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The pub Kyle dragged you to—the tables have turned it seems, as you’re usually the one dragging him when he’s on leave—is fairly loud and smells like peanuts and alcohol, but has such a comforting vibe to it. It’s familiar. Messy, but honestly for a meeting like this, there’s no other pub he would have chosen. Of course Kyle is the one driving with you in the passenger seat. You’re controlling the music this time, the radio turned to a comfortable volume where you can still hear each other if one were to speak.
Tonight is the night. You’re meeting his team for the first time and for some reason, you have this nervous itch under your skin. You’re bouncing your leg in the car, chewing your lower lip and looking out of the car window. Kyle nudges you after taking his eyes off of the road for a moment to check on you, considering how silent you’ve been. “Hm?” You hum, your head snapping to look at him. Kyle’s leaned back comfortably in his seat, one hand on the wheel and the other leaning on the center console like an arm rest. He’s wearing a delicious dark red button up, his facial hair minimal like always.
Fuck.
“I asked if you were alright.” Kyle murmurs in response, his eyes glued to the road. You catch a glimpse of a necklace dangling in the neckline of the button up—you avert your eyes to the road ahead of you, the car slowing to a stop at a red light. “Yeah, just..” You let out a slow breath in an attempt to calm yourself, but of course, it only makes the flighty feeling underneath your skin worse. Your eyes read the license plate of the car in front of you absentmindedly. “Nervous, I guess.”
Kyle’s thumb taps against the steering wheel at your response. “Nervous?” Kyle echoes with a questioning tone. “No need to be nervous, sweets. They’ve heard a lot about you, they’re excited.” He assures you, smile evident in his tone as he speaks. You roll your shoulders for a moment before groaning as all attempts to chill out have failed thus far. “Okay, but what do we even talk about?? Like, I’m horrible at talking about myself. Ask me my favorite color and I’ll tell a lie out of panic.” You complain, glancing over at him as the car starts moving once more.
Kyle lets out a chuckle, the sound heard clearly over the music playing in the background. It warms your stomach for just a moment before the beat passes. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out, yeah? There’s going to be five of us there.” Kyle hums, your eyes hovering on his charming soft smile. He says your name before continuing. “I promise you won’t have to carry the conversation. You’ll be fine; now, cheer up, we’re nearly there.”
Right. Everything will be fine.. Everything will be fine.
Kyle only regrets introducing you to them slightly. The ever so slightest, littlest bit. He should’ve known the conversation would go like this. Go to.. That.
“So,” Price had uttered, his voice hoarse and low before he took a small sip of his glass of alcohol. “How long have you known about Kyle’s problem?”
Kyle’s head snaps to his Captain, his eyebrows pushed up the farthest they can go. “My problem? ” Kyle gawks, shock evident in his tone. You can’t help the laugh that leaves you, the laugh that causes Johnny—Soap, who you learned him to be after Kyle’s stories—to lean forward with a grin. Ghost seems reserved, but you’re certain you see his crows feet. “His problem?” You echo with a smirk, side eyeing Kyle as you sip on your own drink. You set it down, your eyes landing back on Price, his Captain. “You mean his bat problem?”
Kyle groans, rubbing his face. “For the love of God .” He hisses, holding no venom in his tone. It causes everyone’s amusement, to his disappointment. Ghost shifts in his seat as Price lets out an amused huff, his fingers twitching around his glass. “Ye mean he’s always had a fear of—” Johnny begins to speak, but is interrupted by Gaz shoving at his arm playfully. “Oi! It’s not a fuckin’ secret noo’, is it?” Johnny says, his accent thick and accompanied by a winning smile. “No, it isn’t.” You agree, sending Kyle a grin who is sending back a “please don’t” look. Of course, you don’t listen.
“So, it all started at this summer camp Kyle and I attended together..” You begin with a smug tone, which makes Kyle sigh in defeat. You glance at him and he motions for you to go on. You stifle a laugh before taking a sip, glancing between the men. “We were young, I don’t remember how young but we were over the age of thirteen.” You begin, gears turning in your skull to attempt to recall the story. Your fingers tap against the table for a moment; mindless fidgeting. “We were partnered up since the camp had a buddy system for anything exploratory. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m sure it didn’t start here, but anyway…”
“Do you even know how to navigate the map?” You question Kyle, who is standing on a large rock that sits in the middle of a split path, holding out a giant piece of paper that had worn down fold marks; the map. He huffs, glancing down at you, where you’re standing in the midst of the split path with a worried expression. “Of course I do! I did pay attention to the navigation classes, you know. Did you ?” Kyle asks you with an accusatory tone, but you know he’s just jabbing at you due to worrying so much. Always the person to try to calm you, hm?
