December 1, 2011
A/N: I hope you all like this. I am surprised by the popularity of this story. This is probably the most . . . brazen or brash I get. Apologies if anyone is turned off by it.
Chapter 4: The Definition of Unrequited Love
They were nearing the end of their mission to expose the truth about Cobra. Still, they needed to sleep and eat. Staying at a five star hotel was out of the question. So a two star hotel would have to suffice. Being fugitives was not the most glamorous job and wasn't very fulfilling pay, either.
Duke was slouched into one of the chairs provided for the room they had reserved with a cash payment. The Joe's leader was certain the owner would have some suspicious feeling toward them paying in bills with no i.d. but he was wrong. Money really did mean everything.
Tunnel Rat was lounging on the floor beside the T.V. Two pillows propping him up so he could read a magazine he had purchase while stopping to fuel the Coyote. Using only one ear bud, Roadblock was listening to music while munching on some "low fat" chips. Duke scrutinized the man eating, wondering if the selected snack could be really considered low fat if he ingested the whole bag.
Lastly, Ripcord was sitting opposite of Duke, working on a Soduko puzzle from a newspaper he had abstracted from the lobby. The table's legs were uneven, so with each stroke of Ripcord's pen the table titled to Duke's annoyance.
"And now, we return to 'Days Long Gone' . . ."the T.V. informed. Duke paid little attention, thinking of the sleeping arrangements. He had six people in his team, including himself: five men and one woman. There was no way in hell Scarlett would be willing to share her bed, so that left one bed off limits. They had reserved two rooms with two queen beds per room, so three beds remained. Duke didn't care about sharing, it was the others he had to strategically place.
Tunnel Rat refused to share with Roadblock – no surprise there. Actually, Duke also added Ripcord to the list of people Tunnel Rat would not share with . . . correction – the ninja also was not an option, either. Duke groaned. Okay, so Tunnel Rat could be given his own bed because really, when Duke pondered their predicament – no one was going to really want to sleep next to Tunnel Rat. There was no telling when the Brooklyn native last took a shower, or what he had been rolling in, for that matter.
This left him with: Roadblock, Ripcord, Snake Eyes, and himself. Roadblock could partner with Ripcord, incase Ripcord had a "Bio-Viper episode" while in his sleep, Roadblock would be most apt to subdue him. Unfortunately, this resulted with Duke staying with Snake Eyes. Despite their past tensions regarding a certain redhead, Duke halfheartedly believed they could manage.
"What do you mean I should give up perusing Angela?" one man with a British accent demanded.
"Come on, Oliver, you know that your love of Angela is unrequited. She has not returned one of your advances."
"Yuck! Man, someone change the station, I don't wanna watch this! I got enough of dis right here!" pled Tunnel Rat. He was sitting up, smashing the channel button on the T.V. the old fashion way, stopping at a boxing match.
"What are you talkin' bout, Sewer Rat?" Ripcord asked, tsking at his comrade's complaining.
"You know what I'm talkin' bout. The ninja has been tryin' to woo the fair Scarlett since forevea." Tunnel Rat returned to channel surfing, feeling his statement said it all.
Ripcord laughed, harder than Duke thought necessary. "Hey, I wouldn't call that unrequited; though, as I hear it, our exalted leader here – the Duke – cock blocked him. So, I don't really think it's the guy's fault."
Duke shot up in his seat, his face hot chili red. "What?"
"That's sorta true," added Roadblock, who tossed the crumpled up bag of chips into the waste basket. The bed shook as the hefty soldier continued to chortle at his leader.
"Yeah, Duke intercepted the throw then failed to score the touchdown himself," Tunnel Rat quippied. He blocked Roadblock's shot and was now using it as a pseudo ball to toss around with his friends in the small room.
"Wait! You stole the guy's thunder then never scored – you're an ass," Ripcord declared, shaking his head in disapproval. "That's just messed up, Duke."
"Hold on!" The blonde sergeant was now standing, the room stunned into silence. "I didn't do anything with Scarlett, to Scarlett, nor had any intentions to have Scarlett," he said; his hands wildly gesticulating, his pale complexion pink from shouting.
