Work Text:
Rudy was tired.
He had spent the better half of a month in the hospital after the fire, and hated every minute of it. Sitting around all day with nothing to do was enough to make him go insane. Luckily Alejandro had visited every day, bringing news on Hassan and talking about events at the base which was enough to keep his boredom at bay.
Rodolfo was still mad at himself. Mad that he let Hassan away. Mad that he hadn’t fully prepared himself for the breach. Mad that he had gone down so easily.
And yet, he let out a sigh of relief. Hassan was (temporarily) off their backs which meant a while of calmness. Calmness before the storm, at least.
Getting back to work was harder than Rudy had imagined. His mind kept trailing off, he felt distant and not fully conscious. Most of all, he felt tired. And the ache in his shoulder, side and head and the slight wheeze in his breath weren’t helping. Alejandro had told him to take it easy, but Rudy wasn’t going to let up.
And so the two husbands made their way home to the ranch after a long day of work. Alejandro was quite energetic for the time of day (you can blame his coffee addiction for that) but Rudy was bone deep tired, ready to fall asleep at any minute.
Alejandro had expressed his concern with Rudy’s state and so, for the first time in what felt like a century, he was the one to drive them home.
Getting home, Rodolfo let out a long sigh. He wanted nothing more than to get in bed and fall asleep in his husband’s arms. He could admit that he was dirty and smelled of sweat from training recruits though, so he knew a shower was in order.
The two men made their way to the bedroom, taking off their equipment on the way. They hadn’t said much, Rudy too tired for conversation and Alejandro deep in thought.
Alejandro was the first to shower. Meanwhile Rudy got rid of his clothes to go put them in washing. It was only then that he noticed a red tint to the bandages wrapped around his shoulder and torso.
Rudy groaned now. Just another step farther from getting to bed.
Rudy put his and Alejandro’s clothes in the washing and headed back to their bedroom. There Alejandro was standing, still trying to dry his hair with the towel. Upon Alejandro seeing Rudy come in, his face turned strained in concern.
“Amor, your wounds…”
He scrapped the towel and rushed to Rudy’s side.
“Ale, no need to fuss, it’s just a little blood.”
“‘A little blood’ means your wounds came open. Go take a shower, then I’ll patch it up, okey?”
Alejandro waited for Rudy to nod, then kissed the shorter man on the temple.
Rudy called Alejandro into the bathroom once he was done with the shower. His eyes were dark with tiredness and he was barely able to stand.
“Go sit on the counter, amor.” Alejandro said, while looking for the med kit.
Rudy did as he was told, albeit a little unwillingly. As he sat on the counter, he noticed the feeling of blood slowly flowing down his torso, pain building in the spot of the gunshot wounds and a slight pounding in his head.
Alejandro, finally finding the med kit, made his way over to his husband.
“I’m sorry if it hurts, but I need to close the wound.”
Rudy just nodded sleepily.
Alejandro got to work. He treated every movement as if a wrong move could kill the man in front of him. It almost made Rudy laugh. Although Alejandro was usually quite loud and aggressive, he always seemed so gentle around Rudy. It was no different now, as Alejandro stitched Rudy’s wounds back up and carefully wrapped new bandages around said wounds.
When he was done, Alejandro put all the supplies back in the kit and put it to the side.
Then he looked at Rudy, a slight hint of worry and sadness in his eyes. Rudy sighed, knowing exactly what his husband was thinking at that moment.
“It’s not your fault, Ale.”
A moment of silence overcame them as Rudy took his husband’s face in his hands. Alejandro leaned into the touch and let out a deep sigh.
“Isn’t it? Was I not the one who sent you in there in the first place?”
Rodolfo felt his husband tense up under his touch.
“If I hadn’t sent you there, none of this would’ve happened. And if I had gotten to the room quicker, you might not have gotten so hurt.”
Alejandro hugged Rudy then, quickly but carefully. Rudy, of course, returned the embrace.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being the reason you got hurt…”
Now Rudy couldn’t believe what he was saying. He pulled back to look into his husband’s eyes.
“No.”
Alejandro looked slightly confused at that.
“The reason I got hurt is because of Hassan. You had nothing to do with that outcome, Ale. Please don’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t control.”
Rudy placed a kiss on his lover’s forehead. Alejandro just sighed again.
“You saved me. You went into that room and pulled me from death’s reach. You did that. Does that not count for anything?”
Silence fell again. It was clear that Alejandro still blamed himself, that awful feeling of guilt still weighing on his mind. But he took his lover’s hand and kissed it, then looked to him with a small smile.
“Let’s go to bed.”
Now Rudy sighed in relief. Alejandro chuckled at that. He helped his husband get off of the counter and led him to the bedroom.
They finally got into bed and Rudy felt his mind drifting away as soon as his head hit the pillow. Alejandro pulled him close and placed a kiss on his forehead.
“Te amo, amor.”
“Te amo.”