The engineer waited until everyone else was off doing their own post-victory celebrations before even entertaining the idea of making a move on the soldier. With the sterner man having a good drunken mellow going, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.
He gladly let the soldier throw one of his heavy arms over his shoulder and pat him roughly, all the while saying in his usual, over-the-top way how great it was to have a red-blooded Texan in his corner in the recent mission. The engineer returned the appreciative banter, cautiously wrapping his own arm innocently around the other man's upper body. It was a rare occasion for him to fully experience the shape and the feel of the soldier, so he secretly drank it in as he often did in these fleeting instances. The soldier's body was still hot from the fight, and the strength in that battle-hardened musculature was ever the more apparent in his drunkenness. The smell of his sweat and the beer on his breath were another feature of this teasing false intimacy that kicked at the engineer on a daily basis. Thankfully, the soldier hardly noticed the engineer's hand slowly feeling it's way down to around his waist. His body was so much harder than the engineer's comparatively short and stocky assemblage, and it swayed widely as they stumbled their way back to the barracks.
Being pleasantly buzzed himself, the engineer decided to skip formalities and get down to business. He didn't register entirely that there would be any kind of consequence to this plan; just a quick fuck before they passed out – no complicating things with words. The soldier was never good at listening, nor did he even seem to be capable of spinning a string of coherent thought for that matter. Besides, drunk as he was, he probably wouldn't remember anything in the morning anyway.
He skillfully undid the soldier's belt buckle and tried to keep the taller man steady along the walk, but the Soldier interpreted his struggle as horseplay and in an instant had stopped and put the engineer into a sleeper hold.
"A wise-guy huh?" he chortled and tightened his grip. The Engineer found his vision darkening, and had to think fast. When push came to shove, he was no match for a man that dedicated every waking hour to fighting. If he wanted to wear the soldier down enough to take advantage of him, the engineer couldn't let it end with the soldier leaving his unconscious body lying around outside until morning. Not again anyway.
He therefore concluded that the best course of action was to simply reach up into the soldier's now loosened coat and tickle his ribs with everything he had. Surprisingly, it actually worked; the soldier sprang off of him and reeled backward from the attack. The high-pitched yelp he made was priceless; only serving to excite the engineer even more. With the thought of the soldier possibly making more sounds like that at his prompting, the engineer planted his feet firmly as he could in his inebriated state and readied with open arms for another onslaught.
The soldier stumbled around momentarily before looking back and seeing the engineer's enthusiastic posturing.
"Come on! Ah'm gonna lay you out!" With plenty of liquid courage in his system, the smaller man didn't care so much about getting his ass handed to him so long as he could get his hands back on that muscular body.
"Ya think so, huh? Well you won't get the best of me, private cowboy!" The soldier just took his coat off the rest of the way (apparently more concerned about it getting in his way rather than why it was falling off in the first place) and threw it behind him. Then after a brief review of his bearings, the soldier charged into the engineer in his standard, screaming way.
He slammed into him hard and they both fell to the ground, sending up a plume of red dust in the failing sunlight. The engineer hardly felt the impact on his back, more interested in maintaining his grip on the soldier's exposed, rock-hard shoulders barely sheathed under that white cotton t-shirt. He tried locking the soldier's legs, but the soldier again proved much faster and stronger than he anticipated; he soon found himself flat on his back with both wrists pinned at either side of his head.
"You wuss." The soldier now loomed over him with that toothy sadistic grin, his breath blowing hotly into the engineer's face.
The engineer swiftly headbutted the soldier, his hard-hat making a loud crack against the soldier's uncovered nose and mouth. But the soldier didn't even loosen his grip, even though he was visibly stunned. He just shook it off and smiled again, this time with fresh blood trickling from his nose and staining his teeth.
"Is that the best you can do?!" he laughed.
Now realizing what he had gotten himself into, the engineer weaseled his hand out of the rubber glove that the soldier had such a firm grip on and used it to sock him more accurately in the jaw. This time the soldier reeled to one side enough for the engineer to follow through with a swift knee to his gut. That blow obviously hurt the soldier, but it wasn't quite enough to make him retract. The engineer kneed him again, this time as hard as he could. It made enough of a dent in the soldier's grip that the engineer could now put his back into pushing him off. The soldier sloppily swung and missed as he rolled further and further onto his side, then tried to wrestle the engineer's arms back, but by now had lost the leverage for that.
