Tallon had to of given himself a migraine from all the thinking he did since that night where he kissed Hector deeply and he did come to the conclusion he liked Hector-as in more than a friend. But that was the problem, they were best friends and practically brothers because of all they'd gone through since meeting back in 2016. Now it was 2020, the new year had started and they were still in Iraq with no word on leave yet. This didn't bother Tallon, it's not like he had anything to return to on Berk-he lived with Hector and his family. Tori had offered Tallon a place at her new house but Tallon turned it down, thought it'd be easier just to stay where he was at Hector's. Tallon had been especially careful around Hector lately, not cracking the sexual jokes and definitely not kissing him. It wouldn't feel right until Tallon figured out just how deep this like ran and until Tallon knew if Hector liked him back. Sure, they always joked about how much they wanted one another, or kissing and neither of them minding. Hell, even Hector had told Tallon if he was desperate enough to get laid-he'd let Tallon do it. But that was just the thing: words were said but were they true statements or jokes?

Tallon liked Hector a lot, what wasn't there to like about him? He was smart, strong, sarcastic, humorous, kind, caring, and in Tallon's eyes: really good looking. The man was twenty one years old sporting a really hot body and Tallon had seen it before. Barrack full of guys-it bound to happen one day or another. None of them cared if they had seen one another naked, they all had the same parts after all. As it had been said many times before, there was no shame in their barrack. The month was now March-Hector turned twenty one and it marked four years they'd been in the military. They joined March 2016, now it was March 2020 and served one full tour of fourteen months already. This tour started a while ago in June 2018, and in three months it would make two years they'd been there but that wasn't entirely true because they did get three months off to train those new soldiers on Berk. So technically in six months it would be two years in Iraq. For Darius and the others-they'd only been there six months. Tallon was twenty one too, his birthday fell in February on the fifth. Pretty cool that he and Hector had birthdays in the same month and only seven days apart from one another.

He wanted so badly to tell Hector how he felt but was afraid of it making things awkward and ruin their friendship but also at the same time-knew Hector might be hesitant given what Astrid did to him. Hector could say over and over again he was over her but the fear of another relationship would always exist because of that girl. The only person he'd ever had real feelings for, and got hurt both times because of his apparent kind, caring nature. She only dated him because he was a soldier with money. Hector was bisexual and everyone knew it and he wasn't ashamed of it either, that made things easier because at least Tallon wouldn't have to wait for Hector to figure out if he was attracted to males or not. But it all rested on feelings: how deep Tallon's ran for Hector and if Hector returned them or not. The three kisses they shared were definitely something and gave Tallon hope in a way. The first kiss was ten seconds-but just a simple one on the lips. No deepness to it, no passion, nothing. Just a kiss that for six seconds, Hector didn't respond to at all due to shock but for the last four-he actually closed his eyes and kissing back.

The second kiss in the barracks on Christmas Eve was very short and Hector seemed to be into it-but that was an invitation to kiss him that Tallon took and Hector expected it so he kissed back. The third kiss was the big one that wasn't due to invite or a dare-the third kiss was deep, passionate, long and Hector didn't respond to it other than shock. He didn't kiss back however, his knees did buckle but he never flipped out on Tallon about it. He just very quickly said that it was nothing but over excitement then rushing outside for a cigarette. When he came back in to find the guys cornering Tallon about liking Hector, he stopped it but saying that it didn't mean anything because they were friends and just comfortable with one another, also that who was it hurting since the both of them were bi and single. This was very true, kissing between friends wasn't unheard of but it wasn't often that it happened either. The rest of Christmas Eve went smoothly, everyone just having fun. Christmas Day went very much the same too. But after all that-it was back to work with missions, guards, and more.

Tallon spent most of his time just thinking about things regarding himself and Hector and the others were beginning to take notice that Tallon spent a lot of his off time lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling of the barrack. When anyone asked him what was up he'd simply reply: I'm good, just relaxing. However, unknown to Tallon, Hector was doing a lot of thinking too on the same subject. His feelings for Tallon. Hector didn't know what to make of that third kiss, he'd never felt such a feeling before-not even with Astrid, someone he used to make out with and almost made love to. Their kisses were nothing like the ones Hector felt with Tallon and in a way, it did scare him-because he didn't know what to do, again. This seemed to happen a lot to him, faced with some situations where he really didn't know what to do or how to handle it. This wasn't like anything else though, this was trying to figure out if he was attracted to Tallon and had feelings for him. Hector found Tallon incredibly attractive-he wouldn't lie about that. But like with Tallon, Hector was afraid of something like this ruining their friendship-that and Hector had serious trust issues when it came to romantic feelings, that was because of Astrid.

