AN: Gah! Why did it take me so long to update? Well, I sorta lost my muse for a while, but I managed to get this chapter done. Hopefully, it's still good after my muse's vacation. As always lotsa reviews=faster update. Enjoy!

Sniper was getting used to waking up in Medic's infirmary. He blinked wearily and groaned. He was on the floor, and a chair was next to his face.

There was also something in his mouth.

Sniper's tongue pushed the offending object out and he saw a rubber duck flop to the floor.

Huh…

Obviously he had found something to entertain himself last night. He was just glad that he hadn't chewed on a teammate instead. Why had he changed last night? It wasn't a full moon.

Sniper slowly sat up and noticed a pair of legs next to him. A soft snoring was coming from above him, and he looked up to see a slumbering Medic. It looked as if Medic had fallen asleep while doing paper work. His head rested on his arms, his back bent at an angle, and a pen lay on the papers next to him.

Medic was also snoring slightly.

Sniper groaned again as he managed to stand up, noticing that he was once again naked. He staggered to a cabinet of clean patient clothes and slid on a red patterned shirt and matching pants. He looked back over in time to see Medic stir and wake up.

"Oh, Herr Sniper," He yawned and tried to sit up, but met resistance half way up in the form of a painful crick in his back. "Ach! Oh, I should have just gone to bed. Vhy did I not listen to myself?" He leaned forward and prepared to try again.

"I changed last night," said Sniper.

"Ja, you did."

"It wasn't a full moon."

"Nein-ACH! N-nein it vasn't."

"Did I hurt anyone?"

Medic finally managed to get himself out of his chair, but he was still bent at an odd angle. He staggered over to lean on one of the beds.

"You did not hurt anyone. Vell, you did hurt Herr Skelett, but he vas already dead." He pointed to a skeleton that he kept on display. Herr Skelett was missing one of his legs. Medic groaned again as he attempted to stand up. Sniper looked on in pity until he got an idea.

"Here," he said, walking over to Medic, "I know what'll make ya feel better."

~O~

Scout was eating his breakfast in the mess hall with his team. Sure the eggs were a bit runny and the bacon was burnt, but he was hungry and he ate without complaint. He had been having a good morning until he noticed that Medic and Sniper were both missing.

"What do y'all reckon they get up to?" Engineer asked. "Sniper's been sleeping in the infirmary for the past three days."
"Is sick?" Heavy asked. Soldier scowled.

"That convict has been performing just fine on the field. If he wants to be sick he can be sick on his own time!"

"What if it's serious, though?" Engineer continued. "What if it's contagious?" He smirked as he watched the Spy's eyes freeze in terror before bolting off to wash his hands.

"Germaphobe…" Engineer muttered.

"He's just a weak maggot," Soldier said as he sunk his teeth into a piece of bacon that was so burnt it could have been a lump of charcoal. Pyro had cooked and he was still trying to get smoke stains off the walls from it.

"I don't think there's much to worry about," Demo said. "Maybe the doc's just experimentin' on him."

"Maybe they're fuckin'" Scout bit out. The table froze and stared at Scout with various expressions, but the Bostonian ignored them all and left without a word.

In truth, he wished he was wrong. He had no idea why he did. He had no idea why he wanted Sniper to not be with anyone. He had no idea why he hated the Medic so much for being with Sniper.

Well, a small voice told him that he did know.

Oh, but he couldn't be gay. He had been raised in a city where queers were beaten and killed. Most of his brothers had beaten their share of queers to within an inch of their lives. Scout had been horrified of it when he was younger, and those same brothers would pin him to the wall and tell him 'Don't be like them. Don't you become no faggot. You do, and we'll hafta kill ya. Cuz we aint gonna be brothers with no fags.'

Scout still had nightmares of those times.

It had grown worse when he had entered high school. When he had gone through puberty and began to notice the members of the opposite sex.

Or rather… the members of the same sex.

