𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐑, coffinshipping

𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆, the dream of dying with you

"you have to be fucking kidding," hoffman muttered under his breath. seeing his partner standing in front of the sealed door. apart from him knew it was a bad idea to follow strahm here, but after some convincing he did, hoping that this would be the beginning of a new game. after following the agent and not hearing the timer ticking down, he took it upon himself to investigate only to be trapped in the room with the psycho.

the slamming of the door triggered a bright red timer to flick on the wall. with sixty minutes in counting the numbers began to drop one by one. from the ventilation shafts came a tampered gas that slowly began to flood the room.

"what the hell did you do?" strahm hissed, his voice littered with anger. not only was he trapped with the one person in the world who made his blood boil, but he would end up dying with him as well. before hoffman was able to get a word out strahm marched over and landed a hard punch to the detective's cheek.

after a struggle and punches flying across the room, strahm came out on top. he grasped onto a sharp shard of glass that was clasped in his bloodstreamed hand. cutting into his palm as he held the object to the other's throat. blood oozed down hoffman's beaten and bruised face. heavy huffs of breath were exchanged between the two. with the lethal toxins filling their lungs neither wanted to waste precious breaths.

"you sick bastard. tell me how to get out of here or i swear to god i'll slit your throat." strahm threatened, his vision filled with a dark maroon. all he could see is red, there was nothing more in that moment he wanted than to slit the throat of this lying asshole. however, he was smart enough to know once he did so this sealed room would most likely be his tomb.

surely the gasses would flood the room and result in his death. neither of which did he want to happen. strahm got into this business with the hope of saving lives, even if that meant sacrificing himself for the sake of others. keeping the traitor here was his main and last priority as an agent. "dumbass, now you got us both killed." hoffman growled.

he made certain there was no possible way of escaping, knowing for a fact there was no hope for either of them. with no way out their fate had been sealed. "just tell me how to open the damn door!" strahm wasn't going to ask again. his time and patience were running thin. he pressed the glass piece into the sensitive flesh, drawing a string of blood as he winced at the sharp pain radiating from his neck.

he then smiled and with a raspy voice he spoke, "don't you get it? there is no way out." his answer was sincere, and deep down strahm knew that. though his stubbornness refused to believe it. strahm stood from his straddled position on hoffman's lap, using up his energy while he still had the chance.

he went around the room banging on the glass windows that didn't react to his failed attempt to get fresh air. the windows had been reinforced by hoffman's doing, he couldn't take any chances. the detective sat up, still in pain from the way he was tossed aside like nothing more than a pitiful rag doll. unlike strahm, he saved his energy for when he really needed it. he coughed out a couple blood droplets every now and again into his stinging palms, but overall he managed to keep himself breathing.

he watched from the sidelines at strahm's worthless attempts to escape. pacing from one side of the room to the other. "don't waste your time, i wasn't going to let seth break free and neither will you." hoffman stated the obvious. not expecting strahm to take his advice for once.

the other agent stopped in his tracks, feeling the effects of the gas settle in as he coughed up a glob of blood from his lungs. he saw firsthand the lengths hoffman would've gone to ensure his sister's killer never left this room. seeing no use in struggling further, he slid down the wall next to hoffman in case he tried to make a break for it. only twenty minutes remained and there was no sign of either of them leaving alive.

"you've always been an asshole, but this.. this is a new low even for you," strahm said in between heavy breaths. the air was slowly becoming harder to take in. his eyes fluttered shut while he rested his head against the ice-cold wall.

"baxter deserves to rot for what he did. you, on the other hand, got in my way." hoffman added. "he served his time. i agree he should've served much more for what he did to your sister and that's fucked up, but this isn't the answer." strahm said as he forced his eyes to stay alert. the toxins were getting to him and his vision became a glossy haze.

he wanted nothing more than to rest, to blow this whole thing off as a dream and go back to bed. but he knew better than to give false hope. "you might be a dick.. but come on, you're better than this." strahm muttered.

whether it was the gas messing with his head or the restless nights creeping up on him, he couldn't quite say what possessed him to rest his hand on top of the others. a hushed moment of silence washed over them. soon enough he felt it, their fingers intertwining to form a sense of truce between them. their lungs stung from the poison seeping its way in.

strahm came to peace with himself, knowing that he was going to die in this room. there was no point in holding a grudge against hoffman, part of him understood why he did it. all the anger and frustration of losing a loved one in such a horrific way snapped something in him.

strahm coughed up blood onto the back of his free hand, his throat felt like it was caving in on itself. the pain stung as he looked out into the world with hazy eyes. "i'm sorry." hoffman mumbles an apology, "i shouldn't have dragged you into this.." it's not what john would've wanted.

as much as he hated him, strahm was never a bad guy. his intentions were pure-hearted and straightforward from the very beginning, he didn't need to be tested. the timer struck ten, knowing it was only a matter of minutes before the gas inevitability ended them.

"don't sweat it.. we all die someday.." strahm said, his words mumbled with his dying breaths. it became painful to breathe, his throat no longer allowed oxygen to freely pass through. he was dying. hoffman felt a weight leaning on his shoulder. and unconscious strahm's weight pressed against him.

he knew he wasn't far behind. "fuck you strahm.. you don't get to die first.." he muttered in a weak attempt to wake the other from his nap. a haze of red and blue lights beamed in through the filth-filled windows, though hoffman paid no mind.

his lungs caught on fire for the last and final time as he took a deep breath of the toxic fumes. once again shutting his eyes and laying himself to rest.