""Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." Do you know who said that, Lawrence?"
The Sniper rolled his eyes, as he usually did at his partner's ostentatious remarks.
"No, love, I don't. Care to enlighten me?" He said, sounding chipper in a sarcastic manner that the Spy decided to flatly ignore.
"Napoleon Bonaparte. You do know who he was, yes?" The Spy played, sliding his hand up the Sniper's leg, as the inflections in his voice made implications about Sniper's shoddy primary schooling.
"You bastard, of course I do, I'm not a bleedin' idiot." Sniper snapped back, shoving Spy's hand from his upper thigh. He closed his hands and rested his elbows on his knees, retracting himself from whatever emotional manipulation the Spy was attempting. "I really don't see where you're going with this, mate. You're always givin' me th' run around and I know ya just lookin' for chances to-"
He was cut off by a slender gloved finger pressing his lips shut. The finger was joined by four more as the Spy's disparaging gesture was molded into a loving embrace, cupping the Sniper's jaw gently, stroking the rough stubble and tracing his thumb gently over the scar he himself had beget upon the Sniper's tanned face. His lips curled into a smile as he hushed his lover with short shhhs that seemed to flow and melt into one another. They stared at each other for an unknown amount of time, the Spy making sure through his gaze that Sniper understood no harm was meant in his teasing. The Australian was so cute when he got aggravated, but perhaps this wasn't the time to keep prodding. The BLU Spy felt a twinge in his heart, and his purpose faltered. He continued, the first to break the silence.
"There is a point, mon cheri. I know you better than you'd like to admit, I understand the pains that cross your heart, the source of that flare in your eyes… This is a lonely world that we live in, Lawrence. There is no denying it. You and I, the ones that are assumed to be embroiled in a bitter rivalry, consumed by hatred, are more alike than anyone else in our line of work." The Spy gently spoke, not quite in a whisper, but the longer he spoke to the wide eyed Australian, the softer his voice became. He looked away for a moment. "Perhaps that is why we are expected to be enemies….but I digress. I want you to understand that I know this loneliness. And I know I cannot cure it in you, for you will always yearn for me when so often I cannot be here for you. Please, listen closely." The Spy's tender expression melted the Sniper's heart a thousand times over.
Without the mask and usual cigarette, he looked so different. Kindly, benign, and benevolent. Human. The Sniper's eyes wandered across the Frenchman's face, from his slicked back hair with just a touch of grey around his ears to his sharp nose and strong angles. The man speaking to him was no longer the dastardly spook that ruthlessly and methodically killed off the Sniper and his accomplices on a daily basis, no. His true personality came to life right before the Sniper's eyes. He possessed compassion, something that no being had seen in him since before his mother died. For a fleeting moment, the pair were no longer two of the most dangerous men in the Badlands, but average people, hopelessly caught in the snares of emotion. Sniper was in awe of the Spy's cool demeanor during this interaction, for his heart was beating with the intensity of ten thousand drums, circling around a blazing fire whose embers popped and exploded, shimmering down from the sky . He swallowed hard. The Spy continued, taking the silence as his queue.
"Napoleon knew that one day, only his greatest victories and worst failures would grace the pages of time. He would not be known for his qualities as a man, but his faults as a leader. As history continues, everyone will succumb to this phenomenon. So, in the times you feel most alone and insignificant, remember that those who appear to have more than you don't- they never truly did. Their importance is not permanence, their faces may be remembered but their person will not remain." He stopped, not knowing if the Sniper understood the connection he was trying to make. "What matters is who we are now, and how we see ourselves, Lawrence. One day this entire war may be forgotten, and as we rot in the ground no one will pay mind to our struggles, our loneliness. You and I- we must live for what we have now. One day darkness will shroud everything that we have come to know, and I do not know where we will be. I would like us to survive past our temporary importance, mon cœur. It is better to live in obscurity than to die in a blaze of glory."
Sniper thought hard about this sudden influx of eloquent language explaining a dogma that he didn't even realize his lover had. When did he, of all people, become sentimental? He recalled their first days together, when Spy's interest was first latched upon him. As they got to know each other, the Sniper knew that the Spy had always been watching, analyzing, trying to decipher a code that didn't really exist. The Sniper was not a man of tricks, and even though he was able to conceal himself beneath his rugged exterior, he still had the heart of a young man. He never expected the BLU Spy, his opponent and equal, to have the same childish dreams… this naive outlook. The Spy knew the world would never show mercy to either of them. He focused on himself, and if others could keep up they might be spared. Sniper began to sweat, and became flushed. He quickly wiped the back of his neck. Where did consideration for his own sustainability go? He racked his brain, confused. The Spy used these plural pronouns, his egoseemingly vanished. All of these thoughts pinged back and forth in rapid succession until he was snapped out of it by the same voice who put him in this trance.
"You are silent. Do you understand? Did I offend you?" the Spy said worriedly, his face twisting into a frown.
"No, no m' sorry love, I was just thinking. I've never heard you speak this way. Did something happen? Are we… in danger?" the Sniper asked warily, not knowing if he should accept the Spy's words for what they were or heed them as a warning.
"Not that I'm currently aware of. But the world is a curious place is it not? Tomorrow we could be thrust into the snares. I just wanted to let you know how I feel about that."