The first time it happened, it was purely accidental. Scout was on his way back from a coffee-run when the weather decided that being cold, overcast and miserable wasn't quite enough. No, that simply wouldn't do. So it decided that it needed to be raining, cold, overcast and miserable. In no time, the rain had gone from a weak sprinkle to a heavy shower. The young Bostonian was about to curse his luck, try and dash back to base with the hopes that he wouldn't spill too much coffee. It was hard enough that he had to memorise everybody's specific orders and the rain was just icing on the cake,
Demo passed up the offer (mostly because he was already passed out) and Sniper was simple enough; he wanted it straight and black, no muss no fuss. Soldier naturally wanted an Americano. Engi said whatever was fine, so long it had a good dollop of cream in it while Medic requested that he get a cup of tea for him instead. Something about heavy cream and clogged arteries that he didn't care to listen to. Medic also requested that he get the same for Heavy. Spy, on the other freaking hand, wanted something that he couldn't even pronounce, much less remember. Scout just pointed at whatever sounded the most pretentious and Italian. Finally, there was Pyro who- after having Engi translate for him- said he wanted a hot chocolate with fluffy marshmallows.
One might ask why the Scout was even bothering to do this. Then one would have to explain that he and Soldier had the bright idea to put an unbercharged brick into a blender in Medic's office. And even after being demanded to answer why- WHY did you do that, Scout?!- He still had no good excuse aside from 'It seemed right at the time'. Needless to say, Medic was so furious about the event that he demanded Scout and Soldier pay. So after Medic held that over his head this morning, Scout had no choice but to go on a fricking coffee-run to shut the man up.
However, just as Scout readied his legs for some serious sprinting back to base, he caught sight of Miss Pauling getting out of her car. She looked like she was just as annoyed with the rain as he was himself, trying to balance a thick pile of documents in her arms, shoulders haunched and huddled together from the sudden drop in temperature. Scout also happened to remember that Miss Pauling had been rather cross with him after his stunt with the brick. He also remembered that he's had a crush on her for a good while now and this was the perfect chance to score some alone time and cookie-points with her.
"Hey! Miss Pauling! Over here!" He called out to her, waving as he approached.
She squinted a little, trying to distinguish the nearing figure through the misting and wet lens of her glasses. "Scout? Is that you?"
"Theee one and only!" He grinned back, ear to ear.
His cocky behaviour didn't seem to elicit much of a reaction from her and Scout inwardly scowled at this. "What are you doing here? Is that... is that coffee?"
"Yeah, Medic made me go on a coffee-run. Y'know... after the..." He trailed off awkwardly, not wishing to remind Miss Pauling of why she should be mad at him.
Too late. She pursed her lips in irritation. "Uh-huh."
Damnit... He thought, scratching the back of his head sheepishly as he stared down at the ground.
"Look, I don't have time to stay and chit-chat. I've got to get back on the phone with the Administrator. She doesn't like to be kept waiting, I'm sure you know that. And it's cold out here..."
"Hold this." He suddenly blurted out, holding out his tray of beverages.
She blinked a little at the abrupt request but did so after a few awkward seconds of looking at him inquisitively. "You're not going to try and get me to bring this to the others, right?" She arched a sceptical brow. "I really don't have the time for-"
Her rant came to a sudden halt when Scout presented her with something else: his jacket. Again, she blinked, wondering 'Why?'.
"You looked like you were cold." Scout stammered out, feeling a familiar heat creep up to his cheeks. "I know it's a bit soaked." Oh god, stop getting nervous. "I mean, what good can a wet jumper do? It might get you even colder. I just thought that-"
"Scout." That snapped him out of his little ramble and brought his eyes back up to level with hers. He was surprised when what he saw on her face was a somewhat shy smile. It had been a while since Miss Pauling had received any kind of gentlemanly gesture, especially since she was constantly surrounded by a ring of killers. "Thanks."
He tried to grin and shrug it off like it was nothing.
After some more exchanging of her documents and his coffee cups, she had her hands free to slip Scout's hoodie on as a temporary raincoat.
"It's probably way too big for me." She remarked to no one in particular, shifting side to side as she tried to observe the way it fitted on her smaller frame. "How's it look?" Her eyes came back up to meet Scout's face, looking rather uncertain herself.
The heat came back to Scout's face and for a moment, he was mesmerised by the image of her in his clothes. "It looks..." He felt a lump in his throat. "You look beau-"
"OI, SCOUT!"
The moment between the two was smashed to bits. Scout made a mental note to bash the head of whoever it was with a baseball bat.
"I should get going." Miss Pauling said, as if she had just been brought back down to earth. She took back the bundle of documents she had temporarily passed to Scout and continued on her merry way, the cold breeze suppressing the rosy glow from showing on her pale cheeks.
"SCOOOUUUT!"
"WHAT?!" He finally screamed back.
"STAY OUT THERE ANY LONGER AND THE COFFEE'S GONNA GET COLD, MATE!"
Oh for heaven's sake. Scout begrudgingly dragged himself back to base, shoulders slouched and his expression visibly less content. When he got back inside, he shoved the tray into Sniper's arms.
"That really couldn't have waited?"
Next time, Scout decided, he was going to supply his own source of Jarate into Sniper's usual brew.