"Rite of Passage"
by HonestlyCynical
Pairings: Baird/OC, Marcus/Dom, Other pairings may apply.
Set: Post Gears of War 2, up to Gears of War 3
Warning(s): M/M YAOI, LEMONS, SPOILERS, Blood, horror, Oral, Maledom, D/s, Character Death, and other warnings apply.
A/N: Well, I'm still taking in critique, so I'm sorry if this is late or anything.
Disclaimer(s):I do not own Gears of War. This is fanfiction. Simply put, the only thing I own is the ideas I place here. I do not preside over the existing characters that are implied in this story, nor the GoW elements and it's franchise. Any detail, titles, names that may be similar to that of other fiction or fanfiction, (unless cited) is strictly coincidental.
Chapter 1: Just the tip of the problems.
Rex followed Marcus and Dom out of the compound. It was oddly quiet, save for the occasional chatter of Dom telling Marcus something. He had no idea what the two were talking about. He didn't pay it any mind, either. There was a breeze that day. The blonde's hair flowed gently with the breeze. Some of the guys from the compound were gazing at him. Most likely at his eyes. They always did.
He was born with crimson colored eyes, which seemed to gleam with life. Funny, for how dead he felt besides the two larger Gears. Occasionally, Dom would glance back and check if the rookie was still following them. 'It's not like I'm gonna run away Dom, don't worry.'the kid thought.
Hell, he was sure one of them would catch him anyway. What chance did he have if he had to fight those beasts. Now, he's not just skin and bones, he worked out as best as he could. But he could never become one of those guys. Everything about them seemed unreal.
They were built like tanks. Not to mention that they've been fighting the grubs a lot longer than the kid had. Hell, he was going to be trained by them. Rex knew it was strictly business, but something in the back of his head seemed to argue with him. 'What if their training wasn't just simply target practice, followed by active reload training, along with grenade evasion. Hell it could be much worse than that.' Rex thought.
He shuddered at the thought, which the older Gears must have heard, because they turned around at once. Marcus glared at him, his icy blue eyes glaring into his. "What, you're getting scared now? Shit, you wouldn't last against the grubs, kid." the man grunted.
Dom laughed wholeheartedly. He turned to Marcus as they continued to walk. "Stop busting the kid's balls, Marcus. He's still inexperienced." the tan Gear replied. Something about the way he said that got to Rex. "So... What's the training gonna be like?" Rex asked. He almost wished he hadn't asked.
Marcus didn't turn around to acknowledge him. It was as though he was trying to answer an idiot's question. The large Gear spit before speaking. "Basically, kidyou're gonna shoot a gun. Not only that, you're gonna show us how skilled you are with the Longshot. Don't worry though, we won't put you through Lancer Duels... yet." Marcus replied. Rex gulped at his tone.
If Rex hadn't wanted to run away before, he certainly did now. 'Shit, he's got something against me. I don't know why though, I barely know the guy.' he thought. When a voice called his name, he snapped to attention. "Yo, Rexxar, you okay man? You seem all spacey. We can't have that during the current situation." Dom said, his tone had a hint a worry.
Rex didn't understand these Gears. One of them practically hated his guts, and the other was worrying about him. Rex spoke out when he felt Dom watching him. "Dom, is it? Call me Rex, please? I always feel like I'm in trouble when you guys say my name like that." the gold headed kid replied.
Dom laughed at Rex's expense. "Sure, whatever you say, Rex." the Gear replied. In front of them, Fenix let out a grin. Once he realized it, it faded back into a scowl. As the trio moved into the shooting range, Rex saw a familiar person.
She had pitch black hair that was damp with sweat. She wore a scarf, that protected her face from the cold. Her eyes were sea foam green, and her lips were pink. Just her facial features alone, sent chills down Rex's spine. It wasn't that he was scared of her, no... He liked her. She was Madeline Rivera. She had been his childhood crush, and now his roommate.
Dom noticed the look in Rex's exposed eye. He nudged his best friend, and whispered. "Look, the kid's in love. I remember those days." Dom had a sad look in his eyes. Marcus put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Yeah, we all can. We'll let the rook have his little fun here, besides, he's gonna need to shoot something soon." the sergeant mumbled.
Rex walked to Madeline cautiously. He knew better than to startle her with a weapon in her hand. The last time he did that, the medic had to remove a Boltok round from his ass. Damn did it hurt. Just remembering it, made the pain come back a little. The sad part was, that it was a month ago that it happened.
