Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You get the news that König happens to be on leave at the same time as you, and you smile with delight. You two had been waiting and waiting to get leave at the same time, and now you did! You hope that he didn't know yet and that you could tell him first. It's about noon so you head to the cafeteria and spot him sitting to the side, not quite with the group, but not necessarily in a corner either. You grab your food and sit across from your close friend, "heyyy" you say in a playful tone as he glances up at you, a smile showing in his eyes.

            "So guess what." You say, barely containing your excitement

            "What?" He responds, his tone curious

You lean towards him, "We got leave at the same time!" You pause, waiting for his reaction, "Aren't you excited?" 

            "Really?" Konig's eyes brighten with pleasant surprise.

You nod and take a few bites of your food, "It's in two weeks." Konig Hums a response and we both eat. There isn't much going on at the base today as KorTac is between missions, You don't mind though, because it means you can just hang around base. You plan on going to the gym or going on a run, and pray to whatever god is listening that you don't get sent on some side quest by Aksel to do paperwork or something painfully boring. You and König chitchat some more before we finish our food, you forget to ask him what he's doing, but you’re sure you'll run into him again. 

Later, you're in the gym, warming up on the treadmill. After that, you fill up your water bottle and set to work on my sets. you decided today you'd work on core, even though you really didn't want to. About halfway through, you're sweaty and pretty tired, you really want to give up. You're not the only person in the gym though, and you'd hate to look like a quitter; but how would they know? chirped another part of your mind. You scowled to yourself, drank a sip of water, and continued. After another 15 minutes that felt like an eternity, you were finally done. You sighed and trudged back to your dorm to get some fresh clothes before getting in the shower in the communal Woman's bathroom. 

The rest of the day passed by in a blur, and next thing you know it, you’re sitting back in the cafeteria for dinner across from Konig. 

            "So..." you say around a mouthful of food, "We have leave at the same time-" you're cut off by your own self choking on a bit of food and erupt in a coughing fit.

             "Don't talk and eat at the same time, you will choke." Supplies Konig helpfully as he snickers at you coughing and hacking

You glare at him in between coughs and take a long sip of water, and he says, "Did you have an Idea of what we would like to do?". You swallow and start to ramble excitedly; "My family has a cabin in the middle of the woods near this big lake with a river, and it’s really nice. I used to go there in the summers when I was a kid and we would go fishing and-”

Konig cuts you off and says with a chuckle, “We should do that.”

Your face heats up as you realized you probably sounded like a small child; rambling and chatting quickly and excitedly over a small thing, you laugh with a slight tone of embarassment,

 “yeah, It’d be fun…”. You trail off, suddenly feeling like an idiot. Konig smiles and pokes you from across the table,

 “I like when you talk about the things you love.”

You glance up and make eye contact again, his usual resting-tired-face replaced with a warm smile; Which you return. 

Chapter Text

The next two weeks drag on forever, but somehow go by in a blur at the same time. You two have finally landed in the airport in your home state, and Konig is looking all around the airport, taking in the sight of it. You giggle at his wide-eyed expression, 

“It’s just the airport, why are you so amazed?” 

He shrugs and replies, “I guess I’m just used to military airports; not built for comfort.”

You nod your head in agreement, and you get your bags and head to the rental car area. You guys drive away from the airport and you sigh, as it’s been a very long flight; 

“So…do you want to get some food? Because I’m hungry.”

“What’s in the area?”

You shrug and glance at the highway sign for restaurants that just passed, and see a sign for a Cracker Barrel, 

“Have you ever been to a Cracker Barrel?” You ask, starting to snicker

Instantly wary of your snickering and suspecting mischief, Konig glances sidelong at you,

 “What is a Cracker Barrel?” He says, tone suspicious

“You’ll see”

You pull into the parking lot and head inside; the air immediately smells like bread and fried food, but not in an inherently bad way. You two are seated and given menus, and you pick yours up. After a minute, you notice Konig’s confused expression, 

“What is a…’fixin’?” He pauses, studying the menu for a moment, “What is a chicken fried steak ?” He asks, tone a mix of curiosity and concern

“Oh Fixin’s are like sides, but nobody outside of the south actually says that. And I’m gonna be really honest here, I have no clue what a chicken fried steak is.” You reply with a chuckle. 

