#supportive teammates

Jade tilted her head as she peered into the mirror in front of her, slightly surprised when the woman looking back at her made the same movement; the person in the mirror did not look like the polished, professional MI6 agent that she was accustomed to seeing.

Her braid was unraveling, tufts of hair sticking out all over the place, a general frizz setting in on the top. Her fatigues were layered with filth, even now as she shifted her weight, bits of dirt fell off near her boots. Both were typical after a mission. Nothing extremely different there.

But her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot. And her hands shook as she raised the wet towel to the edge of her hairline, near her forehead, in an attempt to wipe the blood off.

Simon’s blood.

*

It had been a testament to how much of a FUBAR situation that the 141 found themselves in that Jade didn’t even register the armed soldier coming up behind her until Simon shouted her name. Before she could turn around, Simon’s hands were on her waist, yanking her roughly behind a stack of crates that had been nearby. Jade could hear the thump thump of the bullets hitting the wood behind where she had been standing.

Pushing Simon off of her, Jade pulled out her sidearm and shifted into a crouched position. Counting the number of bullets, she roughly estimated that the other soldier was about to reload, so she quickly leaned out from behind the crate. It only took two shots and the soldier was down, along with the other one that had popped up behind him.

Ducking back behind the crate, she glanced over at Simon, surprised that she had made the move before he did. He still hadn’t moved from where she pushed him and with growing concern, she dropped back beside him. Gripping his shoulder tightly, she pulled the now unconscious man into a sitting position. That’s when she saw the bullet hole.

*

Simon was fine. Or he was going to be fine. He had taken a bullet through his left shoulder, a clean through and through. He had been unresponsive due to hitting his head on the ground from pulling Jade to cover, but was being monitored in the base infirmary, having woken up an hour ago.

Simon was fine.

Jade was fine too. She tried to not focus too much on the thought that the bullet that ended up going through Simon’s shoulder would have gone through her head if he hadn’t tackled her out of the way in time. It wasn’t the first near death experience she’d had. And it wouldn’t be the last.

She pressed harder on her forehead, practically scrubbing the top layer of skin off to remove the hint of red that remained. So focused on her task, Jade failed to hear the knock on the door, and the entry of Roach into the room until he spoke up behind her.

“Are you okay, Jade?”

It took every bit of focus and M16 undercover training to not jump at Roach’s voice. Instead she took a deep breath, and turned, glaring at the other soldier.

“This is the women’s room, Roach.” Jade said dismissively, turning back towards the mirror. She ignored the quiet gasp he made behind her; she didn’t have time to soothe his feelings over her response. No, she had to get the blood off. She went to wet the towel again, only to flinch away when Roach touched her shoulder.

“What the heck are you doing?” She asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked back at Roach. His face was all scrunched up, he better not be thinking of crying.

“Y-you have blood in your hair, Jade,” Roach said softly, his voice catching a bit on the words.

She could tell he was thinking the same thing he was; that it was Simon’s blood. But neither of them were going to say it.

“Whatever, I can -”

“-Let me…”

They both started to say, only to stop mid sentence.

“Let me help you, okay?” Roach said, taking another step in her direction. “I know you don’t like accepting help Jade, but please.” He took a deep breath, as if he was stealing himself for something important, but then just repeated his comment. “Let me help.”

Jade took another look in the mirror, angling her head to see if she could see what Roach was referring to. But between the colour of her natural hair and the layers of dirt, she was unable to see any of the blood he was referring to. “Fine,” she said, handing over the towel she had been using on her forehead. “But this doesn’t grant you access to the shower area.”

“No, no,” Roach shook his head back and forth, looking alarmed. “Should be able to fix everything out here. Have a seat?” Roach instructed, motioning towards one of the benches.

If it had been any other time, Roach’s concern would have been hilarious. But in the current scenario, Jade didn’t feel like smiling very much. So with the barest nod of her head, she followed Roach’s instructions, sitting down on the bench. Jade almost leaped up again when Roach’s hands rested at the bottom of her braids. She was more out of it than she thought.

Roach carefully pulled off the hair elastic, unwinding a few pieces of hair that had gotten attached. He then proceeded meticulously by unbraiding her hair bit by bit, pausing every so often to scrub gently with a fresh towel that he had wetted and also placed a dollop of shampoo on.

Jade allowed herself to close her eyes, letting herself get lost in the repetitive and calming motions. Roach’s fingers deftly combed through the strands of her hair, making sure not to miss any blood along the way. It had been a while since someone touched her hair like this, perhaps it had been her mother a long time back. She had forgotten the meditative, almost peaceful state that it could place her body into.

Jade may have almost nodded off if it wasn’t for Roach clapping his hands behind her, exclaiming that he was done. A ghost of a smile started to show on her face as she turned towards the other man. Subtle, Roach was definitely not.

“Probably wouldn’t hurt to have another shower, make sure it’s all gone, but I think I found it all,” Roach added, tossing the now pink stained towel into the laundry hamper. He stood, looking like he was going to head for the door when Jade’s hand snapped out, grabbing him by the elbow and stopping his movement.

“Thanks Roach.” She said clearly, honestly meaning it. While Roach was right, that she didn’t like to ask for help, she really did appreciate his assistance. “Wait for me? I’ll hop in and out of the shower, and then we can go see Simon,” she offered, suspecting that the younger man wanted to check in on his teammate, but possibly not alone.

