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Everyone knows that if you’re the bully people can’t bully you anymore. Right? Seize the control from the others before they realize they have the chance to get it. Now Scout’s not saying that’s what he thought when he joined the Mercs, but he definitely was going to assert himself. I mean you could totally ask any of them about him! They’d call him frustrating or annoying sure, but certainly not some pushover or someone weak. He was a goddamn mercenary, a hired gun, a killer . And a damn talented one, the other Mercs would never think he was pitiable, never be able to push him around. Honestly? He was practically invincible.
“Oh no no no—c’mon ya see all this? And this?” Scout circles around gesturing with his arms to himself, meeting Spy‘s critical gaze head on—a challenge he wasn’t going to back down from, “Don’ tell me you’re jealous of me already.”
Safe to say he was destined to get on some people’s bad side from day one, though he’ll swear it’s not even entirely his fault. They were all too sensitive.
She snorts while looking to her best friend, “I don’t know why you’re being so weird about it. Like, I know you’re not quite like us with social skills—which I don’t mean it in a bad way! But we all have crushes and told each other about them...”
‘So why haven’t you told us yours?’, goes unsaid but Jeremy knows to hear the subtext by this point, he can’t mess up with those anymore. He’s gotten way better at it luckily. It’s clear he has to name someone—someone inoffensive—because he knows he doesn’t like any of his classmates. But it couldn’t be any of the guys his friends already liked.
“Leon is nice. I think I like him.” He says, looking carefully at their expressions with a shy smile. They giggle in turn.
“He looks kinda girly right?” She asks with a sharp smile.
“I know right!” Her best friend agrees with a nod. The others sort of nod along with Scout who laughs nervously.
“Ohhhh, do you think you like him because of that funny stuff you said a month ago about imagining being a guy—since he’s so girly? You remember when you said that? All serious and stuff.” She points out enthusiastically and he tries so hard to match her easygoing smile, but he feels it lilt. His face burning up in shame as his insides squirm under the scrutiny of his friends, some of them hearing this for the first time.
“Hahaha. Yeah, that weird thing. Leon is kinda cute though, right?” His voice strains as he avoids eye contact with her.
“You’re so right! You’d be so perfect—right guys?” She claps her hands together, looking around. Hearing a chorus of agreements as usual, “You totally gotta confess!!”
He doesn’t want to. It’s embarrassing, he doesn’t feel that away about Leon. And everyone will see.
“Confess! Confess! Confess!” A chant starts and she gives him a pouty look and instantly he knows he’s the one being weird about things again. Like always.
They cheer as he shuffles over nervously, hands adjusting his skirt as a nervous tick. He can barely get the confession out, before running away, hearing the laughing from his friends.
They compliment his bravery and it makes him unable to wonder why he was the only one who ever had to confess in public.
Pyro was definitely off putting. They went along life with a seeming shroud of ignorance or apathy towards anything or anyone. Or that’s what Scout could guess from his minimal time around Pyro. Up until he befriended Engineer and Engineer befriended Pyro. Leading to them being introduced to each other.
It was honestly weird. For one, Pyro didn’t seem to be able to communicate with him, trying to gesture things as if Scout would understand. Which he didn’t—and he sure as hell wasn’t going to compromise for someone, Pyro would have to learn to communicate in a way he understood. For now they both relied on Engineer to communicate and it wasn’t too bad.
They shared a hobby: drawing. It was a solid start. Scout liked to watch Pyro draw, they had an eye for dynamics and color theory that Scout didn’t. It made it educational and interesting and washed away the itch Scout got to draw with Pyro. Luckily so, because Pyro asking multiple times to see his drawings or to see him draw almost made him consider caving. Showing just one really good one—or a quick easy doodle anyone could do. Just something to share that couldn’t even be traced back to him or his skills—
“Awww! It’s so cute. Can I have it??” She asks, holding his drawing of a cat. He nods, happy to share his drawings with people. Especially his friends. It’s in silence he watches her show everyone around his drawing and they give it brief acknowledgments, not a single bad thing said about it. They never would’ve needed to either.
