Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The air was hot and dry. It was getting to the middle of summer and the temperatures in the gravel pits were steadily rising every day. Footsteps tromped overhead as the firebug swam under the bridge in to the enemy base. They couldn’t exactly tell if in was their team, or if it was the reds, but Pyro was sure it was a scout and soldier. The pyro waited in the tunnel for a moment as the splashing sounds calmed a bit and, after not hearing the beep of a sentry, continued on their marry way to the depths of the RED base.

They waited for a moment for a freshly respawned demoman to charge out the front gates before proceeding. Once they reached the opening, the pyro made a quick right up the stairs. Yes, it would be easy enough to turn left and head for the intel, but pyro knew it wasn’t their job. Besides, what if they actually had gotten the intel? The pyro knew they were nowhere near fast enough to get away from an enemy, and it was nearly impossible to get past a sentry on your own.

No, getting the intelligence was not the pyro’s job, but they had an equally important one. Pyro stepped lightly onto the balcony of the RED base after waiting and listening for the respawn room to clear out, and of course he was there. He always was, sniping was his job after all! A quick air blast sent the Australian flying in to the opposing wall, just in time to make him miss the BLU scout that was coming over the bridge roofing,

“Nice one mumbles,” The Bostonian shouted back to the pyro as he ran past. They knew Scout wouldn’t be anywhere close enough to respond, so they simply smiled to themself under their mask and decided to attend to the sniper. One airblast wouldn’t kill someone, so the job needed finishing. The BLU could hear a groan from inside the small resupply room that they had blasted the sniper into as they approached, and couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the sniper. His lanky limbs were sprawled out on the floor- one groped for his hat and placed it heavily back on his head. Seems like hitting the wall really threw him for a loop… He almost looked harmless on the floor like he was. The Pyro kneeled by the enemy sniper to get a better look at the dazed subject, what was the harm anyway? He seemed to have a concussion and would be of little threat!

He looked almost exactly like their Sniper, save for the fact that the BLU sniper always grew out his beard instead of shaving it to stubble. They ran a finger over a scar on the aussie’s left cheek, when suddenly the Australian’s hand flew up and grasped the pyro’s wrist, causing a small screech on surprise and a flinch.

The sniper did nothing. He held pyro’s hand tight enough that they couldn’t easily escape, but other than that he just stared from behind cracked sunglasses. They tugged against his grip and huffed, they didn’t want to have to kill him yet! It may have happened every day, but it was tiring to the firebug to never get to really see who they were killing. They just wanted to know someone for once… oh well. Before the Pyro had a chance to grab their fire axe, the sniper groaned and let go of their gloved hand,

“bloody hell… if you’re going to kill me do it with your shotgun… “His voice sounded wet, like he was talking through blood. Air blasts at short range to walls did do a good bit of damage, but they supposed if the sniper was already hurt it might have just done him in.

The pyro stood and gathered their weapons, lastly picking up their shotgun. They looked down at the helpless man below and aimed it. The sniper closed his eyes as heard the pyro rack the weapon, and waited… and waited… and waited.

Hearing footsteps walking in the opposite direction, he slowly he opened his eyes. The pyro had decided to spare him and had even left a small health bottle next to him. The pain in the Sniper’s chest and back was growing unbearable, but the pills would keep him alive long enough to hobble back to resupply.

“Thank you,” he whispered, hoping the BLU had not heard him.

Chapter Text

A week had passed since that BLU had saved the Sniper’s life, and for the life of him he still couldn’t figure out why. He had never seen a pyro show emotion aside from murderous glee in all his experience, let alone mercy. The Australian fired of a shot, nailing a soldier in the throat mid rocket-jump. Damn… That should have gotten him in the eye. He needed to stop thinking about that BLU. He lowered his weapon and shuffled to a different window; it never was good to stay in the same place for too long in his life of work, and Well had many excellent vantage points.

The Sniper brought the scope back up to his eye just in time to see a dueling pair of scouts be hit by a train, their bodies dragged off to wherever those locomotives were headed. He chuckled to himself, but quickly hardened as the subject of his thoughts came in to his cross hairs. Everyone feared pyros, and they had good reason to. They were cruel and merciless… Maybe this whole thing was a mind game, or maybe it was just a random happening. Pyros were aliens or monsters or something of the like, it didn’t matter if one spared his life once. Sniper aimed and pulled the trigger, leaving behind only a corpse and a scream that gave him a strange pain in his heart.

The day moved on, and the sniper had not seen the pyro again. The scores for RED and BLU stood at 2:1 respectively, and no points had been scored for about twenty minutes. Why hadn’t he seen that pyro again? Maybe it decided to stay and protect the BLU base… maybe respawn had malfunctioned and it was dead for good. That would be an ironic turn of events, It saved him, and he killed it. A sudden announcement from a far too close speaker let him know that their intelligence had been taken and startled him from his thoughts. Shit, he didn’t have time to fantasize about dead enemies; he needed to focus on the battle at hand.

He hefted his weapon and set sights on the streak of BLU and papers running from his base, this kid made headshots far too easy. He waited for the scout to run in to his line of sight, so close, almost there, he began to ease on to the trigger when an abrupt pain struck him in the back. He fell to the ground, and respawned moments later. Damn bloody spooks…

The score was now 2:2, but if their engineer kept his wits then-

“Oi… engie?” Sniper stood, teeth grinding, in the main respawn hall. A level three sentry beeped and buzzed away.

The American tipped his hardhat to the taller RED, “’Mornin’ Sniper, how was yer little nap there?” He gestured to the respawn room with a freshly opened beer.

He snarled, “Why are you set up here, and not in there?” He walked quickly to the side of the smaller man, made even shorter by the fact that he was lounging in that damned mechanical chair of his.

“Well ya see, someone was distracted and let their Heavy get all the way in to our base an’ he destroyed my darlin’,” the stocky man took a swig of beer, “If Pahro hadn’t come and gotten ‘im and his medic from the be-hind, I’d be dead meat right now and our intel’d be gone,”

Sniper grimaced, he knew exactly who engineer meant by “someone”, damn his wandering thoughts, “I’m asking why you’re not set up back where you belong,” The sentry snapped in his direction, rockets just barely missing him and destroying an intruding scout. Poor kid, judging by his speed he must be tired from the battle, that of he was losing his touch.

The engineer shrugged and leaned back in his chair, “ ‘Ve only got five minutes left before the mission ends in a stalemate, figured I’d let Pahro take care of the intel room,”

No… no this didn’t seem right. It sounded like a good idea, sure… but something was off. What was disturbing him about all this? This was obviously their Engineer, and it seemed like everything would end in a stalemate. What could be-

“THE ENEMY HAS TAKEN OUR INTELIGENCE.”

The two REDs looked each other before bolting for the intel room. First noticing the scorched pyro on the intel platform, then they saw the BLU streak running up the stairs and out of the intel room,

“Way ‘ta go mumbles! They’re all yours!” The scout yelled as he got further and further away.

Scout? He had just seen him die out in front of resupply, there was no way he could have respawned and gotten back so fast! …Unless it wasn’t really the Scout that was killed. Sniper watched the Texan run after the BLU as he walked over checked the platform for any more spies.

No wonder that Scout was so slow; it wasn’t actually the scout, it was that damn Spy who backstabbed him! They knew RED would let their guard down after seeing the most detrimental enemy die… the scout must have slipped in over their heads through the back way while he was talking to engineer.

The Aussie was stirred from his thoughts as he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He jumped from the platform and whirled around to see who was there, but in his mind he already knew. Who else could have burned their pyro to death?

“THE ENEMY HAS DROPPED OUR INTELIGENCE.”
He looked up to the BLU pyro who had so distracted him this match, “Guess your Scout got a little too cocky, huh?”

He waited for some sort of mumbled retort, but none came. The pyro continued to look at him, fire axe in one hand and the other on its hip.

“What’re you looking at me like that for? Aren’t you going to attack me?” He drew his kukri as he spoke, yet Pyro still said nothing. Instead, the BLU shook its head and turned to leave. What the hell? The sniper followed after the firebug, grabbing its arm and spinning it around to look at him, “At least say something!” His voice sounded far angrier than he intended, and the response of giggles didn’t help his temper.

“WE HAVE TAKEN THE ENEMY INTELIGENCE”

He shoved the BLU away at the intercom statement, “Just because you won’t fight me, doesn’t mean I’ll reciprocate!” He lunged at the Pyro with his knife, stumbling as the other dodged, “Bloody Wanka!”

Sniper chased the BLU, trying to land a blow- trying to make that annoying giggling stop! Why was this monster laughing at him in the first place? Was his rage really that funny? Why was he this pissed off in the first place… it was just another enemy, it didn’t matter if the Pyro wouldn’t attack, it was just more to his advantage!

He chased the BLU out of the base, swinging and cursing as he went. At least at this point the pyro had taken up the axe in a more offensive hold. The RED swung again, stumbling as they ran over the bridge, heel catching on the railing and sending him straight in to the water. Damnit…

He could hear the Pyro laughing as he neared the surface of the water, “Yeah yeah, laugh all ya wan-“as he was hoisting himself out of the water, he noticed the extended glove covered hand.
“wamf fum hmlp?” The BLU giggled down at him, but not in a malicious way.

The pyro seemed… genuine somehow. Sniper took the hand, gaze of suspicion glaring from behind his damp glasses. Pyro helped him out of the water and to his feet, patting him on the back as he did so. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say the monster was smiling behind that mask… Out of the corner of his eye he could see their scout running in to the RED base with the intel. If that was the last capture then that would mean…

Sniper let out a loud groan, “Come on,” He grabbed the pyro’s arm pushed it in the direction of the BLU base. There would be at least a lesser chance that it would be killed if it stayed there, but he sure as hell wouldn’t let that thing be behind him with that back burner. Maybe this whole thing if he spared the BLU’s life once? A life for a life sort of thing… To be honest, he didn’t understand why he suddenly started making excuses in his head.

“YOUR TEAM HAS SECURED THE ENEMY INTELIGENCE. YOU WIN.”

The usual screams of death came from the other team, and as the BLU base was emptied, the REDS came filing out to their base in hopes of finding someone there. The red team waited for a train to pass -one or two of them mistakenly standing too close to the track and being sucked under the thing- and sniper let out another groan. He turned around, pushing the BLU in to the water behind them,

“Stay low, the humiliation round should end before you run out of air,” With that, he left the BLU and caught up to his team to go storm their own base. He’d repaid whatever debt he owed Pyro now, maybe now it- or they… they would fight back.

Chapter Text

Twelve AM came very differently for each team. The BLUs all rested in their barracks, Scout snoring away in one of the most uncomfortable looking sleep positions you would have ever seen and the Soldier sleeping quietly with his eyes wide open. He was the one who instated the “All in bed by 10:30, awake and doing drills by 5:30” rule, and he made sure everyone followed it- by force if he had to.

You had to admit, though, being well rested aided them all in battle.

Pyro slept soundly in their favorite star footsies, having wonderful dreams of someone they probably shouldn’t be thinking about- let alone liking enough to dream about. All things considered, dreaming of the handsome RED sniper-in-shining-armor coming to save the ever lovely Princess Pyro from a high tower with his excellent grappling-hook aim… was one of the more mild dreams they had been having of him lately.

The REDs, on the other hand, were a different story. Demoman and the Heavy were still in the mess, drinking and talking the night away. Most of the team was either trying to sleep in their respective living quarters or watching some VHS movie in the common room. Sniper couldn’t stand how noisy the base was at night; he literally moved out to his camper on the second night of being on the team.

Tonight was more restless than those of the week prior, though his thoughts were consumed by the same thing- or person. He really should stop thinking of the Pyro as an “it” instead of a “him”… or was it “her”? His mind raced with thoughts and various questions. They were enemies, so they were meant to kill each other, and that means it’s okay to kill each other. Nothing had changed from two weeks prior so he should still be able to shoot the Pyro without feeling guilty, and the only reason he did was because the BLU had spared him like that. If that was truly the case and it was a one-time thing though, why hadn’t they attacked him in the intel room? The Australian rolled over on his back to look up at the ceiling.

Why did they giggle so much? It wasn’t even a manly chuckle… it was a giggle. It was almost a cute giggle... He shook his head, covering his eyes with his forearm. You’re not allowed to talk to the opposing team, let alone find one of their more deadly members “cute”. On top of that, pyro wasn’t someone he should find cute in the first place. They were a man, right? It’s not like he was particularly picky with lovers in the past, but he’d absolutely never found any other male “cute”.

A thought suddenly struck him like the soft kiss at the end of a fist; what if the pyro really wasn’t a man? He sat up in bed and crossed his arms in contemplation… Nobody knew anything about the pyros, but it was safe to assume that the RED and BLU pyros would be similar, just like any other class on each team. He knew for a fact that their Pyro had a pink flower purse, but you can’t really judge someone by their accessories. If you did that, then you could say the BLU Spy was a woman for those three-inch platform heels he wears to match the Red spy in height.

He flopped back down on the small fold out bed, allowing his arms to dangle off the sides. He slowly raised a hand to trace the scar on his cheek. Sniper could still remember the feeling of that gloved hand touching his face so gently, as if he were a wounded animal, and the smell of gasoline so close to his face. He closed his eyes as he re-lived the moment, his heart fluttering. His eyes shot back open and he groaned to himself, he remembered what this mixture of feelings in his head, heart, and stomach from back in his school days.

The sharpshooter forced his eyes closed and tried to make himself fall asleep and forget this idiotic realization. He needed his sleep anyway, there was a long weekend ahead of him, he would have plenty of time to clear his mind of the Pyro. Maybe he would go to the market in town tomorrow and make a healthy meal for himself instead of having to eat Scout’s sugary cereal or soldier’s MREs…

He was far too old to have a crush anyway.

Chapter Text

Teufort was its usual self the next day, with bright blue skies and one or two wispy clouds. It was a nice 29 degrees outside, which made perfect shopping weather.

With a day as lovely as this, how could Pyro not go in to town? The refrigerator needed restocking anyway, and everyone was happier and better at their job when they ate well. The market would be a perfect place to go. Outdoors in nice weather, and not while you had someone to kill! What could be better? Pyro set out after deciding on an agreeable street outfit and letting those who were still at the base know where they were going.

It was around ten in the morning when the Sniper finally woke up. He stretched, quickly dressing in his clothes from the previous day before heading in to the base for a cure to the ache in his stomach. As usual, nobody was still around.

He didn’t know nor much care where they all went on the weekends, he was happy as long as they were back on Monday. Sniper made his way to the mess hall refrigerator to stop the burn in his belly, only to remember his resolution to get food after being greeted by an empty fridge.

“incredible,” he mused to himself sarcastically, resting his head on the fridge door.

He slammed the door shut before returning to his camper to freshen up with a shower and clean clothes, before starting up his van and beginning the short drive to the market. He was tired, the bags under his eyes could tell anyone that much. What had he been thinking about so much late last night? Was it next week’s battle? The base change? They would be sent to snow fortress in a couple of months for the season change, but he didn’t think that’s what was keeping him up.

He laughed to himself as he pulled to a stop light, Pyro was going to hate being in such cold weather for three months-Oh, right. The Pyro. The Aussie sighed, now wishing he had a working radio in his van so he wasn’t stuck with his thoughts when driving.

He parked his van in a lot by the farmer’s market, before looking over the rows of stalls set up with prices and fresh looking fruits and vegetables. The RED lost himself in thought as he started walked down the many aisles of produce. He had to get his mind off the battlefield and anyone that might come with it, especially ones with cute giggles.

Maybe he should finally find himself a girlfriend like his parents wanted, a nice girl with a cute smile, one who could take care of him and was sweet. Hell, at this point they’d be happy if he had a nice man with the same qualities! They didn’t even have to be pretty, just nice. The Australian let out another sigh, he just wanted someone to share part of his life with, he supposed. That was normal for a man of his age, right? There were plenty of single men and women at the market, maybe he would be able to find someone who could cook.

He chuckled at his own stupid thoughts and fantasies, stopping to look at some produce on a fruit stand next to him. He shrugged with a huff at the half-bruised apples, continuing down the aisle. He looked down the line of merchants- there were fruit stands for apples and peaches, a stall selling assorted nuts by the pound, but the only thing that caught his eye… was her.

At the very end of the aisle of stalls stood a girl wearing a floppy sun hat that covered her face and hair, a pair of what looked like white gloves, and a long sleeved dress that beautifully caught the light summer breeze. The black combat boots on her feet off-set the grey tights she wore on her legs. She looked slightly pear shaped, and utterly beautiful to him.

She carried an over filled fabric bag, stuffed to the brim with what he assumed to be freshly bought produce, that could be a good excuse to talk to her. Now was as good a time as any to try and meet someone, right? There’s no shame on courting someone you meet at the market… Well who was he kidding, it was full of shame, but he was going to try it anyway. He straightened his glasses and waited for her to leave the stall she occupied before walking up to her.

He cleared his throat before speaking, “Excuse me miss? That bag looks a might heavy, would you like- would you mind if I carried it?” It wasn’t hard to stay calm and have his words come out deep and smooth. He was a trained assassin, keeping the nervousness out of his voice was easy, “that is, if you don’t mind,”

The lady paused for a moment before giggling, turning around and nodding while holding the bag out for him to take. Sniper grinned and took the bag, finally getting a look at her face. He’d imagined a girl with squishy cheeks and short hair, but his grin faded slowly once he realized that her face was actually a quite familiar gas mask.

“You…” he groaned, resting his face in his free hand, “Why are you here?” He was fed up with the universe’s cruel sense of humor at the moment; did life really hate him that much? Why couldn’t he have just ONE nice thing?

“Uh whz shupnf!” The pyro replied, pointing to the bag in Sniper’s hand, “Cuhm on,” The BLU motioned for the Aussie to follow, which he did with a sigh- making sure to sling the bag safely over his elbow.

Fine. You know what? Fine. He gave up, if life was going to do this to him, he was going to play along, “Ahr yuh ftil shupnf too?”

At lease he was able to understand him… her? The dress seriously wasn’t helping his question about the pyro’s gender, “Yeah, base’s rations are running low-” he swore the pyro’s eyes light up once he spoke.

The shorter then proceeded to drag Sniper all over the market to seemingly random stalls, telling him what and how much to buy. Soon enough Sniper found himself carrying two over stuffed bags of food and, surprisingly, himself having a nice time.

He continued making excuses in his head, but now for why it was okay to be at the market with this weird frienemy of his and not to suppress any childish feelings like before. They were off duty, nobody would care. They were adults who can choose to spend time with who they want, right?

About an hour passed of the two of walking, talking, and mingling with other customers here and there before Sniper finally decided to speak on a subject other than shopping, “Mind if I ask something?” He started as the two made their way through the now full lot to his van.

The BLU ticked their head to the side with an “mmHm?” letting the sniper know he could go ahead, “earlier when I saw you and called you miss…didn’t that bother you?” Now seemed like a fine time to find out a little more about the pyro- gender pronouns seemed like as good a place to start as any.

The shorter simply shook their head, “Yhu shldhn’t ashuhm what fhmehne if bhy thehr chlothef… buh, miff if fihn,” Sniper could swear he saw a smile through that mask, so he decided he could go further
“So… you’re a sheila?” The pyro shrugged their shoulders and made an uncertain noise,

“Mahby, mahby nht, bht you chn chll mh hne,” The pyro looked down as they walked, fiddling with their gloves, “ ‘She’ hr ‘hur’ if fihn” He nodded before turning his attention to his van.
Sniper balanced the bags on his knee as he unlocked the driver door, quickly placing them inside before hopping in himself. He popped the passenger door open and motioned for Pyro to get in, “I’ll give you a ride back to the bases’ split off, it would be rude to leave a lady to walk,”

The BLU giggled and hopped in with a ‘Fhnk You,” Pyro then took off their hat and sat it between the front seats.

The drive was quieter than Sniper would have liked, but he didn’t want to make the Pyro anymore uncomfortable than they-she probably was, being in a RED’s car and all… although she didn’t seem very worried. He was still unsure about the BLU’s gender but being told that he could call them a she was good enough for the moment, not to mention it put him a bit more at ease.

The vehicle pulled to a stop once they neared the base split off. Sniper would have liked to leave the BLU closer to their base, but neither of them would want to face the consequences of being seen with each other. Pyro thanked the RED again for the ride before quickly gathering their bag and exiting the van with a quick wave. The sniper thought to himself as he watched the pyro walk the street toward their base, regretting not starting a conversation with their new… What was Pyro to him? Not exactly friends, but he didn’t feel hate to the BLU either. She seemed nice; he might even regret killing her in the next week’s missions. Sniper parked his van in front of the base, resting his head on the steering wheel. What was he really doing? He’d seen how much trouble Jane and Tavish’s relationship got them in, so why would he risk jus job let alone his life for the mumbling BLU? He sighed, getting up from his seat and heading to the back of his camper to relax- find something to take his mind off his poor choices for a while. The Aussie stopped in his tracks when he noticed the Pyro’s floppy hat still sitting on the floor. Oh, she must have just forgotten it… He have another sigh before picking it up and continuing in to his camper; he’d worry about that little piece of evidence later.

Sniper spent the rest of the weekend relaxing away from the rest of his noisy team, not feeling very inclined to put all the produce he’d purchased in the base’s refrigerator. If the team starved, it was their own fault for not feeding themselves.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful to say the most. Food was made, conversations were held, and all BLUs complained about how short the weekend break was. Pyro did not really see the problem in the impending week; they actually wished it would come faster. While payload missions were one of their personal favorites, (there really was nothing quite like airblasting a group of enemies away from your cart) the pyro really couldn’t help but look forward to seeing Sniper again.

Finally, they had the chance to learn more about someone! Pyro did not exactly know why they felt this magnetism toward the RED, they just knew that the way he looked injured on the ground and the way he thanked them for not killing him… It put an odd feeling in the BLU’s tummy. It wasn’t a bad feeling mind you- the fire bringer liked it in fact.

Chapter Text

The anticipation as you wait behind the gates is one of the most exciting and terrifying feelings you can ever experience- at least that was Pyro’s opinion. Their first payload mission was held on the upward map, and as usual, REDs were flooding the front gates. Pyro could see the RED engineer setting up a sentry around the corner of the first check point; they would have to kill the engineer quickly once Spy sapped it so that he wouldn’t knock it off.

The ten second mark was announced, signaling the REDS to retreat to a better vantage point to kill the BLUs. Pyro glanced around for any sign of cloaked spies outside, but honestly they could never tell. Their best bet would just be to run out the doors blazing. Silence fell over the BLU team as the final seconds ticked by. It looked like the medic had already built up an uber- which he would probably use on the heavy.

Sometimes Pyro wished Medic would charge the other members of the team, but they understood it was easiest to follow the heavy and charge him. After all, he was the biggest teammate and could easily act as a healable meat shield for the tiny German. The opposing scout taunted them with his usual things of calling heavy fat and insulting their BLU counterpart. Thank goodness their airblasts worked through the gates; if they couldn’t send the loud-mouthed Bostonian away they would go insane from his jabbering. Pyro was pulled from their inner ramblings as they heard the final countdown begin.

5…4…3…2…1!

A single red dot appeared through the gates as the doors flew open. Then, with a bang and a crimson spray, the Medic fell to the ground. Looks like their new friend was somewhere out there, they’d have to find him later and “repay” him for the wasted uber. Pyro followed scout to the cart, quickly checking for spies before charging ahead to clear the way for the rest of their team.

Sniper reached his normal spot to survey the BLU team in record time and easily set up his rifle (muscle memory was a wonderful thing after all). He hoisted the weapon to his shoulder and quickly looked over the opposition, immediately seeing her in his sights. She seemed to be distracted in her thoughts- or at least he assumed do. It was hard to tell through that mask but he knew if the pyro were fully listening to her surroundings, she would have already blown the scout away from their gates.

He aimed, laser pointer square in the middle of her forehead. Now he would just have to wait till the gates opened and he could easily get her attention. Sniper was aimed carefully and about to pull the trigger when he noticed the man next to the pyro. The medic stood behind their heavy, blue crosses emanating off of him. If that was the case, then he already had a full uber charge, and would no doubt activate it first step out the door. Damn, Pyro would get a free pass this time; he needed to think of his team’s victory more than some dumb attempt to make the pyro notice him.

He re-aimed and, after the gates opened, waited for the best shot and pulled the trigger. The heavy cursed his “doctor” for being so clumsy as he carried on to the cart, a barrage of bullets greeting him. The aussie quickly lost track of Pyro in the thick of battle, though in hindsight shooting the girl you like in the head was probably a bad idea; it actually sounded like something a kindergartener or scout would try.

Payload missions generally went faster than any others, which the sniper liked, but they required him to move around more than usual, which he hated. There were only so many back-ways he could go through to avoid enemies as he went from vantage point to vantage point, and while he could easily sneak up on any animal, sneaking past the other team was a completely different story. He lready just nearly missed the BLU scout - who in all honesty would not be much of a threat, but if sniper HAD killed him he would have respawned griping about the RED, which would send other more threatening enemies after him. Sniper still refused to run out in the open though, being a sitting duck just didn’t sit right with him.

From the sound of things, it seemed as if the BLU team would be winning this round. Last time he checked the cart was one check point away from the final terminus, and unless his team could keep them away from the drop for ten minutes, the REDS would surely lose. The aussie peeked down the hall of the interior building. Not a BLU in sight, now was his time to move.

He trotted cautiously down the hallway to the innermost workings of the building, soon he would be in the room that held the final terminus and would easily be able to snipe from one of the balconies. His rifle slung over his back and kukri in hand, he stalked toward the door leading in to the main room. It didn’t look like anyone was there, save for Engineer and his sentry. Sniper sheathed his knife and began setting up his rifle.

The announcement that the cart was reaching endgame boomed loud over the intercoms. Damnit, he’d have to move faster if he wanted to-

“Ahem,” The sniper was jerked from his concentration as he heard that oh-so familiar voice taunt him from behind, “You know, bushman, you should really be more careful about watching your back,” The annoying French accent cooed from his back as a sharp pin penetrated his spine. The last thing he heard was that damn Spy’s obnoxious snorting laughter.

