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“Honey! I’m home!” Lewis Nixon shouts throwing the door of his friend’s apartment open loudly and almost falling over the threshold before collapsing into a fit of giggles because he was as drunk as a skunk and everything was funny to him. Even the sight of his friend Lt Ronald Speirs standing in front of him in an old army issue t-shirt and a pair of blue boxers holding a gun that was pointed directly at his head. “Sparky! Wanna drink?”
“It’s four o’clock in the morning” Speirs hissed catching the safety somewhat reluctantly and Nixon looked at the watch around his wrist before remembering he had given it to the man behind the bar for a bottle of Vat 69 when he had remembered he had left his wallet and cards at home. Speirs was probably a mistake to come to but Harry was on his Honeymoon with Kitty, and Dick, well Dick was living up to his name and being a dick all because he had a new baby and Nixon was being too loud.
“I’ll take your word for it Sparky, but ya on leave ain’t yer?” Nixon slurred chugging his way through the bottle before taking a few ill-advised steps and promptly falling face first into the carpet but not before his head bounced on a side table. The last thing he saw before fading into unconsciousness was Speirs scowling slightly concerned face.
“Captain Nixon, ya gonna have to open ya eyes” A warm southern voice called pulling him out of floating sort of blackness and Nixon blinked ever so slowly his head aching and his vison blurred. A pale concerned face with a light pink nose came into focus and Nixon was surprised to see the company medic crouched down in front of him. “There ya are sir, don’t think ya got no concussion but ya heads probably throbbing, took a nasty whack on the corner, Captain”
“Roe, I haven’t been your captain for two years” Nixon grumbled slamming his hand over his eyes memories of his father’s extremely disappointed face coming back to him when he had been relieved of duty with a honourable discharge that hadn’t really been honourable but nobody wanted to put roaring drunk on the papers even if everyone knew that was the case. “Sorry to call you out here so late, or early...”
“Um, that’s okay...I was sorta in the area” Roe blushed as he muttered that and Nixon was almost positive, he was still out of it because Eugene Roe did not blush. Not in this life or any life, the man was like stone, the only thing that made him think he wasn’t still out of it was the fact that there was a blinding pain behind his eyes and if he was still dreaming, he wouldn’t be dreaming of Doc Roe.
Nixon blinked pushing the sleepy haze further away trying to get the little electric things in his brain to get working when he looked around the apartment. He had been in it before, it had been sparse, as though nobody had really lived in it. The walls had been magnolia and it had made him think of the rehab clinic now the walls were a warm earthy green with photos of the swamp lands in Louisiana. Tasteful photos of sunrise on the Bayou and flowers that grew out of the water. They were pretty but they were not the sort of thing Ronald Speirs had.
“Gene? He gonna live?” Ron asked quietly his tone coloured with emotion that Nixon had never heard before and the small but tough medic nodded stretching out his back as he stood up revealing that he was also only in a pair of boxers and that there were honest to god love bites on his thighs. He had always known Sparky would be a biter.
“Yeah, at least tonight he is, not sure how long his livers gonna last” Roe answered grabbing a first aid kit and playing around with a bandage. His dark unreadable eyes stared at Ron’s for the longest time and in spite of everything weird that was happening right now the genuine smile that came over the Lt’s lips was something Nixon had never thought he’d see and was probably the weirdest thing he had seen all night.
“You should get back to bed”
“Yeah, I’m goin’ see ya, captain Nixon” Roe gave him a salute and then walked out of the sitting area and Nixon waved not knowing what else he was meant to do. The shock of it was enough to blow the drink out of him and he felt more sober than he had in a long time.
“Thought you were dry?” Ron said leaning against the half wall that separated the kitchenette from the sitting room. Nixon’s eyes had landed on a photo on the far wall of Ron and Roe in uniform. Ron’s arm was slung around Roe and they both looked happy but it was not a picture he had ever imagined.
“A year sober...At least I was...” He answered noting that his bottle of 69 had gone. He pulled his eyes away from the picture to look at the Lt. He didn’t have the same look off disappointment Dick had had but he could feel it as he was asked;
“And what happened?”
“Cathy is leaving me, or rather she’s left me...” Nixon answered leaning back in the sofa only to feel the stabbing of something sharp. He reached behind him and pulled out a book. It was about medics in World War two and the guy on the front looked eerily like Roe though with a much more drawn expression. “Met someone else, took the kid and the dog...You and Roe...”
