A/N: haha look I can actually write too. Anyway, this was inspired by a scene in Band of Brothers. If you've watched it you can probably tell which one, haha.
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Nick looked on from where he was standing, feeling a mix of confusion, irritation, maybe even admiration, as he watched Ellis crouch and offer up his ration of chocolate to the kid they'd just found hiding with his father in an air raid shelter.
Idiot's gonna get himself killed even faster if he keeps doing shit like this.
Nick wasn't stupid; they don't give you chocolate in their ration kits just as a treat, a reward for staying alive till fuckin' dinner. It's there for when you need that energy to keep going through whatever the hell is going on in this goddamn war.
Yet, here was Ellis, being a charitable moron for the 800th time for some dutch kid they just met, and probably would never meet again.
Nick wasn't a cruel man. Sure, he threw insults left and right given the chance, made fun of other troops for hours when they messed up, but he wasn't cruel. But that doesn't mean he understood why Ellis had to always go and give everything he had away in an instant.
He thought the kid was just being friendly, trying to raise morale; he'd lost count of the amount of times Ellis had given up what he had left of his own feeble first aid kid to patch up soldiers they passed while on field. Kid would throw away a bandage over a scratch if he saw you. Hell, one time he swore he saw him helping a goddamn kraut, carving a bullet out his leg and bandaging it up, before giving him cover to run back to wherever the fuck he was meant to be. As if that act of moronic kindness would save him later on. As if the decision of invading another country would come down to the same guy, who would go "Oh, no let's just call this hole thing off because some hick saved my life!" Bullshit.
"He's never tasted chocolate before..."
A voice, the boys father, snapped him out his rant. He looked again, daring to actually approach the three, and watched as the little kid took another bite and grinned up at Ellis, who gave that infuriating everything's-gonna-be-okay-ya'll smile.
So that's why he does it.
No more words are exchanged between them. Ellis nods his head and rises up again, facing Nick, still smiling. The father's smiling too. Nick surpresses his. But he feels it threatening the sides of his mouth.
If Ellis caught him feeling sentimental, he'd never hear the end of it.