The BLUs won as the sniper waited in limbo for respawn to bring him back, it was a sour bit of luck –if you could call it luck- that he even came back in this match at all. One second left before the humiliation round came in to effect, and he spawned back in. Perfect. It seems as if the winning team had already cleared out the spawn and left before he reappeared, so that might be counted as lucky. The Australian sighed, might as well stay in here he supposed, there was a slim enough chance that anyone would come back to the clear spawn that he might even survive! …or at least that’s what he had hoped.

The Pyro trotted in to the room brandishing their shot gun as if right on some celestial force’s cue. Sniper was beginning to hate how funny the universe thought it was to put him in these situations.

It had been a difficult day’s work, but they’d finally done it. The pyro was so excited that their team had gotten a win after such a long dry streak, victory did indeed taste sweet. The only down side to the battle was that they had not gotten to see Sniper at all. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t seen any sign of him since killing that medic when the mission first started! It could possibly have been because they were leading the front and smoking out the spies, but the firebug preferred to imagine the sniper sparing them on purpose. It felt… nicer that way.

Pyro trotted around the bases looking for more REDs to roast when, as luck would have it, they just so happened to find him in his spawn! The BLU could have sworn they cleaned this place out already, but they were not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. The pyro looked to see if anyone else was around and, after they were sure the two of them were alone, proceeded to walk up to the Australian with a friendly wave and a muffled “Hey!”

The sniper sighed as he leaned against the resupply cabinets, “Hey yourself,”

The shorter giggled and joined him by the metal locker, “Huw’d yhu ght herh?” Sniper shrugged,

“The respawn’s timer must be off or something, it brought me back right before you got here,” He gave a shrug and looked over the BLU. How on earth did this puffy thing fit in to that dress last weekend? Did she stuff the suit? She did look pretty flat in that dress though… maybe she was so used to binding for work that it was just a habit by now.

Sniper reminded himself of what happened that weekend, suddenly remembering their little problem,

“By the way…” He started, taking off his hat to wipe his brow from the humid room, “You left your hat in my van,”

Pyro gasped, “Oh ghfh yhu’rh riht!” They put their gloved hand over their breathing mask, “Duh you fthll havh it?”

“Of course I do, wouldn’t throw away a lady’s belongings,” He scoffed, “But, I do need to get it back to you…” He trailed off in thought.

The pyro looked at his face; it was easy to tell he was somewhere else. The wondered what he was thinking about, though it was probably something along the lines of getting their hat back to them without being seen. There was no way they could do that at work… but on the weekend was certainly an option!

An idea struck the BLU, “Oh! Huw abhut thif weekhnd?” The sniper snapped out of his thoughts,

“What about it?” He looked down at her gas mask through yellow tinted lenses. Pyro seemed oddly excited,

“Therf a phrk abhut a mhle frhm thwn, we cohld gho therh!,” The pyro bounced up and down slightly at their brilliant idea; they could get their hat back, which they had “accidently” left behind, and they would have a perfect chance to learn more about Sniper! It would be like a date- except only for business and mutual knowledge of course.

“Hm… Alright, sounds like a plan. S’ better than the thing gathering dust on my night stand for the rest of its life,” Sniper smiled to the BLU, “Saturday sound good?,” he may have been thick when it came to women, but he was no moron. If she had wanted an excuse to talk, she could have found an easier excuse. Though, he couldn’t deny the fact that he was happy at the chance to see her again. The pyro bounced up and down nodding about the date.

The administrator announced the end of the match moments later and ordered everyone back to their respective bases. The two nodded, Pyro making sure to leave a little bit after the Sniper as not to draw suspicion from any prying eyes. They were happy, and their heart and stomach were doing that fluttery thing again. Finally, they would learn more about the weird and mysterious man they had grown so fond of since that day.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week passed normally. RED won some, BLU won some; all in all it was a regular week. The only difference from any other was the attitude of two particular mercenaries. Both Sniper and Pyro were excited for the weekend, and the spring in their respective steps showed it plain as day.

Pyro having seemingly random mood swings was something that the BLUs had gotten used to by now, it was just part of who they. The REDs, on the other hand, were a little more than confused by the sniper’s attitude. Sniper was never happy enough to show it on the outside, but this week seemed to be different. He made a few more kills than usual- but that wasn’t really what concerned the team. No, it was his random smiles when nothing had been said and the way he whistled when he thought he was alone. Any emotion other than tired annoyance from the Australian was odd, and to say his uncharacteristic -while small- bits of bright emotion made the RED team uncomfortable would be an understatement.

In all honesty he was excited to see her again. Maybe it was the feeling of doing something you’re not supposed to do, or maybe it was just because she was the first girl he had talked to in quite a while. All Sniper knew was that when he thought of them talking that day and her surprisingly gentle fingers on his cheek, his heart would sing. It was the first time in years he had felt this way, though being in the middle of a war was a good excuse to put off relationships. Trying to keep his eagerness under wraps was proving to be a little more trouble than he first anticipated.

He did not want to draw any more unneeded attention to himself than he already had and so he decided, the following Wednesday, that it would be best to stay away from his team and their growing suspicions. For the last two days of the week he kept to himself and his camper, only coming out when it was time for a match or for meals.

Finally, Saturday arrived after a week of hard and close battles. The aussie woke early that morning to make sure he was ready for their “not-really-a-date” date. He dressed in a decent pair of slacks and one of his less worn-and-torn work shirts, silently making a note to himself to buy better clothes for off duty hours. Sniper never really had a need to dress in anything other than he had before, spending most of his time on his own like he did, but… Well if he wanted a date with anyone –Pyro aside- he would need to put at least a little effort in to his look. The clock on his nightstand showed somewhere around 11: 30, that seemed like a good time to head to the park.

The Australian realized that the two of them never really set a time for their meeting as he climbed to the front of his camper. He began the drive out of town and made a mental note to not make any more dates on the battle field, it was not just dangerous- but also just plain foolish. He let out a long breath. Noon would probably be fine, right? They would have all day to talk if they wanted, so it did not really matter when he got there he supposed… But it would still feel wrong leaving her waiting by herself if she got there earlier.

Pyro took only a little longer than usual to get ready that morning. After deciding on a black and white long-sleeve and a black bubble skirt (with their grey leggings and gloves of course) they set out to the park. It occurred to the firebug that walking all the way out of town would be exhausting to say the least, and they honestly did not want to be sweaty and tired when they met up with Sniper. How would they find out more about the opposing Australian if they passed out from exertion mid conversation?   But it wasn’t as if the pyro had a driver’s license either, so they wouldn’t be able to drive themself! Besides, the only person on base with a car was Engineer, and he would never let anyone touch his beloved Lola.

The BLU thought for a moment before hitting their forehead with the palm of their hand. Engineer, of course! Engie liked pyro and he usually drove in to town on the weekends to scan the flea markets for interesting machinery, they could definitely get a ride from him! Honestly, why hadn’t they thought of this sooner?   The pyro quickly made their way to the engineer’s room in time to find him lacing up his boots.

The Texan glanced up to the fellow BLU with a smile, “Mornin’ Pahro, now what’re you all gussied up for?”

“Mm jhft ghing hnto thwn, chld you ghve mh a rhde?” Pyro stepped in to the stocky man’s room, leaning against the door frame as they talked.

“Town huh? I don’t see why not,” The engineer adjusted his goggles to his bare forehead and motioned for Pyro to follow him.

The two followed the halls out of their base and to an old beaten up pick-up. Pyro didn’t understand why Dell was so worried about anyone touching the rust covered vehicle; it wasn’t really like it could get much worse! In the end, though, Pyro understood that it was his truck and would respect any outrageous rules Engineer had in place for Lola… including the “no more lighters in my damn truck” one…

The two BLUs didn’t talk much during the ride, but the pyro always liked the idea that you don’t have to fill every second you spend with someone with noise. If only Scout could get that through his skull.

Engineer broke the silence, “What’re you doin’ in town today?”

“O-oh!” Pyro jumped from their mental ramblings, “Nofinh rhlly…” How should they answer? They couldn’t really just come out and say they were meeting an enemy because they left something behind from the last time they talked to that same enemy!

The Texan raised an eyebrow, glancing at the masked individual out of the corner of his eye, “Nothin, huh? Sure got dressed up for ‘Nothin’”

“Whll, jhst fum shoppinf! Clohthf anf ftuff,” They fidgeted with their fingers. Gosh, they never realized how bad it felt to lie…

The driver nodded and stayed silent for the rest of the drive, seeming to be deep in his own thoughts. They arrived in town soon enough, Dell parking the Pick-up in a lot near the freshly set up flea markets. He got out and locked Lola up tight as soon as pyro got out,

“Will ya be needing me t’ take ya back to the base?” The man shoved his keys into the pocket of his pants as he spoke.

Pyro shook their head as they began walking away, “Noh, I chn ght bahk oh mhy ohn, fhnks tho!”

The engineer grinned and stared at the pyro, “Alrighty! See ya later then,” He turned to the flea market, before chuckling. Shopping, huh? Sure.

Pyro finally arrived at the park around noon-thirty. Why were they so slow? Maybe scout could train them to move faster… They surveyed the area for the sniper but there was no sign- Oh, wait! The BLU spotted a familiar camper van which was parked carefully in front of the park’s main entrance. After looking around, however, the owner of said van was nowhere in sight. He must be somewhere inside… Oh well, it wasn’t a big park- only a few walking paths, a playground, and a lake- it wouldn’t be too hard to find the tall Australian! The BLU giggled to themself as they walked through the rod-iron gates, it would be like a one sided game of hide and seek.

Sniper arrived at the park around 12: 15 and decided to wait in his van for Pyro. She would probably arrive soon… hopefully. The two of them would have to set up their next date at the end of this one as to avoid any more confusion- though this was not a date. It was a meeting between friends, or at least that’s what the aussie had convinced himself. The sniper waited a bit longer for her to show up, but his mind began to wander. He wondered what she looked like under that mask… was she fair skinned, or did she have freckles? What colour was her hair? He bet she had an adorable toothy grin…

The sniper shook himself from his thoughts and exited his van, grabbing the hat from his passenger seat as he did so. Being alone with his mind continued to prove to be a problem, especially when on the topic of the BLU. He had not been paying much attention to his surroundings anyway, Pyro could have waltzed right past the van and he would never have been the wiser. Some fresh air would probably do him wonders. Sniper looked around once more for the pyro before walking through the park’s main entrance.

It was a decently sized park, not too big or small, not too many people; it was actually a very nice place in the Australian’s opinion. He watched children playing on the jungle-gym as he walked down one of the paved pathways, smiling at their playful laughs. One day he hoped to have children, and not just to stop the nagging for grandchildren and a wife from his parents; Sniper loved the idea of a family ever since he was young. A beautiful wife he could protect and a couple of daughters whom he would always cherish. He chuckled to himself at the thought of telling his folks how much he hated the idea of having a son, but growing up and seeing how cruel all the other boys his age were severely warped any thoughts of ever wanting one of his own. The sharp shooter pulled himself from his thoughts as he reached the end of his chosen path.

What waited in front of him was a tree, only about a foot taller than himself, and a nicely crafted wooden bench sitting in its shade. Sniper couldn’t help but smile at the quaint scene in front of him, it seemed almost too perfect- the bench even faced out over the small man-made lake. This seemed like the perfect place for the two to chat.

The sniper set the sun hat down on the wooden bench, resting against its back as he did so. Where was she? It had to be around 12: 30 by now… He let out a sigh and pushed himself away from the furniture, might as well check near the entrance. The aussie started back down that path, leaving the sun hat behind as a claim to the bench. It wasn’t long before he spotted the pyro and quickened his pace.

This park really was nice in Pyro’s opinion. Everyone here seemed so happy and full of life, especially the children! The BLU stood in front of the playground, watching the happy children play and frolic. Some played on the jungle gym, a couple swung from the monkey bars, three of them pushed each other down the slide… and there was one playing on the swings with her parents. Pyro watched the little girl ask her father to push her higher as her mother watched on, laughing the whole time… Yes, this park was delightful… but some things would always bring back sour memories.

A tap on the shoulder pulled the pyro away from any more painful thoughts, looking up to see a gentle smile from the RED Sniper,

”You alright Sheila? I’ve been waiting for you,”

Chapter Text

The sniper led Pyro to the nice little spot he found earlier. He held tightly to the BLU’s gloved hand as they walked and, the BLU following absentmindedly behind him. Why did they have to think of their family now of all times? Pyro looked down at the hand holding their own, it was warm and they could feel his thick callouses through the gloves. They wondered if the RED sniper lived in the Australian wilds like the BLU alternative, they could not really see how holding rifle in the same place could make such rough hands. At least it was helping take their mind off of their memories.

Sniper snatched the hat from the bench and handed it to the pyro as the two of them sat down,

“Fhnk you,” They placed the hat atop their head. It smelled different now, muskier even.

Pyro knew that Sniper was keeping it in his van… but they never thought it would absorb so much of his scent in just a week.   Still though, the BLU would not complain about it. It was actually nice, being surrounded by the smell of the man sitting next to them was… almost comforting. They turned their head slightly to get a better look at the Sniper.

The Australian was leaned back and looking out on the lake, one arm resting over the side of the bench and the other stretched out over the back edge. He didn’t seem to be paying very much attention to his surroundings or Pyro. They sighed and joined Sniper in looking at the body of water. They wanted to talk about something- anything really; as long as it distracted from their past it would be fine. This was exactly the reason they didn’t like leaving the base often; seeing all the families in town always reminded them of when they were younger. They reminded Pyro of that house fire, of the day they lost their family… It reminded them of what a fool they had been in their youth and how it had cost them everything.

The pyro shook their head in an attempt to push the negative thoughts away. This was time they should spend learning about the sniper, not moping about their past!

The RED glanced over to the fidgeting BLU through his glasses. What was wrong with her? Was it because he wasn’t talking to her or not paying her enough attention? Shit.

The Sniper finally broke the silence, “Sheila?”

The pyro snapped to look at the aussie, “Yef?”

He scratched the back of his neck before speaking, as if trying to assemble his words. Great, he’d gotten her attention, but he didn’t know what to talk about, “Please… answer me honestly here,” He turned to face the pyro more squarely, “Why didn’t you kill me that day? It isn’t like we had ever spoken before, and I have to admit that if I were in your situation… I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you,” It seemed like a good time to ask, but he could swear he saw a wince behind those black lenses at his last statement. He could probably have worded that better…

Pyro turned their head away from the sniper, looking to the water fowl on the lake. Soon, they spoke with a small breath, “I dhnnh… It’f jhft,” They sighed, words just weren’t forming correctly in their brain! To be honest they themself didn’t really understand why they spared Sniper. Yes, they wanted to learn more about their enemies, but why sniper?

“Yuhr dhffhrent uh guhff, yhu dhn’t feem th khll fhr fhn lihk evhryone elfh” the shorter fiddled with their fingers as they spoke, “it waf prhbably a bhd choife fo be honeft… buh I gueff I juft whnted th knoh mhre abhut yhu,” Which was true, they really did want to know more about the Sniper.

The red looked down blankly at the other for a moment before a nervous smile broke across his lips, “I’d always seen pyros as some sort of… foreign creature, even the one on our team,” He admitted, joined Pyro in looking out over the water, “The two of you always act so strangely, I never really thought of you as human. I just assumed you were monsters who just loved to set things on fire… but” sniper trailed off, brow furrowed in thought of what to say.

Pyro looked back up to the RED. Monsters, huh? That was about right, and almost everyone thought like that of them anyway.   They should be used to it being said; the only person who even really spoke to Pyro on the team was the engineer and sometimes Spy, and even Scout’s absent ramblings were deterred. Still though, it felt a little worse than usual from the aussie’s mouth.

Sniper turned back to the pyro and sighed, smile fading in to a frown at his own ineptitude for words, “I don’t think you’re a monster- not anymore,” shit, “You’re nice! I mean getting to know you better has been nice-”

The RED was interrupted by a gloved hand being place on his face, “Jhft… ftop thlking,” They removed their hand, sighing and shaking their head, “Fhnk yuh, I ght it,”

“Sorry Sheila,” The sniper hung his head in defeat, rubbing the back of his neck.

A giggle came from the BLU as they patted Sniper’s shoulder, “It’f fihn,”

The two sat in silence for a while longer. Awkward conversations were just the start of more friendly ones, right?

This time, it was the pyro who interrupted the silence, “Ohr Fniphr fayf he fpent yhrf livhng hn hif ohn in the whld… haf yhu evhr dohn fomethng likh tht?” They looked at the RED’s rough hands, remembering how they felt through the gloves.

Sniper’s eyes lit up at the question, and the answer to which took what felt like hours. He talked about what animals to look for and which to avoid, and about how nice it feels to be isolated for so long and how independent you become.

The two sat in silence, just watching the world go by. The BLU looked up to the changing colors of the sky; deep blue with red on the horizon. It was getting late, but talking to Sniper for so long was worth it.

The pyro nudged Sniper’s arm, “Cohld yuh ghve meh uh rhde bahk?”

The drive back to the split off was a short one. The two talked a little and said their “goodbye”s, along with “good luck”s for the next week’s missions, along with making plans to meet again next Saturday around the same time. Pyro made sure to take their hat as they exited the van with a wave

Walking to the base from the fork was a short journey; only about a mile uphill to the front door. The pyro fixed the rim of their hat as the low breeze caught it and flapped it in their face. They huffed in annoyance, removing the accessory from their head. It was a wonderful garment and it complimented their outfits perfectly, but the thing was proving to be more trouble than it was worth.

The pyro noticed Lola lovingly parked askew in front of the large blue building as they approached the base. Why would Engineer be back so early? He usually stayed at the flea market as long as he could get away with- never just to the late afternoon. There was no sign of the taxan as they entered the base though… Pyro shrugged, he was probably in his room working with his new parts; it wasn’t really anything the firebug needed to worry themselves with. They continued through the base on the way to their room, only to be interrupted by that familiar southern accent,

“Hey Pahro! How was the shoppin’?” The engineer leaned against the hallway wall in front of the Pyro.

“Oh! Uh..” the shorter continued down the hall, being met halfway by the stocky man,

“Didn’t find anything today?” Engineer gestured to Pyro’s attire,” Or wait, is that a new hat?”

The pyro nodded hesitantly, “Y-yeh, If it nife?” They held up the accessory for the other,

The Texan nodded, smug grin in place on his face, “Absolutely! Though… it looks a lot like one I’ve seen ya wearin’ before.   Guess ya like what ya like, huh?” He patted his fellow BLU’s shoulder before continuing down the hall, leaving the pyro standing alone.

He looked back as Pyro hurried to their room, grin quickly fading. Dell was no idiot, and Pyro was a horrible liar. The firebug was a grown human –probably- and everyone had secrets… But with the way they were acting that morning… He knew Pyro was hiding something, and he was going to find out what it was sooner or later.

Chapter Text

Visions of fire were a common thing for the pyro to see in their dreams. Usually they would dream of war- there would be dead medics all around, Spy could be found nowhere, and their surroundings would be coated in a blaze they actually hurt. This night, however, was different. This night, a reoccurring dream showed its face for the first time in years.

The pyro found themself in their childhood home, the same familiar smell of books and cooking filled the air. Their mother walked in to the living room and ruffled the young BLU’s fiery orange locks. They tried to speak to her but, like in most dreams, they couldn’t. Pyro sat and watched as the reoccurring dream unfolded.

A lovely woman with curly red locks walked about the kitchen, a short man sat reading a newspaper in the living room. The couple talked of their child and how happy they were that the doctor’s pills were helping him. The pyro held on to their small legs, unable to do or say a thing as the scene began to change.

The curtains soon burst in to flames, quickly igniting the surrounding carpet and celling. The young pyro tried to move- tried to reach out for their family members… but it never worked. No matter how many times they had this dream, they could never save them. It always ended in the gurgled screams of their beloved parents as their lungs blistered from the hot smoke.

Pyro’s eyes shot wide open, gasping and lunging in to a sitting position. Coming out of that dream was never easy… The firebug sighed and ran a hand through their now longer red hair. Hm, they’d have to cut it soon at the rate it was growing. The BLU glanced around their room- ust to make sure they were actually awake and in the barracks… They laid back down with another sigh, hugging their pillow tightly to their chest.

It was an accident. They didn’t mean for it to happen- they were just young and didn’t know any better. How were they supposed to know such a small fire in the waste bin would burn the house down? They wanted to forget about that day and how they caused their parents’ deaths… The psychiatrists said they needed to forgive themself to let go, but how could they do that with their own face being a daily reminder of what happened?

The pyro traced their fingers over their left eye to feel the uneven tissue. No, they couldn’t let go of what happened, and trying to forget never worked either. It really felt as if they were only good for burning and killing, and that those things were the only path they could choose in life. That was the life Miss Pauling offered them when she broke them out of the asylum after all.

The BLU shut their eyes tightly. No matter how nicely they dressed in their free time or how much they covered up their scars, they were always going to be exactly what everyone saw them as: A monster… Even if it was only in their mind. Pyro let out an unsteady breath as they tried to push these thoughts from their mind. They needed to think more positively.

The BLU Team was winning more regularly, and that was good… The teams would be moved to the snow fortress in a few months so they would finally be able to wear their suit for longer… And they were becoming closer to Sniper... Yes, he was a positive thing to think about. His voice was deep, his smile was gentle, and he called them by their favorite pronouns. The pyro smiled in to their pillow as they thought of the Australian. He really was something else… The way he talked about living in the Australian wilds and the way he held their hand so gently earlier that day made the pyro feel… funny. It was a good and amazing funny, but funny nonetheless.

The butterflies returned to pyro’s stomach as they thought about him more and more throughout the night. He was definitely something positive in their life, and being around him comforted them. Pyro didn’t quite understand what they felt for the RED… But it was definitely something good.

He was something that made the bad memories go away.

Chapter Text

Pyro ran through the gray buildings of Gorge. The middle point had just been captured by the BLU team, and they desperately needed to hurry back to the front lines. Why couldn’t respawn get them any closer to their team?

The firebug rushed into one of the buildings in hopes of a shortcut to the front. What they found, however, could be arguably better.  The RED Sniper stood at a window, shooting down in to the battle below. It had been nearly a month since Sniper and Pyro first met at the park, and the two had been meeting there every week since, but they tried their best to stay away from eachother while at work. Though… This once couldn’t hurt, right?

The BLU cleared their throat to alert the sniper to their presence, causing a small flinch from habit. He looked away from his scope for a moment before returning his attention to his job. It was showing to be a slow day for the Australian, and a small distraction was not unwelcome,

“G’day Sheila,” His voice was low and rough, “What’re you doing all the way up here?” He snarled as he missed an enemy scout running by.

Pyro leaned against the wall by the RED, “Jhft ftopphng by,” They shrugged.

They watched him as he worked; every muscle that tightened when he fired his weapon and ever pointy toothed grin he made with a kill was incredible. There was so much to watch in the Australian, Pyro just couldn’t help but release a smitten sigh.

The sniper glanced at them from the corner of his glasses,” I was thinking about this weekend,” He turned his attention back to the control point, “I’m going to bring some lunch for us- You know since we’ve been spending so long at the park,”

“Oh! Lhke a phcnhc?”The BLU jumped from their spot on the wall,

The RED chuckled “Something like that, sound good?”

The pyro nearly jumped with excitement, nodding feverishly in response. Sniper smiled before turning his attention to his work. Well, they were easily excited to say the least. Still, though… Sniper was always happy to make them happy.

Pyro was giddy, many thoughts coming to mind all at once. This was a lunch date, right? Neither of the mercenaries ever called their meetings dates aloud, really- they were just meetings to get to know each other better! Though, when you get down to it, that’s all a date really is. The BLU could tell that they were growing closer every time they met, and they actually liked it. Usually the pyro tried to push others away when they began to get too close… but Sniper was different.

The appearance of a blue dot on the sniper’s head jerked the firebug from their thoughts. Oh no, Sniper would die with one shot- but even worse… if their sniper had been watching… The pyro panicked, what should they do? Could their Sniper see them from the window? What if he had? Thoughts raced through their head at a mile a minute, reflexes kicking in and air blasting the RED away from the window right before a bullet could pierce his forehead.

The BLU sniper must been using a machina judging by the tracer streak left in the air. Pyro stepped out in front of the window, fire blazing from their degreaser,

“What the bloody hell?!” The BLU sniper somehow made himself heard over the noise of the battle going on below. The pyro simply shrugged in response as they hurried to the sniper,

“fhrry…” They hefted their weapon and released a few puffs of fire,

The RED shook his head as he stood from his aided stumble, “No worries, Sheila…” He let out a long sigh, “Guess we have to fight now though, don’t want to raise unneeded suspicions,”

Pyro nodded as the Australian hefted his Kukri, “To the death, I suppose,” the aussie grinned to the other, the pyro exchanging their degreaser for their fire axe. Just as quickly as the two had gotten to talking earlier, they set to fighting eachother. They slashed and jabbed at eachother, fully intending on killing eachother. It was one of the many things they had been talking about during their meetings; they both understood and accepted the fact that they would have to keep their violent habits toward one another, and that any killings were simply professional.

Sniper lunged for the pyro’s legs only to stumble as they jumped out of the way. The BLU brought their axe down where his ankle had been moments before and had to pry it from the ground just as quickly as they had swung it down to avoid a strike from the sniper’s knife.   Pyro struck the taller man in the gut with the back of their axe, sending him straight in to a nearby wall. The BLU giggled to themself, relishing in their victory as they walked toward the man now sliding down the wall.

He reminded them of the first day they had seen the Australian, though this time he clutched his stomach in pain instead of being sprawled out like a fur rug. They giggled once more as they approached the other, but they were yanked brutally from their thoughts within a second. Something caught their foot or seemed to push them, though there was nothing they could see around. Shit. They maneuvered as to not land on their own axe and fall to a clumsy and painful death, causing the wind to be forced from their chest as they hit the hard ground. The pyro opened their eyes to see Sniper kneeling by their side, kukri in hand. They closed their eyes with a groan and, within seconds, they were in limbo to respawn.

Pyro decided not to return to their Australian friend as they left the resupply gates, and instead headed straight for battle.

