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Lewis had decided to enroll for the Aerial corps to make sure his father knew how much he loathed him. How much he was willing to do to let him know that he would not listen to him. That he would not follow his advice blindly. That he was not a well-behaved boy, would never be, and refused to adhere to his father’s strict ruling of life.
So Lewis faked a letter from his father, enrolled in the Corpse and enjoyed how the whole good society of London was actually shocked by the fact. It was probably the funniest thing ever to see everyone so scandalized when he introduced himself as “Lewis Nixon” in his green jacket.
Of course, once he enrolled he was not so sure he actually wanted to be there at all –it seemed to be really exhausting this whole business, and dirty and dangerous . He couldn’t tell if being in the navy was less dangerous, but he was supposed to fly at some point and that meant certain death if he ever was to fall. He supposed he had to at least endure a month before slicking back to his father.
That was of course what he thought he ought to do before he met Richard Winters.
They couldn’t be more different if they tried. The Sun and the moon. The son of a couple of farmers and the heir of one of the richest families in the country.
Lewis was fascinated by Winters. They were both young but the steel, the will in Winters’ eyes were already there, already the mark of what a great officer he would end up being; and Lewis didn’t know it yet but he was already in love.
He glued himself to Dick’s side and Dick –too kind, too nice- never ever said anything just smiled at him, and nodded his head and didn’t reject all of Nix’s wild ideas. (Only the really dangerous one.)
He couldn’t leave Dick he realized suddenly. He couldn’t even now imagine his life without the redhead by his side and he has only met him days ago, this was ridiculous. But at the same time, he had met people of his age that he more of like enjoyed the presence (David Webster coming to his head as one of the most agreeable) but he never had a friend like Dick was. Had never had that strong connection that his father talked he himself had with the boys in his school. But this was not some rich boys’ school this was the Aerial Corps and it felt much more real.
They were put on Bennings under Colonel Sink and Second Lieutenant Sobel. Lieutenant Sobel was an asshole of a man and Lewis pretended he didn’t hear the others ensigns, riflemen, and others talking about maybe throwing him up from the sky. It wouldn’t be so bad if it happened. He couldn’t find a fault in that. (Dick would if he had paid attention to the gossip around him because Dick was a good boy and would not approve of killing someone else on purpose.)
Sobel was ridiculously harsh on Dick for no reason apparent at all. (Jealousy was a funny thing wasn’t it? It was not always rational but something in Sobel instinct must have told him that Dick... Dick was made for grand thing. And there were only a selected number of places for that kind of people and Sobel probably wanted one too.)
But even Sobel running them through the ground couldn’t stop the inevitable of them finally experiencing their first fly.
Lewis’s hands were shaking slightly as the reality of the situation appeared to him. He was to fly, on a dragon’s back, for the first time in his life. He let escape a nervous giggle as he attached himself to the harness and watched Dick doing the same not too far from him. The rest of the crew embarked, flags sending signals and suddenly Bennings opened his wings –immense and beautiful- and pushed himself away from the ground.
It was life-changing. His stomach was lurching weirdly but nothing he couldn’t stand and he laughed as the fierce wind in his face was probably giving him the worst bed hair he had ever sported. (And he had a pretty bad case of those already.)
And then he turned towards Dick –because they were best friends and this was an experience they needed to do together- and Lewis forgot how to breathe.
Dick’s red hair were tousled by the wind, there was a halo of light around him coming from the sun, his pale skin looked otherworldly and his freckles stood out in sharp contrast, black dots mapping galaxies across his skin.
Oh, Lewis thought realizing abruptly that nothing in this world could be as captivating, as interesting as Richard Winter was. Nothing could even come close to him in term of beauty. Even all the nice ladies with their fine dresses and pretty jewelry were plain next to this boy living his dream.
They patrolled and came back to base, got down from the dragon. Dick was flushed from happiness and excitement and Lewis was still reeling from his revelation, the vision inked in his mind forever.
“Flying is the best thing ever!” Dick declared as they were helping polishing Bennings’s harness “Don’t you think so? Wasn’t it amazing?”
“It was. It truly was the best thing I have ever lived.” Lewis said, not thinking so much of the flying after all.
But still, his mind was made up. He would not slick back to his father no matter what. The Aerial Corps were it for him.
And when people later would ask him he always told them the same thing: “On my first flight I knew there was no other place I could ever be.” It was half a lie. It did have a revelation on his first flight, but it was the sight of one Richard Winters that made him stay, that made him think that it was here, by this boy side that he was meant to be.