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Some things related to their work was more fun than other stuff. This week they were at a place with a lot of snow, having a week to play around and get more comfortable with winter equipment. Like snowshoes, skis, snowmobiles, making emergency shelters in the snow and cold and so on.
He had actually enjoyed himself so far. He wasn’t a big fan of cold or snow, but he managed to enjoy himself after all. If he got the chance, he’d opt for being inside, but so far, he was okay with playing in the snow.
Or, that was until he heard a sharp yelp, then a string of cusswords sounded from where one of the others had been riding a snowmobile moments before. He didn’t hear who it was, but he got the memo.
“What happened?” he asked Sonny who was standing just outside the emergency shelter they were digging.
“Some guy flipped his snowmobile.” Sonny frowned, “Think it was one of the guys from Alpha.”
“Alpha?” Trent swallowed and backed out of the hole in the snow, “Which one?”
“I don’t know…” Sonny shrugged, “Not sure it was Alpha either. Could be Echo. Pretty sure it wasn’t Bravo.”
Trent nodded and glanced in the direction of the snowmobile on its side. The cussing had died down, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
“He should be moving by now…” Sonny frowned, “Shouldn’t he?”
Trent shrugged a little. He didn’t like that Sonny believed it was one of the guys from Alpha team. That made it a one in six chance that it was Full Metal, that it was his guy.
“Guys! I need help!” a way too familiar voice called out, “I’m pinned.”
“Better go help Alpha-1.” Sonny smirked, but Trent was already moving.
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His heart was racing as he closed in on the snowmobile laying on its side. The voice had sounded like Metal was in pain. Luckily it was a lot easier to walk on snowshoes than he had remembered from the last time he had a pair strapped to his boots.
“Hey, Metal!” Trent swallowed as he got close, “Are you alright?”
“No.”
His heart found another gear, his heartrate picked up.
“Why not?” Sonny asked for him.
“My leg’s pinned.” There was pain in his voice, no doubt.
“Are you hurt?”
“Yeah.” Metal bit out, “My left leg. Not sure what’s wrong yet, but… It’s wrong.”
Trent nodded, “We should get this snowmobile off of you first.”
“Good thing it’s only about 500 pounds…” Sonny smirked.
“Kid. I think all of that weight is on my leg.” Metal grumbled, “Don’t make jokes. I’ll twist your neck off.”
“Yes sir!” Sonny nodded sharply.
“We should be able to get it off you alone, but I’d still like to have some more muscle working this problem.” Trent sighed, “I don’t want us to rock it and not be able to get it off.”
“Yeah, don’t do that.” Metal grimaced, “I don’t know, but I think my leg might be bleeding.”
“Okay…” Trent nodded a bit, then looked at Sonny, “You go get someone to help us. I’m gonna stay here.”
“Sure.” Sonny nodded and stomped through the snow in order to get some help.
“Does it hurt a lot?” Trent asked after Sonny was out of earshot, his hand caressing Metal’s shoulder.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to put weight on it for a few days.” Metal bared his teeth, “I don’t think it’s broken though, but it hurts like a mother…”
“-And you think it’s bleeding?”
“Something’s trickling right around where my leg is trapped. And I don’t think it’s gasoline, or snow melting.”
“Okay. Yeah, these winter pants are pretty waterproof.” Trent nodded, “I’ll take a quick glance at it when we’ve got you loose. And if it’s not looking too bad, I won’t do anything about it before we’ve got you inside, huh?”
“Good plan.” Metal nodded, “Good thing it’s not the crappiest cabin we’ve ever stayed at.”
Trent tilted his head, “I think you should cut this trip short and go get your leg checked out instead of staying here…”
“It won’t get worse by not seeing a doctor for two or three days.” Metal shrugged.
“Well, that’s wrong.” Trent sighed, “Even though you don’t think you’ve broken anything, you still might have. And then there’s soft tissue damage, 500 pounds of snowmobile can cause a lot of damage.”
“I will be staying off it.”
“You should get it looked at.”
“T… I want to stay here with you.” Metal tilted his head a little, “And, this way… You might have an excuse to stay inside the cabin.”
“Not Ryan? He’s YOUR medic.”
“Well, Ryan actually likes being what you call ‘cold and miserable’…” Metal smirked, “I’m pretty sure that if you as much as mentions that you could stay inside instead of him, he’d kiss you.”
Trent chuckled a bit.
“-Of course I’d have to teach him about respect when my leg feels a bit better... But…”
Trent gave his shoulder a squeeze, “Looks like Sonny’s coming back with a couple of guys now.”
“Good.” Metal forced a smile, “The pressure on my leg is really painful.”
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“Ouch, that gash is pretty nasty.” Ryan frowned as he looked over Trent’s shoulder.
The curved gash sat diagonally a few inches below Metal’s knee. One end was near the front of his shin, the other was on the outer side of his calf. It was almost five inches long, and almost an inch and a half at the widest point. The lower lip of the wound looked to be a bit bunched and the edges were more torn up than sliced up.
Trent nodded and helped Metal place his leg over a newspaper covered with a few layers of kitchen paper on top. “Could you check my bag for something to rinse this with?”
“Normal saline or some antimicrobial stuff?”
“Both.” Trent looked up, “I want to flush with regular saline first, because this is a nasty gash and I don’t think I’ve got enough Prontosan to irrigate it properly with that. Then when I can’t see stuff that shouldn’t be there anymore, like wool threads and such, I’ll use the antimicrobial one.”
Ryan nodded and handed him both.
“Check if I’ve got a sterile tweezer in there as well.”
