"Sniper."

Sniper grumbled and moved a bit in his chair. He wasn't ready to wake up quite yet, as he'd been awake almost the entire night, waking up and asking a grumpy Scout stupid questions every second hour.

"Sniper?" Scout's unmistakable voice was barely audible through Sniper's dreams. He tried to ignore it.

"SNIPER!"

"What?!" Sniper replied loudly and annoyed. He had finally fallen asleep after asking the kid the last questions, which were answered with rude and selfish answers, and was absolutely not ready to wake up yet.

"You never closed the window. And now it's cold as Hell in here."

"You know, Hell's supposedly pretty hot." Sniper was not in the mood for discussing anything at all with the boy. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Close that freakin' window," Scout commanded him.

"No." He did not like to get commanded around, especially not by annoying little pricks like Scout, no matter how cute he was.

"It's cold, and I'm the one in the hospital bed here. Now close that window."

"I like it cold." Sniper tried as hard as he could to not look at the boy, who was probably sending him a mean look with his pretty, blue eyes. Or just straight out ignoring him. He was unsure what he preferred.

"Well, I like it warm, and since I'm the injured one, I think I should be the one to decide."

Sniper lit a cigarette. The first one in way too long. "You aren't the only one who got opinions, kid." He took a puff and ignored Scout angrily telling him that he wasn't a kid. "And taking in consideration that I'm the one who can walk around here…" He let the sentence hang a bit in the air before he continued. "I'm the one who get the last word. At least until you learn some manners."

"At least put out that damn cigarette." Scout coughed theatrically.

Sniper looked at the boy. "Nah." He took another puff and sighed lowly. Scout's eyes were exterminating the roll of paper and tobacco the Aussie held between his index and middle finger, not noticing that the older man was studying the wound on his cheek. It would most likely leave a scar. Sniper looked away from it and put his eyes on the ECG whose wires was connected Scout. It wasn't really necessary anymore, as the boy's heart rate was quite normal; at least that what he thought it seemed like it was. They'd both gotten used to the regular beeping from it.

He yawned. "Slept well?"

The boy didn't answer. No big surprise, really. Probably still mad at him. He sighed, leant back in the chair and relaxed for a while.

"Please don't smoke in zee hospital." Medic's voice pierced through the silence. It'd been a week since Scout got hospitalised. The boy seemed to have forgiven Sniper, and he was now talking freely to him, telling him stories about everything from baseball to girls. Sniper didn't really care about what Scout was talking about, but he enjoyed hearing the kid's happy voice. He was not really needed there, Scout was healthy enough to be alone, but he seemed to enjoy the company, so the Aussie was staying until the kid's mother came to pick him up, as he needed to have a break from the missions. Scout would sometimes tell about how his Ma made the best hot chocolate in the world.

He'd just lit his first cigarette that day, when Medic came to the room. Neither he or Scout had seen or heard him come in. Right behind the German, Heavy was standing, holding a poorly wrapped box. He was one of those who had voted against this entire let-Scout-heal-naturally-and-hopefully-he'll-learn -a-lesson-thing.

"Poor little man," the big man yelled, walking quickly over to the halfway sitting Scout and hugged him hard.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." The injured boy was in pain. "Heavy," he gasped. "My... Spine."

"Sorry!" The Russian let go and Scout fell backwards down on the bed, gasping for air. "I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"I'm... All right. Jus' let me catch my... Breath."

"I have something for you." Heavy said, giving the box to a very surprised Scout.

"For... For me?" He looked from the box to every person in the room. His eyes were wet with happy tears. Sniper'd never seen him like this before. He put out the cigarette and smiled a bit as he watched the young boy starting to clumsily remove the blue and white wrapping with shaky hands, one in a cast.

The wrapping was soon on the floor, as Scout was more of the type who ripped it off, not peeling the tape carefully off. A wide smile appeared on his face as he looked inside the box. He laughed with joy and pulled out a completely new iPod.

"How'd... Why did you... That..." Scout looked at Heavy while shaking his head slowly. "You didn't have to do this. How did you afford it?"

That was a pretty silly question, as everybody earned lots of money as mercenaries. Maybe Scout didn't know? Maybe he didn't get paid as much as the others? Sniper would have to remember to talk about salaries and money.

"I didn't want you to end up here," the big man said with a heavy Russian accent. "So I and the two others who didn't want you to do so bought this for you since we felt so sorry."

At this point, Scout was looking directly at Sniper. His suspicious look made his stomach feel like a stone.

"Oh," the boy said, "who were the other two?"