Of course he had seen. It was his whole lot in life to sneak about and check on his team, so why would he not notice a pyro heading in the direction of his Sniper? He was even about to backstab the BLU Monstre… when they started speaking. The Sniper was far too focused to notice him as long as he stayed quiet, and their little conversation proved to be oh-so educational. While the RED Spy was unsure if the two were lovers or simple companions, it was always useful to know such interesting facts as the pyro’s gender. Who knew a woman could be hiding under such a horrifying disguise.

Spy moved from behind the sniper as soon as he noticed the BLU counterpart below, though it was rather interesting that the pyro moved the RED out of the way instead of letting him die. Honestly, that would have been much easier.

Tripping the Pyro was child’s play, and while watching the two fight was entertaining… Well he simply couldn’t let his teammate be killed so easily. Besides, seeing if the bushman would kill his beloved pyro was an excellent test and, as long as he continued to do so, he would keep his mouth shut about their little meeting. The minute they stopped killing eachother though…

The Frenchman chuckled to himself as he moved among the buildings towards the final RED checkpoint. It had been a good day; even if his team would surely lose, he had something to look forward to that evening.

After all, photographs don’t just develop themselves.

Chapter Text

It arrived in the mail a week ago from the current Saturday, accompanied by a letter from his mother telling him to “take that nice girl you told me about out for a proper date”. The basket was one of those clichéd ones with the flap for a lid that you might see in the movies- it looked brand new too. Sniper knew he shouldn’t have written home about the pyro, but what was he supposed to do? His mother wanted her son to find someone to spend his life with, and being able to tell someone about his feelings was a relief. In hindsight, though, he really should have expected that she would want to push him and any potential wife together as soon as possible. Though… a picnic didn’t sound like a bad idea at first, and Pyro had even agreed to it.

The basket was now filled with horrible looking sandwiches that the sniper himself questioned the edibility of, and a red and white checkered blanket. It was all so… clichéd.

More of his teammates were on base today, including one particularly annoying Bostonian. Sniper even made sure to wake early before sneaking in to the main kitchen, why the hell did Scout have so much energy? He was as early a riser as ever- even after staying out all night in town. Questions such as “what’re ya making?” , “Can I have some?” and “Can I come with?” poured from the boy until the Sniper finally snapped at him to be left alone.

One grumbling 24 year old later and Sniper was on his way, slightly regretting the fact that the scout would probably tell anyone he could that the Australian had some secret plans. He sighed and rubbed his eyes; that boy acted like a damn child.

Even if he had a fierce questioning to look forward to when he returned that evening, though… he was still in a relatively good mood. Any day they could see the BLU without having to kill her was a good day. The sniper pulled his van to a stop a few miles off road from the base split off and waited for his companion to arrive.

Pyro woke somewhere around seven am to take care of things around the base- nothing too important, mainly tidying up or washing clothes. A chuckle escaped their mask as they passed Scout’s open door while heading to the laundry room; the boy was apparently out all last night and was now sprawled out half-on-half-off his bed. The poor kid always seemed so tired, even if he had a full night’s sleep. It honestly amazed the BLU that he could move at any speed past a tired wobble during fights.

The pyro looked up to the large wall clock of the laundry room, setting a basket of assorted clothes on the floor. They left the detergent scented room and headed back to their room for a quick change of clothes before leaving.

Pyro decided not to ask for rides from their teammates after that first experience with Dell, and it was honestly a risky and bad idea in the first place. However, walking everywhere quickly became tiresome. They and the sniper decided it was best for him to drive the two of them in his van- and even though it was difficult to find a place far enough from the base that they wouldn’t be seen yet was still in walking distance- they soon found a patch a ways off the road where no security cameras could reach.

They left the base around eight o’clock, making sure nobody of consequence saw them leave. The firebug could tell Engineer was suspicious of something; anyone who knew the Texan would be able to read him, really. He always kept the same smile he used when around his teammates if something was wrong… but anyone who had spent any time with the man could notice the difference in the tone of his voice and the way he spoke. It was sort of frightening really…

It only took a few minutes to reach the van. The vehicle didn’t really stand out from the colours of the desert, it actually blended in to the dirt and brush quite nicely from afar! Still, though, Pyro couldn’t help but worry about being seen. The past month went well but who knows what could happen. The BLU sighed as they knocked on the door in an attempt to push the thoughts to the back of their mind, they should just try and focus on their date for now.

The drive to the park was short, filled mostly with silence and very little conversation past general “you look good”s and “how did you sleep?”s . Not talking was more than fine with pyro. Even as a child they never really liked talking, and the thought spending time with someone in silence was wonderful. They were so, so happy the sniper understood that –unlike other young mercenaries who filled every moment with blabbering.

Pyro looked out the window, the basket sitting between them creaking as the car moved down the poorly kept roads of teufort. Everything felt… right, for once.

The park was far emptier than usual. Granted, it was outside of teufort on the far side from any residential area, but there were usually at least a dozen visible people at any time. However, today Pyro counted maybe one or two people in the time it took to walk to their usual spot. Maybe it was because it was earlier in the day than the two usually visited… The BLU tried to shake the uneasy feeling it gave them, absent mindedly reaching out and holding on to the sniper's hand.

Sniper smiled at the shorter, "Something wrong Sheila?"

Pyro snapped to look at the Australian, shaking their head and pulling their hand back to fiddle with their fingers, "no, itf fhin. Ihm fhin,"

He shrugged and let out a snort of air, setting down the basket and reaching in for the checkered blanket. The firebug watched as the sniper laid everything out neatly on the cloth; plates were placed neatly on the fabric with messily made sandwiches, and two cups and a pitcher of some sort of juice were placed in the center. It amused the pyro how much detail the RED was putting in to laying everything out. They couldn’t help but let a giggle escape their grinning mouth.

The aussie held a hand out to Pyro, which they promptly took, “What’s so funny now?” He led them to the blanket and sat down

“Nhofing, thif if nife,” They smiled, even though they were sure the sniper probably couldn’t see it.

He leaned back on his palms, “That’s good to hear… I was actually worried you wouldn’t want to do this,”

Pyro looked to him, head cocked to the side “why?”

Sniper paused, sitting up straight again, “Well I just figured you might be uncomfortable… you know with…” he waved a hand in front of his face, “the mask?”

The BLU stared blankly at him for a moment, before slamming their palm against their forehead. The mask. Right. The prospect of a lunch date sounded so nice that they had actually forgotten that you have to eat at one. Well… you don’t have to but they wanted to.

The sniper snorted, “Did you really not think about that?”

The pyro shook their head and groaned, drawing a chuckle from the taller man, “You don’t have to eat if you feel uncomfortable, or I could just look away if you wanted,”

“Noh, I whnna eht what yhu mhde,” they took a breath, “I fhnk I’ll bh okhy, ther arh fhw enhugh pehple here,”

Sniper really didn’t want Pyro to feel uneasy; maybe a lunch date really was a bad idea… He sighed, silently cursing putting his them in a position like this, “Sorry Sheila,”

Pyro shook their head, smiling, “Dhn’t bh,”

The BLU picked up the closer sandwich to inspect its contents, desperately wanting to change the subject. It looked like lettuce and tomatoes with dark mustard and… some sort of meat. It didn’t really have the same color as beef or ham, but it did not look bad!  

Pyro pointed from the food and to their mouth “Uhm, I’m ghnna…”

“Oh right, sorry!” The aussie quickly turned his attention to the far side of the park, noting that more people seemed to have arrived. He made sure to wait till he heard the rustle of the BLU’s rubber mask moving back over their face before looking back to see a large bite from the sandwich. The two made an easy rhythm of Sniper looking away and Pyro taking a bite after the first few times’ awkwardness. The next half hour was filled with talk of animals and favorite colors, mostly from Pyro.

The sniper sat back and watched the fire bug as she explained the colors of different fires in great detail. He let out a silent sigh and smile while watching her. She was adorable, and even if what different minerals made different colors of fire didn’t really interest him, he loved hearing her muffled voice. Pyro was absolutely something special in his book; she could hold her own in a fight and could kill so easily, yet she still liked wearing dresses and skirts… She was the ideal girl for him.

“Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful,” he thought to himself. And she was, even if he had never seen her face… even if her face was covered in scars like she told him, she was gorgeous. She was gorgeous, and he loved her.

Pyro looked up at him, slightly confused expression showing through her gas mask. Shit, had she asked him something?

“what dhd yhu jhft fhy?” the blu leaned in closer to the aussie.

Oh. Being alone for months and months on end had a tendency to cause a few things. Mostly it caused discordances in social interaction, but is also had a habit of causing people to accidently say thoughts aloud. What would you expect from only having yourself for company for so long? It had been quite a while since it last happened to Sniper; he honestly thought he had gotten over it after being on his team for a year… but apparently not.

“No I just mean… You are…” he sighed, “Nothing. It’s nothing,”

The BLU shook her head before poking at his arm, “Noh, I heardh yho fhy fhmething!”

The sniper looked at the pyro, frowned, and took in a small breath before speaking, “What I meant to say was… you are beautiful?” stammering like an eighth grader with a crush. Smooth.

Pyro giggled, leaning against the RED’s shoulder. It felt… nice. It was the first physical contact aside from their fights or seldom hand holding, and it felt nice. Sniper looked down at the BLU before hesitantly leaning against her, letting their weights keep them up. He moved his hand to be on top of her gloved one; everything felt right.

They didn’t stay much longer at the park. More people showed up over the half hour they were there, and they both figured it was a bad idea for Pyro to eat or for them to continue sitting as they were with others around. The twenty minutes it takes to drive to the split off from the park felt like minutes as they talked, and all too soon their idle chat was cut short.

The driver looked to the pyro, “Next week then?”

Pyro nodded, humming a “Mmhmm!” in response.

The two sat for a moment, Pyro looking at the sniper.

“What is it?” She usually left immediately after he parked the van… his mind flooded with thoughts suddenly. Maybe he had gone too far with the physical contact today. Shit, what if he made her uncomfortable?

“… Clohf yhur eyef” The Australian blinked, but soon complied and shut his eyes. A moment of silence passed before he heard a familiar rustle of rubber. Sniper then felt a soft pair of lips touch his own chapped ones for just a moment, before hearing Pyro move her gas mask back over her mouth.

The sniper slowly opened his eyes to see the BLU exiting his van, leaving him with a slight blush, confusion and growing smile showing on his face.

Chapter Text

Sniper sat back in the driver’s seat, tracing his lips with the tips of his fingers. Had she really just kissed him? It was so gently… just like the way she touched his cheek all those weeks ago.   He closed his eyes, reliving the short contact again. A smile crept across his face as thoughts rushed through his head.   What did this mean for their awkward little relationship? They couldn’t keep lying about being “just friends” any longer. Maybe this meant they were actually dating.

His smile grew in to a grin, fingers clutching the steering wheel tightly. This was great! Though being together would be hard with their line of work, he was sure they could-

The RED was yanked from his thoughts once he heard the loud slam of his camper door. What the hell? How could anyone have even opened it, the door was locked… The sniper stood and walked through the small door which lead to the living area of his vehicle.

Of all people… In front of him, perched in all his dapper glory atop the sniper’s bed, sat the spy. Bloody spooks…

“Allo, Bushman,” The Frenchman glanced up to his fellow RED from a box of cigarettes, which he had produced from his pocket. His expression was intense, a mix of anger and… disappointment?

Sniper stood with a blank stare for a moment before snarling, “What the hell are you doing in my van?” He struggled to keep himself from yelling at the other man. Why… why did he have to appear now of all times?

“I believe you know why,” The spy lit a cigarette, taking a long drag before blowing it in the sniper’s direction.

“And I don’t believe I do,” He leaned against the small doorway. He didn’t remember seeing the spy or his cloaked outline outside the van, but then again he had not really been looking. If Spy had seen him and Pyro… he would have a lot more problems than simply getting the smoke smell out of his van.

“How long have you been watching?” He would hate to have accidently outed the BLU’s face to Spy. She would never trust or feel safe around him again if he had.

“Only long enough to pass zhe Pyro, I assure you that I saw nozhing of detriment,” The spy sighed, “But you should not be spending so much time with zhat BLU…” he shook his head, hiding the box of smokes and lighter away in his pocket, “It would be unfortunate if anyone found out about a relationship with zhe enemy. You do remember what happened with zhe cyclops, non?”

Damn… They should have just found a safer place to meet, one further away from the bases, “Course I remember…”

Spy stood, walking up to the taller man, “Good, zhen I suggest the two of you stop zhis relationship before either of you gets hurt,”

He scoffed, “You’re one to talk about relationships,” Spy had no right to lecture him about who he could or couldn’t spend time with, and the red he was seeing at the moment wasn’t helping his temper or conversational sills.

The European narrowed his eyes, “And what are you insinuating?”

“Oh nothing, but I wonder… how is your little mistress doing?” Egging the spy on might not be the best tactic, but the rage was going to come out in some way or another, and he knew the spy could take it.

“Leave my relationships out of this Bushman” After being friends- well close acquaintances with the spy for so long, it was easy for the sniper to pick up on the small twitch of the lip to signify anger.

The side of the Australian’s mouth quirked upward for a moment. It was always nice to get under that finely groomed façade Spy put on for everyone to see- pushing a little harder could never hurt, right? The best outcome would send the Frenchman away from his van faster after all, “When are you planning on telling the twins, huh? I think the pikers deserve to know who their father is,”

It wasn’t hard to figure out. Sure, most of the mercenaries looked alike- they were meant to. None of them, however, looked as alike as the scouts. None of them sounded so alike from team to team, and absolutely none of them got as offended by maternal insults as the two Bostonians. It most likely stemmed from insults from their childhood, being that everyone counted them as illegitimate. Nobody got to know that their father was really just a contracted killer who left for months on end- not even the children themselves.

The spy frowned, attempting to keep his composed look, “What I tell zhem iz my business, not yours,”

The two REDs shared a long glance, “I came here to inform you that your relationship is becoming careless,” He put a gloved hand in to his suit coat and brought forward an envelope.

Sniper’s blood boiled even hotter once the spy took out its contents; photos of him and Pyro together.

He grabbed for them, only to have Spy pull the papers out of his reach, “Zhese are zhe only copies, but if it iz zhis easy for me to find zhe two of you together, what would stop zhe BLU Spy? He most likely does not hold zheir pyro in as high regard as I do you, and would rat you out in an instant,” He replaced the photographs into the envelope and tossed it on Sniper’s bed, “ If you do not reprimand your negligence, one of you iz going to be taken off respawn someday soon. I am not wrong in assuming zhat you do not want zhis, non?”

The sniper averted his gaze. Of course he didn’t want that, but he also didn’t want to stop spending time with Pyro… though… Spy was right. What if Miss Pauling or the Administrator caught them or saw them on camera? He would hate to end their relationship, but he would hate her dying even more.

Sniper was drawn from his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder,“I am not your enemy, Clarence. I will keep your secret, but you must be careful,” Spy gave his teammate a weak smile, “I understand more zhan anyone zhat love can make a man do idiotic zhings, but I do not want to be dragged down wizh you when zhe two of you are found out,”

The Frenchman removed his hand from the taller’s shoulder and turned to leave, “And believe me, bushman. At zhe rate you two are going, you will be caught.”

Spy exited the van, putting out his cigarette in the dusty road outside the vehicle. He was right, though. The two of them were being careless, and his sudden attitude changes were not helping divert suspicions.

He sighed as he moved to sit on his bed. What should he do… If things kept on, one of them was going to be killed- or they would be forced to kill each other permanently. What happened to Tavish would be a horrible end for their relationship… Sniper moved back to the front of his camper, driving the short distance back to his base.

There was no sign of Spy on the way, though he didn’t really care to see him again any time soon. An ally was a good thing to have in his situation… Maybe he shouldn’t have said those things about his family. Burning the one sturdy bridge he had was probably one of the stupidest things he could have done, but the blinding anger he felt toward his own stupidity was filling him to the top. How could he have been so stupid?

He moved to the back of the van, laying out on the bed. Everything smelled like those disgusting French cigarettes- a reminder of his foolishness he supposed. The aussie let out a sigh before closing his eyes. There was only one option that made sense at this moment.

Love makes you do stupid things, but it was his job to act on the one smart choice he had.

Chapter Text

They did not go to the park the following week as instructed by a note delivered via arrow through the BLU medic’s head. Sniper didn’t give any reason as to why he was calling off their weekly meeting, only saying that he couldn’t see the pyro this week. Pyro didn’t think much of it, really. There was the momentary worry that they had done something wrong but the BLU pushed that thought aside as quickly as it appeared.

Sniper enjoyed their meeting and, judging by the way he smiled as they left his van last week, the kiss did not seem to offend him. They were not too worried… that is not at first. The next week’s capture the flag missions went well. Both teams won and lost – the REDS winning more than the BLUs- and nothing seemed too out of place.

Thoughts continued to run through the BLU’s head as they ran across the blocked off train tracks and into the RED’s sewer system. Why did he call off their meeting? Was the RED team becoming more suspicious of why he was leaving every weekend? They listened from the tunnel just out the drop from the RED spawn; they would be hunted down if they had to kill someone fresh out. The pyro trotted to the base of the steps, grabbing the small bottle of pills and refilling their weapon’s gas tank.

Double Cross had to be one of their absolute favorite battle fields. You have to keep an actual strategy in your head if you want to win, if you don’t you will be easily picked off by a sentry on the bridge or by an opposing sniper.   Sniper… Maybe something was wrong. Usually they would catch a glimpse of a small red dot around them at some point during the week, but it was already Thursday and they had seen neither hide nor hair of the Australian. They never thought they would miss the RED watching them, but the lack of any sign of him was… disheartening.

Pyro rushed up the stairs to the RED spawn, the beeping and whirring of a sentry coming from a direction they couldn’t quite discern. They whipped around the corner from the door as they heard that all-too familiar sound of the spawn gate opening. They were so close to the sniper’s overhang too… The BLU clung to the corner, crouching as an enemy demoman rushed by and over the railing. This was a terrible place to be.

They jumped down in front of the second spawn door. Nobody ever used it except for snipers and spies, so they were probably safe for now. They could hear the aussie’s gruff voice grumbling from around the corner on his little ledge. Could they go talk to him? There was that small space with only one window they could go hide in to talk… But should they go was probably a better question. They peeked around the railing to see inside the intel room.

There were no sentries in sight, though there could possibly be one hiding under the stairs. Still, it seemed like it would be easy enough for Scout to swoop in and get back if he had his soda popper. Pyro glanced in the direction they assumed Sniper was in. Well… it surely wasn’t safe here.

The sound of creaking boards alerted him to someone’s presence. The spy had already gotten him twice this battle and he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow a third time. He snapped to look where the noise was coming from, but what he found was absolutely no spy.

He let out an irritated sigh. Great, this was just what he needed, “Did anyone see you coming over here?” he stomped over to the BLU Pyro, soon regretting letting his irritation take over after seeing her flinch.

The pyro shook her head, “I whldn’t bh herh if I whs feen,”

He rubbed his temples ,”wouldn’t be too sure about that, Sheila,” Why couldn’t she have just stayed away? He needed time to think and the battlefield was no place to do it. Scout could come jumping in at any moment, how on earth would he explain this away? He turned his attention back to the BLU in front of him, “What are you doing here?”

“I whnted fo check hn yhu… arh yhu okhy?” Pyro tentatively reached forward and put a hand on the other’s arm, “Yhu feem thnfe…”

“of course I’m bloody tense, we’re on a battle field,” He shouldn’t take his feelings out on her, he wanted to be with her more than anything… but that’s why he had to do this. He needed to end what they had to protect her.

He shook the hand off, “You need to leave” the sniper turned to go, but was stopped by a hand holding on to his shirt,

“whtf wrhng? Dhd… whf it fhmething I dhd?” Her voice sounded strained and upset; it hurt Sniper’s heart to hear her like this. Maybe he should forget about breaking it off and just turn around and hug her… He sighed. No, he had to do this to protect her, and even if she hated him after this was done, he would be happy that she was alive and well.

“Yeah, something is wrong… I…” he hesitated, choking on his own words, “I don’t want to see you again. We need our relationship to go back to being just business like it was before,” He turned to face the BLU, glad for once that he couldn’t see her expression.

“Wht… wht dh yho mhan? How chn yhu shy tht?” Her voice wavered, a mixture of confusion and pain, “I fhught… I fhught wh-“

“You thought wrong,” The sniper cut her off, “You need to leave before someone sees us… sees you,” He turned to leave once more, but was again stopped by the pyro’s hand. This time, however, her grip on his shoulder was strong enough to actually cause pain.

She spun him around to face her, “Nho! Fthy here hnd thll mh whatf wrhng… thll mh wherh thif if chming frhm!”

“look Sheila,” he rubbed his temples, before gripping his rifle tightly, “Leave before I have to make you,” He didn’t want it to end like this. He wanted to be able to end it off the battle field where there would be fewer bitter feelings. However, there was no more time to drag this out. Their teams would notice they were missing soon, and a curious Spy was the last thing this situation needed.

Sniper could swear he saw a frown through that rubber mask, “Ihm nht lhaving,”

“Pyro, please…”

“Mhke mh,”

The Australian did nothing for a moment, but soon hefted his weapon to the other’s head. He wouldn’t do this to the BLU, right? Well, sure he would kill them from time to time, and they would do the same to him! But… he would never kill them in a situation like this. They were having so much fun together and had gotten so close! They were just getting close enough to him to call him their datemate. There was no way…

There was a loud bang followed by darkness.

Respawn brought them back mere seconds after the lead pierced their brain. What had they done wrong to make their beloved Sniper act like this? The Pyro tried to walk forward, only to have their knees shrivel out from under them after the first step. They sat alone in the resupply room for a moment. He really had been avoiding them the past week… maybe the kiss really had been too far.

The BLU noticed a dripping sound from in the room, but paid little attention to is as they thought about what just happened. What an idiot. This had to be their own fault; they destroyed the one strong friendship they had because of a small bit of physical contact. Sniper probably just wanted to be friends and showed affection differently, though they really thought he loved them back.  

The resupply doors opened to reveal a very angry Engineer. His buildings were just destroyed from the looks of his stained jumper and broken parts sticking from his tool box. He nodded to the Pyro and walked over to the munitions cabinet, before setting down the red box and kneeling beside the firebug,

“Pahro? What’s wrong?” he draped an arm over the shorter’s shoulders and brought them closer to him.

Only now did the pyro realize where the dripping was coming from; themself. At some point after respawning they had begun to weep silently, leaving a stream on tears running down the interior of their mask and through their air filter.

They leaned against the Texan, welcoming the comforting touch.

Chapter Text

A couple of weeks had gone by since they last talked to Sniper. The base switch over to Snowfort finally happened, and somehow Pyro managed to channel their feelings of anger and confusion towards winning battle after battle- surprising and somewhat frightening the rest of the BLU team. Their teammates obviously knew something had changed, who wouldn’t? You can’t just go from the happy firebug they all knew to a quiet and reclusive sack of mumbles for no reason. It was rather disturbing to be quite honest. The rest of their team did try to figure out what was wrong, but most decided to leave the pyro be after getting a barrack door slammed in their face and being told to leave them alone. Their team was winning anyway, so was there really a problem?

Engineer, however, knew better. The Texan seemed to be the only one who persisted in talking to Pyro- well other than Scout, but he probably just blabbed to anyone who wouldn’t interrupt him. The engineer would invite Pyro to his workshop while he tinkered with some new machinery or another. He never prodded them to talk… just to sit and be near someone.

It was actually somewhat nice to sit on the stocky man’s cot and watch him work on methodically. They even began to notice his mannerisms of grinning and chuckling when something worked out or biting his lip when something broke. Pyro genuinely appreciated the Texan trying to help them… but it didn’t really take away the hurt feeling in their chest.

No matter how many medics they burned or how many spies they set ablaze or even how many times they hit the Australian with their scorch shot… Nothing seemed to help.

The BLU sat on their bed, clutching one of their many stuffed animals to their chest. Why did losing something you never expected to have hurt so much? They had fully come to terms with never being loved- who could even love a scarred murderer like them? Romance was never something they really needed anyway… They just wanted to make themself numb!

A knock on the door brought them from their sulking, followed the scout entering their room with a “Yo mumbles!”.

They could have sworn they locked their door…

“Wht do yhuu whnt?” Pyro set their plush horse to their far side once the boy sat on their bed; they weren’t really in the mood for being teased right now,

“Nothin’, just comi’ ta talk,” The scout lounged back on the pyro’s blue quilt, “Don’t mind do ya?”

They jabbed the younger in the side with their knee, “Acfuhlly yhf, I dh,”

The scout snorted from the sudden contact, taking the hint to sit up, “Great! Let’s talk!”

“Buh I fhid-“

“What’s been up with you mumbles? “ The Bostonian interrupted them before they could properly tell him to get lost, “Y’ve been actin’ like a sad sack lately,”

Pyro looked at the boy for a moment before turning their attention to the fuzzy carpeting that covered the floor, “Nhne hf yhur bufhneff…”

Scout sighed, ignoring the wall Pyro was trying to put between them, ”I’ve seen th’ look on that masked face a’ yours before,” The pyro raised an eyebrow as the boy leaned in closer , “It’s th’ look ova broken heart!” He wrapped an arm around the other BLU’s shoulder,

“Wh… hw dhd,,,?” The firebug brushed the arm off, causing the boy to fall on their bed. Scout didn’t seem to mind, though, being that he immediately nuzzled in to the soft blue fabric.

He looked up from his place snuggled against the other’s blankets, “I grew up with seven brothas. It ain’t hard to know that look, even if it IS hidden behind a mask,”

The two sat in silence for a while. Pyro sort of wanted to tell someone about their pain- then maybe it would go away! But they knew Scout was not the person to tell. The yawning boy loved gossip, and he loved sharing it with their team even more.

“You wanna talk about it?” The Scout was inevitably the one to break the silence. His words didn’t sound malicious or confrontational, but actually sincere.

