With a groan, Sehun wrenched open his eyes and found himself staring at a blurred image of a scarily-grinning, curly-headed clown. Blinking a few times, he then realised that no, he hadn't lost his mind and was in fact staring at none other than fellow firefighter, Park Chanyeol.

As his vision refocused, Sehun surveyed his surroundings, his wide and confused eyes trailing over the pasty white walls, uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs, as well as the cramped bed that he was currently lying in. As recognition finally dawned on him, Sehun could not fathom as to what had landed him in hospital of all places.  

"What the hell happened?" he muttered, his voice cracking as he moved a hand to rub the sleep from his eyes, only to be surprised as he saw plastic tubes and other contraptions stuck into his arm. "What in the...?"



"Duuddeee! You're alive! I thought that you'd died," the cheerful giant guffawed, his face breaking into an enormous smile - glorious eye twitches and all. 



"What he means to say is that we're glad that you're awake, Sehun," clarified Baekhyun - Chanyeol's better half, as he gave the younger a relieved smile from his position next to the bed. "We were really worried…do you remember anything at all?"



Snapshots of recent scenes quickly flashed in his mind and Sehun gasped as his memories returned, practically drowning him in their tidal force. 



--



Jongin and Sehun were going through the wreckage of an apartment block that had been destroyed by a fire, trying to determine the cause of the blaze that had taken them the majority of the morning to extinguish, when all of a sudden, Sehun's best friend and partner had turned to him and drew a line across his face, using the soot from him fingers.

This had naturally resulted in both males rubbing their hands in the ashes - health concerns were not a priority at this stage - and proceeding to try and tackle the other to dirty their face and neck. After about ten minutes of horsing around, Sehun had collapsed, utterly exhausted from their game and from laughing so hard, onto blackened and burnt couch.


Jongin had moved to stand in front of him, towering above him as he gazed down at his flushed friend. Neither said a word, both content with the comfortable silence that they'd found themselves in, and Sehun took this wonderful - and rare - opportunity to study the stunningly handsome being that was Kim Jongin. 



With a sun-kissed face, covered with a sheen of sweat and adorned with sparkling brown eyes and a pair of lazily curved lips, he was quite a sight. And dressed in the typical, heavy duty uniform of a firefighter, Jongin was truly oozing the 'y hero' factor with enviable ease – his lips, it was all Sehun could do not to leap into his arms and kiss him like he'd been wanting to for years. 



But no, they were just friends, nothing more than comrades in arms and it was slowly killing him, knowing that Jongin was so damn close, and yet so far out of his reach. Realising that he was being stared at, Jongin had cocked his eyebrow teasingly, waiting for an explanation from his closest companion. But instead he got a terrifyingly loud cracking sound, and shifting his gaze upwards, Jongin saw the chilling sight of the ruins from one of the floors above them giving way and hurtling down towards them at an alarming speed.

Within that split second before it hit them, Jongin threw himself onto a stunned Sehun, protecting his partner from the brunt of the inevitable blow. Wincing as he heard a sickening crunch and felt himself being crushed by the wreckage, Sehun looked into the smiling eyes of his beloved Jongin before his own eyes closed and the world went black.

--



"Jongin!" Sehun gasped, struggling to sit up in his bed, as the worst possible scenarios invaded and attacked his distraught mind. "Is he…?!"



"Calm down," replied Baekhyun soothingly, as he urged Sehun to lie back down with a gentle push. "He's in the bed next to you. He's a bit worse off than you - he did take the most of the impact - but he'll be okay. Nothing that a few months of rest won't fix."



Chanyeol got up from his position next to Sehun's bed and quietly pulled back the sea-green curtains separating the two halves of the room to reveal a peaceful-looking Jongin, covered with bandages and ugly purple bruises, lying in a bed identical to Sehun's. 



"He saved me," murmured Sehun softly - almost reverently - as he gazed lovingly over at his hero. "Jongin saved my life."



"Yeah he did," smiled Baekhyun, ruffling Sehun's hair as he made to leave, beckoning for Chanyeol to follow him, now that he was satisfied that both of his friends were going to be alright. "We'll give you a moment alone, 'kay? We'll be outside if you need us."

