1 . Name: :| @ 2014-03-24 00:45

The boy was probably the most fucking annoying person he had ever met.

Sometimes Spy would send him to respawn several times in a match to to watch the cocky grin slip off his face as his knife slid into the boy's chest. Sometimes he would aim for the lungs, just to watch the kid choke and sputter a bit before he died.

That probably wasn't healthy.

He knew the boy wasn't fond of him either. Whenever their eyes met, there was a fiery heat behind the other's, it was the same look the boy had when he was swinging his bat in an arc towards Spy's face on the rare occasion he caught him off-guard. It was almost terrifying, and admittedly alluring. Every time he was killed by the scout his first emotion was rage, and a determination to return the favor, but he felt a tinge of something else.

Spy had had his fill of women. They were still beautiful, he still loved to look, but maybe there was something about the brutality of the war in which he had been immersed that had spoiled his desire for the softer, more pliant gender.

Sleep did not come easy for the Frenchman. He would often lay awake thinking on a variety of things. He would remember his home, the rosy boyhood he had enjoyed, his first love and how he lost it. He'd think of the boy on occasion too, his intrusion into his thoughts was much like the boy himself, loud, obnoxious, and completely unwarranted. He had a feeling, though, that those words were not all there was to the boy. There was something more, something deeper behind him, he wasn't just an over grown child with no filter. Something in his eyes had Spy believing there was something more.

So the spy began to watch Scout. The boy seemed to be wary at first, checking around corners, squinting at spots for the tell tale shimmer of the spy's cloak. He had several chances at the boys exposed back, but he allowed them to pass when the boy wasn't too close to the intelligence or proving to be a nuisance to his fellow blues. The kid was good, he was agile and quick on his feet. The kid was good at circumventing obstacles, finding weak spots and using them to his advantage. He used his speed and advantage to out maneuver his opponents who had a size and strength advantage. Watching the kid made the spy realize, the kid was good at hiding his biggest weapon of all, his intellect.

The kid was cocky and often times underestimated his opponents, but a mistake he made once was one he would never make twice. A lot of the things Scout did surprised Spy, confirming dim suspicions beyond what he had ever expected. His largest surprise of all came when he least suspected it. He was tailing the boy through the blue base when he disappeared swiftly around a corner. As the spy rounded the corner he met an empty space, devoid of the scruffy boy. He stood at a loss for a minute.

Just as he was about to turn around he felt the barrel of a gun press into his back.

"Hey Spook," the voice said, almost friendly.

"Good morning, mon ami," he replied. He hoped the boy didn't make it more painful than it needed to be.

"So uh, Spook. You been following me a bit more then usual these past couple matches."

Ah. He should have anticipated this.

"I think your ego has fed you some unfortunate disillusions," he tried.

"Nah man, even Snipes has been saying he's getting kinda lonely without his daily backstab. I noticed Engie's sentries have been staying up almost the entire match, and when they do go down, it isn't a sapper taking them out. Normally it's that drunk bastard on your team."

The kid paused for thought. Spy could hear his own rapid breathing in the silence. What did he have to fear? He would respawn in a few minutes anyways. The pain. He always anticipated the pain.

"So I guess what I'm getting at, is what the fuck are you doing hanging around a small fry like me. It's not really in your normal routine."

He didn't know what to say, the ruse was up. The silence that hung between them was cut short by the announcer's voice announcing blue victory.

"Aww man, what the fu-," the Scout began momentarily distracted.

Spy seized the moment, fingers slipping into his jacket to grab the butterfly knife. The Scout's sentence was interrupted by knife in his neck. The kid fell to his knees chocking and rasping for air. The Spy, remembering his wish that the boy do it quick, took the knife out and put it through the kids heart. That did it. Normally it was a show of bad sportsmanship to kill after a match had ended, but the boy really hadn't given him any other option.

--------

After dinner he went outside for a smoke. The sun was starting to set and the desolate landscape they had been thrust into looked almost beautiful. He was on the roof of the bridge between the two bases. The medic on his team hated the cigarette smell, and used his concerns about the team's safety from second hand smoke as an excuse to have the spy smoke outside.