“…noh” The firebug turned to face the boy who was now sprawled out on their bed. He still looked as tired as ever,

“Well… If you want my opinion-“

“I dhn’t”

“You should talk to em’,”

Pyro sighed, picking up their plush horse and hugging it tightly, “Tht dhdn’t goh fh whll whn I trihd ht bhforh…” Memories of how cold Sniper acted flooded their mind. If they tried talking to him again… The grip on their stuffed animal tightened,

“But ya’ really like this person, yeah?” The pyro nodded slowly in response, “Well ya’ gotta keep tryin’ then!” The boy sprung up into a sitting position to better face the pyro,

“ ‘S what I do! I ain’t never givin’ up on Miss P. Yeah I’ll give her some space after she rejects me, but I always try again. I know she’ll come around one a’ these days,”

Pyro chuckled, “ I dhn’t fhnk tht’f th rhght lhffon th thke awhy frhm tht,”

“’Course it is! Ya’ can’t give up on someone ya’ love,” The runner got up from the pyro’s bed and patted their shoulder, “Trust me on this buddy,”

Pyro watched as the boy left their room just as quickly as he had barged in. Maybe they should try talking to Sniper again… The worst that could happen is that he would kill them again. They flopped backwards on to their bed, holding their horse in the air above them. Could they really handle rejection again? A second talk to confirm that their relationship was truly over wasn’t a bad idea though…

Their door flung open once more, causing them to jump in surprise and drop their plush. Scout poked his head in through the doorway and chuckled at his startled comrade,

“ ’s nice and chilly outside right now. You should go out for a walk,”

“Wht?”

“It might help ya’ think or somethin’, just trust me,”

The pyro looked questioningly at the scout as he disappeared once more in to the halls of Snowfort. Scout was asking them to trust him too much today… though a walk didn’t seem too bad. Pyro liked to know the area around their base, and with them-for lack of a better word- sulking ever since the base change they hadn’t really gotten to look around.

A walk in the cold to clear their mind might be just the thing they needed.

Chapter Text

“…A walk,” The Australian looked at the boy from his place on his pull-out bed.

Scout somehow managed to barge into his camper- even though he was sure the door was locked- and begun blathering on about something or another. Honestly, he tuned the boy out after he didn’t leave immediately when Sniper yelled at him, only focusing back on the boy’s words when he asked

“So what’s been eatin’ ya’ up lately?”

Weird… The scout almost never talked about anything other than himself, and he absolutely never asked how someone else was doing,

“How is it your business?” The sniper’s words were curt, causing the boy’s brow to visibly furrow,

“It ain’t hard t’ see you’ve been distracted lately. We’ve even been losin’ t’ the BLUs more lately!,” The red walked up to the foot of Sniper’s bed and looked down at him, lips pursing into a pout,

“Lady trouble?”

The Australian looked at the boy before sighing, averting his eyes to the corner of his camper, “Something like that…”

“I knew it!” Scout plopped down on the bed, closer to the sniper than he really needed to be, “I’d recognize the look ‘a heartbreak anywhere. So what happened? Didja’ catch her cheatin’ or somethin’?”

He shook his head, “no… she didn’t do anything wrong,”

“sooo… what’d YOU do?”

“…” The sniper thought for a moment. He didn’t have to tell the Scout, and to be honest he really shouldn’t. Though… the whole RED team suspected he had gained a significant other with how he was acting before. Maybe giving the team’s gossip a little bit of information wouldn’t be bad- especially is he stayed vague,

“I didn’t want her getting hurt by our line of work,” he huffed, hanging his head, “so I left her… and I think she hates me for it,”

The runner snorted, “Well that was fuckin’ dumb,”

“…excuse me?”

“She knew about ‘cher like ‘a work right? She probably knew what she was getting’ into,” Scout nudged his fellow red with his elbow

The aussie sighed, “It’s not that simple, mate,” He knew he’d made the right choice. Even if she seemed more deadest than usual on killing him… well she deserved to take her emotions out on him. That’s what he kept doing to her after all.

The Bostonian looked the taller up and down, before springing from the worn mattress, “Ya’ know what you need?”

“A pair of earmuffs and some aspirin?” he looked up to the boy now standing in front of him,

“Ya look like a guy who could really use a nice walk in the woods,”

The boy grinned to the man, somehow convincing him with a few more sentences that he should “take a walk, take in the scenery, and clear his head”. Bloody kid… What was he planning with this?

The sharp shooter wandered through the tall pine trees of around their new base. He was already parked pretty far in to the forest to be away from the noise of the base, but he had never ventured this far into the green. It was cold and windy, which he hated, and it was impossible to reliably see dangers in the thick foliage, which he hated even more. The RED base was quickly leaving his line of sight from behind him, but he pushed on anyway. His body moved on its own to some unknown destination as he thought to himself.

He made the right choice. He made the right choice. He made the right choice.

He repeated the statement in his mind over and over. It had become a habit to do that when he needed to convince himself of something, he supposed.

He made the right choice. He made the right choice. He made… the right choice?

Did he really? His performance had improved since he and the pyro started seeing eachother- the both of them had even developed a sort of competitive spirit toward eachother! Now that they were separated, however, his performance was worse. Heartbreak was… dumb.

He knew what should happen for their jobs, but what did he want?

He wanted the “whole” feeling in his chest that he got when around her back.   He wanted his focus on his work again. He wanted-

A snapping twig ripped him from him thoughts, stopping Sniper in his tracks. He looked behind himself to see a branch hanging limply from a tree. The breeze must have broken it off, but he soon realized he had more pressing matters to worry about. Where the hell was he? He couldn’t see the RED base behind him anymore and there was absolutely no sign of his camper. Damnit… he didn’t even have a weapon with him. He looked around at his surroundings. If he walked straight back the way he came he would arrive at the base, right?

He looked to the horizon line, further deepening the churning at the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t see much, but it didn’t take a genius to make out the blue colored building and giant “Builders League United” sign above it. Perfect, he absolutely needed to be shot at the enemy base.

Sniper turned to leave starting back in the direction, but was quickly stopped by a familiar hand holding on to his shoulder.

Chapter Text

Scout was absolutely right! The weather outside was cold and breezy, which was perfect for the BLU’s layered clothes. Their coat flapped in the breeze as they walked through the trees. What was on the other side of this forest? Maybe the other base, but that seemed far too close. Pyro wondered what Sniper was doing right now. He always said he didn’t like spending time with his team that much… They worried about him spending so much time alone and without anyone to talk to…

They nuzzled their chin deeper into their purple scarf as a particularly strong gust of wind blew past. It still smelled faintly of cigarettes and cologne; a faint remainder from its creator. The BLU spy wasn’t good with words when it came to things such as friendship, but you know the Frenchman has fond feelings for you when you find clothes or crochet scarves in your work locker. He was probably worried about them too- their whole team seemed to be! Medic even called them in for a checkup, which turned out to be an excuse to talk with them about their mental state.

All in all, the pyro should be happy with their team and their life. Everyone around them accepted or at least dealt with their choices to wear dresses, and some even used “they” or “she” pronouns instead of male ones… They should hurry up and get over their hurting heart and forget about—

Pyro ducked behind a tree once they saw the tall Australian walking by. Why was he here? How far had they walked into the forest? They followed him from a good distance, hiding behind foliage when he looked back. Sniper was headed in the direction of the BLU base… if he got too close he would absolutely be seen.

Sniper didn’t seem to have a set destination in mind; he didn’t really look focused on his surroundings at all. They wanted to get closer to him, to say something maybe… but what if he didn’t want to see them?

Pyro reached out to prop themself against a nearby tree, but quickly realized how bad of idea it was.   The pine trees in this area seemed to be very brittle (most likely from the brisk winds) which caused fragile and small off shooting branches. In not watching what they were doing they broke one off, and it now hung limply from the tree.

Shit. They swiftly hid behind the tree before the aussie could see them. He seemed to be distracted enough by the sound, giving them ample opportunity to maneuver through the green to the other side of the sniper.

He was leaving already? Maybe the sound of the branch made him think someone was following him- well someone was kind of following them but... They wanted… no needed to talk to him. What if he actually HAD come to see them?

Pyro found their body moving on its own as they grabbed on to the taller’s shoulder.

Sniper stopped dead in his tracks; not pulling away or moving from the grip whatsoever. He simply turned to face the pyro,

“Sheila?”

“Wht hre yhu dhing herh?” they took their hand from his shoulder,

He thought for a moment before speaking, "just... out for a walk,"

they chuckled, "mh foo,"

The red smiled, he really did love the sound of their laugh…

Pyro fidgeted in their boots while the two stood in silence,

"wh... why dhd yhu," they swallowed hard, trying to think of the right words and force their mouth to say them, " why dhd yhu brhak hp- lehvh mh?"

The sniper stared at the BLU for a good time without a word. Fine. It was fine if he didn't want to tell them.

They sighed, "fhrght ht” pyro turned and began walking back in the direction of the BLU base, only to be stopped by a strong pair of arms that wrapped around their shoulders.

Sniper held the pyro in a warm embrace from behind, just wanting her to stay. It took a moment to gather the words to tell her, "I wanted to protect you. I don't want you to get hurt because of me or our relationship. If we kept on like we were... so I figured,"

Pyro twisted in the man's arms to face him, "nh"

"No?"

"nh," she shook her head, "I dhn't nhd yhu foo prhthct mh," the firebug looked up to Sniper, leaning up to touch their foreheads together,

"But if we're found out... you remember what happened to Tavish and your soldier,"

Pyro shrugged, "I'd rhther ght hrt bhing whth yhu thn hrt hll th thme bhing whthout yhu. Dhn’t try fo hct hn mhy behlf fhr dhmb fhngf lhke tht,”

The two looked into each other’s eyes before grabbing each other into their arms,

"I'm sorry I hurt you" He knew it would hurt her to leave, and he was willing to live with her hating him, but the truth was that they needed eachother, and they would just have to find a way to be together.

" I knhw"

"I love you,"

"I lhve yhu foo" pyro smiled and held him tighter.

The pair stayed like that for a minute or two, each taking in as much of the other's warmth as they could. Sniper was the one to pull away first, though not to leave. He looked down at the other for a moment as if thinking of what to say,

"I... want to kiss you,"

Pyro nodded,” Okhy, clohf yhur ey-“

“No,” he interrupted the other, “I want to actually kiss you,”

oh. The BLU stood there holding the other's hand before slowly nodding an 'ok'. Sniper slipped his fingers under the base of her mask and began to lift it up. He continued pulling it gently over her head until short orange locks fell out from the rubber garment.

He had to take a moment to take in all her features once the mask was completely removed.

Her skin was a gorgeous shade of olive and was dotted with dark freckles around her cheeks and ears. She had large scars which covered her left eye and right cheek, and more poking up from under her scarf. Her hair was the most beautiful shade of red he had ever seen. That is what you call that orange hair, right? Oh he didn’t care. The short and mussed hair was wonderful and beautiful and he loved it. Sniper brushed aside the scraggly bangs which covered her eyes… goodness her eyes. They were the color of carnelian and glistened elegantly in the fading sunlight. He grazed a thumb over the light bit of stubble on her chin absently as he gazed at her face.

“…Not what you were expecting?” She spoke, and he couldn’t help but grin. Her voice was light and beautiful and somehow even more wonderful that he ever imagined. God it was a mistake trying to push her away.

He shook his head, leaning down and bringing their lips together for a long kiss, “No, you’re perfect,”

He loved her. He loved every part of her.

They stayed there in the forest on the far outskirts of the BLU base for a long while, simply enjoying eachothers’ touch and company.

Chapter Text

The loud crackle of a walkie-talkie forced him to look away from the scene unfolding below him, “Hey, they see eachotha’ yet?”

The BLU scout picked up the small crackling box and held a button on the side before speaking, “Yeah looks like we’re good. Didja’ know mumbles had red hair?”

“C’mon man don’t tell me what it looks like, s’ weird enough it’s datin’ Snipes,” a joking tone came in response from the small communication devise

Footsteps from behind the BLU scout alerted him that the man he had been waiting for was finally there. If you tell someone to meet you on a cold and windy roof, the least you could do is show up on time,

“Whevea, gotta go,” He sighed before turning off the walkie-talkie and turning to face the BLU spy who stood behind him,

“It iz done, I zee,” The frenchman walked to the scout and produced two cigarettes from a small carton,

“Yeah, ‘s pretty cute an all,” the younger took the offered smoke as he talked, ”but why’d ya want me t’ do…” he gestured to the out of sight couple, ”Well all a’ that?”

The spy lit his and the scout’s cigarettes with a match before stomping it out on the roof beneath them, “It iz better for our teams if zhey are togezher,”

He took a drag of his cigarette, “Zhey still kill eachozher and aid zheir teams well enough. Besides, zhey were making zhe teams unbalanced when separated,” The spy leaned against the railing of the building

“What’s bad about that though? We were winnin’!” The slightly shorter man took a drag of his smoke. These were probably the reason he was so lethargic and unhealthy, but damnit if he didn’t love these! Spending time smoking with Spy didn’t dissuade him either...

The euroupean made a clicking sound with his tongue, shaking a finger at the younger, “But our petit chaton’s rage or grief or whatever was fueling zhem towards victory would definitely run out sooner zhan later,” He took another breath of his cigarette, “I do not want to lose one of our strongest teammates simply because of a broken heart,”

“Or you’re just a big softie,” The scout chuckled in response, receiving a cold glance from the balaclava clad man to his left,

“Non, I assure you I was merely thinking of what iz best for our team. My RED counterpart obviously does not understand zhe delicate balance of zheir situation,”

“huh?” Scout raised an eyebrow to the other

“Separation iz not always zhe best resolution,” He allowed a puff of smoke to escape his lips as he spoke,” zhough I do hope they are better wizh zheir secret zhis time”

The two stood in silence for a while before the spy put out the butt of his cigarette under his loafer, “You are sure zhe ozher Scout will stay silent? It was hard enough getting to zhe ozher base unnoticed and disguising az him,” He moved from his spot on the railing to stand in front of Scout, “Zhe last zhing we need iz zhat boy telling zhe ozher team about zhe two of zhem,”

“Nah,” Scout took one last drag of his smoke before flicking the remainder to the ground, “He won’t tell. Even if he wanted to he’s too proud t’ say ‘Hey guys! I let the enemy spy in ‘cuz my brotha’ told me to! Also our sniper’s a traitor!’”

Spy snorted, “You are lucky zhere are no camera up here,”

The boy shrugged and looked down to the foliage below. Sniper and Pyro were gone, probably off kissing more or something. He didn’t really understand them or why their relationship was any of their business to fuck with. Spy was just a sap who cared about pyro too much- or at least that was the easiest way he could think of it. He would trust Spy that this was the best decision for their team.

Chapter Text

Everything seemed to fall back in to some sort of normalcy. A month and a half had gone by since their meeting in the forest, and everything seemed to be going well. The couple decided that meeting like they had been was risky, and without a town near Snowfortress to visit, would be impossible. They cut back to meeting only once a month on the weekend, leaving when most of their other teammates did and circling back in to the vast forest surrounding their bases. They would spend the entire weekend together in Sniper's camper, just talking and doing other things with eachother. None of their teammates questioned their disappearances- through both Sniper and Pyro noticed a vast change in their Scouts' attitudes.

The BLU scout suddenly seemed to want to be friendly and close to Pyro, which wasn't too off to the firebug. The Bostonian always loved invading their personal space, so striking up conversations in the mess hall and trying to be closer wasn't too far of a stretch… No, the only truly weird change was in the RED scout. Seemingly right after their conversation in his camper that prompted him to see Pyro, Scout started avoiding him.

It was not too obvious at first, but after seeing him leave the room whenever Sniper entered on multiple occasions was just downright strange. The id used to pester him to no end, but now he seemed to think the Australian had the plague. Not that he would ever complain, however. One fewer pair or peering eyes and one less chattering mouth would never bother him.

Sniper looked out from his current nest at the battle beyond him. Cold front was an odd, but strangely fun battle field. Two control points at opposing corners and one in the very center; he loved how simple it was. Far easier than those other battle grounds with five of the damn things.

The aussie scanned the field through his scope. The teams were fighting over the center point at the moment, making things especially hectic for tracing. He pulled the trigger, killing a disguised spy. What an idiot, disguising as a medic. Speaking of the spook, though… There had been no more visits from the Frenchman since the base change.

You wouldn't hear Sniper complaining on that part. Their scarcer meetings were annoying, but suspicions seemed to have gone down about the both of them. Everything seemed to be going great.

He scanned the field for more easy shots, popping a scout who was trying to hide on the capture point. Sniper really hated how this new weapon he'd gotten from the Mann Co. catalog left a traceable line in the air, but it would be a drawback he would live with. The machina was powerful enough to shoot straight through two people, how could he pass that up? He chuckled to himself as the boy fell to the ground, quickly honing his sights on the team's medic. Well well… this was a sight he didn't see often. The BLU medic walked - slightly crouched - behind Pyro, obviously building up an uber to storm the point.

A grin spread across the australian's face as he lined up the perfect shot. This would be the perfect time to test the "two birds with one stone" feature. He waited a moment- almost there… just one more step! He pulled the trigger as his love's heavy boot tromped on to the capture point, sending both her and the medic falling backwards. That was one of the most beautiful headshots he'd ever done!

She would surely sneak up behind him and burn him to a crisp with that new flame thrower of hers, but that shot was completely worth it. What was that new weapon of hers called? She'd told him about it when they saw eachother last, but for the life of him he couldn't remember. back something or another… He continued musing to himself while he scanned the battle below him. It looked like it would be a sure win for RED.

The balance between victories seemed to have returned finally. Sniper never would expected to be a crucial part of his team- or at least when it came to the tipping point of wins to losses. It was probably because Pyro wasn't out for his (and anyone who got in her way's) blood from anger. God she was incredible…

Some time had passed- just about an hour by his estimate. Points were captured and lost; the match was taking its normal course. Something was starting to bother him, though. Taking into account that this is a rather large battlefield with plenty of buildings to hide in or travel through, he still should have still seen pyro run by at least once. There was the possibility that she was just guarding the far control point… He sighed, focusing back to the middle of the field. The central point had switched from RED to BLU many times this match, WAY more times than any of the previous battles.

What was the point of control point missions anyway? CTF missions he could understand with getting small bits of information on the other team at the end of each round, and payload missions to deliver or destroy something weren't too outlandish, but there seemed to be no point to control point missions. You stand on a circle until it turns your color and do the same with all the other points on a map, but what does Redmond gain from that? It would make more sense if when your team captured a field it stayed in your possession, but the teams were continuously forced to fight on the same battlefields and capture the same places over and over again.

Sniper left his thoughts on the futility of their fights once he noticed something strange happening below. The RED scout stood on the central point, stomping his foot on the protective casing of the multi colored light. Only… there was no light. The point had gone completely dark and, judging by the commotion going on to either side of oh his tower, it seemed like the other two had gone dark as well.

Something was definitely wrong. He grabbed his coffee pot from a crate next to him and slung his rifil over his shoulder before exiting his little roost. He wanted to find out what was going on. Engie would probably know, or maybe Spy would have seen something.

The sound of the end-of-match horn rang across the cold field as he reached the bottom of the stairs. What? The final point hadn't been captured yet. The Australian gazed over the field of confused mercenaries, both RED and BLU, before he spotted and approached his team's texan,

"Hey Engie," The taller man stood by his stockier teammate,

"Afternoon stretch, any idea what's goin' on?"

He shook his head, "No, I was hoping you-"

His words were cut off by a booming announcement over the field,

"BOTH TEAMS WILL RETURN TO THEIR RESPECTIVE BASES IMMEDIATELY"

What? But they should still have two hours of work left… the last time this happened was-

"Engie, Snipes!" the voice of their Scout interrupted his thoughts. Guess he lost his novahollandiaphobia, "Didja hear? Looks like the BLU team had a respawn failure!"

Sniper stared blankly at the boy as he ran off, before joining him and the short man next to him in running toward the BLU base. Nobody ever listened to orders when a respawn failure happened, everyone wanted to see one of their enemies permanently dead! But not in this case.

Thoughts rushed through his head as he made his way to the opposite base with his team. He attempted to keep a composed face, but he couldn't help but pick his cuticles as he worried.

He hadn't seen her in hours, what if… no. He refused to think that. He refused to have lost her so soon after he had gotten her back.

He and most of his team arrived at the BLU base a few minutes after Scout did. The BLUs stood outside their base to "greet" their enemy team. He had no time for pleasantries, he was only there to find her. He scanned the crowd of 17 for Pyro, but to no avail. The RED team was making the half consoling/half mocking comments that were usual for the situation, but he couldn't find her.

Only when the RED scout nudged his arm and pointed in the direction of a blanket covered corpse did he see her.

Chapter Text

That particular trip through respawn had been a rough one. Sure, your first time going through the system would make you queasy, but an experienced mercenary like themself shouldn't feel this bad. Pyro glanced over to the revving platform to wait for the team's doctor, holding their stomach in an attempt to prevent sickness. The man was closing in on his fifties and if respawn made them feel as bad as it did, who knows how it would affect Medic.

It took much longer that it should have, but eventually the german appeared on the platform. Something was… off however.

They rushed to his side as the Medic began to fall to his knees, barely catching him before he hit the ground,

"Hre yhu okhy?" the firebug helped the man to his feet, propping him against the nearby resupply cabinet

He waited, his breaths labored, before looking to the shorter BLU and smiling, "I'm fine. I just… need a moment," The Medic slid down the cabinet to sit, pulling his legs to his chest.

Pyro stared at their fellow BLU a moment before nodding slowly and sitting by the other, "Hf yhu fhy fo,"

"Aren't you going to go back out?"

"Nht hntill yhu're feelhng bhtter," There was no way Pyro was leaving Medic in this state.

The symptoms Medic was showing at the moment were of something awful, and they wanted to make sure they were wrong in their assumptions. Pyro had been a member of BLU long enough to know what these signs meant.

The two sat in silence until Medic uncurled from his ball. The elder sighed before standing on unstable legs and picking up his quickfix, "Alright, I am vhell enough to go out vith you,"

"Hre yhu surh?" They jumped to their feet, grabbing their backburner from the floor in the process.

The medic simply waved them off and urged them out the resupply doors. This was a bad idea. Pyro trotted forward, Medic behind and healing them, but they knew this was bad. His pale skin and near collapse, his labored breathing and obvious pain… They were all the telltale signs that your borrowed time was about to expire.

And, sure enough, Pyro heard a loud thump behind them and saw the overheal wisps begin to disappear mere feet from respawn. They turned around as fast as they could to tend to their friend, but it was already too late.

Now, they stood over their dead doctor, a crowd forming around them. Respawn failures aren't as easy and painless as the Administrator or Miss Pauling would tell you; it takes time for your organs to shut down one by one and deteriorate inside you. They could only imagine how much more it hurt medics with their natural self-healing…

They glanced over to the crowd of REDs and BLUs. It had been a while since a respawn failure; the last one they remembered was the RED Heavy about three months ago, so of course everyone on the other team would jump at the chance to rub it in the BLUs' faces. It's what you do after all… Someone dies, you give sarcastic condolences, life goes on. That's the way things worked around here.

He wasn't hard to find in the crowd. They could tell Sniper was worried about something- maybe he assumed they were the respawn failure that was announced over the intercoms. Pyro left the crowd soon after making eye contact with him. The teams would surly get a couple of days off until a new medic could be brought in, and nobody would suspect anything if they left the base until the designated time to meet the newbie.

They leaned against Sniper, enjoying the combined warmth from his body and from his blankets. It was nice being able to see eachother sooner than their once-a-month excursions, though they wished a respawn failure wasn't necessary for an extra meeting. He ran a hand over their bare shoulder, pulling them closer to his chest. It was nice getting to be alone with him like this.

Sniper planted soft kisses to their fiery hair "For a while there… I thought-"

"I know. Don't worry, I'm not leaving like that," They cut him off, not exactly wanting to hear him say that he thought he killed them,

"I know you wouldn't want to, but…" He sighed, shifting on the wrinkled sheets beneath them, "It would have been my bullet- Hell, it WAS my bullet that killed your medic!"

Pyro sighed, smiling to the taller and putting a hand on his cheek, "But I'm fine… see?" They kissed Sniper softly on the lips, "No need to worry,"

He smiled back to them once they pulled away, "I just don't want to hurt you like that,"

The BLU simply held him tighter, "You didn't, and you won't. It's a one in one billion chance that a respawn failure will happen anyway,"

"But I-" The firebug put a finger over his lips to silence him, then removed it and kissed his cheek,

"I am fine, We're both fine," They sat back away from the australian, averting their gaze from his. Convincing him that they were really alright was harder than they wanted it to be. In all honesty, they weren't mad at him in the slightest. He was doing his job when he killed Medic. Even if they were friends with him, and they were very upset that he was gone forever, Pyro couldn't fault Sniper for it. They just wanted to drop the subject.

The sharpshooter looked at his lover for a moment, and then proceeded to reach forward and pick them up- causing a squeak of surprise from them. He pulled them close in his arms before speaking,

"Sorry Sheila, I'll leave off,"

It took a moment for the initial surprise of being touched unexpectedly to wear off before they could speak, "Thank you,"

Pyro eventually had to return to the base. No matter how long they wanted to stay in Sniper's van and hold him, they still needed to go back and see the others. Sniper would no doubt have a party thrown in honor of him killing an enemy for good, but the BLU had bigger issues. They had no clue who the new medic being flown in was, and they had no idea how he would act. What if he refused to keep their sex off the records? What if he was a cruel man like the RED medic…

No, they had to keep a positive outlook! Maybe he would be nice like their old medic. He would surely be nervous being new on the team; they could become his friend! Friendships are beautiful things that involve trust and love and not telling your entire team that their pyro is a scarred freak! Yes. Everything would be fine. Just… fine…

They walked through the meeting room door and were immediately greeted by their team, along with two other faces. One was Miss Pauling, who always introduced their new teammates, and the man who was obviously their new medic. He looked young-maybe even a year or two younger than themself, but definitely older than scout. His hair was a nice brownish back color, and he was barely taller than them. His eyes were the color of muddied emeralds and- those eyes…

Pyro stood next to the engineer and fiddled with their fingers as Miss Pauling briefed them on their new teammate's duties. They didn't like his eyes. His face was turned up in a smile, but his eyes remained harsh and sharp. He seemed to glance about the room to each of the BLUs' faces, only stopping when he reached their own. They shrunk back as his smile grew a little bigger while he looked them down.

