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Morning
There was the tiniest chill in the air, the last little bit of nighttime hanging around. The sun was already hot, making for a pleasant contrast.
Nix sat against a tree looking out onto the bright blue sparkling water. When he heard the sound of Dick’s footsteps approaching, he acted as though he wasn’t expecting him.
“Oh,” Nix looked up at his lean frame. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Dick laughed under his breath. “You beat me.”
“You’re just late,” replied Nix. “Kind of unlike you.”
“Yeah,” Dick agreed. “I was busy… thinking.”
Dick gazed out to the water, to the ledge that he usually jumped in from. He seemed to be debating whether to go over there, but he ultimately decided to sit down next to Nix under the tree. He had his white t-shirt and PT shorts on, both garments snug to his body.
“You? Thinking? That’s never good,” Nix teased him. Dick let his legs spread out a bit, his knee resting on Nix’s thigh. He huffed out another laugh.
“Yeah, I was thinking about…” Dick trailed off, still looking out at the water. “Thinking about your offer.”
They turned and met each other’s eyes then. Nix didn’t prompt Dick further, just waited. The seconds felt like minutes, until Dick finally said, soft but sure: “Yes.”
“Yes,” Nix repeated.
“Yes, I’ll go to New Jersey with you,” Dick said, louder this time. He smiled, like he was happy to say it, only getting happier upon seeing Nix’s reaction.
Nix stared at him wide-eyed for a moment. Then, a grin spread across his face, one he simply couldn’t contain. He let himself get lost in Dick’s blue eyes - a place he often found himself lost in - and pounced on him, pulling him into lying down on the soft grass with him. They lay side by side, their faces only a hairsbreadth apart.
They tangled their legs together. The grass was still damp with morning dew, but neither of them minded. Nix reached up and smoothed stray locks of ginger hair off Dick’s forehead.
“Yes,” Nix repeated again. “Thank God, Dick. ‘Cause I…I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Dick grabbed onto the front of Nix’s shirt with one hand. With the other, he traced his bottom lip with his fingertip. “Oddly enough, I feel the same.”
They closed the distance between them for a kiss. Often, when they started kissing it was hard to stop, and this morning was no exception. One turned to two, to three, to making out under the tree, with Dick rolling on top of Nix. He ran his hands through his hair and smiled against his mouth until eventually he had to pull away.
“You want to join me? In the water?” Dick asked.
Usually, Nix just watched Dick swim. But how could he say no right now?
Nix didn’t even get a chance to reply before Dick climbed off him and pulled him up, his strong arm flexing. He swiftly took his t-shirt off, then set to getting Nix out of his clothes – he unbuttoned and slid his army green button up off his shoulders. He undid his pants for him and yanked them down, totally disregarding the fact that there might be others out and about.
Nix had no time to complain or make any fuss about it. All he could do was step out of his pants so he didn’t trip as he was being dragged down to the ledge overlooking the water by Dick. When they got out onto the edge, Dick jumped.
And when Dick jumped, Nix had no choice but to follow.
It was a lot less stressful than jumping out of a plane. When Nix popped back up to the surface, Dick was right there in front of him.
~ ~ ~
Afternoon
They were outside, sitting on soft grass on a bank overlooking the water. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on them directly overhead, but it was welcome. The memory of almost freezing to death was still recent enough that being a little burned by the sun wouldn’t kill them. Well, Babe would most certainly burn; being from the deep south meant Eugene was a little more used to sun like that.
Eugene was so close to Babe that Babe could see the faint wrinkles the war gave his boyish face and his long dark eyelashes as he looked down. His hands were in the grass, stroking the blades and plucking some out on occasion. He was quiet, but not worryingly so like he had been in the harsh winter. He was quiet because he was content; he was quiet because that’s just how he was.
Babe watched Gene pull the grass with that content look on his face. Babe felt like he knew him so well by now, yet, at the same time, there was still so much to know. Truth be told, he wanted to know it all, but they had plenty of time. So far, Austria felt like it would be forever.
Gene leaned forward and to his left then. He pulled something out of the ground before leaning back, propped up on one elbow so he was facing Babe, who was lying back on his elbows.
“Whatcha got there?” Babe smiled at him.
Gene held up a small blue flower. A tiny thing, no bigger than the clover that grew in Babe’s tiny yard back home. But it was nice, a pretty color. A purplish blue.
Gene seemed pleased. He smiled, studying the flower before looking at Babe. “Une fleur. For you.”
Babe took it upon himself to act like a dramatic, smitten girl from all the movies. He took the tiny flower from Gene and fainted down onto the grass. “Oh, gosh! He must really like me.”
Gene laughed softly, leaning over Babe with his head in his hand. Babe met his eyes, holding the flower against his chest.
