OOC| The Queen of England
A little bit of writing set many many years ago back when Hugh was a noob. Written for the funsies.
“Back stab them? How on earth do you expect me to back stab them?” Hugh asked his teammate as he stared down at the towel he was pressing to his hand. A few minutes before he had sliced his fingers while experimenting with flipping the butterfly knife open and shut since then him and the Soldier had been discussing “the point of having the dinky, little, stupid, fiddly knife”. He was sat down at the kitchen table while the Soldier stood close to the door out.
“Didn't they cover that in your training?” Soldier asked him while wearing one of the most unimpressed expressions Hugh had ever seen.
He glared back at him.
“They did but it's hard to get within ten foot of someone without getting noticed never mind an arms length away. It's no wonder all your other spies kept dying.” Most of his predecessors had died one way or another though he did hear that the last one had merely been sent home after losing a limb, he couldn't recall if it had been an arm or a leg. For the most part he had been too busy being horrified at the base body count to pay close attention to little details like that. “One wrong move and it would be a shotgun blast to the face.”
“Well, aren't Spies supposed to be... you know. Sneaky? Should be able to avoid that kind of thing. Maybe they just like sending us useless spies.”
He had already ranted at length in the past about how bad he thought the cloaking device and the disguise kits were and did not feel like repeating them and mentioning just how hard it was to actually be sneaky. “Yes but they haven't exactly been hiring experts to do it lately.” There was still the issue of what he was supposed to do after getting close to people. “It would be a lot easier to just shoot them. That can be done from far away.... and I'm not useless.”
Soldier stood still, arms crossed and looking as if he were carefully considering the Spy's worth.“You are useless Spy. You say it'd be easier if you shot them? You've got a gun, you can shoot them. It's not that hard, hell I've seen you practice and your aim isn't completely awful, but you haven't been able to land a single kill yet. I've had to save you and haul you off field before. It'd be real nice if you started doing more than taking up space on the team.”
His face went red and his cut hand balled into a fist under the bloodstained towel. “I will, soon. Then it'll be me saving you. Wouldn't be able to call me useless then, huh?”
“You save me and I'll declare myself Queen of England.” Solider rolled his eyes
“I think the King's wife would have something to say about that.” He snorted when he saw his teammate's nose wrinkle then stood up ready to leave. A trip to the medical bay to clean up the cuts on his hand nicely was probably a good idea. “I'll hold you to that.”
“Doesn't worry me. You'll never do it.”
-----
Less than one week later the Soldier was faced with his Spy standing over him, one hand outstretched to help him up off the ground. To the side of him lay the dead body of the enemy Engineer. There was a slowly growing pool of blood from the bullet holes in the man's back.
The viable skin on Hugh's face was pale. He had come terribly close to retching after killing the man. First kills were often difficult. Grudgingly he accepted the help to get to his feet. He was shaking despite himself, a few moments ago there had been a shotgun dangerously close to blowing off his face.
They spent a few long moments in silence before Soldier spoke up with a very quiet “thanks.” It seemed to make Hugh relax and a smile crossed his face. There was relief and a sense of victory going though him. The smile rapidly turned into a grin.
“You know you're going to have to say it now.”
“Say what?” Solider asked still in a daze then some kind of realization hit. Now he was back on more familiar territory. “Yeah, fine. You're not completely useless.”
“And?” It pleased Hugh greatly to hear that but it wasn't quite what he wanted the other man to say. Still, it meant he got to wear his I told you so expression.
“And? No. I'm not saying that.”
“I'm holding you to it Soldier.”
“Well tou-” There was an explosion nearby that cut their conversation short and they didn't speak again until the siren went at the end of the day.
Before the showers, after the showers, in the living room there were repeated requests of “say it” and each and every time the answer was a firm and progressively more irritated no. After dinner he finally snapped and gave in. Declared himself the Queen of England in front of the whole team and promptly left the kitchen flustered and embarrassed.
Hugh got a punch the next time they met.
