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Tonight the team had set up to watch a movie, and it was an old film that Engineer had picked up at a thrift store the other day.
To the others, it looked like a regular, boring old movie, but Pyro was excited and eager to watch it.
No one else could understand why they seemed so thrilled to watch “Invasion of the Face-Eating Lobsters”, but no one else understood that, to them, the lobsters didn’t seem that scary. In fact, they looked plush and adorable.
The team was now sitting in the barn, moving to claim the seat they wanted, with some people feeling almost anxious about watching the movie. Scout was feeling especially nervous.
Despite his outspoken bravado, he hated horror movies. Films like this gave him awful nightmares, and set him up for at least a few sleepless nights, sometimes even up to a week of tossing and turning. Give him a good sports film any day.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a sports film, it was a very scary movie.
That meant that he was stuck watching the mutant lobsters dine on people's faces. And there was no way he was going to wimp out and skip the movie and let the others think of him as a sissy.
Sitting in the back ready to cover his eyes or ears at a scare's notice wasn't wimping out. It was just...what would Soldier say when he didn't want to call retreating retreating? Tactical avoidance? Yeah, that was it.
And so with that plan in mind, Scout joined the team that night to watch the movie. People had brought various snacks and drinks with them, but because of his focus on surviving the movie, Scout had forgotten to bring anything other than himself, and part of him hadn't even wanted to bring that. But here he was anyway.
Everyone found a row to sit on, with Pyro, Soldier, and Demo in the front, Medic, Heavy, and Spy behind them, with Sniper in a chair next to them. The Aussie tended to doze off, so he needed a seat with a back so he didn't fall over. Scout, of course, had taken a seat as far back as he could. The only person behind him was the Engineer, who was making sure the film ran correctly.
At first, Scout was fine. The beginning of the movie was fairly tame, with the lobsters having yet to show. It made him feel like he could do this, he could relax and watch the movie. In fact, with as good as he felt, it gave him time to think about how he wished he had brought a snack or something. Maybe he had brought one? He wouldn't know unless he looked.
He dared take his eyes off of the screen to look around and check under his seat. It felt like only a moment when a horrible screech came from the screen, causing Scout to jerk up and see a man getting attacked underwater. The Bostonian's face paled as he watched the scene and listened to the screams taking place.
Not only was the actor screaming, but so were Pyro, Soldier, and Medic.
Medic was exclaiming how the facial muscles and generally the structure of the fake head were supremely sub-par before Heavy helped take the loud edge off of the German's complaint and let the man angrily whisper to him. Soldier had his shovel ready and was yelling at the lobster for killing the man, trying to goad the crustacean on the screen into fighting him, and Pyro was busying squealing with joy, thrilled that the adorable star had finally made it's appearance, with poor Demo stuck in the middle between his two team mates. The Scotsman managed to quiet down Soldier, but was befuddled as to how to calm Pyro's bouncing, clapping, and shrill sounds of excitement.
The Engineer walked up to the front, and helped escort Pyro to the side, talking to them and calming them down. After only a few minutes, possibly four or five, Engineer let them go join the others again, though not in the front. The Texan guided them to the mostly empty back bench, keeping them near him if he was needed again.
Pyro plopped down on the bench, with space between them and Scout. By now the lobster had left the screen, which Pyro found disappointing. And boring, it was very boring now. When was the cuddly claw fish going to come back?
Now that had time to just sit and wait, they scooted over towards Scout as sneakily as they could, which wasn't very sneaking. In trying to act stealthy, and like they weren't moving, they did a lot of sitting and standing as they moved to the side, which means that they were bouncing the bench every time they sat. If Scout hadn't been so distracted by the fact that the movie currently was focusing on the dead man who had washed up on the beach, now missing a face and a skeleton, which prompted Medic to comment about how the skeletonless body also looked wrong, then he would have surely noticed the bouncing ball of burning energy heading his way.
Pyro made it right next to Scout before he realized what they were doing and he tried to scoot over. The bench had ended, Scout was out of room to get away.
Moving over into Scout's area let Pyro see that the poor boy unable to see part of the movie, because he had sat behind Heavy. Pyro didn't realize that Scout had picked that on purpose, they just knew that Scout was missing out on part of the film. And that just wouldn't do.
Pyro moved back away from Scout, back down the bench, and then said a muffled something to get Scout's attention. When they were sure he was looking their way, they softly patted the seat next to them. The view there was perfect, they were sure.
Scout, however, liked his spot and stayed put, something that Pyro found strange. Why didn't he want to see the movie? After another inviting pat on the chair next to them, and being turned down, they took matters into their own hands. Shifting back next to Scout, they pulled him into their lap and then scooted back down the bench with him until they reached a good spot.