Hector knew he could trust Tallon as a friend and partner-but a lover? That was stretching it. And it wasn't because Hector felt like Tallon would hurt him, that had been made clear hundreds of times that Tallon had his back and wouldn't let him fall. That was in the friendship and teammate form though-as lovers, it could go a lot of ways. If they got together, things could be fine. Or they could be okay a while before fighting a lot and breaking up. How would they work together as battle buddies if recovering from a relationship gone bad? It took Hector three months to get over Astrid and that was because he broke all contact with her and thankfully was stationed in Iraq for the tour they were currently still serving. If Tallon and him were to break up-how would that work? Hector actually started stressing himself out about everything a little after Christmas was over but before the new year started. Hector knew Tallon liked him-that was made obvious and he wasn't the only one. Hector knew there were a few others in the barrack who liked him in that sense, had crushes on him-but he showed no interest. Tallon was the one Hector felt something for, they were so alike in so many ways.

Tallon was more than a best friend, he was Hector's first real friend ever. Tallon had been there for him so many times since Reception Battalion. The guy was a saint in Hector's eyes: used to make sure he was okay when Hector got sick, would give him someone to talk to, always had each other's backs, could laugh, joke, drink, and smoke with so easily. Hector could say he had a crush on Tallon-he was the only person that Hector could make sexual jokes with and not have it be completely awkward, and he was the only one that Hector let kiss him. None of the others-it almost felt like it'd be wrong if anyone other than Tallon kissed him. Hector admitted on his first leave ever that he'd let Tallon have sex with him if he ever wanted to get laid that bad-but he wouldn't let anyone else do that. That's how much he trusted Tallon-but would it be the same if they were together as lovers? In a relationship together, anything they joked about could become very real-right down to having sex with each other. And Hector wouldn't mind but it was still a lot to think about and definitely a huge step for him and Tallon to go from besties to lovers-more on that, the two of them would need to talk before anything got decided on. This is where Hector was hesitating, and holding back. He didn't want to ruin their friendship if things didn't work out-he didn't want to lose his best friend over something like this.

"Hector?" came Darius's voice beside him. Hector glanced over to his brother and arched a brow in curiosity. "You good over here, really quiet today..."

"You tell me how that's different than any other day? I'm always quiet-kind of what I do. I'm an observer," Hector shrugged some. Suddenly the horn blew-the one signaling a warning. Anyone lying down quickly sat up, if another horn went off then it was an attack. They all waited silently, ready to get their gear and guns in case of a battle to fight. Generally there was one horn to warn them to be ready, if another blew within two minutes of the first then it meant an attack. If it stayed quiet then it was just a test. A minute and forty second passed with nothing and then it happened: another horn.

"Here we go again," Thaxter sighed.

"Let's move!" Hector ordered as he slipped on his boots, protective coat, vest, and then put on his helmet while grabbing his gun and making sure it was ready. The others were right behind him as they rushed out of the barrack and met up with the girls. The rest of the company was ready too as they headed to meet up with Alex.

"Perfect timing as always, Haddock," Drake said as he ran over now.

"What we got and how we handling it?" Hector asked quickly.

"Wave comin' in. Do what we always do, fight. Not sure how many but waves are usually hundred or so," Drake informed after Cody, Raymond, and Asher arrived in gear as well.

"How long?" Cody asked.

"Thirty minutes-we're gonna hit 'em before they get to base," Alex informed.

"Understood, let's go!" the platoon leaders replied together with a salute. Without another word they began running-they had to get out of the base before the enemies reached them.

(Battlefield)

It was nightfall-this made fighting even harder because of the darkness but they had to fight regardless. They'd been at it for two and a half hours already-everyone was tired and so far three had died, five injured and taken back to base for treatment. "This is fucking ridiculous!" Ryan shouted over the gunfire.

"Just keep shooting!" Hector told him. There was barely any places to take cover because it was an open area, this added to the fact it was night, made it twice as hard. "How are the rest of you holding?" he asked while reloading his gun.

"Just fine, Captain!" Thaxter replied.

"Dragon units-check in!" Hector called out-they were all spread out but within hearing distance on his orders.

"Blade is good!" Kurt gave a thumbs up to him as Hector nodded.

"Wing and Claw are fine, Cap!" came Trish's voice followed by a nod from Star.

"Blaster set," Marcus called back.

"Spike and Sharp clear too!" said Cliff and Harmony.

