Fic

[shadowstark]

Title: Brothers in Arms 27
Summary: Big Boss and Ocelot fighting in the mud.


All I see is mud

Politicians are the same the world over. They promise to build a bridge where there is no river. -- Nikita Kruschev

Big Boss was still play-fighting with the children in the courtyard. Ocelot had been looking at tapes of the security area for the past two hours, and in all that time, Big Boss hadn't stopped teaching the boys about martial arts. It was almost 8 o'clock, and they hadn't eaten dinner yet. Children weren't used to that. Was he going to let them go in the next hour? Children should be complaining. The only time children didn't complain was when they thought they were doing something important in the grown-up world.

And Big Boss was watching him through the windows. Ocelot had only noticed this little development around ten minutes ago, and he'd found it impossible to continue his work. This was becoming entirely unsettling. He wasn't quite sure what to do about it, either.

He was used to being mistrusted, of course. It was hard to work in espionage and not be mistrusted by the people you were spying on every now and then. But this time... this time he actually cared about keeping the man's trust. It wasn't just for the Patriots: he cared about Big Boss for his own sake, too. There was no bigger ace in the hole than Outer Heaven, when dealing with the Patriots. For that matter, there wasn't one bigger than the Patriots when dealing with Big Boss' upstart army.

He swirled his drink around and tried to think as the ice made loud clinks against the glass. What had he done to lose Big Boss' trust like this? Or was the man just becoming paranoid? No, that wasn't like Big Boss at all... It was Arthur. It had to be. He and the Boss had spoken privately before he'd gone. The problem was this: if Arthur had spoken against him to Big Boss, how could Ocelot fix the situation?

It depended on what Arthur had said. If he'd gone to Big Boss with an emotional I don't trust Ocelot because he's a bad person sort of statement, it would be fairly easy to counteract his words. A few references to the psychiatrist wife would be enough to convince Big Boss that Arthur had little ground to stand on. On the other hand, if Arthur-- or Edik, really, because who knew if the security man had been holding out on him-- if either of them had found he'd been dealing with his own radio transmissions while that damning little message was sent, he could be in a lot of trouble.

Of course, it still begged the question of how the transmission had been discovered. Ocelot's Patriot contact was off-base somewhere in Galzburg itself, and neither one of them had had any intention of having the thing found. Had they? The contact hadn't exactly been forthcoming.

Ocelot sighed silently. He wasn't getting any work done now. They had that tape, and there was no way to have it unheard now. And whatever Arthur had said, it was bound to be bad, and there was nothing to do but confront it. At least with the man gone, Ocelot could start doing some damage control.

With that decided, Ocelot quickly pushed papers into a folder which he took with him as he stood and left the small security room. He opened the door to the outside, and the humidity hit him like a wave.

Big Boss and the boys fought on as though none had noticed he'd left the building. Ocelot knew better. He walked over to them, pulling his guns out and twirling them around. "You're out here late, Boss."

"Ocelot!" Big Boss said, a half-smile appearing on his face. "Feel up to showing these kids a real fight?"

Ocelot calculated for a moment in his mind. Fights were good for getting someone to give you information and, if done properly, were also good for camaraderie. Done poorly, you just got your head handed to you on a plate. "All right, Boss," said Ocelot, putting his guns in the holsters. He could see that Big Boss had no guns on him. "Quickdraw?" he offered. After all, one doesn't just offer to get one's head handed to one even for the sake of a superior's ego.

Big Boss grinned, his eyes narrowing.

"You love your own guns too much, Ocelot," he said, and without further warning, rushed at the other mercenary like a wall of muscle. Ocelot was slighter, and fell under the power of the older man.

"You love your lieutenant, I'll stick with whips and chains," said Ocelot with a grin. Slighter meant more maneuverable: Ocelot turned, twisting around until he could reach his guns, then kneed Big Boss hard in the groin.

Big Boss barely noticed the attack. He grabbed one of Ocelot's arms and twisted it around, forcing the other man to drop his gun. "Funny to hear you talking about chains. I've been thinking I need to put cuffs on someone," he said, the smirk obvious in his voice.

"Oh, I do hope it's me, Boss," said Ocelot. He turned and pulled Big Boss' belt off, then wrapped it around the larger neck and pulled. "I don't think Emmerich would enjoy it nearly as much."

Big Boss choked as his fist sailed by Ocelot's cheek. The passing breeze knocked Ocelot's hat off. Ocelot scowled and rolled backwards to pick it up. "No," said Big Boss, rubbing his neck and taking a deep breath with a rueful smile, "he wouldn't."

"Speaking of Emmerich..." Ocelot took a moment to get back into a fighting stance.

