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Living with someone else was something new to Hal Emmerich.
He had always been alone, totally or kinda or in a sense, but alone nonetheless! You see, being alone didn't mean not having anyone around to Hal, it meant not having anyone who gave enough of a shit about what he does around.
Back when he was a kid, Heuy was barely ever home and again! Not as in 'never in the house' but more a 'leaving his mind outside and coming in' most of the time but anyway, that meant one parental figure that all the other kids had was out of picture.
Cause Daddy, as he used to call him, was never really there even when his body was. Huey's head was always somewhere else and Hal learned soon enough that that place was not with him.
Without the dad, you would look for a mom probably but well... Hal didn't remember much about mum either.
He liked to think of the little things he did remember as one of those anime flashbacks to the orphaned character's childhood cause it was as vague and as emotional as those. A dash of silver and a soft humming, a smile and a firm 'baby', a boop on his nose and his personal favorite... warmth of gentle armms that he knnew were not Huey's.
He missed mum a lot more than he missed dad but it did not change the fact that they were both not there and he was always alone cause dad had never cared.
Emma was the same a lot of times if he was, again, being honest cause little Em-Em, no matter how much of a sunshine he was to his little miserable life... had still been a baby. A kid who was very caring about things that interested her but uncaring of things that didn't, Hal loved being the thing she was interested in but his awkwardness only got her so far.
None of his family were really there enough to care and it wasn't wasn't their fault! Hal knew how hard it must've been for dad to go on without mumm and how bpring he must've sounded yo a child like Emma, they had problems of their own and Hal didn't want to be the one making more of them.
Hal didn't want to be a bother so he made sure to stay as out of their mind as much as possible, being alone wasn't that bad after all! No one to ask you what you're doing 24/7 and no one to be nosy about the things you decide to build with your dad's work's leftovers and no one to ask what were in those delivery boxes that contained the newest edition to your Evangelion merchandise or the latest bestselling BLs.
Life was simple, do what you want justdon't bother dad, look at that one picture of mom when too alone and study to make sure dad wouldn't get any sadder -madder- and you would be fine. Being careful about others noticing his, as people would say, weird hobbies was never a thing for Hal.
Cause anyone who even had a problem would turn a blind eye at it as long as Hal did his job and people, job or not, looked away when you were someone like Hal, they didn't care what the awkward and nerdy otaku too naive and smart for his own good would do in his free time as long as the job was done.
So he didn't really think of what Snake's views could be on these things when they started to live with each other. In Hal Emmerich's little joy world of mechs and anime, yuri and yaoi were just other things that he found comfort in...
If he was being honest with himself he always kinda forgot not everyone is supportive of two men or two women being with each other... or people reading stories about them... or queer people in general.
All that talk there just to explain this moment, with Dave lookinng at Hal and the thing he was reading with the emptiest expression of his life.
Hal just got another box delivered to his and Dave's residence, filled with new mangas he just ordered. Sue him, re-reading only takes you so far! He needed more reading material just like he needed to stay up-to-date with all the new episodes!
So he was sitting on the couch, surrounded by untouched and freshly opened reading material and giggling like a high school girl at the slow development of Adachi and Kurosawa's romance.
Hal iked a good unproblematic love story like this a lot! Don't get him wrong, fighting the world and villains for love was always intresting to him but this? This simplicity and casualness just hit diffrent from others. Imagining a life like this, working simple mundane jobs and knowing you'll come back home to welcome arms, kisses and warmth.
Hal really liked to imagine himself as the male lead in these in the same way he imagined himself as the one behind one of those world-saving mechs. It was easy to look at someone like Adachi and see himself. An awkward simple guy without many friends, just like Hal, who was good at his job and had little hobbies for himself... but was alone.
Until a capable man who was kinda out of his leage if you asked him came in picture, loved him, held him close and fell for him. Hal felt for the guy, for the struggles and for the doubts and for his feelings for Kurosawa... who reminded him of Dave in a way but only a little.
Strong, high and mighty in a way, not really showing what he thinks and extremely handsome in a cool manga way. Hal felt his heartbeat speed up a little bit imagining Snake's poker face shaping into something fond and almost caring (as caring as his kinda stone face could get).
Well, as you can see, Hal was a little lost in pages and thoughts, too lost to notice the steps or the low hoarse humming that had come his way a few minutes ago. And he might've had the giddiness of a teenage girl reading yaoi but ge didn't have the trained sense of hearing that a professional yaoi reader in teen years had, he was never forced to train them after all.
"That one acts like you." A finger came to his point of view from behind and Hal could swore eyes of Medusa were less stoning then this, "His self-worth is kinda shit too."
Hal wanted to turn his head but the voice was too close, coming from behind him thus behind the couch... somewhere with very good view on what Hal was reading and Dave's words implied that he sure had seen it.
Okay, no need to panic- YES NEED TO PANIC! A hardcore, tough military guy Hal kindamaybesomehowalotliked just found him reading yaoi! Hal knew how most supposed-tough guys reacted to things like this a-and Dave was a tough guy who happened to be his only friend!
Was he going to get mad? Was he mocking him? Snake wasn't that kind of guy, he wouldn't throw him out for this, would he? He had heard a lot about parents disowning their kids for being gay, would Dave do that to him? Can you disown your friends? Did he knew Hal was queer too? What if he thought Hal was being a creep doing this? If Dave throw him out... what would he do?? Maybe Dave didn't really care for it? But what was more likely, him being against it or okay with it? How could h-
"Hey, snap out of it." Voice as gruff as ever but tainted with mild annoyance now, something that happened a lot as Hal had came to realize, and sighed, "Chill."
Hal gulped, his face felt hot and his tongue felt as numb as his fingers that were holding the literature piece like dear life.
"U-um, I was..." was what... think of something, you dumb stupid guy! "This isn't m..." Not yours?? He saw you read it! The box has your name on it! THE OTHER VOLUMES ARE LAYING AROUND! Hal was doomed... "I-"
"I said chill, Hal..." Snake grumbled, putting a hand on his shoulder, Hal's breathing went from hyperventilating to one breath in maybe a little while. Dave wasn't a touchy guy, he liked his hands to himself just as much as he liked his thoughts to be that way. His hand on Hal's shoulder meant things.
"It's no big deal." And then he smiled.
If this was an anime or even a manga, an arrow would go right through Hal's heart, his head would start letting out heat, his eyes would tuen into hearts, the world would turn rose-tainted and petals would fly around Dave's face. Maybe he was going insane cause he could swear they were really there now.
David's smile was stunning. A little small, totally smart-ass and made him look even more cool but a tad softer. Otacon almost forgot all his worries for a second there... Dave was smiling, Dave smiling never led to bad things for all the times he had smiled like this, soft and reassuring and less than fingers Hal had in one hand.
"You blush like the guy too." Now, Dave was smirking at him bending over a little bit to get closer to Hal's level on the couch, "what is his name anyway?"
And now, Hal yruely forgot all his past worries as Snake narrowed his eyes to see the page better and the good Emmerich started to tell him all about the manga's plot and Adachi, the 30 years old virgin turned wizard as David thought to himself 'What a nerd.' very fondly.