Darius wasn't the only who needed someone to be there and hold him after Andrew Cortez's death. Hector, Drew, Trent, and Skylar were there for Darius when he had to watch his battle buddy die two weeks ago but after all that was over, Hector took a shower when Darius decided to get an aspirin and get some sleep. While in the bathroom, Hector had a moment himself about losing Cortez. The two of them had been friends since Basic Training, and like with any of the soldiers lost from Nightwave-it was hard to accept another one was gone. The total killed in that attack was four: two from Lion platoon, one from Bear, and then one from Dragon. The five who had been injured were doing okay-three were back on duty and two were still recovering another two weeks or so. Nobody in Dragon had been injured, for those it was: two from Wolf, one from Bear, then two from Lion. It seemed the attacks were getting worse and not just in how close together they were but in their strength too. As before-new soldiers from Fort Striker had come in to replace the four lost. Darius's new battle buddy was a male named Tyler Bryan, a private first class. He was a good kid, only eighteen years old. With Andrew gone, Iris Foster was made leader of the Howler unit after she got the promotion to Corporal by Alex.

Tallon was the one to find Hector in the bathroom, leaning against the wall and sitting on the floor with his knees up trying not to cry over losing Andrew. Tallon only hugged him and Hector let the tears fall silently, Hector had lost so many people in the last four years from Nightwave Company, and from his own platoon within that company. It was hard to lose someone and, just as Hector told Darius, it never got any easier to watch or hear about. Hector didn't cry long, only ten minutes or so before he and Tallon exited the bathroom-but no one said anything to him. They knew Hector was feeling the same sadness the others were at the. It had been two weeks since then, still March of 2020, and the soldiers were beginning to wonder when they'd be going home either on leave for two weeks or the tour ending completely. Hector would admit that he'd like to be out of war for a little while too-not because he wanted to go home but he did want to focus on other things, like his feelings for Tallon.

Hector knew he felt them, and they were pretty strong at that. Tallon's feelings for him weren't hard to see but neither of them knew what the other felt. Hector didn't know how strong Tallon's feelings were, and Tallon didn't know how strong Hector's were. And neither of them were admitting it to the other either. This posed a problem for actually figuring things out in the sense that if they pursued a relationship, how would it go. In the military, they had to be careful. Not that anyone cared if they dated-there was nothing wrong with gay, straight, or lesbian couples in the military-but there was the situation of they had to keep up their professional images of the military so displays of affection had to be kept very simple and having sex was definitely off the table, any form of foreplay too. This was fine, it wasn't like they would have sex at random in the barracks with a room full of guys there or the threat of a possible attack coming in-it just wasn't practical in the slightest. All that aside, Hector didn't feel he and Tallon would have sex right away if they got together. Hence why they needed to talk but neither of them were making the first move. Hector wanted to but he was nervous: he didn't want to get hurt again, and he didn't want to lose his best friend if things romantically didn't work out between them. It was stressful to figure out what to do.

Today was one of those quiet days where there was no attacks at all and everyone was just sitting around bored or napping due to boredom. Hector was sure that Tallon was napping above him on his bunk so he was busy with his notebook out coming up with new lyrics to something he'd started a while ago but lost the interest to write. Hector had his notebook out with a pencil while his guitar sat on his crossed legs. Every few sentences, he'd start strumming notes to see how it sounded when he sang them in his head. He'd add the extras later from his laptop. The base of his songs was always with his guitar and no one seemed to mind it in the slightest.

"How's the song coming?" came Evan's voice as he leaned over from his bed.

"Slow. Got the chorus and first verse set, stuck on the rest," Hector shrugged as he cracked his neck side to side.

"Can we hear it?" Darius asked.

"And what would be the point of singing it when it's not done?" Hector chuckled a bit. "Not to mention, I'm not even close to having the music finished," he added. Hector glanced at his his watch to see the time was 7:30pm.

"Why don't you try, Hec? You didn't finish that 'never gonna be alone' on that day in the barracks when you used Carl's acoustic but you just played it through and came up with it as you went," Tallon offered as he leaned over the side of his bunk now with a smile.

"That one had the beat set on the laptop, it's different...I've only used this guitar so far," Hector shrugged, "And hey, sleepyhead. You been out for like two hours," he smiled a bit.

"It's dreadfully boring in here right now," Tallon yawned as he climbed down and sat next to Hector now.

"I know-it's been quiet lately with attacks-wonder if that means we'll be going home soon?" Thaxter glanced over from his bunk. Hector pulled out his laptop and opened it, he powered it on then plugged it into the charger because it was nearly dead. He double-clicked his music program and began searching files, playing a few to hear them. "So what are you doing now?"

