Whooooooooooop sorry for the delay. It was hard to think this through. The story is getting longer than I expected, but I don't like publishing quick works without any proper development in characters and storyline XP

Don't worry – the other ships are slowly coming up as well :)
Bear with me and please suggest or critique on any flaws I have made.

The man didn't stutter and Demo heard him as clear as day. Never in Demo's wildest dreams had the traditional and seemingly conservative American talks about such topic, which made this situation very strange.

"I dunnae. What's it tae ye?"
"Answer my question."
Soldier growled in low tone. Demo was about to give him another response of indifference but the way Soldier's body shifted made him reconsider. Was this brick of a man nervous? It was hard to give him responses on a subject that Demo haven't give much thought about. Partly because he wasn't gay and he didn't know any gay guys amongst his old social peers. He was aware of the generic images that Telly showed at times and how the late-night media portrayed them. The colour didn't show on black and white, but the intensity of frills and sissy body language seemed quite out of place to him.

"Well, they look ridiculous…"
Soldier's knuckles turned white from clenching the bottle hard.

"…but Telly makes everything look like clowns. I doon't care whether a bloke wantae grab a knob or poke a keyhole on doors, as long as he dooesn't piss me off, I suppoose he is fine."
Demoman missed the tiny sigh of relief from his friend. He reached out for another new bottle from the box and scowled at the sound of empty clinks. Demo closed his eye, leaned back on the sofa and waited for Soldier to say something. He opened his eye when he felt another shift on the cushion. Soldier was facing straight at Demo as if he still hasn't heard a satisfying answer.

"I asked you about what they do, not about them."
"What? Like foocking?"
The Soldier clenched his teeth at the word and curtly nodded. This conversation was getting too weird.

"Don't you think it's degrading?"
Demo squinted at Soldier and his questions.

"…the foock you on aboot?"
"JUST ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!"
Gears were sloppily turning in Scotman's brain. He felt like he was getting something out of this conversation and he did what he does the best – mocking.

"Och, I think it's darn right gaggin – I mean disgustain. Makes me wantae boak to hear two blokes gruntin' it oout like pigs. I reckon they aren't even real men."
Demo flailed his arms around dramatically and stuck his tongue out. He expected some sort of reaction to make Soldier spit out the real topic of this conversation, and it worked perfectly. He actually felt a bit nauseous when Soldier grabbed his shirt and shook him violently.

"I AM MORE OF A MAN THAT YOU SORRY SKIRTSMAN WILL EVER BE!"
"IT'S SCOTSMAN! Then what are ye worried aboot? Go and foock him right now."
Soldier gasped and instantly let go of the stretched fabric. Demo stroked his face to soothe the headache and pushed himself back a little from Soldier.

"We both know ye are the manliest bloke aroound here. You can fook a man if ye want. It dooesn't matter what others think as long as ye hold yer heid high."
"What do you skirt-twirling drunk know about being a man?"
"For the LAST TIME, it's kilt you bloody baheid. Aye, I wear 'skirt' and I am proud of it. It's my culture and makes me who I am. I doon't give a shite aboout what ye sorry shiteheads think of it, and neither should ye aboout yer love fer cocks."
Soldier winced when Demo blatantly exposed what ruined his ideal image of manliness. Deep crevice was hidden under his hard helmet as he fought the urge to shout again.

"Negatory. I do not gawk at any males or females that come across my vision. Battlefield is not a place for silly peeping."
"Who do ye wantae fook among us, then? Dooes he hate gay men?"
Demo thought he had a conversation flowing, but silence crept back in between them when Soldier hesitated to answer. Demoman pried no further because he didn't want to get involved and one more shake would really make him vomit.

"That is none of your business. If you have time to put your big nose on other people's business, you shall retire and attend the drill at 0600 SHARP. Doubt you will remember it, so I will kindly shove the microphone INTO YOUR SKULL, cupcake."
Soldier bolted up right before Demo could say anything. The bazooka man swayed a little because of his own sudden action, but managed to perfectly march up the stairs. Demo let his body loose and he drifted into sleep on the spot.

