Grif didn't really know what he should think of this whole shit show right now.

Simmons had been behaving strange for the last days. He didn't know what happened or when, but the redhead suddenly started to act completely opposite to his usual behavior.

He was giddy, nervous, fled whenever someone said something about a couple, especially Wash and Tucker – Okay, agreed, that was normal for Simmons, but not that excessive.

Anyway, today when they again were talking about shit, Grif offered for both of them to shirk off their duties and go chill somewhere.

That was when it started to get strange. Simmons suddenly was getting all giddy and shit at the prospect of both of them being alone for a while, stammering something about having to do some inventory check for the umpteenth time since it came in and whatnot.

Usually, Simmons would hound Grif for being a lazy asshole and letting his friends do all of his work so he could just slack off.

Usually, Grif would tell him then to fuck of.

Usually, Simmons then would reply that he wouldn't do his shit too he had to, like reports or shit.

Usually, Grif then would tell Simmons to chill out once in a while and he didn't care if he did or not.

Usually, Simmons would beef like an idiot but do it nonetheless after Grif disappeared to chill out.

Usually, Grif wouldn't thank Simmons for doing it and Simmons wouldn't want him to do that.

Well, Usually…

But this here wasn't usual. This here was far from usual, given Simmons strange behavior.

Grif couldn't put a finger on what it was or when it happened. Fact was, it happened some days ago and since then he was all kinds of strange.

Since they were sharing a bunk, Grif also knew that Simmons wasn't sleeping well or much. He would toss and turn, or sometimes just lay on his back and stare up to the ceiling for hours. If he was sleeping, he was jerking up at every sound or whatever else reason he had to wake up.

It was annoying, but Grif decided to not want to give the other shit by calling him out on his strange behavior and just kept on snoozing away in his cot.

Well, the awkward train didn't stop in their shared dorms, it continued down to his favorite hobby, eating. Simmons was all strange today, Grif even getting the impression that it got worse whenever Tucker or Wash or both of them were around. It was strange, but Grif again decided against intervening and having to possibly do work or some other shit.

Well, today also was this North-guy around. As far as he had heard of Tucker, he had been the mother hen of the team back in Freelancer and that he is kind of an empath or something.

Well, this was what it turned out to be when he and Simmons were arguing again. Although this also was some kind of different arguing than usual. It had more venom in it, Simmons was edgier than normal and Grif trying to provoke him wasn't like him either.

And all this things which weren't usual probably led to the point where Simmons stood up and left because Grif pushed him too far.

Usually, he knew how to push his buttons. But at the moment their relationship was far from usual…

Entering the storage area he suspected the redhead to be hiding in, he directly went to the back of the huge hall where a desk was. Usually Simmons was sitting there, having a chair close for Grif to plop down when he felt like joining the redhead.

When he came closer to the desk, he noticed that North was sitting there. Immediately he started feeling giddy and on edge with the guy sitting on the place he usually sat. Again this fucking usually. Northing was usual at the moment!

But what he heard made him stop dead in his tracks.

They obviously were in the middle of discussing something when he dropped in.

And what he heard made his blood freeze and boil hot in the same time. Okay, he had to agree with Tucker. North was a miracle worker when it came to interpersonal stuff and talking to even difficult people like Simmons could be at times.

What he heard however made the blood shoot in his face and his heartrate pick up drastically.

Well, that explained at least why nothing was usual at the moment.

Tucker and Wash had become a thing, which wasn't gone really unnoticed since Tucker had the habit of bragging about it or just clearly showing that he and Wash were a thing by kissing him at the table in the mess. This probably explained the point when Simmons became awkward and why.

Because of Tucker and Wash having become a thing and this brought up his feelings for him, Grif, back up and also the memories of his dad always trying to beat out the gay tendencies out of his son or by forcing him to become a girl by forcing him to wear girl clothes (including skirt) and other shit as he now admitted.

During their time together Simmons had told Grif quite a bit about his shitty past and it was understandable, even for Grif, that this left a rather huge trauma.

Although he felt embarrassed as fuck about the whole situation at hand and now that he knew how the redhead felt about him, he couldn't help but understand Simmons situation.

Given his past, he had conflicted feelings inside of him, battling for dominance. The side of his dad having hammered into him that being gay was bad, and the side of Simmons having feeling for his fellow male soldier obviously seem to fight against each other and it was still open which side would win.

