Work Text:
It was at that very moment when the power went out.
A thunderstorm was hitting the area hard as lightning flashed all around the base. A loud boom of thunder crashed right outside of Scout’s window, and he awoke with a jump.
"Aw, for-..." the runner muttered tiredly as he rubbed his eyes. How was he going to get back to sleep now? How could he get back to sleep during this storm? He attempted to turn on the lamp that sat beside his bed, but sighed when he realized the electricity was out. After reluctantly throwing on his cap, the boy leapt out of his bedsheets and headed out of his room, not bothering to grab a flashlight or any other kind of necessary item one would need at a time like this.
As Scout walked alone throughout the dark, empty base, he quickly took notice of how strangely quiet it was without the usual hustle and bustle of work mornings. He was used to being greeted with a good morning wave by Pyro, followed by an enthusiastic--painful--slap on the back by Soldier. He’d then see Demo trudge himself into the kitchen most likely to grab a beer, and Heavy and Engineer would be expecting him. Medic would then make an entrance and share a mostly horrifying discovery he had just made while experimenting throughout the night. Spy was usually a no-show until he was hungry enough to come out of his chamber, and Sniper would enter the base smiling about his “catch of the day.”
Now, Scout was only greeted with the furious tapping of rain on the roof, followed by a hushed wind. He had to tell himself that everyone was just still asleep... or that they were all secretly planning some kind of cruel joke on him. The runner simply concluded that he did not like this eerie, lonesome silence.
"Hello?" Scout called out, breaking the silence of the very early morning. He wasn’t really expecting an answer, but hearing the sound of his own voice made things seem less lonely. The boy was then suddenly answered with a flash of lightning and a sudden crash of thunder. At the same time, one of the room doors swung open, startling him to all hell. Ignoring the pounding in his ears, Scout could make out a small figure, holding a small lighter, running towards him. Once it fully approached, it wrapped its arms around him.
"...Pyro?" Scout tilted his head. Without waiting for an answer, the runner grunted and attempted to pry the firebug off of him. “Jesus christ, dude! You scared the shit outta me!”
Pyro only continued latching onto Scout, now tightening their grip. The sound of a deflated sigh left their gas mask.
"You alright?" Scout had to ask, a slightly more gentle tone to his voice.
Nodding, Pyro slowly let the other go and perked up a bit after receiving a few comfort pats from the boy. Thunderstorms were not Pyro’s favorite thing, that was for sure. They decided to stay near Scout for the time being since they couldn’t exactly sleep through the storm. At least they had the comfort of their lighter.
"Let's see if anybody else is awake. I'm pretty sure those guys can't sleep through this, either," Scout told the firebug as he began leading the way through the now seemingly less-empty hallways of the base. Pyro simply nodded and followed in his footsteps, flickering the lighter on and off to keep themself busy.
The two were walking quietly, until suddenly, one of the base doors that led outside flung open with a loud smack against the wall. There stood a tall figure, sopping wet from the rain and letting out grunts of… what sounded like annoyance? Pyro immediately shouted behind their mask and, without hesitation, got out the axe. Word of the wise: never spook a Pyro.
Before Pyro could violently swing the sharp weapon at the mysterious figure that stood in the doorway, Scout quickly jumped into action and got ahold of their arm. “Wait! Don’t! I think that’s--”
Before Scout could finish his sentence, a flashlight flickered on and pointed at the two smaller mercenaries.
"Calm down, it's just me," a low, Australian-accented voice chuckled. As both of the mercs walked closer, they could just make out Sniper's face.
"Dude! You almost got your head chopped off!" Scout laughed and helped Pyro lower their arm, now relaxed. If he were honest, he was just as frightened as Pyro, but he wasn’t about to admit that out loud.
"Sorry, Roo. Didn’t mean to scare ya.”
“Not me ya moron! Pyro was--”
“I couldn't stay in my van. It was rumblin’ and shakin’ and all. Brought her inside the garage, but forgot I left my rifle against the crate outside. I also recommend not going outside if I were you," the soaked bushman, completely ignoring Scout’s previous comment, casually explained.
Scout simply looked Sniper up and down. "Psh. Yeah. Wasn’t planning on that. Oh! Hey, Snipes, will ya help me and Pyro find the power circuit thingy? Y'know, the thing that'll give us electricity?"
Sniper adjusted his hat and shrugged. "Uh, sure. Why not?... But, do ya even know how to fix the power?” the bushman asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Ha! What am I? An egghead? Nah. But, it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out. It’s just a buncha wires and switches… I would imagine.”
