Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout lifted his head and groggily blinked away the sleep from his eyes. As his brain began to wake up and Scout realised what was happening, he groaned and covered his ears with his pillow.

“That is an order, private!” Soldier yelled, his voice muffled by Scout’s pillow.

“Fuck off! How’s that for an order?!” Scout yelled back.

He heard a door open, then Demo speaking to Soldier in a hushed tone. Hesitantly, Scout lifted the pillow from his head and squinted at his door.

“But–!” Soldier shouted.

“I know, Solly. You can always ask him tomorrow, ‘kay?”

Soldier grumbled quietly before he spoke again.

“Fine,” he responded. “I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early, private!” 

With that, Soldier turned and stomped down the hallway, away from Scout’s room. Scout let out a sigh of relief as he rolled over in bed.

Soldier wouldn’t see Scout bright and early tomorrow, of course. They had had a similar conversation nearly every morning for the past 3 years that they worked together. It was clockwork at this point.

No matter how many times Scout tried locking Soldier in his room, turning off Soldier's alarm or even stealing that stupid trumpet, Soldier still found a way to wake everyone up at 5 AM on the dot for training.

Soldier was stubborn, to say the least, but so was Scout.

Scout closed his eyes and tucked himself further into his blankets. 

Now that that had been dealt with, Scout’s actual alarm would go off in a couple of hours, giving him enough time to sleep in before battle today.

It was the same as it always had been. Nothing was going to change.

Scout quietly cursed under his breath as he ran through the hallways. He straightened his dog tags with a hand as he stomped into the mess hall with a scowl.

“Morning, Scout!” Engie amicably greeted from the stove.

Scout ignored him as he entered the kitchen and made a beeline for the fridge. He grabbed a can of Bonk and made a mental note that it was the second-last one as he cracked it open.

“You are late waking up today,” Spy commented from the table, reading a French newspaper. “Perhaps you need to start taking your job seriously.”

“Shut up,” Scout murmured before taking a sip of his drink.

Engie raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as he passed Scout a plate with two slices of bread on it. Scout nodded in response and immediately turned to the toaster.

Scout always had the same thing for breakfast every morning – buttered toast. Why change?

After he dropped the bread in the toaster, Scout groaned and turned around to face the other two.

“My fuckin’ alarm batteries died last night and I overslept!” Scout complained before taking another sip of his Bonk.

“Everyone heard you yelling at Soldier this morning,” Spy said, eyes not leaving the newspaper. “You could have woken up earlier.”

Scout glared at Spy as he turned the page of his newspaper.

“I’m not a psychopath who wakes up at five-fucking-AM!”

At that, Spy raised an eyebrow and peered over the top of his paper.

“Irrespective of that… Hopefully, there will be a day you decide to take your employment seriously and join Soldier in training.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Spy?!” Scout yelled, taking a step towards the Frenchman. “The man’s a nutjob. If I join him in training, he’d try to kill me before respawn even turns on for the day!”

“Now, now, Son,” Engie spoke up. “All of us are employed by RED for a reason. You may think he’s a nutjob, but Soldier still gets the job done at the end of the day, and that’s due in part to his dedication.”

Scout lifted his head as his toast popped up from the toaster. Slowly, he turned to Engie.

“Are you… agreein’ with Spy?”

Engie frowned as he flipped an egg.

“Spy has a few good points,” Engie responded. “Won’t do you any harm to try to improve, right?” 

“Improve?!” Scout yelled. “Buddy, I’m already the best there is! No need to improve upon perfection!”

Spy and Engie both let out sighs.

“Yes. Perfection, who slept in, it seems,” Spy snipped, returning to his paper. 

“Hey! I told you it was the batteries!”

Spy didn't respond as Scout turned around, snatched his toast from the toaster and dropped it onto the plate. He quickly buttered his toast and turned around to defiantly glare at Spy.

“You’ll be thanking me when I save your asses from BLU today. Fastest guy alive, right here!”

With that, Scout threw the knife into the sink and stalked out of the mess hall with his plate and can in hand, ignoring the annoyed sighs behind him and passing Pyro in the hallway. 

If his teammates weren’t going to appreciate how great he was, Scout was just going to eat in his room alone.

Scout might have been a hired mercenary, but there were still some things that came with the job that he hated. 

For one, he couldn’t choose his own hours – he was always at the whim of whoever was hiring him.

Another thing he disliked was the fact that he was far away from home, and visits to Boston were a rarity.

However, right now, the thing Scout hated the most about being a merc was the fact that he had gotten blood on his face, and he could feel it slowly drying. That was a minor discomfort, however, as Scout had also accidentally gotten a mouthful of the BLU Medic’s blood after smashing his brains in. 

He would have thought that after all the years of fights with his brothers, fights on the streets and fights on the battlefield, he would have gotten used to the taste, but no. It was always the same disgusting salty taste that made him want to hurl. 

Scout grimaced as he glanced around the battlefield before ducking into an empty building. He spat the blood out of his mouth before starting to vigorously wipe his face clear of the blood and guts. 

Honestly, it felt like the blood was still there despite Scout’s ferocious scrubbing, but it was better than nothing.

Once that was taken care of, Scout stepped back outside and tried figuring out where the rest of his team was. 

Pryo, Demo and Soldier were on the front lines when Scout smashed the BLU Medic’s skull in, although Soldier had been sniped, causing the rest of the present RED mercs to scramble. As he ran away, Scout had definitely passed Medic and Heavy. Scout knew that Sniper and Engie were further back, protecting the RED briefcase. And if Scout hadn’t seen Spy since the mission began, it was safe to say he was doing his job well.

Scout peered down in the direction he had just come from and furrowed his brow.

Would it be worth it to make a run for the briefcase now?

“Private!”

Scout jumped, hearing Soldier's loud voice behind him.

It hadn’t been that long since Soldier was sent to respawn, right? 

Sure enough, Soldier suddenly rounded the corner and stood in front of Scout with his chest puffed out.

“I hope you have been formulating a plan and have not been slacking!”

“Yeah, sure,” Scout said, not very convincingly.

“And?”

Scout blinked.

Shit, he didn’t think that through!

“Uh…” Scout stammered. “G-Gimme a minute, Solly, I’m putting the final details on it!”

The sound of heavy footfall heading towards the two made Scout turn his head.

“Little Scout has a strategy?” Heavy asked, running forward with Medic in tow.

Soldier turned to them with a nod.

“Affirmative!”

“What is it, Herr Scout?” Medic asked. “The BLU team are getting closer, and we need one last push or we are not going to win today’s match.”

“I uh…”

Without warning, Scout heard the sound of someone decloaking.

“I would also like to hear Scout’s plan,” Spy said, sauntering out of his hiding place behind Scout. “Why don’t you show us the ‘perfection’ you were bragging about this morning?”

Scout frowned, whirling around to face Spy.

“Okay, I–”

“What the fuck are you all doing over here?!” Demo yelled. “The battle’s over there, you know?”

“Mmph!” Pyro added with a nod.

“Herr Scout has a plan. We’re about to hear it,” Medic surmised.

Scout could feel the sweat drip off his brow as his mind raced, trying to come up with a good enough strategy.

Just as well Sniper wasn’t present, or else Scout doubted he’d even be able to form a single coherent thought. 

He still didn’t know why his body and mind reacted that way when face to face with the Australian, or why it suddenly came about. It had been a few weeks since Scout stopped hanging out with Sniper, and thankfully, those awkward feelings were happening less and less now. 

But now wasn’t the time to question it – now was the time to put his brain to work.

Scout nervously cleared his throat.

“Uh… Last I saw BLU, they were going through the left side of the map. So, we should run through the right side, into that alleyway and catch them off guard while their base is undefended.”

The assembled members of his team stared at him blankly. 

“That is your master plan?” Spy asked.

Scout scowled at Spy.

“Well, I was finishin’ up the final details when youse came to me, demanding me to save your skins!”

“No one was doing that, lad,” Demo replied. “If anything, we were wondering what you and Solly were talking about.”

Scout turned around to glare at him when Soldier spoke up.

“The private has a point!” Soldier spoke up

Multiple sets of eyes swivelled to look at Soldier.

“He does?!” chorused multiple members of the team.

“I do?!” Scout added.

Soldier nodded with certainty.

“Affirmative! I also saw the BLU scum heading towards the left before I was sent to respawn! It is a good plan!”

Scout frowned as he looked at Soldier.

Should he take that compliment? It was from Soldier. He was nuts, and it was hard for Scout to take him seriously.

Instead of getting bogged down in the details, Scout nodded.

“Now let’s go!” Soldier barked. “Move it, move it, move it!”

Scout heard a few confused grunts before everyone turned to the alleyway and began to run towards it.

Scout got to the alleyway first. Before he could do anything, however, he froze, staring at the BLU Medic, Heavy and Scout running through the alleyway as three distinct things all happened at once.

First, he heard Sniper yell something over to the comms. 

He lost what Sniper had said in the chaos, as secondly, Scout, to his horror, suddenly realised that he had actually seen the BLU team going through the right side of the map, not the left. 

This realisation came as, thirdly, the enemy Medic popped his Übercharge on his Heavy.

The BLU Heavy revved up his minigun with a roar, unleashing a hail of bullets towards Scout and his teammates. Scout barely had time to react before he opened his eyes in respawn.

Scout could only try to ignore the glares directed his way as the Administrator announced a BLU victory.

Dinner was quiet and tense that night – at least to Scout.

Every single scrape of cutlery, every single slop of mac and cheese, every single hushed conversation had Scout on edge.

Scout sighed as he pushed around the mac and cheese on his plate with his fork.

Today had not been the best of days, Scout had to admit. Between waking up late and totally fumbling that plan on the battlefield, all Scout wanted to do was go to bed and wait for tomorrow to come. This streak of bad luck had to end soon. It couldn’t go on forever.

Scout stood up from the table, deciding he had had enough of his dinner and attempted to slink out.

“Can little man help with dishes?” Heavy asked, locking eyes with him.

Scout grimaced, hoping it wasn’t too obvious. 

Stealth and slinking out weren’t in his skill set. There was a reason he was a Scout and not a Spy. 

“Sure,” Scout murmured. 

He didn’t have the energy to pick a fight tonight. He just wanted to go to bed.

Heavy seemingly didn’t pick up on this as he smiled and started to gather everyone’s plates at his table. Scout frowned as he watched him, as a thought occurred to him. He’d be able to leave quicker if he helped out, wouldn’t he?

Silently, Scout reached across the table to grab Sniper’s plate, as Demo and Soldier held out their own to Scout to collect. With that, Scout walked into the kitchen and placed his stack of plates next to Heavy’s.

“I wash, you dry,” Heavy stated, turning the tap on.

“Mmhm.”

Scout leaned back on the benchtop, pensively watching the team chat with one another through the serving window.

“Is a shame about battle today,” Heavy said, squeezing dishwashing liquid into the sink.

“Yeah,” Scout agreed with an eye roll.

“And about little Scout’s plan.”

Heavy placed a plate onto the drying rack. Scout picked it up and started wiping as he pursed his lips and tried not to let his emotions show on his face.

“Yeah,” he answered monosyllabically. “A shame.”

“Little Scout does not need to take it to heart. Plans fail all the time. Does not make Little Scout a bad teammate.” 

Scout said nothing, putting the plate aside and grabbing another one.

“Team cares for little Scout,” Heavy continued. “Do not always show it, but team wants Scout to be as best as possible.”

Scout slammed the plate he was drying on the counter with a glare directed at Heavy.

“It doesn’t look like it,” Scout spat. “It looks like everyone thinks they know how to do my job better than me.”

Heavy frowned.

“Did not mean it like that–”

“No, no. Just stand there preaching to me about how you’re sooo much better than me. Maybe you should be the Scout, seeing how you know so much about my job.”

Heavy frowned and reached a hand out towards Scout.

“Little Scout, we are all looking out for you.”

“Yeah, right!” Scout yelled. “We’re mercenaries. We’re always trying to find ways to stab one another in the back!”

“Little Scout-”

“Big guy, I’m done. Shut up and keep handing me plates so I can go back to my room and be a failure in peace without anyone else stickin’ their nose where it doesn’t belong, got it?”

Heavy searched Scout’s face before turning back to the sink and handing Scout a plate. Scout snatched it out of his hand and started drying it.

The two quietly finished washing the dishes in a tense silence. Scout could see Heavy shooting him concerned looks every now and then, but stayed mercifully quiet.

The moment Scout placed the last plate into the cupboard, he stormed out of the kitchen with a huff, turning to head to his room. However, when he entered the mess hall, he was surprised to see Pyro and Sniper both approaching him.

“Mate, can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Mmph! Mmph mph mmph mpph mm!”

“Huh? What?” Scout asked, his anger giving way to confusion over what Sniper would want to speak with him about, as well as what Pyro was saying.

“Mmph! Mm mmphh!”

Ah. He did promise Pyro he’d have a tea party with them tonight, didn’t he?

“I’ll be there in a sec, Mumbles. Can we talk later, Stretch?”

“Uh… Yeah, it’s not urgent. Go have your tea party.”

Pyro let out a cheer and started trying to pull Scout away. Scout squinted at Sniper’s unreadable expression, attempting to interpret it.

Why did something feel wrong looking at Sniper’s face?

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Sniper responded, with a wave of his hand. “Go drink your tea with Pyro. I can–”

“Mail has arrived!” called Medic, walking back into the mess hall, letters in hand.

Medic dropped the letters onto a table. As the letters spilled out onto the table, a green fog started emanating from a red envelope sitting on the top of the stack. Before anyone could speak, it suddenly exploded, flooding the mess hall with more fog and revealing someone standing on top of the mail.

“It is I! Merasmus!” the wizard yelled.

“Merasmus!” Soldier yelled. “You are standing on my tax return!”

Scout coughed and waved a hand, trying to fan the green fog away as Sniper raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

“Word of advice, lay off the fog next time,” Scout complained, with a cough. “Christ, and I thought my Gramps was bad.” 

Ignoring Scout, the assembled mercenaries pointedly swivelled their heads to look at the calendar on the wall turned to May, before looking back at the wizard.

“Merasmus, it is not October,” Spy said, lighting a cigarette. “This is uncharacteristic of you.”

“Is it?” Merasmus asked, turning to also look at the calendar. 

He blinked and squinted at the calendar for a moment before his eyes widened.

“What?!” he yelled. “I thought I set my alarm to wake me from hibernation on October 1!”

“Oh, I used the batteries in your alarm to power my RC car!” Soldier interrupted.

Merasmus spun around to look at Soldier incredulously.

“You live on a base with an engineer! Does he not have batteries?!”

“I couldn’t get into his room to remove the batteries from his alarm clock!” Soldier answered with a grin. “Besides, your batteries were awful! They died out and I had to use the batteries in Scout’s alarm clock!”

“You did what?!” Scout yelled.

Merasmus let out a shriek of rage and held his arms out. His hands glowed with green light as he summoned a barrage of magical balls of flame floating above him. The first fireball launched itself at the mercenaries, scorching the table next to Engie.

The room stilled for a moment, all eyes focusing on the scorch mark. Another missile flew through the air and barely missed Pyro’s head. Suddenly, everyone dove into action, ducking under the tables to avoid the blasts with various shouts. 

Merasmus launched more and more fireballs at the mercs, his attacks rebounding off of walls, ceilings and furniture. They singed every surface they touched, causing carnage throughout the mess hall. 

Standing in the centre of it all was Merasmus, arms raised high, cackling at the cowering mercenaries. 

His triumphant stance didn’t last long as, without warning, one of the missiles screamed out of nowhere and hit Merasmus’s sleeve, suddenly igniting it. Scout winced, hearing Merasmus scream as he fell off the table, trying to pat the fire out.

A fireball flew past Scout’s hiding spot, where he sat crouched under a table between Pyro and Sniper, biting his lip and staring at the bright green flame on Merasmus’ sleeve. 

Merasmus was definitely distracted right now, trying to put himself out. Maybe this was Scout’s chance? If Scout could hit Merasmus with his bat, he could leave him sprawling on the ground and closer to Spy. Spy always carried a knife with him and used it somewhat liberally. 

It’d be an easy way to stop the attacks, but the only problem was that Scout didn’t have his baseball bat with him.

Scout glanced around the room, looking for a makeshift weapon, when his eyes lit up, landing on a chair that had been knocked over next to him during the initial scuffle. 

Scout slowly grabbed the legs of the chair, staring at his target with gritted teeth.  

He had only one shot to do this right.

“Mate?" Sniper whispered, noticing Scout getting up. "What are you…?”

Scout didn’t hear him – he was already charging the wizard with a yell and a chair above his head. 

He didn’t have time to register the warning shout from Demo before one of the many missiles ricocheted off a wall and collided with Scout’s back.

Scout could feel the searing heat of the magic flames through his shirt as he seized up in pain. He could hear someone screaming and, to his horror, slowly realised that it was him.

Before Scout knew what was happening, he was thrown into Merasmus, who looked down at him with literal fire in his eyes. He opened his mouth to shout at Scout when a missile bounced off the window, crashed into another one and promptly exploded, lighting up the room in a bright green light.

The mess hall shook from the resulting explosion, but Scout didn’t have time to enjoy the fireworks show as the blast had flung both him and Merasmus into a concrete wall, leaving a small crater as they made impact.

Scout screwed his eyes shut as the room shook for a few seconds longer before suddenly going silent. The remainder of the missiles dissipated as Scout slowly sat up and squinted at the light.

“Argh, fuck!” he screamed as his ears started to ring.

Scout sluggishly put a hand up to his head to check for blood and instantly noticed the overwhelming feeling of nausea. He shut his eyes as his vision grew blurry.

“You fool!” Merasmus yelled. “You dare attack me outside of battle?!”

“Huh?”

Scout opened his eyes and blinked up at Merasmus as the world swam in front of him. His head dully throbbed as Scout felt the beginning of a headache. He blinked once again at the angered wizard before suddenly throwing up in the wizard’s lap. Merasmus let out another yell as Medic and Engie ran to Scout’s side in an instant.

“Scout, are you alright?” Engie asked.

Scout closed his eyes and quietly shook his head as his stomach began to churn again.

“M’ head hurts,” he mumbled. “Feel fuckin’ dizzy.”

“It sounds like a concussion,” Medic said from the other side of Scout. “Scout, can you tell me what today’s date is?”

Scout groaned.

“Fuck if I know,” Scout muttered. “Tuesday?”

Medic gave a quiet chuckle.

“Definitely a concussion,” he reported. “Today is Thursday, May 8 1969.”

“Does it matter?” Scout asked.

Medic ignored him and looked up at Engie.

“He can recover without the aid of the medigun, but I’d prefer to use it, lest he have a serious injury and be unable to work.” 

“Sounds good. Scout, can you stand?”

Scout groaned in response and tried pushing himself up. The moment he was standing, his knees buckled. Engie caught him before he hit the floor. Scout quietly groaned, closing his eyes again as the dizziness slowly got worse.

“Heavy will carry little man,” Heavy reassured, scooping Scout up in a secure hold.

“Oh, danke, Heavy.”

“Much obliged partner.”

“What are you doing?!” Merasmus yelled. “You’ll pay for this!”

Scout cracked open his eyes to look at the fuming warlock.

“Robes like these don’t come cheap, you know! Expect the dry cleaning bill in the mail!”

“With all due respect, Merasmus,” Spy interjected. “Scout was injured by one of your spells. That would make you responsible for his concussion.”

“Why you…!”

Merasmus let out a huff.

“I hereby curse thee to continue to live the worst day ever tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day and th-”

Merasmus’ rants were cut off by Scout by throwing up on him again. Scout groaned miserably as Merasmus gave one last indignant shriek that rattled through his skull. Scout could feel Heavy give him a light, reassuring pat before turning and making his way to the infirmary with Medic and Engie trailing behind.

There wasn’t anything to note about their trip to the Med Bay as Scout was too busy focusing on not throwing up again. Heavy left as soon as he carefully placed Scout on the examination table. Scout didn’t catch what Heavy said to Medic and Engie as he left, but overheard something about making the ‘puny magician pay’ and decided not to ask.

Medic carefully looked over Scout and turned on the Medigun with a firm nod. Scout pulled a face as he watched his burnt skin start to repair itself. He was starting to feel a little bit better physically, but emotionally? He felt wiped. 

“Wunderbar, you should be all ready to go!” Medic declared, switching off the Medigun.

“Thanks, doc,” Scout mumbled as he sat up.

“You are to rest in your room for the rest of the night, but to call for me immediately if you’re feeling any worse,” Medic ordered.

“Do I gotta visit you in the morning?”

“Nein, the Medigun should have fixed everything. If there’s any pain, come to me, but other than that, you are free to go.”

Scout stumbled to his feet as Engie walked up to him.

“The others have taken care of Merasmus, so you shouldn’t have to worry about seeing him soon,” Engie reported with a smile. “Let’s get you to your room.”

“Alright,” Scout murmured as Engie held the door to the infirmary open.

Scout shuffled through the doorway and noted, as the door swung shut, that Engie was following from behind him. The two walked through the hallways, making their way to Scout’s room in silence. Faintly, Scout could hear the celebratory shouts of his coworkers but didn’t feel the need to investigate. 

If it were important, someone would go get him, right?

It wasn’t until Engie suddenly stopped that Scout realised they were already standing outside of his room.

“You gonna be alright by yourself?” he asked.

“Uh… Yeah,” Scout muttered. “Yeah.”

Engie smiled and gave Scout a pat on the back.

“See you tomorrow, son.”

And with that, Engie walked back the way he came, quietly whistling a song Scout couldn’t place.

Scout didn’t stay to watch him go – only sighing and stepping inside his room the moment he was alone. 

Woof, talk about a day, Scout thought to himself, as he silently stripped down to his boxers and laid down in bed. 

Merasmus’ voice echoed in his head.

“I hereby curse thee to continue to live the worst day ever tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day and th-”

Scout snorted. 

Yeah, right. Scout seriously doubted he could have a day worse than the one he was currently having. 

With a sigh, Scout closed his eyes and let sleep take him, glad for this awful day to be over.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout's eyes rocketed open.

“Soldier!” Scout yelled, getting out of bed and reefing his door open. “Do you have to do that every single morning?!”

“That is an order, private!”

Scout groaned dramatically.

“Solly, I’m still recovering from my injury! Medic said I needed rest!”

Soldier frowned and stared at Scout.

“What injury?”

Scout stopped and stared at Soldier wide-eyed.

“What do you mean, what injury?! You were there!”

“Negative! I do not remember you getting injured yesterday!”

Scout opened his mouth to retort when the door to Demo’s room creaked open.

“Lads, do you have to do this here?” Demo asked, bleary-eyed with a yawn.

Scout turned immediately to him.

“Demo! Tell him about the fight with Merasmus yesterday!”

Demo yawned again and scratched his cheek.

“What are you talking about?”

Scout shook his head incredulously.

“How I hit my head yesterday fighting Merasmus!”

Demo leaned back and rolled his eyes.

“Scout, if you’re making up excuses not to go to Soldier’s boot camp, at least come up with an excuse that’s believable.”

Scout pulled a face.

“What are you talking about?! You were also there!”

Demo chuckled. 

“Scout, it’s May. Not October. Why would Merasmus show up if it wasn’t Halloween?”

“Because he overslept after Soldier stole his alarm clock batteries! Don't you remember?!”

Demo snorted and smirked at Scout. Scout gritted his teeth as he glared at Demo.

“Freakin’ unbelievable! Fuck you guys, I’m going back to bed!”

“I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early, private!” Soldier yelled after Scout.

“Get fucked!”

With that, Scout slammed the door shut behind him, ignoring the quiet conversation going on outside. He groaned and flopped back into bed. 

Obviously, it was way too early if both Soldier and Demo forgot about Merasmus showing up. 

With an annoyed sigh, Scout rolled over and went back to sleep.

Scout stomped into the kitchen with a dirty look on his face, causing both Spy and Engie to look up from what they were doing.

“Morning, Scout!” Engie greeted from the stove.

Scout let out a scoff, opening the door to the fridge and reaching out to grab a can of Bonk! when he pulled himself up short. 

What the fuck?

Scout squinted suspiciously at the drinks in the fridge. 

Didn’t he only have one can left yesterday? Scout swore he did, but two cans were resting on the shelf. Strange… Did someone restock yesterday while he wasn’t looking?

“You are late waking up today,” Spy commented, barely looking up from his newspaper as Scout pulled a face. “Perhaps you need to start taking your job seriously.”

Spy’s snarky comment pulled Scout out of his thoughts as he put a hand to his face.

“I do not need this talk again, oh my god,” he muttered into his hand.

Scout straightened up and turned to Engie, ignoring Spy.

“Engie, the batteries you gave me yesterday are already dead!” Scout complained as Engie reliably passed over Scout’s breakfast. “My alarm didn’t go off again!”

Engie didn’t say anything as he paused and tilted his head like he normally did when he was thinking.

“Everyone heard you yelling at Soldier this morning,” Spy interjected as Scout put the bread in the toaster. “You could have woken up earlier.”

“You said that yesterday!” Scout yelled. “I swear you said the exact same thing, word for word!”

Spy raised an eyebrow.

“I… do not know what you’re talking about…” he responded hesitantly. “But regardless, there will hopefully be a day you decide to take your employment seriously and join Soldier in training.”

This was getting ridiculous.

“Stop repeating yourself!” Scout yelled. “If this is a prank, it's a shitty one, Spy!”

Spy opened his mouth to retort when Engie cut in.

“I didn’t give you batteries yesterday.” 

The toaster popped as Scout slowly turned to face Engie.

“What?” Scout asked. “Engie, you did! You came by my room before the match and handed them over personally! You telling me you don’t remember that?”

“I… think I would know if I did something like that, son. Unless… Spy?

“Excusez-moi, I would not belittle myself to the level to pull mindless pranks against my colleagues.”

Scout turned to look at the Frenchman when something caught his eye.

“Woah, Engie! When’d you get the time to fix the wall?!”

“What?” Engie asked at the same time as Spy, who was finally looking up from his paper.

Scout ignored the concerned looks thrown his way as he stepped closer to the serving window.

“The wall. It looked awful yesterday after me and Merasmus crashed into it, but it looks as good as new! What'd you do, Engie?”

Engie’s mouth hung open as he continued to stare at Scout.

“What are you talking about?!” Engie demanded. “ Merasmus was here? And you crashed into the wall?”

Scout spluttered for a moment.

“Engie, you were there! So were you, Spy!”

“Well, I do not remember this event taking place, and neither does the labourer, so it seems,” Spy snapped.

What the hell was going on this morning?!

“I crashed into the wall when I tried attacking Merasmus! I hit my head and got a con… con… con–”

“Concussion?” Engie supplied.

“Yes, that! Medic said I had a concussion!”

“Well, you definitely seem to have hit your head, seeing how you’re remembering things that didn’t happen,” Spy muttered irritably.

Had Scout finally lost it? Honestly, out of all his teammates, he figured he would be the last to go crazy.

Scout ran a hand through his hair, thinking hard, before coming to a realisation and laughing.

“You guys are playing a prank on me!” he yelled, relieved that he wasn’t losing his mind before he even turned twenty-five. “And you got Soldier and Demo in on it too!”

“What?” Engie asked.

Scout let out another laugh, ignoring him.

“Very funny, guys. Who masterminded it? Was it you, Spy?”

“S-Scout, are you okay?” Engie asked.

Man, Engie was a better actor than Scout gave him credit for! He almost believed the baffled expression on Engie’s face. Engie must have been taking pointers from Spy.

“How much work have you guys put into this? Is Pyro gonna walk past like they did yesterday?”

“Mmph?” Pyro asked, poking their head into the mess hall from the doorway, having been passing by at the time.

Scout let out a shout.

“Ha! Freaking called it,” he shouted as Pyro hesitantly entered the mess ball and shrunk away from Scout. “I gotta give you props for the effort youse are putting in. Really made me feel like I was going insane for a bit!”

Spy and Engie didn’t respond, merely shooting each other concerned looks. 

Man, they really were going for the long con, Scout thought as he buttered his toast. If Scout were the one doing this prank, he would have revealed it was a joke the moment he was called out on it.

“Thought you could get one over on ol’ Scout, but ya didn’t!” Scout declared, walking out of the room and biting into his toast with a crazed laugh. “See you in battle today, losers!”

The mess hall was silent after Scout left, as Spy, Engie and Pyro stared at each other.

“Mmph mm mphh mhmph?” Pyro asked.

“I… don’t know,” Engie answered slowly.

The smell of smoke caused him to jump and rescue his now burnt breakfast out of the frying pan with a swear.

“Should we call the Medic?” Spy hesitantly asked.

“I mean…” Engie muttered. “It doesn’t look like it’s going to affect him during the fight…”

The three fell silent, mulling it over.

“We should tell Medic.”

“Mmph!”

“Oui agreed.” 

Scout scowled as he spat on the ground.

Blood in his mouth again? Seriously? 

It was that same Medic, too, Scout mused while trying to wipe the blood off his face. He really had to start closing his mouth when bashing heads in. 

That wasn’t the only thing that had seemingly repeated.

Soldier got sniped again. What’s more, is that he was doing the exact same thing he was doing when he got shot 24 hours ago – trying to rocket up to the second storey of the BLU base.

Were the other team also in on the prank? There was no way! The Administrator would have everyone’s heads if they interacted with the other team outside of battle. 

Scout frowned to himself.

The further he got into battle, the more he got the feeling that this wasn’t some prank.

It was one thing having his coworkers repeat themselves and act confused when Scout brought up the repetition, but it was something else entirely to have a battle completely repeat itself, play by play.

“Private!”

Speaking of, here came Soldier again. 

“I hope you have been formulating a plan and have not been slacking!”

…Saying the exact same thing he said yesterday when confronting Scout.

Something was wrong, and Scout didn’t know what it was.

“I… have…” Scout muttered absentmindedly.

Surely the BLU team wouldn’t pull off the same manoeuvre as yesterday, right?

“And?”

Right?! 

Scout said nothing, staring at the alleyway where they had been ambushed yesterday and bit his lip.

“Private, we are at war,” Soldier scolded. “You do not have time to daydream and put the final details on your strategies.”

Scout didn’t say anything as he heard Medic and Heavy approach.

“Little Scout has a strategy?” Heavy asked.

“Affirmative!”

“What is it, Herr Scout?” Medic asked. “The BLU team are getting closer, and we need one last push or we are not going to win today’s match.”

BLU repeated strategies, but never as exact as running through a specific alleyway at a specific time.

“I would also like to hear Scout’s plan,” Spy said, sauntering out of his hiding place.

Scout’s mind was spinning. This was all just an elaborate prank, right? 

“What the fuck are you all doing over here?!” Demo yelled. Pyro mumbled in agreement.

There was no way everything was repeating. It made no sense!

“Herr Scout has a plan,” Medic surmised.

Scout screwed up his face.

Maybe there was one way he could prove to himself he wasn’t stuck in a loop. 

Scout let out a shaky breath of air.

“Are… Are you alright, Herr Scout?” Medic asked, suddenly noticing how tense Scout was and turning the medigun onto him. “Have you been injured?”

“You have been weirdly quiet, Scout,” Demo spoke up. “Do you need to take a break or–”

“The alleyway,” Scout interrupted.

“Huh?”

If Scout could make it through the entire alleyway without a full frontal assault from BLU, then it would prove that things weren’t repeating. He could prove to himself he wasn’t going crazy.

“BLU were going through the left side of the map; Soldier can back me up on this. We should run through that alleyway on the right side and get their briefcase while no one is at the base.”

Much like yesterday, the team stared at him with a myriad of concern, confusion and blankness on their faces.

“That is your master plan?” Spy asked.

Scout turned to Soldier imploringly.

“Soldier?” 

Please say something different, please say something different, please–

“The private has a point.”

“He does?” The group asked.

Scout swore under his breath. 

“Affirmative. I also saw the BLU scum heading towards the left before I was sent to respawn. It is a good plan.” 

Scout numbly nodded. 

If what he thought was going to happen did happen, it was going to hurt, but Scout needed the proof.

“Now let’s go! Move it, move it, move it!”

The team turned to the alleyway and took off with Scout in the lead.

And much to Scout’s horror, it was just like yesterday.

First Sniper yelled something over the comms. Then, Scout heard the sound of the BLU Heavy rev up his minigun. 

That figures.

Scout closed his eyes in defeat and waited to appear in respawn.

Scout knew his team was glaring at him for making that call, but at this point, Scout could barely care. Sure enough, the Administrator announced a BLU victory, and Scout could only feel sick to his stomach.

Scout was in a time loop. 

Okay, yeah sure. Why not? 

Scout wished he were one of the more logical members of the team so he could come up with another explanation as to why things were repeating; he really did, but there was no logic or reason as to what was going on. 

It wasn’t a prank because there was no way the team could coordinate everything down to the second and get the BLU team on board without getting shot at or sabotaged. 

And it certainly wasn’t a coincidence. It’s a coincidence if one or two things repeat two days in a row. It’s not when every hour, every minute, and every second is repeated.

Scout pensively picked at his dinner in silence. He took a bite of his mac and cheese, but it tasted like nothing, as he was too engrossed in thought.

So, where did he go from here? What was his next step? Was the loop going to happen once, or was it going to keep going forever?

Ugh, none of this time loop crap made sense. Scout was starting to get a headache just thinking about it.

Quietly, he placed his fork down and stood up. 

Being surrounded by the rest of the team wasn’t helping. Maybe he’d come up with some ideas while he was drawing – he always did his best thinking with a sketchpad open in front of him while he was alone. 

Scout sighed and started to turn towards the door.

“Can little man help with dishes?”

Oh.

Right. Scout forgot about that part. The day – or loop, he figured – wasn’t over. He still had to argue with Heavy, blow off Sniper to play with Pyro, and eat shit trying to fight Merasmus. 

Wait…

Was Merasmus going to show up again? Are wizards affected by time loops? Could he help Scout escape?

Scout’s mind raced with the possibilities.

“Little man?” Heavy asked, placing a gentle hand on Scout’s shoulder.

All conversation died off in the mess hall as everyone turned to look at Scout.

Holy shit, Merasmus might be his ticket out of here!

“Right!” Scout yelled, startling the big Russian. “Let’s get these plates, big guy!”

The way Scout saw it was like this; if Merasmus was going to show up and potentially save him, Scout needed to be in the mess hall when Medic dropped off the mail. The best way to loiter without raising suspicion was to do the dishes. 

With renewed vigour, Scout grinned and started grabbing the plates. Heavy hadn’t moved yet as he furrowed a brow and watched Scout curiously. Scout couldn’t help but notice there was some murmuring behind him as he entered the kitchen, but he couldn’t care less. 

He was getting out of this time loop!

Scout placed the plates on the countertop as Heavy walked in, staring wide-eyed at Scout like Medic had sewn on a second head to him.

“I wash, you dry?” Heavy said – although it sounded more like a question.

“Yeah, sure!”

It really didn’t matter what Heavy thought about him right now. If Scout could get out of this time loop, it would just be another weird day to his teammates.

“Is a shame about battle today,” Heavy said, squeezing dishwashing liquid into the sink.

The conversation seemed to mirror the one they had yesterday, which suited Scout just fine.

“Uh-huh!” Scout distractedly responded.

“And about little Scout’s plan.”

“Totally!”

Heavy stopped washing the dish in his hand and turned his head to look at Scout with a furrowed brow.

“You… do not seem too upset that your plan failed.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, big guy!” Scout responded with an almost manic grin. “I’m looking to the future! Can’t let stuff like that keep me down!”

“O-Oh?”

“Yep! I’m looking forward to tomorrow! Bigger and brighter things are on the horizon!”

Scout grabbed the plate out of Heavy’s loose grip and started drying as Heavy's furrowed brow grew deeper.

“...Is little Scout okay? You hit your head, da?”

“Nope! I’m just excited for the mail!”

Heavy paused once again.

“The mail?”

Scout nodded and failed to elaborate as he took another plate out of Heavy’s hand. Heavy was quiet before he lifted his head and looked through the serving window. He shot a pointed look with a raised eyebrow at Medic and Spy as the two other mercenaries frowned. Scout didn’t notice any of this – he was too busy drying the last of the plates and putting them away. 

Scout shut the cupboard, barely able to hide his excitement, and sauntered out into the mess hall with spring in his step. He wasn’t surprised when both Pyro and Sniper approached him.

“Mate, can I speak with you for a sec?”

“Mmph! Mmph mph mmph mpph mm!”

“Sure!

The two hesitantly paused at the response and shared a glance.

“Who are you talking…?” Sniper trailed off and looked away. “Uh… Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just… talk to him tomorrow, Pyro.”

Pyro seemingly didn’t notice the disappointed tone in Sniper’s voice as they cheered and clapped their hands. They mumbled an excited thanks to Sniper and tried to push Scout out of the mess hall.

“Just a sec, mumbles,” Scout piped up, with an audible smile. “I just want to check the–”

“Mail has arrived!” called Medic.

Perfect! Just on time. 

Scout couldn’t suppress his grin as Medic slapped the stack of letters on the table and… 

…Nothing happened.

What?

Scout blinked at the pile of letters on the table. 

Where was Merasmus? He should be here. If everything was repeating, why wasn’t Merasmus showing up again? What gives?

Demo picked up a letter from his mum and glanced up, noticing Scout’s expression.

“Uh… You alright, lad?” 

Scout’s mouth felt dry.

“I just… expected something else.”

Demo glanced back down at the letters and looked back up at Scout.

“With the mail?” he confirmed.

Scout bit his lip and found himself robotically nodding.

It was too much to explain to his teammates what was going on – how could he?

“I was just expecting a package from my ma,” Scout lied. “It’ll probably come tomorrow.”

That is, if tomorrow even came, Scout morosely thought.

“If you say so,” Demo said, shrugging and walking away.

Pyro lightly tapped Scout on his shoulder.

“Mmph?”

“Don’t worry about it, Pyro,” Scout murmured. “Let’s just go.”

Scout turned to leave when he heard the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. In Scout’s worldly experience, that was never a good sign. He stopped and cocked his head over his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Junge, can I speak with you in the infirmary?” Medic asked.

Scout blinked at Medic standing in the centre of the mess hall, his eyes boring into him.

Oh, this was new, Scout thought to himself. Maybe because Merasmus didn’t show up, everything changed. Scout wasn’t expecting that! How much of the day could he change?

“Junge?” Medic prompted. “Scout?”

Oh, right, Medic was talking to him. 

“Uh… sure. Pyro, do you mind if I play with you later?”

“Mmph!”

Scout smiled and turned back to see Medic walking up to him and shooing him out of the mess hall. 

“Gut, now raus, raus!”

Scout stared up at Medic as he sat on a bed in the med bay. He hesitantly glanced around the room, as if he expected something to jump out at him.

Instead, Medic stood stiffly in front of him, writing down something on a clipboard, all the while frowning. 

This was uncharted territory for Scout. Who knew what could happen? All Scout knew was that this certainly wasn’t a regular checkup.

“I have a few questions for you, Junge,” Medic declared in an almost calm tone. “Did you sustain any injuries from battle today?”

“No,” Scout answered immediately.

Medic paused and frowned, squinting at him.

“Are you sure?”

Scout rolled his eyes.

“You were there when we got sent to respawn. Doesn’t respawn leave us with no injuries?”

Medic looked down at the clipboard and wrote something down as he pursed his lips. 

“Have you been getting enough sleep?” Medic continued.

“It’d be fuckin’ easier if Soldier didn’t blast that stupid trumpet every morning, but yeah, I have.”

Medic hummed and clicked his pen, continuing to stare down at the clipboard as Archimedes suddenly flew down and landed on his head. Medic didn’t pay him any mind, as he uncharacteristically waved the bird away. Scout said nothing, watching the dove fly up to the rathers and wishing that he could be like Archimedes and remove himself from the situation.

“Herr Demoman and Herr Soldier said you mentioned something about hitting your head yesterday,” Medic spoke, breaking Scout out of his thoughts. “Can you tell me about that? Why didn’t you come to me?”

Scout sighed.

“What’s this about, doc?”

Medic finally looked up from the clipboard, pursing his lips as he sized up Scout.

“Your behaviour today has been uncharacteristic of you. The rest of the team and I are merely concerned.”

Scout couldn’t help the eye roll that escaped him.

“I’m fine. I promise.”

Medic sighed and placed the clipboard on the table, glaring directly into Scout’s eyes.

“You were exhibiting high levels of anger this morning–”

“Doc–

“Then you exhibited strange mood swings after dinner, showing bouts of hyperactivity.

“Medic–!”

“But, what is most concerning is that you seem to have continuing periods of getting lost in thought and having to be brought back to reality by the people around you. I have known you for a few years, Junge, and you are not known for your ability to stop and think.”

Scout paused his protests to stare at the deadly serious expression Medic was shooting him.

“Fuckin’ rude,” he managed.

“And you still haven’t answered my question.”

“Huh?”

“Why didn’t you come to me about your head injury?”

Scout let out an irritated sigh.

“Do you wanna know the truth, doc?”

“Ja. The truth would be helpful in giving you a proper diagnosis.”

“Fine. The truth is, I did see you."

Medic stopped short and stared at Scout.

"What?"

"I did see you,” Scout repeated slowly, as if he were talking to a child. “Everything that has happened today happened yesterday. I’m the only one who seems to have noticed and I’m going to go insane if I have to be stuck in this stupidass piece of shit day again. Got it?”

Medic had paled and was staring at Scout with wide eyes. A moment passed as he thought before putting up a finger.

“I’ve got just the thing for you,” he muttered, walking over to a cupboard and starting to rifle through it.

Scout’s head snapped up to look at Medic as he suddenly turned around, a pill bottle in his hand.

“Here we are!” Medic declared as he strode up to Scout. “Emesis Diazepam!”

Scout squinted at the bottle. Despite the calming blue of the label, all Scout saw was red.

“Are those fucking anti-psychotics?!” he yelled.

Medic frowned as he held the bottle out closer to Scout.

“Nein, they will help you sleep better–”

“Fuck off!” Scout yelled, hitting the bottle out of Medic’s hand. “I should have known better than to tell you!”

With that, Scout jumped up, ignoring Medic’s protests and stormed out of the med bay, slamming the doors shut behind him. Once outside, he leaned against the wall and gave a weary sigh. 

His second attempt of this day wasn’t going as well as the first.

“Fuckin’ Medic,” Scout muttered under his breath.

Honestly, he didn’t know what he expected from Medic, but certainly not this. 

It looked like Scout was alone in this.

He let out another sigh before he straightened up and started heading towards his room.

Scout slammed the door of his room shut and leant on it with a huff. He shook his head, removed his dog tags from his neck and threw them across the room, landing somewhere in the clutter. He stumbled as he attempted to take off his shoes while stomping to his bed. 

“Stupid fuckin’ doc," he muttered under his breath. "Thinking I belong in the fuckin’ loony bin! Fuck him, fuck this day, fuck my life."

As he finally managed to untie a shoelace, a loud crack echoed throughout Scout's room.

“Fool!” came a voice from behind him.

Scout let out a shout as he spun around and swung a fist towards the intruder.

“It is I! Merasm- Ow! What the fuck?!”

Scout blinked as his brain caught up with what was happening. Merasmus stood floating in the centre of his room, clutching his bloody nose that Scout had delivered a mean uppercut to. 

“Ow…” Merasmus muttered to himself. “Is it broken?”

“You asshole!” Scout yelled, ignoring the stream of blood from Merasmus’s nose and instead grabbing the collar of his robes. “Where were you after dinner?”

Merasmus furrowed a brow and pulled a face.

“You punched me in the nose and I’m somehow the asshole?!”

“Just answer the fucking question!”

Merasmus rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which just pissed Scout off more.

“Why would I be there after dinner? I’m not going to curse you twice. That’s a dick move and I have standards!”

A drop of blood rolled down from Merasmus’ face and onto Scout’s hand.

“You cursed me?!” 

He didn’t even think what Merasmus said yesterday was a curse! Scout thought it was just to scare him into paying Merasmus’s dry cleaning bill.

“You were there!” Merasmus scoffed.

“I had a freaking con…con…con-cushion! I wasn’t goin’ to remember shit other than my head wantin’ to explode!”

Merasmus scowled at Scout.

“Let go of me, or I will make your head explode. I don’t make threats I can’t follow through on.”

Scout growled but begrudgingly let go of the robes.

“Fine,” Scout spat. “Can you just uncurse me or some shit?”

“No.”

Scout looked up at Merasmus, taken aback.

“What?!”

“I said no,” Merasmus answered. “I am not going to uncurse you.”

“Why not?”

Merasmus chuckled, crossing his arms and smirking at Scout.

“Because you have not learnt your lesson, obviously.”

“L-Lesson? What freakin’ lesson?!”

“You were rude. You threw up on my robes and you haven’t apologised.”

Really? That’s what Merasmus was upset about?

“I had a con-cushion!”

“Excuses. Apologise, and maybe I’ll uncurse you. Or you can do this the hard way and try to break out of the time loop yourself.”

Scout took one look at the haughty expression on Merasmus’s face and couldn’t help the wave of red-hot anger that coursed through his body.

He had already had a shit day today and he was just going to have to live through it again?!

“Fuck you!” Scout yelled.

Scout pushed Merasmus to the ground and into his dirty laundry pile.

“I’ll get out of this time loop myself if you’re going to be such an asshole!”

Merasmus sneered.

“I’d like to see you try! It’ll be a harrowing experience and–”

“I don’t freakin’ care! Get the fuck out of my room!”

“Ugh! Fine! Be like that!”

With that, Merasmus clicked his fingers and disappeared into a cloud of green fog. Scout scowled at the disappearing mist. The moment it was gone, Scout deflated and hopped onto his bed.

He could do this. He could totally break out of this stupid time loop and turn this shitty day into a great one.

Logically, if a shitty day caused the loop to happen, then a perfect day should be able to break it! At least, that made sense to Scout.

Yeah, he could easily remember how things were going to go and stop any bad shit from happening.

“Yeah,” Scout said to his ceiling, already feeling more confident. “I’ll do things perfectly. Just like me.”

With that, Scout closed his eyes and went to sleep, unaware of what was to come

Chapter Text

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout turned over in bed and resisted the urge to get up to yell at Soldier. 

Perfect. He needed to be perfect today. Scout could not afford to mess up and get into a fight with Soldier this early. 

“That is an order, private!” 

It was simple! Scout would not engage with Soldier and go back to sleep. No problem!

A loud banging on Scout’s door cut through the silence of his room, causing him to flinch. 

“Private, you have to the count of three to confirm you are alive, or else I will break this door down.”

Scout’s eyes shot open. 

Wait, had he never not argued with Soldier in the morning?

“One…”

Soldier wouldn’t actually break his door down, thinking he was dead or something, right?

“Two…”

On second thought, this was Soldier he was thinking about and Soldier was absolutely the type of person to break in to check on someone.

“Wait, Soldier–!”

“Three!”

With a yell from the other side, Soldier charged the door. 

His attack wasn’t enough to tear the door off from its hinges. Unfortunately, it was strong enough to break through the shitty material the door was made out of and make a Soldier-sized hole in the door.

“What the fuck?!” Scout yelled, jumping out of bed.

“Private, you were not responding!”

“Yeah! Because I didn’t want to go to your stupid training or pick a stupid fight with you!”

“My training is not stupid! With my training, I was able to burst through your door!”

“You burst through my door because it’s a Mann Co. door!” 

A friendly knock interrupted the argument.

“Lads,” Demo greeted through the hole, still in his nightwear. “It’s 5 am. Can you please keep it down? The rest of the team and I don’t want to hear you fighting.”

“Demo!” Scout yelled, feeling like a petulant child. “Soldier broke my door!”

“He refused to respond to his commanding officer!”

“Lads, I’m not picking sides. I want you to stop this argument so we can get back to sleep.”

Scout groaned. 

“Fine!” He declared. “Soldier, I’ll go to your stupid training tomorrow, alright? Are you happy?”

“Affirmative!” Soldier yelled before turning around and walking through the mess of splinters that used to be Scout’s door.

Demo turned his gaze away from Soldier and onto Scout, squinting at him.

“Are you actually going to go to his training tomorrow?” Demo questioned.

“Fuck no,” Scout answered immediately. “Won’t matter if I don’t go. He’s not gonna remember it.”

Demo pursed his lips but didn’t say anything. Scout sighed.

“I’m gonna go back to sleep,” he announced.

“With a broken door?”

Scout assessed the damage and shrugged.

“Engie will fix it or something,”

“…Alright…” Demo said, sounding unconvinced. “Sleep well, lad, I guess.”

Scout gave a lazy salute as Demo turned to leave. He made his way over to his bed and laid down. 

So… not arguing with Soldier hadn’t been perfect, but maybe he didn’t need every part of his day to be perfect!

Maybe he needed to go about this another way.

All throughout high school, Scout drilled it into his head that 65% was still a pass. Maybe he just needed a pass rather than 100%? After all, as much as he was God's gift to the world, Scout was only human. 

Scout made a new plan in his head. He’ll just learn from his mistakes if the day looped again – although he doubted it would!

The rest of the day was going to go perfectly! He just knew it.

The stupid fucking alarm clock didn’t go off again. 

Scout would have thought he’d remember the alarm clock situation after it happened twice, but no cigar. 

Whatever, he’d simply remember tomorrow. Problem solved!

“Morning, Scout!” Engie greeted from the stove.

Scout let out a breath. 

Perfection, he reminded himself. He needed perfection.

“Morning Engie! Morning Spy!” Scout replied in his best ‘I’m-happy-to-be-here-and-definitely-didn’t-sleep-in-by-accident’ voice.

Spy looked up from his newspaper confusedly and shared a glance with Engie who looked equally bewildered.

“You are late waking up today,” Spy hesitantly responded. 

“Yeah, well, my alarm’s batteries were stolen but I ain’t letting that bring me down!”

“You ain’t?” Engie asked.

“Nope!” Scout said, putting his bread in the toaster. “I gotta roll with the punches! Keep on going! It’s how I’m gonna win today!”

Engie chuckled.

“Well, son, it’s nice seeing you so excited for work once in a while.”

“Yeah! I’m gonna ace it! Gonna make those BLU scum wish they had a closer eye on their briefcase!”

“Oh?” Spy spoke up. “And how do you know we’ll be capturing intelligence today?”

Oh crap. 

Scout forgot they hadn’t been briefed yet.

“Oh, um… just a guess! I have a good feeling about it!”

“Right…” Spy muttered, returning to his newspaper.

Engie shot Scout a grin and turned back to the eggs on the stove. 

Scout let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. That was too close. 

Medic already thought he was crazy in the last loop. He didn’t need Spy or Engie catching on and trying to drug him up either!

This interaction was going well! Scout didn’t want to ruin it by staying for longer than he needed to and accidentally starting something.

Wordlessly, Scout finished making his breakfast and turned to leave, afraid if he said anything else he’d be caught or something equally bad would happen. 

“I’ll see youse at the briefing!”

He quickly ducked out of the mess hall and passed Pyro with a wave. He bit into his toast as he reflected on the scene in the kitchen.

That was smoother than expected.

See? He could do things perfectly! This was gonna be a piece of cake!

Scout wiped the Medic’s blood from his face with a scowl. At least this time, his mouth wasn’t open. Silver linings!

He paused and looked around at the courtyard where he’d found himself in the last couple of days. Soldier was going to show up any minute now and he needed to figure out a plan.

Charging through the alleyway was a no-go, as the last two attempts had proven. 

What if they just went in the opposite direction? But who even knew what was down there?

“Private!”

Fuck, here came Soldier. Right on time.

“I hope you have been formulating a plan and have not been slacking!”

“I have, actually,” Scout started.

“And?”

“Well, I know BLU’s Heavy, Medic, and Scout are gonna run through that alleyway soon with an ÜberCharge,” Scout explained slowly. “I’m tryin’ to figure out what to do.”

“What strategy will you come up with to combat this?”

“Little Scout has a strategy?” Heavy asked, joining the conversation with Medic.

Scout very suddenly decided that this moment, right here, was his least favourite part of the loop. Did he really need the majority of the team to see him flounder to come up with a strategy?

Sure enough, Spy, Demo and Pyro joined the group huddle and Scout wasn’t any closer to figuring out how to defend against the ambush.

“Hey listen up!” Scout raised his voice, hoping the strategy would come while he spoke. “Their Medic, Heavy, and Scout are gonna go to the right side of the map and run through that alleyway in about a minute, ÜberCharge and kill us.”

Yes! The direction was correct this time! He could fix this!

“And you know this, how?” Spy asked.

“I saw them!”

“Affirmative!” Soldier piped up. “I also saw them run to the right before I died.”

Scout felt his eye twitch ever so slightly as a brief spike of anger flared up in him. 

Soldier was just going to agree with him, no matter what direction he came up with?!

Scout couldn’t believe this. Soldier really was clueless about the battle.

As much as he wanted to throttle Soldier here and now, he reminded himself that he was aiming for the perfect loop. 

Scout took a breath in. 

It was annoying, but Scout could deal with it later. He had a strategy to plan.

“I say we avoid that side, run through to the left and bring pressure to their front lines while I run ahead and steal their briefcase.”

That was a good strategy, right? He couldn’t think of any major flaws at the moment.

“That is your master plan?” Spy asked.

Scout’s eye twitched again. 

Spy was just gonna be an asshole in every loop too?

Scout tried calming himself down. No point in getting upset at someone who thought a $3,000 suit could be considered casual clothing. 

“It’s… not a terrible plan,” Medic reasoned. 

“Agreed! You all should be taking the initiative, like the private here!”

Displeased murmurs broke out through the group as the crew glared at Soldier. Scout shrugged and gave an awkward smile.

“Now let’s go! Move it, move it, move it!”

Silently Scout grinned to himself as the group turned away from the alleyway and started running.

They made it to the front lines faster than Scout expected, greeted by the BLU team’s Pyro and Demoman.

Soldier fired a rocket towards the Pyro before Scout could react. 

The BLU Pyro dove out of the way to avoid being turned into a fine red mist. Unfortunately for them, the rocket hit their arm as they ducked. 

They stumbled back in pain as the BLU Demo cocked his grenade launcher. He shot a grenade towards Scout, but Heavy reacted fast and shot the grenade out of mid-air. 

The RED Pyro let out a cry of pain as they were struck with some shrapnel after deciding to chase their counterpart and turned to face the BLU Demo. 

Before the Demo could reload, Scout charged forward, striking the BLU Demo in the chest with his bat. As the Demo recoiled in pain, Scout pushed past him and dashed towards where he knew the briefcase was.

A shot rang out through the battlefield as Scout sped up and grimaced. He dodged out of the path of a blue dot and glanced up to see the BLU Sniper had tried to pick him off. 

Luckily, Scout was just fast enough to avoid the headshot. 

He turned away and caught in his periphery the Sniper taking aim at him once more.

Scout prepared to duck and weave out of the way again but suddenly heard the Sniper yell out in pain.

Scout glanced back up at the nest and saw before the Sniper could fire, Spy had driven a knife into his back. Spy stood above the body and threw a half-smoked cigarette on the corpse. 

Scout grinned and turned back to the base he was running into as he raced towards the briefcase. 

The BLU Engineer had to be around here somewhere. Scout knew that the closer to the briefcase he got, the more likely the Engineer was to appear. 

Scout rounded a corner and suddenly caught a glimpse of the Engineer setting up a dispenser in the intelligence room. A few Sentry guns had already been set up, but it was nothing Scout couldn’t handle.

The Engineer hadn’t noticed the fast-approaching Scout yet and that suited him just fine. 

