Chapter Text
“C’mon, Carter, gimme a chance with him. There’s gotta be a reason he hasn’t opened up! Give me one night, okay?” Thom called as Carter turned his back. The Commander turned around again, giving a sigh.
“Thom, listen. I know you think you can fix him or whatever, but he *doesn’t want to be fixed*. He hates people, and your jokes aren’t gonna change that.”
Thom shook his head. “No jokes, Commander. Just trust me. One night. Don’t start planning to send him packing yet, alright?”
Another sigh from Carter. It really was just his luck.
“Alright, Thom. One night.”
Thom fist pumped in the air as he walked out of the room.
Emile’s plans for the day were the same as any other; do patrols, sharpen his knife, take night watch. The man hardly slept, Noble Team had noted - seemed to be a bit of an insomniac, as he took watch most nights and would last all night often. They had to hope he wouldn’t fall asleep on the job - but so far, that wasn’t a problem. He was just as alert as ever, every battle aware and hyperaggressive as usual.
Night watch bored him, but he didn’t mind it other than that - he had plenty of time to think, to clean his weapons. Wasn’t like he wanted to talk to any of the others anyway. As he headed out to the watch position, though, movement caught his eye. The newbie - Emile didn’t really care much for him, as was to be expected - was approaching him.
“Hey, Emile, mind if I share watch with you tonight?” Thom asked, seeming relaxed enough.
“I do, actually. I like spending the time alone.”
“Aw, come on, man. Carter’s getting on my ass trying to get you to stop taking watches - at least alone. Lemme come up with ya.” It was a half-truth - Carter was on everyone trying to get Emile to take a break from the night watch - but Thom also wanted to try to get the man to open up a little. There had to be some reason he was so solitary. It wasn’t his nature, Thom had a gut feeling.
Emile shrugged. “Fine, I guess. C’mon, I’m headed out now.”
Thom followed after, grinning wide under his helmet.
They sat in silence for about an hour before Thom broke the quiet of the night with a question.
“Emile, why do you hate us?”
Emile shook his head. “Why do you care? S’long as it doesn’t impede the mission, Carter ain’t give a shit, so why do you?”
“Because I want to be friends.” Thom put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Come on, Emile-” The man brushed Thom’s hand aggressively off his shoulder, Thom recoiling a bit at the unnecessary force used.
“I don’t. Now shut up, aight?”
“I… no.”
“What?”
“I said NO, Emile. I don’t want to shut up. I want to understand you. I want to be close to you, if you can stand to let someone in past these bullshit walls for ten seconds, alright? I know you’re not all hate and rage and murder. No one is. So please, damn you, just let me in a little bit.”
Emile sat stock-still, dumbstruck, for a few moments. Then, he spoke.
“You think some dumb monologue is gonna get me to tell you my sob story? Think again, pal. I’m not interested in being friends with people who are either gonna turn on me or die when I’m closest to ‘em. So fuck. The hell. Off.”
“I…” Thom shivered, the cold night air suddenly feeling a lot colder. “... Fine. I guess I oughta give up on you, just like everyone else has, just like Carter will if I don’t pull this off, which I guess I’m not gonna. So I guess I won’t be seeing you around for much longer, huh.” He rose from his seated position, abruptly, and turned, walking back toward the camp Noble Team had made.
“... Hey. Thom.” He turned around as quickly as he’d moved to leave - Emile was bringing his hopes up, despite his better judgment.
“Yeah, Emile?”
“... Why do you care so damn much about someone you don’t even know?”
Thom shrugged. “I don’t know. People tell me I have a good heart, right? I guess I always took that personally, I WANT to be that way. I want to be a beacon for people… I want to deliver hope. I thought I could give you some hope of friendship. But if you don’t want that… I understand, I do. Not everyone wants people to help them - some are just set in their ways.”
“Mm.”
There was silence in the air for a few moments.
“Thom, I wanna show you something.” Thom walked over, taking a seat next to Emile on the bench. What Emile did next shocked him to his core - it was something no member of Noble Team had ever seen him do.
He took his helmet off.
Without the helmet, Thom noticed two things. One: Emile was a lot… handsomer… than he had expected. And two, he had a grotesque burn scar on the right side of his face, going up to right below his right eye.
Unable to contain himself, he asked, “What the hell happened to you?”
Emile laughed. “That’s what people always used to ask. Reason I started wearing my helmet all the time, instead of just sometimes. It happened right after augmentations…” He trailed off. He didn’t want to talk about it, clearly, and Thom really wasn’t sure whether to push the subject at this point. He was half-convinced he should just take this as an incredible show of trust and leave it… but another part of him wanted so badly to keep talking, to press Emile, to understand him.
That second part won out.
“What gave you the scar?”
The man shrugged, grinned, but the smile did not reach his eyes. “Accident. Explosion in a building we were in, bomb detonated too early. Flaming piece of shrapnel hit me in the face, got lodged for a few seconds, gave me the gash and the burn scar both.” He shook his head. “I lost my squad to that explosion. Not that I really knew them. I was the only one who made it out.”
Thom didn’t know what to say except I’m sorry. “Emile…”
“Hey, don’t go getting too sympathetic. It don’t hurt now, so don’t worry about it, aight?”
Thom nodded, his mind going blank. “I… Alright.” He turned to go once more, but Emile stopped him, surprised him with a hand on his shoulder.
“You don’t have to leave. I…”
“Thank you for telling me your story, Emile.” Thom responded, his grin returning.
“Oh, man. You didn’t even get the half of it today. Maybe next watch, aight?” If it was possible, Thom’s grin under his helmet grew even wider.
“Alright, man.”
They spent the rest of their watch in silence - but Thom had to say, it was a much more comfortable silence than before.