6- not realizing they're injured (unhealthy coping mechanisms / healed wrong / it's not my blood)
TK reflexively raised his hands, not yet confident with these men, even less so when they were pointing their weapons at him and the one who seemed most sympathetic was asleep. The three men spent long minutes watching each other without anything moving, the rescuer feverish, until a sleepy voice muttered in a paternalistic tone:
"Put the gun down Babe, it's normal that he can't sleep."
A shadow of a smile played on Steve's lips as he did as requested and placed a hand on the other man's arm for imitation. TK relaxed a little and stepped towards them cautiously.
"Matt." introduced the man whose name he didn't know.
He had intense green eyes, was red-haired, tall and very muscular, in his fifties. TK, without his lack of accent, would have taken him for a Scottish lumberjack. He held out his hand to introduce himself.
"TK."
The way Matt moved his arm alerted the paramedic.
"Are you hurt?"
"What are you talking about?"
" Your arm."
Matt shrugged.
"Probably nothing, a few bruises."
Doubt hovered in the younger man's mind, for whom it was obvious that these men were used to fighting and taking hits and wouldn't be hindered in their movements by mere bruises.
"Can I see?"
He didn't miss the exchange of glances between the two awake men and Steve's shrug.
"I'm a paramedic." he added in a whisper as if to justify his request.
Matt shrugged in turn, and removed his sweater with embarrassment. He didn't manage to remove his shirt, however; it was stuck to his skin with blood.
"It's nothing," grunted the injured man.
"Considering the amount of blood, I wouldn't say that," replied TK.
"You really are just bullies, not one to catch up with the other," Danny grumbled as he sat down. "Don't realize you're hurt, you're no better than Steve."
The two men concerned had an amused smile on their lips. Neither seemed worried about the injury.
"What do you need?" asked Danny of the younger man.
"At the very least, water, clean linen, scissors and a bandage. Surgical gloves if possible."
"I'll see what I can find," replied Steve, rising to his feet under Danny's annoyed gaze.
TK wondered what kind of relationship these two had; they seemed to know each other very well. Matt seemed to be an outsider to their duo, yet knew them well, Steve at least.
The paramedic was surprised to see the man return with everything he'd asked for, and even more, a first-aid kit. He promptly peeled back the cloth and discovered, to his amazement, that it was a bullet wound, and that it was still lodged in the shoulder. Admittedly, it was on the surface and didn't seem to have touched any muscle or ligament, but how could the man not have noticed?
He rummaged through the first-aid kit and was pleased to find a pair of tweezers.
"I'll extract the bullet," he enunciated after explaining the situation.
"Do what you have to do," Matt growled.
"No, but how could you not feel that?" exasperated Danny. "Are you completely insensitive?"
"Let me fuck you and we'll see if I'm…"
"Matt."
Steve's growl and glare cut the conversation short. Danny looked furious too, but didn't comment. Only Matt smirked. TK preferred not to comment and took care of the wounded man as soon as Steve waved him over.
As the projectile was lodged on the surface, he managed to remove it in less than a minute, and then proceeded to dress the wound. All this without a single complaint from his patient, barely a grimace. He was impressed, but preferred to keep quiet, wanting to avoid a scathing remark like the one he'd made to Danny.