Scout charged the sentry guns and vaulted over them just as they started to shoot.

He could feel he’d been shot in his shoulder, but it didn’t matter – he cleared the row of guns and swung his bat towards the Engineer, who had been caught unawares. The Engineer reached for his shotgun in surprise as Scout swung again, knocking the BLU mercenary to the ground and away from his gun. 

The Engineer reacted quickly, grabbing Scout by the legs and pulling him down to the ground, slamming the younger man’s head on the hard concrete. Scout let out a string of curses as the Engineer got to his feet and grabbed his gun. He cocked the shotgun and pointed it at Scout’s head.

“Any last words, boy?”

Scout opened his mouth to respond when he noticed two things. 

The first was a sapper attached to one of the sentries next to Scout. 

The second was a shimmer in the air behind the Engineer. 

Scout grinned already knowing what was going on.

“Oh yeah, just four,” Scout smirked. “Give him hell, Spy.”

The Engineer started to turn around in confusion but was too late as Spy drove his knife into the Engineer’s back. The man fell to the ground with a scream as Spy decloaked and stood above the BLU mercenary, adjusting his cufflinks.

“That was cutting it rather close,” Spy commented, retrieving his knife.

“Yeah, yeah,” Scout said, standing up. “I thought I had it handled.”

“You rarely do.”

“Go to hell Spy,” Scout commented, turning to the briefcase. “Let’s just get out of here–”

“Alert, the enemy has taken our intelligence!” The voice of the Administrator interrupted.

“What?! How?!” Scout yelled.

Spy turned to Scout.

“You said their Medic, Scout and Heavy were running through that alleyway, correct?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you consider why they were running towards our base and who would kill them?”

“I thought Sniper and Engie would take care of ‘em…”

“Scout, have you seen the BLU Spy around?”

Scout looked at the fading body of the BLU Engineer on the ground. Spy has killed both him and the BLU Sniper with minimal struggle. 

If the RED Spy could kill these two classes with ease, then… the BLU Spy would have no issue.

“Fuck!” Scout yelled in realisation.

“We may still have time! Allez, run and find the BLU Sco-”

Spy wasn’t able to finish his command. Scout caught sight of the BLU Soldier entering the room behind Spy. 

As the Soldier cocked his rocket launcher with a wicked grin and fired, Scout shoved Spy out of the way – but the rocket was too fast. All Scout could do was squeeze his eyes shut as the rocket neared.

Scout and Spy landed in respawn with a start.

They weren’t alone – Demo, Medic, and Engineer were all present.

“Fuck!” Scout swore again.

“Y’all alright?” Engie asked.

“He’s just upset that his grand plan failed,” Spy responded drily, lighting a cigarette.

“Ah, well that is a shame,” Medic commented.

“Do you reckon we’ll be able to get back in there and turn this fight around?” Demo asked.

The Administrator’s voice piped up over everyone’s earpieces.

“You’ve failed. The enemy has captured our intelligence.”

“Guess not,” Someone commented, but Scout didn’t catch who said it.

He stared down at his fists and glared.

“There’s always tomorrow,” Engineer commented.

No there wasn’t, Scout angrily thought. Things were just going to repeat and he’d be stuck yet again trying to figure out how to come up with a rock-solid strategy. 

Scout sighed. 

Okay, this was just a minor setback. He could fix it tomorrow, right?

Scout flopped down on his bed with a relieved sigh. 

Thankfully, in this loop, he managed to avoid starting an argument with Heavy and finally managed to get to Pyro’s tea party without any incidents. 

Sniper wasn’t present at dinner, Scout noted. It was strange. He was there the last two days to walk up to Scout after the dishes were done, but today he wasn’t.

Scout hummed in thought. Maybe he did something to change the loop without meaning to. 

Sniper might have been upset over losing the way they did today and wanted to eat by himself. He did that often, not that Scout was paying attention at all. 

Nope, Scout was not stalking his coworker-cum-friend and paying attention when he joined the crew for dinner.

Scout’s felt his cheeks grow hot and slapped them lightly. With a sigh, he started to remove his hand wraps. 

He wasn’t stalking Sniper; he was just concerned about his friend, was all! Nothing strange about that!

Scout sighed and placed his hand wraps on his bedside table. His mind had shifted from thinking about Sniper to the elephant in the room – the time loop.

“How much longer is this going to go on for?” He asked the empty room.

The room predictably didn’t respond. 

Scout sighed and turned to grab his sketchbook when he noticed something else lying against the wall that he had forgotten about.

Curiously, Scout picked up the set of paints he bought when he decided he’d impress Ms Pauling with how artsy and thoughtful he was. 

Scout never learned how to paint as a kid. Money was always tight and he just didn’t have the chance to learn. 

Predictably, the set of paints was left on the floor of his room unopened, in favour of some more interesting activities, such as baseball and fighting the BLU team.

Maybe now he had a better use for it.

Scout bit his lip, picking up a paintbrush. He popped the cap of the black paint and squeezed out a minuscule amount of paint. He dabbed the brush into it and turned his left hand so the palm faced him, drawing two small lines on it.

“Better keep track of this shit,” Scout muttered to himself, lightly waving his hand to get the paint to dry. “It’s what Spy or Engie would do,”

Scout blew on his hand and smiled.

“Okay, what’s the plan for day three?” He muttered, painting the third tally mark.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout sighed as for once in his life, he thought things through.

The silent treatment didn’t work and yelling at Soldier didn’t work. 

What did that leave him?

Well, if Scout was being honest, he’d rather die than attend any of Soldier’s ‘drills’, so one option remained.

“That is an order, private!” 

Scout stood up and walked over to the door.

“Hey Solly, I’m uh… not really feelin’ it today. Can I take a rain check?”

“Private, you are in the army! There are no rain checks!”

“Yeah, but I’m so busy,” Scout lied.

“Doing what?”

Fuck. 

Scout, as predictable as always, didn’t think that far in advance and now he was paying the price.

“Uh…”

Come on, he begged himself. Think of something!

“Plannin’!” Scout blurted out. “Planning for battle! Gotta know where those BLU’s are gonna be hidin’ out!”

Soldier leaned in and scrutinised the runner. Scout leaned back slightly, feeling Soldier’s gaze bore holes through him, despite not being able to even catch a glimpse of Soldier’s eyes.

“Excellent work, Private!”

“Huh?”

“I look forward to your winning strategy in battle today!” Soldier declared before marching down the hall.

Scout confusedly watched Soldier strut away and closed the door once he was out of sight. 

That worked? 

Soldier wasn’t hounding him to run drills with him and he hadn’t gotten into a fight? This was too good to be true!

Scout blinked as he tried figuring out how that stupid lie worked before shrugging and walking over to his bed. It probably didn't matter. It wasn't like he was going to use it again.

He laid down and closed his eyes. 

Okay, the day was going alright so far. He’d just need to make it to breakfast on time and–

Time… 

Fuck! 

The alarm clock!

Scout's eyes flew open and snapped to look at the alarm clock on his bedside table. 

Unsurprisingly, it was still broken. 

Scout furrowed a brow and sat up. 

Did he have batteries in his room that he could use? 

As he scratched his head, his eyes flicked to the cheap wall clock above his door.

Aha! There was something that would have batteries.

Scout stood up once again and shuffled over to the clock. He reached up and scowled. 

Of course, it had to be out of reach. He tried jumping a few times to try and grab onto the clock but to no avail. How did Engie even deal with this regularly?

With a huff, Scout turned and tried looking around the room for something he could stand on to get to the clock.

His eyes landed on a chair pushed to the corner of the room and partially covered with laundry.

The entirety of the RED team had desks in each of their rooms to write letters to family, but Scout didn’t use his. 

Why would he in the first place? The majority of the time he’d just be struggling through his words. Why would he put himself through that when he could go into the common room, pick up the phone and have the operator put him to his ma?

Scout shook the thoughts of writing letters to his family from his head and strolled over to the chair. He unceremoniously pushed the laundry to the floor and grabbed it – he was overdue for a laundry trip anyway. 

Feeling himself perk up, he dashed over to the clock and climbed on top of the chair. 

Finally, the wall clock was within reach! 

Scout paused to silently congratulate himself on a plan well done. He would like to see Engie come up with something like that!

He gently lifted the clock from the wall and turned it over, opening the battery compartment and blinked in surprise.

What the fuck?!

There weren’t any batteries in this clock either!

Had Soldier also stolen these batteries?

Scout bit his lip as he suddenly remembered the last time he was holding this clock.

It was a few months back and the TV remote had just died on him. He, Pyro and Demo were trying to watch some weird comedy show about a witch Pyro had found ages ago, but the channel was stuck on the news. 

Instead of going to ask Engie for new batteries or even getting up and turning the knob to the right channel, Scout had declared to Pyro and Demo that he had the solution, ran to his room, climbed on top of his chair and removed the batteries from the wall clock. The TV remote had new batteries and he had saved the day.

Back in the present, Scout sighed.

“Fuckin’ of course,” He muttered, returning the clock to the wall and getting off the chair. “I couldn’t have just changed the channel with the knob?”

Scout looked at the still-dead alarm clock and groaned.

What was he going to do now?

Scout glanced at the sketchbook resting next to the alarm clock and shrugged. Maybe he would just sketch instead.

For once, Scout made it to breakfast on time, which he counted as an absolute win! Today was already looking up!

The rest of the team was already present save for Engie, Sniper and Pyro – they normally ate later or alone.

Currently, the mess hall was lively with conversation.

Demo swung an arm around Soldier and declared something Scout didn’t catch. 

It wasn’t that Demo was being quiet – far from it! The man was yelling like normal. It was just that sometimes Scout struggled to understand the Scotsman through the thick accent and slurring.

Soldier grinned at whatever Demo had said and responded in an equally loud voice.

Heavy and Medic were sitting at a table together, until Soldier yelled something, mocking them for quietly eating their breakfast. 

Heavy silently stood up and walked over to Soldier. He stood menacingly for a moment only to suddenly and playfully put him in a headlock. 

Demo let out a whoop and jumped onto Heavy’s back, wrapping his arms around Heavy’s neck. Heavy let out a roar of laughter.

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Medic raced over to the impromptu wrestling match and wrapped his arms around Heavy’s torso, cackling all the while.

Spy was sitting alone at a table, eating his breakfast and reading that fucking newspaper he’d been reading for the past few loops.

Normally Scout would be up and joining in with the roughhousing. He had seven older brothers for Pete’s sake! He loved playing around, especially with his friends!

But no. 

During this breakfast, Scout was silently planning.

If going through that alley would kill everyone, and engaging on the front lines would let BLU sneak past their defences, Scout would just have to…

Die and be sent to respawn, apparently.

Scout angrily groaned. 

Ok, maybe pushing forward after Soldier died was a stupid idea, but he had to try it! He got so far yesterday, maybe he could fluke it! 

Unfortunately, the BLU Sniper saw what he was doing from a mile away and quickly took care of him.

Admittedly, the only reason he got so far yesterday was with help from Spy, who killed the Sniper and Engineer and… Alright, he could start to see where he fucked up.

If it wasn’t for that stupid BLU Sniper! 

RED probably had one of the best in the biz, and if the BLU Sniper was half as good as him, that still meant he was amazing at his job.

Scout groaned again and slumped back on the bench.

“Chin up, Private! We will get them next time!” Soldier declared.

Scout cracked an eye open, forgetting he wasn’t alone.

Sure enough, Soldier sat on one of the benches that furnished respawn. He was situated next to Scout. 

In front of Scout was…

“Better luck next time, mate,” Sniper said.

Scout flinched upon realising Sniper had also been sent to respawn. He looked away at the row of clocks on the wall stating how long he had left in respawn.

“How’d you die, Snipes?” He asked, praying the small crack in his voice wasn’t obvious.

“Bloody spook pretended he was you, mate. Only remembered you were on the front lines just as the knife sunk in.”

“Bummer.”

“I was sniped by the enemy Sniper!” Soldier interrupted.

“Damn shame,” Sniper commiserated.

The three men stayed silent as the clock quietly ticked down. 

Eventually, Sniper had three seconds left.

“Good luck out there Snipes,” Scout broke the silence.

Sniper looked up at him for a beat. 

Two seconds left.

“Scout…”

“Yeah?”

One second left.

“Uh… nevermind. Don’t worry about it. Shoot good, mate.”

With that, Sniper disappeared from respawn. Scout stared at the spot where Sniper was sitting for maybe a bit too long.

He and Soldier still had five seconds left and counting. Impatiently tapping his foot, Scout watched the clocks tick down.

“Do you have a strategy for when we enter the field of battle again?” Soldier asked.

Scout grimaced. Soldier was still gonna ask him about that?

“Uh… I don’t know. Things might have changed,” Scout admitted.

As soon as Scout finished speaking, Spy appeared in respawn with a scoff. He retrieved a cigarette from his disguise kit and reached for his lighter. 

Scout raised an eyebrow as he stared at the Frenchman. 

Spy normally didn’t die this early. 

What happened after Scout got killed? Did he cause this?

“Gentlemen,” Spy greeted. “I see you’re about to leave.”

Scout glanced at the clock and saw they had two seconds left.

“Affirmative, corporal!”

“Bonne chance, gentlemen,”

Scout blinked and he was back in resupply. Soldier was next to him, practically vibrating with excitement to get back out into the field again.

Meanwhile, Scout bit his thumb as he recounted what had happened during the last minute.

For one, Scout’s trip to respawn wasn’t a complete waste of time. 

He had realised that if he was going to execute any plans he’d need Spy to help take care of the Sniper and the Engineer. Moreover, Spy would die if Scout got himself killed. He didn’t know why his death caused Spy to die but that was a discovery for another day.

“Private,” Soldier broke Scout out of his thoughts. “Do you have a plan?”

Scout blinked. What could he even do right now?

“Uh… no. I’m under your orders right now.”

“Roger that, private! We are going to charge the enemy!”

Scout winced. This was going to hurt.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

“I really fuckin’ hope this ends soon,” Scout muttered to himself. 

“That is an order, private!” 

Scout rolled over and glared at the door.

What’d he say yesterday that got rid of Soldier?

He stood up and opened the door.

“Hey Soldier, I’ll show up tomorrow for trainin’, alright?”

Soldier took a step towards Scout and glared at him.

“Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today! Genghis Khan said that!”

“Uh… sure, but real busy strategisin’ and all that.”

“You are strategising?”

“Yes! I…I’m coming up with a plan. I think Spy’s been doing shit on the battlefield and needs some leadership!”

Soldier continued scrutinising Scout. 

“Interesting,” Spy said, decloaking and leaning on the wall next to Scout’s door frame.

Scout didn’t scream. He let out a manly shout of surprise. He definitely did not scream at all. 

Spy, on the other hand, looked more smug than he had any right to be.

“And do tell me, what do I need to work on, boy?”

“Uhh…”

“You don’t know.”

“Shut up, I do! You just surprised me! Didn’t think I’d be asked this early in the morning!”

Spy said nothing and scoffed as he lit a cigarette. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards Scout, expecting a response.

Think Scout, think!

What even happened yesterday during the mission?

An idea suddenly came to him.

“Uh… a lotta us are getting dominated by the BLU Sniper. He likes to kill Soldier while rocket jumping.”

“Affirmative!” Soldier agreed.

“Oh?”

“So if you could… make an effort to kill him more that’d be great?” Scout concluded, the end of the sentence turning into a squeak.

Spy tapped his cigarette, thinking as Scout cringed at himself.

“I suppose I have been focusing more on killing their Pyro rather than their Sniper lately,” Spy mused.

“Yeah?”

“I will consider it.”

Scout blinked at Spy.

Holy crap, did Spy just actually listen to a piece of advice from Scout and think about it?! 

Scout discreetly pinched himself. Nope, he wasn’t dreaming. 

Spy never took advice from anyone on the team, much less Scout! What the hell was going on?

Scout shook his head to jolt him out of his thoughts. He could marvel over Spy’s change of heart later.

“I should really get back to strategisin’,” Scout said.

“And miss out on Soldier’s drills?” Spy asked.

Wait what? This wasn’t the plan!

“Uh… no, that’s alright! I really gotta focus on the final details of my strategy.”

Soldier nodded.

“I look forward to your winning strategy in battle today!”

With that, he was off, once again marching down the hallway. 

Scout watched Soldier leaving for a moment, before moving to close the door. 

Unfortunately, Spy had decided to wedge his foot between the door and the frame, preventing Scout from closing the door. Scout peevishly looked up at him.

“Can I help you?”

“Non,” Spy said, noncommittally. “Just know that there will hopefully be a day you decide to take your employment seriously and join Soldier in training.”

Scout groaned.

“I know, I know. You keep sayin’ that. Now can I be left to my plans?”

Spy looked at Scout once more.

“You should really wash the paint off your hands,” He commented. “Au revoir.” 

With that, Spy quietly disappeared into red smoke. Scout sighed and shut the door behind him. He looked down at the four tally marks on his hand.

“Not on your life, Spy,” Scout declared to the empty room.

He stretched and walked over to his bed again, reaching for his sketchbook.

“Alright, day four. Let’s see what you have in store.”

Scout snickered at his unintentional rhyme, opened his sketchbook and frowned at the now blank pages that he filled out yesterday. 

Oh well. He could always work on his anatomy more.

Did that fucking Medic have to bleed so much?!

Scout wiped the blood off his face before leaning back, trying to figure out if it was worth it not killing the BLU Medic tomorrow. 

Sure, it would cause issues for the team, but at least he wouldn’t be covered in blood.

“Private!”

Oh no. Speaking of the team… 

Despite having the time to come up with a plan since yesterday, Scout was still drawing a blank! 

He knew he needed Spy to take care of the Sniper, but who would help defend their briefcase? Who would be joining him on the front lines?

“I hope you have been formulating a plan and have not been slacking!”

If Scout was being honest, over the past few days he had discovered something new about himself. 

He hated acting as the strategist! 

He hated having to sit down and figure out who should go where and why! 

Most of all, he hated this stupid fucking match!

“Private?”

Oh right, he was having a conversation.

“Their Medic, Heavy and Scout are gonna come through that alleyway to get our intelligence and they have an Übercharge ready,” Scout started. “If we engage them front on we’ll get killed, but if we ignore them and go for their briefcase, their Spy will kill Sniper and Engie and get our briefcase too.”

Soldier’s mouth opened slightly, but he didn’t say anything. Scout ignored his look as he started to pace.

“So I don’t know what we can do to protect our briefcase, stay alive and grab theirs,”

“What are teammates doing?” Heavy asked, sprinting towards Soldier and Scout. 

Like he’d been for the last couple of loops, Medic trailed behind Heavy.

“Strategising…” Soldier answered quietly, reaching for something.

“Yeah! We gotta figure out how to protect the intelligence!” Scout said.

The others were going to show up soon and he still needed a plan. 

Scout turned his back on the group to look at the alleyway and squinted. 

If only he could prevent the BLU team from getting to the end of the alleyway… 

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. It was brilliant!

“Alright, I got it!” Scout declared. “We need Demo to–” 

Scout didn’t finish his sentence.

His ears were ringing from the sound of a gunshot. But that wasn’t important right now. 

Scout staggered forward and slowly looked down at his stomach to see a massive hole in his torso from where Soldier had shot him at point-blank range.

Confused, Scout tried asking what had happened but could only make a helpless gurgling noise as he started choking on his own blood.

The world swayed around him as Medic yelled his name and tried healing him with the medigun. Heavy tried catching Scout when Soldier forcibly shoved the two back. Scout’s knees buckled. Pain overwhelmed all of his senses as he hit the ground. 

Scout couldn’t hear what Soldier was yelling about but he could read one word from Soldier’s lips.

Spy.

What about Spy? Wasn’t he lurking in the shadows behind Scout? What did he have to do with this?

The man in question suddenly appeared from behind Scout and started to pull Soldier off of Medic, all the while yelling at him.

Medic directed his medigun back on Scout again, but it was too late.

Scout let the pain overtake him as he closed his eyes.

When he opened them again he was sitting in respawn unharmed.

Engie looked up at him confusedly from his bench.

“You alright, partner?” He asked.

Scout put a hand to his unwounded stomach and processed what just happened.

“Did Soldier fucking kill me because he thought I was a fucking Spy?!”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout glared at the door and stomped over to it. He reefed the door open and raised a hand to flip Soldier off. Soldier snarled at the finger.

“You treat your commanding officer like that, private?!” Soldier yelled.

“Fuck. You.”

“This is insubordination!”

“I know I ain’t gonna break out of the loop today,” Scout stated. “But after what you did yesterday, I just need to do this for myself.”

“What are you on about, private?!”

“It doesn’t fucking matter! You won’t remember it. Now, I’m gonna go back to sleep, wake up late because you stole my alarm clock batteries and try to figure out a way we can win today, capiche?”

“Negative!”

“I don’t fuckin care!”

Scout turned to close the door and paused.

“Hey, Soldier?”

“Affirmative!”

Scout raised both hands and used them to flip Soldier off. Soldier started to make spluttering sounds of protest when Scout slammed the door shut with a scowl.

After that disaster of a battle yesterday, Scout had come to an important realisation. 

He didn’t need every single loop to be perfect – he just needed one loop. 

He could continue to be a fuck up in every other loop except for the one that mattered.

Scout flopped down on his bed with a sigh.

“I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early, private!”

Yeah, right. 

Scout lifted a hand to flip off the door one final time. He had more pressing matters to deal with. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The battle was as chaotic as usual. 

Scout could practically hear his heart beating out of his chest as he clobbered the BLU Medic to death. 

A shot rang throughout the battlefield followed by the yell of Soldier as he hit the ground with a bullet through his skull.

Scout knew what this meant. 

He took his cue and turned away from the chaos of the front lines. He followed the well-worn path he had taken the last four times he’d retreated and found his way to the courtyard.

Scout absentmindedly rubbed the blood off of his face. 

Just before he was killed yesterday, an idea of how to win the match came to him, and it wasn’t a half-bad idea either. 

It was too bad Soldier killed him before he could do it. 

No matter. He’d just have to toe the line between not looking like he knew too much and giving correct orders to everyone. 

Fuck, this was gonna be harder than he thought.

If Scout had been honest, he would have expected to have broken the curse by now. 

He was perfect! The problem was that his teammates weren’t. 

That ruined any chance of achieving a perfect loop. 

Whatever, he could work with this. 

He had played enough baseball games where their strategies had been ruined early on. 

Even when that happened, his old team still managed to win because they were amazing! 

His old friend, Joey, was a master at adapting during the heat of the game and would always lead the rest of the team to victory!

Scout reasoned that this was just like one of those baseball games, except everything happened over and over again and it was an entire day instead of an entire match… 

Okay, when he thought about it like that, it was nothing like a baseball game, but RED hired him for his speed and ability to kill, not for his brains.

Regardless, Scout could adapt like Joey and push the team to victory! He had an advantage too, knowing every play! 

It was practically a home run!

Huh. 

He hadn’t really thought about Joey in a while. Not since he started working for RED. 

He kinda m–

“Private!”

Not again, Scout bemoaned to himself as Soldier jolted him out of his thoughts.

“I hope you have been formulating a plan and have not been slacking!”

“Yeah, I’ve got an idea,” Scout replied.

“And?”

“Not sure if you saw it, but I think I saw the BLU Heavy, Medic and Scout ran to the right before you got shot, right?”

Soldier furrowed his brow.

“Affirmative.”

Damn, Scout should be an actor! Soldier was none the wiser at this point and didn’t think Scout was a Spy! Talk about a win!

Scout tried not to grin.

“Knowing their Medic, he’s probably ready to pop an Übercharge and ambush us through that alleyway, right?”

“Affirmative! What is your strategy, private?!”

“Little Scout has a strategy?” 

Ah, Medic and Heavy had perfect timing as always!

“Yeah! We need Demo, though. Has anyone seen him?” Scout responded. 

“Was he not just on the front lines with you, private?” Soldier asked.

Oh. Fuck!

He’d been so wrapped up in his plans, he totally forgot about where everyone else was.

“You’re right, but… but… I- I lost sight of him after you died and I ran,” Scout stammered for an answer

Spy silently uncloaked and stepped up to the small gathering.

“You could always contact him on the comms? One finds that is the best way to speak to your teammates on the field,” Spy snarked.

Holy shit, he really was losing track of everything, trying to come up with this plan. Scout knew Demo was only a matter of seconds away but his teammates didn’t know that. 

Okay, back to acting until Demo showed up.

“You’re right, I’ll call him now and–”

“What the fuck are you all doing over here?!” Demo interrupted. 

Scout let out a sigh of relief as Pyro followed along.

“I’ve got an idea!” Scout perked up. “Soldier and I saw the BLU Scout, Medic and Heavy running to the right. They’re probably gonna ambush us through this alleyway and try to get the briefcase, right?”

The gathered audience shared confused looks but nodded regardless.

“Demo, can you set up some stickybombs at the entrance of that alleyway and blow ‘em up when those three show up?”

Demo blinked.

“Demo?”

“Right!” Demo yelled. “Sorry lad, I’m not used to you coming up with plans. That I can do!”

“Meet us on the front lines when they’ve gone kablooie, alright?”

“Aye!”

“Spy!”

“Oui?”

“The BLU Sniper’s been a pain in our ass all day. Are you able to introduce him to the sweet sweet steel of your knife?”

“It’s titanium, but oui, I can do that.”

“Alright! Everyone else, we’re gonna push onto the front lines. During the commotion, I’ll run past, grab their briefcase and run back out. Spy, I might need your help with the Engineer, alright?”

The rest of the team stared at Scout like he had grown a second head.

“What?”

“Little Scout came up with all that?” Heavy asked.

“Yeah, big guy, I did. I ain’t a Spy. You can spycheck me and– Soldier put down the shotgun! I can see you! I said spycheck me, not kill me!”

Soldier sheepishly lowered his shotgun as Pyro walked up to Scout and grabbed onto his arm, thoroughly looking it over. Pyro pinched Scout’s arm and looked hard for any traces of blue smoke. After a second, Pyro gave a thumbs up.

“Now let’s go! Before BLU gets here!”

“You heard the private! Move it, move it, move it!”

Scout let out a nervous breath, turned away from Demo and raced towards the battlefield with the rest of the team. 

He could do it, right? He could win this unwinnable match!

Scout's trip to the BLU briefcase was the same as it was last time. However, there was one notable difference.

“Holy shit, you were right lad!” Demo yelled over the comms. “I blew up those three before they even knew what was happening!” 

Scout grinned at the news as he knocked the BLU Engineer to the ground and away from his shotgun. The Engineer grabbed onto Scout like the last time and Scout hit the ground. The Engineer stood back up and retrieved his gun, cocking it and pointing it at Scout’s head.

“Any last words, boy?”

Scout cast his eyes around. 

Was Spy here yet? Was he safe?

Sure enough, Scout caught sight of the sapper hooked up to the sentry and grinned.

“I should be askin’ you that, right, Spy?”

Spy drove the knife into the Engineer’s back and sure enough, the Engineer laid dead on the floor.

“That was cutting it rather close,” Spy commented, picking up his knife.

“I know. Knew you were comin’ to save the day like you always do,” Scout said, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet.

“Don’t be too reliant on me always being there,” Spy replied, his tone surprisingly quiet and out of character for the smug Frenchman.

Scout paused his walk to the briefcase and confusedly turned to look at Spy.

“What?” 

Spy didn’t respond, continuing to stare away from Scout. 

What was his deal?

Scout shrugged and turned to the briefcase. 

No matter. The briefcase was right there and they needed to leave before the BLU Soldier made an appearance.

“Whatever, let’s just get out of here. Do you reckon their Sniper’s back?”

“Most likely. I’ll hunt the bushman down for you while you make your escape.”

“Awesome. Watch out, I think there’s a Soldier around here too.”

Scout picked up the briefcase and put it on his back.

“We have taken the enemy intelligence!” The Administrator announced.

“See ya soon,” Scout farewelled with a grin and wink, before turning tail and running outside.

He was so close. He could practically taste it. 

Sure enough, Scout could see his teammates finishing off the enemy Demo. He was the remaining member of BLU defending the front lines. The BLU Pyro from earlier had already been taken care of. 

Scout chanced a look behind him and saw the BLU Soldier had started chasing him. 

He fired a rocket towards Scout, who ducked out of the way just in time. 

The RED Soldier grinned in excitement and fired a rocket back in retaliation. Heavy let out a yell as he revved up Sasha, aiming at the BLU Soldier and Demoman.

Scout shot past his teammates and into the RED base as explosions echoed in his ears. 

His heart pounded with the realisation that he was almost there! 

He was so close to breaking out of this time loop!

He just needed to do one final thing!

Scout skidded into the intelligence room and slammed the briefcase down onto the desk, next to the RED’s briefcase.

“Success! We have secured the enemy intelligence."

Scout screamed out a cheer. He had a habit of getting too excited about winning a match, but this time, he felt he deserved it! 

He finally won the unwinnable match! 

He was finally getting out of this loop!

As his teammates celebrated over the comms, Scout slumped back onto the desk, his mind racing.

He was pretty sure this would break the loop, but if it didn’t, he’d just have to make the next day 100% perfect. 

That meant he had to be nice to Soldier tomorrow morning and win the match again. 

Easy!

Scout stretched and walked out of the intelligence room, accidentally bumping into Sniper in the process.

“Hey mate,” Sniper said, expression strangely subdued for someone who was on the winning team. “Great work today,”

Scout bit back an embarrassing smile.

“Thanks, Snipes!” He said. “Couldn’t have done it without you… a-and the rest of the team!”

Sniper gave a tight-lipped smile as the two headed back to resupply. Scout’s head was buzzing, focusing on not embarrassing himself as more and more teammates joined their trek, congratulating Scout on his victory.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout looked over at his room with a sigh. 

Last night before going to bed, Scout made an easy way to tell if he had looped or not.

He had placed his sketchbook on his desk – somewhere else in his room other than on his bedside table. 

If the sketchbook was on the desk, he would know that the loop was broken for sure. 

Unfortunately, this morning Scout could see his sketchbook was absent from the desk and sitting on his bedside table.

Alright, another loop it was. 

He’d be nice to Soldier, win the match and break the loop! It’d be a walk in the park!

Scout stood up and opened the door as he thought. 

What’d he say the other day that worked?

“Hey Solly, I can’t join you today. I’m too busy workin’ on today’s strategy. Can I take a rain check?”

“Private, you are in the army! There are no rain checks!”

“Yeah, but I’m cookin’ up a real good plan. You’ll be rocket jumpin’ like crazy!”

Maybe appealing to Soldier’s favourite activity would work better? 

God, at this point Scout didn’t know. He just wanted to be done with this stupid curse!

Soldier stepped closer to Scout and furrowed his brow. On instinct, Scout leaned back and resisted the urge to pull a face. 

God, how had he only just now realised how bad Soldier’s breath was? Did Soldier ever clean his teeth?!

“Excellent work, Private!”

Oh thank god, it worked. Scout breathed a sigh of relief as all thoughts of Soldier’s dental hygiene left his head.

“Thanks, Solly. See you later?”

“Affirmative! I look forward to your winning strategy in battle today!”

Soldier jogged down the hallway and left Scout alone. 

Well, not entirely alone, Scout thought, tilting his head. Spy did appear yesterday after Scout tried throwing him under the bus. Was Spy currently watching him? 

Scout shook his head. This type of paranoia wouldn’t help him this early in the morning. He had a battle he needed to win!

Scout closed the door and glared at the still-broken alarm clock. 

Looking down at the six tally marks on his hand, Scout smirked. It hadn’t even been a week and he was breaking out of this stupid time loop! 

Scout: 1, Merasmus: 0!

Eat shit, you stupid ass wizard.

With a swing of his bat, Scout knocked over the Engineer. He could hear Demo in his ear but Scout didn’t care right now. His shoulder twinged in pain.

Ah, he forgot he’d been shot by the stupid sentry. 

Normally the adrenaline would mask the pain but swinging a baseball bat around wasn’t exactly a painless experience. Nor was being tackled to the ground by a middle-aged man who had been hired to kill him and build shit.

Scout’s head slammed onto the ground once again as the BLU Engineer stood up. 

At least once things weren’t looping anymore he wouldn’t have to keep hitting his head!

“Any last words, boy?” The Engineer asked from behind his shotgun.

Scout glanced at the sentry and saw the sapper doing its job. 

Okay, so Spy was in the same room. Good to know.

Hmm. Did he have any cool one-liners to say before Spy wrecked the Engineer’s shit?

“Here's something you shoulda built: a not-dyin' machine!"

Shit. 

Scout screwed up his face as Spy stabbed the engineer in the back. Spy stared at Scout as he collected his butterfly knife from the corpse’s back.

“Was that really the best you could have come up with?” Spy asked.

“I’ll admit it, not my best work,” Scout muttered, getting to his feet.

“A not-dying machine… Really?”

“Oh my god. Just leave it, Spy.”

“No, no, I’m just blown away by your way with words. Have you ever considered trying poetry instead of doodling all the time?”

Scout groaned as he made his way over to the briefcase.

“Keep actin’ like that and you won’t be invited to my epic party after I win this thing.”

“Oui, I suppose that is important. Do you have all the supplies needed for your soirée? Food? Drink? A not-dying machine?”

Spy started snorting and laughing as Scout levelled a glare at him. 

Silently, Scout hefted the briefcase off the desk and onto his back.

“We have taken the enemy intelligence!” The Administrator announced.

“Be careful, I think there’s a BLU Soldier ‘round here. Can you see if their Sniper has respawned and take care of him?”

“Oui. I will also keep an eye out for enemy not-dying machines.”

“Spy!”

“Allez!”

Scout rolled his eyes and started running outside.

Thankfully, Scout knew what was coming for him. 

It was simple gunning towards the RED side of the map and weaving out of the way of rockets aimed at him. He barely registered the fact his teammates were cheering for him due to the blood pounding in his ears. 

Come on…

Almost there…

Scout practically kicked the door open to the RED intelligence room and threw the briefcase on the desk.

“Success! We have secured the enemy intelligence."

For once, Scout didn’t jump around and celebrate like he normally would. 

He let out a sigh of relief and blinked away a few tears.

He did it. A perfect day. 

He was returning to regular days on the base, sleeping in and just getting by.

Scout rubbed the tears out of his eyes with the palm of his hand before straightening up. 

He was going to find his teammates for a much-needed celebration.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout groaned and squinted at his door. Soldier was going to be predictable as always, huh?

Scout sighed and turned his head to look at his desk before freezing.

His sketchbook wasn’t there. 

Scout made sure he placed his sketchbook on the desk last night. He wanted one final confirmation when he woke up that the nightmare was over.

But there the desk stood. No sketchbook in sight.

“That is an order, private!”

No, no, no! This had to be a mistake! He had to be still dreaming! He did everything perfectly yesterday! Why was his sketchbook not there?

Scout picked up the sketchbook from the bedside table and flicked through the pages he filled out yesterday.

They were blank.

Scout felt his breathing pick up as he gripped his hair with one hand and covered his mouth with the other. His mind was racing.

Why did it loop again?! There was no reason for it to loop again! Did he fuck up yesterday? How?! What could he have done to cause another loop to happen?!

Scout flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Through heavy breaths, Scout looked up at the hand’s owner.

“Private, you were not responding! Are you okay?” Soldier barked at him.

Scout could barely respond. He felt his grip on his hair tighten and his vision begin to swim. His heartbeat was all he could hear through his heavy breaths. 

One word repeated all through his head – Why?

Why? Why? Why?

Why was he still in the loop?

Why didn’t his perfect day end the loop?

Why was he crying?

Scout was jolted out of his spiral with a slap to his face.

“MEDIC!” Soldier yelled down the hallway.

Medic appeared soon after.

“What is it, Herr Soldier?!” Medic angrily yelled, still in his pyjamas.

Soldier wordlessly pointed at Scout who was still struggling to breathe on his bed.

Scout had died plenty of times before but this truly felt like the end of things. 

Respawn was off and he couldn’t get enough air. 

What a stupid way to die.

“Scout! Scout, can you hear me?” Medic was suddenly at his side.

Scout could barely nod.

“Wunderbar, I am going to need you to copy my breathing, okay?”

Scout struggled through another nod and stared at Medic’s chest. Numbly, he watched it slowly inflate and deflate. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Scout tried following along.

Honestly, it felt like hell, trying to match his rapid breaths with Medic’s slower ones.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

“Follow along with my breaths,” Medic quietly commented. “I will count for you. Inhale for eins, zwei, drei, vier. Excellent, hold for eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben. Wunderbar, exhale for eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht. Good! Again. Inhale for eins, zwei, drei…”

In…

Hold…

Out…

In…

Hold…

Out…

After what felt like an eternity, everything seemed to slow back down for Scout. 

The thrum of his heartbeat steadied to a more manageable pace and he could start to hear the sounds of the base starting to wake up for the day.

Scout blinked and slouched, feeling all of his energy suddenly leave his body.

“Are you feeling better?” Medic asked.

“Yeah,” Scout whispered, still feeling slightly breathless. He cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Wunderbar. May I ask what caused this?”

Scout shook his head.

“Nope. You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Scout, I am a medical professional. I’ve seen things stranger than a panic attack in all my years practising medicine.”

“No. I ain’t tellin’ you.”

Medic sighed.

“If that is what you wish. My doors are always open if you change your mind.”

Scout nodded but said nothing. After that fiasco on the first loop, Scout wasn’t gonna tell Medic shit about the curse.

Medic levelled a stare at him, thinking.

“Are you able to work today? If needed, I can write a doctor’s note excusing you from the mission.”

Scout blinked. A day off? Medic rarely wrote doctor’s notes excusing anyone from battle. You were expected to show up every single day regardless of how sick you were.

But a day off? That might be a good idea. It’d give Scout time to figure out what went wrong at least.

“Uh… yeah, that’d be nice.”

Medic nodded and stood up. 

“I will be back,” He stated as he opened the door to the room that had a Soldier-sized hole in it.

Wait, Soldier sized hole? 

Goddamn it, not again.

Scout sighed and laid back in his bed. He was alone again and that allowed him time to think.

Okay, so the day was still looping. What could he do? 

Was there anything yesterday that could have ruined his perfect streak?

“Any last words, boy?”

“Here's something you shoulda built: a not-dyin' machine!"

Scout cringed, remembering what he said to the BLU Engineer yesterday and subsequently got teased for.

Was the time loop going to be that particular in its definition of perfection?

Scout grumbled and rolled over in his bed, reaching for his sketchbook.

Okay, if he was going to have a day off, the least he could do was come up with a cooler one-liner to say to the BLU Engineer.

“Any last words, boy?”

“Give him hell, Spy.”

“Is that all you got, moron?”

“Have you been introduced to our Spy’s knife? Well, now you have!”

“Don't bring a wrench to a gunfight!”

“Whenever you’re ready, Spy!”

“You're like a car crash in slow motion. It's like I'm watchin' ya fly through a windshield.”

“Think fast, chucklenuts!”

“Yo! Batter up!”

“Hey, overalls! You suck!”

“Fuck you!”

“Eat shit, idiot!”

“Just fuckin’ die already!”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout turned his head to glare at the sketchbook that was sitting on his bedside table and not on the desk.

Scout sighed and put a hand over his eyes before sliding it down his face.

“I am going to go insane,” Scout stated to the empty room.

“That is an order, private!” 

Scout stared at his paint-stained hand. 

Nineteen days of this bullshit. 

Nineteen days of the exact same events over and over again. 

And it was onto day twenty.

If this kept up he was going to run out of room on his hand.

He really was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but at this point, he had no choice.

Scout stood up and opened the door.

“Lemme get changed first, Solly, then I’ll join you.”

“You are joining me in morning drills?”

“That’s what I said.”

Soldier said nothing and blinked before breaking out into the biggest grin Scout had ever seen on the man – and that was saying something! 

Scout had seen massive grins on Soldier from something as simple as his racoons fighting over food!

“Excellent! I expect you to be outside in ten minutes!”

Scout nodded and closed the door behind him. He turned to face his laundry pile and picked a random shirt.

Scout was running out of options. 

Maybe what he needed for a perfect day was to indulge Soldier for a bit? 

Who fucking knew at this point! 

All that Scout knew was one thing. 

He was fucking sick and tired of the same shit over and over again.

Back in high school over a conversation about his grades, his guidance counsellor had told him the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The guy who came up with the phrase probably wasn’t referring to a time loop, but it still applied now.

He needed a different result. 

He needed to join Soldier for his drills.

God help him.

Chapter Text

When Scout found him, Soldier was doing push-ups in the area the mercs had lovingly dubbed the training grounds. 

There was a firing range, some old tyres off a tractor, some exercise bars, and – at Scout’s request – a baseball diamond. Bright spotlights shone down on the ground, reflecting off of Soldier’s helmet and illuminating the field in the early morning light.

Scout walked in front of the exercising man and looked around.

“Where is everyone?” He asked.

“Sleeping and slacking off! Normally I am alone in my drills!”

Scout stopped looking around and turned to stare at Solider. 

Soldier ran drills all by himself? 

The way he acted, it seemed like the majority of the team joined in. But here Soldier was – alone in the training grounds.

“Does… no one join you?” Scout asked, starting to feel a pang of sympathy for the man.

“Negative! Occasionally Demoman and Heavy Weapons Guy join me! Sometimes Engineer and Pyro attend too!”

Scout looked away, towards the base, biting his lip.

How had he not noticed? Even Engie and Spy who insisted he try Soldier’s boot camp were nowhere to be found!

Every morning when Soldier was banging on Scout’s door… was he just looking for someone to train with so he wasn't so alone?

“But now! You have joined me! We will work hard together to get stronger and beat those BLU maggots to a pulp!”

To emphasise this, Soldier punched the air in front of him. Scout let out a nervous chuckle.

Best not to think too hard about it. Scout had training to complete and a curse to break.

“Alright, Solly. What are we doin’ first?”

“We are running 20 laps around the base! Understand?”

Oh, they were starting out with running? Easy!

Scout could do that in his sleep! He was the fastest one on the team for a reason!

This day was just getting better and better.

“Yes, sir!” Scout replied, with a grin crossing his face.

“Ready…” Soldier declared, jumping into a starting position.

Scout nodded and crouched next to him.

“Set…”

With his hands still on the ground, Scout extended both legs and leaned forward, just like he had been taught in track and field.

“Go!”

With that, Scout rocketed forward and started his sprint. 

With the wind in his hair, Scout grinned and bit down a laugh.

This was no problem! He’d done worse runs than this with half his leg missing while looking for Medic to heal him!

Scout passed Soldier with a wave and kept going. 

He bit his tongue, resisting the urge to call Soldier a slowpoke.

He still needed a perfect day after all!

With his speed, this would take no time at all!

Scout panted as he tried to match pace with Soldier. 

This was, what, his seventh lap? 

Scout knew that Soldier had done less, but he was not as puffed as Scout. He was somehow still running!

“What lap are you on?” Scout asked between breaths.

“This is my fourth lap!” 

Scout remembered he started getting winded around lap four, yet here Soldier was, still grinning and pushing forward. 

“How are you not tired? Or panting?!” Scout asked, following behind.

Soldier suddenly stopped his run and turned to face Scout. Scout almost ran into him but stopped just in time as Soldier puffed up his chest.

“Because this exercise isn’t a race! This isn’t intended to test your speed! It is intended to test your endurance!”

Scout stared at Soldier, dumbfounded. What was he going on about?

Soldier continued on, not noticing Scout’s open mouth.

“You have a background in sports – baseball to be exact. A good American pastime! While that suits your class and allows you to be the fastest on the field, speed is not the only important thing when on the battlefield!”

Scout resisted the urge to clean his ears.

Did Soldier just say something actually smart? Scout had to be dreaming!

There was no way Soldier would have actual advice to give him for battle. Most advice from him went along the lines of ‘blow things up and hope they’re the enemy’.

“As Captain Crunch has said, ‘the first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue!’”

Okay, there was Soldier’s typical Soldier-ness. 

As Scout rolled his eyes, he started to think.

Growing up, Scout knew he had to be the fastest to get to things first. 

It wasn’t easy being the youngest of eight, so Scout had to get there first for everything. 

He had to be the first one there for dinner, the first one there for the shower, the first there for fights and the list just went on. 

Scout had to be first for everything!

He didn’t really consider endurance playing a role in his running – just his speed. 

It translated well to baseball if his exploits on the diamond back home said anything, but he wasn’t back home. 

He was in New Mexico – far away from Boston and all his mistakes.

“Huh… never… never really thought about it like that.”

Soldier gave a firm nod.

“These drills are designed to increase your strength and abilities for battle, but are also designed to increase your stamina! Daily training allows you to keep pushing on and build your endurance!”

“Huh… and that’s why you do it every day? To build your endurance?”

“Affirmative! Pushing yourself will make you a stronger adversary on the battlefield! Those enemy maggots won't know what hit them when you keep pushing on even after they've given you their worst. Now come on! You have thirteen more laps to complete! No wimping out!”

Scout slowly nodded and began a jog – this time slower. 

It didn’t hurt to test Soldier’s theory, right?

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout groaned quietly as he slowly woke up. 

Looking across his room, his sketchbook once again wasn’t on his desk. Attending drills the one time apparently wasn’t going to fix the loop. So how about two times?

In record time, Scout got changed and opened his door. Soldier blinked at the younger man closing his door behind him.

“Ready to go?” Scout asked. 

“You are joining me for drills?” Soldier asked incredulously.

“Yep! Let’s go! I wanna see how many laps around the building I can do before I need a break!”

Soldier confusedly blinked at Scout.

“Are you a Spy trying to gain intel for the commies? Because your communist tricks won’t work on me!”

Right, Scout almost forgot that as far as Soldier was aware, this was the very first time Scout was joining him for training. Fuck.

“No! No! Not a communist! I uh… just want to try something new! You can spycheck me if you want, but I’m the real Scout! The genuine article!”

To Soldier’s credit, he did decide to spycheck Scout. 

Soldier squinted as he pinched Scout, searching for any blue smoke coming off of his body.

Then he pinched Scout again. 

And again.

On the fifth pinch, Scout smacked Soldier’s hand away.

“Can you quit it? I’m the real Scout!”

“Allegedly.”

“Soldier, do you want to go to boot camp or not?”

Soldier squinted once more before nodding silently and marching down the hallway. Scout trailed behind, his arm red from Soldier’s onslaught.

Scout was feeling confident. He knew how Soldier’s training worked now. He could ace this!

“Fuck, I need a break!”

“This is your eleventh lap! Keep moving, maggot!”

“Time out, Soldier!”

“You are almost there! This is your fifteenth lap!”

“God, I’m going to die!”

“You’ve already done twenty laps! Now, do twenty push-ups!”

“Uh… I uh… don’t need to do this! I ran twenty laps yesterday!”

“I do not remember that, Private. If you did it yesterday, you can do another twenty laps today! Now move it!”

“Worth a shot…”

“There! Twenty laps! Twenty push-ups next?”

“Affirmative!”

Scout came to a stop on the track, leaning down to put his hands on his knees. He was panting and sweating, but he had finished his twenty laps. He looked up to watch Soldier run his second last lap. 

Unbeknownst to Soldier it was day six of Scout’s training, and as much as he hated to admit it, Solider was right.

He was getting much better at lasting longer during these drills and wasn’t as exhausted by the end.

Not that he was going to tell Solider that. He'd rather die than admit that Soldier was right to his face.

Scout groaned and did a quick stretch, feeling his joints pop. As he lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face, he stopped, something catching his eye off in the distance that he had obviously failed to notice the last six days. 

Sniper’s van was parked where it normally was, eclipsing the rising sun in the distance. 

This wasn’t abnormal. The van was always parked there.

What was abnormal was the silhouette of Sniper sitting on top of the van. The reflected light of Sniper's scope, shone in Scout’s eyes, revealing Sniper had been watching the two run their drills.

Scout turned his body to face the van and stared for a few seconds. He bit his lip nervously before slowly raising his hand in greeting. 

A few seconds had passed before Sniper raised his hand back.

Scout gave a nervous grin. 

Of course, he was nervous now that he had noticed this! How could he not be nervous after realising Sniper had been watching him run around the base like an idiot?

How long had he been watching them? Did Sniper always watch Soldier do his drills? Why was Sniper up so early? 

He couldn’t have been practising with his rifle – that wouldn’t make sense. The base had a strict gunfire curfew, as enforced by Spy, Medic and Engie. 

No one – and that meant no one unless it was a serious emergency – was allowed to fire any guns between 10 pm and 8 am.

Scout knew it was almost 6:30 am. So what the fuck was Sniper doing?

As the cogs started to turn in Scout’s head, Soldier jogged up to him.

“Private!” He yelled, clapping a hand on Scout’s back. “Congratulations on your twenty laps! Are you ready for the next part of our training?!”

Scout blinked and turned away from Sniper.

“Uh… yeah! Twenty push-ups, right?”

“Affirmative! Drop and give me twenty!”

“Fuck, Soldier… Can I have a break first? I just ran twenty laps and did twenty push-ups.”

“Negative! We are like seahorses, Private! If a seahorse stops moving, it dies! Now we do twenty pull-ups!”

Scout groaned and peeked a glance towards the camper. He didn’t know when, but Sniper had gone inside. 

At least he wouldn’t be embarrassing himself in front of the sharpshooter anymore.

Scout stared at the dead body of the BLU Engineer on the floor.

“That was cutting it rather close,” Spy commented, removing his knife from the dead mercenary’s back.

“My arms feel like fuckin’ jelly, oh my god,” Scout muttered from his position on the ground.

Spy’s gaze snapped to him.

“Did you get shot?”

“No. I mean, yeah, but that’s not the reason why.”

“Ah. I forgot you attended Soldier’s drills.”

“Yeah,” Scout bemoaned. “How does the guy have so much energy?”

“A mystery to us all. Now, are you ready to capture the intelligence?”

Scout glared up at Spy from the floor. Spy wasn’t even going to help him up?

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for worrying about me so much. Not!”

“Soldier, how do you do this all the time?!”

“Hard work and dedication!”

“I’ve been doing this for about a week and I want to curl up into a ball and die.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

“If you say so! Now you can do five more pull-ups!”

All Scout could do was groan in response.

Scout’s arms strained as sweat poured down his brow. He panted as he forced his weak arms to pull himself up one final time. As he lifted his head above the bar, triumph flooded through Scout’s body. With a laugh of victory, Scout let go of the bar and dropped to the ground.

“I did it!” He panted. “Twenty laps, twenty push-ups, and twenty pull-ups! What next?! Twenty lunges? Twenty star-jumps? Twenty rocket jumps?”

“Hmm… That last one is a good idea–”

“No! No! I mean…” Scout regained his composure. “No, that was a joke. Please don’t.”

Scout cleared his throat as he watched Soldier consider adding rocket jumping to his drills. 

All that Scout wanted to know was what was next in Soldier’s torture he called military training.

Soldier abandoned the thought and locked eyes with Scout before nodding.

“We have one final exercise. Follow me!”

Soldier started marching away from the training area towards the base. Scout said nothing and silently followed Soldier, as he opened the door and made his way through the labyrinth of the base. 

The path they took was long and winding, often retreading where they were only moments ago.

Eventually, Scout followed Soldier up a set of stairs and they stopped. Soldier said nothing as he opened the door to reveal a small rooftop terrace. 

Scout blinked in confusion. 

He’d never been here before. He didn’t even know the base had rooftop access!

Soldier walked through the door and waited for Scout to follow. 

In the centre of the terrace was a set of outdoor chairs, weathered from the harsh climate of the Badlands.

In one swift movement, Soldier sat down on one and patted the chair next to him. Scout hesitantly sat.

“What kind of exercise is this?” He asked.

“There is no more exercise. You’ve completed all of my drills. The most important thing a soldier in the army can do is meditate on their role and know that they are more than their rank.”

Scout blinked confusedly.

“What?”

Soldier ignored him.

“This is a privilege exclusive to those who have completed all of my challenges,” Soldier continued. “And you have earned it, private! Or should I say… private second class!”

Wait what?! Was Soldier serious?

“You’re… giving me a rank up?”

“It has only been one morning, but you have shown impressive improvement! Not just in your fortitude and endurance, but in your behaviour too! You have also been the only member of RED to complete my drills and make it to this spot! Be proud of it, son!”

Scout bit his lip and stared at the rising sun. The sky was a beautiful mixture of orange, yellow and pink as the sun slowly started to peak above the horizon. 

Unfortunately, the sunrise was the last thing on his mind.

Was this it? 

Was this the perfect day he’d been aiming for? It had to be. 

Soldier gave him a rank-up! All Scout had to do was ace the rest of the day and he’d be free!

It was undeniable that the curse had changed him – the sore muscles in his arms could attest to that – but at the end of the day he was still the same old Scout, and all he wanted was to get out of this stupid loop. 

Tomorrow, he could go back to sleeping in, ignoring Soldier and just getting by.

He couldn’t wait.

“This sunrise really is somethin’ ain’t it, Solly?”

“Affirmative. It’s my favourite sight on this base.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

The sketchbook was resting on his bedside table again.

Fuck.

There was no use getting upset. It was time for more drills.

“Coming, Solider!”

Scout let out a quiet sigh as he sat down on his bed and unravelled his hand wraps. 

It had been a long day, but Scout was almost confident that this would be the loop.

He didn’t want to think about how many times he had thought that exact thought before as he picked up his paintbrush and squirted a sliver of paint on the bristles.

He lifted up his arm and painted a diagonal mark on one of the tallies. He squinted at the marks on his arms before coming to a realisation.

Scout’s eyes went wide as dropped his paintbrush onto the floor. 

He didn’t pay attention to the brush now rolling around – he was too busy staring at the tally marks on his hand.

That couldn’t be right, right? He had six lots of five tallies. Wasn’t that thirty?

Maybe he miscounted! Scout wasn’t the best at numbers in the first place! He still had nightmares of his English and math teachers fused together as one monster, demanding he do long division on Shakespearicles’ works.

One, two, three… twenty-nine, thirty…

That had to be wrong. 

It couldn’t have been 30 days since Merasmus first cursed him. That would mean he had failed at having a perfect day for a month!

Scout tugged a hand through his hair as his mind raced. 

He wasn’t panicking, he told himself. He didn’t need to do those breathing exercises Medic taught him! 

It had just been thirty days since he had been cursed and he was still in the time loop.

Fuck this, Scout needed some fresh air. 

Silently, Scout pushed his door open and padded through the base, willing his mind to shut up to no avail. 

Eventually, he stopped at the empty and dark rec room and in a daze, sat down on the sofa and stared at the dark corner of the room, his mind racing.

Didn’t the best possible day just happen? 

Didn’t he impress Soldier in drills and win the battle? 

Why wasn’t he free by now?

The marks on his hand continued to grow and now that he thought about it, he was starting to doubt he would be able to break the curse today.

So what was he missing?

“Scout?” 

Scout flinched, hearing the sound of someone’s voice. 

He slowly looked up to the doorway and saw Spy standing there, cigarette in his hand, looking worriedly at Scout.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“I… uh…” Scout’s voice was hoarse. “Don’t know… I don’t know…”

Spy said nothing and walked into the dark room, sitting across from Scout. The end of Spy’s cigarette slightly illuminated the two.

“Are you alright? Do I need to call Medic?” He asked, in a concerned tone that was unfamiliar to Scout.

“I…I…I’ve been doing this for a month and nothing’s changing,” He quietly admitted.

“What have you been doing?”

