I Come Bearing Drabbles...
Title: To Love
Pairings: Dave/Hal
Rating: K+
Word Count: 384
Warnings: None
Summary: Dave reflects on how he grew to love Hal.
Dave had never been on familiar terms with the word “love.” Throughout most of his life, the two had been distant cousins at best, bitter strangers at worst. He supposed he’d felt some form of affection for Campbell, or at least as much as you could feel affection for a man such as Campbell. The soldier had been the closest thing to a father Dave had ever known, and he felt as though that warranted some sort of emotional connection.
He imagined he had loved Gray Fox at some point or another. He had been his best and only friend, and Dave had cared for him more than any other person in his life, but still, loving someone and being in love with someone is not the same beast. He had cared about Gray Fox, but the relationship was such a naïve one that Dave doubted he could have even distinguished a complex emotion like love at such an age.
Then there had been Meryl. Dave had thought he loved Meryl, he really, truly had. It was something he had kept at arms length, being the type of person he was, but he had had no doubt at the time that if he did not love her, he could very easily grow to love her. That had been a folly assumption on his part. He hadn’t loved Meryl. He had cared for her, pitied her, but never loved her.
In the end, it had taken a scrawny computer tech Dave had happened across in a locker on Shadow Moses Island to teach him exactly what love felt like. Dave still had a hard time comprehending it himself, and he happened to be a tactical genius. Any sane person would have taken one look at the pair and, gender aside, thought the two completely crazy for even considering a relationship. They were barely compatible for friendship, let alone a romantic relationship.
None of that seemed to matter, however. Dave loved Hal, loved him more than he loved anything else. The man was the most real, genuine person he had ever met. The little nerd had melted the soldier’s stiff, war-torn heart, and that, Dave was sure of, was something only love could do.
Title: To Be Loved
Pairings: Dave/Hal
Rating: K+
Word Count: 555
Warnings: None
Summary: Hal reflects on what it feels like to finally be loved.
When Hal thought about it hard enough, he could vaguely remember a time when he’d felt loved. It went without saying that his parents had obviously loved him, although he could never be quite sure when it came to his mother, since he had few memories of her. His father had loved him, of course, but often neglected him in favor of his work. The man had been a raging workaholic, and the obsession had done little for he and his son’s relationship. Hal had heard him say the word “love” in reference to him maybe two or three times before his death.
Hal guessed that Julie had loved him on some sort of selfish, narcissistic level. He could never hold a grudge against the woman though. In the end, all his step-mother had wanted was to feel loved by someone, and she took it the only way she knew how. Hal could relate to the feeling too much to be angry with the poor woman. After all, he knew exactly how she felt.
Although he had never truly acknowledged it, Hal knew he had been loved by Emma. He knew this, and yet it did little to comfort him. What Emma had felt was a sort of longing admiration toward him to fill the void left by her mother’s neglect and her stepfather’s indifference. In the end, it had done little good for either of them, and it was a kind of love that Hal really didn’t care to experience more than once.
When he had been working as an engineer on Shadow Moses Island, Hal had hoped, had prayed, that maybe Sniper Wolf had loved him. That maybe her gruff acknowledgment of his presence, and the occasional conversation he had with her here and there, wasn’t just some sort of pitiful recognition. That maybe she felt some sort of slight emotion towards him as he had for her. It was, of course, naïve and childish of him to think such a thing, and he felt stupid even now when he looked back on it. Partially because of the fact that his feelings had been so childish, and partially because the relationship reminded him eerily of the one that Emma had shared with him.
When Dave came along, Hal had never thought the man could or would ever grow to love him. He’d never even considered it. Their relationship had began on a purely professional level, and Hal wasn’t quite naïve enough to think it would become anything else. But for all his schooling and all his degrees, and for all the knowledge he had stored away in his head, Hal had been completely and utterly wrong. Whether it was in the cup of coffee he’d sometimes find waiting at his desk in the morning, or in the soft way Dave would sometimes call his name, or even in the way he would look at him out of the corner of his eye when he thought he wasn’t looking, Hal knew he was loved. And out of all the loves he knew, or thought, he had experienced, this one was the most pure and concrete one he had ever come to know.
