This bed was one of the most uncomfortable beds Scout had ever tried to sleep in. It wasn't even a real bed, more a provisory solution made out of a tiny couch, as the real bed was occupied by Sniper. He wished he hadn't commented how difficult it would be for him to climb up to it, the tiny alcove over the cockpit of the van, with both left arm and leg in casts, plus the back injury. If he hadn't, he'd probably been sleeping as soundly as the older man in a comfortable bed.

He changed position. It was impossible to sleep, for some reason his body was filled with all the energy he should have had when he was in hospital. It was like the atmosphere there had put a lid on it, but now that he wasn't there, all of it came back. Plus the energy he hadn't used for a week. Oh, and there were probably some stuff in those syringes Medic had stabbed in his arm twice a day, too, that calmed him down.

Ignoring the sharp pain in his back when he moved, he turned again. He was now lying on his left side, left arm placed in an awkward position above his head, facing the wall. Falling asleep shouldn't have been this hard. It was not just his energy that kept him awake; the temperature in the tiny van was way too high. He could have opened a window, but to do that he had to sit up, and his back hurt quite bad just when he moved, so he didn't take the risk. Instead, he tried to place his blanket so it barely covered his bare back; if he took it completely off he'd feel way too exposed, lying there in only his underwear.

Sniper snored loudly, annoying Scout way too much. Of all annoying sounds he knew about, snoring would be at least somewhere in top three, along with baby screams and the RED Spy's voice. God, he hated that man. So that stupid Frenchman thought he could just go ahead and bang Scout's mother without any consequences? He'd never been so wrong his entire, miserable, stupid life of his. After Scout was finished with him, that Spy would never be able to do anything with any woman ever again. He smiled evilly at the thought. Just wait and see, Spy, after he got out of these damn casts...

ZRRROH-RRRKKH!

Why? Why did he have to share the van with a guy who couldn't stop disturbing him in his quest for sleep? He knew the answer, but at the moment it didn't really help much.

Long story short, he'd decided to not go home after all, there was no way he was sharing house with his mother after what she'd done, therefore, he needed a place to stay, as it was unnecessary for him to stay in the hospital any longer, plus Medic was pretty tired of taking care of him. Sniper had suggested that he could stay in his van, and after a clumsy trip in a horribly shaky wheelchair, as Scout was unable to use crutches with an arm in a cast, they were soon eating a quick dinner in the tiny van before going to bed. He had suggested that he stayed in his own room in the fort, but he apparently needed someone around in case something happened.

The entire van smelled like a mix of smoke, sweat, coffee, gunpowder, aftershave and some other things Scout couldn't identify. The van smelled like Sniper, and he loved it. Even better, the bed he was lying in smelled like the Australian, which made his entire body tingle like crazy. Even the pillow and the blanket had the same odour, making him feel safe, like the other man watched over him. Not that he needed someone to do that, of course, but was a nice feel that someone cared enough to do it, even when they didn't know it themselves.

The happiness he got from knowing that he was lying almost next to the sleeping Sniper made him not notice that the pain in his back had grown stronger, before it was too late. An explosion of pain filled his body. The pain was strongest in a certain point in his back, but his arm and leg hurt too, as well as his entire body. He desperately tried to scream, but for no use, he was unable to get enough air for it. He was like a fish on land, gasping desperately for air, without getting any.

The pain didn't stop. His brain didn't work properly, he was unable to think, the only thing in the world right now was intense pain, worse than anything he'd ever felt before. Worse than respawning, worse than getting blown to pieces, getting shot, getting beat up or even feeling his flesh slowly melt as he got burned to death. His eyes got filled with tears, making it impossible to see. There was no way for him to make enough sound to wake Sniper besides screaming, so he tried again, but for no use. He had barely enough lung capacity to do this horrible version of breathing, yet alone to scream.

"Please," he whispered, unable to raise his voice more. For the first time in his life, he begged. He begged to every god he knew, whether he believed in them or not, for the pain to stop. He'd do anything for them. Anything. But for no use. It only got even a bit stronger, like they were mocking him.