The wooden floor creaked in continuous beats as Soldier fiddled his leg while sitting on his bed. He tried his best to contemplate on what Demoman had said. Having a sexual interest on males was against his upbringing, and the fact that it was his colleague breached his idea of a professional mercenary. This was one of those unusual moments where he felt something strong that wasn't a bloodthirsty rage. Being, or at least feeling gay for a person was never the strong and tough man image that he had built. If Demo agreed with the homophobia that Soldier's parents and society imposed on him, he would have tried to suppress the urges and build harder wall around that soft flutter. However, Demo wasn't judgemental. Soldier didn't expect such neutral answer from the rugged Scotsman and asked for more comfort as if he needed some sort of permission.

A pang of anxiety tugged in his heart as he imagined the worst case scenario. What if everybody found out his dirty desires and his crush was a homophobe? He remembered Demo's pride in his skirt-culture and gained some courage, but it was useless if his Texan technician didn't like men. He also wondered if Demo was going to remember their conversation the next morning, but doubted it. The alcoholic made himself a fool numerous times on the battle field because he forgot to do anything. No man on Soldier's dictionary would do that on purpose. What he could do now was to make himself feel more comfortable in being gay. If anybody like Demoman could be shameless with such ridiculous tradition, Soldier could damn well embrace his identity crisis. Anybody who opposed him can taste his lead and fist, but the world doesn't have to know this yet. Ignoring the flickering worries of having his homosexuality exposed, he flopped on his back to catch some sleep.

The sun harshly beamed at the tiny flesh beings on the beach. There were hot babes everywhere with bright red bikini, and sand was warm and soft. A sexy brunette held her arms around his shoulder and brought her lips close to his ears.

"…got."
"That's right. Tell me what you want, sweet cheeks."
The low and velvety voice dripped on his ear drum, but he was more focused on the two lumps of milkshake close to his chest. He was about to run his hands down on her back, but then her grip hardened and became rough.

"WAKE UP, MAGGOT!"
Instead of a female's voice, the brunette coughed up the annoying rumble he heard ever since he arrived in Teufort. The excruciating pain of his hair being pulled woke Scout up from the best dream he ever had. Having top torso of your weight hanging on your scalp was refreshing enough to chase away any traces of drowsiness.

"OW OW OW FUCK LET ME GO!"
"Much obliged. You have five minutes to get your skinny ass up."
Soldier released Scout and shook his hand. Tiny dark brown strands of hair floated around. The room was dimly lit with orange sunrise and dusts were dancing from his bed due to the short struggle he had.

"It's Saturday, goddamn it."
"Better giddy up, boy. You know what's better for ya."
Scout glanced at soft chuckle outside of the door frame. It took him a millisecond to realise that the man smiling down at him was team's engineer who looked too unfamiliar without his hardhat and goggles. Scout scratched his hair to ebb away the stings and walked down the corridor with the older man.

"I mean, it's unfair. Did he really have to pull my hair to wake me up?"
"Well, he did call ya out few times but you kept mumblin' in your la-la-land."
"No, but you don't understand…"
Scout described the dream he had with every ounce of exaggeration. He also added that it's his daily life back in Boston and Engineer nodded to let the boy ramble on.

"I jus' don't know why he is being such a freak. Does he do this to you too?"
"No, because ah got no hair to hold on."
"Not that, jeez. You know what I mean."
"It's just you, son."
Engineer shook his head in slight amusement and let Scout mumble further. He knew that Soldier's behaviour was different around Scout, but he figured that was how Soldier's parents treated him as a child. In a way, it was Soldier's expression of caring for younger 'subordinates'. There was another individual that Soldier acted differently, and it was Engie himself. It was very subtle, but the smart Texan knew there was something more than just a mutual respect for one another. Of course, Soldier yelled at everybody in the battle or during ceasefire, including Engie. What Engie observed were Soldier's actions.

The hints that Engie noticed were small things like seeing Soldier almost everywhere as if the helmet man was his background music. Soldier polished his rocket launcher in the lounge where Engineer drew his blueprints. Engie found crates of scrape metals from last battles in front of his workbench and wondered who did such generous act for him. If Sniper didn't complain at the breakfast about how Soldier kept woke him up with thumping noises of heavy objects, Engie would have thought it was Pyro. Almost whenever Engie went out to town for supplies, Soldier tagged along to come but only if they were with the others. At first, he thought it was about being best American buddies. Soldier always emphasised on being a patriot and half of their conversations were American affairs. However, Engie scribbled that idea out because there were incidents where Soldier acted awkward around when they had shower time. Engie didn't mind, really. The taller man's toned body was an eye candy to him and he secretly loved the attention he was getting. Well, there was something more than that but he decided not to think too much before exercises. Soldier was particularly adorable this morning when he gently knocked on Engie's door while punched down the others'.