“I’ve… been trying to have a perfect day but no matter what I do I’m back at square one. I’ve won matches, I’ve made sure not to sleep in, I’ve attended Soldier’s drills, but nothing. No matter what I do, I can’t perfect this stupid fucking day and I’m probably going to be stuck in this stupid day until I die.”

Spy tapped the end of his cigarette into an ashtray silently. Scout figured it was a minor blessing he couldn’t see Spy’s face.

“What do you mean ‘stuck in this stupid day’?”

Scout sighed.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Even if you did, you wouldn’t remember it.”

Spy was silent before speaking again.

“I will respect your wishes if you do not want to tell me,” He stated, taking a drag from his cigarette. “But you say you’ve been trying to experience a perfect day?”

“Yeah.”

“Scout, I’m afraid that won’t happen.”

“What?” 

“It will not happen,” Spy repeated. “We are all human and we all make mistakes. To err is human, after all. No one person can do things perfectly.”

“But…”

“Scout, I know you think highly of yourself, but you need to look around you. Nobody’s perfect. There is always bound to be a mistake or a hiccup or someone else standing in your way. If you keep trying to force everything to be flawless, you will burn yourself out.”

“Yeah, right. You do everything perfectly.”

Spy scoffed. 

“I do not,” Spy paused. “I have made plenty of mistakes in my day.”

Spy trailed off into silence. 

Faintly, Scout could see the outline of Spy staring straight at him. He squirmed under his gaze and after a moment Spy suddenly turned away.

“Even today, I made mistakes,” He continued. “Today alone, I have accidentally spilled ink on my cuffs, lost a button from my shirt, got startled during battle and made a bad call, and many more mistakes. Of course, if you tell anyone about this, I’ll be forced to kill you, understand?”

“Uh… Yeah.” 

“Good. What I’m saying is no one person is perfect, and if you keep striving for perfection, you will be let down by everything around you. As long as you have confidence and not arrogance, others will start to focus on your successes rather than your failures.”

Scout was silent for a second as the information sunk in. Then suddenly, he groaned.

“Fuck. I’m gonna have to apologise to fix this, aren’t I?”

“Probably,” Spy replied, taking a drag. “Apologise to whom, may I ask?”

“Merasmus. So he can undo this stupid curse he put me under.”

Spy said nothing, continuing to smoke. Scout couldn’t see his expression as Spy looked down at his watch.

“You should go to sleep first. If you stay out here any longer, someone will find us and be upset we’re breaking curfew. Plus it’ll allow you to work on your apology.”

Scout grunted in response, standing up from the couch. He paused to look at Spy who hadn’t moved yet and felt something come over him.

“Spy?”

“Oui?”

“Thanks.”

“Do not mention it. Literally. Please do not mention it. I can’t have the team thinking I’ve gone soft.”

Scout quietly snorted and smiled.

“Alright, man. See you in the morning.”

With that, Scout stepped out of the room and started heading back to his own.

Nobody was perfect, and unfortunately that included Scout. 

His goal for a perfect day was doomed from the start. 

He wasn’t perfect back in Boston, and he wasn’t perfect in the New Mexico Badlands.

So what was next for him? 

It was obvious. 

He was going to make the best damn apology to Merasmus he could.

This time, he was going to break the loop.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

“Be there in a sec, Solly!”

Scout stared off into the sunrise as Soldier sat next to him.

It really was an amazing view. Scout was a little annoyed that it took him about 31 days to realise that. 

What else had he been missing out on while on his quest for perfection? Who knew?

Hopefully, after today, he wouldn’t be able to find out and would be back to the regular stream of time.

“Hey, Soldier?” Scout asked, not taking his eyes off the landscape in front of him.

“Affirmative, private second-class?”

Scout leaned back in his chair, still staring straight ahead.

“Do you know how to summon Merasmus?”

“Summon Merasmus?” Soldier asked, turning away from the sunrise and looking at Scout.

Scout hummed, still staring at the view.

“Or… call him?” Scout continued. “Or write to him? Just… so I can talk with him.”

Soldier scratched his chin, looking confused.

“Normally he shows up whenever! Usually around Halloween!”

“Yeah, but I got something urgent I gotta talk to him about.”

Soldier was silent again.

“Have you tried yelling his name really loudly?” He suggested.

Scout sighed and lowered his head.

Another dead end.

“No…”

“You should try it! MERASMUS!”

Scout jumped in his seat, looking at Soldier with wide eyes.

“Shit! Keep it down! People are trying to sleep!”

“MERASMUS! Come on, private second-class! I want to hear you yell!”

Scout looked at Soldier yelling at the top of his lungs and bit his lip. There was probably only one way to shut Soldier up.

“MERASMUS! GET OVER HERE YOU SON OF A BITCH AND TALK TO ME!”

Scout’s yell echoed throughout the desert and was met with silence. Soldier stopped to stare at him wide-eyed. 

Five seconds passed with no response before Scout lowered his head again.

“Any other way?”

Soldier shrugged and Scout sighed again.

“Well… Thanks for tryin’, Solly,” Scout said, standing up from his chair. “I’m gonna go have a shower before breakfast.”

“Affirmative! You should be proud of the feats you accomplished this morning during our drills, private second-class! If George Washington was watching, it would have brought a tear to his eye!”

Scout let out a small chuckle before stepping back inside the base.

He carefully and quietly made his way down the stairs and through the hallways to his room, hoping to avoid the ire of any of his teammates who may have been woken up by Soldier and Scout’s yelling.

Scout quietly opened the door to his room and shut it behind him with a sigh. 

Now, where was his uniform? Probably in the same place it had been in since the start of the loops.

As Scout walked over to his laundry pile and picked up the shirt in question, he was suddenly blinded by a flash of green light.

Scout let out a shout and threw what was in his hands into the air, ready to punch.

“It is I! Meras–!” 

Scout whipped around to attack when he saw Merasmus standing in his room, Scout’s shirt draped over the skull on his head. Merasmus was staring at Scout unamused.

“Really? Again with this shit when I appear?” The wizard sighed. “First you punch me, now you throw laundry at me?”

Scout sheepishly retrieved his shirt from his head.

“Uh… sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, I guess,” Merasmus waved a hand. “You summoned me? What do you want?”

Scout was taken aback.

“Wait, the yelling actually worked?”

“Why wouldn’t it? I’ve been casually watching this curse play out. I want to see you suffer until you apologise.”

Scout straightened up. 

Right. He summoned Merasmus for a reason.

“About that. Merasmus, I’m sorry.”

“For…?”

As Merasmus tilted his head, Scout realised that like most things in his life, he didn’t think that far in advance.

“Fuck, you need a reason?” He muttered without meaning to.

“I can leave if you want,” Merasmus stated in a louder voice. “It’ll just be longer to uncurse you. More suffering to watch and enjoy on my end.”

“Wait, no!”

Think Scout, think! 

It had been so long since Scout last genuinely apologised for something, he didn't know what to say other than sorry!

“Um… Merasmus, I’m sorry for attacking and crashing into you that one time.”

“And?”

“Uh… throwing up on your dress?”

“They’re robes, but sure. What else?”

Scout pulled a face. What else?

“Punching you last time I saw you?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Accidentally throwing my shirt at you?”

“What else?”

“Accidentally breaking the dunk tank at your carnival last Halloween?”

Merasmus stopped what he was doing to stare at Scout. 

“That was you?!”

“Merasmus! I don’t know what else to apologise for!” 

Scout threw his hands into his hair and tugged on it.

“Merasmus, I’m sorry for all I’ve done to you,” Scout started. “I don’t know what else I need to apologise for but I feel goddamn awful if this is the punishment I get for treating you like this! I’ll pay for the cleaning bills of your robes if you want. I’m sorry! I’ll say it a billion more times if I have to! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Merasmus scoffed slightly but put a hand to his face in contemplation.

“A billion times, you say?”

“Wait, don’t curse me to apologise a billion times! It’s just an expression!”

“You prove you are no fun,” A smirk crossed Merasmus’ face. “But apology accepted.”

“Really?”

Merasmus nodded, raising his staff.

“I had no intention of keeping you here for longer than a fortnight,” Merasmus admitted, as he started twirling his staff around. “Any longer than two weeks and the curse refuses to leave.”

Scout stepped back in shock.

“What?”

“Yes, the magic takes root and refuses to go unless the person who’s been cursed is able to break it the old-fashioned way,” Merasmus commented casually.

He stopped and looked up at Scout’s pailing face.

“Why?” He asked. “How long have you been cursed?”

Scout said nothing and numbly started unravelling the bandages on his left hand. Merasmus squinted at the tally marks as they were slowly revealed.

“Uh… about a month?” Scout spoke up. “Today is day thirty-one day if we’re being exact.”

Scout’s room was silent enough that you could hear a pin drop as the two stared at each other in horror.

“That’s… a lot longer than two weeks,” Merasmus responded, slowly lowering his staff. “I thought you’d buckle and apologise sooner than that.”

“Can… can you still try to uncurse me?” Scout asked, trying not to panic.

“That’s what I was just trying to do,” Merasmus explained slowly. “And nothing happened.”

Scout’s hands started shaking. He could feel his heart race in his chest.

“So I’m stuck like this?!”

Merasmus put a hand out towards Scout like he was comforting a wild animal that could still hurt him.

“Not necessarily. The curse can still be broken. However, you must be the one to break it.”

“How?!”

“It depends. Generally, curses look for changes that could happen and take root there, refusing to budge until it’s given what it wants.”

“But what does it want?”

“I do not know. Let’s see…” Merasmus sat down on Scout’s desk chair and reclined as he thought. “Is there something you’ve been putting off or don’t want to do?”

Scout shook his head. 

“Nope.”

“Do you have a record that needs beating?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Do you need to improve yourself on the battlefield?”

“I’ve already tried being perfect to break the curse and that got me nowhere.”

“Hm…”

Merasmus paused to assess Scout before speaking again. 

“Do you love someone?”

“What?!”

Merasmus looked up at Scout nonplussed.

“Do you love someone? Occasionally the curse demands you to confess your love to someone you’ve been admiring before it breaks.”

Scout’s face turned red.

“Have you seen what I’m workin’ with here?! The only one close to my age is Sniper and oh yeah, one minor issue! They’re all dudes!”

Merasmus coughed, looking for a way to defuse the situation.

“Alright, but how about that dame in purple you like? The one with glasses?”

Scout looked away.

“I tried, but Ms Pauling shot me down ages ago. Told me she bats for the other team. When I asked her what baseball had to do with it, she said she couldn’t because the Administrator wouldn’t allow it. Said we could still be friends.”

Scout lifted his head.

“Are you saying I should ask Ms Pauling out again?”

“No!” Merasmus yelled. “No, no, no. No. She has already said no. You do not want to harass the young lady.”

“You’re right…”

“So, no other romantic conquests?”

Scout racked his brain, trying to remember if there were any other ladies he had been pining after since Pauling turned him down. Nothing came to mind. 

He faintly remembered his last romance back home, if you could even call it that. Everything went belly-up so quickly, that Scout barely had time to think about how it ended before being recruited for RED.

Then the image of Sniper filtered into his head, smirking at one of Scout’s dumb jokes before Scout started avoiding him.

Scout shook his head as if trying to dispel the thought. 

Weird thoughts like that were why he wasn’t hanging out with Sniper lately! Sniper didn’t need to know how much of a freak he was.

He did not like Sniper like that. Scout wasn’t a homo! He and Sniper were just friends. Nothing more!

Merasmus cleared his throat to get Scout’s attention.

“No. Can’t think of any girls,” Scout answered quickly.

“Are you sure? You seemed like you had a thought…”

“No, I didn’t. Leave it.”

“If you’re sure.”

The two drifted off into silence for a few more seconds.

“Any New Year's resolutions?” Merasmus spoke up.

Scout tilted his head and squinted at Merasmus.

“...It’s May.”

“Worth checking. You could be observing the wizard calendar as far as I know.”

Scout could not figure out if Merasmus was fucking with him or not. Before he could ask, Merasmus asked another question.

“What about the other members of your team?”

“What about them? I just told you I don’t love any of them!”

“No, I mean do they like you as a friend? Are you courteous to them?”

“Come again?”

Merasmus sighed.

“When was the last time you said sorry?”

“Uh… a couple of minutes ago to you?”

The wizard pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I mean to your teammates. When was the last time you said sorry to one of your teammates?”

“Uh…” 

“What about thank you? Other than this morning and last night, when was the last time you genuinely thanked someone?”

“You were watching that?”

“Answer the question, boy.”

Scout bit his lip, thinking. 

Did he really not say thank you and sorry to the others? Like sure, he said thanks occasionally, but did he actually mean it? Most of the time he just said it so someone would leave quicker. 

Scout pulled a face, realising he couldn’t even remember the last time he apologised to someone other than this morning. 

“Oh my god,” Scout muttered. “My ma would be so disappointed in me.”

“Perhaps you need a behaviour change and truly mean it.”

“So how do I–?”

Scout’s question was cut off by someone banging on his door.

“Scout?” Engie called. “We’re all wondering where you’ve gotten off to. Our shift starts in half an hour.”

Scout looked up at the clock on the wall before remembering it was broken.

“Shit,” Scout said.

“I thought I heard a voice. You alright in there?”

“Shit!” Scout said again, whispering this time.

Merasmus stood up and placed a hand on Scout’s shoulder.

“You should go,” He whispered. “I wish you luck in breaking this curse. You know how to summon me.”

With that, in a blink, Merasmus was gone.

Scout swallowed and turned to open the door.

It couldn’t hurt to try what Merasmus suggested.

“Ah, sorry Engie,” Scout apologised. “Lost track of time. Let me just get changed and I’ll be there soon.”

“That was cutting it rather close,” Spy commented, snapping his knife shut and sliding it back into his suit pocket.

The BLU Engineer’s body on the floor had already started to fade as Scout wiped away a fleck of blood that had sprayed onto his cheek.

With Merasmus’s words from this morning still fresh in his mind, Scout nodded.

“I know,” Scout said as he started to get to his feet. “Thanks for the assist, Spy.”

Spy suddenly froze, turning his head to look at Scout, his eyes wide. 

Noticing the change in Spy’s composure, Scout stopped in his tracks and hesitantly raised his arms.

“I’m not a Spy,'' he said slowly. “You can Spycheck me.”

This was, what, the third time someone thought he was a spy? Fucking hell, Scout was getting tired of having to explain he was who he said he was. 

Seriously, can’t a guy just come up with amazing plans or be nice without everyone thinking he was the enemy?

Spy scowled at Scout as he moved his hand to his suit pocket.

“Okay, okay! I can grab the briefcase!” Scout offered. “You Spies can’t grab the briefcase while disguised, right?”

The knife was back in Spy’s hand as he revealed the blade.

“Why don’t you do that? I will be watching very closely.”

“Oh my god,” Scout muttered, more peeved than scared.

He slowly got up at a speed he knew wouldn’t alarm Spy and stepped over to the briefcase. Scout grabbed the handle and hefted it off the table and turned to look at Spy with a raised eyebrow.

“We have taken the enemy intelligence!” The Administrator confirmed.

“See? It’s me. Your favourite teammate. Now let’s go.”

“Impossible. You are not the Engineer.”

Scout stopped in his tracks and whirled around to look at Spy again.

“Wait, Engie’s your favourite?!” He yelled.

“Merde…” 

“Engie?! As in our Engineer?! Why’s he your favourite?!”

“Because he’s the most sane out of you all?”

“The man cut off his hand and replaced it with a weapon!”

“You do not get far into this business without making a few sacrifices.”

“Nononono! There are sacrifices and there is cutting off your right arm and replacing it with an untested weapon!”

“Are we really going to debate the actions of the Engineer, right now?”

“I’m just questioning your taste, right now!”

The comms crackled.

“Herr Scout, Herr Spy, what is taking so long?!” Medic spoke up. “Raus, raus! Before the other team gets to you!”

Scout flushed slightly. Okay, he might have forgotten he was in the middle of battle, but whatever.

“We’re talkin’ about this later!” Scout declared, jogging towards the exit. “Watch out for their Soldier. Try getting their Sniper before he sets up again!”

“Oui! Allez!”

Scout pushed open the doors to the locker room with a grin.

He had a plan on how he could try to change himself – or at the very least, trick the curse into thinking he had changed.

Scout was an asshole and he knew it. So what if I tried out not being a complete jerk for once?

“There he is!” Demo yelled as Scout entered the locker room. “There’s the MVP!”

As Scout walked over to his locker, Demo put Scout into a playful headlock with a laugh.

“You weren’t too bad yourself!” Scout responded. “Great work exploding those three idiots,”

“Ach, it was nothing! You were the one who knew where they were coming from!”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t have done anything myself!”

“But I–”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Engie interrupted with a friendly clap. “If y’all keep going on like this y’all will never get back to base.”

Scout shot a grin at Engie and extracted himself from Demo’s grasp.

“You’re right! I can’t give Demo all the credit! You were amazing at guarding the intel! That combination of sentries and dispensers was genius!”

“Aw shucks,” Engie responded. “It was nothing.”

“And Heavy! Medic!”

“Da?”

“You guys were on fire today!”

“Mmph?”

“Not literally, Pyro. But I mean, youse were incredible. Over on one side of the map! Then on the other! BLU didn’t know what hit them thanks to you two!”

“Danke?” Medic responded, his statement coming out more as a question. “Herr Scout, did you hit your head during the battle?”

“No, no! I promise I didn’t! I just wanna talk about how great everyone was today!”

“Uncharacteristic of you,” Spy drily commented. 

Scout shrugged.

“Just wanna share the love is all!”

And break the curse too, Scout added in his head.

Scout turned to compliment Sniper and stopped short when he realised the mercenary had already crept out of the locker room without saying a word.

“Where’d Sniper go?” Scout asked.

“Don’t know,” Engie responded, putting his shotgun back into his locker. “I wouldn’t get too upset, Scout. He’s always one of the first to leave.”

Scout said nothing, staring at Sniper’s locker. 

Alright, next time he’d have to give Sniper his compliment first.

The disappointed look slid off Scout's face and was replaced by a grin as he turned back to the team.

“Solly! Great work today man!”

The door to the balcony swung open quickly as Scout jogged outside and sat down on one of the chairs.

“So Engie’s your favourite? Really?” He asked in a hushed tone.

Spy groaned, putting a hand over his face.

“How did you even find me?” Spy complained. “I was cloaked in the hallways and it’s past curfew.”

Scout smirked. He actually put it together during drills that morning. 

If Spy found him in the rec room the other night, he would have had to be walking past the room. 

Knowing Spy, it was easy to guess that he was sneaking out for a late-night cigarette and didn’t want to be found.

While Soldier may have declared that he and Scout were the only ones aware of the balcony, Soldier could still be wrong.

There was probably only one other member of the team who could have figured out the location of this hiding spot. 

Said teammate was scowling at Scout right now.

“I have my ways, now spill. Engie? Really?! He’s your favourite? I thought you hated him!”

This wasn’t going to break the curse. Scout was just being nosy – sue him!

“Hate is a strong word. However, I find the Engineer the least aggravating member of our team. Are you happy?”

“Why him?” Scout asked. “Like I know I’m not your favourite, but I would have thought you would have liked Medic more! You could bond over… over European things! Or… Demo! Youse could be sharing the good booze!”

Spy turned away from Scout to take a drag from his cigarette.

“It’s you, not youse,” Spy corrected, earning him a scoff from Scout. “And like I said, he gets on my nerves the least. He seems to understand the concept of respect.”

Spy paused.

“He also doesn’t try killing or annoying me.”

“Of course, that’s obvious,” Scout agreed.

“We do disagree at points but I don’t hate him. He’s… nice. I seem to gravitate towards people who are kind to others despite circumstances.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

Spy gave a noncommittal hum.

“Tell anyone this – especially the Engineer – and you’ll wish respawn was turned off.”

“Wouldn’t I want the respawn on?”

“Depends. How much torture can you withstand?”

Scout baulked at the threat directed at him and raised his hands.

“My lips are sealed!”

Turning away from Spy, Scout stared at the view in front of them. 

The Badlands were completely different during the night compared to the day. The stars were brighter than they were back home and the moon was full, partially illuminating the desert. He could see the outline of Sniper’s van parked ahead of them.

“What about you?” Spy spoke up.

“Hm?” Scout hummed, still looking at the van.

“Which one of our colleagues is your favourite?”

“Oh…” Scout paused and turned back to Spy. “I hadn’t really thought about it if I'm being honest.” 

Spy hummed.

“May I wager a guess?”

“Sure.”

This should be good, Scout thought. Who knew who Spy thought was Scout’s favourite teammate? 

Would it be Engie too? Scout could admit that the Southern hospitality the man oozed made him one of his favourites. 

Or maybe Pyro? He and Pyro got along like… well, like a house on fire. Or maybe–

“I think your favourite teammate is the bushman,” Spy interrupted Scout’s train of thought.

Scout jumped and almost fell off his chair.

“You think Sniper is my favourite?!” Scout asked. “I barely talk to the guy!”

“Keep your voice down. This is, after all, a hiding place. I would prefer you didn’t broadcast our location to everyone in Teufort.”

“S…Sorry. But really? Sniper?”

“You disagree with my assessment?”

“Uh… yeah. Like I said, I barely talk to him.”

“Non, you used to – you’ve just been avoiding him. When you do talk to him, you tend to… light up, as it were. Even when the bushman isn’t around, you look for him like you’re a lost dog trying to find his master.”

“You really think so?”

“I don’t think so. I know so. I am an expert in body language.”

Scout swallowed as he looked at the smug look on Spy’s face.

“Well, I think you’re wrong.”

Spy grinned, sensing an opportunity. 

“You are avoiding him out of a sense of fear that you’ll embarrass yourself or be found out,” Spy continued.

“What?!”

“You find him interesting due to the lack of information you have on the man despite being friends for so long. You want to find out more about him but can’t because of the bushman’s reclusive behaviour.”

“That’s not true!” Scout spluttered.

“Even when you’re not avoiding him, you have to psych yourself up just to go speak to the bushman to dissuade you from making a mistake.”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

Spy snorted and took a drag.

“Am I incorrect?”

“Shut up, you smug bastard. I do not like Sniper like that! Uh… Pyro’s actually my favourite! Yeah!”

“You sure about that, mate?” Suddenly came Sniper’s voice.

Scout shouted in surprise and fell off his chair and onto the ground. Scout lifted his head to glare at Spy who had discreetly activated his disguise kit and now looked like Sniper. 

“Fuck you, Spy!” 

Spy started laughing and snorting, sounding like himself but still looking like Sniper.

“You are so easy to stir, mate,” Spy responded in Sniper’s voice.

“Can you stop with the disguise?!”

With one final snort from Spy, the disguise disappeared and Spy sat back in his chair returning the cigarette case to his suit pocket.

“You really should be honest with yourself and admit that you want to get closer to him,” Spy commented. “Take my advice and stop avoiding him, for both of your sakes. Who knows when his endless patience finally runs out?”

Scout stared at Spy. 

What the fuck was he talking about? What did he know about Scout’s friendships?

As if reading his thoughts, Spy flicked the ash from his cigarette and sighed.

“Then again, what do I know? I’m merely a talented spy, skilled at reading body language, understanding people and killing.”

Scout got up from the ground.

“Go fuck yourself, Spy,” Scout retorted, turning to leave the balcony. 

Who the fuck was he to put his manicured fingers into Scout’s relationships?! Scout could handle his friendship with Sniper by himself!

Spy hummed in response and took a drag from his cigarette as Scout slammed the door behind him.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout glanced over to his desk where his sketchbook was absent and sighed.

“Okay, time to be extra nice, I guess.”

“That is an order, private!” 

“Coming, Solly!”

As Scout walked into the kitchen with a stretch, he noticed that Engie and Spy were already there, the breakfast rush having long subsided.

“Morning, Scout!” Engie greeted with a grin, flipping an egg.

“Mornin’ Engie. Mornin’ Spy,” Scout responded, walking over to the fridge.

He opened the door and reached for the can of Bonk! he’d been drinking the last couple of days and stopped.

Change. He needed change.

“You are late to breakfast today,” Spy commented as Scout started looking around the fridge.

“Yeah, well I figured youse would want me to have a shower before briefing and not stink out the place,” Scout murmured looking at the shelves. “Hey Engie, do we have any orange juice left?”

“You don’t want your Bonk!?” Engie asked surprised.

Scout shook his head.

“Youse are always saying that it’s unhealthy or some crap, so I figured I should make a change or somethin’,” Scout explained, scratching the back of his head.

“Who are you and what have you done with Scout?” Engie said with a laugh. “Orange juice should be on the second shelf.”

“Awesome, thanks!”

Scout turned around to see Spy had looked up from the newspaper to stare at him and elected to ignore Spy.

“Do you still want buttered toast for breakfast?” Engie asked, reaching for the bread.

“Uh… What other spreads do we have? I’m willin’ to try something new!”

“We have jam, jelly, lemon butter, peanut butter, and Vegemite. Although, I wouldn’t have that last one if I were you. Don’t want to upset Sniper, eh?”

“Haha yeah! Um… can you please pass the peanut butter?”

“Sure thing, son.”

Scout turned back and jumped, seeing that Spy had completely abandoned the newspaper and decided to stand right behind him. 

As much as Scout wanted to yell at the Frenchman for being so close, he needed to keep his cool.

“Didn’t see you there!” Scout responded with an awkward laugh. “Sorry, Spy.”

Spy said nothing as he pinched Scout hard on his arm.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! What was that for?!” Scout yelled.

“Just making sure you have not been replaced by the BLU Spy,” Spy blandly replied.

“Why would he do that?!”

“You don’t know what he’d be willing to do to gain an advantage in battle.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit much, Spy?” Engie asked.

“Non. I was just suspicious about Scout’s new outlook on life.”

“Well, Soldier’s training has really inspired me to improve myself?” Scout lied unconvincingly.

Spy scrutinised Scout in front of him. 

Okay, he needed to keep selling the training part.

“I mean, just look at these muscles I’ve gained!” Scout flexed.

Engie whistled in appreciation.

“Mighty fine work there.”

“Thanks!”

“You have only been attending Soldier’s drills for one day,” Spy pointed out.

Spy was becoming more and more suspicious as the conversation went on. Scout needed to think fast and come up with something to get him off his tail!

“I think it’s… somethin’ to do with the medigun?”

“The medigun?”

“Yeah, I think the same stuff that makes our skin grow back also makes our muscles grow faster?”

It was a shitty excuse – one that Spy could easily corroborate with Medic and prove Scout wrong – but Scout had no other excuses! It was the best he could do.

Scout sniffed the air, jolting him out of his thoughts.

“Ah, shit! My toast!” He cursed, moving past Spy to retrieve his now burnt toast from the toaster.

Spy continued to stand in the kitchen and watch Scout make his breakfast. 

It was unnerving being watched so closely, but Scout couldn’t do anything about it. The best way to finish this awkward conversation was to leave.

Scout swiftly spread the peanut butter on his toast and put the jar away.

“I’m gonna go eat in my room. I’ll see youse at briefing later, kay?”

“See you then, Scout,” Engie farewelled.

Spy said nothing which was fine by Scout. 

He turned and attempted to leave the room but accidentally ran into someone, almost spilling his glass of orange juice.

“Woah, easy, mate,” Sniper warned, putting a hand on Scout’s shoulder. “You alright?”

Scout said nothing, his brain seeming to fixate on Sniper’s warm hand touching him through his shirt.

Scout shook his head to bring himself back to reality.

What the fuck was wrong with him this morning?! He never acted like this before! Why now?!

“Mate?”

Sniper was speaking to him again, but Scout couldn’t focus. 

His conversation with Spy from last night was still fresh in his mind and he was busy trying to figure out how Spy managed to leave the kitchen and get in front of him without Scout noticing.

“Scout? You alright, son?” Engie asked.

Scout turned to look at Engie and froze when he caught sight of Spy, still in the kitchen and staring intensely at Scout.

Oh crap. 

That meant that the Sniper in front of him was Sniper.

As he came to this realisation, Scout flinched back and laughed slightly.

“Oh sorry! Didn’t see you there. I must still be half asleep!” Scout said, still laughing.

Scout willed himself to stop laughing and stop making a fool of himself to no avail.

“Morning Sniper,” Engie greeted. “Don’t normally see you on base this early.”

“Yeah, well my bread’s gone mouldy on me. You reckon you could spare a slice or two?”

“Of course, partner.”

Sniper smiled one of his rare smiles and stepped past Scout into the kitchen.

It would be weird if he didn’t say anything before leaving, right?

“See you later at briefing, Snipes!” Scout said, his voice betraying him and cracking slightly.

Never mind, why did Scout even bother?

Sniper looked up from the loaf of bread he was cutting and smiled at Scout.

“See you then.”

Scout willed his legs to start moving again as he sped over to his room, trying not to spill his breakfast and not make a fool of himself again.

Scout sighed as he stepped out of the locker room and into the base proper. 

Somehow Sniper managed to get to resupply and leave before Scout could even show up that day.

He put a hand to his chin, deep in thought.

Scout thought that he was the fastest member of the team, but Sniper’s efficiency in resupply started to call that into question. 

How fast was the damn man in the first place?! How had Scout not noticed before?!

Whatever, maybe Scout needed to be even faster. A few laps around the base could help fix that.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m comin’!”

“Can you please pass me the jam, Engie? Thanks.”

“No problem. Going for a change?”

“Yeah, good as time as any!”

Engie hummed and flipped one of his eggs on the stove.

Scout was mercifully earlier to breakfast today than he was yesterday, so he was able to avoid any snide comments about him being late. Score!

“Uncharacteristic of you,” Spy said from the table, barely looking up from his newspaper.

That didn’t mean he was able to avoid any other snide comments.

Scout opened his mouth to retort when Engie butt in.

“It ain’t hurtin’ anyone, Spy. ‘Sides, my old man told me that change is as good as a holiday.”

“Hmph,” Spy responded, going back to his newspaper.

“Shit, that’s a good line!” Scout announced. “Mind if I use it?”

After all, it seemed pretty useful in shutting Spy up whenever he got suspicious about Scout’s changes.

“Of course, son! Go right ahead.”

“Awesome!”

Scout let out an angry huff as he opened the door to his room.

What the fuck?! 

Somehow Scout missed Sniper again! 

 As soon as he placed the briefcase down on the table, Scout walked to resupply and no dice – Sniper didn’t show up again!

Scout sat in the locker room and watched as every single member of the team walked through the doors, except Sniper.

He had to leave eventually so no one noticed anything out of the ordinary, but what was going on? 

Didn’t he run into Sniper the first time he won the match?

God, these time loops were confusing Scout to no end. 

What did he even do in battle to make Sniper not show up?

It probably didn’t matter. All Scout could do was book it to resupply the moment that they won the match tomorrow.

Scout scowled at the hand he was using to tally.

God, he was going to run out of room on his palm at this rate.

Shrugging, he painted a fresh line onto the back of his hand.

If worse came to worst, he could always use the other hand to tally the days.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t get to that point.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout sighed.

“Okay,” He muttered before rolling out of bed.

“Hey Engie, can you please pass the grape jelly? Thank you!”

“No problem. Going for a change?”

“Yep! My ma always said change is as good as a holiday!”

Spy scoffed into his newspaper but didn’t look up.

All things considered, Scout was willing to mark that down as a win.

For the first time since he discovered the way to win, Scout faltered outside of the BLU intelligence room.

Normally, he’d charge in, get shot by the sentry, beat up the Engineer and get saved by Spy. 

However this time, he froze, watching the Engineer poke around on his PDA. 

Why was he suddenly stopping?

A few seconds passed, and Scout suddenly understood why he was hesitating. 

The sentry that normally shot him stood proud, beeping every now and then. 

Scout’s shoulder twinged in imaginary pain as he realised that for once, he didn’t want to get shot.

It was the way to win, but was it even worth it?

The Engineer glanced up from his PDA and looked back down. 

Before the man could realise he saw Scout and take action, Scout dove away from the door and crouched behind some crates next to the entrance. 

The Engineer muttered something about seeing things before going back to his PDA.

Scout’s tried to quiet his heavy breathing as he thought. 

Why was he being a wimp today? 

More importantly, how could he get to the briefcase without earning himself a bullet to the shoulder?

Scout bit his lip as he thought. He suddenly felt a hand wrap around his mouth and he flinched, turning to see Spy crouching next to him.

“What’s the plan, Monsieur strategist?” Spy whispered, removing his hand from Scout’s mouth once he was certain Scout wasn’t going to blow their cover.

Scout paused as he tried to figure out how much he should reveal.

“I don’t know,” Scout eventually settled on. “He has a line of sentries and I don’t wanna get shot and lose my chance.”

That last part was a lie. The day would of course loop once more and he’d be back here again. 

The problem was that showing weakness to Spy was a good way to let the man lose the small bit of respect he had for you. There was no way Scout was going to admit he was being a pansy and was afraid of getting harmlessly shot at.

Spy leant back, hand to his chin while he thought.

“If I activate my sapper on the nearest sentry, you could catch the labourer unawares and kill him. I would, of course, be there with my knife if something goes wrong.”

That… could actually work, Scout reasoned. He always had Spy come in after Scout attacked the Engineer, so what would happen if Spy came in first this time around?

Scout looked at Spy and nodded.

“It’s worth a shot. Just let me know when, okay?”

“You’ll hear it and know when,” Spy advised as he cloaked.

A few seconds passed, as Scout watched the doorway. He could see Spy’s cloak stealthily creep into the intelligence room as Scout held his breath.

A quiet hissing sound echoed throughout the room as Scout recognised his cue.

He jumped up from his hiding spot and dashed towards the distracted Engineer.

“Spy’s sappin’ my– AAAAHHHH!” The Engineer yelled as Scout vaulted over the sapped sentry and hit him in the head with his bat.

“BONK!” Scout yelled in response, going for another swing and managing to knock the Engineer’s hard hat off his head.

The Engineer tried reaching for his gun as Scout scowled and swung one final time at the BLU Engineer. The man crumpled to the ground, unmoving and dead.

Scout panted, staring at the fading body below him, adrenaline rushing through his veins.

“Très bien, mon fils,” Spy said from behind him.

“What… what does that mean?” Scout numbly asked, ripping his gaze from the body and turning to the briefcase.

“Ah… it’s an insult,” Spy explained slowly. “You could have done this without me and my sapper.”

“Well, it’s done now,” Scout responded, picking up the briefcase. “Thanks.”

“We have taken the enemy intelligence!” Came the voice of the Administrator.

Scout cracked his neck.

“Can you please see if their Sniper has set back up again and take care of him?”

“Oui.”

“And be careful. I think I saw their Soldier around here somewhere but I think he’ll probably chase after me.”

“Oui! Oui! Allez! Go!”

Scout nodded once and sharply turned to run out of the base.

Scout punched the wall of his room and growled in anger.

Scout missed Sniper again!

How the fuck did he keep fumbling this one simple task? It was getting on his nerves.

Well, at least there was always tomorrow. 

And the day after.

And the day after.

And…

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout rolled out of bed and stretched. Before Soldier could respond he yanked his clothes on and stepped outside of his room.

“Hey Solly, I had an idea yesterday,” He said, interrupting anything Soldier was about to say.

“What is it, private?”

“Well, I just think I’d be more eager and willing to do your drills if it wasn’t just the two of us. Maybe if someone else joined us, I’d be more excited to work out!”

“You are joining me for drills?”

Scout shrugged.

“Maybe, if Demo or Heavy join in?”

“You raise a good point, private! More numbers will increase morale! I will get them now!”

As Soldier turned away from Scout, a sly smirk crossed his face.

Full disclosure, Scout knew he was being a little shit right now, but he couldn’t help it.

It was day fifty and he needed some goddamn variety in this stupid repeating day!

Scout looked back at Soldier, and bit his lip, trying to hide his laugh as Demo and Heavy were roused from their slumber by an excited Soldier. 

Okay, fine. This was entirely for his own benefit.

Engie looked up from the stove as Scout walked into the kitchen, Demo and Heavy grumpily trudging behind him.

“Morning y’all,” Engie greeted.

“Morning Engie! Morning Spy!” Scout chirped, reinvigorated by watching his teammates struggle through Soldier’s workout. 

Soldier didn’t lie. Demo and Heavy were nowhere close to completing all of their drills! Scout was practically running laps around them! It was almost impressive if Scout ignored the fact that he had a massive advantage.

The two merely groaned as they went to assemble their own breakfasts.

“You are late to breakfast today,” Spy commented.

“Ach, it’s because Soldier thought Scout needed encouragement to do his drills and woke me and Heavy up!” Demo complained. 

“Little man didn’t even need encouragement!” Heavy added. “Little man powered through drills like he had done them many times before.”

Well, Scout had. About twenty times before, but who was keeping track? Oh yeah, Scout was.

“I can’t help being so good at Soldier’s little drills!” Scout said. “He even gave me a rank up!”

Scout bit back laughter, hearing Demo let out a string of swear words behind him.

“Engie, can I please have the peanut butter and the jelly? Thanks.”

“No problem. Going for a change?”

“Yeah! My ma always said change is as good as a holiday!”

The kitchen fell into silence as Scout waited for his toast to pop up from the toaster.

“Uh… I do wanna thank you for being there, though,” Scout said, not turning to face his colleagues.

“Huh?”

“I said I wanna thank you. I know it wasn’t easy wakin’ up this early to run laps with me while Soldier yelled at us but I appreciate it.”

The kitchen fell silent again as they processed Scout’s words. The toaster broke the silence with a pop as Scout went to retrieve his breakfast.

He started spreading the jelly on the bread when Heavy slapped a hand on Scout’s shoulder.

“Little man is welcome!” He declared, not noticing Scout flinch away. “Didn’t realise little Scout was getting so strong!”

Scout recovered with a laugh.

“Don’t tell everybody! I want it to be a surprise for the BLU team before I pulverise them!”

Heavy gave a hearty laugh in response and slapped Scout’s back again. Scout stumbled forward and righted himself.

“My scrumpy must be stronger than I remember,” Demo spoke up. “Did you just thank us, lad?”

“Yeah, I did. Thanks.”

Demo looked at Scout confusedly.

“Alright? You’re welcome?”

Scout nodded, wishing this awkward conversation would be over soon. He made a show of checking the wall clock as he put his knife in the sink.

“Well, I’ll see youse at briefing later!” Scout announced, walking out of the door and to his room, hoping to avoid Sniper until after the match.

He jogged down the corridor and to his room for some much-needed breakfast.

Back in the kitchen, Demo stared after Scout.

“Is he alright?” Demo asked the other mercenaries.

“Who knows with that one?” Spy drily answered, turning the page.

Almost there…

Scout rounded the corner of the base and flung the door open to the intelligence room. 

Gotcha!

Scout slammed the briefcase on the desk, then immediately turned and ran towards resupply, ignoring the calls in his headset from the Administrator, saying they won.

For a week, he’d been giving everyone compliments except for Sniper. The man made himself scarce every single time everyone met up in the locker room. 

But not today!

Today, Scout was certain he’d be able to catch up to him!

Scout skidded and slammed the door open to resupply. 

Lo and behold, there was Sniper, putting his weapons away with a speed and efficiency Scout had never seen before.

“Snipes!” Scout called and Sniper stalled.

He tilted his head and turned around to face Scout.

“Yeah, mate?” He asked.

Scout opened his mouth to finally give Sniper his compliment when he realised something.

In the time it took for him to track down and corner Sniper, Scout hadn’t really been thinking about what he was going to say.

And now here he was, struggling to come up with a compliment to give Sniper.

“You alright, mate?”

Goddamn it, just another way he could embarrass himself in front of Sniper.

“Yeah. I… uh… just wanted to say that you did some good snipin’ today!”

Scout winced as the words left his mouth as he prayed Sniper wouldn’t notice his fuck up.

Scout wished someone would just show up and put him out of his misery. Either by changing the conversation or killing Scout – he wasn’t picky!

Meanwhile, Sniper tilted his head again and looked at Scout quizzically. 

“Thanks, you too. I mean–” Sniper paused, looking upset. “Good running today, roo.”

“Thanks.”

The locker room was silent as the two continued to stare at each other.

What now?

“I… uh… I should… um… put this away,” Scout said awkwardly, gesturing to his bat.

“Yeah, yeah. Um…”

Scout quickly turned to his locker and opened it quietly. He started removing his weapons and placing them back into the locker, all too aware that Sniper was still staring at him.

The tension in the locker room was thick enough to cut with a knife as Sniper finally stopped staring at Scout and silently turned back to his own locker. 

The only sound Scout could hear was his racing heartbeat.

That was normal! The racing heart and the sweaty palms were normal! He’d just been running, after all! That’s why his heart was going so fast! 

There was no other reason! Nothing to do with Sniper at all!

Suddenly, Sniper slammed his locker shut and started to walk away but stopped behind Scout. 

Scout froze in place and slowly turned his head to look at Sniper.

The marksman’s expression was as stoic as ever as patted Scout on the back with a nod.

“Good on ya, mate,” was all that Sniper said before turning to leave.

“Thanks?” Scout responded as Sniper left.

As Sniper walked out of the room, the entrance to Resupply was pushed open, revealing the rest of the team in good spirits after their win.

Demo was in the lead. He paused, seeing Scout standing by himself before breaking into a wide smile.

“There he is!” Demo yelled as he walked further into resupply. “There’s the MVP!”

Scout forced a smile onto his face.

“You weren’t too bad yourself!”

Scout clicked on his bedside lamp with a sigh, illuminating his dim room. He sat back down on his bed and stretched. He looked at his left hand with pursed lips and started taking off his hand wraps.

Was today going to be the day? 

He was able to finally give Sniper his compliment, got Demo and Heavy to join him during drills and didn’t get shot by the BLU Engineer’s sentry. 

Today was so different from the first iteration of it, that loop one Scout wouldn’t have believed loop fifty Scout if he told him about all the things that he’d done in one day. 

Although Scout had to wonder, did the magic even care about how many changes had happened?

Scout freed the tail of his hand wraps on his left and started to unravel them when he heard a knock on his door. 

Scout lifted his head and stared at the door.

Okay, that was new. 

No one really bothered him after he got back from Pyro’s tea party – and yes. He attended Pyro’s tea party in every loop he could. Scout wasn’t a monster!

“Who is it?” Scout asked.

“Lad, it’s me,” came Demo’s voice. “Can I speak to you for a second?”

Scout messily tucked the end of the wraps back into the rest of the bandages and opened the door. 

Demo stood there with an unreadable expression on his face.

What was actually going on? Why was Demo here?

“Hey, Demo. What’s up? Has Pyro set something on fire again and you need my help?” Scout joked.

Honestly, Scout would be surprised if that happened without him hearing about it over the past fifty days. Still, it was a possibility.

Demo didn’t say anything, continuing to stare at Scout.

Scout hesitantly took a step back.

“D…Demo?”

Demo seemed to snap back to reality.

“Ah… Sorry lad. I was just thinking. Can I come in?”

“Uh… sure,” Scout said, opening the door wider. “What’s up?”

Demo silently stepped past Scout and looked at the room. Scout closed the door and as soon as he did, Demo whirled around to face him.

“Is everything alright?” Demo asked.

“Huh?”

This was uncharted territory. This had never happened before. Why now?

“I asked if you were okay, lad.”

“Yeah…” Scout responded slowly. “Why do you ask?”

Scout’s mind raced as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Did he do something the day before the loop started and Demo wanted to talk to him about that? God, what did Scout even do back then? If that was the case, why did Demo take so long to show up?

Demo sighed.

“You’re gonna think I’m daft.”

“Demo, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! I just…” Demo drifted off to stare out the window. “Am worried about you, is all.”

“I’m fine, Demo. What are you worried about?”

“Well, you see, here’s the thing,” Demo nervously swallowed. “You seem to be actin’ like an entirely new person than yesterday!”

“What?”

“Yeah! You thanked Heavy and me this morning and after you left, I realised that I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say thank you. And here you were, saying please and thank you like it was the easiest thing in the world.”

Demo started pacing as Scout stepped backwards.

“And you were able to do Solly’s drills without any issues or complaints! And I know you, lad! You love to complain!”

Scout's heartbeat started picking up. 

Somehow, Demo was the only member of the team who started to catch on that something strange was going on with Scout. The man was drunk all the time! How had he been the one to notice everything that was wrong with Scout within one day?!

“And the battle today! How did you know the BLU Scout, Heavy and Medic were coming down that alleyway?!”

“I… I saw them,” Scout responded in a choked voice. “I told you that.”

“Aye, you said that, but you were certain that they were just about to run down that specific alleyway! And I was ready to write you off and join you on the front lines but there they were!”

“Demo…”

“And you were in resupply first! All because you wanted to give Sniper a compliment?! None of these things make sense for you! Scout, what is going on?!”

Scout put his face into his hands and rubbed his eyes before removing them with a sigh.

He couldn’t let Demo know. 

If Demo found out Scout was in a time loop, he’d think Scout was crazy and try to medicate him, just like Medic tried. 

He could not allow that – not when he was so close.

“Demo, nothing is wrong!” Scout said, gesturing to Demo. “I promise there is nothing strange going on. You’re just… drunk!”

“I know I’m drunk, but I also know when there’s something wrong with my friends!”

“But there’s nothing wrong! I promise you! Scout’s honour!” Scout declared, putting one hand on his chest and the other raised, palm facing towards Demo.

Scout was never really a Boy Scout, so he knew he was getting the sign wrong. 

Whatever, it didn’t matter.

Demo seemed to notice this fact too, squinting at the gesture.

Scout shook his head. 

He had no idea if Demo was buying his excuses, so Scout continued.

“Demo. I’m just trying to be nicer to my friends, okay? It’s not a big deal!” 

Demo continued to stare at Scout’s hand.

Okay, this was getting weird.

“Demo?”

As he said that, Scout noticed the bandages on his hands were loose.

He hadn’t had the chance to fully fix his hand wraps before he answered the door, didn’t he? He just tucked one end in, not expecting this to go on for so long.

Scout looked at his hands and saw the end of the wrap had untucked itself while Scout was waving his hands around. It was now fluttering in the air, slowly loosening the rest of the bandage and revealing the tally marks on Scout’s hand to Demo.

Fuck!

Scout started to move his hand away, but Demo was too fast. He grabbed Scout’s wrist with a strength and speed Scout was unaccustomed to out of the Scotsman.

“D-Demo!” Scout yelled as he tried yanking his hand away.

Demo ignored him as he grabbed onto the wraps with his other hand and started unravelling the bandages, revealing the entirety of the tally marks.

“What are these?” Demo asked quietly.

“Let go of me, cyclops!”

“What are these?!” Demo raised his voice.

Scout looked up at Demo’s concerned face and tried to pull his arm away.

“Demo! Let go!” 

“Scout! What are these counting?”

“Fuck off!” 

“Scout!”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you anyway!” Scout blurted.

Faintly, Scout realised he had tears streaming down his face. Demo seemed to realise too as his grip weakened and Scout was able to free his hand. 

Scout held his arm close to his chest protectively as Demo put a hesitant hand out towards Scout.

“Lad…”

“It doesn’t fucking matter, Demo!” Scout cried. “You’re not gonna remember it and you wouldn’t believe me! It doesn’t fucking matter!”

“Lad. You need to tell me what is wrong! I can help, I swear!”

“It doesn’t matter! I’m still gonna be experiencing the same day over and over again and you won’t even realise!”

Demo froze and searched Scout’s face.

“Say that again,” Demo ordered.

“Demo…”

“I said say that again!”

Scout let out a shaky breath.

“Fine,” he sniffed. “I said if I told you, it wouldn’t matter because I’ve been cursed to live through the exact same day over and over and it’d just continue to be a regular Thursday for you!”

Scout sniffed and looked away from Demo. Demo to his credit, said nothing, allowing Scout to cry in peace.

“And I’ve been doing this for the last fifty loops and I can’t be uncursed,” Scout continued as his voice started cracking. “I have to figure out how to break it myself and… oh god, I’ve been living the same day for almost two months.”

Scout sighed and wiped his nose with his arm. 

He had to admit, it felt good letting it all out and letting his emotions take control. Scout couldn’t remember the last time he had a good cry like this – the last time it felt warranted he felt too numb to react.

“Lad…” Demo spoke up. “Fifty loops?”

“Yeah…” Scout’s voice cracked.

“And you haven’t come to me for help once?”

Scout’s head shot up to look at Demo.

“Huh?”

Demo had a hand to his face.

“Of course not. Okay,” Demo sighed. “Lad, you should have come to me for help earlier but better late than never.”

“But,” Scout spoke up. “You haven’t remembered any of the loops!”

“Aye,” Demo agreed. “But you seem to be forgetting one crucial detail about your friend Demo here.”

Demo grinned and cocked a thumb at himself.

“I’m the only member of the team who’s an expert in the supernatural.”

Scout stared dumbly at Demo as his brain caught up.

How could Scout be so dumb?! 

Demo knew how to deal with curses, magic and the like! Hell, he even had a cursed sword and a cursed eye socket! The only person who could know how to break this curse and want to be there to help was Demo!

Scout groaned.

“I’m an idiot,” He muttered.

“Yes,” Demo agreed, pulling Scout into a hug. “Yes, you are. But I’m here now.”

Upon being pulled into Demo’s arms, the fight went out of Scout’s body as he stood there. 

Scout couldn’t even remember the last time he received a hug from someone other than his ma. 

He was a man and he knew that men didn’t hug each other unless they wanted unsavoury rumours to follow them around. Scout knew the effect these rumours had – he didn’t want any of that.

But Demo’s hug was nice. It felt secure and warm, even if it did smell of scrumpy, gunpowder and Scout’s snot. Scout could understand why girls hugged each other so much now. This feeling was almost addicting.

As Scout closed his eyes, his brain reminded him why he was being hugged in the first place and sagged.

“You’re not gonna remember this tomorrow,” Scout murmured into Demo’s shirt.

Demo chuckled.

“True, but you act like you’re the only one who’s been stuck in a time loop before.”

What?!

Scout pulled away from Demo’s hug and looked up at him.

“Y…You?!”

“Aye. I’ll tell you about it later if you want,” Demo stooped down and put his hands on Scout’s shoulders. “But ever since then, I came up with a codeword for myself. If any of my pals needed my help to get out of a time loop, I’d give them a codeword and the next time they used that codeword, I’d know they were in a loop and I could help. No questions asked.”

“But… how do you know I’m not prankin’ you?”

“You’re a lot of things, lad, but you’re not that good of an actor.”

“Oh…”

Demo sighed and squeezed Scout’s shoulder.

“I think it might be a bit much trying to break the loop right now, so I’ll let you rest for the night, aye?”

“Okay.”

Demo smiled. 

“The codeword is ‘strawberry flavoured haggis’. The moment you see me tomorrow and say ‘strawberry flavoured haggis’, I’ll jump into action and help you break out, aye?”

“Strawberry flavoured haggis… Okay. Should be easy to remember.”

Demo patted Scout on the back.

“Good lad. Do you need anything else from me tonight?”

“I… I don’t think so. Maybe some tissues?”

“I’ll grab you some and let you relax. Then we can work on breaking the loop tomorrow, aye?”

Scout paused.

“Wait, why are you helping me?”

“What?”

“I… I mean we’re mercenaries! We’re always trying to find ways to stab one another in the back.”

Demo shook his head.

“I don’t know who told you that but they’re a big fat liar. Besides, first and foremost, I’m your friend. I put more stock in that than being good at exploding people.”

Scout blinked, taking in Demo’s words.

“Okay?” Demo asked.

“Okay…” Scout finally managed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Demo walked out of the room to grab the tissues, leaving Scout standing alone in the centre of his room. A few seconds passed before Scout stumbled and fell onto his bed, his mind racing.

Holy shit! He didn’t have to do this alone! Demo was going to help him! 

Scout’s heart raced with the possibilities. 

He wasn’t going to be alone. He could bust out of here! He wasn’t going to be stuck living the same day over and over again! It was a miracle!

Scout chuckled, as he blinked the last few tears out of his eyes. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was.

Scout quietly picked up his abandoned paintbrush and added a tally mark to his hand. He closed his eyes and rolled over in his bed. 

He just needed to make it to tomorrow. 

He could hardly wait.

Chapter Text

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout stared up at the ceiling. He blinked away the sleep in his eyes as his mind raced.

Did that actually happen yesterday? Did he really tell Demo everything? And Demo said he could help him?!

It felt like a dream! 

He finally had someone in his corner! 

For the first time in a while, escape was in reach.

All of his other attempts felt like Scout was just doing the bare minimum. 

But this? With Demo’s help by his side, it felt like he was mere days away from breaking the curse.

He was ready to get out of here!

“That is an order, private!”

…Just as soon as he dealt with this.

Scout swallowed and put a hand to his chest. 

His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. He wasn’t going to be able to work out like this – not by a long shot.

Scout stood up and opened the door. Soldier squinted at him as Scout lied and told Soldier that he was busy planning for today’s battle and would join tomorrow. 

As usual, Soldier was content with Scout’s white lie and marched down the hallway, vowing that they would run drills together the next day.

As Soldier disappeared from sight, Scout shut the door behind him and leaned against it with a sigh. 

He had to play this smart.

As much as he wanted to bang on Demo’s door and get his help right now, Demo was still fast asleep and Scout wouldn’t be able to get a coherent answer out of the Scotsman. 

For once, Scout decided to do the responsible thing and wait. 

It was the smart thing to do after all. Demo would be more likely to help Scout if he didn’t wake him up, demanding answers on how to break the curse.

So, Scout had to hold off on all his questions.

He sat back down on his bed, reached over for his sketchbook and flipped it open to one of the blank pages he filled up yesterday. 

Scout hummed, putting pencil to paper and started mindlessly sketching anything and everything that came to his mind.

Waiting was a skill that Scout was slowly learning to hone. After all, he had waited 51 days for this. What’s a few more hours?

After a short while, Scout got his wish.

It was only a matter of hours later when the telltale sounds of Demo crashing around his room trying to get ready for the day bled through the thin walls and into Scout’s room. 

Scout perked up from the doodle of Engie in a big cowboy hat he was working on and jumped to his feet, pushing the sketchbook aside.

Thank god Demo couldn’t be stealthy to save his life!

Scout jogged over and reefed his door open to see Demo closing his own behind him.

Demo noticed Scout and gave a polite smile.

“Morning Scout!” Demo greeted.

“Strawberry haggis!” Scout declared, getting straight to the point.

Demo paused and squinted at Scout.

“What?”

Wait, was that not it? 

“Uh… wait. Fuck! Wasn’t it strawberries in your haggis?”

Demo looked bewildered at Scout. 

Crap, crap, crap! What was it again?!

“No! Uh… Your haggis tastes like strawberries?”

Demo had a look Scout had seen only a few times before. He tilted his head and squinted as he looked around the hallway for someone else. 

As Scout understood from the last couple of times he saw this look, he was trying to figure out if this was a very strange prank or if Scout had finally lost it.

“Lad, have you been into me scrumpy again?” Demo hesitantly asked.

“No!” Scout said, louder than he intended. “It’s…uh, it’s the code word you gave me yesterday!”

“What?” 

It was really saying something that Scout had never seen such a confused look on someone. He would have been impressed if he wasn’t trying to remember that damn codeword!

“It was somethin’ about strawberries and haggis. I don’t even know what haggis are!”

“Lad?” Demo asked hesitantly.

Before he could ask more, Scout snapped his fingers.

“Strawberry flavoured haggis!” Scout yelled.

The confused expression slid off Demo’s face as he stared at Scout in horror.

Wait, maybe that was also wrong. He really should have written it down on his other hand.

“Or was it haggis-flavoured strawberries? I… I don’t know.”

