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“Fancy meeting you here, sailor,” a familiar voice drawls, and BJ’s heart skips a beat, his mouth curling into a grin as he turns to see his best friend.
“Hawk,” he says, stunned and very pleased to see him. They’d left each other’s company on the helipad at the 4077th, and while BJ truly believed what he’d said about them seeing each other again, he didn’t expect it to be so soon. He doesn’t want to be too dramatic about it, but seeing Hawkeye is a balm on his heart. He doesn’t feel like they left each other on the best of terms, particularly with Hawkeye’s recent convalescence. He’s hated how awkward he’s felt around him since Hawk’s return to the 4077th.
Here they are, though, the airport in Tokyo. BJ’s been waiting three hours for his 8pm redeye flight to San Francisco, and he’s been perched at the airport bar for two of those three, nursing martinis that have been made with honest-to-goodness distilled liquor. It feels like a luxury, and he’s been enjoying it immensely.
“Buy you another?” Hawkeye asks, as he drops his duffel bag by the stool next to BJ. He folds himself onto the stool, all elbows and knees - Japan, apparently, has not been made for men of their heights.
“Hell, this one is fresh, I’ll just order another,” BJ says, and slides his glass Hawkeye’s way. He lifts a hand to the bartender, who nods his acknowledgement of the order.
Hawk sips the drink, and cocks one eyebrow at it, “What’s this, real hooch?”
“Not bad, huh?” BJ agrees. “When’s your flight? Do you fly straight to Boston?” Flight arrangements hadn’t been made by the time they’d left the camp.
Hawkeye hums a no, swallowing his latest sip, “Not Boston. Apparently everyone is flying into the western seaboard, and then out from there,” he smiles over at BJ, “I’m actually landing in your neck of the woods first, and then I can book to Boston.”
BJ’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise, “You’ll be in San Francisco, you mean?”
“Briefly,” Hawk nods, “My flight leaves at 8, do you think it’s too much to hope that we’re on the same one?”
“Not too much to hope at all,” BJ laughs, “That’s the flight I’m on too.”
Hawkeye quirks a grin at him, and BJ feels like he hasn’t seen Hawk smile like that in months. It’s a punch to the stomach, or a twinge in his heart, he can’t decide which. “Sounds like we’ll be cajoling some people to switch seats with us, Beej.”
“Jokes on you, pal,” BJ says around the lump in his throat, focusing back on his martini as a distraction, “I plan to sleep the whole time.”
---
The flight itself passes in a blur. It’s 14 hours, which is both painfully long, and painfully short. Hawkeye knows what’s coming when they land - BJ will disappear back into his perfect suburban life, and as much as his friend denies it, Hawkeye will be just another story from the war.
So he makes the best of their time together. They joke, and drink, and talk. Hawkeye flirts outrageously with the stewardesses, and BJ gives them his patented “whaddya gonna do with this guy” shrug. He also flirts outrageously with the other people on the flight - civilians, GIs, BJ himself - that’s his schtick that no one ever takes too seriously. Hide in plain sight, and all that jazz.
BJ slides into sleep at one point, and Hawkeye simultaneously approves of him getting some rest, and resents him for wasting some of their last, precious time together. Then BJ’s head slips, and ends up gently resting on Hawkeye’s shoulder, and he finds himself a little less resentful. He doesn’t sleep, though, he just tilts his head a little so he can feel BJ’s hair on his cheek, and closes his eyes.
It’s not long before BJ wakes, murmuring an apology as he straightens up and stretches. Hawkeye doesn’t reply, just pulls out a bag of peanuts he bought at the airport in Tokyo, and offers them to his friend.
BJ talks about Peg and Erin, and Hawkeye recounts the last letter he himself received from Peg. The two of them have been writing to each other almost as long as BJ was in Korea. He wrote to her once on a whim; decided to tell her something nice that BJ had said about her, just thought it would be nice, and thus a conversation was born. BJ didn’t mind; didn’t even ask what they talked about. He just seemed pleased that his best friend and his wife might get along.
Eventually, the announcement comes that they’ll be touching down in sunny San Francisco where it’s 73 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Hawkeye can practically feel his chest folding in on itself at the thought of saying goodbye to BJ again, and as they get off the plane, and collect their bags, he’s wondering if his whole body will vaporize into nothing from the dread he’s feeling.
“Well,” BJ says, then stops. What else is there to say, Hawkeye wonders.
