Singeing Sun

A/N I just wanted to say to texaslass2000.

YOU ARE AMAZING! I asked them if Tully and Hitch were best friends and texaslass2000 confirmed that they thought so too. ALSO! texaslass2000 is the one who introduced me to this amazing series. So, I therefore dedicate this one shot to texaslass2000 THANK YOU!

Hope ya'll enjoy! All errors are my own. I OWN NOTHING!

It was hot. Unbearably and excruciatingly hot. To make matter worse Hitch and Tully were once again standing under the direct strength of the sun, leaning against the tan colored jeeps as the Sarges' were looking for the German convoy which was supposed to cross the desert a quarter of a mile away sometime today. Sergeants Moffitt and Troy were on their stomachs ignoring the pain of burning sand pressed down into their already intolerably hot skin. As Sarge handed the binoculars over to Moffitt as he rested his eyes he vaguely wondered if Hitch and Tully were any better off.

He didn't really think so.

Rat Patrol Rat Patrol RatPatrolRatPatrolRatPatrolRatPatrolRatPatrolRatPatrolRatPatrolRatPatrol

Hitch took off his glasses for the hundredth time and wiped his face again his already sweaty arm. He held the glasses loosely in his hand as the metal felt just as hot as he did. He dreaded putting the glasses back on because the sun had been on them for so long that the metal had heated to the point where it was starting to burn his skin. the cap he had on his head did little to nothing to shadow the heated metal.

The debating look on Hitch's face and the small grimace of obvious pain as he put the offending metal frames on his face made Tully's mind up. Tully had been debating with himself for 5 minutes as the pain from Hitch's glasses was painfully and obviously getting worse if Hitch's grimaces of pain were any indication. They had been standing in the sun for a bout 30 minutes now waiting for the caravan to come through.

Tully expected the temperature to be at least 95 or maybe 100. He wasn't completely sure, but he knew that he was boiling up inside and could only imagine how much worse it was for Hitch to have boiling metal on his face. As Hitch took the glasses of his face for the second time in 2 minutes Tully decided now was the time to speak. "You really need those things to see?" Hitch paused in wiping his face to look at Tully surprised before he finished wiping and lowered his arm.

"Unfortunately, yeah I do." Hitch sighed and Tully grew a little uncomfortable since he didn't want to pry into his friend's business, but he was really curious, and the glasses were causing him obvious pain.

"I've seen yah without them on before though. Must be dang near 100 out here and them metal frames on yer face sure aren't doing you any good." Hitch looked at Tully amused somewhat and stayed silent making Tully think he had overstepped. For al the time that the two men spent together Tully realized once again how little he truly did know about Hitch. Sure, hitch talked about his dad once or twice but only when coaxed and usually when he was tipsy.

Hitch almost never talked about himself unless he said how he had met another beautiful woman that he had really liked. Just as Tully was about to open his mouth and mumble a forget about it Hitch started talking with an amused tone in voice and on his face "My vision likes to play with me, Tully. I can go 3 days without needing to wear glasses at all then the next morning I'm blind as a bat without them for a week." Hitch stopped and shook his head as a grimace made its way onto his so young and sweaty face. "Today is one of the days where my vision isn't too bad but its not great either."

"Can't yah just take them off for a bit?" Tully's voice was soft and his tone sympathetic.

"Nope. Sarge and Moffitt could come running over that dune any minute now yelling at us to go. I could drop my glasses and they could break and then I'd really be screwed." Hitch sighed again and Tully decided he hated to hear that sound come from his friend. Hitch spoke again this time his voice as soft as Tully's had been and his tone was one of gratefulness. "Thanks for noticing it Tully." Hitch shifted awkwardly for a minute before continuing "No one has really ever taken notice before. I appreciate it." Tully grinned and said.

"Ain't that what Best friends are for?" Tully looked up at Hitch a little shocked as he just called him his best friend. Before Tully had chance to react, Hitch grinned a dazzler smile at him and said.

"Yeah, they are. Thanks, Bestie." They grinned at each other for a minute before Tully reached up and swiped the sweat on his brow away the top of his sleeve brushing against his ever-present helmet. Tully could have smacked himself as he realized something. Moving quickly before Hitch could react to what he was doing. Tully walked over to Hitch and removing the cap from the younger man's head he tossed onto the passenger's seat in the jeep.

"Tully what…" Hitch stopped dumbfounded when Tully reach up and took off his own helmet before clamping it down on Hitch's head not so gently. He walked back to his jeep and leaned his hot and tired body against it before saying.

"That thing yah call a hat doesn't even protect 3 quarters of yah face Hitch. Mine at least should help some if yah just look down for a while." Hitch was about to respond that he could have done that with his own that, but he wisely closed his mouth and smiled warmly at his friend before chuckling out a

"Yeah, guess your right Tully. Thanks. Again." Tully just grinned at him before closing his eyes for a second. The sun had beat down on him before but now it was brutal without his helmet and he could feel beads of sweat starting to form on his scalp and slowly drip down the side of his head. He heard Hitch shuffling around but he was suddenly sucked into his own discomfort for a minute and didn't open his eyes.

He only opened them when a sweaty but cool hat was perched atop his head. Hitch was standing before him smiling and Tully was glad to see that the helmet was a big enough on Hitch that it actually did throw a small shadow over his eyes when Hitch bent his head slightly down. Tully smiled and inwardly cheered for himself at his cleverness and for Hitch being able to get some relief from the sun no matter how small it might be.

Turning his thoughts back to what was on his head he reached up and to his surprise found Hitch's red French revolutionary cap sitting on his head. It was a way more than a little too small on him but after throwing a grin at Hitch who returned it whole heartedly, he jammed it down on his head as far as it would go carefully and that's where it was when Moffitt and Troy came crashing over the sand dune yelling quietly at them that the convoy was there.

Forgetting about their switched caps and how they must have looked ridiculous Tully jumped into his jeep and started it up. He and Hitch gunned their engines as their respective sergeants jumped onto the back of the jeeps and took their positions at the guns. If Troy and Moffitt both got confused for a second as it, they could have sworn they had gotten into the right jeeps Tully and Hitch were none the wiser.

And if Troy and Moffitt figured out 30 second later that their privates had switched hats and they had caught each other's eye which was something really hard to do on a bouncing jeep and had grinned widely at each other. Hitch and Tully still didn't know.

But Hitch and Tully didn't need to know cause switching hats so one didn't suffer as much and the other looked kind of ridiculous in the too small hat is just what Best friends do. At least that's what those two best friends did in the Singeing Sun.

A/N I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT!