Chapter Text
The ocean is never calm, there is always a current or waves pulling you this way and that, weighing his clothes down, dragging at the bombs he carried. The swim to the German ship was the hard part, the weight of the explosives slowing him down, higher chance of getting caught, so he dove deep. Where the water started to chill and he had to follow the sounds of the ship, the dim lighting distorted into shadows around him.
The job itself was easy: place a bomb here and one there, make the shape of a dick with the fuse for funsies, couldn’t be having the boat light up too soon. Once the work was done it was an easy swim back, little drag and he could enjoy the swim. He pulled up to the fishing boat as Lassen, Gus, and Hayes were watching the warship. A mix of disgust and pride welled up at the sight of Lassen covered in blood, waving the limp arm of a dead Nazi, the only memorabilia anyone really needed.
“Freddy should we be worried?” Gus asked, never a big fan of waiting for explosives, he claimed they were too untamable for his planning.
“Oh I don’t think so sir,” Freddy offered a short explanation of his work, enjoying the anxious shifting of Hayes, matching the worried look on his mentor’s face as he listened. Lassen didn’t seem concerned, hands on his hips as blood covered him head to toe, he was a confident man and easily trusted the bombs. He claimed that no good hunter should be predictable, and so he didn’t care for the predictability of others.
The warship took a couple more shots before it finally blew out of the water, a glorious arch of whitewater with a cloud of smoke erupting in the middle. It was a work of art really, trying to create a cohesive explosion to take an entire ship out.
“Good work Frederick,”
The biggest struggle of the battle was the aftermath, trying to clean up the body and the damages the little guys had left. Honestly Freddy stalled getting back onto the main part of the ship, letting Lassen and Gus drag the bodies to the bow and kick it overboard, instead storing his fins back and rechecking the remaining explosives for damage.
A tap on his shoulder got attention, “Excuse me sir, I seem to have lost my mind!” A headless soldier was what Freddy faced when he turned around, Lassen moving the arms up to mimic a clueless shrug. Lassen was struggling not to laugh and Gus was leaning on the railing grinning, and Freddy really couldn’t not laugh.
He grabbed one of the limp hands, forcing the hand into a fist and popping out the middle finger before sticking it up at Lassen, all three of them truly losing it when Freddy let go and the hand had frozen in shape. After a couple more shenanigans (a headless man jerking himself off is quite ungentlemanlike), and Lassen had tossed the body into the ocean, sitting on the edge of the row boat to wash some of the blood off.
“You know hopping in would be a lot faster,” Freddy commented, honestly it made no sense watching this massive man struggle to rinse his face in the water.
“And this works just fine.” Lassen kept trying to scoop enough water to rinse his neck, instead just adding to the small puddle in the boat.
“It’s really not, just hop in,” Freddy gave him a shove, just for Lassen to instantly shove back away from the water, pulling his legs out and turning on Freddy.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Lassen was intimidating, especially in a fight and to enemies, but he was careful to never be aggressive towards the crew. But now he looked like he did in a fight, wide eyed and feet in a battle stance, apparently ready to fight Freddy. Was he going to fight Freddy over a fucking joke?
“You’re scared of the ocean!” Freddy couldn’t believe it. What sane person takes a job to fight Nazis in the middle of the ocean while scared of the ocean. Maybe he got too many concussions fighting bears and forgot he was scared of the ocean.
“He can’t swim,” Gus commented, apparently he had given up on fixing the table and laid out on the deck to take a nap.
“Shut up,” Lassen was clambering back onto deck, shoulders flexing under his shirt as he pulled himself up, apparently giving up on trying to wash himself.
“Nope, you can’t go in there. You’re going to get blood everywhere!” Hayes had blocked him, braver than Freddy expected him to be.
“You literally shot people down there, it will be fine.”
“Lassen it really will start stinking if you get it on the bed,” Gus was kind of right on that one, there was a difference between the floor and the bunks.
They were at a bit of a stand still, a blood soaked man who could easily kill all of them, pouting at the cabin door because he was scared of a little water. Three men who didn’t wanna deal with the smell of death for the next 3 weeks.
“Well there is always the bucket?” Freddy throughout. The infamous bucket all of them had used to relieve themselves throughout the journey at some point or another, hell Freddy had thrown up in it after eating some bad bread.
—
“I hate you all,” Lassen stood, soaked with his arms crossed as Freddy sat at the edge of the boat, scooping water into a grey bucket, enjoying the sullen look on his face. A massive man acting like a 5-year-old who got their toy taken away was really the highlight of this trip.
“Cheer up mate, maybe we can make you a little floaty next time,” Freddy grinned while splashing him right in the face with the water and putting his hands on his hips. “See you are so pretty without the blood.”
Lassen really did look good, the shirt was soaked and hung to every part of him, showing years of work paid off to hone that dangerous body. His slight squint without his glasses, just watching Freddy, a hint of mischief in those eyes as he eyed the bucket in Freddy’s hands.
“Don’t you fucking dare” Freddy was already moving around Lassen with the bucket outstretched away from him as he walked back to the ship.
“Aw you don’t want some of the shit bucket?” Lassen chuckled as he tried to grab for it, grabbing Freddy’s arm in an attempt to seize it. A small struggle ensued, Lassen’s hands gripping onto Freddy as he kicked Lassen in the shins and tossed the bucket onto the main ship. The struggle for the bucket had been swift, but then it became a familiar struggle of brotherly roughhousing, trying to stop the other from reaching the main first. Freddy had the upper hand, stepping on Lassen’s foot timed with waves rocking the boat, letting him get a head start till he reached the railing to pull himself up.
Once Freddy had started to pull himself up he seized up as Lassen grabbed him, hands clamping down around his waist causing his brain to misfire. The warm and solid hands grabbed him so effortlessly, before yanking him back like a child. Freddy was not a small man, and yet Lassen had just grabbed him like it was nothing. Then tossed him into the ocean.
The cold water was a hard reset for Freddy’s mind, instantly he was breaking the surface, calling out curses while Lassen grinned, blindingly white against his sun kissed skin. He stood with the sun silhouetting him, the halo really showed the dips and curves of the man's arms and shoulders. They had spent some time in Italy, preparing for the journey, and they had stopped into a small bar before leaving, and a woman had called him “Heracles” the entire night, laughing whenever someone tried to correct her. Freddy understood what she meant as Lassen grinned, reaching out a hand while never losing that grin, shirt clinging to his chest as he hoisted Freddy up. Once he had found his footing Freddy was face to face with Lassen, both soaked and grinning like idiots, the joy of the moment hovering between their shared breaths.
“Alright guys, let's start talking.” Gus called out, heading to the cabin.