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They were silent, still not sure how to react to the news. True, they were in the middle of a war but this felt different. Henry wasn’t fighting, he wasn’t on the front lines; he was supposed to be going home. It made it worse that he’d survived all these years, survived being shelled and shot at, only for his chopper to be shot down when he was hours away from home.
“Hawk? You asleep?”
Hawkeye turned in his bunk to face Trapper. “Nah. Can’t stop thinking about Henry.”
“It’s not fair,” Trapper agreed. “He was out.”
“He was so happy last night, talking about seeing his family again. Now all they’ll get is some impersonal bearer-of-bad-news…”
“I was thinking that maybe we could send a letter to them, let them know he was more than just a casualty of war to us,” Trapper suggested quietly, as though waiting for Hawkeye to tell him it was a stupid idea.
“I think they’d appreciate that.”
Before he could say more there was a tentative knock on the door, moments before it was pushed open.
“Sirs? Are you awake?”
Hawkeye looked up to see Radar standing there in his boots, nightclothes and a robe, his teddy bear clutched tightly to his chest.
“In or out, Radar, you’re letting in a draught.”
Radar came in, pausing just inside the door and shuffling uneasily.
“I can’t sleep.”
Hawkeye smiled despite himself. No matter how much they teased him sometimes, he and Trapper both felt rather protective of the kid. Him more than Trap, if he was being completely honest. “’You want to stay here tonight?”
Radar nodded, looking around to the only unoccupied bunk and flinching visibly. Frank had disappeared soon after they’d come out of surgery, when the last of the wounded had been tended, and hadn’t been back since. Frank would never admit it, but Hawkeye had been able to see it in his eyes; news of Henry’s death had hit him as hard as it had them. He’d probably gone to Hot Lips’ tent, looking for whatever comfort he could find there, and wouldn’t be back until morning. Today, no one cared about appearances.
Hawkeye saw Radar shiver in the night air and sighed. Lifting up one edge of his blanket he shuffled to the edge of his bunk.
“Get in.”
“Sir?”
Hawkeye rolled his eyes. “Frank’ll probably have you arrested if you sleep in his bunk and you’ll freeze if you stand there all night. Get in.”
He heard Trapper’s muffled snigger and glared at him. Okay, so maybe this wasn’t entirely for Radar’s benefit and Trapper knew it. Still one look at Radar’s shy smile as he toed off his boots and climbed into the bunk made him forget about his best friend’s amusement at his expense.
Radar climbed in, fidgeting around on the narrow bunk, trying not to crowd Hawkeye too much but that was impossible. Eventually he settled, though.
“Thank you, Sir.”
Hawkeye laughed softly. “You’re in my bed, Radar; it’s weird when you call me Sir.”
“Okay, Captain-”
“Radar…”
“Sorry Hawkeye.”
“Close enough. Now, go to sleep.”
~.~
The following morning, Hawkeye awoke to find Trapper watching him, smiling. Radar had abandoned the teddy bear sometime in the night, deciding that he’d found something better. He’d wrapped himself around Hawk, pressed close with his nose buried in the side of Hawkeye’s neck, still fast asleep.
“Comfy?” Trapper asked, still smirking as he fastened his boots and stood up to pull on his robe.
“Oh, shut up.”
In his arms, Radar shifted, choosing that moment to wake up. A frown appeared on his face and he looked down, his eyes widening as he realised that he was wrapped around Hawkeye. Shuffling away quickly, he fell off the edge of the narrow bunk and landed on the floor.
“I’m sorry, Sir!”
Trapper let himself out of the Swamp, laughing, as Hawkeye leaned over the edge of the bunk to look down at Radar.
“Radar, its fine.”
The kid looked up at him, either confused or half asleep, Hawk wasn’t sure. Probably both, he thought, coupled with the fact he didn’t have his glasses on yet either.
“Sir?”
Hawkeye sighed. “What did I say about not calling me ‘sir’?”
“You said- But I thought you meant just when I was in your- Not that I was expecting that to happen again!” He stopped, eyes widening.
It was kind of adorable.
“Radar, get back in,” Hawkeye told him, edging back to make room and lifting the covers in invitation once more. When he saw Radar hesitate, he added, “If you’re worried about Frank, he’s on shift this morning and won’t be back until noon at least, and Trapper couldn’t care less who’s in my bunk.”
He was rewarded with a shy smile as Radar hesitantly picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself down before climbing back under the covers.
“Si- Hawkeye?”
“Hmm?”
“Why? If it’s ‘cause you feel sorry for me-”
“It’s not. I like having you here.”
Radar shuffled again, almost snuggling up to him. “I like being here, too.”
Hawkeye took a chance at that, did something he’d wanted to do since the day he arrived, because if not now, then when? They’d learned the hard way that there might not be a tomorrow. He pressed a kiss to Radar’s lips, just a chaste peck, nothing more.
“Oh…”
“Was that a good ‘oh’ or a bad ‘oh’?”
“Good,” Radar said quietly. “Of course, you could do it again, just so I could make sure…”
Hawkeye smiled; the kid wasn’t quiet as naïve as he made out to be.
“I think that sounds like an excellent plan,” he said, and this time the kiss was anything but chaste.
End