“We’ve got a group of enemies units coming in from the west,” Hakyeon frowned as he put down his binoculars, “Looks to be about seven of them, don’t know what kind of heat they’re packing. Sanghyuk, do you think you can handle it?”

“Got it,” Sanghyuk’s replied via the ear piece and Hakyeon didn’t doubt that his boyfriend was smiling cheerfully, totally confident in his abilities.

“Just be careful,” Hakyeon smiled back, just as confident that Sanghyuk could take care of himself.

Sanghyuk was a skilled fighter, especially with the little armor upgrades Wonsik had created for him. Nothing too complex, just things that boosted his mobility and his defense. Just enough to give Sanghyuk an advantage on the battle field. Add that to his distortion ability and the wrist-gun holsters and Sanghyuk was more than just formidable for enemies.

At least, that was what Hakyeon – and everyone else for that matter - thought.

When Sanghyuk suddenly started screaming for help, Hakyeon’s heart froze in his chest.

“Sanghyuk!” Hakyeon yelled, running as fast as he could in the direction he knew Sanghyuk was.

The lack of response pushed Hakyeon to run faster.

“I’ve got him,” Hongbin’s voice was like a miracle to Hakyeon, but the news it brought made him want to break down crying, “he’s alive, but hurt. Bad. I don’t have the supplies to help him with me, I need to take him back to the med bay.”

“Do it,” Hakyeon ordered, “everyone, fall back.”

“Are you sure?” Sungjae asked.

“We’re taking too much damage,” Taekwoon responded for Hakyeon, “and the enemy keeps sending more soldiers. We can’t win, we need to withdraw.”

“Everyone to the plane now!” Hakyeon said before starting to make his own way back to their ride.

When Hakyeon arrived, everyone was already there save for a Jackson and Mark who were only behind because they’d been providing cover fire for the group’s retreat.

“Go,” Hakyeon ordered as soon as everyone was strapped into their seats on in the plane’s mini-med bay.

“He’ll be ok,” Taekwoon whispered when he noticed Hakyeon’s tense shoulders and shaking hands, “you know Hongbin won’t let him be anything but ok.”

“I know,” Hakyeon replied, voice weak as his fear for his boyfriend’s safety really started to take hold, “I……I gave him the order. I told him to take on those soldiers without backup. It’s my fault.”

“Sanghyuk has been in harder spots,” Taekwoon reasoned, “and he’s walked away fine. You had no way of knowing that this would be any different.”

“I’m the leader,” was all Hakyeon could say in return, “I should have known better.”

--

“He’s going to be fine,” Hongbin said, carefully removing the surgical gloves stained with Sanghyuk’s blood, “there shouldn’t be any lasting damage.”

“What happened?” Wonsik asked when it became clear that Hakyeon was too focused on the gloves to process anything else.

“From what I gathered,” Hongbin frowned, “one of them had a rocket launcher. They got off a shot before Sanghyuk was completely ready for it. The shot missed him, but the rubble from the building clocked him good in the head and back. The ers took advantage of Sanghyuk’s injured state and put a couple bullets in his side.”

“Is he awake?” Taekwoon asked.

“Not yet,” Hongbin told the three men, “the meds I gave him should keep him out for a few more hours at least. And when he wakes up? Well, the pain killers should leave him pretty loopy.”

“Thank you,” Hakyeon said, voice weak and eyes red, “thank you for saving him.”

“It’s my job,” Hongbin shrugged, trying to pretend like he hadn’t been just as worried as everyone else. Sanghyuk was one of his best friends after all.

--

“Sanghyuk?” Hakyeon asked, slowly stepping into the room, “you awake?”

“Yeonnie!” Sanghyuk cheered happily, voice slurring slightly thanks to all the pain medication, “I missed you.”

“How do you feel?” Hakyeon questioned, quickly moving to take one of Sanghyuk’s hands in his own.

“Sleepy,” Sanghyuk smiled, “and a little fuzzy. But I’m happy now that you’re here.”

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Hakyeon started crying, “I shouldn’t have sent you in there alone.”

“’S ok,” Sanghyuk grinned, “I still love you.”

“I almost lost you,” Hakyeon sobbed, “you almost died. Hongbin had to cut you open to fix you.”

“Don’t cry, Yeonnie,” Sanghyuk tried to comfort his lover, Hakyeon’s tears cutting through his hazy mind enough for him to realize that Hakyeon crying was a very bad thing and he needed to comfort him, “I don’t like it when you cry. I’m still here, so don’t cry.”

“I love you so much,” Hakyeon kept crying, holding onto Sanghyuk’s hand like it was the only thing keeping him from completely losing it, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Marry me,” Sanghyuk replied after a moment.

“What??” Hakyeon stopped crying once he realized what Sanghyuk had said.

“Marry me,” Sanghyuk repeated with a smile, proud that he’d gotten Hakyeon to stop crying, “then we’ll always be together no matter what.”

“Ask me again when you aren’t high on pain killers,” Hakyeon sighed, a small smile appearing on his face because even though Sanghyuk probably wasn’t going to remember this later…..Sanghyuk had still proposed and Hakyeon was very much in love with the idea of being married to the man he loved.

A/N: originally, this was going to stop at the “I don’t know what I’d do without you” part. Maybe it would have had a little more, but the “marry me” part was not originally supposed to happen. But as I was writing……it just seemed perfect.