Demo put a hand on Scout’s shoulder.

“Did you just say strawberry flavoured haggis?”

Scout nodded quickly. 

“Yeah! I did! Do you… Do you see where I’m goin’ with this?”

“Oh god, yeah,” Demo admitted with a sigh. 

Demo carded a hand through his hair as Scout shifted in place. Demo let out a breath and turned to look at Scout properly.

“So, let me get this straight. You are in a time loop and talked to a version of me from a previous loop who gave you the codeword?”

Scout nodded. 

“Yeah, pretty much. That sums it up.” 

Demo swore under his breath and put a hand to his face.

“Fuckin’ hell. Never thought I’d see the day when that would actually happen.”

“You’re tellin’ me.”

“And this is obviously the first time you’ve used the codeword.”

“That obvious, huh?” Scout joked in a hollow voice. “I’ll get it right next time.”

“Okay, okay. Care to explain it to me after breakfast and before briefing? I’m gonna need a lot more scrumpy to deal with this.”

“Sure.”

Demo silently nodded before starting down the hallway to the dining hall. Scout swore and fell into step next to Demo, nervously glancing up at the older man.

“Can you just let me know one thing first?” Demo asked in a hushed tone moments before they reached the dining hall. “How many loops have you gone through?”

“Uh… this is loop fifty-one,” Scout admitted as they made it to the doorway.

“Fifty-one?!” Demo yelled. 

The conversation in the dining hall came to a standstill as Medic, Heavy and Spy all jumped and looked up at Demo and Scout. The two shared a startled glance.

Luckily, Demo acted quickly.

“If someone’s offering you fifty-one thousand for your Tom Jones collection, they must be crazy!” Demo said, quickly coming up with a lie.

“Uh… w-well this guy seems trustworthy!” Scout added.

“Nae, they’re fuckin’ loony. Tom Jones isn’t even dead yet!”

As Demo and Scout stepped into the dining hall, one by one everyone turned away from Scout and Demo and continued with their activities, brushing off the interaction. Scout let out a sigh of relief as Soldier marched up behind Scout and made his way into the dining hall.

As he picked up a plate, Scout made a mental note. If this was the reaction he got when telling Demo how long he had been in the loop, it was probably smart to wait until they were entirely alone before divulging how long he had been stuck.

Good thing this little incident would be forgotten by everyone except for Scout.

“Hey Demo, can you pass me the peanut butter please?”

“Aye, sure thing lad.” 

“Alright,” Demo called to order after breakfast. “What are we dealing with?”

Scout looked around Demo’s room. It was tidier than his, with all the scrumpy bottles neatly pushed to the side and Demo’s clothes put away. Scout had never been into Demo’s room but it was more or less the exact same as his. Not exactly a big surprise if he was being honest.

“Lad?” Demo prompted.

Scout’s attention snapped back to the Scotsman. 

Right. He had a job to do.

“Well, it’s a time loop.”

“Helpful,” Demo rolled his eyes. “Were you cursed or did it naturally happen?”

Scout blinked in surprise. 

“Time loops can happen naturally?”

“Aye. It’s rare but sometimes someone can get cursed into a time loop naturally. No one’s figured out why though, but every time loop expert agrees that they’re attracted to change or lack thereof.”

Scout winced.

That sounded worse than getting cursed by someone. At least Merasmus appeared to explain it to him. He couldn't imagine being stuck to figure it all out on his own.

“Uh… Merasmus just cursed me,” Scout answered. “Before you ask, I did try to get him to uncurse me but he couldn’t. Said because it was over two weeks or somethin’?” 

Demo nodded.

“Aye. The magic would have taken root by now and it won’t budge until you do what it wants you to do.” 

Demo furrowed his brow, thinking hard.

“So what have you tried so far to get out?” He asked.

“Uh… I tried having a perfect day?”

“To counteract how bad the day originally was?”

Scout nodded.

“Yeah, it didn’t work after thirty days, so I tried apologisin’ to Merasmus but like I said, that didn’t work.”

“So what have you been doin’ since then?”

Scout leaned back in the chair he was sitting in and sighed.

“Well, I’ve been tryin’ to change things up. Merasmus suggested that changin’ something could break the curse, so I tried being nicer, gave compliments to everyone and tried different things, like things for breakfast. No dice.”

“Hm… Have you tried joinin’s Soldier for his drills?”

Scout groaned.

“I did that before I even spoke to Merasmus! Hell, I can do Solly’s drills in my sleep at this point! Every morning, he ranks me up! I should be captain of the whole damn fleet at this point!”

Demo took a thoughtful swig of his scrumpy.

“What have you done to test the limits of the curse?”

Scout blinked. 

“Come again?

Demo sighed and placed the bottle on the bedside table.

“Have you tried finding out what happens if you stay up until midnight?” Demo suggested. “Or what happens if you sleep somewhere other than your bed?”

Scout shook his head. 

That made sense. He hadn’t really experimented with the loop too much – he was too focused on trying to break out. Maybe he’d get closer if he–

“Another example; what would happen if you died while respawn was off?”

Scout’s heart froze as he pulled a face.

“I don’t wanna test that last one,” He admitted.

Demo sighed and crossed his arms.

“You might have to. It might be the only way to break out.”

“But what if I…?”

“Die?”

“Yeah.”

Demo said nothing as he looked away from Scout.

“It might be a risk you’ll have to take.”

Scout bit his lip.

Demo had been in a time loop before, right? He said that last night. Did he have to die?

“Demo, how did you break out of your loop?” Scout quietly asked.

Demo checked the time on the wall clock and sighed, reaching for the scrumpy.

“I’ll tell you about it later when our shift isn’t about to start,” Demo absentmindedly promised. “But… I had to do something for it to break.”

“A good something?” Scout squeaked.

Demo shook his head.

“I did somethin’ no six-year-old should have to do.”

Huh?!

He had to be kidding!

“You were six?!”

Demo sighed and took another swig.

“Time loops will fuck you up,” He announced. “You’re barely recognisable from the lad I saw yesterday. Normally by now you’d be rolling your eyes and telling me to skip to the good stuff.” 

As Demo paused, Scout gulped.

“I will say…” Demo hesitantly started. “I didn’t know what I did wrong when my loop started. I thought I was in trouble for somethin’ like you do when you’re a kid. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas in mind.”

Scout frowned at Demo’s weary expression. 

This was starting to be a bit much.

Was that going to be Scout in a few years time?

Demo glanced up at the clock and sighed, jolting Scout out of his thoughts.

“It’s time for briefing. We’ll talk after the mission, okay?” Demo said, sounding defeated.

“O…okay.”

Scout was starting to wish he didn’t go to Demo now.

He couldn’t help it! All throughout the mission, he couldn’t get that look on Demo’s face out of his mind.

Of course, that caused him to die a lot more than he normally would, making them lose the match.

Scout let out a breath as he closed his locker.

“What got you so tense?” Spy asked as he walked past Scout and opened his own locker.

Scout shook his head.

“Nothing,” He lied. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

Spy hummed as he went through his locker.

Hesitantly, Scout walked up to Demo who was laughing with Soldier. Upon noticing Scout, Demo turned to face him with a kind smile on his face.

“You ready to go?”

“Uh… do you mind if I have a shower first? Don’t want to… uh… stink out your room.”

Demo shrugged.

“That’s fine. It’ll give me time to research without you.”

“I will join you in showering!” Soldier declared. “We must stay clean or else Lady Liberty died for nothing!”

That didn’t seem correct, but Scout couldn’t find it in himself to argue. 

“Alright, let’s go Solly. See you soon, Demo.”

“Wait, Scout,” Demo spoke up.

Scout turned around to face Demo.

“Yeah?”

“I… might have scared you this morning but it’s not gonna be as bad as you think, alright? Everything will turn out okay.”

Scout stiffly nodded as turned away and headed to the showers.

He could believe Demo, right?

He had no other choice.

Scout quietly knocked on the door to Demo’s room.

“Demo?” Scout asked.

His hair was still wet from his post-mission shower and he was still hesitant, but he was eager to continue on with their research. 

Okay fine, watching Demo research, but he was still eager!

The way Scout saw it was that he was already in the time loop.

There was no other way to get out except through. 

So, he would face any difficulties head-on with courage and bravery. 

God, Scout was spending way too much time with Soldier. He was even starting to sound like him.

“Aye, the door is unlocked,” Demo responded distractedly.

Scout pushed the door open to reveal Demo sitting at his desk reading a book, surrounded by stacks of more books. Demo raised a hand in greeting without looking up.

“What are ya doin’?”

“Just doing some research into curses and time loops.”

“Have you found anything?”

“Nae. It’s a lot of the same shite we already know.”

Scout sat down on Demo’s bed with a sigh, head down and arms crossed.

Maybe it was time to re-establish the facts.

“So, Merasmus cursed me to have the worst day ever for as long as possible and he said he’d uncurse me if I apologised. He only intended for me to be cursed for two weeks, expecting me to apologise before then,” Scout recounted.

“Aye, and being perfect and changing things aren’t workin’ out,” Demo chimed in.

“...Unless there’s something I’m missing there? Like maybe I need to change my schedule rather than change what I’m having for breakfast.”

Demo hummed and looked up from his book.

“If I’m being honest, I doubt changing your schedule would make a difference unless it’s something you’re particularly hung up about.”

“Huh?”

Demo slipped a bookmark into the pages and put it down on the desk.

“I don’t know if Merasmus told you, but when magic like this takes root, it looks at things that you’re particularly focused on changing or staying the same. There isn’t anything you want to change about this job, isn’t there?”

“No! I love this job! I’m able to give my ma the money she deserves and I get to bash heads in!”

“Then it’s highly unlikely you need to change your schedule. Usually, it’s gotta be something big for the magic to take root. Plus, you’ve got to have skipped work at least once.”

Scout sat back, thinking.

“Oh yeah,” He spoke up, remembering something. “One day Medic wrote a doctor’s note for me, so I didn’t have to fight that day.”

Demo paused as he reached for his book and looked up at Scout.

“Wait, why’d he write you a note?”

“Uh… It was somethin’ he called a… panic attack, I think?”

Demo jumped in his chair. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, Scout!”

“What?!” 

Demo blinked as he regained composure.

“Nothing! Just… it’s pretty clear you don’t have any issues with work. Is there anything else you’ve been focussed on?”

“Besides me going insane tryin’ to bust out of this time loop?”

Demo rolled his eyes.

“I mean before that happened.”

“That was fifty-one days ago. Do you think I can remember that far back?”

“Why don’t you just try?” Demo asked, picking up his book.

“Fine.”

Scout closed his eyes and thought hard.

Was there anything he’d been focussed on? 

Nothing was exactly coming to mind. It was just the same old same old for Scout. 

Wake up, yell at Soldier, go back to sleep, wake up again, get ready for the day, fight BLU, slack off, have dinner, slack off some more, go to sleep, repeat. 

To be honest, Scout was starting to feel a little glad his schedule was so repetitive and didn’t give him much time to think. But the problem was that it didn’t give him any clues as to what could have been the cause of the loop. 

Alright, he had to think creatively about this. 

Was it something to do with his family? 

While it had been a while since he last talked to his ma (much less see her and his brothers), he couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary during their last phone call. It was the same as always.

What else?

What about the last time he saw his friend Joey? It was a pretty major event – one that Scout wasn’t going to forget any time soon.

No.

That couldn’t be it. Scout hadn’t been thinking about Joey at all! 

He wasn’t going to get anywhere out of this loop by wallowing in pity, Scout told himself. 

So if he hadn’t been thinking of Joey, what else?

Scout hummed, remembering something he was planning to do before he started fighting in the Gravel Wars. 

It was kind of a childish idea, but he wanted to do some investigating and see if he could find out who his father was. 

Obviously, his plans had to be shelved when he joined RED, but was that what the magic wanted? 

“Uh…” Scout cleared his throat. “Before I joined RED, I wanted to try and track down my dad?”

As Scout opened his eyes again, he could see Demo biting his lip in thought.

“You don’t sound certain, lad,” He eventually said.

“I’m not,” Scout admitted. “I haven’t thought about doing it in years, but I can’t think of anything else I could be thinkin’ about!” 

“Hm…” Demo hummed, looking back down at his book.

Scout impatiently tapped his foot.

“Hm…?”

“Hm…”

“Demo…” Scout groaned.

“I’m thinkin’, lad.”

Scout lifted a hand to fiddle with his dog tags as Demo turned the page of the book.

“The problem with time loops is that they’re barely documented,” Demo murmured.

“But you’ve been in one.”

“Aye, but I was six years old. You try remembering what you did for a month as a six-year-old.”

Scout pulled a face.

“Exactly,” Demo said with a chuckle.

Scout leaned back on the bed and crossed his arms again.

“What did you say this morning?” Scout asked. “About testing the limits?” 

Demo sighed and put the book down again.

“Testing the limits of the curse? Aye. It’s pretty clear that the curse’s rules dictate that every time you go to bed, you wake up and experience the exact same day, correct?”

“Yeah?”

“So… How long does the loop go for? When does it start looping? Is it the normal time you go to bed? Or is it midnight or just before you wake up? Or is it some other time?”

“Huh…” Scout mumbled.

He never really thought about it like that. He just knew he’d go to sleep and wake up the next day. When did the loop go back to the start?

“Do you know what would happen if you fell asleep somewhere other than your bed?” Demo continued.

“No…” Scout murmured, starting to catch on.

He was reliable as always and always fell asleep in his room. Did the room have anything to do with the curse?

A sour thought crossed Scout’s head as he frowned.

“And what would happen if I died?” He added.

“Right.”

Scout pulled a face as he thought about testing that.

“Can… Can we test that one last?” He asked. “I’m not particularly excited about dying and potentially not coming back.”

Demo snorted.

“Aye lad,” He said. “We can certainly do that.”

As Scout gave a nervous smile to Demo, Engie’s voice loudly echoed down the hallway outside the room, announcing that it was dinner time. Demo sighed and slid a bookmark into his book.

“I’m tryin’ the best I can to find somethin’ we might have missed, but it’s difficult,” Demo admitted, standing up and stretching with a pop.

“If you tell me what page you’re up to tonight, maybe I can make sure you don’t reread it,” Scout offered, also standing up.

“Much obliged,” Demo responded. “We’ll do some more research after dinner, but maybe sleep in the rec room tonight? The more we know about your particular curse, the better.”

“Okay, fine. Whatever will get me out of this.”

Demo smiled and squeezed Scout’s shoulder as they stepped out of Demo’s room.

It was slow going but at least Scout was getting somewhere.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout blinked up at the ceiling of his room.

Damn. Falling asleep on the couch did nothing. He was still waking up on the same day in the same place. 

“That is an order, private!”

Eh. Scout wasn’t holding out much hope on it working either way. 

“Yeah, coming, Solly!”

He could always try to speak to Demo after drills.

No one paid Scout any mind as he entered the dining hall. Everyone was engrossed in their own conversations as he walked to the kitchen and quickly started preparing his breakfast.

Once he had his plate and can of Bonk!, he made a beeline to Demo’s table. 

Soldier was halfway telling Demo a story about a bear he fought a war with. Scout hadn’t really paid attention to the story before and it honestly didn’t make any sense to Scout. As he sat down opposite Demo, the Scotsman looked up at Scout with a friendly smile.

“Strawberry flavoured haggis.”

The smile dropped off of Demo’s face and was replaced by a look of concern. 

“Sergeant. What is the Private Second Class talking about?” Soldier asked.

“Oh, uh… we were just talkin’ about types of haggis you can have,” Demo lied. “It doesn’t matter. Go on about Corporal Cuddles?”

As Soldier continued his story, Demo snuck a glance at Scout and nodded quietly.

Scout gave a tight-lipped smile back before digging into his breakfast.

“So going to sleep elsewhere didn’t work?” Demo asked as he picked up his book.

“Yeah. You’re on page 143 by the way.”

“Thanks,” Demo muttered as he flipped the book open to the correct page. “So if sleeping outside of your room didn’t work, why don’t you try staying up tonight to see when the loop kicks in?”

Scout groaned in response.

Whatever got him closer to breaking the curse.

“Wake up!” Demo yelled, dunking a bucket of water over Scout’s head.

Scout made a very manly sound and fell off the chair he was sitting on, the bucket still on his head. Once he got over his shock, he lifted the bucket and glared at Demo.

“Do you have to do that every single time?!”

Demo shrugged as he stood in front of Scout.

“You told me to wake you by any means necessary.”

Scout glared at Demo as he took the bucket off his head. He was soaking by this point and wishing he had brought a change of clothes.

But Scout was willing to do whatever got him closer to breaking the curse.

That seemed to be his mantra in the past few days – whatever got him closer.

“I wasn’t sleepin’!” Scout complained. “I was resting my eyes!”

Demo rolled his eyes.

“Sure.”

“I ain’t lying!”

Demo scoffed and retrieved the bucket.

“I’m surprised Solly isn’t trying to kill you for taking his bucket,” Scout commented returning to his chair.

“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him,” Demo responded, sitting opposite Scout on his own bed.

Scout glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 11:45 pm. Fifteen minutes to go until midnight. He stifled a yawn.

God, he was so fucking bored. 

At first, he decided to sketch to pass the time, but drawing the same parts of Demo’s room got boring quickly and he eventually ran out of pages. 

He then turned to his comic book collection to read through, but of course, he finished them pretty quickly. 

He tried helping Demo with his research, but he couldn't understand anything the books were saying. 

So Scout decided to watch the clock run down, but that was the most boring thing to do. Demo had to keep waking him up and he was having way too much fun with that task.

Scout tapped his foot and glanced at the pile of Demo’s books he had retrieved.

“Have you finished researchin’?” Scout asked.

Demo shook his head.

“I finished a book and figured it might be easier for tomorrow’s Demo to start from page one.”

“Any luck so far?”

“Nae, they keep repeatin’ the same shite. Time loops are centred on change and you need to make a change for something to happen. We both know that by now.”

“Bummer.”

The two slipped into silence again as Demo scooped a sticky bomb off his bedside table and started fiddling with it in between swigs of Scrumpy.

Scout furrowed his brow in thought.

“You haven’t really told me what it was like,” He stated.

“Like what was like?” Demo asked.

“Being in your own time loop.”

Demo paused in his task. He stared at the sticky bomb for a few more seconds before sighing and placing it back on the table.

“I really don’t like to talk about it,” Demo stated.

Scout nodded and said nothing. 

The room was silent as Demo stared down at his lap and Scout watched him carefully. After a few more seconds, Scout felt the need to speak up.

“Uh… no pressure or anything,” Scout broke the silence. “I just figured we could pass the time or somethin’.”

The room was still unbearably quiet.

“Uh… tell me about something else!” Scout continued. “How was your day today?”

Demo stared at Scout.

“Christ, you have changed,” Demo commented. “Normally you’d keep nagging me until I told you.”

Scout really didn’t know how to respond to that.

He didn’t think he was changing that much, but it had only been a day for Demo. 

He would know how Scout acted before the time loop better than Scout currently could. He wasn’t bogged down in the fifty-two days proceeding this moment.

How much had Scout changed? Did it even matter right now?

Scout shot an awkward grin at Demo, trying to banish those thoughts from his head.

There were more important things to do right now.

Demo sighed.

“That wasn’t a no, lad.”

“Oh.”

Demo stretched from his place on the bed and took a sip of his drink.

“Like I told you, I was six years old. My parents and I went to Loch Ness on holiday and I loved it. We woke up, explored the town, went hikin’, looked at the ruins and the castle and… finally, as we were heading back to the hotel, I saw her."

"Who?"

"Nessie!”

Who the fuck was Nessie?

Did Demo have a girlfriend when he was six years old?!

“Nessie?”

“The Loch Ness Monster! Have you heard of her, lad?”

Oh, that made a lot more sense. 

“Only a little bit,” Scout confessed. “Youse have a big dinosaur in a lake, right?”

Demo scoffed.

“Nessie is not just a dinosaur! She’s a beautiful creature!”

Scout rolled his eyes.

“I may not read much, but I’m pretty sure science has confirmed it is a dinosaur, thank you very much.”

Scout paused for a second.

“Wait, you saw the Loch Ness Monster?!”

Demo chuckled.

“Aye, that I did. I pointed it out to my parents but she disappeared before they could look and they didn’t believe me. So we went and had dinner and I went to bed.”

Demo sighed and took another swig of his scrumpy.

“The next morning, we woke up, explored the town, went hiking, and I’m sure you can see where this is going.”

“Yeah,” Scout murmured. “The loop.”

“The loop.” Demo agreed. “I suppose I was lucky. It was during wartime and the Nazis really didn’t give a shite about small Scottish towns.”

Scout blinked and stared at Demo in a new light. 

He should have put two and two together that Demo was old enough to remember the war, but hearing it from the horse's mouth was different. 

At that moment, Demo looked older than he normally did, weighed down by his history.

“So there I was,” Demo continued, ignoring Scout’s expression. “Stuck in a time loop. No way to get out and of course, I was six at the time. No one believed me and I thought it was some sort of punishment. Y’know, regular kid shit. And of course, I kept seeing the fucking Loch Ness Monster over and over again and still no one would believe me!”

Demo sighed as Scout frowned.

Yeah, Scout could relate to that. 

No wonder Demo was so willing to help him.

If someone else confessed they were in a time loop, Scout would definitely help them, now that he knew what it was like.

“I can’t remember how long it took but eventually I came up with a plan,” Demo grinned. “I was going to blow up the Loch Ness Monster!”

“What?!”

What the fuck?!

Demo killed the Loch Ness Monster?! When he was six?!

He had to be lying! There was no way.

“Aye. I had always been interested in explosives so I stole some gunpowder and a grenade from a supply train passing through that day and… well, I tried to blow up Nessie.”

Demo took a swig from his Scrumpy.

“‘Course it didn’t work,” Demo continued. “She slapped my supercharged grenade out of the air and towards the shore… wh-where my parents were.”

“Oh…” Scout softly said.

“Oh, indeed.”

Demo sighed again and took another swig. 

“I got hit on the head with some shrapnel. When I woke up, the loop had broken, and I had to live with the fact that I had to kill my own parents.”

Demo looked down and ran a finger over the rim of the bottle.

Scout said nothing, unsure of how to respond to that revelation.

“Of course, later my actual parents showed up to take me back and hone my skills as a demoman,” Demo spoke up in a hollow voice. “But I still killed my adoptive parents. You can’t recover from that.”

Scout was silent, contemplating his words. 

God, would Scout have to do something like that? Was that the only hope for Scout to break out? To kill someone while respawn was off?

Demo looked miserable retelling the story. No wonder the man drank all the time!

The look was familiar to Scout.

Back in Boston as a kid, one of his neighbours was an old man who had fought in both world wars and lost both his legs stepping on a landmine during the Second World War. 

When he got back home from the battle, all he did was drink and look miserable, only staring out the window for years and years until his liver finally failed him. 

As a kid, Scout didn’t like him that much. The old man would always yell at him and the other kids in the neighbourhood for just playing on the street. 

Scout would never forget the day the old man made Joey cry as the two of them were returning from baseball practice. 

Scout wanted to punch him for making his best friend cry, but Joey held him back and practically had to drag Scout into Joey’s house before a fight broke out.

But looking at the pain on Demo’s face? Scout felt a pang of sympathy for the old man. 

He experienced horrors and saw so many people close to him die that he turned to drinking.

Scout didn’t want any of that. He didn’t want to turn into Demo or the old man after he broke the curse. 

There had to be another way, surely.

“I’m sorry,” Scout said quietly.

“Why? You’re not the one who killed my parents or put me in that loop.”

“I know. It… It just seemed like the right thing to say.”

Demo chuckled.

“It’s fine. I’m here now with you lads! And I wouldn’t trade that for anything!”

“But your drinking…”

“Medic can replace my liver so it’s fine! You gotta keep the heid!”

“Huh?”

“Keep calm and carry on.”

Distantly in the base, Scout could hear the old grandfather clock in the rec room start to chime. He could feel his stomach start to twist and drop but ignored it.

“Dya think I’m gonna hafta kill someone to get out of my loop?” Scout asked, looking down at his shoes.

No response.

“Demo?” Scout asked as he looked up. 

Demo was still sitting on the bed, but his lips were moving and no sound was coming out of them. 

“Demo?!”

Scout shot out of his chair and ran over to Demo – or at least he tried to. 

As soon as he stood up, his knees buckled and he went sprawling onto the ground.

Scout sat up and looked around in horror as his stomach practically twisted.

Demo hadn’t moved as his lips continued to move. However, the lights were dimming, covering the room in shadows.

“Demo!” Scout yelled to the silent room, the only sound audible was the tolling clock.

As the clock finished its final toll, Scout blinked for just a second and found he couldn’t open his eyes again. 

Below him, Scout could feel the ground fall through below him and felt himself endlessly falling as his stomach continued to drop.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout shot up out of bed, panting. 

That’s what would happen if Scout stayed up late?! That was like a nightmare!

Scout swallowed and tried to calm his racing heart.

Okay, he thought. Note to self, don’t fucking do that again.

“That is an order, private!”

Scout swallowed once more.

Maybe a run would calm him down?

“C…Coming Solly.”

“That’s what happened when you hit midnight?!” Demo yelled.

“Y…yeah,” Scout admitted, clutching his arm. “I’d prefer we don’t repeat that.” 

Demo blinked at him.

“Alright, but…”

“But what?”

Demo sighed. 

“We gotta kill you next, and I thought you might like to die close to midnight, that way you know you’re going to come back.”

Scout tapped his foot fast, his face scrunched up, thinking about Demo's suggestion.

“Fine! But we’re doing it tomorrow!” Scout declared, crossing his arms. “I already stayed up all night last night and I’m freakin’ exhausted!”

“Sure, sure, but you hafta think about something first.”

Scout looked up at Demo.

“Yeah?”

“How do you wanna die?”

Oh no, he didn’t think about that.

“Hey Doc, got a sec?”

Medic looked up from the corpse he was experimenting on and stared at Scout.

“Herr Scout, you know where the plasters are. You do not need my help to put one on.”

“No, no, not that. I’m fine, doc. I just have a question,” Scout said, walking further into the infirmary.

“Verdammt.” Medic muttered, lowering his head.

“What’d you say?”

“Nothing. Do you mind if I continue my experiment while I answer?”

“Sure. Anyways, do you know what the least painful way to die is?”

Medic jumped and swore under his breath as he accidentally dropped his scalpel in the ribcage of the corpse he was operating on. 

Once he finally found the tool, he looked up at Scout with a face of pure bewilderment.

Scout really didn’t care what Medic currently thought of him. He needed answers and Medic wouldn’t remember the next day. Win-win! Or so he hoped.

“Why do you want to know that? We don’t get bonuses if we kill someone painfully. …Or painlessly.”

“Just answer the question, doc.”

Medic put a knuckle to his chin as he thought.

“Generally, whilst asleep is the least painful way.”

Yeah, that wouldn’t work. 

If Scout went to sleep, he’d have no way of knowing if the day reset like normal or if he died.

“Okay. So what if they can’t sleep? Like they gotta be awake while they die.”

Medic blinked and locked eyes with Scout.

“Scout, you know the Administrator changed the rules so we can no longer keep prisoners from the other team, ja?”

“No! I mean, yes! I mean, I don’t have a prisoner!”

Medic nodded slowly.

“Right…”

“I mean it!” Scout yelled. “Just tell me, doc!”

Medic clucked as he absentmindedly crossed his arms.

“Well, overdoses and poisons can be mixed bags, depending on the substance and the metabolism. Breaking one’s neck can be painless depending on the speed. A gunshot to the head can kill before the pain even registers. Falling can also work but has a larger margin of error where the person doesn’t die,” Medic muttered counting off on his fingers.

Scout blinked. 

“You really have thought a lot about this.”

Medic grinned.

“What kind of doctor would I be if I didn’t consider all sorts of deaths?”

“Right…” Scout muttered.

He started pacing the infirmary floor mulling over the options. 

If he tried poisoning himself, there was a solid chance he might not even die and then he’d have to explain to tomorrow’s Medic why he tried poisoning himself. 

Plus, he once heard that people who were poisoned tend to fall asleep before dying. No luck there.

If he wanted his neck snapped, he’d have to speak to Soldier and honestly, Scout didn’t want to open that can of worms. 

As Scout thought about getting shot in the head, his forehead tingled in memory. He was glad that respawn muffled the pain when he died, but he still didn’t like headshots. 

That just left…

“So, how far does someone need to fall to make sure they die?”

“Well, it depends on how tall they are and where they’re falling from.”

“What about the top of the base?”

Medic paused his musings to level an inquisitive look at Scout.

“Who are you killing, Scout?”

Scout swallowed.

“It– it doesn’t matter!” Scout lied. “I just wanna know if someone would die if they fell from the roof!”

“I think it does, Junge.”

Scout stepped back as Medic discarded his scalpel and started approaching Scout.

“I will ask again. Who are you killing, Scout?”

“No one! I was just curious!”

Medic got closer and stared at Scout more intently, as Scout shrunk away.

“You are lying to me.”

It was a statement of fact, not a question.

“I will not have it if you decide to kill yourself while I am your doctor.”

Scout’s back hit the wall as Medic crowded him.

“What is going on, Scout?”

Scout felt his breath catch in his throat. 

He knew he couldn’t tell Medic again! It was already a disaster the first time he told him!

In a panic, Scout reached out for the nearest table and knocked everything off it. 

The table was covered in various pages of paperwork, racks of various liquids and Medic’s bone saw.

This caught Medic off guard who froze, watching a set of vials containing Medi Gun fluid hit the floor and shatter. 

Before Medic could react, Scout barged past Medic, darting away and running towards the door.

“Schweinehund!” Medic shrieked from behind Scout. 

Scout could hear the telltale sound of Medic’s syringe gun reloading and firing echoing in his ears as Scout slammed the med bay doors open and booked it down the corridor.

“Sorry, I’m not dying today!” Scout yelled behind him as the sound of syringes hitting wood and German swearing filled the corridor.

Spy stepped out of the rec room and into the hallway as Scout sprinted away. He merely stared at Scout as Scout pushed past him.

“What have you done now?!” Spy demanded as Scout got further away.

“Be cool, Spy!” Scout yelled as he turned the corner.

“That’s not what I asked,” Spy muttered.

“Get the verdammt back here!” Medic screamed, running past Spy to chase Scout.

“Merde,” Spy muttered, reaching for another cigarette.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Okay, Scout had to admit sleeping in the sewers in the hopes that the day would reset was a new low. 

He didn’t mean to panic and throw Medic’s shit everywhere! 

His fight or flight kicked in and damn, was Scout good at flight.

God, he could practically hear Joey laughing at him and telling him to slow down and think things through.

“That is an order, private!”

“Yeah, Solly, be there in a sec,” Scout muttered.

Somehow Scout could still smell the sewer. He hesitantly raised an arm and sniffed his armpit. 

Yep, it smelt like an armpit.

So maybe he was imagining the smell of the sewer, but it's not like he could stop imagining it!

Scout frowned and quickly threw his workout clothes on. Maybe if he smelt more like sweat, he’d forget what the sewer even smelt like.

Scout opened the door with a grin.

“Ready when you are!” He told Soldier. 

Soldier opened his mouth to respond when Scout’s stomach growled loudly, interrupting him. 

Wait, Scout was hungry? He never woke up hungry.

“Perhaps you should grab something to eat before we start!” Soldier suggested.

“No, I’m–”

Another growl. Louder than the last. 

His stomach was loud last night too. He had to skip dinner because he was too busy running from Medic and… oh.

Scout blinked, realising that was why his stomach was growling now. He had missed dinner last night and was still hungry! 

He didn’t even think that was possible, but if Scout was able to keep his tally marks and exhaustion from the previous night, it made sense he would keep hunger from the previous night.

“You’re right,” Scout stated. “I’m gonna grab a snack before we start. Want anything?”

“Negative! Just grab something light so you do not cramp!”

“Sure, sure.”

Scout turned away from Soldier and stalked towards the kitchen, biting his lip the moment he turned away.

Okay, if he could go to sleep hungry and wake up feeling the same way, what else could carry over from the previous night?

Oh no.

This didn’t bode well for him dying tonight.

Demo opened the door to the balcony quietly and let Scout through. The two stared at the view the terrace offered in silence.

“You ready?” Demo quietly asked.

“No,” Scout responded. “I’m going to be jumping off a building and I don’t even know if it’ll kill me! I didn’t get an answer from Medic before he got suspicious.”

“You’ll be fine, lad. Really!”

Scout cocked an eyebrow at Demo.

“Worst case scenario you do the jump again tomorrow.”

“Worst case scenario is that I break all my bones and wake up in my bed the next day with all my bones still broken! Or… Or! I fall and die and don’t come back!”

“You’re panicking again, Scout.”

“Am I?!”

“Aye! Now take a deep breath! You’ll be fine!”

“Easy for you to say! You’re not dying!” 

Demo sighed.

“Scout, I’m saying this as your friend, okay? Go over to the edge.”

Scout shot a panicked look at Demo.

“You’ve died plenty of times before! How is this any different?” Demo suggested.

“Respawn’s turned off!” Scout hissed.

“I’m just saying you’re familiar with the sensation. And when it’s done, it’s done. It’ll be over soon.”

Scout let out a shaky breath and stepped towards the edge before stopping.

“But what if I don’t come back?” Scout whispered. “Or if I wake up with all of my bones broken! The magic is enough of an asshole to keep me stuck here for almost fifty-five days! What if it’s enough of an asshole not to heal me?!”

Demo sighed.

“I thought this might happen, so I brought along some encouragement,” Demo admitted. “Keep looking forward, aye?”

“Okay.”

Scout hesitantly stepped closer to the edge and looked over at the expanse of the desert while Demo got ready. 

He nervously gripped his dog tags with a hand and felt them dig in. Scout could feel his heartbeat racing in his chest and his nerves alight with energy. 

The ground was a long way down and Scout didn’t want to experience that drop. It felt awful enough falling the other night when he stayed awake until midnight. This would be a whole new experience.

“Alright,” Demo quietly spoke up. “Now, Scout, one last time. Go over to the edge.”

Scout’s grip tightened as he looked down at the ground. It seemed further away this time as he let out a shaky breath. 

“I can’t,” Scout whispered.

“Alright, turn around.”

Scout’s sighed as he turned to look at Demo staring at him. Suddenly, Scout flinched seeing the gun in Demo’s hand, pointing directly at Scout.

“Demo?!”

“Get over to the fuckin’ edge,” Demo ordered.

“Or what?! You’ll shoot me?!” Scout yelled, voice cracking.

“Go to the edge! You don’t want to see how bad my aim is with an eyepatch and all the alcohol in my system.”

Scout slowly raised his arms and slowly stepped backwards. 

He chanced a glance down and took one more step back, his feet now parallel to the lip of the terrace. He held his arms out to maintain his balance.

Scout looked to Demo for guidance.

“Turn around.”

Scout let out a shaky breath and obliged, staring at the desert below him.

“Are you going to shoot me in the back and let me die when I fall?” Scout quietly asked.

“I don’t know, Scout,” Demo confessed. “If you wanna die from a gunshot, I can make that happen, but it seemed like you wanted to jump.”

“I did,” Scout agreed, looking at the silhouettes of cacti in front of him. “But now that I’m here it’s just… different than how I expected it. I’ve never wanted to kill myself before, no matter how fuckin’ hard it got and now that I’m here, I…” 

Scout trailed off as his voice became hoarse.

“Back when I played baseball, one of my teammates decided to… to…” Scout’s voice quivered at the memory. “...end it all. He jumped off the Longfellow Bridge one day after practice.”

His words hung in the air as Scout shivered.

“A lot of people said he was selfish for killing himself and leaving everyone behind to clean up the pieces of his life, but… I never thought that. I just thought about how bad it would have to be to decide that was the only way forward.”

Scout sniffed

“I can’t stop thinking about how terrified he must have been. Especially from up here.”

Demo was silent. 

From behind him, Scout could hear the gun lowering as a tear rolled down his cheek.

“We don’t have to do this,” Demo spoke up. “We don’t have to kill you to test the limits of the loop. I didn’t have to die in my loop so… let’s just forget about this and get onto the next part of the plan, okay?”

Scout was silent, staring at the moon in front of him.

“Okay,” He sniffled.

Scout slowly turned to move, careful not to fall off, when the door to the balcony slammed open, startling him.

“What the hell is going on out here?!” Sniper yelled. “Scout!”

Scout gasped and flinched. His feet shuffled in an attempt to turn around and slipped off of the side of the building. 

Scout let out a strangled yell as he felt gravity start to pull him down. Scout reached out to grab onto the terrace, his hands missing it entirely as he fell. 

Scout could hear Demo and Sniper both yelling his name and saw them running to the edge, reaching out before Scout lost sight of them behind an air conditioning unit, screaming the entire time.

Scout hit the earth below him hard with a grunt. He felt the fire of pain as he realised how many bones he had broken in his fall. Scout’s breathing picked up as he realised he couldn’t move his neck. 

He blinked away tears, as he blurrily stared up at the balcony he fell from and saw Demo and Sniper arguing. 

Further up, he could see the night sky in front of him. The stars looked twice as bright than usual. 

A shooting star flew across the sky as Scout let out a quiet sob, feeling the familiar sensation of death wash over him. 

With no respawn machine to take him away and fix his body, the boy from Boston closed his eyes and died alone in the desert, miles away from his home.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for dai–!”

Soldier was suddenly cut off by someone screaming. He confusedly looked around looking for the source as it drifted off.

Demo confusedly opened his door and shot a good-natured smile at Soldier.

“Janey, I think your trumpet might need some tuning,” Demo joked.

“Negative!” Soldier responded. “That was not me!”

“It wasn’t?”

“Negative.”

“Then who–?”

Demo was unable to finish his question as the screaming started up once more. 

Medic hesitantly opened his door to look around the hallway when he spotted Demo and Soldier searching for the source of the screaming. He ran up to them as Heavy and Pyro opened their doors.

Spy uncloaked next to Demo with a furrowed brow as the screaming finally stopped.

“Is… Is that Herr Scout?” Medic asked.

“He is only one not here, other than Sniper and Engineer,” Heavy pointed out, joining the assembled crowd with Pyro in tow.

“Merde, what has gotten into him?” Spy whispered.

“I’ll… I’ll check on him before he starts up again,” Demo offered.

Demo shot a concerned look over his shoulder, as he slowly stepped over to Scout’s door. Raising a hesitant hand, he quietly knocked.

“Lad? You alright?”

There was silence for a total of two seconds until Scout reefed the door open and immediately clocked Demo in the jaw, who hit the ground with a shout.

“Sergeant!” Soldier yelled, running over to Demo. 

The crowd quickly followed. Before Scout could react, Heavy grabbed his arms and held him back as Soldier and Medic partially helped up and held Demo back.

Scout let out an animalistic snarl as he struggled in Heavy’s grasp.

“You let me fucking die!” he screamed.

“What are you talking about?!” Demo yelled back.

“Strawberry flavoured haggis! You fucking killed me!” 

Demo went limp, only held up by Soldier and Medic. His face had blanched as he stared at Scout’s livid expression.

“No…” He whispered. 

“Yeah! Top of the building! You killed me!” 

“What are you two imbeciles talking about?!” Spy interrupted.

Scout let out a deep breath as all anger after the initial punch swiftly dissipated. 

Hesitantly, Heavy let go of Scout but stood close prepared to hold him back in case another fight was going to break out.

“It doesn’t fuckin’ matter, Spy,” Scout spat. “Demo, we’re talkin’ about this later.”

“You will do no such–”

“Sure,” Demo responded distantly, interrupting Spy.

Scout nodded as the rest of the assembled team did a double-take.

They were none the wiser as to what was going on and perhaps Scout preferred it that way.

“Solly, are we still doing drills?” Scout changed the subject.

“Y-you are joining me in morning drills?”

“Yeah, let me just get changed. Alright?”

“Affirmative?”

Scout shut the door behind him, leaving the rest of the crew to confusedly stare at each other.

“What the Sam Hill is going on over here?” Engie yelled, running towards the assembled members of RED team. “Did I hear screaming?”

Demo quietly freed himself from the now-loose grasps that were holding him up earlier.

“It’s not my place to say,” He responded cryptically before returning to his room and shutting the door.

The rest of the mercs shared confused looks.

“Gentlemen, I hope you are in agreement that we should watch those two today,” Spy announced. “I, for one, do not like this. Who knows what they have planned?” 

“Affirmative!”

“Ja.”

“Da.”

“Mmph!”

“Sure, partner, but can someone just catch me up to speed first?”

“I will explain over breakfast, labourer. My treat.”

Scout looked up at Demo from his position on the bed.

“So, that’s where we’re at,” Scout concluded.

“Huh,” Demo hummed.

Scout started fiddling with the dog tags around his neck.

“S-So I’m hopin’ you have some more ideas on how you can help me?”

“I have a few,” Demo admitted, hand to his chin. “Do we have a chalkboard anywhere?”

“There’s one in the briefing room.”

“We’ll commandeer it after our shift today.”

Scout put a hand up.

“Yes, commandeer means we’ll take over the room.”

Scout lowered his hand.

“So, what are you thinkin’?”

“Well, your previous attempts by yourself haven’t worked, and you’ve only recently reached out to me. So I’m thinking this; what if you asked for help from the rest of the team?”

Scout said nothing, thinking hard.

“Medic tried medicating me when I told him during the first loop,” Scout gently pointed out.

“Ah, well there’s one big difference this time.”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve got me to back you up.”

That was true. 

It didn’t have to be just Scout’s word. Demo wanted to help out and the team seemed to trust Demo more than just Scout.

“Yeah…” Scout let Demo’s suggestion sink in. “Yeah! Okay! Let’s do this!” Scout declared as he stood up from his chair.

Demo grinned and caught Scout’s hand in a fierce high-five.

“You ready for a week of asking for help?” Demo asked.

Scout grinned. 

“Hell yeah! We’ll break this curse before it even knows what hit it!”

“That’s what I like to hear!”

“Alright, just so we don’t skip anyone, we’ll do this in alphabetical order,” Demo said, writing the names of everyone in RED on the blackboard.

“Sure. Who do we have up first?”

“Well, technically me, but you’ve already gone to ask me for help. After me, though, we have…”

“Engie! Can we speak with you for a sec?”

Engie looked up from the dispenser he was working on and smiled at Scout.

“Howdy Scout. You too, Demo! Glad to see y’all have made amends since this morning.”

“Ach, it was just a wee misunderstanding.”

“I fell off the roof and died, but sure,” Scout mumbled to Demo. 

“I seem to remember you telling me that you slipped off the roof, ya numpty,” Demo murmured back.

“What are y’all muttering about?” Engie interrupted.

Scout straightened up and turned to face Engie.

“Nothing, nothing,” Scout said at his regular volume. “Don’t worry about it. We just were wondering if you could help me with a problem, seeing as how you’ve got that whole… deal with problems.”

“I am an engineer,” Engie said, puffing out his chest and moving around the workbench to stand in front of the two. “Dependin’ on the problem, I should be able to help.”

Scout looked up at Demo nervously. The two shared a nod before turning back to look at Engie.

“I’m in a time loop,” Scout announced, fidgeting with his dog tags.

Engie paused and raised a finger to his ear.

“Sorry, what’d you say?” He asked. “Because it sounded like you said that–”

“I’m in a time loop,” Scout repeated. “I’m in a time loop and have been stuck in it for the past fifty-five days.”

Engie paused as he let the information sink in. He shot glances between Demo and Scout before eventually clearing his throat.

“...Are y’all fuckin’ with me?”

“Ach, unfortunately not, Engie. I’ve apparently been helping him for about a week and don’t remember any of it.”

Engie locked eyes with Demo.

“And you believe him, partner?”

“Aye, ‘course I do. I have a codeword for my friends to use if they ever get stuck in a time loop and Scout knows it. I don’t remember telling him anything.”

Engie’s gaze flicked between Scout and Demo before eventually landing on the dispenser next to him.

“Boys, I solve practical problems. This is a bit outside of my area of expertise. Why even come to me in the first place?”

“Because I’ve been doing everything to free myself from this hell and nothing is working,” Scout quietly explained. “Demo suggested I try asking for help from the rest of the team. So here I am. Asking for help.”

Engie ran a hand down his face.

“Is that why y’all were actin’ weird this morning? Spy filled me in. I just thought y’all were drunk. I didn’t think it was… well… this.”

“If it helps Engie,” Demo spoke up. “You don’t need to think of the magical aspect – I’ve already got that covered. Focus on the personal aspect. Is there anything out of the ordinary you’ve noticed with Scout in the last couple of days? Or anything he needs to know? Or just… anything noteworthy that could change things?”

“Gee, boys. I’d need to think…”

“Take all the time you need,” Scout quietly stated. “Everythin’ restarts at midnight so… yeah.”

Engie stared at Scout with a concerned expression.

“Son, you’ve been doing this for too long,” Engie quietly commented.

Scout said nothing, feeling miniscule under Engie’s intense stare.

Engie tilted his head and tapped his foot before looking up at Scout with a sad shrug.

“Sorry, I’ve got nothin,” he said. “All I would have to suggest is that you go to trainin’ with Soldier and take charge in battle and you did both today. I’m not really good at noticing how others are feelin’ if I’m being honest. I wish I could just pop the hood and see what’s wrong, but… humans don’t work like that.”

Scout chuckled as Engie gave a small smile and put a hand on Scout’s shoulder.

“You’ll figure out a way to solve this, son. When you do, I’d be happy to buy you a beer.”

“Thanks,” Scout responded with a smile. “I’d like that.”

Engie nodded at the two.

“You ready to go, lad?” Demo asked.

“Yeah,” Scout murmured. “Let’s go, Demo."

As Demo and Scout turned to leave, Engie tilted his head.

Scout put a hand on the handle of the door when Engie cried out.

“Wait!” 

Scout stopped and turned to look at him.

“Yeah?”

“You said you’re asking everyone for help, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you spoken to Sniper yet?” Engie suggested. “He might have an interesting perspective, watching from afar and all that.”

Scout flinched and looked away from Engie, starting to play with his dog tags.

“He’s later on the list, but we might move him forward, right Scout?” Demo supplied.

Scout wasn’t listening. He was too stuck in his own thoughts.

God, how had Scout not realised that he’d have to eventually speak to Sniper with this method? 

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Yeah, Sniper wouldn’t remember shit after Scout spoke to him during the loops but what if he did? 

What if Scout speaking to Sniper was the thing that broke the loop?

Don’t be stupid, he told himself. Scout had spoken to Sniper a few times already during the loop and nothing had changed! Asking Sniper for help would not break the loop!

However, Scout couldn’t shake the feeling that something would irreversibly change if he spoke to Sniper about his problems. 

He would embarrass himself and couldn’t recover!

Or Sniper wouldn’t know what Scout was talking about!

Or Sniper would just think he was a freak!

Or worst of all, Sniper would figure out why Scout was avoiding him. 

Scout could ruin the already fragile friendship he had built with the recluse. 

No. He couldn’t risk that.

Surely the other guys would be able to break the curse!

Right?

Demo lightly nudged Scout, bringing him back to the present.

“What? Oh, um… maybe!” Scout stuttered. “We’ll have to see if someone else has the answers first!”

Engie nodded, pleased with the response.

“Y’all take care now, and good luck. Feel free to come back to me if you need any more help.”

“Sure, Engie,” Scout replied. “Uh… see you tomorrow.”

He opened the door and stepped out of the workshop, Demo following behind in silence.

As they walked the hallways of the base, Scout couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t stopped fidgeting with his dog tags since Engie suggested he speak with Sniper. He quietly let go, hoping it wasn’t too obvious to Demo.

Demo didn’t seem to notice thankfully – he was too deep in thought.

Demo glanced at Scout and gently smiled.

“Do you wanna move on to our next person today, or wait for tomorrow?” Demo asked.

Scout let out a sigh of relief.

“Let’s wait. I kinda wanna know what it is that’s been keeping me in this loop, y’know?”

After that display in the workshop, he needed some time to cool off and get his mind off the possibility of speaking to Sniper.

“Fair enough. Tomorrow it is!” Demo declared with a note of determination in his voice.

Scout couldn’t relate – all he could feel was dread.

The conversation with Engie was the first in a long, long line of similar conversations.

No one knew how to help but everyone had the same suggestion for Scout.

“Teamwork requires communication,” Heavy had told him while cleaning his gun. “Speak to Sniper,” 

“Huh?!” 

“You have been avoiding Sniper. I have seen it. Speak to Sniper.”

Scout spluttered, trying to come up with a response.

“He’s right, lad,” Demo spoke up. “Even I have noticed you’re avoiding him and I’m drunk half the time!”

No. Scout couldn’t risk it.

“I… I’ll do it, tomorrow,” Scout lied.

Medic was much the same. 

“Unfortunately, I can’t think of anything major that could break this loop you speak of,” He mused as he placed the scalpel he was using down and reached towards Scout. “Unless you let me look at your brain and the observable effects under the loop–”

“Nuh-uh! No way!” Scout interrupted, slapping one of Medic’s hands away. “Besides, you wouldn’t even fuckin’ remember it!”

“Ja, but how often do I get to observe the synapses of a brain undergoing extreme stress and magic? Oh! I wonder if brain activity would remain the same as the previous loop! Or would it change as you are experiencing a different flow of time?”

“You’re scarin’ the lad, doc,” Demo piped up.

Medic laughed as Scout staggered backwards.

“Just imagine…” Medic said to himself.

“I… I’m gonna go. If you can think of anything that can get me out, let me know before midnight.”

As Scout turned to leave, Medic perked up. 

“Ah, Herr Scout?” Medic spoke up.

“Yeah?”

“Have you spoken to Herr Sniper about this?”

Not again!

“Oh um… he’s later down on our list. I-I’ll talk to him then.”

The conversation with Pyro was similar. 

Pyro offered Balloonicorn for Scout to hug the moment they heard Scout’s problem. 

Honestly, Scout couldn’t say no to Pyro. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around the plush toy and squeezed.

“Does Balloonicorn know how to break the curse?” Scout hesitantly asked from his hug.

Pyro shook their head.

“Mph mmphmm mph mph mmph mmphmm!”

“They just wanted me to feel better?”

Pyro nodded.

“But you and Balloonicorn don’t know what else I could change?”

Pyro deflated slightly and shook their head.

“Mmph.”

“No, no, it’s okay Py. We haven’t had much luck with the others either.”

Pyro looked away and started tapping their foot.

“Mmph mph mmph mmphmph?”

Not this again.

“What’d they say, lad?” Demo asked.

“They asked if I had spoken to Sniper yet. We’re doin’ that tomorrow.”

By the time they were due to speak to Sniper, Scout was sick of the suggestions.

“Okay, so we’ve talked to Engie, Heavy, Medic and Pyro. Now we’re onto the S’s. Are you ready to speak to–”

“Actually, Demo? I fucked up. We spoke to Sniper yesterday. I just forgot to tell you,” Scout lied.

He didn’t want to risk anything. 

The way things currently were with Sniper was fine, Scout told himself.

He didn’t want to scare Sniper away thanks to some dumb feelings he had.

“…Why did you…?” Demo muttered.

“I just forgot,” Scout responded. “All these talks with everyone are kinda blending into one. Sniper didn’t know shit and it was so similar to our convo with Heavy that I kinda just… forgot one. Sorry.”

Demo was silent, drumming his fingers on the table.

“Sniper didn’t say anything helpful?”

“Nah. It sucks but he didn’t know anything to help.”

One little white lie couldn’t hurt, right?

Demo sighed and turned back to the blackboard, drawing a cross next to Sniper’s name. He muttered something under his breath Scout didn’t catch.

“Alright then. Today we’ll be speaking to…”

Soldier very helpfully suggested that Scout speak to Merasmus. He didn’t seem all too let down when Scout told him he’d already done that.

As they turned to leave, Scout could see out of the corner of his eye, Soldier perk up.

“Private second class!” 

Oh no. If this was about–

“Have you informed the Sniper?” Soldier asked him.

Scout blinked, saying nothing, and just glaring at the corner of the room.

“P-private second class?” Soldier asked, sounding hesitant for the first time since Scout had met him.

Scout ignored him, robotically turning and leaving without saying a word, leaving both Soldier and Demo dumbfounded.

That was yesterday. Currently, Scout was glaring up at the chalkboard in front of him.

All of the names but one were crossed off.

Today marked the 60-day mark of him being cursed and Scout wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep going. 

Of course, to cap off this absolute garbage fire of a week, he had to talk to his least favourite member of the team.

“One last person to talk to Scout,” Demo encouraged. “You ready?”

Scout groaned. He really wasn’t, but he was running out of people to ask for help.

“I guess. I don’t wanna, but… I have no choice,” Scout let out a sigh. “I gotta talk to…”

“Spy?” Scout knocked on the door to Spy’s smoking room. “Are… are you there?”

“Oui. What do you want?”

Demo shot a nervous yet encouraging grin at Scout.

“Uh… I need your help with something,” Scout responded.

“Go speak to the labourer or doctor if you need help.”

“No, uh… you see, I’ve kinda already asked them? And they weren’t able to help, so…”

From inside, Scout heard an irritated sigh.

“Entrez.”

Scout pulled the handle to the door down and slipped inside, with Demo trailing behind. Spy had barely looked up from the book he was reading.

“What is it?” Spy snapped.

Scout sighed.

“You’re gonna call me crazy, I know, but I genuinely need your help! I–”

“Scout, just spit it out.”

“I’m in a time loop,” Scout confessed, clutching his dog tags. “I’m in a time loop and I have been for the past two months. I keep living the exact same day over and over again and I… argh! I need your help to figure out what I could change to bust me outta here!”

“Scout?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re terrible at lying.”

Scout spluttered and glared at the Frenchman, reading his book. 

“I’m not! I mean, I am, but I’m not lying about this! This is serious, Spy!”

“Is it?” Spy responded, still not looking up.

That asshole!

Before he realised what he was doing, Scout had already taken a step towards Spy and reefed the book he was reading out of his hands, throwing it into the fireplace.

“Listen to me, asshole!” He roared. “I’m telling the fucking truth! Now help me out of this!”

Spy looked up and blinked at Scout’s red face.

“Spy,” Demo spoke up. “He is tellin’ the truth this time. Honest. How else would he have known the BLU Medic, Heavy and Scout were runnin’ down that alleyway at that specific time?”

Spy stopped to take in this information.

“So you’re his accomplice, then?” he asked, tilting his head and locking eyes with Demo.

“Nae, man. I’m just helpin’ him! I mean, look at the lad! Does this look like the same lad from yesterday?”

“He does need a haircut…” Spy mused.

Huh?

Scout ran a hand through his hair and realised that it was indeed longer than he last remembered. 

With all the fuss of breaking the curse, he hadn’t even realised that it was still growing.

“But also the eyes, man. Look at that haunted look!” Demo continued.

“This is not impressive, Scotsman,” Spy snipped. “I’ve seen that look on many young men during the war.”

Scout sighed.

Well, this was a bust.

All this time and it ended with Spy refusing to help him?

Honestly, it didn’t surprise Scout too much.

“If you’re not gonna help and tell me something that can change my life, fine then. I’m gonna go,” He announced, turning to leave. “Thanks for the help Demo. Sorry that this turned out to be a waste.”

He made it to the door when Spy finally spoke up.

“Wait, Scout,” He called. “Come back.”

“What?” Scout snapped. “You gonna tell me that I need to spend more time focusing on work instead of making up stories or somethin’?”

“Non. I believe you, no matter how far-fetched it may seem.”

Scout slowly turned around.

