2minsforslashing | (no subject)

Title: The Wizard Of Oz, Part 2 (of 5)
Authors Ginny and Kathie (Yakihngenit)
Word Count: 12,723 words
Warnings: RPS, Slash, AU, Magic
Rating: FRAO
Fandoms involved: House MD, RPS Hockey
Pairings: Chris Osgood/Kris Draper, Andreas Lilja/Nick Lidstrom, Chris Osgood/Nick Lidstrom, Steve Yzerman/Brendan Shanahan
(teams: Red Wings, NY Rangers, Buffalo Sabres mentioned)
Summary:
It is dangerous to hunt Demons, but someone has to do it – it is the Wizards that protect people from the things that go bump in the night.
Author’s Notes: We wanted to write something together again, and we didn't want to decide between RPS and FPS, so we just did both.

Pavel gave a determined nod and pressed Chris down with his entire weight while Steve started to write runes and protective spells on Chris' skin. Every touch with the pen burned like hell, and by the time Steve had finished the second spell, Chris' throat was raw from the yelling.

"Ow," Pavel whispered, feeling the aftereffects of Chris' pain bleed slightly into his own magic.

Steve only nodded. He held the pen in a tight grip, his knuckles white from the pressure, as he finished writing down another spell.

"A-- are you done yet?" Chris moaned.

"Almost," Steve promised before taking a deep breath. The tip of the pen touched the edge of the wound, and Chris buckled and squirmed in their grip, trying to get away from the pain.

"Pavel," Steve growled.

"I got him," he promised, tightening his grip on him.

Steve hissed as Chris’ foot hit his knee, but it didn't stop him from drawing the last line, completing his work. Chris screamed, an inhuman yell that left their ears ringing, and black smoke rose from his mouth and nostrils. The wound in his shoulder started to bleed again, and his head snapped back while his back arched.

Steve could hear Pavel whisper his own protective formulas and spells next to him, and while he didn't understand a single word of the Russian, he could feel the coolness of a protective spell against his skin.

The seconds seem to stretch forever until Chris slumped bonelessly to the floor, pale and not moving.

"He all right now?" Pavel asked worriedly as he pressed a cloth to the wound.

Steve slowly climbed to his feet while clinging to his stick. "He's probably going to develop a fever overnight and he will definitely have a headache the size of Alaska tomorrow," he said, "And there's no way he can play tomorrow, but yeah. We only needed to make sure the essence of the demon left his body completely. Demon poisoning is not fun, I can tell you."

"You have it before?" Pavel said more than asked as they pulled Chris up between the two of them.

Steve nodded. "Once," he admitted. "This is why backup is so important."

He stumbled and almost fell, but the wall held him up. "Get Kris to help us," he requested, and Pavel nodded and gently let Oz' body glide down to the floor.

Steve held onto Chris while Pavel hurried away. "Don't scare us like that again," he ordered.

He looked up when he heard Pavel return with Kris.

"Hey Drapes," he greeted. "Would you believe me if I said it's not as bad as it looks?"

Drapes didn't pay attention to his words. He knelt down next to Chris and brushed his fingers over his chest, careful of the runes.

"Where are we taking him?" he asked, looking at Steve as they carefully started to move Chris again.

"Home," Steve said. "We'll have a Witchdoctor over to make sure his shoulder heals."

"Do you have one on your speed dial?" Kris asked him crankily.

Steve raised his eyebrows and grabbed Chris' stick with his free hand. "Don't you?" he asked back.

"Which one should I call?" Kris asked, giving in. It wasn't Steve's fault Chris was like this.

"Call House," Steve said after a brief moment of hesitation. "He's in town."

"He's that bad," Kris whispered but dialed the number as ordered.

"We're just trying to make sure he'll be fine. Don't worry," Steve tried to soothe, but he was in pain himself and was exhausted from casting the spells, and Kris didn't believe a single word he said. He could see it in the other man's body language and in the energy lines flowing around him.

I've been around wizards too long to believe you," he told Steve. "Come on Pav, I want to get him home as soon as possible."

Pavel nodded and, with Kris' help, they pulled Chris up and managed to get him to the car, together with all their stuff and equipment. Steve took the ash of the demon and handed Kris Chris' car keys.

"Are you coming to the house?" Kris asked him. He looked at the cars and decided he'd get Kirk to go with him to pick his up the next day.