He had to wake Sniper. It hurt to take a breath as deep as the one he was taking right now, but it didn't matter. Then he screamed. Louder than he'd ever screamed before, a scream filled with pain and desperation. He kept screaming and screaming, now that he had started doing it, it was hard to stop. Instead of taking breaths between, he sobbed loudly, tears running down his face. Later he'd probably feel ashamed for acting like this, but at this moment, he couldn't have cared less.

It was like he was at the bottom of a well, the walls made out of pure pain and fear. Somewhere, far up there, he could hear someone desperately throwing things around in search of something. Most likely Sniper. Suddenly, he got the sensation of falling uncontrollably again. This time, he didn't enjoy it like the time when he had passed out, this time, he was terrified. Who knew what was in the bottom? Maybe death. Maybe a life in wheelchair.

"I don't want to die," Scout yelled, without thinking over it. "Please! I don't want to!" He kept yelling those words, mostly "please" and "don't want to". Sometimes, he yelled for his mother, begging and crying like a baby. Far away, he could hear a soft, deep voice repeating it would be okay, everything would be fine, but he didn't believe it. The pain would never stop; it would be there forever, making him wish for death. "Please," he sobbed, "please."

The sting in his arm was so small compared to the pain he was experiencing that he didn't notice it. Some moments later, it was like someone had put a lid on it. It was still strong, but not as sharp and horrible as it'd been earlier. He still cried and gasped for air, but instead of yelling and screaming, he moaned. The pain kept weakening, soon it was just a shadow of itself, leaving Scout crying and shaking in shock and fear.

"Shh," Sniper whispered, wrapping his bare arms around him, holding him tight. "Shh. It's over now."

Scout was still shaking. He held around the other man as hard as he could while burying his face in his chest. Sniper's big hands were stroking him on his back, comforting him as he slowly calmed down.

Was this the time to tell him? Or would it scare him away? Maybe he was homophobic or something, and would throw him out.

He decided to wait. Right now, he was happy just sitting there, safe in Sniper's strong arms, slowly calming down and trying to breathe in the same pace as him. He was starting to feel tired for some reason, his head started to feel heavy and it was difficult to keep his eyes open. Sniper loosened his grip a bit, like he was letting Scout go. But Scout just hugged him tighter, not willing to end the hug, not yet. So they sat there for a minute before he finally let go.

Sniper grabbed his shoulder and looked at Scout with concerned eyes. "Y'all right, mate?"

Scout nodded. He wondered what it had been in that medicine he got, but it was probably for the best to not know. Who knew what kind of stuff people put in those things.

"Sure?"

He nodded again. It was weird hearing Sniper being so concerned about somebody; he usually kept his feelings for himself. At that point he was Scout's complete opposite, as he tended to show off his entire spectrum of emotions, except for when he was feeling sad. Crying in front of someone was one of the worst things he knew about, as crying was for the weak. He wasn't weak.

They just sat there for a while, Scout in underwear, Sniper in singlet and underwear, and waited for Scout to finally calm down. He was still terrified over the suddenness of the explosion of pain, and he could swear he still felt it, but not as strong, like a shadow. He stroke his left arm with his right, desperately trying not to look at the man sitting in front of him, but his eyes didn't listen. It ended up with him staring awkwardly at Sniper's right shoulder, as that couldn't be understood wrongly. He wiped away the tears in his eyes with the back of his right hand.

"If you..." He said suddenly. It felt weird talking, and his voice was low, shaking and scratchy. He coughed, trying to normalise it a bit, before he tried again. "If ya tell anybody," he said, trying to find back his awesomeness and tough-guyness, "what jus' happened, I'll frickin' kill ya, a'ight?"

Sniper just chuckled and smiled a little smile while raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'm real' scared of you," he said with that low, scary voice of his. "I can't imagine what terrible way you would kill me."