Sehun basically ignored his friends as they left the room, instead opting to continue to stare at the man who'd risked his own life to save his. Holding back tears of gratitude, Sehun hauled himself into something resembling a sitting position and stumbled out of bed, ignoring the protesting beeps as he ripped the tubes and needles from his arms - Jongin was more important. 



His heart broke as he observed his battered friend up close, teary eyes roaming over the various cuts scattered across his arms and face and the frayed dressings that seemed to be holding him together. Reaching out a hand, Sehun gently brushed away some of the hair from Jongin's damp forehead.



"I know that you can't hear me, Jongin-ah," Sehun whispered softly, taking Jongin's hand in his and squeezing it lightly, before letting go as his gaze moved from Jongin to stare wistfully out of the window and into the expanse of blue. "But I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life."



He then paused, wiped a few tears from his eyes and laughed bitterly, his chest constricting in pain caused from prolonged heartache. At this point, Sehun's eyes had a glazed look about them and he didn't even notice Jongin open his eyes and gaze at him in delighted wonderment, such was his trance-like state.


"But you've created quite the problem for us both, Jongin-ah when you saved me," Sehun continued, fingers clutching Jongin's worn woollen blanket tightly. "You see...by saving my life, you became my hero - which means that I now love you even more than I did before."



Here he smiled, his heart swelling with love for the young men lying in front of him, before he continued with his confession. 

"That's right, Jongin-ah, I am in love with you, and I have been for a very long time. I can still remember the day that you captured my heart...it was when we were still at the academy - our second day, actually. You didn't know me yet, but I knew you. You were the boy who got into trouble for convincing another student to try and 'eat' fire - I honestly have no idea how Chanyeol could believe that it was even possible to do. Anyway, you were walking down the hallway when suddenly you looked up and saw me...it was as if your whole face lit up when you smiled, Jongin-ah, and when you came over to talk to me...well, my heart has belonged to you ever since. And everyday that we've spent together since then, has only made me love you more...and what happened today has made me realise that I have absolutely no idea what I would do without you. You've become my life, Jongin. And although you don't return my feelings, I will never regret falling for you. Ever."

“You…love me?” asked Jongin softly, seemingly unable to comprehend what his best friend was telling him.

Sehun’s eyes shot downwards, widening as he saw his friend’s stunned expression and realised that Jongin had heard his words. Breathing shortening from the stress of ruining their friendship, Sehun emitted a strangled cry as he backed away from Jongin’s bed, intent on running away as far as possible from him.

“Wait! D-Don’t leave,” Jongin cried, grabbing Sehun’s wrist and stubbornly refused to release him, as he gazed imploringly up at him. “Did…you mean it?”  

“I-I…I didn’t think that you were listening,” Sehun murmured brokenly, salty tears trickling down his pale cheeks. “I…I’m sorry. I’ve ruin-”

“Did you mean it?” Jongin asked, a bit more forcefully as he tightened his grip on Sehun’s wrist, practically begging him to answer. “What you said before.”

“Yeah, but we can forg-” mumbled Sehun, before Jongin completely surprised him by yanking him down for a quick kiss.

Inwardly gasping as their lips met, Sehun positively melted at the glorious sensation of Jongin’s lips capturing his own. Whether it lasted for a second, a minute or even longer, Sehun didn’t care. It was the best kiss he’d ever had, only enhanced by that fact that it was with Jongin. Whining softly, as Jongin pulled away, Sehun gazed at him in amazement.

“I’ve been in love with you since the second I saw you walk into the classroom on our first day,” blurted out Jongin with a childish grin as he stared lovingly at him. “You looked so adorable clutching the textbooks to your chest as you made your way to your chair…it was all I could do not to proclaim my love for you at that moment.”

“You…love me?” Sehun gasped, his mouth curving into an enormous smile, lighting up his entire face.

“Always have and always will,” Jongin whispered softly, placing his hand behind Sehun’s head, cradling it, before guiding him down for another kiss.

“About time the two of you hooked up,” bellowed Chanyeol, flinging opened he door as he re-entered the room, followed by a squealing Baekhyun.

Jongin simply gave him the finger as he deepened the kiss.

Story prompt: where would I be without you?

A/N: yeah...I kind did something completely random here >_< I was inspired by a scene in the film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Watch it. It's amazing.