Although it looked like the gay side was in advantage didn't mean that this side also would win. They were talking about Simmons at least!

When North then turned around and left both of them, without giving Simmons one last piece of advice, obviously, although Grif couldn't help but feel jealous about their closeness, they both were standing, respectively sitting there, eyeing each other like enemies.

"Fucking stupid." Grif muttered under his breath, giving himself a proper kick in the butt and walked over to his fellow red soldier and sat down on the chair North had occupied moments ago. Simmons had turned back around, although not being able to meet his eyes, staring down on his hands.

Opening the clasps on the side of his helmet and unsealing it, Grif heard the typical hiss of air when he took the helmet off and put it down on the desk beside the maroon one of Simmons.

Dragging a hand through his unruly hair, he sighed. "Well, that's awkward."

"Tell me." Simmons snorted at that, his face being as red as Grif felt his face was hot.

"So…" Grif started slowly after a moment. It was awkward to explain it sugar coated. They were together since years – As friends. And finding that out makes it extremely difficult for him. Sure it wasn't about the feelings, but the way it came across. The way he found out.

"So…" parroted Simmons, neither knowing what he should say.

"I…" Grif then decided to clarify something, before they would start from there. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. Just you know." He started, kneading his fingers nervously. "I thought I could come check on you if you calmed the fuck down and, well, walked in on this here." He made a motion with his hand to illustrate the situation that unfolded minutes ago.

"I didn't think you had been eavesdropping since that would mean do actual fucking work." Simmons snarked at that, drawing a grin out of the Hawaiian.

"I see you're going to get back to normal again, huh?" the chubbier man replied with his usual lopsided grin but didn't lean back into the chair as he usually would. He still was tense and nervous.

Bracing his elbows on his knees, he mustered the redhead sitting on the chair in front of him, sneaking a glance every now and then too, but always averting his gaze when their gazes met.

Grif sighed at that. "That sucks." He muttered, fixing Simmons with his glare. "That true what you told North?"

Grif never had been fond of too much words when talking. Why adding an 'is' if the sentence was understandable without?

Anyway, back in the situation at hand, Simmons looked at him like a dear in the headlights. "You mean about my dad?"

"No dumbass." Quipped Grif so fast that Simmons blinked, taken aback. "I am talking about your fucking feelings for me."

Simmons still had this dear-in-the-headlights-expression and was looking at him with an expression that he would love to flee in every second possible.

"Uh… Depends, I guess?" He replied, Grif noticing his cautiousness and try to keep everything on an even ground.

"Stop fucking around with me." Grif growled, Simmons pulling his head between his shoulders like a tortoise and trying to protect himself of Grifs fury.

It was silent for another few minutes in which Simmons didn't reply, only looking at his fellow red soldier with wide eyes.

"You know what, fuck you." Grif grumbled after a moment, fed up with Simmons stalling all the time.

Getting up from the chair he started to leave, only to be held back by someone holding his right wrist. He had heard a chair being shoved back with an audible creak when he was about to turn away, so the person holding his hand could only be one person. And this one person was standing behind him, intensifying the grip slightly on his hand. "Please- Please stay."

Grif remained where he was, not turning back around when he heard the redhead sigh. "Look, it isn't easy for me, okay?"

Grif snorted at that.

"Turn around." Grif huffed at Simmons request, stubbornly refusing to turn around.

"Grif please." Simmons insisted, tugging at his hand. Grif followed the lead with a roll of his eyes.

Standing in front of Simmons who still was standing inches in front of the desk and fiddling nervously with his hands.

"Well…" Simmons started after another few moments with a deflating exhale. "You heard about pretty much everything I guess so I at least don't need to explain that." He started slowly, still looking down on his hand gripping Grifs as if he could bolt the moment he would let his grip slip.

"It's difficult." Simmons insisted.

"You mentioned that." The Hawaiian grumbled in response.

"I know! And it really is!" Grif blinked at Simmons outburst taken aback. He rarely heard the nerd freaking out like he did right now.

"It isn't easy and I am struggling. You should know best of all given you know all about my shitty past!"

Grif stared some more moments at the redhead with wide eyes, before closing them to slowly in- and exhale and count to ten to calm his nerves. "Yes, you're right. I am sorry." It was rare for the Hawaiian to apologize and that made the redhead blink. But for once, he shut his trap and listened to what Grif had to say next. "Go on."