"No way that I'm gonna do it. He can't make me his dog."
"Ya know, I was goin' to lay two or more strips o' bacon if you trained extra hardy this morning."
Scout loved Engie's cooking and almost forgot it was today where everybody can taste the greasy Texan meals. It was one of Soldier's many team-building ideas where all the mercenaries take a turn to cook for the day. So far, the Conagher family's recipe book received the most love.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?! Come on, then. We are going to be late!"
Engie smiled at the sight of Scout running out to the field. Young and simple minds were so easy to handle, just like driving his first tractor back in his parents farm. As he stepped out of the building, he could see everyone's sluggish posture. Spy's presence, however, was rare and this raised few eyebrows.

"Finally decided to put some meat on your buttery bones, Spook?"
"My physique can't be worse than you, monsieur autruche." [autruche=ostrich]
"Speak English, wanka."
Sniper and Spy were at their usual competition of snide comments. In Engie's opinion, both of them were lanky to even compare, which made them sound childish for two grown men.

"What did Soldier do to bring you out of your parasol?"
"That is none of your business."
Laundry machines and soaps. Those were the blackmail that Spy, the master of manipulation, hadn't even thought about. Who knew Soldier would actually think of blowing up the machines and hide soaps? The others could go about three days with dirty clothes, but not Spy. Unlike these unruly barbarians, Spy considered himself as a proper gentleman who took care of his personal hygiene. If he could not wash his balaclava every day, that would risk his code as a professional spy. He could not bring himself to ask the others for soaps because that would hurt his pride.

The liveliness of Teufort intensified as soon as they finished the training. The morning training left them fatigued. Other than the few quiet characters, all of them became bunch of animals fighting for bacon and scrambled eggs. Medic and Spy sat on the lounge to avoid food flying onto their faces.

"Pipe down, fellas! There's plenty to go around."
Engie handed down another bowl of cooled bacon strips. Before Heavy could grab a big handful with his bare-bear hand, Engie put three strips on Scout's plate as he promised. While everybody was busy on their chow, Soldier shoved two sunny side-ups on Demo's plate and curtly nodded.

"Hangover is a sorry excuse for a man."
Soldier replied to Demo's quizzical eyebrow raise. Demo wondered whether Soldier was bribing him to keep their conversation quiet from last night, or just being a good friend. He decided not to care because he was hungry and indeed hungover.

"Monsieur Soldier?"
"Fine. This is not over yet, you slimy French."
Spy nudged Soldier to retrieve the promised share of soaps. He smiled at Soldier's comment and made a mental note to buy some more on their next trip to town. There was no way that Soldier could use the same trick again if Spy was well prepared. Unfortunately, their immature youngster took this scene to make a horrible joke.

"Aw jeez. Can't you two fags exchange soaps in showers?"
Soldier zoomed across the table and knocked out Pyro's plate. He was fast and his helmet fell off as it hit against the unlit kitchen light. Demo smirked at first when the bulkier man punched that pretty nose, but the new found discovery of Soldier being an anxious-closet gay alarmed him. He saw that the look of uncontrollable fury on Soldier's eyes and they bore genuine intention of murder. He didn't care if his cover as an oblivious drunk might be blown, but at this rate Scout might get more than a broken nose. Thankfully, Heavy interjected by pulling Solider off from the table and made the situation less serious. Scout fell backward and his legs flopped like cotton-wool doll.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?"
Scout stood up and droplets of bloody split out as he shouted. He didn't bother to cover his nose because Soldier's abusiveness was getting on his nerves. Not even his brothers were this rough on him.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAGGOT, YOU SPINELESS MAGGOT?"
"It was a joke! Come on man! Or-"
Scout's accusation of asking whether 'Soldier is gay or not' ran short when his mouth was covered by Spy's hand. Scout jolted up in pain because everywhere hurt around his nose.