"I've got other beats on here that I've finished but no lyrics so I'm seeing if any of them will work with the lyrics I've started..." Hector replied as he went to the next one and listened to it while looking at his notebook to scan over the words written there. He tilted his head a bit while listening to it and mouthing the words while holding the guitar and started playing to the beat. "I wanna start by letting you know this, because of you-my life has a purpose. You helped me be who I am today, I see myself in every word you say..." he paused a moment. "Oh that could work..." he said as he stopped the music and reset it before uploading it to the recording section of the program.

"How long ago did you say you started writing this?" Tallon asked while looking over the lyrics on the notebook.

"You want the honest answer to that?" Hector arched a brow as Tallon nodded, "One of the times I felt like killing myself. Wanna say I was fifteen, right after what Astrid did the first time," he shrugged some offering a light smile.

"So was this kind of a song to keep you going, inspiration wise?" Drew asked calmly.

"I guess you could call it that. I started writing it as a way to distract myself from the suicidal thoughts, never finished it though. Spotted it while flipping through and figured I'd give it another shot, still stuck though so if this doesn't work then I give up on it," Hector said as he fixed his legs over the edge of the bed and positioned his guitar. The barrack began to get quiet as Hector sighed taking a deep breath as he hit the record button, then the play button after making sure it was turned up all the way. It started with just piano, then light guitar strumming before Hector's guitar notes were played.

"I wanna to start by letting you know this. Because of you my life has a purpose. You helped me be who I am today, I see myself in every word you say. Sometimes it feels like nobody gets me. Trapped in a world where everyone hates me. There's so much that I'm going through, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you..." That was just the first verse written on the paper and it didn't sound half bad with the tune mixing in with Hector's playing.

"I was broken. I was choking. I was lost. This song saved my life. I was bleeding-stopped believing. Could have died. This song saved my life. I was down! I was drowning! But it came on just in time, this song saved my life!" the tune had picked up for all that and it sounded awesome.

"Sometimes I feel like you've known me forever. You always know how to make me feel better. Because of you, my dad and me-are so much closer than we used to be. You're my escape when I'm stuck in a small town. I turn you up whenever I feel down. You let me know like no one else-that it's okay to be myself!" the music picked up again for the chorus.

"I was broken. I was choking. I was lost. This song saved my life. I was bleeding-stopped believing. Could have died. This song saved my life. I was down! I was drowning! But it came on just in time, this song saved my life!" the other smiled wide, he was doing it. Running with whatever came to him for the second verse and into the chorus again! They didn't know how he did it, but it sounded really good. "You'll never know what it means to me! That I'm not alone-that I'll never have to be!" he held the note a few seconds as the music slowed.

"I was broken. I was choking. I was lost. This song saved my life. I was bleeding-stopped believing. Could have died. This song saved my life. I was down! I was drowning! But it came on just in time, this song saved my life!" it was downright incredible to watch and listen to. Hector had come a long way since Basic days when he hated singing in front of people unless he thought he was alone or in one of his not caring moods. He seemed to have no trouble anymore.

"I was broken. I was choking. I was lost. This song saved my life. I was bleeding-stopped believing. Could have died. This song saved my life. I was down! I was drowning! But it came on just in time, this song saved my life!" slight pause before, "My life, my life! This song saved my life! My life, my life! This song saved my life. My life, my life! This song saved my life. My life, my life! This song saved my life..." he finished slower.

They waited until the music stopped and he hit the spacebar so it would stop recording before they cheered and clapped for him. "See, told you that you could do it," Tallon smiled as he patted Hector's shoulder a few times. Hector smiled now: truth in it all was that Tallon believing in him made him believe in himself. It had always been like that since the day they met-Tallon gave him confidence, made him feel better, had his back, and most of all, made him happy. Hector took off the guitar and set it beside him now as without warning he leaned in and kissed Tallon right on the lips and for once they all saw Tallon's eyes go wide in shock. Hector pulled back after maybe two seconds with a slight blush on his cheeks as he got up, getting one of his cigarettes and heading for the door but didn't walk out of it-he stopped and turned back to Tallon who was still sitting there in shock.

"When you recover from that, meet me outside-I need to talk to you," Hector told him as he lit the cigarette and walked outside of the barrack. All eyes fell on Tallon wondering what the hell was going on. Hector just kissed Tallon of his own free will. Not the other way around this time where Tallon kissed Hector because of a dare, over excitement, or invitation. This one was Hector's doing and it shocked Tallon to be kissed instead of being the kisser.

"I think he broke him," Skylar said snapping his fingers in front of Tallon now.

"Hey," Ryan said to Tallon, no response. "Hey, Tal!" he said louder shaking him this time as Tallon shook his head.

"What the hell just happened?" Tallon asked.

"You zoned out after Hector kissed you," Thaxter reminded.