Scout struggled a bit, but Pyro had a very good, and strong, grip, which made it difficult to escape. Looking back over Pyro's shoulder at Engineer, Scout silently asked for help. The Texan silently replied with a shrug and an apologetic smile. Pyro was quietly behaving and no one was getting hurt, he wasn't going to step in to stop something that wasn't even happening.
Pyro wriggled excitedly under Scout, shifting the two of them into a comfortable position. Their arms were wrapped tight around Scout, holding his arms down to his sides. After a moment, seeing some people in front of them eat their snacks, Pyro looked back where Scout had been sitting, wondering if they had left any of his food or drink behind. They saw nothing, save for the rest of the empty bench .
Had Scout not brought anything to nibble on? And no drink? Why, he must be very hungry and thirsty by now!
Luckily, on the bench in front of them was a bowl of popcorn. It was Spy's bowl of popcorn, but the man hadn't touched it, instead preferring to read his book. Leaning forward, with Scout being brought along of the ride, Pyro grabbed the popcorn and put it on the bench next to them and Scout.
Popcorn was yummy, very yummy, but it was also salty. Scout should have a drink before he started eating it, Pyro decided, and they looked around for options. They didn't want to bother Engie, not since he was making the film go, so they were going to find a drink for Scout themselves.
Sniper had one under his chair, it was a seemingly untouched bottle of water, which was right next to the very touched, half empty bottle of beer. Pyro reached out a foot, wiggling it to try to make it stretch farther.
Despite all of the wiggling and kicking they tried, they still came up short. They reached around themselves for something, and Scout jumped in their lap when they saw it was their axe. Instead of lopping off anyone's limbs, Pyro used the axe to extend their reach, nudging the water bottle closer. Once it had rolled to their feet, they tossed the axe to the side and bent down with Scout to pick up the bottle.
Now that Scout had some food and a drink, the two of them could relax and watch the movie. Pyro, feeling proud of themselves for helping Scout out, snuggled closer, laying their masked head on his shoulder while he nibbled at his food.
And right now, Scout was able to relax, at least a little bit. There was no horror going on right now, it was just people talking, something nice and boring that he could watch. He smiled while he snacked, enjoying the cheesy banter onscreen, even if he had to sit in Pyro's lap the whole time. He didn't mind that Pyro was back behind him when he started to cough on a piece. Having someone immediately smack his hack helped him recover just fine.
Eventually, his popcorn ran out, and all Scout had left was a bowl of kernels. Pyro couldn't help but notice, and pulled a lighter out of their pocket, snaking their hand in between Scout's. Hearing some popping taking place Scout looked down, his eyes wide as he realized that one flick of Pyro's wrist could set him on fire.
Instead of lighting Scout up, Pyro popped the kernels with their flame and watched with delight as the pieces ignited, and then shriveled up in a curling ball of burned blackness. Once the pieces were singed well beyond consumption, and the bowl melted slightly, Pyro felt that their job was done and they put their lighter away. As relaxing as it was to set things on fire, the Engineer didn't like them pulling their lighter out around the others too much, so Pyro tried to put it away as sneakily as they could. It wasn't sneaky enough that the Engineer didn't notice, but the Texan felt that since Scout hadn't been ignited this time, he would let this instance of misbehaving slip by.
Pyro wrapped their arms backs around Scout, and leaned forward to cuddled with him, looking back up at the screen to watch the movie.
Oh, the lobsters were back on the screen! How fun!
They held Scout more tightly as their excitement grew, keeping the boy in their lap. Scout's eyes widened in fear, and he struggled against Pyro, the feeling of having his arms pinned adding to his panic.
He didn't want to see this, defenseless. He wanted his arms free so he could defend himself if he needed to. It wasn't his fault that a stupid thing like that helped him feel just a little bit safer.
After a moment of watching the lobsters play with someone else, Pyro looked down to see if Scout was enjoying this as much as they were and, oh, didn't he like it when the lobsters came bursting out of the vents and surprised the people because Pyro thought that the lobsters doing that was the cutest thing ever, the lobsters were like 'Boo! Surprise!' and the people were like 'yayyy', and then-
And then Pyro noticed that Scout wasn't having fun. Scout looked scared, worried. Those weren't fun things to feel at all. He was shaking a little bit, but his eyes seemed glued to the screen. If he didn't like it, then why didn't he look away? Pyro wouldn't mind if he did.
But Scout's focus seemed set in the horror in front of him, with a man screaming as the lobster seemingly tore off his face. That was all Scout saw of the scene, because his vision went black.
Or, specifically, it went very, very dark gray.