Konig simply hums and continues looking at the menu; as do you. You finally settle on the chicken and dumplings and Konig gets the country fried steak. You smile at Konig, and he catches your eye, smiling back. You can tell this is going to be a fun trip with him. 

Your food arrives and you dig in, it’s not the most amazing food you’ve ever had, but it’s cracker barrel and you’re exhausted from your flight, so it’s pretty okay. Konig does the same, eating a few bites before remarking, 

“It’s like I can feel my blood pressure rising just by eating this…is all american food like this?”

You laugh, while also making the realization that Konig probably hasn’t been to the US except for maybe on a mission, but missions don’t really count as traveling. You take a drink of water and try to suppress the giggles before saying, 

“Thankfully, not all American food is like this…but a lot of it still is, to be honest.” You pause and switch to a more curious tone, pointing your fork at him 

“Konig…Have you ever been to the U.S. before?” 

You can see a smile in his eyes, and he breaks eye contact; his expression like a child who’s been caught stealing candy, 

“Never”

“Not once?”

“Not at all.”

You stare at him, a shocked expression on your face. Although you had made the realization that he had most likely not visited, and that had clicked in your head just fine; heck, it even made a lot of sense, since most of KorTac was based in Europe and Konig himself had grown up fully in Austria (as far as you knew). 

“Not even on a mission?” You ask, one last time, just to really make sure that Konig wasn’t pulling your leg. Konig laughs, truly laughs this time, 

“No silly, not even on a mission!”

You relent, “okay okay, I get it…but you’ve been missing out.”

A smile flickers on the edges of his mouth, and you giggle before returning to your chicken and dumplings. 

Chapter Text

It was pretty late in the evening, and dark outside despite the long summer days, and you were both tired. Feeling stuffed, you head back to the car and just sit in it for a moment. Konig takes a big sigh and turns his head to you, 

“So… how far is it to your cabin?” He asks, voice sleepy 

You sigh in return and think for a moment, trying to remember how long it had taken you in the past to get there, 

“It’s about a five-ish hour drive from here I think.” 

Konig’s eyebrows raise in mild surprise; a five hour drive seems very long to him. You glance at the car’s clock and say, 

“We could sleep in the car and head out tomorrow morning.”

“Why not just go now? I can drive.” Konig offers

You hum a response and stay quiet for a moment, 

“mmm…I want you to see what it’s like here, it’s so beautiful.”

Konig chuckles and you smile, realizing the irony of your words; you call it beautiful, yet you sit in a Cracker Barrel parking lot less than a mile from the airport, and you hear the planes taking off. You watch as the wind blows a plastic bag across the mostly empty lot. You take a big sigh and put the keys into the car’s transmission, 

“Well…I guess we gotta find a spot to park overnight…” You trail off, feeling so tired you don’t want to move.

Konig taps on the car’s screen and pulls up the GPS menu, “If we park in a hotel lot, then we will most likely not get towed.”

“Oooh, Clever.” You say with a yawn and stretch before pulling out of the lot.

You arrive at a random Holiday Inn with minimal getting-lost, Konig only zoned out and forgot to tell you to turn once . You scan the parking lot for the most normal-seeming place to park. It was odd how it felt hard to pick a normal spot when you were doing normal things but sleeping in a hotel parking lot felt funny to you, you figured. You finally decide on a spot off to the side, but not suspiciously in the back corner of the lot; still, paranoia of getting towed or broken into lurks in the back of your mind. You park and turn off the car before getting out, then you open the backseat door of the car and toss the bags over the seats into the trunk. The chilled air makes you shiver and you reach for Konig's jacket that he had taken off and put there before going into the restaurant, and slip it on. You’re basically drowning in the oversized jacket, but you don’t care; You poke Konig’s shoulder from the backseat and ask, 

“Do you want the backseat?”