"Let's not make this place uglier than it already is, gentlemen. Boys will be boys, non? I am sure he learned his lesson and won't use provocative words in the future, unless he is calling other people 'fags' to hide his own identity. We all understand, mon petite fleur."
Spy's words slithered around his teammates and calmed the mood down. Demo was the first to laugh at Spy's mocking sympathy, and Heavy followed to fill the kitchen with loud chortle. Pyro lifted his sad head up from staring at his food on the floor and slapped Engie's back in hilarity. Sniper was about to laugh along but the wink that Spy gave him stopped his breath for few seconds.

What was that about? Why the wink after the little 'I support gays' speech?

"Be thankful that I let my glove get dirty with your blood to save you. Who knows what that helmet beast will break when he is mad?"
"Oi, spook. Wait!"
Before he cloaked himself, Spy whispered to Scout and smacked the back of younger man's head. He had enough to worry about ripped washing machines and some foul mouthed twat wasn't going to ruin his hard earned session of cleaning.

"Vhat is all zhis?"
"Doktor. Check baby flower."
Medic came back in the kitchen to leave his empty mug. Heavy whispered the whole situation in Medic's ear. Scout rolled his eyes and starting to feel a bit blue.

"I see. Vell, the red lipstick certainly looks good on you, Herr Scout, but I am not sure vhezher you should put it all zhe way up your nose."
Scout dreaded to see a smirk on Medic and the following remark shamed him further. He just wanted to get out of this place and be alone for rest of the day, or rest of his life.

"Don't forget to visit me at zhe infirmary!"
Medic shouted as Scout sprinted out of the building. The ubercharge pair walked back to the laboratory because Medic was so sure that he finally have constructed a better charger-device to plant on Heavy's heart. Sniper was already gone to chase Spy and interrogate about that weird wink, and Demo slipped out because there was no way that he could do dishes. Engie sighed at the mess and picked up broken shards of porcelain.

"Mmmgie, mmmeres mmmroom."
"Ah appreciate it, Py."
Engie grinned warmly at Pyro. The crazy guy was unpredictable, but also kind and pure minded like a child. Both of them didn't notice Soldier stood alone in the corner of the kitchen. Was it to cool himself off? Or was he thinking of something that was beyond his brain capacity? Eventually Engie saw the lying helmet on the floor and realised the owner was still in the same room with them.

"Don't forget your helmet."
Soldier gazed at the shiny dome of olive brown but didn't take it. Engie could see that something was troubling him and he wanted to tread upon it with utmost care.

"Solly, would you like to have a talk?"
"Negatory, private."
Engie didn't like the cold and military tone one bit. Why was Soldier being distant all of sudden?

"What you did to that boy wasn't sensible."
"The maggot deserved it."
This conversation was getting nowhere. Engie knew that Scout did cross the line, but violence amongst teammates harms the team in so many ways. It was obvious to Engie that Soldier was trying to blame someone else to vent out his discomfort.

"Come on, partner. You are-"
"WHO IS YOUR PARTNER?!"
The moment Engie's gloveless hand touched Soldier's shoulder; the latter man smacked away the contact. Pyro gasped, clenched the broom on his hand and felt the tiny vibration in the room that harsh bark made. Both men kept their ground. There faces were emotionless as if this was a fight to show who can be stoic the best. Two pairs of hands were clenched in fists, but neither of them were going to use them on each other. Soldier usually admired those icy blue eyes exuding intellectual charm, but now they were piercing through him. The fearless Soldier was afraid of Engineer, as if the man was reading his mind and scanning out his secrets. The suffocating tension broke when Engineer turned around and left the kitchen. Soldier flinched and almost moved a step to follow Engie, but couldn't bring himself to. Another weighty five minutes passed till he decided to retreat back to his room. Poor Pyro was left all alone to do the chores and his Balloonicorn would have said that 'this is unfair.' He thought about burning down everything to ashes because cleaning black powders was so much easier, but Engie told him not to do so long time ago.

Demo was going to take a quick nap on the roof of Teufort. He wanted to join Sniper's weekly trip to town and get more beer. He could see the van from this height and get all the warmth of the sun which seemed pretty sweet. What Demo didn't consider due to his hungover was that the distance between Teufort and the van wasn't as close as he thought, and Sniper was going to leave an hour earlier than usual. The bombmaker witnessed a magic, where blue sky became deep navy night with stars, in blink of an eye.