Madeline seemed to sense his presence because she turned around. "Oh, hello Rex!" she said in her accented voice. God did he crush on her. He couldn't say he loved her because he wasn't sure if she liked him like that. He didn't need to get depressed because she never liked him more than a friend.
Her voice brought back the kid's attention. "Rex, are you okay? You are spacing out!" she said, obviously worried. Rex shook his head. "Yeah, just fine. I was just thinking about things. Nothing big." he replied.
Madeline let out a laugh. "Well, I better go back to the compound Rex, Good seeing you!" she said, waving to him as she went away. Rex sighed at himself. He was such an idiot. 'One chance, and I turned into a fucking girl. Great. This is why all this shit is difficult.' Rex thought to himself.
Dom took the chance to get behind Rex. "Come on, Rex. Time for training. You can crush on that girl later." the Gear said, as if he knew what Rex was thinking. Rex and Dom began to walk after Marcus, who was holding a Longshot. "Uh... He's not going to shoot me, is he?" Rex asked curiously. Dom laughed at how Rex sounded. "Relax Rex, Marcus is many things, but he never gets trigger happy on humans." the older man said, patting the kid's shoulder lightly.
Rex and Dom reached Marcus, who merely handed the Longshot to the blond. "Here kid, we're going to see how well you can aim. Stand here." The gear said, his voice still low. Rex did as he said, and stood still. His hair was being blown by the wind that hat picked up. Marcus set up a couple of bottles for Rex. "You're going to shoot them, kid. Simple as that." the man yelled to Rex. Dom grinned at how Marcus was acting.
He was always like that with the new guys. "Hey, Rex. Good luck." he said, giving an innocent smile. Rex nodded and held the scope to his eye. He aimed the cross-hairs in the middle of one bottle and shot it. The glass shattered almost immediately. Marcus nodded and motioned for Rex to move back. "Go back a little more. We'll need longer distances." the man yelled.
Rex moved back, and his hair had blown into his eyes. After pushing his hair out of his way, and reloaded the Longshot. Dom watched intently at the rookie. For a rookie, he was doing great, so far. Dom noticed Rex was aiming at another bottle. He then started to make distractions for Rex. "You're going to have to concentrate Rex. Therefore, I will distract you. It's a sniper's job to ignore distractions." he said.
Rex nodded while Dom made noises, and threw stuff at him. After about two hours of shooting the Longshot, Rex seemed to get the hang of it. Rex was getting annoyed because his hair refused to stay out of his eyes. So, following Dom's advice, the blond decided to roll with the flow. Rex let his hair fall into his eyes. Dom was going to yell at him to move his hair, but the blond took the shot. SMASH!
The sound of glass breaking filled the air. Dom looked at the targets, to see that Rex had indeed hit another bottle. Marcus crossed his arms, examining the kid. 'He's a good shot. I have to admit, he makes our best Snipers look bad. Though... He will need to be trained in other aspects.' the sergeant thought.
"Dom, Rook, come on. We established he's a good with a Longshot. Time to move on!" he shouted. Marcus lead the group to the obstacle course. Dom smirked when he saw where they were. Rex looked around cautiously. "So.. The obstacle course?" he asked.
Dom and Marcus nodded. "Yeah Rex, you're gonna show us how fast you are with all that armor on." the blue eyed man said. Rex groaned before nodding. Now was the time he chose to stay shut. Marcus pulled out a whistle from his bag. "GO, GO, GO!" The sergeant shouted. Rex zigzagged into the obstacle course, moving as fast as his legs could take him. Marcus laughed when he watched the kid. The armor made him look weak, as though he didn't have any muscle in his body.
Rex dropped himself on the ground. He crawled under the barbed wire, using his elbows to move. It was as though he were in a boot camp all over again. Rex wiggled around, looking absolutely ridiculous. 'Dammit, why do I need to torture myself so?' the male thought to himself. Dom and Marcus laughed at Rex. The was he was wriggling around reminded them of a child. Marcus made him redo the area for over two hours.
"Hurry up, child!' Marcus shouted, blowing his whistle again. Rex picked up his pace, trying to keep the mud out of his hair and face. Rex got out of the barbed wire area. He stood up, and Marcus made him run. "Come on, the grubs are chasing you, Rex. Get to cover now! Go, go, go!" the man shouted. Rex ran as fast as he could to the chest high walls placed around. He took out his Lancer and began to aim at a dummy in the distance. It was dressed as a Locust Drone, so it made it easier for the rookie to focus.
