"So..." Maxie leaned, in his best attempt at appearing nonchalant, against the bedpost. "You're packing, then?"
"Well, yeah. Holidays mean we're disbanding for like 2 weeks," Archie said as he continued to shove clothing into his bag.
"No, I know. But some people aren't leaving, so I wasn't sure..."
"Are you part of the 'some'?" he asked.
The balled jeans didn't cram in particularly well, and Archie begrudgingly realized have to reuse them a lot if he was going to make it the whole time. The entire time he tried to sort out how to fit one more in, Maxie hadn't said anything.
Archie looked up blankly. "Seriously? Max, you haven't seen your family in like a year. I know you don't get out much, but I kinda figured you'd head home for break..."
"We don't have terribly much to talk about," he said, softly and curtly.
Relationship issues, particularly family ones, were one of the key things recruiters liked to zero in on. It led to an unspoken rule among grunts that prying was off limits.
"Well what are you going to do, then?"
"I have plenty of work to do in the lab, and there are always flashcards to be gone over. Chapters to be read, projects to be started..." He shrugged. "I'll keep busy."
"If you don't stop nerdin' out constantly, your brain's gonna melt."
"They pay me good money to constantly nerd out, thank you very much."
"Point is you gotta take a break once and a while. Even if you're not going to Pacifidlog, at least go somewhere other than here."
"I'd rather not waste money on a hotel when I can still stay here for free. Mess hall's supposed to be open a meal a day, and I'm sure someone staying around will have a deck of cards, so..."
"Sounds fun."
"I'm not much of a holiday person in the first place."
"That's it." Archie forced the duffel bag to zip. "Pack your damn suitcase."
"I told you I'm staying here."
"Like hell you are. You're headed back to my family's place, and I swear if you bring a single flashcard I'm gonna tear the whole pile up."
Maxie argued as a habit, and could about nearly anything if he set his mind to it. Archie glared up at him, more than ready to go ten rounds if that's what it took.
Instead there was a nearly whispered 'alright' before he headed across the room to his bunk and began to pile clothes into his case. The way he kept his chin tucked tightly to his chest did nothing to hide the way his face had gone red.
Archie threw his bag over his shoulder with a smirk. Maxie did his best to keep everything in check, but he was terrible at it if you knew even a bit about him. It was fun to poke at, especially now that his face matched his hair.
He figured it'd be best to wait until they were on the train, when Maxie couldn't turn back around, before he started to tease.