The time after that the Spy suggested that they get drinks sometime. The answer he got was simply. “Yeah, alright.”
“Back stab them? How on earth do you expect me to back stab them?” Hugh asked his teammate as he stared down at the towel he was pressing to his hand. A few minutes before he had sliced his fingers while experimenting with flipping the butterfly knife open and shut since then him and the Soldier had been discussing “the point of having the dinky, little, stupid, fiddly knife”. He was sat down at the kitchen table while the Soldier stood close to the door out.
“Didn't they cover that in your training?” Soldier asked him while wearing one of the most unimpressed expressions Hugh had ever seen.
He glared back at him.
“They did but it's hard to get within ten foot of someone without getting noticed never mind an arms length away. It's no wonder all your other spies kept dying.” Most of his predecessors had died one way or another though he did hear that the last one had merely been sent home after losing a limb, he couldn't recall if it had been an arm or a leg. For the most part he had been too busy being horrified at the base body count to pay close attention to little details like that. “One wrong move and it would be a shotgun blast to the face.”
“Well, aren't Spies supposed to be... you know. Sneaky? Should be able to avoid that kind of thing. Maybe they just like sending us useless spies.”
He had already ranted at length in the past about how bad he thought the cloaking device and the disguise kits were and did not feel like repeating them and mentioning just how hard it was to actually be sneaky. “Yes but they haven't exactly been hiring experts to do it lately.” There was still the issue of what he was supposed to do after getting close to people. “It would be a lot easier to just shoot them. That can be done from far away.... and I'm not useless.”
Soldier stood still, arms crossed and looking as if he were carefully considering the Spy's worth.“You are useless Spy. You say it'd be easier if you shot them? You've got a gun, you can shoot them. It's not that hard, hell I've seen you practice and your aim isn't completely awful, but you haven't been able to land a single kill yet. I've had to save you and haul you off field before. It'd be real nice if you started doing more than taking up space on the team.”
His face went red and his cut hand balled into a fist under the bloodstained towel. “I will, soon. Then it'll be me saving you. Wouldn't be able to call me useless then, huh?”
“You save me and I'll declare myself Queen of England.” Solider rolled his eyes
“I think the King's wife would have something to say about that.” He snorted when he saw his teammate's nose wrinkle then stood up ready to leave. A trip to the medical bay to clean up the cuts on his hand nicely was probably a good idea. “I'll hold you to that.”
“Doesn't worry me. You'll never do it.”
-----
Less than one week later the Soldier was faced with his Spy standing over him, one hand outstretched to help him up off the ground. To the side of him lay the dead body of the enemy Engineer. There was a slowly growing pool of blood from the bullet holes in the man's back.
The viable skin on Hugh's face was pale. He had come terribly close to retching after killing the man. First kills were often difficult. Grudgingly he accepted the help to get to his feet. He was shaking despite himself, a few moments ago there had been a shotgun dangerously close to blowing off his face.
They spent a few long moments in silence before Soldier spoke up with a very quiet “thanks.” It seemed to make Hugh relax and a smile crossed his face. There was relief and a sense of victory going though him. The smile rapidly turned into a grin.
“You know you're going to have to say it now.”
“Say what?” Solider asked still in a daze then some kind of realization hit. Now he was back on more familiar territory. “Yeah, fine. You're not completely useless.”
“And?” It pleased Hugh greatly to hear that but it wasn't quite what he wanted the other man to say. Still, it meant he got to wear his I told you so expression.
“And? No. I'm not saying that.”
“I'm holding you to it Soldier.”
“Well tou-” There was an explosion nearby that cut their conversation short and they didn't speak again until the siren went at the end of the day.
Before the showers, after the showers, in the living room there were repeated requests of “say it” and each and every time the answer was a firm and progressively more irritated no. After dinner he finally snapped and gave in. Declared himself the Queen of England in front of the whole team and promptly left the kitchen flustered and embarrassed.
Hugh got a punch the next time they met.
The time after that the Spy suggested that they get drinks sometime. The answer he got was simply. “Yeah, alright.”