"Shite…"
Demo couldn't believe that he slept through the entire day like it was nothing. Of course the van was gone and hadn't returned yet. He climbed down the roof and wished that he was drunk again to go back to sleep. As he landed on the balcony, he could hear guitar chords being strummed and plucked somewhere. It wasn't like he was going to sleep anytime soon, so Demo walked to the direction where music was coming from. Soon he realised that he was in front of Engineer's work garage.

"…then tell him that his lonesome nights are over! Sandman… I'm so alone. Don't have nobody to call on my own…"
To Demo's surprise, Engie was singing and it wasn't half bad. The alcohol lover didn't care about the lyrics, but few empty beer bottles around the lonesome singer were much more appealing. Demo wanted to 'borrow' one out from the crate while Engie's eyes were closed in concentration, but the beeping out of nowhere got him busted. That bloody mini Sentry.

"Gosh-darn-diddly. You startled me. What are you doin' here?"
"…just here tae listen yer singin. Ye are better than me da."
That was a lie because his father hardly sang at all. He hoped that Engie didn't see his hand retracting from the beer stash, but it was a bit too late.

"Ya can drink with me. Ah needed someone to talk to instead of my guitar."
Demo obeyed Engie and instantly sat on the ground. The fizzing sensation that slid down his throat was heavenly. The brand was not his favourite, but it was better than nothing.

"…see, all ah wanted from him was to have a talk with me. It was so dang obvious with everything he does! It's not like ah'm made out of hay stack – of course ah'm gonna notice if you are going to follow me around like a pup in town. Ohhhh, at showers. He wasn't even looking at my direction even if there were others around. Funny that he frequently chose booth closest to mine. What kinda game is that? Oh, do you know what ah find strangely fond about him? When he kills any BLU who wrecked mah buildings, he puts that fucker's head on mah dispenser. Whoooo-eeeee. Did we have a good laugh."
Thanks to Engie, Demo's eyelids were getting heavy again. He knew that Engie's endless drunk rambles were the best lullaby there ever was. He hardly had the chance to experience it as often as he wanted, and it was due to the nature of Engie's work. Tonnes of calculations and tinkering were safer done without any intoxication.

"Ah know all these. They are proofs! Evidences that he likes me in that sorta way. AND AH LIKE IT. But Ah can't tell him that ah know because that's gonna shoot him down. So Ah am gonna wait till he confesses to me by himself, but boy, that's gonna take a while. Maybe one day when he can hold down his own leash whenever somebody calls him gay. Ah am waiting. Ah can wait because that's the Texan way."
Dell Conagher stroked the helmet that sat beside him. He wasn't sure how long he could wait, but he really wished it to happen before this silly war ended. If he revealed his feeling first when Soldier is still unsure about his sexual orientation, it could go messy. Soldier might feel conflicted to be with Engie and feel guilty from it, while Engie's patience will run out. It could work if Soldier finally accepts the fact that he can have interests in men, but it was unlikely if Soldier forced himself to think like that. Rather than having risks, Engie chose to safer bet that he estimated out from his observation and analysis.

Soldier was on night patrol, or something more of 'I-am-pissed-therefore-I-wonder-indefinitely' patrol. He wanted to talk to Engie but his attitude of mollycoddling the little brat Scout made him furious. To calm his escalating temper down, Soldier looked back at Teufort to see if there was anything suspicious around there. His eyes caught a dark figure on the roof. At first he thought it was BLU Spy, but through his telescope he could identify Demoman's sloppy movement crawling his way down. That son of a dumbtruck must have fallen asleep up there. Soldier was about to look away till he saw Demo going down to Engie's garage. Soldier's heart stopped and began to pump rapidly as he galloped across the field. He thought about using rocket jump but that was going to make a noise. He was praying to all the military genius in Valhalla to not let Demo slip out their drunken conversation.

As Soldier slowed his pace few meters before Engie and Demo's eyeshot, he snuck behind one of the trucks and leaned in to their conversation. What he had heard in Engie's voice, however, nearly made him drop his rocket launcher. The unexpected variables Engie didn't consider were his drink habit and Soldier possibly hearing what's on Engie's mind.

I swear when I thought about this fanfic, it sounded like a comedy… but now it's a hardcore drama. Sorry about the genre confusion haha but I hope you enjoyed this :)