Sniper sighed and shook his head at that. Of course. Well, they should at least give it a good ol’ college try. He was no electrician, but he was sure he could figure it out to a better extent than Scout or Pyro. “We might wanna be quiet and careful, though. We don't wanna wake up the other-"
"ATTENTION MEN!" A loud, booming voice suddenly hollered. That startled all three of the mercenaries, causing them to screech together in an undignified manner. After composing themselves as quickly as possible, they headed over in the direction where the familiar voice came from.
"Soldier, what the hell man? Since when did you wake up?" Scout asked a bit angrily. He wasn't angry because he screamed like a little girl just now. No, not at all. Sniper only gave the larger man a death glare from behind his shades while Pyro was latched tightly onto him.
"We have an emergency! I knew this day would come!" The soldier grinned, ignoring Scout’s unnecessary questions. He was so ready to go through emergency protocols and procedures.
Unfortunately, due to Soldier’s actions, Pyro was more on edge now. They kept jumping as they heard the sound of each of the doors opening, and tired, groaning men walking out of the rooms. They were actually kind of surprised at how Soldier was able to gather mostly everyone, but not exactly happy with the method in doing so.
"Eyes up, men! We have a power outage!" Soldier announced a bit too happily.
"... You woke us all up... for zhis?" Medic growled in a low voice. Usually, the doctor was one to be up and ready during the morning--and would be surprisingly chipper, too--but it seemed like he was actually trying to sleep throughout the night this time. Too bad that was interrupted.
Scout, on the other hand, was at least a little relieved that everyone was awake now. He didn't really want to be or feel so lonely in this thunderstorm with the two quietest members on the team. When he looked around, he noticed all but one mercenary present. The boy shrugged it off, though. He just figured that the french bastard was most likely sleeping peacefully right now, wearing fancy earplugs to block out Soldier's voice. Just because he can.
Scout continued looking around at the group, and his eyes stopped at Engineer. After a quick glance towards Pyro, the runner got an idea. "Hey Engie, you might wanna watch Pyro," he began, "They're being a bit clingy."
With a tired yawn, Engineer nodded and held his arms open for Pyro.
"C'mere. You can stand by me, Pyro. Don’t worry, the thunderstorm won't hurt nobody," he smiled softly. Pyro perked up at that and happily jumped into his arms. They always found the Texan to be quite a comforting person.
"What time is it?" Demoman curiously asked the group of men, changing the subject.
"Four in the morning!" Soldier replied rather loudly.
"I see. Gute nacht," Medic immediately stated and turned towards his room. He held his arms behind his back and kept a sharp gaze in his eyes, as if warning everyone that if he was interrupted again, body parts would most likely go missing.
"You can't leave! This is an important drill!" The large man grabbed one of Medic's shoulders. The doctor whipped his head around and glared daggers at him, not uttering a word. It was quite intimidating to everyone on the outside, but Soldier remained oblivious.
As entertaining as it was to watch these two get in a possible brawl, Scout lost interest in the conversation. When no one was looking, he inched away from the group and found himself in the kitchen. He stuck his head in one of the cabinets and pulled out a small bag of chips. He wasn't necessarily hungry, but he didn't know what else to do. He was simply bored.
The boy longingly looked outside the window. Oh, how he wished he could go for a (very early) morning run, or do some practice drills. However, if he tried to do any of that, he’d end up soaked, muddied, and possibly with a cold. Sighing, he merely smushed his face against the glass and lazily chomped away at his chips.
It was still dark outside, but he could tell the sun was going to rise soon. He was a bit upset to find he could only watch the sunrise if the storm cleared, but that didn’t look like a possibility any time soon. Scout slouched and made his way back to the group of mercs, wondering what they’ve accomplished in his short absence. He noticed they had all dispersed, but stayed in the same room.
"Is starting to get cold. Heater does not work," Heavy explained to the boy when he noticed him enter the room. Well, that piece of news certainly made Scout's morning. Not only did he have to bear the storm, but he had to bear the coldness throughout the base, too.
As Scout scanned the room, he saw Engineer begin to light a few candles so they could at least see a little bit. Medic was dozing off on the couch, leaning against Heavy, and he noticed Sniper sitting near them with his coffee mug. Pyro stuck near Engie like a small puppy, and Soldier and Demoman were talking amongst themselves, probably formulating a dumb plan on how to carry out some stupid emergency protocols.