"That's about it everyone," Miss Pauling's words snapped them from the growing pit in their belly, "The only thing left is for Engineer to tell you more about your respawn chip modifications. I assume you can do that on your own?" She looked to the texan, who grinned back to her,

"Absolutely Miss Paulin'," He walked to the front of the room, replacing the woman who stood there moments before. Respawn chip modifications? They had gotten to the meeting late, sure, but they weren't THAT late. She should have just gotten finished with explaining the medic's history… there shouldn't have been enough time to talk about their respawn chips.

"Good. I have to get going now, but I need you to at least try and get along sooner than later," She picked up a folder on the way out the door- no doubt it was the new Medic's information, "You all have a mission on Monday, so do your best to help Medic"

They wished they had gotten in on time, and no doubt Soldier would chew them out for being late, but the time with Sniper really was worth it. Though… they wish they had a better knowledge of the new Medic.

How could Miss Pauling so quickly switch to calling this new person "medic" anyway? It was her job to not really feel for the mercenaries individually, and it was just a title… but it felt like so much more than that. To the pyro, the word "medic" meant a friend who wanted nothing more than to keep his team happy and well. It meant someone who tried to reassure them everything was, even in his very last moments…

Engineer continued speaking of how he these new chips would hopefully make for shorter times in limbo and fewer respawn failures, but Pyro paid no attention. They were focused on their own thoughts and the new medic's face.

"-And our new doc here's gonna install 'em! We figured it'll be a great way to break the ice," These words brought Pyro back from the depths their mind, however. They really didn't feel comfortable having this stranger operate on them so soon… especially not after the first statement they heard from the man,

"It vhill be great fun, I promise you! Ve vill haf so much time to chit-chat vhile I operate on you all-" The man's accent was thick- maybe thicker than their passed medic's

"Wait, but won't we be knocked out while you do it?" Scout interrupted him, concern clearly showing on his face, "You're not really gonna root around in our necks while we're awake…"

. He frowned and glared at the boy, before returning his smile and eerily happy tone, "Of course I vill, I vant to make sure everyzhing goes perfectly during the procedure. Haffing you awake vhile I work so you can tell me eeexactly how it feels…" The medic paused, picking up the chip engineer brought to show everyone from the table, "Vhell… it vill be simply fantastic,"

Chapter Text

The pain in pyro's neck lingered from the new medic's procedure for a day. Each member of the BLU team had their respawn chips removed and replaced the day of his arrival, and nobody was happy about him. Any warm welcoming feelings melted away from each mercenary once he cut ever-so gleefully in to their necks. Pyro was the last to have the chip replaced, and to say they were reluctant to showing their face to this stranger was a vast understatement.

The only ones to ever see their face were their old medic and sniper; showing their face to this man just felt… wrong.

"Don't be nervous," he coaxed them, digging his fingers in to the firebug's shoulder, "I vhill haf to zee your face someday. I am your Medic after all~"

They hated the glee in his voice… but they knew he was right.

The operation was long and painful, and the man's commentary on their scars didn't make them feel any more comfortable around him.

But that was to be forgotten today. They waited in anticipation for the protective gates to open. On the second day of having a new team member a …special sort of match is held. The BLU and RED teams are pitted against eachother in a sort of arena match, the aim of which is to capture four control points; two around your base, and two around the enemy's. Usually this would be no sweat, but in an arena match, there is no respawn.

Well, there is, it's just that you respawn outside of the battle field and have to watch as your team either wins or loses. The purpose is for building bonds with your new teammate, but the match usually just serves to throw them under the bus and get any aggression towards them out.

Oh boy, did their team hold aggression.

The gates flung open, and the match began. There was no setup time for either team, just time to anticipate the battle ahead. Pyro absolutely loved these fights, even if they only happened after something awful.

They watched as scout ran ahead of their team, soon followed by their rocket-jumping soldier. A large board above the field showed the class symbols, the BLU scout symbol immediately going dark as a rocket pierced his chest and sent meaty chunks flying across the ground. There was a system to these fights; engineers set up as fast as they could, scouts or snipers would destroy their sentries, and teams would close in to capture the point.

That being said, engineers and scouts were usually the first ones to die. Pyro stomped on the dry, powdery dirt of the field, just barely dodging a wayward rocket from their demoman and the RED soldier's apparent battle ahead of them. Pyros and Medics were usually the next classes to be wiped out.

They gripped their degreaser tightly. There was no way they would die today, they refused to. They were going to help their team win the battle. Speaking of medics though, where was the new one? They hadn't really paid attention to him before the battle and hadn't really seen him since. They ducked in to one of the ram-shackle buildings to catch their breath, noticing that little red dot on the ground. It trailed up and to hone on- oh. The new medic dodged the bullet, lunging in to their same lean to. He huffed and puffed to catch his breath, offering the pyro a short salute. He looked… odd.

It wasn't the grin that was plastered to his heaving face- no doubt they would look the same if you took their mask off. No, it was their clothes. His hat was normal, just a combat medic's crusher cap, but coat was black and shiny. Was that even regulation?

"Mhdic?" They called to get his attention, causing a rather flamboyant roll of the eyes,

"Ja, fine," Before they could speak, he pulled out a crossbow like the RED medic carried… and shot them with it. They jumper letting out a small pained yelp, "Don't be such a baby, it vill heal you not hurt you,"

Pyro rubbed their abdomen after he pulled the comedicly large syringe out, "Better?"

"… uh lhttle, bht-"

"Excellent! Zhen ve can get back to zhe battle!"

The flickering red dot was still visible from out the door. Should they just let the new medic eat Sniper's bullet? He was obviously a battle medic judging by his quick fix and ubersaw…

He began towards the door, and they could see sniper's sighs was just above the door… damnit, they couldn't bring themself to let him die so quickly. They quickly grabbed the back of his coat and yanked him back, the sound of rubber against rubber squeaking through the explosion and scream filled air,

"Vhat zhe hell are you doing?!" He screeched, losing his trademark smile for just a moment

"Whll therf-"

"Bitte, I cannot understand a vord you say," The taller man interrupted before they could finish warning him.

They lifted a finger to the air vent on the front of their mask and moved it to settle in front of the medic, signaling him to wait. They watched the battle in front of them for a moment. Demomen and heavies, The RED scout and pyro running amok, and their engineer running back to resupply to no doubt get more metal.

Pyro pointed to engineer, seeing the red dot trail up the back of his head. As soon as they heard the signature rifle shot, they grabbed the medic's hand and ran. The time it would take Sniper to reload would be just enough for them to get out of his range.

They held the medic's hand tightly as they dragged him across the quickly emptying field. They glanced around at the bodies strewn across the ground before pulling the German in to a thick of trees,

"Wh shohld bh fhfe frhm hm herh," they looked over their shoulder to the battle field behind them. It didn't seem like there was anyone following them.

Medic rubbed his hand from the pyro's tight grip, "Zhank you for zhat,"

They giggled, "Whll, dhn't fhnk mh yht. We'rh fthll hn danghr," They pointed back to the score board near resupply. The RED engineer, demoman, sniper, and heavy symbols were all still lit in bright crimson LEDs, while only the medic, spy, and their own symbols were lit for BLU.

"The medic laughed, "Zhe odds really aren't in our favor,"

Pyro nodded, switching their degreaser out for their scorch shot. They aimed for the sniper's small room from around the tree they hid behind, pulling the trigger and reveling in the sight of the round exploding and their lover falling out the window.

The sharpshooter's symbol went dark on the board, "Nhw ht'f hven,"

The BLUs hurried to the building the RED had just fallen from. There were no enemies in sight and, judging by the score board, the three remaining REDS were probably guarding their point.

It didn't take long to maneuver through the connected buildings to the other side of the battlefield and confirm their suspicions. The two could see their final three enemies through the top floor window they stood beside; an engineer with fully set up sentry, a heavy with a revving machine gun, and a demoman who brandished a saber.

They looked at each remaining member of the enemy team trying to think of a plan. The medic next to them had a full uber charge, but that didn't mean much with a quick fix… They would be mowed down before they could do any damage, even if he popped it just as they rushed the point.

"Wht dh yhu thnk?" The pyro looked away from the open window to the man next to him.

The German was silent for a moment, holding his face in a pondering position, before snapping his fingers and grinning widely, "I may haf a plan!"

"Wht hf i-" before they could finish their question, the medic jumped out of the window. He stayed just out of the sentry's range and taunted the REDs, shooting a syringe from his crossbow into the demoman's arm.

"Zhere! You tahe care of zhe rest herr Pyro!" He cackled as he ran towards the opposite end of the map, evading slashes from the now pursuing demo-knight.

What the hell just happened? Was he insane- well they figured he was unstable on some mental level (though they had no room to talk), but jumping out a window four stories from the ground?!

Pyro dodged away from the window as a rain of bullets came towards them. Well, so much for surprising the enemy… The BLU trotted through the building, distancing themself from the sound of the RED engineer telling the heavy to go after them. They had been in fights with heavies many times; they knew their chances of winning were slim. Maybe if they could corner him or get him from behind… damn, it would be so much easier with their backburner!

They propped themself against a doorway to catch their breath. They hoped medic was doing well with the demoman. He was a battle medic, so he would probably be fine! To be honest, they had grown attached to the man in the time they had just spent together. He was odd and quirky and made strange noises when he was hurt. … Inappropriate noises. They shrugged; it wasn't their place to judge what he liked. Weirdo.

The sound of a machine gun spinning up wrenched them from their thoughts. They lunged in to the room they stood in front of just in time for the taller man to open fire on them. Shit, he was pretty quiet for such a big guy! They looked around the room for an easy exit, but found none. No doors or windows or even broken wall panels to squeeze through. They would just have to face him.

They held their degreaser tightly squeezing the trigger to puff fire at the man as he approached, but something was wrong. The RED was no longer firing, but neither was their own weapon. They franticly pulled the trigger as the man's tromping footsteps drew closer. Why? What was wrong? They looked over the gas cables to see if one had gotten disconnected or if the ignition switch was stuck, but upon turning their weapon over, they found the problem: A large bullet hole in their gas tank.

It must have gotten punctured when they lunged out of the way up by the window! They had absolutely no chance of winning now…

The heavy laughed as he revved his weapon and pointed it at the BLU's face, and then lower to their gut. Well, this was going to hurt. The RED pulled the trigger, firing two bullets, before screaming.

Pyro held their stomach in pain as the lead pierced their suit and flesh. They looked up to see the RED fall over, and to meet a friendly gaze,

"Sph!" They yelled cheerfully, immediately regretting the excessive motion in their torso.

The Frenchman knelt by them, opening a medkit that had been outside the door just moments before, "Quiet mon ami, do not move until I say so," Spy unrolled a bandage, wrapping it around their waist, "Zhere, zhe bullets are still in you, but it will have to do for now,"

He handed them the bottle of pain pills from the medkit after helping them stand, "Fhnk yhu,"

The other turned to leave the room, creating a perfect opportunity for them to take the pain pills, "You would do zhe same for me- you have done the same for me," The spy opened his cigarette case and donned a mask with the heavy's face on it, "Shall we?"

Pyro nodded and followed Spy as far as they could without being seen by the engineer. Their fellow BLU walked up to the texan as if nothing was wrong and spoke, mimicking the russian's accent and oice perfectly, "Leetle pyro is gone"

"Nicely done!" The shorter man laughed and stood from his metal chair to refill his sentry's ammo, "Just keep an eye out for that spah-"

The next sounds from his mouth were screams as the frenchman's knife pierced his spine. It really amazed Pyro how easy Spy made it look…

They waited until Spy's sappers were in place to approach and burn the screaming machines. It had only taken moments to kill them and clear the point! They would love to work more closely with Spy, but it was just too dangerous for them both! This was honestly one of the most fun capture missions they had ever been part of- bleeding stomach aside.

Sirens and canned cheers rang over the speakers seconds after the metal plate turned blue. Spy grinned and laughed, gently patting Pyro on the back, but they could not fully enjoy the victory. As the cheers rang through the battle field, they spotted the RED demoman walking towards the point and dragging a very dead medic along behind him.

The only downside to winning a round is that you don't respawn fully healed. Pyro sat in the BLU rec-room as their teammates walked about, congratulating eachother on the great victory. The medic stood next to them, focusing a steady BLU stream of light from a medigun on their center,

"You know, it vould be much easier if you just let me operate on you and get zhose bullets out. Zhis vill do zhe trick, but it takes soooo much longer," The man's tone was exasperated, though his face looked genuinely happy

"I whnt fh bh whth everhone thohgh, I chn't dh tht hf I'm hn yhur hperathng rhm!" They laughed up to the medic, quickly looking to their demoman as he came to congratulate them on the win.

That was… weird. Yeah, they and Spy were the ones to capture the point, but Medic was a big help. If he hadn't distracted the RED demo, they would have had a lot more trouble capping! Everyone else probably still needed to warm up to him is all…

"Herr Pyro?"

"Hm?!" They quickly turned to the other

"How are you feeling? Zhe healing should almost be done," The German gestured to their stomach as he spoke.

They looked down to the holes in their suit and pushed on their soft belly, "Hll ghd!" They jumped to their feet and looked to the man, noticing his confused expression. Oh, yeah, he still didn't understand them. They offered him a double thumbs up in a better response,

"Ah, good then!" He laughed, trade mark grin again plastered on his face. It would take a while for him to be able to understand them fully- it did for the rest of their team at least! Well, except for scout, but talking is his whole lot in life! Of course he could understand them mere weeks after meeting.

"Fhnk yhu, yhu dhd rehlly whll thdhy!" They tried to annunciate their words well enough for him to understand. It did nothing, however, judging by the man's furrowed brow. He was still smiling, but anyone could see the confusion.

They sighed, taking the man's medigun and setting it down on the chair where they sat moments before,

"Vhat do you zhink you ar-?!" They cut him off by picking the medic up in a hug and spinning him. They set him down and spoke once more,

"Fhnk Yhu,"

"A-Ah. Okay," Good, he finally understood! They let out a sigh of relief before turning to join the rest of the party.

He stood slack jawed for a moment. Nobody had really… shown him physical affection in a long time. Hell, nobody had shown him any affection in a long time. That Pyro was strange, but… nice. He leaned against the wall, sliding against it to sit next to his medigun. He could never join the party like he was now!

He covered his flushed cheeks with gloved hands, relishing the speed at which his heart was beating and the knotted feeling in his stomach.

Chapter Text

6:00am - BLU

Pyro's eyes shot open at the sound of Soldier slamming his fist against the door. Morning training was apparently about to start early and they were "the only lazy insubordinate" who hadn't shown up yet. Great. They stepped out of their room and ran to the back court yard as soon as they got dressed.

And might they say: Fuck this track suit.

The firebug usually trained alone in the gym after hours, which Soldier was usually fine with, but they guessed he wanted everyone together for the first training session with the new member. All began their respective training regimens once Pyro arrived, though not before receiving a questioning glance from the drill Sargent at their long sleeved track suit.

Soldier was a good leader; he did his best to find everyone's weakness and help them surpass it, even if that meant humiliating them to get them to work harder.

Soldier never forced anyone to join his training- he just made sure everyone knew he would be in the courtyard at 6 sharp every morning. Nobody wanted to join his training sessions at first, but over time the entire BLU team came to suffer the American's abuse.

Demoman was the first to join him, and Heavy soon followed. It really only took two months of being a team for all of the BLUs to join in. When he slammed on peoples' doors in the morning it was more of a reminder that they were late and checking if they were alright than actually a mandatory call to train.

Pyro looked at their teammates as they jogged around the yard. Running was never their forte but Soldier had them run laps every morning since they mentioned that they wanted to become faster.

Scout was lifting weights with his noodley arms, Engie jogged a little ways behind them, and Demo did crunches while talking with Sniper. They watched the Irishman's muscles glisten with sweat as he moved, and how they rolled when he laughed at the bearded Australian's jokes.

whoa.

They put a gloved hand on their tummy as they turned their attention away from him. They were so... squishy. They tried to build up muscles of their own, but they always stayed so soft, especially when it came to their stomach region. The BLU squeezed the handful of flesh over their belly. Why couldn't they build muscles like the rest of their team?

They sighed, tracing the two newest bullet scars on their tummy. At least Sniper liked their squishy build.

He said it was comforting and he loved it, and even made sure to kiss them all over to show them just how much he loved all of them. They supposed if Sniper accepted their body, they should too.

Soldier's angry voice got louder as they rounded the corner of the court yard. He was focused on one person and one person only today: Medic. Seeing how different Soldier acted from the battlefield, training, and during ceasefires was incredible. He made sure to act as the stone cold killer he should be during battles, and act harsh and angry when training, but his outer façades didn't fool anyone. He was so ecstatic when medic asked to join in on training that he even nearly dropped his favorite rocket launcher!

"KEEP THOSE SHOULDERS SQUARE MAGGOT," he yelled at the man doing pushups below him.

He planted his foot hard on the German's back causing him to fumble and nearly scrape his chin on the rough concrete tile below "THOSE DAINTY ARMS GIVING OUT ALREADY? WHAT A DISSAPOINTMENT. DO YOU WANT YOUR ENTIRE TEAM DYING AGAIN?"

The Medic answered with a simple "No, sir"

"GOOD. THEN YOU WON'T MIND GIVING ME ANOTHER 50 LIKE THIS," Soldier grinned and pushed his boot harder to the medic's back, visible strain showing in the man's arms.

Medic simply replied a "Yes, sir" and kept going, odd smile on his face. If Pyro didn't know any better… they would say he was enjoying the abuse.

Man, Medic was a weird guy- not that they would ever shame his kinks to his face.

Engineer tapping on their shoulder brought them back into focus on their jogging, "Now Pahro, it's impolite to stare,"

6:00am - RED

Sniper awoke by force of habit.

He didn't know why it was always 6am, but he always shot up at this time ever since he was a child. He rolled over in his bed and pulled the covers over his head in an attempt to block out the morning bird songs, including- no, especially the one of a certain eagle.

It sounded like Solly was already running morning drills with the rest of the team.

Nobody likes his morning drills. All Soldier does is talk down to you and tell you how terrible you are, he doesn't even give encouragement or praise!

Thank heavens Engie was their team leader and not him.

At least he had given up on trying to get Sniper to join, mainly since the Australian didn't sleep on base. It wasn't as if he was the only one who skipped out either. Spy literally laughed and closed his door in the American's face when he tried forcing him to attend and Pyro never even showed up to his announcement of morning training. Well, Solly probably wouldn't complain about pyro not attending. He was scared to death of pyros for some reason.

Demo's hardy laughter and Soldier's yelling voice alerted him that scout had arrived to training, late as usual. Why the kid ever attended was unknown to him. Maybe his age drawback just kept him from disobeying someone with authority- or who at least sounded like someone with authority.

Sniper closed his eyes, focusing on thoughts of his weekend plans for pyro to try and lull himself back to sleep. It would be their half year anniversary and he wanted to do something... special.

He finally drifted back to sleep when pondering what kinds of wine she liked.

7:20am - BLU

They sat at the large table in the mess hall as their teammates chatted and laughed all around them. The American called over his shoulder from his place at the stove to congratulate everyone on a morning well spent, flipping a pancake as he did so. Pyro really loved when it was Soldier's turn to cook!

Today's menu consisted of thick buttermilk pancakes topped with canned whipped cream with a side eggs and bacon. The perfect "All American Meal" according to their leader.

Scout prodded halfheartedly at his plate of food while he swirled his coffee around his mug, taking a large swig of the dark liquid soon after. Engineer always told him that someone of his age should put cream or sugar in their coffee but Scout always brushed his suggestion off, even if he did grimace after every sip of the black drink.

Soldier slid a fresh plate down the table to Spy whom hurriedly pulled the food closer, before turning back to his cooking. The sight of the balaclava clad man eating was something to behold.

It truly amazed them how different the RED and BLU spies were for looking so much alike. Yes, their Spy was a few inches shorter than his RED counterpart, but aside from that they couldn't tell the difference between their looks! Their personalities, on the other hand, were polar opposites.

The RED Spy was cruel and sarcastic from their experiences and would never be caught eating anything but the highest quality food, while the BLU Spy had always been kind to them and absolutely adored American food. They could still remember the day the two of them met.

It was the first redrawn failure the BLU team ever had. They never knew much about the original Spy, only that he liked to smoke and seemed to have a soft spot for Miss Pauling. It didn't really hurt them when he never came back from the dead, it just shocked them. No one even knew how to feel about their teammate's replacement at first.

He was short and shy and seemed very nervous about it all. All Pyro knew was that he wasn't afraid of them yet- he had no reason to be. Befriending the Spy was actually one of the things that helped the rest of the BLU team warm up to the firebug...

Pyro looked around the room. So many of their original team was gone. Somewhere along the way, Demo, Engie, Sniper, Spy, Heavy, and now Medic had all died in some way. The only ones who remained of the original team were Scout, Soldier, and themself now. It was a little sad when they thought about it, but what could you expect? They had all been at this job for six years, people were bound to die.

Sometimes they worried about how they would die. Would it be in the terrible fashion of a respawn failure, or would they get to live a long life even after quitting MannCo. ? They sighed, pushing their existential crisis to the far end of their mind.

The firebug looked to the medic who sat beside them. He seemed to have grown attached to them in the few days he had been on the team. He was odd and still sadistic when it came to medical procedures, but they were starting to like him.

The way he clung to them the days after the battle that brought them together was charming in a way, and they would never be upset by the extra uber charges. They giggled as he poked the pancake in front of him questioningly.

The team quickly learned that he had never really eaten anything but German food before joining BLU, mainly from his distrust and uneasy looks toward his teammates cuisine.

Spy nudged him with his elbow before swallowing, "if you do not want to eat zhat, I will gladly take it off of your hands"

The room erupted in laughter as the German pushed the plate closer to the Frenchman beside him.

7:29am RED

Sniper opened his eyes and stared at the celling for a minute or two. He yawned and stretched, before sitting up and rolling off of his bed. A glance at his clock told him that he had actually woken up at a reasonable time for once. He walked, or rather stumbled, to the small kitchen sink in his vehicle.

Coffee. He needed coffee.

The sharpshooter yawned once more as he gathered the glass pot from the sink and rinsed it out. He reached to the nearby cupboard for his dark coffee beans and- Wait. Where were they?

They should have been right in the front of the cupboard… When had he last made a pot of coffee in his van anyway? The sniper thought back for a moment; he hadn't had any all week to his recollection. The last time he actually remembered making a fresh pot in his van was when the enemy medic died and Pyro stayed with him.

Oh, right. Two times the people meant two times the coffee. How could he have forgotten that he ran out? That was the whole reason he hadn't made any during the week! Sniper sighed as he pulled a pair of pants on and threw a shirt over his head. Hopefully the base's kitchen would have some coffee beans. He knew it was a short walk to the base from his van, so there was no real reason to get too bundled up. Although, he did appreciate the burst of warm air that hit him as he entered the large red building.

The kitchen and mess hall were, well, a mess as usual. Scout was nearly passed out on the dining table complaining about his aching joints and soldier was sitting and eating a very plain looking bowl of oatmeal. What a bunch of sad sacks…

Finding the coffee as fast as he could and leaving the base was his best option; he did NOT want Solly to chew him out for skipping training that morning.

8:00am BLU

Scout sat on the tattered carpet of the common room, making mumbled comments to himself and the action movie that shown on the television. Pyro lounged on the old beaten up couch, Medic leaning against them so that they couldn't move from their spot.

This weekend had been the best their team had in a long while. Eating together, training together, watching movies and laughing together… it was great. It actually reminded them of the first two years of being out of the asylum- the only thing that would make it better would be Miss Pauling. She was the one who broke them out after all.

Living with her was just supposed to condition them for human interaction after being in solitude for so long, but it felt like so much more than that. Miss Pauling was their family! She was special… She was there for them when they had nobody.

"Zhis couch iz in awful condition," They turned from the movie to see Spy picking at a bit of fluff that protruded from the piece of furniture.

Engineer looked up from his guitar from his spot in his lazy chair, "It's not that bad Spah, it's just got character,"

"Zhere are springs sticking out of zhe cushionz, it iz torn, and it LITERALLY haz a kukri sticking out of it!" He pulled the weapon from the piece of furniture to accentuate his comment, to which the BLU sniper simply sipped his mug of coffee and shrugged.

The Frenchman sighed and rubbed his temples, only looking back up when he felt a gloved hand on his shoulder. Pyro kneeled on the couch to better match the Spy's height from the couch,

"Lht'f ght uh nhw cohch! Wh chn fhy ht whf a bufhnhff exphnfe!" They hadn't gotten to go in to town since coming to Snowfort! This would be a great chance to check out the shops and even buy some more winter suited coats and dresses.

9:06am RED

The Australian spent the morning cleaning his rifles and dirty laundry (which he should probably have moved over to a dryer hours ago) What time was it anyway? It was still early enough to have some breakfast… probably. Sniper walked to him mini fridge and opened it, only to be sorely disappointed by its emptiness. He knew he would have to buy food sometime, but damn if it wasn't annoying to have to drive all the way in to town for food. Maybe he should just wait till the weekly shipment from MannCo. arrived…

Sniper made his way into the base's laundry room to finally switch over his clothes to dry. The room was empty save for the sound of clunking and turning machinery, and the Scout perched atop one of the metal cubes.

"Scout," He greeted the younger man once he entered the room,

"Snipes," Scout flicked the bill of his cap in response.

The aussie sighed, pulling his damp clothes from the washing machine. He'd have to dry these and then drive all the way in to town if he wanted any good food. Why couldn't someone who went in to town regularly just buy fresh produce?

Yeah, right. Like that would ever happen. The only ones who go to town on weekends were Demo, Spy, and Scout, and there was no way he wanted any of them touching his food. But… maybe…

He looked to scout, "Hey, have you had your trip to town yet?" He would trust scout not to destroy or poison his food more than Demoman or Spy, so if he could convince him to go shopping for him...