He looks back at you and glances down, noticing his jacket on you. He smiles for a second before suggesting, 

“What if we put the backseat far enough back so that it’s flat? Then one of us wouldn’t have to sleep half sitting.” He glances away, knowing what he could be implying and suddenly feeling embarrassed. You’re too tired to notice the potential second meaning and reach for the seat lever to tilt it back, 

“Alright” You mumble tiredly

Even though you’re just sleeping , Konig turns slightly red and is silently thankful for the hood that obscured his face. Konig gets out of the front seat and climbs into the backseat with you, and you grab your duffel bag to use as a pillow. You lay down in the backseat, eyelids heavy. You curl up your knees towards your chest and pull Konig’s worn leather jacket snug around your face. Konig smiles, seeing you all curled up in the backseat, also settles in, using his own bag as a pillow as well. Your eyes are closed, but you hear him shifting into a more comfortable position, and you feel the heat radiating off his body as you drift to sleep.

You feel the light poking your eyeballs before you open them, and you want to wake up but are just so comfortable , and you realize that Konig’s arm is draped over you, holding you closer to him. You hadn’t slept too deeply last night in the car; but that was to be expected. You roll over to not face the sun, and instead into Konig’s chest. He makes a small sound, clearly still asleep, and you sigh contentedly, enjoying the weight of his arm over your side. You close your eyes and drift into a pleasant half-sleep, curled up and fitting perfectly into the curve of his body.

You’re unsure how long you two lay in the backseat of the car after you had woken up; could be mere minutes or hours. You feel Konig start to stir now that the sun’s light has grown more intense, and you look upwards at him, taking in his peaceful expression of sleep. He stirs again, eyelids fluttering and breathing shortening slightly. Part of you doesn’t want to wake him, but part of you does; so you whisper softly, a sound barely above a breath,

“ Konig … Are you up ?”

You internally roll your eyes because the obvious answer is no , he’s not awake. You squirm a tiny bit, trying to nudge him awake. Konig shifts and sighs in his sleep, tightening his arm around you; okay, now you know he’s awake, but just faking. You smile and snicker softly, 

“Konig, I know you’re awake.”

His peaceful expression of sleep changes, clearly trying to hide the smile creeping across his face. You giggle and whisper up into his ear, fighting the urge to burst out laughing,  

“ Hey pookie wookie bear ” 

You snort, and also pray that he doesn’t think I’m serious. His eyes flick open and his head jerks down to look at your mischievous expression. His face takes on an expression of amusement and light confusion, 

“What did you just call me?” He asks between snickers.

You continue laughing and giggling as you can’t bring yourself to say it again. Your laughter is infectious, and Konig starts to laugh as well. You take a deep breath and try to repeat the sentence, but Konig makes eye contact with you, and it’s just too funny for no reason. Your body shakes as you try to hold in the laugh, nearly pissing yourself in the process, 

“Nothing!” You say in a singsong tone

“Really?”

“uhhmmm…No.”

Konig jokingly glares at you and you smile smugly at him. You shove him, but him being much larger than you, it doesn't accomplish much. He gives you a playful shove back and you nearly fall off the seat with a yelp. You relent, and with an embarrassed red taking over your face, you say,

“Fine…I said ‘Hey pookie wookie bear’...IRONICALLY! I’d never actually call you that.”

Konig snorted, “Really?”

You look away from him, grumbling jokingly, “Yes…I did.”

Konig shrugs and hums a could’ve-been-worse sound before sitting up and nearly hitting his head on the low roof of the car, and you do the same. You’re also suddenly aware of how tight your body feels, and you want to crack and pop every joint in your body,

“Ight, lemme out now.” You say vaguely to the car as you open the door and step out. 

It’s a nice cool morning and you stretch with a yawn. You step out of the gap between your car and the one next to you and look around, although there isn’t much to see; it’s a hotel parking lot. Your stomach grumbles as you sit in the driver’s seat, and Konig in shotgun. He notices and asks,

“Hungry?” 

“Yeah,” You notice a Mcdonald's sign on the other side of the street, and you point to it, “There's that, what do you think?”

