You Wouldn't Kill Me, You Love Me too Much (Thief!AU)
Title:You Wouldn't Kill Me, You Love Me too Much (Thief!AU)
Author: Dreaminginside
Words:1,897
Pairings: Yewook
Warnings: None
Disclaimer:LOLNO
Rating: PG
Summary: It's never Ryeowook's night anymore, but it's going to take more than a concussion to keep him from getting some.
A/N: This is part of a bigger verse in the grand scheme of things, I'll probably write for it again : D Wrote for it again! Thanks to 
kellsung for the lovely comments that made me spit this out so quickly. Also recommended you read http://dreaminginside.livejournal.com/1143.html#cutid1 first, but not mandatory for understanding.
.....
In retrospect, Ryeowook muses, the whole operation was going quite well until the dogs showed up.
That and the bit with his head meeting the pavement, but that can be overlooked when compared to the blood flowing freely down his shins from those mutts.
It never seems to be his night anymore.
He can still hear the dogs in pursuit, but they’ve gotten much fainter now that he’s crossed into the main city. Besides, the heavy weight against his waist tells him that the wanted scroll is safe, and that’s all that really matters in the end.
The king promised him a hefty sum for this one, but the adrenaline is starting to wear down and the money is not nearly as appealing as a bed is. He feels the world start to shift out of focus.
His blood is pounding in his ears, almost literally as he feels a drop of blood fall from his temple. His legs are aching from having to cover so much distance in such a short time, and the dog bites littering his calves are not helping.
His mind is cloudy enough that instead of getting back to the guild as quickly as possible, something is his head tells him to go to the palace.
So despite his ragged breathing and bloody legs, he risks climbing the walls, nearly seeing stars as his head bounces off the smooth brick at the bottom.
The only thing keeping him awake is the though of a warm bed and Jongwoon, the realm of sleep getting nearer as the seconds dole by.
He wanders sightlessly through the familiar hallways; head cradled in the crook of his elbow as his other arm braces him against the wall. Ryeowook starts to get a little more desperate as the black spots dance a little more into his sight line. He almost slips on the smooth brick again before he sees Hyukjae in the hallway and manages to drag himself into vision long enough to flash a quick smile at the horrified mans face before the ground rushes up to meet him.
Not the prince he was hoping to find, but he supposes it will do.
…….
Hyukjae is distraught, putting it lightly. He gets ready to scold Ryeowook for sneaking around the palace so late at night when the man falls to the ground. It’s then that he notices the way his brown hair is matted with blood, how torn his pant leg is.
And then he’s running to get Jongwoon.
He all but drags the prince from his room, the other man complaining the entire way, until they reach Ryeowook.
Hyukjae doesn’t think he’s ever seen his cousin moves so quickly in his life. Frankly, it scares him more than watching Ryeowook’s head play ping pong with the tiled floor.
And then Jongwoon is screeching at him to get a doctor, but his legs feel like jelly as he notices the continuing stream of blood from Ryeowook’s temple.
“Lee Hyukjae, snap out of it!” Jongwoon now has Ryeowook, so much smaller without that fire in his eyes, in his lap. “If you don’t move right now I will make sure your next breath is your last!”
Genuinely fearing for his life, Hyukjae runs down the corridor, intent on waking the whole palace if he has to. After all, the Prince of Thieves needs a doctor.
…..
Jongwoon has no idea what he’s doing, so he settles on cradling Ryeowook in his lap and cursing the thief’s idiocy to keep the rising fear at bay.
“You idiot, you have no idea how hurt you are do you?” He gets no response from the limp body in his arms “If you don’t open your eyes and give me some way of gauging how alive you are, I will have to kill you.”
“You wouldn’t do that, you love me too much.”
The small phrase mumbled into his stomach has him jerking back, immediately settling back into place at the hiss on Ryeowook’s part. He blinks down owlishly at the bloody mess his little thief has become, and is at a loss for words for the first time in a long time.
“If you start crying, I swear I’ll knife you. It probably looks worse than it is.” Another sleepily mumbled comeback as Jongwoon attempts to smooth back his hair to see how feverish he is.
“Well I doubt you’re up to it, how in the world did you even drag your sorry self back here?” Ryeowook is burning up; Jongwoon feels a panic attack coming on. “You couldn’t have found a doctor before coming to see me? I’m touched.”
“Why do I even bother talking to you, you’re such a bastard. I should just find some nice thief girl…” Ryeowook slowly trails off, sinking back into the pillow of Jongwoon’s lap.
Jongwoon barely restrains the urge to flail and run down the hallway to find a doctor himself. ‘Where the hell is Hyukjae?’ he thinks angrily, determined not to start panicking. He settles on trying to stem the blood flow from Ryeowook’s temple with his overly long sleeve and worriedly running his hands over the creased lines of his forehead, wishing with his mind that he had a skill beyond arrogance.
When the doctor finally does arrive, Jongwoon’s sleeves are saturated with blood from trying to clean Ryeowook’s multiple wounds. This briefly sends the doctor into a panic, worrying that the His Highness has injured himself, and was it the ruffian in his arms that did so.