The smile that lit up his face confirmed her suspicions, as he nodded and indicated that he would wait down the hall.

Once he was out of the room, Jade quickly stripped and slid into the shower, not wanting to make him wait long.

Tucking his mascara into his pocket, Keegan’s driving a bit too sharp for having a pointy object near his eye, Logan resolved to finish his make-up in the washroom. Keegan jumped out and slid around the car to open his door, Logan smiling at the small gentlemanly gesture, and his smile only grew bigger as Keegan slid an arm around his waist, hooking a couple fingers into his belt loops.

“So tell me, how did you know of this place? We’ve been stationed here for a while and I never knew this was here,” Keegan asked him as they stood in line to get in.

“Hesh and I grew up in San Diego, and when ODIN hit, Dad immediately re-enlisted and we moved to Santa Monica. So we’ve lived in this area for…six years now? Yeah, it would be six.” Logan confirmed, mentally checking the math in his head. “So I know most of the gay-friendly hang outs,” he added as an after thought, tilting his head in the direction of the club.

Logan continued to tell Keegan about some of the better food options closer to the base when they were waved into the club. While he was looking forward to dancing, he was also a bit disappointed that the loud bass of the music made it difficult to talk as easily. Leaning over to yell into Keegan’s ear, Logan let him know that he was headed into the washroom and that he’d be right out, Keegan nodding in response.

*

Keegan glanced down at his watch, trying to not get too antsy. But Logan had been gone a good twenty minutes by now, and he was getting a touch concerned. Finishing off Logan’s shot, his own being gone a few minutes earlier, he headed in the direction of the bathroom. Poking his head in carefully, he was relieved to see Logan standing in front of the mirror. But as he got closer, he frowned slightly at the swearing coming out of his date’s mouth.

“What’s going on?” Keegan asked, suppressing his laugh at Logan’s small jump, the blonde obviously not noticing him come into the washroom.

“I’m rusty,” Logan said with a frown as he looked in the mirror, Keegan quick to see the small error.

Glancing at the bathroom counter, which seemed relatively strong and surprisingly clean, Keegan hopped up next to Logan, reaching out for the mascara. “Pass it over,” Keegan said, Logan handing over the wand in obvious disbelief. Keegan motioned for Logan to come closer, tugging slightly on his jeans when he didn’t move close enough.

Now Logan was standing directly in-between his legs, their pants brushing against one another. Logan’s cheeks started to flush, his eyes glancing downwards, and all Keegan could think was how cute he was at that very moment. But his position wouldn’t do for make-up application, and so Keegan reached out again, tilting Logan’s chin up just so that the lighting in the bathroom hit his face at the right angle. Or almost the right angle, it was a dimly lit bathroom, only so much could be done.

Able to see Logan’s beautiful brown eyes, Keegan held his breath as he placed the wand at the base of his upper lashes, wiggling it back and forth carefully. Then he pulled the wand upwards toward the tip, making sure to coat every part of the lash, but slow enough to avoid clumping. Keegan then repeated the process for the second eye. Pulling back, glancing at both eyes to make sure he applied the same amount, Keegan gave a nod. “Perfect,” he said softly, and then leaned forward to bring Logan into a kiss. The kiss was perfect too.

“Thanks,” Logan replied, a bit breathlessly, whether from the intimacy of their position or the kiss, Keegan wasn’t sure.

But Keegan lingered there for a few minutes before sliding back off the counter, taking Logan’s hand in his. “Ready to dance?”

“Definitely.”

*

Logan hummed to himself as he returned to the barracks, pausing by his room to grab his toiletry supplies. It was late, at least past two, but Logan desperately needed to erase every trace of the club from his body, in particular any lingering mascara or glitter. Something about glitter and gay clubs, you couldn’t have one without the other.

He sighed as he thought back to the date; the night had been perfect. No war to worry about, no training to prepare for, just a night full of dancing with a great guy. Keegan had been a bit shy on the dance floor at first, which was absolutely adorable. With a couple more shots, he had loosened up a touch, his hands resting lower on Logan’s hips, his warm body alongside Logan’s. Everything had gone perfectly.

And the shower room was empty, which was another win.

Dropping his toiletries by the door, Logan grabbed a towel from a nearby pile to have on hand. Reaching in, he quickly turned on the water to get it warm, and then after a couple minutes, stepped under the now hot spray. Hot water and private shower time was a luxury on the base, and Logan closed his eyes as he started to wash his body, enjoying the peace and quiet. He was so distracted by the water that he failed to hear the door to the shower room open until a voice spoke up.

“Now we get it.” A man’s voice said from directly behind him.

Logan jumped in surprise, his arm reaching out just in time to stop him from slipping on the wet tile floor. He turned to see three of his fellow trainees, but unlike him, they were all fully dressed. Feeling a touch vulnerable, he shifted his legs closer, but resisted the urge to cover up with his hands. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like where this was going.

“You’re not just a coffee guru, you’re a cock-sucking guru,” a familiar voice chimed in, Logan looking over at shock to see Brian, Hesh’s friend from basic, enter the room. It was now four against one. Logan gripped the bottle of shampoo he had in his hand a bit tighter.

“So tell us, Logan, about how you service the Tier One teams…oh wait, you can’t tell us,” Brian taunted, taking a few more steps into the shower room, Logan tensing at his movement.

But Logan was too focused on Brian to notice the first punch flying in his direction, the force sending him to his knees.