This was the first time he had ever tried this spot, though. Normally he sat on top of the barn towards the back of the base to watch the sunset, but today the engineer was trying to remodel his sentries and the noise over there wouldn't allow a moment of peace.

"You're in my spot."

Not now. He wasn't in the mood for this, right now was his time to decompress.

The boy was standing on the far end of the bridge. Spy could see it in his body language. He was still not over the previous incident.

"That was a pretty cheap shot for you to kill me after the fucking match, you goddamn Spook," he spat walking over.

Could he complete one sentence without an expletive? They seemed to be like punctuation to the boy.

"It was in bad taste, I'll admit," he said as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

The boy seemed to be caught off guard, he had probably expected some of the Frenchman's trademark arrogance. Some of his anger seemed to seep out of him and he shifted his gaze away.

They stood in silence a bit before the boy came over and sat next to him. The gesture surprised him.

The sky had turned a soft pink and the clouds were gentle hues of orange and purple. The sun was slipping just below the horizon.

"Geez, can't remember the last time I saw something this pretty," the scout sighed.

He nodded. Today's sunset was the kind that only came around every once in a while. It was the kind the artists would try to capture on canvas, but it was always missing a little of something.

The boy turned to him.

"I'm really serious Spy, why you been after me all these weeks?" It was the first time he had called him something other than Spook.

He took a long draw of his cigarette, exhaled, and flicked the butt into the water below.

"I guess it's just because you're different," he said.

"Like what, I'm young? You a pedo man? Cause I think I'm a bit older than-."

"No, not like that. With you it is something much less physical."

"What?"

Spy sighed.

"The other men here are like wind up toys. They do their job they die, respawn, and head out again. But not you. You aren't running from anything are you? You're here for something other than that."

It was an exceedingly rare moment of honestly for him. Scout took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. It was a sandy blond, a shade lighter than the freckles that dusted his cheeks.

"M'here for Ma, she needs the money. I know she won't say it but raising so many kids has left her without a cent, and she needs better."

"Ah see, there we are. You, Scout, aren't here for the same reason the rest of us are."

"What's that?"

"Some of us are here to prove something to ourselves, that we are a master, a hero... a winner."

The first star had come out. The moon was rising as well, tonight it was large and yellow. He could still see the boys face clearly in the dim light.

"Why are you here?" He asked looking him straight in the eyes. Spy liked that, the kid didn't back down from things, he was honest in his curiosity.

"Me? I came here because I was bored."

The scout looked at him incredulously," Killing people is your ideal way to deal with boredom?"

"It presented a challenge," he said with a wry smile.

The kid cracked one too. Then he let out a chuckle, and a couple seconds later it was an out right laugh. The spy joined in. It had been a long while since he shared a laugh over something other than someone else's misery.

"Ah, god, everything's a bit fucked up ain't it?" Scout asked. He leaned back and laid out on the roof. The sky was smattered with winking stars.

"It's weird to think Ma sees the same sky out in Boston. There the city lights make everything look so faded."

"Yes, I haven't seen the stars like this since I came to work out here."

"Got anyone at home?"

He thought a moment before responding," No one worth coming back to."

The kid looked at him with something akin to pity in his eyes.

"You gotta be lonely."

"Never denied I was, mon ami. It's a part of life"

"Doesn't have to be. Right here, right now, goddamn if I ain't surprised, it's kinda nice. You an' me."

He smiled and nodded, laying back next to the scout.

"Don't get me wrong though, you can still be an absolute dick and sometimes I want to reposition your spine so that I can shove your head up your ass."

He couldn't let him have this one moment.

"Ah, oui, and sometimes I wish your mouth would spew sewage which would be sweeter than the normal filth that comes out of it on a daily basis."

They both shared a laugh.

-------

After that the boy was hard to kill.

Well no. Technically speaking, he was just as easy to knock off, but Spy found a part of him didn't want to kill the boy. When he had to out of necessity, he felt an odd mix of guilt and nausea. He had begun to think of the boy as his friend. He had a friend.... That was pretty unprecedented. Spy, by his very nature could be quite unlikable. His sadistic tendencies and arrogance alienated him from most of his team. He and the sniper were on civil terms, but that was likely because the bushman did not talk much, and as such the Spy had little material with which to incite a petty squabble.