"Relax, Duke," Roadblock intervened, his Mississippi, southern hospitality kicking in. "We're just pulling you're leg." Duke slowly reclined back into his seat, the others exhaling, dramatically. "Plus, we know that it's just unrequited love in the normal way. She just doesn't like him. You ever see her really flirt or anything with him, even just a little."
Pensive stares swept the room. "No, but she did get rather territorial about Snake Eyes when that other ninja chick showed up," Tunnel Rat pointed out, nibbling on some crumbs discovered in the bag.
"Yeah, but then isn't the super ninja the one who is unrequited of Scarlett?" Ripcord asked. He had missed things while under Cobra's care, so some memories were not available to him.
"Nah," Roadblock began, waving his hand to further his point. "Snake Eyes was pretty pissed when Duke was caught in a . . ." Roadblock glance in the sergeant's direction, choosing to pick his words carefully, ". . . compromising position with Scarlett."
Ripcord eyed his commanding officer, but kept any thoughts to himself, not wishing to ignite his leader's temper.
"Where're the bossy redhead and assassin, anyway?" Tunnel Rat wondered aloud.
"Patrol," Duke answered. "Being so close to the Cobra facility and on the cusp of letting the cat of the bag, it would be a good idea to patrol the area for our safety and the town's."
"It has to be unrequited for both of them," Duke told them, looking sullenly into his hands, "We're always together. There's never a time for them to act on anything even if they did notice. We're always on the run."
"I don't know, there's has to have been some downtime for them to . . . you know," Ripcord countered with a waggle of his eyebrows.
"Unrequited means you don't know or don't act on – not that you can't. And it's definitely unrequited on our femme fatale's side." Tunnel Rat clarified. "I mean, our little lady is all about work, work, work, she's got a pole so far up her ass that you can see the other end when she opens her mouth."
Roadblock spewed the soda he had been drinking inciting a riot of laughter from the rest of the men, even Duke. "Hey, give them some credit. Scarlett's a classy lady, high southern society type and my man, Snake, is too much of a gentleman and follow of the 'ninja code' to do anything unscrupulous," Roadblock defended, wiping the projectile beverage from around his mouth and forearms.
"Ugh, listen, they should be back soon. We'll get dinner and figure out our next move. 'Til then I don't want to hear another word about their unrequited love in any sense, got it?"
The Joes shrugged their shoulders, a chorused mumble of compliance from the trio. Duke tilted his head back and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe the discussion they just had. Scareltt would kill them all if she ever found out . . . in the slowest, most painful way possible, too.
-G.I. Joe-
Snake Eyes lifted himself with his elbows, giving Scarlett some breathing room. His eyes were trained on the wall connecting the two rooms. Scarlett followed with her eyes, unable to turn and really look for herself as Snake Eyes still had her pinned underneath him.
'They do realize that the walls are not that thick? That we can hear them.'
"Hey, as long as they don't hear us, I don't really care right now," she breathed. Snake Eyes returned his gaze back onto her, kissing one of her bared shoulders. "I don't really give a damn what they think." Scarlet shifted underneath him, cupping his face so she had his attention before he went any farther. "You heard Duke. He expects us back soon, so that gives us approximately forty-five minutes before he gets suspicious, and we still need to make the place look like no one was here yet."
Snake Eyes smiled, some tuffs of blonde hair falling into his face. He shook his head, clearing his vision to see her better. 'So, that gives us enough time for one more go-a-round.'
"Make it your best," she said, smirking. Snake Eyes' eyes were round with shock before narrowing in mischief.
-G.I. Joe-
Duke swore he could hear a small squeal coming from the next room that sounded like Scarlett. His brows furrowed as he thought about it for a moment. Slowly opening one eye to register if anyone else had heard it, he was compelled to believe it was his imagination as all the others looked as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
'Duke, you need to relax, there's no way they're next door.' The Joes' leader chuckled at his own outlandish thought.
Unrequited love – having a secret relationship that no one in your team knows about.
~ End Prompt 4
Okay, so I hope you enjoyed this latest update. This is probably as brazen as it will get. But, I just couldn't help it. The idea wouldn't leave my head. Please review and thank you for reading.