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All things considered, things have been working out for Scout.
This mercenary job paid more money than he could ever dream of, his safety was almost one hundred percent guaranteed, and his coworkers weren’t so bad.
Sure, in the beginning, things were a bit rough. A bunch of grown and volatile men sharing the same living space? Jeremy had grown up with a household of brothers, he knew how tense it could get. He could handle it.
However, there was one coworker of his who was exempt from this.
Sniper, whom Scout had spoken to a total of three times, was rarely in their base. During meals, he’d show up sometimes, but other than that? Well, he just simply wasn't there.
After a few weeks Scout found out that it was because he had been allowed to keep a campervan, and had been living in it.
At first Scout was a bit disgusted. Living in a car? No, Scout would never do that again, not when he had a decent bed somewhere.
But…well, it was just that Sniper was all alone. Scout was the youngest member of the team and he didn’t have any responsibility to manage his coworker’s mental health (that was more of Medic’s job, right?). Scout couldn’t help but feel like he could do something about it, though. Among some other rather nasty names, Scout had been called persistent. And persistence was what it was going to take to get Sniper to warm up to him!
Plus, having a friend outside of the base sounded nice.
It started with visiting him every day. Scout woke up early, despite what people thought. He was an athlete, he only slept in on weekends. After downing two cans of bonk, he’d run until it was time for breakfast, and then he’d scarf it down in less than ten seconds.
Sniper rarely ate breakfast. In fact, Scout couldn't recall a time where he had been present for a single breakfast meal.
So, he started bringing him breakfast.
At first, the sharpshooter was not happy with this. Apparently he took the loner thing very seriously, and almost shot Scout the first time he approached the van.
The second time, he nearly chopped Scout’s hand off with his weirdly huge knife.
It wasn't until his third try that Sniper did not respond with violence. The man was actually waiting for him, grumbling to himself and dragging some stick through the dirt.
“Brought you breakfast!” Scout said, shoving the plate into Sniper’s arms.
“Right on time.” Sniper mumbled, before digging in.
Scout grinned, pride seeping further into his ego.
“You didn’t attack me this time!” Scout pointed out.
“No point.” Sniper grunted.
That was the start of their friendship, at least for Scout. It was funny how easy it was to get under this professional killer’s skin.
Scout later found out that Sniper was a good listener. For Scout, it had been hard to get people to listen to him. Hearing Scout? Now that was the easy part. But understanding what he was saying? Scout found that it seemed difficult for people to do.
Everyone except Sniper, apparently.
After matches, Scout liked to train outside. He could do anything, as long as it involved running or baseball. So he’d somehow roped Sniper into batting practice one sunny day.
Scout had been talking since he pulled Sniper over after the end of the match, and he hadn't even noticed that Sniper hadn't spoken a single word until something that Scout had said caused him to chuckle.
And like that, Scout was snapped out of the story he had been entrapped in.
“You know,” Scout said, tossing his ball in the air and catching it, “You can tell me if I talk too much. Everyone says I’m too energetic and annoying so it’s fine!”
Sniper scoffed, “Nah, I like listening. You say a lot of interesting stuff.”
Scout had gawked at him, totally surprised that someone besides his mother thought that.
“Really?!” Scout asked, “Do you really think that?!”
Sniper narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly, “I do…”
Scout just laughed and hugged his friend, elated that he liked listening to him.
Later, Scout would tease him about it, but Sniper would just roll his eyes and scoff.
In addition to becoming Sniper’s friend, Scout had the honor of bringing him closer to the team. It was slow, Sniper was like a cat who had to get used to your smell before he approached. But once he started making regular visits with Scout, everyone began to notice his presence.
And despite the rocky start, everyone seemed to get along. Hell, even Spy, who couldn’t get along with anybody, could be seen chatting it up with Sniper, laughing at his jokes, and even making Sniper laugh at his!
Scout hated Spy, but he could put this hatred aside, if it helped his friend. It wasn't like Spy could abandon him again for this.
It was all going very well. The team cooperated more, they got along well, and now there was hardly any tension, thanks to Scout and his amazing friendship skills.
That was until one fateful day.
It was the weekend, their day off, and Scout, as previously stated, liked to sleep in. It was about noon when he left his room in search for something to do, and had disappointingly found almost everyone occupied.
Heavy and Medic were trying some new, experimental procedure that would take over twelve hours, Engie and Demo were working together for some geeky nerd project. Soldier was making decorations for some holiday with Pyro, and Spy was nowhere to be found.
Scout would have found Sniper at this point, but he said that he was going on a hunting trip today, and now Scout had nothing to do.
He sat in front of the TV for hours, watching cartoons. Eventually he was joined by Pyro and Soldier, who had finished their task.