“Uhm, what are you going to do with a tweezer?” Metal frowned.
“It looks like the gash might have a pocket. I want to make sure there isn’t anything stuck under there.”
“Do you want a suture set as well?” Ryan asked.
“No…” Trent shook his head a little, “The edges are very jagged, and it’s not bleeding that much. I think it’ll heal just as fine, if not better, without stitches.”
Ryan nodded a little as he handed Trent the packed pair of tweezers.
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“I still think you should go to the doctor straight away…” Trent repeated as he secured the elastic bandage around Metal’s leg.
“Yeah, I agree…” Ryan nodded.
“It’s just bruised, and it’s got a good gash.” Metal shrugged, “It can wait a couple of days.”
“If it’s just bruised, then walk over to the table for me.” Ryan challenged.
“No, don’t.” Trent shook his head and reached out for the nearest part of Ryan, which turned out to be his knee, “Metal is just stubborn enough to do it even if he knows he shouldn’t.”
“Okay… You’ve got a point there.” Ryan nodded.
“What if we got you to a doctor, but promised to get you back here unless said doctor found something he would have to fix?” Trent suggested.
“It’s a three-hour snowmobile ride to where the cars are parked.” Metal frowned, “I don’t want to spend an entire day going to a doctor for nothing.”
“And I don’t want to babysit you…” Ryan crossed his arms over his chest, “If you get a doctor to take a look at it, I’ll call us even.”
Metal glanced over at Trent, who almost glared back.
“…Okay.” Metal eventually agreed, “Just because I don’t want you to bitch about it for the rest of our time here!”
“Good call.” Ryan grinned, “Trent, you want to tag along as my copilot? Have to be two guys who can stomp through snow and pull a snowmobile free if we get stuck.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Trent nodded.
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It was almost 11:30 p.m. when the trio made it back to the cabin.
Metal had been right, the x-rays hadn’t shown anything. But his leg was still too painful to step down on. The doctor had sent him ‘home’ with a pair of crutches, which in turn confined him to the inside of the cabin.
Metal didn’t stay up for too long after they made it back. He was tired from the pain and the travel.
Trent was going to offer staying inside with Metal, but he figured he’d wait until the next morning. It was kinda fun watching Ryan being annoyed because of the task he expected to be stuck with for the next few days.
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“YOU CAN?” the smile on Ryan’s face almost made him fear that Metal had been right about Ryan kissing him for staying inside instead of him.
“Yeah,” he chuckled nervously, “I don’t really like the snow, or the cold, or feeling that my fingers are about to fall off because of it.”
“If you really want to suffer inside with a grumpy Full Metal, I won’t stop you.” Ryan grinned.
“I’d stay inside with a PMSing rattlesnake if it meant being warm and cozy.”
“Yeah, that’s about what you’re signing up for as well…” Ryan chuckled, “Metal doesn’t really take well to being injured or sitting still.”
Staying inside, listening to songs on the radio all day, hanging out with his secret partner all day long. He was actually looking forward to it. He’d been looking after Metal when he’d been injured before. Lots of times actually. He knew exactly what he was signing up for.
But then again, it was fully possible that Metal acted differently towards him than towards everyone else.
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“There…” Trent grinned as Sonny closed the door behind him, “We’re actually alone.”
“Yeah?” Metal’s voice went up half an octave from where it usually rested.
Trent nodded.
“You mean we can…” he trapped one side of his lower lip between his teeth, “Enjoy being at a nice cabin together?”
Trent nodded.
“Well, come over here then…” Metal grinned and patted the seat next to him.
“Thought I’d get us both some coffee and microwave some popcorn first.”
“Oh, that’s a way better idea.” Metal grinned, “As long as you come sit next to me afterwards.”
“Bet on it.” Trent grinned back.
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A few minutes later, Metal had his arm wrapped around Trent’s shoulders. The smell of fresh coffee and buttered popcorn filled the room. Every now and then one of them would sneak a kiss from the other one.
“Good thing that stair outside creaks.” Metal smirked as he drew back from another kiss.
Trent nodded, his left hand falling on top of Metal’s right thigh, then found a resting spot a little left of center, drawing an ever so slight gasp from his partner.
“You know…” Metal swallowed thickly, “If I didn’t have a bruised leg right now… I’d pounce on you.”
“Yeah?”
Metal nodded, “Gonna have to offer you a raincheck for now, though…”
“Probably best.” Trent winked, but let his hand travel an inch or two up Metal’s leg.
“You…” Metal chuckled, “I might change my mind, you know…”
“Yeah?”
“Pretty sure I’ve got a few condoms somewhere in my backpack…” Metal winked.
“I thought you were in too much pain for that…”
“Probably…” Metal admitted, “But you keep doing that, and I’ll give it a try…”
Trent squeezed a little around Metal’s thigh.
“Two can play that game…” Metal near gasped before pushing Trent down against the couch seats. Trent slipped one leg behind Metal’s back, making it possible for him to lay on top of him.
“We could get caught…”
“We’ll hear the creaky stairs, and then whoever is coming has to shed like five layers of clothing.”
Metal let himself slip sideways and ended up with his head rested against Trent’s abdomen, his arms almost wrapped around Trent’s waist.
“You know what?”
“No…”
“This isn’t so bad…” Metal smiled, “Being out of commission, with you.”
“Would be better if you weren’t out of commission…” Trent smirked as he started combing through Metal’s short hair with his fingers, “But still inside here with me…”
Metal smirked against Trent’s abdomen, “I still kinda want to do it…”
“Yeah?”
Metal nodded, “-But the couch might be a bit too risky…”