"Now ya see, THIS is what happens when you fight a MAN, boy!" The engineer locked that flailing arm and tried to force his weight onto his opponent's chest. The soldier coughed and wheezed, but still looked as though he was enjoying every second of this; he kicked his legs and got the spring he needed to throw the engineer off a foot or two. The engineer landed on his side and took a moment to get his bearings, all the while the soldier was stiffly rolling back up. He dizzily shook his head and swayed a bit in his ascent, still taking a second or two on his hands and knees to see where the engineer had landed.
"Why don't we spar like this more often?" the soldier huffed and finally wiped some of that blood off of his face.
The Texan was now up and resting on his knee pads with his hands on his hips, catching his breath, but ignoring the aches and pains in lieu of that grin on the soldier's face. The man looked so happy, he didn't want to stop for anything.
"Ah was about to ask you the same thing!"
"You could definitely use the workout!" Soldier casually reared up and popped his jaw back into place. "I've eaten marshmallows that were tougher than you!"
"Boy – I oughta beat you like a rented mule." The engineer knew that that would come up, but it hurt his feelings none the less. He unbuckled that heavy tool belt as he stepped back up to his feet and let it drop.
"Heh – I'd like to see you try!" Soldier jeered and moved his feet under his body.
"Well, up and at'em, Yankee-doodle! Let's do this thing!" The engineer beckoned for a split second before the soldier pounced. He only had to step to one side and let the Soldier clumsily loose steam and face-plant himself in the dirt behind him.
"Shoot, son! Were you born that stupid or did you have to work at it?" The engineer chuckled heartily and looked down at the prone soldier intently. He could literally see the unbridled strength in that back; each muscle clearly defined in their bristling state. Even with all the dirt and sweat sticking to him, he could see that his skin was clearly flushed; he was closer to being grounded enough for the engineer to wrangle.
"Fuck you!" the soldier lifted up and spit out blood and dirt.
"Kin hardly wait…" the engineer's eyes wandered across the soldier's backside, then made their way to the length of extension cord that he had left on his tool belt at his feet. Several varying thoughts crossed his mind; the soldier might not appreciate his affection enough to sit still for it, and he was getting pretty winded himself. Hog-tying him might have to be his final recourse.
"What was that?" By now the soldier had gotten up and turned around, still in an obvious daze.
"Nuthin'." the engineer quickly snapped his gaze back upward. It was well known that fatigue rarely stopped the soldier from fighting. The grin was still there, but it was more of a grimace at this point.
"You alright? You look a might lost there…" the engineer had seen that kind of bewilderment before many times on the battlefield.
"Shut up and get ready, maggot! When I'm through with you, you're gonna piss lightning and crap thunder!" and with another fervent scream, the soldier charged the engineer, who promptly tripped him, then expertly brought him down, twisting his arms back in a full back hammer and mounted him like a young steer.
"Now Ah understand that yer tryin' to help me here, but I'm thinking you oughta take a break, soldier." the engineer got comfortable while the soldier struggled vainly underneath him. Feeling the man's ribs expand and contract with each breath, his broad back twitching angrily between his legs was something of great bemusement that was almost too much.
"I'll take a break when I'm DEAD, maggot!" The Soldier shouted.
"I'm serious now! We're on the same team, ya know! Plus, I think you have a concussion!"
"You can starve me, beat me, send me to die on some god-fer-saken rock, just don't bore me with your pathetic mercy!"
"No mercy huh? That's the way you wanna play it?" the engineer didn't particularly want to, but he wasn't exactly dealing with someone who could be reasoned with, so he pulled the soldier's arms upward sharply.
"GAAA!" the soldier cried out in pain as his shoulders were stretched in the wrong direction to the point of nearly being popped from their sockets. But even as the engineer held him up in this position and even gave his arms a rough twist, his voice quieted to the level of a repeating moan through gritted teeth – almost as though this treatment was bringing him back to reality. He even stopped struggling – arching his back into the torsion of his arms with an audible sound of relief in his heavy breaths.
"Had enough yet?" Engineer should have known better than to think that surrender was even within the soldier's grasp. The soldier pulled his knees under his body and flung himself upward and backward on top of the engineer in one loud and violent exertion. The force of it knocked the wind out of the engineer, who now found himself gasping desperately under the weight of the soldier on his chest.
