Time frame: Hard Rain
Rating: M for language and m/m
Relationships established: [Secret] Nellis
Description: A moment shared during first aid treatment.
(NOTE: This chapter takes place directly after my other story, Payback. If you haven't read it, do so, unless you are fine with the summary, "Ellis blows Nick in the safehouse.")
Despite Nick's immediate fear of being discovered, Ellis kept his word and did not say a thing regarding what happened between them. Not to Coach, not to Rochelle. Hell, he didn't even bring it up with Nick when they were going someplace just the two of them. Aside from a new little half-smirk Ellis would give him, he acted completely as though nothing happened at all. They still talked without an elephant in the room, he still told his stories, still got jumped on by specials all the time, and time went on.
That rain never did let up. Though it took a significant amount of time at any given area the group tried escaping from, the rain made this trip the most difficult. Because of the flooding and the cold, it took four days to get from the cane field to the fuel, and in the morning they would have to go back the way they came and make a second trek through the field that almost ended one of them.
These last few days kicked everyone's asses. All the water seemed to make the witches come out of the woodworks and it seemed like no amount of first aid lasted very long. The group stayed held up in the safehouse; a gray concrete thing that would have already been cold without everyone drenched to the bone in rain water.
"What in God's green made you provoke that witch, you crazy asshole?" Ellis nagged.
He and Nick were in the tiny upstairs bathroom while Coach and Rochelle had the whole downstairs. They took to providing first aid in groups of two, and Ro usually found herself paired up with Coach anyway. She seemed to have no problem trusting him.
At that moment, the younger man was helping Nick out of his bloodstained suit jacket and blue shirt. His clothes were soaked in blood on the left side and once he was bare above the waist, the source of all the blood was apparent. Along his left ribcage were four deep gashes, as well as another three on the back of his left forearm. The witch took a swipe at him before he caught her. His attempt at killing her with a single shot to the head did not go as planned and he found himself on the ground, desperately trying to hold her hands away while Coach and Ellis took turns bashing her over the head with cast iron pans.
"I thought I had the shot." Nick answered, wincing as an alcohol-soaked rag was pressed into the wounds on his side.
Red-tinged alcohol dripped into his pant leg, further ruining his outfit. He sighed at this but was in enough pain that complaining seemed like it took too much energy.
"Well, you obviously didn't have the damn shot." Ellis started.
"Yeah, I see that, now. You planning on nagging me to death to finish the job for her?" Nick was in no mood.
"It just wasn't a risk you needed to take, man." He didn't say anything else as he continued to clean and bandage Nick's wounds.
His gentleness was nothing short of amazing. Having an open wound cleaned usually ended in agony, but something about the way that Ellis took his time made first aid a little more tolerable. Nick imagined that he probably had a good deal of practice patching up that buddy of his, the one that was always getting mangled.
"That should hold til morning. I'll put clean bandages on when the bleeding stops." He said quietly after securing the last piece of tape in place on Nick's arm.
"Uh huh, your turn, now." He replied.
The southerner pulled off his dirty bullshifters shirt and dropped it on the floor next to the pile of Nick's clothes before turning his back on his companion and bracing himself on the sink.
He'd had a run in with a Charger earlier that day. He'd been drawing it away from the second witch of the day so as not to startle her when it picked him up and brutally slammed him against a building, shattering a window in the process. His entire back was one large bruise, already becoming an angry purple, and it spread to his right arm from shoulder to elbow. One eye was also swollen shut from when the Charger dropped him on his head after Rochelle shot it.
"Damn." Nick muttered. He examined the bruising and aside from a gash on the other's lower back, there was not much for him to treat. This must have happened when the window broke.
"Hey, Deliverance, you didn't notice the goddamn hunk of glass in your back earlier?" He asked, pulling it from the wound slowly, causing the younger man's muscular back to flex in pain.
"No, something back there hurt but I didn't know it was a piece of glass." He answered, obviously wincing, waiting for Nick to finish bandaging as the two remained in silence.
When at last the wound was covered, Nick stood up to admire his handy-work, placing his hands on the younger man's shoulders.
He was close, Ellis could feel Nick's breath and sense that he was only a tiptoe away. His palms slid down the southerner's flexed arms until he reached the wrists and traveled back up to grip Ellis' biceps, using this open moment to press against the younger man's back. Ellis' breath hitched when he felt something warm brush against his neck. It was a barely there touch, but he was sure that he felt something. It made butterflies rise in his stomach when it happened again. A kiss. It was Nick's mouth exploring the tight cords of muscle of his neck and shoulders. With each kiss, Ellis wanted more and more not to move, not to even breathe for fear of spooking Nick and putting an end to what was happening, this sudden warmth and tenderness between them.
This was not like Nick. He was not a gentle guy, not romantic either. Of course he'd been in relationships, some were even 'serious' relationships and he wasn't violent with women, but he'd always been far from sweet. His idea of romance was always a fast, frenzied romp in a public place. Now he was pressing into another man's body, feeling that man's heart beat while he wrapped his arms tight about a narrow waist.
"Nick..." Ellis finally whispered after what felt like a long time, "you kissin me?"
"Shut up." Was the answer he got before the older man nipped at the helix of his ear. "I've been thinking about doing this since you blew me."
Ellis placed his right hand over top of Nick's, leaving one hand to continue bracing himself against the sink.
"What happened to that being a one time thing?" He asked, not wanting to get his hopes up about something happening between them again if Nick were to come to his senses anyway.
"Well, fine. Correction, this is only happening twice. Happy?" Nick snapped.
"Yep." Ellis replied as Nick turned him to where they were facing one another and pressed the younger man's back against the closed door.
He took a moment to gaze at this gorgeous boy's body before saying fuck it in his own mind and connecting their mouths again. This time it was Nick's choice to kiss Ellis. He didn't have to, he wasn't surprised into it. He wanted to do it, and he would have to make up some excuse to satisfy himself later. He'd say he was desperate as hell. Right now, it felt good and he didn't care.
The kiss deepened, just like it did before, except both parties were actively participating. Both pairs of hands roamed over bare skin, fingers combed through sweaty hair. Mouths panted and pressed and angled as tongues lapped at one another. The kiss became rushed and needy and Nick broke off for air before attacking Ellis' neck again. With his head light from arousal, his hand cupped between the younger man's legs without a second thought.
"Whoa, hey." Ellis straightened up, pushing his companion's hand away.
"Too far?" Nick asked, snapped out of momentary bliss.
"Nick, are you sure you wanna do this?" Ellis asked with pleading eyes. Aside from the encounter the two of them had, Ellis had been without sexual contact for nearly a year. He wanted this, wanted Nick at that moment almost as much as he wanted to be rescued. He had to know for sure, had to know that this was actually going to happen before arousal became too peaked and Nick decided to leave.
"Yeah, I guess. It's only fair. You touched mine a week ago so..."
"You don't gotta do this because you feel like-"
"Goddamn it, Ellis." Nick cut him off before kissing him again. His hands pinned the younger man against the door as he continued to press against him, kissing from his mouth to his unbruised shoulder, rutting his crotch against the rapidly hardening one in front of him.
"NICK!" Rochelle's voice called from downstairs. The older man immediately shoved away from the younger and they both busily rearranged themselves and put their clothes back on.
"Later tonight, when I'm on watch. Come see me." Nick whispered, sealing his words with one more kiss before heading downstairs.