#MY ULTIMATE DELULU ERALSKDOSOSOSOSOSOSOS

[marsvillee]

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protection — song mingi

gn!reader , sniper!mingi , ateez lore inspired , angst & fluff , cw: violence, guns, bombs, injuries (not described at all!), totally unedited (you can yell at me for super bad mistakes if you so with i'll be grateful) , wc: 1.8K , HERE YOU GO @luvhyun3 kana thank you for planting this in my head i hope you enjoy <3

“i’m in position.” the sound of his deep voice in your ear is crisp, transmitted cleanly by the tiny speaker of your earpiece.

“copy that.” your own voice is taught and stern, as if to compensate for the erratic beating of your heart. despite the now familiar weight of the gun in your hand, you continue wishing you’d stop being so nervous for every mission. you know exactly what you’re doing, your hand is steady, and mingi’s is steadier. his presence is always the most confusing mash-up of comfort and absolute horror—you know he always has you covered, but the fact that he’s there at all means that he could be hurt in the process. you can picture him, perched in the high window of an abandoned building, covered in his black protective gear and his sharp eye peering through the scope of his long sniper.

but you don’t have time to dwell on your fear, his striking appearance, or anything at all when hongjoong’s voice patches in from his own position. “alright. move in.”

with that, your gun is pointed up in front of you the moment you silently slip from your hidden position, right into the open for the enemy forces to see. immediately eyes are trained on you, and not even seconds later, so is their gunfire. you save your bullets, sprinting to and dropping down behind the corner of a building while letting mingi pick off those who pose the most danger to you with his impressive effectiveness.

for today, your role is dangerous; you’re the distraction, and your one job is to draw their fire for as long as you can. you dart closer and closer to the enemy base, always searching for an open shot between cover and allowing mingi to thin the lines of the gunsman for you. only the last few stand when you hear another voice in your ear.

“we’re in.” san confirms he and wooyoung have made it inside the core of the base, about to begin their search for enemy plans and destroy anything potentially harmful.

but that doesn’t mean you’re done quite yet. the more to help them the better, so you make the last dart up to the guards and engage in hand to hand combat in order to get inside from the main entrance. especially with the help of mingi, your fight to the door goes without you receiving any wounds worse than a fist to your face or gut. sure, those hurt, but they’re easy to shake off when you could be feeling the unforgiving sting of a bullet.

just as you place a hand on the door, you hear a shout in your ear. it’s his voice, calling your name frantically.

“run!” 

your instincts kick in, and you know fully well to trust him. you sprint to the side, trying to reach cover around the corner of the building, but mingi’s desperate warning is swallowed up by the deafening boom of a hand-thrown bomb, it's blidingly bright flash, and the following darkness.

—

your ears are ringing like literal hell, and that’s all you can process for a long, long moment. next is a blur in front of you and a distant voice calling out to you. your name, maybe?

“m-mingi?” you can’t hear yourself, but you hope he can.

“i’m here, i’m right here. just keep looking at me, okay? you’ll be fine.” his words still sound as if he’s speaking to you from above water, and you’re the one drowning. then the pain hits and you wince almost violently when he tucks an arm under your shoulders and pulls you up into his chest. “sorry, i’m sorry, but i gotta get you out of here.” his other arm hooks under your knees and he stands with you tucked securely into his arms.

with the pain and the constant ringing in your ears, you’re unaware of anything around you but the sight of mingi’s determined face, inches away from your own. his brows are furrowed with worry and a tight frown is cemented in his features as he runs to get you to safety. you wonder if you’re making things up when you notice a glisten in his sharp eyes, as if so afraid for you he’s teared up.

“i’m alright,” you mumble, trying your best in your dazed state to comfort him. he shifts his gaze down to meet your eyes for just a split second, his face softening infinitely in that moment.

“you are alright,” he repeats, a confirmation for you and himself. in the periphery of your senses, you hear shouting, maybe the screeching of tires. your head falls from mingi’s chest in your effort to see around you and you catch sight of a familiar black van, just meters away.

“hurry!” the large door of the van on the side facing you is thrown open, and jongho’s voice meets your ears just before the sounds of gunshots resume, coming from above. the moment you’re right by the van, jongho takes you from mingi’s arms, pulling you inside so mingi can scramble in after you.

the car begins moving before the door is even closed, and this time it’s yunho’s voice that you register coming from the driver’s seat as jongho sets you down on your side in the wide bed of the back of the van.