Konig shrugs, “Sure”

You put the key in the transmission, turn it, and the engine rumbles to life. You pull out of the parking lot and go through the McDonald’s drive through. Then, paper bag in Konig’s lap, and your sandwich on your own, you fire up directions to your family’s cabin, and hit the road.

Chapter Text

It’s been about an hour and a half since you hit the road, and it's fun , blasting random songs on the radio and singing along, looking at the beautiful scenery, and chatting about everything and nothing all at once. For the most part of the trip, it’s been forests, mountains, and river valleys, but now it's just vast, open land, bordered by distant mountains. Most of it is farmland, but some of it is just wilderness, with yellow grass waving in the wind and rocky outcrops dotting the landscape. You’re driving, but Konig’s head is on a swivel, looking at everything in all directions,

“Wow…” He breathes, “it’s so…big”

You chuckle, “What is?”

He pauses for a moment, searching for a word, “...everything…it’s all so flat too”

You laugh, and Konig glances over at you with a smug grin on his face, and flicking a bit of his shoulder-length dark brown hair out of his face,

“Whhaaaat?” 

“I just find it funny, because it’s even flatter in the midwest.”

“Wait really?”

“Really, if you can see above the corn fields, you can see for miles out there.”

“That’s so strange, in Austria, there are always mountains close by.”

“It must be so beautiful there.” You sigh

Konig nods and you both fall silent, taking in the scenery around you. There are fewer and fewer small towns and farms, and more and more wilderness. The rolling hills, with tufted yellow and green grass, dotted with clumps of golden bright wildflowers are so beautiful. A wispy layer of clouds partially obscures the bright blue sky, turning it more of a light steel blue; There are a few puffy white clouds dotting the sky below those thin wisps, breaking up the vastness of the land. You can see distant gray-blue mountains in the rearview mirror behind you, and nothing but the horizon in front of you. The vastness of the land makes you, Konig, and the car feel small and insignificant, but not in a demeaning way; forcing you to realize how vast this earth is.

 You’ve forgotten what it’s like to be here and are hit with a wave of nostalgia. For the last several years you’d been working with KorTac, jumping from mission to mission all over the world, working in the foulest of places, witnessing the vilest of atrocities, and committing acts of unspeakable violence on the battlefield. Before that was living mostly alone in the city, with only a handful of friends and your old partner to keep you company. You missed it, being out here during the summers with your family, running in the woods and meadows with your childhood friends. You let out a sigh, coming within a hair of getting choked up, feeling that sweet sting of memory. 

“Are you okay?” Konig asks sweetly, noticing your melancholy sigh

You take a deep breath, saying with another sigh,  “Yeah, I’m’alright.” 

The air in the car is slightly awkward if you think about it, so you don’t. Instead you roll down the windows and feel the rush of warm air into the car and onto your face. It smells like dry plants and soil, like wilderness; good smells. It’s mostly silent except for the radio, the rush of wind, and the occasional murmur of you or him pointing out something interesting. You’re getting tired and need a break, but notice the hills are becoming greener and the farmsteads dotting more of the landscape again. You’re almost to your traditional ‘halfway’ stopping point, a

small town named Bitter Creek. Technically it’s more like two thirds of the way, but that was always your mental marker of ‘almost there, but still a ways to go’. You see a sign that reads Bitter Creek  10mi , and push on Konig’s shoulder, nodding to the sign, 

“Look! We’re almost halfway there!”

Konig flinches awake and you realize with an apologetic grin that he’d dozed off,

“Halfway? What state are we in now?” he mumbles with a yawn

“What?” You say, glancing at him when you can, “We’re almost to the town we usually stop at to rest and get food.”

“I mean, We’ve been driving for three-ish hours, what state are we in now?”

“We’re still in the same state, silly.”

“But we’ve been driving for so long, how are we in the same state?”

You start snickering and laughing at him, realizing his confusion, which only appears to grow on his expression,

“I don’t think you realize how big America is, I think the average state is like fifty thousand square miles or something.”

“Really? I guess it makes sense…seeing it on a map.”

