#i've been wanting to use that title for a tmfu fic Forever bc. how can i not.

[set-phasers-to-whump]

remember how i found you there, alone in your electric chair?

prompt: shock

whumpee: illya kuryakin

fandom: the man from uncle

hi! title for this one is from billy joel's you may be right, bc i simply couldn't resist lmao. hope you like it :)

It’s horribly familiar, except this time it’s Illya instead of him. He doesn’t know whether that makes it better or worse.

He’s tied to a chair, arms wrenched behind his back, and his jacket is gone and his shirt is torn and there’s a bruise beneath his eye and dried blood streaked beneath his nose. His feet are bare and stuck into a trough of water, and he’s shaking, fine tremors running through his body. 

It’s eerie. They’re in a different country, on a totally different mission, but suddenly Napoleon is back with Rudi in his torture chamber. 

Except it’s Illya in there, not him. 

He pushes the door open, gun out, but there’s no one to shoot. Only his partner, whose eyes go wide when he looks up and finds Napoleon staring at him. 

Napoleon approaches him, and Illya whispers, “stop.”

He stops. “What?”

“It -”

And suddenly Illya’s body tenses up, then starts shaking much more than it had been before. Napoleon hears a familiar buzzing noise. 

Shit.

He can’t do anything about it. Not when there’s electricity flowing. He has to wait. Has to stand there and watch as his partner is electrocuted.

A few seconds pass, and the noise abates. Illya’s body jerks one more time, and then he sort of relaxes, panting heavily. 

Napoleon wastes no time. He pulls his wire cutters from his kit and rounds the chair. Wires criss-cross each other on the back, and he cuts through several of them indiscriminately. Nothing happens. 

It has to have worked, he knows. But he still tenses up, anticipating a shock, when he touches Illya for the first time. 

Illya flinches a bit, and that is all. Napoleon breathes a sigh of relief, then quickly unties his hands and feet. The ropes have left scrapes on his skin, and Napoleon can clearly see how hard he must have fought. 

Illya stands up the second Napoleon frees him, but almost immediately sinks back down. He’s still trembling. He breathes deeply, hands on his knees. 

Napoleon waits. He remembers how he felt, after. But they can’t afford to stay here for long. At some point, someone is bound to come check in on their torture victim. 

Illya sits there for a second or two more, then stands again. Napoleon offers his arm for support, and Illya grabs it tightly, nearly stumbling already. 

“Are you alright?” Napoleon asks quietly. “Relatively speaking, I mean.”

Illya nods. 

“You can walk?”

Another nod. 

Illya can, in fact, walk, despite his recent electric shock, despite his missing shoes. Not as quickly as normal, and with a good deal more clinging to Napoleon’s arm, but they manage.

Miraculously, they run into only a single guard on their way out. Napoleon dispatches him quickly, effortlessly. 

And then they’re outside. They make it to the tree line, to cover, and Illya drops to a knee. 

“Just a second,” he says, when Napoleon also takes a knee and looks at him worriedly. “I am okay.” He hasn’t yet stopped shaking, though the tremors are less violent, less frequent. 

They rest for a little while, relatively safe and hidden behind the trees. When Illya gets back to his feet, he’s a little steadier, and Napoleon simply keeps a hand on his shoulder to support him, if needed. 

They make it to their car. Illya sinks into the passenger seat and Napoleon switches on the radio and they both relax, just a bit. 

Napoleon hums along to a song he doesn’t know the words to as they drive closer and closer to their safe house, and when he glances over at his partner, visibly exhausted and occasionally shaking, he swears that despite this, there’s the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

thanks for reading!!! love u all <3

#whumptober2023 #no.4 #shock #the man from uncle #fic #illya kuryakin #electrocuted #tied up #my writing #i say things #i've been wanting to use that title for a tmfu fic Forever bc. how can i not. #anyway me trivia i am a massive billy joel fan #also this might be the least italics i have ever used in a fic btw. only one.