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He respawns again, of course.
His body tenses, his fists clench.
He would always respawn.
Unless..
He could drive and drive and drive. Way out where the system couldn't reach him.
Yeah, he could.
He begins the walk back to his van, shoes dragging through the warm sand. Hands in his pockets, he fiddles with a coin, runs his finger and thumb across the ridges of its sides. Did circles have sides? Engineer would probably know. He chuckles softly to himself. Ridiculous, but he'd have to ask sometime.
The door to his van is pushed open, and he's greeted with the familiar sight of blood. It's splattered against the wall behind his bed—behind where his head had been. Some had dripped onto his sheets, still fresh. Still cleanable.
A sigh. He doesn't know why he bothers at this point, but he grabs the bucket, sponge, and hydrogen peroxide.
"I love you," he had said, resting his head on his lover's shoulder.
"I know," the other replied through a puff of cigarette smoke.
Sniper tugged at Spy's tie, trying to get him back into bed. "C'mere."
"I cannot stay."
"Just for a minute?"
Spy looked back at him, expression blank. He gently pushed Sniper back onto the mattress before moving on top of him.
He ran his gloved hand over Sniper's exposed chest, taking a drag from his cigarette before leaning in and closing the distance between them. Their lips met; Sniper wrapped his arms around the other's back as smoke filled his mouth.
There was a sudden searing hot pain on his collarbone; he hissed and gripped Spy's dress shirt.
Spy sat up, flicking the extinguished cigarette butt into the trash can beside the bed. His face still blank, he pulled Sniper's arms off him and smoothed out the wrinkles the other had caused.
And just like that, he was gone.
But not from Sniper's mind.
He grumbles, scratches at the scar on his collarbone with his free hand—the other is scrubbing the wall.
It's getting late.
The wall is as clean as it's gonna get, so he climbs down and enters the kitchen area of his camper.
Opens the cupboards. Cereal, some canned green beans.
Opens the fridge. An egg carton with one cracked egg in it, milk that's teetering on expiring, a bottle of ketchup.
Nothing substantial. He's a resourceful man, but he can't make anything good from this.
He's gonna have to get some food from the base.
Or, or, he could just.. not eat anything. That's an option.
But his rumbling stomach tells him that's a bad one.
He sighs and just hopes Soldier isn't on cooking duty tonight.
He quickly fixes his haphazard appearance before trudging into the base. He makes his way to the kitchen, following the mouth-watering smell of cooked meat and steaming vegetables.
Surprisingly, it seems Pyro was the cook tonight; more surprisingly, the whole place hadn't burnt down. They're the first to notice Sniper, standing at the stove and waving to him, adorned with oversized oven mitts and even a little chef's hat.
"Snipes!" Scout exclaims as soon as the other walks through the doorway. He had been in the middle of stuffing his mouth with mashed potatoes, some falling out as he smiles at his teammate. "Hey, man!"
Sniper nods and smiles politely. "Hey."
He glances at the table; looks like a few people were missing, but a majority of the team was there. Heavy, Medic, Scout, Spy—
He quickly makes a plate, piling on random food and practically dashing for the door.
"Wait!"
He stops in his tracks at Scout's interjection, cursing to himself before putting on a poker face and turning around.
"Yeah?"
"Where are ya goin'?"
"Uhh." He shuffles. "My van."
"Aww, c'mon! You're always in your van!"
"Ja," Medic agrees, swallowing a piece of asparagus and pointing his fork at the other man. "Scout is right. Why don't you stay a while?"
He sees Heavy nod. Even Pyro hopefully clasps their hands together.
Spy says nothing. He continues eating, not even offering a glance in Sniper's direction.
"Pleeeaase?" Scout whines.
Ugh.
He looks like a kicked puppy.
Oh, for God's sake.
Sniper sits next to him.
"You have been spending more time in van lately," Heavy rumbles, scraping up the last bits on his plate. "I—"
"What is this, an intervention?" Sniper suddenly spits, jabbing into his piece of meat. Pyro jumps.
Heavy looks taken aback.
"No. Was just going to say is nice to spend time with you. Sheesh."
Now he feels like an asshole.
He clears his throat. "..Sorry."
Pyro, a bit upset, removes an oven mitt to play with their lighter.
A sigh. Sniper dejectedly cuts his steak. "Sorry to all of you."