“But lemme guess. You don’t have anything to tell me that can make a change.”

Spy looked impassive as always as he adjusted his cufflinks.

“I… may have some information for you,” Spy admitted.

“You do?” Scout stumbled forward.

“Oui, it’s just…” Spy looked away for a moment, tapping his fingers on the arms of his chair. “I do not think you will like it.”

Scout rolled his eyes.

“Spy, I’ve been experiencing the same day over and over again for about two months. Anything that could get me out quicker would be a godsend. Please.”

Spy swallowed and looked to Demo, who gave the tiniest of nods in response.

“I…” Spy started, before shaking his head. “About 24 years ago, I was tasked with travelling to Boston and killing a notorious mobster. During this time, I… fell in love with a woman.”

“Where is this going, Spy?” Scout interrupted peevishly.

Spy let out a breath as he closed his eyes and ran a hand down his face. 

“I won’t get into the details, but I…”

Spy paused before muttering something under his breath.

“What?”

Spy quietly repeated himself.

Scout scoffed.

“If you don’t wanna tell me, that’s fine. I can find another way to get out of this loop.”

“No!” Spy spoke up. “I… I want to help you. This is just… difficult to say.”

“What’s so difficult about it?”

Spy looked away again and nervously adjusted his cufflinks once more.

“I… sired a son, during my affair with ma petit chou-fleur… Alice.”

Scout blinked at Spy.

“Huh,” He muttered. “What are the odds? Alice is my ma’s name.”

Spy shot a glance at him before looking away again.

“…Oui… and like a coward, I fled because I was afraid I was putting her and her now eight sons in jeopardy.”

“Oh, My ma has eight… sons…”

Scout drifted off as realisation dawned on him. 

Sure, Alice wasn’t an uncommon name, but how many Alice’s had eight sons and lived in Boston? 

It was so specific! It couldn’t be a coincidence! 

“Wait… Spy?! Are… are you saying you’re one of my brothers’ dads?!”

Spy did a double take at Scout. He paused and shook his head.

“Non. I am saying…” Spy swallowed and balled a hand into a fist. “I am your father.”

What?!

Scout jumped as his brain went into overdrive. 

That couldn’t be right! 

Spy hated him! He couldn’t be Scout’s dad! 

Besides, what were the odds that Scout would end up working with his own father?!

Scout started laughing.

“Yeah, right!” Scout yelled between pearls of laughter. “Nice prank, Spy! What? Did you read all the details in my file?!”

“N-Non. I am telling the truth, Scout.”

Scout froze as he caught a glance of Spy and saw he was looking away, brow furrowed as he glared at a painting on the wall.

The laughter died in Scout’s throat.

He wasn’t… he wasn’t serious, right?!

“No! No! Y-You’ve gotta be jokin’! This is just some sick prank on me because you still think me telling you I’m in a time loop is a joke! Which it isn’t!”

Spy stood up and took a step towards Scout.

“Scout…” he started.

Demo stepped in front of Spy.

“Laddie, he’s telling the truth,” He said in a quiet voice.

“I…I…uh…no!” Scout spluttered. “There’s no freakin’ way you’re my pops, because… because…”

Scout was reeling, trying to think of a reason Spy was lying.

“I could show you proof,” Spy offered. I have… ahem… many photos of your mother and I together.”

“No! Because they’re not real! This is all just a stupid prank!”

Scout started pacing the room, hands on his head as he racked his brain, trying to find the lie. He whirled around and pointed a finger at Demo.

“Demo, did you know this was gonna happen?”

Demo sighed.

“This was plan B in case you talking to Sniper did nothing,” He admitted. “The rest of the team and I… well, we all pieced it together independently.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“Scout,” Spy said, stepping closer. “I understand you are upset–”

“I’m upset because you won’t leave this joke alone!”

“It’s not a joke. I would not belittle myself to the level to pull mindless pranks against my colleagues. I am being honest from the depths of my heart. I swear on my life.”

Scout stepped back and stared at the two mercenaries in front of him.

“…No… You… you can’t…” Scout stuttered. “My ma told me my dad died when I was a baby…”

Spy sighed and put a hand on Scout’s shoulder.

“I faked my death to protect you and your family. I can tell you any details about your mother. I can list the names of all of your brothers. I can list the street she was living on when you were born. I can tell you so many details of your life, but the fact of the matter is this. Scout… no. Jeremy, I am your father.”

Before Scout could realise what had happened, Spy was sprawled on the floor, clutching his cheek after Scout had punched him in the face. 

His hand hurt, but he barely noticed as he started shaking and scrambling for the door of the smoking room.

“Get the fuck away from me!” He shrieked. “You liar!”

As he backed up, he felt the door handle jab into his back.

“Lad!” Demo yelled. “Come back!”

Scout ignored him, reefing the door open and slamming it closed behind him. He fell backwards onto the door, breathing heavily.

This couldn’t be happening. There was no way this was happening.

He needed some fresh air. He’d be able to clear his head and he’d be able to find the holes in Spy’s lie!

Scout pushed himself off the door and ran towards the door to the exit. As he neared the doors, Heavy and Medic rounded the corner talking and blocking Scout’s way.

Medic stopped mid-sentence as he spotted Scout.

“Herr Scout?” Medic asked. “Are you… feeling alright?”

“Get out of my way,” Scout panted.

“Little Scout?” Heavy asked.

“Did… did you know?!”

“Know what?”

Behind him, the door to Spy’s smoking room slammed open.

“Jeremy!” Spy yelled with Demo following behind him. “Do not run away! We can talk about this!”

Heavy and Medic went stock still.

“He didn’t…” Medic whispered in disbelief as Spy approached the group.

Scout let out a shriek. He shoved Medic to the side and pushed his way to the door, narrowly missing Heavy reaching out for him.

“Leave me alone!” He yelled, opening the outside doors with a bang and bolting out of the base.

Distantly, Scout heard his name being yelled after him and someone giving chase, but Scout pushed on running through the desert, only listening to the blood pounding in his ears and his racing mind. 

Spy had to be lying. He just had to! There was no way that he was Spy’s son.

Scout only stopped running when he tripped over his own legs and went sprawling onto the desert sand. 

For a few seconds, Scout didn’t move, only panting as his mind tried catching up. 

Scout swallowed and slowly sat up. He blinked up at the darkening sky for a second until a scream ripped itself out of Scout’s throat. 

It echoed throughout the desert as Scout was left sitting alone in the middle of nowhere. As the scream died off, Scout was left in silence. 

He swallowed and visibly deflated.

Where the hell was he? 

How long had Scout been running? Maybe Soldier’s endurance training had been a mistake.

Scout quietly shook the sand off of him and looked around for something – anything – that could help him figure out where he was. 

The desert was extensive as Scout slowly realised he was almost entirely surrounded by rock formations and cacti alike.

Finally, Scout managed to spot the heat radiating off of an empty road not too far away. 

In even better news, Scout could spot a rest stop on the other side of the road. A single semi-truck was parked as its owner had gone to the bathroom. 

Scout blinked, realising that he could see a payphone at the rest stop. 

That was it! 

He could call his ma and get her to tell him that Spy was lying! Simple! 

And while he was there, he could call the base and get Engie to pick him up! 

Things were just getting better and better!

Scout forced himself to his feet, legs feeling like jelly. 

He took one step and felt the overwhelming urge to fall over again, but he gritted his teeth and took another step. 

The second step was easier than the first, as Scout’s legs slowly started to remember how to walk again. 

He told himself he’d sit down on one of the benches when he finally got to the rest stop – he’d just have to get there first.

One step at a time, Scout stumbled his way over to the rest stop, only pausing to check for oncoming traffic. Not wanting to stop and lose all the progress he had, Scout limped over to the payphone and picked up the receiver. 

He lifted a hand to the silver buttons before freezing in place.

Scout wasn’t the best at reading, but he could read the sign attached to the phone booth clearly enough, cheerfully announcing that to place a call, he needed to use a dime. 

Scout slowly reached around his pockets and realised they were empty.

A wave of exhaustion swept over Scout. With a sigh, he put the phone back on the hook and lowered himself onto the curb, hanging his head.

Well, Merasmus did promise that Scout would experience the worst day possible on repeat and this was certainly a new low point.

It wasn’t the insanity of trying to do things perfectly, or the horror of finding out he was trapped, or the struggle of trying to find something about himself to change. 

It was the fact that Scout didn’t even have a stupid dime to call his ma!

Distantly Scout heard the door to the semi-truck open and slam shut before its engine roared to life and left the rest stop, leaving Scout alone. 

Scout didn’t move. He needed to process.

Spy had to be playing a prank on him, right? 

Like, Scout knew Spy read all of their files. It was just a quirk they got used to working with Spy. He could have gotten Scout’s real name and the details about his family from there, right?

Scout shivered slightly. He couldn’t shake the sincerity Spy had on his face and in his voice when he was trying to convince Scout. 

Spy was a great actor, but could he really fake that?

Not only that but Demo, Heavy and Medic seemed convinced too. 

Maybe it was a massive prank that Spy had coordinated with the rest of the team? But why did he only decide to commence the prank during this loop?

Scout cast his mind back to all the interactions with Spy he had during his time at RED. Sure they got on each other's nerves perhaps way too much, but on the rare occasion Spy seemed to let go of the high and mighty act he put on, he interacted with Scout with some sort of… sadness.

It was as if he was mourning the life he never got.

Growing up, it was never surprising that Scout wanted to know everything there was about his father.

He was pretty happy with his life and spending time with his ma, his brothers and Joey, but there was always the feeling he was missing something.

Whenever he got like that, his ma would always sit him down and tell him everything she knew about his dad.

“Well, we met while I was a waitress at this Italian place that’s closed down now,” She would always explain as he rested his head in her lap and ran her fingers through his hair. “And I thought he was the most handsome guy I’d ever met there.”

“Ew!” Jeremy had complained.

His ma had just laughed.

“I, of course, wasn’t serving him, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of him,” She admitted. “And when he finished eating, he went up to the girl servin’ him and asked her for my number.”

“What’d you do?”

“I turned him down, of course!” She laughed. “But he was persistent. He kept coming back and after a week I said ‘Fine, mister! You can take me out for one date! Just one!’”

Jeremy laughed.

“After that… I couldn’t resist…”

The man that his ma described seemed nothing like Spy.

His father was kind, romantic and loved his ma. Spy was none of those things. 

But what did Scout really know about Spy?

Back in his memories, Jeremy cuddled closer to his ma, as she opened her mouth to continue the story.

“Scout?”

What? 

His ma didn’t call him that…

“Scout!”

Scout was jolted out of his reverie by a familiar female voice. He looked to the source of the voice, and illuminated by her moped, like an angel in purple, stood Ms Pauling, giving Scout a concerned look.

“Ms Pauling…” He whispered, voice still hoarse from screaming.

“Scout. What are you… what are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?”

Pauling propped her scooter up and stepped closer to Scout. 

“Looking for you! I got a call from the Administrator saying that you’ve gone AWOL.”

“Ah… yeah. Um… Ms P, do you have like a dime or anythin’?”

“A dime?”

Ms Pauling felt around her pockets and produced a coin.

“Are you making a call?”

“Yeah… I’ll tell you everything when I’m done with my call, promise.”

“Alright,” Pauling said, passing the coin over.

“Thanks,” Scout muttered, turning to face the phone before Pauling could say anything.

Scout deposited the coin, picked up the receiver and hit the button for the operator. He let out a nervous breath and after a few seconds, his call was patched through to Boston.

“Conner household, this is Alice speaking,” came his ma’s voice.

“Hey ma,” Jeremy quietly said.

“Jeremy!” She squealed. “This is a surprise! I wasn’t expecting your call for a few days!”

It suddenly weighed on Scout that the last time he had spoken to his ma was almost three months ago. 

He swallowed down the rising tears.

“Yeah, I figured I’d surprise you,” He said with no energy in his voice. “Surprise.”

“Aw, that’s so lovely! How have you been, Jer?”

“I… I can’t talk long, ma. I’m at a payphone. I just had a quick question I gotta ask you.”

“Shoot.”

Scout let out a breath.

“My dad… he didn’t really die, did he?”

His ma was silent for a few seconds.

“So, he told you,” was her eventual response.

“You knew?”

Scout could hear his ma sigh.

“Yeah, I did,” She admitted.

He could almost picture her now – adjusting her dress as she looked down at her lap.

“It was sudden, baby,” She continued. “I thought he had died, but then there he was, knockin’ on my door, tellin’ me that the new job you picked up, well… he was also gonna be there. Told me he was gonna look out for you.”

Scout didn’t respond. He just felt numb.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, honest, but I was sworn to secrecy. He wanted to be the one to tell you so I let him have it.”

Scout sighed.

“Okay,” was his response. “I just wanted to know.”

“Don’t be upset, Jer. It might be sudden but I’m sure he’ll explain everything and youse will learn to get along.”

“I think my time’s almost up, ma. I’ll talk to you later. I love you.”

“I love you too, baby. Don’t forget to call.”

Scout quietly placed the receiver on the hook with a sigh. 

Ms Pauling was standing guard, looking away from him and instead staring at the bright sunset in front of them. 

Scout sighed and sat back down on the curb. Pauling glanced at Scout before moving to sit next to him. The two sat in silence, watching the sunset.

“Are you alright?” Pauling eventually said, breaking the silence.

“No,” Scout admitted. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“That’s all I’ve been doing and it’s not doing shit. No one’s remembering it.”

Pauling squinted at Scout. 

“What do you mean? Have they been drinking the tap water?”

“What?” Scout turned to look at her.

“Nothing.”

Scout exhaled.

“Do you remember Merasmus? That wizard we fought one Halloween?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, he cursed me.”

“Cursed you?” Pauling parroted.

“Yeah. I’m trapped living the exact same shitty day over and over again and I can’t get out.”

Pauling was silent, pursing her lips and waiting for Scout to finish.

“I have been in a loop for the past two months and I don’t think I’m any closer to getting out. I mean… I might get out now that Spy’s told me he’s my pops and whatever, but after two months of this shit, I doubt it!”

Pauling patted Scout’s shoulder.

“You will break this curse, Scout. You can’t just be trapped in this day forever.”

“Well, I didn’t think I’d be stuck here for 60 days! Just imagine, having the same day sixty times!”

Pauling chuckled. 

“Surprised you haven’t started breaking stuff,” She confessed. “Unless you have…?”

“Nah. I just… didn’t see the point if it was gonna reset. If I break something on purpose, I want it to stay broken, y’know?”

“Yeah…”

The conversation drifted off as the sun dipped below the horizon. 

Scout shoved his face into his legs with a groan.

“What’s wrong?” Pauling asked.

“I just… don’t know how I’m gonna be able to face Spy and the rest of the team, knowing they’ve been lying to me.”

Pauling looked at her feet.

“Well, maybe you don’t have to,” Pauling quietly said.

As Scout slowly lifted his head to look at her, her expression was distant and unreadable, eyes obscured by the reflection of the sunset in her glasses.

“It’s a… well, it’s a shit situation,” Pauling pointed out. “I think it’d be understandable if you requested some time for yourself.”

Scout tapped his foot in thought.

“I mean, that’s what I always did growing up when I got into fights with my parents,” Pauling continued. “Of course, I don’t talk to them anymore, so…”

“I guess… If the team listens will be another thing.”

“Hey, if they ignore what you tell them, call me up and I’ll be there to help you out.”

Scout locked eyes with Pauling.

“You’d really do that?”

“Isn’t that what friends do?”

Scout had the faintest of smiles on his lips.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Suddenly Scout’s stomach growled loudly. 

His face turned red, realising that the last time he had eaten was for lunch directly after that day’s battle. Pauling chuckled.

“You wanna grab a bite to eat? There’s a pretty good truckstop around here that sells the greasiest burgers I have ever tasted. I’ll take you back to the base afterwards.”

Scout stood up and stretched.

“Sounds like a plan, Ms P.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout cracked an eye open and stared at the desk. His sketchbook was absent and resting on his bedside table. 

All Scout could do was sigh deeply.

Why did he even think things would change? He was going to be trapped here forever.

“That is an order, private!” came Soldier's voice.

“Go away, Soldier,” Scout said, defeated.

There was a pause of silence from the hallway until Soldier spoke up again.

“I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early, private!” 

As Soldier marched back down the hallway, Scout rolled over in bed.

Scout was officially giving up.

This time loop had thoroughly defeated him. 

Even being told something that changed everything such as Spy being his dad didn’t change jack shit.

Scout was throwing in the towel. 

He could just learn to live in this time loop, right after he could summon the energy to care. 

Right now, all he wanted to do was lay in bed and rot.

“Gentlemen, has anyone seen Scout today?” Spy asked the team once he had finished preparing for today’s mission.

He was met with multiple shaking heads.

“Little Scout might be sick,” Heavy offered. “It happens.”

“Ja! I have not been meddling with his immune system this time around, but he might have picked up a bug.”

“Or the Private has gone AWOL!”

“Janey, you heard him this morning,” Demo interrupted. “He’s either sick or just needs a day off.”

“Mmph!”

“Don’t think it’s anything to worry about too much, partner,” Engie said with a smile. “If he’s a no-show tomorrow, I’ll talk to him, alright?”

“Oui. I’d just prefer our team not to be down in numbers.”

“Mission begins in sixty seconds.”

“It’ll be fine. Now, let’s roll out!”

As all of the mercenaries filed out of the resupply room, one stayed behind, staring at the bench in front of Scout's locker. He frowned in thought.

The Administrator’s voice came piping over the speakers, reminding anyone who was listening that the mission began in thirty seconds. 

Engie poked his head through the doorway.

“Sniper! You comin’, partner?”

“Yeah, mate,” was his response. “I’m coming.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

There was silence as Soldier received no response. 

“That is an order, private!” 

“Go away.” 

“I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early, private!” 

“Gentlemen, has anyone seen Scout today?” Spy asked the team once he had finished preparing for today’s mission.

Sniper wasn’t listening to the conversation that was playing out as he closed his locker and turned around.

“If he’s a no-show tomorrow, I’ll talk to him, alright?” Engie offered.

“Oui. I’d just prefer our team not to be down in numbers.”

“Mission begins in sixty seconds.”

“It’ll be fine. Now, let’s roll out!” Engie reassured.

Sniper stared at the place where Scout normally sat and bit his lip as his teammates left the room. His brow was furrowed as he thought.

“Mission begins in thirty seconds,”

“Sniper! You comin’, partner?”

“Yeah, I’m coming mate.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

“Fuck off, Soldier.” 

“I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early, private!” 

“Gentlemen, has anyone seen Scout today?” Spy asked the team once he had finished preparing for today’s mission.

As the team reassured Spy it was nothing to worry about, Sniper stared at Scout’s bench and started to formulate a plan.

“Mission begins in sixty seconds.”

Sniper stood up, walked over to the bench and lightly patted it. He then turned on his heel and walked out to battle.

Scout was awoken from his slumber by a knocking on his door. 

He hesitantly lifted his head and stared at the door.

“Scout? Mate? Are you in there?” Sniper asked.

Scout blinked, his brain still attempting to wake up. 

Why was Sniper here? 

In all 63 loops, Sniper hadn’t shown up to his door, once. Why now? What changed?

“I’m gonna assume you’re there,” Sniper continued. “Look, the team’s really worried about you. I’m really worried about you. They were gonna check up on you tomorrow but… I… wanted to check up on you now.”

Scout sat up in his bed silently.

“I’ve got some leftovers from dinner tonight in case you haven’t eaten. I’m also here if you need an ear or a shoulder to lean on, whatever, I’m here.”

Sniper’s voice drifted off as Scout looked away from the door with a frown. 

True, he was avoiding talking to Sniper, but here Sniper was on his doorstep, reaching out. 

Maybe he should talk to the one member of the team he had been avoiding.

Before he could do anything, Sniper started muttering to himself.

“Fuckin’ stupid, mate. Of course, he’s not there. Talkin’ to myself,” Sniper sighed.

Scout felt a pang of sympathy for Sniper, as he wondered if he should just open the door.

He could hear Sniper place his forehead on the door.

“She’ll be right, mate,” He muttered. “I can always try to talk to him next loop.”

Wait.

What?!

Scout froze as he recalled what Sniper had just said.

I can always try to talk to him next loop.

Next loop…

Next loop?

Next loop?!

He didn’t… 

He wasn’t… 

There was no chance…

Scout’s brain was racing as he bolted out of bed and got tangled in his blanket, hitting the floor with a crash.

“Scout?” Sniper asked. “You alright, mate?” 

Scout untangled himself, stood back up and reefed the door open to reveal a confused Sniper holding a plate of food.

“What’d you just say?!” Scout asked in lieu of greeting.

“‘Scout? You alright, mate?’” Sniper repeated.

“No! Before that! You said something about someone being alright and… trying again? What’d you say?”

“I… I said ‘She’ll be right, mate,’” Sniper repeated slowly. “‘I can always try to talk to him…’”

“Next… loop?” Scout finished.

“Yeah… I… S-Scout…”

“Snipes, you are the only person who will believe me and remember when I say this. I am stuck in a time loop and can’t get out.”

Sniper paled, staring at Scout.

“S-same…” Sniper whispered. “Oh my god, same…”

Sniper swallowed and cleared his throat.

“Mate, I have been stuck in a time loop and no matter what I do, I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get out.”

The two stood in silence, breathing heavily and staring at each other.

“What… does this mean?” Scout was the first to break the silence.

“I don’t… I don’t know.”

Sniper stopped to check his watch. With a frown, he shoved the plate of food into Scout’s hands.

“Eat up, we have ten minutes ‘til midnight,” He ordered, walking past Scout and shutting the door behind him.

Scout nodded, sat next to Sniper on his bed, and began to eat. 

He wanted to speak, but the smell of dinner reminded him he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch. Sniper tapped his foot while Scout demolished his food.

“So you have been in a time loop for how long?” Sniper eventually asked.

“63 days,” Scout said in between bites of food. “Soon to be 64.”

“Christ, I’ve been in here for about 80 days.”

Scout shot an incredulous look at Sniper.

“80 days?! How didn’t I notice?!”

“Well, how did I not notice you’ve also been in a loop for 63 days?”

The two lulled into a heavy silence as Scout finished scarfing down his food. 

“We’re both drongos,” Sniper spoke up once Scout discarded his plate.

“Agreed, whatever that means.”

Sniper chuckled. 

“I think… we’ve got a lot of catching up to do in the next loop,” He said, a grin starting to grace his lips.

“Oh yeah. Definitely.”

Sniper reached out and grabbed Scout by the shoulders, making Scout’s heart jump in his chest. 

“We don’t have much time until we reset. As soon as you wake up, make your way over to my van so we can talk, alright?”

“Gotcha.”

Sniper smiled and squeezed Scout’s shoulders.

“Y’know, for the first time in a while, I actually feel confident I’m gonna get out of here,” Sniper confessed.

“Yeah, me too.”

Scout felt like his heart was going to explode at such close proximity to Sniper, but that wasn’t the entire reason. 

He was starting to feel hopeful – a lot more hopeful than he had felt during the past couple of loops – that he was going to be free. 

His heart was racing because he realised he wasn’t alone anymore.

As the grandfather clock started tolling for twelve and Scout started to feel his stomach drop, Sniper wrapped his arms around Scout in a hug. 

With his heart now racing as fast as humanly possible, Scout automatically reciprocated, wrapping his arms around the marksman. 

As the final bell tolled, and Scout couldn’t open his eyes, he felt Sniper give a reassuring squeeze, before the ground fell away and the two men started falling. Scout could hear nothing – only feeling the secure grip of Sniper enveloping him. 

Before Scout could fade away, he gave one final squeeze. It was a promise that he would be there with Sniper – and he intended to keep it.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

The ghost of Sniper’s touch still tingled on Scout’s body. He put a hand on his fast-beating chest.

“Holy shit,” he whispered to the empty room. “I’m not alone.”

Chapter Text

“I’m not alone,” Scout repeated.

“That is an order, private!”

Before Scout knew what he was doing, he was already changed and running out of the base with Soldier’s shouts fading behind him.

The desert sand kicked up under Scout’s feet as he raced towards the parked campervan. Scout banged on the door with his fist, heart racing.

He didn’t imagine all of last night, right?! It actually happened, right?!

Scout hopped from foot to foot before banging on the door again.

“Snipes?” He called. “You in there?!”

From inside the campervan, Scout could hear the sound of someone groaning before jumping down to the ground. A few seconds passed before Sniper opened the door and blinked at Scout.

“Jesus fucking Christ, roo,” Sniper swore. “You didn’t tell me your loop woke you up at 5 am every day!”

“It actually happened,” Scout whispered in awe. “You remember.”

“Of course, I remember,” Sniper said with a yawn.

“Oh… uh… sorry for wakin’ you up.” 

Sniper waved a hand as he turned. 

“It’s fine,” he said, yawning once more. “Come in.”

As he took a step inside the van, Scout cast his eyes around. 

The inside of the van was larger than he expected, although that could be in large part due to Sniper’s cleanliness. A few empty jars that could house only one thing in particular lined the shelves but other than that, the van was trash-free. No clothes littered the floor like in Scout’s room and all of Sniper’s belongings were neatly put away.

As Scout was looking around, Sniper suddenly turned to look at him and tilted his head.

“I’m gonna be honest, it is way too fucking early,” Sniper admitted. “So, I’m gonna go back to sleep.”

Scout spluttered.

“What?! Snipes, I came out here to talk!”

“And we will. I just need my beauty sleep. God knows I need it.”

Scout stood in the middle of the room and glanced at the door.

“You’re welcome to stay in here if you want,” Sniper continued. “But I’m exhausted after last night. You must be too.”

“Yeah… yeah, that makes sense. Alright.”

“Like I said, you’re welcome to stay,” Sniper said, yawning that last part. 

After a moment of thought Scout stiffly took a seat on the vinyl booth on one side of the room. Sniper simply gave a nod and clambered up the ladder to his bed. Almost as soon as he hit the mattress, Sniper’s breathing grew heavier as he drifted off to sleep. 

Scout bit his lip.

What now? 

Sniper wanted to talk to him, but he also wanted to sleep first. What would Scout do?

Scout bit his lip as his hands found their way to the seat and pressed down on it.

It wouldn’t be the most comfortable place to sleep, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do – or more accurately, when in an Australian’s campervan, do as the Australian does.

That didn’t roll off the tongue as well but the spirit was the same.

Slowly Scout laid down on his side and trailed a finger over a crack in the vinyl. 

In the back of his mind, he realised that this was the first time in ages that he had the chance to actually sleep in. He knew Sniper and Sniper wouldn’t let him oversleep and miss the battle. 

Sniper would have his back. He had in the past and he would certainly have it now.

It wouldn’t do either of them any good aggravating the other – they were in this together.

Exhaustion weighed on Scout as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, feeling more comforted than he had felt in months.

Scout was awoken by the sensation of someone shaking his shoulder. 

Huh? Who was that?

Blearily, he cracked open an eye to see an already-dressed Sniper looking down at him with two cups of coffee.

Oh, that made sense. He fell asleep in Sniper’s van after all.

“…Snipes,” Scout greeted, his voice still heavy with sleep. “G’mornin’.”

“Good morning to yourself,” Sniper responded. “I made us coffee. I don’t know how you take it so I got the sugar and milk out.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” Scout responded, sitting up and rubbing at the crick in his neck. “I’d probably drink anything you’d give me.”

Woah okay, Scout, he thought to himself. He needed to step the fuck back before he said something stupider!

‘I’d probably drink anything you’d give me’?! Why didn’t he just admit to Sniper he’d follow the man to the ends of the Earth if he looked like he knew what he was doing?! Clingy much?

Sniper snickered, jolting Scout out of his thoughts.

“Damn, looks like it’ll be easier than expected to slip you that poison,” Sniper said sardonically. 

Scout snorted and immediately covered his face with a hand as he realised what he had just done.

Scout couldn’t help it! That was pretty funny. 

Sniper snorted in response as he passed Scout the cup of coffee and placed the milk and sugar on the table. 

Regaining his composure, Scout slowly started assembling his regular coffee order while Sniper sat opposite him in the booth. 

Sniper calmly watched him and pulled a face at the amount of sugar Scout was piling into his coffee. Everyone always told Scout that it was too much but mercifully, Sniper didn’t say anything as the sugar piled up. 

Once Scout was content with his coffee, he took a measured sip, sighed in pleasure and locked eyes with Sniper. 

“So…” he started.

“So…?” Sniper responded. 

“What do we do?”

Sniper shrugged, leaning back in his seat and took a sip of his own drink.

“Dunno,” He responded. “It’s been 80 or so days and I’m none the wiser how we can get out. I lost count of how many days I’ve been stuck a bit ago, so I’m just guesstimating at this point.”

Scout pursed his lips. Ok, he had to think practically. What did Demo say when Scout first came to him?

“Maybe we should start from the beginning. Did Merasmus curse you too?”

Sniper did a double-take.

“What?!” he asked. “No! It just suddenly happened! Here I was having a bad day and then suddenly I’m experiencing the exact same day again.”

“So you weren’t cursed by a wizard?

“What do you mean cursed by a wizard?”

Scout sighed and took a sip of his drink. He cleared his throat before speaking again.

“Do you remember that time Merasmus showed up after dinner once?”

Sniper sat up in his seat, his eyes wide.

“That’s how you ended up in the loop?! Because you chundered on Merasmus?!”

Scout tilted his head.

“Huh?”

“Oh, right, you don’t speak Australian. My bad,” Sniper sighed. “I mean throw up.”

“Oh!” Scout nodded. “Y-yeah, because I puked on Merasmus.”

Sniper put a hand to his chin in thought.

“Huh. So that whole rant he had about you having a bad day? That was him cursing you?”

“Yep,” Scout sighed.

“Well, that doesn’t help us much.”

Scout shrugged.

“I mean, he showed up again the next day. Mainly just told me to apologise and he’d uncurse me, or I could try to break the curse myself.”

Sniper hummed as he took a sip of his coffee.

“I take it you still haven’t apologised?”

“Nah, I did!” Scout waved a hand in the air. “The problem was, I apologised too late and he physically couldn’t. Something about magic taking root after two weeks? I think he said it was not going away unless I figured out how to break the curse the old-fashioned way.”

Sniper let out a low whistle.

“Strewth, really?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, we’re both fucked. Nothing he can do?”

“No offence, Snipes, but if that was the case, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Piss.”

Sniper tapped the surface of the table, thinking.

“So what have you done so far to try and break the curse?” he asked.

Scout shrugged in response.

“Pretty much everything,” Scout admitted. “I tried havin’ a perfect day. Didn’t work. Tried apologisin’. Didn’t work. Tried changin’ things. Also didn’t work. The last thing I did was ask the others for help and that didn’t work either.”

“Because none of them believed you, right, right.” Sniper mused.

“No, they believed me.”

Sniper blinked at Scout.

“What?!”

“Yeah. Had to get Demo to vouch for me but I think the majority of them believed me. Jury's still out on whether Spy believed me or not.”

“Demo?”

It was Scout’s turn to blink at Sniper.

“Have you not gone to Demo for help?”

“No? Why would I do that? He’s not gonna remember, roo. None of them are. That's why I haven’t reached out. Why waste my time?”

Scout was silent as Sniper sighed.

“‘Course, maybe if I reached out earlier both of us would already be out,” Sniper reasoned.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Who fuckin’ knows anymore?”

“I mean, why didn’t you come to me?”

Scout flinched.

Oh god, he didn’t think Sniper would put two and two together so quickly!

Think Scout, think!

“Uh… I think I forgot?” Scout’s squeaked.

“Forgot?”

“Yeah, it was… a slog to get through visiting everyone and asking for their opinion. They didn’t have anything useful that could help.”

Ok, Sniper didn’t need to know that everyone on the team wanted the two to talk. They were talking now, and that was all that mattered.

“Damn…” 

Sniper took a sip of his coffee as his expression darkened.

“I’ve… tried being perfect and changing shit. When they didn’t work I… kinda went crazy,” Sniper quietly admitted. “I tried killing myself and running away multiple times. I… I also killed everyone on the team one by one. Hell, I even won the lotto once. When nothing happened I kinda just… locked myself in my van and only came out for missions. Must have been just after you got cursed.”

Scout frowned and gently rested a hand over the top of Sniper’s. The two said nothing, their isolation seemingly catching up with them.

After a moment, Sniper sighed and Scout pulled away.

“Maybe we both gotta have perfect days?” Sniper suggested.

Scout shook his head.

“Nah, won’t work,” Scout quietly responded. “When I apologised to Merasmus he told me that curses refuse to go away until something is changed. Problem is, I don’t know what else could need changing or could change things further. I mean, I already found out you’re in the loop too! That changes things like crazy!”

Sniper hummed and took a sip of his coffee. He put a hand over his mouth in thought and glanced up at Scout. Almost immediately his eyes flicked back down to his mug.

“I can’t think of anything that could change,” Sniper stated, still looking away from Scout.

“You don’t have anything you’re particularly hung up about?”

Sniper shrugged.

“Not off the top of my head. Sorry mate.”

“Damn.”

“She’ll be right,” Sniper patted the table. “We’ll figure something out.” 

Sniper stretched as he stood up from the booth. 

“How does some brekkie sound?”

“Yeah, alright.”

Sniper grinned as he turned to put his shoes on. As he did that, Scout bit his lip as he thought back to one of the few times he had seen Sniper during the loop.

“Wait, is your bread actually mouldy?”

“Eh?” Sniper asked, lifting his head from his boots.

“I remember one loop you came into the mess hall for some breakfast and said your bread was mouldy. Is it really?

Sniper jumped up and quietly opened the breadbox on the counter to reveal a snarling and alive loaf of bread covered in green marks. Before the bread could turn and attack, Sniper slammed the door shut.

“Among other things,” he responded casually. 

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Scout swore. “Have you told the doc about that?!”

Sniper raised an eyebrow at Scout.

“Right. Time loop. Forgot about that.”

Sniper snorted. 

“Come on, mate. No good thinking on an empty stomach.”

With that Sniper strolled out of the van, leaving the door open behind him. Scout stared after him before finding his feet and following behind.

Engie was standing at the stove like he normally was when Scout and Sniper stepped inside.

“Morning, Scout! Morning, Sniper!” He greeted.

“Mornin’!”

“Mornin’, mate.”

Spy hummed from behind them.

“You are late for breakfast this morning,” he commented, turning a page of the newspaper without looking up. 

“We were just hangin’ out,” Scout defended, perhaps too quickly. “Nothin’ wrong with that!”

“If you say so,” Spy muttered, continuing to read.

Scout opened his mouth to retort when Sniper put a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry about him, mate,” he whispered into Scout’s ear. “You know he’s always like this. He knows you're easy to stir.”

Scout shivered slightly but nodded. He ripped his gaze away from Spy and turned to grab his breakfast. As he turned, he caught sight of Engie confusedly looking at them. Scout stopped to stare back at him.

“What?” Scout asked.

“Nothin’” Engie responded, flipping an egg. “Just glad to see y’all have made amends.”

“Made amends?”

“What are you talkin’ about?” Sniper piped up, looking up from the toaster.

Engie tilted his head.

“Y’all had a fight recently, right? It’s why Scout hasn’t been talkin’ to you.”

Scout blinked, slightly taken aback.

Yeah, Engie and the rest of the team may have all suggested that Scout should speak to Sniper, but how was it only now that it was hitting Scout that everyone knew he and Sniper weren’t speaking? 

Was it really that obvious that Scout had been avoiding him?

“What fight?” Sniper asked, oblivious to Scout’s anxiety.

Engie looked equally surprised and opened his mouth to respond. 

Fuck! 

Scout couldn’t let Engie explain to Sniper that the rest of the team knew Scout had been avoiding him. It would make things way too complicated and Sniper would actually remember unlike everyone else! He couldn’t jeopardise this!

“Gone senile in your old age, grandpa?” Scout quickly asked, cutting Engie off. 

Engie closed his mouth and furrowed his brow. 

Okay, Scout might have gone too hard too fast. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat.

“S-Sorry, Engie, but we haven’t had a fight,” Scout said, turning to grab his own toast with a shrug. “We’ve just been busy and haven’t had the time to talk.”

It was the truth. They hadn’t had a fight. 

Scout just started to avoid Sniper, and Sniper went along with it.

It made sense why Engie and probably the rest of the team thought they were fighting. After all, it was so sudden that the only explanation could be a fight, right? 

Engie frowned and turned back to the stove. While Engie’s back was turned, Sniper leaned into Scout.

“What was that about?” he whispered.

“I panicked.”

“No shit…”

Quietly, Sniper went back to assembling his breakfast and finished spreading the Vegemite on his toast. He lifted the bread in salute and walked out to the dining area, sitting away from Spy. Scout turned to his own toast and finished buttering it. 

He walked over to put his butter knife in the sink, walking past Engie along the way.

“Sorry, Engie. Didn’t mean to be so rude,” Scout whispered.

“It’s fine, son,” Engie quietly responded, waving a hand. “I’m just confused. You didn’t fight with Sniper? Then why have you been ignorin’ him?”

Scout sighed.

“I told you, we’ve just been busy.”

“Hm… pardon my French, but I’m callin’ bullshit.”

Scout shook his head.

“Engie, it’s the truth.”

Only on a technicality, Scout noted to himself. It’s true, he had been busy the last couple of weeks trying to break the curse. 

Was he going to tell that to Engie? Absolutely not.

“Whatever you want to believe, but the fact of the matter is that you haven’t been talkin’ to Sniper. In fact, you’ve been avoidin’ him.”

Scout turned away, trying to avoid giving Engie the satisfaction of seeing him realise that he was right. 

Scout really was that easy to read, huh? So much for him being Spy’s son.

“No,” Scout slowly declared. “I have not.”

Engie scoffed but didn’t say anything. 

Feeling entirely on edge, Scout departed the kitchen and pointedly sat opposite Sniper with a grin.

“So…" he said, with a grin as he picked up his toast. "What’s the plan for battle today?”

By the time it was time for mission prep, word had seemingly made its way around the base that Scout and Sniper were talking again and honestly? Scout hated it. 

He hated all the eyes following him as he and Sniper just casually spoke.

But he also missed this. 

He missed the friendship he had built with the Australian over the past three years. 

He missed talking about whatever came to mind. 

He missed the dumb jokes and barely understandable slang.

Scout quietly groaned to himself, just thinking about him and Sniper.

“What?” Sniper asked with a chuckle.

“Nothin’,” Scout responded with a grin. “Just thinkin’ about how this curse has just made me a big ol’ sap.”

Sniper laughed and knocked shoulders with Scout sitting next to him.

“You and me both.”

“Hey, lads!” Demo yelled, raising a hand. “When’d you two start talkin’ again?”

Scout turned to see Sniper was already fixing him with a look.

Without saying a word, the two shrugged.

“Dunno what you’re talkin’ about,” Scout responded

“Yeah, big mystery,” Sniper added.

“I mean you’ve got me stumped.”

“Ditto. I’m clueless.”

“Stumped! Baffled! Confused! Puzzled–”

Sniper put a hand on Scout’s shoulder.

“Alright, that’s probably enough,” he whispered.

Scout could feel his face start to heat up.

Damn it, there he went again.

Scout was a lot and he knew it. 

It always seemed to be the same song and dance back home. He’d meet someone, they’d get along and then suddenly they’d decide Scout was too much and leave.

Joey was probably the only friend he had who stuck around that wasn’t related to him.

So, Scout learnt early on that sometimes it was easier to leave early before he pissed someone off.

Stick with your close friends and be ready to ditch the others the moment he knew he was getting annoying.

A recent example? Well, Scout was staring at him, right now.

Scout frowned.

“S-sorry.”

He lowered his head, wondering how long until Sniper wouldn’t want any more of him when Sniper nudged him.

“She’ll be right, mate,” Sniper responded. “Just sayin’ that because I think Demo lost interest.”

Scout looked up at where Sniper was pointing and sure enough Demo had turned away and was readying his weapons between swings of scrumpy.

“Oh…”

“Mission begins in sixty seconds,” The Administrator announced.

Sniper got to his feet and held a hand out for Scout to grab.

“C’mon. Any slower and Soldier’s gonna start yellin’ at us.”

Scout grabbed Sniper’s hand and let himself be pulled up.

“Bet ya I can dominate the BLU Spy today,” Sniper said as they started walking over to the starting gate.

Oh, how he missed this.

Scout gave a cocky grin.

“I’d like to see you fuckin’ try!”

As soon as the mission was over, Scout found himself outside of Sniper’s van once more, sketchbook and pencils under his arm with a nervous grin. Sniper smiled but said nothing as he opened the door and let Scout in.

As Scout stepped inside, Sniper whirled around, presenting to Scout a few bottles of beer.

“Woah!” Scout yelled, grabbing a bottle with a blue label. “How’d you get Blu Streak?! I thought only the BLU team were allowed these!”

“Yeah, well I was able to make a deal with the BLU Spy. I’m sure he thinks he’s really clever for cheating me out of five headshots for the next week. Little does he know.”

“Ha! No way! You didn’t!”

Sniper chuckled, a faint pink blush appearing on his cheeks.

“There are some advantages to being in a time loop, you have to admit,” Sniper grinned.

“Amen to that brother! I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface,” Scout admitted, plopping down in the booth.

Sniper sat opposite him. Without saying a word, he kicked his flip-flop into his hand and removed the bottle cap with it in one swift motion. Scout said nothing, his mouth open while he blinked.

“Woah! How’d you do that?!” he yelled.

Sniper snorted.

“I can teach ya if you want.”

“Do it again!” 

Scout held out his bottle. Sniper smirked, grabbed the bottle and flicked the bottle cap off. He grinned and passed the drink back to Scout before lifting his own bottle.

“Cheers.”

Scout lifted his bottle in response.

“Cheers!”

They tapped their bottles and both took a swig. As the beer went down his throat, Scout pulled a face. 

He wouldn’t describe himself as an expert in beer, but Blu Streak honestly wasn’t anything to write home about. In fact, it tasted almost the exact same as Red Shed – RED’s beer!

Scout snuck a glance at Sniper and If his face was anything to go off of, he seemed to agree.

“You agree it tastes like shit, right?” Sniper asked.

“Oh yeah.”

Sniper let out a huff through his nose.

“Can’t be helped. Only good alcohol on the base.” 

“There’s Demo’s scrumpy,” Scout pointed out. “…But I’m pretty sure we’d end up with either a broken arm or alcohol poisonin’.”

Sniper snorted.

“God, a goon bag would be better than this and I don’t even like wine,” he mused, taking a sip from the bottle.

Scout bit his thumb in thought. Would anyone else have better booze?

“D’ya think Engie makes moonshine?” Scout asked, taking a sip of his own

“Nah, mate. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if he did it as a kid.”

“You think Engie made moonshine as a kid?!”

Sniper scoffed good-naturedly.

“He was a teenager living in the South during prohibition. You do the maths.”

“I am! And I’m saying he was too much of a poindexter to do illegal shit like that! Plus it’s not like he needed the money.”

Sniper chuckled.

“Mate, when I got my first fake ID, I went to bars and bet people to play darts with me. I’d play shit the first time round and then offer a double or nothin’. I didn’t need the fuckin’ money, I just did it because it was fun to fuck around with drunk people.”

Scout burst out into laughter, 

“Wait, did you really?!”

“Yeah,” Sniper shrugged. “Not a lot of entertainment in the country, so you tend to start fuckin’ with townies. Bartenders knew me well too. They were on my side if any fights broke out.”

“Dude!” Scout yelled, slamming his hands on the table. “We should totally do that!” 

Sniper laughed.

“You think?”

“Snipes, how old were you when you started doing that?”

“Hm… about 17? Maybe younger.” 

“Imagine how good you’d be at it now that you’re a professional sniper!”

A grin tugged at the corner of Sniper’s mouth.

“Alright then. At least then, we might be able to get some better grog than this.”

A promise for the future? After looping for so long, maybe Scout could get used to this.

It was nothing short of miraculous over dinner that no one called out that both Scout and Sniper were two beers in and feeling tipsy.

Honestly, Scout would be surprised if anyone didn’t notice with their quiet giggling and their shared knowing glances. 

The thing was, the rest of the team wasn’t going to accuse them of getting drunk after Sniper and Scout started talking to each other again. 

The team needed to work together and they probably didn’t want a return to before where Scout and Sniper were in silence. 

They knew to let bygones be bygones. So everyone ate their meal in peace.

Scout and Sniper weren’t thinking about anyone else as soon as dinner finished. The moment they stumbled their way over to Sniper’s van and crashed inside, the two immediately cracked open some more bottles.

One part of Scout felt like he should be more careful about his impending hangover, but he didn’t care. 

The drinks were flowing, and Sniper was in front of him, laughing at a story he was telling Scout.

“And this bloke opened the hotel room and I’m panicking because I was told this was the hotel room I was going to snipe from. Who the hell is this guy, right?”

“Yeah?” 

“And he just… doesn’t see me by the window! Old mate goes into my bathroom and starts throwing up!”

“No way! What’d you do?”

“Well, before I could kick him out, my fuckin’ target appears across the street and I have to shoot him, right? So that’s what I fuckin’ do! While this random bloke is chundering in the dunny, I manage to headshot the pollie, lock the guy in the bathroom, and fuckin’ book it.”

“What?! You framed the guy throwin’ up?!”

“I framed the guy throwing up! I still don’t know how I managed it! But I fuckin’ booked it, chucked my hi-vis on, hid my disassembled rifle in a toolbox, and pretended to be a tradie. Hopped in the ute, and just casually drove off, Bob’s your fuckin’ uncle! I’m still impressed by how smooth that getaway was!”

Scout laughed, pressing his face into the table. 

“Sniper, that’s so good!” He wheezed.

Sniper sat back, looking pleased with himself and took a swig of his beer. He watched Scout recover and somberly smiled.

“I… I missed this,” Sniper confessed, sobering up and picking at the label on his beer.

“Huh?” Scout asked, looking up at Sniper.

“I missed this,” Sniper repeated. “Us just yabbering on. I missed it.”

Scout said nothing, turning his head to avoid the sentimental looks Sniper was shooting his way.

“The 80-something days were lonely ones, believe me. I still showed up for missions, but it just wasn’t the same, so I began to just lock myself up in my van when they were done. Just… waiting for the next loop.”

Sniper placed a large piece of the label he was picking at on the table and sighed.

“I… know you were avoidin’ me,” Sniper confessed.

Scout flinched and turned back to Sniper.

Normally, Scout would have frozen at the realisation that Sniper knew what Scout was doing back then, but in his drunken state, Scout couldn’t find the words and just stared agape at Sniper.

 “I just didn’t want to upset you again,” Sniper muttered, his attention entirely on the beer. “Still don’t know what I did. And then… I found out we’re in the loop together.”

“Snipes…”

Sniper chuckled.

“That’s the beer talking, heh.”

Scout frowned, looking at Sniper who was looking everywhere else but Scout’s eyes.

“I just wanted to say I missed you, mate. And… I’m sorry for upsettin’ you. For doing… whatever I did.”

Scout blinked at Sniper’s rare show of vulnerability and didn’t know what to do.

Scout wanted to say it was alright. 

He wanted to apologise for shutting Sniper out. 

He wanted to give Sniper a hug and explain everything, even if it was just the drink talking!

Scout opened his mouth to say something – anything! – but couldn’t find any words. 

At that moment, Scout's treacherous brain came to a realisation.

“Spy…” Scout muttered.

“Huh?”

“Spy… He has good booze.”

Sniper squinted at Scout.

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“You remember when Spy was helping me with a date with Ms Pauling?”

Sniper tilted his head.

“The bread monster?” Scout tried jogging his memory.

Sniper nodded.

“That I remember.”

“Yeah, well just before I went on my date and the monster attacked, Spy and I toasted with some… booze of some sort. It was some expensive shit.”

“Expensive shit?” Sniper squinted, his whole demeanour changing in an instant. “Give me details. What colour was it?”

Scout bit his lip as he thought back.

“Yeah, it was some kind of… orange liquid. It burnt going down but it was kinda warm.”

Sniper hummed in thought.

“Sounds like some sort of whiskey. What are you saying here?”

“Spy has some whiskey in his room. Instead of suffering over these beers, why don’t we plan a heist and steal his whiskey?!”

Sniper blinked at him.

“Scout, you’re drunk.”

“Maybe I am! But when was the last time you had some good booze?!”

Sniper tilted his head like he always did while thinking. His gaze traced the expanse of the ceiling.

“Alright,” he finally said. “I’m in. Tomorrow, we sit down and come up with a way to find and steal Spy’s booze.”

Scout grinned.

“It’s a date- I mean… you got it!”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout groaned. 

Why did Soldier have to be so loud so early in the morning? 

Scout’s head throbbed as he squinted at the door.

“That is an order, private!”

Huh.

So, it turned out that hangovers can still occur during loops. Good to know.

Scout groaned again as he realised how much his head actually hurt.

“Not feelin’ good, Solly. I’ll be at training tomorrow.”

There was a beat before Soldier spoke up again.

“Rest up, private! I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early!” 

And with that, Soldier marched down the hallway, leaving Scout and his pounding head. 

Scout sighed and sat up in bed.

As much as he wanted to roll back over and go to sleep, Scout didn’t want to be late waking up again. 

With that in mind, Scout groggily found his feet, got dressed and snuck out of the base. He just hoped Soldier didn’t catch sight of him as he trudged his way over to Sniper’s campervan.

His knocking was met with a groan from inside. Scout could hear Sniper hop down from the loft bed and open the door. Sniper said nothing as he immediately turned around and went back to his bed.

“I’m blamin’ you for this,” Sniper muttered as he started to climb the ladder.

“You brought the beers,” Scout murmured.

“Whatever. I’m going to sleep. G’night.”

“It’s 5 am.”

“G’mornin’ then.”

With that, Sniper flopped down on his mattress and instantly fell asleep. 

Scout sighed and rested his head on the table, quietly unravelling his hand wraps as Sniper snored on. 

He didn’t regret last night. 

While Scout’s brain throbbed in pain and probably needed a painkiller sooner rather than later, staring at the wobbly tally mark on his hand, he didn’t regret last night at all. 

65 days was a long time to go without a break and he was a little glad Sniper was there to remind him of that. 

Laying in bed doing nothing wasn’t a break. It made him feel worse.

Having drinks and talking shit with his friend, however? That made Scout feel rejuvenated in a way he hadn’t felt in a while.

Not that he would tell Sniper that, though. Sniper didn’t need to know that.

Scout sighed and closed his eyes, drifting off on the table.

“How’s your head treatin’ ya?” Sniper greeted as he let Scout into the van.

“Better after a few respawns. Yours?”

“Right as rain,” Sniper answered. “Now, you had an idea last night?”

Scout dropped his sketchbook onto the table and flipped it open to a rough plan he drew of the base.

“Yes, yes I did. You sure you want in?”

Sniper snorted.

“It’s not like he can kill us permanently. Besides, I’ve been itching for something to do.”

Scout grinned.

“Alright, let’s get planning then.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout grinned to himself.

“Maybe tomorrow Solly! I’m busy cooking up a master plan for battle today!”

“Excellent work, Private! I look forward to your winning strategy in battle today!”

As Soldier walked away, Scout recounted the plan in his head. 

He was ready for anything when they tried swiping the whiskey.

Silently, crept out of his room and made his way over to the van.

Sniper better be ready too.

Scout sat and waited outside of Spy’s room, the harsh desert wind blowing in his face. His heart was racing as he waited for the signal.

Despite espionage being neither of their specialties, Sniper and Scout still had a good grasp of sneaking into a place they weren’t allowed to be in. 

Normally after sneaking in, someone would be killed, but that wasn’t the goal for today.

Their plan was more than foolproof – it was Scoutproof.

Scout tore his eyes away from Sniper’s van to glare at the walkie-talkie next to him. Distant opera music was piping through the tinny speakers. 

Its companion was currently hidden on the other side of the wall, a rubber band holding down the transmission button. 

Sniper had dropped it off this morning during breakfast. Luckily, yesterday Scout found one of the windows had a broken lock after their brainstorming session. 

It was a simple job sliding the window open, placing the transmitting walkie-talkie behind the floor-length curtains and closing the window again.

Scout tapped his foot thinking back to their mini briefing they held and the coin toss he had won. The more he waited, the more he wondered if he should have volunteered to distract Spy instead of sneaking in and finding the whiskey. 

Scout knew how to talk someone's ear off. However, as Sniper pointed out, he also risked getting Spy annoyed at him and slamming the door in his face. 

If push came to shove, he could always volunteer for Spy duty next loop.

Hopefully, there wouldn’t be a next loop.

From the walkie-talkie, Scout heard the quiet sound of knocking. He flinched and lifted his head slightly to peek into the room through the gap in the curtains. 

He could see Spy sigh and put down his book before walking over to the door.

“Who is it?” The walkie-talkie snapped.

“Hey Spy, it’s me. You got a sec?” Sniper responded. 

Scout bit his lip, watching as Spy opened the door. 

That was his cue

He switched off the walkie-talkie and slowly lifted the window open.

“Ah, bushman. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Spy asked as Scout put a hesitant foot through the window.

“Uh…”

Scout looked up at Sniper. 

Was he really freezing now?! Scout would have thought Sniper would have planned what he was going to say!

“What is it, bushman? I don’t have all day.”

“Right, sorry, I…”

Oh no. This was going terribly! 

Scout wondered if he should consider a tactical retreat as he put his other foot into the room.

“Bushman…” Spy warned.

“I love you!” Sniper yelled.

Scout jumped in surprise at the confession and flailed to keep his balance sitting on the window sill. In his panic, Scout’s hand knocked into a vase sitting on a plinth next to the window. To his horror, it started to wobble in place. 

Scout bit down a swear as he grabbed the porcelain with both hands before it could fall off its plinth.

“Oh?” Spy asked, unaware of what was happening behind him.

Scout glanced over at Sniper and saw that meanwhile he had paled and looked close to shitting his pants.

“Uh… yeah?” Sniper responded unconfidently.

“I see… How long have you felt this way?” Spy asked.

Scout couldn’t see Spy’s face but he knew from that tone he was grinning wide, clearly enjoying Sniper’s torment.

Scout turned back to the vase in his hands. He gently placed the vase back in place and slowly backed away from it. 

He took one step too many as his back met another solid surface. Scout jumped and whirled around to watch a vase identical to the first slip off its stand and shatter onto the ground with a loud crash.

Scout froze like a deer in headlights as Spy whirled around and locked eyes with him.

“You!” He hissed, unholstering his gun with downright murderous intent.

Scout let out an involuntary yell as he turned and leapt out the window. 

He hit the sandy ground with a start and pushed himself to his feet, hearing the sound of a pistol firing behind him and more glass breaking.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit!” Scout screamed, running towards Sniper’s van. 

Scout heard a slew of threatening French behind him as he got closer to the van and dove behind it. His hands were shaking as he darted towards the door to the driver's seat and jumped inside.

Before he knew what he was doing, he opened the glovebox and riffled through it, quickly snatching the keys to the van. 

He shoved the key into the ignition and turned it, listening to the van roaring to life. He quickly undid the handbrake and slammed on the accelerator, praying that driving a van with a driver's seat on the right wasn’t too different from driving a car on the left. 

Scout barely noticed that he had passed Spy until he noticed Sniper running out of the base towards him. Scout slammed on the brakes and kicked open the passenger side door. 

“Get in!” He yelled.

Sniper gritted his teeth and ran over to the driver’s side, pushing Scout into the passenger seat. 

“You’re not hooning my van, mate!” Sniper declared before hitting the gas.