“we’re going back around to get san and wooyoung,” yunho informs.

mingi just nods, keeping all of his attention on you. he says your name softly, barely audible over the gunshots that follow the van. he tucks a hand under your head to keep it from knocking against the hard floor as jongho assesses the wounds littering your body. mingi’s other hand gently strokes your hair.

from behind you jongho lets out a sigh of relief. “they were far enough away from the explosion, i think our biggest issue is the shrapnel. the medic will know better, but i think they’ll be fine. we just have to get back soon.”

everything’s still a bit of a blur when the van screeches to a stop and wooyoung and san pile in. finally, the car speeds away and the gunshots following you cease.

“i’m alright,” you mumble when san worriedly asks about your condition, and you let jongho give a more detailed answer. the rest of the car ride is mostly quiet after the nearly botched mission (wooyoung and san still managed to steal some enemy plans).

all that you hear are the comforting words and constant apologies that fall from mingi’s mouth. this time you’re sure you’re not imagining the sight of tears in the man’s eyes when he apologizes for the millionth time for not seeing the enemy who threw the bomb beforehand. you do what you can to ease his guilt, but you can’t say half as much as what you want to say when there’s so much pain coursing through you.

it’s only until the next day, as you lay frustrated and ansty, but patched up and on pain meds in the infirmary bed that you get to say to him what you want.

you wake up with him by your side after sleeping through the night, his hand holding yours and his eyes suspiciously red and puffy.

“mingi…” your voice is gravelly and dry, but his name on your lips still sounds like a song to him.

“yeah, yeah, i’m here. you’re awake, are you okay?” his voice chokes up and he looks down at the floor like it’s got something to offer him.

“yeah, i’m okay,” your voice breaks, and quickly, he stands and brings you water. once you feel as though you can talk longer, you continue. “i’m alright mingi, it’s all fine. don’t– don’t cry, please. don’t cry over me. i'm fine, you see?” seeing him so vulnerable breaks your heart, and in that moment you’d do anything to comfort him. it’s odd to see him this way, always so strong and precise in his work. emotionless, even.

“but i should have seen him, i should have prevented this from happening to you. i could have! i got him afterwards, all of them afterwards, but i was too late and you got hurt, and god, i just–”

“mingi, stop it. stop it please. you still saved me! i’m right here and i’m gonna be just fine. they would’ve gotten me if you hadn’t stopped them first and then you came down and you saved me again, you got me into the van and you got me here and because of that, i’m gonna be fine. you’ve saved my life countless times, i want you to remember that.”

“but you still got hurt,” he refutes.

“none of that, mingi, please! i’m okay. i’m still alive, that’s what matters. what matters is that i’m still here and i can still keep fighting for this, we can keep fighting for this.”

“but i want you safe,” his voice is pleading as he takes hold of your hand once again.

you sigh. “i know. and i want you to be safe too. but we have to risk ourselves for this, and you know it. you know we can’t just stop to be safe, because we won’t be either way. we won’t be safe if they get to us, so we have to fight.” you pause, afraid to say the next sentence that rests on your tongue. but memories that flood your heart in just a split second pull it out of you. first comes the moment you met him and you thought he was terrifying. then he smiled and your heart skipped a beat. you think of the way his expression always softens, lights up when you’re around. the time he fell asleep on your shoulder after a long meeting with the crew or the time he pulled you into a hug after your first mission, admitting he was scared watching you from up there. the way he cried while you slept because he just wanted to protect you. so you have to hope he feels the same as you and that you’re right when you say, “we have to fight so we can keep loving each other, right?”

he lets out a surprised breath. “yeah,” and it sounds like maybe he’s as breathless as you. “yeah, i love you. i wanna keep loving you. just scared. i can’t kiss you and hold you if you’re gone.”

“but i’m not. i’m right here and i love you too.”

he’s silent for a moment, battling with his guilt and fear. but he tightens his grip on your hands and gifts you a small smile.

“does that mean i can kiss you now?”

you just nod, smiling back as he leans down. his lips are soft against yours, a stark contrast to the professional side of him that’s sharp and unforgiving. but his hand brushing lightly over your jaw is gentle and the movement of his lips is full of love. he moves away just slightly, resting his forehead against yours.

“never gonna stop kissing you,” he mumbles, still so close you can feel his lips brush against yours.

“good.”