He genuinely means it.. except the 'all of you' part.
Spy's gotten enough apologies.
Spy had suddenly untangled himself from Sniper, sitting up and getting ready to climb down the loft.
"Wha— Wait!" Sniper reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "Did I do somethin' wrong?"
Usually, as of late, Sniper would wake up the next morning to find his lover gone, or he would at least get a warning Spy couldn't spend the night. This was the first time Spy was leaving (or trying to) without a word in advance.
"Non." Spy shrugged him off, quickly climbing down before Sniper could protest.
Sniper quickly pulled his boxers on and practically jumped down to the main level. Spy already had his shoes on and was halfway out the door.
"Wait!" Fingers desperately wrapped around Spy's wrist. "I'm sorry. Don't go. Please."
"I cannot stay."
"Why? Mate, if I did somethin'.."
"Non."
"Why can you never stay?" Sniper tried to get Spy to meet his gaze. "..Do you just not want to?"
The cool night air hit Sniper's bare chest, making him shiver. Spy stared blankly back at him, tugging away from the other's grasp. He turned around and continued walking.
"No, wait, I'm sorry!" He grabbed him again.
"Let go."
He did. "Spy, what did I do? I had to have done somethin'; please, you can tell me, just, just— Why don't you ever wanna spend time with me anymore?"
Spy kept walking. Sniper rushed to catch up with him.
"Quality time! We used to go on dates! It's like.. It's like now all you want me for is sex! Do you even love me?!"
He was shouting at this point, tears beginning to spill down his cheeks. Spy didn't look at him.
"Oh, was I right? Are you just usin' me?"
Spy did what he does best; seemingly disappearing into thin air.
"Wha— Oh, nice! Real fuckin' nice!"
Stupid Invisi-Watch.
He could still see the footprints.
Shaking, Sniper picked up a rock and lobbed it in the other's direction. He missed. So much for being a marksman.
"Fuck you!"
"Hey, uhh, you alright Snipes?"
Sniper realizes he's been gripping his knife a little too hard.
"Oh. Yeah, sorry. Don't worry about me."
He subconsciously looks up at Spy for the thousandth time, but this time Spy is looking back. They both quickly look back down.
In the split second their eyes met, Sniper could've sworn the other looked a bit worried.
Aw, is someone feeling remorse for their actions?
The damage is done. You can't unshoot somebody.
Sniper finishes up, rinsing off his plate in the sink.
"Good meal, Pyro," he praises, earning an excited clap from the firebug. As Sniper walks by Scout, he quickly takes his hat off and ruffles his hair; Scout laughs as his hat is sloppily placed back on. "Goodnight, lads."
"Goodnight," all but one chorus; you can guess which.
He hums to himself as he strolls down the hall.
His song is drowned out as he passes Engineer's workshop, where he's apparently drilling away at something.
Sniper walks a few feet before making an abrupt u-turn, pushing open the workshop door.
Engineer's back is to him, and he obviously doesn't hear the other man come in.
Sniper waits for a pause in the drilling, but it doesn't come.
"Hey, Engie?" The work continues. He clears his throat. "Engie!"
The other man perks up, turning off the drill. He looks over his shoulder, looking pleasantly surprised at his guest.
"Oh, sorry about that!" he chuckles, turning on his stool to fully face Sniper. "What's up?"
"Do circles have sides?"
"..What?"
"Err, do circles have sides?"
Engineer stares at him incredulously for a moment. He cracks a grin. "Well, that depends on your definition of a side. If you don't define a side as a straight line, then hey, circles can have as many sides as you want. But mathematically, no, circles do not have sides. A circle has a single curved line. Does that answer your question?"
Sniper allows himself to smile. "Yeah, I think it does."
"Now where on Earth did this question come from? Tryin' to settle a bet with Scout?"
Sniper shook his head.
"Nah, nothin'." Hand in his pocket, he plays with the coin. "Just wonderin'."
Engineer nods, tipping his hardhat. Sniper nods back before exiting, letting Engie get back to his work. He continues his walk down the hall.
Passing by Scout's room, he slips the coin under the door. He always had a soft spot for the kid.
Exiting the base, he steps out onto the cooling sand. He treks back to his van, this time getting in the front instead of the camper part. He fishes his keys out of his pocket, sticks them in the ignition.
And he drives.