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“Bloody wanker was s’posed to be here an hour ago, where is he?” Sniper muttered, getting up from his chair to go search for Scout, who had previously promised just two days ago to help Sniper with target practice. Now the man was so pissed, he was considering making Scout the target next.
“Oi! Any of you blokes seen that snotty little nance around here?” He called out into the rec room, swinging the door open.
Everyone turned their head towards Sniper, curious at the man’s outburst.
“Oh, Ja! I have seen him, quite a bit actually. He’s feeling under the weather.” Medic explained, flashing his creepy, unnerving smile.
Eugh.
Sniper shook his head. Scout was under the weather, and didn’t even bother at least giving Sniper a heads up? Whatever. He trudged through the room to make his way to Scout’s quarters.
“Ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Medic shouted after Sniper.
The marksman sighed, “Why not? Just gonna talk to him for a mo.”
The team watched as Sniper retreated back into the hallway, before going right back to their previous activities peacefully.
“I warned him.” Medic uttered to Heavy, who nodded in agreement.
Sniper knocked gently on the door of Scout’s room. He waited for a second before speaking, just a little quieter than before.
“Hey mate, I’m coming in.” He may have been upset, but he wasn’t cruel. He wouldn’t shout at his sick best friend.
He creaked open the door, his gaze immediately falling upon Scout, who was currently curled up in a ball trembling slightly underneath a mountain of blankets. Beside the bed were two waste bins, one empty, and the other filled with Bonk! cans.
“Whaddya want.” Were the only words mumbled from underneath the pile of blankets.
“Was wonderin’ when you’d show up to help out, that’s all.” Sniper replied with a soothing ease in his gravelly voice.
Scout let out a quiet groan, shuffling to hide himself even deeper in his pillow nest.
“That was today? Aw geez… sorry Snipes, I’m the worst…” He sulked, his voice mumbled from behind a pillow.
Sniper watched the man mumble and moan in pain from… something. He couldn’t actually tell what was wrong with the guy. He didn’t sound all that sick, he just sounded like he had gotten a swift kick in the gut. For about two hours straight.
“Hey, mate. I don’t mean to pry, but are you contagious?” The marksman uttered nervously, scratching the back of his head as he drummed the fingers of his free hand on the side of the bed.
Scout halfheartedly mumbled something in response. Sniper took care to gently peel off a few layers of blankets, attempting to hear his friend’s voice a little clearer. He signaled for the runner to try again with his words, leaning in closer to hear him. It was hard, but he was trying to bring a more lighthearted tone to the situation. Normally Scout was the energetic and chipper one, but with that role empty and needing to be filled, Sniper would have to suffice.
“‘M not… sick.”
Sniper rolled his eyes at that statement. “Yeah? Then what are you? Because this doesn’t look like tip top shape to me, ‘Roo.”
He playfully pulled off more of the sheets, exposing more and more of Scout’s face. The runner grumbled and yanked back up the blankets, batting away Sniper’s hands.
“I’m on my period, alright? Geez.” He snapped, wrapping himself tightly in his bed to hide himself from the outside world. The outside world specifically being Sniper at the moment.
…Period?
“Scout, yer a bloke. You don’t get those.” Sniper replied as-a-matter-of-factly. Wasn’t Medic just in here? Did the doctor not think to explain to Scout what was actually happening to his body, or did he just think it was so hilarious that he let Scout continue to believe he was menstruating.
“No, jackass! I-“ Scout’s shout fizzled out, turning into a sigh.
“…I’m not a guy. Not like… my parts. Anyway. I am a guy, just… born a girl.” He muttered.
Well now Sniper felt bad.
…Huh, wait, Scout was trans.
“…Well, that explains a thing or two.” He mused.
It was obvious that Scout wanted to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, but Sniper was already on the move. He got up from his seat, quickly patting Scout’s shoulder as he began to walk off.
“I’ll be back, alright?”
With a muffled groan in response, Sniper quietly clicked Scout’s door shut, walking to the kitchen. Nevermind his best friend apparently being a whole new identity, he needed some comfort, stat.
Sniper clicked his tongue in thought, trying to come up with ideas that might help. Admittedly, he didn’t spend that much time around women growing up, nor did anyone ever give him a crash course on what to do for periods because, well, he didn’t have to worry about those. All he had for reference was his mother, and her monthly rituals to soothe the literal bloody monster.
He opened the cabinet, pulling out his #1 Sniper mug. It was obviously his favorite, but he could live with Scout borrowing it for a day.
“Where’s the… ah hah.” He grinned to himself, fishing a box of tea bags out of the back of a cupboard. No one actually drank tea all that much at the base besides a few people like Demo and Heavy. Sniper did too, but he was incredibly particular about his flavors, so he kept them all in his pack.
