Work Text:
The crack of a gunshot ricocheted off the walls of the building. Marcus took cover behind a car, catching his breath. Intercepting a shady deal between some gangs seemed like a good idea, but that was before they knew the gangs were quite heavily armed and worse, expecting him. They were trading some intel that had to do with Blume and their connection to the stock market. The hopes of doing this mission stealthily died when Marcus was discovered almost immediately. He very quickly swapped out the stun gun for something heavier. Taking a deep breath, he stuck his head out. A spray of bullets headed in his direction, all of them missing the target, thankfully.
There were four guys on the left, and even more towards the right. This would call for drastic measures. “Hey, Sitara,” Marcus said, the glare from the mid-afternoon sunlight blinding his eyes, “We don’t need those grenades for anything right?” With confirmation from Sitara, Marcus rooted around in his backpack before pulling out the explosives. While rigging it up, it occurred to him that it probably wasn’t safe to be carrying around grenades in your not-very-safe backpack, right beside all your very expensive gadgets. Pulling the pin, he threw it towards some of the baddies. Marcus braced himself for the explosion, a litany of gunshots filling the air.
The door to the hackerspace opened too goddamn slow. Marcus groaned, stumbling inside once the door finally slid open. He’d have to get onto Josh about that. Marcus’ vision was blurry, and everything seemed too bright and too dark at the same time. His cheekbone was swelling, a black eye beginning to form. He was covered in bruises and scratches and blood. His hands were covered in it. His white t-shirt was soaked through with it on one side. Marcus couldn’t even remember how he got away.
“Welcome home, honey!” Wrench exclaimed, throwing a happing hand in the air. His back was to the door, too busy working on whatever project to turn around and see the state Marcus was in. “Oh my god, Marcus-“ Sitara was immediately by his side. Wrench turned around, hearing the commotion, his mask turning to x’s in an instant.
“What happened? Where are you hurt? Did they follow you?” Sitara had an arm around him, holding him up. Wrench rushed over, helping her. “Wrench, first aid kit- fuck, Marcus, we should’ve known how dangerous this was going to be-“
Marcus sat down on the couch as Sitara waited for Wrench. “Sitara, I’m fine-“ Marcus tried to say, but somewhere the words got all mixed up and all that came out was a unintelligible string of mumbles. Wrench ran over, already searching through the first aid kit. “Shit,” He whispered under his breath. “Uh, okay. Take this antiseptic shit, start cleaning him up or something-“ It wasn’t difficult to see that Wrench was just a little out of his depth.
Marcus shrugged off his jacket clumsily, his limbs unwilling to cooperate. There was still blood gushing out of somewhere- it wasn’t stopping. Sitara took the antiseptic and some cotton and began dabbing furiously at the scratches covering Marcus. He put his head back, eyelids heavy. “Marcus, man, you gotta stay with us here. Can’t have you dyin’ on us.” Wrench was searching for something. Marcus wasn’t really listening. He felt as if he was floating. The roof and lights overhead seemed a lot like the night sky.
Wrench frantically rolled up the sleeve of Marcus’ shirt, revealing a large gash running the length of his bicep. “Holy fuck, Sitara, I think I can see the bone.” Sitara looked up, eyes widening frantically. Wrench looked around frantically, looking for any type of cloth to wrap the wound- his eyes landed on a relatively clean work rag. He grabbed it, more afraid than he’d admit of losing Marcus. He wrapped it round the wound, trying his best to stop the bleeding.
The initial panic had died down. After a few minutes, the bleeding had slowed, and gradually the colour began to return to Marcus’ face. “I ain’t feeling too good.” Marcus muttered, reaching up to scratch his face before dropping his arm immediately, groaning painfully. “I forgot about that.”
Sitara smiled ruefully. “I’m going to get some ice for your face, I’ll be back soon.” She looked at Marcus before shooting Wrench a knowing look, taking her leave.
Wrench sat next to Marcus on the couch, thread and needle in hand. “Woah, woah, woah, what’re you doing?” Marcus almost threw his hands up to show surprise, before remembering that he had a seven inch slash in his arm. “Bro, you need stitches or else it’s amputation.” Wrench’s mask switched to a winky face, before back to the default x’s.