"That's where it gets ya, professor!" the soldier tore his arms free and rolled off of the engineer gruffly. He popped back up to his feet and dusted himself off. Upon turning around to face his opponent, he found him still on his back, gasping for air and looking up a the sky in a daze.
His torrent of fighting energy shrank to a trickle instantly. "Engie?"
"Can't… breathe…" the engineer squeaked in between coughs, clutching his chest.
"Get up! I didn't hurt ya THAT bad!" the soldier looked down at him. "Did I?"
"…h-help…" One last exhalation leaked out as the engineer fell limp and silent.
"Engie?" the soldier stooped over his friend's body. He listened for a long moment – the sound of the machinery around the base was louder now than it ever was before.
"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF PRIVATE!" the soldier grabbed the engineer's shoulders and shook him violently. The engineer's head flopped back and forth and his hard hat fell away as the soldier shook him. But there was no discernible response from him.
He dropped the engineer's lifeless body like it was contagious. He stared at it for several seconds in his frustration, hoping that he would soon hear the tell-tale electrical discharge from the re-spawn. The soldier wasn't exactly known for his patience, however.
"DAMMIT MAN!" the soldier quickly grabbed the engineer's arm and pulled him up.
"MEDIC!" he yelled into the air as he hoisted the engineer up and rose to his feet, strongly cradling him in his arms. He looked around for a few seconds, still seeing and hearing nothing. Everyone must have gone home already, but the medic usually stuck around and pushed paper for several hours after missions.
"MEDIC!" he called out again, marching toward the nearest building.
Pyro was usually around after-hours throwing cadavers into the incinerator, but there was no sign of him either. The smell of death was still heavy in the air as though everyone had just up and left.
"Dammit…" He grumbled angrily. There were no signs of life anywhere, despite the lights leaking out of some of the windows and the sound of machines running inside.
It was never clear as to whether re-spawn was automatic or at the discretion of someone at a control-panel somewhere. Either way, the soldier kept looking around, expecting the engineer to just come walking out of a door or lean out of a window. He stood there, holding his breath for as long as he could.
"You should not have made me do that!" The soldier turned his anger back on the sack of potatoes hanging in his arms. After still more seconds of waiting for the engineer to move, the soldier started to crack.
"You should have known better…" his voice shook.
The engineer could no longer contain his laughter.
"What the ?!" the soldier looked down angrily.
"Hoo-wee! Ah got you good!" the engineer laughed and pointed.
"You son of a bitch!" the soldier dropped the engineer coldly. The engineer landed hard on his backside, making a minor grunt, and the soldier bent down, pushing his furious maw and pointer finger into the engineer's face.
"UNLESS YOU ARE TIRED OF BEING ALIVE, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FUCK WITH ME LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN, PRIVATE COWBOY!" he jabbed the engineer in the chest. " AS A MEMBER OF MY TEAM, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE OR EVEN PRETEND TO DIE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!" He was obviously angry; his teeth were bared, but there was no trace of the usual grinning sneer. He was dead serious this time – of course he always was, but there didn't seem to be any indication that he was just blowing the usual hot air. The engineer could see at this close proximity that the man's chin actually quivered when he tried going back to his usual stern expression. The implication that there actually was a small glimmer of recognizable human emotion under that helmet caused the engineer to fall silent, his heart sinking into his stomach.
"Ah'm sorry… Ah didn't mean nothin' by it…" he carefully reached up for the soldier's shoulder and grasped it as firmly as his tired muscles would allow. "You're a good man, soldier. An' you're right. Ah reckon Ah shoulda known better." he felt himself getting all choked up as well, but managed to sink it into his usual stoicism.
"Yeah…" the soldier grumbled something else as well that was barely audible enough to be interpreted as words, then plopped down on the ground next to him with a tired sigh.
As the sun finally disappeared behind the looming wooden fronts of their compound, the two men rested on the ground in silence for a long turn while their sobering heads settled into their aching bodies. In the yellow hum of the sparse incandescent spotlights above them, the Engineer watched little licks of steam weave off of the Soldier's still damp shoulders and into the rapidly cooling night air. It was unclear if the man noticed his staring. Of course it was unclear how much grasp he had on the world around him in general. Not more than an hour ago the engineer was watching the soldier obsessively beating a BLU scout well past the point of death and into the bloody paste territory.
