Scout x Miss Pauling (Not A Good Day)

Chapter 1: Early birds

An empty hallway lost it's silence when Sniper made his way back inside the base from his van. Like usual, he thought he was the first one up at this time in the morning. Every footstep echoed slightly when the man got closer to the mess hall to get something for breakfast.

But unexpectedly he wasn't the only one awake and he noticed that quite quickly as he entered the mess hall. Seeing his best mate, Scout, right away in the morning wasn't really going with his liking. Not that Sniper disliked his friend, it was just the fact that his train of tired thoughts stopped immediately when the chatterbox himself opened his mouth without hesitating.

"Oh hey man. What are ya doing up so early?" Scout asked somewhat brightly from his seat before turning his eyes on the sketchbook he was drawing on. Drawing really wasn't the type of thing Scout would like to call his favorite hobby, since he considered it maybe a bit embarrassing and feminine too and if someone ended up mentioning about it separately, it wouldn't do good for his self-image. But by now he was tired yet focused on his sketch to even put his drawing aside. Scout was semi-trusting that his best friend wouldn't be the type to tease him about it.

Sniper couldn't ignore the many cans of Bonk surrounding him. The man narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I'm always up at this time, mate. I have never seen you up so early in the morning. I think I should be the one asking you..." Sniper said keeping his calm tone as he moved to the stove to make coffee.

Scout shrugged. "I dunno. I just kinda wanted to be the first one to get the stuff from Miss P. She should be here in an hour," the young man replied. calmly.

Oh. Right. Of course, Sniper thought as he remembered the whole thing. Usually the mercs would have the Mann Co's official delivery guy bringing them the weapon crate, twice a month. Apparently something happened on the way, the delivery guy possibly got in an accident but the crate survived.

That's at least what they heard from Miss Pauling yesterday when she gave a call to the RED base, telling that she would be the one delivering the crate to the team. The crate was really needed and somewhat urgent, especially all the stuff that Medic was needing for the battles and keeping the team alive. Sending Miss Pauling to get the crate from the road instead of sending a new crate saved money and time possibly, she was very often on the road anyway. At least that's what the mercs figured.

"Huh. Almost forgot that," the older man said as he grabbed the coffee pot. "But ya shouldn't have stayed up all night for that, roo..."

Scout looked up at him, not wanting to admit he did. "I didn't," he said with a half-hearted glare despite the small rings under his eyes.

Sniper placed the pot on the stove and he turned back at him. He leaned against the counter nearby, crossing his arms and looking back at his friend without a word. It was so obvious and Scout's lies were terrible.

Scout felt the deja vu of his mother doing the same at times when he was in trouble back in Boston. Just silently judging him for his awful lies and that drove him to say at least at something. "Okay well... I slept for some time, man. Abooout..." The runner glanced at the clock. "...two hours. But after that I stayed up."

Sniper shook his head a bit slowly. "Not good for ya, mate. You look rough and with you being tired and all, it's hard to try and impress the sheila. And you know that it's not healthy to drink that much of that stuff and stay up for so long."

Scout made a slightly confused look before glaring at his friend again, again spilling more lies and boosting his ego. "I drink these like all the time, pal. I'm fine. And I'm not trying to impress Miss P. Hell, I don't even need to try and impress her, the waiting game is working on her just fine, dude. I know how to deal with chicks, and she is just different. But that's no problem. She's just more like..."

Scout turned his glance back on his drawing. "...the classy type." The blunt pencil in Scout's hand was making last finishes on the small portrait of Miss Pauling.

Scout was nervous. He wouldn't admit it, but deep down he still was. Seeing Miss Pauling, the only woman he had actually felt this much attraction towards, the second time this year was making him feel lucky. But it also seemed like an opportunity that could go to waste if he fucked something up.

He did stay up most of the night, ready to be bright if she came earlier (since Scout considered it a possibility) , ready to just help and talk to her when she showed up. And... possibly give her the drawing, if he had the guts to give it to her. The guys should never know about that, Demo would start picking on him and never drop it. Scout felt like it was so childish and again too girly for him to do.

But deep down it felt so right to do since Scout knew Miss Pauling deserved every bit of the appreciation for the hard work she did. And just simply because in all honesty Scout adored her. Never in his whole life had Scout met a woman who just had it all. She was just a perfection in his eyes. She had always been. It was a big crush Scout treated as love at first sight.

From the day Scout first met her, the sight of her made him incapable of looking away and ending up with the young man walking to a wall. Even the disappointed look he got from her from that didn't get his hopes down. Just the memory softened his features and made him smile softly.

"I know, I know," Sniper stated, not wanting to discourage Scout with Miss Pauling. The whole team knew it was kind of hopeless but they still encouraged their friend to keep going with it. Scout didn't really show any sign of disappointment in himself even if he failed miserably at times, he really hid all the disappointment and anger for himself under his ego.

Sniper's eyes caught Scout's notebook and his friends' slightly twitchy hand.

"Whatcha drawing, mate?" Sniper asked out of pure interest.

Scout glanced up at him with a small smirk. "Your dumb ass. And just like in real life, you're all covered in piss," he said before glancing back down at the drawing, the smirk not leaving his face. No way he could tell the truth. He dearly wished for him not to ask for him to show it.

Sniper chuckled and shook his head. "Alright... Can I see the masterpiece then?"

"Nah. Ya should never ever ask for an artist to show unfinished artworks, dummy," Scout said as he put all his focus on to add details Miss Pauling's eyes. He could never get her features correct from memory but all of the memorizing made his heart light up.

The sudden loud sound of something metallic slamming in the garage nearby gave Scout butterflies. That's her, played on repeat in his head as rapidly as hummingbird's heartbeat. A somewhat dorky smile got put on his face as he stood up. He glanced at his friend.

"It was nice to talk Snips but I gotta go. I'll uh, see ya later, okay?" he said with a small grin.

Sniper shook his head again with a small smile as he turned back to the stove. "I'll see ya mate. Try to slow down a bit. Don't let this get to your head," Sniper said calmly.

Oh, how late he was. Scout was already full of energy and enthusiasm. "I won't," the runner said quickly, his happiness shining through his words as he already made his way out of the mess hall.