His preferences had reared their ugly heads many times, and each time he would stamp them down, the words of his brothers echoing in his mind. The images of their victims from when they would take him with them if only to drive their lessons in further.

'Don't cry for them cuz they don't deserve it. These filthy fags got what was comin' to them. Don't cry! Only fags cry. You a fag? Do we hafta beat you up to? Do we hafta kill ya to save our family? You a fag? Then stop cryin'! '

Scout felt a small whine leave his mouth as tears welled up in his eyes. No matter how hard he had tried, no matter how many times he prayed and went to church, no matter how many girls he slept with, he could no longer deny it.

Scout was gay.

Even worse… he was in love with Sniper.

Scout sniffled and rubbed his eyes, but at the same time he felt as if a weight had been taken off of his shoulders. It was as if finally admitting it had finally released him from the nightmares of his youth.

But what would his brothers say?

Would they really kill him?

Would they really beat him up and put him in the hospital?

No, Sniper would protect him. Sniper was tough and strong. Sniper was loyal. Sniper would protect him...

…wouldn't he?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Scout wiped his face and started for the infirmary. He was gonna try to repair his friendship with Sniper. If he could do that, then maybe he could finally tell Sniper what his feelings were. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe Sniper wasn't with Medic. Maybe-

"Oh! Herr Sniper!"

Scot froze, his hand poised to knock on the infirmary door. His hearts stopped as he heard Medic moan again.

"You have such talented hands," The German sighed.

Anger. Fury. Rage.

It all built up within Scout as he clenched his fists and stomped off. It had been true. Sniper was indeed involved with Medic. That goddamn Nazi had stolen Sniper from him.

Oh, but Scout was a man of vengeance. He was going to make sure Medic suffered for what he had done.

~O~

"Oh, Sniper," Medic sighed in bliss as Sniper dug his fingers into the Medic's back and soothed the muscle there.

"Damn, you're tense," Sniper remarked as he moved to another spot.

"You try having my job and not being tense. I have to-oh!- vatch over you dummkopfs and run all over zhe-EE! –field and make sure zhat everyone is healzhy. Zhen I have to stay up all night to do papervork."

"That does sound a bit hard," Sniper said as he backed off. Medic straightened up and was very happy to no longer feel any pain in his back.

"Zhat vas very good, Sniper. Vhere did you learn zhat?"

"Sniping gives me back problems sometimes," Sniper shrugged. "So I just made sure I know how to treat them. Besides, I figured you were nice enough to give me a massage before that I should give you one too."

"Vell I shall definitely come to you if my back acts up again. Now come, ve need to get to zhe mess hall before zhe fight starts." Sniper nodded and followed Medic from the room.

~O~

No one was around when Scout strolled through the infirmary doors. No one was around when he walked around and found his target. No one was around when Scout examined the Medic's medigun.

The Medigun was simple enough. It had a pack, two tesla coils, a container of some red goopy stuff, a hose, and a barrel. It was so simple.

It was simple enough to break it easily.

Weapons that were broken during battle had their own respawn and came back just fine. A weapon that was broken before battle, however, stayed broken no matter how many times it went through respawn. The only way to fix it would be to fix it by hand before or after the next battle. Scout glanced at the closk to see that they had to fight in twenty minutes. Medic was running late today and would no doubt not bother to check his weapon in his rush to get to the battle.

Well, that just made Scout's goal even easier.

Scout looked back at the medigun and tried to figure out what would be the best way to go about achieving what he wanted. The metal of the pack was tough and so was the rubber of the hose. The container of goop seemed shatter resistant, but then Scout noticed the tiny hose that connected the container to the pack. It felt like regular tubing, and Scout looked around for something sharp.

Of course, the infirmary was quite the host to sharp tools.

Scout took a scalpel from a nearby tray and cut a long line into the tiny hose, careful to do it in a way that Medic wouldn't notice. His work done, Scout replaced the scalpel and left the infirmary.

Medic would get what was coming to him during this battle.