You nod in agreement and pull off the highway into the very small town. The town only has one grocery store, two gas stations, and a few government buildings. You pull into the gas station across the parking lot from the store, and pull into an open stall. You step out of the car and stretch, feeling your back and shoulders pop and your legs feel stiff, and Konig does the same. After you get gas, you drive across the mostly empty parking lot and into a spot near the entrance of the store. You both walk in the sliding doors and are greeted by a rush of cool air inside the store, you wander up and down the aisles of chips, candy, and drinks.  

A bit later you place your snacks onto the conveyor belt of the checkout, and watch somewhat awkwardly as you wait for the slow conveyor belt to reach the cashier. Konig got some pretzels, beef jerky sticks, and two snickers bars. You glance at him sheepishly as you pile on several different kinds of candy and chips, but you internally think you make up for it by also getting some regular groceries for when you get to the cabin. You finish checking out and head out of the store, and before getting back on the road, you and Konig dig into the wide variety of snacks you bought. 

About another hour of driving, the landscape starts to change again. The vast and nearly empty rolling hills are soon replaced with pine forests and the mountains that previously lurked on the horizon surround you. This is when you start feeling the jittery excitement, almost like when you were a kid; desperately nagging the dreaded phrase, Are we there yet? , you often glance at the GPS, counting down the miles.

55 mi…

            …47 mi…

                         …32 mi…

                                        …24 mi…

You start to more clearly recognize the more frequent towns that dot the landscape; The farm supply store with funny signs, today it says Days since someone last peed in our store: 3, the faded and peeling restaurant sign of a black Labrador in a red collar, and the stone walls of the

medieval reenactment village. This time, the choking wave of nostalgia doesn’t come over you, instead you’re simply thinking about all the fun you used to have there, that you will have there. The soft greens and warm browns of the forests are easy on the eyes after the hours of dry, yellow grass and bright blue sky. 

“Can you believe we’re almost there?” You ask him, excitement obvious in your voice.

Konig perks up as well, “ Ja ! I am very excited, it’s been a very long time since I’ve done something like this.”

“Gosh, I can't wait to do like…all the things. We can go on a hike, make a bonfire, go fishing, hang out…I dunno, what do you want to do?”

Konig thinks for a moment and turns down the music so you can talk more easily, “Fishing sounds fun, but i’ll admit, I’ve never done it.”

“Wait really?”

“Well… not actually, I used to go with my friend, but I didn’t know much so I was just moral support.” 

You both laugh and chitchat the rest of the way there. 

You arrive and it’s the late afternoon, bordering on evening. Again, you get out of the car and your feet crunch on the gravel driveway. Konig stretches, cracking his shoulders and back, and you hold on to the top of the car’s door frame and lean back, stretching what feels like every muscle in your upper body. 

“I’m so exhausted, yet I basically just sat there for five hours.” You yawn, dreading having to take in your luggage and settle in. 

Konig groans, “Me too,” He looks at the backseat of the car with a grimace, “I am not looking forward to bringing all of this inside.”

“We probably also have to get beds and stuff made up, it’s empty most of the year.”

“You can stop now, my dread is only increasing” 

You take a deep breath, mentally giving yourself a pep talk before bringing the things in from the car, and you fling the car door open, realizing you didn’t have as much stuff as you thought. You grab your suitcase and the bag of groceries while Konig grabs his own stuff as well. You get to the door of the rustic cabin and fumble with the lock box with the keys inside and open up the front door, stepping inside. Everything inside is a bit dusty, and there are a few cobwebs on the ceiling. 

You show him the kitchen as you set down the groceries, putting things in the fridge and throwing away old food that was left behind by mistake. While you finish the groceries, you ask Konig if he can bring the rest of the stuff into one of the bedrooms- his choice. The cabin has two bedrooms, plus a loft as a third bedroom. The walls are all just the log patterns from the outside of the house, exposing most of the framework of the house, a  stone fireplace is in the middle of the wall in the cozy living room, and a rustic coffee table is surrounded by some wicker chairs and a plushy couch. A taxidermied mountain goat adorns the wall, along with a few deer skulls and antlers, as well as various family photos set on the mantle of the fireplace.