"Nope, not yet," The shorter hopped from the washing machine and perched himself on one closer to Sniper.

He shoved the dripping clothes in to a dryer and started it, "Great, do you think it would be too much trouble to grab some food while you're there?"

The Bostonian looked at him for a moment, puzzled expression on his face, before grinning widely," Yeah! I'd love t' grab lunch!"

Well, he was hoping he could get Scout to buy more than just one day's worth of food, but he wasn't really in position to complain, "Great, when are ya headed out?"

Scout shrugged, "Whenever's good for you pally,"

"So… how about now?"

The runner jumped from the clothes washer and stood in front of the taller man, "Sounds great! Ya can leave your stuff here while we're out," he grinned and pulled on sniper's arm

"Wait, what?"

"Ya asked t' grab food, an' I know a great place in town! Let's go,"

Oh no, that's not what he meant… Shit, Scout actually looked genuinely excited to have lunch with him…

There was no way he could say "no" to the kid now.

10:00am BLU

Cool breezes caused Pyro's skirt to flutter, driving a shiver up their spine as they walked. The trip to town takes much longer here than it does in Teufort, but they supposed that was to be expected with an absolutely snow covered landscape. It didn't help that Spy had to drive extra slowly so as to not let any damage happen to Lola. Engineer was trusting them, and there would surely be hell to pay if she came back with even a scratch!

Even if it felt like it took forever to get there, however, they finally arrived at the furniture store. It was strangely empty, but that could easily be chocked up to people not wanting to be around mercenaries. The air inside the store was warm- a much welcomed contrast from the temperature outside. They were just glad that they had plenty of woolly winter dresses to keep them warm! If only they could say the same for Medic.

It's common practice to go to town out of uniform so as not to scare the townsfolk, yet there Medic stood in his Heat of Winter coat. When questioned about it during the car ride in he just said it was the only warm clothes he had! That wouldn't do for many reasons. One, their new friend needed better winter attire and two, scaring the townspeople in never good. Frightened people mean riots and being run out of town. It's bad enough Spy refuses to take off his balaclava, they didn't need a giant coat with big blue crosses on it to let everyone know who he was.

At least everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was a rare thing to see Medic's genuine smile, yet there it was, plastered on his face as he and Spy talked and tested couches. They would have to convince Spy to drive by the clothes store on the way home so they could treat Medic to a few new coats.

10:30am RED

Sniper absolutely hated the drive to town in Snowfort. It was hell on his van's tires and driving in snow always made him nervous, and his passenger's bounciness didn't help. How did he get roped in to taking the kid to lunch anyway? That's what you get for trying to get someone else to run your errands he supposed…

Scout seemed happy though. He wouldn't shut up about this great restaurant the whole ride to town, and Sniper had to admit that he was not disappointed. It was just diner food, but it tasted nice and reminded him of home. He would never say it… but he was actually a little happy to be out with Scout. Life just seemed too quiet without the Bostonian constantly pestering him. The Australian stared out the window as Scout prattled on, responding with the occasional "mmhmm" and "oh?".

The snow looked so peaceful as it fell to the ground and whirled in the breeze. Sniper liked the atmosphere out here- even if the weather wasn't his favorite. The people out here seemed nicer too; they didn't all head for the hills when mercenaries came to town and actually treated them well. Maybe it was just being in a secluded mountain town that made these people so much calmer.

Watching the people pass the restaurant window brought memories of the time he spent with Pyro at the park. They would just sit and talk for hours while the citizens of Teufort walked by… It was a little upsetting that they could not do that anymore. Sniper supposed it was just a price you have to pay when you are in a relationship with the enemy. And really, the new secrecy and fewer meetings were much safer from what they had been doing.

The aussie had fully tuned Scout's blabbering out while he watched the people and environment outside, but a sudden question brought him back to attention,

"So uh, how's your girlfriend doin'?"

Sniper snapped his head back to look at the boy sitting across from him before speaking, "O-oh she's fine,"

Scout leaned back in his chair while grabbing his water glass, "That's good. Ya' get back togetha'?"

"Yeah actually… I guess I should thank you for the advice from back then," He scratched the back of his neck as he spoke. If Scout hadn't told him to take a walk and think all those weeks ago… well he and Pyro might not be together again!

The Bostonian looked on with a confused expression for a moment, "Oh yeah… No prob pally," he gave a nervous sounding chuckle, "You'd a' done th' same for me,"

Scout quickly changed the subject to some new sports team . Come to think of it, would he have done the same for Scout? To be honest… probably not. Sniper didn't really care about his teammates' personal lives much, and the only reason Scout or anyone else cared about his was due to his battle performance. What a sorry excuse for a merc he was- not even able to do his job properly without the woman he loves.

The Australian took a sip of his drink as scout blathered on. He should at least pretend to pay attention to the kid's words, right?

Chapter Text

Warm air from Sniper's van immediately hit Pyro's face once she removed her mask. The temperature difference from outside to in was a much welcomed change, even if the sudden heat made her numb skin tingle and throb. She sat on his pullout mattress before reaching out and taking a bottle of water that the Australian held out for her, "Thanks"

Sniper smiled and sat next to her, "No problem," The BLU leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder, yawning as she did so,

"Tired?" he chuckled and kissed the top of her head, wrapping an arm around her waist. It had been a full month since the new Medic was brought onto the BLU team, and since the two of them were able to see eachother,

"A little," She responded, sitting up straight and kissing the sharpshooter softly on the lips, "The cold just makes me sleepy,"

The aussie laughed, "Guess you are more of a warm temperatures kind of girl," he flopped back on to his bed and pulled her down with him,

"You'll just have to keep me warm," the shorter giggled and rolled on to her side to have a better view of the sniper,

He grinned and pulled her close, laying small kisses on her cheeks and neck "I'll do my best,"

The inner-workings of the BLU base were silent. Weekends usually kept mercenaries either in town or in the common rooms, but the object of Spy's wonder never seemed to leave his bedroom for anything other than meals and battles. Medic was a strange one, that's for sure. The Frenchman could never get a positive read on him even after the many weeks since he joined BLU, so there was no way Spy would pass on the opportunity to snoop around his personal belongings after seeing the German leave the base.

Picking the lock on his bedroom door proved unchallenging, and the reward for doing so was… less than satisfactory. Medic's room was barely furnished past the regulation cot all MannCo. employees received and it was hardly decorated. An old floral print chair sat in the corner, a wardrobe full of coats was stationed next to the door, a desk and rolling chair stood on the back wall, and a framed needle point reading "Do No Harm" in intricate cursive hung over the hastily made cot. It all seemed too normal for the leather clad masochist the team assumed him to be! Really, the most interesting thing in the room was the caged hairless rat that watched him as he moved through the room. It was an ugly little thing with wrinkled skin and beady red eyes, but Spy supposed he should not be one to judge. Most of the team had a pet locked away in their room, his own tank of crabs included.

Nothing had caught his eye yet. For someone who was so… creepy… he seemed to be clean of anything that would be blackmail worthy- not that Spy was looking for such material.

He kept his hopes up that he might find something in the last place left to look: the desk. There seemed to be a drawer that stretched the length of the desk embedded in the piece of furniture, though judging by the rest of the man's room it most likely only held work papers. The small lock on the drawer took seconds to pick, allowing Spy to simply pull it open by the single brass handle.

The anticipation of what could be inside was overwhelming! Maybe there was evidence of shady dealings or traitorous acts involving the REDs, or maybe there were photos of a lover or family members stowed away. The possibilities were endless!

Spy yanked the drawer open with a deep breath, though what he soon found was not what he would have liked to find. Usually this type of find was great for a man in Spy's profession, but this did not bring joy to him whatsoever. Lazily hidden under various MannCo contracts… sat dozens upon dozens of Polaroid photos of Pyro.

The pictures were obviously taken in secret and without permission judging by the blurred quality. Most of them seemed to be taken on base as well... This was disturbing to say the least. What should he even do in this situation? He couldn't confront Medic about these for risk of the usual deflected blame that comes with snooping, but he couldn't just leave it be. No, he would have to tell Pyro about these.

Oh, but Pyro was not at the base at the moment. They were probably off with their boyfriend at the moment... The frenchman sighed and brought a small camera out from the inner pocket of his coat before snapping a couple pictures of the drawer's contents.

Pyro would be back from seeing Sniper soon enough. Disturbing the two of them wasn't needed, this news could wait until they returned. For now, however, he decided to show his new findings to Soldier. He could think of a suitable course of action with Medic.

Spy closed the drawer after replacing all papers how he found them and relocked it. He quickly glanced around the room, making sure everything was how he found it. Once satisfied, he gave the rat that had been watching him so intently a wink, " Zhis is a secret between you and I, Mon ami, "

He exited the room and started down the long hallway to the war room where Soldier would no doubt be on a late Sunday evening such as this. Spy lit a cigarette and took a deep inhale, sighing smoke through his nostrils. Pyro would no doubt be upset to learn that their new friend was stalking them.

Pyro yawned and snuggled closer to the man next to them, pulling the dingy red bedsheet over their shoulders as they did so. It's amazing how quickly the interior of the van cooled off,

"Still tired?" The Australian pulled part of the sheet over his lower half

They nodded, "Even more now,"

The two chuckled, "Well I can understand, you've had a long couple of weeks," Sniper ran his fingers through Pyro's fiery hair absently, "New teammates are always stressful,"

"Medic's not so bad," They looked up to their boyfriend, "He's just a little different is all,"

Sniper grumbled, "If you say so. He's just been spending a lot of time with you on the field," He sat up and leaned against the wall behind the two of them, "I don't think I've seen him uber anyone but you in the time he's been here,"

The BLU blinked and looked at the other from their laying position, before wrapping their arms around the Australian's bare shoulders, "So I guess that means you're still spying on me during battles,"

They couldn't help the smirk that spread across their face as Sniper became flustered at the accusation. Of course they knew he watched them during fights; that little red dot of light was impossible to miss.

"Maybe a little- only sometimes," Was the reply they finally coaxed from the other. In a way it was nice that he wanted to watch over them… but honestly they would prefer it if he would at least try to kill them. How are they supposed to be able to protect their team if they couldn't tell if the red laser sight was there to watch over them or to kill their teammates?

"You really don't seem to like Medic hanging around me, and the only two reasons I can think of for why that would be," Pyro broke their embrace, sitting back to better look at Sniper's face, "are that you don't like me being ubered from a strategic stance… or you are maybe a little jealous of how much time we're spending together,"

Judging by the way sniper's face drained of colour and then flushed completely, they would say they hit the nail on the head, "Is that it? Are you jealous?" They giggled

"…Maybe a little,"

They sighed, leaning in to kiss the RED, "Sniper, he's just clingy because I'm the only friend he really has on the team right now," They shrugged, "Give him a couple of months or so and he'll have gotten to know the rest of the team better. God knows Heavy has been lonely without medic around,"

The taller waited for a moment, before nodding, "That's true I guess but…" he paused mid-sentence with a look of slight confusion on his face, "Wait…"

"What?"

"What did you just call me?"

They raised an eyebrow, "Sniper? You've never told me to call you anything else, and you just call me 'Sheila' so I assumed you didn't want to do the names thing yet,"

It did make them a little upset after a few months of their relationship that they didn't know his name, but they didn't want to push and risk making him uncomfortable. Besides, it was probably better that they didn't know eachothers' names being on opposite teams…

"No- I mean I just call you Sheila because I didn't know your name and it's different from your job title. I absolutely want to uh,… 'do the names thing'?"

"o-oh okay! Well.. um…" they straightened itched the back of their neck nervously, "My name is Mich,"

"Mitch?"

"No, Mich. With like, a strong 'CH' sound,"

"Ah, right," Sniper cleared his throat, "Well, my name is Clarence,"

Pyro smiled, "Clarence is a great name,"

Chapter Text

His eyes shot open moments before his alarm clock sounded. The man reached over to stop the annoying beeps, picking up his glasses once he did so. Honestly, what was the point in having an alarm clock if you wake up before it? Medic stood from his cot and walked to his wardrobe- scratching his rat's head as he walked by the cage- and gathered the clothes he would need for the day.

The German dressed in sweat pants and a tank top and set aside his work clothes on a hastily made bed. The clock read 5: 45 now, it was probably best to head towards Soldier in the courtyard. The rest of the team would surely be there soon and he did not want to be the last person to arrive.

It's not that he didn't appreciate his team's leader's way of teaching- quite the opposite really! Medic just knew he couldn't handle the special kind of treatment Soldier would surely pay him if he arrived late. The verbal and physical abuse that the American loved to dish out was great and all, but he actually wanted to be able to move for the rest of the day.

Ceiling lights flickered above the doctor as he walked through the intricate hallways that moved throughout the BLU base. It was amazing that he didn't get completely lost in the massive building when he was first transferred, luck must have really been on his side. Well, it might also have been the excellent tour guide he had. Pyro kindly showed him around the living areas and showed him which hallways lead to which battle fields. The maze of hallways confused him greatly, but the arsonist assured him that he would get the hang of it- or at least he assumed that's what the string of mumbled meant.

Medic pushed the metal door to the courtyard open and looked at the faces that turned to. It looked like the rest of his team was already present, so that could only mean one thing for him,

"Good morning, Cupcake," Soldier's voice was already taking on the tone of a drill sergeant, but had not quite reached the volume of yelling that it eventually would during training, "Glad you finally decided to join us!"

About a month had already passed since he joined the BLU team. That meant there would only be a month and a half until the teams switched back to Teufort. The weather would be hot there, right? The new base would be in the middle of a desert, so it was good to assume that it would be hot. Medic's arms wobbled under him as he pushed away from the ground.

Shit. He had to keep his mind away from the weight on his back that was forcing him into the ground. If he thought about the scrapes forming on his palms or the man yelling at him and sitting on his back, he might lose it!

He let out a slow breath as he lowered his chest to the ground and pushed back away from it. His arms ached so much already… but on the bright side, he would definitely be able to heft a medigun with ease. The German looked in the direction of the jogging track when he heard a familiar set of tromping footsteps.

Ah, Pyro! It was nice to see him attending training in the mornings. According to the others, he used to train alone at night in the gym! Obviously Pyro decided to start training with the others as an excuse to watch Medic work out, what other reason could there be? He'd seen him watching while he exercised weeks ago, Pyro was just shy about asking to spend time with him or see his nicely toned body.

Medic forced his wobbling arms to continue moving. He had to put on a good show if the firebug was watching! Disappointing him would be horrib- Oh, he was gone. Medic looked down the running track to see where his admirer had gone.

He sighed, letting his arms finally crumble under his and soldier's combined weight. The doctor huffed warm air against the paved ground in an attempt to catch his breath, Soldier's yelled orders falling on deaf ears. Pyro probably just didn't want their teammates being jealous that he was only there to watch the German… Though the BLU team was probably already a little envious of him with all the time he spent with the medic in off hours. Still, Pyro was very considerate to think about his teammates' feelings!

"IS THAT ALL YOU CAN TAKE CUPCAKE? YOUR PALMS AREN'T EVEN BLEEDING YET! HOW MUCH OF A SOFTIE ARE YOU?" Medic didn't answer. The question was probably a rhetorical one, and he did not want to make the mistake of trying to answer or defend himself,

"GET UP AND GIVE ME FIVE MORE SETS,"

The doctor took a deep breath before getting back up and nodding, "Yes sir,"

Everyone stopped their workout at 7 am. Soldier always made it a point that his team needed to rest and eat before the day progressed too far, and Medic would never complain about stopping those horrible push-ups. The smell of warm bread flooded the German's nose as he entered the mess hall, causing his mouth to water and his stomach to grumble.

Spy's food was more tolerable than most of his other teammates, which made breakfast pass pleasantly. It didn't hurt that Pyro sat next to him while they ate- or while Medic ate at the very least. The arsonist never seemed to eat with others around. Honestly, he didn't understand why he insisted on hiding his face! It didn't matter to the medic what his face looked like, he would love and kiss it all the same.

It's not like it was hard to tell when he was smiling or frowning, so showing emotion couldn't be the problem. Medic sighed happily as he sat on the new couch in the rec room. His fellow BLU had such a cute smile under that mask- he could just feel it! He would never admit it, but the reason he kept a Polaroid camera in his battle coat's pocket wasn't just for snapping pictures of gruesome corpses. Pyro's face was just so cute when he smiled, how would he not want to capture the image?

He must share the German's feelings judging by all the great opportunities for pictures he offered, and not to mention all the time he spent with Medic! Pyro had never told him to NOT take pictures of his adorable face, so he must be okay with it. Although… come to think of it, Pyro didn't really know about the medic's photography either. Oh well, with a relationship as strong as theirs, he was absolutely sure he wouldn't mind.

The doctor flipped the TV from channel to channel; nothing but cartoons was ever on during free hours. It's not that he didn't appreciate watching cartoons with Pyro's arm around his shoulder (well over the back of the couch, but that was close enough) but the animations just seemed stupid to him. They lost all intrigue when the firebug wasn't around.

Speaking of which, where was Pyro? He hadn't seen him since breakfast! He should be sitting on the couch with medic by now.

Medic looked over to the Taxan who sat in an old looking chair and tune his acoustic, "Herr Engineer, have you seen Pyro?"

The stocky man looked up from his instrument to respond, "Ah right, yall're new," He set the guitar down in his lap as he spoke, "I reckon Pahro's out,"

"Out?"

"Yup, they leave once a month to go campin' in the woods or somethin' of the such. I wouldn't go botherin' them,"

"Ah, danke,"

"Now I mean it, don't go pesterin' 'em!" Engineer shot him a sharp glance as he picked his guitar up again, strumming the nearly perfectly in-tune strings.

"I vill not," Medic chuckled, "Zhere will be no pestering," How could he pester pyro is he loved his company so much? The firebug would welcome his company.

Camping? Who knew Pyro liked such rustic activities! Medic got up from the couch and exited the rec room, slowly making his way through the winding hallways of the base. It sort of made sense for Pyro to have a love of camping with things like campfires, the abundancy or burnable materials, the ability to be away from prying eyes… it sounded perfect for him. It also sounded like the perfect thing for the two of them to share. Pyro obviously loved Medic as much as he loved him, so having the german as company would be perfect.

The medic made his way through the open bay doors and into the trees outside the base. Pyro shouldn't be too hard to find, he just had to look for the billowing smoke of a fire.

Walking through the trees and bushes in the late evening had an extremely eerie feeling to it. Shadows seemed to reach in from all directions as he walked through the greenery. It was fine, he'd soon catch up to Pyro and they would be safe together. He clenched his fists and walked slightly faster, breaths becoming ragged and frantic. The darkness had never sat well with the german, but it would be fine. He just had to keep telling himself that everything would be fine when he found Pyro.

Pyro probably had a fire going already and would welcome him when he arrived. Yeah, a nice warm… bright fire. He looked around before finally spotting that familiar blue body suit a ways in the distance. Thank goodness!

Medic trotted to catch up to his teammate, stopping once a strange van came in to view. What? What was that doing in the middle of the forest? It looked like a camper, so you could call it camping he supposed… but why would Pyro knock on the door instead of unlocking it if it was his?

The German stepped out of sight to watch Pyro. Nothing happened for a moment, but soon the van door swung open. The darkness had to be playing tricks on his eyes, because there was no way that could be who he thought it was behind the door. Why would his teammate even go to see an enemy? Was Pyro involved in some sort of shady business-

Wait, why was he taking off his mask?! He didn't do that for medic, so why for him? Medic moved closer to the van to peek through the cracked blinds once the door was closed. Surely this was some misunderstanding!

They were just sitting next to each other. It was fine, they're just friends! Sure! He could keep this secret for Pyro, that's what love was… all… about…

No wait, why was he kissing him? No that's not right Pyro loves him, stop kissing his Pyro!

No… nonono nO NONO NO.

Pyro paid attention to Him, so he had to love him! He had to Love him and only him!

Anger and confusion raged through the doctor as he stormed back to the base. If he didn't know better, he's say he was crying! Haha, how silly that would be. The man entered his room and locked the door behind him.

He understood what the problem was.

He wasn't forward enough, Pyro just didn't know how he felt! He understood the firebug's feelings perfectly.

He must have just gotten lonely without anyone to hold or… or to kiss. The medic unlocked and opened his desk drawer, laying out his finest works of photography on his desk.

Medic could easily forgive Pyro, he didn't know he hurt him after all!

He would just have to find a way to make him understand how much he loved him in a way he would understand.

Chapter Text

Pyro awoke with a pain in the small of their back and a tacky feeling on their skin. They tried sitting up, but quickly found that they were unable. They opened their eyes to a blinding light, trying to look at their surroundings. This was not their bed room.

The feeling of sturdy medical strapping over their chest, arms, and legs was all too reminiscent to their days of being locked in that terrible asylum, but this was no time for painful memories. The BLU looked around the room as soon as their eyes adjusted, trying to find anything that would help them understand where they were.

There was a rolling table next to them with a rolled up piece of fabric to their left, a medigun attached to the ceiling near a low-hanging light, and a wooden door on the far right hand side of the room. A medigun? Had they been captured by the opposite team in their sleep?

What was the last thing they remembered… They stayed a while with Sniper and were on the way back to the BLU base. It was late and their surroundings were dim as they trudged through the woods… but what happened after that?

They didn't actually remember reaching the base, and judging by the searing pain in the back of their head, they didn't think they ever did. The walls and floor seemed to be made of concrete and did not seem to have any specific coloration. There were no windows, so it was easy to assume that they were either somewhere underground or in the middle of some building.

The firebug's face felt cold, and there were no tinted lenses protecting their eyes from the bright light above. Where ever they were, they didn't have their mask. Now that they thought about it… their entire body was colder than usual. The BLU looked down to see that their bodysuit had been removed and all that remained were their briefs and a tank top. Great.

Pyro snapped their head in the direction of the door once they heard the sound of tapping footsteps. Whoever was coming their way was probably the one who took them captive… Who could it be? Maybe it was the RED spy, or maybe the Administrator found out about their relationship with Sniper and was going to torture them for information.

The door opened slowly, but they were not expecting to see the man who stepped through,

"Medic?" Thank goodness, they were saved! He must have come to help them escape!

"Ah! It is good to see zhat you are avake," The German quickly walked to their side, but did not make any motions to free them.

They looked up at him, flashing a nervous smile, "Yeah, um, could you hurry and let me up? We need to get out of here"

Medic looked down at them and patted their cold thigh before speaking, "Vhy vould I do zhat? I vent to a lot of trouble to get you here, I don't vant to throw hours of preparation avay,"

Pyro stared at the doctor, fear welling in their stomach, "Medic… that's not very funny," They chuckled nervously, "Come on…"

"It vas not meant to be und joke, Herr Pyro,"

No… No this was a prank, right? Scout set this up to mess with them and see their face or something… There's no way their teammate- their friend would put them in this situation without it being a joke!

Medic's hand slowly began to trail up their body, throwing them from their thoughts. The doctor's hands were not covered by their usual gloves, and the feeling of anyone touching them like this made Pyro cringe and try to squirm away.

His hand stopped when it got to their chin, gently caressing the scarred flesh over the left half of their face,

"Medic…?"

He grinned and leaned down closer to the pyro's face. No no no, they wanted him to get away! They wanted to push him off or yell, but their arms were tightly secured to the table and their voice fell mute.

The doctor laid a long gentle kiss on their lips.

No, this was so wrong! It was disgusting and frightening, he needed to stop! A tear escaped Pyro's eye as they jerked their head to the side.

He held the one-sided kiss for a moment before pulling away and looking over Pyro's face, "…why,"

"w-wh-" pyro tried to speak, but they were cut off by medic slamming his hand down on the gurney,

"WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME?!" His voice was filled with pain and rage that the pyro didn't understand.

Pyro stared up in shock, "I- I have-"

"NO! I COULD LOVE YOU SO MUCH BETTER ZHAN ZHAT DISGUSTING SNIPER EVEN COULD!"

They looked up in shock, "You know about Clarence?!" How? They had been so careful ever since moving to Snowfort! There was no way he could know.

The medic stared down at the BLU for a minute or two without saying a word, only making a noise when a hoarse chuckle escaped his throat.

The laugh was as cold at the table they were currently strapped to, "You obviously don't understand… but zhat's alright!" He patted the firebug's cheek and smiled, "I'll just haf to show you in a different way,"

Pyro thrashed against the restraints holding them down as Medic walked around to the other side of the table. Damnit, why did these have to be so tight? Something was obviously wrong with Medic. They didn't know what was wrong with him, but he was definitely not right,

"Medic, please," Their voice quivered as they struggled against their bonds, "I can help- The team can help you! I don't know where this is coming from but please-"

The doctor shushed them by placing a finger to their lips, "Hush now Herr Pyro. I understand vhat you are saying," The man next to them picked up the rolled up fabric and un-clipped the straps keeping it closed, before laying it out on the table to reveal many sharp medical instruments tucked away inside,

"I vas not forward enough vith my feelings, I get zhat now! You didn't know zhat vhat you vere doing vas… wrong," he grazed his fingertips over the shiny instruments, "so, so wrong…"

Pyro shook their head and clenched their shoulders. This couldn't really be happening, right? Medic was their friend, there was no way he could be serious about this,

"M-medic, come on! This isn't ri-"

"Vill you SHUT UP?" The German interrupted, hitting the gurney and causing the pyro to flinch,

He reset his out slightly crooked glasses, "Mein Gott, you are testing my patience,"

They whimpered and bit down on their lip as the man to their side turned the medigun above them on. He focused for a moment on making sure it was perfectly centered on their chest before looking down to the other's fear-filled face,

"…Oh Pyro," He cooed, wiping away the tear line running down their cheek, "It vill all be fine! I just need to SHOW you how much I care, nothing more," The doctor smiled gently and caressed their cheek before turning back to his table of instruments.

He'd lost it… He was going to kill or torture them and nobody would even hear them scream. Even if this was in the base, it was far deep enough in the basement's inner workings that it would probably take days for anybody to fine them!

If they'd known this would be the last day they'd see Sniper… If they knew that Medic had all of these strange mixed up feelings inside of him… God they would have done so many things differently. Pyro struggled against their binds, trying anything to free themself. They didn't care if they had to dislocate their shoulder or break a few ribs- they just needed out of these restraints!