“Well, in that case, you better dust off your sewing skills.” Marcus waggled his eyebrows, thrusting his arm out so that Wrench could take off the rag that’d been used to stop the bleeding. Wrench hissed at the sight of the wound. It was nasty, to say the least. Reaching from the bottom of the forearm almost to the shoulder, it was deep. The white of bone could be seen at the bottom. Blood seeped out slowly. “Jesus, Marcus what did they do to you?” Wrench asked, focusing on threading the needle.
“Let’s just say that it’s not a good idea to get close n’ personal with a six foot guy, armed with a gun and a big hunting knife. Oh, and they had dogs too.” Marcus winced as Wrench started knotting the wound shut. “Lucky you got out alive.” Wrench murmured his stitches small and neat. “How would you manage without me? It’s- fuck, that’s sore!” Marcus’ cheeky grin changed to a grimace.
“Shit, sorry, sorry-“ Wrench was leaning close and closer, his concentration never shifting. “Dude, where did you even learn to stitch up shit anyway?” Marcus asked quietly, biting his lip to stop from crying out. “Let’s just say I was a troublesome child and it was easier to take care of myself than get grownups involved,” Wrench replied, echoing Marcus’ previous remark. Marcus smiled. “Still running from the grownups today?” He asked sweetly. Wrench looked up at Marcus momentarily, winking. “You bet.” Marcus grinned, sitting back a little. “Do me a favour,” Wrench murmured, “Shut up for a minute?”
Marcus had to bite back a remark, happy despite the face it felt like his arm was on fire. The pull of the needle was unpleasant, but soon Wrench was knotting the final knot, snipping the end of the surgical thread with a small scissors he produced from the first aid box. “There we go!” Wrench exclaimed, “All done!” He finished off by putting some antiseptic on the stitches and covering the whole thing in a bandage. “Thanks Doc.” Marcus said with a smile, eyes crinkling at the corners.
The hackerspace was quiet. Marcus stayed on the couch, his whole body suddenly aching. Wrench disappeared and reappeared moments later, sitting down next to Marcus, handing him a beer. Marcus let out an almighty groan as he lifted the bottle to his lips with his good arm.
“Thanks for stitching me back together.” He said, his head falling back onto the top of the couch. “I’ll have to send you a fruit basket later.” Marcus said tiredly, shutting his eyes. Wrench didn’t reply, letting his friend have some peace.
Sitara walked into the hackerspace, carrying a massive box of ice. “Sorry I was gone so long, they didn’t have any icepacks so I had to walk for ages and-“ She stopped when she saw Wrench and Marcus asleep on the couch, both of them covered in obscene amounts of blood. She shook her head, a small smile on her face. They are so in love with each other.
Hours later, Marcus stirred, shoving Wrench off of him. “Sitara?” He asked groggily, looking around the room. “I’m here, hun, don’t worry.” She replied, walking over with some ice wrapped in plastic and a glass of water. Marcus took them from her, pressing the homemade icepack to his temple.
“Wrench patched you up?” She asked, nodding in Wrench’s direction. Said anarchist was still fast asleep. “He’s surprisingly good at stitchin’ wounds, did you know that?” Marcus replied, looking from Wrench to Sitara.
“Well, he’s always had to stitch up himself, both physically and emotionally, so you’d hope he’d be good at it at this point.” She replied. Marcus raised his eyebrows but didn’t ask for any further explanation. It wouldn’t be fair on Wrench, he decided.
A comfortable silence fell as Marcus chugged down the water Sitara gave him earlier. She stood back, leaning against Wrench’s workbench with her arms crossed. “You know he loves you, right?” She said, after a few moments of silence. Marcus almost choked.
“He what?” He replied, his eyes almost jumping out of his head.
“It’s not exactly a secret. Even Josh can tell.” Sitara smirked, all too happy to play matchmaker. Marcus shook his head. “...Do you love him?” She asked, the smile fading even Hough she already knew the answer.
Marcus gave her a look. “You know I do.”
Sitara grinned, before leaving Marcus and Wrench for her laptop on the other side of the room. Marcus turned and looked at Wrench, asleep. It was the first time he’d ever admitted out loud that he was in love. Wrench twitched in his sleep, letting out a noise that sounded vaguely like a battle cry. Marcus smiled, returning his gaze to the floor, unaware that Wrench was indeed awake and heard the whole conversation between Marcus and Sitara.