It’s not worth it. Not when he closes his sketchbook after next week’s art class, waiting to gather the strength to go with all the rest of his friends to compliment Her art. How perfect and notable it was. Good art always got acknowledgment after all.
“I-I’m quite rusty ya know?” Scout mentally screams at the stutter, covering it with a dramatic flourish, “Not that what I’d draw now would be bad. That’d be practically impossible, it’s me after all. But I’m just a perfectionist, gotta get back into it first. Then I’ll knock your socks off!”
Pyro nods shortly after, uninterested in pursuing it further for now. Much to Scout’s relief, a relief that didn’t mean he was bad at drawing, he just didn’t feel like it at that moment. Art block or whatever. It was probably why he hadn’t done it in the last few years.
“I think yer missing out, personally.” Engineer comments from across the workshop, tightening some screw.
“Nah.” Is all Scout says, eyes transfixed on Pyro mixing yellow and blue to get a particular shade of green. It had to do with copper sulfate on the tree stump burning to ashes or something. Pyro tended to list off a lot of science jargon on top of making their pieces vague in content. It would probably make more sense if Scout had managed to stay in school longer.
At least drawing ‘together’ was becoming a common thing now. About weekly at the moment and the first group activity that was reoccurring. Scout couldn’t even deny all his excitement and much less his extreme anxieties about it.
—
Sniper was pretty cool actually, despite what many might think. He didn’t say too much, kinda like Pyro, pretty much relying on Scout to do all the work. Something he could very much do.
The start of them apparently falling to the day Scout found the man in the range and decided to offer some of his top tier praise.
“Holy shit dude! That was insane , I mean you’re normally insane but that was extra epicness..!”
Sniper’s eyes are barely visible through his aviators, but his voice is clear, “…Really?”
Scout, still excited by what he saw, couldn't help but nod and nothing more needed to be said. Though Sniper has this glint in his eyes for the rest of the day, arms more tense but aim still precise.
A minute later is when Scout grew bored, deciding to talk about how one of his brothers used to love snipers in war movies. He even admitted to finding them cool too, because landing accurate shots from who knows from how far while managing to do math to get the trajectory or whatever correctly was impressive.
Scout almost compliments Sniper’s focus by comparing it to his own, but luckily he was too smart to actually say it aloud that way. He just calls him coolly focused instead. It seemed Sniper was insecure, which Scout with his boundless confidence could easily remedy! Everyone needed compliments now and again.
Naturally it’s no surprise to Scout that he gets invited to tag along with Sniper to a job he has.
“Really?!” Scout looks up at Sniper, grinning.
“I’m sorry, it’s nothing about you I swear! It’s just, you know, my mom doesn’t know you that well. So she probably wouldn’t want you sleeping over, unlike my best friends who she knows. There’s nothing I can do…you understand, right?”
Sniper looks around him and then awkwardly shrugs, “Sure mate, could use the chatter.”
Scout can practically hear the deafening ‘yes I’d love to come’ but he calms himself just barely, “I mean I totally get invited to things all the time. Lemme just c-check my schedule real quick…”
And if there’s one thing he didn’t appreciate about Sniper, it’s what started from this moment. The way he almost appeared to look through Scout. Like he knew . As if he could ever know . But there was no way, Scout would never let them know. It was all different now, he was different.
“You have this personality about you. You don’t fit in do you? That’s why you’re always causing trouble for others. I don’t even need to ask about you, it’s so clear, everyone knows.”
Sniper absolutely made up for it when he let Scout sit on top of his van while he drove. Though he didn’t seem taken with the idea, Scout ended up getting his way. And there he was, in the open desert roads, feeling the wind blow from all around him as the scenery whizzed by. Leaving everything behind, allowing him to truly experience freedom for a bit. Up until they stopped and Scout messed up dropping down from the roof. Sending him straight to Medic’s office, a horrible place where he’s sure he lost his sense of taste to permanently.
