𝙷𝙱𝙾 𝚆𝚊𝚛 𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜

Of Warmth Inside Convents | Ron Speirs

the companion fic to Of Snowballs and Lizard Brains!

merry belated christmas and happy holidays!

~~~

Was that...Captain Speirs? Rolling in the snow?

And laughing? With a fellow soldier?

(Granted, that soldier was his significant other and best friend, but that didn't make it any less shocking to see.)

George couldn't believe his eyes. Or ears. He wasn't hallucinating, was he? Surely he'd gotten enough sleep last night.

"Hey, Perco, take a look at this."

"Hmmph?" Comes Frank's sleepy reply.

"Perco, come on." George's eyes don't leave the scene. "Wake up."

"Luz, they shot me through my ass. I deserve at least a little sleep right now."

George huffed. "Alright, fine."

And he didn't say anything else.

Until Skinny walked by.

"Hey, Skinny! Sisk! You gotta see this."

"Sorry, not now, Luz." Skinny shook his head. "Gotta help run these supplies to Doc."

He raised the crate of bed sheet rolls and few boxes of morphine as best he could without dropping anything loose on top.

"Oh. Alright. Yeah."

And Skinny disappeared. George was thrust into silence again. Speirs was still throwing snow around and laughing. Someone had to see this, or else George would go mad. He couldn't say anything about it, least of all to Speirs. Could he even imagine how that conversation would go?

"Hello, sir, I saw you rolling around in the snow. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Of course, Luz. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Oh, well, nothing, really."

"Y'know what? I'll let you in on one thing, Luz: I am okay. But you saw correctly, I was having a good, old-fashioned snowball fight with the love of my life."

"Huh? Why are you telling me this?"

Speirs would laugh. It almost sounded evil.

"Because no one will ever believe you."

Yeah, clearly he could imagine it. And that wasn't going to happen if he could help it.

He reluctantly stays silent again. He'll pester whoever walks by next. But for now, he'll sit with Frank.

He doesn't know how long it's been when Frank wakes up later.

"Hey, you look better."

"Not feelin' it, though. My ass is killin' me."

George nodded. "Hang on, think I got something for that." He felt around his pockets until he brandished a bar of chocolate and handed it to Frank.

"No way! How'd you get your hands on this?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets." George replied with a grin.

Frank only lightheartedly scoffed in response, rolling his eyes at George's reaction. He quickly opened the bar and took a bite of it, offering a piece to his companion, who took it with a smile.

"Thanks."

Frank nodded, then paused mid-chew. "Say, George, what'd you want to show me earlier?"

The door of the convent burst open and two soldiers walked in. George recognized one of them as Speirs. The other one was you.

George blinked. "Huh?"

"What was it you wanted to show me earlier?"

"Oh." George turned back to watch as you and Speirs marched across the convent. If anyone had seen the pair of you walking in, they would've seen two normal soldiers, rosy-cheeked and covered in snow. Just like any other soldier coming and going from the convent.

But George saw the little smile Speirs wore. He saw the smaller hand of a sergeant grab Speirs'. He saw the pinker-than-normal blush on Speirs' cheeks. He saw the little kiss the sergeant pressed to Speirs' cheek before they parted ways: the sergeant to their squad, the captain to his officers.

"George?"

"Huh? Oh, right." George opened his mouth to regale his butthurt–ha, butthurt. Literally. Pun not intended, George thought. But file away for later–companion of the ever-mysterious Speirs playing in the snow, of all things. No one would ever expect the aloof, legendary Captain to have a snowball fight, least of all smile about it.

"Y'know what, Frank?" George decided, grinning at his friend. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."