&& BEAST OF AMERICA.

“… ”

those words felt like poison, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. tavish tried his best to control his raging emotions inside to form his thoughts, but ultimately failed. would he be willing to tell his true emotions to solly, his friend? or would he keep in bottled up inside until he would reach his breaking point. demo was torn between both decisions ; he didn’t know what to decide.

but eventually he would have to make his decision, he reminded himself grimly. 

“you.. i… when yer mentioned that woman from th’ soviet union, i got jealous.” demo looked down, ashamed. “and ta’ just clear my mind from my troubles i drank myself til i got immense headaches.” he laughed bitterly. “but that did not help. it didn’t cure my troubles. it just made them worse.”

“but enough of that.. i.. wanted to say something else more important than that.” 

“for a long time we’ve been friends - going through good times but sometimes agonizing for the both of us.”

“and solly, i wanted tell you something i kept for you for a long time.” his hands trembled slightly, nervousness starting to creep in. 

a moment of hesitation was what finally enabled him to speak those words.

“i love you jane.”

soldier listened to his best friends words in silence, a frown building up on his brows under the helmet. he was...jealous ? because of his affair with zhanna ? it was odd, after all he had told demo about a few of his previous lovers && never assumed that he would get jealous. WHY ? because he was afraid he was going to lose him as a friend ? soldier gulped at the mention of demo drinking. it was nothing unusual, after all he was known for being an alcoholic loving person -- but if demo has been drinking that much that it made him seriously sick, he knew, it had been a lot. much, much more than what he usually drank. &&  just before he could open his mouth to speak, tavish spoke those words that left him dumbfounded. for a moment he couldn’t comprehend what he meant by that. was that a JOKE ? or just some slurred words that arise from his already intoxicated state ? he had been telling him a few times in the heat of the moment things like such,  but ...     never    like    this.

jane blinked at his friend, his shoulders slumped down && his hands fell loosely to the sides of his body, the same that had meant to touch his friends shoulder. he loved him. && it was not a joke, he could tell. he was thick - but definitely not that thick. jane opened his mouth && gave the probably worst answer he could have given in this situation.

                                         ❛     oh  .  .  .  ❛

he wanted to say more. but he didn’t know what. a simple question swirled in his mind. were the feelings mutual ? no. he couldn’t say they were. his heart was swollen with love for the woman in the cold mountains. && yet ... tavish has been his friend, his soulmate. they fought together, lived together, drank together, laughed && cried together. was there anything he could call LOVE he felt for him...? ❛  tavish, i ---- ❛ soldier spoke, without even thinking. but what was there to say ? ❛ i --- ❛ he tried again. but nothing. no words left his lips. this was too much. he suddenly quickly turned around, mumbling a few words. ❛  e-excuse me ... for a moment ...❛

                  » »  With lightning fast reflexes, her hands shot up toward the sky. She wasn’t holding anything, and she wanted to show that to this man who had inadvertently ( or so she thought ) snuck up on her.

                            Do you have a gun? Please don’t shoot.

                 She stood like this until she was given any clear from this man in the weird-looking hat. Of course, anything up here was weird looking for her. She had been down there with GLaDOS for as long as she could remember. Even the sky looked a little weird. Had it always been that blue?

the shotgun raised highly, soldier glared at the unknown person in front of him. he had orders - which he made himself. one of them was to never, ever, let an unauthorized person near the base,     don’t set a foot in the base,     don’t look at the base, not even breathing the air around the base. ABSOLUTE SECURITY. she could after all be the enemies spy, disguised as the woman in front of him.

❝ Aw,

       — thought we’re playing fair, but it seems you wanna get { DIRTY. } ❞

┊ ✄ ┊ Quick and h a s t e were the only thoughts she had in her mind at the moment, however her focus shifts on to the shovel that had been drawn out by the other.

It would of been a dumb choice if she had not taken out the shovel out of the man’s grip first, therefore, her leg lifts itself up and k i c k e d at the shovel with force to make the object flying off from the soldier’s grasp. 

The marks on her forearm glowed CRIMSON , resulting her hand forming into a fist and ( u p p e r c u t t i n g ) at the soldier’s chin. 

❝ Try again, h u n.

        I can do more than using  g l a s s  s h a r d s. ❞

soldier growled like   an upset dog, firming his grip around the shovel,  making a huge step forwards,             swinging it into he direction, before the force of her kick hauled the weapon out of his hand, landing a few feet away from the veteran,       too far away to reach it again. not yet fully aware of the situation around him, he was struck by a fist flinging fiercely against the bone of his jaw, making him see stars for a minute. he tumbled backwards, but caught his balance in the last second. just now he realized she had left quite a bruise there, the skin was lacerated && blood started dripping out of the open wound. DAMMIT.

♨▇ ℙ Y R O ▇♨

The Schizo felt the other seize up, which really didn’t surprise him for a few reasons. One of which is most likely because the Soldier didn’t expect it, and two.. well, he didn’t recall that Solly was really the type to initiate much less receive any kind of affection. But the Pyro couldn’t really help it. It wasn’t too often he needed the support of others. Didn’t all people need at least a little at some point though?

It was at the unsure voice of the other and the pat on his back that Pyro snapped back to reality and withdrew from the veteran. Swiftly letting go and taking a few steps back, eyes looking at anywhere and everywhere except the other offensive class. He was still shaking, clenching hist fists tightly to try and shoo the fear from his head. Jesus fucking Christ, even his normal nightmares weren’t as bad as this one..