“Can’t believe you fell off the bloody thing after it stopped.” Sniper remarks, moving his hat from in front of his eyes due to just waking from his nap. Scout would retort harsher, but seeing Sniper wait for him softens him up.
“What can I say? I am a man of many talents.” He says, while already cutting that last fall from what he’s going to tell Pyro about today.
—
It was impossible for Scout to place his standings in the RED base. Things kept changing, one moment it would be peace and the next Soldier would throw someone through a wall. Sure some things were easier to state, like Pyro, Sniper and Engie were probably his friends. Hopefully. While Spy, Medic and Soldier were horrible. He was tired of getting belittled, mutilated and beaten by them. More so than they knew. Yet despite it, Medic still sometimes Über’d him in the field, Soldier let him hang with his raccoons and Spy still sucked no matter what. Nothing seemed stable or understandable and what was Scout to do with that?
Where did he stand in the group? He had to be a part of it by now. It didn’t really feel how his brothers described it, but he didn’t necessarily feel excluded either. He just was there. Not in and not out.
“Oh my god!!! We forgot about yesterday ?! Oh we’re so sorry. I’ve just been so busy with school!” She has her hands over her mouth.
He’s quick to assure her it’s alright. It happens to everyone and he wasn’t that vocal about his birthday party either so it’s really his fault too.
“We’ll make it up, I promise. I mean you’re a part of our group and our friend!” She hugs him quickly and it all feels a bit better. The hours wasted waiting for guests yesterday. And as She makes plans to hangout together at the mall with him, he forgets how she’d talked about the friendship bracelets She went to get with her best friend yesterday.
Pyro never misses any of their ‘play dates’ as Engie calls them. They honestly seem just as excited as Scout. Which is no surprise after he found out Pyro reads the same comics as he does. Something they found out accidentally, because no way was Scout going to reveal his favorite comic series to anyone without really good reason . Pyro discussing lore through Engie happened to be that break and Scout couldn’t be happier. He could finally hope to share this with someone.
What it ended up looking like was Scout voice acting the different characters so he could read the comic aloud to Pyro (with help from Engie). They never interrupted him or laughed at him, merely listened attentively. He was obviously very good at voice acting too; Pyro being interested proved it!
They even drew him his favorite character from the series. Something they would’ve had to have remembered from weeks ago. Scout put it up in his room, which he mildly regretted. Knowing it staring him in the face constantly made him guilty about not drawing anything back, but he could barely stomach the idea of trying it. Let alone doing it.
He just continued reading the comics to Pyro and loaning his special edition ones. Engie could probably read those to Pyro sometime, since they seemed to already live at the workshop anyway.
—
“Try an’ stay on yer best behavior won’t you?“ Engie asks while looking down the hall with a resigned expression. They had a full group dinner reservation.
“I will not relinquish my God given American Right to wear my helmet! Do not even suggest it!”
The three of them stand in silence and Pyro makes a quick hand gesture towards Engineer. Scout readily ignores it, knowing he’s not a part of whatever the two have. He hears Engie sigh.
“Pyro, you go wait by the couches. I’ll just quickly go check on Spy alright? Scout could you be a dear an’ get Sniper?” The man delegates, already looking way beyond his years. Something akin to dread growing in his stomach.
Scout nods unenthusiastically, jogging down the hallway. Laughing internally at all the teachers who used to say he can’t do that. He’s a merc now, he can do whatever.
It’s not a long distance when you’re fast. He only gets a few knocks in before Sniper opens with a nicer outfit than he’d ever seen the other wear before. Despite the appearance change, Scout can’t help but feel bitterness creep up.
His birthday was last weekend. He hadn’t put much time into preparing it, and he should be glad. Pyro was the only one there with a gift no less. They suggested throwing it another weekend and Scout agreed to it, so here’s to hoping there’ll be more people this time.
Here’s to hoping dinner isn’t a disaster so he can go to sleep soon. Being woken by Pyro due to them having nightmares was usually fine, but last night he just couldn’t get back to sleep. Which was weird, because all the other times he’d been fine, even though Pyro made this odd snoring sound.