When Scout heard the telltale sound of Sniper’s van outside, he jumped up.
Finally, something more interesting than weekend cartoons!
Scout put on his sneakers and tore outside, ready to pester Sniper about his hunting trip, silently hoping that he would make more jerky.
He didn’t even knock on the door, because he hadn't needed to in months! He just opened it up and strolled in.
What he saw inside was…not what he expected.
At first, Scout saw Spy, his suit standing out and his body awkwardly leaned over Sniper’s bed. Scout almost asked how Spy had gotten there so early before he realized just who Spy was leaning over.
Under him was Sniper, whose hands were tightly gripping Spy's suit, kissing him. Spy never let anyone touch the damn thing, and now Sniper was wrinkling it! And even worse than that, Sniper was making out with his fucking dad!
There was no way that he could stop himself from screaming.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Scout yelled.
Both Spy and Sniper jumped apart. Spy immediately pushed himself away and stood up, looking almost furious as he fixed his clothes.
“Scout, I-” Sniper started, but Scout continued.
“WHY ARE YOU MAKING OUT WITH MY DAD!?” Scout screamed.
Sniper winced, "You weren't supposed to find out like this."
"You said you were going on a hunting trip." Scout huffed, "That was a lie, then?"
For all Scout knew, it was!
"He wasn't lying about that." Spy said, nonchalantly, "He just didn't tell you who he was going with."
"Yeah! That makes sense!" Scout said sarcastically. There was no way Spy would go on a hunting trip!
"Scout," Sniper said, "I'm sorry you had to find out about our relationship like-"
"Relationship?!" Scout screeched.
This was getting out of hand.
Before Sniper could say another word, Scout stormed towards the door. It probably wouldn't hurt if he slammed it shut behind him while he was at it. It wasn't like he cared about Sniper's stupid van right now.
Sniper stared at the door to his van, unsure of what to do. He knew he should have told Scout sooner, but what could he say?
"Hello best friend, I'm in a relationship with your dad and it's pretty serious, I hope you don't mind."
No, it would have ruined their friendship. It did ruin their friendship.
Sniper sighed, and sat down on his bed, wondering if he should go after Scout and try to explain this to him.
Spy sat down next to him, seemingly understanding his inner turmoil.
"Give him time to cool off, then approach him." He said, as if it were so easy.
"Maybe I messed up." Sniper mumbled.
Spy sighed, "If your goal was to be in his good graces, courting me was not the right choice."
Sniper shook his head, "I didn't mean it like that. I just wish I could have told him instead..."
Spy nodded, as understanding as ever, "I imagine seeing us like that was not a...pleasant sight."
Not for Scout, no.
"I could try and talk to him, but I think that would make this situation worse." Spy continued, "My suggestion: see if he is ready to speak after dinner. A full stomach seems to put people in the mood to have important conversations."
Sniper turned to look at his partner, "How are you so calm about this?"
Spy blinked, then shook his head, "Trust me, dear, I am not."
Dinner was a silent affair. No one knew what had happened between Sniper and Scout, but they could tell that something major went down.
It was Demo’s turn to cook that night, but Engie had helped out, due to Demo’s help in the lab. The two men had served food, watching as everyone dug in. They couldn't help but notice that Scout was sitting far away from Sniper, and refusing to even look at him. He just ate quickly, and stormed off when he was finished, being the first to leave the table for once.
Everyone turned to stare at Sniper for answers, and he merely shrunk under their gaze.
“Gentlemen.” Spy warned, “Don’t get involved.”
“Hard not to, Spy. The boy didn’t speak at all during dinner.” Engie pointed out. Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Sniper must have done something.” Medic continued, “We aren't blaming him, of course, but if he has answers…”
“I’ll fix it.” Sniper said, standing up, and following Scout.
Spy signed as Sniper left the room, though not because of Sniper. No, it was because of everyone else, sticking their noses in Sniper’s business.
It didn’t take long for Sniper to walk to reach Scout’s room. Immediately, Sniper knocked on his door, making sure he had no time to hesitate.
“Come in.” Came the muffled reply.
Opening the door, Sniper looked around the room, seeing that Scout was already sitting on his bed. Scout had his back turned to Sniper, his arms crossed and his face probably supporting a grimace.
"Can we talk?" Sniper asked.
“About?” Scout asked, turning around. His expression didn't change as he spoke. He was playing coy.
“The uhm, the whole…” Sniper trailed off, not quite knowing how to finish the sentence, “the whole thing.”
Scout nodded, "Yeah. Let's talk. Why are you dating Spy?"
A hard question. There were many reasons why Sniper started dating him, for lack of a better term.
"It's hard to explain." Sniper said, "But…" He hesitated, taking a deep breath. "It's complicated."
"Complicated how?" Scout pressed.
