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Rations come in when they’re in Hagenau, and Lewis picks up Dick’s share as long as he’s getting his own. When he hands Dick’s supplies to him, Dick hands his cigarettes to Lewis like he always does, and then he makes a face at his chocolate bar that he’s never made.
“What?” Lewis asks, one of his new cigarettes already dangling from his mouth. “You suddenly decide chocolate’s a bad influence?”
Dick gives him a look, lips quirked like he’s holding back a smile. “No, I’m just tired of it. Chocolate was never really a favorite.”
“Oh, come on. It’s so All-American you were probably born with a chocolate bar in your hand.”
Dick chuckles and holds out the candy. “Well, maybe that’s why I’m so sick of them.”
Lewis grabs the chocolate bar, but Dick doesn’t let go. Lewis smirks and slides his hand a little further down the bar so their fingers touch. Dick gives him that warm look Lewis is still certain he doesn’t deserve.
“Don’t go spending it all in one place,” Dick says.
“You kidding? The market’s saturated with the supplies coming in. I can’t get anything for this.”
Dick shakes his head. “You’re ridiculous.”
It’s just the two of them, a closed door between them and the rest of the men. Lewis lets himself take a step forward so he nudges Dick’s boots with his own. “You like it,” he says.
Dick doesn’t move closer, but his face smoothes into a smile. “I like you,” he says.
“Damn right you do,” Lewis replies. That makes Dick roll his eyes and laugh, exactly the response Lewis was wanting. “I’ve got a meeting,” he says. “Be away for a couple of days. Don’t bomb anything without me.”
“I can’t promise anything,” Dick says, “But I’ll try.”
Lewis wants to reach for his hand or touch his face or even sneak a kiss, but a closed door only gives them so much freedom. He steps back and holds out his hand. Dick shakes it, and if they linger, well, they linger.
*
“How are things out there?” Sink asks Lewis after they’ve finished their official business.
“Doing better and better,” Lewis tells him. “Big batch of supplies came in just before I left. The boys are swimming in chocolate and cigarettes.”
“Good, good,” Sink says. “Anything else you need?”
Lewis grins. “I was hoping you’d ask, Sir.”
*
Lewis gets back to Hagenau with no trouble. He looks around as he walks towards Dick’s office and says, after giving a half-assed salute in Dick’s general direction, “Doesn’t look like you put in any new bomb holes.”
“I said I’d wait for you,” Dick replies, and they share a grin. “How’d it go?”
“Oh, same old, same old,” Lewis says. He drops into one of the chairs in front of Dick’s desk and puts his feet up. Dick pushes them off the desk. Lewis puts them back.
“Are you going to report or just muddy up my desk?” Dick asks.
“I’m not here to report,” Lewis says. “I’m waiting.”
“For what?”
“A thing.”
Dick eyes him, hands on his hips. Lewis makes a production of taking out his cigarettes and getting one lit. He gives Dick a shit-eating grin when he snaps his lighter closed. Dick eyes him a few seconds longer then sits down and starts to look through his paperwork. Lewis chuckles and pats himself down until he finds the book he bought on his way back. He opens up to his bookmark and reads while Dick works. Dick doesn’t look over at him again, but Lewis doesn’t expect him to. He’s curious, but he’s also patient. He’ll outlast Lewis any day of the week.
Well, usually, Lewis thinks to himself with a smirk and a snort.
“What?” Dick asks, sparing Lewis a quick glance.
“Nothing,” Lewis says because Dick will just look at him all disappointed he’s being gutter-minded. “Just something in my book.”
“Liar,” Dick replies, but he doesn’t push, and Lewis catches the smirk on the edge of his mouth.
There’s a knock a quarter of an hour later, and then a runner from headquarters--so new to the front his hair’s still short. He’s got a small, white box tied with string in one hand, and he salutes like his arm’s on a spring.
“At ease,” Dick says without standing up. He gives Lewis’s feet a pointed look. Lewis uncrosses and recrosses his ankles, his feet staying on the desk. “What is it, son?”
“From Colonel Sink, sir,” the kid says, holding out the white box. “Said I was to deliver it to you personally.”
“Well, you have. Thank you. Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
“Dismissed.”
The kid salutes again and leaves. Lewis shakes his head. “He’s gonna snap off his elbow if he doesn’t relax a little.”
“That’s what a real salute looks like, Lew,” Dick says as he unties the string around the box. “You’ve probably just forgotten.”
“Yeah, probably.” Lewis drops his feet so he can stand and lean against the desk as Dick opens the box.
Dick blinks down at the neat rows of macaroons. “I don’t—” He looks at Lewis, who is grinning as smugly as he knows how. “Lew,” he says, and it’s not like how he just said it. It’s fond and warm and private. It makes Lewis want to bounce on his toes, but he doesn’t. He lets his smirk settle into a smile instead.
“Colonel Sink asked if there was anything else, and I thought, you know, my buddy Dick, he deserves something sweet he actually likes. And I know how you feel about macaroons.”
Dick actually blushes at that. Lewis knows how Dick feels about macaroons because Lewis was the one who introduced them to him. Lewis was the one who scratched a heart shape into one and left it on Dick’s night stand when he had to leave early the next day.
“So, I called in a favor,” Lewis adds. “Not a big one. More a Perconte-sized one.”
“Thank you,” Dick says, and the sincerity cuts through Lewis like it always does. “This is wonderful.”
A closed door only gets them so much freedom, but Lewis loves to push a line. He leans in quick and pecks Dick on the mouth. “I want one of the raspberry ones,” he says as he pulls away.
Dick glances at the closed door. He taps his fingers on the desk, then picks up a macaroon and turns it over his fingers like a coin “Well, I’ll half this one with you,” he offers, and bites down on the edge.
Lewis meets him halfway, laughing and shaking his head. “And they say you’re the straight-laced one,” he says as he pulls away, licking raspberry cream from the corner of his mouth.
“Well, I used to be,” Dick replies. “Then I met you.”
“Lucky you,” Lewis says.
“Yeah,” Dick says with that same sincerity as before, “lucky me.”
“I gotta go,” Lewis says, taking a step back. “Don’t eat them all at once.”
“I’ll save you a couple,” Dick replies.
I love you, too, Lewis thinks. He walks backwards all the way to the door just to catch one more grin from Dick before he goes.