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The whole Phantom-Thieving business was dangerous, Inigo had no doubts about that. When your whole line of work is breaking into places heavily guarded by creatures with supernatural powers, of course it could get quite risky.
Like, say, right now.
Their frontline team was facing down against four Shadows, three of which had the nerve to have moves that his poor Romeo was weak to.
The first Shadow flung it’s arms forward. Inigo jumped to the side without thinking. It was a good call, as he narrowly dodged an ice spell.
“Great form, Rose!” called Morgan from Alexander, floating a safe distance above the battle. Inigo gave her a thumbs-up before turning his attention back to the Shadow.
The one that attacked him should be weak to fire. That’s what usually happens to Shadows with ice abilities. Inigo reached up to his mask and felt it dissociate into blue flames.
“Romeo! Agilao!”
His Persona was quick to materialize, and even quicker to throw out a ball of red fire. The Shadow was hit square in its ugly face and recoiled from damage. Inigo withdrew Romeo and rushed towards it. It should be low enough to finish off with a melee attack. He swung his sword.
But the Shadow wasn’t knocked down on the ground. It giggled as it jumped over Inigo’s sword and then Inigo just felt a sudden chill and then-
Shards of ice materialized within an instant and stabbed right through him. He felt the cold chill him to his very bones, as Romeo cried out in his head. The hit brought him down to his knees. His vision was swimming. Marc was yelling something, but Inigo couldn’t quite make out what. Get a grip! There was a Shadow ready to end him right in front of him he had to stand up he had to fight back he had t
He felt a sudden shove. His body flung itself backwards. It wasn’t from an attack. That was a deliberate shove to get him out of harm’s way.
Wait. Someone was protecting him!
That steadied his vision. He looked up and only saw a dark, menacing figure bracing themselves for a hit that swiftly came. Ice hit Inigo’s savior without fail. They gasped.
Something moved in the perimeters of Inigo’s vision. He snapped his head in that direction and saw another Shadow aiming at the person standing above him.
“Wyvern! Take Rose and MOVE!” yelled someone, Kjelle. Inigo summoned Romeo and threw an Agilao at the further Shadow. Kjelle’s physical attack made it dissolve. Inigo snapped his head back to Gerome, who was…
On the ground. Frozen solid.
“This area is clear! Rose and Wyvern need healing!” Morgan delivered the update. No more Shadows. That did not lessen the damage, though. Gerome was probably unconscious, frozen by a spell meant to hit Inigo, not him. Ingo grabbed his pouch, shifting through its contents. Anti-freeze, quickly, where was it?! He had a medicine, no good, a curse doll, no, a molotov, horrible, no no no it had to be in there somewhere please please plea-
Someone pushed him out of the way. Again. Inigo wanted to fight back at first. Look at Gerome, look what happens if someone tries to save his useless ass-
But it’s Brady. With the right items prepared. He applied one of them, the status-relieving one, to Gerome. The ice melted. But that only made his body slump in a slightly less stiff position. He was still unconscious.
“Get up,” Kjelle’s curt command snapped Inigo out of… whatever he just experienced. She hauled him up to his feet and slammed a healing stone into his chest.
Inigo whined, but he couldn’t complain for too long. The healing energy did quickly elevate most of the pain. Still, healing stones weren’t exactly the best healing item considering the power of the Shadows they were facing.
“Duke, what’s the status?” Lucina strolled up to the little group, Marc and Morgan following right behind her. Brady looked up from the still unconscious Gerome.
“ ‘m almost out of spells,” he reported, then added “Out of good items, too.”
Lucina’s mouth twisted into a slight frown.
“We confirm, everyone’s almost out of energy,” Marc spoke up.
Lucina considered their options for a moment. Everyone in the group looked to their leader in anticipation.
“How far are we from a safe room?” she finally asked. A sigh of relief ran through the group. They all would push on if Lucina asked that of them, of course. But they all also trusted her to know when to call it quits.
“About five corridors, if our predictions are correct,” Morgan answered.
That was. Far. It wouldn’t be an easy trek, and that was if the twins were correct. If they were wrong, they could be forced to keep stalking the corridors for many more hours…
It didn’t help that Gerome still hasn’t been woken up.
“Duke, revive Gerome, but with the least potent thing you have. Someone will have to carry him to safety,” Lucina ordered. Brady nodded and immediately got to work.
Inigo’s hand shot up before he could stop it.
“I’ll carry him. I don’t think I can cast any more spells anyway.”
