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“Yeah well, I still say you cheated.” Felix laughed, a genuine smile spread across his features for once.
“And that is because you are a sore loser.” Locus replied, a similar smile but small in size was mirrored on his own face.
They walked together on the dirt path, side by side in full power armor, tan and green, so close to each other they were brushing shoulders with every misguided step. In one hand they held their helmets, in the other their rifles. The two of them were tired, both liberally covered in sweat and dirt from the training exercise for the day, and were slowly headed back towards base camp. Of course, as had become custom lately, the two held back behind the rest of their squad to talk like this. Privacy was not something often granted and the two were apt to seize it whenever possible...anyone finding out about them posed a problem.
“Hey, hey,” Felix started again, “I'm a sore winner , get it right.” he snarked, bumping his left shoulder into Locus’s upper arm. They were a bit closer together in height when fully armored but a notable difference still remained.
“Oh man, I can't wait to pass the hell out tonight. I'm fucking exhausted,” Felix supplied with a roll of his shoulders. All these super intense training sprees were wearing them all down; their new C.O. was to blame...guy was a huge dick. Locus didn't have to worry about anything, Felix always noted, because Locus was pretty much the perfect soldier. Felix, on the other hand, thought too much outside the box and acted way too reckless which the C.O. found disagreeable, to say the least. The C.O. practically demanded that every soldier under him was required to be just that, a soldier, and nothing else. Felix especially hated it when the guy talked down to Locus.
“You? Going to sleep on time? Now that’s -?” Locus had meant to finish with ‘that was something he’d like to see’ but paused when he realized Felix was no longer next to him. With a glance over his shoulder, he caught sight of the other soldier. His face, young, boyish features, garbed in tan and green that didn’t quite suit him, were looking upwards towards the sky.
Having replaced the rifle in his hand to his back, Felix’s gloved palm was now slightly outstretched and laid flat.
“What’s wrong?” Locus asked, concern slightly filling his voice. He may have only known Felix for a few years but he knew enough to know that this was very un-Felix-like behavior.
The younger soldier took a moment to respond, a huge grin creeping across his face before looking back down and over towards Locus, “It’s snowing.” There was just a hint of giddiness in his voice as he said it. Just so, a smallish white flake drifted down and promptly landed on Locus’s nose. The sensation was strange, considering how small the piece had been, and he shook his head as if to rid himself of it.
“It won’t stick.” It wasn’t that he was trying to be pessimistic, it was honestly just the first thought that had come to his mind. The planet he’d lived on had been fairly regular as far as climates went; hot summers and cold winters had been the norm for him and his family.
“So?” Felix snapped back, tone incredulous rather than angry, “ I’ve never seen snow before so maybe let me enjoy this, Locs?” Words harsh, but tone light and playful in a way that only those close to Felix would ever understand, the smaller man turned his gaze back up to the sky. Perhaps in a way he was hoping to find something to prove Locus wrong. Having snow stick would be a pain in the ass; it would make running drills a living hell, and everyone would probably just be slipping and sliding around and Felix would be damned if he would fall flat on his face. He reasoned, anyhow, that that must be what snow was like when it did arrive.
“We should go somewhere with more snow.” Felix remarked offhandedly as he carefully slipped past Locus, drawing the other man from his silent reverie.
Locus scoffed, “You’d prefer being stationed somewhere like Sidewinder? The climate there is harsh, and with the frequent storms that cover Sidewinder, getting supplies there is a feat unto itself. Soldiers who are stationed there -”
Without warning, Felix was suddenly right there in front of him, practically face to face if they’d been the same height. The sudden appearance of the smaller man had thrown him for a loop and so, his train of thought had instantly been derailed.
“I meant, in the future...nerd.” Felix tacked the colloquial ‘insult’ onto the end with a murmur and smile. Turning around, Felix continued back on his path back to the base camp.
The future? Locus hadn’t given much thought to that honestly. It wasn’t that he was a ‘live in the moment’ kind of person, certainly not, things had to be planned out just right or they would risk complications with that matter or in the case of missions, failure. However, truthfully, Locus hadn’t given much thought to the days after the war. It was almost as if he wasn’t able to do that, and rightfully, he couldn’t. Millions of things could go wrong...he could suffer a disabling injury...he might even die...Felix might die...though they existed in the realm of possibilities, they were not thoughts Locus was fond of entertaining.
But a future with Felix...that was a thought worth entertaining, especially at this stage. How far they’d come from the hateful rivals they’d thought they’d always be...it was silly to think about, how they’d (or rather Felix) had acted so childish in their attempts to get back at each other. Now, Felix had proposed something much different, something that he hadn’t thought existed in the realm of possibilities.
It was there, Locus remembered years later, on that simple dirt path with the gray sky hanging overhead, that he vowed to make sure Felix got his wish...even if his future partner ended up complaining about how cold he was not 5 minutes after they arrived.