He wants to tell BJ that he loves him. That he’s always loved him, and he’ll always love him. This is not the place for that, this is not the time for that. Not here, not now, not ever. So he extends his hand, and BJ shakes it, and Hawkeye gruffly says “Take care of yourself, Beej. Say hi to the fam.”
“You too, Hawk,” BJ says warmly, and all too soon, he’s out the door, taking all of Hawkeye with him, whether he knows it or not.
---
“Sir? Sir? Excuse me, sir, are you okay?” The concerned face of the ticket agent swims back into view as Hawkeye refocuses.
“Right, yes, sorry,” he tells her, and gives himself a bit of a shake. “I need a ticket to Boston, please.” Boston is as close to Crabapple Cove as flights can take him. He’ll call his dad after he buys his ticket, tell him when he’ll be getting in. He’s not even 100% sure his dad knows he’s been shipped Stateside - the lines were jammed from the moment peace was announced to the moment Hawkeye left Korea.
“Certainly, sir,” the woman says, the relief that he’s not having some sort of episode palpable in her voice. “We have a flight leaving for Boston at 6pm tonight, or Thursday at noon. Which would you prefer?”
He could leave tonight - be home by this time tomorrow. Or he could stay in San Francisco for three more days. Still be home by Friday.
He’s crazy. He should take the 6pm - he’s missed his dad, and his home so much these years away, why would he delay? Why is he even thinking of delaying?
BJ.
He could spend three more days with BJ. Oh sure, BJ promises they’ll keep in touch, but life is… well, life is life. He said he couldn’t shake the man, but the other thing he can’t shake is the awkward, inappropriate feeling that he’s about to be replaced entirely in BJ’s affections
Which is ridiculous, because it’s BJ’s wife and child , and it’s only right that he loves them more than Hawkeye. The whole thing leaves Hawkeye feeling intensely childish, but squashing the feeling down hasn’t made it go away, it’s just made it hurt more. He thinks he loves Peg and Erin too - how could he not? He’s been writing to Peg for years and she’s incredible. He’s been watching Erin grow up as much as BJ has. But he’s just… he’s just afraid. Afraid of losing BJ, and it somehow doesn’t make any sense, and makes complete sense all at the same time.
“Sir?” the woman repeats, now with exasperation tinging the words, and he realizes he hasn’t answered her.
One more beat of thought, his heart racing, and he says “Thursday.”
---
Peg and Erin aren’t at the airport - why would they be? They don’t even know he’s back in the States yet. He’s even been looking forward to surprising them by showing up at the house. He knows this, and yet somehow it feels surreal that they aren’t there waiting for him.
He feels a bit bereft, having left Hawkeye at the airport. The reprieve of their goodbye when they met up in Tokyo was soothing, and he doesn't know if he expected it to make their separation in San Francisco easier or harder, but if it had been anything other than Peg and Erin waiting to him, he would never have left Hawkeye's side, not for a second.
He’s chosen a cab from the curbside, and has his bag in the trunk already, one hand opening the back door of the car when he hears that same familiar voice that hits him in the chest.
“Beej!” Hawkeye hollers from the arrivals entrance of the airport, waving frantically at him.
“Hawkeye, what are you doing?” BJ asks, as the other man makes his way over to the cab, “Don’t you have a plane to catch?”
Hawk waves dismissively, as if it’s of little consequence, when it’s clearly not, “Oh, they can’t get me out of here until Thursday. I’m stuck in San Francisco. I’ll just putter around the city until then.
BJ feels himself break out into a grin, “Are you kidding? This is great! You’re not going to ‘putter around the city’. Get in the cab, man, you’re coming to meet Peg and Erin!” The thought of bringing Hawkeye home with him to Peg and Erin is an odd one - it feels like he should feel like having his wife and child all to himself, but in truth, his chest is about to burst, imagining them meeting Hawkeye. The three most important people in his life, all in one place.
He firmly suspects Hawkeye loves Peg, at least a little bit. He knows Peg loves Hawkeye - she’s always said that you can learn everything you need to know about a person by the way they write letters, and she wrote BJ once about how she feels about Hawkeye. It doesn’t bother him. Peg was very clear - BJ isn’t losing her to anyone, she just wanted to be honest with him, and he believes her.
“Oh, I don’t want to impose,” Hawkeye starts, and BJ’s resolve firms.
“I said,” BJ interrupts sternly, and steps back from the car door to gesture towards the cab, “Get in the cab."
“Yes sir,” Hawkeye mutters, almost meekly, but the quirking up edge of his mouth tells BJ he’s pleased.
