hey fellas im starting a new roleplay ((one on one, closed but open to stalkers))

"you know, i'm being a lot friendlier than the other men. who knows what tessa looks like by now…" the figure said with practiced absence, having taken nik's place on the metal chair while he lay bleeding.

nik just huffed. the plan was originally to fake internal injury and then spring when their back was turned, but he wasn't so sure. sure fuckin felt like internal injury to him, so he guessed he'd just play dumb. this isn't terrible. this will not end in death.

he gave a guttural laugh in response. "i love your tactic of psychological torment. where'd you learn it from, good ol' ma?"

they growled. "don't make me break your spine, fischer."

there was a murmured response, along the lines of "i hit him too hard…" and "think he might be dying". nik just smiled from the floor, rolling to shoot a wink up at them.

"you underestimate me, dear."

with that, he flung himself up, launching straight for their throat. he managed to knock them back in the chair, and oh thank GOD they hadn't taken his knife, pressed it to their throat. harder than necessary.

"hey, man. move even one inch to shoot me and before i die, i'll kill you too. this knife looks humble, but it's rather deadly when it's pinning you to the floor by your fucking trachea. got it?"
he smiled sweetly.

"now tell me, where are they keeping tessa?'

and that's how he ended up walking silently, stolen gun in hand and knife at his belt, towards the 'interrogation' room. he listened at the door. he heard a hit landed, a wheeze, and deemed it time. the door was opened quietly, and he took a deep breath before aiming at the one who had just hit tess, and shooting.

there were more after, gunshots drowning out and grunting and crashes. there was a presence around tessa occasionally, seemingly protecting her from the fight.

the chains were let loose, blindfold ripped from her face, and she was ushered by a familiar presence back into the tunnels. there was a dingy side entrance, a dirt hallway, and they were back in a vaguely familiar place. nik's home.

only then did he stop, taking a breather before immediately turning to pat her down and frantically ask if she was okay.

"tessa! tess, are you okay? what did they do?"

he rested his hands on her shoulders.

"tessa… what did they do?" he didn't notice his own shirt, red and wet with his own blood. "did they hurt you too badly?"

he gently reached up to wipe the blood from her face, not looking down at himself.

"i probably am, but i'm not concerned about that right now. i would offer a hug but that'd be a little messy, yeah? stay here, i have something for your throat." he disappeared up into the curtained room, coming back out with a first aid kit.

"i assure you, i'm very alive. i stole a gun from the guy in my room, thats where the shots were coming from." he said matter-of-factly, taking out a disinfecting wipe. "careful, this will hurt."

he gave a small smile, lightly dragging the wipe across her throat. he cleaned the blood off, pressing some gauze to the cut and securing it in place with a bandage.

"there, how's that feel?"

only after she answered did he look down.

"ah. well, his boots did have spikes on them. yikes." without thinking, he yanked all of his layering off to reveal just the tank top, and rolled it up. nik gingerly touched one of the puncture wounds, grimacing.

"that oughta be fun to fix."

"yeah, i should call her up. hopefully she's got time. hey, does anything else hurt on you?" he dropped his shirt, obviously ignoring the injuries. "any internal stuff going on?"

"i'm tactfully ignoring my injuries in favor of yours. what's going on?" he adjusted his shirt, peeling it away from his torso.

"alright, alright. only if she can have a look at you as well?" he searched for his phone, eventually finding it in one of the discarded layers.

he only raised an eyebrow and clicked on the contact.

"hey, zan. no, i'm sorry to bother. i don't have rose's contact, so… yes, i got hurt. so did tess. yes. not the watch, no. it's a really long story but i got kicked with spiked boots and tessa has a broken rib so please ask her to come over. same place as last time. thanks, friend."

he hung up with another grimace. "pain's starting to kick in now. hopefully she gets here soon."

"not even sure, really. probably just to show us that having relationships is detrimental." he shrugged, glancing at the porthole entrance.

"pfft, like we would do that. like we even could do that. it's everywhere, everyone knows. even if we did tell them it was a hoax, it wouldn't get to everybody. people would still know."
he leaned on the wall, arms crossed low on his torso,

he looked at her for only a moment, taking a second to process her words. he looked conflicted for a split second, almost undetectable, before smiling sadly.

"it'd be best, yeah? rose will be here soon. stay until then, and if you want to spend one last night together we can. or not. whichever you prefer, love." he winced after he said the nickname, but tried to keep the brave face on for her.

"it'd be best for the both if us."

((do you want to like,, after rose comes do you want to timeskip to when they're older and both either moving/considering moving to the other district and they meet again?))