Things change all the time, whether it be big or small changes. Scout figures he must’ve sensed this one even before he set foot into his first high school class.
Highschool was Hell; a common statement made by those going through it or having finished it. And Scout would be the first to agree, to him, it truly was nothing else.
There’s something about Pyro, a mystery he can’t help but feel obligated to try and capture on paper. To frame the lines that made up Pyro’s suit and mask, as if it would clear up who they were, or more importantly, as if it would finally tell Scout why the arsonist continued to stay by him. Perhaps finding the right angle on paper would lead him to find Pyro’s in real life.
In highschool She found the perfect little boyfriend. Just as influential and capable and yet even a streak meaner.
He felt it in the shoves in the hallways. The times he was tripped in class. In the way they stole his things.
Felt it burn as they held him down to cut his hair. Sensed it as he watched him be forced to eat from the floor. Caught sight of it as he beat him up for one video or another.
Finally he felt it fade into a sterile numbness as he groveled for even a shred of mercy that given day.
“You should’ve just started with that and everything would’ve been fine. But as usual you choose to waste everyone’s time.”
“I k-know. I’m sorry…”
Fighting in the Gravel Wars left a rush through him, even hours after finishing. Fighting was something he could do, an art his brothers had taught him and one he’d molded to his own liking. If he could be faster than everyone he’d be unstoppable.
Aside from being actually good at something for once. He got to hurt people as much as he wanted. Hell, he even got to say whatever he liked about them. And as long as he was good enough, there was nothing they could do about it. He was better and that meant he could do whatever he wanted. It almost felt like an addiction, the power to stand over someone you just killed; an ultimate victory physically and the possibility to try them mentally. He had the power and he was damn well going to use it. Morals be damned, he was a hired gun.
She didn’t even bother with pretenses anymore. They weren’t friends anymore, he was just the sad kid they pitied in middle school and couldn’t stand anymore. The creepy loner that couldn’t ‘man up’ as they weirdly had said they wanted to once. Everyone knew by now. He could spend less time saying what everyone didn’t know of him instead of the other way around.
What he didn’t know was where his jacket was. It was cold now in mid-November and his jacket wasn’t where he left it. He’d told himself his clumsy self simply misplaced it, but internally he knew better. He wasn’t getting his jacket back even though his Ma couldn’t afford to give him another one.
On the bright side, his notes were left untampered, which meant he had some hope for the exam this week. If not much.
Outside in the courtyard the breeze blows past him, moving his uneven cut hair into his face. He couldn’t stand the length; it was impractical, especially when he went for his runs.
He doesn’t register the footsteps he hears are nearing him as he stares up, lost in thought. Not until he hears a large splash and yelps in response. Someone had just thrown a large bucket of water over him.
He can’t help but shiver automatically, dropping his sopping wet notebook. He sees the girls laughing in another part of the yard, now ignoring him except for the continued giggling. She’s there and doesn’t even spare a glance his way as he falls to his knees staring emptily at the ruined book. It didn’t matter that he managed to find his notebook after an hour of searching, nothing ever mattered, it all ended the same. With everything going wrong for him.
He wouldn’t be able to remember how long he sat there nor how he got home. What he did recall went something like this: staring at his brother’s borrowed notes as he didn’t sleep off his high fever, unable to. Then sitting with his teacher as they desperately tried to figure out why he couldn’t ever seem to get passing grades from any of their exams, following this last failure.
His attitude was always going to rub people the wrong way. Especially when he spent his time feeding led and dust to them. What did he care if everyone hated him if they weren’t in a position to do anything about it?
Getting shot, exploded, burned and even drowned did not count. But the enemy Sniper standing over him, poised to stab him looked to be a different matter entirely.
“Yer quite the spastic little delinquent ain’t ya?” Sniper’d caught him trying to nurture a nasty bullet wound to his knee near his nest.
Scout shrugs as nonchalantly as he can, one hand keeping pressure on his leg. He would let the Sniper have his little power trip and even wipe the Domination Scout had over him.