Big Boss did the same. Even without a gun and knife combination, the man was deadly... but then, so was Ocelot. "What?" asked Big Boss impatiently.

I think he's sleeping with Petrovich, despite your single-minded devotion to him instead of me? No, that wouldn't get him anywhere. Do you remember how Arthur can't tell the cowboys from the indians? No, that would just remind Big Boss of Ocelot hurting the other man. "Strange that he trusted Petrovich so much. With Petrovich being a traitor and all."

"We all make mistakes," said Big Boss. His eyes narrowed as he looked for an opening in Ocelot's defensive pose. Ocelot followed Big Boss' lead and looked for any hint of weakness in his opponent's gaze. "Most of them have to do with trusting the wrong people. I'm sure you've never made that mistake."

There was that one thing... Big Boss kept looking over at the boys to make sure they were still watching... So all Ocelot really had to do was-- Distracting words, then an attack! "What's more dangerous: trusting your enemies, or not trusting your allies?"

Big Boss looked taken aback by that-- perfect-- and Ocelot ran behind one of the boys6. "Taking tips from Dirty Duck?"

"That man has nothing on me!" said Ocelot quickly. What an insult! That man would have trouble beating... beating Emmerich! Ocelot crouched down as both boys turned to look at him. Big Boss walked deliberately towards the three of them, but Ocelot paid that little attention. His focus was on putting the blanks he always carried in his front left pocket into his backup gun.

Ocelot's focus on reloading was so strong that he didn't even notice the strange, innocent, vicious expression that only the young can affect until he felt himself bowled over by not one but three bodies.

"Admit it, Ocelot: you like being under me," said Big Boss with a smirk.

"You know I like to be on top," he said, baring his teeth at the children. "Just to establish things," he said, leaning up to mutter into Big Boss' ear, "your room or mine?"

"Yours," said Big Boss with a look of mock-terror on his face.

Of course. Can't let our dear Emmerich know you love someone else. Ocelot felt his anger rising, and it gave him the strength to push the boys off as he tumbled Big Boss into the grass.

Big Boss rose quickly, the mud making an odd sucking noise in protest. His eyes were full of the heat of battle. Ocelot aimed his gun from his position on the muddy ground and fired. Big Boss dodged the bullet-- dodged it!-- with an annoyed scowl on his face. The children looked at Big Boss with awe. Stupid kids.

Ocelot tipped his hat and blew the still smoking end of the gun with a smirk. Big Boss dropped his scowl and rocketed into him.

They fell into the grassy mud and Big Boss's hand was suddenly around Ocelot's gun. His other arm immobilized Ocelot completely with a bear hug and Big Boss hovered over him like a possessive lover. Ocelot felt his grip on the gun failing and he scowled.

"Looks like I lost," he said disgustedly. To be able to do that when you were pushing seventy...

"You have to lose eventually, Ocelot. When it comes down to it, you don't want to win."

"That was pretty cool," said one of the boys. The other nodded mutely, looking at Ocelot with awe and appreciation in his eyes. "I've never seen anyone get so close to finishing Uncle One-Eye."

Close? That was close? He'd done better the first time he'd faced the other man back in Rassvet.

"I'm still unbeatable," said Big Boss with a smirk on his face as he helped Ocelot up off of his back. Ocelot smiled back at him, not out of happiness but an attempt to cover his annoyance. To be defeated by such a move-- hadn't he moved beyond that yet?

"He got pretty close to beating you," said the other boy shyly.

Blasted children, watching him get defeated by Big Boss. Granted the man was perhaps the foremost mercenary of his time and would probably be for a long time to come, but damned if an Ocelot would accept defeat from a Snake!

Not that he could do anything about it just now, pinned as he was beneath Big Boss's weight as though he were a child himself. "I let you look good in front of your child prodigies and this is what you say to me?" muttered Ocelot grudgingly.

"Can I see your gun?" asked one of the boys. Ocelot scowled at him, but it wasn't enough to keep the brother away from his last gun, still in the mud.

"It's almost as cool as Monkey's," he said confidentially to his brother.

"Almost..." Ocelot glared. "Nothing compares to the elegance of a six shooter. And there's nothing like reloading in the middle of a battle." Big Boss took a moment to look disdainfully at the etching on the barrels as Ocelot tore the thing out of the boy's hand. "And these are going to be collector's items someday. What have you been teaching your wannabe soldiers?"

"Grump's got a gun that doesn't make a sound," said one, his black hair muddy from all the mini-battles he'd been in. "That's way cooler."

"But he's an idiot," said the other. "Talking to himself like that all morning. He couldn't beat Uncle One-Eye. Not even close. Mr. Fast Shooter is way smarter."

Fast shooter? Now that was absolutely uncalled for. He always took his time. He-- Well, at least that was... accurate, in a certain light.