Scout slammed the door shut and looked out the window, watching Spy chase after retreating the van, cursing at them with everything he had

“Put your fuckin’ seatbelt on!”

Scout flinched and obeyed, hoping the shake in his hands wasn’t obvious to Sniper.

Thankfully, Sniper wasn’t paying attention – he was too busy looking in the side mirror. Before Scout could ask any questions, he suddenly jerked the wheel to the right and sped up.

“He has that fancy sports car in the garage,” Sniper muttered to Scout. “It can beat the ol’ Winnie any day, so we have to hide.”

Hide?!

Okay, it seemed like Sniper had planned this part of the heist too. Scout didn’t think they were going to get caught!

“Where are we doing that?!”

“Relax, there’s a campsite a little ways from here. If we make it there, we can hide out until the loop restarts.”

Scout let out a nervous breath of air.

“Okay.”

The cab of the van was silent for a moment as Sniper continued to drive. Scout turned his head to look at Sniper.

“What the fuck was that?” Scout asked.

Sniper deflated behind the wheel.

“I panicked,” he confessed.

“You panicked?” Scout asked incredulously. “When I panic, I don’t tend to confess my undying love for someone!”

“Shut it,” Sniper said, rolling his eyes. “I figured you were getting impatient and when I actually saw Spy all of my excuses I came up with flew out of my head so I just said the first thing that popped into my head.”

Scout was silent for a second.

“Ew! Sniper don’t tell me–”

“Shut up, I don’t like Spy in that way!” Sniper interrupted. “He’s old enough to be my dad! I’m actually surprised he didn’t punch my lights out or something.”

Scout hummed as he sat back in his seat, staring ahead.

“Yeah, blackmail is way more Spy’s style,” Scout waved a casual hand in the air. “Thank god he won’t remember it.”

“Agreed. Don’t need him spreading that shit around, hey?”

Scout snuck a look at Sniper.

“Y-yeah…” he said, turning to look out the window.

Sniper tapped on the wheel.

“So, no whiskey today. We gonna try again tomorrow?” he asked.

“I guess… But let me do the talking this time! At least I won’t confess how much I wuv him,” Scout said, voice turning sickly sweet towards the end of the sentence.

Sniper snickered.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re not gonna let that go, are you?”

“No way. Might take a few loops to forget that particularly great shade of purple you turned.”

Sniper let out a bark of laughter. 

“Yeah, well the image of you fumbling that vase ain’t gonna leave my mind anytime soon.”

Scout laughed into a fist as he watched the environment zoom past him.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

“Not today Solly! Busy drawin’ up some plans!”

“I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early!” 

Scout was pacing outside of Spy’s room, counting down in his head. 

Their plan was much better planned out this time.

He and Sniper had agreed that when Scout reached 90 seconds, they would jump into action. Scout would knock on the door, Spy would answer it and Sniper would attempt to slip into the window.

Fuck, what if Sniper was too tall to sneak in?

No. Thinking about what-ifs right now wouldn’t help them. Scout had to focus on his counting or else there was a strong chance he’d chicken out.

There was already a strong chance he would abandon the plan, but he wasn’t exactly going to tell Sniper that after he volunteered. 

If he didn’t count Spy trying to kill him yesterday (and he didn’t), this would be the first time that Scout and Spy would be speaking one-on-one since Spy’s confession.

What the hell do you even say?

What the hell do you even say to your father who abandoned you twenty-four years ago?

What the hell do you even say to your father who doesn’t even remember telling you he is your father?

God, the whiskey better be worth it, Scout morosely thought, hitting 90 seconds.

Scout let out a jittery breath and turned to face the door. He lifted his hand and tentatively knocked.

“Who is it?” Spy snapped.

“It’s me… Scout,” Scout responded. “C-Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Spy opened the door just a crack.

“What?” he hissed.

From over Spy’s shoulder, Scout had a clear view of Sniper slipping into the room.

Ok, so far so good.

Scout opened his mouth but could find no words come out. He could practically feel his heart beating against his ribcage.

Ok, maybe he underestimated how much he had this under control.

“Well?” Spy prompted.

“I know you’re my dad,” Scout blurted.

Spy visibly flinched, blinking at Scout. Spy opened his mouth to respond when he was suddenly interrupted by the telltale sound of porcelain shattering from inside his room. 

Oh, goddamn it.

Spy slowly turned his head to look inside the room and locked eyes with Sniper.

“You!” Spy yelled at Sniper who was already climbing back out the window.

It was as if time was slowing down as Scout watched Spy reach down for his pistol.

Oh god, Spy was gonna shoot Sniper! 

It was close as hell yesterday when he was chasing Scout and everyone knew Sniper wasn’t as fast as him!

Fuck! Scout didn’t want to see Spy kill Sniper, even if they did reappear at the end of the loop!

In a panic, Scout grabbed the gun from the holster and threw it down the hallway away from the exit, praying it wasn’t loaded. 

Spy sounded baffled as Scout shoved him away and booked it outside.

The van was already waiting for him as he sprinted towards the passenger seat and jumped in.

“Go! Go! Go!” Scout yelled as Sniper slammed on the gas and drove towards their campsite from yesterday.

Scout yanked on his seatbelt and glanced in the side mirror, catching sight of Spy – not chasing after them – but instead just standing there and watching the campervan drive away.

Scout’s stomach twisted as he tried reading the expression. It was completely different from yesterday. 

Yesterday, Spy chased after them and immediately ran for his car. 

Today, he just stood there, watching the van drive away, looking defeated.

Scout tore his gaze away from the shrinking view of his father and turned to look at Sniper.

“Seriously?” Scout asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Why the fuck does he even have vases right next to the window?!” Sniper muttered between gritted teeth.

“You fuckin’ tell me! You were the one that broke it!”

“Oi, fair suck of the sauce bottle! So did you!”

“Touché.”

The cab was silent as Sniper drove forward.

“I… didn’t know… you knew,” Sniper admitted.

“That he’s my dad?”

“Yeah.”

Scout sighed.

“Why the fuck did everyone know before I did?”

Sniper hummed.

“I wouldn’t take it to heart. We all figured it out by ourselves. Maybe you just didn’t want it to be true?”

It was Scout’s turn to hum thoughtfully.

“I don’t know what the fuck to do with this now,” he confessed. “It’d be one thing if he remembered the loop when he told me, but I’m starting at square one with him every single day.”

Sniper glanced at Scout before looking back at the road.

“He told you?” Sniper asked.

“Yeah, you think I figured it out by myself?”

Sniper paused, deep in thought.

“Wait… how? I thought Spy would die before telling you.”

Scout shrugged.

“Oh, Demo was there to back me up. Or him up. I don’t know. But I certainly didn’t react well.”

“What happened?”

Scout sucked in a sharp breath, remembering that loop. 

“I… may have punched him and ran off.”

Sniper grimaced as Scout continued.

“Pauling found me later and told me I’d been reported as AWOL.”

“When did that happen?” Sniper asked.

Scout did a double take.

“A week ago? Before I gave up and stopped going into battle! Are you telling me you didn’t notice anything?!”

Sniper shook his head. 

“Mate, I was in my van all day. No one exactly tells me what’s going on unless they need me for something.”

Oh…

Sniper really was all alone before Scout showed up.

“Christ, I’m sorry Snipes.”

“Hey, none of that. Wasn’t your fault the others didn’t tell me. I was pretty isolated before we found each other, either way.”

“God, you and me both,” Scout sighed. “I had Demo to talk to but the conversations were a bit repetitive, even if he knew I was going through a time loop.”

Sniper furrowed his brow.

“And he believed you?”

“Well, yeah. He told me he’s been through a time loop before and so he wanted to help me.”

Sniper suddenly stopped the van and pulled up the handbrake. Scout flinched as Sniper turned to look at him.

“He’s what?!”

“Been through a time loop before! You’re smarter than me! How did you not think about asking him?!”

Sniper waved a hand in the air.

“Because I didn’t think he’d believe me or remember me? How’d you figure out that Demo would be able to help?”

“I didn’t! He figured out I was in a loop.”

“How?!”

Scout looked down as his stomach growled. He turned to undo his seatbelt and opened the door to the van.

“I’ll tell you after you get dinner, okay?” Scout promised as he hopped out. “But tomorrow, go up to him and just say ‘strawberry flavoured haggis’, alright? You’ll see what I mean.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout frowned to himself. It had been a while since he last attended Soldier’s drills, hadn’t it?

“Be there in a sec, Solly!”

The moment Scout got his breakfast he made a beeline to where Demo and Sniper were sitting. He sat next to Sniper and took a bite of his toast.

“Mornin’ fellas,” he greeted Sniper and Demo.

“Oh my god,” Sniper muttered in response.

Scout snorted.

“Told ya. Thanks for the strawberry flavoured haggis, Demo.”

Demo flinched and paled.

“Y-You too?!” he cried.

Scout smiled as he took another bite.

“Yep. Snipes didn’t believe me about your codeword.”

“It’s not that I didn’t believe you. I just didn’t want it to be true,” Sniper groaned.

“You didn’t want to believe that Demo knows about time loops?”

“I didn’t want to believe that after 80 or 90 days in this mess, I’ve just been wasting my time in not going to Demo.”

“Eh, don’t feel too bad. It was about fifty days for me before I told Demo.”

“Lads?” Demo interrupted.

Scout and sniper stopped their conversation and turned to look at Demo.

“Just to recap, both of you are in a time loop, Scout found out the passcode… however long ago it was and he just told you yesterday?”

The two paused before nodding.

“That sounds just about right,” Sniper responded before taking a bite of his food.

“Jesus Christ.”

As Demo put his head into his hands, Scout frowned.

“If it makes you feel better Demo, you don’t need to help me,” he piped up. “I’ve kinda given up on trying to escape.”

Both Demo and Sniper stopped what they were doing to look at Scout. 

“You have?” they chorused.

Scout shrugged under their gaze.

“Yeah. I mean, I tried being perfect, I tried apologising to Merasmus, and I tried changing things up. I stayed up til midnight, I died and I’ve talked to everyone. Nothing’s working. Maybe you can get Snipes out, but at this point, I think I’m gonna be stuck here forever.”

Demo and Sniper were silent, staring at Scout. The concern on their faces was obvious – so much so that Scout felt the need to look away.

“It’s fine,” he murmured, pointedly staring at the wall. “I’m sick of constantly failing.”

Sniper put a hand on Scout’s shoulder, who stiffened at the touch.

“I’m not letting you stay here,” he murmured. “It’s both of us or none of us.”

Scout exaggeratedly rolled his eyes and he turned to face Sniper. 

“What are you, my mom? I’ll be fine. Go try to get uncursed or something. I mean, you weren’t even cursed by Merasmus. Maybe that’s a hint on how to get out?”

“Hold on a tick, he was cursed by a wizard but you weren’t?”

Scout zoned out as Sniper explained his situation to Demo, quietly taking bites of his toast.

Scout was fine! Really! 

Maybe, deep down, he knew he deserved this curse. He wasn’t exactly the best teammate and every time he tried fixing that, his teammates thought he was someone else. That wasn’t even considering the shit he pulled back in Boston.

He could get used to the day repeating. It’s not like he did anything important.

Scout was jolted out of his thoughts by Sniper putting a hand on his arm. Scout turned to see the warm look Sniper was giving him.

“We’re gonna go back to Demo’s room and try to figure out some stuff before our shift. Wanna come?” 

Scout shook his head.

“Nah, I’m fine. I’ll catch up with you later?”

Sniper frowned as he searched Scout’s face.

“Alright,” Sniper said. “If you say so.”

“It’s fine!” Scout repeated, wishing he didn’t sound like a broken record. “We can have our heist tomorrow, okay?”

Sniper snorted.

“I’m holding you to that.”

“Well, no duh! Can’t do this by myself!”

Sniper chuckled as he stood up from the table. He squeezed Scout’s shoulder.

“I look forward to it, roo.”

Sniper turned and left with Demo, leaving Scout alone at the table.

Hopefully, Sniper would have more luck than him, he wistfully thought as Soldier sat down opposite him.

Scout scowled and wiped the blood from his face. 

The battle was, of course, the same as always.

68 days of this and he always ended up with blood on his face. 

This was just a regularity in his life now. Soldier would be coming around the corner soon any second now to ask him how to win the match, same as always.

Scout turned to head to look at the RED section of the battlefield, searching for Soldier but instead catching sight of a familiar glint in one of the windows.

Huh… Maybe he didn’t have to organise the winning strategy this time.

Wordlessly, Scout wandered further into the RED section of the battlefield and slowly crept up the stairs.

Sniper was easy to find. He just had to follow the sound of murmured insults directed at the BLU team.

Sniper was hunched over his rifle, his attention fully locked on to the battle.

Quietly, Scout knocked on the doorframe to Sniper’s nest. He jumped slightly and looked up. Upon catching sight of Scout, his mouth turned into a closed-lipped smile.

“Come on in,” Sniper beckoned, seemingly already knowing what Scout wanted. “The Spy’s not due for a couple of minutes.”

Scout returned the smile and stepped inside.

“Nice nest you got here,” Scout commented, not wanting to make things awkward.

Sniper chuckled.

“Let me give you the grand tour,” he responded sarcastically. “To your left are some empty boxes, to your right are more empty boxes but I decided to spice up the decor with some jars of piss.” 

“Ah, yes, I see,” Scout responded, putting his hand to his chin in mock thought. “The ol’ piss jar decor trick. How do you come up with these things?”

“Well, you see,” Sniper replied, matching Scout’s energy. “It tends to come from within.”

The two mercenaries burst into laughter at their joke before Scout sat down in front of the first set of crates.

“How’s your match comin’ along?” Scout asked.

“Could be better. Could have a lot more heads to snipe. You?”

Scout shrugged.

“Well, normally I’d be telling everyone how to win right about now, but I’m right here.”

Sniper turned his head to look back through his scope.

“Ah, we forecasting a loss today?” he asked.

“Can’t be bothered if I’m being honest.”

“Cover your ears.”

“Roger.”

Scout cupped his ears with his palms as Sniper fired out the window. Scout waited a beat before hesitantly lowering his hands, watching as Sniper removed the rifle from the window sill.

"That helmet's gonna make a nice bowl for your brains," he sneered.

As Scout snorted, Sniper glanced down at his watch and perked up. 

“Can you do me a favour?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

Sniper grabbed a jar and turned to Scout who pulled a face.

“Relax, I’m not telling you to drink it. Just get your gun ready and point it at the door.”

“Snipes?”

“Just do it.”

Silently, Scout unholstered his gun and pointed it at the entryway while Sniper counted.

Scout shot a glance at his friend.

“Snipes?”

“Shh… not yet,” he whispered.

Scout tilted his head, trying to figure out what was going on when Sniper suddenly smiled wide.

“Now,” he whispered, throwing the jar at the doorway.

The jar sailed through the air for a second before colliding with something and shattering. The invisible BLU Spy suddenly turned visible and recoiled in disgust as the piss dripped off of him. 

Before the Spy could voice his displeasure, Scout fired his scattergun. The enemy’s head exploded into a mixture of red mist and bone before his body fell to the ground with a thump.

Sniper sneered at the corpse.

"Cloak yer way outta that, ya filthy spook!"

Scout snorted and let out a peal of laughter. Sniper chuckled in response and lightly hit Scout’s arm.

“Nice work,” he said.

Scout quietly swallowed, feeling a wave of anxiety crash over him from receiving a genuine compliment from Sniper.

“Thanks,” he squeaked out, hoping Sniper didn't notice.

Luckily for him, Sniper turned to glance out the window and grabbed his rifle. 

Scout didn’t even need the warning to cover his ears before Sniper fired three consecutive shots. He sneered at the fallen BLU mercs below him.

“Was that the…?”

“Medic, Heavy and Scout? Yeah. They’re dead now.”

“Huh. They’ve been such a pain in our ass for a while now.”

Sniper hummed distractedly before turning to look Scout in the eye.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to Demo with me?”

Scout frowned and looked away.

“I’m… sure,” he said, picking at a loose thread in his shirt. “I know we’ve only just found each other but I don’t think me being there changes anythin’. Demo’s gonna suggest the same shit.”

“But if you’re there it’ll be quicker to disprove any theories because you’ve already done them.”

Scout sighed and looked up at Sniper.

“Snipes, all Demo suggested was that I sleep somewhere else, I stay up until midnight, I die and I talk to everyone about my problem,” Scout said, counting off his fingers. “I can’t think of anything bigger that could change after Spy told me he’s my dad.”

Sniper deflated slightly.

“You’re sure about this?” he quietly asked.

“Yeah, I am. Sorry Snipes but I’m done being disappointed. It feels like the more I do to try and break the cycle, the further away I am from being free.”

Sniper was silent, only glancing out the window for a second.

“Ears,” he murmured, going back to his gun.

Scout complied, watching Sniper fire outside the window. He lowered the rifle and turned to look at Scout.

“Alright,” Sniper said with an exhale. “You can stay in my van this arvo if you want. Key to the back is just under the mat.”

Scout blinked.

Sniper was letting him in his van alone?! 

No one ever went inside without Sniper, except for probably Spy, but that was a given. 

It was his inner sanctum after all! No one dared to violate Sniper’s trust like that.

“Wait, you sure?”

Sniper shot Scout a closed smile.

“As lovely as it is waking up at sparrow fart to let you in, I figured it was time you knew how to get in without me.”

Scout turned to look out the window and bit his lip.

To say he was a little overwhelmed was an understatement.

Sniper really trusted him, didn’t he?

"Mission ends in sixty seconds,” came the Administrator's voice.

“Thanks, Snipes,” Scout managed.

Sniper said nothing, glaring at the corner of the room.

“I’m not letting you be stuck here,” Sniper muttered. “You may have given up, but I haven't. We're a package deal now, whether you like it or not.”

“Snipes…”

“No. We are getting out, alright?”

Scout blinked, taken aback at the force Sniper responded with.

“You’re not gonna let this go, are you?”

“No way.”

"Mission ends in thirty seconds.”

Scout’s heart tinged in his chest. 

Sniper really was willing to do anything to help Scout. 

Why? Why him? All he did was cause trouble. 

Yet Sniper refused to leave him alone.

…Was this love?

No, it couldn’t be. Scout was being ridiculous. There was no way Sniper liked him like that. 

…But what if he did? 

No. 

Scout didn’t want a repeat of what happened last time. There was a reason he was in New Mexico killing people instead of living his life back in Boston.

“Alright, if it’ll get you off my back,” Scout sarcastically responded.

Sniper grinned at him and Scout had to remind his heart to beat again.

“Good enough,” Sniper mused. “Come on, let’s get to resupply before the others come rushing in.”

Sniper offered a hand to Scout who stared at him.

It was him and Sniper against the world, wasn’t it? 

Scout tenderly took the hand and stood up.

There were always worse scenarios to be in.

The moment he entered Sniper’s van that afternoon, Scout made a conscious effort not to be a creep.

Were it anyone else, Scout would have gone through their stuff just to see what secrets they were hiding. But this was Sniper’s van! 

If Sniper decided to let Scout stay in the van while he was out, Scout wasn’t going to break his trust by being nosy.

Instead, Scout sat down at the booth with his sketchbook and took out a few pencils.

Every loop his drawings would reset, so Scout had no idea if he was improving or not. It was getting tiring trying to improve on something that wasn’t there! 

So Scout came to the decision to give up on figuring out if he was improving or not and just started sketching whatever popped into his head. 

Once upon a time sketching was all about becoming the best artist possible in case baseball didn’t pan out and he had the opportunity to make some of his own comics. 

Now? It was relaxing. It was a way for Scout to stop thinking about the inevitable reset of the loop.

The blank page lay in front of him as Scout frowned and bit the end of the pencil he was holding. 

What was he going to draw today? 

He cast his eyes around the van looking for inspiration when his eyes widened, catching sight of a bottle of wine sitting on a shelf, almost obscured by empty jars.

He didn’t notice that the other night!

Scout put down the pencil and hesitantly stepped over to the shelf. 

Yes, Scout said he wasn’t going to snoop, but this bottle was just out in the open! That wasn’t snooping! That was just taking an interest in his surroundings. Spy would be proud!

Gently, Scout shifted the jars obscuring him from the bottle, trying to ignore what they were used for. He quietly hummed as he assessed the bottle on the shelf. 

The bottle was dark, sealed with a worn cork. There was a single label on the body. Scout could barely make out the words ‘Michael’s Shiraz, 1942’ handwritten on the label.

Scout bit his lip. On one hand, he felt like he was violating Sniper’s trust by looking through his stuff, but on the other hand, he really wanted to get in some practice on his 3D objects.

Maybe Sniper wouldn’t mind? Or notice?

Scout carefully picked up the bottle to get a closer look when a photograph that was stuck to the bottom of the bottle flittered down to the floor. 

He frowned and placed the bottle back onto the shelf before kneeling down to pick up the photograph and turning it over.

It was a simple black-and-white photograph. An older middle-aged man stood facing the camera next to a boy – barely a teenager. They were standing in front of what seemed to be rows and rows of short, skinny trees while they beamed at the photographer. Over their shoulders were a pair of rifles and in their hands, they held two dead rabbits each. 

Scout flipped the photo over. In the same cursive handwriting as the one on the bottle, Scout could read the words; ‘Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run! Jonno and Mick, 1954.’

Scout bit his lip, turning the photo over again to look at the two men. 

Which one was Jonno and which one was Mick? 

It probably didn’t matter, but Mick was short for Michael, right? Why did Sniper have this guy’s photo and wine?

Scout stared at the photo entranced as he stumbled over to his sketchbook. He sat down, picked up the pencil and started sketching without thinking, focusing on their poses and wondering just who these two were.

When Scout finally looked up from his sketchbook, the sun had started to set. He looked up at the clock to see that dinner was just around the corner. 

With a smile, Scout looked back to the drawing he’d been doing for however long.

It was a good drawing. He might have taken a few liberties with his style, but this was one of the best things he had drawn in a while.

Scout sat back to think. The kid in the photo looked like he was a teenager. If the photo was taken in 1954 like the caption said, the kid would have been only a few years older than him, right?

Scout hummed as he picked up the photo with a pensive look.

How did Sniper come to own it in the first place? 

Did he steal it as a trophy? It wasn’t exactly Sniper’s style, but maybe it was when he was early in his career.

Scout didn’t know, but if he wanted answers, he’d have to ask Sniper and admit that he was snooping.

The sound of rocks being kicked up outside caused Scout to jump.

Shit! 

Speak of the devil. That had to be Sniper. There was no way Scout was going to let him know what he was drawing.

In a panic, Scout slammed his sketchbook shut, sliding the photograph between the pages.

Sniper opened the door to the van with a deep sigh. The joking retort that Scout was preparing died on his tongue as Sniper turned to look at him.

“You’re still here,” Sniper said in lieu of greeting.

“I… yeah. Snipes, are you alright?”

Sniper said nothing as he placed his hat on a hook.

“Just tired is all.”

Scout looked away for a second before turning back to Sniper.

“You sure?”

Sniper exhaled and sat down next to Scout in the booth instead of across from him like he normally did.

“It doesn’t get any better, does it?” he asked, eyes downcast.

Scout opened his mouth and shut it again, all the while staring at Sniper, avoiding his gaze.

Damn. Here Scout was, in the unique position of having to reassure someone who was in the same scenario as him and… he couldn’t think of a good thing to say.

“It… feels like that,” Scout eventually settled on. “It fuckin’ sucks being in this loop and it feels like we’re going nowhere, but… I don’t know, I guess you gotta believe that things are gonna get better, right?”

“Right…” Sniper said, distractedly, still looking down.

Damn, that wasn’t enough. Scout searched his brain for something else to say.

“I mean…” Scout trailed off. “I thought I was stuck forever, but then I found you.”

“More like I found you,” Sniper responded.

“Yeah, whoever found who, we’re together in this and… it’s getting better. I’m not alone. We’re not alone. It might not seem like a lot but it’s a fuckin’ improvement from about a couple of months ago.”

Sniper was still silent, his only movement was his breathing. 

Scout opened his mouth to say something when Sniper suddenly moved to take off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with a groan.

“You’re right,” he murmured. “You’re right. You’re right.”

“I know I’m right, but I don’t think you need to say it three times,” Scout joked.

Sniper moved his head to look at Scout next to him with a smile.

“Okay, you wanker. Don’t get a big head.”

Scout couldn’t help but grin back until he turned away, afraid he was going to embarrass himself.

“Brainstorming with Demo didn’t go well?” Scout asked.

Sniper shook his head.

“Couldn’t think of anything else we could do that you didn’t already do,” Sniper answered. “She’ll be right, mate. We’ll break the curse.”

“Yeah. Yeah, we will.”

Sniper stretched in his seat before grabbing Scout’s sketchbook.

“What were you working on?” he asked, flipping the pages.

Scout jumped with a shout and reached over to snatch the book from Sniper’s hands. Sniper pushed him away with a laugh until he turned to the page to Scout’s sketch of the photograph. 

Sniper lowered his arm and stared at the sketch as the picture slid onto the table. 

Scout closed his eyes, bracing himself for a tongue thrashing.

“God, I haven’t seen this in a while,” Sniper commented after a moment.

Scout cracked an eye open to stare at Sniper’s face. His expression was almost wistful as his eyes traced over the pencil sketch.

“Sorry,” Scout whispered. “I was just looking for something to sketch and I was gonna sketch that bottle of wine when it fell to the floor and I just–”

“Mate, it’s fine.” 

“It is?”

“Yeah. I have to say it’s a good drawing.”

Scout stopped to look at Sniper’s expression. There was too much emotion behind it to even give it a name.

“Who are they?” Scout dared to ask.

Sniper chuckled.

“That,” he said, pointing at the older man. “Is my dad. And this little larrikin over here is me when I was 13.”

That was Sniper?! Now that he had a proper look, he could see a resemblance between the boy in the photograph and the assassin sitting next to him.

Scout glanced at Sniper’s dad. He was a little surprised at how little they resembled each other, but that wasn’t uncommon. He’d seen people who were the spitting image of their parents and others who looked like they were complete strangers.

Scout frowned in thought as he stared at the sketch.

“Who’s Jonno and who’s Mick?”

“What?”

Scout flipped the photograph over and tapped on the caption. Sniper blinked as he read it.

“Ah. Have I never told you my name?”

“We’re not allowed to share, remember? Spy got on my case early on about it.”

Sniper shrugged and held a hand out to shake.

“Fuck Spy. The name’s Mick. Mick Mundy. Nice to meet you.”

Scout hesitantly returned the handshake. 

“Jeremy. Jeremy Conner. Nice to meet you, Mr Mundy.”

Sniper chuckled.

“God, only clients call me Mr Mundy. Just stick with Mick, Jeremy.”

“Okay, Mick.”

The campervan was silent as Sniper turned back to the picture.

“This is weird calling you by your name,” Scout murmured.

“Agreed.”

Scout glanced up at the clock.

“Come on, it’s dinner time,” Scout said, stretching his arms above his head. “What even is up with the photo in the first place?”

“It’s not that interesting,” Sniper responded, getting to his feet.

“I disagree!” Scout yelled, shuffling over to stand up. “Why are you hunting rabbits? Is that how you started sniping? What’s up with those trees?”

Sniper paused and turned to look at Scout as he hopped out of the van.

“Mate, have you never seen a vineyard before?” Sniper asked, opening the door and stepping out of the van, following Scout into the cooling desert.

“No! Tell me about it!”

Sniper chuckled before telling him about growing up in Australia – a place that practically sounded like another planet to Scout – growing up with sheep and rows of grapes, helping out during harvest season, protecting the farm from pests and finding out that he was pretty handy with a hunting rifle.

The more Sniper painted the picture of an Australian childhood being the odd kid out, the more comfortable Scout felt, any worries about discovering the photograph from earlier ebbing away.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout stretched. He had to be on top of his game today if they were going to steal the whiskey today.

He quickly got changed and ran over to the door.

“Let’s go, Solly!”

Scout stopped in the middle of his jog with a pant, wiping the sweat from his brow. As he caught his breath, he spied the silhouette of Sniper sitting on top of his van, watching Scout and Soldier run laps.

Seeing the glint of a scope, Scout pulled a silly face and waved his hands in the air. Even from a distance, he could see Sniper laugh.

“Private!” Soldier yelled. “Come on, three more laps!” 

“Coming, coming!”

“And you know what I’m gonna say so you don’t panic again?”

“It was one time, mate.”

“Snipes…”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re gonna talk to Spy about him being your dad. I’m not gonna knock over the vases again.”

Scout locked eyes with Sniper and glared. Sniper lightly elbowed Scout in response.

“On ya bike, you nong. We can’t fuckin’ swipe the whiskey if you’re too busy making sure I know what to do,” Sniper said.

“Fine. But if you mess this up again–”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re gonna rip me a new one. I know. Now let’s go.”

Scout could see Sniper rolling his eyes from under his glasses. 

Scout said nothing, turning and walking away from the van. Sniper trailed behind him until he was outside the broken window. He nodded as Scout continued into the base. 

Scout quietly shut the door behind him, glad for once that Spy insisted on a room close to the exit. 

Scout stopped outside of the room and let out a nervous breath. He rocked on the soles of his feet for a moment before shaking his body, hoping to dispel the anxiety in his gut. He slowly reached out a hand and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Spy, it’s me. Can we talk?”

Spy cracked the door open and behind him, Sniper slipped in through the window.

“What?”

“Um… I don’t know how to say this…”

Scout actually did – this was all an act.

“Spit it out then, or go away.”

Over Spy’s shoulder, Scout could see that Sniper had successfully walked past the vases without knocking them over. Okay, good start so far.

“You’re my dad.”

Spy froze and stared at Scout as Sniper crept further into the room, slowly opening a cupboard and searching for the booze.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Spy responded.

Wait.

What?!

Scout spluttered as his brain tried to catch up.

This was not in the plan!

“Yes, you do!” he yelled.

“Non. I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Fucking!” Scout stomped a foot. “You do! You liar! You fucked my ma during a job killing a mafia boss!” 

Sniper flinched and pulled a face as he closed another cupboard. 

How had he not found it yet?! How well hidden was this thing?!

“How would you know?” Spy responded coolly.

“Uh… Because my ma told me!” Scout lied.

Spy cooly scoffed.

“She’s telling you lies.”

“How would she even know about you?!”

Sniper bit his lip as he looked around the room. He noticed something out of Scout’s sight and crept towards it, accidentally bumping a large globe situated next to Spy’s chair. 

Scout could see Sniper wince and freeze as the top of the globe shifted and scraped against the wood of its base, the sound echoing throughout the room. 

As Spy turned around, Sniper yanked the globe open, revealing a hidden lid and the whiskey.

“You!” Spy screamed as Sniper gasped.

Before Spy could even think about reaching for his gun, Scout snatched the pistol from its holster and threw it down the hallway once again. 

As Spy turned to look at Scout, something came over Scout as he stared at his deadbeat father. 

He wound his fist up and punched Spy squarely in the stomach. 

Spy doubled over, coughing and cursing, but Scout barely paid him any mind as he sped out of the base.

The van was already waiting outside as he jumped into the cab. The moment Scout was seated, Sniper raced off.

“We were so fucking close!” Scout yelled as Sniper let out a shout of anger.

Scout groaned, resting his head on the back of the seat. Sniper deflated as he continued to watch the road in front of him.

“On the bright side, we know where it is now,” Sniper pointed out.

Scout cracked his knuckles in thought.

“I’m just so glad this shit’s looping. Spy would have a fit if he remembered I punched him,” Scout muttered.

“That’s what, two times?”

“Yeah, and he fuckin’ deserves it.”

Sniper chuckled as he turned the van. 

“Agreed. He’s a fuckin’ wanker.”

Scout frowned as he looked out the window to watch the desert race past the van.

One part of him felt bad for fucking around with Spy like this. 

Scout could very clearly see the fear and disappointment on Spy's face when Scout brought up his parentage the past two times and Scout didn’t know what to think.

Was he upset that Scout was his son or upset that he wasn’t a dad to Scout?

On the other hand, however, Spy ran away from him, his brothers and his ma, and decided he didn’t want to be a part of Scout’s life. Maybe he deserved this punishment.

Scout scrunched his face. God, he didn’t even know any more! 

Spy sucked but maybe he didn’t deserve Scout reminding him about his failures before coming to RED. 

Like he told Scout about a month ago, Spy was only human and Scout knew first-hand that humans were messy, sentimental things.

Scout was broken out of his trance by Sniper tapping his arm.

“You alright, mate?” he asked.

“Yeah!” Scout jumped. “Sorry, I was just thinkin’.”

“All good. I was just asking you if there was anything specific you wanted me to hunt down for tucker?”

“Chicken nuggets?”

Sniper laughed.

“Try again.”

“I don’t really mind, Sni– Mick. You’re the hunter-gatherer here. Your choice. Dinner’ll take a while anyway…”

Scout trailed off as his brain realised what he just said. Sniper glanced over at Scout.

“You alright?” he asked again.

“Dinner takes a while,” Scout murmured. “We’re fucking idiots, Snipes!”

“Huh?”

“Maybe instead of talking with Spy to distract him where he can hear the other person, what if we broke into his room during dinner?! We both know he shows up every day!”

Sniper was silent as he pulled up the handbrake.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “We’re fucking drongos! This could have been so much easier days ago! This has been a waste!”

Scout laughed.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” Sniper said, turning and leaning towards Scout. “How so?”

“Uh…” Scout stammered, realising how close Sniper was getting to him.

Sniper smiled and gently moved a lock of Scout’s hair that was covering his face behind his ear. 

Scout’s breathing staggered as he looked into Sniper’s eyes and felt only one emotion – fear.

No, no, no! This wasn’t anything! This was purely platonic and heterosexual teasing! That’s why Sniper was leaning towards Scout and fixing his hair! Nothing else!

“Well, we know where the booze is now!” Scout squeaked out.

Sniper suddenly pulled back, looking slightly disappointed.

“I suppose,” he murmured, leaning back in his chair.

“And… and… the memories we made… or some crap?” Scout stuttered.

Sniper chuckled as he stared out the window.

“Yeah… Yeah.”

Sniper silently stretched in his seat before cracking open the door to the van.

“Alright, let’s get some nosh,” he declared, stepping out and leaving Scout behind.

Scout put a hand on his chest, warning his heart to not get his hopes up.

He couldn’t think about that right now! They had a new plan they had to draw up!

He didn’t need any messy, complicated feelings getting in the way.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

“Yeah, comin’!”

“Sorry, I’m late,” Sniper announced as he stepped into the dining hall.

Dinner for Sniper and Scout last night wasn’t a quiet affair as they hashed out the details of their plan over bowls of rabbit stew next to a roaring campfire. 

They agreed it would make more sense for Sniper to steal the whiskey during dinner. After all, everyone knew he only occasionally showed up during meal times. No one would even think that he was actually breaking into Spy’s room.

The assembled team didn’t pay Sniper any mind as they continued to eat and chat among themselves. Sniper quickly served himself and sat across from Scout who had been reserving the seat. 

Scout locked eyes with Sniper and tilted his head. Sniper merely nodded in response. Scout subtly cheered, his smile turning into a grin as Sniper tapped his foot with his own.

“Come on!” Scout yelled, running through the cool night air.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Sniper called out after him.

“I told you you didn’t need to wait!”

“Yeah, well I wanted to!”

Scout let out a nervous laugh as he stopped in front of the door to the camper. He swooped down to grab the key from under the doormat and put it in the lock, practically bouncing as he waited for Sniper.

Eventually, Sniper joined him at the door, his hands casually in his pockets. Scout took a big breath in before turning the key and opening the door. 

Scout stepped inside and caught sight of the decanter of whiskey sitting on Sniper’s table accompanied by two glasses on either side. He couldn’t help but grin once more.

“Welcome to Mick’s bar,” Sniper said, stepping into the van. “What can I get for ya?”

“And he just congratulates me for bein’ a failure! After he spent the last three days helpin’ me figure out how to ask out Ms Paulin’!” Scout slurred, his face warm from the drink.

“He didn’t,” Sniper responded, looking equally drunk.

“He did! I didn’t even know he was my pops back then but he did! And he just insults me!”

“What happened next?”

“I fuckin’ told him off, that’s what!”

Sniper gasped and chuckled.

“I told him I didn’t need him! I was gonna put on this date by myself! So I take his fancy whiskey–”

“Damn good whiskey,” Sniper murmured, taking a sip.

“I take his fancy whiskey and I just drink it. I went over to the briefcase alarm and hit it, just so Paulin’ would show up. While I waited, I started settin’ up,”

“How’d she react?”

“Aw, she was pissed. Apparently, it was her one day off and I ruined it because she thought the briefcase was stolen. I’m tryin’ to figure out how to get her to stay, and I suggest dinner. But I opened the fuckin’ door and the fuckin’ bread monster was there!”

The miniature bread monster from inside Sniper’s breadbox growled.

“Yeah, I’m talkin’ about your mom!” Scout yelled as Sniper started snickering. “Or dad! Or… sibling. Whatever, I’m still talkin’ about them!”

Sniper smiled, lifting his glass for a sip.

“I’m assuming that’s when we showed up?”

“Yeah, thank fuck Engie raised the alarm or else my date would be even more ruined!”

“Ah yeah, I remember I was just drinking myself stupid with Heavy and Pyro when Medic ran in yelling that we needed to suit up before he choofed off to grab the medigun.”

Scout shrugged.

“Thanks for savin’ my life, I guess.”

“You would have done the same,” Sniper said, downing another glass.

“Yeah, but did you see yourself with your rifle and knife?! And you were drunk too?!”

Sniper looked away from Scout, with a bashful smile and a blush growing on his cheeks.

“It was nothin’.”

“Yeah, well at least Miss Paulin’ liked our date even if it didn’t go to plan.”

Sniper was silent for a second until he opened his mouth to speak.

“Why Pauling in the first place?” Sniper quietly asked.

Scout did a double take and stared incredulously at Sniper.

“Because she’s Paulin’?!”

“Yeah, I get that, but what do you find so appealing about her?”

Scout sat back, trying to recall why he became obsessed with her in the first place. Obviously, the excuse that she was the only girl around his age he regularly interacted with wouldn’t fly.

“It’s… somethin’ about her glasses and… and… how she smells good and can read. Oh, and of course, the fact that she's nice to me! To me!”

Sniper hummed but said nothing.

“What, you don’t like those reasons?” Scout asked.

“Nah, they’re fine. I’m just trying to see it myself.”

“What about you then? What kinda girls do you go after?”

Sniper stiffened up, saying nothing, just staring at the glass of whiskey in his hand. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it. He tried again and shut it even quicker this time.

“Snipes? …I-I mean, Mick?”

Sniper took another sip of his glass before assessing Scout.

“I don’t… really like girls,” he eventually said, looking back down.

“Okay, then. Ladies?”

“No, not them either.”

“Sheilas?”

“Scout…”

“Sheeps?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t youse Australians fuck sheep?”

Sniper blinked as he drank in Scout’s words.

“That was actually people from New Zealand before the country disappeared, or so I’ve been told.”

“The fuck is a New Zealand?” Scout asked. “You know what? Doesn’t matter. Just tell me what you like!”

“Jeremy…” Sniper said in a warning tone.

“Mick…” Scout returned in the same tone.

Sniper scoffed and slammed his glass down on the table with an audible clunk.

“Do I have to spell it out to you, you fuckin’ wanker?” Sniper uncharacteristically snarled. “I’m a fuckin’ poofter.”

“The fuck is that?!” Scout yelled. “Is it contagious?” 

Sniper blinked at Scout, the fight suddenly leaving his body.

“Oh… you don’t say that in the States, do you?”

“Nope. Just tell me what it is in English, please?”

Sniper let out a nervous breath, his hands shaking slightly as he brought them up to the table.

“Sco– Jeremy, I’m a homosexual. I’m gay. I’m a queer. I’m a fag. I’m a friend of Dorothy. I bat for the other team. However, you want to say it! I like men.”

Scout flinched slightly and blinked up at Sniper.

“O-Oh…” was all that he could say.

Sniper’s cheeks had gotten redder as he tried looking anywhere but Scout’s confused expression.

“Oh…” Scout repeated, his heart racing in his chest.

Without meaning to, Scout looked down and started fidgeting with his dog tags. Sniper looked out the window, looking angry and disappointed in himself.

“No, Snipes!” Scout found himself yelling, dropping the tags. “It’s not that! One of my friends back home was a homo! It’s cool!”

Sniper hesitantly turned to look back at Scout.

“It is?”

“Y-yeah! You don’t have to worry about me!”

“Oh…” Sniper paused as he stared at Scout. “Okay…”

Scout bit his lip as he saw relief on Sniper’s face

“I was just wondering though,” Scout continued. “How long?”

“How long?”

“Yeah… how long have you… been gay?”

Sniper sat back and took another sip of the whiskey, looking down at the glass.

“Dunno. It’s not one of those things you tend to think about. I want to say since I was a sprog but I didn’t realise until I was well into my teens.”

Scout stared at Sniper.

“Huh… So this isn’t new?”

“Jeremy, what’s this about?”

“Nothing, nothing, I swear!”

Sniper’s gaze flicked up to Scout suspiciously before flicking away again.

“It’s… not exactly somethin’ I tell everyone,” Sniper admitted. “People don’t talk about people like me. So I’d appreciate it if you zipped your lips.”

Scout snorted.

“We’re in a time loop. No one’s gonna remember if I did tell them.”

“My point still stands. Please, Jeremy.”

“Relax, I wasn’t gonna anyway.”

“Good.”

The van was silent for a while longer. 

“I don’t care if you’re a homo, by the way,” Scout spoke up. “You’re still my friend.”

A small and warm smile crept across Sniper’s face.

“Thanks.”

Now if only Scout could figure out why it felt like his stomach was doing somersaults.

“You didn’t answer me though. What’s your type?” Scout said, electing to ignore the cocktail of emotions he was feeling.

Sniper grinned at Scout and Scout’s heart started beating double time.

This was fine, right?

One thing Scout didn’t realise with the curse is that he hadn’t had a dream since before the loops started.

It wasn’t something he particularly noticed. He was too busy trying to break out to even think about it.

But for the first time since the loops started, Scout had a dream.

It started with him at age 10 years old, sitting in Joey’s basement poring over their baseball cards. 

“Alright,” Joey declared with a grin, pointing not at Scout, but at Jeremy. “I’ll trade you a Johnny Pesky, Walt Masterson and a Mel Parnell for your Ted Williams!”

Jeremy bit his lip, thinking about the trade. 

“I dunno… I think Ted Williams is gonna be worth somethin’ someday.” 

“Come on! I traded you Bobby Doerr ages ago!”

“And who’s fault was that?!” 

Joey giggled and gave a light punch to Jeremy’s shoulder.

“Come on, Jer!”

“Hm… alright, but only if you throw in some ice cream to the deal.”

“Deal! Dad’s increased my allowance!”

“Really?” 

“Yeah! He says I can buy anything as long as I ask him first!”

“But isn’t it your money?”

Joey nervously looked away.

“He says as long as I’m under his roof, anything that’s mine is his,” he whispered.

Jeremy said nothing, looking at his friend.

“Well, I think that’s stupid,” he declared.

“Jeremy!” Joey gasped.

Scout blinked and suddenly he was older and waiting outside of his old high school, baseball bat resting over his shoulders. He tapped a foot, looking around until Joey ran up to him.

“Sorry, I’m late!” Joey yelled.

“What were you even doin’? We’re gonna be late for practice!” Jeremy yelled, starting to walk down the street towards their baseball field.

“Sorry, sorry,” Joey ran to catch up with Jeremy.

Jeremy smirked.

“What were you doin’? Don’t tell me… were you spending some time with the ladies?”

Joey baulked at the suggestion.

“What?!” Joey yelled. 

“I mean, all the girls talk about you with your fancy black hair and your big brown eyes, I heard Patricia Campbell say that she thinks you look like Rock Hudson!”

“I don’t look a thing like Rock Hudson!” Joey yelled.

Jeremy snorted.

“Yes, you do!” Jeremy sang.

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you–”

“Shut up! I wasn’t with the ‘ladies’ as you put it! I was finalising my strategy for the big game on Saturday!”

Jeremy rolled his eyes and smirked.

“Sure…” Jeremy mocked. “And you weren’t talking to Barbra Robinson at all?”

Joey’s face turned red.

“No! Barb and me are just friends! I told you that!”

“Oh, so it’s Barb now?” Jeremy teased. “Do you call her Barbie when you’re making out?”

Joey made a sound of disgust, causing Jeremy to laugh.

“Gross!” Joey complained. “We’re just friends from church and she needs math tutoring. Besides, you’d know my dad would kill me if he found out I had a girlfriend.”

Jeremy snuck a glance to see Joey was still following alongside him, staring down at the concrete below them. 

Silently, Jeremy removed the bat from his shoulders and gently poked Joey’s side with the bat.

“I’m only jokin’, Joe,” Jeremy spoke up with a smile. “Don’t sweat it. I am looking forward to seeing your strategy though. Have you put me in centerfield again?”

Joey’s face lit up as he draped an arm around Jeremy’s shoulders, who moved an arm to do the same to Joey.

“I was thinkin’ that, but I was wondering if maybe the outfield would be the best for you seeing how you’re the fastest on the team and…”

As Joey explained his strategy the dream shifted once more.

Jeremy could barely hear the cheers of the stadium through the blood rushing in his ears as he rounded third base and sprinted towards home. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the ball being thrown closer and closer to him, but he wasn’t worried. 

All he could hear was his heart racing as he kicked into high gear and sped towards the home base. 

At the last minute, he dove and slapped the firm rubber moments before the ball sailed over his head and into the catcher’s hand.

“Home run!” the ref declared and the crowd went wild.

Jeremy panted as he sat up and grinned up at the stadium as his victory was announced. 

They had done it! They had won the season!

Not bad for a guy who barely graduated and was working at the grocery store.

“Jer!” he could hear someone yell.

Without even thinking, Jeremy jumped up, ran over and tackled Joey into a big hug. The two lost their balance and went tumbling to the ground with a shriek of laughter as the rest of their team surrounded them. 

Joey let out a cheer as their team picked both of them up over their shoulders and paraded them through the field. Jeremy couldn’t think his grin could get any bigger.

He couldn’t stop grinning even after the rest of the team filed out of the locker room, leaving him and Joey alone. 

Jeremy was towelling off his hair while Joey sat idle. 

Ma was going to take them both to the post-game celebration. Everyone else had already left with the excuse that they wanted to get a good seat at the diner before it got too busy.

However, Jeremy and Joey were taking their time, wanting to bask in their victory by themselves for a bit.

“Aw man, you were amazing with that curveball!” Jeremy yammered on as he dried his hair. “That guy wasn’t expecting it at all! I can’t believe you managed to get him out!” 

Joey gave a bashful grin, fiddling with the zipper of the duffel bag in his lap.

“It was nothin’.”

“It was somethin’!” Jeremy contested. “We all know I’m the best batter, but you’re the best pitcher! We go well together, like… peanut butter and jelly!”

Joey smiled at Jeremy.

“Cereal and milk,” he added.

“Bacon and eggs.”

“Batman and Robin.”

“As long as I’m Batman,” Jeremy added.

“You wish!”

Jeremy snorted as he flung the towel away from his head. He turned to look at Joey with a smile.

“You ready?”

Joey let out a shaky breath. 

“…Just one thing first,” Joey muttered.

Jeremy confusedly looked at Joey.

“What is it?”

Then suddenly, Joey was softly kissing Jeremy.

Jeremy froze as Joey lightly pecked him on the lips, feeling his heart flutter. 

Joey quickly pulled away and turned his head.

“Sorry, I know I’m not a cute girl like you’d want, but–”

He was cut off by Jeremy suddenly surging forward, cupping his face and giving him a firm and decisive kiss.

As the two hit their noses and continued to kiss, Jeremy heard the echoes of a conversation that had yet to happen in this room.

“What do you mean?!”

“I’m sorry. He’s just–”

“He can’t do that!”

“He can. Jer, I’m so, so sorry.”

“He can’t though! W-We were just foolin’ around! We weren’t hurtin’ anyone!”

“Jer–”

“What if we ran away?! No one will ever hear from us again! Just get away from here! Coach baseball in a small town and no one will know who we are!”

“Jeremy! We can’t. Think about your ma!”

“She’ll understand!”

“No! I’m not dragging you down with me… Everyone knows I’m the queer now. No one knows about you.”

“But I don’t want you to go.”

“…It’s… It’s alright… I have a plan.”

Back in the present Jeremy and Joey pulled away and smiled at each other.

“So…” Jeremy started.

“So…?” Joey repeated.

Jeremy chuckled, his cheeks turning pink.

“Can we do that again?

“Of course!”

“Are we still friends though?” Jeremy asked.

Joey snorted.

“I mean, if you want. I just… have one question for you, Jeremy.”

“Shoot.”

“Why are you crying, Scout?”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout stared up at the ceiling, eyes wet with tears.

That… that was new. He’d never had a dream before in the loop – let alone a dream so vivid before in his life! What even was that?

“That is an order, private!” 

Suddenly all the drinking from last night caught up with him and the dream was quickly forgotten as a headache washed over Scout. 

Scout groaned and made a silent vow that the next time he and Sniper stole Spy’s whiskey they wouldn’t drink all of it.

“Not feelin’ good,” Scout slurred.

Soldier was silent as Scout tried to will away his growing feeling of nausea.

“Rest up, private! I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early!” 

As Soldier marched down the hallway, Scout frowned.

He had to get up. He had to go check on Sniper. 

All he needed to do was stand up, get changed and stumble his way over to the van. However, all his head wanted to do was explode.

How was this hangover worse than the last one? How much did he drink?!

Scout sighed and stretched. 

He wasn’t going to let a small thing such as a headache stop him. Scout sluggishly stood up and slowly tugged on his clothes, trying to ignore the feeling of nausea.

He stepped out of his room and into the hallway as silently as he could. 

The headache lingered as Scout trudged his way over to the exit. He squinted at the bright sunrise before dragging himself over to the campervan.

As Scout made it to the van, a wave of nausea washed over him again. He put a hand on the side of the van taking deep breaths as he grew more and more woozy. 

Suddenly, with little to no warning, Scout hunched over and threw up on the ground.

While the whiskey went down smoothly last night, it burned when it came back up again.

Scout coughed as his sinuses were overwhelmed and he resisted the urge to throw up again. He unfortunately failed, throwing up once more.

As Scout stared down at the puddle of puke below him, he felt a gentle touch on his back. 

He turned and squinted up at a shirtless Sniper with a light smile on his face.

“Having a fun technicolour yawn?” he gently asked. 

“Huh?”

“Vomit.”

Scout frowned.

“No,” he whimpered, still hunched over.

Sniper rubbed reassuring circles on Scout’s back as Scout continued to stare at the ground. 

Suddenly Scout flinched as a gentle hand carded through his hair. Sniper muttered an apology as he tangled his hands in its length and pushed it behind Scout’s shoulders, away from his face.

“I need to cut it,” Scout quietly told him.

“Your hair?”

“Yeah. It’s gotten long.”

“I can cut it if you want. I’ve done my own hair for years. Unless you want to pull off the mullet look?”

Scout snorted and righted himself.

“Nah, all the ladies would start running,” he weakly responded. “Please cut it? I’d go to Spy but… I don’t wanna see him right now.”

Sniper hummed, moving his hands to himself.

“That’s fair. I can cut it this arvo if you want. You do not want me with scissors close to your head this early in the morning.”

“Thanks,” Scout distractedly said, wiping the vomit from the side of his mouth. “Did I wake you?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it, mate. I gotta get up eventually.”

Sniper wrapped an arm around Scout and gently led him into the campervan in silence. 

He opened his fridge and handed Scout a cool bottle of water who cracked it open and started drinking it in silence.

Sniper was looking at Scout before glancing behind him.

“Do you think you can get to the bunk?” Sniper asked.

“What?”

“The bunk. Can you climb up the ladder? No worries if you can’t, I can just pick you up.”

Scout sleepily blinked at Sniper who sighed.

“As long as you don’t chunder in my bed, I’m letting you sleep there.”

“What about you?”

“I feel bad letting you sleep in the booth all the time. I’ll doze off here.”

“Snipes, I ain’t lettin’ you do that.”

“You’re the one hurling everywhere. Go on, I’m letting you sleep in the bed for once.”

Scout pouted, or at least the best approximation of a pout he could do while the room swam around him.

“Nuh-uh. I’m not having your bed all to myself.”

Okay, maybe Scout was still a little bit drunk. He wasn’t exactly making sense.

Sniper stared at him for a few moments.

“Alright then, dickhead.”

Before Scout knew what hit him, Sniper had scooped Scout up in his arms and started walking towards the bed.

“Whoa! Hey!” Scout complained. “Put me down! I said you should have the bed!”

Sniper chuckled as he started climbing the ladder with Scout still in his arms.

“You did. If you don’t want the bed all to yourself, fine. I’ll take the bed too.”

“Mick!”

Sniper grinned and threw Scout onto the mattress. Scout groaned and held his head as Sniper crawled onto the bed.

“You alright?” Sniper asked.

“Yeah, fine, I just–”

“Oh good! Just let me know if you need to spew. Sleep well!”

Sniper certainly had a cheeky side to him when he wanted to, Scout fumed as he glared at Sniper turning away from him.

“Fuck you,” Scout muttered.

Sniper snorted in response. 

As much as Scout wanted to fight this, all of the energy he had from earlier seemed to disappear the moment Sniper picked him up. 

The bed was softer than the one in his room and still had traces of Sniper’s heat before he stepped out to check on Scout.

It was strange. He and Sniper were close, but this was the first time he’d even been in Sniper’s bed. It was so out of the way, that Scout didn’t tend to notice it unless Sniper was sleeping in it. 

Even when the two of them were camping, hiding away from Spy’s wrath, he never attempted to steal the bed; often talking with Sniper until the midnight cut-off or straight up falling asleep next to the fire.

Scout rolled away from Sniper and clutched the blankets in his hand, overwhelmed by the smell of his friend mingled in the sheets. His heart raced with the realisation that he and Sniper were sharing a bed together.

His brain was racing a million miles an hour as Scout let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

He didn’t even consider the fact that Sniper might be as hungover as he was and maybe didn’t want to be woken up this early.

Sniper didn’t say anything about this. He too simply closed his eyes and let sleep take him.

Scout grimaced as he stared at himself in Sniper’s shaving mirror. Sniper from behind him chuckled as he continued to snip at Scout’s hair.

“I said you can tell me at any time to stop and I will,” Sniper spoke up.

“Nah, it’s not you. I just… don’t like hairdressers. Normally I’d get my ma to cut it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll let you know if I need you to stop.”

“Okay. You feeling any better than this morning, by the way?” Sniper asked conversationally as he combed through Scout’s hair.

Scout nodded.

“Quit movin’.”

“Sorry, but yeah, thanks to respawn. I’m just… thinking, though.”

“About what?” Sniper asked, cutting a lock.

“What do we do now? We gave up on trying to break the curse and we were kinda planning our days around stealing Spy’s whiskey, but now that we’ve done that, what now?”

Sniper hummed in thought as he brushed a comb through Scout’s hair.

“Come on, you’ve fired a gun before.”

“Not a sniper rifle, Mick!”

“Just aim and relax. But not too much.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“Come on! It’s time for training!”

“It’s five am. Why’d I let you talk me into going to Soldier’s boot camp again?”

“Because you wanted to, and I quote, ‘run like the wind, just like you’.”

“Doesn’t sound like me at all.”