“Nothin’ to say now that tables are flipped ey?” Sniper seems to be in no hurry to kill him and Scout debates on killing himself to save time,“ Not brave enough to do it now that the other person can actually retaliate?”
“It’s not my fault you’re too slow to ever retaliate. Try getting more accurate.” Scout resigns himself to stare Sniper head on. Even if he couldn’t fight, things were different now, he still had power. He ignores how tight his chest feels at being cornered.
His uncanny preservation instincts sink his stomach just then, making him feel like he should be more worried. But there was no reason to feel this way, he was still Dominating the guy for Christ’s sake! Why couldn’t he just move on from what happened?! Grow up a little.
“Our Spy really isn’t wrong.” Sniper swings the big looking knife haphazardly, “In the end you really do equate to all bark and no bite mate.”
“Fuck off ‘ mate’, that Domination didn’t create itself—!” Scout’s yell comes out more anxious than confident. Why did he keep making a fool of himself?
Sniper almost laughs, “Wow, it’s so obvious! Do you think if you’re loud enough no one will notice it—or does it make you feel like you have some power?”
Scout’s exhale dies in his throat as Sniper crouches down to say, “Or perhaps it almost makes you forget you’re just some wanker dressed up as a guy trying to ignore that he was too weak to stop some bullies.”
Theyknowtheyknow— How could they possibly know!?? Scout digs his fingers into his wound as he averts his eyes back down to the ground. He can’t breathe. His hands won’t even stop shaking.
Sniper know about his weak nature, which means it’ll all continue again. Just like before and he won’t be able to escape. He’s stuck under contract. Stuck for years. They’ll be able to use this against him forever. He’s stuck—he’s trapped.
Scout presses himself into the wall, willing away any tears as Sniper continues laughing.
“What did they do? Shove you into lockers? Steal your books?” Sniper taunts, smiling at the shaking merc, “You gonna start bloody crying if I continue? Too scared by some school kids to keep acting tough?”
Scout shakes his head, “S-stop being ridiculous—it—it don’t matter—“
Sniper ignores his sad attempt, “What if yer colleagues found out about you too?”
Scout looks up with wide eyes, struggling to hold eye contact with the smug marksman. If the REDs found out they’d never take him seriously anymore. What if they join in? Scout can’t live through it again. This life was supposed to be better, his only means of escape from the people back home! Things can’t end like this…
Sniper stands up, knife sheathed by now, “ Beg me not to tell them.”
Scout doesn’t hide his disbelief as he looks pleadingly at the other. Please not again. Not like this.
Sniper snorts and it almost reminds Scout of Spy, “Go on, I can tell you’ve got to be a professional at this, spent most of yer life pathetically groveling haven’t you?”
“…No why would I..?” Scout manages while looking off to the side. Feeling a numbness starting to wash over him. There was nothing he could do and all he could settle for was to try and hide from how it made him feel. Nothing had changed and clearly neither had he. The automatic near-clinical response to his treatment was still there, ready to take over and help him survive.
“Hands and knees unless you want me to get the footage from there as evidence,” Scout idly follows where Sniper’s thumb points to: a security camera.
With no shame registering, he rationally concludes what’s best for the situation. Ignoring his inflamed knee he rests on them, wincing even as he leans on his palms with his head. It feels so natural that as his shoulders shake with sobs, it barely registers to him. All he knows is the adrenaline surging through him never does anything to help with what was to come and his begging wasn’t going to make it stop. And yet he had to do it anyway.
“Please… please don’t… I’m sorry please… ” Scout rambles in a voice barely louder than a mumble, having already forgotten what he was even pleading for.
“Ah jeez, I was bloody right. You are good at this! This is the saddest thing I’ve seen in a long time.” The words bounce in Scout's head, taking him much longer to understand, “Honestly would be more surprised if yer teammates didn’t already know that yer this sad. Can’t stand to watch it myself.”
It takes Scout five seconds standing in respawn to understand he’d died and respawned as a result. Though the clinical shroud of survival he’s still under reminds him there’s a battle he needs to be in to keep up appearances. Which forces him to ignore how he can barely stand with his body being so shaky.