"That's everyone but Howler," Hector whispered to himself but Tallon heard it, Hector peeked over the three foot wall of sandbags which they were using as cover-along with a sheet of metal between them to stop bullets so they wouldn't break through and hit anyone behind them. Hector's idea for open field battles just like these, and most appreciated too. Hector glanced over to where Howler was supposed to be, it looked like they were okay but why hadn't they reported back when he called to them?

He pressed the button on the ear piece attached to his helmet, {Cortez, how you holdin'? Over.}

{Hangin' in there, Cap!}

Hector sighed in relief-as long as they were okay. Hector stood a little and continued to fire, this was getting out of hand. They were up against close to one hundred and sixty soldiers, slightly more than the entire Nightwave platoon which consisted of one forty-four. Well, less now. Five injured and three dead.

"Hey, Bludvist! We gotta do something else! We're gonna run out of ammo before we push them back!" Cody called to Drake.

"I'm open to suggestions!" Drake yelled back.

"Hector, what if we tried that thing from the mission where we helped the Americans?" Tallon offered.

"We did a lot of those! Define!" Hector shouted.

"The one with the grenade line. It's nighttime, illuminating ones would do real good right now!" Tallon replied. It might work. If they hit them with illumination grenades, then frag, followed by RPG was just crazy enough to work.

"You're a fuckin' genius, Tal! Bludvist, I got an idea but you aren't gonna like it!" Hector stated to him.

"Go for it! Tell us what you need!" Bludvist shouted back to him as Hector nodded and took a breath-he prayed to Odin this would work. Before he could do anything though there was explosion as Hector looked over to see Andrew assisting one of the girls from his unit back behind the wall-he sent her but got stopped and engaged with an enemy, they were physically fighting one another in hand to hand. Darius helped the girl behind the wall and got her down, thankfully she was okay. Hector wasn't far from them, at best it was only eight feet away-but he could see everything going on regardless. Then it happened so fast: grenades were flying in around them from the enemy side while Andrew and the enemy were rolling around on the ground.

"Andrew, get outta there!" Darius yelled in fear as he prepared to run out after one hit really close to Andrew and he had yelled out in pain-then a single shot rang out as Darius froze at what he saw: Andrew's body laid motionless, eyes open, and blood flowing from the side of his neck.

"Andrew..." Hector realized what happened, that Darius saw Andrew die. "Shit! Tal, cover me!" Hector yelled as he rushed over to Howler and grabbed the back of his brother's vest before he could rush out to Andrew's body.

"No! No, I have to get to him! He could...still be alive and need help, let go of me!" Darius panicked.

"Darius! Darius stop-you can't go out out there right now," Hector tried to reason with him. Grenades were still going off around Andrew, if Darius went out there he could get hit and die-Hector couldn't allow that. Darius was still fighting to get away but Hector grabbed both his arms and forced him down on his ass, then his back against the sandbag wall as he stared in his eyes firmly. "DARIUS! He. Is. Gone!" he yelled at him as a few others close to them heard it and Darius stopped, "Do you understand me? He's gone, Darius. Andrew is dead, killed in action. Okay, he's gone...there is nothing we can do for him anymore. We'll get his body back when we push these enemies back. Alright? I need you to focus right now so no one else gets killed, can you do that?"

Darius panted hard a few times before nodding but Hector could see he was shaking slightly, "I-I can..."

"Are you okay?" Hector asked softly-all he got was another nod. "We'll get his body back, I promise. But we gotta finish this fight first,"

"Okay-tell me what I have to do," Darius asked.

"Fire when I tell you too. Get a frag ready and line up when the others do." Darius nodded firmly to him as Hector turned and faced the others now, "Cody, Asher, Raymond! Have ten of your soldiers each group up. Five with frags standing behind five with illuminates! Dragon, do the same. Illuminates first, once they go off-fire the frags all at once! Following that, four soldiers from each platoon fire an RPG! Understand? Illumination grenades, frags, then RPG launchers!" Hector yelled out.

"Got it! You heard the man!" Drake stated as if giving the okay to follow the plan. It only took ten minutes to get ready. Ten soldiers from each platoon lined up-that was forty soldiers all together. They stayed in groups, five in front and then five behind them, following that was twelve more soldiers ready with RPG launchers-Hector being one of them. "On Captain Haddock's order," the man added.

"The rest of you look away after the first line throws!" Hector commanded firmly.

"Yes, Captain Haddock!" they replied.