Sniper bit his lip. Should he really tell Scout the truth?
Sniper exhaled, "Maybe...I can start from the beginning?"
"Okay..."
All things considered, things were okay for Sniper. This job he found himself in didn't seem like anything different than the other jobs, save for the not dying part of it. He still shot people, and he got paid for it.
And his parents still hated him for this.
As one could expect, that was not good for Sniper. He loved his parents, and it broke his heart to hear such awful things from his dad and to hear his mum agree, in her own kind way.
Before Scout came, Sniper was so sure that he’d do this job, finish it, and die in some dark alleyway at four in the morning. He was so sure that would be what all of his work culminated to.
One day, it all changed.
It was a great challenge for Sniper to get up in the morning. He would wake up early with the intent of doing something useful, and then just stay in bed, utterly unable to do anything but stare up at the ceiling of his van. Until a certain someone began to loudly assault his van.
He had easily gotten out of bed that day, because Sniper chased Scout with his gun. And he was awake and ready the next day when he tried again. By the third day, he had realized that he had woken up in a timely manner instead of reluctantly getting up at the last possible minute.
Maybe he could take Scout's breakfast, if it meant getting up earlier.
Scout had bothered him at breakfast, and Sniper thought maybe that would be it. After all, there was no way that Scout of all people wanted to be friends. Sniper was the complete opposite of Scout. He was reserved, he hated talking about himself, and being the center of attention for even five seconds was too much for him to handle. Not to mention, he was some weird Australian who had just chased the guy like a maniac.
But Sniper quickly found out that it wasn't true. He dragged Sniper along to nearly everything, and he talked his damn ear off in the process. But Sniper didn't mind! In fact, he liked that Scout could talk and talk all he wanted, and didn't expect Sniper to talk back.
Plus his stories weren't so bad, really. He talked about his family a lot, and Sniper had really missed his family.
It didn't take long for Scout to warm the rest of the team up to him. The runner could get along well with anyone if he really tried, so being his friend put him in everyone's good graces.
It wasn't perfect, Sniper still had his doubts and fears, but it was getting better.
That was when Spy started showing up.
It started out small, at first. Sniper was looking for his cigarette box, before realizing he had left it in his van because Scout had all but dragged him out for breakfast. Sniper groaned as he realized he would go the entire day without his pack.
Out of nowhere, Spy's gloved hand appeared in front of Sniper's face, waving a fancy cigar in front of his nose.
Sniper narrowed his eyes at Spy. What the hell did he want?
"You'll need this, bushman." Spy stated simply. Sniper took the cigar.
Spy smirked to himself, and Sniper rolled his eyes.
Sniper thought that would be the end of it, Spy would go back to acting like he was superior.
Sniper was wrong.
At the beginning of the next day's match, Sniper remembered to bring his cigarettes. He put one in his mouth, before he realized he had forgotten the lighter.
Sniper simply sighed and went to take the cigarette out, when a lit flame appeared in front of his face, lighting the cigarette.
"Keep track of your things, bushman." Spy said, before returning to his usual, silent self.
It continued, Spy would insert himself in a small situation, offer a solution, then leave. And it confused Sniper.
Of course he confronted Spy about it. He wasn't going to have someone like Spy snooping around his things.
It happened on a weekend, when Scout was still sleeping in his room. Sniper was bringing back some old dishes, ready to wash them, when Spy appeared, seemingly out of thin air.
"I can help." He said, simply.
Sniper frowned, "Why?"
"Because I'm bored." Spy answered simply, "Besides, I have nothing better to do."
Sniper glared at Spy, but he let the man take off his gloves and start the water.
"You never take off your gloves." Sniper pointed out.
Spy ignored him, focusing on washing the dishes.
"You hate washing the dishes, too." Sniper continued.
"I do." Spy admitted, focusing intently on the plate he was working on.
Sniper watched as Spy worked quietly, trying to figure out what to do. He wasn't sure if Spy was playing some huge trick on him or not.
"Are you bothered?" Spy asked suddenly, surprisinging the sharpshooter.
"No!" Sniper spluttered, before backtracking, "Maybe? Why are you being so nice?"
"What's wrong with me being nice?" Spy asked, finally looking up at Sniper, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Nothing! You're being nice! I just-"
"Do you hate me?"
Sniper froze at the question. Did he hate Spy? Scout did, for completely understandable reasons, but Sniper...wasn't so sure. Was he scared of him? Maybe. Probably.
"No." Sniper answered honestly.
"Then what is wrong?" Spy asked again, sounding concerned.
Sniper frowned, "...I thought you didn't like me."
"I do." Spy replied, sounding surprised by the statement, "In fact, I think you're rather..." Spy trailed off. For once, Spy was at a loss for words.
