The snow just kept on falling down, and the wind bit his cheeks worse than a hungry wolf, but alas, he kept going, following the trails.
“God dammit Dimitri” mumbled Ilya. “Why’d you save my sorry ass?”

The answer was obvious, but he denied it. The mere thought of someone falling for him was enough to make him shudder and feel sick to the stomach. But still, he couldn’t help reciprocating those emotions, even if it made him hate himself more than anything else about his past.

Soon, he came to the large building he targeted, infiltrating it rather easily. Ilya looked at the little pendant agent Kondrakov gave him and sighed, then pressed on, searching the room his mentor and crush was in. It didn’t take long to find it, he knew exactly where Cristopher tortured the Angels, plus there was that awful smell of fresh blood.

He sighed, taking the gun out, then counted to three.
1.
2.
3.

Crash! The door’s down. Bang. First shot fired. Then another, and another, until Cristopher runs out, cursing Ilya’s name to the winds, but he didn’t care. 

As soon as he laid eyes on Dimitri, he knew that ‘patching him up’ won’t be enough.
“I knew you’d come, poet”

Ilya shook his head, cutting the ropes that bound him to the chair.

“It was my duty, sir.”

“Still calling me ‘sir’? Seriously man, we’re the same age.” laughed Dimitri, and Ilya couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“Your right eye looks like shit.” he said, searching for something to use as a temporary patch until they got back.

“Did the redhead teach you healing magic yet?”

“Her name’s Dev, and yes. But I can’t use it yet.” he replied, then both went quiet as Ilya tended to the wound. 

“Wow you’re good at this whole ’patching up’ thing. How the hell did you do that?” Dimitri asked, gently touching the patch.

“Dev. She’s the goldmine of medicine and magic.” Ilya paused for a moment. “Get up. We gotta go. Chivalry’s going to arrive soon, but we can’t stay here.”

“Sheesh we can’t even have bonding moments.”

Ilya didn’t reply, just made his way back to the entrance to the building, and then to the randez-vous point.

                                 [amazingly well placed time lapse]

“Aaand done!” Dev chirped happily. “You might need an eye transplant though.”

“Yea yea. I still look cool though.” Dimitri replied, causing her to shake her head in amusement. 

“Go. The kid waits for you”

He didn’t need any other reason to exit. As soon as he came out of the infirmery, he was faced with an extremely worried and probably pissed off Apraskin.

“The fuck were you thinking, saving me like that?” Ilya asked.

Dimitri shrugged.

“Because I love you.”

The words took Ilya aback, mostly because he thought he’d never hear them being said like that.

“Don’t act shocked, Apraskin. You knew before I did.”

Ilya just shook his head and quickly mumbled something under his breath.

“Why’d you come to save me, though?” Dimitri asked.

“Because… well…” he took in a deep breath and built up the courage. “Because I love you too.”

Dimitri crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at Ilya’s face.

“What took you so long?”

“Honestly? I was afraid” he replied.

“Well, poet, no more fear of being loved, okay?”

“Okay.”