Merry Christmas to all of those who celebrate! As usual, sorry for such a delay in update. I've been dealing with a lot of personal issues, but I know writing makes me happy and I love reading all your reviews, and this close to Christmas, I wanted to give you guys a chapter. Enjoy!
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"A...a chicken with a hat!"
"Obviously it is a dove with a hat!"
"Mmph mpput?"
"Time's up, losers!"
Engineer frowned, hands moving to settle against his hips as he shot his four teammates a disappointed look.
"It was a-" Engineer paused, leaning back, then let out a small sneeze. "Rooster."
"Bah, that's just semantics!" mumbled Sniper, moving over a bit for Engineer to return to his side. "Chicken, rooster, s'all the same thing anyway."
"There was no hat. My hand was supposed to be that dangnabbit red thing on their heads," sniffed the southerner in response to the Aussie's pout.
Demoman's idea of a game turned out to be charades – it was already a few rounds in, with the Scotman's team leading, particularly due to Spy's expertise in acting out things to a perfect replica. It was only a few points of advantage though, being that Scout was also on their team, and he was simply awful at miming without voice.
"I'm going next, boys," smirked Soldier, rubbing his hands together as he awaited Engineer's team to decide on a charade. Without his helmet, crazed eye unshielded, the American looked downright frightening. Pyro wasn't sure if the meds had wore off yet, but at least Soldier was too into the game to make a fuss.
"Oh, it vill be somezing difficult, I promise," grumbled Medic from his huddle with Pyro, Sniper, Heavy, and Engineer. Surprisingly, the doctor got just as entranced by the game as Soldier, abandoning his post at the television after watching the teams for a few rounds. This led to an imbalance, with five on Pyro's side, and four on Demoman's, due to Medic's insistence of not being with Scout.
The German returned to his team's quiet discussion.
"Wot about a lady?" asked Sniper, glancing around the huddle.
"Mmp mpood!" agreed Pyro with a thumbs up, earning a smile from the Australian.
"Are you sure zat's not too easy?" mumbled Medic, furrowing his brows.
"I think it will be very funny," said Heavy with a shrug of his large shoulders. Engineer nodded.
"I can't imagine Soldier would be willing to pretend to wear a dress. And if he did, well," Engineer smiled. "It'll be hilarious."
"Mmk, mme mpt mpet!" announced Pyro, waving Soldier over. The patriot scurried across the blanket bed to the other team.
"Bring it on!" grinned Soldier, as Pyro leaned in to whisper the charade to him. The American blinked.
"What?" he asked, squinting at Pyro. The short mercenary repeated the charade. Soldier huffed, leaning away from Pyro's gasmask.
"What in Sam hell are you saying, boy? All I hear is mumbles, and I sure as hell don't need your heavy breathing in my ear!"
"Mein Gott," breathed out Medic, shoving Pyro, who looked ready to protest, out of the way. He leaned forward and spoke as quietly as he could, despite his annoyance with Soldier. The patriot stared blankly at the doctor.
"Was that even English?"
Before Medic could reach over and strangle his teammate with his bare hands, Engineer managed to wiggle his way between the two.
"Solly," he said, fixing Soldier with a serious look which received a dumb stare back. "We want you to act like a lady."
"Well, why didn't you just say so!" blurted out Soldier. Without hesitation, he was up and standing in front of his bored group.
"Give it yer best, lad," encouraged Demo with a thumbs up.
"Ready...go!" said Engineer, flipping the small sand clock over.
Soldier stood silent for a few moments eyes darting to each of his teammates. Demoman kept his thumb up, but his smile was slowly starting to fade. Spy was simply shaking his head with a bored frown. Scout, as if he were the charader, was making hand gestures, as if pushing something to the side in hopes of hurrying Soldier along.
Soldier's eyes widened, and he suddenly began skipping around the blanket bed. From one side, Sniper let out the loudest laugh, falling onto his back as Soldier did the daintiest skipping the Australian had ever seen in his life. Heavy followed suit, with a boisterous laugh and hand on his midsection. Engineer's grin threatened to leave him just as Sniper, and Pyro let out a clap of appreciation. Medic, despite his doubt in the difficulty of the charade, couldn't help but smile at the simple ridiculousness of seeing a grown man pretending to frolic through a field of colorful flowers.
"A really happy dog!" tried Scout, leaning forward as he watched Soldier continue to frolic, his tongue hanging out of his mouth for some reason. The American paused, shaking his head rapidly. He then proceeded, to the horror of Scout and Demoman, blow a kiss in the direction of his group.
Scout yelped, diving for Spy's blankets to avoid the airborne kiss.
"Gay! Super gay!" the young man yelled from beneath the blankets, before letting out coughs. Spy, still frowning and seemingly undisturbed by Soldier's mock profession of love, snatched the blankets off of Scout.
"Can you perhaps keep your fluids to yourself," said the Frenchman, shooting the coughing Scout a glare and lifting the blanket over his heart-printed pajamas. Scout looked ready to verbally assault Spy, but another coughing fit hit him.
"Soldier," pleaded Demo, watching the veteran blow kisses at every object in the room. "We're running out of time. Do something else!"
