You and Sniper mosied into the kitchen just as Medic was finishing up. You watched as his eyes seemed to study you and Sniper for just a mere second, an indistinguishable expression on his face. You offered a smile, and he only looked away. Great…. You felt your smile falter as Sniper elbowed you.

“Sheila’s foirst?” He gestured to the tabletop and let you go first.

“Oh, thank you, Sniper,” you laughed slightly and made your way to the kitchen island to grab some waffles. It seemed to be three for everyone, so you grabbed two. You suddenly weren’t feeling as hungry as you hoped. Sniper grabbed his three, and you both looked to the syrup, to each other, and then slowly back to the syrup. You lunged for it and lost. “Stupid lanky arms…” You muttered, fake pouting. It caused Sniper to scoff.

“Lanky arms that won!” He poured a great deal onto his food, as if relishing in his victory. Your eyes searched for Medic against your will, only to find him rolling his eyes as he made his way to his seat. You quickly looked away before you were caught. “Eh, here ya go.” He handed you a bottle that was once full and not a quarter empty. You looked in slight confusion at his ocean of syrup on his plate. I can’t tell if that’s gross or not….

“Thanks…” You trailed off and gently took the bottle. You poured as much as felt satisfactory and sat down next to him. It was then that the others came into the kitchen to eat.

“Well! Ain’t this a fine lookin’ breakfast,” Engie sat his hands on his hips as he entered the kitchen, stopping for a second. He continued before anyone could brush past him and grabbed his waffles. Medic nodded, accepting the compliment without speaking. He sat down next to you, looking from the syrup bottle to Sniper’s plate. “Ah see someone took a likin’ to the syrup.” He chuckled as Sniper acted offended.

“Oi’ll have ya know that this-” Sniper gestured down to his pool of waffles “-is a work of art!” You giggled slightly as Engie shook his head.

“Ah don’t know about that…” Engie chuckled and then shrugged.

“Yo, who didn’t get deir third pancake?” Scout asked and held up the waffle.

“It’s a waffle, son…”

“Whatevah. Point still stands.”

“It was mine. You can have it,” you admitted and Scout did a fist pump.

“Aye! What if I want it?” Demo retorted. You shrugged.

“I don’t care who gets it.” Demo smirked.

“Give it here, lad. I want it.” Scout took a step back as Demo stood up from his seat.

“No thanks, pally. I claimed it.” Demo shook his head.

“No, I did.”

What ensued was a tussle in the middle of the kitchen that Heavy had to break up. You eventually had them split it in half to share, but neither were fully satisfied. Anyway, it was time to go.

“So where are we going?” You pondered, catching up in stride with the tall Sniper.

“Oi call it the ole’ Dustbowl. It’s a new style of battleground for ya as well,” Sniper peered at you from under his shades, grinning like a madman.

“I see. Well, that sounds fun at least?” You smiled awkwardly, Sniper laughed.

“You’ll see, Sheila. When Oi show ya around, you’ll see.”

“Who said you were da tour guide Mr. Tall… lanky… string bean?” Scout crossed his arms and stood to your other side.

“Nice insult…,” you couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Whatevah. My point still stands.”

“What point?” Sniper waved the two of you off.

“The point is that Oi’m gonna be a bettah tour guide that you could evah be!” Scout feigned offense.

“As if! I’ll make a deal with you, pally. The Dustbowl is pretty big, yeah?”

“And?”

“I’ll make Strats more, uh… personable with it!”

“That’s what you’re going for?” Scout seemed to puff up like a chicken, his face turning slightly red.

“Yes!” Sniper laughed at him.

“Okay! Anyway, I’ll let you two do that. Just don’t kill each other!” You had to stop them, speaking out.

“Yeah yeah, whatevah. Not like this string bean has anything on me!” Scout tilted his nose up as if Sniper were beneath him. You could have sworn Sniper rolled his eyes.

“Callin’ me a string bean when you’re skinnier than bones!” Sniper scoffed as he hopped into the truck. Sniper and Scout slapped each other’s hand away as they offered to help you up. You got in by yourself.

“Me? Skinny? Buddy, I’m full of muscle!” Scout tried to flex what little muscle he had while sitting down, causing you to laugh.

“Roight…,” Sniper trailed off, trying to cover a snicker.

Over the next about half hour, Scout and Sniper traded insults back and forth. Some were… less imaginative than others, but it was starting to get on your nerves. You would have never thought Spy’s eyes could go that far into his head. You would have rather they just settle it by being tour guides rather than trying to one-up each other with words. Eventually, the truck stopped behind a small building.

You hopped out with the others and headed to the building. It was a resupply room.

“As you can tell, this is a resupply room,” Sniper held his arms out and spun around you. No kidding.

“Yeah, I think she knows dat, string bean,” Scout stepped in front of him, causing you to laugh. You watched as Sniper’s mouth twisted into a frown, but his eyes flicked to you and he turned it upside down.

“Don’t worry about ‘im. Let’s keep going, Sheila.” He led you outside to what looked kind of like an abandoned ghost town. He pointed to a shack on your right. “That’s the second point, or Point B. Don’t mistake it for Point A.”

“Got it,” you acknowledged what he said.

He led you further down the little road on top of train tracks, pointing out a smaller shack for Point A. He also pointed out the BLU resupply room.

“The little buggers will come out of there,” he scowled slightly, as if remembering a bad memory. You nodded and watched as Scout jogged in front of him.

“Yeahaha! Good for target practice, right Snipes?” Scout elbowed Sniper, causing his frown to return.

“Yeah…, anyway-”

“So Strats, dat’s the end of what we call Stage One. If we time da BLU’s out, we win! If dey win, which dey have no chance of, we move to Stage Two. It’s dis way.” Scout took your hand and started jogging away from the others. Against your will due to his grip on your hand, you followed him.

