#shush it's 3 AM and I think I'm punny

[deepwoundsandfadedscars]

TOG whump?? TOG whump!

I sat my ass down and did some writing for the first time in weeks, here’s a rewrite of the scene in the lab with Joe and Nicky, now 10x whumpier! Full disclosure, all I’ve done is a couple sprints on discord to write this and haven’t re-read, so mistakes are likely and maybe I’ll fix them some day (or never)

(italics are spoken in Italian cause I’m not even sure if they’re speaking modern Italian or what and I know g**gle translate isn’t great)

The last thing Joe remembered was the sadistic doctor slicing into his chest and relieving him of his lungs. It had taken several moments for him to asphyxiate, Kozak watching intently to see how quickly his body would heal. If he hadn’t been strapped to the table he would have punched the curious look right off her face, he had thought to himself before succumbing to the darkness. 

Joe woke with a strangled gasp, fighting against the straps that still held him down. He breathed heavily, the sterile smell of the lab stinging his nose. He opened his eyes as he heard heels clicking across the floor as the doctor walked past him without sparing him a glance. Lolling his head to the side he caught sight of Nicky who was also strapped down and then back towards the doctor before he had to take a second take, realizing that Nicky was awake and watching him. When Joe had died, Nicky had still been unconscious from the sedatives but now he had patches of blood around his throat and various points on his chest. No open wounds though, to Joe’s relief. He looked to check that the doctor was fully gone before letting his head hit the bed again, sighing heavily.

“As much as I like watching you sleep, I’m glad you’re awake.” 

Joe turned towards him and opened his eyes sleepily. “Bedhead?” he asked with a smirk.

Nicky laughed and looked away, a huge smile cracking across his usually somber face. If his hands weren’t restrained, Joe knew he would be trying to hide that beautiful smile like he always did, no matter how often Joe insisted he shouldn’t. “Nicely tousled.”

Another small chuckle and silence fell around them, interrupted only by Joe groaning again, his shoulders aching from fighting the restraints and his chest sore from the extensive healing. Regrowing organs always took more out of them, especially a full one, let alone two. 

“Do you know, I was thinking about Malta,” Nicky said suddenly, drawing Joe’s attention back to him. He was staring at the ceiling, his face set like stone once again.

“What time in Malta?”

All Nicky had to do was give him a look and Joe knew what he meant.

“Oh, that time in Malta,” he said with a laugh.

Nicky stared at the ceiling again, his expression falling even more and Joe wished he could touch him, to press gentle kisses to the tense muscles on his forehead. 

“We should go back there.”

“That would be nice,” Joe said, looking over Nicky with a concerned smile. His words were hopeful, but there was something off in his voice and now he can see that Nicky’s eyes, even though he was staring at the ceiling, weren’t focusing on anything in particular. “Nicolo?”

Nicky blinked slowly, turning his head ever so slightly towards Joe’s voice and humming quietly. 

“Nicolo, what’s wrong?” Joe asked, trying to lift himself onto his elbows and leaning towards Nicky.

“Tired suddenly,” Nicky slurred out, his eyes falling shut.

“Nicky! Nicolo, please. Wake up, Nicolo.” 

Doctor Kozak paced back into the room, stepping between their beds and checking the IV inserted into Nick’s elbow, just above the strap that held his arm in place. How he hadn’t noticed it before, Joe couldn’t say, distracted as he had been just by seeing Nicky awake and talking perhaps. Kozak picked up a needle from the table beside her and injected the dark fluid it contained into the injection port on the tube that was inserted into Nicky’s arm. She disposed of the needle and rolled the clamp on the IV line back, opening it further and giving the bag a gentle squeeze. She marked something on a clipboard with a satisfied hum, checking the time before scratching something else on the page and then turned to Joe to inspect his chest.

“39 minutes to regrow your lungs, is that a fairly typical time for you? And do you each heal at the same speed or does it vary?” She asked, her pen poised over her clipboard and looking at him expectantly.

Joe pulled against his restraints again, his focus only on Nicky. “Nicolo! Wake up, Nicolo!”

He could see Nicky’s body slowly relaxing against the table, his breath uneven and the heart monitor above his head slowing, which only made Joe’s pound even faster. 

His head lolled and his chin dropped towards his chest as the slow beeping of the monitor finally stopped and turned to a monotonous whine. 

“Nicolo!” Joe felt like his throat would tear at how viciously he screamed, as though he could drown out the flatlining monitor and make it not true.

Kozak looked at the clock again and scribbled on her clipboard, but made no move to do anything else, staring only at Joe as if she expected him to answer the questions she had asked.

“No, don’t! Nicolo!” Joe screamed.

“What did you give him? What was that? Take it out, let him heal!”

Kozak rolled her eyes and reached over to clamp the line shut again, dropping her clipboard onto the table with a huff because she wasn’t getting her answers. When she turned back to Joe, she had another silver injector in her hands.

Kozak placed her hand on his jaw, forcing his head back to expose his throat and jammed the needle into the exposed vein there.

Joe sagged against the table, trying to keep his eyes open to look at Nicky. 

“Nicolo…”