Notes: I know this is ridiculously long and all. And I also know this makes no sense, but, damn. I like it. And this fandom sure is lacking in the Campbell department (I mean, seriously). So, here I go.
Dirty Little Secret
Campbell always thought that no one could compare to Jack. After all, it wasn't by chance that he got the title of Big Boss. And that was the reason why Campbell respected him so much, even though he turned into a kind of madman. But, who could blame him, after all the things that happened to him and to the ones around him?
Yes. Campbell always thought that Jack was unique.
He always thought that, until Dave showed up.
The two of them looked so much like each other it was scary. Sure, Jack was Jack and Dave was Dave, but the similarities were incredible, especially when it came down to their appearance. There was no doubt that Dave was a true clone of the legendary soldier. And Dave himself wasn't far from getting the title of 'legend', having achieved so many things in such a short amount of time.
For a moment, while Campbell watched Dave grow up, he was scared that the same fate that fell upon Jack was going to fall on his 'son', but, fortunately, it seemed like Dave was going to be the 'good guy' throughout all his life.
But he still looked a lot like Big Boss, and, more or less, that made Campbell really uncomfortable. Especially when he considered that his feelings towards Jack crossed the line between friendship and love.
When they were working together, Campbell wouldn't dare say a word about that to anyone. After all, considering Jack's unexpected reaction to things, if that ever reached his ears, God only knows what could have happened. So, he tried his best to avoid any type of conversation involving his feelings.
Although, that didn't mean that those feelings disappeared. What happened was the complete opposite. Those feelings only grew, day by day. He even tried other relationships to forget about that. He even had a daughter. Unfortunately, it looked like that wasn't enough to erase Jack from his mind. And, with Dave around, it was even harder for him to let those feelings go away.
That was the main reason why he kept visiting Dave over and over, on those cold plains of Alaska. It didn't matter that it was far away from everything and extremely cold. If that meant that could see him that was enough motivation for Campbell.
And, there he was, getting off of the small snowmobile, in front of Dave's cabin. The wind was blowing strongly, making those cold plains even colder. But Campbell just ignored it all and went to knock on the door. It didn't take long for the door open just a little, while Dave analyzed who was there. When he saw that it was someone he could trust, he opened the door completely.
"Good to see someone that doesn't want to kill me," Dave said, moving away from the door so then Campbell could go in. He promptly closed the door and locked it. He knew that locking the door wouldn't really stop someone to get into his wooden cabin, if said person really wanted to, but it was the only protection he had.
The colonel sat on a chair in the corner of the room and crossed his arms, rubbing his forearms to dissipate the cold, despite the thick layers of clothing covering his body.
"So, how are things?" Campbell asked, with a smile.
"Pretty much the same, really. Want something to warm you up?" Dave asked when he saw the other man's clothes weren't warm enough.
"If you still have that whisky you gave me last time I was here, I would appreciate it," Campbell said, trying to blow some hot air on his hands through his mouth.
Dave walked to the little cabinet on the other side of the room to get the bottle of whisky, while Campbell just watched him in silence. For some moments, he wondered how it would be to try and live with that 'copy' of Jack. But he soon shook those thought away, when Dave came walking to the little table with two glasses in one hand and a bottle in the other.
"Here," Dave said, putting the two glasses on the table and pouring down the drink in them "Didn't know you liked this so much. You didn't say a thing last time you were here."
"I forgot to mention it. But this is good. Where did you get it?" the colonel asked, since Dave's house was far away from almost everything.
"This guy passed by here selling these. Don't ask me where he came from or how he does the whisky."
Campbell stopped drinking all of sudden, while hundreds of dirty and disgusting things passed by his mind. He knew Dave liked taking chances, but buying drinks from a stranger in the middle of nowhere was just too risky. He slowly put his glass down back on the table, feeling slightly sick.
"Hm? Is there anything wrong? You look pale," Dave asked, slightly worried.
"No, it's nothing," Campbell tried to disguise his feelings with another smile.
"OK then," the soldier shrugged, taking all the whisky he had in his glass in one go, quickly refilling it afterwards.
"Now it's my turn to ask you if there's anything wrong," Campbell said, watching Dave down the second glass as fast as the first one.
Dave put his glass down on the table and sighed, looking through the window. He tapped his fingers on the table and then looked back to the colonel.
"Would you believe if I said that I don't know what's wrong?"
"Not really," Campbell said, looking at the door. He was trying to avoid too much eye contact with Dave. Those damned blue eyes…
"Say, do you mind if I ask you a question colonel?"
"Hm? Not all. Go ahead," Campbell said, looking at Dave again, but not to straight into his eyes.
"Why have been visiting me so much lately? I mean, it isn't like I live next door to your house."
Campbell looked at the door once again, quite unsure about how he should answer that. With an almost automatic action, he got the glass that was by his side and took another sip, when he remembered what Dave told him and he stopped once again, with the strange feeling of sickness inside his stomach again. And, that feeling mixed with his insecurity just made everything worst.
For a second, he thought why all that was happening. He was too old for all that 'drama'.
