For Webster

[soldier_singled]

Joe's in such a good mood. Outside, the sun's shining and the birds, they're singin', the way they never did in Bastogne or Landsberg. He ain't even gonna ruin a beautiful day by thinking about it. He can't believe he ever wanted to be a paratrooper. There's all these beautiful things to do instead

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[thewordofweb]

I peek my head out the bedroom door when I hear the noise coming from the kitchen, the noise that woke me up. Joe had already budged from the bed and I didn't want to get up too early. I actually can't even believe my eyes when I round the corner in my Harvard t-shirt and baseball shorts and see what I do.

I genuinely, for a moment, think I've gone out of my mind.

"Can I help you?" I offer warily because this can't possibly be Joe. Not in those shorts, not singing, not looking that way. It's got to be a clone, like Buck and Cain, like one of those weird Island things. It has to be. Absolutely.

[soldier_singled]

"You think I'm letting you anywhere near anythin' I'm cookin', sugar, you're severely mistaken."

Joe flashes his best, brightest grin at Webster and goes back to what he's doing.

"You just sit your sweet ass down at the table and I'll bring you some joe."

The pun is entirely intended, and Joe can't help but grin wider.

[thewordofweb]

I don't exactly sit down so much as my legs give out on me from shock and my ass hits one of the chairs hard as I gape at him, mouth wide open. "W-what is going on?" I manage, blinking rapidly and trying to make sense. Grant. Skinny. Grant or Skinny or Grant and Skinny had to have put him up to this. I tilt my head to one side to gape at the shorts and...and okay, they really make his ass look far too good, but that is not the point.

[soldier_singled]

"Coffee's good and the bird's are singing, sugar!" said Joe, setting the coffee down in front of Webster and bending his head for a kiss.

"What's not to like?"

[thewordofweb]

I lean up to kiss him on the lips slightly, though the confusion has yet to shift and that lasts until suddenly I burst out laughing, as if uncontrollable. "Okay, Joe, very funny," I promise, looking all around me in the kitchen. "Joke's over," I insist. "Who put you up to this? Was it Skinny? God, if he was so sick of hearing us, he could have just said something..."

[soldier_singled]

"I have even seen that nasty thing yet this morning," said Joe, leaning back against the edge of the table, smiling fondly. "But you can guarantee, he'll be in here, making a nuisance of himself before long!"

[thewordofweb]

I just gape up at Joe, my hand brushing lightly against his side, sliding under his hip as I stare in confusion. The obituary is long forgotten because I'm still too stuck on what is going on right here. I take back my fingers and lean forward, trying to close the space between us. "Joe, did you hit your head?" I ask with genuine concern. "Lieb, are you okay? Why do you keep...smiling?"

[soldier_singled]

"Why wouldn't I be smiling?" asks Joe, his eyes widening with surprise at the fact that Webster can't see for himself how beautiful a day it is.

"The sun's shining and I just woke up next to the most beautiful guy on the island," he says, earnestly. "I've got every reason to smile in the whole world!"

[thewordofweb]

Well, I can't exactly dispute the latter part of that. I may be obtuse about other things, but not my vanity. Slowly, I push my chair up and take hold of his hips, lifting him up and settling him on the kitchen table before pushing him fully down onto his back with one broad palm, leaning in fully. "Come on, Joe," I mumble, half to myself, trying to provoke something here. "What happened to you calling me an asshole and slaps and insulting me?"

[soldier_singled]

There's a little part of Joe's brain that wants to know what the fuck Webster's doing, but the rest of him is too busy hitching his hips as his back hits the kitchen table.

"Life's too short, sugar," he murmurs.

[thewordofweb]

I'm still leaning forward over him when he speaks and I'm absolutely perplexed as to what's happened to my Joe. And I need to stop being aroused by the fact that I still want him like this. I need to test this. I need to test just how far the boundaries go, how willing he is to run with this act. My fingers stroke his cheek idly, still leaned over and lightly press a kiss to his neck. "Liebling," I mumble against his pulse, bracing myself for the punch, for the break. "What do you think about marriage?"

[soldier_singled]

Joe thinks about it for a moment.

"It's really romantic, isn't it? Deciding to be with one person forever. Giving yourself like that?"

[thewordofweb]

Yeah, that's all I need. I lean down and bring him up again, lifting him up off the table. "Okay, you've gone bad," I announce, settling him on his feet and brushing my hands on my shorts, staring at him with open-mouthed horror and confusion. "Just..." I wave my hands about, trying to evoke some spell-breaker. "Back to normal now, okay?"

[soldier_singled]

Joe blinks, dark eyes wide and innocent and completely without guile.

"Bad? You really think I'm bad?" His bottom lip trembles. "But all I did was get up and bake you cookies, ssugar! What's wrong with that?"

[thewordofweb]

I groan and lean in, wrapping my arm around his waist and bringing him close. "Don't look at me like that, lieb," I beg, because that absolutely is killing me. It's like smacking a puppy on the head with a blunt club. "You're not bad, you're being good. I promise."

You're just being a freak about it and not you.

I lean in and kiss him on the lips. "Don't look like that, I can't take it," I beg. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

[soldier_singled]

Joe's lip trembles again, his eyes wide and bright with tears, but then, just as quickly, he smiles again.

"We could go back to bed. That'd be sort of fun, wouldn't it?"