A firm hand on his shoulder pulls him back towards the respawn room as he was about to leave. A quick glance proves it to be Pyro, who makes no attempts to communicate with him. They merely rest their hand on his shoulder, grip easing to no longer have a hold of him. It urges him to stay and not go out into battle with the coordination of a newborn horse.
Scout listens, just about ready to listen to anyone else in this state. It was easier than figuring things for himself.
Some time later he hears the Administrator saying something. It had to be time related, but he wasn’t really listening. Too busy trying not to shake like a leaf, to calm down his erratic breathing—to forget everything that just happened. He was not succeeding and he didn’t care but he still wanted to cry. The battle refused to end so he couldn’t go somewhere safe and break down. Instead there was Pyro with him, silent, unmoving and keeping him upright.
Pyro hums a song—after a nearby explosion is felt—that Scout’s heard them hum before. He vaguely recalls something about magic in it. It’s an uplifting tune and it overtakes some of his previous thoughts. And he finds himself joining in for a few beats at a time, from whatever he could remember. Humming could be fun.
Pyro gives him their classic indication that they want a hug after they finish the song. And for the first time Scout has nothing to say about it, it’s entirely too easy to throw his arms around their shoulders and rest his head on one side. He closes his eyes, feeling Pyro reel the rest of him in as the arsonist takes full advantage of one of the few times Scout accepts a hug invitation.
Scout rubs circles through Pyro’s asbestos suit covered back as the Administrator announces their victory. Yet, never has anything felt so much like a defeat.
He breaks their brief hug a second later, dragging his feet to his room and tossing his gear towards his locker haphazardly. He was too tired to care at the moment.
—
The numbness creeping away to reveal all his shame, fear and depression is almost too painful for him as he muffles his screams and cries openly. His dream life was over, now he was found out and he was finished.
“It’s not going to disappear, you know. People can tell that you’re a pathetic nobody that’s been stepped on all over.” She says to him after universities came up in conversation during class, “It’s a stench that follows you wherever you go. You’ll never be free of it.”
How was he going to fight anymore? The BLUs could keep their threat going and there was nothing he could do but endure it. Forcing him to live through life like he was back home. But he knew he could never do that, never go back to living that way. He’d sooner die.
On further thought, it’s easy to figure that their Sniper was right. Everyone must know to some degree that he’s pathetic, maybe that’s why they never showed up to his party. Though he reminds himself that Pyro and Sniper managed to (the second one at least). Maybe they were luring him into feeling safe before striking. Perhaps it didn’t even matter.
Fresh tears threaten to fall as he thinks of his friend-colleagues being fake. He refused to believe they were fake, but he knew he similarly refused to believe they were his friends.
With so much misery pouring from his eyes, he’s not surprised that his body starts demanding water. It could serve as a small errand to clear his head anyway.
There’s not a single second he doesn’t despise as he looks to the mirror, spending time fixing his appearance so that it didn’t seem like he’d been bawling his eyes out.
He just needed a quick glass of water or two. And realistically dodge all the questions about why he wasn’t at dinner.
Demo is sleeping on the couch as he walks by with Sniper and Spy on the opposite sides of the kitchen. Spy was reading the newspaper and Sniper had busied himself with coffee, which meant he’d be taking a job soon or a guard shift.
“Hey mate.” Sniper greets lazily.
Scout shudders a bit—not going unnoticed by Spy. Why did both Snipers have to be Australian? Or was one of them from New Zealand?
“Hey.” He nearly drops the glass he’s reaching for but catches it just in time. A broken glass would’ve been just what he needed to deal with.
“I did not think I would see the day Scout willingly drinks anything besides those revolting fizzy drinks.” Spy remarks as he eyes Scout fill up his glass with bottled water.
“Shut up.” Scout snaps immediately, not in the mood. Sniper looks his way at that, noting that Scout seemed on edge. Spy must’ve made a similar connection though the only difference was that he didn’t care.