Lucina once again considered their options for a moment.
“Fine by me. Odin, Hare, you will replace Wyvern and Rose on the frontlines.”
Yarne trembled but nodded. Owain launched into a dramatic pose and probably would monologue, if Lucina didn’t order the frontline squad to move ahead. That left the backlines in the safe corridor. Still, they had to get moving quickly to not lose too much distance.
Inigo kneeled next to Gerome, who was held up in a semi-sitting position by Brady. He was blinking slowly and groaning. In Inigo’s book, that was a major improvement as compared to being unconscious and frozen solid. The image flashed through his head again, making him cringe.
“I’m gonna catch up to the main group. None of them probably have any energy left for healin’,'' Inigo quickly caught on and moved his own arms to support the still-waking up Gerome. Brady took his hands away very slowly, ensuring that Inigo is actually holding Gerome up. Which, rude. Obviously he was! Then their healer rushed off, with Noire, Laurent and Nah as his backup. First rule of Phantom-Thieving - never rush anywhere alone.
“. . .Gods, what happened. . ?” Gerome finally muttered out in a quiet, audibly confused voice. Then he suddenly tensed, looking right up. But, as soon as he saw Inigo, he froze. Although his mask did a great job at obscuring any emotions he could’ve shown, Inigo was fairly sure what passed through Gerome’s face was relief. He even had proof to support it! Mainly, the following words: “You’re alright.”
“Sure am. But you gave us quite a scare,” Inigo chuckled. Gerome looked away at that. He put his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. Inigo jumped to his feet. “Hey, hey, whoa there-!”
To only Gerome’s surprise, as soon as he was somewhat upright, his legs gave up and he came crashing back down to the floor. At least, that’s what would’ve happened, had Inigo not gallantly caught him in his arms, making Gerome hit not the cold hard floor, but Inigo’s still hard but softer than floor and definitely warmer chest. The red-haired man muttered something while supporting most of himself on the other. While the words were not exactly audible, Inigo was pretty sure of the frustrated tone they had.
“Easy there, you were barely woken up!”
And Gerome had the nerve to answer with a very annoyed “I’ve noticed.”
Inigo opened his mouth to deliver a devastating comeback that would’ve surely knocked Gerome out clean once again, but Severa rudely chimed in: “I’d honestly love to leave you to whatever the hell you’re having right now, but we need to get going.”
“Right, uh. Sorry,” and of course, it fell to Inigo to apologize, because Gerome would never do such a thing. Most likely because he looked as if he was about to lose consciousness while hanging on Inigo’s shoulder. Definitely a worrying thing. There was no way he’d be able to make it to the end of this corridor on his own legs, let alone all the way to the unknowably far safe room.
Well, Gerome’s pride will have to take a hit for the good of the team.
“Alright sleepy, I’m going to carry you all the way to safety. Sounds good?”
Gerome made a very clear sound of protest. Inigo ignored it. He waved at Severa to come help him pick up this defiant deadweight. She probably rolled her eyes hard enough to move her head along with it, but she trekked over. She grabbed Gerome and pried him off Inigo, allowing the designated carrier to get into proper position. Gerome struggled a little bit longer, until Severa snapped at him. Inigo only heard the sound of a hit connecting.
“Ey, no fighting the wounded!”
The girl muttered out a haphazard apology. At least Gerome stopped resisting? Still, Severa’s methods were questionable at best. They were lucky Lucina nor Brady were with them.
A moment later and- whoop! Inigo was standing, with Gerome safely leaning on his back. A piggyback ride for one stupid, injured red-head. They could start moving. Severa opened their little caravan, while Cynthia closed it, with Inigo and his precious cargo in the middle. They could cover ground fairly swiftly, though considerably slower than when someone isn’t carrying a tall, muscular man on his back. Bless Metaverse nonsense for allowing Inigo to even perform such a feat. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do that in the real world. Over here, no doubt Romeo supplied him with a little more physical strength. Gerome’s Persona probably also contributed a bit. Bless them as well.
It was quiet, there was only the clanking of their footsteps and distant sounds of Shadows roaming the place. A little too quiet, if you’d ask Inigo. Severa was ahead, and Cynthia was behind, so that left only one conversation partner.
“. . .you really pulled off quite a number over there, you know? I wouldn’t have fainted from that hit,” that was the most awkward conversation starter Inigo had come up with in a good while.