The cast made a cool clonk!-sound when Scout knocked on it with his other hand. He smiled an evil, superior smile at Sniper.
"With this baby," he said dramatically, holding up his left arm at the roof, "I'll rule the world - no, the entire universe!" He laughed like one of the mad scientists he'd seen in a movie. "But first... I'd kill you! If you were to tell someone, that is. It ain't like they're gonna believe you anyway, you know, 'cus I ain't a freakin' crybaby, and I never-"

"You can take on the universe tomorrow," Sniper interrupted, before he proceeded to ruffle Scout's hair. "Even mad scientists need their sleep."

Scout started to say against him, but got interrupted by a yawn. You really got tired from lying and writhing in pain, screaming and yelling and crying. And that medicine was probably some sort of painkiller-extract mixed with calming fluids or something. Whatever it was, it didn't matter, as his brain had started to slow down, making thinking difficult.

"Is there anything you want before I go back to bed?" Sniper, who had been sitting on the edge of the couch-bed hybrid, stood up.

I want you, Scout thought.

He looked up at him, leaning up against the wall behind him. "Well," he said, unsure if he should continue or not. "There is one thing. If it ain't too much to ask, that is..."

Fifteen minutes later, Scout received a cup almost flowing over with hot chocolate. He carefully moved it closer to his lips and blew at it. The smell of hot chocolate filled his nostrils, bringing him back to when he was a kid, back in Boston.

He'd played his first baseball match ever. The opponents were good - better than Scout's team, but his competitiveness made him push himself extremely to his limits, as well as being all "I'll do this" the entire time. Not a team player.

So, one of the kids on the team, Scout couldn't remember his name, was going to bat, but there was no way Scout would let anyone besides himself do that, as this was the last round. He'd run up to the kid, punched him in his face, and taken his place. Just like that. Anyway, Scout was a horrible batter at that time, so it wasn't much of a surprise when he couldn't hit the ball properly even once.

Long story short, his team had lost because of him, and he'd returned home beaten and in a terrible mood. Ma had made him hot chocolate, the best chocolate he'd ever had. Then she'd wrapped him up in a blanket, and they had sat in the couch watching TV and drinking the best chocolate in the world together. He was eight at that time, and all his bigger brothers were out. Just he and his Ma.

The memory made him happy. It was a good memory, but it didn't make him miss her, in fact, it made him feel even more grateful for Sniper bothering to do this for him.

He smiled widely and took a sip from the warm liquid. It was straight out fantastic. Not as good as Ma's chocolate, but it was a good second place. It was burning hot, almost as hot as him, causing him to burn his tongue. Ignoring the sharp pain, he took a second sip.

"Did ya like it?"

"Yeah." Scout studied the cup. It was white. He smiled a bit when he saw the inscription. #1 Sniper. Well, that was true. Sniper was the best sniper. At least in his eyes. "It's wonderful."

He finished drinking the chocolate and put the cup down on the tiny kitchen bench plate which covered the sink.

"If there's nothing more, I'll go back to sleep now." Sniper lifted up the wooden plate and put the dirty cup down in sink before opening a window.

"Nah, I'm fine." Scout slid down to a more lying position. "Thanks."

"There's no need to thank, it took fifteen minutes."

"No, not for the chocolate," he wasn't used to thank people like this, but he did his best. He shrugged. "For... For everythin', I guess. For staying with me. And for letting me stay here." He paused and took a deep breath. "I appreciate it, a'ight?"

"Hey, it's the last thing I could do for ya. I did push ya down from that tower, after all."

"No, you didn't. It was my fault. I was the one who started you." It was hard admitting his own faults, but jeez, this guy had stayed with him the entire time, he felt it was absolutely the right thing to do to say this. "I guess it's the fault of us both."

Sniper didn't reply at first. Instead, he climbed up into his bed. "Probably," he said after a little while.

Scout had no idea why he had to climb all the way up there to reply, but he guessed it was some Australian thing. Maybe it was easiest for them to talk while lying in bed. That was probably the reason Sniper rarely talked more than a little at the time, he was used to talk in bed. But how did they attend courts and classes and stuff like that? He chuckled at the thought of a classroom filled with kids in beds.

"Oi, what's so funny?"

"Oh, nothin'." Scout just couldn't stop laughing. "Nothin' at all."

