Chapter Text
Sitting beside him, Maxx watched Cody where he lay. The slow rise and fall of his chest assuring him he was alive. His usually neatly kept hair now messy, and ruffled in all different directions. He thought about fixing it, deciding to leave it. Cody looked good - his black hair with a little more chaos.
He seemed so peaceful - yet unfortunately pale, due to the blood loss.
He kept eyeing his shirt, studying the damage. The white of the bandage visible through the hole in the fabric, surrounded by a deep crimson stain. Miraculously, the bullet hadn’t gone too deep, leaving Maxx able to dig it out without too much of a struggle. He’d wiped most of Cody’s blood from his hands, but as he lifted his left arm to scratch his head, he noticed a spot on his wrist he’d missed. All sense and logic abandoned him as he brought his mouth to his wrist and slowly licked. He closed his eyes, breathing growing heavier as he imagined Cody’s tongue against his skin.
“Maxx…?”
The sound startled him so bad, he almost punched himself in the face. Pulling himself back to reality, he regained his composure and responded. “Good to see you’re awake.”
‘Awake’ was potentially an overstatement. Cody hadn’t moved, aside from letting his head fall to the side in Maxx’s direction, and his eyes still struggling to remain open.
He shuffled his arms, trying to prop himself up, groaning at the pain in his abdomen. Maxx put a hand on his chest, gently making him lie back down. "You need to rest, let it heal."
Cody moved Maxx's hand off him, it stopped on the edge of the table he was laid on. "I'm fine."
He raised his eyebrows, "Fine? You almost died! You're welcome, by the way."
Eyes more open now, Cody met his gaze. "You saved me?" Maxx nodded. "What happened?" He took in the bloodstains on his grey shirt. "Are you okay?"
Maxx looked down. Somehow, he'd forgotten about that. "Yeah. It's not mine."
Cody tilted his head a little.
Maxx pointed to the blood on his chest. "That's Zach's. He, uhh...He's gone." He swallowed back any emotion. He couldn't allow himself to feel. None of them could - not in their line of work. Despite that, he saved Cody. Risking everything. Why?
He took a deep breath. "While the cops were focused on Dan and Austin, I snuck over to his body, smeared his blood on myself. When they shot, made it look like I was dead, too. Oh, and the rest of it's yours."
"Mine?"
"Had to get you out of there, didn't I? You kinda bled out on me when I carried you. Also I dug that bullet out. Didn't have anywhere else to wipe my hands."
Holy shit. Maxx had saved his life. Why? He should have escaped, skipped town. But he didn't.
He reached his hand over to find Maxx's, doing his best to cover up the pain the movement caused. Maxx picked up on it, moving his arm back. "Please, stay still. Don't hurt yourself even more."
Why did he care so much? This was a side of him he'd never seen before. He liked it.
Maxx stood up. "I'm gonna go find some water. You stay here and rest, I'll be back soon."
Cody watched him leave, mind racing with questions he hoped would be answered.