“You would’ve,” Gerome answered with no hesitation. Hearing his voice this close to his ear did make Inigo slightly stagger in surprise. It wasn’t because of the sudden realization Gerome’s breath was tickling his ear. Hahha, of course n nn oot.
“Wow, thanks for having faith in my defense,” luckily, Inigo’s brain cells haven’t all melted upon the sudden awareness of the fact just how close Gerome was and he was able to shoot back a funny one-liner.
Silence once again. Hey, where was Gerome’s snappy comeback? This worried Inigo even more. If this extremely broody man had no energy left in him to bite, then his state must be pretty severe.
“. . .besides, it’d be more fitting for me to faint and for you to carry me around. You could give me a wyvern-back ride,” Inigo winked, then remembered that Gerome can’t see it. Yet, one more time he was only met with silence and Gerome’s quiet breath. “Get it? Cause your codename is Wyvern-”
He felt his parcel shift a little, and then. Gerome’s head was burrowed in his shoulder. Oh. Gods. Inigo’s heart sped up.
“Don’t faint on me. . .”
An unidentifiable groan found its way out of Gerome. That was. Better than nothing, Inigo supposed.
“Hang in there, we must be close already-!”
Along with his heart, his legs sped up. He had to make it to the safe room. The frontline group must’ve found it already. They must’ve, because if they hadn’t, then…
Behind the corner, in the further end of the next corridor stood Laurent, waving at their group. His foot was lodged in between hazy doors. There were voices coming from the room behind him.
They made it. They made it!
Severa slipped inside. Inigo wasn’t too far behind her, though he still had the entire corridor ahead. With the promise of being able to crash on something firmly etched into his mind, he managed to speed up even further despite the increasing ache of his lungs and legs.
Laurent stopped waving.
Cynthia yelled.
A Shadow!
What-?! Here?! Inigo snapped his head around. A large, ominous figure with a mask covering their face was chasing after Cynthia, who was, in turn, quickly shortening the distance between herself and Inigo, yelling about speeding up or preparing to fight.
Fighting with Gerome on his back would be hard, so.
Inigo has never run so fast in his life.
Laurent opened the door further. Cynthia drew her weapon. Laurent yelled something about not fighting right now. Inigo crashed into the hazy door and the room behind it.
A few steps in. Breathing became the hardest thing ever. The doors were slammed shut, and Laurent, holding Cynthia, was standing right in front of them.
“Is everyone here?” asked Lucina from behind a table they already managed to set up.
“I believe it to be so. Nobody appears to be missing,” confirmed Laurent, still holding onto Cynthia. Lucina sighed in relief.
Inigo spotted a couch which somehow remained unoccupied. He made his way towards it. Gods, his everything ached now. Legs from running, arms and back from carrying Gerome. Damn this, thievery was a horrible hobby.
Necessary, maybe. Still sucked.
Gerome was barely gracefully thrown onto the couch. He made the sheer tactlessness of the act known through yet another groan. His eyes were closed. Shit. Well, he was to some degree conscious. There’s that.
Inigo turned his attention to the table. Whoever still had energy gathered around it to discuss the safest way out of the Palace. The rest slumped somewhere in the room, being pretty indiscriminate with what they deemed suitable for rest. Kjelle, for example, was sprawled out over a desk.
But, wait, the couch was free when the last group arrived. Did they leave it be?
. . .those caring idiots.
A bunch of healing items were up for grabs on the table. So, Inigo snatched some, only sneaking in a short look at the discussed plans. Eh, he’ll just go where they direct him to. He’ll leave the strategizing to the smarter folks.
He kneeled down in front of the couch (his legs thanked him for that) and looked through the things he snatched. Some bandages, a packaged meal (who carried something like that in their pouch??), and a few bottles of medicine. Setting one bottle of medicine aside, that one was for himself, he looked back at Gerome, and.
Look, he didn’t want to be rude nor violate Gerome’s personal space more than he already had. However, in order to ingest most of those things one did have to remove their mask. That reminded Inigo to quickly push up his own. Back to the dilemma, though. Gerome wasn’t in a state that would allow him to take immediate revenge, so okay, trying this won’t result in an assault.
He gently lifted Gerome’s mask and allowed it to slide into its other place at the top of his head. How did any of the masks remain glued to their faces, even if they had them in the wildest places? No one knew. Some Metaverse magic. Anyway.
Under the mask Gerome was. Well, Gerome. It’s not like Inigo hasn’t seen Gerome completely unmasked before. Wait, actually. Gerome did have a habit of always wearing shades, even indoors, sometimes even wearing a face mask on top of that.
