Chapter Text
Price pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, holding his breath with a full chest, as he willed himself to focus.
It was getting on to a sixteen hour day, one of way too fuckin' many recently, and all his stores were depleted. No amount of coffee and sugar free Redbull Bull was helping him now. He had no choice but to push on anyway.
With a sigh, he dropped his hands into his lap and blinked away the fog, his eyes no less sore than they had been moments ago. His watch read 2300, which meant he still had four hours to squeeze out a few more reports before he hit the minimal threshold for sleep. Any less than four hours and he would be inefficient.
His chest felt tight and his shoulders ached from where he had been hunched over for so long, and no matter how many times he read through Gaz's summary of the interrogation training from three days ago, nothing was sinking in. He was at peak information saturation, with four deadlines looming over his head, fifty emails to answer, and a field exercise to organise.
Price picked up his pen, circled one of Gaz's comments on a specific trooper, and tapped at his keyboard. Just as his sluggish brain had negotiated the database he needed, a sharp knock at his door drew his attention. "C'min. Make it quick."
The door opened and the familiar sight of his favourite pilot loomed large against the white lights of the corridor. "Captain," Nik said as he stepped up to the desk, shutting the rest of the world out behind him. He had been grounded for a few days due to much needed repairs, and Price would be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed having him around, even if they'd only managed to snatch thirty minutes here and there. It was just... nice.
Nik placed a plate of food on top of the reports; ham sandwich with Cheese and Onion Walkers crisps on the side. White bread n' all. Price's favourite. "Ah, cheers," Price said, pulling it towards him with a faint smile. "Y'olrigh'?"
"Da." Nik walked around Price's desk to stand behind his chair, big hands squeezing Price's biceps before stroking up to his shoulders. "I am concerned."
"About?" Price closed one of his eyes in hopes it would help the remaining one bring the text on the page before him into focus. Unfortunately, Nik chose that moment to press his thumbs into the knots packing Price's shoulders and he grunted, his fingers tightening around his pen, as the pressure unspooled pleasantly down his arms and up his neck.
"You are exhausted, and I know this is the first thing you have eaten since this morning."
"Ahh, I'll have a big breakfast tomorrow, mmph." Price hunkered over as Nik's hands worked up his neck, large fingers sloping down his clavicles as Nik's thumbs rubbed circles to his hairline. It was like sinking into heaven; Nik's palms were so warm, absolute kryptonite to Price's dwindling resolve to keep working. He was fighting to keep his eyes open, wanting nothing more than to sink back into Nik's arms and fall asleep. "Oi, ah, Nik... 've gotta finish these."
"Tomorrow," Nik said, tracing Price's hairline in sweeping strokes, leaning down to press a kiss to Price's thinning crown. It was too much. Too good. Price shrugged him off and Nik's hands fell away reluctantly.
"Naw, g'won. Go back t' bed. 'll be there in a bit."
"You have half an hour."
"Oh yeah?"
"Da. Enough time to finish your sandwich and wind down."
Price smirked, huffing. "Yeah, we'll see."
Nik patted Price's shoulder and left the office with his usual swagger. Price shook his head, grabbed a handful of crisps, and returned to the computer screen.
-
Nik set himself a timer on his phone. It was enough time for him to fill up the hot water bottle John kept in his closet for strain injuries, bundle a few more blankets onto the bed, crack the window and fill a pint glass of water for the bedside table.
When his phone buzzed in his back pocket, he readied himself for the fight. To out-stubborn John Price was a feat of strength in itself, but Nik had a track record of successes that were mounting up more rapidly with each passing year. The more he burrowed into John's life, gently nurtured their relationship, the less John was able to resist him. It was a good thing; he worked too hard and had a depressingly poor sense of self care.
Nik didn't knock before he entered John's office this time, but it didn't matter anyway. He found his captain slumped facedown on the desk, his hand slack around the pen. He was snoring softly, the noise muffled by the pile of paper that made up his make-shift pillow.
Waking a sleeping soldier was always a little dangerous. John was fairly centered when he was on base, but there was always a small risk. Nik approached slowly, his palm sliding over John's wrist as he spoke softly to rouse him as slowly as possible. "John, time for bed."
John's face crumpled in a frown before his eyes opened. He sat back, a page sticking briefly to his cheek before he batted it away. "Bollocks, bit of food in my belly and that was it," he grumbled. "Naw, can't, I've gotta--"
Nik took John by the jaw and turned his face up. "Nyet. You are finished now." John was barely awake, his eyes lidded as he looked up at Nik fuzzily, his hair ruffled, his beard flattened on one side, his round cheeks pinched between Nik's fingers, the tiredness filling his usually bright irises; he looked heartbreakingly sweet, which was probably an assessment that would rankle him should Nik voice it.
Rather than give John time to argue, Nik dipped forward and slid an arm beneath his legs, wrapping the other around his back, pausing for a moment to breathe him in.
"Nik... What're ya--ha, what're yer doin'?" Price chuckled tiredly, flailing only a little as Nik lifted him out of his chair. "Put me down, yer giant bastard." Perhaps John's protest would have had a greater impact if it hadn't been murmured into the side of Nik's neck, one of John's hands bunched in his shirt.
"You have lost weight."
"S'been a long year," John replied, lifting his face free only enough to put up token resistance. "If someone sees me bein' carried like some virgin bride, 'm never gonna get me reputation back."
"It is nearly midnight. There is no one awake but overworked, underpaid captains and their long-suffering lovers." Nik hooked the door open with his foot and carried John into the corridor. It wasn't far. Just two doors down. But one could not put a Price down once captured, lest it scurry back to its labours.
"Still gives me the... shivers y'know, the... lovers thing..." John was falling already, his body lax in Nik's arms, each breath a struggling, tired sigh as he clung to consciousness. Nik dipped his elbow and backed into the bedroom, depositing his armful of captain gently into the centre of the bed.
John was more a hindrance than a help getting his clothes off, and Nik batted his hands away from the laces of his boots, smiling when John flopped onto his back. The trousers and t-shirt were easier, and soon Nik was tucking John beneath the blankets and sliding in beside him.
The one advantage of such a narrow bed was that they had to essentially sleep on top of each other to fit. It was such a habit that even when they were in one of Nik's condos, with a sprawling king to enjoy, they ended up huddled on one side, their bodies curled together. John rested on Nik's chest, one arm draped over his belly, and Nik wrapped his back, thumb stroking slowly over warm skin.
"Yer too good t' me," John murmured, turning his face into the soft hair on Nik's chest with a contented hum, his hand kneading against Nik's belly.
"I must make up for how bad you are to yourself."
"S'jus' the job, Nik." John squirmed a little, rubbing himself against the length of Nik's body, snuggling down into the warmth and comfort subconsciously as sleep pulled him under.
Nik turned his face into John's fluffy hair, and closed his own eyes as John's breathing evened out and his body relaxed. Perhaps, Nik thought groggily as his dreams lured him in, if John Price was married to him rather than his job, he would be happier and healthier. Nik decided then, as John nuzzled against him in his dreams, that he would turn 'lover' into 'husband' by the end of the year.