Heartstopper Inktober 2K24

20 - Uncharted (Uncharted!AU)

"You know you could have been killed, right?" Charles "Sully" Spring murmurs as he threads the needle carefully though Nick Nelson's skin where it's barely there anymore. Trust him, while at an auction of all things, to carve himself a new opening in his body that he has to fix.

"Oh yes, Sully, I totally didn't know that a machete could kill me- Christ, fuck, ow!" Nick's smartarse mouth winces and folds into a grimace as Charles stabs him extra hard when putting in the next stitch on his side where his suit is ruined. Of course, he was more worried about the blood on it, but the tear in his dress shirt is going to need more explaining. "Easy with the goods."

"No fucking good is what you are." Charles snorts, eyes unmoving from his current project. "You let the gang we've been outsmarting for months get away with the artefact /we/ needed to get anywhere close to where Llywelyn's Coronet is." He ignored the latter's indignant huff. "Also, you also managed to take a knife to your side, something I know you could have easily dodged, running after them, so it's double the disappointment."

"Oh, come on, Sull. You know they'll sell it off in a heartbeat." Nick protested, shaking his head and receiving a poke to his side that made him still again as Charlie put the final stitch in. "They don't even know why we wanted it. To them, it's semi uncharted territory. Besides, they thought..." A deep breath led the latter, despite his side being just sewn back together. "...they thought I was David anyway. Even called me by his name. That's how the knife came into it."

Charles stood back after cleaning up, staring at him quietly with a solemn expression. He knew all too well about Nick's issues being compared to his older brother and how much it killed him. Nick, by all means when he wasn't being an idiot, was a great treasure hunter on his own, but David was one of the best in the game and one of the most notorious given his ability to be a pigheaded, limpdicked little shit - until he disappeared that was.

"Nick, you know you aren't like him, right?" He finally said, looking as the redhead turned to him in the dim light of the house they were boarded up in. "Despite what I sometimes say, you are more than David ever made himself out to be."

"Doesn't feel like it." Nick sighed, head dipping.

"Trust me." Charles turned away and started wiping the blood off the many medical tools he had in his "Fixing Nick" kit he carried around on their travels. "Given I worked with both of you at separate points in my life, I can say gladly that working with you is a far better experience than with David."

There was silence, which was quite concerning and made Charles almost want to turn around to check that Nick was living, before arms wrapped around him and a torso slammed into his back gently. "Thank you, Sully."

"Pleasure, now off." Charles gently shooed him away as best he could without getting more blood on himself or on Nick. "Go shower and for god's sake, lie down. We're running out of thread and I know Elle will be on my case if I go and ask Isaac for more."

"Mean." Nick grumbled, without any heat behind it before finally stalking off toward the bathroom, dropping clothing items as he went. Groaning, Charles quickly followed behind to pick them up, all the while cursing under this breath.

Maybe he should have let the idiot bleed out.