“You also said you’d give me fifty bucks for the fun of it?”

“I definitely did not. Alright, give me a sec, I’ll be out in a mo.”

“Little off the mark, but you’re getting there.”

“I’m just getting used to the recoil. Soon I’ll be able to take over from you!”

“I’d like to fuckin’ see you try, Scout.”

“This is torture. This is cruel and unusual.”

“It’s not that bad. Come on, the only way to get better is to keep going.”

“Normally I shoot the fast critters. I’m not designed to be one!”

“Hey, hey, hey, Mick. Who am I? …Boom. Headshot.”

“…Just shoot the target, Jerra.”

“Race you back to the van!”

“Hey, what the fuck! Mick, how do you still have energy?! Get back here!”

Scout squinted at the mess of yarn in his hands before lifting up his needle to count. He frowned upon counting 15 rows. He was supposed to have 16.

“Fuck, where’d it go?” he muttered.

Sniper looked up from his own neat knitting to look at Scout’s attempt.

“You just dropped a stitch.”

“Yeah but where did it go?!”

“Give it here, I’ll fix it for you and then you can keep going.”

“Thanks, Mick.”

Scout looked up from his sketchbook and started laughing the moment he caught sight of Sniper’s face.

“Are you alright?!” He cackled as Sniper glanced up from his own drawing.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Mick, drawing’s supposed to be relaxing.”

“Is it?!” Sniper asked. “This is so hard trying to do this right. How do people do this for a living?!”

Scout snorted as he scooched over in the booth next to Sniper.

“Well, first of all, there’s no way to draw ‘right’, ya drongo.”

“I am already regretting teaching you Aussie lingo.”

Scout lightly elbowed Sniper in the ribs.

“You’re trying way too hard. Try not thinkin’ about it.”

“That is literally impossible.”

“Hey look!”

Sniper looked up from his pair of socks to see Scout proudly showing off the square he had knitted.

“Ten whole rows and not a single mistake! What do you think about that, hotshot?!”

“Nice,” Sniper grinned. “How about another ten rows?”

“Fuck you!”

“Psst, Jerra.”

“Yo,” Scout said, looking up from his knitting to look at Sniper.

Sniper grinned and flipped the sketchbook around revealing a small drawing of an apple.

“How do you like them apples?”

Scout rolled his eyes at the pun and assessed the drawing.

“It’s lookin’ great Mick.”

Sniper beamed at Scout who had to bite his lip from laughing. Scout grabbed the apple Sniper was drawing and took a bite out of it as Sniper’s face fell.

“Now,” Scout said, wiping his mouth and placing the apple on the table. “Draw it again.”

“Wanker,” Sniper complained, flipping off Scout before turning back to the sketchbook.

“Mornin’,” Sniper muttered, jumping down from his bed.

“Mornin’,” Scout responded, not looking up from the knitting needles.

Sniper walked past the table and turned on the coffee machine. As it brewed, he turned to squint at Scout.

“Are you… knitting?”

“Figured I’d get an early start if I wanted to make a scarf before midnight,” Scout admitted as the needles clacked.

Sniper said nothing as a small warm smile crept onto his face.

Scout jolted awake as his head hit the wall behind him. He quietly swore and rubbed the back of his neck as he opened his eyes. 

Across from him, Sniper was dead asleep, head resting on the table. Underneath his crossed arms was Scout’s sketchbook.

Gently, Scout tugged it out of Sniper’s grasp to look at it. An unfinished sketch of Scout sleeping decorated the page. 

The shapes Sniper was using to figure out Scout’s proportions had yet to be erased. Faintly, Scout could see the beginnings of shading on his arms before trailing off.

Scout closed the sketchbook and placed it back on the table with a smile before closing his eyes again and drifting off to sleep

It was hard to believe that this was the first time Sniper and Scout had gone to the bar together during the time loop.

It was surprisingly busy for a Thursday but it worked in their favour as no one cared to recognise two members of the Teufort Nine.

The moment they opened the door and ordered some drinks, Sniper smirked and pointed at two men hogging the dart board.

“Those two,” he murmured.

“Huh?”

“They’ll fall for it.”

Sniper stalked over to them and struck up a conversation.

One game of darts later, here they were as Sniper scowled at the two men while Scout hid his grin in his beer.

“Nice playing with you,” one of the men teased.

“Oh yeah? Double or nothing!” Sniper declared to which Scout had to physically restrain himself from laughing out loud.

Sniper was right. This was hilarious! Why hadn’t they done it earlier?

Sniper threw down a few more dollars on the table to which the two men both raised their eyebrows.

“Sure,” the man said, opening his wallet. “I had fun beating you the first time.”

“Word of advice kid,” the other man piped up, as his friend added his money to the pile. “Don’t make bets you can’t win.”

“Need me to do anythin’, Mitch?” Scout asked.

Sniper scowled at the fake name but shook his head.

“Just sit back and watch me win.”

From behind the orange glasses, Scout caught sight of a familiar glint in Sniper’s eyes – a glint that told him that Sniper was going to end up victorious.

Sure enough, as Sniper threw the first dart, it hit the bullseye immediately. As did the second and third. 

Scout glanced up at the two men Sniper was playing with and noticed they were significantly paler than before. 

Oh, this was going to be a riot.

“150 first round. 151 points left for me,” Sniper casually reported. “Your turn.”

“You… you…”

“Yeah?”

“Nevermind. Give it here.”

As one of the men stepped up to throw, Sniper stood next to Scout.

“You’re just showin’ off at this point, ain’t ya?” Scout quietly asked.

Sniper snorted.

“Would have been quicker if I did three triple twenties. I just wanted to see them squirm,” Sniper admitted.

Scout laughed as their opponent marked down his score – significantly lower than Sniper’s.

Sniper gave a cocky smile as he threw a dart at 11. The two men looked significantly calmer until Sniper used his last two darts to hit the triple 20 space twice.

“281, that is 20 points left for me.”

“You’re fucking with us!”

Sniper played the part and shot a bewildered look at the men.

“Me? I would never! I just wanted to play a game of darts!”

“You liar!”

“Mate, it’s your turn. If you wanna forfeit, fine by me, but I’ll get all the money.”

From what happened next, Scout knew that Sniper had done this all before.

Sniper saw the punch a mile away before it was actually swung. He ducked out of the way and stepped back as the man stumbled forward. 

Scout jumped to his feet and dove forward, scooping up the betting money in his hands before turning and dashing out of the door. 

From behind him, he could hear two yells from the men and the footfalls of Sniper right next to him.

Scout let out a cackle of laughter as they dodged between patrons and dashed towards the door leaving a trail of dollar bills behind them. He slammed the door open and ran out to the street with Sniper trailing close behind.

“Go! Go! Go!” Sniper laughed as Scout dashed towards the van.

Scout yanked the door open and jumped in as Sniper followed behind him. Sniper fumbled for his keys for only a second until he jammed them into the ignition and revved the engine.

As Sniper started to peel out onto the road, Scout poked his tongue out at the two men chasing him and flipped them off. From beside him, Sniper cracked up at Scout’s shenanigans.

Scout glanced back at Sniper and knew in an instant he wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.

Once they were outside city limits, things quieted down in the van.

Scout leaned forward to watch the retreating form of Teufort behind him in the mirror. As the lights of civilisation got further away, Scout sat back and caught a glimpse of Sniper pulling a contemplative face.

“Mick, what’s up?”

Sniper flinched, as if remembering Scout was sitting next to him. He glanced over at Scout before looking back at the road in front of him and the dark desert.

“Do you see the clock on the dash?”

Scout glanced at the small clock in front of him.

“Yeah?”

“What time is it?”

“It’s… 11:44. We’re close to midnight.”

Sniper hummed and pulled the van over.

“We’re not gonna make it back to the base in time,” he stated.

“Yep,” Scout sighed. “We just gonna wait until we reset?”

Scout looked over at Sniper and was surprised to see Sniper already opening his door.

“You coming?” Sniper asked good-naturedly.

“Where?” Scout asked, slowly taking off his seatbelt.

Sniper merely gave a closed-lip smile. Scout was able to see the corners of his eyes crinkling without his glasses on.

“Come on,” Sniper said, closing the door to the van.

Scout stared after him for a second before shrugging, opening his door and stepping out. 

As he stepped into the cool evening desert, Scout looked around the van, searching for Sniper.

“Mick?”

“Up here.”

Sure enough, as Scout looked up, there sat Sniper on the roof of the van, warmly staring at him.

“How did–”

“Ladder’s round back. I want to show you something.”

“Stop being so damn cryptic,” Scout muttered, making his way over to the ladder as Sniper laughed.

Taking two rungs at a time, Scout bounded up the fastened ladder and stood next to Sniper. He said nothing, tugging Scout down to his level.

“You told me ages ago that you’ve never been camping before,” Sniper said as Scout sat down next to him.

Scout paused as he tried to remember.

“Yeah, but Mick, that must have been ages ago. Like… way before the loop.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a good memory.”

“But, you’ve taken me camping now. Y’know, when we hid from Spy?”

“I know, but I don’t think I was able to show you this.”

Sniper gently put a hand on Scout’s head and tilted it back. As he stared up, Scout’s eyes widened, staring at the sheer magnitude of the night sky above him.

He had seen the stars before – he would have had to live under a rock not to – but here the stars were different. 

They were brighter, much brighter than the stars back home. 

Fuck, Scout could see stars he had never even seen before! His eyes traced the hazy cluster of stars arched through the sky.

“Holy shit,” Scout whispered. “Why are there more here than at the base?”

“Light pollution,” Sniper quietly answered. “There’s less light where we’re sitting so we can see this better.”

Scout said nothing as he continued to gaze open-mouthed at the sky. Sniper smiled as he slowly lay down on the roof of the van. Scout glanced at him before following suit.

“What is… that?” Scout asked, pointing at the long cluster.

“That’s the Milky Way.”

“That’s the…?!”

“Yep. You can’t see it from the base because of Engie’s spotlights, so occasionally I go away for a weekend just so I can stare at it.”

“It’s so… big. I thought you’d need a telescope to see it.”

“Nah, it’s been a constellation for years. Indigenous Australians call it the Emu in the Sky.”

Scout tilted his head.

“Constellation? I thought constellations were like those connect-the-dots games.”

Sniper waved a hand in the air. 

“Well… yes and no. The Greeks focused on connecting the stars while Indigenous astronomers focused on the dark parts between the stars. See that thicker part there?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s the emu’s body and the thinner part up there is its head. Depending on the position it’s in, it tells you which part of emu mating season it is and when you can collect their eggs.”

“Huh…”

“Everyone has a different story about how it got there but I think every Indigenous group agrees it's an emu.”

Sniper lifted his hand and pointed to a set of three particularly bright stars.

“That,” He said, making sure Scout could see it too. “Is Orion. It’s one of the easiest constellations to find. Those three stars are his belt.”

“What’s his deal?”

Sniper quietly snorted.

“He was a hunter. Claimed he could kill every animal on earth, but some god or goddess didn’t like that so they sent a scorpion after him and killed him. Both he and the scorpion were made in the constellations.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” Scout joked.

“Oi,” Sniper complained, playfully elbowing Scout in the ribs.

The two fell into a lull of companionable silence as they continued to stargaze. It was Sniper who finally broke the silence with a nervous exhale.

“You know… even before the loop happened, I was a little afraid… Afraid of being alone forever.”

Scout turned his head to look at Sniper who was continuing to stare upwards.

“And I told myself that I was fine with it. I was a professional. I didn’t need to have friends. I could be alone and be fine with it… That was the way things were until the loop started.”

Sniper sighed.

“I felt like I was going insane,” he admitted. “I was trying to solve this problem all by myself and getting nowhere, and I was wondering if I was wrong.”

Sniper paused and swallowed.

“But I wrote that off as me going troppo and continued to stick to myself. Then… you came along.”

Sniper finally turned his head to look at Scout.

“And… finally I wasn’t alone. I had someone who I could talk to. Someone who wanted to be there and I could feel comfortable with. And I realised something. I realised I didn’t want to be alone anymore.”

Sniper sighed as his eyes trailed down towards the roof of the van and away from Scout’s face.

“I know for a fact that I never want to be in a time loop ever again, but…” Sniper cleared his throat. “I’m a little glad that it’s caused this to happen. I’m… I’m…”

Sniper took a nervous breath in and looked back at Scout.

“I’m glad I’m not alone. Thank you.”

Scout gave a small smile and awkwardly reached out to grab Sniper’s hand.

“I’m… I’m glad we’re here together,” Scout confessed. “Thank you.”

As Sniper smiled back and squeezed Scout’s hand, the clock from inside the van clicked over to 0:00, unbeknownst to the two mercenaries outside.

Scout made a joke and Sniper laughed in response as nothing happened. 

The two turned back to the sky and Sniper pointed out the Big Dipper to Scout as nothing happened.

Scout tried discreetly shaking off the nerves he was feeling as Sniper rambled on about hunting a bear, their hands still entangled as nothing happened.

Finally, from inside the van, the dashboard clock clicked over to 0:01 and Sniper and Scout felt a familiar dropping sensation. The two held hands as time reset back to the start of the day, unaware of what had just happened.

Chapter Text

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout blinked away the sleep in his eyes, as he stared up at the ceiling. He took a moment to wake up before stretching.

“Be there in a sec, Solly!”

When Scout found Sniper after breakfast, he was dozing on the wall outside the briefing room. 

Scout snickered to himself, as he slowly walked up to the man leaning against the wall with his head tilted down.

Ever so quietly, he shook Sniper’s shoulder and took a step just in case Sniper panicked in his half-asleep state and hit him. Luckily for Scout, Sniper merely flinched and blinked down at Scout.

“Mornin’,” he sleepily greeted.

“Mornin’ yourself,” Scout said with a chuckle. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Yeah. Coffee hasn’t kicked in though. Just a little tired from last night,” Sniper admitted.

Scout yawned in agreement as they stepped into the briefing room and took their seats.

“I feel that,” he muttered as Sniper sat next to him. “Thanks for takin’ me out though.”

A smile tugged at Sniper’s lips.

“No problem. It’s always a laugh watching them realise that I’m throwing the game.”

“Dude! We gotta go back at one point!” Scout yelled, slamming his hands on the table. “What other games are you good at?”

Snipe pulled a face as he shrugged.

“I’m alright at pool.”

“Aw, I loved playing pool as a kid!”

“Yeah?”

Scout chuckled as he leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah. There was a diner near my house with a table and I’d go almost every weekend! My friend would always wanna play pool but I always wanted to play foosball. So we’d take turns playing whatever we wanted to play.”

Scout bit his lip, his eyes tracing the ceiling, trying to not let the emotions show on his face, remembering the last time they went out and played. 

It was strange looking back, not knowing that that game of pool would be the last one they’d play together. It was different before he… no.

Scout couldn’t get caught up in his emotions, especially right now. That was then and this was now.

“Well,” Sniper broke the silence with a clap. “Why don’t we play a game next time we’re down at the pub?”

Scout locked eyes with Sniper and smiled.

“I’d like that,” Scout responded, uncharacteristically soft.

Sniper opened his mouth to respond when Spy entered the room.

“Gentlemen,” he greeted, stiffly walking into the room.

“Hey, Spy,” Scout greeted.

Sniper raised a hand in greeting as Spy took his seat.

Scout tuned out the rest of the team as they filed in. 

He had heard it all before – about 94 times to be exact. He knew the plan like the back of his hand.

There was no loss if he wasn’t paying attention and it seemed like Sniper knew it too. 

Scout glanced up at Sniper to see him pulling an ugly face at Scout. Scout covered his mouth as he snickered, watching Sniper return his face to normal and respond to Pyro like nothing had happened.

A small private smile ghosted on Scout’s lips as he watched Sniper.

He could get used to this – this private bubble where he and Sniper could spend all the time in the world together without having to worry about anyone else.

Scout was jolted out of his thoughts as Soldier marched up to the front of the briefing room.

“Atteeeeeention!” 

All eyes looked up to Soldier who nodded at the assembled team.

“Maggots, today we have been assigned to protect and gather intelligence!” he shouted as he always did. “This means we will need to be at the top of our game today to protect our briefcase!”

Scout nodded, only to look like he was listening. 

“Your assigned roles are as follows!”

Soldier opened his mouth to assign Sniper and Engie to the backlines when he suddenly paused.

What?

Confusedly Scout sat up in his chair.

What was going on? This was new…

Suddenly, Soldier sneezed, the shout echoing through the briefing room.

“Gesundheit,” Medic said with a smile as Soldier wiped his nose.

For Scout, it was as if the world had slowed down.

Because Soldier had just sneezed. 

What the fuck?!

Soldier had never done that before in any of the loops. Why now?!

Scout’s eyes flickered around the room as he tried catching up with his thoughts.

Usually, things during the loops changed when either he or Sniper did something about it, right? 

But there was no way they caused this! 

It was still early! They hadn’t even gotten into battle! The morning was as normal as it could be for the two.

Except for the fact that Solider had just sneezed.

What the actual fuck?!

Feeling his jaw drop open, Scout glanced up at Sniper to see him reaching the same conclusion. His face was pale and his mouth was ajar as he stared at Soldier in disbelief before slowly turning to look at Scout.

If Sniper didn’t know…

“Gentlemen?” Spy spoke up. “Is there something we need to be aware of?”

All eyes were turned onto Scout and Sniper as they flinched at the sudden attention turned onto them.

“Uh… w-we’re fine,” Scout hesitantly responded. 

“Yeah,” Sniper quietly added in a monotone. “Nothing’s wrong. Keep going, mate.”

Soldier nodded.

“Sniper, Engineer, you have been assigned to the backlines…”

Scout caught a glance at Sniper staring at him.

Later, he mouthed at Scout.

Scout found himself nodding – not to look like he was listening for once – but because he needed to know he wasn’t going crazy.

As soon as the briefing concluded, Scout and Sniper booked it for the door. 

They only had a few minutes until they needed to be in resupply to suit up, so without thinking about how it might look, Scout reefed the door open to a supply closet and beckoned Sniper inside. Quietly Sniper followed before Scout slammed the door shut behind him and turned to face Sniper.

“What the fuck was that?!” Scout hissed, desperation tinging his voice.

“I-I don’t know!” Sniper responded, running a hand through his hair. “That’s never happened before!”

Scout started to pace the small space of the cupboard as his mind went into overdrive.

“And like… there’s no way we could have caused this right? Right?! Like there’s no way we could have had some pollen or dust or something on our clothes?! Or… or… given him a cold?! Or… something!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Sniper responded, throwing his hands into the air. “There’s no way that could have happened because we haven’t done anything new this morning!”

Scout stopped pacing and leaned back on the shelf behind him. He put his face into his hands.

“This doesn’t make sense,” he muttered behind his hands. “We haven’t broken out of the loop because everything’s still the same! We’re still getting intel. Everyone’s saying the same shit! The only thing new is the fact that Soldier fuckin’ sneezed!”

Sniper sighed and lifted his glasses to rub his eyes underneath.

“We have to go back,” he mumbled.

“But… but… what the fuck!”

Sniper sighed again and nodded.

“I know, mate. I know. But we need time to think and time to finish our mission. Maybe we can see if anything else changed while we’re there?”

Scout groaned.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “Let’s just do a regular match today. No sneaking off to hang out. We’re gonna win and we’re gonna see what else is new.”

“Sounds good mate,” Sniper said, lightly squeezing Scout’s shoulder.

Scout gave a small smile as he opened the door and stepped into the empty hallway.

“Coast is clear,” he reported. “I think everyone’s in resupply getting ready.”

“Sounds about right,” Sniper responded, joining him in the hallway. “You gonna be alright?”

Scout frowned.

“Yeah, I have to be. We gotta make sure we don’t miss anything, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got you. Now let's go, or else the others are gonna start wondering where we are.”

As Sniper walked over to resupply, Scout watched him go.

They could figure this out, right?

Scout strode across the desert to Sniper’s van. He didn’t even bother with knocking as he slammed the door open.

“What the fuck!” Scout greeted.

Sniper merely grunted as he squinted at his notepad in front of him.

“No changes on your end either?” Scout asked, sitting next to Sniper.

Sniper shook his head.

“Just the same bloody shit.”

“Then what–”

“I don’t know! I can’t believe a fuckin’ sneeze is doin’ my head in like this!”

The two sighed at the same time.

Sniper frowned as he tapped his fingers on the table in thought.

“Alright… maybe we need to think differently about this,” he murmured, picking up his pencil. “What causes a sneeze?” 

“Already asked the doc,” Scout replied. “Said it can happen for a range of reasons, like being cold, havin’ somethin’ stuck in there, allergies or sunlight.”

Sniper frowned and paused his writing. He blinked up and stared at Scout for a few seconds. Scout could feel his cheeks starting to turn red at the attention.

“What?” Scout asked defensively.

“Nothin’, just… you remembered everything Medic told you?”

“I wanna know why this happened as much as you do!”

“Alright, alright. Keep your hat on.”

Sniper sighed, reading through his notes.

“So I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we could have caused that from where we were sitting. So… what else? You went to training with Soldier, right?”

Scout nodded.

“Yeah, but it was nothin’ different. Same laps, same push-ups, same pull-ups, nothing!”

“Nothing new at all?”

“Nope.”

“Then we’re stuck.”

The campervan fell into silence as the two mercenaries thought.

“Everything is the same, but now it also isn’t,” Sniper quietly mused.

Scout sighed.

“Mick, after I got cursed, surely you noticed some things happening differently, right?”

Sniper hummed.

“I did, but I thought I caused them.”

“You think you caused everything?”

Sniper shrugged.

“Stranger things have happened Jerra. Have you ever heard of a ripple effect?”

Scout shook his head.

“It’s a thing where somethin’ small happening can cause big changes along the road. Like you’re throwing a stone in a lake and it causes a massive ripple across it.”

“What does this have to do…?”

“I’m just saying, when you started changing things I thought me doing something insignificant and small like… I don’t know, going to have breakfast at a different time caused it. ‘Course I can’t be the same every day, so that’s what I thought was happenin’.”

Scout sighed.

“Is that what you think is happenin’ now?”

Sniper put a hand to his chin.

“I don’t know… I mean at least back then I knew I had some effect on you because we were both going to missions. Like maybe I did something during the battle that caused a chain of events leading to Demo pointing a gun at you on the roof!”

Scout groaned.

“This is makin’ my head hurt,” he complained, lowering his head onto the table.

Sniper gave a weak smile and gently patted Scout’s shoulder.

“Sorry, mate.”

“But like! There’s no way I could have caused Solly to sneeze! Everything was the same! No ripple coulda caused that!”

“I know… That’s why it doesn’t make sense. And it doesn’t seem like Soldier’s in a time loop too or else he would have started to ask questions. Soldier isn’t that dumb. He would realise something was wrong. Plus he would have started to act differently too, other than the sneeze…”

As Sniper mumbled to himself, Scout pulled a face as he slowly lifted his head from the table.

“What if it happens again tomorrow?” Scout interrupted Sniper.

“Huh?”

“What if he sneezes again? What if he doesn’t sneeze? What would it mean?”

Sniper tilted his head.

“I… don’t know… Huh.”

“Cause like, if he doesn’t sneeze again maybe it’s a glitch in the universe?” Scout continued on. “But like, if he does, maybe it’s the new normal? What would either of those mean?”

Sniper groaned, throwing the pencil in his hands across the table and putting his head into his hands.

“I don’t know! None of this is makin’ any sense!”

Scout sighed.

“Why don’t we just… wait? Maybe we’ll come up with something then,” Scout suggested.

“Now, I know things are fucked up,” Sniper spoke up. “You never suggest to wait things out.”

Scout shrugged. 

“I know we wanna figure things out, but nothing makes sense right now. Maybe we just need to sit and wait to see what else is gonna happen.”

“Yeah…” Sniper sighed. “Yeah…”

Scout was still thinking about it and there was no way he was going to get Sniper to stop thinking too unless he did something.

“Now pass me the yarn and needles. I wanna try and figure out that knitting pattern you have.”

“I could just tell you how it works.”

“Where’s the fun in that?!”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout sighed and rolled over in his bed. 

Alright, he had to run through this day the exact same as yesterday, yeah? Shouldn’t be too hard.

“Yeah, comin’, Soldier!”

Scout groaned as he stumbled into Sniper’s nest.

“G’day to you too,” Sniper greeted.

Scout responded with a groan.

“Are you that upset he didn’t sneeze today?” Sniper asked, without taking his eyes off his scope

“It just doesn’t make sense!” Scout shouted waving his hands in the air.

Sniper sighed, lowering his gun slightly.

“I know, I know. It’s driving me spare.”

“Then what do we do about it?!”

“Cover your ears, for one.”

Scout did so without hesitation as Sniper fired.

“Secondly, I don’t know,” Sniper continued once Scout had extracted his hands from his ears. “We could ask Demo but I’m not sure how much he would know about it.”

Scout bit his lip.

Yeah, Demo was helpful, but would he be that helpful?

“Feels like he would have mentioned if stuff like Soldier sneezing would happen.”

Sniper frowned and deflated slightly. He tapped the side of his gun quietly before suddenly perking up.

“Well!” Sniper chirped. “What do you say to hitting the turps? I’ll sneak off to Spy’s bottlo and grab his grog. If we can’t think of anything while we’re off our tits, we can just drink until midnight.”

Scout blinked.

“What?” he asked.

Sniper sighed.

“Do you want to get drunk? Very drunk?”

“Oh! Yeah! Why didn’t you just say that?”

Sniper rolled his eyes at Scout for a moment before turning back to his rifle.

“Yeah, yeah, you drongo. Anyway, BLU Spy six o’clock.”

“I’m on it, I’m on it!”

As soon as they figured this out, it was back to their regular loop and fucking around together.

Honestly, Scout couldn’t wait.

The battle came and went and the moment dinner was over, the two dashed over to the van, cracked open the whiskey and started brainstorming.

That was about an hour ago, as Scout frowned into his glass of whiskey while Sniper muttered to himself.

Scout had given up pretty quickly after the first drink. Instead, he just morosely took sips while Sniper racked his brain.

“It’s nothing to do with the dust… There’s no flowers here that need pollen and Soldier didn’t do anything else out of the ordinary,” Sniper mumbled.

Scout sighed and took a sip from his glass, looking up at Sniper opposite him.

His hat and glasses had been discarded ages ago. Sniper’s left hand was resting on the top of his head, hair poking out between his fingers. 

He scowled down at the notebook below him like he had a personal vendetta against it as he tapped the pen on the page. 

“Come on…” Sniper muttered as Scout observed him.

This… was familiar to Scout.

He’d seen this exact same position mirrored a hundred times before on Joey when he was trying to work out a winning strategy before a big game.

He could feel the struggle radiate off of them, and still the hope that the correct answer was right around the corner.

Scout closed his eyes as he took another sip.

It was like he was 18 again, and Joey was in front of him, glaring at the plan he had drawn up. One hand in his hair, the other holding a pencil that he tapped on the page.

“Come on, Jer,” he heard someone’s voice say. “There’s gotta be a way we can beat this.”

Scout smiled up at Joey and lifted his glass to his lips.

“I think you need to take a break, Joey,” he muttered into his glass.

The sound of pencil on paper suddenly stopped.

“What? Joey?” Sniper asked. “Who’s Joey?” 

And the illusion was shattered.

Scout opened his eyes to see Sniper confusedly looking up at him. 

Scout’s breath caught in his throat as he stared back with the realisation that he had fucked up.

“Jeremy?” Sniper asked again.

“N… no one. I said… uh… h-homie?”

Sniper shook his head.

“No. You said Joey. Who’s Joey?”

Scout recoiled like he had been burnt and stared at Sniper in fear.

Sniper froze as his eyes raked up and down Scout. He dropped the pencil and gently held up his hands.

“Jeremy,” Sniper whispered. “What’s wrong? I’m not going to hurt you.”

Scout took a staggered breath in as Sniper stared.

“You don’t need to tell me–”

“Joey was my friend,” Scout cut Sniper off. 

Sniper stared at Scout in silence who lowered his head.

“Joey… was my friend,” Scout repeated into his chest.

Sniper tilted his head and gave a small smile.

“Do you still write to him?”

“No… Joey’s dead.”

Sniper frowned and put a reaching hand out on the table towards Scout.

“I’m sorry, Jeremy.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Scout muttered. “I killed him.”

Sniper looked up at Scout.

“What?”

Scout sighed.

“For as long as I could remember Joey and I were best friends,” Scout started in a low voice. “We were next-door neighbours and whenever I wanted to escape from my brothers for a bit, I’d always come over.”

Scout shrugged, avoiding Sniper’s prying eyes, aware the drink was making his lips way looser than normal. 

Scout knew he would regret this in the morning, but it was like a faucet he couldn’t turn off.

“We were into the same things too, like baseball and baseball cards. Even after he moved to a different suburb, we’d still hang out because we were best friends. It was always Jeremy and Joseph. Joey and Jerry. Jer and Joe.”

A mirthless chuckle left Scout’s mouth as he closed his eyes and rubbed the sockets with a fist.

“Then… when we were like… 20, I dunno, we won the baseball season and everyone was psyched. And… he kissed me in the locker room when no one else was there. And… I liked it.”

Scout took another sip of the whiskey.

“We weren’t dating or none of that. We were still best friends. We just… fooled around sometimes, like friends do.”

Sniper said nothing, his expression unreadable as he carefully watched Scout regale him.

“And no one knew either. It was just the two of us in our own private little bubble. But… his dad found out.”

Scout paused for a second to wallow in his misery.

“Must have found a magazine Joe owned or somethin’, I dunno, but he flipped out. He… He made plans to ship him off to boot camp. To… y’know, beat the queer out of him, but Joey didn’t want none of that.”

Scout frowned, remembering his last conversation with his best friend.

“I suggested we’d run away together when he told me after practice one day, but he said no. He told me he had a plan and I didn’t need to worry.”

Scout took another longer sip. The van was silent as Sniper continued to stare at Scout in what he could only assume was disgust and horror.

“They found his body three days later on the banks of the Charles River. Said he jumped off the Longfellow Bridge. Suicide. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Christ,” Sniper breathed out. “Jeremy, I am… so sorry.”

Scout exhaled.

“Don’t be. Like I said, I did kill him.”

Sniper stared up at Scout.

“But you didn’t… you didn’t push him off or anythin’, right?”

“No, but… he was queer because of me. I made him queer and because of that he jumped.”

Sniper gave a sharp gasp.

“No, you… you didn’t make him queer, Jeremy and you didn’t make him jump.”

“I did. I infected him, I made him a homo, I made him kill himself. All because I’m just… sick. I’m sick and infected him and didn’t know it.”

As tears pricked in the corners of Scout’s eyes, Sniper reached across the table and grabbed Scout by the shoulders.

“Look at me,” Sniper ordered, breathing heavily.

Scout had no chance but to comply. He slowly lifted his head to look into Sniper’s grey eyes.

“You are not sick,” Sniper started. “You are not infectious. You didn’t make Joey gay and you didn’t make him jump. You had no control over Joey. You didn’t kill him, Jeremy. It was just an unfortunate series of events.”

Scout looked away from Sniper, avoiding his gaze.

As if sensing there was more, Sniper spoke up once again.

“Jerra?”

“I still killed his dad though.”

Sniper let go of Scout’s shoulders and quietly sat back.

“What happened?” he whispered.

Scout frowned. 

He’d already blabbed this much.

“Few days before the funeral, I was comin’ home from practice and I was a lil late because one of my teammates twisted his ankle and needed help coming home, right? So when I got to his place I called my ma to let her know. Then… I did a stupid thing and started to walk home in the dark in the middle of downtown Boston. And… of course, I was attacked.”

Scout sighed and lowered his head.

“It was Joey’s dad and he was drunk,” Scout mumbled. “Started yelling at me about how I killed Joe because I made him queer and I’m killing America and how it’d be better if I was dead.”

In the corner of his vision, Scout could see Sniper wince, probably familiar with insults like that hurled at him. Scout didn’t react, still stuck in his memories.

“I tried runnin’, but he was built like a linebacker and kept pulling me back. So… I panicked and swung my bat at him.”

Scout was silent, recalling the first time he had taken a life. 

A few tense seconds passed until Scout continued.

“It was so easy, killin’ him. I didn’t mean to! I just meant to knock him out but…” Scout sighed. “I bashed his head in and he went still.”

Scout let out a shaky breath.

“So… I ran. I threw my bat into the Charles and booked it back home. I went to bed, trying to figure out a way to run before the cops found me. Next morning… Paulin’ knocked on my door. She offered me a job and gave me back the bat I threw into the river. Still had blood on it too.”

Scout swallowed the whiskey in his glass, not even tasting it.

“I still don’t know how she did it,” Scout added. “But she said she could make what happened last night disappear if I took the job, so I did. That’s why I’m here. Because I killed both my best friend and his father and ran away from it.”

Quietly, Scout sniffled.

“And I didn’t even get to go to Joey’s funeral,” he whispered, this voice finally cracking.

Sniper was silent for just a moment.

“Sounds like he was an asshole and deserved it,” he mused.

“But Joey–”

“Wasn’t your fault, Jerra. He made the decision to jump. You had no say in it. It’s awful, yes, but you didn’t do anything!”

Scout said nothing, biting his lip and looking away, praying he wouldn’t start crying in front of Sniper. 

Sniper sighed and reached out for Scout’s hands. He gave them a gentle squeeze.

“Listen, I know what it’s like finding out you’re queer and thinkin’ you’re the scum of the earth. I really do. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“But I infected Joey! I made him queer!”

Sniper shook his head.

“And you believe the guy who tried killing you?”

“I… I…”

Sniper exhaled as he looked into Scout’s eyes.

“Jeremy, I know this takes a while to understand, but I want you to know that you’re not sick,” Sniper said in a soft voice. “You’re not infectious. You’re just queer and there is nothing wrong with that.”

“I infected you though, didn’t I?”

Sniper paused and frowned up at Scout.

“Is that what you really think?” Sniper asked in a hurt tone.

Scout shrugged and reached for his glass. Sniper swiped the glass away before Scout could hold it.

“You’ve had enough for tonight,” Sniper declared.

“But!”

“No. You’ve had enough.”

“Mick!”

“I said no. Have some water.”

Scout sighed and defeatedly took the offered bottle of water. Sniper sighed and sat down opposite Scout.

“Listen,” Sniper started. “There is nothing wrong with you and there is nothing wrong with me.”

“But, I–”

“Let me finish. What happened with Joey is unfortunate, but I don’t think you’re doing yourself a kindness by blaming yourself after what some guy who shouldn’t even be considered a father said while drunk.”

Scout was silent, allowing Sniper to plow on forwards.

“You are more than your flaws, Jeremy. You need to realise that you didn’t cause Joey’s death.”

“I’m a terrible person,” Scout moped, resting his head in his arms on the table.

“Nope. No bad talk. It’s gonna take a while for you to realise that you’re wrong, but I need you to know and get it into your head now that you didn’t kill Joey and being queer isn’t a curse, alright?”

Scout didn’t answer. 

“Jeremy?”

Sniper peered over at Scout and sighed, realising that Scout was fast asleep. Sniper snorted, standing up and retrieving the blanket on his bed. He quietly draped it over the snoring body of Scout as he gently gave Scout’s shoulder a pat and returned to his seat. 

Sniper took one final swig of whiskey from his glass and sighed. 

He frowned, pausing before glancing up at the wall clock and doing a double-take.

It was four minutes past midnight.

A hand found its way to Sniper’s mouth as he watched the seconds hand of the clock tick relentlessly. 

“What the fuck?” he whispered to the quiet campervan.

Four minutes past midnight.

What the hell was going on?

As the clock ticked over to five minutes past midnight, Sniper felt a familiar dropping sensation as the world reset.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout squinted at the light and groaned. 

God, he really had to stop drinking so heavily during the loops. 

It was so easy to get into the mindset that everything would be reset and back to normal, that Scout started to forget he wouldn’t. 

What else were you supposed to do in a shitty situation like this other than drink?

“That is an order, private!”

Scout sighed.

“Maybe tomorrow, Solly?” he called. “I’m not feelin’ too great.”

“Rest up, private! I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early!” 

With that, Soldier marched away, leaving Scout to his own devices. He had barely closed his eyes to debate the merits of running over to the campervan when a loud knocking on his door jolted him out of his thoughts. 

With a groan, he stood up and walked over to the door.

“Soldier!” he yelled as he reefed the door open. “I said tomorrow!”

“Nope,” Sniper responded in a tone Scout had never heard from Sniper before. “Just me.”

Scout blinked up at Sniper and froze.

He looked panicked, his gaze flitting around the room as he jiggled his leg.

“Are you alright?” Scout asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine! Really!” Sniper babbled.

“Why… are you here? You’re not normally awake this early and normally I come to you.”

Scout bit his lip as he tried recalling the events of last night. 

It was foggy – to be expected with how much he drank – but he could vaguely remember one thing. 

It was Sniper, gripping his shoulders and reassuring him about something.

God, what was he reassuring him about? Scout didn’t know, but it certainly couldn’t be good.

Oh no…

There was only one topic that Scout could think of off the top of his head that could cause such a reaction. 

He spilled the beans on Joey last night, didn’t he?

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Scout cursed in his head. He didn’t want anyone to know what happened before he got to New Mexico! How would the rest of the team react if that got out?!

Shit.

Maybe Sniper didn’t remember either?

Scout just had to play dumb. 

“Did I say something last night?”

“What? No, I mean… yeah? But that’s not why I’m here.”

“What? What’s going on?”

Sniper grimaced and looked around.

“S-Snipes?”

“I… Just… Hmph. Get changed, meet me in my van, okay? I’ll explain.”

“Alright…”

Without saying anything more, Sniper turned and left. 

Scout frowned as he closed his door. 

He paused, trying to figure out what had Sniper so freaked out. 

Scout was starting to doubt it even had anything to do with Joey in the first place, so what was wrong?

With a sigh, he shrugged and walked over to his laundry pile, grabbing his clothes. He tugged them on quickly, kicked on his shoes and jogged over to Sniper’s van.

His heart was racing the entire run over to Sniper’s van. 

Something was wrong and Scout didn’t know what.

Did he figure something out about Solider sneezing? Why didn’t he just say so if that was the case?

The door was already unlocked by the time he made it over. Regardless, he knocked on the door before stepping in. 

Sniper looked up from the notebook he was writing in and gave a stressed closed-mouth smile at Scout.

“What’s wrong?” Scout asked, slotting himself into the booth opposite Sniper.

Sniper sighed.

“We need to speak to Demo,” he stated.

Scout blinked.

“But… you said we didn’t need to.”

“That… was before last night.”

“What happened?”

Sniper sighed and carded a hand through his hair as Scout prayed he wouldn’t bring up his drunken ramblings.

“After you went to sleep last night… I looked up at the clock.”

Scout raised an eyebrow.

“So?”

“Jeremy, it was about four minutes past midnight.”

“Then your clock’s just slow. I don’t see how–”

“No!” Sniper interrupted, shaking his head. “Jeremy, my clock is always right. It’s been telling the correct time since before the loops. There is no way it could be running behind.”

Scout’s eyes widened.

“Fuck,” he said, staring down at the table in silence.

Sniper nodded.

“Fuck,” Scout repeated. “But everything still reset! Right?”

“When it was like five past, yeah.”

Without meaning to, Scout’s jaw dropped open.

“What the fuck?!” Scout exploded, waving his arms in the air.

“Exactly.”

“We need Demo… like, for real.”

Sniper nodded and glanced at the clock opposite the booth.

“Do you know what time he normally wakes up?”

“No clue,” Scout shrugged. “Clock’s broken in my room.”

“Your alarm clock?”

“That too.”

Sniper shot a look at Scout.

“Is everything broken in your room?!”

“Just the clocks, jeez! Solly stole my alarm batteries, remember?”

Sniper scoffed and rolled his eyes with a smile on his face before biting his thumb in thought.

“I guess we can ask Demo at breakfast. He might need to do research, so the earlier the better, right?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely.”

Now that that was settled, Scout couldn’t help but lean back in his chair and size up Sniper.

Did Sniper remember last night? 

It was eating him up inside, not knowing what Sniper knew about his time in Boston.

“I… don’t remember much of last night,” Scout confessed. “Did I say something weird?”

Sniper tilted his head and looked at Scout.

“Nothin’ weird,” he started slowly. “You were telling me about your frie…”

Sniper trailed off, catching sight of something through the window. His jaw dropped as Scout looked confusedly on.

“Mick?”

“What the fuck?” Sniper whispered.

Suddenly, he was on his feet and sprinting outside.

“Mick!” Scout yelled after him.

Scout stumbled to his feet and followed Sniper to see him staring open-mouthed at the sky.

“What?! What is it?!” Scout yelled. 

He opened his mouth to ask something else when he felt something cold and wet touch his cheek.

Scout tore his gaze away from Sniper and looked up at the dark clouds above him. 

His eyes widened, watching the light and delicate snowdrops tumble towards the earth.

Scout’s breath caught in his throat as the snow piled up in the middle of the New Mexico desert. 

Faintly, he could hear Soldier yell from the training area as Engie confusedly poked his head out the window.

A million thoughts swirled around Scout’s head, much like the snow in front of him. 

Why did it start snowing? Why this loop? Was this related to the sneeze?

…Did Scout cause this somehow?

…Was it him telling Sniper about Joey?

…What would happen if he told Sniper more? 

Slowly Scout sank to the ground and stared at Sniper’s back, who hadn’t turned away from the snow.

What if he had to confess to Sniper why he’d been avoiding him?

Anything but that.

Sniper didn’t need to know how much of a freak Scout was. 

He didn’t deserve that.

Scout's eyes drifted downwards as he quietly scooped up some of the fallen snow.

“What’s going on?” Sniper murmured, still facing away from Scout.

For lack of a better answer, Scout pelted a snowball at Sniper’s back.

Sniper flinched and spun around.

“Oi!” Sniper yelled with a laugh.

Scout bit down a laugh as Sniper grinned and leaned down to start making his own snowballs.

Those types of questions could wait. 

The snow was falling to the ground, and the best thing Scout could do upon facing unanswerable questions was to get pelted with a snowball by his friend.

Agonising over how to get out of the loop could wait. He had a snowball fight to win.

“Shit, it’s really coming down out there, huh?” Scout muttered, peering out of the singular window in the briefing room.

“Thought it would have stopped by now,” Sniper commented, lounging in one of the chairs. “Glad the Administrator cancelled today’s battle or else it would have been too easy to snipe everyone slipping and sliding.”

Scout chuckled.

“Yeah, that would not have been fun. And that’s coming from me! It snows like crazy in Boston and I usually ran in it!”

Sniper snorted.

“Would you believe it if I told you that I had never seen snow before I started travelling for work?”

Scout spun around to look at Sniper.

“Never?!”

“Never. Doesn’t snow as much in Australia. Of course, we literally have a place called the Snowy Mountains. You’ll never guess what it does there.”

Scout crossed his arms and snorted.

“Snow?”

“Yeah. People plan holidays during winter to see the snow.”

“Australia sounds weird.”

Sniper chuckled as Scout started to turn back to the window.

“Tell me about it. I’d love to show you around someday, though.”

Scout stopped what he was doing and looked at Sniper.

“R-Really?”

“Yeah,” Sniper smiled, not looking at Scout. “Sydney’s a right treat, and I know big cities are your thing. And I’d definitely want to show you where I grew up. Of course, we could always go camping in the bush and stargaze. Or perhaps we could go to a few beaches and maybe even see the Great Barrier Reef. Or maybe–”

“No, no, I mean… you’d… want to show me around your country?”

From over the top of Sniper’s glasses, he looked warmly at Scout.

“Of course,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Because I’m afraid you hate me, Scout’s mind supplied.

Before Scout could voice his thoughts, Demo knocked on the briefing room door and stepped in.

“Sorry to keep you waitin’, lads,” he apologised, still reading a book. “Just wanted to make sure I was fully read up.”

“She’ll be right, mate,” Sniper reassured as Scout took his seat next to Sniper.

“Thanks for giving me enough warning so I had time to research,” Demo said. “Now, what’s this about irregular loops?”

Scout and Sniper shared a glance before turning back to Demo.

“Uh yeah,” Scout spoke up. “We know all about bein’ able to change the loop through shit that we’ve done, but a few times things have just… changed that we have no control over.”

“What kind of events?”

Scout cocked a thumb towards the snowstorm outside.

“You’re lookin’ at one.”

“That and Soldier sneezed on one loop during the mornin’ briefings and had never done it before or since,” Sniper added.

Demo nodded and furrowed a brow.

“And you don’t know why this is happening?”

“Nope,” Scout responded. “We were hoping you would know.”

Demo pulled a face, and flicked to a page in his book.

“Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. Good news, you’re getting closer to breaking your time loops.”

“That’s great!” Scout cheered.

“Bad news is that you’re not gonna like how you break them.”

There was a pregnant pause as Scout stared at Demo. Sniper hummed before leaning forward in his chair.

“What is it?” he asked.

Demo sighed and walked up to the chalkboard covered in Soldier’s messy handwriting. He flipped the board to the blank side and picked up a piece of chalk, drawing a circle.

“Okay, so imagine a time loop is like a bubble right? It’s entirely focused on you and because you’re in the centre you can remember what’s happened in the previous loops. Kinda like the eye of a storm.”

To illustrate this, Demo drew a small cross in the centre of the circle.

“But if you want the time loop to end you have to pop the bubble. Have I told you in a previous loop that the best way to break the loop is for things to change?”

Scout nodded.

“Uh… I think Merasmus mentioned it.”

“Right, so to break the curse you need to pop the bubble. The best way to do that is by change, but most times, you can’t do that in one go – the bubble is too thick. You have to weaken it before popping it. That’s how cracks form.”

“Huh?” Sniper mumbled.

“What are you talking about?” Scout asked, feeling lost. “Cracks?”

Demo sighed.

“We’re gonna need a demonstration, aren’t we?”

In one swift movement, Demo unholstered a pistol he had on his hip and shot at the window without warning. Scout and Sniper jumped and both instinctively got ready for a fight.

“The bubble is like that,” Demo drily concluded, ignoring the two’s fighting stances.

“What the fuck was that?!” Sniper yelled.

“Hypothetically, that was an attempt at getting out of the loop. Notice how the glass isn’t entirely broken?”

Scout and Sniper scrutinised the spider web of cracked glass.

“It’s… cracked?” Scout suggested.

“Exactly!” Demo exclaimed. “By trying to break out and getting close, cracks in the facade of the curse appear. The more the cracks form, the weaker the curse gets and the more likely you are to break the loop.”

Scout stared through the bullet hole and watched the snow start to leak in.

“Does the hole symbolise anythin’?” he asked, not tearing his gaze away from the stream of snow.

Demo nodded.

“Aye, when cracks occur, bleed-throughs can happen. They’re basically events from days that haven’t happened yet that appear in the regular loop. The severity of the bleed-through depends on what caused the crack in the first place. Sometimes it results in something small like someone sneezing, other times… well you can just look outside. Good work on doing whatever you did last loop, lads.”

Scout tore his gaze away from the window and looked at Sniper who also looked like he was piecing it together. 

“So… that means…” Scout paused.

“We’re doing something right to get close to breaking the loop,” Sniper finished.

“But what?” Scout muttered.

Demo shrugged.

“I don’t know. That’s something you have to figure out for yourself.”

“Demo!” Scout groaned.

“I wasn’t there yesterday!” Demo complained. “And if I was, I certainly don’t bloody remember it.”

Scout groaned again as Sniper stared into the distance thinking.

“What did we do then?” he murmured.

“Huh?”

“The day before Soldier sneezed. What did we do?”

Scout frowned and leaned back in his chair.

“Uh… pretty much the same as normal? I woke you up for boot camp, we had breakfast together and split off when the battle started,” Scout recounted off his fingers. “After battle, we hung out for a bit and drew together. We had dinner and then we…” Scout paused, blinking as he realised something. “We did something new. We went to the bar and ran your double-or-nothing darts scam.”

Sniper slowly nodded.

“After we ran…” Sniper picked up. “I pulled over the van and we went stargazing until midnight,” Sniper’s eyes snapped up to Scout’s. “And I told you… that thing.”

Sniper’s eyes flickered nervously towards Demo, who merely shrugged as he continued to read his book.

There was no way just going to the bar caused a crack, right?

“Do you really think the darts would have changed things enough so the bubble cracked?” Scout asked.

“No,” Sniper answered. “I… I  think what I told you changed everything.”

Huh?

“But how?! It’s… not that big.”

Sniper frowned and Scout could feel that he had fucked up.

“Maybe not to you…” Sniper murmured. “But… I was thinking about saying that ages ago and just… couldn’t bring myself to. It was hard enough to admit to myself and it’s not exactly like I could take it back once I said it.”

Scout and Sniper stared at each other for a moment.

Sniper’s voice from that night echoed in Scout’s head.

“I know for a fact that I never want to be in a time loop ever again, but… I’m a little glad that it’s caused this to happen. I’m… I’m…”

Back in the present, Scout let in a sharp breath.

“I’m glad I’m not alone. Thank you.”

“That… changed things,” Scout slowly admitted. “It changed things between us and it changed how the loop operated…”

Sniper paled.

“How much more is there?” he asked Demo.

Demo shrugged.

“As much until the cracks form a break.”

“Fuck,” cursed Scout under his breath.

“I don’t even know what else I can say,” Sniper muttered.

Demo frowned down at the page he was reading.

“There’s more…” he murmured.

Scout and Sniper turned to look at him.

“Yeah?”

Demo cleared his throat.

“Well… I’ve never read this book before – well at least that I can remember and I might have read it in a previous loop and–”

“Demo?” Scout cut him off. “The point?”

“Right. It’s just that this mentions something about what happens if you stay in the time loop for too long.”

“We can stay in the loop for too long?” Sniper asked.

Demo nodded.

So the time loop wasn’t endless?

Scout got so wrapped up in spending time with Sniper, that he almost forgot that he had to escape.

He had just gotten used to the loop – it was comfortable and predictable up until Soldier had to sneeze and ruin it.

Scout couldn’t stay here forever.

And somehow that terrified him.

“It doesn’t say how long – it might be different person to person,” Demo continued. “But it says here if you’ve been cursed for too long something called an ‘endless loop’ occurs, plucking you out of the regular stream of time and leaving you stuck forever.”

“Stuck where?”

Demo shrugged.

“It’s not clear. Obviously, the author wasn’t affected by the endless loop because they’re still here to write this book but… apparently people get stuck forever and never return. The world proceeds without them and it's like they never existed in the first place.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Scout could see Sniper had stiffened up.

“That could happen to us?!” he muttered.

Demo nodded.

Erased from existence?!

This was getting too much for Scout.

“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Sniper asked.

Demo shrugged.

“I dunno. I had some extra time today because the battle got cancelled so maybe I just didn’t get up to this part the last couple of times.”

Sniper assessed Demo for a second longer before turning to Scout.

“So, how do we break out?” Sniper asked.

Scout stared back as his hands found their way to his dog tags. 

Demo bit his lip and assessed his two friends in front of him.

“I’ll… give you two some space,” Demo awkwardly stated. “I know it’s not easy figuring this out.”

“Thanks, Demo.”

“Thanks, man.”

Wordlessly, Demo walked over to the door and opened it. With one final concerned look over his shoulder, Demo stepped out of the room, leaving Sniper and Scout alone. 

Scout averted his eyes from Sniper and nervously fiddled with his hand wraps currently clutched around his dog tags. Sniper glanced at Scout and sighed.

“Jeremy,” he started.

“Yeah?”

“…Are we gonna talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” Scout snapped.

Sniper sighed.

“About last night.”

“I don’t remember anything about last night,” Scout lied.

“Let me refresh your memory. It might help crack the bubble and–”

“No, we don’t need to.”

Sniper spluttered.

“Yes, we do!” he asserted.

“Nah,” Scout replied, putting on some faux confidence. “I’ve got an idea on how I can break this freakin’ bubble.”

“You do?” Sniper asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep. Just gotta wait until curfew to go up to the rooftop terrace. Then our problems will be all solved,” Scout declared, lounging in his chair.

Sniper stared at Scout for a second before his eyes widened.

“You’re not jumpin’ off the building again, are you?!”

Scout flinched and slid off his chair and onto the ground.

“What?! No!” he yelled. “I’m gonna go talk to Spy! Jesus!”

Sniper scoffed.

“Sorry, the last time I saw you up there at night, you were standing on the edge and Demo was just standing there with a gun! What was I supposed to think?!”

“Oh my god,” Scout muttered into his hands which were now covering his face.

“And you jumped as soon as I showed up!”

“Hey, I slipped!” Scout argued. “You scared me and I lost balance and went tumbling.”

Sniper rolled his eyes.

“Again, what was I supposed to think? I definitely wasn’t thinking you were testing out to see what could happen if you carked it during a time loop.”

Scout snorted.

“No, I’m gonna go talk to Spy. If he ends up being the one who falls off the balcony, it’s no big loss.”

“That’s… not a healthy way of framing it.”

Scout sighed.

“I don’t know what to think about him,” Scout admitted. “He seems… sad sometimes around me but other times he’s a downright jerk. Maybe I can get some answers.”

Sniper slowly nodded before shrugging.

“Better than nothing, I guess.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know that this is how I’m breaking out of the loop!”

“Sure, sure. And what about my loop?”

“I dunno, talk to your dad, or somethin’.”

“I’ve already done that!”

“Fine tine, your ma!”

As the two bickered, their argument forgotten, Scout tried ignoring the elephant in the room.

It was like a ghost was haunting him. 

It might as well have been a ghost.

But there was no ghost.

Only Scout’s fear.

Scout put a hand on the door and paused. 

He was alone in the stairwell, a cocktail of emotions running through him. He pushed the door open a crack and caught a glimpse of Spy facing away from him, casually sitting and smoking in one of the lounge chairs. While it had stopped ages ago, snow was still piled up on the roof.

Scout put a fist to his chest to feel his racing heart and bit his lip. 

He had to do this, didn’t he?

Sure there were a lot worse things Scout could be doing right now, but currently his anxiety felt thick and acidic.

His dad was on the other side of the door and he had no idea Scout knew he was his father. 

What was Scout even going to say? Why was he even here?

As much as he wanted to turn around and go back to Sniper’s van with a light-hearted joke, deep down Scout knew he couldn’t do that. 

Because then Sniper would start asking him uncomfortable questions and Scout couldn’t stomach it.

He had to do this.

Nervously, Scout pushed the door open and silently sat in the chair next to Spy. Spy glanced in his direction but said nothing. A minute passed before Scout spoke up.

“I… know you’re my father,” he started lamely.

Spy opened his mouth to respond but Scout cut him off.

“No, don’t you dare try to deny it,” he said. “You can deny all you want but you’re my pops.”

Spy sighed and took a drag.

“How?” Spy asked.

“Huh?”

“How did you find out?”

Scout’s expression turned sour.

“Doesn’t matter,” he spat. “What matters is that you left us and pretended you were dead!”

“I know…” Spy muttered, lowering his head and closing his eyes.

“You left a struggling mother with eight sons and fucked off to who knows where!”

“I know…”

Scout’s heart raced in his chest as he continued on his tirade.

“Like were we just not good enough?! Did we clash so much with your fancy pants lifestyle that you had to leave?!” 

Spy said nothing and Scout felt his anger spike at the lack of a response.

“We could have used a father! Not just me, but the rest of my brothers too, y’know?! And what about ma?! She had to work three jobs just to make sure we had enough to eat! You could have been there and helped her, but you just… left.”