Soldier began leaping across the room, landing on his toes and twirling his arms above his head.
"A ballerina? A dancer?" tried Demo, ignoring the other team's laughter.
"Super"-cough- "gay!"
"A girl?" Spy said. Soldier stopped twirling to nod his head rapidly, gesturing with his hand to prompt Spy.
"A woman?"
Urgent hand prompting.
"A-"
"Time!" Engineer's team starting whooping in victory, and Soldier dropped his arms with a scowl.
"A lady!" he bellowed. "How could you have not gotten that?"
"What the hell?" frowned Demo. "What the hell was all that in the beginning, then?"
"I was skipping through my lovely garden of roses because my American husband just proposed to me," said Soldier. "It was so obvious!"
Scout made gagging noises, and Spy raised a brow.
"I cannot say I'm surprised."
"Well, uh, ye tried yer best, lad," encouraged Demo, waving the American over to his team. "Now let's figure out something hard for them, because they are starting to catch up..."
"It's gonna be Pyro next right?" asked Scout, peeking over to the other side of the blanket. Pyro waved. Scout stuck out his tongue and quickly turned around.
"Which means we will need something extra hard..." mused Spy, rubbing his chin with a gloveless hand.
"What do ye have in mind?"
"An American!" suggested Soldier, his loud voice struggling to stay at a whispering level. "Cuz he's probably a dirty communist."
"Non. I have a better idea," said Spy. "We will ask him to do...Saxton Hale.
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Pyro blinked at what Demo whispered in his ear.
"Got it?" Pyro gave a thumbs up and moved to stand in front of his team. They all stared with varying degrees of support.
"Ready...set...GO!" Soldier flipped the small plastic hourglass. Without hesitation, Pyro raised one arm to flex.
"Strong man?" tried Heavy, squinting.
"Weightlifter," elaborated Medic, to which Pyro shook his head. The short mercenary paused, realizing it would not be as simple as he thought to be the famous Australian, especially without props. He nodded to himself regardless - it would just take some creativity. He raised two fingers.
"Two words," said Engineer. "Okay, c'mon, you got this."
"Ehehehehe," laughed Soldier. "I don't know about that, maggot."
Pyro fidgeted. What did he really know about Saxton Hale? He was Australian, never wore a shirt, had rather nice legs...hm, but how to translate that to his team. Noting the dwindling time, Pyro made another attempt at flexing, then gestured at his chest.
"Okay so he's supposed to be someone strong..."
"With something apparently on his chest," added Sniper. Pyro nodded at Sniper. Sniper...Sniper was a huge Saxton Hale fan, wasn't he? He did buy that Jarate kit from the Mann Co president that one time. Going with it, Pyro pointed directly at the Australian mercenary, then outlined a heart with his fingers.
"Hah, gaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" chided Scout from the other team.
"This person loves Sniper?" asked Medic, readjusting his glasses as if he hadn't quite seen Pyro's heart correctly.
"My mum?" Sniper raised a brow, sniffing. "But why does she have muscles?"
Pyro shook his head quickly, seeing the last bit of sand about to run out in his peripheral. He gestured to the bottom of his RED uniform, figuratively cutting them mid-thigh.
"Shorts, da?"
"Short pants, muscles, something on the chest," started Engineer, "two words...likes Sniper...or Sniper likes him?"
"Saxton Hale!" blurted out Sniper, just as Spy said time. Pyro clapped.
"Mmpr mrrite!" he congratulated, beaming as he returned to his group.
"That doesn't count," shot out Soldier with a scowl. "You said it one second after time was called."
"Heavy heard it at the same time," returned Heavy with a glare, crossing his arms in surety. "Soldier is being big baby."
"Hold up, Solly's right," backed up Scout, crawling over to get in Heavy's face. "You know as well as I do fatty that we won that one."
"Nein, you have done the same thing in the past, and we gave you the point," defended Medic from Heavy's side.
"Nuh uh!"
"Ja ja!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Ja ja!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Ja-"
"Mmys!"
Medic and Scout were standing, eye to eye, sending spit into one another's face when Pyro stepped between the two.
"Mmpt's mmky," said Pyro, placing his hands between the two and trying to push them apart with his palms. Scout stumbled back with a huff, to weak from his cold hold his ground.
"Actually," mused Spy, lounging against pillows in all his heart-printed pajama glory. "We have let that pass in our favor on more than one occasion."
This earned a groan from Scout and Soldier, and an ecstatic grin from Medic, who shared a high five with the rest of his reluctant teammates, obviously enjoying the game more than they had expected the German physician would.
The rest of the night followed with a tad less arguments, and it was only by Pyro's insistence that his team turned in for the night. Of course, not before all begging for last minute snacks or drinks, or in Scout's case, being tucked in so tight he wouldn't accidentally roll into one of his supposedly gay teammates.
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Sorry for such an abrupt ending, but my wrist has been killing me lately so it's becoming painful to type. Scout's commentary, especially his insistence to label things gay reflect his immature, not any bias I have (though one line he says is definitely me showing my love for Community). Take care everyone!