Steve nodded. "I'll take care of the ash, and then I'll be there," he promised before squeezing Kris' elbow briefly. "You know that Chris probably has a million different things in his car that the cops, should they stop by here, better not find," he reminded him quietly. "It's too dangerous for them. Take his car home."

"Yeah," Kris agreed. "He's good at what he does." He was quiet while he got into the car. "Thanks Steve."

Steve just nodded and waited until both Kris and Pavel had gone before allowing himself to hiss in pain. His knee throbbed, and he wasn't sure if he could make it home without help.

Deciding that it was inevitable, he tapped the flat side of the blade of his stick gently against his knee, to ease the pain a little.

He waited a few moments until the pain subsided enough for him to move again. He was getting too old for things like this.

~*~*~

"How is he?"

Kris shrugged slightly and stepped aside to let Steve enter the house. "He didn't wake up," he reported.

"Damn," Steve whispered. "How did House react to him?"

Kris shrugged and ran a hand through his red hair. "As expected," he answered.

"That's something at least," Steve said. "If he hadn't, that's when you would know to worry."

Kris glared at him for a bit. "I am worried," he said softly and crossed his arms over his chest nervously. "What if he doesn't wake up again?"

"He will," Steve said. He glanced toward the bedroom. He really hoped that. If they lost the Wizard of Oz, that would leave a huge hole to fill in the wizarding word. "Don't worrry Drapes -- Kris, just don't. You know Oz. He's too stubborn to die like this."

Kris nodded and stepped aside, letting Steve limp to the bedroom.

"How is he?" he asked House.

House glared at him. "You want to borrow my cane?" he asked.

"Don't tempt me," Steve said, narrowing his eyes. He carefully lowered himself into the chair by the dresser. "Is he going to pull through?"

House poked at Chris with his cane. "Who knows?" he mused.

Steve's glare intensified. "Guess."

House poked at Chris again. Blue energy lines ran over his cane and over Chris' skin. "Probably," he said. "Boring."

Steve rolled his eyes. House would never change, but, he knew, that was a good thing. "Boring," he repeated. "I like boring when it's boring like this."

House snorted and pulled a bottle of painkillers out of his coat pocket. He grabbed Steve's hand, turned it around until the palm was up, and let one of the tablets drop into it.

Steve hesitated a few seconds before swallowing it dry. He had a feeling that his knee was swelling up and if he didn't do something immediately, he wouldn't be able to walk by the morning.

"Good boy," House grumbled. "He'll be fine. Give him a few days and he's bouncy as ever."

"Good," Steve said and added softly, "Thanks."

"You interrupted my show just for this," House grumbled, but Steve noticed how he briefly glanced at Chris again. The energy lines around Chris' body shifted subtly, and House rolled his eyes. "You, Weasley," he said and snapped his fingers in Kris' direction. "Put a bandage or something on that shoulder."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Kris snarled at him, but he picked up the bandages and walked over to Chris. "Hey Chris," he whispered to the sleeping man. "It's just me."

House dropped his head to hide another eye roll, even if Steve didn't know why he bothered. House wasn't someone who usually cared what other people thought of him.

He glanced at Kris again. It was obvious that the other man knew what he was doing. Steve smiled and nodded to House to leave the two of them alone.

House sniffed once and then stood, leaning on his cane. "If anything happens, don't call," he told Steve and made his way from the bedroom.

"I'm sure we won't," Steve promised with a small smile and pulled the door closed behind them, giving Kris a moment of peace.

Kris barely glanced back as the door clicked closed. "How long have we been doing this?" he asked Chris, finishing with the bandage. "We've been through a lot, but I can't remember the last time you were hurt like this."

He sighed when Chris didn't answer. He'd been with the wizard for a long time now, more than ten years, and he was aware of how dangerous it was to hunt demons. So far, Chris had been lucky; but Kris also knew of wizards that had lost limbs or even their lives in the line of work.

He sat back slightly and gazed at Chris, focusing on the lines of magic running through him, as the wizard had long ago taught him. They weren't as bright as they were normally, but he was relieved to see that they were getting stronger.

Chris was going to survive.

He took a deep breath and slowly released it before reaching out and smoothing Chris' hair back from his forehead.

He wouldn't accept anything else.

TBC...