"What's wrong about visiting a friend?" Campbell said, not being able to come up with something a little bit better.
"Nothing," Dave answered, getting another shot of whisky "I just think you shouldn't deviate from your daily life just to pay a visit to some guy that lives in the middle of nowhere."
"'Some guy?'" Campbell couldn't help but laugh at that. Dave really didn't know how 'valuable' he was. Then he continued: "You really don't take your achievements very serious, do you?"
"Achievements? Yeah, if you want to put it like that," Dave said, almost breaking the glass on his hand against the table. He got up from his chair and continued talking, standing in the middle of the small room: "What an achievement! Here I am, living in the middle of nowhere, in a small wooden cabin in Alaska, afraid of opening my door because someone might come in and kill me, not being able to live like a normal person… It's a 'wonderful' life indeed."
"It's the price you pay when you play the hero way too many times," Campbell said, crossing his arms.
"I wish that, sometimes, I could-"
"Don't say that," the colonel said, not willing to hear what Dave had to say. He didn't want to find even more similarities between him and Jack.
The soldier sighed and walked to where Campbell was sitting. He was looking really bothered by all that, while looking down at his own feet.
"Sorry for that," Dave said, crouching next to him "I got a little bit carried away and, well, I guess that the alcohol helped a little."
"No, you don't need to apologize for that," Campbell said, looking at Dave's face. "This really isn't the type of life a person deserves. Especially someone like you, who did so many things."
"You know, if you keep complimenting me like this, I'll start to blush," Dave said, in a heavy mocking tone. He knew that Campbell was very proud of him and all, but he usually didn't go praising him every second. And, come to think of it, all the times he visited him those past weeks, he was always saying good things about him.
"But you deserve some praise for what you do. I'm afraid that, if you aren't praised, you might turn to the other side," Campbell said, thinking about the past once again.
"Don't worry," Dave said, smiling and putting his hand on the colonel's shoulder. "I'm not turning evil anytime soon."
"Hope you're right," Campbell said, smiling back. If he couldn't stop Jack from becoming what he became, he could, at least, prevent Dave from going to the same way.
"And, to prove you that I'm not lying," Dave said, standing up again and getting yet another shot of whisky, before putting even more of it on the colonel's glass. He rose his glass up in the air and said: "Let's make a toast."
"For?" Campbell asked, rising from his chair as well, with the glass on his hand.
"For the years to come. So then I don't become an evil genius," Dave laughed, softly hitting his glass against Campbell's and drinking it all in one go, again. The colonel just shrugged and decided to do the same. After all, if that drink hasn't kill Dave yet, it wouldn't kill him either.
Dave put his glass back on the table, waiting for Campbell to finish his own. As soon as the colonel finished his drink and put his glass on the table, Dave approached him and said, with his voice finally affected by the alcohol: "Now, to seal our deal…"
Before Campbell could ask what Dave meant, the soldier put his arms around him and firmly pressed his lips against his own.
At the moment, his first reflex was to push Dave away and tell him that was complete nonsense. But, before his rational side could take a stand, his emotional side spoke louder and he just didn't do anything. He just stood there, not sure about what he should do, while millions of thoughts invaded his mind, all at once. After a while though, he got some courage and moved his arms, returning the hug.
Breaking the 'kiss', Dave just stood there with his arms around the Campbell, with his face next to his shoulder.
"You know," he said low, like someone could hear them there. "I really didn't think before doing it."
"I know you didn't," the colonel said, holding the other man a little bit stronger. Being there like that was strangely soothing and he really didn't want that feeling of peace to go away.
"Are you angry about it?"
"No," Campbell said in a low voice, noticing the strange feeling of sadness in the soldier's voice.
"Good," Dave said, before moving to kiss the colonel again.
He slowly pushed Campbell against the closest wall, while moving his arms up a little. When he tried to deepen the kiss a little bit more, Campbell's mind was invaded once more by thoughts involving Jack. So, he pushed Dave away, breaking the kiss.
"What's wrong?" Dave asked, with his lips close to Campbell's ear.
"This isn't right," the colonel said, with a tone of sadness in his voice. He knew that the only reason why he was letting all that happen was because Dave reminded him of Jack. And, for him, it wasn't right to go and 'use' the soldier that way.
"I thought you were enjoying it. Or, at least, it felt like you were," Dave said, before biting Campbell's ear.
"Don't…" he started to say, putting his hands against the other man's chest. But, he really didn't feel like finishing his sentence or his action, as Dave's lips went from his ear to his neck.
He slowly removed the scarf from the colonel's neck, so then he could have more room. As Dave worked on his neck, Campbell moaned low, with his hands still resting on the other man's chest.
If Campbell could, he would put an end to all that, turn around and go home, but he soon realized that it was too hard for him to go and just turn his back to all that since, more or less, his 'dream' was coming true. A dream that kept him awake for countless nights.
Finally, he just let himself go. After all, Dave was the one who started it all. It wasn't like Campbell forced anything. He even wanted to stop it all. Not that he really put much effort onto stopping all that, but he tried anyways. So, he just needed to let his mind flow and take him to where he wanted to be, since he already had a perfect image of the person he wanted right in front of him.
