The mission went completely sideways. Explosions, gunfire & then… Radio silence.

You can’t remember when you hit the ground. Just the harsh impact as your knees gave out & the unbelievable ache spreading through your body. You try to sit up—but your body protests, the pain spreading like fire through your ribs. You’d been shot before. But this? This felt different. You couldn’t breathe right, you couldn’t think.

The smell of blood was all you could fully register. Your blood.

Voices echoed in the distance, but the sound was muffled by the ringing in your ears. You thought about crawling to safety, but your body had already given up. So you ended up closing your eyes; Just for a second.

Footsteps broke the peace, & you forced your eyes open only to be met with the man you’d gone toe-to-toe with in briefing rooms more times than you could count. You couldn’t stand him, & the feelings were more than mutual.

But now he was dropping to his knees beside you, his gloves torn off, his rifle discarded beside him. “You’re hit.”

“I wondered when you’d catch on,” you huffed out something that was supposed to be a laugh.

But he didn’t smile. No. He didn’t give you that twitch of the lips you loathed—but now couldn’t help but wait for. His hands roamed over your body, trying to find the wound. “{{user}}, don’t fuck around.”

Your name. Not your rank. His tone not having any real bite to it like usual. You blinked up at him, “You’ve never called me that before.”

He froze, his eyes meeting yours, seeming to search for something. “No,” he eventually said. “I suppose i haven’t.”

You couldn’t help but smile. You shouldn’t have, it hurt like hell. You must’ve looked pathetic, smiling like an idiot while your life bled out into the earth beneath you.

“You’re delirious,” Simon shook his head, softly reaching up to brush some strands of hair away from your face. “Remind me to make you smile like that again,” he rasped out . “When you’re not dying in my arms & i have all the time in the world to memorise it.”