war of understanding | gerbert

03

That damned man. That stranger, the man in uniform, he wandered around completely oblivious to the stare down he was receiving from Bert and his four friends. Bert watched in amazement, partly from how a man could be so beautiful, the other half from how his heart felt. The stranger walked along the path still.

Dan caught Bert staring and shoved his arm slightly, "Dare you to talk to him." in a split second Bert whipped his head around to look his friend in the eyes with a burning rage, "What? He's going to think you're weird if you keep staring at him."

Color flushed from his face and a cold feeling made his stomach drop. To put it simply, Bert was embarrassed, embarrassed he had been staring at the man long enough to worry his friends. As he sat on the itchy blanket and thought for an uncomfortable amount of time, his friends became impatient. Or well to be specific, Joey did, "Are you going to talk to him or what?" the man asked, arching an eyebrow at Bert.

With the same eyebrow arch as Joey, Bert placed his hand on hip and gave his friend a blunt answer, "Or what." he mocked.

The four friends groaned at Bert's hesitation to speak with the stranger. Little did they know, Jeph had been eyeing the man as well. He observed the man's actions silently until he heard Bert speak, "You might want to talk to him Robert. The longer we sit here, the longer I want to fuck him." Jeph chuckled and moved slightly to get a better view.

"Hey! Find someone else to fuck, this one is mine!" Joey exclaimed a little too loudly for Bert's liking. Soon McCracken slapped his hand across Joey's mouth, "Sorry, he's all yours." the man mumbled as Bert still had his hand blocking his mouth.

Bert rolled his eyes, "No idiot. He could have very well heard you."

Then, Joey came up with an idea, a terribly good idea. Bert removed his hand from the man's mouth and waited for his friend to respond, "Good." he laughed before clearing his throat, "Hey! You bastard! Come here!" this surely caught the stranger's attention making Joey yell some more, "He wants to talk to you!" his arms dangling over Bert's head.

In an immediate reaction, Bert shoved his friends arms away and stuffed his face in his hands in shame. Soon Joey fell quiet but when Bert looked up the stranger was now walking away, "Fucking asshole." Bert spit out through gritted teeth towards Joey and rose to his feet, sprinting to the stranger. It was as if he had no care in the world, in that moment he was devoted to this unknown man. The moonlight lit up the concrete path he ran down, nearly tumbling over the stranger when the night time darkness took over, "Hey! I,uh, hey!" these were the only words Bert was able to spit out through his heavy breathing.

The soldier turned around, giving Bert a look of concern, examining him from up and down. It was only fair as Bert was studying every single detail of the stranger's face. He was sure he had never seen someone so angelic in his life. His soft hazel eyes stared back at him through long black curled lashes. The soft glow of the moon made his skin appear like silk, it seemed like he had no flaw, the man was convinced this stranger was the definition of perfection.

Bert was snapped from his dream-like thoughts to the low voice that came from the soldier, "What? Are you going to call me a bastard too?" his heart shattered as he realized the stranger took it to heart.

"No, no, no, my friend he uh- he's- joking. Joey likes to do that kind of thing." Bert laughed awkwardly as he felt the intense stare from the stranger. Something about the man made him feel intimidated and small. Maybe it was his piercing glare or his uniform but Bert definitely felt out of place.