The medic turned back to them, placing a hand ever so gently on their chest and shoving them hard against the metal table,

"PLEASE… stop squirming, ja?" He plucked a scalpel from the table next to him and pushed it away, "Really, I do not vant zhis to hurt you any more zhan it has to, I know you do not haf zhe same relationship vith pain zhat I do"

"It doesn't have to hurt at all if you just-!" Pyro's interjection was quickly interrupted by the German,

"BUT," His voice echoed through the room, "I vill do vhat I haf to if it means zhat you vill understand,"

The Medic's eyes glistened with what looked like a mix of emotions. Happiness, malice, anger… maybe even fear, "Now zhen," his voice came out as a chuckle as he looked town to his fellow BLU, "shall ve begin?"

Chapter Text

The Australian laid back on his bed and released a contented sigh. There was nothing quite like relaxing in your towel after a nice shower!

Too bad Pyro had to go back to her base for the weekend, though. He didn't see why she couldn't stay the night and just show up for the next day's mission, but he would never force her to stay. Sniper closed his eyes and gave a small yawn. If it made her feel more comfortable to go back the night before, then he wouldn't keep her.

A loud knock on his door startled Clarence from his thoughts, causing him to jump into a sitting position. Who would be at his door at this hour? A quick glance at his clock showed that was already 10 o'clock at night!

He stood and slipped on a pair of pants from the floor as he made his way to the door. Maybe Pyro forgot something?

"What can I-" He opened his door, fully expecting to see his lover on the other side. Who met him, however, was the opposite of the friendly face he was hoping for. Sniper's words were swiftly cut off by the BLU soldier shoving him into his van with a snarl.

The aussie let out a yelp as he hit the wall of his van, "What the hell?!"

He stood and watched the BLU Soldier and Spy enter his van, slowly reaching for his kukri on a nearby counter,

"Fighting during off hours isn't allowed, mate," The sharpshooter snarled. Why were they in his van? Sure, it wasn't technically against the Administrator's rules to intrude on property off base, but these two didn't seem to care about her rules at the moment.

"But I don't think it'll hurt anyone's feelings if I play along," He gripped the hilt of his knife tightly, swinging it at the BLUs in front of him.

"Killing us now would be unwise, bushman," The spy easily dodged his attacks. This wasn't the first time he'd been in a fight with the RED, and you tend to learn an opponent's moves after being killed by them enough.

He swung at the nearby soldier, landing a gash on the man's arm before having his wrists restrained, "Settle down cupcake,"

"Please, zhere iz important business to discuss," The Frenchman lit a cigarette and took a deep inhale, drawing a sneer and low growl from Sniper,

"Right," He laughed, "S'not like we're forbidden from talking to eachother or anything,"

The American let out a curt laugh, "Guess you two don't do much 'talking' then,"

Sniper narrowed his gaze, "Just what are you getting at,"

"I think you know exactly what I'm getting at," The large frown was apparent on the man restraining him's face.

The Australian kept his eyes focused on Soldier's as best he could. Oh, oh no. They knew.

That's what they were here about. He didn't know how, but these two had gotten wind of his relationship with Pyro.

He turned his head to look at the Frenchman now sitting on his bed. Great, he'd have to buy all new sheets to take care of the smoke smell…

"So, by 'important business', you meant,"

"Yes, zhe Pyro,"

Damnit. What were they going to do to her now that they found out she was in a very personal relationship with the enemy? Friendship was one thing, but being lovers was a whole different story. Would they kill her or turn her in to the Administrator? He didn't exactly know which would be worse in that situation,

"Where is she?" His voice was low and filled with rage, "What have you down to her?"

Spy looked at him with a strange expression. If he didn't know any better about that backstabbing snake, he's almost say he looked hurt,

"Zhey are our teammate, we would never harm zhem over zheir horrible taste in men," Sniper glared at the spy's smirking face, "We are not actually here about your relationship,"

"Then why are you here?! If you're here to threaten me into leaving her then-"

"To be honest, we do not care about how zhe two of you choose to spend your time," Spy cut him off, rubbing his temples before standing and extinguishing his smoke on Sniper's bedside table.

Clarence struggled against the hands restraining him as the spy drew closer.

"They are in trouble," Soldier piped up from behind him. Sniper snapped his head back to look the American in the face, "I couldn't give a rat's ass about your time with Pyro, but I do care about helping them,"

"Oui, we both do. Zhe only reason we have come here iz to inform you of zheir current situation,"

Sniper's brow furrowed. She was in trouble? What happened to her? This could just be a lie… but the expressions on their faces looked sincere and slightly worried…

"…What's happened to her?"

The BLUs exchanged a glance before speaking, "It iz zhe Medic. You have seen how he clings to zhe Pyro in battle, non?"

"Yeah," Sniper bit his lip, "Looks to have become her little pocket medic over the last few matches,"

"Yes, he did take a shine to zhem," Spy sighed. He regretted not separating the two of them after seeing how infatuated Medic was becoming, but he thought leaving him with Pyro would be good to help fill the hole the old medic left them with,

"Our Sniper says he saw Pyro leaving the woods late tonight," Soldier released the RED's wrists, making sure to watch for if he made any moves with that knife of his. Not keeping him restrained would probably help him trust their words more,

"We never saw them make it into the base though,"

The Australian hooked the hilt of his kukri into his belt loop, "What makes you think Medic took her?" He wanted her to be safe- nowhere near that leather wearing freak, "Could she have gotten into the base without anyone knowing? Or maybe she wandered off to start a fire, she does like doing that," He made sure to keep his voice from sounding desperate, but it was clear that his hypotheticals were more pleadings,

Spy shook his head, "No, zhere iz no possible way. We even checked zhe entire base for zhem, but found no sign of zhem or our dear medic"

"But! We did find this in Medic's O.R." The American interrupted as he produced a scrap of paper from his pocket. He handed the torn piece of paper with a barely readable address on it to the aussie. The address looked to be somewhere on the far side of town in the warehouse district,

"Along wizh pictures of Pyro… Zhis iz our best bet of finding zhem, so we are starting here"

"Speaking of, we have to go. We don't have any more time to waste here if we want to get Pyro back alive," Soldier's voice took a somber tone as he walked toward the front of the van.

"Oui, Get dressed bushman and we will go," The frenchman leaned against the metal wall and watched Sniper carefully, "Zhe file I took from Mademoiselle Pauling has quite a bit of disturbing information az well,"

"Information like what?" Sniper retrieved a shirt from a nearby drawer and began to dress. He agreed that he would need enough clothes to not die from exposure in the cold if he was going to save Mich,

"Horrible zhings," Spy grimaced, "Even by a mercenary's standards,"

Soldier tossed his enemy a warm looking hat from a hook near the door as he exited, waiting for the other two men to follow behind him, "Things like purposefully botched operations, grave robbery, killing members of his own squad… I think there was even a case of necrophilia in there,"

The other two men followed after Soldier as soon as Sniper was dressed. This was worrying him. Pyro was in serious danger, and he would have never known about it if these two hadn't come to tell him.

"We have a vehicle waiting for us down at zhe road," Spy looked back to the sharpshooter, "Do not worry about bringing your weapons, we filled it wizh our own before coming for you,"

"Why did you come to get my help?" Sniper placed a hand over his kukri. There was no way he was leaving without it.

"You could have gone to save her by yourselves without risking coming all the way out to my van, so why?" The trio made their way toward the main road. Neither of the BLUs answered his question until nearing a parked BLU supply truck,

"We fully intended on leaving wizhout you, do not misunderstand. But…" The spy shrugged, "We did not want to get more people involved in zhis zhan needed. Pyro iz a respected member of our team, and we do not want zhat to change because of zhis,"

"Your relationship with them will probably come up in the fight, too," Soldier interrupted, "Didn't want to expose that and risk you two- well them getting killed for it,"

Clarence climbed into the back of the truck behind Spy, "So you only told me because I care enough not to tell her secrets for my own wellbeing,"

Spy sat on an ammunition crate and watched Sniper do the same before whispering, "I also zhought zhat zhey would like to see your face when being rescued,"

The American in the front seat started the engine with a roar, "Enough chat ladies. If you have time to talk, you have time to think of battle strategies"

Soldier cut the headlights and pulled out onto the road, beginning the drive to the warehouse's address.

Sniper bounced his leg and looked around the compartment he now sat in. There were plenty of weapons that he could use here. He bit his lip as he thought of Pyro, and all the terrible things that masochistic freak could be doing to her right now…

It made his blood boil.

Chapter Text

The sun was hot on the Frenchman's covered skin when he first arrived at the base. He hadn't had much time to pack on such short notice, but he made sure his bag contained the essentials for his new job. The tote at his side contained mainly weapons and articles of clothing…so hopefully there would be other sundry supplies provided for him to use. Spy entered the BLU base and glanced around at the surrounding faces.

They looked like an odd bunch, but he supposed you can't choose your teammates when you are the one replacing someone. He was contacted by a "Miss Pauling" the day prior with an offer to join some group of mercenaries, but this wasn't exactly what he expected. A cohesive gang of contracted killers seemed like a strange notion in itself… but these misfits made it all the more queer. Still, though, the pay was too good to pass up and a steady job was better than a few jobs here and there. He was assigned a uniform as soon as he agreed, and now here he was.

Apparently the team's old Spy was killed while off duty and they needed an immediate replacement. He wasn't sure if he should be honored or concerned about all the trouble this company went through to contact him... but he decided to choose the first for the time being. Everyone seemed to keep away from him at first; they didn't know him, and he didn't know them. It wasn't that strange- especially if you take the fact that the old spy was reclusive in the first place. It was just something that was usual to the mercs. It was still a welcomed change when one of his new teammates actually spoke to him, though.

It took a few weeks, but he was eventually caught one night in the mess by the notably strangest member of the team. The Pyro was odd. They wore a mask which covered more of their face than his own, and a suit that kept even their skin color a mystery. The firebug didn't actually say much to him- it was more their actions that initiated their friendship. Pyro sat next to him and spoke shyly about the failure of the day's mission, telling him not to let the jabs from his teammates get him down. It was only natural for the newbie to be blamed after all! Spy listened intently to the mumbles as they poured from the mask, amazed that he could actually understand a word coming from their mouth.

Pyro kept coming back to talk to him after that, and he reciprocated. They kept formal conversations under their breath around their teammates, but that was all they really needed. Having someone to talk to and feel accepted by made the Frenchman happier than anything. And, amazingly enough, the other BLUs started actually talking to him after seeing him interact with the pyro.

"Be careful of him" they said "he'll melt your face off" they told him in a semi joking manner.

He would laugh them off and change the subject, but it was apparent that nobody on the team really wanted to talk to Pyro at this point. They seemed frightened of them.

It didn't take long for Spy to confirm this suspicion with the arsonist. Nobody talked with them unless it was necessary to the day's match. Spy could see how much it hurt the Pyro to be shunned… but what could he do? He didn't have nearly enough influence among the team to force them to interact with the mumbling monster, so how would he convince them to give Pyro more than a second glance? Pyro was convinced it was a lost cause at this point… But there was no way he would stand by and watch them suffering after they put themself out there and befriended him.

He started off small; bringing them up in conversations with Sniper or Engineer, or inviting them on trips to town with Demo and Medic. To say the other BLUs were wary would be a vast understatement, but they started to begrudgingly accept the fireball more over the course of a few months.

Soldier would laugh when Pyro giggled about some cartoon on the television, Heavy started having small conversations during meals- the team began to accept them as a sort of younger sibling in the group.

After that, Pyro began to open up to him about all sorts of things. Nothing about their life or any deeply personal information, but about their interests. They told him of how beautiful fire was to them and how colorful it was in their eyes, of each new plush they collected, and even their favorite color crayon to use. Then, one day, they told him of their gender.

Spy was not exactly shocked to hear of their form of preferred androgyny- who wouldn't pick up on their interests in feminine activities and collectables? The firebug told him how they wished they could comfortably dress as they wanted to, but didn't feel like they could ever do so. Who would take a flat-chested girl in a mask seriously as a killer for hire? Well… he would. If Pyro wouldn't buy clothes for themself, then he would do if for them.

Spy purchased fine blue dresses and skirts for his friend and began leaving them in their locker, enjoying the ecstatic gasps at the beautiful garments left for them. Only the finest clothes would do for Pyro's first dresses, so their muffled screeches of joy made the price absolutely worth every penny. The only problem was they didn't want to actually wear the clothes at first. Pyro didn't want their teammates to judge them on what they wore so soon after getting on speaking terms! Spy assured them that their team would be nothing but supportive… or at least they had better be.

It took a little persuasion, but the firebug did start to wear their new clothes around the base and during meals. Nobody made a deal of it. Why would they? They all killed people for a living- what any of them chose to wear was their own business. In time, most of the team even stopped calling Pyro "him".

Battles were fought, enemies and allies alike were lost, and gradually he and Pyro grew apart. They seemed more happy spending time with Engineer and Medic than anyone else... so the Frenchman didn't mind. As long as Pyro was enjoying themself, he was happy.

Pyro's choice in relationships only startled bothering him when an enemy got involved, but even then he wasn't quite sure what to say. The firebug seemed so happy with that disgusting bushman so who was he to get in their way? It's not like the BLU would leak any important information to him. Still, Spy would watch over his friend to make sure they were doing well with Sniper and interacting with the other BLUs.

but... even with keeping such a close eye on them, he still couldn't see what was happening with that new medic. The way he had gotten so close to the arsonist unsettled Spy, but he assumed it was just some form of jealousy or nostalgia of how Pyro had welcomed him to the team sinking in.

He should have trusted his instincts. He knew something was wrong with that German, but Pyro needed comfort he himself couldn't supply. Losing such a close comrade as the team's first medic was so hard on them! It wasn't his place to tell him to back away from Pyro or to tell the firebug themself that he was bad news. Now, though, he thoroughly regretted holding his tongue. Any amount of ire he would gain from Pyro in warning them of the offsetting feeling Medic gave him would be worth their safety. To be honest, Spy would prefer them hate him and never talk to him again if it meant them not going through whatever was happening to them now.

Sniper had been relatively quiet for the whole ride, only mumbling inaudible curses to himself as he wrung his hands together. At least Pyro's chosen partner seemed to care about them. Spy looked out the small window beside him as the vehicle moved through the night. He hoped they were alright- or at least not dead. There was no doubt in his mind that Medic was hurting his friend in some way, and that thought made the worst knot in his stomach. They were getting further and further away from the base and subsequently further away from the respawn machines. If Pyro was killed now, there was a strong chance that they would be out of range. Their death would be on his hands. He knew it wasn't- not really... but he couldn't help but feel it was his fault. He didn't watch over them closely enough or didn't push the wrong people away from them...

The Frenchman flicked his knife around in his fingers as he thought. All he could do now is help them get out of whatever trouble they were now in. All he could do now is think about ways to save them with the silent American in the driver's seat and their lover.

All he could do for now as the truck pulled to a stop in front of a dark warehouse was think about the worst ways to kill Medic.

Chapter Text

Medic was pulled away from his... "work" when a small box attached to his belt began to beep. He huffed and pulled away from the figure below him, snatching the machine from his side and gazing at the green LED screen. The man frowned momentarily, before patting Pyro's cheek and climbing down from where he sat over them,

"I vill be back in a little bit," he kissed the scarred flesh on their face, "try and stay comfortable vhile I'm gone," With that, he flipped the medigun above Pyro on to full power and left the room.

The German hurried down the hallway as he continued reading over the small screen, the words "INTRUDER" flashing near the top every now and again. Damnit... He didn't expect anyone from the team to discover them missing so soon, and being this far away from base should have bought him more time! How was he found so soon? He supposed there was the chance that it wasn't anyone from the BLU team, but that only made the possibilities worse.

The medic made a sharp left turn into one of the warehouse's many rooms. No, no... He shouldn't expect the worst. There was always the possibility that it was a cat or some other animal tripping the security alarm. He flipped a switch on the large desk before him, bringing the wall of screens to life.

He looked from monitor to monitor, trying to find the source of the silent alarm being tripped. His eyes were immediately drawn to the BLU supply truck parked just within view of screen six,

"no..." Medic slammed his fist on the desk, "Vhy are ZHEY here?!"

The BLU looked to the next screens in an attempt to find the owners of the vehicle. Ah, there! Right in screen eight. Soldier, Spy, and the RED Sniper all walked closer to the entrance- wait... They brought the Sniper with them?! This wouldn't do... If his dear Pyro saw that piss-stained Australian had come for him then all of the past hour's work would be for naught!

He only just got him to stop crying for Sniper to rescue him- there was no way he was going to start all over!

Medic stared sternly at the screens before bringing forth the small box from his hip once more. His expression contorted into a demented smile as he pressed a few buttons to activate the security system. He would have to remember to thank Engineer greatly for the use of the "guards" he borrowed. Who knew that he just had to say that he was using them to "protect team assets" for the Texan to let him use them!

Maybe he just wanted someone to test the adjustments he made to them, but Medic really didn't care. Though… if the Engineer ever found out that he was using them to protect Pyro from these intruders… well he might actually be happy about it, come to think of it! That American seemed to be close to his dear Pyro. Hopefully not too close…

Oh well, the firebug's previous relationships wouldn't matter to him after the doctor was finished. All he would care about was the love and attention that the doctor offered. With that last thought in mind, the German flipped another switch on the desk, before tapping a microphone to his left,

"I must commend you on finding this place so quickly!"

The voice rang through the empty halls of the warehouse, slightly startling the three mercenaries who were trying to sneak through, "Guess that's it for 'stealth'" the RED grumbled as he glanced toward the American to his right.

"I never thought my own team mates vould bring an enemy vith zhem," The German chuckled over the speakers placed throughout the building, "But I suppose zhose who are jealous can be quite desperate to reclaim vhat zhey zhink is zheirs,"

Clarence's lip twitched, "Don't talk about her like she's property!" He yelled into the halls.

"Of course Herr Pyro isn't property," a pause, "Not YOURS anyvay"

The way he could practically hear the disgusting grin playing over the medic's lips made his blood boil. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when Spy placed a hand on his shoulder,

"Do not let him get to you," the Frenchman gave his shoulder a tight squeeze, "You are a professional killer, act like it," he then placed his hand in his suit pocket and held a finger to his lips.

He hated to say it, but the BLU was right. He had to keep his head if he was going to be able to do anything to help Mich.

"Veeellll," The medic's voice seemed to get quieter for a moment, as if he moved away from the microphone before returning to face it. "I vould love to keep chatting vith you all..."

Sniper could hear the sound of loud footsteps approaching from the deeper halls of the warehouse, "But I believe zhat you haff more pressing matters to attend to," Medic let out a laugh before the microphone was switched off with a loud "POP".

The aussie clenched his teeth in a tight frown. He needed to get to Mich before that insane doctor did something to her- assuming he hadn't already.

The sound of heavy footsteps drew closer to the trio, "Which way now?" He looked to his side where the Spy previously stood, but was met with emptiness. Sniper shot a glance to the American to his other side, who gave a slight shrug in response.

Typical of a Spy to disappear right when he was actually needed… What should he do now? He had to find Pyro somehow, but where should he even start? This building had way too many hallways and corridors to be counted as a warehouse!

Well, there was one thing he knew for sure: Mich would be somewhere deep in the building where Medic could keep an eye on them, which most likely meant in the direction of whatever was coming toward him and the soldier.

The Australian went over a quick list of the weapons he brought from the supply truck as shadows of odd figures began to emerge from the end of the corridor. Kukri, huntsman, Sydney sleeper… right. He reached and pulled the bow from its place on his back. This would have to do for fighting the—

"…Robots?" His irritation shown clearly through his question. In front of the two opposing mercenaries, approached more than a team's worth of those robots Grey Mann would send after them.

Wasn't Grey dead?! And furthermore, why would his dumb machines be working for the BLU Medic? The Australian stared at the soldier to his side for a moment, watching the taller American scratch the back of his neck.

"Any idea why these things are here?" He drew back the string of his bow and released the attached arrow. He hated how resilient these things where when he fought them in the past, but these seemed… weaker. He glanced down at the body of the scout-bot that skidded by his feet, his arrow still stuck through its optical lens.

Soldier hefted his rocket launcher to his shoulder, "I remember Engineer talking about taking some from off the battlefield," He aimed and fired the weapon in the direction of the metal enemies, smirking as a quarter of them exploded into bits of shrapnel and gears.

He looked over at the sniper beside him, "Said something about 'loaning them out for testing' I think…" he frowned as another handful of bots appeared from around the corner. Nothing the two of them couldn't handle; metal soldiers and a heavy, a couple of spies that immediately cloaked themselves, and a medic-bot- but it was all so irritating. He had already wasted close to ten minutes and more than enough arrows on these stupid robots! Ten minutes he should have been able to use in finding Mich.

Sniper bit his lip. They were spending too long on these things! He had to hurry up and get past these distractions to find Pyro… Who knew what that cooky doctor could be doing to her while he was stuck out here! He could only imagine what she was going through, and he hated it.

The sound of the mechanical heavy's machine gun spinning up drew sniper away from thoughts of his trapped lover. He and Soldier quickly ducked in behind the growing pile of robotic corpses to their left to avoid the incoming bullets,

"Aim for the medic, mate!" Clarence made his voice heard over the weapons attacking them.

The BLU nodded and aimed his weapon for the one-wheeled enemy, Sniper retrieving the rifle from his own back as he did so. Most of the arrows he shot had broken on impact with the robots' skulls, so he would likely not be able to reuse them.

The sniper aimed his rifle and let it charge. Soldier seemed to have a handle on the mechanical Heavy and Medic, but there were still plenty of enemies to take care of. He shot one of the Soldier-bots in their path and watched as the jarate-charged bullet shorted its circuits. The Australian bit the inside of his cheek as he and the soldier to his side eliminated robot after robot. They just had to get this over with as soon as possible.

The pair stood after killing the last soldier that stood in their way, "Any idea where that spook got off to?"

The American shook his head in response, nudging the other man's arm with his elbow, "I'm more worried about those two robo spies…"

"Right," Clarence nodded as he moved his rifle to his back, pulling the kukri from his belt loop. He couldn't risk respawn reaching this far out of town. If he died here, it would probably mean a guaranteed death, "Well, no use waiting around here for them to sneak up on us,"

"Agreed!" Soldier offered one more nod before starting down the hallway that had previously been filled with robotic enemies.

This was no time to celebrate a victory against a few broken machines. He was finally getting closer to finding his love… Sniper hoped she was alright. She had to be! He would never forgive himself if Medic had scarred her further.

A wide frown spread over his lips. All he could do was move through this concrete maze of a warehouse toward her. He bit his lip and took a deep breath, attempting to picture her beautiful smile.

Sniper closed his eyes before whispering words of encouragement that he knew she would never hear,

"Don't worry Sheila, I'll save you,"

…

…

…

Mich's eyes opened suddenly. They looked around their surroundings quickly, seeing the same room as before. So much for it all having been a dream… They must have blacked out from the pain after their former friend left the room. Why did he leave in such a rush? They were slightly delirious from the pain, so they didn't really pay attention when he was leaving. They shook their head. No time to dwell on him, though.

The firebug squirmed against the restraints keeping them pressed to the metal table beneath them. Their wounds were all gone- though there was a good deal of new scarring over their stomach, chest, and thighs- and they had built up quite a large overheal from the medigun above them. Maybe if they tried hard enough- maybe if they broke a few ribs or dislocated their shoulders, they could escape! They could just heal themself afterwards.

Pyro struggled against the bonds as hard as they could… but there was just not enough room to move! Damn… things sure were looking hopeless for them.

A small chuckle escaped their throat. It would be alright! Clarence would come and save them!... somehow… Pyro had to hold on to thoughts of their boyfriend right now, but they knew the chances of him coming to their rescue were scarce.

How long would it take for him to find out they were missing? How long would it take for their teammates to find out… Engineer and Spy would notice at the next mission, but their other teammates might not even care! They weren't exactly the closest friends they supposed… And Medic would probably just go in to work as if nothing were wrong at all!

Poor Clarence… what would he think? Maybe he would assume there was a respawn failure or that they just left him or that they were killed for their relationship with him or any number of things-

Pyro took a breath. 'No, don't get worked up.' They thought to themself. Right. There was no time for worrying about if their love would forget about them! The BLU knew that they needed to keep their chin up. They wouldn't let Medic break them…

Maybe once Medic got back they could fool him into letting them up- tell him they understood how he felt and wanted to embrace him or something. No, that wouldn't work… He was smarter than that and would probably do more terrible things to them if they "played with his emotions" or whatever dribble he would shout in their face.

They bit their lip. They didn't have much of a chance of knocking him out from their current position. Maybe if he tried to sit on them again… o-or… their lip began to bleed slightly. They felt so dirty…

None of this was their fault. They didn't deserve this. It wasn't their fault… right? No. They didn't. 'Don't think that way- it'll be fine… this is nothing worse than what they did to you at the asylum'

They shivered… nothing could be worse than being locked away where those doctors and nurses could do whatever they wanted with them. Nobody cared about the pyro when they were stuck in that terrible institution for all those years. Things were different now! Miss Pauling, Spy, and their dear sniper… they all loved the firebug!

A chuckle escaped their throat and echoed through the empty room and out the slightly ajar door. They would make it through this. They just had to-

The sound of footsteps brought their attention to the door. Medic. No no no they hadn't planned for what to do when he got back! Shit, what should they do? The footsteps were quickly approaching the room. No time… damnit. They would just have to endure whatever he did to them until they could think of a better plan. Pyro shut their eyes tightly, biting even further into their lip.

"It iz good zhat you can still laugh in a situation such as zhis," The voice was familiar, but not the German one that they expected. They turned their head to the best of their ability to see the man standing in the door,

"Bonjour, mon ami,"

Chapter Text

A gasp escaped their throat as their dear friend entered the room, "Spy!" They shouted, tears of joy threatening to fall from their eyes, "Oh thank god you-"

"Shhh" The BLU put a finger to his mouth, "I do not know where zhe Medic iz, do not shout," Spy chuckled lightly at their enthusiasm, trying to keep Pyro's mood up. From the looks of their body- all the new scars and what was left of their torn and cut clothes- they had been through hell.

