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It was their third deployment to Iraq in as many years. Spending the holidays overseas had never been fun but they made do - they were marines after all.
“Hey, Brad,” Nate greeted, walking up next to him. The man had slipped out of the mess where the rest of 1st Recon and the other division at camp were celebrating. Nate wasn’t surprised to find him looking reflectively out into the desert night.
“Sir,” Brad answered with a slight nod.
The pair stood there in comfortable silence, sharing in each other’s company. It had always been that way between them. There never had to be a lot of words. Everything that needed said happened with their eyes or their subtle movements.
It wasn’t until they heard the chorus of a countdown that either of them bothered to move. They turned in towards each other, heads craning around to gaze inside.
“Ten!”
Nate’s lips quirked. “Any New Year's resolutions?”
“Eight!”
“Don’t really believe in those…”
“Six!”
“You?” Brad continued.
“Five!”
Nate chuckled, pulling a smile to Brad’s face as well. Nate stepped into his team leader’s personal space, chin tilted back to look up at him.
“Three!”
“Just one,” Nate answered, noting the second Brad caught onto his plan.
“Two!”
“Yeah?”
“One!”
“Yeah,” Nate breathed out, leaning in.
“Happy New Year!”
Brad dipped his head to meet Nate’s lips. There was nothing tentative behind it, a warm declaration of something they’d known for a long time. When they parted from the brief embrace they were both grinning softly.
“Happy New Year, Nate,” he murmured.
Nate’s smile grew, lingering just a bit longer in Brad’s space. “Happy New Year.” His attention was drawn into the mess where all the guys were causing a good-natured ruckus. “Come on,” he encouraged Brad with a tilt of his head. “They’ll be time to discuss goals for the year later.”
Brad chuckled, falling in step with Nate as always. “Solid copy, sir.”
/End