“No” Ron growled pushing himself from the wall and Nixon wondered how he thought he could deny it. He had seen the evidence with his own eyes.
“No?”
“No, we’re not talking about it now. I called Dick, he said he would pick you up in the morning, get some sleep, Nix” Ron jerked his head at some blankets that had been put down on the coffee table and Nixon thought about arguing but then realised that his keys had been taken and he wasn’t wearing any pants. Ron went in the same direction Roe had gone leaving Nixon in the dark feeling as confused as hell. He had no issue with gays, at least...Not in theory, he had never known any personally but he had never figured Ron was that way. He was too much of a man’s man. Yeah, he was prettier than most men looked more like a film star than a solider, but he was one of the guys. Roe he could figure, he hadn’t had much in the way of contact with the company medic in his brief career in the army but he had seen him around. Delicate sort, whose voice seemed to be made deeper on purpose. The guys in the company seemed to love him though he hadn’t spoke much to any of them.
Nixon wondered how they had gotten together. Neither were very vocal or forthcoming in the way of expressions. One of them must have said something but he couldn’t see how. Nixon shook his head groaning when it caused a pulse of pain to spread out and he wondered if he had hit it so hard he had ended up in Oz or something. Deciding that he needed a piss he got up and swayed just enough he was worried he was going to crash into the table and then stumbled his way to the toilet at the end of the corridor near the bedroom. He could hear muffled voices from behind the wood and he pinched his nose pushing into the bathroom to be met with evidence of domestic bliss with two toothbrushes, razors, and lotion resting on the shelf above the sink.
He relieved himself and then stumbled back to the sofa grabbing the blanket that had to have come from Roe, it was patchwork and not something Ron would have brought, and curled up into a ball wondering if when he woke everything would be right with the world or at the very least it would make sense again.
“Sorry, Ron, he came by mine but Mary had just gotten the baby to sleep” Nixon opened his eyes to the sound of Dick’s voice and the smell of fresh coffee. His adventures came back to him one at a time and he sat up pushing back the blanket, which was still the patchwork creation, so he could look at Dick and Ron who were sitting at the table. Ron wasn’t in uniform but he was wearing his tags and looked every inch the soldier he was. “Good morning, Nix”
“Dick, Ron...” Nixon felt a pulse of guilt for his actions last night but he had never been one to admit fault and he tried to play it casual though that was tested when Roe came from the bathroom wiping his hands on a towel. Ron’s whole body seemed to move towards the medic his face becoming a lot softer as Roe let a hand fall to his shoulder and give him a smile. Dick didn’t seem to be even the smallest bit surprised and was smiling rather like a proud dad. “Roe...”
“You okay, Captain?” Roe asked with the same concern as last night and before he could tell him once again that he wasn’t his captain Roe was coming over and checking a bandage that was around his head. “Healing already, you gotta hard head”
“I’m just glad we have hard furniture” Ron huffed through a mouth of coffee and Nixon found himself smiling even if none of this was making much sense. “Gene, coffee and get some breakfast”
“Yes, sir” Roe replied playfully going to the table and sitting so close to Ron he might as well be on his lap. Ron rolled his eyes but it was fond, relaxed expression and Nixon realised that even if he wasn’t expecting it he had to admit they looked like a good couple, at least they made each other less serious.
“You okay?” Dick asked coming over to the sofa with a filled coffee mug and Nixon gave him a nod though it wasn’t convincing.
“...I fell off the wagon...”
“You can get back on, want me to call Luz?” Dick asked referring to the AA leader in his area, George Luz. He was also former army and owned a cafe in town which was almost always full because everyone loved Luz. He nodded and then looked over at Ron and Gene again who were talking in low voices with small grins on their faces.
“How...Those two...How?”
“Ron was shot, Gene took care of him...Ron has always been like a grumpy cat, thankfully Gene likes cats. I’m sorry about Cathy...”
“She took my Dog, she doesn’t even like it...” Nixon growled and Dick smiled enough to cause wrinkles to form around his eyes. “Mary pissed at me?”
“What do you think?” Dick asked and Nixon swallowed huffing;
“I think I want to stay here with Sparky and Roe, he will only shoot me...And Doc can patch me up...”
“Coward”