"How'd you know that spy was behind me?" The engineer recalled thinking that the Soldier had finally gone off the deep end when he suddenly paused his rampage and turned his gun on him. "Fer a second there, I thought you were gonna shoot me!"
"Somebody's gotta watch your back." the soldier huffed. "You're always too busy watching everybody else's, Sally."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eng'e appreciated the notion, but the soldier's tone was confusingly condescending.
"I mean that you need to get your head out of your tool-box and LOOK BE-HIND YOU!" the soldier raised his voice. "The battlefield is NOT a playground, Gepetto!" the soldier pointed in the broad direction of the now empty battlefield.
"Well, pardon me, Mister, but I bust my ass makin' sure that you don't fall short of ammunition out there!" the Engineer gave the soldier a good two-fingered poke in the ribs, now that he knew how ticklish he was. The soldier retracted with a poorly restrained shout, and the engineer grinned.
"Would you look at that? Ah think I found your weakness! C'mere, sissy!" he playfully darted in and shoved his hands under the soldier's arms. The soldier, of course, tried to kick himself backwards, but to no avail. In seconds the engineer had him on his back, half-laughing, half-crying.
"STOP! STOP THAT THIS INSTANT! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" The larger man struggled to regain control of himself, all the while his attacker grew more and more enthused with his hands moving so freely over his torso. Every touch seemed to throw the soldier into involuntary convulsion.
"Oh, Ah kin hear ya! Ah juss thought this was a 'no mercy' type of situation we had goin' here! S'matter? You scared, Rocket-boy?" Luckily for the engineer, the seem of his cover-alls came a good six inches lower than his natural crotch, and this new power-boner was not immediately obvious.
"DO NOT MAKE ME KICK YOUR ASS AGAIN, CUPCAKE!" The soldier shouted angrily and managed to throw a punch – but he missed by an inch.
"Ah don't think your in any position to make threats, son!" The engineer laughed and used that opening to jab the soldier's sensitive underarm again. That sudden jolt caused the soldier to arch upward violently with a pained shout. His helmet fell backward off of his head and hit the ground behind him. The engineer saw the man's whole face contorted in agony for the first time. He saw the soldier's dusty, weather-beaten skin and baby-blue eyes full of tears like a pair of shining oasis' in a vast desert of red. The engineer's laughter quieted momentarily. The tickling ceased and he let the soldier collapse backward, catching his breath in long, weary expanses.
"What are you looking at?!" the soldier gnashed his teeth at the suddenly awe-stricken engineer.
The man on top numbly pulled off his goggles and dropped them at his side, unable to find the words for what he was looking at. It was the face of his friend that he had fought next to every day for months. Now here he was trying to take advantage of his unhealthy detachment from reality; selfishly pulling him down from his ivory tower of continual assault. All for the purposes of his own lust of the man's body. What he was seeing was what the man kept hidden – and it was disheartening – a crack in that armor of explosive rage exposed an unfathomable fear of the outside. What he was looking at was not the two hundred and forty pounds of blue-eyed, red-blooded, white-bred all-American hate, but a beaten and frightened man. The soldier was a lot more broken than he had previously estimated, and the engineer found himself overwhelmed with odd emotions as the soldier tried to stare him down.
Unfamiliar with how to solve problems of this nature, engineer went with his gut. There was nothing he could say that would make this instance any less awkward, and nothing he could do that would not raise more questions and awkward moments later. Nothing except for his truthful intentions anyway, and backing out now would almost certainly undue any respect he gained from the soldier in this 'sparring session'. He knew that he had almost a seventy-percent chance of completely destroying their friendship and potentially the whole team's professional dynamic. But that thirty percent chance at never seeing the soldier fearful again seemed worth the risk.
He said nothing and took the soldier's face in both hands and kissed him passionately. His mind recorded this intimate lip-pressing for about four seconds. All the while feeling the soldier's whole body clench underneath him, anticipating another sock in the jaw at every passing instant. But by the count of four, the soldier only clasped the engineer under the arms and lifted him off. He held him there, inches from his face, looking back up at him wide-eyed and perplexed, as though he literally had no idea what had just happened. He opened his mouth to speak, but clammed back up again without saying anything and turned his puzzling gaze towards the sky.
"Ah…uh…" the engineer broke this torturous silence and immediately jerked his hands away. Perhaps an innocent lie was a better strategy after all.