"First line...FIRE!" Hector yelled, the first line yanked the pins and tossed them. The enemies weren't far-there was maybe thirty feet of space between them. The grenades went off as everyone turned to avoid getting blinded, as soon as they went off, Hector raised his hand, "Second line, go!" they tossed next as the frags went off four seconds later upon reaching their intended target. "RPG's!" he called as they took their position and launched at the same time. There was so much smoke and fire but as it cleared they saw the enemy's retreating back.

"YEAH!" the soldiers cheered at the victory-telling Hector what a good job he did and that it was such a coordinated on a whim. Hector ignored them as Tallon put a hand up and the began to get quiet as Hector walked over to Darius who was just standing up and staring at Andrew's body, almost like he was afraid to move. Hector put a hand on his shoulder and patted it some.

"Don't worry, I got him," Hector said before walking ahead of him and went to Andrew's body. Just as he'd see before-bad wound to the neck, it was definitely what killed him. Other injuries weren't awful but there was no mistaking that Andrew Cortez was gone. Hector sighed as he put his hand over Andrew's eyes and shut the lids because the man's eyes had been open originally, then Hector closed his eyes with his head lowered, crouched to the ground and sighed before he picked up his body with only some trouble and walked him back over to the group. Everyone moved out of his way as he laid the body down with the others who had been killed. Four total in this attack.

"Let's get back to base," Hector said slowly as he walked away from Andrew's body. Drake nodded as he called for them to get a ride back since they had four KIA's. Most everyone sat around-a few stayed on guard in case the enemies returned while they were waiting for their ride. Hector just stayed beside Darius the whole time-talking to him quietly. When their ride arrived-the bodies were loaded first and then everyone got on the truck, sitting down as they headed back to Fury base. Arriving there, the bodies were taken to be prepared for being shipped home.

"Hector, we're worried about your brother," Alex said.

"Yeah, me too. He's never seen something like that before and it was his battle buddy. I'll talk to him," Hector stated.

"You know protocol," Drake began.

"I know. If I feel he's a threat to himself, others, and questioning his mental status-bring him in." Hector nodded as he walked off towards the barrack, when he reached it-his eyes instantly fell on Darius who was standing next to his and Andrew's bunk and it appeared he couldn't bring himself to sit on it. Hector took his stuff off and set it on his bed before walking over to Darius slowly. "Hey,"

Darius glanced over and sighed, "Does it always hurt this much?"

"And it never gets easier no matter how many times you see it. I know it hurts. I've lost a lot of people since I joined too-a lot of my closest friends that I made, some of the first ones I ever made after meeting my unit guys." Hector told him.

"It's...my fault...He...told me to cover him while he helped Sandoval...and my gun jammed-I left him wide open..." Darius began to shake again.

"Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. The guns jamming are outside of our control, Darius. You can't blame yourself for that," Tallon stated from atop of his bunk.

"I don't...know how I'm supposed to feel right now...He and I...became really good friends in the last six months since I came here, he...took my in as his battle buddy without a problem..." Darius looked down. Hector put his hand on his elder brother's shoulders and Darius looked at him now as Hector could see that Darius actually looked like he was about to cry.

"Feel whatever you want to feel, Darius. Mad, upset-it doesn't matter. But I can tell you this, don't keep it to yourself. Losing Cortez hurts me too, I've known the guy since Basic. You do what I do. Don't be afraid to show how you're feeling and trust that your friends around you will be here for no matter what. Know that we won't let you be alone, and we won't let you fall. Ever," Hector told him firmly. Darius let go, he hit his knees and Hector dropped down too, he pulled Darius in for a hug and let his brother cry on his shoulder. "It's okay, brother. It's gonna to be okay, just let it out...We got you," he added calmly as Skylar, Drew, and Trent came over and put their hands on Darius's shoulders or back to try and help comfort him. Hector had been here before-he hated losing friends and he knew in this job how easily and how often it could happen. It never got any easier to see, hear, or deal with but his friends were there for him and they never let him fall and now Hector to show that same lesson to his own brother who for the first time in six months had to witness a good friend die right in front of him and was powerless to stop it.

It was a pain that Hector wished on no one and he'd do anything to take it away but sometimes you had to hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, lose in order to gain. Life's greatest lessons are learned through pain. This was something that Hector learned a long time ago and now he would get to pass it on to another who needed to learn it. For now, all he could do was hold his brother who was very upset about losing his battle buddy. True the brothers had never been really close but this was something that would bring them closer together. Hector knew how it felt to lose friends to war and now he had to help his brother cope with the same pain that Hector still suffered-he just hoped it wouldn't haunt Darius as it still terrorized him.