No Bravery | dunkirk au

I've Seen Hell

You can't last long in the army if you don't follow the commanders' orders. 

Alex had learnt it in the worst way. 

The first weeks of military training had been hard and strenuous, and tedious and absolutely inhuman. Alex wasn't the kind of person to keep quiet and blindly follow orders. Especially orders that seemed senseless, or worse, unnecessary. 

He had made a name for himself since the first day at camp, when he had dared to question Master Sergeant Smith's request to make them stand in the pouring rain, for hours, in attention. 

That had resulted in a really angered Master Sergeant Smith screaming right at his face, with his cigarette breath invading his nostrils, that he not only would've stood in the pouring rain alongside his companions; he would've stood there another five hours, therefore, skipping dinner. 

Alex's nostrils had flared in anger, but given the fact that he really didn't want to cause anymore trouble, he complied. 

And that had happened the second day too, when he had asked when they would've let them actually train for the war. 

The small vicious circle had been going on for a couple of days, until Alex had decided to give up completely. He hated standing there, in the middle of the camp, like an idiot. And he needed to eat. He needed those energies to fight the bastards that were threatening his country's freedom. 

So, he had decided to follow the orders. Life was much easier following orders, he had found out. 

That certainly didn't mean that he always agreed with what the Sergeants said and made them do. But he knew better. So he kept his mouth shut, and did it all. 

He had to keep in mind that he was doing it for his country, for his family. For his future. Never in a million years he would've left that ugly bastard of a Kraut to try and take his home away. And if blindly following orders was the only way to get a chance at killing the monster, then he would've had to suck it up and accept it. 

His temper had made him quite the star of camp. After the first day, when he had finally got back to his dorm, everyone had stared at him. None of them had said a word, but their eyes held something that resembled admiration. 

Some of the guys had started to look up to him, like he was some kind of leader or something like that. 

Alex liked that, he liked that a lot. He fancied the idea of people respecting him, looking up to him as a commander, looking at him with fear in their eyes. 

He never would've thought the outcomes of that innocent little kink of his. He couldn't have. 

There was a boy, in particular. His name was Scott. He had immediatly begun to stand between his feet, annoying him, talking to him, in his cute little and delicate voice. Something was wrong. What did he want? Why was he talking with him? Why did he basically get attached by the hip to him? 

Alex was a little afraid of the possibility that this Scott could've been one of those boys. He had absolutely nothing against them, he thought the world had bigger problems than a boy loving another boy. But he had no interest in him, nor any boy. He had a girlfriend, a girlfriend he couldn't wait to get back home to, a girlfriend he wanted to marry as soon as that war was over. 

Everyone had seen her when they had left the train station, leaning over the barricades to kiss him on the lips. He had also seen some of the other soldiers sneaking glances at her chest. But it didn't matter, because she was his, and it would've always been like that. 

Scott had started talking about his family, his little sister, his dog, his school. All things that Alex wasn't interested in. He had tried to make it pretty clear, by not listening or simply walking away. No results. The boy had followed him everywhere in that fucking camp. No hallway was safe, no table at lunch and dinner was free from the boy and his high-pitched voice. It also didn't help the fact that they seemed to be in the same Regiment.