“No, no, no… ah, there we go.” He smiled, pulling out the correct bag of some sort of chamomile tea.
He put on a kettle of water, leaning against the countertop to wait.
So, Scout dealt with this every month. Was that how often someone went through it? Poor guy, that explained why he would randomly disappear from the battlefield every few weeks or so. Sniper just never bothered to check in… Well now he felt like a crap friend.
He gazed down at the steaming mug, taking a small spoon out of a nearby drawer and stirring lightly before tapping it against the rim of the cup, setting the utensil down, and going back to absentmindedly daydreaming.
“Ah! Junge, how was your visit with Scout?” A voice interrupted Sniper’s train of thought.
Sniper looked up, watching Medic approach with a smile on his face and an empty plate in his hand. He watched as Medic dropped his plate off in the sink and began to scrub it, all while maintaining eye contact the entire time. Weirdo.
“Went well. Making ‘im some tea right now, actually.” Sniper gave a small grin, meekly pointing to the mug in front of him.
Medic glanced down at the cup, then back up at Sniper, still smiling.
“Well, Scout must be lucky to have a… partner like you.” He hesitated on that last bit, like he wasn’t exactly sure what to call the two of them as a pair.
That got the shooter thinking. Was he… just friends with Scout? Was this a friendship thing?
“Well, thank you for taking care of him, I’m sure he could use the company.” Medic interjected one last time, patting Sniper’s shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen area, finally leaving Sniper alone with his thoughts.
He never considered him and Scout lovers. To his knowledge, they were just friends who had gotten close. But then again, how close can you get to someone until they’re more than a friend? Sure, Scout would start spewing praising words towards Sniper on the battlefield, probably more than the rest of the team got from the motormouth. Yeah, maybe whenever the two got scared, Scout would jump into Sniper’s arms like a jumpy cat as Sniper would equally cling onto the runner for comfort. And as much as he tried to repress it, he could never forget the night both of them got incredibly wasted, and spent the entire time in Sniper’s camper van, sharing an intimate moment of quiet cuddles and whispering sweet nothings. But that one was still entirely platonic. Probably.
Alright! Maybe Sniper DID have a crush on Scout. But that didn’t matter! Right now, he was going to stay Scout’s best friend and take care of him until he got better. Then, once Scout was all better, they could talk about their feelings that may have been more than Sniper originally assumed.
…Of course, if this was a monthly thing, there would never REALLY be a good time to talk about it. Yeah, that seemed like a good reason, right?
Sniper looked down, noticing the tea mug sitting there, slowly getting colder and colder by the minute.
“Oop. Looks done to me.” He muttered to himself, stirring the mug one last time before picking it up and carrying it down past the hallway.
He softly pushed open the door, smiling softly at the sight of Scout still wriggling around in his pile of blankets, hidden away from the world.
“Hey, ‘m back.” He murmured, making his way to the bed once again.
“Hey.” Scout mumbled back, sounding more tired than ever.
Sniper gently placed the mug on the bedside table, moving his now free hand to tousle Scout’s bed headed hair.
“Brought you some tea. My mum used it to help with her… thing.”
Scout raised his head ever so slightly to look at the tea, humming in thought.
“Thanks, not thirsty though.” He sighed, flopping back down onto the bed.
Sniper felt just a tad bit ticked off by Scout’s inability to take care of himself, but he wasn’t going to judge him when he was in a state like this. He was going to be here for his friend, no matter what-
“Hey Snipes?” Scout mumbled from his pillow.
“Yeah?”
There was a slight pause, like Scout was considering what to say next.
“Can we cuddle?”
Sniper just about choked on his spit. Out of all the requests, he didn’t expect snuggling up close would be one.
But… this was for a friend. Yeah. A best friend, who was sick and needed some comfort, that’s all. Nothing wrong with loving a friend.
He nodded silently and laid down behind Scout, wedged in between the man beside him and the wall. He moved in to embrace the runner, wrapping his arms around him. His face was angled in such a way that he fit right between the crook of Scout’s neck and his shoulder. Underneath the blanket, he could feel Scout intertwine his legs with Sniper, which, admittedly, he wasn’t arguing with in the slightest.
“This good?”
“…Yeah.”
Sniper laid there, struggling slightly to take off his glasses and outstretch his arm to put them on the bedside table next to the cup of tea that still held all of his complicated feelings. His hat wasn’t easier to discard, simply hanging it on a nearby bedpost would do.
Once he was done shedding his extra clothing, he was greeted by the quiet snoring of Scout from underneath his arms. He tightened his grip just slightly to embrace the man and keep him close.
Friends, lovers, partners, whatever would do, he didn’t care. He would just do anything to prolong this very moment.