He instead took to the habit of incapacitating the kid. Breaking a leg or dislocating a shoulder usually got the kid scrambling out of the blue base to find his medic.

The kid was good though. He used blind spots to his advantage and learned to tread softer so that he could listen for signs of the spy. It was like their own little game of hide and seek where the loser got knifed.

They started meeting everyday at sunset by an abandoned silo a bit away from the camp. There they would climb up onto the roof of an abandoned building, on the side facing away from the bases. Friendship between enemy teams was not appreciated by the administrator, they both knew. Spy would say he was heading out for a smoke, like he usually did, and Scout told his teammates he was going on a run. Nothing out of the norm.

Sometimes they sat in companionable silence, but more often than not the scout would fidget and ramble on about every thing that came into his mind. He talked about his family at home, his friends, and baseball.

"Whatcha gonna do after this?"

He took a draw on his cigarette before stating," I don't know. Never really saw much beyond this."

He turned his head to look at wide blue eyes.

"C'mon man, you ain't serious are you? This is it?"

He sighed," I honestly haven't given much thought to it. What about you? Plan to start a family after all this, find a girl?"

Scout laughed," Heh, no. Two problems with that," he said holding up two fingers to the spy. "One, I ain't ready to settle down jus' yet. Two, women ain't my type if you catch my drift."

Spy choked out the puff of smoke he had just inhaled. There was that frank demeanor again, always managing to throw him off balance just when he thought he had the kid's personality nailed down.

The scout smirked a little at his response, "Surprised?"

Something about the smug look on Scouts face irritated Spy," Not at all, it explains why you are such a fleur in battle."

That wiped the smirk right off, like a dishrag would an unpleasant stain.

Suddenly the boy's face was close into his own.

"What you trying to say to me Spook," he could feel the boy's hot breath on his face and suddenly he felt a shock of excitement run through him. There was something predatory in the boys eyes. They looked almost but not quiet the same as they did during battle.

"I am merely suggesting your litt-" he began before Scout cut him off.

"I ain't no runt," he growled, anger turning into cold fury. Then he was on the spy. He had him pinned by the wrists. Spy could feel the strength, the firm grip in the boy's bandaged hands. It was strong, but he was stronger. In a quick motion he had the boy pinned underneath him, slamming his head against the metal roof. The boy looked up, eyes glassy and dazed. His eyes were sky blue and his mouth hung slightly ajar, a pink tongue just barely touching his bottom lip.

Spy closed the distance between them and gave the boy a rough kiss. Scout was too dazed to react for a couple seconds.

Then he bit him. Hard. The spy drew back with a snarl on his face. He expected to look down and see disgust, anger, indignation perhaps. Instead the Scout looked at him with that same cocky smile he threw every time he slid past Spy with the intelligence, or right before his bat connected with the Frenchman's face. He was egging him on. The boy had to know nothing good would come from such blatant baiting.

He rolled his hips against the younger. He could feel the boy was getting aroused as well. Scout let out a soft groan, almost intelligible. His mouth was open, an infatuation that Spy took advantage of. He tasted his own blood in the Scout's mouth. Scout kissed back hard, energetic. Soon they were both out of breath and they broke apart, faces close, panting. His hands were still clenched around the Scout's wrists hard enough to bruise. He still had a look in his eye that fed something carnal in the Spy. Defiance? Lust? A mixture of the two? He took up the challenge.

He had been kneeling above the boy but now he shifted to roughly grind against him. The result were some ungodly sounds slipping out of the boy. He looked down into the boy's face as grunts and mewls slipped out, a few octaves higher than expected and with a breathy cadence about them. His cheeks were flushed and his hat was slipping off onto the roof. Strong legs kicked futilely underneath him, desperate for purchase. He made the boy suffer for a little while longer before releasing his hands and getting up towards the ladder at the edge of the roof.

It took Scout a minute to react.

"Hey wait a minute, we ain't done here," he called out, half a whine.

"You may not be, but I am," and with that he was on the ladder and in the next moment he had slid down and was on the ground. It took the Scout triple the time to get down and by then the Frenchman was cloaked and already halfway back to the base. He had left behind a very flustered and aroused Scout.

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