Kota (Male reader x Greed and the chimeras)

Half-in Gasoline

The gun moved in slow motion.

So much for dying in one piece.

He closed his eyes, inhaling the gasoline air one last time.

Man. Hope the others make it.

BANG!

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He waited. One. He could feel the smoke's heat lick his skin. Two. Rubble scattered around his head. Three. Something strong hit his left shoulder, hurling him back into the steel wall.

This is gonna hurt.

Four.

The raging pain never came.

Kota chanced a peak through the smoke. There, standing in front of him, a tall shield of a wall, was Roa. The attacker and his gun sprawled across the floor. A kick to his shoulder proved he had blacked out on impact. With a grunt of disgust, his savior turned to Kota.

-Get up.

When he didn't move, the ox chimera pulled him up to his feet. Kota let him, leaning against the older like a fallen tree, too lost in a hurricane of thoughts.

I almost died, and he didn't stop it. It didn't stop. Boss doesn't care. Of course he'd not. Who does? Why would anyone? So weak. Weak. Weak. Weak-

Roa must have sense the darkness plaguing the younger because he lurched him out of it the only way he knew how: With a quick palm to his forehead.

Big orbs looked up, confused but no longer glassy. Brown eyes gazed back, holding a need to understand.

- We need to leave. Now.

The gears in Kota's head clicked into place, hitting his jumbled mind like a shotgun.

Oh...OH! Move. Walking. Walk!

Kota facepalmed tiredly, slowly moving his feet as Roa guided them out of the red-zone. As they approached their destination, Kota flailed as he was spontaneously lifted and thrown carelessly onto a crate two stories high.

- ROA!' he hissed, rubbing his tail and bloodied knees. 'That hurt...'

Without warning, a hand whipped the boy around. Hard. Kota's shoulder creaked. Gasping from whiplash, he met a purple glare. In any other place, he would have lashed out. With claws. Now, he really... couldn't. The adrenaline rush had left his system. Kota could only shiver, hair bristling anxiously. The purple stare scanned him from head to toe.

-You're in one piece.

A command.

Answer.

-Y-yes boss.

Pause.

-Good.

Slowly, as if unsure of himself, Greed raised his hand, letting it rest carefully on the chimera's head, flattening the ruffled strands into place. In a quiet voice, so that only Kota could overhear, Greed hushed a calm phrase, annoyance hidden under layers of concern.

-Now, let's take care of the rest of these ass hats.

Standing up to his full height, the boss hollered.

- HEY! YOU PATHETIC WEASELS~! For such big talks, nothing is happening." Greed cackled. "Is that all you got? Well, you'll wish you died along with the rest of your garbage because I don't let anyone take or break any of my possessions," he said with self-assured confidence, looking down on the remaining betrayers. "Got it?"