RAWR! Up at 6:45 AM and nothing to do...my sleep schedule is all outta whack. HA! Watching Tom and Jerry, what now! ...Eh...yeah...this is what happens when I've been up all night...I had nothing else to do (and I'm waiting on the Jell-O I'm making to get done, lol), so I decided that I'd better put my time to use. I was gonna play L4D2 or Modern Warfare 2, but I realized that its a little too early for me to be screaming about getting beat up by zombies or killed by my own grenade, lol.
Random: Hm...If you ever noticed, Fanfiction/LiveJounral/DeviantART hosts more Nick/Ellis fanfics then Ellis/Zoey or Nick/Rochelle. Kinda makes you realize which fanbase is bigger. Take that VALVe! Hurrah!
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Rochelle had finally given into sleep and Coach had snoozed off long ago. Ellis lie in the floor beside the now-exhausted Nick, clinging to the bloody, once white blazer. The claw marks were all sewed up and the bleeding long stopped. But he was still pale, his lips a light violet, from all the blood loss. Nick had guarenteed him many times that he was going to be alright. He took his word for it.
"Nick?" Ellis found himself reluctantly calling out.
The conman opened his eyes slowly and peered down at him. He really did look exhausted, his eyes half-lidded and pale purple crescents under them. Ellis knew he shouldn't have been bothering him. "What?" Nick replied wearily.
Ellis hesitated a couple of seconds, pursing his lips. He finally spoke. "I'm really sorry 'bout the whole bridge thing."
Nick supressed the urge to groan. He knew that sometimes or later in the night, Ellis would bring this up. He should'v just pretended rhat he was asleep. "Yeah." Was all he said. He toyed with the cuffs on his dress shirt, distracting his eyes from Ellis.
"No, really. I am." Ellis urged on, trying to get a proper response from Nick. Nick murmured a "Mm-hmm" and remained unresponsive. Ellis sighed in annoyance. "Why won'tchu talk to me anymore?"
"I have no clue what you're talking about." Nick replied quickly and nonchalantly.
Ellis rolled his eyes, despite how bad he was feeling. "You won't talk to me. You won't walk beside me, anymore. You won't even look at me."
Nick tilted his head back against the wall and graoned, closing his eyes. "Can we let this drop?"
"No." Ellis said stubbornly. "I wanna know what the hell's your problem. I apologized and you're still actin' like an ass."
Nick almost - almost- smiled at Ellis' being angry with him. Now that was rare. He wished he could get a reaction like this out of the kid more. For once, he was acting like a normal human being towards Nick. "I'm an asshole. Did you know that? Not many people do." He joked sarcastically.
"I'm bein' serious, Nick!" Ellis snapped out. He tried pushing himself up on his elbows, struggling against the searing pain in his chest. He clecnhed his teeth and hissed in pain as he felt his stitches being pulled.
"Dumb-shit!" Nick pushed him back down on the floor. "Keep moving like that, and you're going to tear your stitches. And I am not going to go through that again."
Ellis glared up at him. "Tell me why."
"Just let it fucking go, Ellis. Goddamn..." Nick went to get up and move to a different spot, but Ellis grabbed his arm, his fingers digging in roughly. "Ow, damnit!"
"No, you're staying here." Ellis ground out stiffly. "And you're gonna apologize."
"You're not my fucking mother." Nick protested, pulling against Ellis' grip. It suprised him how much strength the kid still had, even with all that blood loss. "Let go."
"No."
"You better fucking let go."
"Make me."
"Overalls-"
"Apologize."
"I'm not apologizing you damn hick!" Nick jerked his arm out of Ellis' grip roughly. "Goddamn! Things happen y'know? Fucks come and go. And dammnit, Ellis, it's just not going to happen between us, okay?" He rubbed his arm, trying to sooth the burn of Ellis' grip.
If Ellis looked angry before, now he looked completely horrified. He let his hand drop slowly back to his side, completely defeated. The silence grew thick and uneasy between them.
It was only when Nick heard Ellis' teeth chattering did he look at the mechanic again. And, of course, he was shivering, his ruined blazer offering almost no warmth.