“O-Okay?” You managed to stutter out and was led to a resupply room underground. You turned to find Sniper trying to catch up to you two, one hand swinging by his side and the other on his hat.

“What da bloody hell do ya think you’re doing?” You heard his voice fade as Scout led you through the doors and up a small but steep hill.

“So Point A is on top of dat platform, yeah?” Scout pointed out the point with the caution tape around it on the wooden floor.

“The little caution cones are cute,” you commented, shrugging. Scout laughed.

“I guess dey are! Moving on, though, we got some tunnels to go through.” He dragged you through these underground tunnels and on the other side was a big gray building with reddish-wooden stuff on top, blocking your view. “Da point’s on the other side.” He looked around. “I think we lost ‘em. Gotta say I’m dhe best tour guide ever, right?” He placed his hands behind his head as he sauntered around the building.

“If you say so, Scout,” you stifled a laugh.

“I know so-!” He suddenly yanked you behind the building and shushed you.

“Scout?” You whispered.

“Dey’re here. You gotta stay beside me. Act cool.” Knowing it only could’ve been the BLU team, you nodded and followed Scout, sticking close.

You two rounded the building and towards the second point. It was also on a platform next to a very large rock on the left. Behind it was another resupply building, probably RED’s.

“And dat’s Point B,” he gestured to the platform with the point on it… and the entirety of the BLU team.

“Well, if it ain’t da cutie and the idiot!” BLU Scout called, sauntering down the steps. You felt the disgusting feeling start to creep its way up your spine and stomach again. Fuck this guy.

“Dat’s funny considering we’re da same person!” Scout laughed, instinctively pulling you a little towards him, his grip on your arm tightening a little as the BLU Scout only laughed.

“Yeah right. Anyway, we were just talkin’ about how we’re totally winnin’ dis next battle! Lucky you, right?”

“As if! I’m showin’ Strats around here so she can make da best plan ever ta beat ya!”

“Yeah, sure,” the BLU Scout laughed. “And I’ll be sure ta see ya later, toots.” The BLU scout winked at you, causing a shudder to make its way up to your shoulders.

“Over my dead body!” Scout roared, baring a bandaged fist.

“I can do dat!” The BLU team made their way past you and Scout. The most notable insults weren’t insults at all. They were expressions. The BLU Strategist had a look you didn’t understand as you two made eye contact, but you smiled and she looked away. The BLU Engineer just took a look and didn’t say anything. Scout kept you behind him as he turned slowly, continuing to face them as they walked away.

A few moments after they disappeared, Sniper came running towards you two. He stopped, gasping for air and hunched over. After a moment, he shoved Scout aside, checking you over.

“Did anythin’ happen? Are ya alroight?” He questioned you quickly. “I saw those bloody blokes walkin’ away and Oi came runnin’ ta make sure yer alroight. Their bloody tricks are too much.”

“Hey, dere’s nothin’ ta worry about. She was with me,” Scout wrapped his arm around you. Sniper’s face contorted.

“Now listen here ya mongrel, Oi’ve been nice ta ya so far, but that little stunt ya pulled could’ve put tha Strategist in danga.” Sniper pointed a finger in Scout’s face, to which Scout obviously did not like.

“So what? You don’t trust me?” Scout took his arm back and jabbed a thumb at his chest.

“Do Oi trust-? Of course Oi don’t bloody trust ya!” Sniper’s face was flushed. “Ya pulled a stupid stunt where ya know the BLU team could’ve been, what they did, and what they’re capable of. This wasn’t smart, and Oi would’ve hoped ya’d known that.” Scout stared at the ground.

“Do ya really think I’m dat stupid, pally?” Scout lifted his head, getting closer to Sniper raising his fist.

“Apparently you are.” Sniper leaned down at the Scout.

“Alright, dat’s it!” Scout lunged at Sniper, but you caught him by the back of his shirt before he could touch him. Sniper took a step back as Scout tried to shove you away.

“Alright, what in tarnation is going on here?” You heard a familiar Texan voice yell and felt a tight grip on your hand. You looked to see who had grabbed you, and your eyes widened with shock when you saw Medic. In surprise, you let go of Scout and he lunged for Sniper. You yanked your hand away and tried to stop Scout again, but you were stopped once more.

“Let zhem get it,” Medic ordered, and you stopped, feeling that awkwardness between the two of you once more. He gently let go of your wrist and let out a sigh through his nose. You both watched as the Texan and the Russian pulled the two apart, both Sniper and Scout looking fairly beat up.

“Now do the two of you care to explain what in the hell you bother were thinkin’?” Engie ordered. Scout crossed his arms and stared at the ground. Sniper looked away, clenching his jaw.

“Ask him,” Sniper sneered, jabbing a thumb at Scout.

You didn’t hear much more of the conversation, and you weren’t sure this was what you really wanted to listen to anyway. You couldn’t help but worry about what Medic was thinking. Not that it should have worried you, if anything you shouldn’t care too much, but you did. You felt his presence standing off behind you on the right and contained a sigh. You averted your gaze from him by keeping your face straight, but you felt his eyes on you. You wanted to say something, but this wasn’t the place, not in front of everyone else.

“Follow me. Zhe BLU’s are gone and ve haff to show jou the final stage anyvay,” Medic muttered and simply walked off, as if expecting you to just follow him.

You were torn. This was what Sniper got upset at Scout for, but mainly because of the BLUs. Did Medic see them leave? Is it smart to talk here? Is this what I should be doing? You turned to find Medic’s boots disappearing behind a corner. This is so dumb! With a small groan and a shifting back and forth on your feet, you reluctantly followed Medic.

After all, when was the next time he’d willingly want to talk to you?