To him, he wasn't in that small cabin in the middle of Alaska. He was miles away from there, many years ago. He was still stuck on that hot peninsula, in some secluded place in the middle of the woods. He had to admit that those wooden walls of the cabin were really helpful, as he pictured himself with his back against some of the countless trees there.
He took his hands away from Dave's chest and put his arms around the other man's waist, pulling him closer. Campbell could feel the warmth that was coming from Dave's body, even though both of them were wearing many layers of clothing.
Dave unbuttoned the heavy coat that Campbell was wearing and put his hands around the colonel's waist, under the coat. There was yet another kiss, as Dave's hands went to the front of Campbell's body, so then he could work on the other man's belt.
Hearing the sound of the belt being unfastened, Campbell felt a shiver run down his spine and a feeling of guilt invaded his mind once again. Did he really want to go that far? To 'use' Dave that much?
"Dave, you…" Campbell started, when the soldier finally broke the kiss. But he started talking only to be silenced by Dave's hand.
"Quiet," he said with a grin, as his other hand opened the button on Campbell's trousers. "If you don't behave you aren't getting your gift."
The colonel pulled Dave's hand away from his mouth and continued: "Dave, stop that."
"I'm sorry colonel, but I can't follow your orders. We aren't on the battlefield," the soldier said, with his lips once again close to Campbell's ear. "We are in my house and we have to follow my rules."
He tried not focus on that too much, but Campbell couldn't help but 'see' Jack on that last line, related to his strange behavior, that was somewhat possessive and egocentric.
While Campbell was still slightly baffled by that thought, Dave put his hand on the back of his neck and started to lick and suck it once again, as his other hand finally unzipped the colonel's trousers. This numbed Campbell's thoughts once again and he pretty much gave up of any attempt to put an end to all that. He didn't want to stop that and he knew that Dave wasn't going to stop either.
Upon the first touch, Campbell's body tensed and he clenched his fists strongly. But it didn't take too long for his body to relax and for his moans to become more constant, even though they were still really low.
"What are you afraid of?" Dave asked, speaking a little bit louder. "We are alone. You shouldn't hold back your feelings like that, you know?"
"You are the one who started with the whispering," Campbell said with a laugh. The whole thing was so strange that he didn't even know how to react anymore.
Dave shook his head, still smiling, and proceeded to kiss Campbell's lips, while his strokes became a little bit more intense and faster. The colonel let a louder moan escape his lips, but he quickly silenced the ones that followed it. He had to admit he was afraid, but not the way Dave thought he was. His fear was that he could, accidentally, let Jack's name slip and, if he did that, he would have to explain way more things than he really wanted.
He pulled Dave's hand away from the inner part of his trousers and, with a fast movement, or, at least, as fast as his bad leg could allow him to he pushed him against the wall, inverting their positions. He put his lips next to Dave's ear and started to talk.
"Dave," he said, like he was trying to reassure himself about the person that was in front of him, while holding the soldiers wrists firmly against the wall. "Why are you doing all this?"
"I already told you. I don't know, I didn't plan any of this," Dave grinned. It was funny to see his so-called superior 'break down' like that. "Why are you so worried?"
"Because I don't want to hurt you," Campbell said, brushing his lips against the soldier's neck.
Dave groaned a little when he felt the other man's tongue against his skin. He slowly moved away from the wall, guiding Campbell to another room in the cabin, where he had his bedroom. Dave made him sit down on the bed first and then he sat down on his lap.
"So, colonel, what you want me to do?"
"First, you'll stop calling me 'colonel'. It sounds creepy for some reason," Campbell said, slightly uncomfortable about using those formal terms on that situation. "I'm not calling you 'Snake', am I?"
"As you say, Roy."
That phrase alone sent yet another chill up Campbell's spine. It was pretty rare for him to hear his first name to come out of Dave's mouth. And that voice didn't help.
"As I say? What about that whole thing about 'it's my house, it's my rules'?" Campbell said, pulling Dave closer.
"Forget that," Dave answered, kissing the colonel again and pushing him, so then they both could lie down on the bed.
And that was the point where Campbell's mind went away, once again. Back to that cursed San Hieronymo peninsula. All the time, his mind was set on that place and time. And, to his luck, it seemed like Dave didn't notice it at all. To the soldier, he was always there, in both mind and body. And, when Campbell thought about it, aside from the place and time, there weren't many differences to be considered.
Time passed and, when Campbell woke up, it was already dark outside. He was lying on the bed, partially dressed and covered by the blankets in the bed. Dave was by his side, with his arms around him, in deep sleep. He smiled and closed his eyes again, since he knew he didn't want to be anywhere else.
"Jack," he whispered, knowing that Dave couldn't hear him. He caressed the soldier's face and then went back to sleep. He would have time to deal with that feeling of guilt later. At that moment, he just wanted to enjoy the peace inside his mind.
A peace he hadn't felt in a while.