It was a simple request, but it was Grifs way of acting. Simmons huffed a bit at that, but complied. "Anyway…" Simmons exhaled. "Yes, it is true, okay? All I said. I just didn't want to lose you as a friend, okay? Like I told North. You're the only thing that kept me sane. I didn't want to ruin that." The more Simmons kept on, the quieter he got during talking.

Grif stood there for minutes, looking at the redhead and trying to gauge his reaction and words and what they meant and if they're true. The redhead was staring down on his hands. He was kneading his flesh hand with his metal hand so hard that Grif feared he would break his fingers any moment. He didn't know when the cyborg had let go of his hand, but it was evident now that he was about to break his fingers.

"Stop that." He then muttered, grabbing hold of his human hand and pulling it away of his cyborg hand, before the bones would crack for real. "You're going to break your fingers."

Simmons was still looking down on their intertwined hand. Grif could see his face turning red again when staring at Grifs hand, tightly clasped around his own hand.

I was silent for some time, before Grif finally exhaled. This whole sighting thing had become some kind of a habit in the next minutes. "Look, I might not act on it, but I am not the apathetic asshole who doesn't care about others. It's just…" Grif trailed off, thinking about on how to form his next words. "Dunno, it's kind of a coping mechanism of some sorts." Grif shrugged against it.

"The thing I want to say." He started, looking at the redhead who still was somewhat evading his looks. "The more I act I don't care, the more I care. You see what I mean?" He explained. "I like you, okay. More than a friend."

Simmons looked at him, his eyes wide and round and Grif snorted at that. "I'm not a pansy sap like Donut, so I just say I like you okay." He made clear.

It took some moments for the redhead to realize. Grif could see his face change from confused to happy and a huge smile spreading over his face at that.

"I'm no pansy sap either. So let's keep it at I like you." He replied at that with his typical nerdy grin when he was able to meet Grifs glance again for the first time in days without looking away embarrassedly or fleeing immediately.

That was when Grif suddenly got an idea and started to grin wolfishly.

Immediately, insecurity and fright sparked up in his eyes, making a back step and Grif following suit with a stop forward on his own. During his first step back, Simmons had pulled his human hand out of Grifs grasp, starting to retreat until his back hit the wall. Grif could see that the nerd was extremely uncomfortable and anxious at Grifs strange behavior.

Grif however, kept his predatory grin up and didn't say a word while still approaching the redhead. "Grif?" Asked Simmons with an insecure note to his voice, getting even more uncomfortable with each minute passing. Unfortunately for Simmons, fortunately for Grif however, he had been backed up against the desk and couldn't flee.

"Grif, you're scaring me." Simmons meekly said, feeling anxious and pressing up on the desk.

Grif still stood in front of the redhead, their chests almost pressed flush against each other and his face drawing closer with this wolfish grin still plastered on his face.

"You afraid?" asked the Hawaiian, seeing Simmons nod and gulp with an uncomfortable feeling settling in his gut. He felt horrible.

Grif chuckled at that with a grin, lifting his hand and letting the gloved one trail over Simmons flesh cheek. The nerd had pressed his eyes shut, obviously really afraid.

Grif snorted a bit at that, making Simmons open his human eye tentatively. "Seriously, stop peeing your pants." He stated, closing the space between them and pressing his lips against Simmons. Grif was a bit smaller than Simmons, but not by much. 10 Centimeters tops. So it wasn't much of a stretch to lean up and kiss his favorite nerd.

It took a moment for the redhead to catch up on what happened. Seriously, Grif wondered while trying to get the nerd to reply, how could someone as smart as Simmons be so fucking dense?

It took another moment or two, Grif was about to let lose a frustrated sigh and tell the nerd that someone being kissed usually should kiss back, when Simmons eventually replied the kiss with a low sigh.

The orange clad soldier chuckled into the kiss and increased the pressure a tiny little bit, just enough for Simmons to make a meek noise in the back of his throat at that.

One of Grifs hands wandered down to the nerd's hip, pulling him closer there, whilst Simmons hands started to sneak around the shorter man's neck.

It wasn't long after they had to break to breathe and soon decided to move this to their room to be undisturbed.