The firebug didn't deserve this… Spy bit his lip as he started to release the pyro from the restraints binding them to the metal table. He would kill the german for doing this! From what the Frenchman read in Pyro's file, they had definitely endured enough treatment like this for one lifetime. Medic needed to suffer for making them relive those years of their life,

"Did… you come alone?" the firebug's voice was a small whisper- the question they obviously wanted to ask apparent in their words.

Spy smiled gently as he moved from one opened set of buckles to the next sealed ones, "Non, Soldier and your copain are somewhere in zhis building as well,"

"My… co-pan?" Pyro sat up, rubbing the red marks on their shoulders.

"Sniper iz here wizh us," He chuckled, "we must get you out of here az soon az possible, zhough- zhere iz no time to wait for zhem to catch up"

The BLU stood from the table. Their legs were a bit wobbily from being strapped down, but Spy quickly reached over to support them before they had a chance to fall,

"Will you be able to walk?"

Pyto steadied themself, "Yeah, let's just get out of here"

The Frenchman nodded and gave his jacket to the firebug before leading them to the door, quickly glancing out for any immediate danger. He could hear the distant sound of metal feet tromping through the concrete halls.

Staying in this room would mean certain trouble when Medic got back from his tantrum… but his dear friend was in no state to fight robots, either. Spy took a breath before taking hold of Pyro's hand and hurrying into the corridor. The two had a better chance fighting their way out than facing the medic with Mich in their current state.

The two rushed through the building. While he was concerned for the wellbeing of the others, getting Pyro out safely was his first priority. Spy listened carefully before dragging himself and the firebug around each corner. It would be great luck if they could avoid their enemies all together.

A rage filled scream filled the building as they made their way toward the exit. Spy couldn't help but smirk at the medic's apparent reaction. This meant they had to hurry up and get out, though- no matter how much joy he got from hearing Medic's ranting,

"How are you holding up?" Spy looked back to his comrade as he picked up their pace.

Pyro winced, but offered a weak smile nonetheless, "I'm fine! Just keep going,"

The pain was apparent on their face, but they couldn't focus on it now. They had to get out- they had to see their team again- they had to see Sniper! Medic's angry yelling was getting louder, so there couldn't be much time left to escape.

Spy nodded and turned his gaze back forward. He could barely hear anything through the metal and yelling from the inner workings of the building- keeping up such a fast pace could easily land the pair in trouble, but could they afford to slow down? He was sure that there were footsteps coming from the next corridor… Medic in one direction, and an unknown enemy in the other…

Damnit, no. They had to keep moving. If there were enemies waiting for them, then he would just have to focus on protecting Pyro! There was no way around this- Spy glowered as he turned the corner, readying himself for whatever they would face… or hit, for that matter.

The two rat straight into a solid body with a jarring thump, sending them stumbling back. Spy instinctively put a hand on his pistol, but stopped as he heard the man in front of him speak,

"Spy?" The sniper smiled at the BLUs in front of him, "And Pyro!"

The two gasped, Pyro freeing themself from their friend's grasp and running to embrace the Australian, "Clarence! Oh my God- You're alive!" They could feel tears forming in their eyes, but the firebug didn't care. He was here, he was alive, ha had come to rescue them just like they knew he would.

Spy rested his hands in his pockets as he glanced to the corridor behind the trio, "It iz good to see you are still alive," He chuckled, "But we do not have time for tearful reunions now" He took hold of the other BLU's shoulder, pushing them down the hallway, "Where iz Soldier?"

Sniper looked down as he followed close behind the Frenchman, eyes hidden behind shaded glasses, "He didn't make it… We ran into another bloody hoard of robots just over there," He gestured to the left, slumping his shoulders.

Pyro's eyes widened in disbelief. No- that couldn't be! Soldier was strong and smart- how could he be dead?! Spy sighed, patting his friend's back as he continued pushing them onward, "Do not worry about it, mon amie. Zhere iz still a chance zhat respawn caught him," Spy knew just how slight that chance was. Pyro didn't need to worry about their teammate- he needed to keep them as hopeful as possible.

"B-but-"

"Non," they were cut off, "He would want you to be safe. First we must get you out of here, zhen Sniper and I can come back for him,"

Pyro bit their lip. Soldier might be gone forever because of them! How were they supposed to just ignore that and keep going? This was… it was all so wrong. None of this had to happen- they still couldn't understand why Medic was doing all this! He should know that none of this would ever make them… Pyro let out a shallow sigh. None of this was right. Spy gave them a gentle push forward, prodding them to keep moving,

"It will be alright, trust me," The Frenchmen gave their shoulder a reassuring squeeze. They nodded and continued forward. Standing around wouldn't do anyone any good. They couldn't let Soldier's death be for nothing! And, at the very least, Clarence was alright. They would all get back to the base and- The sound of shifting metal that caused their stomach to instinctively clench in fear brought the firebug from their thoughts. Strange- that sounded like…

They turned their head back, eyes widening as the smoke from the Spybot decloaking began to clear. They tried to move the Frenchman out of the way, but it was already too late when they took hold of his sleeve. Spy's scream filled the mostly silent hallway before his body fell to the floor. Pyro stared on in disbelief, wide eyes filling with moisture,

"s…spy?" Their voice came out as little more than a squeak as they slowly crouched to touch the cooling form. He did not move. He did not breathe. The BLU knelt there, motionless aside from the horrid tremor that continuously ran through their body. How could this have happened? Spy- no no this wasn't right- he was just talking and pushing them along! Heavy tears began to roll down Pyro's scarred cheeks, hand moving to cover their mouth and suppress the oncoming sobs. There was just no way… he couldn't be dead!

A mechanical huff came from the robot to their right, "You got blood on my suit," its mechanical voice mimicked Spy's saying, as if mocking them. They… They had to get away. If they stayed here, that Spybot would-! No, they couldn't leave Spy here… but… what could they do for him now? The robot stepped closer, reaching for Mich's hand. He was dead. There was nothing they could do to help him, and if they stayed frozen like this, they might as well be dead too. Pyro scrambled to their feet, glancing momentarily to the robot reaching for them. They didn't care where they ended up- as long as it was away from this place.

Pyro continued down the hallway, the sounds of mechanical footstep growing louder behind them. There had to be more than just the Spybot behind them at this point, but they didn't dare look back. They couldn't look back. They didn't have time to worry about any of that. A scoutbot emerged from a door way ahead of them, causing them to stumble on their already shaking and unsteady legs. There was no time to stop, and nowhere to evade! The mercenary plowed forward, tightly taking hold of the thing's wrist and using its own momentum to fling it back into the cluster now chasing them. Shit- they couldn't keep running like this! Not in their current condition at the least.

Ahead, the hallway ended in a split. They did not know what would be to the left, but they did know that the right held the room they were trapped in before Spy came for them. They did not want to return there, and they did not have much time left to make a choice. It seemed like an easy one… at least, at first,

"Tsk tsk, herr Pyro!" the voice sent a cold shock up their spine. No… No- Medic couldn't be back already! Shadows projected against the wall showed that their preferred route of escape was no longer viable. Running past the damn torture room would be better than facing him. They skidded slightly as they turned the corner to the right, momentarily catching sight of the German as they did so. They didn't have time to be afraid. At least, that's what the BLU continuously repeated to themself in an attempt to get their legs to stop shaking!

A doorway appeared in the distance, showing the darkness of night just outside its tiny window. That couldn't be the exit, could it? The possibility filled them with a mix of hope and dread. They were going to escape the building, but what then? Would there be more robots outside? Would they be able to get far enough away to get help? Where even was this maze of a warehouse? Pyro was not able to ponder any of these questions for very long as a sharp pain suddenly sent shivers up their spine. It was not a knife- the feeling of a Spy's backstab was far too familiar to them. This pain was more… thin. They stumbled slightly, sight beginning to blur as they reached around to their back and yanked out a syringe. It was from the Medic's needle gun- the bluntsauger or some strange German name like that. All they knew, and cared about at the moment, was that the weapon shot tranquilizers.

The BLU's fteps began to slow against their will. They were so close- the door was mere feet away! They couldn't… couldn't give up now… Mich's breaths became more labored and the world around them started going dark all while the muffled tromping of robotic boots got closer. They stumbled, falling to their hands and knees,

"Bitte, do not worry," the medic knelt beside them, easily taking them into his arms despite their lazily beleaguered protests, "I do not blame you for zht Spy trying to take you from me!"

The German stood and motioned for one of his robots to pick them up. They were dizzy and confused- where were they again? What had they been doing? Medic gently ran a finger over their scarred cheek before turning to lead his mechanical hoard.

"Let us get you back to your room," His sing-song voice did not sit well with the BLU, even if they were drifting in and out of consciousness. Their… room…? What did he mean by that again? They were so tired- closing their eyes for a bit couldn't hurt- but weren't they doing something before? Running… where were they running from? A room?

A room.

Their, room.

"nngh…oh…" their voice came quiet and slurred

Medic turned his head slightly as he walked "Vhat vas zhat liebe?"

"No!" the Pyro's cry sounded whinier than they intended. They did not fully understand why there were tears streaming from their eyes now or why they felt the strong urge to get away. Their instincts told them to run for some reason that their clouded mind could not remember. There was pain and light and the feeling of cold metal. Yes… metal- the feeling of the robot's hands underneath them gave a vivid feeling- as if a memory was hidden behind a curtain in their semi-conscious mind, but they could barely hear and feel and smell what was happening. Medic turned once more and patted their cheek,

"Shh now, herr Pyro. It iz just zhe anesthetics," they could vaguely make out the form of his attempt as a kindhearted smile through their blurry vision. It scared them.

They pushed meakly against the metal arms holding them, arms moving in uncoordinated and motions too big for what they wanted. "no no nO NO!" their sobbing yell rang through the hall, bouncing off the mass of robots and causing a horrible ringing sound in their ears that made them want to weep even louder. Medic gave an irritated sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He lifted his weapon once more, aimed for his unruly and distraught captive, and pulled the trigger.

Chapter Text

A faint sound suddenly caught the man's attention from over the carnage of robot parts and gunfire around him. The sniper hefted his Sydney Sleeper and took aim, but quickly threw it to the ground in favor of his kukri upon realizing he was out of ammo.

"Did you hear that?" He kicked a robot carcass away, dislodging his knife from its shoulder. Soldier could only manage a grunt in response. He ran out of rockets a while ago, and a shovel was not exactly the easiest weapon to kill machines with.

Clarence tried to listen harder over the sounds around him, but he already knew what the noise was. He could never mistake her voice, "That was Mich!" the Australian looked to the other with a worried expression as he dodged the swing of a metallic fist.

"Are you sure about that, private?!" The man's voice didn't exactly sound skeptical, but to say he believed Sniper would be a stretch.

"Yes!" He ducked under an incoming bot and began weaving his way through the assaulting mob, "I'd know that voice anywhere!" And it was true. Once he focused and tuned out the droning machinery around him, he could hear her cries clearly. He was ecstatic and terrified all at once. She was here- she was within ear shot! She was distressed and in pain… The man gripped the leather strap which had held his weapons to his back, now only feeling his huntsman and quiver thumping against his spine with each move he made. A few arrows slipped from their holster as he maneuvered through the hoard, but there was no time to go back for them. He caught a glance of his temporary comrade as he neared the edge of the seemingly endless hoard of robots; the American was holding his own well enough. Leaving Soldier in favor of Mich was the right thing to do.

The aussie ran further into the warehouse, the sounds of battle growing more and more distant. A left- no, a right- no- Mich's echoed voice was so distinguishable over all the noise, but how the hell was he supposed to find her?! Clarence stopped dead in his tracks and cupped his hands to his ears. The sound of his blood rushing through his ears nearly overpowered her cries, but she was still distinct. He bolted through a doorway leading to a stairwell, his love's cries ringing off the concrete walls.

Clarence stopped momentarily to catch his breath on the next floor. The pyro's voice was louder now, so that had to mean he was getting close, right? He looked to the split in his path, one branching hallway going deeper into the building, and the other going to the warehouse's loading bay. Whichever way was louder was the correct one, so he listened… and he listened… and… no, that… that couldn't be right. Sniper closed his eyes and stilled his breaths trying his best to hear… but… It was silent.

The distant sounds of Soldier's ongoing battle still hummed and rumbled the floor beneath his feet, but he could no longer hear Mich's voice.

W…No, what did that mean?! Shit shit sHIT WHAT DID THAT MEAN? How could he find her now? Sudden silence- did that mean the insane medic had found her?! Well… it was a 50/50 shot to find her like this… He just had to hope that his choice would be the right one. Clarence stepped forward, taking another look to each side before walking to the left and further into the building. It would make sense for him to take her into the labyrinth-like depths of the building, right? Maybe he was just reaching, however –

A noise from behind the man caught his attention, causing the sniper to turn on his heel. Strange… he could have sworn he heard something like a spy decloaking… Was it an enemy, or that cowardly BLU showing his face again? Either way… it felt like something was drawing him closer to it. Sniper started off in the direction of the loading bay, hoping to find the BLU Pyro in good repair. His legs moved faster than ever before in his life. Each bounding step carried him further, feeling as though his feet were not touching the ground at some points. A doorway appeared at the end of the long and curving hallway- though he could not for the life of him tell if the distortion in his vision was from the building's architecture or from his own testosterone. Sniper's footfalls slowed as he neared the double-doors that would surely lead him to an upper level in the loading bay. Whatever he found on the other side of the passageway… he would have to stay strong, for her sake.

The man settled his kukri into a belt loop, pulling his huntsman and readying an arrow from his back. He steadied his breath and crouched to the doorway's left, nudging the door open slightly with his boot in hopes of hearing something. There were voices coming from the floor below… no, wait… there was a single voice- the medic talking to someone.

Mich… Clarence swallowed hard, his throat dry as he inched his way silently into the room. He found himself on a small balcony overlooking the rest of the loading bay; it was just a metal floor with railing that led to a set of stairs down to the ground floor. It would be the perfect sniper's nest were it not so open and loud to move on. The RED moved carefully and slowly as Medic monologue to a seemingly unconscious Pyro below him, making sure his crouched steps made as little noise as possible.

((Hi this is the author in 2023 stepping in to finish this story! Writing out accents like this feels so cringey now, but I'll leave in what I outlined for you all at home!))

"You should be safe here vhile I take care of zhose pests," The medic crooned to his 'beloved' being carried in a soldierbot's arms. She was there… battered, scarred, covered in Spy's coat which the medic seemed quite intent on removing from them. The implications of that were not lost on him, but the aussie could not bring himself to dwell on it. The sight before him filled Clarence with a burning rage- far too many 'how's and 'why's flooded his nearly fried brain. All he felt- not love for the girl he came to rescue, not sadness at the spy's evident demise- was pure unadulterated rage.

Without giving a thought to the consequences, shaking hands loosed his first arrow. The bolt made contact directly with the robot's head, missing Medic's ear by mere centimeters.

"OI YA WANKA WHADDYA THINK YOU'RE DOIN'?!" His voice cracked in a panicked fury. How could he have missed such a perfect shot? Even as the robot crumbled and took the BLU to the floor with it, Clarence could not get his hands to stay still.

Medic sighed at the rude interruption. Why couldn't the vermin crawling around leave him be? He turned slowly, looking at the RED with a face filled with irritated consternation. That alone would have been enough to send the sniper into another fury, but oh… The way he next smirked made Clarence see red.

"Vell vell vell!" The German chimed in his sing-songy tone, "Herr Pyro, your Knight is unrein-stained armor is here to take you from me!"

"Shut it!" Sniper barked as he raised his huntsman once more

The medic chuffed, glancing back to Mich. His unbothered demeanor made Clarence's blood boil, "How articulate! Is zhis really zhe man you chose liebe?"

"I said SHUT IT!" The laugh that rang through Sniper's ears was too much for him to handle. Clarence shot another arrow at Medic; his aim was perfect this time, and with the German's hands folded behind his back, this would all end in an instant. At the very least, that was what the Australian's rage filled mind hoped- believed! In an instant, Medic raised his arms in desense, blocking the projectile with the canister of his syringe gun. It shattered with an ear-splintering noise, bringing a look of further annoyance to the man's face. The gun clicked a few times as he attempted to pull the trigger…

"Scheisse-" He cursed to himself before throwing the dysfunctional weapon to the ground with an angered growl, "Zhat iz no matter! You'll be taken care of soon enough!"

The anger filling Sniper's mind nearly clouded his ability to hear what was approaching. From the hallway behind him, the sound of robots tromping closer echoed through the halls.

Shit. He didn't have time to fight off more hoards! Even as he glanced between the door and his lover, he could see the medic already working to gather Pyro into his arms! If he managed to escape from this building with her… No- No! He wouldn't even gratify the thought!

Snarling, he reached behind himself for another arrow. In an instant, everything ran cold… His mind blanched as his fingers groped aimlessly; perhaps he should have turned back when weaving through the earlier hoard of robots for his dropped arrows as, no matter how far back he reached, the sniper found nothing to reload with. He was out.

Clarence growled in frustration as soon as the moment of panic wore off, taking the kukri from his side, "HOW could you say you love someone but treat them like that!?" He shouted, "Hurting her… Taking away the people she loves?!"

"Don't be foolish," Medic balked as he caressed Mich's cheek, "Herr pyro and I have a bond more special zhan your simple brain could ever understand. Izn't zhat right?"

The pyro, though still in and out of consciousness, groggily recoiled from his touch. They tried to speak- to call out to the man on the balcony above… but all that came out was a groan of pain. Medic's attempts at quieting their earlier sobs only managed to leave them with extra bruised and swollen wounds as the anesthesia took root. It took every bit of their willpower to keep their eyes open! They could see their dear Sniper fighting off the robots as they approached, throwing some off the balcony as he dislodged his blade from others' heads. In the distance, they could make out another sound… Yelling? The voice was familiar-

From the back of the robotic army, a shovel made contact with a scoutbot's head and sent it flying. Pyro's heart skipped a beat as the BLU soldier fought his way through the hoard. But… their hope did not last long. Though not overwhelmed to the point of being taken under, there was no way the American would be able to make it to Sniper in time.

There were so many of them… Even Pyro could tell it was a never-ending flow through bleary eyes! If things kept up like this, would Clarence… He would certainly dir, right? Tears welled over their tired eyes, spilling over their cheeks at the thought.

"Now now Herr pyro, zhere is no need to cry," The German smiled sweetly to them as he wiped their tears, "You vill forget about him in no-time!"

"Puh…"

Their tiny voice drew a surprised expression from the medic, "Ja?"

"Puh.. lees? Please?" Their eyes slowly honed on Medic's face, pleading from behind drooping eyelids, "Dohn…. Dhont… Don't kill…"

Medic sighed, "Liebe, you must speak more coherently if you vant me to understand you~" He teased in that crooning tone. What a bastard… He knew better than anyone how hard they were fighting to be able to say this much! Mich was determined to do whatever they could for their lover, though.

"Pl…ease. Let him… go…?"

The other stared down at them for a moment, expression blank. Then, as Pyro had gotten used to seeing during their time as his captive, Medic's eyes turned sharp and cruel as his lips twisted into a gut-wrenching grin. He leaned in close to their face, his lips bareilly centimeters from their own, "I suppose I could call my robots off… on zhe condition zhat you vill never try to escape from me again?"

Their eyes widened, lips quivering. Never…? They would have to endure tier torture with Medic… forever? Their eyes darted back up to Clarence and Soldier, then back to the man before them. Just the thought of it was frightening enough to leave them nauseated! But… if they agreed… Clarence would live. Soldier would live… They thought back to Spy as they glanced at his coat, now discarded to the ground. Losing anyone else would be horrible.

"I.."

"NO, MICH!" Clarence yelled through the combat.

"Hold on, Private!" Soldier's voice was barely audible over the machines surrounding him, "We'll be down there soon!"

His voice was tired from the fight… Entirely not reassuring to the captive…

"I…!"

"Tick tock, herr Pyro," Medic taunted. He took his remote control from his coat pocket, waggling it in their face. "You're running out of time to choose~"

It was just one little word. One tiny yes. It would change their life forever…

But they could live with that.

If it meant the safety of their friend and lover, then they would sacrifice themself a thousand times over. Mich watched for a moment as Clarence fought. In a single misstep, the sniper backed away from a spybot's bat swing too far and stumbled over the balcony railing, barely catching himself on the metal floor. Soldier cried out for him as he pushed his way through the mass of robots, but there was no way he would get there in time! Not without himself succumbing to the enemies flooding his every side!

With a steeling glare, Pyro looked back to the medic, "Fine! Just–"

"AAGH!"

The medic's scream caused them to jump. What on earth…? Their gaze trailed up, following a rather well tailored suit and vest before landing on Spy's masked face. The frenchman chuckled at the other's pain, twirling his dead ringer around his finger by the chain.

Medic turned to face him, somehow not dead from the backstab, but obviously in tremendous pain, "You should be DEAD!"

"Non." Spy retorted as he raised his pistol, "But be sure to tell me how it feels."

The man pulled the trigger with no hesitation. Blood and viscera splattered over Pyro's face and chest, yet they barely flinched. Was… Was this some sort of trick? Medic fell limp to the floor as spy swiftly retrieved his remote control, pressing a few buttons on its front. In an instant, the complex filled with a loud crash that was amplified by the concrete walls as each robot halted in their tracks, falling to the ground.

Soldier took the opportunity to pull Clarence back on solid ground. Far too much was happening at once… Mich's head was spinning! Whether that was from the anesthetics starting to wear off, the gunshot ringing in their ears, or the blood they instinctively wiped from their face remained to be seen. As Spy aided them to their feet, the remaining BLU and RED descended the staircase to their level.

None of it mattered now… Not as they stumbled from Spy's grasp and into Clarence's arms. Not as they held their lover as tightly as their numbed body could! Not as the Aussie kissed them so passionately they felt as though they may combust… It was hotter than any flame they had started, and was likely more incendiary than anything they would muster in the future.

Sniper was reluctant to let them from his grasp, his hands cupping their cheeks, "I won't ask ask if you're alright- I know ya couldn't be…"

He trailed off, tears of his own glossing over his eyes. MIch reached a shaking hand up to one of his own before pulling it down to their lips, kissing his palm, "You came for me…"

"Of course I did!" He sounded exasperated, but not upset, "I'm not a night, but… I'll always come save you."

Mich's cheeks burned. They wanted nothing more than to coil themself around him and never let go; they would be happy to be carried out like a princess rescued from her tower… Being caught in their own little world couldn't last forever, though.

Pyro turned their head to look at Spy, noting the man was staunchly ignoring the couple's tender embrace. Of course they would apologize to him later, but for now there was one question on their mind!

"How did you survive?"

An apologetic look crossed the man's brows, accentuated under the fabric of his mask, "I felt something waz off about zhe sniper… he did not blurt out your name thoughtlessly or even try to embrace you," He tucked a few stray strands of greying hair under his balaclava, "I am glad I had my suspicions. If not for my dead ringer, zhis would have ended very differently."

Ah,,, He was right about that. A look of guilt crossed Clarence's face, but Mich put a hand to his cheek to ease his worry. He did his best- no single one of them could have saved the pyro on their own! All of them had to do this together…

"Thank you," Mich spoke meekly, looking to their teammates and then their lover, "I can't ever make this up to yo-"

"Don't mention it!" Soldier interrupted curtly, patting them hard on the back. An apologetic look of his own crossed his face as Pyro winced, but he continued, "Seriosly. You never need to mention this day again!"

Spy sighed as he lit a cigarette, "Zhat may be better for asll of us, but zhat does leave one question,"

Understanding what he meant, the group all looked down at Medic's cooling corpse. There was no hiding what happened. If the Administrator found out about any of this, all four of them were done for!

"What now?" Clarence spoke, arms wrapped around Mich's shoulders.

In truth, they barely heard him speak. Pyro's eyes drilled into the pooling blood. Everything he had done to them- every strike and cut and torture they endured under him… the taunting, the gaslighting, the disgustingacts of his sick and twisted desire to have them… He deserved a worse death.

"Leave him to rot."

They spoke with such gravity it was frightening… After a long moment, however, the American to their left laughed before ruffling their fiery hair. Pyro looked up to him with exhausted eyes, finding not only Soldier, but Spy and Sniper all smiling at them.

They were safe… They were free! More than anything, they needed to rest. Almost as if on cue, Mich's legs gave out, sending them crashing into Clarence's chest.

Ha laughed faintly as he brushed the hair from their eyes, looking at them with such tender affection they were sure they would melt, "Let's go home, alright sheila?"

Pyro nodded lazily as they were picked up. It did not take long for them to drift off in his arms… but at this point, they did not feel the need to fight it.

.

.

.

Days passed before the BLU even woke up again. Their teammates seemed worried, sure, but Spy and Soldier made sure to keep everyone away and explain their condition away as a mere accident when testing out new Mann Co. weaponry. Nobody had an explanation for where their Medic ran off to… The leading theory from Scout's wonderfully woven tapestry of an imagination was that he'd found himself a new crush and ran off after them! He does seem obsessive like that, he reasoned. Mich couldn't help but laugh about how right he was…

Being that they were currently down another medic, however, all battles had been temporarily postponed! It gave them enough time to heal after their experience, if not slightly boring…

With so much free time, many members of BLU team left base for whatever outings they liked! Engineer would go out scrounging for new parts to tinker with, Heavy would go window shopping for his newest gin, Spy introduced Scout oh-so reluctantly to one of his smoke lounges, and Pyro?

Of course, as they adored doing on their days off, Pyro made their way to the local farmer's market. They looked down the line of merchants- there were fruit stands for apples and peaches, a stall selling assorted nuts by the pound, but the only thing that caught his eye… was him.

"Morning, Sheila." The Aussie man tipped his hat to them as he strode closer, offering Mich his arm. Though they were back to wearing their mask, Pyro was certain he could see their blush! They linked their arm with his as he took their shopping back without question.

"Shall we?" He hummed.

Mich beamed up at him with a smile that radiated through the most opaque materials, pulling the brim of their sunhat back and away, "Mmhm!"