There was still no sign of Spy. That selfish sonofabitch probably had a heated blanket, a comforter, some earplugs, and hell, Scout wouldn't be surprised if he even had working electricity. All to himself.
Not knowing where his legs were taking him, the runner began heading towards Spy's room. Why? He didn't know. Maybe he wanted to steal the frenchie's lavish items for himself, or perhaps call him out for having any of the things in the first place. That is, assuming he actually has those things... He could also just annoy Spy for the fun of it. After all, it was always fun to get a rise out of him. It was better than sticking around the main room where everyone was doing practically nothing .
The boy had finally approached the door and slowly reached for the doorknob. He hesitated slightly. What if he gets mercilessly killed by the man, due to waking him up from his “beauty sleep?”...
To hell with it. Scout opened the door.
Scout peeked his head inside the room, and, when he looked around, Spy was sitting calmly on his chair, drinking his fancy wine of choice. A magazine was open on his lap, and he suddenly met eyes with the runner.
"You better have a good reason as to why you just came in here without knocking," Spy said, raising an eyebrow at Scout.
"Oh!... Uhh..."
"If you don't have any business here, get out," the Frenchman huffed and gestured to the door.
"Wait wait wait! I thought you'd be asleep or somethin'," Scout mumbled a bit, now fully in the room, door shut behind him.
"Oh please. How could anyone in their right mind sleep over Soldier's voice?” The Frenchman shook his head, and lowered it back down so he could continue reading in peace. After another moment, though, he suddenly whipped his head up and over towards Scout’s direction. “If you thought I was asleep, what were you planning on doing in here?" He asked the younger mercenary, almost growling.
"No! I- that's not- I wasn't gonna do anything! I was just checking to see what you were doin' during this storm,'' the boy explained. To be fair, that was the truth. He just decided to skip over the small details of him planning on bugging him out of boredom and possibly stealing from him. Spy let out a small sigh at that.
"Well, here I am. Reading. Drinking. I don't see what all the fuss is about. The rain is peaceful, non?" He smiled slightly as he looked back down at his magazine.
"Uh... Yeah. I guess so? Kind of annoying, though. Dark and cold, too... Wait, how the hell are you keeping warm in here? I’m freezing my ass off!" Scout shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. Spy only looked up at him, and then looked at his fireplace. An obvious answer.
"Shut up, I forgot about the fireplace," the scout muttered, face slightly flushed. He hated it when Spy did that thing where he acts so much smarter than him.
Spy could only chuckle at that response. "I didn't say anything."
"Yeah whatever," the boy huffed. "It's still kinda cold in here anyways."
"If you're so cold, then grab a blanket and quit complaining," the spy rolled his eyes and pointed to a blanket, folded neatly in the corner of the room. Scout perked up, almost too excitedly, and quickly wrapped the blanket around himself.
"Wait, so, I can hang here then?" The young mercenary tilted his head and sat down in front of the fireplace.
"I-- suppose," Spy raised an eyebrow, watching Scout already getting comfortable. He didn’t have the energy--or heart--to kick the boy out now . "Just try to be quiet, alright?"
"Heh, alright!" The runner smiled widely and laid down across the tiled floor in front of the fireplace. He adjusted the blanket wrapped around himself in order to feel even more comfortable. "Y'know, I was so freakin' bored earlier. I can't go back to sleep, by the way. Once I'm awake, I won't sleep until it's night again. I guess that's just me. I dunno if that's the case for you."
Spy rubbed his temples, listening to the boy.
"Scout, please. I literally just said to try and be quiet."
"Oh, oh. Right. My bad," he apologized. Spy wasn't sure if it was a sincere apology or not, but he wasn’t about to keep the conversation going.
The Frenchman let out one last sigh, and the room grew quiet. The only sound that filled the room was the gentle rain tapping on the window while thunder rumbled quietly in the distance.
After taking a sip of wine, Spy cleared his throat and peeked over at the boy. He was awfully quiet. Too quiet. The Frenchman stood up and looked over to get a view of Scout's face. Somehow, he was fast asleep. And so quickly, too. Spy couldn't help but smile a bit and he shook his head in disbelief.
"The floor is no place to sleep, you imbecile," he quietly told the sleeping merc. Carefully, he lifted Scout and then gently placed him on his comfortable bed. After one last glance at the young scout, Spy calmly, but swiftly left the room. He did not want to be in that room when that loud mouth woke up.
-End-