“No you bumbling idiot! Is no one competent around here?” Jongwoon resists the urge to start flailing again, Ryeowook being the only thing that keeps him from getting up and strangling the aging man “And if you do not treat him this instant I will have you hung before dawn!”
With the fear of the prince’s wrath upon his head, Ryeowook is immediately swept onto a litter and carried to the infirmary. Jongwoon slumps back into the wall, the remains of Ryeowook’s blood scattered around him, and he buries his head in his bloodstained arms.
It is the longest night he’s had in ages.
…….
Ryeowook takes refuge in his dreams, warm and soft things, and he thinks he hears Jongwoon a few times, but it is fleeting and not enough to pull him up.
He is yanked, however, from his sleep induced bubble by a rather loud, angry and unfortunately familiar voice.
“-damn fault, he does this every time! No I will not quiet down, I’m always the last to know every time he does something idiotic and hurts himself, you think being second in command would mean something around-“
“Sungmin would you be quiet? Some people are trying to rest here.” Ryeowook feels two sets of eyes whip around to gawk at him “My head feels like a hammer’s smashed it.”
Hyukjae looks like he’s going to say something, but Sungmin reacts quicker and starts to lay into Ryeowook. “Of course it does, you have a concussion! And do you have any idea how worried I was when morning came around and you still weren’t back? It would have been nice if you at least bled on our doorstep before gimping off to be with your boyfriend!” Ryeowook stares blankly at him.
“Oh Sungmin, I didn’t know you cared so much, I’m touched.” Ryeowook sends a smile in the seething man’s direction. “But you know that this is nothing, even you’ve had worse.” Before Sungmin could continue his quest to rip Ryeowook to pieces, Hyukjae speaks up.
“I guess I’ll leave you two to it; I’m sure his Royal Annoyance would love to hear that you’re awake. I don’t think he’s slept in three days.” He states, looking significantly livelier since Ryeowook had regained the ability to verbally assault Sungmin.
The moment the door closes, Sungmin launches into another tirade of how Ryeowook needs to be more careful, he’s lucky that he just has a concussion, is Ryeowook even listening to him, and then starts to go into detail on the status of Ryeowook’s health.
Not that Ryeowook isn’t aware of the fever induced daze he’s been unknowingly stumbling in and out of; or the infection in the bites on his legs. The fresh bandages around his various appendages are telling enough. Sungmin, in his usual fashion, pays him no mind when he tries to tell him this though.
For the most part he patiently listens, knowing this as Sungmin’s way of showing concern. It’s always touching to be screamed at while your head pounds rhythmically every 2.3 minutes, give or take a tenth of a second.
He settles for trying to burrow a little further into the pillows propping him up, it seems he has commandeered Jongwoon’s bed, before letting his eyes droop bit by bit, Sungmin’s angry rant like a lullaby.
Then Jongwoon comes crashing through the door and sleep is thrown straight out the window.
He looks terrible, the first thing Ryeowook observes, black eyes made even darker by the bags beneath them, hair disheveled, and mouth set in a hard line.
Before another irrationally angry person can yell at him, and his aching head, Ryeowook interjects. “Well Your Highness, you are looking stunning this morning. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
There is stunned silence, something Ryeowook relishes in for a moment before it is irreparably shattered.
“To begin with, it’s five in the afternoon you ass.” He notices Hyukjae dragging Sungmin, still fuming, from the room, a shout of ‘No physical activity until you’re better!’ coming through the closing door. “Secondly, what am I supposed to look like? I was woken up at four in the morning to find you lying in a pool of your own blood! I have a right to not look quite as perfect as usual.” By the end Jongwoon is pulling back the other side of the covers, trying to burrow into Ryeowook’s uninjured side.
Ryeowook snorts “It’s the line of work I’m in; you shouldn’t be so surprised by now. And what’s your excuse for sleep? I’m the injured one here.” He still reaches down to run his hand through Jongwoon’s straight black hair, the only response he gets is something akin to a purr.
“Been trying to kill Siwon for even requesting that job in the first place, he would have known the risk. Hyukjae says I can’t or I’ll be king, and that certainly isn’t a position I want to deal with. I guess you’ll have to settle for being Princess Kim Jongwoon.” Jongwoon sighs as fingers continue to card through his hair.
“Shouldn’t you be doing this for me? You’d think you were the injured one.” Ryeowook grumbles, leaning back into the pillows, hand firmly twined through Jongwoon’s hair.
He misses the reply as he dozes off, a chuckle carrying him into the realm of sleep.
…
It takes about three days for Ryeowook to get sick of the princess treatment, and he’s back to his duties before the week ends. When Hyukjae walks in on him and Jongwoon two weeks later, he’s deemed well enough to not be handled like glass.
And so what if he abuses his headaches a bit to sneak into the palace to see Jongwoon? No one really needs to know that, it’s their secret after all.
...Another one down for this verse, ahaha. I hope that everyone enjoys it, another fun one to write. Thanks always to my beta Maggie, who is super awesome. I'm thinking of writing the HenMin for this verse next, but trying to plan anything seems useless. Please look forward to more and thanks fore reading~