He certainly looked more… relaxed than normally. As relaxed as a person in unknown amounts of pain can be.
Wait, is Inigo staring? He’s totally staring. Uh, quickly, mask it somehow!
He reached for Gerome and hauled him a bit more upright. That seemed to work well enough as a wake-up, considering a moment later he felt a pair of hands lightly shove him away. Wow. How grateful.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty. It’s time for your healing appointment!” Inigo said from a small distance. Gerome gave him The Glare. Yep, thankfully back to fully normal. Inigo reached for the nearest medicine bottle and handed it over to Gerome, who, thankfully, was aware enough to grab it and use it by himself. While the idea of helping Gerome more was… not unpleasant, he definitely didn’t want to embarrass the poor man further.
“By the way… why did you jump in front of me?” it wasn’t a trick question, Inigo was genuinely curious. He opened his own bottle of medicine and downed it in one gulp. Uh, awful taste.
Gerome took his time. He first looked around - was he worried someone would overhear them? Sure, the room was rather small, but everyone was either busy slowly dying or arguing. And even if someone wasn’t doing one of those two things, the sounds of the discussion nicely drowned out anything else. Finally, he winced.
“...I didn’t want to see you hurt.”
And. That. Inigo blinked. Despite Gerome turning his face away and avoiding eye contact, there was just a. Such an honest expression of vulnerability. It felt like some heart-felt confession. Maybe it was. But, if so, what did it mean?
“Me neither,” Inigo blurted out and immediately realized how stupid it sounded, so he began correcting himself. “I mean- I don’t want to see you get hurt either, and it was my fault in the first place for rushing in, so really y-”
“Inigo,” Gerome cut short his triade with a simple, forceful word. A name, nonetheless. They weren’t supposed to use names down here. “I did what I had to.”
And… that was that. Gerome reached for the second bottle of medicine and began ingesting it. Inigo just stood there. Staring, but just a little.
Had to? Damn, why must he be so cryptic about everything… it’s such a naturally attractive trait. Inigo couldn’t help but be jealous- yes, totally jealous.
“Then I’m inviting you out for dinner,” is what words left Inigo’s mouth after the initial shock has passed.
Gerome paused mid-bottle, lowered it, gave him a long stare, and even slightly raised his eyebrows in judgemental surprise. Oh gods, Inigo really fucked up this time. His thoughts immediately explained to him how to deal with rejection this fervent, but then.
“Why?” was all Gerome said.
Uh. Huh? There was no immediate no? Damn, he didn’t think this far. Too much. He obviously did, but, uh.
“Why? Because you did what you had to, now I’m paying you back,” Inigo answered with great confidence. Because this was the last moment he had before the no.
“Fine by me,” Gerome answered without too much hesitation nor displeasure and went back to finishing up his bottle of medicine.
WHAT
NO WAIT GENUINELY WH
HUH!
In order to cover up the momentary loss of his shit, Inigo grabbed the packaged meal and handed it over to Gerome. Wait. Wait, no, gods.
“This obviously isn’t the meal I’m taking you out for,” he quickly added, before stepping back. And winking, now that Gerome could finally see his great expression. Gerome’s chest quickly lifted at that, and breath ran out of his mouth and, was that a chuckle? WAS THAT A
“I sure hope so. This is a meal you can take someone out with,” despite such a strong statement, he opened it up and dug into it. Healing items were healing items, regardless of taste.
No but like hold up one last time. Was that a joke? Was Inigo just joked at by Gerome?
Oh Naga the holiest and Grima most defile.
(Somewhere in the background, Laurent handed money over to Severa, who smirked triumphantly.)
“Is everyone ready to move?” Lucina suddenly spoke up. The group let out a groan of agreement. Inigo joined into the choir to not appear suspicious.
“Great. Me, Knight, Star and Sera will be the leading squad. Odin, Hare and Drake will take the rear squad. The rest goes together between those two groups. Does everyone agree?”
Another groan of pained agreement. The called out people began grouping themselves up. Gerome stood up. For a moment, before it turned out that even those healing items haven’t done a good enough job. He staggered a little. Inigo slid his arm under Gerome’s to support him and only then realized what he did. However it was a bit too late for backing out now, as the leading squad left, and the middle one had to depart now.
“Are you intending on escorting me all the way to my home?” Gerome asked with a little sprinkle of bite. Inigo grinned at him.
“Sure, I always wanted to meet your mom.”
Gerome sighed. This would be a long walk home.