Grenades exploded around them, land mines sending tiny pieces of metal flying everyone. Bullets whizzed past their heads. Ted was hurt. Melville seemed to notice before even Ted himself. Melville gently used the Ragnaid in his med kit to heal his friend. "I could just kiss you!" Ted exclaimed. The statement was made in a joking tone, not betraying the fact that the clown actually had kissed his fellow scout years ago. Meville wasn't even sure if Ted remembered himself that he had.
It happened the night they were both drafted. Ted and Melville grew up together. In their hometown they were inseparable. Their goal was to make others joyful, and they did it through their joint clown routine. To be honest, "Practicing their clown routine" was the excuse they gave anyone when they wanted to spend time together. When Melville heard the news, the first thing he wanted to do was hear Ted's voice. When he called, however, there was no one to pick up. Later that night, there was a heavy knock at Melville's door. "Ted?!" The surprised man's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you…" before he could finish, Ted stumbled in. He wasn't smiling. That was strange for the clown. He was always smiling. His movements were languid and uncertain. "Have you… been drinking?.." Melville leaned in to support the boy's unstable frame. Ted looked into Melville's eyes, his stare unflinching but glazed over. "This is it for me Melville, I'm shipping out." Melville raised a hand to touch the smaller boy's cheek. "I know Ted. Me too." It took a second for that fact to register on Ted's face. He was confused, then surprised, then resigned. It was at this point that he raised himself, stretching to the tips of his toes so he could reach, and kissed Melville. It was a deep kiss, and Melville's eyes widened before he relaxed into it. It was Ted who pulled away, tears streaming down his cheeks. Melville pulled Ted into a tight embrace. "I gotcha Teddybear" Meville's voice was soothing, using a childhood nickname he had for his friend. "They fell asleep beside each other that night. The following morning, Ted was gone when Melville awoke. The following week, both boys shipped out
"Nice, huh? Just us guys." Ted winked at Melville as they kept running towards the enemy camp. This boy has sure grown up quickly. Since that night, Meville had never seen him cry. A shot whizzed by Melville's ear, an enemy scout having spotted them. " Let's make this a two man show!" Ted shouted, and they both took aim at the man behind the sandbags shooting at them, hoping to take him down before he got them. Then it happened. Sparks. Fire. Pain. He had felt this before, but never quite so severely. Melville fell to the ground, blood seeping from a newly formed hole in his shoulder. A single bullet from Ted's gun finished off the enemy, and then Ted was with him, screaming for a medic, screaming for someone to help. Melville hadn't seen Ted this emotional since that night. He fought to keep his eyes open, but it was a challenge. Everything was going in and out of focus. Then, it was black. He could hear the sounds in background, footsteps approaching, being lifted onto a stretcher. The voice of a medic, though he couldn't be sure which one. "Sit tight. Help's almost there." But the one thing that rang clearly in his ears was Ted's voice. "Melville! Come back to me!". It was as if he had been given an order he could not betray. He knew, as his mind lost all grip on reality, that he would be ok. Because Ted needed him.