“Yes,” You utter, telling a half truth. It’s not that you didn’t pay attention, but at the moment you were running on maybe three hours of sleep minimum and barely processed anything that was being taught to you. You have half a mind to blame Kyle directly for this, as you stayed up nearly all night, secretly playing games with him. “Just.. didn’t grasp the concept as well as you.” You pout, making Kyle roll his eyes and turn his eyes back to the map. You look around the forested area; the only sign of humans being the man made gravel paths beneath your worn down hiking footwear.
You take a deep breath, the lukewarm air entering your nose and filling your lungs. It smells like.. Well, outside. You can smell the scent of the pungent soil, the woodsy smell of partially rotted wood from the century old trees that surround you. You can smell some sort of animal excrement that makes your nose wrinkle—you also focus on that sweet, sweet, annoying cicada zing that constantly rings through the air. The sun is high in the sky, right in the middle of the blue. The air smells clean and when you Kyle, a little voice in your head says that there’s nowhere else you’d rather be.
“Alright!” Kyle exclaims, the sound of his voice and the map crinkling between his fingers back into an imperfect square snaps you out of your thoughts. You glance at him where he’s stuffing the map into the water bottle holder, between the bag and his water bottle. Probably a bad place for it, but you don’t get the chance to correct him. Kyle hops off of the rock, his feet landing onto the gravel below, making you back up half a step. “It’s the left path that’ll lead to the hill.” Kyle continues, looking at you as he loops his thumbs between the straps of his backpack and himself.
You blink for a moment, raising a brow. “Are you sure?” You ask, some residual worry remaining. Kyle’s eyes dart for a moment before they meet yours once more. “Yes, I’m sure. Bloody hell, makin’ me doubt myself.” He laughs for a moment, reaching for the handle of your backpack and pulling you closer. You huff and shove him gently, but you fall into a nice pace next to him, walking the left trail together. You glance around the trail, your eyes scanning the trees and the assortment of plants, poking out just enough into the path to brush by your exposed femurs. You hope none of it is poison ivy or anything of that sort.
The walk is nice, but it is long. You find yourself drinking much more water than you anticipated, which when the opportunity presented itself, you paused Kyle by putting a hand in front of him. He stops when his chest presses against your palm and he looks down at you with a questioning look, his brown eyes scanning your face. You throw a thumb over your shoulder at a little area of fluffy, concealing plants. “Gotta piss.” You utter, making Kyle groan. “We only have a little ways t’go. You sure you can’t hold it?” Kyle attempts to negotiate, which causes you to look at him. “I’d prefer to not piss myself.” You respond.
Kyle groans and looks around, finding himself a rock to sit on while you do your business. You roll your eyes playfully as you make your way across the trail and behind the plants you spotted before. You set your pack down and took out a travel sized pack of tissues from the front pocket. In the middle of you doing your business, you hear a sound you never wanted to hear—Kyle’s scream. Your heart nearly jumps out of your throat hearing it and your mind races a million miles an hour.
“Kyle??” You shout, swearing under your breath as your fingers struggle to button your pants back together. Your hands are trembling because you’re quite literally out in the wilderness with only pocket knives and walkie talkies as defense and communication. You nearly trip over the backpack that rests on the ground, but you catch yourself and stumble out to the path, your chest feeling tight. You look around, your eyes wildly moving to spot your friend. You find him on the ground, scrambling backwards, dirtying up his backpack in the process. “Kyle!” You shout, exasperated. You run towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder when he screams again, his arms coming up and flying around his head like something is attacking him.
“Jesus—Kyle, what’s going on??” You grab his wrists to stop him from hitting you. He looks up at you with pure fucking unadulterated fear. Fucking hell, he’s already broken out into a worse sweat than the heat previously gave him. You look around, ready to rip out the knife sticking out from the other side of his backpack, but you don’t see any active threat. You let out a harsh breath, putting a hand on your beating heart. “ Kyle , what in the hell made you scream like you were bein’ chased by a damn bear??” You curse him, lightly kicking his backpack. Admittedly, you feel a bit frustrated at his.. Joke.
“Bats,” Kyle gasps out, scrambling to his feet, so fast he almost topples back over onto the gravel below. Which, by the way, is all over his backside now. “Fucking bats —Oh my God, I didn’t get bit, did I? They were fuckin’ everywhere t.. the second you were gone, please check my head, they didn’t, right? No bites??” Kyle rambles, grabbing onto your upper arms. He quickly shoves his backpack off, thumping against the gravel path. He hurriedly contorts his neck in different ways, presenting his skin to you, even pulling at the collar of his shirt to show you more skin. You blink, standing there for a moment before he says your name desperately.