Scout felt his head get pulled back against Pyro's shoulder, their glove covering his eyes. Their other arm stayed wrapped around him, holding him in a tight, reassuring hug.
Eventually, listening to their breathing, and feeling the comforting warmth of the team mate that had decided to be his seat, Scout started to relax. With his eyes covered he couldn't see the film, and laying back right against Pyro's head meant that their noisy breathing helped drown out any sounds of crustacean's slurping up brains...Or whatever they were doing on screen; Scout didn't know, and he was happy not to.
Engineer watched the scene with amusement, happy that Pyro's chosen seating arrangement had worked out for both parties involved. To the others, if they looked back, it would just seem like Pyro had decided to snuggle Scout right back against them, and hold him as a blindfolded hostage, and not that Scout had scared and that Pyro was helping him out big time.
Sooner rather than later to Pyro, the film came to an end. Why the people had felt the need get rid of the lobsters, Pyro didn't know. They had been so cute and cuddly and so sweet! They tried to give everyone a hug. The ending made them sad actually, but it was the opposite for Scout. He was quite happy that this B-movie horror movie had come to an end.
When the credits started to roll, Scout looked back at Pyro, silently asking if his team mate was going to let him go. Pyro, at first distracted by their disappointment, both with the movie and with the words onscreen - who watched a movie just for rows and rows of words? - almost didn't notice him. They looked down at him with a sigh, sitting up with a curious noise when they realized that Scout was looking at them.
Before letting him go, they gave him a big squeeze of a hug, making sure that he really, really felt it. They wanted to make sure that it was a good hug, a really good hug, so they gave him one more. Scout put a stop to the huge there, though, because the others were starting to look around, and hugs were kid things, and he wasn't a kid.
"Lemme up," He said quietly, and Pyro obliged. Scout seemed fine now, the fear in his eyes replaced with a tense, embarrassed look, which was much better. It wasn't fun being scared, and they were glad that he felt so much better now. Weren't hugs amazing?
"Um, Pyro?" Scout said quietly, his words almost lost under Medic's complaint that a toaster had been used to help vanquish the lobsters when blenders were much more versatile, "That, um, That...thing that you did. I mean, I didn't need it, but it did kinda sorta, you know, help...a little. I coulda' watched it all, I'm not a wimp, but it was kinda nice...not to watch when the lobsters started...sucking people's faces off...so, um, what I'm trying to say is...and it was kinda nice of you to do that thing, you know? So, uh, thanks."
Pyro gave a happy nod and a thumbs up. Then they opened their arms open wide in a hug, seeing if Scout needed another one.
"Don't push it."
Maybe he didn't then.
Scout moved past Pyro, aiming to get out of the theater before Soldier and Demoman started debating the details of the plot and going into way too much detail. He saw the axe on the ground, and bent to pick it up. Moving back towards Pyro, he slid the weapon into their lap and then hooked an arm around Pyro's neck, giving them an almost quite, maybe not, very sorta kinda, iffy, yet manliness preserving hug. Before Pyro could do more than place a hand on Scout's arm, the boy was gone, having left before the others.
Pyro stayed seated on the bench, waiting as Engineer packed up. They had tried to help before, but Engineer told them that he preferred their company from the bench. They had only dropped the equipment twice before, in the same, and only, night they helped, it wasn't that bad. But if he wanted Pyro to stay on the bench, that was what they would do.
They held their head in their hands, watching the Texan pack up, but not really paying attention to him. Their thoughts were more on Scout. It was a shame that he hadn't seemed to like the movie. The lobsters had been absolutely spectacular, adorably so. Maybe lobsters just weren't his thing...
"Hey, Firefly," Engineer said, interrupting their thoughts, "Already got next week's movie picked. D'ya wanna hear which it is?"
They responded with an eager nod, sitting up to listen to what he was going to say.
"Promise to keep it a secret?"
"Mmmm hmmm!" They promised with a strong, affirmative nod.
"Was thinking maybe we watch 'Get Killing: When Swedish Goats Attack.' What'cha think?"
"Gmmmts?!!?"
"Yes indeed. Goats."
"Gmmmts rrrr ssssho cmmmoote!!" They said excitedly, clapping their hands.
"Thought you'd like it," Engineer said with a wink, "C'mon. I'm all packed up now. Wanna go inside or stargaze."
"Sttrrrgazzze."
"Figured as much. Let's go."
Pyro was so thrilled about next week's movie session, and seeing cute goats wasn't the only reason that they were excited. That movie sounded like it didn't have any lobsters in it! Which meant that Scout was sure to like that one better than he had liked the lobster film!
Oh, they couldn't wait; next week's movie-watching session with Scout was going to be so much fun