“Feeling sensitive tonight I see. Is crying next on the agenda?”
“Mate—“ Sniper trues interjecting, not feeling Spy’s attitude either.
“ SHUT UP!” Scout tosses the glass towards Spy, who despite being surprised weaves well out of the way. It shatters against the wall behind him and rudely startles Demo out of his drunken nap, “What the fuck’s your problem?! Are you deaf or illiterate or something?!”
Spy fights the urge to correct Scout and settles for watching to see if Scout will try anything else.
“Man, Fuck this.” Scout leaves hastily before Spy’s provocations could become true, because damnit did he feel like crying about it. How could such a minor inconvenience feel so horrible?
Sniper gets up to go talk to Scout, worry clear in his eyes. Yet Spy stops him with a motion and a serious face.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea right now.”
Sniper reluctantly stops, he knew from experience, talking to people after an embarrassing moment could be Hell. It did suck that Spy was the one to point it out first, if only he could halt his tongue more.
Pyro walks past both of them towards the point Scout had disappeared into. Neither of them say anything about it, not being close enough to the arsonist to even try and challenge their approach to this situation.
“Eww that’s so gross!!” They’re all laughing. Laughing at him.
His tongue feels heavy and acidic as he stares at the shoes in front of him through tear blurred eyes. His thoughts feel detached from his body, freezing away any shame he would feel sitting on his knees, doing whatever they tell him to.
“But I’ve got such a good angle.”
“Can you imagine being that disgusting?”
“Such a slut.”
He stares at nothing but the floor, until someone kicks over one of the shoes.
“Might as well finish if you already started. Not like you’re becoming any less of a whore.”
The laughing is still the worst part.
Scout knows it’s Pyro before even having to look that way. If it was anyone else, he might’ve chased them away.
Pyro sits down on the bed next to him. They say nothing, but Scout can hear Pyro remove their mask. It seemed the silence wouldn’t last forever.
Scout, feeling fatalistic, starts, “Are we friends?”
Pyro’s voice, despite always sounding weird to Scout, was casual, “Yes.”
Somehow that was the only thing interesting that happened that night. Pyro did stay longer, mentioning a failed attempt at baking that day and then losing at -4D chess to Scout, a game that always seemed to be over before it began.
In the end, they stayed the night too. With Scout kicking them on his couch as he took residence on his bed. Pyro proved to be quite helpful as something about them made it easier for Scout to fall asleep that night, maybe he ought to use them more.
—
“MEDIC!”
“MEEEDIC!!”
Scout cringes as he sees Demo’s less than pleasant state. He’s honestly surprised to see the man is still alive.
“Don’t worry pal, I’ll get ‘em.” Scout looks down the main choke point and cringes back just as a sniper round would’ve taken his head off. Clearly he’s not going to be able to push forward anyway, so might as well help his team.
He runs back towards spawn offering Demo another assurance that he’ll be back with the Doc. Midway through he sees Pyro and gives him a wave, which Pyro returns before bashing in the BLU Spy’s skull with the powerjack, it was kinda cool actually…
“This way Doc!” Scout waves over once he sees the freshly spawned merc. Getting the hint, Medic attaches the Medi Gun to him and off they go. There’s no sign of Pyro anymore, much to Scout’s disappointment. Though, seeing Demo and now a mildly injured Soldier reminds him of the task at hand.
“Excellent work soldier.” Soldier claps him on the shoulder as Demo gives him a pained thumbs up.
“Dummkopfs, the lot of you.” Medic grumbles, pulling his crossbow. He gets them both up quite quickly regardless.
Scout already knows what Medic’s going to ask as he turns to him, “…Yeah yeah, I’ll get on it.”
He pulls out his spiked bat, doing a mental countdown before letting it strike his other hand. It never got any easier. Though Medic nods, ready to heal the damage just enough to keep him alive. But why did the damn thing have to charge so slow?
He had eight brothers who taught him how to fight. He’d practiced thoroughly and even sent people to the hospital.
And yet.