“Bats.” You repeat, your eyes roaming his neck for bites. Kyle pulls back and you hold eye contact with him for a moment. A beat passes. “Do not laugh at me,” He hisses, seeing the way your shoulders are moving up and down, the way your eyebrows quirk and the way you press your lips together in an attempt to hold down a smile. “Oi!” Kyle shouts as you aren’t able to contain your laughter. It’s not a joke! Even better.. It’s a fear. “You’re such an arse!” Kyle snarls for a second, going to pick up his bag. You reach and grab his wrist, pulling him to prevent him from stomping off like you know he would have.
“Wait! Wait, wait—” You choke out another giggle before waving your free hand in the air. “I’m sorry, Ky. I am.” You murmur his name, feeling his wrist flex underneath your fingers. “Let me check your neck, yeah?”
Kyle huffs. His face is burning from embarrassment. He knows it’s stupid, but he genuinely isn’t able to help it. He relents, turning around. You pull at his shirt a bit, your fingertips brushing over his skin. You let out a soft sigh. “No bites, right? They’ve got rabies. Can’t be bit.” Kyle pushes out, showing how panic is still running through his veins. You let go of his shirt and pat his back. “No bites, Kyle. You’re fine.” You assure him, more serious this time but the humor running through your words is not lost on him.
He turns back around and lets out a relieved sigh, his eyes nervously looking in the sky, in the trees. “So..” You begin, picking up his bag for him, grunting as you hand it to him. Kyle slides his backpack on with a huff. “What happened?”
Kyle rubs the back of his neck as you fetch your own backpack, using the remaining water in your first water bottle to rinse your hands, then using a small travel pack of hand sanitizer to clean your hands thoroughly. “Bats happened,” Kyle says your name afterwards, grumbling in his tone. “They surrounded me, they did.” You let out an amused noise, your lips curling into a grin despite his look of warning. “Uh huh. Let’s get a move on, bat boy.”
“Oi!!”
Johnny lets out a whistle, interrupted by a loud, boisterous laugh of his own. His hand comes slamming down on the table a couple of times, jostling the drinks and wallets sitting on it. Price has such an amused smirk, his eyes glued to Kyle who is sipping on his non-alcoholic drink, hiding behind it. “That’s also how I found out he has like, a chronic fear of rabies, too,” You add, glancing at Ghost who is leaning forward a bit, showing his interest in your story. “Yer pullin’ my fuckin’ leg!” Johnny exclaims, causing you to smile and shake your head. “Honest.” You utter, putting your hands up for a moment.
“I appreciate the origin story.” Price breathes, his smug and amused smirk remaining. Which reminds you, something has had to happen for Kyle’s phobia.. Phobias? to be triggered. You make a noise in the middle of a long sip of your drink—the drink being alcoholic, and you can feel a light buzz behind your face. “That being said.. What happened, Captain?” You say, emphasizing his rank. Price huffs out a noise, wrapping both of his hands around his glass.
“This was maybe..” Price pauses for a moment, his eyebrow quirking as his brain takes a moment to think. “..Maybe two years ago by this point. We were in the middle of nowhere, to be frank. Just me and Kyle, an’ it was getting dark.” Price pauses for a moment to take a sip of his drink. “Found a cave.” You let out a snort, immediately picturing Kyle’s face contorting with paranoia. “It began to sprinkle a bit and we didn’t want to sit in soaked knickers. Despite being his CO, Kyle nearly decked me for tryin’ t’pull him into shelter.”
Your jaw drops and your head snaps to look at Kyle, who looks more relaxed under the influence of everyone getting looser—for the exception of him—from alcohol. “I apologized, I promise.” Kyle chuckles, seeing the look on your face. “Mm, that he did. Nearly took back his apologies when I had to include his fear in the reports.” Price retorts, his smirk widening when Kyle lets out a sigh, obviously embarrassed about his behavior. “It’s irrational, I swear. I genuinely don't have the foggiest idea why they petrify me,” Kyle admits, making eye contact with Ghost for a moment. “Well, I think it’s the threat of rabies, but wouldn’t I be scared of every animal, then?”
You space out as the boys quietly debate the route cause of Kyle’s phobia of bats and rabies, your finger circling the rim of your glass as your eyes are just lingering on Kyle. You’re not really paying attention to what anyone is saying, but Kyle’s face sure is interesting due to the alcohol in your blood right now. Your eyes slowly move down to the necklace dangling between the open folds of his button up. You quietly curse yourself when you realize you’re practically staring right at his chest, downing the rest of your drink. You put the glass down onto the table and you look directly at Johnny. “Guess what I dressed up as for Halloween the following October?”
“Wha’?”
“Batman.”
Johnny howls, slapping the table once more, knocking his knees against Ghost’s, causing an elbow to fly into his ribs and a lazy smile to appear on your lips.