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It was supposed to be an easy mission. Always is, until shit blows sky-high.
Now he’s blinking up to white ceiling tiles, a blasted headache ricocheting around his skull with every beat of his heart. He can damn near hear it, with the constant beep of his patient monitor, one of his least favorite sounds in the world. Lord knows he’s heard it enough times by now.
He moves to rip the wires from his skin when a hand comes to steady him and he jolts, reflex having him grab at the hand in an iron grip, tugging it aside as his other hand moves in tandem to deflect.
“Easy there, L.t.” Johnny chokes out, loosening his own hold into something lax, folding into the grasp before Simon relaxes. He blinks up at Johnny with wide eyes before he’s surveying the room, scouting for other surprises but finds it otherwise empty.
“Wait right here, I’ll get the nurse,” Johnny says, standing as he wrings out his wrist. Simon feels a little bad about it, but Johnny knows well enough he doesn’t like surprises.
Untrue to his word, Johnny does not come back with just the nurse, but the whole team. They filter in one by one and Simon rolls his eyes at the commotion that follows. He doesn’t want to put on a damn show, and narrows his eyes as Johnny flops back into the chair, not the least bit apologetic, the bastard.
The nurse is silent as she works, and Simon is grateful for it.
“He’s concussed, but besides minor injuries, he should be fine given some bed rest.” She announces.
“Thank you,” Johnny replies and she nods once before stepping out of the room.
“Gave us a good scare there, Simon,” Price chides when she’s gone, Gaz silent beside him with his arms crossed. Johnny is at his side still, eyes flicking between the monitor and the rest of the crew before landing back on Simon. His gaze is hard, which is cute, in a way, until he opens his damn mouth.
“Ye need to be more careful, Si. We thought we lost ye for a moment there.”
His tone is serious, as if their jobs didn’t run that very same risk every day out in the field. Johnny knows the dangers just as much as Simon, and Simon doesn’t much like being told off. He stares at Johnny blankly until a wicked little thought slips into the back of his mind, and he suppresses a grin.
“Who are you?” he asks, successfully monotone, and he has to bite his tongue as Johnny’s face goes slack with surprise; white with fear.
“I –” He stutters, but Rudy is quicker to answer.
“He’s your boyfriend, no?” he asks, serious even as Price chokes on a laugh and Alejandro elbows him sharply. Simon’s face stays blank as he gives them a good stare down, before looking back over to Johnny.
Johnny’s face is bright red, his eyes wide as he gapes at Rudy and then back to Simon. Simon can see the way he’s about to jump in and interject, to deny the accusation, but Simon always takes an opportunity when he sees it, and he isn’t about to let this one pass just for good graces. He hums as he drags his eyes slowly down the man sitting next to him, watching as Johnny flushes brighter.
“Sounds about right,” he murmurs, and enjoys as Johnny squirms under his gaze.
“Someone, anyone – please get the doctor,” Johnny groans, hiding his face in his hands as he hunches over in embarrassment. Gaz takes up the task, leaving the room as Alejandro pulls Rudy to the side and makes a hushed conversation. He smirks triumphantly even though he knows he won’t be able to keep the charade for long, but hell, he nearly got blown to pieces. He’s allowed some fun.
-
Johnny walks Simon out of the medic station after he’s discharged a day early and chats animatedly about all the things Simon wouldn’t remember, and insists on showing him to his room. He pointedly keeps a respectful distance that he never showed when Simon wasn’t apparently an amnesiac. It’s starting to piss Simon off. As they crest the doorway of Simon’s room, Johnny brings them to a halt, an uneasy smile across his features as he runs a hand through his hair.
“Well–”
“Come in?” Simon questions innocently, tilting his head towards the door. It’s a wicked ploy and Simon can see the way he grapples with the offer in his head. Johnny nervously runs his hand through his hair again. “Would that be okay?”
Simon shrugs like he couldn’t care less. “You’re my boyfriend,” he scoffs, not missing the way Johnny shuffles from side to side at the declaration.
He opens the door and steps in, standing aside to let Johnny in. He doesn’t miss the way Johnny studies the room. He’d been asking Simon for months, and before it had been beneficial to keep the man guessing, but now Simon has other plans. He closes the door and makes his way to the bed, tugging off his balaclava in a strange show of trust. He has to act the part after all.
When he turns Johnny’s eyes are trained back on him, and he can’t help a small smile. Johnny’s surprise was exactly what he wanted.
“How long have we been dating?” he asks, watching with a sick sense of glee as Johnny flinches under his gaze, defenses shooting up.
“Oh you know, a couple months,” he replies vaguely. Simon hums as he steps closer, letting his gaze sweep over Johnny in a way that he never truly allowed himself. But Simon must be concussed, because he’s just full of bad ideas today.
He takes Johnny’s hand in his, runs his thumb over long fingers and Johnny goes impossibly still. Simon rather likes that, he realizes. He thumbs across Johnny’s ring finger, barren of any sort of commitment and his mind swirls around the fact that he finds it bothersome.
“Did I propose to you yet?” he murmurs.
“Propose!” Johnny shouts, a stumbling mess. “Nah, we haven’t– I mean there hasn’t been–”
“A waste then,” Simon keeps his eyes downcast, feeling bold. He raises the hand to his lips, pressing them gently where an engagement ring would look so pretty against Johnny’s tanned skin. “Should’ve from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
He should be worried about how transparent he was being with his thoughts, but all that exists is the shiver that shakes Johnny’s hand in his. He kisses the knuckles again, and then the wrist. His forearm, his bicep, and then his shoulder. He’d continue if it wasn’t for the way Johnny rapidly moves to put some distance between them, his cheeks aflame and his bottom lip secure between his teeth.
“We aren’t boyfriends,” Johnny confesses. “Rudy was just confused and they said not to tell you the truth but you’ll probably actually kill me if this continues and I–”
Simon smiles, retracting from his space as he spills the truth. “I don’t actually have amnesia.”
Johnny stops, eyes wide, before they narrow. “So ye were takin’ the piss then?” He smacks at Simons arm, hesitates when he realizes he’s out of line, and then again anyway. “Fuckin’ with me when ye know how I feel. Ye absolute–”
“How do you feel?” Simon breathes. Feels the air fill his lungs to no avail as he stands there nearly breathless with the almost confession. He knows his eyes are wide, face slack and more open than he should leave it.
Hope is a suffocating thing.
“I–” Johnny starts, blinking before he’s groaning, running a hand through his mohawk. He wipes the same hand across his face, giving Simon a helpless look. “Ye have to know I’m absolutely smitten. Everyone else does.”
Simon doesn’t waste time, stumbling in for a clumsy kiss, cradling Johnny’s head between his hands. It’s chaste, but it centers inside of Simon like home. Simon pulls away, just far enough to watch as Johnny’s eyes flutter open, just enough that he can still feel his breath against his lips. “I lied but I meant every word I said after, Johnny.”
“All of it?” Johnny breathes, a soft sound as though he was having trouble catching it again. Simon revels in the fact he took it away at all. Would breathe it back into him if he only asked.
“All of it,” he confirms, swiping his thumb along Johnny’s cheek in soft reverence.
“Ye absolute bawbag,” Johnny says, but his eyes tell a different story as he moves in to press another kiss to Simon’s lips. “An idiot,” another kiss. “I’m in love with ye, Simon.” For a heartstopping second, the confession scares him. But here, they are safe, and Simon knows he would give anything for the world to give them this one time, to take the moment so carelessly.
“And I you, Johnny.”