Littering the ground with empty shells, Rex got up from cover. Dom laughed and pat his back. "I think you killed it, Rex. God kid, you need to save your bullets. Especially in this time of the war. We can't waste ammo all the time." he said. Dome let an innocent smile show before Marcus came. "Come on, time to run. We're going to run for three hours. It took you two hours to finish that, Rex. Now for your punishment." the man said seriously.
Rex didn't like the sound of running for three straight hours. It was bad enough his body hurt due to the two hours of obstacle course run-throughs. 'My god, this guy is aiming to kill me with all this running.' the male thought. His hair sticking to his face from sweat. Even though it was the middle of Frost, all the training was keeping him warm. With that said, it is also made him tired. Gasping for breath, the rookie decided to jog.
Marcus looked at Rex stopping for breath. He walked towards the unsuspecting man. "What the hell are you doing? Did I say you can stop for air? Get a move on!" the man barked. Rex cursed under his breath and began to run again. Dom went over to Marcus slowly. "Marcus, aren't you being a little too tough on the kid? He can't keep going like this, man." the sensitive Gear said.
Marcus turned his gaze to Dom. "Since when did you care about this kid?" he asked his friend, his voice in its usual low manner. Dom shrugged at the man's words. "I don't know Marcus. But that's besides the point. If he keeps this up, he'll become dehydrated, and then we'd need to rush him to the medical wing." the man replied.
Marcus grunted in response. Dom was right. The kid went four hours so far without drinking water. He reached inside his bag and got a water bottle. "Hey Rex, get your ass over here and take this water." the Gear yelled. Rex stopped running and gasped for air. He went to the larger man and took the bottle. Quickly, the kid drank from the bottle.
Rex drank the water as if his life depended on it. To him, at that moment, the water was the best thing he'd ever had in his life. Rex let out a loud sigh when he finished gulping down the water. He pushed his hair from his eyes and looked up at the sergeant.
Marcus was glaring at the private. He scowled, as if to say 'Get your ass in gear and run.' Rex looked at him, and seemed to understand the scowl. "Yes sir." the boy said, continuing to run. Dom looked at the guys with a smirk. 'This was going to be a long day.' he thought to himself.
Rex continued to run, he was determined to finish his training for the day. The soldier could feel himself getting hungry. He was more focused on his running rather than actually stopping and asking his commanding officer to eat.
Dom seemed to read the kid's mind because he walked over with some food that Marcus had taken. If Marcus was going to act like he didn't care, Dom would care for him. "Eat up. You haven't even had breakfast yet, so I imagine you must be starving." the Gear said, answering the confused look on the blonde's face.
Rex pulled off his muddy gloves, revealing his white hands, that were quickly turning red from the cold air. "Ah shit!" the blond swore. "It's too damn cold out." Dom laughed at the blonde's expense. "Well it tends to happen because of Frost." the gear said smugly.
Rex ate the bread that Dom put in his hands. He took a bite out of an apple, savoring the juice. "Damn, that's good." the boy said, stuffing his face again. Dom stared at the soldier, and something seemed to spark in his head. 'This kid... He's really something.' the Gear thought.
Rex finished his little meal before stretching his arms and legs. He heard his bones crack under the sudden stress. He went on to run again, putting the Longshot and Lancer on his back. Dom moved back to Marcus as soon as the blond had took off running. "So Marcus, what do you think of him?" he asked his best friend. Marcus looked at Rex before answering. "He has promise, no doubt about that. However, He's still rather childish. He also seems to be shy. I've only seen him talk to one person on his free time. Unless he's spoken to, he never even gives people the time of day." the man replied, his voice low and weary.
Dom looked at his best friend with a smirk. "He's only nineteen, Marcus. He can afford to act childish, after all he never had kids or a wife. He's still young, so being shy is justified for him. I just don't want this war to make him grow up too fast. God knows we had to. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, Marcus." he replied.
Dom's tone became sad when he spoke about the wife and kids. He had lost both of his kids on E-Day, and he had to euthanize his own wife. Dom had been through so much, and he had all the right to act like an asshole, but instead he cared even more. Marcus eyed his friend quickly, and put an arm on his shoulder. "Dom..." Marcus began.
Dom gently took his friend's hand off of his shoulder. "Marcus... Just go easy on him, okay? He's still a kid. Do it for me, if not anything else, please?" the male replied, keeping his gaze at the ground.
Marcus grunted in response. He was too sensitive for his own good. But that was just how Dominic Santiago was. A sensitive man.
A/N: Well, originally this chapter was going to be short, but I decided to put the rookie's training into the chapter. Ah, how fun~ Please feel free to review the chapter, and leave feedback on how I portrayed Dom and Marcus in this~ Most of all, Thanks for reading! ;D