"Wait, hold the hell on...He kissed me?" Tallon blinked a few times as the others nodded to him. Why would...Hector kiss him? Tallon didn't understand, what had he done to earn a kiss? Why was he being kissed in the first place? Normally they just joked around but Tallon hadn't been kissing him the last few months since Christmas Eve night when that over excitement kiss seemed to rattle everyone into thinking Tallon liked Hector as more than a friend-which wasn't far from the truth. Tallon didn't want to kiss Hector until he knew how far his feelings ran for him but tonight, Hector kissed him instead and he wanted to know why. Hector didn't...like him that way, did he? Did Hector return his feelings even though Hector probably didn't know how Tallon felt because he hadn't said anything about it just yet.

"And said to meet him outside so you two could talk when you recovered," Darius added afterwards. Tallon got to his feet: he didn't know what this talk was going to be but he had to find out, so he took a deep breath and walked outside to see Hector leaning against the barrack with the cigarette between his fingers and looking up at the night sky.

"You said...you needed to talk to me, Captain?" Tallon asked as Hector smiled a bit looking over to him.

"That I do. As you were, Tal. Come on, don't need to be formal right now. Want a drag?" Hector asked offering him his cigarette after Tallon relaxed a little.

"No, I'm okay right now. What did you wanna talk to me about?" Tallon asked.

"Well, to be completely honest here, " he said as he stood up now, getting off the barrack wall and getting closer to him. "You know how...Christmas Eve night a few months back, you kissed me the way that you did. I wanted to...talk about that because I can't stop thinking about it,"

Tallon was worried now: had he scared Hector with that kiss? "Hector, I'm...really sorry about that. I don't...know what came over me and-" he was cut off by Hector putting a hand up.

"Don't apologize, I didn't mind. It caught me off guard but I'm not mad or upset about it, Tal," Hector told him as Tallon relaxed a little, "I just got really confused for a while so I'm sorry if I've gotten a little distant while I tried to figure things out," he added afterwards.

"It's...okay, Hector but...if you don't mind me asking, figure what out? It was...just a kiss. It's not like it's the first one we shared," Tallon replied now.

"I know that. But it was the first one that wasn't a dare or by invitation...it was out of the blue and...different than the others and it...confused me. That wasn't...a normal kiss, Tal. That was...something like what lovers share-don't get me wrong, I didn't mind and I'm not mad at you for it or anything. It made me feel something different towards you," Hector said as Tallon got worried that it changed their friendship.

"Hector...I'm sorry. I swear I won't ever do it again...I don't want you to hate me or...stop being my friend because I was an idiot..." Tallon said quickly.

"What the...why would you be worried I'd stop being your...Oh Gods no. Tallon, no. I didn't mean it like that, I meant that...ugh!" Hector said frustrated that he couldn't find the words to explain it, "It made me feel something stronger towards you. That kiss...it was nothing like I've ever felt before, Tallon. It was...deeper, loving, passionate and it made me go weak in the knees. Not even...Astrid's kisses could do that to me and I gave my heart and soul to that girl. But your kiss that night topped anything and everything I ever felt with or for her." Tallon's eyes widened a bit, what was...Hector saying? "What I'm saying is...I like you, Tallon. I really like you. You're...more to me than just my battle buddy, and best friend...Gods, you mean so much more to me,"

Tallon couldn't believe it, Hector actually liked him. Ever since that kiss, just like Tallon had been trying to do-Hector was doing the same: trying to figure it out. And now Tallon knew. Hector liked him back! "I like you too. You mean a lot to me, Hector," Tallon replied calmly.

"I know I do. I've felt that you have liked me for a while but I was...afraid of my own feelings for you. My track record hasn't exactly been stellar. It feels like all I do is open my heart and end up getting it crushed, stabbed, stomped on, or shot so I'm sorry that I haven't come to you sooner about this...I just..." Hector looked down.

"Hey, you don't have to explain it to me. I was there when she hurt you and I know about the first time she did too. I've known I like you but I was cautious as well, I wanted to know how deep my feelings ran before confronting you and I wanted to tell you but I was afraid you didn't feel the same, that it would...change our friendship or make it awkward. And I didn't want to lose you as a friend even if it meant I never told you how I felt," Tallon said lightly.

"Well, I guess you can rest easy knowing I like you back but I have the same concerns and it's...why I wanted to talk to you. With our feelings...out and...clearly on the same page with liking one another, where...does that leave us? I know we aren't together but my fear would fall that if we did get together...and Odin forbid it but we broke up, would we lose our friendship too? I mean...it took me three months to get over Astrid and I don't think it would have gone so fast if it weren't for the fact I was here in Iraq and she was on Berk. I had to distance myself from her to get over her, and...if we were to break up...we'd...likely need time apart and that...could kill our friendship and...I'm afraid to lose that," Hector admitted.