He always had a soft spot for Ellis. It was something he couldn't really deny the kid.
He dropped down beside him on the floor and scooted in close, earning a gasp. He pulled Ellis into an embrace, resting his head on the crook of Ellis' neck.
"Nick, what're y-"
"Shut up. I think me and you have fought enough tonight..." Nick felt arms hesitantly return the gesture and Ellis' frame settle in against his. "Jesus Christ, you're freezing."
Ellis was still shivering. "Didn't want to bother you."
"You couldn've at least hinted it."
Ellis smiled, knowing Nick wouldn't be able to see it. He turned his lips onto his neck, whispering. "I knew you cared."
"Do-fucking-not."
Ellis already expected him to say something like that. He merely brushed it off, knowing it was one of the conman empty insults. "Whatever." He snuggled closer into him, his fingers gripping the blue material of his dress-shirt.
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"Awwwww, aren't you two just the cutest..."
Nick's eyes shot open and he was met with the amused face of Rochelle and the slightly put-off face of Coach. "What the fuck..."
Ellis was sleeping contently and happily against him, arms wrapped all about his torso. Coach shook his head at Nick. "I've seen some things in my life, but son-"
"Shut up." Nick snapped at him. "He got cold." He disengaged himself from Ellis and shook the mechanic awake.
Ellis awoke with a startled shake. "W-What's goin' on!" And went to jerk himself up, but hissed at the sudden pain in his shoulder. Nick helped himself up to his feet slowly.
"Nothin'. It's time to go, son. Got a lot of ground to cover today since we had to stop last night." Coach answered. The burly man strapped a health-pack to his back and reloaded his rifle.
"Aw, shit...sorry 'bout that guys." Ellis retrieved his Bull-Shifters shirt and eased his over his head, using careful movements. "I really shouldn't have got us into this mess."
"It's alright, sweety. We're just glad you're okay." Rochelle sent him that warm, familiar smile and he instantly felt okay again.
"The Tunnel of Love! Jesus Christ...you're kidding me." Nick complained loudly whenever he opened the saferoom exit.
"Yeah. Where the hell did you think we were, boy?" It was Coach's voice.
"What the hell is going on here..." Nick whispered to himself and then started muttering curses about karma and luck and his ex-wife.
"Come on, y'all. We gotta get movin' if we wanna get to another saferoom before nightfall." Coach walked out the saferoom, leading as he always did. Rochelle trailed behind him, still gigling here and there. Nick walked beside Ellis, falling into their usual formation. "Okay, guys...no smoochin' now."
Nick clenched his teeth in annoyance while Rochelle busted out into laughter. Nick unclenched his teeth and instead took to insulting the burly man back. "Bring back any memories, Coach? You...a cheeseburger...romance in the air..." If Rochelle was laughing then, she was all out having an attack of giggles now. She held her side, rasping for air.
"Get'cho ass movin' Nick." Coach replied bitterly. Nick smiled, victorious.
The Tunnel was desolate. Swan boats still lingered along the tunnel, water pipes were busted and of course, there were infected. Bu the limited space gave the advantage to the survivors, so killing them was no problem. There were no ledges for Smokers to work from and the low ceiling kept most of the Hunter's at bay.
At one point, they had to take crawling through a vent to get around. Nick had jokingly said aloud that it wasn't very romantic, earning another laugh from Rochelle and a blush from Ellis. Coach grimaced.
"Into the Swan Maintainence Room of LOVE!" Ellis had yelled out comically. It earned the attention of the nearby infected and they tried to swarm him, but Nick defended the senselss -that'd what he thought he was- mechanic from them with his shotgun.
"Keep yelling, idiot. You're doing a good job attracting uneeded attention." He smashed a zombie over the head with the butt of his shotgun, its skull sinking in.
"Sorry 'bout that." He apologized meekly.
Nick sighed. "It's nothing, overalls." He patted him easily on the shoulder before walking away.
Rochelle smiled happily at them. "I don't know what happened to make them make up, but I'm glad they're past whatever was going on between them."
