I can go to the gym, since no one's ever there at this time. Well, except for that one uppity woman who worked in investigations at James' precinct; she always managed to find her way to his apartment complex's gym at the same time as Clover. But I can just avoid her. It's easy enough.

It was with that thought in mind that he had turned the corner on the main street near his apartment complex. The beauty of living so close to the city center was that he could always walk to and from the hospital. It was always faster to cut through the club district to get back home; the nightlife generally wasn't too terrible to deal with at that time of evening, so he had expected a peaceful return trip.

As he had entered a walkway lined with sultry neon lights and faintly booming music which shook the foundations of nearly every building he passed, Clover had heard it. For a moment, he had thought it to be just a random effect in the music he was listening to; taking out one headphone, he paused, focusing again on the empty street and pulsing air.

The sound had come again. Without music playing into his ears, the wailing scream- quickly cut off and muffled- was easily caught by Clover. He froze, trying to locate the sound. When the rattling of a metal bin rang out from an alleyway twenty feet away, Clover had pulled out his phone and sent a message to James immediately. If the older man was at the precinct at this hour, then he would be able to send someone to help.

For the moment, though, Clover couldn't abandon whoever was in the alley. That would have defeated the purpose of everything Clover worked for each day. He worked hard every day to keep the citizens safe, right?

So, he had stepped out of the finding a group of men cornering a young woman who was clearly too intoxicated to fight back. Her eyes, wide and shining and terrified, were the only lights in the otherwise inky darkness, the three figures surrounding her barely visible in the shadows.

Adrenaline had surged through his veins, numbing the fatigue filling his very bones. There was little satisfaction in knowing he managed to land a good punch on two of the men, throwing them off the woman. Perhaps there had been some use to being caught up in more than one brawl in university.

The third was the one who had caught him off guard, landing a strike in Clover's side that left him doubled over, gasping for air. While Clover struggled to regain his balance, the third man had begun to scrabble at the other two, dragging them away wide-eyed and slowly creating distance between themselves and Clover.

When he regained his balance, Clover had managed to help the young woman up. A tear-stained, snot-covered face wept back at him as she stumbled away, teetering on heels too high to be comfortable. Clover opened his mouth to call out to her; he had wanted to walk with her, to get her to a safe place until they could figure out where her assailants had gone. The very least he could do was wait for the police to arrive with her.

And then, he had fallen. It had gotten harder to breathe, the world dimming and the fire beginning to grow in his side.

The third assailant had stabbed him, and now, Clover was on the ground, bleeding out in a dark back alley, hidden away from the world. His vision began to grow dark, the outside edges of his view fading away, his eyes tunneling in to focus upon a singular point above him. I have to stay awake, he told himself over and over again, desperate to stay focused. His hand clutched his side weakly. I have to stay awake until James gets people here.

He could hear the sirens in the distance, but only vaguely. The entire world seemed to be underwater. He was losing too much blood, splayed out on the concrete. His entire body had begun to shiver, the evening chill penetrating that much farther into his bones as liquid continued to seep out of the wound in his side. If he didn't receive help soon…

The last thing he saw in his narrowed, tunneled vision was a flash of red, unnaturally bright in the darkness of the alleyway; and then, it was dark.