All of that disappeared the moment he saw any of them. His body seized up and surrendered before he even had the chance to do something. An automatic response that he felt he had no control over. Despite the fact that all of their punches, kicks and attacks still hurt like a bitch.
“You’re so pathetic.”
“It really is embarrassing. I’ve never seen someone so incapable of anything.”
“Dunno what you two’re complaining about, but this is hilarious.”
They were of course right. There should be no reason why he couldn’t fight back. It was why he could never tell his brothers or anyone. He wouldn’t let anyone else find out how useless and weak he was. No matter what he had to do, who he had to hurt, he was going to wipe this all from his past and be someone else. God, he just needed a fresh start—anything!
Scout jumps down from the building, ambushing the BLU Soldier who was still recovering from a mistimed rocket jump. Their Über push with Medic flashing both Demo and Soldier was going surprisingly well. They’d taken down BLU’s Medic, Scout, Pyro and were now finishing off Heavy.
The Über drains out and Scout curses as he sees Medic go down to a sniper shot, though it seems Pyro was already dealing with that; their jetpack was ready for use and off they went.
Scout picks off Heavy just a second too late as his Soldier dies from the bullet fire. Further still, Demo falls to a well placed backstab and Scout locks eyes with the bastard. Not for long though as the man disappears and Scout’s scattergun shots don’t seem to be hitting.
Seeing this, Scout runs over to Pyro who eyes the cart. It’s almost at the final checkpoint, they couldn’t let this last Spy push it in the last few seconds. As the only ones alive it fell to them.
Pyro raises their head and looks to the side, acting on his friend’s instinct Scout takes a shot. It reveals a figure for half a second which is all Pyro needs, activating their flamethrower.
Scout watches Pyro work in silence, still in awe over the efficiency that they had. No matter what weapons they were using, they always gave them a synergy they had no right having. Now, Pyro simply burns the other alive, fire glinting maliciously through their lenses and yet Scout can find no fear at the sight.
Scout gives a thumbs up and receives one in turn as the Spy’s body disappears. Their victory rings out a second later and Scout runs over for a high five. They managed to clean up their final Über push and win; together.
Now normally that would mean Scout would go over and hunt down survivors, get the extra kills and rub the loss in their face, but he could just put down his lack of action to the assumption that they were already dead. Besides, hanging out with Pyro was way more fun and he wouldn’t have to risk seeing the BLU Sniper.
Pyro mumbles enthusiastically, cutting into his thoughts, clearly eagerly responding to the high five from Scout. Afterwards Pyro points towards their base building, mumbling again.
“Ya know I have no idea what you’re saying like this right?” Scout shrugs.
Pyro gestures to their base of operations again but this time also points to the jetpack on their back. Scout makes an ‘ahh’ sound at that, snorting afterwards.
“You are also aware that I could prolly run faster there, then we could, flying or whatever, there?”
Pyro waves his claim off and with no warning scoops up the other. Scout lets out one startled yelp before adjusting himself in Pyro’s hold. Pyro also moves to make the hold he has under Scout’s legs and back more comfortable.
“This better be real damn cool.” Scout tells Pyro with a serious look. He holds on tighter as Pyro loosens their own hold to use the jetpack.
It goes up way faster than Scout expects, barely giving him time to see anything but a blur of desert. Near the top of their arc, it slows down, allowing Scout to see how far up they are. It’s a sight he doesn’t see often and the height really making everything seem way cooler. Though he will admit it is a bit scary. Especially considering they’re now rapidly descending.
Pyro doesn’t let them get hurt and lands gently, putting them right next to the base entrance. Scout shifts again, expecting Pyro to set him down now. They don’t and Scout settles for giving them a deadpan expression.
“Really?”
Pyro mumbles happily, starting to walk inside. Scout sighs in defeat, sure that he’s not nearly as embarrassed as he should be or affronted.
Blaming his adrenaline’d state, he goes over his next words slowly: “I’ve been thinking, maybe I will draw you somethin’. Gotta get the practice in right? Despite already being so good at it, as you are well aware of.”