"Ah'm sorry….Ah don't know what came over me…"
"HORSE-SHIT!" The soldier yelled and the engineer almost shit a brick. "I DID NOT ASK YOU A QUESTION!"
"What?"
The soldier kissed him back. Hard.
The engineer forgot to breathe. He reflexively braced himself against the soldier with both hands pressing frantically against the others broad shoulders and stiffened his whole body, clenching his eyes shut in the expectation of a devastating head-butt. Instead he was met with the strange vibration of the soldier's voice humming amorously through the contact of their mouths. His eyes tore back open and he saw the soldier's face had hardly softened – he looked like he was stiffly forcing himself through it with his eyes closed.
By the time the engineer realized that his lungs were burning, he was so starved for oxygen that his vision has started getting spotty. It took all of his strength to break away from the soldier's lips and he gasped loudly, sucking in the first lungful air in what felt like an eternity. The soldier gruffly yanked him back down onto his heaving chest like a life-preserver. His arms crossed over the expanse of the engineer's back, his hands spreading open like flowers and clamping tightly, making it impossible for the other to move his trunk. Evidently he forgot to breathe as well.
They relaxed apprehensively, lying there cheek to cheek, both men waiting for the other to make the next move. The engineer kicked himself for not fully formulating his plan of action, now that he found himself in this odd position; on his knees and face down in the dirt, feeling every pounding heartbeat course through his entire body while the soldier's pensive breaths blew hotly in his ear. He thought he had this man figured out, but instead he found himself just as unsure of him as he was the day they first met. There was no good in hesitating, or pulling back; he didn't have much of choice. With that soldier's iron grip, this good old boy couldn't get away if he wanted to.
The engineer turned his head and pecked the soldier's cheek. He figured that he might as well enjoy the feeling of the other man's short bristling hairs, the smell of his sweat and the feeling of his flushed skin pressed against his own before he got his neck snapped. He went ahead and tried moving an arm; reaching forward slightly and brushing his fingertips along the soldier's jawline. The soldier shivered – an unusual response for a man with more than a couple of bullets in him.
"You ain't used to bein' treated nice, are ya?" The engineer's warm brown chuckle stopped all movement for an instant. The soldier turned his head to face the engineer, his eyes still fiercely searching him.
"What are you drivin' at?" He demanded.
"Nothin!" The engineer smiled to cover his nerves. "Just makin' an observation." He ran both of his hands down along the soldier's sides and watched him drift off; getting a real kick out of watching him close his eyes and tilt his head back up toward the sky in that strange snarling dissipation. Upon reaching the bottom edge of his t-shirt, the engineer slipped both hands underneath and started making his way back up along the soldier's undercarriage. The skin covering this ropey musculature was peppered with scars, but comparatively soft to the touch and prickling with goosebumps – possibly from the chilly night air. The engineer could hardly contain himself, studying every available inch and burying his face in the soldier's neck. The soldier arched his back into his assailant with another confused gasp, and the engineer in turn spread his palms widely, rubbing that rock solid, but shaking set of abs shamelessly. He couldn't reach any further than the lowest rib with the soldier's arms in the way. They were wrapped around the engineer's ribcage so tightly it got him to thinking again.
"S'matter? You scared you might like this, or somethin'?" with that perpetual smile, the engineer challenged the soldier again, almost certain that since he was still here, he was therefore cleared for advancement. The soldier snapped out of his guarded passivity and glared at the engineer again.
"I am not afraid of anything!"
"Then loosen up! Yer actin' like it's your first time!" the engineer hid his nerves behind that chuckle. Unfortunately anyone that ever played poker with the engineer knew that was his 'tell'.
"My first time doing WHAT?!" the soldier let go and even pushed the engineer away a little. "I've been beating the crap out of fruit-baskets like you since before I could crawl!"
The engineer froze, still straddling the soldier. Up until now all signs were pointing towards the soldier acknowledging that the fight was over some time ago. Leaning back, he even discovered the other man's erection pressing hard against his backside.
"You…" he pointed, but was at a complete loss for words. "You're … you think we're still sparrin'?"
"Are you saying that you've had enough, cupcake?" The soldier just looked up at him with his brow furrowed and that familiar fearsome sneer.
"You haven't got the sense the Good Lord gave a sack of hammers!" The engineer started laughing.
"And you fight like a girl!" The soldier shot back angrily. "You can't defend yourself like a real man, so you start improvising with kissing and tickling! What the hell is the matter with you?!"