"Then stop laughin' and go to sleep, you twat."

"All right." He finished laughing at classrooms filled with beds before he pulled the blanket around him, as it was getting cooler in the van. The extreme tiredness from earlier was gone, replaced with a load of energy for some reason.

"Snipes?"

No respond.

"Hey, Snipes!"

Still no response. Goddamnit, Sniper, couldn't you hear Scout trying to contact you?

"Sniiiipes!"

"What?!" Sniper sounded really annoyed, like he always did when someone woke him. It was incredible how someone could fall asleep that fast.

"Why did I hurt?"

"What do you mean?" His voice wasn't so annoyed anymore, it was more concerned again.

"I meant what I said. Why did it hurt so much?" He moved his well hand over the places where it had hurt the most, like his back.

"I don't know." Sniper sighed loudly, Scout had noticed that he had a tendency to do that almost all the time, and turned around. Scout could barely see his contours in the dark, but he found the Aussie's head and looked up at it.

"Did ya," Sniper continued, "remember to take yer painkillers before going to bed?"

Oh.
The painkillers. Those pills were apparently a bit more important than he thought.

"Heh.. Whoops?"

"There ya go. The reason you hurt."

"Oh. Shouldn't I take them now, then?"

"That shouldn't be necessary. The stuff I put in yer arm should take care of most of the pain. But it should have made you sleep by now. Aren't you tired?"

"No, not at all." That was true. He had almost died from sleepiness earlier, but now he felt like he had energy to run until dawn. Damn, he missed running. "Should I?"

"Yeah, you should."

"I guess I ain't!" Scout was now lying on his back, gesticulating crazily with his hands while talking. "Woo, I'm like, a frickin'... Oppositer! Is that a word? Oppositer? If it ain't, I'm totally claiming it. Scout the Oppositer!"

"Oppositer," Sniper repeated with a tired voice.

"Yeah! As in, whenever somethin' happens to me, the opposite happens!" He thought a bit at it. "Except energy drinks. And bullets. Pretty much everything except calm-down thingies."

"Can you please calm down?"

"A'ight, no problem, the Oppositer can turn his energy into sleepiness with no problem. G'night!"

"'Night."

Scout managed to be quiet in two minutes before he started chuckling at something he thought of.

"Hey. Hey Snipes. Hey."

"What the hell do you want?"

"Australians doesn't have sex." He snickered.

"Uh... Excuse me?"

"Australians..." Scout was shaking with oppressed laughter. "...mate."

He exploded with laughter. It was impossible to stop; he just kept laughing and wheezing for air. He wiped a tear from an eye.

"Wow, funny." Sniper's voice was sarcastic. "I got one for you."

"You do?" Scout had calmed a bit down, not laughing like a maniac anymore.

"Yer still a virgin, right?"

That wasn't nice. Like it was his fault all those stupid women were too retarded to recognise the hottest guy they'd ever meet. "Yeah," he replied lowly. "But that's jus' because-"

"Then I guess... Yer just a... WANKAH!" Sniper laughed lowly at his own joke, while Scout was just looking angrily at him. That was just plain out mean. Why did people need to be so damn mean to him? He wasn't mean to them, was he? …At least not all the time.

"I guess I'll go to sleep, then," he said, trying to sound offended by Sniper's joke, but ended up sounded like a spoiled brat or something.

"A'ight. G'night, mate."

"Good night, Snipes." He laid down on his left side, packed the blanket tight up under his pointy chin, and moved his legs as close up to his chest as possible. "I lov-" he interrupted himself.

What the fuck? This did not just happen. It just couldn't. He'd almost told him straight out what he felt. His only hope was that Sniper hasn't heard him, as if he had, it would be difficult to explain. Very difficult. Besides, it was way too early to tell him now.

And how did you explain to a guy who's old enough to be your father that you love him?

"Did ya say anythin'?"

"N-no. It was nothin'. Good night."

"Good night, Scout."

Grateful Sniper hadn't heard him, Scout finally fell asleep right before Sniper started snoring.