“He does like you,” Gene said in his quiet, low drawl. “He likes you a lot.”
Babe didn’t know what to say. He reached out with the hand that wasn’t holding the flower and got his fingers at the back of Gene’s head, pulled him in for a kiss. Gene was more than happy to kiss him back, soft and sweet, rolling over until he was half ontop of Babe and cradling the side of his face with one hand. Gene pulled back after one kiss and looked at Babe for a couple seconds before leaning back down for a quick peck.
Gene smoothed his hand over Babe’s cheek, his forehead. “You’re gettin’ burned.”
“Eh, it’s alright,” Babe replied.
“You say that now,” Gene rolled his eyes. “Tonight you’ll be complaining.”
Before Babe could protest, Gene was standing up. He held out his hand for Babe.
Babe took it and stood up. He kept a hold of Gene’s hand as they walked up the bank, up to where there were trees that provided some shade.
They walked along the trees in the shade, hand in hand. Eugene decided to tell a story about a time he got badly sunburned from gardening one August.
Babe eagerly listened.
Between his fingers, in the hand that Gene wasn’t holding, he rolled the stem of the little blue flower.
~ ~ ~
Evening
Carwood’s seat at the dinner table was across from and several seats down from Ron. They shared glances when they could, but they were far enough away that they didn’t get to talk to one another.
It was alright, though. They’d only been joined at the hip all day today, and every day ever since they got to this country.
Still, Ron was excited to get back to Carwood once dinner was over. He stood off to the side, waited until Carwood was done speaking with the person he was engaged with. Once he was free, Ron took his now-familiar place next to him.
Carwood smiled up at him. He’d also been waiting for this moment.
Ron smiled back. “Would you like to take a walk with me?”
“Of course.”
Outside, the sun was setting, the Austrian sky a pinkish orange. The air was warm like bathwater. They walked to the back of the building they were just in, and then down onto a little footpath that ran along the water.
Their arms and hands brushed as they walked. They didn’t talk for a while, which was quite alright. Neither of them were big talkers. Ron was so comfortable with Carwood, he found he didn’t need to make small talk to fill silences. He looked over at Carwood – at his neatly combed light brown hair, the scar on his cheek, his eyes that had never had more life to them than now. He was so full of life, Ron would do everything in his power to make sure that happiness stuck around.
The feeling Ron got when he was around Carwood wasn’t like how he felt around anyone else. For a short period of time, it scared him a bit, but he quickly came to realize that their time together could be cut short at any moment, so from then on he never held back when it came to Carwood. Luckily, Carwood reciprocated.
Carwood noticed Ron’s staring. He turned his head, met his eyes. “What?”
“Have I ever told you you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen?”
Carwood laughed under his breath. “Not today, you haven’t.”
“Well,” Ron wrapped his arm around Carwood’s shoulder. “Now I have.”
Carwood laughed again. “That’s interesting, coming from the most handsome man to ever be in the United States military.”
“Hmm. Do you have sources to back that up, lieutenant? Seems awfully exaggerated,” Ron replied.
Even in the darkness, Ron could see Carwood blush. “I do not, but I am sure of it.”
Carwood wrapped his arm around Ron’s waist, and they walked flush together, not a space between them. After a while, either out of tiredness or just wanting to be even closer, Carwood brought his other arm up, encircling Ron’s waist and hugging Ron while they walked. The summertime bugs chirped and the water made peaceful noises. If Ron didn’t know any better, he’d thought he’d been KIA and gone to heaven.
The path came to an end, so the two stopped and looked out onto the water, at the dark navy blue mountains that got darker by the minute.
“You know,” Carwood spoke up after a while, “This isn’t all that different from West Virginia.”
Ron rubbed Carwood’s shoulder with his hand. “That right?”
“More trees on our mountains. More bugs,” Carwood thought aloud. “But, for the most part, it’s kind of the same.”
“Wow,” Ron was honestly shocked. He knew West Virginia was mostly mountains, and had some idea of what they looked like, but to be told they were similar to the beautiful vista in front of him really put things in perspective.
“So, you know,” Carwood said. “If that’s something you like, might be worth thinking about, you know. When you’re done with the Army.”
“Carwood,” Ron chuckled under his breath. “Are you suggesting what I’m thinking you’re suggesting?”
Carwood slid out from Ron’s shoulder so he could stand facing him, hands at his waist. Carwood shrugged, trying his best to act coy. “I’m just saying…if you like mountains, and me… might be the right place for you.”
Ron let his hands travel down Carwood’s chest, over his soft, clean Army-issued button-up shirt, and then circled his arms around his waist. He pressed his forehead to Carwood’s, their noses brushing.
“Yes,” Ron said. “That would be the right place for me.”
They melted into each other and kissed while the sun disappeared behind the mountains.
~fin~