"This is too much…" The engineer's sides were splitting. "Aw, what the hell…" he wiped a tear from his eye, scooted back and started unbuttoning the soldier's pants.
"DO NOT IGNORE ME! I am asking you a question! Are you looking for a section eight?!"
"No, Ah'm looking for your pecker, soldier." The engineer had discovered recently that deception was in no way necessary. "What kinda man would Ah be if Ah got you all riled up and didn't finish the job."
"Whu…?" the soldier's train of thought derailed, crashed and exploded in the instant the engineer's hands dove into his pants. It wasn't exactly a difficult task for the engineer to find what he was looking for; once the soldier's fly was open and the briefs' elastic band pulled down it sprang out on it's own accord.
"HEY! THAT IS PRIVATE PROPERTY, DAMMIT!" the soldier shouted.
"Well, hot damn! Do you get an erection in every fight, or was it my lil' improvisational tactics that made this happen?" The now thoroughly tickled Texan sat back – his full weight on the soldier's legs, hands on his hips, appreciating the size of the thing for a second while the soldier lay prone before him, frozen in what could have been interpreted as shame.
"YOU DRUGGED ME! Take your disgusting free love back to Woodstock, you coward!" the red-faced soldier reared up, supporting himself on his elbows, gnashing his teeth like a cornered animal.
"You really are somethin' else, I tell you what…" The Engineer shook his head. "Drugs – of all the excuses…" He unceremoniously then licked his hand and reached down.
"YOU HAVE UNTIL THE COUNT OF THREE To – oh… ahhhhshhh..!" the soldier's eyes rolled backward into his head and he melted back into the ground as the engineer palmed the length of his arousal and slowly started stroking the head with his thumb. The very point of contact seemed to quiet all other sensation for the man; he grimaced and groaned through his gritted teeth as though he had just been shot.
"Easy there, partner. Juss let me take care of this right quick…" From this vantage point, the landscape of the soldier's body was spread out before him in all of it's craggy, sinuous glory. That stretched and now beige cotton shirt was still ridden well up on his chest, and the trembling, muscular core was fully exposed, beckoning him to reach out and touch the skin as delicately as he could without causing too much of a reaction. The soldier's arms flexed and groped blindly, wanting desperately to release that violent energy on anything that could be acted upon, but could only make due with the ground underneath them.
The Texan indulged the rush of excitement in watching the soldier's hands claw at the dirt, take up large handfuls and clench tightly into fists. He was so strong. His body was barely able to withstand this onslaught, and yet it writhed and bucked as though it was wanting more. The soldier's face in particular caught the engineer off guard; his confused and fretful expression begged otherwise. He still looked as though he was hurt – wearing a distant and red grimace of tearful agony that the engineer had never seen thanks to that ill-fitting helmet. He gradually tightened his grip as each determined stroke peeled away another piece of that soldier's delusional armor; between shallow, rasping breaths, a few small, pitiful sounds escaped him.
"You… you have a f-firm handshake…"
It took all of the engineer's resolve to keep up his rhythm after hearing that come out of the soldier's mouth.
"Ya don't say?" still smiling contently, though he almost choked. "Thankye kindly, mister." he picked up his speed and the soldier instantly bucked his pelvis with a start – lifting himself and the engineer off the ground for a split second.
"Woa!" the engineer laughed nervously, righting himself after landing roughly on his knee pads – for which he thanked his lucky stars. "Steady, soldier boy! Ah ain't through with you yet! Not by a damn-sight!"
"…c-carry on…" the soldier winced and locked himself down to the best of his ability – which wasn't much at this point. His back arched and thrust his lower half involuntarily, practically aching for release.
The power in this man's body was incredible – the engineer almost came himself when the gun in his hand went off. All of that caged passion poured out in more ways than just the usual – the soldier's overflow spattered hotly as far up as the engineer's chin, while in the same instance he screamed as he did before battle, sprang upward and embraced the engineer with the force of industrial machinery and bit down hard on his shoulder.
The engineer shouted in pain, but could then do nothing else with his torso compacted so tightly.
The soldier seemed to be in another world – he held that position for a long moment, his breath returning to him loudly through his nose. At least the engineer's shirt took the brunt of the soldier's bite, though he could hear the fabric being ripped as the man's jaw shakingly, but slowly broke away. The engineer sputtered as his lungs were allowed to refill with air. As his vision cleared, he noticed the soldier still sitting up, though panting heavily and propped up on his hands, looking at him like he had centipedes crawling out of his ears.
