Chapter Thirteen

Worth the Risk

The first thing Sousuke realised when he regained consciousness was that he was in pain. And that someone or something was prodding around in his shoulder, an awful feeling of something being inside his damn skin. He was on his front, he figured that much out, and his face was buried in a pillow that smelt of sex and sweat. And Makoto.

Then he remembered…

"Makoto…" he whispered and tried to move, tried to push himself up but he felt an insistent hand on the small of his back forcing him back towards the bed.

"Stay where you are, idiot." He turned his head to see a familiar face, Rin with his eyes furrowed in concentration. "Unless you want to bleed more…"

"But-"

He made another motion to get up and Rin made a noise low in his throat. "Calm down and let me get this damn bullet outta you. Then we talk plan, okay?"

It wasn't much of a relief but Sousuke nodded his head and then let his cheek rest against the soft pillow as Rin made a "tsk" noise, returning to poking around in his shoulder. Yeah, it hurt, Sousuke knew that but it didn't hurt as much as the feeling in his stomach and chest due to the definitive realisation that he had not protected Makoto.

Sousuke closed his eyes and remembered the helplessness of watching Makoto being dragged away, the pain in his shoulder, the look in the eyes of the man with those glasses and he fought the desire to move knowing Rin was still poking around inside his skin.

A few moments later, he felt whatever was inside him being removed and he heard the "dink" of something metal hitting something metal. Which he guessed was the bullet now out of his body. This was followed by searing pain which made Sousuke bite his bottom lip as he felt liquid poured over the wound and he growled in a way that sounded feral and tried not to jerk.

"Don't move. I'm nearly done, asshole."

He heard Rin's voice and his reassuring insult and Sousuke took a deep breath as he felt fingers bandaging him up and even though he often complained about his friend and colleague, he was grateful it was him patching him up and he wasn't in some hospital.

"You can move… but now I gotta get this glass outta your feet."

Sousuke had been so focused on the pain in his shoulder, hot and searing that he ignored that in his feet and as he moved gingerly to sit on the edge of the bed, he felt another kind of pain. Rin got onto his knees and Sousuke saw tweezers, a metal dish, the bottle of vodka and a small med kit with bandages in and Rin looked up with a small smirk due to the position he was in between Sousuke's legs.

"I'm totally not blowing you."

A small snort was the only answer Sousuke gave as he watched Rin work, wincing as the glass shards were removed from his skin, gripping the sheets with his hands as Rin's eyes narrowed. It was hard not to want to move but Sousuke stayed still and went through the pain as he had to. He had to for Makoto.

"The glass is out," Rin said after ten minutes of careful work, "next time don't be John McClane, okay?"

Sousuke only glared in response as Rin used some sort of cream that stung like a bitch before he bandaged them too. He knew he had to be grateful to him but then he was impatient, time clearly having passed since Makoto had been kidnapped and Sousuke just wanted to go and chase and find him. The state of inertia was killing him. But Rin had been right – he needed to be fixed up before anything else could happen.

"Where is he?"

Rin sighed and was getting to his feet, walking to the bathroom to clean up his hands before he returned to the room, leaning against the wall and folding his arms across his chest.

"I don't know."

"I thought you said you had a plan," Sousuke growled, his voice low and angry as he had assumed Rin knew something and instead he didn't.

"I said we'd work out a plan… I have an idea where he might be but we can't just go storming - "

Sousuke got to his feet, feeling the pain of stepping on the fresh wounds on his feet but he ignored them as he walked the few paces to Rin, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him close so their eyes were level, faces close.

"Don't fuck around. Where is he?"

Rin pushed him back, hard, not hard enough to dislodge him but Sousuke loosened his grip even if he did not let go entirely.

"Sousuke… this isn't going to be easy and you're hurt…" Rin said, his eyes scanning his face, a look akin to sympathy on his features.

"I have to… I'm not losing anyone again."

Sousuke let go, letting Rin relax back against the wall and he walked back to the bed, the helpless feeling in his stomach surfacing as he sat on the bed, noticing his own blood had stained the sheets they'd slept on. It was worse than any other job going wrong. It was worse than when he'd losther as this was Makoto. And if he did find him again, if he was safe and alive, Sousuke would perhaps make an attempt to keep him in his life – try to do the relationship as in the brief few hours they'd spent together in this home, Sousuke had managed to see a life he could have. If he found Makoto.

"You had sex with him, right?" Rin asked.

Looking up sharply, Sousuke was about to respond with something aggressive and argumentative but instead he saw the expression on Rin's face, something that was less snarky and Sousuke saw him close his eyes and sigh.

"We'll find him…" Rin assured Sousuke then chuckled softly, "hey, if you've found someone who will put up with you for a few days, he's gotta be worth the risk."

And despite the feelings, the tension, the pain and the knowledge that Makoto was somewhere far away from him, Sousuke let a small smile cross his face.

"He's worth the risk," Sousuke said – as Makoto was.

"Then let's go."