Once you finish in the kitchen, you poke around to look for Konig, whom you hadn’t seen since you sent him off to set up a room,

“Konig, where are you?” You call to the house, before even really looking anywhere

“Up here!” Yells back Konig, peeking over the railing of the loft, “You look even shorter from up here.”

You scowl playfully, “Hey!” before rushing over to the ladder and climbing up into the loft.

Konig stands in front of you, blocking your way all the way up, 

“Care to let me up?” You ask

“What if I said no?” 

“Uhhh, well I’m saying you should let me up.”

Konig smiles but doesn’t budge, and you shove his knees with one arm from your spot on the ladder, as expected it has no effect.

“C’mon! Or I’m going to do everything without you if you just want to stand there!”

Konig smiles smugly at you and moves aside, and you look around the small, angled room. It’s nice up here, and you both get your respective items sorted out, before going back to the living room to watch a movie on the old TV and hang out for the rest of the evening.

Chapter Text

You woke up bright and early the next morning due to the summer sunshine that streamed into the loft room from the big window. You look out the window and find a view of the winding gravel road, framed by  tree branches and green tree residue on the edges of the windowpanes. You glance next to you and see Konig still sleeping beside you in the bed. He looks more peaceful than he had sleeping in the car, but his hair is still a mess in his face and his mouth is slightly open. You look back out the window, and sigh. The room is slightly chilly from the cool summer air and struggling A/C downstairs, which grumbles and thunks off, drenching the room in a thick silence. You hadn’t realized how the white noise of the A/C filled the small house until it had stopped. The thick silence that filled your ears was broken by a wren, singing a warbley tune before flying away. You glance at Konig again and slip out of the bed, down the ladder of the loft, and into the kitchen. You instinctively avoid the floorboards you know are squeaky  and quietly look for a mug in the cabinets. You make some coffee, hoping that the machine isn’t too loud to wake Konig sleeping upstairs. While your coffee cools off a bit, you open the window behind the kitchen sink, allowing in a cool breeze and the sounds of the forest. The last frogs croak in the morning dew, and the crickets start to fall silent. Birdsong replaces the sounds of the night, the rustling of towhees and juncos in the underbrush, and the sharp calls of jays through the thick cedars and pines. The air coming through the window is almost a little too cold, but you stubbornly stay in front of it, letting the mug warm your hands. You hear the bed creaking and glance up to the loft, it seems like Konig is waking up by the moving shadows on the warm toned wooden walls. Another series of creaks and squeaks from the old bed, and a groan from Konig stretching.

            “Are you up yet?” You ask, keeping your voice low.

Another groan,

            “Barely.” There’s a pause and he appears, leaning on the railing next to the ladder,

            “why do you always get up so early?”

            “I dunno, I just do.” You say with a shrug, “c’mon down, I made some coffee.”

Konig comes down the ladder and hovers behind you for a moment before leaning his forearms on your shoulders and twining his hands together in front of your chest. You glance back up at him, and he smiles sweetly,

            “Good morning.”

You mumble a response and turn back to the coffee pot. Konig rests his chin on top of your head, shielding your back from the chilly air wafting into the house.

            You’re both in the cluttered garage after a breakfast of cornmeal pancakes and syrup, looking for your fishing gear. You look for the rods among the clutter, and Konig paws through some boxes to search for a tackle box.

            “Hey look at this!” You hear from among the clutter, followed by Konig’s head popping up from behind an old table. He is wearing your dad’s old fishing hat, a dark green bucket hat with a few colorful fishing flies hooked into the brim. He looks so silly with it on, since you’re so used to seeing it on your dad, but his goofy and excited expression is really the cherry on top. You burst out laughing at Konig in the hat, and the big smile on his face turns into a laugh as well.

            “T-that’s my dad’s hat…!” You choke out between laughs

            “Can I wear it?” He asks, eyes sparkling excitedly

            “Yes,” you nod decisively, “it suits you.”

            “Do you mean that or are you teasing me?”

            “No-! Of course not!” You glance away awkwardly

Konig doesn’t miss it and gives you a playful glare. You mean it truthfully, but you feel almost guilty as though you were fibbing. He raises an eyebrow and you giggle,

            “I mean it!”