"I thought about that too. Never really came to an answer but...honestly...I think we'd be okay. We've been...best friends for four years now through...everything, just as you said: happy, sad, thick, thin...We've been together through all that. I mean...we've kissed as just friends, we made so many...sexual jokes about one another hooking up, and we were comfortable with it all. We've seen one another naked too-I really don't think it would change a thing if we got together and ended up breaking up. We might need a little time but our friendship would be there to keep us together because we both know who we can rely on in any situation. Even if we broke up, I'd still trust you to have my back." Tallon told him.

"And I'd still trust you to have mine, because you always have. You've made me laugh, held me when I cried, had my back, and always been there for me no matter what. And I think we'll always have that between us if nothing else. So...you like me, I like you...where...do we go from here?" Hector asked him softly.

"Do we...start dating? I mean...if you want to-don't want you to feel rushed," Tallon stated.

"I don't...I mean...we've pretty much been dating since Basic, Tal...just...on a friend level not a...lover level. Not much changes if we get together in a relationship. We just...kiss more and not worry if it means anything or not. We'd be a couple but we still gotta follow military laws...that's the only thing that makes it hard to date right now," Hector shrugged some.

"True. Well, we're allowed to date-we just can't do anything sexual but we wouldn't anyway because it'd be too soon and in the barrack we don't exactly have privacy. I assume we can't make out but kissing, hugging, cuddling, holding hands...I feel is probably okay as long as we still keep our heads in the game for missions, guards, and attacks," Tallon replied.

"Well, that was a given...We can't shirk our duties for our relationship. And...in that too...I mean...would we be dating on a like level until...we know how this will go? I guess test the waters and see how it goes for a while before getting into it more. I know with Astrid, she and I didn't start saying I love you until about four months after getting together...not that it mattered because she didn't really love me to begin with," Hector mumbled a bit.

"I say we just...go with it honestly. I think we'll know if we hit the love one another level and if we do-we can always sit down and talk about it again, make sure we're on the same page?" Tallon offered.

"I suppose that works. So...are...we together? Boyfriend and...boyfriend wise?" Hector asked curiously.

"Do you want to be?" Tallon asked with a soft smile as he took Hector's hand in his, effectively making him blush.

"I do," Hector nodded.

"Then I suppose we are together, dating as boyfriend and boyfriend. Should we kiss to commemorate it?" Tallon inquired.

"Yes, I think we should," Hector smiled. Tallon cupped his cheek gently as he leaned in towards Hector and pressed his lips to his now boyfriend's-both of their eyes closed while they kissed and it had never felt more right to do either. The kiss was short but deep. They only broke it because they heard clapping and cheering, they turned quickly to see the Nightwave company out of their barracks watching the two of them.

"All I gotta say is: FINALLY!" Thaxter grinned.

Both Hector and Tallon blinked, "Wait, hold the fuck up!" Hector said quickly facing the guys of A barrack, "You've been waiting for us to get together?"

"Dude, the whole company has been waiting for this day, well, night actually. We've known this was gonna happen for a while. The kisses alone were enough for us to know you two would eventually hook up and start dating," Viktor nodded.

"Yeah, called it way back in Basic after the dare kiss," said Nathan Meyers with a chuckle. "Tallon kissed you and you kissed him back that night. You both blushed-saw it then, can't believe it took four years. Yeesh. Sucks Cortez is gone, he would of won the bet. He said you two would take years to figure out you were in love with one another!"

"You assholes were taking bets?" Tallon said with wide eyes.

"Yep. Andrew bet one month's paycheck that you two would take over three years to figure out that you loved one another and would hook up. The rest of us said few months, a year, weeks," Kurt snickered.

"Well he still would've lost. Hector and I didn't admit to loving one another-just like," Tallon sighed some as he wrapped his arm around Hector's waist.

"Bullshit! You two are so in love. We heard everything-Hector loved Astrid but not even her kisses did to him what yours did. That means he loves you more than he ever loved her!" Hector blushed a deep red now-shit, that was right, he did say that and for all intensive purposes, it was very much true. He did love Astrid, he knew he did even if she didn't feel the same for him. If he loved her but Tallon's kisses were what drove him crazy, then he loved Tallon.

"Well that settles that question, Hec," Tallon chuckled some.

"Guess it does," Hector nodded as they both smiled and kissed again-a light one. "Now the rest of you eavesdropping fuckers can get back to your bunks!" Everyone laughed as they all began making their way back into their barracks. When it was just them again, they laughed together. Best night of their lives. They entered the barrack avoiding the curious eyes and grinning faces. "Hey, Tal?" he looked over to Hector now with a smile, "I love you."

"I love you too, Hector," Tallon replied as they shared another kiss and relaxed on Hector's bed-cuddling. No bounds whatsoever-never had and likely never would. All either of them knew was nothing could make them happier than they were at this very moment.