The Spy was a man who enjoyed his privacy, and staying as far as possible from getting in contact with anyone else was a preference for him; more than that, was part of his job.

Of course he had a name, a real one, but he always liked to call himself just "Spy", or give false names. Until he joined Builders League United, or BLU. There, he was always called by what they told him was his "class": the Spy.

He had to cooperate with other eight men in order to keep a briefcase safe from the hands of Reliable Excavation Demolition, or RED. The contents of that briefcase were never revealed to the team, so they lived in the ignorance in that matter. Not that the Spy cared anyways, he was going to get paid for what looked like a normal job, and if he died well...he would be dead.

Spy wasn't scared of the death, he didn't have anyone waiting for him back at home, heck, he didn't have a home anyways, nor anything he had to do before dying: he was a quite free man. That was another of the reasons he never got attached to anyone: if someone died, he would simply walk away. Feelings were not part of his job.

That is until he joined BLU. The days in that base went from interesting to dull and boring real fast: the RED attempted to take the briefcase every now and then, but since both teams were equal in men and strenght, the stalemate was always the only outcome: he only had to keep at bay their RED Spy by firing at him with his gun, making him retreat.

Since he joined, he only saw ten attempts in almost a month, since RED weren't that stupid to commit suicide. So he was left to get bored with too much free time. That was, until he found out about the van parked outside. As curious as he was, he decided to give it a try one of these days, and today was the day he decided to take a look inside.

He didn't know who it belonged, so he waited until everyone was laughing and talking in the main room to go. Everyone was used to not see him in free hours, so no one suspected what he was about to do. He went close to the strange vehicle; opening the door was far too easy, mainly because it was unlocked, but the moment he was going to step in, he heard avoice from behind.

"Need anything, mate?"

Turning around, he found himself face to face with their Sniper. Caught by the damn bushman. He took a step back from the van, deciding for a good answer, when the other man spoke again.

"If you wanted something you could have asked instead of trying to get inside my van, you know"

The Spy's inner reaction was surprise and a hint of laughter: so this is where the Sniper was living, inside a small, probably filthy van.

"Non, I was just curious, I need nothing from you, rest assured" the Spy answered, always keeping the head up, standing still like the gentleman he was. The Sniper sighed, shaking his head a bit with his eyes closed.

"You can drop the frenchie ass persona out here, you know. No need to look superior to others, mate, not working"

Now that caught the Spy by surprise, this time not being able to hide it. Sniper went past him like nothing really happened, and opened the door, looking at him.

"I got some coffe inside, if you want some. It's decaf"

For whatever reason that overtook him, Spy simply nodded and followed the man inside. What he found was unexpected: the van WAS small, but not as filthy as he thought. It wasn't a mansion, but he didn't find the clothes over the floor or food leftovers rotting on the kitchen, he just found a normal, everyday's van.

Looking around, arms always behind his back, he took a few steps further inside, taking in all the details around him. Sniper, in the meantime, prepared some coffee in the small kitchen, and offered a cup to Spy while he kept his "2# Sniper" cup to himself.

Spy accepted the coffee, nodding a thanks in return, and while drinking a bit of it, which wasn't exactly the best coffee in the world but it wasn't poison either, decided for a more personal approach, in order to get more information out of his teammate.

"You live out here by yourself, I see"

Sniper looked at him, sipping some coffee, and then looked around, shrugging. "Yeah, it's my personal space; calm and quiet, and nobody bothers you...well, not until now" he looked at the other man over his aviators. At that, Spy inwardly flinched a bit, but kept his composture.

"Why did you invite me inside? I could have been an enemy"

At that, Sniper chuckled "I doubt any of those wankas would want to see what's inside a van, knowing that they're after our briefcase" said, while looking out of the front window. Spy looked through that window as well, at the RED base in front of them, slighlty hidden by some rocks.

"How long have you been in here?" asked to the taller man, trying to get more information about all this nonsensical little war. Sniper looked at him for a brief moment, before looking back at the RED base "Couple of months, more or less. Usually people don't survive a lot, and if you don't die in three months, they pay you and you can get on your merry way"

"I take you're about to finish those three months" asked the Spy, brow arched. Sniper chuckled again, sipping some more coffee "Yeah, these are my last two weeks here". At that, Spy found himself smiling. The man wasn't that bad to talk to, and he found he was enjoying his time there with him, and at the same time, his teammate didn't ask questions about him, which he liked even more.

"Glad to met you before your departure. Too bad I'll have to deal with the rest of idiots by myself" said Spy, trying to put an annoyed face at the last. Sniper smiled, drinking some more coffee before talking again

"Nah, they're not that bad, they keep your back safe most of the time, you keep theirs as well. We are a team, we work together: that's how we survive. Heck, even a solitaire guy like me managed to stick with them for almost three months! Just make sure to have some ducktape"

Spy raised an eyebrow "Ducktape? What for?" His answer came in a low chuckle, and a simple word: "Scout". At that both men laughed. Spy realized that the man next to him wasn't as different as he thought from himself: both of them enjoyed being alone, with some calm around, chatting about trivialities while drinking some coffee. He should have tried to meet him earlier, before his last two weeks. Well, he could try with the new Sniper, maybe the man enjoyed the outdoors as well.

Spy found himself, for the first time, enjoying a moment with someone else. A mistake he would never forget, but never regret.