"You alright, soldier?"
"I can't… I can't move my legs!" he exclaimed. "I'm paralyzed! What have you done to me?! MEDIC!"
"I'm sittin' on your legs, ya danged idjut!" the engineer stiffly got off of him. Once up on his feet, the engineer stretched his sore back and popped his neck frustratedly, still feeling the tightness of his coveralls. "Shit – that's the last time Ah try and show you a good time…" he took out his handkerchief and wiped the soldier's semen from his hands as he turned to leave.
"Hold it! Stop right there!" the soldier clumsily rolled up onto his feet whilst fastening and re-adjusting his pants.
"Yup?" The engineer paused tiredly, barely glancing back at the soldier. With his body bruised and stiff and his initial infatuation quieted for the moment, he was effectively numbed to whatever the soldier could have had in store for him now.
"Don't forget your gun!" the soldier by now had already picked up the engineer's tool belt and brought it to him. He stood close behind him, the holstered gun being the first thing the engineer actually saw upon turning his head. "We might have won today's battle, but the war is far from over!"
"Much obliged." He took his belt back flatly and the soldier in turn marched off for his helmet.
The engineer found his eyes following him again, watching him systematically gather their discarded belongings and patting the dust from them. He wondered where he was finding all this energy. Maybe that man's complete denial was a good thing, considering that they shared close quarters with seven other men who barely got along as it was. The engineer wrapped the length of his tool belt back around his waist, his arms straining from their recent exertion
The soldier, his head now covered, came back offering the engineer his effects.
"Thanks again." The engineer pulled his belt tight, but found that the deep ache in his core was too intense for his usual fit. "But you owe me a shirt!" he tried laughing it off, taking back his goggles first and fixing them back on his head, leaving them off his eyes for the darkness. He tried to be discreet in using his hard-hat to hide his pitched tent.
"Sure thing, Engie!" Soldier patted his long-time compatriot heartily. It was a little too hard for the engineer at the moment.
"Well, It's been a long day, partner. Ah best be hittin' the shower…" still feigning bonhomie, the engineer nodded politely to the soldier and started walking again.
"Good thinking! It's best to face the enemy fully refreshed!" the soldier kept pace with him.
"Are you…." the engineer stopped and looked down. "Are you holdin' my hand?!"
"AFFIRMATIVE, and what about it, civilian?!" the soldier held fast.
"People might say we're in LUV." the engineer beamed.
"PEOPLE MIGHT SAY ALOT OF THINGS!" the soldier retorted. "It's just… It's dark! I don't want you to get lost out here!" he stomped off and pulled the engineer along with him.
—
"You've been yakin' on for a bloody fort-night! Come off it!" The sniper demanded.
"Excuse me! But did I include you in this conversation? I don't think so!" The scout covered the pay-phone's receiver briefly. "Anyway, long story short – the guy's eye-balls pop right out of his fuckin' head! I shit you not! Funniest fuckin thing I ever seen!"
"There's no C in the word Bullshit, you yoboes!" he leaned in so that the person on the other end of the line could hear him.
"The C is for COOKIE!" the scout enunciated the word cookie by striking the sniper square in the nose with the telephone. "And that's good enough for you, pal!"*
"YOU LITTLE RUNT!" the sniper whipped out his machete.
"Howdy, fellas!" The engineer chimed upon stepping foot in the break room, effectively saving the scout from getting his head lopped off.
"Oi! Where've you been?" the sniper noticed that the soldier and the engineer were somehow more roughed up than they were when he last saw them right after the mission.
"Yeah – there some action outside we don't know about?" scout looked over, raising an eyebrow.
"Negatory! Everything is under control!" the soldier stated, standing erect and saluting for a moment. "At ease, men!" then he continued on his way.
"Okay, see you tomorrow!" The scout turned back to the phone, but glanced over his shoulder as they left. "Were they holdin' hands just now?"
The sniper seized the opportunity to click the receiver.
"WOA! Hey!" the scout shouted as the sniper then proceeded to snatch the telephone from his hand. "What the hell?"
"Feck off, Tosser!" the sniper shoved him aside.
*some decades later the scout would be better known as a lead writer for a hit children's television show called 'Sesame Street'.