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They hear the loudest honking when they get out of the car at Metal’s cabin. Then they see the goose it belongs to, coming out of the thicket.
"Did Metal have a pet goose?" Clay asks quietly and Sonny just shrugs. "The hell I know. He never said anything…"
The goose’s smaller than a regular one, has a black head and neck, and red beak and feet. Around its beady eyes that are watching the men curiously, are golden-brown circles. The feathers have all shades of brown, black, white and gray.
They try not to stare at the bird for too long; they are in the wild, so seeing a goose shouldn’t be such a surprise. Clay had seen gooses that looked a little bit like this one during his childhood in Liberia.
Sonny remembers being chased by a huge white goose on one of his father’s friend’s farms. He was maybe four or five years old at that time and the goose was hissing at him and wanted to bite little Sonny’s heels.
Clay can’t hold back a "So, that’s how the Una bomber lived" when they enter the cabin.
It’s a spartan mess: dry leaves, cob-webs and dust everywhere, the window panes hidden behind shutters.
Sonny opening them and bitching about not being vaccinated enough to have to deal with this shit, makes Clay smirk.
Because he doesn’t want Sonny to bitch at him for not doing anything, Clay decides to go through the pile of papers on the table near the window.
The papers turn out to be drawings, and Clay realizes that he sees his own face on them as well. Together with members of Bravo, including the dogs, but also the faces of the Alpha team and many more.
"I had no idea he was so talented." he says softly to Sonny, who’s standing next to him by now.
"That son of a…" Sonny nudges Clay’s shoulder with his own, as they look at a quick sketch of a huge shark with fragments of the Lone Star hanging from its jaws.
"Wouldn’t that look good in your place?" Clay chuckles.
"This nightmare inducing daubing?" Sonny shakes his head. "Certainly no..."
Before he can say more, there’s the honking again and the goose they had both forgotten about, flaps its wings frantically and sits on the table in front of them, sending the drawings flying.
"You think this could be…?" Sonny asks carefully, and this time it’s Clay who shrugs.
"Wouldn’t he be a wolf?" He says skeptically. It’s hard to imagine their lost friend coming back as a goose. Especially if you’re not sure if you believe in such things at all. "Or a coyote?"
The honk sounds offended now - if an animal could feel offended, that is – as the goose stares at them.
When it hops off the table again, the bird doesn’t stop flapping its wings impatiently, but runs around the cabin, honking.
"Maybe it IS Metal after all..." Clay grins, as they both follow and try to clean the mess in the process.
"Yeah, it just suits him, making us purge all his shit." Sonny agrees and they both break out in laughter, which seems to irritate the goose - now it starts running around them in circles.
Clay stretches out a hand, to calm the goose down, like he would do with Cerberus or Pepper, but it snaps at his fingers, so he pulls back quickly. The goose is faster than he thought, so he stumbles and would probably lose his balance completely, if not for Sonny, who’s right there, stopping Clay from falling.
Meanwhile, the goose calms down a little, gently swaying from side to side, quacking occasionally, unbothered that both men curse her.
"Got ya." Sonny says, hands on Clay’s shoulders, Clay’s back against his chest.
Clay clears his throat, distracted by Sonny’s breath against his ear, as he realizes how close his face is to Sonny’s neck. "Thanks for not letting me fall on my ass." He grins as he tries to get his balance back.
"Anytime." Sonny pats his shoulder.
It’s in this quiet moment that the goose chooses to snap at Clay’s calf, even harder this time, hard enough for him to fall again. Clay curses and stumbles forward onto Sonny, who manages to trip backwards, taking Clay with him.
"You okay, babe?" Sonny asks, his arms around Clay.
"Yeah, but let’s have the damn goose for dinner." Clay gives himself some time to move away from Sonny, just in case the bird plans another attack. "Good to hear you giving me names again." He feels his ears turning red and hopes Sonny won’t notice. "It’s been weird without them so long…"
"Way too long." Sonny turns serious here, looking at him, before pulling Clay closer.
When their lips meet, neither of them is confused, surprised or hesitant. The kiss is urgent, almost desperate, as if they want to make it last as long as they can, before the other one realizes what’s happening and stops.
"The only reason I’m happy about you not being Bravo Six anymore." Sonny says out of breath, looking at Clay in awe, because Clay doesn’t push him away. Instead Clay pulls him closer and kisses Sonny again.
"I’m getting a divorce." Clay tells him after the kiss. "No, no, no, no, you’re not the reason!" he adds quickly, seeing Sonny’s furrowed brows.
"You sure?" Sonny lets go of him slowly. "Because I don’t wanna be a homewrecker…"
"I swear you’re not! I’ll tell you all about it. Later." Clay says and the goose honks, flapping its wings wildly, making them aware that it’s still there. This time luckily without hurting anyone. "See? Even the goose agrees with me!"
"I don’t know about the goose, but I believe you." Sonny kisses Clay again, running his fingers through Clay’s hair. Something he longed to do for years, but due to the circumstances only let the urge out in silly nicknames. "Blondzilla."
The goose honks, giving the kissing men one last look and quietly walks out of the door. If a goose would be able to look content, she would.