---
They line themselves up on the little front porch of the house that BJ tells Hawkeye he barely remembers. BJ has decided to knock, because he doesn’t want to scare Peg by just bursting into the house.
Hawkeye stands behind him, feeling awkward. He feels like he’s made a mistake in staying, but he remembers the blinding smile BJ gave him when he said he’d be in San Francisco until Thursday, and the tight feeling in his chest eases, just a tiny bit.
BJ is a ball of nervous energy, literally bouncing as they wait at the door, and when they hear Peg’s footsteps coming towards them, he shoots a look at Hawkeye that could only be described as a combination of thrill, terror, and anticipation.
The next few minutes go about how he expects. Peg does a double take, shrieks, and launches herself into BJ’s arms. Hawkeye beams at them as BJ twirls his wife around in the air. He can’t help it - he loves love, and he loves when the people he loves are in love.
Peg has her face tucked into the crook of BJ’s neck, and she’s clearly crying. BJ has buried his face in her face, and he might be doing the same. They’re so occupied, that neither of them notice when Erin toddles out, having been distracted from her toys by the noise. Hawkeye feels a familiar twinge of anxiety when he looks at her - he’ll never really be over what happened on that bus, he doesn’t think, but Erin’s sweet little face isn’t something he can ignore. He crouches down and smiles at her, giving her a little wave. Her face lights up and she comes over to him, wrapping her chubby arms around his neck, and he feels a glow of pure love for this tiny girl.
He stands up from his crouched position, to find BJ and Peg finally breaking apart. They both look at him holding Erin, and he’s sure the love he feels for her at that moment is written all over his face. But he’s holding their daughter, and this should just be the Hunnicutt’s reuniting. He shouldn’t be there, he did make a mistake. He shrugs sheepishly, passing her over to BJ, who takes her into his arms gratefully.
“Sorry,” he says, uncomfortably, “She just came out on the porch and hugged me.”
Peg takes a step towards him, and grabs him by the collar of his shirt. He flinches slightly, sure she’s angry with him, but apparently he’s wrong. “Don’t ever apologize to me for loving my family, you wonderful, beautiful man,” she says, tears in her eyes, and then she kisses him hard on the mouth, before folding him into a hug, her arms tight around his neck
The lightest way to describe it would be flabbergasted, but he could also go with astounded, astonished, amazed. He's not in control of his expression at that moment, and he doesn't know what it's telling BJ as he looks over Peg's shoulder at him, but BJ just smiles at him, and puts his nose into Erin's hair.
Almost against his will, Hawkeye hugs Peg back, his arms tightening around her waist before she pulls back and away from him
"Hello, Hawkeye," she says belatedly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "I'm so glad our BJ brought you home with him."
His typical defense when he's confused kicks in, so he jokes, "If I'd known what California welcomes were like, I would have visited this state a lot sooner."
She just beams at him, and tucks herself in at BJ's side, and he finds he can't make another joke to save his life in the face of this perfect little family, and the people he loves so much.
So he smiles, a small, pleased smile, and replies properly, "Hi Peg."
---
Hawkeye is obviously stunned by Peg, and BJ is equal parts pleased and amused. She bustles them into the house, makes them tell her everything about their trip home. They sit down at the table, with Peg announcing her intention to make them some lunch, a real lunch, and refuses all attempts at help
For the men's part, they just watch her, and exist in her orbit. She's casual with her affection, as she always used to be. A hand on BJ's neck, tickling Erin in passing, brushing the hair out of Hawkeye's face and declaring him much too thin.
Hawkeye keeps shooting BJ side glances that are full of confusion, panic, guilt - everything one might feel if their best friend’s wife plants a smacker on them, particularly in front of the best friend in question.
Finally, BJ can’t take the nervous energy anymore, and nudges Hawkeye’s foot with his own when Peg steps away for a moment, “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” Hawkeye sputters a bit, and turns his palms up to the air, “I’m calm. I’m collected. I’m cool. What would make you think I wasn’t?"
BJ laughs. “Well for starters, you look like you think I’m going to punch you.”
“Aren’t you?” Hawkeye asks, and there’s a plaintive tone in his voice.
“Of course not, Hawk,” BJ shakes his head. “Peg does what she likes. And if she likes you, you’re a lucky man.”
The double meaning is on purpose, so BJ enjoys the look on Hawkeye’s face when it hits him. He blinks a couple of times, a bit owlish. “What exactly have I walked into here, Beej?”
BJ shrugs and delivers his classic non-answer. “Anything you want.”