"Pyro and Demoman," Heavy replied. He talked a bit about what had happened and what they had discussed, but the words didn't make any sense to Sniper. The only thing in his world at this moment was Scout. He was looking at the Aussie with his lovely, blue eyes. They weren't angry or sad, only disappointed. The boy was shaking his head slowly, not in the happy way he had shaken it while opening the present, but in a sad, hurt way. It almost looked like he was going to cry, which made Sniper's heart shatter.

"Heavy," Sniper said kindly, "the boy needs rest, would you mind coming back later?"

Medic was going to say something, most likely that Heavy didn't have to leave, as Scout had gotten enough rest for some time, but a warning glance from Sniper made him understand what was going on.

"Ja. Ve should leave, Heavy."

Heavy nodded. "Get well, little man." He patted Scout's head, and left. Medic stayed a bit longer to remove most of the wires attached to Scout's body, explaining both him and Sniper that the boy's heart rate was normal, and it was no need to keep track of it anymore. He also laid a bunch of painkillers in Sniper's hand, telling him to give them to Scout only when he really needed them.

Then he left, leaving Sniper and Scout alone.

The silence, that had been so comfortable before Medic and Heavy had visited, was now awkward and tense. Sniper did not want to talk about this now, but he knew it was unavoidable.

"I had forgiven you."

The words were like punches in Sniper's stomach. He had no idea what he should do.

"Listen, kiddo," he said, only to get interrupted by Scout.

"I ain't a fucking kid, all right?" He tried to sound tough, but his voice cracked at the last words. Sniper didn't even need to look at Scout to know what was going on. The boy was crying.

"Scout, listen." Sniper desperately tried to get the boy's attention, but he was lying on the side, facing away from the Aussie. "Scout. Please."

"Go away. I don't want to talk with you."

"Then don't talk back. Just let me explain, all right?"

"Will you leave after you've done so?"

Sniper did not really want to answer. He wasn't going to leave Scout. Not like this. But he had no choice but to reply "yeah".

"Go on, then."

The Australian took a deep breath. He knew it was best just to jump in it, but it was so difficult to find the correct words. "All right. You know after you fell from the tower-"

"You mean, after you made me fall from the tower?" Scout interrupted.

Sniper continued without caring about the interruption. "I carried you all the way back to the base, even though we were under enemy fire. You were very injured, broken bones everywhere, but you weren't dead. If you had died, you'd respawn with the back injury, due to some sort of mistake in the system, and you'd most likely become paralyzed from your waist. At least that's what Medic said." He took a break to make that point even more clear. "I don't really know if that'd happen, I don't know much about the respawning system, and it's too complex for me to bother investigating, but as we all know, respawning is not a pleasant experience.

"Anyway, when I got you to safety, I went out to find Medic, who was on the bloody opposite side of the map. I got him back here, and he started healing your worst injuries when Engineer thought it was a good idea to let you heal by yourself, and let someone teach you some manners. I know for a fact that someone was messing around with his things the day before."

Scout did not reply.

"We voted, and that point, I thought it was a good idea, so I..." He sighed, not wanting to continue. "I voted for."

"For some reason, I ain't surprised." Scout's voice was cold.

"I've regretted it ever since. You're supposed to be running, be happy, not lie here in a bed all day. I've tried to talk with the others, but they didn't listen." He took a drink from the glass of water he had gotten earlier, put it down and looked at Scout, who now was sitting and watching him, directly in his eyes. "I know it doesn't help, but I am sorry. I'll leave now."

He got up, picked up his hat and sunglasses from the little table and started to walk towards the door.

"No. Don't." Scout's voice made him stop. "I don't wanna be alone."

Sniper turned surprised around. Tears was still running down on the boy's cheeks, but he was smiling a sad smile at the same time. The Aussie walked over to him, and sat down on the bedside.

"I just..." Scout had a hard time finding the right words to use, but Sniper was a patient man. "I just don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Why don't..." He sobbed. "Why doesn't anybody like me?"

"What do you mean? Of course we like you."

"I've been here for a week, Sniper." The boy was more determined now. "So far, Heavy's been the only one to visit me. Not even... Not even Ma has been here."

Sniper laid his hand on Scout's without really thinking, but the boy didn't seem to care. He was just looking the Australian man deep in his eyes. Then he closed them and turned his head away.

The next moment, Scout was in Sniper's arms. In the beginning, he was stiff and resisted the hug, but after some time he got more relaxed and hugged back. The boy smelled like medicines and hospital. He buried his head in the older man's chest, breathing slowly.

"This is going to be all right," Sniper whispered to the youngster. "I'm going to call your mother and make sure she'll be here as soon as possible, okay?"

"Okay."

Scout let go and looked Sniper in his eyes again. "Thanks."

"No problem, mate."

Scout hugged him again, and they sat like this until Sniper had to leave for a mission, but he promised to come back as soon as possible. A little smile was on Scout's lips as Sniper closed the door.

"See you later, Snipes."