Pairings: Dave/Hal
Rating: K+
Word Count: 384
Warnings: None
Summary: Dave reflects on how he grew to love Hal.
Dave had never been on familiar terms with the word “love.” Throughout most of his life, the two had been distant cousins at best, bitter strangers at worst. He supposed he’d felt some form of affection for Campbell, or at least as much as you could feel affection for a man such as Campbell. The soldier had been the closest thing to a father Dave had ever known, and he felt as though that warranted some sort of emotional connection.
He imagined he had loved Gray Fox at some point or another. He had been his best and only friend, and Dave had cared for him more than any other person in his life, but still, loving someone and being in love with someone is not the same beast. He had cared about Gray Fox, but the relationship was such a naïve one that Dave doubted he could have even distinguished a complex emotion like love at such an age.
Then there had been Meryl. Dave had thought he loved Meryl, he really, truly had. It was something he had kept at arms length, being the type of person he was, but he had had no doubt at the time that if he did not love her, he could very easily grow to love her. That had been a folly assumption on his part. He hadn’t loved Meryl. He had cared for her, pitied her, but never loved her.
In the end, it had taken a scrawny computer tech Dave had happened across in a locker on Shadow Moses Island to teach him exactly what love felt like. Dave still had a hard time comprehending it himself, and he happened to be a tactical genius. Any sane person would have taken one look at the pair and, gender aside, thought the two completely crazy for even considering a relationship. They were barely compatible for friendship, let alone a romantic relationship.
None of that seemed to matter, however. Dave loved Hal, loved him more than he loved anything else. The man was the most real, genuine person he had ever met. The little nerd had melted the soldier’s stiff, war-torn heart, and that, Dave was sure of, was something only love could do.
Title: To Be Loved
Pairings: Dave/Hal
Rating: K+
Word Count: 555
Warnings: None
Summary: Hal reflects on what it feels like to finally be loved.
When Hal thought about it hard enough, he could vaguely remember a time when he’d felt loved. It went without saying that his parents had obviously loved him, although he could never be quite sure when it came to his mother, since he had few memories of her. His father had loved him, of course, but often neglected him in favor of his work. The man had been a raging workaholic, and the obsession had done little for he and his son’s relationship. Hal had heard him say the word “love” in reference to him maybe two or three times before his death.
Hal guessed that Julie had loved him on some sort of selfish, narcissistic level. He could never hold a grudge against the woman though. In the end, all his step-mother had wanted was to feel loved by someone, and she took it the only way she knew how. Hal could relate to the feeling too much to be angry with the poor woman. After all, he knew exactly how she felt.
Although he had never truly acknowledged it, Hal knew he had been loved by Emma. He knew this, and yet it did little to comfort him. What Emma had felt was a sort of longing admiration toward him to fill the void left by her mother’s neglect and her stepfather’s indifference. In the end, it had done little good for either of them, and it was a kind of love that Hal really didn’t care to experience more than once.
When he had been working as an engineer on Shadow Moses Island, Hal had hoped, had prayed, that maybe Sniper Wolf had loved him. That maybe her gruff acknowledgment of his presence, and the occasional conversation he had with her here and there, wasn’t just some sort of pitiful recognition. That maybe she felt some sort of slight emotion towards him as he had for her. It was, of course, naïve and childish of him to think such a thing, and he felt stupid even now when he looked back on it. Partially because of the fact that his feelings had been so childish, and partially because the relationship reminded him eerily of the one that Emma had shared with him.
When Dave came along, Hal had never thought the man could or would ever grow to love him. He’d never even considered it. Their relationship had began on a purely professional level, and Hal wasn’t quite naïve enough to think it would become anything else. But for all his schooling and all his degrees, and for all the knowledge he had stored away in his head, Hal had been completely and utterly wrong. Whether it was in the cup of coffee he’d sometimes find waiting at his desk in the morning, or in the soft way Dave would sometimes call his name, or even in the way he would look at him out of the corner of his eye when he thought he wasn’t looking, Hal knew he was loved. And out of all the loves he knew, or thought, he had experienced, this one was the most pure and concrete one he had ever come to know.