"Talking to himself?" asked Big Boss. "What about?"

Fast shooter could even be considered... complimentary, coming from little kids.

"Yes Man, mostly."

"Yes Man?" asked Big Boss.

"You know, your best friend," said the muddier of the boys. "He always says yes."

Ocelot mind froze solid. Surely not. Surely-- He could feel laughter bubbling up. Yes Man! Arthur Emmerich! Well no wonder Big Boss liked him better! His mouth was twitching, and it was horrible, because he could see that Big Boss was taking this absolutely seriously. No, no, Uncle One-Eye was!

"What was he saying, Luther?"

"That Yes Man had to go somewhere," said the boy.

"And Mr. Fast Shooter had to prove something," added his brother.

The laughter died as suddenly as it had come. Even that idiotic security man thought he had something to prove? Didn't anyone in this place have the common sense of a flea circus? If he'd wanted to destroy Big Boss' hopes and dreams, he'd have done it a good long while ago. What he was doing right now was going to leave Big Boss able to continue his work for years to come. Losing Metal Gear was only a tragedy for Emmerich and Petrovich.

His face set into an angry scowl and he started walking toward the compound. How dare that man question his loyalty? Bad enough to think it was Emmerich, who was at least a major player in the game, but the damned security so-called expert who hadn't found a man with a damned radio was the one saying he was the bad guy?

No!

Before he even noticed what he was doing, he'd emptied the blanks from his gun and started refilling it with live ammunition. "Ocelot!" God damn it, he'd only been sleeping with the man for four years. What had either of them done for him? "Ocelot!" Well, Arthur'd slept with him for almost twenty now. But that was really beside the point, that didn't count, Ocelot had seen him first and--

"Ocelot!" Big Boss' hand fell heavily on his shoulder and spun him around. Ocelot stared at the other man whose eyes looked suddenly panicked. It calmed Ocelot slightly to see that look in his eyes. "Why did you run? What are you proving, Ocelot?" he asked urgently.

"My loyalty to you, obviously," Ocelot said sharply. Second hand information. That bastard. He'd told Arthur something and then Arthur had told that to Big Boss which gave it all the credence in the world-- He should have seen it, with the two of them coming in at the same time. And hell if this wasn't a damned power struggle! Ocelot wasn't trying for his position! To say that Ocelot was a traitor-- Who the hell was he to question Ocelot?

"Your loyalty's not in question," Big Boss said finally.

Oh, could he be any more convincing?

Ocelot's face must have reflected the thought. "It's not, Ocelot. I trust you. I sent you to work with the Patriots; it wouldn't be fair for me not to trust you for dealing with them. I thought maybe he was a part of them. You ran off like that... I thought he'd given something away."

Edik, a Patriot? Ocelot shook his head. "I don't know who's working for them."

Big Boss looked down for a moment. "Ocelot, I trust you." Ocelot shook his head. "I do. You're the best man I have here."

Ocelot sighed. "Boss... you trust him, not me," said Ocelot. "If there were ever a choice between us--"

"There is no choice between you," he said vehemently. "There won't be one."

"Prove it. Tell Arthur about us."

"I can't do that."

"Hah!"

"But I can do this," he said, and suddenly his mouth was on Ocelot's. Ocelot moaned into it as Big Boss's hands proved they were every bit as quick and talented as his mouth.

Ocelot pulled back. "You think I'm a traitor and you do that?"

Big Boss shook his head. "I know you're not a traitor." One of his hands fished a tiny bit of red plastic out of a pocket. "This is for you. It's like the one I've got for Arthur. You can find me anywhere with it. I couldn't give it to someone I don't trust."

Ocelot glanced at it skeptically. "You could just turn it off."

"That'd terrify Arthur. If it goes off, it means I've stopped breathing."

Ocelot looked at it for a moment. Little blinking lights, latitude and longitude and even a little GPS map attached to it. But what was trust? Was it really a gesture of trust to give something like this to a man who posed you little threat? "I don't want yours, I want his. Arthur's."

"If I give you mine, I won't have one."

"You don't think I'd tell you if something happens." Ocelot smiled slightly coldly. "I understand, Boss."

"It's not that--" Big Boss frowned momentarily. Ocelot could practically see the excuses running through his head. "I'm not giving it to you."

Ocelot sighed. "Well," said Ocelot. "I suppose I shouldn't expect more than that. But maybe I can convince you to trust me a different way." His left hand plunged down into Big Boss' pants and started to fondle Big Boss. "Where are those boys?"

"I-- ah-- sent them to pick up Monkey. Oh, Ocelot, that's really... not necessary..."

"You want me to stop?"

Big Boss didn't even deign to answer that.