Sniper let him be. He didn't think that he was being cruel or mean, he just thought that Spy was trying to be nice, and just didn't know how.
After that, Spy started smiling at him. It was strange, Sniper had never seen Spy smile before, and he thought it was...beautiful.
That thought surprised him. It wasn't like he didn't know about his inclination towards men, but he never thought he'd notice Spy, of all people.
Even more surprising, however, was that Sniper had begun to smile back.
Soon, they were friends! Scout was surely Sniper's best friend, but Spy was...just something different.
He felt different around him. Whenever Spy would offer him another cigar, or laugh at one of his terrible jokes, or put a hand on his shoulder, Sniper always felt...safe. Protected. He couldn't stop smiling when they were together, which Spy seemed to enjoy immensely.
It all culminated one night, when Sniper had been sitting outside of his van, poking a fire, and listening to the radio. Scout had turned in less than half an hour ago, and Sniper couldn't bring himself to go to sleep yet.
He had almost made up his mind to go to bed when there was a knock on the side of his camper. Spy appeared from behind it, and grinned at Sniper.
"You're up late tonight, bushman." He pointed out, walking over to Scout's empty seat, which was settled next to Sniper. Spy moved it closer, so close that their knees were bumping together.
Spy seemed different that night. He seemed focused, like he had some unspoken goal in mind.
It made Sniper a little bit excited.
"Can't sleep." Sniper offered. Spy knew how hard it was for Sniper to stay consistently asleep. Usually he offered tips and tried to reassure him, but tonight...
"Well, that may work out in my favor, hmm?" Spy whispered, smirking suggestively.
Sniper felt his face grow warm. Spy liked flirting sometimes, just a joke here and there, but this had been the most blatant attempt yet.
"Maybe..." Sniper said, entirely uncool, "If-If you'd like, but...what does this mean?" Spy meant a lot to him, he didn't want this to be just something Spy wanted once and only once.
Spy smiled softly at Sniper, reaching down and taking his free hand, interlacing their fingers. "If you wanted to court me, I would allow it." He whispered, leaning into Sniper's space slightly. "Forgive me if my proposal seems a bit sudden, I've realized quite a bit about myself recently."
Spy's lips were lightly pressed onto Sniper's cheek, and Sniper could tell that he was withholding.
Sniper pulled back, amd surged forward again to give Spy a proper kiss.
As much as Sniper hated this, he didn't think of Scout until the next morning.
His mind had been completely occupied with Spy, and Sniper forgot that Scout hated him!
He had worried himself almost to death, wondering what he should do. He knew that every moment he waited to tell Scout would make him more upset when it happened but...
Sniper was never good with difficult emotions. His instincts screamed at him to hide away and wait for this issue to pass.
Spy helped, as expected. He assured Sniper that he had loved him, and wouldn't blame him if he decided against this.
"No." Sniper had told him. That thought had been out of the question, because he loved Spy too.
Eventually, Sniper decided that he was going to tell him, after a trip with Spy. They both had clearence to leave for a day, and Sniper had wanted to take Spy somewhere special.
They talked about it a lot during their trip. Spy had assured Sniper that Scout would still be his friend after this, because Scout cared about him.
And Sniper told Spy that he could try and fix his relationship with Scout. Admittedly, Sniper's own relationship with his parents were rocky, but it couldn't hurt to start trying. Even if it was too late
During their trip, everything had been so nice. Sniper was feeling better than he had in months, or maybe even years. When he returned back to the base, he couldn't wait anymore. He just had to kiss Spy, let him know that he loved him very much, and was incredibly thankful to him
And then Scout walked in.
Sniper stared at Scout as he finished his recollection. Scout was glaring daggers into the floor beside his bed, and for a second, Sniper had lost hope that they could mend their friendship.
But Scout just started laughing, and Sniper grinned.
“Dang, you fell in love without me.” Scout said, in between his laughs.
“I did.” Sniper admitted, “I wanted to tell you but…”
Scout’s laughter reigned down, and he let out a sigh.
“Yeah. I…don’t like Spy still, but…well, you have been happy, lately. I don't want to take that away. And if you end up not being so happy, then I’ll just hit Spy with my bat.”
Sniper chuckled, “I know you would.”
He opened his arms, and Scout pulled Sniper in for a hug.
“If we were working any other job,” Scout mumbled, “I think I would have definitely hated you for dating my dad.”
Sniper nodded slowly, “Okay?” He wasn't sure if this was supposed to make Sniper feel better or worse. Probably better, knowing Scout.
“This job is already so weird, man, I think I’d be fine if freaking aliens came from the sky and said we were chosen to continue the human race on some other planet.”
“Scout. If aliens showed up, I think we would just shoot and kill them.”
Scout hummed, "Yeah, we would."