Scout slumped in his chair, the fight leaving him.

This wasn’t how he wanted this to go. He had a plan but his rage just got to him.

The air was thick with tension as the two men despondently stared ahead.

“For what it’s worth,” Spy quietly spoke up. “I did not want to leave.”

A light breeze blew through the terrace as neither mercenary reacted.

“Faking my death was one of the biggest regrets I’ve had,” Spy confessed. “I wish I never had to leave. I wish I could have lived out the rest of my life and retired in the heart of Boston with a family that was warm and inviting. I wish you, your brothers and your mother were never put in danger.”

Scout moved his head to look at the mournful form of Spy. His cigarette had long gone out. Instead, he stilled, staring down at the cracked tiles below him.

“Put in danger?” Scout asked hoarsely.

“Oui,” Spy said, not breaking eye contact with the ground. “Before I met your mother I was sent on a mission to Boston to kill a notorious mobster. That’s how we met. Your mother was a waitress at one of his money laundering fronts. Originally, she was a means to an end – an excuse to scout out the restaurant without arousing suspicion. But… she grew on me. I had never met a woman so stubborn and lively that she captured my interest even after my mission was successful.”

Spy sighed into his chest.

“Unfortunately, the mobster I was tasked with killing had… other allies in the Mafia and about a year after you were born, they were able to track me down, and by extension… you and the rest of your family.”

Scout stared down at his hands and fiddled with his hand wraps, for once not thinking about his looming future or his repetitive present, but a distant past that he didn’t remember and wasn’t privy to.

“Foolishly, I didn’t want to scare your mother, so I faked my death. I pretended that I had a heart attack at the supermarket and died on the way to the hospital. I used a cadaver with a passing resemblance to me and went to finish what I started… and to my regret, I never looked back. I only spoke to her again after I found we were to be working together and figured that it might raise some… difficulties.”

Scout said nothing, processing Spy’s story. 

It was all out on the table and it couldn’t go back. 

After all this time, Jeremy grew up without a father, all to protect him from an unseen force that lurked in the shadows. 

He couldn’t exactly say he was happy about how it turned out but from Spy’s perspective, it was understandable. 

What else would you do upon finding out that some very powerful people wanted your family dead all because of you? 

Scout could easily imagine a younger version of Spy faced with that realisation and knew that they would both come to the same conclusion. They would both fight like hell to make sure their family was safe.

In Scout’s periphery, he could see Spy close his eyes and sigh.

“I cannot change what has happened in the past,” he declared. “And I know it affected you greatly. Unfortunately, all that I can offer is my sincerest apologies.”

Scout closed his own eyes and sighed.

“An apology ain’t gonna fix shit,” he spoke.

The terrace was silent once again. Scout opened his eyes again.

“But I understand why you left,” Scout continued. “I’m not happy about it, but I understand why. I just wish I knew what we do now.”

“Well, we can start with this.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Scout could see Spy tug off his balaclava, his salt and pepper hair flying out of place, disturbed after being hidden for so long. As Spy turned, Scout could see the resemblance between him and the man sitting next to him.

Scout turned to look as Spy shifted and held his hand out for a handshake.

“Bonsoir. My name is Jean Dupont and I am your father. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Scout stared at the outstretched hand with curiosity, searching Spy for any indication that something was afoot. Hesitantly, Scout reached out and shook the hand.

“Uh… Jeremy. Jeremy Conner and… I guess I’m your son.”

“Indeed. So… tell me about yourself, Jeremy. What have I missed over the years?”

Scout blinked and swallowed.

“Well, I like baseball,” he answered in a hoarse voice. “Both watching it and playing it. I used to be part of a team before I got here.”

“Tell me more. I don’t want to miss a single detail.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout stared up at the ceiling with a sigh. He glanced at the desk, looking for his sketchbook and found nothing.

“Just because it didn’t break, it doesn’t mean it didn’t crack,” he muttered to himself.

“That is an order, private!”

“Yeah, comin’ Solly!”

The battle ended without much fanfare. RED won – naturally, under Scout’s leadership – and all the congratulations were shared. 

As the rest of the team slowly filed out of the locker room, Scout sat down on the bench next to Sniper with a sigh.

“How’d it go last night?” Sniper asked, lacing up his boots. 

“Dunno,” Scout admitted. “I didn’t kill him or attack him in a fit of rage if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Sniper commented, standing up. 

Scout rose to his feet.

“Wanna grab the sketchbook?” Scout offered.

“Yeah sure, mate,” Sniper replied with a smile. “As long as you tell me what happened up there.”

Sniper opened the door to the base and let Scout go through first before following behind.

“Uh… I yelled at him at first.”

“That’s a given,” Sniper replied drily.

“Hey! He deserved it!”

Sniper chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah. What happened next?”

“I yelled at him and he explained why he left. Like this entire time, I thought he was just being a jerk and abandoning us because he hated us, but no, he seemed like he didn’t wanna go.”

“Huh, would you look at that? He can feel remorse.”

“Watch it, that’s my pops you’re talkin’ about there,” Scout joked.

Sniper let out a bark of laughter as Scout joined in. Once the laughter subsided, Sniper cleared his throat.

“Yeah, so he told you he didn’t want to leave you. What else?”

“Well he explained what happened before he left and… he apologised and offered to start fresh.”

“Did you accept?”

“Yeah, why not. I kinda get it. I don’t have to be happy about it but I get it. He regretted what he did and can’t think of a way to fix it other than making amends and continuing on with life. I don’t know what I’d do if I had somethin’ like that weighing on me, but like wouldn’t you do the same?”

Sniper hummed as they stopped outside of Scout’s room. Scout quietly ducked inside and returned a moment later with his sketchbook and pencils.

“Problem is that I don’t know if it’s caused a crack or not,” Scout confessed as they continued walking. “Anything out of the ordinary happen for you?”

“Nah, mate. Same old, same old.”

“Damn, I was really hoping something new would happen.”

Scout pushed the door open to let Sniper out when someone from the other side stepped through.

“Hey, Ms Pauling,” Scout said distractedly. “But yeah, Snipes, I don’t know what I should be on the lookout for.”

Sniper had stopped walking and was staring at Pauling, who was reading something from a clipboard. He tore his gaze from her to look at Scout.

“What?” Scout asked.

“That’s Pauling.”

“Yeah?”

Sniper sighed.

“Scout, you’re an idiot.”

“Hey!”

Sniper stepped forward and put his hands on Scout’s shoulders.

“When was the last time you saw Pauling here?”

Scout opened his mouth to answer when he realised.

“Oh my god, Pauling!”

Pauling stopped walking and looked up at Scout.

“Yeah? What’s up, Scout?”

“I… uh… I…”

“Scout?”

“I… what are you doing here?!” Scout managed, stepping away from Sniper’s grip and walking up to Pauling.

“The Administrator asked me to get some records off of Medic before the end of the month.”

“Is anything wrong?” Sniper asked, crossing his arms.

“No, just need to get some physical copies to cross-reference.”

Pauling glanced down at her watch and grimaced.

“Excuse me,” she politely said before walking down the corridor towards the med bay.

Scout and Sniper were silent as they watched her leave. Even as they lost sight of her, they continued to stare. Eventually, Scout slowly turned to look at Sniper.

“So… I guess the bubble did crack,” he suggested.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Sniper muttered. “I didn’t think that would work.”

The two were silent once more.

“What else do we gotta do?” Scout quietly asked.

Sniper said nothing for a moment as an unreadable expression crossed his face.

“You distract Spy, I’ll get the whiskey and then we meet back at my van. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

Sniper removed the stopper to the decanter and poured the golden liquor into two glasses. He picked up his own glass and held it up.

“Cheers,” he offered.

“Cheers,” Scout echoed.

They clinked their glasses and both took swigs. 

A moment passed before the two turned their gazes down at the empty sketchbook in front of them. Sniper picked up a pencil with a sigh.

“Alright,” he murmured, starting to write something down. “When you spoke to Spy last night, did he say anything that you didn’t get to say earlier?”

“No, I told you everything that happened. After we agreed to start from scratch we just… talked about each other and what we missed.”

Sniper frowned down at the sketchbook.

“Hmm… And you’re sure you’re not leaving anything out?”

Scout squinted up at Sniper.

“What do you mean by that?”

Sniper froze in place. He glanced away before gently placing the pencil down on the sketchbook and looking into Scout’s eyes.

“Mate… you’re not exactly the most… honest bloke out there. Sorry if I’m a little sceptical that you’re telling me everything that happened last night.”

“What does that mean?!” Scout raised his voice.

Sniper stiffened and looked away. He opened his mouth for a second and closed it again. He opened it again and promptly shut it once more. 

“…There’s a lot of things you haven’t been telling me,” Sniper eventually settled on.

The van was silent as Scout stared at Sniper.

What the hell was he talking about?

“Like what?” he asked, voice becoming quieter.

“Jeremy…”

“No, tell me what I haven’t been telling you.”

Sniper took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with a hand.

“Almost everything if I’m being honest,” he sighed. “It’s been almost a month since we found each other and you still haven’t told me why you started avoiding me before this.”

Scout flinched as if stung. 

Although he hadn’t been making a conscious effort to avoid the conversation, he knew he’d been dreading the day Sniper would end up asking again.

Sniper was smart – he definitely would have noticed Scout acting off and avoiding him. 

And Scout was an idiot – he definitely would have expected Sniper to not read into it.

“Th-That doesn’t mean anything!” Scout spluttered. “We’ve been busy! I haven’t had the time!”

“You could have told me so many times!” Sniper rebutted. “And that’s not the only thing you’re not telling me! What about why it took you that long to reach out to me in your loop? What about why you’re so nervous around me? What about Joey?!”

“Stop!” Scout yelled, slamming his fists on the table.

The pencil jumped off the table and landed on the floor as Sniper froze and stared at Scout.

“Jeremy…” 

“I know I haven’t been telling you a lot…” Scout started through heavy breaths. “But I promise I’ll tell you later.”

Sniper’s frown turned deeper.

“Why not now?”

“Because!”

Scout put his head in his hands and took a breath.

“It’s not important!” he managed. “None of this, and I mean none of this, has anything to do with the loops!”

Sniper scoffed.

“I think they do,” he argued. “We were able to get a crack after you told me about Jo-”

“Don’t.” 

Sniper glared at Scout who returned the favour.

“Jeremy.”

“I said, don’t. This has nothing to do with him.”

“I disagree,” Sniper snarled.

Scout clenched his jaw without realising.

Sniper really was going to go there, wasn’t he?

“What about you?” Scout spat. “You’re hardly innocent. You talking about how you’re glad to be stuck in this stupid time loop caused the first crack!”

Scout hit the table again.

“Fuck! If I knew this was gonna happen, I wouldn’t have been in the mess hall when Merasmus showed up.”

Sniper pursed his lips but said nothing.

Scout continued on.

“You seriously can’t be going for me when you obviously have stuff that can also crack!” he argued.

Sniper exhaled and sat back in his chair.

“Fine, you want me to spill my guts?” Sniper snarled. “Yeah, I’m happy I’m in this loop only because I wanted to spend more time with you after you decided to drop me. I still don’t know what the fuck happened to make you want to stop spending time with me, but that’s fine because if you don’t want to hang out with me, I can play your game and not ask why. That’s fine. I’m the loner. I’ve always been alone and I can keep being alone no matter how fucked up it makes me feel.”

Once the words were out, Sniper paused and blinked, the anger leaving his body in an instant.

“Oh…” he whispered.

“What?” Scout snapped.

“Maybe… being alone for so long has… kinda fucked me up?” Sniper murmured. “Like I’m used to it and I choose to be alone and all but… I don’t know. Maybe I’m afraid of what’ll happen to me if I keep being alone. Like, am I gonna forget how to be human? Am I gonna die alone? Will anyone miss me?”

Sniper reached up and rubbed his shoulder absentmindedly.

“I always try to avoid thinking about that kinda stuff but… maybe I do need to think about it. Do I want to be alone forever? I never really considered being tied down to anyone… I normally only go in for a root and then leave, but… do I want more?”

Scout blinked at Sniper.

“I… I don’t know,” Scout responded, the fight leaving his voice as he continued to stare at Sniper’s revelation.

Sniper hummed as he continued to think.

He looked… sad. It was like watching a kid realising for the first time that everyone was going to die.

Except Scout was staring at a grown mercenary, coming to a realisation that shook the entire foundation of who he was – realising that he had made so many mistakes that messed him up and that there was probably no way he could take them back.

Because Sniper might have been in a time loop, but he couldn’t redo what happened before this point.

“Mick?” Scout whispered.

“Hm?”

“I’m… sorry for yelling at you and getting defensive, it was a dick move.”

“Nah, I shouldn’t have pushed,” Sniper sighed. “The loop’s been stressful for the both of us and your secrets should remain your secrets.”

Scout said nothing, Demo’s warnings of the endless loop left unspoken between the two of them.

“In any case,” Sniper said, stretching down to pick up the pencil off the floor. “Is there anything from talking to Spy last night that could cause another crack?”

Scout sighed and deflated.

“I don’t know… Mick, why don’t we just…”

Scout trailed off as Sniper sat back up and looked expectantly at him.

“Why don’t we just… what?” he prompted.

“Why don’t we just… wait and see what else happens?” Scout offered, resting his head on his hand. “I mean the cracks have only happened three times, and we don’t know why. Maybe we gotta… wait.”

Sniper hummed.

“Alright.”

Scout lifted his head.

That was not a response he was expecting.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” Sniper shrugged. “As much as I would love to jump into this, I have an idea but I need to think about it a bit, so let’s wait and see, hey?”

“What is it?”

Sniper snorted.

“None of your business.”

“Alright, alright.”

Scout picked up his glass and held it up.

“Here’s to going through the motions for a bit.”

Sniper picked up his glass and clinked it.

“Cheers,” he responded in a hollow voice.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for daily drills! I expect you all present!”

“98 days and Soldier still scares me awake,” Scout peevishly muttered to himself.

“That is an order, private!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!”

By this point, if there was anything out of the ordinary happening in the loops, it’d be pretty easy to spot.

Case in point, Scout did a double take once he got outside, immediately realising something was different.

“Pyro? What are you doin’ here? You training too?”

Pyro shook their head and continued to stare into the distance. 

They were sitting cross-legged, doing nothing except staring at the training arena. It unnerved Scout just a little bit, but they weren’t hurting anyone.

“Okay? You’re welcome to join us if you want.”

Pyro shook their head again.

“Alright. Are we ready to start Solly?”

Scout turned to look at Soldier who had already started his stretches. 

“Affirmative! First, we are running 20 laps around the base! Understand?”

“20 laps, you bet!”

Scout stretched as he skidded to a stop.

It was going to be difficult to explain to everyone how Scout had gotten stronger if he got out of the time loop, but honestly, at this point, Scout kinda wished he joined Solider earlier.

When, he reminded himself. When he got out of the time loop.

He didn’t need the stupid endless loop or whatever to fuck him up and neither did Sniper.

Upon thinking about the marksman, Scout glanced up at Sniper’s van. 

“Huh?” Scout muttered.

Occasionally, he’d see Sniper watching him, but today, Scout could see someone else standing in front of the van.

Scout raised a hand to block the sun and squinted. 

Was that… Pyro?

Scout whipped his head around to confirm that Pyro had indeed left sometime during his laps. 

But what were they doing at Sniper’s van?

Without warning, Soldier suddenly appeared next to Scout, causing him to jump.

“What are you staring at maggot?!” 

Scout said nothing and pointed at Pyro. 

It was a bit difficult to see from so far away, but they had something in their hand.

If only he could get a bit closer… Maybe then he could–

“What the private first-class gets up to outside of battle is none of your business!”

“But–”

“Drop and give me twenty!”

Scout resisted the urge to roll his eyes and dropped to the ground. 

Oh well. He could always investigate after training if he remembered to.

Scout tucked his towel around his waist tighter as he dried his hair. 

He wasn’t a neat freak like Spy with all his shampoos and creams, but he couldn’t help but feel dirty after a workout – especially in the desert. Dirt would practically cling to him during Soldier’s boot camp. 

Normally he’d only have a shower if he needed to but things had changed during the loops. 

Now that he was spending time with Sniper in an enclosed space, he certainly didn’t want to stink it out.

It was… a little stupid but he didn’t want Sniper getting grossed out by him.

God, he could practically hear his brothers making fun of him all the way in Boston.

Scout opened his locker and started whistling as he retrieved his clothes for the day. He suddenly heard a door slam open from the other side of the locker room, causing him to jump.

“Scout?” Sniper called out. “You in here?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” 

Sniper jogged further into the locker room and upon catching sight of Scout, he froze. 

He stared at Scout with a startled expression on his face as Scout awkwardly smiled.

“Snipes?”

Sniper startled back to life.

“Right! Sorry!”

Scout chuckled.

“What’s up, Snipes?” Scout asked, looking away and grabbing the last of his stuff out of the locker.

“Uh, have you seen my van this morning?”

Scout stopped what he was doing and pulled a face.

“Weren’t you sleeping in it this morning? Did someone steal it?”

“N-No, not like that. Uh… have you… seen my van? With your eyes?”

It was too early to deal with this. What the fuck was Sniper talking about?! 

“You’re scaring me.”

“Just, answer the question, Jerra.”

Scout shrugged.

“Uh… I saw it during boot camp. Yeah, Pyro had walked up to it at one point and I was gonna have a look afterwards but I got distracted and…”

Scout trailing off upon spotting the expression on Sniper’s face.

“Oh no. What happened? Did they set it on fire?”

Sniper sighed.

“What happened?” Scout repeated.

“Put some pants on and I’ll show you.”

Scout smirked and pointed some finger guns at Sniper.

“You got it, boss.”

Sniper stepped away as Scout jumped into his clothes. He slid his feet into his sneakers and slammed his locker shut.

“I’m here, I’m here,” Scout muttered as he walked over to Sniper while adjusting his dog tags. “What’s wrong with the van?” Scout asked.

Sniper clucked and jerked his head towards the exit, indicating Scout should follow. Scout stepped through as Sniper held the door open.

“How worried should I be?” Scout asked.

“Uh…” 

“Snipes!” he groaned.

“Well see for yourself,” Sniper said as he pushed the door open to reveal…

Huh.

When Scout first saw Pyro near Sniper’s van, he didn’t expect this.

“Is that Pyro’s balloonicorn painted on the side of your van?!”

With that, Scout doubled over with laughter as Sniper scoffed at his reaction.

“Yep. Safe to say, I think we’ve found another crack.”

“A you crack or a me crack?” Scout pulled himself together.

“Most definitely a me crack,” Sniper sighed.

Scout snorted as he walked up to the detailed painting.

“Damn, Pyro’s good. I should talk to them about doing a piece together or something.”

“You get a massive fuck off snowstorm, I get my van graffitied,” Sniper bemoaned walking up to Scout.

Scout frowned slightly.

“Hey, we don't know if that snowstorm was for me.”

Sniper was silent for a moment.

“Sure,” he murmured,

Ignoring the tone, Scout turned to look at Sniper.

“You gonna remove it?” 

“Nah, it’ll just reset tomorrow.”

“If you leave it up I think you’d become Pyro’s third favourite person,” Scout pointed out.

“Third favourite? Who’s one and two?”

“Number one is Engie, obviously. Number two? Well, you’re staring at him.”

Scout pointed at himself and shot Sniper an exaggerated wink. Sniper hummed to himself.

“Hmm… you’re right. You are a bit of a number two.”

Scout spluttered for a second.

“Hey!”

Sniper snorted and broke into laughter at Scout’s scandalised expression. Scout tried glaring at Sniper but quickly broke and joined in. 

Once the laughter died down, Sniper draped an arm around Scout’s shoulder.

“Come on, you dag,” Sniper said, an affectionate smile crossing his face. “No use cacking ourselves with laughter. It’s time for brekkie.”

Scout was a creature of habit for sure.

After the mission for that day, Scout opened the door to the van and immediately made a beeline for the same spot he normally took at the table across from Sniper.

“Good battle today,” he commented, flipping open his sketchbook.

Sniper raised an eyebrow from his knitting.

“Jerra, it’s the same battle every single day.” 

“Maybe for you. I managed to convince Soldier to spawn camp the BLU spy.”

Sniper paused in his knitting.

“Oh yeah? How’d you manage that?”

“Oh, I just mentioned that I saw the BLU Spy holding a hammer and sickle last night and that managed to keep Solly interested.”

Sniper snorted.

“You’re a madman.”

“Hey, you gotta make your own fun around here.”

“Speaking of making your own fun…”

Sniper finished off his stitch and gently put down his knitting to look into Scout’s eyes.

“You said you don’t want to keep pushing and trying to break the loop and I respect that.”

Scout closed his mouth that he opened to object.

“That leaves the question as to what we do now,” Sniper finished. “Drawing, knitting and learning each other’s jobs are great and all but they’re starting to get a bit stale.”

Scout hummed in agreement. 

He didn’t want to mention it but there wasn't a whole lot they could do stuck in a loop without getting repetitive.

“I dunno,” Scout muttered, leaning back in his seat. “Not a whole lot we can do on base other than what we’ve already been doing.”

An idea suddenly struck Scout.

“Unless…”

“Unless?” Sniper repeated.

A smile tugged at Scout’s lips.

“What if we weren’t on the base?”

“You wanna go to Teufort again?”

Scout shook his head.

“No, further.”

“Threport?”

“What? No!”

“Fortsmouth?”

Scout sighed.

“I mean, what if we went out of state?”

“Oh! Oh…”

Sniper sat back and put a hand to his chin as he thought.

“Where do you wanna go?”

Scout shrugged. 

“Anywhere? Like pick a direction and go!”

Sniper gave a bark of laughter. Scout puffed his chest out as Sniper continued to laugh.

“Alright, you Galah,” he said, getting to his feet and retrieving the map of the US displayed on his wall. “Dealer's choice.”

The map sprawled out on the table in front of the two. An X marked where the base was situated.

“Only rule is that we can’t cross the border. I don’t want to go through the whole song and dance of getting my passport back from the Administrator.”

Scout hummed, staring at the map.

“Can I drive?”

“What do you think?”

“Alright, worth a shot,” Scout muttered as Sniper laughed at him. “Alright… why don’t we try going here?”

Scout pointed at the map and Sniper snorted.

“Shoulda expected you would want to go to Sin City. Alright, you’re on.”

“Yes!” Scout cheered.

“You wanna wag tomorrow and just drive all day?”

“Wag?”

“Skip work.”

Scout broke into a grin.

“Mick, there is nothing I would want more.”

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Today was the day.

Scout practically had to bite his lip to keep his excitement in check.

Because in all 99 loops, not once had he left the base for most of the day.

Holy shit, had it really been 99 loops? They should throw a party or something for day 100.

“Not today, Solly!” Scout called, barely able to keep the excitement out of this voice. “Not feeling good today.”

The hallway was silent for a few seconds later as Scout’s heart started to thunder in his chest. Did Soldier not buy it for once?

“Rest up, private! I expect to see you tomorrow bright and early!” 

Scout let out a quiet sigh of relief as he slowly got out of his bed. He slid his clothes on, picked up his duffel bag, and crept towards his door. He opened it just a crack to see the coast was clear. 

He stepped through silently, closing the door behind him and making his way to the kitchen. Thankfully he didn’t run into anyone on his way over. 

When he got there, the kitchen was dark and empty as the sun had yet to fully rise. 

Making a mental list of what he needed, Scout started opening cupboards and the fridge, taking any food he thought he and Sniper would need for their impromptu road trip.

Once he had finished, he had a good pile of chips, trail mix, some pieces of candy, a few cans of Bonk!, a thermos full of hot coffee and miraculously, an entire block of chocolate that was hidden behind some canned meat. 

Scout quietly transferred all the snacks into the bag and held onto the thermos. He assessed his haul with careful eyes before zipping the bag up. 

Yeah, this would do. 

Now, all he had to do was make it over to the van.

Scout turned around and let out a shriek, realising Spy was sitting in the mess hall, nonchalantly staring at him.

“What are you doing here?!” Scout hissed.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”

“I asked first!”

Spy said nothing as he glowered at Scout.

“I was merely wondering what you were doing in the kitchen at such an early hour.”

“I was hungry,” Scout lied.

Spy pursed his lips.

“So you stuffed a bag full of food?”

“Sniper’s hungry too.”

“Hm…”

Spy stood up and stepped into Scout’s space. 

“Do you really think the two of you need that much food?”

“Uh… There’s nothing in his pantry,” Scout came up with an excuse.

“Is there now?”

“Yeah! The baby bread monster broke into his van and ate everything!”

Scout hated how much he felt like a small kid trying to lie to his dad.

Granted Spy was his dad – a fact he was still getting used to – so that statement was more accurate than he originally thought.

“I thought the good doctor took care of the monster?”

Scout shrugged as he made a conscious effort not to play with his dog tags – the only tell Scout knew he had.

“I dunno man! Must have broken out of his lab or something because it’s just in Sniper’s bread box and is refusin’ to leave!”

God, why did Spy have to be so damn suspicious over some food?! 

Even if they weren’t in a time loop, the crew could just easily take a trip out to Teufort and do some shopping. Big deal!

The clock was ticking. Scout was all too aware of how late this conversation was making him. 

He and Sniper agreed last night that it’d be easier if they left the base as soon as possible, preferably before anyone noticed, and here Spy was, ruining it!

Scout had to come up with a way out of this but kept drawing a blank.

As if he heard Scout’s prayers, Sniper casually entered the mess hall, hands in his pockets as he walked up to Spy and Scout. 

Spy turned to look at Sniper confusedly.

“Oi, I was wondering what happened to you,” Sniper gave a casual smile. “You got the food for my van? Just hope the little wanker won’t eat these too.”

Oh, thank god. Sniper had been listening in. 

He had saved his skin in more ways than Scout could count.

“Yeah, I was just about to head back,” Scout found his voice. “Spy was just asking about the bread monster.”

“Yeah, well we’ll have to tell the doc later that one of his specimens escaped but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Spy looked between Scout and Sniper and scoffed.

“Gentlemen,” he said with a nod, before turning around and stalking out of the mess hall.

The pair said nothing as they watched him leave.

“Mick, tha–”

“Shh…” Sniper hushed, putting a hand on Scout’s shoulder. “He might have his watch on.”

Scout glanced at the hand on his shoulder for a second before looking back at Sniper.

“Right,” Scout whispered.

Sniper cocked his head toward the door with a click of his tongue and started leading Scout away gently. 

Scout said nothing, all too focused on Sniper’s warm hand. Eventually, he felt the need to speak up.

“I made you coffee,” Scout weakly said, holding up the thermos.

Sniper grinned which did nothing to alleviate the butterflies in Scout’s stomach.

“You little ripper,” he responded in a low voice, as he took the thermos from Scout. “Thanks.”

Scout resisted the urge to shiver. 

It was just something about Sniper’s voice being so low and in his ear and… 

Okay, he had to stop this train of thought about this right now.

“Oh, it’s… no problem.”

Damn it Scout, he thought to himself. Keep it together! It’s just a thermos of coffee!

Unaware of Scout’s panic, Sniper pushed the outside door open, revealing the van was ready to go, the headlights and sunrise dimly illuminating the desert.

Scout glanced up at Sniper who grinned.

“Race ya.”

Scout chuckled, his butterflies disappearing in an instant. 

“Oh, you’re on.”

With that, they were off, laughing like schoolchildren as they made it to the van and climbed inside. As soon as Scout clicked his seat belt on, Sniper turned the key and the engine roared to life.

“Last chance to change your mind,” he warned.

Scout scoffed.

“It’s just one day. They can handle it without us. Let’s go!”

Sniper smiled.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

Ever so quietly, Sniper peeled out of the base and moments later hit the road. 

With the wide-open road ahead of them, Scout broke into a nervous grin.

“So you reckon we’ll get to Vegas by night?”

Sniper hummed in thought, eyes focused on the road. 

“It’ll take us about 10 hours non-stop, but we gotta stop for petrol and rest breaks, so yeah. Thereabouts.”

“Awesome. I wanna try gambling with no consequences.”

Sniper guffawed 

“I would love to see that.”

Scout impatiently tapped his foot and stared out the window.

Where was Sniper?

They were almost at Las Vegas – less than an hour to go and they’d been making good time despite stopping often for fuel breaks, bathroom breaks and food breaks. 

Sniper had pulled over at a roadside diner, claiming he needed to go to the bathroom. 

Damn him and those Jarate pills!

But that was ages ago! Where was he?

A sick feeling twisted in Scout’s stomach. 

Did the Administrator realise they were running away and sent someone to kill them? Was Ms Pauling in hiding, waiting to shoot him in the legs so he couldn’t run just so she could drag him back to Teufort to torture him?

Calm down, Scout told himself. 

Why would the Administrator even order that? There was probably a line for the bathroom. Yeah, or Sniper got into a fight with a stranger after saying something Australian!

No matter how much Scout attempted to calm himself down, he couldn’t stop the anxiety churning in his gut.

Ever so slowly, Scout opened the door and crept out of the van. 

It was dark, only a few street lights illuminating the parking lot. 

With his hat low over his face, Scout stepped up to the outdoor toilet block and peeked inside.

Much to Scout’s horror, it was entirely empty. No one stood at the urinals and the stalls were unoccupied. The only occupants were the moths buzzing around the fluorescent lights. 

Scout bit his lip as he slinked away from the bathrooms and stared at the patrons inside the diner. 

He fiddled with his dog tags before chancing a glance inside. 

Luckily the diner was quiet – well past the dinner rush. 

He could easily see a couple dining together in a booth, a man in a suit drinking coffee at a table and three truckers taking up residence at the countertop, as well as the chef and the waitress behind the counter. 

Scout was about to look away when he noticed a small newsstand at the back of the diner. 

The attendant looked bored as she turned a page in her book. A man stood in front of one of the racks, reading a magazine – a tall man in a red shirt.

Scout let out a sigh of relief at spotting Sniper. He just got distracted reading a magazine. The Administrator wasn’t coming to kill them both. They were fine.

Scout frowned and squinted. 

What was Sniper reading that distracted him so much? There was only one way to find out.

The bell above the door chimed as Scout walked into the diner and smiled at the waitress who greeted him. Quietly, he stepped over to the newsstand and over to Sniper.

“Whatcha reading there, Mick?”

Sniper jumped and slammed the magazine shut with a strangled sound. The attendant manning the stand glanced up before returning to her book.

“I thought you were in the van,” Sniper hissed.

“You were taking too long!” Scout complained.

“Jerra…”

“What? I thought you got kidnapped or something!”

Sniper slapped a hand over Scout’s mouth.

“Not in public, you dick!” he hissed.

“Ahry,” Scout apologised into Sniper’s hand.

Sniper removed his hand and wiped any spit from Scout’s apology onto Scout’s shirt.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” Sniper apologised, placing the magazine back on the rack before Scout could see it. 

“It’s fine! Just wanted to make sure you didn't get lost on your way to the bathroom.”

“Like I could do that,” Sniper turned around. “You ready to go?”

Scout bit his lip.

On one hand, Scout really did want to keep going to make it to Las Vegas before midnight, but on the other hand, he was really curious about what Sniper was reading and why he was so secretive about it.

“I’ll meet you at the van in a sec. I wanna see if they have The Flash #188 yet!” Scout lied.

Sniper tilted his head at Scout and pursed his lips.

“Alright. Don’t take too long.”

“Thanks, Mick.”

Scout turned back to the newsstand as Sniper walked back to the van. Scout assessed the comic collection until he heard the bell to the diner ring once again. 

As quick as a flash, Scout turned back to the rack Sniper had discarded his magazine in and started leafing through the shelf.

It was surprisingly easy to find what Sniper had been reading – it was the only one of its kind on the shelf. 

Cosmopolitan?

Scout squinted at the magazine in confusion.

Didn’t his ma read this sometimes? Why was Sniper reading it?

Scout glanced at the headlines on the cover in confusion.

Legs a Man Can’t Forget? I was a Nude Model and This is What Happened? How to Let A Man Know You Want To Be More Than Friends?

Why was Sniper reading this crap? And why did he hide it from Scout?

Scout knew gays liked girly stuff, but Sniper really didn’t seem like the type. So what was in this magazine that attracted Sniper so much?

Scout’s eyes flicked over to the last headline he had read. How to Let A Man Know You Want To Be More Than Friends. 

Did Sniper…?

Was he…?

Scout shook his head. This was just wishful thinking, right? Why would Sniper even want him after Scout abandoned him?

“Hey,” Scout was jolted out of his thoughts by a voice.

He looked up and saw the attendant of the newsstand had looked up from her book and was staring at him.

“You buyin’ something?” she asked, nodding at the magazine in Scout’s hand.

Scout looked down at the magazine in his hand, horror slowly dawning on him.

Men didn’t read magazines like Cosmopolitan. 

Heterosexual men didn’t read magazines like Cosmopolitan

Scout dropped the magazine back into the rack like he had been burned.

The attendant shot him a confused look but Scout didn’t care because Scout knew that she knew. She had to.

“No, I’m good, thanks!” Scout stammered out before turning 180° and running towards the exit.

As he ran away, he bumped into the man in the suit.

“Hey, watch it!” he complained.

“Sorry!” Scout yelled, before running past him because he knew.

The three truckers looked up at the commotion and stared at Scout because they knew.

The waitress knew, the chef knew, the couple knew, and the family that just stumbled into the diner knew.

Everyone knew that Scout was just a filthy homo.

As Scout squeezed past the family and ran out into the parking lot, he searched for his only solace – Sniper’s campervan – and before he knew it, he was sitting in the passenger seat, tense like a coiled spring.

Sniper jumped at Scout’s entrance.

“Hooley dooley! You scared the shit out of me!” Sniper yelled. “Find any comics?”

Scout said nothing as he shook his head slightly, refusing to look at Sniper.

Because worst of all, Sniper knew.

Sniper searched Scout’s face in confusion.

“Are you…?”

“Can we just go?” Scout asked in a tense voice. “Please?”

Sniper’s expression shifted to one of certainty.

“Alright,” Sniper said, tugging on his seatbelt.

Scout fumbled with his own as Sniper started the van and pulled out of the rest stop. 

Scout stared out the window, nervously tugging on his dog tags as Sniper fiddled with the radio. 

The two were silent as Scout gripped his arms, nails digging into the flesh. Sniper glanced over and frowned.

“Are you alright?” Sniper asked.

Scout stared off into the distance, watching dark desert and distant lights pass his window. Eventually, he managed a barely perceptible shake of his head.

“Okay,” Sniper acknowledged. “Did someone hurt you?”

Scout managed another shake of his head.

“Did someone say something?”

Scout paused to think back before shaking his head once more. Sniper sighed and tapped the steering wheel in thought.

“Was it something at the newsstand?”

Finally, Scout nodded.

“The girl?”

Scout didn’t know how to answer that. 

The further away they got from the diner, the more his head started to clear. It was with this clarity that Scout realised he might have overreacted.

“I…” Scout started. “…was wondering what you were reading at the stand.”

“Oh…”

Sniper paused as he continued to stare at the road.

“Just some Field and Stream.”

“Oh…”

The van was silent as they continued to drive on. Sniper frowned and sighed.

“I don’t know why I’m lying to you. It was fuckin’ Cosmopolitan.”

Scout looked away from the window to see Sniper blushing, very pointedly looking away from Scout.

“Really?”

“Yeah…” Sniper sighed. “I don’t normally go in for that stuff, even if I’m pretty camp as a row of pink tents back in Australia.”

“Huh?”

“Femme.”

“Oh…”

“I mean with the way I look and the rest of the country looks, it’s not hard! Have you seen Saxton Hale? I swear his pec is bigger than my head!”

Scout couldn’t help it and started quietly giggling, his panic temporarily forgotten. 

Sniper glanced away from the road to smile at Scout.

“So I was reading Cosmo. Big whoop.”

“Y…Yeah, I found it,” Scout confessed. “And… I was looking at it when the girl at the counter asked me if I was gonna buy anything and I… panicked.”

Sniper sighed.

“Yeah, I get that.”

“You do?”

Sniper nodded with a frown.

“Yeah, back when I was a dumb kid trying to figure this all out, I’d try to sneak a look at some of the women's mags at the servo and start to panic if I thought someone was staring at me. Believe me, I had the most embarrassing crush on James Dean! I think I actually ripped a poster out of a mag to keep!”

Scout smiled, feeling himself become calmer and calmer with each passing joke from Sniper. 

He glanced at Sniper and felt a flutter of hope in his chest. 

Sniper was reading Cosmopolitan. Was he reading… that article? Scout had to know.

“So… What were you reading in Cosmo?”

Sniper gave a toothy grin at Scout.

“Not telling,” he said in a teasing tone.

“What?!”

“No, you gotta guess! Come on!”

Oh, that was how he wanted to play it?

“Uh… the one about the depressed celebrities?” Scout offered.

“Nope. Try again.”

“What about the one with the hip girl’s guide to all those cities?”

“Please, I’m more shoulder than hip.”

Scout snorted as he watched the neon lighting of Las Vegas get closer.

“Then… was it the one about wanting to–”

THUNK!

Scout was cut off by the sound of a big raindrop landing on the windscreen. He and Sniper shared a look as suddenly the heavens opened up and rain started pouring down just as they reached the city limits.

As they stopped at a traffic light, Sniper turned to stare at Scout with an incredulous look.

“It’s… it’s raining…” Sniper stated, voice bordering on hysterical. “We went all this way to Las Vegas and it rains on us?”

Scout stared at Sniper before looking at the rain and flicking back to Sniper.

A pregnant pause occurred until the two started cackling.

“Oh my god!” Scout screeched between laughter. “It’s coming down like crazy out there!”

“Over ten hours of travel for rain!” Sniper added, hunching over.

“Oh, this beats being at the base any day!” 

The light had turned green ages ago, but no one else was around to care – just the two mercenaries in a campervan, clutching each other in laughter as the rain fell around them.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout stretched, got out of bed and opened the door.

“Yeah, let me get changed first, Solly, then I’ll join you.”

Soldier opened his mouth but paused as he stared at Scout.

“What?” Scout asked, tilting his head.

“Why is your head wet?”

“Huh?”

Scout reached out to feel his hair and damn. Soldier was right. Scout was wet.

Scout pulled a face as he tried remembering how he got wet in the first place. 

Last night, after gambling all their money away in a fancy casino, Sniper and Scout were close to their post-midnight deadline and were trying to figure out how to pass the time. 

Scout (admittedly rather drunk at the time) took one look at the rain, jumped out into the street and started dancing around a light post. 

Scout cringed remembering his off-tune singing before Sniper jumped out of the shelter and started splashing him with a puddle.

He and Joey had once done the exact same thing. 

Singin’ in the Rain was one of Joey’s favourite movies and he would always drag Scout along to see it when it was showing. 

Once it was raining as they left the cinema and they both knew there was only one thing to do.

They weren’t as good as Gene Kelly, no matter how many times they’d seen the movie. They both ended up with colds and stuck in bed for a week but once they were feeling better they both agreed that it was worth it.

“Oh um… I forgot to dry my hair last night?”

“Wouldn’t it have dried by now?”

Scout resisted the urge to glare at Solider. Why did Soldier suddenly pick this moment to have a brain?

“You’re right. I…I just didn’t want to tell you that… Merasmus cursed me.”

Scout winced. It technically wasn’t a lie but it was a weak excuse and Scout knew it.

“Merasmus cursed you to have wet hair?”

“…Yes?”

Soldier scowled and turned away from Scout. 

“That devious bastard…”

Scout let out a sigh of relief. 

Thank god, Soldier had bought it. 

As Scout thought about grabbing a towel to dry off, a realisation came to him.

If Scout woke up soaked then that probably meant Sniper was wet too. Knowing Sniper, he probably wanted to dry off sooner rather than later and not risk catching a cold. 

Scout had no idea if Sniper was going to sleep in today but it was looking like Scout had to skip training again today.

But how could he get out of it without raising any questions?

“Solly, what if he’s cursed some of the others too?”

“No!”

“Yeah! I’ll go check on Sniper if you check on the rest of the team!”

Soldier nodded.

“Affirmative! Bless your heart, you’re doing god’s work out there.” 

With that, Soldier spun around and started banging on Demo’s door, yelling about mould.

Scout grinned and threw on his clothes. 

He cracked open his door to see Soldier and Heavy arguing over whether a wet-hair curse could affect someone who was bald. Demo was there, trying to defuse the situation while Medic egged them on.

Scout shook his head with a smile at his teammates, before ducking out of his room and zooming over to the camper van.

As he got to the door, Scout quietly knocked on the door. He waited for a few seconds before lifting the welcome mat and grabbing the key.

“Mick!” he called, as he made his way inside. “Wake up!

Sniper murmured something and rolled over in his bunk. Scout glared at the form in the bed and turned to open the drawer that was housing the towels.

“Mick!” he yelled.

“What?” Sniper murmured into his pillow in the same tone.

Scout bunched up the towel in his hand into a ball and pegged at Sniper’s head.

“Wake up!”

Sniper jolted up in his bed with a yell and sleepily looked around the van. When his gaze landed on Scout, he glared at him. Scout awkwardly grinned as Sniper properly woke up and processed what was going on. He sleepily put a hand on his hair and recoiled, feeling the wet hair.

“Why am I wet?” he muttered, grabbing the towel.

“Good morning to you too,” Scout responded, grabbing a towel for himself. “To answer your question, we were singing in the rain.” 

“What a glorious feeling…” Sniper commented as he turned to leave his bunk.

Scout snorted as he started towelling off his own hair. He heard the telltale sound of Sniper jumping to the ground. Scout looked up at him from behind the towel and shot him a grin.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Scout asked. “It's day 100 for me so we should do something fun! I was thinkin’ we go north this time and see how far we get?”

“Jerra…” Sniper quietly said.

“Or maybe we try going east! I don’t think we can make it to Boston before midnight, but it might be fun trying!”

“Jeremy–”

“Or fuck! We should go to Roswell and try and see if we can spot any aliens! You like aliens, right?”

“Scout!” Sniper’s voice suddenly broke through Scout’s rambling.

Scout stopped drying his hair and straightened up.

“Yeah?”

Sniper took in a breath and looked away from Scout. He gripped his arm nervously as he turned to face Scout.

“I was kinda thinking of… having a day to myself?” Sniper confessed.

“A day to yourself?” Scout parroted.

“Yeah…” Sniper admitted. “You know, I’ve been spending so much time with you, I just… need a break.”

“A break?”

“It’s not because of you, Jerra!” Sniper immediately reassured. “I’m just… normally so alone that I’m not used to having someone be there for me and I need a break once in a while, okay?”

Scout could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. 

Oh god, it finally happened.

It was his worst nightmare.

It was day 100 and Sniper had finally gotten sick of Scout.

It was only a matter of time, he supposed. Sniper really did have the patience of a saint for putting up with Scout’s bullshit this long.

“Oi, I see that face,” Sniper interrupted his thoughts with a click of his fingers in front of Scout’s face. “It’s just for today. This has nothing to do with you. I just need some space, alright?”

Just for today? Could Scout really believe him?

“We’ll be back hanging out tomorrow?” Scout asked.

Sniper smiled.

“Of course! I just need a break. We can celebrate your 100 days of looping tomorrow.”

Scout fiddled with the dog tags around his neck and looked up at Sniper.

“Alright. See you when our shift starts?”

Sniper nodded with a smile.

“See you then.”

Scout turned around and headed towards the door of the van. He threw a look over his shoulder to see Sniper watching him go. Scout gave a small smile before opening the door and stepping outside.

Scout sighed, watching the sun start to rise. 

Now what was he going to do this morning?

Soldier appeared from around the corner of the base on his morning jog.

“Yo, Solly, wait up!”

Hopefully, Soldier wouldn’t mind if Scout joined in his drills a little later than normal.

24 hours was far too long in Scout’s opinion – especially when he didn’t have anyone to annoy.

Scout threw his baseball at the wall of his room and caught it as it came back to where he was sitting on his beanbag. The moment the ball landed in his hand again, he threw it again.

Over and over and over again.

God, what did he even do before he and Sniper started hanging out again?

Scout pulled a face as he chucked the ball too hard at the wall. He sighed as he watched it fly away from him.

He wasn’t worrying about Sniper – or at least that’s what he was telling himself.

Sniper needed space. Sniper didn’t grow up in a family of eight boys and valued his time alone. 

That’s what made him and Scout different, Scout supposed.

Scout enjoyed his space too, but he preferred to be in action at all times – whether it’d be alone or with someone else. 

He was fidgety and flighty and all those words his teachers called him when they complained about him to his ma. 

Scout picked up the ball and sighed loudly once again.

He needed to do something or else he was going to drive himself crazy! But what? 

He’d already attended Pyro’s tea party tonight, and that left him with nothing! He didn’t know what the rest of the base got up to after dinner!

Scout pulled a face. Since when did he care about knowing what the others did?

Since Sniper needed some time off, he reminded himself.

Shut up, he argued. Sniper was valid in wanting time to himself.

Scout covered his face with his hands and groaned.

He was going around in circles! He just couldn’t stop thinking about Sniper having a day off

He knew Sniper told him that it wasn’t because of him but deep down, there was a small part of him that wondered if Sniper was lying.

Scout was a lot! He was loud, brash and full of himself! He wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and the fact that he might be wearing on Sniper’s nerves? It scared him a little bit.

“Stop it,” he muttered to his empty room.

He was just making a mountain out of a molehill, right?

With a groan, Scout stumbled to his feet, trying to escape the beanbag.

He needed a distraction! Yeah! 

He’d get his mind off of things and it’d be the next loop and he’d be back to shooting the breeze with Sniper.

Scout quietly stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind him. He put his hands in his pockets as he started to walk.

Would Spy be smoking on the terrace yet? It wasn’t curfew yet so maybe not.

Scout shrugged to no one other than himself.

Maybe he’d check to see if Spy was on the balcony yet and if he wasn’t he’d go and pester Engie or whoever he found first.

As he took his first steps down the hallway, Soldier rounded the corner and stopped in front of him.

“Private second class!” he bellowed. “Have you seen the Demoman around?”

Ok, maybe he should have been a bit more specific to the universe. 

While Scout may have gotten used to Soldier’s… Soldier-ness during the loops, sometimes it was a bit much for an evening.

Scout shrugged.

“Dunno, why?”

“I need him to help organise my Fourth of July fireworks show!”

Scout tilted his head.

“It’s May,” Scout pointed out.

“It's the Fourth of July somewhere!”

“I don’t think that’s how that saying goes. Or how timezones work.”

“Nonsense!”

Scout sighed and shook his head.

“I haven’t seen him, sorry. I’ll let you know if I do find him, though.”

“I appreciate it!” Soldier declared before turning around and marching back down the hallway.

Well, that was weird. Another crack?

Scout shrugged and continued his journey to the terrace, humming to himself. 

For a building smaller than his high school, it was a beast to navigate. Did the base really need that many storage rooms and hidden entryways?

Finally, Scout stood in front of the staircase to the terrace. 

He put a foot on the bottom step and paused, looking up at the door.

He could hear voices from the top of the stairs. 

He couldn’t make out who was speaking or what they were saying but someone was definitely up there.

With a concerned look, Scout quietly tiptoed up the stairs. 

The door was slightly ajar when he got to the top. He was about to push it open when someone spoke up.

“I just… don’t know how to tell him, you know?” Sniper stated.

Scout recoiled his hand and put an ear to the door.

A voice in his head told him he shouldn’t be listening to this. This was a private conversation! But to his horror, he couldn’t turn away.

“Aye,” Demo responded.

“Like, how do you tell someone that?”

“Not easily.”

There was a pause as he could hear someone taking a swig of their drink. 

Scout frowned, thinking. 

Who were they talking about? And why didn’t Sniper come to him to complain?

As Scout pressed his ear closer to the door, his heart pounding in his chest, he could hear someone sigh.

“And it’ll eat me up inside if I don’t tell him but I feel like I have to eventually! And he’ll hate me for it!” Sniper continued.

“Well,” Demo spoke up. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Everything?”

“I think you’re being a wee bit dramatic.”

Sniper let out a big sigh.

“Look, lad,” Demo started. “The way I see it is that you have two options. One, you risk your and Scout’s friendship and more than likely break the curse. Or two, you keep stumbling around the topic until either one of you dies or something worse happens.”

Scout slowly recoiled, a hand to his mouth. The other hand gripped the railing of the staircase as he stumbled backwards and almost fell down the stairs.

They were talking about him?!

What?!

Why?!

Scout’s eyes flicked towards the door once more but he could barely hear what they were saying over the ringing in his ears. His eyes stung.

No, no, no! He was not going to cry in the stairwell!

Scout gritted his teeth as he forced his legs to move and staggered down the stairs. 

Fuck! His mind and body were screaming at him to find a place to hide from an invisible threat, and he had half a mind to agree with them. But where?!

As he got to the bottom, he looked around and noticed the empty dining hall in front of him.

Scout darted into the room and slammed the door behind him. 

He rested on the wood of the door for a moment, hand covering his mouth for a moment until he found his legs and stepped towards the centre of the room.

Sniper was talking about Scout to Demo, that much was clear. He wanted to tell Scout something but he was afraid of how Scout would react.

But what?

A loud pop echoed through the base, causing Scout to jump. 

Ready for a fight, he whipped around, searching for any assailants. He stopped upon noticing the windows in front of him were illuminated. 

Soldier ran through the desert buck-naked, throwing down firecrackers as Pyro excitedly trailed behind and set them ablaze with their flamethrower.

It looked like Soldier found someone to help out with his Fourth of July firework show.

As Scout watched the two run around, everything seemed to slow down and his brain reminded him of the conversation from that morning.

“I want to be alone today,” Sniper’s voice echoed through his brain.

Oh.

Sniper had finally gotten sick of him and just didn’t know how to tell him that morning.

That made sense. Sniper avoided confrontation like the plague whenever he could.

Scout was finally too annoying for Sniper to handle, Scout realised dejectedly.

He wondered what might have been the straw that broke the camel's back as the fireworks bloomed in front of him.

The singing?

The magazine?

The road trip?

The argument?

Or was it all of it, rolled into one inconvenient package from Boston, Massachusetts?

Scout sniffed, as he watched Engineer appear from his lab and began chasing Soldier and Pyro through the desert. Scout closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around himself.

“Comin’ through loud and clear,” Scout muttered to himself.

He turned away from the display and skulked back to his room alone.

If Sniper wanted to be left alone, Scout could honour that.

Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it was just a stupid crush all along.

Scout was woken the same way he had always been while under the employment of RED – scared, confused and half-naked while a trumpet played. 

“Wake up maggots! It is 5 am! Time for our daily drills! I expect you all present!”

Scout sighed, his heart heavy in his chest. 

He frowned up at the ceiling as he willed himself to get up.

“That is an order, private!”

Scout sighed and rolled out of bed.

“Be there in a sec,” he responded, with no enthusiasm in his voice.

As much as he wanted to, he wasn’t going to waste away in bed again. That would inevitably end up with Sniper coming to check up on him.

No. He needed to be independent so he didn’t have to rely on Sniper and Sniper didn’t feel obligated to stick around.

Scout sighed and finally picked up his shirt.

He just wished that every part of him wasn’t screaming how wrong this felt.

Scout sighed as he sat down for breakfast, giving a weak smile to Demo and Soldier at his table.

It took all of his willpower to not look up and search for Sniper’s van during his drills, but he managed it in the end.

Lazily, he tuned into the conversation Soldier was having with Demo. 

It was about that bear he fought with – or was Soldier fighting against the bear? The more Scout heard this story the less sense it made.

The door to the dining hall quietly opened, but to Scout, it was deafening.

He continued to stare ahead at his plate and kept eating his breakfast, faster this time.

From behind him, he could hear Sniper greeting Medic and Heavy before stepping into the kitchen. 

Ok, so he had about one minute to finish his breakfast so he didn’t risk Sniper sitting next to him.

“Scout, are you alright?” Demo spoke up. “You’ve gone pale.”

Scout looked up from his plate and locked eyes with Demo. He took another bite as he nodded.

“Slow down, private second-class!” Soldier added. “These rations are not going anywhere.”

“I’m fine,” Scout muttered between bites.

Scout could hear Sniper throw his butterknife into the sink and knew he was only seconds away. Scout took a bigger bite and sped up his chewing.

“You’re gonna choke if you–”

“I’m fine,” Scout reiterated, with his mouth full.

Sniper’s footsteps were getting closer and closer. Sniper was practically on top of him and Scout had one last bite left. 

Scout jammed the last slice of toast into his mouth and stood up suddenly. 

All eyes were on him as his chair scraped against the floor.

“Mate?” he heard the quiet voice of Sniper ask. 

Scout said nothing, picking up his plate and turning away to the kitchen to wash up.

The chatter of the dining room resumed as he walked away, feeling sick to his stomach.

Scout didn’t catch the confused look Sniper shot over his shoulder.

At least the battle was simple! Scout knew he wasn’t going to run into Sniper on the front lines.

“We have taken the enemy intelligence!”

Scout sighed as he readjusted the briefcase strapped to his back. He looked up at Spy who was staring expectantly at him.

“Can you take care of the BLU Sniper for me?” he asked.

Spy was silent, watching Scout with a tilted head.

“Spy?”

“I heard you the first time,” Spy responded. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

Scout raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah? I’m gonna run back to our base and steal the BLU briefcase, idiot.”

Scout scoffed and turned around for the exit.

“You know that isn’t what I meant,” Spy quietly muttered as he watched Scout’s retreating form.

Scout rolled his eyes as he stepped closer to the doorway. 

If Spy wanted to be a cryptic bastard, he could be one. Scout wasn’t going to stop him.

With that, Scout was off, dashing back to the RED base, all the while dodging rockets and gunfire.

He barely registered the members of his team as he ran past them and further into the base.

Scout wasn’t thinking about the battle – his mind was elsewhere.

One question echoed through his head; how was he going to avoid Sniper after the battle?

Rounding a corner into the final stretch of the hallway, Scout tried forming a plan.

Today Scout had to be quicker than he had ever been if he wanted to make sure he and Sniper weren’t in the locker room at the same time. 

As he jogged over to the intelligence room, he reefed the door open and without stepping inside, threw the briefcase onto the desk.

It was practically a minor miracle that it landed on its target without any issues.

The moment Scout saw it land, he booked it to resupply, ignoring the Administrator in his ears declaring their victory.

He skidded on the tiles as he entered and made a beeline to his locker. He yanked the door open with a ferocity normally he’d be surprised at.

His heart pounded in his head as he returned everything to the locker.

Scattergun? Check.

Pistol? Check.

Bat? Check.

Headset? Check.

Was he missing anything? He felt like he was missing something, but couldn’t think of anything. He wasn’t used to just throwing his weapons in his locker as fast as he could.

He slammed the door shut just as the entrance to the locker room opened.

Scout shot a glance at the entering team and caught sight of Sniper in the back.

Suddenly, Sniper locked eyes with him and Scout jumped.

Crap, crap, crap! He needed to go now.

Before anyone could say anything, Scout turned and ran into the base proper.

The room was silent as the RED team stared at the swinging doors.

“What was that about?” Demo asked, staring at the space Scout was occupying.

Sniper said nothing, staring after Scout with a twisting feeling in his gut.

Scout sighed as he briskly walked down the hallway. 

Engie had announced it was dinnertime a few minutes ago and Scout wanted to get there early so he could have his pick of seating.

While he was honouring Sniper’s wishes and leaving him alone, Scout didn’t want to miss out on dinner.

His schedule was still going to be the same – he would just make himself as unobtrusive as possible.