You could cut the awkwardness in the air with a knife, it was so thick. And Pyro had a limited amount of options. He could walk (or run) away and pretend this never happened, he could try and explain himself or he could sweep out the tension with a change of topic. The maniac chose the third.

❝U-Uhmm-m.. Sldhier..wht ahr yhu dhing hhre?❞

it were probably just seconds, but it felt like hours before pyro would let go of him, retreating a few steps from the still slightly confused soldier. after a few more moments of staring in disbelief, the veteran cleared his throat && pushed his helmet back in place, dusting his uniform off like the pyro had actually POLLUTED it. by the way the other seemed to shake though, soldier could feel that, whatever happened, it still haunted him. there were just a few things that startled the fire-fanatic              --- so what happened ? it was the moment he cocked his head in curiosity that he realized the other asked him a question.

She opened her mouth but it quickly shut, unable to think of anything to say that could defend her mentor– at the end of the day, no matter how nice he was to her; he still killed people.

But they respawned right? Or was it different for the BLUs? 

        ❝You have a Spy too…❞

Clementine meekly started, they had a spy exactly like theirs and he did the same kind of damage than their Spy. It was hard to think for a response when her head swam with questions. 

soldier noticed the         way her glance shifted as he mentioned the damage her masked friend had committed. for a moment, the veteran felt pity for her, for finding out the truth this way, but there was no space for SYMPATHY.               they were in war   &&   life’s were on the line.

❛   yes,   we   do    have one of those   croissant-munchers   too. but unfortunately, he doesn’t even come close to the VICIOUSNESS of your spy.   ❛

        » i have your file up now. it             says you’re actually from russia,             adopted by americans. left on the             side of the road by your communist             parents. oh, did your  “parents” never tell                 you this? well, you’re adopted. «

that was a joke, right ?   just some very, very bad joke at the expense of him, the   most american  man in the entire world. it may not be visible beneath the helmet, but soldier’s eyelid started twitching uncontrollably.     it took him a few more moments until he gathered his senses                                   &&      cracked a smirk.

♨▇ ℙ Y R O ▇♨

Pyro was EXTREMELY emotional.

Not always, mind you. Sometimes he can be quite calm and collected…but when his feelings did run high- one could compare his actions to that of a bomb. All over the place, sometimes very sudden and straight up scary.

The pyrotechnician had worked with the Soldier in many fights. And while he wasn’t exactly a buffer, heavier, shoot-everything-in-sight class. He found himself working with those types quite often. Whether it was capping a point or pushing a cart, he was usually around them if not with Engie.

He was going through another one of his…mm..episodes. This one occurring after a brutal nightmare. They weren’t a daily event, but they were a bit disturbing. So when Pyro had just woken up, he was not in a very stable state of mind.

The maniac had been running this way and that, trying to find a place to hide, someone to talk too. But he could barely move, barely speak. So he decided the best course of action to take was this- keeping himself in a broom closet until he calmed down.

What he didn’t anticipate was for his team mate to open the door. Though, he supposed the ruckus and racket that the psycho was making could be cause for concern. No wonder the other offensive class had come to check it out..

He didn’t even realize what he was doing, shaking violently. But the next thing the Pyro knew- was that he was hugging the Soldier, of all people. The same man who went on about war, and buckets, and eagles and…so on. He wished he could pull away, but only gripped onto the other more fiercely.

This class, one of the most terrifying and feared- was blubbering like a baby.

dammit, where had he left his bucket ? it had to be somewhere here ... not only was his dearest bucket missing, no - for hours, the team had been asking themselves where the pyro was. he was not in his room, at least not the last time heavy had checked. && he was also not around sniper’s van, using the large metal-sheet as his personal canvas. they assumed he was somewhere outside the base, perhaps chasing butterflies to rip their wings off && burn them or play with some other animals ‘ who will survive the  gasoline  -  shower    &&    firematches. ‘ however, soldier did     barely care for the other teammates. what they did or where they were was not interesting to him enough to lose his focus on finding his TREASURE the spy had given to him the day before the bread monster attacked     &&     nearly devoured them. he went through the sleeping rooms of each mercenary, he searched in their lockers, in the kitchen,           even spy’s smoking room. but nothing. ❛  d’ohh ... ❛ he mumbled in distress, nervously scratching his neck && biting his fingernails. this was not good ! not good at all !  suddenly, a noise. more like - a voice. sobs ? he couldn’t tell what it was, but he surely knew where it came from. eyes moved to the closet in the far corner of the locker rooms. being the reckless, fearless man he was, he stomped towards the noise, grabbed the door && pulled it open:

            ❛ So, you’re a soldier. I used to be a war lord, you know.                                 We didn’t have guns though. Just swords and                                                     knives. Pretty brutal shit that was. ❜

❝ — If you like it ( a n o t h e r ) way; the pleasure is all

      m i n e. ❞

✄ She lunges toward the solider, with her fist swinging d i r e c t l y at his face to him stumble to the GROUND. 

the veteran did definitely not anticipate the velocity of the woman’s fist as it dashed into his direction        && hit him with such         POWER      it knocked him off his feet. grumbling a few words, he brushed his hand over the aching spot on his jaw,                       before jumping back on his feet, drawing his trusty, blood-stained shovel.

     -------   ❛   c’mere  ,  cupcake    !!   ❛