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Grant laid in his bunk listening to the soft sounds of sleep coming from the men around him. He had no idea what time it was, only that it was late, or maybe early depending on how you looked at it, and he couldn’t fucking sleep. A particularly nasty wave of homesickness had crashed down upon him on that cold, miserable night in Hagenau leaving him in a rather unpleasant state.
He turned slightly to face Liebgott, whose bunk was across from his own. He watched Liebgott sleep, the steady rise and fall of his chest, and tried to match his own breathing to the pace. After what felt like half an eternity (but really was twenty minutes tops) Grant gave up. Letting out a frustrated sigh he climbed out of bed and pulled on his boots.
Maybe I just need a little fresh air.
He quietly made his way to the back door, rubbing his eyes and trying to push down the sickly feeling of wanting nothing more than home but not being able to have it.
As he went to sit down on the back steps, he was startled to find that he wasn’t alone.
“Babe? The hell you doing?”
The younger man’s head whipped around, “Shh! You’ll scare him away!”
Grant gave Babe a puzzled looked and watched as he turned back around making quiet clucking sounds. The redhead was crouched over near the bushes, hand outstretched and holding what looked like some small piece of food. The quiet clucking sounds were interspersed with calls of come on, it’s ok, I`m a friend!, and you’re safe, come have some food.
The soft reassurances went on for a minute or two more before a grungy looking cat finally appeared.
“Heh! Grant, it’s a cow cat!”, Babe called over as the cat snatched the food from Babe’s hand and retreated back a few steps.
“It’s a fucking what?”
“You know! A white cat with black spots! A cow cat!”
Grant rolled his eyes, “Jesus Christ Babe, will you just be careful? It looks mangy. Don’t think you want a cat scratch to be the reason you go home.”
Babe huffed and went back to cooing at the cat and attempting to bribe it closer with more bits of food. Grant continued to watch the scene, pulling his jacket closer as the chill of the night made him shiver.
Eventually, Babe ran out of food and the cat took off, not interested in a friendship that didn’t involve treats. Babe made his way over to Grant and sat down on the steps beside him.
“So what was it?”
“Hmm?”
“What was it? Bad dreams?”
Grant shook his head, “Uh uh. Missing home.” He didn’t want to elaborate and didn’t need to. Babe knew the feeling well enough and nodded his head in understanding.
“What about you? You just come out here looking for cats to adopt or what?”
Babe grinned briefly before his face settled into a frown. “No, bad dreams.” There was a momentary pause before Babe added, “Can’t stop seeing Julian ya know? Just lying there in the snow.”
Grant looked at Babe, studying him for a second. He looked to young for this shit. Really, they were all too young for this shit. His eyes turned up towards the night sky where hundreds of stars danced above them. He didn’t know what to say to Babe. There was nothing that could be said to make the situation any better. So he said nothing and instead pulled out the last bit of chocolate bar he had stashed in his pocket. Breaking it in half, he handed over a piece to Babe, who accepted it with a grateful smile.
“So, ‘cow cat’? That’s a new one. That a Philly thing?”
Babe let out a laugh, “Nah, it’s a Babe thing.”
Grant smiled and shook his head in amusement before popping his last bit of chocolate in to his mouth.
The two men fell into a comfortable silence, both grateful for simple companionship, as the sky slowly started to brighten with the dawn.