"Speak for yourself, girl." Coach disagreed. "I think it was better with all the quiet."
Rochelle laughed at him, knowing that it was just Coach's upbringing that made him the way he was.
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"Looks like we're gonna have to run the coaster to get across."
Coach observed the tracks, standing at the entrance to the ride. Ellis turned towards him, mouth agape and eyes wide.
"We're...gonna have to run...the COASTER? ...This is the best day of my life! It's like...Christmas..." He stood, beaming at the roller coaster like a child.
Nick actually let out an amused laugh. "How old ar you again?"
"Twenty-three." Ellis answered him matter-of-factly.
"Really?" Nick mused. "I thought you were five."
"Hey!" Ellis yelled, offended.
"Boys, boys! We gotta get movin'!" Coach yelled at them both. He'd already activated the coaster and soon, it zoomed by them, climbing the hills. The gates opened and Coach signaled for them to run as fast as they could. The loud alarm that was going off attracted a hrde, a large one at that. Every infected in the amusement park was making their way to their position.
They were now going up their second hill. Rochelle heard a smoker cough in the distance and alerted everyone of its presence. She saw the green smoke floating behind a sign on one of the upper levels, but couldn't get a good aim at the smoker.
"Thank god this doesn't do a loop." Nick spoke in a low voice to Ellis. They slid cautiously down the coaster's hill and landed safely at the bottom. Rochelle was about to follow suit whenever a slimy, pink tongue wrapped around her body.
"Coach!" She muffled out to him. Her arms were constricted, so she couldn't grab onto anything to stop the smoker's advance. Coach, who was at the bottom of the coaster hill, turned and saw Rochelle dangling dangerously over the side of the tracks.
"RO!" He called out to her. He ran back around the tracks, heading for the ladder on the side of the tracks.
"Hey, where are you going?" Nick called out to him.
"To get Ro! Turn that goddamned alarm off, y'all!" He yelled back. He pushed his way through the horde and made his way to the ladder. "Go!"
Nick started to back away while Ellis stood and watched fearfully after his teammate. He felt Nick tug on his hand. "Overalls, let's go. You heard what he told us."
Ellis turned and nodded at him quickly, eyes full of worry.
They ran up another hill and through a small tunnel, holdig back what infected clawed after them. The control station was now in sight and Nick made a A-Line straight for it. Ellis trailed closely behind him, gripping the stained material of his blazer as to not get seperated again.
Nick reached the switch and turned the alarm off. The horde stopped coming, but the nearby zombies were still lingering. Ellis turned to look for Coach and Rochelle and saw that Coach had reached her now. He shot the smoker and caught her small, petite frame before it could tumble to the ground below.
Nick and Ellis covered him while he made his way back to them, Rochelle slung over his broad shoulder.
"Thank god..." Ellis breathed out in relief once he saw that his teammates were okay.
They hurried into the saferoom, shutting the door and locking the remaining zombies out. Nick shot the few remaining from inside the saferoom. Coach laid Rochelle's unconcious form on the floor. A purple ring was already making its way around her neck and he was pretty sure that her ribs were probably bruised from the force of the smoker's tongue.
Nick backed to where Ellis was and they both sunk down the side of the wall at the same time with a shaky breath. Ellis turned to smile at Nick, still trying to catch his breath. "Close one, there."
"Fuck yeah." Nick breathed back. He grabbed the mechanic's hand and laced his fingers in with his, grateful for the closeness he shared with the kid. It made the moment all too much better to know that he still had someone to hold onto.
Of cours he'd never admit that out loud and still doubted whether or not it was good thing to be in love with someone like Ellis, but decided that now just wasn't the time to be thinking about that.
He relished in this moment, wanting to make it last as long as he could.
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Hmmm...is this the longest chapter I've done for this story...?
Yeah...I'm pretty sure it is...
Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever) by MUSE is my official NickxEllis song for now...BUT I FUCKING HATE TWILIGHT! So don't think just because thats my NickxEllis song that I'm gonna be taking anything from that piece of shit movie/book.
LISTEN TO IT, Y'ALL! Oh, and please review.